✫ 002 [text] thank you, i'll say goodbye soon

[sciencelizard]

[And as with all events, everything ends. Alphys wakes back up in the house underground, and everything from the last 10 days is revealed to be a fake. She sighs as she pulls herself out of bed, ready to get back to some sense of normalcy.

It takes her a few hours to figure out anything’s wrong, because it’s not abnormal for Sans to sleep too long, or not come out of his room-- well, Papryus’, but it’s for the both of them now-- until late or necessary. She makes something to eat, settles in to read and relax, and thinks nothing of it until she tries to text him later and nothing comes up.

Alphys scans the contact list once, twice, and climbs off the shared couch, soul feeling tight in her chest as she approaches his room. She knocks, waiting a minute for his answer, because he must just be asleep, before knocking again, putting too much of her weight on the handle when the door finally swings to nothingness.

She spends the next hour tearing through the apartment, piece by piece, unwilling to believe this is happening, knowing what she knows about where he’s going... or, well, a lack thereof. It feels wrong for her to be in here, pawing through everything in a desperate hope, but she knows what this means. That one day someone can be here and the next simply be gone.

The house is doubly quiet, she finds in horror, the more she searches, the more she looks. Four gone. Four of her closest friends. Four that just never came back from that lovely town of nowhere.]

[She can’t bear to put herself on video for this, not when she’s crying, not when she can barely speak. So she types instead, hands shaking heavily, having found a batch of letters and items she feels important to be delivered.]

hhey so
for anyone who knknew sans
hes nnot here anymore
he went
he went away
napstablook too
if people are looking forthem

sans uhm
... he left a bunch of gifts for people with
they look like ggoodbye letters
i can check if you think he mightve left onef or--
theres too ma ny to list
im sorry

[She thinks about ending it there, and then adds one last addendum.]

i know theres a lot of people here who didnt like him and. im sure there was reasons for you tto not to get along
but please dont i
i dont want to know
not rightnnow

please

Comments

[circumitus]

[SIGH.

[While yes, Rey had her issues with Sans, to call it "hate" would be a bit of a dramatic overstatement. It sure as hell isn't enough to make her inclined to goad Alphys over this. Not when she is so clearly more broken up than Rey had been.

[Fucking assholes.]

need anything?

[sciencelizard]

[There's... responses. Someone's here, and that's baffling to her. That anyone cares.]

not really
i mean theres
theres food and stuff
its just quiet

theres a note here for you
kind of

[nothingleft]

[Frisk is gone. Sans is gone.

The world will move on regardless. But Chara has not. Not since the moment when they woke up with and empty room beside theirs and an even bigger hole in their heart.

Chara remembers the last time they approached Alphys when they were upset and how badly it had gone. But this was over text.]

I see.

Is there anything you need?

[sciencelizard]

[She sees them respond, and it occurs to her in that moment that she's not the only one who woke up to an empty house. To people being there, and then not. She's... she's no Asgore. Absolutely not Toriel. And out of everyone left, she's absolutely in no position to be taking care of them, no emotional stability she could put out there to help this.]

no
not right now
... do you?
i restocked the apt right before that event so
theres still a lot
more than
more than i nee d now

[text]

[synthedick]

[Sigh. The city takes another one of the good ones. Sans might not have believed it himself, but he was good.]

I'm sorry, Doc. If you need help with anything, you've got my number.

[text]

[sciencelizard]

[She's honestly baffled there's a show of support at all. The way Sans always talked, about making a lot of enemies, about not knowing people...

Well, she should've suspected as much. Everyone knew Sans back in the Underground. Everyone found reason to be fond.]

thanks i
ive lived alone before
its fine

... theres uhm
theres a note here for you

[text]

[prazerbutterfly]

[No.

Or it's what he wants to say. He doesn't get to be selfish right now. He knows nothing about his condition at home but from how he mentioned other worlds or other possibilities he gets the feeling it may not be quite as joyous as his own.]

Miss Alphys. I will miss him and remember him. [He knows there isn't a note for him. He was Sans' friend but he's sure it was not the other way around. He's not jealous or offended. He just didn't get to say thank you.]

[text]

[sciencelizard]

thank you
its important someone does
he always would say no one would care if he left
i guess i just wish he could
see it

[There's a lot of goodbyes people would've wanted to say. A lot of ones she wanted, too.

But this is what surviving feels like. Being the one to take the blows when those gone are no longer there to shield you.]

[armcollector]

[Fuck, she sounds really upset, even though it's just words on a screen. Magnus may have missed whatever was going on for the past couple weeks, but after he takes the time to relax for a bit and finally check the network again, he's instantly back on his feet and on his way out the door.]

hey dr. alphys, what's your address? or are you at the lab?

[sciencelizard]

[This one, more than anything, catches her entirely by surprise. She didn't... she didn't think he knew Sans. Doesn't make mention of him at all. Asks after her.

She responds before she can chicken herself out of it, before she can isolate herself back into nothingness. She can't do that again. She can't.]

no im at home
its uh
one of delight's apartments
the ones in the ground
number 3

do you uhm
do you need something?

text → action;

[hasitsthorns]

I'm coming over.

[ Which is

all the warning Alphys gets before Rose is there. KNOCK, KNOCK YO. Impulsive, maybe, but Rose has been where Alphys is now so many times over that she knows what helps her. It's definitely to not be alone, not close oneself off, not what she's been hypocritically doing for months now. They'd said they would help each other and Rose had meant it. So she's here now, to help however she can. ]

action!

[sciencelizard]

[She jumps at the sound, barely having read the text before it registered and Alphys has to face the realization that people are going to be here and looking at her and gosh what if she has to comfort someone, Rosie's been here longer, she probably knew him better--

She's still wearing her pajamas, face tear-streaked, glasses smudged and left unfixed when she answers, cracking the door open just enough.]

Rose...?

text;

[restinglichface]

[Lup may not know any of the people who've left Hadriel, but it's easy enough to pick up on Alphys' distress, even through text.]

hey doc, you busy? i could use a hand

text;

[sciencelizard]

i mean not
not technically i guess just
going through stuff

are you okay????

[Is she in trouble??? Alphys certainly doesn't feel like doing anything but wallowing in her own depression at this point, and goodness she doesn't know what she could possibly help her with, but if she's in trouble...

Well, she wouldn't feel right not doing anything.]

text

[unknowable]

[He didn't know any of them, but he knows what it feels like to lose people. Always, always shitty.]

I'm sorry about your friends.

text

[sciencelizard]

thanks.
i just got
surprised, is all.
two more are gone too.

i dont usually see so many leaving like this

[Text]

[drabsolutelynot]

[Rosen has been huddled away in Lance's spare bedroom ever since the gods' illusion had died away, though when he sees this he is standing in the kitchen, having emerged in search of something to appease his growling stomach.

However the message is enough to make him forget anything other than a feeling of burning tightness in his throat and prickling at the back of his eyes.

No.

Not Sans. Not one of the only people in this place he ever really felt like he could talk to. Sure, their relationship had never been simple or easy, or even comprehensible, but it was at all times something Rosen had inadvertently come to depend on.

When he responds he can only manage to do so through text]

I'm so sorry. I really wish this weren't true.

[Then after a moment he dares to ask]

Did he leave anything for me? Rosen? [He feels awkward and presumptuous for asking, but just maybe there was a chance...]

[text]

[sciencelizard]

yeah i
me too

[She recognizes that name, though, even if they've never spoke.]

i recognize your name
he would talk about you
theres uhm
here let me just

[And she sends a photo, containing the note and gift.]

Text

[elegant_and_proud]

I liked his silly puns, and the artificial stars he set up with you. I will remember him as someone who tried to bring light to the darkness.

[Whether she's referring to the cave or to people's darker thoughts, she doesn't say]

text

[sciencelizard]

im...
thats a nice thing to think of
thank you

im glad he could make you smile

text

[notimpervious]

[Oh no, not the talking skeleton!! She had so many questions, she wanted to thank him properly for helping her out of the colosseum, she just...

He was nice. :c ]

I am very sorry to hear that. Sans was very nice to me when I arrived. I will miss him.

text

[sciencelizard]

yeah he was
hes good at being nice
everybody knew him back home and
even here i guess

im sorry you didnt get to know him better

[text]

[readytobe]

[He didn't know Sans, or indeed this person typing out the news of his disappearance; but he did know Napstablook, and...well, even through his confusion and anger at the gods' latest trick, he can tell that this has hit hard. It's sad for him to hear that Napstablook is gone, yes, but only distantly.

....he should say something nice. Even he can't ignore that much pain.]

I am sorry.

[nailed it.]

[text]

[sciencelizard]

[Frankly, she's absolutely baffled that people are even feeling the kindness to reach out. That anyone cares to say anything at all. She expected this to fade into the darkness; nobody to care about any of them. And yet, people still come. People still apologize.]

its okay
i always knew they were going to leave i mean
thats just how this place works you know
i shouldve
expected it more

[survivorsguilt]

[She feels sick.]

hey can i come over
did he
iits stupid to ask he probably didnt but is there anything for me

[sciencelizard]

[She knows that kind of typing. The short, stinted sentences. The desperation. Because that's how she does it, that's how...

Well, she gets it. A lot.]

yeah its
the house is a mess but
you know

theres uhm
theres a letter and something wrapped here
i dont wanna open it

[text]

[thechoiceisyours]

[Man, this sucks. He's gotten used to people disappearing, but there are some that, for whatever reason, kind of seem like they'll just be around forever. Sans was one of those, and it'll be weird thinking he's not here anymore.

But then again, maybe he'll come back. Chris himself did, so who knows.]

I'm really sorry, Alphys.

[text]

[sciencelizard]

[She wants to say it's okay, to reassure people into not worrying about her, but... she's probably past that point, isn't she? Probably beyond what she can lie about, even to people that don't know her well.]

i guess its
itll be okay
theres nothing i can do about it now i just
i wanted everyone to know if they
if they went looking for him

theres uhm
theres something here for you i think

text;

[wendigoner]

[ Hannah is torn up about this. Absolutely. She doesn't think, though, that Sans considered her enough of a friend to leave her a gift, and so she lets that concept go pretty quickly. ]

no!!! why'd he have to leave ;-(
he was so nice and he helped me out a lot. i'll miss him.

i'm so sorry. were you guys good friends?

text;

[sciencelizard]

yeah he
weve known each other for a really long time
we come from
we came from the same place

[She checks the network name against the smattering of notes now surrounding her on the floor, and sends another quick text.]

theres a note here for you
hannah right??

.text

[noctyourking]

He left? Where did he go?

[ The thing was, if this Sans person left, how did he know he was leaving--did he find a way out? Why not tell everyone how he got out? ]

text

[sciencelizard]

back home
it wasnt like
not on purpose or anything
he wouldnt have gone back if he had the choice

text

[so_dark_a_road]

I have been hesitating to reply, because San did not consider me a friend, in fact, quite the opposite. But nevertheless, I wish him well wherever he has gone. I have come to understand that the journey does not end, for those of us who leave our own worlds -- whether deliberately or accidentally -- to voyage the universes. And so, Dr. Alphys, Sans is probably continuing that journey, continuing to seek, as we all must. He was your friend, and so you cannot help but grieve, but I am guessing that he would want you to go on with your life and your own quest, whatever that is. And I imagine, too, that if he can take his memories with him, he will remember you with love. I do not know you, but your obvious devotion deserves no less. And who knows, perhaps you may meet your friend again? Eternity is wide and deep, as the poets say.

[ A little bit formal, but then, Elves are formal on such occasions. ]

By the way, if you ever need any craft work done, I'm a metalsmith, a carpenter, and an engineer. Or if there is anything else I can help you with, just let me know. I live just a few doors down from you, in #06. We're a noisy household, so you've probably heard us if not seen us!

[ The deliriously lovely strains of Elvish music and the cacophony of Elvish arguing probably waft up the spiral regularly, along with the laughter and conversation of Elvish and non-Elvish visitors and residents of that house. ]

text, sorry this is so late!!!

[sciencelizard]

[This is... wow. This is fancy. Alphys didn't expect this sort of reaction-- especially since Sans used to talk about how so many people around here didn't like him.

Well, as usual, she knows what it means to only ever have seen the downsides.]

im
thank you
thats a really beautiful way of thinking about it
it uhm
i mean it certainly paints a picture

and oh gosh im sorry if youve heard us too
sometimes its 3 am anime nights and The Screamening happens
and by sometimes i mean a lot but gosh you probably know that