NOTE: I was in such a rush to post this I didn't check it nearly as much as I usually do so if you see any glaring mistakes be sure to tell me :)
It's been a couple of uneventful weeks since the amazing night Sans provided you under the stars. You're frantically pulling clothes on, even getting the wrong shoes in the wrong feet. You sigh in exasperation looking at the small skeleton lying on the bed with an apologetic grin. You overslept because he turned your alarm off in a sleepy haze before you even had a chance to hear it and now you're running late. Grillby's probably already wondering where you are.
You finally manage to get yourself decently dressed, after putting your shirt on three times, once it was inside out and the second time it was backwards. You threw the shirt you wore to bed at Sans' face when he started laughing at your struggles, which granted only made it worse but you didn't have the time for any further retribution. You'd get him later, surely.
"This really needs to stop happening!" You mutter, coming back from the kitchen with a slice of bread in your mouth.
"Sorry, you know I can't help it… Alarms are the devil." You roll your eyes at him with a crooked smile.
"Yeah, yeah, now you gotta get me to work because I can't afford to be any later than I already am! Chop chop, lazybones, I don't have all day!"
Sans chuckles quietly before forcing his legs off the side of the bed and inserting his feet into his slippers. You actually got him some actual shoes but he rarely wears them. According to him shoelaces are just too complicated to put in the effort. With a yawn he puts one arm around your waist and you watch as the world around you reforms and you're suddenly at Grillby's. You plant a quick kiss on the top of your soulmate's skull.
"Thank you, I'll see you soon." You rush to the fire elemental who's looking your way with what you assume to be a stern expression before stopping dead in your tracks.
You twist on your heels and run back to Sans, taking his face between your hands and crashing your lips to his teeth eliciting a few whistles from the morning's patrons. Blushing a light pink, you smile at the small skeleton before going back to Grillby and apologising profusely for being late and immediately getting yourself ready to start working.
You always do your absolute best to please. You're so hardworking and determined to do things right and without mistakes. Sans shakes his head slightly before turning his back to you and going back home. Today is one of his days off. He has more than what would be considered normal, to his delight. That's probably the only upside of working odd jobs here and there instead of a regular one.
For whatever reason, maybe just to wake himself up some more, he decides to walk instead of teleporting. Perhaps he's taking a page from your book and trying not to rely so much on his magic. Or he just feels like contemplating on how great his life is and how he never thought this would happen to him.
In the midst of his musings he gets this strange feeling. He stops walking and looks around him. Nothing's out of the ordinary. People walking to go about their lives, some odd stares, nothing he isn't already more than used to. Shaking the sensation away he keeps walking. The more he distances himself from you the worse the feeling gets and for a moment he thinks maybe it's just being away from you. But that doesn't seem right because it's never been like this. It was never pleasant, sure, but it was never this… bothersome. Without a second thought he teleports himself back to right outside of Grillby's. He looks inside and sees you talking to the costumers with a big smile on your face, going about your business as usual and he lets out a sigh of relief.
It's been a while since Sans has felt this paranoid. Maybe his mind's just still in awe that nothing's wrong for once and has to see things that just aren't there. A small part of him still thinks this is too good to be true, that sooner or later he's just going to wake up one morning to Papyrus yelling at him for being lazy, that they need to get to their sentry posts and look out for humans. Trapped back underground, surrounded by snow and alone… Without you.
He shakes those thoughts away yet again and walks further from the diner, leaning against a wall not so far away. He rubs his face with his hands before continuing on his way back home, still deciding against just blinking into his room. He needs to work through these stupid feelings before he looks himself in the darkness of his room, giving in to these depressing feelings he hasn't felt in so long.
He finally reaches the building and turns the key to get into it, a feeling of uneasiness still keeping his soul hostage. He takes the stairs up to the apartment. The lights in his sockets have all but faded, leaving nothing but the pitch black he pits. He can't shake this restlessness. He feels eyes on the back of his skull. He feels watched. His left eye flares up with magic and as soon as he turns around it all goes away, sucked out of him, he feels powerless. He sinks to his knees, something's choking him, his vision blurs. Sans hasn't felt like this since before the determination, so weak… There are hands on him but he's already dead to the world around him…
As you clean out a now empty booth you feel a deathly grip on your soul that takes the breath right out of your lungs and makes your legs lose all strength. You stumble forwards, throwing a cup crashing onto the floor and shattering to a million pieces. You feel like the whole world is spinning and there are spots in your vision as your soul gets tighter and tighter into a vice that you can't comprehend. Your legs finally give in and you fall to the ground, some of the shards of glass digging into the skin of your palms and tearing it open.
You take a hand to your aching chest, taking in ragged breaths that come out as sobs, your body beginning to tremble. There are tears stinging your eyes but you don't know why. You just know that something's not right. Something is very, very wrong.
Grillby comes to you as soon as he comes out of the kitchen and sees you on the floor, a mess of a person, shaking like a leaf, eyes wide and breathless. He helps you to your feet and sits you down at the booth you were cleaning just before this all happened. It's a slow hour right now, so there's no one else in the room, just the two of you. The monster looks at your hands and sees the trickles of blood coming out. He quickly cleans your hands, careful to see if there aren't any bits of glass left in them before putting a few band aids over the little cuts.
You thank him and move to get up to finish what you were doing before he stops you, keeping you seated.
"What's wrong?" He asks, concern seeping through his whispered words.
"I don't know. I just felt this awful pain in my chest…" It was still there, just duller, less overwhelming. You grip at your shirt above your heart so tightly your knuckles turn white.
Why is your soul in aching so badly? Your thoughts immediately go to Sans and you can't help the anguish that rises up inside you. The pain in your chest gets masked by the sudden fear and anxiety. The thought of something having happened to him… It's too much for you to bear.
Grillby brings you a glass of water and you take it in your shaking hands, bringing it up to your lips and taking one small sip. You set it down and run your hands through your hair, closing your eyes for a moment. You manage to take a deep breath, the hopelessness subsiding slowly. You can't let yourself think about what could possibly have happened. Your mind immediately goes to the worst possible scenarios. You had to be overreacting, overthinking. This was just something that happened to you. You're probably tired. Nothing is wrong…
"Are you feeling any better?" Grillby asks you quietly. You shake your head honestly. The way your soul keeps clenching is making you feel so weak, so helpless… "Maybe you should go home for today." He suggests.
You don't want to do that to him, leave him here by himself. You're about to tell him just that when the sound of a phone ringing echoes throughout the room. You're startled by the shrilling noise and it makes you jump in your seat. It's Grillby's phone as you don't have one of your own. He looks at the caller ID and looks at you before picking up the call.
"Sans." He mumbles into it. At the sound of his name your soul jumps, he's calling, he's okay… He's fine… You sigh as relief washes over your entire being. "Okay." Grillby takes the phone away from his face and hands it over to you. "He says he wants to talk to you."
You don't wait another second before snatching the device from the fiery hands that are holding it next to your face. You put it up to your ear and nearly break down before you can say anything.
"Oh Sans, I'm so glad it's you, I was so worried-" You're cut off by a voice coming from the other end of the line. And it's not your soulmate's low voice that you've grown so used to.
"Shut it right now." The voice is gruff and angry, commanding and unknown. It's not him… There's a knot in your throat. Your mind's racing and you don't know what to think. It's like your entire world is crumbling to pieces like the cup beneath your feet. "If you want to see your bone buddy alive again, you're going to come over to the roof of your building, right now. And I swear if you call the police or anyone else, I'll blow the back of his hideous skull off."
"Star don't, he's gon- argh!" Sans' voice sounds choked, his groans of pain send waves of agony through your being, your eyes wide with shock. The call ends and your mouth hangs open, a tear falling down your cheek as everything around you blurs away.
He's alive. And he's in danger. Serious danger. You can't even think straight. You hand the phone back to Grillby.
"I'm so sorry, I have to go, something came up, don't worry though, everything will be fine." You're not sure if you're just trying to make him not follow you or if you're trying to convince yourself that what you're saying is true. That somehow things are going to be okay, that maybe this is all just a bad dream.
You run out of the diner, leaving a stunned Grillby behind, speechless. You go as fast as your legs will take you. The last time you remember running like this was when you escaped. But this is so much worse. It's not your life on the line, it's his. It's Sans. Your soulmate. The person you love most in this entire world. The reason you're alive today.
You flash past people on the streets, bumping into some without stopping for an apology. You couldn't care less what other people thought right now. Nothing matters right now. All you can think about is him. All you want is for him to be okay. All you need is for him to be safe. You don't care about anything else.
Your field of vision is completely hindered by the tears falling out of your eyes, but you push forward, you've taken this path so many times before you know it by heart. You don't need to see it to know you're at the building's door. You don't need to look as you take stairs three at a time up to the roof. You burst through the door and nearly fall to your knees from the force and speed with which you went out of it.
You manage to regain your balance and stare wordlessly at Sans, a chain around his neck, ankles and wrists. A chain you know all too well. A chain that held a monster who was killed to give you your powers. A chain that held you and kept them suppressed. And behind your soulmate is a man, whose face is so familiar, holding him hostage, an arm over his neck, a gun to his head, cocked and ready to go, his finger on the trigger prepared to shoot.
Your first instinct is to use your magic to take that gun away from Sans' pained and exhausted face. But as soon as you lift your arm the man steps back slightly shouting at you to stop.
"You try using your freakish powers and this thing right here…" You notice that he's got something strapped to his chest, something you've never seen before. "Will turn your little friend to dust. If it sense any spikes in magic. Boom."
You let your arm fall limply to your side. You're useless. You can't possibly do anything without using your magic before he pulls that trigger and Sans is dead. And you can't use your magic without him dying either. He could be bluffing on that of course, but you can't take that chance. You could never take that chance with him. You stare helplessly at the man. You notice that his face is young. He couldn't be that much older than you. And his face is so familiar… Why is it so familiar?
You recognize him as the man you bumped into the day you got the job at Grillby's. And as you look closely, like a dam's gates that have been opened, images flood your brain as you recall seeing his face over and over, on your way to work, back home, just walking around with Sans, Papyrus or Frisk, so many places, so many times. How could you not notice? How didn't you see that he was always there?
"You remember me?" He asks slowly, taking in your expression.
"Why have you been following me…?" You manage to ask, your voice low and weak.
"Star, please, go a-" Sans gets cut off by the man pulling on the chains restraining him, choking him out and effectively shutting him up. You don't think you've ever seen him look so feeble and it just makes your aching soul hurt even more. You never wanted to see another monster suffer in those chains… Much less him…
"Of course you don't." The man nearly spits the words out venomously. "Your father made you all powerful. Why the hell would you remember his assistant's son, right?" He cackles humourlessly and the weight of realisation hitting you almost breaks you apart.
He only came over a couple of times with his dad. He kept to himself. Chara scared him and you were always close to Chara. He looked so much like his father… That's why he seemed so familiar… You mentally hit yourself over and over. You should've seen it. You should've realised it. You should've put an end to it before it even began.
You briefly wonder why he went for Sans instead of you. His quarrel was clearly with you. But you don't even have to think about it long. You were always with someone. Mostly with Sans. But even when you weren't with him, you were either at Grillby's, with Frisk and Toriel, or Papyrus. You were never alone. Sans was. And Sans was clearly important to you, you couldn't possibly make it more obvious. So the quickest way to get to you, was through him. You never felt so much guilt as you did in this moment. This was all your fault.
"My dad was all I had. He was amazing. He was brilliant." The man, whose name you never really learned, held the chains binding Sans tighter as he spoke, putting the gun closer to his head. "He had the potential to be better than your father and he damn well knew it. That's why he got rid of him isn't it?!" He shouts at you and you cringe. You don't answer him but you know his words to be true. Your father was proud. "You see these chains?" He tugs at them and you flinch when Sans cries out for a second. "He's the one who came with the concept. This harness around my chest too."
"What do you want?" You bring yourself to ask.
"When my dad disappeared I had nowhere to go. Do you know what it's like to be 14 in the foster system? Nobody wants you. When I finally managed to do anything with myself my life was already a mess. I scrape to get by even today. I went back to the village to see if there was still anything for me there and lo and behold if I didn't see you and your father fighting with power beyond measure. I was scared out of my wits, went to hide in the first place I found which led me to these." He motions to the chains with the gun.
"I took them as well as a few things I recognised as my dad's. As soon as I stopped hearing ruckus and deemed it safe I got out. He was dead. Which was fine by me. He deserved it for what he did." You weren't about to argue with that. He was right. "I was willing to leave all that behind I really was. But then I bumped into you with this monster. You were alive and well, all smiles and happiness. You're a freak of nature and your father was a terrible person. I can only imagine what you are. How do you get to be happy and I'm miserable? Your father took everything from me and gave everything to you!"
You try not to look away in shame. Everyone keeps saying that. That your father gave you everything. If that's the case then why did you feel so empty during all those years? Why didn't you ever feel good, happy and safe? Why were you always afraid?
"You enjoyed it too. Don't think I didn't see the smile on your face when you were fighting him. You like that power. You're just as bad as he is. You don't deserve any of this. It's so unfair! Why do you get to be happy?!" He continues. Each word stings worse than the last. He's right. Everything he's saying it's all true…
"Stop. That's not true!" Sans yells, which grants him another violent tug at the chains, driving him to his knees.
"What do you want?" You ask again, trying your best not to let the fear show in your voice.
"I…" He falters.
And when he does, that's when you really look at him. You were so focused on Sans and what could happen to him you didn't notice. The man's eyes are glistening with the threat of tears, the arm holding the gun to your soulmate's head is shaking ever so slightly, just enough for you to be able to see it. His voice is shaky and his demeanour defeated. He's scared and in pain. He's not a man, not really. He's just a scared boy who misses his father. He's missed his father ever since he was taken from him.
"I want revenge." He says quietly. "I want you to die. You don't deserve to be alive when he isn't…"
You swallow the knot in your throat. "Okay." Sans' eye sockets widen and he's at a loss for words. "You can have me. But let him go. Sans has nothing to do with this, he never did. Just please, don't hurt him."
"No." Sans says.
You take a step forward, closer to them and the man backs away slightly. "Okay." He agrees and it's like a weight is lifted off your soul.
He's going to be safe and that's all that matters. But you don't intend to die. You can talk to this person. He's just scared and confused. He doesn't really want to do this, you can see that now. It's so painfully clear. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, not really. He just wants the pain to go away and this seems like it's what he needs. You know that feeling so well. You can't possibly ignore a soul who's suffering as much as you did. You can't let this person keep hurting when your father's the cause. If it's the last thing you do you're going to right this wrong.
You continue to walk closer, slowly, along the edge of the building to where he's standing, still holding Sans with the firearm pointed at his temple. "Just let him go then. We can go somewhere else and you can have what you need. I promise." You tell him truthfully. You'll give him what he needs. You'll give him closure.
As you get closer and closer he starts shaking more. Sans' expression is filled with agony as he watches your face, thinking about what's to come. He can't bear the thought. You can't do this, he won't let you. But he can't do anything to stop you. He hates feeling this helpless. He hates it with every fibre of his being.
You take the last step to them. "Please, just let him go…" You beg once more.
His grip loosens on the chains and your soul is at ease for that brief second until something in his eyes changes. He's so afraid. He holds the chains tighter than ever, tugging at them. "I've seen what you can do. I can't trust you."
As soon as those words leave his lips it's like everything slows down to a near stop even though it's all happening so fast you can barely register it. Sans realises it before you do. The gun is no longer pointed at him, but at you. He gathers all the strength he can muster to twist in this man's grip and push his arm away. The gunshot sounds and the gun goes skidding across the rooftop far enough away that he can't get to it but it was too little too late.
When Sans' eyes fall back on you he sees your shirt staining red, you were hit on your left shoulder. The man's eyes are wide with shock of what he's done and he stumbles backwards in a mirror image of what you do. But behind him is a wall and behind you is nothing but empty space. Your feet have nothing to land on and you feel yourself falling backwards. Sans reaches out with his left hand and you do the same with your right. The tips of your fingers brush against his and it's the most agonizing feeling he's ever had, to be so close yet so far, when the chains bite against his neck and limbs and he falls back against his captor and you keep falling too, slowly disappearing from view.
In a moment of apathy the man lets go of the chain and lets himself slide against the wall. Sans falls to his hands and knees an overwhelming emptiness taking over his soul. He's never felt anything like this before. It's so terribly painful, like he's completely devoid of any substance. It's like the skies turned grey, like you took all colour with you, all joy. He feels like there's a void where his soul once stood.
NOTE: KYAA, I couldn't wait, I couldn't wait! I had to write and post it! I've been waiting for SO LONG to write this you have NO FREAKING IDEA!
Okay, freakout over, hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Please leave any feedback you have, I'd REALLY love to hear it and thank you so much for reading! Now if you'll excuse me I'm going back to writing cause I'm super excited! :D