Chapter 1: Pilot
Chapter Text
Snow.
White blankets covering the ground.
Two people up ahead. One of them, tall and wearing bright red, arms outstretched. They were facing the second. Small, with purple and blue stripes.
The tall one was concerned about the small one, but was hiding it with a kind smile. The small one was griping a knife, hand trembling. Their clothes were covered in gray powder.
They were all so scared.
The tall one spoke with a strong, clear voice, every word filled with compassion. He was giving the small one a choice.
The tall person stopped talking, looking at the smaller with a gentle, yet wary expression. The smaller one stepped forwards, raising the hand holding the blade. If you looked closely, you could see small tears trailing down their face.
——————————————————————————————————————
“BODONI! IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP!”
The short skeleton’s eye sockets flew open. {Guh?} Vie blinked blearily at vir older brother. {Did my alarm…} Vie fumbled to get vir arm out of the blanket cocoon vie was trapped in, reaching out to grab vir phone off of the bookshelf next to vir bed.
“COME ON, BODONI! IT’S SHAPING UP TO BE A WONDERFUL DAY!” Papyrus grinned widely, hands on his hips.
Bodoni slowly turned to vir brother. {Papyrus,} vie said slowly. {It is five o’clock in the fox-damn morning. My alarm was set to five forty-five. The way it always is. Why am I awake?}
“…WE SHOULDN’T WASTE DAYLIGHT?”
[{We live in a fucking cave!]} Bodoni shouted, slipping into the sibling’s first Font. [{What freaking daylight is gonna be wasted!?}]
A wave of sheepishness washed off of the taller skeleton. “IT IS NOT THAT BAD! IT IS ONLY LESS THAN AN HOUR EARLIER THAN USUAL, RIGHT?”
Bodoni blinked, squinting in concern at the swirls of emotion coming out of vir brother’s SOUL. {Are you ok?} vie asked. {I didn’t feel you having a nightmare or anything.}
Papyrus shook his head. {IT IS.. HARD TO HAVE A NIGHTMARE IF YOU NEVER SLEEP!} he said in Bodoni’s Font. {WHICH IS GOOD! NO NIGHTMARES MEAN NO EMOTIONAL ISSUES FOR THE REST OF THE DAY! WHICH MEANS MORE PRODUCTIVENESS THROUGHOUT THE DAY!}
Bodoni yawned, sitting up and rubbing vir eyes. {Papy, I love you a lot, which is why I am suggesting, once again, to at least TRY melatonin gummies. And also, once again, nightmares are healthy and help-}
{I AM BEING PRODUCTIVE!} Papyrus ran out of Bodoni’s room, vaulting over the platform’s railing to the first floor of the house.
Bodoni huffed. {I’m gonna dust him,} vie muttered, throwing the blankets off and grabbing vir phone. {I am, I’m gonna dust him. And our other brother.} Vie switched to the other Font. [{Of course, Bodoni! We are very proud of how well you understand the contents of the psychology books you read! You are so smart! Oh, you have advise on how to live a healthy life? Wonderful!}] Vie grabbed vir usual outfit. [{Give all of the advise to our brother, but I’m just gonna go ahead and ignore all of the advise you have for MY personal wellbeing.}] Vie threw on vir cyan-colored sleeveless hoodie. {I swear to the Angel, the twins share all of their braincells…}
——————————————————————————————————————
Sans hummed in content at the feeling of a warm hand caressing his cheekbone. He nuzzled further into the pillow, curling up into the bed. Warm… Cozy…
Grillby’s voice said softly in his crackling letters.
Sans blinked his eye sockets slowly, looking up at the warm orange flames that made up his boyfriend’s face. [five more minutes…]
The skeleton huffed good-naturedly. “fine…” he murmured. “just five more minutes, yeah?”
“fiiiiine…”
Grillby laughed.
“i will, i will.” The skeleton grinned as he sat up with a stretch.
the flame monster said firmly, amusement laced through his voice.
“it was one time.”
Grillby corrected.
“eh, that’s a matter of opinion.”
He shook his head in amusement.
“please, you know paps and bo wouldn’t let me forget.” He reached over to grab his phone, checking for any messages. Huh, Papyrus hadn’t sent the daily “GOOD MORNING” text yet. Sans wondered what was up with that.
——————————————————————————————————————
Papyrus poured the oatmeal into a pot, placing it on the stovetop. Had he done that already? He felt as though he had done that already. But there was no way he could have; the pot had been empty, the oatmeal un-poured.
Whatever, the strange deja-vu could wait! For now, he would text his brother, Sans, good morning. …had he already done that?
Papyrus pulled his phone out, checking his more recent texting history. An internet meme Bodoni sent last night, training plans with Undyne, a spammer trying to sell him something that he politely declined, and then Sans letting him and Bodoni know that he was spending the night at Grillby’s residence.
Papyrus sent a quick good morning message to Sans, doing his best to ignore the sense that he had already done so. What day was it again? He glanced at the calendar. It was still the fifteenth of September, a Tuesday. Wasn’t that yesterday, though?
He frowned, checking calendar on his phone. No, definitely Tuesday, September fifteenth. But…
Bodoni walked into the kitchen, dressed and ready for the day. …an hour early. …like yesterday. But not like yesterday?
“BODONI?” Papyrus frowned at the calendar on the fridge again. “HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANY DEJA-VU SO FAR THIS MORNING?”
Bodoni looked over at him as vie grabbed a cereal box from the cabinet. {No? Not so far, at least, but you’ve always been the best at feeling that stuff.}
“WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE CALENDAR, WHAT DAY WOULD YOU SAY IT IS?”
Bodoni frowned thoughtfully. {Wednesday,} vie replied, {September sixteenth.}
Papyrus frowned at his oatmeal. “CHECK YOUR PHONE.”
Bodoni pulled vir phone out of vir shorts pockets, staring at the screen for a moment. {…huh. It doesn’t feel like a Tuesday.}
“I KNOW.”
The two were silent for a moment.
{So, an anomaly thing?} Bodoni asked, pouring their cereal into a bowl. Vir voice was filled with forced casualty.
“IT SEEMS SO.”
{…have you seen your Flowey friend lately?}
Papyrus gave vir a side glance. “IT HAS BEEN A FEW DAYS, I THINK.”
{He’s sometimes sad-y around an anomaly moment. Lemme know if you see him today.} Bodoni walked out of the kitchen, popping some bits of cereal into vir mouth. Papyrus sneakily took a picture, sending it to the skeleton sibling group messages.
——————————————————————————————————————
ADHD: *Picture of Bodoni eating dry cereal*
ADHD: Sans, our sibling is being disgusting again!
Autism: Sans, tell your twin to mind his own business *middle finger emoji*
ADHD: You always insist on eating the blandest cereal in the Underground, just add milk!!!!
Autism: Milk makes it soggy!
ADHD: THAT IS THE BEST PART!
Depression: how many times
Autism: …Sans you’ve been typing for like, a full minute.
Depression: if you put the milk in first, then the bottom layer of the cereal will act as a floatation device, preventing the rest of the cereal from getting overwhelmingly saturated. that way, your cereal can have the nice, milk flavor without it being soggy. we have this conversation almost every morning. i really dojgfrbkg s klubyryea
ADHD: …
Autism: *facepalm emoji*
Depression: Fuku here. Sans and I’ll be over as soon as we finish our omelettes.
Autism: Hi Fuku! *smile emoji*
Depression: …wtf are your names????
Autism: Fonts *smile emoji*
Depression: Why is Sans’ name depression?
ADHD: Because he has depression and this family is very exceptional at Gallow’s humor!
Autism: Gallow’s isn’t a proper noun
ADHD: You don’t know that! Whoever this Gallow person is deserves to be addressed with respect!
Autism: I don’t think they were an actual person, I’m pretty sure it’s just a thing
Depression: …yeah I’m just gonna give Sans’ phone back.
Autism: See ya!
———————————————————————————————————————
Bodoni glanced up as Sans and Fuku teleported to the porch. {What took so long?} vie asked, signing the words so that Fuku could follow along.
“sorry, bo-bo. fuku couldn’t find her coat.”
Fuku corrected.
Sans shrugged. “eh, tomato potato.”
{You say tomato, I say Solanum Lycopersicum.}
Fuku agreed.
“LET US CALL THIS WHOLE THING OFF SO THAT BODONI AND FUKU CAN GET TO SCHOOL, AND SO THAT SANS AND I CAN GET TO OUR SENTRY STATIONS!” Papyrus called from inside the house.
Bodoni smirked happily as Sans and Fuku laughed.
“alright, c’mere.” Sans held his hand out for Bodoni to grab.
{…} Bodoni eyed the hand suspiciously, slowly reaching out and grabbing the finger parts first. Vie cautiously wrapped vir phalanges around Sans’ carpals, feeling the strap and cushion underneath the pink mitten.
Sans laughed at Bodoni’s expression. “aw, c’mon, can’t a skeleton do a whoopie-cushion-in-the-hand trick once in a while?”
Bodoni gave him a flat look, grabbing his wrist. {Just get us to school, dumbass.}
Fuku giggled at the sibling’s antics as Sans teleported them to the high school’s front entrance, the cold, snowy atmosphere of Snowdin Town being replaced by New Home’s large, stone city.
Fuku said cheerfully, walking off to where some of her and Bodoni’s friends were waiting.
“you too.” Sans put his hands in his pockets in a relaxed fashion. “ya got everything you need?” he asked his sibling.
{Yeah, I’m all good.} Bodoni lifted vir headphones to vir head, the vibrant, loud emotions of everyone getting blocked out. {Paps and I thought that it was tomorrow already, be careful today. Something feels kinda weird.}
“i’ll keep a socked out,” Sans replied with a wink, his permanent grin becoming strained.
Bodoni walked off to where vir friends were waiting, waving to vir brother again. {Don’t forget to take your meds!}
“i won’t forget!” he called back, teleporting back to the skeleton house in Snowdin.
Yep, pretty normal day.
…so why did something feel off?
Chapter 2: A Misty Memory...
Summary:
Sans meets a (new?) face and has some concerns.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Sans reclined in the chair of his sentry station, eye sockets closed. His arms were behind his head, a relaxed aura waving off him.
He retreated into his thoughts. Bo mentioned that something was off about today. Honestly, he could see it. Paps mentioned feeling large amounts of deja-vu that morning, and for some reason Sans had to fight the urge to wrap him up in a blanket and lock him in a room coated in bubble-wrap where he would be safe. Which was weird. As far as anyone knew, he and Sans were the same age, and Papyrus was always pretty responsible. Sans didn’t need to be a mother-hen, even if everybody had decided that he was the oldest sibling. So why the sudden urge to be so overprotective?
He opened his left socket. Maybe he should pay a visit to his joke-buddy. She always managed to cheer him up. He flopped out of his seat, making land on the snowy ground a few frames away from the sentry stand with a small twist of space-time. He pushed himself up, walking over in the direction of the door when he heard it.
Footsteps.
Sans peered through the trees, catching glimpses of something blue and purple. Huh. Maybe a monster was out for a walk? It looked like whoever it was was walking away from the Ruins door. Strange; nobody ever comes around here.
Sans’ sockets widened as he got a closer look. Was that what he thought it was? The person trudging through the snow was a skinned species, for one thing, with a yellow-brown complexion. They had messy brown hair covering their head. The blue and purple Sans had seen through the trees was a striped sweater.
It was a human. A pretty small one, too. It was shorter than Bodoni, and that was saying something considering Bo’s impressive four-feet-five-inches.
The human walked over a fallen branch in the middle of the path. They seemed pretty calm, though a bit… apprehensive.
Sans shortcut behind them, onto the path. He was getting some pretty intense deja-vu, now, for some reason. Whatever. His grin turned into a light smirk. Maybe he should mess with the human a bit, just for fun.
He summoned a bone bullet, slamming it onto the branch the human had stepped over. He shortcut back to the trees in a blink, watching the human mischievously.
The human stiffened at the sound of the branch breaking. They turned around sadly, not looking surprised to see that it had broken. Sans frowned a bit. He watched the human continue on the path, stopping at the bridge. Well, if they weren’t gonna be affected by the branch joke, maybe it was time for something else…
He shortcut to the path, walking towards the human. He stomped along the snowy path, making sure that his footsteps were loud. The human tensed, but they didn’t seem scared. Well, it was hard to tell with them facing away, but Sans was pretty good at reading people. He kept walking until he was standing directly behind them, only a few inches away.
“H u m a n.” Sans kept his voice low, using the same tone he used to prank Bodoni when vie was in vir phase of watching scary videos on vir phone late at night.
The human stiffened, hands twitching. They turned slowly, purposefully, and reached a hand out without looking, as if they knew how this went. They didn’t blink at the whoopie cushion that was in his hand, though their lips twitched upwards sadly.
“heh, the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick,” Sans chuckled. He looked at the human with a raised eye ridge. “wait a sec… have you heard it before or something? you turned around before i- oof!”
The human barged into him, wrapping their arms around him tightly. He hesitated, thoroughly caught off-guard, but his big brother instincts kicked in after a second. He gently returned the hug, pressing a hand to the back of the human’s head, pink glove gently patting the brown hair.
“hey, buddy, what’s eating ya?” Sans kept his voice soft, but easy to hear; like he was talking to Paps or Bo after a nightmare. “it’s all good, i don’t bite.”
The human slowly let him go, backing up and rubbing their eyes. They kept their face firmly looking at the ground. Sans looked them over carefully. They didn’t look hurt, and they didn’t seem too scared… but their face seemed so tired. It was almost familiar.
“…are you ok, kid?”
This was a kid; wasn’t it. Their small size, the way their face was pressed into him, the timid posture… But something in their eyes. The tense way they stood. It reminded Sans of the way Asgore would stare into the distance sometimes. No kid should have that expression.
“how old are ya?” Sans asked.
The kid blinked, looking up at him before hesitantly holding up seven fingers.
Oh Fox. “wow, that’s a pretty nice number.” Sans kept his tone light. “my little sib’s REALLY into greek mythology, y’know. seven is the number of a god; apollo. do ya know him?”
The kid (seven year old babybones) shook their head, eyebrows pitched in confusion.
“heh. i’ll need to introduce ya to bo. vie can talk about greek mythology all day long.”
The kid glanced around, looking lost.
“anyways, the name’s sans. sans the skeleton. whadda ‘bout you?”
They stared at him, their red eyes wide, uncertain. -Frisk,- they hesitantly fingerspelled.
“frisk? that’s nice. it’s kinda like the font, benguiat frisky.” Sans caught a flash warm color in the distance. He looked past Frisk. “hey, it’s my brother. you’ll love him; he’s super cool.”
The sentence had the opposite effect that he wanted. Frisk tensed again, not looking scared; more… resigned. That look in their eyes… that was the look of someone who was preparing to make a hard choice.
“SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Papyrus’ voice called out. His red scarf was bright against his white crop top and the snowy environment.
“hey, paps!” Sans called out. “get over here; i found a kid!”
“A KID?” Papyrus got closer. “OH! HELLO, THERE, SMALL CHILD!”
Frisk turned around, facing the taller skeleton. They waved.
Papyrus’ steps faltered as he finally got close enough to make out the kid’s features. “…OH. MY. FOX.” His gaze glanced between the kid and Sans. “ARE… ARE YOU A HUMAN????”
Frisk nodded.
“WOWIE! I’VE NEVER MET A HUMAN BEFORE!” Papyrus crouched down to a squat, grinning at the kid. “HUMAN, MIGHT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE THE PLEASURE OF KNOWING YOUR PREFERRED NAME AND PRONOUNS?”
Frisk glanced at something to their right. Sans followed their gaze, shrugging at Paps when he didn’t see anything.
-Frisk,- they signed. -They them.-
“IT IS A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU, FRISK! MY NAME IS PAPYRUS, AND MY PRIMARY PRONOUNS ARE HE/HIM. I AM ALRIGHT WITH ANYTHING, THOUGH.”
Frisk nodded slowly. They stood still, as if waiting for something.
“…” Papyrus glanced at Sans hesitantly, his smile straining a bit.
“…” Sans shrugged again, raising an eye ridge.
“…WELL, HUMAN FRISK, WOULD YOU LIKE A TOUR OF SNOWDIN? IN MY HUMBLE AND VERY GREAT OPINION, IT IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES IN THE ENTIRE UNDERGROUND!” Papyrus stood up to his full height, a gloved hand on his hip.
Frisk didn’t move, staring up at the tall skeleton. Sans walked past them to stand next to his brother, wanting to see the kid’s face.
They were frowning, looking totally lost. Their red eyes darted between the skeleton brothers, as if looking for something.
-I’m a human,- they signed.
The twins glanced at each other.
“yeah?” Sans asked.
“YES! IT IT VERY COOL, YOU BEING HUMAN!”
Frisk looked even more lost, frown turning into a scowl. -You need my Soul. Break the barrier.-
Sans inhaled sharply while Papyrus barely held back a flinch.
“UM… IT IS TRUE, THAT THE BARRIER MUST BE BROKEN USING SOUL MAGIC.” Papyrus said hesitantly. “BUT, HUMAN FRISK, YOU WOULD NOT SURVIVE YOUR SOUL BEING TAKEN. IF YOU WOULD TRUELY WISH TO HELP, WE CAN WAIT UNTIL YOU DIE OF OLD AGE!”
“yeah,” Sans agreed, “monsters have already been trapped for a few hundred years, why not wait another eight decades or so?”
Frisk gaped at them. -No!- they signed almost desperately. -Take now! I’m bad! Deserve it! Want to help!-
Sans’ permanent smile almost dropped entirely. What the hell happened to this kid!?
“NO!” Papyrus shook his head. “FRISK, I KNOW THAT THINGS MAY SEEM HARD SOMETIMES. I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO DO THINGS YOU REGRET, BUT I AM SURE THAT WHATEVER YOU DID, YOU ARE NOT BAD! NOBODY IS TRUELY BAD! EVERYONE DESERVES A CHANCE TO BE A LITTLE BETTER!”
Sans walked past his brother, slowly bringing his arms around the kid. They stiffened. He made sure to give them time to pull away if they really wanted to, but something told him that even if they didn’t think they deserved it, the kid really needed a hug.
They tucked their arms between themself and the skeleton, head jerking as they looked around, as if searching for answers. They didn’t seem to notice that they were leaning into the hug. Sans kept his arms loose, just in case.
“HUMAN FRISK…” Paps sounded hesitant. Sans couldn’t blame him. “YOU DO NOT SEEM BAD. BUT IF YOU SAY YOU ARE, THEN YOU MIGHT BE.”
Sans stayed silent, trusting his twin.
“HOWEVER. EVEN BAD PEOPLE HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE GREAT! PERHAPS IF THEY TRY HARD ENOUGH, THEY CAN EVEN BE AS GREAT AS I! NYEH, HEH HEH HEH!” The taller skeleton’s voice turned more gentle. “I’M SURE THAT YOU CAN BE SOMETHING NOT-BAD. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE GREAT; JUST GOOD IS ENOUGH.”
Frisk trembled, curling further into themself. Sans gently tightened his hold on them.
“hey, kid, you hungry?” he asked. “i know a pretty great place to eat.”
They looked up at him with wet eyes.
“AN EXCELLENT IDEA,” Paps exclaimed. “I MAY NOT ALWAYS APROVE OF YOUR UNHEALTHY EATING HABITS, BROTHER, BUT I CAN APROVE OF A SPECIAL TREAT FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS.”
“how’s that sound, kiddo?”
Frisk sniffed, nodding.
“great. i know a shortcut.” He winked. Hopefully he and his sibs could get to the bottom of this.
Notes:
I wanted to post this at the same time as the next chapter of my Flowerfell fic. Also, for some reason Undertale is harder to write than Underfell???? Idk.
http_r4zor on Chapter 2 Mon 02 Jun 2025 06:48PM UTC
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BlueDancer9000 on Chapter 2 Mon 02 Jun 2025 07:09PM UTC
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