Sans laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. It was the perfect room for the skeleton, and he designed it to be that way, after all, money was no object. A bookshelf filled with joke books and science theories rested against the left wall, a light up moon hung on the right wall above his king-sized bed. A telescope sat near the door. The floor was wooden. A few rugs rested on the ground here and there. The ceiling was wooden, mostly. With a press of a button, a piece of wood slid aside, revealing a pane of glass. Normally when the skeleton was feeling down, he could press a button and his anxieties would seemingly disappear in the twinkling lights of the nighttime sky.

Today was a little different. He found no comfort in the lights far beyond him. Instead, he noticed more and more star clusters in groups of three. Although they were in far larger groups, the skeleton would only notice three.

Three stars, three skeletons. The happy family he wished for on the glowing rocks of the Underground now split apart yet again.

And it was all his father's fault this time, not Sans'. With a groan of frustration, he grabbed his pillow and covered his face. "i should've never have gotten my hopes up."

There was a knock at his door. "Knock knock," a soft voice called. It was Toriel.

"who's there," Sans asked. His voice was muffled by the pillow.

"Etch," she replied.

Sans smiled. "etch who?"

"Bless you," Toriel joked. "Sans, may I come in," she asked. "I know this is a hard time, and I understand if you want to be left alone."

"come on in tori," Sans stated. He moved the pillow back to under his head and sat up.

The door opened. Toriel walked through and closed the door. She sat down next to Sans. "So, how are you feeling Sans," she asked hesitantly.

Sans sighed. "i'm mostly fine. just thinking about things."

"Ah. About what, if you don't mind me asking."

Sans chuckled. "i suppose i could get some things off my chest. wouldn't be right to hide things from you. this whole conflict has me thinking of everything that's happened. tori, i spent most of my life, desperately trying to bring my dad back, until i just quit. the machine i hoped would help bring dad back, wouldn't start, and i had more important things to worry about. we were suddenly out of a house, no food, no shelter, no other family to take us in."

"How horrible,"Toriel exclaimed. "You were a child then, right?"

Sans nodded sadly. "yeah. kinda had to grow up quickly, for papyrus' sake. i started looking for a house. with the remaining money i gathered from our house, i managed to take care of the food part, but the amount of money we had left was slim. it would never've paid off the house, and it's not like i could've asked for my dad's last paycheck. nobody remembered him. everyone shrugged my questions off, acting like he was an imaginary friend." Sans slumped back against the bedframe. "so me and papyrus left the capital. i couldn't find a job there, so why bother?"

"How old were you Sans," Toriel asked.

"i was around the age of nine, and papyrus was around four," he explained.

Toriel covered her mouth in shock. "You were out on the streets as a nine year old?"

"well i said around the age of nine. Not quite there yet, but close enough. happy birthday to me, huh? anyway, our search for a house took us through waterfall, and then to snowdin. everyone in snowdin stared at us, and why wouldn't they? skeletal monsters aren't too common around here. then, two of them, children, show up in town? you're gonna get talked about. so, after our journey, me and papyrus were kinda hungry, so we stopped at the bunny shop. we had just enough money to get a couple of cinnabuns and a night's stay at the inn. i wasn't so sure what we were gonna do after that though. as we were walking out of the inn, the bunny at the counter asked us where our parents were." Sans shook his head. "i couldn't answer her question. nobody would've believed me. i expected to leave just like that, maybe dig in the snow for loose change, but the bunny told us to stay there, at least until they could find our parents."

"But they wouldn't find anyone," Toriel noted.

Sans nodded. "yup. knew it wasn't a forever solution, but i made the most of it. i helped people out in the stores with errands. this lasted about six years. after that, i started looking for another job, one that would pay me a little more money then running those errands. nobody in snowdin was hiring though, so i walked around waterfall for a bit. eventually, i came to the snail farm run by the blook family. surely they had a place i could work." Sans shook his head. "not the case, but on the way back, i noticed the king buying snails. now, i've never met asgore before this, but i knew who he was. so, i asked for a job."

Toriel frowned. "And he gave you a job?"

Sans shrugged. "told him our situation, and he couldn't refuse. i now helped the king tend to the flowers. i think he only gave me that job as a way of helping us pay for a house because he would ask me to take a break after picking the weeds off of one or two flowers. Eventually, i had the money to pay for a house. me and papyrus were ecstatic about owning a place of our own. it had enough room for me, papyrus, and even a secret room in the back. i started working on that machine again, but again, i failed. eventually, i completely gave up. this was about three years and a few more jobs later. after that, i stopped counting years. i began to try and forget about what happened, and it sorta worked. i got a couple of new jobs, including the job of judging others, and i found new things to worry about."

"Asriel," Toriel stated sadly.

"yep. that flower was the bane of everything i cared about, and he didn't care. after the reign of flowey was over, then came the terror that was frisk and chara."

Toriel frowned slightly.

"don't get me wrong, i love frisk to death, but uh… pretty sure it wasn't just chara's fault."

She sighed. "Yes yes. Glad that's over with though."

"i was going mad. the flower didn't help with the stress i already had, and frisk and chara only made it worse. i had to watch everyone's death, several times. my brother, the only one i had left, the one who actually tried to forgive and help rehabilitate, was swiftly attacked with a plastic knife or a boxing glove. he was my one family, and i watched him die. then later on, i would die, and after that, i woke up in bed, like nothing ever happened."

"The resets," Toriel asked.

"yes. eventually, there was an outlier timeline, so to say. somehow, me and undyne were being followed by two monster souls. the ending of the universe remained the same, but the beginning of the next caught me off-guard. i woke up to the smell of eggs, and pancakes, and bacon. i was groggy, and sorta shrugged it off at first, but then i noticed that papyrus was actin weird. somehow, he and alphys succeeded in what i failed at so many times. do you know how happy i was to see my dad again?"

"Now you feel like it's all been for nothing, am I correct?"

"it was the happiest i had ever been since my childhood, tori. i finally had my family back. now it seems that happy family is far away again, and that it never was a happy family, not until recently. it's upsetting, knowing what i know now."

Toriel sighed. "Perhaps he's changed."

"a leopard never changes it's spots."

Toriel got up and laid down on the floor. Sans followed suit, resting his head on Toriel's shoulder. "The stars are pretty tonight," she noted, trying to change the topic.

"yeah. if you look closely, you can even make shapes from the stars." He pointed to a star and began to draw a line. Having someone in the room helped the skeleton notice more stars at a time. "if you follow it like so…" Using blue magic, he left a light blue trail to better see the figure. "you'll begin to see the vague shape of a dog. that particular one is called, and stay with me now, canis major, or the greater dog."

Toriel grinned. "Isn't that one of the old members of the Royal Guard."

"yup! pretty cool, huh?"

"I'll say so. What a neat coincidence."

Sans smiled. He let out a small yawn. He rubbed his eye socket and pointed back at the sky. "there are so many stars, that it's impossible to count them all."

"We should make our own constellation," Toriel insisted. She pointed at the stars and began to draw a path in the stars. She drew out two lines of stars next to each other. The stars seemed to be clustered around the top of one line and the middle of the next. "See, if you look closely, it looks like a hugging couple. "

There was a light snoring sound. Toriel looked to her shoulder and notices Sans sleeping and trying to bury his face in her fur. Toriel giggled and wrapped her arms around the skeleton. She moved his head to her arm. "Goodnight, my shining star."

And done! So, I know people probably expected one of the other paths, but I've neglected Sans in this whole thing, and they've got a relationship. Also taking this time to write some Soriel. Also took this time to write a backstory. Y'know, music really does help write a scene. Sans' secret room music did wonders for this. Anyway, hope you liked it! Bye guys!