Lov Ya

Chap 21

It was late at night.

For not the first night, and so very, very far from the last, Stretch found he couldn't sleep. Not with the painful heaviness eating at his soul. Not with the image of bruised and cracked bones, of hopeless gray eyelights staring up at him in fear-

Not with the knowledge of what'd he done- of who he'd failed.

The failure was forever burnt into his soul. Would forever tear at it, and the pain it caused would forever be deserved. There was no righting these wrongs. There was no undo button, not for him. No matter how he wished it, he couldn't go back to the beginning to try to fix the countless hurts his goddamn ignorance had caused.

Stretch couldn't even try to fix things, now that Sans was gone.

There was no knowing where the Tale Brothers were now. They had all but disappeared after Papyrus had successfully held his brother hostage by threatening his life. There was no knowing what would happen to Sans now, there was no knowing if they'd ever see him again. They had promised the Fell brothers that he'd be found, but....

But.

The surface was far larger than the Underground. The chances that they'd be seen again were next to none.

And the Fell brothers had known that. The utter hopelessness across their skulls would forever haunt him. The promises of Sans' safety would remain nothing but empty. Were he in their situation- were he the one to be betrayed and blamed, to have every attempt to do right go wrong, to have no one on his side- he would never dare to hope that something good would, could, happen.

Stretch sighed, rolling over to face the wall.

Light had long since started to peer through the curtains- another sleepless night, then. He wanted nothing but to stay in bed. It'd be for the better, really. After all, he couldn't mess things up from here, right? But he knew that remaining there would just add unnecessary worry to his already stressed brother. So, despite how he wanted to lie there and not ruin anything further, Stretch reluctantly got to his feet.

The apartment was quiet. Had he really woken up before his brother? That... hadn't happened in a long time. Concerned, he checked Blue's room, frowning further when he found it empty. So he wasn't asleep, then? Stretch continued the brief search, concern only growing when he finally found his brother sitting at the kitchen table. Blue looked beyond exhausted, slumped over and staring down blankly at the half-eaten bowl of oatmeal in front of him. He must of struggled to sleep too.

" Bro?"

At his voice, Blue jerked, looking up to him in surprise.

His brother offered his best attempt at a smile, " Morning brother."

" You want coffee?" he asked as he walked towards the machine, already getting cups ready. As predicted, his brother nodded, murmuring a thanks before he returned to eating. They fell into silence as they sat at the table, both too tired to bother with conversation. It wasn't like there was much to say, anyway.

Even after he finished his drink he remained there, quietly waiting for Blue to finish. His brother reluctantly left him to do the dishes, heading to the living room to chat with whoever had called him. It was probably Alphys again. He could hear the soft conversation in the background, but couldn't make out the words. If it was important, Blue would tell him about it later.

Stretch did the chore rather quickly, there being only a few dishes that needed to be done. Try as he might, his thoughts kept looping back to the situation. Back to the Fell brothers, the two suffering a loss he couldn't begin to understand. Back to Sans, who he'd failed and hurt-- who'd continue to be hurt because of his actions.