Apologies for the lateness of this update, I spent the last couple days visiting my parents and I didn't have as much time as I'd hoped to catch up on this. On the plus side, this is the longest chapter I've uploaded onto this site, so hopefully it'll be worth the wait!

Toby Fox owns Undertale and all related characters.

Edit: Okay, so apparently for some reason it doesn't let me do the weird spacing thing for when Sans' eyes go dark. That or I just have no idea what I'm doing. So whenever Sans' text goes bold, that's what I'm trying to do. I've fixed his dialogue near the end of the chapter, and I apologize for not catching the problem sooner. Please enjoy.

Frisk woke up fully refreshed the next morning. Sunlight was pouring through his window into the small room that he shared with Chara. Fortunately, she didn't take up a lot of space.

There was room for a his small bed, a dresser and a bit of extra space, and that was about it. The walls were blue with yellow flowers painted on them. Frisk had insisted on the flowers, he knew Chara found them comforting.

Morning, Chara! He said happily, heading downstairs in search of breakfast.

nnngh, why are we up already? It's so bright out here…

C'mon, it's still summertime! We've gotta enjoy it while it lasts, before school starts again.

mrrrgh, jus' don't do anything stupid while 'm sleeping, kay?

You'll feel better after we have some Monster food. Frisk assured her, heading into the kitchen. There was no sign of the massive amount of cooking that had been needed to accomplish last nights meal, which came as no surprise to Frisk. Toriel genuinely enjoyed her work, and she had Asgore with her last night. He was always willing to help out above and beyond what he was asked when it came to Toriel.

Frisk noticed a note on the fridge, and went up to it curiously.

Dear Frisk.

I have already left the house, there are several errands I must attend to, and I expect to be gone most of the day. You may help yourself to the leftovers in the fridge, and I should be home in time to make dinner.

Be good, alright?

Toriel

Frisk smiled. The last time she had been out all day on "errands", he had found out that she had been visiting Asgore while he was at work gardening. It had taken her a long time for her to begin to forgive him, and the fact that she had invited him to their dinner last night was a good sign. Frisk would like to be able to call Asgore "Dad", and Chara still did regardless.

He opened the fridge, selecting a large slice of the snail pie, as well as a small helping of the spaghetti in the container marked "Human food". While Monster food could sustain a Human for a while, it was mostly made of magic, and lacked many of the nutrients needed to sustain Human life long-term, so Toriel had learned how to cook human food for him as well.

Of course, Monster food also had very few of the negative effects of Human food, it would not cause a Human to gain weight and contained no calories. This had also helped greatly with the Monster's integration into Human society. It had become an incredibly popular dieting staple. As long as you ate healthy regular food, you could theoretically gorge yourself on Monster food without any negative repercussions.

As these thoughts ran through his head, Frisk mused that it was a good thing that he and Chara could not actually hear each other's thoughts. He spent a lot of time thinking about strange things, and Chara probably wouldn't appreciate it if she had to listen to them.

As Frisk ate, Chara slowly began waking up. While Monster food might not have much effect on the human body, it certainly helped to rejuvenate the soul, and Chara generally needed that boost to get her going in the mornings.

You're really serious about this whole, "Staying up" thing, aren't you?

Frisk looked over to where an old round alarm clock sat on the counter, checking the time.

It's nearly eight-thirty, and I want to go visit Papyrus before his pub gets too noisy.

You got the whole day planned out then?

Not really, I just wanna hang with Papyrus.

After breakfast, and with a now fully restored Chara, Frisk left the house and walked happily down the sidewalk. It was another beautiful day with nary a cloud in the sky. It was a Saturday as well, and so Frisk was not surprised to see many Monsters outside, sitting in their lawns or walking down the street, obviously enjoying the sun's light. After living Underground their whole lives, the novelty of the sun had not yet worn off. Frisk wondered if it ever would.

Fortunately, Papyrus's bar wasn't very far away. It was just outside the Monster district, so it wouldn't take very long to walk there. Other than Grillby's, it was the only Monster-run bar in the city, and it was the only one that had Human regulars.

As he rounded the corner, he saw the large, single-story building that was The Great Papyrus. It looked like it had once been a gym, but it had been in ill-repair when Papyrus got his boney hands on it. Now, it was probably one of the cleanest establishments in the city.

As he neared the door, he heard loud noises coming from inside. He couldn't make out the words, but it sounded like someone was shouting. He frowned. There usually weren't very many people there this early in the morning, and they were usually pretty quiet. Even at it's loudest, there was rarely shouting, just a lot of background noise that drowned everything else out. What was going on in there?

Frisk pushed open the old-western style saloon doors and stepped inside. As he had expected, there were only a few people inside the immaculate establishment, and they were all huddled in a corner looking over to the bar where the shouting was taking place.

Frisk checked to see what the commotion was about, and quickly relaxed. It looked like Undyne and Papyrus were having an argument.

"Dammit, Papyrus, just hand over the bottle! It takes more than a few drinks to defeat me!"

Undyne's voice was already slightly slurred, and she shook an empty glass at Papyrus, She was dressed in casual clothing, wearing torn jeans and a black tank-top.

"Undyne, you've already had four bottles of my specialty whisky! You know the rule: at The Great Papyrus, if you drink four bottles, you must talk about your feelings before you have another!"

"I'm just frustrated, alright? Now hand over the bottle, nerd!"

Undyne tried to swipe the full bottle Papyrus was holding away from her, but her aim was off and she missed completely, even though Papyrus didn't make a move. His skull was creased into a worried expression and he put the bottle down well out of the fish lady's reach.

"Undyne, I'm worried about you. I know you only come here when something's bothering you, and I, the great Papyrus, am always here for you!"

Undyne slammed her head forcefully into the the bar and cried out in frustration into the wooden surface. Frisk approached cautiously and took a seat on the stool next to Undyne's before tugging on the warrior's arm.

"Ah, Frisk!" Papyrus called, finally noticing the small human. "I did not hear you come in! Would you like some apple juice?"

Frisk nodded, and Papyrus quickly busied himself sorting through the array of bottles on the shelf behind him, giving out the occasional "nyeh" as he did so.

Undyne had not yet raised her head from the table, so Frisk tugged again, harder this time. She let out a groan and raised her head, staring blearily at the boy. Now that he was able to get a good look at her, Undyne seemed kind of dishevelled. There were bags under her eyes, and her gaze was unfocussed. He gave her a concerned look and tilted his head questioningly.

"You too, huh, punk?" she muttered, looking away. "Don't worry about me, I can handle it."

"We're your friends, Undyne!" Papyrus said, returning with a cup of juice for Frisk, sliding it across the bar at him. "And we want to help you! Isn't that right, Frisk?"

The boy nodded his head determinedly. Seeing this, Undyne gave a loud sigh.

"You guys aren't gonna quit, are you?"

"Never! Now come on, face down your feelings like they were your worst enemy! You're the great Undyne! I know you can do it!"

Undyne still didn't look so great, but a spark was re-kindled in her eye upon hearing Papyrus quote her favourite motivational line. She leaned into the table and stared blankly into space as she spoke.

"It's Alphys. I haven't seen her in almost three weeks! She says she's working on some super special project, and she's always home late! No matter how late I stay up, all I've seen of her are little notes she leaves me in the mornings." She sighed and rubbed her head. "I've tried going to her workplace, but she's always out or in some room they won't let me into because of "dangerous materials" or some such bullsh- uhhh, nonsense. I just… I miss her."

Frisk opened his arms gave an inviting glance to Undyne. She looked at him with a strange expression for a moment, before sighing and picking him up and crushing him into her.

Hey, watch it! We've gotta breathe in here, you know!

Frisk ignored Chara and the crushing sensation as he hugged Undyne back with all his might.

"Thanks squirt. Damn, I shouldn't-"

She was cut off Papyrus leapt over the bar and wrapped boney arms around the two of them.

"Nyeh heh heh! I knew you could do it, Undyne! Now for the second stage of exposing your feelings! Group hug!"

"Wait, Papyrus, I don't think-"

"Everyone!" Papyrus called out, turning his skull to face the other occupants of the bar who had been staring unashamedly at the display. "Another victory for the great Papyrus! Come and celebrate with us, friends!"

"C'mon Papyrus, that's not necessary!"

But it was too late. This was not an uncommon happenstance at The Great Papyrus, and the regulars here already knew the drill. Frisk, Papyrus and Undyne were quickly surrounded by the remainder of the pub's occupants who cheered and shouted encouragement as they piled onto the trio.

Despite her protests, Undyne was smiling widely, and within a few moments, she was cheering on with the rest of them. When the group dispersed, she wrapped an arm around Papyrus's shoulders, rubbing his skull with her knuckles in an affectionate noogie.

"Yeah, you guys are right! I'm Undyne, and it takes more than this to get me down! I'm gonna go to Alphys's lab right now and drag her outside whether she likes it or not!"

I'm sure that'll go over well. Chara remarked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"That's the spirit!" Papyrus exclaimed. "We're rooting for you, Undyne!"

Frisk gave her a thumbs up. It said more than his words could manage anyway.

"Thanks, punks! Looks like I trained you both well! Fuhuhuhu!"

And just like that, she was gone, sprinting out the door so fast and that Frisk was surprised she didn't smash through it.

Papyrus walked back around to stand behind the bar and grinned widely at Frisk.

"I think that went very well. What do you think, human?"

Frisk gave Papyrus a wide smile. Though he was sure that Alphys's lab might not appreciate an energetic Undyne bursting in, he was glad they'd managed to get Undyne back to her former self. He didn't like seeing her so demoralized.

"Of course! The great Papyrus never loses! Nyeh heh heh!"

Do you have to skip down the street? Chara grumbled. It makes us look like an idiot.

They had stayed at The Great Papyrus for a couple hours before more people started showing up, and Frisk had left, waving goodbye to his friend. Now, he was just enjoying being outside in the sun.

You always think I look like an idiot. Frisk replied, continuing to skip while keeping an eye on the sidewalk to avoid the cracks, humming a little tune he'd heard from Toriel as he did so.

C'mon Chara, it's such a pretty day! Doesn't that make you happy?

There was no response, and Frisk shook his head, though he maintained a wide smile while doing so. Maybe later he would text Alphys and see how Undyne's visit had gone. He was sure that would be an interesting story.

He was broken from his reverie by the sound of shouting up ahead. Frowning, he stopped skipping and ran towards the sound, which was coming from a large baseball field. Normally he would have chalked up the shouting to be a practice run or something, but something felt off and he had learned to trust his instincts.

Sure enough, as he skidded around the bleachers, he saw a group of human kids, maybe seven in all. They were mostly around his age or younger, and they were harassing a quivering group of Moldsmals. They were jeering and throwing stones at the gelatinous monsters and Frisk could see that a few of them had already been hurt by the onslaught.

Frisk shouted as loud as he could, which in the end wasn't very loud, but it was enough to turn the attention away from the Moldsmals and towards him. He raced towards the children when an older kid stepped forward.

Probably the instigator. Chara remarked, a slight smile on her image's face.

Frisk ignored her, and planted himself between the Moldsmals and the boys. He stretched out his arms, trying to give them as much cover as he could while he put on his most Determined face as he stared at the Humans.

"Stop." He said, quietly, but firmly. There was an undeniable force behind his words, and some of the kids looked nervously at each other. The older kid, however, just grinned and took a step forwards, tossing a rock carelessly into the air and catching it a few times.

Frisk took stock of the boy. He was definitely bigger than him, and probably stronger, too. He was wearing ripped jeans and a torn T-shirt, and had a skewed red baseball cap on backwards. Dark green eyes glared out from underneath bushy blonde eyebrows and the grin he wore sported several chipped teeth.

"Well, if it isn't the Ambassador." The kid bowed mockingly before him. "What do you think you're doing, coming 'round here all high and mighty?"

Frisk shook his head, not giving an inch of ground as he stared at the boy. The other kids were whispering behind him, but he appeared not to notice. His smile turned ugly.

"That's right, you don't talk much do you? You prefer action. Action like bringing these worthless Monsters to the surface!"

He wound back and let fly with the rock. Frisk prepared to dodge it, it would be easy. But he suddenly realized that if he did, it might hit the Moldsmals that were quivering behind him. They were confused and scared… He couldn't let anything happen to them. So he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as the stone crashed into his chest. He stumbled back from the impact, desperately trying not to cry out in pain.

Then he stood straight and took a step forwards, resuming his earlier position and staring the bully dead in the eye.

One of the younger kids tugged on his elder's sleeve, but he never broke eye contact with Frisk.

"Toby? We… We were just gonna hurt Monsters, this kid's Human. We could get-"

Toby spat on the ground right in front of Frisk's shoes.

I don't like his attitude.

"Don't you see? He's protecting them! He's a filthy Monster lover, which means he's as bad as they are! My Pa says Monsters aren't people, so they don't count." He looked away from Frisk to glare around at his gang, stooping for another stone as he did so.

"C'mon, what are you, wimping out on me? Don't tell me you're a bunch of Monster lovers too!"

There was a chorus of nays from the other kids and suddenly each of them had a stone in their hands. Seven stones… That would hurt a lot…

"We don't have to fight. No-one needs to get hurt."

Toby looked outraged at Frisk's statement.

"Hurt? Hurt?!" He threw his stone. Unlike the other one, this one was pointed and it slashed a bloody gouge down Frisk's arm.

"You hurt everyone when you let Monsters come to the surface! You should have left them in the dark where they belong! Where you belong! Monster Child!"

Another stone flew, and in the next moment, all of them were in the air, whistling towards Frisk while the kids mocked him. Frisk crouched down, covering his face with his arms as he was pelted. Some of the stones didn't have much force behind them, but the ones that did…

Frisk let out an involuntary cry of pain as a large rock crashed into his knee. The kids were laughing now. Why did they have to be so cruel?

I don't think you're going to be able to get out of this one by wiggling your hips. Chara whispered to him. Why don't you let me handle this?

Frisk hesitated. He didn't know what he could do to stop them from attacking, and he had to protect the Moldsmals so running wasn't an option either. Another rock bounced off his shoulder. Maybe Chara could…

Don't hurt anyone, okay?

Whatever.

Brown eyes closed. Most of the kids were stooping for more stones, but Toby still had one and let fly. Chara's arm whipped out and caught the rock in mid-air causing the others to pause.

Red eyes opened.

Chara stood up straight, ignoring the pain in her knee. They had already noticed that her eyes had changed and the whispering had begun anew.

She was still holding the rock.

Let's see, bruised knee, bloody forearm, kinda hurts to breathe… you should have let me deal with this from the start.

Frisk refused to answer.

Tsk. How immature.

She refocused her attention on the kids around her and gave a bright smile.

"H-Hey! What happened to your eyes?!" Toby blustered.

"I'm only going to say this once." Chara said, her voice smooth and sickly sweet. "And only because I'm such a nice person. You can leave now and promise never to hurt monsters again, or…"

Chara released a small portion of her power, easily allowing her to grind the stone in her hand to powder. She opened the hand allowing the Humans before her to see what she had done. There were shocked gasps and worried murmurs from the kids, and she could hear more than a few stones being dropped back to the ground.

But Toby, it seemed, was determined to prove himself an idiot. He balled his hands into fists and stepped forward. Chara noted with amusement that he was shaking. Only just, but it caused her to grin even wider.

"Y-you don't scare me, Monster Child!" Ah well, he was almost able to keep his voice steady. But let's face it, he was still no threat compared to what she had fought before.

"Monster Child? I think I like that." Chara mused. "But seriously, go away or else…" Her voice trailed off as she reached for inspiration. "You're really not going to like what comes next."

Chara's mental image of Frisk flinched at the words, and Chara herself could barely suppress a shudder at the all-too familiar sensation of her sins crawling on her back. Too bad. It was a really good line too. Maybe she'd have to work on her own phrases...

She didn't react as Toby threw a punch at her, not until the last second anyway. She leaned back, the fist whistling in front of her face. Then the grin was back. She leapt forward, planting a fist of her own into the boys stomach, knocking all of the wind out of him and sending him staggering back. Before he could recover, she lashed out with her uninjured leg and tripped him, sending the bully flat onto his back. Chara just managed to get her feet back under her before she collapsed. Damn, that knee really hurt…

You really let them do a number on us. Maybe next time, I should do the talking.

She didn't wait for a response though, and she dropped onto Toby, her elbow extended into a vicious blow that had him finally cry out in pain. She stood, trying to hide how shaky she was on her legs and looked triumphantly around at the other kids.

Or… apparently not as they weren't there. She could faintly make out some of them running away into the distance. Chara let out a joyful laugh. God, it felt good to kick some ass again. The twerp usually managed to resolve things peacefully, and that was always his go-to. Speaking of which…

Alright, you got our knee busted, you can try and figure out how to walk with it. My work here is done.

Chara gave one last menacing look down at Toby, but it was wasted, seeing as he had apparently passed out. And, judging by the smell, he had pissed himself too. Chara wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Barely lasted a second. I bet the Moldsmals could have beat them if they tried.

Red eyes closed.

Brown eyes opened.

Frisk shook his head to clear it, stumbling a little as Chara gave him control back. She was right, it was hard enough to stand on this knee, it would be even harder to walk on it. Maybe if he found a stick or something they could use it as a crutch…

Then he frowned.

I said, "Don't hurt anyone." He admonished.

And I said, "Whatever." See? I can remember pointless conversations too.

Chara…

Chara's image stuck out her tongue at him.

He wasn't backing down. Anyway, it's not my fault he's so weak. If I'd exposed his soul, I prob'ly could have sneezed on it and it'd shatter.

Anyway, he'll be fine. Shouldn't you be worrying about the Moldsmals?

Frisk had almost forgotten about them, and worry flashed in his face before he spun around to check on them. He knelt among them, whispering quiet words of comfort to them, reassuring the small blobs that everything was alright.

They seemed grateful for his help, and after consoling them, they began to jiggle slowly away. Frisk let out a relieved sigh. It seemed he had gotten here in time; none of them had seemed too badly hurt.

Unfortunately, now he was able to take stock and focus on his own wounds. He'd been hurt before, and badly, but usually it was because he had taken soul damage. He was less used to physical pain, and he'd taken quite a beating. The gash on his arm stung and there was a lot of blood seeping out of the wound. That would need to get patched up and quickly. But he wasn't going anywhere fast with his knee hurting as bad as it did. He tried putting weight on it, and barely bit back a cry of pain at the agony that seemed to spike through his body at the attempt.

Hey, twerp! You've been standing there for a while, and this isn't exactly comfortable over here. What're you thinking about?

Maybe I can call Mom? I don't want to interrupt her day, though…

Doesn't matter, you left the cell phone at home. Look, take off your shirt and wrap it around your arm.

Frisk took Chara's advice, though somewhat reluctantly. He hoped that blood could be washed out. He really liked this shirt. Those thoughts took a background level as he carefully tied the shirt around his arm, making it a makeshift bandage. It should do until he could get it properly treated.

Frisk began hobbling away, trying to get back out to the street where someone could find him. It seemed way further to get back out there than it had coming, and his knee was in agony. He could barely put any pressure on it, so it was very slow going.

"Frisk!"

The boy looked up, and up ahead he saw Toriel running towards him, Sans close behind. Relief flooded through the child and he sank to the ground, finally able to take the pressure off his injured knee.

"My child! What happened to you?" Toriel cried, leaning down, and pulling off his makeshift bandage, letting out a little gasp as she saw the wound it hid. She immediately placed her hands on Frisk, allowing healing magic to flow through him. Frisk closed his eyes to enjoy the warm sensation flooding through his body, taking the pain away with it. Most monsters had difficulty healing physical wounds, as it wasn't their specialty. But Toriel had had more experience with Humans than just about any other monster, and within moments, the pain was gone, and his wounds were closed.

Toriel wrapped him in a hug and stood up, letting Frisk wrap his arms around her neck. Sans stood in the background watching silently.

It took a few minutes to convince his mother to let him go, but she finally lowered the boy to the ground, wiping away tears with the sleeve of her robe.

"My child… What happened?" She asked again, crouching down so she could look the boy in the eye.

Frisk shrugged, trying to blow it off like it was no big deal.

"Some mean kids."

Toriel's eyes narrowed.

"Did you recognise any of them?"

The boy shook his head, holding his hands out with palms facing upwards to signify he was fine. Toriel turned to Sans.

"Sans, you brought me here. What did you see?"

Frisk's heart skipped a beat. If Sans had seen Chara in control… He peered over to the skeleton who had his gaze trained on the boy.

Oh yeah. He knows.

Sans shrugged in response to Toriel's questioning.

"By the time I got here, they were already running off. Something musta spooked them. Kid was in pretty rough shape, so I came to get you. Healing magic was never my thing."

"Thank you for getting me. Come on, Frisk, let's get you home."

"Tori, wait."

Toriel paused in the midst of picking Frisk up. She looked questioningly at Sans.

"Look, you've still got that meeting to get to. I can have Frisk home and resting in just a few moments. I can handle things from here."

"How did you… No, it's not important. I need to take care of Frisk now."

"Tori, listen. I know you're worried, but I'll make sure nothing bad happens to him. I made a promise, remember? And, uh, if you don't make your meeting, it could be another month of waiting."

Frisk gave a questioning glance to Toriel, but she ignored it. She gave a deep sigh.

"I suppose you are right. Frisk? Will you be alright with Sans, or would you like me to come with you?"

Frisk did want Toriel to come with him, but if she had something she needed to do, he didn't want to get in her way. Besides, Sans probably wanted to talk to him alone, and he really shouldn't put that off.

He patted his mother's hand and looked up at her.

"I'll be fine, Mom."

Toriel smiled at that, then embraced him one more time.

"I'll be home as quickly as I can, small one. And I will make butterscotch and cinnamon pie for dinner, alright?"

Frisk nodded eagerly into the embrace, squeezing even tighter as he did so.

When the hug ended, Toriel stood straight and ruffled Frisk's hair.

"Alright, I will see you soon. Take good care of him, Sans."

"Will do, Tori."

Sans walked up to Frisk, his hands in his hoodie, as Toriel left. He stared at him for a moment, before reaching out a hand to him.

"We're gonna take a quick stop before we bring you home. We need to have a talk."

The boy gulped, but took Sans's hand anyway. He blinked, and suddenly, they were at Grillby's. It was much the same as it had been in the Underground, but slightly larger to accommodate more people. It was right in the middle of the Monster district, so Humans generally only came here if a Monster friend brought them. Sans had brought them to a small table in the back, and he silently motioned for Frisk to sit down. The boy complied, albeit nervously.

I think he's mad. Do you think he's mad?

You're not helping, Chara. This is your fault.

I'm sorry, would you rather had us get beaten to a pulp back there? If you had let-

"So, I saw part of what happened back there." Sans said, unwittingly interrupting Chara as he sat down. He pulled a ketchup bottle from beneath his hoodie and took a swig.

"Maybe you'd like to tell me what exactly happened?"

His voice was level, but there was a dangerous edge to it. Frisk took a deep breath, trying to think of how best to explain it.

"There were a bunch of bullies attacking some Moldsmals." He said quietly. "I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen to me." He rubbed his shoulder nervously. "Chara said she could make them stop. So I let her."

Sans groaned, rubbing his skull in apparent frustration.

"See, this is what I was afraid of. She's playing you, kid." Sans's emotions were beginning to get the better of him, and his left eye was beginning to glow.

"I don't know how she managed to convince you, but this is exactly what she wants! Maybe she helped you here, but can't you see that she's only trying to gain your trust so she can turn on you later?" Sans's eyes went dark.

"She killed everyone."

"She's different now though!" Frisk argued. "She's better!"

"Oh, buddy, you're way too nice. That kid is a manipulator, she's taking advantage of you! Why can't you see that?"

Frisk shook his head and dropped his gaze. He couldn't bring himself to keep looking at Sans. He bit his lip, trying to think of a way to convince him of the truth.

He's still not listenin', huh?

Frisk shook his head again.

Look, you've never managed to convince him. Maybe you should let me try.

What?

You're not good with words. I am. Or do you want him to never trust you again?

Last time you took control, you hurt someone.

Riiight. Because this is totally the same situation. Besides, if I attacked someone, do you think he would just let me? I'm not interested in feeling those blasters of his again.

Sans was just watching him, waiting for him to speak again. Frisk was grateful for the moment to think. Sans hated Chara, but maybe if they talked, he would see that she really was different? Maybe… maybe it was worth a try.

Alright. I'll do it.

Finally.

Brown eyes closed.

Red eyes opened.

"You know," Chara said sweetly, looking directly into Sans's sockets. "It's considered rude to talk about someone as if they weren't there."

To his credit, Sans didn't suddenly attack or lash out at Chara's appearance. Instead, he casually drained the ketchup bottle before setting it down. The only sign he gave away of his anger was his left eye, which was now glowing violently.

"Pretty sure that only applies to people." He shot back. "Where's Frisk?"

Chara opened her mouth to reply, but her right arm suddenly did a very Frisk-like wave. The motion stunned the girl, and she stared at the arm for a moment before giving out a small angry shriek and stamping her foot on the ground.

"Friiiisk!" She whined, not realizing she was speaking aloud. "You know I hate it when you do that! I don't take control of your limbs when you're in control!"

Frisk's image raised an eyebrow at her.

"That was one time! And he totally deserved it. You heard what he said about Mom."

Sans watched the exchange silently, but he seemed at least slightly reassured, since the light in his eye died down a bit. It did not disappear entirely, however.

"Alright, so Frisk's still in there. What do you want, then?"

"Maybe I just want to have a conversation."

"I don't have anything to say to you."

Chara gave a deep sigh.

"Honestly, I don't see what you're making such a big deal about. Even if I did turn, you'd just kill me again."

"You don't see what the big deal is?" Sans was trembling with rage. "The big deal, is that my friend is carrying you around with him. You dirty brother killer."

Chara…

"It's been five months since we left the Underground!" Chara shot back, ignoring Frisk. "Do you really need to be constantly keeping an eye out for me? Don't think we haven't noticed you watching."

Sans said nothing, so Chara continued.

"Look, I don't care if you don't like me. I don't really care for you either. Just stop harassing the twerp, alright?"

"Why, so you can take control when I'm least expecting it?" Sans retorted, fist clutching the empty ketchup bottle he held.

Chara narrowed her gaze at him.

Chara, what are you doing?

"Ugh! You're such an idiot! Don't you get it? Frisk doesn't just see you as a friend! You're a hero to him!"

Sans was so shocked that even the blue flame in his left eye went out.

"It was because of you that he was able to get control of the timeline again! You wore me down till he could wrest control away from me and keep it there. And whenever I had even the slightest chance of taking it back, he wasn't scared of me anymore.

"Because he knew that you would stop me."

Chara's red pupils kept locked tight on the small white dots in the middle of the skeleton's eyesockets, putting just enough power into her gaze that he wouldn't look away.

"And I knew it too. No matter what I did, I couldn't get past you. That's what started this whole co-operation thing. But that's not important. What is important, is that the kid idolizes you. Now use that brain of yours and think. You're constantly harassing him about his decisions, always watching for him to turn, never trusting him. How do you think that makes him feel? Maybe you should think about being a role-model worthy of the twerp."

Chara leaned back, pleased with her work. Sans was shaking slightly in front of her, sweat beading on his skull. Not only that, but her mental image of Frisk showed him huddled in a corner with his head in his hands. There. Maybe now he'd stop whining at her for hitting that jerk from before.

"Good to see I've given you some food for thought. If you need me again, you know where to find me."

Red eyes closed.

Brown eyes opened.

Immediately after regaining control, Frisk buried his head in his hands, unable to look at the skeleton. He shrank back in his chair, wishing he could disappear.

There was a clattering sound as Sans wiped the sweat from his skull. When he spoke, his voice wavered slightly.

"Kid… what she said… was that true?"

Don't back out now, Frisk. Chara warned as Frisk hesitated. Finally, he let out a small gulp and gave a tiny nod. There was a sigh from the skeleton and Frisk hesitantly peeked out from behind his hand to see Sans's sockets closed, and his hand rubbing the front of his skull. When he opened his eyes, he gave the boy a tired smile and stood up.

"Guess I've really been screwing this up, huh?" He said, and Frisk got the impression he was mostly talking to himself. "And it took Chara of all people to point it out. I'm never gonna live this down." He reached out and pulled Frisk into an embrace, which the child cautiously returned after a moment.

"Sorry about that, kid. You should really be using Papyrus as a role-model instead of me. He's way better at it."

Frisk's only reply was to tighten the hug. Sans chuckled lightly at his chosen response.

"Heh. Alright, then. Listen kid, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm not gonna be friends with your little tag-along. But I'm gonna trust that you've got everything under control, alright?"

Frisk smiled up at the skeleton, who ruffled his hair.

"Just remember, if you do go on a murderous rampage, I get to say "I told you so."