The Ghost Above Me (Gaster x Reader)

Chapter 5

A burning chat

"What are you doing here Sans?" Grillby said, surprised by the sudden appearance. He and Sans were actually good friends despite the owner-client relationship, and he didn't expect of him to come in his restaurant without telling him.

"i thought i would pass by, i...came here for the machine...i needed to check it"

Sans sat on his usual place, and sighed. Grillby kept staring at him, waiting for the skeleton boy to say something, even ask for ketchup, the sauce (or drink at this point) the boy in front of him had an obsession for.

"Well, I suppose you didn't come here to pay your tab"

"heh, i thought we already talked about that, grillbz" the skeleton chuckled.

"Yeah, a ton of times"

"you mean a skeleton of times"

"Heh, it never gets old for you, doesn't it?" Grillby said

"you could say it's my signature line"

Even without asking, Grillby brought him a bottle of ketchup. Sans' permanent smile widened a bit, even though it was still tense.

"should i ask you to put this on my tab?" Sans asked.

"Very funny" Grillby replied with an annoyed tone.

Still, it was time to get serious. Sans had said that he checked the machine after all.

"Sans, did something happen with the machine?" Grillby asked.

The skeleton boy chugged his bottle for a bit before replying. He sighed and rubbed his eyesockets.

"as much as i would want to say yes, fortunately it's still broken. i can't come up with a reason for that sensation..."

"What have you sensed, precisely?"

"...it was his laugh. it was like i could hear it in my non-existent ears. a freedom laugh"

"That's all?"

"yes, that's all"

Grillby quietly thought about something to say about it. He fixed his glasses and looked away.

This matter had troubled Sans for quite some times now. Grillby couldn't even know it, but it was a trouble that Sans had carried with him for at least three or more timelines. Sans had talked with him about many things, but not the timelines and the [Reset]s. Grillby wouldn't remember anyway.

Still, the kid had promised not to reset ever again, and Sans was holding onto the little hope he had left after their promise. So he decided to open up and talked at least with Grillby, who was one of the people he trusted most, about the visions.

Grillby was getting worried over the boy he saw growing over the years.

"Sans, are you sure these aren't simply nightmares? He "passed away" long time ago, and it's normal to have nightmares even about people we care for. One day I even dreamt about my father hurting me, but my father was the nicest person on the entire underground. Could you consider this, that these are simply dreams where you are afraid of being hurt of the people you care for the most?"

"no, grillby" Sans said, now using Grillby's real name and not grillbz "the, i insist on calling them like this, visions, felt so real. i couldn't almost wake up by how real they were. it was like someone was bringing me from the real earth to another dimension."

Grillby listened in silence.

"and i have more reason to think that he escaped because tonight i didn't have any visions"

"So you finally decided to sleep! Your eyesockets were really, and probably still are, pleading for some sleep. Look at you in a mirror"

Sans turned his head away with slightly blue cheeks, not to make eye-contact with Grillby after he heard the annoying truth about his eyesockets.

"and...the underground also feels different. it's like it has been emptied of something it was hiding"

Grillby now surrendered, he couldn't do anything to calm down the skeleton boy, as he was really convinced that he had escaped.

"you said that a human girl came here yesterday, didn't you say?"

Grillby slowly nodded, almost understanding what Sans was up to.

"You think she has something to do with the end of the visions and the underground suddenly feeling less heavy?"

"precisely, and totally. she must have done something"

"Sans, she only came here yesterday, I don't think she knows h-"

He was cut off by Sans' blue eye. It was something Sans did whenever he was angry.

"Sans..."

"i'm asking you to believe me. please"

"Yeah...I know. But still, I don't think she purposely did something"

"i didn't say that she freed him on purpose" Sans said "he must have his own ways, and the girl got involved"

Sans was too sure about it, that it was starting to worry Grillby a lot more. You obviously couldn't know what was going on, hence doing something like freeing the person they were talking about.

"has she told you where she lives or something like that?"

"Sans, she has only told me that she's a scientist and the reason why she fell in the underground, do you really expect of her to tell her address to a stranger?" Grillby said as he deadpanned at the boy "your immagination is running a bit wild now. You should really rest and try not to think about it"

"i-"

"I'm the one begging you now. Would Papyrus like to see his brother like this? Would he want to see you like this? I don't think so. So, I'm begging you, if not for me, do it for your brother"

Sans gulped as his pin-pricks grew smaller, thinking about how Papyrus would have felt. He surely wouldn't have liked that.

He sighed and looked down. Grillby sighed as well after pleading him to get some rest.

"Sans, don't stress over this too much, please"

The boy slowly nodded.

"...welp, grillbz" Sans said "I think I'll go by now. i have a movie party with paps and the kid"

He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a blue flash.

Grillby sighed, and continued to clean his cups, the bar now enveloped in silence.