Suddenly, he was left alone with this human… and a window completely shattered. He sighed as he glanced down at the human, who despite them being alone for several minutes at this point, hadn't moved or said anything… even he could see the glass in her skin… didn't that hurt?
"feel free to cut in here, but… i have to assume that hurts," he tried, forcing a smile on his face as he always did.
It would fall though pretty quickly as she sat there, doing nothing. The hell was he supposed to do when she wouldn't give him anything? Jokes were failing him, the lack of sleep was definitely not helping his wit. He gripped his skull, trying to figure out a way to get her to open up… saying anything! It was better than this silence! At least when he was alone there was an excuse, but this? This was unnerving on so many levels.
Tired eyes glanced up at the anxious skeleton. She could see the darkening circles under his eye sockets, the twitching in his fingers… what else did she really have to look at right now? Her own wounds? He was more worried about them than her.
"Sorry," he would hear in a soft whisper, as if it was taking a lot of effort to speak, "my sans of humor is a little… bone dry at the moment."
Eyelights started to return to his skull as he processed what he just heard. He stared down at the human. He didn't know why it was so hard for her to speak right now when she just said all of that to Asgore, but… he was going to take it over the silence.
"I didn't mean to cut you down," she continued, after a moment of silence. "You have a pretty good radius with those jokes, I'm just feeling a little dead."
Sans had felt a smirk tugging at his lips before the last one made him drop it. "that last one fell a little flat, tibia honest."
She shrugged a little. "Not everyone can be as punny as you, I suppose."
The wordplay was nice, but there was no feeling behind hers. Granted, there wasn't much feeling behind his own. It was awkward… but not as bad as before.
"i'll let you win this round. i mean, it's kinda my fault why you're here."
"I came to the mountain of my own volition."
"yeah, but i magically threw you through a window," he weakly laughed, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
Silence started reigning over them again and Sans felt panic begin to bubble through him. He just made it awkward again! Couldn't she just let him take the blame?!
"I would be dead either way," she said softly.
Sans froze, his eyelights going out once again, leaving nothing but the black sockets. That wasn't what he meant…
"As for your question… well, statement really," she corrected herself as she looked down at the glass in her hands, which by now, were starting to tremble slightly. "It does… hurt, I mean…" she admitted softly.
"then why… aren't you doing anything about it?" he asked. "you're just…"
"What point is there in tending to a dead woman?"
"damn it! you're not dying yet! why do you want to die so badly?! the hell is so bad that you're actively seeking out your own death?"
Silence once again fell between them and the skeleton let out a heavy sigh.
"fine, i get it. personal…" He rubbed his skull. "do you… want help?" he then asked. "your hands are shaking kinda bad…"
"Please…" she said softly, which surprised him. "I have a first aid kit in my backpack…"
Sans' brow furrowed. She had a first aid kit this whole time? However, she wasn't making a move for it. What, did she want him to get it? Why? She must have seen the confusion on his face because she glanced back to something on her left side, the side opposite of him.
"I can't take it off…"
Concern started to etch into his bones. Why couldn't she take off her backpack? He walked around to her left side, glancing down. He saw a lot of red, and that worried him. He crouched down, looking carefully. As he started to move her backpack, he heard her wince. It was the first time she had shown a proper pain response, so he had to be on the right track. He started to lift it again and his eye sockets widened.
"holy-!"
A giant piece of glass, about the size of his hand was pierced through the bag and into her back. No wonder she hadn't moved! The pressure of her bag was probably keeping the blood from seeping out, he could figure that much, but…
"uh, this is gonna sound… bad, but i, uh… i don't really know how to… fix humans?" Sweat started to bead down his skull. He was intelligent, but damn it! "your biology is… pretty different from monsters… isn't it?"
"You expect me to know?" she quipped back. "I didn't even know you guys existed this morning." She winced as he moved the bag again. How strange, she was going to have to trust him on this. "T-take the first aid kit out," she told him while wincing. "Get a couple pads of gauze. If you can take my bag off without the glass being pulled out, do so and just toss it over my head."
That was simple enough, he thought. He opened the bag, trying not to jostle it as he did so. Looking inside, he saw it was pretty full. He started taking things out… a sweatshirt, some books… finally, the kit. He put it down, opening it and looking through. It looked similar enough to what monsters used… He just needed to stop worrying and do what she said. He ripped open the gauze and held it with his magic, keeping it floating as his hands went back to the glass. He lifted her bag gently. He kept the glass as still as possible, pulling it from the bag with some difficulty. It was really embedded in there, and it didn't want to wiggle loose. It was easier now without the extra weight in there…
She could feel it once it was free. Sans didn't just throw it over her head like she said to, but he did push it up and she grabbed it, pulling it down to her torso. Felt weird for it to be upside down but for now, she'd deal with it.
"Okay," she took a breath. "Is it a wide end? Can you lift my shirt without pulling it out?"
"uh… not really, it'll get caught," Sans answered.
"Okay, so… I hope you're quick and don't freak out with fresh wounds."
Sans couldn't help but remember all the injuries he had caused to the kid over the resets… he never really got a close look at any of it, but blood? No, he was fine with that by now… at least, not squeamish.
"nah, pretty hard to rattle these bones."
He heard her laugh! It wasn't much but there was a soft chuckle! His head perked up as he looked at her, trying to catch of a glimpse of whatever emotion might be on her face. She had been pretty hard to read, he was hoping to get a better glimpse into what this human's deal was… but he missed it. Well… plenty of opportunity later. He finally got her to crack!
Hearing her shaky breath, however, sobered him up pretty quickly.
"So… I need you to yank that glass out as carefully as you can, try and keep it straight with the angle of entry, then lift my shirt and apply pressure with the gauze. Keep adding more as it seeps through until it doesn't, then we can tape it in place."
This was going to hurt, wasn't it? She was bracing herself for it. Was there any way he could make this not hurt, he wondered? Maybe… if he hadn't spent most of his magic… he had been using it nonstop… he wasn't the greatest at healing magic to begin with, he learned it to heal scrapes and bruises on his little brother, but never bothered to learn past that. Would that have even worked on a human?
"okay… ready?" he asked as he took his own steadying breath.
His right hand smoothed down her shirt while his left held the piece of glass. It moved in the wound and he heard her hiss. It made him hesitate for a moment, but he knew he had to get this done. He took the path of least resistance, hoping it wouldn't do any more damage as he yanked the piece out. The second it was clear, he dropped it to the side and lifted her shirt high enough to expose the wound. It bubbled with blood in a way he had never seen and it did make him pale a little. The kid deserved everything they got… her? She hadn't done anything…
He felt the warm liquid spew upward through the bandages. It really soaked through quickly. He grabbed a few more with magic from the kit, ripping them open and placing them against the wound… it took five pads for it to stop seeping through. He searched through the kit to find the tape and started taping the gauze to her skin… at least this part was familiar to him… though now her blood was literally on his hands…
Feeling him finish with the tape, the woman turned and looked back at him. She saw him staring at his hands, the bones having been lightly coated… She couldn't take off her shirt in front of him, but…
"Just use my shirt," she said softly. "It's already torn and soaked… once the rest of the glass is out I'll switch to the sweatshirt or something…"
It felt weird… but he wanted it off. He gently grabbed the side of her shirt, pulling it as far from her body as he could before using it as a towel, trying to get the blood off. A slight discoloration to his face showed his embarrassment and awkwardness.
"there's… nothing else that bad, right?" Sans then asked.
"Not that I can feel," she said softly as she slowly slipped her arm out from the strap of her backpack, keeping the contents from falling out as she slipped out of it. "But I really don't think I'm up to picking glass out of cuts right now."
Sans looked over as she held her hand out in front of her. It trembled pretty erratically. "did you lose too much blood?"
"Maybe…" she muttered softly. "I'm still… coming down from everything too… It feels like more than just my hands…"
Cautiously, he placed a hand on her shoulder. He could feel her trembling. Was she going into shock? He stood, his arms wrapping around her arm as he tried to pull her up, which he found was not an easy task. She was a lot heavier than she looked… magic was so much easier.
"What… are you doing?"
"you need to rest, at the very least lean against the wall out of the glass."
Tired blue eyes examined the skeleton. He wasn't wrong, but… he was so small… what made him think he could lift her?
"Brace yourself."
Sans planted his feet and she shifted her arm, grabbing his in return as she pulled herself with his help. She had a lot of strength, he almost fell when he underestimated her again. As she stood, he realized she was as tall as Papyrus, but a lot bulkier. Were all humans this big? They might be in trouble…
He led her over to the wall, helping her try to brush off any extra glass from her clothes on the way. He could feel her trembling as they walked. Luckily they weren't going too far… When they got to the wall, she all but collapsed against it and slid down, her head leaning back against it.
"are you going to be all right?"
A heavy breath escaped her as she leaned against the cool wall. It felt nice for the moment… however, his concern was… she didn't know how to describe how it made her feel… did it? She wasn't feeling much of anything but fear and pain…
"Is this because you need me in "good" condition for whatever it is you want me to do?"
"what?" he questioned before he caught on to what she was saying. Had he already forgotten what he told Asgore? With a sigh, he said, "oh, that… yeah, i uh… don't have anything…"
Her eyes widened a little as the implications hit her like a truck. "You lied to… why?" she asked quickly. "Why the hell would you lie, to the king of all things? You could have gotten out of here!"
"i don't know!" he quickly protested, sitting down beside her. "i just..!" A hand ran over his skull, fingertips digging into the bone. "i didn't like how you said that, all right?" he answered with a sigh, "i didn't… look, i don't know what you've been through, but i'm always the first to give up. if i can find something to keep me going, so can you. don't you have family or something?"
Sans watched as what little light he had managed to bring to her eyes fade away. Her gaze focused on the ground and instantly he realized that he had directly hit a sore spot.
"None that care."
What was he supposed to say to that? Deny it? He didn't know her, he didn't know what the situation was really like… nor did he really want to know.
Silence instead overlapped the two in an uncomfortable embrace. Neither made a move, both just sat there, reflecting on the day's events. For Sans, he suddenly had someone to watch over. At least it was better than the kid… what was he going to do? He couldn't leave the Hall, he had to wait…
His attention was grabbed by the human beside him trying to get up. Trying being the key word. She seemed to struggle as she tried to get purchase off the wall. How badly was she hurt?
"hey, maybe you should take it easy," he spoke up. "not gonna hurt ya to be lazy for a bit, ya know?" he tried to lighten the mood a little, not really a joke, but an inflection with that practiced smile of his.
"I just need the first aid kit," she responded softly. "I heal abnormally fast. I'll make my life harder if I wait much longer with this glass. There's tweezers in there."
"oh," he blinked, tilting his head a little in admitted curiosity. Could he ask? Should he? He glanced back at her things he had left over there, deciding he was going to be lazy too. He used a bit of magic, it didn't really take a lot to levitate, to bring it back over.
He watched as she started digging the glass out of her left hand first. Luckily most of it did miss her, but where it did get her, she wouldn't be able to get easily, not without magic and maybe a mirror.
"do you want help?" he then offered. "i mean, glass half full here, but without a mirror there's only so much you can do."
"I won't say no," she responded softly. Her hand was still shaking pretty badly as she passed him the tweezers.
"out of puns?" he asked with a weak smile. He was hoping she had a little more in her.
"Oh, was that..?" she then realized, holding her head a little. "Forgive me, my glass is pretty empty," she weakly smiled in return.
Sans chuckled weakly. "i'm scrapping the bottom of the barrel too."
The young woman took in the fatigued skeleton, the distant look in his eyes. She watched as he gently took her right hand, picking little shards of glass out of the tender flesh. Not that she flinched. She had hit her pain threshold, there was nothing he could really do that would make the pain worse… she was pretty numb.
"Just can't facet yet, huh?"
Tired eye sockets blinked and he looked up from her hand to stare at her, confusion evident. Obviously that was a pun, but he was having a hard time figuring out what from. The Hall was pretty ornate, but nothing really stood out for that… no crystals, no gems…
A warm chuckle seemed to escape her at his obvious confusion, a bit of life returning to her eyes.
"Apologies. My name is Jewel."
It took him far longer than it should have for that to sink in. His face erupted in blue, embarrassment running through him. "i never asked?"
He never asked her for her name?! But she was calling him..! He didn't even introduce himself, she heard his name from Asgore! He totally forgot about it all! He was such an idiot! He threw her through a window, nearly killed her over a mistake and he couldn't even be bothered to ask her name?!
His embarrassment didn't fade when he heard her laugh. It was light, different from the sounds she had given earlier, it actually seemed to be genuine… and it was at his expense! His face grew a little darker at the sound.
"Yeah, that was a bit of a boner, eh?" she teased. "No fibula, I was wondering when you'd ask. Kind of humerus it didn't cross through that thick skull of yours. But it's okay."
Sans' gaze was fixed on the ground, embarrassment coursing through him as he was suddenly barraged with puns, something just a moment ago he was hoping to hear more of! Now he was kicking himself for it!
But out of the corner of his vision, he flinched back as her hand gently came at his face. He didn't flinch far enough, the gentle touch of her fingertips caressed the cracks near his eye socket.
"But it's something that's easy to slip through the cracks."
He looked up at her as her hand pulled away from his face, eyelights quivering in his sockets as they focused on her. What the hell was that?
"Heh, sorry," she said softly as the silence continued to grow between them. "I probably… could have brought it up before. The puns just kind of… lined up, sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
"i mean… i did ask you for more puns," he relented with a sigh. He rubbed his left eye socket. He could still feel her touch, lingering… "but… why didn't you bring it up earlier?"
"I just…" she hesitated, leaning a bit more against the wall than she had before. "You know what they say with names and attachment right? When the king finds out this plan of yours isn't going to amount to anything…"
Shit, she was right… "i'll figure out something," he said softly. "might not be able to fix what happened, but…"
"What did happen, anyway?" she asked. "You said something about another human?"
"heh, i think it can wait for now, don't you? we still need to get the glass out of your face."
"And my head."
Sans' brow furrowed together, "what?"
He watched as Jewel leaned down, showing the top of her head. Her thick hair was only slightly wet, darker… he leaned in and started moving the strands of hair out of the way as the light finally hit some of the shards of glass…
"why didn't you say anything sooner?" When she shrugged, he groaned a little. "we're running out of light, it's not going to be an easy thing to see…"
Confusion was plastered on the skeleton's face, replacing his embarrassment completely now, as he saw her digging into her pocket. She pulled out… something. It was flat as rectangular, yet still small enough to be held in her hand.
"what… is that?"
"My phone?" she blinked. "Do you guys not have cell phones down here?"
Sans blinked rapidly. "that is a cell phone?" he asked incredulously. He dug into his pocket, pulling out an older flip phone. It still had an antenna.
"Oh, wow. I haven't seen one of those in decades," she couldn't help but chuckle.
"well, we do kind of live off human trash here, as far as some of our tech is concerned," Sans admitted, with a bit of embarrassment. "not everyone has one… i just… live in a different part and i'm needed around the place a lot…"
"Well, the king does seem to keep you in high regard, I can imagine how important you are to the people."
"heh, nah, just a few," Sans laughed a little. "but, why did you pull out your phone? gonna call someone?"
She blinked, then chuckled. "No. Cellphones aren't just for communication anymore," she said before turning on the flashlight feature, Sans eyes going wide. "There's a lot they can do, they're essentially handheld computers. It's pretty cool," she said with a smile, his curiosity endearing. "I figure… this will help with the glass."
Right, task at hand, Sans shook his head free of science-filled thoughts. He could ask about the technology later. But there was one more problem… she was tall and he really didn't have the energy to stand and hover over her while she sat against the wall. He couldn't ask her to pull away from that wall either, not when she was trembling the way she was.
"well… the top of your head is gonna be awkward no matter what we do," he started.
"Are you telling me to lay down?" she bluntly asked.
He couldn't help the faint dusting of blue that appeared just slightly on his cheekbones as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. A soft, nervous laugh escaped him as words seemed to fail him. Jewel just watched him. She was too tired to really argue.
With a sigh, she grabbed her sweatshirt that was still laying on the ground and rolled it up, creating a pseudo pillow and just laid on the ground, as uncomfortable as it was at the moment. Sans blinked but he leaned over. It was clear it wasn't comfortable, not against the wall like they were. So after a few minutes of awkward plucking glass out of her face, she waved his hand back.
Confused, the skeleton pulled back at her action, only to realize she was adjusting herself. Another dusting of blue sort of came over him as she moved her sweatshirt over his lap and plopped back down.
"Better?" she muttered tiredly.
He blinked, but he couldn't deny how much easier this was. "uh… yeah…" he admitted, a bit of shy awkwardness hinting at his voice.
She then handed him her phone, which he suspended in the air with magic. The light in the room was really disappearing, so it was a nice tool to have.
"ya doing okay there, buddy?" he asked as he plucked a piece of glass out of her temple. She was an easy patient, he'd give her that. Let him move her head without much prompting to get angles he needed.
"Tired," she answered as her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, only to slowly open several seconds later. "Don't really know if I'll be able to get back up after this, just push me off when you're done," she laughed weakly.
"is it really that bad?" he asked. "i mean, i didn't think the window would take that much out of ya."
"S'not the window," she muttered a bit. "I've been driving for two weeks to get to this mountain, eating crappy fast food and truck-stop snacks, sleeping in the back of my car for a few hours before getting up and driving again. Then the actual climbing of the mountain only to be yanked by… God, I don't even know how ya did it… I can't even describe how tiring it is to be emotionally numb either, to just be… done… with everything…"
"heh, ain't gotta explain it to me," he said with a weak chuckle. "been there more times than i care to remember."
"Tit for tat?" she asked, glancing back at him as best she could with her head titled away from him as he continued to dig for a piece in the side of her head. "Tell me yours, I'll tell ya mine."
He supposed that was fair… and as depressing as it was, he had this weird… feeling, he supposed, about all of this… He didn't like how she was so easily accepting of her soul being stolen by Asgore, how she sounded so… disappointed when he didn't attack her. It was probably the latter that at him more.
"well… it's hard to explain," he started, "and it's gonna sound crazy."
"Dude, I drove thousands of miles to die only to meet a talking skeleton and a giant goat with a trident and flame powers that is essentially an allegory for the grim reaper and Satan respectively. Only you both wear a lot less black than in most depictions." Sans laughed with her, though if it was out of awkwardness or just the way she said it, she didn't know. "I'm pretty accepting at this point, ain't nothing you say will top the amount of crazy people will think when I retell this whole ordeal if I change my mind."
"change your mind, huh? that mean i can talk you out of killing yourself?" he asked with a lazy smirk.
She shrugged a little. "Who knows? It's happened before. Just leads back, but ya might get some luck."
"you have a history of this?"
"Yeah," she admitted with a heavy sigh, much too easily for Sans liking.
"but, why? i mean, you're so funny, even like this. you literally came to die and you're still joking around with me!"
"Tit for tat, remember? Didn't I ask you first?"
"technically, i asked you first."
"Technically, Asgore did," she fought him on his technicalities. "You did ask, but you dropped it, changed the subject. We're still technically on topic." She tilted her head back to him, smiling softly, "So, c'mon bony, spill your figurative guts, then I'll do the same."
Sans couldn't hold back an honest chuckle. Seeing her smile like that, even if it was probably just as practiced as his own, there was some light behind it. There was something about talking to someone having hit rock bottom, to have someone on the same level as you, even if they hadn't known your exact situation, that there was just… an understanding.
"alright, but keep still so i can work on your head," he told her as he tilted her head to the angle he needed. At her silent acceptance, he took a moment to prepare himself, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "it goes back to that other human… see, there was this kid who fell into the ruins near my home one day… i mean, what harm's a kid gonna do, right? but you humans have more magic than you realize… this kid… their determination was enough to have them alter time. whenever they wanted, they just… reset the world to a point they wanted… and no one was any the wiser…"
"But you know," Jewel spoke up, glancing back at him but she kept still, not moving as she had silently agreed.
"heh… took me long enough," he muttered softly as he managed to pluck another piece of glass out of her head. He rotated her so he could make sure he got everything out of the visible skin before he had her scoot down a little so the top of her head was at a more natural angle for the both of them, using his femur as a bit of support for them both.
"i just… caught on one day… as a scientist, my whole line of research was quantum mechanics and timeline variables… a time machine was in the works if you can believe that. then it…" he sighed. "doesn't matter, i guess… but i started noticing the peculiarities and I was… able to figure it out. this kid was just… manipulating us for cheap laughs, or something… then i started remembering the deaths…"
"Deaths? Wait, the kid was-?"
"killing monsters and then resetting to bring them back. and none of them know…" he sighed, "i mean, some, like my brother, noticed a few instances of déjà vu… the kid wasn't perfect…"
"You're… brother?"
"yeah…" he confirmed, heavily, "gotta tell ya, whatever you're going through? can't be as bad as watching your brother die, hundreds of times, and not being able to do a damn thing to stop it. even knowing what's going to happen, there's…"
His hands started to shake, his vision started to blur as his eyes went dark. Memories always plagued him and it was worse when he didn't sleep. The nightmares were bad, but the flashbacks were arguably worse… he couldn't escape…
He felt a warmth touch his hand as it hovered over her head. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, his eyelights returning faintly as he saw her hand holding his own. His gaze traveled down to her as he saw those steel-blue eyes staring back at him.
"Sans, I was never going to compare us," she told him with a gentle inflection. It confused him, was she upset with him for doing so? But as she continued, "By default, being trapped underground, you kind of already got most of humanity beat in terms of bad situations. At least most of us are free, we can go anywhere we want in the world, provided we can afford it. I mean, hell, even me. But the one time I decide to travel… can't say I really regret it though. I mean, the locals here are pretty nice, all things considered," she smiled up at him.
He stared down at her, unable to help the half-hearted chuckle that escaped him. "hey, i thought i was the one supposed to be talking you out of a funk."
She shrugged casually. "Eh, nothing saying we both can't do it," she said with a small smirk, but it soon fell as obvious questions were on her mind. "What… happened with the kid? I mean…"
Sans sighed a little as he leaned back against the wall. She wasn't going to think the locals were nice anymore… "it… always comes down to the two of us… in this hall," he explained softly. "it's always… me or the kid… sometimes i lose and then it's asgore… he's a pretty tough customer, that one," he lazily grinned, though there was no emotion behind it, "but his ability to remember is… limited. he's the only one i've really brought this to… he's done his best but i'm the only one with a decently… coherent memory of what the kid does… but even he's remembered losing to them. it's… i don't know what their end game is… they kill us all… only to reset…"
"But, what about now?" Jewel asked, concerned. "Where's the kid now?"
Sans shrugged lazily. "wherever they go when they're between resets, i guess? taking their sweet time with this one," he muttered.
"How long has it been?"
"a month, give or take?"
"A month?" Jewel parroted incredulously. "What was the longest before then?"
"an hour or two?" Sans tried to think back, instead, focusing on her head. "doesn't really matter. they're just trying to throw me off… haven't been able to sleep much due to it. it's not really an excuse, but… that's why i grabbed you. i saw your shadow and i thought it was the kid and just… reacted."
Jewel remained silent as he picked the glass out of her head, slowly processing what she had just heard. She couldn't very well look at him at the moment, but the fatigue she saw on him… the sunken sockets, the dark circles under them… the cracks in his skull, were they all from a month of constant…
She remained quiet and still until he finished with her head. She could feel him giving her a once over, but he didn't push her off or even tell her to move.