PATCHWORK SOUL

The Build-Up Arc Chapter 80

An hour passed, and there was still no sign of the shadowman. Disappointed but not at all surprised, Frisk sent him one more text before they headed back to the house. The whole thing made Asriel roll his eyes.

Papyrus was very excited to see them— eager to show off how he'd meticulously ordered Frisk's clothes by type and colour, rolled them, and lined the chest with them. It was a rather banal thing, but he was so proud of it. It was sort of strange for Frisk to see all that stuff in one place like that. Things that were all hers, now. There was a kind of permanence about it that was oddly reassuring to her.

Alphys had coopted the downstairs and had set up more snacks than Frisk had realized fit into a dimension box all across their table at the side of the living room. The lizard seemed very pleased with herself and Undyne quickly waved Papyrus and Frisk down.

"I th-thought it might be, um, nice to m-maybe have a little bit of a thing with... y-you know, snacks and m-music or something?" she said.

"That's weirdly irreverent, huh?" Asriel joked as he snacked on some chips. "Hey, guys, I'm gonna die tomorrow. Party, right?"

"You're not gonna die," Frisk said, her brow furrowed.

"Might as well," he said.

"Asriel, come on, you're going to be okay!" Papyrus assured him. "Why do you think you'll die? Because you won't! I'm sure of it! I don't think that's an option, actually."

"Because that's what should happen to me when this soul thing doesn't work," he said. "Barrier'll be down, though, so that's nice."

"Aw, A-Asriel, don't worry so much," Alphys said gently. "Don't b-backslide on us, okay?"

"Yeah, you nerd, haven't you seen how much work Alph's put into this crap?" Undyne said. "She's got all this science junk all over the place. You're gonna be fine. You just gotta, like, get into it."

"Sure," Asriel said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Chill." Sans was on the couch, picking through a dry batch of cup-noodles like they were pretzel sticks. He looked grey and was slouched low into the shoulders of a baggy blue hoodie. "Won't get anywhere thinkin' like that."

"You're one to talk," Asriel said.

"Sure am," he agreed.

Asriel scoffed and dug into the chips again. Frisk sighed and shook her head. She scampered over to the flower and gave him a quick smooch on the head. He jokingly waved her off.

"Hey!" Undyne slammed her hands onto the table. "Listen! Forget that crap, kid! You're fine! Tomorrow's gonna be great! And besides, tonight's for everyone to chill out!"

"Speakin' of chillin' out," Sans said. He shot Frisk a look. "Whatcha think, milkshakes?"

"Oh!! Yeah! That would be perfect," she said. She scooped up Asriel and grinned. "Come with me?"

"What? Oh. Uh. Fine," he said.

"Then we'll go! Sans, stay, you look super tired," she said.

"Not arguin' with that," he said, and he sat up as the kids headed towards the door. "Put it on my tab, alright?"

"Okay, okay," she said with a laugh.

As soon as they were out the door, Sans looked more alert and sat up slightly. He stuck a hand up.