HONEST about KINDNESS

When Sans returned to the room, he saw Frisky still standing there. He remembered exactly what the last thing he said to her was before Flowey called him over.  

Frisky didn't smile. "Why did you say that last part? Before you left?"  

"Oh. Uh." Alphys. Alphys mentioned it in the text. He could just lie. Save it. But . . . he knew she still needed to confess herself for their Soul bearing. And if he just got the biggest secret of all time to deal with that night, then getting the rest of this over would be easier than saving it. Then, they could just move on. "I said it was much better than what you would have gone through if you failed a mission, Frisky." 

Frisky fidgeted slightly. Okay, relax. I don't know how much he knows. Besides, okay, it's just Sans. Just. Sans. This isn't like genocide. Yet, it felt very awkward. The way he said it, and then him taking off with Flowey for about twenty minutes or so? What was he doing? Getting more information? "Oh?" 

"Oh? That it?"  

Frisky stayed still as he approached her. It felt like Judgment Hall the way he was approaching her. Calm down. Sans isn't going to kill you. He just knows your deepest and darkest secrets, that's all. Or maybe not. What all does he know?  

"Calm down," he said. "Little talk, that's all. Then, bed. Kay?" 

Little talk. Then bed. But what little talk? "Okay." 

"Good. The Frisks and I played a little game of pretend in the forest," he started. "Cause we did see each other before then. They came to save you from the Soul bearing. Actually," he chuckled. Not quite a happy chuckle. "Friskay actually threw up an encounter between me, King Asgore and Queen Toriel." 

Oh, Friskay. "Sorry to hear that." 

"Sure." He clicked his tongue. He kept clicking his tongue, like he just discovered he could do that. He yawned. "So, you were going to get whipped for each time you or Chance was called something else, huh?" 

She refused to answer. 

"Or, you know, the whole killing your sister to get her PACIFIST card. That wasn't good."  

She refused to answer. 

"Or the pregnancy experiments and mindwipes." 

Okay. Not. Something she liked to share. Fine, he knows some. "Which one talked to you?" 

"Friskarino." 

Little traitor. He didn't have to share everything.  "Fine. What about it?" 

He was quiet for a second before stepping closer. "I consider using him cheating for Soul bearing. He probably got a lot of details, but there were seven of you inside one kid. So, I want to hear it from you. Make sure I got the facts straight." 

Dang this marriage thing. "I don't like talking about it. It doesn't help to think about these things. They interfere with encounters and chances of success. Is this necessary?" He nodded his head. "Fine. Yes, I would have received punishment for the name. There are varying degrees of things I could have done to receive punishment. That is just the way it is. Yes, I got my own sister killed in an ACT. That is true. Is that enough?" 

He was shaking his head. Hmph. "Chance was born successfully. After he was born, I could have returned to a civilian status. But, I chose not to, so that I could keep him. That's what records show. From that point on it was wiped out. After that, according to records, I failed. Then, I failed again. Neither survived, and I have not failed since." Was that enough? No, he still knew she had more. "I don't remember the process, but I know what it is. It's the reason . . ." She looked up a second. "Friskay, my KINDNESS Frisk, is the way she is and why she remembers." Was that good? No. Damn, come on. "You will have to give me some kind of indicator as to what you want me to say?" 

"Stop with the soldier thing," he finally spoke. "You always do that when you get uncomfortable." 

"Justifiably." Hmph. "What? I can't explain the whole process, I just know . . . it involves the essences. Injections into the stomach. Apparently, the essences can be so strong that they can affect the mind afterward. So, mindwipe. Unless . . ." The part she did not want him to know. "Unless you really, really . . . make them upset." 

"So Friskay made them upset? What did she do?" 

"She was on a mission in the grassy jungles. No one came for her when her mission was complete. Not her fault. So, she got to know the residents. Got involved. When they found her living among everyone like she actually belonged there, they knew which punishment to use." She sighed. "If Friskay knows you know, she'll try and kill you." 

"Injections to the stomach, with essences themselves?" He closed his eye sockets. "That's not right. That's not souls." 

"It's just simplifying it, I don't know the science. They just push it all in with DNA at the same time. The DNA creates the body and the usual soul is pushed outward for the essences. So, it's not natural. Which is why afterwards there are injections of all kinds of chemicals to try and give it chances to survive." Frisky shook her head. "It's quite horrible. And, if it does find a way to get a dominating essence, then it's offspring is weakened to the chance of being a re-reset or conduit instead." She sighed. "I imagine I would feel something from these words if I remembered." 

"So. If you ever got caught down here?" 

"HONEST. The one singing in the corner. She no longer represents her soul name, she just blurts out whatever she wished. Sometimes, it would get us killed. Sometimes, it was endless screaming. It was what she felt, so she had the official okay to be HONEST. She was picked for the same reasons PERSEVERANCE was. A foul-up, and she only grew worse."  

"So. If you ever got caught down here?" 

 That long schpiel didn't make it any easier, and it was clear he still remembered his question. Her ACT of distraction wouldn't work. "I would either end up singing all day and become HONEST because I can't be mindwiped anymore, or I would be the opposite of what I am. Like Friskay. I would have no more DETERMINATION. I would be . . . cowardice." She took a deep breath. "But, every Frisk faces its fears, and I refused to take Chance away from you." 

Ooh. He didn't know that much. That's what he was fishing for. I knew it. 

"If you get caught, they are going to scramble your head? Irreversibly?"  

"Unless I agree to be subservient to a higher soldier." 

"That guy Conner." 

"Friskarino actually covered him too?" She rolled her eyes. What did he do, bore him with my life story? "Yes. That guy Conner." 

"Huh. So. Insanity, that guy Conner, or pretty much kill yourself?" 

I really hate when he talks this way. "Yes." 

"Oh. So, you are risking hell on your mind for me to stay with Chance? Got it." 

"Every Frisk faces its fears," she repeated again. "I didn't want you to know that though. But, remember, you promised that if I did this willingly you would do your best to not make me feel like a prisoner," she said to him. "There's risk in everything I do, but I'm not playing 'let's stay inside the house forever' anymore then I would play 'let's stay in the ruins forever'." She looked back at him. "Well?" What was that look? 

He wasn't saying anything. 

"Come on," she said firmly. "Okay, you know it. You got your Soul bearing. Don't break your promise." 

He stepped up closer to her. "The annoying human Conner? You had to give up your freedom for him, right?" She heard his slipper tapping on the floor slowly but rhythmically. "Come on. I'm lazy but I'm pretty smart too. Chance not having to be jumped in anymore? You not having to go through any missions? That's pretty good digs to me, even for freedom. Sounds almost as good. How come you wouldn't just pick that?" 

No, no. He was forcing her into territory again she did not want to share. Besides, it was Sans. Why would he even care? Even having to go through these details. She didn't want to. "I . . . I don't want to have the DETERMINATION to be subservient. I would still have kids, but it would be . . . more . . . physical, but I'm married now anyhow, so who cares, it's not an option, are we done with this yet?" She said it in a hurry. She didn't want to talk to Sans about that. 

I mean. That was. What Conner had wanted was physical sex. Outdated approach just for fun. She really didn't want to delve into that topic. Least of all with Sans. 

She watched him jingle his hands in his coat while his slippered foot continued to tap. He had better not be thinking of ways to trap me in this house. Even Toriel learned that humans need some freedom. He continued to tap. What else could he want? Friskarino clearly told him the tragedy of her sister. He knew about the experimentation. He even knew what would happen if she got caught. So, what? 

He stopped tapping his slipper and pulled a bottle of catsup out of his coat and drank it down. After it was gone, he put it back away in his coat. "Do you remember how mad I had to be at Judgment Hall before I fought?" 

Mad? About what? What did I do?!  

"Friskay did. Yeah, I, uh, I didn't put up a fight pretty much ever. Not really unless FRISK got LV 19. Pretty much taking out everything between Judgment Hall and the Ruins," he said. "I . . . I just really don't like to fight." He shrugged. "I really don't. It sucks." 

She almost took a step back when he came forward, but didn't. Whatever problem he had she had to face it straight on. 

She watched his bony hand reach out for hers and say something she wasn't prepared for. 

"No one is going to hurt you or Chance. I consider anyone, anything, and especially 04823 coming after you. LV 19. Even if it's PACIFIST, Faith."

04823. The one who killed her sister. The one who kept wanting to try for a conduit with her amount of DETERMINATION. She didn't even bring him up, but. LV 19. He's . . .

If anyone came after her . . . he was going to fight for her? He even used the loving name? She was so shocked from that reveal that she didn't even know how to handle what came next. He hugged her. "No one fights for me. Others help in battle, but no one fights for me. I am Frisk. I'm Frisk. I'm-" 

"Mine forever now. Like it or not." 

Hmm? Frisky knew from her warm cheeks she was blushing. Then, she felt him actually lift her slightly off the ground. Sans! She felt him put her back down. 

Keeping it together was hard. He wouldn't manifest tears again, he willed everything back really hard. He just kept himself his old loose bones. Even leaving catsup in his pocket. All he knew he could get away with was a hug. 

 The way she said it, it was like . . . he wouldn't even care. Like she was sharing something so private to someone who wouldn't even care about it as much more than a footnote. 'Oh, yeah, I had two unborn kids through experimental manipulation by the same guy that killed my sister but whatever'. That hurt. But, it was true. 

"Hmm. Over LV 14, huh. Well, hmm . . . judgment-wise . . . you're a pretty bad person. You wander around looking for people killing them to take their money. That's just plain messed up. And what's worse, is that as bad as you are . . . you aren't anywhere as bad as you could be. You pretty much suck at being evil. Honestly, it's super embarrassing, but maybe you'd be better . . . at not killing anyone? Crazy idea, huh? Let me know how that one goes." 

If he didn't care about hundreds of Monsters dying. Not until they were completely taken out by FRISK at LV 19. Then, why would she think he cared about what happened to her? Because he wouldn't have. Not before. Nothing really mattered before. Life was pointless. 

But . . . not anymore. In fact, he even felt like it was high time he told her everything too. Even the big truth about them would come out one day. Getting just a couple rounds of magic truth was like drinking a brewski or two. Not much more truth was going to flow that he couldn't control.  

But, he didn't want to hide anything from her. Hiding stuff just wasn't easy. Slowly, over time, he swore to himself he'd tell her everything.  

For now. He moved away from her. "Hey." He closed one of his eye sockets. "Did you ever notice how pretty your eyes were?" Yeah, that was a look of confusion. "Really pretty blue. Almost, this color?" She was a little taken back when his blue magic surrounded him, but only for a few seconds. "Oh, and hey. Chances eyes have that pretty color too. Right?" 

"Um. Yeah." Frisky squinted at him, clearly trying to figure out what he was saying. "What about it?" 

"Connection, Frisky. We're all connected." She still didn't get it. "A long, long, time ago Monsters did actually get with humans. Really, really ancient text. So. Do you know what happened?" Clueless. "Eye color change." 

"Okay? That's great?" 

"Yeah. I felt kinda stupid for not figuring out the Chance thing. Pretty obvious now." 

"Yeah, it's fine." 

"The eye color matched the monster's magic."  

"An interesting fact?" She raised her eyebrow at him. "Are you ready for bed now?" 

"Maybe. We have the rest of our lives." Yeah, over time he'd share everything. There was no rush though. They probably had centuries together. "Do you want to know another cool thing about eyes? They can see possibilities. They can see an endless sea of possibilities." Yeah, she was starting to get annoyed. "Come on, I had some left. What did you expect?" 

"Technically eye overheard you punning Papyrus to death for the dinner pots," she reminded him. 

"What, those count? They weren't to you." He kicked his slipper up with a small shuffle. "Bummer. Welp, okay. Bedtime then." He let her get in first so he could have the side. "Night, Frisky. Oh, wait. You need your pajamas." He got out and went over to the dresser. "It's gonna be negative fifty degrees celsius with heavy winds. Don't want you to die tonight. That would be a bad first day of marriage. Oh, here we go."  

Oh good. Furry blue PJ's, matching top and bottom. Nice. They would help keep her warm. 

"Don't worry either, Chance's little bed is right next to Papyrus. If he gets cold, Papyrus will just warm up the blanket. I showed him how to do that." He handed her pajamas to her. "There you go." 

But he wasn't moving. "You want me to get dressed?" 

"Nice to see you see the obvious." 

Uhh . . . then why wasn't he leaving? It's not like she could go to the bathroom. There was no door to that room except the outside balcony. "Okay." He still wasn't moving. "Could you give me a second?" 

He seemed confused. "What do you mean?" 

He remembered. He must have remembered. When he helped with her back, he gave her a few minutes alone to take her shirt off and cover up. He gave her a little privacy with her son all the time before bed. "If you want me to change then I need some privacy." 

Then, a strange thing happened. He looked . . . offended? "Huh? You're my wife now." 

Uh, no. He expected her to get naked in front of him? After one night? She had less than 24 hours to get used to being a Skeleton's wife, and he expected her to just what? He was just tapping his slipper up and down. That move took a lot of DETERMINATION to pull off, and it wasn't a battle. 

"Oh, caaaaaaaallllliiinng Smiiiiiiiiiley Traaaaaaaashbaaaaaag! Paaaaging the Smiiiiiiiileeeeyyy Iiiiiiddiiiiiiiooooot! 

"Not again," Sans muttered. Frisky watched Sans leave and quickly grabbed the PJ's. Thank you, Flowey! 

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