Red Echoes - Undertale (12+)

Chapter Eight

Sans woke up to some rustling sounds a few nights later. He yawned and slowly sat up, to see his bedroom door open slightly. Papyrus was standing out in the hall, leaning over the railing and looking at something on the floor below. Sans walked up to him, and leaned over to see what Pap was looking at.

"Hey, Pap. You know you shouldn't be out of bed right now." He said.

"Well then neither should you." Pap calmly stated, not taking his sight off the ground.

"I guess that's true." Sans said, giving a tired laugh. "Whatcha looking at?"

"There." Pap put one arm over the railing, pointing at something down below. Sans squinted, trying to adjust his eyes to the dark. His vision skimmed over a few red dots on the ground, and suddenly his full attention was on the dots.

"Th-those red dots right there? Is that what you're looking at?" Sans quickly asked.

"Mmhm." Pap nodded, bringing his arm back to his side.

"Papyrus, go back to sleep. I'll go look, and tell you in the morning. Okay?" Sans turned away from the railing and looked back at Pap.

"Whhyyyyyyyyy?" Pap let out a frustrated grumble, like he always does when he wants to do something and can't. He leaned against the railing and crossed his arms, pouting. "I want to see it!"

"Papyrus, I'll tell you in the morning. But I don't know how long you've been out here, and you need your sleep." Sans said, motioning to the bedroom door. He knew that he would have to make up an excuse in the morning, because he knew what those red dots were, and there was no doubt in his mind about that. But if he told Pap, it would likely scare him, and Sans didn't want his brother to be scared.

Papyrus gave a very long and dragged out sigh. "Fine. Goodnight Sans."

"Goodnight, Pap." Sans replied as Papyrus returned to the bedroom and closed the door. As soon as the door was closed, Sans ran down the stairs to examine the dots and got on his knees beside them. There was no doubt in his mind that these were splatters of blood. There was also a few bits of dust mixed in with the blood. This was monster blood.

He followed the trail, which led downstairs, into the lab. "Dad? Are you in here?" Sans called. There was no answer, so he continued to follow the trail into the room at the very back of the lab. He could hear laughter coming from inside. It sounded like... Chara!

He burst into the room, and Chara was standing over Sans' father, laughing with their eyes glowing red. They giggled and ran out of the room, pushing past Sans. "Hey! Get back here!" He shouted, chasing them. He followed them out of the basement, but stopped running once they were out the front door. There was no way they would come back after this.

Sans went back downstairs, slower this time. He returned to the room he had been in before, afraid for what he might find when he opened the door. He drew in a deep breath, and then pushed it open, revealing his father, with blood running down his face. It was dripping down onto the floor, and Sans' father was panting for breath. And all that blood was coming from one place: two cracks in Sans' father's skull. One stretched from the top of his right eye socket to the top of his head, and the other went from the bottom of his left eye socket to the top left part of his mouth. Blood was pouring from the wound; Sans didn't think he had ever seen this much blood in one place.

"Dad!" He dropped to his knees next to his wounded father.

"S-Sans?" Sans' father was struggling to get the words out.

"Dad, it's me. What happened? Did Chara do this to you?" Sans said, a lot louder than he had expected. He was trying his best to stay calm, but he was scared. And he knew his father knew that.

"Chara? How did you k-know?" Sans' father coughed.

"I know I wasn't supposed to be up, but... the other night, when the King and Queen came to visit. I met Chara then." Sans said, averting his gaze slightly to the side.

Sans' father coughed again, then sighed. "Figures."

"Dad... Wh-what do I do?" Sans cried. He couldn't hold back his panic any longer. The cracks in his father's skull were still bleeding, and there was a gigantic red pool of it spreading across the floor. Sans noticced he was starting to hyperventilate, and tried to calm his breathing, but he just couldn't. He was scared, and he couldn't deny it anymore.

"Just... apply pressure to s-stop the bleeding, then wash the cut and wrap it in s-some sort of bandage that won't stick. Quickly!" Sans' father turned, attempting to sit up. Sans helped him move back against the wall, then ran upstairs as fast as his body would allow him, to get something to stop the bleeding. He grabbed a clean cloth and wet it with water, then ran back downstairs and dropped to the floor beside his dad. He pressed it down onto the wound, and gasped. The blood was already beginning to soak through the cloth. Sans felt anger bubbling furiously inside of him.

He would make that human pay for what they did to his father, even if it was the last thing Sans ever did.