Saying Goodbye
Chapter 3
Your eyes popped open at the sound of the front door being knocked on. Your eyes scanned the room and you remembered where you were. Safe, in your old bed tucked into your mother's arms. The clock read midnight, and you wondered who in the world would be coming to call on your parents so late at night... Listening to the voices downstairs, you felt your stomach sink like a stone.
Sans.
How long had he been looking for you? What had to have been going through his mind as his calls were answered by your voice asking callers to leave a message and you would call back? Carefully removing yourself from Toriel's warm arms, you slid off the bed and sighed. You were sore, but you could handle it. You were always sore anymore. Right now, there was a much bigger issue.
You slowly open your door and pause near the top of the stairs and listen to your father and Sans talking.
"They've been here almost all day. I'm sorry, I thought that she would have called you..."
You could hear the shake in the skeleton's words as he answered, a soft tapping keeping time with his rapid pacing.
"They didn't though. I got home and it was dark. I thought that they were asleep, so I went to check on Papyrus and he was curled up with a book and sleeping. Then I go to our room and nothing! No note, no calls, no nothing! Like they had just fallen off the goddamned planet!"
You let out the breath you had been holding. You hated that you had caused him such distress. Poor Papyrus was probably only asleep because he had been too tired to stay awake anymore, but had more than likely been worried sick when she did not show up for dinner and then was not there for their reading time. She usually read with him at night anymore, with Sans' work keeping him away usually at least an hour after Papyrus went to bed. She liked the time with the tall skeleton though, even though being around him meant that any activity would cause you aches later.
You stepped onto the stairs and cleared your throat, looking guiltily at the pair through your bangs. Sans was standing facing away from you, but spun at the sound, his left eye flaring for a moment before returning to the point of white light that it usually was. The look on his face was painful to look at, a combonation of relief and confusion that was very swiftly replaced with anger. You said nothing, because you knew he had every reason and every right to be angry with you.
Asgore watched you as you descended the stairs, saying nothing before excusing himself to the bedroom you had just vacated. You knew he was going to wake Toriel, because she was going to be needed, but also that he would keep her away from the two of you until you gave the all clear.
You opened your mouth to apologise to him, but Sans held up a hand, the bones jittering about as he shook with his restrained anger. You say nothing as he inhaled slowly before speaking in a tone that reminded you of how most people spoke to misbehaving teenagers.
"There was no note. You were just gone. What the hell is wrong with your head?!"
He had picked up that last line from you. You would smile if the situation was not so dire. You held off on saying anything, better to let him burn some of this off before he learned anything. Either he would yell and burn himself out, or he would figure it out on his own as he was yelling and would stop. Either way, it would end the same way.
"Do you have any idea," his voice picking up volume now, but still hushed as he tried to keep your parents from hearing what was going on. He knew that he was right, but he knew that Toriel and Asgore would not take well to a full blown shouting match in their home. "what it feels like to come home to nothing? Because I do, and let me tell you, it fucking sucks. I called you for three hours! Three goddamn hours, Frisk! Not once did you think that maybe you should look at your phone?! I was calling people panicking because nobody knew where you were! Nobody had even SEEN you! You could have been DEAD for all I knew, and I would not even have a way to know where to start looking and I just... Don't... Don't DO that to me, kid..."
There was your opening. You stepped toward him and took a breath, willing yourself to be tough, to be the one who was not going to cry this time. You wordlessly beckoned for him to follow you and walked back into the bedroom where Asgore and Toriel were waiting, knowing that they would help you break the news to him. Your heart starting to break again. He had been watching over you for the last month or so, adding his voice to Toriel's for you to go get checked out for the aching in your hips and lower back.
Toriel was sitting at the foot of the bed with Asgore, talking quietly as you opened the door. When you entered, they fell silent and simply watched as you pulled Sans inside and stood before them, motionless. You watched his face as the skeleton looked at your parents, then you, then back and forth a few more times, his eyes slowly darkening as some silent understanding came over him.
"What is this about? What happened today? Did... Did you go to the... like you..."
His voice was cracking and he was staring right at you, his eyes searching your face for something that would let him think that he was wrong. He had to be wrong. You had been better, you were putting your weight back on, moving quickly, dancing again...
"But you were..."
You shook your head.
"That isn't how it works sometimes, Sans. It comes back for some. I didn't want to call you at work so I came here and I lost track of time..."
He sat down hard, you flinched at the sound of his hip bones smacking against the hardwood floor, but he didn't see to notice if it hurt at all. When he looked up at you, your heart broke at the pitiful lost look on his face. Your father stood and held you to his chest, which you were thankful for, as tears had begun to form and you had been determined not to let him see. Toriel crossed the room to the sitting skeleton, pulling him up to his feet and hugging him as tightly as Asgore held you. A silent affirmation from the two elder monsters.
We will get through this.