We stayed silent for quite some time. It was comfortable in his arms, for a brief moment I even felt safe, but quickly chased away the thought. Until he explained everything I had to be careful, at least for Frisk's sake.
"Is it just me, or is it getting hot here?" – I asked looking around. At that moment a curious sight caught my eye: a huge electronic sign that read 'Welcome to Hotland'. I stared at it for a while – "well… ok then"
Sans snickered at that holding me slightly closer to himself, I chose to ignore that for the time being.
As it was getting too hot I tried to take off my jacked, the struggle was real but I succeeded. Tying it around my waist I looked around one more time. In front of us in the distance I saw a big grey structure. There really wasn't much to it: it was a big rectangular building with a single entrance and a "LAB" sign above it, from where we were it looked like it was built from concrete.
"Umm… Sans. Where exactly are we going?" – I asked.
"You're looking at it"
I sighed; I had a feeling that would be the place, but didn't really like the idea. For me the Lab seemed strange, but I didn't have a choice as my foot was bleeding quite badly now.
As we got closer two more paths opened up, one led down to a river and the other one was blocked off by a blue and orange flickering lasers. The entire area was covered with red sand.
"Kid, ya mind knocking" – said Sans standing in front of the door.
The moment Frisk's fist touched the door it opened revealing a well-lit room. The floor inside was covered by clean blue tiles, the lime colored walls had nothing but a couple of lights and some cables on them.
Two escalators on either sides of the long not too wide room led to and from the second floor. I couldn't see much from where I was, but I noticed several bookshelves, some tools hanging from the wall and two posters. I couldn't see the far one, but the other had a rectangular… something drawn on it.
A huge screen by the wall showed some areas I was familiar with, while others looked like hell with red sand and lava flowing around small metal islands. I assumed that was around here.
I remembered the camera I was chilling with by the Ruins' entrance when I saw the familiar stone gate. The images started to change showing some areas from Snowdin, Waterfall, Frisk, me, some more hell.
"Wait, what?" – I narrowed my eyes trying to understand if I saw that correctly – "were we being watched all this time?"
"Yes" – A slightly high pitched woman voice replied as a yellow dinosaur-like monster entered through the door by the end of the room.
She was a little shorter than me, wearing a lab coat and glasses that looked incredibly good on her.
Putting some files on already messy and overflowing desk she started to examine the wound on my palm.
"I assume you want me to take care of this" – she said looking at Sans – "and probably that too" – she added throwing a glance at the blood dripping from my foot.
"Yeah" – was his only response as he walked to the door the dinosaur lady just walked out of. It turned out to be an elevator. Four buttons had different glyphs on them, by the looks of it we were on the top floor.
Once everyone was inside the doc pressed the second from the top button. As the elevator started moving an awkward silence surrounded us.
Grabbing Sans' jacket I lifted myself to look over his shoulder.
"Hi" – I waved at the doc – "If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"
She seemed a bit surprised by the question – "I'm Alphys, the royal scientist" – she replied as a hint of smile crossed her lips.
"Royal scientist?" – I felt mistrust build up in my Soul even more – "then why are you helping us? Doesn't the king want us dead?"
"My research is my only interest, I don't really care about the king's plan. I'm especially interested in human Souls, so killing or hurting them is out of question… If you let me examine yours I'll help you any way I can."
"Human Souls can exist outside our bodies, which means you don't actually need us alive." – I persisted.
"Souls show their full potential when the human is experiencing some kind of emotion, rarely they can even change color or shape" – she explained – "But because of king's orders I get too few chances to work with a living human"
I didn't trust her yet and what she said didn't help in that regard, but I decided to wait for a while, watch her actions and pay close attention to her words.
The elevator stopped and I found myself in a long white corridor. Passing by several closed doors Alphys finally stopped opening one, while she left to get medical supplies. Sans putting me on the bed also walked out leaving me and Frisk in a small but cozy room.
Light brown walls were decorated with few picture frames with two of them being empty, others showed sceneries from surface however monsters imagined it. The top of the walls had beautifully carved chocolate colored trim. In front of me was a two seated sofa of navy blue color.
Soon Alphys came back with medicine, bandages and a weird looking device, Sans came in right after her wearing a lab coat too. For some reason his appearance made me slightly blush, I quickly looked down hoping that he didn't notice, then heard a quiet chuckle… he did.
After injecting painkiller Alphys proceeded to take my boot off as carefully as possible then moved on to treating the wound itself, Sans helped her too.
It wasn't bleeding that badly anymore and looked quite good after the treatment, but I knew it would leave a scar. Sans also treated the deep cut through my hand. It all actually surprised me, he didn't look like a guy who'd know that kind of things.
Right after the wounds were bandaged they both used the weird device. As they put it close to my skin I felt itchy sensation – "is this thing healing me?" – was my first thought.
Once done Sans gently kissed my palm making sure Alphys noticed.
"What was that about?" – I whispered quiet enough for only Sans to hear. He only shrugged with a wide grin.
"Rest for now" – said Alphys picking everything up and ready to leave – "you lost a lot of blood and must be exhausted"
"Thank you" – I nodded and the scientist left closing the door behind her.
Just like she said I was weak and tired, but didn't feel safe sleeping in that place. I sat more comfortably on the bed with a pillow behind my back and cuddled in warm blankets. Frisk climbed up too and sitting on my lap gave Sans a serious look, which he ignored.
Somehow it made me feel a lot safer. Hugging my brother softly I smiled and closing my eyes almost instantly fell asleep.
Dust was covering my hands and clothes. A gentle wind quietly howling by my ears and brushing away the strings of my hair slowly scattered the grey dust from the snow. I smirked to myself and stepping on a bright red cloth entered the ghost town of Snowdin.
Opening my eyes I found the room pitch black. Frisk's quite breathing could be heard from my chest. It took me a bit to realize that my hand was wrapped by ten slim skeletal fingers.
"What's wrong, sunshine?" – Sans' deep voice could be heard so close to me – "Did you have a nightmare? Your soul looks anxious."
"I guess… It was weird" – I said trying to remember details – "I was in Snowdin, but it was empty. Ominous kind of empty"
For a while he didn't say anything and somehow with his simple "it's ok" I felt a lot better, fear from the nightmare faded away.
"I'm sorry" – he said in slightly shaky voice after a long silence grabbing my hand a bit too tight as if scared that I'd suddenly disappear.
"For what?" – My tone was harsh, but he didn't reply. After a short pause I sighed – "why did you do that?"
"I got scared"
"Of what?"
"Your Soul"
I sniggered loud enough for him to hear pulling my hand back harshly.
"Are you really going to blame it on me?" – I raised my voice slightly.
"Remember what Alphys said?" – He asked – "A Soul can change color or shape, well yours did."
I didn't reply waiting for him to continue. I was sure that it would only make me angrier, that whatever he was gonna say couldn't possibly be a reason good enough for murder, but hearing him out was the least I could do before coming to a conclusion.
"It was corrupted to a point I didn't know existed. Danger, Anger and Hate were dripping in mixture of black and deep red. Cold blooded nature changed the usual heart shape into a demon hanging over you… Your LOVE got higher than I've ever seen. It should be impossible, but it all changed in an instant."
"My love" – I got confused – "what does love have to do with all that?"
"Not that love, sunshine. LOVE is an acronym: it stands for "Level of Violence", it's a way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt"
"Then why did you change your mind? Why are you trying to apologize this badly if it was the right thing to do?"
"It wasn't" – he spoke in an impatient manner – "You were able to overcome it, but I chose to ignore it."
Sans made himself believe that he would get over her death, but seeing her lifeless body was more then he could ever imagine.
Despite his knowledge he seemed to have forgotten, or simply never thought of it as something important: Humans don't turn to dust.
If she did Sans might've been able to stay sane for a little bit longer.
As the light withered in her eyes Sans held his only ray of sunshine close to his Soul feeling it shatter in his chest, yet not letting him leave with her.
He sounded sincere. I knew he regretted it, there was no way he wouldn't. To kill your loved one to stop their darkness or let them live despite what they can cause: there was no right choice there. Even though he said he was wrong, I knew he wasn't.
"If what you said is true" – I bit my lip a bit nervously – "I'm willing to leave it in the past"
I wanted to forgive him, I already did, but couldn't master the courage to say that. After all it must be a lot harder for him than it is for me. I didn't even remember that… Didn't remember?
"Sans is your Soul determined?"
"Nah, it doesn't work that way with monsters" - By his voice I could say his mood improved quite a bit.
"Then why do you remember?" – He didn't answer – "Flowey said that only determined Souls can remember the past timeline or whatever, yet I remember several of them and didn't even have a clue about the one you remember… Odd"
For several minutes I lay in silence thinking about all the possible answers watching the never ending darkness around me. My eyes widened as I recalled a fading memory, how could I forget that in the first place?
"Sans?" - I asked to confirm he's not asleep. A quiet "hm?" came as an answer.
"Something happened. Before I fought Papyrus for the first time…"
"For the first time?" – He cut me off – "How many times did you fight him? Did he kill ya?" – The last question came out as a threat.
"Except for the one where I won, I remember only one more try" – I replied quickly. Telling him that I died multiple times wasn't the best idea at that moment. Plus this way he wouldn't have anything against his brother, since they're pretty much even – "but that's not the point here"
"In the lantern room the light went out for a short while and before coming back on the darkness somehow changed… It was similar to your shortcuts, but I got there on my own. I saw this static and after that heard this voice: a male voice, it was really calm, but creepy. Do you know what it could be?" – I looked in the direction of Sans, though I couldn't see him.
"I'll look into that"
His voice and the promise made me finally calm down completely and soon enough I was able to fall asleep again.
I woke up when Alphys came in. Although she didn't make much noise I somehow felt her presence. Frisk was already up reading a book he presumably found in the drawer that was now open revealing two more hard-covered books about monsters.
Sitting up I greeted everyone rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
"Good morning" – smiled Alphys – "I got some food for you guys. Sans help her."
Sans, obviously still half asleep, lazily opened his eyes and wrapping me in the familiar crimson aura carried me across the room. Putting me gently on the sofa next to him, he shoved his face into my shoulder and went back to sleep.
Alphys shortly came back rolling in a table with some donuts, mugs and a tea pot. Though she gave Sans a weird look at first, she chose to ignore him, I did too.
With Alphys sitting next to me and Frisk on my lap the three of us had a really pleasant conversation seemingly for the first time in a while. We talked about the human world and humans in general, our differences and similarities; I gave her an account of history, different countries and the customs I knew of. We talked a bit about anime too, she only knew some old and not too popular ones and luckily I knew a bit about them and was able to keep up.
Eventually Sans woke up and sucked in almost all the donuts and tea there was left like a vacuum cleaner.
"How about we take a look at your Soul now?" – Alphys said. I nodded eagerly waiting for the information she could give.
Sans picked me up and followed Alphys. She walked for quite some time lading us through endless maze of white corridors. Finally we reached a grey metal door, as we walked through we found ourselves in a large room with four examination tables and odd looking machines. Some were big and ominous looking, others small enough to hold in one hand. The whole room creeped me out, thought slightly.
"Don't worry, it's ok" – said Sans holding me closer.
With just that my Soul instantly calmed down.
"How in the world does he do that? This is not the first time either" – I thought looking at the skeleton, but couldn't find the answer.
Putting me on one of the tables Sans sat across me watching Alphys who came from the other side of the room holding something resembling a gun.
"This will call out your Soul without us getting into a battle" – she said putting it against my bare chest – "It won't hurt you in any way"
With that she pulled the trigger. A strange, unpleasant feeling awoke as I felt my Soul being pulled out of me. In a moment it was gone and the cold metal of the device parted from my skin leaving a tingly sensation for a split second.
Alphys looked fascinated by the burgundy colored Soul and instantly began examining it and taking notes in her journal.
It was different now: the crimson flowers were covering about half of it with few vines burying deeper and disappearing into the core. The whole pattern was now covered with a thin layer.
The perfectly smooth surface of the Soul only let few rays of bright lights through, making it look like a dark gem.
Sans got closer too examining the changes carefully then tried to hold it. The moment his finger touched its surface the flowers within glowed red ever so slightly. Startled he quickly withdrew his hand and looked at Alphys.
"What's with those?" – He asked.
The scientist tried poking it too, but nothing happened, the result was the same with Frisk's touch. The magic they used caused no reaction whatsoever.
"Sans kiss her" – Alphys said after few more tries and intense thinking.
My cheeks flushed red and in confusion I tried to protest, yet couldn't make a sound.
"There's your answer" – she smiled – "It's her feelings for you. You lucky bastard"
Looking down I saw the flowers glowing bright enough to dye everything around them red, including my shirt and skin.
Putting my jacket back on I pulled the hood over my face and throughout the examination just sat there rethinking my life choices. Though he knew I liked him, I felt embarrassed and nervous being told about it so bluntly and more than anything showing him how much it changed and grew.
For a long time Alphys examined my Soul using different devices that I individually named. After she was done with it she asked me to close my eyes and imagine various situations: sad, happy, frustrating or any other emotion she could think of. By the end of it the amount of notes she took was enough to write a novel.
"It's very curious" – she finally spoke looking through the notes – "your Soul reacts to emotions stronger than any regular one I've seen"
"Is that a good thing or bad?"
"Neither, it simply is" – she shrugged – "I also noticed that there is no dominant trait. It changes with every emotion or thought you experience."
Going through the notes she showed me one. The handwriting was small and neat, almost like a letter from 18th century. On the top of the page she wrote all the traits and put small numbers next to them.
"Currently three traits are almost equally dominant in you: Courage, Justice and Determination" – said Alphys individually pointing at the words with number 1 next to them – "their amount changes continuously, so none can dye the Soul"
"Wait, if that's the case shouldn't the color change constantly? Also Sans said that the color did change at one point, but I always saw the same Soul in front of me" – I said confused – "So what's the deal with that? Why didn't I see the changes that occurred?"
"There's something else present in your Soul. It seems to be causing things unfamiliar to me to happen" – she said looking through her notes – "But I don't know what exactly it is, I've never seen anything like that before"
That answer again. It seemed to be fallowing me wherever I went. But at least I got some answers.
"So optimistic" – I whispered to myself sarcastically.
We sat there a bit more as Alphys ran few examinations on Frisk's Soul too, but finished quite fast as the Soul was familiar to her. She also took a look at my wounds and changed the bandages.
"Your wounds seem to be fine, so there's no need for you to stay here, if you want to leave of course" – she said as she finished.
"She'll stay with me" – said Sans before anyone could speak up.
That would mean living right next to Papyrus too. I still didn't trust him, but giving him a chance would only be fair. Frisk didn't seem to mind either, so after a short hesitation I nodded.
"Make sure you don't move… or use your foot in any way for the time being" – Alphys said as Sans picked me up and followed her out of the room - "Also come here in a week, so I can take a look"
Leaving the Lab Sans noticed that he's still in the lab coat, which for some reason made him mad, while I laughed. While he was changing I wrote a little note on the red sand for Flowey, telling him where we were heading.
"What's wrong Frisk? You look a bit too down"
"Why are we going back there?" – He asked grumpily – "Sans said he liked you, but he hurt you. Did he lie?"
"No, he still likes me and he really regrets doing it. I'm sure Papyrus does too, we just need to talk to him" – I smiled – "besides weren't you the forgiving one from the two of us?" – He didn't reply.
Our conversation was cut short when Sans came back. He took us to the river where now was a wooden boat. In it stood a tall monster in a long black robe with a hood covering his face.
"I'm the Riverman" – a deep voice spoke as we got closer – "I like to ride in my boat along the river. Care for a ride?"
"I hope you're not taking us to Hades" – I said aloud without realizing it.
"Snowdin" – said Sans giving me a confused look.
Once in the boat and moving I told him about Hades and the ferryman who carried the souls of the dead over the river that separated the world of living form the world of dead. As I told everything the similarities surprised even me. After that we both grew silent.
While passing through Waterfall caverns I couldn't help but stare at Riverman's hand as it occasionally showed for a brief moment before disappearing behind the darkness of his robe. Pale grey skin was covering his long slender fingers. A large golden ring on his index finger had the emblem of Kingdom on it that would glitter ever so slightly when dim light shone on it. His hands looked like that of a young man, yet his voice made him sound a lot older.
Soon we reached Snowdin. Here, more than anywhere else I felt at home. Waving Riverman a goodbye I smiled looking at the familiar woods surrounding us.
Stepping on fresh snow we walked into the town.