"Chances are you're gonna die."
The Video-Sans coughed into his mittened fist and looked sheepishly to the side. "or….you already have." He shrugged "i can't predict the future. but before i go on, i'll give you a minute to get anyone you don't want to hear this out of the room…." The Sans on the video trailed off into silence, rocking on the balls of his heels.
Sans looked like we wanted to say something but was quickly noogied by Undyne.
"YOU'RE NOT GETTING RID OF US, PUNK!" she snapped.
"I-I'm staying." Alphys said, setting her mouth into a determined pout. Papyrus said nothing but gave Sans a look.
He sighed and slouched and waited for VideoSans to speak again.
"…I'm assuming they stayed." He muttered after a minute. "fair enough. i mean, i don't know the situation." Sans cringed and they all knew why as Papyrus indicated, lightly touching the groove in his cheekbone. VideoSans continued "Anyway, if you actually need to watch this, chances are you forgot you recorded this, and therefore the chances are a lot of RESETS have occurred since now." The Video Sans winked "Y'know, we never remember everything."
Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus all gave Sans a questioning look. Sans waved them off dismissively, indicating he'll either explain later or he'll not. The group had to settle for that and decided to pay more attention to the VideoSans.
"So…." The VideoSans fidgeted "I'll be blunt and tell you what I figured out. In short, we're a ticking time bomb. Our soul's time is not synced up with the timelines as we know them, and the constant skip-skop is making it all finicky. Our Soul's time is going in a perpetually straight line, which is why we remember more than most. But the jumping around is the equivalent to tying knots in a piece of string that's supposed to be straight. Our soul wants out. And with the destruction of our body it'll take the chance to try and rip us out of the timelines into its own. Unfortunately for us, that means we'll end up floating in a void of nothingness for all eternity. And to clarify for anyone else in the room, our soul isn't actually conscious. I'm just explaining it like that because it's easier." He shrugged as Alphys and Papyrus gave sheepish looks. "So…yeah…" sweat beaded on VideoSans's skull "Our soul is gonna be a bit….deadly, until we figure out how to make it…not. And since I didn't figure it out yet and you're probably here in a desperate attempt to figure it out….well…" He switched to a language none of them understood.
Except Sans.
[JUST LET YOURSELF DIE]
VideoSans shrugged and switched back to the more common language "welp. that's all i have to say." He winked. "see ya when you look in a mirror."
Then the video ended.
The group all looked at Sans, desperate for an explanation.
Sans sighed "so…yeah, a reset…." He rubbed at his skull "….well…." he clearly didn't want to talk about it. Usually, Papyrus would see this and insist he dropped it entirely, but this sounded like it was important to what was happening to them now. It sounded like it could help save his brother.
So, just this once, Papyrus was going to make him talk.
Even though he felt bad about it.
"BROTHER." Papyrus said, trying to sound authoritive. It wasn't his cup of tea. Even with how great he was, he was much better at the scolding tone than the strict 'you have to tell me' tone. "SANS, THIS IS IMPORTANT-"
"Well according to the past-you or whatever-" Undyne interrupted, took over, and ignored Papyrus's audible sigh of relief "Your soul is FUC-"
"censor." Sans muttered. Undyne lightly shoved him, her lips parting in a snarl.
"FUCK CENSORSHIP! SANS YOUR SOUL IS FUCKED UP AND MIGHT EVEN KILL US!" Undyne snapped, getting to her feet. She sweeped her arm out in front of her, reminding Alphys of an anime protagonist. "If you know anything that can actually HELP us with this, we need to hear it!"
"well-" Sans started to reply.
"And it's not just YOU at stake!" Undyne snapped, making Sans go quiet "You heard the Past-You, your soul is DEADLY. That doesn't mean just to YOU." She dragged Papyrus over and pointed to the cut beneath his eye "I get the feeling THIS isn't the worst of what your fucked-up soul can do!"
Sans's eye sockets went dark but his grin stayed present. That was…an unnerving expression. Even Undyne took a step back, raising one arm protectively in front of Alphys.
"Papyrus, remember when I said I already told you?" Sans said, his voice having an eerie echo. Papyrus nodded slowly. "Well…. I guess I'm fulfilling my promise now." He muttered. Papyrus fidgeted with his gloves and said nothing. "Y'know… I hate making promises-" Slowly, the lights in his sockets flickered back dimly. "There's no point in them."
"SANS-"
"I'm not avoiding the question, Pap." Sans sighed. "I promised I'd tell you- and whatever few promises I make, I keep." He fidgeted slightly. Alphys and Undyne looked at eachother and Undyne slowly lowered her arm. They all waited for Sans to continue. He sighed again and looked around frantically "this is usually when something blows up and derails the conversation…."
But Nobody Came.
Sans shuddered. He shook his skull and took a deep skele-breathe. "Alright. A RESET is like…. Like a backwards skip in time. Things just go as they normally do when POOF!, it's a few weeks earlier." He fidgeted as they gave him skeptical looks.
"So….No one would really remember a RESET?" Alphys asked.
Sans shook his head.
"But YOU do?" Undyne question.
Sans nodded, after a moment.
Papyrus gasped "BROTHER, IS THAT WHY YOU'RE NEVER MOTIVATED- YOU'VE ALREADY DONE EVERYTHING BEFORE?"
No one said anything as they waited for Sans to respond. He slowly, slowly nodded.
They all stared.
"Sans-" Undyne frowned. A loud gurgling scream interrupted her and Alphys stood frozen.
"Welcome to my special hell." Said the soft voice.
The speaker blocked the door.
A/N
Well looky-looky. Sans talked about the Resets and other Sans talked about Sans who didn't remember that Sans recorded a message for Sans about Sans. Sans-ception.
Me oh my, so many reviews. Maybe I should post on Sundays more often? Well too bad! Posting on a Tuesday this week! Why?
…I really don't know.
Responses:
Guest- Your English is actually really good. Now I apologize so much for seeming rude, but whenever I read 'english isn't my first language' my first thought is 'what is your first language'? If you don't mind, can you tell me? I don't mean to sound rude I'm just curious. Well anyway, thank you for liking my story! And you're the third person I apparently got to ship Sans and Alphys. Though I ship Soriel. SO MUCH. I love those two together.
Kiryma- Did you just want me to respond to you? It worked. Hiya! And also, don't tell anyone you know the big plot twist.
AWESOMENESS- Because I find it entertaining. Also cliffhangers are usually when my brain just goes '…eh'.
Frisk Dreemur- 'Read'. Is it present tense or past tense? Can you know just by the word alone? It's so bizarre!
TimeTurnerJasmy- My reference to your review is in the A/N itself. Also, thanks for being so mature about not having the same ship. Or should I say same 'sip' (get it? You said 'cup of tea'?)
Comickatsu- Thanks for having the same ship! I love Soriel SOOOO much, but I'm still not going to focus on it. Romance is meant to be a subplot in my world (unless it's a ship-centric fic. I might post one of those in the future.)
Nightowl75- Welcome to the fanfic and thanks for liking it! I hope I don't disappoint!
Ilovecartoonsgirl- SSSPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY~ And the answer is adorable. There's no tragic story why Sans doesn't have a crush on her anymore, it just kind of faded away. Nothing dramatic. And thank you for your wish of goodluck on my test! Sigh… The SATs take a lot out of you, huh?
Starryskys102- Well, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger. I guess this chapter didn't help, huh? Well, I hope I don't disappoint!
ScarkitTheMadaNeko- NOM NOM NOM
TheDeductionist- Me oh my. Well, I sure do like layering on the Plot-Frosting on this cake.
Tra La La, Dogandgy wants you to throw him a… bone.