Who Says You're the One in Control?

The Ruler of the Underground

Sans stared at the station in front of him. He had expected a tree shaped crack in a ceiling, not this. It didn't much matter. He took off his glasses and rested his head again. He was so tired. His head was too fuzzy to think.

~

Sans woke up with a jolt. He was still at the sentry station. The human walked by, taking little notice of him past a knowing smile. Sans had to squint to see it.

Sans grabbed his glasses off the table. He was about to put them on, when he realized. If this was Day one of Frisk's reset, why did he have glasses?

He tried looking at the glasses through the code. Immediately his vision was filled with black "ERROR" messages. He dropped the glasses and covered his eyes.

Not only couldn't he see, but the way his magic was trying to correct itself, it was extremely uncomfortable. Sans tried to calm his magic down, but doing so seemed to make it worse. He ended up having to wait for it to pass. Eventually, it did.

He put the mysterious glasses on, and made a shortcut to Snowdin. He had done it so many times, he didnt need to see the code to accomplish it.

Papyrus ran up. "Sans! You'll never believe what happened to me today!" The skeleton was beaming with glee at seeing a human.

Sans beheld his brother in wonder. He was alive. Papyrus was alive and well. Sans was so unprepared to see Papyrus again, he couldn't even form proper words. He stood like a deer in the headlights, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Sans, are you alright?" Papyrus moved to put his hand on Sans' arm.

Sans suddenly remembered all the monsters. All of the death people around him had suffered. He jerked away, not daring to risk that with his dear brother.

"Sans?" Papyrus looked hurt and confused. Understandably so, but Sans still couldn't get a grasp on this.

Destroying the files hadn't destroyed anything. It had only reset the world. Why to here, though? Why not to Sans' Day one? Or Flowey's?

Why could Sans not use his code reading? Why did he have glasses? Why had Chara passed right by without talking to him?

Normally, they would talk to everyone their first run. Even if their memory hadn't been wiped clean, the fact that Sans had been in a different location would have been enough to cause them to look into it, right?

But the smile they had given him was enough to answer that question. They remembered just as much as he did. They must have taken over Frisk's soul by force.

Papyrus got on one knee, to where he was closer to Sans' height. "Sans. What happened?" He looked very worried.

Sans shook his head. "sorry, bro. i feel kinda out of it." Papyrus tried touching him again. Sans took a step back. "uh... can we... not?" Hurting Papyrus would be unbearable. It would be too much for Sans to cope with. He took yet another step away from his brother.

"Sans..." Papyrus looked ready to cry. He looked so incredibly hurt and upset. Sans looked away. The pressure he had often felt on his soul at his brother's distress was unbearable.

He would have loved nothing more than to run into his brother's arms and cry, but having hope in the fact that Papyrus was alive seemed more like a trap than anything else he had hoped for since getting the power to begin with.

"i... gotta go." Sans backed up more, then turned around and ran off. Leaving his brother forlorn in the snow.

He ran past Chara, who was just making it across the colorful tiles. Without Papyrus to activate the trap, it was just an average room.

He ran all the way to the door to the Ruins. It was partially open. His curiosity drove him inside. His heart dropped as he realized what was happening.

Chara was making a genocide run. Toriel's ashes were in the basement. Sans ran back through the ruins, but it was no use. Chara had killed them all.

Papyrus.

Sans ran to the closest door to shortcut to Snowdin. As he stepped through, he realized with horror he had messed it up. He had screwed up the entry point instead of changing the destination. Not being able to see the code was harder than he had thought.

At the same time his vision turned into a static of "ERROR", his hearing went haywire. Sans wasn't sure what he heard, but it was loud, scratchy, and computerized. He fell away from the door, gasping for breath.

He got up and ran back to Snowdin. He hadn't even noticed the monster dust mixed with snow on his journey towards the Ruins, now it was all he could see. Why had he been so blind?

He stopped at the beginning of the room between Waterfall and Snowdin. Chara was grinning widely. Around their neck, they wore Papyrus's scarf.

Sans stared at them in silence. Still catching his breath, he felt the sticky tears stream down his face.

"You tried to destroy me." Chara said messing with their hand. On it, the tough glove was covered in his brother's dust. "That wasn't very nice."

Sans hadn't ever felt hopelessness like this. He dropped to his hands and knees, sobs catching and wheezing out in a pathetic display.

Chara watched him with the biggest smile on their face. When they had seen enough, they turned towards Waterfall and left him alone in the fog. Sans dropped even lower, exhausted from sprinting all the way through the Ruins and Snowdin.

~

Sans woke up, and headed down the path to New Home. He had a feeling Chara would be waiting for him if he wasn't at the Last Corridor. He didn't know why he was going, he just went.

Chara was sitting, braiding a flower crown, when Sans entered. The sickly golden flowers complimented them perfectly.

They looked him up and down, then nodded their head towards the other side of the room. Sans knew he had to obey. They had the reset power. They could do whatever they wanted.

Sans stood in his normal spot, and watched as Chara stood, put the flower crown on their head, and slowly walked over to meet him.

They walked as if they were the ruler of the world. Their confidence emanating off them. They knew who was in control, and they weren't afraid to show it.