Asriel grinned as the powdery dust of the fallen monster dropped from the hands of his sister.
"That was HILARIOUS, Chara!" He grinned. The human smiled at him.
"They didn't even expect it!" she laughed "It was PRICELESS!"
The two shared the glee of the murder. A minute or two, the pair were wiping the tears out of their eyes. Asriel patted down his pants, shaking off freelancing grains of dust. He ignored the sharp pain in his chest.
It hadn't taken long to destroy dozens of monsters. Many of them had fled or evacuated, but there was still the large group who doubted such a dangerous event could happen. Easy pickings.
Chara used the edge of her sweater to wipe off the caked dust. Eyes narrowed, she threw a few experimental swipes at nothing. Nodding her content, she turned to her brother.
"Well, let's see who else we can find."
He nodded, his viney tail waving back and forth much like that of an eager dog's. The child's grin seemed permanent and the sparkle in his eyes glowed with the admiration and affection for the one standing in his vision.
*You see it, don't you?
She ignored the fallen human.
A gleeful beckon of her hand and Asriel's paw was in it. The two smiled at each other again. Walking in sync, they trotted down the damp path of Waterfall to Snowdin. Chances are that the dogs had already evacuated most of the residents, but the dogs themselves were most likely still there. Prepared to fight.
Prepared to die.
The anticipation of it set a grin to the girl's face.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
They did. And as they did, a bony figure sailed overhead, landed in front of them, and gave a graceful twirl. He held out his gloved hand as if to hold them back through the sheer force of his will alone.
"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, COMMAND YOU TO STOP YOUR MURDERING!" He shouted.
Chara's smile twitched up. Twisting into something more like a snarl. Asriel snorted, glaring. He let go of his sister's hand and stepped foreward, flexing his claws.
"I'll handle him, Chara." He growled. Chara rolled her eyes
"You couldn't get him before, Azzy. I told you, I'll handle him." She muttered.
"No, Chara please!" Asriel snapped "I will DESTROY him this time!"
"Fine, fine." Chara said, throwing her hands up in the air "Go ahead. If you can't do it, I'll get it."
Asriel grinned at her, snapped his gaze towards the tall skeleton, and bared his fangs.
"NOW, NOW, ASRIEL- WOAH!" Papyrus yelped, quickly rolling away from the young prince's strike. He bounced back onto his feet "WOWZA, YOU ACTUALLY ALMOST HIT ME-"
"NOT ALMOST THIS TIME, BUDDY-" Asriel roared, racing towards his target. Papyrus moved quickly to the side, only barely dodging the child's claws. Grooves carved themselves into the bone of his fore-arm, throwing up flecks of dust that peppered his assailant's sadistic grin. The whites of his eyes turned black, his grin growing darker.
He landed, made a sharp turn, and sprang again before Papyrus could steady himself. The skeleton let out a startle shriek and hurried to move backwards. Unfortunately, he found his heel catch on a stray stone that sent him plummeting onto the ground. Asriel took his chance and went in for the kill.
Chara leaned forward, a wicked smile across her face.
But…
Nothing happened.
Papyrus blinked, staring at the outstretched claws right at his neck vertebrae. The hand they were attached to shook considerably, as if resisting itself. Papyrus looked up at the goat child. The boy's expression was twisted, confused and frustrated. He grinded his fangs a moment before shouting:
"WHY WON'T YOU LET ME WIN!?"
"Enough of this." The girl muttered, twirling her knife in her hand. She darted to the duo at the same time a glowing spear was thrown through her brother's body.
No one said anything. From then, it was just a film strip of events. Frame-by-frame they shown through a shaking projector on a dry and cracked screen.
Asriel stared.
Chara's grin turned into a growl.
Undyne looked away.
Papyrus's eye sockets grew wide.
There was dust. And as it fell, a white heart ripped from the specks, floating in the air. Alphys darted out from some ways behind Undyne, and stabbed the SOUL with the needle at the same moment Chara stabbed her through the chest.
As Alphys fell, she stared at the heart. Undyne's roar of rage and grief fell dully against the blood pumping in her ears. The battle that erupted between the warrior and the human was quickly herded out of her line of sight.
Vision blurring, she could only make out a few things.
The SOUL turned a very pale red, floating downwards as if to rest in Papyrus's outstretched hands. The skeleton was crying, glowing orange tears filling the majority of what was left of her sight. She noted the way his jaw moved, how he curled over the SOUL as the world wiped away.
What did he say?
"I LOVE YOU TOO, BROTHER!"
Sans jolted awake. The strings that wrapped around him jerked, pressing tightly against his body. Flailing, he managed to rip himself semi-free from them, and found there was no way to detach them. He stared about the place he found himself in. Filled with darkness only the dim lights of waves of white and blue.
The echoes of his brother's voice rang through his skull. The man took a deep breath and stole a glance at his SOUL. As he thought, as ALPHYS thought. It was red. Barely. A faint pink glow surrounding its outline.
But the memory of Undyne's strength, Toriel's friendship, Alphys's efforts, and the words of his brother filled his mind, heart, and SOUL, he could also feel something else occupying the empty spaces of his bones….
The heart absorbed the dim red light about it, sucking it in and using it to fill itself. Sans felt his grin grow, felt his eye sockets narrow. The light sloshed about in his SOUL, using it to paint itself a dazzling, gleaming red.
"You are filled with DETERMINATION." Said a light voice. Sans turned and felt his grin grow wider.
"heya kid." he greeted them. Frisk smiled at him, tilting their head to the side as a light giggle escaped them.
"Heya Sans!" they beamed. Sans chuckled, ruffling the child's hair.
"is this how you usually feel?" he asked. He stretched his phalanges in front of him, quickly balling them into fists "it's pretty great."
"Yep!" Frisk chirped. They offered their hand, and Sans took it. The child smiled at him. "Do you know how to RESET?"
"nah." Sans shrugged. He winked "don't worry about it, kiddo. i'm a fast learner." He closed his eye sockets, breathing deeply. His soul-strings shot out, now shining a radiant rose color. They thrashed about in a confused manner. Then, as their owner centered himself, the strings became docile. Floating. Forming some sort of circle with their lengths. One word flickered into it.
RESET.
Sans grinned, eye sockets still closed, and reach for it-
Only for his hand to meet with another.
His eye sockets snapped open to find Asriel in front of him. Entirely Asriel. No plant-like features on this one besides the green sweater.
The child looked away from him a moment, toying with his claws, then looked up at him. "Um….hi." he said.
Sans blinked "hey." He went to exchange a glance with Frisk, just to find they were no longer there. He tensed up. "where's-"
"They're at the Menu." Asriel interrupted.
" 'menu'?" Sans quoted. Asriel chuckled nervously, turning his head and rubbing the back of his neck.
"Er…yeah, that's what I call it. That dark place where you can RESET."
Sans couldn't help but chuckle "and you call it a MENU?"
Asriel laughed even more nervously, bleating a few times. "Uh… Well, you call these time loops 'RESETs', so…."
Sans shrugged "fair enough."
They floated across from each other for a few moment. Listening to what could only be described as underwater waves that caressed their forms here. They avoided looking at each other.
Then he heard a sniffle.
"kid?" Sans blinked.
"I'm sorry!" Asriel cried, throwing his body at Sans's and enveloping in a hug "I'm s-so sorry! I've been so h-horrible to you and e-everyone else-!" the child continued to ramble on, tears streaming down his face as his small hands clutched tightly onto the skeleton's hoodie. The sound of 'sorry' filled Sans's sense. The emotion behind it crashed into him, and he couldn't help but flinch.
He sighed, wrapping his arms around the child and smiled down at him "i guess when it really comes down to it, you are just a…" he winked "kid."
The sobbing stopped just a moment for Asriel to mutter a sniffled "Is that because I'm a goat?"
"bingo."
"…That's funny." The boy sniffed.
Sans chuckled a little bit, kneeling down to wrap the child into a snugger embrace. Asriel returned it whole-heartedly.
"I-I'm so s-sorry…" he whispered, sobs breaking his voice. Sans rubbed the child's back comfortingly.
*Forgive
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