A second chance (A Human!SansxReader fic)

Chapter three: You are filled with DETERMINATION, but you are not a determined

The song for this chapter is: A thousand angels

Emilie was looking at you and Natasha like you were crazy, and then she gave a scowl. "I was starting to think you guys were pretty cool. That is NOT funny." "We're being serious!" Natasha replied and you elbowed her in the side to get her to quiet down. Taking a deep breath you turned back to Emilie. "I swear to you, we aren't joking...and you aren't either..right?" Your time in the UNDERGROUND had taught you many things, things most humans didn't know. Like the fact that ghosts existed, technically. A humans SOUL can continue to exist past death for a certain period of time. Emilie nodded, her mouth still in a scowl. You looked back at Natasha who gave a wary nod. "Okay..look, the memorial assembly is going to start soon. Dawn is one of the kids they'll talk about. Sit with us, okay?" "...Fine. But if this is some cruel joke I'll never forgive you."

That out of the way the principal announced the memorial assembly and you left the classroom, along with everyone else in the school, and that included Sans and Papyrus. You, Natasha and even Emilie were on the lookout, making sure neither of them were nearby as you made way to the gymnasium. "So, am I allowed to ask what happened between you guys, or..." Emilie spoke up and you sighed, slouching. "...if you really did see Dawn, then I'll tell you at lunch, kay? 'Cause I get the feeling if all this is true, we're going to be seeing a lot of each other." That being said the three of you entered the gymnasium and Emilie gasped. A memorial was set up in the middle, and a large print of your friends, with you, was smack dab in it. Dawn, your emo best friend, Anna, a girl who could have passed for popular if she didn't like DnD, Morgan, a dweebish bookworm who played magic, Jasper, an avid otaku, and Brittany, Jasper's little sister and just as much into anime as he had been. There was another person in the photo, another victim. Fellow goth Kent, also known to you and Natasha as 'he-who-must-not-be-named'. Dead or not you didn't care, Kent had been a real jerk, and you couldn't believe you had had a crush on him, no matter how brief it was. He was the whole reason you had that argument with the others in the first place! You gently took Emilie's arm and led her through to the bleachers, scanning the crowd for a spot to sit. You stopped when you saw Sans sitting near the front with his brother, staring at you with that seemingly permanent grin of his. *You feel your sins weighing on your neck* "He looks really mad." Emilie finally tore her eyes from the photo and you nodded, pulling her along and making sure to keep a safe distance from the..monster? Natasha spotted some seats open in the top corner and you headed up there. "Yeah, the fact I'm alive is probably a bane to his existence." You only half joked. The three of you took your seats and you realized it wasn't only Sans' staring that you felt. Everyone was staring. of course they were. Out of your little band of freaks, you were the only one left. Suddenly felt even more uncomfortable than before. The gym quieted down as Principal Andrews entered the room and took position at the mic. "Good morning everyone. I'm aware you all must be excited to be out of class so early, especially with finals coming up in a few days, however we are not here for a fun reason, as I'm sure most of you know. However, as with every year, we have gotten a large amount of new faces. So you don't feel left out, allow me to explain the purpose of today's assembly."

"Two years ago on this day we held our annual Scream Fest, a now discontinued event where students would gather for a bonfire night on the football field and scream to relieve stress about the upcoming finals." A few students murmured but principal Andrews continued to speak. "While everyone was busy with the festivities, six of our students were hanging out in the old locker room. This area was no longer in use and therefore off limits, however these students spent much of their free time there. Some time near midnight, something went wrong. It's still unclear what exactly happened, but the bonfire got loose and began to spread across the field. We believed all students had been safely evacuated, however we were unaware that these students were inside the locker rooms, and they were unaware of the fire." As you listened to Andrews recall the nights events you felt a knot begin to form in your stomach as you pictured it all. Your friends sitting in the old hang out, blissfully unaware of the raging fire that was heading directly for them. You felt Natasha squeeze your hand and you gave her a weak smile. Today..today was just a shitty, shitty day. "For some reason, these students were unable to make it out of the locker room. We lost six bright lives on that night. I..was not close to these students, so I fear I cannot due them justice. Which is why I would like to introduce, to those of you who are new, their close friend, (Y/N) (L/N)." Now all eyes really were on you. Taking a deep breath you got to your feet and slowly made your way down the bleachers to the podium. You had to keep reminding yourself, you had agreed to this. You needed to speak. For them. As you made your way down you actually made eye contact with Sans and Papyrus. Papyrus looked concerned while Sans seemed...confused. You looked away from them and finally got up to the mic. Andrews adjusted it for your size and stepped back, giving you space. You took a deep breath, the knot in your stomach growing. "...my name is (Y/N), and..the people you see on this photo behind me...they were my best friends."

Your grip on the podium was so tight your knuckles were beginning to turn white. You had thought you could handle this, but...No. You couldn't give up. You needed to do this.

*Knowing that your friends were counting on you to spread this message fills you with DETERMINATION*

"Everyone..they were such smart people." You fought to keep your voice from wavering. Why did this have to be so hard. You couldn't even look up at everyone as you spoke. "Smart, and kin, and funny. They were all so unique in their own ways, had something specialist to offer to the world..but because of the fact they were different in one way or another, they were...WE were singled out." You slowly lifted your head, growing more DETERMINED as each word came out. It felt strange...DETERMINATION had never been your trait. You were born with a SOUL of PATIENCE. You recalled Jr high, back in your Biology class. You had learned once that a SOUL's trait could change depending on a traumatic experience. Was that what was going on? No, that seemed silly..."Because of this, we were alone for such a long time. Nobody cared about what we could provide. Jasper and Brittany were amazingly generous people, happy to help others with their homework, or lend someone an anime to watch, or even just give a well needed hug. Anna was pretty and smart, and honestly she could have been popular. But she had an interest in hanging out with people like us and she was shunned for it. She wanted to be on the debate team, she would have been good at it too." As you spoke you saw that Emilie was staring, not as you but directly behind you. You felt your hair stand on end. Swallowing, you continued. "Morgan was awkward but sweet, and had an amazing way with animals. He wanted to be a vet...." You didn't want to talk about Kent. Kent was a liar, and a manipulator. Just like that demon child. "..Kent was..Kent was a free spirit. He had his own ideas for life, and he would have gone on to do great things." Guess you were a liar too. "And Dawn..." Oh god, just mentioning her name brought her face to your mind. Bubble gum hair and snakebites. She was always so happy. "Dawn was....Dawn was absolutely wonderful." You slowly moved your gaze to the now human skeleton brothers. "You all..most of you know me. I'm (Y/N), and for years I was an angry kid who was hurting on the inside. And I took that out on a lot of you. I hurt a lot of you." You could have sworn you saw Sans' smile twitch. Papyrus was listening intently, the concern of his face growing. "And then one day, my first day of Jr high, I met Dawn. She had decided to walk beside me on the way to school. She was bubbly and annoying, and I made sure she knew it." You internally cringed thinking back to that day. "But...but that never detoured Dawn. She had decided she was going to be my friend, no matter how I treated her. She said she saw something in me. She saw a glimmer of a good person inside of me." Sans visibly grew stiff. "Dawn believed that anybody could be a good person if they just tried, me especially. And she was right. But nobody else saw these things. Instead they saw what wasn't important, the things that made us different. I'm not here to shame anyone, or call out anyone. I just..I just want everybody to stop, for just a minute and think. Think about my friends." You sucked in a breath and then continued to stare out at the crowd intently.

"I want you all to think of my friends, and how little you knew them. Maybe, how poorly you treated some of them. Again, I'm not trying to shame you, but please..please realize, that no matter how different the person next to you might be, they're still a person, and should be treated with at least the minimum amount of respect on that level. Had..had some of you done that, they have been out screaming and having a good time with the rest of you, instead of hiding away in the old locker room. So please. Next time you see someone different and feel the urge to say or do something, please just think twice. And if you see someone else acting poorly to another person for such a stupid reason, like how they look or act or what they like, step in. Do something. It's a lot easier than everyone thinks."