The wave was mocking. Her skeletal fingers dancing happily, slow and calm, knowing full well she was in the advantage. Jandle rested her waving hand under her chin, sunlight cutting through the openings in the blinds and spreading out across her smooth and ivory bones. Undyne was starting to see more and more of the skeleton's parents at the brothers house, and she didn't like it. Not one bit. Sans could tell she hated it.

Sans didn't like it anymore than she did, but his love for Papyrus trumped his hate for his parents. No matter what they did at this point, if Papyrus wanted to see them, Sans would have no choice but to follow.

At first, he had been almost ecstatic that Undyne was smart enough to catch onto their lies. But, as he sat down on the couch, now he didn't feel that happy about it anymore. Undyne didn't know how to carry through with that knowledge. She didn't bother to play mind games, she was a punch first, ask questions later kind of person. Which Sans didn't mind, but she was trying to play the wrong game. Undyne just assumed that since she knew the truth, and she was a strong fighter, that she'd come out on top. They weren't evenly matched, though. Jandle and Gaster have been manipulating people for years, and Undyne didn't even know how to fight against that.

She just painted herself as the villain, really. And there was nothing Sans could do about it.

It was horrible to watch. Frankly, it felt like he was watching a game, where Undyne presumed she was playing baseball, but his parents were playing cards and everyone else was watching their card game. As if she just burst into the room with a bat and was swinging it around to prove that Gaster and Jandle were cheating at the game. While they were in fact cheating, she still was a woman swinging around a bat at a card game, and she was drawing far more attention to herself than the cheaters she was trying to point out. Much less her lack of evidence only further stunted her efforts, so she looked like an insane, violent woman just swinging and trying to create drama. Only Sans knew the truth, but he couldn't do anything but watch. After all, the games score was long set by now. Unless any of them had solid evidence, they weren't going to get very far.

Sans debated using the message his Mom sent him about Undyne to support her, but the way his Mother answered was so loose that she could twist it into any explanation. His parents were always so ahead of the game that it made Sans wonder if he even had a choice. Did he? In the end, they had the power, the money, but most of all, they had Papyrus' trust and admiration. All Sans could do was play along to the best of his ability and try to make sure no one he cared about would be harmed.

What were they planning?

At first, Sans thought he had an glimpse of their plans, but the more time that passed, the more he realized just how wrong he was. They weren't doing anything to push their plans forward. He knew they had something planned, but what? What were their intentions?

They didn't just want to hang out with their children, did they? That seemed too simple, there had to be another reason. Another plan. One Sans didn't know.

"Oh, dear, I have so many baby stories to tell about Sans and Papyrus," Jandle practically cooed, leaning against her hand. "I could talk all day about my precious babies."

"Mom!" Papyrus said, covering his face. "Don't share baby stories, that's embarrassing!"

"I wouldn't share all of them, I'll admit I'm a bit selfish and they're only for me to relive," Jandle said, "But, sweetie, I have to share how Sans drew on your bones with markers. He did that all the time, and he'd carry him into the room to show off his designs, being all proud."

Sans dug his face into his hands. He wasn't sure if listening to his baby stories was worse than twisting himself around from confusion of two manipulative parents.

"Why'd Sans run away?" Undyne suddenly snapped, crossing her arms.

Was she finally trying to play with their mind games? She must have noticed her attempts weren't going anywhere before, so she was trying to play for some evidence. Sans peaked out from behind his fingers, eye sockets wide. Was it finally going to happen? Were they finally going to stumble?

"Beg your pardon, dear?" Jandle asked. Her face didn't even crack in the slightest.

"What scared Sans so much that he ran away?" Undyne demanded.

"That's... well, that's a bit of an embarrassing story," Gaster said, "Frankly, not one of our best moments. You have heard of the Sunny Family Cult, right?"

Sans almost choked.

"Well, you see, we were worried about Sans leaving the house because of the threat they posed," Gaster said, "Do you know how terrified we were that Sans could possibly be their next victim? That we were going to lose our precious Starlight? The problem was that Starlight watched a lot of crime shows, he loved them, and he always wanted to leave the house."

"We got scared that he'd sneak out one night and try to find the cult on his own," Jandle continued on for her husband, "It, frankly, was a terrible plan, and I regret doing this deeply, but we thought if we gave him a little scare pretending to be the cult he'd understand the situation more."

"You pretended to be the cult?" Toriel asked.

"Yes, a horrible decision," Gaster groaned, covering his face for effect. "We bought these Halloween masks from the store and used them to scare Sans, saying we were from the cult and that we'd hurt Papyrus. It was just to scare him, and it did the job... just a little too well. I cannot believe we were that so stupid to bring trauma to our precious Starlight."

"Sans, sweetie, again, we're so sorry we bought masks to scare you," Jandle said, "We shouldn't have tricked you to believing we were inside of a cult. Dear, I promise you, we won't ever try to hurt you again like that."

Sans wanted to throw up.

They were creating a lie so closely fabricated to the truth that it was working. Of course parents around that time were scared for their children, and trying to show how dangerous it was at the time wasn't too uncommon. And, by claiming they pretended to be the cult, they were practically destroying any chance Sans had to argue against them. If he even bothered to tell anyone now, they'd say his mistook the prank for the real deal, that his parents had only pretended to be a part of the cult. Those fuckers knew!

His parents had this excuse planned from the start. No one would have ever believed Sans for very long if he ever chose to spoke up.

His only chance, his only snippet of a playing card in this mind game, was gone. In that single instant, it was destroyed.

"I can see why a parent would do that," Toriel said, sitting down next to Frisk. "If Frisk was hurt, I'd be worried as well. A bit risky, but understandable. I've made mistakes too."

"We didn't anticipate to scare Sans so much," Jandle said, sounding guilty. "We just wanted him to be safe. But I believe all of the dark shows we let him watch, along with the masks and even fake blood we had on -"

"You bought fake blood a-as well?" Alphys asked.

"It was on sale," Gaster explained, leaning against his hand.

"I believe Sans just connected it together in his mind and made us his enemies, his own parents," Jandle said, "And we even threatened Papyrus, and you know how protective Sans gets over the people he cares about. He locked himself inside of his room, and we tried to reason with him for awhile, but after a long time passed, and he hadn't been answering the entire time, we got so scared that we dismantled his door to make sure he was okay, so we could explain and comfort him. Instead..."

"The window was open, and he was gone with our Sundrop," Gaster said, "You guys can figure out the rest."

"I'm so sorry that happened to you guys, all of you," Toriel said, "No wonder Sans ran, that would have been a fright for a child."

"I've thought about that incident every night," Jandle said, looking down at the ground with sorrow in her voice. "If we didn't scare Sans, he wouldn't have run away. Then we would have had our children in our lives, and..." Jandle blinked away a few tears, straightening up. "I'm sorry. By far, that had been the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life. I'm sure you guys can understand why we've been a bit clingy to them."

"Jandle, it's alright," Toriel said, offering a hug. "It was no one's fault that happened, poor Sans was scared, and so were you guys."

Sans, however, had zoned out of Toriel's words, each muddled down to fuzz. This was it. This was their secret card. From the beginning Sans was outwitted, even in him witnessing a murder. No one would believe him, even though he knew he was right, because Gaster and Jandle crafted a story so close to the truth that no one would believe his truth. After all, he was just a child at the time, and they told everyone else that he thought they were from the cult. If he talked now, to anyone, they'd just tell him his parents had been faking it. That he was remembering it wrong.

Gaster met with Sans' gaze, offering a reassuring, but set smile. They had this excuse planned and told to others the moment after he ran away, didn't he? All of these years, even if he told, no one would have believed him. If he did tell an adult, they'd tell the Royal Guard, the Royal Guard would tell Asgore, and Asgore would listen to his parents. Then he'd see Papyrus and Sans as their missing children, and believing their twisted tale, would have the children handed back to their parents without a whisper of hesitation.

This was all planned from the start. Sans was never meant to get away.

~~~~~~

Gaster found her on the floor.

His beloved wife, months, even a year, after Sans' unexpected departure, had a hard time sleeping. They both did. It was hard to process, knowing their children were out there, in the cruel grip of the world. They might never see their children again, Sans and Papyrus might be hurt or dead for all they knew. And that feeling was crushing on both of the skeletal parents.

That's why Gaster found Jandle so often on the floor, sometimes inside of their children's shared room, other times on the kitchen floor. On the kitchen floor she would be curled up next to the ajar fridge, a ketchup bottle within her hands, sobbing onto the tiles. Their Starlights favorite food. He'd always add so much ketchup it'd overflow, but Sans liked it that way. When he was a mere babybones, he'd swipe away the baby food and instead whine for the ketchup, kicking out his stubby little legs until he could slap around and play in it in his high chair.

Years passed, but they always kept extra ketchup bottles in the fridge. They kept their shared room too, and counted the years as they passed, even buying birthday cakes to celebrate on their respective days. Papyrus' was in the middle of summer, and Sans' was in the midst of the cold autumn season. The holidays were by far the worst for them.

Their children's rooms constantly adapted to their ages. When Papyrus grew too old for a crib, they switched it out for a children's bed. When new books about stars and astronomy were released, they bought them, storing it within Sans' room. Sometimes Gaster would start up the machine he built for Sans and sit down on his bed, unable to do anything but relive the time spent with his eldest child.

To think both of their children were over thirty when Gaster and Jandle found themselves within the store. They weren't there for anything specific, just the usual things they bought for their activities. Jandle was even grabbing some fresh ingredients, and that's how she heard the name. Spoken softly by their former Queen, a woman Gaster would love to strangle. How dare she say his name? She abandoned their Kingdom and had the right to claim to be his best friend? No. That didn't sit right.

Then they got to her house. When she opened the fridge, and he saw the ketchup, Gaster knew. His Sans. His starlight, his sundrop, they were there. They were safe, and they were going to be here. And soon, he did see them. Both all grown up, but easily comparable to their infant years still. Papyrus looked curious. Sans looked like he was going to throw up. He didn't trust them yet.

But it was okay.

Because Gaster and Jandle could make it better.

~~~~~~

They were teasing Undyne. She knew it.

Mocking her. Just like before. Undyne didn't know how, but she knew it was them who tried to get her to crash. And she knew their parents were up to something.

No one would listen to her. Sans would always just shake his head and walk away, unable to back up her claims or answer her questions. Toriel just believed she was overreacting, saying that not everyone was out to get her. Papyrus tried his best to forgive her, but her insistence on the truth started to create a barricade between them. Their friendship was suffering, but she couldn't fix it. His parents were dangerous, she had to help!

And Alphys... Alphys, for the first time in her life, looked ashamed to be with Undyne. They started sleeping facing opposite sides. Undyne's constant instance and research turning blank caused Alphys to even move to the couch at one point. It was as if everything was falling apart, and his parents weren't even doing anything but sitting there and smiling at her! Watching!

Undyne just wanted to jump across the room, slap them into handcuffs, and demand they tell her what they planned to do with Sans and Papyrus. They wanted them for something, Undyne could tell. They were going to use and leave them once they got what they wanted! And it drove her crazy, because they were right there, and they were just mocking her for it!

Undyne couldn't take it. Every moment spent in the same room with them drove her up the wall! Her leg started to bounce more, her teeth constantly grinded. She couldn't stand their inaction, do something! Anything! Prove she's right!

But they didn't. Instead, they'd smile, they'd laugh, they'd talk about Papyrus' cooking and about Sans' puns. Sans was the only other rational person in the room, and he only ever retreated into his hoodie whenever she looked at him. Why wasn't he backing her up?

It was when they all moved into the kitchen, when Sans went to his room to finally put on some socks, did Undyne finally break her low control. Jandle had been speaking, and directed her words at Undyne.

"... Which is why I'm glad we have the Royal Guard, and have a capable woman in charge," Jandle said, "Because then -"

"For the love of fucking Toby Fox, stop!"

Everyone fell quiet at Undyne's words as she marched up to Jandle, twisting the fabric of her shirt under her hand and pulling her body forward. They made noises to object her threatening manners, but Undyne toned them all out, focused solely on the woman who's been driving her mad for hours.

"You and I both know you're up to something!" Undyne snapped, "So drop the act!"

"Um, sweetie, how about we calm down and -"

"No, no, stop it! I know you don't fucking love Papyrus and Sans, I know you're both using them for some scheme you have! I bet you were going to take advantage of them and then leave them in the dirt!" Undyne shouted, pulling her so hard she almost was off of her feet.

"Undyne, that's my wife you're abusing, stop it!" Gaster said, voice loud and firm.

"I know, shut up! You both are up to something, and I'm going to stop you! Your tricks don't work on me!" Undyne snapped, summoning a spear in her hand.

"Undyne, stop!" Toriel said, "You might hurt someone with that!"

"Am I the only person who's not brain dead here?" Undyne said, unable to do anything but let words fly out in the head of the moment. "They're tricking all of you! They're going to hurt Sans and Papyrus! They probably just want money, or power!"

"And what money and power do Sans and Papyrus have that we want to steal?" Jandle asked calmly, quietly.

To anyone else, it sounded like she was trying to reason with Undyne. But Undyne knew the truth, Jandle was trying to play with her. And she was. She gave a soft smile to Undyne, only further pushing the flames building up within her. Undyne couldn't see anything but red. Her muscles were tense, her wrists shaking, and she found herself raising her summoned spear -

And threw it behind her.

Even in the heat of the moment, she could never bring herself to attack someone defenseless without any evidence. But that was the thing about the moment. Through the haze in her mind, and the burning, seething anger within her, she didn't fully account that everyone wasn't in the kitchen to the side of her. That there was one short skeleton who had left before, and would return at any moment.

The pitter patter of blood hitting the floor was what broke her out of her daze.

It was slow. Her head was sluggish, much like everyone else's, when they turned towards the doorway. Her mind felt like a rock, and she couldn't process what she was seeing, only witnessing the scene.

Sans stood in the doorway, both of his shaking arms bent forward, a wide and surprised look on his face. His whole body was tense, visibly shuddering. What caught everyone's attention was the very obvious spear sticking through his chest, and the patch of red that quickly grew out, consuming the vibrant blue in its wake as it spread like a disease. More blood slowly dripped to the ground before him, and everyone was still. Caught in the surprise.

"S-Sans...?" Papyrus choked out, his voice raw and broken.

Calling out his brothers name seemed to press play on time, as not a moment after, Sans suddenly made a sound between a cough and a gasp for air as blood suddenly spewed forth from his mouth, trailing down his chin and joining the small puddle at his feet. The force of wind from his mouth seemed to tip over his very fragile balance, as Sans fell backwards, bones colliding to the floor. His body went limp afterwards, laying on the cold tile as the dark red liquid started to grow into a bigger and bigger puddle below his body.