((A/N: Thanks to JashertheDarkened for your review, as always, it is very much appreiciated))
Edit: There was a bug were the site kept deleting a sentence in to doc uploader, and the only way to fix it was to peplace_the_spaces_with_under-scores
Chara revealed herself, standing awkwardly, "Um… Hello!"
Frisk unconsciously stepped behind Sans at the sight of Chara and clutched his arm. Her whole body trembled as she had flashbacks of Chara tormenting her and she could feel tears pooling up in her eye-sockets.
Sans was dead still, radiating a protective aura, staring right at Chara with his eye-lights out.
"WHY HELLO!" Papyrus greeted Chara, seemingly oblivious to Sans and Frisk's stress. "HAVE WE MET BEFORE, YOU LOOK FAMILIAR FOR SOME REASON?"
Frisk stared in confusion as Chara's eyes became glassy and an obviously forced smile appeared on her face, "Yeah, that-that's normal, I have one of those faces." Chara responded.
Papyrus nodded, before humming, "I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND ME ASKING, WHY DID THIS MAN CALL YOU…"
Chara laughs uncomfortably, "Well, a long time ago before I died… I was sort of adopted by King Asgore…"
Papyrus eyes lit up, "WOWIE!" And he rushed to the kitchen, "A ROYAL GUEST, MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME! I WILL PREPARE MY BEST SPAGHETTI!"
Even after Papyrus was out of hearing range, Sans only stared at Chara. Chara wrapped her arms around her chest.
In a quiet, shaky voice, she said, "I-I'm really sorry." But Sans' demeanour didn't change, nor did he speak. That voice though, Frisk flinched every time Chara spoke.
"My memory was messed up… I-I, I thought that you all attacked me, betrayed me." Chara fidgeted under Sans' gaze, and Frisk could feel him trembling with rage.
Chara took a step forward, "It's all Frisk's fault in the first place! This wouldn't have happened if she didn't-!" Frisk whimpered under Chara's accusation, which set Sans off.
"D_o_n_'_t_y_o_u_d_a_r_e_p_u_t_t_h_i_s_o_n_h_e_r." San's voice was a low growl, the same tone he used when he called them a 'dirty brother killer', the tone terrified Frisk, but all the same she found herself touched that Sans cared about her enough to defend her like this.
Chara though, looked absolutely terrified, but looked down ashamed, "You're right. I shouldn't. Now that my memory has cleared up, I can tell that Frisk would have refused to hurt anyone, even if our roles were reversed." She looked back up at Sans desperately, "Please! Let me make it up to you, I can start by helping you stop Falmercia!"
Sans closed his eye-sockets, as a judge he could tell that Chara was being genuine here. However, he just couldn't trust her, the fact remained that it was in Chara's character to harm others when the times were difficult, and her LV by now was just so high, it would be so easy for her to go bad again.
He could also feel Frisk shaking as she clutched his arm. That was the other issue he was having; Frisk was absolutely terrified of Chara, and accepting their help would be subjecting Frisk to that fear all the time. The babybones was obviously traumatised, that was obvious before Chara's appearance. No, he couldn't do that to Frisk, if he wanted to stop Falmercia, he would need to find a way that didn't involve terrifying his new little sister.
Sans sighed, why were things always so much work? He opened his eye-sockets, eyelights out "look. i can't trust you right now, kid, and babybones here is obviously terrified of ya, so i'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Chara looked disheartened, she opened their mouth to say something, but they cut themselves off before the sad anything. They frowned and knitted their eyebrows, before storming off through a wall.
Well that was mildly troubling.
"SANS, WHERE DID OUR ROYAL GUEST GO?" Papyrus peeped his out of the kitchen.
Sans dropped his serious face and smiled lazily, "Sorry bro, they just left, I guest they had somewhere they had to be."
Papyrus groaned, "SANS! IF YOU KEEP PUNNING AT THIS RATE, YOU'RE GOING TO INFECT FRISK. FRISK? SISTER ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Papyrus looked concerned towards Frisk, and Sans turned to see what had made Papyrus worried.
Sans' soul sunk at the sight of Frisk's crying face. Frisk having been caught by the two of them, turned her face to hide it in Sans' hoodie.
"babybones…" Sans stepped away and pulled Frisk into a hug. "you don't have to be afraid, i'm not going to let them hurt you again." Sans could feel Frisk hesitantly nod against his chest in acknowledgement.
"HURT? SANS WHAT'S GOING ON? DID I MISS SOMETHING?" Papyrus didn't seem happy at the idea of someone hurting Frisk, and Sans felt a small swell of pride in his chest. Papyrus earlier had asked him a few questions of what it was like to be an older sibling when Frisk was asleep, and it seemed that he was using Sans as a role model.
Sans frowned a bit though, lying to Papyrus had always been difficult, however he managed to do so in the past because wanted to maintain his brother's innocence.
Things were different now though, they had a new younger sibling, their father was back, Chara was sort off on the loose, and most relevantly, Falmercia was at large. It was very obvious to Sans that keeping Papyrus in the dark with a demon with the ability to enforce contract and who knows what was not a good idea. The idea of Falmercia tricking Papyrus into a deal crossed Sans' mind, and a shiver ran down his spine.
"sit down bro, there's something i have to tell you." Papyrus looked confused, but nodded and Gaster sat up to make room, looking grim. Sans sat down himself, placing Frisk on his lap.
"sit tight bro, because this is gonna be a long one," Sans started, before he told Papyrus everything. Everything. He started with what happened when the two of them were kids, and what happened to their father, and Papyrus only looked at him with sympathetic eyes. Then he moved onto how Papyrus was ill as a child and Sans' deal with Falmercia, and the after effects of said deal, and Papyrus had never looked so guilty. He then gently eased onto Frisk's story and the RESETS, and he honestly couldn't tell who was the more terrified; Papyrus with his face of absolute horror, or Frisk who was shaking in his lap from the memories. Sans finished that part of the story with the deal that Frisk made with Falmercia to stop the endless cycle of suffering, and Papyrus jumped to pull Frisk into a hug, no longer able to contain his pity for the girl.
Sans waited for Papyrus to loosen his grip on Frisk before he continued, but his brother surprised him with a question, "So That Person Before, They Were This Chara That Tormented You And Our Sister In The Previous Timelines?" Papyrus' voice was the quietest it had been since the two of them had been children, and Sans could see how seriously his brother was taking this.
Unable to form words at that moment, Sans just nodded, and Papyrus looked down at Frisk, "Sister, If That's What Will Be Necessary To Keep You Feeling Safe, Then I, The Great Papyrus Will Keep This Chara Away From You, I Promise." Frisk stared at Papyrus for a moment with complete shock on her face, before giving him a smile and giving a tight hug in gratitude, the scene warming Sans' soul.
Sans waited a moment before completing his story, finally telling Papyrus about Falmercia's last act of trickery and her escape after her fight with Gaster.
Papyrus looked down with a look of contemplation, "SANS… ARE YOU SURE THIS FALMERCIA PERSON IS THAT BAD?" Sans felt mixed feelings of both annoyance and pride in his brother's determination to see the best in everyone.
"papy, she tricked us so many times, and as dad told us already, she was trapped in the void for good reason…" Sans reasoned.
"BUT SANS, SHE WAS TRAPPED IN THERE FOR SO LONG… MAYBE SHE WAS JUST LONELY AND DESPERATE?" Papyrus countered.
Sans sighed, realising that it was best he just appease his brother and move on, "… fine, maybe that's possible, but bro," Sans looked up at Papyrus with a serious look, "please promise that you'll be careful, don't let her trick you into a deal."
Papyrus smiled optimistic, "NO NEED TO FEAR SANS! SHE WON'T FOOL THIS MASTER PUZZLE MAKER!"
