Who Says You're the One in Control?

Who the Heck is Quack??

Papyrus was going to flip out. Sans watched as the small human shoved their head in a bush. They looked confused by the camera, but left it alone and moved on.

Sans was wary of it. He hated new things. The only reason he was still hidden and hadn't gone to warn Papyrus was the promise he had made. He stayed hidden. Using his magic, he read their code.

Name: Quack
Weapon: Toy Knife
Armor: Ribbon
LV: 1
Kills: 0

Sans relaxed a little. They were peaceful. He followed silently. Quack looked scared, so being the nicest monster in the Underground, Sans decided to prank them.

The child climbed over a stick in the path. Sans sent a small attack to break it in half. The kid tensed, but walked on. Sans sneaked into the shadows of two trees and made the snow crunch before hiding again. The kid was Determined to continue.

Finally, they got to Papyrus's gate. Sans saw them pause. He wasn't sure if it was the size of the bars, or the four hundred foot drop that made them pause. Either way, he stepped out of his hiding place, and made as much noise coming towards them as he could. He stuck to the shadows, but they hadn't turned around anyway.

"human." He spoke quietly and slowly. The child was shivering. "don't you know how to greet a new pal? turn around and shake my hand."

The child turned slowly. Sans saw the tears in their eyes and immediately felt bad. His hand was already extended. Looks like he had to go through with it.

The child looked prepared to die as they reached a shaking hand out to shake his. He felt bad, but the look of pure surprise when he squeezed their hand against the whoopie cushion was still slightly enjoyable.

He laughed a little awkwardly. "the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick. it's always funny."

The kid's fear melted away immediately. Replaced by fascination. Sans relaxed more, too. He had never gotten this far before the world skipped back, so maybe he would never have to go back to day one again. The thought made him giggly and light.

Papyrus came to yell at him for not doing his job, but he took it all in stride, countering with jokes to entertain himself and the human who was hiding behind a lamp. Finally, Papyrus left in frustration.

The human wandered around the room in no real hurry. They made a funny face at the condiments in his station, then headed to the next room. Sans asked them for a favor first, then headed off. Papyrus was gonna have a hayday.

He stopped his brother a few rooms down, and held a conversation so Papyrus and Quack could meet. To most standards, the meeting was rediculous. To Papyrus's standards, it was pretty good. Sans hadn't felt this excited in a long time.

Papyrus had some cool puzzles, but his own error of judgment made it easy for the human to figure them out.

The child never went very fast. They looked at everything with interest. Rereading signs, poking their head through the branches of trees to find more cameras, exploring every path, and turning back if they accidentally went the correct way without looking down a separate path. They talked to every monster, in every room. They were attacked, but always spared.

Sans found himself watching them more and more. He wanted to spend time with them. The innocent curiosity pushed him to invite them to spend break with him not once, but twice.

He waited for them in the last corridor. As they walked to meet him, he used his magic to reread their stats.

Name: Quack
Weapon: Real Knife
Armor: Heart Locket
LV: 1
Kills: 0

He smiled wider. The kid had done it. They had survived the world without killing anyone. They were friends with Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus, discovered the True Lab, had managed to scrounge enough money together to send Temmie to college, and had performed beautifully on tv with Mettaton.

Quack had passed perfectly. Sans knew they had a hard choice ahead, but for once, he had hope. He watched them head to the throne room and waited for them to make their decision.

Sans stared at the setting sun beside his brother. His hope had been fulfilled. He had made it past the timelines and was finally on the surface. He listened as the others around him made plans for the future. The future. One he could finally believe in!

Sans had forgotten what happiness felt like, but here and now, he felt the purest form of it. Standing next to his brother, planning a future of peace with the humans, knowing the timeskips were gone. He let tears of joy fall openly from his face. He was free to live again.

~

Sans' heart dropped when he watched the child walk right past the bush with the camera in it. He had been wrong. He wasn't free from the curse, he just had a new day one.

His hope shattered. He had seen everything he wanted come true, just to be thrown back into this hell. Nothing was going to ever get better. He would be doomed to watch this human give him freedom over and over, just for them to snatch it away.

What had he done to deserve this? Why was he the only one who knew of this? He wanted to die. That was all he wanted. If he died, he would be free for a while, until the human turned back time.

Papyrus would be sad, though. Sans immediately pushed the thought out of his head. He would never hurt Papyrus. Even if it was something his brother wouldn't remember, Sans refused to allow it.

He used his magic. All the stats were the same as last time, at least. He sighed. As was habit, he set about doing the same exact thing he had done last time. Soon it would be routine, and he wouldn't even need to think about it after that.

~

Sans felt chills down his spine. This child wasn't the same one. Looking at them through the code, he noticed several things.

No matter how many runs they had made, Sans had never seen red in any code. The red he saw in theirs made his soul quiver. The code never lied, and this was something new and terrifying.

Their LV was remarkably high. There was no way they would just happen to find that many monsters on one pass unless they were looking for them.

And the name. Chara. Sans knew Chara had been the king's adopted human child. Sans knew Frisk looked just like Chara. Frisk knew all this, too. Why would she choose to call herself by that name? And why was that name one of the things written in red only in this timeline?

Sans knew what Frisk had been doing the last few timelines. They had killed a lot of people. Sans had a horrible feeling this time. Hopefully, the kid wouldn't make him break his promise.