punful | IC Inbox

I don't know.

[A few minutes to calm down, but calming down is hard, they can't stop thinking about Frisk. They backed off like this because they were terrified their influence almost meant they lost Frisk, but now they're going to lose Frisk anyway. Everyone's going to lose Frisk.]

They'd given up on it until I refused them . They're doing this because I said no

I can't go to them and I can't ask I'll make it worse

[He actually gets to his feet while he waits for an answer. It doesn't come, and it doesn't come, and Sans actually starts to pace, which is difficult in his room, since there isn't much of a visible floor. He fidgets with his phone. Checks the network. Glances out the window at Snowdin--not Snowdin, just snow, just regular snow, still just Wonderland.]

[He thought he'd gotten through to them. They had that--that whole conversation, months ago. He thought he'd made it clear that there's no such thing as a perfect Erase, and he'd thought they'd understood, and he'd thought--thought they'd actually listen to him for once. Just on one thing. Wishful thinking.]

[It doesn't even matter what made them change their mind, what drove them to this again. It doesn't matter, because what matters in these situations are the facts--where is Frisk now, what are they doing, can they be stopped, is there still time? He's about to text Frisk himself when Chara answers.]

i doubt this is all your fault. what did you say no to?

[He knew the two of them were...understandably having some problems, but he had no idea it was this bad.]

try to calm down okay? there's no easy way to reach the core from this side. unless this event turns out to involve mirrors again. we have time to stop this.

i'll text them now.

we should probably just tell everyone this time

the more people watching them, the harder it will be for them to do it

I told them I wasn't going to reply to them and they started messaging about how if I really didn't want anything to do with them they'd fix the problem. I did this

[Funny how he'd tried to tell them that they had to learn when to QUIT, huh? Funny that trying to QUIT really does just make it worse! This whole situation's just one big barrel of laughs!]

I told Alphys too. She'll know.

Thank you

[He stares at this text.]

[They. Okay. They're doing this because Chara wasn't speaking to them? There's gotta be a lot of details he's missing, but it doesn't really matter. How can they just...?]

[He thinks about what he'd do if Papyrus stopped speaking to him. Just rejected him like his Mirror did, like what happens in his worst nightmares. He'd probably start thinking along the same lines too--but, hell, he wouldn't actually say anything about it. Telling someone you're going to do something terrible because of them is...kind of messed up, right?]

no.

this is not your fault.

[It wasn't Mirror Papyrus's fault, either. Not until he--]

i'll touch base with alphys

and i'll let the others know as well

we'll stop this

[And...]

[He doesn't think Chara has ever thanked him. For anything. Ever.]

don't thank me until i've actually managed to do my job

...for once.

[It's stupid how hard they have to wrestle to make sure they don't cry. They had a whole month to toughen up. They can't break down. This wall can't ever crumble. Why is he saying it isn't their fault? He's the guy who judges. They were the one so caught up in hurting themself that they hurt other people, right? It's their fault for not forgiving. It's their fault for not doing what Frisk told the to do. Their fault for insisting on staying away, insisting that Frisk be held accountable for what they agreed to instead of giving them a pass.

Why is he being so... so... nice? Why is he being so like this?]

Just save them. Please.

i'll do everything i can, chara.

[And he will. He actually will.]

[Gotta protect what family he has left, after all.]

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