just as you breathe (post c_p)

[dustless]

Nobody gets why, halfway down the mountain, Frisk bolts.

Toriel and Asgore think they changed their mind about not having places to go or the ambassador idea. Everyone scatters through the trees to search for them--eventually, Papyrus is the one to stumble over them, to talk to them, to coax them back with his positive affirmations.

They don't explain why they stare at everyone like they're seeing their bare SOULs (yeah, punk, I'm great! WE'RE great, right, Alphys?), or why they keep touching their teeth (do you have a toothache, my child?), or why they constantly pace through the house they eventually move into with Toriel, opening doors as if they're expecting something else to be behind them (I don't think there are any monsters in the closet, little one).

It's just...Frisk. They're a good kid, even if they're a little strange.

Comments

[dustless]

WHAT accident. doesnt matter when

[voidster]

An experiment gone badly wrong. That's all I'm willing to say, I wouldn't want someone to recreate it.

[dustless]

im not going to do it

I don't like it, they think and type out halfway, then delete it. It's not the fairest thought.

im not even good at siense

[voidster]

You're still young.

I wouldn't want it passed along or read over your shoulder and someone else wind up in trouble. That won't help me.

[dustless]

so what
i am good at keeping secrets
i promis

[voidster]

True. But why do you want to know?

[dustless]

why woldnt i

[voidster]

Because no one else should ever have this happen to them. You understand why I'm concerned?

[dustless]

yes
i do
but tell me

[voidster]

Oh, how he doesn't want to. It can't possibly do any good. But it's true, an eleven year old child can't recreate his deadly machine. And they're determined. They'll never let it go.

(Lying isn't an option. No, they deserve better than that, even though no one who could have told them differently remembers a thing.)

Very well.

At the time, I had already designed and built a machine that could give us information about other timelines. Very simple things, temperature, presence of light, sound.

The next version of it was more ambitious. Too much so. I can't tell you what went wrong or how it is I didn't die outright, nor why no one remembers I existed. I only know that it was flawed somehow, it malfunctioned, and I ceased to be.

[dustless]

Once they read that, they slam their phone down on the bus stop's bench beside them. None of that's useful!

...But why did they expect it to be? That's not his fault. They need to stop getting so--so mad.

you are still talking to me. theres still a little

did you do it beacuase SAVES?

[voidster]

This happened well over a decade ago. No, it had nothing to do with the resets. If there had been resetting of our timeline that long ago, I wouldn't have remembered anyway, like any other monster.

Not their fault. Not Flowey's. Only his.

Yes. I'm not all gone. Look on the bright side, I'm able to think clearly, to stay in touch with you three, and so none of you have completely lost me.

For what it's worth. Frisk and their brothers (in spirit) still have the Gaster they met. Let that be enough.

[dustless]

So he definitely knows. They weren't sure anymore.

some monsters remember stuff
asgore
migt know he killed me

To hell with being discreet or careful, they've been doing that too much lately. In truth...they want a FIGHT. And they don't have anyone they can try it with. Nothing to let it out, nobody who really understands.

glad u are still a little here but thats still not
good
werever u are

[voidster]

I'm very sorry we treated you so poorly.

Nothing he could have done to stop any of the violence from either side. He's not real.

Perhaps it isn't as bad as I made it out to be. Don't worry. I'll be alright.

Hah.

[dustless]

DONT

None of this self-blaming garbage. What is he, Blooky?

'Perhaps' isn't worth anything.

u must be under ebott some place

[voidster]

Don't what?

No. If I could be found, I would just tell you, not stay hidden.

[dustless]

dont sorry
don't
apalogize for that

you must be the acident happened before the barrier broke
what do you see

[voidster]

I am able to see the underground, but I'm not there. I can't possibly be there. I see more than one timeline, after all.