3 months later, and you're still fine.
Ever since monsters were finally out of the barrier and on the top of Mt. Ebott (they were still quite cautious), you were assigned to be an ambassador of sorts to establish peace between humans and monsters. The humans weren't as hostile as before, but they still were very cautious. There really are a lot of Floweys in the surface, you ponder.
Toriel has recently gotten permission to have a school of her own for both monsters and humans, and was getting popular slowly but surely, starting from interested monsters to curious kids. You were enrolled in it too; you were easily one of the best students. Not that there was favoritism or anything. Asgore lived across, being kept busy with helping the monsters and humans transition into an era of peace. It was shaky, but with DETERMINATION, he managed to do it. He has also been trying to make up to his wife (in various ways), but that's a story for another chapter.
Papyrus and Sans also moved to the surface, near Toriel's house where you also stayed in. They had made sure to make their house look exactly alike- snow and all. You vaguely recall San's snowy hotdog stand and let it pass. If that thing managed to withstand the hot temperatures in the core, it definitely will here. They got the cars that they wanted (although Sans had a motor scooter; you honestly loved riding it even though Sans was such a speed devil), and worked odd jobs to keep it together.
Alphys has been removed from the position of Royal Scientist (not that there were any Royal anything now), and is now a teacher at Toriel's school. Undyne was also a teacher, even if it wasn't that obvious. Known for her undying spirit and expertise in combat, she was hired by Toriel to become a Gym teacher. The kids love her, but when she gets too fired up they still run away so she wouldn't bench press then. Alphys and Undyne were now also a sweet couple, spending long walks on the beach together and going to Metatton's shows (Alphys has a VIP pass to every concert he has).
And now there's you. You were busy with school. Toriel hasn't been easy on you ever since you all left the barrier, saying that you missed a lot of the curriculum she had planned. You pout, but smile as you always got a slice Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie every day for being good. After school, you are allowed to hang out with everyone- you preferred to hang out with Sans, though. He always treated you to Grillby's for burgers and fries. That plus spending the entire afternoon with Papyrus watching the Metatton channel, it made you smile.
In fact, that's what you were doing right now.
"Yo kiddo, ya still with us?" Sans' voice finally got through your head, making you stop daydreaming for a while to give him a thumbs up and a smile. The three of you were in the couch (it was a sleepover!) with you in the middle, watching a movie that you couldn't remember the title of. Not that it mattered, anyway; you practically dozed off while watching. You and Sans both.
Only Papyrus was the only one that was the most interested in the actual plot of the story, his eyes still glued to the screen. "PLEASE SANS DO NOT MAKE A SOUND. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS AM WATCHING THE MOVIE THAT WAS OBVIOUSLY MADE FOR SOMEONE OF MY CALIBER."
You stifle a giggle. Papyrus always gets so into these movies where the protagonist was highly narcissistic. It reminded Papyrus of himself, and made his ego inflate even more than it usually should.
"THESE HUMANS MUST LOVE THEMSELVES SO MUCH THAT THEY'RE JUST AS GREAT AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" He said, feeling proud of himself. "WAIT...THEIR INSPIRATION WAS THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH-HEH-HEH-HEH!"
Needless to say, Papyrus was living the dream, as he'd like to call it.
"Yeah pap, sorry." Sans lazily drawled, taking the opportunity to squish himself into a better spot, settling to prop his pillow so that it would be like a stuffed toy. You giggled, always amused at their antics.
"UGH, SANS. YOU REALLY NEED TO FOCUS MORE ON THE MOVIE. YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE IT FROM WHERE YOU'RE POSITIONED RIGHT NOW."
"Maybe I'm just a pile of lazy bones right now, eh?" Sans winked, and Papyrus, as always, groans in disgust. "You're smiling."
"I KNOW AND I HATE IT!"
He snickered, settling to go back to sleep after the pun. "Wake me up when it's over, kiddo." You heard him mutter and you nod in response.
A few minutes had passed and you could feel yourself suddenly waking up, stretching lazily as you registered your surroundings. You were still in the living room, but now in a cozy sleeping cushion... thing... (you weren't sure what to call it since it looked so much like a beanbag yet was as huge as a bed) on the floor with Papyrus happily snoring away, dreaming of himself as usual. You look at the couch and you could see Sans with his own quiet rumbles sprawled away.
You sigh, standing up and heading to the kitchen to prepare yourself a glass of water. It was only last week when she had been haunting your dreams, turning them into nightmares. It was always the same. Asriel all alone. Crying for help. Seeing you and reaching out. Then eventually turning into a flower without a soul.
Then she appears, smile and all, warning you that she will take over one day.
The worst part, it's true. You would wake up in a sweat, pinching your skin or even punching yourself as a means of making the voice inside content. Then you would sleep in peace... until the next night. It has been a habit for you to do that to calm the voice down; you didn't want her to be released and kill all your friends. Your arms were full of small violet bruises from pinching yourself too hard, but all were skillfully hidden within your sweater.
You smile, a tear falling from your eye as you pinched your skin again, trying not to wake anyone up. You gave yourself two good pinches and then drinking a glass of water, just in case they were curious about what you did during that time of night. You head back to the living room to find Sans staring at the ceiling with blank eye sockets, moving only when he felt your presence. You slowly find yourself walking towards the couch, sitting across from him.
"So why'd you wake up in the middle of the night, kid?" He started, "Anything you wanna tell me or what."
You shook your head; it wasn't his problem. It was yours. Like Asriel said... you have to live with the consequences. He still looked at you funny, like you had a pimple on your head or something. In fact, you awkwardly felt your face to find no pimple, and looked at Sans again. "What?" You asked, more of a distraction than anything.
"...Nah, nothing." He said, conceding for now as he went back to his comfortable position on the couch, leaving room for you still. "Go to sleep kid, Tori's gonna have a fit if she knew you were up this early."
You smile, "Nah, she's just going to give you the cold shoulder." Sans chuckled, then went silent as his breathing (skeletons breathe?) turned from irregular to stable in minutes.
You felt your eyes closing.
Yawning, you positioned yourself back in the big mushy beanbag and drifted back to dreamland.
It was going to be a nice day.
AN:
Thank you for the favorites, follows and review! :)
You might want to know that this would be more of a rant/personal reasons story than anything.
I'm not trying to impress anyone, but I'm glad people still like it.