A Tale of Consequences

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Chapter 7

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"Time to get up, kiddo."

Deja vu dripped off the words like a tangible goo. The soul wriggled against his magic, but it was halfhearted at best. They knew it even better than anyone, it was useless. He dragged them closer towards the glass wall with careful tugs-he was so damn tired of this.

Don't make it 32 kid.

He'd put in too much work this time, managing Alphys and his own research, the thought of losing that to one of the kid's resets chilled him to the bone.

Or your own.

He...tried not to think about that. Seeing the message sent on Alphys' phone had cracked something in him. Knowing that the king would come…

He'd killed them before. Many times. But never to force a reload.

They'd… looked at him differently, this time. They'd tried to say something. Choked on their own blood.

The tell-tale black cracks hadn't appear, but Sans had wasted no time grabbing the human and taking the shortcut, focusing on the weak heartbeat he could just barely feel. He had needed to put off talking to Alphys again to make sure they didn't kick the bucket, but this time he made sure to do it before she got the bright idea to contact the king. Even if he'd been dead on his feet at that point.

The research wasn't just a distraction either. The kid only went crazy when that black stuff appeared. He was positive that was a result of the LV. If they could get rid of that… maybe…

Maybe the kid would finally agree to reset.

Maybe.

He had no idea if it would work. But it was the only thing he could think of.

He'd only seen one monster with even half that much LV and Sans-static-didn't want to think about the King of all monsters going through the same sort of downward spiral.

Especially a boss monsters with the power of seven human souls. The stories of the king's kid with one was bad enough.

"...why…?"

The kid's voice was quiet, cracking, muffled through the glass. Sans ignored it. He saw Alphys flinch and back away out of the corner of his eyesocket, holding the clipboard tight to her chest. He'd had to coerce her into bringing it for notes. She never did like handwriting things.

Luckily the kid seemed to notice too, their tired eyes traveling from him, to Alphys and then back to him. Before closing. In acceptance? Despair? In pain? Shouldn't they understand what they've done? Why Alphys would respond this way?

She didn't have 6 extra reloads to grow numb, 2 that he remembered perfectly. Sans envied her.

Sans ignored the question like he hadn't heard it, beckoning Alphys closer, "You use yellow magic right?"

Really, Sans was impressed her bones haven't jumped straight out of her skin with the amount of times he'd seen her jump like that. She hadn't been that bad when they'd worked with-static.

Well. Being forced to work alone instead of in a team probably had something to do with that, given the nervous personality he remembered.

"I-I-yes b-but w-what's t-that g-got t-to..."

"Pull out your scanner thing and look at it."

"H-how d-did y-you-"

Sans gathered a small amount, his vision dimming and his eye flashing yellow briefly. He held onto the yellow, not the cyan that usually followed. He tried to ignore the phantom heart racing, amplified by his use of perception magic. Was the human scared? Worried? He felt them limp in his grip, but their soul was trembling… "First it'll feel all oily, that's the LV. If you can stomach it, look closer at the colors, there's a variation there. You should see a pattern, darker red-"Well, blue. He was holding the human's soul right now, as close to the glass as he could without making Alphys flinch.

"Th-there's...something…"The yellow magic was an amorphous blob around her left eye, slowly-agonizingly slowly-forming into a curved lense. "I-I-s-shouldn't m-my m-monitors s-show t-this?"

"Nah. Machines don't always recognize what they're seeing unless you tell 'em what to look for." Sans shrugged with one shoulder, the other hand outstretched and holding the human in place, "Sometimes you need to get up-close and personal before you can see the difference."

"H-how c-can you-"

"I'ma sentry, Alph. It's my job to look at things. Usually trees, snow, the occasional snowdin delinquent…"

He'd always been able to see weird things. Feeling them shouldn't have been too far of a stretch.

Scratch. Scratch. The pen began to scratch furiously against the paper. Heh. Glad you listened to me now, Alph?

The kid's soul's trembling began to intensify. He glanced up to find they were balling their fists, trying to draw back, away from the glass. Why-

Oh. The doc seemed to have forgotten her reservations, nearly pressing her snout against the glass. The magic had finally solidified into the little lense device he remembered, and whatever it was showing her seemed to be enthralling. He just smiled as the pen flew a mile a minute, a small spiderweb of lines appearing on the small sketch, the pen occasionally darting to the side to make a note or another.

"I've...seen this before…" Alphys mumbled. To herself or to Sans he wasn't sure if really mattered. I-It's concentrated determination. That's why it wasn't showing any difference in the scans. But not...human determination."

LV. The phenomenon known as Levels of Violence...was measured by one thing. The amount of monster residue a soul absorbed.

Monsters may not have as much, but they did have determination. And that determination was the one thing that remained when all turned to dust. It made sense.

Sans slid his hand into his pocket. Fingerbones curling around the badge he'd grabbed when he picked up his-static-'s notes.

An old, worn badge exactly the match to the newer one on Alphys' labcoat.

He didn't fight the static as it made his him feel light headed. The badge was a solid anchor as it pressed against bone.

Some monsters had more determination than others. Their bodies just...couldn't always handle it. Alphys' own research proved that.

He'd been reaching for someone. Trying to grab a falling hand. Someone he couldn't allow himself to forget, but the world wouldn't let him remember.

"-ans. S-sans!" He blinked, vision clearing as his eyelights brightened. Clearing to a mostly yellow blob. Alphys' snout in his face. "A-ah. Sorry. I must have dozed off."

"Y-you can p-put them down n-now. I-I think I know what to look for now."

...how long had he been out? He couldn't even tell. She'd barely started on her first sketch from what he remembered. Now she had a whole sheaf of them in her fist.

"Careful there, you'll slice straight through that if you hold it much tighter."

She glanced down the paper, and took a visible breath. Easing the tension in her grip. He couldn't help but beam at her. Good. He didn't even have to say it.

"T-there's a reason I type all my notes." She grumbled, only turning a little pink. "I-I'm going to go see if I c-can re-write the program. S-see if I can get it to register that pattern. If I can isolate it with the m-monitor, the e-extractor s-should be easy." He forgave her the "I hope." under her breath.

"Go on." He waved his hand, releasing his hold on the human's soul with the motion, letting their body slip to the ground. The small thump made her flinch, "I'm gonna monitor our little prisoner for a while. It'll be fine."

Her weak protest was brushed aside easy enough, and soon he was alone.

Well. That illusion was shattered soon enough.

"...sans?"

The kid's voice was weak. But he could hear them behind him. Feel the trembling of their soul as if he still held it. They leaned up against the glass, though they flinched back a few paces when he pulled his hands out of his pockets. Thinking of the last time? When he'd skewered them through?

"Y-you remember...don't you? Everything?"

He raised them in an exaggerated shrug, rolling his shoulders. Not even turning to look at them.

"Only the last two. I told ya. I can't afford not to care anymore. I didn't just mean that about fighting."

If the kid said any more, Sans wasn't listening.