Chapter IX
Broken soul
What happened?
Why can't I remember anything?
It hurts...
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Papyrus! I need to — No!
Paps!
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oOo
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Fear.
Fear is the only emotion Grillby can see in his eyes.
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His soul is beating hard enough for him to be able to feel it, but something is wrong with it: it's broken. Grillby knows it can't be that way: no one can survive with a soul that is falling to pieces. However, there's no denying that Sans's soul is broken.
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'Please, he needs help. I don't know what happened!'
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In his arms is Papyrus. The young skeleton is feverish, weak.
Grillby knows he must act.
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oOo
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Barely an hour after, Grillby and Sans are sitting in silence. Papyrus would be safe; the fire monster had done everything needed for him to be alright. However, a fragment of his soul had been taken away and Grillby knows there isn't a lot of way for such a thing to happen. Indeed, there are only two different origins for a soul to get divided like this: by force, or to fix another soul. And the first one seems improbable...
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'Sans, I need you to let me see your soul.'
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The other one is surprised: he doesn't get why he should do what Grillby is asking. He doesn't even get how he's supposed to do it! Letting him seeing his soul? It is a bit frightening... Not that he has any idea of how such a thing can even be possible, anyway... Indeed, the soul's concept may be something he definitely can't understand. One of many things, as well as magic, which seem to be really simple for monsters.
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'Please, it's really important. I need to see your soul.'
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Grillby is getting more and more insistent, leaving Sans no choice but to let him do what he wants. And so the young human does. With a sweet feeling of warmth, a little blue heart leaves his chest. Sans looks at it with great fascination, not getting what has Grillby so worried. The fire elemental keeps it floating in his hands, he doesn't dare to move anymore. Because it's broken. Sans's soul is broken. It really is...
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'It can't be…'
'Grillbz? You're alright?'
'I don't get it, it should be impossible... I can't explain how…'
'Grillby, what's going on?'
'You should be dead.'
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Well…
That was certainly...
Unexpected.
Again.
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'Your soul is broken, Sans! You can't be alive: this is impossible! I must-!'
'Calm down. You must calm down first. I'm alive, 'kay, so you don't have to panic.'
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He doesn't know what he should do: the situation is far from being easy and his friend - since when did he start to consider Grillby as a friend? — is near from having a heart attack. However, now he can see it. He can see his own soul cracked from side to side, barely held together by tiny white threads at some points or glued by the same glowing thing in order not to fall to pieces. And it scares him.
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Because he remembers Papyrus saying he would fix his soul before he lost consciousness.
Because he remembers what Grillby said about a missing fragment of the young skeleton's soul.
Because everything finally falls in place.
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Paps, what have you done?