Momentary Reprieve

Chapter 23: Momentary Reprieve

Sans was drifting.

He was starting to get used to the feeling. He didn't like it, necessarily, but it wasn't all that uncomfortable. He felt like he was floating through a dark sea, and it didn't matter whether or not his eyes were opened or not anymore. All he could see was the dark. It was almost like rest, sans resting.

Heheh. 'Sans' resting. Oh my god, focus.

His mind felt fuzzy and it was difficult to focus, but something drew his attention after a long while. He could hear a voice in the deep dark, like it was reaching out to him. He ever so slowly, gradually lifted a heavy arm, searching in response, cautiously, warily, hopefully.

"-And I'll fucking kill you, you son of a bitch !"

Ah. So that's where the hangover went to. It wasn't great to have it back. He was actually starting to miss being blacked out just a little bit.

No going back it is, then.

"Oh. Hey Chara," Sans slurred calmly as he cracked open an aching eye socket, the cool tile of the kitchen floor cold against the back of his head. They were straddling his chest with their grip tight on his shoulders, barely tilting his head up to meet their gaze. For a very brief moment he caught a glimpse of their face, their sharp red eyes softening in what might have been relief. It was gone the next moment though, as it was overwhelmed by pure, unadulterated rage

.

"What - did - you - do?!" Chara screamed, accentuating their words by slamming his head against the floor.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow," Sans repeated numbly, the pounding in his head only growing worse. "Yeah, no, it's fine. I totally wanted the migraine."

"A headache's going to be the least of your worries," they growled at him, pausing.

And then they headbutted him.

Sans saw stars as he fell back against the floor, letting out a gasp of pain.

"Nope," Sans wheezed after a minute had passed. "Pretty sure headache is top priority right now."

"What did you do to me?" Chara grappled him by the neck when he tried to move, pinning him to the ground. "What the fuck did you do?! Answer me you piece of shit, I'll kill you!"

"First of all, your whole allowance is going straight to the swear jar," he gave up trying to push them off after a couple of futile tries. It wasn't that they were particularly heavy, it was just that his limbs felt like jelly and it was so much easier to give up. "Secondly, Jesus Christ my head ! And thirdly," Sans struggled again in their iron grip. "I'm… I'm not entirely sure."

It wasn't exactly a lie.

It wasn't exactly the truth, either, but at least it got them to stop shaking him like a skeletal rattle for a moment.

"… I'm gonna fix this," Sans closed his eyes with a sigh. "I don't know how, but-but I'm gonna fix this."

"Yeah, you'd fucking better-!"

Chara suddenly found it difficult to continue speaking with his fist clenched around their throat.

"… Last. Warning," he released them quietly, causing them to shoot him a filthy glare. "Quit swearing."

"Eat me."

"Improvement," he shrugged, falling back against the floor, letting the back of his skull hit the tile with an instantly regretted thunk. "… Ow . Right. So, as soon as I get over this ungodly hangover, we're-we're gonna fix this."

"Not before you tell me what you did to my soul !" Chara insisted loudly. Or maybe they were whispering and it just sounded like they were screaming. It was high time that he swore off alcohol. Not that he was likely to, but it was a nice thought.

"You mean Frisk's soul," he corrected them. "At least, that's m'understanding of it. Unless you'd like ta clarify?"

Chara's lips tightened.

"That's what I thought," he shrugged again. "Now would you mind doing me a solid and get off?"

"I'm not doing jack until you tell me what you did!" Chara's hands found their way to his throat. Their breathing was heavy and uneven, their brows knitted tightly together in a vengeful scowl. "I hate you, I hate you, I-I… I could… I could kill you right now."

"Could you now."

They froze.

He said it so calmly, so casually. And he did it with a blank, even smile, the lights in his eye sockets gone completely. He didn't move, didn't blink, didn't breathe. His grin was just too wide, too unnatural, and Chara's expression slowly shifted from one of anger to that of uncertainty, of nervousness.

All it took was a flicker of blue in his left eye to cause them to completely break down.

They were off of him in a heartbeat, scampering on their hands as they kicked away fearfully until they were pressed against the wall, almost hyperventilating, red eyes wide with terror.

He felt horrible, he felt like being sick, he felt like scum, but at least they got the message. He closed his eye sockets for a moment and extinguished the magical fire in his eye, taking a long, slow breath before sitting up until his back was against the cabinet. When he finally opened his eye sockets he saw that Chara was crying silently, pressed tightly against the wall like they were trying to phase through it. They just looked so… bitter. So unhappy.

Way to go. You succeeded in making a small child cry out of fear.

… Prick.

Sans groaned and hid his eye sockets in his palms, letting out another sigh.

"… Look," he said after a moment, running a hand over the top of his head. "Just… don't freak out. We - I'm gonna fix this. We're gonna sit down, we're gonna have some… I dunno, fuckin' tea or somethin', and we're gonna discuss this like calm, rational adults."

"I'm not an adult," Chara pouted, sniffing msierably.

"… Fuck," Sans shuddered, covering his face again. "Okay. Okay, fine. Like calm, rational people who don't try to kill each other at any given opportunity. You wanna talk, fine. We're gonna talk. Just don't freak out. Capiche ?"

Chara responded by hatefully flipping him the bird.

"… Getting real sick of your shit, kid."

It took a while for Chara to calm down.

Perhaps 'calm' was too strong of a word.

At the very least they had stopped threatening to stab him as loudly as before.

Sans quietly placed the steaming mug of tea in their waiting hands,

Chara's eyes hidden behind their hair. He was really starting to miss Frisk. He missed hearing Frisk's soft voice. He missed seeing Frisk's hopeful eyes. Chara's constantly narrowed red ones were… unnerving. Did he take them for granted? He felt like he did. The next time that Frisk was back he was going to hug the living daylights out of them.

"O-kay," Sans murmured more to himself than anything as he slowly sat down beside them, his own untouched mug between his still trembling phalanges. "Okay, kiddo. This is, uh. This is gonna be… hard to explain. 'specially since I'm still kinda hungover, and your little game of playin' basketball with my head ain't helpin' matters any."

"What did you do," Chara frowned, staring down into their mug. "How about you start with that."

"Okay…" he said again, rubbing his temples with one hand. He took a sip of his tea and almost spit it out. "Blech. Golden flower tea. Dunno why Undyne keeps dropping this crap off, pretty sure neither me or Paps even drinks it."

"Can you fucking focus?!"

Sans's head snapped toward them, and they cringed instantly.

"… You need to chill," Sans said after a moment, setting his tea down and digging in his inner jacket pocket for a few moments. "Because I'm gonna tell you some heavy stuff, and I really, really don't want you to freak out any more than you already are."

He produced from his pocket a slightly crumbled dog biscuit and held it out to them. Chara stared at him as if he were stupid.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"What do you think?"

Chara started to bite into it before he snatched it away, ignoring their indignant protests.

"Gimme a sec," he rolled his eye lights and reached into his pockets again before producing an old flip lighter. He lit the tip of the dog biscuit and inhaled deeply before passing it to Chara, who looked back and forth between the biscuit and the skeleton in disbelief. "I figure I'm already goin' to hell, so, y'know, screw it. Just take a breath like I did."

Chara frowned deeper and stuck the dog biscuit between their lips. They tried to breathe in and immediately started hacking and coughing, almost dropping it a couple of times.

"Eh. You'll get used to it. Shit, on second thought," he clapped a hand to his forehead. "You are not getting used to it, this is a one time thing because I think what we both really need is a momentary reprieve. Capiche?"

Chara responded by coughing up a lungful of smoke again.

Sans sighed and motioned for them to pass it back, and he carefully showed them this time.

"You gotta breathe in slow. A'ight? Take in a deep breath and hold it 'til you can't anymore, then let it out slow. Try it like that," he handed the smoking biscuit back after his display. Chara nodded once and gave it a couple of experimental puffs, more slowly this time and managed to keep from coughing except for a couple of sputters.

"… What am I doing," Sans mumbled into his hands when they had smoked most of the biscuit. "Oh god, I can't believe this is happening. Every time I hit rock bottom I gotta dig myself a deeper grave. What in the actual fuck am I doing with my life."

"Not much, apparently."

"Don't get salty with me, punk," Sans sighed again, finishing off the biscuit and putting it out in the ashtray next to the couch. "Alright.

Okay. Okay, so. We gotta talk."

"… Sans."

"Yeah, kid."

"I… I feel… funny."

"You're also gonna find it kinda difficult to panic for a little bit," Sans informed them quietly, turning to face them. If he thought that their eyes were red before it was a severe understatement compared to now. "Which is good, considering that I think our souls might be kinda… bonded?"

"… What."

"See?" he reclined a little, folding his hands behind his head. "Significantly calmer-"

Once again, Sans found Chara's hands around his neck, and he discovered that he was getting really sick of the feeling. They were grappling him tightly as they straddled him, fury plain on their features as the mindless scream bounced around the room.

"Say that again," Chara seethed, eyes narrowed to bloodshot dangerous slits.

"So much for 'calmer', I guess."

"About the souls !" they shouted, and he flinched. His head was still pounding painfully, although the dog biscuit had helped a little bit. "What the hell do you mean, 'bonded'?!"

"Kid," Sans slowly placed his hands on their shoulders and pushed them away a little. "Don't make me tell you twice to get off me."

"Funny, usually it's get me off, not get off me-"

Chara's mouth slammed shut and their cheeks flooded with even more color than they already were as they glanced away, unable to meet his gaze. Sans was dead silent for a moment, and he found it difficult to breathe.

After a moment, he slowly, carefully leaned forward and pulled them into a hug, wrapping his arms as gently as he could around them.

"… You've been through some shit too, huh, kid."

Chara didn't answer. They didn't particularly need to. They'd already said enough.

"… I'm gonna fix this, babybones," he couldn't find it in himself to raise his voice above a whisper. "Just… just trust me. Okay? I promise. I'm gonna fix this."

"How?" Chara mumbled, their voice unsteady, dropping their face into his shoulder in defeat. "How can you possibly fix something like this?"

"It's… it's gonna take some work. A lot of work. And before that, there's… there's some things I gotta know."

"Whatever," he felt Chara shrug, but they didn't pull away. "I don't care anymore. Just… tell me what you need to know."

"Tell you what. We'll swap stories. If we're gonna fix this, there's some things that… that both of us need to know. So. Let's just… start at the beginning."

"Okay," Sans began quietly. "Let's… start at the beginning. I guess we'll work our way up to the soul stuff afterwards. Just… start at the beginning."

"Why don't you?" they asked snappishly.

"Kid, now is not the time to be saucy," Sans frowned, folding his arms over one another. "I'll tell you my side of the story if you tell me yours n' Frisk's. I just… just gotta work up the nerve."

"I can't -" Chara started uncomfortably, looking away into their drink for a moment. "I can't tell you Frisk's side of the story."

"Why not?"

"Because they don't want me to," they replied bluntly. "I don't want to speak on the issue anyway, it's… it's just bad . Alright? And they're sure as hell never going to speak about it, so you'll just have to get over not knowing."

"Yeah, and maybe you can shove -" Sans started before biting his tongue, taking a deep breath. God, they irritated him so easily. "… Alright," he said through his teeth after half a minute had passed. "If Frisk wants ta talk about it, they'll do it when they're ready. Tell me your story, kid."

"I climbed up Mount Ebott, tripped and fell in and died. The end. Your turn," Chara turned to him to witness what might have been the most withering glare that they had ever seen from him. They cringed and looked away, swirling their tea around for a bit without drinking. Their lips were pursed tightly and they wouldn't look directly at him. "Ugh. My head feels weird. That's all that happened. Boring stuff."

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than that," Sans leaned back into the couch, not taking his eye sockets off of them. "You think I can't tell when somebody is lyin' through their teeth?"

"How do you know?" Chara asked somewhat bitterly.

"Because I spend every day of my life lying through my teeth and I know what it looks like when I see it," he responded quietly. "So how's about you take the second chance I'm giving you and try again?"

"… Fine," they spat, slamming down their drink on the coffee table and drawing their legs up underneath them. "Fine. You really wanna know? Don't come crying to me when you-" they paused for a moment, chewing their bottom lip, still not looking at him. They were glaring straight ahead with a thousand yard stare, holding their knees close to them and looking off somewhere beyond the wall.

Sans didn't push them to hurry. He certainly wasn't in a hurry, either.

"… My dad hated me," Chara began quietly, closing their eyes. "Said that I was an unholy demon spawn."

"Daddy issues, man."

"Eat a chode," their eyes snapped open, giving him a filthy look. He only shrugged.

"Just sayin' that I can relate, that's all."

"Oh, oh. Can you, now?" Chara asked more than a little mockingly. "Did your father make you wear a blindfold so that he wouldn't have to look you in the eyes while he and your uncles took turns on you?"

Sans didn't respond.

"That's what I thought," they said huffily, closing their eyes again and taking an unsteady breath. Fists clenched and unclenched at their sweater before their grip on their legs tightened. They opened and closed their mouth a couple of times before scrunching up their brows, turning away. They flinched when they found Sans's hand on their shoulder.

"I don't do physical contact…" Chara grumbled, but didn't move to shrug him off.

"I don't think that's entirely true," Sans said slowly. "You're kinda grabby, actually. Might just be affection that you have a problem with."

For some reason Chara's cheeks heated considerably and they stared down at their knees, squeezing them tighter against themselves. Sans sighed and withdrew after a moment.

"I'll kill you if I have to," they fumed under their breath.

"… You don't gotta keep goin', if you don't wanna," Sans said when a few arduously silent minutes had passed.

"… I stabbed him."

Sans froze.

"In… in his sleep," Chara admitted softly, closing their eyes again. "I took his k-knife, and I ran. I stole food for a while. They chased me out of the village a little after that. Called me a… freak. A demon," they took another slow breath. "Said that everyone would be better off if-if the monsters just took me."

"That's… how you wound up at Mount Ebott?"

"I was out of options," they responded simply. Chara refused to look anywhere but their knees at this point. "I couldn't go back. Couldn't hide anymore. I figured that monsters couldn't possibly be worse than humans."

"You went looking for monsters."

"Pretty much," they shrugged without looking at him. "After I fell, I… I met monsters. They were… they were the best people that I ever met," Chara finished with difficulty.

"… So what happened?"

They took another shaky breath, and he noticed that although their face was almost entirely devoid of expression, their hands and knees were shaking terribly.

"… Can I… can I have another?" Chara asked after a couple of minutes. "Another biscuit?"

"Dunno if that's a great idea-"

"I'll tell you the rest of the story," they bargained. "We both know you're too damned curious for your own good. You're obnoxiously stubborn and we both know it. You'll just keep pressing until you get the rest of the story, will you not?"

"I already said," Sans answered quietly, reaching out and placing a hand slowly over theirs. "If… if you wanna stop, then we'll stop."

Chara, for a very brief moment, looked as if they were seriously considering his offer. Like they were afraid to even believe him. After another moment however they looked away back down at their knees, shaking their head and holding out their hand.

"Just… just give me the goddamned biscuit already. I'll… I'll be good

."

Sans sighed and caved in, withdrawing long enough to pull one of his last dog biscuits from his pocket. He lit the tip for them and passed it to them, and they greedily tried to suck in as much as they could only to hack and cough again.

"You really don't learn your lesson, huh," Sans mused aloud. Chara gave him a foul look, but didn't speak until they had taken several puffs. They let out a steady stream of smoke through their lips before handing the biscuit back to him, looking about a million miles away.

"… I accidentally got my brother killed."

"Yikes," Sans cringed. He glanced away for a moment, just trying to imagine himself in that position. Of what might have happened to Papyrus if he had…

Suddenly the dog biscuit seemed much more appealing.

He took a long, slow drag and blew out a smoke ring through his nostril bone. It was making the whole situation a lot simpler to handle. Not easier, by any stretch. But simpler.

"He was… god, he was such a little crybaby," Chara scoffed, but their was an odd expression on their face. It was like a mixture of fondness, gentleness that he usually only saw on Frisk and deep sadness that he knew all too well. "Seriously, he would cry over the tiniest little things. If I stepped on his toe, if I made fun of his drawings, if I pretended to forget his birthday. Such a wuss."

"You sure have a weird way of complimenting people," Sans said with a soft little grin.

"Please, like I ever complimented him," Chara scoffed again. The froze, looking… disgusted maybe? Or disappointed? "I… I never complimented him. Not… not even once ."

They suddenly hid their face in their hands, curling in on themselves even further. Sans gently rubbed their back between their shoulder blades with the palm of his hand, giving them time. It was instinctual, he half expected them to snap at him for touching them but Chara was quiet. He silently put out the stub of dog biscuit with his other, sticking his hand back into his pocket, thinking.

"… It… it was my fault," Chara said through their fingers after a while, their voice uneven. "I m-made him go along with my plan."

"What plan?"

"We… we were going to save everyone," Chara groaned. "And he had to go and fuck everything up."

"That doesn't really clarify anything…"

"Our plan," they explained. "To cross the barrier and collect enough human souls to tear it down forever."

"… Wait."

"I wanted to burn that whole fucking village to the ground," Chara said bitterly, rocking back and forth. "And he wouldn't let me. He wouldn't let me. Just because he didn't want to hurt anybody. And they… they killed us. He just carried my body all the way back to Dad's garden."

Our plan.

My body.

Human souls.

Killed us.

Just how common of a human name was 'Chara ', anyway?

"… Oh god," Sans said after a moment, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as it finally clicked. He was so painfully, unbearably stupid. "Oh, god. Oh, holy shit, I know you!"

Chara didn't look at him.

"You're… Chara. The Chara. Like, the actual Chara. That Chara?

The first one to fall. Chara motherfucking Dreemurr ."

"Ee-yep."

"But that means-"

"Ee-yep."

"But that means your brother was-"

"Ee-yuh-huh."

"And your dad is-"

"You got it."

"Ho~ly shit," Sans let out a weary breath, running his hand over the top of his head. He found himself quietly thinking that he was still way, way too sober for this. He felt ignorant and stupid for not putting it together, like puzzle pieces were only coming together because he had been too dumb to fit them before. But that had been so long…

"So now you know," Chara shrugged eventually. "I'm done talking. I don't wanna… I just don't. I'm done."

Sans took in a long, slow breath, still trying to decipher exactly the best way to deal with this new information.

"Your turn."

Sans froze. He felt his breath catch in his chest, the tightness growing until he couldn't quite bring himself to breathe properly.

"I… I still have questions," he delayed, his head felt fuzzy. "God, I have so many more questions . You're alive? Sort of? How…? How the hell are you alive?"

"I'm very determined," Chara responded simply, not looking him in the eye sockets.

"None of this makes sense…" Sans held his head in his hands. "What in the flying blue hell are you doing inside of Frisk ?"

"I already told you that I'm done talking," Chara crossed their arms, somewhat huffily. "Now spill."

Sans gave them a level, awkward look for a moment before closing his eye sockets, letting out a quiet sigh. He didn't want to do this. He got what he wanted out of them, he shouldn't have to say anything. It wasn't fair, he didn't want to.

Dirty brother killer fuck that little bratSans shook his head, groaning.

"… This never should have happened," he said eventually. "This… I don't even know what to call it. Us. The soul thing. It shouldn't be possible. Maybe… I dunno, maybe it's because I'm… not a real monster."

"Now you're starting to sound like Frisk," they snorted. "With your 'I'm not a real person' crap."

"You… you don't quite get it," Sans said with some difficulty. "Let me ask you a question. You know where babies come from, right?"

Chara stared at him as though he were stupid. From how long they held it, it was likely that they believed it, too.

"… So is that a yes?"

"Uh, duh?" they blinked. "You get it up with your mouth, some gross guy jams it in and splooges and then a baby comes out."

"… Humans are kinda disgusting," Sans shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. "I was, uh, talking about monster babies."

"… Oh," Chara said simply, glancing away. "Why don't you refresh my memory."

"Well," he said with a bit of difficulty. "Normally, when two monsters love each other very much, they, uh, bare their souls to each other. Sometimes it's an egg, sometimes the male carries the child, it can vary from monster to monster. Me an' Paps were… I wasn't, eh, technically born . Not in the traditional sense."

Chara rolled their hand through the air, staring at him. His teeth were clenched tightly and he couldn't quite meet their gaze. Why was this so difficult?

Sans sighed again and dug in his pocket, withdrawing with his final dog biscuit.

"… Really need to go see Gerson again," he muttered more to himself than anything as he lit it and took yet another drag. "Pick up some more."

"Why do you even smoke those things?"

"I… get the shakes," Sans frowned, blowing out a small cloud of smoke. "You ever have a nightmare so bad, that you wake up in a cold sweat and can't sleep for days afterwards?"

Chara didn't answer.

"It helps," he continued, blowing out another cloud. "It just helps, okay? I… I need to stay calm."

Sans took in a few long breaths, his head feeling heavy. He didn't have to tell them. On second thought, the obnoxious little runt didn't even deserve to know, they were a murderous psychopath anyway. He didn't have to tell them anything. He didn't necessarily want to tell them anything. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to remember . All he wanted was to just stay numb for a bit longer.

"I was… me and Paps," Sans started after a while, staring down at his hands after he finished off the biscuit. He felt fuzzy, light and heavy at the same time. So long as he could just stay numb for a while, nothing else mattered. Couldn't stop his hands from shaking, though. "Me and Paps, we were never technically born. We were made ."

"What does that even mean?" they asked, curling up on the couch next to him and tucking their hands into their sleeves.

"We were… grown," he said after a bit. "My dad, uh, never thought that the traditional method of creating new monsters was worth it. So he… took bits of himself," Sans mimed with his hands, drawing circles over his palm with one forefinger. "Made us from parts of him, and grew us. In test tubes."

"He cut off parts of himself to make you," Chara repeated slowly.

"Me and Paps were the lucky ones. God help me. I don't think I can ever get the sight of the failed experiments out of my head. The… the things that didn't make it," he continued quietly, unable to supress a shudder. "Not quite monster, any of us. And… and he started to… lose himself," Sans's phalanges clicked together nervously as he stared down into his hands. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to remember. Not that. Anything else but that.

"He… he got worse," Sans explained softly. "Just kept using us for his sick, twisted fucking experiments . He-he did things. To… to our heads. Made us see things that weren't there. But he… he hurt Paps. He hurt him bad, so, so much more than me."

"… What happened?"

"He made us see things that no living creature was ever meant to see," Sans finished, closing his eyes. "I still see it, sometimes. When I'm alone. When I'm in the dark. Watching time and space fold in on itself too many times, it-it changes you. I think that's why he kept using us, because he'd experimented on himself a few times too many. That's my theory, anyway. Goddammit, I-I need another smoke," Sans blurted and patted down his jacket uselessly, his hands shaking.

"Do… do you want to stop?" Chara asked gently. Gently . That was… upsetting for several reasons. It threw him off possibly more than trying to speak had. Their hand slowly made its way over to his trembling one, and they traced invisible patterns over his phalanges with their thumb. Once again they were the one comforting him when they had clearly drawn the shorter straw. Frisk was definitely a weird kid.

Except, he had to remind himself, that this wasn't Frisk. Maybe that was a good thing. He wasn't certain that he could ever tell Frisk the things that he had just shared. Maybe not ever . But this other one, Chara… maybe he could tell them some things, but not Frisk. None of that made sense except in the furthest, most jumbled reaches of his mind. Everything was just so bananas .

"I think… I think it's good to just finally get it out," he laughed shakily. "I can't let Papyrus know."

"He doesn't remember?"

"I told you," Sans said bitterly. "He did things to our heads. Paps got the worst of it. Broke him. Made him… different. He was in a bad way for… for a long time."

"I… I'm sorry."

"Fuhgeddaboudit," Sans shrugged, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees again, turning a little to face them. "I'm tryin' to. Can't change any of it. Old bastard is worse than dead, now."

"How can you be worse than dead?"

"Dabbled in things he didn't fully understand," he felt a wry grin slowly creep onto his face. "He kept us weak to keep us from running away. 'Cept I learned from my mistakes. He didn't. I… I made sure that there was no way he would hunt us down afterwards. You're not the only one to bump off your dad, y'know."

They sat in silence for a long while, but they didn't release his hand either. Their tea was already long since cold, but neither of them cared.

"… You still haven't told me about the souls," Chara said after a long stretch of silence. He mentally kicked himself for almost falling asleep again.

"Right," he shifted uncomfortably. "I'm… I'm not entirely certain how this happened," Sans tried to withdraw, but their grip was like iron and he gave up a moment later. Wasn't worth fighting over. Part of him didn't really want to let go, anyway. "Humans and monsters can't bond. It's just not possible . Maybe it's because of… of what I am? Fuck if I know."

"And what do you think you are, exactly?"

"An abomination ?" he scoffed bitterly, looking away. "God. I-I'm so, so sorry kiddo. I royally fucked us this time."

"Let's just consider how to deal with this and then you can… undo it," their frown became a little more pronounced. "How do you even fix something like this?"

"I wish I knew," Sans ran a hand over the top of his head. He felt clammy and weak, but Chara still wouldn't let go. "I… I dunno what to do. Something like this has never happened before. I don't even know if I can manage it by myself."

"So don't do it by yourself," Chara said as if it were obvious. "How often to monsters divorce?"

"Oh Christ please don't phrase it like that," Sans cringed openly.

"Well, obviously it happens…" they shrugged. "I mean, nobody is perfect, it has to have happened before. Actually, I'm sure that it's happened before. I don't know about the soul thing, but I do know one person who would know."

"Like who?"

"… Asgore."

That thought was, quite possibly, even more terrifying.