Frisk felt a shudder travel up her spine.

Judgement Hall

The memories flooded in like a tsunami...

Sans' chest rose and fell steadily as he sent Frisk a chilling grin, "just lay down your weapon and..." he paused like he was thinking about his wording, "well, my job will be a lot easier."

Frisk heard Chara whisper in their ear, "*Sans is sparing you."

Frisk cocked her head at the skeleton curiously. She reached for the spare option, wondering what this option would unlock, what new door could it open?

Sans looked at them a little surprised, before closing his eyes and chuckling, "you're sparing me?" He then opened his eye-lids, sending Frisk the familiar, witty, smile that they recognized from past runs, "finally."

His composure seemed to relax as he winked towards them, "buddy. pal." He closed his eyes sighing, " i know how hard it must be... to make that choice. to go back on everything you worked up to." He looked up at them, but Frisk could sense a malice in his eye-lights, " i want you to know, i won't let it go to waste."

He then held out his arms, " c'mere pal."

Frisk looked at him confused by the sudden change of heart. They gripped the blade in their hand as they took a step towards him.

They froze.

A sudden voice overwhelmed their soul. It sounded softer than them, almost younger. It felt like it was them, just a different version. It cried out towards Sans, begging for forgiveness. Frisk didn't know how it took over their being, but it did.

Frisk felt the knife blade drop out of their hand, as the more innocent  version of themself seemed to take over their body, driving them to their knees as they felt tears well in their eyes.

They felt a form loom over them, looking up to see Sans, cocking his head down at them curiously.

They made a reach for him.

SHHHHINK

.....

drip

drop

drip

drop

Frisk's eyes were glued open. They felt a hot liquid come from their wound as they hovered above the ground. A bone had pierced through their back, the other other ending coming out of their stomach. Blood dripped from the bone, the smell of iron burning Frisk's nostrils, as their head lulled backwards weakly, seeing an upside down skeleton smirking at them.

He chuckled coldly, walking towards them, before he leaned towards the side of their face, whispering, "get dunked on."

Frisk felt the world begin to blur slightly as he moved his head back, resting his hands on their cheeks, "if we're really friends..." he said softly, his voice empty, "you won't come back."

Frisk felt his hands jerk, snapping their neck, causing them to be sent to a black room. They looked at their options, "continue" or "reset."

They bit their lip, before a smile appeared on their face as they reached for "reset."

But, before they could press it, they felt another force take over, the same version of themselves that was in control before they spared Sans. The blood thirsty force, brought them over to continue. The aura of the button licked their finger tips.

They smiled.

They touched the button.

Judgement hall slowly came back into view.

They didn't make the same mistake again.

This time it would be his blood to spill.

And indeed it was.

Sans' voice brought Frisk back into reality,"kid? was it you?"

She was frozen from the memory,  trying to take a breath. 'It wasn't me' she said to herself, but didn't fully believe it, 'it wasn't....'.... their body flinched, not knowing who it was, not wanting to think it could be them as she collapsed into sobs again, her shoulders shaking as she slowly raised her hand, it wavering as she signed weakly, "(I don't know.)"

Sans sighed, giving them a pitiful look, before bringing them to his chest.

Frisk immediately accepted it, wrapping her arms around him, sobbing into his left shoulder. She gripped his back, afraid that if she let go he'd explode into a million tiny pieces.

Sans looked to his brother, mouthing the word, 'help'. He hoped that his brother would know how to make the child stop crying, considering that everything he was saying was just making it worse.

Papyrus nodded, "Human," he said clearly, scootching over to the other two, looking at the child's face behind his brother, "I may not know what you're talking about, but whatever it is, we are here to help you, we all believe in you, Frisk."

Frisk looked up to him slightly, a weak smile pulling at the corners of her quivering lips.

Papyrus gave them a huge smile back, "Nyeh! You see, human, you are already getting better!"

She gave him a giggle in return.

"Wowie, human!" Papyrus cheered, using every possibility to make them smile, "Look at you go, you're getting better by the second!"

Frisk laughed at him again, her eyes squinting from the awkward joy she was feeling flutter inside her chest. Burying her face into the nook of Sans' neck to hide the slight blush on her cheeks.

Sans let go of an inaudible sigh of relief, happy that his brother was able to perk them up again.

Papyrus' face lit up at the small child, "HEY! Why are you hiding from the great Papyrus?!" He said playfully, earning another giggle. His brows narrowed, still wearing a smug grin, "Human, why won't you come out!? Is my presence too great for even someone as cool as you!?" He was rewarded by yet another giggle.

"Hmmmm." Papyrus said, tapping his finger on his chin, "Now, I really hope you won't force me to use my special attack, human!"

"Noooo." Frisk whined, still giggling, seeming to be trying to bury themselves deeper into Sans to protect themselves.

Sans gave a chuckle, feeling his own smile returning as well.

"Oh, humannnn." Papyrus said, dragging out the last syllable, "You might want to come out before I get youuuu!" Papyrus wiggled his finger threatening to tickle them.

"Nooooo!" She squealed, squirming so the top of her head was under Sans' chin. She squeezed herself in as close as possible, trying to prevent him from being able to tickle her.

Sans raised an amused brow at them, a smirk pulling at a side of his grin, "kid, you really suck at hiding."

She ignored his comment and stayed where she was.

Frisk suddenly had the feeling that something was surrounding her. She was a moment away from turning around, before something suddenly scooped her up and out of her safe hiding spot.

Frisk squeaked as Papyrus twirled them around.

"Now, human," Papyrus began, holding Frisk in the air above him, "I have two options! I could spare you, or I could use my special attack!" He said mischievously.

Frisk wiggled her legs in the air, repeatedly signing "(Spare!)", as she looked at him with huge puppy-dog eyes.

Papyrus made a face that looked like he was making the biggest decision of his life, before he cheerfully shouted, "I shall spare you, human!" and quickly brought them to him, wrapping them in a tight, loving hug.

Papyrus looked past the human and to his brother. Sans sent him a soft smile, before mouthing, 'thank you'. Papyrus could tell it was genuine.

Frisk slowly peeled out of the hug, sitting onto the bed, she looked towards Sans, hoping for reassurance, but he seemed too distracted by his brother to notice she was staring.

She looked away a second before Sans brought his attention to her, "hey kid..." he began, making Frisk's head snap back towards him, startled, "can you...uh... keep this whole thing... to yourself..." he looked away. Frisk knew he was embarrassed by the events of that night.

She tugged his sleeve to get his attention, before giving him a nod, and signing, "( I promise.)"

"...heh," he chuckled back, shaking his head at the child. She knew something was still bothering him, and so did his brother.

"Sans--"

"i'm fine." Sans abruptly cut off his brother's sentence, causing Papyrus to back off immediately. Frisk, however, was more determined to get to the bottom of this. The last thing she wanted was for the same problem to come back even bigger later on. Sans seemed to have a tendency for holding off something until it was a beast to deal with.

She hopped off the bed, grabbing onto the smaller skeleton's sleeve, trying to pull him off of his own bed.

Sans looked at the child confused, using little effort to keep the child from pulling him down, "what's gotten into you, buddy? i'm okay, can't we just-"

"No." Frisk said stubbornly, quickly signing, "(I need to talk to you about something.)"

"then talk." He said with a shrug, glancing back at his brother.

Something suddenly clicked within Frisk. She came to the realization that Sans was using his brother as a safety net, an excuse to not talk about that other timeline, therefore, he was refusing to leave the room.

Frisk pursed her lips together, "(I need to talk to you privately.)" Her brows furrowed slightly.

Sans nonchalantly put his head to the side, an almost mocking tone in his voice as he snatched his sleeve from the child's hands, "come'on kid, anything you have to tell me, you can say in front of paps."

Both of them knew exactly what the other person was up to.

Papyrus sensed the uneasiness in the air, standing up, "Well, I hate to say this, but I must go to bed... it has been a long night, but I think you are both better now." He began heading out the door.

Sans' expression dropped, before he quickly asked, "h-hey, paps, why do ya gotta go to bed so early?"

Papyrus sent Sans a look, " Sans...it's one in the morning, you're definition of early is very off." He looked at his brother's wavering smile, before he sighed, "Sans, you know I have practice in the morning... if you truly need something at anytime, I'm just a hallway away, okay?" He gave his brother a warm smile, just to receive a worried one.

He let out a breath, before moving over to Sans, squeezing his brothers hand, he leaned over, whispering to his brother, "Sans, you'll be fine, just talk." He pulled back to find his brother's head bowed. He looked down at him a little concerned, before heading back to the door, "Goodnight, you two!"

He closed the door behind him, leaving the two alone.