[It takes him a few long seconds to parse what she's saying.]
[So. It's this again. She's from one of the bad ones.]
[He always...sort of wondered. It's not like he went into the Ruins to check once he saw that enormous door was ajar. (When is a door not a door? When it's a jar. Heh. Funny). The kid's hands were already covered in dust when they shook hands. It was a given. No sense in going to check. No sense in forcing himself to see it with his own eyesockets. She was either dead or hiding. Dead, most likely, but he...]
[It's not so much that he was holding out hope so much as...if you don't know something for sure, then it can remain uncertain. Basic physics. Schrodinger's cat. Schrodinger's monster. As long as he didn't look, there was still a chance she could be alive.]
[So much for that. The cat is dead.]
[And she tells him he doesn't have to keep the promise.]
[The thing that held him back from dunking the kid the moment he saw them, not that it matters. The thing that held him back, even when the anomaly stole his brother from him, not that it matters. As it carved its way through the Underground, killing everyone, Undyne, Mettaton, down to the last Moldsmal, until he has no choice anymore. He could have stepped in so many times. Maybe he has stepped in many times? Broken the promise as early as Snowdin, killed them the second they kill Papyrus. He has no way of knowing.]
[Not that it matters.]
[And she tells him he doesn't have to keep it. And if she'd been alive to tell him as much back home... And it doesn't even matter, because they're not at home. He'll forget this as soon as he goes back. So it shouldn't matter. Shouldn't matter, right? Shouldn't hurt.]
[All at once he's glad of this stupid hedge between them, since it obscures his face, obscures the fact that his eyelights have gone out and his grin is basically just a mockery of a grin.]
[He needs to say something. Needs to...he's been standing here in silence for way too long.]
they're...here, you know. the kid. i, uh. you know, i saw them pretty much as soon as they left the ruins. a lot of stuff happened.
[How the hell is he supposed to tell her? How can he just tell her that she just got unlucky, that Sans of all people was the one who lucked out this time, because he got the good timeline, got the happy ending that's not even an ending.]
ended up keeping that promise. heh. kinda.
[Lies. Lies lies lies.]
there's...a lot of humans here. they're not so bad. they're pretty nice, actually. some of 'em are friends.
[His fingers curl into the twigs in front of his face.]
no subject
[So. It's this again. She's from one of the bad ones.]
[He always...sort of wondered. It's not like he went into the Ruins to check once he saw that enormous door was ajar. (When is a door not a door? When it's a jar. Heh. Funny). The kid's hands were already covered in dust when they shook hands. It was a given. No sense in going to check. No sense in forcing himself to see it with his own eyesockets. She was either dead or hiding. Dead, most likely, but he...]
[It's not so much that he was holding out hope so much as...if you don't know something for sure, then it can remain uncertain. Basic physics. Schrodinger's cat. Schrodinger's monster. As long as he didn't look, there was still a chance she could be alive.]
[So much for that. The cat is dead.]
[And she tells him he doesn't have to keep the promise.]
[The thing that held him back from dunking the kid the moment he saw them, not that it matters. The thing that held him back, even when the anomaly stole his brother from him, not that it matters. As it carved its way through the Underground, killing everyone, Undyne, Mettaton, down to the last Moldsmal, until he has no choice anymore. He could have stepped in so many times. Maybe he has stepped in many times? Broken the promise as early as Snowdin, killed them the second they kill Papyrus. He has no way of knowing.]
[Not that it matters.]
[And she tells him he doesn't have to keep it. And if she'd been alive to tell him as much back home... And it doesn't even matter, because they're not at home. He'll forget this as soon as he goes back. So it shouldn't matter. Shouldn't matter, right? Shouldn't hurt.]
[All at once he's glad of this stupid hedge between them, since it obscures his face, obscures the fact that his eyelights have gone out and his grin is basically just a mockery of a grin.]
[He needs to say something. Needs to...he's been standing here in silence for way too long.]
they're...here, you know. the kid. i, uh. you know, i saw them pretty much as soon as they left the ruins. a lot of stuff happened.
[How the hell is he supposed to tell her? How can he just tell her that she just got unlucky, that Sans of all people was the one who lucked out this time, because he got the good timeline, got the happy ending that's not even an ending.]
ended up keeping that promise. heh. kinda.
[Lies. Lies lies lies.]
there's...a lot of humans here. they're not so bad. they're pretty nice, actually. some of 'em are friends.
[His fingers curl into the twigs in front of his face.]
i'm so sorry, tori.