[St] Calcite Knight (II)

Cruel laughter vibrated through the darkness, plucking each exposed rib until rest felt impossible. Two blots of hazy white surfaced in the black of Sans’ eye sockets; the small lights drifted, side to side, looking at the expanse of nothing and his shirtless form sinking headfirst to nowhere. Sans considered an attempt at movement but did not try; he felt heavy, as if submerged in ink, and, in the end, he knew it didn’t even matter.

He was the monster’s quarry now.

“Did you believe that would work?”

Sans resisted the urge to look left, allowing the sarcasm to float through his bones. They burned. Another chuckle, and then Chara floated into view, almost skating in his movement. Beneath long bangs, his golden eyes pierced the darkness, cold and sharp. He sneered, baring shark-sharp teeth. “An injured puppy, you are not. Try pathetic instead.”

‘keep talkin’, shin splint,’ Sans thought, lazily watching Chara perch upon an invisible precipice. Curling his hands around an edge on either side of his rear, the deceptively human creature kicked his feet back and forth. Sans scoffed, hoping to fall faster.

“Hm, poor unfortunate monster,” Chara hummed, tilting his head into his shoulder. His locks of brown hair were serpentine, curling against his chin. “Shame your eyes aren’t more...vibrant?”

Sans furrowed his brow, despite all efforts not to react. For upwards of a week, he’d endured insult after injury about his non-human appearance, how he had to work on certain areas while watching those green sleeves gesture to all of him. Even with thicker “skin” than most humans, the worn-down skeleton didn’t want to hear this again.

Not that Chara cared what he wanted.

“Hard to be moved by dark hollows in white space.” Shrugging, Chara absently plucked at fluff on his toxic green shirt before chuckling into the end of his sleeve and moving the loose fabric back and forth, pendulum-style. He smiled in a way only a wicked child could do. “If only you possessed eyes of a more...verdant nature.”

Clenching his jaw until his teeth scraped together, Sans bit back any pun or insult whirling through his skull. Reward or satisfaction was ephemeral, and anything he said would be held against him in this unlawful court. Nevertheless, his inability to care was compromised; he could not endure another bout without response.

“Don’t you think this is the answer?” Chara chuckled, leaning his cheek into the sleeve end. His eyes danced with cold, glinting light. “Perhaps if you had alluring green eyes, maybe she’d spend all her time texting you instead of willfully ignoring your pain.”

Shivers cast down his spine until Sans felt control of his bones slipping away. To his relief, they did not rattle in this deadened space. Then, Sans winced; his left eye socket burned, hotter and hotter. Despite the pain, he glared at Chara, brow furrowing deeper until his pupil lights were snuffed out. Emotions crackled blue-hot in his chest cavity.

Chara’s grin widened, his laugh unending, building in volume. His sleeve slipped away from his cheek when he pointed an accusing finger at Sans’ sternum. “But you’ll never have beautiful coloured eyes, never have her reflected in them when she asks you what is wrong…” Chara crinkled his nose as his grin snarled to a sneer. “All while you lie directly to her face!”

Sans clenched both hands, bones smacking together. Several beams of white light tore through the darkness, scattering from behind his body to raze the area where Chara sat laughing. As the bright slashes deadened back to black, Sans shook from the exertion and emotional wounds, no longer drifting down, just left to hang in space. His breaths were ragged, scraping against every bone they touched. Faint moisture glistened along the rim of his left eye socket, lit by the blue flame enveloping his left eye. Sans’ tears fell into nowhere.

“Heh heh heh…” The cold syllables stabbed Sans in the back; not at once, over and over. He flinched, coughed, suffered the phantom taste of blood pooling in his mouth. He did not need to wait long before Chara drifted back into view. Now inverted, the amused devil descended the way a spider revealed itself to its newest meal. “Oh yes, I had forgotten about this beautiful baby blue of yours,” Chara murmured, his sarcasm caressing its way along Sans’ cheekbone. He tried to recoil from the poisonous touch, but gasped at the realization he could no longer move at all.

“Really is a shame you can’t use its...charm on her.” Chara tapped his index finger against Sans’ forehead, giggling at the hatred and shame burning cyan into Sans’ facial bones. When he shook his head, Chara’s dangling hair writhed like snakes, hypnotizing in their sway. “But what memories would you unleash if she recalled the truth about you, skeleton?”

Sans shuddered but could still move no further. His left eye kept burning, even as the flame reduced to a blue smoulder and his tears did nothing to reduce the pain. Offering Sans a sympathetic pout, Chara patted at any visible tears with his sleeves, then covered Sans’ eye sockets with them. “Shhhh, it’s okay. I won’t tell.” Chara lingered there a moment, pressing his cloth blindfold to Sans’ face, then kicked his heels backwards to propel his body forward. One elegant flip later, Chara was upright and walking away from the exhausted Sans. He shrugged, gave a casual glance over his shoulder.

“Your struggles are always entertaining,” Chara admitted, shoulders bobbing alongside an exaggerated sigh. He lifted his arms, spread them out to the endless expanse of nothing. “They certainly bring a shred of amusement to this void.”

Sans glared at Chara’s back, his left eye still faintly blue. His face felt raw, damaged by the gentle texture of that sweater. Still, whatever pain he suffered, Sans knew his bad time was going to get worse. He’d take the insults and false affection back to the waking world if it meant avoiding the dread embedded in his lower lumbar vertebrae. ‘stop…’

Chuckling, Chara tipped his head back and gazed upwards, spreading his arms wider. “However, you mustn’t forget one teensy fact, skeleton.”

In the distance, several yards from where Chara stood, a faint blur of blue and magenta slowly took shape against the darkness. As the limbs sharpened, Sans felt the breath lodge in his throat; when he tried to call out her name, pressure crushed his chest to his spine. ‘no!’

“Frisk” ignored the scene playing out behind her, eyes concentrated on her phone as her slender fingers typed away at the screen. Chara lowered his gaze and admired her blissfully ignorant stride that led her nowhere. “Pay close attention, monster.” As Chara started forward, his arms returned to his sides; when the right sleeve settled by his wrist, Sans saw the distinct glint of metal extending from Chara’s hand.

‘no!’ Sans’ eye flashed, casting a cyan haze around Chara’s mobile form. There was a moment of hesitation, of Chara hindered by Sans’ determination....then the tableau shattered. Chara thrust his knife arm in a wide arc, flinging Sans’ touch from his body. ‘kid!’

“I encourage it, struggle and fight and play your role as the calcite knight.” Chara did not turn towards Sans again, his focus on the oblivious female no more than a couple meters away. Sans did fight, felt his bones dislodging as he tried to go forward, suffered his left eye searing the socket inside and out...but he did not move, Chara was not stopped by his powers again. Sans could only watch that knife advance towards his most precious human.

‘stop it!!’

“But you can never--” Chara wound his arm back, aiming the blade at Frisk’s heart. Her soul. As he started forward, Frisk turned around, allowing Sans one last glance at her face. “--protect her from me!”

“frisk!!”