Guiltale

Chapter Twenty-Five: Stealing Hearts

Sans tilted his head. "uh, hello?"

I let my hand fall, trying to look natural. "I'm not sure what I'm doing here anymore, to be honest. I'm risking my newly-appreciated life to... I came to find Harlow, and now that I know what Undyne's like? I KNOW Harlow couldn't have made it past here. I was prepared for them to be dead, but..."

I looked at my weathered hand, thinking.

"what were they like?"

I looked off in the distance, not really looking at anything. "She used to be fun. We got each other out of our shells and comfort zones, broadened each other's point of view, comforted each other when one or both of us needed it..." I pursed my lips, taking a breath. "But we've grown apart. Which isn't great when you live together with her mom."

"her mom? why- nevermind."

I grimaced. "Well, I wasn't the best to be around at the time so it's not their fault, but she started to resent me. It was getting really stifling in the house... and then," I threw my hands in the air, scoffing, "She runs off on this crazy and horribly dangerous journey and I just- never see them again. And I know, I know, I'm here on the same one but she's weak so I KNOW she's just- just- rotting somewhere. There's no way she'd make it this far on her own. I've seen the signs; I've seen their things just.... Dropped. Like so much garbage. It's not fair..." I finished my complaint weakly.

Sans didn't speak for a moment.

"whats not fair?"

...

"...It's not fair that I'll never get to ask them. I'll never know why they did this, why they ran, why-" I stifled a hiccup, continuing slowly and steadily, "Why she decided I just wasn't worth her time anymore. ...I suppose it's my retribution, huh...?"

...

...an awkward moment passed, Sans not knowing what to say to that and my hesitance to break the silence, until...

"Does the king have six SOULS yet?" I said under my breath.

Sans answered readily. "yeah. we only got the most recent one a few months ago and- oh. oh no."

I gulped. "That proves it." I shifted to a cross-legged sit, putting my elbows on my knees and resting my head in my hands and trying not to feel the frog in my throat. "I shouldn't feel so disheartened, I was prepared for this."

"again, uh, are you... ok?"

I didn't answer.

...

"Hey, I've got a 'bone' to pick with you-"

Chara made a noise somewhere between amusement and annoyance. "Est-ce que tu dois faire ça maintenant?"

I ignored her. "-I have a possibly self-destructive hypothesis and I'd like to see your take on it."

"ill pretend you didn't say anything about getting yourself hurt. go for it."

I shook my head. "Nah, it's not so overt. I just wonder... am I even enough for the barrier-breaking spell, or would the old goat need more than just a part-human?"

Sans' eyes glowed purple for half a second and then went back to normal.

"hold on. that's a good point, actually."

I sat up, pointing at him. "Right???"

"...did you mean to put 3 question marks on that?"

"Maybe...? Uh, do you think it's possible to use my SOUL to break the barrier and not kill me? If we can do that, then maybe we can all be happy."