I'm not one of you <Frans>

CHAPTER 37: Brige seeds

Location: Waterfall
Time: Unknown
The caves don't grow colder as we continue to walk, as it should when venturing deeper within the darkness, in actuality—I can feel it becoming warmer ever so slightly as the time progresses on.

Following Sans, I could see his figure in front of me as he continued to walk into the darkness of the caves. He had his hands inside of his hoodie pockets—his usual stance, and he sighed slightly.

It had been strangely silent since he had awoken me from my peaceful slumber, I hadn't seen any echo flowers since the one near the stand. All I could hear was the rushing water streaming down the waterfall cliffs, seemingly to never hit the bottom of the rocky slope. It was peaceful, not as desolate as Snowdin, maybe it was the water's doing? Something here made me feel more at ease then other places.

Maybe it was just it's beauty?

Sans continued walking more, the silence between us was killing me. I don't know if he realized it, but it was awkward for me, having all of these questions swarming around my head, but too afraid to ask them. I'm a scientist! I'm supposed to ask questions!

I wanted to ask about the monsters that lived here. Was he really telling the truth when he said he had killed them all? Or was that a joke too?
What were the causes of his personality changes? He obviously wasn't a split-personality case. Maybe he was bipolar?

Or maybe talking to another life form that actually existed brought back his sense of the real world, thus bringing back what little sanity he had left. It was obvious his sanity had been swindled down to the very last aspect of having even the slightest of a functioning mind. He was highly intelligent, that can be observed by his constant thinking and observations.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked as many questions as I thought you would have." Sans said from up ahead, the caverns opening up once more to a larger region. Water flowed from down below. How deep was the illuminating water? "Aren't you curious? The physics of this realm to yours?" He grinned slightly, as I noticed the small river of water was separated horizontally by a flower path, in which it bloomed and rooted to the sides of the side of the rock, connecting the two.

"Well, yes." I said, rather quickly. It was almost as if he could read my thoughts sometimes, it was so incredible accurate when he spoke. "I just have so many." I chuckled a bit, and watched in awe as he stepped on the flowers, as if they were a bridge. They must be wooden.

As he crossed, I said nothing, looking at the flower bridge with perplextion and a strange,
pondering face. It seemed like he'd floated over the petals of the bridge, which I quickly realized upon closer inspection, that they were, in fact four singular flowers. "Is this safe?" I asked, reaching down in my squatted stance to feel the petals, as I did with the echoflower. Maybe it was the anatomical structure of the skeleton, skeletons are hollow, maybe that gave him less mass, and therefore able to walk along the flowers. "I'm pretty heavy." I trailed off, looking down at myself.

"Those are called 'bridge seeds'." Sans says, stepping onto the flowered bridge and shifting his weight up and down by bending his knees slightly. "Connect four in a row, and they blossom into a bridge for you to walk on." He says, shrugging his shoulders. "And I can guarantee you that I'm heavier than you." He chuckled. "Just because human skeletons are hollow, doesn't mean that makes me lightweight too." He said, walking off of the bridge.

I lightly tapped my foot onto the flower petals, and my foot seemed to sink into the soft center of the flower. It held sturdy, but I could feel the rushing water from underneath it, only moments from being swept down into the darkened abyss that the water flowed into. It was only feet away. "I'd love to take your word for it, but..." I trailed off yet again, I seemed to be doing that a lot. "To be honest, you're not the most trustworthy skeleton here." I said, laughing nervously as I kept most of my weight on my left foot, which was on solid rock.

"And yet, who is leading the way?" Sans said, chuckling slightly. "We have another bridge to cross anyways, so might as well get this one over with." He said, "It's not like you're crossing the bridge to get to Snowdin, jeeze." He said.

"Easy for you to say!" I exclaimed. "This completely defies all physics on the surface!" I said, applying more pressure onto the soft flower. I quickly learned that the roots of the flower were not holding onto the bottom of the small pool of water, but the other flowers next to it, and the end flowers were holding onto the rocky wall along the shore of the pool.

"I'm going to jump on it if you don't hurry up." Sans said, exhaling loudly. "I'll make sure you fall into the water." Sans said, teasingly. "Oh! Look! I'm moving closer!" He chuckled.

"DON'T! You dare!" I yelled, looking up at the lazy skeleton with fear, but his eyes held a look of playfulness rather than malice, his sanity was returning slightly the more we talked. My theories were correct. If I really wanted to save his shattered mind, I would have to talk to him more. "If you jump on his thing, then you're coming into the water with me!" I said defensively, steadying my hands as I put more weight onto the bridge in fear. I didn't know what I was afraid of more, falling in, or Sans.

"What? You'll push me in if I..." Sans trailed off, stepping onto the flower bridge with amusement. "Did this?" He said, stomping on it suddenly, and made the bridge rock in the water because of the lack of rooting. "What will you do now?" He chuckled over my screams.

"SANS!" I yelled his name, laughing only a slight bit. I couldn't contain the smile I had on my face, wide with fear. "I swear! If I fall in, then you're going to pay!" I yelled, feeling that sinking feeling in my gut when I thought about how deep the pool was. I couldn't see very well inside the caves, and it made seeing the bottom hard.

"You know how deep his pool of water is?" Sans said as I looked up from the bridge in fear. He chuckled and paused for a moment to allow me to think. "It's pretty deep, I'd say." He said. "About 9 or 10 feet." He said, grinning with even more amusement, as my eyes widened some more.

Nine or ten feet??!

"Sans—!" I said, as he stepped closer, pitting all of his weight onto the bridge, making it rock more and more. "This isn't funny! What if I really fall in? What if I can't make it back in time?" I panicked, looking at Sans, who had a mischievous grin on his face. "What's that look for?" I quivered slightly.

"I think it's hilarious." He said grinning, grabbing my shoulder and shoving my small body into the water.

My heart stopped, and as soon as I felt that cold water's contact on my jeans, my eyes widened, and I flailed my arms, desperate to get out of the deep water. I cried aloud for Sans to extend his arm, as if it were just a prank, but he just put his hands inside his hoodie pockets once more and looked at me with a grin.

He laughed aloud as soon as my butt hit the rock at the bottom quickly, and I held my hand up to look at his with astonishment. "Did I say feet?" He laughed, as the shallow water covered  only about half way up my forearm. "I meant 9 or 10 centimeters. I always get those two confused." He chuckled.

I exhaled, laughing slightly, still recovering from the mini heart attack hat he had given me as a result of this awful prank. He was obviously a jokester when he had his sanity. "You—!" I grinned, reaching for his jacket swiftly, only to grab nothing in the process.

I had only blinked, and he had disappeared off of the bridge and on the other side of the bridge, almost as if he didn't move at all. "You can't get me like that." He chuckled, shrugging with a playful grin on his face. His hood came down from off of his face, and he almost looked normal for a change. "Now quit playing in the water! We have to move, or you'll never get out of here." He chuckled.

"Wha—!?" I cut myself off, throwing my hands up in the air, thus creating a small mist of water that sprayed on the drier part of my body. "Fine.." I said, huffing and getting out of the water. "Got the measurements mixed up my ass." I mumbled, letting out a small stifle of laughter.