Cover Art: FairyFan94 from Deviant Art
Chapter 12 – A glimpse of the Future
Frisk lay on her side, facing the wall next to her. Her hands were in her view and the silver key lay in them. She stared blankly at it in the semi dark room. Why was the key still in her possession? Slowly the human child sat up, the blanked that had covered her fell, the key slipped into their pocket and they took a slow gaze around the room.
They recognized the room as Papyrus'. But where were the skeletons? Slight fear gripped the childs heart. Were they mad at her? Was that the reason they left her alone? With closed eyes they tried to listen for any kind of sound inside the house. But she couldn't concentrate on any sounds because of a sudden headache that attacked her. Her shoulders slumped, her elbows rested on her knees and her head in her hands.
She tried to think about what to do next but the hammering in her head was making it difficult to get even one clear thought through. Slowly the small girl decided it was time to get up. Her bare feet touched the cold ground, a shiver went down her back. Still she kept one walking one hand always resting on the side of her head. Frisk wasn't sure if her hand rested there to stable her head or, which was more likely, for comfort.
It felt like hours till Frisk reached the door and slowly opened it to leave the room. The girl cringed a because of the light when she stepped out of the door. She rubbed her eyes in hopes that it helped them better to adjust to the light.
Once her eyes adjusted she started to walk down the stairs, right at the last three steps she froze. Her headache she had moments ago blown away as she stared at the short skeleton that sat on the couch. Frisk mused for a moment that he looked more like he wanted the couch to swallow him with that overly tired grin and half open eye-sockets. Yet the small human child was still frozen in place, not knowing if she should continue to walk down or to turn around and walk back to Papyrus' room.
The decision was taken from her when an overly joyful voice resounded through the entry house.
"HUMAN! YOU ARE FINALLY AWAKE!" Before Frisk knew it she was scoped up into a tight hug. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, PREPARED THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER JUST FOR YOU HUMAN!"
Before the girl could even muster the courage to say anything she was sat down on a chair by the table and a plate staked with… surprisingly pancakes… was placed before her. The pancakes smelled mouthwatering and even thought the little girl wanted nothing more than to just dig in she glanced up confused at the taller skeleton that stood on the other side of the table beaming at her.
"No… spaghetti?" Her voice was soft and quiet like she was afraid of saying something bad. Her head was also hanging low when she spoke as if she was afraid to look at the taller skeleton any longer than she already had.
"HA HA! YOU SEE HUMAN, TODAY IS A SPECIAL DAY! SO I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DECIDED TO MAKE SOMETHING SPECIAL!" The child, still a little unsure, nodded with a small smile and reached for the fork. A feeling of familiarity washed over her on her first bite which actually proved that the pancakes were eatable, but the girl shrugged them of and continued to eat them.
Sans had watched them from his positon on the couch. He didn't like that the child was acting so reserved yet his brother on the other hand was acting overly cheerful. Both skeleton had not slept at all, they had spent all night talking. The tired grin on Sans face softened as he watched his brother converse loudly with the child, trying to make them smile more or even laugh.
In all honesty this wasn't the reaction he had expected from his brother after he told him about the timelines, the childs resets... even the topics that lay heavy on the short skeletons shoulders. He had never thought his brother would be so… understanding. Yet Sans couldn't help but feel bad that there was one thing he still had chosen to keep secret. He closed his eye-sockets and took a calming breath, trying not to think about any more.
A giggle was heard and the corners of his grin twitched upwards lightly. He slit of the couch and started to walk over to his brother and the giggling human child. Sans tried not to snort when he saw his brothers face covered in syrup.
"Wanna hang out today kiddo?" He didn't miss how the child flinched hearing his voice and he instantly felt bad. But a second later he saw how relieve washed over the child, he raised an skeleton eye-brow at that but grinned wide anyway when the child nodded. Sans reached out and ruffled the little girls head, messing up their brown hair. He grinned when Frisk sent him an annoyed look and chuckled when they puffed out their cheeks a little before taking the last bite of their pancakes.
Papyrus was giving him an encouraging thumps up when he unshared the human child to get ready upstairs. Sans sweat dropped. Really his brother was taking the information from last night lightly.
"Uh… bro?" Sans asked carefully once the child was out of ear shot.
"DO NOT WORRY BROTHER! I WILL HELP YOU IN KEEPING FRIS- I MEAN IN KEEPING THE HUMAN SAVE." The taller skeleton stated proudly placing one hand on his chest like a knight would.
Sans chuckled a little and grinned up at his brother. "I am sure you will bro, you're the best."
If possible Papyrus beamed even more before a thought crossed the taller skeletons skull. "SANS? WHO ELSE KNOWS?"
Sans blinked, then realized than in all the explaining he had done never once mentioned that he and Alphys were till a while ago the only ones that could remember well the only ones he knew for sure. "Doctor Alphys knows too."
Before Papyrus could say anything Sans turned grinning at the child that came running down the stairs. "Ready to go kiddo?"
Frisk nodded smiling brightly as she reached for Sans hand and tugged him along, the short skeleton waved to his brother and let the child lead him out the door. He was slightly glad to see that she was back in being like a child again yet he still wondered what had gotten into the child just a day ago. The short skeleton knew that he needed to know if he wanted to figure out what was going on.
"Hey kidd-" Static washed over him before he could even start what he was about to ask.
Around him was nothing but darkness, suddenly he felt a heavy felling on his shoulder. It felt like it was weighting him down, drowning him, cutting off his strength and making him feel weak.
Everything around him light up. He didn't recognize where he was exactly at first but after a while he realized it was that room with a patch of green grass that lay right before the barrier. A sickening feeling spread in his bones.
Slowly Sans took a step forward and instantly stepped back again when he heard his pink fluffy slippers step into something that sounded like a puddle. Slowly he looked down at what lay before his feet. The sickening feeling got even stronger as he stared shocked down at the body of a bloodied child, wearing a familiar blue with purple strips sweater. They looked like they were just sleeping faced down but they weren't sleeping, they were wounded greatly and a huge red puddle was growing larger right under them.
The familiarity of that image caused glowing blue tears to flow out of his dark eye-sockets.
Everything in his bones screamed at him that this was not Frisk, the bloodied child right there had to be Chara. There was no other way this was Frisk. After all he would never in a million resets let something like that ever happen to the girl again…
Laughing echoed in the room. Not any kind of laughing, a maniac, crazy and sickening laugh. The short skeleton knew it all too well. He had faced off against the owner of it often enough.
He looked up again, a low growl escaped him as he saw Chara standing a few meters away holding a knife in their hands and red eyes glowing in excitement. Dust was flowing around the child in a creepy way.
"Finally…FINALLY EVERYTHING WILL END THE WAY I WANT IT!"
"P-please stop… t-this… is not…" Sans eye-sockets went wide as he watched how Frisks body slowly rose despite the wounds she was suffering and all the blood she must have lost. The small child was kneeling in their own blood looking up at the other child. Frankly speaking the girl still looked more death than alive. Yet out of nowhere the ghostly image of a child that looked just like Chara appeared, holding onto Frisks shoulder and giving the wounded child an apologizing look.
"What is going on?" Sans asked in pure shock and confusion but static washed over him again and he found himself now once again in darkness. Closed his eye-sockets and rubbed the sides of his skull.
"This is… what… will… happen…" Sans turned sharply staring at the one behind him. Once again his eye-sockets went wide when he stared at the other skeleton. For the first time in years of researches and working on a seemingly useless and broken machine he was apparently able to talk to the one person everyone but him and Alphys had forgotten. Yet his voice refused to come out and the short skeleton could do nothing but stare at the one before him in astonishment.
"We… have to… prevent." He spoke slowly staring at Sans intensely willing the shorter skeleton to understand why he saw what he did in the static. "Time… is… running… out…"
Static washed over the short skeleton once again and he had to blink, slowly his vision refocused and he was back in Snowdin. Frisk was only a few meters before him playing with Monster Kid in the snow near the huge Christmas tree in the center of the town.
The short skeleton frowned. It was time that he should ask Alphys for help with more than just the human child.
In the black abyss a mute sigh escaped the skeleton being there. He knew that it had been very risky. This stunt could have ended up with trapping Sans also into the black abyss. But it had been the only way of help he could think of without affecting the human child to much. Since here the black abyss gave him the possibility to look and to know what could happen. Looking over his shoulder he let his watchful eyes land on the child playing with their knife they looked at him with a knowing gaze and their eyes seemed to glow even stronger in the darkness. And he knew… they were planning something again.