In Revenge's Wake (Undertale Fanfic)

26.

With every step of ground covered we seemed to walk faster; egged on by the increasingly persistent grumbles and groans beneath us, seeming to rise up higher, angrily reaching for our feet. 

      "How can we stop it?" I asked Sans, "Surely we should have some form of plan, or something?" 

       He blew a bit of air out of his mouth before answering, "I don't know Frisk, something like this has never been fixed." 

         Something about the way he answered made me think this wasn't an isolated situation. "What do you mean? Surely there's some protocol to follow if the vents malfunction or something?" 

       He laughed, "I think you're confusing us with the human world, sweetheart. Down here that sort of thing isn't often thought through as well. The only time something like this happened before... It took a pretty big sacrifice for it to be fixed." 

       "Can we not do that again?" 

       "No." His reply was short, finite. "Sorry," He sighed, noticing my immediate silence, "It's just... that sort of thing isn't feasible anymore. There's a reason the underground kept the whole thing under wraps." 

        He reached for my hand and squeezed it. The corners of my mouth turned up as I looked at him, "Well, we need to think of something." 

        "I'm all ears." He replied.

       I turned my gaze forward, and give a little gasp. The lab was in our sights now, looming in the distance. Its' walls were discolored and peeling, the stone walls cracked and broken, tumbling away to piles of dust on the ground surrounding it. As the core gave another shuddering growl, more stone added itself to the pile. 

        All of a sudden, this scene melted away from my vision, and I swayed. Instead, my eyes pictured the lab how it once was, but this time the doors were locked, wrapped with a thick chain as screams, raw and fearful, pounded at the door; begging, pleading, roaring. A figure flew into my mind then, bathed in shadow; long and thin, radiating cold indifference... 

       I was back to the present, collapsed to my knees as I gasped for breath. Sans was on one knee next to me, one hand holding the side of my head, the other on my thigh. "Frisk?" 

      I looked up at him, my vision still blurry and my ears still ringing with screams. "Frisk!" He repeated, eyes searching my face with shock. The fear I was feeling was evidently etched onto my face like a mirror. 

       "I-I'm okay," I said, breathing less shallow now, shaking off the last of my vision, "I just suddenly saw this- this thing..." 

       "Where?" Sans asked sharply, looking around, eye flashing blue.  

       "It wasn't here... it was like this picture in my mind-" 

       You're finally here. 

       Oh, shit. Chara's voice echoed into my thoughts, intertwining with my own once again. 

       And where have YOU been?

      Nowhere. Waiting. 

      Waiting for what? 

      For you to get here. To the end. To the truth. 

      "Frisk, you there?" Sans was still looking at me, concerned.

       "Yeah, sorry," I snapped back to the underground. 

      "You just stopped talking mid sentence," he told me, his tone gentle, but firm.

       I hestitated. I know I should tell him about Chara. I know he deserved the truth. But how could I tell him his worst enemy was here, with us, in my head? 

       "What aren't you telling me, Frisk?" 

       Don't tell him. He'll throw us off that cliff in a heartbeat and you know it.

       No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't hurt me. 

        Don't say I didn't warn you.

       I swallowed. "I-" Whatever I was going to try to explain was dragged away by loud crack in the distance. Even in the past few minutes, the dust in the air had gotten thicker, much thicker. Sans was looking at something over my shoulder. I turned to see a cloud of smoke edging its' way towards us, the ground trembling more and more restlessly as it got closer. 

       "Time to go," he told me, pulling me to my feet and grabbing my hand once again. I didn't move. "Frisk, come on!"

       "But where can we go?" I cried over the noise, letting Sans pull me over the ground, closer to the lab, "That place is going to get swallowed up just as much as here!" 

          "Trust me," Was all he said, gaster blaster flying ahead of us, his mask on his face back, focused and calm, as he always was. The great skull blasted the lock system above the door, shattering it with sparks and causing the doors to leap apart. He hurled us both into there and turned, instantly fingers finding the keypad on the inside, breaking it apart and fiddling with the wires so quickly I couldn't see what he was doing. 

       Don't trust him. He wants you dead. 

        "What are you doing?!" I cried, "We need to go!" 

       He growled impatiently, not answering me, his face hidden by the furry hood of his coat as his kept his back to me. I watched in horror as the ground began to fall to dust closer and closer to where we stood, Sans still not making a move to run. 

        He would trade you for his brother in a heartbeat.

        Not a moment too soon, the doors suddenly flashed with an almost invisible barrier, before they, too, shut; leaving us enshrouded with darkness. The silence was deafening compared to what I had grown accustomed to out there, and the cool air hit my skin like pinpricks. My teeth were shattering, whether from fear or the sudden cold, I had no idea. Chara's words had snaked into my own conscience for moment, spiking me with fear. I already wished she hadn't come back. 

       Sans' arms found me as he engulfed me in a hug, his skull resting on my hair. "Hey, it's okay." 

      "What did you do?" I asked him softly, relaxing a little into his chest. 

      I felt his body shudder slightly in another small laugh, "I helped build this place. I know all the secrets to it. But I'm afraid that's where the good news ends. There's a reason I've avoided it for so long." He pulled my shoulders away from his body almost reluctantly, and his blue eye gleamed like icy fire in the darkness. 

       He snapped his fingers, and the light intensified. Throwing it into the air, it danced to the to of the ceiling where it caught and split to all the bulbs on the ceiling, bathing us in a soft light. 

    I turned to look at the lab we had just entered. My blood ran cold at the sight as I looked on frozen in horror. Sans put a hand gently on the small of my back.

      "Welcome to hell."