Sans had been watching Frisk's whole journey thus far. He watched as she moved through the underground finding any way to spare those who were trying to take her soul, or helping those that looked like they were in need. Of course, he would have to report back home before Papyrus suspected anything. He witnessed Frisk's handy work in dealing with Undyne. He could have sworn there was a smile on her face as she was running, not bad kiddo, he thought. He decided she deserved a treat, something to help her get past Muffet and the stronger monsters in Hotland. She was covered in sweat, Papyrus' sweater tucked away, and still not a single speck of dust. Sans smiled at himself as he took a shortcut back to Snowden. Despite the human's LV….she clearly preferred MERCY, so how did she gain LOVE?

He would have his answer when he overheard Undyne talking to Papyrus.

"Yeah it turns out that human is a guard on the surface! In the human world, her job is to solve crimes and kick some serious butt too!"

"WOWIE, SO SHE'S A GUARD LIKE YOU?"

"Yup, no wonder she managed to do so well against me, humans must have great training regimens!"

So she was a guard….according to some books he got from Alphys, those are called police officers, or detectives. It clicked with Sans pretty quick after that, she took a job to protect people, meaning there were probably many life or death situations that required Frisk to make her decision. Various scenario's played through his mind of what would force someone like Frisk to fire that gun of hers, and they weren't pretty. Judging by how she analyzed each fight she was in, trying to find the most peaceful solution, he would say she was a detective. She certainly had the determination and patience for it, tapered with a strong sense of justice and integrity. Soon, it became time for another MTT show, Undyne and Papyrus had already gathered to cheer Frisk on.

This time it was a musical, a play. Mettaton sang, Frisk fell down a hole….and suddenly everything felt strangely familiar. He felt like he could sing all of Mettaton's lines before he even heard them. He could have sworn Frisk was going to fail in the middle of the puzzle, or turn a different way, but somehow on the first try she completed the puzzle. Papyrus and Undyne cheered, unaware of the deja'vu, The whole time, Sans had been watching Frisk's expression. She didn't look surprised at all when she saw the tile maze, in fact, she looked quite frustrated….that expression…..was one of someone who had seen the same thing around ten times or so, definitely more than twice. Her expression upon completion was relief, her body language just screamed "Oh thank god I actually made it." but….she couldn't be THE anomaly could she? Sans walked outside, and teleported to his lab.

In his lab he had one machine, that read the loops and timelines. The very reason he was even aware anything was going on…..along with something else happening that he could never seem to recall. The timeline he looked at seemed to branch into two options, one of them leading to the end of everything, and one with short loops, he liked to call them loads,but continuing ever onwards. He still had the readings from a few months ago, that showed multiple splits in the timeline, all of them looping back to a singular point and taking another path. THAT entity was causing the flow of time to look like a garbled mess of loops and turns…..that eventually stopped. The readings showed that for the next few months, all loops and stutters stopped, until today. Sans gave a look to a nearby drawer and sighed. He needed more information, maybe he should treat the human to a nice outing at the MTT resort.

Frisk smiled at the two royal guards eating nice cream and chatting away, and approached a building with a shining gold MTT sign on it.

(I wonder who owns this place….oh look Sans is here.)

Frisk smiled at Chara's sarcasm and then looked to the side to se Sans standing beside the doors. She walked over to him with a smile.

"Heya Sans."

"heya kiddo. i heard you're goin to the core, how about some dinner first?"

Frisk shrugged "Sure why not?"

"great, thanks for treating me." Sans said with a wink. He and Frisk walked through a shortcut and she found herself sitting at a table across from Sans. A strange melody played through the dining area, it felt calm and soothing.

" well here we are. so, your journey is just about done, huh?"

"Yeah...seems like it, it's….actually kind of weird all things considered. So much has happened in the course of barely even a day."

"Yeah, you must really want to go home, i know the feeling buddo. Though...sometimes maybe its better to take what's given to you. Down here, you've got food, drink, friends….is what you have to do….really worth all of the effort?"

Frisk tilted her head, she never expected Sans to be the one for deep talk, but she chose to respond.

"Well….I know it seems like i'm throwing away something nice by leaving here….and believe me, I am going to find a way for you all to see the sun, but….things are complicated. Should I not return to the surface, there are those who are prepared to come down here in search. Whether or not I am there to greet them could determine if they choose to kill any monster they see, or lower their weapons. The first thing they will assume when they see any of you is that I died."

"I kinda figured you would have people lookin for ya, are they police officers like yourself?"

"How did you figure that out? And actually I'm a detective, more investigative work. "

(How the hell is he that good? There is definitely something with him…)

Sans felt like his suspicions were correct so far.

" eh undyne talked to papyrus and i heard em talkin. by the way you should come and visit, the two dorks'll want to see ya before you head off."

"You know, that sounds like a wonderful idea…" For some reason Sans felt a cold chill run down his spine, but he had no idea why.

"And to answer your question, yes, they are police officers too. Good friends of mine as well, so I have a couple days to get out of here and tell them what I found."

" sounds like you're in a bit of a pickle. Welp, i s'pose since you shared a bit of your story, howsabout a lil one from me?"

Frisk smiled, "Alright, let's see what you've got."

( Woohoo, story time!)

" alright, so i'm a sentry in snowden, right? i sit out there, watch for humans, it's kinda boring."

"Sure sounds like it."

" fortunately deep in the forest, is this HUGE locked door."

(Oh hey he is talking about the Ruins door…)

" and the door is perfect for practicing knock knock jokes. So one day im knockin 'em out like usual. Knock on the door, and start the joke "Knock knock." but suddenly from the other side i hear a woman's voice "Who is there."..."

(WAIT…..NO WAY DID WE CALL IT?)

*Shush Chara, need to hear this to confirm.*

" so naturally i respond "dishes." "

"Dishes who?"

"Dishes a very bad joke." Frisk snorted and chuckled

" yup, and she just howls with laughter, like it's the best joke she's heard in over a hundred years. So i keep 'em coming and she keeps laughing." Frisk wasn't sure if it was the light but when Frisk heard him continue, she could have sworn he had a light blush of blue on his cheekbones, and he didn't notice that his next line came out with a slight sigh.

"She's the best audience i've ever had."

(holy crap, he is falling for M-Toriel…..)

*What was that M thing?*

Chara shifted uncomfortably in Frisk's mind, but Sans managed to pull her attention back.

" then after a dozen of my jokes, SHE knocks and says "Knock knock.""

"Who's there?"

" old lady!"

"Old lady who?"

" oh i did not know you could yodel!" Frisk leaned her head backwards with her hand over her eyes, chuckling.

"Ok that was gold."

" i know right? needlessly to say, this woman was very good. we would keep telling each other jokes for hours until i had to leave. papyrus gets pretty cranky without his bedtime story."

"Papyrus still likes bedtime stories? That is just too good. He's too frickin pure."

" yeah, my bro sure is the greatest. anyway, she told me to stop by again, and so i did, over and over. for the last few months it's kinda been our thing, telling bad jokes through a door, it rules."

*I ship it.* Frisk thought, though she could still feel Chara shifting uncomfortably, she felt….sad?

*Chara….when are you going to talk about what's bothering you?*

(To be honest...I'd rather just leave it alone.)

" earlier today though….she wasn't laughing as much, she seemed preoccupied with something. so i asked her what was up. heh, she told me something very strange " promise me that if a human leaves through this door, please do not attack them, but watch over them. Help them where you can, will you not?" now you see, i hate making promises, and i don't even know this lady's name….but someone who sincerely loves bad jokes has an integrity you can't say 'no' to." Sans gave Frisk a wink before continuing.

Suddenly the music began to fade out as Sans spoke.

"do you get what i'm saying? that promise i made…..do you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything? buddy…." Sans had closed his eyes, Frisk was about to ask, only for him to suddenly open his eyes revealing nothing but a dark void where his eye lights used to be.

"you'd be dead where you stand." That moment Frisk felt her heart drop to her stomach, chills run up and down her spine, neck hairs start to rise and blood start to leave her face when he said that. Sans blinked his eye lights back and chuckled.

(oh no nope i knew it there is something with this guy oh god….)

" hey lighten up, i'm just jokin with ya. besides, haven't i done a great job of helpin ya out?"

Once Frisk felt her heartbeat return, and as Sans' eye lights returned she chuckled "Holy crap Sans, you sure know how to be creepy when you want….anyway Yeah your hot dogs really saved my hide with Muffet."

Sans winked once more at Frisk. " see? I'm already doin great at this helping thing. Anyway, im about to head back home, you wanna come with or rest up here first? Keep in mind though, most cellphones can't call you past the core, so maybe spendin some time with paps and undyne might be a good idea."

"Hm, I think I'll take you up on that shortcut offer."

" alright then, let's head out kiddo." and with that Frisk and Sans appeared in the doorway. Frisk went to chat with Undyne and Papyrus. In the meantime though, Sans had something he had to check. He teleported back to his lab for a quiet place to think. Frisk WAS in fact, a police detective…...perhaps the humans wanted to find out about humans disappearing considering the fact that children disappearing isn't really ignored. Whatever Frisk finds, would have to be reported and if all monsters are blamed….they're dead. Of course, Asgore would never let that happen, naturally he would be the one to take all the blame, but who knows how the humans would take it. He confirmed something else too, this WAS absolutely Frisk's first run, that face she had when he used his more intimidating look provided the final piece of proof to that fact. Sans looked once more at the timeline readings, the split occurred near the start of the day…..just hours or so before Frisk even left the Ruins area, but now the readings were showing the path they were currently on, and he felt his HoPe grow, it was an almost entirely straight line, with only a couple more 'loads' for him to go through. He then went to the Ruins door to see if the old lady was there once more.

" knock knock."

"Oh my, I was wondering if you might not show up. Who is there?"

" thyme"

" Thyme who?"

" i think its thyme to come up with more oregano joke materiel!."

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, Oh my, That was quite good. You sound like you are in better spirits my friend."

" yeah? Well today seems to be a pretty good day. That human that came through? Yeah she's pretty cool. Gets along with just about everyone, hell she managed to befriend the head of the royal guard."

"That is good news!"

They joked for another short while before Sans excused himself and moved to his room. Echos of laughter pealed through the house, sounds like someone's having a good time, Sans thought. He chuckled and teleported down stairs, scaring the crap out of his brother, and taking part of the nice little gathering before the final leg of Frisk's journey.


Authors note: Hope you guys liked the Sans-o-vision! Here we see what is going on through the smol skelebro's skull. I was originally going to put in a situation where Sans was to choose between fighting Frisk in defense of Asgore because he KNOWS she can easily kill him, or let an innocent soul live, but um….I realized that would be kinda OOC for Sans. I mean, in game he has the same amount of knowledge, that you have a good chance of killing the king or vice versa, and still lets you through. and...would he even bother? he knows she can load, so why waste the energy?

HOWEVER i think i just found my reason for underfell Sans to fight Frisk in a paci run, iv been wanting to write a fic for underfell for a while but could never think of a good reason for the sans and Frisk fight. Though the reasoning would be more " if i let you live hes gonna kill me, my brother, and anyone else who let your sorry ass live." it….may need to be refined but its more than what i had! Funny enough though I already know what i want to do with how Sans and Papyrus' relationship goes, and how UF papyrus interacts with UF undyne, so just a few more bouts of inspiration and we may have an underfell fic someday! (its definitely going to be a 'corrupted timeline' version bc i like that idea for underfell.