"HUMAN, SANS, I'M BACK!"
Frisk jerked from her spot on the couch. She peeked over at Sans before turning her gaze to the front door. Her heart began to pound as adrenaline flooded her senses.
Papyrus stomped in and shut the door behind him. "SANS, HOW IS THE HUMAN DOING? I HOPE YOU WERE TAKING PROPER CARE OF HER!"
"Of course," Sans said smoothly. His eyes narrowed at the door. "She's been very Frisky this whole time."
Papyrus groaned. "THE HUMAN DOES NOT DESERVE YOU MAKING PUNS OUT OF HER NAME, SANS! SHE-" he paused. Sans's eyes shot over to Papyrus.
"Human," Papyrus said, suddenly quiet. "Your name...it is Frisk, is it not?"
Frisk gave a short nod through the tightness in her chest. The adrenaline wasn't quieting down. She supposed it was because she was accustomed to these kind of tricks. Undyne was probably outside the house waiting for the right moment to strike. Frisk wondered every moment when that familiar hell-fire spear would cut her in two. The Undying Demon was not known for her mercy.
"...How did I know that?"
The question was asked as if to himself, but Frisk couldn't help responding. "I don't know."
Because she didn't. He shouldn't have known it even from previous resets. Flowey, Toriel, and Mettaton had asked her name on occasion. Sans had asked a few times; Asgore once or twice. But Alphys, Undyne, and Papyrus had no need for a name from the human destined for slaughter. She couldn't remember any of them asking.
Maybe Sans had shared her name with Papyrus? But Sans himself wouldn't have known until the last ten or so resets, and that was assuming that he could remember resets more than as deja vu. Any time he'd gotten her name, he'd killed her shortly after. Because of that, she couldn't imagine that he'd told Papyrus.
"Do you not know...who you know?" Sans asked after a moment's silence.
"OF COURSE I KNOW WHO I KNOW!" Papyrus sounded affronted. "I WAS JUST...TESTING YOU! YES! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WANTED TO SEE IF YOU ARE AS GREAT AS I AM!"
"Oh. Am I?"
"NO! OF COURSE NOT! HOW COULD ANYONE BE AS GREAT AS ME?" Papyrus let out a cackling laugh that practically scared Frisk out of her wits. She remembered that laugh right before he'd driven a sharpened bone through her heart.
"Oh. Yes, of course, bro." Sans, contrary to what she was used to seeing, did not seem the least bit cowed by his brother's screaming. "Anyway, how was Undyne? Did she get a nice housewarming?"
Papyrus scowled. "HER HOUSE IS REPAIRED, NO THANKS TO YOU!"
"And you didn't tell her about our guest?"
"NO. WHY SHOULD I HAVE INFORMED HER OF THAT?"
Sans's eyes went cold. The casual, drawling tone he'd had turned monotone. "She's a human, Paps. You know what we're supposed to do to humans."
Frisk shrank back into the couch cushions. She still couldn't believe Papyrus hadn't told Undyne about her. Surely this was one big trick, just as the last five months had been one big nightmare. Then again even if Papyrus hadn't told, she knew well that Sans had no qualms about taking her to Asgore himself. Briefly, her thoughts flicked once more to escape, but she'd tried that already. No, the best thing she could do was die quickly and reset.
For what? For more pain? For more killing?
She didn't know.
When she finally pulled herself out of her head once more, it was to hear Papyrus talking, once more uncharacteristically quiet. "Sans, look at her! She looks like she needs a friend! What better friend than the Great Papyrus himself?"
"Paps..." Sans sighed, clearly unhappy with the argument. He cast a resentful glance at Frisk. "You want to be part of the Royal Guard, right? Well, how is Undyne ever going to trust you enough to do that if she finds out we were hiding a human?"
Papyrus's eye-sockets widened. He clearly hadn't thought about it that way. He gaped for a solid three seconds. "WE WILL JUST KEEP HER UNTIL SHE FEELS BETTER! THEN I WILL TELL UNDYNE ABOUT HER!"
"She could still find out before Frisk is 'feeling better.' Sans said the last words with such disdain Frisk knew exactly what he implying. He thought her fear was faked.
Papyrus puffed out his chest. Bravely, he said, "I DON'T CARE, SANS! ROYAL GUARDS HELP THOSE WHO ARE IN NEED! I AM PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE!"
Sans grunted. "Paps, c'mon and think about-"
"NO! I AM PUTTING MY FOOT DOWN!" Papyrus let out a stomp so large the house shook. "THE HUMAN WILL STAY UNTIL SHE GETS BETTER! CAPTURING HUMANS IS NOT GOOD FOR THEIR STRESS LEVELS!"
Well, he had that right. She couldn't help but wonder what his motives really were for this, though. Maybe he was afraid Sans or Undyne would steal his glory if they brought her in themselves? Was he planning on taking her to Asgore anyway behind their backs? Or maybe he had...different interests.
Frisk barely suppressed a shudder.
Sans let out a resigned huff. "Three days. Then you are going to tell Undyne."
"YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF ME! BUT, BECAUSE I AM HONEST AS WELL AS GREAT, I WILL TELL UNDYNE IN THREE DAYS." With a final nod, Papyrus marched up the stairs and into his room, shutting the door with a loud nyeh!
There was a long silence. Frisk stared at the carpet for an indeterminate amount of time.
"Don't think you can escape," Sans said finally. Frisk dared to look up and immediately wished she hadn't; his eye-lights were once more gone. She shivered, barely even hearing what he said next.
"I'm gonna be keeping an eye-socket on you 24/7. If you so much as think about breaking either one of the rules..." he trailed off.
Frisk looked at the ground, clenching her fists so tightly the knuckles whitened. She didn't need him to finish that sentence, and she sensed he knew that. She was terrified enough just being around him. He didn't need to actively threaten her in order to scare her. Even though he thought she was faking it, some small part of him must have seen the fear in her eyes and known it wasn't, couldn't, be false.
"Get up," he said harshly. When she hesitated, he repeated the command, eyes flashing black.
It was the eyes that did it. She obediently stood up. Dazedly she realized she was actually a few inches taller than he; she could easily see the top of his skull without having to move her head in the slightest. The idea was so strange she didn't know what to do with it.
"You'll be sleeping in my room." Sans started up the stairs; Frisk followed. Dread pooled in her stomach. What exactly did he mean by that?
They entered the room in silence. The door clicked shut.
Frisk only stared at the floor, nails cutting into her palms hard enough to bleed. What was he going to do to her? Surely it was something horrible if he didn't want to have even the potential witness of Papyrus. Her mind flashed back to three resets before, when Papyrus had captured her and...
"I'll get you a mattress in a bit. You'll be on the floor, obviously."
Frisk's eyes shot up. "And y-you'll be...?"
"In my bed." Sans looked confused for a second, before his expression darkened in disgust. "I wouldn't touch any human, let alone a filthy brother-killer like you."
"O-Oh. Okay." She couldn't help the relief that flooded through her in waves. At least she didn't need to worry about that from Sans. Everything else was still a possibility- probability- but at least she had this. The fact that he'd called her a brother-killer twice now was...strange, seeing as she'd never managed to even hurt Papyrus, but she let it slide.
Sans slunk over to his bed and threw himself onto it. A crook of a finger and a wisp of blue magic had several books flying towards him; one hit Frisk solidly in the head on its way over. She frowned in annoyance, holding a hand to where she was sure a large bump was already starting to form.
"My bad," Sans said, sounding completely unrepentant. "Guess you should've booked your stay here in advance."
Frisk blinked.
Suddenly, there were tears in her eyes.
Frisk turned her back on Sans and plopped down onto the floor hastily. Why in the world was she crying? She'd had far worse injuries than a book to the head. She'd had far worse living situations than her current one, even if the suspense was slowly driving her insane. She'd even been subjected to far worse puns than the one Sans had just told her. For all intents and purposes, Frisk should've been fine.
So why was she crying?
The tears trickled down her cheeks faster and faster, and before she knew it she was suppressing sobs, her frame shaking with the effort of holding them back. Something pressed into her chest, weighing her down. It took her several long minutes before she finally realized what it was.
Loneliness.
Because Sans's words had reminded her of the dream she'd once held at her first reset. That dream of one day convincing all those monsters who wanted her dead to be her family. She'd mapped it all out in her head: Sans would be the big brother, the comedian, the prankster. Papyrus would be another brother. Undyne would be the hardcore sister who'd beat up anyone who hurt her. Alphys would be another sister, Flowey another brother, Toriel the mom...
Barring Flowey, they'd all killed her now. It was impossible to look at, to think of, any of them without remembering that. Without being reminded of orange bullets or green spears or fire or bones. She had to face it: she was alone and wanted only for her soul. They only wanted her dead. She would never have a family, never know physical contact without pain, never know companionship without fear. Ever.
And forever was a very long time.
"Frisk."
It was several hours later. The room had been utterly silent except Sans's occasional page-turns and Frisk's muffled sobs. She was fairly certain he knew exactly what she'd been doing but simply hadn't cared. Either way, it had been a boring few hours. After the first hour or so, she'd gotten tired of looking at his trash tornado, fascinating as it was. Eventually, the smell of his dirty socks had started to get to her and she'd considered asking him to open his window, before nixing the idea as something he'd never agree to. She had just been considering asking him for one of his books when he'd spoken up.
"Yes?"
"Where'd you get that sweater? Isn't- isn't your usual one, uh, striped or somethin'?"
That familiar confusion swarmed in once more. "Uh, no? As far as I remember, it's always been like this." She motioned to her solid navy sweater, despite the fact that her back still faced him.
Sans was quiet for a few minutes. Frisk had just about worked up the courage to break the silence herself when he asked, "And how, uh, how old are you again?"
Again? As though he'd asked her age before? "Eighteen. Maybe nineteen by now. Not sure."
More silence.
"You're lying."
Frisk wavered between fear and annoyance. Annoyance won. "Why the hell would I lie about that?"
"Because you're...you're just a..." Sans trailed off. She wondered what he'd been about to say. "How much do you remember from past resets?"
"Wait...you know about the resets?" She spun around on the floor to face him. She'd thought he just remembered better than most, but he seemed to have actual knowledge about them she'd never heard of before, outside of her and Flowey. How much did he remember? How much knowledge did he truly have?
Sans gave her a look just as confused as she felt. "We've talked about them. Remember?"
"I never talked to you about anything," Frisk said. It came out more harshly than she intended. "You were usually too busy killing me."
Just like that, all emotion vanished from Sans. He turned away and picked up his book once more. When he spoke, his voice was that familiar monotone. "You deserved it."
Frisk turned around once more and pulled her knees up to her chest, blinking back new tears.
It was going to be a long night.
A/N: Honestly, the weirdest thing about this story is the chapter lengths. Pretty much all my previous stories have 3-4k chapter lengths, and then this one's just like...2k. Like what even my brain.
For those who are anxious about getting to the plot already, that's happening soon. Now that I've set up things and moved them along a bit, I can start adding in the conflict. I'm sure Frisk doesn't already have enough to deal with after all lol.