TopSpeedOfSound

Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

Sans grinned nervously at the question, sweat visibly beading on his forehead despite the cold. He honestly didn't ever want to start telling everyone, to tell the stars honest truth, he just wanted to keep living in this whole make-believe "everything is okay" mindset and leave everyone else in their ignorant bliss, but that wouldn't stop the threat of his glitched counterpart, nor would it make the fight against him any easier. Mentally he weighed both options, finding both to be just as bad as the other.

Papyrus was probably their best bet for a starting point, but he was training with Undyne and besides that.... Sans just wanted his little bro to have one last day of innocence to it all. Paps was his rock, but he needed one last day of the younger not worrying, just one last night of him being his goofy, happy self. Papyrus deserved at least that much, because tomorrow his training would not longer be subjugating itallian pasta, but learning to evade a real threat and attack them.

No, Toriel was their best bet. As much as he loathed the thought of her possibly going insane as she had the last time he'd told her, with Frisk there he felt like it might be different. Even then, he wasn't entirely sure how she would react. Would she still look at Frisk the same? Still treat her like the daughter she never had? Or would she shun both her and the entire Underground and recluse on herself?

Frisk's apology instantly wiped away those quickly spiralling thoughts and brought the short skeleton back to himself.

He looked to her with a stretched smile that didn't touch his eyes,"nah, this... this is something we need to do. you know me, i just avoid all the deep stuff and hope for the best. i don't like the conflict." He paused there, thinking his next words through carefully. He didn't want to freak her out, he really didn't, but...,"i think.... i think we should tell tori first. i know you two weren't on the best of terms last time we saw her, but... i think if you're the one to tell her then she'll understand more than hearing it from me."

Sans watched her with a nervous stance, worried that she might vehemently object to the idea. He was being selfish again, and he was sure she could tell, but the thought of ending Pap's joy filled world right now terrified him more than anything he could remember from the past timelines. In the few timelines that he'd actually mustered up the courage to tell him, the older always felt like he was stripping away his brother's innocence and pushing him to change and accept something that was unneccesary, and he didn't want to do that again, at least not this soon.

Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

The stout skeleton relaxed at the feeling of Frisk's cool fingers wrapped around his own. He wouldn't let her take on the responsibility of telling them, but for her to be there with him... It made it just a bit more bearable. He wasn't comfortable doing it by any means, and his chest still constricted at the thought of sitting Papyrus down to have the same conversation they'd already had in another timeline, but if Frisk was there, then he could manage it one more time.

However, when she began to freak out about what everyone would think, his confidence plummeted. Sans wasn't sure what to do. He himself wasn't comfortable talking to the others about this, so what did she expect him to say? What did she expect him to do? Say it would be alright and walk her through it all? Fat chance. He could hardly think of going through every detail without needing to vomit, so how was he supposed to support her? There had to be something he could do or say to calm her down, something that would give her the same confidence she'd given him.

Nothing came to mind.

Sans was completely and utterly lost in this situation. He was pretty clever, or so he liked to think, but there was nothing he could think to say. Did that mean there was no answer? No way he could reassure Frisk?

He took a shaky breath, soul aching at the thought of being so useless right now. Surely there was something, some witty pun or joke he could make that would have the answer. Hell, even he'd been mad at Frisk at first, but now....-! That was it!

He suddenly looked at Frisk, placing a bony hand on her shoulder,"hey, ya know, i... i was upset at first too. undyne... she's probably gonna want to be alone for a little while, but she just.... she'll need space to wrap her head around it all. she'll cool off. all of them will. they just need time to think on it. take it all in."

God he hoped that was the right thing to say. His knees were shaking ever so slightly, and magic was rushing through his head in a bundle of nerves.

Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

His rattling stopped as he listened to her, taking what she'd said into consideration. They had both only been seeing one side of this situation, and arguing their own points, but Sans was finally seeing her side as well. And as much as he hated to admit it she was right, he was too proud to say it, but she was.

He sighed, finally turning to look at her and noticed that she was freezing, hugging herself and shivering like.... A child. He couldn't help but to see her as that child he'd met when she first fell. Small, powerless, innocent. He'd been wary, but not unkind to her. Suspicious of whether or not she'd be like the others, but hopeful that she wasn't. Gently he shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders,"i don't wanna lose you either, ya know."

He stood there, looking down at the snow, clearly remembering how dust had been scattered across it before, but shook the memory away. That was the past. Now was what mattered.

"i don't know if i have the guts to tell them the truth. i know... that they won't hate me, or you, but..... what if i tell them and we fail, and then we have no choice but for you to... i don't think i can do it,"he said softly, closing his sockets.

His chest tightened at the thought of another reset, but if it was their only chance, then he was all for it. But..... if it meant losing all of these memories, having to tell Papyrus again just for him to forget... He wasn't sure he could handle it.

Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

Frisk's words fell on deaf ears, it was a talent Sans had grown to nurture(for better or worse), and as she scolded him, he just tuned her out. And then she spoke of how little trust he had, and the skeleton couldn't hold back a flinch. She was right, he didn't trust anyone, not now, maybe not ever again, at least in some aspects.

He trusted Frisk around everyone else, trusted that she wasn't who she used to be, trusted that even when they all reached the surface, she'd be a monster at heart. Alphys, he trusted to break them out of this cave, Tori to be the mother most none of the monsters down here never had, Undyne to protect everyone from any murderous humans, and Papyrus to spread joy that they so often seemed to need. But he didn't trust them with things they couldn't understand. The resets, all of their timeless deaths, the truth about Flowey, all of the humans, all of it. They would never remember, so there was no point.

He'd told Paps before, broken down entirely after about the fiftieth reset and spilled everything. And Papyrus naturally accepted his words, though not without question, and Sans answered them all. But...

"heh, it's kind of pointless if they won't remember... do you even know how many times i've told paps everything? about the resets, what really happened, why i'm so messed up..... four hundred fifty two times. after that i gave up. there's nothing i can do to stop all of this from happening, and i don't want any of them to worry over it. i.... i-i'm supposed to protect them from the things they don't understand, ya know? this... it's not any different. i just-! ............ it's... simpler if it's just me," he worded delicately, bones rattling a bit louder.

He took a shaky breath, feeling lightheaded, but he didn't care. Right now panic was quickly rising in his chest, and he couldn't stop thinking about the absolute sense of hopelessness overwhelming him. Like he was back in the prior resets, just waiting for the next one to happen.

"it's not that i don't trust you or the others, it's just... it's so much easier to take all of the pain than to watch anyone else go through it...."

Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

Sans eyesockets went hollow as she mentioned being bait, everything else she said afterwards was drowned out by the heavy flow of magic pounding through his skull as blind fury grew in him. Bait? Is that the standard she held herself to? Just bait? And even if he did have time to attack while she distracted the glitch-Sans, his aim wasn't exactly a pinpoint shot. His gaster blasters were meant for speed and coverage, not accuracy, so it would be fairly easy to just accidentally hit her while she was doing her distracting. No, he wouldn't let that happen.

"N O T A C H A N C E I N H E L L."

Fuming, he turned to her with still blank sockets,"do you even know what you're suggesting?! is that really all you see yourself as?!! just some easily replaced target practice that i'll willingly use to get an opening?!!! no, not happening. your stats are hardly better than mine, and i won't let you just throw yourself in the line of fire so i can have an opening! i don't care that you can reset, this guy isn't playing around! even if you reset it all, he's a 'sans', he'll remember it all and just come back!" Growling in frustration, he pulled his shoulder from under her grasp and began to pace, hands clenched tightly inside his pockets, bones rattling quietly, and a dark "smile" on his maw.

And on top of it all his dodging skills weren't just something he could teach her. They were a learned habit from many murderous humans and many, many resets. Even if he tried to teach her, it wouldn't do any good.

How could she think this was ok? That he'd just roll over at such an absurd plea? He.... He couldn't stand the thought of starting over again. Much less the thought of losing Frisk forever. But if he was strong enough, he could protect it all, and nothing bad would happen. They could all just live peacefully in the Underground until they found a way to break the barrier. He just had to get stronger.

Not sure what to do with himself, he just continued to pace and fume, until finally just keeping opting to keep his back to her as he spoke in a weary, almost cracked voice,"just go home, frisk."

Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

Sans had just closed his eyes when he heard the deliberate crunching of footsteps headed in his direction, and at first felt his soul freeze in horror. No one in all of the Underground, not even Undyne, knew the full extent of his powers, and he fully intended to keep it that way. His powers, while initially thought of as an ultimate blessing, were barely half that for the short skeleton.

He remembered pain, enough that he thought he might die, so unbearable that he was ready to give up, and that's when his very first blaster appeared. The huge, animalistic skull had given a primal cry before launching a beam from it's disfigured maw at his attacker. But that was it. He couldn't remember anymore than that snippet of agony and terror. And he didn't want to be reminded of the short memory by being quizzed over his powers.

"You know, Sans...I was thinking. We should train together."

At that, the skeleton let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and relaxed back into the snow. Thank the stars. It was just Frisk. She had never questioned his attacks, having seen them so many times before, and he knew she wouldn't, though probably because she assumed they were natural. Still, it was a relief to know he wouldn't have to explain himself.

Sans gathered himself and tilted his head back to look at his favorite human. He could smell that she'd showered not too long ago, and see it in her damp hair. And as he stared at her, the statement clicked. She.... thought he was going to let her endanger herself over this? Fat chance. She had a better chance of him telling her to reset. How could she even begin to think that he'd allow this? Frisk really should know him better than that by now.

Sitting up, he kept his back to her and stared off at the various scars and burns left on the ground and snow. On top of what was to come, Sans wasn't comfortable training with her. Neither one of them had good hp, granted she could survive a hit or two, but the thought of accidentally hitting her, it was nauseating.

He only had 1hp, but he was still a very powerful monster.

"sorry, kiddo. i don't think that's such a good idea. maybe when there's not some psycho "sans-double" running around who wants to murder us all," he spoke lamely as he stood, still keeping his back to her. He knew that if given the chance, Frisk could most definitely convince him otherwise, but he knew the penalties of even one mistake in training, especially if it was just the two of them.

And if he did allow her to train with him, what would he do if he lost himself in a flashback? Would he even be able to do anything? It was rare now, but sometimes...... sometimes he swore he could see her as a child again, bloodlust in her eyes, and a dusty knife in hand.

He knew it wasn't real, that Frisk would never do such a thing again, but he was messed up from all of those resets, and his broken mind could conjure the image at random. And if it did that in the heat of a friendly bout of training, and he lost control, he'd never forgive himself. No, he wouldn't let it happen, plain and simple. Turning to her with an obviously fake grin he walked past her,"com'on, let's just go home and surprise Paps with some lunch or something."

Rp Interest checks(Fandoms and Originals) Open!

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Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

Sans followed Papy out of the kitchen when Frisk declared that she'd do the dishes, though not without glancing back at her as she started to hum that gentle tune. He recognized it as a song he hadn't heard in a very long time, but knew by heart. He was sure every monster parent did. It was warm and sweet, like a mother's embrace. He quirked another real grin before shuffling over to the sofa to take a seat with Papyrus who was killing a few minutes before heading to Undyne's with a replay episode of Cooking with a Killer Robot. He himself didn't care much for the show, but he could stand it since it was his baby bro's favorite show.

The pair watched in comfortable silence with the taller giving "oh"s and "ah"s at the cooking techniques used, obviously committing them to memory for later use.

And without realizing it, Sans' mind began to wonder in the silence, back to their talk of the surface. He was glad no one else remembered it, otherwise they might blame Frisk, like he once did, for reseting so many times, making all of them live through such horrible times over and over again. But she had been young back then, new and curious to these strange powers she had suddenly in this cave under an old mountain. And she'd eventually come around to reason, so that had been enough to prove to him that she wasn't evil, just mislead. And probably by that good-for-nothing flower.

All too soon, the short skeleton was drawn from his thoughts as Paps stood and bid farewell to everyone before heading off to his royal guard training. Sans watched and waved him off, sitting on the couch for a few more seconds before getting up as well and making his way up to his room. When he opened the door, he wasn't surprised to see it was still an incredible mess, his research from his night of agonizing how to extend Frisk's life still covering nearly every square inch of the room. He huffed a quiet sigh, reminding himself to go look through Alphys' notes later and maybe scrounge around for some of the former royal scientist's own human soul studies. It was an easy job to gather the clutter of papers, though it did take him a good minute to sort them out correctly. He'd been half asleep while writing most of these notes, so some of it was plain gibberish, but even just looking at what he had so far, he knew he was close. Maybe instead of a human soul, she needed a monster soul.... He jotted down that thought for later debate and shoved the stack of papers in his desk drawer.

The glitch soon made its way back to mind and Sans frowned. Very soon they would fight again, and he needed to be prepared. He needed to train. It had been a long time since he'd done anything remotely close to active training, but this threat... He couldn't ignore it.

His mind made up, Sans scribbled a quick note to Frisk and set it in front of his door before teleporting off into Snowdin's vast forest.

He looked around, making sure no one else was around before he set a timer on his phone and summoned a single gaster blaster, staring down the semi-sentient skull. Alright, so he knew what his worn-out, no sleep limit was, now he needed to figure out what his healthy limit was.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, focused and alert as he summoned another blaster, and then another, until eight fully formed blasters were circled around him and awaiting orders. He looked them all over for a moment, noticing the subtle, but very there differences between each blaster. Huh, he'd never really had time to notice any of that before. Shaking the thought away, he quickly teleport into the trees, hoping from limb to limb and fireing each blaster in succession at his imaginary enemy, coupled with bone barricades that crumbled into tiny, sharp, shards and flew at the fantasimal foe as well. Sans continued on like this for quite some time, switching from his high point in the trees to ground attacks and back over and over until he'd completely worn himself out.

His blasters faded off into whisps of blue magic as he fell back into the snow, breathing heavy, and pulled out his phone.

Thirty minutes. That was his limit for an all-out, no blows held back attack. He groaned and shoved his phone back into his pocket. Who knew being active was so much work?

Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

Sans dug into his food as Frisk and Papyrus chattered a bit, savoring every delicious bite. Man, maybe he should get Frisk to give Paps and Undyne lessons, she could really cook. But... there was something more to it than just the good food. The atmosphere was lighthearted, there was no tension hanging around any of them, and he hadn't had any nightmares. Stars, this was just like--

"So I uh... had a pretty interesting dream last night."

He stopped stuffing his face at that, shifting his gaze to his favorite human with interest. Huh, seems like Frisk didn't have any nightmares either, otherwise she wouldn't be talking about her dreams. It was another one of those unspoken agreements they had, don't ask and don't tell. Both of their nightmares would only serve to draw a stake between their friendship, and would probably end up in another reset if the subject were breeched, so they left it untouched and unworried about. Still, it was nice to hear her opening up, especially when everything was going so right this morning.

Sans listened keenly for more, maybe a bit too hungry for the details, but as she finally came out with it, he nearly dropped his fork.

All of them on the surface? Heh. That... sounded more like a memory than a dream. Even through all the rests, he would never, couldn't, forget the first time he breathed in fresh air. Watching his first sunset. Stargazing. It.... It had all been so beautiful, and through the timelines, the memory of it, those blissful few days on the surface, he'd held them close. He'd wished and dreamed and hoped to go back to it. He wanted to see it all again.

Somewhere in his train of thought, Sans' gaze had fallen to his plate, completely missing the look from Frisk. He smiled as she described it. Her voice was so warm, he could almost feel the remembered heat of the sun warming his bones.

He smiled absently, lost in the memories of those short few days on the surface. He really wanted to go back. But not alone, he wanted to go back like this, him, Paps, and Frisk all living together like this. Happy, carefree, and with those warm fuzzy feelings Sans felt building up in his bones when he was with her. God he wanted it all to be perfect again. He didn't even notice notice that a single stray tear had slipped down his cheekbone until Papyrus wiped a glove over it with concern etched in his long face,"BROTHER! WHATEVER IS THE MATTER? ARE YOU STILL NOT FEELING WELL? SHOULD I CALL ALPHYS TO COME CHECK YOU OUT AGAIN??"

Sans rubbed his eyes sockets with a chuckle, shaking his head,"nah, bro. 'm just really happy, ya know? me 'n alphys are working hard to break down the barrier, and we're almost there, and then this morning is just so perfect...", he looked over to Frisk with a smile, a real one,"we'll get outta here soon. i can feel it. and then we can watch the sunset, and the stars, and the seasons, everything."

Unable to stop smiling, Sans finished his food quickly, his soul glowing through his shirt in pure joy. Once done, he stood up and took his plate to the sink, even going so far as to rinse it off before placing it in the soapy water Frisk had poured earlier. Man, could this day get any better?

Determination[TopSpeedOfSound & MurderVictim] HIATUS

He followed her gaze when Frisk pulled away and looked up to Paps' door, thoroughly surprised to not see the taller up and about already. Oh stars. That meant only one thing. It was super early.

Papyrus would never let him live this down.

Sans could pretend to be asleep when he woke up and then everything would be right and dandy, but as Frisk moved to the kitchen, he suddenly didn't find lazing around on the couch very appealing anymore. He laid where he was a moment longer, staring after Frisk and feeling the warmth in his chest fade, before he stretched once more and sat up. He debated only a moment before getting up and walking to the kitchen doorway to watch whatever it was Frisk was doing. And it probably shouldn't have surprised him to find her making breakfast as much as it did.

She was always helping Paps in the kitchen, but it was very rare to find her cooking by herself. Still, he didn't mind in the least. It was refreshing to watch her cook, and he didn't think he could look away even if he wanted to. There was something mesmerizing and.... right about watching her. From the slight sashay of her hips when she moved, to the way she paid such delicate attention to how well done the food was.

The entire time his eyes stayed glued to her.

At least until she finished up. Kicking himself into gear, he helped to set the table before taking a seat, keeping his eyes to the suddenly interesting woodwork of the table and tracing an idle finger over the gentle and familiar swirls.

It wasn't long until the sound of Papyrus' door opening caught his attention and made for a very welcome distraction.

At first the taller skeleton walked down the stairs, as usual, parading into the kitchen, suited and ready for the day, starting with making his most delicious breakfast, but stopped when he saw the table set with both Sans and Frisk awake.... Sans! "OH MY GOD! SANS! YOU'RE AWAKE, BROTHER," he wasted no time in rushing over to pull the older into what was yet another hug of a lifetime. And again, Sans didn't really mind it.

"sup, bro," was the eloquent masterpiece that left him as he hugged Papyrus back, a little gentler than he had Frisk, but none the less loving.

A bit appalled at the lazy vocabulary of his brother, Papyrus pulled back with a pout,"DO NOT 'SUP' ME! HOW DO YOU FEEL? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Sans grinned and nodded,"yep, healthy as a horse, bro. i feel great, actually. never better." Paps nodded with a smile of his own and set the short skeleton back in his seat before looking over the spread on the table, with practically stars in his eyes,"FRISK, DID YOU COOK ALL OF THIS? IT LOOKS DELICIOUS! THANK YOU!"