#fractured future

Credits:

Undertale/Sans belongs to Toby Fox

Doc!Sans belongs to me

Harbinger!Sans belongs to me

Audio from ???

Program: ToonSquid

The road home was a long and winding one. The rural, rocky road leading into the cut path of mountain and forest barely a decade old. Caleb Kennedy was tired. The drive home from the states had been a long one, almost too long. But he’d driven days before without rest. For no less important matters then what had forced Caleb to make the journey back into his country of origin. He had left America years ago to make his home in the rocky, cold forests of the Canadian lands. He had left before life had gotten hard. Too hard to manage. Before he was too old to fight against the inevitable truth. Time had caught up to him.

He drove a large black truck that had seen better days. The scrapes and chips on the vehicles paint told of its rough life. But like its owner, the truck continued on without falter. As the last strands of dusk stretched out behind him, Caleb found his gaze flickered between his reflection and the road ahead. Time hadn’t been cruel to him. A mild touch of silver speckled his short, once buzzed hair. A look he never before considered in his youth. He’d taken care of himself. Life too demanding not to have the strength of body. Yet his eyes, still a breathtaking depth of blue,  told of a sickening sadness that few could speak of. A ring, that never left his hand, marked him a widowed man. A fact he had come to accept for some time.

But there was only one for him and would only ever be one.

Caleb halted the trucks progress at the fork that bent the path into the wilderness. To the left, the mountain rose high, even in the fleeting light of day he could nearly see it’s tall peak in the distance. Snow painted the mountains as it always did, a fact that drew a twitch of a smile from the man’s lips. After a minute or two of simply watching the far off point of land, Caleb moved his truck to the right. Deeper into the woods. Far beyond the cut path most would take. The truck moved at a mild pace, Caleb in no real hurry to return home where he knew his family awaited his return. He brought no good news. Nothing that would bring a smile to the many faces that awaited him. 

Time stretched on, the truck’s headlights flipped on when the dark became too thick to wade through without light. He had an hour still to travel before his home would come into view. A cabin, wooden and large, built by his spouse a number of years ago. It was home now. Even if every inch of the wooden structure pressed into his heart like a hot iron rod. Memories far too deeply rooted into his being to let go. At times it could be managed. And others, in the dead of night when his family slept peacefully, it pained him to the point of tears. A fact no other soul in the home seemed aware of. Small blessings, Caleb often thought, were what kept him moving.

Small blessings came in many forms for Caleb Kennedy. Some in patches nice weather, a rare treat among the Canadian forests. Most however, came in the form of his family. His children. Three sons, three nephews, and three nieces. It was their faces that stitched his heart together. That held it tightly woven and strong enough to beat on. Each reminded him of a better time in life. While each of the kids bore a great capacity to lead, the eldest of the pack, Seth, lead them with an undeniable trust. Though only twenty, Caleb could see a lifetime of wisdom behind the boy’s blue eyes. The trait shadowed only by Seth’s endless capacity to love. A fact that eased the other children’s hearts and cemented his silent role as leader among the nine of them. Seth often reminded Caleb of the boy’s father, Ben, so much so that he found himself murmuring to the air thanks for such a blessing. 

Photos of his family sat snuggled against the dashboard of the truck. Each of their faces stared at Caleb, pushed him forward into the wilderness and, after some length of time Caleb wasn’t sure of he found himself at the stretch land he owned. The cabin sat in the middle of several acres cleared of woods on all sides. Several buildings surrounded the home. A large greenhouse, a barn, filled with tools and machines that saw plenty of use in the fields of crops that caught Caleb’s eye in the briefest of moments as he drove towards the cabin still.

He parked the truck a few feet from the front door. A quick glance towards the other two  vehicles that cold beside it. A van, equipped with thick tires, sat painted black against the dark of the night. Beside it, a blue and well managed jeep once owned by his partner and spouse of twenty years, Blake Caffrey. In on the quickest of glances, the jeep pulled at the stitches of his heart. Memories threatened to claw their way to the surface as Caleb forced himself towards the entrance of his home. There would be time later to mourn his spouse. The lie he fed himself daily to hold his family together. 

Caleb took in a deep breath then. He knew Seth would be awake. Waiting for his return while the others prepared for another long day of surviving. Just, surviving. But Caleb brought no good news. No news of their parents murderers’ brought to justice. Only of more rough roads ahead. Something Caleb had hoped to avoid giving his family. More heartbreak. But tell them he would, not that night, but in the day that followed. Unlocking the front door, a pause took him as his gut, his instincts as a man and father grabbed at him once again. They whispered in his ear. Fed his paranoia. Rose his pulse in anticipation of a horrible truth he’d hoped and prayed would never come to pass.

They were coming for him. Coming for his family.