One World, Many Souls

by Halloween Witch

With a quick use of Sans' magic, we had returned to our home on the surface. The lovely three-story home sat quietly among the trees under the moonlight. Sans always loved to teleport just outside the door and glance at it before walking in. He was a little less lazy since coming to the surface. So much to learn. So much to do. So much to love. SEQUEL TO "TWO WORLDS, TWO SOULS"

12. Renewing Hope

One World: Many Souls

Chapter 12: Renewing Hope

Angel's Point of View:

"Precious?"

I could only blink at the voice that called out from beside me. Sans stood there with a couple of drinks in his hands on a particularly hot June day where we rested in our home. The air conditioner was on high to try and alleviate the boiling temperatures that normally weren't seen until July. The bottle was set against my slightly dampened cheek to try and cool it.

"Sorry Darling…" I sighed while laying against the arm of the chair in our master suite. "I'm just… in one of those moods…"

The mood I spoke of was the slight boughts of depression I had ever since the previous month. Frisk and I were at odds with each other and I had to ground her so terribly. I'd lost the child that was growing within me. A union between those of the underground people and humans. It hurt to think of such a painful time.

I kept wondering just what exactly I'd done wrong? How had I messed up? I struggled with the thought that it perhaps was out of my control. That I'd done nothing wrong and it was just simply the nature of life.

The time I normally took for work was slowed down in an effort to deal with many of those emotions that swarmed me, never letting up in their attack. My husband and grandmother were constantly keeping an eye on me themselves or helping in any way they could. I thankfully always had my newly hired head butler, Eryl. This woman had been handpicked by my grandmother the year before when I met a long line of men and woman who could work beside me. Eryl had been the easiest to work with, had a caring aura about her much like any woman would, but also had a nurturing love for knowledge and a no tolerance policy to make sure work got done. With an iron fist, she ran most everything when Sans and Gram weren't doing it or she was watching after me.

The very woman I spoke of was currently going through papers that had been left for me to go over. Anything mediocre that meant little or that was nothing my opinion was needed on, she read it over and signed for me with a stamp copy of my signature. Other documents that I would need to review when in a better mindset she set to the side.

"No worries, Precious." The drink that was made for me was set by my side and I gingerly took a sip. It was a delicious smoothie that had been made with many flavors and nutritional content. I knew the others were worried about me as I struggled to eat after what happened. "Just make sure ya eat these up. Pap's goin' nuts downstairs in the kitchen, wantin' ya to try all sorts a new food he learned from school."

"Of course." With a sigh, I tried to sit up from my seat. I only then realized that the hot weather was still bothering me, even inside the airconditioned room. "Let me get changed real quick and I'll be down shortly."

Sans gave me a salute, though I still saw the slight worry in his boney brow. It wasn't uncommon for him to be worried for me. In the last month, I knew my hormones were insane. I let my body do as it had to for my lost baby, but it often led to me more depressed than before.

Sometimes I would still feel movement. As if they were still kicking me… I would have been five months along at that point…

And that was where I broke. I couldn't even make it out of the chair as I sobbed loudly, not caring who heard it. I still hurt. My baby… Sans' baby… why did I have to lose my little one? It wasn't fair! I just wanted a happy family! What was so wrong with that?

I was always delt the worst hand when it came to life. Why was I supposed to think that this time would be any different?

I struggled to stand after that, but forced myself to regardless. I was only wearing a simple dress that day due to the extreme heat. It fell to the floor quickly when the straps fell off my small shoulders. I groaned when I felt even my underwear was soaked through. The gross thought passed my mind and helped me calm down even momentarily before I stripped myself down and grabbed a fresh pair of clothing to wear.

Though it wasn't like I wasn't going to sweat through that too in a matter of minutes…

I carefully pulled on the soft feeing clothing of new undergarments before feeling something rather… strange. The area right where my abdomen was felt hard. I rubbed a hand over it carefully, feeling just how much more durable the skin was compared to the past.

And then… I felt a decently large bump.

My eyes widened; a quiet shriek came out of me as my hand cupped over it. There was movement again that I normally ignored, thinking they were phantom pains or something left over from my previous pregnancy. But the movement wasn't imaginary. I could feel it beneath my hand.

I had no idea what was going on!

"S-sans?"

While my small cry had not been heard, the pulsing of fear in my soul was enough to bring my husband rushing in. A flash of blue was behind me before hands were on me, checking me over.

"I'm here, Precious. What's wrong?"

Taking one of his hands, I carefully led it down to where the bump I was feeling was, as well as the movement in my abdomen. His sockets widened the second he felt it and stared at me with the same shocked and somewhat fearful expression. Though it turned angry quickly.

"I'm takin' ya ta Al. No way in hell I'm trustin' any other doctor besides 'er."

I couldn't bring myself to argue with him, nor fight. I didn't want to. I was too stunned by what was going on to make much of a coherent thought at the time.

With the help of my husband, he finished dressing me before we were led to the car that Eryl was driving for us. Sans kept me safely in the back where it was dark and cool, getting on the phone with our dear old friend to make sure she had time for us. I just sat there numbly as I wasn't sure what to do.

Sans' Point of View:

I could hardly think as Angel was led inta Al's lab.

The new buildin' our friend had on the surface was amazin' with how much tech she had. Lots o' material to study, she was bein' emersed in human culture. With Undyne at her side, the two of them were learnin' all they could about our new world, along with workin' for the seven families and the Dreemurr family.

Ignorin' most of those facts for the time being, Angel was laid out on a hill-rom and rolled inta an exam room where Al got right ta work.

"S-so far I'm not seeing any a-abnormal readings w-with her c-charts or s-stats…" The woman paused for a moment while Angel laid there calmly, though with worry etched into her face. "I-I'm going to g-get the ultrasound n-next and s-see wh-what we find, o-okay?

"Do what ya gotta Al."

With my blessin', the smaller woman took off while Undyne was growlin' over in a corner. She looked at the medical stuff with frustration in not bein' able to read it well. It was somethin' she always had trouble with, even with Al tryin' ta help her. I knew Undyne wanted ta help, but there was little she could do. Even I was at a loss with the situation.

"God damn it…" The woman hissed before she dragged up a chair on the other side of my wife. "Ya sure you're not feeling any pain, right Angel?"

"I-I…" My wife paused, still so overwhelmed in those moments. "I… don't know…"

"Easy there Undyne." I tried ta keep the anger out o'my voice. I knew she was just as worried for Angel as me. "She's in shock. She doesn't know how she feels 'til the adrenaline wears off."

"Fuck!" The blue woman roared in her frustration. "I feel like I need to do something!"

"D-don't hit anything Undyne!" Al came rushin' back in with what she needed, only takin' a few seconds ta calm down her girlfriend. "L-let me see what's on the monitor. J-just g-give me a second!"

Al was quick ta hook up the monitor to m'wife. Angel just… laid there in her astonishment while Al looked all 'round the bump on her carefully. Al looked deeply into the screen before she squeaked at what she found.

"What is it, Al?!"

Undyne near screamed at her. The fish woman was really restrainin' herself as she stood there.

"O-oh my god…"

The tears that slipped down Al's face and the happy dazed look gave me a bit o'hope that this was somethin' good. I really hoped it was for Angel's sake.

"Al?"

Draggin' the yellow lizard's attention back ta me, she showed me a wide grin before turning the monitor for Angel ta see along with the rest of us. On the grey screen, my socket's widened when I saw two little human shaped bodies.

"A-angel never lost the babies! She still h-has them!" Al couldn't stop her squealin' as she hopped in place. "You h-have two babies! A boy and a girl! Twins!"

My jaw actually dislocated and fell to the floor. Took me a hot second ta grab it. Undyne finally was standin' still and bein' quiet for the first time since I contacted her. Angel stared in utter disbelief before I watched her eyes roll inta the back of her head, and she crashed back onta the cushions that lined her rollin' bed.

"Holy shit! Angel?!"

All of us crowded 'around m'wife. She didn't come to as we spoke to her or commented. Al was quick to check her heart rate before sighin'.

"L-let's give her a few minutes… I'm sure t-this information came a-as a tidal wave of relief from her s-stress. S-she's probably exhausted."

Al led us away from Angel only a short distance so the three of us could still talk, but still be in the sight of m'wife if an issue came up.

Though, I was still a bit peeved. It made me wonder back ta that doctor who was so… heartless. Tellin' Angel we'd lost our babies. But he'd been wrong.

But somethin' still felt off…

"S-sans? U-undyne?" Al got our attention once we were far enough that Angel wouldn't hear us as we whispered in her line of sight. "I-I need to go o-over something with you."

Her girlfriend was quick to cross her arms with a scowl. "What is it, Al?"

Al was quick ta grab at the documents that had been given ta us the day that Angel went in for her last checkup. I never got much o'a chance ta read them since I was rushin' ta get Angel out of there. Al got them on the other hand and had 'em for the last month.

"I-I've been reading o-over the papers about the p-procedure that d-doctor wanted to preform o-on Angel… and I n-noticed something strange…"

I narrowed my sockets. "Strange? How?"

"T-the documents I got… A-angel wasn't a high r-risk pregnancy… but it w-was still l-listed t-that she would be 'put under' for the operation."

"What?!" Undyne near roared in anger. "Why the hell would they need to do that?"

Even I was at a loss for words. Unless someone was high risk, they wouldn't need to be put under for anything. What was goin' on?

"T-that was my thought… I-I did a lot o-of research o-on human births s-since Angel got pregnant. I-I wanted to be r-ready if s-she needed help." Al paused for a moment before lookin' back ta the big ass screen she had beside her. "P-part of my research sh-showed me that A-angel s-should have only had h-her water broken to h-have her body b-begin labor t-to remove the l-little one. T-there would have been n-no reason for medically i-induced s-sleep. A-and! T-to m-make m-matters w-worse… s-she never sh-showed signs o-of m-miscarriage a-after that d-doctor v-visit."

"So somethin' fishy is goin' on over there, no offence gillface."

"Shut it Sans, I'll pound you later." Undyne's teeth were showin' as she stared at the papers before her girlfriend. "What the fuck do we do? Those assholes almost could have hurt Angel, or done something bad, right? And this can't have been the only time, right? Others were probably hurt like this too!"

"Y-yes. W-we need to get to the bottom of it." Al turned back to me. "D-do you think y-you could get me a-an audience with Grandmother Terians?"

I struggled not to let the glow of m'magic seep though. I was pissed at what could've happened to m'wife if I wasn't there 'long with Al and Undyne ta get her outta there. "I'll make sure she puts special time aside for this."

"Okay…" Al sighed as she gathered up the many papers she had before her that'd come from that office. "L-let me know once you do. I-I'll start working with M-mrs. Terians on what to do… but you s-should probably get Angel home and k-keep her spirits high. S-she doesn't n-need to worry about t-this too…"

"Hell yeah, she's gonna have twins! You're gonna have twins, bonehead!" Undyne wasted no time as she hit the top of my head. Since mergin' my soul with m'wife, my body was sturdier, and could even handle a playful hit from the captain where I normally would've avoided it.

"Oww! Don't get your gills in a twist there, Undyne." I hissed at the pain in the back of my skull, but showed a light grin regardless. "But I guess it's oh-fish-al! I'm gonna be a dad!"

That cause the tick ta blow up on her head. "Sans!"

"Welp, that's my cue ta go." Teleportin' away to be right by m'wife, I picked her up in my arms while m'blue magic surrounded me. "Gonna go get Angel settled, later!"

Angel's Point of View:

I wasn't sure just how much time later it was before I was able to open our eyes. The bright lights I was expecting to be in my face were gone, and only a dim light was there to my left. I was laid out in a rocking chair in one of our spare rooms in the house. It was only a basic room, though I was surprised by the paint cans on the floor. At least six different cans were before me.

I blinked at them unsteadily as I tried to wipe the dreariness from my eyes. Looking outside the window beside me, it was dusk when I'd woken. It was barely late morning last I remembered going to Alphys'.

Wait… Alphys?

That was when the memory came back to me so quickly. My head felt like a tidal wave slammed into it and rolled me nearly over were it not for my bottom already being in the chair. My hand moved in shaky movements to feel down where the bump was that I'd felt earlier that day and the words spoken earlier were there.

Twins… I was having… twins?

A boy and a girl…

"Precious? Ya awake?"

My husband came in there. He was alone as he stood there in the doorway watching me carefully before treading any closer. He watched as my hands filtered over the bump and I felt movement. Something that both startled me as well as excited me in those moments, pulling me from the daze.

"Sans… w-we went to Alphys' right?"

Some of the tension that lined his skull settled then. "Yeah, we did."

"And… Alphys said… we're going to have twins? I-I didn't lose my baby?"

"Nah, Precious." Sans slowly approached to put his hands on my abdomen after he had knelt beside me. He felt for the bump to. Once he felt it, there was movement that I was much more sensitive to feeling now that I wasn't ignoring it. "Al said their healthy and doin' great. Heh… we're gonna be parents."

"W-we are…" The gasp that escaped me was almost like a squeal. I was overjoyed at the thought of being a mother.

"And," before my mind could wander anywhere else, Sans pointed out to the paint cans on the floor. "Figured I'd make myself useful an' grab us some paint for their rooms. Might be early, but 'ey, why not?"

I was too emotional to say much while Sans began to pull off the covers to reveal the colors. I saw pink, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. All of them were pale colored shades of themselves so that they weren't too intense. All of them beautiful as I looked.

"Just figured I'd get a few colors ta see what ya thought. Eryl helped me with this one. And if ya don't like a color, we can go back together." Sans gestured to the room around us. "Figured this room we could paint one color and the one across for the other, could do a mural if ya wanted. It'd be special for 'em."

"I love it." My hands just couldn't stop shaking from how excited I was by all the events taking place. The colors were perfect as I looked at them, two standing out to me that just… felt right for my little ones. "Why not these two? I-I've already got some ideas for what I could paint with those colors."

"Precious," Sans looked at me. He appeared so tired as he stared, but the joy on his face overtook any exhaustion he had. "It sounds perfect."

Witch's Note:

AH! I've been waiting for this for so long! I've been wanting to share this to make you all happy! Angel never lost her babies and it was some horrible plot by that doctor in the past that tired to take her unborn babies? To what end? Sounds like Sans plans to handle that on his own so Angel doesn't know about it. That sounds like a very Sans thing to do to me!

But now that we have some happiness on the way, even more so than last time, let's move onto some fun stuff! Reviews!

Thechaosmaster: Chaos, it makes me so happy to hear how much you love this rendition of Papyrus. I really struggled to write him in the perfect "walking the line of what I can do vs. what I should do" set up. Papy is so torn between all that is happening. With his best friend turning into something he can't recognize, but he still wants to help, but he's so hurt... and she hurt his family.

How do you come back from that? How do you move on? Move forward?

It's a tough call, and we are seeing Frisk "maybe" starting to notice just how horrible she's being, maybe. Can't say for certain yet. Plus, I can't reveal anything, no matter how hard Mystic Girl tries to twist my arm, and trust me, she's trying. But she knows how good the wait is going to be when it's all over.

We'll just have to wait and see! XD

Shadow8Phantom: Papyrus really is the greatest, isn't he?

Always a pleasure to write, and I love how you broke it all down. What you noted for Papyrus' response was the way I was hoping everyone would interpret it. Trying to be the good big brother and remember what to do in case of an emergency. I mean, damn, he would know how to handle most of this very well after all the time he was in the guard and protecting others back when his job was more government influenced before this new path.

I don't know if Papyrus could have done anything better, but I think this was the best solution for what happened and with all that transpired that night. As you said, he was doing this to keep a semblance of peace after everything happened. He is, honestly, the heart of the family. One that is really getting tested on all fronts, even his own relationship that he's thinking about in those moments.

But will it last?

Dasansi: Hello to the three of you again! No ones gonna explode again, right? Right?

I hope not, so let's enjoy our chat!

So, you are correct with Frisk is right around sixteen years old of age. We're coming up on almost a year since we left the underground. Frisk is a bit of a late bloomer, it was just before her fifteenth birthday when those of the underground broke free in May all that time ago. So, we've had some time. This has also given Frisk some time to get at least a year and a half in above ground and being partnered with Luke. They've been dating perhaps a year by now? If this helps with any numbers and what not.

I think the one thing that I'm trying to understand is whether or not you do or don't like the way I've written Papyrus. I'm a little confused by it, but it is emotional growth for him. Like you said in your review, it sometimes is hard to attach yourself because he's a constant that never seems to change or move, while valiant in his own way, I don't agree with that sort of set up.

Characters need to grow and learn to change, which is why Papyrus is written as he is, and there will be a lot of growth as he becomes into his adult self. Frisk will also have her chances to grow and change too. Their end result? Too soon to tell you, but both of them have a lot of growing up to do.

Not A Shady Guy: The neutral and caring view is so hard to write Shady! But I'm glad you think I did a good job. Now I'm interested to see how everyone responded to this chapter after I've torn apart the last one so much with Papyrus for everyone to see.

And no worries if you need to take a break for a moment or two. We'll be here when you're all done and ready to congratulate you when finals are all over! Hopefully with a few chapters for you to enjoy of love and chaos.

MysticBoywastaken: Hopefully your feeling better Mystic Boy. Good to see you.

Okay, I think we got everyone! Now that we're beyond all this talk, more things to happen soon! And I'm excited to throw a curve ball that I don't think any of you are going to be expecting! So, hang onto everything, because the next chapter is going to be exciting, but also worrisome, and downright chaotic!

XD Love you all and see you next week!

Halloween Witch and Mystic Girl