Brave New World

Chapter 33: Brave New World

There were so many glistering stars that Sans couldn't count them all.

He didn't really know if he'd ever get used to looking up at such a magnificent, terrifying sight.

Wonder how long it will last.

But it seemed to go on forever and ever, even before the horizon reached the sky; dancing pines swaying gently in a warm night breeze, the breath of the open earth greeting them all lovingly with a starlit mantle. It wasn't just an awesome thing to behold, it made Sans' soul tremble. He had to keep resisting the urge to retreat back into the caverns and couldn't quite hold the feeling at bay as he'd have liked to, so wound up tensing his eye sockets shut and practicing his breathing exercises. It didn't help much, but the little squeeze of a hand in his own brought him through his thoughts. Frisk didn't even speak, but clung to his hand tightly as the gentle embers of their campfire dwindled.

Papyrus was always the first to add more wood to the fire, carefully prodding in more gathered sticks with a bit of magic, tiredly keeping watch as the odd gathering awaited.

"It isn't going to be an easy matter," Asgore spoke before the assembled monsters and single human child, staring up at the sun in the dawn sky as the last of the peaceful twinkling stars faded. "But I have faith that… we can manage. We always do."

They all sat on logs surrounding the campfire, the early morning breeze ruffling gently over them. Sans wanted nothing more than to return to his shared tent with Papyrus and Frisk and sleep for just a couple more years, but he forced himself to remain and listen to the king as he briefed them all on their mission. Frisk sat wordlessly between the skeletons, looking about from person to person as they spoke. They'd barely said a word in the several days that they'd been outside. It didn't seem to bother the others so much, but it was making him rattle. Then again, after what they had been through, Sans was surprised that they could even string sentences together. Sometimes he was amazed he wasn't a constant ball of screaming bones.

"So how are we supposed to do this, your highness?" Undyne shifted uneasily, having removed her armor in favor of a pair of jeans and a tank top, sitting cross legged on one of the logs that she had personally cut down. Alphys was staring pointlessly at her knees with a pink tinge to her cheeks, glancing up at the warrior every now and then before timidly turning her head. "We can't just stroll right into the human city and expect everything to work out."

"Actually," Asgore responded quietly. "That is exactly what we plan to do."

If he was expecting any kind of reply or agreement, he was sorely mistaken. It was dead silent for a long, painfully stretching awkward minute.

Then another.

And another.

"… You've gotta be kidding me," Sans balked at him.

"This is not the time for tomfoolery," Asgore said seriously, crossing his massive arms. Sans cringed at the sight across his neck, even the magical healing hadn't removed the scarring. It had to have been uncomfortable. Sans at least had the luxury of having all his bones in place this time but, he still remembered-

-being torn apart from the inside out, forced to watch while the muffled shrieks of pain went ignored and eventually stifled. He couldn't even tell who was screaming anymore, a jumble of vines and thrashing violence and blood and bones and dust and oh god it hurts just let it end the pain won't stop please bring them back I don't want to be alone please Papyrus I can't watch please don't make me watch it hurts I don't want to die anymore just make it stop-

Frisk's hand in his own was clenching so tightly that it hurt his phalanges, but he felt a surge of gratefulness regardless. Sans took in a slow, heavy breath through his teeth, giving their hand a little squeeze back and rubbing their knuckles with his thumb to silently let them know. They must have recalled their experience just as vividly, and it made him worry. He wanted to throw something, he wanted to scream that he shouldn't be alive after what that thing had put them through. Papyrus was okay, still alive, he couldn't keep getting distracted. His brother had lost so much, but still pulled through. But if Frisk could also manage to pull through long enough to do this, then so could he. He had to try.

Sans quietly cleared his throat in discomfort, trying to still himself. It wasn't going to be a problem so long as he didn't think about it.

Just don't think about it.

"There are few among us that could possibly pass for humans for long, and you are the best candidate in that venture," The leader wearily continued. Sans forced himself to bring his gaze back to him. He kept feeling so far away, it was a struggle just to stay awake, but he still clung to his king's every word. "I am hereby charging you with the mission to-"

"Asgore, you can't be serious," Toriel said in exasperation, pinching the bridge of her snout irritably. "You just can't possibly expect that to work."

"Am I at least allowed to finish ?" Asgore frowned a little huffily.

"Sans. You are possibly the best that we have in the field of infiltration. I need you to requisition supplies, but should anything go wrong you are hereby ordered to flee the human city without any hesitation. The very last thing that we want is to cause a panic."

"Well, you've… thought it out, at least…" Toriel said in dissatisfaction. "For once."

"I would also like you to take the human Frisk with you on this mission," Asgore continued quietly, leaning forward on the log and folding his hands over his massive knees. "Perhaps if the humans see that their kind and monsters can peacefully coexist, there will be a lowered possibility of potential violence."

"… You want me to take the kid as a freakin' shield?" Sans balked at him, fighting to keep his temper in check. He could feel Frisk tensing uneasily beside him.

"Nothing so… drastic," Asgore tapped his fingertips together nervously from the absolutely boiling look that Toriel was giving him. "I just believe that it would be better for everyone involved if you were to take the human with you."

"And what does Frisk have to say about this?" Papyrus asked quietly, his partial arm still in the sling that Toriel had made for him. He looked down to the child awaiting their response. Instead of speaking, they simply gave him a small smile and slowly took Sans' hand in their own, determination in their thin eyes.

"… Guess that's that, huh," Sans shrugged. "A'ight. We'll go on recon, I guess. You ready for this, Frisky-bits?"

Frisk simply swallowed and nodded, taking a slow, shaking breath before beaming up at him, giving his hand a little squeeze.

And here we go.

The gleaming seaside city stood before them, a monument to the technological advancement of humanity. It was impressive from a distance, they had all seen it from the forest, but up close it was absolutely surreal. Sans didn't really think he'd ever see it in his lifetime. He kept expecting to wake up back in Snowdin, looking out through his familiar little window at the constant snowfall, and yet the warm seaside weather beckoned them further. Frisk gripped Sans's hand tightly as they walked, but still they were completely silent. He couldn't particularly say that he was all that surprised. After the unspeakable… things that the demented flower had done with them, done to them and forced him to watch…

But Frisk carried on regardless, and they did it with a smile. Like it had never even happened. Like they hadn't lain broken beyond repair before him, covered in blood. They kept going, no matter what. They really were so much stronger than him. If they could keep going, then so could he.

Have to try.

Just have to try.

Just a little.

Just… try.

The forest ever so slowly began to give way to paved paths, the tall spruces and pines becoming thinner as they descended the mountain and traversed the roads. It seemed that Frisk knew the right direction, but even if they didn't Sans would follow anyway. Soon trees and bushes began to give way to more paved roads and houses on the outskirts of the city. There were a growing number of houses and apartments with neat little lawns, but they passed right by them. Sans kept his hood up tightly as a couple of cars passed, but thankfully nobody seemed to notice. Whirring, roaring machines that flew by without even slowing for them. He simply held onto Frisk and carried on, his mind feeling heavy with thoughts and plans. They needed this to work. Stars, the humans had so much concrete it was ridiculous. Were all cities like this on the surface? So bustling and nonstop and full of activity? If so, it was both strange and a little exciting at the same time. He kept his hood over his head as they walked in silence, a little daydream of what it would be like to ride those roads. His soul skipped a little when he thought of enjoying that kind of possibility, of how close all monsters were to such a glorious freedom.

And all he had to do was not fuck this up and ruin the first chance for everyone's lives.

So, no pressure.

Frisk paused by a wooden bus stop sign, looking fearfully about for a few moments. Sans stopped with them, gently rubbing his thumb over the back of their hand. It seemed to calm them slightly.

"… You okay, buddy?" Sans asked quietly. Instead of answering, Frisk checked nervously around, dancing from foot to foot. "Frisk? Come on, kiddo. Talk to me here."

Frisk opened and closed their mouth a few times, flushing pink and turning away from him, shamefaced. It… hurt, that they wouldn't speak. He'd heard Chara talk. Definitely not much, but at least a few sentences here and there. Why wouldn't they?

Actually, he had a pretty good idea.

He had to fight to keep his fists from clenching. That damned flower.

He really wished that Papyrus hadn't killed it.

Only because he wanted to slow roast it over an open fire.

Frisk drew him over by the bus stop, glancing back every now and then at Mount Ebott in the distance. Did they even know where they were going? Sans stared up at the mountain, hardly able to believe his eye sockets. The behemoth of dirt felt so far away and so close simultaneously. It wasn't all that long ago that they were all beneath the mammoth of earth, buried and trapped. And here they were, looking up into the sky with the breeze on their faces, enjoying the bright morning sunlight. It all just felt so… impossible . Sans quietly wondered how long it would be before the next reset. And that thought was promptly followed by the doubt that the fear would ever leave.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sans froze upon hearing the rough voice. Frisk stiffened considerably beside him, instinctively shifting a little behind him. "I asked for sausage, you troglodyte!"

"Look, man," Sans stared at the blonde man with short spiky hair standing on one of the apartment doorsteps. His voice was scratchy, like it didn't quite match the rest of him. "I'm really sorry about the mix up my dude. Are you sure you don't still want the pizza-?"

"No I don't want your fucking pizza! " the bearded man standing in the apartment doorway screamed at the blonde person with a large square pack slung over his back. "I'm not paying for shit unless you get my order right, dumbass!"

And with that the door was slammed roughly in the blonde man's face. Weirdly enough, the human didn't do much. Sans just watched him give a little shrug. He sighed quietly, placing the box back into his pack and turning on the spot, marching down to a worn down, beaten up red car. He paused for a moment as he realized that Sans and Frisk were openly staring at him only a few feet away.

"… Sorry about that," the blonde man with the pointy nose rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, pointing a thumb back at the building. "Poor guy must have had a bad day. The 'za is really not bad, some people are just-just… uh…"

It took him a moment as he stared fully back at Sans, peering into the darkness under his drawn up hood to see his skeletal face. Then he slowly pinched his arm, looking back and forth between his arm and the skeleton. Then a few more times.

"Yo," Sans said, causing the man to jump a little.

"Okay," the blonde man ran a hand over his short, spiky hair. "Okay. So this is happening. Are, uh… are you real ?"

"The last time I checked I was," Sans answered quietly. Frisk was almost hiding behind him, and his grip on them tightened defensively. But they still tried to force themselves to stand tall. "Guess I don't check very often."

"… Cool," he shrugged after a moment, eyes bulging a bit before he shook his head. "Alright. Cool. Um. Roll with it. Well, I've got a pizza here that nobody's eating, and you look like you're skin and bones. Or, uh, just bones, actually."

Sans snorted a little at that.

The first human aside from Frisk that they met, and he was telling jokes. Maybe humans weren't so bad after all.

"The name's Blake, by the way," Blake pulled the pizza from his pack, sitting down on the doorstep and holding it open on his lap. "Blake Roudy. Hope you guys like pepperoni, 'cause that's all I've got. Plenty, actually."

"Sounds good to me," Sans drew Frisk a little closer as they sat on the step next to him, and Blake passed them each a piece of the pie. "The name's Sans, by the way. And this little monster is Frisk. Good to meetcha, buddy."

"Same here," Blake grinned at him through a mouthful of pizza. "Either somebody spiked my drink again or this is officially one of my weirdest days, 'cause I don't think I'm on shrooms today. So…" he said after he'd swallowed. "I can't help but notice that you're, uh… not exactly human ."

"No, not really," Sans shrugged lightly. "You're not really reactin' the way I'd expected, to be honest."

"What?" Blake shrugged in return. "I think it's mostly shock. For all I know I'm hallucinating, and if I'm not then the weirdness is defo' gonna kick in when I accept it. I'm sure I'll start freaking out later dude. And here I thought monsters didn't exist."

"You'd be surprised," Sans grinned at him. He held out a hand and Blake took it without hesitation with a slightly worried grin. And then the whoopie cushion in his hand went off. Sans held up the toy with a smirk, and Blake just shook his head and laughed.

"Oh, man. Come on. Really? You're so mature."

But he still laughed.

At the very least the human seemed to have a decent sense of humor. Sans could acknowledge that.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sans noticed Frisk flinch sharply at the voice. The bearded man stood directly behind them, glowering down at them. "Get off my property! You're just going to-!"

He couldn't quite seem to finish his sentence as he saw San's head slowly turn toward him, a dimly glowing blue light in his left eye. Then the man slowly retreated in abject horror without turning, slamming the door. Sans heard several locks click and clunk into place, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"See, that's the kind of reaction I was expectin'," Sans shrugged again, finishing off his pizza slice. The greasy human food wasn't too bad. "Can't wait for the others to get such a warm welcome."

"Others?" Blake blinked curiously, offering Sans and Frisk more before the skeleton shook his head. Blake stared and began putting the rest of the pizza in his pack and zipping it up. "There are more skeletons just hanging around? Like, do you live in a graveyard with skeletons or something, or…?"

"Just one other, actually," Sans said quietly. "My brother. They're, uh, kind of waiting on us to get back by the mountain."

"… Need a lift?" Blake nodded toward his beaten up red car.

"I'd… actually really appreciate that," Sans smiled a little.

"Coolio. Hop in, my dude," he drew himself up and twirled a small key ring out of his pocket through his fingers.

"Maybe…" Sans started quietly as he sent a quick message on his phone. "Yeah. I think you'll do just fine."

"Not sure exactly what that means, my grim reaper lookin' dude, but it sounded way ominious."

"Ho~ly crap."

"Guys," Sans gestured to the monsters surrounding the campfire as Alphys and Undyne toasted marshmallows. "I acquired a human. This is Blake. Roudy, you said, right?"

The blonde man stood in utter breathless awe of the collected monsters as Asgore slowly approached him from his tent, drawing himself up to his full height. At least they'd all had the sense to heed the texts that Sans sent ahead with his worn out old cell phone and tried to look presentable. He was several heads higher than the human, and he seemed to notice this, and he lowered his horned head a little with a smile.

"Greetings," Asgore rumbled, holding out his hand. The human jolted out of his shock and blinked rapidly. Blake's own hand seemed so comparatively small in Asgore's paw as he shook his hand in disbelief. "I am King Asgore. You must be the human that Sans informed us of."

"K-king? I mean, your-your highness! You're monsters," Blake said in shock. "You're… guess this is really happening. Wow, I mean, you're literally all monsters."

"That gonna be a problem ?" Undyne leered at him, crossing her arms after cracking her knuckles. Her eye glinted dangerously, her teeth looking sharp in her grin.

"Nope, no problems here," Blake held up his hands defensively, smiling back nervously. "Just kind of… freaking out right now. This is kind of some life changing stuff, so, uh, I do hope you'll please give me a minute to adjust."

"Please, take all the time that you need," Toriel said kindly, standing beside Asgore. Sans couldn't help but admire her as she introduced herself, all smiles and warmth. She was the figure of grace itself, or at least he thought so.

"Thank you, miss…?"

"You may call me Toriel," she responded elegantly, bowing her head a little and folding her hands over themselves in front of her dress. "It has been a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Mister Roudy."

"Oh, please, just call me Blake!" Blake blurted and beamed up at her, running a hand over his spiked hair. He hurriedly gave a little bow as well, clearly uncertain but at least trying. "And it's nice to meet you too, Toriel!"

"This is Alphys," Undyne jabbed a thumb at the nervous scientist. It was pretty apparent that Alphys would much rather be anywhere else than the center of attention as everyone looked toward her.

"H-h-hi…?" Alphys waved a claw at him. She looked ready to try a turtle impression inside her lab coat.

"IT'S VERY NICE TO MEET YOU, HUMAN! "

Blake jolted when Papyrus burst out of one of the nearby bushes, throwing out his tattered cape with pride. His arm outstretched to Blake with a wide smile still seemed to more than startle the human, but still shook his hand anyway. Sans almost felt a trickle of pity for him as he watched Papyrus almost shake the frightened human's arm off.

Heh. Bro could use a new one after all.

"You may now embrace the glory that is the Great Papyrus!" the lanky skeleton was at least sensible enough to lower his boisterous voice just a bit, his always observant brother realizing just how equal parts eager and afraid he seemed to be. "You need not fear!" he confidently thrust his one fist to his chest, showing off his 'battle body'. "For the Great Papyrus is here!"

"Cool," Blake almost giggled, seeming to finally come to terms with the oddness that swarmed them all. "Frickin' awesome, my dude. It's nice to meet you too."

"I'm a mascot now!" he lauded with glee. "King Asgore promoted me! I'm pretty much the best chef in the world too, so try not to be too intimidated by my overwhelming splendor, new human friend!"

"I'll try real hard my dude," Blake was obviously trying to keep from laughing. Sans could almost see stars in the human's eyes as he glanced back to him. "You're pretty cool."

"Damn right he is!" Undyne muscled in and laughed. Blake started to reach out to give her a handshake as well before he realized that Undyne wasn't moving an inch, just standing tightly between Alphys and Asgore, crossed arms tight as a miser's purse. "I trained Papyrus myself, he's pretty freakin' tough! "

"I'll bet building muscle must have been a real challenge," Blake responded jokingly. "And, uh, it's nice to meet you too, miss…?" "Undyne! " she stood a bit straighter, her shark-like grin growing predatory and wide. "I kick ass and take names," Undyne leaned in with her eye glinting green. "And I've already got half done, so you'd better be a nice human."

Sans really wished that she hadn't thrown in the threat, but Blake didn't seem all too bothered. Or if he was, he was good at hiding it. He just nodded nervously and smiled before gathering up those odd red square boxes he'd been carrying.

"So what exactly are you guys all doing out here?" Blake asked as he passed around the pizzas, eventually sticking his hands in his pockets and looking from person to person. "I'm kinda still in the dark here, Sans didn't explain much on the car ride here."

"We were recently freed from our prison by the human Frisk," Asgore stated quietly as he inspected the pizza slice. Frisk nodded wordlessly at this, and Blake blinked.

"… Prison?" he shifted awkwardly.

"Under the mountain," Sans explained. "Monsters are free now."

"Whoa," Blake breathed. "So, like, there's even more of you? I thought that all of those old stories about monsters under the mountain were just myths, but…"

"Here we are," Papyrus greeted him warmly. "We are quite real, I assure you."

"Sorry, man," Blake laughed nervously. "This is still kind of a lot to take in. Meeting all of you guys, and royalty, and monsters being real. This is a lot to take in."

"We understand if you would like to take time to process all of this," Toriel said gently.

"Do you have, like… homes out here in the woods?"

"We haven't really had time for that," Sans explained tiredly. "Like Asgore said, we kinda just got out. This is a lot ta take in for all of us, too."

"And you guys have just been… out here camping in the woods since you got out?"

"Pretty much," Undyne shrugged openly.

"… Okay," Blake clapped his hands together, determination plain in his eyes. "Okay. That settles it. You fellas seem nice. Camping sucks, I think you're all neat and you dudes deserve better. You guys are all invited to my flat until you can get your own places." This was met by absolute dead silence.

And then a lot more cheerfulness than Sans had expected.

It would appear that they would all be visiting the human city much earlier than they expected.

Blake did not have a large vehicle.

It was decided that Sans, Papyrus and Frisk would go in one trip, while Undyne, Alphys and Toriel would be the next. Asgore would receive travel last, as that would give him ample time. Plus, he took up a lot of room. Just trying to get into the vehicle was a struggle for him. And there was no force on earth that was going to make Toriel ride with Asgore.

"I will return to my people for now," Asgore informed them all, waving everyone goodbye. "They must be informed of the surface happenings, there is only so much that my scouts can report. My people need their king. I trust that they are in good hands, human Blake."

"Just don't let things get too crazy and you'll be fine," Sans gave him a thumbs up as he helped Papyrus into Blake's small car. "I expect everyone is gonna be pretty thrilled about the barrier."

"And understatement if I ever heard one," Asgore shook his head slowly with a quiet laugh. "I shall return as swiftly as I can and join you all afterwards. We shall have the celebration of the century."

Asgore stood behind by himself, gazing up at the mountain as Sans watched the world speed away.

It took roughly twenty minutes to go from the woody forest to Blake's abode on the edge of Ebott city. Sans couldn't keep his eyes off of the lights of the city, glimmering and blinking away like the humans were trying to light up the whole world. It seemed… gaudy . A hint of bitterness struck him then, all of the excess humans had just to show off to the world. But he shook it off quickly enough.

"And here we go," Blake shifted in his seat for a moment, staring up from the shade of the buildings. "Not necessarily the Ritz, but it's not bad, either."

"You own all of this?" Papyrus stared up at the building with a wide smile. Blake snorted and shook his head, opening the back door for the skeleton. "Wowie! How did you build it so tall?"

"Nah. Just a little flat," he chuckled. "Apartments aren't exactly, uh, the biggest, but I'm sure I've got room for everybody. Just gotta make a little space is all. Don't worry my dude, I'll help however I can."

The car pulled into a mostly empty lot, cracked cement and parkways overrun with weeds. Sans marched in silence the entire way, Frisk clinging tightly to his hand. He could sense their worry, and he could relate. All of this change was… a lot to handle. Stars how he wished they would talk again. He couldn't help but worry, no matter how badly he wanted to go back to his comfortable apathy. They traversed a couple of flights of rusted metal stairs and Blake fished in his pocket for a moment before digging out a key ring and unlocking the door. There wasn't much of a view from the balcony except of the car lot, but just over the edge of the buildings Sans could see the city stretching away before him. There was simply so much now, so much to explore.

He didn't have the energy for any of that. There was still so much on his mind, still so much to process. He needed to think and couldn't bear to. It was, quite simply, utterly overwhelming.

As it turned out, Blake did not necessarily have a large apartment, either. It kind of reminded him of his own house with Papyrus. They entered through a tidy little kitchen which connected to a small living room where a single, worn old recliner cramped beside a small squishy sofa, but Sans's eyes were solely on the bean bag chair. A slim hallway lead down to a couple of dark rooms, but he was too tired to investigate. He dropped onto it and half expected a whoopie cushion noise, though he wasn't entirely certain on why. Perhaps his mind was just still too frazzled from recent events. He could still see that damned smug, self satisfied smirk every time that he closed his eye sockets. It was awful enough on its own, but what was he supposed to do? There was no point in fighting, so he wouldn't even bother. He heard Frisk clambering up onto the sofa nervously, but didn't open his eye sockets. Sans had to physically resist the urge to move over and take their hand again, and didn't know quite why.

"Just make yourselves at home," Blake gestured a little lamely about at the place, noting that Papyrus was gazing about in wide eyed wonder. "I'll run back and pick up the others quick as I can. 'Till then, uh, I guess the television works, if you want. Don't really have much except for old Disney flicks."

"… What's a Disney flick?" Papyrus blinked.

"… Oh my god," Blake's grin slowly grew as he clapped him on the shoulder. "You, my friend, are in for a treat ! Help yourselves to anything you'd like. Be back in about twenty."

"You got it, boss," Sans gave a sleepy thumbs up without opening his eyes.

He was going to say something else before he passed out, but was interrupted by something very large and very heavy landing in his lap. For a moment he thought it was Frisk climbing on top of him, and his soul skipped a little beat again. He cracked an eye socket to stare at what was possibly the fattest house cat that he had ever seen, covered in orange fur with little white stripes.

"Guess I forgot to introduce Crisco," Blake sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, his one earring flashing in the dim light. "He usually doesn't like visitors much."

'Crisco' was purring loudly in Sans's lap, rolling over onto his back and kicking his stubby little paws in the air with a pleased expression on his face. Sans absentmindedly scratched at his belly

with his fingertips, causing the cat to wriggle a bit and almost fall out of his lap a couple of times.

"… Weird," Blake shrugged. "He's not much of a guard dog."

"Maybe because he's a cat?" Papyrus proffered helpfully. Blake only laughed and shook his head, waving them all goodbye as he turned on the spot with a mock salute to the side of his head, marching away. They were left in silence for a little while, and Sans had almost fallen asleep when he was prodded awake.

"Whuzzat?" he forced his aching eye sockets open.

"Sans." Papyrus said seriously. "What on earth is a 'Disney flick'?"

"Not a clue, bro."

Frisk interrupted them by tugging at Papyrus's hand, and the skeleton glanced down to see the child eagerly holding up a rectangular plastic box with a picture of a mermaid on the front. "Well," Papyrus crossed his arm and a half. "I guess it's a start."

It was nearly an hour before they returned.

Papyrus was pacing nervously by the door in little circles, glancing every now and then up at the movie at Frisk seemed to be utterly enraptured by. He was happy to see them at least smiling a little. Sans slipped in and out of consciousness, unable to fully fall asleep, just as the previous night. Every time that he closed his eye sockets, he could still see-

Frisk pleading for mercy as they were brutally broken in front of himover and over again. Time and time again, the bloated flower just didn't listen. Didn't care. He wasn't just torturing them out of maliciousness by this point. Sans guessed that maybe he was just doing it out of boredom. His throat felt so hoarse from screaming, feeling so utterly drained and emptied. There was no escape.

Nobody would come to save them. He couldn't even save himself.

He was so pathetically weak, it was his fault. He couldn't save them. He couldn't save himself. All he could do was watch until it was his turn

Split, broken, battered, torn, fractured. He could feel a piece ofhimself die every time that the light in their eyes slowly went out, but the flower didn't stop. It was just so… methodical. So routine. Like he'd done all of this before. He probably had. All of the timelines were crashing into each other so frequently he couldn't even keep track anymore. It was just one big blur of violence and pain, of thrashing uselessly to free himself, reaching for magic that wouldn't answer him anymore and it was just like

Being trapped in that godawful cell all over again. No outside light,no escape, no hope. But that wasn't necessarily true. So long as he had little Papyrus, it wasn't all terrible. He didn't see how the skeleton could possibly keep hoping for the best when he knew what was coming, what would inevitably happen all over again

Hearing the screams of pain as he stared down the checkeredgolden hall. Or was it in Snowdin? There was snow, certainly. Or maybe there wasn't. Just ash. Ash and dust cluttering the air. Watching almost like it were a film of someone else's life as his limbs were forcibly removed from his body one by one, unable to die as the demented flower pumped green healing magic into him, forcing him to live on through his broken shrieks of agony barely heard over the constant, unending laughter-

Sans jolted awake when he heard a sharp gasp. His eye flashed dangerously as he jerked upwards, scanning for the source of danger. Instead he saw Frisk sitting with their legs drawn up to their chin, staring with wide eyes at an apparently pivotal part in the movie. That was right. They were above ground. It was over. It was over.

It's over.

Sans let out a weak, shaky laugh as he sank back down into the beanbag chair, earning a strange glance from Papyrus. The startled fat cat mrowled up at him crankily and readjusted himself to further sink into his lap, but Sans didn't mind. It was just truly starting to sink in, and it was… too much . It was all just too much. He wanted to laugh and scream and cry all at once.

It was over.

The weed was gone.

It was finally gone.

He wanted to speak, wanted to talk to his brother, to Frisk, to anyone, but what was he even supposed to say?

So instead, he said nothing. He simply closed his eye sockets again and let out a quiet sigh, knowing full well that he certainly wasn't going to be doing any sleeping any time soon. Papyrus paced again and again until the doorknob finally ticked and turned, revealing a pleasantly surprised looking queen standing regally in the doorway.

"Oh. How quaint!" Toriel smiled softly as she gazed around at the little apartment.

"'Quaint' is awfully generous. Like I told the others, make yourselves at home!" Blake said cheerfully, earning an odd glare from Undyne, who stood with her arms crossed behind the queen. "I've got pretty much nothing but pizza, so if you like that then I guess we're set for a while. I'm gonna head back and pick up… Asgore, right?"

"It's certainly… something," Alphys peeked around Undyne, tapping her claws nervously. "I wish I had access to my computer right now, there's quite a f-few things I'd l-like to document…"

"I've got just the thing," Blake snapped his fingers, crossing the threshold and moving at a brisk pace through the hallway. He returned out of breath a couple of moments later with a small laptop tucked under one arm, looking nervous over something.

"Just, uh… had to delete the browser history first," he informed Alphys, somewhat uncomfortably.

"… For what?"

"No-no reason," he shrugged, pulling his key ring from his pocket and twirling it deftly through his fingers. "Knock yourself out. I've got a couple of games on there too if you'd like."

"So what took everyone so long?" Papyrus asked a little too loudly, unable to keep the relief out of his voice.

"Somebody insisted that we stop at a little bento place," Undyne shifted, somewhat awkwardly. "It was, uh. Kind of cool, actually."

"Why bento?" Sans cocked a skeletal eyebrow at the blushing scientist, certain that he already knew.

"No-no reason," Alphys shrugged.

"… What's a 'bento'?" Papyrus blinked.

"Kind of like a snack?" Undyne offered the door open for Blake, who nodded thankfully. She was very pointedly not looking at his arm, and it was taking all of her concentration. "Usually with rice, sometimes with noodles."

"So it's spaghetti?" he blinked again.

"You… you do realize that noodles don't just come in spaghetti, right Paps?"

Papyrus did not seem to have an answer for that. If anything it looked like the poor skeleton had just suffered a massive shock to the system.

"Hey," Blake poked his head back in through the door. "You know, if you like spaghetti, I can always pick some up."

"You would do that?" Papyrus beamed at him joyfully. "Just for us?"

"Uh, yeah? It's-it's not a big deal," he laughed and shook his head as he left again. "See you guys in a bit. I'll try to be faster this time, promise dudes."

"Human undernet is so fascinating," Alphys murmured in wonder more to herself than anything as she hopped up onto the sofa beside Frisk without sparing them a second glance. She then paused for a moment, looking extremely nervous as she peered over the top of the laptop screen at Frisk.

"… U-uh, um, h-hi," Alphys stuck out a trembling claw, which Frisk took silently with a smile. "I d-don't think w-we've been introduced. I'm s-sorry, I'm really bad at this k-k-kind of thing, I've seen you on a lot of the security cams," she continued to blurt before awkwardly shifting under the child's stare. "I-I mean, I-I'm Alphys, A-Asgore's royal scientist."

Frisk didn't speak.

"Um, a-anyway…" Alphys cringed a little at their silence, drawing herself up a little. "I'm going to find out w-what I can from the human internet."

"Sounds like a solid plan," Sans yawned and closed his eyes again. If it was anything like monster's internet thing then it was probably pretty boring. He heard Toriel fussing in the kitchen over Papyrus's arm, and Sans felt that well of sadness crawl up into his chest again no matter how much he tried to force it down. Papyrus had sacrificed so much for them, and he just kept on going. He was like Frisk. They were both so much stronger than him.

He… needed to be stronger.

Maybe it was time to pay Grillby another visit.

And the entire time, Sans couldn't help but feel as though, somehow, he was being watched.

.