Frisk jumped at the tremendous thunderclap that sounded painfully close outside.
They saw Toriel flinch in the kitchen, nearly dropping the pie in her hands.
"Oh dear, that was so close! Are you alright, my child?" She asked, immediately worried about them.

They nodded, glancing up at the second floor in mild concern. "Sans was up there, maybe he saw it."
This, Toriel nodded, setting the pie back on the counter. "Yes, he was. This is very unusual, I was sure there were no thunderclouds near us for miles."
"Lightning can strike really far out from the storm itself." Frisk stated while turning back to travel up the stairs again.

Both human and Dreemur flinched lightly as the front door slammed open, exuberant fish lady standing in the frame.
"What the heck was that?! I thought lightning only happened during storms!"
"They do." The calm motherly figure responded easily, wringing her paws in worry. "This is indeed strange. Could you please check on Sans, child? He might have been startled by it."

They nodded, quickly marching up the stairs. Undyne joined them, heading for the room she and Alphys shared, patting the child's shoulder kindly as she disappeared into the PC-screen lit darkness. Frisk smiled at them before noticing what was going on outside the glass door at the end of the mezzanine.
"S-sans?"

"What is it, Frisk?" Toriel asked from below, suddenly alert.
"I- he- uh-" They stammered, staring.
They could see his legs, stained grey with ash as smoke wisped faintly off his still form, faint electric blue sparking off of him.

They suddenly snapped back to the present, shooting down and running into the door with how fast they were going, fumbling slightly as Toriel shouted after them to slow down, but too late, they were already bursting outside, gasping at the disheveled sight.
"Sans?!"

At his name, he seemed to wake up, sockets cracking open to peer at them weakly. He groaned slightly, shifting a little. His eyelights were gone, and as his sockets opened wider, Frisk could have sworn they saw faint specks of light gleaming like stars before they went back to their usual shadowy depths.

"Are you okay?!" They managed to cry out just as Toriel rushed in on the scene, Undyne on her tail. The goat woman swept Frisk up and behind her, giving them a stern but protective look as she faced the skeleton again.
"Sans? Can you hear me?"

"Mmmm-hmm." He groaned out, struggling to sit up. Toriel bent down, wary of touching him. "What hurts the most right now? Or is it too difficult to speak?"

He finally managed to sit upright, leaning against the soot-covered bars of the railing. He coughed, electric blue mist escaping him, glowing faintly until it blew away.
"Actually." His hoarse voice cracked as he replied wheezily.
"I just ache all over. Voice hurts, though."

"Do you want me to help you?" She asked softly, doe-like eyes watching him gently. Sans nodded listlessly, sockets sliding shut. Toriel frowned, reaching over. She flinched back as she got shocked by his jacket, wincing and shaking her hand before touching it again. This time there was no shock, the access energy having faded already.

So she picked up the short skeleton, carrying him inside, mindful of the doorframe. Frisk darted around her to grab his fallen slippers, hissing slightly as both sparked. Undyne was already on her phone, calling Papyrus as Alphys rushed ahead of Toriel to set blankets up on the couch.

As she set the short skeleton down on the cushions, he winced, blinking as he noticed everyone gathered around him.
"What?"

Alphys gestured at him wildly, spluttering. "Y-you w-we-were struck by lightning!" She exclaimed, still processing what she'd deduced. "You're c-covered in soot a-and everything! How are you not hurt!"

He blinked slowly, then an iconic grin made its way onto his face. "Maybe I was destined to be unharmed."
"But- it- that's not ho-how it works!"
"You're right, maybe it just chose not to hurt me."

He burst in a small coughing fit, blue sparks dancing all around him and fading as he finished. He blinked in confusion when he noticed the stares.
"What? I said my voice hurts."
"You just produced electricity." Alphys deadpanned.

It took a moment for this to set in, then he chuckled. "So that's what tickled." He paused, then forced himself to sit upright.
"Hey, no, lay back down." Undyne ordered as Toriel emerged from the kitchen with a slice of pie.

"No really, I'm fine." Sans defended, raising his hands. "Not enough to be walking around, but I can sit just fine. 'Sides." He studied his hand. "I'm sparky now."

Undyne facepalmed, then winced as Papyrus continued yelling in her ear, turning away to continue to explain the situation.

Sans regarded Toriel as she abruptly thrust pie in his face.
"I don't need it right now. Really. I feel fine. Electric." He did jazz hands, grinning wider as sparks danced between his phalanges.

"Your lights are still out." Toriel pointed out, frowning. Sans hesitated. "I hadn't noticed." He murmured, before blinking.

As soon as his sockets opened again, blue light exploded forth, bathing the room in the watery glow. Everyone jumped in surprise, only for it to vanish as quickly as it came.

For the first time, a note of fear crept into his voice, hands clasped over his sockets. "Are you guys alright? I.. just blinded myself."
"We are well." Toriel assured him. "But what was that? It was very bright."

"I think I put way too much energy into it…. I forgot to mention that. If I wasn't so achy, I could probably run for once. Heh." He dropped one hand, soot coming off in a slight puff. "I, uh, can probably tone it down, it'll just take a sec." He explained awkwardly as one socket cracked open, blazing blue bursting from it in a vivid ray of light.

Frisk gasped quietly, seeing specks of dust illuminated by the beam as it flickered and dimmed, whitening as it faded. Soon enough all that was left was his usual eyelights, save for a faint blue at their rims.

Sans smiled uneasily, blinking again as he looked around. Toriel was the first to speak.
"Even if you feel alright, Sans, you need a wash. You're rubbing soot on the couch."

"Sure." He grinned, standing up with a slight grunt.
"No!" The woman cried out, pushing him back down. "You said it yourself, you are in no shape to be walking about. I don't care if you are not hungry." She sat the plate in his lap, the dish clattering on his bones lightly.
"Eat."

He stared at it, an odd look of worry flashing across his face.
"Tori.. I really don't think I could eat right now." He admitted softly.
They stared at each other wordlessly, one demanding and the other a little distressed.

"What if he somehow got supercharged by the lightning?" Undyne suggested, having finally hung up. Sans blinked, and Frisk noted a hint of recognition in his eyelights as everyone faced the fish woman.
"That's not how l-lightning works." Alphys explained. "It's so powerful it can melt sand. It can't j-just be absorbed in an-an instant."

Frisk glanced from the Royal Scientist to the skeleton, noticing his stare.
He knew something he wasn't mentioning.
"What if it wasn't normal lightning?" They suggested, not looking away.
It was lucky they were focused on him, because as everyone turned, his eyelights flashed slightly, something they'd learned meant they weren't far from the truth.

"What do you imagine it was, then?" Toriel asked. Frisk shrugged. "I don't know. But why would normal lightning do any of that stuff? Sans? Are you sure you don't know anything?"

All eyes landed on him again, and he squirmed under the collective gaze.
"Sans." Toriel began gently. "I know you have kept things from us in the past. It is alright if you want to keep secrets, but only if they are not harmful to your health. And in this, we must know if something is wrong."

He stared at her silently, his eyelights drifting away as he thought, a look of sadness and fear on his face.
"I…. I know I keep stuff from ya. But I don't do it just don't wanna talk about it- sometimes I do- but.." He sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Believe it or not, I'm trying to protect all of you. I suck at it sometimes, but it's still the one thing I have any amount of Determination for."

"Sans, we can fend for ourselves just fine." Undyne said, trying to be gentle.
He shook his skull, voice wobbling slightly.
"Not with this. Not in this. You don't understand, and you can't."

"Whatever this burden is, Sans, are you sure it is really so terrible to carry it all alone?"
"Yes, Tori. One thing I am absolutely certain about. If I could, I'd let it die with me." He regarded her with oddly shifting eyelights, blue and silver flickering around white ovals.

"You're acting like y-you know something about that freak li-lightning."
He sighed, seeming to collapse inward.
"Something did happen, Alphys." He whispered. Everyone flinched slightly at this, hearing the beginnings of a sob in his voice.

"It.. I couldn't even look at it- it didn't speak, but it told me…" He trailed helplessly, looking up with tears in his sockets.

Toriel sat down beside him, not understanding, but very much aware of his distress. "Did someone tell you something?"

"That's the thing- it wasn't a someone. It wasn't a something, it.. just was. I kept asking why it came to me of all people- hell, even Frisk is a better choice than me- but it- it just knew. Heheheh- it wants the same thing I do, that's what it wanted. I swear, I thought it wanted to possess me, but…." He shuddered violently.

"Did this.. it, hurt you?" Toriel asked. Sans shook his skull. "Not intentionally. But.. it.. I.." He seemed to crumple inward, tears washing tracks through the soot on his face as he trembled.
"I don't want you to die. I can't.. I can't lose Papyrus."

"We aren't going anywhere, Sans." Undyne leaned on the back of the couch, smiling kindly, though her unbandaged eye creased with worry.

"You don't understand, it said- it said everything I know and love is going to be obliterated, and this being that froze time could do nothing about it!"

"Why would anyone say that? It m-makes no sense." Alphys questioned, hopping up on the couch beside Sans, who glanced at her in fear- not of her, but for her.

"I got the idea that it was just honest that way. It said that specifically, it was a being of choices, and it's counterpart was the one that likes to lie."

"Counterpart?" Alphys blinked, confused as well as concerned. Sans sighed, calming down again.
"I just.. didn't get much of a chance to process it til now. I.. was busy tryin' to stare at the floor."

"Why were you staring at the floor?" Undyne asked, baffled. Sans seemed to zone out for a moment.
"..Every time I looked at it, it was like my mind just stopped, trying to figure out what I was looking at." He said slowly.
"It was like.. a hole. But full of lights, and some light looked more solid than light should be…" He stopped talking, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, staring straight ahead.

"Uhh… forget what it looked like." Undyne reached over and shook him lightly, snapping him out of the trance.
"Sorry. I've probably lost it, heh." He rubbed his face, soot coming away with his hand.

"Insane people don't think they're crazy." Alphys pointed out. Sans shrugged, aloof. "Sure. Tell that to the dude who punned in the presence of an entity that stops time."
"You.. seriously?"

"Oh yeah." He giggled, sounding slightly unsteady.
"When I finally got it to say it's name, I couldn't resist."
"...What was its name, then?" Toriel asked cautiously.

Sans made to reply, then paused. A smirk slowly found it's way upon him. He chuckled softly, a sound that warned them all of an incoming pun.

He snapped his phalanges, a buzz resonating from the click as an elongated spark twisted around his hand and fizzed out.
"I was struck by Destiny."