A/N: Finally the scene everyone wanted to see. Holy shit it's weird writing in 3rd person POV after writing 2nd POV for so long.

It had been a little while since anyone had heard from Frisk. Sans didn't talk with the kid a lot on the internet or on his phone or whatever (he was too lazy to do so unless he was trolling someone –like his brother- but he just wasn't feeling up for it lately) but everyone around him kept him posted on what Frisk was up to. He knew all about Christmas and New Year's. He knew that Frisk followed Papyrus on his Tumblr (Sans did as well. Anon mode was a blessing) and that they liked to all chat with each other over mass group texts that blew up everyone's phones. Including Sans's. Because he hadn't had a choice in the matter.

However for the past couple of days it had been radio silence with the human. Usually they called or at least sent a message to someone once a day. Toriel was beside herself with worry. Sans knew that she got a morning phone call every morning (and he won't say that he's a little jealous of that. It's stupid to even feel that way. It's not his fault the stupid human got him used to having them around when he needed them in the pre-dawn hours) but Frisk hadn't said a word.

"We should just go down there ourselves!" Undyne demanded. She and Alphys were back in their house in Ebott for the next couple of weeks.

"S-something bad could've happened!" Alphys agreed. It was weird to see Alphys so worked up, Sans thought. Then again, she wasn't stupid. He didn't doubt that everyone here had noticed something wasn't completely right with that human family. He still didn't like how Frisk had managed to dodge his question when they were at the meeting. Alphys had been there for that as well. By the slightly desperate look in her eye, she was imagining the worst.

"FRISK IS PROBABLY JUST HAVING SO MUCH FUN!" Papyrus suggested. "THOUGH…THEY ARE MISSING OUT ON QUALITY POSTS BY ME!"

Bless that skeleton's soul.

"heh, yeah. that's probably it." Sans agreed untruthfully. Everyone but Papyrus shot him a dirty look of some sort. Wow, even Asgore was upset.

"We cannot just disturb the humans." Asgore said diplomatically although he didn't look particularly happy either. There was a lingering sadness in his features. Sans had noticed that both the king and queen had what looked to be a weight on their shoulders since Frisk left. Who knew that kid was so important to so many people? Ebott seemed too small without them.

"We cannot just sit and do nothing!" Toriel protested.

"LET'S RAID THE HUMANS'S HOUSE!" Undyne shouted, summoning her spear and throwing it through the wall. It crashed into a tree outside. Well. It was Undyne's house so whatever.

"YEAH! LET'S GO VISIT FRISK! THEY MUST SURELY MISS ME!" Papyrus agreed.

Toriel touched Sans's shoulder attracting his attention. She looked terrible. The bags under her eyes were almost as bad as Sans's own. She wasn't meant to look that way. She was meant to be laughing at stupid jokes, not looking like she had lost a child.

Well.

"Sans…" she pleaded softly, "do you have any of your 'shortcuts' to Frisk's house? Or nearby? Can you please just check on them? You do not have to be seen or anything just…." The hand on his shoulder tightened.

Well who was he to say no to that?

"gotcha." Sans stood up ignoring that growing noise from his friends as Asgore tried to quiet them. "i'll swing by. take a look. just for you, tori." He winked at her. She smiled with relief.

"We will convince them to stay here." She whispered to him in a conspirator's voice looking over at the rest of their crazy family.

"yeah." He grinned at her and then flipped his hood over his skull before he walked into the kitchen and entered a shortcut.

The thing was about the shortcuts was that they were little bends in space. Time had been altered and fucked around with so much by Frisk that Sans had been able to find and utilize these little bends. It made travelling for a lazy guy a hell of a lot easier. Even if the sudden loss of everything that felt physical for that split second one was traveling through the hole still tended to be disorienting. Sans was used to it because of his blue magic but Frisk always found it nasty. They never complained when they took the shortcuts though.

Sans had been to Frisk's hometown many times over the past couple of weeks. He didn't know where Frisk lived for a while but it was easy enough getting it out of Asgore what city the child at least lived in. Sans had taken his time in between working on his machine in finding quicker ways to Frisk's city. He then spent many hours exploring all the gaps in space and where they would lead. He would resist the urge to actually go visit Frisk. Papyrus would be upset if Sans went without him. Well, that was one reason anyway.

Sans didn't bother with his moped today. He just kept walking. It took a lot longer even jumping through various shortcuts in order to get to the city by walking but he had time. His senses were honed enough that he could sense shortcuts even if he had no clue where they would end up. The surface had crazy amounts of holes to explore. He had kept fairly close to the area but there was a whole world. One of these days he would go on a "road" trip of sorts. He had a future now. He could actually plan for these things since Frisk promised not to RESET anymore.

The thought of RESETS chilled Sans's soul. The very thought of it happening again was terrifying and exhausting. He trusted Frisk to keep their promise…but he knew better than to fully hope for the best. The rug had been torn out from under his feet far too many times. He'd had to relive the same day (sometimes days) over and over again for far too long.

Here he was thinking depressing thoughts again. Man. Fucking human child. Sans had grown accustomed to ignoring thoughts like that. Now, though, he was used to hashing it out with someone. Fuck.

A car horn blared and Sans startled out of his increasingly-frustrated thoughts (he had been in a bad mood for over a month now. Poor Pap had to deal with his tetchiness) to look up. He saw a familiar blue jacket and brown hair and didn't hesitate. He stretched out his hand and felt his eye burn with his blue magic. He felt the magic latch onto the human soul and he changed the gravity towards him. The human fell sideways out of the way of oncoming traffic. Sans quickly caught them and held them close.

Fucking hell, this kid was going to be the death of him.

(Again.)

"jeez, kid. didn't i tell you not to fall for me?" He joked as Frisk slumped in his arms in relief. Honestly this kid looked so strange with short hair. Sans thought they would look nice if he didn't know for a fact Frisk probably hated it.

Frisk hugged him with a quiet laugh that sounded more like a gasp than anything. Frisk never failed to laugh at even his stupidest jokes. Sans and Toriel had really ruined this kid's sense of humor. It was great. Frisk looked up at Sans with a grateful smile and Sans felt his own face pull into a huge grin (a real one, not his default one) in response.

"Oops." Frisk said softly.

Goddammit Sans had missed this kid.

"clumsy. you were like this in the underworld too." Sans joked. "i thought my duty as your protector was over a long time ago." Then he couldn't resist adding, "you nearly died." Frisk started laughing and Sans couldn't help his own huff of laughter. It was really fucked up that death was a joke between the two of them. But both had both died –and experienced death- so many times that it couldn't not be funny. "thought you'd like that. wasn't even a pun."

Frisk pushed lightly away from him and straightened up. "What…are you doing here?" They asked. They always had such a soft voice. Sans had never heard the kid raise it before. It was somewhat hard to hear over the clamor of the city. Humans were staring at them. No doubt they were baffled by a kid suddenly flying sideways. The blue tint that had emitted on their form probably didn't help. Sans wanted to get going away from here before too much attention was grabbed. He kept his hand on Frisk's side until the child had fully gotten their shaky legs under them before he pulled back and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"haven't heard from you in a while. you said to come visit." Admittedly that had been a while back but who cares? The offer still stood. "unless you changed your mind?" He added. They shook their head quickly. It warmed something in Sans's bones to see how his company was appreciated. This kid, man…But they needed to get out of this area. "let's walk, pal. s'been a long time." Sans couldn't keep the warmth out of his voice.

The two of them walked at a leisurely pace in a seemingly random direction. Sans wondered to himself what the heck had sent the kid running straight into traffic. It wasn't like Frisk to be so hasty. Clumsy, yes, but hasty no. They always were careful with their decisions in life. It was one thing Sans respected and hated about his buddy. It meant all responsibility for their actions fell on their shoulders. Both for good and for ill.

(Unless Chara was possessing them.)

Sans spotted a ripple in the fabric of space in an alleyway and impulsively turned down there. Frisk followed without question and the two of them went through the hole only to end up in a place that looked like a park. It wasn't super crowded so nobody noticed two short people appearing out of bumfuck nowhere. That was good. "huh. so that's where this leads." Sans commented idly more to himself than to Frisk.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Frisk's raised eyebrow. Sans had to keep an eye on Frisk all the time for these little cues. He ended up looking at the kid more than where he was going. Kind of embarrassing. It would probably help when they both started learning sign language.

Sans grinned seeing that disbelieving eyebrow. This kid honestly thought he knew exactly where each shortcut went. It was hit-or-miss plenty of times. "new to the city." He said even though it wasn't completely true. Frisk didn't call him out on it, thankfully. He wasn't sure how the human would react to knowing that Sans had been making impromptu visits to this huge city.

Instead the skeleton plopped down on a nearby bench. Frisk hopped up next to him and began to kick their feet back and forth idly. Sans's jacket still looked ridiculously huge on the child. It was hilarious. Still at least the kid looked like they weren't having nightmares recently. It was a relief to Sans. He should've given the jacket over a lot sooner.

Frisk pulled up their hood too and then gave Sans a questioning look. Well that was vague. Try again, kid. Frisk pointed at Sans's hood. "oh." The skeleton said, finally understanding. "humans get freaked out by skeletons walking the streets." The first time he had shown up in the city with his hood down and his jacket open, the humans had flipped. Many children screamed –and god, Sans liked kids but these screams got on his already thin nerves real fast- and adults had gaped. Luckily monsters were well-known enough that cops weren't called but still. It was a hassle. It was just easier for him to wear his hood up. Nobody questioned hoodies. "boneheaded in my opinion."

Frisk nodded. They then pointed out the fact that humans had skeletons inside of them so it was weird for them to be so scared of skeletons. Sans got a rather dirty image in his head –one that was a mixture of disturbing and...arousing- that made him laugh out loud. He couldn't resist his guffaws. They only became worse at Frisk's baffled frown. He calmed down but couldn't resist his grin as he said, "hey buddo, it, uh, might not be good to say things like that." The human still didn't seem to get it. "people might imply things." The speed at which the realization processed in the kid's mind and transformed their confusion into THE most unamused look Sans had ever seen made him snort loudly.

Silence reigned after that. As the amusement in his chest simmered down Sans was left with his previous thoughts. It was great to be hanging with his friend again but the question still remained as to why Frisk was where they were when Sans had found them. Frisk clearly wasn't going to bring it up. Reluctantly Sans asked, "so. you were in a hurry earlier." The kid didn't respond. Great, it was going to be pulling teeth then. "care to explain?" Frisk still didn't respond. Sans bit back a huff and slumped down in his spot a bit more. His jacket came up to half cover his cheeks. His annoyance was spiking. He forced himself to calm down. "where are your parents?" He tried instead.

Frisk flicked their hand out half-heartedly in what must be the general direction of where their parents are. Or maybe they were just gesturing somewhere. Sans watched the human. They had the best poker-face Sans had ever seen (it was up there with Greater Dog's poker face and that was saying something) so he couldn't really read the child right now. However the fact they were expressing themselves more was clue enough that it was probably the parents' fault that Frisk had run out into the road. That itself had some nasty implications.

"so you've been ignoring everyone. you okay?" Sans asked. It was the whole reason he was even in the city at this moment. He was going to spend the afternoon at Grillbz today and now here he was. At least Papyrus wouldn't be able to scold him on not having a job again today.

"My mother took my phone."

Anger flared up in the depths of Sans. How dare they? That phone was the one contact everyone had with Frisk. He was furious. He could feel his eye socket burning with magic. He tramped it down. If Frisk saw it they would be scared out of their minds. "oh yeah?" He asked with fake levity. It's amazing how someone can work on faking their reactions to people. Sans himself had a great poker face but this kid could read him too much (dammit!) and he had the feeling Frisk wasn't falling for it. He wasn't sure though because the kid was staring at the ground refusing to look at him.

Frisk winced, though. Probably they realized how it just added to the "cruelty evidence" pile. "It's punishment." They explained meekly. "For...running away." They ended in almost a whisper. Sans stared at them until the kid seemed to realize just how pathetic an excuse that was. Good. There was an icy silence that followed.

Sans closed his eyes tightly and reigned in his fury. When he opened them again he spotted two familiar people. Oh great. Just the humans he wanted to see! His anger was beating against his sternum. He needed to get Frisk out of the way.

"hey frisk." Sans dug into his pants and pulled out some cash. He held it out to Frisk. The kid looked at it in surprise. "go get us some ice cream." He suggested. They just stared at him. "it's not as good as nice cream but hey, i'm down to chill."

Frisk's lips twitched –finally a reaction- and nudged San's arm with their elbow before taking the money. Sans trusted the kid not to get hit by a car while getting the ice cream. He watched the child run off before he slumped backwards in his seat and waited. He closed his eyes and listened.

"I can't lose him again!" That sounded like the mother. She sounded distraught. Sans didn't understand why the humans called their child by these pronouns. Frisk always looked uncomfortable to be called 'him' or 'her' or whatever. Admittedly Sans had no clue what actual gender Frisk was –it's not like they needed to discuss it- but it didn't matter. It was rude to assume. No curtesy, these humans. Until Frisk told him otherwise, Frisk was just Frisk.

"Maybe you shouldn't have taken her cell phone." The step-father bit back. Well sounded like something crawled up his ass and died. At least he was defending Frisk.

"For god's sake!" The mother hissed, angry. Sans watched their hurried steps walk past him before he stood up. He didn't let them get far.

"Humans." He said. He allowed his anger to deepen his voice just enough. He could see the shiver of fear straighten both of their backs as they came to a stop. "Don't you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand." Both humans whipped around. Sans held out his hand for one or both to shake. He didn't bother with a whoopee cushion. They weren't worth it.

"Who the hell are you?!" The kid's step-father demanded. He was pale with fear. Neither one of them moved to take Sans's hand. San's fingers curled into a fist slowly and then he lowered his arm to put the hand inside his pocket.

"that's rude, buddy." He said lightly and pulled back his hood. "my brother introduced us a little while back."

"You're the small skeleton!" The mother gasped.

Totally rude.

"that would be me." Sans smiled. It wasn't a happy smile. He wasn't sure the humans were able to tell. They looked scared. How boring. "so, uh, hey. while i've gotcha here. you're looking for frisk, right?" The parents nodded hesitantly. "that's great. real swell. just saw the kid. they ran to the store to get some treats. why don't we wait together?" He motioned to the bench. Nobody moved to sit on it.

"Wh-which store? We'll just-" The mother tried.

"nah, they'll be right back. s'not worth walking there." Sans interrupted. "while we wait. been meaning to ask you something. real important, y'see." They didn't respond. Sans could see the sweat breaking out on the step-father's face. The mother's hands were shaking a little. But they were holding their ground. Where did Frisk get their courage from? "yeah. real important. hey…" He felt his eye sockets get dark, "how many times are you going to hurt Frisk?"

The mother gasped and the step-father stepped in front of her instinctively. They looked like they were going to bolt. Sans felt his magic flare up and he glared at them as magic burned. His blue magic gripped everything around them and he pulled his hand out of his pocket to slowly start to increase pressure. The few leaves on the trees began to droop. The branches and benches began to groan in protest. The blades of grass that could be seen wilted under the weight. The snow compressed as if being slowly stepped on. The parents took one heavy step backwards but Sans used his magic to yank them back forward that one step. Both squeaked in terror.

"You two need to get something." He said. Bones began to materialize around him. Sans didn't keep his bone weapons in a box in his room. He kept them in a pocket in time in space that he could pull from any time. They danced around him in jerky angry motions. "Your child. They're the savior of my whole race. All of us monsters? We have this thing called magic. And you know what we use magic for?" The parents' legs were buckling under the pressure. Sans kept slowly increasing it. Some branches broke off and slammed to the ground. "To fuck up anybody who hurts one of us. And Frisk? Frisk is one of us."

His arm jerked backwards and the parents were yanked by their souls straight at him. His grin may have been a bit maniacal. All of the bones currently had light blue magic on them. They warped through the parents, petrifying them. Well, at least they were keeping still. "You get what I'm saying pal? You'd better watch yourselves. Expect a visit real soon." He released the magic suddenly. The parents screamed once and scrambled away. He watched them dispassionately but they stopped before running. Their eyes locked on something past Sans's shoulder. He glanced over and saw Frisk cheerfully jogging their way back towards the group. The parents were looking back and forth between Frisk and Sans in terror. At least they had the guts to wait to take their child away from the horrible monster first.

Frisk slowed down as they got closer seeing their parents and their expressions. Frisk frowned with worry. Sans gave the kid a small cheerful wave. "hey. got the goods?" He asked to defuse the situation some. This seemed to confuse Frisk even more. Sans mentally breathed a sigh of relief that he had managed to finish his speech before the human child got back. They didn't need to see him that way Ever Again.

Frisk held out the bag to the skeleton. They also had a hot cup of something in their hands. Sans grabbed one of the ice creams and ripped it open. He munched on the ice cream as the parents ushered Frisk away. The poor kid looked so confused. They didn't want to leave, Sans could tell. Something sparked in his chest again. He needed to get out of here before he terrified Frisk.

Reluctantly he turned and passed through the same shortcut to take him back to the alleyway. He scowled angrily and launched some bones at the nearest dumpster. They tore through the metal like butter ripping it to shreds. Garbage flew everywhere. People were going to notice. Sans slipped away through another shortcut.

He took his time travelling back to Ebott working off his anger. He was so tired all of the time. Threatening the parents didn't make him feel any better but he was done. They were taking Frisk back whether or not the kid wanted to leave. They could visit their damn parents instead. Sans didn't know why that child ended up on Mt. Ebott –they'd never talked about it- but he had a damn good feeling it was because of their "loving parents". Toriel and Asgore were better for them.

And he was going to take Frisk back. He had an army of monsters willing to help. No there wouldn't be any physical confrontations (the monsters wouldn't cause problems so soon after returning to the Overworld) but it would be enough to convince Frisk to come back to where they were wanted. Now it was just time to tell Toriel.

It was time for a little visit.