Broken Souls

Chapter 4 - Very Interesting

The two skeleton brothers had taken the day off for once. It had been a mutual agreement after Papyrus pointed out that Sans seemed even more tired than usual and Sans had retaliated by saying his brother was working too hard at his job. They had also been invited to Alphys and Undyne's house for a marathon of a new anime the two had found.

Upon entering the house, Papyrus immediately cringed at the mess surrounding him. With Alphys' general procrastinating and Undyne's nature to... destroy things, the house wasn't in the tidiest fashion. Empty packets of instant noodles and dirty plates were piled on every available surface; bits and pieces of machines from Alphys' projects were scattered around, so much so that Sans wondered how she ever built anything.

Of course, being the great skeleton he was, Papyrus refused to watch anything until he'd helped clean the house. He and Undyne began to loudly clear things up, making competitions of putting rubbish in the bin or seeing how many plates one could wash in two minutes. Sans and Alphys retreated to one corner to watch and talk. The former scientist seemed at ease and Sans almost felt bad to ruin that. Almost.

"hey alph. do you still have that translation sheet?" he asked, making Alphys jump from the suddenness of his voice.

"U-uh yes! W-why?"

"i had a different dream. there's a more writing."

"A-and?"

"i wanna translate it."

Alphys raised an eyebrow,

"L-last time w-we only got three w-words!" she reminded him. Sans shrugged,

"i dunno alph, it just seems like the right thing to do."

"Okay f-fine! I c-can g-give it t-to you t-tomorrow."

With his immediate problem having been sorted, Sans wandered over to the now-clean couch and fell face first onto it. Papyrus finished cleaning, leaving the rest of the plates to Undyne before going over to Sans.

"Are you tired Sans?" The younger skeleton asked. Sans grumbled into the couch cushions. He didn't really want his brother knowing about how stressful his sleep was getting. Having to wake up three or four times every time he slept so he could write down symbols was really taking its toll.

"That's okay! Today is a day off, you can sleep as long as you want." Papyrus assured his brother. Sans turned his head sleepily and grinned up at Papyrus,

"kay bro."

Papyrus laughed happily, sitting down next to Sans before shifting the small skeleton onto his lap. Sans snuggled closer, closing his eyes and falling asleep in a matter of minutes. Undyne copied Papyrus' position, picking Alphys up from where she was setting up the anime and sitting down. The group settled down as the opening credits began to play, contented.

===

So Sans was taking a day off... That was okay. At least Sans was planning to build the machine. For now, he could just wait and watch his two children be happy. It wasn't as hard to keep conscious now, so he could watch the world as much as he wanted, just to keep an eye on things. Although, he realised it might be better if the human knew about him too. Their Determination would certainly be a helpful thing.

It was time to pull the fragments of his Soul together again and pay the child a visit.

===

Frisk was sitting in their room, reading a book that Toriel had given them. It had some rather interesting information regarding monster species. The book listed all the types of monsters there had been before the war and then all the species that were no longer around. To Frisk's confusion, skeletons were said to have been wiped out, even if they knew that to be false. After all, how else would Papyrus and Sans have existed?

As they continued to read, peacefully oblivious to the passage of time, Frisk began to discover all sorts of things about skeletons. Like how they were all named after fonts but only some wrote with their namesake; or how they had a language that was entirely comprised of chattering their teeth like Morse code. Frisk read some more, hoping to find some clues as to how Sans and Papyrus were alive when the book clearly stated that skeletons were wiped out. After about an hour more, Frisk decided to continue the book another day and put it away on their shelf. Suddenly, a horrible crack of static filled the air, causing Frisk to jump.

"Dark."

Frisk whipped around, searching for the source of the voice.

"Darker... yet darker."

There was no one else in the room.

"The darkness keeps on growing."

The voice sounded terrifying, constantly cracking and changing pitch.

"The shadows cutting deeper."

As the voice continued, Frisk remembered hearing something similar...

"Photon readings negative."

They had been messing around with their save file and had appeared in a room they'd never seen before...

"This next experiment seems very... very..."

A screen had appeared in front of them, displaying a strange message in a strange language.

"Interesting..."

Who's voice had it been?

"What do you two think?"

Frisk spun in a full circle to view every part of their room, and yet no one was there. The voice chuckled to itself, pausing for a few seconds before starting up it's message again. Frisk didn't need to hear it a second time, they sat down heavily on their bed and covered their ears.

"Shut up!" They whimpered. The voice laughed again, louder this time. Frisk closed their eyes,

"Shut up." they repeated, less forcefully.

"Remember me?" the voice asked, cooing and soft but still full of mirthless laughter. Frisk shook their head violently.

"NoNoNO! I don't remember go AWAY!" They screamed. Almost instantly, Frisk's bedroom door slammed open and Toriel came running in. The voice chuckled quieter, but Toriel didn't hear. She scooped her child into a tight hug, rocking Frisk gently as they calmed down.

"What happened my child?" Toriel asked softly after a few minutes. Frisk just hugged Toriel more and shook their head.

"A voice." Frisk mumbled, "Without a body."

Toriel ran one paw through her child's hair in a comforting gesture,
"It's okay my child. You are safe with me."
Frisk smiled as Toriel picked them up, carrying them out the room. Perhaps it was their scared mind playing tricks on them, but Frisk could have sworn that something materialised in the shadows of their room.

Something tall, dressed in a long black coat, with a large creepy smile. The figure lifted it's hands, showing the holes punched through it's palms and waved. A faint chuckle emanated through the room, followed by a sad sigh.

Frisk shut their eyes again and buried their face in Toriel's shoulder. They didn't look up again until they were safely downstairs and away from the mystery figure.

===

Had he done something wrong? Or was the human child going to put their Determination to good use and actually do something helpful? He didn't know. But the child had done something else: they had remembered his lab entry, the only one that remained. He was certain that they remembered it, why else would he have felt another surge of energy, like he was starting to exist again. He still wasn't existing enough to have a name, because only things that exist can have names. But with each new person remembering something about the pieces that he left behind, he became more real.

Now he was looking at the world with interest, searching for someone else who might remember. And then, there was his opportunity! The king was going back into the Underground for a visit, something that he did quite often. The king had been his good friend, especially after they'd gone through the War together. If anyone would remember, it would be Asgore.