AN: I have managed to become Undertale trash. It happened fast. I'm literally the opposite of productive rn. THIS JUST APPEARED WITHOUT MY PERMISSION, I SWEAR?! Okay, spoilers for True Pacifist ending, brotherly and overprotective Sans plays a huge part, also, I'm a huge supporter of the "Sans-is-depressed" train, soo...yeah. Not just because of relatability, but rather because, the guy has a lotta secrets, and we all know how hard it is to keep big secrets...among other things...SO YEAH. I really like Sans can you tell? Heh. ALSO IN THIS FRISK IS AGENDER/GOES BY THEY BECAUSE? THAT'S NEAT. ENJOY?! (italics are flashbacks when there are paragraphs of such. Singular sentences will probably be thoughts.)
-AP

"Hey look, it's monster girl."

"Please leave me alone." Frisk said, not even turning or stopping walking, though they did increase their pace considerably. "Hey!" Suddenly a bulky, taller boy appeared in front of them, his gang behind him. "What's the rush, sweetheart?"

"I'm not looking for trouble."

"That mercy bull doesn't work on us and you know it." Frisk stopped, looking up at the bigger teen with raised eyebrows. "That isn't going to make me fight you, and you know it."

"Oh!" The shrilly familiar female voice tuned in from behind as both parts of the group circled around them like hungry sharks. "We'll see about that, Frisk-y dear!"

"Hello Frisk! How was your day?" Toriel was in the kitchen, and the child was thankful. That said, they still hid their face as they walked towards their room. Toriel suddenly came out from behind them. "Oh, Frisk, dear, everybody's coming over for dinner tonight! They should be arriving soon!"

Frisk said that they had homework. (In sign language, of course. They didn't like to talk too much unless necessary, but Sans, Asgore and Toriel were the only ones who could understand sign language, as well as Alphys, who had partial knowledge from an anime of some kind.)

"No, you haven't." The woman cut in. "You've given me that excuse all week. What's wrong? Don't you want to see everyone? I mean, I thought because it's been a while, but if you don't then I can-" Frisk thought of all the things they'd probably abandoned to come and sighed.

"N-no. Let them come. I wanna see them I just-!" Don't want to let them see.

"THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS IN THE HOUSEHOLD!" A yell came from the front door, and the kid turned, pulling their scarf over their nose and walking down the stairs. "FRIEND! HELLO!" Papyrus greeted, and Frisk leaned in for a quick hug, to peck him on the cheek bone, because he got so EASILY flustered by it.

As he was blushing violently and talking to Toriel, you looked over to Sans, who grinned his signature grin at you and patted your head. "Hey, kiddo! How's life?"
"U-uh, good!" They responded quickly. Too quickly.

"Hm." It was a quiet sound, but it showed suspicion. Nevertheless, the skeleton's smile never dropped, and he shared a couple puns with Toriel before heading into the living room after his brother. Toriel smiled down at Frisk. "See! You stay here and greet the others, I've got to cook some more!"
"CAN I HELP?!" Papyrus' voice cut in, and Toriel shared a look with them before shouting back. "Maybe not today, Papyrus. We're not having spaghetti."
"Aw."

The door slammed open as Toriel re-entered the kitchen, causing Frisk to jump, only to see Undyne, with Alphys waving nervously from behind her. "Hey, punk!" Undyne laughed, giving the kid high five and grinning at them. "What's with the scarf, kid? Are we ninjas now?" Undyne asked, looking very willing to play along.
"U-uh..."

"I'm jokin', kiddo, lemme go see Paps." She basically dived into the living room, and Frisk heard a crash and winced. Alphys seemed to do the same thing. "Aha, s-sorry about her. You know how she is." They nodded. "Uh, I'll go. Only Asgore left to come now, right?" They nodded again, and she grinned meekly before following Undyne into the living room.

Unsurprisingly, Asgore was the politest. He knocked on the door three times, instead of walking in, even though they'd told him he could multiple times. He walked in and smiled down at the teen. "Hi, Frisk!" Said person waved awkwardly at him before being lifted off their feet in a tight hug, the distant smell of daffodils and tea filling their nostrils. They giggled a little, despite his arms pressing down on a couple bruises. He put them down a couple minutes later, smiling, and they lead him into the living room, where the others hopefully weren't setting fire to everything.

Again.

Surprisingly, the only thing broken was a small, cheap vase, presumably by Undyne. Frisk sat on the side of the Sofa, with Papyrus next to them, and Sans on the other side. Undyne and Alphys were sharing a smaller couch, and one of the large armchairs was taken up by Asgore. It was the same as it usually was when they all came over.

So why did it feel so different?

Toriel suddenly entered, bringing a tray of drinks and snacks for the wait, and setting them down on the table in the middle of the room. She looked around, smiling until she reached Frisk. She tutted and moved towards the kid, who found themselves pressing their back against the back of the sofa very harshly. "Frisk, take that silly coat and scarf off, you'll dehydrate."

"I d-don't want to." Frisk defended, glancing to the skeletons beside them for help, but to no avail. In fact, most were confused or interested or concerned, or all of the above. (That was mainly just Asgore.)

"Frisk. I won't ask you again. Take it off."

"Please d-don't make me." The child looked small, and stared pleadingly into their surrogate mother's eyes, as if looking for some kind of comfort. They got nothing. Toriel sighed, and reached her hands to start gently pulling off the coat. When Frisk's struggles did nothing, they gave up. They were done for, they realized, as the coat and scarf were pulled away.

The room was filled with gasps. Toriel dropped the two items on the floor, eyes wide, and stared with the most shocked expression Frisk had ever seen. Papyrus physically jumped, and Sans just stared, smile faltering for the first time in all of the time they'd ever known him. Undyne stopped what she was doing, Alphys was shaking, and Asgore had a similar expression to Toriel.

Undyne was the first to speak up, her voice shaking with anger. "Kid, who did this?" The bruises around their eyes, on their face, neck, arms, and God knows where else, spoke more than words ever could, along with the dried blood from various cuts, grazes, and one nosebleed. "It doesn't matter..." Frisk mumbled, trying to hide their face once again.

"Of course it MATTERS!" Even Undyne flinched, along with everybody else. Toriel they had seen yell. Asgore had come close enough, and was too much of a sweetie to ever be scared by. Alphys wasn't scary when she yelled, and Papyrus yelled LITERALLY ALL THE TIME. But Sans?

No. Sans NEVER dropped a smile, and he never got mad. Not like this. Not ever like this.

Frisk found themselves shaking, and the entire house lapsed into a shocked silence. Sans stood suddenly, pushing in front of Toriel, who just stumbled back blankly, before regaining her balance. He took the child by the shoulders, and said kid felt tears as he looked into their eyes directly, one of his occasionally flickering into the deadly bright blue they wished they weren't familiar with.

"Who did this?"
"James and some other kids from the nearby town." They said it in a rush, obviously terrified. Undyne interrupted, the nervousness unfamiliar to her voice.
"Sans, you're scaring the kid, stop-!"
"Shut up. Where do they usually do this?"
"Behind the Alley where I walk home." Frisk's voice was shaking by now, and Sans' eye was glowing blue with an unfamiliar anger. His grip was so tight they were sure it was bruising, but they yelped as it suddenly tightened. "S-Sans! Y-you're hurting me!"

The hands disappeared, and Sans blinked multiple times as his eyes slowly returned to normal. He glanced around, to see everyone staring him. "Uh...S-sorry. Got a bit...Carried away...there."

"A bit?" Undyne said simply, obviously regaining her confidence as Sans calmed down. He looked at her and offered a sheepish half smile. Then he looked to Frisk, looked down, and then pulled them into a rather intense hug. "Sorry, kiddo."

"It's okay."

"So! Who wants to walk Frisk home from school tomorrow?" Toriel said suddenly, finally regaining her composure. The rest of the room seemed to slowly follow suite. "And no, Sans, you can't do it." Sans nodded, regaining his normal smile.
"Yeah, that's probably a smart decision." Before the other obvious candidate could speak up, Toriel spoke again.
"You neither, Undyne." There was a huff, and then some angry muttering. "Papyrus, how about you?!"
"I'd love to! We can talk about PUZZLES! AND SPAGHETTI!"

Therefore, the next day Papyrus walked Frisk home from school...And got his arm literally ripped off. Frisk got beat up a little more, and when they returned home, the two original candidates were VERY unhappy.

"THAT'S IT!" Sans shouted finally, standing up. "I'm going to-!" He cut off, an animal-like growl ripping loudly from his mouth as he turned away from the crowd with a frightening grin plastered on his face. It was much tighter than his usual. "Sans, no!" Toriel said, trying to restrain him, but no avail. He marched out of the house, and Frisk scurried after him, all the while protesting. They were very aware of having a "bad time" in another timeline, and they did NOT want that to be an impression on ANYBODY. "P-please, this really isn't nece-!"

"HEY, MONSTER GIRL!" Frisk turned, quickly.
"RUN!" They shouted out to the group as Sans slowly registered them being there.
"Why, got another 'friend' for us to play with?" The teens laughed, and without warning, Sans was in front of them. He smiled and winked at the eldest. "Just some friendly advice," He said, and suddenly the leader was pinned against the wall by his neck, and Sans' glowing eye burned with an anger that could scare the socks off of literally anybody.

"If you continue on the path you're going down," It came out as an almost manic growl. The other kids backed off, terrified, and Frisk whimpered a little. "You're gonna have a REALLY. BAD. TIME." The teenager's eyes were the size of saucers as he struggled to breathe. "Are we clear?"

He nodded quickly, desperately. Sans smiled and dropped the kid onto the floor, where he took in a grateful gulp of air. He grinned, and his eyes slowly faded back to normal as he turned and ruffled Frisk's hair. "Come on, kiddo. Let's go home."

Frisk found themselves smiling. Maybe it hadn't been the preferable solution, but...it was a solution, at least. When they walked in, the others were waiting at the door. They all were silent. Sans just chuckled at their solemn expressions. "Why the long faces?" Frisk giggled, clinging on to the skeleton's arm.

"How many people are dead?" It was Undyne who spoke, and her voice was blunt. Sans shrugged, and they all shared an exasperated glance, until he burst out laughing. "None! Come on guys, you don't really think I'd-..." He looked around at the faces close to him, and then looked down at Frisk, who was avoiding eye contact.

"You don't REALLY think I'd KILL those kids...?" Nobody answered him, and everyone seemed suddenly very interested in the floor. "Undyne? Come on, tell them." Undyne bit her lip and looked away. "Toriel?" Still no answer. "P-Papyrus?" Even his brother didn't look at him. "Frisk, come on, you know I'm harmless, right?"

When he still received no answer, he stumbled back slightly, as if slapped around the face. "G-guys, seriously?! I'd never do that. I'd never kill a KID."

"Incorrect." Frisk stated quickly. Sans shook his arm from their grip and stepped backwards again, looking down at them. Of course, they knew he knew, and he knew they knew, but the others didn't know. "You never told them, Sans?"

"I-I d-don't know what y-you're talking about, k-kid."

"Funny. I never told them, either."

"Told us what?" Toriel said, looking between the two. Frisk turned to face Sans, looking kind of sad.
"Guess we both have some explaining to do."

"F-Frisk, they really don't need to know. It'd destroy them. P-Please." The kid just ignored him, and turned back to the others, taking a deep breath.

"Sans killed me."

"HE WHAT?!" It was in unison, and suddenly, they all weren't afraid anymore, and glared at Sans with KNIVES. Frisk stopped, and surveyed their faces, then continued. "Don't hurt him. It was a different timeline. Where...Where I k-killed you all." This time the shock was directed towards the child, who just closed their eyes and continued. "He was...one of the only ones left. I-I...I scared the unscareable. Hurt the unhurtable. Killed the unkillable. All those who never deserved it." Sans was noticeably panicked, sweating and looking down at the kid. "He had no choice. I killed his friends. I killed his brother. He warned me way before, that I'd have a bad time if I did, but...I ignored him. So he did the only thing he could. He fought me."

"He never truly won. He killed me over and over and over and over and over. But I was too determined, and eventually..." They sighed and bit their lip, inhaling again. "Eventually I beat him, and he died."

"And that was that. His last words HAUNT me and I never even LIVED that life. He just said that..."

"Welp, I'm going to Grillby's. Papyrus, do you want anything...?" Sans repeated, standing normally, head hung.
"They haunted me because that life. The life he lived. That you ALL lived, I took that away and I enjoyed it."

"That isn't who you are, Frisk, we know that." Sans said simply, making eye contact. "I know that."

"LIAR!" They screamed suddenly, turning to him and pointing a finger accusingly. "YOU'RE SCARED OF ME AND I'M SCARED OF YOU AND WE BOTH KNOW IT!" Sans stumbled back again.
"F-Frisk."

"NO, DON'T 'FRISK' ME! I KNOW YOU KNOW! YOU ALWAYS WAKE UP WHEN I DO, YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE SAME DREAMS, I'VE SEEN THE LOOK IN YOUR EYES, SANS! YOU'RE SCARED THAT I'M GONNA RESET, AND DO THAT, ALL OVER AGAIN, THAT YOU'LL HAVE TO SUFFER IT ALL OVER AND OVER AND OVER LIKE I MADE YOU!" Sans stopped, and nodded, with a sigh of defeat. "You're right."

Frisk had tears streaming down their face, and they knew it. "I am scared. I'm scared to lose my brother again, and I'm scared to lose my friends again. I'm scared that you can take it all away as quickly as you gave it all back because I know you could if you wanted to." The kid turned, but hands turned them back, and Sans made eye contact. "I've lived through hells, kid. Thousands of resets. Seeing me be too late every single time, over and over. But this was different. You were different. And I know you wouldn't put me through that ever again because you know."

He pulled them into a hug, and the others watched, shell-shocked, as both of them cried. Frisk whimpered, clinging onto the soft fabric on the inside of his coat. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I was so afraid you'd hurt me."

"Frisk." He pulled them back, and made direct eye contact. "You know I'd NEVER hurt you like that, not now, ever." Frisk nodded.

"I-I know. I'm just..."

"Nobody can blame us, eh? I'm afraid of myself, sometimes, too." Sans said, smiling and ruffling the kid's hair, before standing properly, and looking around, meeting with the confused stares of the others. "Uh...I guess I really do have a lot of explaining to do, huh?" He laughed a little. "Eh, it's about time I got some stuff of my chest anyway. Nobody should have to hold this in forever." He shrugged, then turned back to Frisk.

"So, how many people did I kill?"
"None!" They giggled out, finally smiling. The entire room seemed to let out a breath they weren't aware they were holding.

"Frisk dear, why don't you go set the table?"
"Okay!" Frisk skipped away happily into the kitchen, and Papyrus was quickly told to follow, which he did without a word of complaint. The others looked back to Sans. "Uh, guys?"

"Sans." Toriel said in an almost sad voice. "We know how powerful you are, but it's triggered by your emotions. You just used your powers on some kids. Your emotions are completely haywire! There's no saying how easily it can happen." Sans continued smiling, and looked at her, slightly tiredly.
"Tori, I'm fine! I can control myself!"

"We all know that's a lie. You haven't been fine for a long time."
"Can't really blame me." Sans defended lamely, shrugging.
"Look, dude, I trust you, I do." Undyne said, looking away, hands in pockets. "But...the fact is, you KILLED someone."
"You've killed plenty." Sans interrupted, looking kind of like a deer in headlights.
"You've killed more." Sans looked at Alphys, eyes wide.
"S-seriously? You too?!" Sans now sounded and looked more like a kicked puppy.

Toriel and Asgore shared a look, and then Toriel sighed. "Look, Sans...You've killed people. Papyrus told us about his incident when he was younger. You can't afford to take it easy anymore! You could get us locked back in the Underground with how erratic you've been!" The skeleton looked around, secretly hoping Papyrus or Frisk would walk in and this all would stop. "W-what are you saying?"

"Sans, you need a break. Away from all of this. To regain your control."
"I DIDN'T EVEN HURT THE KIDS, I JUST SCARED THEM!" Sans defended pretty confidently now. "I HAD N-NO INTENT OF HURTING THEM!"
"Really?"It was a question he couldn't answer honestly, so he just didn't answer.
"I'm fine." He answered, looking around with an unconvincing attempt at reassurance.

"What do you need to tell us, Sans?" It was a sigh, and Toriel emitted it. She seemed to notice that the skeleton was getting overwhelmed, but knew some things needed to be talked about. Suddenly, Papyrus ran in.
"TORIEL, FRISK CUT THEMSELVES!"
"WHAT?!" It was a screech, and they all ran, alarmed, into the kitchen.

Frisk jumped out, covered in what suspiciously looked like tomato ketchup, and shouted "BOO!". Papyrus giggled, and the others just stared, until Sans snorted, and then burst out laughing. "O-oh my God, ya really-PFFT- really got us, kiddo!" He was laughing almost hysterically, and the others soon followed suite.

"PAPYRUS, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU RIGHT NOW, OH MY GOD!" Sans laughed, and then shared a quick glance with Frisk, who winked and smiled, licking some ketchup from their hands. He winked back, and the rest of the night was pretty uneventful. In fact, they all seemed to completely forget about the events of the past couple days completely.
It was the Halloween holidays, after all.

All except few.

"Sans?"

The skeleton had just closed the book Papyrus had chosen for tonight's bedtime story, and the taller skeleton was obviously sleepy, his voice a childish and quiet yawn. "Yeah, Paps?"
"What was Frisk talking about? What do you need to say?" Sans froze, and let out a loud yawn, smile not dropping, but tensing slightly. "It's nothin', bro. Don't even worry about it."
"I'm not an idiot, Sans."
"Never said you were." He seemed completely unfazed by his brother's curiosity. Papyrus sighed, sitting up slightly.
"What is it, brother?" Sans hesitated, and then turned away.
"Just go to sleep, Papyrus."
"Sans-!"
"JUST GO TO FUCKING SLEEP, OKAY?!" He'd turned, iris flashing yellow-tinted blue for a mere millisecond, and the other visibly flinched, tensing very obviously and pulling up his covers closer to his face. "Okay." It came out higher and more scared than Sans warranted, and he winced a little.

Sans closed his eyes and sighed, loosening up and regaining a tired smile. "I'm sorry, I've just...It's been a long day." His brother didn't answer, just turned away and laid back down. After a long silence, when the shorter had turned around, giving up on a reply, Papyrus spoke hesitantly.
"I'm always here to talk to if you need it...You've always done the same for me."
"I know." Sans sighed, staring at his own feet in guilt.
"...I love you, Sans." It was quiet, so much that the elder wouldn't have heard it if he weren't paying close attention. Sans smiled warmly. It had been a long time since either of them had actually said that they loved each other, and he wondered briefly why. Maybe actions spoke more than words on that behalf, or maybe they were just too tired and too busy.

"I love you too, Paps."

AN: Well that was certainly a wild ride, wasn't it?
I have no idea what this actually is. I just felt like writing. Plft. I'm lazy, Sans is like my spirit animal, and most of this is actually based around events with me and some of my close family members recently. Needed to get some stuff out, I guess.
Much like Sans in this, I'm not good at controlling my temper.
I know this isn't lighthearted, but to be honest, I don't really care. It might be OOC, but it helped me.
Review if you liked!
~AP