Who Says You're the One in Control?

Overcoming Fear and Doubt

Sans jumped into the training for a while before his Snowdin route started. Papyrus used to train three hours on his own, and another two hours with Undyne. Sans still found it amazing he had managed to spend over a fifth of each day in training, and still keep up on everything else he did with such energy.

Heading back to Snowdin, Sans ran into Flowey yet again. He hadn't seen the bright yellow plant in a few months.

"Are you really gonna do it?" The flower looked up at him in awe. "Are you going to the surface?"

"been there before. it's not that bad." Sans rocked on his heels. "maybe this time i can stay a while."

Flowey smiled. "Golly, you're getting cocky, huh?" He winked and stuck out his tongue. "Just make sure you remember who your dealing with." With that, Flowey left.

Sans didn't give much credence to the warning. The flower may have been sadistic and manipulative, but Sans was stronger than it. He hadn't been scared of the damn thing in a lot of resets.

Snowdin was quiet as usual. Most of the monsters were still staying in the city. Sans wasn't sure if he liked Snowdin this empty, but hopefully, it would be completely cleared out eventually.

The cold of the forest seemed to make his headache worse. The snow glared into his eyes, making things fuzzy and hard to focus on. He hated this patrol for that exact reason.

Finally, he made his rounds and went home. He started a pot of coffee and called Asgore. "hey, you doing anything for dinner? i got some business i wanna talk over."

"Oh, sure. I'll head over in about an hour, I'm just finishing up watering my garden." Asgore said with pleasant surprise.

Sans finished the call quickly, and said goodbye. He had to shower, finish some paperwork, and start dinner. He made spaghetti and cake. It wasn't extravagant, but Sans wasn't a horrible cook either.

While dinner was cooking, Sans straightened up the house. He had been keeping it mostly clean. Vacuuming was weakly, and he made sure he had clean clothes. He was nowhere near Papyrus's level of clean, but it was good enough for him.

Finally, Asgore knocked on his door. "who's there?" Sans called.

"It's me, King Asgore." Asgore answered, brutally murdering the chance for a joke. Sans sighed and opened the door.

He let the king in and took care of all the responsibilities of a host. Asking if the king wanted water, inviting him to sit and chat, serving dinner, and just overall making sure his guest was comfortable. He had watched Papyrus tirelessly toil at this same duty often enough to have it down. Somehow, his brother had made it look so easy, but as he went through the process, he found himself worn out.

Once dinner was done with, Asgore pushed his plate aside and asked, "What was it you wanted to discuss?"

Sans took a sip of water to ease his growing headache. All the movement today had made him tired and nauseous. He had almost fallen while making dinner, he had been so dizzy.

"i, uh... wanted to make plans for heading to the surface." He tried to make it sound as casual as he could, but Asgore's face still held a resemblance to shock.

"The surface? You think the Royal Guard is ready?" The goat leaned onto the table.

"no. not yet." Sans conceded. "they're making progress, but i figured having a goal would help them train harder." He paused to read the king's face. It was guarded too well for him to make out what the king was thinking. "i was thinking next summer?"

Asgore digested the information for a while. "Let's keep it quiet for now." He finally decided. "I'll discuss it with Alphys and Gerson and see what I think."

Sans nodded. That was the most he could expect for now. "i told Gerson about it already, but no one else..." Oh wait. Monster Kid knew. Shit. "well, i might have come up with the idea with Monster Kid, so... he might know, too."

Asgore blinked a few times. He let his breath out sharply through his nose in frustration. "Well, I guess I'll have to address it to the public soon then. What are your plans about it?"

Sans took a second to think. "i think i go out with maybe a second person, or a small group of ambassadors, and introduce monster kind back to the humans. see if the world is willing to accept us again, and then start up negotiations for relocation of monsters to the surface."

"And if the plan goes south?"

"worst-case scenario, you lose a handful of monsters and have to find a new captain of the Royal Guard." Sans knew if he died there would be no need for that, but going this far without a reset made him want to cling to life almost as much as if he were to not reset at all.

"And you think the risk is worth it?" Asgore seemed doubtful.

Sans nodded. He had been to the surface. The humans were pleasantly nice to the monster kind. "there are monsters out there who still dream for the surface. i wanna fulfill their dreams."

Asgore nodded. "How did Gerson feel about all this?"

Reflexively squirming, Sans avoided eye contact. "he was worried the humans would end up repeating the war a few generations down the line."

"Ah." Asgore chuckled. "He never wanted to go to the surface to begin with."

Sans nodded. He knew why. The battle between monsters and humans had been absolutely brutal. Sans still couldn't get behind the idea of becoming complacent. He knew the importance of keeping a goal.

Sans sighed and rubbed his temples. "well, to each his own. i need a goal."

Asgore looked Sans over. "Are you feeling alright? You look tired."

Sans smiled slightly. "i'm good. i mean, i'm tired to the bone, yeah, but my headache is just beating the shit outta me."

Asgore nodded. "Then I'll leave you be. Rest up." He stood. "I need you at your best." Sans said his goodbyes and cleaned up. He moved nice and slowly, and immediately went to bed after making sure leftovers were put away. He knew he had a lot of work left to do, and he only had till next summer to finish.