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His eye lights flicked to the left as he let a slow, long sigh, the breath of air curling up in cool wisps as his slippers trudged through the snow. The artificial light from the ceiling of the cavern, harsh as it was, casting stalking shadows from the trees upon the path he has, and has yet to walk, the crunch under his feet leaving an uncomfortable tension in the air, as if to say he doesn't belong here.
He never did.
His feet come to a stop, his eyes flicking back to the front of him, tracing the path he's walked many times before, the bridge with bars too wide to stop anyone besides his cool bro, the stick he stepped upon to scare that child, and beyond that...
". . . y o u ' d b e d e a d w h e r e y o u s t a n d."
As the words rang out in his mind, his eye sockets closed, the taste in his mouth turning sour, his memories showing the kid, terrified as those words left his mouth. He knew what he was saying, what the effect would have on her, but that doesn't mean he doesn't regret what he did. As his hand tightened its grip in the pocket of his hoodie, the anger at himself threatening to spill over...
But he had to do it, even if it wasn't meant for her ears.
Not to the kid, never, she hasn't done anything wrong, but the other, the coward who has her wrapped up in red strings, the piece of shit who pulls those strings like a puppet master, that red devil.
That SOUL.
Is it her SOUL? Or is it something else? Something given to her? He still didn't know, but that piercing, unfiltered shade of crimson, the way it glowed when he viewed it through his judgement, it was the same. The same as the... Other.
Blankets of snow filtered down in front of him, rays of light glinting off the fractals like their own makeshift heaven, uncaring as they fell to join their brethren upon the frozen ground. Cool, crisp wind clipped at his bones as he started walking again, but he wasn't paying attention, his mind in overdrive, elsewhere, his eyelights unfocused, yet in his minds eye...
Rain, A pun, a giggle, a pun back at him, a laugh, an offer to go home, an offer to dance. She was drunk, sure, but...
It had been one of the best nights in his life.
And suddenly he was in front of the door, it's bricks, cracked and worn, old shriveled up vines clinging to the frame as if they were trying to seek a better life, but only found the cold. It stood before him, unyielding, unanswering. He looked it over, just as he has done a hundred times before, and yet it hasn't changed, no matter how many times he looked. So many questions over the years, having passed through his mind in the place where he stood now, and yet none were ever replied to. None... Except for one.
His smile grew just a little at the thought.
His hand reached out, his glove brushing against the cold ancient stone, loose fragments falling away as he did so, just like so many of his memories after all these years, all but a few. She may not remember, but he does, and that's fine by him. Truth be told, after looking back on it, it was embarrassing, he had been enjoying himself so much, and the kids walked in, and she fell to the floor, and...
Yeah, definitely embarrassing, especially after learning what had been going on with those two, what they had been doing, he could have definitely had a better reaction, but he was just having so much fun and-
Stop.
There's not much of a point in remembering, not anymore, and there hasn't been for a long time. He let out a long, deep sigh, as if to let the memories flow out with a breath. They would never truly be gone, not really, like a mental parasite, festering in his mind. Now, though, he was here, and there was no changing that, no matter how much he tried, no matter how much he worked, and Deltarune above he did, nothing ever changed. His hand began balling into a fist, the glove straining against the oppressive movement, but just after a moment, it loosened. What was the point in getting angry, after all?
Sure, he could get angry, go blast that stupid flower into a thousand pieces, but then what? It would just reset, and it would be like nothing ever happened. The flower may not be the one who has the power anymore, but he doubts that... Thing would let it happen, and then, poof, right back to square one. If only he had that power, if only he could go back, just as the flower could, just as that thing could, then, maybe he could have stopped it, stopped them, maybe he... Could have...
He closed his eyes again, his boney brow furrowing as the thought dug deeper, like a worm eating away at his brain. No, if he had that power, then he may have just ended up where that flower is now, a hopeless, pathetic husk of a being.
...
At least Papyrus is here.
The best 'little' brother there could be. Heh, little.
Was there something like that for the kid? A brother she could depend on? All alone down here, being unable to leave, scary monsters wanting to kill you to take your SOUL, Unable to control yourself because of that same SOUL. At least Kris had been a teen, but the kid here doesn't even look to be more 9, and she's having to deal with this?
His eyelids snapped open, his eyelights piercing their gaze into the stone door as his thoughts drifted back to his earlier conversation with the kid in the Judgement hall. The look in her eyes told a different story as she had looked upon him. She may have been scared, but she looked at him with a determination in her eyes, one that hadn't been there simply because of that *thing* controlling her. She is and always was her own human. Despite everything, she's still herself.
Bringing his arm back in and throwing his hand into his pocket, he turned on his heel, and began to walk away, the crunch of snow under his slippers leaving a trail of sound in his wake. All the while, a question started running through his mind, as if it were Papyrus strung up on a ton of sugar, drowning out any other question or thought.
Would it be alright to start moving on?
He asked himself this, and it repeated over and over in his head. Is this really the chance to move on? Is he ready to move on? Would it truly be alright to... Let go? He would never be able to forget them, any of them, but just as the kid is moving past what she has dealt with, would it be fine for him to move past his demons? To finally start living here in the now instead of living in the past?
In truth, he didn't know, and for the first time in a long time, not knowing scared him. He knows he's been stuck in the past, he knows Papyrus knows, that he's worried for him. He knows that's it's going to be a hard time to let go, but... This kid, despite everything, despite being scared out of her mind, despite being down here with no one but herself, despite being controlled like a puppet by who knows what, despite everything that has happened to her, she showed true determination in the end, she chose to move forward, she chose, in her own way, to forge her own path.
And maybe, just maybe...
Sans the skeleton can too.