✫ 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

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[sciencelizard]

[Alphys doesn't bother responding, knowing she'll be there soon, heaving herself off the floor from being surrounded by the letters and gifts and heading up the stairs to the door. She's never quite a person who is very put together in the first place, but Ellie can probably tell she's not in the best of states, still in her pajamas and glasses smudged from tears.]

Hey. I, uhm... e-everything's down in his room.

[She shuffles a bit to the side to allow Ellie to enter.]

[survivorsguilt]

[Alphys' appearance gives her pause. Ellie would never dream of saying it out loud- partly because Alphys has always been nice to her, and partly because it feels like she'll crumble under any criticism- but everything about the way she looks betrays her distress.

Ellie awkwardly tries not to stare at her eyes as she heads inside.]

Is it- it's okay to go in there myself? I've never... Uh. I mean it's not like he's gonna care now but- [chhhhhrist] God. You know.

[sciencelizard]

No, it's, it's f-fine.

[She answers maybe a little too quickly, and then shirks back again, shutting the door gingerly.]

I mean, uhm, I know you won't mess it up, or a-anything. Here, uhm, it's this way.

[She heads down the first set of stairs towards the living room, heading to the other door that hides the stairs down to the bedrooms.]

I can also, uhm, bring it up here. If you want.

[survivorsguilt]

[Alphys is obviously not okay, and maybe it's stupid, but Ellie doesn't feel like she should even make the monster go into Sans' room by herself more than she has to. She shakes her head.]

It's cool. I can do it.

[She hesitates for a moment, awkwardly caught between choices- and then quickly leans in to give Alphys a brief, one armed hug, before heading down to the bedrooms.]

[sciencelizard]

[She appreciates that Ellie is about physical contact- she’s a very touchy person, and lives with a lot of people who strongly aren’t. Sometimes, all you really need is a good hug.

Regardless, she follows her down, pointing her towards Sans’ room, the door having been left open. There are letters and packages all around the floor in an arc about halfway back, as if Alphys had been sitting on the floor just pawing through them all.]

It’s, uhm. It’s in t-there.

[survivorsguilt]

[Ellie is a difficult to manage, explosive bundle of touch starved and occasionally touch adverse. With Alphys, though, she feels nothing to fear.

She nods silently, and wanders almost warily into the room. Doesn't feel right. Ellie sorts carefully through the letters and packages until she finds her own, and presses it to her chest. She won't be opening it yet, not right now, but from this moment onwards, the letter is not leaving her side. She steps back out to Alphys, and this time, sweeps her up into an overwhelmed hug.]

Don't know what to say. Thanks for tellin' me. And everyone.

[sciencelizard]

[Alphys stays outside, sort of politely looking any other direction as she taps her claws together quietly, just waiting for the whole thing to be over. She doesn’t want to force Ellie out, or to be faster than she needs- in fact, the idea of being alone right now is a little horrifying of a concept. But sometimes people need to be. Sometimes they just need some time to process it, and she wouldn’t want to break that for the other girl.

But soon enough, Ellie emerges, and wraps her arms around her again, and Alphys obliges the contact, giving her a little squeeze in the embrace.]

It’s… it’s w-what he wanted. I had to help.

[She doesn’t know if Ellie knows, that these really are last rites, that there will be no seeing him again the same for either of them. But saying that now feels cruel, and pointless. Right now all she wants is to keep this contact for as long as they both need it.]