Sans watched as his brother reassured Undyne that he was fine for the fifth time. From the way his smile was growing each time, it was actually helping him to keep saying it out loud, so he just stuffed his hands into his pockets, and stood there, glancing around the room.
This place had that same kind of bad feeling that had hit him on the path from Snowdin to Waterfall, just… not the same way. That had been like getting hit in the gut with a sack of bricks. This… was more like a slight case of nausea. Which made sense, considering what the kid had told him. He didn't even wanna think about how many times he'd stood here, knowing just enough about what was going on to at least acknowledge it head on.
He went back to studying Papyrus carefully, but whatever had happened, he seemed to be heroing through it in a normal, Papyrus manner.
What exactly was Chara trying to do? Convince his brother they were all better off not existing at all? Pfft. Good luck with that. Whatever motivations had been in play, making his brother any more upset about deaths in previous timelines had been a dirty thing to pull.
It would have been amazing that the kindhearted, ever-trusting skeleton wasn't crumbling under the weight of everything, but he wasn't surprised that Paps could handle it. He'd just never wanted him to have to.
The kid was standing off to the side, looking anxious. Anxious about what… he couldn't say. There were plenty of things to choose from.
The thing he was choosing to worry about was, much as he hated to admit it… Chara had a point. Did it really matter if everyone in the Underground was willing to let bygones be bygones? No matter what had been reset, it had still happened. It only stood to reason that there would be consequences. Sure, it wasn't up to any of them to pick and choose those consequences, but what if they couldn't avoid them, either?
Papyrus turned and saw Frisk staring at him. His brother scooped the kid into his arms and whispered something. Frisk smiled, and relaxed. The look Paps gave him over the kid's head was almost apologetic.
He shrugged it away. It wasn't like he held any special grudge against the kid for that little detail. Everything that had happened before that… maybe. But it was kind of hard to get upset over his own death, when practically everyone else had already been gone. He didn't see how it even mattered.
Frisk scrambled down, and tugged on Papyrus's hand, pulling him down the hall. The rest of them followed by default.
Despite everything the kid had told him about having to talk down ol' Fluffybuns and the weed, Frisk seemed to draw confidence from the four monsters.
They walked along together, and the kid's shoulder's drew back as they stepped through the doors, into an anticlimactically empty throne room.
The kid's steps got more cautious, until they stopped altogether.
A familiar voice was yelling at the king, and, while he was used to hearing it from the other side of the door, he wasn't used to that door being open. Heh, for that matter, he didn't know that the gentle tones could sound so… angry.
"I will not stand here and listen to you defend your actions. Nor will I leave this place without ensuring that the child is safe."
"Toriel…"
"If you are not going to admit that this was a horrible plan from the start, than do not say anything all!"
He watched as the kid broke into a delighted smile, and raced on ahead full speed, all worry fading away.
That stood to reason, he supposed, what with the lady it was impossible to say no to holding the king in check.
Everyone else was right on Frisk's heels, but he found himself shuffling his feet at a pace that was slow, even for him.
It was crazy to be apprehensive about meeting her face to face, especially with everything else going on, wasn't it? He shook his head at his own silliness, and settled for just hanging out in the doorway of the barrier room, leaning against the wall as he watched everyone interact, picking up a few bits and pieces of information, but mostly just keeping an eye out for a certain flower.
Huh, so he'd been swapping puns with the former queen all this time. Who knew? Part of him was surprised at this little tidbit of information, and the rest had a nagging feeling that it was old news. Didn't really matter, he supposed.
She didn't really look like he'd pictured her, but the kindness on her face matched her voice well enough. Except for when she was glaring daggers at the king, that was. She was doing less of that, than smiling down at the kid.
Things calmed down, and everyone seemed to realize at the last second that if the king wasn't going to hurt Frisk… then the whole reason they'd come here was kinda pointless. As far as the rest of them knew, anyway. After what the kid had told him, he was still looking over his shoulder for a certain flower to make an appearance.
Asgore took it upon himself to address the issue once everyone had calmed down a second time. "It would seem that everyone is in agreement… and I, for one, would like nothing more then to allow this child to go home. But, as most of you know, it is impossible for even a human to pass the barrier, without absorbing a monster soul."
Papyrus didn't seem any more ready to share the new information than him or the kid.
Undyne was the first to speak. "So… what happens now?"
It was an annoying question, because it had been churning through his mind since the very start. The plan was to get the kid to Asgore in one piece. But now what? He wasn't a fan of the whole, 'wait for the flower to show up and try to kill everyone' plan, but there weren't all that many options. He glanced back again, still listening more intently to the silence in the hallway than the hubbub in the room.
Then again, who was to say a flower would make a lot of noise? He glanced around, wondering where exactly the souls were tugged on Papyrus's scarf to get his attention. *hey, do ya think maybe we'd better ask the king where the other souls are, and try to stop anyone else from taking 'em?
The room had gone silent again as he finished talking, and the queen glanced over at him. "That voice!"
He gave a little wave. *heya.
Papyrus ignored his question long enough to ask, "Wait… you know Asgore clone?"
Before he could answer, he caught a flash of green in the corner of his eye socket, and something wrapped around him, and Papyrus, and… yeah, the other monsters in the room too. It wasn't just a physical attack… it felt like something was trying to absorb them.
Too late… heh… probably a good title for the story of his life. And then pain seared through him, and he couldn't even focus on a pun to follow that thought up…
Frisk's POV
Talk about deja vu… how many times had this happened? Powers or no, it was so familiar it was almost boring.
Did Flowey know how repetitive he was? He probably didn't care.
Still, there was a certain feeling of… apprehension. What happened now? Was it possible to do this without dying? Could Papyrus even fix it if it wasn't?
Why had killing anyone ever started to seem like a good idea? It was time to fix things, but… without determination…
sans's pov
Ow. What was going on? Everything was all fuzzy, and his head ached even more than the rest of him, but he was mostly fine, because the one thing he was sure of was that Papyrus was close by, and alive. What'd happened… he'd blacked out again… he'd just been trying to tell the kid that this guy had nothing on them… but…
Did it even matter? This… this had happened before already, hadn't it? They were all stuck in a loop, weren't they? Nothing they did was ever gonna matter… was it? Even if they got out of this mess, they were just gonna end up right back here, until, one day, everything just stopped.
It probably didn't matter this time… without determination, the kid's chances of lasting long enough to try to save them or whatever were bordering on nonexistent.
He hadn't been one to give up on anything he thought was important, but something was telling him that that guy had been beaten a long time ago.
"SANS?"
Heh, either his bro was even closer than he'd thought, or the stupid weed was messing with his head some more. The horrifying thought of what he could be made to see in this state was nearly crippling.
"SANS!"
Naw… he'd know that voice anywhere. *papyrus?
"FRISK NEEDS HELP. I HAVE TO… NGYEH."
*bro?
*paps?
*papyrus?!
For one horrible second, he was alone. The despair he'd felt before was crushing him now, because there had been something familiar, and close, and comforting nearby, and it had been jerked violently away from him.
And then he was jerked towards it. "SANS? ARE YOU OKAY?"
His vision cleared as he was able to get a grip on himself, having full access to his own thoughts once again. For a moment, he thought everything was gone, but then he realized…
"I DON'T KNOW WHERE EVERYTHING WENT, BUT…"
*it's all right were it was. the flower… sucked us in, somehow. His hopes were that they hadn't been absorbed yet, but, hey, Papyrus seemed fine, so if this was absorption, there were worse things.
Papyrus squeezed his shoulder. "YOU NEED TO STAY HERE, WHILE I GO FIND FRISK, OKAY?"
*i think i'll tag along if it's all the same to you, bro.
"SANS! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! THEY'RE GOING TO FIGHT, AND I HAVE TO PROTECT FRISK! THEY'RE DEFENSELESS!"
*yeah, i got that. so let's go help the kid.
"STAY!" Papyrus stomped his foot, and then started towards the feeling of rising tension.
He stuck his hands in his pockets, and followed, shrugging off the fact that his bro was resorting to the orders Doggo used on Greater Dog.
There was a hint of desperation in Papyrus's voice. "SANS, PLEASE! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOU BACK THERE, BUT YOU LOOKED SO SAD I… PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME REGRET IT!"
He kept his voice low, comforting. *papyrus, i know you're worried about me, but don't, ok? just for a little while, focus all that worry on frisk, instead.
"BUT THERE'S GOING TO BE A FIGHT!"
He sighed. *i know. that's why i gotta come. if things get out of hand, i've got a few tricks up my sleeves. might not be fighting fair, but, hey, he started it.
"BUT…"
*bro… i know. but we're not fighting a determined human, and i've got a way better advantage than i had in the timeline when… 'that' happened.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"
*i got you. it's not the same fight. heh, between the three of us, flowey hasn't got a chance.
"BUT…"
Papyrus was still trying to leave him behind, as if a few extra steps would make a difference. Heh, for all he knew, maybe they would. Maybe Paps really could get there and diffuse the whole sorry situation before he could even catch up.
But the way he saw it, if there was a fight, he could buy Papyrus some time. He didn't know if it would even make a difference, but that attitude hadn't helped anyone. He had to take a page out of Papyrus's book… they were all still here, and he knew exactly what was at stake.
He couldn't afford not to care anymore.
A/N: That still took longer than I thought it would. =( Thanks for being patient guys!
I guest as much: Haha, it's nice to be back, thanks! I'm glad you still like the story! = )
Moonpoppy: XD He's a pretty relatable guy!
The Esprite: Thanks so much for the suggestion! I really tried to find a way to use it, but it didn't quite fit in with what I've already got planned for the plot. (Next chapter or so ought to explain why.) If you have any more ideas, I'd love to hear them!
ThePunnySkeleton: Haha, I had a feeling that was you, but I couldn't be sure. ;) I agree 100%. Even for someone doing their best to put up a façade of being useless, being constantly seen that way can still hurt. I don't think it bothers Sans as much as it would most people, because he knows that Papyrus isn't writing him off as useless, he's just worried about him. He KNOWS Sans can do more than he tries to, and, in his own way, half the time he's just trying to motivate his brother to do a little better. And Sans knows that Papyrus is even more worried that normal under these circumstances, because he's kinda had it rubbed in his face that it only takes 1 hit. Sigh... family, am I right? Sometimes, they just care too much! XD
(I'm an avid reader too, but playing the piano doesn't sound like a lazy habit too have!)
Thanks for all the reviews, comments, and views everyone! Until next time! = )