#perhetale

Please, Callie… You have to wake up...

No… No…! She tried to push a bit farther, but the voice disappeared. She was alone. Again. She screamed in rage. Was that her punishment for being so weak? How could she make amends if she couldn’t even get back to all of her loved ones… She wanted to see the kids again, so, so bad…

You know what she would do if she was awake…?

Mina…? Yes! Yes!! It was Mina’s voice!!

Oh, yeah. She would definitely sing the Moustache song!

Kyo… Callie laughed. She really had destroyed the kids mind with that damn song.

Ye- Wait, no!

Haha, poor Mina…

Oh my god yes, she would totally do that!

And that was Ellyne. Their voices seemed so close now! If only they could keep up a bit longer, maybe she could…

How does it goes again…?

Silly Deca.

Please guys, no.

Just a bit more kids, please…

Je veux ci, je veux ça, y en a jamais assez pour moi

Deca…

C’est comme ci, c’est comme ça

Kyo...

Y a toujours un truc que j’ai pas

Ellyne…

… J’donnerai tous c’que j’ai pour une moustache

Mina…

Even Mina… She could hear them all so clearly now. The void was starting to break around her, and a few tears ran on her face as light suddenly burst everywhere. Her eyes were burning. She was feeling so heavy. Her whole body was painful. But she could see them. Right beside her, they were there, all of them. Her beloved kids… And they were singing the Moustache song altogether. She smirked, restraining herself to laugh. She stretched her arm to grab Mina’s hand, and the girl jumped in surprise. She turned toward her mom, tears at the corner of her eyes.

“S… Smom!!!”

“Moustache been so hard for you to sing that, dear” Callie laughed softly

“Oh my god not already” Mina smiled, still crying

“Smom!” Decaîrell shouted, jumping on the bed.

Callie squealed at the sudden weight on her belly, but she had barely the time to realize what was happening when she was suddenly covered with her kids hugging her. She grabbed them all, hugging them strongly.

“We were so worried!!” Mina said

“I’m sorry kids, I’m so sorry… I should have never doubted you! I have been so blind…”

“I guess we have been a bit unfair to you too…” Mina said “You just wanted what’s best for us”

“”I’m just so scared to see you leaving me… I’m sorry to have pushed you to leave so suddenly without any explanations…”

“Sans explained us what happened. You were just trying to protect us” Ellyne smiled

“Still, I should have told you. I was just so lost…”

“You know, if that can make you feel better, we can still-” Decaîrell started, before being cut by Mina

“We are not gonna kick Sans’ butt so hard he can’t walk for two days Deca, we talked about that”

“Well I still think he kinda deserve it” the monster mumbled

“He saved smom!”

“And he lied to us”

“Come on kiddos, no arguing. I’m okay now.” Callie interrupted, before asking “Talking about Sans… Where is he?”

“He went back to take care of Papyrus” Kyo explained, while Mina chuckled at the sight of Callie’s reddening cheeks

“Yeah, speaking of which, you really have to tell us what happened back then because his face was looking a lot like the one you’re making right now when he got your soul back smom”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about” Callie paused “... Really?

“He was as blue as his hoodie. Did he Sleeping Beauty’d you out of Flowey?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Oh my god he did”

“HOW DARE HE KISS MY MOM” Decaîrell protested “IMMA KICK HIS BUTT”

“Kids, nobody kissed nobody” Callie tried to argue, her face bright red

As Decaîrell continued his protest, the other kids laughed, and despite her embarrassment, Callie couldn’t help but smile. Not only because of the memory of Sans’ kiss, but mostly because of how she loved having her kids here with her, laughing and being happy. She nearly lost that.

Alphys entered the room a few seconds after that, probably attracted by the noise, and Callie realised she was in the lab. While Alphys ran a few tests to check on her health, the kids explained her that she had been sleeping for 3 days, and that they had discovered a lot of stuff in that time. The two main informations being that Sans used to be the assistant of the previous royal scientist, and that he stopped because his mentor died. Alphys even showed them the old lab, where they also discovered that Flowey was the result of one of her experience that went wrong. Flowey was actually the prince Asriel, that Alphys tried to bring back to life after he was killed by humans, but he lost his soul in the process, making him what he now was. Toriel and Asgore were not aware of that though, and that whole story broke Callie’s heart. Mina was the only one to not be touched by that story, as she held a strong grudge against Flowey for what he did. And well, nobody could really blame her…

“Meh, not much… A bit of eggs and bacon, and obviously pastas for Paps because if I don’t make pastas for him he’s going to be mad”

“That sound… Eggselent” she said, chuckling

Sans snorted

“You butter stop with the puns before Paps wake up”

“What, orange you glad you got a pun buddy?” she added, trying to not laugh more

“Maybe the kids shouldn’t lettuce stay in the same room”

Both of them started laughing, not able to hold it anymore. Callie even had to sit down on one of the kitchen’s chair because she couldn’t stay up anymore. Sans finally removed the frying pan from the stove and turned to her, smiling. Callie eyes grew wide and she started laughing even more, as he had big eyebrows and a moustache drawn with marker on his face. He grinned.

“Damn, I had forgotten that”

“Oh my god Sans!!” she said

“You have really mischievous kids” Sans said, laughing

“That is SO Mina’s doing” she snorted

“Indeed. And of course Paps helped.”

“And that’s definitely permanent marker”

“WHAT?”

“Don’t worry. I’m on it” she winked “Wait for my here”

Callie woke up and went to the bathroom and get back with a washcloth and some soap. She sat back on her chair and gave a few pats on the one in front of her to tell Sans to come and sit. He shrugged and obeyed, smiling.

“It’s not the first time I have to deal with a permanent marker incident. I’m kinda used to it now. You should have seen Deca on April Fool three years ago… He was a mess. You’re lucky Mina didn’t go that far this time” she said, smiling

“I didn’t give them the time to do so. I think they got some interesting pictures of that”

The young woman got her phone from her pocket. Knowing Mina, if she had taken picture, obviously there were on snapchat by now. Callie’s phone was indeed showing four notification from the said app. She laughed softly and opened the first picture. It was a picture of herself, sleeping in Sans jacket on the couch, with the words “Oh look what we have here” written on it. Callie blushed and tapped on the screen to make the picture disappear right away. The next picture was Sans on the Sofa, his face covered with the marker, eye glowing.

“That is so going to backfire”

“Like I’d do that” Sans chuckled

The next picture was Mina and Papyrus taking a selfie with their masterpiece, but obviously they had just realized Sans wasn’t sleeping, as they were looking slightly anxious while Sans was smiling behind them. The words “Shit we so dead” were written on the picture.

“Did she just flipping swear?” Callie groaned

“You’re missing the fun there girl”

“Ugh, yeah, right…”

The last picture was quite blurry, they were obviously running away - and yet Mina managed to take a snap while doing so - but Callie could easily make out bones coming out of the floor and a Gaster Blaster behind them. This time, Mina had written “WORTH IT XD” on the picture. The woman chuckled.

“What’s the end of the story?”

“They’re kinda grounded into Paps room”

“We’ll have to go get them to eat the breakfast then. But first… Let me remove that from your face.”

Callie put soap on the washcloth and started to rub it on Sans’ face. She managed to remove the most of it, but had to get closer to focus on the last parts. Sans stayed silent during the whole process, and when she was done, she suddenly noted the light blue covering his cheeks. Blue blush! It was so cute! But he was obviously uneasy. She had been too close. She hadn’t thought about how she was invading his personal space.  She backed up, blushing, and laughed nervously.

“Welp, you’re all good, no more marker, haha!”

“Oh, uh thanks” he said, looking away

“Humm, by the way, I should probably… Give that… Back…” she said, removing Sans hoodie “Thank you, it really kept me warm”

“You’re welcome” he said, putting back the hoodie “Wow, he’s so warm. I’m definitely not used to have it like that”

“You, uh… can feel it? The warm?” she asked

“Well, yeah. Not as much as you though, same for the cold, I mean, just look at how Paps dress up. But yeah we can definitely feel the cold and the warm.”

“Is there, like, anything else you can sense? Well, obviously you can see and hear but… Like, can you feel the things you touch?”

“Of course” he put his hand on her cheeks “If I touch you, I can feel your skin, warm and soft against my hand”

The woman blushed deeply at the feeling of the skeletons hand against her skin, trying to not freak out at how deeply he was watching her, or at how close he was, or even at the sight of that adorable blue blush on Sans’ cheeks.

“I can smell your scent on my hoodie too right now, after you’ve worn it the whole night”

“Sorry for that” she mumbled

“Don’t be. I like it. You smell like… cinnamon. With cocoa and… Crispy rice. It’s really pleasing”

He sniffed the fluff of his hoodie and then stopped, the blue on his cheek intensifying as he suddenly looked embarrassed. They both jumped when Callie phone buzzed on the table, and she took it right away, trying to hide how uneasy she was by staring awkwardly at the screen. She opened a new snapchat picture and nearly died when she saw an upside down picture of her and Sans a few seconds before, Sans’ hand on her cheeks sniffing his hoodie while the both of us were blushing like idiots - which was actually the words used by Mina to describe the picture “Look at those two blushing like idiots”. Callie tapped the screen like she would have done to make the picture disappear, but instead saved it discreetly.

“MINA YOU COME HERE THIS INSTANT”

The girl laugh could be heard from upstair, and soon she was with them in the kitchen, a wide grin on her face.

“Sorry, I hope I didn’t interrupt anything” she said

“Actually, we were just talking about your behavior this morning. I thought I grounded you, what are you doing outside?”

“Foolish skeleton, I am ungroundable”

Callie raised an eyebrow, smiling.

“Oh, is that so?”

Suddenly, in a terrible scream, a black shadow fall on Mina, crushing her on the floor. Seating on Mina’s head, Decaîrell crossed his arm.

“I am the only ungroundable child on this house, silly Mina”

As Mina tried to get back on her feet, any sound she could make muffled by Decaîrell’s body, Callie laughed at the sight of her kid. Beside her, Sans smiled softly. Poor guy, they really were causing a fuss in his house. When Mina finally pushed her adoptive brother away, Callie went between the two of them to avoid any fight to start. Not that they would really fight, but she had bad memories of the day Mina ended up on his back, holding to his horn while Decaîrell tried to make her fall, like some kind of mechanical bull. Two chairs and a coffee table were broken that day.

“Congratulation, you’re both grounded.”

“But I didn’t do anything!!” Decaîrell argued

“Buddy, you could have injured Mina pretty bad there”

“I barely touched her”

“You crushed me!” Mina protested

“I did not. And even if I touched you it wouldn’t be much more than that” he said pushing his finger toward Mina

“Do not touch me”

“I’m not touching you yet”

“Yes you are” Mina pleaded

“I’m not” He assured

“He’s touching me!”

“I’m not touching!”

“Look he’s touching!!”

“Not touching!!!”

“KIDS” Callie grunted

Both kids stopped in a “uh oh” as Callie crossed her arms.

“Both of you, go set the table for everybody’s breakfast. And I don’t want to hear another word from you if it’s not something nice”

The kids went to go get the plates while Sans chuckled.

“They sure are a handful to deal with”

“I’m gonna go wake up the others. Do you want me to get Papyrus too?”

“Yeah. I’m keeping an eyes on these two. And thank you for helping me clean Mina’s masterpiece”

“Oh believe me Sans, compared to what she’s done in the past, you were merely a doodle” Callie winked as she left the kitchen

art by @minakatana

Knock knock.

Callie looked at the door. So, the kids finally decided to come. They sure had taken their time. She got up, sighing, and went to open the door with a forced smile. The kids did not need to see her like that. She was not expecting what was behind the door though. The kids were all there, smiling, holding a box in their hand.

“Surprise Smom!” they said together

“What the… Kids what are you doing?”

“You seemed a bit down lately Smom. Especially today after what Burgerpants said… So we wanted to do something for you so you would feel better.” Mina said

“We had done this a while ago for you, but we were waiting for the right moment to give it to you…” Ellyne said

“Oh, kids…” she got on her knees and hugged them.

She took the box and opened it, revealing what was inside. It was a wonderful sleeveless night blue dress, with a golden collar. There was a black belt with a golden stripe and a light gold cameo on the center, on which was a gold heart.

“You shouldn’t have! This must have cost you so much!” she said, tears rushing to her eyes

“We didn’t buy it! We made it” Ellyne smiled

“But you still had to bought the fabric and the material to do it”

“Well… let’s just say that Temmie really love to buy junk” Kyo said

“Wait for me here” Callie said with a smile.

She took the dress and went to the bathroom. She went out a few minutes later, wearing the dress. She twirled for the kids who gasped. The dress was reaching her knees in the front, while the back was falling to her ankles.

“It’s so beautiful. I love it kids! Too bad I don’t have more decent shoes to wear with it” She laughed

“Well… actually…” Decaîrell removed his hands from his back, holding her a second box

“This is too much kids… You shouldn’t have!” she got on her knees again and grabbed everyone, pressing them against her, tears running on her face “You shouldn’t have…”

“Smom you haven’t even opened the second box yet!” Mina complained

“Yes, yes, you’re right…” Callie laughed and wiped the tears from her face.

She opened the box, discovering a pair of glazing black heels. Oh boy, were the kids trying to kill her? She really wasn’t sure she could walk with that. But those shoes were so pretty! She removed her baskets and put the heels. They were a bit tight but it would get better with time. The size was perfect though. She tried to walk a bit with them and managed to not fall or break one of her ankles, but this would definitely take time to get use to them.

“Soooo… How do I look?” she asked to the kids, smiling awkwardly.

“You’re so beautiful Smom” Ellyne said

“Yeah! Oh I know a skeleton who won’t be able to resist you in that dress!” Mina said, winking

“What?!” Callie blushed “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, nothing…” Mina said with a mischievous smile

The other kids laughed with Mina while Callie blushed. Mina knew her too much. Way too much. She couldn’t even hide the fact that she had a crush on Sans… How could she hide how bad she was feeling lately then? Sooner or later they would discover the truth. They would know… Mina might already knew. And when they would realize how weak she was… No, no. She shouldn’t think about that. The kids were here with her, and they had just offered her the most beautiful gift ever. So for now… She just wanted to enjoy that time with them.

She grabbed the kids and let herself fall on the bed with them, laughing.

“Thank you so much kids. You’re the bests”

They spent the rest of the evening in Callie’s bed, watching TV and talking about random stuff. The family had started to really like Mettaton TV show (despite the fact that he had tried to kill them three time already…) and they loved watching it together. The kids started getting sleepy around 9:30pm (dealing with Mettaton that afternoon had been quite exhausting) and by 10:00, they were all sleeping in there room. Unfortunately, as soon as she was alone again, Callie’s bad mood was back. She sighed, one hand on her forehead, trying keep things together inside her mind. She was feeling better, damn it. The kids had cheering her, why would she start feeling bad again? Maybe… Maybe she would feel better if she could talk to Sans a bit more today? Of course it was not the same as having him near her but she really wouldn’t mind talking to him. He left so quickly after the meal with the kids… She bit her lips. He might be asleep. She really did not want to bother him… Maybe she could send a text instead of calling him?

Callie : Hey. Already asleep lazybone?

She put her phone back on the nightstand and let herself fall back in the bed. That was stupid. He was probably asleep and would not answer… Or she would have woken him up, and then he would be mad at her. She shouldn’t have done that. She really, really shouldn’t have…

*Ding*

Callie jumped in surprise, grabbing her phone right away. She closed her eyes, hoping it was not an angry text from a moody Sans that she had just awoken, and opened the text.

Sans : Nope, still awake!  You wanted something?

Callie : You’re sure, I didn’t wake you up? It’s not important, if you wanna sleep I can leave you alone…

*Ding*

Sans : Ooookay what’s happening?

Busted.

Callie : What? Why do you believe something’s wrong?

*Ding*

Sans : Come on Cal I know you. Did the flower came back?

Callie : No! No it’s not that, I’m just… Feeling a little down. Burgerpants brought back some bad memories today...

*Ding*

Sans : You wanna talk about it?

Callie : IDK… I just didn’t want to stay alone I guess.

*Ding*

Sans : You’ve eaten yet?

Callie looked at the phone, intrigued. Why would he ask that? Was he trying to change the subject so she wouldn’t think about it anymore..?

Callie : Uuh, no?

*Ding*

Sans : Gimme 10 minutes and I’ll be at the MTT Resort, I’m taking you to the restaurant ;)

Callie : What? No, Sans, that’s not what I meant, don’t feel like you have to

Sans : 9 minutes Cal!

What? What?! Callie grabbed the pillow to muffle a little scream. What the hell Sans! What was he doing! And… Holy fuck nine minutes?! She jumped from the bed and rushed to the bathroom. Okay so, at least she was still wearing the kids’ dress so that was good. And… Maybe Mina would be right? Maybe Sans would love the dress! Callie blushed. Now was not the time to think about that kind of stuff. She looked at her in the mirror. Maybe there was something else she could do, beside the dress? She pinched her cheeks gently to make them a bit more red. Okay, okay, not bad, but there had to be something else to do… Ah!! Yes! She untied her hairs, letting them fall loosely on her shoulders. She brushed them quickly so they wouldn’t be too messy. Okay. That should do! She went out of the room and took her phone.

Callie : Okay, just tell me when you’re here.

“Look at her silly face. I tell you, she’s texting Sans” Mina whispered to Ellyne

“Well at least she seemed a bit better than a few minutes ago” Ellyne answered

A few minutes after Callie had left, thinking everybody was sleeping, Ellyne and Mina had sneak out of the room to spy on their mom, wanting to be sure she was okay, since how down she had been that day. They had thought they would have to go back to her room to cheer her but she had started to text Sans and she already seemed to get better. She suddenly screamed into a pillow and Ellyne looked at Mina with a surprised look.

“What the…?”

Seeing Callie rushing to the bathroom, Mina sneaked inside the room and grabbed the phone. She looked quickly and put the phone back on the bed, coming back to Ellyne quickly. She grabbed her and pulled her in their room, without letting her the time to say anything.

“Oh my gooood we got a code pink!” Mina nearly shouted

“What? What??!!! Oh my god!!!”

Mina grabbed her phone and called Papyrus, hoping he wouldn’t sleep.

“HELLO HUMAN? SHOULDN’T YOU BE ASLEEP NOW?”

“Paps! We got a code pink!” Ellyne took the phone from Mina hand before adding “You gotta make Sans wears the tuxedo and the bowtie!”

“THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ON IT”

“Okay Elly, the second she’s out, we gotta sneak out again”

“Uh? Why?”

“We have to film that” Mina said with a mischievous smile

“Ooooh! Yes!”

Sans : 9 minutes Cal!

Sans got out of his room, looking for Papyrus. He couldn’t leave without saying to his bro where he was going! Poor Paps would worry like crazy if Sans just left without telling him in the middle of the night. When he found him, he was in the kitchen, hanging up his phone.

“Sup bro? Who’s calling so late?”

“OH, THE LITTLE HUMANS WANTED TO SAY GOODNIGHT! BUT IT’S GOOD YOU’RE HERE, I NEED YOUR CLOTHES. YOU’VE BEEN WEARING THEM TOO LONG, IT’S UNHYGIENIC. I MUST WASH THEM”

“Could we do that tomorrow? I was kinda leaving…”

“NO NO NO, IT’S BEEN TOO LONG. GIVE ME YOUR CLOTHES AND I’LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING ELSE TO WEAR”

“Fine” Sans sighed “But you only got, like, 5 minutes, because Callie is waiting for me”

“OH, YOU’RE GONNA SEE CALLIE?”

“Yeah” Sans said, climbing back the stairs to go to his room to remove his clothes “She was feeling a bit down tonight”

“I COME TAKE YOUR CLOTHES IN TWO MINUTES. I’LL BRING YOU SOMETHING ELSE TO WEAR IN THE MEANTIME”

“Got it. Don’t be late!”

“THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS NEVER LATE”

Papyrus was knocking on his door a few minutes later. Sans gave him his clothes through the door and took what Papyrus had brought him. … Wait. A… Tuxedo?

“Paps what the flip? I can’t wear that!”

“YOU HAVE NOTHING ELSE.”

“Then give me back my clothes!”

“THEY ARE ALREADY IN THE MACHINE”

“Paaaaps damn it! I can’t go like that!!!”

“IT’S THAT OR NOTHING. IF YOU DON’T SPEED UP NOW YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE SANS”

The skeletons groaned, hand on his face. Damn it, he was going to be ridiculous. He sighed. Well at least maybe it would make Callie laugh and she would feel better… But Papyrus was definitely going to pay for that. He put the tuxedo on quickly and looked at him in a mirror. Would Callie like it…? He was feeling so stupid. She was definitely going to make fun of him. Why wouldn’t she? Damn papyrus…

“CAN I ENTER?” Papyrus said behind the door

“Ugh, go ahead, come enjoy the show” Sans said

Papyrus entered the room and smiled at his brother.

“WOWIE!”

“I should really go now Paps…” Sans mumbled

“WAIT! YOU’RE GONNA NEED THIS!”

Papyrus lend Sans a night blue bow tie. He shrugged and took him.

“Whatever, I’ve gone so far, might as well do that too” he sighed, putting the bow tie around his neck.

Papyrus helped him get the bow tie correctly positioned around his neck and smiled.

“OKAY, TIME TO GO NOW, OR YOU’RE GONNA BE LATE”

“Thanks Paps” Sans said, smiling “See you later”

Blue magic surrounded him and a few seconds later, he was at the MTT Resort. Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he sent a text to Callie.

“Be careful while getting home tonight Callie” she jumped at the sound of the old Stanley voice “Not only I’m worried because of that monster story, but the guys seemed a bit agitated tonight, I’m afraid they might try something before dawn actually. And since they have drink more than necessary, they might do stupid stuff. So really. Be careful okay?”

“Don’t worry Stan. I’ll take care.” she said, forcing a smile

“Really, Callie.” He put his hand on her shoulder “Your dad would come and haunt me for the rest of my life if you were to join them so soon”

“Way to enlighten the mood, Stan…”

“I’d rather have you sad than dead.”

“Yeah, okay, I got it. I will be cautious Stanley.”

“Say hi to the kids for me”

“Of course”

“And, Callie…” Stan stopped her as she was about to leave “ … Tell Deca I’ll miss him”

Callie opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped. Stan didn’t sounded threatening, just genuinely sad. In the old man eyes, a sparkle of knowing was shining, and she nodded silently before leaving the pub.

Once she was far enough, she started running to get home as fast as possible, trying to find a way to protect her family. She couldn’t let them down. She had to put Decaîrell somewhere safe, so nobody can find him and hurt him, and the others would have nothing to fear. But how… She couldn’t leave him alone, that wasn't an option. But if she had to go take care of him everyday, sooner or later someone would notice it. And human were basically everywhere nowadays. The only place that humans were avoiding was the mount Ebott and it was way too dan…

…

Wait. But of course! Mount Ebott!! Maybe she could bring him back there! That was his first home after all! Maybe the others monsters would take care of him! That was perfect! The kids would probably be sad though… but that was better than having Decaîrell killed and the kids put into foster homes…

While she was running toward her home, she passed by the house of one of the customers from tonight. He was in his garden with friends, charging guns and knifes into his truck. She shivered. She knew it of course, but having the confirmation was twisting her stomach. She started running faster, the guys being too busy with their guns to notice her. While running, she grabbed her phone in her pocket and send a text to her kids. She would usually have send it to Mina only but right now she couldn’t risk her to miss the text…

Callie : Emergency code red. Don’t ask

Code red. The code to tell the girls they needed to put Decaîrell on the travel box. Because the little guy was getting too excited when they had to take the car and he would end up destroying the seats if he wasn’t in the box. And that night, they were going to need the car…

When she finally reached the house, the girls were waiting for her in the porch, Decaîrell groaning in the box. Before they could ask anything, Callie grabbed the box and shoved it into the car.

“Hop in the car girls, quick!”

“Smom, what is happening…?” Mina asked with a worried look as she took place in the car

“This stupid town finally woke up. They are after Deca”

“What?!” Kyo gasped

“Seatbelts! Now!”

Callie started the engine the second she heard the last “click” of the safety belts and she left the house as fast as she could. She heard Decaîrell box roll over in the trunk and she bit her lips.

“Sorry buddy! I promise, you’re going to be fine!”

The monster answered with a muffled groan from the trunk, before the box started rolling again as Callie turned to take another street.

“Smom, what the flip!” Ellyne screamed from the back seat.

“Yeah! Come on, what are you even doing?” Mina asked from the seat beside Callie.

“I’m taking him to Mount Ebott”

“What?!” all the kids asked at once

“It’s the only way! Mount Ebott is the only place where Deca will be safe. He’ll be with the other monsters, and nobody will be able to hurt him.”

“But! No!! We can still hide him! We’ll protect him from people who want to take him away!” Kyo said

“No, kids, you don’t understand.” Callie heard Decaîrell’s box rolling again as she turned in another street “Sorryyyy!!!! They don’t want to take him. They have guns, and knifes, and… Kids… They are planning to kill him.”

“But… But…” Kyo whined

“For flip sake can one of you just hold the flipping box!!!” Callie shouted as the box rolled again

Mina pulled on her belt, making is a bit more loose so she could turn to grab the box and prevent in from rolling again.

“Thanks… Listen, I don’t want Deca to go either but… Even for you kids, if they find him… We’re gonna be in trouble. All of us. People would probably start asking questions about us, about all of you, and this could bring back some ugly stuff. You know it. We can’t risk that. Bringing Decaîrell to Mount Ebott is the safest thing to do, for all of us…”

As Callie kept driving, the kids went silent, apparently slowly starting to realize these were the last moments they were spending with their monster buddy. Callie looked in front of her as she finally left the town, the shapes of Mount Ebott appearing in the light of the moon in front of them. She felt her stomach twitching as the realization slowly hit her too. She was about to lose one of her kids tonight.

When she finally reached the end of the road, she stopped the car and the kids got out quickly, opening the trunk and Decaîrell’s box so he could get out. Callie forced herself to get out of the car too. She wasn’t sure about all of this anymore. But there was no other solution. There was no other way… She launched the flashlight of her phone, quickly followed by the kids, and they all started to walk in the forest to find a way to enter in the mountain.

“Soooo… Do you have any idea where we are supposed to go, buddy?” Callie asked after a few minutes

“Uh? Oh, duh, well obviously I know. I used to leave here, you know?” Decaîrell said

“Okay then, lead the way”

“Oh. Oh, yeah, right. This way”

Decaîrell started walking, followed by the rest of his family. Callie started to worry when he took them out of the path, and she finally understood that he had no idea where he was going when he suggested to go backward. She sighed. She was about to lecture him but she fell a water drop on her face. Then another one, and another, and rain started to fall. She grabbed the kids hands, and they started to run toward a cavern that she had seen a few minutes before.

“Don’t you ever do that again” He said, looking at Kyo with a worried face

“That was way more unpleasant for me than it was for you” she mumbled

“What did you do anyway?”

“Well… I tried to save her. Like I did with the timeline? But since Flowey corrupted the timeline we have to, kinda, uncorrupt her..? I don’t know, it’s hard to explain… I just knew I could do it”

Sans sighed. Now, what were they supposed to do? He had no idea. He looked around, trying to figure things out. The place was awfully quiet. The only sound in there was the ones he and the kids were making. Everything around them was blank, and he couldn’t see the end of that place. The only thing in there was a big dome, made of crawling, pulsating vines. They couldn’t see or hear anything that was coming from inside it, but when he looked at the kid, he knew that they were thinking the same as him. Callie was there. And if they wanted to get her back, they would have to get inside that dome.

They all walked toward it carefully, none of them actually knowing what that thing was. Well at least, walking carefully was Sans plan. But of course, Decaîrell had other plans… And so instead of staying with them and think before acting, the horned monster just started running, sword on his hands, ready to cut through the vines. He smacked the sword against the dome, getting immediately thrown back, flying (... well if you could call that flying) a few meter away, crashing miserably headfirst on the floor.

“Damn it kid, are you alright?” Sans asked, rushing to him

“Best plan I ever had, would try again anytime” Decaîrell answered, his face still fusing with the floor, but offering a thumb up to the skeleton

Sans let a small amused sigh and helped the other monster get back on his feet.

“Come on buddy, we have to find something else” He said, looking at the dome.

Spikes had gotten out of the vines, and some of them had started moving around the dome, ready to attack whoever would get too close. Obviously getting into it like that was not an option. Flowey sure had make sure nobody would get close to Callie there. Of course, the flower hadn’t planned that he would be there, and thus could teleport right away inside the dome. The problem was, it was one thing to teleport one person with him, like he did with Callie a while ago, but four? That, he couldn’t do. And he wasn’t really feeling like letting the kids alone there. But in the meantime… He had no idea what was inside that dome. Letting the kids here wasn’t a pleasing idea, but at least if they stayed away from the vines, they should be okay. But inside? Hell, who knew…

He sighed. It’s not like he really had any other choice…

“Come here kids” he said “We can’t go in there like that. Attacking the dome or trying to open it won’t work. And I can’t let you go near that thing, your mom would turn me into doggo snacks if anything happened to you.”

“But… What are we going to do then?” Ellyne asked

“We can’t let Smom here!” Mina added

“I’m going to teleport. Alone” He looked at Mina and cut her before she could complain “I can’t teleport so many people. And inside there? It could be dangerous. You’re safe here. Take care of each others, and I’ll soon be back with Callie, okay?”

“This is such a dumb idea” Mina complained

“Eh. I knew you’d be with me on that, sunshine” Sans shrugged, and Mina frowned

Sans took a few step back to get away from the kids and waved to them before the place disappeared in a blue flash.

He was prepared to find anything in the dome, but hell, he surely hadn’t thought he would end up in a garden. The grass was nicely trimmed, there was a bunch of well maintained flower bed and the whole place was surrounded by a short pretty concrete fence. And there she was. In front of a house, playing with young kids that looked like a younger version of the ones he just left. They were all so small… Mina was still the tallest of course, reaching Callie’s waist, but Decaîrell was barely reaching her knees.... She was laughing with them, beaming like he had never seen her. On the house’s doorway, a woman called everybody for snack, and Callie answered with a “We’re coming, mom”, before the mini-Decaîrell rushed to the woman, asking her “Grandma! Grandma! Did ya made cookiesh? I shmell cookiesh”

Sans stood there, frozen. Holy fuck, getting Callie out of there was going to be way harder than planned… There again, he was ready for anything, but not a perfectly happy Callie reunited with her family…

As the kids ran toward the house, Callie stood there and watched them with a warm smile. She looked so happy that Sans nearly hated himself for breaking that moment, but he had to get her back.

“Callie…?”

The woman tensed when she heard his voice, and she turned to face him with an expression of confusion in her face. She looked at him like if she was a ghost that shouldn’t be there.

“Listen, Cal-”

“No.” She said, starting to shake. “No! You can’t be there. You’re not there. This is just…”

Callie shook her head and turned around, suddenly ignoring Sans, and she started walking toward the house. The skeleton rushed to her, grabbing her arm to prevent her from going any further and forced her to face him. She looked at his hand against her arm in shock, as if she hadn’t been expecting the sudden contact.

“You’re not here! You’re not real!” she said, trying to free herself from his grip.

Sans grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him. She looked so scared, so desperate…  Why, oh why did that damn flower had to take her…

“Callie! Look at me, damn it. I am here!”

“No… You can’t…” she said, trying to look away “Monsters are not real…”

“Oh come on, seriously? Have you looked at Decaîrell lately?”

“Deca… He… He’s just a… very special kid…” she mumbled, avoiding Sans unamused stare

“You can’t possibly hope that I’m gonna swallow that. You can’t possibly believe that”

“Of course I-”

“Calliope!”

The woman froze as Sans pronounced her full name. She looked at him, her stare slowly going from panic to anger.

“And even if you were real… Why should I trust you?”

“I… Wait, what?”

“You’ve been studying us! Since the day we met!”

Sans stood there, in shock, suddenly realizing. She knew. She had discovered that he’d been studying the kids. That he’s been studying her. No wonder why she she left without a word! He was so stunned by that realization that he barely noticed that everything around them was starting to get blurry, colors slowly fading away…

“Yeah. I’ve found your notebook. Writing everything, taking pictures… Even using pictures that we took with you! All of that while pretending to be our friends. You’ve done nothing but play with us!” She looked away, tears starting to run on her face “You’ve done nothing but play… with me…”

“Wait, no! I can explain…”

“Don’t bother. I don’t need your explanations. I don’t need you. I have everything I need… Here…”

Callie’s voice broke as she noticed the state of everything around her. She turned toward the house in terror.

“No… Oh no, no, no!”

She started running, calling for the kids. They were nothing but blurry shapes in the porch now. She tried to take them in her arms, but passed right through them. She looked at them in tears and turned toward Sans who had followed her, grabbing his hoodie angrily.

“What have you done?!”

“Wait, me?! I’ve done nothing, Callie! None of this was real, and you know it…”

“Give them back. Sans! Give me my kids back!!”

“You’re kids are outside, waiting for you to come back.”

“No, they’re not. They hate me… There’s nothing for me out there!” She fell on her knees, crying “You have to give them back… Please… Give me back my family…”

“Callie… Look, I know you don’t want to listen to me but…” Sans sighed “I never wanted to hurt you… I… I did studied you. I admit it. I was scared at first, so scared of you all… But… Can you blame me…? Mina, Elly and Deca, they LV was so high… And… Come on, you knew it, our first meeting wasn’t really the most pleasing thing, but I kinda saw myself in you, taking care of those kids like I was taking care of Paps and, I really wanted to trust you all but… The resets were driving me crazy, and somehow I knew one of you was kinda responsible for it, I had to know, I had to understand, but I never, ever played with you or the kids. I loved all those moments I spent with all of you. And as time passed, I started feeling so bad for taking all those notes and… I stopped Callie. I stopped taking notes and studying you a while ago, because I was feeling so bad about it, and I wanted to truly be the friend you deserve because… I loved those moments we spent together. Every single one of them. I can’t spend a day without talking with you anymore. I start smiling like a stupid dork everytime I hear my phone buzzing because you sent me a text. I love how you drive those poor kids crazy with your jokes and your terrible, terrible songs. I love your smile and the way you laugh. And that night at the MTT Resort, I just… I…”

The skeleton looked away, uneasy. Why was it so difficult… He sighed and leaned toward her. Her face was still wet from her tears, despite the fact that she had stopped crying. Apparently she had been listening to him, good… But there was still one thing he had to tell her. Because he had to tell her. It might be the last chance he had to do it. He grabbed her face softly and dived into her grey eyes, taking a deep breath.

“I love you, Calliope” He said, before kissing her.

He wish that this kiss would have lasted. That she would have kissed him back. But the second he met her lips, she vanished in front of him, and he ended up in front of the barrier again, Callie’s soul sending warm pulse in his hands. The kids were back too, a confused look on their face. In front of him, Callie’s body was lying on the floor. He sighed, both sad and relieved. She was safe. He got her. But she would probably not remember anything that just happened. They were only in her subconscious after all… But the fact that he could get her soul meant that she had accepted to go back. He got back on his feet and smiled to the kids. He went near Callie’s body and put her soul back into her chest. She took a deep breathe as her soul went back to her body, but stayed unconscious. He took her in his arms as the kids came running.

“She’s gonna need to rest for a while…” Sans said

“The souls’ container are back, and Flowey is nowhere to be seen” Kyo said “I think… We loaded, right before all of that happened.”

“You think?” The skeleton asked

“I didn’t do it. I think it’s Flowey’s doing. He probably did it when he felt that he was losing Smom’s soul. But… I have no idea where he went.”

Unable to look at the others anymore, Callie focused her sight on Asgore, and she remembered how nice taking the tea with him had been, and how familiar his house was. It looked so much like Toriel’s house. They said they needed to leave. That they had to go home. And maybe… Maybe the only reason they didn’t left her own house like that, was because they didn’t have anywhere else to go. And so, they stayed. Maybe if she hadn’t sheltered them, they would have stayed with Toriel, because she would have been their convenient choice then. She had been so happy to have somebody with her, so happy to not be alone anymore, that she had never considered that it would even be possible, that they were not staying with her, for her, but for the house. For the convenience of having a roof above their head. For the convenience of having someone to make their laundry and cook for them. She had been so happy… As happy… As… Toriel… She was no different from her. And they had left her, tossed her away like she was nothing.

“But you don’t have to leave. I can help you” Flowey vines were crawling around her, slowly coming for her chest as she was trying not to fell on her knees and start screaming in agony because of the horror that was crossing her mind “Show me that pretty soul of yours. Let me use it. And I swear, nobody will have to leave. Nobody will be able to take you away from Sans”

Callie froze when Flowey mentioned Sans. That’s right. The idea of the monsters being killed by the humans was already hard, but him… Sans… She couldn’t bare the idea of putting him in danger like that. Of risking his life just because the kids wanted to leave. The king had no idea what the outside world what. Nobody knew. She couldn’t let the barrier broke. She couldn’t let them die. She couldn’t lose anyone else. Not again. Not again… Not Sans…

She put her hands on her heart and slowly put her soul out, like she had seen the others do it when they realized they could actually put their soul out at will, and its light orange glow tinted her shirt. She looked at it, tears running on her face. Maybe one day, they would understand…

Mina gasped at the sight of Callie’s soul, and the others joined her when Flowey vines rushed through it and started growing inside it. Mina screamed in terror as Callie’s body was absorbed in vines. The last things Callie heard before she lost consciousness was the sound of broken glasses, and Flowey cackle echoing around her…

Mina’s voice broke into her throat. This wasn’t making any sense. This couldn’t be happening. That thing is front of them was crazy.

After Callie was absorbed into Flowey vines, the flower had started to grow into a huge creature, mix of plant, animal and machines. It was held onto the roof by some pipes – some of them were even organics, seeming to pump god knows why from the creature – and two huge spiked vines covered in eyes who seemed to be continuously growing out of him. He’s head was composed by two sideway jaws, directly linked to a pair of eyes and two big nostrils. Tied to that was a TV screen, which contained what appeared to be Flowey’s face. He was looking at them with his red eyes, smiling. Around his head, six pipes were forming petal-like shape, and two of them were filled with eyes. Beside the TV screen, tangled in the pipes of his back, were six glasses tubes containing six colored soul. And above the TV screen, a last tube was holding what looked like Callie’s body, still tangled in vines.

Flowey cackled, and Mina froze, her whole body covered in goosebumps at that sound. He lifted one of the vines that he used as an arm, and crashed it against a button “Save” that just appeared in front of him. Mina heard Kyo gasped, and despite the fact that she couldn’t see her, she knew by her reaction that the fact that Flowey could save was not good…

“Smom… Please! You have to come back!” Ellyne shouted.

“Yeah!” Mina added “Come on Smom you can do it!”

“What… What are you trying to do?!” Flowey said, annoyed

“We’re gonna get our mom back!” Kyo said

“Yeah! And you can’t do anything against it!” Decaîrell added

“No. You have to stop that! You have to…” Flowey smirked “Oh, who am I kidding? Come on kids, go ahead. Try. Call for help!”

“Smom!!” they shouted together

“But. Nobody. Came.” Flowey said, winking and sticking his tongue out while his face on the screen was his usual flower face again. “Golly! That must be so embarrassing for you kids.”

And then, before she could think about anything, a piercing pain crashed through her body and she was in the void with everybody. Well, everybody… Except Callie.

“Kyo…?” She asked “Oh my god I just died didn’t I? I’m so sorry I didn’t see it coming, I...”

“We died” Kyo said “All of us”

“That was... quick. We didn’t have a single chance to react, or even to dodge…” Ellyne added

“I couldn’t even feel pain!” Decaîrell whined

“We have to go back. We have to get Smom out of that thing” Mina said looking at Kyo

Kyo nodded her head and the buttons “Load” and “Reset” appear in front of her. She lends her hand toward the “Load” button, but stopped. She turned her head toward the others and gave her a worried look.

“How are we going to do that, guys…? How can we save Smom? He literally destroyed us in a snap of fingers, and… And even if we do manage to dodge his attack, how… Can we even hit him without hurting her…? And he can save, my god!”

“We’ll find a way. We must try” Ellyne said

“And we’re going to make him regret touching our Smom” Mina added.

Ellyne put her hand on Kyo’s and smiled. Mina put her hand on Ellyne’s, and finally, Decaîrell put his hand on Ellyne’s. Together, they pressed the load button, and they were back in front of Flowey. Seeing them, he laughed.

“Back so soon?”

Mina shivered. Flowey was there. He was still there! She hoped that there was a chance the loading would have brought them a bit sooner, that maybe… Maybe they would have time to prevent that from happening! But no… No, he was still there. And they were back right where they were when they died.

“Hey! Big dummy flower!” Decaîrell shouted “Who do you think you are, depriving people from their pain?!!”

Flowey’s eyes grew wide and he laughed.

“Pain? Ooooh baby monster, you want pain?! Because I can give you pain!!!”

“Shit, maybe I should have kept my mouth shut…”

Flowey projected a bunch of vines toward Decaîrell, piercing his body one vine at a time, making the monster screaming in agony in front of his family. When the vines got out of his body, he turned into dust in front of the others. Mina closed her eyes, waiting for Kyo to reset… but the reset never came. When Mina opened her eyes again, Kyo was trembling, her first on the “Load” button, but nothing was happening. They were still there! Decaîrell was still dead! How? How could that happened? And why? It had never happened before!

“Kyo?! What is happening? Why don’t you…?”

“I can’t!” She hit the button again, but the reset still didn’t came. She started looking around, trying to find a reason, an idea to solve that. Her eyes grew wide and she turned toward Mina.

“It’s him. Oh my god it’s him!! He’s the one preventing me to load! It has to be him. When he saved, he must have… I don’t know, corrupted the file? I can’t access to it anymore!”

“But… but… How… what are we gonna do… for Decaîrell…?” Mina asked

Kyo bit her lips and looked around her. Obviously she had no idea what to do… They had never thought about that. Losing Kyo’s power over the save… Never had they thought that it could happen…

“Wait, Mina, I think I have an idea” Kyo said after a while

“What is it?”

“I can’t tell. But you won’t like it…”

“Uh? Kyo what are you-”

Kyo started running toward Flowey, arms opens, and jumped on him. The flower laughed when her feets left the floor and a few seconds later, the place was surrounded by light and all the kids were back, including Decaîrell.

“Oh my god did you… Did you just kill yourself?! Are you crazy?! What if you never came back? If that hadn’t worked, how would we…” Ellyne screamed

“We couldn’t just let Deca like that! Beside, I did it, no? So, it’s all good. Let’s not lose time over this!” Kyo said

“You realize that you coming back is exactly what I want kids? The more you come back, the more I can kill you” Flowey said, cackling.

“We have to find an idea...” Ellyne grumbled

It was the first reset since Callie admitted that Kyo was the one causing them. Sans had been looking for her and the kids since he came back from work, and he had suddenly been thrown back a few minutes in time, and he felt the magic rushing through his bones, because he now knew what that meant. One of them died. The problem is, it happened again a few minutes later. And again. And again. And again, and again, and again. It was like the timeline had hiccup. He reached for his phone and tried to call Callie, but he ended up on her voicemail. He felt shivers going through his spine. This was not good. This was not good at all. He tried called Mina, and she answered after a few seconds

“Sans!!”

“Mina what the fuck is happening?!”

“The barrier! Quick!!”

A huge crack was heard on the other side of the phone, and there was another reset, as Sans realised what just happened. He heard Mina die. Without thinking more about it, blue flames wrapped him and he was by the barrier, facing the the most atrocious thing he ever saw in his life. He barely had the time to throw himself at Ellyne to push her out of the way as a vine crashed on the floor where she was a few seconds before.

“Are you okay?!”

“For now” Ellyne said “But he’s not leaving us any rest”

“Well if it isn’t the smiley trashbag! If you came to save the day, it’s a bit too late for that” the thing laughed

“Kids what the fuck is happening? Where’s your mom?”

“Oooh you want to save your precious little Callie? I have bad news for you…”

“It’s Flowey!!!” Mina shouted before pointing at the tube where Callie was trapped” “He have smom!”

Flowey? What, that little shit of a flower? How the fuck did… No, that was not important right now. At the sight of Callie on top of that thing, Sans’ magic started crackling around him as he was filled with anger. How dare this fucker hurt her. How dare he hurt the kid. His Gaster Blaster appeared beside him as he woke up, but Mina stopped him before he could make them fire.

“He tied himself to Smom’s soul! We might hurt her if we attack him!”

Sans’ teeth grinded in frustration. That little shit… Flowey laughed, apparently delighted by the whole situation.

“Not so smiling anymore, are you trashbag?”

Before his eyes, what looked like a huge button with the word “Save” appeared and Flowey crashed one of his vine on it, cackling.

“And don’t even think of leaving. Whatever you try, I’ll bring you right back here. So I can kill you all again! And again! And again!!!”

The skeleton looked at Kyo, who shaked her head. There was nothing she could do about it apparently…

“I can only reset back here, and only if I die. Flowey corrupted the timeline” she said

Before he could say anything else, Ellyne was thrown against a wall with a cracking sound that sent a shiver through his whole body. This was even worst than what he ever could have imagined happening to them. He tried running to her, but Flowey prevented him from doing so by smashing a vine in front of him. Damn it!! Was there really nothing he could do to protect them? Behind him, Mina screamed as Flowey sent a spike through her chest, and Decaîrell was pierced by flying pellets as he tried to attack Flowey with his sword in rage. The skeleton rushed to Kyo, using one of his Gaster Blaster as a shield to protect them both. As the skull of the Blaster cracked, he had to restrain a scream of pain. He panted, forcing himself to keep standing as his whole body was pierced by the pain inflicted by the destruction of the Blaster. He couldn’t let Kyo die. She was the last one standing, he couldn’t let her die too. He had to protect the kid for Callie!

He felt her grabbing his arm, and she looked at him with a desperate face.

“Sans, I know how to save Smom”

“What? How?”

“Just trust me!”

Before he could do anything, she ran away from him, throwing herself at Flowey. Sans could only watch as Flowey’s vine crushed her against the floor.