Two Worlds, Two Souls
Chapter 54: Realization
Sans' Point of View:
Groanin', I could help but still feel sour as the early mornin' hours came ta me and I still couldn't get any sleep. I… was infuriated at Angel for brinin' up those topics and thinkin' I would agree, but… I was pissed at myself for makin' 'er cry. She was only tryin' ta do what she thought was best. Tryin' ta make a better life for 'er and 'er sister. I knew she needed ta tell Undyne at some point, I guess that after my little pow-wow with Vinnie just a few months ago, I wasn't eager for a repeat with the captain.
Huffin' in acceptance that I wasn't about ta go back to bed, I got up and dressed at the early hour of five. Even Pap wasn't up yet from the lack of noise from outside my room, granted… I doubt he'd talk ta me that day after how sour thin's went with Angel, and I'm sure Frisk would have a bone to pick with me as well.
Teleportin' down ta the first floor, I made m'way over to where the coffee pot was. I opened the machine and sighed, I had to fill the damn thin' with grinds. Normally, Angel has that already covered and has a cup of the dark brew in my hands before I'm even awake enough. She must have not done it the night before due to our argument.
I really am a stupid bonehead…
Fillin' up the machine, I let it run with fresh water and the coffee pot below so I could have a few cups and stay awake. Now that I wasn't screamin' at Angel from how scared I was, I was realizin' just how stupid m'actions were. I didn't wanna lose her, but that was no reason ta tell her ta give up.
Damn… I really had ta apologize ta them…
While I waited, I walked over ta the counter where I'd tossed my phone the night before. Damn thin' had a crack in the side of it from where it hit the countertop, but still seemed to glow. As soon as I touched it, the screen lit up and vibrated at me, showin' that I had four missed texts and four missed calls.
"Damn… I was popular last night." Quickly lookin' through the messages first, the first two were from Undyne tellin' us our shifts in the mornin' as well as that she had ta cancel cookin' with Pap and Angel later that night due ta guard duties. Hardly mullin' it over, I skipped ta the next two.
They were from Frisk.
I had to blink at that. The Kiddo wouldn't normally text me, especially if we were in the same house. She wasn't a fan of the textin' feature. Havin' an older model phone compared ta Pap and myself, she had to hit certain numbers multiple times in order to create certain words. It took too long for her likin' and made her impatient. The texts that I was sent was nothin' but gibberish anyway. Random letters of all sizes and shapes that were just long messes with no words hidden in them at all.
"Probably just hit the buttons by accident in her pocket…"
But then I saw the strange time she'd sent them to me, only three hours ago, around two-oh-seven.
"Did she have the thin' in bed with her?"
I could only roll my eye lights before I moved over ta the messages. One was from Angel, and three were from Frisk.
That made me pause and a damn heavy sack of lead I felt land on my soul.
They all had early times in the mornin' stamped on them for when they called through. Angel's was the earliest at one-thirty, then came the three from her sister that carried between two-oh-five and four in the mornin'.
With worry already settlin' in my non-existent gut, I rushed up the stairs to their room (forgettin' my powers at the moment in my panic) and burst open their door.
Their thin's were gone. There was no note.
"FUCK!"
My fist hit the door to their room, their doorknob slammin' into the wall and causin' some damage that I'd have to repair later. Instantly my brother's door swung open and his head poked out.
"Sans! What is the meaning of this early morning screaming! The Great Papyrus is sleeping!" He huffed angrily before stalkin' over ta me. Liftin' me off the ground, he brought me ta meet him, face to face. "And you must have woken our friends! What were you thinking, barging into their room like that-"
"I didn't think you'd pick up. I guess I was hoping that you wouldn't be as mad as you'd been."
Papyrus and I both stopped ta look at my phone clenched in my hands. In my frustration, I'd hit the play button for the message Angel left me. "I'm… sorry. I didn't want to make you mad… I just wanted you to understand how difficult it was to hide such a secret from a friend. I'm sure you'll be worried sick when you don't find us at the house, but we'll be okay. Frisk and I are heading to Alphys' for a bit until we cool down a bit. If I don't hear from you or Papy by the afternoon, I'll give you guys another ca-"
"Sis! Watch out!" Pap and I could hear some kind of explosion on the other end of the line and I struggled with a cold flash of panic that swept over my bones. Pap gasped while we heard the approachin' clang of armor on the other side.
"You damn humans! Halt in the name of King Asgore! I, Undyne, head of the royal guard, will capture you and bring freedom to my people!"
"God damn it!" Instantly we could hear runnin' and the cut of the line that left both Pap and I speechless.
"No…" Papyrus sobbed as he quickly set me down and looked over my phone. "The message Brother! When was it sent?"
"About four hours ago." I tried to keep my breathin' steady, even if my hands couldn't and dread had come over me. "Frisk called too, between one and three hours ago. She left me three messages."
"Well, play them!" Papyrus worriedly shook my arms and I obliged in his command, reachin' for the other saved messages.
Pantin' was the first thin' we heard from the other side. "Did we lose her?"
"I think so," I could hear Angel sigh in the background while the girls caught their breath and I could hear them pushin' through some grass that I assumed was in Waterfall. "Thank god for MK, Undyne's more worried about getting him away from us then finding us at the moment. That will give us time to escape and rest."
"Sis… I keep trying to call Papy and Sans, but neither of them are picking up…"
"I know… just… keep trying Frisk. We'll reach one of them soon enough." Hearin' her sigh on the other side of the line, she huffed. "We can't go back, Undyne's cut off all entrances back into Snowdin, so without Sans' shortcuts, we're not go-"
The message time cut out and left Pap and I in silence. I only had two more.
I played the third message, which cut in on hearin' heavy pantin' from Frisk as she ran with her phone in her hands. The ragin' roar of Undyne was in the background while she ran.
"He's still not picking up!"
"Keep trying Frisk! He'll come! I know he will!"
"Angel!"
"Hurry Frisk! This way! Though the research area!"
I could hear the clearin' of bushes out of their way while they ran.
"You damn humans! Stay put!"
"Frisk! Under the tree- shi-!"
"Sis!?"
"I'm okay! Just keep runni-Ah!"
An inhuman scream left our older friend. I couldn't stop shakin' as I listened in, horrified to know what actually was happenin'.
"Angel! It's burning your arm!"
I heard her growl though the pain. "Just keep running!"
And that was the end of the third message.
I raced to played the fourth.
"…What do I do Sans?"
The question and the lack of runnin' or excitement in the background made me pause. Did they get away? Did they get captured?
"Angel… she won't get up… her arm is… I don't know what to do!" She was sobbin' in the background. "Why won't you answer? Do you hate us?"
There was a pause as the young girl I always knew as the tiny terror held so much fear in her voice.
"Please… I don't want my sister to die."
The line cut.
"End of final messages. To listen to your messages again, press one. To call back, press two. To-"
I shoved the phone back in my pocket.
"B-brother?" Pap wept beside me. Durin' the listenin' in, he sank to the floor, a horrified expression on his face as we listened to the cries of his best friends.
I ripped my phone back out and dialed the kid's number. I couldn't stop myself from pacin' in the hallway while the seconds ticked by. Damn it, please let them pick up. God damn it!
And there it was, the sound of the line connectin'.
"H-hello?"
That made me pause.
"Al? What the hell are ya doin' with the kid's phone?" I pulled back long enough ta motion ta Pap ta get dressed. He took off in a hurry while I was talkin' to the royal scientist. "Are the girls alright? We only just got their messages? Is Angel-"
"S-sans, stop." My ramblin' halted at her words. "G-get Papyrus and get over to the lab, c-come up to the s-second floor. I'll m-meet you there."
She hung up the phone after that.
"God damn it!" A slew of swears left my teeth before I walked to Pap's room. "Come on Pap! We gotta go!"
"I'm coming!"
Papyrus had changed the fastest I'd ever seen in my life into his day off clothes and quickly grabbed onto my arm. With him attached, we left the house in a flash of blue before landin' inside of Alphys' laboratory.
Still as messy as ever, I glanced barely at the mess Alphys normally makes before I noticed more of a whirlwind had made it though. Alphys was a messy person, but not to the point of throwin' thin's and leavin' food on the ground in her lab. It looked like somethin' threw up all over her walls, maybe her trash can when she wasn't lookin'?
That wasn't like Alphys.
"G-good, you m-made it."
Turnin' our heads, Alphys waited there in the corner by the escalator she had ta take her up ta the second floor. Honestly, she looked like shit. She was still in her pjs while her lab coat was thrown over it and gloves on her hands. Some small bits of blood spatter were on her lab coat which she promptly ignored, focusin' on us.
"C-come on, they're t-this way."
I made the first step toward the escalator. Pap followed after me and in a rare moment, he grabbed my hand. M'poor brother needed comfort in those moments as he struggled with his friends bein' attacked and possibly killed. He intertwined his phalanges in mine while we rode the escalator ta the second floor and followed Alphys into a hidden set of hallways in the wall.
"H-her condition isn't g-good." Alphys told us as she led us toward our friends. "A-angel did all she could t-to protect Frisk, and it c-cost her half her arm and a-a lot of b-blood. I-I still need to smooth the bone d-down, s-so she could add on a p-prostatic one d-day. F-frisk is fine, but she c-can't give blood t-to Angel, Angel is o n-negative and Frisk is a p-positive."
"Shit…" The curse flew so easily from my mouth, I didn't even try ta contain it in this rotten situation.
"B-but she'll live, yes?" Papyrus questioned worriedly from behind myself.
That caused Alphys to pause.
"I-I don't know." Alphys stopped for just a moment to glace at us. "Be p-prepared g-guys… she doesn't look g-good."
Alphys led us into a final room where instantly I saw multiple monitors surroundin' one of the beds. Frisk carefully sat up of the edge of one where she had been curled into her sister's shoulder. She looked us, no sound came from her mouth. I noticed the endless tears that fell from her eyes while she glanced over next to her sister below her. And Angel…
She looked dead…
She struggled to breath from where she lay. Her skin was clammy and pasty white, even more so then I was used to seein'. Multiple bags were hangin' from a medical tree ta give her fluids and nutrients and a mask had been placed over her mouth to help her breath.
And god damn it…
Half her damn right arm was gone.
It was cut off at the base of her elbow, I could see that Alphys had bandaged it up as best she could, the bandages didn't appear to be red of any sort, so that led me to believe she wasn't bleedin' out anywhere.
But then I recalled how Frisk wasn't compatible ta give her sister blood, and that made me worry all over again.
It was my fault… I was the reason she left…
There was a thud behind me and I glanced to look. Poor Pap… he'd sunk ta the floor in horror of seein' his friend like that. Someone that he looked up ta. Someone that he thought of as a sister…
Fuck… what the hell did I do?
"Angel… Frisk…" My brother raised his phalanges ta his jaw as he attempted to hush his sobs. "What happened?"
"U-undyne found them on t-their way to me." Alphys was lookin' over some charts above and writing things down while she set a clawed hand on Frisk's shoulder. "I-it's okay Frisk… I c-can tell them if you want."
The younger girl nodded, not willin' to say a word as her head dropped and curled back into her sister's side, tryin' ta sleep.
"P-please come back out with me, w-we can monitor them from the o-observation room." The doctor walked back to the door and held it open for us. Carefully watchin' at the two sisters one last time, I ducked away, ashamed.
Pap wasn't far behind until we left the room. It closed behind us softly and Alphys led us around the corner to where a large glass panel was between us and the girls so we could clearly seem them, and they could see us. However, Frisk was gone at that point, fallin' asleep with her sister. She didn't raise her head again, even when Alphys slowly dimmed the lights in the room so that they could rest. She cut most of the lights down except the monitors and some emergency lights on the floor before lookin' up at us.
"Frisk t-told me a-about the fight y-you had with Angel the night before. That's what led to her thinking you n-needed some space from her." Alphys lowered her eyes ta the screens, briefly checkin' before turnin' back ta us. "T-things were f-fine for the two until t-they got to Waterfall s-square, Undyne f-found them and began t-the chase. T-thankfully MK, M-maria's son, had s-seen the girls leave a-and got them o-out of many situations, b-but once they made it t-to the border for Hotland, they c-cut through the research site i-in order to try and d-deter Undyne. A-angel fell t-then, getting some a-acid mushrooms o-on her a-arm. T-the a-acid ate away a-at her s-skin and m-made it h-hard for h-her to travel. They m-managed to g-get to Hotland and U-undyne finally c-couldn't chase them a-anymore with her a-amour on. I-it had o-over heated her. The girls took t-their own water and s-splashed it on her. As U-undyne was w-waking up, t-the girls left her t-their water and l-left. B-by that point, A-angel's arm was falling a-apart a-and bleeding too m-much. S-she gave u-up on s-saving her arm… a-and cut it off…"
Pap gasped from beside me while I tried to keep down our dinner from the night before. Every word she told me made me feel sicker and guiltier…
"S-she managed to c-cauterize t-the wound w-with a-a heat c-crystal b-before passing o-out. F-frisk called m-me after that a-and I b-brought them b-back here. I-I'm doing a-all I can for t-them. A-at this point, t-there's little I-I can do o-other than k-keep her safe, c-comfortable, a-and pray s-she's strong e-enough to survive t-this."
"… Can I try healing her?" Pap questioned from beside me.
"I w-would wait a bit, Papyrus." Alphys halted him with the slow movement of her hand. "H-her soul a-and b-body have been t-through so m-much today. I-I don't know if i-it could take being healed a-at the moment…"
"B-but-!"
"Bro, Al knows what she's doin'." Squeezin' his hand that was still in mine, Pap backed off when I spoke. "We gotta believe in her, she knows more about this stuff then we do anyway."
"W-well, it m-might not b-be my field of s-study, i-it was my mother's." Alphys commented softly. "And I r-remember how she e-explained m-many things to m-me g-growing up."
Pap's sockets lowered ta the ground. "I see…"
"I-I'll still need h-help though!" Alphys jumped ta try and keep his spirits high. "Frisk i-is e-emotionally traumatized a-and Angel is still u-unwell. I-I'll need h-help to t-take care of them a-and get them b-back on their feet, and make s-sure that Undyne d-doesn-"
A loud poundin' halted our conversation and Alphys quickly pulled up a screen to view cameras in the first second of her lab. In the middle of the livin' space sat the fish woman herself, removed of her armor, but a glowin' spear in hand.
"ALPHYS! WHERE ARE YOU!?"
Witch's Note:
OH SHIT!
Okay, now we're in trouble! Duck and cover people! This chase ain't over yet!
(Mystic Girl is already marching toward the fish woman to try and stop her.) Not to my favorite character you're not! Let me at her!
(In my horror, I rushed forward to grab her under the arms and hold her back.) The fuck is wrong with you woman! She'll end your existence before you get within ten feet of her! Or she'll play with you until she breaks your soul! Are you mad!?
Mystic Girl: Let go of me Halloween! I'm gonna get her!
(I rolled my eyes.) Oh yeah? How and with what?
(My best friend looks around quickly before she notices nothing to grab. In a fit of panic, she starts patting down her pockets for anything to get this fish woman we love with. The only thing she had on her was a smart phone. She pales when that was the only thing she had.)
(I carefully whispered in her ear.) I hope you're not planning to use that-
(She screeches at me.) I'm NOT that stupid!
Okay… I think we better move onto reviews before things get even more hairy than they are already…
Not A Shady Guy: I'm so glad you're loving the chapters Shady! The drama, the backstory, and oh how I love to tease you! Your response to this chapter will be worth wild! And so much character development…. Holy fudge I just about wiped myself out with these characters… they're a lot to work with you know.
And as for the medical knowledge, thank you for those kind words! I had to spend so much time researching and putting together what I already knew. Growing up, my mother has been a registered nurse all my life, so basic medical knowledge was always a must in the family, especially with everyone always getting hurt (especially my Papa.) Anything beyond my knowledge I try my damndest to make sure the information is a close to accurate as possible. So, I hope you'll appreciate the up coming chapters that will focus a bit on that, and actually a bit into the second story when we get there. I'm sure you're the first one who's going to point something out I had to make sure Mystic Girl knew happened to Angel.
(My best friend tilts her head at me.) What are you talking about? Seriously? I've hung around your mom and you for years; I don't get what you're talking about.
(I wiggled my eye brows at her.) Oh, come on! It was about… chapter… fifteen I think of the second book? We have a doctor that's talking to Angel and Sans?
(My friend pauses for a long moment to stare at me with no response…) What?
(Rolling my eyes, I stealthily step forward and whisper into her ear the more accurate details of the chapter so that no one can hear my words. Mystic Girl's eyes widened in utter disbelief before she jumped back from me.)
That part! (She screeched as another tirade of fury for a future character is brought about.) That stupid-
(And with that I cover her mouth.) Let's not spoil it, Mystic. We still have another thirty something chapters to get through before we can even get to the second story.
(She rips my hand away and scowls deeply at me.) Don't you dare protect him, Halloween! He's next on my shit list.
RoseCentury: God girl! Twins? Triplets? We must know! Please be careful as you let your little ones grow and prepare for birth! Keep us posted!
Guest Reviewer: Lovely to hear from you! As for your two comments you made, sadly neither Frisk nor Angel have the power to transverse the timeline. I removed that from my story. I changed it over to determination magic having chains instead. Those chains give them the feeling and power of being invincible, so long as they have the will power and literal determination to do it, much as how has been shown in these most recent chapters. The timeline powers from the game… yeah, I never was sure how to use that in our story with the girls or if only one of them would have that power, so I decided to do away with it and come up with a new power that seemed to fit much better.
Me: Well, that was quite the chapter… what in the world are we gonna do?
Mystic Girl: Beat up the fish woman?
(Smacking my face) Let's not do that and say we did. I'd rather not die before the story is over with. Besides, we still have the second story and that possible secret other project-
(Mystic Girl slams her hand over my face.) That's still in early development! No hints about other books! You have to many projects going on!
(I pout at her.) Awe, but you try to reveal stuff all the time.
Mystic Girl: Yeah, because you stop me. You know I can't keep my mouth shut!
Me: Yeah, yeah, welp, let's wrap it up and say good night, Mystic, we got another chapter to get set up. One that's just as messy as the last handful! You ready?
Mystic Girl: I'm ready! Good night, everybody!
Halloween Witch
