One Simple World
Chapter 4: Simply Merging Souls
Angel's Point of View:
Cold... it was all I could feel as I laid out. My entire body was covered in bruises and blood. I couldn't even understand how it was so cold under the mountain where we'd fallen.
A breeze was blowing right on me that shivered me into alertness. A cough croaked out of my throat. Deep, struggling with the wounds all over me. I tried to crack open my eyes to see and all that my eyes would notice was white and red...
It was too difficult to see.
But Frisk... where was Frisk?
That jump started me enough to try and move. I struggled to use my magic to heal myself. Healing magic wasn't my forte. I could only do enough to keep me going. Most of my magical reserves were used to protect myself and Frisk in the fall. I didn't remember the entire fall; I was fairly certain I hit my head in the fall. It ached terribly and my vision wasn't great.
Groaning, I struggled to pull my arms around me to push myself up off the ground. I felt cold snow shifting somewhat around me. My body shook from sheer effort and the cold. My healing magic barely did a thing as my chains were the main magic that grabbed onto anything to drag me anyway to a shelter of any sort.
I had to get out of the bad weather... and find Frisk...
But where... where was I?
It looked... it likea forest? My vision cleared enough to noticed the trees and bark in the distance. Past the snow, I could see them clearly, but they weren't like the trees of the above ground. They had crystals growing out of them, the larger ones it seemed like. Smaller ones were more along the lines of what I'd seen before. Much like a pine tree.
Then, I heard the crunching of snow under someone's feet. I tried to look off ahead to see who it was that was out here.
"Oh no! Someone's hurt!"
I was surprised to hear that cry. The crunching of snow became louder until something orange came into vision. A boot? A glove? Maybe both?
I tried to look up at them, they sounded like a young male. Perhaps going through puberty? Their voice hadn't dropped enough by myguess, but they didn't sound like a girl.
"Miss?! Can you hear me?! Are you alright? Don't worry! The Great Papyrus is here to help! I'll heal you!"
Healing magic?
Very few humans could use magic besides that of my family or the other families above ground. I was below the earth though, so...
I blinked, trying my hardest with the help of a golden glow that came around me like a warm blanket. With the help of the person beside me, I could finally see more clearly. Looking up, I couldn't even act surprised...
A skeleton... a tall skeleton was croucheddown beside me. He was healing me while wearing strange looking armor. A white chest plate with blue shorts, orange gloves and orangeboots. And a long scarf that hung around his neck whipping around like a cape.
"Oh dear... this is a serious set of wounds...! And I can't heal you in this weather! What were you thinking?! Oh no..." The skeleton male fretted as he kept trying to heal me. "Please hang in there! I shall call my brother! He will help us while I keep healing you! Please hang on!"
"H-h-h-h-"
I struggled to speak. I coughed out blood, unable to even managed a single word while the fear crept up into me that I was in this much of a mess and unable to find Frisk...
I didn't have a choice, I had to ask for help...
"Brother! Come quickly to my signal!" When I focused on the skeleton again, he was on the phone already with someone. "I found a very wounded woman in the woods, Sans! She needs medical attention! And she's freezing! She's not dressed for the elements! Um... no, I did not see her with a coat. But it looks like she was hurled down the mountainside... Perhapsshe lost it there?"
"H-h-help!"
The skeleton froze when I finally was able to get a word out from between my lips. With aggravation and fear pushing me forward, desire came to me. I struggled to pull myself up against him while he was still on the phone. "S-s-sis-ster! F-fi-find! L-l-lost! L-l-little... s-s-sis-ster...!"
"Oh no, oh no! Sans please come here this second! There's a lost little girl too! And a storm is coming in!"
"Here Bro."
Within a moment, there was a second voice. Much deeper than the last. I struggled to crane my neck to look in their direction. Another skeleton stood a tad warmer than the other. Normal clothes of a blue jacket and black shorts covered them with... pink slippers on their feet? They looked cozy enough I supposed...
But then I saw his face... his skull. His was more round compared to his brother's who was long and narrower. Eye sockets that lacked eyes showed me little pin prick lights that must have acted as their eyes.
He and I... we stared at each other... Something... a feeling came over me... Perhaps him too as we couldn't move.
A deep red light emerged from my chest. It pushed entirely free with waves of magic pulsing between it and me as it approachedthe newly emerged male. He gasped and I saw him struggle to step away, but he couldn't as his own white soul pushed from his own chest. Bright like a glittering star in the sky, his own soul approached mine.
The two touched and it felt like lightning struck me. I sunk away from the reality, seeing flashes of memories I didn't think were my own.
A world like this... I saw Frisk and I together with those two skeletons.
The tall one and her played while I sat with the shorter one.
I painted with him.
I saw him introduce me to other monsters.
I lost an arm.
He was with me in the hospital.
I gained a new bone arm from a ghost that looked like the two skeletons.
I met the monster king.
I was a citizen of the underground.
We faced a flower monster.
We broke free of the barrier.
We were married.
What... what is this...
That was the first through that came to me, but... I... knew him...
My... Darling? My... Sans...?
Sans...
"S-s-sans?"
"A-angel? P-precious?"
"Sans?! What in the world just happened?"
And then reality hit us both and I found myself in the arms of the smaller skeleton. No, in the arms of Sans.
I knew him... but I didn't know him...
"Pap, I'm gettin' her home. Look for the kid 'n keep me posted. I'll alert the rest o' the guard."
"But Brother!"
"Worry about the kid Pap!" Heated words left as I was carried in his arms. "I'll chat with ya at home! Go!"
I could barely make out a flash of blue before the world spun and my little grip on reality faded. I felt my head snap backward and I couldn't see anything.
Sometime Later:
I didn't know how long I had been out by the time I came to.
I was bundled up so thickly beneatha pile of blankets. I could feel the warmth of a rich fire cooking the room up only ten or so feet away from me. Watching the flames lick at the wood that was in the setting, the warmth made me want to snuggle back into the blankets...
If it wasn't for the gnawingsensation in the back of my mind...
I vaguely remembered what happenedlast. Some kind set of monster skeleton brothers had found me in the snowy forest. They were... healing me... and my soul? It seemed to merge with one of them... I knew him? But I didn't?
How did that even work?
Sans... that was his name... Sans... Gaster...
Many thoughts that told me details about him came to the surface. He was lazy but attentive. He told jokes, often puns. He adored his brother to the end of time, and would do anything to protect him...
He should have been nervous about me... I was a human after all... Maybe he was going through the same strangeness that I was? Seeing memories that look like they could have been mine... but weren't? I knew I didn't meet that man any sooner than I had at that time...
So what was happening?
"Ey, yer awake."
My eyes turned to face the very male I was thinking of. He stood only a few feet away in what appeared to be an entrance to a kitchen. With hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket, he watched me with soft eye lights. I could only blink at him while attempting to sit up.
"Uh... yeah..." Carefully feeling over my body, I was sore, but not wounded. It seemed as if my wounds for the most part were taken care of by those kind gents and anyone else who had offered help too. "T-thank you... for helping me..."
"No sweat. Besides, I can grill ya and ya can ta me too while Pap has gone ta look for yer sister again."
So many answers and questions came to mind the second he said that. I could only nod in the quiet of the room with the fire crackling as my only saving grace to the shrill of silence.
"C-can I ask a question first?"
He plopped down on the end of the couch. He slouched right into the cushions past my feet where his eye lights gazed at me. "Go for it."
"Why did I see all those memories? They look like mine, but... I've never met you before? I just... recently fell into here, but it felt like I had years of memories... just dumped on me..."
"Ya too, huh?" He sighed and rolled his head back into the couch. He seemed to milk away a headache with his phalangesbefore looking back at me once more. "I got a guess... but no proof."
"Okay?"
"Ya ever been taught about... alternaterealities?"
"Alternate... realities?" I honestly couldn't get any grasp on that subject. "Could you give an example?"
"Ah... the world we're in... small difference make changes down the line. Like a domino effect... One decision ya make affects ya differentlyin the future."
"Wait... are you talking about the butterfly effect?"
He raised what appeared to be a boney brow at me. "Alright, ya got some sort of a clue then, Precious-"
Then he cut himself off and looked away suddenly.
"Sorry... it just blurted out... the memories..."
"I know..." It was a struggle to not call him "Darling". I swear it was on the tip of my tongue when I tried to hold it back. "It feels like they're merging, or like deja vu."
"Yeah... but... back ta the subject. I think we've met before... but in a different world..." He paused and seemed to think over what was in his skull. "It's why ours souls were so easy ta merge with one another... We've already met... and... apparently... were married... on the surface..."
"Yes... and... I think we know more about each other than I think others would want to know."
"Alright then... who am I?"
In a second, all the information flashed before me so fast, I wasn't even sure if my mouthcould keep up with my mind. "Sans Gaster. Son of Wingdings Gaster the previous royal scientist before he sacrificed himself to save his coworkers and yourself from an explosion in the labs. You hate fighting, you're lazy, you love puns. You hatepromises. You have issues with drinking. Your younger brother Papyrus is your life and the only thing that keeps you going with no one else you feel you can trust or care for."
"Damn... I should be surprised..." Sans could only sigh and hold his head in his hands. "It feels so weird not ta..."
"I hate to ask..."
"Yeah... I know stuff about ya too, Angelica Terians."
I should have been scared to hear that name. One that hadn't been uttered in four years. But I felt numb to it... just like he said.
"Ya killed yer uncle in self-defense when he tried ta attackya 'n yer sister, Frisk, or Francine Terians. He became yer guardianafter yerparents 'n grandmother died in an accident. Ya ran away, lived on the run for years before fallin' inta the underground. Yer sister was all that was left of yer family 'n ya protected her from all. Tried ta raise her on yer own."
"Holy shit..."
I should have been absolutelyshaken at that. Horrified. However, just like Sans had noted, I felt numb. That was it, like I'd already handled that emotion. That set of issues.
I didn't feel like me... but I did?
"Yeah, yer tellin' me."
I carefully looked up at him through my eyelashes, still numb, but worried for another issue. "So... what now?"
"Welp... our souls merged, so we're basically married. Jesus..." Sans sighed as he stood. "Let me get ya some food 'n and I can update ya on the search. Pap's been lookin' for her for a week while ya were out."
"W-what?!"
I almost fainted at the notion that I'd been separated from Frisk for a week. She was on her own, scared, lonely, or could she be...?
I wanted to hurl...
Oh god... I had to find her!
Witch's Note:
And here we be. I'm sorry I had to keep you all in the dark, but the suspense was splendid, wasn't it? Not knowing if Angel was truly dead or alive made a huge reason for this story even happening, and could have led to other disastrous results if she had passed.
But I can't just kill Angel… She's my pride and joy over here with my work. She's like my main character. I can't kill her off.
Or could I?
It's still early in our short story, but so much has already taken place. Angel and Sans are reunited once more and their souls merged so easily. The memories of them together influencing their actions due to what has happened before. And… Frisk has not been found. Not by anyone she knew or that would know her anyway.
And of course, we still don't know where Asriel/Flowey is in all this mess.
There is still so much to know and go through as the chapters go on, but let's move onto some reviews, shall we?
Thechaosmaster: Sorry Chaos… I'm sure you do hate this. The horribleness that we're putting you through, but that is the nature of the genocide run. People die. I've watched them before, seeing those people close, imagining the actions happening in my head. Its… it was easy at the time with the way I was feeling when I began working on this story.
But as for twists and turns… perhaps this chapter gave you one of the many that I'll be including? Unfortunately, as Shadow has predicted very well, I couldn't kill Angel. At least… perhaps not at this point in the story. But that's for myself to know, and you all to find out later. I can't give out all my special details before they've come to fruition. That would make for a boring story if you already knew what was to happen.
But Chara's plans… hm… that will come up in time… maybe… XD
Shadow8Phantom: That's all it takes, doesn't it Shadow? Things to be slightly different and everything could change. That's the beauty of the butterfly effect, and the way the Undertale story has hit us all. Minor changes make big impacts, and big changes make even more massive impacts.
Angel did survive, landing entirely out of the ruins and nearly dying as she made it to Snowdin, or at least the outskirts of it in the abandoned paths that Papyrus often patrols. He didn't even care that Angel was a human in this play through, he's always been such a sweetheart it melts my heart every time…
Which really kills me when you all see what's coming later…
We see Angel, but Flowey/Asriel is still hidden from view… Why?
MysticBoywastaken: Yes, oof be right… Many more horrible things to be happening, but here be a strange positive one… for the time being…
Dasansi: Its so good to see you back Dasansi, and I honestly totally understand what you mean with starting to get… well I won't say sick of Undertale, but tired would be an appropriate word. Yes, I'm doing a genocide story to go alongside a pacifist one, but even I am at a point where moving to a new topic to keep things lively and interesting, or to simply work on something new, I get it. Its been a plan in the words for a long time for Mystic Girl and myself. While we love this series and what's grown from it, that doesn't mean that were going to stay here entirely, or that we don't need a change of pace. For goodness sakes, between all the stories we've written together, we honestly have almost two hundred chapters in content. And this one is going to be another twenty, so that leaves us with… currently a total of two hundred and four chapters once this story is over.
However… the last story is still a work in progress. Still a lot to be planned and worked on and as I come into my winter season at work where there's not much to do, I'll have plenty of time to work on planning it out and structuring it. I have the ideas, its just getting them to transition from my mind to the paper.
But if there may be anything to keep you and the others interest alive to finish this book and hold out for the next one before we do something new… the one hint that I'm willing to give you and everyone about the final book… we have a pacifist route, we have a genocide route… the final one… is a true route…
Mystic Girl: Are you… fucking… kidding me right now?!
Me: (Covering my hears as she screams at me.) Hi, good morning, do we really have to do this at five am?
Mystic Girl: Oh no, you're not worming your way out of this one! You just revealed something super critical about the final book when you SAID you would wait to say anything!
Me: Maybe so, but let's be honest, we've been working on this series for a long time, and even we have our moments where we get tired of it. I'm not about to put our readers through waiting in annoyance if we don't give them a spark of something new to keep them interested and show them perhaps something they may not have seen often or at all.
Mystic Girl: (She pouts at that, backing down slightly.) I GET that, but…
Me: I get it… it's frustrating, I'm saying one thing and doing another. Trust me, if I could hold onto some secrets a little longer, I would have. But I think this is a secret we can afford to give. The others will figure it out more as time goes on and they read the story chapter by chapter.
Mystic Girl: Fine… okay, finish that note and we need to get back to work on that scene your partway through. Finish up what you can and then let's go over it to cover any loose bits.
Me: Yes ma'am. And with that, we all bid you a great week and see you all soon. We love you all so much!
Halloween Witch and Mystic Girl