The sound of boots crunching through the snow reached him. He immediately stepped out of the forest clearing and hid himself behind the trees. The footsteps tore through the muffling silence, a silence which he knew to be undisturbed except for the times when he would come to visit her. He cursed silently under his breath, preparing himself for what had to come.

The kid walked right past him, without ever noticing. He grinned wider. This would be fun.

He emerged out of the woods, following the kid. The child tripped over a fallen branch, though she gave no reaction at all. She briefly inspected the branch, trying to pick it up. It seemed too heavy for her to pick up. The kid started walking up ahead.

Sans disappeared, and reappeared next to the branch. He stomped on it and immediately whisked himself into the woods again. The sound of the branch breaking had certainly attracted the kid's attention. She was looking at the pieces of the branch carefully, walking back to inspect it once again. With a hint of uncertainty on her face, the child slowly walked away.

Sans started following the kid once again, slowly increasing the loudness of his gait. By the time the child had reached his brother's poorly made bridge, she seemed to have realized that he was behind her. She stopped, either frozen with fear, or tensed up; expecting a confrontation. He leisurely made his way to her, slowly but surely. The anticipation of the thing he was going to do was getting to him.

"Human."

The child tensed.

"Don't you know how to greet a new pal?"

Some of the tension bled out of her shoulders.

"Turn around and shake my hand." He stuck out his hand.

The child turned around. Sans got to see the kid's face. She had squinty eyes and her mouth in a somewhat thin line. She warily gazed at his hand, but relented anyways. The sound of a whoopee cushion broke the tense silence. The corners of her mouth twitched.

"Heheh. . . the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's ALWAYS funny."

The human looked confused by the turn of events. Sans ignored the look on her face, ploughing on.

"Anyways, you're a human, right? That's hilarious. I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton."

The human seemed more accustomed to his presence by now. She definitely seemed more relaxed. Sans then began explaining the situation to the human regarding his brother. Just when he'd finished hiding the human behind the "conveniently" shaped lamp, his brother made an appearance. Their banter had seemed to cheer up the human, who had been looking somewhat distraught before meeting him.

After leaving the human near his station, Sans went back to the spot he had been before his encounter with the human. He sat down, resting his back against a tree. As he looked up to the clearing, he saw a trace of yellow sink into the ground. Not fazed by it at all, he called out.

"Hey you."

The yellow flower appeared right back at the same spot he had disappeared. It sneered back at him.

"Trashbag."

"You're hurting my feelings, you know that right? After so long we've known each other, you still choose to call me that. What did I ever do to you?"

The flower's expression turned murderous. It spoke with venom in its voice, "What were the circumstances under which we spoke to one another last time, huh? I hate this act you put up every single time we meet."

Sans shrugged, "I really can't do anything about it. Every reset of yours costs me my memory. The only thing that I DO remember is to stay wary of you. Call it a hunch, or instinct. You've heard the saying right? Never trust a flower."

Flowey huffed with impatience. He muttered angrily, "I should really kill that river-person."

Sans raised an eye socket, "You wouldn't do that. Isn't that ferry the only reason why you're able to move around so quickly every time?"

Flowey cackled manically, "Not at all. I don't need the river-person for anything."

"How do you travel around then?"

"I have MY secrets Trashbag, just like you have YOURS."

Sans inquired, "Why don't you kill the river-person then? I'm sure you've had the chance to do that many times, but I get the feeling that you've complained about having not killed them many times too."

Flowey said with a frown, "I just don't kill them because, well, for some reason, I can't. The same reason why I can't kill shopkeepers. That old turtle really knew how to milk it."

"I always liked the old turtle. He knows things without having to search for them in a backhanded manner like you."

"Enough! I've already said too much. Argh! How could I've been so careless?"

"Don't work yourself so much pal. I probably will forget this along with a lot many things. That reminds me, what were you doing there?"

A disturbing smile broke across Flowey's face. In a high pitched voice he said, "That human wields the powers that you are afraid of, Trashbag. They are the most determined being in the underground. They have snatched away my powers."

Sans's eyes widened. He hadn't expected anything like this. Sure, this psychopath flower was capable of many things, but even he knew that the flower wasn't lying. He said carefully, "It is a good thing then, is it not? That these powers would now rest with a person capable of feeling something for others, and not a soulless husk like you?"

Flowey still held his smile, "Maybe you're right Trashbag. Maybe that human won't abuse the SAVE function the way I did. However, who's stopping me from taking those powers back?"

The way that was said unsettled Sans. It didn't take long for him to connect two and two together. The outcome of that scenario surely was horrible. It would be one he wouldn't be able to anything about if it happened.

"What is stopping me from ending you now, flower?"

"The fact that it wouldn't matter anyway. I'll come back whenever the human resets. I'm sure that you know all about it, don't ya?"

Sans knew he needed information. Any information would do right now. He pressed, "How will you get past ASGORE?"

Flowey smirked, "As I told you Trashbag, I have my secrets, just like you have yours. And all for what's worth, why do you care? Haven't you given up on this world? . . .to be blunt. . .it kind of makes it hard to give it my all. . ." he finished in an uncanny imitation of Sans.

Sans grit his teeth. Flowey flinched when Sans looked at him again, for his pupils had disappeared. In a low voice, Sans said, "I have my motivations, just like you have yours. Tell me or, . . ."

Flowey cut him off, "You have absolutely nothing that you can threaten me with. I have already wasted enough of my time with your incessant garbage. Do not cross paths with me again. Consider this as a warning."

"That's too bad. That's for another time though. Right now, I gotta guide the human through this place properly."

Flowey gave a snort, "Your so called guidance just makes one weak. How can one be strong without EXP or LV? How will the human defeat me without them? After all, this world is still KILL or BE KILLED."

"That's where you're wrong. I never needed any of them to take you down, did I?"

Flowey gave Sans a withering glare, before slinking back underground. Sans sighed. No matter what the little psychopath said, he knew this time would be different. This time, a human with a SOUL and emotions, not a soulless flower, wielded the awesome powers of the SAVE function. She surely would like people around her to love her, to care for her, right?

They said ignorance was bliss, and Sans could not agree more. This knowledge, the one about the SAVE function and how it works, would never be meant for someone without the ability. It would drive someone mad. That's the reason why he had only two desires. Either someone makes him lose this knowledge, or he gets the ability to SAVE. The second option was an impossibility.

The first one was possible. Being free of it however, required him being freed from everything.

Had he begun to wish for death already? It wouldn't be so difficult, would it? He was already the weakest in terms of base stats.

Was anything he did, ever worth it?

No.

No.

He couldn't entertain this string of thoughts again! He had a lot to live for didn't he?

Papyrus.

The lady behind the door.

Alphys.

The people at Grillby's.

If he were to go away, they would miss him. They needed him in their lives. He still had to continue for them! Moreover, they had a new, real hope in the form of that human. All of them would look up to that human to free them from the underground, either by being killed by ASGORE, or by some method the humans knew. They had hope.

If he could help set the human on the right path, then Sans could hope too.

Sans slowly got up to his feet and dusted his trousers. He gazed into the distance, realizing something he had always overlooked before. The lamp behind which the human had hidden was visible from the spot he usually used to sit in the clearing. He felt an unknown emotion course through him.

He also realized there was a lot of work to be done. Groaning, he whisked himself away.

AN: Yeah, this is my take on an Undertale/Deltarune story. Toby Fox has managed to blow my mind twice, and here are the pieces of that totally blown mind. Mind you, Sans here is not nearly as nihilistic as we see on a Genocide Run, but that may change. Also you might've seen that I have used feminine pronouns for Frisk. It saves a lot of confusion especially since using third person pronouns feels a bit weird to me. I apologize for not being totally politically correct. With that really "off-putting" note, I announce that I'll be using feminine pronouns for Chara as well as Kris...

Please rate and review, it'll help me in knowing whether I'm going in the right direction or not. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!