Chapter Text
She ran.
Ginny had no destination in mind, nor was she in the best mindset to decide.
All she could do was run, as tears continued to fall down her face.
She ran through the gate that lead into the monster neighborhood, and down the street. She barely noticed the people she accidentally pushed aside, or the angry shouts she left behind.
She simply ran.
But when running, one had to stop at some point. And when she did, she collapsed on her knees, panting heavily; after almost every inhale, her lungs belted out a sob. Tears were still coming out, wetting her cheeks with hot, salty drips. Her nose was becoming stuffy, causing her to sniff, and her throat was beginning to ache.
When she looked up, she realized she was on the bridge, the same one she had fallen off of when Papyrus startled her. It seemed no matter where she went, walking or running, she always seemed to end up back on or under the bridge. It was expected, as it was her safe place, but it was still fascinating that her feet knew where to take her when her mind was otherwise occupied.
And occupied, it still was. Her angry shouts echoed in her ears, sounding more and more evil as they passed her by. "...I don't need your help! I don't need anyone's help!... What do you know about human children?... How could you possibly know what's good for them?"
Her shoulders shook as another sob made its way through her body. Her heart was heavy with guilt, realizing how horrible she had sounded. But a voice still whispered that she had a right to question them; they never took care of a human child before Frisk. All of the other children that fell had died. Probably by their hands, paws, or what other appendages monsters had.
Even if Toriel had cared for one human child, Ginny was still Frisk's sister. She knew everything about them, what foods they liked or disliked, what symptoms they had when getting sick, and what lullabies to hum when they couldn't fall asleep. They were blood. They were all she had, and she them. She deserved them, more than the monsters did.
But even if she was confident in the monsters caring for Frisk, it didn't mean she wanted to lose them. She had heard it, time and time again, from the orphanage: no one wanted to adopt an adult, no matter how cute their little sibling was. It was the basic reasoning for children, who reached the age of eighteen, to be expelled from the orphanage. It didn't seem to matter if they weren't prepared for the outside world. They were simply told they should have thought about and planned it when they knew their eighteenth birthday was coming, especially when they had seen it happen to other children.
And now that she had insulted them so, they would never want to take her in. They probably never had that idea in their heads in the first place; she was too old, and too human.
She leaned her head back as it began to rain, letting the drops fall on her face. They were cold, and felt sinfully good on her heated skin. It helped clear her mind and quash the ugly head of greed that was trying its best to rise. The rain always helped her think, especially when it was at the end of a hard day, and her thoughts were hard to untangle.
They were interrupted when she heard footsteps approaching from behind, causing little splashes in the tiny puddles beginning to form. She stood to her own feet, grimacing at her sore knees, and wiped off her face. She ignored the smeared dirt on her hands, and instead turned around just enough to see who was behind her.
It was a trio of girls she internally called the Mean M Girls, as all three of them had names beginning with that letter, and were less than pleasant. The leader was Muffy, a tall pale girl with shoulder-length brown hair. Another was a tanned girl with longer, black hair called Megan, who often had the same thoughts as their leader. The final girl was more pale than Muffy, and had short red hair; her name was Madison, and she could be considered the least-nasty of the girls.
The Mean M Girls stopped in the middle of the bridge, eyeing Ginny like she was a nasty bug in need of squishing. Muffy sneered at her, curling her nose as much as it would go, "You're blocking our way."
Not being in the mood for arguing back, Ginny stepped to the side until her hip hit the railing of the bridge. "Not good enough," Muffy tsked, shaking her head like Ginny was a troubled toddler.
"Yeah, how's about you get off the bridge?" Megan agreed. "So we can get by without having to smell you." She wrinkled her nose and waved the air in front of her face for good measure.
Even though she knew she was right, Ginny still flinched at the harsh words and gestures. She admitted, it was partially her fault for not investing in soap and shampoo more. But anything that didn't go into food, medicine, or extreme emergency-type miscellanea went to someday being able to afford all the luxuries needed to adopt Frisk; not to mention she didn't have good access to running water. The last time she tried to bathe in the river, an officer told her off for polluting the water. And it was hard to gather enough rain in a bucket for even a short wash.
When Madison didn't add anything, Megan elbowed her harshly in the ribs, causing her to grunt in pain. She flinched when Muffy glared at her, and stammered, "Y-you... I... i-it is a little ripe, but-"
"-a little?" Muffy snorted. "She smells worse than a pig farm! I'd be surprised if she didn't live at one."
"And she looks like she lives on one," Megan added. "Her hair's ugly, her clothes are ugly, her skin's ugly; everything about her is just plug. Ugly!"
Normally, Ginny would have ignored them until they got bored of her lack-of-response. But she was already in a bad mood. "Yeah? You guys are just as ugly."
All three of them whipped their heads towards her, wide-eyed. As their faces morphed into angry glares, they advanced upon her, forcing her to back up against the railing. "You better take that back," Muffy warned her, pointing a finger at her.
"No," she shook her head, even as she had to lean her upper back over the railing to avoid her finger.
"Take it back!" Megan yelled, stamping her foot. "You filthy bitch!"
"No!" Ginny refused again. "You are ugly! You guys might be pretty on the outside, but your personalities are ugly. Hell, if everyone looked like how they thought and acted, you'd be as ugly as pig shit."
There wasn't even a pause before someone reacted. Muffy raised her hands up and pushed Ginny in the chest, still glaring as if she had insulted her mother. For a split second, she saw Megan's eyes widen a touch, and Madison open her mouth to shout something, though she couldn't hear what it was.
All she could hear was her own scream as she fell. It came out purely by instinct, by getting startled at being shoved off of the bridge. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she neared the ground.
But in reality, it was only a few seconds before she hit it.
She felt her head bounce off of the concrete, and heard the crack, just before pain seemed to explode from the back of her skull. Her scream was cut off when she gasped, but nothing more came out. The wind had been knocked out of her as the rest of her body crumpled to the ground, and the pain kept her from crying out. She couldn't even curl up to grasp the back of her head. It probably wouldn't have done any good. It seemed like nothing in the world could stop the pain.
She couldn't hear anything, smell anything, or even see anything. She couldn't even feel the rain still pouring down on her; all she felt was pain. It felt like the worst headache, combined with every bump on the head she ever received, multiplied by the hundreds, if not thousands. It made her feel sick, even if there wasn't much for her stomach to expel.
But she did begin to regain her senses, bit by bit. She felt her body being lifted up by bony arms, wrapped in a thick parka. The back of her head was still aching, and the spot where it hurt the worst felt sharp and cold. It was almost like her skin had gotten wet, and a fan was blowing cold air on it.
Whoever was holding her began to run. She felt them hold her firmly, probably trying not to jostle her around too much. But she still hurt, even in places other than her head. The back of her skull was still so painful, it was almost baffling that the rest of her body was hurting.
She was finally able to open her eyes. Though her vision was blurry, and she had to blink rain and tears away, she eventually was able to make out who was carrying her. "S-Sans?" she whimpered. She reached one hand up to clutch his jacket. It was made of some rough material, though it was still flexible. "It h-hurts..."
"yeah, i know," he whispered, glancing down at her. Though he was still grinning, it looked forced, and his eyes were worried. "don't worry, though. you'll be fine. you just gotta stay awake for me."
His voice was beginning to fade into deep sounds, like trying to listen to someone while underwater. And her vision was filling with black splotches. She vaguely remembered learning about concussions, and how the victim had to stay awake. Why? She couldn't remember. She could barely focus as it was, even on Sans's deep voice. She barely realized her grip on his jacket was loosening.
Through the black splotches, and the fogginess of her vision, she saw him look down at her again. She barely heard him call out her name, urging her to try to stay awake. Try as she might to hang onto his voice, it was too much. She could feel her body urging her to go to sleep. It lied to her, telling her she wasn't hurt, but extremely tired. That she needed to go to sleep.
As her head fell back, sending one last shock wave of pain when it hit his arm, and her own arm hung limp, her vision fell to black. And gradually, his voice and her pain faded away as well.
Everything faded away into silence and darkness.