Undertale

Chapter Seven - The Truth Behind the Facade

     It hurt to move. Even something so simple as opening my eyes sent pain lacing through my head. Faintly, I could hear the words of someone speaking—to me? I couldn't be sure.

     "...three days," someone was saying. I could barely make out the words.

     "Figure she'll wake up?" someone replied, their voice a bit clearer—closer. Sans?

     My mind swam as I tried to let out an aching groan. The sound escaped as little more than a scratchy gurgle and I forced my eyes open. They stuck together painfully, crusted over, and it took a moment for me to see through the filmy haze of sleep.

     "Frisk?"

     A hand grabbed mine—warm and bony. Definitely Sans, given their smaller size, and the voice was too quiet to belong to Papyrus.

     I willed my head to move but I could barely tilt it before I let out gurgled screams of pain, agony shooting from my head and neck clear down my spine with so tiny a movement. And I had thought opening my eyes had been bad.

     "Frisk," Alphys said, her words becoming a bit more clear. "Y-You need to lie still. You're very hurt."

     I looked to Sans desperately as he came into my line of view. He wore his iconic smile but I could see the look of worry behind his eyes.

    "W-Where?" I broke out hoarsely. It hurt to speak. My throat burned painfully—as if a hot iron had been shoved down it.

     Sans looked to Alphys, nodding, and I heard the scrape of a chair followed by the quick pattering of steps. The skeleton settled onto the bed, elbows sinking into the mattress as he squeezed my hand tenderly.

     "Look, kiddo." He paused. "Napstablook found you not too far from his house. You were out cold."

     His brow drew in, eyes pinching shut before he shook his head.

     "What happened?" His fingers tightened around my hand. "You were half dead. You only had one health point left. Why didn't you get out of there?"

     "I couldn't," I croaked, wincing. "Man with...blasters."

     Sans eyes shot open as he dropped my hand. My eyes widened and I tried reaching for him—I didn't trust him to not bolt out of the room at any moment. Especially with the look he wore.

     "Are you sure, kid?" he stressed, his expression grim. "You sure they were blasters? Not bombs or anything like that?"

     I tried to shake my head, a bit of the pain finally ebbing away. A quick glance to my arm, just barely in sight, and the thin tubing that disappeared under the bandaging was my answer. Medication. Likely dripped on a timer.

     However, the medicine did little to ease the ache in my throat.

     "Sure," I managed, leaning my head back on the pillow. "Water?"

     Sans stood, pushing up off the bed and smiling slightly. The motion looked forced but I tried to pay it no mind as he brought a glass of something to my lips. It was a potent yellow color and reminded me of the golden flowers.

      "Here." He slid an arm around my shoulders, leaning against the bed as he lifted me up. "It'll taste horrible but it's like honey. It will help."

     If I could have gagged, I would have. But gagging would have resulted in the disgusting liquid going all over the two of us and my throat aching from the force. I did have to give it to the monsters—their medicine was potent.

     "God, that was horrible," I shuddered, my throat still a bit raw but better than it could have been. "Thank you."

     "No problem," Sans replied, sitting on the edge of the bed. He turned the cup in his hands absently. "You're positive they were blasters?"

     I nodded.

     "Completely. They were purple. I don't know what happened." I frowned, sinking into the pillows as the medicine eased my painful joints and muscles. "I went to Waterfall and wandered around. Then there was a grey door and...the man."

     "Man?" Sans prompted, his fingers subtly tightening around the glass while his eyes narrowed. "Was he a skeleton?"

     I stared at Sans, bewildered. His expression was dark—the white irises faded from view. I shifted a bit, uneasy.

     "He...was. How did you know that?"

     The glass shattered into thousands of shards in Sans's hands, the tiny pieces spraying over the bed and skittering across the floor. I jumped, leaning away from the skeleton as a small tendril of cyan smoke spilled from his eye.

     "He was supposed to be gone," he muttered. "This is a problem."

     "Problem? Who is he?" I clutched the sheets in my hands tightly. "Sans, now isn't the time to be keeping secrets."

     "Only Alphys and I knew," he went on, his words making little sense. "We locked him in that room and no one should have been able to find it. Of all people to..."

     "Sans, you're not making any sense."

     He shook his head.

     "I know. But even if I tried to explain, you wouldn't understand most of it. This was when Chara fell into the Underground. Before the other humans. Before you."

     His words cut like a knife—as if I wasn't good enough to understand? Was that the point he was trying to make?

     "If you don't tell me, then Alphys will," I threatened, my pride wounded. "At least she's honest with me."

     "I am—"

     "You are not," I snapped back. "All you've been doing since Chara appeared...no, since we failed to break the Barrier is keep secrets from me! I thought we were best friends, Sans!"

     "We are, it's just—"

     "I'm tired of being lied to." My shoulders fell and I hung my head. "Everyone is keeping secrets since the Barrier. I'm not blind. They all blame me."

     Sans was silent.

     Tears burned at the corners of my eyes. He couldn't tell me I was wrong. While I got along well with all of the monsters, I knew that, in secret, they blamed me for being unable to break the Barrier. Even Alphys, shy as she was, blamed me in her own way. I could catch her stumbling on her words and assuring me that my soul had nothing to do with the Barrier's strange stability.

     If only I could tell them it was due to a demon—or whatever Chara had become.

     You're starting to get weak, a voice mocked. Letting this get to you only tears you down and leaves room for me.

     I jolted upright, hands going to my head as I looked around desperately. Chara was nowhere to be seen. Had I been hearing things?

     "Frisk," Sans said, drawing me from my thoughts. His brows were pulled together, eyes wide as he touched my shoulder. "You okay, kid?"

     "I told you to stop calling me that," I whispered, lowering my hands steadily. "I'm fine. Just exhausted."

     Sans nodded slowly.

     "I guess you should know," he whispered softly, absently. He lifted his white-iris gaze to mine. "Listen. When you're ready to go, there's something I need to show you. Something Alphys and I need to show you."

     "Sans?" I grimaced, fingers clenching tighter into the blankets. "Is it...about the skeleton?"

     "Yes," he said, standing. "But he had a name."

     I tilted my head slightly, mouth going dry as I watched Sans closely. His normal grin had fallen, pressed into a firm, straight line as his eyes met mine.

     "Gaster."