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Chapter Text

Home... It was something Sans hadn’t let himself think about for a while.

He gazed up as the Sacred Peaces—one small, glowing orb from the tower and the other two from Karak’s pouch—spun and danced in the air above them as though giddy to be back together again, a faint light shining from each one. For the first time in a long time, Sans allowed himself to dare to hope.

Home... he could go home...

Almost immediately, doubts began to creep in, of course. After all, nothing he’d ever done or ever could do had worked to get him home before. Could this relic really do what he never could? Could it really do the impossible?

“Go on,” Karak urged with an encouraging grin. “Make your wish.”

Sans chuckled. “you sound like you’re eager to have me out of your hair,” he joked. Even as he did so, it hit him that going home meant saying goodbye to his new friend. If this worked, they would probably never see each other again.

Karak seemed to have already realized that, judging by the way unshed tears shone in his eyes despite his smile. “You know, I’m really glad to have met you, Sans. I’ll miss you.”

The skeleton got to his feet, reaching a hand out to Karak, who took it firmly. “i’ll miss you too, kid. good luck with your village and... everything...” he trailed off as another thought occurred to him. “wait. your quest. karak, didn’t you say this thing only gives one wish before breaking up and scattering again?”

Karak looked away, his cheeks slightly red. He tried to pull away from Sans, but the skeleton held him fast. “Yeah,” the boy finally answered. “I know. But you don’t have to worry about me. My wish isn’t important, especially since we defeated the person responsible for attacking my town. I’ve finished my quest.”

Sans shook his head. “that doesn’t mean you don’t still have a wish to protect everyone; don’t deny that. my wish of going home seems trivial compared to that.”

“Don’t give me that,” Karak protested, “I know how much your brother means to you. I saw what you were like when you lost your hope of going home. I can’t let you do that to yourself for my sake.”

“and i can’t let you endanger your whole world for mine,” Sans returned stubbornly.

Karak pulled his hand away from Sans with a small huff of frustration and began pacing the scorched floor. The sun starting to set outside shone through the windows behind him, casting shadows across the whole room. Karak sighed. “I just wish we could both have our wishes.”

A faint giggle chimed through the room, causing them both to look up. A moment later, two beams of light shown down from the gathered relics like spotlights, one on each adventurer.

Sans stared up at it for a moment before chuckling at his friend. “karak, you’re brilliant.”

“I was just...” Karak stammered, a grin spreading across his face. “So we can both wish on it! Sans, this is great!”

“you make your wish first,” Sans suggested. “i want to see what you wish for before i go.”

That dampened Karak’s spirits a little. “Yeah. Just... give me a moment. I’ve been spending all day convincing myself that I was giving my wish to you. I gotta figure out how to word exactly what it is I want.”

Sans nodded. “take your time,” he said gently. It didn’t need to be said that the boy also wanted to put off saying goodbye to his friend for the last time. The two of them sat down on the floor back to back in silence.

Finally, Karak sighed. “Okay. So, I told you already what I’d originally wanted to wish for...”

“stopping monsters from attacking your village,” Sans remembered.

“Right. I thought I could wish for them to go away, or disappear, but I was thinking about it wrong the whole time. They don’t have to disappear to solve the problem.”

Sans smiled, leaning back against Karak. “so that’s it. you’re going to wish that monsters and humans can just get along.”

Karak turned and grinned at the skeleton over his shoulder. “Even better.” He looked up and directed his next words to the ancient relics above their heads. “Sacred Peaces, I’ve decided on my wish! I wish that the monsters in this world... were like Sans and the monsters in his world.”

Sans’s jaw actually dropped open. “what?”

A chiming sound rang through the room and the Sacred Peaces began to twirl around each other again, faster and faster and faster. Between them, a moving picture appeared: monsters of various types wandering the land.

A strange gust of wind swept through and around them, and when it passed, most of the monsters wore clothing. They looked around themselves in awe, as though waking up for the very first time.

From down the stairs, Sans and Karak suddenly heard faint voices. “There’s lava in here! How are we supposed to get out?”

“Oh hush, you. It’s fine, we can just jump over it.”

“But what if there’s lava in the other rooms, too?”

“There isn’t any lava in the other rooms. We’ve been through some of them, remember?”

“Oh yeah... Huh, I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time.”

“Of course you weren’t; we weren’t really thinking about anything until a minute ago.”

“Yeah... Weird, huh?”

The voices grew distant, and Sans got to his feet, turning to stare at Karak. “welp. i do believe you’re responsible for having granted sentience to an entire race of people. congratulations.”

Karak looked pleased with himself, also standing up. “Thanks. I figure, if they’re as easy to get along with as you are, humanity shouldn’t have any problems with them any more. Life will be good here.”

The images faded from the Sacred Peaces, and their twirling slowed to a stop. After a short pause, the second spotlight shone back down on Sans. It was time for his wish, that light seemed to say.

The skeleton shoved his hands in his pockets. “yeah,” he said with a sad smile. “things here will be great. and it sounds like you already have some potential friends to make downstairs. so i guess this is it, then.”

Karak swallowed hard, then unexpectedly pulled Sans into a hug. “I really am going to miss you,” he said emphatically. “I’ll never forget you.”

Sans remained frozen for a moment before relaxing, letting out a short sigh, and returning the hug. “i’ll miss you too, karak. heh, and this will definitely be something i’ll always remember. no matter what.”

The boy squeezed him tightly, then let him go, stepping back and wiping at his face with one sleeve. Then he gave Sans a wide grin, though his eyes were still full of tears. “Go on, then. Don’t keep Papyrus waiting.”

Sans nodded, and looked up towards the Sacred Peaces. Time to see if this actually worked. “i wish...” he hesitated, then started again. “i wish that i could be home with my brother.”

The relics began to spin again, a bright light filling the room. Sans felt something—another gust of wind?—lift him up completely off the floor.

“Goodbye, Sans!” Through the light, he could still make out Karak, waving madly at him.

Sans waved back. “heh. where i’m from, there are no goodbyes. only see-you-laters.”

Karak grinned. “Then, I’ll see you later!”

“good luck, kiddo.”

And then the light completely consumed his vision. Everything was white... then everything went black.

--

Sans’s slippered feet set down slowly on hard ground, but he kept his eyes closed for the moment, almost afraid of what he might find. Had it worked?

He didn’t have to ponder very long. Directly in front of him, Sans suddenly heard a door open. “SANS? THERE YOU ARE! I’VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU! HAVE YOU BEEN NAPPING AT THE FRONT DOOR THIS WHOLE TIME?!”

Sans opened his eyes, a grin spreading across his face at his brother’s voice. Papyrus stood with gloved hands on his hip bones as he stood there in the doorway of their new house on the surface. He wasn’t sure where he’d expected to end up, but this was where his brother was, so it was good enough for him.

“hey, bro.” Sans tried to act casual, but couldn’t help himself. A moment later, he threw his arms around his brother, holding him tight.

Papyrus seemed more confused than anything else, but he returned the hug with his usual vigor. “WHILE I AM MILDLY CONCERNED AT YOUR STRANGE BEHAVIOR, BROTHER, I AM ALWAYS WILLING TO PROVIDE BROTHERLY AFFECTION. NYEHEHEH!”

Sans made himself let go, smiling up at Papyrus. “sorry. i just really needed a bone-a-fide great papyrus hug.”

Papyrus made a choked sound of frustration at the pun. “REALLY, SANS? YOU REALLY KNOW HOW TO RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD SPONTANEOUS HUG! COME ON, GET IN HERE. YOU PROMISED TO HELP MOVE ALL THESE BOXES!”

“i promised no such thing,” Sans claimed with a chuckle, but he stepped inside.

“BUT REALLY, WHERE WERE YOU?” Papyrus asked, pushing him to move faster down the front hallway. “I WAS JUST STARTED TO GET WORRIED ABOUT YOU. YOU REALLY DID FALL ASLEEP SOMEWHERE, DIDN’T YOU?”

Sans shrugged, perfectly happy to let Papyrus guide his footsteps. “you could say that. had a bit of a problem trying to dismantle the machine, but it seems to have worked out alright anyway.”

Papyrus snorted. “WHY WERE YOU EVEN BOTHERING WITH THAT CONTRAPTION IN THE FIRST PLACE? IT WAS JUST FINE WHERE IT WAS.”

“yeah... you’re probably right.” Sans just shrugged again. “i just wanted to make sure we could move forward. y’know, without dwelling on the past anymore.”

That made Papyrus stop, and he leaned down to look Sans in the eye. After a moment, he sighed overdramatically and patted Sans on the head. “WE WERE ALREADY DOING THAT, SILLY. BUT IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER, THEN I’M GLAD YOU DID IT. NOW, THE BEST WAY TO ‘MOVE FORWARD’, IF THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, IS TO HELP ME WITH THESE BOXES!”

Sans nodded happily. “i will. in just a minute. you don’t happen to have any leftover spaghetti, do you?”

“OF COURSE I DO! I’LL GET YOU SOME!” Papyrus looked pleased by the idea of Sans wanting his cooking that badly, and he rushed off towards the kitchen.

Sans watched him go, then sighed to himself with a real smile. “yeah... it’s good to be home.”