Hey, It’s Breakable! Just wanted to remind y’all that I, @as-breakable-as-glass, respond in italics and @acesymetric responds in normal script. I hope you all enjoy part 4. This one is one of my favorites :)
Slowly, the world around him drained itself of color. Everything was frozen, like an old recording on pause. Static filled his ears in an incomprehensible screech as that too faded into inky darkness. Glass blinked and suddenly, he was standing in a featureless, grey room. He wasn’t alone either.
Standing across from him stood a dark figure who somehow seemed familiar… He felt like he was looking at a memory from a forgotten dream, faintly recognizable yet completely foreign.
He stared at the figure, his brow creased slightly. “Who are you? What the heck’s going on?” Suddenly Glass’ eye sockets widened with recognition. “Gaster? D-dad?”
The white face tilted towards Glass as if noticing him for the first time. Small eye lights formed and a-too-wide smile spread across his face. He was trying to go for a concerned smile but it probably looked creepy.
“I aM sOrRy… BuT i Am NoT yOuR gAsTeR. yOu HaVe MeT mY sOnS tHoUgH.” His voice felt like it was right next to Glass’s skull and far away all at once.
“yOu ArE aT tHe EdGe Of ThE vOiD wHiLe We WaiT fOr SaNs.”
He also tried signing with his hands in hopes that Glass would understand. He hated the sound of his voice (or absence thereof).
‘It is good to meet you though. I have not seen Sans that happy for a very long time.’
Glass tried to hide his disappointment when he learned this wasn’t his Gaster. Really, he should have know better than to get his hopes up.
He noticed the signs and couldn’t help but start using them himself while he spoke. Heh, guess old habits died hard. “The void huh? As in that great expanse of nothing your Sans was telling me about?”
He looked to the side, slightly uncomfortable, “Eh, and it’s good to meet you too but if Sans is happier for some reason it’s not because of me. The only thing I’ve done so far is crash in his house and follow him and Paps around.” Speaking of them where were they? Gaster made it sound like Sans was on his way but what about Papyrus? “Are they alright?”
‘Ah well, it is the edge. More of a pocket really, a uh, go between. It is the only place in the void where I can be mostly solid since it is just on the edge of reality. A door in Waterfall occasionally appears. I can’t go through it but theoretically someone else can and-’ Gaster paused.
As he had been signing his movements were becoming more excited. Prioritize Dingus.
‘I do not have the faintest after that. But that is beside the point isn’t it. The short answer (to the first question) is yes and no.’
'and unfortunately the answer is the same for the other question. Yes they… WILL be alright but not in the same state. Sans told you why he could reset yes?’ He paused.
'This is a reset. Sans is heading back to the time machine.’ As he continued his hands slowed and the odd smile fell. He felt awful. His son took longer and longer with every reset, and he didn’t know what that meant…
'I’m proud of him you know,’ he signed suddenly. 'he won’t tell you this but he almost made it a year this time. All on his own he almost made it. Usually he dies within the first few months.’ He looked down.
Sans had seen so many resets. With a body so brittle that a single misstep could be his end.
So much of his son's pain and all he could do was tell him to not give up between resets. And he didn’t know if Sans could even hear him.
'He has not talked to another soul about anything for, what adds up to be around six and a half years. He felt… That he had a chance. So you crashing in was the best thing to happen since he found out he had Papyrus back.’ He tried again to make a friendly smile. This Sans had no idea just how much good he had done.
“This is a reset?” He asked, instant regret filling his soul. If it really was one then that meant Sans had died. He died and he had been right there with him. Heh, he was some friend he was. He haven’t even done anything to prevent it.
Glass watched the rest of Gaster’s hand signals, “Wait, Sans hasn’t even made it past a year?” He let out a chuckle that held no humor, “Well I guess that makes sense then. Sorta sets the bar of 'best things to happen’ pretty low.” Even if he had somehow helped his double, it was still sad that he was the best thing to happen in over six years. “...Is there something I could do to help him?”
By the angel he had no idea why he asked. Whenever he tried to help out he somehow always managed to screw things up. He didn’t want to make the situation worse for his double but it wasn’t like he could just sit back and do nothing for him.
Yup. He was a Sans alright. Stubborn in his own self image. Ah well. Most Sanses could barely see their own worth. 'You were willing to defend him and Papyrus. And if you have a Papyrus then you know how much that means to him.’
Ah, he should not be so rude. This wasn’t his kid.
However at Glass’ question Gaster looked a bit taken aback. Not that he wasn’t expecting it but the offer had come very quickly. 'Can you… Help him leave the capitol? It may take a while, since he will be very weak. And if not then maybe… Help him learn dodge.’ He laughed a bit. But that last request was half a joke. 'He doesn’t seem to get that he can’t take an attack in his state. I am not there to stabilize his condition.’
Suddenly the world began fizzling, static returning.
Glass snorted, willing to and being able to are two separate things.
'Help him leave the Capitol’, That was going to be tricky to say the least but he had asked if there was a way to help. Dodging would be hard to teach him if he was as weak as Gaster said but not undoable. Avoiding attacks was actually something that came easy to him. He wasn’t much of a teacher, but it couldn’t hurt to try once Sans got some of his strength back.
He was about to respond when the room began filling with static. Looks like Sans finally reached the machine. Glass panicked slightly, not knowing how much time he had left to talk to this Gaster. “Get him safe, teach to dodge, got it. Anything else?”
'Tell him that I’m proud and… Tell him…’ Crap. Of course now- “TeLl HiM hi.”
Then the room blipped out.
Gaster stood there for a moment staring. “TeLl HiM HI!?” he signed furiously at himself every synonym for idiot he could think of.
Glass on the other hand, appeared in the the labs. The hall was dark except the door furthest down where an eerie white light shone and the sound of a dying machine could be heard.
As the whirring died a new sound echoed down the hall, “SANS!!! SAAANS!!!”
Glass blinked trying to adjust to the partially shadow filled hallway. It took his slightly muddled mind a moment to remember what just happened, but soon the memories flooded back, filling him with a sense of urgency. He dashed down the hall towards the white light and the cries that he could only assume were Papyrus’, pausing in the doorway.
The lab was a mess of notes, randomly placed tools, and wires. The machine itself was located on the far side of the room. To say it looked different from his own was a bit of an understatement as it was obviously in the earlier stages of being built.
Papyrus stood in front of the door pounding his tiny fists and tears rolling down his face. “SAAANNNSS!!!” He turned at the new sound behind him, seeing Glass in the doorway.
The door had a small wheel which was not locked but too heavy for the tiny skeleton to open without effort.
“P-P-PLEASE HELP!!! MY BROTHER IS-”
He hurried over to the machine and gripped the wheel with his hands. He pushed the wheel, grunting a bit with the effort, before it swung open. Glass peered into the machine to see Sans lying limp on the floor.
“Ah geez.” He mumbled putting one foot over the threshold of the machine so that he could reach in and pull him out. Once they were both out of it he gently laid Sans down on the floor.
Sans looked worse off than before. The cracks from his right eye had spread to the left, reached down to the corners of his mouth and wrapped around the rest of his head. His arms also had cracks everywhere and the larger ones (on his head too) oozed a bright red liquid staining his clothes. Which hung off his tiny frame.
They were the clothes he had worn the day he fell into the core. They were similar if not the same clothes from the second picture. A lab coat, tie-printed t-shirt, now slightly damaged headphones, and sweats.
His eyes were already open when Glass pulled him out but they were black and he didn’t seem to be looking at anything. He was also shivering and twitching a bit. Something else Glass might notice was the occasional small spark of white energy jumping between his bones.
He tried saying something but he was stuttering so badly and mumbling that is was impossible to tell what he meant to say.
Papyrus had been watching from behind Glass, and was too terrified to make a sound. He looked absolutely horrified at the state of his brother.
Shit this was bad. Trying to keep his voice calm he said, “Hey, hang in there for me will you? You’re going to be alright.” He really hopped he would be.
Glass hesitated a moment before positioning his hands, letting them hover over Sans’ head and chest. Trying to heal him wasn’t going to be easy but Sans needed it. Glass knew his limits. He wouldn’t be able to do much without frying his soul but even a little healing was better than none at all. He really wished his Papyrus was here. He was a lot better at this sort of thing than he could ever be.
He closed his eyes as he focused on healing the worst of the cracks. While they were closed, magic began to emit from his hands. It was a light, icy blue color tinted green from healing magic. Already, Glass’ hands began to tremble as he felt his soul strain to contain the rush of magic. Two minutes, he promised himself, just keep it up for two more minutes.
With his eyes closed, Glass failed to notice the white sparks, or the fact that they were becoming more active beneath his magic.
Sans lay in a stupor. Subconsciously he went over the first month of a reset. The first day would always be the worst. He only knew he was alive by the blackness shot with shadows and the spark of Papyrus’ soul. He would only be able to hear a little bit the next day, when he would be in the most pain, and would have been blind in both eyes for about a week. His right eye never recovered but by week two his left could see more than just shadows…
But something was different.
Something cool, and soothing eased the darkness. It wrapped around his soul and bones giving relief. Sound, although faint could be heard after a moment more.
Sans listened. He couldn’t register what he was hearing at first. Papyrus whimpering, he knew that sound, but there was a new one. A labored, rattled breathing…
Light began filtering through the darkness on the left. A pale, calming light…
All at once he snapped the pieces together. Glass! What was he doing!? He thought, but he couldn’t move.
The white sparks danced below the magic for the first minute and a half gathering. Then a few bolts zipped up the light and raced over Glass’ hands. Then a few more joined. They tingled and buzzed through his bones, not quite painful but very unpleasant.
Glass’ breathing hitched when the small sparks zapped his fingers, almost causing him to almost lose his concentration on healing. His eyes flew open and stared down at his hands. The bolts of energy were jumping between Sans’ form and his hands, running along his bones to his forearms. They left an odd, burning numbness in their wake.
Only 20 more seconds… 15… 10…
He counted down the seconds, trying to control his racing soul. His magic felt heavy and thick, like it was smothering him. Something wet was starting to drip down the left side of his face from his eye socket. He realized sort of detachedly that he was beginning to toe the line.
Glass stopped the healing magic as soon as the two minutes were up. When he tried to withdraw it from Sans’ body however, the strange energy clung to it and jumped through the magic link. It ran along his magic filled bones and went straight to his soul.
He cried out as the weird numbness gripped soul, gripping his chest with a hand and the other going to his left eye socket. Black spots blurred his vision, along with other strange things. Red, the gleam of a knife, a disturbing smile… Papyrus
