Chapter 5: Sharing
The king is the first to arrive, his eyes widening as they took in the dust littered all over the golden flowers
"What?" Asgore asked, stunned for a moment. It's not every day a monster sees dust litter the ground.
Sans knows this only happens when a monster dies. Looking at it was akin to a human walking in a room with a dead human corpse.
"What happened here?"
He eventually spots Chara's dead body covered in dust.
"How did he get here?"
"I don't know."
"You don't have to spare my feelings," He said crumpling to his knees. Tears ran down his eyes, and Sans could hear him sobbing. "Just tell me."
"I saw your son come in here gravely injured holding the human boy," Sans said.
Asgore's sobs grew louder and a chill crept up his bones. He was afraid the king was shatter at any instant. Yes, because Chara while not his biological son was still his son even if he was the person responsible for killing them.
"His name was Chara right?"
Asgore embraced the human's body.
"That human. Did you know it had the power to travel through time?" Sans asked.
"Really?" Asgore asked in curiosity. "How do you know?"
"He told me before he died."
Sans knew there was nothing he could have done to change the situation. There was nothing about the situation that he could have controlled but the guilt remained there all the same. He had never seen the king upset before and once he had, Sans never wanted to see again.
"Do you think it's possible that we can save them?"
Sans shrugged. He avoided the king's eyes.
"I don't know. Maybe if we can do some research-"
Asgore smiled.
"You think it could bring Asriel back?"
"I don't know but it's better than nothing."
Asgore chuckled.
"I'm sure your father would love the chance to get his hands on such a big project."
"Maybe, would you like him to make a coffin too? You know in case he wakes up," Sans asked.
"Would he want to?"
"He wouldn't mind doing it if it was a request from you."
Asgore's eyes lit up. Sans has only seen this expression when he's remembering something heart warming. Perhaps his father had been an old friend of the king.
He had always assumed that the king had hired his father because of his abilities. Maybe he was hired because he had been a trusted acquaintance of the king.
When Sans drops by his home, Arial is in the kitchen.
"What's for dinner?" He asked.
"Hot dogs. You know they are especially good with a lot of 'Cats' up and Papyrus just loves them."
Sans chuckled.
"You would too if only just to squeeze a lot of 'Cats' up on them."
Sans heads to the door of his father's lab. It's usually shut when he's busy and he only ever opens the door for him.
He knocks.
"Hey! Knock knock."
"Sans, is that you?" A voice speaks from the other side. It's a rough shaky ol' timer voice of one who sounded like they had lived for a while.
There is silence.
"You get too much pleasure in vexing me. Who's there?"
"Boo."
"Boo who?"
"Look don't get upset, it's just a joke."
"SANS!" The voice grew an octave. "Get in here."
Sans chuckled as he came inside.
The lab like usual had been in complete and utter disarray. His father who was a skeleton with a cracked skull and hallow black eyes was completely absorbed in his work.
"So what did Asgore say? Is he going to give me a raise?"
"He says he'd like for you to make a coffin for his son."
Dr Aster looked up.
"I had no idea that Asriel had developed such crude tastes in necrophilia," he said. Then his eyes lit up as if he had realised what he had just said.
"Oh, did something happen with Asriel?"
"His body's turned to dust," He said. "The coffin is for the human."
"What kind of coffin does he want?"
"Well what kind of coffins do humans typically have?"
Dr Aster chuckled, patted him on the shoulder.
"There are times I really love your sense of humour."
The two hear a knock.
"Dinner is ready."
Sans' eyes narrowed.
"Y'know you ought to come to dinner before she busts the door down. It could be a 'cat' tastrophe."
Dr Aster sighed before he headed for the kitchen. A skeleton about Sans' height was sitting at the kitchen table besides Arial.
Sans greeted his little brother. He looked very cute with those big innocent eyes and rosy cheeks. It was all he could do to stop himself from hugging him.
"Hey Papyrus."
"SANS, IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU ARRIVED YOU SLOWBONES. MOM ALREADY MADE DINNER."
Sans snickered.
"Papyrus," Arial said. "You helped too."
"THAT'S RIGHT, BROTHER. I THINK THAT DESERVES A THANK YOU."
"Thanks?"
Papyrus chuckled.
The next day, Sans is about to head out. He's thinking of researching more about the time stream.
Papyrus stops him by front door.
"JUST WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, BROTHER?"
"Me? I'm going to the library."
Papyrus folds his arms. His eyes narrowed causing his brows to scrunch making him look angry.
"YOU NEVER GO TO THE LIBRARY."
Sans ponders this. It's only after he's met that human that he was prompted to ever go here. He had never been interested in books and it wasn't like him to do something like that for a complete stranger.
He's not doing it for the king. Sans simply wants to know how to prevent something like this from happening again.
There's nothing beneficial in the library and Sans had spent most of his day looking for something on time travel.
There had been many time streams, each time line coming with their series of trials. Each timeline the human had said that Sans had interfered in his plans. The only timeline in which he hadn't was the one he was currently in.
This was the only timeline that had given the human the outcome he desired. It was a timeline he had been obsessed with achieving. Could the answer really be that simple?
Could it be that the child's power was gone now that his plan was completed? He had been certain that the human had also desired to kill him even before he had died and would have been the type to do so. So if he had the ability to turn back time why didn't he?
The king at one point had possessed an ancient tome with information on monsters absorbing human souls. A monster absorbing a human soul was known to make a monster powerful but not much information was written about the human soul.
Did it vanish or did it merge with the monster's own soul?
No one could have possibly known that a human's power still remained intact after their death or the very fabric of determination was what was responsible for the time travel.
When Sans returns, his father is eager to get to work.
Sans wonders why his father seems so excited.
Dr Aster smiles.
"The king's already told me everything. Apparently this human child had the ability to travel through time."
"Yes."
"How baffling."
Years pass in the human world, there is a small round boy around the age of 12 with short black hair and blue eyes. His mother had bought him those glasses when she had discovered he was near-sighted.
He was one of the smartest at his school always writing formulas in his notebook. Walter had been one of the most intimidating boy at his own school having formed a gang of bullies who often picked on the weak and defenseless.
Rumours had sprung up about how Walter had climbed Mt Ebott and had come back unscathed.
"Do you really believe something like that?"
"Tony, it's true though."
Greg was one such person who would believe such convoluted theories without any evidence.
"He said he followed a voice coming from the mountain," Greg said.
His teacher had told of the story of a boy climbing the mountain and never returning. The police had never found the body and no one dared down the cave where the monsters were.
"No one ever returns from Mount Ebott," Tony retorted. "He's lying."
Though Tony said this, there was no evidence proving otherwise despite the teacher saying it was impossible. It was frustrating. Anybody was willing to believe some half baked theory about Mount Ebott but no one was willing to believe in something as cool as time travel.
Tony was one of the smartest kids gifted at a young age with eidetic memory. He attended a school filled with geniuses that researched quantum physics for a living.
No one however seemed to share his love for science fiction though even though Tony has assembled a lot of evidence that it was more plausible than some stupid scary story that Walter had made up.
He had many theories written in his notebook. No one had ever thought of inventing a time machine.
After school, Walter and his gang of bullies walked up to him just as he was heading to lunch.
"Hey you little brat."
"You think you can get away. You haven't given me your lunch money," Walter said.
It was times like these that Tony really wished he had the courage to punch that smirk off of Walter's face.
"My mom didn't pay me."
"Liar," Walter spat.
"Takes one to know one."
"Oh you heard about that little rumor going about did you? It's 100 percent true," He said. "I heard a voice coming from the mountain."
"Yeah and what kind of monsters did you see?"
Walter's face heated up.
"I don't have to explain it to you."
"You didn't see any monsters did you?"
"I did."
"I don't believe you. No one ever returns from Mount Ebott."
"Well I did and there's no way that you'll be able to prove that I didn't."
"Wanna bet?" Tony spat.
"How much you want to bet? If you lose, you'll be giving me money as long as I go to this school."
"You're on."
Walter grinned nastily.
"Shake on it."
It's after school that Tony heads to the mountain.
"Where are you going, Tony?" Greg asks.
"To the mountain."
"You're really going to do it? Didn't our teacher say it was dangerous?"
"You don't understand. I have to do it. Walter always says these kind of things and everybody believe him and because everyone believes him he thinks it gives him the right to bully everyone."
"He wanted your lunch money again didn't he?"
"I didn't give it to him or anything," Tony said. "He punched me a little bit before tossing me into a garbage can."
"Look you don't have to do this."
"I'm going to do it and you won't stop me, Greg."
Greg sighed and continued walking home while Tony walked up the mountain.
Despite what he had said though Tony was becoming more and more frightened not knowing what to expect.
The cave was dark. Every thing was hard to see even with his glasses on. Suddenly his shoes hit a vine and he fell forward.
"AHHHH!"
Tony winced as he rubbed his head. He looked around and then he smiled once he realised he was alone.
'See I was right, there's no monsters here,' He thought.
He looked up. It looked like the hole he had fallen down was awfully high. How would he ever get home?
A frog had hopped in just then.
"Are you alright, human?"
"You can talk?"
"Every monster who is down here can talk."
"You're a monster?" Tony asked. "You seem nice enough."
The frog blushes.
"I know you can stay by my place for a while. You shouldn't be walking around with that injury."