FurtherDown

Chapter 13 - Part Two

      The room echoed with The Forgotten's laughter as shattered pieces of bone flew through the air. The splinters hit the ground, the noise echoing in Frisk's head while The Forgotten continued to laugh hysterically. The Forgotten had struck Sans on the back of his head with a vine, the punch so powerful, it had cracked his skull. Sans hung from his wrists, motionless. His face contained nothing, but everything. The stale, grim, smile that was pasted across his pale face shown how much pain he was in. His empty, hollow, and black eye sockets were black holes that sucked out the emotion out of everything. Frisk sobbed long painful cries, her body shuddering with each sob. She looked into Sans's desolate eye sockets, feeling her emotions being pulled away from her into his black holes of eyes. Without those pinpricks of light dancing around within his eyes, Sans looked sad, deadbeat, and desperate. Now that he was silent and unmoving, Frisk could truly see into the skeleton, see what he felt and what he was going through. The little monster was going through some big problems, anyone could see now. "No, no, no...Sans... I'm sorry..." Frisk wept, hot, salty tears flowing down her face like a river. "Hah, you actually care about such a minuscule being? There are hundreds of beings just like him underground and on the Surface, you know? Why do you care about such an apathetic and ignorant being like himself?" The vines shook Sans's limp body lightly on saying the word "himself", his body swaying like a ragdoll. Frisk blinked away the tears in her eyes and scowled at The Forgotten with determination. "Oh, now, now, do not give us that look. Even you knew that he wouldn't last long, we just made it all the easier for him and put him out of his misery." The bud smiled wickedly.
     "YOU'VE PROBABLY KILLED HIM!" Frisk screamed, fury and rage consuming every inch of her body. She suddenly jerked away from the entity, her determination scalding the vines around her. The Forgotten shrieked in agony again, dropping Frisk entirely. As she plummeted down to the ground, the girl screamed all the way down at the top of her lungs. She was sure that her death was imminent. Sans was drifting in and out of consciousness as he was also dropped. He barely noticed his descent until he heard Frisk screaming. Her screams sounded distant and muted until they gradually became louder and louder. Sans then became just conscious enough to feel himself falling and to hear Frisk's screams. "Frisk? Frisk!" THUD! Everything went black while a ringing entered Sans's head. The two of them laid on the ground, still, and paralyzed. None of them moved while a nightmare of screams and fighting played overhead of them. Two individuals were fighting for the same control above them, but only one would prevail.

     "Mmmhhh..." Frisk groaned, shifting her weight over to her other side. She squinted her eyes tighter as she adjusted her hearing to the hushed and distant voice that echoed through the corridor, but she couldn't understand what it was saying. She brushed her hand over the dusty, cold, tiled floor, sighing. Frisk eased herself up to her hands and sat up, looking around the hall bleary-eyed. She saw nothing but a faint darkness covering the entirety of the passageway and an inert Sans lying idle on the floor next to her. However, The Forgotten was not in sight. Wait a minute, Sans! Frisk flung herself over to his motionless body, a rush of adrenaline fueling her panic and excitement. She grabbed his arm and shook him lightly; she was beside herself with excitement. "Sans, Sans! Sans, please get up, it's over now, he's- I mean, they're gone." Sans moaned softly but didn't say anything more. "Sans?" Frisk's face creased with worry. Sans was still. She looked over to the back of his head that faced her, there was a gaping hole with sharp, rigid edges jutting out from the sides. She peered into the hole out of curiosity only to see that there was nothing inside his head, suggesting it was empty. She shuddered and backed away, her eyes trailing down his arm to his abdomen. She searched for his rhythmic breathing: up, down, up, down, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.
     Frisk scooted over to Sans and leaned gently on his back, wanting to touch him to feel safe. As Frisk relaxed a bit, she heard the distant voice again, murmuring. She tried to listen in again. "...No, you're wrong, you liar... I, I didn't kill them, rather I shook some sense into them... yes, yes," Silence. "No, I don't think so... the young one, she is awake." Frisk jumped, pushing herself into Sans more and more while nuzzling into her turtleneck. I don't like the looks of this one bit, She thought while trying to wake Sans again. "Sans, Sans, please, get up, I need you..." Her voice strained and cracked through her tears as Sans muttered something and shifted to lay on his back. Frisk grabbed one of his hands, taking it into her own quaking hands and holding it gingerly. She took and deep breath and wiped her tears away, putting a stoney face on - her determined look - and looked into Sans's eyesockets again. "You know what, you're right. I don't need you, I'm gonna get us out of here like I know you would do for me. I'm doing this for you, Sans, so hold on tight." Frisk stood up, walked over to Sans's loose hand and picked it up in an attempt to wrap it around her shoulders and neck. As soon as Sans's arm was securely wrapped around her neck and shoulders, Frisk took Sans's weight unto her and trudged towards the other end of Judgement Hall. But it wasn't long before the creature noticed her and called after her. "HEY! Now just where in the world do you two think you're going?" A shrilling voice screeched. Frisk jolted but dared not look back into its beady eyes, so she kept walking a bit faster. "Um, hello? I'm talking to you!"
     A vine shot down from above and tried to hit Frisk in a whip-like fashion. SNAP! The vine barely missed her. Frisk whimpered and started to run as fast as she could. The being growled viciously and reached for Sans with one of its vines. "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" A red, transparent, fire-like substance flew from the palm of her hand as Frisk whipped around to scorch the vine. The flower reacted. "YOU LITTLE BRAT!" It called as Frisk ran away again. Though she made it look easy, running while dragging Sans was no easy task for someone her size, but she was determined to get out of that hall alive. Suddenly, the girl slowed to a stop, panting and breathless as she delicately laid Sans on the floor. "Sorry Sans, I gotta fix this." Frisk turned around to face her enemy with a solemn face. The body grinned as it launched another attack unto Frisk, vines came from all directions, overwhelming her. Frisk held her hands close to her heart as she summoned more of her determination into her hands. The vines crept in closer towards them, blocking out every way to escape, but Frisk held her stance.
      In a matter of seconds, the vines darted one by one at Frisk, but they didn't reach her in time. In between seconds, Frisk summoned a defensive red dome around herself and Sans, deflecting the vines just in time. "You cannot hold us back forever!" The flower bayed, unleashing attack after attack on the dome. It wasn't long before one lasting hit cracked the dome, releasing more and more cracks all over the area of the dome. Frisk gasped. "Uh-oh. Um, that's probably not a good thing. Oh, Sans, what do I do, what do I do?" The souls chuckled in a deep, voice, knowing that they would get what they came for finally. They raised a vine, readying it for their last blow that would shatter the dome into nothingness, but paused before they let it loose, giving Frisk the chance to surrender silently. Frisk looked up at the flower with a tinge of hope in her eyes and stood her ground, one last time. The flower furrowed their eyebrows together in response and sent the vine careening right down at Frisk. But before it could reach her and her dome, Frisk used the last of her determination to send a shockwave of determination-powered energy hurtling towards the tangle of souls above her. The energy traveled so fast through the air, it made a sonic boom as it hit the creature. The sonic boom was so loud, that Frisk could barely hear the creature's screams over the sound of the energy traveling through the air.
      Then all went silent. THUD! Frisk jumped at the sound of the entity falling to the ground in the distance. It sounded as if a bag full of plastic bags was dropped from the ceiling of the hall onto the ground when the plant hit the floor. The monster was still then, it looked peaceful as it fell unconscious. Frisk let her shoulders fall and heaved a big sigh. She turned to Sans who was still unconscious and limp. She tiptoed over to his body and draped his arm over her shoulders again and walked with him out of the corridor at last. After stepping out of the hall into New Home, Frisk looked around the grey city blankly for a place to rest for the two of them. After seeing nowhere to rest, the child continued on searching for somewhere to sit down. After a while of walking and searching, Frisk found a thin alleyway between two smaller buildings that hid the two fairly well and gave them a place to rest without worrying. As she entered the alleyway, she noticed how dusty and dark it was. She shifted the drowsy skeleton onto the ground and propped him up against a brick wall. She looked down on him, examining him for any other wounds, then she noticed: Oh my god, his wrists! They're... bleeding? Sans's skinny wrists were covered in cracks, and through the cracks seeped a dark, ruby-colored liquid that resembled blood. She carefully took his wrists into her hands, starting to shake a bit as she looked a bit closer at his mysterious injury. Sullenly she set his arms down and began ripping one of the sleeves of her sweater apart into shreds. After she collected enough shreds, she wrapped both of his wrists in her sweater shreds, making sure to apply some pressure to the wounds by making the wrappings a bit tight. After she was satisfied with her work, Frisk sat back on her feet and looked over Sans searching for any more wounds, but she found none. Her eyelids were heavy, and she felt very tired, so Frisk crawled over to Sans's side and snuggled up next to him, burying her face into his hoodie. The girl grabbed onto the skeleton's hoodie and listened for his rhythmic breathing again. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.....inhale.....exhale...
      Abruptly, Sans's breathing became irregular and sporadic, which woke Frisk up. She looked up into Sans's face, he was wide awake now and gripped his shirt as he gasped for air. "S-Sans!? Sans, what's going on!?" Sans continued to pant heavily, putting his hand against Frisk's chest to push her away lightly. Frisk grabbed his hand and squeezed it as she watched Sans land into a coughing fit. After a good long while of coughing, Sans finally cleared his throat and sighed. Frisk, who was biting her cheek, finally parted her lips to say her piece. "Are you okay?" Was all she could manage as she bit down on her lip, cautiously awaiting his response. Sans let a bashful smile spread across his face as he placed his hands on the girl's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Kid, I'm fine. Don't worry about it, I just have a little bit of asthma, that's all. But just a small bit, I'm not gonna die or anything from it, my 'asthma attacks' consist of me getting dizzy and lightheaded anyways. Nothing more. Plus, I only have them when the air is super dusty or dirty," Sans paused to look around him. "Which it is. So no need to worry, I'm f- Oof!" Frisk nestled into Sans, hugging him tightly. "H-hah, of course. I was unconscious, so I probably freaked you out. Well, I'm fine, for now. But, can you do me a favor and not tell everyone about my slight asthma? I don't need everyone to baby me even more." Sans smiled, returning Frisk's love by wrapping his arms around her body and embracing her. She laughed into his hoodie, nodding afterward.
     "Hey, wait a minute, where's Flowey and The Forgotten?" Frisk lifted her head from his chest and looked into Sans's eyesockets, gazing into his white pinpricks happily before answering. "I fought them, and overpowered them with my determination after they dropped you." She smiled. Sans looked at her with a confused look on his face for a couple beats, trying to comprehend what she just said. "Dropped me?" He finally asked. Frisk's face fell as she remembered his skull. "Yeah, The Forgotten hit you in the back of the head and then dropped you after I burned them with my determination."
       "They did?"
      "Yeah..."
      Sans felt the back of his head, but instead of rubbing his head, his fingers fell through the hole. His eyes widened as he felt for his skull with both hands. Frisk's face went pale as she watched helplessly. "Oh, Jesus Christ, I-" Sans looked up at Frisk, catching on to her expression. "Hey, don't worry, it can be fixed. Now, what were you saying? You said you defeated The Forgotten?" Sans said through an encouraging smile. She nodded, smiling weakly. "Wait, seriously?" Sans said through his laughter, trying to suppress it. Frisk only smiled a bit wider. Sans leaned back and softened his expression, signaling that he let it sink in. "No kidding, so you're saying, that you stood up to an amalgamate of souls and overpowered them with purely your own will? I, hah hah, I can't believe this, so what, they're just gone?" Sans rubbed the bridge of his nose and knitted his eyebrows together. "No, they fell to the floor after I overpowered them and I think they went unconscious. I didn't stop to look, I just wanted to get you and myself out of there." Sans chuckled again under his breath, shaking his head. "Well, I'll be. Wow, buddy, I didn't know you had it in ya, g-good job though, I'm really proud of you. And uh, thanks, you know, for sticking up for me. I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me that you would even consider doing such a thing for a pile of bones like me." Frisk smiled widely and melted back into Sans while Sans nestled his skull into her hair and closed his eyesockets. He pushed his fingers into her hair, running them through the strands. "I'm just so glad you're okay," Frisk whispered into the monster. "Of course I'm okay, bud. I'm not gonna let myself die that easy. Though, I am pretty close." Frisk flinched and gripped his hoodie.
"Hey, hey, easy bucko, I just need you to do me a quick favor. Listen, I need you to go find me something to eat, okay? Literally, anything would work, just something for me to get my health back up. Okay? Can you do that for me?" Sans looked hopefully into Frisk as she nodded her head slowly. "Okay, good. Just go look through the city, I'm sure there'll be a restaurant open. Find one, go in the back and look for anything canned really." Frisk nodded and started to get up, but Sans grabbed her wrist before she could get up. "Hey, kiddo, don't worry, I'm gonna be fine. I have you taking care of me." He winked. Frisk giggled and pulled away to start looking. She started her search for a restaurant to look in, searching, searching, until she found one. She walked towards it, picking up her pace, but not wanting to run to attract attention to herself. Belle de Boulevard was the name Frisk read up top in curvy, lacey letters, she didn't pay much attention to it though. She pulled on the door handle to open it, but it wouldn't budge. A wave of worry surged over her, making her stomach twist and hands sweaty. Frisk then remembered there might be a back door, which was where she looked. She tried that door, it wouldn't budge either. Frisk bit her lip and wrapped her arms around herself. This was the only restaurant that hadn't been broken into that she saw, which means it had better chances of having food in the back. As she stared helplessly at the door, she noticed an arrow that pointed down to the ground etched into the wall very lightly next to the door. She kneeled down and looked for what the arrow was pointing to, but couldn't find anything significant.
      Suddenly, she noticed a potted plant sitting under the arrow, and soon figured out that it was actually fake. She lifted the plant up to examine it but accidentally revealed a small metal key that was hidden under it. At first, she stared at it with a confused look on her face, but soon realized what it was snatched it up. She set the plant back down and ran to the front door, jamming the key into the lock and unlocking it. She ripped the door open and leaped inside, panting. After she caught her breath, Frisk took a look at her surroundings and walked to the back of the restaurant cautiously. She soon reached the pantry in the back of the kitchen and peered into the dark room. Noticing the light switch, Frisk flipped on the lights which revealed to her empty shelves. Her stomach sank. She began to poke around the small room, searching for any sort of food to bring back to Sans. Kneeling down, Frisk layed on her stomach to look under the shelving for anything that might've been left behind, and to her luck, she found a couple of cans hidden under the bottom shelves. She fished the four cans out from underneath and gathered them in her arms and walked out of the room, turning off the lights on her way out. As she appeared in the main dining room, she saw a lone ketchup bottle laying aimlessly on the floor next to a table. She managed to pick it up, feeling it's weight to consider how much ketchup was likely in there. It weighed an ample weight, meaning there was a good amount probably left in the bottle, so she placed it on the pile of cans she had gathered and took it with her for Sans. She smiled on her way out the front door, knowing Sans would be pleased with her find, but her smile didn't last long.
      A dog-like monster stood about fifteen feet in front of her with glowing lava-filled craters covering its back. It growled and bowed its head down, staring straight at the small girl with fiery, glowing scarlet eyes of hatred. Smoke poured out of its red-hot glowing mouth as it continued to snarl. Its smoky breath reminded Frisk of her steamy breath through the crisp, frigid air in the winter, but those were good memories, and she wasn't having a good time. She took a small step to the side, thinking she could get around it, it snarled again but louder and jumped over to the side in front of Frisk again. No deal. Its half-burned off tail lashed from side to side, signaling that this monster was not happy. It stared down the cans that Frisk held in her arms, it's mouth drooling lava. Frisk continued to try and get around it to get back to Sans, but the dog creature continued to follow her and block her path. Eventually, the dog monster lost its patience and lunged at Frisk, barking viciously. Frisk ducked out of the way, turning her back to her attacker, but nothing attacked her. "Kid, run!" Frisk heard Sans call. She turned around to see a wall of blue bones protruding from the dirt-ground keeping the beast at bay. It clawed, bit, and barked at the bones out of frustration, trying to get at Frisk. "Kid, I can't hold him back much longer!" Sans cried, interrupting her thoughts. She shook her head and blinked her eyes as she ran away from the snarling monster over to the safety of Sans. She raced over to him, hugging the cans tightly and darted behind him, peering out from behind him at the creature. Sans held the attack up a bit longer by holding his left arm up as he pushed Frisk into the alley with his free arm. Before jumping back into the alley with her, he let the wall of bones down, freeing the angered beast. It snarled and barked for a while before stalking over to the alleyway where Frisk ran. Sans stood ready, his hand holding steady in front of him while he waited for the dog creature to come around the corner. Finally, after a couple beats of waiting, the beast jumped out from around the corner, gnashing its white teeth together, but its intimidating was quickly interrupted by more blue bones. The bones hit the dog, penetrating its skin and getting a yelp and whine out of it. The dog stood down, taking a few weak and limping steps back. It looked up into Sans's eyesockets, then looked into his flashing blue eye, seemingly mesmerized by it, then looked away to the ground and limped away, whining with each step.
     Sans let his shoulders drop and blinked his blue eye away as he stumbled back into the wall, sinking to the ground. Frisk followed him, immediately dropping to her knees and examining Sans. Needless to say, Sans was a hot mess. Sweat dripped from his forehead as his jagged breathing threatened another asthma attack coming on. Frisk let the pile cans fall, picking up one and handing it to Sans. Sans looked down at the can with a look of disgust. "Open the can," He said between wheezes. Frisk flinched and quickly pulled the top off, handing him a spoon and the can. He took the can but waved away the spoon as he raised the can to his teeth. Frisk cocked her head as he absorbed the contents of the can. In a matter of seconds, a green light began to radiate from his chest, along with his wrists and head. Sans felt the back of his head, it had healed. He opened his eyes to a wide-eyed wonderous Frisk and started to laugh. Seeing that Sans was good spirits made Frisk smile. She could tell that he felt significantly better, considering his new found energy, though she was a bit confused as to how he got it. Wiping tears from his eyes, Sans sighed. "Oh god kid, you shoulda seen your face. Hah, it's called absorption. Don't think too much into it." Sans smiled, ruffling her hair as she continued to smile. Without looking, Frisk picked up the bottle of ketchup and handed it to her friend. "No way, you scored a bottle of ketchup too? I didn't even see it before! Aw, thanks buddy, you shouldn't have." Sans winked jokingly, handing her a can of meat that she had grabbed. She smiled and accepted it, beginning to eat while Sans drank his ketchup. The two of them were finally content, for now. After all, they had been through, they could finally relax and breathe with no one trying to kill them or attack them. It felt nice for both of them, as they smiled generously at each other, knowing they both had escaped death numerous times. It felt nice to be alive.