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This chapter takes place over the span of nearly a week.

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Dwindling Light

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Once the first day of searching had ended with no signs of the soul stealing flower, Sans had returned home utterly exhausted. He'd spent the entire day combing through the confusing network of streets and alleyways that comprised the Capital. It was, after all, the closest place from where he had last seen the yellow flower Fearia had called "Flowey".

He wasn't the only one looking, of course. After learning what had happened, Asgore had ordered Undyne to rally all of the members of the Royal Guard and set out in search of the Sixth Child's stolen Soul. The Underground was now crawling with guards from every district. Even some of the ordinary citizens had joined in to help. Unfortunately, despite everyone's combined efforts, the flower had yet to show his nasty face.

While in the Capital, Sans had forced himself to return to the King's Throne Room to retrieve his beat up winter jacket and also to take one last look around. It was still a disaster area, with cracks in the walls and ceiling, and the once beautiful garden that Asgore had been so fond of now had large patches of dead and dying flowers. This once peaceful room held nothing but bad memories now.

After a dinner of Papyrus' halfhearted attempt at spaghetti, Sans had trudged back up to his room. Inside, Poff had been curled up beside the sleeping child, keeping watch over her. He had been like this for the entire day but upon seeing the skeleton, the small white dog had yawned before standing up to stretch.

Sans had greeted the small white monster tiredly as he hung his old jacket on the back of his chair. The sleeves and back of the beloved article of clothing had been generously torn up by the thorny vines, so he'd need to patch it up first before he could wear it again. For now, he'd just have to settle for his second favorite jacket. The faded blue fabric was looser and it wasn't anywhere near as insulated, but the light grey hood was large enough to hide the painful crack in his skull, and truthfully, that was all he really needed it for.

...

On the second day, Sans had wandered throughout the Core. The bright artificial light made this probably the worst possible place to try and hide anything, but still he couldn't check it off his list until he had checked everywhere. The steady electric hum and the constant vibration of magic resonating within his bones brought back a strange feeling of nostalgia for the skeleton, and not the good kind.

Returning home again empty handed, Sans felt his frustrations mount. Sure, he hadn't really expected to find anything in the Core, but the fact that literally no one in the Underground had reported seeing anything unusual made the likelihood of actually finding the kid's Soul feel a bit more hopeless. As much as he wanted to stay optimistic, Sans couldn't deny that the little girl's chances were decreasing with every minute she remained in her current state.

Sitting at the dining table with Papyrus, Sans had tried his hardest to keep up a light conversation with him - maybe throw in some half-baked puns just for the hell of it. He knew his brother was starting to get concerned. Papyrus could always tell when something was bothering him, but Sans still couldn't bring himself to tell his little brother what was really happening. He needed his bro to stay calm because whether he realized it or not, he was really the only thing that was keeping Sans from losing it. For his sake, as well as the kid's, he had to keep Papyrus from freaking out about this for as long as possible.

When Sans had entered his room that night, he had noticed that Poff was awake already. That really wasn't unusual. The way he was acting, however, had given the skeleton pause. Sitting on the pillow, beside the little girl's head, the small dog's soft white fur appeared to be slightly bristled as he stared at the empty space near the foot of the bed. After a moment of silence, he slowly turned his head to stare at Sans before finally laying back down.

Okay... that was weird...

...

On the third day, Sans had endured the sweltering heat of Hotland as he teleported around the dangerous steam vents and past the various pits of lava. This was probably the last place a flower would want to hide out in, but he still needed to make sure.

While he was there, Sans had stopped by the Royal Laboratory to see if Dr. Alphys had seen anything. She hadn't. The yellow lizard lady looked almost as bad as he did. Her nerves were frazzled and it appeared as if she hadn't slept for a few days. At least Sans wasn't the only sleep deprived monster in the Underground.

For a few hours, Sans had flicked through the newly installed security cameras searching for anything strange or out of place. He was so focused on this task, he hadn't realized how much time had slipped by until the Core had started to dim. It was just so hard to look away, he felt that if he had, he might have missed that one and only clue that would point him to where the damn flower was hiding.

When Sans had finally gotten home, it was well past dinner time, but Papyrus had waited up for him. The worried skeleton had bombarded his older brother with question after question. Where had he been? What had he been doing for the past few days and why had he gotten home so late? Instead of being angry, Papyrus was beside himself. He couldn't understand why Sans was acting so unlike himself. He was withdrawn and elusive now and for some reason, no matter what, he wouldn't take off that dumb hood!

Finally seeing how his recent behavior had been affecting his little brother, Sans had relented a little and told Papyrus the vague truth about what was going on. Fearia had fallen asleep and he was trying to find something that would help wake her up. He had tried to word it as delicately as he could, but unfortunately Papyrus was still highly distraught upon hearing the news. Vowing to join the search the very next day, the taller skeleton could not be dissuaded.

Unlocking the door to his room, Sans was instantly put on edge when he heard growling. Turning to look over to his bed, he spotted the small white dog monster. Poff was standing over the little girl, puffed up and growling at something beside the bed. Problem was, there wasn't anything there. At least nothing that Sans could see.

It took a few minutes to get the feisty little furball to calm down, but once he did, Poff had laid back down next to the sleeping child. Whatever that was all about, Sans truly didn't know, but he definitely wasn't going to write it off as simply nothing because something was clearly going on here. Could there be something in his room? Something he just couldn't see? If there was, then what did it want...?

Looking over to the soulless child, Sans felt a worried flutter stir inside his chest.

Was it after Fearia's body?

...

On the fourth day, a new problem had arisen and with it, a new sense of urgency. Every morning and every evening, Sans had been routinely taking the small child to the healing star residing inside the secluded Judgment Hall. It was necessary because, even though the little girl was uninjured, for some reason her body seemed to begin a steady decline after around eight to ten hours. The reason was unknown, but Sans could probably make a logical guess. Without her Soul, Fearia's small body was losing its will to keep on living.

The healing star, for the most part, had been reliably able to reverse her condition. Over time, however, the mysterious floating star-like object seemed to be slowing down. Almost like it was somehow losing interest in sustaining the tiny human's soulless body.

That morning, the healing star was just barely visible to Sans. The usual bright flash of light he'd come to expect had diminished greatly, and from the star, only two strings reached out to investigate the sleeping child in his outstretched arms. After doing a cursory examination, the strings retracted without bothering to heal anything at all. The star then faded out of sight completely.

Without the stars to rely on anymore, Fearia's small fragile body had officially started its countdown. With the rate of which she had begun to decline, Sans estimated that the little girl only had a day, maybe two, before her body finally ceased to exist. She was quickly running out of time.

Leaving the kid with Poff, Sans had started a frantic search throughout the dripping arteries of Waterfall. Rapidly teleporting himself in and out of existence, the worried skeleton had actually become less thorough in his haste, but he didn't seem to notice. The vast cave system had kept Sans busy for the majority of the day and into the night. Without rest, he had tirelessly searched literally everywhere he could think of, but still, he couldn't find the Soul stealing flower.

Exhausted and overwhelmed by hopelessness, Sans had stepped onto the River Person's ferry. "snowdin..." was all he could manage to say as his bony shoulders seemed to slump slightly from inside his light jacket.

Nodding from under their dark cloak, the River Person lifted their long oar and dipped it into the water. "Then we're off..." was their reply.

Noticing how very tired their passenger was, the cloaked figure stared silently at the listless skeleton before giving him some friendly advice. "Try to remember to take a break every-so-often... a small nap might bring more than just clarity of mind."

"thanks, pal, but i can't rest yet." Sans said dispiritedly as his eye lights stared down at the shimmering water. "i'm running out of time."

Tilting their cloaked head, the mysterious ferryboat operator gave an ambiguous response. "Humans, monsters... Flowers." they started, tilting their head upwards. "In the end, we all have our time... What's important is who we choose to share it with."

Letting the words linger in the air, unanswered, Sans felt his mood sink even deeper. He knew perfectly well what they were hinting at, but he just couldn't bring himself to accept it. Not yet. He still wasn't quite ready to relinquish that small flicker of hope that dwelled within him.

The boat ride continued in silence as the temperature began to slowly drop. Before long, the lights of Snowdin appeared up ahead from the end of the watery tunnel. Sans knew he needed to go home and check on the kid, but at the same time, he really didn't want to. He knew her condition had probably gotten a lot worse by now. It had already been well over ten hours since she had last been healed, so he already had a pretty good idea what to expect when he got back. In all honesty, he was truly at a loss. Should he go back and sit with the dying child? Or... should he continue his search and leave her to possibly die all alone? He just couldn't decide which was worse. Both options felt wrong.

Bringing the ferry to a slow stop at the Snowdin pier, the River Person waited patiently as their passenger disembarked before finally giving them one last piece of advice. "Even if it seems like all hope has been lost, remember... the light always shines brightest when things are at their darkest... The angel is coming..."

The last part had been said in barely a whisper but Sans was pretty sure he had heard it. An angel was coming? Was this just another abstract fortune or did they really know something? The eccentric nature of the ferry operator made it hard to tell sometimes. "care to elaborate a little, pal? what angel?"

"Tra la la..."

"Tri li li...

"Tre le le..."

Not getting an answer, the skeleton stuffed his bony hands into his jacket pockets as he watched the River Person drift away, their eerie melody creating a haunting kind of ambiance as they disappeared back into the watery tunnel. What could they have possibly meant? Whatever it was, Sans hoped it was something good because right now it didn't seem like things could get any worse...

Oh how wrong he was...

After checking up on his sleeping brother, Sans had finally returned to his room well past bedtime. What he found was a near complete disaster area - socks and dirty clothes were strewn everywhere, his desk had been flipped over, and the self-sustaining cyclone of garbage that usually swirled in the corner of his room had somehow gotten two times bigger. What was most notable, however, were the large gashes in his walls; two sets of claw marks were slashed into the far wall and one rather deep set had been gouged into the wall behind the bed.

What the hell? It looked like some kind of epic battle had been waged inside his room. Who or what could have done this done this?

Looking over to his bed, Sans spotted the little white dog monster. Poff was sound asleep with his furry head resting contently on the soulless child's chest. He looked ruffled and a little worse for wear, but other than that, he didn't look harmed in any way.

Walking over to his bed, Sans found that that wasn't quite true. Upon closer inspection, the white dog did have a small bump on his head. Almost like someone had thrown something at the little guy. Sans didn't know who Poff had been fighting with, but if he had to take a guess as to who had won, he'd place his money on the furball. Reaching out, Sans placed an appreciative hand on the small monster's head. Who knew he'd be such a good guard dog?

Feeling the soft touch, Poff woke up and greeted the skeleton with a large yawn before sitting up. The danger was gone now, but he was still glad his friend had finally returned. It was really late! After sniffing the little girl to check if she was okay, Poff stood up and stretched his sore body before bouncing off the bed to look for food. He'd used up way too much of his magic and now he was starving!

Turning his attention away from the dog monster, Sans stared down at Fearia. The blanket that was covering her was pulled down slightly and her auburn hair was a bit messier than how he had last seen it, but other than that nothing much had changed visually. She was just a little paler now and her breathing had gotten a bit more shallow. Reaching down, he carefully placed a bony hand to the child's forehead. He could hardly feel her warmth now which meant that her temperature was dropping to unsafe levels.

Sans sighed tiredly as he tried to think of what to do. The only practical thing he could come up with was giving the kid a warm bath and that probably wasn't the best solution. In fact, it might actually exacerbate her condition. For the first time in his life, Sans actually cursed the fact that his skeletal body couldn't produce a reasonable amount of body heat. His fire magic wasn't even hot. The only person he could think of that could possibly help was Grillby but he didn't want to burden his friend with this hopeless situation; it wouldn't be fair to him. Right now, the only thing that could save Fearia was to have her Soul returned to her body.

After pulling up the covers a bit higher and brushing some of the auburn hair away from the little girl's face, Sans had lowered his weary bones and plopped down onto the unvacuumed carpet. Leaning his back against the side of the bed, the exhausted skeleton pulled out his phone. Maybe someone had reported something. He'd been checking for updates regularly but another look couldn't hurt.

Nothing. Not a single sighting of anything strange or out of place. It was like the damn flower had just vanished from existence. The only place he had yet to check was the Snowdin Wilderness, but if he came up empty handed after checking there, then what? Start over? There must be a better way to find this thing...

Another sigh escaped Sans before quickly turning into a tired yawn. How many days had it been since he had gotten any real sleep? Four? Maybe five? Leaning his aching skull back onto the soft comforter, Sans gave his eye lights a rest. He couldn't sleep, not when the kid was counting on him to find her Soul. But maybe a few minutes of rest could give him back a little bit of some much needed energy. He'd definitely need it if he was going into the forest.

Letting his body relax, Sans thought back to what the River Person had said. "The angel is coming..." He didn't know whether it was just a coincidental random fortune or if there was really an actual angel coming. The only angel he knew of was sleeping right behind him, and he was fairly certain that she wasn't going to be able to assist him in anyway.

But, Fearia wasn't just an angel... She was a Celestine. According to Asgore, that special angelic feature somehow ran in the family. So, if the kid was an angel, did that mean that her sister was as well?

Was Frisk an angel?

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More importantly, is Frisk coming?

The answer?

Yes.

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In the next chapter, Frisk FINALLY shows up!

no, i'm totally serious. it's really happening.

xxx

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