Turtle side-note: WOAH! WHAT?! AN UPDATE?!?! *mind explodes*
Frisk took a step back, "W-what?" They looked towards him at a loss, "I-I don't unders-stand..." They looked around at the others. Undyne seemed just as shocked as they were, while Gaster was looking away from the group.
Sans looked towards them, wishing he had held his tongue, "kid, i...i... i didn't know what i was doing, i wasn't thinking when it happened... i just...geez" He squeezed the bridge of his nose with his hand, "there isn't a justice for what i did... i regret it so much, but...it doesn't change the fact that it happened." He paused, as if he was thinking about what he was going to say, "if she killed me," he looked towards Undyne, "it would'a been a justice."
Frisk didn't want to listen anymore, they didn't want to see him as a killer, they wanted to forget it, but the knowledge just kept coming back. There had to be a reason...right? Why would he just kill in cold blood? It didn't make any sense...maybe they wished it wouldn't make sense.
He noticed their expression, "kid?" He reached towards them, but they flinched away. Frisk could have sworn they saw his permanent smile drop, even if was just for a moment. "b-buddy? hey, it's still me...right?"
Frisk looked towards him horrified and confused, "Y-y-you're lying..."
Sans looked at them straight in the eye, "kid, i...i'm not."
Frisk shook their head in disbelief, "You're lying...you're lying!" They screamed at him, through heaving breaths.
He remained calm, "kid, i'm n-"
"Stop lying! You wouldn't...you..." They bit their lip, not wanting to believe the truth.
"i killed the sixth human." His voice was low.
"N...N-no! Stop it! Please!...Please..." Frisk began backing away. He killed a human, was this all a trick? Did he want to kill them all along? Was this whole thing an act? Did he just want the fortune of killing the seventh?
They stepped back on their foot, ready to run, Gaster made a reach towards them, but they jumped out of the way, running into the woods as fast as they could carry themselves. They heard someone call after them from behind, but they didn't turn back.
Frisk ran away.
*******
Papyrus was wandering through the dense forest, the wind rough and violent as his scarf whipped in the twisting air. He didn't want to find the human. He wasn't going to hurt them, but he didn't want Undyne to find out he didn't kill them like she had asked. So, he kept walking, positive the human wouldn't find him all the way out there.
He kept moving, the snow crunching under his red boots being his only companion. He brought his scarf closer to his face, hoping his brother and the human were alright. He had sensed a tension in his brother's soul about an hour ago, but it went away nearly as fast as it appeared, so he continued walking. But now, it seemed to have come back slightly, just a couple of minutes ago. It seemed to be sending out irregular vibrations. Stress? Nah, he knew his brother didn't stress out about much, something must of just startled him...right?
He stopped walking, wanting to wait until it subsided.
Fifteen minutes had passed.
Papyrus still felt it. For a minute, it had even appeared to accelerate, before going back down to how it had first started up, but it still hadn't gone away. In fact, he was pretty sure he was getting two signals now, unsure of who the other could be that he was sensing. Both of which seemed to be in a frenzy about something.
He decided to wait ten more minutes.
Nothing had changed.
His brows furrowed in worry, as he began to jog back, just to hear snow, quickly crunching towards him from his left. He whipped his head towards that direction, to find the small child charging towards him.
"HUMA-"
They darted past him, ignoring his presence.
Papyrus quickly ran after the child, easily catching up to them with his long legs. He quickly stopped the child, picking them up. The human struggled and wriggled in his grip, before they let themselves go limp in defeat. Their breath was heavy and they could barely catch it, rubbing away the salty tears that were falling from their eyes.
Papyrus held the human, looking at them worried, "ARE YOU OKAY???" He asked, seeing the child heaving in his arms. "WHAT HAPPENED???"
Frisk looked at Papyrus and screamed, then kicked the skeleton in the arm. "Let me go! Let me go!"
Papyrus dropped Frisk on the ground and looked at them in shock. Before he could get a word in, Frisk ran away and left him looking at footprints.
"NGAHHHH!" Undyne came tearing through moments later, running faster than Frisk and not wearing heavy armor any more. She stopped in front of Papyrus. "Hey Paps, where'd the human go?"
Papyrus pointed, utterly in shocked confusion. "T-THAT WAY!"
Undyne took off, chasing after the small human, not even realizing that Papyrus was following behind her.
"WAIT, UNDYNE!!!" He called after her, not wanting her to hurt the child, being unaware that they had forgiven each other.
Undyne ignored him, dashing off towards the child, Papyrus tagging behind her.
******
"let me go!" Sans struggled against his father's magic as it held him in place, surrounding his soul in green.
"(Son, I can not let you go. I know you will attempt to teleport and you shouldn't be doing magic like that at the moment.)" He held him tight, and quite easily considering how much more power he had compared to the smaller being.
Sans' voice growled, "i'm the one who freaked them out, i need to find them!"
"(I will not allow you to do any such thing.)" He kept his voice monotone.
"but you let her go to get them?!" He shouted, gesturing accusingly towards the direction Undyne had gone.
"(It was for the best, I am doing what I have to.)" His voice remained flat.
Sans' eyes went void, as he sputtered, "why won't you let me do what i have to?!"
He sighed, not wanting to argue with his son, "(You don't have to do anything, I am sure Undyne's got it under control.)"
"are you even sure we can trust her alone with the kid?!" His eyes remained void.
Gaster looked to the side, "(No, I am not, but I am not willing to risk you either.)"
"are you kidding me? let me go!" Sans glared at his father. Gaster just kept the green magic around his son's soul.
Sans summoned a Gaster blaster, a quiet threat.
The tall Doctor just laughed. "Sans," he said in a deep voice, "I am not afraid of that."
Sans' eye sockets narrowed in defiance as he sent the blaster hurtling towards Gaster.
Gaster stopped the blaster and cradled it in his arm. He inspected the small, doglike skull. "(Sans)," he continued. "(I cannot permit you to die.)"
Sans looked forlorn. "dad. i don't wanna hurt you. but you have to get out of my way!"
Gaster slowly lowered his son from the air so that he was eye-level with him, keeping a hold on his soul. He walked up to him, looking him straight in the eye, as he spoke with his voice rather than his hands, "Sans, I can't do that," Sans looked to the side, just for his father to gently touch the side of his cheek-bone, causing him to look back towards him, "You could hurt me a thousand ways, but I would never let you die, I couldn't ever let you die."
Sans' eye-lights slowly came back, widening as Gaster went on, "I don't know what you felt when I left you, and I don't want to know," He leaned his forehead into his son's, squeezing his eye-lids shut, even though Sans' continued looking up at him doe-eyed, "Please... I don't want you to die." He cracked his eye-lids slightly, seeing his son's doleful expression. He remembered the last time he looked at him like that.
---
"My, son, please take care of your little brother, forgive me for what may or may not happen," He squeezed his son tightly, who was carrying his little brother.
"where are you going, daddy?" He asked, looking up to his father wide-eyed with an innocent confusion.
He couldn't bare to look at his face, quickly hugging him, "I don't know..."
"Oh..." Sans said, looking at the ground over his father's shoulder.
Gaster swallowed the lump in his throat, "Promise me that you won't forget me, no matter how long I leave." He squeezed his two children close.
"i wouldn't forget you! i promise!" He sounded determined, even though he didn't yet realize the height of the situation, nor the depth of the promise.
Gaster choked back tears, realizing he may never see his children again, he slowly pulled back from the hug, clicking his teeth against the older son's forehead, "Thank you." He shakily caressed the baby's cheek, before slowly getting up.
He turned away from the two children, and began walking, before he heard a cheerful voice call from behind him, "see you later, dad!" The small monster smiled at him wide. He glanced back, giving him a small wave.
"Goodbye..."
He never saw the two youthful faces again.
---
Gaster felt tears begin to burn in his eye-sockets from the memory, the green magicquickly dissipating as he clutched his son close to him, falling on his knees, "I'm so sorry, please, Sans, I can't let you die," Sans felt his father's shoulders shake, not knowing what to do.
"i don't know what you're sorry for, but..." He trailed off already knowing how his dad would react to what he wanted to say.
"Sans, don't you dare say one word about you not being worth it." He said sternly, still clutching the back of his son's jacket, "I know that's what you were about to say, but please, don't. You mean more to people than you think."
Sans wanted to believe him, but he didn't. He sighed, wrapping his arms around his father, not knowing what else he could do.
Gaster suddenly came to the realization that he had let go of his son's soul. He froze not knowing what Sans would do, or if he had noticed. "Sans, please, I know you may not believe me in the slightest, but I can guarantee that at least one person cares about you enough to want you alive...I don't care about what you've done in the past, I still love you, no matter what."
"i don't deserve this," he said quietly, trying to pull away.
Gaster held tight, yet again, grabbing onto him with green magic, in fear for what he would do.
Sans let himself go limp, "please, let me go."
"I can't do that, Sans." Gaster said sternly, "I know what you will do."
"you said you cared...please trust me..." His voice was soft, and gentle. Gaster weighed his decisions.
He let go.