The small skeleton seems to be reviving. Gaster checks his watch and notes down the time it took for him to come round. That vision was interesting - no, more than interesting. Fascinating. He reaches across the keyboard and turns down a dial to bring 1-S back into the present. 1-S shudders a little but stays in that fitful stage between awake and asleep. A frown crosses Gaster's forehead before he slides the dial a little further.
The skeleton jolts awake, one eye blue and pulsing. He looks left and right, trying to piece the room back together, and relaxes when he recognises the small white desk, chair and walls. He slowly uncurls his fingers from the arm rests, the bones stiff from crushing the plastic in fear.
Gaster opens his mouth, ready to begin the questioning of the vision. Hands hovering over his keyboard, ready to take notes. He decides he'll start with the basic questions first.
"I-S, how are you fe-"
"What was that?" Sans interupts, shocking Gaster into silence. He closes his mouth with a snap. "Pardon?" He asks hesitantly.
"Doc, what was that?"
"1-S, you'll have to be more specific if you want me to understand you. Please explain what you want to ask, full sentences please." Gaster snaps.
"Why-" Sans starts, "I mean, how did-" He stops and swallows. His fingers twitch over the armrests. Finally, he makes out timidly: "Doc, was that me? Who smashed the human into the wall?"
"Well, 1-S, judging by your vision, it seems that yes, it was you. You must have had a precursor fight with Chara, before they rip open your lower abdomen..." Gaster winces at the bluntness of his words. Nevertheless, he shakes himself and continues "I mean, before your untimely death. Anyway, that isn't the point of my questions, 1-S. Let me contin-"
"So, I have the power to do that? To pick someone up like that?"
The doctor sighs irritably. "Yes, and much more - you didn't just pick the human up, if you remember." Sans winces, and opens his mouth, but Gaster forestalls him, one hand out to stop the question. "The power is the same one that makes your eyes glow, and that allows me to ... pick up you and 2-P."
Gaster notices the skeleton's eyes widen, so he terminates the conversation. "Enough of that." 1-S is looking a little too interested, he thinks. "Now, answer my questions. You wouldn't want me to give you a practical demonstration, now, would you?"
Sans shakes his head, and the doctor continues: "Now, how did it feel rewinding the visi-" but Sans has stopped focusing, letting the questions and his mumbled answers blur into one white noise.
***
"BROTHER!" Pap's reedy voice fills Sans' head, crashing around his skull. The nasal whining seems too much, and the start of a headache blooms around Sans' temples. Wincing, he pushes the taller skeleton away.
"Not feelin' it today, bro. Maybe later." He snaps. Papyrus blinks, surprised.
"WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU ALRIGHT, BROTHER?" He asks, wounded. Again, his high pitched voice scrapes the insides of Sans' head. Sparks light behind his eyes. The light from the cell door seems too much and he staggers and presses a hand against the wall. Pap rushes forward, but Sans shrugs him off.
"It's nothin'."
"ARE YOU SURE?" His brotherly concern seems suffocating. Pressure builds.
"I'm FINE." Sans shouts. Papyrus goes quiet - Sans has never raised his voice before, not like that.
Pap seems close to tears, but Sans' doesn't care. Anger simmers beneath his skull, and he needs time to himself. He doesn't have time for Pap and his innocence and endless optimism. He doesn't know anything about Gaster, and he can't understand the darkness in the world. Sans shoves past Papyrus and curls up facing the wall. He can hear his brother's whimpers, but covers his ears.
Again, the vision haunts him, and his mind is full of that one second loop: the human smashing into the wall. The bones crunching. The puncture of flesh against stone. Seconds slip into hours, as it replays again and again and again, over and over. After a while, Sans learns to stop wincing. He learns to watch it with his eyes open and heart cold. The thud of impact sounds like his heartbeat.
Sans and Gaster, one on the cell floor and the other on slumped over a computer nursing a coffee, think the same thought, again and again. Another pill tomorrow.
They stay awake for most of the night.
***
YOU ARE READING
Handplates - Pills -
Fiksi PenggemarTwo white pills sit in front of Sans. They're white, whiter than his chapped bones, and they're round and smooth. Where did they come from? Certainly, he never saw the Doc making them, and they haven't been out on his desk... So, by all logic, they...
