Undertale: Reason to Live

Chapter 31

The group slept for about two hours.

Sans woke up first. He opened his eyes and saw the black screen of the television and the shadows of fading sunlight against the walls on either side.

He turned his head so that his chin was resting on Frisk's torso. For a little while, Sans just watched him. Frisk was completely at peace, and he was starting to look a bit healthier. His skin was beginning to regain its golden-tan color. That meant his body was creating more blood.

Sans was suddenly caught off guard by the movement in Frisk's chest. It moved up and down. Sans was confused but quickly remembered that a human's lungs were in the chest, the same as most monsters.

Sans knew more than most monsters did about human anatomy. When he worked in the labs, he had observed more research than he would have liked to admit…

He pushed the thought from his mind. Sans didn't want to think of that now. It was too painful. Besides, he had better things to do.

Sans picked up his coat, placed it on the floor, and lifted Frisk' shirt to examine his torso. His ribs were still visible but not as pronounced as before. Sans smiled. That meant Frisk's body was absorbing the food he was eating. Sans laid his head on his chest to listen to his heartbeat as he had the night before when Frisk was asleep. The heartbeat was getting stronger. More good news.

The smile disappeared, however, when Sans picked up his head and saw that all the scars on Frisk's torso were still there. He sat up and pulled off the gauze on Frisk's arms only to see that the scars were there, too.

Sans' heart sank. He had hoped that as Frisk's determination grew his scars would fade away, but that wasn't happening. The scars would probably never disappear.

Frisk continued to snooze peacefully as Sans laid his coat back over the boy's body and short cut away to the end of the couch.

He then covered his face with his hands and started to silently shed a few tears.