Two Worlds, Two Souls
Chapter 60: The Struggles of Healing
Angel's Point of View:
I struggle to keep myself calm as I sat on the edge of the bed. With a steady grip on the metal bar beside me on the left, I carefully looked to the challenge before me as I glanced at the floor, where my feet hovered only inches above the metallic surface.
It had been nearly two months since our run from Undyne, though it was only about five weeks since I'd woken. I'd had some time to rest and recuperate, time to practice getting used to my new life with one less hand.
Never did I realize just how hard everything would be…
I was dominate with my right hand. I had to begin to make my left hand do everything that the right was used to before being lost. Writing, painting, drawing, even my hand eye coordination, was terrible once I started to move about.
My balance was absolutely dreadful. I couldn't walk in a straight line due to the weight being off on my body. Often times, I caught myself using more of my magic then normal to accommodate for what I had lost. Using my magic to form an arm, to create the weight that I needed to be stable instead of learning without. I even tried to do my artwork with the chains, but they weren't as steady as my hand had been. It was almost easier trying to teach my left hand how to do things…
Thank goodness I'd been doing some of this practice before when my right hand would get tired and left would take over. It wasn't perfect, but I would make it so in time.
Still, having one hand less left me frustrated. All the changes, everything that was different, it made me a bit more frustrated than I was before.
And the phantom pains… oh couldn't my mind remember them…
Those hurt.
However, that day was going to be a good one. As much as I loved Alphys for putting us all up inside her lab for the last two months while I recovered, I wanted to go home. I was tired of the white walls, when I was used to the stains, the smell of homemade cooking every day, puns being said and shouting echoing across the house. I missed that…
The only drawback was that I had to prove to Alphys that I was ready to go home. The others had already stressed that I would do better back in my own home environment, but Alphys needed some incentive to make sure that I was okay enough to be put back in that house. With all the stairs and not nearly as many things for me to grab onto, she was worried I'd hurt myself.
And while she wasn't wrong… I really just wanted to go home…
"Heya Precious." Lifting my head, I saw Sans standing hesitantly in the doorway. He watched me carefully, knowing that I was preparing myself to try and walk again. I could still do it, just my balance was terrible and more often than not, I needed someone to lean on or something to put my weight against.
The worst part of it was that I had to use a cane to keep me from falling over… I was only twenty…
"Hey Darling." Taking another long breath, I carefully gripped the siding of my bed and allowed my legs to slip to the floor. Quickly did my sense of balance leave me and I leaned in sideways to the bed with my left hand. I saw Sans lift his hand from its home of the blue coat pocket, but I shook my head at him, making him pause his movements. "No cheating, Darling. I have to do this on my own."
Sans, however, didn't return his hand. "Ya sure Precious?"
"If I can't do it, Alphys won't let me go home like she promised." I felt my form shaking from the stress. I felt so different compared to when I had an arm… how did people do it? Those that lost their limbs, how did they survive?
Steps were slow and careful; I couldn't just walk normally like I did before the accident. I felt like hours had passed before I'd made it to Sans' side, and I raced to grab his shoulder since I felt myself starting to slip. His eye lights still watched me carefully, even as I used him as a brace to walk.
Outside my room, I made it three steps before my body gave out and I fell.
A strangled cry left me before I felt the pull of Sans' magic yank at my soul, preventing me from falling. I breathed heavily; sweat already lined my brow while Sans pulled me upright to face him. He raised a brow at me before pulling me back and setting me back on my bed.
It infuriated me that I only made it ten steps before I could do no more.
"Easy there Precious, go ahead n' breathe for a few minutes."
"I can't Sans," I struggled to push against his magic once I was on the bed and braced more easily. "I want to go home. I need to walk."
"Alright, alright." His hold on me didn't waver until my eyes met his. "I'ma gonna talk ta Al. Stay there."
His eye flared somewhat with magic to emphasis his point before he vanished from sight. Once the hold of his magic was gone, I sighed and attempted to do some of the stretches Alphys had assigned me.
As I struggled to move, I tried my hardest to build back up the muscle that I'd lost to a certain degree. For three weeks, I'd been dead to the world. Living on minimal food and not moving. My body had become stiff and I had struggled with most basic things. The factor that I could even move about the bed was a better prognosis then Alphys had given me much earlier on. Granted, I hated the fact that I still couldn't walk, even after five weeks of rest, rehabilitation and practice.
I still didn't feel good. I knew I needed more rest.
But I wanted to go home…
"Prison break!" I jumped when I saw my sister fly through my doorway into the hidden room we'd been using as our own for the last couple months. Behind her came Papyrus and Undyne eagerly as the two of them made a ruckus in my room with the girl Sans intelligently named the mighty terror.
"Oh goodness! Am I to be saved?" Dramatically, my remaining hand was dropped against my forehead, acting like a damsel in distress to fit the playful mood. "Oh, dearest sister, help me escape these pristine walls of cleanliness!"
With an eager look to her eye, my sister rushed at me, her arms wrapped under my legs and back and lifted me from the bed within seconds, I desperately clenched my fingers into her shoulder to hold myself to her.
My little sister did that…
In the last two months, my sister truly grew. She no longer was a twiggy little girl that had followed me around while I protected her in the last five years of my life. She was nearly the same height as me now, having a sudden growth spurt in the last two months during her birthday. She turned thirteen just after I'd woken up before we got into the late spring, early summer season. She had been spending lots of time practicing and playing with Papyrus and Undyne. Her muscles built up quickly so that what I used to do for her all the time was something now she could do to me. She looked more and more like a woman, her body defining out, curves beginning show. No longer could she fool people into thinking she might be a boy with a really high voice.
Frisk held me eagerly, though I could clearly see the hidden surprise in her own eyes that she'd been able to do such a feat as well. She eagerly twirled around, holding me in her arms, before she pivoted to a stop facing the doorway.
"Let's go!"
Frisk had only made it three steps before I was roughly pulled from her grip. With my soul encased in blue magic, I was lifted from the arms of my sister and placed right back where I'd been before. Sans stood next to where my sister had been only moments ago with Alphys beside him, a somewhat cross look on her face.
"F-frisk, you k-know better." Alphys made her way around my bed to check on my arm. "I-I need t-to check Angel's arm a-and try to get her walking a-again today."
"Joy."
The air turned stiff at my flat response.
"N-now let's g-go ahead a-and see how you're a-arm is." Alphys was quick to rush around to the other side of my bed and carefully unwrapped my arm from its bandages. With a quick look over to where Alphys was working, I could see the stub that was left behind. My arm had been cut just below my elbow, what bone had been left was covered by a thick bit of skin that Alphys had managed to pull shut over it.
She poked a prodded for a few minutes before I watched her put a cloth like sleeve over it. She disposed of the old bandages in a bucket beside her feet before I was motioned to sit beside her.
"O-okay now, A-angel. I-I need you to take a-at least a-a few s-steps toward me. O-okay?"
"Yeah…" A heated breath left me before I carefully swung my body out toward the lizard woman. I hesitated to stand, looking at my feet one more time before looking up at Alphys for instructions.
"O-okay, s-so the g-goal is t-to m-make it to S-sans b-by the doorway." Our skeleton friend waved from where he stood, teleporting to the right spot. "I-if you c-can make i-it to him, I-I'll a-approve for you t-to go h-home t-to S-snowdin. S-so I-I'll step b-back and y-you c-can brace y-yourself o-off of me, o-or u-use the cane."
I'm not going to use that damn cane…
When another heated breath left me, I once again attempted to stand on my own two feet without the help of anyone. The air was still with both worry and hesitation as I did so. Everyone was anxious as my careful, slow steps glided along the metal floor. Wobbling about, I stepped around the bed. An eager step left me next to the bed and grabbing onto the metal bars on its side to keep myself upright.
"You got this, Sis!" Frisk cheered me on from the sidelines. She stood by Papyrus who also managed to keep a bright smile on just for me.
"Frisk is right! You can do it!"
Struggling to compensate for the lack of weight on my right side, I attempted to hold myself as high as I could. My determination was high as I was possibly going home if I passed the test.
Then I let go of the railing.
My body instantly wanted to slump forward, but my desire to go home was so great. I was able to hold myself up, even if only for a few moments longer. I struggled to keep my feet under me, practically shuffling as I got closer to Sans who stood waiting for me by the door.
"Ya got this Precious. Grab m'hand."
He was only five feet away.
I needed to do it.
My feet were quick, trying to hurry across the floor, but also not plow into my friend. Granted, Sans looked ready to catch me if I did. My entire body was shaking in sheer difficultly of the task.
I felt like eternity had passed between the agony, the cheering, and sheer force it looked like I was using just for a simple walk to the doorway. Sans was within grabbing distance and my hand flung forward, landing in his own and taking one more step before my legs gave out and I fell.
Sans was ready for me, using his magic, he held me up. His free hand doing so while still held the other in his own. I let out a deep breath into the fluffy outline of his jacket.
I did it, damn it!
"You did it Sis!" Frisk was quick to my side and Sans let go of his hold on me once my sister hand put herself under my arm to assist in holding me up. "Al! She did it! She can go home now, right?!"
"Y-yes… she can go h-home." Our lizard friend walked over to pat my shoulder, to the upper part of my arm that she could barely reach. "Y-you did r-really well."
"Thank Alphys…" I sighed and let my sister help bare all my weight to stand. "It should be a bit easier at home with all the walls and furniture for me to grab onto in order to help me stand and get my strength back."
"I think ya'll like the new kitchen, Precious." Sans grinned from before me. "Got an island in the middle o'it now, even the floor's new too."
I smiled at him. "And I'm eager to see it."
"Cool." Sans gave me a relaxed grin before he turned back to my sister. "Heya, baby bones. You two wanna get everythin' packed up n' meet us at the house? I'll get Angel settled."
"Sans!" Papyrus was quick to yell. "That's- er… actually… that's not a half bad idea, Brother."
"I know, it'll be a hellava long time before I get another one." Sans wiggled the almost nonexistent boney brows he had. "See ya at the house?"
"Sounds good!" My sister quickly handed me back over to Sans entirely, who let me lean against him, using some magic pull on my soul. "We'll get everything packed and should be back in a couple hours, Sis."
"Okay."
And just like, in those few moments I was teleported.
With my balance being not so great, the second we reached where we needed to be, I felt my knees buckle and Sans suffered under the entire weight of my body. His magic was used to keep me somewhat up, preventing me from crumbling into the carpet below.
"Okay… I need to get used to that again…"
As soon as the little ones were away, Sans' grin that hid his true emotions faded. I watched him sigh before he used his magic to lift me off the floor.
"Let's get ya ta the couch."
I was set carefully into the worn cushions. Once I was laying down, I saw Sans plop himself down by where my feet were. I pulled them back and sat up, leaning into the cushions to help with my balance and giving me some control of my movements. I knew the look on his face. He was upset at himself. I had pretty good idea as to what, but I knew better then to push him.
"You know I don't blame you, right?"
The sigh that came out of my friend was heated. Heavy in weight. "Ya should."
"But you were right. Undyne did come after me. She hurt me just like you said, and by some crazy miracle did she become our friend, but at a cost. One that I only have myself to blame for. If I had listened to you, I wouldn't have lost my arm."
"If ya had listened t'me, Undyne wouldn't be yer friend right now." Within a flash, I saw Sans gone. He'd left me on the couch.
Granted… he wouldn't go far. I knew that. He was too worried about me to stay far out of earshot.
I struggled to get on my feet and use the couch as a brace before heading up the stairs. Using the railing as a brace, I moved a bit faster than on my own. Making it to the second floor, I used the wall to keep me upright before I made it to Sans' room. I reached for the doorknob and pushed the door open; bringing me to a dark room that I recognized all too well hadn't been cleaned in a while.
On top of his bed sat Sans, the very skeleton who'd just tried to run away from me. The bottle of echo flower essence was to his teeth, mid sip as he saw me in his doorway. What he had sipped was spat out in shock. He raced to sit up while I stumbled toward him.
I could see the glow in his eye socket as I approached. His face contorted angrily. "Damn it Angel! Get back ta the couch!"
But I was determined…
I stumbled forward, catching Sans off guard, I landed on top of him. I quickly latched what fingers I still had onto his clavicle to prevent him from running away again. He didn't have the strength to fight me, not without one of us breaking something. We landed awkwardly onto his bed. One of my legs managed to hike up on one side of his hips while the other fell over his lap and dangled to the floor. My face landed somewhere into his ribs, the only thing cushioning me was his fluffy jacket to keep the ribs from leaving marks on me from their pointiness.
I lifted my head, glancing back at him with eyes that were brimming with tears. During my recovery, Sans was there with the others, but he always seemed to avoid any moments where we could have been alone together. I assumed it was because of this very conversation that we needed to have between each other. The reason why we had our fight that night.
"…Why?"
At first, he didn't answer. His eye sockets were narrowed at me, the eye lights looking quite unimpressed with my little stunt. Granted, as seconds ticked by, his gaze slowly began to soften. He looked uncomfortable as he sat below my teary-eyed stare. Sans leaned back onto his bed, allowing me to lay atop of him before I felt a boney hand on my head, playing with my lockets of hair.
"Ya ever care about someone so much… that ya do somethin' stupid to keep 'em safe?"
Of course, I knew that pain. How many years had I let the death of my uncle hang like an ugly cloud of misery over my head? How many times did I have to tell my sister I couldn't buy her a toy because food was more important than her memories?
"I've… already lost m'mom and dad… Pap was all I had left…" He paused for a second, the eye lights vanishing for a moment from his sockets. "I never got close ta others… I didn't wanna feel that pain again… Pap was all I needed… Then ya talked ta me from behind that door…"
I remembered those times. When we'd first fallen and I knew that I'd be in hot water if Sans ever found out I was human. Those days seemed so long ago compared to where we were then. It was like a lifetime ago in comparison to how much my sister and I had accomplished. Sans was one of the only friends I'd had, even if I never had seen him before until Toriel agreed to let us out beyond the ruins.
"I tried ta keep my distance… but… ya kept drawin' me back in. Before I knew it, we were livin' together. I… grew comfortable with ya and the mighty terror around. Ya'd manage ta do the one thin' I didn't want, ta attach myself ta another person and be hurt again."
Sans… he was so… expressive in those moments. It was so rare for him that all I could do was listen close while he poured his soul out. I could feel it beating in his ribs. Pulsing with magic from how emotional he was getting. I couldn't resist curling of my fingers deeper into the fabric of his jacket.
"I knew Undyne would hurt ya, kill ya if she ever got the chance. Pap even knew it, so he helped me keep ya distracted so ya wouldn't ask. Then… ya asked me that night… and… all I could think about was her takin' ya away from me… And I couldn't stand that thought."
He wasn't wrong. He'd been right that entire time. The entire argument he had with me, all the things he listed that she'd do to me tried and then some. We were chased almost over half of the underground before she finally couldn't chase anymore, but at that point I'd already ruined my arm from that ludicrous fall of mine into the acid mushroom. Even if it hurt, his words were entirely correct.
"I couldn't… I…"
And that's when Sans paused, unable to focus and get out the words he wanted to use. All I could do was curl into his body, trying to show him that I was there, and that fear he was feeling wasn't something he needed to focus on.
"I shoulda talked to ya. Shoulda tried ta calmly talk ya down. Instead, I yelled at ya and made ya run from me. Which pretty much sent ya right into Undyne's hands."
"… I'm sorry…"
"I'm the one who should be sorry. My fault."
"Don't let the guilt eat at you." I let my single hand release his collarbone in order to grab his jaw to force him to face me. "I'm alive. I'm here. I won't make that mistake of running from you again. Okay? I promise."
Sans' eye lights watched me carefully. As he processed that information, I could the faint edges of sockets softening in belief. We'd played this song and dance before. The last few promises I'd made him; I'd kept. I'd worked diligently to make sure I never broke a promise to him, or any of my friends.
"I know better than ta think you'd break a promise, Angel." Sans sighed. He sat up a bit more and allowed his skull to sit into the side of my hand. "I gotta make a promise ta ya too, I can't hurt ya like that again… yer family."
"Sans-"
"No." Whenever he let his voice be short and sharp, it gathered my attention more than anything. And I even attempted to sit up using the stub of my arm to help myself sit up a bit more as I watched him. Sans focused on me, looked me dead in the eye and a light hue of blue overcame his left socket. "I won't push ya away again. Angel… yer one of that few people I can trust with anythin'. I can't… do that again. Yer one of the few people who understands me… I gotta be more honest, even if it's only with ya. It's a promise, Angel."
I knew better than to doubt him. Sans was never one to make promises unless he knew he would follow through with them. I couldn't remember the last time he made a promise to me, but I wasn't fearful that he'd break it.
So, when the tears fell down my face, I landed back into his ribs and held him close once more. The relief and elation were too great for me to contain as we laid there.
"Thank you…"
Witch's Note:
Hey everyone! Happy new year! Man was this a chapter to have for this lovely holiday! I just love seeing Angel and Sans interact! And two promises in the same chapter?! Made by Angel and Sans to each other?! Holy fudge!
I hope you guys felt similar as we watched them interact out of the eyes and ears of everyone.
Anyway, I won't hold you guys much longer, let's get to the reviews!:
Thechaosmaster: Chaos! So good to see you and so overjoyed that you loved the last chapter! Hope you liked this one too! And it was so lovely of you to leave such a long and lengthy review for our two resident Mystic's to read! I bet Mystic Girl had plenty to think about, didn't you Mystic?
Mystic Girl: First of all, ouch! That… what the hell did they call me?
Me: Chaos said, "I can tell that you are some kind of a sadist, or get some kind of sick joy of torturing people." I also love how they break down what they think your soul type is. Do you agree with that?
Mystic Girl: Of course, I'm determination! I'm just like Frisk, remember?
Me: Oh, I'm aware. Curious what they think my soul type is… but also be mindful to heed what he said about death and killing people, okay? We're not having another two teams trying to kidnap my characters to kill or harm them just because they hurt our beloved cinnamon roll. There are lots of other characters who are gonna do that in the future!
Mystic Girl: I know! And I'm going to ram my foot so far up there-
Me: (Covering her mouth quicky) And that's all the time you're getting on this thread of thought.
RoseCentury: Oh Rose, enjoy it while you can! That sounds quite lovely what your hubby is doing for you! Jealous much! Very much so! I am!
Ceoko: Your back! Oh, it's so good to see you! What in the world have you been up to?! Hope your enjoying the newest chapters since we last spoke!
impashadows: Why hello there! You must be the newest and latest person to binge read our story! Lovely to meet you! I'm Halloween Witch and I do hope that you're enjoying the story! I promise that this story will keep going and is planned and prewritten to have ninety-two chapters! So don't be afraid to leave comments or talk here, that's what many of the people above have done! Thank you for reviewing!
Sorry for the shorter reply this time around you guys, I'm with the family this week helping out my mother and brother and playing some games with them. We always love a good board game or card game. Monopoly, yahtzee, phase 10, they tend to be the popular ones but always willing to try others! And I'm being called away! Have a happy new year everyone and don't forget please to review! Me and Mystic Girl love to hear from you!
Halloween Witch
