As the flames die down and the charred remains of the books, notes and papers crumble you and Sans take the books he's picked out. Some of the things haven't been completely destroyed, but enough that they've become obsolete, or so you hope. He tries to balance his share in one hand as he holds you with the other so that he can teleport you both back into town.
You watch as the world seems to dissolve and reform in front of your eyes and find yourself back in the skeleton brother's house.
"BROTHER! HUMAN! YOU'RE BACK!" Before you can even think you're scooped up off the ground along with Sans, the books falling to the floor with loud thuds. "I MISSED YOU BOTH SO MUCH!"
"Hey bro, missed you too. Hope you weren't too bonely without me around." Papyrus groans loudly dropping you unceremoniously.
"I TAKE IT BACK. YOU CAN LEAVE AGAIN." When you look over at Papyrus you swear he's trying to fight off a smile. "HUMAN, WHY ARE YOU SO DIRTY?" He asks narrowing his eyes.
You look down at yourself. "Oh, I-" You let out a gasp when you raise your eyes again and see Papyrus' body without his head for a fraction of a second, making you stumble backwards and fall. Your eyes are wide and your breathing accelerated. But everything is fine, Papyrus is fine.
"ARE YOU OKAY? YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'VE SEEN A VERY SCARY BUG."
"Sorry, I thought… I thought I saw something…" You swallow nervously. Sans looks at you with concern, grabbing your arm and helping you to your feet. "I'm fine, really." You assure them.
"WELL, I SHALL PREPARE CELEBRATORY SPAGHETTI TO COMEMORATE YOUR ARRIVAL AND RECOVERY!" You smile at him weakly, the image you saw flashing before your eyes once again.
"That sounds great…" Your voice is shaky and low, but you hope he doesn't notice. You turn to Sans. "Mind if I clean myself up?" He shakes his head, eyes trained on you, filled with worry.
"You sure you're okay? You seem pretty shaken up about something." Nodding you start making your way to the bathroom.
You close the door and start panting heavily, trembling like a leaf. When you look in the mirror the dirt on your shirt is replaced with dust and you screech, clawing at it to take it off and throwing it on the floor as far away from you as possible. You curl yourself into the opposite corner, never looking away from the dust covered piece of clothing. Your head snaps to the door when you hear a knock.
"I heard you scream, are you alright?" Sans' voice sounds through. You look over to the hoodie again, and there's only dirt.
"I-I'm fine." In your chest your heart is beating fast and hard, so much so that you're almost certain someone else could hear it.
"Can I come in?" You stare at the hoodie crumpled up on the floor, after a few seconds you crawl over to it and pull it back over your head. Returning to your previous position and with shaky breaths you mumble a yes to Sans.
He turns the doorknob and steps inside slowly, taking in your appearance. You look like you're on the verge of a panic attack, sitting curled up into a ball, knees hugged to your chest with a look of pure horror in your eyes. When you raise your head to look at the skeleton standing there at the entrance you see his eye sockets empty of light.
"Star…" You blink and his eyes are back to normal. Were they ever not? You don't know anymore… "You know you can tell me if anything's bothering you, right?"
"It's nothing, just seeing things that aren't really there." You say quietly.
"That sounds like something to me." He kneels in front of you and pushes a strand of hair out of your face and tucks it behind your ear, resting his hand on your cheek. You put your hand over his and try to pull the corners of your lips upwards, managing a small smile.
"I think today has taken a toll on me, that's all."
"You're a terrible liar." You find yourself laughing at that but a tear rolls down your cheek, you quickly wipe it away. He puts his arms around you and pulls you close to him. "Do you wanna have a bad time?"
Your blood chills and you push Sans away. "What? Get away from me!" He looks at you like you've slapped him. Suddenly you feel terrible. "I… What did you say…?"
"I asked if you want to talk about it." His voice sounds so hurt. You run a quivering hand through your hair and cower further into the corner hiding your face from him in shame.
"I'm sorry. Something's wrong. Those things that Chara forced onto my brain, they're popping up out of nowhere."
Coming over to you again, Sans rubs your arms softly. You close your eyes, willing yourself to calm down, just focusing on his touch. You take in steady breaths and try to think about other things, better things. Anything that will push those horrible images from your mind and the guilt and fear from your heart. Opening your eyes, you stare at Sans for a moment. "Am I going crazy?"
"No…" He embraces you tightly. "The timelines can be a lot to handle. Believe me, I know."
Your eyes drift to the hall. "Do any of the others remember?"
Sans shakes his head. "Only Frisk and I."
"How do you live with this?" You ask incredulous. You want these feelings to go away, but your mind doesn't seem to be cooperating.
"You help…" You look at him with sad eyes. "So does Papyrus, and Frisk, and everyone else. You have to hold on to the people that make everything worth it."
"You think I make everything worth it?" He sits down next to you.
"Well, you're not half bad I suppose." You nudge him on the side with your elbow and laugh slightly. Sans looks at you with a big grin and one eye closed.
"Be serious."
"But how can I be serious when I'm Sans?" You shove him again and your lips stretch into a more genuine smile.
Leaning over to you he places his mouth on your forehead in a tender kiss. "That's better. I love seeing you smile. I'll do anything to keep you happy." You rub your face into his.
"You do a pretty good job."
"If you still want to get cleaned up you better hurry, don't want to keep Paps waiting." You agree. Sans gets up and brings you a towel and a pair of his shorts and a shirt.
When he leaves you strip and climb into the shower, turning on the hot water and letting it run down your back soothingly.
After putting on Sans' clothes you feel calmer, slightly more relaxed, but the images are still swirling around in your brain. You try to ignore them but it's proving hard. How could Chara be so cruel…?
It's not his fault… You weren't there for him when he needed you. You didn't do anything to take him away from your father's influence.
You put your hands to your face and shake those thoughts away. You tell yourself to stop thinking like that. You promised yourself you wouldn't let your father control you anymore, that goes for Chara as well.
Then why can't you stop thinking about him?
When you look in the mirror you see his shadow looming over you. You turn around and walk out the door.
Coming to the kitchen you see Papyrus and Sans conversing, the spaghetti ready to be served and eaten. They stop talking when you walk in, turning to look at you. Were they talking about you?
"HUMAN, IT IS MY DUTY TO MAKE YOU FEEL AT HOME! YOU ARE NOW A PART OF THIS FAMILY!" To say you're surprised by his words would be a huge understatement. Sans' face flares up to a deep navy blue and the pinpricks of light that are his pupils disappear.
"Bro, you're making her uncomfortable…"
"NONESENSE, SHE IS CLEARLY Y-" Papyrus' mouth is quickly covered by Sans' hand, which in and of itself is quite a feat considering their height difference.
"What Pap is trying to say is that we'd love it if you stayed with us." The taller skeleton is mumbling something you can't quite understand into his brother's hand but shuts up after he glares at him for a moment before looking back at you with a nervous grin. "Let's eat."
You stare at the skeleton brothers confused and mildly amused.
It wasn't long after eating until Papyrus started letting out tired yawns, meaning it was time for him to go to bed. When Sans returns from reading to him he sits next to you. You're leaning against the couch's armrest with your legs up onto the seat, and Sans pulls them onto his lap and gently rubs the exposed skin under the bottom of his shorts, taking care to avoid any scars. You have so many though, that it almost looks like his fingers are dancing on your skin, jumping from one spot to another, twirling in small circles where there are no lines.
"You're so soft…" He murmurs, a content smile lighting up his face.
"What was that about earlier? With Papyrus." Despite the fact that you're enjoying his touch, curiosity always gets the better of you. His phalanges stop their motion and he looks into your eyes.
"It's complicated… I don't want to throw something like that onto you…" There's a feeling settling in your chest, like a soft pull as your heart rate increases and you're not sure why. "You never did say anything, though. If you want to stay." His voice is quiet, hopeful. You feel anxious all of a sudden.
You reach for his hand and play with his fingers. His eyes are trained on you, expectant. When you look at his face you see more than just him. You see possibilities, a life that you never had but always wanted. You see someone who cares about you and who you care about just as much, someone who will be there for you when you need him. "I'd like that…"
He smiles brightly at you and leans over, placing his mouth on yours for a light peck. "That makes me really happy…" He murmurs against your lips. You smile and lean back on the armrest.
"I need to find myself a job though, don't want to just sit around being useless."
"You're not useless."
"You know what I mean…"
He thinks for a moment. "Papyrus mentioned that Muffet is opening a bakery downtown. You could check if she needs any hands, even though she's got plenty of her own." You feel like there's a joke in there somewhere but you don't get it.
"Okay, who's Muffet?"
"A spider lady who likes to make pastries." There's a cold feeling in your stomach.
"You mean a lady who has a lot of spiders…?"
"Well, I guess, but she's also literally a spider." You feel a shiver going down your spine.
"Oh…" A spider monster. "I can handle that…" You try to assure yourself.
Sans' expression twists into one of amusement. "Don't tell me you're afraid of spiders." Quickly you turn away from him, staring at nothing in particular.
"No, I've been through hell and back, you think I'm scared of a little spider?" The slight crack in your voice (that is also about an octave higher than usual) betrays you.
"She's taller than you." Blood drains from your face. You feel something crawling up your arm and you squeal jumping off the couch and swatting at whatever it is, only to see Sans doubled over in laughter.
"Okay, fine, I have an irrational fear of spiders, I'm only human. It's not funny."
"It's kind of funny." He says between intakes of breath.
"You're terrible." The small skeleton continues laughing, wiping tears from his eyes.
"You like it, really." He grins at you smugly. "But maybe Muffet's isn't the best option for you… Perhaps you could help Frisk with human-monster relations." He ponders.
"I wouldn't mind helping, but honestly I don't think I'm suited for such a thing. Besides I want to contribute somehow if I'm going to stay with you guys." You sit down cross-legged on the floor looking up at Sans. "Would I get paid for that?"
"Probably not. We'll figure something out." Hoisting himself up from the couch he kneels in front of you and pulls your face to his so he can kiss you again.
You place your hands on his shoulders, a tingling sensation spreading over your body when you lean into him. As his ribs press to yours you feel your heartbeat accelerating. The tug of his soul on your own increases and you're overcome with a need to be closer, even though that's nearly physically impossible. Sans' fingers go from your face to your shoulders, to your back and to your hips, deciding that will be where they stay. You wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him closer, pushing your chest to his in a desperate attempt to satisfy the plea of your soul.
He pulls away, face flushed, eyes clouded. Sans gently places his hand over your heart, feeling it thump away in your chest and the soft hum of your soul in the background that he doesn't fail to notice matches his own. He takes a deep breath and looks you in the eyes. "Star I…" He starts but doesn't go on. You take his hand and squeeze it encouragingly. He looks nervous. "You make me really happy. When I'm around you it's like the rest of the world doesn't matter and I just want to give you everything you deserve. You make me a better version of myself." He takes a deep breath and looks you in the eyes for a long moment that seems to stretch on forever. "What I really want to say is that I love you…" You sit in stunned silence for a while, trying to register what he just said. And when it finally sinks in, your heart seems to stop for a split second, only to resume its incessant beating faster than ever before. "Say something please…"
The despair in Sans' voice makes you snap out of your trance and you throw your arms around him in a tight hug face buried in his neck. "I love you too." You whisper.
You feel him relax and melt into your embrace, his fingers snaking through your hair. His happiness washes over you and you feel like you're floating. For now, all your worries are forgotten.
NOTE: Sorry it took so long for this chapter, I've been having some trouble figuring out how to get to where I want this to go, not sure if I'm 100% happy with how it turned out but I hope you enjoyed it all the same
Thank you for reading :)