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Sans doesn’t open his window after the first rock. Nor the second, nor the third. No, it takes a whopping total of six pebbles thrown his way before he finally takes the hint, opening the window and sticking his stupid skeletal head out.
“‘Scuse me?” He mumbles, bags underneath his eye sockets. He looks down, brow crinkling with confusion when he spots Chara. “Kid? It’s three AM, the heck are you doin’ here?”
They make eye contact, and Chara has to stop themselves from flinching away. It’s a gaze you just can’t hide anything from. And thank the lord, it only takes Sans about five seconds before he gets it.
“Oh,” He says. “You’re not Frisk.”
(OR: In which Chara obtains Frisk's body and soul after a No-Mercy route, but can't quite seem to muster the anger they once had. So, they turn to someone else instead.)
I've been going back into my Undertale phase recently, so here's my take on the end of the Soulless Pacifist Route! This was originally gonna be a comic, but I decided to turn it into a one-shot instead. (you can prolly see that in some places lmao)
⌈ UNDERTALE HUMAN!SANS x MONSTER!OC ⌋
(n.) the journey of changing one’s mind, heart, self, or way of life
CONTENT WARNINGS: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE · RACISM · MENTIONS OF ABUSE · MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE · DISCRIMINATION · FAT SHAMING · ANGST · SLIGHT SEXUAL THEMES · ROMANCE · PLOT WITH IMPENDING PORN
Word count: 4,724 words
- - - -
Awh, shii, here we go again.
yup, i'm makin' another fic and it's similar to my previous fic AMATIVE. This fic is considered a "Canon" x OC and not an x Reader, so if yer not into that, I'd suggest skeddaddling now. If you ARE into it... nice.
This is a human!Sans x monster!OC, and the design credit for this human sans belongs to the great @htsan. i know last time i said plz ignore, but y'know what, go crazy wit it this round. maybe i'll become a whore for attention. reblog, like, comment, go ham ig.
please heed the content warnings because the people in this fic are MEAN. and, for the record, the OC does show her side of racism as well, but don't worry. we's fuckin the racism out by the end of this. I've got part 2 finished, but part 3 might take a minute...
That's all I got though! Enjoy part one. Cha cha <3
- - - -
“Bold of you to bring me to a restaurant with a bunch of fish tanks surrounding us,” grumbles a black cat, whose voice is tight and churlish.
Sitting across a plump man—whose clean-shaven head proves well to blind passing monsters and humans alike—is a feminine black cat, her radiant golden eyes squinting sharply at his dorky grin. She sits with her slender and furry arms crossed over her chest, rustling her creamy halter strap crop top.
He chuckles, “didn’t want us ta get stuck de-bait-ing where we should eat, so i thought this would be a fin place.”
“...” The black cat monster says nothing, but her acidic squinting quickly evolves into an unimpressed grimace. “...die.”
“pff- don’t be koi now—”
“Quit it.”
“you finally let me reel you out for once—”
“I said stop.”
“and you’re wearin’ a pretty dress for the occasion...”
“...”
“...” The man grins, his flabby chin resting on the flats of his palms. “it really made my jaws drop when i first craw you.”
Lune’s gold-tipped ears immediately fold back, her nose twitching. Her features instantly scrunch up, regret over saying “yes” to going out boiling deep within. The cat’s pupils shrink into slender threads as she bores her unimpressed stare on Sans’s smug face, her sleek tail swirling beside the curve of her thigh.
“...” Her expression remains sour.
Hehe...
Isn’t he just adorable?
The tightness on Lune’s face loosens on the spot, her lips almost parting to curl back in disapproval, but she stops herself. Instead of staring at the clean-shaven human with affliction written all over her face, the black-furred cat merely gawks back at him in awe, though something tells Sans it isn’t out of fondness.
...hah?
“Adorable”? Him?
Mm-hmm! He was oh-so sweet for asking you to come out for the night!
...he wouldn’t stop saying “please”.
He’s very persistent!
Agitating.
Don’t be mean! He’s trying his best!
Lune’s face becomes pointed, her point of focus veering off to the side absentmindedly. Her golden gaze narrows as she gazes at one of the luxurious fish tanks.
He should stop.
I’m sick of bein’ duped.
Hh-He isn’t duping you! He’s genuine!
With shrewd precision, Lune peers at the human sitting across from the corner of her eye, her lids squinting acutely. She watches the naturally weary human trail his cerulean eyes up to the ceiling embellished with intricate carvings—they remind him of the crashing waves on a seashore—before they fly to another group of humans wrapped in laughter and merriment. The vibrissae stretched above Lune’s squinted eyes furrow.
I don’t see what makes this human any different than the others.
She inhales slowly, the glow of her golden gaze dimming as she squeezes her lids shut. In a habitual temperament, Lune’s tail curls in on itself only to unfold before it curls again. The cat monster slightly digs her yellow-ish claws into the wood of the table, tendons threatening to bulge out from beneath her furry exterior until she releases her grip.
Lune always took June for a fool. A tall, wide-eyed fool. A voluptuous fool. Why did she have to be the one in control of their SOUL? June is as helpless as a toddler stuck in the middle of a mall—which, ironically, occurred once.
June found Sans in the middle of a road, where a car was destined to crash right into his pudgy and stunted body—perhaps it would have killed him; Lune likes to think it would have. After many laborious months of running into each other and pursuing “dates”, Sans unwittingly professed his affections for the bunny monster on a night of celebration. Supposedly, the drinks had a death grip on him, and unfortunately loosened his tongue.
Ever since then, the three two of them lived together with nothing but tranquility and love between them. At any given chance, Lune insulted the human from within the recesses of June’s mind. Never were they addressed by the bunny herself, but Lune was always there. Always nagging about the evident flaws the human possessed. Always pointing out his insecurities as attempts to change June’s mind and get rid of him.
Of course... none of it ever worked. June always looked at the bright side. June always chose to usher Lune’s words away and embrace the human. She always chose to press her amative kisses on his cheeks, his forehead, his nose, his lips, and his body whenever it offered itself. To say Lune abhorred their boundless affections would be an understatement.
She hated seeing both of them joyous. Didn’t she deserve it, too?
No, she hated seeing June joyous around a human.
What good have humans brought us?
All they do is cheat, lie, and hurt everyone.
Th-That’s just not true!
Lune gradually pivots her ears, flashing their soft pink skin. She glares at Sans.
“Why did you ask for me to go out with you? Got tired of June suckin’ up to ya?” Lune questions him, settling the lengths of her furry arms on the ragged wood of their table.
Sans blinks out of his listless stupor, cerulean eyes quick to latch onto Lune’s pointed expression. He spies the skepticism swirling in her narrowed eyes, but he refuses to draw any offense from her cynical query. Instead, the bald man—who actually decided to wear decent clothing for the night—merely cracks a grin.
“why not? you usually come out at night when e’ryone’s asleep... but you just run around the apartment for... whatever reason...” Sans’s grin slightly stretches, almost appearing thinner to the cat lady across from him. His shoulders rise and fall, lids slowly shutting themselves. “ey, i don’t judge. you do whatever makes ya happy i guess.”
Lune gives him another pointed look before turning her head, mildly irritated at his lack of a straight answer. She hates when he gets all elusive with his responses.
A small grumble reverberates within her vocal cords, “And I’m just supposed to believe you’re genuinely interested in a monster like me and June.”
Lune watches him raise a hairless brow, his hands interlacing each other as they sit on the edge of the table.
“...uh... yeah?” He plainly states.
“...”
It appears the bitter monster remains unconvinced. Slowly, her arms slide off the table and return to the height of her chest in order to weave them together. Her tail swishes at her side, brushing off meager speckles of leftover food from—assumably—the previous customers.
“You know I hate humans, right?” Lune bluntly tells him, hardly bothering with maintaining a sugar-coated disposition.
“yup.”
“...and that doesn’t concern you?”
“...should it?”
Lune’s ears veer away from each other before gradually reclining against the top of her head.
“For a long time I wondered why June would pick someone like you,” she grumbles. “You’re not extraordinary. Not conventionally attractive—”
“water y’talkin’ about? i think you should be a little more s-pacific...”
“Kck—” Lune grits her jagged teeth, whiskered brows furrowing as deep as the Mariana trench. “You’re just proving my point-! You got those annoying jokes, and you never take things seriously! How the hell does June put up with you?”
Sans chuckles, utilizing his hands to shrug.
“maybe she’s just not as crabby as you can be,” he answers, his features consumed by another wave of smugness.
“...”
A prolonged groan mixed with fatigue rolls over the cat’s golden tongue, her pupils rising to the ceiling, teasing the likelihood of rolling her eyes. She denies herself the satisfaction and merely returns her impassive gaze back to Sans.
“...tch- whatever. Just keep me out of it,” mutters the monster, who reclines into her seat.
“...”
Aimlessly kicking his feet under the table, Sans stares back at Lune—who remains persistent in not glancing his way—before he pivots his head entirely to half-heartedly admire the atmosphere. A variety of voices fill the restaurant: loud and indistinct, honeyed and brusque, high-pitched and dull. Most struggle with interlacing each other, fighting in a war of sonority within the building.
The stout human and feline monster entered the scene roughly an hour ago, one bitter and irritated while the other was indifferent to the atmosphere before them. Regardless, Sans thought it would be a great idea if he received his brother’s advice and took Lune out on an o-fish-al date, considering she rarely wanted to pop out when he and June started dating. When she first emerged from June’s subconscious, it... didn’t exactly go the way Sans expected it to.
Immediately, Lune sprung at him and pinned him on the floor, her fangs dripping with an abundance of glossy, sinewy drool. Her unrelenting stare held a malice that practically haunted him for the following nights. He didn’t know he would genuinely fear for his life when facing a monster—he hardly ever had trouble with them before—so he thought Lune wouldn’t be so different.
He regretted his words within a second.
June supposedly fought Lune for the control of the SOUL in that moment, overwhelming her with piercing headaches and numbing every imperceptible nerve in her body. Lune fought desperately to maintain her control. Clawed at her own face and wrestled with herself for the authority of her SOUL, but she inevitably lost to June’s strength and retreated to her subconscious.
“Hhaa-... hhf... hmph...”
June slowly turned to Sans. When he really thought about it... that was the first time he saw her drop her smile out of fear... she dreaded what would happen if she ever let Lune out again.
“...maybe-... maybe we should–” June worriedly lowered her eyes–“postpone... an official meeting... with Lune...” she mumbled, anxiously dropping her head between her shoulders.
Now, after enduring a year and six months of facing Lune on several occasions, the two remain seated across from each other. Lune sits with her arms crossed at her chest, wearing a cream-colored crop top with straps running up her chest, over her collarbones, and behind her neck. Situated around her waist is a dark brown flowy skirt with sunflowers sutured around the edge of the fabric. In Lune’s defense, this was the outfit June begged her to go out in...
Sans, however, unwinds in his seat whilst wearing a simple white button up—multitudes of folds practically carved in the material considering it’s been sitting at the base of his closet for an unspecified amount of time—and a plain gray jacket. His legs are dressed in black slacks that easily pass for a pair of dress pants, not that anyone called him out on them yet.
“...”
“...”
Lune’s posture slightly caves in, her glowing eyes flitting back to Sans’s ordinary expression. When the man catches her curious gaze, he allows his grin to widen. She grimaces and tears her gaze away.
...you’re not going to... say anything?
Tch- why should I? He’s just being weird and...
Again, the female monster guides her skeptical eyes to the human across from her. As she suspects, his cerulean eyes remain locked on her facial features, a look of amusement and mirth twinkling across his face.
Staring.
Blankness quickly takes over Lune’s features, her eyes boring into the fish tank just behind the counter of Sans’s head.
He’s trying to be sweet! He likes you!
Ew... I’d rather... not deal with that.
You used to be super mean when it came to humans, but you’ve gotten better at it!
It’s obvious he’s changed your mind!
Tch-
Did you forget that kids used to throw sticks and rocks at us for being us?
...
Did you forget that Caleb can’t see out of his left eye now because of humans?
I-...
Humans killed cats and rabbits for generations. Who’s to say we’re not next?
Hh-He’s different, Lune! He wouldn’t hurt a-a fly!
You’re a fool. He could become a threat just like—
scchhhhhhhhhhhhh-
Mm—
scchhhhhhhhh-
Wh-
schhhhhh-
Lune blinks out of her acrimonious trance when a distinct shuffling takes place before her, her eyes frantically searching around her as if the culprit is a neighboring table. Soon, however, Lune directs her bemused gaze to the only possible suspect. She stares him down momentarily before batting her eyes down to witness his arm gradually stretching across the table.
The space between her whisker brows decreases, her ears slouching reluctantly, a distinct look of perplexity written all over her furry features. She notices his hand remains plastered atop a square-shaped napkin, further inciting her bemusement.
“...?” Lune stays silent, but her lips momentarily part, as if she means to drop a puzzled comment, though nothing ever leaves her.
Sans’s lids squint with childish glee, eyes locked in on Lune’s twisted features, finding her bewilderment utmost amusing. Quickly, he peels his hand off of the plain white napkin only to recoil his entire posture back to his side of the table.
“...hah?” Is all that Lune manages to utter out.
Opting to ignore the evident glee written on Sans’s face, Lune hesitantly lowers her hand and clasps the napkin. Her yellow finger beans run over the floppy material of the napkin, noticing certain characters are etched into the flatness, a faint note of ink drifting across the pad of her sensitive nose. Upon observing the scent of pen ink, Lune sets her attention onto the napkin itself, creasing the fur between her vibrissae as she concentrates on the written message.
“i’d fuck you silly over this table if nobody else was here.”
“...”
Lune reads it again. Then again. Hoping she misread; skipped a few letters, perhaps.
No...
It definitely says “i’d fuck you silly over this table if nobody else was here”.
My... how bold...
Ew.
Reluctance consumes Lune’s movement as she slowly looks back at the ostensibly grinning man before her, his lids barely hanging. Lune is entirely silent, too starstruck and disturbed to come up with a snarky reply. The napkin remains flopped over the back of her twitching digits, the scribbled words gawking back at Sans although upside down—it almost makes his grin widen.
“...you don’t even have a pen on you,” Lune bluntly states. “...so how the hell did you write this?”
“guess you could say i’d be an ink-credible magician, huh?” Sans snorts, his tubby body gradually leaning forward until he can easily set his elbows on top of the table. “i thought it’d be a pretty fine point gag, y’know.”
“...” She parts her lips before sealing them shut. Seconds later, she peels them open again to speak, “You’re fuckin’ annoying, y’know that?”
“yep. my number one hobby,” he remarks, snapping his fingers before finger gunning the aggravated cat. “eyyyy... when’s our food comin’? i’m kinda hungry. you’d expect them ta bring out some bread, huh? that’s the yeast they could do.”
“Kckk—”
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
“didn’t you order the egg soup?”
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
“i’m eggs-pectin’ it’ll be out here soon,” Sans chuckles. “if they don’t bring us some food, i’ll just keep makin’ these stupid jokes ‘til you crack up.”
“...”
Stiffness takes over Lune’s facial features, her eyes boring themselves into space while her lips are drawn thin. Her right ear flicks at the air repeatedly, as if fencing off a pesky insect attempting to land on her fur. Soon, the cat’s tail curls repeatedly, swishing and twisting at her side like a snake held in a chokehold.
He’s not a threat...
Her eyes slightly widen, wrinkles itching the subtle bridge of her nose and revealing bits of her fangs as she grimaces at the clean-shaven human.
He’s just.
Really.
A n n o y i n g.
“i’m actually enjoying myself,” he remarks, kicking his legs with a look of satisfaction across his face. “y’know... yer really not that bad to be around. sure, it’s also pretty fun makin’ you mad and watching you huff and puff like a big bad wolf. but honestly... you’re a nice change of pace. yer honest... yer pretty resolute. ‘n... y’know. yer...” Sans smiles sheepishly, finally averting his gaze for once before reeling his eyes back to Lune’s puzzled expression.
“you’re... also pretty... pretty. you and juney are pretty,” he admits, raising his shoulders. “even when you’re pipin’ mad, i think you’re pretty to look at.”
“Wh—” Lune winces, her raven-black fur tingling at the base of each follicle she possesses until suddenly... she appears poofy to the human.
Sans flits his attention to her current state, glancing up and down at her fluffiness, unable to resist the knowing grin from spreading across his lips. He rests his fleshy cheeks into the comfort of his palms, practically getting comfortable in his seat while witnessing the feline monster toil with herself after receiving his words of adoration.
“O-Oi-! I’m not... gonna fall for that. You could trick June with that kind of talk, but yy-you won’t get me,” Lune grumbles, firmly crossing her arms over her chest in the manner of a fussy toddler.
“what kinda talk?” Sans hums, gradually letting the weight of his left cheek take over his palm, leading him into cocking his head to the side. “y’mean like... if i told you i love it when your eyes sparkle like the wishing well star cluster... lookin’ at your eyes feels way better than star gazing, too.”
Lune’s SOUL twists, settling deep within the pits of her stomach (if she technically owned one), where it continues to squirm uncomfortably. She shakes slightly, grumbling curses to herself while squeezing her eyes shut and turning her head away.
“Tch-... you just... sound stupid... a-and corny...”
Sans chuckles, “and you sound a little starstruck.”
What the hell is goin’ on? Did he just turn this all on me?
“Y—”
“You-!”
Lune winces when a voice cuts through the atmosphere, her ears instinctively twisting and folding back to protect her sensitive hearing. Her posture adjusts itself while she remains seated, luminous golden eyes quickly searching the room for the source of the voice.
Pivoting her head the instant she catches movement in the corner of her eyes, Lune faces her left, where she witnesses a short-haired human woman with smooth olive skin march up to their table, her steps clearly indicating she means to address Sans. Lune sees the woman is wearing a juniper dress, the fabric hugging the woman’s body and outlining her alluring curves whilst the puffy material sewn across the bosom of her dress allows enough room for the imagination.
The woman has dark brown hair and keeps her hair styled in a soft pixie cut; a means of displaying her innate confidence and authoritative personality. Her dark eyes fall to Sans’s face, recognizing a momentary look of disbelief mixed with a hint of bewilderment.
Much like Lune, Sans flinches upon meeting eyes with the person he did not think he would ever encounter again... his ex-boss. His hairless brows briefly meet at the bridge of his nose before they part once more, discomfort flaring within the confinement of his SOUL. He was looking forward to this date night, too...
“oh...” mumbles the bald man, his lids hanging lethargically.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face to me after what you DID-!” The woman shouts, finally stepping up to Sans’s side and slamming her palm onto the surface of their table. “Do you have ANY idea what you did to me?! You and all those other brainless fucking pigeons!”
Lune blinks before she hardens her gaze, eyeing this human with restricted cynicism as she barks at her date of the night. The feline monster’s tail stills its winding movement, lying lax at her side and dangling off the edge of her chair. Now, a persistent agitation scratches at the back of Lune’s mind... likely originating from the white bunny monster grumbling defensively in her subconscious.
What is this human saying? Those aren’t very nice words!
The human woman firmly stabs the table with her finger, glaring down at Sans, whose expression remains rather composed as he gawks back up at his once-supervisor. Her bulged eyes stare at Sans, miniscule crimson filaments snaking into the whites of her eyes, nostrils flared as she angrily huffs.
“You all think you were some righteous gang of heroic icons for getting me kicked off the executive board? It’s not like that company would’ve hurt without those dollars! Ohh, but you ass-kissing saps couldn’t handle getting your feelings hurt every once in a fucking while. Knowing you, you’d have probably needed those bills just as badly as I did!”
“...i was banking on them to fire you sooner cos of that nasty “charisma” you got there. finding out you were involved in some good ol’ embezzlement, though, was actually a bonus,” Sans responds, his smile stagnant, though a devilish color flashes in his eyes.
As much as she refuses to flatter Sans for his dry yet witty remarks, Lune finds herself blinking dumbly—ears unconsciously flattening against her head—a brief urge to snicker at his words rushes through her. Her tail curls with a lively energy, stirring her raven fur on the side of her thigh.
...that was a little funny.
See!
Doesn’t-... it doesn’t mean anything!
Your SOUL did a little flutterrr...
Sh-Shut up!
“You think this is a fucking joke?! I lost everything because of you and your convoluted friends!” The woman hisses, batting her hands through the air. A disgruntled huff flies past her ear, drawing her venomous gaze to the feline monster, whose radiant golden eyes glare back with the same level of venom. “And, of course, you brought your freak of a girlfriend here. I knew only a fucking monster would wanna date an obese smart-ass like you.”
Sans spies a distinct jerk from the corner of his eye, watching Lune defensively twist her head and upper body to face the bigoted woman. Out of concern over how Lune chooses to retaliate, Sans merely lets out a dry chuckle and rests his cheek on his flattened knuckles, peeking up at his ex-boss with one eye open.
“i’m sure you get lotsa dates with that heavyset attitude of yours,” he remarks, cerulean eye twinkling with an underlying mischief.
The woman’s fair toned face evolves into a deep shade of red, streaks of her dark hair fall out from her once tidied hairstyle, framing her face. Intricate wrinkles are etched above the bridge of her nose, nostrils flaring uncontrollably, and her eyes now stretched as wide as they can be—blood vessels visibly peeping out within the whites of her eyes.
“WHY YOU PIECE OF—!”
Sans’s smug smile drops, his fist falling down onto the surface of their table. For a moment, he panics, witnessing the woman promptly turn. He expected a punch or a slap at first... having winced the second she moved. Instead, Sans’s panic magnifies when his attention is caught by the sight of her digits curling around a cool glass of water—beads of liquid garnishing the circumference of the cup. With a wall sitting directly beside Sans, the human male realizes his fate is doomed by a frigid glass of clear water mixed with hints of lemon, raising a hand to his face to brace for the shock.
Creeak—
! SPLASH !
“...”
“...”
“...?”
Keeping his eyes squeezed shut, Sans holds his breath in suspense, knowing he is bound for an impromptu shower... though not a drop of water hits him. Astounded gasps and murmurs crash over the atmosphere like a wave, further perplexing the clean-shaven human, who reluctantly guides his hand away from his face.
“hh-... huh?”
Plip...
Plop...
Plip...
Standing in front of Sans, and effectively taking the cold splash of the water, is Lune. Water seeps into the fabric of her top and skirt, gradually clinging onto her fur, which is now just as soaked. Her fur—saturated with ice-cold water—shines beneath the azure brilliancy of the restaurant, unable to cling onto the descending drops of fluid. Lune’s furry cheeks now sag with an abundance of water adhering to each strand of hair on her face.
Lune’s ears slowly unfold, turning in order to reveal their soft pink skin to the red-faced woman, the golden hue garnishing the tips dramatically dimmed along with her eyes.
Sans’s eyes widen, shock flowing through him and sending him into a state of pure silence. His lips remain parted, but no sound ever escapes him. He cannot summon a single thought. Seeing Lune standing before him, drenched in the water that was intended to hit him, stupefies Sans. He was so convinced she loathed everything about him. Loathed him.
Why take this onslaught for him?
“...” Lune blankly stares at the enraged woman, confining any signs of discomfort within her SOUL. She feels water trickle down every thread of fur on her face until every drop congregates at the apex of her chin, plummeting down to soak into her cream-colored shirt.
“Wh—” The woman stands tall, lowering the glass she tightly clasps in her hand.
Sans shimmies himself closer to the outer edge of his seat, hoping to reach his hand out to Lune. He worriedly lifts his gaze, aiming his focus onto the back of her head.
“lu... -ne...?” He tests his voice.
She slightly turns her head, glancing down at Sans from the corner of her eye.
“...still wondering why I hate humans?” Lune utters, paws now dangling at her sides.
Parting his lips, Sans promptly attempts to give Lune a response, though he quickly finds nothing comes to him at the moment. He merely gawks up at her with wide cerulean eyes, awe written all over his face and deeming him silent. His hand hovers in the air. A pitiful attempt to help Lune despite the fact he wields nothing appropriate to help dry her off.
“...i-...”
With disappointment flashing across her eyes, Lune turns away and starts treading on a path to the exit, abandoning Sans and an eerily silent crowd. Her tail dangles behind her, brushing against the rough texture of the black and blue carpet settled beneath her. Nothing the stout human male at the table says behind her breaks her pace out of the restaurant. Every desperate yell of her name or stuttered “waits” goes unheard by the time she pulls the door open and strolls out into the dark streets.
“oof-!” Sans exclaims as he stumbles out of his seat, practically shoving the culprit of this entire fiasco out of his way only to tread the same path Lune took to leave the building. “ll-lune! w-wait!”
“Wh-?! I wasn’t done-!” The woman yells, stomping her foot as she pivots her entire body on one heel. She curls her digits tightly around the glass, its contents now emptied out.
“O-Oi...”
“That was a disaster...”
“Yeah... and that woman was being totally disrespectful...”
“Hmph... honestly, I would’ve been embarrassed if I were her.”
“Ruining an innocent couple’s dinner.”
“What...” The woman hesitantly turns her head, eyeing the numerous tables of monsters and humans alike. She spies several distasteful looks from neighboring tables, unable to understand why her hands now shake at her sides. “What are you—”
“Not only did you harass them, but you practically assaulted that poor woman!”
“Sh-She’s not a woman! She’s- she’s just a-... a stupid mm-monster! Are you people serious?”
“You should be ashamed of yourself...”
“Ma’am, we’re going to have to ask you to leave the premises. You’ve been causing a disturbance and compelled our customers to leave our restaurant. Please, come with me.”
“WH-?! I didn’t do anything wrong! I was entitled to finishing my personal business! Wh-?! Hh-Hey-! Don’t fucking touch me! Wh-?!” The woman shrieks as two waiters extend their arms behind her and gently guide her to the exit of the restaurant, where she happens to match eyes with Sans, who has a gentle smile spread across his face whilst he gives the restaurant one last glance.
“YOU-! You’ll fucking pay for this! YOU’LL FUCKING PAY, I SWEAR TO YOU-!” The short-haired woman promptly shouts, hysterically thrashing between the waiters meticulously restraining her.
Sans lingers in silence for a moment, observing how furiously his ex-boss flails about between the crowd of people attempting to calm her down. He stares before allowing a smile to stretch across his lips.
“guess you got served anyway, huh?” The short man remarks, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jacket. With a suave mannerism he rarely ever possesses, Sans turns away and approaches the exit.
undertale
pairing: papyrus & sans, sans/w.d.gaster
word count: 5249
title borrowed from for m by mikko harvey
read on ao3
x
One day, Sans came home late.
This by itself wasn’t too odd—your brother could be lazy, and made a hobby out of napping in strange places and leaving laundry laying around just to annoy you, but when he committed to something, he committed one-hundred percent! And sometimes commitment meant putting in some extra work! You learned that from him.
But he didn’t call you to let you know that he would be late, and all your texts went unanswered. That was strange. You don’t think he’s ever not answered you before. Not even once, in all of your long, storied twelve-and-a-half years of knowing him.
The power kept trying to come back on from the city-wide outage earlier, and after a few flickering false starts, it finally did. You and your brother still had plenty of supplies left from The Time Before The Apartment, when the two of you didn’t really have a home; so you could have done your homework with a flashlight, and cooked dinner on the hot plate, and it wouldn’t have been the first time, but it was always nice not to have to.
Some two hours after Sans should have been home in the first place, as you were scrolling uneasily through the contacts in your phone and trying to convince yourself that it would probably be okay if you called one of his coworkers, you heard the sound of a key in the door.
You hopped up from your seat and ran into the hall to meet him. You were jittery with worry, and irritation, and curiosity. Mostly you were just relieved he was here.
“BROTHER! THERE YOU ARE! WHERE HAVE YOU—”
You stopped mid-question because suddenly you were yanked forward. Sans crushed you against his chest, with just enough height on you still that he could tuck you under his chin. His soul was fluttering wildly against his breastbone, like a bird in a cage, a fragile, frightened thing.
Naturally, you put your own arms around him and hugged him back, and you couldn’t think of anything to say so all you said was, “????”
He smelled like smoke and burnt plastic. His white lab coat was covered in soot, probably ruined beyond repair. He clung to you the way he hadn’t since an incident when you were a babybones, when you let go of his hand on the street and got lost in the crowd. When he finally found you again, a very long and frightening three minutes later, he was shaking so badly his bones were rattling. He was shaking like that now.
“you’re here,” Sans said. He didn’t sound like himself. “you’re still here. oh my god. i thought—”
He didn’t say what he thought. Briefly, you glanced over his shoulder. It seemed like there should have been someone else there with him. The moment that thought occurred to you, you disregarded it. No one lived here but the two of you.
“OF COURSE I’M HERE. IT’S A SCHOOL NIGHT.” And you didn’t have a large number of friends to visit, anyway. “ARE YOU OKAY? WHY ARE YOU ALL SWEATY AND DIRTY? DID YOU RUN HERE? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?”
“yeah. no. i mean—yeah, i’m okay. everything’s okay.”
You leaned back enough to look up at your brother. He looked frightened and hurt and confused. He was holding you like you were the absolute last thing in the world he had left to hold.
The door behind him was ajar. The tacky cartoon lanyard that his friend at work gave him that all his keys were on was still dangling from the lock. The Capitol at night seemed darker than usual. Their tidy little apartment could have been the last bastion of light for a thousand miles.
Abruptly, you felt some of your brother’s fear crawl onto your back.
You gave Sans a tug, hauling him off the threshold, and then reached around him to remove his key from the door. The keys went into the shallow dish on the table where they lived next to Pebbles the pet rock. The door got nudged firmly shut.
“I MADE TOMATO SOUP AND GRILLED CHEESE FOR DINNER,” you said brightly. You were going to make tonight feel normal again through sheer force of will if you had to. “TWO HOURS AGO IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FRESH. WE ARE DEFINITELY PAST FRESHNESS NOW. HOWEVER, I KNOW COLD SOUP IS NOT BENEATH YOU, BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN YOU EAT PASTA NOODLES OUT OF THE BOX.”
“all part of my daily rotini.”
“GROSS. COME HAVE DINNER.”
Sans let himself be steered into the kitchen, dirty lab coat and all. For some reason, you had set three places at the table? You didn’t remember why you did that. Your brother’s face crumpled when he saw it, so you were quick to clear the third setting away.
###
Later on, Sans would tell you, “there was an accident at the lab. someone fell down.”
Eyes wide, you pressed your hands to your chest, horrified and sad and aching with sympathy for your brother and everyone else who was missing whoever it was who had gone away.
“WHO WAS IT? DID I KNOW THEM?”
“yeah. his name was gaster. you were a big fan.”
Racking your brain, trying to place that name, you found yourself coming up short. Sans watched you and looked as though he expected this. Expecting it didn’t seem to make it hurt any less. He leaned forward on his elbows and put his face in his hands. Behind his hands, you could see a glow start up from his good eye, distressed flickers of cyan and yellow.
“I’M SORRY,” you said unhappily. You wished you remembered.
“no it’s. hoo boy. it’s not your fault, pap. don’t even think it. this is not an isolated incident.”
“WOULD YOU TELL ME WHAT THAT MEANS?”
Sans didn’t lift his head. His voice was muffled, and his words came too quickly, the way yours sometimes did when you got worked up about something. It must have been hard, but he told you, because he told you everything, and you told him everything, too.
Sometimes you didn’t understand each other anyway, but it was never for lack of trying on either of your parts.
“when he fell down, he literally…fell down. into the core. it uh…did something to him. it erased him. everyone forgot he was ever there. they all looked at me like i was crazy when i was trying to convince them that we needed to—that the doc had just—heh. al kept trying to CHECK me, like she thought i had a concussion or a status ailment from the explosion somehow. no one knew what the heck i was talking about.”
“EXPLOSION?” Now you wanted to CHECK him, too. Instead, you approached this like one of your puzzles. It didn’t make sense, but sometimes things were just like that, confusing and impossible right up until you figured them out. “THAT MUST BE WHY THE POWER WENT OUT EARLIER. SANS, IF EVERYONE ELSE FORGOT MR GASTER, WHY DIDN’T YOU?”
Sans sat up, and he looked a little steadier. The glow in his eye was fading, just a ring of color around the penlight pupil now instead of a stuttering flame.
“dunno. i think it’s because i tried to catch him.”
“??” After a moment, you understand. “OH.”
“yeah.”
He turned you blue just for a second, just to make a point. His magic was a familiar weight around your soul, grounding you to your seat. It always made you feel safe.
It must have been the very last thing Mr Gaster felt, the two of them connected right up until the very last second. Maybe still connected, a little bit.
Sans looked so tired. You’d never seen him look this way before. Your brother was bright and clever and always finding reasons to laugh. He raised himself and raised you and maybe he messed up sometimes but he never quit. Now, though, for the first time, he seemed about ready to.
He tried to save his friend and he failed. And now he was the only one who missed him.
He just needed not to be alone with this horrible thing that had happened, you decided. He needed not to be the only one who had to carry it.
“TELL ME ABOUT HIM?” you asked.
Sans looked surprised. “the doc? really?”
“YOU SAID I KNEW HIM. DID HE LIKE ME?”
There, finally, was the brother you knew—eyelights softening, rictus smile affectionate and amused.
“you kiddin’? he thought you were the best. wouldn’t have kept him around otherwise.”
###
On his last day at the lab, Sans’ coworkers threw him a party. You thought the only reason he let you come along was because the lab proper was nowhere near the Core and they were all staying upstairs in the offices besides. Everyone seemed really sorry to see him go, but also grimly understanding of his decision, and hopeful that a change of scenery might be good for him.
Alphys drew him aside with tears standing in her eyes, and they had a low, hushed conversation that you couldn’t hear from where you were parked with a slice of cake. They clasped both of each other’s hands tightly before drawing apart. It looked like a goodbye.
“gotta pick something up before we head out,” Sans told you when he eased back into his seat. “al was good enough to store it for me.”
“IS SHE LEAVING, TOO?”
“hah. no. she’s up for a promotion.”
The ‘it’ that Alphys stored for Sans turned out to be a strange machine, almost twice your height and many times your width. It looked very decidedly broken, charred and mangled and largely in pieces, as if it was something your brother pulled out of the dump instead of the cutting-edge technology that he and his colleagues had been working on for the better part of two years. He let you get a curious look at it, and then replaced the tarp and tightened the cords keeping it all together, and used a shortcut to get it all home.
Home was no longer the snug apartment in the Capitol. Sans’ employers gave him a severance package that was more than enough to set the two of you up wherever you wanted to go.
Sans had unfolded a map of the whole kingdom on the kitchen table and said, “pick a spot.”
“WHY DO YOU HAVE THIS? WHERE DID YOU GET IT?”
“hey, i love my map. i’d be lost without it.”
“SANS, OH MY GOD.”
“c’mon don’t have a bad latitude. give me a little direction. we can go anywhere you want.”
“IF WE’RE MOVING TO GET AWAY FROM HERE, THEN WE SHOULDN’T DO IT HALFWAY. WE SHOULD GO AS FAR AWAY FROM HERE AS WE POSSIBLY CAN.”
In the end, you couldn’t go any farther away than Snowdin, so that’s where you ended up.
Your new house sat on the edge of the town, two-and-a-half stories with a shed and a basement. The ruined machine went to live in the basement with all of its parts and blueprints. Sans really wanted to get it running again. You were glad he still had some hope that he could do it.
He never really completely lost that hollowed look he’d had when he came home from the Core that day. Sometimes it seemed like every step he took cost him more energy than it was worth. He set alarms on his phone so he’d be awake for you when you got home from school but you suspected there were days when he hardly left his bed. He was always so tired.
Of course he was! Because he was still carrying around a very sad, scary thing that happened! It’s not as though he could just put it down somewhere.
It was alright, though. You had already decided he wasn’t going to carry it by himself.
You had to remember every single thing Sans told you about Mr Gaster, so that he wasn’t the only one who knew him.
You sat down at the kitchen table with your very best colored pencils and your best craft paper and drew a picture of yourself and your brother and Mr Gaster. You didn’t have the faintest idea what Mr Gaster looked like, but he was friends with your brother, so he must have been a nice monster. He must have been kind, with a good sense of humor, and lots of energy to spare for everyone around him. He must have been very smart, to work in the labs. He must have cared a lot about science and how he could use it to help people.
So you drew a face wearing a big smile and then drew a lab coat like Sans’ beneath it. At the bottom of the picture, you wrote yourself a note:
DON’T FORGET.
###
Since moving to Snowdin, you had to switch schools. You were more than okay with that! It was a new chance to make friends! You didn’t have a lot of luck with that in your old classes, for some reason, but the monsters here were much friendlier. Everyone seemed to already know everyone else, and they were warm and inviting to the two skeletons who had just showed up in their town.
Naturally, they were also curious about your brother. Sans didn’t get out very much, and one day, when you were at the pub picking up dinner, a few of the patrons there wondered after him.
You explained to your new neighbors that your brother was missing someone who fell down not very long ago, and so maybe it would take a little while before he felt like himself again. That turned out to be all you needed to say.
“(Oh no,)” one of the guards said, her ears going back, eyes all liquid and sad. “(I had no idea! He was so friendly when we went by to introduce ourselves. I never would have guessed.)”
“......If he doesn’t want to talk about it,” the bartender said firmly, “......then he shouldn’t have to.”
“I APPRECIATE THAT SENTIMENT! IT IS VERY KIND AND ALSO ENTIRELY MISTAKEN OF YOU!” you hurried to say. “SANS WANTS TO TALK ABOUT MR GASTER! IT’S JUST THAT NO ONE ELSE KNOWS WHO HE’S TALKING ABOUT? AND IT MAKES HIM FEEL LONELY, I THINK?? SO IF IT COMES UP, IT WOULD PROBABLY HELP, IF YOU LET SANS TELL YOU ALL ABOUT HIM! PLEASE?”
All the grown-up monsters looked at you with soft eyes, and promised to do their best.
Weeks and months went by, and Sans stopped going down to the basement as much as he used to, and started sleeping normal hours again, and now if you couldn’t find him after school, it was probably because he was at Grillby’s with his friends.
###
“Oh, yeah, you must be Papyrus,” Undyne said the first time you met. You were graduating soon, and you had your heart set on the royal guard, so you had gone to find the captain after school. She had sized you up briskly, surprised you by correctly guessing your name, and then added, “And your brother is the loony scientist.”
You blinked. “PARDON?”
“Well, that’s what people say, right? He was in a lab accident and lost his mind or something?” She twirled the end of her spear in a little circle near the side of her head. “Then he packed up and left the city and no one’s heard from him since.”
“WOWIE, THAT’S AMAZING,” you said enthusiastically. “YOU GOT ALL OF IT TOTALLY WRONG!!”
“You callin’ me a liar?” she asked with an impressive gnash of her pointed teeth.
“ONLY IF YOU DID IT ON PURPOSE! OTHERWISE YOU’RE JUST MISINFORMED!”
“So you’re callin’ my friend a liar? ‘Cause she’s the one who informed me, and Alphys wouldn’t lie.”
Your heart sank. It felt like someone had turned you blue. “ALPHYS CALLED MY BROTHER CRAZY?”
At the tone of your voice, Undyne’s expression lost some of its sharp edges. Her facial fins, fanned wide on either side of her head, closed slightly.
“You know her?”
“SHE AND SANS WERE BEST FRIENDS. SHE USED TO WATCH CARTOONS AT OUR APARTMENT EVERY WEEKEND.”
You rubbed your arm, and then picked up your bookbag. You wanted to go home. You didn’t want to be talking about this anymore. You didn’t want to know that people talked badly about your favorite person. You didn’t even know if you wanted to be in the royal guard anymore.
“Shit. Wait, hang on.” Undyne circled around to stand in front of you before you could get very far. “I shouldn’t have said that. Any of it. Alphys said she was worried about him, and that he wasn’t the same after what happened at the Core, and that he was seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. That’s all she said. I just, you know—extrapolated.”
You wiped your eyes with your sleeve, and said, “I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT WORD MEANS. YOU MADE STUFF UP?”
She laughed, a quick bark of a sound. “You know what? Yeah. That’s exactly what I did. I suck.”
Your initial reaction was to deny that vehemently. Undyne was the coolest person in the entire Underground, and everyone knew it. But you didn’t say that, because your mind was too busy processing everything she had told you.
“THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT, AND HE DID GET HURT,” you said. “BUT THE THINGS THAT HE SAW WERE REAL. THE PERSON THAT HE LOST WAS REAL.”
She stared at you really hard. You stared back, with nothing to hide.
“That’s impossible,” Undyne finally said. “Like, scientifically, or whatever.”
“OH, I DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT. I’M NOT A SCIENTIST.”
She laughed again, longer and louder this time, and then she just grinned at you like you were the best thing she’d seen in ages.
“You know what, kid? I’m into that! Hell yeah! Who gives a shit what’s possible, we make our own rules!”
She punched a hole in the wall to prove her point, and then pointed at you with a hand covered in plaster and drywall.
“It’s getting late, so you better get home! Come over tomorrow and we’ll spar! Be ready to show me if you have what it takes to be a guard!”
In the end, you didn’t have what it took. But you had plenty of time before graduation to train even harder—and Undyne had a lot of good things to say about the sentry positions that were always open in Snowdin. She even (reluctantly) came to your house to talk to your brother about it.
Sans was an easy-going monster just in general, and capable of getting along with nearly anyone whether he actually liked them or not. Undyne was no exception. She seemed to have her guard up when she first arrived, but within twenty minutes she was chatting with him easily, swapping cheerful-sounding stories about the worst coworkers they’d ever had and the worst places they’d ever lived.
At some point, as she was walking around looking at the pictures on the walls, she turned to you and pointed up at an empty frame.
“What’s this about?”
“OH, THAT’S WHERE WE WOULD HANG MR GASTER’S PICTURE IF WE HAD ONE,” you explained.
She raised her eyebrows at you, and then aimed the same look at your brother. Sans shrugged, smiling. He wasn’t as self-conscious about your enthusiastic belief as he used to be. Your belief was a constant! It was a renewable resource!
“kids, huh?” he said.
Undyne shook her head. “You guys are crazy.”
But she said it like it was a good thing that time.
###
Alphys came to Snowdin a week later. You were pretty sure that she and your brother didn’t realize you were awake upstairs when they were having their argument in the living room, otherwise they wouldn’t have had it.
“All this stuff about the disappearing doctor…it’s a c-coping mechanism. You experienced trauma that day, Sans.”
“you think i’ve lost my mind,” Sans said flatly. He sounded like his old self for a moment, minus all the joy he used to radiate back then. “that’s old news, al.”
“There’s just no proof,” Alphys said tearfully. “I-I’m sorry, I just can’t believe that this guy existed when no one else has ever heard of him. If you could show me anything, anything, any tiny piece of evidence, then—then—”
“i don’t know what you want me to say. that he had to have been real, because there’s no way i could have invented a person as weird and stubborn and brilliant as him? that it’s been five years now and i still catch myself picking my phone up to text him? that i’ll be minding my own business in the grocery store and someone will walk by with a cup of his favorite tea and just the smell of it will completely undo me?”
She didn’t answer. The silence was full and heavy and present in that room, like there was a whole other person down there with them.
Finally, Sans said, “i know he was real. it wouldn’t hurt this much if he wasn’t.”
###
Frisk tugged on the end of your scarf to get your attention, and when you looked down, they held something up to you.
“What is it?” they asked curiously.
You took the paper from them, turning it right-side up, and recognized it immediately.
“OH! I DREW THIS WHEN I WAS A CHILD! MY ARTISTIC ABILITIES HAVE CERTAINLY IMPROVED SINCE THEN. WOWIE, I HAVEN’T SEEN THIS IN YEARS!”
“Who’s the person in the middle?” Frisk asked.
“WELL THAT’S MR GASTER, OF COURSE,” you said. You sat down on the couch, and patted the cushion beside you until the little human clambered up. “HE WAS A GOOD FRIEND OF MY BROTHER’S. MORE THAN A FRIEND?? THEY WERE DEFINITELY IN LOVE.”
Frisk gasped, their eyes shining at this bit of information. You nodded importantly.
“HE FELL DOWN SEVERAL YEARS AGO. IT WAS A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT AND IT HURT MY BROTHER DEEPLY. I DREW THIS TO REMIND MYSELF TO HELP SANS WITH HIS SADNESS. AS HEAVY AS SOMETHING MAY FEEL, IT WILL ALWAYS GET LIGHTER WHEN THERE IS SOMEONE TO HELP YOU CARRY IT! REMEMBER THAT!”
Your human friend lunged across the couch to hug you, squeezing their arms around your neck with all the might their tiny body could muster. You were so surprised you forgot to hug back for a few seconds.
“I’ll remember,” they said, determined. “I promise.”
###
At a human university, Sans’ machine was rebuilt. It had lots of computer monitors now instead of just the one it had in the basement, and even its own server room, whatever that was. Sans and Alphys explained the anomaly to the human scientists, who were fascinated with the monsters’ intimate knowledge of something they called the fourth dimension, and they’ve all been working together ever since.
“time is just a measurement,” Sans explained to you. He was wearing a T-shirt under his lab coat that said ‘the rotation of the earth really makes my day.’ He was telling you how they were going to fix the timeline. He seemed happy to be working in a lab again. “it’s not a physical object, so it’s not something that can be broken. it’s constant, but the way we experience it isn’t. someone traveling at light-speed is going to experience the effects of time at a different rate than you and i are now. that’s relativity.”
“And we haven’t even gotten into theoretical physics,” Sans’ human colleague Riley remarked happily, spinning in idle circles in her computer chair. “Tell him about gravitational singularity, boss.”
“oh, yeah, listen to this, pap. things start getting really interesting when you break out the kerr metric—”
“I LOVE AND SUPPORT YOU,” you said earnestly, “AND I FULLY BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE SMART ENOUGH TO DO ANYTHING YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO! HOWEVER, IF YOU SHOW ME ONE MORE GRAPH, I AM POTENTIALLY GOING TO RUN AWAY FROM YOU SCREAMING.”
Riley laughed out loud. Without missing a beat, your brother replied, “hey, i get it. you need your space.”
“NO, I…” The joke registered. You managed not to smile. “SANS!”
“no matter what you know i think you’re out of this world.”
“I THINK I WOULD PREFER THE GRAPHS.”
###
It took several years of study and experiments and published theses and additional doctorate programs before your brother’s team was ready to run the machine. There was a big crowd assembled, friends and family gathered in support, even though all that was really going to happen was a few keystrokes on a computer.
In fact, you could only tell it was over by the the air that left the room when all the scientists took a big breath of relief and turned to smile at each other. Then Undyne lifted Alphys over her head with a victory shriek, and everyone was laughing and shouting and grabbing one another.
Your brother slumped against you. Frisk, on his other side, wormed insistently beneath his arm and hugged him tight. You thought they had the right idea, and wrapped your long arms around them both.
“it’s all forward from here, kid,” Sans said in that gentle tone you remembered from when you were just a babybones. He pressed his cheekbone to the top of Frisk’s head. “onwards and upwards.”
“No going back,” they agreed. “I hope we didn’t forget anything.”
“Um,” Alphys said suddenly. “Sans?”
She sounded nervous. It cut through the room as easily as one of Undyne’s spears. You felt all the tension return to your brother’s body and turned with him to see what she needed, and…
The door to the lab was broken.
Not in any immediately noticeable physical way, but functionally—in the sense that it’s function was to provide an entry point from the testing room into the main lab and it currently didn’t seem to be doing that.
Where there should be the next room, visible beyond the threshold, there was nothing but an inky black void.
Sans disappeared from beside you and reappeared in front of the door with a sudden lurch that made everyone jump. He closed it sharply, throwing all his weight into it, the light in his eye flaring yellow.
He was terrified.
It reminded you of That Night—the one that happened when you were twelve-and-a-half years old, when an explosion at the Core tore your brother’s life into pieces and he ran all the way home to make sure he hadn’t lost anything else that he loved.
“papyrus, get the kid and get out. use the fire exit.”
“UM, I AM NOT GOING TO DO THAT? BECAUSE THAT WOULD REQUIRE LEAVING YOU HERE TO DEAL WITH WHATEVER IS HAPPENING WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF YOUR BEST AND ONLY BROTHER??”
“p a p y r u s.”
“DON’T YOU USE THAT SCARY VOICE ON ME!” Annoyed, you crossed the room to him, and put your hands on his shoulders. “WE ARE A TEAM! WHATEVER IS BEHIND THIS DOOR IS JUST GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT!”
“Yeah!” Undyne shouted from somewhere behind you, her wife tucked under one arm, and a handful of spears tucked under the other. “Some dumbass abyss thinks it can crash our party, huh?! Tell it to come over here and say that to my face!!”
“Oh my god,” Riley whispered, delighted.
“Look,” Frisk piped up, as unshaken as ever. They were peeking around you, tiny and fearless and pointing at the floor. “It’s doing the thing that Sans’ door does.”
As one, you and your brother glanced down. Sure enough, curling out from the space between the bottom rail of the door and the threshold, were colorful wafts of smoke—that familiar, tell-tale teleportation magic. It wasn’t broken, it had become a gateway. A shortcut.
Someone was trying to come through.
Sans took a long, slow breath in, held it for long enough that you’d worry about him if he had lungs or oxygen-reliant organs, then let it go. He turned his head just enough to look back and up at you.
Both of you were thinking—or wondering, or hoping—the same thing.
You were thinking of an empty chair at the table, empty picture frames, all those little spaces that you saved and set aside for someone who would never be coming home.
“at least if the world ends, there’ll be no one around to blame me for it,” Sans said.
“THAT’S A SPIRIT! PROBABLY NOT THE CORRECT ONE TO HAVE, BUT DEFINITELY A SPIRIT!” you replied earnestly.
Appropriately encouraged, Sans opened the door.
Everyone peered into the dark together, looking for something—a message, or a sign of life, anything. The minutes mounted, second after anxious, anticipatory second. You were pretty sure at least one of the human scientists was live-streaming the whole thing on his phone.
“W-Well?” Alphys whispered. “Does anyone see anything?”
“Toriel, throw some fire in there so we can get a visual,” Undyne said.
“WE SHOULD TRY TO AVOID POTENTIALLY SETTING SOMEONE ON FIRE,” you told her uneasily. When she scoffed, you amended, “FOR NOW?? AT LEAST??”
“hey, i think,” Sans said suddenly, shifting forward like he was going to step through the doorway. No less than four hands shot out immediately to catch him by the back of his coat, two of them yours. “woah, guys. i’m not going to just jump in there, i’m not stupid. i have three PhDs.”
“One of them is honorary,” Riley said immediately, because she absolutely loved reminding him of that.
“What was it, Sans?” Toriel asked, releasing her handful of his lab coat. “Did you see something?”
“not really. but i thought i felt something.”
He lifted a hand and reached out with his magic. You still couldn’t make out much of anything, but you definitely saw it when Sans’ magic made a connection.
Way out there in the dark, a lost soul turned blue.
###
“alright kiddos, what story do you want to hear tonight?” Sans asked. He was sitting just outside your Deluxe Blanket Fort, waiting patiently on the two of you.
Frisk tugged on the sleeve of your pajama shirt and you leaned down so they could whisper something to you. You nodded—as always, the human was full of good ideas—and turned back to your brother.
“TELL US HOW YOU AND GASTER MET.”
Sans blinked. “really? not much of a story.”
Frisk employed their biggest, roundest eyes, and Sans waved his hands in surrender.
“jeez, so it’s like that, huh? okay, okay. but he tells it better than i do.”
I knew I would get pulled into this eventually, Gaster said in hands. It was only a matter of time.
But he settled on the floor next to Sans as if he had only been waiting for an excuse to join the rest of you in the first place. And he put his arm around your brother, and kissed the top of his head with a quiet click of bone. And even though you had seen it a million times by now, it still made you smile.
It made sense for him to be there. The empty chair in your house had always belonged to him.
Summary: Undyne barely remembered the first time she met the queen.
I've been obsessed with the exiled queen ending forever, and I also love the idea of Toriel and Undyne not hating each other, which somehow hurts even worse. So this is me exploring that dynamic.
This is another fell AU (gotta love those) that happens when a huge af skeleton monster is captured and locked up by the humans, only to meet their master, the High Priestess.
And she has a proposal that will change the fate of the humans and monsters forever
Also.. HMMMM THIS HUMAN PRIESTESS KINDA REMINDS ME OF SOMEONE DONT YOU THINKS SANS?! HMMMMM I WONDER WHO
Ok ok, I'll give a clue and a warning.
It's a Frans AU
:0
I actually REALLY like the writing, and this mix of drama sadness and then cuteness to more drama and then some huge skeleton being stupid, really messes up with my feelings and I'm loving every second 💕
So yeah, enough of talk talk, time to read read
Chapter 1:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
This AU was made by the sweet @songfell-ut , where you can find more content about the AU and the creator :)
Bonus
There's A LOT of dubs for this fic, that's actually how I found it out. 💕
So I'll reccomend the one that inspired me to sought this out, but there's many of them, and I recommend you finding the ones that click with you the most :3💕
A dramatic reading of Songfell (Frans fic) by @ikustioa @songfell-ut
Featuring Allie Jones as Frisk and the amazing @supershadicx250 as San
I wasn't joking when I said HUGE AS FUCK
Well, if we have some fic readers around here, i feel that i should reccomend my favorite one that's also an Underfell but with a spice of friendship, romance, edge, skeleton and vampires✨
Flowey witnesses the aftermath of the human's journey across the Underground, and tries to make sense of his life now that he's not in control of the timeline. Will it last? Or will he take desperate measures?
Words: 3892
Read on AO3: Link here!
Flowey was still processing the last moments of his life as he left the human's side and watched them cross the Barrier, leaving the Underground behind. The child had chosen to give him mercy, time and time again. The nonsense of this action was so overwhelming, he fled. He didn't pay attention to his surroundings as he moved through the hallways of the King's Castle in New Home. He just kept going, emerging at times to look at a certain turn or wait for the right time to move his roots to another surface. It was almost a matter of reflexes to him. After so many resets, he felt like he could wander across the Underground with his eyes closed and he would know exactly where he was. Environments were something he wasn't able to change, at least not by himself. He didn't find the idea appealing, either. People were much more interesting to interact with... Until they weren't.
There was a wide range of things that could happen at any time in the Underground, and he had done pretty much everything. Some things never changed, though. The Amalgamates were never freed; it was more likely for Alphys to give up than for the truth inside the Lab to come out. Toriel never left the Ruins, no matter what you told her, or what happened outside the closed doors. Asgore never let him see the human souls, no matter how much he insisted. All his efforts were futile in a way, as none of it amounted to anything significant. All could be undone by his will, but not even those things he did held much meaning after a while. It was like watching the same simulation over and over again.
Flowey usually spent about a month or two at most messing around before resetting. In this timeline he had settled for waiting and not being an intervention as much as possible, until new days came by. It was incredibly boring, sadly. So he decided to do meaningless things to pass the time. Nothing much, not like pestering some Moldsmals ever achieved anything. He didn't kill, since that usually meant trouble, and the whole point of this was seeing a world without him. He also watched people he knew. Toriel carried on with her day; sometimes she fell asleep on her reading chair, with one too many cups of wine. Flowey may have given her some water one time, without a reason, simply to make an insignificant difference. Papyrus, a skeleton in Snowdin he had encountered after spying on the Royal Guard, was also an interesting monster to visit. He always had a remark or an anecdote for every place. He was full of such nonsense and contradictions, Flowey always got a laugh or two from his conversations. It was impossible not to play some tricks on him. Every once in a while he dropped predictions in their conversations, which the skeleton seemed to take very seriously at times.
And just when the timeline was starting to get too monotonous, he heard a loud noise on the Ruins, shortly after he had left checking on the flowers. That place.... it always reminded him of his sibling. Golden Flowers were their favorite. That day, at the Ruins, life took an unexpected turn: a human had fallen down, and with them, his control. Needless to say, he freaked out. Not only was this child a fallen human, they were just so much like them— but they couldn't be, could they? In the end. Flowey did what he knew best: got to know this human, acted nice, and then tested their reaction when he betrayed them. The stupid kid fell for his tricks, but Toriel stopped his movements, and took the child with her. The soulless monster, frustrated, tried to go back to his save point, yet he failed: another force was overwriting his mark in spacetime. From then, he decided to follow the human. and see what they did. Soon enough, he found out that the human was the one in control of the timeline, using it to get their way. Through the Ruins, the Snowdin cold, the dark Waterfall and the steaming Hotland, Flowey followed them, catching glimpses of their journey.
What came after the human spared King Asgore was a blur. His determination flowed in a chaotic way when he tried to reminisce about his attempt to take the human souls. It felt so good to have something within that wasn't just willpower fuel. He felt so good, so intense, so alive. That human kid was about to face his true power, to see what he was capable of doing. He had never met someone that could remember overwritten timelines like him, and he wasn't wasting his chance to make the most of it. But human souls are determined and that includes the six within him. They turned against him, and took him back to zero in moments. And then... well. He simply couldn't understand. His control was lost again. The human just needed one blow to finish him off, but they refused and crossed the Barrier. Why not even try? Why not give him the same pain? Why does it matter if he lives or not, anyways?
He was back in Snowdin town by the time his inner monologue had gone full circle, all caused by the human who’d come and gone in what felt like a mere blink. By the time he got to the town it was early night, the time many monsters had dinner. Snowdin had a system of streetlights that was usually too high for non-flying monsters to reach. They were powered by the CORE, and to tell apart day and night, they had set a gradual energy-saving mode that reduced the amount of lights during the night, synchronized with the time on the Surface. The lights were said to resemble stars. Real stars were prettier, but it did the job well enough for the thousands of monsters that had never seen the Surface.
Flowey was standing on a residential street, still muttering to himself, looking at the houses' windows filled with light and the smell of homemade food. He wasn't quick enough to hide after hearing a muffled voice and a door being bumped open. A yellow striped kid, holding a bag of trash with their mouth and on their way to the trashcan, gasped at Flowey and dropped the bag on the snow.
"The talking flower's real?!" They opened their eyes wide, like they had seen the surface. As Flowey tried to curl underground to leave, the monster child spoke. "Yo, don't leave! Papyrus told me about you!"
At the mention of the name, the soulless flower hesitated, then turned around "Howdy! I'm Flowey the flower.” He forced a grin. "And just what has he told you?" he asked, slightly squinting.
"Well..." The kid stared at a point beyond Flowey, thinking of their answer. "We just met today! I mean, I've seen him before, but we never, like, talked. I was on my way back to Snowdin after I left the human in Water— yo, did you hear a human showed up in town today? It's crazy!" They hopped excitedly, shaking their tail happily.
Flowey raised a brow and waved with one of the roots he pulled from the ground, signaling the kid to keep talking. He supposed hearing some gossip was good enough for now, until he figured out what to do now, or found a way to gain his control of the timeline again.
"I didn't know they were human at first, but man, they were so nice! I showed them some caverns in Waterfall on our way. I was so excited to see Undyne fight bad guys! But it turns out they, uhm, were the bad guy Undyne was going after?" They trailed off, looking for a way to follow their story. "She told me that the human was bad, that i could get hurt. And she tried to attack them! But they saved me so they can’t be bad! I had to show her! Yo I dunno what came over me, it felt like my heart was pounding out of my chest. But I told her, s-she would not. I was really scared, but I think it worked! And then I... left them to go home because my parents would worry if I was out late", they mumbled the last part, feeling their rush of energy decrease.
Flowey shot them an impatient glance. "Ok, got you. But when does Papyrus show up in all this?"
"Oh yeah! Right! We met when I was on my way to Snowdin. He said some things about using friendship for his duties as a future royal guardsman, and then we talked about Undyne. He said she is training him to be part of the guard- it sounds so cool! I wanna be just like him one day!" They hopped on one foot. "Then... I asked him about the friend stuff he said, and he told me he didn't have many friends, but Undyne was really close. And then he spoke of a talking flower, that had like, prediction powers. He said you gave encouragement, advice and stuff. I didn't think you were real, but man, was I wrong."
"Is that it?" Flowey raised a brow, getting tired of the kid's chatter. Maybe someone else would have liked talkative friends, but he had enough for that day, and frankly he just wanted to get healed. All the talking was making him dizzy.
"Yeah! It has to be you, right? Man, if we become friends I would break my friend-making record. Three people in one day! Yo this is so great." Their tail moved from side to side.
Flowey yawned, feigning sleepiness "Hey kid, it's nice talking, but don't you have anything better to do?" He pointed to the trashbag with his body.
"Oh right! I forgot. Thanks dude!" they said, picking up the bag with their teeth and walking to the trashcan on the sidewalk.
"Yeah, you don't want to get in trouble, right? I don't think your parents are very happy you went too far into Waterfall on your own with some stranger."
Flowey shrank a bit to appear smaller as the child walked towards him. "Before you leave, I need something. Do it for your new friend, wontcha? Can you get me a snack? I got in a friendly fight and my HP isn't the best right now. I could use some help." He pulled the most innocent smile he could, which was always convincing.
"Ok! Be right back, yo!" They dashed to their house and came out a minute later, pulling two cinnamon bunnies from their inventory and almost dropping them on the floor.
Flowey picked them up with his roots and saved them on his own inventory with a poof. "Thanks, kid!"
"Yeah, no problem Flowey!" They paused and then added "Yo, I forgot to tell you my name, it's M—" Before they had finished their sentence, the flower was gone, like it was never there.
As Flowey moved under the snow, he didn't notice the recent footsteps or the furry monster that made them as they made their way towards the Riverperson place.
Flowey emerged at the side of the skeleton brothers’ house, careful not to be seen. He took a cinnamon bunny, took a bite, and then tried to rest. Sleeping as a flower wasn't easy. It wasn't like laying down in a bed. He technically didn't need to sleep, as long as he had energy from the lights around him or food. As a plant, the most he could do was fold his petals on his face, and find a place where the wind wouldn't bother him and nobody would step on him by accident. Despite this, if he wanted to recover from his injuries, he needed to rest in order to restore his HP.
Flowey was making himself comfortable —as much as he could in a town like Snowdin—, when he heard a door shut strongly on the second floor of the house. It seemed people were at home. He moved closer to eavesdrop on them, but it wasn't necessary, as the speakers were loud enough on their own.
"So... I'm staying here tonight, right? Until I fix my house."
"YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME TO STAY HERE, BUT YES, WE'LL FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE HOUSE TOMORROW!"
"When do you think the human's coming back? Do you think they'll stay at the inn?
"IT'S WHAT I EXPECT, BUT MAYBE THEY WENT TO NEW HOME AND FOUND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO SLEEP? THEY HAVEN'T CALLED SINCE THEY GOT TO THE CORE."
"They better not be hanging outside late or they'll get in trouble with me."
"WHAT IF THE HUMAN'S NOCTURNAL?”
"Who knows? Not ME at least. Anime says all kinds of things that don't make sense when you put them together, like in some of them, some humans have cat ears, but in others that's not possible. At least they should have something cooler, like fins!"
"OR BONES! HMM, BUT WE CAN ONLY GUESS. PERHAPS THEY ARE NOCTURNAL, I HEARD HUMANS HAVE SOMETHING CALLED TIMEZONES. MY BROTHER TOLD ME ABOUT IT WHEN WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE SUN..."
At that point Flowey stopped listening. Those two went over several topics, and whenever they didn't know something, they made it up with their theories. It was amusing in the first dozen resets, but by now Flowey had exhausted all possible topics with each of them...
Suddenly, he heard something that was new to him.
"SO UNDYNE, I SEE YOU ARE CARRYING A LETTER? IS IT FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL?" Papyrus inquired, teasingly.
A letter? Flowey had seen many letters. Several had been addressed to Dr. Alphys. He wondered why the fish monster would have one too.
"WHAT? Well, I don't want it to get damaged in case I burn down the house on accident again— BUT NOT FOR ANY SPECIAL REASON, it's just a silly thing I keep with me."
"WHO IS IT ADDRESSED TO, THEN?"
"Uh...."
"WILL YOU LET ME READ IT?"
"Absolutely NOT! It's personal!"
"SO IS IT FOR ALPHYS..." A pause. "YOU DID NOT DENY IT. SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST CALL HER, DELIVER IT, AND SEE HER REACTION?" There was the sound of a phone being unlocked. "I'LL DO THE PHONE CALL!"
"Papyrus, no! I need to rewrite it, it's not done yet! Give me the phone, darn it!" There was another pause. "Ok, thanks. Besides, she's probably busy fixing Mettaton right now. Did you see his new body? And BEFORE you make any remark on how hot or handsome he is, DON'T." Nyeh-heh-heh’s were heard in response. "Anyways, she must be busy, and I don't think I can just show her this letter. I'm afraid things could go wrong— I wouldn't know what to do!"
"FINE, BUT IF YOU EVER NEED ADVICE, LISTEN TO ME. YOU NEED THAT KIND OF BRAVERY IN YOUR LIFE" A clicking noise like a wink was heard.
"NGAAAH- shut up!" She lowered her voice. "Hey, if you don't mind, can you leave while I change my clothes?"
"OF COURSE, I STILL HAVE SOME OF YOUR CLOTHES FROM THE LAST TIME YOUR HOUSE BURNT DOWN. I'LL GIVE YOU PRIVACY."
"Thank you, now GET OUT." The door was closed. Strong pacing could be heard for a few minutes, before the window opened with a harsh movement and small shreds of paper were dropped one by one, “I really can't do it,”she muttered “It's too much. I'll make a better one soon. That will be the one.”
The humidity of the snow would soon leak into the remains of the letter and erase its message, never to be read by anyone. Well, not anyone who was meant to read it anyways. Flowey leaned closer and used a root to pick up a part of the letter. It took him five endearment terms and three uses of the verb love to know it was an excessively corny confession directed at the Royal Scientist.
It seemed almost atypical for the fish monster. However, Flowey knew better. During some of his runs he had experimented with the Royal Guard, testing their strengths and weaknesses. Undyne was a particularly difficult monster to deal with. Once you became her enemy, she would strike you down no matter what. Her green soul magic forced any monster under its effect to stay still and only use its own magic bullets as protection. Flowey, being soulless, was not affected by this kind of magic, but that still didn't make fleeing much easier. He had killed her the first time they faced each other, after dying to her several times. That had been the first timeline he decided to kill, throwing bullets at some of the weakest known monsters. Undyne had been furious, and decided to find the culprit and bring them to justice. When Flowey did manage to kill her, though, she resisted. With her last breaths, she kept on fighting, refusing to die. Her last words were dedicated to every monster in the Underground she swore to protect, and as she melted, she regretted never "telling it to Alphys". He had figured out what it was by other sources. The letter was just further confirmation.
No other monster had shown such determination to keep going, and those words rang in Flowey's head. Somehow, the possibility of making someone be honest about their feelings towards something —or someone else— made him particularly curious. He had tried to help her, more than once, but no attempt had been successful. He kept trying for a few more runs. Undyne's resilience reminded him of his own sibling. He thought that maybe staying determined and reaching, helping, and fixing things would... do something. Perhaps he had to be more like them, more like Chara. But he was hopeless now. Nothing he did ever lasted, nothing he did made him feel right.
"Hurts, doesn't it? Some things never change. She writes letters but she will never do anything with them." He dropped the letter and went back to rest for what was left of the night, hoping to restore his HP.
* * *
The "Riverperson'' was never just one monster. There were three of them. Their family had been passionate about sailing for decades; some said they had the reputation even before the war, and ever since monsters found a stream that connected all areas, the River family had dedicated itself to provide quick travel to everyone in the Underground. When it was nighttime, and most monsters outside were nocturnal creatures, only one of them was around. They gazed at the Snowdin port. All three siblings had great intuition, and that night, they agreed, was bound to be interesting.
"Greetings. Would it be possible to make use of your service tonight?" a soft voice asked.
The river monster turned to face the source of the voice and saw a tall white furry monster. They resembled most inhabitants of the small town, with a thick layer of fur covering their features. But something about their presence radiated a sense of grace. A good River monster made no distinction among their travelers, so they simply pointed to the empty space on their boat.
"Tri li li, where would you like to go?"
"Take me to Hotland, please,” the monster said calmly
The Riverperson took off with their only passenger for that ride.
It was late, but despite the time, a few nocturnal monsters could always be found wandering the streets, among the low-glowing lights. The sight of the new monster immediately sparked rumors, catching the attention of the few awake. From the forest, a Whimsun flew, carrying news from the Ruins. The great door deep in Snowdin forest had been opened, and its caretaker was making their way to the capital. Young monsters were perplexed by the story, but older, wiser ones knew this meant great incoming change for the whole kingdom. Nobody knew for certain what had become of Queen Toriel after the deaths of her children, but it seemed that the words carried by the small flying monster could be the solution to the century old mystery. Soon enough, word was spread in the snowy town among the elders. They were careful and cautious, not to make quick assumptions, but staying alert.
The ride across the cave system had not been long, but it certainly felt like eternity, even for a monster with such a long life as Toriel. She was worried sick, wondering whether the human child had been harmed. As she set foot on Hotland, and waved the Riverperson farewell, the feeling of unease only increased. She did not know where the child had gone. All the monsters she had spoken to had little to no information, seeing as they weren't awake during the day, and therefore hadn't seen anything worth noting. However, as Toriel walked through the dry roads, she noticed flyers, all related to a human kid that had been spotted in Hotland, as a guest on the Underground's greatest celebrity's shows. She walked faster, hoping to reach New Home soon. Time felt so slow, each step lasting a small eternity in her anxious mind.
By the time she had reached the castle, the artificial lights were starting to get brighter. She was determined to reach her destination. She could not allow Asgore to take another soul, and she was going to stop him herself if she had to. She would not let another child be hurt by him. Her steps covered longer distances, as she walked across the familiar hallways. Her breathing was fast, and her paws felt heated with anxiety, small fire bullets dancing around her fingers. She paid no mind to the monsters that walked around her, except to ask about the king once: a tall catlike monster indicated that the king was last seen at the throne room last evening, but was not seen leaving the place ever since. As she approached the throne room, an odd feeling made her magic shiver. There was no sight of the King.
She walked in, careful not to step on the golden flowers that decorated the room. In a way, both of them had remembered their children using those flowers. She shook the thought out of her mind, and she went across the room to a smaller entrance. That room had a single orifice at the ceiling, letting the first rays of the morning sun go through. No sign of the King, either.
She feared the worst.
She prepared her fire attacks.
She breathed deeply.
She stepped into the room that led to the Barrier.
She dropped her attacks, which disappeared in an instant.
Before her was a crown, and an armor covered in a purple cape. Dust on the floor, and an ear-ringing silence. A gardening knife was a few feet away.
This was the day the Underground's King had perished.
This was the day a human made it out of the monsters' world alive.
This was the day things would change forever for their kind.
The Queen took the crown. Her expression was solemn, and she braced herself to make the announcement known to everyone in the Underground.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: G
Summary: From her secret security camera, Alphys gets too invested in Sans's relationship with the voice behind the door. This wouldn't be a problem if Mettaton didn't decide to take her ship into his own hands. Trying to catch up with a battery-powered robot is hard work, but telling the truth is even harder.
Word Count: 5,713
Couldn’t get the formatting to transfer over here so please read on AO3! It’s Alphys-centric with sides of alphyne, soriel, and papyton
