Just Cause
An Undertale Fanfiction
Chapter 3: A Dangerous Path
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Looking For a Bad Time
Chapter 2: What The Killer Gave Up
Chapter 3: A Dangerous Path (you are here)
Chapter 4: Fatal Mistakes
Chapter 5: Surrendered Memories
Chapter 6: Revenge?
Chapter 7: The Person I Was
Chapter 8: Leaving Hope Behind
Chapter 9: Seeking the Source
Chapter 10: Uncertain Friendship
Chapter 11: Dating WTF?!
Chapter 12: I Don’t Know How to Feel
Chapter 13: Mutual Protection
Chapter 14: Spear of Torment
Chapter 15: Saved by Fire
Chapter 16: Welcome to the Show
Chapter 17: Nostalgia
Chapter 18: The Only Two I Thought I Had
Chapter 1: Looking For a Bad Time
Chapter 2: What The Killer Gave Up
Chapter 3: A Dangerous Path (you are here)
Chapter 4: Fatal Mistakes
Chapter 5: Surrendered Memories
Chapter 6: Revenge?
Chapter 7: The Person I Was
Chapter 8: Leaving Hope Behind
Chapter 9: Seeking the Source
Chapter 10: Uncertain Friendship
Chapter 11: Dating WTF?!
Chapter 12: I Don’t Know How to Feel
Chapter 13: Mutual Protection
Chapter 14: Spear of Torment
Chapter 15: Saved by Fire
Chapter 16: Welcome to the Show
Chapter 17: Nostalgia
Chapter 18: The Only Two I Thought I Had
Timeline 4
“I think th-they’re lasting longer.”
Alphys was stating the obvious, but Sans decided not to comment on it. He could read the chart as well as she could, and while the human sometimes died quickly, he had to agree that on average, the zigzags that represented their battle were getting longer.
It would be a long time before they peaked, but after that… “It gets shorter later on, though,” he commented. “And then starts getting longer again. Any idea why that is?”
“W-well...” Her claws twisted together in a familiar fidget, and her eyes strayed to the exit. “It c-could be that Asgore decided to come give you b-backup.”
The comment sent echoes of an earlier conversation flickering through Sans’ mind, and uneasiness swam through his nonexistent gut and pressed his forehead into a frown.
“I’m not sure about that. I thought we agreed that we wanted to leave him out of it, in case a malfunction with the souls was the reason for this. I mean, could one kid even do this all by themselves?”
His mittened hand gestured to the static at the end of the timeline, and Alphys’ ever-protruding front teeth pressed into her lower lip.
“I g-guess it could be the souls. I don’t see how a single h-human could cause all this, but I n-never would have thought they could take control of the t-timeline, either. We have no idea what they’re c-capable of.”
A soft sigh fell from Sans’ hollow ribcage, and his attention turned to the lone figure that was walking down the hall leading from New Home. “Welp… whatever they can do, I guess it’s time for me to find out and forget again. Wish me luck.”
“G-good l- hey!”
Wry irritation twisted Alphys’ mouth, along with a hint of fondness as the mischievous skeleton disappeared while she was in mid-sentence. “I should have known you were going to do that.”
~*~*~*~
Earlier in Timeline 4
“Brother! Your bed is an absolute mess! Surely it can’t be comfortable, sleeping on such a disaster area. Do you even use your sheets?”
Glancing at the ball of tangled bedding, which lay coiled a foot to the right of where he sat on his barren excuse for a bed, Sans gave an expansive gesture, as if the grand purpose of the mess should be obvious. “Of course, bro. They’re the centerpiece to my sock collection!”
Predictably enraged, Papyrus began stomping and pumping his fists in a fit of impotent frustration. “They’re not even IN your sock collection, Sans! Your sock collection is over there, on the floor!”
“Right – I was going to move that to the living room, but I forgot.”
“Don’t you dare! If you’re going to make a disaster area, it must be properly quarantined! In your room!”
“OK, OK, howzabout this – I’ll move the sock collection onto my bed.”
Any other day, the look of persnickety rage on Papyrus’ exasperated face would have been both comical and reassuring, as would the scream of “NYEEEH!”
A familiar, distinctive sound, a reminder that his brother was alive and present in a world where everything else was inevitably crumbling apart.
“Sans,” Papyrus complained, keeping a part of the smaller skeleton’s mind on the conversation, even as the other part slid toward the darkness this diversion had nearly distracted him from. “I don’t understand how anyone can nap for seven hours a night, and not even care that their bed is a mess! Or that they forgot to even pack their bedding for the evacuation.”
And with that, the looming depression was back, its greedy claws groping for a hold on his soul. Because not caring is what I do, bro. And the last thing I want is for you to understand.
Understanding is WHY I can’t care anymore.
“Sans...”
Crap. He knew that tone. Without the facial muscles fleshy monsters had, his face tended to keep its misleading grin with relatively little work, but once in a while something slipped through and Papyrus caught on. “Yeah, bro?”
No. Don’t look at me like that. Don’t look as worried as I feel. Please.
“Are you worried about the human, too?” Papyrus’ gaze moved toward the door, and his booted feet shifted slightly. “They’ve been acting rather strangely, and... I’m starting to fear that their life may be going down a dangerous path.”
A dangerous path.
Sans let his eyes slip briefly closed, images of the readings on the timeline monitor flickering through his head. I don’t want to tell him. I’d rather let him live the last day of his life without realizing that everything is going to end, and everything he’s ever worked toward will never come true.
“O-ho!” In glowing contrast to his own dark thoughts, Papyrus’ voice was as exuberant and confident as ever. “That IS the problem, isn’t it? You’ve been so worried about this human, you couldn’t even think about making your bed!”
His plastic-armored chest puffed out, and his gloved hand planted itself over his sternum in a dramatic gesture of bravado. “Well, fear not, brother! I, the great Papyrus, have come up with a plan! I shall find the human. And befriend them! I will get them back on the straight and narrow, and then you can finally stop worrying and start turning that strange, creasy ball into a properly made bed!”
The naive, friendly words sent a knife through Sans’ exhausted heart, and he wondered if Papyrus had seen his smile falter. “That’s, uh...”
That’s suicide. I should stop him. I HAVE to stop him.
But is there even a point?
The realization hit him like a sledgehammer made of ice, and he felt his soul freeze and shatter. If everyone is going to die, and everything will end, does he have to be alive to see it?
Does he have to watch his hopes die one by one, and find out what it feels like when the world ends?
...No.
It took more effort than the lazy side of him liked to put into anything to keep his hands from trembling, but with a fierce and desperate act of will, he managed it.
No, I... I don’t want to lose him. But this timeline looks like it’s going to become a living hell. Either it will reset like it always does, and he’ll come back to life and forget everything, or the resets will stop and the world will end.
Either way, if his plan fails, he doesn’t need to stick around to see the results.
“That’s a good plan, bro.” He was surprised by how steady his voice sounded, in this moment when everything inside him was trembling. “If there’s anyone who could stop someone super strong by being nice, it’s you.”
The younger skeleton practically glowed, and Sans tried to conceal the ache inside.
Why couldn’t that innocence and happiness last forever, and that tireless goodness be rewarded with something other than imprisonment, futility and death?
Papyrus was striking a pose again, one of those exaggeratedly valiant postures that only his brother could truly pull off. “Thank you, brother! I promise I won’t let you down! Soon, everything will be fine, and you’ll be able to focus on your laundry again!”
“I know, bro. I...” Don’t break, don’t break, please voice, don’t break... “I’m rooting for ya.”
As Papyrus dashed from the room, his scarf flying heroically in his wake, Sans let his eyes press closed, and the fingers that clenched around his knees finally began to shake.
If he dies, then please... for once, I’m actually hoping for it... please...
~*~*~*~
He knew he should scatter the dust on something. Should gather it up from the snow, and put it somewhere safe.
But right now, Sans couldn’t even bring himself to touch what was left of the only family he’d still had.
Please… as much as I hate that time keeps going backward, I’m begging you, please…
Be a timeline that gets reset.
Let me see him again.
~*~*~*~
Timeline 4, Last Corridor
The flower was watching the battle this time – or perhaps the right word was “again”. Without any way to remember the previous battles, Alphys couldn’t tell, and she lacked Sans’ finely honed ability to read people’s thoughts in their faces.
But even without his level of skill, she could see the worry on the plant’s unnatural face, a distress that bordered on pain. She just wished she could tell which combatant was the target of its concern.
The human was lunging at Sans again, sending her heart into her throat, and a knot twisted in her stomach as she considered just how easily a single blow could rob her friend of the one precious HP that kept his fragile body together.
I should be out there.
She knew it would be pointless; her specialty lay in the field of machines, not mortal combat. She would probably just get in the way, or be one more person to die before Sans’ tragedy-weary eyes.
But it felt so wrong, to see his frail form in the path of an opponent who’d murdered Undyne in a single blow. Even as Sans sidestepped the attack, a skill and speed he concealed from most people evading the strike with ease, the ever-present knot of guilt coiled tighter in Alphys’ throat.
“Our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. Timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting… until suddenly, everything ends. Heh heh heh.. that’s your fault, isn’t it?”
If she had to guess, Alphys would say the child had heard those words before. Their expression was dull and resigned, like they were merely waiting out a lecture that had already been overused.
And yet, a hint of confusion lingered in their face, as if despite having heard his speech before, they still didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Are they as confused as we are? Do they not know how the world will end, or how they could have caused it?
Oh no…
A knife of realization slammed into her heart, and sick fear writhed through her gut like a nest of agitated snakes. ARE they even the one who causes it? If not, then we… are we wasting precious time trying to stop the wrong person?
The thought was so appalling that after a few suffocating moments, she had to remind herself to breathe. But even as she dragged the air into her lungs, she found herself wondering if there was a point in doing so.
Even if Sans gets this human to stop, will the world end anyway if they let time go on far enough?
Is THAT what the resets are about?
The sudden revelation made her mind spin, and she almost considered running upstairs to retrieve her phone on a desperate impulse to call her friend and warn him about the possibility before remembering he was too busy fighting to talk.
Is that why they keep going back in time? Because they know the end is coming, and they’ve been trying to delay the inevitable?
Is that why they’re killing everyone? Because with no future to look toward, they’ve got nothing to do but try every possible way to keep busy in the present?
Has… has the human given up, even more than Sans?
~*~*~*~
Timeline 2
It was a beautiful night outside. Stars were shining, flowers were blooming, newly-freed monsters were starting to explore the surface of the mountain, and Sans’ mind was still aglow with memories of Papyrus losing his mind with excitement over every little detail.
The mountain air was gloriously crisp and clear, and as the skeleton drew in a deep breath of it, he felt his grin widen.
We’re actually on the surface. We’re actually FREE.
Six hours ago, seeing the sunset seemed like a “maybe someday years from now” dream, and around four hours ago, I actually SAW it.
Heh… I wonder what Papyrus is seeing right now. Probably the end credits of the last episode of Madoka Magica, if Alphys had her way.
All these years after she’d found a slightly damaged version of the first movie in the dump, Alphys had been very vocally delighted to discover that the entire series could be seen on the human internet, with no disc scratches to get in the way of her full enjoyment of it.
In light of this thrilling discovery, there was no way Undyne was going to let her favorite pupil miss out on the emotional trauma that the anime was apparently going to inflict.
I’d be worried, but Alphys knows how I feel about Papyrus watching depressing stuff. I’m sure she’ll keep it down to a dull roar. Besides, this could be a chance for her and Papyrus to bond over anime, and he can finally fulfill his dream of having her as a friend.
So many hopes and dreams, coming true all around him. Including some of his own.
To his sincere surprise, Sans was actually looking forward to the celebratory picnic they had planned for that night. Looking forward to it, instead of wondering if the timeline would last long enough for it to even happen.
It was a feeling he’d almost given up on ever having again. And yet, here it was, bubbling inside him like a newly-formed spring of a special kind of joy that no monster who’d been ignorant of the time loops could ever truly understand.
On days like this, kids like Frisk, the person responsible for all this happiness… should not be suddenly freezing like that.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen them do it. Once in a while, he’d watched the human come limping to a nondescript yet strangely specific point, stare it at for a moment, and then walk away rejuvenated, with their health fully restored.
But this time, something was different.
No. Not different.
Something was wrong.
This time, the child didn’t look refreshed or even neutral. One moment, they’d been smiling: a sad, tear-stained expression that was muted by recent pain, but a smile nonetheless.
A second later, their whole demeanor changed. In an instant, their smile disappeared, their arms and shoulders shrank against their torso, and their entire body began to shake, consumed by an agonized paroxysm of grief and fear.
Alarm clenched its fist around Sans’ chest, and he took a step toward them, deliberately keeping his voice low and calm to avoid further frightening the child. “Kid? Is something wrong?”
They turned their face fully toward him, and their expression sent a bolt of sick horror through the hollow space below his rib cage.
That look on their face... that’s the look of someone who just died... how many times?
A chill of horror swept through him. I can’t tell. I think the kid just died and went back in time, and… I can’t even tell how many times it’s happened.
They were staring at him now, mute and quivering, as if they were could barely process the pain, relief and terror that were clashing in their eyes.
As if they were staring at a person who had just come back from the dead, and were waiting for him to die again.
Sans took another step toward his friend, pity mingling with alarm as he watched child tremble. “Kid, talk to me. That expression... it’s like you just died.”
For a second, they seemed startled by his guess, like they hadn’t expected him to figure it out on his own. Their mouth opened silently, their body getting ahead of a mind that was still searching for elusive words, and Sans closed his eyes.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve died in this timeline, is it?”
The simple question seemed to anchor them, and Frisk shook their head, gripping the inquiry as if it were a sturdy tree in a windstorm.
Now that they were starting to respond, the skeleton decided to press forward. “You didn’t look this worried after any of the other times I saw you. What was different this time?”
The young human’s eyes squeezed shut, their lips pressing together as they tried to hold back tears. Their arms wrapped around their torso, squeezing like a pair of boa constrictors too hurt to do anything but curl in on themselves, and when they replied, their voice was a soft, broken whisper.
“Sans, it… it wasn’t just me. Everybody died, and… I think it was my fault.”
“I think th-they’re lasting longer.”
Alphys was stating the obvious, but Sans decided not to comment on it. He could read the chart as well as she could, and while the human sometimes died quickly, he had to agree that on average, the zigzags that represented their battle were getting longer.
It would be a long time before they peaked, but after that… “It gets shorter later on, though,” he commented. “And then starts getting longer again. Any idea why that is?”
“W-well...” Her claws twisted together in a familiar fidget, and her eyes strayed to the exit. “It c-could be that Asgore decided to come give you b-backup.”
The comment sent echoes of an earlier conversation flickering through Sans’ mind, and uneasiness swam through his nonexistent gut and pressed his forehead into a frown.
“I’m not sure about that. I thought we agreed that we wanted to leave him out of it, in case a malfunction with the souls was the reason for this. I mean, could one kid even do this all by themselves?”
His mittened hand gestured to the static at the end of the timeline, and Alphys’ ever-protruding front teeth pressed into her lower lip.
“I g-guess it could be the souls. I don’t see how a single h-human could cause all this, but I n-never would have thought they could take control of the t-timeline, either. We have no idea what they’re c-capable of.”
A soft sigh fell from Sans’ hollow ribcage, and his attention turned to the lone figure that was walking down the hall leading from New Home. “Welp… whatever they can do, I guess it’s time for me to find out and forget again. Wish me luck.”
“G-good l- hey!”
Wry irritation twisted Alphys’ mouth, along with a hint of fondness as the mischievous skeleton disappeared while she was in mid-sentence. “I should have known you were going to do that.”
~*~*~*~
Earlier in Timeline 4
“Brother! Your bed is an absolute mess! Surely it can’t be comfortable, sleeping on such a disaster area. Do you even use your sheets?”
Glancing at the ball of tangled bedding, which lay coiled a foot to the right of where he sat on his barren excuse for a bed, Sans gave an expansive gesture, as if the grand purpose of the mess should be obvious. “Of course, bro. They’re the centerpiece to my sock collection!”
Predictably enraged, Papyrus began stomping and pumping his fists in a fit of impotent frustration. “They’re not even IN your sock collection, Sans! Your sock collection is over there, on the floor!”
“Right – I was going to move that to the living room, but I forgot.”
“Don’t you dare! If you’re going to make a disaster area, it must be properly quarantined! In your room!”
“OK, OK, howzabout this – I’ll move the sock collection onto my bed.”
Any other day, the look of persnickety rage on Papyrus’ exasperated face would have been both comical and reassuring, as would the scream of “NYEEEH!”
A familiar, distinctive sound, a reminder that his brother was alive and present in a world where everything else was inevitably crumbling apart.
“Sans,” Papyrus complained, keeping a part of the smaller skeleton’s mind on the conversation, even as the other part slid toward the darkness this diversion had nearly distracted him from. “I don’t understand how anyone can nap for seven hours a night, and not even care that their bed is a mess! Or that they forgot to even pack their bedding for the evacuation.”
And with that, the looming depression was back, its greedy claws groping for a hold on his soul. Because not caring is what I do, bro. And the last thing I want is for you to understand.
Understanding is WHY I can’t care anymore.
“Sans...”
Crap. He knew that tone. Without the facial muscles fleshy monsters had, his face tended to keep its misleading grin with relatively little work, but once in a while something slipped through and Papyrus caught on. “Yeah, bro?”
No. Don’t look at me like that. Don’t look as worried as I feel. Please.
“Are you worried about the human, too?” Papyrus’ gaze moved toward the door, and his booted feet shifted slightly. “They’ve been acting rather strangely, and... I’m starting to fear that their life may be going down a dangerous path.”
A dangerous path.
Sans let his eyes slip briefly closed, images of the readings on the timeline monitor flickering through his head. I don’t want to tell him. I’d rather let him live the last day of his life without realizing that everything is going to end, and everything he’s ever worked toward will never come true.
“O-ho!” In glowing contrast to his own dark thoughts, Papyrus’ voice was as exuberant and confident as ever. “That IS the problem, isn’t it? You’ve been so worried about this human, you couldn’t even think about making your bed!”
His plastic-armored chest puffed out, and his gloved hand planted itself over his sternum in a dramatic gesture of bravado. “Well, fear not, brother! I, the great Papyrus, have come up with a plan! I shall find the human. And befriend them! I will get them back on the straight and narrow, and then you can finally stop worrying and start turning that strange, creasy ball into a properly made bed!”
The naive, friendly words sent a knife through Sans’ exhausted heart, and he wondered if Papyrus had seen his smile falter. “That’s, uh...”
That’s suicide. I should stop him. I HAVE to stop him.
But is there even a point?
The realization hit him like a sledgehammer made of ice, and he felt his soul freeze and shatter. If everyone is going to die, and everything will end, does he have to be alive to see it?
Does he have to watch his hopes die one by one, and find out what it feels like when the world ends?
...No.
It took more effort than the lazy side of him liked to put into anything to keep his hands from trembling, but with a fierce and desperate act of will, he managed it.
No, I... I don’t want to lose him. But this timeline looks like it’s going to become a living hell. Either it will reset like it always does, and he’ll come back to life and forget everything, or the resets will stop and the world will end.
Either way, if his plan fails, he doesn’t need to stick around to see the results.
“That’s a good plan, bro.” He was surprised by how steady his voice sounded, in this moment when everything inside him was trembling. “If there’s anyone who could stop someone super strong by being nice, it’s you.”
The younger skeleton practically glowed, and Sans tried to conceal the ache inside.
Why couldn’t that innocence and happiness last forever, and that tireless goodness be rewarded with something other than imprisonment, futility and death?
Papyrus was striking a pose again, one of those exaggeratedly valiant postures that only his brother could truly pull off. “Thank you, brother! I promise I won’t let you down! Soon, everything will be fine, and you’ll be able to focus on your laundry again!”
“I know, bro. I...” Don’t break, don’t break, please voice, don’t break... “I’m rooting for ya.”
As Papyrus dashed from the room, his scarf flying heroically in his wake, Sans let his eyes press closed, and the fingers that clenched around his knees finally began to shake.
If he dies, then please... for once, I’m actually hoping for it... please...
~*~*~*~
He knew he should scatter the dust on something. Should gather it up from the snow, and put it somewhere safe.
But right now, Sans couldn’t even bring himself to touch what was left of the only family he’d still had.
Please… as much as I hate that time keeps going backward, I’m begging you, please…
Be a timeline that gets reset.
Let me see him again.
~*~*~*~
Timeline 4, Last Corridor
The flower was watching the battle this time – or perhaps the right word was “again”. Without any way to remember the previous battles, Alphys couldn’t tell, and she lacked Sans’ finely honed ability to read people’s thoughts in their faces.
But even without his level of skill, she could see the worry on the plant’s unnatural face, a distress that bordered on pain. She just wished she could tell which combatant was the target of its concern.
The human was lunging at Sans again, sending her heart into her throat, and a knot twisted in her stomach as she considered just how easily a single blow could rob her friend of the one precious HP that kept his fragile body together.
I should be out there.
She knew it would be pointless; her specialty lay in the field of machines, not mortal combat. She would probably just get in the way, or be one more person to die before Sans’ tragedy-weary eyes.
But it felt so wrong, to see his frail form in the path of an opponent who’d murdered Undyne in a single blow. Even as Sans sidestepped the attack, a skill and speed he concealed from most people evading the strike with ease, the ever-present knot of guilt coiled tighter in Alphys’ throat.
“Our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. Timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting… until suddenly, everything ends. Heh heh heh.. that’s your fault, isn’t it?”
If she had to guess, Alphys would say the child had heard those words before. Their expression was dull and resigned, like they were merely waiting out a lecture that had already been overused.
And yet, a hint of confusion lingered in their face, as if despite having heard his speech before, they still didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Are they as confused as we are? Do they not know how the world will end, or how they could have caused it?
Oh no…
A knife of realization slammed into her heart, and sick fear writhed through her gut like a nest of agitated snakes. ARE they even the one who causes it? If not, then we… are we wasting precious time trying to stop the wrong person?
The thought was so appalling that after a few suffocating moments, she had to remind herself to breathe. But even as she dragged the air into her lungs, she found herself wondering if there was a point in doing so.
Even if Sans gets this human to stop, will the world end anyway if they let time go on far enough?
Is THAT what the resets are about?
The sudden revelation made her mind spin, and she almost considered running upstairs to retrieve her phone on a desperate impulse to call her friend and warn him about the possibility before remembering he was too busy fighting to talk.
Is that why they keep going back in time? Because they know the end is coming, and they’ve been trying to delay the inevitable?
Is that why they’re killing everyone? Because with no future to look toward, they’ve got nothing to do but try every possible way to keep busy in the present?
Has… has the human given up, even more than Sans?
~*~*~*~
Timeline 2
It was a beautiful night outside. Stars were shining, flowers were blooming, newly-freed monsters were starting to explore the surface of the mountain, and Sans’ mind was still aglow with memories of Papyrus losing his mind with excitement over every little detail.
The mountain air was gloriously crisp and clear, and as the skeleton drew in a deep breath of it, he felt his grin widen.
We’re actually on the surface. We’re actually FREE.
Six hours ago, seeing the sunset seemed like a “maybe someday years from now” dream, and around four hours ago, I actually SAW it.
Heh… I wonder what Papyrus is seeing right now. Probably the end credits of the last episode of Madoka Magica, if Alphys had her way.
All these years after she’d found a slightly damaged version of the first movie in the dump, Alphys had been very vocally delighted to discover that the entire series could be seen on the human internet, with no disc scratches to get in the way of her full enjoyment of it.
In light of this thrilling discovery, there was no way Undyne was going to let her favorite pupil miss out on the emotional trauma that the anime was apparently going to inflict.
I’d be worried, but Alphys knows how I feel about Papyrus watching depressing stuff. I’m sure she’ll keep it down to a dull roar. Besides, this could be a chance for her and Papyrus to bond over anime, and he can finally fulfill his dream of having her as a friend.
So many hopes and dreams, coming true all around him. Including some of his own.
To his sincere surprise, Sans was actually looking forward to the celebratory picnic they had planned for that night. Looking forward to it, instead of wondering if the timeline would last long enough for it to even happen.
It was a feeling he’d almost given up on ever having again. And yet, here it was, bubbling inside him like a newly-formed spring of a special kind of joy that no monster who’d been ignorant of the time loops could ever truly understand.
On days like this, kids like Frisk, the person responsible for all this happiness… should not be suddenly freezing like that.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen them do it. Once in a while, he’d watched the human come limping to a nondescript yet strangely specific point, stare it at for a moment, and then walk away rejuvenated, with their health fully restored.
But this time, something was different.
No. Not different.
Something was wrong.
This time, the child didn’t look refreshed or even neutral. One moment, they’d been smiling: a sad, tear-stained expression that was muted by recent pain, but a smile nonetheless.
A second later, their whole demeanor changed. In an instant, their smile disappeared, their arms and shoulders shrank against their torso, and their entire body began to shake, consumed by an agonized paroxysm of grief and fear.
Alarm clenched its fist around Sans’ chest, and he took a step toward them, deliberately keeping his voice low and calm to avoid further frightening the child. “Kid? Is something wrong?”
They turned their face fully toward him, and their expression sent a bolt of sick horror through the hollow space below his rib cage.
That look on their face... that’s the look of someone who just died... how many times?
A chill of horror swept through him. I can’t tell. I think the kid just died and went back in time, and… I can’t even tell how many times it’s happened.
They were staring at him now, mute and quivering, as if they were could barely process the pain, relief and terror that were clashing in their eyes.
As if they were staring at a person who had just come back from the dead, and were waiting for him to die again.
Sans took another step toward his friend, pity mingling with alarm as he watched child tremble. “Kid, talk to me. That expression... it’s like you just died.”
For a second, they seemed startled by his guess, like they hadn’t expected him to figure it out on his own. Their mouth opened silently, their body getting ahead of a mind that was still searching for elusive words, and Sans closed his eyes.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve died in this timeline, is it?”
The simple question seemed to anchor them, and Frisk shook their head, gripping the inquiry as if it were a sturdy tree in a windstorm.
Now that they were starting to respond, the skeleton decided to press forward. “You didn’t look this worried after any of the other times I saw you. What was different this time?”
The young human’s eyes squeezed shut, their lips pressing together as they tried to hold back tears. Their arms wrapped around their torso, squeezing like a pair of boa constrictors too hurt to do anything but curl in on themselves, and when they replied, their voice was a soft, broken whisper.
“Sans, it… it wasn’t just me. Everybody died, and… I think it was my fault.”
Author's note:
If you want to read my original novels, you can find them here.
If you'd like to help me publish new chapters faster, please consider supporting me on Patreon or Ko-fi so I can spend more time writing stories and less time doing other things to make money.
Author's note:
If you want to read my original novels, you can find them here.
If you'd like to help me publish new chapters faster, please consider supporting me on Patreon or Ko-fi so I can spend more time writing stories and less time doing other things to make money.