Chapter Text
Snow crunched under the feet of a small child.
They’d stumbled through the puzzles, waited a half hour for Toriel, certainly hadn’t gotten something from the spider bake sale-
And died to Toriel a single time.
It had hurt.
It was dark and quiet.
The branch from earlier cracked behind them, and they whirled around.
It was broken.
Uh oh.
They picked up the pace.
They reached some kind of gate.
And then they froze in fear.
Footsteps.
“H u m a n.”
They let out a tiny yelp. Their tan little face went pale.
“D o n‘ t y o u k n o w h o w t o g r e e t a n e w p a l?”
Their heartbeat was too fast to sense.
“T u r n a r o u n d a n d s h a k e m y h a n d.”
They never thought it was possible to panic while shaking someone’s hand, but that definitely happened. They didn’t even get a good look at the stranger.
The first thing they thought was that this person’s skin was weirdly, impossibly smooth.
And then-
A farting sound. They blinked.
“heheh… the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it’s ALWAYS funny.”
A skeleton who was currently laughing at their speechless expression.
“anyways, you’re a human, right?”
A tiny nod.
“that’s hilarious.”
His grin somehow got bigger.
“i’m sans. sans the skeleton.”
For some unexplainable reason, Frisk felt immediately at home.
Something was up with the kid.
Sans knew the second they left the Ruins.
It was dark and quiet. The kid was walking straight ahead, not glancing once at anything around them.
The branch from earlier cracked behind them, and the kid whirled around.
They reached the gate.
“H u m a n.”
They turned around, holding out their hand.
Sans almost gasped.
They shook hands.
Their skin felt powdery.
“heh, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick…”
They stared at him with red eyes.
His nerves were shot.
Cover, quick-
“wait a sec… have you heard it before or something? you turned around before i said to…”
“... weird.”
If he wasn’t the Judge, he probably wouldn’t have been able to notice them tense.
“... whatever. you're a human, right?”
He should have killed them right then.
Snow crunched under the feet of the small child.
They’d expertly gone through each puzzle, stayed just to hear Toriel’s voice, and made sure to buy something from the spider bake sale. (Never mind the repressed memory of having piles of dusty gold)
Neither them nor Toriel had died.
No one had died.
They were still picking themselves out of the ashes of the last timeline-
The branch cracked.
When they froze in fear, it was for a completely different reason than two timelines ago.
Sans was behind them now.
“H u m a n.”
Their tan little face went pale.
“D o n‘ t y o u k n o w h o w t o g r e e t a n e w p a l?”
They were going to die.
“T u r n a r o u n d a n d s h a k e m y h a n d.”
They did.
A fart noise.
Startled tears sprang up.
Sans gave his speech, completely thrown.
The kid was LV 1, with yellow eyes.
Crying.
Acting scared of him.
The last thing he wanted or expected was the tiny spark of empathy he felt.
Enough empathy that he let the kid go.
Mettaton was going to surprise Frisk with her favorite cupcakes, and no one could stop him-
…until he thought he heard a familiar laugh about a block from the Embassy.
Oh?
There she was! His favorite human!
She was grinning and walking with Sans.
He couldn’t possibly interrupt! She’d had a crush on the skeleton for over a year now.
Perhaps all his effort (he would neither confirm nor deny signing on Sans’ comedy act in order to cause the two to meet up more often) would be worth it now.
He watched them, noticing how absolutely comfortable they seemed with each other.
And then it happened.
Frisk threaded her small tan fingers into Sans’ pale phalanges.
That was new.
Blue painted itself onto Sans’ cheeks.
The robot decided to wait for Frisk at her office.
After all, he wouldn’t interrupt her date for the world.
Napstablook put on a slow dance.
He gently took her by the hand, leading her onto the dance floor. Her white dress glittered.
“you know, your dress reminds me of snow.”
She grinned. “Seems appropriate for where we met.”
Their souls were gently pulsing in sync.
We’ve come a long way since those times in the forest haven’t we?
He nodded.
His hand wasn’t warm physically, but it was warm emotionally.
I had a ton of things I wanted to put in my vows, Frisk. You really are my reason for living.
She smiled softly. You saved me from myself.
She continued. I think the universe sent us the exact right person.
I know you’re literally reading my mind, but you keep thinking what I’m thinking!
Something she’d never thought she’d experience in her entire life: Sans pulling her by the hand someplace.
“i heard the spot on the beach is amazing- and there’s a whole cluster of palm trees and a little cove-“
She smiled.
They sat on the rocks, their toes dipping into the water. Frisk noticed a small sparkling stone next to her.
She picked it up, gesturing to Sans.
“I think I found my pet rock!”
He laughed. “are you sure you can handle the responsibility?”
She smirked. “It’s not a quiche, I think I’ll be fine.”
He thought for a moment.
“if our rocks had kids, what would they call them?”
“I don’t know.”
“babystones.”
She snorted.
There was one thing three year old Cambria loved more than anything in the world.
Walks.
And more specifically, holding hands.
She was happiest when her mommy and daddy had her close as her small blue eyes took in the world. (She loved to make Frisk and Sans “match hands,” which meant Frisk taking her daughter’s human hand and Sans’ taking her skeleton one)
Sans loved seeing Frisk fuss over Cambria in the winter, or her baby face tan slightly in the summer light.
His daughter had the entire world open to her.
Who would have thought that a handshake could have changed everything?