Well here we are again, it's always such a pleasure

[sansational]

Sans hadn't been lying when he'd tried to tell people that he didn't know how he'd been changed back, the last time this had happened. Even Gaster hadn't really known what was going on, and so Sans had been kept mostly under sedation while his brother tried to figure it out. All he knew was what the last step had wound up being - an eye for an eye - and that wasn't something easily done twice. 

Sans' memories of the last month or so are still rather hazy, but he remembers more this time. Mostly, he remembers the help, and the various forms it had come in. Healing from Tauriel and S-4, medicine from Watts, guard duty from Ryoji and Sans-Serif, company from Frisk and Grune. He remembers good days where he could just about hold a full conversation. And of course, there were bad days where he couldn't remember ever having been capable of anything of the sort.

But slowly, the good days had become more frequent, and Sans had realized that a difference was being made, slowly but surely. He had felt the hope paying off. Until at last it had been enough to tip the balance, and he'd started to change back.

That had still been a rather agonizing process. Spontaneously losing mass was no more pleasant than spontaneously growing it, after all. But this time, the pain was easier to endure if only from the knowledge of what must happen next. 

So the end result is Sans, collapsed on the ground in the gardens, staring at his own hands as though they're the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. He winds up dissolving into a fit of somewhat hysterical giggling that might involve a bit of relieved sobbing as well, hugging himself tightly.

The end result is a skeleton, ambling through the castle the next morning as though nothing much is wrong and he hasn't just spent the last few weeks prowling around the gardens like an overlarge peacock. He's got people he's going to be keeping an eye out for, and even any newcomers he might have missed out on are going to be getting a wave and a greeting. He's got time to stop and chat. Sans likes meeting new people, and especially likes being capable of it again.

But mostly, Sans wants to gorge himself on candy and possibly never stop. Fortunately, the castle is good at providing. 

Comments

[dustless]

When they spot him down a hallway, Frisk stops dead mid-step.

It's Sans.

But. Is this one theirs, all better, or an actual new one?

[sansational]

It's definitely not easy to tell, on the surface. His coat and slippers had been one of the things to escape being shredded by the transformation, since even Sans doesn't wear them to bed. He looks content, but the number of timelines in existence approaches infinity and so there must theoretically be Sanses who are generally content with life.

Even Sans, once he glances back at the feeling of the familiar soul to see Frisk standing there, can appreciate the potential difficulties here. He grins at them anyway, though, and waves.

"hey, kid. i'm back." He tilts his head thoughtfully. That might not make things any clearer. "or, uh, it's me again? we sorted it out?"

Yeah, it might just be best if subtlety takes a running leap for now. Sans spreads his arms in an expansive shrug. "i'm...not a giant monster in the gardens anymore? ta-da?"

[dustless]

Exactly. They were pretty sure by his second sentence, but cutting to the chase is definitely for the best here.

Frisk bolts down the hallway, green scarf flying out behind them, and clings hard enough to nearly lift him off his feet. They're so happy to see him again they can't actually manage to force out a word.

[sansational]

What a wonderful welcome back. Frisk might even actually briefly manage to lift Sans off his feet - he's heavy for a skeleton, but a skeleton is not that heavy.

Even after bracing himself, Sans still takes a step back under the force of that hug. But he's laughing when he does, and immediately moves to return it. "easy there, kid." He's had enough of broken ribs this month, and their grip is pretty fierce. But he moves to ruffle their hair, adding: "but it's, uh...it's really great to see you again."

Even better to see them without squinting through the fog in his head.

[collectyourfriends]

There is indeed a new face, and it's hanging about the candy room, gorging itself on candy already.

Needles loves candy. All candy. Enough she won't notice him walk in at all.

[sansational]

Sans actually gasps a little at the sight of that face, his eyes glowing a little brighter for a moment. It looks...not quite like a dog. It is unclear if this counts as a dog. But it reminds him of a dog, and that counts for a lot in Sans' book.

"hey, pal!" he calls, stepping into the room along with her. "hope i'm not interrupting anything."

[collectyourfriends]

Her ears shoot up, followed by the rest of her, until she's standing on her hind legs and staring.

Oh! He's familiar. She knows him. Or maybe his species. He's certainly not a human, because he's not her trainer, and she can still understand him fairly well. He must be one of those skeleton things, like the loud one that was with them for a little while.

She drops back down to all fours, jerking her head to finish swallowing something peanut butter, and chatters a cheery negative. Sure, she plans on eating a lot of this room, but even she knows she can't fit all of it into her stomach.

[lightofthestars]

It has become grim duty, bringing food and healing to Sans. She never knows whether he will be able to speak, or even know her when he first sees her. It leads her to dread with guilt her visits, but always she tries to keep this knowledge from him. Already, he has suffered enough.

"Sans," she calls out as she draws near this day. "I am here."

Will he know her this time? She can only pray this will be so.

[sansational]

Even as big as Sans is now, it isn't always easy to see him right away. Skeletons can still fold themselves up quite neatly, even giant, beastly ones. But Tauriel will need to draw closer than usual today. Sans is hidden in the woods, curled up at the base of a tree. Normally, that's a bad sign. Normally, he knows to try and stay near people when he's feeling in control of himself, because staying near people helps him keep control of himself.

He's noticeably, obviously smaller today. He's also curled up in pain, and the sound of bones snapping and warping that might by now be quite familiar to Tauriel surrounds him. Sans is quiet but for a few shuddering gasps, his eyesockets tightly shut. But he opens one at the sound of her approach. His mind feels particularly hazy and feverish again, but Sans manages to force out: "Hi..."

[lightofthestars]

She nearly drops the herbs she carries, but she knows she must keep them fast in her hands. Those horrible sounds have returned, and--there is less of him.

As quickly as she can, she runs to him and drops to her knees at his side. "Sans! When did this start?"

Must he suffer again? What shape will he become now?

[regalduchess]

Duchess, unfortunately, prefers to stay in the loop from a distance and moreso in dangerous situations; but now, things seem to be back to normal, and so she sidles up to Sans as he walks the grounds. The companionship, she thinks, will do him good-- and unless he wants to start a conversation, she'll continue to walk silently alongside him.

[sansational]

In this, Duchess is quite correct. Sans doesn't immediately notice that she's there, at first - cats are quiet, and he has a lot to think about. But eventually, a flick of her tail gets his attention. He looks over, looks down, and then smiles in relief as recognition dawns. Being able to reliably recognize people again is also pretty cool. All these little things he'd forgotten to appreciate before are now bright and clear, at least for now.

He stops, kneels down, and reaches out to scritch the cat carefully on top of her fluffy head.

"hey, duchess. how's life?"

He's glad to see she's okay.

[regalduchess]

Duchess starts up a smooth, rattling purr deep in her chest that Sans will likely be able to hear-- and feel, all they way up his fingers.

"Oh, life has been just wonderful for me. I've been exploring the castle-- did you know there are many children that have arrived here, all without parents?"

Which just means that she'll be mothering them, of course!

"How has 'life' been for you, Sans?"

[dr_awesome]

The end result may be Sans not looking like much is wrong, but when Watts catches sight of him outside his window... well. He looks like he's going to have a fit. A good fit, but a 'why the hell didn't you tell me you were unable to undo my awful mistake' fit.

There's now a very grumpy Watts banging on the window and yelling for Sans to get his lazy bones butt inside, thank you very much!

[sansational]

Sans looks around sharply, tensing for a moment at the sound of that knocking. He feels both better and worse to see that it's just Neil standing there. At least Sans has the decency to look sheepish at that grumpy expression on his friend's face. Yeah, yeah they...kind of have a lot to talk about, don't they? The downside of having a working jaw again.

He changes course sharply, makes a beeline for the window. If Neil will open it up, Sans will simply clamber up and through the window so they can talk.

[dr_awesome]

Tons to talk about, and Neil isn't about to just wave it off this time. They can't keep dancing around these subjects forever. Especially not now. They're both too exhausted for that.

The window is pushed open before Neil stands back, letting Sans slip inside. Without another word, he's giving Sans a half-hug. He's not a touchy-feely guy, but... he missed you, okay?

[systematicsupport]

Almost the instant Sans turns back, S-4 knows. He's in the middle of struggling through another picture book when feelings echo through the castle, make their way to the middle of his soul. Pain, of course, that much is obvious... but a lot of it is actually relief, Relief and reassurance that this is what's right.

It doesn't stop S-4 from rushing to the gardens to find his brother, but at least it reassures him that he'll be safe no matter what.

It takes him some time to track down the skeleton, slumped on the ground as he is, but the laughter catches his attention. Pushing the bushes aside, he finds...

"Sans!"

It's him, he's normal, and he may be crying but that hardly matters when he's safe and sound, and when S-4 realizes that finally, finally, all the work they had done had mattered.

He falls down besides Sans, immediately grabbing him and lifting him up into a tight hug.

[sansational]

Sans feels the other soul approaching, but all he can reall sense in that moment is that it's a familiar presence, a friendly one - and there are plenty of those in his life. When S-4 arrives, Sans barely has time to look up and see his brother standing there before he's pulled into that hug - but that's fine, it's fine. More than fine. Sans immediately moves to return the hug fiercely, more grateful than words can ever express that he can once again. Hands are great. Life is great. This is great.

"hey," he says, grinning hard enough to make his face ache. The tears are warm on his face, but they don't matter. All that matter is: "i missed you." And now he's back, all thanks to all the hard work of S-4 and their friends. He's back and everything's all right.

[systematicsupport]

He's moving, he's speaking, and it's so hard to believe that after so long of Sans being incapable of that. But S-4 is firm in his belief that this is happening no matter how impossible it seems. Miracles happen, and this miracle brought his brother back to him. He won't question it.

"I missed you so much..."

His voice is choked up, but he still laughs afterwards, a relieved laugh followed by a joyful sob.

[notsogrimreaper]

As Sans lazes about in the garden, he may be treated to an interesting sight. As he's looking over his hands, something takes his distraction as an opportunity to flop onto his ribcage.

The little Shadow isn't going to make a sound. Sans is free to continue his giggle fit. This little guy is just a bit curious about another skeleton, especially one that seems to have a lot of negative energy built up.

[sansational]

Well, that's certainly not what he was expecting to feel, in the midst of everything. Sans lets out a startled gasp, flailing a little, before he manages to look up and focus. A slightly tilted Magician's mask looks back at him, perched on top of a puddle of what looks to be ink. It feels...odd, directly on his ribcage, but not necessarily a bad sort of odd. Sort of like a particularly chill snake, or a cold blanket.

And it almost looks a little familiar, too.

"uh..." Sans says, for lack of anything better to say. He finally tries offering the creature a wave. "hi?"

[notsogrimreaper]

The Shadow lifts up a spindly limb and waves it back and forth in response, though the only greeting it can give is a cheerful squeak. It oozes a bit closer, mask tilted this way and that to examine the skeleton below him, only for a voice to cause it to stop and turn away.

"Magic! Hey, come on, leave him alone!"

Ryoji didn't give all his pets the most creative names. The Shadow doesn't seem to mind though, letting out a squeak and slowly slumping off of Sans as his creator approaches and leans down to give Sans a relieved grin.

"See? I knew you would change back."

A few days after the arrival of the New Sans

[demonthatcomes]

Chara has been unaware of what's been happening to Sans, opting to keep their distance from everyone, with Frisk being an occasional exception. Weeks and weeks rolled by and they're still growing accustomed to being in a place where they didn't need to kill. Even having their LV and EXP reset to its original state felt surreal after maxing them out on the previous run. But now that their states have been reset, they lost their apathy in regards to hurting someone.

Chara knows fully well what they've done. They should be facing the consequences. Yet whenever this island seeks to punish them, it's for the wrong reasons. They should be held accountable for actions they did do, not someone else's sins. Even if that "someone else" is another version of them.

Ha ha. Ha ha. Same old, same old.

They chew thoughtfully on a bar of chocolate they snapped off in the Candy Room, wrapping it in edible plastic so it doesn't melt and get their hands sticky. They spot Sans, who appears to be an unusually cheery. They're not sure if they should leave, so they just... stay still. Does he know they're there or not?

[sansational]

If someone had told Sans before he arrived at the castle that he would ever agree with his murderer on anything...

But his thoughts have started to wander in that direction. Due to a couple of factors, really. It started with the arrival of who he can't help but think of as the "new Sans". A Sans who had actually made it to the surface, who if he had ever encountered Chara seemed to have done so enough resets ago for the memories to fade. A Sans who could probably defend himself against Chara if he had to, but didn't deserve to have to just because his counterpart had been picking fights. True, one and a half of those fights had been provoked.

The other...maybe less so. At least within the confines of the castle itself. He could at least admit that at first, in the privacy of his own skull. This little grudge didn't just affect him, anymore. Not that it ever really did.

So he'd gone over past events over and over in his mind, considering and reconsidering, and finally arrived at one course of action that made sense. It would likely be agonizing to go through with, but it made sense and if all went well, the agony would only be to his pride. That took plenty of hits on a daily basis as it was. And Sans had been further surprised to realize that making this decision really had left him feeling a bit more cheered.

When he spots Chara standing there in the hall, Sans doesn't look remotely surprised. He knows they're there. He might even have been following them for a bit, trying to find the best place and time to do this. There might never be one, but hey, you never know. Besides, he knows this soul...though maybe not as well as he initially thought.

So he pulls one hand out of his pocket to offer them a short wave. He doesn't delude himself that having both hands out will set them anymore at ease. "yo. glad i found ya. got a minute?"

[demonthatcomes]

Is this old or new Sans? The latter hadn't known them that long, and the former should be glaring and suspicious of them. Chara holds out their hand with the chocolate bar, not to offer Sans a gift, but so he can get a better look at what they're holding. Just candy, not a weapon. They'd never been able to find their knife since Sans shook it out of them.

"What?" They answer flatly.