Undertale: Persistence Is Key

The new castle Asgore had commissioned from monsterkind's most prodigious architects was a marvel to behold, both inside and out. The humans had been most accommodating to the reveal of monsterkind, quickly reaching out to Asgore and his most trusted advisors in the name of alliances and trade that had the poor goat boss monster swamped in enough paperwork to drown a city or two. The floor was a permanently shiny and reflective golden marble tiled masterpiece, every wall leading up to the magnificent throne room was lined with hand chiseled white marble pillars depicting their earliest moments as a species, preserved throughout the countless millennia Asgore's family had ruled. 

The discovery of magic, the unification wars that brought all the different species of monsters under a single banner, the courting story between Toriel and Asgore that lasted a thousand years before monsterkind met humanity for the first time. All of it was here in tasteful detail.

Too bad Sans was having absolutely none of this.

"so this is it then?"

The skeleton couldn't quite keep the disbelief out of his normally lazy voice, but he felt it was warranted given the whole situation he'd somehow found himself in. It wasn't everyday you get married to the two women who've spent the last hundred eternities or so murdering you and everyone you know.

Sans twitched a bit, barely noticeable to anyone but the nervous but elated Frisk and the ever curious but daring Chara, both princesses of monster kind dressed in traditional gold of Asgore's royal family and imperial purple of Toriel's noble line, the gowns meant to emphasize the two newly turned twenty year old's matured bodies, something the royal judge knew beyond a doubt their mother had fought tooth and nail to change (Her babies would not go around looking like tramps! So what if it's better than what I was wearing when we met as teenagers, Asgore!), and corrected himself as Asgore's ancestral trident tried and failed to poke him forward, merely phasing through the skeleton's body.

"Come now Sans, it's a time of celebration!" The aged goat monster said warmly, still trying his best to move his judge in any way possible, but unable to even touch the skeleton boss monster.

It was a wonderful day! His wife had chosen to rekindle their marriage after years of effort on his part while his children wished to commit their lives to his greatest ally and friend! Nothing could go wrong now.

It wasn't everyday you were FORCED to marry the two women you hated with every ounce of your unstable and broken SOUL.

"just wanted to make sure."

Fuck this.

Sans turned away from the confused humans and seething Asriel, choosing to walk through Asgore instead of letting him stay in the way, and walked past Toriel to the large doors that led to the rest of the world.

A world he was intent on exploring. 

Alone.

But first.

"hey kiddos."

He didn't look back, he never would again. He was done playing these games, he'd been done playing forever now, and he was tired of the same old script. Of death and LOVE filling his home with nothing but silence and dust.

"it's a beautiful day outside, huh?"

The sharp inhales, and the sudden DETERMINATION and killing intent filling the air, was all he needed to hear. Sans' grin widened, stretching into something angry and hurt and dark as he put his blue hoodie back on, hiding his white sweater once more in its fluffy depths and stuffing his pockets with his rattling hands.

"no more games."

His chest was sliced through like his own LOVE didn't even exist, his brother's ashes tasted like death on the scarf Sans made to wrap the toddler in oh so long ago, the wind carried echoes of nothing but pain and misery in a dead world. A world made by the betrayal of two humans his people welcomed with open arms.

He couldn't take it anymore, being stuck with these two demons so close to his home was bad enough, watching them baby and playing with his little brother was worse, but being stuck with them as lovers for the rest of his eternal life? Pass him by on that bullshit.

"RESET again, so I can make it war."

"Sans-." Asgore boomed in warning, confused on the phrasing but choosing to push past it to the immediate threat of violence Sans' voice carried, only to be halted by the enormous dragon skull that appeared right before his eyes, its maw crackling with enough rage and power to topple his castle and shatter his SOUL in a breath.

The king stood tall and proud in defiance, his eyes locked onto the two blue pits of flames at the beginning of its snout. 

"Sans! What's gotten into you-.?!?!"

"What the hell was that about Runt-.?!??!"

Two more blasters flanked Toriel, and blue bones erupted from the ground to halt Undyne from even moving, let alone casting a spell. The two other boss monsters, the only other two in existence besides Sans and Asgore himself now that Asriel has chosen to permanently pass on permanently and Sans' father was. out of commission, had no shot at escape.

"no more playing nice and letting you pass by my station."

"no more letting you meet my buddy in the ruins and starting your little playtime."

"no more keeping my promises."

"do you remember, buddy?" 

"y o u' d b e d e a d w h e r e y o u s t a n d."

He let his words sink in for the two time travelers, hoping this was the one time they finally took them to heart. Then again, this was them he was talking about. The only equals he had known since he was a child. They hadn't let his words stop them back then, and they wouldn't now.

"then again, who's got the energy for all that?"

His attacks dissipated in motes of blue energy, and he was standing before the two princesses again; Frisk looked patient and inviting while Chara just looked amused, like they thought his little spiel was some dramatic way of accepting their little invitation. His busted SOUL ached and sputtered at the thought of playing along to something like that. 

"nah, not my style." His magic charged in his only eye, blue flames bathing the darkening room in his harsh light. Frisk and Chara stood undaunted as ever, twin pairs of blood red eyes staring up at him with their perverse affection and unhinged amusement.

The worst part is, they fucking meant it.

He could see it in their eyes, in their unguarded SOULs. They both wanted to build a life with Sans. They wanted almost desperately to make a home together, make a family together with lots of little pitter pattering of small feet of flesh or bone, and get to know him in every way they could. They wanted him, and his broken SOUL, by their side for all of eternity.

Never.

With a thought, his crippled SOUL appeared just before his sternum with the two humans' following shortly after. 

His SOUL was disgusting as always. A quarter of the bottom left side of the marble white upside down heart was simply missing entirely along with a bit off the tip at the point, black cracks covered every inch of its surface in a hideous caricature of the maze puzzles his brother was so fond of, and it was dripping blue magic like blood from every fracture. Only held together by the singular HoPe he had left, something not even their knife could cut through.

'The weakest enemy,' Sans snorted to himself in humorless mirth; the title was meant to be a play on words, and alluded to his lack of AtTacK and DeFnSe points. 'What a bunch of bullshit.' As if a SOUL caught half outside of reality at all times could be measured by the laws of nature that govern these people's perception.

"look at me."

They weren't. They were looking through him, to his SOUL, toward something only they could see with their overabundance of DETERMINATION. They were both smiling, their eyes thick with emotion he didn't have time to understand, admiring something beyond his perception.

So Sans reached out and poked his own SOUL as lightly as he could.

They both looked at him then. When his SOUL shattered like glass, when he coughed up half a liter of liquid DT. When his body faded to dust in an instant rather than the long, slow process of reaching out for Papyrus that was his usual death rattle.

And then he was back in time by about ten seconds as the world RESET, staring into their focused eyes with his finger being held an inch away from his fragile SOUL by a blank faced Frisk and a red knife at his throat, courtesy of an unamused Chara. His blue eye choked on its own flames as apathy and soul deep hatred went to war inside his skull, the thought of. just setting off the next great time loop seemed so appealing and yet so exhausting at the moment. The opportunity to gouge out both of their SOUL's as many times as he could kill them was an appealing thought, but having his actions be predetermined by a script that was older than this world by now until they entered the judgment hall was not.

"SANS?"

*CRACK

*Your SOUL has received damage.

*But it refused.

Another hairline fracture appeared at the center of his SOUL, his pure brother's voice in what was quickly becoming one of his least favorite memories. He took in the new wound on his core, observing the small amount of yellow JUSTICE and dark red DT leaking with his usual PATIENCE, and put it to the back of his mind, making sure that the curious eyes of the two demons in human skin didn't notice anything but the new colors he was dripping. He was so caught up in reading the two princesses' expressions, he failed to catch the horrified eyes of four other monsters staring at his bleeding SOUL.

And just like that, good times are gone. Sans did his best to throw on a normal smile, hoping against hope that it would slide by his more. emotionally intelligent brother. But it was utterly pointless, after all, his scrapped SOUL was just hanging out in the open, and he had no way of hiding it anymore. He couldn't look at his brother, or the rest of his friends that followed behind him without his SOUL breaking a little bit more. There was Grillby, Alphys, that little minx Muffet, and Gallet. All the people he'd come to care about in every single timeline. Monsters he'd loved with all his heart, monsters who had no idea what had been done to them.

They all looked so lost, and dressed in their finest blue and red clothes, a tradition of any official monster marriage; to dress in the SOUL trait colors of the intended. Papyrus was holding a handmade congratulations banner, Alphys was carrying some kind of machine that set off alarm bells inside his skull, Grillby was pushing a cart of his finest unhealthy food and cold wine inside, and Muffet looked a bit too invested in whatever they were doing for Sans' peace of mind. That little seductress could lay on enough charm to get past even Sans' defenses sometimes (those nights they spent together, exploring her every curve and peculiarities, dissecting every sound she made and their causes were some of his fondest memories to date, from a time before any of the royal children could RESET and thus beyond their ability to manipulate or steal from him), and absolutely flourished in any form of attention.

This timeline was beyond redemption, there wasn't any point in fighting it anymore.

"just RESET kiddo," He gave the two another empty grin, devoid of even his usual animosity for the two, and walked away from them all, too tired to put up a fight anymore. His footsteps echoed in the grand hall, and his SOUL hid once more from the world like the coward he always would be, the others all so confused he could nearly taste it as he stepped out of the grand doors and into the courtyard under the moonlight. "i'm too tired to tell you not to anymore."

SMACK

His head snapped to the right, his cheekbone stinging something fierce even if the invisible slap hadn't(couldn't have) done any kind of damage. He stood there, rooted to the spot, unable to process what the hell had just happened.

And there she was, the queen of all monsters in her purple gown; his best friend, his partner in puns. Also the only woman in the world with the balls big enough to slap him and know without a shadow of a doubt she could get away with it, threat to her life(cough, bullshit, cough) mere seconds ago non withstanding.

"Sans Asterisks." Her voice was shaky, and tears were already wetting the fur beneath her eyes. "I do not know what has gotten into you." Even so, she took three large steps forward, pressing her prominent breasts into his chest and staring him dead in the eyes without an ounce of fear for the arbiter of monster kind, giving Sans the rare opportunity to glimpse the woman who raised the three strongest children he'd ever known and faced off against all of humanity for her people rather than the gentle punny caretaker. 

Stars. Why did this woman have to be here? Why couldn't he have met her all those years ago, raising Paps alone and isolating himself when he should have been at their door trading horrible puns until he couldn't bear the thought of leaving. For a moment, his mind wandered. To what they could have been. Could she have helped him raise his brother? Would she have the time or desire to help rear another child after losing every last one that came before, or help a worthless lazy skeleton pick up their missing pieces and put themselves back together when she was in pieces herself? Would she have been enough for him to pull his busted SOUL back into something resembling whole?

Heh.

Too late for questions, he supposed, never once breaking his perfect poker faced smile. Now that he knows she still carried her wedding ring around her neck and under her gown, he'd never try to FLIRT with her. Never make any kind of action that would be misinterpreted as anything but friendship. Even if she'd be the only one of two people he'd ever keep a promise to, she would never be anything other than a friend. His best friend.

She must have seen something in his one good eye, barely blazing with blue magic anymore, because her face softened and her hands glowed a deep healing green as they framed his stiff face.

"Or why you have chosen now of all times to lash out in such a way." His SOUL ached in a way that it hadn't since Sans had grown numb to feeling his brother turn to dust, (in a way that almost broke him, but he'd take physical pain and aches over constant emotional torment any day), as he stuffed his unfeeling hands back into his pockets, his fingers itching for the box of cigarettes he kept secret from Papyrus.

God he needed a smoke right now.

"But it ends here." Toriel, the queen of all monsters declared, grabbing him by the shoulders and attempting to pull him back inside. She couldn't budge him of course, but he felt the concern and platonic love wash over his SOUL all the same. He felt the cracks in his being, not close or lessen, but fade slightly to the background. His joints didn't feel like they were falling apart, his SOUL didn't feel like broken glass being ground deep into an open wound, and the world felt more permanent, more real.

Only for a moment, his world wasn't so bad. 

And then reality came crashing back in to beat him down. 

His SOUL was a mess of shattered edges, his body was a broken machine only just clinging on, and this world existed at the mercy of two genocidal megalomaniacs who wanted to have his children.

Toriel narrowed her slightly bloodshot eyes down at him, still failing to move the punny skeleton. She tried harder and harder, trying to have any kind of effect on her best friend's stance, until without a sound, her hands fell through him like he wasn't there.

"Sans?" She called out, her uncertainty growing with her concern, trying again to grab hold of him. Failing. Trying again. Failing.

Again. And Again. She tried to hold her dearest friend, to reassure him, to chastise him. But again and again she failed to even touch him, passing through him as if he didn't exist. And then he began to fade out around the edges, refusing to respond no matter how hard she tried or how loud she called for him. "Sans!"

The world was fading in and out for the arbiter, his eyes could barely see what was going on, his SOUL was fading at the edge of time, the other half of his existence was pulling him home. The void was calling for him, what small pieces of his father that were left were welcoming him, beckoning him to rest in his hands for a time.

He felt his body become immaterial, his SOUL shaking slightly from the strain of this particular shortcut. But it was almost over, almost done. He didn't have to do this anymore, he could sleep and not have to fight the monsters in his closet any longer.

"SANS?"

His ragged breath steamed in the cool October air, warm fuzzy hands gripped his shoulders almost desperately, and his ears were ringing something fierce.

He looked up, past the blurry purple and white figure preventing him from collapsing to meet the singular orange eye of his little brother.

Plip.

Plip.

Plip.

It started to rain, drenching all three monsters in freezing water in mere seconds. His blue eye flames and Papyrus' small orange ringed eye were the only things providing light now, the overworld palace dimming to the background of this moment.

"DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN I WAS SMALL?"

How could he forget? The best years of Sans' life were spent raising his little brother into the wonderful monster that stood before him now. He had no idea how his little brother had turned out so well when his guardian was such a useless mess, but he couldn't be prouder.

"DO YOU REMEMBER MY NIGHTMARES? AND HOW YOU STOPPED THEM?"

His mouth felt dry for the amount of rain soaking into his clothes, but he tried to do what his brother asked, even if it all felt so distant, like he was looking through a murky mirror.

"i heard you one night, just a few months after we moved to Snowdin." 

"i heard you crying in your sleep, and found you trembling in your scarf and blankets."

It was coming back to Sans now, why he stayed, why he fought the inevitable for so long. His first promise.

"i sat on your bed beside you and waited for you to wake up. I remember being so scared. Helpless. i already knew what was going on, but i asked anyway."

"and you told me. you said you were having nightmares. i tried to keep your mind off it, cheer you up with some puns, but i failed. just like always."

"i grabbed you, wrapped you up like a burrito in your blankets and held you as tight as you'd let me. Worried. Afraid."

"your HoPe was so low."

"i could've shattered you with a touch."

"you were so weak and fragile. and i was scared you would turn to dust."

Before Flowey. Before Frisk. Before Chara. It was his worst nightmare. To watch his brother blow away in the wind.

Sans couldn't even feel sad anymore when he felt Papyrus' SOUL break. 

Stars.. what had he become?

"i told you i'd protect you from any nightmare. i always will."

"and then."

Sans felt his smile soften for a moment as he went back in time. 

"i held you as tight as my arms would let me and we fell asleep, and we stayed there until morning came."

"I NEVER HAD ANY NIGHTMARES AFTER THAT." Papyrus admitted as softly as he could in his loud voice. "I WENT TO BED IN PEACE EVERY NIGHT FOR THE LAST SIXTEEN YEARS, AND WOKE UP HAPPILY EVERY MORNING BECAUSE I KNEW I WOULD NEVER BE ALONE, THAT I HAD NOTHING TO FEAR."

Sans' smile felt more real with every word, his shoulders relaxing under someone's warm hands. "i'm glad i got something right."

The younger skeleton shook his head vigorously. "YOU DID EVERYTHING RIGHT, SANS! YOU RAISED ME! YOU TAUGHT ME! YOU GAVE US A ROOF OVER OUR HEADS, FOOD IN OUR PANTRIES, AND PUT ME THROUGH SCHOOL WHEN WE HAD NOTHING!" Papyrus took a step closer, hesitating for some reason, and looking just to the left of Sans at something Sans didn't care to see, he only had eyes for one person right now. His body had given out quite a bit ago, but something was holding him up, giving him the chance to keep talking.

"i was always scared." Sans admitted, ashamed in ways that cut deeper than any knife. "that you'd come home from school one day and ask why we didn't have the fancy things your friends did, or why we never went on any vacations, or why we lived in such a small apartment." Of realizing that Sans couldn't provide for them both as well as he should have, that Sans couldn't give his only family everything he wanted. Whatever held him gripped even tighter at his words, the feeling almost breaking through the metaphorical chill that had seeped into his bones, numbing any kind of sensation.

Papyrus shook his head, closing his small eyes to stop himself from tearing up, and Sans could feel his one good eye filling with liquid flames. "YOU MADE A HOME FOR US BOTH SANS. YOU DROPPED OUT OF COLLEGE WHEN YOU WERE FOURTEEN AND HELD DOWN FOUR JOBS TO PAY FOR OUR LIVELIHOODS. YOU HAVE DONE MORE FOR ME THAN I COULD EVER REPAY."

"NO." Sans interrupted him, his voice firm with Papyrus just this once, he had to be, his SOUL couldn't take the heartbreak in his little brother's voice. "it was my choice. school didn't matter, the money didn't matter, the house didn't matter Papyrus. You Did."

"raising you." The times they'd had over the years, the mistakes, the stress, the love, the care, the affection. it all came flooding back in a tidal wave that filled his SOUL to burst.

*Your SOUL is cracking.

*But it refused.

"the monster you've become."

He smiled up at his blurry little brother that outgrew Sans' small arms all too soon, wide and open for the first time in both of their lives. "if i played even the smallest part in who you've become, even if it's just WHAT not to do."

*CRACK

*Your SOUL is breaking.

*But it refused.

"WHO not to be." It hurt so much.

*CRACK

*But it refused.

"then i'm so unbelievably happy." To finally tell his brother the truth.

*CRACK

*But it refused.

"i'm so proud of you." But it felt even better to stop lying to him.

*CRACK

*But it refused.

"I KNOW." His little brother's voice was choked with enough emotion to drown in, but still he looked so. determined. A thought nagged at the back of his mind, but he was too tired to think right now. "WHICH IS WHY I'M ASKING YOU TO TAKE SOME TIME AWAY."

Sans blinked.

.What?.

Papyrus barreled on, heedless of his brother's confusion. "YOU'RE EVERY MOMENT FOR THE LAST SIXTEEN YEARS HAS BEEN DEDICATED TO TAKING CARE OF ME, COMPLETELY NEGLECTING YOURSELF IN THE PROCESS IF THIS IS ANY INDICATION."

Sans didn't know what he meant, and then he started to look around, and actually take in where he was, and realized he'd dissociated too much, and the situation had changed without him knowing.

They'd both ended up on their knees in the rain at some point, and there were arms wrapped around his chest, pulling him into something that blazed with warmth and kindness, lulling him back into reality ever so slowly. He looked behind his seated brother to find the blurry figure of Undyne standing stock still in the downpour staring at him and his brother, beside her was his science buddy Alphys, followed by the flame elemental who fed him and his brother for those first few months after their father shattered across time and space, his flames getting dimmer and dimmer by the second with every drop of water that hit him, but still refusing to move.

Asgore stood further back, under some cover from the rain underneath the patio leading up to the grand doors with the two humans who'd changed into their normal striped sweaters and small shorts. Gallet and Muffet hung from the ceiling of the patio, conversing low enough that Sans couldn't hear them. That weirdo Mettaton, dressed as obnoxiously bright as ever, his brother was so obsessed over (they thought they were slick when Papyrus snuck out of the house for dates, they didn't know that Sans could literally feel where his brother was at all times) had shown up at some point and looked surprisingly conflicted between staying back for the illusion of privacy and rushing to Papyrus' side. Guess his brother did know how to pick them.

Sans couldn't quite make out their details, their forms obscured by the thick rain and his one eye blurry from the blue tears he refused to let fall. But they were all here for some reason, they'd all shown up at some point. Now that he was more present, he could feel Tori wrapped around his back, her hands gripping his chest as she buried her furry face into the back of his blisteringly warm skull, her presence more of a comfort than he'd ever imagined.

"I TURNED NINETEEN IN SEPTEMBER SANS." His brother reminded him. "YOU'VE BOUGHT ME A HOUSE AND A  RELIABLE CAR, BOTH OF WHICH YOU'VE MADE SURE ARE SECURED AND INSURED. I HAVE A STEADY AND WELL PAYING JOB AT THE EMBASSY THAT COVERS ALL OF MY BILLS, AND GIVES ME MORE THAN ENOUGH ROOM FOR ANY KIND OF EXTRA EXPENDITURES I MAY REQUIRE IN THE FUTURE."

He poked Sans' chest with one large boney finger and continued. "YOU'VE PLAYED YOUR ROLE TO PERFECTION, YOU'VE RAISED ME TO BE A MONSTER WHO CAN TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF." Papyrus grabbed both of Sans' hands and pulled them out of his pockets to hold them firmly but gently. "YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ME ANYMORE. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF NOW."

Sans. stopped. And blinked. Looking at the hands interlaced with his own, the subtle strength of Papyrus' SOUL drifted into him from the contact, never to be a boss monster but still powerful in his own right. And then he looked at his brother, actually looked for the first time in far too long he realized. 

He saw the toddler he wrapped in a red scarf for the first time. He saw the child racing around with his friends on the way home from school. He saw the teenager who got his heart broken for the first time.

And now, he saw the adult who was concerned for his brother.

He smiled a little, and felt the tears flow freely from his one eye, the dam finally falling apart after so long, the glowing blue magic dripping onto the hands holding his chest and his clothes. The scars imprinted on his bones over millions of RESETs glowed a dark red that lit up underneath his soaked clothes, and his eye stopped flaring, the magic and intent falling apart under his emotions.

"you grew up when i wasn't looking, didn't you?" He softly accused his little brother.

"NYEHEHEHEHEH!" Papyrus beamed down at him proudly.

Alright. His brother didn't need him to baby him anymore. Got it. It would take some time to figure out what to do with himself, but this is what his brother wants, so Sans would do his best.

To focus on himself.

To let go of himself.

He'd forget about his future, forget about the past, or at least try for the next month.

Anything he couldn't affect would be left behind.

His brother asked him to take care of himself, and the first thing to do was rest.

Sans was good at that. He could do that with his eyes closed, after all.

Even if this timeline was erased the next time the human got bored, he'd still try. 

"give me a month, and i'll tell you anything you want to know." He let go of his litt-. of Papyrus' hands and allowed his own to flop back into his lap.

Papyrus beamed down at him, his smile wide and accepting as always. "I DO BELIEVE I CAN WAIT A MONTH, BROTHER."

He tapped Tori's arms around him, and she gave him another squeeze before letting him go. He stayed there, his back pressed against the strongest woman he'd ever known, for just another moment, one moment of weakness for what could have been before leaning forward on his knees and tensing his shoulders.

His spine itched, his ribs twisted, accommodating for something Sans hadn't done since Papyrus had been little, too little to feel anything but fear at the sight, and his bones began to steam in the rain, the red glow of old scars contrasting the blue magic searing its way out magnificently. 

HUFF HUFF HUFF

His breathing turned ragged, his canines became longer and sharper. His jacket and sweater started to rip as something bagan to push out of his back.

Until finally, with just a small pop, two giant holes were torn out of the clothes on his back. And large wings made of bone were freed, along with a four foot long pointed tail. 

HUFF HUFF HUFF

Glittering blue feathers began to grow at an accelerated rate, filling in the gap between the bony appendages, fading slightly to yellow at their tips, each feather outlined in the darkest of reds. He stretched out his full body for the first time in a little under twenty years, revealing his thirteen foot long wingspan under the rain, before going limp and falling back into Tori's arms. Small amounts of his feathers flew free with each passing second like those sakura tree flowers Alphys had shown him in her anime, endlessly regrowing and falling free with every beat of his lighter feeling SOUL.

He looked up past his brother, at the two humans. Both were smiling those wide unhinged smiles they always sported during their little spats at the judgment hall, those red eyes that cut down deep into his SOUL with their knives were staring at him, at his wings. It made them feel dirty, like he needed to clean them and hide them away.

"what do you want?" Sans called out to them both, ignoring anything else. His brother asked him to do something, so he would, but he had to do it right. "for a year?" He'd bargain for that much time in this world before they erased it too.

They looked back, fearless as always in the wake of his pain, his rage, fascinated with his reactions as always. They looked at each other and stepped forward into the rain, each step steaming under the force of their DETERMINATION.

Sans felt his mouth open in a gutteral snarl, his blue magic snatching both his brother and Tori, pitting them behind his back. His wings flared, his newly grown feathers ruffling out in indignation and fury as he teleported to his feet, his blue PATIENCE magic scorching the ground beneath them in silent warning.

Thunder began to sound as nature took notice of them. Three conceptual embodiments facing off without the barrier to withstand their clash was nothing short of devastating to the world as a whole. Blue and red lightning flashed all over the black clouds as an immovable object met two unstoppable forces yet again.

They stopped nust five feet away, Chara mockingly holding up her empty hands with a smirk while Frisk put her hands behind her back and smiled up at him. 

*They both say an honest attempt, a year for a year.

Sans snorted and held out both newly clawed hands, they each took one bony hand in one of their own and sealed their deal with a shake. They'd have their time to do whatever they wanted later, he had a year to make his brother proud.

Kra BOOOOOM.

White lightning flashed in the sky, striking down around them in a circle as the world recorded their deal, and the downpour became a drizzle in an instant.

He turned around to walk away from it all, to hide away and rest for the first time in centuries, only to be stopped because the two humans refused to let go of his hands.

They stared up at his wings, captivated by something they hadn't seen before. Something only Sans could show them. They smiled up at him, warm and curious. That same smile they always gave him just before striking him down.

It disgusted him. More than those times he'd managed to hold himself from collapsing into dust as just half a skull and an eye, only to find them wrapping themselves in his clothing and laying in his dust and DT 'blood', looking for all the world as if they couldn't be happier.

He ripped his hands away and walked away. Past his brother, past his first and more than likely last love. To the top of the ridiculously long staircase that led to the true base of Mt. Ebott, just in time for the moon to finally stop hiding behind the clouds.

Sans had to stop. just to take it in. He'd always been in love with the stars and space in, but all they'd had were ancient hand drawn accounts and stories. He hadn't been able to stop crying his first night free on the surface oh so long ago, the stars were just so captivating to him.

He snapped out of his mini trance, and focused. He had just one last thing to do before he was free.

He looked at Toriel for the first time since he'd started to talk to his brother, and felt himself cringe. She was soaked to the bone, her fur matted every which way. Her whole form glowed a deep warm green with KINDNESS where his own blue PATIENCE filled tears didn't smother her magic, and her eyes were bloodshot from tears even the rain couldn't hide.

He opened his mouth, caught between confessing or apologizing because she had never been more beautiful to him than in that moment, but a small head shake 'no' and her wide concerned eyes meeting his own stopped him. Sans hesitated for a moment, reading between the lines as best he could, before giving in and looking back at his beaming brother, his nice clothes and face soaked in his own orange BRAVERY filled tears.

"if you need me." Sans trailed off.

"I WILL CALL." Papyrus reassured him.

Sans nodded, but didn't feel very assured. With a flick of his hand, three small blaster heads appeared before him, each a blank slate ready to be filled.

Two floated onto his brother's shoulders while the other found its way into Toriel's hands.

With two flashes of orange and green light, the three blasters changed.

The two on Papyrus' shoulders now resembled a dog's full skeleton, a little smaller than a normal German Shepherd, their tails sticking straight up and wagging happily as they licked his delighted brother's face with orange eyes and tongues.

The one snuggling and purring deep into a surprised but accommodating Tori's arms was smaller, slimmer, more in line with a cat than a dog. Its left eye glowed light blue and it's right now glowed a deep green.

"They don't need food, water, or anything other than attention." Sans told them before turning back to the moon with a smile that pulled strangely at his face. "They'll keep you safe, keep you company."

He looked at the bright full moon, unable to look back again for fear of collapsing into dust. 

"just." He hesitated, his voice warbling for a beat before he got it back under control. "just be happy, okay?" He didn't know which of them the words were meant for, but he needed to say them.

Sans didn't look back this time. He couldn't.

THWOOOOOOOM

His wings extended beyond their normal limits as he took off, acting more like two jet propulsion engines than actual wings. With each flap, he cleared a hundred meters, rising and rising above the world below. The clouds burned away in a kaleidoscope of blue and yellow as he soared past, revealing the cosmos of stars once and for all.

But Sans wasn't satisfied with that, he wanted to see more, wanted to explore more for the first time in recent memory, he was determined. What clouds remained fell away beneath him, the air that he didn't breathe became too thin to feel anymore, the ice tried but failed to build up over his bones. Gravity fought him with every flap of his wings, pulling him back towards his home, to his family. But just this once, he would fight against the pull.

BOOOOOOOM

The shackles of the world fell behind him along with the atmosphere, ready and waiting to grasp him once he returned, but here and now, Sans was free to fly among the stars. 

He smiled, guess he was really out of this world, huh? Giggling to himself like a school kid again at the awesome joke as he righted himself, Sans shot forward leaving a trail of blue light behind him.

First stop; the moon.

XXXXXXX

Papyrus smiled as his brother flew up and up, off into the night sky. He smiled when the clouds burneda magnificent blue as he soared past them. He smiled when he felt his brother's magic fly away from this world, to finally explore the one place that had captivated Sans since Papyrus could remember.

And when he couldn't see his brother's light trail anymore anong the beautiful stars.

Papyrus stopped smiling.

"HUMANS."

There they were, his best friends. The two princesses of monster kind. His first true friends, after flowey had. gone. And now he knew without a shadow of a doubt, his brother's most hated enemies.

"I AM PAPYRUS ASTERISKS. YOUNGER SIBLING OF SANS ASTERISKS, THE ARBITER OF MONSTER KIND." Two orange bone spears popped out of the ground to either side of him as his new pets/guardians slinked off his shoulder and began to grow, soft growls filling the empty night air. Papyrus grabbed them both, tearing them free and leaving one end of each a jagged point. "AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO THE ROYAL JUDGE, I ANNOUNCE MY TEMPORARY ASCENSION TO THE POSITION WHILE THE TRUE JUDGE IS OTHERWISE PREOCCUPIED."

Hundreds of orange bones appeared around the two humans still staring wistfully at where his brother had stood before. Papyrus was proud of two traits that he came by more honestly than his brother; his ability to see the best in each and every person, and his ability to comfort those in need. This would be neither of those things, but for the sake of his own peace of mind, he would bear the shame. 

"Turn it on, Alphys." Chara called behind her, a knife appearing in her hands and an eager smile directed towards Papyrus.

"Don't you want to remember, doctor?" Frisk whispered, a stick twirling between her dexterous fingers.

The good doctor looked so completely lost and out of her comfort zone to Papyrus as she fiddled with whatever machinery she held, but he would place his faith in the hope that whatever the machine did, it was not meant to harm them. but to help them as she always did.

His brother was no longer watching him, and his other friends were too curious and confused to stop him because they all knew that he would not harm either of his two oldest friends, he had no one to disappoint by letting his darker inclinations loose, just this once.

"YOU SHALL TELL ME OF YOUR SINS, HUMANS." His two new pets were each half the size of his car by now, and still growing, drawing from the reserves of magic he'd cultivated over his lifetime of training under both his brother and Undyne. He brought his two weapons together, their points crossed and pointing toward the humans' exposed SOULs. "AND WE SHALL REPENT IN HELL TOGETHER."

A bright red light flashed from Aplhys' hands, and a wave of magic slammed into them all, dragging with it countless reasons to burn in hell.

A new battle begins.