Story: Hope of Morning

Summary: Undyne runs into Sans, who is staring out into the abyss. And while at Grillby's she discovers one of his dark secrets. For the most part, Sans doesn't seem care much at all either way and that's the problem. Papyrus and others get involved too. Self-harm, suicidal thoughts. Possible light SansxUndyne(depends on reviews).

Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale

THIS IS MY FIRST UNDERTALE FANFIC, SO PLEASE BE NICE AND PATIENT! T-T (I know this probably sucks bad).

...

Undyne was in Waterfall going through her normal routine of scanning through the trash for spears, and possibly anything else useful, when she noticed a small figure looming out on the waterfall staring out into the abyss. It didn't even take a minute to recognize it as Sans.

Why was he just sitting there? Thanks to Alphys, she knew the dangers of being around there and not being careful. And he seemed to be sitting dangerously close to the edge.

Somewhat hiding her concerns, she approached him. "Hey, punk, what are you doing out here?"

He didn't turn around, but instead continued to stare out into the pure darkness.

"Oh, hey, Undyne." The skeleton replied. His voice was low as if he was forcing himself to speak.

"Hey, I asked what you're doing out here." Undyne repeated when he didn't say anything further. She didn't even bother mentioning his absence regarding his sentry duty.

"Well, I guess you say I've been feeling a little... down in the dumps is all. Heh." Sans attempted to laugh at his joke, but it came out forced and broken. 'Little' was obviously an understatement.

Undyne simply sighed. She never had hated Sans' puns quite as much as Papyrus did, but at points she found them insufferable simply because she hated how he used them at points just to deal with things, instead of actually talking. He would always put others through a repetitive cycle of puns resulting in irritating them and pushing them away, as a result of not wanting actually to discuss his feelings. And when Sans was determined to keep something from you, it was next to impossible to pry it from him, simply because he couldn't care less to talk about it.

"Isn't it kind of dangerous to sit here?" She more stated than asked.

"Yeah, probably." Sans' carefree responce came moments later, as if he already knew but just didn't care to elaborate.

Undyne began to get a queasy feeling in her stomach, as she stared at him, anxiety rising. "You should move back some before you fall or something shouldn't you?"

"Nah, don' feel like it."

Undyne's soul wavered with an uncomfortable feeling as she tried to swallow a lump that she didn't know had formed in her throat. Yet she didn't even know why she was getting all worked up. This was Sans. He wouldn't go and do something stupid, would he? There's no way he would do that to Papyrus and inevitably her, right?

Even so, she couldn't leave him here by himself if there was if there was even the slightest chance he was suicidal.

"Is that what you...want?" She forced herself to ask.

Sans didn't answer.

Undyne gave a sad laugh. "You are contemplating something stupid, after all, aren't you...? Well, you won't be doing anything on my watch! Besides, Papyrus would be hurt, Sans. You know that, right?"

"I know." Sans said listlessly, neither confirming or denying that he had planned to go through with throwing himself off of the waterfall.

"I refuse to let that happen." Undyne continued. "He's so happy, and I can't allow you to take that away from him, so in the mean time, we'll figure this out together. Look at me and let me finish."

Sans looked up at her then. She knew right away that he couldn't refuse because he didn't want to hurt Papyrus either.

"You don't have to answer right now nor talk about it if you don't want to", she said as she kneeled down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Undyne gave one of her rare soft smiles. "But I'll be here for you all the way, and Papryus too, along with everybody else, so let's go to Grillby's or something for now to get away from here, yeah? I've been craving some of those greasy-as-hell cheese fries for a while now anyway."

Sans looked up at her as if debating whether or not to go, before his trademark smile, which had been for the most part absent until now seemed to return a bit. He looked down one last time, before moving back to get up.

"Welp, you had already got to me on the mention of Papyrus. Just don't tell him about this and I'll be fine. Heh, I do know it's not like I had a choice in the matter anyway though. If I didn't obey you'd probably just use your rights as the leader of the royal guards to force me to instead, am I right?" Sans held his hands up in a carefree but defeated manner. When she opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off looking away. "No need to deny it. Don't worry. I won't judge you or hate you. I wouldn't have enough energy for that if I tried to anyway. Well, I know a shortcut to Grillby's if you're interested."

It was obvious, Sans didn't want to walk longer than he had to with her.

Sans's voice sounded so... emotionless. He hadn't really even bothered to make any puns except for the first one when she came across him back at the waterfall. In all honesty, Undyne didn't know how to deal with this Sans, and the anxiety was eating her up. She would only observe him for right now, though she would probably talk to Alphys, who seemed to have quite the knowledge in the psychological department, about it later.

With that thought in mind, the Fish woman couldn't help but wonder what else, besides (obviously) his life Sans had given up on. When was the last time he was truly happy? Ever since she had met him through Papyrus, he had always seemed like he was detached and was possibly even afraid to care about something. Papyrus seemed to be one of the only people that brought him some happiness. Exactly... how close were they?

Right then, she realized that there was a lot that she didn't know about Sans. When she was around him, there was always an... aura of guilt that he always seemed to emitt. So the question was... was there something that had caused him to give up hope and withdrawl himself so much? Why did he seem afraid to let others in? Why did he never talk about himself much?

Knowing him, he probably felt it was simply too much trouble to let others in or even try becuase, for whatever reason he felt it was pointless and that his problems were pointless. Could Sans... have been depressed all this time?

She may have seemed scary, hot-headed, stubborn and some other things, but if there was one thing she was good at, it was reading into certain things and recognizing when something didn't seem right.

Sure, sometimes, she didn't really respond in the correct way to things, but she could still feel when somebody else was in pain, almost to a fault. Yet, she was stubborn she had to admit, (((I bet Alphys has at least once said she is 'Tsundere' lololol))) and because of that, when she had a specific goal in her mind, it could sometimes be very hard to convince her to back down less she kill herself due to her determination level.

However, deep down unknown to many, Undyne had a soft side to her, even though she often had a hard time showing it. And yet, being that way with Sans had somehow came... natural. It was like she felt she could just be herself around him. Sans was the most laid back person in the entire underground, so she had no reason to care about keeping up appearances around him, because she knew he couldn't care about such trivial things.

Also, Sans was Papyrus's brother, so she couldn't help but feel some fondness towards him to begin with. She had to admit that his puns and easy going ways honestly did help light up the mood sometimes even though they could be annoying sometimes. Without Sans making jokes, it just seemed... too quiet. Sans's existance helped the monsters around him feel some sense of regulation, and Undyne honestly was no exception to that. So she wanted to get the normal Sans back no matter what it took.

However, it wasn't until they got to Grillby's that she would realize how bad things really were.

Sans had gotten an order of Fries and Undyne had ordered two orders of Cheesy Fries.

Sans wasn't even really eating his, despite the ketchup all over his plate.

"I've said it before, but your cheesy fries are the best, man!" Undyne complimented Grillby.

"Thanks..."

Grillby then looked towards Sans who kept using a fry to play around with his ketchup.

"Is something the matter, Sans? You've not eaten much." Grillby quietly asked Sans.

"'s nothing, Grillbz. Don't worry about it. I'm just not all that hungry is all." Sans waved his hand dismissively, catching the eye of Undyne, though she didn't say anything.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. 'snow problem." Whether he was just slurring or making completely off base pun - though they were in Snowdin and they were talking to somebody made of fire - she didn't know. That's when she noticed something.

"Sans, what are those?" She asked, gesturing to his arm.

"What are wha-?" Sans immediately cut himself off when he saw both Grillby and her trying to get a good look at his arm. He pulled down his sleeve immediately bringing it to his lap. "It's nothing tibia worried about, guys, really, so just leave it abone already. I'm fine, alright?"

"If that's so, why are you getting defensive, huh, nerd?" Undyne moved closer, trying to stay quieter in an attempt keep others from noticing.

"Sans..., have you relapsed?" Grillby asked straightfowardly, but in a soft and patient manner.

Sans looked away, not saying anything.

"Relapsed on what?" Undyne asked, not knowing what they were talking about, but gave up when neither seemed to speak up. "Sans, let me see your arm."

Sans, obviously having no care to put up at fight in the end, let her take his arm do what she wanted. When she rolled up his sleeve discomfort appeared in her features and continued holding his. His Ulna was littered with charred bone, scratches, and mix of blood and dust.

He probably expected her to be disgusted by showing such a weakness of hurting himself, but the most she appeared to being showing was shock.

"Punk, so this is what you've up to? Battling against yourself alone, huh?... That must have been pretty lonely."

When Sans didn't answer, she smiled a bit and pulled him into an embrace from the side. "Well, From now on, you've got me, Sans. We'll find a way to get through this shitty patch together, okay?"

"I'm here too." Said Grillby, nodding. "Take care of yourself, Sans, if not for you then for us. You only have HP, remember?..."

One HP? That caught Undyne's attention immediately, but she would question it later.

"Yeah, I know... Heh. Aren't you going to going to hate me for being weak? How dissapointing."

Though the last part was said with sarcasm, it was obvious there was some feeling behind it.

"You think you're weak...?! Hahah! Actually this proves the opposite. This shows just how strong you are, Sans...!" Sans threw his hoody over his head when he felt a few people's gazes on him. However, thankfully, Undyne lowered her voice then. "I know you well enough to say this. Despite how much you may have wanted to die, no matter how many times you went to stare out at that abyss where I found you earlier, you held out for this long because you didn't want to hurt Papyrus or anybody else that cared... I think that makes you incredibly brave, Sans, because you found a way to hang on. But now, you can rely on us you know? You don't have to tear your bones to pieces anymore. Listen, if you ever feel like hurting yourself, call me or somebody immediately, alright? I don't even care if it's three in the damn morning, got it, punk...?!"

Just tell...

Easier said than done. He did feel some warmth at their words and encouragement, but he knew that in the end it doesn't matter, that nothing matters because it was just going to be reset again.

He gave a small and oh so forced smile. "Yeah, thanks."

It's not just the resets that had caused his depression, but that manwasnot somebody that Sans needed to still think about at the moment, because it was pointless.

"If I start feeling the blues to that degree again, I'll throw you a bone, kay?"

It was a lie, of course.

- End of Chapter

A/N: I hope this isn't horrible so far. This is my first Undertale fiction, as said before, so I'm quite nervous about posting this(like serious nervous), but I wanted some development between Undyne and Sans.