Chapter 9 – "Core Meaning"
Author notes: A much shorter chapter compared to the previous ones but this was more of a "bridge" chapter and it felt like I was rambling too much. Sorry. The "final confrontation" starts with the next chapter and ends in chapter 11th.
"Your father?" asked Toriel confused. Papyrus nodded sadly. Toriel exchanged glances with both Asgore and Frisk who looked as lost as she felt. She motioned the skeleton and her child to come over and sit with them. "Come dears. Would you like some pie? Perhaps some tea?"
Papyrus shook his head but Frisk nodded theirs. Toriel got up to fetch them a slice. Asgore leaned forward on the table.
"I wasn't aware that your father was still alive" he said apologetically. "I just assumed since your brother never…"
"HE ISN'T" corrected Papyrus then frowned at his own statement "I MEAN … HE DIED A LONG TIME AGO" The frown got even deeper. "I… WE … THOUGHT HE DID"
Toriel brought over a slice of pie for Frisk along with glasses of milk for both them and Papyrus. She was determined to get some food into the skeleton before the end of the day. He looked like he was wasting away. Practically skin and bones …. Then she stopped and berated herself internally for the chuckle forming in the back of her throat. He would've loved that.
Frisk looked at the pie hungrily but refrained from digging in. Instead they looked at the skeleton and the pie-less spot in front of them. Papyrus waved them on and made a point to take a sip of his milk to further encourage them. Frisk smiled at his friend and put a big spoonful of pie into their mouth making a happy sound.
The three adults watched the child eat in silence. Their happiness in that simple act infectious, Papyrus couldn't help but feel a little better or at least a little calmer. When they were nearly finished they took the last big spoonful of pie and fed it to the Papyrus. As the skeleton chewed on the sweet confection, the child patted their left hand.
Papyrus smiled gratefully. His head hurt and he felt a bit feverish. He guessed that's what having a fever felt like, since he couldn't remember if he ever had one before. Then again, there were a lot of things he didn't remember before weren't there?
It was surprisingly exhausting. Having all these new thoughts come in randomly. It wasn't like he could remember things at will. He tried to remember what shows he used to watch when he was a kid and came up blank. He couldn't even remember if he watched television. Instead, he could remember where every piece of furniture was in his father's old lab. The texture of his hands. The humming he used when he put him to sleep.
Every. Single. Step. to the solution to that cursed puzzle.
If he hadn't solved that puzzle, maybe Sans wouldn't have been able to either. They would've never found that journal and they would've been able to carry on as normal.
And perhaps his father would not have died the way he did.
And perhaps their memories would not have been … forgotten? … erased? …
…
Except…
Sans would still be unhappy.
Worse…
His brother would be the one dead.
Gone.
Forgotten.
Papyrus didn't know how or why this was all happening now. However, he did know one thing for sure. He would find a way to fix this. Alphys had said that his brother wasn't fallen and despite his shameful display before, he believed her. He made a mental note to apologize properly to her as soon as possible.
"TORIEL?" he asked "WOULD YOU MIND GETTING UNDYNE AND ALPHYS? I HAVE A LOT TO TELL YOU GUYS"
Papyrus told them everything he could remember about Gaster about how he and Sans were raised. It was disjointed and he had to do a lot of backtracking as details came into his head. Everybody tried to keep up with him but it was obvious that they were having trouble understanding how such a huge chunk of Papyrus' life had just plain disappeared.
Alphys' couldn't help herself. She was extremely curious. She had never known (at least she didn't think she had ever known) who the actual creator of the Core had been. The information had just been missing from all records. She led the group in follow up questions. Now and then she would feel Undyne squeeze her shoulder gently warning her when she got a little too excited or insensitive about her line of questioning.
Then Papyrus told them about the night they found the journal. How he had been the one to solve the puzzle lock in the lab. About how Sans found out that he wasn't the first Sans but the 11th.
"WE FLIPPED THROUGH EVERY PAGE OF DAD'S JOURNAL" said Papyrus "SOMETIMES SANS TRIED TO GO TOO FAST FOR ME TO READ. DAD DESCRIBED EVERYTHING IN DETAIL. IT WAS HORRIBLE. THE … THE… PREVIOUS … THE FIRST ONES WERE MADE OUT OF BONES DAD HAD FOUND IN DIFERENT PARTS OF THE UNDERGROUND. IT SEEMS THAT HUMANS WILL THROW ANYTHING DOWN THE WATERFALLS"
He looked at his gloved hands momentarily unable to continue. Alphys' cellphone started vibrating in her sweater pocket. She slid the screen bar to ignore without looking at the screen.
"HE BELIEVED THAT BECAUSE THEY WERE FORMER HUMAN BONES, SOME TRACES OF THE SOUL WOULD REMAIN IN THEM. HE … MANAGED TO GROW NEW BODIES OUT OF THEM USING THIS MACHINE HE CREATED … BUT … THE FIRST FEW DIDN'T EVEN WAKE UP AND DISINTEGRATED BETWEEN MINUTES. … THE ONES THAT DID SURVIVE ACTED LIKE THEY REMEMBERED BEING ALIVE BEFORE … DAD WROTE THAT THEY WOULD BANG ON THE GLASS AND OPENED THEIR MOUTHS AS IF THEY WERE … SCREAMING. SOMETIMES THEY DIED ON THEIR OWN. SOMETIMES DAD … TERMINATED THEM"
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Papyrus closed his eyes and leaned back on the chair.
"How … how was this Sans … um … um… your Sans …. I mean, How was Sans different?" she asked.
Papyrus ran his hand over his mouth and nose before continuing. He looked like he was trying to get a better grasp on a memory he rather forget.
"SANS WAS CREATED FROM FRAGMENTS OF MY DAD'S BONES" he said finally "HE ALSO DECIDED TO TRANSFER PART OF HIS SOUL TO HIM"
"PART of his SOUL?" asked Alphys. Her eyes were big and round. Toriel and Asgore exchanged glances. "HOW?"
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"I DON'T KNOW … "continued Papyrus "WHEN HE STARTED … WORK ON SANS… DAD SWITCHED LANGUAGES IN THE JOURNAL. EVERYTHING WAS WRITTEN IN HANDS AFTER THAT"
"H ..hands?" Alphys was practically bouncing on her seat.
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"It's an ancient language" said Asgore making everybody's heads turn to him. "Spoken mainly by skeleton monsters, I didn't know it was still being used. Some believed it had some magical powers on its own because it was derived from human speech. My father knew a few phrases but I'm sure they were harmless"
Papyrus looked at surprised as everyone else. He had never heard of that before and felt a little embarrassed that he didn't know. He shook his head in attempt to clear it. He had to finish his story. "DAD AND SANS SPOKE IT TO EACH OTHER" he continued "I ONLY LEARNED A LITTLE BIT FROM DAD LATER ON AND SANS ONLY TAUGHT ME A FEW WORDS, ESPECIALLY THE FUNNY SOUNDING ONES"
He smiled softly at the memory of the two of them giggling over the hands word for "butt"
"I COULD TELL THAT SANS WAS ONLY TRANSLATING SOME PARTS OF THE HANDS WRITING IN THE JOURNAL. HE WOULD READ LARGE PARTS IN SILENCE. … I … I REMEMBER BEING SO MAD AT HIM FOR DOING THAT. I WAS SO SCARED FOR HIM. I CRIED AND CRIED AND HE KEPT TELLING ME IT WAS JUST BORING STUFF. THEN … HE REACHED A PAGE THAT ONLY HAD FOUR WORDS IN IT"
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"HE STARTED SHAKING AND HIS EYES WENT DARK WHEN HE READ THOSE WORDS. HE THREW THE JOURNAL AS FAR AS HE COULD AND WOULDN'T TALK TO ME. I WENT TO GRAB THE JOURNAL AND TRIED TO READ THE WORDS BUT I COULDN'T" Papyrus wiped a couple of tears from the corners of his eyes "I SAT NEXT TO HIM AND I COULD TELL THAT HE WAS CRYING EVEN THOUGH HE HAD COVERED HIS FACE WITH HIS ARMS. I TOLD HIM THAT I WAS SORRY I MADE HIM READ THE JOURNAL AND THAT HE COULD SLEEP IN MY BED IF HE WANTED TO. THAT I WOULD THROW AWAY THE JOURNAL AND THAT I WOULD TELL DAD THAT I DID IT SO HE WOULDN'T GET IN TROUBLE"
"HE STOPPED CRYING. I REMEMBER HIM HAVING THIS LOOK ON HIS FACE … I CAN'T DESCRIBE IT … I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS … MAYBE RESIGNATION?. HE TOLD ME TO NOT DO THAT. THAT WE WOULD PUT THE JOURNAL BACK WHERE WE FOUND IT AND NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN. I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO MAKE HIM CRY AGAIN, SO I AGREED. I PUT EVERYTHING AWAY AS NEATLY AS I COULD. AFTERWARDS SANS RESET THE PUZZLE ON THE CABINET AND WE BOTH WENT BACK HOME"
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Everyone in the tiny kitchen was silent. It would be impossible to describe the feeling of the room after he told his group of friends what little coherent memories he had regained so far, but Papyrus tried anyway. It was better than dwelling on the feelings swirling around in his soul.
There was confusion. He could feel that from everyone but specially Toriel and Asgore. They would've been the ones to have known his father while he was alive, yet they did not have any memories of him. They remembered the Core being built and there being problems, but details were missing. Like names and meetings. Everything was reduced to mismatched shapes and sounds, words on the tip of your tongue, faces without features.
There was also Worry. For his brother, for him, maybe even themselves. Frisk's face was red and they held onto their mom in a fierce hug as they sat on her lap. Papyrus had really wanted to spare them hearing this but they were a child of determination. They would not be left in the dark.
Brewing under everything was Anger. Primarily from Undyne. He expected it from his protective friend but Papyrus was surprised to see it dancing on everybody's faces. Papyrus had misjudged how protective everyone was of them.
Finally, there was Fear. Fear of the unknown, of being helpless. Papyrus could only give them a tiny portion of the story. A hint of a clue. He was sure Sans could explain everything much better. If he were awake.
"This journal …" said Alphys "Where is it now?"
"I IMAGINE ITS STILL BACK AT THE LAB BACK HOME" said Papyrus thoughtfully "I DON'T THINK DAD EVER FOUND OUT WE READ IT. HE NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT IT"
"THAT I REMEMBER" he added internally.
"What … what about Sans? Could he have taken it?" continued Alphys. "Maybe it's in his room?"
"NO. I DOUBT IT." He looked guilty, like he was letting them into a big secret. "I THINK HE WAS AFRAID OF IT AND WHEN I WENT BACK IT WAS STILL THERE…"
"You went back?"
"I DID? I THINK… I DID" Papyrus rubbed his temples "I DON'T REMEMBER…"
"What were the four words? Do you remember them?" insisted Alphys. He felt Undyne's hand on her shoulder and she looked up at her blushing. "I… I'm sorry …. You …. We are all very tired and we sh…"
Papyrus got up startling her and rummaged through a kitchen drawer. He pulled out a worn notepad and pencil and sat back down. He quickly scribbled the words on them and pushed the notepad towards the group.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY MEAN …"
Everybody leaned in to look at what was written on the pad. Alphys made a sound between a squeal and a gasp. She covered her snout with both of her hands. She was sure she had seen this writing before! She was also sure she was getting looks from everybody else. Before she could say anything, however, Asgore pointed to the second word.
"I believe this means "Night"" he said then pointed to the third word "and I think this means "Prince""
"That's oddly sweet sounding" commented Undyne "For something that's supposed to be scary"
"Well … I think it comes down to personal meaning" said Alphys looking over the words. "The words may be innocent enough to the average monster, but they may have been instituted to be some kind of mental trigger for Sans when he was being deve…..uuuuuhhh…. sorry"
Toriel gave Alphys a reproaching look. She obviously didn't appreciate Alphys referring to Sans as being any kind of experiment.
"You're such a nerd" said Undyne rubbing the top of Alphys head in an attempt to diffuse the situation.
"It's getting late" said Asgore joining Undyne's efforts. "Maybe we..."
Alphys' cellphone started vibrating for the umpteen time, interrupting Asgore. Alphys reached for it embarrassed.
"Um … sorry! " she looked at the screen "I need to answer this. The team at the Core has been trying to reach me for awhile now"
The female lizard scooted out of her seat and walked into the living room for some privacy. Frisk jumped out of their mom's lap and climbed unto Papyrus to give him a hug. Papyrus returned the affection with one of his own. Toriel got up and ruffled Frisk's hair and kissed the top of Papyrus' skull. Undyne and Asgore quietly discussed their options regarding the group that was currently on the lookout for Gaster.
Alphys walked back in putting her cell phone back in her pocket. "Phew! At least the Core is going back online … that's one less thing to worry about…"
Nobody had expected Sans to scream.
