It had been several months since the strange wolf girl had been living in the underground with the Royal Scientist and his two brother. From the moment he saw her, he knew something was different about her. Not just in her appearance alone. Sure, she looked like a human with wolf ears and a fluffy tail attached to her, that was strange in itself alone. What really caught his eye was her soul...

The size of her soul was small compared to the human souls he's encountered, but that wasn't what stood out the most to him. Her soul was fractured, cracked, something he had never seen or even believed was possible for a human-like soul. You see, her's wasn't 100% human. It was only half. The other half was monster which of course peaked the ghoul's interest in her. It was upright like a human's, however the color of the soul was a faded greenish blue, an obvious mix of two of the seven human soul traits; KINDNESS and INTEGRITY.

If it wasn't for the fact that he listened to his consciousness most of the time, he would of gladly experimented on her to figure out how this was even possible. He would've been lying to himself if he said the thought had never crossed his mind. On the other hand, he could very well deny ever thinking of doing such a horrible thing to her since she was practically family now. Actually, she was more than family to him. She was in a relationship with the Royal Scientist, she was his girl friend.

How this came to be is still a mystery to them and everyone else. Sasster had a reputation anyone in their right mind would label as undateable. He was rude half, if not most of the time, had an ego that transcends time and space, arrogance reincarnated, and the sassiest and most sarcastic monster you'd ever meet. You'd be nuts to think he was anything close to boy friend material and yet here he was, in a close relationship with this small wolf girl. Just like any relationship though, it wasn't perfect. Not in the least.

Fear had crept it's way into the ghoul's withered heart. He kept trying to find every reason to push her away. He knew very well it was hurting her and in all honesty he hated seeing her hurt by his own actions. However, in his mind, he felt it was the best thing for them or to be more accurate, for himself. It wasn't that he didn't trust her. He trusted her just as much as he trusted his brothers. It was the fear of her learning about his dark secrets that was causing him to push her away. If she ever caught wind of some of the things he'd done in his past, he was sure it would only lead to double heartbreak for the both of them.

You might be thinking “if he really trusted her, he would trust she wouldn't judge him for his past actions. Their in the past for a reason. He's not the same person he was back then.” and you would be correct. Fear is a strong negative trait that, once it settles itself in the heart, it only grows more and more with each passing moment. The only thing stronger then fear is love... and that was the very thing he was lacking..

“I don't understand. Why is she still pushing back?” Sasster thought to himself as he made his way through the snow to the front door. He had just returned from the laboratory after spending the whole day there trying to ignore these thoughts he had kept in the back of his mind.

“I mean, for someone who doesn’t even have perseverance as a soul trait, she’s being overly stubborn with me. It’s unheard of to be dealing with this level of stubbornness!” he grumbled to himself, reaching for the door knob. Maybe if he had done this when she was still a shy, nervous wreck, he wouldn't be dealing with this.

The ghoul's hand stiffen to a pause as the thought crossed his mind. No... if he had done it then, she most likely would've broken down into tears and-... He quickly shook his head, bringing himself back to the present. He didn't want to think about what she could have done... He knew exactly what she would have done. That didn't make it any less painful for him to recall.

It took him a few moments to recollect himself from his thoughts before proceeding to open the door. He was a bit surprised to be met with silence when he entered the house, as he was usually greeted by the little wolf girl. Maybe she finally got the message and was sulking in his room somewhere? Hopefully that was the case. The ghoul monster let out a sigh of relief as he walked inside. Finally, he could rest easy on his thoughts. Things won't be the same between them but at least she would still be around. That's all that mattered to him.

However, there was this feeling of dread he couldn't shake from his soul. Something wasn't right. It was too quiet. Not that he didn't mind it being quiet. It was just... odd for it to be this quiet at this hour. Something was telling him to check the living room...

When he turned to face the entrance of the room, Sasster immediately felt his soul drop within himself. Lying in the middle of the floor, passed out and unmoving, was the wolf girl herself.

“G-Gen?!”

Sasster cried as he rushed over to the small girl, kneeling down beside her. He was in shock. What happened to her? Why was she passed out on the floor? She was fine this morning! ...Aside from her making a comment about feeling unsteady and weak, claiming she was just tired. His glowing purple eyes widened in realization as he stared down in horror. Quickly but gently he scooped her up in his arms, holding her close to his chest. She was warm. Too warm. Almost burning. A sinking feeling suddenly came over him. He knew what was wrong with her... and it terrified him.

“so... any idea what it could be?” Sans asked his older as he watched the ghoul tuck the small girl into his bed.

“Pneumonia... She has Pneumonia.” Sasster answered after a long pause of silence. This wasn't the first time Gen had been sick. When he first took her in from finding her in the snow, she was suffering from a minor cold. A few coughs here and there with a runny nose. Nothing serious. She got over it real quick after being fed some warm food and drink. By day 3 she was all better.

This was different though. She wasn't just sick, she was sick with what humans call Pneumonia. This may not cause alarm to most humans in this day and age since the advancement of medical science has made such illnesses like this easily treatable. But for a society of monsters who don't catch the same illnesses humans do, it's much more challenging caring for a human suffering from one. Especially with limited resources and knowledge of these illnesses. He would have to care for her personally if he wanted her to recover. There was a high chance she wouldn't make it if he didn't. That was the last thing he wanted... A repeat from his past.

“that explains the coughing early today. she started up as soon as you left for work. said it was nothing to worry about. shouldn't of trusted her word. Now she's worse off then before.” Sans said as he looked up at his tall ghoul brother. He could sense his brother was extremely anxious.  Although Dings may not express his emotions as well as most, there were always little hints in his body language would drop. Having been raised by his older brother, Sans learned how to identify these 'signals'. He was always aware of how his brother was feeling, even when he tried to hide it from him.

He noticed Dings' right eye was glowing more intensely then normal as he gazed down the young girl. That wasn't a good sign. His right eye would only glow whenever he felt high levels of emotions, especially when he was surprised or excited. This time, it was glowing more intensely then normal. He would have to be careful with his wording if he wanted to put Dings' nerves at ease...

“Sans...”

“hm?”

“...Inform King Asgore I'll be taking a leave of absence for a few weeks. I am uncertain for how long. I estimate about 2 or 3 weeks. Tell him something 'showed up' at home and I need to take a few weeks off. I will not make further contact with anyone until then.”

“are you sure about this, dings? i mean, we're so close to reaching a breakthrough. you said so yourself. do you really think it's wise to stop now?”

“If we continue to focus on the experiment while she's this ill, she will have little chance of surviving. As much as I want to go through with the project, I can not risk her well being over it. She may suffer from permanent damage to her health or worse, she may die from poor health...”

Sasster let a deep sigh escape him as he finished. He wasn't going to take risks when it came to her. It would be irresponsible of him to even try to when she still had that nasty fracture in her soul. That will be something he'll need to fix immediately, once this was over. For too long he's put off trying to find ways to heal it without accidentally shattering her soul in the process. He probably would have continued to put it off, if not for this illness reminding him of her soul's condition.

“dings, i know what you're thinking.” Sans replied as he shortcutted to the doorway, standing between it. “you gotta stay positive when in this kind of situation. as long as she's in your care, she will get better.” When Sasster didn't reply, he knew to drop the subject. His brother was no longer interested in continuing the conversation. Besides, Sans had to deliver that message to the king. He could be lazy and call the king but he knew it would be better to do it in person.

“...i'll, uh, go tell king fluffybuns you'll be taking a little vacation. what should we tell Papy when he gets home?”

“Tell him Gen is very sick and I'll be caring for her myself. If he wishes to help, he can assist me in cooking her meals. He is not to disturb her in any way. She needs to rest as much as possible.”

“you got it dings. i'll be back in a yiffy.”

With a wink and that ever present grin of his, Sans teleported away, leaving his older brother alone with the sick girl. Sasster couldn't help himself from groaning at Sans awful pun. He still managed to make dumb puns despite the seriousness of the situation. And why did it matter to him how he felt over this? What he felt or thought did not matter at the moment. Restoring Gen to her full health was what mattered and that was precisely what he was going to focus on. He wasn't going to have a repeat of what happened to his friend long ago. Not after spending years and years of his time studying to prevent it from ever happening again.

“I promise I'll take care of you. I won't be as arrogant and naive with you as I was with them"

Two weeks pass and Gen wasn't any better than she was two weeks before. Her condition was getting worse with no signs of any recovery. At this point, the scientist was at his wits end. Why wasn't she getting better? Why was she only getting worse? He had been taking care of her exactly like he studied. He knew how to care for this illness, along with many others. So why wasn't she recovering? It wasn't adding up...

“She's not getting any better, Sans!” Sasster exclaimed as her sat on the couch, dragging his hands down his face in frustration. “I don't know that I'm doing wrong. She should be fine but she's only getting worse with each passing day. If this keeps up she'll...-”

“dings, you gotta calm yourself. there's still time to help her.”

“I-I know I just-I'm worried she's not going to make it...”

“dings...”

“I can't sleep. I end up watching her all night, keeping an eye on her. Always checking to make sure she's still breathing...” He felt his emotions stirring deep inside himself as his mind swarmed with negativity. Just last night he laid down next to her and held her close to himself... something he never thought he'd do with anyone willingly, even if it was a close family member. He normally didn't like physical contact and yet he found himself craving it from her... He missed when she would ask to cuddle with him. He missed hearing her voice, seeing her smile... He missed everything about her. He just wanted her to get better...

“dings... has it ever crossed your mind that she doesn't want to get better?”

“What in Asgore's name are you talking about? Why wouldn't she want to get better???”

“because she knows you're going to continue pushing her away and she doesn't want to wake up to that reality. what else could be the reason be? you've been trying so hard to undo the bond you've made with her despite how close you've grown to her. You don't think that would effect someone's will to live? especially someone like her who's been nothing but pushed away by her own family?”

Sasster couldn't find the words to respond. True, it wouldn't be unlike her to respond in such a drastic way... She did have a painful and inhumane life on the surface. The ones she called “mom and dad” did nothing but abuse her after turning 14. She still believes she was a horrible daughter to them and deserved the scars embedded into her back and stomach. A low growl rumbled deep in the ghoul's chest as he remembered looking over them... They looked as if a large animal swiped their claws over her back and stomach. Not enough to cause serious injury but enough to leave a scar. The idea of her own parents abusing her in such a horrific way made his blood boil. 

Wait, why was he even thinking about this? That wasn't the point. The point was Sans was right. Gen wasn't getting better because she didn't want to... She most likely felt it would be better to pass away then to live like their relationship never was. As much as his ego and pride was screaming at him to deny these assumptions, he couldn't bring himself to. He made a mistake. He let his fears and insecurities come between their relationship and now they were both suffering from it as a result. He knew what he had to do. He only prayed it wasn't too late...

Sasster didn't have to say a word to Sans as he got up from the couch and headed towards the steps. Sans understood right away what he was doing. Dings may be an asshole, but he can also admit when he's made a mistake, when it counts at least. This being one of those times.

“good luck, dings. you're going to need it.”

She looked even worse than she did a few hours ago! All color in her skin was drained to a ghost white and her body was sweating up a storm. The sight of her twisted his heart in ways he could not comprehend. Never in his life had he ever thought he'd share such feeling for someone... He always thought he was content with having his brothers' company until she came along.  She was part of his family, his life. She was everything to him... He could see that now.

As he approached the bedside, the ghoul monster began to feel a strong urge to lay down with the wolf girl. Carefully, he positioned himself over top of her and laid down, resting his against her chest as he dug his arms under her small body. Gen's breaths were heavy and weak to his non existent ears. Even her heart beat didn't sound any better. If she really was to pass away this very night, he would stay with her till the end. But not before he said a few things to her...

“...I'm... I'm sorry Gen. I'm sorry for pushing you away. I know now that's why you aren't getting better. Maybe you aren't even aware you're doing this to yourself... I shouldn't of done that to you. I shouldn't of given into my fears. I made a huge mistake and I regret every moment of it.”

Hot tears slowly began to run down his pale white face as he laid there with her. He wasn't ready to lose her. Not like this. She meant too much to him. He... He loved her. He loved her with all his heart, all his soul. He wasn't ready to let go. He wasn't ready to say good bye...

“I... I love you, Gen. Please don't leave me like this...”

The ghoul monster ended up falling asleep on top of the small wolf girl, his head still resting gently on her chest. After so many sleepless nights trying to care for her, he finally pass out from the extra stress he went through that night. He was out cold. What a surprise it was for Gen when she opened her eyes to find his head over her chest. He looked completely exhausted. How long had he been there? And more importantly, how long had she been out? She remembered being really sick for a few days, watching Sasster as he cared for her. Then one day she felt really depressed and decided to try to sleep it off... She must have been extremely sick because she never woke up exactly after that. She had faint memories of waking up to be feed but that was it. There was nothing else to recall.

She didn't really care about any of that though at the moment. All she cared about was right in front of her. He looked so cute sleeping on top of her like this. He must have been really worried about her...

“You don't need to worry about me anymore, Gaster. I'm feeling much better now.  You'll see... Once you wake up that is. Hee hee~.” she said as she placed a kiss oh his forehead, snuggling her head against his like a wolf does with its pack.