Chapter 10: Secrets
Copi sat with their back against the giant door, their legs folded up and their arms wrapped around themselves.
"It's cold..." Copi spoke. "But not a nice, pleasant cool like I remember from Snowdin...this is a harsh, biting cold...there's no doubt about it...this is the Genocide timeline."
Their grip around themselves tightened. "Maybe...if I just stay here...I'll go back to the Pacifist timeline. With Frisk right beside me...like a dream." They gave a dry laugh. "And I'm...talking to myself...crud..."
Copi sat in the snow for a while, until they heard shuffling noises. They looked up to see black shadowy figures with broken masks shambling towards them. "Oh, right...I forgot about the GHOSTS."
Hesitantly and shakily, Copi stood up as the GHOSTS drew closer. "Remember...it...I-I can't help them...killing them is a kindness..." Copi clenched their fist and threw a strong punch.
The GHOSTS were quickly returned to dust, as Copi stood over them. "...Heh...this is pretty cruel...I don't think I can leave until I got back to the place I was before...fate has some really, REALLY messed up humour...!"
Copi began to take slow steps forward, crunching through the snow, shivering from the cold. They passed by the barricade, and the sentry stations...
"Papyrus...Sans...are you dead as well?" Copi asked the air worriedly.
They continued walking on, coming across a straight line of footprints in the snow. "...Guess...somebody didn't like Papyrus' puzzle..."
The monster stopped for a moment. "Italic said that...SOMETHING, was killing all the monsters in this timeline...what exactly? What's different here from Pacifist...?" They squeezed their arm. "I just don't know..."
Copi had to keep walking...otherwise they might stop again. More and more GHOSTS continued to appear.
"Leave me alone!" Copi yelled angrily as they formed their hands into daggers, and sliced through a group of them. "Why do you...phantoms, exist!? If monsters in the Pacifist timeline die...do they turn into you!?"
"No! No!" They shook their head violently. "I can't confuse the two timelines! This...this one is...nothing! Nothing I should be concerned with!"
A GHOST moaned behind them. "Shut up!" Copi quickly decapitated it, making it turn into dust. They panted slowly. "...Just...just go to the end...then...everything will be okay...again..."
Copi hurried as fast as they could, passing the familiar snow poffs and bridge.
"The dog squad...I bet they're all dead too!" Copi sobbed. "Is...is Frisk in this timeline!? Is Frisk dead!?"
They collapsed to their knees, tears dripping into the snow. "I can't...it's so hard...it's not meant to bother me, but it's all too familiar! I...I..." They shook their head. "I don't know what to do..."
Eventually, they crawled into Snowdin. Not a monster was in sight. It felt so empty, alone, cold...
"There's really nothing, isn't there...?" Copi whispered, walking through the desolate town. "All nothing..."
They then passed Grillby's, stopping for a brief moment to look in the window. "...What?" They thought they could see a figure. "Is someone...?"
Feeling desperate, Copi threw open the door, and did indeed see a figure sitting at the bar. One with a blue hoodie, slippers, and a bald white head. "...S...Sans?"
The skeleton looked up, then over his shoulder, and Copi jumped slightly. For a brief moment, there had been a scary look in the joking skeletons eyes, quickly covered up by a smile.
"heh...wow...hey there, flatstack. never seen you before." Sans said. "never thought i'd see anybody."
"Sans...where is everybody?" Copi asked.
"gone." The skeleton replied. "when things got real bad, everybody evacuated...me though? heh...i was too lazy, so i decided to stay." He patted the stool next to him. "here, kid, take a seat."
Copi walked over and sat next to Sans, glad to have some form of company. "It's so scary here, now..."
"pretty quiet, yeah." Sans agreed. "this is the kinda stuff that happens when you don't consider your actions...but hey, what's your story? seems like you've done a good job staying alive."
"Looks like it." Copi looked at Sans closely. 'He's hardly made a pun at all...and that grim expression hidden behind that smile...this Sans is entirely different from the one I know...'
"good to see...try to keep that up, 'kay, flatstack? it's nice to have a friendly...'flat' with someone!" There was a pause. "...okay, uh...that was pretty bad."
Copi felt like they had to drop the bombshell. "Sans...where's Papyrus?"
The air immediately grew heavy. "...pap?" Sans closed into himself. "papyrus is...pap's..."
"Oh god..." Copi breathed. "I-I'm sorry, Sans. I didn't mean to...!"
"it's...it's alright, kid." Sans sighed. "if you're crying too, i know you must've liked him. yeah...my bro's...definitely the coolest."
They sat in silence for a while longer.
"Sans?" Copi mumbled. "...What happened here?"
"...this kid came through." Sans told them. "they killed everybody they could find...hunting them down...papyrus, he...he tried to talk it out with 'em, but...and i thought that he'd be fine on his own and..."
"Please...Sans...what did it?" Copi asked.
Sans took a deep breath. "...a human."
As soon as the words left the skeletons teeth, Copi clutched their heart. A flash of shock and despair surged through their heart. But more then that...was an intense feeling of anger...hatred.
"That..." Copi began. "That's...horrible..."
Sans nodded. "yeah...really is. horrible..." The skeleton turned so that he was facing away from Copi.
"flatstack...you're not fooling me." Copi looked at the back of Sans. "i have a strong suspicion on how you know me...but i'd rather not confirm it. besides, you don't seem like a bad guy, and i'd rather deal with one thing at a time. too lazy to deal with two things at a time y'see."
He got off of his stool. "i don't know why you're here, but good luck with whatever it is you're trying to do." He then walked towards the door, and stopped. "...on the off chance we meet again...mind telling me your name?"
"...It's Copi." They said.
"copi, huh? how do you spell that?"
...
K or C?
Why was that so difficult to decide? Did their name start with a K or a C? Did it really matter so much?...Maybe just go with whatever felt most comfortable right now...
"C. C, o, p, i." Copi told them.
"...gotcha." Sans opened the door. "seeya, kid."
As the door shut, Copi stared at it. "...Sans...you know, don't you?"
Copi left Grillby's, with Sans nowhere in sight. They hurried over to the house, and found the secret door. Flattening themselves against the ground, they slid underneath the door crack.
To say their discovery shocked them was an understatement. They found themselves in some kind of small lab, with various notes on the desk, and a large blanket covering...something.
"Woah...never would've thought Sans and Papyrus would have a room like this..." Copi walked over to the desk and picked up some notes. "Mm...I can't understand any of this, it looks to advanced...huh?" They picked up a photo tucked away in some files.
The photo showed Sans with two men. One of them looking like a skeleton similar to Sans, wearing a lab coat. The other one also wore a white labcoat, and had a tall figure by the look of things, with sharp, blue eyes and a small smile, and two spikes coming out of their head.
"Who are these monsters? Why is Sans with them?" Copi wondered. They surveyed the table more, until they spotted some writing they could actually understand, pulling sheets of paper out from underneath the files. Curious, they began to read.
Day OOXZ
Main production research into the CORE has been progressing at an impressive rate. The way we are currently going, soon power will be provided for the whole of the Underground. Of course, Dr. Gaster's research is mainly focused on the analysis of timelines, and he has begun to study them much more frequently, and to a higher degree. Admittedly, his interest has now delved into my own, and I find myself assisting his research more and more. However, the CORE remains top priority, and that fact must never change.
"Research notes..." Copi realised. "It doesn't say who wrote them...wonder who Dr. Gaster is?" They started reading the next available entry.
Day XXIZ
Today, the CORE was completed, all research done and safety measures carried out. King Asgore was incredibly pleased with the results, and the entire research team was given a banquet as thanks for our hard efforts, typical of the king. Now that the CORE is complete, I have no doubt that Dr. Gaster will pool all of his efforts into his timeline research, as I have been assisting him with it. I have begun to take my own studies regarding alternative time-space anomalies, using his work as a basis. I myself, choose to focus more strongly in the field of alternate realities instead of timelines, as personally, the multiverse theory is something that has always fascinated me, and is a reason why I decided to assist timeline research in the first place. As such, I am currently using timeline studying technology for detection of similar readings, only to a much different degree. I hope my results prove fruitful.
"Alternate timelines...these guys were scientists studying them..." Copi thought aloud. "Maybe if I could find them, I could get a solution to why I keep jumping between Pacifist and Genocide..."
Day OXYZ
Me and Dr. Gaster have begun pooling our respective research into a technological aspect, and have begun building a machine in order to more effectively study both timelines and alternate universes. Since it is a project with such a small group, it could take a long while before completion, if at all. Nevertheless, we are both passionate about our work, and believe to be making steady progress. If this works, we will finally be able go properly study our own interests to a phenomenally better degree.
Day YXZZ
The machine is on the brink of completion, we have begun considering using dummies as test polits...though, personally, I do not think their inhabitants would be very thrilled, so I have gone against the notion. In all honesty, I myself would act to like as test pilot, and suggested as such to Dr. Gaster. He refused initially, but I persuaded him after showing him my own, now vast, amount of research. If he believes it to be right, I shall pilot the machine in a hopefully successful test. There are innumerable risks involved in an experiment such as this...but in all honesty, I could not be more excited!
Copi leafed through the notes. "They seem to stop there...something must've happened."
The amnesiac looked at the large cloth again and frowned. Putting the notes down, they walked over to the sheet and threw it off. It revealed a large capsule-like machine, only with its top blown off and wires sticking out of explosion holes.
"Is this the machine that they were working on?" Copi wondered, looking at it. "But...it's heavily damaged...was the experiment a failure? And if that's the case...what happened to the pilot?" At that moment, Copi froze. There was an unnatural chill in the air, and not just from Snowdin. A shadow seemed to have fallen over them.
Something was standing right behind them.
As quickly as possible, Copi twisted around...but nobody was there.
Copi calmed their breathing, looking around frantically, fist clenched ready. "...Who was...?" They breathed out slowly.
"Sans...you've got some major secrets." Copi huffed.
...
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...HoNeSTly, i MuCH preFeR gENociDe, PeRSonalLy.
oH! woUlD yOu lOoK aT thAt! somEBoDy AcTUAlLy bOthEreD tO taKe FIVE SECONDS tO lEaVe a REvieW! THANK YOU kaTyA PlayZ! eVerYbODy GiVE ThEm a bIG rOUnD Of aPplAUse!...CLAP DAMN YOU! anD lEARn a tHinG oR tWo wHIlsT yoU'Re At iT!
nOw...lEt uS cOntiNUe...ANd rEMemBer! yoU aLl cAn aSK mE ANythIng!
OR ELSE.