The Mountain East (An Undertale Fanfiction)

Chapter 39

Asriel, alone, paced the seemingly empty room, with its musty atmosphere and sickening combination of olive green and metallic gray. His own footsteps acted as his only solace as he heard the bustling of machinery and tampering with magic on the other side of the door. All he could do was sit and wait. And his patience was wearing thin.

And so, his memories started to drift back a few hours into the past, not too unlike a dream.

"asriel!" The familiar flash of blue followed by the soft sound of teleportation stopped him in his tracks. Several books he had scrounged from the library dropped from his paws onto his untimely positioning of a foot. Both Sans and Asriel grimaced, one out of apology and sympathy, the other out of excruciating pain.

"hey. sorry about that." Sans chuckled as he watched Asriel hop around almost comically, his two paws clutching the throbbing foot as he tried to steady himself and his pain receptors. Sans fumbled through his pockets before he pulled out a wad of tissue. Wrinkling his nose slightly at the poor timing, he discarded it and pulled out a packet of bandages. Before Asriel could say anything, the plaster fit itself onto the reddish marred fur.

Almost immediately, Asriel felt the pain seeping away from his foot. The magic plaster had done its work well, and soon flew of its own accord to join the tissue in eternal silence.

"Thanks." Asriel muttered, rejoicing his sweet release from the crimson dots that floated just above his retina. "Well, not really – I mean, you did make me drop it first – wait – I don't mean that in like a rude way, I just – I mean -" He babbled. He sighed and bent down to retrieve his books. The bags under his eyes resembled his mothers, but his were garnered through constant self-doubt and regret.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me today." Asriel explained drowsily. As he turned to leave, he spotted the thick, beige like paper-bound cover – or lack thereof – that he clutched tightly. He turned to see Sans languidly flipping through it, the book holstered in midair, a thin line of blue encircling its contents.

"Sans, please." Asriel stuck his hand out slightly, his head drooping slightly in exasperation. His ears dangled over his head, swaying ever so slightly like a pendulum. A very furry, thick and warm coat that resembled a pendulum. His posture did the talking for him. He was not exactly in the best of moods, nor the best of mentality states.

Sans closed the book with telekinesis, and it slowly drifted towards Asriel's outstretched hand. However, as expected from Sans, the book stopped just inches away from the other's reach. Asriel tried to bring himself to move forwards and grasp it, but knew it was futile as long as Sans had the book under his magical influence.

"i'm not exactly negligent, prince. i know what's going on. i'm just trying to help." He began, but his explanation was cut short.

"Yeah?" Asriel snapped slightly as his fingers lunged for the spine of the book to no avail. "Well, you can help me by giving me back the book. Aren't you royal scientists supposed to report back to mom and dad? Why bother with me, right? Why would anyone consult her best friend, see how he's doing?"

Sans fell silent for a while, less a pause signifying surprise and more one of utility, making Asriel reconsider his sudden vulgar words. Sans wasn't trying to guilt trip him, not on purpose. Not when the kid was in this state. He looked older, different, like he'd seen death and barely escaped his clutches.

Huh. They really are two sides of the same coin.

Asriel's sudden outburst was mollified just as quickly as it started. As he relinquished control over his mouth, he covered the temples of his head and obscured his face with his ears. He could barely hold back from punching himself in the face.

"I - I'm sorry, Sans. I... I need to go. I... god. What is wrong with me?" He looked down at his own paws with disgust, like they were infested with vermin. But the only thing crawling around him was the black, seeping swirls of hope leaving him.

"kid." Sans placed a hand on Asriel's shoulder. At first, his mind tried to overrule and shake it off, then preferably run off into the distance after grabbing the forgotten suspended book. However, his arm refused to bow to such tyranny, especially not a corrupted justice. The first of many.

"listen. there's a reason i didn't go to the king. i know she matters more to you than anyone else. and, well, you know, i get that. and – though it might be a slightly crude comparison – i guess she could technically count as your Papyrus. now, if there is one thing to be noted, is that no one touches Papyrus. not anyone, not anything, not nature. not the world itself, or we will tear it apart at the seams."

Asriel fell silent. The striking similarities between them were uncanny, and yet so different. Perhaps Sans had mixed his comparisons up by accident. Chara had a story that she vowed to tell no one. Something beyond even what she revealed to him. He knew that, deep down. And he could say the same for Sans, his mysterious entrances and exits, his cynical and joking personality only the surface of what seemed like an iceberg.

Asriel tugged slightly, almost unconsciously, at his locket, and wondered if he was the first. And even if he wasn't, he would be the only one who understands. Fully. Because the wisdom of intelligence, of perception, of understanding itself, falls far short in understanding love than the wisdom of two.

And so, he put aside his pride of compassion. His woes. He imprisoned the voices in the same barrier they had trapped him in, two times over. He was far from his own redemption, far from defrosting his inner self from the frigid temperatures of regret. But a matchhead and a stroke of luck is all that requires to start a forest fire.

And as Asriel took Sans' hand, the world disappeared into a flash of white. His mind had wandered off some wayward path.

"-didn't know?" Asriel was saying. His attire save for the golden locket had been changed rather abruptly, though Sans' was still the generic blue jacket and black shorts.

"al? Ah. that's another reason I came to you instead. had we ran it through good ol' fluffybuns, he would have almost certainly given the case to her. and – well, al's a perfectionist. a nervous wreck. sure, her intentions are pure, and she is willing to sacrifice anything for a solution. just not a faulty one. there is no way she won't veto this idea, because she's too afraid of what might happen, not realizing that not doing anything only introduces death's demeanor faster." Sans shrugged. "trust me. i would love to have al's expertise of the lab as a helping hand round here. but it's either we run into the line of fire with a rickety shield and hope for the best, or stand still and accept failure."

Asriel nodded slightly, his manner still a half-padlocked door lying ajar. He did not listen to what Sans had to say. He knew the risks. The science behind it was a field never explored before, at least not in his lifetime, nor the generation before him.

Sometimes, it was better to let lady luck take the reins. It was better than surrendering to fate.

And as Sans rambled on and on, he could feel the memory getting hazy. The white wisps of fog clouded the corners of his eyes.

And, just as he was about to return to the realm of reality, he swear he could see a single vine pop into existence from a crevice below, before it too began dissolving in the acid of forgetfulness.

But there was something else. The vine itself did not concern him.

It was the shimmer of gold coiled around its stem.

The very same.