Toby Fox presents "Ambrosia!"

[Sans]

The first person Frisk ran into on her way to Sans’ hospital room was the fairy doctor, who was adamant on not letting her into the room, saying it was for “family members only.” It took a bit of convincing and a fair amount of time, but she eventually got her to relent on her strictness and allow Frisk inside his room. She wasn’t totally certain if that really was a hospital regulation, or if Sans had deliberately asked for only a family member to be let into the room. She hoped it was the former; the latter would just add to the numerous questions that were only piling up the more she interacted with the skeleton.

Ever since they had exchanged words over email, and especially ever since they first reunited in person, Sans had been acting odd. She remembered him as the wisecracker, as someone who took nothing seriously, not even his own job of hunting her, despite how clear it was that he could make do on his threat back in MTT Hotel. She could only assume he had his reasons for doing that, but she couldn’t fathom why he would do it again now, after she had saved everyone from the Underground. Then there was what he did to the orc shaman…

She had to get to the bottom of this. She saw the look he had given her back on the dirt path, and she had seen it again when he killed the shaman. The blackened void within his sockets did not portray an air of seriousness unbecoming of a skeletal comedian anymore. If it was anyone else, she could swear it was maniacal, malicious, maybe even insane. The look of a killer, or someone who’s used to killing. Of someone unhinged enough to snap and slaughter everyone around him.

Whatever this was, she had to nip it the bud now.

After what felt like an eternity of walking around and trying to find the right room number, she stumbled onto it out of what could best be described as sheer luck. She didn’t remember it taking THIS long to get to his room. Maybe her sheer shock over what she had seen made her forget all about it. The numbers 101, plated with gold, glinted with a red glare as the light of the candle right next to it reflected off the metallic surface.

It would be very easy to just let him sleep or rest or whatever the heck he did behind closed doors. As weird as he had been acting, the Sans she knew was still her friend, and the last thing she wanted was to hurt him.

Unless she had already done that to him.

Maybe, just maybe, that little, maniacal voice in head that had plagued her all those times, with every reset and SAVE and LOAD, had seeped into her brain and took complete control over her, and this Sans was the unfortunate one that had to experience it.

Her fist froze in midair, dangerously close to rapping on the door. She didn’t want it to be true. There was just no way that that voice could have beaten her like that. She would never do that, would she? Yet it made so much sense…

Shaking, her mind urging her away but her body pushing her forward, she knocked.

She waited. Then, a familiar voice rang out from behind the door.

“come in.”

She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or scared at the fact that he was awake, but it was already too late to change course. Without further hesitation, she pushed the door open.

The room was more or less completely empty with the exception of the cot in the middle of the room and the skeleton that laid in it. He was facing her direction, the side of his head resting against the pillow and the rest of his body covered by white sheets. His smile, once pleasant and comforting, sent cold shivers down her spine as she approached him. It never went away as she grabbed a chair and sat down in front of him.

They were both silent for a few moments before Sans spoke up.

“heya, kid, you get a good sleep last night?”
 
“Not the greatest, to be honest.” She said, trying to shake off the feeling down her spine.
 
“really? what kept ya up?”
 
“Well…” She thought over her words carefully. It’s not everyday you asked about this sort of thing, so it was best to be diplomatic about it. “It’s just the things you said on the phone last night. It had me worried.”

“you mean the ‘kill or be killed’ thing?” he said, glancing up to the ceiling as if he had discovered a very interesting looking fly. “ah, yeah. that part was my bad. i apologize. i was kinda loopy at the time and didn’t exactly have full control of my words, if ya get what i’m saying.”

He winked, staring back at her. “medicine, ya know? craaaaaazy stuff.”
 
Frisk chuckled at his little joke, but it was more of an awkward chuckle. The kind you let off when you crack a bad fart in the room and don't want to let people know it was you.
 
“Yeah, it’s okay. It’s just I used to know someone who’d say that a lot. A talking flower, to be exact.”

“talking… flower…” he said, closing his eyes to contemplate. “ah, yeah, that thing. i know him.”
 
“Kind of figured you did. I mean, you mentioned him when we hung at Grillbys. You were being coy about it, but hey, you tend to know everyone.”

He didn’t respond for a few seconds, as if composing his next sentence in his brain before putting it into words. “heh. i guess I was. but hey, i get some ‘surprises’ every once in a while.”

He glanced back up towards the invisible bug, now very interested in it. “not everyone is as they seem, ya know?”
 
“Heh, yeah...” she said, her mind at a loss as to where to go next.
 
She went silent for a while, just mulling over how to approach the next part. She decided to be direct.
 
“You know, I understand we may have had completely different experiences in the Underground. I’ve picked up on this since we met earlier. You just seem so much colder than how I knew you before the Omniverse.”

His smile didn't falter. He didn’t even seem to react to her statement. Yet, despite his outward stoicism, the gears were very clearly turning in his head, preparing his speech and perfecting the words chosen.

“well, i mean, i’ve lived in snowdin my whole life, so…”
 
“I came from a world where everyone lived, Sans. I came from a world where I refused to lay a finger on a single soul, and even broke the barrier. Before Omni took me, everyone had been living on the surface peacefully for months.” She said, bluntly and forwardly. “I know that’s not the world you came from, Sans.”

He sighed, closing his eyes. “kid, im a scifi nerd as much as the next guy, but even i gotta tell ya that you’re imagining things. we’re kinda, ya know, from the same world, ya know.”
 
“You don’t have to pretend, I must have done something terrible in your world to get you react the way you did at the gate.”

“...you noticed that, huh?” he said, adjusting himself so that he laid his back against the cot. “sorry bout that. i was… on edge, is all. worried about undyne running off, ya know? hehehe…” He chuckled at a joke that only he got the punchline to.
 
Frisk did not laugh.
 
“I remember when I was in the Underground, there was a drive, an urge to go collect gold, execution points, levels of violence. It was a prevalent force in me. In my world, I did fight it off, but what if...”

Her eyes widened in fear.

“Oh god, did the version of myself in your world... hurt Papyrus...?”

Sans did not respond. He just glanced back and forth between Frisk and the ceiling, his smile never wavering for an instant. And then, his eyes seemed to flicker, his bones seemed to shiver, and he closed his eyes. He took a deep, long breath, and exhaled in resignation.

“Yes. You did that, and more.” Gone was the goofy tone of voice befitting a comedian, and in its stead, the colder, disembodied voice came back.
 
Frisk felt the shivers down her spine, but didn’t save the Underground by letting those stop her.
 
“Sans, tell me everything. Say it to my face. I need to know, you need to get it out and in the open. We can’t let this go on like this, so just tell me!” She demanded, dreading what he may say next.

His skeletal face visibly scrunched up. Then, he sat up, turned to face her, and removed the blanket that covered his chest. His torso bare for all to see, the long, diagonal, scar-like chink that ran along his ribcage and up to his collarbone was all too obvious to Frisk. A small line of ketchup dripped down from the chink, with each drop earning a pained grunt from the comedian.
 
She gasped in horror at the clear and obvious wounds on his chest, still bleeding.
 
“I caused that? How did I even have the strength to… oh my god.” She said, her hands over her mouth as she recoiled back.

“i’m sure you know the whole idea of LOVE and XP by now. the whole spiel about how easy it is to hurt and kill others when you hate them enough? He said, placing his hands on his knees as more blood spilled out from his wounds. “well, you must have really hated me… and everyone else, for that matter.”

He chuckled a low, guttural, bitter chuckle. He spoke his words as if he was describing the weather outside. “not a single monster spared… i gotta tell ya, that’s impressive. not even the flower could do that.”
 
She was on her knees at this point, hyperventilating. Everyone, not even one was spared. She killed everyone. Part of her didn’t want to believe it, but part of her couldn’t even deny it.

He opened one eye, his targeting eye, and looked at her. It was impossible to determine how he felt from how dead his eye truly looked.

“ya see, i was kinda fearing i was gonna see ya again.” He turned his head away from the human, no longer able to bear the sight, “I was kinda fearing i was gonna see everyone again, actually. and whaddya know, here we are, ready to play the game again. yay.”
 
She climbed back into her seat next to the bed, her face soaked with tears.
 
“I understand. This is my fault.” She said, her voice pained. “The Omniverse is nothing but greys. I thought that was just the nature of this place, but no. My perfect world where everyone lived... it just created a world where everyone suffered.”
 
She began to sob again, despite every attempt against it.
 
“I just wanted to save everyone. I just didn’t want to hurt anyone. Why is that so much to ask?!”

He opened his eyes, silent. He didn’t know how to feel, or what to say. Eventually, he settled on the obvious.

“ya know, ya could just reset. make the whole world better. try again next time. ya actually HAVE that ability, ya know.” He said, before adding an additional “Lucky you, right?” Done.
 
Frisk slowly stopped her sobbing, a momentary reprieve from her grief, to have a moment of frustration
 
“You honestly still think I have that power? You think a god like Omni would let me have such an ability in his world?” She wiped away some of her tears. “Time travel goes to the most determined. A god is certainly more determined than a child.”

This time, he frowned. “...hold on, but you ARE a god, essentially. you’re telling me… you aren’t?”
 
“I never was, Sans. That power was never mine to keep.”

He just stared, his smile plastered to his unnervingly happy face. It wasn’t even like he was staring at anything. He was somehow staring at everything and nothing at the same time, his eyes glazed, tired, defeated. A soldier coming back from a war.

Then, he snorted, teeth clenched to mask the sound. Then he chuckled. Then he laughed a good, hearty laugh that came right from the belly. Eventually, he was sprawled on the bed, laughing harder than anyone had ever laughed in their lives, his laughter mixed with choked gasps for breath as he tried to contain the tears welling up in his eyes.
 
Frisk, her cheeks still drying from the tears, simply stared at him, baffled at his sudden elation.
 
“Sans?” She asked, nervously.

“K-kid…” he said after a minute or so of recovering, “either i need to start taking notes on comedy from you, or you ain’t pulling my leg here. you’re… you’re actually telling the truth…”
 
“Yes, I am.” She said, sort of relieved that he’s finally understanding though kind of afraid her friend may have gone fucking insane from the revelation.

It took all of his willpower to stop him from flying into hysterical laughter again. Instead, he settled for a long string of giggles. His smiled widened, filled with an energy he never had before.

“H-human… f-frisk… you… you REALLY don’t know what that means to me… not one bit…”  
 
She really didn’t, but she didn’t dare say that out loud. Instead, she just smiled and listened.

“I m-mean… i just assumed that, ya know… i went from one timeline to another, ya follow me?” He winced in pain for a brief second as his wounds bled once more. “When you killed me, I thought the world was over. All the data pointed to one thing: destruction of the entire world as soon as you entered the throne room. And I was more than certain that you were gonna do it again here. That’s why I almost attacked you at the gate. When I saw you, I… lept for the chance…”
 
Frisk reached for Sans’ hand. Her arm wasn’t long enough to reach, but she hoped it came off as comforting nonetheless.
 
“Considering what you’ve been through, I don’t blame you.” She chuckled awkwardly.

He laughed alongside her, and then stopped. “Can… can i be sure? That you won’t, ya know…” He winked. “Give me another one of these?”
 
Frisk laughed. It was kind of twisted to laugh at this, but what wasn't twisted anymore?
 
“Considering I have a hard time lifting a newspaper at 0 LoVE, you wouldn’t have to worry about that.” She said, chuckling.

His eyes seemed to glow the extra bit wider, bringing forth an extra bit of life to him. “Well… that’s that, then…”

He sighed, glancing to the door. “Now all we need to do is, well… find the others…”
 
“Yeah, they seem to find their way to the Omniverse somehow.” She said, still chuckling. “Gotta stick together, ya know?”

“what pals are for, yeah…” he said before closing his eyes, going completely silent.

“frisk… i’m trusting ya here, but if you’re lying to me…”

They then reopened, the black void in his eyeholes replacing the glowing dots that were once inside them. His smile turned unhinged.

“Well… I won’t grace it with a description.”