Sans and Papyrus' House . . .

"Okay. Alright." Their house was already fine, it had accurate heat for the weather on that side. "Kay, kay, kay. What do we need to get for Evolution?" Sans pointed to his brother who was holding the checklist Sans made some time ago for it.

"Clothes," Papyrus read.

"Clothes. Yeah, need that," Sans said. "More dresses, shirts, pants. Never got her much, she definitely deserves that."

"Undergarments too."

"Um. Yeah." Sans looked at the closet. He scooted several of his shirts and coats over, giving her half the space. "That should work. Uh, more shoes too. Make a note on shoes. Whole dang old wardrobe. Multiple colors. Stripes and polka dots. Why not? That's her real style. That'll make her feel better. What else?"

"Human wedding bands?" Papyrus asked. "Are they playing for the ceremony?"

Sans started to crack up. "That's a good one you just drummed up! Naw, human wedding bands are rings on the fingers."

"Oh, shoot, I forgot that one," Papyrus said. "I need to take more trips out of here again."

Sans looked at his bony fingers. "Yeah, gotta get something from each special kind. Chose that 'cause it's brilliant. Interlocking bands."

"Interlocking bands?" Papyrus asked. "Why is that brilliant?"

"Forgot, huh? Stuff happened so fast with Frisk at first," Sans said. "Remember when she got tied to my magic, and I gave her bone marrow twice?"

"Oh, yes, yes!" Papyrus said. "I remember that. It said not to do it twice."

"Well, I found a little more detail than that. Instead of holding it for six months with one transfer? Um, she's got a part of my magic forever. I can never fully let her go," Sans said. "It'll never leave her bloodstream."

"Oh. Well, at least she isn't tied to you like a rubber band anymore."

"Not physically but magically, we are still tied." Sans looked at his fingers. "If it hadn't been for her teleporting around with Lyons and Cromwell instead of walking, she wouldn't be alive right now."

"Yes. I know. That nasty person! Humans! Well, most," Papyrus caved.

"These bands we get will make sure I can't lose her. Instead, I can track her, like she was a bone." He wiggled his bony fingers. "No way is that gonna stay on without chiseling something. Forget that. Spell cast?" It was a small thing, so it shouldn't take much.

"I bet it'd only take maybe 1% of your power," Papyrus said. "Definite spell cast."

Spell cast would be power reserved infinitely for his finger, making sure it never fell off, even when he didn't think about it. The larger the object, the more power spell cast took. But sharing rings should be fine. It was small, not like stacking hot dogs on a head.

"Let's see. Her special dress for the announcement," Papyrus said. "How to handle that. This is quite an unusual marriage. How. Well, how will you handle the nuances, Sans? If you don't do it right, you won't get any respect."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Sans said. "What humans do verses what monster's do. I'm juggling two at once." On one hand, he didn't want Frisk to feel trapped with him. On the other, he should get some respect owed to him after all that mess! But, it came back to Frisk's level of comfort. Their cultures. Their traditions. Not a natural mix. "I'll figure it out. Let's see. Dress. Already know which one. Oh, and we'll need tuxes too."

"Ah, yes. What else?" Papyrus tapped his chin and looked back at the list. "New bed and bedding."

"Yeah," Sans said. "Alphys bed is nice, but not really adequate for long term human health. Hers is centuries old. Humans need to be cleaner . . . she should have safely been here a long time ago."

"There."

"What?"

"Let it go, Sans," Papyrus said. "The terrible lion of instinct has only been getting stronger. Let it go. I won't repeat what you say, or hold any of it to you."

"I don't . . ." Sans shook his head. "It was all an accident. It's not like that."

"Just let it go."

"I just want to find a way to set her free. In the end, still. That hasn't changed."

"Sans," Papyrus repeated. "Stop. Every monster has to express when it comes up, and as well as it should. If you don't want it to bubble at the wrong time, then you should get it over with."

"This should have happened months ago."

"There you go."

"She was always mine, not his."

"I know."

"I was tied to her, not him! He forced himself in there, on my Frisk. On my family! On my wife! Any other time in the past, and they would've just-"

"Left you to kill him off for his offense," Papyrus finished for him. "I know, Brother. That very night, you should have been able to take her home. I'm sorry. Better?"

Sans nodded. "I guess. It. Hurt." Sans looked toward Papyrus. "Do you think humans have any idea what it's like? Instinct and infusion?"

"Did you ever try to explain it to her yet?" Papyrus asked.

"Nah, I didn't know how to explain the concept. I figured when I did do it, we'd tell her about the other thing together. Get it all out in the open, you know?"

"Then we should do it tonight," Papyrus insisted.

"You're probably right." Sans held his foot up in the air and twirled it around. "I wanted to ignore it. I wanted to deny it, like if I pretended it wasn't there, it just wouldn't be." He put his foot back down. "It never worked, but I got through it."

"Some of the strongest monsters couldn't endure that," Papyrus said to Sans. "You did very well for a modern day monster."

"My competition was the frickin' Prince," Sans complained. "I had no choice but to get it done." At least it was over now.

"Prince, Schmince. How many battles ended with someone trying to assassinate the king to get to their opponent without losing their wife?" Papyrus scoffed. "You handled everything above board. And. You were even willing to . . . just put up with it for life."

"Nah, nah, I was going to leave enough for her to have some magic to defend herself but not enough to keep the connection open," Sans reminded him. "Well, I mean, there would still be my marrow 'cause of that doubling. But."

"Sans-"

"I had to, Pap! I wasn't going to put Frisk through what marriage is now and I couldn't free her! I needed to know the deal would be solid, and that I could trust Frank Clipper." And he had to dig far for that one. At first he thought he'd be okay. Then, came the contract on Frisk. Frank had to put out the contract, but at the same time, he warned Sans as best he could.

When Sans wasn't working, and Sans wasn't having his twenty four hours with Frisk, he was digging into Initiative, law, the way they ran things, consequences, awards, and especially into Frank Clipper's personal life. His wife, his kids, where his office had been, where his kids went to school, what his personal needs were, and his triggers before he trusted him to get this done right.

"Hm." Sans tapped his slippered foot as his mind thought back to what Papyrus just said. The nuances. "If I don't do it, other monsters won't respect it. I've had enough disrespect. What do I . . ." He snapped his fingers. "Wife in monster. She don't understand monster."

"Well. Can't take puzzle solving out of our lives no matter what, can they?" Papyrus chuckled, trying to make the mood less tense.

"Only puzzle that can't be solved is how to get thirty years of work into a year," Sans said. He chuckled. "Sounds like a specialty of mine."

"Well? Well, maybe?" Papyrus tried to point out. "Hang on, hang on." For once, he tapped his own bony foot. "I've got it! The Great Papyrus has come up with that answer! Nyeh heh heh, Sans!" He pointed to Sans. "If that human man's great grandmother had that problem, then there are bound to be more. Maybe there is something extremely similar out there?"

"Yeah." Sans smiled. "Hey, yeah!" That was a brilliant idea. "It probably is already out there, humans tend to get in all kinds of problems. Man, contracts aren't real public knowledge at all, but if we crawl around some history books, look up trouble in the past, then we can make contact with some current kingdom who might have just what we need."

"Then you could fix it!"

"Then Frisk could be freed in a year once it's all fixed."

"Then your . . . ooh. Your wife would be freed," Papyrus noted. "From you. You can't ever completely free her, not because of the marrow mistake."

"Oh. Yeah." Sans put his bony hands in his jean pockets. "I could um. I could deal."

"Are you sure, Sans?"

"I was gonna deal with Asriel and it. So, yeah. Fine. Anyhow."

"It's hypothetical anyhow," Papyrus said. "Maybe there's nothing and she'll be in here forever with you?"

"Uh? Well. Whatev, let's just get started." Sans looked at the time. "Frisk had a rough day. We'll get this stuff ordered pronto. I'll have to make contact for a wedding band person to get what I want. But first?" Sans grabbed his key to the back door of the house. They went outside and through the back, pulling the covers off of a very old machine. No one knew they even had it, and they planned on keeping it that way.

They fixed it again years ago, but neither one wanted to change anything. The less humans had to fear, the better things would go. But, it was time for change.

"Okay. Ready?" Sans grabbed one of the side handles while Papyrus grabbed the other on the other side. It better work. Especially since he just killed a leader of a district too. Better safe than sorry. "Hit it."

They each held on as they felt electric currents flowing through their bones. Anything else, any other monster, any amount of flesh would be roasted to use the device.

After it was over, their clothes were in shreds, but it was done.

No more soul fighting.

G and M 3 Three Hours Later. . .

As soon as Frisk, Gloria, Alphys, and Undyne walked into G and M 3, they grabbed a seat.

"Nervous at all?" Gloria asked Frisk.

Nervous? She'd been through way too much to be nervous. Frisk still clung to her contract book. Not nervous, just wanted answers to questions.

"I gotta go, I gotta get the dresses," Undyne said as she left the table. "Schmooze. I'll be back."

Dresses? Frisk looked toward Gloria.

"Our announcement, Frisk. Asriel and Sans are both announcing together," Gloria said. "It's like an impromptu mini-wedding. Sort of. I wanted to keep it small, but it's important. We're announcing being the wives of one husband."

Would it be much different?

"Got them." Undyne arrived over by the girls. "Asriel is getting here. Sans is late. No surprise there. Papyrus had both though." She handed one white box with orange ribbon on it to Gloria. "Princess."

"Thanks." Gloria took it graciously.

Frisk saw a white box with blue ribbon wrapped around it. "I'm already wearing a dress."

"Frisk, this one is for your announcement," Alphys said. "Real Important."

"Come on, let's go get dressed together," Gloria insisted. Frisk felt herself getting pulled up. They both went to the female's bathroom area. Bathrooms Underground always tried to look really nice, tried to mimic real bathrooms with a similar flow, but everyone knew it wasn't that nice. Without water, it didn't run half as smooth. G and M though, it was the place.

And always busy. There were twenty monsters in the girls restroom alone waiting for stalls. "There's really not space to put this on."

"Hey, ladies?" Gloria asked. Well, they didn't speak their language of course. "Shoot. I guess we better wait for a stall."

Frisk watched as one of the monsters shouted and pointed toward their boxes. Suddenly the girls poured out of the room, seemingly speaking monster in a friendly manner with wide smiles. Even a couple of stalls were flushed and left.

"Okay? Guess we can get dressed now." Gloria took the left stall while Frisk took the right.

Taken away by Lyons Forager to get married, then really taken for a Prince in a coma. Watching old friends suffer, and the ones who should suffer go free. Then finding out the contract wasn't saved, but I'm only married to Sans, and nobody is explaining why. I need food and rest, not a party. She gulped and closed her eyes. She needed to hold it together. She'd been through worse. Much worse. Monsters trying to kill her repeatedly worse. Except I had help back then.

She went ahead and undid the ribbon on the box. She opened the lid and about fell backward. This. Is. Beautiful. It was done up in blue, but different shades of blue. From an almost white to the darkest blue, sailing upwards against the dress. Inside the blues were sparkles, reminiscent of the stars at night. Along with the dress was a cape, with the dark blues of the dress taking over it, and the same glittering star scenery. This cost a fortune. Did she get hers confused with Gloria's?

"Come on, Frisk, I want to see! Make sure you put your cape on afterward though."

"You have yours?" Frisk asked.

"Yes, yes, it's gorgeous! Come on, come on!"

"Okay, okay." No idea how he got it, but she went ahead and put it on.

The arms weren't covered, and it wasn't even spaghetti strapped. It was held up by her bosoms and body shape alone. Right because this is comfortable. Well, it was, it actually fit like a glove, but Frisk never wore that kind of stuff.

At least when she would put over the matching cape it would hide everything. In fact, it was quite large and even had a hood.

Frisk looked out the stall. Gloria's dress was stunning, and it didn't surprise her how beautiful it was. It was mostly orange at the bottom, with strips of yellow along it and the top was white. However, when she spun around? "Spin for me." She spun around for Frisk. Yep. "You look like a real Morning Glory. An orange one."

"And you look like you're ready for a night full of stars," Gloria said. "How pretty. Oh, and the running colors? It's like Waterfall kind of. The abandoned, pretty little areas." Gloria took her tiny cape and tied it on her neck. It was less than a quarter of the size of the dress and had a little yellow and orange on it too. "Cute accent, huh? Go get yours."

Frisk moved to get her cape and put it on. When she lifted it out though, she realized it was more than just a big cape. It was a cloak? When she came back out, she took the hood off the cloak so she could see. Gloria didn't look so happy. "Something wrong?"

"That's not a cape, that's a cloak. A big cloak. Asriel did say something happened." Gloria went over and pulled the hood back over her. "You have to wear the whole thing, Frisk. The whole focus of today is actually the dress worn. The husband picks the dress for what he wants to get across. Not really the fashion."

"Guys picking out dresses, to use what they want to get across?" Frisk grabbed at the sides. "What's he trying to get across with this? I can barely see the ground with this hood on, it's so big." She lifted the sides of the hood to look at her arms. Everything was covered. "Okay?" That was kind of a waste of a dress. Why was it completely covered?

"Hang on, I'll help you with your buttons." Gloria buttoned the front of the cloak. It naturally held its shape the rest of the way down. "There."

Not one stitch of the actual dress was showing. Not only that, none of her skin was showing except her feet.

"Did yours come with high heels like mine?"

"I don't know." Frisk looked in the box again. There was another small white box on the side. Inside of it were dark blue socks, and shoes that matched the starry night figure of the cape. Not only that? "There are gloves too?" She slid everything on and went outward. "I feel like I'm supposed to commit a crime in the dead of night."

"Well, you sparkle really pretty while your committing that crime," Gloria said, trying to cheer her up. She tapped the front of her left shoe to the ground. "Frisk? If I don't get to see you for awhile at the castle, I understand."

"What?" Frisk moved toward her. "Why do you say that?"

"Because Sans obviously has to show you off. He wants the whole Underground to know you are only his wife now, or he wouldn't have joined in an announcement with Asriel. But, he doesn't want to show you off. Does that make sense?" Gloria asked her.

Frisk shook her head.

"Asriel tried to explain instinct to me, but I don't think I really understand still. But he did tell me that whatever he was feeling for you was at least ten times worse on Sans the Skeleton. He was just really good at hiding it," Gloria said. "And." She gulped. "And I don't think you are right about the big lug not liking anyone. Especially the day he went after you."

"He hadn't even known me when he rescued me and brought me Underground," Frisk said.

"Not that time. When you were going to marry the other guy. He wasn't happy, Frisk."

"Yeah, well." Frisk shrugged in the cloak that felt more like a warm blanket. "I tend to find trouble sometimes. He probably figured 'she's gone equals she'll find trouble'. He's good at puzzles," she joked.

"Oh Frisk, you just didn't see him." Gloria patted her shoulder. "My time Underground, I wasn't babied around. I didn't have to fight anyone, but no one was trying to get all up on me either. Instead, Asriel and Toriel and Asgore? They were teaching me a lot about it. The way it worked down here. The differences between humans and monsters."

"Well, that's great," Frisk answered.

"One of those things I learned was how fast monsters warm up to each other than humans."

"Oh, I know," Frisk agreed. "It's. Fast. Spin the head fast. Trying to kill me, they see the truth, and we are instant friends that same day. It's their way. How their souls connect."

"Yeah, and that's not all that's fast. Anyhow, this presentation, I learned about it too. And, let's put it this way? You are wearing a gorgeous dress underneath your cloak. This is like, the version of a human's wedding dress. Probably the prettiest dress you'll ever wear in your lifetime, but you can't show it to anyone until Sans removes your cloak. I bet he never takes it off tonight, and doesn't until he has to for the picture. Even then, I bet it'll still only be the hood. In fact, I would go so far as to bet Papyrus will be on the other side of you during introductions too. Guarding the other side."

Frisk looked at her outfit.

"And let's just say that . . . I think Asriel and the royal family put a real hurting on your husband. More than Sans wanted to admit to you. To anyone. I mean, I don't speak monster. But. I know that shit went down right before 3:00. You know it too."

Yeah, but Frisk didn't know what. She moved back towards her stall where she still had her book.

"Frisk, you can't hold that right now, silly." Gloria smiled at her. "That's not the equivalent of a bride's bouquet you know."

Undyne came into the bathroom. "Ready for you."

"I don't know anything about what to do. Just go out there?" Frisk noticed Undyne's eyes on her cloak too. "It's comfier than it looks."

"Don't worry, it's pretty." Undyne took her book for her. "You don't have to do anything, Frisk. We know you aren't in the mood for this, and this'll be fast for you. Just go out there as is when I give the word. You'll see