Lights Like Stars (Sans x Reader)

37 - When You're Ready

In which, if wishes were horses, Sans would have been trampled.

You

When you and Sans emerge from the void, you've got your eyes closed, as you often do after 'porting. That intense pressure always makes you feel like your eyes are about to pop out of your skull. So rather than sight, the first sense you experience is touch as the feeling of the air wraps around you. It's warmer here than Snowdin was, slightly damp and a little bit breezy. It smells and feels like the aftermath of a springtime rain shower. You open your eyes to a world of phosphorescent plant life and glowing crystals shining in the dimness. The peaceful sound of a stream tumbling over a stony bed makes a serene backdrop to the scene.

"It's beautiful," you whisper, awed. "Where are we?"

"waterfall. 'cause, you know, there's a waterfall. asgore sucked at naming things." It's a weak joke, but Sans is clearly trying for humor in an attempt to fight back against something else looming at the edge of his heart, something huge and complex and dark, something you might not have noticed lurking under the surface if you didn't know him so well. You don't know how to help him, so you just chuckle obligingly. Then you silently berate yourself for being useless. Sans continues, counting on his fingers, "snowdin. hotland. our old capital city was called home. our current one is new home."

You laugh. Okay, maybe Asgore was bad at naming things. "Seriously? You've got to be yanking my chain."

"nope, all true. even his and tori's kid was named after both of 'em. asriel." You laugh again before you notice the brief, sad flicker in Sans's pupils, before the implication behind the statement registers. An eerie wave of whispers sweeps through the cavern, repeating the name. Asriel. Asriel. Asriel.

Your laughter peters out with an uncomfortable, "Heh...aah. Wh-what's that?"

"echo flowers." Sans crouches down beside one of the phosphorescent blue blooms dotting the cavern floor and gives it a nudge. Asriel, it whispers threadily. This time the emotion that flickers across Sans's face is mild irritation.

"i said, 'echo flowers,'" he complains directly to the bloom, and nudges it again. Asriel, it insists.

"damn thing must be broken," Sans mutters, straightening up. Turning to you, he smiles a little wryly and jerks a thumb over his shoulder at the flower. "they repeat the last thing they hear. or they're supposed to. not sure why this one's being stubborn."

Asriel, the flower whispers.

"can it," Sans replies grouchily. A little chorus of "can-its" from other nearby flowers drowns out the next Asriel, and Sans shrugs, seemingly satisfied. Personally, you're a little disturbed, though you can't quite put your finger on the reason for it. You squat down to tease the petals of one of the echo flowers. It mumbles dodgeball to the face as it bobs on its stem. With the Underground apparently deserted, you have to wonder how long it's been holding onto that story. Do talking flowers get lonely without someone to talk to?

"Sans?" There's something you have to ask, before the conversation that raised the question draws too far away from the topic. "I never knew Toriel and Asgore had a child of their own. Where's Asriel now?"

Sans tenses briefly, then stuffs his hands into his pockets, forcing his posture into that comfortable slouch that's so effective at erasing outward signs of his discomfort.

"he died," he states bluntly, and then looks guiltily at your sorrowful expression, as if he wishes he'd handled that better. There's no way to soften that kind of blow, though. Learning that someone you care about has lost not only a husband, but a child as well, would be hard no matter how the news was delivered. Sans scuffs one foot in the rich black dirt of the cavern floor, buying himself a few moments to arrange his thoughts. Then he offers you his elbow with a wistful half-smile. You take it, and he starts to lead you in a stroll along the bank of the nearby stream, as if this was a real date, as if the two of you were just a carefree couple with nothing on your minds but to enjoy your time together. Another refuge in appearances, you suppose. Maybe Sans believes that if someone can't be happy, they should at least look like they are. He certainly lives as if he believes it. "it's kind of a long story," he begins. "before asgore started collecting souls to try to break the barrier, he and tori had one kid of their own, and one adopted child. a human."