Chapter 4

The kind of magic Sans could express if he didn't have a mask?

Brows furrowed, Frisk could not help but ask, "What do you mean?"

From the other side of the separator at their table, Sans answered, "I suppose you don't know much about our curse, huh? Well, to keep it simple, hiding behind masks severely limits our magical abilities. That's why you don't see us using magic all the time: it's too draining for the little we're able to accomplish in the first place. Our magic is supposed to be a form of self-expression, but there isn't a lot we can express when our very facial features are as good as nonexistent and consequently hidden. The ones who devised our curse knew very well what they were doing."

Before Frisk could being to absorb what Sans had said, he asked, "Are you done eating? I want to make sure you are ready before I pull the separator down."

Quickly snatching up her mask and putting it on her face, Frisk answered, "I'm good."

Sans pulled down the separator. If he noticed Frisk's plate still half full of sliced friend potatoes, he didn't comment on it. Standing, he told her, "I have just enough energy to take us back when we belong. From there, please don't ask to see any magic tricks."

Nodding, Frisk stood to her feet and followed Sans out of the separated cube. She quickly looked around for Chara, knowing that he visited the past with her but not knowing where he currently was. Frisk started to worry.

What if Chara's not here when Sans takes us back to Waterfall Marsh? Will he get left behind in the past forever?

As Frisk and Sans stepped back into the open portion of the restaurant, somebody crashed into Frisk. Before she could process that she had been knocked onto the floor, hands were already wrapped around her arms and pulled her back to her feet. It happened so fast, Frisk questioned whether or not she fell at all.

"I am so sorry," said a boy about her height. "I was chasing my brother and did not pay attention to where I was going. Are you all right?"

Frisk could not find the words with which to speak. Her stomach dropped. The person standing before her wore a mask with a bored expression.

It was the same mask which she now wore.

Chara?

When Frisk didn't answer, Sans stood behind her and told the boy, "I'm afraid to inform you that my sister is mute. However, I'm sure she's fine. She's a lot tougher than she looks."

Breathing out what sounded to be a sigh of relief, the boy who might have been Chara dropped her arms and said, "Once again, my most sincere apologies, miss. Oh, and nice mask."

With that, the boy took off. Frisk watched him catch up to the boy from before, the one with the goat mask. Seeing the two together stirred up an emotion in Frisk that she could not explain. If these boys were Asriel and Chara while they were still alive, then perhaps she could follow them to see what happened instead of trying to figure out the past in the present time.

It was as if Sans read her mind, because he told her, "We cannot stay in the past. Come, it is time for us to return home."

Stunned by the sudden formality and firmness in Sans's voice, Frisk didn't argue as she put her attention back on the man before her. As if he didn't trust her to not run off, Sans took her hand as if he truly was her older brother. He led her out of Grillby's, and when they stepped outside, they were once again in the humid environment of Waterfall Marsh.

Blinking, Frisk looked around. Then she remembered something she had briefly forgotten when that boy ran into her. Turning her head this way and that quicker now, Frisk tried to locate her ghost companion.

"I am here," he said, voice coming from behind. "I found you again just in time to follow you outside. I apologize for scaring you into believing you might have lost me."

Frisk took a deep breath and exhaled a heavy weight. As Sans had yet to speak, she turned her attention towards the man. His chin dropped to his chest, and his grip on Frisk's hand loosened.

"Are you okay?" Frisk asked, squeezing Sans's hand.

"I'll be fine again in a minute," Sans answered. As he began to waver, Frisk helped him find someplace to sit. After he had been helped being lowered onto a boulder, Sans said, "Consider yourself lucky, little human. You got to see a magic trick so difficult to pull off that odds are you will never see it again."

"Why did you do that?" Frisk sat next to Sans and tried to make eye contact with him as best she could through their masks. "I don't think we really needed to go to the past for lunch."

"Well, going in the present wasn't exactly an option, not with everyone in Snowdin Town knowing what you are." Sans pressed his elbows into his thighs and leaned forward so that his head hung between his legs. "Man, remind me to never bring you on another trip like that ever again. Having you come with me was far more draining than I expected."

Frisk said nothing to that. Asriel and Chara lingered on the forefront of her mind. If she could go back to find them again, she would, but Frisk knew she had to accept that it would not be a possibility.

After a few minutes had passed, Sans rose to his feet and stretched his arms across his chest. "Well, looks like I better get going."

Frowning, Frisk questioned, "You're leaving me?"

"I got business to take care of," Sans replied. "Besides, I know you can take care of yourself."

"You really believe I can get through Waterfall Marsh without dying?"

"You escaped the Royal Guard impressively enough. I think you stand a chance getting past Undyne."

Frisk had her doubts but chose not to voice them.

"Welp, I'll be up ahead." Sans began to walk back towards the direction of Snowdin Lane. Throwing a hand behind him as if some sort of attempt at a wave, he added, "See ya!"

After Sans was no longer in sight, Frisk turned to Chara. As neither of them had anything to say, they sat in silence for a moment or two. Finally, Frisk said, "I think the alive version of you ran into me at Grillby's."

Chara bobbed as if nodding.

"Was that you?"

Another bob.

"Chara, are you okay?"

Laughing without humor, Chara said, "I just saw myself and my brother alive again, but I still do not remember much of anything from my time living. It was as if watching the life of someone who is you but at the same time is not you. No, Frisk, I am not okay."