Manictale Short Stories - Whispers

    “n' then he flew aaaaall the way to the snow” he said with a husky voice as he gesticuled with his hand to no one in particular. He knew that the lady couldn't see his gestures, but he didn't care.

    Toriel's laughter echoed through the door and reached Sans' ear. Her voice was the prettiest sound Sans had heard in ages. It enveloped him with a warm, comfortable touch, caressing his body and Soul, summoning a feeling within himself he thought he had long forgotten. He could hear her moving in place as the fabric of her dress rubbed against the stone floor.

    “You don't say...” she said in between chuckles “And then? What happened?”

    “oh he got up and began to laugh” Sans continued “he cried a bit but he was just sooo happy he didn't care for the bruises he knew he would get”

    The woman behind the door chuckled a little bit more, failing to control her own laughter. Sans chuckled a little bit himself as the sound of her voice intoxicated him. He stopped himself soon after, though, as the pain in his chest began to intesify the moment he began chuckling.

    “so, your turn” he whispered as loud as he could “tell me a story of your own”

    “Oh? Let me see...” she mumbled. Sans thought that phrase was funny considering she couldn't actually see anything
    
    “Oh I know!” Toriel exclaimed “There was this one time when my children were trying to bake a pie for my hus-” but she stopped mid-sentence and tried to get the proper words “Ex-husband. You see, they had already baked a pie for him once but it ended up getting my ex-husband sick because they had unwillingly changed the ingredients for it. So, they decided on baking another pie for him as a way to apologize”

    “uh-huh...” Sans nodded unconsciously. He was struggling not to pant.

    “I was reading a book, at that moment, and I was far from the kitchen”
He then imagined Toriel sitting, confortably, on an confy armchair while her hands caressed the pages of a book filled with little dots instead of writen words. He found the image amusing, for some reason.

    “When, suddenly, I heard a loud sound coming from where the kids were. Of course, I ran towards them. Upon my arrival, I noticed that something had fallen and broken on impact because I ended up stepping on some shards”

    “oh my...”

    “Yes. Asriel began saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again but Chara stayed quiet” she chuckled “I knelt in front of them and felt my way on their head. The poor thing was covered in chocolate powder and was forcing down a sob. They were just so scared I would be mad at them, but I wasn't and would never be. Poor thing” And then she began laughing softly again.

    Sans couldn't help but laugh along. The sound of her happiness was too much to resist.

    “I told them that it was okay and they calmed down. I helped them cleaning and we began to prepare the pie crust. Oh and what day that was...” she sighed with heavy nostalgia emanating from her words “We laughed and made sure to put extra chocolate in it for my husband” Toriel didn't seem to notice her mistake, but it was not like Sans was going to correct her at that stage of the conversation “Chara was so happy that they managed to bake something, even if they had my and Asriel's help. Asgore, of course, loved it. In fact, so much so that he decided on make a picnic to celebrate our childrens' newfound cooking abilities”

    “uh-huh” Sans nodded again, droplets of sweat falling from his forehead. He ignored them, though, as he was lost on the image Toriel had summoned in his mind.

    “We went to Waterfal and spent the day there. After a while, more monsters began to join our little picnic. Little Undyne and her father... Gerson, if memory serves me right, where there and Alphys' parents and many others” her words faded into silence as she struggled to bring her memories back from the black abyss they were once locked in
    
    “I... think there were another child but... I can't quite recall it. I know for a fact that this child and little Undyne were inseparable and, together, these two loved to create trouble. Asriel and Chara loved to play with these two, which i found very inappropriate at the time but, really, I was a young mother and still learning that I had to trust the little ones”

    The skeleton moved uncomfortably in place as anxiousness clawed it's way up his throat. He fought it back furiously, trying to keep it cool. There was no need to freak out because of those memories.

    “In the end, our picnic became a huge banquet. The children were ecstatic, of course, and ate a lot more than they should've” she chuckled one more time, her voice sounding a little bit more blue now. Sans suddenly felt the need to hug her tight and never let go, to comfort her and whisper that everything was in the past and the memories of it were what really mattered. But the cold door kept them apart and Sans didn't breathe a word of consolation “That was a good day”

    The skeleton monster didn't say anything at first. He didn't know what to say, really. The woman was in pain. She was visibly suffering from the hope that the past once gave her but had cruelly taken away. The urge to confort her hit him once more like a brick but, again, he shut his mouth.

    “yeah...” he whispered “i wish i been there” the lie left his closed mouth as natural as his exhaling “it would've been cool...” 

    When, suddenly, a burst of coughing interrupted his words. Sans leaned forward in an attempt to stop the coughing but ended up only making it worse. He felt a warm liquid run up his non-existent throat and gulped harshly to keep it down. He was successful but his efforts weren't enough to stop the next wave of wet coughing that preceded it. The sounds were disgusting, even to his own hearing.

    He struggled to recover his composure, a process which took a full minute. In the end of it, he was panting and sweating like he had ran a marathon.

    “My friend?” Toriel called from the other side of the door “Are you feeling well?”

    “what?...oh... yeah...” Sans panted, the urge to cough still tickling his chest “i j-just...” he stuttered “g-got something... in my throat, that's all”
       
    Toriel actually chuckled at that.

    “Oh really?” she asked with a teasing voice “You have no throat, my friend, so how you're supposed to chocke when there's nothing to choke with?”

    Sans frowned before bursting into laughter. His hands went to his belly as he wheezed and cackled, ignoring completely the discomfort the movement brought. Toriel laughed along.

    “oh man...” he said as he dried a tear that threatened to fall from his eye socket “i didn't see that coming...” he chuckled again. 

    Toriel snorted, visibly trying to keep her composure.

    “But... Please, my friend, tell me the truth” now her voice was serious “Are you feeling well?”

    The answer was no but, of course, he lied. It had already become a common thing for Sans, at that point. 

    “yeah” a bony finger scratched his cheek as he continued to tell her his lie “'s just that i've been feelin' a lil bit weak...” he continued “but that's probably because i have the flu or somethin'... really, 's nothing to worry about, 'kay?” it would be way too troublesome to explain the origin of his poor health, his frequent visits to the good doctor and the baggage of questions that came with it. Too troublesome to tell Toriel the truth and explain the pains and the experiments and the needles and the... the...

    Sans couldn't bear the thought. He just...couldn't tell her. If he did, he would lose her forever, and that was something he couldn't afford to. 

    “Are you wearing the jacket I made for you?” she suddenly asked.

    Sans half sighed half snorted.

    “of course”
    
    “I see...” that phrase. Again “Well, that makes me happy”

    “why's that?”
    
    The question seemingly took Toriel by surprise and she had to take a moment to think of an answer.

    “Because... It means that you care about my efforts to make you feel comfortable I guess...?” she didn't mean to, but her phrase ended up becoming a question “I am not sure. I'm just happy you're wearing it”

    “heh, don't sweat it” Sans shrugged and smiled “i get it”

    His eye sockets then surrounded the environment that extended itself all around him. Tall trees seemed to stare him down as it's leaves moved softly from the wind that blew downwards. Some flakes of snow were falling, too, and Sans could tell that a storm was coming. It was very cold but Sans' jacket was doing a hell of a job keeping him warm. He wondered if Toriel would make a jacket like this for Papyrus if he asked her to. Maybe if he paid her? It didn't seem like she needed money but Sans would feel bad if he just asked and gave her nothing in return. But he also wanted to give something nice to Papyrus and a jacket like his own seemed to be a good idea. It's not like it would do any good, though, as Papyrus would not be able to wear it either way. Not in the current state he was, at least.

    “hey, uh... can i ask ya a question?” Sans asked.

    “Of course, my friend”

    “did ya see any of those freaking flowers around the ruins?” just as he finished his sentence, he made himself aware of his mistake. Toriel was blind and was probably unaware of the plants even if they were everywhere around her. Surely she would feel the collateral effects from them, but Sans knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything about it... Right? The thought send chills down Sans' spine and a feeling of dread began consuming him from the inside.

    “Well, I didn't see them” Toriel answered with a calm, serious voice “But there were some here, that I garantee it”

    “what?” Sans then sit upright but fell against the door imediately as he felt a stinging pain on his chest “you serious?!”

    “Yes. Oh but don't you worry, I took care of them all”

    “'s that so? How?” Sans was genuinely worried. The collateral effects from standing close to those flowers were something Sans had experienced closely.

    “I burned them”
For some reason, that phrase sent chills of discomfort down Sans' back. It sounded creepy.

    “ok, good... just... stay away from them”

    “You don't need to tell me that”

    A moment of silence proceeded then. Sans stared at the distance and caught himself recalling the many encounters he had in that snowy pathway. The hours he wasted waiting and waiting and waiting. Those weren't good memories and he would give his own Soul to forget them. He kept telling himself that it was for a good cause but he knew that it was bad either way. If Toriel knew the things he had done there, under her nose, she would surely kill him and that wasn't even an understatement.

    “Hey, how is your brother doing?Did he get better?”

    Suddenly, Sans felt an urge to cry. A desolation tightened his chest to the point where it was difficult to breathe.

    “no” he whispered “he... he's still in a coma”

    “I see” Sans then heard her leaning against the door “Oh but don't worry, my friend, I'm sure he will get better”

    “oh really? Tell me, how many monsters you met that managed to get better after getting in contact with those flowers?”

    Toriel took a moment to answer and Sans waited patiently. He was about to give up waiting when her voice echoed from the other side of the door.

    “Your brother is not dead yet, is he?”

    “well, no, but-”

    “So there's your proof. Other monster would have already succumbed from the lack of magic, but your brother is persisting. This is something special, my friend. You brother is something special and he will make through this”

    Sans knew it was a lie. He had been lying this whole time and he could recognize a straight up lie when he heard one. Nevertheless, he felt hopefull. Somehow, that lie actually made him feel better. Even if just for a moment, he believed it and he believed that Papyrus would walk from that bed and give Sans the most tight hug he had ever recieved and they would live their lifes like nothing had ever happened.

    That was what going to happen. Papyrus would get better but not from his own strenght but with his big bro's help.
Sans would make sure of that. He would give anything for that. If he could chose to give the monsters freedom or save Papyrus, he would chose the second option without a second thought. Nothing was more important than Papyrus. 

    Nothing.

    That's what he told himself every day before going to sleep. It didn't help. Not really anyways. A bad thing was a bad thing and period, even if it was for a major good. There was no excuse. If there was another way to save his bro, Sans would do it, but there was none. He would carry the burden, for Pap's sake, and he would do it with a smile on his face and ignore all the pain he was going through because that is what brothers do, right? His actions were justified, right? He was doing the right thing!

    ...right...?

    “My friend... Now I have a question”

    “shoot it” 

    “Did you see... a human child walk through this door? You told me once you were a sentry, so... I wanted to know if you had seen them”

    Sans stopped breathing and a knot made it's way up his throat.

    “yeah, i...” he wondered what he should say “i saw them... they talked to me and headed to New Home, i think...” he gulped and struggled not to sound obvious that he was anxious “the last i heard from them, they were in...Waterfal?
    
    After that i think Asgore took them...” his skull was spinning “they were wearing a tutu, right? It was a girl, right? Sorry, i really can't remember”

    Lies. Lies, lies, lies.

    “Y-yes... Her name was Evangeline... She was... a ballerine” Sans then noticed that Toriel had began crying. It was soft but the sound was unmistakable. 

    “i'm so sorry” Sans whispered. He really felt sorry. Mainly for lying to her. She could never know that Evangeline never really reached Waterfal, but had succumber way before that. Actually, she had died on the same day she passed through that door, and perished on that same snow that covered the pathway to Snowdin. Sans trembled. She died screaming.

    He pushed the memory away as he began thinking of consolating words to comfort Toriel, but none came to mind.
Toriel continued sobbing and Sans eventually gave up on trying to comfort her. He wasn't in the position to do it anyways. He was the reason of her sorrow and he didn't have the right to say anything about it or tell her the truth. Toriel didn't know it, of course, but the guilt he was feeling was enough for him to shut his mouth.

    They didn't say anything else for the last of the evening. 
The clouds were thick above his head and he wondered if he should go home and avoid the storm or stay here and keep Toriel company. 

    After some moments of deep wondering, he decided on staying. He couldn't feel his legs anyways and his chest was hurting again. He would have to tell to Alphys later.

    His eye sockets suddenly began to feel heavy and tiredness began eating at him. His arms fell limp on his sides and, soon enough, Sans was asleep. He didn't wake up when Toriel softly called his name nor when the snow slowly began covering his body with a thick layer of chilly white flakes, nor even when, in his dreams, several human children started screaming and shouting for help.

    Sans slept until the rays of the artificial light reached his skull. Only when the light was sharp and high on the sky that Sans finally woke up. He had been tucked to sleep with the scream of the children and, for his dismay, he had woken up with deafening scream of pain and agony as well.

    It took a while for him to realize that the screams didn't belong to his unconscious, but were coming from his own mouth.