'.h.. th...' Through the shroud of sleep you hear someone talking.
'.hy.. c... move?' For a moment you think it's still a part of your dream.
'WHY I CAN'T MOVE!?' The desperate shout instantly pulls you out of your drowsiness.
You snap open your eyes and jump from the mattress to look around. The light is shining through the window and you can see everything pretty clearly but the room is empty.
"H-hello?" You can't hide the tremble in your voice.
The silence is your answer. You are terrified.
"W-who is t-t-this?' You try to ask again.
'i have the same question for you. to?' That voice is extremely familiar and creepy as all hell.
"W-ha...! S-s-s-sans!? Is... is that you?" You spin your head like crazy but to no avail, the room is still empty, yet it sounds like Sans is really close. "Where are you!?'
You hear a frustrated sigh. 'yes, i am sans, but you are NOT. so what the hell are you doing inside of MY body?'
"Oh... oh... I'm so, so sorry..." You're shaking. Making Sans mad is the last thing you would like to do.
"I-I didn't mean to... I don't know how... I'm so sorry..." The tension of the previous day and fear of Sans being mad at you, combining with the relief of hearing him is tearing you apart and you feel like you are about to cry.
Suddenly Sans stops talking. A few minutes pass in silence. You begin to think that you're just going insane and hearing things, when he speaks again.
'okay. a'right. let's... uh. let's calm down and start over.' Now his voice sounds confused instead of mad and you can't help but feel relieved. 'would ya care to explain yourself?'
You nod and tell him everything that happened with you yesterday. Sans hums thoughtfully here and there as he listens to your monologue. When you describe trying Paps' spaghetti he chuckles and remarks, 'well. that was nice of you.'
Wrapping up your speech you repeat again that you are sorry and you don't know how any of this happened.
'that's it, huh?' He sounds even more confused than before. 'so from what i've gathered you are human, right? and you don't remember anything about yourself? that's... weird.'
"It sure is..." you agree with a touch of sadness in your voice. "But where are you anyway? I can't see you. Are you invisible?"
'that would've been fun.' He chuckles and then switches back to seriousness again. "i'm still here. inside my body. but it seems that you're the one controlling it now."
Now you feel very uneasy. Not only you are inside of Sans' body, but you are controlling it while he is still here? That's beyond awkward.
"so... you gonna give me back my body... or?' the tone of Sans' voice is creeping you out again.
"I... I don't know?" How are you supposed to know if you don't know how you had take control in the first place?
But Sans has a point, you can't just occupy bodies like this. Maybe you can figure something out.
"I'll try, okay?" You sit down and relax.
You tried to imagine yourself as some sort of spirit. Then you tried to pull that spirit away from Sans' body and drift to your own body. Minutes pass as you struggle to achieve something, anything, but it's just a waste of time.
In hindsight, it was probably just silly.
"It's not working. I don't know what to do..." You shake your head. Sans' head...? You don't even know anymore.
"Any ideas, Sans?" There is no response. "Sans!?"
'uh, yeah?' asks the sleepy voice inside of your head.
"Damn it Sans, how can you sleep in situation like this!?" You briefly wonder how he even does that.
'well, you lost your sleep, so i just picked it up where you left it.' You don't know if you should laugh or cry at this impossible person.
"Ugh, anyway... As I was saying, I don't know what to do. Even if I can give you back your body, I don't know how to do that." This situation is messed up and you feel so helpless.
"Or how to get back to my body..." you add bitterly.
'i see...' His voice is quiet and sad. You hate it. You hate making him sad and you hate how helpless you are right now.
Both of you sit in silence for a while, just thinking.
'gotta say though.' Sans says, breaking the silence. 'you are terrible at lying.'
"What? What do you mean?" you ask, but you know he is right. You weren't entirely honest with him. Yet the information that you posses is really delicate and you still aren't sure how to spill it out.
'it's obvious.' Sans sounds so blank. Like every emotion was drawn away from him. 'too obvious even. you know me and you know paps. you've been here before, haven't you?'
"It's... It's true... I know you guys." A heavy sigh escapes you. "But Sans I..."
'you're causing all this mess, right?' he interrupts you. 'you are the anomaly.'
"No, no! You don't..." You try to tell him that he's wrong but he interrupts you again.
'just let me ask one thing, okay?' The exhaustion in his voice is clear and heavy, like there is an entire iceberg resting on top of his soul. 'why? why are you doing all of this to us? what are you trying to achieve?'
He doesn't give you time to say anything. 'i have to admit it. i'm lost. i thought maybe you wanted some friends or maybe you just have fun messing with us... but then this happened. and that's it. last straw. i have no idea what you want or what you are or how to deal with you anymore.'
"I told you! I'm just a human, Sans! I didn't do anything!" you cry out desperately.
'whatever. i figured you wouldn't tell me.' Your imagination pictures Sans shrugging and turning away. 'i can't even try to stop you now. i can't do anything, so i'm just going back to sleep.'
You feel frustration swelling inside of you. "No you're not!"
'huh?' Sans seems to be confused by your outburst.
"Listen here, mister bonehead! I'm not the anomaly!" You begin your angry rant, filled with determination to prove Sans wrong. "I don't know who I am or why I am here, but everything you think I've done wasn't done by me!"
"Yes, I didn't tell you some significant information, but I just don't know how to spill it! I'm not even sure you will believe me! But it's not important!" You take a deep breath to calm yourself down and seize your emotions. "What's important is that I don't want to hurt any of you. I... I like you guys... really. I do not mean any harm."
You catch your breath and add, "I swear."
Sans is quiet. You hope he didn't just fall asleep in the middle of your speech.
"I can prove it. I... I think I can." Somehow, someway, you have to try to earn Sans' trust. You gotta be friends with the neighbors inside of your head. "Will you give me a chance? Please, Sans, give me a chance."
'uh... well... you do sound sure of yourself.' He, however, doesn't sound reassured.
'ah, crap, s'not like i have much of a choice here.' You picture Sans shrugging. 'so yeah. go ahead. hit me.'
'but it doesn't mean i trust you.' Sans voice goes eerie, sending shivers down your spine.
You're glad however. It's something at least. A start, a mission, a goal to have. You don't feel so lost anymore.
"Okay!" You feel energized and ready for action. "Maybe you have questions for me?"
'i have an awful lot of questions, buddy, but...' He falls silent again, probably thinking. 'i actually have a request to ask of you.'
"Um. Sure. What is it?" You're kinda curious what he's going to ask.
'i wanna see your soul. what it looks like.' His voice sounds... worried? You aren't really sure, but at least it's not like before, when it sounded like he was about to give up on life. That was awful. 'hope you don't mind.'
You gasp. Now that he mentions it, you really want to see it too!
"Of course!" you exclaim excitedly. "What should I do?"
'you can ask someone, but i don't think ya wanna do that.' You shake your head, forgetting for a moment that he can't see you. Somehow he gets it anyway. 'heh. that's what i thought.'
'ok. try this. raise...' Sans gets stuck for a moment. Looks like he's struggling with the same confusing thoughts regarding his body as you are. 'your... hand up to your chest and make a motion, like you're pulling somethin' out.'
You do exactly that, but nothing happens.
'hm.' He ponders for a bit. 'concentrate a bit harder. try to imagine your soul. how it sits inside of you and how it floats towards you when you pull it.'
This time you make a few different attempts. Experimenting, concentrating, making different hand motions. You have Sans' magic so there should be no problem with that, but you don't really know what your soul looks like. Probably like a heart, but you can't be sure.
'no-no.' You hear a tired sigh. 'you have to be adamant about it. it's crucial. whatever reason you have, you have to be certain in a wish to see someone's soul.'
"That does make sense, I guess," you admit and go back to business.
Finally you start to feel something. Like there is a small bird fluttering inside of you, trapped by the cage of your ribs, but ready to escape. You hang on to this image and make a wide motion like you're opening the door of the cage to free said bird.
With a gentle tug your soul escapes your chest. It floats away, but just for mere centimeters and then stops, hovering in the air like a little balloon.
You stare in awe. Your soul looks beautiful. Like a huge shining ruby that emits such bright crimson light it's almost blinding. But the most amazing thing is not exactly your soul, but what's inside of it...
Trapped, imprisoned within your soul, somewhat resembling a mosquito inside of amber, is a little upside-down heart. It's fairly small so your soul covers it completely, but even through the thick layer of red you can see that it's clean and white. So tiny, so pure, so fragile. The soul of Sans.
Slowly, like you're trying not to scare it away, you move your finger towards the floating heart.
'go ahead. touch it.' Sans' voice sounds a bit mischievous all of the sudden. 'i know you want to.'
'Are you sure?' You say stretching out the words.
'yeah. s'gonna be fun.' He urges you and you can practically see wide smile on his face.
'Well arighty then.' Whit that you push your arm forward.
The boney finger touches two combined souls and you enter some sort of a trance. You're confused as you feel yourself as two separate and yet combined persons. You can't explain it, is just too strange. But there is something blocking your way, some kind of mental block.
Curious, you push forward and go through the obstacle with surprising ease. And then your body goes rigid as your mind overflows with emotions and feelings that aren't your own. Fear, anger, sadness, all almost entirely overwritten by tiredness, but there is also curiosity and, deep down, little wilting flames of love and care.
It's so depressing.
There is so much stuff going on at the same time that your head is bursting, but even with all this you feel a presence inside your head growing. You briefly wonder what could it be, when you realize that as you're examining Sans' soul, he is examining yours back while he has the a chance. And you go with that opportunity to show that you are not a threat. You stop resisting the flood of emotions and let it flow through you, allowing Sans to explore as he pleases.
While you're at it, you try to wake up all of the positive emotions you have towards the monsters. How you think they are quirky and funny, how cute they are, how you think all of them deserve love and happiness. And then your thoughts drift off to Sans.
Now you're thinking about how mysterious he is, how his jokes always make you smile, how cool he is when he is angry...
Suddenly you realize that you probably shouldn't have broken Sans mental shield and you jerk your hand off the combined souls.
You sit for a while, calming down. Your head is spinning from this strange experience and if you had a heart right now, it would be pounding like crazy.
"I'm sorry Sans... I didn't mean to..." You begin to apologize.
'nah. it's alright. i started this.' He shrug it off. 'just... warn me next time, okay?'
You nod eagerly, glad that he isn't mad at you.
Some more time passes as you try to recover from the sheer awkwardness of what just happened. You're sitting and staring at your double-soul when you recall something that makes you worry.
"Wait. Sans. I thought monsters can't live without souls inside of their bodies?" You don't feel like you are dying, maybe what you know is false?
'huh. you are the curious type, aren't ya?' Surprisingly, Sans isn't asleep.
'Maybe that soul touching moment had shaken him up a bit.' You think with a smile and then you hear a quiet snort. 'What was that?'
'that was a good one.' Sans chuckles, but you do not feel like laughing.
"Are you... hearing my thoughts!?" Things are getting more and more awkward with every second. "When? How!?"
'i dunno. it just started after... you know. that.' He says, sounding a bit uneasy. 'sorry, i don't think i can stop it now.'
'if it counts, i didn't plan this. it just... happened.' Now you can clearly see him shrug, like he is in front of you for a second. You also feel a fuzzy echo of emotions that aren't yours.
'Can he feel my emotions to? Can he hear all that I think?' You thoughts are running around in your mind like a panicked roach, that got spotted on the kitchen at night.
'yes, kind of. and no, only... loud thoughts? s'hard to tell.' He shrugs again.
You would freak out, but looks like something inside of you ran out of "freak out fuel" and you just accept things as they go.
"Ah well." You sigh. "So what about monsters souls?"
'do you wanna get schooled? ok, i'll comply.' he winks at you. It's so weird to don't really see it, but just knowing it. Like your imagination is suddenly going wild.
'so, technically, souls can't go outside of a monster's body. that's true.' Sans does start to sound like a teacher. It's actually kinda fun. 'but only the magical body. physical body? doesn't matter much. we can extend our magical aura, so if soul is there, it still counts as "inside". does that make sense?'
"Um. I guess." You think you get that. "And what happens if the soul gets too far away?"
'well, that's why we let out our souls so rarely.' His voice is full of bitter irony. 'would be a shame to die just because you forgot your soul on a bench.'
"Huh. Yeah..." You turn away to look at the souls again. "Thank you for the explanation."
They are beautiful, sure, but there is something inside of your head, right on the border of your mind that you're forgetting. Something that is very, very important about all this.
'Two souls... Two souls combined... The souls of a monster and...' Then it strikes you like lightning. "A human soul!"
"Sans, do you understand it!?" You jump onto your feet extremely excited, bursting with emotions. You are practically yelling. "Do you understand what it means!?"
'i... uh... no?' He is very confused and if you could, you would grab and shake him.
Your yelling is filled with hope. "A human soul, Sans! You all can finally be free!"
