Chapter Text
Frisk had no doubts that she made a lot of mistakes in her life, but she never expected one of them to come back and haunt her like this .
It was a day like any other. She came home in the evening with her groceries, which mostly consisted of instant noodles, some premade popcorn that she could snack on and the cheapest coffee she could find.
She turned on the TV to have some background noise, but then she heard news that had her scrambling to sit down and actually watch it. The news that shook her to the core.
Monsters were real. Hidden under the mountain Ebott behind the magical barrier that was now broken.
Her stomach felt like it was tied in a knot. Her biggest childhood trauma - Underground, Flowey, the whole race of monsters - a fantasy that she spent ten years in a mental hospital convincing herself was a fantasy... was real.
And things… things haven't been going well for monsters in that time. Apparently, a few short years after her departure, they ran out of energy, food, and, as consequence, magic. The goofy characters she did not want to let go of as a child turned into literal monsters.
Frisk felt sick. For the first few days after hearing the news she had not left the bed, eyes glued to her phone. She refreshed the web news page every few seconds in an effort to convince herself that this was not just a screwed up dream, or another vivid hallucination like she was told Underground was — this was real.
And it was a horror to behold.
Seeing the mutated, hungry beasts emerging from the mountain, humanity's first instinct was to attack. Frisk had to fight her tears every time she saw the number of monster casualties rise.
A month after the initial breakthrough, it was announced that all monsters were yet again contained under the mountain Ebott.
Frisk hated it. There were not a lot of humans supporting monsters — even after a speech given by Aliza, a 14 year old girl who was the one that broke the Barrier (she was just a kid... just like Frisk herself had been back then, when she left them down there to starve- ), monsters were still viewed as beasts.
Experiments had begun - scientists had taken a few monsters, studying them as well as the preserved technology and literature from the Underground. There was little coverage on that matter, letting Frisk believe the worst.
No matter what happened, there was no good future for the monster race.
Endless what-ifs filled her head, every day. What if she stayed Underground, instead of blindly going forward without looking back at what she was leaving behind. What if she came down again after she left, instead of believing it never happened, believing there was no hole in the mountain and that it was all her make-believe fantasy. What if she found a way to break the Barrier, which evidently was possible even now, so it should've been even easier back then- What if she wasn't such a coward, such a failure, such a useless piece of-
Nine months passed. Nine months of scarce news, of rainy days and her overlapping depression, nine months of trying to keep it together and not letting herself fall apart.
Every day, Frisk still obsessively checked the updates on any monster-related news, passively refreshing webpages every free minute she got in a day. And then, one evening, the news dropped.
Monsters will be deployed as a workforce.
The news was followed by the presentation of a brand new invention, a combination of the latest human-made technology and magic-infused technology found in Underground. Control collars.
Frisk's heart sank.
Monsters were to be slaves .
Due to their mutated strength and unique talents, they had been bought by multiple different companies and forced to work for nothing. One company in particular moderated the collars and started selling monsters to the general public for an ungodly sum of money.
And this... this was what broke Frisk.
If only she had the influence. The money. If only she had made something out of her sad miserable life, instead of closing herself off in the dusty library she worked in...
She could have saved at least a few of them. Provide a safe haven. But as reality stood now, when she could barely afford her rent every month...
Frisk would never get a monster.
At least that's what she thought in the next three months - three months of seeing terrible conditions monsters were forced to work in, three months of seeing brand-new updated collars being released almost weekly, all retaining their electric-shock core, three months of hearing people paint slavery of monsters as the best-case scenario…
Until that one Tuesday morning.
She was running late for work — her shower head broke and she had to wash her hair in the kitchen sink — hurrying down the street past the brand new monster adoption center which opened a few weeks back, and saw a new bunch of monsters being dropped off. They seemed exhausted - most dragged their feet as humans pulled them by the leashes, some clawed on their collars in vain attempts to get them off, but none tried to fight or even run.
None except for one.
One of the monsters was surrounded by numerous humans and was trying to fight them off even with the pain of constant electroshock. All the racket caught Frisk's attention, and she unconsciously stopped to watch. It took a lot to subdue him - the monster kept fighting until his red orb of an eye landed on Frisk in the distance. Their eyes met, and she thought her heart would stop.
She could've sworn he froze just as she did while they stared at each other, and the humans used this chance to finally rein him in, dragging the skeleton into the building. He was big, much bigger than she remembered, his bones no longer white under the layers of dirt and dust, with a giant hole prominent in his skull as well as his big pulsing crimson eyeball in the left eye socket.
He looked terrifying. A monster right out of the horror book pages. But all Frisk could think about was a short skeleton, smiling to her as she squeezed a whoopie cushion between their hands.
Sans the skeleton.
She could barely do any work that day, her thoughts all over the place as her mind replayed the moment their eyes met over and over. When closing time finally came, Frisk bolted straight home. She's been counting all her expenses in her head the whole day, thinking what she could pawn off to get more money - maybe the bank will give her a loan and she'd have a chance of getting enough to buy one monster.
It was Sans . He was right there . She had to get him out.
But first, she had to know the actual price.
Stepping inside the monster adoption center felt like a bad kind of weird - goosebumps ran down Frisk's skin as she saw monsters curled up inside cages with big colorful price tags in front. The longer she stared the sicker in the stomach she felt… the bigger prices rose right before her eyes. No way she could afford anything in here without pawning every piece of tech she had at home, down to the refrigerator.
But there was no way she was leaving Sans behind.
not again
She found him in the furthest corner of the shop. And the price on him was... half as any other monster.
"Oh, it's probably better not to bother with this one." A worker called out to her when Frisk stopped in front of the skeleton's cage.
"Why is he at half price?" She couldn't bring herself to lift her head and look at the monster's face, but she could feel him watching her.
"It's highly aggressive, resists commands for the longest time, and, if you ask me, acts creepy on purpose. A broken model." Worker hummed. "If you want a big one how about that wolf-"
Frisk wasn't listening, overwhelmed with feelings.
It. A broken model. She wanted to cry, to scream, to punch that lady in the face for insulting her childhood friend, but all she did was swallow, forced out that she'll be back later and left, still feeling the weight of his gaze creeping on her back.
Half price seemed doable, but Frisk still had to sacrifice something. Something pretty important to her. With a heavy heart, she dug out a shoe box where she kept all the important things - mementos, small trinkets, letters she really valued - and pulled out a ring.
The engagement ring that's been passed on for four generations to all women of her family. Her last link to her mother.
Frisk closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Sans... he needed her. She owed him so much more than a piece of jewelry, no matter how much emotional value it held.
Still, her lips trembled when she walked out of the pawn shop. It wasn't the first time she parted with something important, but it felt like now she had nothing , nothing to her name and nothing she could leave behind.
But it didn't matter.
she deserved to be forgotten
Thankfully, Sans was still at the shop when Frisk returned. 'Adoption' and collar calibration went well, with the skeleton being weirdly calm during the whole thing.
He had only stared at her for the whole time, never blinking.
When the purchase was complete and Frisk stood outside the shop with papers in one hand, a remote control device in the other and her childhood monster friend on a leash she felt... lost.
What will she do now?
She bought Sans, true, but now what? Let him go? No, she couldn't - he'd get caught and apprehended again, or even outright killed. Keep him at home? She couldn't treat him like a slave, but what would he think?
He still hadn't spoken to her. Did he recognise her at all? She couldn't tell for sure - his singular eye was still focused on her, but the expression on his face remained unchanged.
"Follow me, please." Frisk awkwardly said and started walking home. Getting Sans out was her urgent priority, and now she just wanted to bring him to a safe place to rest. Frankly, he wasn't the only one in need of that - her heart was still racing, hands shaking and brain feeling like mush.
Sans barely fit into the door of her little apartment when they finally got there. The skeleton monster was still acting very passive - no sign of resistance that she witnessed the morning she saw him. Now that she could, Frisk took a nice long look at her old friend - he was wearing an outfit she'd seen most monsters wear in the adoption center - a cheap-looking poorly made gray shirt and pants too short for him in his bigger state. Up close she could see scratches on his exposed bones, as well as multiple scars, most of which could only be a result of some nasty fights. If somebody did clean him, they haven't done too good of a job - she guessed they sprayed him with some sort of air-freshening aerosol, since he smelled like a garbage bag with a hint of a Midsummer Breeze.
The bath, Frisk noted, is one of her later concerns. First priority - get him fed.
Leaving Sans in her living room, she went to the kitchen and rummaged through her fridge. She doubted he was fed anything in captivity, and the odds are he still has not eaten anything in years , so she had to bring out the savoriest of foods, if not her entire food stock. She popped the box of store bought nuggets into the oven and decided to look over the brochure she was given at the monster center.
"Thank you for your purchase of a “Monster Helper”! Please read safety rules and conditions before employing your new worker:
1) Never, under any circumstances, take the collar off of your monster helper. If you have any technical difficulties with the control collar device , bring your monster to the nearest monster-calibration center.
2) Always put your monster into a sleep state using the "Sleep Mode" button on your control device. For your health and safety, and continued use of the product, never leave a monster helper awake and alone.
3) It is strongly discouraged to override or tamper with the core orders programmed into your monster helper’s control collar device.
4) Keep your orders clear and concise for the sake of the control collar device. Complicated commands can confuse the device’s system and potentially cause a feedback loop. Be sure to verbally state rules and conditions, also in a clear manner.
5) If a monster helper refuses a command, it will be given an electric shock through the control collar device. Do not interfere in the process, or else risk an electric shock to your own person.
6) Do not feed the monster helper.
If you have any problems with the monster helper, or the control collar device or watch set needs repair, please contact us at our official website, or give us a call at 111-111-1111."
Frisk's mouth felt dry.
'Don't feed the monster'.
That... didn't make sense in her head. Would feeding him only make him feel worse?
Oven beeped done.
Frisk bit her lip. She... she couldn't leave him without food. She just couldn't. She'd rather starve herself than not feed him now that she finally could.
Pulling nuggets out, she briefly wondered if Sans still liked to drink ketchup like she remembered. It was a weird detail in her make-believe story, the one she questioned a lot back in the mental hospital (he couldn't be real... a skeleton? Drinking ketchup and using a hairbrush on his invisible hair? Ridiculous...), but after the Barrier broke, all of the sudden everything and nothing made sense in Frisk's life.
So she splurted a bit of the ketchup on the side of the plate. Won't hurt to have a little flavor for him to enjoy.
Briefly smiling to herself, Frisk picked up the plate with the intention of presenting it to him back in the living room, but as she turned she nearly dropped it in surprise. Sans stood right in the doorway, occupying it like a brick wall, his crimson eyelight still staring right at her and pulsating with rapidly increasing speed.
Her hands gripped the edges of the plate tighter. Either she was too preoccupied with food and brochure, or he moved without making any noise, which would be very impressive with his size and her squeaky floorboards.
"I made you some food." His gaze did not move from her eyes as she said that, even as she took a few tentative steps towards him. "You can take it if you want."
Skeleton didn't move.
She lifted the plate a bit higher.
"This is for you." Frisk said with more confidence. "If you want it, you can eat it. I allow you."
She noticed a huge light on his collar blink before the plate was all but ripped out of her hands. Sans made a monstrous growl and gobbled the food in an instant, opening his jaw and letting it all fall in. Then he bit the edge of the plate, sufficiently cracking it, but instead of devouring the rest of it he slid it out of between his teeth and handed it back to her.
Frisk didn't take it right away, staring at him in bewilderment for a second too long before accepting it. Her eyes lingered on the string of drool coming out of his mouth before she looked back at her almost-broken china.
Well, the ketchup was gone. He did seem to like it. Probably.
Her gaze returned to the skeleton. He seemed to breathe heavily now, his shoulders rising up and down as if he was an animal gone feral, grin still hungry and dripping with saliva as his crimson iris dialed more and more. She could feel the chill running down her back - was feeding him a mistake, after all? Would it prompt him to do something dangerous?
Despite his disheveled appearance, the skeleton didn't move from his spot in the doorway.
I may be making a huge mistake . Frisk thought, walking to the refrigerator and opening it again. She never bought a lot of food for the keeping - she had some leftover cheese, a yogurt that must've spoiled some time last week, ketchup, a couple of potatoes and a dozen eggs.
She was unsure what feeding Sans more could cause, but he still looked so hungry and she just couldn't leave him at that.
"Listen, if you want to eat anything from the fridge, you can-"
He moved much quicker than she expected anyone of his size to move - pushing her aside, he dug into the fridge, shoving every food item she had into his mouth, containers and all.
"S-stop! Stop! Wait!" The skeleton froze in the middle of consuming raw eggs at her exclamation. She bit her lip, feeling guilty for forcefully holding him back.
Stupid collar. Can't say anything without it being an order.
"I'll- let me cook these for you." Frisk gave him a shaky smile. After his pillaging some of the eggs and ketchup survived, so she gently gathered remaining eggs and put them to the side before grabbing the ketchup and showing it to the skeleton.
"You can have this. Ketchup. If you want." Since it wasn't in a bottle and you had to squeeze it out she briefly pondered if she should do it for him, but Sans slowly took it from her hands.
And bit right into it.
"I-" What did I expect.
Frisk sighed, turning back to the eggs to fry them. She watched them sizzle in the pan, trying to ignore the monster in the corner of her eye. After his messy eating he was covered in red stains, which made him look even more menacing despite her knowing it was just ketchup... When eggs were done cooking Sans seemed to slow down, still gobbling them off the plate using his hands, but at least the earlier urgency didn't seem to be there. His intensity seemed to lessen - his shoulders no longer shook and eyelight in his socket stilled, even though it remained wide and watchful.
"We... um... you really need a shower." Frisk looked over his messy form again. She didn't have any suitable clothes for him, so she had to find an alternative while she washed the current ones... Did they even sell clothes in his size around these parts? After her purchase of him she did have some leftover money they could last on for some time, though her balance certainly cried tears, so there was certainly no chance she could get him something custom-made...
She noticed that the skeleton did not bother to move from the spot he stood on, and let out a sigh.
"Follow me." Frisk nodded in the direction of her bathroom. It was rather cramped even for her, but by her estimate (and hope) Sans should've fit into the shower cabin. She grabbed the shower head, turned the water on and turned back to the monster.
"Take yo-" she bit back her tongue in realization of what she was about to ask.
He was a skeleton, so it was okay, right? Not like he'll do it himself unless she orders him... still, it felt very wrong and uncomfortable and Frisk started to wonder if her decision to buy her old friend was a rash one.
It's alright. It's going to be alright. She had many other things to be concerned about, being weird about the shower stuff could wait.
"Please, take your clothes off." She asked, turning her back to him. She heard a growl, but he didn't seem to resist the order, and a moment later she could hear the sound of rustling fabric.
"Give them to me and take this." Still refusing to look at him, Frisk handed him the shower head and took his shirt and pants. "You can find soap on the shelf. I- uh- allow you to use it. Take a shower until you feel clean, okay? You can call me if something is wrong. When you are done tu- gently turn these knobs to the right until water no longer comes out. Got it?"
Sans didn't say anything, but she was pretty sure she heard him let out a quiet unhappy humph as he stepped inside the shower cabin.
Frisk threw his clothes in the laundry and swiftly ducked out of the bathroom. She hoped he wouldn't try and misbehave - she didn't know what electroshock would do to him while he stood under the rushing water...
Sans spent a long time in the shower - so long that she briefly wondered if she phrased her words wrong, or he deliberately decided to run her into the ground with the water bills, but eventually the sound of pouring water stopped. She grabbed a blanket - it was her bed comforter, but she didn't have anything else big enough to cover him with aside for maybe her actual blanket - and gently knocked at the bathroom door.
"If you’re done you can use the big towel. The one with a little scorpion pattern in the corner." She opened the door for a little bit, enough to fit her hands through. "When you are done with the towel you can wrap yourself in this... Sorry I don't have any other clothes for you, but when I can we'll get you some!" She added hastily.
She wondered if she could find a jacket similar to one he had back... back then. She could still remember the smell of it - pine trees, greasy food and some kind of a mineral smell, the scent she imagined bones might have.
Lost in the memories, she only snapped out of it when the door opened and Sans stood before her, rolled into her golden comforter like a fresh cooked burrito. He looked... not perfect, but marginally more clean, and the smell...
A mix of her coconut soap, wet socks and just a dash of Midsummer Breeze.
Frisk frowned, but decided that it will do for now.
"You can rest on the couch now, if you want." She nodded at the aforementioned piece of furniture, ducking past him inside the bathroom to throw his clothes into the washing machine and mull over her words for the conversation they were inevitably going to have.
He has not said anything since she brought him home, and had yet to express any disobedience or violent intent, which didn't give her any clarity on... whether he remembered her or not.
It's been fifteen years since they've last seen each other, and she grew from a scrumpy little kid into... still quite a short woman. She still kept her hair shoulder length, but otherwise she had changed. Still... Her name wasn't a common one, so she had to prepare herself to face him in case he did remember her.
Face his predictable fury. Anger. Rage. All well deserved.
After a minute of staring at the laundry basket, Frisk took a deep breath, preparing to face the music. Still, not prepared enough - Sans was right in the doorway, eyes watchful, making her flinch again.
She took the step forward, trying to sidestep the monster and hoping he'd get the hint and move.
He didn't.
"Um... please take a step back." She hated she had to give him commands as it is, especially for something as little as this. Collar light blinked red as the order registered, and Sans did as he was told, looking at her with what she was sure was contempt.
"You can sit on the couch if you want. I allow you." She said and tried to give him a smile.
He didn't move.
I really didn't want to have this conversation standing.
Frisk waited for a moment longer, but when she concluded that Sans had no intentions of sitting down, she decided it was time to stop procrastinating. She grabbed the papers she got in the adoption center, her intentions only partly related to the fact that she could hide her face behind them and swimmingly avoid eye contact.
"My-" Words seemed to get stuck in her throat. "My name is Frisk."
Her eyes flew from the paper immediately to observe the monster's reaction, and he... didn't appear to have any.
"This here says I should call you... Sans?" That, strangely, made him react - for a split second, his eyelight dialed, and she could've sworn his smile got tighter.
"I'm... um..." He didn't seem to remember her...
Maybe this was for the best?
"It's... nice to have you here. I hope we can become friends..." She trailed off lamely. She didn't need to be good at reading skeleton expressions to see his spite at her statement.
"I just want you to know that... You are not my slave. I want us to get along, and I want you to feel at home. So... let's try our best to get along, alright?" She gave him a smile. He… he didn't look impressed.
Frisk let out a sigh.
Just what has she gotten herself into?