((D O U B L E U P D A T E.
In all seriousness, though. I hope all of you reading this have a happy holidays.))

Bodoni stared at the screen even as Sans vanished from it, feeling faint. Someone found a chair and fell into it, hard.
"Can.. Can we even believe him?" Constantia whispered nearby.

"I mean, cross-referencing the facts would be difficult given the circumstances he described, but I'm sure.. we can ask Asriel? Since he appears to be involved.. I think he's telling the truth." He muttered, still feeling largely breathless.

"... We've been hanging with someone with a human Soul on hand." Spade noted weakly with an audible shudder. Bodoni dared to take his eyelights off the screen and turn around, seeing the fuzz-loving skeleton sitting on the floor.
"Are you okay?"
"I don't know. How long- how long was he planning on never telling anyone? That's.. it's scary."

"He is kind of scary." Constantia clarified, sitting in a chair in the unkempt lab space.
"I don't feel safe here." Cabana stated, rubbing her arms.
"Guys, just because he's a bit scary doesn't make him a bad guy, he-" Triton cut off as everyone faced him.
"He killed children." Cabana murmured.

"Did he have a choice?" Bodoni demanded with surprising force. "He was ordered by a king we were told was dead! Not to mention- complete genocide! It's a wonder he's not already off the rocker!"
"He was all alone." Constantia frowned, hugging himself.

"Guys, this is real life, not a movie. He has a human Soul at his disposal and he's killed multiple times before, and recently." Cabana explained severely.
"Cab, no sane person would just let a mindless evil kill everything they love over and over without fighting back. He said it didn't have a Soul." Bodoni explained.

"And the humans? He openly admitted to killing some without feeling any remorse for them."
"At the time, he said he regretted that! You cannot seriously be judging someone raised in this disparate Underground! He was completely alone, what can you expect?"
"He knew exactly what he was doing! His dad created something horrible and we're apparently standing next to it like it's nothing!"

"Guys, can we refrain from judging him so harshly? I'd rather take this to an expert." Spade admitted fretfully.
"What, a judge?" Cabana asked.
"Yeah."
Bodoni glanced at the screen, at Candara staring into a sunset he had never before witnessed.
"I think that would be best."

"We don't even know if this side has judges." Cabana pointed out.
"If it turns out it doesn't, we can take this case to ours."
"And how do you plan on explaining this to anyone?" Perpetua spoke up. "It sounded as though he- and the Prince- are the only ones who know anything. Not to mention all the business surrounding this hidden Underground with the Barrier broken." He glanced at the screen with a touch of wonder, gazing into the sunset.

"We'll get to it when we get to it." Bodoni sighed, pinching his nasal bone. "Complications, complications." He muttered under his breath.

They all paused when they heard footsteps on gravel, another figure scuttling into view onscreen. "C-C-Candara? You don't happen to have any o-o-of your friends' n-numbers, do you?"
He blinked at her, taking a second to process the information before flinching and reaching for his device.

"I do, but why? Isn't everyone at your place in the lava zone?"
"H-H-Hotland, a-and yes. I was just realizing they're missing the sunset, a-a-and my equipment could technically let them watch i-it live."
Bodoni was already calling Candara.

Both of them flinched as the ringtone blared. "Oh, one of them's actually calling right now." He picked up.
"Hey Bo, what's up? You're on speaker by the way, I ha-" "I know."
Candara blinked as Alphys straightened.
"Wait, w-was it already-"
"No, I just noticed your surveillance system and messed around before finding this one."

He hesitated, glancing back at the others before his tone shifted.
"..Candara?"
He could hear the fear in the other's voice. "...Yeah?"
"We heard everything. There are microphones."
"You.."
"That Reset stuff, that people getting erased, him admitting to killing, time manipulation.. yeah."

"Wh.. what?" Alphys asked, turning towards the camera in confusion as Candara went tense.
"Bodoni, please, it wasn't his fault, you had to have heard him crying-" "I know. I believe that, I do, just... Cabby's scared and Spade wants to bring it to a judge for proper judgement."
"Oh.. frick. He- can we not tell Papyrus? He asked-"
"We can try."

"What are you talking about?" Alphys suddenly spoke up in a small voice, taking a step back in fear.
"If your equipment records, you can come down and rewatch what we just watched live." Cabana explained stiffly.
"Your friend is completely nuts and a murderer!"
"Hey! That's too far!" Spade cried out from the floor.

They all flinched as Alphys grabbed the phone and spoke directly into it, voice loud.
"I'll be right there."
She gave it back and scurried back the way she came, eyes wide. Candara stood in place, confused, then hung up with a decisive tap and took off after the lizard.

"...This is going to blow up." Bodoni quietly realized.
"It's going to blow up bad."

. • ° . • ° . • °

"Got it figured out yet?" Sans's voice jolted Napstablook out of his thoughts and he stumbled, almost falling over.
"...𝙽𝚘.." He sighed, disappointed in himself.

The skeleton stepped off his porch, slippers crunching into fresh snow as he smiled. "I think you'll get there."
Napstablook hesitated, sitting down on the trodden area he had tamped down practicing on.
"𝙸.. 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑..."

"As sharing the same space?" Sans offered, a fragility passing over his grin for only an instant.
Napstablook nodded fretfully.
"𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚋𝚒𝚐, 𝚊𝚗𝚍.. 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚢. 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎.. 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐.."
Sans sighed. "I know. I can see it." He frowned. "Feel it? Sense it?" He shook his skull. "Doesn't matter. I can tell."

The ghost perked up slightly. "𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚎."
Sans blinked at him, face falling a little. "You too, huh?"
A nod.
"...Man, the world likes to throw us loops, doesn't it? Everything's always so complicated and difficult."
Napstablook silently agreed.

Sans smiled half-heartedly at him, patting the muzzle while glancing around for stragglers. He pocketed his hands again, steadying his breath.
"How about I try to unsummon it? See if that does anything?"

"..𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢."
"No, I haven't tried anything yet. I was a bit scared of trying, I'll admit." He smiled sheepishly. "That, and it did get a body suddenly. It really is kinda cool."
He lifted his hand from his pocket, focusing slightly.

Napstablook shuddered at the sensation of the form around him losing solidity, pulling towards its center. He blinked when he felt it halt at the boundary of his own magic. Sans seemed puzzled as well.

After a second, the hand began to fall, the force fading when he got an idea.
".. 𝚆𝚊𝚒𝚝."
"You think of something?"
"𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚑.."
He relaxed, willing it to continue as he held on to the familiar shape that was his.

He couldn't resist shivering as he felt it start to creep deeper once he intentionally let it do so. He could sense the formless magic pulling back to it's creator, but was caught in the ripples of his own self. It felt cool, familiar- but it wasn't hard to figure out that the other's mana was meshing into his own as they spent more time near each other.

Part of him was scared of that. What if he just ceased to exist? Just falling apart and becoming part of someone else. It was an unsettling thought- one that wasn't helped by the fact that he was suddenly attuned to the flow of emotions in the skeleton.

With a falling sensation, Napstablook was suddenly free, blinking at the sense of blue in his center. He met the skeleton's eyelights, still afraid. Sans smiled, pleased that the first idea succeeded on the first try for once.

..And the ghost acted on the first impulse that felt right: which was to dive directly towards the other.
Sans flinched, leaning back on his feet.
"Whoa, you just got free and that's the first thing you do?"
"...𝚈𝚎𝚜."
"Really?"
"..𝚈𝚎𝚜." He confirmed. "𝙸𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝."

".. Okay." His shoulders dropped, thinking. "..Do you want to head back? We're- well, I am- still their only way back home." He referred to the other skeletons.
"..𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚑. 𝙸 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜."

With a nervous breath in, Sans stepped forward, jumping locations back into bright, fading sunlight, the enormous red-orange orb sinking below the horizon, reflecting a glaring yellow off the ocean and towers in the distance.

He blinked at the sudden loss of energy, still surprised at how much he still had in reserve.
With a start, he noticed that no one was there.

He glanced around in concern. "Did I scare him?" He wondered aloud, afraid.
"...𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚜.."
"Wait, you kept track?" He asked, reaching for his phone.
"𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑.." Napstablook admitted as the clock revealed it was nearly 40 minutes since he'd left.

"Damnit." He swore under his breath, turning to scroll through his contacts. "Who would know where.." He started moving, heading into the castle in hopes of finding someone who knew where the others might be.
Yet when he went inside, he found that no one was there.

He slowed down considerably, suddenly apprehensive as he made his way through the castle, occasionally glancing at his phone.
"..𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚜? 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎.. 𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎?"
"I don't know, Nappy.. don't know."

He hesitated when he found himself at the door to the hall. His hall.
Hall of Judgement.
He wasn't sure what to think as he was assailed by memories.
Sans ground to a halt at his place.
"It's a beautiful day outside."

That statement had always been true, and likely always would be, but he wasn't saying it to compliment things.
A shock jolted him somewhat back to the present, feet moving again.
"𝙱𝚒𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐." Napstablook noted quietly, proving how he really did watch the battles Sans fought over and over to no avail.

The ingrained speech rose to the forefront as he made his way down the hall. "Flowers are blooming. And on days like these.." He paused for a moment, glancing at the dusk streaming through the windows.
A certain tightness faded, a burning will rising up from within.
"..I should try to move on."

He sighed, hurrying out of the hall and into the adjoining corridor, pulling up a random contact and was about to call.
Stay Determined.

The phone nearly slipped out of his grasp.
...I really do have Determination now, don't I?
Yes.
...Damn.
He huffed out a ball of tension that accompanied that realization and called Alphys.
Even if he technically already knew, it was still so difficult to accept.

The other end picked up, the lizard breathing hard on the other end in a familiar cadence.
"Oh shoot, did I scare you again?"
"U-u-um, y-yeah.." She shakily replied.
"I keep telling ya, Alph." He adopted a smile despite his current fearful mood and thoughts.
"You really ought to change that ringtone."

An unsteady smile could be heard on the other end. "N-nnah, it's soo funny."
"Heh. Whatever you say." He hesitated as he heard her moving around.
"Uh, I was wondering."
"Hm?"
"Did you happen to know where everyone went? I noticed the castle's suddenly empty and I have no idea where anyone is right now. And I'll admit, I'm pretty sure they ought to go home soon."

"Oh!" She chirped a little too loudly. "Oh that! Yeah, no, w-we're at my place! And we were t-talking about the d-differences between our, uh, Underground..s? Plural? Y-yeah. You can take your time, we were r-really getting into the th-thick of it, haha."

Her tone was incredibly strange, but he figured she was just anxious around the large group of mostly strangers. Sans sighed.
"Thanks."
"Really! Take your time!"
... Definitely odd. Or was he just paranoid?
..Was she scared of him now?

He pushed the thought back, not wanting to dwell on it. "Okay. I will. Can you tell me where Paps is at least? Is he with you?"
"O-oh, no, he went home t-to find you."
"Thanks again. I'll, uh.. see you when I get there."

Sans hung up abruptly, staring at his phone. His Soul sank.
She's afraid of me.

He fell back against a wall, sliding down.
"Damnit kid, why did you tell them.." He whispered to nothing with a leaden ache in his Soul. Napstablook sparked, quiet.
"... I've failed."

. • ° . • ° . • °

Alphys nearly exploded in anxiety when the phone hung up, letting her breath out in a gasp. "Oh Stars, I don't like lying to him." She admitted fretfully, glancing at the others with a silent plea.
"I d-don't ever want to do that again."

"You won't have to, babe." Undyne swooped in to give her a reassuring squeeze. "It's just one time. I think."
"I hope." She muttered drily, trying not to blush.

"I would appreciate it if we did not do this any longer than necessary. It pains me to do this to my friend." Asgore explained woefully, glancing at the paused video.
"I do believe we have heard enough, yes." Toriel murmured, hurt.

"Well? Do you think it's possible?" Perpetua asked them. Toriel hesitated, facing Alphys. Asgore immediately turned to her after giving it a moment's consideration.
"He was right that I do not know why the role was vacant when I first offered it to you, and I do specifically recall that it was occupied when we were building our infrastructure. However, I cannot place a name or face to it."

Alphys cringed. "W-well, I mean, I'm just an engineer and part biologist.. I'm not a physicist. And I know th-that many p-parts of the Core require a m-much greater knowledge of quantum mechanics than I'm familiar with."

"You didn't build it?" Undyne asked in a bit of surprise.
"O-oh no, I barely even know how it works! Even the l-lab, a lot of it I still have no idea what it does! I just inherited it from a mysterious tenant that.. doesn't.. exist." Her eyes widened as she connected dots.
"He might actually be serious." Spade whispered.

"Um." Alphys began. "Quick question."
"What?" Bodoni replied, noting it being directed at him and the skeletons.
"Do your people happen to have any.. code languages? Or cyphers for.. any reason?" The stutters were nearly undetectable.

"Not really.. we have a few old tongues and written words, I think? But those were mostly used by archaic and royal bloodlines..." Bodoni went silent.

"He is dragonblood." Candara softly realized.
"And it definitely didn't come from his mother's side." Bodoni agreed in shock, spinning back to face the lizard. "What are you asking about?"
She lit up. "You can read them?"

"Me? No." He took Perpetua by the shoulders to guide him to the front. "But Petty studies runes all the time."
The purple one stiffened at being placed in the spotlight.
"You're banking on a possibility!"

Alphys was already taking off, lab coat flapping wildly after her as her claws clacked on the tiles. Everyone else followed more hesitantly as she began rifling through an old file cabinet, peering inside with a laser-focused intent.

With a slight "aha!", she tugged out a specific, blackened file, hopping off the stool and darting back to her desk, shoving most of the posters off with a tremendous heave, slapping the papers down and facing the now anxious Perpetua.
"Can you translate this! P-please."

"Uh." He shifted his glasses up hesitantly while cautiously parting the pages. He stared for a moment, incredulous.
"It's wingdings."

"Wait, you're kidding." Candara pushed to the front of the packed group in disbelief. "It's- seriously?"
"It's just wingdings!" Perpetua repeated, stepping away.
"Guys, we have no idea what that is." Undyne stated. "Somebody fill us in?"

"It's actually common, many families still speak it. Most everyone is either fluent or can understand it. Using the written word isn't as common, though." Bodoni explained a little breathlessly.

"Historically, it's believed to be connected to the dragonblooded." Perpetua added thoughtfully, the smacked Asriel's paw from it suddenly. "Wait, we should be careful with it, this might technically be an artifact."
"Petty, I don't think you read it." Cabana sighed patiently. "It's just a bunch of math."

"Not all of it." Bodoni slid a phalange down the paper to a small paragraph, starting to speak in a strange, alien language before catching himself.

"I mean-" he coughed.
"Drainage has flooded magma pools and superheated much of the surrounding rock to frightening levels, yet resistors hold. The area is livable, but only if you like the heat. Enchantments are holding the toxins for the moment; must check measurements for any spills. This radiation could poison the entire Underground if shielding fails."
He blinked.

"Oh great." Candara's voice wobbled. "There's radiation."
Alphys slapped her hands on her snout in horror.
"Maybe it was fixed or just turned out not to be a problem?" Constantia suggested while flipping to the back of the file, reading out.

"Potassium was successfully removed before the water reached the deposit, thank heavens. I'll be escorting it with the team to the chemical storeroom. My nerves are still on edge thinking about another cave-in. It's absurd, no matter what I tell him, that boy cannot grasp the dangers our very ceiling carries. What in the world do I tell the boy, Cal? I might just ask Asgore at this point, I could be overreacting. End log."

Everyone was silent as Constantia slowly set the file on the desk. Bodoni pressed his hands together in front of his face, staring hard at the handwriting.
"That's it?" Candara asked. "I don't get it."

"Um." Alphys murmured. "Potassium is explosive."
He gasped softly, letting out a soundless "oh."
"I-I-I knew it should have been built with rails.." The lizard whispered in horror.

"And no one remembers them. They're just.. gone?" Cabana muttered.
"What a cruel fate." Toriel stated, hugging Asriel close. "He seems like he was a good man."
Cabana abruptly pushed her way out of the huddle, breaking it up as everyone found space. "I hate that."

After a moment, Triton made himself heard from a corner.
"Do you still want to take his case to a judge, Cab?"
She glanced over, everyone looking up at her in various expressions. She hesitated.
"Well, yeah. It's only right.. right?"

"Judge like a royal judge?" Undyne asked in confusion, Asgore's eyes widening as she brought it up. "Well, yeah. Do you have one?"
"I think so. Their identity is supposed to be a secret from the public.. which for some reason includes the Captain of the Guard." She muttered ruefully while giving Asgore a look. He cringed, preparing to speak when Alphys beat him to it.
"Ooohhh.. I don't really think that would work here."

"You don't have one?"
"No, we definitely do, just." She cringed. "A f-few hours after the Barrier was broken I.. got curious. I rewound the log for the Hall b-because I was sure that the Judge would meet the human there when they showed up, except?" She looked confused, starting to head for her computer.

"What do you mean?" Undyne asked, following.
"Well, I never thought it was possible." She explained vaguely, glancing back at Asgore before typing away.
"The Judge is Sans."
"What?!" Several voices exclaimed in shock and disbelief.
Undyne faced Asgore. "Him? What made him qualify for- for that?!"

He cringed, rubbing his neck. "It was an odd day when he approached me. He specifically brought up the pay that would come with the occupation, asking if he could qualify... All one really needs to do is complete a few tests. Sans did.. frighteningly well on every single one. Even sparring."
"You're joking." Undyne glared. "The lazy a-" She glanced at Asriel. "The butt can't even be bothered to actually aim an attack right."

"Has it occurred to you that perhaps he does not wish to reveal his strength?" Asgore replied evenly.
"No." She stated, blinking in surprise. "Why?"
"Because he is afraid of frightening others. When he does put effort into his actions, Sans is quite a formidable opponent. He defeated me. Quite easily, too. He has an extraordinary skill for dodging."

"... He's a porter." Constantia stated flatly, slowly looking to Cabana. "They have lightning reflexes." The tallest skeleton present blinked. "God, if he can dodge like Abbadon.." She slowly covered her teeth with her hands.
"What can he actually do?"

"I think you should be grateful that he looks for the best in everyone he meets, even those he hates. Things would be very different otherwise." Asgore explained benevolently.

"You really believe he believes in the best of people?" Cabana questioned, not quite believing. Asgore sighed. "If you know anything about his brother Papyrus, then I advise you to consider the fact that Sans raised him while he himself was still mostly a child. He did so using his own beliefs and ideals. Never have I met more forgiving Souls than that pair. Sans is simply more reserved in showing his kindness than his brother."

"That's so sweet." Alphys murmured while she pulled up a video. She pointed at the massive screen. "And that is the video f-from when Sans ap-apparently Judged the human." She hesitated, face blank for a moment.
"In light of what I just heard, I think it's.. proof of what he said." She explained quietly.

She turned to press play- "Did it really record the entire conversation?" Asriel interrupted. She blinked.
"I'm pretty sure, yeah."
"..Oh."

With a puzzled look, she hit the key and the play button on the screen disappeared, revealing the golden hall of Judgement filled with afternoon light, seen from above and to the side across from the sunlit stained glass. Birdsong was echoing in the chamber as a lone human approached a figure standing in the stark shadow of one of the pillars. The shape stepped into the light, revealing their identity to indeed be Sans the skeleton.

All of a sudden, the human tensed, a knife slipping out of their sweater as they lunged, the blade directed at his ribs somehow meeting an invisible force an inch away and bouncing off, thwarted. Everyone flinched at the sight as Sans was clearly annoyed.
"What the hell, kid?"

The human shrugged indifferently. "Worth a shot."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"You went through the entire Underground just to break your goal by jumping me?" He questioned in disbelief, completely void of fear.
"Hey, it was an experiment, I was going to bring you back." The child defended.
Sans regarded them drily.
"You know, for some reason I highly doubt that."
They broke into a smile. "What? You don't trust me, Sans?"

His expression remained a desert. "You know I don't. And I probably never will."
"Probably, not definitely." The other pointed out.
"I know that things can change." He admitted easily, before his gaze sharpened again. "But you'd definitely have to prove that. As much as you've put into this so far, I absolutely have no faith in you."
"Rude." The human retorted.

Sans just stared at them, clearly unimpressed- and clearly incredibly familiar with someone he technically met days ago. They looked away at their feet, cementing the idea that the two knew each other and had something to do with one another. The human looked back up at him, suddenly less confident.
"Aren't you going to judge me?" They asked, already knowing his duty when only Asgore was supposed to know.

Sans just shrugged indifferently. "Maybe I already have." He told them. "Why repeat the speech when neither of us are following our scripts anymore? The reason to even follow them at this point is gone anyway. Go. Everyone will be showing up soon to save your butt from Fluffybuns anyway."

Asgore stiffened at that as both Toriel and Undyne gasped. He'd predicted an exact truth- they had come to save the human. It was unsettling.

The human paused when he said that, weirdly tense as they started sidestepping around him and heading for the great door behind him, avoiding meeting his steady gaze. He then spoke up as they reached for the handle.
"You're really not used to me not following the rules, are you?"

They hesitated. After a moment, they quietly spoke up.
"It's.. it's not just you. This run has been.. really different."
"Run?" Toriel murmured.
"Tell me." The recording continued.

The human fidgeted, then started. "It.. Flowey set it off with ignoring it too and asking.. he watches us here. Did you know he watches us?"
Sans paused, his gaze drifting to one side before he answered. "Yes.. but actually no. Found out just minutes before you came in. But what else?"

With a blink, they let their tense shoulders drop. "Toriel let me go more readily than she's ever done before, and Napstablook, this shy ghost, he just let me by instead of confronting me, and later on MK didn't try to defend me the same, but tried to explain that I was.. good..? To Undyne? Not fighting her?" They seemed particularly shocked by that, Undyne herself bewildered.
"MK? ..Try to fight me?" She whispered.

The human went on. "And Alphys seemed a little less anxious than usual and Mettaton was less murdery, and Muffet didn't even try to fight me at all? It's been so weird, I..I don't get it. I bought spider cupcakes from Muffet."

"Huh." Sans considered the changes with a glance to the side.. there was a yellow flower lifting up a tile, peering out from beneath with a frantic scowl and gesturing wildly down the hall. Sans seemed to get the message, straightening.

"Go on ahead, we're starting to fall behind schedule with this chat. We'll talk later." He lazily waved, the great door gleaming blue as it swung open, the movement startling the human into walking backwards from it, then darting back to the other side, gone.

The flower disappeared under the tile and Sans just walked around the pillar, conveniently out of sight just as pounding footsteps heralded the arrival of..
A queen running frantically across the hall and straight through the doors.

Alphys shut off the computer then, the key clicking as she turned around.
"Compared to his story, it still sounds weird. It sounds like they would be mad at each other."
"No, Chara didn't want to fight anymore." Asriel corrected.

"What?" Candara was the first to ask. Asriel hesitated, slowly removing himself from his mother's embrace, standing as much in the middle of the group as was possible. "Chara... the last Reset.. the last.. they weren't the best person. I know that. We know that. But.. when all that's left of someone is broken memories and maybe a few fragments of a Soul, they're just a shadow looking for a reason. Just a reason for everything. And all they have to go off of is their memory. And Chara hated humans. So much. They were horrible to them, and we kinda died because of that." He murmured.

Then he straightened again. "But when Frisk came and they woke up because of his Determination, they didn't know why. All they saw was human children getting hunted down by monsters and they hated that monsters would do that." He started rubbing one arm nervously.

"So it drew Chara kinda crazy." He admitted, stepping away when Toriel took a step closer to comfort him.
"They were crazy for a long time, and they couldn't stop and think about what they were doing. When you don't have emotions or empathy, it gets really hard to think about yourself. It gets confusing."

He scrunched up his face. "But a human without those things is really scary, they- they just keep going and going and nothing else matters but what they're doing, and it even scared Flowey. And Flowey is hard to scare. He couldn't feel either. So when Chara got stopped by Sans just suddenly being invincible, he made them think, too. And I guess everyone got lucky, because they had been stuck on Frisk's Soul long enough for a bit of emotion to bleed in again. And.. Dad is right. Sans really is a forgiving person. He had to take everything they did to him and he just.. talked to them. And gave chocolate! Chocolate's their favorite!" He smiled, somewhat saddened.

"Sans was forced to deal with a lot of things that I'm pretty sure I only know a little bit about. He was hurt over and over again and he was still ready to forgive just like Papyrus, just in a smarter way. He really deserves a chance. Please, please don't be mad at him. He doesn't deserve it."

There was a long pause as the words settled over everyone, then Cabana quietly spoke up. "Look, I.. I get that I kind of freaked out when I first heard that story of his, but.. it's still scary. He still killed a human kid, and he still has a human Soul, and even before that he was already scarily powerful. And he's a porter, so he can just be anywhere he wants and has enough power that he does it whenever he wants, too."

"But what does it mean?" Undyne questioned, frustrated.
Cabana hesitated, only for Candara to speak up.
"It literally means he can teleport wherever he wants, and for some reason he has enough power to throw it around like it's nothing."
"I only really know one porter, and she's just a little babybones that can barely manage twenty jumps in one day." Cabana explained softly.

Everyone that wasn't a skeleton- except Asgore and Asriel- shared a stunned look.
"I knew it!" Undyne hissed. "He always hid it! Oh 'shortcut' this, and 'I already had it' that. Yeah right. He can freaking teleport! I'm gonna strangle the fu- fricker!" She barely stopped herself from swearing. "Why would he even hide something that cool?!"

"I imagine having such an ability without any context as to how or why would make it something he would prefer not to advertise. Though he certainly did take advantage of it." Asgore mused.

"I take advantage of a lot of things, Asgore." A quiet voice spoke up from a far corner of the room, everyone flinching at the sound of it.
All eyes and lights turned to rest on a mostly still figure leaning against the wall in the far corner with his hands in his pockets. His face was kept carefully expressionless, a picture of emptiness that belied inner hurt.

Sans pushed himself upright, slowly approaching their group with an eerie silence that seemed unlike him- yet at this moment, it became abundantly clear that no one really did quite know him. He stopped near the outer rim of the gathering, staring straight at the tiled floor.

"Um." Constantia quietly started, words dying before they could really begin.
"It's not what it looks like?" Spade offered faintly.

A soft huff escaped him before Sans abruptly glanced up, taking in everyone's faces and raising his voice. "It looks the conversation took a pretty interesting turn shortly after I called, huh?"

"That is.. one way to phrase it." Toriel muttered, clearly disgusted by the prospect of lying- let alone bringing it anywhere near her son. Sans chuckled, but there was an oddly dark tone lying beneath it, something they recognized from the way he'd spoken to the human in the video.

It vanished as he lightened up. "Kind of weird to walk in on a whole crowd talking about you without you knowing. Kind of weird."
"Sorry.." Alphys muttered, scratching under her horns as she scrunched up.
He continued. "Hell, at least tell me next time. Or, I dunno, ask me if you're gonna talk behind my back."

"She had files." Candara blurted out. Both Undyne and Bodoni shot him a look as Sans blinked.
"What's so important about files?"
Constantia stepped out of the way and gestured to the burnt and greyed out papers. Sans froze at the sight of them, eyelights small despite the grin still locked on his face.

No one spoke as he approached the desk with a look of disbelief. He set one hand on the file, peering at the page it had last been turned to, now carrying a carefully blank look.

"It's in wingdings." Constantia muttered, tapping the desk nervously when he didn't look up. Bodoni took a step closer. "One of us could translate it for you if you don't-"
"I know what it says." Sans cut him off with a quiet voice, turning a page.

He glanced briefly at the new log before grabbing several papers and flipping about midway into the file.
"Sans." Asgore spoke up.
The skeleton paused, turning only slightly to indicate he was listening. The king stepped over, resting a paw on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
He tensed under it, still flicking through pages as if he only wanted to peruse them.

"I told them about your dad." Candara spilled, looking down as Sans glanced at him.
"Everyone was looking for proof it happened. It wasn't really.. believable." His voice rose an octave on the last word.

"Of course it isn't plausible." Sans muttered while turning back to the thick file with an unidentifiable emotion in his voice. "Why do you think I never told a Soul."
Asgore backed away, shocked.
"Something this big shouldn't be on your shoulders alone." Cabana whispered.

"Kid.." He hesitated, hands flat on the table. "Sometimes there are things in life that give you no choice."
She winced, hugging herself.

"Sans, you're kind of scaring us." Alphys explained shakily, rooted in place.
"Seriously, it's starting to freak even me out." Undyne added.
"Because I-" He flipped through a dozen pages in increasing agitation. "I didn't know- they weren't supposed to-" The speed increased until he abruptly slammed the whole file shut, backing away.
"Nothing survived." He stated in a thick, wobbling voice.

He finally faced Alphys, eyesockets empty. "Nothing. It was all gone. How many..?"
Her eyes flicked to the floor. "I-I have a few more files." She admitted wearily, then gestured vaguely to one side. "And a.. not very used part o-of the lab had a bunch of weird.. TVs w-with lines of words."

Sans paused. "Downstairs?"
Her eyes widened. "You know?"
His sockets were wide as he considered this. Yet, Asgore glanced at the scientist. "There is a downstairs?"
She didn't meet his eyes.

Sans was already moving at a frightening speed towards a door labeled as a bathroom.
"It's where she did her experiments on top of their old ones." He explained vaguely before vanishing.
"Wait!" Asriel abruptly cried out, cutting short as he was already gone.

The child immediately began to panic, whirling towards Alphys. "Are there still memoryheads down there?" She flinched in shock. "Y-you kn-know ab-b-b-bout those??"
"Are they?" He demanded in a voice that sounded like the human. She recoiled at his glowing red eyes. "I-I-I don't know, I-I h-h-haven't checked yet."

Toriel and Asgore called out his name as he bolted for the same room as Sans, red flashing as he vanished into the sliding doors. There was a horrific tearing sound, then a metallic clatter before something thumped down into the distance. Alphys collapsed, gasping.

Both Dreemurs were already at the door, panicking from the deeply concerning noises and finding that Asriel had disappeared. Undyne held her girlfriend in bewildered befuddlement as Bodoni crouched down in front of them.
"Do you know where they went off to?"

She stammered incoherently for several tense seconds before choking out. "I think- down a- down a c-couple f-f-fffloors. The lab Lab. Real lab." The last part she whispered in fear, pupils shrinking as Toriel came storming back, robes clenched in her paws.
"Where is he? Where is my child?"

"Lady, it's an elevator!" Undyne defended, hugging the hyperventilating lizard close. "Can't you see you're overwhelming her?"
Toriel hesitated, then huffed out her frustration. "Where have they gone?"

She pointed down, wincing as she started taking deep breaths. "Lab down there." She said in one gasp, shuddering. "I'm sorry."
"Can we follow them?" Bodoni asked patiently. Alphys closed her eyes with a whimper, struggling to speak comprehensively.
"N-nno, th-th-the elevator ca- the elevator cable is u-u-unstable, I just have a-a-an emer-emergency ss-sssetup. It snapped whe-when th-the human used it."

"How can we make sure it's safe down there?" Bodoni asked, Undyne still rocking her in place as she started pulling herself out of the abrupt panic attack. Her eyes lolled as she focused.
"Um. Cam- there are cameras. I've on- I've only had a few working e-ever. They're all uh, th-that uh, language?" She explained awkwardly between breaths.

Bodoni sighed, patting her knee. "You've done enough. Thank you." He glanced at Undyne. "You can.." "Yeah, we've dealt with this before." The fish lady nodded. "What are you planning?"

The oldest skeleton in the room turned and powered on the enormous monitor, the screen flashing and returning to the video they had previously seen, paused. "The system's easily comprehensive enough that I can figure out what's where. If it's in Wingdings, it makes pinpointing the area much easier." He explained while clicking back to split rectangles showing different places and scenes, flashing past as he clicked on different labels.

"You know how this stuff works?" Undyne questioned, curious.
"Of course he does, he spends 90% of his free time behind a computer." Constantia explained in an appreciative tone despite the comment seeming derogatory.
Bodoni smiled as he hunted through the cameras.

"...Why are we trying to watch everything he does, anyway?" Candara murmured under his breath, words lost in the current atmosphere.
"Am I just being weird?"

. • ° . • ° . • °

A grunt followed by a splat had Sans flinching, turning away from the wall-mounted monitor and down the grey corridor. A red glow pooled on the floor around the corner before the light shifted and a yellow flower with glowing red eyes peered over. He stiffened in surprise.

"Sans, wait!" Asriel's voice cried, the plant lifting a few vines as though in surrender.
"Turn into a plant often?" Sans asked, having guessed already despite his nerves.
Flo- Asriel hesitated, then smiled a little. "Only once. That being now." The smile fell. "It just sort of happened."

Sans was busy pressing the keyboard on the side of the screen, the monitor flickering as it displayed different entries. "Why'd you follow me? I'm busy."
"Because you don't know what's down here."

He paused, face shifting into irritation before he glanced back at the approaching flower. "Kid, I think I know what's down here."
"You don't know about Memoryheads."
The skeleton hesitated, staring at words on the screen without quite seeing them.
He faced Asriel. "All right, I'll bite. What are those?"

The flower glanced away, thoughtful. "Leftovers from the Amalgamates.. they even scared Flowey." He lifted a vine, snorting faintly at the irony before turning serious again. "They don't have Souls, but not really a mind either. They try to take matter from living things, but they trick it first. They.. they somehow know your worst memories and make them real again. They're bad memories."

He had Sans's full attention by now, the skeleton considering the thought before sighing. "Kid.. Asriel. I don't think you're aware, but I'm already living a bit of a nightmare. I don't think a little trip down the wrong side of memory lane would influence me all that much."

Sans stared at the recent paragraph onscreen with shock shortly after saying that. Asriel huffed, tired of being left in the dark and not taken seriously.
"Sans."
He didn't reply.

"Sans." Flowey's voice spoke up in annoyance, lifting himself closer to the skeleton's face on an array of vines and roots shaped vaguely like a bipedal figure. He poked the unmoving figure, finally snapping Sans from the odd trance.
"What?" He demanded in distress before flinching at the sight.

"Can you at least tell me what it says?" Asriel asked softly. Sans studied the face that was still a flower before his shoulders fell, gesturing dispassionately to the screen. "They were originally data banks to be placed outside.. a storage area somewhere, but w- they had a surplus, and they got installed at random to keep track of notes and test results and a few jokes." He lightened somewhat at the end, idly going through entries until he reached a certain one- still unreadable due to the strange language images.

"I can't read that." Asriel sighed. Sans paused, nostalgic look fading. "It was just a running gag that started. Cody hated vague entries. Cody could only be satisfied by puns." He grinned conspiratorially at Asriel, winking.

Asriel glanced between Sans and the message board drily. "You were Cody."
"Me? No. I was Punz. Cody was everyone when they had enough of the riddling. Except Ollie.." He stared off into the distance, frowning. Asriel glanced back that way in concern, finding nothing there.
But when he turned back around, Sans still hadn't moved and a new message was typing itself out on the screen.

He fell back to the floor in a more familiar mass for a flowering plant and tapped Sans frantically. The skeleton blinked and peered at him.
"Is it supposed to do that?" He jabbed a vine in it's direction, anxious. Sans turned, still not fully back in the present.

He stared for a long moment, then accessed the keyboard, tapping away with incredible speed before it displayed a list of.. something. It was incomprehensible to the prince.
"Hey Az.." Sans started slowly, tone suspicious. "..Can those Memoryheads manipulate things?"

Asriel stiffened. "All they ever do is make speakers say staticy stuff. Especially 'Come join the fun'."
"...How does their memory thing work?"
"They touch you and make you relive your worst moments while they try to cover you. Why?"

Sans took a step back, visibly unnerved. "Just curious." He blinked as it started typing another string of words. He glanced down the hall, as though connecting something. He started trudging down the old corridor, a puzzled look on his face. "I'll be right back."

Asriel stared in disbelief, then let out a Flowey scoff, eyes flashing a bright scarlet as he scrambled after the skeleton.
"You really do lack self-preservation instincts, don't you?" Chara barked. Sans flinched, looking over in surprise. He'd stopped for a moment, then resumed. "Someone's gotta stand to lose a little."

"And you think that it should be the one person who can die in just one bad cut?" Chara questioned drily. Sans replied without skipping a beat.
"Gee, maybe so if said person is invulnerable for one reason or another."
"Still!"
"Yyyyup."
"I know your secret!" Chara proclaimed in both frustration and triumph.

Sans idly glanced over. "Oh really? Which secret?"
"You don't even care, do you."
"Me? Course not, it's called apathy."
"Sans, the only apathy you have is towards yourself." Asriel muttered through Chara's anger.

That gave the skeleton pause, staring down the hall in surprise. It slowly turned to a chuckle.
"Heh. Maybe you're right."
"You're not even slightly worried about anything, are you?" Chara demanded.
Sans grinned, popping out his jacket. "Why should I? Nothing can touch me, even stray knives."
"Ha ha. That's because you have a ghost with crippling social anxiety clinging to your depressed butt."

"Oh shoot." He stepped away from the plant with two minds. "You weren't bluffing. Nappy, we've been had."
Chara just rolled their piercing red eyes. "Why would I even bother bluffing at this point? You're always a stonewall until someone knows everything."
"Ouch. You wound me.. but you're right." He winked.

They moved in silence for a minute, turning a corner before Chara let out a frustrated huff. "Why are you even being so nice to me?? After everything! You're acting like we're friends?"
Sans didn't reply.
They slid the viney mass in front of the skeleton, red thorns poised angrily. "Well?"

He sighed, teleporting ahead of the block and earning a frustrated shout before he answered in a quiet voice. "Because knowing what I do now, I can't force myself to animosity. I can't forget everything, and I certainly can't recover, but I can put it in the technically non-existent past." He smiled at them faintly, Chara staring in disbelief, thorns falling.

"All that, and I haven't even mentioned how Frisk still wanted to save you after everything you did to him."
A pause. Then, a strange combination of both royal children's voices. "Frisk is awake?"
Sans snorted. "And calling Tori the goat mom."

Chara snickered fondly. "He was an orphan."
"I know." Sans replied with a light remembrance.
"He's being a sap, isn't he." Chara stated.
".. Actually, yes."
"Ugh, good luck being stuck with that."
"We all know who's fault that is." He reminded.
Chara cringed in remorse. "We're sorry."

"Is that a genuine apology, though?" Sans asked, glancing into a pitch black room with a flickering cyan yellow flame burning on the tip of his phalange.
"I'm sorry, okay? We didn't want to lose Frisk after everything!"

Sans quietly turned to face the flower still in the dimly lit doorway. His right eyelight was a glowing crimson orb, flecked with flashes of brighter scarlet as his left copied the pattern in yellow and blue.
The flower backed away in sudden fear.

The skeleton seemed to understand, looking away. His dual eyelights cast a glow across the room, revealing stations and tables covered in mysterious tools and devices. Nothing living had stepped foot in here in likely years.
"Frisk forgives you." Sans stated simply, the light stopping on a threshold of darkness, an open doorway.

Chara perked up, moving to follow as he approached the entryway. "You're not just saying that?"
He paused, a foot away from the entrance.

Sans shut his sockets, light dying and leaving behind nothing but darkness, a few faint lights indicating signs of ancient technology still functioning in their dormancy. The flower hesitated, afraid of being left in the dark with a person they had only a little trust in, sounds of someone shifting around to go off of.

Then, dull red lights revealed themselves, unsettling in the dark despite their innocence.
"Chara." Frisk's voice echoed in the dark.
"Asriel. It wasn't something either of you could control. You don't deserve what the world abandoned you with. You couldn't fix it, you didn't even know where to begin. I can't just hate someone who can't help what they were forced to become. I just wish you listened to me before, Chara."

Frisk rose back up to full height as Chara and Asriel withered in place, tears welling up.
"I.. we made you suffer.."
"You had reason to be what you were. The point is you aren't that anymore."

They flinched slightly when a familiar bony hand curled around the flower's stem and tugged them close for a hug. Close enough to bury a face into a jacket that smelled of fresh laundry and pine, to cringe slightly at the tingling aura of electricity, tinged with the scent of ozone and smoke.
And yet, beneath it buzzed the unmistakable warmth of benevolent Determination, interrupted regularly by a pulse of mana like cool flowing water.
They sighed into the cloth, pollen flaking off onto the fabric as they took it in.

Slowly, the heat faded out, slowly replaced by the cool, patient tide. A lazy but inescapable current, fitting for a lazy yet powerful monster. When they were sure Frisk was no longer there, they pulled away- yet Sans held on.

He tugged the flower up, cradling the ungrounded plant in the crook of his right arm. "You're coming with me." He stated decisively, turning and setting his left hand alight in cyan and yellow flames.

Asriel blinked as Chara fled into the depths of consciousness in confusion, curling vines and roots around the sleeve.
"You're not at all afraid?" He asked softly, blinking away tears.
"No." Sans droned, finally entering the dark room he'd been heading for all this time.
"Why?"

"You don't scare me. You're both kids." He explained simply, striding deeper into a room of files and odd scattered artifacts of old experiments whose purpose was lost to time..
At least, for Asriel and Chara.

Sans ignored them with the ease of one that had seen the strange sets of glowing tubes in thick paneled boxes thousands of times. Their eerie wonder was lost on him.

He stopped short at the end of an aisle, table lined walls covered in more strange remnants that reflected the dim light coldly. Everything carried a watery quality from the cyan illumination.

With a start, Asriel noticed a figure standing in the corner, almost entirely hidden with how still and grey they were. A vine trembled as it rose, a bright hot flame flaring to life, fading to red at the tip.

Sans's breath hitched as the brighter light revealed more of the blank figure. They had a simple shape, a round head with enormous, dead eyes staring out at him.
The skeleton took a step closer, reaching out slightly.
"...Lewi..?"

"Hello again, indeed." An eerie voice emanated from the shell of a monster, warped like a bad VHS audio over a radio with poor connection.
"You're.. you're alive?" He phrased it as a question, doubting the words even as he said them. "That was you typing back there."

"I don't think that.. thing is alive." Asriel whispered shakily. The empty gaze drifted over the flower, seeing through him and not at all.
"No, not alive. But nor am I dead. All that is left is a shadow of a shadow, a paradox."

Sans crouched down in front of the echo. "But you're still here. You're not completely eliminated, you have a chance. All of you- what about the others? Dad- he deserves-"
"Looking for him, are you?" The entity asked, tilting its head.

A ghost of a smile passed over its face, a shockingly disturbing visage. "You would do well to look back on what I told Frisk."
Sans hesitated, both his sockets and Asriel's eyes widening as their accompanying humans shared a memory.
Clearly aware of what was happening, the being intoned. "He is not here. He cannot be seen."

Despair washed over his features before it was hidden away, left to seep through his words as Sans asked.
"Why? Why can you appear and not.. anyone else?"

For once, the too-large eyes glanced away, hidden by heavy eyelids as the static grew oppressively loud in the semblance of a sigh. "Oh Sans.. do you forget? He hit the magma first. His impact saved us from his exact fate, but is it really any better?"

Sans considered this, Asriel daring to question. "What do you mean?"
"Sentenced to beyond." It abruptly answered. "Time and space coincide, and all becomes hidden and revealed. Tangled. The Void beckons, reaching through what little hold it has on the world, and with it, we become shadows that cross over on the bridge Dr Gaster created himself when he fell. He cannot be found here."

"... You're making no sense." Sans muttered, frustrated. It gazed at him, growing translucent. The skeleton stiffened. "Lewi?"
It seemed to grow a little more animate, lifting its stubby arms to watch as it began to fade.
"Ah. It would seem my time is at an end." It noted indifferently, before nostalgia seemed to run through it.

It looked up again. "If you insist on answering that which you do not know, then you will find another waiting to see a familiar face again."
"Who?" Sans demanded.
"Why of course. You remember. Existence be damned, his favorite hangout place was always so bland."

Lewi vanished with an odd noise, a genuine smile on his face. Asriel stared in utter confusion until Sans snorted.
"He did not."
"Uh.. what did he do?"
"He rhymed, kid. Lewi hates rhymes."
"Okay, but why?"
"Because Ollie's a quirky weirdo and drove everyone nuts." He all but laughed, darting back the way he came.

"I don't get it!" Asriel said while clinging tighter, anxious.
"You'll see in a minute." Sans grinned excitedly, carrying an energy so unlike himself as they suddenly changed locations, their surroundings now bathed orange and near stifling hot. Sans stopped, staring.

Asriel followed his gaze to a now tall figure, identifiably covered in fur and much taller. They were still grey, so much so that the orange light of Hotland couldn't change how monochrome they were.

After a pause, Sans moved to stand beside the other, leaning on the railing with them.
"Hey, Ollie."

There was no sign of their eyes, but the figure that resembled a cat monster slowly grinned wide.
"Long time, no see, isn't it? I'll admit, you've actually managed to grow a bit."
"...Wow. Wow. First thing you bring up is the height. I'm hurt." He was still smiling, a few tears glittering and yet not falling.

The grey one peered down at something in their hands, then tilted it so that Sans could clearly see it. "You say you want to see your father? Then relax a little, you need not look any harder."
"... What..?" Asriel squinted in befuddlement as a look of understanding and mortification settled on Sans's face, regarding the thing.
"... It's not dust." He noted mutely.

The smile faded from the other. "If only he were dust." They muttered. "That would be just."
"Why would you wish that?"
"Oh, seeing us again may indeed appear as a delight, but you have yet to fully comprehend our plight. But I suppose I should save face. You already know he's scattered across time and space."

"..True. But Lewi said you could elaborate on what he was alluding to. Don't you think I deserve a chance, O-Man?" He flashed a weak smile, Asriel shifting so the plant was hanging around his shoulders, a large portion of vines resting in his hood.

Ollie waved at their surroundings in a broad sweep of his arm with a mysterious smile. "The situation is much more complicated than that. I cannot just explain it right off the bat. Not to mention we are running out of time, and this, this is getting harder to rhyme."

Sans sighed. "Then maybe, for once, you could drop it? I have to know. I've.. been trying for decades. You know I'm not one to give up chances."

Asriel gave him an incredulous look as Ollie's shoulders fell, still gazing at him without eyes.
"Once, you were chipper and eager, but over the years we have watched your thrill of life drop to something meager. It continually saddens me, what I've had to see. Life has left you beaten and broken, left without the charity of leaving behind a single token.... But I suppose you have asked, which only results in me being tasked. But for what you shall receive, I warn will be difficult for even you to believe."
"Tell me." Sans insisted, surprisingly gentle.
"Very well, I'll explain as long as I can continue to dwell."

The grey one stared at him for a long moment, still infinitely more alive than the first one had been. Their smile slowly fell, struggling with something.
"...You have no idea how important any of you truly are."
".. Could you tell us, then?" Asriel offered nervously.
"It is only because of Sans any of us can even make it this far."

"Me?" He asked, pointing.
"You were there that fateful day. One helpless to prevent our demise, another unfortunately drawn into the fray. The energy of the Core was always hopelessly wanton, drawn from the Void that even now I hear beckon. And because you were there and not any other where, the power was inflicted upon the both of you- thus creating something new."

"...You mean to say that being there changed something?" "In like, his magic?" "And Nappy, he was there too. And it technically would be true. I can mess around with time, is that what you mean Ollie?"

The cat monster- at least, Asriel was sure it was one- shook their head. "There is no way I can abate, but it might be best you not know just what you can do at this rate. But that is only my opinion." They hurriedly added, seeming to glance at the weird mass in his hand. "Certainly not Dr Gaster's."

"He's of a different opinion?" Sans asked, somewhat impressed. "He longs to exist again. At any cost, just about, even bringing about our end."

The skeleton hesitated. "Do you have the same wish?"
"Oh don't get me wrong, the wish burns with a furious ire, but destroying existence is far from my desire. What say you? Perhaps there is something you could do?"
"Ollie, I can't do anything without knowing a damn thing. I tried for decades. Give me something to go off of, damnit!" Sans growled.

"Fine. Just know that the pleasure is not mine." Ollie scowled before facing him entirely, the area around them greying.
"You keep failing to properly surmise what you had incur upon yourself when you reached out after our demise. You helped build our bridge, because it is you who is it's anchor."

Asriel slowly hid behind Sans's skull, curling into his hood as the skeleton stood there. The color seemed to have drained from the world around them, leaving vague mottled reminders of the vibrancy it once held, but that still wasn't nearly as unsettling as what was happening to the others present.

Sans's blue jacket had suddenly lost all color, left with the same grey as the strange echo of a person they spoke to, who themself was gaining a hint of lime in the jacket they wore, a distant dark brown in their still mostly grey fur.

Their voice was clearer than ever before, containing notes of someone who was beaten down by life, yet still maintaining a desperate hope in optimism.

"It was you who chose to ignore the law, our doom has left your foot half in the door, bleeding and raw and still wishing to feed the Void more."

Asriel flinched as the definitely hovering figure bent over into Sans's face, causing him to stumble back as the ghost squeaked.

They finally parted their teeth, strange black particles flying out and buzzing around as they spoke for real, the static roaring around them and leaving Ollie's voice clear to press against them like a physical thing.

"Lewiston was trying to spare you, boy. But I am sick and tired. W.D. Gaster all but threatens to destroy, and you were spared the madness of the Void. Leave us to the past. Otherwise you will fall just to have us freed at last. Do you understand? It is banned!"

"Why didn't you start out with that if it was what you wanted to say in the first place, damnit!" Sans hollered, suddenly lifting off the ground as well. A hint of blue returned to his clothes, but the flower curled tighter as he realized it was because it was magic, beginning to wisp from the cloth like flame.

A look of fear passed over the other, surrounded in rippling dark that did not belong in this world, swirling around the two as Asriel helplessly buried himself deeper in the hood, comforted only by the presence of Chara.

"Because I missed you, numbskull!" Ollie snapped. "Don't be droll!" A crack echoed from nowhere and everywhere before they continued.
"You were such a bright boy, brighter than the ceiling stars. You know now that we remain, how could I pass up one last conversation despite all our scars? I do not wish you to martyr yourself for us, hear? It can only end in an ocean of tears."

"Damnit, you're condemning yourself to- to what? You just want to be forgotten? You want me to do nothing?!"
"There is no other choice! Are you even listening to my voice?"
"Do you even care about yourself and others anymore?"
"Don't even go there- I'm telling you this because I DO care!"
"Then give me a goddamn chance for once! I didn't come here to fight, for fuck's sake!"

The flower gasped and peered out once again, sensing the flow of magic shifting from a raging river to something that felt like lava striking a raging sea- exploding violently into superheated steam and rapidly cooling rock.

Sans had Determination, and it was proving extremely dangerous for one such as he. The boiling chaos was barely contained, and Asriel and Chara suddenly realized that they had no idea what he would do if it overflowed.
They didn't want to find out.

"I beg of you to listen to me and calm your ire. Attempting to undo what has been done can result in catastrophes most dire." Ollie stated severely, as if catching on to the danger.

"It's my fucking dad, Ollie!" Sans burst out, left hand suddenly exploding in blue-white flame, fading to red. Asriel recoiled sharply, feeling intense heat radiating from it as red light all but dyed his shirt red, shadows of his own ribs standing in high relief.

"I know! You have to let go!" The shadow begged, visibly warping as a hint of the rail behind them appeared through them, losing solidity.
"I'm sorry."
"Wait-" Sans flinched, reaching out. "Where are you going? No, I'm still talking!"
"I'm sorry, really, I am, but we can no longer tarry."
"You- you bastard! You can't just leave!" He lashed out, aiming to grab part of Ollie's shirt, but his hand passed through like nothing was there but a mirage. The eyeless face smiled sadly.
"No!"

He lunged again, this time his hand alight with cyan as a dense aura of blue shone around it. The cat ducked out, hand raised to block the grab but instead both hands met, blue colliding with the shapeless mass- everything exploded in blinding white.