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This chapter is a request, branching away from the last chapters; this chapter was requested by readerxviewerchan

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AU; Sans AU Household
Characters/Ship; Fresh, Epic, Geno, Error. (Mentions of EpicFresh, ErrorInkMare, Horrorlust as ships)

Additional info/warnings: !!Angst Chapter!! Mentions of character death-- replaying memories and descriptions of said death, as well as T.V. influence; breakdowns. Isolation, a bit of comfort at the end.
I was listening to "One More Light" by Linkin Park the entirety of time I wrote this; go check out the song if you wish, it's honestly really sad but wholesome at the same time.
This is the longest chapter to date that I've done; please enjoy it! It took a while.

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Requested
There Are Things We Can Have, But Can't Keep..
EpicFresh + CQ Brothers

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Epic let out a long, light sigh as he stared up at the ceiling from his place on the floor. He felt a small smile twitch onto his face as he could glance around at the extra apparel around the room, his stuff. The thought came back to his mind, making him frown, he didn't have much energy to do more, otherwise he would.. Hell, he would turn back into a sobbing mess on the floor if he could- but right now he had been drained of all of his energy, and if he had to be honest, almost all of his emotions were dulled, swept away by all of his sobbing done recently, right on the floor of this bedroom. He couldn't even drag himself up to the bed when he first entered the room- the floor was oddly more comforting this time. Damn, how long had it been since.. Epic blinked as he realized he had lost track of time; how long it had been since he first entered the room, since he saw.. What he saw; the aftermath, broadcasted on live T.V., reporting the fight out in public and the.. the killing, of.. of Fresh. Epic was trying to push himself off of the floor to check the date and time when the memory came back to him- it was probably triggered by the fact he had Fresh's hoodie tightly wrapped around him; as best as he could, that is, since it was baggy from the almost-foot height difference him and Fresh had.

Everyone was sitting on the couch or generally in the living room when it happened- He remembers the Stars being some of the specific people on the couch, but the rest were blurry. Error was leaned over the back of the couch to have his arms wrapped around Ink's neck while Dream swapped through the channels on the television in boredom. Epic himself was worriedly speaking with Cross; since at that moment, Fresh had gone out to get some more sewing supplies for Error and such to help out his brother, especially since he knew about his haphephobia, and didn't want him to go out and end up crashing from the amount of people out there. Epic was talking to Cross about it because he needed to vent his worries to someone; Fresh had left mid-day and it was nearing dusk. "Wait, go back to that." The voice of Nightmare made Epic turn his head, watching Dream tilt his head over to his brother and then flick the channel back. The news, Epic was confused for a moment before the voice of the human female reporter echoed in the room. "..The major fight near the downtown area had attempted to be stopped, but when officials arrived, the fight had already resolved into a casualty, and the opponent fled the scene." Epic tensed up slightly at the word 'casualty', he hoped Fresh wasn't in that area at that time. The entire room was silent now, obviously everyone was thinking the same thing he was, from how the attitude of the room immediately changed with those words. Epic read the headline; 'Fight downtown results in dust; suspect unidentified.' Epic only felt the weariness and worry in his soul grow, causing his soul to start lightly beating faster. He had hoped a random monster had picked a fight with the wrong human; as cruel as that sounded, he didn't want to think it could be Fresh that got attacked and died- That was almost impossible anyways, Fresh's soul was in his eye and he always had his glasses on, no one knew except all of the AUs in this house. And he knew no one would sabotage Fresh, everyone was calm with each other ever since Ink, Error and Nightmare outed their relationship. Epic zoned back into reality as he heard the reporter speaking again. "We have video evidence from a nearby bystander and local camera footage from stores. If anyone is able to identify the attacker or the victim, please contact the authorities as soon as possible." A video clip played- recorded from a phone. Epic felt his soul shrink down as he saw.. Fresh, battling another monster, out on the street. Fresh wasn't blowing attacks on the monster, if anything he was trying to get away, teleporting from the monster's attacks and his body shook for a moment as he tried to teleport away but couldn't concentrate on it. Epic saw Fresh's glasses had dimmed out, the bright words no longer on them, something that usually happened when Fresh was in focus, Epic learned after a while of talking with the other. The room fell silent and stunned. Epic only felt more anxious with the aura and suddenly dense air in the room, intently focused on the television as he continued to watch Fresh evade attacks. But eventually.. Fresh tripped up. Epic saw the monster's attack going straight for Fresh's chest, but took an.... unexpected turn- right into his socket. Where his soul was. The attack busted through Fresh's glasses, shattering the object where it impaled through. Epic felt his mouth hang open- agape, terrified, surprised; How? How had they known? Who were they? Why did they want to attack Fresh of all people? The clip from the phone ended there, but it continued on with surveillance footage from the nearby buildings. Fresh dusted. His hat, hoodie and busted up glasses were left behind; sirens sounded, and the other monster fled. Epic felt the world around him drain and drone out as he processed everything that just happened; feeling his entire form start to shake as he covered his mouth. Purple magic started fuzzing his eyes, making his vision hazy and watery, pressing himself up against the wall behind him, sliding down and hitting the ground. Thoughts raced rampant in his head, his soul harshly beating with grief the moment he wrapped his head around everything. He could hear something- but it was droned out and he couldn't make out if it was the television or a voice talking to him. Purple tears streamed down his skull, lining his cheekbones with darker streaks that followed the path of the tears, wettening his bone, soon enough nearing as rapid and heavy to be called a cascade of tears. Epic blinked; and gasped lightly as he realized there were people in front of him. He felt hands on his shoulders- shaking his already quivering form, trying desperately to bring his attention to them. Epic gasped and heaved breaths when he finally realized, sobs escaping his lips, tears continuing to fall down his skull, lightly lifting his hands to grasp the wrists of the hands on his shoulders. He didn't know why- he just needed something to hold onto, to keep himself in place, mentally and physically. He felt another pair of arms wrap around him, which made him lift his head and pay attention to his surroundings- Dream was the one in front of him, who had put his hands on his shoulders, and who's wrists he was currently holding. Cross had hugged him, his friend trying to console him to the best of his ability. He also noted Error, Geno, Ink, Blueberry and Nightmare there. Error and Geno seemed to be comforting each other, however, while Ink, Blueberry and Nightmare were focused on him. Epic didn't know how long he was sitting there and sobbing, but he remembers UnLust coming over to comfort him by using a tactic he used himself; counting things that could happen with the five senses, UnLust told Epic how much he had used it ever since he joined the Stars and got together with Horror. Epic couldn't lie; it did help rather quickly. He was still crying, but he was more aware again, now that UnLust had helped him calm himself down- But the shock of Fresh's death still racked through his bones, his form still shaking which made his bones rattle softly. When he looked for Error and Geno again- they were gone. But a few moments after they had returned with Fresh's items; it almost sent Epic into another spiral, seeing his boyfriend's stuff, dust sprinkled into the cloth and on the surface of the cracked glasses. But, he just barely pulled himself away from it, and hesitantly took Fresh's hoodie from Geno's grasp while Geno kept the hat and Error took the glasses once discussing amongst themselves who would take what.

Epic took in heavy breaths when the memory faded, laying himself back down onto the floor, embracing the odd comfort of the surface once more, lightly gripping onto the sleeves of the hoodie wrapped around him, trying to steady his breathing so he wouldn't break down again. Silently using the tactic UnLust taught him in his head, he slowly ended up calming himself down, blinking and lifting his head slowly as he heard a knock at the door. "Y-Yeah..?" He was somewhat surprised how quiet his voice was- he could barely hear himself. He quickly forced himself up from the floor into a weak sitting position, his bones protesting against each movement and screaming at him to lay down again and ignore whoever was at the door- but when he saw Error and Geno enter the room, he had to take a second to process why they were here, just for the memory to strike him again and make his throat slightly tighten with more tears. He watched the pair walk into the room, closing the door behind them and settling down next to him. "Relax, Epic.. Don't panic yourself." Error murmured lightly, his voice glitching out rapidly while he spoke- obviously he was upset as well, usually his voice was clear with only a few glitches here and there. Epic sighed shakily and lightly nodded, keeping his gaze on the pair while they seemed to gather their own bearings to speak. "We.. We know Fresh's.. passing- hit you hard, it did for us too.. We've just- never had time away from everyone like you. I know we always look happy and completely calm, but.. It's uh- difficult." Geno spoke, glancing to Error who shook his head with a pitiful smile. "Yeah, great wording there, Geno." Error hummed, getting a playful but weak glare from Geno. Epic slightly smiled at the small bit of positivity and happiness he got watching the two bicker with each other. But, the happiness quickly died down as Error focused on Epic again; Epic realized how horrible he must look right now, he hasn't left this room in days, and his voice was shot from lack of use. "I.. I didn't really have the best relationship with my brother- You know that of all people, but.. Once you helped him get his emotions back again, I loved him again, properly, without all my shouting and physical attacks.. I thank you for that, so much, you helped us rebuild our relationship, and.. Now that he's gone, I can't really.. wrap my head around it properly- it's just.. such a shock someone would do that, and somehow know where his soul is at the same time.." Epic frowned and nodded sadly when Error spoke, the memory of when he finally helped Fresh get full control of his emotions replaying in the back of his head. "But- We have to move past this. It's going to be difficult, and I'm not saying entirely forget Fresh ever existed.. We just need to get over our grief and mourning- of course, we'll give you time to fully recover, if anything you were the closest to him out of everyone in this damned house, so it must affect you a lot," Geno started, a small frown coming onto his features as well, "but, we need to get over his death. We won't forget about him, he meant so much to us, but we can't sit here and mope. We all have things to do- Cross is worried about you, Epic, and.. To be honest, we are too, you've been in here for almost a week straight." Geno sighed. Epic was slightly taken aback by the other's words; he didn't know he'd been in here for that  long, but.. Geno had a point. He had to get out of this room, had to interact with Cross and the rest again, had to do something instead of laze about and throw himself into a pit. "The question is.. Are you ready to come out yet, Epic? If you still need more time to mourn- please, we won't force you to interact if you're not comfortable yet." Error spoke, dragging Epic's attention over. Epic hesitated- but then nodded. He cleared his throat a few times, then spoke himself. "I.. I've had e-enough time.. I m-might as well.. get out of this place.." He offered a weak smile to the two brothers; who exchanged it with their own faint smiles. Geno nodded and stood. "Let's go then. I'm sure Cross will be more relaxed seeing that you're okay." Geno offered his hand out to Epic, who gratefully took the help and stood shakily. Epic jolted a bit as his legs shook harshly and almost made him fall, but caught himself, with the small help of Geno letting him grip onto his arm. Error stood and smiled faintly, crossing his arms and staring at them. "Ink's worried for you too, since Cross is his brother.. He'll be happy to see you better too." Error hummed, making Epic feel more determined to get out of the room- the same determination he felt while helping Fresh with his emotions, the thought swam in the back of his head, but he quickly noted the thought and acknowledged it, then gave it no more mind as he followed Geno and Error out of the room with shaky steps from lack of use.

Hopefully, he could fully recover from this; everyone seemed willing to help him, like he did when Fresh was still around. So, with that, he hoped Fresh was okay wherever he had gone after death, and set his mindset to look forward to what was ahead of him in this life. He gave a small, final thought to Fresh, like a final goodbye, then focused on Geno and Error as the two wandered down the steps into the living room.

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