:-"A dance where the penalty of messing up, is Death"-:
As Sans wakes up to the new day, he takes a moment to appreciate it... Knowing that they are further than the research says they would be before everything ends, really puts him at ease... Until he starts thinking about the magic lesson with Frisk.
'something is wrong with their soul...'
'if the kid really was the anomaly, then i have to take care of them before we lose everything.'
With that sobering thought, Sans continues to get out of bed and get ready for the rest of the day. He takes his time, he isn't fond of working anymore.
Sans' Alarm clock reads: 10:15 A.M. April 5th, 2045
'the kid should be done with their schoolwork soon. i should go check on them.'
Sans heads out of the room, grabs a late breakfast, and stealthily looks for Frisk... he doesn't have to look for long. As Sans enters the playroom he sees Frisk sitting on the floor, their toys are all in a box on the left side of the room, and their schoolwork is piled up next to them; looks like it's all done. Frisk looks like they are trying to meditate... Sans decides against a practical joke. instead, he looks at their SOUL... and confirms his worries. He can't quite tell, but something looks... off about it. Like it's just barely too big. Sans decides to make his presence known.
"hey kiddo, did you decide?"
Frisk opens their eyes to look at Sans and replies, "yea, I'll go with you. Even if it turns out to be some prank, it could be fun."
Sans chuckles softly, "you've got me all figured out, don't ya?"
"Nope, but I think I'm getting there... Oh yea, by the way, Papyrus isn't going to the Underground; some of the monsters here need help. Some humans are throwing a fit. I think he can fix it, but if not I can help when we get back."
"sounds like a plan. papyrus is so cool, i bet he'll solve the problem."
Frisk puts on a slightly noticeable funny face while saying "yea, he's a real bone-ified hero in this case" and points at sans with comical finger-guns.
Sans grins a little wider. "well, we'd better get ready to go, i'd hate tibia late to the party."
"Alright, let me try something really fast first!"
Frisk returns to their meditation for a few moments, and after about a minute they are able to manifest a band-aid shaped bullet; much faster than yesterday.
Sans can see the problem more clearly when Frisk uses magic... he replies with his usual tone. "good job, kiddo."
Frisk manifests a second band-aid shortly after Sans comments.
"hey, you might want to slow down, don't wanna get bone tired before we leave."
"But I feel spine!"
"heh. if you say so. i'm gonna get everyone else. don't take too long, ok?"
"I'm done, so I'll just follow you."
The pair leave the playroom, Frisk decides to grab something for lunch -just in case- and the two group up with Alphys and Undyne. Papyrus follows them out, ready to cheer people up and be a good mascot for monsters. If he can show humans that monsters are nice and fun, then it will be easier for everyone to get along; anyone who is still on the edge... well, they get to have an eight year old explain decency and kindness to them.
On their way out of the mansion, Frisk checks on their SAVE star. 'Weird... maybe it was just a dream?'
:-:
Normally Sans avoids teleporting such a large group, it's very taxing on him and his magic, but if he's right... everything's at stake. He has to try to stop it all from being lost, especially since he's never been closer. As the group rounds a corner in the village, the world goes black; and in the blink of an eye, it returns. Everyone but Sans is taken by surprise. The only sign of who did it is the amount of sweat on Sans' face, and his less than energetic expression. Alphys pieces together what happened, but doesn't bring it up... Undyne, however...
"HOLY FU-! !" Undyne remembers that Frisk is there. "-DGE! ! What just happened!? Did I, like, black out or something? I don't remember walking all the way here!" She is slightly embarrassed by the slip, but continues being confused.
After a few moments of walking, Alphys speaks up since Sans doesn't "w-well, I think we were t-teleported." After stating the obvious, she looks at Sans for a moment...
"SWEET! That means we can be done faster! !"
"Y-yea... but at what cost?"
"Man, way to make it sound eerie babe... I am sure everything will be fine!" Undyne grabs Alphys' hand and smiles, Alphys blushes before realizing that she isn't moving...
Sans remains silent as the two catch up. Frisk looks up at him curiously. He shrugs. By the time they reach the entrance to the Underground, the sweat on Sans' face is gone.
The group enters the underground in silence, and Frisk notices that their SAVE star outside the End of the Underground is missing...
They make a note of it, but keep going, thinking 'Huh... it wasn't just a dream... maybe these ones are going away because I don't need them here?'
On their way to the CORE, the group occasionally speaks with passing monsters. The group splits up as they approach their destination. Sans and Frisk take a different path into the CORE. Undyne looks back to make sure Sans isn't getting him and Frisk lost, but Alphys gets her attention; the two lovebirds keep going to the power distribution center.
As they make their way through the CORE, Frisk asks "Hey, Sans, is what you need to check on at the CORE?"
"kinda, the core is a lot bigger than it looks. but we are going to where i used to work, before we were trapped in the Underground."
Frisk, more curious now, asks "Oh, what are we going to do there?"
"there are some things i need to check on that i need your help with, since you already know my dirty secret."
A little confused, Frisk asks "your dirty secret?"
His grin widens a little "yea, that i put effort into things."
Underwhelming secret aside, Frisk is more than a tad excited to explore a new area; they reply. "Oh, OK. Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Frisk expects Sans to use a shortcut to get to where they need to go, but he doesn't. They walk for quite a while around the CORE, eventually finding a... wall. Sans kicks the bottom of the wall. At first, it looks like his kick breaks the wall, but Frisk sees the top begin to drop as well. Sans moves out of the way as part of the wall rotates down to become a staircase. After it's fully rotated into place, it slides backwards and connects to the rest of the stairs behind it. Sans starts to walk up the stairwell, and waves for Frisk to follow. The passage is dark. Soon, Frisk and Sans are in a large chamber. Sans turns on the light and Frisk is able to see a room that is a little larger than Sans' bedroom. It's mostly white, but has a large circular metal pad in the center with a glowing cyan ring under it. There is a small computer screen right outside of the circle that is facing the door. Sans approaches it and begins to type in weird symbols.
"alright kiddo, this is a teleportation room. me and... the royal scientist made this place to try to get out of the barrier. we found out pretty quickly that we couldn't just teleport out..." Sans shrugs "we figured we couldn't, but we had to try."
"Wait, why do we need to be here? Can't you just... use a shortcut? Or do you want to see if it works?"
"i already know that it works, and i would use a shortcut to get where we are going if i could... but the place we are going is actually too far away for shortcuts. i would get bone tired just trying to make it part of the way there."
"Oh... well, let me know if you need any help!"
"will do kiddo."
Sans returns his attention to the console, typing away furiously. After about half an hour, Sans stops typing.
"alright, all set, just gotta run a test to make sure we don't die."
Sans looks in his pockets for something to use as a test subject... but found nothing. He remembers that he left the hand held core-sample drill at the manor.
"hey frisk, you have anything we can use for a test?"
Frisk thinks for a moment, then checks their pockets and Dimensional boxes:
Pockets: Dreamx2, Stick, Sandwich
Box A: BadMemory x8
Box B: SnowPiece, HushPupe, DogResidu x8
"I have some Dog Residue we can use, that stuff is self replicating..."
"sure, that'll work."
Frisk takes a piece of Dog Residue out of Box B and hands it to Sans, who puts it in the center of the pad. Sans returns to the console, presses a few buttons, and waits. After a moment, a loud humming can be heard, and shortly after a blinding flash emanates from the circle. The Dog Residue is gone, not a trace is left. Sans looks at the circle expectantly... After about five minutes the humming returns, and then another flash of light. The Dog Residue is back. Sans picks it up and hands it back to Frisk.
"great, looks like it works. Now we just need to make sure it is going where we need it to go... wanna volunteer? heh."
"Sure!... Wait, it won't be dangerous... right?"
Sans shrugs "you're right, i didn't see if it's going where we need it to... silly me. i'll test it."
More typing. More strange symbols. Some of them look like hands, weird. Sans finishes and heads to the center of the room and waits.
"if i'm not back in five minutes, well... i'll be boned. do me a favour and don't tell papyrus though, ok?"
Frisk nods, but is worried now.
The humming in the room is louder than before, and the flash of light seems brighter... Probably because he's larger than a pile of dog residue.
:-:
The wait is excruciating... Frisk checks their phone every few seconds, just in case. It feels like time is crawling... Five minutes on the dot, and Sans is back; he looks satisfied.
"we're good to go, just need to make sure we have a way back. there's no way to predict how long we'll be there, so i cant set it to teleport us on a timer."
Sans returns to the console and types some more symbols in. Frisk would ask what it says... but they have a feeling they wouldn't understand it. Sans notices their curiosity as he turns to look at them for calculations though, so he explains.
"they're are called 'wing-dings,' it's what the royal scientist used. i had to learn how to read it... pretty rough huh?"
"Yea... so this is all... like... science and magic and stuff?"
"yea, there's a lot of hidden tech and arcane patterns. automated magic at its finest right now. go ahead and stand in the center, i'll get it started."
"Neat..." Frisk is a little hesitant to stand in the center of the pad... but eventually does.
When Sans finishes typing, a metallic ostrich-egg-like thing is lowered down from the ceiling; it doesn't appear to be anything more than an egg shaped piece of metal. He takes it and moves into the center of the pad, where Frisk is anxiously waiting. After a few moments, the machinery begins to hum as it moves parts into the right places and charges, then Frisk starts to feel tingly. After a brilliant flash of light, Frisk opens their eyes and sees... nothing. Well... not entirely nothing. The egg thing Sans is holding is giving off a soft glow.
Sans looks around and comments. "oh, yea, you can't see the monster specific emergency lights... hold on. i'll be right back," then places the egg thing down and leaves into the perceived darkness.
After a few moments, dim lights turn on and Sans returns... They are in a room that looks similar to the one they just left, except newer. Which is strange, because it's covered in... dust?
"looks like we only have emergency power... that should be enough for what we need to do here, though."
The whole place is creepy already... Frisk is a little scared, but they try not to show it as they speak. "Where are we... Sans?"
"this is where me, the royal scientist, and papyrus came from. it's an old human lab from before the war, super secret. in fact, this is the original birthplace of skeleton monsters."
Sans begins walking to the door at the end of the room, leaving the egg thing behind, and looks back at Frisk. "everything ok?"
"Yea... I... just have a bad feeling about this."
In a reassuring voice, Sans says "don't worry kiddo, you'll be ok if you stick with me. we're the only ones here." ...Sans thinks to himself 'i hope...'
"Okay..."
Frisk follows Sans. They enter into a hallway. The walls appear to be sterile white, and the floors are checkered white/grey. Occasionally they pass scattered piles of dust... There are three doors on the right side of the hallway, each about nine feet apart, and two on the left with a turn where a third would be. Sans looks back to make sure Frisk is following him.
"not much further. sorry about the mess. i haven't been here in a while, so i forgot."
"It's OK."
They turn at the end of the hallway, and Sans covers Frisk's eyes before they can see the carnage... for all the things he remembers, he's forgetting a lot of important details. The hallway is littered with decaying bodies, there are gashes and burn marks in the walls and floors, and piles of dust are scattered through dried pools of some dark substance. Sans decides to go back around the corner with Frisk and have them wait.
"i have a mess to clean up, stay here ok?"
Frisk nods, but... Sans should know better than to think Frisk wont explore.
As soon as Sans turns the corner, Frisk goes to the closest door ...but it's locked. They move down to the next one, on the left side of the hall; it's a broom closet. All the rest of the doors are also locked... So much for being able to explore this spooky place. The only door they couldn't check is the one at the end of the hall where the turn is. Frisk walks back where Sans left them ,and waits. After a few minutes, Sans returns and waves Frisk over.
"all clean, sorry about that kiddo. there was a pretty big fight here when the war started, i kinda forgot about it... you're going to have to wait for me to clean up before we turn corners though, alright?"
Frisk nods and says "okay."
They continue together back around the corner, and walk down the hallway. This one looks about the same, except there are only two doors, one on the left side of the hall and one on the right; the one on the left is closer to where they came from... but looks heavily damaged. Sans approaches the next corner, which is about the same distance away as the last turn but to the right instead of left, and looks around it. He sighs.
"there were a lot more people here than i remembered. stay here, i'll be back."
Frisk nodded, but, being the mischievous explorer they are, they went to the closest door a few moments after Sans left. The door on the right side of the hall is currently closer, so Frisk heads there. It's labelled "R&D 1," and is not locked. Frisk enters. It's about the size of two Grillby's side by side, and is full of lab tables, chalkboards, and... bodies. It's too dark to see any details, but Frisk quickly regrets going in there. The whole room smells terrible, and looks like it was caught on fire; not very many things survived. As Frisk turns to leave, however, they catch a glimpse of a metal clipboard that seems to be mostly untouched by the carnage... mostly
Embedded across the top of the metal clipboard is a thin device, it's displaying the following information:
Research completed and compiled in Time Line: (pi^4)c Parent Timestamp: Dec, 12, 1678. 5:56 P.M. Time Line: (pi)c
Current Relative Time: -ITCs ARE NOT RESPONDING- Current Absolute Time: -ITCs ARE NOT RESPONDING-
Research performed by: (Head) (pi^6)c2, RSanchez (pi)c-137, DHolmes c-3^pi
Document compiled by: CSGaster (pi^6)c2
Some of the documents on this clipboard seem to be somewhat legible.
Frisk doesn't understand what it says... but it looks like it's talking about human magic. Frisk decides to take the clipboard, it might come in handy. Frisk leaves the room, hoping they don't have nightmares tonight, and closes the door. Just in time too, because Sans rounds the corner as they let go of the handle.
With a hint of nervousness, Sans cautions "hey, you don't want to go in there... that's where i... uh... put the mess. c'mon, we are almost to that thing i need to check on."
Frisk nods, doing their best to keep their fear off their face... Sans sees it, of course.
Apologetically, Sans responds. "i guess it was pretty silly of me to think you would just stand there, huh? well, next time i'll warn ya ok?"
Frisk nods.
"actually... the next hallway is pretty short and leads up to a fork, we are going to go right, but i am going to go ahead and uh... clean up. i'll mark the doors that you probably shouldn't enter."
Frisk goes with Sans down the hallway, and sure enough it was only about half the size of the previous hallways and led to a fork. There is only one door in the short hallway, but it looks like there desks and other heavy things are blocking it from inside. As they approach the end of the hallway. Sans goes ahead and marks the first door to the right with bones, in preparation. A sign on the wall says that bathrooms are to the left... Frisk realizes that they actually do need to use the restroom, and informs Sans. He goes ahead down the left hallway to make sure the way is clear, and comes back with a thumbs up after a minute.
As he goes down the right hallway, into what looks like might be a cafeteria, Sans says "keep out of trouble kiddo, don't touch stuff that looks dangerous."
Frisk nods.. but realizes that Sans can't see them, so they reply "okay, I'll be careful."
Frisk looks down the left hallway and only sees one door on the right side, there is also another turn to the left. Frisk goes to investigate, it isn't marked but it ends up being a disappointment; just a room full of bunk beds and small dressers. Going left at the end of the hallway, however, proves useful. There are bathrooms on the left side of the hallway, right after the turn. Frisk enters the appropriate room, and does their business... but there isn't any running water; Frisk will have to wash their hands later. Instead of going back to the three way intersection, Frisk decides to continue exploring. There is only one other non bathroom door. It's marked "Development Pod Room #100."
Frisk thinks to themselves. 'Seems pretty... ominous. What are they developing, and why do they need a pod for it?...'
After a moment of hesitation, Frisk opens the door. The room is filled with a green glow from eight long rows of tubes. There looks to be about 10 or so per row, each with about five feet of space between them. Most of them are heavily smashed. There are piles of dust and more splotches of that dark dried stuff all over the ground below each of the tubes… And what looks like… hollow skin? It's almost like they were growing full human shaped skins, without the bones. There is only one tube thing that isn't broken... Inside, a relatively small, surprisingly solid looking, human male is floating in a blueish-green liquid; he's wearing a strange jumpsuit connected to tubes and wires. Their eyes are closed. The panel at the base of it is in those weird symbols, but above the panel there is a metal label. It reads: "CU-270/Slim: Male (Pri/Sec/Ter: R/R/R)"
As Frisk looks at him they begin to wonder 'Is he... asleep?' but, shortly after their thought completes, Frisk is startled by Sans placing a hand on their shoulder.
In a low tone, Sans says "don't worry about it, frisk. i should have checked this room, i'm sorry."
After a few moments, Frisk turns around to face Sans. "What... what were you working on here?"
"c'mon, i cleared the way to the room we need... i'll explain later, kay?"
Not entirely convinced, but not wanting to stay, Frisk follows Sans and says "... Kay."
:-:
* EYELIDS OPEN TO REVEAL PIN PRICKS OF LIGHT SUSPENDED IN A DARKNESS AS DEEP AS THE VOID.
* A HAND IS GENTLY PLACED ON THE GLASS INSIDE OF THE CONTAINMENT TUBE. CRACKS SLOWLY BEGIN TO APPEAR ON THE GLASS.
:-:
They go back to the three way intersection and continue heading straight, eventually entering the cafeteria. It's pretty large... about the size of three Grillby's. The cafeteria tables are all flipped over, trays are scattered, and there is a ton of that dark stuff speckled everywhere... not to mention all the burn marks and gashes. Frisk is beginning to connect the dots with what it all is... they are very unsettled. At the far end there are two large metal doors, they look locked shut. On the left of the room, near the middle, there is another door; it's propped open. Sans and Frisk go to the door on the left.
As they approach, Frisk cautiously asks "Sans... why do we need to be here? What's so important?"
"kiddo, you know how in the underground you revealed your special powers? got my secret codeword?"
"Yea?"
"well, before the royal scientist disappeared we were tracking something... our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. timelines jumping left and right, starting and stopping... until suddenly, everything ends. when the barrier broke, i thought that we were home free. our reports rarely went outside the barrier, and we did more than that. we passed the point where everything usually ends. so, i'm hopeful that it will stay that way. but... there's something i have to check to make sure it stays that way."
Frisk is worried now, "Is it... me?"
"no, not you. well, kinda. that's why i need to check and see for myself... when you were doing your thing during our lesson, i noticed something. it was... terrifying, if i'm going to be honest."
"What did you see?"
Sans doesn't answer, instead, he continues through the door "c'mon, let's go into my old office, i forgot the term we used but there should be something in here that has it."
Frisk nods and they follow, though a bit hesitant. The hallway is short, there are two doors on the right and one at the end. The furthest door on the right is blocked with bones.
The office is fairly large. On the right, immediately noticeable, is an elaborate chemistry set, at the far end are some machines that Frisk doesn't recognize, a huge bookcase with metal clipboards in it to the left, and a desk to the left of the bookcase near the door. Sans goes over to the bookcase and looks at the clipboards for a while, before taking one and handing it to Frisk.
"here, this one is on human souls. it's marked as the most correct, but not completely correct... it should have the info we need in it."
Frisk takes the clipboard and looks at it. Embedded across the top of the metal clipboard is a thin device, it's displaying the following information:
Research completed and compiled in Time Line: (pi^3)c Parent Timestamp: Dec, 12, 1678. 5:56 P.M. Time Line: (pi)c
Current Relative Time: -ITCs ARE NOT RESPONDING- Current Absolute Time: -ITCs ARE NOT RESPONDING-
Research performed by: (Head) (pi^6)c2, RSanchez (pi)c-137, DHolmes c-3^pi
Document compiled by: CSGaster (pi^6)c2
All the documents on this clipboard seem to be legible, but also boring.
Frisk reads the first paragraph... "Mimitrons? That's what magic is made of?"
"actually... turns out that's wrong, there's more than one particle. the royal scientist was adamant that he was right, so we kept going with the mimitron theory. ended up stalling our program, actually... but when i think about it, it's a good thing he was so stubborn... for other reasons."
"I am guessing you're the one initialled CSG?"
"yep. you can skip most of it. it should be a comment by me."
Frisk does as instructed and eventually they get to the bottom. Frisk looks up at Sans, somewhat confused.
Sans provided an answer before Frisk could ask. "i started doing my own research."
Frisk reads the last line of the document: "a hollow soul can piggyback on souls that match their primary colour. creepy huh? -csg"
Frisk doesn't have to think very hard to connect the dots... "Chara... is a hollow SOUL?"
"that's their name? huh, so the queen and king's adopted kid turned out to have a hollow soul... interesting."
"Yea... what... what are you going to do?"
"we can't have them hitching a ride on your soul, kiddo. i'm gonna extract 'em."
"Will it hurt?"
"naw, you'll be fine... but tell me, how'd you learn their name?"
"When I went to sleep a couple nights ago, I had a really spooky dream. It was all dark and echoey, and I started to hear them speaking to me."
"wow. we're cutting it pretty close. any more than that and you'd be possessed... well, no time to lose. let's go. you can keep that clipboard, i don't need it."
Sans leaves the room and Frisk puts the clipboard in their pocket... somehow... and follows. They go through the door on the end of the hallway marked "SOUL Extraction Room." The room is fairly large, and there is a big contraption in the middle suspended over an operating table. The contraption looks like a big cylinder with all sorts of tubes, wires, dimly glowing lights, and at least eight weird armatures that have even weirder things on the end. It's pretty unsettling to see, but fortunately there are no dry patches of dark red anywhere near it. Along the left and right walls of the room are glass tubes that seem to vanish into the ceiling. At the back of the room, in the left corner, there's a door and what's probably a long one-way window along the rest of the wall. Sans goes into the room at the back, waving for Frisk to follow.
Inside the small room, immediately to the right, is a long row of connected consoles, there are also a few chairs.
Sans moves over to the console and speaks. "ya wanna see a simulation of what i'm gonna do, before i do it?"
Frisk nods.
Sans tries to turn on one of the consoles, but it doesn't respond.
"welp, looks like i have to go get the power running after all... I was hoping the backup would be enough. i'll be back."
Curious about something that has been bugging them, Frisk asks "That person in the big tube thing... Why is he there?... What does CU-270 mean?" before Sans has a chance to leave.
Sans sighs. It takes a few moments for him to respond. "the humans here did a lot of experiments to gain immortality. and, one day, they discovered how to become liches... a lich is a human who bound their soul to a phylactery to gain immortality. boss monsters can too, becoming monster liches... from there they looked into making super soldiers... they wanted to get the best of both worlds, and so they made hybrid liches. a human partially converted into a skeleton monster, then turned into a lich; a human body, with monster bones... that's what's supposed to be in the tube. that one is a 'failed' attempt, it's too small. the tube is marked cu-270 because it's a combat unit, from the 270 series. each series had eight thousand iterations, each in different timelines. he was the last of the 270 line, so he got the designation."
Still curious, Frisk asks "so... why are all the tubes but his destroyed?"
Sans turns his face away, his eyes go dark, and he replies in a quiet tone. "...i don't want to talk about the rest, but i... we put him to sleep instead."
Frisk thinks they know why Sans doesn't want to talk about the others, but they are a little confused; so they ask "wait... if they're liches, how'd they die?"
"if you destroy a lich's phylactery before destroying them, or before they can make a new body, they die permanently."
"...Oh. Did you... destroy his?"
"no... but even if i did, he's like you; his soul is pure red... actually, now that i think about it... it's kinda funny. over two million tries to get a pure red soul, and when they finally got one it turned out to be the opposite of what they wanted..."
Sans roughs up Frisk's hair and says "i'd better get going, we probably don't have a lot of time."
"OK."
As Sans leaves he sees Frisk begin to examine the consoles...
Sans makes his way back to the Cafeteria and takes a shortcut beyond the heavily locked double doors.
:-:
A face long forgotten flashes through Sans' mind... but he ignores it and continues down the large hallway. The human side of the complex is just as deserted. There are more piles of dust than pools of dried blood... Sans clears his mind, and continues. The large hallway has three sets of doubledoors along both sides, but they are all barricaded; which is fine since his target is straight ahead. As he gets close to the generator room, the hallway seems to get darker; he doesn't react. A voice echoes through his mind, it sounds like an old and posh human scientist that thinks he's above the laws of the universe.
'Sans... I thought it was you, but I wasn't really sure until you teleported past the door; just like old times... Tell me, how is life treating you?'
Sans ignores the voice, continuing onward to his destination.
The voice speaks thoughtfully. 'You know Sans, you really shouldn't have come back here. Not after what you two did.'
Sans continues to ignore the voice. He breaks open the locked doors to the generator room, with a few well placed bones. He sees the cause of power loss immediately... 'looks like the humans sabotaged it, won't be getting any power in this state...'
Mockingly, the voice responds. 'Surprised? You didn't really think they would make it easy for you, did you?'
A quiet shattering noise from down the hallway gets Sans' attention for a moment, but he can't tell where it's coming from. He brushes it off as Frisk breaking a beaker while exploring his old office, and examines the generator again... it may be easier to fix than he thought. He moves the debris away from the generator and begins to create makeshift parts out of bullets, carefully shaping them to fit perfectly. When he places the first part, however, it's destroyed by an enchantment.
Sans sighs. 'magic fail-safes to keep it from being broken by magic are keeping it from being fixed... by magic... only humans.'
Sans gets up and turns around to leave the room, but stops as he sees a tall shadowed humanoid figure floating in the doorway. Sans tenses up for a moment.
In an amused tone, the voice responds to his reaction. 'You didn't think I was dead did you? You should know better, Sans...'
More annoyed than intimidated, Sans demands out loud "what do you want?"
In a false voice of hope, the voice responds. 'Freedom. What else?'
Sans responds nonchalantly, "not gonna happen."
Amused, the voice says 'oh, silly Sans...' Then angrily continues 'I wasn't ASKING!'
Sans sends a wave of bones crashing into the figure, it turns to dust.
Deep and menacing laughter echoes through the halls. 'As feisty as ever... You truly are Dr. Gaster's son!'
Sans' eyes go dark at the mention of that name...
Angrily and in a serious tone, Sans retorts. "Don't you dare say that name..."
Amused, the voice continues. 'Struck a nerve, have I? You know, if I didn't know better, I would say you actually hate him; but we both know that isn't true... In any case. Why bother protecting his honour... when you should be protecting that delicious little snack you brought?'
Sans remains silent... but, after a few moments, he takes a breath to calm down and return to his usual self.
"heh, that kid is too much for you... but if you try to hurt 'em, you're gonna have a bad time."
In a falsely curious and belittling tone, the voice antagonizes Sans. 'Oh, what's this? Our little warrior is fond... of a Human? One of the very creatures that turned him into what he is? Tortured him and turned him into a killing machine?'
Sans clenches his hands into fists... but doesn't respond. He tries to clear his mind.
Tauntingly, the voice continues. 'My my... this is much better than I anticipated... It will be so... so... satisfying to tear them away... Watch them closely "Comic" Sans, because their time is almost up... and I would hate it if you missed the show.'
Crazed, hysterical, laughter fills the halls. It slowly dies out after a few moments.
Sans is not happy. He walks out of the generator room and down the hallway, takes a shortcut to the room with the backup generator, and looks over all the wires... 'such a mess.'
:-:
He doesn't know how long it'll be until the lich forms another body, so he tries to work fast. Sans touches the wires and uses Pattern magic to figure out which wire goes to which room, unplugging wires to rooms he doesn't need. When he's done, the hallways are pitch black. He adjusts some of the machinery to direct all the power to where he wants it. After that, he goes into the now pitch black hallway and manifests a Yellow lens to pierce through the darkness. It's a little awkward for him though, since he has to hold onto it and use only one eye the whole way. Sans makes his way back to the SOUL room and sees Frisk, patiently sitting on the table. The lights in the room are a little brighter, and the machine sounds active. He allows the lens to vanish.
"hey kiddo, sorry i took so long. i ran into some trouble. wanna get started so we can get outta here?"
Frisk speaks in a concerned voice. "Yea, I heard some pretty creepy laughing. Is everything OK?"
"oh, you heard that too huh? don't worry, probably just the pa system playing an old recording of one of the crazy human scientists."
"So, you gonna show me the simulation?"
"unfortunately kiddo, we don't have the power for that. i had to route power from the backup generator to go only here and the teleporter room."
Frisk is a little hesitant. "Oh... Okay. Well, I trust you... so... I guess I need to lay on the table?"
Sans replies reassuringly, while heading to the back room, "yea, just lay down and relax. I'd also suggest closing your eyes, it can be pretty... eerie seeing your soul get pulled out of your body."
"Okay, if you say so... Actually, Sans, there is something I need to ask before we continue."
"okay, shoot... well, not literally that could hurt." Sans lets out a soft chuckle.
Worried, Frisk asks "will Chara survive? Is there any way we can help them?"
Sans pauses for a moment at the door to the console room. He looks back at Frisk.
In a lower tone, Sans says "yea, they'll survive... but i don't know if we can help 'em. i've never seen a soul change, and i don't think it's possible."
With hope in their voice, Frisk asks "Can we try? I... I promised that I would help them save... someone."
"that's... actually pretty promising... sure, frisk, i don't sea any harm in trying."
Frisk feels a bit more calm. "Thanks, Sans."
Before he closes the door, Sans leans out and reassuringly says, "and hey, don't worry buddy, you've taken care of us pretty well. so, it's my turn to take care of you. everything will be ok."
Frisk nods.
Sans walks into the back room and does his thing. The device above the table comes to life, mechanized straps move into place and hold Frisk down, and the armatures with the weird devices move closer to Frisk. The whole thing begins to hum, and Frisk starts to feel... weightless. They close their eyes.
The room is filled with brilliant red light, and Frisk is floating a little bit off of the table; if not for the straps, they would probably go higher. The armatures move around Frisk's SOUL, making clicking noises, cutting invisible strands that Sans can only see with the help of the consoles. After a few minutes, Frisk's SOUL gently floats out of their body and they go limp; their SOUL is unusually large, but only barely. An infinitesimally small line of emptiness marks the border of Frisk's SOUL, and Chara's. Upon examination, Sans notices something odd. Frisk's SOUL is linked to Chara's in a way that makes it look like... Frisk is possessing them.
'odd... I expected it to be the other way around. this kid has quite an effect on people, it seems... we'll have to watch out for that when they're older...'
Sans' "Big Brother" mode is now engaged as he works to seperate the SOULs... 'toriel never said to stop watching over them... so that obviously means i should make sure no one takes advantage of them, especially now that we're on the surface.'
He pretends to complain to himself. 'look at you kid, makin' me work... geez.'
Sans proceeds with the operation, but he realizes that the reversed link will cause some pain when broken. 'sorry bud, but... this is gonna sting a little...'
After finding all the links between the two SOULs, Sans slowly cuts them. Once the operation is done, the center of the contraption lowers down and collects the SOULs. After a few moments, both SOULs reappear in the glass tubes on opposite sides of the room; one brilliant red, the other... a thin red shell. Only its outline gives any indication of what Primary aspect it used to have, the rest is empty. After a few more moments, the hollow SOUL is placed in a small heart shaped container made of glass, and Frisk's SOUL is taken back into the contraption before being held over their chest. The armatures begin repairing the previously cut links, and Frisk wakes up.
"That... was soo... WEIRD!"
Sans was expecting a reaction, but that was not it. "heh, have fun?"
Frisk excitedly says "YEAH! I was all floaty and stuff! And I could see what was going on still, but like... not from my eyes!"
"well i'm glad you had a good time."
Pretending to be annoyed, Frisk remarks "Also, you said it wouldn't hurt!"
"oh, yea, sorry about that... i may have lye'd a little. good news though, you were starting to possess them. it was pretty funny to see, actually, but it means we really can try to save 'em."
Frisk gives an almost visible smile, they are happy...
Sans walks over to the heart container holding Chara's SOUL. "Here they are, kiddo, you wanna hold 'em?"
"Sure."
Sans hands Frisk the small container and says "alright, lets go. we don't want our... unexpected host to find us."
Frisk needs to use both hands to hold the container, but otherwise it's pretty light. Looks efficient too, no wasted space. Frisk can see intricately woven runes and metal wires through out it...
Frisk thinks about what they promised Chara... 'How are we supposed to work together now?...'
The two leave the SOUL Extraction room and begin making their way to the cafeteria. Sans holds Frisk's hand to guide them through the darkness and uses his other hand to create another yellow lens and hold it to his eye.
Frisk snickers at the sight.
"Heh, you look like you're holding a monocle to your eye. Fancy Sans."
Sans grins a little wider, but quietly remarks. "we should probably try to be quite, wouldn't want to disturb our 'host.'"
Frisk nods.
The two begin to make their way through the cafeteria, but Sans stops suddenly and slowly begins to back up as soft, wet, footsteps start to echo in the hallway they're headed to. Sans is more being cautious than he is worried, however.
The footsteps grow closer, slowly, but stop suddenly as a voice begins to echo in Sans' mind.
In a fake disappointed tone, the voice says 'Oh... Sans. Leaving so soon? You haven't even introduced me to your... little friend...'
Sans doesn't reply, instead, he calms himself and looks to Frisk briefly. Sans tries to take a shortcut, but his attempt is blocked by something; so instead he picks Frisk up, who has a hint of worry on their face.
An unnatural darkness beings creeping into the cafeteria from the double doors...
'Sans... do you really think holding them will keep them safe? A Lich always gets what they want, Sans... and I want their SOUL...'
Sans retorts harshly. "over my dust, david."
The voice replies insincerely. 'I am flattered, you actually remember my name. Too bad... we could have been such great friends!'
The darkness turns into a dark fog that fills the room. Sans' Yellow Lens can't see through it... After a few moments, however, the darkness gathers and a tall humanoid figure coalesces. A vaguely human body that looks poorly preserved, wearing a tattered lab coat, floats in the middle of the cafeteria. Orange flames form where eyes would be, and the lich gives off a faint glow.
'You can tear my form apart as much as you like Sans, but I have reached the point where I can build a new one in mere minutes... you ca-'
The voice is cut off as Sans initiates his attack, saying "i don't need permission to destroy you." He only has to use a single blaster to take his opponent down. He doesn't lower his guard.
In a falsely disappointed tone, the voice says 'Oh, you noticed did you? I suppose it was silly of me to think illusions would work on something with the Aspect of Justice.'
Magic swords manifest and swing themselves towards Sans and Frisk, repeatedly. He dodges them, but is almost struck by a follow up attack; if not for Frisk forcing him off-balance, the swords would have hit.
The sound of footsteps begin to echo through the halls again, this time somewhat faster and with more force...
Amused, the voice says 'You didn't release that runt did you? Hah! If you think that thing can stop me-'
Sans cuts him of, in a matter-of-fact tone. "jokes on you, i didn't release it... i put it to sleep."
A hint of fear creeps into the falsely confident voice. 'I... That... That complicates matters...'
"yep. truce?"
The voice responds harshly 'HAHAHAHAHA! You wish! Do you really think I'm so incompetent that I can't handle a two-bit renegade and a runt?'
"can't blame a guy for trying..."
Dark spikes being to shoot out from the ground, and Sans dodges them with ease. He dashes to the end of the cafeteria, continuing to dodge spikes as they shoot out from the floor, walls, and ceiling. Sans doesn't know how the hybrid will act when it sees them, but he has to get to the teleporter room. When Sans hesitates to turn the corner, Frisk speaks up.
"Sans, you don't have to carry me. I've dodged a lot worse!"
"sorry, kiddo, but i can't risk you getting left behind... or worse."
With that, Sans steels himself, adjusts Frisk to hold them over one shoulder, quickly goes around the corner, and sprints down the hallway. The hybrid designated as CU-270 is near the intersection. Sans sprints faster.
'There is nowhere you can run, no timeline you can go to, where I wont find you Sans! And now that I know you are alive, I will find you. And I will end you! !'
The hybrid vanishes after looking towards the wall, seemingly attracted to something. Sans continues to run, he only slows down to turn corners. Beads of sweat begin to accumulate on his forehead.
'But I wont just stop at you Sans! Now that I know you are alive I will hunt all of you monsters down! You will wish you had died in that accident! ALL OF YOU WILL FALL BY MY-...'
'...No... NO! NO NO NO! HOW DID YOU FIND-'
* A YOUNG VOICE IS HEARD CLEARLY THROUGH THE VOID, WITH AN ABSOLUTE DECLARATION.
"D I E, YOU PATHETIC CREATURE."
The screams of hundreds of tortured SOULs being released reverberates through every bone in Sans' body, Frisk doesn't seem to notice; it looks like they're unconscious. The Lich's phylactery is no more.
A guttural choking sound echoes through the halls, followed by an eerie silence... Without the aid of their Phylactery, the Lich permanently dies.
Shortly after, a large explosion rocks the facility. Sans manages to keep his footing and pace... his skull is covered in sweat from the exertion.
Sans continues to run with darkened eye sockets, and a very visible frown.
When they make it to the teleporter room, Sans is almost panicking.
Sans tries to wake Frisk, but fails. They were put to sleep with magic at some point.
He uses magic to wake them, then says "bud, I need you to do EXACTLY what I say."
Before Frisk responds Sans goes to the console, thankful that he kept power going to this room.
Frisk nods, but asks "If that one was a failure, why are you two so scared of him?"
Sans continues working at the console and says "Not now. Grab that device, put it in the center, and press the top."
Frisk follows the instructions, the device clicks and the top pops up slightly.
"Now, twist the top till it clicks again; should be fast."
After completing the steps, the device segments into four pieces and unfolds; a cylinder shaped core remains in the center with perforations in it. A mechanical arm from the ceiling latches onto the core of the device and pulls it half way up. The segments arch down and extend. After a few moments, the now pointed fan shaped device with downward arched propellers begins to glow and slowly spin.
Curiously Frisk asks "Why do we-"
Sternly, Sans responds "Not now" then quickly moves near the center with Frisk. Another large explosion shakes the facility, the power flickers for a moment... The machinery begins to hum, and the arched "fan blades" begin to spin and emit a white shimmer.
Outside the door and down the hall, a figure suddenly pops into existence. it looks to be about the size of a teenager, but otherwise it's too dark to see any other physical features. Their white pin prick eyes seem to pierce Sans' very being... Seeing that creature move without a SOUL... is terrifying. After a moment it... waves? The action briefly takes Sans off-guard, but then it sprints forward. Before the hybrid is able to get close, a brilliant light fills the room. The pair find themselves in a similar room with significantly less dust, and no spinning device above them.
Frisk speaks up first. "I'm sorry Sans, as soon as I saw that kid in the hallway I fell asleep..."
Sans takes a moment to calm down before speaking. "no, i'm sorry frisk... to answer your question, that device had preprogrammed timespace coordinates. it guaranteed that we would go back exactly where, and when, we came from. also made our escape faster."
Frisk looks up at Sans, expectantly, their face is visibly worried.
Sans Sighs... "i worked on the project that made the hybrids... though not directly... i... don't know how it'll act toward me, if given the chance but, honestly, i'm not all that scared of it... i'm scared of what it might do to you."
Frisk grabs Sans' hand.
Sans pats their head and asks "...do you think even the worst person can change?"
Frisk contemplates this for a moment. "...That depends on if they want to, but If you're really asking if I think you can change, then I think you already have."
Sans begins to grin again.
Curious, Frisk asks "Hey Sans... If the hybrid really is, you know, trying to hurt us or something... wouldn't it just be able to use that egg thing to come here?"
Sans sighs... "one problem at a time, kiddo... besides, i dont think they can do that; the lab doesn't have enough power for a second teleport..."
"You know, Sans, you keep going back and fourth between calling him an 'it,' 'they,' and 'him'... why is that?"
Sans looks away from Frisk for a moment, then replies sadly "i suppose that's because if i acknowledge that the hybrid is more than an 'it,' i will have to admit to all my past mistakes... which means..."
Frisk doesn't reply, they just nod and pull Sans along. Frisk shares their Sandwich with Sans and the two group back up with Alphys and Undyne.
:-:
* THE CREATURE IS AWAKE, THE STARS ARE BEGINNING TO FADE.
* ANOTHER STRANGE SENSATION IS FELT THROUGH THE VOID.
* A SECOND SAVE STAR VANISHES.