No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

30 ~ Once More

With Thanksgiving out of the way, Christmas is suddenly quickly approaching.

The monsters celebrated Christmas in the Underground, but not nearly to the extent of the humans on the surface. That's okay with you, though. The monsters' Christmas is more genuine. The humans' is nearly entirely commercialized- they've completely lost the true meaning.

Regardless.

With the first day of your holiday break, you're ready to power up the machine. Again.

And again, Dr. Gaster gets in contact. For a little while, it's the same old thing, him trying to convince you to stop it.

And then...

>VOID: sans, listen.

>VOID: ive done a lot of bad things, things ive regretted.

>VOID: but some of these things...

>VOID: ive come to realize that sometimes, the last thing we want to do is the thing we most need to do.

>VOID: i don't want to do this sans.

>VOID: but im getting desperate, and youre not leaving me much of a choice.

>VOID: im sorry. really, REALLY sorry.

And Sans tries to respond. But he only gets so far as

>C:/TL_MONITOR: wait what ar

before something blows up. As you watch, though, the black tendrils you are now familiar with don't just smash the machine. They tear up the floor. Rip apart the ceiling rafters. You can hear more cracking and breaking.

You turn to Sans. He's got that look on his face.

So you grab his arm, your fingers wrapping tight around his bones, even through the fabric of his jacket. "Sans! Get us out of here!"

That seems to snap him out of it. For a moment he looks at you, then he nods. You see the briefest glare of blue in his left eyesocket, then a tug in your chest, then blackness.

It's like you blinked, and now everyone is standing in the snow in front of the brothers' house- or, the pieces of it anyway. Because this time, Dr. Gaster didn't destroy the machine. He destroyed the entire house, collapsing the building into the basement, burying the machine. There are even some small fires.

You look at Sans. He's got that look in his eyes, that hurt, broken, despondent look.

You reach out and grab his arm again. "This isn't the end, Sans. Remember what I said? About staying determined? This isn't the end."

"but, kid..." His voice is barely audible. "kid, that's our house. not just one little machine. how can we- what do we--" he gestures helplessly.

You frown a little, but quickly smile again. "Alphys's lab! We can build there! Right, Alphys?"

Everyone looks at Alphys. She hesitates a moment, but when you give her a pleading look, she nods. "Y-yeah! W-we can b-build there; there's e-enough space!"

Undyne grabs Alphys up in a tight hug with a excited YEAH!

Sans isn't so easily convinced, and you can see that Papyrus, concerned as he is for his brother, isn't so hopeful either.

"but where do we go? that's where we lived, frisk. an entire house can't be rebuilt in just a few weeks."

"Nooooo..." You ponder, one hand rising to your chin. Then you look at Sans and grin. "Buuuuut, I have a basement!"

Sans gives you a somewhat depreciative look.

"Nonono, it's a real nice basement! It's got a kitchen and a tv and everything! It even has one of those couches that has a fold-out bed underneath the cushions!"

Now Papyrus definitely looks hopeful. He grips Sans' shoulders, giving his brother an imploring look. "Please, Sans? You can't give up hope!"

For a moment Sans just frowns. Then he sighs, his shoulders slumping. "... alright, frisk. we... we'll move in with you. better call tori to let her know we're coming."

You nod and pull out your phone. Then you notice Sans has started walking towards the wreckage.

"Sans?" Papyrus beats you to the question. "Sans, what are you doing?"

Sans pauses. Then he glances back over his shoulder. "i-... i just have to find something. it- it was in the basement." And he continues over to the destroyed house, and starts digging.

The rest of you share a glance.

"Go ahead and call Toriel." Undyne says. "We'll help him dig."

You nod as they do so. Then you punch in Toriel's phone number. Once she picks up, you quickly explain what happened to her, and she just as quickly agrees that the brothers are welcome in her- and your- house. Then you go to help dig through the wreckage, too.

You suppose it's only as much as Dr. Gaster can do, when it shows up. You're still a good five or six feet from the basement floor, but suddenly, the broken pieces shift, and one final black tendril slides through. It's wrapped around something, a photo album, you realize.

As soon as Sans notices, he takes the book, and the tendril just kinda vanishes.

Sans, meanwhile, collapses. He falls right to his knees, holding the binder to his chest, clutching it tightly.

Papyrus walks over slowly. "Sans? What's that?"

Sans doesn't answer with words, just opens the book to the last page. Inside, you see, is a piece of paper that's faded and yellow, the edges torn and dirty and smudged. It looks like a crayon drawing, a picture of three badly-drawn figures, holding hands- a tall one, a medium one, and a small one. In the corner are the words DON'T FORGET, and beneath that, in smaller print, please.

Sans seems nearly entirely entranced, reaching out to brush the black letters with his fingertips.

"What's that?"

Sans just glances up, a pitiful look on his face. "it's-... it's the last thing i have left." Then he closes the photo album again, hugging it back to his chest, closing his eyes.

Papyrus hugs him, and you reach out to set a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sans. We'll get him back."

§

A/N

Problem: writing the entire story from Frisk's perspective means I don't get to write, like, 95% of the skelebro fluff I had planned for this story.

Solution: blow up the house and force Sans and Papyrus to go live in the same house as Frisk!

... So much stuff planned...

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!