The Heat of a Soul

Surreptitious Version 2

Here's your repost, it's going be pretty much the same.

Silence. Cold, unforgiving, silence. Sans hated when Grillby was like this. Blank, unreadable expression, empty, chilling lack of speech. His fiery hand dropped Sans' shirt, letting it fall back down to cover his exposed bones. He pulled it to him, and put it in his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed, stiffly staring at the wall in front of him.

Sans watched with worried eyes, the lights in his head whisping back and forth, searching for any sign of the warmth from before. But there was nothing but that relentless silence. He wanted to scream at Grillby, to demand him to say something, anything.

"Grillby.." No response. Sans lowered his gaze, his smile straining as he pulled his legs closer to him, hunching over and creating a little ball of sadness. Grillby didn't move but continued to stare at the wall, as if he could set it aflame.

He probably could. He could burn down every bit of the underground in search for the person who did this to Sans. He would make them regret the day they were created. He glanced at Sans, letting out a heavy sigh as he saw the pitiful state of his best friend. His lover.

"I just wished you would have told me." Grillby said, running a hand through the flames on his head, and leaning back, letting himself fall onto the wall behind him. His chest ached from the lack of contact with the skeleton, but he forced himself to stay put.

Sans' shoulders trembled almost unnoticeable, and he inhaled shakily, his voice hitched as he spoke.

"I couldn't.. I didn't want to scare you, too.."

"Too?" Sans was quiet for a moment, and Grillby's head turned in his direction, his eyes full of disbelief and anger, softening as he saw something glittering run along Sans' hand where it was tucked beneath his cheek.

"I hid it from everyone, so that they wouldn't worry about me. They wouldn't have to carry the same weight that I do, day to day, every moment of my life. I wanted to protect you.. I didn't want you to remember..."

Sans forced his eyes shut and let himself crumble, all of the emotion that he had kept pent up flowed freely. He didn't care anymore. He didn't care if Grillby thought less of him, or wen less of him. He couldn't take it.

As Grillby watched the monster crying in front of him, his mind reeled with questions of what he had meant. Remember what? What else is he hiding from him?

What did he want to protect him from?

Minutes slowly turned into hours, and eventually Sans fell silent once again, his body stilling after it's painful experience. He was so quiet, in fact, that Grillby began to ponder if he had fallen asleep. The though was pushed from his mind as Sans raised his skull, meeting Grillby's eyes with his own.

As if he had been wearing a mask this entire time, Grillby was shocked to see how truly disheveled the skeleton was. Dark bags underneath his eyes, his mouth worn from smiling, his posture limp and one of someone who has given up.

He chuckled weakly, a breathy laugh that made Grillby's soul wrench in pity for him.

"Now you know. I'm slowly dying. There's no eluding the fact that this is an injury that no monster before us had been able to recover from. There's no happy ending."

He lowered his eyelids and focused on the wrinkles in the sheets beneath him, clinging onto the edges of the mattress like its life depended on it.

"For me, that is. No matter how hard I tried.. I failed." He looked up again and smiled sadly, his face still wet from tears. He raised his hand and tried to dry his cheeks, realizing with a faint sigh that his hand hand was bone, that would do nothing to collect the liquid.

He was lowering his arm when Grillby sat up, heaving a sigh and leaned to him, smiling faintly and brushing his thumb against Sans face, the heat in his touch warming the skeleton, and fixing his problem.

"Pretty cliché move, huh?" Grillby asked, catching Sans' eye and letting his hand drift to Sans' shoulder where it rested. Sans looked at it a bit bashfully, returning his gaze to the bartender as he spoke.

"I don't know what you meant by all of this.. Or how you where hurt like that.. Or even if there is a solution," He clenched his jaw and continued on strongly.

"But I do know, that I'll be by your side for five ever. That's more then forever." Sans couldn't help but give a sad excuse of a snicker, and Grillby chuckled, pulling the monster against his chest in a tight embrace.

Sans went limp in his arms, his cold cheering resting against the fiery chest of the flame monster. He tucked his was beneath Grillby's chin, feeling safe within the man's arms.

"Okay, I believe you.." (For some reason, I think of a song.. Someone help me pleeeaaassseeee) He whispered and let his eye lids fall shut, his rasping breaths shallowing as he slowly drifted to sleep, reassured.

Grillby frowned then, feeling a deep chill emitting from the skeleton'a sleeping form, and couldn't help but think that he had felt it before. He shook his head, careful not to disturb Sans, and settled more comfortably onto the wall once again, heating his flames to keep them warm all night.

Thar you go. Enjoy this till I make another chapter. I'm going to go hunt for something edible.

And if you get that reference, I love you.