Who Says You're the One in Control?

Don't Think This Means Anything

Whenever Sans had passed out, it didn't matter. He woke up sore and tired. He always had to fall asleep in the weirdest places. He missed his bed. As lumpy as it was, it was his. 

Sitting up, he sighed. Chara wasn't talking, thank god. He took the few moments of peace and cherished them. They were interrupted all too soon by an annoying flower popping up.

"So! Joining the Royal Guard, huh?" Looks like the glare Sans was giving him was just not enough of a signal for the weed. "You really have changed in this time of adversary!" 

"Flowey, go jump into the CORE or something, okay?" Sans wasn't being bothered by Chara for the first time in how ever long, and of course Flowey had to show up. Sans stood up. "Anyways, don't fight me this time, I'm not in the mood." He wondered if the plant would obey or not. He figured at this point it didn't matter much, so he just turned his back on the foe and headed for Gerson's shop. Flowey didn't stop him.

Gerson was waiting outside. "Heh! And here I thought you weren't coming!" He looked glad to see Sans. Sans just frowned at the old turtle. "Well, let's get started, the day's wasting away."

Sans didn't move. "Why did you kill me?" He finally asked.

Gerson didn't even flinch. "You think I'm gonna waste my time keeping your one HP in place? You got a nifty power, bein' able to come back after dying. I plan on using it to it's fullest."

Sans couldn't believe what he was hearing. Gerson was going to train him through the time skips. Gerson didn't see them as a curse at all. Sans immediately realized he saw the reset power as an opportunity to train with someone who would otherwise die with his training. 

"Don't think you can turn out like that human, though." Gerson warned. "I may be old, but I'm not an idiot. Long lives are bad enough, unlimited lives give way for temptation."

Sans nodded. He knew he couldn't trust his own judgment. He couldn't trust Chara's judgement. Gerson was all that was left.

"Now. Hit me with everything you can muster." Gerson ordered.

Sans really didn't want to. He had no reason. Well, he did. For training, but he always had this problem when it came to training. The person who trained him was always a friend, and throwing an attack at a friend was wrong, right?

"Too late." Gerson summoned a magic war hammer and attacked. 

~

"Hit me." Gerson ordered yet again. Sans had died probably ten times like this. He was getting nowhere.

Gritting his teeth, Sans prepared an easy attack and aimed it at Gerson. Gerson didn't dodge, he took his own magic and hammered the attack back at Sans. Jumping out of the way, Sans sent a more complex attack. Gerson shattered the bones in his way, and rushed at Sans.

Several more resets passed before Sans could dodge the attack. By then, he was completely set on defeating Gerson. Calling several blasters, he surrounded Gerson. He knew Gerson couldn't destroy this attack as easily. The pure energy blasted at the turtle, threatening to dust him. Gerson used the long shaft from his own weapon to jump the attack. He was just above Sans, now. In the perfect place to pound Sans into the dirt.

~

Sans woke up once again. Sitting up in bed, he sighed. He hadn't heard from Chara in how long? He knew he couldn't use the soul's extra power without them, but since he had started training, he hadn't heard a word from them.

He tried to think of how to get them back as he bumped into Asgore. He had memorized the easiest conversational path to make Asgore leave him alone. It tumbled out of his mouth without much thought.

He walked through the crowds in silence. He was used to their open curiosity by now. All it meant was that they didn't know about the resets.

Maybe he should try Alphys' lab. She might be able to get Chara to talk again. Sans had never realized how quiet Hotland was. The sound of steam vents were all he heard.

Real conversation was rare now. Gerson was nice enough, but he wouldn't talk more than a few minutes before he pulled Sans back into training. Everyone else was boring to talk to. Sans could mostly predict what they would say. Chara was gone, and damn that flower. Sans was alone.

Walking through waterfall, he decided to try and start up a conversation with them. "uh.. Chara?"

"But nobody came."

Sans jumped. Their voice was flat. "so you are still there." No reply. "you seem really quiet."

Sans stopped walking. He waited for a response. "Isn't that what you wanted?" Chara spat the words out after a few minutes of pure silence. "I wouldn't want to annoy you by talking to much."

Was Chara pouting? Sans could hardly believe something like that. "so you disappear for..." How many timelines had passed? He had started counting the times Gerson had killed him, but he had lost count at sixty-seven.

"I was mad!" Chara whined.

They were pouting. Sans laughed. He laughed a lot. He laughed harder than he had in god knows how long.

"I'm glad you think it's so funny, Sans!"

Sans was under no obligation to see to how much he hurt Chara's feelings. "i can't believe you fucking shut your mouth for that long because you were pouting. here i thought i was finally free from you for good."

"You know what, fuck you! Keep laughing! See if I let you have soul power ever again!"

Sans calmed himself down to grinning like an idiot. He was close to Gerson's shop, so he should make up with Chara or something. "you can't really blame me for not caring a whole lot what happens to you." He shrugged. "i mean, this is what you get when you murder innocent people."

That thought put him immediately back into a sour mood. The good mood was okay while it lasted, but Sans should have known it was destined to be short lived.

"I still have feelings!"

"pardon me for not caring then." Sans scoffed. "anyways, i need the souls."

No." Sans had been afraid of that.  "You think I'm just gonna be all buddy buddy with you? Ha! Get real!"

"i don't care if you're buddy buddy or not! give me my power when i want it, or im going back to my first plan of never leaving the fucking house!"

Chara was silent for a good five minutes. "On one condition. I'll give you the power on your command, but only if you use your cool eye magic every time you fight Gerson."

That would kill him. He mostly used the code magic for short periods of time. Too long using it gave him a huge migraine and messed with his vision. Thinking back, he realized he barely made it a minute into training, so maybe using the code would be bearable. Besides, it seemed the only way to get anything from Chara was to see to their boredom. He would have to keep that in mind for later, and make sure he used what little means of entertainment he had to the best extent.

"deal." Sans wasn't sure how well it would work, but he could at least try, right?

Less than half an hour later, he realized this was the first timeline he had smiled in since absorbing the souls.