A Skeleton's Struggle

The Talk

Sans sipped at his hot drink, wrapping his bony hands around the mug for warmth. He was cocooned in one of Toriel's fluffy blankets and resting on her sofa in the living room. The T.V was blurring in the background, but it didn't catch Sans' attention. His mind was focused on his nightmare, on Frisk and Chara, on the worry of a reset. He didn't notice Frisk sit nervously down beside him on the sofa, and glance over worryingly at him. Frisk reached over and gently tapped on the top of Sans' skull, and the skeletons head shot up in surprise.

"Oh, hey kiddo" Sans smiled weakly "Did Tori send you?"
"No, I wanted to see you myself. I'm worried about you Sans. I'm worried about both of us. I'm so scared." Frisk signed sadly, hands shaking from being upset.
"Me too, kiddo." Sans said unhappily.
"Why were you so upset? I was upset too." Signed Frisk, who was beginning to huddle under the blanket with Sans for both comfort and warmth.
"Er... Nothing too bad, buddy. Just a silly nightmare. Wait - why were you upset tonight?" Questioned the skeleton with concern.
"Oh... I had a nightmare too" Frisk signed slowly. Sans gave Frisk an empathetic look and wrapped an arm around them.
"Wanna talk about it?" He asked.
"I... I don't know how to put into words... Chara was in it..." Frisk started, and Sans jolted with shock. He tried to wait patiently for Frisk to continue, who seemed to be clearly upset already. He gently squeezed them closer to him for reassurance, before eventually saying, "Don't worry kiddo, if you can't get any more out, then don't try. It's cool."
"No! I want...I want to at least try. I've started so I guess I should finish it." Frisk signed firmly. They began to continue. "I was in my room and it seemed rather dark... You were at the end of my bed, still fast asleep, and I climbed out of bed to try to wake you up. But..." Frisk paused, thinking carefully on what to say next. "But before I could get to you... I heard a noise coming from under my bed... So I turned around and peaked under it. Nothing seemed to be there, so I got up and turned around again to wake you up. Um... But when I turned around...er...Chara was there." Frisk stopped for a moment, with tears brimming in their blue eyes.  Sans grew still from anger, shock and fear. He tried to keep his flames from bursting out suddenly and inflaming Toriel's  living room. He let Frisk continue. "Their eyes looked...deadly. Scary. Horrible. They made me feel terrified... I didn't want to be there, I didn't want to be in that dream... But Chara wouldn't let me escape. They... Um... They tied me up... And hurt me a lot... I didn't... I didn't know what I did wrong, Sans. I kept screaming out for you but when I did it ended up with... With you..." Frisk was now sobbing, clinging to Sans with everything that they had, hoping he'd understand. Sans wrapped his arms around Frisk, and stroked their hair again for comfort, until Frisk pushed themselves away. "Because of me... I... I had to..." Frisk couldn't continue any more, and curled up into a ball and began sobbing. Sans used his magic to lift the small child up and place them onto his lap, where he cradled them and sung softly to them, until they had calmed down.

"Kiddo... I'll be honest with ya. I had a pretty similar dream to you. You had to reset, right? Because I told you to." Frisk sadly nodded, and gripped Sans' shirt, before nuzzling their face into it.
"You're not a coward, Frisk. You didn't do anything wrong. You did exactly what I told you." Sans whispered.
"But... I shouldn't have... I broke our promise by doing that... I promised that it would never ever happen anymore..." Frisk shakily signed. Sans held Frisk tightly to his chest.
"Kiddo, I swear, the dream won't ever happen in reality. You didn't break our promise. I vow to protect you the best I possibly can from Chara... You don't deserve anything that they've done to you so far." Sans paused, suddenly remembering recent events.

"Frisk... Why were you out in the forest all by yourself?" Sans questioned.
"Chara... Chara told me things... That I was worthless, stupid, and that I should just leave everybody alone. At the time, I thought that it was for the best. And Chara also said that if I did one task for them, they would leave me alone. I wouldn't have any more nightmares,  they wouldn't be with me at all. I could be free. I just... I didn't expect them to do what they did..." Frisk replied, their hands shaking with fear and trauma. Sans held onto one of them, and squeezed it tightly.
"Frisk, you are NOT worthless. Or stupid. And if you had left us, we'd be devastated. You saved us all. You freed us from the Underground. God, if we had hated you for that, we would have been pretty dumb, wouldn't we? You're our family, that's how it'll always be! And one day... Chara will leave you alone. I promise. We'll figure it out somehow, kiddo." Sans cuddled Frisk tightly, and after a long hug, he realised that they had fallen asleep. He chuckled sleepily, and slowly closed his eyesockets, letting himself be dragged into a quiet, dreamless sleep.