Chapter 9. Sans is so lazy he doesn't ever capitalize. No, those "typos" in Sans' lines are intentional.
Chapter's gonna be a long one. Have fun. I'm tired. It's a little messy. Not as good as Heartache/Heartbreak. There's not gonna be a chapter as good as that for a while, I feel. Not until Snowdin.
I'm uploading this one so quickly because I want to resume normal upload schedule as fast as I can.
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Chapter 9: sans.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The snow fell softly, speckling our cloaks, and the cold nipped our faces like a little puppy.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
The wind billowed out our cloaks and froze my sweat, biting into my skin with ice. Chara and I made small talk about ourselves. Or rather, Chara told me about her, since she knew all about me already. She didn't have too good of a sense of humor. She liked any and all chocolate, and refrained from squealing in delight when I dug a small fun-size pack of M&M's out of my pack, broken and crushed from my fall. I personally wasn't in the mood for any. She came from the Middle Ages, though she didn't act the part. She always wanted to make things. Kind of like me.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Our rugged brown combat boots made deep impressions in the snow. I was never one for "women's" clothing. Apparently, neither was Chara. Thick forests lined either side of the path we were walking down. A fallen branch, too heavy for something useful. We walked over it, Chara giving it a little punt.
Crunch. Crunch.
SNAP.
We whirled around. The branch was broken. Cautiously, we went back to examine the branch, Chara facing the other direction in case of a threat, exactly what my brother and I would have done. Except I was usually the one on watch. And normally, there wouldn't be a third shoeprint, much less one worn smooth.
"Someone's following us." I told Chara. She nodded and vanished while I used another trick my brother taught me. I took out my phone and pretended to be checking something, when in reality I had my phone's front-facing camera on.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
A flicker of shadow captured by the camera. My reflexes were quick, but Chara's reflexes were quicker as she took sudden possession of my body and nailed the "take picture" button before the shadow could vanish.
"Nice going, partner." I whispered to her in my thoughts. I flipped open the image. It was a strange, hooded man, too short to be the pale man. I shivered and closed the image, going back to the camera.
Crunch. Crunch. Stop.
In front of me was a large fence of sorts. I could easily slip between the poles, but before I did, something else caught my eye on my phone.
The screen blacked out. I frantically pressed the power button, but to no avail. Finally, the screen lit up again, but this time, there was only one word.
Human.
I yelped. The screen changed.
Don't you know how to greet an old pal?
Turn around and shake my hand.
Trembling, I looked behind me. It perfectly matched the shadowy figure I saw before. I slowly turned around, my hand outstretched in a handshake. The figure reached its right hand out, left hand reaching up…
PPPPPPPPPPPPLLBBLBBPLBPBLPLLBBPPBPBPLBPLBLPLBPLBLPLBPL-
My look of fear turned into a look of confusion. In front of me was an actual skeleton. Pretty short but still taller than my 4' 8" height, pretty short for my age. Two points of light for eyes. Holding my hand. With the biggest grin I've ever seen on anyone.
BLPBLBBBPBLBLPBLPBLPLBPLBPLBBLBLPBLLwheeeeeeeeeeeeeee…..
We stood there silently for a few seconds, soaking in what just happened. A grin was creeping up on my face. His eyes got a bit brighter, as if widening. His grin stretched a little farther.
Neither of us, Chara included, could help it. All three of us exploded in laughter, a combination of relief and anticlimactic tension. He laughed in a deep, baritone voice.
Finally we got up, me wiping a tear from my eye. "oh, man. haven't laughed that hard in a while. The old whoopee cushion in a hand trick. Never fails to make a good impression."
I chuckled. "Me neither."
His grin was still on his face as he put his whoopee cushion back into his jacket pocket. "hey, girl. name's sans. sans the skeleton."
"Hi, Sans. my name's-"
He cut me off. "whoop. don't need to. i already know your name. frisk, right?"
I was a bit creeped out. "How?"
"well, when you're trompin' down a forest, talking to some weird girl that vanished away, she called you frisk. so i thought, 'hey, maybe her name's frisk.' after all, that's the logical thing to think, right?"
"Uh…" I chuckled. "I guess that makes sense." Though I was pretty sure he knew my name from some other source.
"anyways. you're the human, right? that's hilarious. because i'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but, y'know, i really don't care about hunting humans. other hand, my bro's a human hunting fanatic."
"Eh…" I was getting a bit overwhelmed.
"what? can't you say anything other than those three letters in weird variations? nah, i'm pulling your leg. hey, i think that's my bro over there."
We slipped through the fence, where there was a lamp on the other side in front of a sentry station.
"behind that lamp. trust me kid. it'll work."
I deadpanned him. People always said I had an impressive deadpan. "Really."
"yeah."
"A lamp."
"yeah. you gonna hide or not?"
"Fine." I scooted myself right behind the lamp. There was no way this was hiding me…
Space distorted around me, creating a safe bubble towards the direction the path led. I stared at Sans, dumbfounded. He only gave a little wink before a tall skeleton come barging in.
"SAAAAAANS!"
"what, pap?"
"IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS! AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED. YOUR. TRAPS! AND YOU NAP FOR TOO LONG EVERY NIGHT!"
"'s called sleeping, papyrus. you should try it. mebbe this lamp will help you sleep."
Two angry pairs of eyes glared at Sans. Chara sighed in my head.
"NO! ARGH! SEE, THIS IS MY PROBLEM! I'M HAULING BOTH OF OUR WORKLOADS AROUND! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE? WE HAVE TO BE READY TO CAPTURE IT!"
Papyrus calmed down a bit. "Then, I, Papyrus, will finally obtain everything I so coveted and justly deserve! Fame, fortune, friends! And I can finally join the royal guard!"
"mebbe this lamp can help you, pap." I shot him another angry glare. He gave me a wink while Papyrus got all worked up again, his skull turning a shade of pink.
"NO! THAT LAMP'S NOT HELPING! JUST LIKE YOU! ALL YOU DO IS JUST SIT AND BOONDOGGLE!"
Sans chuckled. "chill out man. i've gotten a ton of work done today."
Papyrus gave him a glare. "Don't…"
"a skele-ton."
Ba-dum-CRASH!
Papyrus and I facepalmed, Papyrus letting out a muffled scream. I kept my wits about me, however, wondering who did the drums. I looked around the sentry station, as far as my head would go without Papyrus noticing.
There was a little white dog on a small drum set. Playing the drums for Sans.
"SAAAAAAAAAAAANS!"
"come on, pap. you're smiling."
"I AM AND I HATE IT! Why do I have to do so much just to get a little bit of recognition?"
"sounds like you're really working yourself…"
"DON'T."
"down to the bone."
Ba-dum-CRASH!
The little white dog slapped its paws on two miniature drums and a miniature pair of crash cymbals, rigged up so the dog could use them.
Papyrus, meanwhile, was hunched over from exasperation. "Ugh! I will attend to my puzzles. As for you, put a little more 'backbone' into your work! Nyeh heh heh heh heh!"
Papyrus walked away, leaving only Sans standing there. The dog jumped off the drum set and ran off, after grabbing a small dog treat from the sentry station.
"alright kid, you can come out now." Space returned to normal, and I was once again crouching behind a normal lamp. I walked out. "What was that?" I asked.
"huh? oh, that was my bro papyrus." he answered.
"No, what happened with the space?"
"oh, that? it's the lamp. pretty cool lamp, huh?" I was pretty sure it wasn't the lamp. But Sans continued. "alright kid," though it sounded like he wasn't referring to me, "here's a real question."
He closed his eyes. When he reopened them, the light was gone. "you're alive again. how?"
"Eh...what do you mean? I've always been alive."
"no. not you. the other girl. chara. i know you can hear me."
"Uh, Sans...I'm not sure if she'll talk to you, and honestly she hasn't told me anything, so…" I was fiddling my thumbs when Chara appeared next to me.
"Well, same answer to you, Sans. I've always been alive."
"i know that. but how are you consciously speaking?"
"Apparently the half-life of a soul was much longer than you guessed. You should be smart enough to add it together." Chara said, a smile on her face.
"and what are you gonna do to frisk here? you know what will happen if you try anything."
"I'm well aware of the consequences. I'd uh...rather put my past behind me, Sans."
I had to interject. "What are you guys even talking about?"
Both of them looked at me. "Is it too soon to tell?" Chara asked. "Would it disrupt memory allocation?"
"mebbe. though, judging the look on her face, she's already had plenty disruption. tell her a little bit. did g-man tell you anything specific to not say?"
"He was being vague. Again." She sighed, the first time Chara displayed any emotion other than discomfort or some strange cheerfulness. "If he wasn't so good at this, there would be no reason to even have him on the project."
"normal for that guy. anyways, frisk. you're probably confused out of your mind. memories, ether, souls, i geddit. heck, i would be confused as you are right now if i didn't know anything. just, uh...keep at it, okay? and chara?"
"Yes?"
"tell her as much as you're allowed, piece by piece. i dunno if he really admits it or not, but you're just as important as frisk here. and be a good kid, alright? i'm takin' a shortcut."
Sans walked off towards the ruins. The snow kicked up behind him, and when it settled down, there was no trace of him left.
"How does he know my name?" I asked Chara.
"You were...associates with him." Chara replied. "I'll slowly explain all this soul theory to you. You're smart enough to deduce what we're trying to do. But there's gonna be a gap. That gap will fill itself in at the very end. Come on, Frisk. We gotta get going before Papyrus comes back. And I'm not sure if the lamp thing will work again."
We walked through the forest as the trees got progressively shorter and less intimidating. I took a deep sigh of relief. There was a box nearby with a note that said something about items stored in the box can be transported anywhere. I stored my clothes and laptop into the box, leaving only my bag and phone. Then, I thought of something.
"Hey, Chara. I want to try to SAVE right now without really feeling anything."
Chara looked at me. "Sure, go ahead."
I got up, shook myself out, and breathed in the cold air. I thought of Sans, of the cold air, and of whatever Sans did with the lamp. It warmed me up a little bit. I thought of the dog, of Chara and Toriel.
From my soul and Chara's soul, the red mist of determination swirled and formed into a small, pulsing ball of white light, reinvigorating me. "That should do it, right?" I asked.
"Yep. That's a SAVE." Chara answered. "Let's keep going, Frisk. Maybe I'll explain a few things to you."
The ball of light dissipated and we continued walking onwards, away from the ruins. So many questions were in my head. Chara probably could answer a few of them, but I felt like many of them would be answered at the end, whatever the end may be. That alone filled me with the determination to keep going.