The barrier was destroyed.

Frisk opened her eyes. She was standing on the edge of a cliff, the sun in her view. She had missed the sun. How long had it been since all this happened? With the time reset, she didn't know. She quickly realized, however, that everyone had gotten their memories back about her. Asriel and Chara had fixed the timeline together and restored everyone's memories of their dear friend, Frisk. Everything ran through her head: Chara, Asriel, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore, Toriel, Papyrus, Sans…

But she didn't see Sans anywhere. Where could he have gone?

The rest of her friends stood atop the cliff, admiring the sun. They had never seen the sun before, she realized. The warmth hit her face and filled her with a nostalgic feeling of love and hope. Papyrus had eagerly gone off to explore the world, with Undyne following closely behind him. Alphys had followed as well, leaving an awkward exchange between Asgore and Toriel. Awkwardly, Asgore ran off as well, leaving Toriel to stand at the cliff for a few moments before she headed off to explore the surface as well. She turned around. There Sans was, watching the sun from afar, by himself, instead of with the rest of the group. She approached him. The rest of the group had gone off to explore the surface, leaving only Frisk and Sans at the top of the cliff.

Sans was afraid to speak with Frisk, as the last time they had seen each other was right after Juniper kissed him and she stormed off, believing that he had cheated on her. How was he supposed to explain to her that he had not been cheating on her? Regardless, Sans was more ashamed at how he had given up seeing her in the alternate timeline and genuinely wished he had never met her to avoid feeling pain.

"It's beautiful, isn't it." Frisk said, taking a seat next to where Sans was standing. "I bet you missed the sun."

"I did." Sans said, taking a seat next to Frisk. They didn't speak for a moment, admiring the warmth and light of the sun that both of them hadn't seen in so long. Frisk inched over to Sans, putting her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead and pulled her into a loving embrace. He was afraid he would never get to hold her again. "Uh… Listen Frisk… About everything…" Frisk cut Sans off by pulling him into a passionate, hungry kiss. It had been so long since they had a moment to breathe together. Sans was still riddled with guilt, but figured if Frisk initiated it, it was okay to continue to kiss her. After a few moments, Frisk pulled away from him.

"I think we have a lot to talk about," Frisk said, lowering her head. "A lot has happened in the past few… well… timelines…"

"I… I have so much I want to say but I don't even know where to begin." Frisk smiled at him. Her smile melted his nonexistent insides. He wanted to grab her and kiss her again, but knew it wasn't the time.

"Then start from the beginning. Tell me what's on your mind."

Sans began to speak about all the emotions he had been holding in. He started from the beginning, like she requested. In the beginning, before he had met her, he was resolved to let the world carry him along and not care about anything he was doing because he felt as though nothing mattered in the end. He was pulling pranks on people, slacking off on all his responsibilities, and even sleeping around with women to pass the time. He had been so depressed over losing his mentor and his failure to even make one stride toward bringing him back that he was all but ready to end everything. Realizing the timeline would reset and he would just come back anyway, he realized even suicide wasn't able to end his suffering. Thus, he resigned himself to be a lazy skeleton who filled up his boring life with fleeting events. The days would pass, and everything would go on the same as usual. He started picking up women in an attempt to feel some sort of satisfaction in life. At first, the meaningless hook ups filled the hole in his soul, but only for a little while. He began using women as a means to entertain himself without thinking about the consequences.

When he met Toriel through the door to the ruins, he felt like he finally had someone he could talk to. For years, he would stand outside the door, sharing puns back and forth with her. He then started talking to her about more things, like Papyrus and how his life was going. After every reset, however, she would forget whatever he had told him. That helped relieve his issues for a while, knowing that whatever he said to Toriel would not be remembered in the next timeline. However, with everything else, it got old quickly.

He then had made that promise to Toriel about protecting the humans that fell into the ruins. It stimulated his interest, having to protect humans, so he accepted Toriel's promise even though he hated promises. One by one, the humans fell down, and he watched them from afar. It was entertaining watching them to see where they had gone, but he then realized how every human had been the same; only looking out for themselves. He got bored with the promise again.

As soon as he had met Frisk, however, there was a feeling inside him that he had never felt before. He had never been in a serious relationship before he met her and thought that he was feeling a passing attraction. For weeks, he tried to get over Frisk as she was going through the Underground but kept seeing her kind soul and friendships resonate throughout the entire Underground. He had been falling in love with her. He thought, however, that she would leave him soon to get back to the surface, but for the first time in his life, everything turned out the way he wanted it to. They had moved in together, started dating, and even were building their lives together. He never wanted it to end.

Pressed with adversity, upon Chara's possession and Juniper's meddling in their relationship, Sans grew ashamed of the way he handled everything. He started to try and control Frisk out of fear of losing her and that caused her to build a prototype without Sans even knowing. He blamed himself for breaking Frisk's trust in him. Even when the timeline reset, he became more depressed than he ever had been before and failed to even try and bring her back when Chara was possessing her.

"I had seen it so many times before Frisk," Sans said, closing his fist and wincing. "The last time I had tried to bring someone back, it was a failure. So, I thought, why should I even try? I'm a failure at trying to bring back everyone I love. I knew you would be disappointed in me for giving up on you. And… I understand if you want… to leave me." The words hurt him even coming out of his mouth. He had accepted it long ago: that Frisk was way too good for him and that she would be happier with someone else. Here he was, letting her go, trusting that she would do what was best for her, regardless of what turned out in the end.

He was ready to say goodbye.

Frisk stayed silent for a few moments, scaring Sans. Was she really considering breaking up with him? He wasn't surprised, as he assumed that she would as soon as the Asriel/Chara event was over, but it still hurt seeing that it might happen at that very moment.

"Ever since I met you, Sans, I've always admired you. Always. You were my favorite monster from the moment I stepped outside the ruins. You're laid-back, intelligent, and don't really care what others think. I always sensed this sadness in you. Like you were trying to mask something really traumatic and heavy in your life by doing all of these things. I really respected you for the way you handle all the pain in your life. And… Of course I noticed the type of girls you had been with before, but I never thought any less of you because of it. I didn't hate you or not want to be with you because you were a womanizer. I mostly thought of myself as the one that was inadequate for you. I'm not hot, I don't have much experience, and I'm certainly not the ditzy type. I started to fall for you, but was always held back by the fact that I was so different from the other girls you had been with that I must have been a mistake. I was always afraid I wasn't going to be enough for you. And then… I saw you with that bird. That bird who had been harassing me at Grillby's for a few weeks. The moment I walked in, I saw her kissing you. My whole world felt like it was turned upside down. I blamed myself so much in that moment. I figured, I had angered you so much that you went back to Grillby's to go find a girl that was more suitable for you. I blamed myself for what I saw that day, and I let Chara take control of me because I didn't care anymore. I was so angry and upset, but mostly at myself. I always knew I wasn't enough for you, and I guess seeing that confirmed it." Frisk was in pain recollecting the story. She didn't blame Sans for what she saw. In her mind, she was also willing to let Sans go to find someone else he would be happier with.

"Will you let me explain myself?" Sans said. "I just… I don't expect you to believe me. But I want you to hear me out anyway." Frisk nodded. She wanted all their feelings out in front of them. Sans took a breath. He explained to Frisk that Juniper had been hanging out at Grillby's the week before everything happened, and that she was being nice to him and keeping him company. He had no idea that she was harassing Frisk nor had any intention of being anything other than friends with her. The day that Sans stormed out of the laboratory, he did so because he was about to lose control of his powers and wanted to protect Alphys and Frisk from himself. He was calming down at Grillby's, thinking of what he was going to say to Frisk when they saw each other again. Of course, that never happened. Juniper had grabbed Sans's face out of nowhere and started kissing him, presumably because she saw Frisk in the doorway and wanted to harass her. It was all beginning to make sense: Juniper wanted to make Frisk's life miserable by getting close to Sans. He felt disgusted that he let her use him to hurt the person he loved the most. "So… That's the true story. I swear. You don't have to believe me but… That's my side." Sans winced. He had a feeling Frisk didn't believe him at all, and that the end of their relationship was coming soon.

"Sans…" Frisk said. "I… I believe you." Sans was shocked. Was she telling the truth? Did she really believe everything he said? "Juniper had been trying to harass me for a few weeks… It makes sense now. The first time I talked to her, she kept telling me about how cute you were and that she wanted me to introduce her to you. I stomped away and told her to go meet you herself. And I guess she did that."

"I'm so relieved. I thought for sure you would think im a dirty, cheating womanizer." There was silence between them again. "Frisk… I'm still not the best match for you. I'm scared to say this and it's going to be painful for me, but… If you want to end it with me…"

"Sans, I… I feel like I'm not the best match for you too… But…" Frisk began to cry. Was this it? Was it a breakup that was about to happen?

"I want this to be… clean if we do end up breaking up… So… I'm gonna count to three… And you say what you want, ok? I'll say what I want too. Whatever happens… We'll talk about it…" Frisk's heart felt like it was about to stop. This was the end for them, she already knew it. "One…"

"Two…"

"Three…"

"I want to stay with you forever." Both of them had said the same exact phrase at the same exact time without prompting. Frisk started laughing through her tears, causing Sans to burst out laughing as well. Tears of joy and happiness fell from both of their faces.

"We're stupid, aren't we?" Frisk said, smiling.

"Yes, we are. Idiot, you know I'm with you specifically because you're not like the other crazy girls I've been with. You mean something to me."

"I'm an idiot? How about you? I've told you multiple times already that I think you're the best possible match I could ever have."

"I'm sorry I doubted our love. It's scary, Frisk, feeling like you're not the one for the person you love."

"I know the feeling, Sans. But we can make it through if we have each other. I know that for a fact."

"Well then," Sans said, pulling Frisk up from the ground. "Now that we have a fresh start, and that we still love each other more than anything, let's go explore the surface. You'll have to show me where you're from."

"And you'll have to show me where you lived on the surface during your time here." Sans kissed Frisk's hand and pulled her toward the sunset. "Sans?"

"Yes, my love?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

The two walked out into the surface, ready to begin their new life together on the surface.

[END].

Hello! I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to read my first completed fanfiction and the longest one I've ever written. I appreciate every single one of you that has favorited, followed, written a review, and read through any part of my fanfic! Although this story has come to a close, more stories are out there, and I will be trying my best to make new stories in other fandoms in the future. For now, thanks again for giving your time on my story and I hope you have a wonderful day :)

-idolR21