11 Chapter 11

Papyrus cleaned up the mess and ordered pizza. Undyne came back a few hours later feeling especially inebriated. After a drunk conversation with Papyrus, she collapsed on the couch.

Sans barely left Frisk's side. He had Papyrus bring him pizza and soda. When Sans was done with that and Papyrus came back to get the trash, he asked him to go out and get him something extra for the kid.

"Here, you go, Sans," Papyrus said quietly as he walked through the door to Sans' room. "Here's a nutritious smoothie I didn't make myself."

"Thanks, Pap," Sans said taking the drink and putting it on the floor next to his bed. "That should help him. How's Undyne?"

"She's still sleeping on the couch. She said something about feeling hungover."

"So much for relying on her support."

The two brothers looked at Frisk who was now sleeping on his side facing the wall.

"When do you think he'll wake up?" Papyrus asked.

"The sleeping pill we gave him was strong enough to put an adult to sleep," Sans said. "Of course, it's going to be even stronger on a child. I'd give him until morning. If he wakes up before then, I'll get him to drink the smoothie, so he can start getting some nutrition. God knows he needs it. He doesn't have any food in his system now."

Papyrus climbed over to Frisk's side of the bed and rubbed his hair. He could see Frisk's scarred arms sticking out from under the covers.

"Poor boy," Papyrus said. "You've been carrying a heavy burden alone for far too long, but you don't have to worry about that anymore, alright? You'll feel better soon. We're gonna take care of you and make you feel great."

Sans watched and couldn't suppress a smile.

"I'm going to bed, Sans," Papyrus said pulling the covers up to Frisk's neck and climbing off the bed. "Are you going to let him sleep here all night?"

"Yeah," Sans said. "I'll watch him. You can go ahead and sleep."

After hesitating for a second, Papyrus asked, "Sans, are you still mad at him for what he did?"

"Are you?"

"This sounds weird, but no. I've already forgiven him. He's not that person anymore. I'm more worried about you. You have always been wary of him, and you tried to kill him before."

"That was another time. Why are you so concerned?"

"Sans, if you think you might try to hurt him while I'm asleep, I will take him from you now. I don't want you to kill Frisk…"

"Papyrus…"

"If you killed Frisk, I don't know if I could ever forgive you!"

Sans shrugged and said, "Papyrus, I don't want to kill the kid. To be honest, I never really did. I only wanted to before because I had no choice. If I wanted to kill him today, I wouldn't have tried so hard to save his life. I have no reason to even be wary of him now. He poses no threat to us anymore."

"Okay," Papyrus said warily. "But if I come here in the morning and anything has changed, it will take me a really long time to forgive you."

"If you come here in the morning and anything has changed, I will let you and Undyne kill me yourselves," Sans said. "That's a promise, and you know how much I hate making those."

Papyrus backed up in surprise and was silent for a moment. Then he turned around and walked to the door.

He said, "Okay, Sans, I believe you, but please don't hurt Frisk. I don't want to lose two brothers in one day."

Papyrus exited quickly without saying anything else. Sans sighed in frustration. He could tell Papyrus was crying.

"You've really complicated things, kid," Sans said turning over to Frisk. "Don't worry. It's nothing I can't figure out, but I might need your help. Please wake up soon. Okay."

Sans laid back on his pillow and fell asleep himself. The two slept side by side for most of the night.

Soon, Frisk was having another conversation in his dreams with the One who stopped him from going back in time.

"If you really think it's necessary," Frisk said humbly. "You can take away my ability to reset. I don't want to risk even the possibility of hurting anyone else."

The mist once again wrapped around Frisk and projected the warmth that could be found in a hug.

"Done," He said lovingly but firmly. "You cannot use your blood to reset anymore. You will only be able to use your save file and your determination. You are a reborn child who must face the world now. Are you scared?"

"I told them all about what I did. They saved me, but they're probably still mad. They might want retribution. What am I supposed to do when I wake up?"

"Don't be afraid. They don't want to harm you. They want to help you. Let them. By doing that, you will start learning how to receive mercy."

"What if they decide to kill me?"

"That is a chance you have to take, but if they do, they will answer to me. Don't worry. I'll be with you the entire time. I love you, Frisk. Don't forget that. Now, it's time for your first lesson."

Frisk's weary eyes slowly opened. The room he was in was dark, so he had no idea where he was. Though he was clearly on a bed, this wasn't Papyrus' room. Using his hands, Frisk felt the bed around him and felt the wall he was facing. He sat up and noticed the warm feeling around his torso again. Frisk lifted his shirt, took off the heating pad, turned it off, and laid it on the foot of the bed.

That was when Frisk heard the snoring. He looked to his right and saw Sans sleeping on a pillow next to his. Frisk gasped in surprise and scooted backwards as quickly as he could, causing him to fall off the bed.

The noise woke Sans up almost immediately.

"What?" Sans asked tiredly. "What was that? Frisk? Frisk, is that you?"

When Sans looked next to him and saw that Frisk wasn't there, he crawled over to the foot of the bed to look for him.

"Frisk? Where'd you go, kid?" Sans asked.

Sans finally made his way to the edge of the bed and saw Frisk rubbing his head on the ground. When they made eye contact, Frisk tensed up and scooted backwards on the floor.

"What happened? Did you sleepwalk?" Sans asked him while looking at him quizzically.

When Frisk didn't respond and started shaking, Sans sighed and said, "Okay, this stops now."

Sans picked Frisk up by his soul and lowered him onto the bed, but he didn't let go.

"Frisk, listen to me," Sans said as seriously as he could while looking him in the eyes, so he would get the message. "I wouldn't have saved your life if I just wanted kill you. Undyne, Papyrus, and me, we know everything now, but none of us want to hurt you so stop trying to run away and…"

"I understand," Frisk said suddenly.

"What?"

"I understand. I know. We've talked about it. He told me I can't run anymore, so I won't. I'll stay and face the consequences even if I have to…"

"Woah," Sans said with a smile. "You really did have a near-death experience."

"What?" Frisk asked in surprise.

Sans let Frisk's soul go, and he landed on his knees. Sans reached over to the floor, turned around, and handed Frisk the smoothie.

"Drink this," Sans said. "I had Papyrus buy this for you last night since you haven't had anything in your stomach for a while."

Frisk sipped it and said, "It's still cold."

"That's ice magic for ya," Sans said. "It works so much better than ice."

He then asked, "So, what was it like talking to the Man Upstairs? What was having the ultimate encounter like?"

Frisk looked at him and said, "I have had three actually. The first was when I fell asleep in the forest, the second was after I fell asleep in Papyrus' bed, and the third was…you know. I think He's been trying to get my attention for a long time though."

"What does He say when He talks to you?"

"At first, I think He was just trying to get my attention. Then when I tried to kill myself, He made me question my decision. He told me that He would give me mercy if I accepted it. He said pretty much the same thing the second time, too. Yesterday, He stepped in. He stopped me from resetting and asked me to swallow my pride so that he could grant me mercy. He told me that by receiving His mercy and learning to receive mercy from everyone else that I would be able to be merciful like my parents were. When I passed out in the bathroom, He told me that He had taken away my ability to reset and that it was time for my first lesson."

Sans eyes grew larger, but he calmed down again and said, "Sounds about right."

"I'm surprised you believe me…"

"Frisk, we live in a world where souls, magic, and monsters are real. They all had to come from something, right? Maybe He and I aren't on the best terms, but I'm not gonna deny what you experienced. That would be hypocritical."

Frisk drank another gulp of his smoothie and then said sadly, "I don't understand why I'm alive."

"There's a bigger plan for your life, kid…" Sans started to say.

"No, why didn't you let me die? I killed Papyrus, I killed Undyne, and if you didn't get through to me, I would have killed you, too."

Sans was silent.

"I know you never trusted me, Sans," Frisk said visibly more upset than before. "I know you only didn't kill me because of your promise to Toriel. Now, you know I was a threat. They all do. Why won't you take my life? I'm at peace now. I don't care if you kill me or not, but you have every reason to. I don't understand…"

"Papyrus doesn't want to kill you, because you know, he's Papyrus," Sans said lying back down on his pillow. "Deep down, he doesn't have it in him to kill anyone. For Undyne, your guess is as good as mine. She was so gung ho about taking your soul, so I'm not sure why she saved you. As for me, well, it's complicated…A long time ago, I did hate you. I thought you and your determination and your goddamn resets were the reason we could never be free. I thought that this was all a game to you, and the reason I didn't kill you when I saw you the first time was because Toriel asked me not to. In all the other timelines, including this one, I wanted to like you, even be your friend, but I always felt like I had to be cautious…"

Sans then looked at Frisk and continued, "But that was before I understood you and your reasons behind it. I understand now, Frisk. You kept going back because you wanted to make things right. Then you gave into despair because your efforts seemed to be fruitless. I know that feeling all too well. I can't stay mad at that. Besides, you were right."

"About what?" Frisk asked.

"You and I are the same. We both let our anger almost push us into making decisions we would always regret, and we've been trying to make things right ever since. Like I said before, I'm not a hypocrite, so who am I to cast the first stone?"

"Does this mean you want to be friends with me?"

"Yeah, kid. I always wanted to be. We might as well be anyway. I am your big brother now since Papyrus adopted you. Remember?"

Frisk smiled and started to tear up.

"I only have three conditions," Sans said. "The first is obvious. Don't ever try to use your blood magic to reset the timeline ever again. I know you said He took that away, but if you ever find that you can, don't."

"I won't," Frisk promised.

"Two, no blood magic unless it's an emergency. I'll be honest, Frisk. You scared us yesterday. You almost bled to death. The only reason you're not dead right now is that we had to drug you with one of Undyne's sleeping pills, so you'd let Papyrus heal you. That's why you've been asleep for over 12 hours. That was hard on all of us, but especially on Papyrus. Please don't put us or my brother through that if you can avoid it."

"I'm sorry. I won't use my blood again unless I have to. My Mom said it was too dangerous to use that often anyway. I should have listened."

"Well, listen now. Third and finally. You have to take a shower in the morning, because, my God, do you smell. Every inch of you is covered in filth."

"Okay…"

"Welcome to the family, Frisk."

Frisk couldn't hold his feelings back anymore. He crawled over to Sans, gave him a hug, and could not stop crying.

Sans was taken by surprise.

He picked up the smoothie, placed it on the floor, and said, "Kid, I just told you you're a mess, and now, you decide to hug me? Are you trying to make me stink, too?"

Frisk didn't listen. He released his hold, laid against Sans, and didn't say anything. Sans didn't push him away but let him lie against him and cry for a minute though he didn't understand why. He finally understood when he saw Frisk's HP go up by one.

"Frisk," Sans said in realization letting himself rub the boy's back. "All this time, you just wanted my approval and my love. Didn't you?"

When Frisk wouldn't let up, Sans knew it was true.

"All this time you were out there, you were cold and alone. You didn't think anyone would understand you or care about you if they knew who you really were. You were so desperately lonely. Just like me…"

Frisk finally started to calm down and just laid there against Sans. He started drifting off to sleep again.

"We're broken souls, you and I. We act so tough, but deep down, we're still scared kids. Now, neither of us will ever be alone again. I can't be your Dad, Frisk, but I'll do my best to be one of the best damn brothers you've ever had. That's a promise."

Frisk smiled and fell asleep lying against Sans' body. Sans felt his HP go up by one point, too.

He smiled, looked out the window at the top of the cave, and said, "Maybe, I don't need to stay mad at You after all."

Sans then looked back at Frisk and started humming a lullaby until he went back to sleep himself.