NOTE: This story is coming to a close soon, never intended it to be very long in the first place, kind of surprised it got to this many chapters haha. There's a couple of POV changes up ahead but they're separated so it's easy to tell With all that said, hope you enjoy this chapter :)

It's not long until Sans falls asleep, a soft snore making it obvious coupled with his steady breathing. But as the minutes tick by, despite the comfort and contentment you feel, you can't seem to find the peace of slumber.

There's a growing darkness settling in your soul as your thoughts drift to the man that's tormented you for your entire life. You shouldn't be here. You're putting everyone in danger just by being around them, making them possible targets when he inevitably finds you. Or god forbid, bargaining chips to get to you… You grit your teeth. This can't keep going.

Carefully, you remove Sans' arm from your shoulders and sit up, doing your best not to make a noise. You stand there for a while looking at the skeleton's sleeping form. There's a dull pain in your chest as you think about leaving him. You hope it's not the last you're going to see of him but deep down inside of you there's this lingering fear that this is goodbye forever. As you turn to head for the door you think you see Sans' expression shift to one of distress but you write it off as a dream he might be having and silently pace away.

When you're finally out on the street you remember that you got here via Sans' teleportation and don't exactly know how to get back to wherever it is you're going. You pick a direction and start walking in it, taking care to look at the road signs you pass, trying to find your way.

After sometime walking aimlessly you start recognising some streets you've been to in your time without a home. Granted you don't exactly have a home yet, you never really did and you most likely never will, but your time with the skeleton brothers, however short it may have been was what you would consider home really felt like.

You decide that the first place you'll go to is the park. You're not sure you'll find anything there but you owe it to yourself to see it once again, if only just to thank the stars for guiding you when you felt lost.

The streets are mostly empty, a person here and there making their way home after late shifts, you presume. Coming to the little park you've grown accustomed to you find it empty. You're not sure what exactly you were expecting. It's not like he was going to sit here waiting for you to come back… You try to think where he would go, where he would be. The only place that makes sense is… The village.

You stare up at the sky for a moment. "You might be the only witnesses to my end. Please keep me safe when I join you." You whisper to the twinkling lights up above. It's silly but you think you hear them whisper back. You smile at the little shiny dots. "Thank you."

You feel tears prickling at your eyes as you start on the long road back into the place where you grew up, afraid and miserable. It seems fitting, to die where you were made.

Sans stirs in his sleep. He's dreaming but he doesn't know it. He's back in the judgement hall. The atmosphere is heavy when he sees red eyes flash in the distance. Frisk steps forward but it's not really Frisk. They charge at him, knife in hand, going in for the kill. Bones shoot up from the ground stabbing Chara through the heart but when he looks again it's you he impaled, your eyes dead.

He wakes up sweating, left eye afire, breathing ragged, relief washing over him when he realises he's back at Undyne's where he fell asleep. But that feeling doesn't last long when he notices you're not there. "Star?" He calls quietly.

When he doesn't hear a response he goes to the backyard to see if you've gone for some fresh air. You're not there either. Maybe you went to the bathroom. He knocks. No response. Twisting the door knob he opens the door. You're not there either. Panic starts bubbling inside him. He looks in Papyrus' room. His brother is there, knocked out cold, but you're still nowhere to be found. He doesn't know why you'd be in Undyne and Alphys' room but after checking the kitchen and not seeing you still he has to be sure.

Not there either.

He feels his soul crumble as the truth sinks in. You left.

He writes a note so the others don't worry about him and teleports to his house, checking every room. You wouldn't have a key to get in, of course you weren't there. He kicks himself mentally. He checks Toriel's house as well. Everyone's sleeping soundly. And you're not there either. You wouldn't know how to get there, when he brought you he had teleported, and even then you were barely focused on your surroundings given your state.

His last hope is the park. He teleports there and his soul swells when he hears the swing moving.

It was just the wind.

You're not there either.

"Where are you…?" His voice cracks. He stares up at the stars you love so much. They're shining brightly as ever, but without you looking at them with your bright eyes they feel empty. He lets himself fall to his knees, despair gripping at his soul.

Your father got you. He killed you. You're dead. And he couldn't protect you.

As he gazes up at the sky something resonates inside him. It's almost as if the stars are talking to him. And they're telling him where to go to next.

You stop in front of the house. The golden flowers are still here. You kneel among them and stroke the petals on a few. Chara used to play here.

"I see you're still alive. I'm glad." You look behind you and see your father standing there, sick smirk plastered on his face. But you can't find it in you to feel angry. You're too weary. "Where's your skeleton friend?" You ignore his question.

Slowly you stand up and face him. "What do you want?" You ask him, the man who's done nothing but make your life miserable.

"Isn't it obvious? I want power. I want to be respected. Feared. I want obedience, and worship." You raise a hand to your chest.

"And you need my soul for that." It's not a question, you know that it's the truth.

"Monster's souls don't last long enough out of their bodies to be absorbed. I had to do the same thing I did to you to obtain their magic. After that I tried to absorb the souls of a couple of people here. When the others found out they ran, afraid. Like they're supposed to." You're suddenly aware of how eerily quiet the village is, and it's not because it's night and everyone should be asleep. "Whenever I tried to hold them they just crumbled in my hands." You close your eyes and turn away, placing your hands over your ears not wanting to hear the rest of it. "I guess not even human souls can withstand my power now. But you…" You hear him stepping towards you. "Your soul is stronger. I made it so I know it." He's right behind you know, you can feel it. "I made it, so it belongs to me."

"No." You turn on your heels and push him away, your magic pulsing through your veins. You use the tricks Sans taught you and hold him down to the ground.

He grunts at the sudden gravity pulling him down to the earth. His sickening smile tugs at his lips. "You're stronger now. More determined. All the better."

You hold your hand in front of you and shoot magic blasts at him. Despite the magic holding him down he still manages to move out of the way. "You can't kill me. You don't have it in you." At this, you feel ire rise up in you.

He conjures his weapon of choice and starts to come at you. You lose your magic hold and duck out of the way, blasting him from behind, only to have him dodge as well. "I know you too well. I watched you for years, remember?"

You focus hard and lift him off the ground, throwing him into a tree. You're satisfied by the groan he lets out when he hits it, but it doesn't last because he's quickly back on his feet, throwing magic knives at you.

You do your best to dodge them but you feel one cut through your arm. "Damn you. I like this shirt."

In your hands you materialise two short swords, and twirl them around, adjusting the fighting stance Undyne taught you. You're not fighting for yourself anymore. You've given up on your life on your way here. But you're fighting for them. "Let's quit playing shall we?"

He laughs. "Fine."

You run at him, swords at the ready, you go for his flank with your right, which he blocks with his knife just as you expected and then slash at his chest with your left. He bends away from your magical blade and you kick him in the stomach, your foot glowing red as it makes contact, and you send him tumbling backwards. Without a moment to lose you go for him again, but he regains his balance and slashes at you. You twirl out of the way, swinging your right sword behind you, landing a cut on his ribs, which quickly returns with a hit of his own on your hand, making the magical weapon disappear with a swoosh.

You immediately twist to face him, swinging down with your left. He steps away and you throw a kick with a magic boost to his side. He blocks it with his arm, letting out a grunt of pain but pushing upwards on your leg and bringing you down to your back.

You roll sideways as he swings his knife down to your leg in an attempt to immobilize you. Springing to your feet you throw a kick at his head, he grabs your foot again but with a small jump you throw your other foot at him with a twist of your body in the air and hit him square in the jaw, sending him to his knees.

You stumble backwards. You're feeling the day's events weighing you down. You haven't rested since your poisoning's been healed. Enveloping him in a red aura you push your father away. You summon your magic to your fists and go for his face but he shoots a magic blast that cuts through your leg and you fall, sliding on the ground to land at his feet.

He grabs you by the neck and lifts you off the ground, his own eyes glowing fiercely, in them you see no mercy. Your hands are gripping at his arms desperately as he's strangling you and you're twisting in an attempt to get away, but it's no use. "Did you honestly think you could do anything?" He growls at you. You feel tears rising up to your eyes. This is it.

And he stabs you in the stomach, taking his sweet time twisting the sharp object inside you.

"NO!" Sans shouts as he sees you getting pierced by that knife, the gasp that escapes your lips igniting a burning rage in his soul. His left eye blazes to life and he sends your father flying through the air and teleports over to your falling body before you hit the ground. "It's okay, you'll be okay, I promise." He hushes you as you cry, blood trickling out of your mouth. He lays you down gently on the flower bed and strokes your face tenderly. "I'll be back before you know it."

His gaze turns back to the man lifting himself off the ground, holding onto his side. Behind Sans several large, menacing looking skulls that looked like they could belong to long dead dragons appear out of thin air. He stands up, the air around him buzzing with electricity.

"YOURE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME!"

The skeleton blasts your father with everything he's got and isn't surprised to see him dodging away from the attacks. He wasn't expecting this to be easy. Bones appear under the man's feet and he jumps backwards only to have more there waiting for him. He starts running as Sans lifts more and more bones from the ground in an attempt to catch him. He's quickly advancing towards the angry skeleton, knife in hand, and it seems all too familiar.

"Heh, like father like son, I suppose." When your father's finally in front of Sans he slashes at him, but he suddenly disappears and materialises behind him, his magic surrounding the man and once again throwing him several feet across the pavement, bringing him crashing down with all the force he can muster. Sans teleports himself in front of him and kicks him in the stomach making him roll over until he crashes into a house. He struggles to get back on his feet and his eyes flash as he sends a myriad of magic knives flying towards Sans, who simply teleports back behind him. "At this point I'm just playing with you." Sans chuckles humourlessly.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you." The man mutters. Sans looks up just in time to see the knives raining down on him and disappearing into thin air.

The skeleton reappears next to you, you've got your eyes closed and you're shivering. "Sans, it's cold." He peels off his jacket and lays it over you.

"I'm almost done." He says softly.

Sans goes back to where your father previously was and finds the spot empty. He looks around. Spotting movement behind some bushes, he lifts some bones off the earth, the man leaping from his hiding spot, knives flying at Sans' face. He teleports to the side. All this is starting to take a toll on him, he's becoming more sluggish, but so is the man.

Sans knows he has to end this quickly, sweat's beading at his skull and he's breathing in pants. He summons a blaster, pointing it at your father. Arm extended towards him, the skeleton shoots, the man dodges, and he shoots again, and again, and again. "Stop moving for a second will ya?" He says irritated, laughing to himself at the irony that this must have been how Chara felt. "Should've killed you the first time we met."

"I feel the same way." The man grins, throwing more knives at Sans, who moves out of their way.

"You sure like those. Does it run in the family?" More bones protrude from the ground beneath the man. "Chara was a little bastard just like you! Persistent."

The man's gaining ground. "But in the end…" More bones appear but he keeps dodging. He's right in Sans' face, knife held up. "I always got him too." A single bone pierces through his heart. The knife fizzles out of existence and his arm falls limply at his side, blood running down from his chest and puddling on the floor. His eyes are dull, lifeless. Just as they should be.

The skeleton falls to his hands and knees, exhausted. He's panting and shaking. He needs to get back to you. Get you to safety. He teleports to where he left you.

His jacket is there on the ground but you're not. He sees a trail of blood leading to… Mt. Ebott. He can't teleport again or he won't be able to get you to Toriel. Struggling to breathe he runs after you. You can't go there. Not now. Not ever. You don't know what's in there.

When he finally catches up he finds you at the cave where he came out of when the barrier broke. You're on your knees, head hanging low, shoulders slumped.

"Star… We have to go. It's not safe here. You need to be healed." He places a hand on your shoulder and slowly you turn your head to face him, eyes glowing red, an unnatural, creepy smile sitting on your lips.

"She's not here anymore."

Sans stumbles backwards. "Chara."

"In the flesh." He hears you giggle, but he knows that's not you who's in control. "It's amazing what a tiny bit of magic can do for a dead human soul's endurance don't you think?" Sans is in no state to fight, but neither is your body. He's amazed at how you even got this far, and he can't even fathom the reason why you did. "Our souls were connected from the day I fell. When I felt she was close it wasn't hard to get to her. 'Sis, please, come help me, I'm scared, it's so dark.' At first she thought it was in her head, but I persisted. She just couldn't ignore her little brother's pleas."

"You can't go very far. She's dying." Your body lets out a disconcerting laugh and Sans balls his hands into fists, as he watches Chara defile you.

"And you're going to let her?"

No, he's not. And Chara obviously knows this. "She loved you."

"And I hate her. Our father chose her. He gave her all the attention. He gave her all the power. When I came here, I came to die. But instead I found an opportunity. One that Asriel denied me. And after that it was you and that pesky little idiot, Frisk." You cough up blood and stare at it. "Oh, would you look at that. Guess she doesn't have much time left."

"You're going to pay for this." Sans says through gritted teeth, putting a hand on your shoulder and using the last of his energy to teleport to Toriel's house, both of you collapsing at the foot of her bed.

NOTE: CHARA! And that's all I got to say about that lol, thank you for reading and feel free to leave a review, they're always welcome :)