I sat by her side everyday, keeping her hand in mine so that when she woke up she'd know it was me. I needed to be there. If no one else, it had to be me.

The steady beep of her heart monitor saw the only sound to take away from my quiet breathing. It kept me hopeful, knowing she was alive and healing, just there there.

The door swung open softly and closed with a gentle click. It took my attention and I looked up, smiling as I saw my familiar colleague. Alphys smiled back at me and she walked around the side of the bed and examined (Y/N)'s vitals. "What's the word Alphys?" I asked, leaning back in my seat as I watched the clipboard she took notes on.

"W-Well G!Sans, her body is really almost healed completely. Her scars are almost shut, even without her soul ability currently working. Heart beat is stable. She's breathing on her own. The only problem is... well..." She trailed off, face becoming red.

I nodded, looking at (Y/N)'s still face. "Her soul isn't healing as quickly as her body."

Alphys nodded. "Y-Yeah... without a complete soul her mind can't reattach to her b-body. It'll take a m-miracle to get her back within even the year."

I chuckled and shrugged. "Alphys, we managed to adapt an artificial soul so that shattered pieces of her soul could sustain her. Miracles are pretty much our entire line of work. And besides," I held her hand in mine and looked at her. "I've already been waiting for months to find her, I can wait a little longer."

Alphys smiled and hugged her clipboard to her chest. "Wow Gaster!Sans! It's so weird seeing you so gaga over someone. I always thought you'd end up married to your work just like Gaster."

"I'm not that bad." I countered, rolling my eyes.

"You w-were. Until you went c-crazy for this girl. I-It's so cute!" Alphys squealed. 

I chuckled, remembering the last time line when she would fangirl over me and (Y/N). Alphys thought to herself for a moment before speaking up again. "Oh! I forgot to tell you. Her siblings are coming by soon. They wanted to hang out with you a bit more and get to know you before they let you 'have' their sister to yourself.

They don't even know.

I nodded. "What's the news on the monsters' integration into the Surface?" I asked.

Alphys' face lit up even more. "Everything going really well! The dimensional portal you opened between our world and (Y/N)'s gave us access to a slew of monsters with the skills and experience to resolve everything peacefully. Conflict is so minimal it's pretty much just keeping humans from being discriminate."

"(Y/N) is gonna love to hear that." I confirmed. "We're going to have so much to tell her when she wakes up." 

Alphys chuckled, nodding her head. Before silence could take the air a light knock came to the door, and through the slowly opening door I watched as matching faces squeezed through the entrance. I smirked and removed my hand from (Y/N)'s as I got tackled by her brother and sister at the same time. "G!Sans!" Lucy chimed, hugging me tightly. 

Xavier hugged me as well, but he remained the more quiet of the two. He was definitely the strong but silent type, just like yours truly. "Hey Lucy. Hey Xavier. Alphys warned me you'd be dropping by today." I said bluntly. 

"We have nothing better to do." Xavier supplied, returning a grin. 

"What about school? Don't you have friends to hang out with?" I asked. 

Xavier rolled his eyes. "Who has time for friends when your sister is so close to coming home for the first time in forever?" He retorted. 

Lucy snickered and elbowed at him playfully. "Heh, you're  not fooling me. You're just acting cool because you're really a social mess." She teased. 

"Am not!" Xavier bit. 

"Are too!" Lucy giggled. "You tried to ask the teacher for a pencil and choked up." 

"I did not!" 

I laughed, finding their child-like bickering both admirable and entertaining. "Well he can't be worse than me. The first time I met (Y/N) I tried to kill her on instinct. Barely spoke a word and she had a laser blasting at her and one of the amalgamates." 

Lucy lifted a brow and tilted her head curiously. "That's a new one." 

"Story time?" Xavier suggested. 

I nodded. "Sure. Story time." 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You closed your eyes and grinned, clutching the warmth to your chest as you listened to the world around you. "Wow, months..." You muttered. "They're going to get a kick out of it when I tell them I could hear them this entire time." 

Had it not been for the hearing restored to you and the small warmth you left from him, you would have gone insane in the pitch black oblivion you floated in. Your hope was slowly gaining, hearing his voice everyday and feeling his warmth radiate within you.  You looked at your soul and beamed, a golden hue seemed to fill the fractures that webbed your once shattered soul. His hope was holding your soul together, and as it stood now, you were almost done. 

After a million scars and a million more lies, thousands of emptiness and horrific nightmares of life and fantasy, you'd finally accepted it. You were done suffering and now it was your time to enjoy it. Your happy ending. 

As your eyes traced over your soul, you looked at the scars left behind. Slashes and punctures immortalized in knots and wads of thick magic. You couldn't remember how, but you had a feeling it was the experiment that had saved your life. Even though it was wishful thinking at this point, if it really was the experiment that saved you then that would be a break through! 

You sighed. "It won't be long now. I'm almost home you guys." 

Maybe it would take a few hours, maybe a day or maybe even a week,  but you knew. You were ready to see their faces for the first time. For the first time without guilt or fear. You wanted to see them outside the veil of painful memories. It was a new start of a new life, the mistakes of old life writing stories on your flesh. They may be reminders, but more than anything they tell the story of how you became stronger. They made you stronger. The demons, the visions, the mistakes. They made you strong. Your friends, your family. They made you strong. He made you strong. "I love you..." You whispered, curling around his magic again and absorbing it's heat. Your fingers tingled as you grinned. "I'm ready to see you guys, to meet you, all over again." 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Xavier sat on the floor beneath me, watching intently as I told another story. Lucy sat on (Y/N)'s bed, swinging her legs gently as she played with her skirt hem and listened. Though her face was downcast, her face was rosy with delight. Xavier's eyes twinkled with the same excitement. To them, after missing their sister from their lives for so long, hearing all this was amazing. They didn't know the girl I knew. They only knew a ghost of her past. 

"From the sounds of it, you're both about the most tsundere people I've heard about." Lucy chirped, not making eye contact as I quieted for a moment. 

"I am not tsundere." I said gruffly. 

"You totally are! By the way you described your first encounter, you loved her from the moment you laid eyes on her! You totally did!" 

"The first time I ever laid eyes on her my immediate thought was 'intruder.' " 

Xavier laughed. "I'm not really into the shipping, anime or lovey stuff that Lucy is, but I have to agree on this one. Though to be honest, I didn't see her ending up living like this." He waved his hand vaguely and looked about the place. 

"Like what?" I asked. 

Xavier thought a moment then took a breath. "I don't mean this in a discriminatory way, I love you and everyone we've met since Original Sans got us from care but, I never expected her to thrive among monsters." 

"Yeah, she seemed so scared and nervous when she left us in foster." Lucy added. "Now she's found a hot skeleton boyfriend, two dimensions worth of friends and family, she's saved countless lives, sacrificed her life two times (three if you count leaving us in care so we'd have a place to stay and food to eat) and she's a super smart, crazy cool scientist! She got lucky with all you guys down here." 

I smiled and ruffled their hair, looking at (Y/N)'s peaceful face as I spoke. "She isn't the lucky one. We were. Hadn't it been for her I'd still act like a major dick to everyone I encounter. A lot of us changed because we met her, changed for the better." 

Lucy squealed almost as girlishly as Alphys did and giggled. "You love her~" 

I rolled my eyes. "Okay Happy." 

As she laughed and Xavier recovered from deafened ears, I glanced at the wall clock. Noticing the late hour, I stood and stretched. "You two should be getting home." I informed them. "Toriel isn't light about curfews." 

"Oh! Can we take a shortcut?!" Xavier asked, quickly falling quiet as his face reddened. "I-I mean, because it's faster, ya know?" 

I chuckled and nodded. "Okay you two, I gotta drop you off and get back real quick, so let's make it speedy. Grab my arms." 

They obliqued obediently and clung to my arms as I shot through space and landed at Toriel's doorstep. They both laughed as we solidified, rocked by the landing and swaying gently. (Y/N) did the same thing. I knocked with a firm hand and moments later Toriel appeared looking worried. "Oh kids! I was beginning to get worried!" Toriel spouted. 

"It's not even curfew yet..." Xavier mumbled. 

Toriel ignored the remark and looked up at me, smiling. "Hello G!Sans! It's nice to see you outside of the hospital visits! Would you like to come in for dinner?" She asked. 

I shook my head but smiled kindly. "No thanks Toriel. I wanna get back quickly. Alphys says she's almost done healing so she'll wake up any moment now." 

"Oh! Well at least let me get you some to take home." She offered. 

I opened my mouth to decline but instead, nodded. Comparing it to hospital food, Toriel's was much more bearable. "Sure." 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You arms and legs felt suddenly heavy, but warmth tingled through you. Your eyes were weighted and darkness blinded you. However, the steady beep of a heart monitor was clear. It wasn't fuzzy, like listening to it from miles away, but it was as though it was being held to your ear. Your mouth felt dry. You tried to move your hands, but it was like they were cemented in place. Slowly you were able to move a finger. Then slowly you moved your hands flexing them into fist and then relaxing again. 

Almost there... I'm almost there... 

You slowed pried at your eyes. It felt like they were being drenched by salt. Squinting and repeatedly blinking , you slowly opened them. The room was dark. Slowly you pushed yourself up into a sitting position. You were alone in the room. Your throat was too dry to speak. Your stiff muscles stricted your movement, but you swiveled your head back and forth. 

Suddenly, a flash of golden light  and you winced back. Your heart lept. You knew that light. You knew that smell, leather and smoke. You couldn't help but submit to the tears that collected in your eyes. The lights flashed on and you saw him. His familiar jacket, then the sweater he always wore, then up to his face. The face you wanted to stare into as long as you existed because you never wanted to let him go. 

He turned and it seemed like slow motion. Slowly he looked at you, gaze widening as the once still body he'd watched over breathed life. Tears streamed down your cheeks. Slowly his own tears brimmed and he walked closer, cautiously as though moving too quickly would shatter this moment. "(Y-Y/N)..." he stuttered. "You... you're..." 

You nodded in mute, unable to speak. He smiled, dropping a container he held and launching himself at me. He laughed as his arms wrapped around you. You buried your face into his chest and laughed. Your hands knotted into his jacket. You weren't ever going to let go. You could feel his tears drizzle on to your shoulder. "Sans..." You sobbed, voice breaking as your own tears stained his sweater. 

He held you tight as you sat in silence. Your soul was throbbing in your chest and you could feel his as well. You were in sync once again. He felt so warm. You planted your hands against his chest and looked up at him. His eyes locked with yours and for a moment you just stared. Slowly his face inched closer and you closed your eyes. You threw your arms around his neck and pulled him into you, planting a kiss. He responded instantly, pulling you by the small of your back so you fit together perfectly. For a moment you just sat in is embrace, kissing each other like it was the last one. 

When you finally pulled away, he stared at you with starry eyes. "Hey. Gaster!Sans." You said quietly, looking at him with soft joy. 

"What?" He asked. 

"I think I'm done running away. I'm never letting you go again." You declared. 

"I didn't plan on letting you." He retorted, pressing his mouth to yours once more.