An hour or so had passed, and to say the least, Frisk was completely wrapped up into the book. Guess Sans had been right about that. But they were feeling hungry, and Sans still hadn't recovered enough magic to teleport just yet. So Frisk, ignored their stomach to spare Sans feeling guilt and continued reading.

Frisk suddenly stopped reading, looking up at Sans. He felt their eyes, and looked up, cocking his head.

"(Sans...)" They signed, "( I don't understand this word.)" Their face turned red embarrassed to be asking for help.

Sans laughed a little, "what it it?"

Frisk bit their lip, realizing they didn't know how to say it either, "unnnfaa...uhhh..."

Sans shook his head, "come over here."

Frisk sheepishly walked over to Sans, sitting down next to him and pointing at the word.

"oh, unfathomable!" He said, as if it were obvious. He laughed, "it just means that something is impossible to come to understand."

"Oooh," Frisk said, finally being able to make sense of the sentence, " Thanks Sans." they said, still embarrassed that they had to ask in the first place.

He ruffed the child's hair, "hey! what's with that face?"

The child made incoherent mumbling as they hid their face using the book.

Sans made the connection of what was going on, " hey, kid, ya don't gotta be embarrassed. it's a hard word, and you're what? ten, twelve?"

"Eleven and a quarter." They said as if it were obvious to everyone what their exact age was.

Sans rolled his eye-lights, "ok, eleven, but--"

"And a quarter." Frisk said, smiling at themself.

"eleven and a quarter, then. that's fine. you don't need to know everything. just call me over whenever you need help," he chuckled. "you're not supposed to know everything, in fact. if you do, then you can't learn."

They looked to the side, "I...guess so..."

He gave them a small laugh before continuing his book. Frisk looked over his shoulder. It was in a weird language that they didn't understand, it looked just like what Sans had tried to talk to them in earlier. Multiple symbols that looked like hands and other shapes. Frisk decided to let it be, not seeing a point in making a big deal about it.

A few minutes had passed, as something began bugging Frisk. Their mind kept going back to the fight. They kept thinking about that weird face Sans made when that thing was destroyed by Undyne.

"(Sans?)" they asked in sign language. "(What was that dog thing Undyne destroyed?)"

Sans looked directly at Frisk, his eye-lights shrinking slightly. "that was... one of the last things I have from my dad. he fell into the CORE when i was really little. i still miss him a lot." He fiddled with the corner page of his book.

"Oh... I....I'm sorry..." They felt bad for bringing it up now, wanting to take it back.

"nah," he waved it off, "it's fine...i just wish he...he could of got to know pap..."

Frisk wasn't sure what to do. They wanted to comfort or help him, but they knew he didn't like being touched, but there was nothing else they could think...of...

The child's thought trailed off, as the saw weird golden glowing symbols in the corner.

A bomb.

A sun.

Then it skipped a space.

A teardrop.

A wide hollow flag.

A skull and crossbones.

The child looked at the symbols wide-eyed, not being able to make sense of them. They had to be seeing things right? They shook their head, rubbing their eyes, just to see more symbols appear.

An open hand

A filled circle with an empty swirl in the middle

A bomb

It skipped a space.

A sun with more rays

An open hand

A hand pointing up

A hand pointing down

A snowflake

It skipped a space.

A hand pointing down.

A hand pointing left.

A sun with more rays.

A hand pointing left.

Frisk continued staring wide-eyed. Turning around to Sans, looking at his book again. The symbols looked the same.

She tugged his sleeve, causing him to jerk, "kid, wha-" His eyes shot wide, as he saw the symbols.

A face appeared from the shadows, smiling.

Frisk was petrified, they didn't know what that thing was, or what to do.

"are y-you," he stammered.

Suddenly, the figure jumped from the shadows, a glided through the air, straight towards Sans. Frisk yelped and ducked out of the way as the figure crashed into the skeleton.

Sans held his breath,unsure of what was happening. The creature seemed to be trying to hug him, it felt strange, but at the same time familiar. Sans slowly brought his arms around the creature. "d-dad?" he gasped.

The creature nodded behind him, but Sans could feel it, "i-is this r-really-- it can't-- i..." he was at a loss, not sure if he was in some sort of delusion or not.

Frisk slowly got up, looking at the two, extremely confused by what was happening.

Sans' smile wavered, "oh my g-god," his shoulders heaved before he tucked his head into the other beings shoulder, gripping it's back, "i-it's really yo-ou." He whispered.

Gaster squeezed his child, not knowing how he managed to leave the void, but happy that he somehow did. He was back, he was home, and his child was still here.

"h-how did you..." Sans tried to get a hold of himself, but his body wasn't cooperating.

Gaster's symbols floated in the air, which Sans quickly translated to, "I don't know."

" i...i missed-" His voice broke into a whimper as he tried to bury himself deeper into his dad's shoulder, half-sure that this was some cruel prank.

Frisk looked flabbergastered. They had never seen Sans act like that...at all, sure he's gone quiet before, or just avoided talking, but he never reacted to anything like that. They backed away, giving the two their space.

Gaster tried to pull back, but Sans didn't seem to want to let go, grabbing onto him tighter. Gaster sighed, "Sans, I'm right here, it's ok now, you can let go."

Sans shook his head into his father's shoulder.

"Sans-" He sighed again, putting more force in pulling out. Sans gave in rubbing his eye-sockets as he slide into his dad's lap. He looked up at his dad, he still recognized him, but his body now had a more liquefied texture. He couldn't bring himself to look away from him, afraid if he did, he'd be gone again. "Sans, I'm here now. Whatever let me come back-- I'm here now."

Sans felt his eye-sockets mist over. Gaster looked down at him pitifully, "Oh, Sans," He put his arms back around him, "I'm so, SO sorry I left you, the one thing I wish is that I could of stayed with you and your baby brother..."

"you're r-real," Sans whispered, leaning into his dad, "you're actually real." His smile shakily resurfaced.

Sans grinned at his dad again. "dad, you should go talk to Papyrus. he'd love to see you."

He smiled back down at his son, "I'd love that..." He suddenly remembered the child that he seemed to scare away, "But I think I may have to clear something up first."

Gaster looked back towards where the child ran back, before picking up Sans and placing him on his feet. He squinted his eyes, trying to pinpoint their location, not having much luck.

"hey , kid!" Sans called out, "what happened to you hugging random strangers? not cut out for it anymore?" He antagonized, trying to get them to come out.

It worked.

Frisk slowly peeked out of the dark shadows, wide-eyed with confusion and a hint of fear, clutching their book in their hands.

"(Hello, sir)" Frisk signed timidly.

Gaster's face lit up, as he excitedly signed back, "(Hello, young one!)"

Frisk's grin became huge, "(You understand me too!?)"

"(Of course, young one,)" he laughed, "(who do you think taught this one?)" He bapped Sans on the head.

"and how do you think he got the name 'man who speaks in hands?'" asked Sans. "that's what my a--friend calls him."

"(Oh,)" replied Frisk. "(Well, uh, we're in a small pickle here. Um, maybe y-your dad could help?)"

"(Oh,)" Gaster asked, "(And what is this 'pickle')"

Sans laughed, "two words, crazy fish."

Gaster looked at his son confused.

Frisk sighed before explaining the whole thing to the man, after she was done explaining, Gaster's face became concerned.

"(I never thought my dear friend Asgore would turn on humanity like that... what ever happened to that cute little human that they adopted? Sans, surely you know, you used to be around them and the prince all the time.)" Gaster looked to his son for an explanation.

Sans' eye-lights dimmed, "the human...uh...died from a sickness," Gaster looked taken aback, as Sans continued, "and the prince died from a human attack."

Gaster looked shocked, then sad, "(I really hoped I would have been wrong about building this place for dangerous humans.)" He sighed, "(I guess they can still be a threat after all.)"

Frisk looked between the two monsters, awkwardly shifting between their feet.

"(Oh, no! Young one, don't feel like we are talking about you, you are fine!)" He signed quickly, trying to comfort the child.

"(Oh. Yeah, I know. There have probably been other humans here before me.)" Frisk let their hands fall a bit. "(But Undyne is trying to kill me and Sans. Can you please... help?)"

Gaster smiled, the eerie cracks in his skull looking less dramatic than before, and slowly brought himself to full height, "(It'd be my pleasure to help.)"

The trio walked up to the entrance, listening for any suspicious sounds, only to find none. Sans checked for his brother, but he couldn't sense his presence nearby, declaring the area to be safe. Sans quickly typed in the code for the barrier to open, before they all stepped out, Frisk at the back.

The whistling of the wind filled them with DETERMINATION.