Kit - Chapter two of the double update! Enjoy!


Chapter Twenty One

::

"What kind of a lizard are you?"

"The trash kind," Alphys nodded seriously, and, really, it was a bit hard to be so nervous and worried when the tiny human was this cute!

"But what kind?" Frisk was walking around Alphys, looking curious. "Are you a gecko? A newt? A snake?"

"No, no, and no. Snakes don't have limbs. And newts are much more...thin." Alphys seemed to be examining herself, looking confused and baffled. "...What kind am I..."

"Alphys, I'm gonna look at your computer." Sans was already at said computer, logging in and oh, look at that. His old information still worked. Hm, qutie a few files missing, but he could probably dig them up if need be.

"Wait- What?! Sans, you stay away from that internet history!" There was a snort of sudden laughter from said skeleton, who looked very amused.

"Aha, wow, you're worse than I remember!"

"Sans!" Frisk watched them before walking off towards a door. She tripped backwards, catching herself as the door opened up for her quietly. A small nudge of what felt like air and she was catching her balance again, nudged up and towards the door. She walked towards the door curiously, hopping up to try to press the elevator button. It was a moment before she managed, the elevator doors closing smoothly and taking her down.

When the doors opened, it was into a dark hallway, looking like something out of a horror movie and maybe she'd just. Hide in the elevator. Unfortunately there was a sudden nudge that was gently pushing her out of the elevator, doors closing behind her with a bit of a snap. Or maybe that was imagination, but still. Giving a quiet whine, Frisk walked down the hall, staying close to the wall as she looked around. What was this place? And why was it in Alphys' lab?

As she walked along, it seemed to only get...darker. Or at least it felt that way. The halls were chipped and falling apart, and everything looked abandoned. As if it had been left to ruin long...long ago. And she would have stopped, if it weren't for the fact that she kept being nudged along by something invisible. When she looked back, she couldn't see anything...except maybe a flicker. She continued on until she got to a room with three metal beds, and three sinks.

There was a small nudge over to the sinks, two of them loudly dripping and echoing in the room, while the third one remained utterly silent and dry. She stood on her toes, turning each of them on. Out of the first two came water, as expected. Whereas the third... A white substance began flooding out until it formed into some kind of...abomination. The creature standing over her, looking ready to strike, Frisk fell backwards.

From upstairs, they were able to hear her scream.

Before Frisk could even be touched, the mysterious being was being blasted back to the other end of the room, a familiar figure standing in front of her with bright blue energy swirling around the air. "I really wouldn't touch her, if I were you..." When the creature shambled up to stand, Sans' expression was becoming horrified, power leaving as he shakily took a step back and what... "What have you all...been through..."

There was more shambling and strange sounds, Sans slipping into another language and smiling comfortingly, saying soothing things until the creature slowly started to...relax, almost. It was a minute or two of this before it was leaving the room, Sans sighing shakily and turning to check on Frisk. The girl was shaking, and looking terrified. She watched the monster before looking back up to Sans and wondering what that was. It had almost looked like...like... "Ssh, it's alright, Frisk, it's...it's fine."

Sans carefully scooped the girl up and pulled her into his arms, holding her close as he looked around the room, walking over to one of the panels that Frisk had passed over before. A small tap to it and it was brightening with words, Sans reading over them before he made a small noise of near despair. "Oh, Alphys..." It looked like he wasn't the only scientist who had made mistakes...

"The elevator closed and I tried to stay in the elevator but it wouldn't let me and it kept pushing me and I didn't want to but I had to and I tried to stay put but then the sinks and the monster and- and-" Sans easily shushed her, tucking her close and rubbing a hand down her back, quietly soothing her as he hummed under his breath. It, huh...with them being this close to the Core it was possible, but he'd never send a child to do all of this- Unless Frisk had just been there to get his attention... Who better to uncover the secrets of this place than the one who had helped hide some of them, after all. "I- I dunno what it was, but I saw something and- and-"

Sans blinked, looking very startled, and he couldn't help but think that he was too. "You saw him..." A deep sigh, Sans tucking her closer and heading off to try the elevator. "You're definitely unexpected, kiddo."

"And we thought the last one was bad..." Sans only made a vague waving motion, rolling his eyes.

"At least it's not worse than it could be. Don't forget a few of them..." At seeing the elevator broken, Sans tried for another room, blinking at seeing rows of beds, and, oh... "Ya know, now I'm glad I quit when I did..."

"What is this place?" Frisk was curled up to Sans, and maybe also into a small ball as she looked around, half-hiding in his jacket.

"I dunno, but I have a feeling we will by the end of this..." Heading to one of the beds, he gently set the girl down, rubbing at her head. "Do you think you could stay here for a bit? I kinda need to look into this, but I don't want you getting hurt."

"...Promise you won't." It took a few seconds for Sans to puzzle out the girl's words, the monster smiling softly as he pecked her on the forehead.

"I promise that I won't get hurt, and that I'll come back for you." Frisk gave a small nod, wrapping her arms around him in a hug before she settled down, laying on her side to watch him. Sans ruffled her hair again before he was going around and checking the logs in the room, trying to piece things together. He had vague rumors about some of these things, but he never would have imagined... When he glanced back, he blinked at seeing...a figure standing over Frisk and pulling the blanket over her. And, no...

No, no, no, that wasn't anything like the creature he had seen earlier, it was a dark figure, not white, and- No. He was supposed to be incorporeal. There wasn't- He had tried everything and all results had said the same there was supposed to be no way...but... Frisk didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Noticing the blanket was around her, she only passed it off as Sans using his powers. She snuggled down, blinking her eyes open almost owlishly as she stared at him.

"Kid, you're causing some very new things to happen, around here..." That was just it though, wasn't it? Frisk hadn't fought one of them since this mess had begun. Sure she had fought a few monsters, but... Not Toriel, or Papyrus, Undyne, Muffet, Mettaton...all the fights had been avoided - they hadn't even been started. And now this...just what was she- No, no. One mystery at a time. Still...this timeline...was not something that should have been.

"Is that bad?" Frisk shuffled a bit, the figure behind her patting her head before it disappeared as though it were never there.

"...No. I think it might actually be a good thing, considering."

"Considering what?"

"Considering what it could have been," Sans chuckled, going back to what he was doing. "Alright, time to crack this case."

"...Are you gonna leave?"

"Just to the other rooms, but I'll be back to check on you as often as I can," Sans smiled reassuringly, ruffling her hair as he passed on his way to another room. "Don't worry, kid, I promised, right? I'm always gonna be here to keep you safe."

Going through the labs on his own, Sans realized, was not as easy as he had made it sound. Mostly because he had used to work in this lab...back when it had been new and used daily, but still... He remembered working here very clearly, and it was slightly disconcerting. And the monsters he kept running into (the amalgamates?) were not helping matters. Mostly because they startled him and tried to drag him into fights which he did not want to be a part of.

Which might have been why he was hiding. Under a table. And curled into a teeny tiny ball of terror. He received a small nudge, for his troubles, nothing around to have given it. "You're not helping matters, you know. You're supposed to be scattered across time and space. I did the math. You're not supposed to ever be corporeal again." And oh, look at that, his voice was slightly cracking- Really, he wasn't that much of an adult. There was another nudge, this one a bit less gentle, and a quiet whisper of words from an almost ancient language. "You're not wrong, but I'm not moving." The small pressure in his side, as though someone was poking it, only remained. "No." It increased the smallest amount. "My rib will break before my stubbornness does, you know this." There was another whisper, almost lost to the wind, but said just as stubbornly.

"...That one was low," Sans finally muttered, shaking more than a little bit as he finally crawled out from under the table, looking pathetic and much younger than he usually did. "I blame you for my shortness. I don't know how, but I blame you." Blame. Blame helped everything. Probably. A quiet laugh, along with a mutter, and Sans was being nudged towards the key. "I can still blame you! Freakin' giants, the pair of you! It's your fault, somehow, I just know it. Just to spite me, you would do it! I know you would!"

Sans allowed himself to be nudged along anyways, grabbing the key and shoving it in his pocket, looking a little wary as he retraced his steps and please no more monsters.

He couldn't promise anything, but he'd do his best.

It took a little while before before Sans was coming back to Frisk with a sigh. The girl shot up to sitting, staring at him. "Did you do it?"

"Yes, everything was taken care of, although I'm kinda surprised you didn't see Alphys when she came down, but that was probably because she went straight to the door..." Sans shrugged it off, walking over to Frisk and scooping her up, nuzzling against her and slowly starting to relax. "All taken care of. Not sure exactly why we had to go through all this, but, at least it's fine." Probably. It was probably fine, now. "C'mon. Let's go bother Tori for some pie."

"...I don't think there's any left."

"Sans!"

"Coming, coming." At Alphys' voice, Sans easily followed along to the elevator, shifting Frisk to rest on his shoulders. "Everything taken care of, then?"

"Yes, I... I wanted to apologize. You had your reasons for leaving, whatever they are, and I should have respected that." Sans only stared at her for a moment before giving her a quick hug, and a bit of a smile.

"You really don't remember, do you... No, it's fine. Let's just say my reasons were a bit personal and they dealt with the Core. It was nothing on you." A pause. "And your robots are top notch, by the way."

"I would certainly hope so! If they weren't, I'd never hear the end of it from Mettaton!" Sans gave a snort of laughter, waiting until they were up on the ground floor before he was heading over to a worried Toriel, giving her a smile.

"I have retrieved the small child."

"Oh, thank heavens you two are alright!" She rounded the two up in a hug, holding them close, and giving a sigh of relief. And, really, Sans thought he was doing much better with the whole affection thing seeing as he didn't blush that much.

"Of course we are. We're pretty resilient, and all that. Although I'm worn to the bone after all that walking around."

"Then why don't we go back to the resort? Alphys, I'm so sorry to put you through all that." The scientist only waved it off with a smile.

"It's fine, reminded me to feed them, anyway. One of these days, they're gonna pile in the elevator just so they can raid my fridge." Sans gave a snort at that, wiggling down from Toriel's hold and easily landing on the floor. Although he left Frisk at the other's mercy.

"That'd be an interesting story to tell, at the least."

"Yeah, I... I think I might end up sending them home. There's not much more that can be done, and their families at least deserve that much."

"Your choice, but let us know if you need any backup. I can be pretty persuasive when I want to, after all." A pause. "Usually. I mean, I either get what I want, or I get punched. It's 50/50, sometimes."

Alphys gave a laugh, looking amused. "At least then it'd be you instead of me."

"I am good at taking blame from others," Sans grinned. And, yes, maybe in this timeline, things... Could go right, for once.

He could at least hope, anyways. And stay DETERMINED.

::

"And that should be...the last touch." Sans wiggled and squirmed as he tried to escape from the small space he was in, having been connecting everything together in the control panels. He could feel the fact that Gaster and Alphys were right outside and waiting on him, which made it even more embarrassing when he struggled for another minute before pathetically giving up. "So...I think I might possibly kinda sorta be stuck a bit."

Alphys laughed, snorting as she tried to cover her snout. "What happened to being the smallest, and being able to fit in the small spaces?"

"It's not like I enjoy being this small!" Sans snapped, wriggling around even more to try and escape and whining as a few various cords got wrapped around him. The disconnected, spare ones, at least, so he didn't have to worry about dying from some stupid electric shock. "This is your guys' fault! It's too small!"

"Well, you can actually blame your mother for that one." Gaster was looking just as amused as he pulled Sans out, brushing the wires off of him. "Are you alright, at least?" Sans blinked as his eyes adjusted, the teen giving a thumbs-up.

"A-okay and ready to fire this thing up."

"Alright, then. Alphys, if you'll do the honors?"

Alphys seemed only too happy, beaming as she shot towards the control panel. "Yes, sir!" Sans watched, pausing as he suddenly felt...not good. There was something that- There was something that felt wrong. As if-

"Sans? You alright?" Sans blinked up at Gaster, giving him a smile. He was probably just overthinking things, or being nervous. After all, this was a pretty big thing. The Core would give energy to all of the Underground, instead of just in a few places here and there. It was incredible, so he was bound to be nervous at the thought of it failing.

"I'm fine. Just hoping it's gonna work, is all." Which of course it would. It was built by the three greatest minds in all of the Underground - and headed by the Royal Scientist. Besides, Sans knew that his dad was never wrong in things like this. So...it would be fine.

"Of course it will, considering all the work you two put into it as well." There was a rumble that moved throughout the structure, Sans perking up excitedly, and Gaster giving a nod of satisfaction. And, really, for that one moment, everything had been just perfect.

And then Sans realized that perfect moments never lasted.

What seemed like no time at all and yet too much time and it was all going wrong. Sans could easily tell that the core - the center of it all - was overheating. Horribly so. The lava was giving everything too much power, and they hadn't yet calibrated it yet - it wasn't supposed to be this bad.

From there it seemed like everything had been in snapshots. One second, Alphys at the controls, next second, knocked back by falling debris to the hallways. One second Sans trying to turn it off, next second the floor falling out from under him. One second scared, next second terrified at feeling magic around him, and seeing it was no longer him that was falling.

One second with a father.

Next second...

Alone.

It was with a startled and terrified gasp that Sans was jerking up from his sleep, power blazing around him and left eye glowing an array of colors as he shook. It took a minute or two for him to see that he was at the Resort with Toriel and Frisk, and another to quickly hide in the closet for some quiet. And so he didn't accidentally wake them up. There was a pressure against his side, as though someone was leaning against him. There was nothing but silence in the hotel, save for the quiet, almost distant sounds of the Core working.

"It should have been me, you know..." Sans was speaking very softly, voice almost lost, and just barely heard. "If you hadn't switched our places, it would have been me..."

"...And what about them?" Sans only just barely leaned back, sniffing as he pulled his hood over his head, trying to hide his tears.

"Still hurts." He understood it. Really, he did. He understood why Gaster - why his father - had done what he had that day. He would have done the exact same if it had been Frisk in his position, but it still... "No one even remembers you." Just him. And even then, sometimes... There wasn't a response.

It was a while - he couldn't tell how long - before there was a quiet noise, like a scream caught in someone's throat, and the shuffling of sheets outside of the closet. Sans was frowning before opening the door, immediately holding his arms out. He, of all people, knew what a nightmare sounded like. His arms were immediately full with a tiny human, Frisk remaining deathly silent as she clung to him. "...You too, huh?"

It was a moment or two of holding her before Sans was getting up and walking over to the bed he and Toriel shared, climbing under the covers and bundling up Frisk between them. Frisk was curled into a tiny ball, hidden under the covers, with her hair just barely poking out. "Don't let him get me."

"Not even for a second," Sans quietly promised, curling up around Frisk and nuzzling against her, rubbing lightly at her back, and... He supposed a part of him had never understood why Gaster had sacrificed everything for him...now, though, he was starting to get a good idea. "Don't worry, Frisk...I'll protect you."

And that was a promise that he was damn well DETERMINED to keep.


Kit - I really adore the Gaster stuff.