Jeff scowled at the group of monsters in front of him, crossing his arms. They had recognized him from the mall, and now here he was, being stopped by them. Usually Jeff would just flick them off, or maybe flash them his knife as a silent threat to leave, but he was in a crowded place, not to mention that he could keep them back from Sans a little bit longer. He took a small glance over, to where they had come from, Sans and Jack climbing into a cart before disappearing down a dark tunnel.

"What do you all want?" He demanded, feeling his trusty knife press into his hip on his side.

Thank god Sans didn't try to take his knife away, it was his best possession.

"You and Sans talk, right?" Undyne asked him.

"Not about you guys, yeah," Jeff said, "We talk about a lot of things. Like how he's not into underaged people, or maybe about how he wants to be invited into a close friends wedding. You know, stuff you guys don't seem to get."

"I know, we really screwed up," Papyrus mumbled.

"We all did," Toriel said, "But that's besides the point. How is he doing?"

"Well, he's not doing children, if that's what you mean," Jeff said, shrugging.

"It was a misunderstanding!" Undyne said, "Look, we screwed up a lot, we get that, but can't we at least make sure he's doing okay? That his health is well?"

"He's doing happier without the luggage of you guys, at least," Jeff said, "I think he's doing better without you existing in his life, so I suggest you scram before I have to force you out of his life again. He's having a good time here, don't ruin it."

"So you mean he's here?" Frisk asked hopefully.

F*ck-

"No, he's not," Jeff tried to cover it, but they had already started looking around for him, but luckily he had went with the others further from them, so the crowd was helping them disappear.

"Stay away from him!" Jeff growled at them, "Everytime you guys step into his life, you always just make him upset! You aren't helping him at all."

"But if he gives us a chance to apologize, then he can see we didn't mean any harm!" Papyrus said.

"Hey, Jeff," A teenage boys voice said.

Oh no.

Ben walked up to the group, probably using some sort of device hidden nearby to climb out into the real world. This could either go really good, or really bad.

"Sans said he has to skedaddle off, something about Sally's playdate with that one girl," Ben lied smoothly, "So we have some time to ourselves here before we leave. Wanna go get some corndogs, babe?"

Crap, he's good. Pretend that he had no idea what was going on, then make it look like Sans wasn't there anymore, while also adding in some more burn to the monsters by making them feel even worse about assuming Sans was a pedofile by having him pretend to be Ben's boyfriend. Of course, Jeff would rather let Jack eat all of his organs then jump off a cliff then date Ben, he had no interest in romance, but this was a good move to silently say 'Jeff was taken the entire time, Sans is just a friend you a*swipes'. The looks on their faces proved the tactic had worked, Jeff snickering to himself from their shocked, sorrowful, and sad expressions. They knew they screwed up, and so did he, and he wasn't going to let them forget about it.

"Sure thing, babe," Jeff said, sending a glare at the monsters and human before walking off with Ben, disappearing into the crowd.

"You almost made all of them swarm Sans, that was a close one," Ben said, "Good thing I jumped in."

"Now this means we can't be seen by them again with Sans, so we'll have to play pretend date while following them," Jeff said, looking back to where he could see the tops of their heads, "Wanna try to tip over the porta potties when they do inside?"

~~~~~~

"Yeah, I've been having a little bit of trouble sleeping," Sans told Sally, "But don't worry about it, it's not like I'm missing entire nights. I've just had more to think about."

"Are you worried that the guy from the woods might try and hurt you?" Jack asked, "Because I can sleep on your floor if your scared."

"Nah, I'm not really scared," Sans said, sending a smile at Jack, "Thanks for the consideration, though. It means a lot."

Jack avoided his gaze, his breathing quickening just from Sans looking at him. It was just like a sudden switch, one moment he was on good terms with Sans, a good friendship, and the next he couldn't have the skeleton smile at him before he began blushing furiously. He never thought he was gay, but here he was, wanting to go out with a skeleton.

"Just make sure to keep your window locked, and make sure to go to bed at good times," Jane said.

"I've just been thinking a lot, you know, about all of this," Sans said, "About how many more there are in the world, if they need a place too, that stuff."

Sans looked up at the darkening sky above him, holding Sally's hand as they walked towards the big tent at the end of the carnival. He had been missing a few minutes of sleep, it was no big deal, he just liked to think about the type of people out there, and the type of people in his life that made him happy. He had such great friends, it was nice. He just couldn't get over how this had become his life, on how he had somehow found a will to live again.

It was...

Just amazing.

"E-Excuse me?"

A little boys voice drew Sans' attention, him looking over at a young child, on the verge of tears, who had a long, bleeding cut on the side of his neck.

"What's wrong?" Sans asked, crouching down to his level.

"I was playing with my friend, and then he hurt me and now my Mommy and Daddy are gone and I don't know what to do," He whimpered out, the poor child shivering from utter fear, "Do you know where my Mommy and Daddy are?"

"No, I don't, but we can go look for them, if you want," Sans told the child, "What do they look like?"

"What are they wearing, facial hair, anything helpful?" Jane asked the child.

"My Mommy was wearing her favorite yellow shirt, and Daddy grows out his m-mustache, he says he likes it," The boy said, looking around, "They aren't here, they said they'd never leave me a-and they aren't here-"

"Hey, hey, calm down," Sans said, grabbing his shoulders to grip his attention again, "C'mon, we can go look for them. Where was the last place you saw them?"

"They were in the tent, and my friend said he wanted to show me something!" The boy said, now in tears as he sobbed, "And they're still watching me right now and I'm scared!"

"Your friend?" Sans asked.

"Who is your friend?" Jack asked.

"My friend is Charlie, is he a bear too?" Sally asked.

The boy just sniffed, pointing to a smaller tent that Sans had noticed before. It stuck out from the other booths, since it had no logo or anything, no one standing outside. It was a plain yellow and red tent, a smaller and dustier looking version of the big one set up with the performers inside of it.

"We were all in there, he said he wanted to show me something in there, Mommy and Daddy followed and when I left they didn't come out!" He said.

"This feels... off..." Jane grumbled.

"Here, let's go look in the tent for your parents, they're still probably in there," Sans said, "And if they aren't, and your friend is still there, we'll leave and make sure they don't hurt you again. Does that sound like a plan?"

"O-Okay," The boy said, nodding.

"You guys wanna keep an eye out for his parents while we have a quick peak inside?" Sans asked, "Sally, make sure to stick with these two."

"Okie!" Sally said.

The tent was just across the main walk area, on the other side, Sans making his way there after the kid. He kept an eye socket out for any couple that looked like what he described, but none seemed to match the child's description.

"I-In there," The child whispered.

They both stood in front of the tent, Sans not sensing any other souls on the other side. But he could sense something different, as he had in the woods that one night. A different type of sense, though. A fragment of a soul maybe? It felt like a reflection of a soul, a shadow of one, not the entire thing. Like smelling brownies was a good example, he could sense the idea of a soul, but it wasn't a soul, just a lingering afterthought of one. It was a different presence than what he had felt in the woods, whoever that was something different entirely.

"Let's go check in here real quick, kiddo," Sans said, stepping inside with the child in tow.

He was expecting to find the kid's friend, whoever it was, maybe even a trace of his parents being there, like maybe the mother left her purse or something. If he tried to attack Sans or the kid, Sans could just warp the two back out somewhere, no big deal.

However, he didn't find anything. In fact, he didn't exactly enter the tent. The moment that his foot took a step inside of the tents boundaries, smoke clogged his vision for a moment before he was standing in an open area, with no child behind him and the faint whispers of 'Pop goes the weasel' playing in the background. He was now standing in a large, carnival looking area that stretched out as far as he could see, looking nothing like where he just was. The sky above him was night, as well, the stars shining down onto him with no moon in sight. The attractions around him glowed with life, and he was utterly alone as he stood on pebbles, a heavy weight in the air.

"Oh boy," Sans said as he looked around.