As the Story Crumbles

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 02:01 PM

Be it short or long, a random ramble or a thought out story, there's a little bit of everything here. The genres are just as wide spread as the focus of the piece, be it a sci-fi slice of life, a fantasy horror, or the more expected basic fantasy story or modern mystery. Some are short and simple, others just as short but far more complex. More than anything, the majority of what is contained here is exploration of the written word. There is enjoyment in writing it. I do hope you enjoy reading it in turn.

Please peruse at your leisure. Any comments are welcomed as the Table of Contents below is updated with every new post.

Spoiler: Assorted and Prompt Writings

Spoiler: Event Writings

Spoiler: Monthly Writings

Spoiler: Fanfiction

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 04:41 PM

Sanity Virus
Transformers Movie Verse AU
Megatron X Optimus Prime

Please be advised that this story does have:
Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Major Character Death

Spoiler: Chapter 1

Beginning

He leaned heavily on the balcony's railing, heaving a sigh. It had been a long day and the following were to only get longer. His dim blue optics drifted over the growing city with little more than weariness and defeat dancing in them. Try as they might, Cybertron would never be what it once was. Not in any of their lifetimes, nor in those of the next generations. He wasn't sure if he was content with how humble his race had become or sad that it had come to this. He shifted his stance, from forearm to elbow so he could bury his face into his hand. A hand stroked up from the base of his shoulder blade to nape of his neck, a thumb stroking the strained wires there. Optimus Prime pushed off the balcony's railing in favor of leaning into both the hand on his neck and the chest behind him.

"You need to quit doing this to yourself, Beloved," a deep, rumbling voice spoke softly from behind him as an arm wrapped around his chest and a face pressed into his shoulder. Optimus reached up, placing a hand on Megatron's faceplate. "You'll run yourself into an early grave."

Optimus gave a soft huff in amusement, relishing in the unconditional love he could feel surging over the abused sparkbond. They each had died once and had made it back before the other could truly lose their mind. The war had finally ended and all Cybertronians were now focused on repairing what had been thought to be unrepairable. A bite on his neck - hard enough to cause pain but gentle enough not to mark - brought Optimus from his thoughts and back to Megatron. He shifted enough to look into his sparkmate's optics, curious. His spark seized at the look in Megatron's red optics.

Concern and worry both dominated the larger mech's unwavering gaze. Optimus found himself trying to slow his venting. He wasn't sure what had caused the reaction but he knew it hadn't been a good emotion. He gave a weak smile, returning his hand to Megatron's faceplate. "I am sorry, Megatron. It has just been a long day."

Megatron kissed Optimus's temple, the kiss lingering for comfort being sought from both parties. When Megatron pulled away, he offered, "It has been for both of us. Let's go recharge."

Megatron stepped back and to the side. He kept an arm around Optimus's waist as he led the red and blue mech back into their quarters. It was simplistic, small. Megatron remembered a time when he had wanted elegance, the largest place Cybertron had to offer, but, when the war had finally ended and the rebuilding of Cybertron had started, he had found the smaller quarters had been much more pleasurable. The greatest factor had been how much it had put both veteran mechs at ease. Sometimes it was hard to push aside war taught habits and paranoias.

The berth was soft and warm. Optimus climbed in first, his systems already shutting down to rest. Megatron helped the sleepy mech settle before going around and climbing in on the other side. Optimus rolled over and pressed his faceplate over Megatron's spark chamber. Megatron wrapped his arms securely around Optimus, humming a tone that seemed to gently vibrate his entire being. It was something they had both discovered had helped a peaceful recharge after so long in war. Soon Optimus was in a deep recharge and Megatron finally gave in to the need to recharge as well.

"The attacks are getting more frequent," Sideswipe commented, leaning heavily on the table covered in datapads and holocubs. "Do we even know where they're coming from?"

Optimus sighed, rubbing at his optics as Ratchet replied, "No. From what we can tell, it's some kind of virus. There hasn't been enough time to analyze the compound fully to tell what the full effects are."

Sunstreaker huffed, pushing off the wall. "I can tell you the effects, Doc. They turn good bots bad. Make them do things they would never do."

"We don't know that for sure," Ratchet countered but Sunstreaker barked back, "I watched Arcee get her spark ripped out by her own sparkmate! I know for a fact that that would never happen! Their bond was too strong!"

"And yet that only restates what little we already know!" Ratchet shouted back. "We need time to know the true effects of-"

"Enough." Megatron stepped forward, glaring at the two mechs. Both silenced immediately, though Sunstreaker still glared at Ratchet. "Whether or not we know the true effects, we do know how it's being transferred."

Ratchet nodded, meeting Megatron's gaze. "As of right now, it's only through fluid. Fresh fluid. Give it a few hours outside of a system and it dies. There's no telling if it'll go air born."

Megatron nodded. "Then we work to contain the infected. Ironhide, work with Soundwave to set up teams and quadrants to patrol. Starscream, take your Trine and another and patrol the skies till the ground teams and quadrants have been set up. Then follow Soundwave and Ironhide's schedule as they need you."

All mechs nodded their acknowledgement before leaving. Megatron looked over to Optimus and knew the other wasn't reading the data pad in his hand. He dismissed the rest with the flick of his wrist and waited for them to leave. As the door clicked shut, Megatron pulled the datapad out of Optimus's loose grip before engulfing Optimus in his arms. He more felt then heard the sigh that escaped from Optimus's vents as his frame relaxed. Megatron placed a chaste kiss on Optimus's temple, offering, "You could have stayed home today. I can hand this."

Optimus shook his head. "I am losing many friends, both old and new. If I can aid in stopping this virus, then I will."

Megatron stole a kiss before he pulled away. "I'm going to visit the building sites. Stay here and go through some of these. I want you to take it easy today. Nothing more strenuous than reading useless information."

Optimus laughed weakly and Megatron took it. Kissing Optimus one last time, he left the room. Optimus sighed and picked up the datapad Megatron had pulled from his grip. He scrolled back to the top, intent on truly understanding what he had been reading but he had barely read the first line when he was interrupted.

The screech was the only warning he got as the windows shattered. His head whipped around and he engaged his cannon without even thinking. A Cybertronian mass collided with his side and his hip caught the edge of the table, both of them sliding across the tabletop and over the other side. Datapads and holocubes scattered in every direction as the table tipped and collapsed overtop them. Optimus's left shoulder burned but he ignored it in favor of dealing with the attacking Cybertronian mass. Optimus managed to land a right hook to the side of the mech's face, giving him enough of an opening to kick the form off and take aim. The door burst open, drawing the assailant's attention away from Optimus for the millisecond it took to register what he was seeing.

The Cybertronian was Soundwave, but he looked damaged, frozen in the middle of withering in pain. Limbs were twisted in painful directions and broken in others. Energon dripped from the wounds that grew with each movement. The worse part of it all was Soundwave's face.

The mech never had much in the way for expressions but the way his face was distorted...Optimus had to look away before he purged his tanks. Even after all that he had seen, it was a gruesome sight.

"Optimus!"

Optimus cursed himself as Soundwave collided with him, slamming him into the floor again. Optimus was able to get an arm free to keep Soundwave from ripping into his throat with serrated teeth. A shadow covered them both and suddenly, Soundwave was crashing into the opposite wall.

Megatron fired at Soundwave. It was a direct hit to the spark and Soundwave crumbled. Tension seemed to escape the room as Megatron lowered his cannon and turned to Optimus. "Are you-"

Megatron was tackled by Soundwave and the sound was excruciating. Megatron was able to throw Soundwave off as his back hit the floor before the infected mech could scratch or bite him and promptly decapitated Soundwave. The frame crashed to the floor unceremoniously as Megatron straightened up. He retracted his blade and turned to Optimus, offering the mech a hand. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe came rushing in. Sunstreaker went directly to Soundwave and Sideswipe walked over as Megatron pulled Optimus to his feet.

"Ironhide's in pretty bad shape," Sideswipe stated without prompt. Optimus gently gripped his burning shoulder. "He's in medical right now, getting cleaned and patched up by Ratchet. He said Soundwave just snapped and attacked him. Rachet said that Ironhide hadn't gotten infect."

Megatron nodded, his gaze going to Optimus. He placed a hand on the small of Optimus's back, offering when dim blue optics looked up at him, "Let's get you to medic."

Optimus nodded.

[divide][/divide]

"You're clear as well," Ratchet stated, reading the scanner in his hand. "The energon that had splattered you was merely surface exposure. Nothing to worry about."

Optimus sighed, relief flooding his spark and mingling with the relief Megatron was feeling. Megatron slid off the medical berth. "How much longer till you have a way to counteract the virus."

Ratchet shook his head. "Until I figure out what caused it, there's no telling on when I'll come up with a way to counteract it."

"We will need to keep everyone on high alert," Optimus voiced. "We cannot allow this to become wide spread nor can we allow it to pull us apart."

"Agreed." Megatron turned to Ratchet. "How long till Ironhide is ready for a debrief?"

Ratchet shook his head. "Soundwave had done some serious damage. It was a miracle Ironhide was conscious when he was brought in and still clean of the virus."

Megatron nodded. He turned to Optimus. The red and blue mech met his gaze with a tired one. Megatron cupped Optimus's faceplate. "I'll be back when things settle. Get some rest."

Optimus nodded, accepting the kiss before watching Megatron leave. With a sigh, he settled back onto the medical berth, rolling onto his good shoulder. Ratchet walked over and stated, "If you need anything, just call."

Optimus nodded, already halfway into recharge.

He woke with a start, feeling as if he had only drifted into recharge. He sat up, wincing as his healing shoulder and hip protested to the movement but didn't hinder him. He looked around the dim medic bay trying to decipher what woke him. He turned his head to the door and saw that it was partially open and harsh whispers were emanating from the hallway. Sliding off the berth, he rubbed his sore shoulder briefly before dropping his hand to the side.

The closer he got, the more he could make out and he recognized his sparkmate's voice long before the words made sense.

"-ther time," Megatron was growling, sounding as if he was trying very hard to keep his voice down. "I won't repeat myself."

"Well, that attitude will get you nowhere," Ratchet replied. Optimus reached out to pulled the door open as the medic commented, "You have to come back in the-"

The door opened and Optimus stepped back. Ratchet jerked back at the sudden appearance of Optimus standing before him. He frowned. "You should be in a deep recharge."

Optimus gave a half shrug, feeling like a youngling getting reprimanded. "I woke up."

Megatron chuckled and Optimus looked at him, smiling gentle. But the smile faltered. Something was off with Megatron but he wasn't sure what. Megatron held out his hand to Optimus and Optimus took it as Megatron offered, "Let's go home."

"Optimus should-"

"We're going home," Megatron growled.

Optimus frowned, retorting, "Megatron."

Megatron looked at him and he seemed to calm instantly. He gave a tired smile. "Sorry, Beloved. It's just been a hard day."

"Then you should be home."

Megatron shook his head. "Not without you."

Optimus looked to Ratchet, the question in his optics. Ratchet sighed, waving the pair off. "Fine. But Optimus is to rest. Nothing till past mid day."

"Nothing till past mid day," Optimus agreed.

Megatron jerked his hand gentle, urging Optimus to follow. Optimus fell into step beside Megatron. Megatron gave Optimus's hand a gentle squeeze and started on the path home. Optimus was pleasantly surprised when they continued walking. It had been a long time since he had walked home with Megatron. Most of the time, they were too exhausted to think of covering the distance by foot. The distance would tax his hip but it would be gentler than shifting forms. Optimus wondered if that was why they were walking.

They reached their apartment half an hour later. Optimus was exhausted, limping, and already slipping in and out of recharge. Megatron had, somewhere along their walk, wrapped his arm around Optimus's waist to support him. The room lit up in a gentle glow when they entered. The pair was silent as Megatron led the way to the bedroom. He turned the lights on before taking Optimus over to the berth. Vents hissed as Optimus cringed from the pain in his hip. Megatron placed a gentle hand over the ache, catching Optimus's dim gaze. Optimus couldn't focus enough through the partial recharge to read the emotions flickering through Megatron's gaze. He reached out, cupping Megatron's cheek. Megatron leaned into it, covering Optimus's hand with his own.

"No matter what happens, you know that I'll always love you?" Megatron asked, his voice soft.

Optimus frowned, forcing himself out of his haze as best he could. He had little success. The fog of exhaustion was winning. "Of course. You would never do anything that states others."

Megatron dropped his gaze to Optimus's spark and Optimus looked over the crouching mech, wondering where this had come from. He must have voiced his concern because Megatron breathed, "The virus is spreading."

Optimus's hand clenched on Megatron's cheek subconsciously as Optimus tensed. Megatron looked up at him with sorrow filled optics. As a sense of foreboding settled in his spark, Optimus snapped, "We will get through this, Megatron. We have made it out alive from much worse."

Megatron gave a faint smile as he captured a kiss. Optimus felt himself being pulled back into recharge as the kiss continued soft and gentle. Megatron broke the kiss and Optimus wasn't quite sure when the larger mech had laid him down. Megatron kissed over Optimus's spark, muttering, "Sleep well, my Beloved."

Optimus gave the hand he still held a squeeze. It was a weak one but Megatron seemed to understand as he squeezed back gently. As Megatron's hand left his, Optimus fought the recharge urging him to sleep, watching as his sparkmate looked back in the doorway, before completely leaving.

His recharge was restless. He became fully aware with a start, feeling completely worn and sore. He sat up stiffly, careful of his right shoulder and left hip as both complained. He froze.

Something was off.

He looked around, his optics taking in the still dark window, the closed door, and the empty berth beside him. It took him a moment to figure the time and yet he didn't trust that it was just before the sun rose. He shifted so his feet hung over the edge of the berth and waited for the strain to subside.

He focused on the closed door, the sound of something breaking muffled by the solid door and good seal. Optimus stood up, favoring his right leg more than his left as he hobbled over to the door and opened it. Something flew at him and he ducked, automatically engaging his canon. He would have raised it too if he hadn't caught sight of Megatron first.

The red optic mech was furious, trashing the sitting area in a rage. Most things were overturned, sliced into multiple pieces, and smashed underfoot. Optimus had to his cannon to disengage. It was a rage he hadn't seen since the war and it honestly scared the Prime. Taking the courage that most Autobots still remember him harboring, he stepped out into the chaos, ignoring the twinge in his hip and the fear in his spark.

Megatron threw something at the far wall that shattered, peppering both their forms in debris. Optimus reached out, clasping a hand on Megatron's arm as he choked, "Megatron."

The blade was at his throat before either of them could fully process it but the manic in Megatron's gaze had been there long enough for Optimus to see it. Recognition and guilt quickly overtook the manic, burying it as the blade disengaged.

"Optimus," came the strangled apology. The red and blue mech found himself being engulfed by Megatron's arms and he wrapped his own arms around Megatron's slightly larger form, his face buried into Megatron's neck. "I'm so sorry, Beloved. I was-it's-I don't know what came over me."

Optimus tightened his grip. "Have you slept, Megatron?"

"I..."

Optimus sighed, pulling back. "Is there anything you have to do first thing?"

Megatron had already given in before he had even answered the question. It wasn't hard to see where this was going as he gave Optimus a gentle smile. "No. And I believe a decent recharge will help."

Optimus accepted the kiss before pulling away and towards the bedroom. Megatron followed without a word, closing the door behind them both. They settled down to recharge but Optimus found recharging on his hip was much more painful than on his shoulder. Megatron didn't seem to mind that the positions had changed slightly. He still wrapped an arm around Optimus and fell into a deep recharge almost instantly. Optimus hadn't been sure if he could even make it into a deep enough recharge to rest fully. Still, he found himself waking without remembering when he had fallen asleep. The berth beside him was empty but still warm. He smiled gently and got up.

His shoulder and hip were still sore but the strained joints were getting better. He walked without any trouble. He entered the sitting room and had to pause in the doorway as the fear from just a few hours ago gripped him again. His hand latched onto the doorframe and cracked the paint. The room was clean, spotless, and repaired. A spike of fear shot through Optimus as he wondered frantically if the previous night had occurred.

Movement drew his attention elsewhere and he smiled gently to Megatron. The mech was leaning against a doorframe, arms crossed and smirking. Optimus released the doorframe with some difficulty and walked over. The fear was still there, still just as strong, even though he knew it was irrational. Megatron wouldn't hurt him, wouldn't harm him. He knew that in his spark. Megatron seemed to have known the turmoil in his spark and captured a chaste kiss briefly as the smirk fell. "I'm needed back at HQ. You're welcome to tag along but, if Ratchet gets wind you left this place, it'll be your own aft."

Optimus chuckled, accepting the chance to be playful. It aided in ignoring the fear. "I thought you liked my aft to be exclusive."

The grin on Megatron's face shouldn't have scared him, shouldn't have reminded him of the times of war. He shouldn't have even made it to the other side of the room as quickly as he had while tripping over the furniture. None the less, he found him back crashing with the far wall as he tried desperately to stop the hyperventing and to disengage the cannon beamed to Megatron's spark. Fear and concern were clear on Megatron's expression as he moved forward slowly. He stopped at the end of Optimus's charged cannon and slowly forced it to lower. His expression never changed as he reached up with his other hand to cup Optimus's cheek.

Spoiler: Chapter 2

Midpoint

"Beloved, what happened?" Megatron asked, his voice breaking on the pet name. That did it. That simple break broke through the fear and Optimus lunged at Megatron, burrowing into the other in fear of the memories and of the fear itself. Megatron held on tight. He soothed his sparkmate as best he could without knowing what had caused the episode and Optimus fought to calm down to explain. He owed Megatron that much.

"I apologize," Optimus wheezed.

Megatron bristled at the soft spoken apology and moved back to look at Optimus fully. "Don't even, Optimus. Just tell me what happened. What triggered this? Neither of us have had such strong episodes before."

Opimus shook his head, elbows on bent knees and gaze to the floor. "I do not know."

Megatron gripped his chin forcefully. Probably more forcefully then the mech had intended but Optimus flinched regardless, his head jerking back to connect sharply with the wall behind it and bright blue optics focused on regretful red ones. Megatron cupped the back of Optimus's head, offering, "I'll try and be more careful, Beloved. I don't want to cause such turmoil." Megatron kissed Optimus's forehead, offering, "I'll be back after the meeting."

Optimus frowned as Megatron stood. He took the offered hand and got up. "Is a compromise possible?"

Megatron smirked, but it was guarded this time, sharper almost. "Depends."

"I go with you but the only strenuous thing I do is read useless information."

Megatron laughed, accepting that as a good compromise. "Alright."

They left a bit after midday, walking hand in hand for most of the way. As they got closer, though, Optimus realized this was the third time Megatron had rubbed his temples. He frowned, asking, "Are you alright, Megatron?"

Megatron looked at him, an optic ridge raised in question. "I'm fine. I'll stop by medic on the way to take care of this. It's nothing. Don't worry."

Optimus didn't believe him but let it slide. Others greeted them, though most sounded hollow. Megatron seemed to have noticed as well because he wrapped an arm around Optimus's shoulders and sped up the pace. They entered the same room as last time. The room had been repaired in their absence and looked exactly the same. There was nothing to reveal what had happened less than a day ago. The same bots were in the room – excluding Ironhide and Soundwave – and the table was covered in datapads and holocubes ones more. Optimus picked up a datapad with a sigh and started skimming, not really registering the words he was reading.

"The attacks are getting more frequent," Sideswipe commented, leaning heavily on the table covered in datapads and holocubs. "Do we even know where they're coming from?"

Optimus rubbed at his optics as Ratchet replied, "No. From what we can tell, it's some kind of virus. There hasn't enough time to analyze the compound fully to tell what the effects are."

Optimus's hand froze as he tensed. Sunstreaker huffed, pushing off the wall. "I can tell you the effects, Doc. They turn good bots bad. Make them do things they would never do."

Optimus's head snapped up and his gaze locked onto Sunstreaker.

"We don't know that for sure," Ratchet countered but Sunstreaker barked back, "I watched Arcee get her spark ripped out by her own sparkmate! I know for a fact that would never happen! Their bond was too strong!"

"And yet that only restates what little we already know!" Ratchet shouted back. "We need time to know the true effects of-"

"Optimus?"

Optimus flinched, blinking as he found himself face to face with his sparkmate. Optimus looked to the others and saw them watching him, mixed expressions among the crowd. Megatron gripped his arms tighter, drawing Optimus's attention back to Megatron and to the fact that his entire form was shaking. He sank to his knees and Megatron went with him, keeping him upright. Optimus rubbed at his head as he tried to force his body to stop shaking, blinking at the shattered datapad under his knee.

"Optimus." Optimus looked up into red optics. He reached up and placed a hand over Megatron's spark, his fingers curling into the metal in an attempt to redirect his thoughts. "What's wrong?"

Optimus slowly calmed down as he spoke softly. "I...Things had been so similar. It felt as if there would be a repeat of what had happened."

Megatron frowned and, for a fleeting moment, Optimus thought he had seen confusion, as if Megatron hadn't known what he was talking about. But it was there and gone so quickly, Optimus just brushed it off to a trick of the light. Megatron tightened his grip gently, briefly, asking, "Can you stand?"

Optimus hesitated before he nodded. Megatron hauled him gently to his feet, turning to the others. "We'll continue this later."

"Megatron," Ratchet started, gaze on Optimus.

"I said later!" Megatron shouted, suddenly furious. It was either great self control or a miracle that his grip on Optimus hadn't tightened. Sunstreaker opened his mouth but Megatron overrode him. "OUT!"

Everyone scattered. Megatron turned to Optimus, working desperately to suppress the sudden rage. He rubbed where he had been holding Optimus, asking, "I didn't harm you, did I?"

Optimus shook his head, doing his best to keep the onslaught of fear back. So many years out of war and the Last Prime was going soft. But, then again, his sparkmate was the notorious Megatron, Ruthless Leader of the Decepticons. No one ever loses that large of a part of themself, after all. Megatron didn't seem to notice the turmoil within his sparkmate and Optimus sighed inwardly. He didn't need to worry Megatron with this. There was enough to do already that he didn't need to add his sudden onslaughts of day terrors. Megatron kissed his forehead, breathing, "Good."

Megatron turned to the table and rubbed at his head, running the hand from his temple to the base of his neck where he worked on soothing whatever pain was ailing him. Optimus frowned. "You were going to go take care of that, Megatron."

Megatron look up, arching an optic ridge. He smiled gently. "I will. But I need to make sure you're ok first."

Primes don't pout. At least, not in public. But around their sparkmates, they seem to pout all the time and this was one of those times. Optimus crossed his arms and pouted at Megatron. "I am fine, Megatron. Just a day terror that has passed."

Megatron chuckled, standing, once more, before his sparkmate. A stolen kiss from a pouting Prime and Megatron replied airily, "I know, Beloved. Just humor me. Just this once."

Optimus's resolve deflated and Megatron stole another kiss. Optimus gently pushed Megatron and the other laughed, shoving back in retaliation. Optimus chuckled, staggering the two steps it took in exaggeration of compensating the weak shove in. Returning to the table, Optimus started collecting the datapads and holocubs.

As he picked one off the floor, Optimus straightened with a frown. He started stacking his armful neatly on the table. "There was no need to snap at them."

Megatron sighed, rubbing at his head as he leaned on the table. "Can we not do this, Optimus?"

"Megatron."

"No!" The table jumped and cracked from the impact of Megatron's fist on its surface. Red optics upturned to glare at the Prime. "I do not have to justify myself to you, Optimus. Nor do I have to listen to your lecture."

With the fear that had yet to leave him since last night, Optimus took a step forward with anger and hurt driving him forward, refusing to back down as he countered, "I had no intentions of lecturing you, Megatron. I was merely stating you did not have to act that way with our friends, regardless."

Megatron gave a barking laugh and Optimus was proud that he hadn't visibly flinched. "Friends? Last time I check, Optimus, they were your friends. Not mine."

"They are your friends, Megatron. They have been since the day we started rebuilding Cybertron."

The table shattered and Optimus leapt back, unable to stop the cannon from engaging, charging, and targeting Megatron. Megatron stood over the shattered table, fist still where it had stopped. Slowly, Megatron pulled out of the stance, almost like he was coming out of a daze and not quite sure what had happened. He looked at his hand briefly before looking up at Optimus. Optimus watched as Megatron took in the stance and the cannon pointed at him. Megatron took a step back, shaking his head slowly. His clenched his hands, ripping his gaze from Optimus as his vents hissed. He reached up and pressed his palm to his temple, offering weakly, "I'm sorry, Beloved. I shouldn't...I just..."

He sighed, his frame relaxing. He looked to Optimus and Optimus was startled out of his stance by how guarded Megatron's gaze was. "I'm going to go blow some steam. I'll see you back home."

Optimus gave a tentative nod and watched as Megatron left without looking back. Optimus looked back at the table and overrode the cannon, disengaging it and smothering the fear with routine. He cleaned up the mess of datapads and datacubes before heading home.

He stopped walking when he received an urgent ping. He frowned. It was an old frequency from back during the war. Activating it, he didn't have a chance to get a sound out before an onslaught of noise was unleashed.

"Any available warriors, come in! We need help! Headquarters is being attacked and we've got two other assaults going on at North Point and Iacon Records! Any available warriors within these areas, please give aid! I repeat! Any available warriors, come in! We need help! Headquarters is being attacked and we've got two other assaults going on at..."

Optimus shifted forms and raced back through the streets. He transformed just outside the doors to Headquarters and found the telltale signs of an assault. Mechs and femmes scattered the grounds and Optimus engaged both a blade and a cannon as his battle mask locked into place. With this many offlined, it was a large scale assault. Which meant –

"Megatron!"

Optimus made his way through halls lit with emergency lights as quickly as he could, barely feeling his sparkmate at the end of their abused link. He rounded a corner and staggered to a stop over a small squad barely holding up against an assailant. Optimus opened fire over their heads, his optics quickly confirming that the assailant and the small squad was not who he was looking for. Optimus was both surprised and pleased to see a familiar face among the strangers.

"Bumblebee."

"Nice timing, Optimus. I was worried we were going to get scrapped," the little yellow ex-scout chimed happily. "This is what I get for teaming with rookies."

The only femme in the group smacked Bumblebee upside the head, snapping, "Don't blame us for your mistake, Commander."

Bumbebee laughed, not taking his attention off their target.

"These things are resilient!" one of the remaining anonymous mechs commented. He sat back, hiding behind his comrades to recuperate. Optimus could hear his vents working overtime to keep his system cooled. The purple and red frame was shaking. Optimus met the blue optic gaze that looked up at him as the mech asked, "How do we kill these things, Optimus Prime, Sir?"

Optimus looked back at their target. "Decapitation."

"Seriously?" the mech asked, the fear of the moment growing a bit much for him.

"Great," one of the other mechs grumbled. Optimus didn't bother looking at which as he ducked the wall panel that had been thrown at them. The panel embedded itself into the wall behind them. The grumble, though, seemed to settle the purple and red mech a bit. At least his frame had stopped shaking.

"Any ideas?" Bumblebee asked.

Optimus frowned. "Just one."

"Good enough for me," the ex-scout announced, happily agreeing. He stood up, offering cover fire as Optimus raced forward.

The fight was over in a matter of seconds. The once whole Cybertronian collapsed in a heap of metal at Optimus's feet, the head rolling down the hall somewhere. Optimus looked at the squad as it approached cautiously, ordering, "Keep your weapons out."

The blue and green mech that had been ready to disengage his weapon jumped, meeting Optimus's gaze. He nodded and hurried to take up the rear. Bumblebee nudged the mass with his food. "None I recognize."

"I know him." Optimus looked at the remaining mech of black and red, recognizing the voice as the one that had grumbled earlier. The mech looked too seasoned to be a rookie. "Lived next door. Good mech. Vet, if I remember correctly. Autobot."

"Frag," Bumblebee cussed, looking away. "It's not like we needed another one lost."

"There are no more factions, Bumblebee. Any we lose now is one of ours, no matter past alliances."

"Yes, Sir," Bumblebee accepted with a not.

Optimus nodded in recognition, asking, "Have you seen Megatron?"

"Last I heard, he was up aiding Ratchet in keeping the medic clear. He may have moved on."

Optimus nodded. "Sweep this floor. Aid anyone you come across."

"We'll be here if you need us," Bumblebee agreed, saluting. He turned to his team as Optimus started down the hall again. "Alright, troops. I want an open commlink at all times. If there's any trouble or if you find..."

Silence was only cut by what noise Optimus made. It was eerie trotting through hallways he knew should be bustling at this time of day. Twice he came across deserted battlefields in those tight hallways. The second one had been the worst yet.

Parts and spilt energon splattered the hallway for the entire length and Optimus couldn't distinguish features enough to know if anyone he knew was dead now. The carnage continued along the path he took and, while there were other ways of getting to medic located on the third floor, Optimus was going for the shortest route. He could hear shouts and weapon fire as he approached the stairs. He hugged the wall, raising his cannon as he tried to decipher what was happening. He flinched when the corner beside his face shattered from a shot. Swallowing his fear, Optimus stepped out.

He was racing towards fire without really processing anything, blade scraping the floor every so often. His body moved on instinct alone, falling back on training he had long since thought rust. He was upon the assailant and had it decapitated before those fighting to stay alive even registered what had happened. Someone was shouting a cease fire as Optimus ducked one shot and sidestepped another. Optimus looked to the rag tag team of Cybertronians and was pleased to see another familiar face. "Barricade."

"Prime," the once Decepticon responded, nodding. "Lucky you showed up. We were being picked off faster than we could have anticipated."

Optimus returned the nod. "Bumblebee is with a squad near the entrance. Retrace my steps and see if you can offer some aid. They had an open commlink. See if you can contact them."

Barricade nodded as those with him started past Optimus. Barricade studied the Prime before offering, "Megatron was alive last I saw him. Up on the third floor. They were holding their own when I left."

Optimus nodded and moved to go up the stairs. A hand stopped him. He looked back at Barricade but the mech didn't release his grip. "I'm sending one of mine with you."

Optimus shook his head. "If there is a chance of getting everyone out, I will take it. Clearing this floor is our only option without Seekers or more information."

"Megatron ordered me to send one of mine with you."

Optimus gave a gentle smile, though the battle mask hid it. "I will deal with Megatron. Take care of your squad, Commander."

Barricade released Optimus's arm with a sharp nod. The mech saluted before following his team. Optimus watched them till they all disappeared around the last corner before he started to climb the stairs. The emergency lights flicker briefly before going completely dark, leaving Optimus in a pitch black stairwell. He took a moment to adjust to the new development before moving on, knowing full well he was at a disadvantage in this dark. He pressed against the wall beside the exit and charged his cannon. With a steady hand, he opened the door.

Silence.

Optimus kept his weapon to his chest as he looked around the edge of the door. Nothing. Stepping out, he raised his weapon, taking careful steps. He sent a comm ping from where he stood before hurrying down the wall. It was unclear if the infected bots were still sane enough to understand a ping like that but anything could draw their attention as well as nothing.

He sent another ping as he rounded a corner, listening for anything. The farther he moved, though, the more he was certain no one was there. The medic bay was 3 minutes away and that was without any complications. He rounded the next corner only to backpedal, raising his weapon. He was instantly grateful he wasn't trigger happy like a few bots he knew because he had just stumbled upon three sleeping infected. He shuddered, thanking Primus for the steady hand. He ignored the gore in the hall around the three sleeping infected and continued down the hallway he had been traveling. There was always another way.

The next turn had been impassible. The roof had caved in from something and Optimus wasn't about to take the chance to blast his way through. Sadly, that had been his last short route option. The hallway he was now in continued on for a good 3 minutes on its own before anything opened up to allow him to go right. He just hoped it would be clear.

When he came to the turn, he found it dark and empty. Neither of these boded well with him. Clenching his free hand, he started down the hall, foot fall as quiet as possible. He had a rough idea on the floor plan but it had been some time since he had been in this part of the building. The back of the building still had large areas of construction. This building was to become the central hub of activity, creating a place for Cybertronians to mingle and learn. But, for now, it was merely Headquarters.

The floor panel he stepped on gave way and Optimus staggered away. He cringed at the sound of the floor panel clattering off of the support struts and other panels on its way down. He looked to his left and saw that the wall was still there, still solid, but the floor and the lowest part of the wall had been taken out as something had come through at an angle, heading for the ground floor. Optimus placed his foot down carefully, testing the floor panel as he moved forward. It was slow, tedious, but he made it through the damaged area without another incident. Hurrying along, Optimus rounded the next corner and started to hear noises. Noises he wasn't too sure he was grateful to hear.

Shouts and weapon fire echoes off the walls as screeches and screams mingled with the chaos. Optimus rounded the corner to find himself a good distance behind a squad. The medic bay was in between Optimus and the squad, holding the middle line. Optimus ran forward only to stop at the medic bay.

The place was organized chaos. Most of the medical berths were occupied and any trained medic was running between patients, trying their best to take care of what they could. Ratchet was near the door, thankfully, and had seen Optimus before the Prime could fine him.

"He's with the squad keeping the infected at bay!" Ratchet barked, stopping a sudden gush of energon. Optimus was gone before he could become a hindrance.

The first mechs he ran into of the squad were Starscream and one of his trine. Starscream had a nasty gash on his wing and a burn from a gun on his opposite side. His trinemate was working on stilling the flow of energon enough to get Starscream the short distance to the medic bay without Starscream falling into stasis lock. Starscream's trinemate nodded in welcome as Starscream onlined one dim optic before offlining it quickly. He rasped out, "He's been waiting for you, Prime."

Optimus nodded, clasping the trinemate on the back before moving on. He hugged the corner to get a look at who else was there. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were working together to take down one of the four infected trying to get past the blockade Optimus was standing beside. Several other mechs and femmes were among the infected fighting but not many were getting close enough to do much. It was clear it was a suicidal mission going in like that, getting close like that. The infected were all leaking energon and the hall was covered in it. Optimus added cover fire with the barricade, finding himself standing side by side with his sparkmate.

"Beloved." A strong arm wrapped around his waist, pulling his back flush with Megatron's chest. Megatron brushed a kiss on the top of Optimus's helm, questioning over the noise, "You're unharmed?"

Optimus clung to Megatron's hand as he continued to fire at the infected. It was hard, especially with friendlies among them. "Yes. I ran into Bumblebee and Barricade. They and their squads appeared to be holding their own for now."

Optimus felt Megatron's nod against the back of his helm. One of the infected went down and didn't come up. "I've lost 12 so far and more are going to fall before these three are taken out."

"How many infected were in the initial attack?" Optimus ducked, stepping out of Megatron's hold as a piece of Cybertronian went flying through where they had been standing. They returned to the other's side but didn't return to the embrace.

"20, from what I was told."

Optimus tensed. "20?"

"20."

Optimus got a lucky shot in, catching an infected in the face. It opened up the opportunity for those in the brawl to get the upper hand. Another infected fell and didn't get back up.

"We've been at this for nearly an hour. If we don't finish this now, we'll start losing more mechs."

Optimus nodded.

A half an hour later, the last of the infected fell. They had lost 8 more mechs in the brawl but, thankfully, things had quieted. As Optimus knelt to aid Sideswipe with his injured twin, Megatron ordered, "Back to med bay. Two mechs at point at either end. Interchange every 15 minutes. No point should be left unattended."

Sunstreaker gave a strangled scream as he was moved. Sideswipe seemed lost, trying to aid his brother as best he could as they moved him to medic. It was worse in there than the first time Optimus had hurried in there less than an hour ago. Ratchet came over almost immediately, directing, "Bed 13. Get the energon loss to stop."

Optimus nodded, directing Sideswipe in the right direction. Sunstreaker collapsed onto the medical berth with nothing more than a groan. Sideswipe started fretting over his brother, inhibiting others to give Sunstreaker the medical attention he needed. Optimus gripped Sideswipe's shoulder firmly and directed him back out into the hall where he was pleased to see those that had minor to no injuries were waiting. Most were silent but a few were talking in hushed voices. Optimus saw Megatron talking with Starscream's trinemate so guided Sideswipe in the opposite direction to the outer edge of the group.

"Sideswipe, your brother will be fine," Optimus tried, watching the smaller mech's reaction.

Sideswipe shook his head, snapping – though softly – "He got infected. I know he got infected. How could he not get infected? There was tainted energon everywhere! Ratchet said–"

"Ratchet had stated that they have had little time to work on an antivirus. Your brother will remain your brother long enough for them to complete it."

Sideswipe looked up at Optimus, his blue optics bright with fear and apprehension. Despite the emotional turmoil raging inside, Sideswipe took those words as truth and nodded. He gave a weak smile and an even weaker, "Thanks, Optimus."

Optimus reached up and gripped Sideswipe's shoulder in a way to offer comfort. "You're welcome."

Spoiler: Chapter 3

Completion

Optimus left Sideswipe to his thoughts and walked towards his sparkmate. At first, he thought that Megatron was just having a heated discussion with the Seeker before him but as he got closer, it became more and more apparent Megatron was pissed and Optimus had the feeling the Seeker happened to be the outlet. The fist collided with the wall next to the Seeker's head, just inside of the wing. The Seeker flinched. Optimus broke out into a run, closing the distance in three strides. He quickly wrapped a hand around the drawn back wrist, whispering harshly, "Megatron. Enough."

Megatron yanked his wrist from Optimus's hold and stormed down the hall. Optimus hurried after, not about to let his sparkmate do something stupid. They passed the sentries as Megatron worked his way deeper into the building. By the time Megatron had lost whatever rage had overtaken him, they had been speed walking for a good quarter of an hour, if not longer. They had come to a T and Megatron walked up to the wall. He placed both his hands at shoulder level before leaning into the structure, head hanging between his arms. Optimus came up beside him, placing a hand on Megatron's back. He kissed Megatron's neck, asking quietly, "What happened?"

Megatron shook his head, leaning all his weight onto his right hand so that he could rub at his head with his left. "I don't know. I was suddenly engulfed in rage, I didn't really have any control over my actions."

Megatron's frame was shaking beneath Optimus's touch. Optimus wasn't sure if it was because of all the stress or if Megatron was still fighting the rage. Optimus frowned, noticing Megatron's hand had yet to fall from the mech's temple. "It has gotten worse."

Megatron growled, stepping away from Optimus. Optimus met the glare with nothing more than concern. Megatron took a step to the side in an unconscious move that settled him in a battle stance. "Of course it's gotten worse. I haven't had time to take care of it and this situation isn't helping."

Optimus deliberately slowed his venting, fighting against the wave of fear. He took a calculated step forward, raising his hand slowly as he spoke, "I was merely pointing it out, Megatron. I am aware of how hard things have become. That does not mean you can deny yourself medical aid. Let us go back. Ratchet will take the few seconds to take care of you."

Megatron growled, turned, and punched his fist through the wall. Optimus leapt back. His sword engaged out of shear reflex as he fell into a battle stance. Silence fell with Megatron standing there with his hand in the wall and Optimus waiting with baited breath. Slowly, Megatron pulled his fist from the wall. Optimus forced himself out of the stance and retracted the sword. Megatron rubbed at his head again. Optimus stepped forward. He placed a hand on Megatron's arm just to have the larger mech flinch away.

Optimus's hand hung in the air where Megatron's arm had been. Red optics fell onto the outstretched hand before falling to its owner. Megatron entangled their fingers as he rushed, "I'm sorry, Beloved. I'm just on edge."

"You have no need to apologize, Megatron." Optimus stole a kiss before offering, "Let us return to the others and get you some medical treatment."

Megatron nodded and he followed Optimus's lead down the hall. It was quite, dark, and yet neither worked on fixing either fact. They progressed through the halls slower than they had traversed them. There was no hurry. The mechs and femmes at the medic bay were able to hold their own without them. After all, the ultimate goal was to keep the medic bay safe.

Megatron rubbed at his head for the second time in their walk and Optimus watched him, seeing the pain flash across the larger mech's expression. He gave Megatron's hand a gentle squeeze in hopes to convey some comfort. The squeeze was returned but Optimus wasn't sure if there was any emotion behind it.

A sound from behind them stilled their feet. Megatron still had a hand to his head but the pain had long since cleared from the bright optics. Fear coursed through Optimus with every pulse of his spark as he engaged his cannon. They turned as one to look back to where they had come from. Another sound, this one sounding like a screech, echoed off the walls. Optimus listened to Megatron's own cannon engage and charge. There was no comfort in the sound. Instead, it just seemed to intensify the fear. Shoving the useless emotion back as far as it would go, Optimus moved to the wall, pressing himself up against it as he knelt and took aim. Megatron moved in behind him but stayed standing.

The seconds turned into minutes and they waited. Optimus relished the touch of Megatron's hand gripping his shoulder even while it just seemed to add to the fear. Optimus's cannon never wavered and shot straight when the infected they had heard came around the corner.

Optimus wanted to scream as he continued shooting. He knew that bright yellow paintjob. He knew that frame. He knew those bright blue optics were no longer the right blue. Megatron's grip on his shoulder quickly grew painful as Bumblebee came racing towards them, a screech emanating from the distorted form. Fresh energon splattered the walls and floor with every motion and Optimus could see that some of the energon on Bumblebee's frame wasn't even infected. Three strides away and Optimus engaged his sword. Two strides away and he felt Megatron move to the side with his own sword engaged. One stride away and Optimus was standing. Bumblebee collided with Optimus, throwing them both down the hall to impact the floor painfully. Optimus used the momentum to kick Bumblebee off but his foot slipped on the energon covered armor. Bumblebee was so much smaller than him, that he was having a hard time keeping a hold of the yellow scout. Bumblebee scratched at the plating over Optimus's spark. Optimus fought to keep his hold on the scout just so that Bumblebee couldn't get the chance to infect him. A swipe at his face and Optimus could feel four sharp fingers leaving gashes that went through his battle mask and scrapped his cheek. Optimus threw his head back to avoid the next swipe.

Suddenly Bumblebee was off of him and Optimus watched as Megatron threw him against the wall before decapitating him. Optimus rolled onto his side, sitting up. Sad optics took in Bumblebee's limp form as Megatron retracted his blade. Optimus stood as Megatron approached.

"Did he get you?" Megatron asked as Optimus's battle mask slid back. Megatron hissed.

Optimus reached up and touched the four scratches, tracing the longest as it went from his cheek to across his lips. "They are not life threatening, Megatron. The surface is barely scraped."

Megatron ran his own fingers over the marks. "None the less, you're getting checked. You ran into Bumblebee when you entered the building."

Optimus nodded, offering what he had. "He appeared normal to me. As bright as he had always been."

Megatron nodded as he dropped his hand. "Let's hurry back."

They had barely gone two paces when another rounded the corner ahead of them. Megatron attacked first, Optimus right behind him. It was a femme Optimus didn't recognize and she was faster than either of them had been ready for. Optimus was slammed into the wall as he blocked the attack. She landed a knee into his side and he crumbled into the blow, receiving a fist to his temple. Optimus's head snapped back, connecting with the wall. Megatron was there again and her head went flying down the hall. Megatron yanked Optimus from the wall, barking, "Why are you always the target?"

Optimus rubbed his head. "I doubt I could answer that."

Megatron placed a hand over Optimus's, kissing Optimus's temple. "That's the second time you've been the target and I have no idea why. I don't want anything happening to you."

Optimus met Megatron's gaze, offering, "Just as I want nothing happening to you. We must return to the others."

Megatron nodded, ready to reply, when a screech came from either end of the hall. A string of curses came from Megatron as he spun Optimus and pressed back to back. With cannons on one hand and swords on the other, the pair readied.

The infected charging at Optimus was the young mech in Bumblebee's squad, the one of black and red with too much experience to be on Bumblebee's team. Sure enough, the infected mech moved with an experience and unpredictability usually familiar with one of the older infected he had the ill fortune of fighting. He shoved the infected back, taking two shots. The first was dodged, the second was a direct hit to the shoulder. The arm dangled useless from the shoulder but the infected wasn't hindered. The second attack was a low kick and Optimus blocked, countering with a blast to the chest and a swipe at the head. The shot missed the spark chamber by millimeters and the infected dodged the swipe, the blade barely skimming the top of its helm. The infected bounded back a few steps before charging Optimus again. This time a blade was drawn and shoved at Optimus. Optimus felt the blade bury itself into his left side but, this time, he didn't miss his target and the head bounced against the floor.

As the infected frame crashed into the floor, Optimus yanked the blade from his side and moved to aid Megatron. Megatron was farther down the hall, shoving the infected back but never getting a clean slice at the mech's throat. Optimus ran as hard as he could but he felt as if he was moving through mud. He just couldn't get there fast enough, just couldn't get to his sparkmate. As Megatron passed the threshold into where two hallways crossed, a third infected launched itself into Megatron's side. Megatron went down hard but he was able to kill the infected. The first infected was on Megatron before he could recover and Optimus screamed Megatron's name as the infected's blade buried itself into Megatron's abdomen.

Optimus found himself coming to a halt, knees bend and blade scrapping gently against the floor. A battle cry rang through the hall and Optimus watched in horror as his sparkmate retaliated, ripping the infected mech to shreds long after the frame had gone limp. Fear shoved him forward, forced him to race towards the source of his fear. He grabbed Megatron's arm, yanking him away as his other hand went to Megatron's wound. "Megatron! Enough! It is dead!"

Frantic optics locked with Optimus's and Megatron slowly stopped struggling. His vents were on high and his weapons remained active. His entire frame was shaking and pain rippled across Megatron's faceplace. "Optimus."

"I am right here," Optimus assured.

Megatron's frame convulsed and his hands went to his head. A pained scream escaped Megatron as the mech doubled over. Optimus moved to go down with him but Megatron's hand was over Optimus's spark, stopping him. Megatron's bright red optics locked with Optimus's bright blue ones and Optimus could clearly see the fear. "Run."

Optimus placed a hand over Megatron's, shaking his head slowly, but Megatron shoved again, urging, "Beloved, run!"

Optimus felt the shove in his spark across the bond and Optimus stumbled back. Optimus watched in terror as his sparkmate started convulsing, screaming. Optimus could do nothing more than plaster himself to the wall behind him as hot tears streamed down his faceplate. The pain, the anguish, and the fear Megatron was experiencing was flooding the bond, blending with Optimus's own terror. As abruptly as it had started, it stopped, though the period of time it had traversed was so long that Optimus wasn't sure how long they had been missing. Slowly, he extended his sword, watching his sparkmate, frozen in mid convulsion.

Optimus jumped when Megatron's head snapped up. Try as he might, Optimus couldn't bring himself to look away. Megatron's face was twisted into one of pain, fear, and sorrow, places cracking from the severity of the expression. The only thing that just didn't fit with the face, though, was the grin spread across Megatron's face. Sharp teeth glistened in a grin that wasn't happy, or natural. Optimus met the red gaze once more before he ran. A screech alerted him that Megatron was following and Optimus felt fear shoving him harder down the hallway. Optimus skidded as he took the sharp turn, ducking as Megatron flew over his head. He felt Megatron's fingers scrape his back between his shoulders.

Optimus ran for as long as he could, longer than he thought possible. Fear had gripped his spark and refused to let go and he could not, for the life of him, understand where it had come from nor understand why it was affecting him so. He knew fear, knew how to overcome it and fight. His footfall faltered. He didn't want to fight his sparkmate, didn't want to face the fact that he was losing him. And he knew, without a doubt, this was the reason behind his inability to fight this fear.

Optimus cursed under his breath, skidding to a stop where a large chunk of the building had been taken out. By what, Optimus didn't want to know. He turned, ready to back track, but found that he was cornered. Megatron was just on this side of the next hall juncture, his blade out and scrapping the floor as he stepped slowly towards Optimus. Optimus readied his own blade and Megatron attacked.

Optimus met the attack, not wanting to be anywhere near the abrupt end of the hallway. Their blades met with a ringing force and Optimus found himself thrown back. He staggered, mere feet away from the ledge that he had been trying to avoid. He winced, his arm hurting. Megatron was either much stronger or he had forgotten just how strong Megatron had been.

His fear spiked as he blocked another attack. He was shoved to the edge of the gaping hole. Megatron's attack wasn't just a single blow and one slipped past Optimus's defense, catching his left thigh and leaving behind a rather deep gash that damaged the mobility of the limb. Optimus cringed.

Megatron took the opening and kicked Optimus. Optimus tried to grab Megatron as he lost his balance but missed. As he fell, Optimus watched as Megatron stepped to the edge to watch. Something hard and sharp slammed into his right shoulder and spun him in his tumble.

His back slammed into the floor two stories beneath the ledge. The floor was uneven, damaged, and it made the impact all that more painful. Systems were offlining and warnings were blaring. His right shoulder was on fire and his right arm was completely disengaged. He reached over, feeling a limb attached but something was protruding from his shoulder. He gripped what he realized to be a metal rod and yanked it out. Vents hissed but he was able to still the scream before it could erupt from his chest.

His entire system nearly went into stasis lock. He forced himself to stay online, to stay active and, thankfully, pressure over his spark chamber gained his attention. He onlined optics he hadn't realized had flickered off only to look up at Megatron standing over him, a heavy foot on his chest and a cannon charged and ready to fire at his head. Optimus moved his dim blue optics from the cannon in his face to the red optics above him. The cannon fired and Optimus flinched from the sound. He onlined his optics and looked over to see the floor eaten away an inch from his head. He focused back up on Megatron's gaze.

He breathed, "Megatron."

Tears were streaming down Megatron's face, the broken grin still there. The twisted expression had yet to change, to shift to something else. The pressure on his chest grew as Megatron added more weight behind the foot. Optimus grunted, vents hissing.

Time ticked by and all Optimus could do was hold Megatron's gaze. Slowly, the weight shifted and the cannon moved. At first, relief flooded him at the thought that Megatron was regaining control, that Megatron was fighting. But as the cannon rose higher, so did Optimus's fear to where it was aiming.

"Megatron. Megatron, please." The barrel of the cannon settled against Megatron's temple, charging. "No. Megatron. No!"

His spark seemed to scream. The blast resounded through the hallways and it felt like a giant hole was ripped into Optimus's chest. Megatron's dead weight fell onto his legs and the fear was there, driving him to dig his fingers into the floor in a desperate act to get away. A ringing had settled into his mind, clouding it. Scratches lined the floor where his hands hadn't gained real purchase. He caught something solid and pulled. He didn't care what it was. All that mattered was that it held. He pulled himself out from under the mass that had been his sparkmate.

His left foot finally came free. He ran down the hall, stumbling over things his mind wasn't registering. His foot caught on something and, in a brief flick of logic where the ringing in his head died down, he wondered why he hadn't been kissing the floor, why suddenly he had use of his right arm. The fear and the ringing was eating at everything, pushing him forward, keeping logic at bay. If he could just get away, maybe – just maybe – the nightmare would end.

He heard his shoulder collide with the wall, but it was a flicker of registration that vanished the instant it was realized. It wasn't till he felt his foot catch again that he realized he was climbing stairs. As soon as that registered, his footfall was sure and he stopped tripping in his haste. Again, the fleeting moment of clarity vanished as quickly as it had come.

He slammed into a door and the door shattered. He tucked and rolled, coming up only to find himself facing a group of infected. The image before him flicker, as if the over image of the infected wasn't holding to a mirror image of still healthy Cybertronians. He spun around, ready to run in the opposite direction only to find another group of infected blocking his way. He looked to his left and found the hall empty.

He ran.

His shoulder caught something. He wasn't sure what and doubted it really mattered. All that mattered was the sudden, brief moment of clarity as he felt his balance disappear, only to have his body twist to accommodate and keep him running. He should have fallen, should have landed hard. The logic slipped from his grasp as the fear came back in, swallowing the thoughts and leaving his mind with one thought.

Keep running.

He rounded another corner only to find himself slamming into an infected. His body reacted, twisting with a blade out. The infected fell and the ringing in his head grew. A second was on him but his body moved as his mind reeled in pain as the ringing grew progressively louder. Optimus stumbled back a few steps, blade scrapping the floor. Something in his mind was screaming at him, screaming for him to see, but the ringing – no, screaming his mind was engulfed in wasn't allowing him to focus.

The screaming, whether from himself or some outside force, blinded him to his actions, blinded him from the sight before him. If he were to say he knew what he was doing, he would have been lying. A moment, he knew what he was doing, and the next, the memory of it was lost.

A sharp pain cleared most of the fog, bringing into startling focus the fight before him for a brief, spark stopping moment.

He knew now the screams were his.

He knew the infected he was fighting, weren't infected

He had fought alongside those he was now fighting as they protecting the medic bay. Already, a few he had come to know well lay beneath his feet. He watched as his blade sliced through a young feme, severing a limb before taking out a battle aged mech with a stab through the spark. As he turned, blocking another attack, he tried desperately to still his hand, to still his motion. It made no difference. His body parried the attack and took the mech down with a single stroke.

The fog of his own screaming, his own pain filtered over his mind again and he lost the clarity that had been there. He didn't care. He just screamed in pain and in the anguish that had been storming his system since his sparkmate took his own life.

Spoiler: Chapter 4

Continuation

He blinked, touching his raw throat. He couldn't remember but it felt like he had been screaming. Dismissing the odd sensation, he focused on what was around him. He found that he couldn't remember anything and yet he didn't feel a sense of panic like he thought he should. The image before his optics was currently swimming so he turned his focus from the lack of memory to trying to clearly see what was before him.

The image sharpened into things that he recognized and could name but that didn't mean it made sense. Definitions were not forthcoming with the names. With a groan, he rolled onto his side.

The startled yelp was embarrassing but he was sure anyone would have yelped all the same when coming face to face with a severed head. Actually, now that he looked more closely, he felt he should remember something about said severed head but it was like fishing through air for invisible fish. He stood up. His legs shook but, other than that, he seemed undamaged. Strange. He couldn't shake the feeling that he should be damaged. Dismissing the feeling, he looked around. The place he was in was rundown but he did seem to recognize it. Headquarters came to mind but he had no idea what that meant in relation to himself.

He started down the way he was facing. It was rather fascinating, whatever this place was. There was damage everywhere, like there had been a fight or something. Forms littered the hallway he walked and a sticky substance covered the floor. Energon flittered in to name it but it held no meaning to him. Stepping over a rather large mound of bots, he felt a wave of sadness. He knew what death was. That seemed to be one of the few things he actually knew the meaning of and it was clear that all the bots in the hallway were dead. He wondered what had happened here to cause so many to die such gruesome deaths. He shuddered and quickly changed his mind. Whatever it had been had left him untouched and he was very keen on keeping it that way.

He wandered on, stepping over more dead as he went. The numbers seemed to have steadied out to a constant by the time he reached the first open door. He looked in and frowned. There were dead all over the place, a small handful draped over anything that would support their weight. A few looked like they were lying on the remains of the things that were supporting others. He stepped around one of the dead lying in the doorway, a gaping hole through the chest and an arm missing. Again, a wave of sadness washed through him.

Moving around, he avoided touching any of the dead as best he could. It wasn't so much out of disgust as it was out of some sense of respect. He didn't mind. He could maneuver just fine without needing to disturb any of them.

He came across something that drew his attention instantly. It was an odd metal strip with identical claws coming out of either end. He picked it up, curious. Why would a strangely shaped piece of metal draw his attention? The answer didn't come and he tucked the odd metal strip onto his person, deciding to ponder it later.

Finding nothing more in the room, he maneuvered his way out and farther down the hall. The more distance he covered, the less dead he found till there were no more to be seen. He smiled gently. Maybe that meant he would find some that were actually alive.

He wandered around. At one point, he realized he was going in circles. Though what had prompted this realization, he doubted he would ever figure out. He started marking the wall and, eventually, he found some stairs and went down. A large 2 was on the first door he came to. He frowned. That 2 was important but he didn't know why. He moved to push the door open but stopped before his hand touched the metal. No, he needed to go down. Nodding his head in determination, he continued down the stairs. He wasn't sure why he needed to go down but he went with it. There wasn't a door but an arch way was open to him and he smiled gently. This felt better. He continued his marking as he went, enjoying the walk. He came across some scattered dead, had to even jump over one dead that took up the whole hallway. It was promising that there were so few this way.

A gentle, cool breeze drifted towards him. The air smelt pleasant, sweet even, and he happily followed the breeze. It wasn't like there was anything else to follow. The wall on his right dropped back, formed by windows that had been long since blown in. He walked over to the metal frames, touching the framework tentatively. He wondered what it would have looked like in its prime.

He froze. Prime. Why did that ring through his mind as if he was supposed to remember another meaning? What was so important about the word prime? He tried to think of what was so important but it never came to him. Dejected, he stepped through one of the frames and out into the open. He looked around, seeing more dead. He walked across the way to a pool of water that had a damaged statue in the middle of it. He touched the surface of the water, watching it ripple from the disturbance.

Nothing. He couldn't remember anything about the dead, about what had happened to him, or about either the odd strip of metal on his person or the word prime. He leaned on the edge of the stone pool and looked in. His reflection was distorted a bit by the ripples but he could see clearly enough to know he didn't recognize his own face. Optimus prime filtered through his head but it held no meaning. He wondered if that went with his face but it didn't seem like it was that specifically. He wondered if it was his name and there was a sudden surge of glee. That was right, that rang true. His name was Optimus Prime. The glee didn't stay for too long, though. Prime still had more to it but he couldn't remember. Sighing, he straightened, looking around. It was quiet, besides the soft wind. He turned to his right and started walking, content with the path he had chosen.

He followed the road for just over an hour but all he saw was more dead and dark buildings. It was rather depressing now. He kicked a stone in his path and focused on it till he accidentally kicked it too far out of reach. He looked around.

He stopped walking, his face lighting up.

There was a glow coming from one of the windows in the building beside him. He hurried to the door, found it unlocked, and went in.

"Hello?" he called out, his voice echoing off the walls. The hallway he found himself in was dark but, so far, no one was there, dead or alive. He took that as a partial good sign. He called out again, "Hello."

He walked down the hall, taking the stairs when none of the doors showed signs of light. The window had been on the second floor so he hoped the stairs would bring him close to the light. Sure enough, down a side hallway, he found a door with light streaming from the crack underneath it. He hurried forward and tried the door. It was open.

The room was pleasant, well furnished, and homey. Some of the lights were on, casting the room in a nice, warm yellow light that reflected nicely off the light brown paint of the walls.

"Anyone here?" he asked the empty room. There wasn't a reply. Not ready to give up, he tried the other rooms branching off the main one. There was no one in the kitchen and dining room, nor the bathroom or a bedroom. Going to the last door, he took a deep breath and opened the door.

He sighed happily. It was another bedroom and someone was sitting on the berth with their back to him. He smiled, offering, "I'm so glad there's someone else here."

He waited for a reaction, waited for some sign the bot had heard him, but none came. With a light frown, he moved tentatively forward. "Can you tell me what happened here? Why is everyone dead?"

There was no reply, no sign of life and, for the first time in his awareness, he felt fear coursing through his system. He took slow, measured steps towards the mech sitting on the birth. Even at the little sounds that he created there was no reaction, no stirring of life. Determined to figure this out, to get answers, he stepped around to the mech's front.

He turned away and retched. The mech's head – which he had thought had merely been bowed as if thinking or asleep – was nearly gone. It looked like someone had blasted the head away, leaving nothing more than a battered body and the remaining base of the jaw and scull. He shuddered.

He frowned, thinking back on all he had seen. He had seen so much worse when he had been in that first building. He could remember each and every one of those quite well and yet none of those images made him shake in fear and sick with sadness. That was it. The fear and sadness meant something. He looked back at the mech. He had known this mech and had known him well. The injury the mech had sustained was connected to him, he just didn't know how. Getting up, he walked over, forcing himself to take in all the damage in an attempt to remember who this was.

The grief was nearly overwhelming as he looked over the mech's form. He reached out with a shaking hand and placed it over where the spark should be. The metal was cold beneath his hand and there was no pulsing of life beneath it. He gripped the metal, resting his forehead next to his clenched fist when his legs could no longer hold him.

"Megatron," Optimus choked. And it felt right even though the grief seemed to only increase. A strangled sob escaped him as he sank fully to the floor, still maintaining connection with the lifeless form. His spark ached for knowledge of why this mech had meant so much to him and quivered at knowing how this had happened.

There was a shift beneath him and he froze mid sob. Fear swelled within him as he scrambled back and away, narrowly missing the grasping hand. He collided with the wall behind him as he watched in horror as the lifeless form stumbled slowly to its feet. He scrambled to his feet, ducking under the sweeping arms and leaping out the door.

He didn't take the time to close doors behind him. There was no way that was going to help enough to waist the time. With as much noise as the thing was making behind him, he was sure that a closed door would be the world's smallest obstacle. He stumbled as he reached the street before back pedaling a few steps. The bodies that had littered the streets were rising back to their feet. His body shifted forms automatically but his ill informed mind was startled at the sudden transformation. He found that having wheels on the ground was a rather comforting sensation and he peeled out of there in the opposite direction of Headquarters. He knew that if he started in that direction that he was going to run into the hoard from Headquarters eventually. Hopefully this new direction would be better.

He didn't get very far. Something collided with his side and he was sent rolling. Automatically, he returned to the biped form. He ended up sprawled out at the end of the tumble but at least he was able to handle the attack better. It was someone he didn't recognize, which wasn't much of a surprise. But the headless form of Megatron was one he did recognize and did not like the sight of. He had nearly freed himself of the unknown mech when more appeared. He was restrained in a matter of moments, too overwhelmed with too little knowledge. His fear and panic grew as Megatron came to stand before him.

He jerked against his captors as Megatron reached out. There was no hesitation, no sign of actual life as Megatron dug his fingers into Optimus's chest. Optimus screamed as his spark was ripped out of his chest.

Pain caused his body to shudder and optics he hadn't realized had turned off flickered weakly. The image still registered in his pain-riddled mind. There, standing before him, was a headless Megatron holding a dripping, pulsing spark in his claw like grip. He gave one final, feeble attempt at moving only to find himself flat on his face on the ground. He didn't get back up.

"Keep him pinned!"

The shout had been out of sheer reflex. As the mech on the berth thrashed, four others tried to keep him from harming himself more. The episode was much longer than the last and all were panting heavily by the time the ordeal was over. Megatron looked up, locking optics with Ratchet as the episode seem to come to an abrupt end. The old mech looked his age as he looked back. Ratchet turned to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, quickly ushering them to another task.

Megatron, now left alone at his sparkmate's berthside, leaned heavily against the berth. He gently clenched Optimus's hand, breathing in a broken whisper, "What has you so scared, Beloved?"

His grip on Optimus's hand tightened as the fear over the bond spiked. Megatron gave a frustrated roar, slamming his fist into the wall with all the force he could muster. He knew he had scared most of the occupants in the room but he couldn't bring himself to care. He felt useless and that was the worst thing right now. They had already lost Arcee and her bond to this unknown virus and were losing Soundwave, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Starscream, and countless others to it as time ticked on. Megatron couldn't lose Optimus, not like this.

He brought the hand he held to his lips and kissed the appendage, optics never leaving Optimus's face. He ran a hand over Optimus's forehead, trying to send some comfort over their battered bond. He wanted to fix this, wanted to see Optimus look up at him with weary optics and a happy smile. He wanted his sparkmate whole again.

Optimus's lips started moving and Megatron barely heard the words leaving Optimus over the noise in the room. "Megatron. Megatron, please. Don't." Megatron's spark clenched and his breath hitched. What could the virus possibly have him do to have Optimus begging in such a way? "No. Megatron. No!"

Pain shot through Megatron as Optimus screamed the most spark wrenching, fear inducing scream any of the mechs and femmes in the med bay had ever heard. He vaguely felt his knees slam into the floor as his side hit the med berth, his mind dazed. His hand clenched over his spark chamber as he gasped, losing the only thing that had always been there for the second time in his lifespan.

"No," was a strangled whisper past his lips as several pairs of hands pulled him up.

His mind was shutting down out of shock and someone was yelling at him to focus. Their voice was nothing but noise to him. Optimus was thrashing even harder now, energon leaking from new wounds. Ratchet was barking orders for them to keep him pinned long enough to be sedated but no one could get a good enough hold to pin the Prime down fully. None of this registered, none of this computed. Megatron felt as if the world had stopped turning and darkness was returning to swallow him into nothingness.

Suddenly, Barricade was in his face, looking worse for wear but determined. Megatron focused on him briefly, noting that Barricade was talking, before his attention slipped. Optimus had arched off the berth, optics wide but unseeing, mouth wide with his screams. The screaming – that dreadful screaming – didn't stop as Optimus fell back onto the berth, still desperately trying to get away from them all. Barricade shifted, once more, into his line of sight and Megatron finally felt something in the clawing numbness. Annoyance.

"What," he snapped, though it came out breathy and without any heart. He attempted to glare at the mech. Barricade didn't even flinch and that just pissed Megatron off more. Megatron valiantly ignored the voice in the back of his head that commented about how feeble both attempts to gain such a reaction had failed.

"What happened?"

The anger was gone as quickly as it had risen above the numbness and he pressed his hand harder against his spark chamber as his gaze slid back to Optimus. He clenched his jaw, not wanting to share or show his open wound. But a small part of him knew that if he didn't, things were going to get worse. "The connection, our sparkbond, it's gone."

The numbness came back with revenge but Barricade's hand was covering his over his spark in a sudden burst of white hot fire and seemed to keep the numbness back enough for him to register Barricade's words next words. "Don't go deactivating on us before we can save him, Sir. We'll lose him just as we save him if you do."

Megatron locked optics with the mech and saw the understanding and pain in the other's optics. His mind flittered over to Bumblebee. Barricade had grown attached to the little scout after the war but he wasn't sure if they were bonded or not. Megatron sighed, pulling himself from the thoughts and focusing on Optimus as he nodded. Barricade's hand disappeared and the spot he had touched stayed white hot, keeping some of the numbness back. His fist clenched as he saw a mech get thrown by Optimus's fear and pain filled thrashing.

"Make it out of this, Beloved. You have to come back to me," Megatron pleaded too softly to be heard over all the noise. "Please."

Optimus jerked to a stop. For a brief spark beat, it seemed the entire room held its breath. When nothing more seemed to be forthcoming, bots scattered to aid others. In that held breath, Megatron had hoped that his plea had been heard and answered but it was snuffed out as quickly as it had risen. He got up from the berth he was sitting on and stepped to Optimus's side. He ran a hand over Optimus's forehead, watching as his fingers trailed down the Prime's cheek, down his neck, and over his chest to settle over the spark chamber. He leaned over, pressing his forehead over the spark he cherished more than his own. How he wanted to be connected to that spark again.

He wasn't sure how long he was like that. The chaos around him was nothing more than white noise. He buried his fingers into the folds of metal over the spark and gently held on. Optimus twitched under him every so often and Megatron would raise his head to look at his sparkmate each time. When nothing more happened. Megatron returned his forehead Optimus's chest.

Optimus twitched much more violently then the previous times and Megatron pressed down to keep Optimus on the berth. Megatron gritted his teeth, prepared to keep Optimus pinned but the episode didn't start. Megatron stood up. Whether it had been Megatron's pressure or just bad timing, the episode Megatron had thought he had been prepared for lashed out in a fury that was much weaker than the last and Megatron felt a surge of terror at the notion. Bots were there helping pin Optimus down but, as the episode wore on, Optimus thrashed less and less till it dwindled down to the slight twitch of a limb or appendage and then nothing.

This time, there was no hope. They had seen it too many times and the bots around Megatron worked frantically as Optimus's spark faded completely. Megatron's spark seized and he tried to wake his Beloved, tried to get him to look at him once more. He fought the hands that pulled him away others got in his way. He screamed Optimus's name like so many bonded had screamed for their partner and with that scream went all of Megatron's fight and all his will.

The sun was high in the sky, the crisp day pleasant. Mechs and femmes wandered the square, sparklings and younglings playing around the magnificent fountain, some even playing in the cool water. An old mech of grey and black metal smiled gently at the sight of the youngsters playing. He was slightly hunched by age but stood as tall as he could manage. He wandered among the other Cybertronians, returning greetings that were sent his way. He came to a stop at the edge of the fountain and, with some difficulty, sat on the edge. He traced a name in the stone rim of the fountain, memories returning gently with the simple engraving.

"Aren't you supposed to be napping, old mech?" Said old mech looked up to find himself face to face with a grinning little sprite femme in a bright yellow and black paint job that brought back memories. "My dad's not going to be happy with you."

"Honeybee," the old mech offered pleasantly. "I see you have your Grandfather's spirit as well as his paint job."

Honeybee's grin seemed to get larger, though the old mech wasn't sure how that was even possible. "What can I say? He's my idol."

The old mech chuckled, patting the stone wall lacking the name he had been tracing. Honeybee happily plopped down, kicking her legs back and forth in a show of barely contained energy. "Dad says I look more like Grandpa every day."

"Do you believe him?"

Honeybee's grin turned into a sad smile. "I do out of the hopes its true."

The old mech smiled gently. "It is."

Honeybee looked up at him with large optics. It was a brief moment before she grinned again. "I'm glad."

The old mech chuckled, patting the top of her helm. She accepted the affection happily. The old mech moved his hand to her back and gave a gentle shove. Honeybee got to her feet at the prompting, moving a few feet ahead of the old mech before turning to face him. He smiled at her. "Go play while you still can. Once you're an adult, there's no going back."

Honeybee smirked. "That's not what Sunswipe says."

The old mech pointed a menacing finger at her, glaring in good humor. "Do not listen to anything Sunswipe has to say. He is the grandchild of a pair of twins I do not even want to be reminded of."

Honeybee grinned again, bounding off, "Whatever you say, old mech!"

The old mech sighed, before chuckling to himself. A form settled next to the name the old mech had been tracing and the old mech reached out, gently taking hold of a hand he had fought and loved over his too long life. "You're late."

"I got caught up with Blockade."

The old mech arched an opticridge, watching some younglings play tag. "Honeybee's father?"

"Yes." A pleasant silence settled over them briefly. The form beside the old mech shifted closer, leaning against him. "I am pleased we've changed our ways."

The old mech smirked. "Wishing you had a parental bond like the new generations?"

"No," the form stated. The thoughtful frown was audible. "More content with how well the new generations have blossomed with having one."

The old mech shifted enough to look down at the slightly younger mech currently nestled into his side, red and blue paint faded with age. The old mech smiled gently, kissing the other's forehead. "I'm glad we've lived so long to see it."

The other smiled gently, looking down at the stone. He made a face. "If they keep putting my name on memorials, people are going to start thinking I am a figment of their imagination."

Megatron laughed as the image of a smirking Optimus Prime and a perfect world cut to a world of ruin and death for the briefest of spark beats. He pressed his forehead against Optimus's. "We will be with time."

He never noticed the gaping hole in Optimus's chest.

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 04:50 PM

Random Event 1
An Assortment of Writings
These were all from the first event I did. I no longer have access to what the event was originally labeled and am simply pulling from my tumblr archive. Every item title is the given prompt. Some are song, some are word or quote. A number had word limits whether it was a minimum or an exact.

Be advised:
Some are interlaced with fandoms.
Some can be spooky,
If you find one that needs to have any other sort of warning, please let me know. I have not reread these as I posted them as of the date on this post.

Spoiler: Free fall

Spoiler: Castle by Halsey

Spoiler: Describe something unseen, or invisible. Something we as humans cannot physically see, but may believe in.

Spoiler: “MY NAME IS OZYMANDIAS, KING OF KINGS. LOOK ON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR.”

Spoiler: Image Prompt 1

Spoiler: “The sword of Damocles hangs above.”

The dust billowed about them as the wall came down, opening a secret passage. She lowered her hand, the rest of her team coughing behind her. Her headlamp illuminated the passage now exposed, revealing a path that hadn’t been touched since the temple had been abandoned.

“Rachel, wait.” She stilled, her foot in the entryway. The man that had called out hurried to her side, a hand latching onto her arm. “Let’s send the drone in first.”

She shook her head. “We know this part of the temple is stable. There’s no need, Harry.” She gently slipped from his grasp and stepped fully into the passageway. “Besides, a drone won’t trip any of the traps anyways.”

She pulled at her collar and a little scaly head popped out. She smiled down at the little dragon, asking, “Fos, can you light the way?”

The little dragon chirped and pulled itself out of her jacket. Fluttering ahead on soft wings, the little dragon began to give off a soft glow that illuminated quite a bit of the hallway without blinding her and her team. She followed after, as did Harry. Her dad and father made it into the passage before the way in was sealed abruptly, cutting them off from the rest of their team. Rachel glanced back but kept moving. She had what she needed. They’d find a way out later.

Harry hurried to follow as she trekked after the little dragon bobbing ahead. “Rachel, what now? Our only exit is now blocked.”

She grinned at him. “No it’s not.”

There was a chirp and Rachel turned her gaze ahead once more. The little dragon had stopped at what appeared to be the end of the passageway and Rachel hurried to come up to the dragon’s side. She reached out, stroking a careful finger under its jaw. “What’s wrong, Fos?”

The critter flew onward and Harry gasped. Rachel grinned.

Before them was a massive room, much larger than any they had seen previously in the temple. The little dragon flew up to the top of the dome and shone brightly, the curve of the roof reflecting the light incredibly well to not only illuminate the glyphs and written language clearly, but illuminated the room itself to the point that Rachel turned her headlamp off.

“Unbelievable,” her dad breathed. Rachel walked straight across, her gaze skyward. Joy and pride filled her expression. “The sword of Damocles hangs above,” she quoted, pulling out and opening an old, leather journal. The same glyph on the page and the notes scribbled on the page were the same forgotten language that was all throughout the temple. She grinned at the others. “We’re almost there.”

Spoiler: “Is it true, that up on that hill you can still feel the ocean breeze?”

“Is it true, that up on that hill you can still feel the ocean breeze?”

He looked up from the book he was reading, confused until his mind processed the question. He smiled gently, putting the antique aside with the same amount of care a mother would her child. “No,” he offered with a pleasant smile, standing. “We are too far inland to get those kinds of winds anymore.” The youth that had asked the question slumped, looking almost defeated. His pleasant smile fell away for a concerned frown. “Why do you ask?”

The youth hesitated and he waited patiently for them to speak. They always did, once they found the right words for it.

“I just figured that I had experienced it, is all.”

Aw, so that’s what was troubling the youth. His smile returning, he sat down by the youth, clothing billowing around him till it settled against the floor and his frame. “I do not feel as you do, child,” he started. Brown eyes looked up at him, wary but curious. “I never will. But I have been around long enough to get a glimpse into the human mind and how it works, how statements such as what you have stated are accurate and not.”

He placed a gloved hand on the youth’s head without looking at them. The youth dipped under the contact but did not pull away. “Long ago, when the lands began shifting and changing towards what they are now, the ocean had appeared to recede. Planetary crust is not meant to move as rapidly as it had, thus why we have the land formations we do. But, at the beginning, while the planet’s plates moving as they were was still very new and not well understood, there was a fear of losing everything. To sooth that fear, many stated that they could still feel the ocean breeze on top of that hill. It was merely nostalgic hoping, a lack of accuracy.” He looked down at the youth, a weak smile on his face. “But it helped.

"The thing is, in all technicality, every breeze you feel is an ocean breeze, as well as a mountain breeze, a forest breeze, and a desert breeze. The air on the planet is all in the same even with the heating and cooling of the atmosphere and the texture of the planet’s surface which cause the winds we feel.” He got to his feet, his joints creaking in a way that warned him to take care of himself soon otherwise he was not going to be able to move for much longer. “So, if you really want to be technical about it….” he gave the youth a smile, “you did indeed experience an ocean breeze.”

The beaming look from the youth was worth it all.

Spoiler: Bloody Mary for the fairy.

Spoiler: Halsey - Control

Spoiler: dialogue between a protagonist and their antagonist

Spoiler: “Animal” By Neon Trees

Spoiler: Well, THAT certainly wasn’t supposed to happen!

Spoiler: “There is no such thing as destiny.”

Spoiler: “It took us three days before we started seeing shapes in the fog.”

Spoiler: hasley || gasoline

Spoiler: Kehlani - Gangsta

Spoiler: Fake It - Bastille

Spoiler: Come Little Children by Kate Covington

Spoiler: Image Prompt 2

Spoiler: Can’t breathe.

Spoiler: An Aubade

Spoiler: Defective

Spoiler: Pawnshop

Spoiler: Sunshine

Spoiler: Halloween

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 04:53 PM

October 2016
Monthly Writing Prompts
There is a 100 word minimum to complete the prompt and an alternative 1000 word minimum. I keep with the alternative word minimum.

Be advised:
Some are interlaced with fandoms.
Some can be spooky,
If you find one that needs to have any other sort of warning, please let me know. I have not reread these as I posted them as of the date on this post.

Spoiler: Following the trail upon the leaves.

His breath curled before his face, visible in the cold fall air as he sighed. He watched it with tired eyes, body laden with more than just the pack on his back and the winter cloths keeping him warm. The sky above was barely turning from night to day without a cloud in the sky. Even the last few stars that he could see beyond the branches and remaining leaves seemed to wink goodbye at him as he turned his attention from the sky above.

As the last of his breath dissipated, he turned enough to look back at his companions. Two were standing about, patiently waiting with packs fully packed. Two were near the fire pit adjusting something on the younger of two’s pack. Another stood up from where one of the tents had been, slinging their pack onto a shoulder as they stood. He met their gaze briefly before looking over the others once more.

“Ready?” he called out cautiously.

There was a collection of nodded affirmations but the one still working on the pack spoke up. “Two seconds.”

He nodded in turn as the others started to move towards him.

A wind rustled the changing leaves and bare branches above their head. He looked up, watching as leaves were gently pulled from their branches and sent dancing towards the trodden path below.

“Alright, let’s go.”

He looked down at the last duo to see them joining the others before he turned and started down the path. Silence hung around them, filled only with the sound of crunching leaves beneath their feet and the wind playing with the treetops. The silenced stayed for quite some time as the sun crept higher into the sky till, at last, sleep had released them completely and a few in the group found topics to expand upon. He stayed at the front of the group, not feeling the need to converse with any of them.

It seemed that others had a different idea, though.

“How long have we been out here?” a soft voice asked from his left. He glanced over, finding himself looking at the girl that had been packing near one of the tent sites.

“I lost count,” he confessed, looking ahead again. “A couple of months, probably.”

She fell silent beside him, the chatter behind them as soft as their conversation had been. They had learned not to be too loud.

“Think we’ll come across more supplies soon?”

The weight on his shoulders seemed to grow. “I hope so.”

She slipped her arm around his, resting her head against his shoulder briefly as she sidled up against his side. “Me too.” She raised her head off his shoulder. She glanced back at the others, specifically to the one that had being aided with their pack. “You should talk to him.”

He chuckled, looking down at her with a tired expression. “Why should I do that?” He glanced back. “He’s perfectly ok not knowing.”

Her grip around his arm tightened as she glared at him. “But you’re not.” Her expression fell. “Please, Warrick. It would be nice to see something happy before this all ends.”

He looked down at her but his own expression showed nothing more than exhaustion. “I can’t, Viera. Jaden does not need that.” He couldn’t help glancing back. “Not now.”

He watched as Jaden laughed softly at something the older man walking beside him had said. He felt Viera slip from his arm before he looked at her. She was looking at him with a strange expression. He frowned. “What?”

“Warrick, I–”

The snap of a twig shot through the trees like a crack of thunder. The entire group froze, eyes wide and instantly turning to the surrounding trees. He reached out, slowly pressing Viera back towards the group that was huddling together on the center of the trail on the leaves. At first, there was nothing, and they stood packed together in the cold fall air for a long time without speaking.

He was the first to see it.

There, at the edge of his vision, a shape appeared: a mass of fog that vanished when he looked directly at it. He gave an involuntary shudder as he watched out the peripheral of his vision the creature getting closer, blipping in and out of existence and changing location as it got closer. At least, he hoped there was only one.

They all jumped when the thing suddenly appeared before them, pressed up against the edge of the trail in the leaves. None of them made a sound as they all stared in horror at the mass pressing against an invisible barrier protecting them from the creature’s touch.

It was a grayish white, like fog at the edge of morning. It had a shape that was ever changing, wisping away like fog does only for the main mass of fog to never change density. The thing’s eyes were like shaped onyx, black and shiny without really seeming like eyes.

For what felt like an eternity it stared at them, reaching for them only to fail. Eventually, the thing moved on as if it had either grown bored or had gotten distracted. He wasn’t sure but he felt his companions relax around him.

He knew better, could see the faint wisps of the other creatures now forming around them. The other creatures kept their distance, waiting.

Viera tugged on his arm, gaining his attention. He looked away for only an instant but it was all that was needed.

He woke with frost coating the fur of his hood. His breath was visible before his face in the freezing night air as he carefully pushed himself upright. He rubbed at his head, shaking away the lingering feeling that he was forgetting something.

He was used to it.

Pulling out a leather bound book, he opened to the bookmarked page and stared down at the list. Fifty-three names were scrawled there, all but five crossed out. He looked around.

He was alone.

Spoiler: Halloween

“Trick or treat!”

He glanced towards the front of the house they were passing, seeing the small chorus of children before the front door all dressed in a different costume. Only one of the parents was on the porch with the kids, the others hanging back on the walk chatting. A fond smile pulled at his lips as he looked forward again.

At the end of the block, someone was waving. His fond smile broke into a grin and he waved back, easily recognizing his best friend and the rest of the gang.

She tackled him when he was close enough, her fake faerie wing smacking him in the face and covering it in glitter. “You made it!” she exclaimed, slipping away from him. She took one look at his face and broke out into giggles.

He gave her a playful glare as he wiped what glitter he could off his face.

“Here,” spoke a calm, stern voice. He jerked slightly at the sudden feel of bristles on his face but he held still and waited as the brush took the glitter from his face more efficiently than his hand. He smiled to the girl dressed as a witch, offering, “Thank you.”

She tucked the brush back into her bag, the rest of the gang settling around them.

“Ready for this chaos to begin?” teased the young man dressed in actual full armor.

“Where’s your sister?” asked the other young man of the group who was dressed as an elf from Lord of the Rings.

“Bringing the twins,” he easily supplied, sticking his hands into his pockets. “She was helping them fix one of the wings.”

“Who crunched their wing this time?” teased the faerie.

“Dynasty.”

The witch scoffed. “Again?”

He shrugged. Not like he had anything to say towards it. The knight looked over his shoulder and perked up. “Hey, there they are.”

The group looked down the sidewalk he had walked up to see a young adult walking with what appeared to be two young teens. The young adult was almost the spitting image of him, excluding a few details in the costume. They were both wearing black suits but his had a white vest, black shirt, and white tie versus the black vest, white shirt, and black tie of the other. They both had the same black fedora and same freaky mask, though he wasn’t currently wearing his like his twin was. He flicked his fingers at her and she signed right back, their white gloved hands easy to see in the dim light of night.

The two young teens bounded over, their feather wings bouncing behind them and their halos bobbing over their heads. They were dressed in the same white toga, a golden medallion on opposite hips depicting the same symbol. The knight grinned at the pair. “I hear you broke a wing, Dynasty.”

The male of the two teens made a face, snapping, “I didn’t break it. I rumpled it.”

“Oh, is that all?” the witch challenged. The elf placed a hand on her shoulder, a silent warning that the entire crew noticed but didn’t comment on. There was no need to.

He turned his attention from his twin to the male angel. “Dynasty,” his gaze moved to the female angel, “Destiny, you two sure you want to wear that? You guys look like you’re 13. 14 at best.”

“Yep!” came the unison chime. The faerie giggled.

“Can’t blame them,” she replied, beaming at him when she met his gaze. “They are just downright adorable.”

He chuckled, shaking his head as his own twin stepped up to his side. “Alright. Let’s head out before we’re even more late than we already are.”

“Not gonna be late,” the female angel chimed, bounding to the lead with her twin following suit. He chuckled, glancing at his twin. She dipped her head in acknowledgement, a sign of reassurance with her face obscured by the mask. He moved his own mask from around his neck and placed it over his face.

The group of eight wandered the streets, the angels leading the way. There were many comments from those that passed them about the costumes and how cool some were or how impressive others were or, in his and his twin’s case, how creepy they were. Most of the talk was in whispers behind their backs but some actually stepped up and offered the compliments to them directly. It was a good sign for the evening.

By the time they reached their destination, it was clear the party was already in full swing. With a chuckle and a shake of his head, he followed the others up the steps, his hand reaching back for his twin. Her hand slid into his and gave it a squeeze. He took comfort in the fact that she didn’t pull her hand away after that.

The place was loud and packed but the energy was high and the music was pulsing. There were many types of costumes from professionally made to thrift store throw togethers. Some of the thrift store ones were rather impressive and there were a number he could see just in the first room that were handmade and had been done with skill.

The angels kept going, passing through the first room into the kitchen. The gang followed, none of them lingering. They found their other cohorts chilling in the much calmer space of the kitchen.

“You guys made it! Sweet!” said a dude dressed as a surfer. He had gone for the wetsuit look rather than just the swim trunks, which was probably wise. The surf board was leaning up against a wall but he knew that the surfer would leave it behind for where they were heading.

“Of course we made it,” chastised the faerie playfully, hugging the Catwoman that had stood up the greet them. “We are so excited.”

“Who’s first haunted house is this?” asked Catwoman, looking to the rest of the group.

He watched as the faerie, witch, elf, and angels raised their hand, along with the surfer and the doctor tucked into the corner beside the surfer. Catwoman’s gaze swept over the raised hands quickly, eyeing the Batman and Superman behind her as if not believing them.

Superman offered a smile, replying, “We went to one last week.”

Even from under the mask it was clear Catwoman had arched an eyebrow at the Batman. The man shrugged. “My sister got us in for free.”

“So how far is this haunted house of yours?” the witch asked, her arms crossed.

“20 minute walk, if that,” the surfer supplied, getting up. “We’d best get going before we get blocked in by the party.”

“We coming back?” he asked, shifting to the side with his twin as the surfer moved to lead the way, the other three that had been sitting near the surfer standing.

The surfer gave him a wicked grin, one promising mayhem and fright. Or, at least attempted to. He didn’t take the look seriously. He knew the surfer too well to take it seriously. “If we survive.”

He rolled his eyes in good humor, moving his head to convey the motion that was hidden by his mask. The witch slapped at the surfer’s arm, gaining a giggly laugh from the surfer in turn. The large group filed out of the house and back onto the street, heading beyond the house and the neighborhood.

Sure enough, not even 20 minutes later, the group was coming upon a haunted house that was massive and oh so enticing. He squeezed his twin’s hand still tucked into his own and she squeezed back. He was excited and he could tell she was too. They both were excited to see just how scary this house could be. It had been a long time since they had had a good scare, let alone so many friends to share it with.

Spoiler: There is no rain… yet

He pushed the branch aside; he looked around as the sound of the others approaching grew louder. He took a step back, looking to the others as he kept the branch out of the way. “We should be good here.”

He gained a grateful nod from the man aiding the very pregnant woman into the crude shelter. The last member of the company moved slowly, his gaze on the trail and woods they had just passed through, as if expecting an attack.

“Come on, Balthazar,” he urged gently. “There’s nothing out there yet.”

“Until it rains,” the man grumbled, slipping under his arm into the shelter. He followed suit, finding that the man had aided the very pregnant woman to the floor leaning against what he could now depict as an old stone wall. He looked around, now able to see the remnants of an ancient home. He looked up. The majority of the roof was still intact over the area where the pregnant woman had settled and it appeared that the vines, shrubbery, and trees had filled in the gaps. It was a miracle that there wasn’t an animal nesting in here yet.

“There is no rain…yet,” the man helping the woman stated. “And when it does come, we’ll be fine in here.” The man looked at him. “Right, Dasan?”

He looked towards the entrance, thoughtful. “We should be fine from both that and the weather. The original structure here isn’t completely compromised and the plant life has filled in what was compromised.”

“Good,” the woman commented with a sigh. She tensed, her hands going to her swollen abdomen with a hiss. The man that had been helping the woman knelt beside her quickly, a hand covering hers.

“Lady Hilma?” he asked concern written all over his face.

“I’m fine, Derek.” She offered him a soft smile, covering his hand. “Just a contraction.”

“Wait, isn’t that a bad thing?” Balthazar demanded.

Derek glared at the older man but it was Dasan that spoke up. “Easy, Balthazar,” he stated, stepping forward to gain his attention. “We knew that she was due at any time. Children do not wait for the most opportune time to be born.”

Derek turned his attention to the soon to be mother. “What do you need, Lady Hilma?”

“For one, for you to stop calling me Lady Hilma,” she chided, though her look was fond. “It’s just Hilma. And two, nothing for right now. I will let you know if I need anything.”

Dasan tipped his head to the side. “Has your water broke then?”

Hilma nodded. “About an hour ago.”

Derek gave her a look as Dasan nodded. “Lady,” he chastised, “you were suppose to tell me.”

Hilma waved him off. “I was not experiencing contractions so I was not worried about it. Now that I am, I’ve told you.” Derek gave her a flat look. She shrugged. “Fine. You discovered it. But still, the baby should be hours away. We’ll be fine.”

There was a low rumble and Dasan looked towards the entrance.

“I don’t know about that,” Balthazar grumbled. Dasan looked at him, curious. The older man was glaring at the entrance. “The rain’s coming in. If we don’t move soon, we’re stuck here till the storm passes over.”

The low howl rolled through the forest around them and they all tensed. All but Dasan. He looked towards the entrance again, curious, and not at all worried. Balthazar hissed in displeasure. “They’re out.”

“Guess we’re here for the night, then,” Hilma stated plainly, as if that settled the matter. Dasan watched Balthazar grumbled as he sat down in a far corner. That was plain enough for him to know that it had been. Dasan slipped his pack off, offering, “If you would like, I could go gather fire material.”

“I wouldn’t go out there if I were you, boy,” Balthazar ground out. Dasan looked to him but there was nothing more than curiosity on the young man’s face. Dasan watched as Balthazar squirmed under the look, which confused Dasan. “Those things are out now.”

Dasan looked to Hilma and Derek. “We’ll need a fire if we’re going to stay here long enough.”

Derek looked as if he was going to argue, but Hilma’s voice overrode him. “Be quick and be safe, Dasan.” She gave him a soft smile. “We’ll see you shortly.”

Dasan nodded and ducked out.

The rain came an hour later in a torrent. By the time the rain started, Dasan had a fire going, a decent pile of wood and kindling behind him and a small opening somewhere in the roof to let out the smoke without letting the rain in. Or the beasts currently releasing low howls beyond their makeshift shelter.

“The rain is nice,” Hilma commented into the silence, her eyes closed. “Peaceful.”

“With the beasts howling out there?” Balthazar asked in disbelief. “It’s more haunting than peaceful.”

“Balthazar,” Derek warned but Hilma placed a hand on Derek’s shoulder, silencing him.

She looked to the older man, Dasan watching all of it with open curiosity. “You have not had good experiences in the rain, then, I take it?”

Balthazar gave a huff of a laugh, his gaze over at the entrance. It seemed answer enough for Hilma, at least, as Dasan returned his gaze to her. She settled and closed her eyes again. Derek met his gaze, his expression something Dasan could not make out. “Get some rest, Dasan.” Derek turned his gaze onto Balthazar, his gaze hardening. “You as well, Balthazar.”

Balthazar grumbled but settled in to sleep. Dasan looked to Hilma, a question on his face. She smiled. “It’ll be a good few hours before the baby arrives. I’ll have Derek wake you.” Dasan’s face became worried and her smile grew. “I promise. Don’t worry.”

Dasan nodded and gave in, settling. He closed his eyes and listened to the rain outside and the low howls that accompanied it. Before he knew it, he was dreaming. It wasn’t something overly coherent. He could feel earth beneath his feet as he ran. But he wasn’t running out of fear, he was running out of joy. The rain around him felt fantastic and he couldn’t help the cheer that went up. Others cheered around him and he found himself in a group, all running just to run in the rain.

He woke with a start, this itch to run strong as he looked up at Balthazar. The older man’s expression was taught. “Kid’s coming.”

Dasan rubbed at his eyes as he got up, looking to Hilma. She was sweaty, breathing hard, and holding tight to Derek’s hand as pain rippled through her. Dasan walked over, Balthazar keeping his distance. He looked to Derek.

“Can you deliver the baby?” Derek asked.

Dasan nodded, touching Hilma’s knee as he knelt before her. He looked to Hilma. “Are you alright with that?”

Hilma nodded, her soft smile pained but encouraging. “I trust you.”

Dasan dipped is head and settled in to work.

Four hours later, a child was born. And as the child fell free of his mother, a howl went up, so loud it sounded as if it was nearly outside the entrance. A chorus joined it, just as close. The child’s cries joined them.

Cleaned as best they could manage and swaddled in a spare shirt, the baby was placed against Hilma’s chest and Dasan settled back where he had been sleeping.

He watched as Hilma and Derek cooed over the babe, and, surprisingly, Balthazar as well. It was like the birth had temporarily removed their attention from the howls outside. But Dasan was completely aware of them, hyperaware of them. And the itch to go outside and run was becoming unbearable. He found himself jerking to awareness staring at the entrance to the shelter. He looked up at Derek, wide eyed. Derek offered him a tight smile. “Join them,” he offered softly.

Dasan bristled, looking towards Hilma and Balthazar. The pair was preoccupied but Dasan could tell that it was all Hilma’s doing. He looked back up at Derek, not understanding. Derek pushed at his shoulder again. “Go.”

Dasan glanced one last time at the other before ducking out. He shuddered, the feeling of the rain on his skin feeling fantastic. He took off at a run.

There were others that joined him and he found himself letting out a cheer that sounded more like a howl to his ears. The others around him weaved with him in and out of the trees and, in no time, he found himself on the edge of a cliff, panting hard but feeling invigorated. He looked at the others and felt, for once, in a place that he belong.

He turned, kicking off the rock he was standing on and landed on all fours at a run.

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 05:04 PM

November 2016
Monthly Writing Prompts
There is a 100 word minimum to complete the prompt and an alternative 1000 word minimum. I keep with the alternative word minimum.

Be advised:
Some are interlaced with fandoms.
Some can be spooky,
If you find one that needs to have any other sort of warning, please let me know. I have not reread these as I posted them as of the date on this post.

Spoiler: Rainbow

They said that if you saw one, your life was forfeit. I never understood what they had meant by that, never connected the dots till I was older.

I was told things had changed when I was only two. I don’t remember what had happened nor what life had been like before but I do remember the fear, and the confusion. I remember the quiet games and constant moving. I remember boarded up windows and gray skies and never being able to play outside. I never questioned it.

I remember the older kids always having issues, the adults always getting into fights. I never understood what they were going through, why they had such an issue with it all. It was just how things were.

That is, till the rainbows started to appear.

I was 16 when the first one shot across the sky. I had learned from old books about weather phenomena so I knew, scientifically, what caused a rainbow: reflected, refracted, and dispersed white light in water droplets causes the visible spectrum to become visible. To be honest, I had always wanted to see one. But, then, I had always wanted to see the stars and feel the sun against my skin, but when the first rainbow cut across the sky and we were suddenly getting news that it was not a sign of hope, I pushed my hopes of ever seeing something beyond the gray sky to the back of my mind.

They said that those that had seen the rainbow vanished. No one knows how or why or what even caused the rainbow to appear beneath the gray sky. There had been no rain, no sunlight to reflect within the water droplets, nothing. They’re also saying it wasn’t an isolated incident. With what primitive communication we have, we were getting world that a rainbow had appeared all over the planet at relatively the same time and those that had supposedly glimpsed the phenomenon vanished.

Many were speculating that those that had seen the rainbows were dead.

It wasn’t till I was 20 that I questioned this thought. We went four years without the odd rainbows appearing again. At least, in the areas we were traveling in. It seemed the rainbows followed us, though, as word reached us as areas we passed were losing populous. People were blaming the rainbows but no one was giving forth actual testament that rainbows had been appearing.

Then, one night, something happened that had me disbelieving that thought completely.

I had gone out. I couldn’t sleep and I was feeling restless. I felt we were staying in one place for too long and felt the urge to move on but I couldn’t leave my family. We were a unit made up of blood and choice. So, I snuck out. By the time you’re 7, you know sneaking out at all is a horrible idea. It’s drilled into you by the ripe age of 16 to never be out at night alone and by the time you were my age, you wouldn’t even give it a passing thought. It was just nature.

But something was urging me outside and so I slipped out. I remember the adrenaline in my chest, stealing my breath as I took in the world that was supposed to be pitch black with night. Instead, it was illuminated by plants and animals that glowed. I could see as clearly in what we called night as I could in what we called day. It was magnificent. I had no idea that the plant life we barely saw in our travels could do such things at night.

I wandered far in my awe, the need for sleep long forgotten. I eventually found myself in the top of a tree, looking towards the once gray sky. There, my eyes caught glimpses of starry night beyond brief breaks in the gray sky. It was then that the realization hit me that the gray sky we knew was only a layer of cloud. How odd that such a thing created such a gray atmosphere during the day and such a vibrant scene at night.

It was addicting.

After that point, there was hardly a night that I didn’t sneak out. I got really good at hiding my excursions. The only people that noticed the change in my demeanor because of it were my dad, my closest sister, and my best friend. My dad was the first one to notice. He noticed after the second night and cornered me. He didn’t know what I was doing but he could tell something had changed and he was worried. I assured him it was nothing more than just finally sleeping better, which wasn’t a lie. At that point, I had crashed after both outings and had, for once, slept without worry. That didn’t help my addition.

My best friend and my closest sister cornered me two weeks later. I had gone out a total of ten times at this point. My sister had caught sight of me sneaking out twice and my best friend had noticed the change about a week in. My best friend had gone to my sister first before they came to me. They wanted to make sure I was going to be ok, that I was safe. I assured them but I couldn’t tell them why I went out. While I was willing to risk my own life to catch glimpses of the stars and see the beauty of the night, I was not willing to risk either of theirs.

It had been futile to even attempt.

A month and a half after they had cornered me, my sister and best friend somehow managed to follow me out without waking anyone or me noticing till we were already a decent pace away from where the others were resting. I had tried to urge them back but they could be as stubborn as me and so I showed them the wonders I had grown addicted to.

My sister wasn’t fond of climbing the trees like my best friend and I were so there were several nights that my sister would settle in a clearing to watch the skies as my best friend and I settled in the canopy.

It was up in those branches that my best friend kissed me. It was up in those trees that my best friend became my life partner. It was out in that night that the three of us made a pact to always keep an eye out for others itching to slink from the group and get away at night. The night could be just as dangerous as the gray day. There were still creatures and deadly plants and there were several nights we came back with injuries we had to hide.

And still we heard tales of the rainbows.

When I was 22, I had a falling out from my family. It had been a massive mistake on my part but what else was I suppose to do. My partner, my sister, and I had come across a child lost in the woods. We couldn’t just leave them out there. So, at the risk of everything, we brought the child with us and explained to the group how we had come across her and why we had come across her.

We were kicked out.

The group split nearly in half at that point. My dad came with me, as did my younger siblings and some of my older. Those too steeped in the old ways went on their way. Those that were open to what we had done stayed. In the end, we went from a comfortable group of nearly 60 to a group just barely over 20. My partner’s family had disowned them but my dad was there to state that my partner was already part of our family so it didn’t matter.

We didn’t go out that night.

I can’t remember when it shifted for us but we started traveling at night. We realized that we could travel farther and longer at night. We got used to the plant and animal life. We got complacent.

My sister had taken the child in but my partner and I helped her raise the child. Malnourished and clearly abandoned, the three of us worked hard to make sure the child regained a healthy weight and proper clothing. Soon the child was playing with the others, keeping up and even surpassing them in some of their games. It was amazing.

It should have been our first warning.

It was as the night was drawing to a close five years later and my partner and I were sitting outside of our shelter as the others settled that we saw it.

I don’t know how to describe it but it was definitely very similar to how it had been to see the stars for the first time.

A magnificent rainbow arched across the sky as night turned to day. Full and vibrant, my partner and eye stared at it in awe as we clung to each other. It had been years since we had any communication with any others and yet the fear from years ago was still there. We watched it till it faded away and even then we sat there shaking, clinging to each other. But I found that I wasn’t shaking out of fear. As I looked into my partner’s eyes, I realized it was joy, just as it was in my partner’s eyes. That rainbow had filled us with a joy neither of us understood.

We found a short while later that my sister and the child had seen it as well. It was shortly thereafter that the child divulged that it had been abandoned because it had seen a rainbow just like that one before. I looked from my sister to my partner and the same resolve was in their eyes as the resolve in my heart.

I woke my dad and informed him what had happened. I told him the four of us were going to slip away while the others were asleep to see where these rainbows had come from. I could feel the urge in my bones. My dad had wrapped us all in tight hugs but somehow our commotion had woken the others. We told them what had happened and, to our immense surprise and relief, the group wanted to go with us. So, our path changed and the following night, we made our way towards the origin of the rainbows.

It wasn’t till two weeks later that I had an epiphany. They had once said that if you see a rainbow, your life is forfeit. I never understood that till I watched the 15th rainbow I had ever seen cross the morning horizon. Seeing the rainbows filled you with immense joy and peace as well as an urge to follow them. It was hard to resist and that first morning on our trek had proven my instinct correct and the rest of our party had caught their first glimpse of a rainbow as the night turned to day.

It was about three years later when we finally reached the place where the rainbows had been coming from. We had caught sight of it about a month back but now we were walking right up to the edge. I don’t know what this massive structure is, nor these people that are coming to greet us are, but I do know that, whatever those rainbows had been, they had been bringing us to a place of hope. The rainbows had brought us to a place we could settle and call home.

If anyone finds this and this massive structure is no longer here, look for the rainbows. When you see one, you are forfeiting your life. You are forfeiting your life for a better one, for a safer one; for a life out from under the gray skies of planet Earth.

Spoiler: Here they come, Days of peace

She checked her weapon, back pressed up against the remains of a wall. The sound of weapon fire pinging off the wall and scraping the edge filled her hearing as she snapped the pieces back together. The weapon charged in her hand as she pressed against the wall, listening. A slight lull fell in the weapon fire and she leaned out, taking shots as soon as she had sights for them.

Three of the enemy fell before she was forced back into cover. She moved along the wall, keeping low and out of sight as she moved to a different vantage point. The other edge wasn’t being targeted now and she used that to her advantage, crossing the gap as she took out two others before they noticed and re-aimed at her. A shot grazed her back as she moved to the next stretch of cover.

Barely even fazed by the wound, she took off running. The exit was well covered and clear. The hallway echoed with her heavy footfall and even breathing but she strained her ears, doing what she could to try and make out any other sounds.

Night air slapped her in the face. Surprised, she came to a stuttered halt, looking around. Not at all expecting to make it out, she did her best to get orientated as quickly as possible. There was noise behind her, not leaving her much time. Taking off, Adaeze kicked hard into the ground, wings unfurling from her back with searing pain. She ignored them, shoving her feet harder into the ground, trying to get as far as quickly as she could.

The wind somehow made the new appendages sting more and Adaeze shoved the pain to the back of her mind as her green eyes bled into their natural red. Magic choked the air around her and, with a crack, the world shifted and she collapsed several hundred miles from where she had been, shaking and in even greater pain.

“Adaeze!” “Oh goodness, is she alright?” “What-ARE THOSE WINGS?!?!” “Everyone calm down and give her room.” “We have to do something!” “Where did she come from?” “Can you contact her father?”

“Ada. Hey, Adaeze. Come on, respond to me sweetheart,” a low, gruff voice coaxed, cold hands resting on her head and between her wings.

She groaned. “Please tell me my father was not contacted yet.”

“Not yet, sweet cheeks,” the low, gruff voice assured. She opened her eyes, meeting a mismatched gaze and a worried expression. It didn’t lessen as her vision cleared. The pale face above her was far paler than it should be and she tried to push herself upright. The hand between her wings pressed down. “Not yet. We need to make sure your wings aren’t gonna damage you or get more damaged.”

Adaeze shuddered, burying her face in the crook of her arm. The hand on her head stroked through her hair. “Where’s Little Miss, sweetheart?”

An unnatural hush fell over the room. The silence stretched on as Adaeze fought with the lump in her throat. Eventually, she croaked out, “She’s not coming back.”

There were gasps and low whispers with the possible sound of someone fainting. The hand between her wings became heavier. It was too long and too soon when that low, gruff voice asked, “These are her wings, aren’t they?”

Adaeze choked on the sudden sob.

Hours passed in a blur and Adaeze found herself coming to by a knock on the door frame. She turned, looking at the three men there. The man that had knocked was standing in the entry while the other two remained out in the hall, almost to the opposite wall. Adaeze focused her attention on the man in the entry. “Hello Father.”

His eyes were not on her but on her new appendages. He stepped forward, a careful hand running over the still healthy feathers. “How…”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. But it was beyond painful, for the both of us.”

“And the angel?” he asked, suddenly worried.

She shook her head again. Her father cupped her cheek before pulling her into a hug, wary of touching her wings. “I’m so sorry, my child. I wish I could fix this.”

Adaeze tightened her grip on her father before pulling away. “She was going to succumb to the Corruption anyways. This, in the end, was a mercy.”

He didn’t push the subject. Merely, he turned her around and examined the work that had been done. “How long did they say?”

“They don’t know.” She looked back at one of the appendages. “We’ll just have to wait and see what my body does. They believe we’re in the clear if they haven’t already been rejected but they’re not sure about lasting effects from the mixed blood.”

He nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be close. You have to let me know if there is anything I can do.”

“I will.”

The man left, leaving the two men standing outside the door. They entered, the taller of the pair removing his hat. Adaeze offered the brothers a gentle smile. “What can I do for you two?”

“Your old man asked us to keep you company,” the stout of the pair stated, the low, gruff voice from a few hours prior leaving the man’s lips. “We brought some games.”

The tall of the pair placed the bag he was carrying on the desk, inquiring in his higher, nasal voice, “We figured it would pass the time faster.”

“Bro’s idea,” the stout of the pair commented with a shrug, smiling fondly. The taller enjoyed the praise but it was clear there was a bit of trepidation with accepting all of it. Adaeze stepped forward and stumbled. She was not used to the weight of the wings, nor how they seemed to move on their own. Cold hands kept her upright and she met the unmatched gaze again. He frowned, asking gently, “You alright, sweetheart?”

Adaeze nodded, straightening. “Not used to these things.” She shuddered as one brushed against her arm. “May never be.”

“That is alright,” the taller assured, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder. “After all, there will be plenty of time to adjust to them.”

The stout man frowned. “Bro, we’re in the middle of a war.”

But the taller shook his head, pulling out a letter from a pocket. “Here they come, days of peace.”

She took the letter, finding it contained a flier that mirrored the words the taller just spoke. Adaeze looked up from the letter written in a very familiar hand to stare at the taller that just beamed at her. The stout man took the letter and read over it before looking the flier over.

“Bro, I don’t think this is a good thing.”

The taller waved his brother off. “They do not realize that we will be bringing the peace they are talking about.”

Adaeze shared a look with the taller’s brother. She offered the taller a tight smile. “I hope so.” She caught a glimpse of a wing twitching behind her. “I truly hope so after all we’ve gone through.

Spoiler: Remember November

He woke up to a pounding headache and a view of the room from the floor. He groaned, not at all recalling how he had ended up on his stomach passed out in a room that was a wreck. He dragged his hands up to press flat against the floor near his shoulders, pushing against the unrelenting surface to counter his current position.

He hissed as his body complained but he managed to at least get himself up to sit on his heels. The room around him was too dim for him to discern any details of the mess around him but it appeared he was in some sort of office or lab. He wasn’t sure which he preferred.

Rubbing at his face, he got up only to discover his legs were really not happy with him. He nearly connected his face with the table he had grabbed at to keep himself upright. Grumbling, he put his weight on the flat surface and at least got his feet underneath him.

There were papers strewn everywhere over the surface, books lying open and on top one another and random objects all about. Some objects were even buried under the mess. He squinted, trying to gain better sight in the darkness but it did little. He reached about, looking for anything to give light. His hand brushed over something that rolled off the table and clattered to the floor. He cursed under his breath, stepping away from the table and feeling about the floor before his hands curled around a cold cylinder. He frowned, running his fingers over it. Seemed he was in luck as he clicked the flashlight on. He winced at the sudden light but swept the light beam over the room, discovering it was indeed a lab. And if he was being honest, it looked like a tornado had swept through.

He frowned, spying shattered glass and broken machinery along with tattered pages and disheveled books. There were stains everywhere of all sorts of colors and he really didn’t want to know what had happened here. Something reflected the light of his flashlight and his frown deepened as confusion pulled at his expression. He focused the beam on what had caught his attention and confirmed that the glint had not been from glass or machinery.

It took a while with watching his steps but he eventually made it across the room. He picked up what looked like an expensive journal by the spine. It had metal detailing across the spine as well as a complicated lock that appeared to have been shattered. He ran his hand over the hard cover, taking in the details.

He opened the cover, looking the inside of the cover over before flipping slowly through the pages. There weren’t any identification marks, no “This book belongs to ________” but the first true page was full of writing. The upper left corner had numbers scrawled on it that correlated with the two sets of numbers written in the left margin at the top of what appeared to be two separate units of text. He flipped through the pages without reading, realizing that the numbers referred to dates and that the dates in the left margin marked the start of a new entry. Some were a paragraph, if that. Others were pages long, pages filled with scrawled writing, equations, poor sketches, diagrams, and broken sentences. He started reading parts, settling on a clear bit of floor as he became engrossed with what was written.

This sense of foreboding settled over him and got heavier with every page turn.

As he reached the halfway mark, an entry caught his attention and he stared at the words before him.

40521XXe20913 – I just that today marks the 207th day of experiments and that I have started having a hard time remembering things. I think something is seriously wrong. I can hardly remember what I did yesterday and the others are starting to gain a sort of dazed way of going about things. We talk about things that I know we’ve talked about before. I’ve started rereading my entries and I find that I’ve been rewriting entries. We haven’t been making any progress. Any that we think we’re making has already been made. We’re going in circles. I’m starting to fear that I may lose my mind completely.

He hoped whoever had written this had managed to fix the issue but as he continued on, he found that they had not been able to.

The entries started becoming sparse and short. Fragmented, even. He came to a page with only two entries on it separated by a good chunk of blank space, an inconsistency with the other entries.

71921XXe31356 – We are not being able to remember anything now. Everything is being recorded. Everything.

81021XX1247 – I have made a horrible mistake.

He frowned and turned the page. It was blank. There was a good inch of pages remaining and he took the remaining pages in hand and started to rapidly flip pages, gaze looking for any discrepancies. About two thirds of the way through, a page had something heavily scrawled on it. He halted his flipping and slowly turned the pages back looking for whatever had caught his eye. He laid the book flat in his hand, gaping at the two words scrawled out with a heavy, rapid hand to take up as much of the page as possible.

REMEMBER NOVEMBER

The sense of foreboding was suffocating but he didn’t understand. Remember November? What did that mean? And when had that been scrawled?

He closed the book, running his fingers over the cover and hoping whoever had written those entries had found peace in whatever form it had come in.

He got up and stretched, his body still complaining but not as stiff. He made his way towards the door, riffling through some of the papers only to not understand any of it. He found more pages with the same handwriting but none of them told him anything useful.

He left the room before he came across the file folder that contained a picture of himself with different pages scrawled in two separate hands. One was neat, orderly and the other was the lazy strokes of those in the book he had discovered.

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 05:08 PM

Random Event 2
An Assortment of Writings
These were all from an event I did. I no longer have access to what the event was originally labeled and am simply pulling from my tumblr archive. Every item title is the given prompt. They were either a blended genre or a word, all with word limits.

Spoiler: Comedy/Horror

Spoiler: Action/Historic

He pulled hard on the reins, the horse turning hard with the gesture. The animal’s hooves scrapped the cliff edge as the path narrowed drastically. He pushed the horse on, not chancing a look back to see if they were still being pursued.

The ledge they traveled on began to narrow so much that he was forced to pull back on the horse’s speed. He let the animal settle as a walk, now taking the time to glance back.

There was nothing but the dust the hooves had kicked up and he let out a breath of relief. He was anxious but it was better than being caught. Looking around, he took in the canyon before looking towards the sky.

The sky was still striking blue and the sun had not shifted to the western half of the sky yet, meaning he had a good number of hours before he had to start looking for a place to camp. He turned his attention to the trail, looking for what his companion had told him about.

It was quite some time before he had caught sight of it and even more time before he even reached it. When his horse’s hooves were stepping off the trail that led to the floor of the canyon, the sun had already passed so far into the western half of the sky that there was barely any sun touching the eastern wall of the canyon.

He dismounted and led the horse along, his gaze searching. He took a moment to allow the horse to drink from the river and he drank from his canteen. It was while he was drinking that he caught sight of it. A couple hundred feet off was a cave tucked into the wall in such a way that anyone that happened past wouldn’t necessarily see it easily. As soon as the horse had its fill of the water, he walked the animal across the river and towards the cave on the other bank.

The cave was dry, like most of the air and land around the canyon, but it was safer than being out in the open. He unbridled the horse and hunkered down for the night. It would be a long one but the cave was deep enough for him to not worry about the light from his fire being seen.

That is, till there was a snap outside the cave entrance.

Spoiler: Romance/Mystery

Spoiler: Slice of Life/Science Fiction

Spoiler: Western/Tragedy

Spoiler: Drama/Fantasy

Spoiler: Historic/Romance

The car puttered by as he crossed the cobble street. He barely gave a glance to the growing city as he hastened up the front steps into the apartment building. Shaking out his coat and fedora, he slowly made his way up the flights of stairs to his home.

The key stuck in the lock like it usually does. The apartment was dark and cold, just like he left it. He shut and locked the door before he crossed to one of three light sources in the flat. The bulb lit up as fiercely as it could but shadows still remained. He draped his coat over the back of a chair before entering the kitchen. It was tiny but it had a stove and a fridge so he didn’t complain. He pulled water from the tap and put it in a kettle on the stove to boil. It wasn’t till then that he slipped out of his shoes.

Dropping his hat on the coat rack, he made his way to the bedroom, loosening his tie as he went. Flicking on the second light source, he slipped out of his vest before freeing himself of his tie and shirt. He ran a hand over his face, an old gold band glinting in the low light on one of his fingers. Changing completely, he secured the robe around him as he returned as the kettle started to whistle. He cut the gas and moved the kettle. He grabbed a mug from a cupboard and prepped some tea. His motions were habitual and he didn’t pay full attention to what he was doing till after he had settled at the small writing desk. It was cluttered with work but he ignored all of it for a clean sheet of letter paper and a pen. He took a careful swallow of tea before he started writing.

March 16th, 1952

I ran another lead dry today. It seems they all are drying up now. The boss thinks it’s been too long but I haven’t lost hope yet. There has to be something that’ll break this case. I just know it.

I walked by that flower shop on 6th. It’s under new management and doing well. The new clerk reminds me a lot of you. You two probably would have gotten along.

I’ll have to buy you a bundle when I pass it again before I visit.

Yours Always

He folded the short missive and tucked it into an envelope. He settled and finished his tea, gaze on the work before him. As soon as the cup was dry he was standing up and putting the used dish in the sink to wash later. He noted the pile of dishes was growing. He returned for the letter before turning the light off and going to his room. Flicking that light off as well, he reached under the bed with practiced ease and wrapped his hand around a shoe box. Opening it, he tucked the letter in, noting the box was getting full. He made a mental note to get another box tomorrow.

Spoiler: Comedy/Action

Spoiler: Western/Fantasy

Spoiler: Sci-fi/Mystery

Spoiler: Slice of Life/Tragedy

Spoiler: Drama/Horror

The actress on stage shouted some line as the power went out and every phone in the place lit up, all giving that same tone that many were familiar with. But those that had turned off the amber or weather alerts were confused that their phones were going off as well. Even the actors on stage were confused as a stagehand came out to tell them to hang tight with a flash light.

It was about the time the stagehand was leaving that an uproar broke out in the audience. There was mass confusion and a mad shuffle. There was a sound, high and loud, that made the entire audience flinch. A voice quickly followed the noise.

”Ladies and gentlemen, cast and crew, may I have your attention please. This is the Stage Manager speaking. Can I have all audience members returning to their seats and all cast and crew to make their way onto the stage.”

A murmur rolled through the audience as ushers worked to secure the exits as actors and crew appeared on stage. A few crew moved about to help ushers. The stage manager stepped out of the booth and crossed to center stage, a microphone in hand. They stood before the audience and gave them a grave look. “Everyone, please remain calm. The announcement we all received is true.” There was a flurry of voices and activity but the stage manager took a step forward and bellowed out in a stern voice that had cast and crew instinctively cringe in fear, “Please remain seated and calm.” The audience quieted down and people returned to their seats. The cast and crew were starting to sit anywhere they could on stage, the majority taking the floor. Some of the crew were stepping off stage to be aisle monitors with the ushers. “I have been asked to keep all here within the confines of the theatre due to it being far safer than allowing you all to attempt to traverse the chaos outside those doors.” There was a heavy silence as the stage manager lost their momentum briefly. Taking a deep breath, they continued, “The wifi is still up if you need it so please contact loved ones. Please be aware that a lot of people are going to be using the internet and cell towers so you may not be able to make it through. We will do our best to help you feel comfortable in what time remains.”

The microphone was turned off and chaos ensued. Thankfully, the audience listened to the stage manager and remained seated but people started crying, shouting, arguing, and just plain talking. The noise level got pretty high but no one cared. The stage manager gave the cast and crew 15 minutes before they were expected back in the theatre with their things and helping to keep the audience contained so that those in the house as well as ushers could have a chance to grab their things and gather in the theatre.

When everyone was once more consolidated in the single space, the stage manager took center stage with more information.

“I have some more information,” they spoke over the noise into the microphone. The crowd quieted. “They don’t know how or why, but the amount of time that they had anticipated has diminished drastically. We are now looking at a maximum of 4 hours. They are asking people not to travel and we’re going to enforce that. We will, however, be doing bathroom runs now in groups of five with chaperones from the cast and crew. Please be respectful and heed their words. They are getting their information from me directly through headset so if we need people to come back, then we can alert you quickly and safely. Thank you.”

The microphone was turned off for the last time and people began to come to terms with the fact that this was it. There was nothing more that could be done. Sure enough, four hours later and with very little information, there was a noise outside the theatre and a hush fell over the room. People pushed together, scared but prepared.

The doors burst open and a good number of people screamed as there was a mad scramble to flee but no one got anywhere fast. By the time silence had fallen, each and every living being was dead.

Spoiler: Flash

She flinched away from the crowd. She noticed she hadn’t been the only one to flinch. Her companions had as well and the male was not looking pleased. She reached out to him and he offered her a tight smile as he gave her hand a brief squeeze.

The crowd was going nuts but it was clear many were forgetting the rules in place. She forego the crowd with her companions and started for the end of the walkway. Security swarmed past them in the opposite direction. There was the sound of a megaphone activating behind them but the announcement was cut off as the door closed behind them.

It seemed liked a curse. As soon as the door clicked shut, they were assaulted by light. She kicked back into her male companion, their other companion pressing close. Her male companion wrapped his arms around them both but he was in a worse state than they were. There was an altercation as people rushed forward to shelter them. One of the older men that had rushed forward placed himself directly in front of her, his expression full of concern.

“Are you alright?” he asked softly, others closing up the gaps to shelter them. She shuddered but nodded, glancing at her companions. Her gaze settled on her male companion as she verbally replied. “I’m ok. But we need a quiet, secluded room. I don’t think he can last much longer.”

The entire group around them seemed to come to a non-verbal agreement in an instant and hands reached out but paused before touching. She smiled softly, appreciating the forethought by those around them. The older man that had spoken is the one to ask, “Is it alright if we touch you?”

She reached out to take the older man’s hand, watching as her female companion did the same, but they both looked at their male companion. He had his head down, his hands gripping whatever fabric was against their lower backs. She met the older man’s gaze, offering, “Don’t touch him. We’ve got him.”

Some of the hands pulled back as the older man nodded and placed himself at her side, careful not to touch her male companion as he wrapped an arm around her. One of his fellows did the same for her female companion and the rest created a sort of protective barrier around them.

The walk was short but it was appreciated as the mass of the group chatted as if there was nothing wrong, joking and commenting on mundane things not connected to the panic. By the time they reached the room, her male companion was brokenly conversing with someone walking beside him.

The room was vast and sparsely furnished. She realized it was one of the main halls that was being unused. That much space being empty with no one there beyond her, her two companions, and their entourage was surprisingly soothing. Her male companion even released his hold on them and she watched as he stepped passed them towards the furniture at the far end of the hall. The older man stepped away, removing his touch as his counter did the same to her female companion. She smiled appreciatively to the older man before following her two companions.

Her male companion flopped into one of the chairs before their female companion settled in his lap, curling against his chest. She, in turn, merely grabbed another chair and spun it around so that she was sitting backwards in it. The older man did the same across from her as the others either grabbed a chair, a piece of the floor, or just stood about.

“So you three are the reason for the ‘No Flash Photography’ rule?” asked one of the men that had been leading the group and keeping conversation light with bad puns and getting reamed by the others. In point, a forgettable man in a simple suit smacked him upside the head. He merely grinned up at the man with a grin.

She nodded, answering with a shrug, “Trauma just doesn’t go away overnight.”

She watched her companions out of the corner of her eye curl closer to each other. She couldn’t blame them.

Spoiler: Thunderous

She reached blindly for anything to grab as her legs went out from under her. Hands reached for her and she flinched away. This caused her to lose her hold on whatever had been keeping her upright and she felt her knees collide with the ground as her other palm scraped against the hard surface. More hands, more trying to get away.

She recoiled from those that had gathered, catching sight of a figure parting the crowd, suddenly opening up space around her. She blinked, her vision clearing and focusing on blue eyes that were all too familiar. She reached out to him but her hands were shaking. He intertwined their fingers and pressed his forehead against hers. She grasped at his shirt with her free hand, pulling them together. His other arm wrapped around her and held her close. She closed her eyes, leaning into him and allowing him to support her as he had done for so many years.

She could feel through where his forehead was pressed against hers the vibrations from him talking. To whom, she didn’t know.

When she opened them again, he hadn’t moved. He was watching her and pulled back enough to give her a soft smile, one that spoke a thousand words. He released her hand to run his fingers through her hair, his other hand slipping out from behind her to flicker in her line of sight. She leaned into his touch, watching him sign in their invented sign language. He told her of all who was there, of what had happened. He talked and talked, soothing her there on the hospital room floor with a hand in her hair in a veiled way of keeping her gaze from roaming around the room.

He talked of the day she had fallen into her coma, how he had been impressed with how much she had been able to shift with that horrid chemical in her system, how her companion had suffered no major injuries as she had taken the brunt of the landing. He went on to tell her how they kicked the bad guy’s butts with a flourish, gaining a soft smile out of her. He beamed, going on and exaggerating the final battle as they waited for the medevac.

His expression turned somber as he spoke of those first 24 hours at the hospital. She was in the OR for 18 hours as they did what they could for the numerous injuries she had sustained. His calm mask cracked when he informed her she had coded twice. She pressed a bit more into his hand to reassure him, her hands pressing against his thighs.

He signed that he was so grateful for what they were.

She couldn’t help but agree.

His expression turned bitter. He commented on how everything just seemed to get worse after that. It was bad enough she had been declared in a coma a few days later, it seemed like the universe was against them. She had coded twice in one day and another time two days later. Her liver failed due to the chemical’s damage. She had nearly asphyxiated on blood when a blood vessel ruptured in her right lung – the same lung that had been punctured at the top of the whole mess that also collapsed three days after the asphyxiation scare. Finally, after the chemical had been completely flushed out, the damage started to repair itself and she had woken up whole and ok.

His expression fell. Well, as whole as she could be with the given circumstances. He rubbed her ear gently, gesturing in question ‘You doing ok?’

She shook her head, pressing into her twin’s chest once more. It took a bit of maneuvering but eventually he was propped back up against something and she was curled up in his lap. The others still in the room were on the edge of her awareness as she settled against her nearly identical twin’s chest, feeling the vibration of his voice as he spoke to someone over her head.

‘What’s wrong?’ he signed patiently, encouragingly, as he turned his full focus back onto her.

She shifted enough to sign in return with shaking fingers, ‘The silence is thunderous.’

Spoiler: Numbers

Spoiler: Reflection

It was late. So late in fact that the clock had rolled over into the new day, turning “late” into “early”. He glared at the offensive device that was seeming to mock him with the new hour. He knew he should have gone to bed hours ago but he had been feeling as if the day just wasn’t long enough.

That, or he was being left behind by time.

That was a scary thought, one that he tried to avoid. He didn’t like being left behind in general and all of the sudden time was leaving him behind too?! He stomped on the thought and focused on the task at hand, glancing at the word count as he went.

He was going to regret this come his alarm going off.

He would probably be fine once it passed three.

Exhaustion pulled at his eyes, making it hard for him to focus on the screen before him. There was a reason why the clock was mocking him with the time. He hadn’t been sleeping well the last few days - heck, could even be weeks for all he could remember - and it was catching up on him. He had tried quite a lot in an attempt to not be quite as exhausted but the one thing that would benefit him the most would be actually waking up later in the day. Work didn’t start till the afternoon but a part of him still insisted waking up at 7. How could he not? The shift he worked make him feel unproductive with the rest of his day. He had a hard time doing anything when he got home and that included eating and he was already bad at making sure he kept himself fed.

He groaned, dropping his fingers from the keyboard. He lulled his head to the side, looking at the clock again. It seemed, at least, that at night time only got away from him when he was busy. Pity, really, because he seemed to be constantly busy. So much to do in so little time.

He straightened and rubbed a hand over his eyes, determination settling over his tired expression. He could do this. He just had to finish this one small thing and then he could go to bed. It wouldn’t be much sleep but it would be enough.

He would still be exhausted.

Maybe he could catch up on sleep on Friday seeing as it was his day off.

Yeah, he had intended that for the previous Saturday and look where that had gotten him. Working well into the wee hours of the morning.

Spoiler: Mask

Spoiler: Curse

Spoiler: Fear

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 05:51 PM

December 2016
Monthly Writing Prompts
There is a 100 word minimum to complete the prompt and an alternative 1000 word minimum. I keep with the alternative word minimum.

Be advised:
Some are interlaced with fandoms.
Some can be spooky,
If you find one that needs to have any other sort of warning, please let me know. I have not reread these as I posted them as of the date on this post.

Spoiler: Legend

The gravel crunched underneath as he sat down heavily. Groaning at the movement, he grabbed at the wound on his side, hissing at the pain it caused. He didn’t let up the pressure but he did relax, leaning his head back against the stone wall behind him.

He chuckled weakly. “It’s funny,” he commented, eyes half lidded. “I always thought we would make it farther than this.”

He closed his eyes as a breeze washed over him, pulling at his hair, at his face, as gently as it did the trees above him. He opened his eyes, taking in the glimpses of blue sky beyond. “Guess I was wrong.”

His expression turned sad, mournful even, as he settled more into the wall. “But, hey, least we made it this far, right, brother?”

He glanced over at the prone shape beside him in a worse condition than he was. There wasn’t much sign of life but he could tell that his brother was still there, still alive, if just barely.

He turned his gaze skyward again.

The wind rustled through the leaves again and he closed his eyes. The sound of the nature around them was soothing after such a hard trek, after such a hard moment in their life that he relished the peace.

When he opened his eyes again, the sun was setting and the sky had gone from a vibrant blue to a darkening orange. He couldn’t bring himself to care.

“I remember mom telling us about a legend,” he commented offhandedly, gaze still skyward. “The one about the phoenix and how it could be reborn after it burst into ashes. How life was just like the cycle of the phoenix. From the moment your born, it’s nothing but movement and information. Smoldering determination and white hot emotions. Life just throws everything it has at you to see if you’ll rise from the ashes or go down in a burning ball of misery.”

A bird passed overhead, chirping happily. “I remember thinking I understood that legend when we had followed dad’s footsteps. Life was suddenly alight with passion. Every day was high paced, ending like a candle does when the sun went down. Then mom died and I believed I had come to understand the legend that much more. Suddenly the emotions were too much to bear. I couldn’t take it. I was so over stimulated by them all that I became numb. Numb until, suddenly, determination was lighting my way again. And suddenly the emotions I felt were burning hot and fueled my motivation. Our motivation.”

The sun reached a point in its descent that rays of light cut through the trees, illuminating all the particles in the air and illustrating just where the leaves fell in the beams of light. He watched as the beams, one by one, faded as the sun continued to set.

“I thought that the legend we were chasing had no similarities to the phoenix,” he confessed. “I saw no need to try and compare the two. A phoenix is a myth. There was no bird that could die in flames only to be reborn from the ashes. But then we saw things.” Memories flashed through his mind’s eye, things he wished he had never seen, never heard. But with those memories, those choices, had come people they cared about and who cared about them and his expression softened. He couldn’t bring himself to regret any of it. “We saw things that no human should have ever witnessed. We saw things that would have broken others, would have destroyed others. But they didn’t destroy us. Somehow, through all of this, we never turned to ash and stayed ash. We were reborn. Over and over again. We got back up, dusted ourselves off, and kept moving. We kept chasing a legend.”

The sun’s last rays dissipated as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon. The first stars were already making their appearances through the leaves. “We kept moving, kept going. Kept trying. But no matter how far we got, how hard we ran, that legend remained out of reach, out of touch.”

The pressure on his wound dissipated as his arm gave out. He paid it no mind as he closed his eyes, face still pointed skyward. “We discovered horrible truths about that legend and yet we still kept running after it, trying rid ourselves of the information with believing that, once we had captured it, we’d be fine.”

He opened his eyes and a tear raced down his cheek, another going with it shortly thereafter. “I don’t think mom told us the full legend about the phoenix, brother. I think she was trying to protect us from the truth.”

He closed his eyes again, another tear falling. “Of how the phoenix’s cycle eventually comes to an end, how it doesn’t last forever. That, once the phoenix has used up all of its energy to reform, it will turn to ashes and never rise again.”

He found it much harder to open his eyes this time. The wind pulled at his wet cheeks, the air colder than it had been with the sun up. “I think she didn’t want us to go on living with the belief that, at some point, we would wear ourselves out and lose the ability to get back up again, to keep moving. That life loses its spark after living it for too long.”

He chuckled weakly. “Funny how chasing one legend can lead to the understanding of another.”

He closed his eyes with the intent of keeping them closed this time. He was so tired. “I’m sorry, Alphonse. I tried. I tried so hard to keep my promise to you and I’ve broken it.” The tears came faster but there were no sobs. Just breathless words. “I want to keep it but I don’t think I can get up after this one, brother. I don’t think we can bounce back after this.”

“It’s alright, brother,” came the soft, weak voice from the form beside him. “I’m tired too.”

He forced his eyes open one last time. He smiled, but it felt off. “Think we’ll see mom again?”

“Yeah,” came the breathy reply. “Yeah, I do.”

Spoiler: Holy days

“I thought cities were supposed to be bustling, not unsettling ghost towns.”

Angel glanced back at Kyle, full-heartedly agreeing with him. The city was massive yet there was a scattering of people that they’d come as they followed their guide. Said guide looked back at them, smiling softly like he always did. “That is because it is a Holy Day.”

“Holy day?” she asked, frowning. “You’re entire city follows one religion?”

Their guide nodded. “The majority do. Those that do not still respect the rules of Holy Days. After all, there are only so many Holy Days in a year.”

Dean perked up, intrigued like always at new information. Angel, for her part, felt uneasy about getting behind his enthusiasm. Dean quickly asked, “How many Holy Days are there? Are they like the holidays on Earth or the Sabbath of many religions?”

Their guide tapped his chin, thoughtful. “I do not fully know the cultures on Earth. The teaching on it – especially in this country – are very few and far between with lacking information at best. Unless you end up in a position that requires that knowledge but very few positions call for it.”

“But you are one of those selected to be given that knowledge,” Angel pointed out, her distrust coloring her tone.

Their guide sighed, giving her a look that contrasted greatly with what they normally received from him. “Yes, I am, but it was not by my choice.” His eyes darkened. “I chose my profession to avoid the position. Yet it only placed me more firmly into the position they wanted me to be in.” He looked around, his expression becoming flat. “I am glad it is a Holy Day. Not many will take notice of us and far fewer will overhear our conversations out in public.”

Angel muttered a curse under her breath. He was right. They were being careless and she needed to treat this with the severity it already has.

“Will we stand out terribly if we hunt for a more secure location?” Kyle asked, keeping his voice down.

Their guide shook his head. “No. While Holy Days are spent at home and behind closed windows, there are some jobs that are specific to Holy Days. Walking through the city will not be strange.” He frowned slightly. “Though the group size may draw attention, it would only be for a moment. I doubt anyone would pay us that much attention.”

“Which means we’ve already been spotted and tracked,” Kyle muttered, crossing his arms. “Great.”

Angel placed a hand on his arm, placating him as she looked to their guide. “Nikolaos, is there a place we can rendezvous at or should we just go straight to our destination as is? We may be putting a number of people in danger by just traipsing through the city like we are.”

“Like ourselves,” Kyle growled only loud enough for Angel to hear.

She ignored it.

Nikolaos shook his head. “Just going straight through would be best.” He turned and started walking again, the group following suit. “Where we are heading would not seem out of the ordinary for groups this size to be going to on a Holy Day, especially not for foreigners.”

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “How obvious is it we’re not from this country?”

Nikolaos gave that soft smile of his. “Very. Don’t worry. That’ll be fixed with time.”

Silence fell over the group as they made their way through the city. Sure enough, Angel caught sight of civilians working in some form or fashion, the majority of the jobs focused around cleaning the city.

“It’s interesting what their ideals are, isn’t it?” Angel looked over to Dean, his brown eyes knowing behind his glasses. He kept his voice low, allowing for only her and Kyle to overhear. “For them, having a clean city is important. But not just free of trash and possibly some natural imperfections like dust, dirt, and fallen leaves. Each bit of structure, whether it’s the street or the house, is being washed. Even when it will most likely become dirty within the next 2 hours, they still make sure everything is pristine. They care a lot about appearances. Makes you wonder what they’re trying to hide.”

Angel looked over one of the store fronts they were passing – actually looked at it and noted how everything was very controlled and very pristine. She suddenly felt distrust for the city around her, taking Dean’s words to heart. She had noticed each thing he had voiced, had even briefly thought about it herself, but having another confirm her suspicions as brief they were only made her furious at herself. She needed to quit with the self doubt. Even if her plans to become a lawyer were shot at this point, her skills and intuition were still as sharp as ever and she needed to keep them that way.

Dean and Kyle fell into a conversation about some random thing. Angel let the two brothers be, turning her attention onto the other two in their group. She touched Kat’s arm, asking them both softly, “How are you two doing?”

“I’m doing fine,” Kat offered easily before looking to Gezabelle. “Geza?”

Gezabelle offered a weak smile and an even weaker, “I’m fine.”

Kat wrapped an arm around the smaller young woman’s shoulders as Angel sighed. It was amazing how different the two youngest of their group behaved. Dean was taking this all in stride while Gezabelle seemed to be come apart at the seams. But, then again, it had been her brother that had left, and not Dean’s. Aaron was Gezabelle’s protector. Even now she looked to him for guidance but, now that he wasn’t here, Gezabelle seemed lost and it was all any of them could do to help her keep moving.

“We’ll get him back,” Angel spoke, her voice low but serious. Gezabelle looked up at her with surprise, fear, and a small spark of hope. Angel offered her a soft smile. “I promise.”

Spoiler: This is my December

The glass clattered against the counter sharply but Marcus didn’t overly care much. He rubbed at his face as Derek settled beside him at the kitchen island.

“So this is where you ran off to. Though you were avoiding the party.”

Marcus chuckled. “No, not avoiding the party. Avoiding the small talk that comes with said party.”

Silence settled over the pair of them and, for once, neither strove to break it.

“This has been one hell of a month,” Derek finally uttered, rolling his own glass against the counter.

Marcus snorted. “No kidding. First your accident–”

“Then the natural disasters–”

“Followed by the sudden war–”

“On top of the invasion–”

Marcus gave a bitter laugh. “Who would have figured that all we had known would blow up in our face in less than 30 days?”

Derek didn’t join in his dry humor. Marcus downed his drink.

“Think we’ll make it out of this alive?” Derek asked softly.

“How can we not?” Marcus muttered darkly. “We have people relying on us. We cannot let them down.”

Derek gave him a pleading look. “But how are we supposed to cope? All of this in less than 30 days and they’re requiring us to give up what we know for something out of a science-fiction novel? Marcus, I don’t know if I can handle that.”

Marcus placed a heavy hand on Derek’s shoulder, his gaze hard. “Derek, do you know what Zoe is doing?” Derek shook his head. “She’s taking this in stride. She’s working hard to make sure that her friends and family won’t be left behind. She’s trying her darndest to make it through to become a liaison between us and them because she believes she can protect all of us.”

“Zoe?” Derek asked in disbelief. “Our kid sister?”

“Our kid sister who is only two years younger than you,” Marcus reminded him. “And yes, Zoe. She’s doing everything she can to help us all and what are her two older brothers doing? Getting wasted at a New Year’s party.”

“She isn’t here?”

Marcus sighed. “I haven’t seen her but that doesn’t mean anything. The entire family is here for whatever reason, meaning there’s almost 100 people in this godforsaken house with all the cousins and kids and grandkids and grandparents.” Marcus groaned. “When did we all get so old?”

“About two years ago after you turned 27,” Derek chuckled. Derek raised his glass as if to drink but he lowered it, asking, “Is your girlfriend here?”

“We broke up about a week ago.”

Derek gave him a blank look. “Seriously?”

Marcus shrugged. “Our relationship was already strained. I’m not surprised it finally snapped after all that’s happened.”

Derek shook his head. “Man. And I thought you two were going to get hitched.”

Marcus chuckled. “Dude, we had only been dating for four months.”

Derek gave him a wide eyed look. “What, seriously? I thought it had been four years!”

Marcus shook his head. “That was Samantha.”

“I liked her.”

Marcus sighed heavily as he refilled his glass, muttering, “So did I.” He threw back the drink before refilling his glass. Derek took the bottle from him to refill his own glass. “I had a ring and everything but she was suddenly gone with only a note that said, ‘I’m sorry’ and every item she had ever owned gone from my house.”

Derek threw back his own refilled glass. “That’s harsh.”

“Very.”

Silence settled as chatter and laughter spilled in from the other room, the sound of children squealing and playing adding an upbeat undertone. Derek looked to his older brother, a sad smile on his face. “Can you believe we’re the oldest out of our cousins to not have kids yet? Paul is expecting his first kid and he just graduated from high school back in May.”

“When did he get hitched?” Marcus asked in disbelief.

“Some time in November. High school sweetheart or something sappy like that.” A goofy grin settled over Derek’s face. “She’s sweet but not much in the attic. Fits him perfectly.”

Marcus shook his head. “Sad when our kid cousins are having kids before us.”

“No kidding.”

The two men turned, looking at the figure standing in the doorway. The pair stood up but the young woman shook her head, smiling. “Sit back down, you two. I just came to see if you drank all the booze yet.”

“Not yet,” Derek assured as Marcus reached out and pulled her close. Her arms wrapped around his neck briefly before she reached over and dragged Derek into the embrace. There was the sound of a familiar song playing in the other room.

“Already almost midnight?” Marcus asked, frowning as he glanced at the nearest clock.

She nodded. “About five minutes out.” Her grip on the two men tightened.

Derek had settled completely against her side, his head happily resting against hers even though his expression was just as sad as hers was. Marcus, not being the overly affectionate type, merely kept his arm around her, his other hand finding the back of Derek’s head and rubbing at the short hair there, a gesture of comfort for both of them.

“We’re going to be alright, right Zoe?” Derek asked in a soft voice.

Zoe seemed to curl in on herself even though she didn’t physically move. “I don’t know.” Marcus’s hand stilled on Derek’s neck. “I hope so but I just don’t know for sure. The majority of the nations are all up in arms even though there has been nothing but peace between us and the invaders.” She pulled back enough to look at the analog clock in the kitchen. “That’s why, come the new year, those that have agreed to go along peacefully will be pulled away from the areas of war. I’ve made arrangements for all of us to be picked up at midnight.”

Marcus tightened his arm around her as he turned his gaze to the clock as well, watching the seconds in their last minute tick away.

“We’ll make it through this,” he assured his two younger siblings even though he couldn’t remove his gaze from the clock.

Derek chuckled, bringing his head up even though he was clearly avoiding looking at the clock. “Of course we are! I told you, after all, that this was my December and, since I wasn’t able to make it my December, I’m going to make this new year all mine and it’s going to be great.”

There was cheering from the other room as the clock struck midnight. Marcus gave Derek a smirk, stating, “You made that promise at the top of the month. You better hold true to this one.”

A light filled the room as Derek nodded and Zoe spoke up, “We’ll all hold true to it.”

The light made the area appear white before suddenly disappearing. What had once been a full house was now empty and quiet. Not a single soul was left behind.

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 06:00 PM

January 2017
Monthly Writing Prompts
There is a 100 word minimum to complete the prompt and an alternative 1000 word minimum. I keep with the alternative word minimum.

Be advised:
Some are interlaced with fandoms.
Some can be spooky,
If you find one that needs to have any other sort of warning, please let me know. I have not reread these as I posted them as of the date on this post.

Spoiler: I am never gonna dance again.

His leg gave out from under him and he hit the ground hard. He was glad that Tony was the only one there as embarrassment rushed through him, coloring his cheeks and driving him to push himself back up. Calloused hands redirected his motion into a sitting one and he grunted in disdain, grounding out, “I’m fine.”

“Doesn’t matter,” the inventor retorted, hands moving over the prosthetic. “I want to check the limb.”

Steve leaned back on his hands, letting out a huff of air. His frustration slowly faded as he watched Tony work with half lidded eyes. A soft wind kicked up and it drew Steve’s gaze away and up. Soft, white clouds slowly drift by as the wind curled around him and he briefly forgot his frustration as he watches the sky.

Those same calloused hands that had created the prosthetic moved over the stump and across to the other limb. Steve looked down at Tony, bewildered. “What?”

“Checking to make sure you didn’t break anything else.”

Steve caught Tony’s wrist, finally gaining the man’s gaze. “I’m fine, Tony.”

Tony gave him a rather dark, flat look. “Says the man that took a nasty fall while running at full till and can’t even tell that he’s lost a good amount of skin on either arm.”

Astonished was the only word Steve could find that seemed to fit his own reaction. He pulled his hand back to turn his arm so he could see the underside. Sure enough the part of his forearm that had hit the pavement was scrapped and bleeding, his left even worse. Though, that made sense, seeing it was his left leg that had given out. The moment he registered the wounds, the stinging sensation hit him. His hands twitched and his face scrunched slightly, but he merely lowered his hands, looking to Tony sheepishly. “Got anything to tend these?”

Tony’s rather dark, flat look was on him again and Steve couldn’t help the nervous grin that crossed his face. “Right. Billionaire and over prepared for just about everything.”

Tony’s gaze dropped back to the prosthetic, fingers ghosting over the complexity of wires and metal in what Steve could only describe as a nervous tick. “The prosthetic is fine. You should be able to walk.“ The thinner man pushed himself upright before offering a hand to Steve. Steve took it and got up, keeping all his weight on his right leg as he did so. Once he was upright, he slowly added weight, letting out a sigh when the limb and prosthetic took the weight without trouble. Tony turned and stalked off, leaving Steve to catch up.

Silence settled between them but it was tense. Steve found it hard not to fidget when he stopped in the kitchen at Tony’s directing. Tony disappeared briefly, returning with a first aid kit in hand as well as a tool kit.

The hydrogen peroxide stung but Steve barely flinched, holding still as Tony poured the chemical over the wounds. The tap was already running cool water and it somehow felt better than the hydrogen peroxide till Tony started using soap and a cloth. Steve bit back a hiss, turning it into a sharp inhale, as he jerked back out of instinct when Tony did something that had actually hurt.

"Sorry,” the man muttered, “but I have to get the debris out.”

Steve game him a soft smile, offering, “I know, Tony. It’s ok.”

The brown eyes he was hoping would flicker his direction never did and the smile fell.

Once Steve was patched and cleared by Tony, they made their way into the sitting room. Steve settled on one of the couches as Tony went to the liquor cabinet. Steve watched him. It was after a moment when he asked, “Have you ever danced?”

Tony gave him an owlish look, as if the genius’s brain had failed to properly process the question. “Of course,” Tony voiced skeptically. “Is this a trick question?”

Steve leaned his head back against the couch. “I’ve never danced.”

“Never?” That time it was skeptical without the trepidation and Steve couldn’t help the chuckle that rose from his chest. “I highly doubt a soldier like you would have never gone dancing before.”

“Never,” Steve countered, enjoying this.

“Not even to prom?”

Steve snorted, looking at the inventor finding the slighter man leaning against the liquor cabinet with forgotten alcohol behind him. “I was a nerdy lanky kid back in high school.” He shrugged at the disbelief that filled Tony’s expression. “I didn’t hit my growth spurt till college and, really, it was the military that really gave me the body I have now.”

“I would have taken you,” Tony blurted and Steve laughed. Tony blushed violently but he stood his ground. “I’m sure you would have been a great prom date.”

Steve flashed him a smile. “Tony, I don’t dance and we grew up in an era where two boys going to prom just wasn’t how things went.”

Tony pursed his lips before walking towards something behind Steve. Steve lulled his head about, keeping an eye on Tony but losing any real detail on what the man was doing with the odd angle. He didn’t overly mind. He was pretty certain whatever Tony was doing wasn’t going to kill him.

Music filled the room and Steve’s insides went cold. Ok. Maybe he was wrong. He watched with an expression befitting a deer caught in the headlights Tony cross the room to stand before Steve, hand extended. “Dance with me,” Tony spoke, his voice firm.

Steve blinked at him. “Tony,” he tried, speaking slowly, “I don’t dance.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “So? I can teach you.”

It was Steve’s turn to be skeptical. “Really. You teach me how to dance?” Steve’s chuckle was nothing more than a huff of air. “Tony, I have two left feet. Now more so than ever.”

Tony nearly growled as he insisted, “Quit being stubborn and just take my hand, Rogers.”

Steve couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright,” he conceded, taking Tony’s hand. The man pulled him up. “But if I step on your toes, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Again, Tony rolled his eyes, but this time there was amusement on his face as he pulled Steve a bit closer, positioning Steve’s other hand on his shoulder. “Duly noted.”

They started out slow and Steve was really, really bad at it. He kept losing track of which foot was to go with which beat in which direction and, while Tony had such great form and was a wonderful lead, Steve found it hard to keep up. Running laps was becoming a lot more preferred over this.

“Quit thinking so hard,” Tony ground out.

“What do you expect me to do instead?” Steve asked, tripping slightly and accidentally stepping on Tony’s foot again. Steve winced, rushing a, “Sorry,” before Tony could even chastise him about saying sorry again. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Tony gave him a look and the sheepish grin was totally involuntary. Tony sighed and stopped them both. Steve blinked, mildly confused until Tony shifted before him, adjusting his form. Tony met his gaze again and this time it was just as calm and open as when they had started. “Don’t think about your feet,” Tony said. “Just move.”

Tony took a step to the side. Steve faltered as he went with but he found that his foot went to the right spot without him having to place it there. Tony’s lips twitched. “When you react,” Tony stepped backwards and this time Steve didn’t resist and, again, his foot landed in the right spot, “you’re actually a lot better than you think you are.”

Tony started a slow dance that had nothing to do with the music and slowly Steve became more and more relaxed in Tony’s guidance. Around the room they spun as Tony led the way. The mishaps became fewer and fewer as they started to chat and laugh and just enjoy the moment. But, just like every moment before, disaster of some sort struck and it turned out to be Steve backing into the coffee table that Tony somehow had spaced. Steve toppled backwards as Tony went with him and the table snapped beneath them. Winded but unharmed, Steve looked down at Tony. Out of instinct bread from the war, he had pulled Tony to his chest, wrapping his arms around the man’s head and shoulders to protect him. He eased his hold on the man, allowing Tony to look at them. There was silence for but a moment before they were both laughing.

Tony moved away, sitting on his ankles. Steve propped himself up on his elbowed, grinning at the other. “You are a horrible lead. I am never gonna dance again. Not unless it’s in a ballroom or some sort of open space and you are teaching me how to lead.”

Tony laughed. “Fair enough.”

Spoiler: I want to break free.

The short chains on his ankles and wrists clattered loudly as he let out a battle cry. The audience screamed in excitement right along with his yell. He twirled his staff lazily as he surveyed those that were watching with narrowed eyes and a sneer on his face. He caught sight of the man that held the other end of his figurative leash and he forced his scowl into a neutral mask, dipping his head in feigned respect. The man bought it and gestured.

His next opponent rose from the ground.

He wanted to laugh, glancing once more at the man in control as if trying to gauge how much of this was a joke. Apparently it wasn’t as the guard gave his opponents (plural, mind you) weapons. He cracked his neck and rolled his left shoulder. If they wanted to try and make this not a fair fight, they could continue trying if they wanted to. It was clear the ones before him were new to this whole battle arena deal and he was going to use that against them.

He flicked the release and the staff disconnected, becoming a long chain with two bars at either end that both had a set of three claws situated in a triangle formation. The audience went nuts and his opponents seemed hesitant. The one standing closest to him out of the three adjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword before glancing at the other two. They nodded and spread out, leaving the one with the sword standing alone. He kept is attention on the one before him as he tracked the other two’s movements. The one before him seemed to take a breath before charging him.

He moved.

One end of his weapon snapped out and his opponent raised his sword. The chain wrapped around the blade and he pulled downward, rolling with the motion as he brought the other end around. His opponent followed the sword down, rolling out of the way of the other end of the weapon. The other two prepped weapons but did not advance. Yet.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” his opponent ground out, blocking the return of the other end. “I want to break free, all three of us do, but we need your help.”

“My help,” he ground out as their fight became a sort of dance. “Yeah, the last time I was told that, I was nearly killed. I have two more fights left before I’m set free. Why would I risk that?”

His opponent frowned, slowing. He had to purposely miss just to not hit the stupid fool in the face. The weapon grazed the man’s cheek, leaving behind a red cut that slowly oozed. His opponent barely flinched, determined. “Because your family is going to help from the other end.”

This time his weapon went off course wildly and he had to jump away as the crowd booed. His gaze flickered to the man in charge and saw that the man was frowning. Yanking on the chain, he brought the far end back, swinging it around in an attempt to engage the other two. It worked. The one on the right cracked his whip and disappeared while the one on the left countered the end swung at him with his nunchucks. The crunch of gravel from his direct right was the only alert he needed. He ducked low and swiped out with his foot. He didn’t touch anything but he knew his invisible opponent couldn’t touch him. He brought the chain around, catching the whip as it lashed out. His invisible opponent became visible and he kicked out, catching the opponent in the chest and gaining the whip.

The audience screamed in celebration.

The one with the sword lunched at him and turned, eyes hard before he twisted his weapon around and brought it up at the last second as a staff, blocking the blade.

The screaming intensified.

He narrowed his eyes at his opponent, spitting out, “Leave my family out of this.”

“They came to us!” his opponent snapped back. “They asked us to get you free so we are.”

“But if you do it this way, I will forever be on the run.”

His opponent’s expression turned sad and the weight behind the sword slackened. He turned, the staff shoving the blade aside and nearly catching his opponent’s chin. He brought his ankle around in an upwards sweep but his opponent put some distance between them. The large one with the nunchucks came at him instead.

He used the staff like a vaulting pole, throwing himself up and over the large opponent aiming at him. At the peak of his ark, he collapsed the staff back into the weighted chain and twisted. The end against the ground seemed to come alive, whipping around and smacking the large opponent in the gut, briefly neutralizing that specific opponent. As he landed, the one with the whip returned, trying to use the landing as a distraction, but he was already adjusting. His weapon came up around him, lashing out. The one with the whip skidded to a stop and was forced to back up when he sent a weighted end with claws extended at the opponent’s face. The one with sword came up behind him.

He dug an elbow into the man’s gut.

The sword nearly fell out of his opponent’s suddenly lax grip and he took the opportunity presented to him. Yanking the sword out of his opponent’s reach, he brought his leg around and shoved his knee into his opponent’s side, sending the man flying away. The one with the whip tried to jump him from behind but he just kept the motion, using it to smack the weighted end without the claw into the whip wielding opponent’s temple. The man crashed into the ground unconscious. The burly one lunched at him but he sidestepped, effectively bringing a knee up to catch the large one in the gut and then to bring an elbow down at the back of the man’s skull. The brute dropped as dead weight to the ground.

He turned his gaze onto the remaining opponent, their sword still in his hand. He arched an eyebrow at them, pointing the tip of the blade at its master. “I will free myself. And I won’t let you get in the way of that.”

Spoiler: Holy lonely night

His breath froze in the air, drifting slowly skyward only because it was warmer than the air surrounding him. He didn’t even notice. His gaze was turned to one end of the road, hands buried deep inside warm pockets. A vehicle drove passed in the other direction but he didn’t react. He merely watched the end of the road, waiting.

The vehicle that had passed him came to a stop before the bend he was staring at. The back up lights flickered on. He turned his attention from the bend to the vehicle as it reversed and came to a stop before him. The driver rolled down their window, asking, “You alright? Need a lift?”

He shook his head, offering politely, “My ride is coming. I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

The driver looked like they didn’t believe him but they took his words at face value. “Do you need anything while you wait, then? I have water in the back, some snack bars, and pocket warmers.”

He tipped his head to the side in thought before voicing, “If you’re willing to spare a water, I wouldn’t mind having one.”

“Yeah, hang on,” the driver said, shifting the vehicle into park. There was a moment as the driver rummaged through something in the back before returning with a sealed bottle of water. “You sure you don’t need that ride?”

He took the water from the stranger, shaking his head. “I will be alright. Thank you.”

The driver gave him a flat look but nodded. “Alright. Take care, stranger.”

The driver shifted the vehicle back into drive and drove off. He quickly uncapped the water and drained the bottle of its content. Tucking the empty plastic bottle into his coat, he turned his gaze on the bend once more.

The clouds thickened overhead and snow began to drift down. He let it settle upon him without a thought, his gaze for only the bend.

It was close to two hours later when the next vehicle passed. This one didn’t stop and kept going. He barely noticed.

The third vehicle was a half hour later. This one pulled up right in front of him, the driver rolling down their window. “You alive little buddy?”

He turned to look at the driver. He nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”

“Waitin’ for somethin’?” He nodded again. The driver nodded. “Alright. Well, yer only gonna get probably one more vehicle to pass ya before nightfall. If yer ride don’t show up before then, I’d suggest you take it.”

He nodded once more. “Thank you.”

The driver rolled up their window and continued on. He watched them leave beyond the bend before focusing on the bend itself. As night fell, the world around him turned dark. It was hard to see anything and when another vehicle came from behind him, his world was briefly illuminated in a way that hurt his eyes. The vehicle didn’t stop and he made no attempts to wave it down.

As it passed beyond the bend in the road, he stepped out onto the dark pavement. He stood in the middle of the street, gaze continuously on the bend in the road. It was about two hours later before something happened.

There was a noise from ahead of him and he tensed, suddenly ready for action after hours of idle waiting.

The thing that stepped out onto the bend was something only ever spoken about in stories. Ethereal yet haunting, the creature moved slowly, as if in water. Long, bony legs stretched out, hoofed feet not making any sound as the rim of each hoof seemed to sink slightly beyond the surface. The head turned towards him, eyes nothing more than blank orbs set on either side of the skull like most prey animals. The creature passed him and he stood perfectly still, waiting. The creature stopped behind him and the only way he knew was because the light the creature gave off played off the mountainside he had been standing in front of while waiting and the trees of the forest on the other side of the road. The creature came back and its head came into view, one eye pointed at him.

He carefully reached into his jacket and pulled out the bottle. The creature’s large, unblinking orb of an eye showed no signs of focusing on his actions but he could almost sense that the creature was watching him intently.

He opened the bottle.

The creature moved forward and he stilled again. The thing’s head was bigger than his hold form at least three times over and as it sniffed at the rim of the bottle, he closed his eyes. There was sound from the bend in the road but he made no move to open his eyes. The creature beside him made a noise, the sound as light as it was echoy. The creature that had come made a noise as well. but it was harsh and sent a thrill of terror through him. He dared not to breath.

The creature that had appeared second moved passed. He only knew this because the light against his eyelids had dimmed. Chancing it, he opened his eyes enough to see the ground. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes fully but didn’t move his body. Instead, he let his gaze drift to the light source behind him and the creature that had come first was standing there, watching the other creature leave. A third came around the bend but he made no move to close his eyes. The first creature reached down and plucked the bottle from his hand. The third creature made no noise but it did look at him as best as the creature could with its orb like eyes.

The first and third creature left together.

Closing his eyes again, he waited. The fourth and final creature came out from around the bend. Its light was sharper than the others but it made no sound. Though he didn’t want to move, he slowly raised a hand before him before moving it to be as far out to the side as he could physically make it.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the fourth creature pressed against his open palm. He couldn’t open his eyes even when the creature picked him up and deposited him on their back.

He settled in for a long ride.

Somewhere along the way, the ride smoothed out till it felt like he wasn’t moving. When he opened his eyes, it was to a dark, stormy sky that greeted him. Pain laced through him as he attempted to move something. He could taste metallic on his tongue as he caught a brief glimpse of a vehicle to the side and a creature with bony legs and ethereal yet haunting standing in the beam of a car’s headlight.

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 06:09 PM

February 2017
Monthly Writing Prompts
There is a 100 word minimum to complete the prompt and an alternative 1000 word minimum. I keep with the alternative word minimum.

Be advised:
Some are interlaced with fandoms.
Some can be spooky,
If you find one that needs to have any other sort of warning, please let me know. I have not reread these as I posted them as of the date on this post.

Spoiler: “Can you feel the love tonight?”

There was laughter over the track of the movie and he was part of it, even as a part of him was kind of sad to miss this section of the movie. Jasper picked up on it instantly, meaning Edward was right behind him. Amber eyes were on him as a mischief smile graced that sculpted face. Adhara rolled his eyes. “What? I happen to like this part. Even if it is cheesy.” There was a collective, teasing, “ooooh” from the majority there and Adhara gave them all a flat look. “You cannot deny me the hopeless romantic notion of finding a partner in a long term friend here.”

“I can see what’s happening,”
“What?”

“He does have a point,” Alice voiced, leaning against Jasper. “It is something many wish for.”

“And they don’t have a clue.”
“Who?”

Edward pressed closer, whispering into Adhara’s ear, “Do you want me to tell Jessica to hold off on getting a date for prom or do you prefer Angela.”

“They’ll fall in love and here’s the bottom line,”

Adhara shoved him hard enough that the vampire rolled over the arm of the couch and crashed to the floor. The room roared with laughter as Adhara good-heartedly stuck out his tongue at the one on the floor. Edward gave him a cheeky grin in return.

“Our trio’s down to two.”
“Oh.”

Adhara rubbed at his face, the movie loud enough downstairs that he knew exactly where they were at. The memories of fun times with the entire group assaulted him and he fortified his mental shields to keep Edward out. Thank the gods for small miracles.

“The sweet caress of twilight,”

He wanted to be down there with them all, if only to relive those moments. He felt Jasper’s ability wrap confidence and ease around him but he brushed it aside. But no matter how much he wanted to relive those memories, she was down there and he was having a hard enough time just sharing classes with her.

“There’s magic everywhere,”

She was the reason he was now alone in his doubts. He and Edward had bonded over their own doubts of ever finding love, of ever having a partner through life. They had settled into being two bachelors and that had been a decent compromise. It had even been great.

“And with all this romantic atmosphere,”

At least, until his cousin came to town, leaving him to be the only one doubting love was ever coming for him. After all, how could he find love with what he was?

“Disaster’s in the air.”

“I’m going to ask her to marry me.”

“So many things to tell her,”

Adhara was impressed he was able to not react to that news. He was also impressed that he hadn’t managed to collapse. It felt as if his entire body had shut down out of shock. How was he managing to stay standing, let alone appearing calm, was beyond him because he certainly didn’t feel calm about this. Though, he didn’t feel much of anything at the moment.

“But how to make her see,”

“Oh,” he offered but the flicker of emotion on Edward’s face told him it had sounded odd to him as well.

“The truth about my past, impossible.”

“I want you to be my best man.”

“She’d turn away from me.”

Adhara had to close his eyes to keep from showing just how much that hurt. When he opened them again, he offered a tight smile, and a tighter, “I can’t.”

“He’s holding back, he’s hiding,”

He hadn’t even noticed that he hadn’t thought of Forks in months till he had caught sight of a familiar head of hair in the crowd. He felt a body press closer to his side in the crowd and he leaned into his roommate even as he came to a stop.

“But what, I can’t decide.”

Amber eyes met sky blue and Adhara gave himself a moment to take in Edward through the crowd of Pearl Street Mall. It eased some part of him to see that the other appeared to be doing well without him.

“Why won’t he be the king I know he is?”

“Adhara?” his other roommate inquired. Adhara turned, ignoring Edward’s voice calling for him. He tried not to react physically to the pain that it caused. He shook his head, urging as they lost Edward in the crowd, “Ignore him.”

“The king I see inside?”

“I am not leaving until I know you are bandaged and not going to get jumped again!”

“Can you feel the love tonight?”

“And I want you out of my home! God damn it, Edward. You can’t just show up unannounced and expect to be welcomed with open arms!”

“The peace the evening brings,”

“And I’m not about to leave when neither of your roommates are here to protect you.” The insinuation left Adhara equal parts flabbergasted and enraged. He narrowed his eyes.

“The world, for once, in perfect harmony,”

“Don’t you dare insinuate things you have no business dealing with. They’re not here because I asked them to disappear for the night so that they would be out of danger.” His insinuation was of a different nature but he could see that it hit a nerve in the vamp before him. Good.

“With all its living things.”

“Seriously?”

“Can you feel the love tonight?”

The word was softly spoken, as if Edward had taken the care to pick it and say it. Adhara let the gentle smile show on his face, thumb running over the worn cover of his mother’s journal, the thing that had answered so many of his own questions that Edward was unknowingly repeating. “Seriously,” he parroted, looking at him. “Apparently, even though I had scent markers, it’s nothing like the Quileute pack’s imprinting. It’s one sided and doesn’t even create emotions. They’re just scent markers.”

“You needn’t look too far.”

Edward chuckled, the sound vibrating through him where their ribs were pressed against each other. Edward’s hand tightened comfortingly around Adhara’s. “No wonder you didn’t want to be my best man.”

“Stealing through the night’s uncertainties,”

Adhara shoved him off the balcony, grinning as he heard Edward laugh all the way down to the ground. He looked down at the vampire that had landed in a crouch, unharmed. Edward grinned up at him as he straightened and, if anyone asked when Adhara’s world had finally mended itself, he would always point to this moment and tell them that it was when he shoved Edward from the second story balcony.

“Love is where they are.”

But, in reality, it was when Edward returned to his side, settling on the edge of the balcony once more with their ribs pressing against each other and the vampire entangled their fingers once more. Cheesy, but it was something Adhara would cherish till his dying day.

Spoiler: Independent and Free!

“Independent and Free! Independent and Free! Independent and Free!”

The mantra was thunderous and sharp, seeming to shake the entire world as it was repeated in the same thunderous way all around the world.

“Independent and Free! Independent and Free!”

“They’re gonna get themselves killed.”

He scoffed at her words, eyes not wavering from the crowds below, the shouting of the crowd barely muffled by the window. “At least it’ll make our lives easier.”

“Yer an ass,” a separate female commented from behind him.

He looked over at her, arching an eyebrow but not challenging her words. The female that had spoken first clicked the rifle pieces together a bit sharper than necessary. She locked eyes on the female he was currently looking at and supplied instead, “He does have a point.”

“Thank you, Nine,” he said, dipping his chin to the sniper before turning his gaze out the window once more.

Nine clicked together another portion of her riffle. “Was not supporting you, Twenty-Six.”

He shrugged his shoulder. A gruff voice growled from the back of the room. “Shut it, you three. Twenty-Six, any sightings yet?”

“None yet, Thirteen. Thirty-Seven?”

The unnamed female in the back shifted, adjusting her headset and a few dials on the instruments before her. “Sounds coming in clear. Still waiting on the signal.”

“Are we sure about this?” Twenty-Six challenged, turning his gaze back to the crowd below. “Can we really trust One’s intel?”

“Ain’t my intel you’re challenging,” a young man-no, a boy spoke, stepping up to Thirteen’s side. The seasoned soldier saluted the small youth. “Madam gave me the information directly. She wanted you on this job specifically.”

Twenty-Six frowned. “Why not inform us directly?”

One shook his head. “None of the teams were informed directly. Only those within the First were informed.”

Nine’s hands stilled, her glare snapping to One. “Which First? Because I wasn’t told shit.”

One offered a soft smile but it was disconcerting as it didn’t reach the youth’s eyes. “The First Selection. Not the First Tier, which you and I both fall into.”

Silence fell over them and the mantra from the crowd swelled.

“Independent and Free! Independent and Free! Independent and Free!”

Twenty-Six turned his gaze to the streets, inquiring, “Madam’s sure this’ll work?”

One shrugged. “Does it matter? Do as she’s directed. That is all any of us can do.”

“One?” One turned his gaze to Thirty-Seven. “Why aren’t we encouraging the protests?”

Twenty-Six scoffed. “Could have answered that for ya, Thirty-Seven.”

Thirty-Seven glared at him. “And I know you’ll just be a jerk about it.” She turned her gaze back to One, her headset shifting as she did so. “One?”

One held her gaze long enough to nod at the window Twenty-Six was supporting with his shoulder. “Do you know what they are calling for, Thirty-Seven?”

“Independence and freedom from the World Power,” she recited easily.

One nodded. “Do you know who started that mantra?” Thirty-Seven shook her head. “Madam.”

“What, what?” Twenty-Six snapped, spinning around. Nine settled the mount of her riffle on the window ledge. “Madam is the head of all this?”

One tipped his head to the side, expression blank. “Yes. And no. She started this. She is not leading this. You know her goal. You know the ideals of the Selection and their roll within the Resistance. We stand to help bring independence and freedom to all but what those people out there are doing is not the way to go about it. Rioting and violent protests are far from what they need to be doing.”

As if to taunt them, the voice of the crowd “Independent and Free! Independent and Free!”

One dipped his head towards the window. “Follow Madam’s orders. We will bring independence and freedom from the World Power but not through these archaic methods.”

Thirty-Seven jerked upright, hand flying to the dials before her as she quickly spewed, “Target leaving shelter. Viewing ETA 1 minute.”

The entire room tensed. Twenty-Six swept his gaze over the crowd as Nine waited on his word. He found their target even in the madness below.

“Independent and Free! Independent and Free!”

“South, walking north toward the stand. Quadrant 2D.”

“Locked on,” Nine spoke, voice crisp, clear.

“Informing motion,” Thirteen spoke in a low voice before he ducked out.

“Guard information inbound,” Thirty-Seven spoke. “Unit AI. Count 3.”

“Spotted,” Twenty-Six and Nine confirmed. “Count 1 and 2 at side,” Twenty-Six informed, Nine continuing, “Count 3 on opposite roof, 2 o'clock.”

“Relaying intel,” Thirty-Seven replied. Briefly muttered words filled the lulled silence. She spoke up again. “Snipe count 3 at ready.”

“Marked and initializing,” Nine supplied, shifting slightly before compressing the trigger. There was a puff of air. “Count 3 out.”

“Count 1 and 2 aware. They are searching,” Twenty-Six urged, glaring at the units below.“

"Can they triangulate?” One asked, voice hard.

“Listening,” Thirty-Seven informed at the same time Twenty-Six responded with, “Doesn’t appear so.”

“Confirmed,” Thirty-Seven quickly relayed. “Count 1 and 2 had not seen any of it. They are breaking off count 2.”

“Confirmed,” Twenty-Six spoke. “Count 2 heading to adjacent building.”

“Received intel: take out count 1 now,” Thirty-Seven urged.

“Marked and initializing,” Nine responded, already moving. She compressed the trigger. “Count 1 out.”

“Count 2 did not see any of it. Is now rejoining target. Only target appears to know that anything is wrong,” Twenty-Six supplied, eyes on the ground. “Crowd is still blind to it all.”

“Received intel: take out count 2 now,” Thirty-Seven spoke over him.

“Marked and initializing,” Nine confirmed, once more compressing the trigger. “Count 2 out.”

“Hold on Target till mark,” Thirty-Seven relayed.

Nine shifted. “Marked and ready.”

Twenty-Six narrowed his eyes, trying to take in the target. Something was wrong. He glanced at One to find the youth’s eyes on him. Twenty-Six frowned, trying to decipher the lack of expression. There was like a click in the back of his head as Thirty-Seven’s words seemed far away. “Take out Target on mark.”

“Our target is Madam,” Twenty-Six spoke, the horror of the thought raging into terror at One’s minute nod as Thirty-Seven spoke, “Fire.”

The chanting outside held but it only lasted till the end of the slogan. It began to waver, repeating a second time. Somewhere in the middle of the third, someone screamed.

Spoiler: Sensuality

“Sensuality.”

He frowned slightly as he let the hammer come down on the nail. “In what context?”

She looked up from the book, confused. “What do you mean?”

He leaned back enough to look at her perched on top of a set piece, his class notebook and textbook resting on her knee. “Is it meant to be associate with sensuous or sensual? Are we dealing with the older definitions or the more modern ones?”

She shrugged, showing him the page she was reading from. “You’ve got me. It just says sensuality.”

He let out a sigh, turning back to his work. “Fricken vague professors.”

He hammered in a few more nails before he had to move the ladder. It wasn’t till he was on the ground that he realized she hadn’t spoken up again. He looked to her, curious. “You alright, kit?”

She looked at him, blinking as if coming out of a daze. She nodded, smiling. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.”

“Bout sensuality?”

She nodded again as he crossed to stand beneath her. “It’s hard not to, with what we are.”

He chuckled at that. “Young adults full of hormones.”

She shifted so that her legs hung over the edge, feet barely brushing the face of the structure as she gave him a look. “Not just that.”

He looked away. “We can’t, Nera,” he growled, looking around to see if anyone else was there. They were thankfully alone.

“Come on, Xander,” Nera urged, leaning forward as if threatening to jump. “Tell me you’re not curious.”

“Of course I am,” he snapped, his voice slow and roughened by a growl. “But this is not the time nor the place to be discussing it.”

She made a face almost like she had tasted something sour. He knew that she felt betrayed by his words just by her reaction but he just couldn’t. Not here, not with so much at stake. He sighed, turning to return to the flat he had been hammering facing onto. “Look, I’m more than up for talking about it later but right now, I have work to do.” He dug out a few nails from a box, glancing at her. “You gonna help me study or not?”

She sighed and returned to her original position, his books propped up around her. “Fine. But I’m not letting you off the hook,” she promised.

He smirked around a nail between his teeth. “Next word.”

He worked like that for another half hour, going through and doing all that needed to be done by hand. In the end, it all turned out rather well and the rest of the crew had arrived. Nera joined him briefly, his bag slung over her shoulder. She looked determined, if not a tad annoyed. “Later,” she reminded him sharply.

He offered her a tight smile and a pat of the shoulder. “Later. Promise.”

She gave a quick nod before ducking out as the technical director stormed the stage. He fell into work, doing what was asked of him with relative ease. It wasn’t till they were cleaning up that one of his classmates and fellow coworker asked their own question.

“Hey, Xander, you understand the study guide?”

He looked to his classmate, finding a young man smaller than him and a little on the timid side. An actor, not a technician, but there for the credit needed to pass a class. He shrugged, winding the cable they were gathering on the catwalk. “Only enough to know that the teacher was being vague.”

His classmate chuckled and shook their head. “At least I’m not the only one thinking that.”

Xander dropped his bundle on the cart, gaze still on his classmate. “Everything alright, Tucker?”

His classmate shrugged. “As alright as things can be.”

Xander placed his hand on Tucker’s shoulder, feeling the young man tense beneath his touch. Xander noted it and pushed it aside. “Hey. You do know that you don’t have to work yourself to the bone, right? Nera says yer doing at least five classes and, not only are you cast in the production, you’re working here and off campus.” Xander frowned. “Is there anything that either of us can do for you?”

Tucker shook his head but the other now looked a lot more tired than Xander had originally noticed. He also noticed faint tremors under his fingers which only bred worry in his gut. “No, and I’ve already told Nera the same thing.” Tucker gave him a tight smile. “You two are always so kind to me. Really, I’m fine. Just still getting used to it all.”

Xander slowly removed his hand from the other, not sure how to take it. But, nonetheless, he let it be. “Alright. But you come to either of us if you ever need anything. Even if it’s just help with homework.”

Tucker grinned at him but Xander could see the flaws in the mask. “Of course.”

Xander turned his back for only a moment, but there was a commotion behind him, and someone screamed.

Xander spun around, mind working fast to take in what was going on. Tucker was wavering between safety and free fall at the edge of the catwalk. One of the other students, some bully Xander cared not to know the name of, had pushed bodily passed Tucker and, while it may have been fine, it seemed that exhaustion had rid the young man of his balance. Xander didn’t even have a chance to think.

He was across the catwalk and jumping after Tucker, consequences be damned. Air rushed passed him as the sound of his own blood filled his ears. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Tucker, wings suddenly pounding the air around him to make sure he reached the smaller man before they touched ground. With a grunt, he turned them about in the air so that his wings could counter their fall. By the time his feet touched ground, he had nearly countered their freefall completely. His feet were soft as they touched pavement but his main concern was Tucker.

The young man was shaking in his grasp but the freefall had caused the other to shift, similar to how Xander had just shifted. But Tucker seemed to be in shock, staring at his hands as if he didn’t recognize them. Xander growled, though it sounded weird coming from the chest of an aviary of sorts. He turned his attention to the crowd, defensive. His wings came up as if to shield them both.

“Xander!”

Nera came bounding over on all four paws, her human form having given way to her anthropomorphic fox form. She moved from all fours to two legs smoothly, hands ghosting over Xander’s large black beak in a calming gesture. “What happen?” she asked, the fur on her tail fluffed more than normal and her ears alert and twitchy, meaning she was on edge. He gently grabbed her hand as he tucked his wings against his back.

“Someone pushed Tucker off the catwalk.” He noticed that, even with her fur, she paled considerably. He tightened his grip on her hand, urging, “He’s never shifted.”

Her eyes snapped to the young man Xander was still holding against his chest. Tucker was lankier than normal, though Xander would use the term lithe in later conversations. It suited him, seeing as he had turned into a sort of anthropomorphic deer. Not quite like Nera, able to use all four limbs to run, but he had the antlers, the ears, a slightly elongated face, and longer limbs. His coloring had changed a bit too, leaving his hands the same color as hooves, and his skin and hair to be more of the coloring of a specific type of deer. Xander had no clue what type it was but he knew for certain it wasn’t the white-tail that was native to the region. Xander tightened his hold on Tucker, gaining Nera’s gaze. He wasn’t looking at her though. The students around them looked as if they were still in shock. “Nera,” he urged, his voice low.

“Xander! Nera!” the technical director barked, causing both to flinch. Xander’s feathers rose from his body, giving him a rather jagged look. Nera was in no better shape, all her fur standing on end in fright. They both were not sure how to handle the situation when their professor and technical director stopped before them, ordering, “Do not move from this spot till I get back. Am I clear?”

They both nodded out of not knowing what else to do.

The technical director turned to the rest of the student body. “Carmic, go around and make sure the doors are locked. Everyone else to the house. Find a seat and get comfortable. We’re going to be a while.”

The technical director moved off to do something, leaving the three students in their creature forms floundering for something to do. Xander wanted to shift back to human just so that the other students would stop staring but, if he did that, his plumage would go away, revealing more of Tucker than was already exposed. The thought only made him curl around the deer in his arm even more. Nera seemed to be reading his thoughts like she always seemed to do because she re-positioned herself so that she was more obvious to look at than Tucker.

The technical director returned with another professor and Xander instinctively bristled again. They did not need more people knowing about them.

“Xander, how is Tucker,” the new professor asked, coming to stand just out of reach of Nera.

Xander looked down to find Tucker’s gaze on him. The young man seemed calmer and a lot more alert. “Better, professor,” Xander responded, returning his gaze to the professor. “But I don’t understand why you are here, let alone why Nera and I haven’t simply booked it by now.”

The technical director gave a chuckle that carried from the stage. “Because you’re not alone in this.”

Xander frowned at him but Nera seemed to lighten up with a bit of hope. The technical director looked to the other students, seeming to pick specific ones, ordering, “If you know how, shift. It’s about time we started making a community for those of you that can.”

A good number of the student body shifted into all manner of creature, ranging from that actual creature to an anthropomorphic version of it to even some just having a few minor characteristics. Xander visibly relaxed as the technical director shifted. He turned his gaze to the professor, finding that the man hadn’t shifted. “Professor?”

The professor gave a soft smile. “I am not one of you, but my husband is.”

The technical director sat on the edge of the stage. “That is not well known information in the school and none of you are permitted to spread it,” he growled.

The majority of the student body flinched at the empty threat but one brave soul raised their hand, squeaking out, “About you two being married?”

The technical director nodded, though Xander couldn’t help but think that was a rather tame reaction.

The professor shifted his weight, gaining the majority’s attention again. “We would like to start a network of support for those that are….more than human.” There was a collective tensing but the professor continued on as carefully as he could manage, turning his attention to the masses. “There are many things a lot of you are unprepared for, especially if you have recently discovered this trait about yourself. Your senses will be affected in many ways and myself and your TD are working to set up a system to help you.”

“Those of you that are human in this room, fully and completely,” the technical director spoke, the silence becoming even more so as he paused, “you are being asked to either become part of this community and help your friends and classmates in their time of need, or to keep your trap shut and never speak of this again. Your choice.”

The professor gained a fond smile. “Charming as always.”

The technical director shrugged, obviously hearing the soft comment. “Not my fault I have such the reputation.”

“You’re still scary, teach,” Xander commented, feeling brave even when his technical director turned panther eyes on him. And everyone thought their technical director was scarier before. “And that isn’t something we did.”

The technical director pretended to be affronted but the glint in that panther gaze clearly spoke of amusement that was probably sadistic on some level. “I’m not that scary!”

“Hun, you’re currently a panther,” the professor commented, the banter cutting through the tension in the room like a lightning bolt. The students relaxed, a low chatter settling over the room.

The technical director pointed his finger at the closest students, male and female. “If I hear any of you make a kitty comment, I will make you strike the set by yourself at the end of the run.”

Laughter filled the space as those that had been picked out cowered appropriately. That was a threat no one wanted to have happen.

**ArtisticVicu** · 10-02-2020, 06:15 PM

Othertale
Undertale AU
Sans Centered

Summary:
Everything is wrong. Or, at least, he vaguely remembers thinking everything is wrong. Or maybe that was just a dream. Living in a temporal loop has certainly erased any memories of what had happened before he had gotten trapped in the temporal loop.

It was even more true when he finally wakes up from it, too.

Left with nothing but the memories of living the same stretch of days over and over again in a nightmare of a time loop, Sans the Skeleton wakes to an Underground he does not recognize. There had only been one human in the time loop and even fewer monsters. He hadn't worked at a lab - heck, the lab hadn't even existed in the time loop, let alone 90% of the Underground - and what little sciencing he had done had been laughable. But he could adjust. It would be fine. He still has Papyrus. He also has a human lab partner who seems a bit too intertwined in his life to not be someone more significant than a lab partner of two years. He wasn't sure what to do with that but there was hope things would be answered when his memory returned.

If it returned. Turns out he had delved into things he probably shouldn't have and he can't even remember what had been so important to risk it.

Please be advised that this story does have:
Major Character Death
Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Spoiler: Chapter 1

It felt like a miracle he was even waking up with how bad his head was pounding. He was pretty certain he was either stupid lucky he hadn’t cracked his skull on the floor or that someone had found him rather quickly after he had collapsed. He grumbled lowly to himself, shifting against the mattress. He had known he was going to pass out. Why did he have to fight it?

He frowned. Weird. Why did it feel like he was on a mattress with no sheet?

He pushed himself off the mattress enough to look even as every bone in his body complained at the action. Sure enough, he came face to face with the bare mattress he had been face down on.

Something was wrong. He looked to the side, finding himself in his room, buddle of sheets and blankets at the foot of his bed looking like a boulder as usual. Except, this wasn’t his room nor – to his bewilderment – the room he expected to wake up in. But it was his room and there was no reason why he should be waking up anywhere else. The whole duality (or, in this case, triality) was really not helping the pounding in his head as it sent a wave of vertigo through him.

He settled on the edge of the mattress as he attempted to will his headache away. The sound of footfall outside his room then the sudden pounding at his door did nothing to aid his attempt.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

Sans the Skeleton flinched, but smiled warmly at his brother’s voice even as a sense of wrong went through him. “Five more minutes, Pap,” he called out in return, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness he wasn’t feeling.

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!” his brother countered. Sans chuckled. “TIME TO GET UP!”

“That was so kind of you, Pap,” he replied, getting up. He regretted it instantly. His entire being throbbed painfully but he pushed it all aside as he grabbed whatever was closest and dressed. “You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

Heavy footfall fading away was enough for him to clue where his brother was heading. He attempted to deny the sense of wrong that had come with the thought of his brother’s destination.

He attempted to deny that the feeling had been associated with the jacket he had grabbed, blue with a fake fur lined hood that seemed to be too bright in color, as if it wasn’t even real.

He tugged on a different shirt and cleaner shorts, though cleanliness was more relative in this case. When had he become such a slob?

The scent coming from the kitchen was foreign and familiar as he stepped out of his room, closing his door securely behind him. The fresh wave of vertigo was accompanied by nausea and it took all he had to manage his way down the stairs.

Every part of him was screaming WRONG and yet there was nothing wrong. Everything was as it should be. There was nothing out of place, nothing incorrect. But, no matter how hard he tried, he came to a stop at the kitchen door, gripping the doorframe for support as he tried to keep from shaking.

Before him was his brother, back turned to him as the taller skeleton tended to something on the stove, battle body on like always. Sans found it equal parts easy and difficult to recall why the taller was wearing the strange attire that wasn’t strange at all.

His headache pulsed painfully behind his left eye and he pressed the heel of a hand to the socket, willing the headache away.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

“Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have,” Sans urged playfully, though there was no honesty to the emotion. It was like he was sprouting memorized lines and, as he settled into a chair, he found that this whole situation felt like an act in a play. It was a very strange analogy, one he wasn’t sure he knew the origin of.

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed and Sans was grateful the other was too busy focusing on cooking to have seen the flinch at the volume. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

The smile came easily as he rested his chin on his palm. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

To say that he was startled when a plate of spaghetti was placed before him was an understatement. He had been expecting something else, something completely different to be placed before him but, when he tried to remember what he had been expecting, it slipped through his fingers like smoke.

The scent of a specific cigarette assaulted him long enough for him to register it but not to pinpoint the memory it dredged up.

He hid his shudder by grinning at his brother, commenting, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something in that loud voice of his but it was nothing more than background noise. What was wrong with him? Why was he suddenly experiencing all this? Papyrus always made spaghetti. Heck, he was pretty sure his bro didn’t know how to make anything else. But there had been that scent as well, whatever that scent had been. It had been brief, it had been so potent, like he should know what it had come from and should have remembered what it was but, just like the sudden expectation of a different kind of food for breakfast, he couldn’t figure out what it had been.

He hadn’t realized he had been eating till he took another bite and the bitterness and the wrong washed over his senses. He swallowed the bite he had been consuming, shuddering at the taste and willing his body to retain it. He put his fork down and keyed in to the one sided conversation.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he interjected, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Sans noticed that Papyrus hadn’t really touched his own place. Sans let that ease his smile bigger. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

Stepping out of the house was probably worse than him stepping out of his room. Vertigo washed over him and the breakfast spaghetti nearly made an encore as he stumbled in the snow. He couldn’t breathe as his gaze snapped around, horror sinking in.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. It was all wrong! There was-this was all-No!! This was wrong! This was-

“BROTHER?!” Sans jerked, finding his brother’s hands securely on his arms. Sans felt like screaming. “BROTHER, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

“Yeah, bro,” he spoke, his words coming easily and the lie even easier. “Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus released him and Sans almost reach out towards him, fearing he would fall face first into the snow. Thankfully, he didn’t. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

“Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind but it was weird. The sense of wrong hadn’t left and it was just getting stronger the longer they passed through town. There should be more homes, more people, different people, but Sans knew this had always been who had been here, that the buildings were as they had always been. The library with its misspelled sign, the path that led to the few houses north and the dog that chucked ice to keep the core cool, Grillby’s on the other side of the path. It was all as it should be but it was all wrong.

He looked up and wished he hadn’t.

Sans shoved the sudden claustrophobia away as his magic reacted, yanking at the world around him and depositing him behind Papyrus. He nearly stumbled face first into the snow as he suddenly appeared on his brother’s heel. This time actual panic rushed through him. Teleportation was a thing he did naturally but what he had just done was not what he normally did.

His head pulsed painfully.

He felt like screaming in frustration as his head pounded and just teleport back to his room and stay there. This was not right, not fair!! Why was he feeling like he was suddenly not right in his own bones? This…this was….it just….

He came to a stop at the bridge as a sense of apathy settled over him. It was foreign but welcomed as he focused on his brother already halfway across the long bridge. He took a second, grounding himself in the sudden apathy.

All the wrong fell away.

When he opened his sockets, Papyrus was nearly cross the bridge. With no effort, he brushed the world around him with his magic and, as he took a step, he went from one end of the bridge to the other in the blink of an eye. Papyrus glanced back as his boots touched solid ground but Sans only gave him a lazy grin and continued to follow.

The canine royal guards greeted them as they passed. Sans went with the motions, speaking words he didn’t even have to think about. When they reached the last puzzle – or the first, depending on the direction one traveled in – Sans looked to his brother, offering, “I’ll trek ahead and check on my post.”

“DON’T DILLY DALLY, SANS!! WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO!!!”

Sans chuckled and pulled at the world around him when Papyrus wasn’t looking. As used magic drifted away and dissipated, the apathy did as well. With his brother out of sight and being so far from another living soul, Sans found it hard to even keep the apathy in place.

He was reacquainted with the breakfast spaghetti but, thankfully, it was through expelled magic rather than half digested food. He shuddered, his bones rattling at the force. He didn’t even want to know where that knowledge came from and hoped he forgot about it as he had everything else that morning.

He frowned.

No, he could remember that morning, but it was hard. He remembered that something at breakfast had startled him but he couldn’t remember what. He remembered that waking up that morning had been weird but he couldn’t…..couldn’t………

He came to abruptly, finding himself slumped forward in a chair, head resting on the counter of the sentry station in a clearing with an interestingly shaped lamp. He rubbed his face as he sat up, frowning. Odd…he couldn’t remember making it to the sentry station let alone falling asleep at it. He looked around. Nope, nothing strange beyond the lamp. Pulling at the world, he stood at the edge of the clearing, barely making out an interesting structure farther down the path in the fog. It took nothing to take a shortcut closer and he found himself coming up on a ravine that had an old bridge crossing it, a massive wooden structure that looked more like rectangular arches than a gate. He chuckled, passing through the gate. Leave it to his brother to create the most interesting of things. He sporadically used shortcuts, only moving as far as he could see.

It was probably the wisest thing he had ever done because he would have ended up teleporting into a door and he much preferred not being a permanent addition to the underground’s historic structure. He pressed a hand to the stone door, a smile tugging at his face. Exhaustion pulled at his bones again and Sans went easily with it this time, teleporting to a high branch in a nearby tree.

He settled in to nap only for a low rumble of stone grating against stone to fill the quiet forest.

He sat up, his gaze automatically locking onto the door set into the wall. He watched as a tiny human stepped out. Oh, he knew the figure wasn’t a monster. It was very obvious the tiny person was not a monster.

He slipped from his branch and the world bent and stretched around him as he teleported so that he landed on the tough-looking branch the kid – it had to be a kid – had walked around. Spend magic dissipated quickly and the surprise the sound seemed to cause in the human was amusing. He fell back a ways before shifting the world around him and returning to a few paces behind the kid. The kid stopped at the bridge and Sans slowly strolled up behind them.

He came to a stop just outside of arm’s reach, anticipation racing through him like adrenaline. An amused smirk pulled at his smile. “Human,” he states plainly, slowly. “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.”

The words came easily and tasted familiar but that was nothing new. The kid turned around slowly. He reached out, offering his hand to this human that had been labeled a danger by Asgore long before the human had ever fallen.

The kid took his hand.

The whoopee cushion deflated between their palms and Sans’s smile broke into a grin. “Heheh. The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It’s ALWAYS funny.” The kid gave a confused giggle as Sans tucked his hand back into his pocket. “Anyways, you’re a human, right? That’s hilarious. I’m Sans. Sans the Skeleton. I’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. But…y’know…” Sans shrugged, “I don’t really care about capturing anybody. Now my brother, Papyrus, he’s a human-hunting FANATIC.” Motion over the kid's head drew Sans's attention briefly and his face lit up. He’d know that silhouette anywhere, even from this distance through the light fog. “Hey, actually, I think that’s him over there.” He focused back on the kid, catching the tail end of their rotation to see what he was looking at. “I have an idea.” The kid looked back at him. “Go through this gate thingy.” The kid glanced at the gate, worry marring their expression. Sans nodded. “Yeah, go right through. My bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.”

It was a breath, a moment that allowed Sans to watch as the kid’s worry turned into determination, before the kid turned right around and walked through the massive structure’s posts. Sans kept pace with them, following them through to the other side and then some. Surprisingly enough, the oddly-shaped lamp that had always been next to his station was suddenly conveniently-shaped and very useful, especially with his brother heading their way. “Quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp.”

The kid gave him a hesitant smile before they hurried to hide behind the lamp. Just in time, too. Papyrus came striding in like he always did, with a purpose and an air of confidence. It made Sans’s smile turn endearing. “Sup, bro?”

“YOU KNOW WHAT “SUP,” BROTHER!” Papyrus snapped, his voice still at its loudest volume. “IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!?”

“Staring at this lamp,” Sans easily supplied, gesturing lazily at the lamp the kid had hid behind. “It’s really cool. Do you wanna look?”

“NO!! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!” Papyrus shouted, stomping his foot. “WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!?! I WANT TO BE READY!!! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!” Papyrus shifted his stance, a hand on his hip, a hand on his chest, and somehow his cape billowing dramatically behind him. Sans snorted on a laugh. His brother was the best. “THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT…RECOGNITION…I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, “FRIEND?” I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.”

“Hmm,” Sans offered, “maybe this lamp will help you.”

“SANS!! YOU ARE NOT HELPING!!” Papyrus stomped his foot. “YOU LAZYBONES!! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!!!”

Sans shrugged, a mischievous half grin on his face. “Hey, take it easy. I’ve gotten a ton of work done today.” He winked. “A skele-ton.”

Papyrus bristled. “SANS!!!”

“Come on. You’re smiling.”

“I AM AND I HATE IT!” Papyrus admitted. He sighed. “WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION…”

Sans could not help himself. He felt his grin grow as he commented, “Wow, sounds like you’re really working yourself…down to the bone.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “UGH!!! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES. AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, BACKBONE INTO IT!!!! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!”

Sans chuckled right along with his brother, so proud. Papyrus made his exit with that laugh and Sans’s chuckles died with the taller skeleton’s exit. He waited, watching Papyrus turn around briefly and give a final, “Heh!” before fully leaving. Once he was sure his brother was fully gone, he shifted his weight and his head to look at the lamp. “Ok, you can come out now.”

The kid wandered out from behind the lamp, cautious but clearly happy. The kid walked right up to him without a worry and Sans chuckled. “You oughta get going. He might come back. And if he does,” Sans winked, “you’ll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes.” The kid smiled at that, but said kid didn’t look like they were planning on leaving any time soon. Sans’s smile fell a bit. “What’s the holdup?” The kid returned their attention to him, inadvertently showing their worry to him. He kicked his smile back up, offering honestly, “Look, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” He winked, trying to get the kid to lighten up as an idea started to form in the back of his mind. “It’s just a dark cavern filled with skeletons and horrible monsters.” The kid’s face twisted up in conflict and Sans couldn’t help but arch an eye ridge at them. “Well?”

The kid looked up at him and nodded, determination on their face. With a wave goodbye, the kid was off, and Sans gave a huff of a laugh. The kid was definitely something else. Which could mean…

“Actually, hey,” he called out. The kid stopped, turning to look at him with a curious expression. “Hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor? I was thinking, my brother’s been kind of down lately. He’s never seen a human before, and seeing you might just make his day. Don’t worry, he’s not dangerous,” Sans quickly informed the human, already seeing the worry reach into the human’s expression again, “even if he tries to be.”

There’s a pause before the human nodded in agreement. Sans felt a part of his soul ease at that. “Thanks a million. I’ll be up ahead.”

Sans waved goodbye and headed back to the bridge only to pull at the world and step up behind Papyrus.

“Hey, bro,” Sans called out, gaining his brother’s attention.

“SANS!” Papyrus commented, partially annoyed. “WHY ARE YOU NOT AT YOUR POST?”

Sans shrugged, smiling. “Aw, come on, bro. Our conversation conveniently reminded me you never finished your tale from earlier. The one about Undyne.”

“HONESTLY?” Sans nodded. Papyrus’s face lit up. “SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE–”

Movement from the path leading to the sentry station drew Papyrus’s attention, cutting his renewed story off. Sans watched Papyrus, already knowing who was approaching. The kid’s footfall was pretty unique. Sans looked to the kid when Papyrus looked back at him and looked to Papyrus when his brother returned his gaze to the human. They did this probably eight or nine times till they were spinning around, coming to a stop facing the human. Sans was trying very hard not to fall over as the world kept spinning. The fact that he was trying not to laugh wasn’t helping. Papyrus quickly spun Sans around the other way, rushing in what was as close to a stage whisper as Papyrus got, “SANS!! OH MY GOD!! IS THAT…A HUMAN!?!?!??!?!”

They turned back around and Sans, out of habit, couldn’t help but mess with his brother. “Uhhhh...Actually, I think that’s a rock.”

Papyrus deflated. “OH.”

Sans was quick to bring the wind back into Papyrus’s sails, though, asking, “Hey, what’s that in front of the rock?”

Papyrus lit up again, and Sans was very happy to see Papyrus so excited. “OH MY GOD!!!” Papyrus turned to Sans again and questioned in his not-so stage whisper, “IS…IS THAT A HUMAN?”

“Yes,” Sans supplied in a stage whisper.

“OH MY GOD!!! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT!! UNDYNE WILL-I’M GONNA-I’LL BE SO…POPULAR!!! POPULAR!!! POPULAR!!!” Papyrus paused before clearing his throat. Sans chuckled. Papyrus ignored him. “HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU!!! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN…THEN!!!” Papyrus hesitated. “I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT.” Sans snorted as Papyrus didn’t let that little detail stop him. “IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE. ONLY IF YOU DARE!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!”

Laughing, Papyrus hurried on ahead. Sans stayed put and watched his brother race off before turning to the human. “Well, that went well. Don’t sweat it, kid.” He winked. “I’ll keep an eye socket out for ya.”

With his last tidbit to the human, Sans turned and followed after his brother till he was out of sight of the human. A surge of magic and Sans was a good distance behind the human, out of sight but close enough to watch. He followed the human, watching as a Snowdrake came and started a fight. Sans found his smile slipping when the battle was started, watching as the controls and HP bar popped up for the human. Again, the sense of wrong washed through him but he ignored it for the most part. During the whole fight, the human never pressed FIGHT. Instead, they made bad ice puns and laughed at the Snowdrake’s jokes. Whatever worry Sans had about the human being dangerous was laid to rest. With a smile returning to his face, Sans warped the world around him.

Time seemed to vanish. Sans tailed the kid like he had promised, though he didn’t try overly hard to constantly keep the kid in his line of sight; seemed a bit much and way too much effort. He did keep with his brother for the most part till the kid left Snowdin. After that, it turned out the kid didn’t need him and Sans backed off, manning his stations or hanging with Papyrus. There were only two times that he met up with the kid purposely. One was when he gave the kid his warning at the too fancy of a restaurant.

The second time was when he Judged the kid.

Thankfully, thankfully, he didn’t have to act. The kid was dust free, EXP untouched, and he let the kid be. He teleported away, finding himself shaking, bones rattling. He wrapped his arms around his torso, not understanding the sudden reaction to whatever was going on. He hadn’t reacted like this to anything else.

He jumped when his phone rang and he fumbled at it. He let out a sigh, catching the familiar sight of his brother’s name. Pressing answer, he held the device to the side of his skull and dutifully answered. “Sup, bro.”

“SANS!!! GET TO THE CASTLE AS QUICK AS YOU CAN!! WE HAVE TO AID THE HUMAN!!!”

Sans smiled already hearing his brother’s footfall as the lanky skeleton ran towards him. “Huh. You don’t say. Guess it’s a good thing I’m already at the castle.”

Sans watched as Papyrus skidded to a stop not far from where Sans was out of direct view. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT THE CASTLE?!” Papyrus asked, staring incredulously at the device in his hand.

Sans stepped out of his spot as he pocketed his phone, shrugging, “Thought I’d catch the sights. It’s a beautiful day today.”

Papyrus stormed right up to him and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him along. “YOU CAN TELL ME ABOUT IT ON THE WAY. WE DO NOT WANT TO BE LATE AIDING THE HUMAN!!”

Sans couldn’t help the grin on his face as his brother released him in order to storm the room ahead. Sans followed, catching his brother’s words only due to his brother’s natural volume of loud.

“HEY! NOBODY FIGHT ANYONE! IF ANYONE FIGHTS ANYONE….THEN I’LL!!! BE FORCED!!! TO ASK UNDYNE FOR HELP!!!”

Sans chuckled, shaking his head. That was his brother for ya. Other things were said but he missed them as he slid into the room and greeted familiar and not so familiar faces. “Hey guys. What’s up?”

The one face he couldn’t put his finger on spoke up, though it wasn’t overly loud and almost sounded like she had said, “That voice!” The goat monster approached, happily greeting, “Hello, I think we may know each other?”

That alone made the first statement make a whole lot more sense as Sans grinned at her. “Oh hey…I recognize your voice, too.”

“I am Toriel,” she offered. “So nice to meet you.”

He couldn’t help but wink at her. “The name’s Sans, and, uh, same.”

“Oh! Wait, then…” she turned her attention to Papyrus and Sans’s expression became fond. “This must be your brother, Papyrus! Greetings, Papyrus! It is so nice to finally meet you. Your brother has told me so much about you.”

“WOWIE…I CAN’T BELIEVE ASGORE’S CLONE KNOWS WHO I AM!!! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!”

Sans chuckled. Only the Great Papyrus. Toriel spoke up again. “Hey, Papyrus…what does a skeleton tile his roof with?”

Sans had to swallow a laugh as Papyrus’s sockets narrowed. “HMMM…” the lankier skeleton voiced as he thought. “SNOW-PROOF ROOF TILES???”

“No, silly!” Toriel quickly replied. “A skeleton tiles his room with…shin-gles!!!”

Sans shared a grin with Toriel as Papyrus nearly lost his shit. “I CHANGED MY MIND!!! THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!”

From there it just went from funny to hilariously awkward as Mettaton appeared out of nowhere somewhere in all the chatter and encouraged Alphys and Undyne to kiss. Toriel’s reaction was probably his favorite, rushing to be between them and stop it, all in the name of not doing it in front of the kid.

Toriel, ever the warmhearted, turned her attention back onto the human child. “My child, it seems as if you must stay here for a while.” Sans forced the smile on his face to remain. Oh yeah. They had needed the human’s soul to pass through the barrier. “But looking at all the great friends you have made, I think….I think you will be happy here.”

The kid beamed at her, at all of them, but Sans couldn’t help the disappointment that wafted through him. He tensed, gaze quickly flicking towards the side. He thought he had seen a mass in the shadows but it seemed he was seeing things as Alphys spoke up. “H-hey, that reminds me. Papyrus…you called everyone here, right? Well, besides, uh, her. Uh, anyway…if I got here before you, how did you know how to call everybody?”

Sans honestly hadn’t thought about that and glanced at his brother. “LET’S JUST SAY…A TINY FLOWER HELPED ME.”

It was like his magic turned to ice around his bones but the sudden apprehension seemed unwarranted. Alphys’s reaction, though, only made the apprehension grow.

“A tiny…flower?” she asked, her voice quaking.

San felt every fiber of his being stand on end at that but he was unable to move as a large vine came through and smacked them all before smaller ones wrapped around each of them and tussled them up, feet off the ground. Pain rippled through him but it wasn’t enough to truly distract him from the conversation. A yellow flower popped up between them and the kid, said flower actually speaking. The kid was suddenly trapped and assaulted by bullets from the flower. Sans watched as the kid’s health fell down to one measly point before there was suddenly interference. And that interference came from Toriel herself.

“Do not be afraid, my child,” she spoke, her voice calm as the pain that had been running through them all stopped with the flower’s confusion. “No matter what happens, we will always be there to protect you!”

His brother and Undyne were next to step up to the plate. “THAT’S RIGHT, HUMAN! YOU CAN WIN!! JUST DO WHAT I WOULD DO: BELIEVE IN YOU!!!”

“Hey! Human!” Undyne called out with a toothy grin. “If you got past ME, you can do ANYTHING! So don’t worry! We’re with you all the way!”

“Huh? You haven’t beaten this guy yet?” Sans asked easily, the words flowing without him even needing to think about it. “Come on, this weirdo’s got nothin’ on you.”

Others stepped up magically and Alphys spoke up, “Technically, it’s impossible for you to beat him…b-but…somehow, I know you can do it!!”

Sans wasn’t quite sure how supportive that was.

“Human,” Asgore added, “for the future of humans and monsters…! You have to stay determined…!”

Suddenly the room was filling with all sorts of monsters, all of them encouraging the kid, and, for the briefest of moments, Sans believed that they actually had a chance of getting out of this. But then the flower called them all stupid, claiming their souls as pain rushed through Sans and the world turned white.

Somewhere, somehow, the barrier was destroyed.

Spoiler: Chapter 2

He blinked, finding himself face down on a sheetless mattress. Panic flooded him as he bolted upright. What?! No! They had made it out. They had to have made it out! The kid had destroyed the barrier; they had all seen the light at the end of the cave.

Right?

He warped the world around him, pulling at it in desperation even as he couldn’t sort out the memories in his head. It had to have been real. He just accidentally teleported back home. Right?!

He hit the ground on his side, a tangled mess as he shifted an arm to push himself up enough to look at where the exit was.

The barrier was still there.

A sob shook him as his hand met resistance against the barrier. He covered his mouth, eye lights gone tears gathered in his sockets. He crumpled to the floor as he tried to muffle the emotions rolling through him.

This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t fair! He could not dream a dream like that only to wake up!

Magic exploded from him and the sudden unleash of magic combined with him drowning in emotions startled him enough that no damage was caused to the surrounding architecture. He shuddered, huddling against the barrier as he stared towards the only entrance into the space.

But nobody came.

He pulled at the world around him and returned to his bedroom. There was a dull thud as he missed the mattress and landed on the floor instead. He rubbed his sore shoulder as he moved to the mattress. Teleporting while emotionally compromised was not the wisest thing to do. It left him drained and more exhausted than he already was.

A dream.

He flopped forward onto the mattress, knees still on the floor by his bed. That it had been so real, so absolute; for him to wake up from it hurt the most. That kind of hope was dangerous. And to lose it…

He rubbed his face into the mattress, grateful as parts of the dream faded from his mind.

The sudden pounding at his door made him jump.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

Sans stared at the door in shock. “Five more minutes, Pap,” he called out in return, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness he wasn’t feeling.

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!” his brother countered. The chuckle that left him was almost involuntary. “TIME TO GET UP!”

“That was so kind of you, Pap,” he replied, getting up. The smile in his words didn’t show on his face. He grabbed whatever was closest and dressed. “You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

Heavy footfall fading away was enough for him to clue where his brother was heading. He stilled as he frowned down at the blue jacket in his hand. He couldn’t help but feel as if something was missing at the same time he was experiencing a very odd sense of déjà vu. Deciding to worry about it later, he tugged on a different shirt and cleaner shorts, though cleanliness was more relative in this case. When had he become such a slob?

The scent coming from the kitchen wafted to him as he stepped out of his room, closing his door securely behind him. As he made his way to the kitchen, the déjà vu didn’t leave, nor the feeling that something was really missing.

He stopped on the threshold of the kitchen, taking in his brother’s back as the taller skeleton tended to something on the stove. He frowned. Was that the only thing his brother wore now?

His frown deepened. Surely it wasn’t.

But even as he tried to rack his brain for something else his brother wore, nothing came to mind

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

“Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have,” Sans urged playfully, though there was no honesty to the emotion. It was like he was sprouting lines and that thought alone stopped him in his tracks. Hadn’t he used that analogy recently, regardless of its oddity?

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed and Sans was grateful the other was too busy focusing on cooking to notice Sans’s sudden mental distraction. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

The smile came easily as he rested his chin on his palm. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans poked at it with his fork. He frowned, almost expecting a scent to touch him but none came. He grinned at his brother, commenting, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something in that loud voice of his but it was nothing more than background noise in his head. Something was missing. Even with it being early in the day he could tell something was off but, no matter how hard he thought about it, nothing came to mind. Just the really weird dream he had last night. He vehemently ignored the dream’s ending. No need to dredge that back up.

He hadn’t realized he had been eating till he took another bite and the bitterness washed over his senses. He swallowed the bite he had been consuming, shuddering at the taste. He put his fork down and keyed in to the one sided conversation.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he interjected, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Sans noticed that Papyrus hadn’t really touched his own place. Sans let that ease his smile bigger. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

Stepping out of the house only made him feel hollow and the flicker of a faint memory of vertigo made him tense automatically. It was faint but there was a phantom sense of wrong that settled in his soul as he turned to follow his brother. The sensation of his brother’s hands securely on his harms made him shudder.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

Sans blinked, looking up at Papyrus. He hadn’t realized he had come to a stop in the snow. “Yeah, bro,” he spoke, his words coming easily and the lie even easier. “Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him with a soft smile belaying his amusement and fondness. He glanced about, once more getting the phantom sensation of wrong but this one was much fainter than the last time and he easily pushed it away. There was nothing wrong. His dream just messed with him was all.

Sans pulled at the world around him, stepping up to his brother’s heel. He stumbled slightly, frowning. Odd. Why had that felt unnatural, like he was doing it wrong? He looked at his hand out of nothing better to frown at. He turned his hand over, racking his brain for anything that could shed a light on this sudden revelation but, as he went searching for information, horror started to settle into his bones. There were massive gaps in not only what he should know about the world around him, but in his memories as well. He had vague impressions of some things but, when he tried to think what he had done in the last few days, all that came back was his dream.

He came to a stop at the bridge as a sense of apathy settled over him, accompanied by déjà vu. It was foreign but welcomed as it stilled the oncoming panic attack. Even if breathing wasn’t a thing they needed to do to live, he took a deep, calming breath, grounding himself in the present so as not to tempt another panic attack. He focused back on his brother, spotting the lanky skeleton nearly cross the bridge. With no effort, he brushed the world around him with his magic and, as he took a step, he went from one end of the bridge to the other in the blink of an eye. Papyrus glanced back as his boots touched solid ground but the spent magic had already dissipated and Sans gave him a lazy grin as he continued to follow along. The apathy slowly seeped from him but the panic didn’t return, much to Sans’s relief.

The canine royal guards greeted them as they passed. Sans greeted them with words that came easily. When they reached the last puzzle – or the first, depending on the direction one traveled in – Sans looked to his brother, offering, “I’ll trek ahead and check on my post.”

“DON’T DILLY DALLY, SANS!! WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO!!!”

Sans chuckled and pulled at the world around him when Papyrus wasn’t looking. As used magic drifted away and dissipated, he let out a sigh and started to trudge down the path. He paused at his station as the strange sense of waking suddenly without knowing how he had gotten there. With a shrug, he continued on passed the oddly shaped lamp. He pulled at the world in increments but found that the walk was rather pleasant.

An interesting structure was barely peaking out of the fog further down the path. Sans’s peaked curiosity was enough to take a shortcut closer and he found himself standing beside a ravine that had an old bridge crossing it, a massive wooden structure that looked more like rectangular arches than a gate. He chuckled fondly as he passed underneath. Leave it to his brother to create the most interesting things. How could he have forgotten such a masterpiece done by his brother?

He found himself face to face with a stone door and exhaustion pulled at his bones as he pressed a hand to the structure. Looking about curiously, he picked a high branch and teleported to it, settling down with his back against the trunk and eye sockets sliding shut.

A low rumble of stone grating against stone filled the quiet forest. His gaze automatically drifted to the door set into the wall as his brain worked to wake up from his nap. He watched as a tiny human stepped out. Oh, he knew the figure wasn’t a monster. It was very obvious the tiny person was not a monster. But something about the human nagged at him, like he should know who they were.

He slipped from his branch. The world pulled around him, bending and stretching as he teleported so that he landed on the tough-looking branch the kid – it had to be a kid – had walked around as spend magic dissipated quickly; the surprise it seemed to cause in the human was amusing. He fell back a ways before shifting the world around him and returning to a few paces behind the kid. The kid stopped at the bridge and Sans slowly strolled up behind them.

He came to a stop just outside of arm’s reach, anticipation racing through him like adrenaline. An amused smirk pulled at his smile. “Human,” he states plainly, slowly. “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.”

The words came easily and tasted familiar. The kid turned around slowly and he shuddered as déjà vu raced through his bones. He reached out, offering his hand to this human that had been labeled a danger by Asgore long before the human had ever fallen.

The kid took his hand.

The whoopee cushion deflated between their palms and Sans’s smile broke into a grin. “Heheh. The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It’s ALWAYS funny.” The kid gave a confused giggle as Sans tucked his hand back into his pocket. “Anyways, you’re a human, right? That’s hilarious.” He ignored the déjà vu as the words just tumbled from his mouth. “I’m Sans. Sans the Skeleton. I’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. But…y’know…” Sans shrugged, “I don’t really care about capturing anybody. Now my brother, Papyrus, he’s a human-hunting FANATIC.” Motion over the kid's head drew Sans's attention briefly and his face lit up. He’d know that silhouette anywhere. “Hey, actually, I think that’s him over there.” He focused back on the kid, catching the tail end of their rotation to see what he was looking at. “I have an idea.” The kid looked back at him. “Go through this gate thingy.” The kid glanced at the gate, worry marring their expression. Sans nodded. “Yeah, go right through. My bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.”

It was a breath, a moment that allowed Sans to watch as the kid’s worry turned into determination, before the kid turned right around and walked through the massive structure’s posts. Sans kept pace with them, following them through to the other side and then some. Surprisingly enough, the oddly-shaped lamp that was always next to his station was suddenly conveniently-shaped and very useful, especially with his brother heading their way. “Quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp.”

The kid gave him a smile, trusting his word, and hurried to hide behind the lamp. Just in time, too. Papyrus came striding in like he always did, with a purpose and an air of confidence. It made Sans’s smile turn endearing. “Sup, bro?”

“YOU KNOW WHAT “SUP,” BROTHER!” Papyrus snapped, his voice at its loudest volume as it always seemed to be in. “IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!?”

“Staring at this lamp,” Sans easily supplied, gesturing lazily at the lamp the kid had hid behind. “It’s really cool. Do you wanna look?”

“NO!! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!” Papyrus shouted, stomping his foot. “WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!?! I WANT TO BE READY!!! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!” Papyrus shifted his stance, a hand on his hip, a hand on his chest, and somehow his cape billowing dramatically behind him. Sans snorted on a laugh. His brother was the best. “THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT…RECOGNITION…I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, “FRIEND?” I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.”

“Hmm,” Sans offered, “maybe this lamp will help you.”

“SANS!! YOU ARE NOT HELPING!!” Papyrus stomped his foot. “YOU LAZYBONES!! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!!!”

Sans shrugged, a mischievous half grin on his face. “Hey, take it easy. I’ve gotten a ton of work done today.” He winked. “A skele-ton.”

Papyrus bristled. “SANS!!!”

“Come on. You’re smiling.”

“I AM AND I HATE IT!” Papyrus admitted. He sighed. “WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION…”

Sans could not help himself. He felt his grin grow as he commented, “Wow, sounds like you’re really working yourself…down to the bone.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “UGH!!! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES. AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, BACKBONE INTO IT!!!! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!”

Sans chuckled right along with his brother, so proud. Papyrus made his exit with that laugh and Sans’s chuckles died with the taller skeleton’s exit. He waited, watching Papyrus turn around briefly and give a final, “Heh!” before fully leaving. Once he was sure his brother was fully gone, he shifted his weight and his head to look at the lamp. “Ok, you can come out now.”

The kid came out from behind the lamp and walked right up to him, grinning. Sans chuckled. “You oughta get going. He might come back. And if he does,” Sans winked, “you’ll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes.” The kid beamed and the words flowed freely from Sans. “What’s the holdup? Look, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” He winked. “It’s just a dark cavern filled with skeletons and horrible monsters.” The kid giggled and Sans couldn’t help but arch an eye ridge at them. “Well?”

The kid looked up at him and nodded, determination and glee on their face. With a wave goodbye, the kid was off, and Sans gave a huff of a laugh. The kid was definitely something else.

“Actually, hey,” he called out without prompting. The kid stopped, turning to look at him with an almost expectant expression. “Hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor? I was thinking, my brother’s been kind of down lately. He’s never seen a human before, and seeing you might just make his day. Don’t worry, he’s not dangerous, even if he tries to be.”

The human quickly nodded in agreement, giving Sans a thumbs up. Sans shifted his weight lazily. “Thanks a million. I’ll be up ahead.”

Sans waved goodbye and headed back to the bridge only to pull at the world and step up behind Papyrus.

“Hey, bro,” Sans called out, gaining his brother’s attention.

“SANS!” Papyrus commented, partially annoyed. “WHY ARE YOU NOT AT YOUR POST?”

Sans shrugged, smiling. “Aw, come on, bro. Our conversation conveniently reminded me you never finished your tale from earlier. The one about Undyne.”

“HONESTLY?” Sans nodded. Papyrus’s face lit up. “SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE–”

Movement from the path leading to the sentry station drew Papyrus’s attention, cutting his story off. Sans watched Papyrus, already knowing who was approaching. The kid’s footfall was pretty unique. Sans looked to the kid when Papyrus looked back at him and looked to Papyrus when his brother returned his gaze to the human. They did this probably eight or nine times till they were spinning around, coming to a stop facing the human. Sans was trying very hard not to fall over as the world kept spinning. The fact that he was trying not to laugh wasn’t helping. Papyrus quickly spun Sans around the other way, rushing in what was as close to a stage whisper as Papyrus got, “SANS!! OH MY GOD!! IS THAT…A HUMAN!?!?!??!?!”

They turned back around and Sans, out of habit, couldn’t help but mess with his brother. “Uhhhh...Actually, I think that’s a rock.”

Papyrus deflated. “OH.”

Sans was quick to bring the wind back into Papyrus’s sails, though, asking, “Hey, what’s that in front of the rock?”

Papyrus lit up again, and Sans was very happy to see Papyrus so excited. “OH MY GOD!!!” Papyrus turned to Sans again and questioned in his not-so stage whisper, “IS…IS THAT A HUMAN?”

“Yes,” Sans supplied in a stage whisper.

“OH MY GOD!!! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT!! UNDYNE WILL-I’M GONNA-I’LL BE SO…POPULAR!!! POPULAR!!! POPULAR!!!” Papyrus paused before clearing his throat. Sans chuckled. Papyrus ignored him. “HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU!!! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN…THEN!!!” Papyrus hesitated. “I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT.” Sans snorted as Papyrus didn’t let that little detail stop him. “IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE. ONLY IF YOU DARE!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!”

Laughing, Papyrus hurried on ahead. Sans stayed put and watched his brother race off before turning to the human. “Well, that went well. Don’t sweat it, kid.” He winked. “I’ll keep an eyesocket out for ya.”

With his last tidbit to the human, Sans turned and followed after his brother till he was out of sight of the human. A surge of magic and Sans was a good distance behind the human, out of sight but close enough to watch. He followed the human, watching as a Snowdrake came and started a fight. He watched as the battle started, the controls popping up for the human. During the whole fight, the human never pressed FIGHT. Instead, they made bad ice puns and laughed at the Snowdrake’s jokes. Whatever concern Sans may have had about the human’s wellbeing was laid to rest. Sans warped the world around him.

Time seemed to vanish. Sans kept with his brother for the most part till the kid left Snowdin. It was fun watching his brother’s reaction to the human. After that, Sans sporadically tailed the kid, manning his stations or hanging with Papyrus if he lost the kid for a bit. He found it was easiest to just be at his stations. There were only two times that he went out of his way to be with the kid. One was when he gave the kid his warning at the too fancy of a restaurant.

The second time was when he Judged the kid.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t have to act. The kid was dust free, EXP untouched, and he grinned at the kid, oddly proud. He teleported away, feeling mildly odd. Strange. Why did it feel like something was missing?

His phone rang and he pulled it out, catching his brother’s name. Pressing answer, he held the device to the side of his skull and dutifully answered. “Sup, bro.”

“SANS!!! GET TO THE CASTLE AS QUICK AS YOU CAN!! WE HAVE TO AID THE HUMAN!!!”

Sans smiled already hearing his brother’s footfall as the lanky skeleton ran towards him. “Huh. You don’t say. Guess it’s a good thing I’m already at the castle.”

Sans watched as Papyrus skidded to a stop not far from where Sans was out of direct view. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT THE CASTLE?!” Papyrus asked, staring incredulously at the device in his hand.

Sans stepped out of his spot as he pocketed his phone, shrugging, “Thought I’d catch the sights. It’s a beautiful day today.”

Papyrus stormed right up to him and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him along. “YOU CAN TELL ME ABOUT IT ON THE WAY. WE DO NOT WANT TO BE LATE AIDING THE HUMAN!!”

Sans couldn’t help the grin on his face as his brother released him in order to storm the room ahead. Sans followed, catching his brother’s words only due to his brother’s natural volume of loud.

“HEY! NOBODY FIGHT ANYONE! IF ANYONE FIGHTS ANYONE….THEN I’LL!!! BE FORCED!!! TO ASK UNDYNE FOR HELP!!!”

Sans chuckled, shaking his head. That was his brother for ya. Other things were said but he missed them as he slid into the room and greeted familiar and not so familiar faces. “Hey guys. What’s up?”

The one face he couldn’t put his finger on spoke up, though it wasn’t overly loud and almost sounded like she had said, “That voice!” The goat monster approached, happily greeting, “Hello, I think we may know each other?”

That alone made the first statement make a whole lot more sense as Sans grinned at her. “Oh hey…I recognize your voice, too.”

“I am Toriel,” she offered. “So nice to meet you.”

He couldn’t help but wink at her. “The name’s Sans, and, uh, same.”

“Oh! Wait, then…” she turned her attention to Papyrus and Sans’s expression became fond. “This must be your brother, Papyrus! Greetings, Papyrus! It is so nice to finally meet you. Your brother has told me so much about you.”

“WOWIE…I CAN’T BELIEVE ASGORE’S CLONE KNOWS WHO I AM!!! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!”

Sans chuckled. Only the Great Papyrus. Toriel spoke up again. “Hey, Papyrus…what does a skeleton tile his roof with?”

Sans had to swallow a laugh, anticipation rolling through him, as Papyrus’s sockets narrowed. “HMMM…” the lankier skeleton voiced as he thought. “SNOW-PROOF ROOF TILES???”

“No, silly!” Toriel quickly replied. “A skeleton tiles his room with…shin-gles!!!”

Sans shared a grin with Toriel as Papyrus nearly lost his shit. “I CHANGED MY MIND!!! THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!”

From there it just went from funny to hilariously awkward as Mettaton appeared out of nowhere somewhere in all the chatter and encouraged Alphys and Undyne to kiss. Toriel’s reaction was probably his favorite, rushing to be between them and stop it, all in the name of not doing it in front of the kid.

Toriel, ever the warmhearted, turned her attention back onto the human child. “My child, it seems as if you must stay here for a while.” Sans found it surprisingly easy to keep the smile on his face. Oh yeah. They had needed the human’s soul to break through the barrier. “But looking at all the great friends you have made, I think….I think you will be happy here.”

The kid beamed at her, at all of them and Sans merely gave a grin back. He tensed, suddenly on guard as Alphys spoke up. “H-hey, that reminds me. Papyrus…you called everyone here, right? Well, besides, uh, her. Uh, anyway…if I got here before you, how did you know how to call everybody?”

Sans glanced at his brother, trying really hard not to reach out like he wanted to. What in the world was causing him to suddenly be expecting an attack? “LET’S JUST SAY…A TINY FLOWER HELPED ME.”

It was like his magic turned to ice around his bones but the sudden dread seemed unwarranted. Alphys’s reaction, though, only made the dread grow.

“A tiny…flower?” she asked, her voice quaking.

San felt every fiber of his being stand on end at that but he was unable to move as a large vine came through and smacked them all before smaller ones wrapped around each of them and tussled them up, feet off the ground. Pain rippled through him but it wasn’t enough to truly distract him from the conversation. A yellow flower popped up between them and the kid, said flower actually speaking. The kid was suddenly trapped and assaulted by bullets from the flower. Sans watched as the kid’s health fell down to one measly point before there was suddenly interference. And that interference came from Toriel herself.

“Do not be afraid, my child,” she spoke, her voice calm as the pain that had been running through them all stopped with the flower’s confusion. “No matter what happens, we will always be there to protect you!”

His brother and Undyne were next to step up to the plate. “THAT’S RIGHT, HUMAN! YOU CAN WIN!! JUST DO WHAT I WOULD DO: BELIEVE IN YOU!!!”

“Hey! Human!” Undyne called out with a toothy grin. “If you got past ME, you can do ANYTHING! So don’t worry! We’re with you all the way!”

“Huh? You haven’t beaten this guy yet?” Sans asked, the words flowing without a thought to them. “Come on, this weirdo’s got nothin’ on you.”

Others stepped up magically and Alphys spoke up, “Technically, it’s impossible for you to beat him…b-but…somehow, I know you can do it!!”

Sans was tempted to roll his eyes good naturedly at her not very supportive comment.

“Human,” Asgore added, “for the future of humans and monsters…! You have to stay determined…!”

Suddenly the room was filling with all sorts of monsters, all of them encouraging the kid, and, for the briefest of moments, Hope warred against the dread still grasping at Sans’s soul. A part of him knew it was pointless to Hope. Things were only going to get worse instead of better. Sure enough, the flower called them all stupid, claiming their souls as pain rushed through Sans and the world turned white.

Somewhere, somehow, the barrier was destroyed.

Spoiler: Chapter 3

Sans let out a groan, startled yet somehow not surprised to find himself face down on a sheetless mattress. The familiar panic flooded his system but he pushed it down as he shoved at the mattress, gaze snapping around the room. This was all too familiar to be a coincident. His supposed “dream” was too crisp for it to be a mere “dream”, especially now that he could distinctly recall waking up the same way from a very similar “dream” already.

He frowned and pulled at the world around him. He staggered on his sock covered feet, not quite awake enough to handle the sudden change in position mid shortcut, but at least he didn’t end up on his face.

The barrier was still there.

Grief washed through him but this time no sobs ripped themselves from his chest as he took in the barrier. His knees gave out as he touched it, the grief he was feeling almost nothing compared to the phantom grief he could feel echoing it. He looked about but there seemed to be no evidence to what Sans had been experiencing. Feeling exhausted, Sans teleported back to his room.

He rummaged through the belongings in his room, looking for anything that could be of use. He found a small notebook buried underneath a mound of clothing and he sneered at the mess. When had he become such a slob? He flipped through the pages. All but the first few were blank and what covered the first pages looked to be complicated notes. He frowned down at the equations scrawled across the paper. It looked like high level math and there were notes scrawled in the margins and the rest of the page around any math that appeared. From what he gathered, it looked like some sort of science. Most likely theoretical but he wasn’t sure how much of that was just him pulling answers out of thin air. Maybe if there was a workspace of some kind-

Sudden pounding at his door made him jump.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

Sans blinked at the door. “Five more minutes, Pap,” he called out, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness he wasn’t feeling.

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!” his brother countered. The chuckle that left him was involuntary. “TIME TO GET UP!”

“That was so kind of you, Pap,” he replied. The smile in his words didn’t show on his face as he dressed. “You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

Heavy footfall fading away informed him his brother wasn’t hovering. He stilled as he frowned down at the blue jacket in his hand. Déjà vu was probably the closest thing he could put towards what he was feeling but it wasn’t quite right. The “dream” wasn’t fading and seemed to only increase his remembrance of the previous “dream”. He needed time to write all this down. Shoving the notebook into a pocket of the blue jacket, he frowned at the shorts he was about to tug on. Cleanliness was certainly a relative term in the case of his clothing.

The scent coming from the kitchen wafted to him as he stepped out of his room, closing his door securely behind him out of apparent habit.

He stopped on the threshold of the kitchen as if anticipating something, but, seeing as he remembered his “dreams” and that these “dreams” were too much like the present, the only thing he was anticipating were his brother’s words.

He briefly noted his brother’s attire, the same outfit he had seen at least twice now.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

“Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have.” The words were playful and urging but they lacked any real thought to them. He hadn’t even been able to recall his response till the words had left him. He was starting to question his own sanity, even as he could have parroted Papyrus’s next words.

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

The smile came easily as he rested his chin on his palm. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans poked at it with his fork. Yep, same as last time. It even looked the same. He mentally groaned. This was weird. He grinned at his brother nonetheless and commented, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something in that loud voice of his but it was nothing more than background noise in his head. He discretely touched the notebook in his pocket, wondering if what he had in mind would even work. If he kept “waking up”, would that mean that what he wrote would be erased? Or was he in some sort of temporal loop and the notebook would be dragged along with him?

He shuddered, grateful when it seemed Papyrus hadn’t noticed. If he was in a temporal loop and what he was experiencing was a sort of resetting, he needed to figure out why it was resetting to him waking up face down in a sheetless mattress.

He also needed to figure out when he became such the scientist but that was a low priority. If the notebook was anything to go by, he’s had some dealings in science for quite some time, meaning he may have a workspace. He just had to find it.

He hadn’t realized he had been eating till he took another bite and the familiar bitterness washed over his senses. It somehow seemed less revolting than the last time. He swallowed the bite he had been consuming, still shuddering at the taste. He put his fork down and keyed in to the one sided conversation.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he interjected, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Sans noted that Papyrus hadn’t really touched his own place. His smile grew bigger on its own. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

Stepping out of the house, Sans took the moment to look towards the underground’s ceiling. There was still a sense of claustrophobia scraping at his soul but this was the first time in two resets he had looked up so he may just be getting used to the ceiling seeming closer than normal.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?”

Sans blinked, looking up at Papyrus. “Yeah, bro,” he spoke, his words coming easily and the lie even easier. “Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him with a soft smile belaying his amusement and fondness. Despite it all, his brother’s reactions were a familiarity he hoped would never change, even if the jokes were the same, horrible taste.

He came to a stop at the bridge as mild weariness pulled at him. Aw, so that would explain the apathy last run. Apparently, he didn’t have much stamina and, while he hadn’t used as much magic as the last run, physical action seemed to be just as draining as emotional turmoil. Great. Another thing to add to his list of things to keep in mind. He focused back on his brother, spotting the lanky skeleton almost at the other end of the bridge. With no effort, he brushed the world around him with his magic and, as he took a step, he went from one end of the bridge to the other in the blink of an eye. Papyrus glanced back as his boots touched solid ground but the spent magic had already dissipated and Sans gave him a lazy grin as he continued to follow along. The weariness didn’t leave and, while Sans had every intent of spending what little time he had before the human showed up – if his growing suspicion that this was a temporal loop was true – he may end up napping without his own consent.

The canine royal guards greeted them as they passed. Sans greeted them with words that came easily. When they reached the last puzzle – or the first, depending on the direction one traveled in – Sans looked to his brother, offering, “I’ll trek ahead and check on my post.”

“DON’T DILLY DALLY, SANS!! WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO!!!”

Sans chuckled and pulled at the world around him when Papyrus wasn’t looking. As used magic drifted away and dissipated, a stronger wave of weariness rushed his bones. He leaned heavily on his station, taking the moment to collect himself and push through the very strong urge to sleep. He had things to do and very little time to do it in.

Pulling at the world around him once more, he landed on a high branch and settled down with his back against the trunk. He didn’t even get a chance to touch the notebook as sleep overtook him.

A low rumble of stone grating against stone filled the quiet forest. His gaze automatically drifted to the door set into the wall as his brain worked to wake up from his inconvenient nap. He watched as the human stepped out. Despite having a hunch that he was in a temporal loop, he could not remember the kid’s name or their face.

He slipped from his branch. The world shifted around him, bending and stretching as he teleported so that he landed on the tough-looking branch the kid had walked around as spend magic dissipated quickly; the surprise it seemed to entice – whether out of anticipation or true surprise – was still amusing. He fell back a ways before shifting the world around him and returning to a few paces behind the kid. The kid stopped at the bridge and Sans slowly strolled up behind them.

He came to a stop just outside of arm’s reach, anticipation racing through him like adrenaline. An amused smirk pulled at his smile. “Human,” he states plainly, slowly. “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.”

The words came easily. The kid turned around slowly but it was clear that the kid wanted to just whip around and take his hand. He reached out, offering his hand to this human that had been labeled a danger by Asgore long before the human had ever fallen.

The kid took his hand.

The whoopee cushion deflated between their palms and Sans’s smile broke into a grin. “Heheh. The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It’s ALWAYS funny.” The kid gave a happy little giggle as Sans tucked his hand back into his pocket. “Anyways, you’re a human, right? That’s hilarious. I’m Sans. Sans the Skeleton. I’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. But…y’know…” Sans shrugged, “I don’t really care about capturing anybody. Now my brother, Papyrus, he’s a human-hunting FANATIC.” Motion over the kid's head drew Sans's attention briefly and his face lit up. He’d know that silhouette anywhere and would always be glad to see it. “Hey, actually, I think that’s him over there.” He focused back on the kid, catching the tail end of their rotation to see what he was looking at. “I have an idea.” The kid looked back at him. “Go through this gate thingy.” The kid glanced at the gate, at ease. Sans nodded. “Yeah, go right through. My bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.”

The kid turned right around and walked through the massive structure’s posts. Sans kept pace with them, following them through to the other side and then some. The conveniently-shaped lamp was still by his station, awaiting to be useful. “Quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp.”

The kid gave him a smile and hurried to hide behind the lamp. Just in time, too. Papyrus came striding in like he always did, with a purpose and an air of confidence. It made Sans’s smile turn endearing. “Sup, bro?”

“YOU KNOW WHAT “SUP,” BROTHER!” Papyrus snapped, his voice at its loudest volume as it always seemed to be in. “IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!?”

“Staring at this lamp,” Sans easily supplied, gesturing lazily at the lamp the kid had hid behind. He caught the soft sound of giggles. “It’s really cool. Do you wanna look?”

“NO!! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!” Papyrus shouted, stomping his foot. “WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!?! I WANT TO BE READY!!! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!” Papyrus shifted his stance, a hand on his hip, a hand on his chest, and somehow his cape billowing dramatically behind him. Sans snorted on a laugh. His brother was the best. “THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT…RECOGNITION…I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, “FRIEND?” I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.”

“Hmm,” Sans offered, “maybe this lamp will help you.”

“SANS!! YOU ARE NOT HELPING!!” Papyrus stomped his foot. “YOU LAZYBONES!! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!!!”

Sans shrugged, a mischievous half grin on his face. “Hey, take it easy. I’ve gotten a ton of work done today.” He winked. “A skele-ton.”

Papyrus bristled as another soft round of giggles came from behind the lamp. “SANS!!!”

“Come on. You’re smiling.”

“I AM AND I HATE IT!” Papyrus admitted. He sighed. “WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION…”

Sans could not help himself. He felt his grin grow as he commented, “Wow, sounds like you’re really working yourself…down to the bone.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “UGH!!! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES. AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, BACKBONE INTO IT!!!! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!”

Sans chuckled right along with his brother, so proud. Papyrus made his exit with that laugh and Sans’s chuckles died with the taller skeleton’s exit. He waited, watching Papyrus turn around briefly and give a final, “Heh!” before fully leaving. Once he was sure his brother was fully gone, he shifted his weight and his head to look at the lamp, spotting the kid peaking out at him. “Ok, you can come out now.”

The kid came bounding out from behind the lamp and right up to him, grinning. Sans chuckled. “You oughta get going. He might come back. And if he does,” Sans winked, “you’ll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes.” The kid beamed and the words flowed freely from Sans. “What’s the holdup? Look, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” He winked. “It’s just a dark cavern filled with skeletons and horrible monsters.” The kid giggled and Sans couldn’t help but arch an eye ridge at them. “Well?”

The kid looked up at him and nodded, determination and glee on their face. With a wave goodbye, the kid was off, and Sans gave a huff of a laugh. The kid was definitely something else.

“Actually, hey,” he called out without prompting. The kid stopped, turning to look at him with an almost expectant expression. “Hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor? I was thinking, my brother’s been kind of down lately. He’s never seen a human before, and seeing you might just make his day. Don’t worry, he’s not dangerous, even if he tries to be.”

The human quickly nodded in agreement, giving Sans a thumbs up. Sans shifted his weight lazily. “Thanks a million. I’ll be up ahead.”

Sans waved goodbye and headed back to the bridge only to pull at the world and step up behind Papyrus.

“Hey, bro,” Sans called out, gaining his brother’s attention.

“SANS!” Papyrus commented, partially annoyed. “WHY ARE YOU NOT AT YOUR POST?”

Sans shrugged, smiling. “Aw, come on, bro. Our conversation conveniently reminded me you never finished your tale from earlier. The one about Undyne.”

“HONESTLY?” Sans nodded. Papyrus’s face lit up. “SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE–”

Movement from the path leading to the sentry station drew Papyrus’s attention, cutting his story off. Sans watched Papyrus as the kid approached. Sans looked to the kid when Papyrus looked back at him and looked to Papyrus when his brother returned his gaze to the human. They did this probably eight or nine times till they were spinning around, coming to a stop facing the human. Sans was trying very hard not to fall over as the world kept spinning. The fact that he was trying not to laugh wasn’t helping. Papyrus quickly spun Sans around the other way, rushing in what was as close to a stage whisper as Papyrus got, “SANS!! OH MY GOD!! IS THAT…A HUMAN!?!?!??!?!”

They turned back around and Sans, out of habit, couldn’t help but mess with his brother. “Uhhhh...Actually, I think that’s a rock.”

Papyrus deflated. “OH.”

Sans was quick to bring the wind back into Papyrus’s sails, asking, “Hey, what’s that in front of the rock?”

Papyrus lit up again, and Sans was very happy to see Papyrus so excited. “OH MY GOD!!!” Papyrus turned to Sans again and questioned in his not-so stage whisper, “IS…IS THAT A HUMAN?”

“Yes,” Sans returned.

“OH MY GOD!!! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT!! UNDYNE WILL-I’M GONNA-I’LL BE SO…POPULAR!!! POPULAR!!! POPULAR!!!” Papyrus paused before clearing his throat. Sans chuckled. Papyrus ignored him. “HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU!!! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN…THEN!!!” Papyrus hesitated. “I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT.” Sans snorted as Papyrus didn’t let that little detail stop him. “IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE. ONLY IF YOU DARE!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!”

Laughing, Papyrus hurried on ahead. Sans stayed put and watched his brother run off before turning to the human. “Well, that went well. Don’t sweat it, kid.” He winked. “I’ll keep an eyesocket out for ya.”

With his last tidbit to the human, Sans turned and followed after his brother till he was out of sight of the human. A surge of magic and Sans was a good distance behind the human, out of sight but close enough to watch. He followed the human, watching as a Snowdrake came and started a fight. He watched as the battle started, the controls popping up for the human. During the whole fight, the human never pressed FIGHT. Instead, they made bad ice puns and laughed at the Snowdrake’s jokes. Whatever concern Sans may have had about the human’s wellbeing was laid to rest. Sans warped the world around him.

Time seemed to vanish. Sans kept with his brother for the most part till the kid left Snowdin. It was fun watching his brother’s reaction to the human. After that, Sans sporadically tailed the kid, manning his stations or hanging with Papyrus if he lost the kid for a bit. He found it was easiest to just be at his stations. There were only two times that he went out of his way to be with the kid. One was when he gave the kid his warning at the too fancy of a restaurant.

The second time was when he Judged the kid.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t have to act. The kid was dust free, EXP untouched, and he grinned at the kid, oddly proud. He teleported away, feeling mildly odd. Strange. Why did it feel like something was missing?

His phone rang and he pulled it out, catching his brother’s name. Pressing answer, he held the device to the side of his skull and dutifully answered. “Sup, bro.”

“SANS!!! GET TO THE CASTLE AS QUICK AS YOU CAN!! WE HAVE TO AID THE HUMAN!!!”

Sans smiled, already hearing his brother’s footfall as the lanky skeleton ran towards him. “Huh. You don’t say. Guess it’s a good thing I’m already at the castle.”

Sans watched as Papyrus skidded to a stop not far from where Sans was out of direct view. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT THE CASTLE?!” Papyrus asked, staring incredulously at the device in his hand.

Sans stepped out of his spot as he pocketed his phone, shrugging, “Thought I’d catch the sights. It’s a beautiful day today.”

Papyrus stormed right up to him and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him along. “YOU CAN TELL ME ABOUT IT ON THE WAY. WE DO NOT WANT TO BE LATE AIDING THE HUMAN!!”

Sans couldn’t help the grin on his face as his brother released him in order to storm the room ahead. Sans followed, catching his brother’s words only due to his brother’s natural volume of loud.

“HEY! NOBODY FIGHT ANYONE! IF ANYONE FIGHTS ANYONE….THEN I’LL!!! BE FORCED!!! TO ASK UNDYNE FOR HELP!!!”

Sans chuckled, shaking his head. That was his brother for ya. Other things were said but he missed them as he slid into the room and greeted familiar and not so familiar faces. “Hey guys. What’s up?”

The one face he couldn’t put his finger on spoke up, though it wasn’t overly loud and almost sounded like she had said, “That voice!” The goat monster approached, happily greeting, “Hello, I think we may know each other?”

That alone made the first statement make a whole lot more sense as Sans grinned at her. “Oh hey…I recognize your voice, too.”

“I am Toriel,” she offered. “So nice to meet you.”

He couldn’t help but wink at her. “The name’s Sans, and, uh, same.”

“Oh! Wait, then…” she turned her attention to Papyrus and Sans’s expression became fond. “This must be your brother, Papyrus! Greetings, Papyrus! It is so nice to finally meet you. Your brother has told me so much about you.”

“WOWIE…I CAN’T BELIEVE ASGORE’S CLONE KNOWS WHO I AM!!! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!”

Sans chuckled. Only the Great Papyrus. Toriel spoke up again. “Hey, Papyrus…what does a skeleton tile his roof with?”

Sans had to swallow a laugh, anticipation rolling through him, as Papyrus’s sockets narrowed. “HMMM…” the lankier skeleton voiced as he thought. “SNOW-PROOF ROOF TILES???”

“No, silly!” Toriel quickly replied. “A skeleton tiles his room with…shin-gles!!!”

Sans shared a grin with Toriel as Papyrus nearly lost his shit. “I CHANGED MY MIND!!! THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!”

From there it just went from funny to hilariously awkward as Mettaton appeared out of nowhere somewhere in all the chatter and encouraged Alphys and Undyne to kiss. Toriel’s reaction was probably his favorite, rushing to be between them and stop it, all in the name of not doing it in front of the kid.

Toriel, ever the warmhearted, turned her attention back onto the human child. “My child, it seems as if you must stay here for a while.” Sans found it surprisingly easy to keep the smile on his face. Oh yeah. They had needed the human’s soul to break through the barrier. “But looking at all the great friends you have made, I think….I think you will be happy here.”

The kid beamed at her, at all of them and Sans merely gave a grin back. He tensed, suddenly on guard as Alphys spoke up. “H-hey, that reminds me. Papyrus…you called everyone here, right? Well, besides, uh, her. Uh, anyway…if I got here before you, how did you know how to call everybody?”

Sans glanced at his brother, trying really hard not to reach out like he wanted to. What in the world was causing him to suddenly be expecting an attack? “LET’S JUST SAY…A TINY FLOWER HELPED ME.”

It was like his magic turned to ice around his bones but the sudden dread seemed unwarranted. Alphys’s reaction, though, only made the dread grow.

“A tiny…flower?” she asked, her voice quaking.

San felt every fiber of his being stand on end at that but he was unable to move as a large vine came through and smacked them all before smaller ones wrapped around each of them and tussled them up, feet off the ground. Pain rippled through him but it wasn’t enough to truly distract him from the conversation. A yellow flower popped up between them and the kid, said flower actually speaking. The kid was then trapped and assaulted by bullets from the flower. Sans watched as the kid’s health fell down to one measly point before there was suddenly interference. And that interference came from Toriel herself.

“Do not be afraid, my child,” she spoke, her voice calm as the pain that had been running through them all stopped with the flower’s confusion. “No matter what happens, we will always be there to protect you!”

His brother and Undyne were next to step up to the plate. “THAT’S RIGHT, HUMAN! YOU CAN WIN!! JUST DO WHAT I WOULD DO: BELIEVE IN YOU!!!”

“Hey! Human!” Undyne called out with a toothy grin. “If you got past ME, you can do ANYTHING! So don’t worry! We’re with you all the way!”

“Huh? You haven’t beaten this guy yet?” Sans asked, the words flowing without a thought to them. “Come on, this weirdo’s got nothin’ on you.”

Others stepped up magically and Alphys spoke up, “Technically, it’s impossible for you to beat him…b-but…somehow, I know you can do it!!”

Sans was tempted to roll his eyes good naturedly at her not very supportive comment.

“Human,” Asgore added, “for the future of humans and monsters…! You have to stay determined…!”

Suddenly the room was filling with all sorts of monsters, all of them encouraging the kid, and, for the briefest of moments, Hope warred against the dread still grasping at Sans’s soul. A part of him knew it was pointless to Hope. Things were only going to get worse instead of better. Sure enough, the flower called them all stupid, claiming their souls as pain rushed through Sans and the world turned white.

Somewhere, somehow, the barrier was destroyed.

Sans wanted to tear the mattress beneath him to shreds.

Spoiler: Chapter 4

The tears stung but he swallowed hard against the grief drowning him. He shoved at his bed, pushing down on the anger, frustration, the grief, with all he had so that he could think. He had to think. He didn’t have time. He couldn’t waste the precious few minutes he had before Papyrus showed up to wake him.

Grabbing the too bright blue fabric of the jacket, he dug into the pocket and nearly sobbed when his hunting fingers closed around the notebook. He pressed it close to his chest, the fabric of the coat holding against his unrelenting grip. Good. No, this was really good. It meant there was a high probability that whatever he shoved into the pockets would remain outside the timeline like he was.

The cover of the notebook crunched slightly as his grip tightened. The only way to prove that, though, was to write on the pages within and that meant he needed something to write with.

He got up. The coat fell onto the mattress but the notebook was kept pinned under a hand against his chest. He threw things all over the place, not caring in the slightest where it all fell till a thought occurred to him, slowing his movement briefly.

It would be a test, a rather good test in fact, if he changed his room as best he could. Suddenly determined, he strategically threw items towards the walls and his bed, clearing the center of the floor. Along the way, he found a key sitting next to the only pen he found to work. He tucked the key into one of the coat’s pockets without much thought, sitting on the edge of the mattress with pen in one hand, the notebook in the other.

The book fell open to the last page with writing on it. There was still room to write and, without knowing how much would change if the world reset again, he used the paper sparingly.

reset 3(r3) – viable evidence trapped in temporal loop (here’s to hoping this is trapped with me)
third(?) wake up facedown/mattress after barrier breaks(?) – no memory actually seeing broken barrier – wake up location consistent, at least
keep to short hand as best as possible – no time
no signs of others remembering reset to reset yet
unknown amount of influence on loop – will pap remember if told
room set for reset test
FIND SPACE THAT RE

Sudden pounding on his door made him jump, striking a heavy line of ink across the page.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he called out, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness he was not feeling. Counter to his tone, a frown marred his face as he quickly finished scrawling:

FIND SPACE THAT REMAINS SAME

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!” his brother countered. The chuckle that left him was involuntary but not unwelcomed. It eased some of the tension he was feeling. “TIME TO GET UP!”

The words were there, ready to be spoken without a thought, but a spark of spontaneity hit him, as did the need to know if he could even go against the “script” laid out before him. “Thanks Pap,” he replied, the words endearing. He had to focus but it seemed possible as he added, “I’m getting up.”

“HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

There was no need to listen to his brother’s footfall as Sans looked back at the notebook in hand.

script changeable but takes effort – does not seem to affect the script of others – need to test more

He tapped the pen against the edge of the book. He was going to have to be careful. If he wanted to figure out how to get out of this, he was going to have to find anomalies. But if he broke the script, it would only add to the amount of anomalies there. Additionally, he didn’t actually know the script. He knew roughly the general idea – though it was all pretty vague and anything that he had remembered from the last timeline had already hazed over like a dream – but not knowing the script intricately meant that he could miss things.

Magic turned to ice on his bones. If he had had hair, it would have stood on end. Out of the corner of his eye, in the corner of his room, was a figure dressed in black with an odd black and white face watching him. It was fuzzy, unfocused, and all he could make out was the vague shape of head and body. Snapping his gaze to the spot, his nonexistent insides twisted.

The corner was bare. There was no one there, nothing to cause a trick of the eye, no way anyone could have just been standing there so straight and still without tripping over the mount of things in that given corner. Panic and adrenaline rushed through his system, causing his body to react in a way that was disconcerting.

Especially since he could no longer remember what it was that had caused the reaction.

Turning back to the journal, he rushed a quick line:

something in northeast corner – scared me – nothing there when focused on – can’t recall what i thought i had seen

He shoved the notebook into the designated coat pocket, pen acting like a bookmark. He yanked the same cloths on automatically and stepped outside his room.

The scent coming from the kitchen wafted up to him as he closed his door securely behind him. He let out a soft sigh, already tired. If this wasn’t a reset and all of that had just been the strangest dream in his life, he would not be complaining.

A very large part of him didn’t hold any hope to that thought.

He stopped on the threshold of the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe as he looked the space over. It all looked the same. Papyrus was still wearing his battle body and making spaghetti like the last runs. He couldn’t remember if anything was in a different place but figured it would come with time if he was truly stuck in a temporal loop. He hoped not.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!”

He had to bite back the words of the script before he was able to answer his own way. “I’m not hungry,” he said, watching Papyrus closely. “I was thinking of just heading out.”

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

There had been no reaction to the new words, no disappointment, no relief, no nothing. It was like the words he had spoken hadn’t even affected the script. Now, granted, his words had indeed allowed that answer to pass, but it was still a rather conclusive test. He sat down at the table, resting his chin on his palm. “Watermelon sock puppets,” he tried in lieu of acknowledging Papyrus’s words.

Yep. Not even a twitch as Papyrus put the plate of spaghetti before him. Sans poked at it with his fork. Still the same, for all he could tell. Weariness coursed through him and he grinned at his brother as he fell back into the script without a fight, commenting, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something but it was nothing more than background noise. His mind wandered, most of his thoughts sticking to the resets and what could possibly be causing them. A headache started to pulse behind his left eye but he ignored it to the best of his abilities. He wasn’t a scientist. He didn’t know how to even begin to deal with an anomaly when he found one. If he found one.

His fingers brushed the notebook in his pocket. Actually, that may not be totally accurate. If the book was indeed his as the handwriting made it seem, he had some rather intense know-how when it came to science in some aspect. May not be in whatever field was required to deal with time anomalies, but at least it would be a start.

He wondered briefly if he had a lab and if it was outside the resets like the coat pockets were.

He hadn’t realized he had been eating till he took another bite and the familiar bitterness washed over his senses. It had lost some of its revulsion, to which Sans was immensely grateful for. He swallowed the bite he had been consuming, able to suppress the shudder this time. He put his fork down and keyed into the one sided conversation.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he interjected, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Sans noted that Papyrus hadn’t touched his own plate much. Sans’s smile grew bigger at that. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

Stepping out of the house, Sans took the moment to look towards the underground’s ceiling. Claustrophobia scraped at his soul but he found it rather easy to ignore.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

Sans blinked, looking up at Papyrus. It would seem that the morning had worn him out more than he had thought. He made a mental note not to go against the script like that till he was able to nap directly afterwards. The exhaustion clinging to his bones made his limbs feel ten times heavier. “Yeah bro,” he spoke, the words flowing easily. “Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at that and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him with a soft smile belaying his amusement and fondness. Despite it all, his brother’s reactions were a familiarity he hoped would never change, even if the jokes were the same, horrible taste.

As had happened in the previous resets, Papyrus glanced back at him briefly at the end of the bridge and the canine royal guards greeted them as they passed. Sans went with the script, greeting them with some predestined acknowledgment. When they reached the last puzzle – or the first, depending on the direction one traveled in – Sans looked to his brother, offering, “I’ll trek ahead and check on my post.”

“DON’T DILLY DALLY, SANS!! WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO!!!”

Sans smiled gently and pulled at the world around him when Papyrus wasn’t looking. As used magic drifted away and dissipated, black swam at the edge of his vision, forcing him to either lean heavily on his station or face plant into the snow. He chose the one that kept snow out of his sockets.

The spell lasted only a moment and Sans was soon able to straighten up and pull at the world once more. He settled on a familiar high branch with his back against the trunk without much movement on his part. He let out a sigh that sounded more like a groan and he succumbed to sleep without a fight.

A low rumble of stone grating against stone filled the quiet forest. His gaze automatically drifted to the door set into the wall as his brain worked to wake up from his nap, still exhausted. He watched as the kid stepped out.

He frowned. Did the kid look more scared than last time?

He slipped from his branch and landed on the tough-looking branch the kid always walked around as spent magic dissipated quickly. The kid’s reaction seemed a bit more spooked than normal but he fell back anyways, letting the script guide his actions.

The kid came to a stop at the bridge and Sans slowly strolled up behind them, taking his time to come just out of arm’s reach of the kid. An amused smirk pulled at his smile. “Human,” he stated plainly, slowly. “Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.”

The kid turned around slowly. Nope, yep, there was definitely more fear than last time coming off the kid. He was not making it up. Well, he was pretty certain at least. If nothing else, it meant that the kid either was out of the loop like Sans was or was the anomaly. Sans internally snorted at the latter. How could a kid be a temporal anomaly?

The kid took his hand, deflating the whoopee cushion Sans couldn’t recall putting on his palm. The smile on his face broke out into a grin nonetheless. “Heheh. The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It’s ALWAYS funny.” The kid gave a happy little giggle and Sans lost whatever it was he had been thinking about.

His welcoming speech went as it normally did with nothing new happening. In fact, nothing new happened from when he met the kid to when the kid left Snowdin for Waterfall. He did discover a nifty little tidbit by pure accident.

Sans manned both his station and the telescope as he normally did as the kid traversed Wasterfall. But during a lull between stations, he got caught up staring at the pages of notes in the notebook for far longer than the allotted time held. One minute he was at his Snowdin station, the next he was in Waterfall. He hadn’t even initiated a shortcut. He was just there. Briefly startled, he pocketed the notebook with a curious look around. He was curious on how he had ended up there only to see the kid.

His previous thought of the kid being the anomaly was suddenly looking very probable and Sans didn’t know what to do with that. If nothing else, the kid had something on them that was causing the anomaly.

His ability to move without a script was sporadic after that point, gaps of time where he was able to mill about on his own. He didn’t press his luck, though, keeping close to where he needed to be. Exhaustion turned to pain very quickly the more he pushed against the script and Sans was not up for dealing with pain.

He would figure out the timing. He had to.

He also had to figure out if the kid was the anomaly, or if it was something on their person.

The things scrawled on the pages were unfamiliar but it was clearly his handwriting. Though he didn’t understand most of it, it helped him think larger picture at least. Theoretically speaking, especially with no viable evidence going towards his theory, it seemed possible that an item could cause a temporal loop if everything was set up right and the same for it being a person. But that also brought up the point of the actual cause of a temporal loop to begin with. With not knowing the cause, he could not speculate much farther on what was keeping him trapped in the loop.

All these thoughts, inconsistent or even crossed out, were jotted down in the notebook. It didn’t seem like there was anything else he could do.

Time vanished and before he knew it, he was Judging the kid. For the first time since all this chaos started, his soul felt like it had stopped.

The kid had killed.

It wasn’t much EXP but it was there. He could see it. The kid looked like they were going to cry and that eased what fear had touched his soul. He gave the kid a grin, words falling free reassuring them that they needed to just learn from their mistakes and not do it again. Accidents happen and he wasn’t about to fault the kid on that.

But it did mean that somehow, someway, the kid was out of the temporal loop like he was, or he was no longer sticking with his own timeline and was jumping timelines.

The latter thought scared him the most.

The events that followed were the same. The script didn’t change. It was still nice, though, to see Toriel and the others, to watch as the room was filled with all sorts of monsters, all of them encouraging the kid as they went up against the thorn known as Flowey, and Hope touched him briefly even as the logical part of his mind was betting on another reset. The world turned white.

Somewhere, somehow, the barrier was destroyed.

The emotions rolling through him were nothing compared to the burst of anxiety that hit him. He was face first on his sheetless mattress once more and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to look. One the one hand, his room being unchanged from when he had shoved everything about would be a promising sight but if it all had reset…

Knowing he lacked time, he shoved at the mattress and looked over.

He wasn’t sure what slammed into him, what emotion rolled about his soul most, but the physical recoil from the room being reset was real. He reached out without a thought, grabbing at the too bright blue fabric he was coming to rely on as a lifeline. He pulled the notebook out, finding the pen stuck between the pages like a bookmark. He let it fall open.

The sob caught him off guard and he curled around the notebook as he pressed a hand against his mouth to silence any more sobs.

There, on the open pages, were all his notes from the last reset.

He wasn’t sure if he was crying because of relief or dread. He didn’t care. He shoved the emotions away as he snatched up the pen. With a shaky hand that steadied slowly, he began to write.

r4 – fourth wake up facedown/mattress after barrier breaks – still no memory seeing barrier gone – wake up location still consistent
room failed reset test
kid had exp – one kill

The pen stilled. What else was there to write? Anything? He had already notated his thoughts about the kid either being the anomaly or carrying whatever is causing said anomaly during the previous reset.

He looked up when Papyrus pounded on his door, a weary expression on his face.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he called out, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness he wasn’t feeling. Whelp. Here was to another reset.

r5 – fifth wake up facedown/mattress after barrier breaks – no memory seeing barrier gone – wake up location same
same exp
scent in waterfall – familiar but can no longer place it

Gods he hated this.

r7 – no memory of barrier gone – location same
same exp

Somehow he was grateful for the same things happening over and over again. Made it easier to keep track of everything

r10 – no memory – local same
more exp – two kills?
fairly certain i heard a voice – can’t remember the words

He opened his sockets slowly, face down in the mattress once more.

r11 – no – same
same exp – most likely two kills, hard to gauge

Groaning, he rolled over and fell softly onto the floor. The too blue coat was right where he expected it to be, within reach of an out stretched hand.

r15 – no – same
same exp
shadow in waterfall

He pulled it close and dug out the notebook. It was looking a bit worse for wear after so many resets. The book fell open to the bookmarked page, the pen still snug between the pages. With his notes having become so short, he had every reset since the 15th on one page. His gaze settled on the latest one.

r23 – no – same
exp increase – three kills
script memorized

He sighed, rubbing at his face. Twenty-three resets. So many that he wasn’t able to really keep them all separate in his head. He knew there had been a lot but keeping this running tally was certainly helping. He picked up the pen and wrote:

r24 – no – same
same exp

Pulling the coat back onto his lap, he pocketed the notebook, frowning when his fingers clattered with something metal. Turning his hand over, he pulled out a key. Funny, he couldn’t recall knowing what door the strip of metal belonged to, let alone when he had shoved it into the pocket. He could feel magic around it, though. It was faint but he could make out the tell tale signs of a magical tether. He frowned. Odd. Why would a key be magically tethered to its door?

Papyrus pounded on his door and he spared the abused wood a glance.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he called out, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness.

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!” his brother countered. Sans chuckled. “TIME TO GET UP!”

“That was so kind of you, Pap,” he replied, getting up. He started to dress. “You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

Not waiting for his brother’s footsteps to disappear completely, Sans gripped the key. From one second to the next, he found himself face to face with a door. A look around revealed he was, indeed, at the back of his house and for the briefest of moments he let his incredulous feeling about the fact there was a door at the back of his house this entire time that he had somehow forgotten flood through him. He shoved the emotion away and inserted the key into the lock.

It turned.

With a click, the door unlocked and swung open to reveal stairs that led down into some unknown space. Swiping his hand over the light switch, the lights flickered on as he took the stairs as quickly as he dared. He didn’t have time to be leisurely.

He stepped into a sparse lab.

Relief was weird in this situation but he had no time to really explore. Trying the drawers, he found they were easy to pull all the way out and he placed all of them on the counter. It would have to be enough for a test this run.

He pulled at the world, appearing in the kitchen doorway. He walked nonchalant to the table, sitting down as his brother noticed him right on time.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

“Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have.”

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

The smile came easily as he rested his chin on his palm. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him and Sans grinned at his brother and commented, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something in that loud voice of his but it was nothing more than background noise in his head.

All his thoughts were centered on the lab. If the lab was outside the temporal loop, it would give him someplace private to work. He would have to test a few things to see if items placed in the space became separate from the loop like the pockets of his jacket but the initial reset test was first.

He hoped that it worked; that the space was truly separate from the resets.

He put his fork down as he swallowed the bite he had been consuming, finding more comfort than revulsion in the pasta compared to earlier runs, and keyed in to the one sided conversation.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he interjected, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Papyrus hadn’t really touched his own place and Sans’s smile grew a bit more endearing. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

Stepping out of the house, Sans took the moment to look towards the underground’s ceiling. Seemed to be his habit now, but the claustrophobia that poked at his soul was more of a comfort than a nuisance. Kinda like Papyrus’s spaghetti. Sans had stopped being claustrophobic within the first 10 resets but the phantom memory of its choking grip helped make him feel not so crazy.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?”

Sans lulled his head to the side to look lazily at his brother, a soft smile on his face. “Yeah, bro,” he spoke. “Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him with a soft smile belaying his amusement and fondness. His brother’s reactions never changed and he looked forward to each one coming.

Slowly but surely the timeline progressed and Sans found no flaws in the script. He sighed, trudging through the snow through Snowdin. If he was right, his brother will be finishing up his interaction with the human soon, meaning that Sans was going to be needed for his comic relief here in a bit.

“Sans.”

Sans jumped, whipping around to stare at the path he had just walked as adrenaline prickled the magic along his bones. He frantically searched for the voice that had just whispered in his ear but there was no one near him in the softly drifting snow, not to mention that his foot prints were the only ones in the soft powder.

“Hurry.”

Dread drenched his bones in ice as he spun around to face the path leading to where Papyrus and the human were supposed to be having their “confrontation”. There was no one there but the urgency in the voice had caused such a reaction that Sans pulled at the world frantically.

He found himself in the midst of the fog that had briefly settled over the path towards Waterfall.

“Papyrus!” he called out, his voice cracking. He swallowed and called out again. “Papyrus! Kid!”

A soft sound caught his attention and he turned, listening. Was that…was someone crying? He was fairly certain he could hear sniffling and he made his way towards it. For the briefest of moments, Papyrus and the human were on the back burner.

It didn’t matter in the end.

He came to a space that looked a bit roughened up. He could make out some of the markings in the ground to be his brother’s handy work but he couldn’t see his brother anywhere. There was a sniffle to his right and he looked over, gaze dropping towards the ground.

His soul stopped as the human looked up at him.

The blaster went off without him even realizing he had summoned it, the red of his brother’s scarf shining bright in the human’s dust covered hands.

Spoiler: Chapter 5

He hit the floor with a thud, magic reeling as he jumped to his feet and found himself not in the middle of the path to Waterfall, but in his room with his magic solidifying into attacks all around him.

The pounding on his door made him jump for the first time in a very long time.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he automatically replied, his voice not even quaking as he noticed the back of his sockets stung.

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!” his brother countered. “TIME TO GET UP!”

“That was so kind of you, Pap. You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

He rubbed at his sockets to make the stinging go away only to find his hand wet with the magical equivalent of tears for skeletons. He grabbed at the nearest cloth and rubbed vigorously at his face to rid the traces of him crying.

He collapsed to his knees, shaking, as he choked on a sob. Stars above, the human had killed. The human had killed his brother and he had been too late. He had been-

He took in a sharp breath, shoving the random piece of laundry aside and grabbed at his coat. He yanked out the notebook and let it fall open.

r25 – kid killed pap
reset after i took kid out – still bedroom
disembodied voice sent me after pap and kid – may be going crazy
have to warn pap

He shoved the notebook back into its pocket and teleported down to the kitchen. “Pap, we need to talk.”

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

Dread rushed through him. “No, Papyrus, I’m serious. We need to talk.”

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

He flinched, swallowing hard at another wave of tears. He resisted pressing the heel of a hand against his left socket. There was no use in crying and he could ignore the growing headache. “Papyrus, please.”

The plate of spaghetti was placed before his spot and Sans gave into the script with a dejected sigh, sitting down. “This looks great, Pap,” he offered meekly. “Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something in that loud voice of his but it was nothing more than background noise in his head.

He went through the motions of eating a few bites before putting his fork down and cutting in to the one sided conversation when he was supposed to.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he interjected, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

There was no change when they stepped out of the house when compared to the other timelines. Sans let his head fall back, feeling far more exhausted than he should probably be.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?”

He looked to his brother. “Yeah, bro,” he spoke. “Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him. As they traversed along the path, Sans wondered what would happen if he just killed the kid outright. Would it do anything? He could try for a few runs. Would make him feel better. Would be an interesting experiment as well, all things considered. But if the kid was killed and the world reset, did that answer whether it was the kid or an object that was manipulating the timeline? Probably not but, as he found himself face down on his mattress, he fought the urge to unleash as much magic he had into the surrounding space and destroy it. It wasn’t like it was going to stay that way.

He wallowed in the emotion and urge for far longer than he probably should have. With a sigh, Sans sat up and grabbed his jacket. He pulled the notebook out and it fell open. He plucked the pen from the notebook and wrote:

r26 – warning pap was pointless
abnormal reset, unknown cause – still bedroom

There was pounding on his door.

The resets were consistent with only one thing after that: their restart point. For whatever reason, Sans always found himself waking to the view of his mattress. He wondered how long that would be as he sat up and grabbed for his jacket. His fingers tangled in the fabric and he pulled it close enough to get the notebook out. It fell open, revealing well worn pages and nearly half a book filled with scrawls. He picked up the pen he was using and filled in the new entry.

r102 – neutral
kid’s controlling resets, dt involved

Hey, at least something new had happened, but the information was not comforting to say the least. There was nothing he could do. He had done a good amount of researching in hopes of discovering what it was that was causing all the resetting but any information he had been able to locate was limited. It would seem, though, that he had some amount of knowledge on the subject, even if he couldn’t even remember a life outside the resets.

His nonexistent stomach gnawed at him. Must be time for breakfast.

Sure enough, there was pounding on his door.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he replied.

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO! TIME TO GET UP!”

“That was so kind of you, Pap. You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

He listened to his brother’s footsteps just because he could. As they disappeared down the stairs, he stood up and dressed. He was glad he didn’t have to worry about laundry, though it would make for a bit of entertainment. He wondered what would happen if he went down in the wrong cloths?

No, wait, he had tried that already. Somewhere before the 100th mark if he wasn’t mistaken. He had tried both the craziest outfit he could think of and no outfit at all. Somewhere between his bedroom and the kitchen, he would be washed with a sense of vertigo and suddenly be in his proper attire. A shame, really. He would have loved to have been able to get odd reactions out of the kid.

Breakfast transpired as it always did but he was glad for the food. Even tasted good this time around. That or he had officially lost his sense of taste. Would not surprise him.

Kid came out covered in dust.

He sighed, rubbing at his face. Whelp, it would seem that this run wasn’t going to be a pacifist run either. At least there hadn’t been a true genocide run yet. While he had taken the kid out a few times, he had found it futile. Kid reset almost instantly every time he hit outside the script. Though, that did leave him rather concerned. When exactly was he permitted to actually try and take the kid out? Was he just meant to stand by idly and watch the kid take everyone out?

Papyrus hadn’t been touched in runs and Sans hoped it stayed that way.

It seemed his 1 HoPe was working against him.

Everyone was dust.

From the ruins to Snowdin, there wasn’t a single monster left that hadn’t been taken out by the kid. All that had been warned in time had evacuated to New Home but those that had remained behind were no more. A phantom presence walked beside him as he trekked after the kid towards the spot his brother would be confronting them at. He tried hard not to look at the figment of his imagination. Right now, the fake presence seemed to sooth some part of his frayed nerves about the situation.

He was fairly certain that meant he had long since lost his mind in all this.

He arrived in time to see the final action taken by the human and Sans couldn’t help but hold his breath. A make or break decision, the one decision he was fearing.

The kid spared Papyrus.

Sans released his breath, nearly sobbing. For one more reset, Papyrus lived.

The world reset after the kid had passed through the Judgment Hall.

r184 – neutral
phantom presence prior to Papyrus being killed.
presumably, asgore took the kid out
there potentially two personalities or something? a difference between pacifist and homicidal?

Sans ran a hand over his skull. He wondered how many resets he would have to go through to find out the answer to that particular question.

r192 – first true genocide – reset point judgment hall
kid easily taken out

r194 – genocide – judgment hall
kid’s only resetting back far enough to take me on

208 – genocide – judgment hall
kid lasted quite a bit this go round – got a bit worried in there
glad i don’t actually have to eat or anything

246 – genocide – judgment hall
i think the kid’s learning my moved but i can’t seem to remember what i do in the previous timeline to change things up

r287 – genocide – judgment hall
kid’s learning the attacks i'm repeating

r302 – genocide – judgment hall
i miss pap

346 – genocide – judgment hall
kid got close to killing me

r386 – genocide - judgment hall
kid killed me

His hand was shaking so bad that he wasn’t even sure if his note was even legible. He still felt as if he was dusting on the spot. He lost some meal he didn’t remember having, expelled magic splattering against the golden tile.

His breath was shaky but he could feel the kid. After so long, he knew where exactly in the hall the kid was at all times. He straightened up, gritting his teeth against the need to vomit, to run, to cry as the kid started to approach their place.

He appeared before the kid like always, spoke to the kid like always. His speech had shortened to something pathetic. Seemed his script adapted with time.

He managed to kill the kid.

He woke face first in his mattress.

He jolted upright, bewildered. What-

Throwing himself to the side, Sans grabbed at his jacket and pulled it to him. He yanked out the notebook and opened it roughly. There, laid out in poor scrawling, were all the resets where the kid had been fighting him, even his last note of the kid having killed him.

Sans shuddered, working to forget that. He ran a hand over his face, trying to deny the fact that his hand was shaking before he picked up the pen and wrote the next entry.

r387 – genocide - bedroom
killed the kid, been a while since this reset point

The pounding on his door made him jump, a Gaster Blaster materializing at his side in the blink of an eye, ready to fire.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

Sans blinked at the door as the words fell out without his bidding. “Five more minutes, Pap.” He had forgotten…

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!” his brother countered. “TIME TO GET UP!”

“That was so kind of you, Pap. You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

Relief was weird as he listened to his brother’s footfall disappear down the stairs. He had been through so many runs with the kid trying to kill him that, one, he was clearly still jumpy and, two, he had forgotten what he had been fighting for. He had forgotten about Papyrus. It would seem being stuck in a script meant he stopped listening to the words he said.

He dressed quickly and teleported downstairs. His appearance was right on time and his brother glanced his way as he entered the kitchen.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

“Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have.” The words were playful and urging and he filled them with as much love and adoration as he could muster. It was all he could do, especially seeing as he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or if this was an actual reset at the moment.

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

The smile came easily and true as he beamed at his brother. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans happily dug in, feeling as if he hadn’t eaten in days. It tasted like heaven. “This is great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking. Sans listened, absorbing every word like it was the first time, letting the melody of his brother’s boisterous voice fill him. But, like everything else, there was a time limit.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he interjected, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans took the moment to take in the town. It left him feeling nostalgic to see the town so full of life. He couldn’t even remember the last run he had seen this.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?”

He looked to Papyrus, smiling. “Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him, completely content with the moment. As they traversed along the path, Sans greeted those they passed joyously. Eventually, they reached the point where Sans went on ahead by himself. Here, Sans took a slow exit, keeping his brother in sight till he could no longer. With a heavy soul, he teleported to his spot.

The sound of stone grating on stone echoed through the trees and Sans had to keep from unleashing an attack right then and there. Just seeing the kid threw him back into the previous timelines and it was hard not to fight the script set out before him. But as he watched the kid, there was no dust on them and they interacted with him as if nothing had happened. As the timeline progressed, Sans started to heavily doubt this wasn’t a dream.

The timeline reset. Sans was face first against his mattress. He was so confused. Sitting up, he grabbed the notebook out of his jacket pocket and entered a new entry.

r388 – pacifist - bedroom
what in the world is going on?

He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

r389 – pacifist - bedroom
again?
shadow disappeared behind a pillar in judgment hall

r402 – genocide – judgment hall
pacifist and neutral runs may have been reprieve?

r426 – neutral - bedroom
kid’s messing with me
multiple personalities or different kid in same body, not sure which i want to actually be right

r438 – genocide – judgment hall
kid’s at it again

r442 – genocide – bedroom

r449 – neutral – bedroom

r453 – pacifist – bedroom
pacifist – frisk

r468 – genocide – judgment hall

r503 – genocide - bedroom
homicide – chara

He closed the notebook, frowning at it. So there was one question half answered. It would seem the human had two personalities at minimum and two souls at max. He wasn’t which of those he preferred but he knew one thing:

He hated Chara.

r526 – pacifist – bedroom
black mass following me – vanishes when i focus on it, always there out of the corner of socket

Frisk was a sweet, caring kid with a soul of gold and seemed to much prefer being a pacifist than a murderer. Chara was like their shadow, their evil twin. When Chara was the one in control of the run, Sans found that the script was changing around their dialogue. Frisk never really talked. At least, not that he remembered hearing. Chara was chatty and they were getting more boisterous and cocky as the timelines progressed.

r537 – neutral – hotlands sentry station
new reset location – little weird
abnormal reset – didn’t even make it to judgment hall
mass out of corner of eye upon wake up

Chara really liked killing him over and over as time progressed.

r559 – pacifist – somewhere in waterfall
abnormal – barely passed waterfall

He was becoming numb to getting sliced across the chest.

r599 – genocide – judgment hall
25th death in a row
black thing out of corner of socket is shaped like a person now – dubbed phantom just for kicks

He was becoming numb to the feeling of dusting.

r648 – genocide – middle of snowdin forest
chara’s toying with me

Chara stepped out of the ruins this go round. There wasn’t much dust on their hands but Sans had long since discovered that amount of dust did not equate to kills.

He closed his sockets and felt what little hope he had for the timeline vanish.

r699 – genocide – bedroom
frisk is missing

He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had seen Frisk in control of the body but it was well over 100 resets and he was beginning to not care anymore. Whether personality or separate soul, Sans couldn’t tell, but he was getting real sick and tired of having Chara about, not that there was much he could do about it.

Chara was growing more vicious. They were breaking script constantly, though it seemed the script around them adapted. They had long since stopped with consistent reset locations and Sans now found himself resetting to the middle of conversations he couldn’t even remember starting. He crunched his way through the snow, fuming. Being suddenly dumped into a conversation he could handle, but Chara seemed get under his skin and he didn’t even have any! It was infuriating on how just a few words from the psychopath would drive him up the wall where others saying similar things would hardly draw his attention. A bad run prior and the psychopath reset back to the edge of some conversation Sans derailed because he was still in fight mode. Made a scene and everything and he couldn’t help but wallow in annoyance and self pity for the small stretch of privacy had had hiking through Snowdin forest before teleporting home.

Out of the corner of his socket, the phantom was sitting on top of an outcropping of rock. Sans ignored it, even as he got a whiff of cigarette smoke as he stepped passed.

With a voice shifting from a soft, deep voice to something airy and high only to settle halfway between at the end, the phantom challenged, “Babysitting’s a pain, ain’t it?”

It was like something snapped within him. Whether the blasted thing was real or not, regardless if the voice was nothing more than in his head trying to keep him somewhat sane in all this chaos, he retaliated. His left pupil burst to life with magic and he pulled at the snow around him. Creating snowballs magically was difficult. They were flimsy but put well enough together that they held form for what he needed. The phantom dodged one but the second one had the phantom leaning to the right, arm coming up to protect its face though there was none for Sans to really see. There was no rock to put a hand on and it fell off the outcrop it had been sitting on. Sans chucked snowball after snowball at it even as it laughed and tried to get away from him. It slipped and he chucked a snowball at the tree. It impacted with enough force that a branch unloaded a heap of snow onto the phantom.

Hands buried deep inside his jacket, hood fur brushing his cheeks, he walked over to the phantom as his left pupil returned to normal. Odd, he never thought that his phantom would actually be real enough for snowballs to have effect. But looking at the phantom made it vanish for whatever reason so even now his gaze was off to one side as the phantom sat up. It shifted and he got the sudden sense that it was beaming at him. It was an odd feeling and the supposed smile was rather contagious. If nothing else, it made him realize how childish he had been. He reached down, feeling stupid for helping up a figment of his imagination but finding it too late to pull back his hand.

The phantom hand felt solid in his and it was like a veil was removed from his mind as he pulled – for whatever use it would be – and helped the figure up. Standing before him was a solid person dressed in attire that did not fit the situation and with one too many layers to have him comfortable. The figure’s gloved hand left his, the fabric as white as the shirt the figure wore. Though mostly a black suit, the overcoat and pants were clearly a different black to the coat and shoes, both of which were a blue based black. It rather made his head hurt trying to think about it. The tie was a dark red to the point of being black and the vest was, thankfully, gray. He hadn’t even been aware there were so many variants of black. Made the figure’s red hair stand out even more, even with a mask on the phantom’s head rather than their face. Speaking of, Sans wasn’t even sure if he was speaking to a person of gender or not. They were clearly human and as solid as he was, but he was fairly certain they were not real. If they were real, though, then something was definitely wrong with the world he was in.

The figure beamed at him, chuckling, and he couldn’t help the smile in return. The veil leaving had him remembering the phantom’s presence and though a headache grew beneath his temples, he was glad that he at least already knew the phantom to some extent. For one, he knew they were an absolute snarky dork and it was a relief to have some humor in all this, even if it came from his own broken mind.

“Better?” the figure asked.

He shrugged. “More or less. Yer a pain in the ass, you know that?”

The figure laughed and Sans felt less stupid talking to himself for it. “Hey, you’re looking at me outright now so I’m not complaining.”

Sans’s expression fell as he took stock of his memories, the figure pulling a new cigarette out of somewhere and lighting it. Sure enough, whatever had been preventing him from perceiving the figure had lifted. He could recall every instant he had seen them, which brought to mind, “Who and what are you exactly? Are you really a figment of my imagination or are you something more?”

The figure took a drag of their cigarette as he spoke. They pulled the cigarette from between their lips and slowly released the smoke. “How bout we go somewhere more comfortable to talk, shall we?”

From one instant to the next, Sans found himself sitting at Grillby’s bar with not a monster in sight. Sans found his hand around a bottle of ketchup and his companion sitting beside him, taking another long drag from their cigarette as they traced the rim of a glass full of some sort of alcohol.

Sans gave them a look and they chuckled, releasing the pull they had taken. “You’d be surprised on what I can do, Sans. After all, I am both real and a figment of your imagination.” His look shifted to a flat one and the figure had the gall to actually laugh at him. He got waved off as the figure rested their chin on their palm, elbow braced on the counter. “I am here for none but you, Sans. We’re going to get well acquainted while you’re here.”

A frown pulled at his teeth. “What do you mean?”

The figure’s expression quickly became serious. “Your world is going to start decaying if it hasn’t already. You’ll be noticing it more as time progresses. A single timeline can handle only so much manipulation and you know that.”

He did. For whatever reason, what the figure was saying was both new and old news to him. Thing was, he had never really thought too heavily on that particular information before and now that he had, he felt stupid for not having thought of it. He downed half of the ketchup bottle in one go. It tasted weird after so long of not drinking it. He made a face. He was losing his enjoyment of the condiment and the thought was mildly depressing.

“I am only repeating what you already know, Sans,” the figure reminded him as the bottom of the bottle connected with the counter.

“Do you know how it’s all going to end?” he tested, looking their way. The figure only had eyes for the glass they were rolling about on its rim.

“I’m not omniscient, Sans,” the figure drawled, their words suddenly sharp. Sans flinched from the sudden change. “I only know what you know and what you pretend not to know. I point out things from an outsider’s position because you asked for it.”

The ketchup bottle paused nearly to his teeth and he blinked, processing that. He slowly lowered the bottle, frowning. “What do you mean?” he asked, his voice coming off a bit gravelly. “I never asked for this.”

The figure smirked and Sans tensed. The edges of the room started to dim unnaturally and the figure sat up straight. “Whelp, would seem our time is up.” They looked back at him, raising their glass in a toast as they offered, “You asked for answers. This is your mind’s way of giving them to you. Good luck understanding them. You’ll need it.”

Spoiler: Chapter 6

Sans woke up face down on his mattress. He bolted upright, looking about.

Nobody was there.

Relaxing a bit, he grabbed his notebook and let it fall open.

r700 – neutral - bedroom
met my phantom – not sure how i feel about that – real or am i going mad?

“Fairly certain you’re mad.”

Sans nearly leapt out of his cloths, taking a tumble to the clothing covered floor. There was a string of giggles from somewhere but as he pushed himself into a seated position, his brother pounded on the door.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he replied, eyes roaming his room.

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!” his brother countered. “TIME TO GET UP!”

He got up slowly, anticipating something but not overly sure what. “That was so kind of you, Pap. You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

Sans took the chance and glanced at the door as Papyrus left. As he turned back around, he gave an undignified yelp and fell backwards, tripping over laundry. There was a dull thud of his body hitting the floor.

Another string of giggles, this set completely different from the other and it was unnerving. “Seems you’re a touch jumpy there, Sans.”

Sans glared at the figure. “I think I preferred not being able to look at you. Or remember you,” he grumbled, working to stand up. The figure held out a hand and, after a brief bit of consideration, Sans took the held up. The figure passed him his coat and notebook and he took them without a word.

“You’d get curious eventually,” the figure countered, their voice some odd vocal range muffled by a rather creepy mask. Sans did his best to keep his eyes on the figure. There was a quirk to the following words that made Sans think the figure was grinning. “I like ‘phantom’. Close to my name already, I’m impressed.”

“You’re name is similar to phantom,” Sans asked, not believing the figure as he pulled on a proper shirt.

The figure huffed, amused, and suddenly there was a name in Sans’s head. He froze, pupils pinpricks as they focused on the figure. The mask’s grin seemed to grow.

“How did you do that?” he asked, the words breathless.

Fate – for Sans found it hard to call them anything other than that now – shrugged nonchalant. “I am both real and a figment of your imagination, Sans. I’m able to do a many number of things. Interacting with others is not one of them, though.”

Sans stilled, coat halfway on. He shrugged it on completely as he asked, “So if we show up in public, no one else will see you?”

“Correct,” Fate confirmed, opening Sans’s bedroom door. “As much as I can interact with the word around you, I cannot interact with it where others can see me. In fact, I’ll disappear much as I had prior to your, ah, acceptance of the situation.”

Sans gave a huff of a laugh, lacking any real amusement with the situation. “Great. Let me guess, it has something to do with the script?”

Fate shrugged again as they led the way down the stairs. “More of being a figment of your imagination is limiting.”

Sans frowned but Fate vanished as he approached the kitchen. One instant they were there, the next they were gone, and Sans was left with an odd sensation of having walked into a room and having completely forgotten why he was there in the first place. And it was just the sensation, which was even weirder. Sans was glad he was on the edge of the script’s time limit seeing as it didn’t leave him time to dwell on the sensation.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

“Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have,” he commented, taking his normal seat with a glance around.

No Fate in sight.

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

The smile came easily as he looked at his brother. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans speared a forkful as he offered, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking. Sans let his brother’s voice become noise in his skull, drowning out any thoughts he may have had.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he interjected without thinking, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans took the moment to take in the town. Everything looked the same but there was still no sign of Fate. Not sure what he felt about that, he let his gaze wander to the ceiling.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?”

He looked to Papyrus, smiling. “Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him. He didn’t see Fate again till he was making his way to the ruin doors. They just suddenly appeared beside him, their footfall crunching softly beside his own.

“Enjoy yer time away?” he asked, only slightly bitter at the fact that he had been startled. Again.

“To an extent,” Fate offered as a sort of nonanswer. Sans didn’t pry.

He looked up at the branch he normally occupied. After a moment, he asked, “So what are they? Multiple personalities or two separate souls?”

Fate hummed, though Sans felt it didn’t bode well for the answer. “I haven’t the faintest clue.”

Sans closed his sockets, not surprised. “Of course not. How long are you planning on sticking about?” He turned, looking to Fate, only to find the figure gone. He let out a sigh. “Guess that answers one question.”

He teleported to his branch and settled in, watching the door.

Chara stepped out coated in dust.

“How long have you been in this loop?” Fate asked during a lull. For whatever reason, Chara had wandered off rather than take Sans on in their current marathon of genocide fights. Sans was not complaining. He was rather enjoying the reprieve from death sitting in Grillby’s empty bar, ketchup bottle in hand. He was in denial about actually being grateful for Fate’s presence.

Sans ran a hand over his skull, doing the rough math. “From what I’ve been tracking and if I’m mathing correctly, you’re name came about the month mark, so I’ve been in this temporal loop somewhere just over a month. Probably close to a week, if I’m calculating all this right without paper. Or a calculator.”

Fate seemed to be a statue at his side, unmoving and solid. “And have you gotten any actual sleep in this last week?”

Sans shrugged, not really caring. Something had changed in the kid. Ever since he had gained knowledge of Fate’s name, everything has gone downhill. Chara had become even more vicious and in what Sans could perceive as a week, he had been through more than 160 resets, with the kid going at him like a bat out of hell. Sans had stopped keeping track of the resets somewhere in there.

The worst part of it all was that Sans was now getting to see Frisk but it was only when Chara was supposed to take a final hit or when Chara wanted to tease him with a pacifist run. There had been such an odd spattering of pacifist runs that, had he not been taking notes as he was, he would just think them nothing more than hopeful dreams. It was just becoming too much and he was starting to shut down.

“The last run’s coming.”

Sans gave a dry chuckle as he raised the bottle to his lips, commenting sarcastically, “I didn’t realize this was all coming to an end.”

It wasn’t overly true but there had always been the possibility of him never getting out. To hear Fate say that the last run was coming only seemed to confirm what he had been seeing; the loop was finally destabilizing. However, what that meant for him when it all came crashing down was a mystery. Still, he was looking forward to something other than this.

The bottom of the bottle touched the counter again.

“I won’t be there for the rest of them.”

Sans snapped his gaze to his companion. Through the past week Fate had been by his side doing their best to keep him from going completely insane. He had become dependent on Fate’s calm presence and it was all he could do to not break at that simple statement.

“What?” he croaked, his hand clenching the bottle like a lifeline. “Why?”

Fate gave a nonchalant, one shoulder shrug. “If I had the choice, I’d stick around, but for whatever reason, our interactions are going to diminish till I’m no longer around and you’ll be on your own.”

Sans wasn’t sure what he felt at the moment. He threw back the rest of the ketchup but he didn’t taste it.

“I’m sorry.”

Sans whipped around, glaring at Fate. “Sorry?” he snapped. “You’re sorry?! Why would you be sorry for ditching my sorry ass in my time of need?”

Fate’s expression closed off and they reached a hand towards him. “Sans, calm down.”

The edges of the room were beginning to dim.

“No!” he barked, slipping from the stool. “I have every right to be pissed right now. You are supposed to be a figment of my imagination and yer just going to ditch me. What? Is my own mind bailing on me now? Is my own sanity throwing in the towel with the finish line finally in sight?”

“Of course not,” Fate retorted, their voice settling into a vocal pitch and pattern that felt far too familiar. Sans instinctively shied away from it. “I have no idea why I’m not getting to stick around. I’m not getting to choose.” They jabbed a finger at him. “You are having me leave.”

Sans’s pupils went out.

“What?” he asked, his voice level.

Fate scoffed. “You said it yourself; I’m a figment of your imagination. My staying and leaving has to do with what you have decided on and, for whatever reason, you’ve decided to do this last bit on your own.”

“No I didn’t,” he spoke, his volume soft.

Fate’s only grew louder. “Yes you did!” they bellowed, throwing an arm to the side in frustration before pointing at him again. “You, by yourself, made the decision to get answers without relying on others! You. No one else.” Fate drew back their hand, curling it into a fist as they visibly fought to bring themself back under control. Sans was rather grateful the mask was currently a hat on their red hair. Fate focused on him and there was regret in their gaze. “Sans, you made the choice to do this on your own. You chose to turn away the offered hands.”

Sans tore his gaze away, the back of his sockets stinging. “You’re lying,” he croaked.

Fate gave a weak smile. “And you’re in denial,” they countered, almost gently. “I haven’t left yet so let’s keep going till we can’t go anymore.”

Sans closed his sockets letting the darkness engulf him without responding.

He found himself face down on his mattress.

He closed his sockets, just being in his exhaustion for the brief moment he could. He must have dozed off because the pounding on his door woke him.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he replied with a yawn. He could really use a good night’s sleep, actually. How long had it been since he had gotten one?

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO! TIME TO GET UP!”

He couldn’t remember.

“That was so kind of you, Pap. You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

He listened to his brother’s footsteps disappear and he settled against his mattress, closing his sockets with the intent to get some sleep.

“You’d best get up and dressed, Sans,” Fate spoke, appearing without a sound.

Sans didn’t respond.

Fate let out a sigh. “The timeline will force you along, Sans, and you’ll be worse for wear if you have it force you.”

Sans didn’t dignify that with a response. He wasn’t fighting the script. He was simply catching some Zs where he could and right now was the best time.

Fate sighed again but said nothing more on the matter.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

Sans opened his sockets, finding himself sitting in his seat at the kitchen dressed. He let out a soft sigh, sad that his nap was now over.

“Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have,” he spoke, the words taking their own inflection.

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

The smile appeared on his face as he looked at his brother. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans offered, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking. Sans let his brother’s voice become noise in his skull, a soothing melody for his tired mind. As much as he had got offended at the thought of Fate throwing in the white towel with the end in sight, he was rather tempted to do just that. Apathy, depression, something had settled in his soul and he just didn’t care enough anymore to put effort in the parts that mattered. This part mattered, this part was important. There was no telling if this would be the last time he would get to see his brother and even that thought wasn’t enough for him do even put in effort to do the next line proper.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he stated, unintentional words bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans watched Papyrus, watched as the skeleton closed the door, locked it, checked it, and then trekked over to his side. He took in every motion, every shift in Papyrus’s form but felt he couldn’t truly appreciate this moment as he should.

Stars above, he was tired.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?”

He looked up at his brother’s face, smiling softly. “Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him. The journey was normal and uneventful. They parted ways and Sans took up his spot near the stone doors leading into the ruins.

The sound of stone grating on stone filled the forest.

Sans wasn’t sure if he was seeing things right. For the first time in what felt like forever, Sans was watching Frisk exit the ruins. Though as unusual as it was – and despite how much it put him on edge – Sans went through the motions.

To his complete surprise and utter relief, it really was Frisk. The kid giggled at his lame jokes, was enthusiastic to be friends with his brother, and, for the first time in a very long time, Sans got to experience a Pacifist run all the way through. When he woke face down on his mattress after the barrier supposedly broke, he woke feeling rather refreshed. He picked up his notebook and opened it.

“Don’t forget about the run prior,” Fate voiced from some corner. Sans didn’t look their way but the reminder was welcomed and he quickly put in the two entries.

r874 – genocide - bedroom
loop’s decaying – maybe this will actually end
fate’s leaving for whatever reason – not ok with this

r875 – pacifist - bedroom
it was so nice to see frisk after so long

“You do seem well rested after this last run,” Fate commented but Sans chose not to acknowledge them as he dressed.

There was pounding on his door as he pulled his coat on.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he replied with a smile. It was odd how he felt so rejuvenated after a good run. He really needed to figure out how to not get quite so depressed. Eh, that required effort on his part and, really, he was quite content on just staying in the pleasant joy of the previous run

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO! TIME TO GET UP!”

He grinned, speaking honestly, “That was so kind of you, Pap. You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

He listened to his brother’s footsteps disappear down the stairs before following after on soft feet.

“It’s odd to see you so cheerful,” Fate commented, though it sounded like they were talking to themself rather than Sans. “I wonder what caused the change in mood. Could a pacifist run really cause that much change in a person’s mood? Well, I guess after having given up, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Fate’s mutterings slowly faded out of hearing as Sans made his way to the kitchen. He stood in the doorway watching his brother work, letting the timing catch up.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

“Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have,” he spoke, the words endearing as he stepped into the kitchen and took his designated seat. He was rather hungry and was looking forward to breakfast spaghetti.

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

He grinned. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans wound a forkful as he offered, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking. Sans happily listened to his brother talk, not really listening to the words but enjoying the sound of his brother’s voice rising and falling with each word.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he stated, unintentional words bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt. Aw, pity. He was enjoying the moment.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans looked to the town. The previous timeline had been wonderful and, though he hadn’t seen the surface, it certainly had felt like they had made it. Odd. Why wasn’t he paranoid that it was going to be another genocide run now? He couldn’t remember what had happened to have such an effect on him. Eh, he didn’t really care.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?”

He looked up at his brother’s face, smiling. “Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans happily trailed behind him. Greetings and conversations were exchanged and Sans continued to be relaxed and happy through it all.

The sound of stone grating on stone filled the forest and Sans watched from his perch with an excitement rolling through him. A part of him – the part that still fully remembered the numerous genocide runs that had a pacifist run only to toy with him – was on edge but it was drowned out by this excitement.

Frisk stepped out of the ruins and Sans grinned.

“Five runs in a row,” Fate commented as Sans watched Frisk disappear towards Hotlands. “Five runs, all pacifist.”

Sans was still attempting to give Fate the cold shoulder but so many good runs had eased whatever hurt he had felt. “Maybe it’ll end this way.”

Fate hummed but there was a note to it that cut through his good mood and brought reality crashing back down around him. Suddenly overwhelmed, Sans reached for anything to keep him upright. His hand found Fate’s arm as the figure moved to help him. Fate eased him to the floor. “Stars above, what am I doing,” he breathed, shaking.

“Coming to terms with reality,” Fate spoke gently. Sans looked up at them as they pushed the mask up onto the top of their head. “The end is coming. This is a farewell, of sorts, from Frisk, and a sort of play from Chara.”

Sans choked, clasping his hand over his teeth. He wasn’t sure if he was going to sob or be sick.

“This is the last time you’ll see Frisk.”

Sobbing it was.

In some isolated tunnel of Waterfall, Sans sobbed. His muffled cries echoed off the walls and his entire body shook as he grieved. This was it. This was the end. His mind had created euphoria to keep him together through the last good run and he had gladly gone along with it.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

Eventually, he calmed down. Fate wasn’t present but that was no surprise. The figure – true to their word – was appearing less and less. At least Fate had been there for this, to wake him from his dreaming. Pushing himself to his feet, he did his best to look as if he hadn’t been sobbing on the ground and teleported to his Hotland sentry station.

He was grateful when the world reset.

He wasn’t sure he would have been able to fake it for the kid much longer.

He pushed himself up from his mattress, feeling exhausted. He started to dress, finding that it was going to be a slow process as he did so. Whelp, it was a good thing that there was a script. Otherwise he was certain that even his brother would notice Sans’s depression.

There was pounding on his door.

“SANS! TIME TO GET UP!”

“Five more minutes, Pap,” he called out, the words taking the default inflections of the script as he tried to figure out how to pull on shorts without falling over. He was too tired for this and just wanted to curl up on his mattress and block out the world.

“YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO! TIME TO GET UP!”

Stupid script.

“That was so kind of you, Pap. You’re the best.”

“OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!!”

He sat down on the edge of his mattress to pull the shorts on. It seemed the safest thing to do as long as he was able to get himself back up. He stilled with his shorts barely over his knees. Stars above, why did it have to be so difficult?

“Come on, Sans,” Fate’s voice softly coaxed as the figure appeared. “Keep moving. You have to.”

Sans watched as Fate stood him up and helped him pull his shorts all the way up but there was a disconnect and Sans didn’t care. He was too tired. “What’s the point?” he asked meekly, as Fate pulled his shirt off. Apparently it had been inside out.

“You give up now, and Chara wins.” Fate put his shirt back on before cupping his cheek and getting him to look at the figure. “You give up now, and you’ll never wake up again.”

Sans frowned at Fate’s words. That sounded rather cryptic. “Wouldn’t that be a good thing?”

Fate stepped away and passed Sans his coat. “No, it wouldn’t. You would be condemning your brother to a fate worse than a temporal loop.”

Sans flinched, taking the coat. “Not sure there’s anything worse than this.”

“You’d be surprised.”

Sans frowned as the coat settled on his shoulders. It wasn’t sitting right. He shifted one side and then the other till he realized what was wrong. Odd how panic was the first reaction he had. “Where’s the notebook.”

“I took it.”

Sans looked up, finding the notebook in Fate’s hands. He felt his own hands twitch with the need to take it back, to write in it. Fate gave him a strained smile. “You don’t need it anymore, Sans. And it would be best to break the habit now.”

“But I need it.” Sans was both astounded and embarrassed when the words not only came out sounding like whining, but his voice cracked too.

Fate’s expression didn’t change. “No you don’t. The end is near, after all.”

Sans reached out but there was a heavy sense of vertigo and he found himself in the kitchen, reaching out towards empty air.

Fate was gone, and so was his notebook.

“BROTHER!! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT!! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!!!”

Sans jerked, startled by his brother’s voice. “Aw, bro, you shouldn’t have,” came off his tongue without his bidding. He did choose to sit, though.

“NONSENSE!!!” Papyrus exclaimed. “BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE.”

He gripped at the edge of the table, feeling oddly anxious without the notebook in his pocket. “Sure, bro. Whatever you say.”

Maybe Fate was right.

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans offered, “This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch.”

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking, though his voice was nothing more than background noise in Sans’s skull. He dutifully ate as he tried to calm himself down. Fate had a reason for taking the notebook away. There was a reason he needed to be without it for the remainder of the resets.

His hand twitched around his fork.

“Hey, bro, shouldn’t we get going?” he stated, bringing Papyrus’s train of thought to a halt.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!” Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!!”

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans looked to the ceiling in hopes to sooth his anxiety somehow. It helped to be out of the house, at least, but the pocket normally holding the notebook felt empty around his hand. He clenched the inside of the pocket and tried to get his focus elsewhere.

“BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?”

He looked up at his brother’s face, giving him a strained smile. “Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn’t quite done with me this morning.” Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. “I honestly can’t ‘sand’ the guy.”

Papyrus threw his hands up. “SANS!!! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!!!!”

Sans’s grin grew. “Don’t worry, Pap, I’m ‘morning’ that one too.”

“UGH!!!” Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him, not sure he was going to be able to survive without it.

It turned out that he could, to an extent. Chara exited the ruins and Sans could already tell it was going to be a genocide run just by the glint in the kid’s eye. Sure enough, they ended up in Judgment Hall facing each other and reset after reset of them having at each other erased all memory of anything else that had been part of his world before their fight.

The world reset for who knew how many times. Sans was leaning against a pillar, empty sockets pointed towards the ceiling. He could feel it, deep down in his bones. This was it, this was the last run. For whatever reason, this last fight would end this temporal loop for better or for worse and Sans desperately prayed that it would bring blessed death. He was tired of it all, tired of the resets, tired of the same dialogue, tired of the same sensation of dusting from getting hit once.

He was done with this game.

Chara started walking towards him from the other end of the hall and Sans closed his sockets. He was certain that the kid would be vibrating with excitement. Chara seemed to know what was coming with how much their glee increased with each reset.

Sadly, true to Fate’s word, the figure wasn’t there. Hadn’t been in a good handful of resets. He still touched the pocket where the notebook had been but the urge to write in it every reset had finally left. He only wished he had it so that he knew precisely when the last time he had seen Fate. Not that it changed anything. Fate wasn’t there and knowing wouldn’t change that fact.

Sans pulled at the world gently, appearing before Chara. The kid was grinning at him, visibly bouncing from foot to foot in a display of excitement that made Sans sneer.

“Let’s get this over with,” he spoke, though he wasn’t sure if it was true to script or not as the kid charged at him.

Sans was surprised when the kid took a few hits. He was fairly certain that the kid had come out of their last encounter nearly unscathed as he succumbed to the wound they inflicted. But the kid kept coming at him, using health items here and there to keep from having their health diminish completely.

Sans threw in his all at taking the kid out.

It turned out to be for naught.

Either he misjudged his teleportation or the kid was simply faster than he had anticipated for the blade sliced through his shirt, scrapping against his ribs enough to take off that one measly HP he had. It was pure reflex that embedded the bone in the human’s chest.

He heard their soul shatter as his world went black, the sensation of his bones dusting and his soul shattering engulfing his mind.

Spoiler: Chapter 7

The transition from nothingness to awareness was so gradual that Sans didn’t even notice till he was aware there was a difference. But, beyond just being aware, there was nothing more to it. Sans drifted through this place of nothingness with a foggy mind and no care in the world. After what could have been a second or an eternity, Sans realized something soft was against his back and that he was enveloped in warmth that was accompanied by a slight weight against his front. It took a while but his foggy mind recognized the sensations to be similar to lying in bed.

Whether it was automatic or he had the urge to do so, Sans found himself blinking bleary eyed and exhausted to a blurry view. It cleared with each blink to reveal a ceiling dimly lit. Confusion ran through his being as his brain slowly processed the information and tried to make sense of why he was staring at a ceiling.

The flash of a blade penetrated his thought process.

Panic shoved him upright as he remembered with startling clarity what had just transpired. He should be dust, no longer living. It was suppose to be over. There were supposed to be no more resets. His hand shot to his chest only to find that there was no wound there to press again and that moving was sluggish and surprisingly painful. He winced as his bones ground against each other, his magic weak around his limbs.

Something hit the floor to the left of his bed and he jerked away, magic sputtering through him as his eyes snapped to the left.

It was a bedroom, well kept and leaving a sort of itching sensation in the back of Sans’s mind, as if he should know something that just wasn’t within reach. The bed he was on was in the left corner farthest from the door in the opposite right corner. The head of the bed was against the wall opposite the door and – from where Sans was sitting – the right side of the bed was against the left wall. There was a window on the wall the head of the bed was against and other bits of furniture filled the space cluttered with knick knacks and books. The most prominent feature in the room was what had gained his attention in the first place.

A human was in a chair next to the bed, gaping at him. They blinked and whatever had been holding them back broke. The person lunged forward, calling out, “Sans! Thank the gods.”

Sans leaned away, unsure as both surprise and relief warred within him at hearing his name from a stranger’s lips. But then, the scent of a very familiar cigarette entangled itself around him as the stranger stood against the edge of the bed but not coming any closer. Sans looked up into the face of the one and only Fate.

Except, it wasn’t Fate. It wasn’t the androgynous mischief maker that had been his one and only comrade through so many horrific timelines. The man before him was clearly male. Lanky, sure, but still very clearly male. The facial hair lining the jaw looked as if he hadn’t trimmed it in a few days and the glasses were new. The green eyes were familiar but held a different light in them and the bags under them spoke loudly of restless nights. The fact that the man was wearing a beige sweater vest and light khakis spoke louder than anything else. Fate was always in their suit.

The man, regardless of being a bad copy of Fate, knew Sans’s name and appeared to be genuinely happy to see Sans awake. Sans didn’t find any comfort in that fact and finished the impulse to back up against the wall. He felt his magic give a more substantial show, his eye coming to light as he snapped, “Where’s the kid?” Thinking better of it, he added just as sharply, “And where am I?”

The man’s confused expression lasted all of two seconds before something close to defeat changed it. Sans watched as it contorted into a conflicted expression as the man shifted his weight back a step, a hand running through the back of the unruly red locks. “Sans, I…” The man sighed, dropping his hand. He stated bluntly, “Sans, you’ve been in a coma for the last 7 weeks and a handful of days. And, while what you experienced may have seemed real, it was all in your head.”

Dread was like an icy ooze that slowly made its way over Sans’s bones. Sans shook his head slowly as the man pressed on. “Everything was real. Really and truly. But it was all in your head. And I know this sounds crazy but I need you to trust me on this, Sans.” The man gave a weak smile. “I’ll answer as many of your questions as I can but I want you to do me a favor first after I get some equipment.” Sans tensed. “I want you to tell me everything you remember.”

Sans blinked at him. That was it? That was all the man wanted? But Sans’s untrusting mind couldn’t help but ask what the catch was and it must have translated to his expression because the man was putting his hands up in surrender, urging, “Please, Sans. If I don’t record this, you’ll end up forgetting something important.”

The dread had numbed him and all he could do was nod even as he thought that this was a bad idea. Still, the man relaxed and rushed off, leaving the door open as he went. Sans curled up against the wall, trying to reign in the fear that was creeping in through the numbness. Nothing was the same, nothing was familiar, and there was no one there for him to talk to. He didn’t understand. What had happened? Wasn’t he supposed to be dead? It had been the final battle, their last fight. There was nothing left for him to live for.

Something settled on Sans’s shoulder and Sans jumped, bouncing against the wall as he turned and brought up a hand already crackling with magic. The man had placed a hand on Sans’s shoulder and was quickly taking a few steps back, hands clearly in the open to show off what he had brought back. Sans wasn’t sure how to take the man’s half startled reaction.

“I brought an audio recorder, pen, and paper,” the man offered, gesturing with the items when he mentioned them. “Let me set up the recorder and we can get started.”

The man sat down in the chair beside the bed and set the recorder up on the nightstand. He picked up the book he had dropped and used it as a hard surface for the spiral notebook he had brought for paper. He took the cap off the pen and looked at Sans. “I won’t ask any questions till you’re done talking, Sans. Don’t hold anything back, no secrets, no nothing. Everything you say here will be confidential and the recording with remain between the two of us till you say otherwise.” The man gave him a smile that screamed Fate as he encouraged, “I don’t want to lose anything that you experienced to time.”

It took only a moment after that line for Sans to give in.

He talked.

And talked.

And talked.

By the time he was done, his throat was raw, his hands were shaking, and he had a headache. He just wanted to go back to sleep but something was bugging him, keeping him upright as he watched the man pull off his glasses and rub at watery eyes. He had done as the man had asked and spilled every detail Sans could remember, even the deep, dark secretive thoughts that he was sure only Fate would ever know and he doubted there was a point when the man hadn’t been writing.

Papyrus’s scarf popped into his mind unbiddingly.

The man replaced the glasses on the bridge of his nose. Closing the notebook, he placed it on the nightstand, looking Sans in the eye and stating seriously, “Look at these and answer whichever you feel need to be answered. I will not push you for answers, Sans.” The man smiled Fate’s smile again and Sans found himself believing him. “I never have and never will.” The man stood as he offered nonchalant, “I’ll send Papyrus in, in the morning.”

Sans caught the man’s wrist as he turned to leave. He knew his grip was probably painful – it was surprisingly strong, so much so that even Sans noticed – but Sans didn’t let go as his head tipped forward, casting his eyes in shadows. “Don’t,” he uttered pathetically.

There was a breath, a strain in the silence as Sans waited for the man to respond. The man placed a careful hand around Sans’s, providing, “I will be telling the others you have Dissociative Acute Amnesia. You and I have seen our fair share of this, even if you don’t remember, but, basically, it means that you don’t remember anything from before your coma. Only what you experienced in your coma dream.” The man’s grip on his hand tightened in his hesitation. “I will be telling the others not to give you any information that you don’t already know.”

Sans’s head snapped up, his eyes flickering in disbelief and betrayal. “What?!” he exclaimed. “Why!?”

The man shook his head. “It’s better for you to recover the memories on your own. Especially with this kind of amnesia. It’s going to be very frustrating for some time but, please, trust me. You have to recall things on your own. After all, you just lived through countless lifetimes.” For a brief moment, magic flared in Sans’s left eye at the reminder of all the timelines and the man’s grip on his hand grew. Sans dropped his gaze in favor of pressing his free hand against his burning eye. “I’ll also be giving the others the heads up that you’re not going to be like they remember and to be prepared to be interacted with differently.” The man smiled, offering, “I’m pretty sure you’ll recognize everyone.”

Unable to take the attempt to make him feel better, Sans shook his head as he released the man’s wrist. “I don’t remember you.” The man blinked at him. It was clear the man had already suspected as much but the hurt was not hidden well enough. Sans went with the need to correct himself. “I don’t remember you as you are. You were called Fate back in…those timelines. A figment of my imagination.”

Sans was startled when the man laughed. The man gave Sans a big grin. “My last name is Fatum, the Latin version of Fate. It’s kind of turned into a joke around the lab that you loved to exploit.” The grin softened. “You can continue to call me Fate till you remember my name. And, if you never do, you’ll either read it somewhere or one of the others will slip and end up telling you.” The man winked. “Papyrus has been eager for you to wake up, after all. He has so much he wants to tell you.”

Sans blinked up at Fate, pretending he can’t feel the sting of tears in the back of his eyes.

“Really?” Sans winced when his voice cracked. “Is that even safe, though? All I’ve been through–”

Fate cut him off, gripping both of the small skeleton’s shoulders. “You may not be the Sans we all remember, but you are still our Sans. You will always be our Sans. You are a part of the family you made around yourself and I doubt there is anything you can do to change that now.” Fate gained a sheepish look, his cheeks turning pink. “Sides, this is the third time I’ve had to drug Papyrus to get him to sleep.”

“WHAT?!”

Fate leapt back as his hands shot up. Sans’s magic flared, though it was still not as strong as it should have been. “Easy Sans,” Fate urges softly, a soft smile on his lips. Sans only bristled more when he realized that Fate was amused. At least the man had the decency to be kind about it. “Papyrus hasn’t been sleeping as of late. It’s just a soft sedative to get him to sleep on his own. It wears off in a matter of hours.”

Sans tightened his control on his frayed magic and reigned in his emotions. The thought of his brother being so vulnerable, of being injured or killed was still too fresh in his mind. Sans forced out a curt nod as he pulled his knees up towards his chest and pressed his face into them. Fate placed a hand on Sans’s shoulder again. The skeleton didn’t jump this time.

“Get some rest. I’ll send Papyrus in when you wake.”

Sans listened to Fate walk to the door and open it. When the door didn’t close, Sans brought his head up enough to look at the door. Fate was wearing a complicated look, one that Sans wasn’t sure he liked. Fate looked at him. “Take a look at my questions before you get some sleep. It would be best if you could answer some before it’s all muddled with what he may tell you tomorrow.”

Sans nodded.

The door clicked shut, leaving Sans with a sense of foreboding that made his stomach churn.

Everything he had gone through, everything he had lived through, was a lie? Just a figment of his over active imagination? Sans rubbed at his skull, disbelief bubbling up in him with frustration. No, it wasn’t true. What he had lived was real, it had happened. This was just a new time, a new story. It had to be. He didn’t remember anything else. He had told Fate all that he had remembered and none of it correlated with this room.

Sans gaze settled on the notebook ominously resting on the corner closest to him. His soul pulsed beneath his sternum as he reached for it.

The spiral notebook was new, the pages still crisp and undamaged from use. He flipped the cover out of the way, finding very elegant handwriting scribbling out notes as fast as the hand writing could manage. Comments blended with the questions, thoughts and ideas clashing as questions were written, rewritten, and completely scratched out. Sans skimmed the pages, taking in everything Fate had deemed important to write down, to comment on. Some of the questions were just factual, harmless, and Sans picked up the pen left behind to mark out short replies here and there. He paused halfway through writing his first answer, taking in the difference in the handwriting.

Fate, though he didn’t fully write in cursive, tended to leave the pen on the page between letters, creating an elegant look to the swift, decisive strokes. Sans’s handwriting looked blocky in comparison, though his was much clearer in which letter was which, looking more calculated than Fate’s. Sans wondered briefly how much that spoke of their characters.

The farther into the notebook he got, the harder it was for him to respond to some of them. He started skipping questions till he was skipping full pages, ignoring the ones that just hurt too much to even consider. About halfway through the notebook – around the time that he had started heavily interacting with the Fate of his memories – Sans came across a question that struck home and he threw the book across the room, livid that this Fate had the guile to ask such a question. He flinched when his body complained but he ignored it as he dropped back onto the mattress and hunkered down underneath the blankets, his back against the wall. He hadn’t intended to go to sleep but he passed out shortly after settling.

He didn’t dream. Instead, he woke slowly, coming to with the view of the room from earlier. A part of him was relieved but another, much larger part was not looking forward to what that meant. Someone had been in the room while he had been asleep because the notebook was now in the chair beside the bed. He glared at it.

After a while, Sans found himself itching to grab the notebook again. He rolled over and pressed his knees and forehead against the wall in an attempt to ignore it. It didn’t work very well. Sans rolled onto his back and looked at the notebook, his mind running. He glanced at the door before back to the notebook. How long did he have till Papyrus would show up? That is, if he even existed in this timeline. Fate could have been lying to him.

He grunted as he pushed himself up, bones complaining but moving easier than the previous day. He leaned on his elbow and reached out across the space between the chair and bed, only to find that the chair was too far away. He gave it a look before sighing. He reached for his magic only to find that his magic was still too weak to do much more than hold him together. He moaned. Really?

Dejected, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sitting there as he waited through a head rush. Thinking nothing of it, he moved to stand.

He collapsed with a loud, resounding thud. Sans groaned, rolling off his arm that he had landed on painfully as the sound of rapid footfall filled the room. Thankfully nothing had broken. Hands were suddenly on him and his first instinct was to attack, but he recognized the bony appendages and his head snapped up as magic flared in his left eye to come face to face with Papyrus.

The moment between them stretched as they just stared at each other. Papyrus shifted, breaking the eye contact first in clear resignation but it was all Sans needed. He threw himself at his brother, burying his face into the larger skeleton’s shoulder and letting out a choked sob of his brother’s name.

He begged whatever deity was still listening to not let this be a dream, that the long arms wrapped tightly around him were real and the chest he was clinging to wouldn’t vanish like so many others had. Papyrus had looked so healthy, so strong, that it had broken Sans’s resolve and Sans couldn’t bring himself to care, damn the consequences. Then again, always seeing Papyrus whole and happy was always the hardest thing to stay strong around. It was all that much harder in this strange place and just knowing that Papyrus was there allowed Sans to release part of his paranoia.

He found himself waking up again. The low rumble of both Fate and his brother whispering over his head soothed the urge to jerk awake. Instead of being tucked in the bed, he was curled up against Papyrus’s chest on the mattress. Papyrus must have been leaning back against the wall because Sans could see the headboard in his grogginess and Sans knew that sitting in Papyrus’s lap like this wouldn’t last long if the lanky skeleton didn’t have something to lean back against. He raised a hand and rubbed at an eye, inadvertently drawing his brother’s attention to him. Papyrus sat up more, moving his arms so that Sans was sitting upright as well.

Papyrus beamed at him. “I’m glad you’re awake again, brother. I’ve missed you.”

Sans felt his soul clench at that. Without a thought, he spoke as he looked to Fate, “Give us a minute, Alex?”

Recognition flashed over Fate’s gaze and Sans had to rethink what he had said which turned out to be a bit more difficult than he had thought it should have been. He had just called Fate something but it hadn’t felt like Fate on his tongue. Fate didn’t comment, though, and merely stood up from the chair with an affirming nod. He looked to Papyrus. “Howler if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Alex,” Papyrus replied.

Alex. He had said that, he had called Fate Alex. He had remembered something. Kind of. Sans frowned. No, it had been a slip of the tongue. He didn’t know Fate, didn’t remember him, but the idea of Alex Fatum stuck in his head for the human and Sans couldn’t figure out how to think around it like he had. Sans watched Alex step out and close the door.

“We had been lucky to have paused near your room,” Papyrus told him, gaining the smaller skeleton’s attention. Sans looked up at Papyrus as he went on, “We had been going to meet with the others when we heard you fall.” Papyrus gained a concerned look. “Does anything hurt? There weren’t any obvious injuries.”

Sans felt the smile form itself on his face. He shook his head. “I’m fine, Pap. It startled me more than anything.”

Papyrus relaxed. “I’m glad.”

Silence settled over them. After a moment, Sans shifted to rest his head against his brother’s shoulder as he listened to his brother’s soul pulse. He could always tell when Papyrus was debating on talking, even if he had never interacted with this specific Papyrus. If Sans waited long enough, Papyrus would talk. But a thought nagged at him, drawing him down into numbness. He didn’t know this Papyrus, didn’t remember anything about him. He knew his brother, would always know his brother, but a part of him hated the fact that he didn’t remember anything about the two of them, that all he could remember was a dream. Clearly this Papyrus was different from the one he remembered. He wasn’t talking at an obnoxiously loud level, wasn’t wearing the battle body. He didn’t seem to be naïve. In fact, this Papyrus was so much more and Sans couldn’t remember any of it.

Sans tensed when a bony hand was placed on the side of his head and he jerked back, looking up at Papyrus. Papyrus had a look on his face that Sans had never seen before. At least, not that he could remember. Papyrus looked older with concern and worry in his expression. And it seemed that this version of his brother knew him better than he realized as Papyrus spoke, “Alex warned us all that you have Dissociative Acute Amnesia. I don’t pretend to know what that is fully but he did explain that it means you have different memories than what you had before you Fell.” Sans covered Papyrus’s hand on his cheek but Papyrus didn’t let him remove it as he pressed, “No matter what, no matter the memories you have, we’ll create new ones and we’ll learn about each other all over again.” Papyrus smiled at him and Sans’s mind overlapped the image of the Papyrus in his dream smiling that same grin. “You are my brother and nothing will ever change that.”

Sans gave a watery smile though his eyes stayed dry. “Thanks, bro.” Sans rested his head on Papyrus’s shoulder again and Papyrus shifted enough to curl around him. “That means a lot to me.”

They settled in silence once more and Sans ended up dosing off to the lull of his brother’s soul. When he awoke, he was tucked back into the bed, the chair beside his bed occupied by his brother. Papyrus was reading, glasses held in place by magic. Sans took in the sight, startled. He didn’t realize that Papyrus had needed glasses. But then, that would explain quite a bit from his dream. Sans shifted, moving to sit up. Papyrus took notice in an instant and was up and helping Sans before the smaller brother had his full weight on his arm. Papyrus aided him without a word, without so much of a change in expression. Sans felt magic settle on his cheeks to create a blue blush. “Thanks, bro,” Sans offered softly, not daring to look at Papyrus.

“Of course, brother,” Papyrus commented, taking the glasses from his face as he picked up the folder he had been reading. “How did you sleep?”

“Like the dead,” Sans replied without a thought.

Papyrus chuckled – actually chuckled!! – at the lame joke. He sat down, pointing his glasses at Sans. “That was a lame joke. You are far from dead as any monster I know, Sans.”

Sans shrugged, grinning. “With as bone tired as I am, I’m surprised I haven’t kicked the bucket yet.”

Papyrus’s look, though amused and happy, took on a sad note and Sans worried that he had done something wrong. “I’ve missed this,” Papyrus softly spoke.

Sans tore his gaze away as his soul clenched painfully in his chest. He didn’t need the reminder that this Papyrus was not the one he was used to interacting with, that he was not the Sans that Papyrus expected. Frustration bubbled beneath the surface. Why did he have to have this stupid amnesia?

The mattress dipped as arms wrapped around him. Sans found himself being pressed against Papyrus’s chest, the lankier skeleton having settled beside him on the bed. Sans felt Papyrus rest the side of his jaw against the back of Sans’s head. Sans was suddenly aware that he wasn’t as small as he had been in his dream, which just made the situation worse. He pushed Papyrus away, suddenly revolted with himself in a way he didn’t understand. Papyrus let his arms drop from him but Sans’s hands remained splayed across the taller skeleton’s chest, head hung between tense shoulders. “Sorry,” he offered with a choked smile Papyrus couldn’t actually see. “Just….Sorry.”

Papyrus covered one of his hands with his own, offering, “You have nothing to be sorry for. That was rude of me to say.”

Sans shook his head, urging as he looked up, “No, you had every right. I’m the imposter. I’m the one that isn’t who I should be. I-I-”

I’m the one who’s broken.

He was shaking so hard, his bones were rattling and he hadn’t even realized he was gripping Papyrus’s shirt till he released it, jerking back. A choked sob escaped him, turmoil suffocating him as his back collided with the wall. Papyrus followed him every step of the way, a hand sliding behind Sans’s skull to keep Sans from cracking his head against the wall too. Papyrus pushed Sans’s head down between his knees, words flowing from him that Sans didn’t understand but as Papyrus rubbed his back, he understood the calming magic swirling around him. Papyrus’s magic was much calmer in this world, more solid or grounded but still as strikingly bright and warm as he had felt in the dream. Sans found himself being lulled out of his panic attack and into just crying. He curled around himself as he sobbed; wails of despair escaped him as it all came crashing down too fast. Papyrus’s magic never wavered around him, solid and warm, holding him together when Sans thought his own magic would fail.

Papyrus’s hand never left his back.

Sans felt disgusting when he came to. He had never broken down like that in all the resets. Yeah, he had cried before – he wasn’t soulless – but that kind of despair and wrongness made him feel unclean. He was under the covers again but he didn’t make any attempt to move. The chair beside his bed was empty, which was for the better even as his soul seized. He burrowed beneath the blankets only to freeze as his back pressed against something that was not the wall.

Sans was at a loss at finding his brother behind him, practically spooning him with an arm draped over Sans’s waist. His brother’s slow breath was soft against the back of his shoulders. Sans tried not to wake Papyrus up but Papyrus was already awake from Sans shifting to get under the blankets. Papyrus pulled Sans close with the arm around his waist, pressing his face into his brother’s back. Sans wasn’t sure what to do with any of this, especially when Papyrus started to speak.

“You are not an imposter,” Papyrus calmly stated. “You are Sans, my brother, and will always be as such, no matter how much you do or do not remember.”

Sans sank into the mattress at Papyrus’s words, feeling hollow inside. He didn’t believe those words.

Spoiler: Chapter 8

They stayed like that long enough that Sans dozed again. A soft knock on the door brought his awareness back to the room but he didn’t react. He felt the mattress dip as Papyrus clambered off the bed. Sans wondered how long it would take for him to doze off again if he kept his eyes shut. There was a click at the door before it opened. Sans wondered whose idea it had been to lock the bedroom door.

“Hey. Food run from Toriel.” Alex’s voice was like a calming balm to his frayed nerves and Sans had the sudden urge to scrub himself of it. He didn’t even know Alex and here the man was soothing some foreign part of Sans just by talking. Gods above this was going to get old very quickly. At least it was someone Sans had interacted with previously.

“Thank you, Alex,” Papyrus replied, voice solemn. There was a clattering sound and the sound of dishes knocking gently against each other. Sans heard the tray being placed on the nightstand near his head. There was a pause in the sounds of the room before Papyrus’s hand stroked Sans’s skull. It had taken everything Sans had not to flinch at the sudden touch. Yeah, he really wanted to get over that too. “Should he be sleeping so much?”

“Yes,” Alex spoke, the door clicking shut. “He’d been in a coma for almost eight weeks. His body – more specifically his magic – is not used to having to deal with motion and stress.” The chair scrapped against the floor as the bed dipped beside Sans. Papyrus hadn’t stopped stroking his head yet so Sans assumed Alex was the one to sit in the chair. “It’ll actually take quite a while before Sans doesn’t need to nap throughout the day to maintain his strength.”

“We do not need to give Sans more reason to be lazy,” Papyrus countered, clearly not pleased with the idea but the thought made Sans smile. He could see the look his brother was giving Alex even with his eyes closed.

Alex chuckled. “He only seemed lazy to you because of how hard he worked in the Lab. Sans would outstrip me on a good day with how much stress he would put himself under and his only outlet ever seemed to be spending time with you.”

“And you,” Papyrus added, sounding confused.

There was a brief pause. “We took breaks together. I wouldn’t necessarily call that down time for him. When he was here, it was business. Even after hours and on breaks.”
Papyrus’s hand had stilled on Sans’s skull. “Sans was always working.”

A heavy silence settled for a while as Sans tried to figure out what exactly that had meant. As far as Sans remembered, he never had worked in an actual lab. There was the one that had been in Hotland and he had ever only stepped in there to deal with Alphys. The room under his house was just a place he dabbled when he needed a break or to hide from reality. Was he really a scientist after all? Would explain a good number of things. But what had been his focus? He couldn’t remember anything specific about the lab in his dream beyond a tarp covered object, the thoughts of a few blueprints, and a picture of three people with “don’t forget” written on it. Funny. He couldn’t remember the actual image even though he had handled the picture several times.

Alex broke the silence. “I met up with the others.” Papyrus went back to running his hand over Sans’s skull. “They’re worried and had asked how Sans was. I told them that he was fine, awake.” There was a pause. “He won’t be able to walk for at least a week. It’s going to take some time for his body to get used to being used again. Even then, he’ll most likely be walking with some sort of assistance, be it a cane or crutches of some sort, for anywhere between four to eight weeks. We’ll have to be patient and keep Sans busy. It’s going to be a frustrating process.” Sans was not looking forward to it either. “I told the others not to mention anything that hasn’t already been previously discussed.”

“Why?”

Alex chuckled. “They asked the same question. As did Sans, though not quite as calmly.” The chair creaked. “Whether Sans remembers or not, we both have had experiences with those that have suffered from Dissociative Acute Amnesia before his Fall. The majority of those diagnosed reacted badly to having their history told to them. I doubt even Sans would be an exception to that rule.”

Papyrus’s hand stilled on Sans’s skull once more as the lanky skeleton shifted. “I take it the others were not too fond of that idea.”

Alex gave a snort of a laugh, his tone dry and sharp. “They tried to argue against it but they care a lot about Sans.”

Sans got the distinct feeling that Alex was hiding something. It seemed Papyrus had a similar feeling or had seen more than Sans had heard because the lanky skeleton asked, “They didn’t trust your word.”

“Why would they?” Alex challenged, bitter. “They still blame me for his condition.”

Sans eyes snapped open as Papyrus leapt to his feet, shouting, “But you had nothing to do with that!”

“And you’re the only one that believes me,” Alex countered, getting to his feet as well. But the dejected look on Alex’s face eased some of the panic that had seized Sans in the first place. Alex shook his head, his expression changing into one of self loathing. “I know there was nothing I could have done, no way of knowing this was going to occur, but still, I….”

Papyrus rested a hand on Alex’s shoulder and Alex covered it with one of his own, meeting Papyrus’s gaze. The skeleton smiled gently. “You have no reason to still be carrying your guilt, Alex. You have done plenty for Sans and myself over these last weeks to prove you had no hand in his coma.”

Alex’s expression closed off. “The others don’t see it like you do, Pap.”

“They do not have to,” Papyrus stated plainly. “What matters is that you had found Sans, saved him, and have been helping me make sure he has stayed alive these last weeks to finally awaken. We’ll get through this together.”

Alex took in a breath, nodding. He was still guarded but he seemed at ease with Papyrus’s words. Sans closed his eyes, mind racing. How unknown was Alex to everyone that they wouldn’t trust him? How different were the others to what he remembered? But, then, how had he succumbed to a coma and why did Alex blame himself? Sans fell asleep with turmoil in his mind. It was a miracle he hadn’t had nightmares because of it.

He woke to his brother at his bedside grinning. Papyrus presented the breakfast he had brought and chatted away, talking about anything and everything yet nothing specific. Sans found himself halfway through breakfast when Alex came in. Alex and Papyrus talked away as they waited for Sans to finish and, while Sans didn’t really know what they were talking about, he was glad they were acting so casual around him.

The instant he had eaten all that he could – it was surprising how lacking of an appetite he had after being out for almost eight weeks – the tray was taken away and the physical therapy began.

If Sans said it was exhausting, it would have been a gross understatement. Alex had him not only working on walking, but just moving in general. Push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, stretches, and countless other exercises wore Sans out quickly. They stopped for lunch before going at it some more. Twice they stopped for Sans to take a nap. At the end of the day, Sans was passing out during dinner but both his brother and Alex made sure he ate as much as he could before letting him crash for the night.

The following morning started way too early for Sans’s liking.

The cycle repeated day after day and, while Sans wanted desperately to flop on the nearest flat surface and pass out, he discovered that the inability to move as he normally had was an excruciatingly infuriating motivator. Especially when the sixth and seventh day rolled to an end and he found himself not as exhausted but still just as shaky and weak as he had felt at the top of the week.

“I think that’s enough for today, Sans,” Alex commented, wiping sweat from his brow as he glanced at the clock on the wall. “I’ll get dinner.”

Sans scowled at the human’s back as Alex left the room even as his legs shook from exertion. “I’m fine for a bit more.”

“Brother,” Papyrus urged, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Sans looked up at Papyrus to find the skeleton looking exhausted. Guilt seeped into his soul for who knew how many times that week. Papyrus had been using his magic to make sure that Sans didn’t fall. While this wasn’t the dream where one hit would take him out, Sans was still very frail. The last thing Sans needed was a broken bone. He shuddered at the thought but no one thought it was an odd concept. Guess it was just another warping of the dream.

Sans sighed, nodding as Papyrus helped him sit on the edge of the bed. Sans wouldn’t admit it out loud how concerned he was about the lack of exhaustion gnawing at his bones. He had been less exhausted the two previous nights as well and he had dreamt – something he was desperately trying to avoid. The dream he had been in during the coma had diminished into a nightmare near the end and he knew he had that fuel in his mind to create horrific imagery. There had been too many times in the dream where he had woken many times from nightmares of the timelines he was subjected to experiencing. If he could avoid that here, that would be great.

Alex returned with three meals and the three of them ate in Sans’s room. Sans still found himself nodding off to the soft lull of his brother and Alex talking but it did not ease the worry gnawing at the back of his skull. He prayed to whatever deity existed that he didn’t have a nightmare that night.

Alex left with the used dinnerware, leaving Papyrus to tuck Sans in and say goodnight. When the lanky skeleton turned off his light and closed the door, Sans found that he couldn’t sleep, stress eating away at him and, whether it was truly not being exhausted enough or from the stress of the possibly of having a nightmare, Sans fell into a fitful sleep.

The flash of a silver blade sliced at Papyrus’s throat.

It flashed again as it cut him down shortly thereafter.

He screamed as his magic lashed out.

Papyrus lurched awake at the sudden scream, his magic feeling as if it had turned to ice around his bones. He threw his covers back as he spared a glance at the clock. 02:17 AM glared at him through the darkness. His bare feet scrapped against the floor as he stumbled to the door. He yanked it open and dashed out, colliding bodily with a familiar form.

“Watch it,” came the gruff reply as familiar, strong hands kept Papyrus from going very far. Papyrus looked up at Undyne. She didn’t grin at him like she normally would. “You know who screamed?”

“Sans.” He gripped her arms, urging, “Please, I need you to fetch Alex for me. I’ll go check on Sans.”

Undyne nodded and took off as Papyrus made his way to his brother’s room.

Alex jerked awake as his door was kicked in and banged off the wall. He squinted at the door as he reached for his glasses. “What in the–”

Undyne cut him off, stalking over to him. “Sans. The bonehead has had a nightmare.”

Alex was throwing off the covers and rolling out of bed before she had even finished talking. Undyne’s hands hovered close to him as his feet got tangled in his sheets but he managed to keep upright enough to grab his desk chair before he could greet the floor with his face. He yanked the lab coat off the chair and started for the door. Undyne took off at a jog, beating him out of the room, but Alex kept pace with her down the hall as he pulled the lab coat over the undershirt he was wearing.

The trip was short. Alex’s room had been placed close to Sans’s for a reason but when they approached the room, Undyne slowed down and summoned a spear into her hand. Alex shuddered, the sensation of Sans’s magic brushing over his skin causing him to instinctually bristle. That was not a good sign. Undyne stopped at the door, looking to him. Alex couldn’t spare her the glance. He slowly crossed the threshold into Sans’s room, quickly taking in the situation.

Papyrus was already there trying to talk Sans down but that only made Alex uneasy. He quickly crossed to Papyrus and gently pulled him back as the first signs of an attack came into existence. Papyrus gave a startled yelp as he was passed off to Undyne. She pulled him back as Papyrus exclaimed, “No!! I was helping him!”

“Undyne, get Pap to the door and protect him,” Alex ordered, the attacks solidifying into bones.

“But I can help!” Papyrus argued, fighting against Undyne’s hold. “I want to help!”

“And if you get injured at this point in Sans’s recovery, there’s no getting our Sans back,” Alex countered sharply, though his glance towards the pair was apologetic. “Please, Papyrus. Let me do my job.”

Papyrus scowled but followed Undyne to the door. He stepped just past the threshold before turning around and facing the scene. Undyne placed herself before him but didn’t block his view.

Trusting Undyne and Papyrus to let him do this, he slowly approached Sans. The small skeleton was leaning forward, one arm wrapped around his chest and the other hand over his left eye. Sans was shaking as the magic rolled off him in a way that reminding Alex briefly of the surface of the sun. Funny. He seemed to like that analogy when it came to magic.

“Sans,” he called out, stepping around a few bones that were protruding through the floor. He urged, keeping his voice even and calm, “Come on, buddy. Time to wake up.”

Sans twitched on the bed and Alex jerked back, taking a step back as he twisted his body to the side. A bone narrowly missed his face, the other one missing his chest. Alex gritted his teeth. He crossed to the bed in two steps and knelt on the mattress. An attack was solidifying before Sans as if there was an enemy standing before the skeleton and, while Alex was grateful they were just bones, it was clear Sans would impale himself if they were released. Ignoring his heart pounding painfully in his chest, he knelt before the stout skeleton.

The buzz of Sans’s magic was almost overwhelming but Alex pushed through it, desperate to reach the monster still caught in a night terror. He couldn’t run like his instincts were screaming at him to do. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and Alex was suddenly out of time. His hand snapped out as he used a brutally commanding voice that had unknowingly been used by Fate in Sans’s dream.

“Wake up,” he called out as his hand made contact with Sans’s shoulder.

Sans snapped awake as the bones were released and impaled Alex’s back. Alex was thrown into him. Sans grasped at the human with a start, not understanding as his right hand gripped the back of Alex’s lab coat, his left going to Alex’s upper arm. Sans’s breath hitched as he realized that the lab coat was quickly turning red due to several of his bone attacks protruding from Alex’s back like porcupine spines. Just beyond the focus of his view of the injuries, he caught sight of a glitching health bar, one that was too distorted to make out any of the stats on and, though it disappeared when he tried to focus on it, it sent a shudder of horror through him. Even if it had been a figment of his imagination, the thought of what it could have meant left him shaking more than the night terror had.

Alex had recovered as quickly as he could and pulled back, cutting off Sans’s view of his back. Sans locked his horrified gaze onto Alex’s face. Alex had his left eye squeezed shut out of pain and his half crooked smile was tight. “Welcome to the waking world, sleepy bones,” Alex joked. Sans felt like throwing up.

Undyne and Papyrus appeared at their side, Papyrus instantly wrapping himself around his brother and spewing a string of apologies. Sans only half listened to Papyrus trying to make amends for “not waking him from such a horrible nightmare”. He watched as Alex collapsed against Undyne at the same moment Papyrus’s hug forced Sans to let the human go. Undyne carefully helped Alex off the bed, the fish monster incredibly careful. It was startling for Sans to see her be so gentle. It made his brain do a weird misfire. Sans’s hand jerked up and gripped at Papyrus’s arms as he forced out, “Alex, I…”

Alex stopped – much to Undyne’s indignation – and turned to look at Sans. He gave the smaller skeleton a smile, waving him off. “I’ll be fine. This is what I’m here for.”

Sans couldn’t tell if that was suppose to make him feel better as Undyne resumed her half-carry escort of Alex towards the door. Sans buried himself into his brother’s embrace. He blocked out the world, ignoring Alphys’s voice that cut through instructing Undyne on where to go. Silence fell as the door clicked shut and it was stifling. Papyrus must have been bothered by it as well because the taller skeleton voiced, “How about we go for a walk, Sans. I can push you out to the grounds and we can watch the snow come down.”

Sans caught the odd waver in Papyrus’s voice, the one that spoke of carefully chosen words. Sans wasn’t dense. Someone had urged Papyrus to get Sans out of the room as soon as possible so that they could change the soiled sheets. Sans pressed farther into Papyrus at the thought of the injuries he had caused the strange human. “Sure, Pap. But I don’t want to be pushed around.”

Papyrus frowned and gave him a quizzical look, though Sans could see that Papyrus already had a guess to what Sans had meant. Sans forced a small smile. It felt weird. He hoped it didn’t look weird. “Can you pass me my crutches?”

While he would have much preferred the cane, they had just started working on it the day before and he knew that he was far too exhausted to keep himself upright with one stick.

Papyrus pulled back the sheets still tangled around Sans swiftly and in such a way that Sans didn’t even get the chance to see if they had any blood on them or not even if he had wanted to. Papyrus helped him to sit on the edge of the bed before passing over the metal crutches. Sans hid his grateful sigh as Papyrus’s magic wrapped around him as he situated the crutches where they needed to be. With the aid of his brother’s magic, he was more or less upright and hobbling towards the door. Even with his magic wrapped around Sans, Papyrus kept as close to his brother as was possible.

Sans took the lead once they were in the hallway and hobbled around two humans he didn’t recognize. At first, he just picked a random direction, letting his mind wander. A memory half there took over and Sans found himself standing before an Alex that looked a bit more up kept, younger, and healthier.

He gave the younger man a look. Alex laughed. It was warm, soft, and amused; all things that Sans found were missing from the Alex he knew. Alex raised his hands, offering, “Come on, Sans. We have to figure out if someone can gain a tolerance to your magic and there’s no one better qualified than me.”

Sans felt his magic stir, his left eye coming to life as he withdrew his left hand from its pocket. He made a face, not at all ok with this situation. “I don’t see why it has to be you, Fatum. I’ve known you for a whole, what? Month now?”

“Two,” Alex corrected automatically, his expression becoming soft. “And it’s Alex. You using my last name keeps making me think you’re calling me phantom and I ain’t dead yet.”

Something flickered through Alex’s gaze too quick for Sans to make out but he was sure it wasn’t positive. Sans smirked despite the horribly timed joke on Alex’s part, joking in return in an attempt to dissipate the tense atmosphere. “Your Fate ain’t that cruel, Alex,” Sans teased.

Alex laughed at the play on his last name, clearly appreciating the attempt. “Thus, you get me as the guinea pig. Sides, there’s no one better qualified in the labs.”

Sans scoffed, encompassing Alex’s soul in magic. Alex breath hitched as the human’s hand snapped up to cover the glowing heart shape in his chest.

“We could always use an intern.”

Alex gave a bark of a laugh, refocusing his gaze on Sans. Sans frowned. He couldn’t tell if it was a trick of the light or if Alex was indeed paler than what was normal for him. “We need those to be left un-traumatized, thank you very much.”

Sans gave a one shoulder shrug as he felt sweat bead down the back of his skull. Alex hadn’t dropped his hand. In fact, he now had a vice grip on the fabric over the shape and he could feel the human’s soul fluctuating. This was a really bad idea and he gave Alex one last out. “You sure you want to do this.”

The smirk he received should have been answer enough. It was dry, humorless, and every warning bell in Sans’s head went off. “I’m not backing out so you might as well go through with it.”

Sans let out a sharp burst of air through his teeth. “Your funeral,” he muttered as he raised his left hand.

He regretted his words not even a moment later.

He threw his hand out to the side till his arm was straight. He misjudged how effective his magic was going to be and watched in horror as Alex flew across the room and slammed back first into the wall before he could even begin to correct his mistake. The choked gasp cut through Sans as he lost hold of his magic. Alex slumped to the floor, a gasp of pain rushing through the human. Panic flooded Sans as Alex remained slumped over. Even from where he stood, Sans could hear Alex fighting to breath.

“Oh Gods,” Sans uttered and ran over. He slid to a stop on his knees at Alex’s side. His hands hovered over Alex as he rushed, “I was joking about the whole funeral thing.”

Alex attempted to laugh but it came out as a wheeze. Sans gave in to the urge to touch Alex and aided the man in sitting up. Alex rested his head against the wall behind him, muttering, “I’ve already got one foot in the grave so it doesn’t really matter.”

Sans tensed, his wide eyes snapping to Alex’s face. “That’s not funny, Fatum.”

Alex opened an eye even as sweat started beading his forehead. Alex attempted to give a crooked grin but it came out a grimace. “Sorry. I have this bad habit of not warning people about my condition. Just…just give me a minute.”

Sans sat back and placed the bottoms of his feet together. He leaned forward as he gripped his ankles, watching Alex. It took a while but Alex eventually got his breathing under control even though his hand hadn’t released its white knuckled grip. His face was still ashen and speckled with sweat. Alex opened his eyes but kept them focused on the ceiling. “I have Left Ventricular Non-Compaction Cardiomyopathy, a very complicated name for simply not having a fully developed left ventricle. It inhibits me from doing anything too strenuous but, thankfully,” he smirked at Sans, “science isn’t generally strenuous.”

Sans didn’t get the joke.

Alex lost the humor in his expression as he returned his gaze to the ceiling. “Smoking isn’t helping much of anything but it’s a habit I’m finding a hard time kicking. Docs think I may have some lung issues too, but they’re equating it to the smoking.” He gave a dark chuckle. “Yeah, no. My lungs have never worked right, right along with my heart.” He flinched and pressed his hand harder into his chest. Sans convulsively released his ankles but Alex was already relaxing. Dropping his hand, he sat up and looked to Sans. “Shall we try again? We need to see if I can’t build a tolerance to your magic.”

Sans sat there gaping at him. “Y…You can’t be serious! You nearly died!!” Sans argued, throwing his hands up. Alex laughed. Sans could hear the hint of strain on the edges.

“I’m fine now, Sans. Besides, if we just sit here, I may keel over dead from boredom.” Alex stood but his posture was no longer the same loose, easy going it had been earlier but Alex still offered Sans a hand and a smile. “I’m more useful alive.”

Sans took Alex’s hand and got to his feet, fully and completely agreeing with the man’s last statement though he didn’t voice it. He watched Alex return to his starting point, seeing the defensive way Alex moved. Sans had the distinct impression that he had lost a large part of his partner’s trust and he wasn’t sure if it was something he had done or if it was something he could fix.

Sans blinked and found himself before a door with a keypad, the memory fading and leaving behind a strange sensation in Sans’s bones and a weird taste on the back of his tongue. Without thinking, he unlocked the door with a flicker of fingers. The door opened to a mess of a lab.

It was Sans’s lab.

He recognized it, remembered the mess and remembered all the stuff in said mess. The impression of what had happened slammed into him like a physical blow and Sans’s legs gave out from under him. Papyrus gave a startled cry as his magic tightened around Sans.

“Sans. Are you alright? What happened?”

“I’m ok, Pap,” he offered softly, getting his feet back under him.

Sans made his way over to the computer terminal. He was aware of the tightness of his soul that had nothing to do with his brother’s magic and rubbed at the dampness prickling the bones of his cheeks. Sans flicked the systems on, glancing at Papyrus once to see the skeleton standing just inside the door. Sans flopped into the desk chair and pulled up the files he was looking for.

He was not surprised to hear a soft intake of air from behind him several minutes later. He glanced over his shoulder at Alex standing just a few feet behind his chair, glasses gone and eyes skimming the screen. His lab coat and undershirt had been replaced with the button up shirt from the previous day. It was unbuttoned at the moment, revealing a wrapped chest that he had an arm wrapped around. “You found his notes,” Alex spoke breathlessly.

It wasn’t a question.

Sans didn’t answer but he felt the human’s eyes fall onto the back of his skull. Alex’s voice gained strength as he stated, almost accusingly, “You’ve been using his work.”

Sans shrugged, offering, “I had every right to.”

A deep voice spoke out. “Every right to do what?”

Sans glanced towards the door, realizing that the others had drifted in. Asgore was looking at him, having been the one to ask the question. Sans looked to Alex and found the human looking at him. Sans gave a shrug, making an off gesture at Alex in a half assed way of telling the other scientist to go for it. Sans wasn’t sure he could even be able to voice it at the moment. Too much was going on in his soul for him to make sense of so much.

Alex sighed and explained, “Sans has not only found but has apparently been utilizing the research of one Dr. W.D. Gaster, one of the first Royal Scientists of the Underground.” Alex looked to Sans but Sans kept his focused feigned on the scrolling text. “Though, I have no idea what the mad man’s work has to do with our current project. Neither of us have had a need to touch any of his old studies.”

“Old studies?” Papyrus inquired.

“Gaster had done some research into amnesia,” Sans interjected, pulling up a few files. Alex glanced over the files, recognition flickering through his eyes. “Sadly, there had been very little of his notes actually published.”

“I had forgotten about these,” Alex commented. “You found his unpublished notes?”

“What does that have to do with what you’re doing now?” Undyne snapped.

Alex looked to her, offering, “Both of us had done a few studies around amnesia during our schooling, though we had been in separate years and classes so our studies had been done individually. In our spare time over the last two years, we would talk about our old studies and the research we had done. Two of our experiments had risen out of some of those conversations.”

“Somehow we had both done a study around Dissociative and Dissociative Acute Amnesia. Gaster had published some of his notes on amnesia in general,” Sans muttered, gaining everyone’s attention. “We later discovered that every subject with any form of Acute Amnesia outside of Gaster’s study of amnesia had some sort of connection to the doc.”

Alex frowned at Sans, quickly reaching a conclusion he wasn’t sure Sans had been aiming at. Still, he looked at Papyrus. The taller skeleton was frowning at his brother but it seemed he hadn’t connected the dots fully. It was clear Papyrus knew his brother had meant something behind that statement but didn’t know what. Alphys was the one to present the final piece to Papyrus. Alex watched him as Alphys asked, “D-do you have s-some sort of c-c-connection to Dr. Gaster, Sans?”

Shock warped Papyrus’s expression before it was changed by fear as Sans gave a dry chortle, his gaze still on the screen before him. “Apparently we had been experiments of sorts. Apparently, a long time ago, we had been his play things.”

Betrayal flashed across Papyrus’s face while Sans’s expression remained emotionless. Alex reached out and touched Papyrus’s arm. Papyrus pulled away, leaving Alex’s hand suspended in the air.

It was like someone had draped a blanket over the room. The air thickened. Sans reacted to the sudden tension, turning in his chair to catch sight of his brother’s face. Sans moved without thinking. He got up to walk over to his brother’s side but, without the crutches, he was unable to keep himself upright and he collapsed. Thankfully, Papyrus was still as quick as ever, wrapping his magic around Sans and keeping the skeleton suspended mid collapse long enough to reach out and wrap his hands around Sans to support him physically.

Sans, in turn, gripped at Papyrus, urging with a frustrated expression, “I have no idea why I haven’t told you, Pap.” He sat down at Papyrus’s guidance. “I can’t remember why I never did but I would bet that timing was a big factor.”

The blatant reminder of Sans’s lack of memories was like a slap to the face for all present. It was clear Sans had remembered a good portion of information but it was still not enough for the stout skeleton. Papyrus, for his part, accepted the apology for what it was with a soft smile. He reached out and covered Sans’s hands with his own. “It’s ok. All that matters now is what happens next.” He frowned. “But I don’t understand. How were we experiments? I don’t recall this Dr. Gaster at all.”

Sans shook his head. Whether it had been a genuine answer to the question or his attempt to not tell Papyrus wasn’t divulged as Undyne snapped, “Look, what does any of this have to do with now? What the hell was this bloke working on?”

“Life and magic,” Sans supplied, frowning as he turned to the computer, “or so I’ve been able to decipher. I only have partial notes for a lot of what he worked on. There are mentions of other experiments, things possibly dealing with time and the mind.” Sans rubbed at his face and growled, “I can’t figure out what all this has to do with what had happened before my coma.” He threw his hand out – thankfully away from Papyrus – as he turned a magic burning gaze on Alex. “I know this is my lab. I know this research. I know I had been doing something but I can’t remember WHAT!” The magic flared before sputtering out as quickly as it had come, tears quickly taking the magic’s place in Sans’s eyes. Sans rubbed at the tears but the sob still broke free. “I-I can’t help but feel that if I can’t recover my memory, we’re all screwed.”

The silence was heavy, only filled with the hum from the computer and the noise from the hall. There was a pause before Alex stepped forward, placing a hand on the stout skeleton’s shoulder. He gained a watery glare. Alex doesn’t offer him a smile like he would have. It wouldn’t have come out right anyways. “In some way, that’s true.” He ignored the collective gasp from their audience. Honestly, they should have expected him to be that blunt after knowing him for so long. “You are the only one that knows the connection to Dr. Gaster’s research and our seventh experiment.

Sans straightened. “Seventh.”

Alex flinched at his slip but took it in stride as he shrugged under Sans’s demanding gaze. “Guess a history lesson wouldn’t necessarily hurt.”

Spoiler: Chapter 9

The others gathered in closer, clearly understanding that this was going to be an explanation that they wanted to hear. Asgore brought a chair over for Alex as the human started to sit on the floor but Alex waved him off with a smile and sat cross legged a few feet from Sans. Papyrus quickly followed suit and sat on the floor next to Sans’s chair, a hand still on his brother’s arm.

Alex rubbed at his face, looking exhausted, but he met Sans’s gaze with a steady one of his own and a soft smile. “We live in the Underground, we being the collective of humans and monsters. Ours is one of many Undergrounds that were created to save humans and monsters alike after the war between the two turned the Overworld air toxic. Despite the success of the Undergrounds, though, the wear of time has hit some Undergrounds harder than others. We were one of the luckier ones, though not many would agree with me on that. The only thing to go wrong for our Underground has been the failing seals and we’ve been fortunate enough to have enough forewarning to do something about it. The Ruins - what was once known as Uva, the first section of the Underground - were sealed off just before the original seal broke, filling the Ruins with the toxic atmosphere.”

Alex made an off gesture. “The majority of this happened long before my lifetime and even yours and Papyrus’s. Though, I’m sure you two were created closer to the Ruins being sealed than I was.”

The dry smirk that graced Alex’s face with that statement was very reminiscent of Fate and the reminder of both the phantom and his dream was not welcomed. Sans suppressed his magic as best he could but his left eye still flickered with magic. Alex continued on, not seeming to notice the brief color change. “It was assumed that the seal between the Underground and the Ruins would hold long enough for us to find a solution but it hasn’t. 77 years ago it was discovered that the seal on the Ruins was starting to fail when several kids were found dead near the doors and countless others becoming seriously ill.” There was shifting from both Asgore and Toriel but Alex pressed on. “The leak has been contained but no one knows how long the patches will hold, let alone how long our resources for it will last so there’s still a push to find a solution. You and I are part of what remains of the network of scientists across the Undergrounds that were tasked with finding a way to deal with the Overworld atmosphere. We were on our seventh experiment in two years when…”

The words fell short as Alex gathered his thoughts. He gained a soft, pained look as he reoriented himself. “Gods, it had to have been less than a month before your accident, but you had started muttering about being close. You had done that for about two weeks before I finally got out of you that you had been tinkering with some old notes and, while you thought you had some way of getting our seventh experiment to work, you wanted to share when you had actual proof of concept. I conceded and didn’t push after that. I had no reason to. But, about the same time you started muttering about being close, you started to have night terrors. I hadn’t pinned two and two together till…”

He let the words hang, nodding towards the screen behind Sans. It still bore Gaster’s research. “I mean, nightmares were common between the two of us. With the stress of our responsibilities, it was to be expected, but the night terrors were new. At least, me waking you from them was.”

Alphys called out from where she was sitting next to Undyne, wringing her hands. “W-were you really w-w-working with such h-horrible information?”

Sans frowned at her, confused. She blushed and ducked her head. She stuttered something that sounded close to “nevermind”. Alex gained Sans’s attention with a hand on the skeleton’s knee. Alex explained, “Dr. Gaster’s known for his not-so-humane research in his later years. You may have his notes and remember quite of bit from them, but many of us have only heard the horror stories. Don’t get me wrong. The monster was brilliant. But he was also a very wicked monster. He reached a level of...well, violence that a scientist should never come close to.”

Alex tightened his grip on Sans’s knee. “I used to know you and know you well. If you were dabbling in Dr. Gaster’s work, it was for a reason. I still trust you. Both in this and our seventh experiment. You haven’t let me down yet.” Alex leaned back, offering a half cocked grin that held a hint of a grimace. It was clear Alex trusted Sans enough to not push the issue but Sans wished he would. Sans didn’t even know why he wanted Alex to push him. “Just, no sciency stuff till after your memories have returned a bit more, alright? No need to go and get yerself blown up again so soon.”

The laughter in the room broke the tension and Sans conceded with a nod. A look flickered through Alex’s gaze. Sans knew that the man was well aware he hadn’t gotten an oral promise out of the monster and Sans could tell that the man understood why. Sans was not going to make a promise he could not keep.

Alex stifled a yawn as the others started leaving. Sans looked to Papyrus as the lanky skeleton stood. He found that, while he was wired after all that, he was still tired and bed sounded like a wonderful thing. He took his crutches from Papyrus and stood carefully, his brother’s magic wrapped snugly around him.

Sans waited as Papyrus carefully helped Alex to his feet. The human swayed but he managed to remain upright. Still, Asgore had wandered over and placed a large hand on the slight human’s shoulder. “Allow me to walk you to your room, Alex.”

Alex gave the large monster a soft smile. “I’ll be fine, sir.”

“Let him walk you, Alex,” Papyrus spoke out. The human turned his gaze to the skeleton but surprised Sans by giving in without a fight, heeding Papyrus’s words. Papyrus waited till Asgore had started towards the door with Alex before turning to his brother. “Ready?”

Sans nodded and followed his brother out of the lab.

Papyrus snagged Sans the following day around midday. The duo ate a breakfast based lunch in Sans’s room before the pair went outside and wandered the grounds of the lab. Sans barely spoke as Papyrus talked and talked, telling him all about what Sans had missed during his coma, from what recipes Papyrus had learned to what was new in the entertainment industry. Sans only had to reassure Papyrus once that he was quite alright just listening. Being able to just spend time alone with his brother was enough for him but to be able to listen to and watch Papyrus gush happily over how awesome his life was was icing on the cake.

“I am not sure how I would have made it through your coma without Alex’s help,” Papyrus commented off handedly as the pair rested on a fallen tree.

Sans blinked at his brother, curious. “What do you mean?”

Papyrus looked at him as if he did not realize he had just spoken out loud. When it finally registered that he had, in fact, spoken out loud, he grinned. “Alex is the one that found you and he stayed by your side to make sure that I did not worry about your wellbeing nor feel guilty about getting rest or leaving the lab. He even went out of his way to make sure I was getting enough food and rest,” Papyrus blushed, looking away, “even going as far as drugging me so that I could rest when the worry got too much for me.”

The blush vanished as Papyrus gained a dejected look. “I just wish he had not done so by sacrificing his own health.”

Sans tensed, sitting straighter on the log. Papyrus gave him a worried look and Sans forced himself to relax. He asked, “What do you mean?”

Papyrus turned his gaze to his hands. “I know he was not eating well but I could not find a way to get him to eat. He would always say he was not hungry when I offered him some of my meal. Some nights, when I woke in the middle of the night worried, I would pause at your room to check on you and he would always be in the chair beside your bed. He would usually be up but there were moments when he was slumped in the chair asleep. It could not have been overly comfortable but I was afraid that if I covered him up or tried to move him, he would wake and he always looked so tired.” Papyrus shot Sans a soft smile. “He never complained, though. He always kept me company when I sat by your bed waiting for you to wake up.”

Sans gave his brother a half smile as a part of him couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to the story. There had to be a reason why Alex would sacrifice himself for him, right?

The following days passed quickly. While small amounts of knowledge returned, Sans found that the progress was not where he would have liked it. He kept finding himself being surprised or even startled by his brother’s behavior or actions. While Papyrus was very similar to the Papyrus he had dreamt about time and time again, this one wasn’t naïve on any level and put up with Sans’s horrible puns a lot better than the Papyrus in his dream. Sans had been astonished when Papyrus had even attempted at making jokes to get him to laugh. Each attempt worked, hands down, but it was weird having Papyrus worry about him like that. It made Sans’s soul heavy to think that it was like Papyrus was attempting to make up for all the horrible things the lanky skeleton had no control over, let alone Sans.

He made the mistake of letting his mind wander and expand on that thought three times. Each time he ended up in a spiral of self loathing and feeling like he was suffocating. Thankfully, each time he broke down he was with his brother, which meant that he was talked out of the break down before it could get really bad.

It was still embarrassing.

Between the work to get him back on his own two feet without aid and the constant company of either his brother or Alex, Sans found himself answering the questions Alex had left him when he should be sleeping. He found he didn’t want to face the nightmare or night terror that may or may not be awaiting him in sleep and so, in turn, he used the determination of getting the notebook back to Alex fully answered as an excuse not to sleep. No matter how many times he proved to himself that was the worst idea he could have chosen over sleep, he would still turn to the notebook late at night after everyone had gone to sleep and jot down answers.

He quickly found that he was slowly forgetting. Almost desperate not to forget, Sans listened to the recording Alex had made all those nights ago. This, in turn, made sleep impossible till he was too exhausted to stay awake. But he did it. It took about a week but Sans eventually answered all of Alex’s questions, even the ones Sans wanted to burn.

There had been a good number of questions that had been beyond personal and insensitive but Sans found himself unable to not answer the questions. Part of it was that he was reminded that Alex was a scientist and sometimes the hard questions had to be asked. Another part of it was that Sans wanted to give Alex a complete notebook in exchange for watching over his brother when Sans could not. Sans glanced down at the closed notebook in his hand as he hobbled through the lab leaning heavily on his cane. With the notebook finally finished, Sans wanted to get it out of his possession as soon as possible.

His grip tightened on the bound paper. Hopefully he would have the determination needed to ask the question he had been sitting on for an entire week, consequences be damned.

He found Alex where he thought he would; down a secluded hallway and out onto an unused terrace tucked into the building’s structure. It was hidden enough to be unseen by anything on the grounds and still have a grand view of the Underground. Alex was leaning on the railing taking a drag from his cigarette.

“Thought I’d find you here,” Sans commented as Alex looked over his shoulder at him, letting the breath of smoke out in a quick blow.

Alex grinned at him. “Always here for a smoke break,” he replied cockily, scooting over to give Sans room at the rail. Alex took another pull of his cigarette as Sans took up the offered space. There was a brief pause before Alex offered, “Good to see you getting out and about for some mostly fresh air on your own.”

Sans gave a nod of agreement. The anxiety from the what ifs around his question eating at his soul, making it feel as if there was something pressing on his chest. Alex snuffed out the spent cigarette in the ash tray a few minutes later and was working on lighting a second one by the time Sans had gotten around his discomfort of the situation and offered the notebook to Alex with a simple, “Here.”

Alex looked at him, newly lit cigarette dangling between slacking lips. Alex quickly plucked the cigarette from his lips as he took the notebook, asking excitedly, “You answered some of them?”

Alex started flipping through the pages as Sans corrected him. “I answered all of them.”

The notebook gave a pathetic slap when Alex forced its pages closed. Alex’s gaze locked onto Sans in an instant. Sans kept his gaze on the Underground. Several things flickered across Alex’s face out of the corner of Sans’s eye, regret settling at last on the human’s face. “Sans, I…A lot of these were insensitive and extremely rude of me to even consider asking. You shouldn’t have answered them.”

Sans merely gave a shrug. Turning away, Alex leaned heavily on the rail, taking a long drag from his cigarette. He let the smoke out in a sharp breath as Sans commented, “You’d been right.”

“Bout what?” Alex drawled, his lips curling towards a snarl as he brought the cigarette to his lips again.

Sans glanced at Alex. The look in Alex’s eyes confirmed the bitterness had not been directed at the stout skeleton. He returned his gaze to the Underground as he explained, “When you said that time would muddle what I remembered. I had to listen to the audio you had recorded several times to remember what I had forgotten.”

Sans caught Alex flinching beside him. “Sans, I–”

“I’m glad,” Sans cut him off. “A part of me was desperately trying to bury what I had gone through and was trying to realign myself with this timeline. But you were right. You said that my experience had changed me, that the timelines had been beyond real to me. If you hadn’t documented it all when I had first woken up, I doubt I would have been able to live past it.”

Silence thick and tense settled between them. Sans didn’t break it. The ball was in Alex’s court now. Eventually, Alex put his cigarette out in the ashtray, offering, “I…” He sighed, changing his mind. “Thank you. For the answers.”

Sans dropped his gaze to just over his crossed arms as Alex took his leave. “Let Pap read those if he wants to, ok?” he called out, hearing Alex’s footfall stop somewhere behind him. He could feel Alex’s gaze on him, could feel his own magic swirling in his left eye as he gathered the determination to go through with his initial question, and prayed to whatever deity was listening that the lights of the Underground hid the glow of his magic lit eye. Gods above, it had been a long time since he had been this anxious over asking a simple question.

“Sure,” Alex finally responded. The human turned once more but Sans reached out blindly with his magic, his inner turmoil pushing him to make sure Alex didn’t leave before he’d gotten the chance to form the words. He regretted the action almost as soon as he registered it.

The notebook slapped against the pavement near Alex’s feet when Sans’s magic wrapped around Alex’s soul. The sound alone would have been enough to make him lose his hold but, instead, it was the sensation that would have made his skin crawl had he any skin. He could feel Alex under his magic, feel the human’s pulse quickening, his breathing stuttering, and the soul that filled the body reacting to his magic in a way that was both fascinating and terrifying. It was foreign and familiar, causing Sans jerk back as if he had been burned. The magic fell away

“Sans,” Alex questioned, his voice raspy and breathless, a hand gripping where the magic had been.

Sans shoved the regret aside as he rushed, “What were we before my coma?”

Alex gave a strangled smile, offering in confusion, “Colleagues, friends. I don’t–”

“Pap told me what you did during my coma,” Sans urged, his fists tightening convulsively as his magical eye flickered yellow. Alex flinched, hand pressing harder into his chest as the magic snaked out towards him again. Sans reined it back, unable to snuff out his eye “He told me how you would remain at my side just to ease his worry, how you stopped taking care of yourself in order to make sure he was healthy when I woke up.”

Alex shook his head. “I wasn’t about to let him run himself ragged,” he urged. “You would have killed me if I had let that happen.” A bitter smirk crossed the human’s face. “Figuratively speaking.”

“But why?!” Sans snapped, his magic flaring again. Alex jerked back, hitting the door hard as a pained gasp escaping him. Sans jerked back, unable to rein in his magic or his emotions. Alex looked at him, his eyes tearing up – whether from pain or something else, Sans couldn’t tell – and an expression Sans couldn’t read. Sans felt disgusting.

“Because at some point in the two years we’ve known each other, you’ve considered me family. You and Papyrus.” Sans tried to gain control over his emotions and magic but Alex’s words were making the chaos in his own mind and soul even worse. “I did what I did because I didn’t want the two brothers that had taken me in to suffer when I could mitigate the damage, even if only a small extent.”

“But we were nothing more.”

The accusation was like a slap to the face and Alex recoiled from it, his eyes wide and the realization in them proving how sharp the human’s mind truly was. Alex knew what Sans was unable to ask directly, the question Sans had been sitting on since his brother had told him of Alex’s actions. A toxic blend of emotions created Alex’s expression as he slowly shook his head as if to deny it all, stating, “You know I can’t answer that.” Sans broke his gaze from Alex, turning his head away. This is not how he had wanted this to go. Not at all. Alex pressed on. “And I know you know why. You’re still highly intelligent, Sans. You would have gone through every repercussion to every single, possible response to that question, regardless if it was a lie or a truth.” Sans looked back at Alex, a conflicted expression on his face. Alex tried for a reassuring smile. It didn’t look right. “It doesn’t matter what we were. What matters is what you choose from this point forward.”

Something bitter coursed through Sans and it left a sour taste in his mouth. “That’s not fair,” Sans croaked.

Alex gave a dry chuckle. “Not sure how that’s not fair. You get–”

“It’s not fair to you!” Sans snapped, cutting him off. Alex flinched from the shout and Sans felt regret course through him again.

Alex blinked at him before laughing. It was too sharp and a tad too hysterical. Sans took a startled step back, his magic flaring briefly in response. Thankfully the flare had been more upwards than outwards, leaving Alex untouched. Part of it had been from the sudden laugh that sounded so wrong. Part of it was from the brief flicker of a distorted, glitching health bar at the bottom of Sans’s vision, something that left Sans feeling as if he was back in his coma and he quickly shoved the sensation away as Alex spoke again. “Fair? Now how could that particular question be fair to either party?” Alex’s expression tightened and Sans wasn’t quite sure what he was reading in it. A part of his swore he saw sorrow. Alex pressed on. “Do you know how hard it would be to not feel or fear that the relationship was nothing more than an obligation? We’re strangers, Sans, whether we’d like to admit it or not.” Alex grinned but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We act familiar with one another but we’re not. I do it out of habit but there are moments – a very large number of them, mind you – where it is painfully clear you are not the Sans I remember. Oh, you’re still our Sans, but you’ve lived through something none of us will be able to relate to. You’ve changed in such a short amount of time and we’re still reeling from it.” A tear escaped down Alex’s cheek and he swiped viciously at it. He kept talking, pushing on as if he couldn’t stop. “Whatever we had been, Sans, is a mute point. And the only one that can decide what happens from here on out is you.”

“But that’s not fair,” Sans cut in sharply, his magic flaring in his confliction. Alex flinched at its touch. Sans urged, “You should have some say in it too. You’re a part of the damn equation!”

Alex snorted. Sans bristled. “Sans, I cannot hold you responsible for keeping up a persona you no longer are. I have two years on you of memories! Information about who you were and what you were like. Half of it doesn’t even seem to count anymore!”

Sans glared at him but hurt was seeping into his anger. Alex had a very strong point but stating it like that only made Sans remember just how much of an imposter he truly was. He took a step back, bumping into the railing. This whole situation was going to hell in a hand basket and Sans had no way of repairing any of the damage being created. He was suddenly reminded of the memory that had returned after his initial night terror, the memory of when he had used his magic on Alex for the first time.

Sans felt sick.

Alex lost the humor on his face as he spoke, “Sans. Life has never been fair to me. I was born with a heart defect and damaged lungs. The only member of my family that actually cared about me was my mom,” Alex’s voice cracked, several more tears streaking down his face as he fought to keep his composure; he rubbed at his wet cheeks to try and deny what they were showing, “till she died and then I was ostracized and shunned because of something I had been born with. I had to fight to get anywhere in school and I ended up with you.” The smile that graced Alex’s lips was heartbreakingly soft, nostalgic. Sans had the sudden urge to step forward, as if Alex would break apart if he didn’t hold the man together. He shuddered, confused by his own instinctual reaction. Alex didn’t seem to notice as he met Sans’s gaze. “I’m glad for that last one. I wouldn’t trade these last two years for nothing but it wasn’t something I had initially had a choice in. We both fought it and each other in the beginning. It was a bumpy start but we figured things out relatively quickly.” The smile fell. “Sans.” Sans flinched but kept Alex’s gaze. “Life isn’t fair. But you have a devoted, loving brother and one stubborn human for a lab partner that you’re stuck with and neither are going to leave you, regardless of how much you’ve changed. You’re still our Sans, no matter what.”

Sans’s magic flickered out of existence, returning his left eye to an empty socket to match his right one as Sans dropped his gaze. Alex used the wall as support as he bent over to scoop up the notebook. He straightened, only to look unstable on his feet and unnaturally pale. Sans felt his magic surge forward again but he pulled it back, knowing that doing anything more would only cause more damage. Alex gave him a strained smile and Sans got the distinct feeling that Alex was hiding something just so Sans wouldn’t worry.

“I’ll make sure Papyrus has access to this,” Alex assured, gesturing with the notebook as his smile fell. “And you as well. If at any point you want it back, just grab it. I’ll just put it in a safe place.”

Alex turned and left, leaving Sans alone on the terrace. As soon as the door clicked shut, Sans turned, reaching for the rail as his legs gave out from under him. Out of all he had expected to happen from him attempting to ask the question, this had not been it. He had not even humored the idea that this could have been a consequence. A sob wrenched itself from his chest as he pressed his face against the bars, berating himself for his stupidity. He should have never asked. He should have kept it all to himself. Now there was a gigantic rift between him and the only person beyond his brother that he seemed to be at ease with. He choked on a second sob as an unfamiliar grief tore through him. He couldn’t even remember Alex and yet here he was grieving as if he had lost someone dear to him forever.

He was certain, in some way, he had.

It didn’t matter. What was done was done. He curled closer to the bars as he fought to keep his magic from spilling out with his emotions and causing more damage than it already had. Gods above, he was a mess.

Not far from the terrace access, Alex was in his personal lab sitting against a wall, glasses discarded somewhere and his gaze on nothing in particular. He had walked into his lab, had gathered a stack of loose papers and books and had settled to get to work on the floor only to find himself staring off into space with his thoughts nowhere in particular. He came to when Papyrus suddenly appeared before him, a careful, solid hand on his arm.

“Ah, Papyrus,” Alex commented, moving to stand. His face felt weird and he rubbed at it with the back of his arm. It came back a bit damp and he rubbed at his face to make sure it was dry. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in. How was work?”

“Are you alright, Alex?”

Alex looked to the lanky skeleton, barely seeing the worry on the monster’s blurry face. Alex nodded, a soft smile gracing his features. “I’m fine, Pap. Just a little off.” He turned to look for his glasses but Papyrus wrapped a hand around his arm. Alex looked back at him, covering the appendage. “I’m fine. Honest. It’ll pass.”

“Did something happen with Sans?”

Alex stiffened under Papyrus’s hold, his smile faltering on his face as he tried to present it. “Why…”

“Sans had told me yesterday he intended to speak with you today.” Alex couldn’t see all that well but he was sure Papyrus’s gaze was searching. For what, Alex couldn’t fathom. “Did you speak with Sans?”

“He caught me on my smoke break.”

“What did you talk about?”

Alex slipped out of Papyrus’s grip, offering a smile that didn’t feel right. “We just talked, Pap. Nothing to worry about. He even gave me back the notebook I had given him.” He frowned, looking around. “Where did I put it? He had wanted you to have access t–”

“Did he ask about your relationship before his coma?”

Alex flinched. In all the moments for Papyrus to be keener than he appeared, this was the worst time. Alex debated on whether or not to lie but then figured that his reaction had already given him away. With a sigh, he answered honestly. “Yes.”

“And?”

Alex gave a breathy chuckle, trying to play it all off. “And nothing. I didn’t answer his question.”

Alex was turned around gently by a hand on his shoulder and he came face to face with Papyrus. “Then why do you look like hell?”

Alex shrugged, pulling his gaze from the skeleton. He rubbed at his neck, not sure he had an answer for that. He wasn’t even sure on why he looked like hell in the first place. Papyrus released Alex’s shoulders but the look he was giving Alex made the human want to squirm. “You didn’t tell him about the–”

“What would have come from that?” Alex asked quickly and sharply, the question coming out almost like a barked laugh as he grew defensive, quickly cutting Papyrus off before the monster could finish that sentence. “You’re just as intelligent as your brother, Papyrus,” Alex challenged, quickly turning the conversation back around to the beginning. “You can figure out the consequences to such a question for both parties involved, regardless if they’re the questioner or the questioned. Doesn’t matter if there was or wasn’t anything before his coma. What matters is what he decides to do from here on out.”

Alex turned, suddenly finding his glasses. He picked them up, offering, “I have work to do down in the main work space.” He grabbed a few things and started for the door.

“Was there something between you two?” Papyrus called out. “Before his coma?”

Alex looked to him, a tight smile gracing his features at the look of confused determination on the skeleton’s face. “Papyrus, I didn’t answer his question.”

Alex left Papyrus in the work space, fully aware that he didn’t even give Papyrus the satisfaction of a straight denial of his question. Alex sighed, shoving the stuff under his arm up a bit higher. Later. He would deal with it all later.

Spoiler: Chapter 10

The next few weeks passed in a blur as the lab got back into the swing of things, sweeping Sans up in the process. Before he knew it, he was wandering around without a cane and returning to some semblance of normalcy in the hectic chaos that seemed to be the lab’s natural state of existence. Strangely, Sans saw less and less of Alex.

But, even as the lab returned to its natural state, a tension started to appear between the other scientists and Sans was unable to be oblivious to it when it started to become palpable. He was well aware that many were still acting stiffly around him. While part of that was normal due to his occasional night terror (he would forever be grateful that nightmares were now a whole lot more common and a whole lot less violent upon waking up) and his lack of remembering a good number of those that worked in the lab, he could tell something had shifted recently. He just couldn’t put his finger on what.

He entered the dining room, smiling at the familiar faces and not so familiar faces. Alphys, Undyne, Asgore, and several humans Sans was still remeeting were already seated at the table. Some monsters and humans mingled about as Papyrus and Toriel were still bringing in food from the attached kitchen, along with another human and several monsters. Sans took his customary seat across from where his brother normally sat and greeted the others warmly.

He looked up at his brother as Papyrus placed a large platter of pork chops in the middle of the table. “You help cook tonight, Pap?”

“Of course,” Papyrus replied happily, placing the bowl of mashed potatoes a bit farther down the table. “I am always glad to help out in the kitchen when the opportunity presents itself.”

Sans chuckled. “Learning lots?”

Papyrus placed a heavy hand on Sans’s shoulder, grinning. “Always.”

It took a while but eventually everyone settled at the table. Sans happily pulled a pork chop onto his plate, well aware his brother was watching him. He took the proffered bowl of mashed potatoes from Toriel and piled some on his plate, exchanging quick quips with her as he in turned passed her the stuffing. Talk was light and fun and Sans found himself content in the group of familiar and not-so-familiar faces and absolutely delicious food. He really had to hand it to Papyrus; the skeleton knew how to cook and Sans was grateful for that.

“I should not be surprised that he forgot come to dinner like he had promised.”

Sans looked up at his brother only to find Papyrus’s gaze on the empty chair to Sans’s right. Sans glanced at the chair himself, not following. “Who didn’t come to dinner?”

“Alex.”

Sans’s grip convulsed around the knife in his hand. Ah. So that explained Alex’s absence. He was avoiding Sans. Sans had no idea why but he did know that he hadn’t seen his “lab partner” in what had to be two weeks now and it had to stop.

Sans looked to Papyrus, offering a smile. “I’m sure he’s just caught up in his work, Pap.”

Papyrus nodded and went back to his plate but the dejected look remained on the skeleton’s face. Sans felt the corners of his smile twitch towards a frown. He was not about to share his sudden revelation with his brother. He made his smile grow, suggesting, “Why don’t we take a plate down to him when we’re done? I’m sure he could use the distraction.”

Papyrus looked up, surprise quickly turning into pleasure. “That is a great idea, brother. How did I not think of such a simple solution?”

Sans chuckled, the smile slipping into a real one. “Worry eats at the intelligent brain, dear brother of mine. I’m sure you would have cooked something similar up sooner or later.”

Papyrus choked on the bite he had taken and, while there were several moans and groans from those that had overheard, Papyrus’s eyes danced with joy at the pun.

But when guilt quickly followed suit, Sans’s own joy fell. It wasn’t hard to figure out what the guilt had been and he hated the reminder that he was just an impersonator in this timeline. No matter how hard he tried to get back what he had forgotten, the amount that was still black in his mind was overwhelming.

Dinner was over soon thereafter. Sans pitched in to clean up the mess as Papyrus put together a tray for Alex. Sans bit back his opinion when he caught sight of such a large meal. He was pretty certain Alex would barely touch a third of the food even if the scientist needed to consume all that Papyrus was preparing for him. Instead, he grinned and offered, “Looks great, bro. He’ll certainly appreciate the thought.”

Papyrus smiled and followed Sans down to Alex’s personal lab. Sans stopped at the access panel and imputed his personal code. The door opened without a hitch.

Sans froze just over the threshold.

Irrational terror seized him by the throat and slashed the breath from his body. His magic flared as panic threw itself into the toxic blend. The sound of the tray and its contents crashing to the floor barely registered in his brain as he tried desperately to breathe, to get away from something he couldn’t even see.

His limbs wouldn’t respond.

Magic burst from his left socket as pain erupted from the right. It felt like he was burning, as if flames were licking at his feet and attempting to swallow him whole. The world spun around him. He felt like he was falling. The face that swam into view was nothing he recognized, let alone register any features that would have told him who the figure was. Smoke swirled around him, burned his face and stung his already burning sockets. There was something– no, someone coming towards him and he knew that he had to do something, had to react or they were going to hurt Papyrus. They were going to hurt his brother and another but he couldn’t remember who else he was trying to protect. Who else was he trying to save?

“SANS!”

Sans jerked away but Alex’s firm grip on his shoulders only tightened. Sans gasped for breath, his entire body shaking as the world around him snapped back into place. Whatever he had lived through, whatever memory he had just relived, was slipping through his fingers as he shoved aside the rolling emotions to focus on whatever Alex’s gaze swiftly moved to behind him. Sans turned to look up at Papyrus only to find the taller skeleton not at his normal height. Movement below him drew his eyes to his brother curled up as small as he could with his long limbs, hands over the back of his skull and knees on either side.

Sans couldn’t remember a time he had seen Papyrus so small even as fragments of flame consumed memories flickered through his mind before disappearing completely, the sensation of having seen this before, if not quite like this. It made no sense but then Sans didn’t ponder on it long enough to figure out why.

Sans stepped out of Alex’s grasp surprisingly easily seeing as how tightly the other had held on. He knelt beside Papyrus, reaching out a shaking hand to touch his brother’s arm. This close, he could hear faint whispers coming from his brother but whatever Papyrus was saying, it was too faint and too garbled for Sans to make out. Papyrus flinched from Sans’s touch but Sans kept his hand flush to his brother’s arm.

“Papyrus,” he croaked. Sans swallowed. His throat felt like he had been screaming. Had he screamed? He couldn’t remember now. “Hey, Pap. Look at me.”

There was a sharp intake of air as the stream of words suddenly came to a halt and Papyrus’s head came up enough for his big, terror filled sockets to lock onto Sans. Iridescent blue tears were streaming down the lanky skeleton’s face, the same color as the Patient soul Papyrus possessed, and Sans had no doubt he had his own iridescent blue tear tracks, his mirroring his Integrity soul. Sans rubbed at the tears on Papyrus’s face, asking, “You with me?”

Papyrus sniffed, slowly uncurling to sit on the floor as he rubbed at his other cheek. He nodded, reaching out with both hands and rubbing away the tears on Sans’s cheeks. Papyrus gently pulled on him and Sans moved forward without resisting. He settled down in Papyrus’s lap, the lanky skeleton wrapping around him. Sans, in turn, held onto his brother’s arms, gladly giving his brother whatever comfort he needed. Sans needed it just as desperately.

“I’ve seen day terrors before, but I’ve never seen one so extreme in two people simultaneously.” Sans looked up at Alex’s soft notation. Papyrus had buried his face into his brother’s shoulder and Sans doubted Papyrus would move anytime soon. Alex knelt, looking from Papyrus to Sans. “Whatever you two went through, whatever got triggered, was really bad. Sometimes, in severe enough cases, a monster’s own magic will recreate any physical injuries that had occurred at the time of the initial trauma, even a day or two after the attack. It would probably be best if you both talked with an actual doctor relatively soon.”

“Thought you were a doctor, Dr. Fatum,” Sans challenged, unable to keep from cracking a joke, a smirk graced his face even as his voice cracked in turn.

Alex relaxed at the quip, standing with a snort. “So are you but you don’t see anyone lining up for treatment.”

Papyrus let out a burst of air in a huff of a laugh against Sans’s shoulder. Sans chortled but what humor had been there was quickly dashed at Alex’s question.

“Do you happen to remember what you recalled?”

Papyrus flinched but didn’t respond and Alex didn’t press. Sans, for his part, shook his head as he rubbed one of Papyrus’s arms. “No. And I wish I did.” Sans rubbed at his right socket. “If for nothing else to know what the heck had triggered us.” Sans looked at what he could see of Papyrus’s skull. “Do you remember anything, Pap?”

Sans nearly took the question back but Papyrus simply sighed into his shoulder, muttering, “Only the echoes of terror. It all seems rather fickle now that it has passed.”

Sans looked up to Alex but the human was shaking his head. “I heard and I’m grateful even if that’s odd. I’d rather you two not suffer from memories you’ve clearly forgotten.”

Sans hummed in agreement but said nothing more. After a moment, his brother shift around him. Alex stood and put some distance between. Sans was rather disappointed. He wouldn’t admit that a part of him was a bit concerned as well.

“I’m sorry about your dinner, Alex,” Papyrus offered. He stood Sans up before clambering to his own feet.

Alex waved him off. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll just go to the kitchen and snag some leftovers. I need out of the lab anyways.”

“Cleaning supplies?”

Alex gestured at the cabinet behind Papyrus. “If there’s something else you need, there’s a janitorial closet down the hall.”

Papyrus went off to the cabinet as Sans leaned over and picked up the tray. “You shouldn’t let him worry so much, Alex.”

Alex gave him a strained smile. “I try not to but you know me: easily lost in work.”

Actually, he didn’t, but Sans felt it wouldn’t help to state the obvious. “The avoidance is new, though,” Sans replied, his gaze on the dishes he was gathering.

There was a pause before Alex replied, “I wasn’t trying to avoiding you, Sans. I have weeks worth of work to catch up on before bosses start breathing down both our necks and I’m attempting to avoid them putting pressure on you while you’re still recovering.”

Sans looked up but Alex had moved away to one of the tables in the rather sizable room. It was one of many completely trashed with bits and pieces and all sorts of notes everywhere. Sans finally took in the entirety of the lab and the larger picture was just as wrecked as the couple of tables he had first seen. One wall was completely covered by papers and pictures, a few strands of string here and there to tie some sections together. He could make out his own handwritten notes mingled in with the same handwriting that had filled a notebook full of questions over a month ago. Some pages were dominated by one handwriting or the other but a large amount had both handwritings scrawled across the pages, even the typed pages had notes scrawled in the margins and over the text in both handwritings. He caught sight of nearby pages and his gaze roved over them quickly.

The situation slammed into him, hard.

They were running out of time.

They were running out of time and Alex was doing everything in his power to compensate for Sans’s lack of memory by trying to figure out something – anything – that could at least delay the inevitable for just a little longer.

Papyrus reappeared with some supplies and Sans took a shaky breath to re-center himself. He could worry about the end of days and his lack of contribution towards a solution later. Right now, he had to help Papyrus clean up a mess. Alex didn’t come near them, falling back into work without a glance in their direction. Sans glanced his way once while cleaning and was surprised when there was a lack of negative emotions towards the human. In fact, a part of him was amused and the other part relieved. Though he couldn’t remember, it seemed that Alex had been speaking the truth; the human was easily sucked into whatever challenge had been set before him.

“You sure you don’t want us to bring you food, Alex?” Papyrus clarified.

Alex looked up, blinking at them from behind his glasses. It took a second but his brain finally registered what had been asked because he gave a sheepish grin. “I’m sure, Pap. I can only ignore my bladder for so long so I’ll grab food after a restroom break.”

Papyrus nodded, a determined look on his face as he turned and walked out. Sans followed after, waving back at Alex. “Get some sleep some time tonight, partner.”

Alex waved at him and gave a hum in response but the human was already turning back to whatever he had been looking at. Sans sighed as the lab was left behind. He hoped his memories came back soon. He didn’t need to be the reason Alex keeled over dead from overworking.

That was a thing, right? Whether it was or wasn’t, knowing he wasn’t there to help made him feel exhausted. He couldn’t imagine shouldering all that stress by himself and he had lived through numerous resets where he had been powerless to do anything.

The dining room was dark but there was still a light on in the kitchen. Some human was there leaning against the counter opposite of the running microwave, a bowl already warm being consumed. They nodded in greeting to the brothers but returned their attention to the microwave as it beeped. Papyrus disposed of the waste while Sans placed the dishes and tray into the sink. He turned on the water to as hot as his bones could handle and started to wash the soiled dishware.

“Have a good night,” the human spoke, exiting the room.

“You too, Mavis,” Papyrus called out in response. Their interaction was a fleeting notice in Sans’s mind as he got lost in thought.

There had to be a way for him to help. Maybe he could get Alex to talk him through what they had already done. After all, it wasn’t like Sans wasn’t remembering so telling him things that he should have remembered shouldn’t hurt, right? That way there wouldn’t be a need for Papyrus to be disappointed when Alex didn’t show for dinner and Sans could stop feeling like Alex was avoiding him.

He shouldn’t have asked his question.

“Sans, are you alright?”

Sans jerked and splashed hot, soaping water all down his front and across the counter. He took a step away from the sink as he groaned softly. And that’s what he got for getting lost in thought. Papyrus was already there cleaning up the mess, though, and Sans quickly rinsed the bowl in his hand. “Thanks, Pap.” His shirt was already starting to cool and he suppressed a shudder. “I’m ok, bro. Just tired.”

Papyrus took the proffered bowl now free of soap, all nice and clean, and dried it. Sans turned off the water and grabbed a nearby hand towel to attempt to get some of the water out of his shirt. It wasn’t till he was almost done getting what moisture he could out of his shirt that Papyrus spoke up again.

“Do you know anything about our...episode earlier?”

Sans shook his head as he dried his hands and forearms. “Nope. Though, I do have my suspicions. With what notes of Gaster’s I remember and have read since, I don’t think there’s much stretching of the imagination to say that it was associated with that monster. I just don’t know exactly what the episode was about, let alone what triggered it.”

Silence fell over the kitchen broken only by the soft clink of Papyrus putting the bowl away. Sans hung the hand towel back up feeling oddly disconnected from all of it.

“I’m going to go make sure Alex takes a break,” Papyrus voiced, resting a perceptive gaze onto Sans. “You’d best head to bed, Sans. You look exhausted.”

Sans chuckled. “When am I not?” Stepping away from the counter, he smiled softly at his brother. “I’ll see you at breakfast, then?”

Papyrus nodded.

They shared a brief hug before parting ways in the hallway.

His room seemed far colder than it normally was as the orange light of his lamp filled the room. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to attempt to sleep but he wasn’t sure he had much of a choice in the matter. Switching into pjs of sorts was easy, though, and made it far easier to at least climb into bed. Exhaustion pulled at every bone but Sans was certain his mind was too chaotic to fall into anything peaceful.

He didn’t know just how right he was.

Alex jumped, blinking at the door as someone pounded on it briefly. He pushed his glasses up to rub at his eyes before he glanced at the clock. It was too early in the morning for someone to be pounding on his door. Whoever was outside his door pounded on it again. Reluctantly, he left his work. “This best be quick,” he grumbled to himself. He didn’t have any time to waste.

He keyed the door open and it slid apart to reveal a very nervous and very flustered yellow dinosaur monster. “Alphys?” he questioned, surprised. His grumpy mood deflated a bit as his brain focused on the conversation. Work could wait for a brief moment; she never bothered him in his lab, let alone pound on any door. He needed the break anyways. “What-”

“I-it’s Sans,” she stuttered, ringing her hands. “H-he’s h-having a n-night terror.”

She hadn’t even finished the last two words before Alex was already running. She kept right with him, rushing, “Undyne and Pa-Papyrus are trying t-to wake him.”

Alex scoffed, taking the stairs three at a time. He didn’t bother to wait for Alphys as she quickly fell behind.

He had been made Sans’s partner for a reason. He had been trained with Sans’s magic for a reason.

Undyne and Papyrus’s voices reached him as he rounded the corner. Toriel was outside the room with two others. They looked his way but moved when he didn’t slow down. Grabbing the door frame, Alex made the sharp turn into utter chaos.

Undyne has a spear in hand but she was on the defensive, attempting to keep Papyrus behind her even though he was fighting her protection. Papyrus was talking, trying to get his brother to hear him, to see him, but Alex could tell that whatever Sans was seeing, it wasn’t this.

“Sans!” he called out, already halfway into the room. Sans’s gaze snapped to him and Papyrus used the lull in attacks to get closer. Sans didn’t let him get far, throwing the lanky skeleton into Undyne with a flick of the wrist and blue magic pulsing. The pair crashed to the floor and Alex felt fear and adrenaline fill his veins as Sans rounded on him. Sans lashed out, blue magic engulfing Alex’s soul. Alex only had enough time to let out a startled breath before he was slammed into the wall.

Sans shouted in an odd language, one that seems to not quite work in his ears. The only thing he gleaned from Sans’s shouting, though, was what the night terror was most likely about. That was the last clear thought Alex had before his mind was engulfed in white.

Papyrus came to with a start, a familiar scream still ringing through his skull. It took his brain a moment to process that the scream had not been part of his dream and any drowsiness remaining vanished. He threw back the covers and raced out of his room. His long strides took him into Sans’s room where he found the stout skeleton sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Sans?” Papyrus inquired gently. Sans’s gaze snapped to him. It felt like he had been drenched in ice at the sight of the blue magic pouring from Sans’s left socket, right empty of its normal pupil light. Papyrus ignored the fact that Sans wasn’t really looking at him as he stepped farther into the room. He brought his hands up hoping that his brother would be more at ease with seeing his palms. “Sans, are you ok? You with me, brother?”

Heavy footfall behind him told him Undyne and Alphys had shown up. He ignored them too. “Sans?”

Undyne gripped his arm, suddenly behind him and armed. “Papyrus,” she ordered, gaining his gaze. “Don’t.”

“Let him go,” Sans snarled. Papyrus looked back at Sans, excited, but his excitement diminished when he saw the bones materialize around the stout skeleton. Undyne pulled Papyrus back forcefully, guarded. The bones shot towards them and Undyne blocked a good number of them. “Let. Him. Go.”

“The hell is he speaking?” snarled Undyne, grabbing Papyrus and pulling him to the ground as a barrage of bones sliced through the space they had just been occupying.

“You can’t understand him?” Papyrus asked, as Undyne got up, blocking another attack. She shot him a startled look, demanding, “You can?!”

Papyrus got up, sidestepping an attack that slipped past Undyne’s defense. He didn’t answer her question, though, calling to Sans, “Sans, please. It’s me, Papyrus.”

There was a flicker, a fault in the coming attack and Papyrus thought he saw Sans return to himself for a brief moment, a flicker in his sockets. But, whatever progress he had made was shattered when Alex came in, calling Sans’s name. Papyrus took the diversion to slip around Undyne. He didn’t even make it half way before his soul was turned blue and he was thrown into Undyne, slamming into the floor painfully. Papyrus rolled off of Undyne as he watched Alex slam into the wall, the blue soul in his chest blazing with Sans’s magic. Pain flickered across Alex’s now pale face as sweat started beading the pale skin.

“You! I’ll end you!” Sans shouted and Papyrus watched as something dawned on Alex just before Sans embedded an attack into Alex’s torso. Alex gave a strangled scream.

“Sans!” Papyrus cried out, leaping towards his brother. “No!”

Sans lashed out at him blindly, catching Papyrus by surprise. Papyrus landed hard on his rump in an attempt to dodge the attack and still ended up getting nicked; a bone scrapped the side of his skull. “Sans!” Papyrus choked. “Don’t.”

Somehow, someway, that did the trick. As Papyrus sat there, a hand on the throbbing scrape on his cheekbone and tears pricking the back of his sockets, he watched as Sans awoke staring at him. Sans’s gaze didn’t remain on his brother, though. Sans looked to where his magic was active and jerked back as if he had been burned, the magic in the room dissipating in a heartbeat, all physical attacks dissipating. Alex collapsed to the floor a foot and a half beneath him with a groan. Alphys ran to Alex’s side as Undyne got up hesitantly to join her. Papyrus missed the wary look she cast Sans as she passed behind the lankier skeleton. Sans took a step back, his hand curling at his chest. He turned to Papyrus in hesitation and Papyrus watched with bated breath as Sans seemed to war something out in his head before reaching towards him. Papyrus felt relief flood him as he shifted his weight to take Sans’s hand. He involuntarily flinched as he rolled on a very sore part of his rump. Sans instantly jerked his hand back and Papyrus could clearly see on Sans’s face what Sans had interpreted the flinch as. Papyrus reached out towards Sans, his brother’s name on his tongue, but Sans left the safety of the lab in a final burst of magic.

Spoiler: Chapter 11

It was like time had stopped as Papyrus’s outstretched hand reached for San but the skeleton was gone and Papyrus blinked. He was suddenly aware of all who were in the room and all who were not.

“Sans!” Papyrus scrambled to his feet rather poorly, catching a glimpse of Alex when Undyne moved to follow after Sans as well.

“No,” Alex spoke, a hand brushing Undyne’s leg. She stopped anyway, looking down at him. Papyrus stilled as well, but he was clenching and unclenching his hands. Why was Alex stopping them from going after Sans? Alex looked at Papyrus as best he could, uttering, “Go calm down your brother and bring him back. Too many people go after him and he’ll only run more.”

Papyrus nodded, taking off towards his room as Undyne started to argue Alex’s decision. Papyrus dodged around Toriel and the others that had gathered outside the room. He stopped in his room long enough to grab one of the hoodies his brother had gotten him and his boots, shoving both over his pajamas before taking off after his brother. He just hoped he would be able to find him.

Papyrus hesitated when he stepped outside the lab. Even in the Underground, there was enough of a shift in the lights to dictate that it was still early in the morning. The area was bathed in an odd light that lit up the area but didn’t. He remembered someone comparing the half light at night to having the full moon shine down on a clear night. Papyrus wondered if that was an accurate statement as he just picked a direction and went with it.

The first time he ran through the faint traces of Sans’s magic, Papyrus nearly cried. The relief of knowing he was going in the right direction was overwhelming and Papyrus hurried on.

Papyrus was grateful that his brother had been too exhausted to make proper shortcuts. The magical footprints Sans was leaving behind were unusual, especially when his brother’s shortcuts normally left nothing to even hint that Sans had been there to begin with.

When he came across a pile of snow that had an impression of what looked like Sans’s face, he hoped he wasn’t too far behind. Movement ahead showed he was right on Sans’s tail and Papyrus hurried after his brother. He caught a glimpse of Sans coming to a stop in a clearing and was probably no more than a handful of strides away. Relieved, he opened his mouth to call out but a small figure collided with his head, wrapping themselves bodily around said appendage to mute Papyrus’s cry. How no one had heard their crash into the underbrush was a surprise but, then again, Papyrus deduced that Sans’s own ambush had created quite the ruckus as well.

The little figure moved enough for Papyrus to see but kept their arm across Papyrus’s mouth to keep him quiet. It was a good thing, too, because Papyrus would have screamed. About what or at who, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that the thing trying to capture his brother terrified him and, as the little figure buried their face into his shoulder, complete certainty filled him; there was nothing he could do but make sure the little figure did not slip from where they were currently latched onto. As the black, inky mass that was ensnaring Sans came into view, Papyrus decided that he would have been screaming out of fear.

A child walked out from behind the trees, looking up at Sans. Papyrus couldn’t see their face but the way the creature turned its head towards the child, it was clear that the child was there due to the creature. A giggle left the child and Papyrus shuddered. He froze but his shudder went unnoticed as the creature and child left with Sans in tow.

The little figure attached to him let go and landed on solid feet in the snow. He swallowed down the bitter taste of used magic as he looked down at the little human, sockets burning with unshed tears he was vehemently denying.

“Why did that….thing take my brother?” Papyrus demanded, knowing that the child before him would know. He could see the similarities between the child that had been with the creature and the one before him: same shirt, same shorts, same shoes, same hair, same overall appearance. The child shrank a bit before giving him a shushing gesture, their expression pleading. He frowned, but he nodded, watching the child dutifully write in the snow ‘experiment’. His frown deepened. He asked softly, “Do you know where they went?”

The child nodded.

“Take me there,” Papyrus half ordered, half begged. The child gained an apprehensive look and Papyrus’s hands shot out to grip both of the child’s shoulders. The child was tiny and Papyrus barely put any pressure into his grasp. “Please. I have to protect my brother.”

Determination replaced the apprehension and the child nodded. Stepping out of Papyrus’s touch, they gestured for the skeleton to follow. Papyrus quickly got to his feet and followed after the child slipping quickly through the trees. For a while, their trek was silent beyond the noises of Papyrus’s boots against the snow. But when it seemed nothing was really going to happen, Papyrus figured it was safe to talk, even as he kept his voice low.

“Can you talk?”

Papyrus nearly smacked himself. Out of all the things he wanted to ask, that had not been one of them. But, now that it had left his mouth, he couldn’t help wondering if they couldn’t. After all, they hadn’t said a word yet.

The child shook their head no.

“Do you have a name?”

The child glanced at him. The look clearly spoke of annoyance and Papyrus nearly took the question back but the child was already bending over to write in the snow.

‘Frisk’

‘Quickly.’

‘Yes/No ? only’

The child took off at a slight jog and Papyrus had only a moment to take in the words before he was forced to follow or be left behind.

If he had read the set of words right, Frisk was the human child’s name, they were in a hurry, and he could only ask yes or no questions. He felt rather stupid with that last bit. Of course he would only be allowed to ask questions that had yes or no as the answer. The child clearly had to write in the snow for anything more, which brought another thought to mind.

“Do you know sign language?”

The child gave him a confused look and he deduced that they could not. Odd how they knew how to write but not know how to sign. “Can you read as well?”

This time the look was one he had seen many times. It was flat and clearly spoke ‘no duh’ in a way that made Papyrus feel rightly reprimanded. Frustration flared through him as he glared back at the child. “I apologize for such a question but I know nothing about you and simply knowing how to write doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to read. You don’t know what sign language is and you clearly know more about the situation than I do. In fact, you could be in on this whole situation and leading me right into a trap!”

The stress of the situation was clearly getting to him as the words tumbled out but he didn’t care. His only ally in this was Frisk and he didn’t even know where the child came from, what was going on, and how he was going to get himself and Sans out of a situation he didn’t recognize. Shame washed over the child’s face and they reached out to him. At first he was confused but they grabbed his hand and pulled gently. When he was low enough, they hugged him tight, pressing their face into the fabric on his shoulder. His arms came up on instinct alone and he wrapped the human child in a tight hug, realizing his bones were rattling. He tried to swallow his fear and anxiety and frustration so that he didn’t burden this child with everything that was coming but it was hard. It was hard to suppress everything and to push forward and strive to protect the one soul he cared most for.

It clicked.

That was it, though, wasn’t it? He was there to protect his brother. He needed to treat this like he would as a royal guard, as his job. He didn’t have to suppress his emotions, he just had to set them aside for the moment, strive through, and then deal with them when he got himself and his brother to safety.

And Frisk. If nothing else, the child was not only showing him the way but showing him compassion as well and Papyrus appreciated that far more than he would ever be able to voice. Standing with his arms still around the child, he shifted their weight to his side as they wrapped their legs around him as best they could, expression curious.

“Point and I will go that way.”

Frisk nodded and pointed ahead of them. Papyrus took off at a run, determination thrumming through his bones.

Something other than reality swam before Sans’s eyes. Whether a nightmare or memories long forgotten, he couldn’t pull himself out of it. All he knew was that Papyrus was in danger and needed to be protected. He had to protect his brother.

He had to protect Papyrus.

“Sans! Don’t.”

The words were weak – pathetic, really – but reality snapped into sharp clarity around him. There, sitting before him on the floor, was Papyrus with a hand to a cheek. He could feel his magic all over the room, the majority of it collected in one location.

His soul dropped painfully as he turned. He jerked back, cancelling his magic as quickly as he could as the horrors of what he had done registered. His grip on Alex’s soul vanished and the bones that had been imbedded in the human and the surrounding space shattered and dissipated. He flinched as Alex hit the floor, regretting the rash decision instantly.

He took a step back, hand curling towards his chest. He could still feel Alex’s soul in his grip, could still feel the feedback of his own attack in the human’s body, and for the life of him, he couldn’t recall what had driven him to attack Alex like that. There was nothing there but darkness and, for some reason, that terrified him even more than knowing the truth behind the action. He looked to Papyrus, not knowing what to do. His brother was still watching him, sockets wide with an anticipation Sans couldn’t read. His gaze flickered to his brother’s hand still pressed firmly to a cheek but Sans couldn’t tell if it was out of pain, out of fear, or an unconscious action. He couldn’t tell anything and it was not only making him frustrated, but it was also terrifying. Still, he swallowed that fear and frustration in favor of helping his brother up. He offered his hand to Papyrus, taking a step towards the lankier skeleton.

His brother flinched.

Sans jerked back, pressing his hand against his sternum till it hurt. He yanked at the world, separating himself from his brother with as much force as he could manage.

It was a bad idea. He shot from spot to spot on what was thankfully a straight line but he found himself face first in the snow before he had time to rectify his mistake.

Everything hurt. Every bone he had hurt. Even his soul hurt and Sans couldn’t help but be flabbergasted. What in the world had that been?

Pushing himself up out of the snow, he looked around. He knew where he was. He could still make out the lab’s outline through the trees but there was quite a bit of distance between himself and the building. He sat back on his heels, trying to get his mind to focus.

What had happened?

Well, obviously, he had tried to take a shortcut, to teleport, but it had gone wrong and, quite honestly, had been downright awful. It was nothing like in his dream, in his memories, where it had been simply like stepping from place to the next, like passing through a doorway or portal. No, this was almost like he was ceasing to exist only to exist again in another place, that if he wasn’t sure of his footing, he would cease to exist by either scattering himself across space and time or by planting himself into a tree or wall. The sudden understanding of how dangerous his shortcuts were now made him wish he had tried to use one long before now.

Why was this the first time he had teleported?

The answer, it seemed, was far simpler than he had anticipated.

Because there had been no need.

He had never had the need to utilize his ability. He had been so focused on getting stronger physically that where he would have normally used a shortcut, he had walked. And, to only add to the matter, he only recently felt able to do any sort of magic beyond holding himself together.

He sighed, his body relaxing. He felt like an idiot. Probably was one, too, for leaving in such a manner, but what was done was done. There was nothing he could do about it now.

He pushed himself to his feet, the knees of his shorts damp from sitting in the snow. While he didn’t generate heat like humans did, his magic still ran warm and could melt snow, albeit far slower than a human could. Lacking the necessary nerve ending to properly feel temperature differences, Sans also barely noticed the snow under his bare feet beyond the realization that he was indeed barefoot stepping in snow that wasn’t quite powder anymore. He made a face at the sensation as he wiggled his toes.

“Nope! Nope. That just made it worse,” he voiced, hopping from one foot to the other to shake the snow from between his bones.

His foot swelched into the snow underfoot but he didn’t notice. What he did notice, though, was movement in the opposite direction of the lab. He snapped his head around, pupils locking onto a figure a number of yards away.

His pupils shrank.

A human child was standing opposite the direction to the lab, watching him. At first it just creeped him out. Why in the world was there a child just standing there watching him? Where were their parents? Did they even live near here?

Who were they?

“Are you lost?” Sans called out, taking a step towards them. The child didn’t react but he started to really take in their appearance. Brown hair in a symmetrical cut at the jaw line, stripped shirt, shorts, shoes…

“Frisk?”

The word was out of his mouth before he could even think it. No. There was no way that the child was actually real, that Frisk wasn’t simply a figment of his imagination.

The child turned.

“Frisk!” Sans stumbled briefly before taking off after the kid. “Frisk! Wait!”

Whether it was a hallucination, he was dreaming, or it was really happening, he never seemed to get closer. The moment he thought he was gaining, he would see them farther ahead.

Out of nowhere, they vanished.

He slowed to a stop in a tiny clearing and even that was a stretch. It was more of a stretch of space he could fit 10 of his closest friends in if he wanted to and still have elbow room but it wasn’t much of a clearing. “Frisk?”

A child giggled.

The magic around Sans’s bones turned to ice at the same time it poured from his left socket in a flame. How could he have been so stupid. He knew that giggle, had heard it too many times to not know that giggle. That particular giggle reigned over his nightmares far more than he cared for.

Chara.

He sucked air between his teeth as the shadows around him surged forward. He dodged what he could without shortcutting. He couldn’t bring himself to teleport. He’d gather the magic to do it but each time he nearly tipped the scale, the sensation of his last attempt washed over him and the magic would evaporate. He summoned bones, trying to embed whatever was lashing out at him but that only worked for mere moments. Whatever was going after him seemed able to free itself once pinned and Sans started to feel as if he was up against something that wasn’t properly solid.

His sudden influx of magic use, the horrible experience that had been his shortcutting, and the night terror from earlier was catching up with him far faster than he would have liked, exhaustion slowing his efforts to remain untouched. He did his best to not let it become an issue, the fear of turning to dust with just one hit very potent in his bones at the moment. Even after weeks of knowing that it wasn’t possible for him to dust with one hit any more, that fear was the only think keeping him from growing sloppy.

Didn’t work out too well as he misstepped.

Tendril was the only word that came to mind to describe the black, stringy, inky thing that wrapped around his throat, the back of his skull, and across his teeth before it yanked him forward and up. He gave a muffled cry, pain shooting down his neck at the movement as he tried to fight, tried to pull the tentacle off of his neck, but other tendril shot out. One wrapped around his torso to the point he feared a rib would crack. Two others latched onto his legs as a third wrapped around his left wrist. It yanked his hand away from the tendril, leaving his right hand to only grasp at it to keep himself steady if nothing else.

All of the jerking around stopped not even a minute after it had started and Sans found himself immobilized a few feet off the ground even as he twitched about trying to get free. The tendril wrapped around his skull slipped over his left eye and it was like he had no magic to pull on. He jerked in the tight grasps, panic driving him to try and get free.

A mass approached from the shadows and Sans froze as ice cold dread rushed through his system. His magic started collecting out of instinct but the tendril already tight around his ribs squeezed and he had the sudden sensation of being sapped of magic. It made his head spin.

“WelL dONe, ChiLd,” the mass from the shadows spoke, the voice seeming to ring through Sans’s skull as the splotchy mask of a face turned to something Sans couldn’t see. A giggle from the unseen thing made fear streak down his spine. “lET uS ReTurN.”

He was screwed.

As the mass started taking him back to wherever it had come from, Sans started to calm down. Clearly the thing didn’t want to harm him quite yet, meaning he had the chance to escape once the damn thing stopped draining him of magic.

“hAve YoU FoUnD tHe OtHEr one, yEt?”

Sans tensed at that. Other one what? Did the blasted thing mean Papyrus or something else? He prayed to the stars beyond that the thing was talking about something else.

He was glad that Papyrus was still back at the lab.

Hopefully.

“No. They will come home on their own.”

“mAke SURe tHAT hAPpens. i dO nOt WANT ThE onlY oThER hEALtHY one gETTINg DamAGed. i wOrKeD ToO hard To haVe iT ALl ABrUptlY stoP beCAUSE You cAnnOt KeeP AN EYE On tHEM.”

Sans relaxed marginally. That didn’t sound like they were talking about Papyrus. In fact, it almost sounded like they were talking about another human. Sans tried to look at the child following but the tendrils kept him rather immobilized.

“Of course.”

He mentally groaned. He couldn’t read anything out of how the kid was taking this without seeing their face. It almost sounded like the thing was reprimanding them but how the kid reacted seemed as if it was nothing more than a statement about the weather.

A branch smacked him in the face and he glared at the thing carrying him.

Another branch smacked him in the face.

He groaned. So that’s what this whole trip was going to be, wasn’t it?

A third branch wacked into the side of his skull.

Fan-fricken-tastic.

Sans tracked their progress up till he got turned around and lost. After that, he closed his right socket and simply waited. There was nothing he could do without his magic and somehow the creature holding him could suppress just that. So, while still trapped in the not-slimy-but-certainly-looking-like-slim-and-ink tendrils of whatever the creature was, he had to wait. It turned out to be a nice half nap, once he got over the whole being choked and squeezed to death.

There was a sudden shift in light and Sans opened his unobscured socket to find himself being brought into a structure that was buried beneath a hill. The entrance was made out of thick slabs, the door equally thick. It opened slowly on an automated system but it was silent. There was no telling how large the complex was and Sans had a suspicion it was deceptively massive.

They went down a level and through several hallways before arriving at a massive room filled with an exuberant amount of very illegal experiments and equipment. The place was in disarray, cables both still hanging in there and busted dangling from the ceiling and crowding the floor, stains of unknown origins coloring dingy surfaces, and things everywhere. There were glass cylinders full of some liquid preserving some creature or another all over the place. Some looked to still be alive and the cylinders still active, others not so much alive as preserved for whatever reason. The creature weaved its way through the maze of things that Sans was certain would burn very nicely if he ever got the chance to start a fire.

He wasn’t certain where the thought of fire came from but he wasn’t about to give it up now.

The creature unlatched restrained on what Sans was certain was an examination table not meant for living beings. A tendril wrapped around his right wrist and he was slowly pulled out of the half curled position he had managed to get himself into. He fought it, thus why it took so long, but the creature only moved the tendrils to snake into his joints and force him to move when it was done with his struggling. It was a disgusting feeling, one he vowed to avoid in the future by just moving next time.

The tendril around his skull left and the first thing he did was ask, “So where are we, exactly? Doesn’t seem like the kind of place I’d wanna stay in for long.”

“i Am SuRpRiSED yOu dO NoT rEMEmBER. i HaD inTeNDEd fOr YOuR TImE HeRE to ReMain IntACT In yOuR MiND.”

He jerked against the restrains now tight against his wrists, ankles, and torso, sockets wide as pupils vanished. No, no. No way. There was no fucking way.

An inky tendril curled against his cheek as if to cup it. “IT wOuLD sEEM tHaT RoMAn hAd Gotten TO you suCceSsFuLly AFTEr ALL.” The tendril left and Sans suppressed a shudder. He felt disgusting now and didn’t even understand why. “I had NOt BEEn ceRTAIn He haD mAnAGed To GeT HiS haNDS On a BOttlE oN His wAy OUt.”

“Who’s Roman?” he ground out. The odd way this monster spoke was starting to give him a headache.

He could have done without the distorted laughter in his head, too.

“SacRificINg HimSeLF FOr a noBLe CAuSe. wHY Am i nOT sUrpriSED. in fAct, I AM imPrEsSED he MAnAGeD To lAst LoNg EnOugh To SeE thrOUgH hIs nObLe DeEd.” The mass moved away, rearranging things on some surface. “T. n. rOmAN WAs An assistant of Mine ThAT DeCIdEd He wAs ThROuGh workING wiTH ME. So, he Set tHe PLace on FIrE And FlEd with YoU AND YOUr broThEr. WHeRe is pAPYrUS? HeAlThy And WeLl, I HoPe?”

Sans thrashed against his restraints and the mask like face turned towards him, ever present grin seeming to only grow longer. “Don’t you dare touch my brother, Gaster, or so help me I’ll-“

“OR yOu'lL WhAt, sANs? tAke mE oN?” Gaster laughed again, coming over. Out of the goop near what Sans could only assume was Gaster’s chest, something extended. By the time it touched his face to pat his cheek, it had become a hand pulled free of the mass that was now W. D. Gaster. “you ArE iN no ShAPe To tAKe oN ANyOnE, lIttLE SKeleTon. eSPeCially Not me.” Gaster didn’t so much lean in as stretch his head out like he would a hand till his face was inches from Sans. Sans couldn’t even lean away, skull pressed firmly against the flat surface already. “i cAn tAKe yoU Out wiTh eAsE.”

“You’re lying,” he choked, his soul dropping at the thought even as his right socket suddenly itched.

Gaster laughed again, the face rising up and back in a gesture that mimicked someone throwing their head back.

Sans smacked his head against the hard surface as he jerked back when Gaster’s face was suddenly shoved into his own. “Oh, I Am lyInG, am I? YOUr pareNtS BroUght YOu TO me NOt WAnTING you anyMoRe. i TOoK you iN ANd TAughT yOU ALL YoU kNow. I TauGHt you HOw TO be thE oLDeR brOtheR. I mADe yOu INTO tHe monster THAT YOU ArE now aND I MadE SURE I couLd End yoU iF YOU gOt ToO Out oF hAND.”

Sans didn’t know why he was crying but he was. There were so many emotions rolling within him, he couldn’t even figure out what they were. But there was something there, a feeling in his soul that Gaster was lying. About what and how much, he wasn’t sure, but he certainly hoped for the majority of it to be a lie. This monster couldn’t be responsible for the foundation of his life. He just couldn’t.

But, then, the notes he had seen about him and his brother hadn’t been fabricated.

The chuckle was involuntary. The cackling just seemed like the next logical progression.

Sans leaned heavily on his restraints as his ribs hurt from laughing so hard. As his laughing subsided, he straightened up, spurts of giggles escaping him as his cheeks were streaked with tears.

“Aw man,” Sans spluttered between another splattering of giggles. “And I thought I had been crazy.” The grin that stretched across his face seemed to threaten to break his skull. “It’s a good thing I don’t remember what you taught me, then, eh, G?”

The grin on the mask like face diminished slightly as the face receded. “wHAT do yOU mEAn?”

“I don’t know how much you’ve been tracking of my life, Gooplord, but I Fell Down. Fell Down so hard that I got Dissociative Acute Amnesia. It was so acute that I didn’t remember anything from before the twisted nightmare that had been my dream. You, weren’t even in it. No human was, and certainly no monsters like you.” Sans grinned some more. “In fact, you could say I’m a new skeleton. Only reason I know who you are is because of some of your old research notes.”

Gaster pulled back completely, the grin on the mask not completely gone but certainly far smaller than it had been. Sans felt rather proud that he had knocked the creature down a few pegs, even if he was lying through his teeth on part of that. His memories weren’t fully back but he remembered reading those notes prior to his coma.

Gaster didn’t need to know that.

“yOu sEeM ProUD of thaT FAct.”

“Eh, I take what I can get.”

Gaster chuckled and Sans tried not to grit his teeth against the sound. “Oh, coME now, SANs. dOn'T tELl mE yoU'VE beCOME laZy?”

“Far from it, from what I’ve been told as of late,” Sans countered, not at all comfortable as to why Gaster was suddenly amused. He had been annoyed earlier, Sans was sure. He had gotten a strike against his captor. “But my brother would say I’m a lazy bag of bones any day.”

“ThEN I WiLl jUst hAVe tO aSK him, WON't I?”

Spoiler: Chapter 12

Dread was like ice on his bones. “Like you’ll ever have the chance,” Sans bluffed, praying to whatever would listen that this wasn’t going where he thought it was going.

“ i'm sUre I'LL gEt The cHancE FaR sooNEr THan YOu thiNk.” Gaster’s attention went beyond the edge of the surface Sans was strapped to. “plAce THem In THeir CAPSule. I'Ll TAkE tHE bRoTher.”

“NO!” Sans struggled against his bonds but it did little more than cause the bonds to rub painfully against his bones.

A second examination table of sorts was brought into his line of sight, soon followed by Papyrus being led by several tendrils. Sans stared. It was strange. Papyrus looked composed, determined even, but there was a slight tremor in Papyrus’s fists and his sockets were a bit too wide. As brave as Papyrus was, Sans knew he was just as scared. Gaster moved over to the lanker skeleton and strapped him in as Sans tried to get free. “Papyrus! Gaster, so help me, if you do anything to harm him– ”

“ScREam yOurSELF hoArsE IF you WiSh, Sans. nO OnE cAN hEar yoU aNd it iS ALl ratHeR aMuSiNG To me.”

Gaster moved away from Papyrus. Sans jerked against his bonds again, pupils trained on his brother. “Papyrus. Pap. Look at me.” He gained a wide socket gaze void of emotion. It chilled Sans down to the bone. “Everything’s going to be ok. We’ll be ok.”

Iridescent blue tears welded up in Papyrus’s sockets the same blue as Papyrus’s Patient soul. Sans felt his own soul clench in his chest at seeing them again but he watched as those tears stayed in those sockets. What had Gaster done to get Papyrus so willing to do as he was told? Why wasn’t Papyrus fighting back? Crying? Screaming? Anything!

“YOu shOuLDn't mAkE pRomiSeS you caN't keeP, Sans,” Gaster chastised as those iridescent tears were blinked away. Sans glared at Gaster only to have his soul drop. Gaster had a human Bravery soul in a canister between two tendrils. “AfTEr alL, YOU ArE faR too UNstabLE FoR me To eXpERiMeNt ON. yOuR BrOtHeR tUrned Out far MORe stable iN that EFFeCT.” Gaster turned his attention briefly to Papyrus. “NOw IT iS tImE tO SEE HOW fAr we can puSh the Limits OF SuBjeCt oNE's FOrM.” Gaster’s grin turned psychotic as he focused on Sans. “shaLl wE See how much mAgIc hE cAN HOlD BefORE hE BeCoMes BrITtle LIkE You, SUbjECT Two?”

Sans jerked against his bonds, panic suddenly overriding anything that would have kept him safe. “You can’t! Papyrus has already gone through a trait shift. You force him to do another and you’ll kill him!”

He wasn’t where this information was coming from or how he knew it was accurate, but the pleased look on Gaster’s face only confirmed what he knew: Gaster already knew this.

“IT WOulD sEEm tHAT YOU HaVeN't Lost alL oF THe InfoRMATION I HAVe GiVEN YOu oVer the YeArs. You aRe CoRrECT. if i FOrcE PaPYrUs to TAkE On bRAvErY, thEN hE Will die. But, If HE TAkeS IT ON HiMSeLf, well,” Gaster’s grin only grew, “THAT IS SimPlY a bONuS To whAt i wiLL BE DoINg tO Him.”

Sans, for all his intelligence, was suddenly at a loss. “I don’t understand,” he finally voiced, frowning. He knew his brother was staring at him, could feel the gaze on his skull, but he couldn’t pull his attention away from the monster before him. “If you are not trying to get Papyrus’s trait to shift, then why use Bravery magic?”

Gaster chuckled and Sans flinched from the noise. “SImPlY Put, braveRY IS OranGE mAgic hIGhlY COnCEnTrAtEd. WheRE yOu anD Subject oNe Share bLue MagIc duE to the Two blUe trAItS YoU bOtH house, ORAnGE MAgIc AnD Blue MaGic aRe tHe mOst InTeREsTinG Of cOnFlIcTinG mAgICs ThaT ResOnATe tOgether. IF tHe ADDiTIoN oF foreiGn ORaNge MaGic DoEsN't KiLL sUBJeCt ONe, then THIs will hAVe beEN a SUCCeSS. If It Does, ThEn I HavE yoU TO TEST On AS WElL, DESpiTe YOUR fRAgiLe staTE. twO SouLS THAt havE goNE throUgh a trait SHIfT bEinG IntROduceD tO New MagiC.” Sans shuddered as a sound rolled through his skull that he refused to name. “ThE resUlTS shouLD Be faScINAtIng. WIlL yOU take on bravery in anotheR tRAIt SHIFt? OR wILL you shifT INTO PeRSeverAnce oR sOMEtHIng eLsE? WiLL The OrAnGE mAGIC simPLy TeaR yOu APaRT dEpENdInG On youR TRAit? The amOuNT Of posSIBiliTiEs is EndlesS!”’

Sans glanced at Papyrus as Gaster’s attention moved elsewhere. Papyrus was watching him, expression set into something he had yet to see on his brother post-coma. Sans forced himself to relax and nodded. He hoped it translated to what he had intended: they would work together to get out of this alive.

The nod he received in return was short, brisk, and seemed to acknowledge and agree with his unspoken statement. Even as their focus was returned to Gaster as the thing turned to face them once more, Sans couldn’t help but worry that Papyrus was going to do this on his own, though. Despite everything, Papyrus was a Royal Guard here and, while there wasn’t much in the way of crime, they were still trained to handle situations that civilians were not and Sans – for all intents and purposes – was still a civilian.

He hoped that whatever training Papyrus had gone through had been enough to keep them both alive and persevering through these hard times.

Sans screamed himself hoarse over the next few hours. While Gaster took to working on Papyrus first, even Papyrus’s strong will could not keep the lankier skeleton from screaming in agony as Gaster started injecting him with Bravery. Phantom memories of going through a similar process with a concoction that burned through his system and made it feel like his bones would melt only made him scream more.

He had fought and struggled, unable to do anything as his younger brother was tortured for some sicko’s pleasure leaving his bones chaffed and tender. The helplessness of living through resets he could not alter returned with a vengeance and by the time Gaster threw them into a small, dark room with no windows, he was equally as exhausted as Papyrus was.

Each movement only jostled injuries he had inflicted on himself. He dragged himself over to Papyrus, careful fingers skirting over puncture marks and cracks till he was able to smooth his hand over Papyrus’s skull. He was already unconscious, which was both reassuring and worrisome but Sans didn’t dare wake his brother. Shifting so that he could rest Papyrus’s head on his lap, he carefully pulled his soul from his chest to illuminate the space.

It was extremely difficult to even coax his soul out in the first place. His entire being was aware that this was not a safe place to be doing such things but Sans needed to see and he feared summoning any actual magic would do more harm than good. The inverted heart eventually formed just outside his ribcage and showed that even his ribs had not made it through the day without being rubbed raw by his thrashing. He flinched away from dark, wet streak on his shirt, knowing all too well what color it would be once they were brought into proper lighting again.

For whatever reason, he bled like a human did. Whether or not he already knew that was a moot point. The evidence was seeping into his shirt and dripping down his arms. A glance towards Papyrus’s injuries gave the same result. Though there wasn’t much in the way of “blood” from them, there was still enough of the substance escaping to color Papyrus’s bones in the dark color illuminated by Sans’s soul.

Before he used up all he had left in the way of magical energy, he took a look around the barren room. Their injuries mattered little when they were given nothing to tend to them with. The room was nothing more than a space with no windows. The door was sealed so well that not even a sliver of light escaped from where the door was supposed to be. The low light of his soul did nothing in the way of actually outlining the door from the wall it was situated within.

With a sigh, he let his soul disappear, feeling its weight return to the center of his being. There was no sign they were being watched, there was no way to know how the door even worked, and Sans was far too tired to try and figure out how to get them out. So, he situated himself around Papyrus and settled in for the most uncomfortable sleep of his life.

Morning seemed to arrive too early as the door was yanked open and tendrils yanked them both out of the room.

There was no distinction between hours, minutes, or days, and Gaster seemed able to work without food or rest, tossing Sans and Papyrus in what Sans had come to calling The Room at arbitrary times. The day that followed their first night had been painful. The bonds wrapped around raw bone making Sans hiss and twitch. It kept him from acting out except in moments that seemed so dire. The second time they were tossed into The Room, Sans had the energy to actually try and get them out.

He couldn’t remember if he had been successful or not.

What could have been days or hours of this nonsense had led to Sans feeling beyond exhausted. It wasn’t till what he deemed their seventh day that he realized they weren’t being fed. It explained why Papyrus was unconscious more often than not in the last few experiments, let alone when they were in The Room. Sans wished he could talk to Papyrus, give the other some form of comfort while they were both awake but even Sans was unconscious by the time they were locked, wrists, ankles, and torso constantly raw from the bindings on his table with no food to replenish his strength or magic.

He still didn’t understand why Gaster had him strapped to a table and not simply left in the dark room to brood while Papyrus was experimented on. After all, Sans had given up trying to figure out a way to free them both. Neither of them ever got enough of a break to regain their strength.

From time to time, the human Sans had mistaken for Frisk and, later, Chara, would come in at seemingly random moments. Sometimes they would help, sometimes they would watch. However, this time seemed different. When the child entered, they were pulling along a tv, wires dragging on the floor to someplace out of sight. Gaster stopped in the middle of some experiment on Papyrus. Whatever this one was, it seemed relatively painless. Papyrus had slept through its entirety, only to stir at Gaster’s rousing.

“AW. good. seT iT UP tHeRe.”

Sans frowned, noting how Papyrus just stared at the ceiling. “What’s all this, G?” he inquired, watching as tendrils reached out and messed with something out of sight.

“A giFT, Of sorTS. I fELT iT ImpoRTAnt tO knOcK DoWN YoUR HoPe A feW MORE pEGS So tHaT YOu doN't gEt aNY IdeAs.”

Sans wasn’t sure how sane Gaster was any more if he was presuming correctly what the monster was talking about. “What kind of ideas?”

“oh, AnY pErtaINiNg To tHe CHanCE oF bEing RESCUEd OR BEinG AblE tO esCApE ON Your oWn. HONestlY, YOu could taKE YoUR PICk. iT WIll be RaTheR oBvIOus HERE iN A momenT.”

His soul dropped a bit at that as he forced out a chuckle. Damn, he hadn’t realized he had been holding out a bit of hope for that. “Heh, didn’t know you had a funny bone, G. That almost sounded real.”

There was no reaction to his words and Sans wasn’t overly surprised.

“hmm. WELL, I gUESs yOU CAN TelL me HoW FUNnY the JOke iS WheN yOU SEE thE punChlInE. The feeD shOUld Be in pLacE AnD LIVE.” The tv clicked on, buzzing as static filled the screen briefly. Sans spared his brother a glance as they waited for the image to clear, grateful to see Papyrus was awake and watching, even if it looked like he was about ready to pass out again. He hoped with all his being that Gaster was at least feeding Papyrus through all this. The image cleared, revealing a familiar room with a familiar figure in the bed. “AW. goOd. we hapPEn to Be EaRLy.”

“Early for what?” he asked, gaze locked on the redhead lying in the bed. The only thing that kept him from thinking the other was dead was the slight rise and fall of the blanket over Alex’s chest.

There was movement at the edge of the screen and Sans realized he was viewing the room from the nightstand. It was an awkward angle but it gave him clear view of Alex and anyone that moved to be beside the human. Toriel was the first to enter the feed, though her attention wasn’t on Alex.

“Thank you, Doctor,” she said to someone off screen. There was more movement as Sans took in Alphys, Undyne, and Asgore all gathering closer, though the way things were situated, Asgore was just a guess. He didn’t know anyone else with such a large shadow.

There was movement from the bed and Alex’s eyes opened. The gaze was unfocused and exhausted but the expression changed quickly as Alex turned his gaze to those around him. Sans felt a small smile creep onto his face as Alex squinted at them. Someone needed to hand him his glasses. “What....how long have I been out?”

Alphys was the one to pass Alex his glasses as the human sat up, most of his head leaving frame only to leave his scruffy jaw in sight.

“Three days,” Toriel supplied, giving Sans a proper count of days. It would seem Gaster had no issue messing with their internal clocks.

“Did Papyrus find Sans?”

Sans perked up at that, though Gaster’s slight shifting at the edge of his vision suddenly had him concerned for his partner’s health.

Toriel frowned, asking, “Who are Papyrus and Sans?”

With how often his magic felt like ice on his bones, one would think he would have gotten used to the sensation, but it send a chill down his spine and made him flinch from his raw bones being jostled against the straps that had caused the injuries in the first place.

He wished he could see Alex’s face. Instead, all he saw was Alex hunched torso, his arms hanging loosely to pool in his lap, jaw line static in frame. There was a beat, something that Sans couldn’t read even as he noticed both Undyne and who he assumed was Asgore tensed at the edge of the screen. A soft smile curled Alex’s lips but without seeing the rest of the human’s face, Sans couldn’t read it. “Aw. Sorry. Guess my dream is sticking with me far more than I would have liked.”

“That’s quite alright, dear,” Toriel encouraged, reaching over and patting Alex’s shoulder. The human didn’t flinch. Sans wondered if that was an act. “You get some more rest and I’ll bring you dinner. Do stay in bed. Your injuries won’t heal if you strain yourself.”

Alex laid back, nodding as everyone shuffled out. Those green eyes flickered over to the nightstand and Sans felt as if Alex was looking right at him for the briefest of moments before the human moved and did something above the camera. “Never seen this kind of flower before. Wonder where they got it from.”

The feed was cut, or stopped, and the child pulled the tv away as Gaster turned to the brothers, the expression on the mask like face pleased. Sans glared at it.

“ComE now, SANs,” Gaster practically purred, a tendril reaching over and curling against his cheek to cup it. He turned his head away even as the tendril followed, keeping contact. “tHeRE IS No NEed FOR Such aN EXPRessION. I wIlL makE SUrE yOU liVe A loNG, fruiTfUl LIFE, evEn If YOur friEndS No LONgER RemEmbEr YOU.”

“You have a hand in their lack of memory,” he accused, not relenting up on his glare even as exhaustion made it hard. “And Alex seeming to remember us upon waking up makes you uncomfortable.” The sharp grin was easy. “Worried there might be a nick in your plan, there, G?”

Gaster bristled at that, though he bubbled more than bristled in Sans’s opinion. Gaster was suddenly upon him, the black mass that was Gaster pressing into Sans making the stout skeleton squirm against his bonds.

“do NOt tEst mE, SUbjeCt two. I wilL glAdly ShifT FrOM expERImeNTiNG On SUbJecT oNe to SeE JUSt hoW MUCh MaGIc yOU Can ExPEnD BEForE you DUST yOURselF WitH no mOre maGIc tO REMAin WHolE.” Papyrus thrashed weakly against his own bonds. Sans could hear the commotion but whatever Papyrus had tried to shout was garbled. “i CAn mAKe it So that SUBJect OnE wOuLD bE UnABlE To Be A FUNCtIoNING mEMbER Of SOcieTy aGaiN, lEt AlOnE Let HIm LivE. mAYBE I'lL See HOw FaR i can PUsh HiM with DetermInatIon, aS i HAd OncE wIth YOU.”

“Don’t you dare,” Sans growled.

Gaster chuckled. “aS iF ThERe iS anyThING You CAN do SHOuLD i CHoose tO DO so.” The mass moved away and Sans squinted against the sharp light of the lab space. He quickly looked over to Papyrus to see the other glaring at Gaster, his mouth covered by a thick tendril. Gaster moved towards Papyrus, the tendril keeping Papyrus from speaking stroking the skeleton’s cheek. “dO YOU knoW HOW EnTERTAInING it Is tO waTch yOU WhIttle aWaY IntO NOThing?” He looked to Sans, the mask almost on its side as it faced him. “you CERtaiNlY hAVE LASTeD FAR LONgEr than I hAD antIciPATeD WiTHOUt FOOd Or magIc.” He stepped away, looking to Papyrus as he moved. “MAybE i WILL FEEd the botH Of YOu sOon to KeeP You gOing.” Sans jerked against his bonds when that mask like face turned back to him, grinning far larger than he cared to notice, pissed. “Or NOt.”

The round of experiments started up again and Sans lost track of time; Sans was not left out of the torture which probably didn’t help. Where his brother was subjected to trait magic infusions, Sans was forced to use magic in ways that were not normal, let alone safe for his magic level. At least Gaster had followed through with his words and started to feed them, if what they were given could even be considered food anymore. The food was in such horrible state that Sans’s body rejected it as soon as he had consumed it no matter how much hunger gnawed at his soul. He got so little from the food that it only kept him from Falling Down.

Somehow, thankfully, Papyrus was able to eat the food without the severe consequences Sans was subjected to. The longer they went with food, the stronger Papyrus became and he was able to stay awake longer than Sans. Sans stopped trying to eat after four consecutive meals where he couldn’t even get a bite down without his body rejecting it instantly.

If only Sans could just keep some of it down, then maybe they could get out together.

After what could only be perceived as a week later, Sans hit the floor hard as he was tossed into their holding cell of a room. Papyrus was at his side before the door even closed but even as they both had clearly heard the crack, the door slammed shut, swallowing them in darkness.

He hissed between clenched teeth as pain laced up into his shoulder and down into his hand. Even without looking, he knew his humerus was broken and it sent his magic in a frenzy as it tried to scrape together any remaining magic to keep him from losing his arm.

Papyrus’s hands were careful but sure, pulling him upright and Sans’s sockets fluttered open to discover that the space was illuminated by the orange magic laced with blue magic licking at Papyrus’s hands. Sans didn’t dare look down at his arm. He was sure that he would faint if he saw the damage.

Papyrus’s expression was stoic as he wrapped a hand gingerly around Sans’s break. Sans shoved his other hand into his mouth, stifling the scream that had nearly escaped him. The orange and blue magic suddenly flared green and the injury flared before the magic turned orange and he had the strangest sensation that spread from where Papyrus’s hand gripped his humerus. He turned wide eyed sockets to the point of contact, watching as waves of orange magic entered him. Despite the change in color, his entire being hummed with pleasure at the feel of Papyrus’s magic washing over him. But it wasn’t that simple. Papyrus wasn’t just wrapping him in magic, he was being given Papyrus’s magic. Suddenly all his exhaustion vanished and he felt far more awake than he had in who knew how many days.

The magic spluttered out, casting them into darkness, but Papyrus had yet to move and Sans looked where his brother should be. “Papyrus,” he whispered, wary to utter the words much louder in case someone was listening. “What...”

“I can transfer magic without any ill effects. I did it after the first time you were unable to keep the food down by accident,” Papyrus responded, his voice equally soft. “I’ve been practicing while you’ve been asleep ever since.”

Sans reached forward blindly. He found his brother’s arms and held on tight. “Papyrus. You shouldn’t-you need to keep that magic for yourself. At least with me Gaster won’t know any difference.”

There was a pause and the way things shifted under his touch, Sans knew Papyrus had moved but didn’t know how. Papyrus urged, “I can retain the food and the trait infusions is simply giving me more magic that I care to have. At least this way Gaster can’t kill you simply by draining you completely of magic.”

Sans’s soul went out to his brother. So that statement had bothered Papyrus as others had Sans. He gave his brother’s arms an encouraging squeeze. “We’ll get out of this, Pap,” he promised. “Even if no one is coming for us, we’ll get ourselves out. I promise.”

Papyrus chuckled and the sound made Sans’s soul hurt. When had his brother become so broken? “Shouldn’t it be me that is reassuring you? After all, I came to rescue you.”

Sans huffed a laugh, tears stinging the back of his sockets. “Didn’t know the Great Papyrus was lousy at anything. Guess I was wrong.”

The laugh that escaped Papyrus was a choked by a sob. “Yeah,” came the strangled reply. “The Great Papyrus is lousy at rescues, it would seem.”

Sans reached blindly for Papyrus’s face. He found Papyrus’s shoulder, then his neck, before he found the side of Papyrus’s skull. It was easy to cup the other side from there. He gently pulled Papyrus’s head close, pressing their foreheads haphazardly together in the dark. At least he managed to keep them from banging their heads together. “Hey, don’t talk like that,” he countered. “If you weren’t here, I’d already be dead. If nothing else, you’ve rescued me from the brute force that is Gaster’s attention.”

This time the laugh was free of any sob and Papyrus wrapped a hand around the back of Sans’s skull. “I’m glad I was able to do something after all this.”

The lock on the door clicked and Sans smiled bright. “No matter how small,” the light from the hallway beyond hurt but it gave his full view of the orange tears tracking down Papyrus’s face, “you saved me by just being my brother.” Several tendrils shot into the room, ensnaring the both of them. “Don’t forget that.”

Papyrus beamed at him. “Never.”

They were yanked out of the room and through a maze of halls till they were slammed into their respective tables, bound in place. Sans was surprised to find that they were both upright, though. He bristled, suddenly on edge. His gaze settled on the tv. What was going on?

The screen showed static, the sound filling the space till the video feed flickered and cleared, though the motion was rather nauseating. The camera was shifted about and Sans realized the copper brown color at the bottom edge of the screen was from a clay pot. The angle and what he could see clearly spoke of said pot being carried by whoever was walking with Alex. Alex looked drawn, tired, and in a bit of pain. Guilt made Sans recoil. He must have done more damage than he had thought.

He glanced around. Gaster must be somewhere behind them because he couldn’t see the mass of goop but Papyrus was within sight. Sans noticed the frown on Papyrus’s face as the other continued to watch the screen and Sans turned his own attention back to the screen. There was yet to be any talking so Sans wasn’t sure what Papyrus was trying to figure out. Sans mildly wondered where Alex was walking and with who.

Alex came to a stop, staring at something. When the person carrying the potted camera realized he was no longer walking with them, the person stopped and turned, looking back and giving the brothers a clear view of Alex standing in the middle of the walkway staring at what Sans realized was his lab. Caution tape had been crossed over the closed door, a hazard note taped to the center of the door and, if Sans was reading Alex’s profile right, Alex hadn’t forgotten about them.

“Alex?”

It was Toriel carrying the pot and Alex looked to her, his gaze above the potted camera. He offered her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Sorry.” He looked back at the door. “Couldn’t help but think how much of a shame it is that such a volatile accident had happened in this particular lab. I happened to like this one.” He started to approach Toriel. “Feels like I lost a partner, ya know?”

“I’m sorry,” Toriel apologized even as Sans’s soul sang. Alex was faking all of this. He would be looking for them. He ignored the voice in the back of his head that sounded too much like Gaster accusing him of false hope. “I don’t understand.”

Alex’s smile was tired, sad. “That’s alright, Tori. May have something to do with that weird dream I had a few days ago. I think it’s bleeding into my other dreams and making me think a bit too much in theoretic and philosophical areas of life.”

“Will talking help?” Toriel offered.

Alex shrugged as they started walking again. “Probably not but I’ll get about to finding someone to chat with. Thank you, though, Tori.”

“Any time, Alex.”

The feed ended as Gaster came oozing into view from between the brothers. Sans flexed his hands, his raw bones not quite as tender thanks to the magic Papyrus had given him. He glowered, doing his best to suppress any hint of what he was hoping he had seen. “Yeah, yeah, no one’s coming for us. You’ve already made that very clear, what, a week ago? Come on, G. What else are you gaining from showing this to us?”

Sans flinched from the chuckle that rang sharply in his skull. “dO You knOW THe SIgNiFicanCe OF THat CameRa, SuBjECT twO?”

Sans grew uneasy as he shook his skull no. “Am I suppose to?”

Gaster turned his attention to Papyrus. “subJecT oNE?”

Sans looked at his brother, confused. Papyrus’s expression was closed off but Sans suddenly had the sinking feeling he had missed something.

Papyrus’s words only confirmed this.

“You have eyes everywhere.”

“VErY gOod, SuBJECT one. AND DO you kNOw whAt tHaT meAns fOR YOu AND sUbJeCT TWO?”

Papyrus closed his sockets briefly and Sans felt like screaming as Papyrus looked Gaster in the eye. “It means that you know that I can transfer magic and that Sans and I are going to do our best to escape.”

“exACtLy.” Sans stared at Papyrus in disbelief. Why did he spill it? They didn’t actually know if Gaster knew! Why would he- “I am rather IMpREsseD, SUbject ONE. i expEcTeD thaT dECiSIoN TO Be So mUCh HardeR FoR yOU TO mAKe.”

“What decision?” Sans croaked, his gaze not leaving Papyrus.

“gO AheAD, subjEct ONE. telL HIm.”

Papyrus didn’t meet his gaze as he stated, “Should I have lied, I would have watched you suffer a torturing and then separated. Telling the truth means that I take half of your torturing.”

Sans’s gaze snapped to Gaster. “What about the separating?” he demanded. “He didn’t say anything about the separating.”

Gaster laughed. “as if I WoULD aLloW YOU TWo to be In THE samE roOm For exTeNdeD PeRiodS oF tiME kNowInG THaT SUbJect one hAS FinallY dIsCOVEreD hOW tO TRANsfEr MAgic. i haVe No NeED tO Risk YOu TWo EScaPING.” The grin sent his way sent a shudder of fear down Sans’s spine. “i cAn't HAVe you teaChiNg sUbJECt ONe Any of YOuR TrIcks, caN i?”

Sans gave a barked laugh even as a sense of betrayal tangled itself inside his soul. “Oh please. As if any trick I know Pap hasn’t already figured out.” He gave Gaster a vicious grin. “You just want to make it harder for us to get out.”

Gaster did the equivalent of a shrug as tendrils started to weave their way between Sans’s bones. He shuddered in disgust. Hadn’t he already vowed to avoid such situations? “pErHAps.” There was a sickening snap and Sans screamed. Gaster’s face hovered over his as Sans panted against the pain racing up his leg. He tried not to think about the tendrils weaving their way among his ribs. “oR PERhApS i Am USinG it aS AN EXcusE TO SEE HoW wEll you HEal wiThOUT SUBJeCT one TO ComE to your AiD.”

There were several snaps and cracks and Sans screamed himself hoarse as his entire chest erupted in pain.

Spoiler: Chapter 13

Alex opened his eyes, exhausted. He wasn’t sleeping well and, honestly, he wasn’t trying to. He scratched at his scruff slowly turning into a beard as he pushed himself upright. The yellow flower was back on his nightstand and he had the growing suspicion that it hadn’t been placed there by Toriel or any of the others. He ran his hand over the base of the flower, fingers brushing over what he was assuming was a camera tucked close into the soil and stem. He couldn’t see it, didn’t dare try and pull the object free. Instead, he dragged his fingers up the stem to the large yellow petals. He wondered if the quaking was from his doing, his imagination, or from the plant itself.

“Time to wake up, little buddy,” he spoke, even if he was only speaking to himself. He rubbed at a petal affectionately. It grounded him, for whatever reason. “Got a lot of work ahead of us.”

He clambered out of bed and went about his morning routine. By the time he focused on the flower again, it had perked up from its hunched state. He picked the potted plant up and tucked it under his arm. “Think Toriel would bring you to me again if I left you behind?”

There was no response, not that he ever expected one. Toriel seemed to be rather adamant that the plant stayed with him. Alex had tried questioning it but he got more answers out of the flower than her and the flower didn’t talk. Ten days without the brothers was driving him nuts. Thankfully, his personal lab could not be entered by anyone but him, now. As soon as he had been able to, he had redone the lock program, erasing any other input codes.

Except Sans’s.

Even with the risk of someone else finding Sans’s code, Sans’s lab had yet to be breached. There was still caution and hazard tape all over that set of doors and Alex knew it was because no one could get in. Otherwise it would have been cleared out by now and changed over. This way he was certain no one could get into his as well.

He stepped into the lab far enough to close the door. Once the door was sealed, he placed the flower down on a table next to the door. He clipped the pot to the table – most likely out of paranoia – like he did most days now and started making his way through the maze of rolling whiteboards all covered in notes and such of what had been on the far wall before the brothers had vanished. He made sure to keep all the notes that had any of Sans’s script on them on the back sides so that the camera the flower held wouldn’t see them; so that whoever was watching believed he had forgotten Sans too. He had even gone through and meticulously duplicated notes so that he had enough to fake it for a while.

Beyond the whiteboard maze was his true project. It wasn’t heavily displayed seeing as he didn’t have much to go on, but it was very clear on what he was trying to do.

A map was pinned to the wall that had once been covered in notes. It wasn’t overly large but it was a map of the surrounding area. Shortly after he had woken up, he had gone on a wild goose chase and ended up extremely lucky. The map was marked with the pockets of residual magic he had come across and recognized as Sans’s magic. He wasn’t sure how or why they had remained even after four days, but they had. The only downside was that it was all a dead end. At the last spot – some tiny clearing in among the trees – his trail ran dry and he was forced to figure something else out. Beneath the most current map of the grounds around the Lab and Snowdin itself was a desk laden in mounds of archived topography maps. He was looking for discrepancies, someplace that someone would think no one else would know about and he had yet to come across anything.

Along with the maps were notes upon notes of speculations on how everyone gained acute amnesia and how to break it. He wasn’t having much luck on the latter, but his lead theory had something to do with the yellow flower sitting next to the door. He had it circled on the page, even. He just didn’t know the how quite yet.

Beyond that and pretending to work on the projects he was supposed to be focusing on, he wasn’t doing much. He rubbed at his face, knocking his glasses askew as he did so. He had gone back 30 years and still nothing stood out in the direction he needed. He didn’t feel up to battling with maps today so he picked up the stack of notes he had set aside to put up when he returned and walked back to the maze. He started on the ones in front of the flower, pinning things here and there with magnets, taking his time to consider what was where, jot down some made up notes every so often.

It didn’t take long for the few pages he wanted to post to get up and things to look messed with. He reached back to touch the plant, rubbing a petal affectionately. “I’ll be back, buddy. I need a smoke break and see if I can’t scour up some new resources.”

He left his lab and crossed through the halls feeling restless under the stress of finding the brothers. Sidestepping a small group passing by, he found his back against Papyrus’s door and slipped in as the group passed without paying him any mind.

He flicked the light on when the door clicked shut behind him. The bed was still a wreck from when Papyrus no doubt flung himself out of it on that morning, worry for his brother driving his actions. He leaned back against the closed door, fighting the crushing sensation settling over him.

They were his family. If he had gone missing, they would be doing this for him.

The feeling didn’t go away but he was able to step into the room.

Papyrus didn’t always live in the labs. The brothers had a cottage on the edge of Snowdin proper, some little subtown that was on one of the main roads into Waterfall. He had visited it a few times but the instances were so short and fleeting that he didn’t really remember it well.

He paused as a picture caught his eye and he smiled softly, reaching out to pick it up.

The brothers were standing in front of their local library famous for its misspelled sign but the angle was enough to also catch the tail end of the one diner in the small subtown’s sign: Grillby’s. The brothers were grinning, arms wrapped around each other in a brotherly embrace, happy as can be. There were a few other folks in the photo, people Alex didn’t know or had briefly met but lacked names for, and they were all happy, all smiling for the camera.

While Papyrus didn’t always live in the labs, he had been told that Papyrus had always had a room due to being part of the Royal Guard and Sans working in the labs. Something about allowing the brothers to remain close even as they both worked far too long for it to be safe to head back to their little cottage. Papyrus had mentioned once that he had felt far too lonely in their house when Sans worked obscene hours at the lab and had been grateful when Asgore had offered him living quarters near Sans’s own.

He put the photo back down.

Due to Sans’s coma, Papyrus had been living exclusively in the labs, working as security for the building and surrounding areas so Papyrus’s room was far more lived in than it probably would have been under normal circumstances.

He walked the circumference of the room slowly, partially taking in what was there and doing his best not to drown in the sorrow eating away at his soul. He misjudged the distance between himself and a bookcase and his elbow caught the spine of a book sticking out. A good number of books from the shelve thudded to the floor. Flinching, he knelt and started gathering books.

A few were pristine, a mark of how well Papyrus took care of his things, but a few looked worn and were far older than the others. He chuckled to himself as he picked up an old picture book, the same book he had no doubt clipped. The cover was worn and the spine looked fragile and yet the book shone proudly of its love and use. Sans had mentioned once of a book he used to read to his brother when they had been younger, of how Papyrus still had it and would still read it, sometimes even out loud to himself. Alex stacked the books already in his arm near his knee before he carefully let the book fall open.

His soft, fond smile fell away. Staring up at him was a page he had glanced a few times when he was checking in on Papyrus back when the lanky skeleton had stayed at his comatose brother’s side. Had he thought that the old book would bring his brother back or simply give him a sort of comfort while Sans was unconscious?

He carefully closed the book and picked up the stack only to pause again.

There was something tucked against the back of the shelf.

Confused, Alex put the stack back down and reached for the dark object hidden behind the wall of books.

His fingers wrapped around a rather familiar material and, as he pulled it out, he found himself holding onto the strap of a camera case; a very dusty, very familiar camera case at that. Resting the bag on his lap, he unzipped the case and found within the very video camera he had been expecting to see. Astonished that the thing had been buried, he pulled it out and pressed the eject button. There wasn’t a tape inside but that didn’t mean much. Looking up, he reached behind what books remained and found a box. The lid had just as much dust on it as the video camera case and his touching left very clear marks as he pulled the lid free. Inside were a number of tapes but only one was labeled. He popped the labeled tape into the video camera, opened the preview screen, and pressed play.

At first there was no reaction as the camera came to life. Then, there was static before it focused non-too kindly on some angle. There wasn’t any audio but Alex didn’t care about that. He pressed the fast forward button and watched, looking for something specific.

He jumped when the part came up, the video pausing as his finger smashed the pause button. There, on the screen, were Sans and Toriel. Giddy glee filled him as he quickly pressed the rewind button before shoving the preview screen shut and stuffing the camera still rewinding back into the bag. He carefully replaced the box of tapes back where he had found it before he returned all the books to the shelf. Scrambling to his feet, bag in hand, he quickly left Papyrus’s room and made sure the door closed completely behind him before he started his search for Toriel.

It seemed that fate was on his side because no sooner had he rounded the corner did he run into her.

“Oh, Alex!” she exclaimed, paws outstretched to catch him as he stumbled. “Are you alright, my child?”

“I’m fine, Toriel,” he offered with a soft smile. She was potless, which was a bonus for him. “I was actually just looking for you.”

She perked up at that. “You were?” Her gaze moved to the bag in his hand. “What is that, my child?”

Alex found himself grinning. “The reason I was looking for you.” He glanced about, piecing together where they were and where what he needed was at. He focused on her as he asked, “Do you mind following me for a short while? I have to show this in a specific room.”

Her concern was clear on her face but she followed him nonetheless as he hurried back the way he had come only to bypass the corner he had rounded and continued on to the stairs. He paused regularly to let her catch up but his excitement of finally having a chance to getting someone on his side, someone to finally see through the bullshit they had been fed, was making him equal parts impatient and giddy.

Down two floors and through secluded hallways, it wasn’t till they were nearly at their destination that Toriel voiced her concern. “My child, what could you have to show me that requires us to be in such a secluded part of the lab?”

Alex glanced back at her, the dingy hallway lacking any sort of upkeep due to the lack of use of this particular area. “What I want to show you is old and requires specific equipment.” The lie sounded odd and he looked away, trying to play it off as embarrassment. “That, and I don’t want to be disturbed. It’s supposed to be a surprise for everyone but I wanted your input first seeing as I’ll need your help.”

She brightened at his half lie and he found himself relaxing. “Oh, Alex. Why did you not say so in the beginning?”

He came to a stop at an old door, smiling weakly. “It’s a surprise, remember?”

The room was coated in a layer of dust and about the size of most of their supply closets now but it was very clear that the space had once been an office. Up against the wall was the thing he had been looking for. It was an old box tv with a VCR. He went about checking the wiring and the power as he asked, “Can you close the door and get a few chairs, Toriel? I’m going to get this thing going.”

“You brought me down here for an antique like this?” she asked, incredulous. “Certainly you have equipment to play VHS tapes in your lab.”

He beamed at her but his nerves made it feel weird on his face. “Trust me. Once you see this, you’ll understand why I wanted to make sure we weren’t interrupted.” He focused back on his task, pleased when the tv powered on without a hitch. “It’s supposed to be a surprise and I don’t want anyone finding out.”

He pulled the video camera out and ejected the tape as Toriel voiced her concern. “Alex, you are acting very strangely.”

There was the whirring of the VCR taking the tape and prepping to play it as he responded as he stood. “I know it may look that way but I’m not, Toriel.” He offered her a soft smile as the tape took and the screen turned from blue to static. “I promise.”

The first video on the tape started. The entire screen was taken up by a blurry view of something brown but the audio came across as clear as day and Alex jolted at hearing Sans’s voice after such a stressful week. He glanced at Toriel but she had missed his reaction as she frowned at the television.

“-to start recording. There’s an indicator here-“ the view swung a bit to the left “-and here on the camera itself.” The blurry view swung back to the right. “There are controls here and here and if you press thi-“

The view abruptly changed, the audio cutting along with it. Now there is a shot of something colorful and very blurry. Sans’s voice returns. “-cus should be here somewhere.” The colorful thing shifted in view – or the camera did – as there was a clicking near the microphone. “Try these here and see if we can’t get any focus.”

There were a few seconds of the camera’s lens was being focused, white objects that focused into bones only to defocus a moment later crossed the view field. Finally the screen was focused on what was now clearly a shoulder and chest covered in an ugly holiday sweater. There was the tail end of a pun meaning it was most likely Sans the camera was pointed at. It was confirmed when the camera moved to take in Sans’s grinning face. Despite the smile, Sans looked exhausted. “Got a clear view of me, bro?”

“Yeah,” Papyrus commented, the volume louder due to proximity to the microphone, though it sounded muffled despite that. “Say hi to everyone, Sans.”

Sans waved, sockets closing as he offered a meek, “Hey everyone.”

“Merry Giftmas!”Papyrus happily cheered and Sans’s expression softened as the skeleton opened his sockets.

“Merry Giftmas, Pap.”

The video cut out, leaving the screen full of static for a moment. Alex felt Toriel’s gaze fall on him and knew she had questions but the next section of video started and Alex was grateful when her gaze returned to the television.

There was a brief moment of the view focusing, voices in the background. A shift, a loud thunk, and the camera focused on Sans and Toriel sitting at the other end of a table able to seat six. Movement on the left hand side of the screen doesn’t come fully onto screen but Sans watched whatever was moving with a curious expression, Toriel’s expression amused and fond as she watched the movement as well.

“All set, Pap?” Sans asked whatever had been moving, the smile on his face turning mischievous.

“The stand doesn’t really fit the camera but it will work for when I need it,” Papyrus returned, voice coming from far left.

“Well, as long as it stands up to expectations, we’ll be fine.”

As the audio of the video Toriel and Papyrus laughing and chuckling respectively at the pun filled the room, Alex heard Toriel chuckling beside him. He glanced her way, finding heavy confusion written all over her face as her eyes shined and a smile fought to come forward at the joke. He briefly wondered what she must think, seeing herself yet potentially not remembering the moment.

“I’m sure it will all develop properly once we give it some time,” Toriel added, her smile broadening.

Toriel guffawed beside him.

Sans fell into a fit of laughter as Papyrus commented, “Lady Toriel, that was horrible.”

“At least her focus was on point,” Sans countered between what remained of his laughter.

“And I shutter to think of such a fact,” Papyrus countered, his words sharp and quick but the hint of enjoyment was there to speak loudly of the lack of true annoyance at the situation.

Sans and Toriel roared with laughter.

Alex found himself chuckling at that. It had been quite some time since he had heard Papyrus make puns like that and the last time he could actually remember one was before Sans’s coma. He glanced at Toriel to see her laughing right alone with her videotaped self.

“Sans.”

Alex focused back on the television as Toriel’s voice came from the speakers.

“How are you clicking with Fatum?” Toriel asked, a mischievous glint in her eye. Sans chuckled but gave her a confused expression. Toriel nodded towards something and Sans looked behind him. He grinned.

“Fatum!” Sans called out, waving towards something out of view. “Come here a sec.”

Alex watched himself enter the screen and felt a heavy wave of nostalgia for the moment. He knew exactly what was coming and, despite the lame joke, it had been the perfect way for them to break the ice.

Alex came to stand between Sans and Toriel at the end of the table, glancing at the camera before giving Sans a skeptical look. Before he could even get a word in edge wise, Sans was already starting his joke.

“Knock knock,” Sans started, grin growing with the words.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Who’s there.”

“Alex.”

Alex narrowed his eyes at the skeleton but Sans didn’t let anything up. He asked carefully, “Alex who?”

“You’ll ask but I don’t think you’ll find an answer.”

There was laughter from even those not even at the table and Sans kept grinning at Alex as Alex gave him a very unamused look. Toriel was trying to suppress her laughter and was failing.

“Knock knock,” Sans spoke again, next joke clearly ready to go.

Alex arched an eyebrow and spoke, “Come in.”

Papyrus and Toriel lost it as Sans grew very confused. Alex, with a pleased smile on his face, patted Sans on the skull affectionately before walking away and off screen. Papyrus’s face came into view, tears streaking down the laughing face as the video cut.

Static took over and Alex leaned back in his chair. He knew he had to look at Toriel, to see if it had worked, but he was scared. What if it hadn’t? What else could he do to jog her memories?

Swallowing thickly, he shoved down the what ifs and looked over.

His eyes widened as his heart leapt in hope.

Toriel had her large paws pressed over her mouth, tears soaking the fur of her cheeks.

“Toriel?” he asked carefully, softly.

She jerked and looked at him, eyes wide. “Oh, Alex,” she whimpered from behind her paws. “How could I have forgotten them both?”

Alex relaxed, sighing in relief as he offered her a weak smile. His eyes watered but he ignored them. “I don’t know but I am so glad you remember.”

She rubbed at her eyes, her cheeks, trying to free them from water as she spoke. “I do not understand, though. How could I forget them? I truly did not remember who they were.”

Alex’s face hardened. “I think-“

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with it.”

His head snapped around. He hadn’t realized there was more on the tape, hadn’t gone beyond what he had been looking for and hadn’t thought on whether the camera had been used after the first video or not. However, his own voice proved him wrong and he stare at the screen to see himself and Papyrus standing in the brother’s cottage kitchen with their backs to the kitchen table the camera was resting on.

Alex was washing something in the sink as Papyrus stirred something on the stove. Alex looked over at Papyrus briefly, smiling. “So. Do you have any wishes?”

Papyrus tipped his head to the side, his free hand going to his hip. “Hmmm....Just one,” Papyrus conceded, “but it’s kind of silly.”

Alex snorted. “I doubt that.”

“If I say my wish, you promise you will refrain from laughing?” Papyrus demanded, shaking a sauce covered wooden spoon at Alex.

Alex looked his way, a fond yet serious look on his face. “Of course.”

Papyrus turned back to the stove, hesitated, and then said, “Someday, I’d like to leave the Underground we’re all trapped in and stand under the sky, looking at the world all around with the sun high above. That is my wish.”

A sad chuckle came from Alex as the sound of running water stopped. Papyrus turned to him again with a defiant expression edged in hurt. He wielded the wooden spoon like a weapon once more, pointing it at Alex. “Hey, you promised not to laugh.”

Alex brought his hands up. “Sorry. It’s just...that’s my wish too.” Alex gave Papyrus a sad smile before he turned so that he was leaning back against the sink as he dried his hands. “What about you, Sans? Got any wishes?”

The camera was jostled and the image blurred till it settled a bit unfocused on what was clearly Sans’s chin and mouth. The smile – blurred as it was – seemed a touch sad. “My wish is to be right beside the both of you when we get out of here.” His head turned, the sad smile vanishing as it was replaced with a different one. “But I want to see the stars. The real ones.”

The video ended and Alex sat there staring at the tv in disbelief, a fond, sad smile shaping his expression even as Toriel looked at him. He didn’t respond till she touched his arm. He glanced over but the next video started and he looked away from her sympathetic gaze to see Papyrus’s face filling the screen.

"Hello! I am the Great Papyrus and I am about to throw the most epic of birthday parties ever!" The camera was spun around to show one of the smaller conference rooms the lab had to offer. Papyrus turned the camera to the table nearest him that was laden with an assortment of snacks and hardier foods, though there was really only enough for about four people. "As you can see, I have prepared a plethora of snacks, plenty to keep us well fed till the upmost important dinner later this evening." The camera moved again, focusing on the small place in full for a moment before it was directed to another table. "I have gathered a variety of games and means of entertainment-" there were a few small stacks of videos in among the games that got focused on for a moment, "-so we will not grow bored in our merriment." The camera shifted about, finally taking in the whole of the decorations. Over the food table was a banner that was clearly homemade with streamers bounding their way along the top of the walls and balloons tucked here and there all over the place. "Over all, the decorations are set and we are now just waiting on my brother and Alex."

The door to the room opened behind the camera and the view blurred only to settle none too steadily on Sans who was standing in the doorway with a surprised expression on his face. Sans made a move to ask something but Papyrus was already speaking.

"Have you seen Alex?" the lankier skeleton asked off camera, voice coming across strained. "As much as I was expecting you to be late, Alex said he would be on time." The camera moved to show the wall as it was gestured with. "I had pulled this out to distract myself but it hasn't really worked."

There was a pause in the audio as the camera moved to show Papyrus's feet. Sans's voice finally spoke up. "Only reason why I'm late is because Alphys had asked for help on one of her projects. Alex had told me that he would be here when we went our separate ways earlier."

Papyrus took a step forward, his voice growing tighter. "Sans..."

There was a cut in the video as it changed to a blurred up and down motion, one that clearly spoke of Papyrus running with the camera still in hand. There's another cut in the video and the view is steadier though still shaky, the camera pointed at Papyrus's running feet. A final cut brought a still image of Sans's lower back and legs, a pair of shoed feet situated near the railing beyond. Sans's voice cut in, already in the middle of some sort of argument.

"-ver! You know we wanted to celebrate your birthday."

The pair of feet near the railing turned, facing Sans. Alex's voice snapped, "I never asked for you guys to celebrate my birthday. I never mentioned it because I never wanted anyone to celebrate it. You guys took it upon yourselves to celebrate it and you expect me to go and celebrate something that isn't a good memory for me. I have never had a good birthday and there is-"

"And that's the folly of others, not you," Sans cut in just a viciously. "I'm not leaving till you come and celebrate with us, damn it." Sans's body deflated. "You're family and we want to celebrate your fricken existence.”

There was a heavy pause before Sans started speaking again. "Whether you want it or not, Pap and I consider you family. And while Pap doesn't know all your history - let alone a hardy chunk - I know your past and Pap and I agreed that you need to say 'fuck you' to the ghosts of your dead family and come join ours."

There was a heavy pause, one only broken by the distance sounds of Snowdin proper from beyond the edge of the balcony. Then, after what seemed to be an eternity, a watery laugh came from Alex. "Yeah," Alex spoke, voice shaking. "Ok."

Spoiler: Chapter 14

The static of the video ending was abrupt and Alex found himself staring at the empty screen not sure how to feel. He hadn't realized Papyrus had filmed that and now he wasn't even sure why the skeleton had done so. As much as it was nice to be reminded of the effort the brothers put forth to make sure he felt like family after that, he didn't like the reminder of where he had been at that point in his life.

The next video started and it was a cacophony of sound. The camera was being passed around at the larger birthday celebration that had occurred later the same evening. People were giving well wishes and talking about Alex but Alex stopped the video, the frozen image on the screen of Alex and Sans. Sans had an arm slung around Alex's neck, the hold looking a bit tight but they were both laughing. Sans had one socket closed but the eye light of the other socket was trained on Alex who was grinning. The glasses on Alex’s face had hid the fact that Alex was close to tears even while grinning like that. It vanished when he pressed the eject button. Taking the tape out, he quickly stowed it away before he turned to face Toriel. Determination was written across his face, the last image he had seen burned into his mind. He wasn’t sure what to make of Sans’s expression but it was nice to know that even as he had been fighting to keep a light mood, Sans had been there to help him. "So. How do we get the others to wake up? As much as it was luck that I found this, I doubt that I'll get as lucky with the others."

Toriel stood up, her expression set. "Leave it to me. I have a few ideas." She frowned. "What of the flower?"

Alex shook his head. "I'm fairly certain there is a camera attached to the stem. There’s not much we can do about it till I figure out a way to either disrupt the feed or remove it."

"The plant is alive, Alex." He looked to Toriel, expression blank. Her gaze was hard. "Whether it is a monster or not is left to be determined but somehow, someway, that flower is alive."

"I know." Alex watched surprise color Toriel's expression. "I also know the camera is there to keep tabs on me, for whatever reason. Thus why I left the flower upstairs and isolated you."

Toriel conceded. "You have a plan, then?"

Alex nodded. "Hopefully the little guy can give us a lead on where to go. I've been scouring maps to find some hint of where to even begin but the last 30 years worth of maps have given me nothing."

"Do you want me to help?"

He shook his head. "No. Get the others to wake up. None of this will matter if we can't get everyone's help in this. Someone is clearly trying to cover up the brothers' disappearance and going through a lot of effort to do so."

Toriel shifted her weight but did not move from where she stood. “You have an idea of who it is.”

He nodded again, not surprised that she had picked up on that. “I just can’t prove it till I get the flower to talk.”

She nodded in turn. She looked to the door before looking to him once more. “Will you be leaving the others to me, then?”

“You know them far more intimately than I do,” he offered, shrugging. “It was just luck that I could even just wake you before resorting to getting the flower to talk. Hopefully you’ll have just as much luck as I had waking you in walking the others.”

She offered him an encouraging smile. “I’m sure I will.” The smile fell. “Keep me informed on what you discover from that flower.”

“Of course.”

He stood alone in the room after Toriel left, not sure how he felt. Exhaustion was certainly winning but he couldn’t sleep yet. Rubbing at his face under his glasses, he gathered the camera and tape and headed back to Papyrus’s room.

The hallway was empty when he finally arrived at the door so he was able to slip in without anyone seeing him. Camera and tape returned to their rightful places, Alex headed for a different part of the lab.

He knocked on the frame of the open door causing those in the room to look at him. “Alex!” the only monster in the room happily chimed, bounding over. “What’s the occasion?”

“I was wondering if I could borrow that device again.” He gave an embarrassed smile as he rubbed the back of his neck as another monster stepped around him into the room. “Not sure why the darn thing’s name won’t stick with me.”

One of the humans walked over with the square device in hand as the monster before him asked teasingly, “You remember how to work it, at least?”

Alex laughed as he took the device, offering, “If not, I’ll be back.”

There was a spattering of chuckles at that and he waved goodbye as he left with a word of thanks. Tucking the device under his arm, he returned to his lab. The potted flower was still by the door but it was drooping. He affectionately rubbed a petal as he set the device down beside the flower’s pot. He flicked it open and turned the thing on. There was a brief, high pitched soft sound as the thing started working.

He thought he caught the flower twitching out of the corner of his eye.

“You don’t have to keep quiet now,” he explained, feeling a tad foolish talking to a flower regardless of whether it was a living thing or not. “That device is meant to disrupt any audio or video feed, be it microwaves, radio waves, or any other sort of wave within a small radius.”

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

He jumped in surprise, not expecting such a quick response. He reached out and rubbed a petal again but the flower pulled away, officially giving itself away as it hissed, “Stop that.”

Alex let his hand hang between them as he asked, “Why?”

A pair of red eyes looked up beyond the yellow petals. “Because it’s pointless, that’s why. The gesture is lost on me with no soul.”

Alex frowned, his hand returning to his side. “You’re soulless or without a soul?”

The face of the flower turned to him fully, yellow petals revealing a confused expression. “What’s the difference?” the flower challenged and Alex watched as the flower’s mouth moved. It was certainly a good thing he had grown up in a world of monsters because otherwise he probably would not be as calm as he was now faced with a flower that could speak.

“Soulless as in you don’t care about your actions and how they affect others.” Alex shrugged. “As for the other, humans and monsters all have souls and through magic we can observe them. Are you something without such a soul or are you soulless?”

The flower’s face twisted up in annoyance and frustration. “Both, I guess? I don’t know!” The face morphed and Alex let his surprise show. He had yet to come across a monster that could do that. “I just woke up like this, ok? With this creepy guy leaning over me, too.”

The flower quaked in what Alex assumed was the equivalent of a shudder. Alex tipped his head to the side, thoughtful. “Do you have memories prior to this form?”

The flower flinched as if Alex had swung at him. Alex perked up at that. “No,” the flower ground out, almost spitting.

“Liar.”

Alex wasn’t completely certain that it had even been a lie but the flower’s reaction after his word had been confirmation enough. The face changed back into the softer, first one as the petals drooped and the flower curled towards the pot. “So what if I am?” the flower challenged but what heat the flower put behind those words only made it seem far sadder than it needed to be.

“If you are, that means that you remember what it’s like to have a soul,” he replied plainly. “If you do have memories, then that means that whoever made you did it for a reason, good or bad.”

The flower looked up at him and through the petals he saw a face that seemed to resemble Toriel’s, except softer, rounder, and far more like a child’s. And suddenly the name was beyond his lips as the realization dawned on him.

“Asriel.”

The flower cringed.

Everyone knew the tragic tale of the King and Queen of Monsters and their lost children. While the monarchy didn’t rule like they once did, there was still a natural urge by all to treat the pair like royalty, especially in monsters. Sans had explained it once as a ranking system of sorts based around one’s magic level and ability to create with it, boss monster versus the common monster and sorts, but Alex had never really engrained the information. He stared at the flower, memories of learning about that historic event clear in his mind, which only brought other historic facts to mind.

“Too new,” he spoke in astonishment. He turned and shoved at the whiteboards to get to his maps. “It would be older than that. Probably far older than that.”

“What are you talking about?” Asriel demanded from his pot.

“Dr. Gaster’s hideout,” Alex informed him, digging through the maps he had. He had to have one that was old enough. “I’ve been trying to find where he took the brothers.”

“How do you know he took them?”

The question put his fears to word and he stuttered to a halt. He took a steadying breath, reminding himself that there was indeed another there. “Because everyone forgot.”

There was silence but Alex turned anyways. He focused on Asriel, the flower’s face no longer that of a child’s but the first face he had shown Alex. “Dr. Gaster specialized in the manipulation of people’s mental states, including the manipulation of memory and the perception of time. If this isn’t his work, then I have no idea who took Sans and Papyrus with not even a clue as to why. At least with Dr. Gaster there’s history between him and the brothers, whatever that history may be.”

Asriel stared at him but Alex didn’t break eye contact. Eventually, the flower looked away, turning towards the wall.

“Flowey.”

Alex blinked, confusion and curiosity coloring his expression. The flower shifted, exaggerating his eye roll. “My name. It’s Flowey now.” The fed up expression softened into something sadder. “I don’t want my-“ Asriel bit back the words. “I don’t want them knowing who I was. I’m not that monster anymore.”

“Alright,” Alex replied, gaining a shocked expression from Flowey. “Flowey it is, then.” He turned back to the maps. “Can you move out of the pot or do I need to carry you over here?”

“Why do you need me over there?”

Alex looked over and took in Flowey’s incredulous look. “Because I’m hoping that you will show me where Dr. Gaster has taken Sans and Papyrus.”

Flowey sneered, shaking the pot but going no further against the restraints. Alex stepped away from the maps. “And what if I said I didn’t know where his rabbit hole was?”

Alex unclipped the pot. “Then a good idea would be just fine, seeing as I have a general direction but nothing more.” He tucked the pot under his arm, rubbing a petal affectionately when he had a free hand. “It would be easier than scouring all of Snowdin for a single rabbit hole, at least.”

Flowey made a noise of disbelief but said no more as Alex placed the pot on the table. For a moment there was no response from Flowey, no sign that the flower was going to give anything up, but then several leafy vines curled out from the soil of the pot. Only one reached across the maps. The leaf free tip pressed against the map. “You’ll find the entrance he used here,” Flowey offered. The vine tip moved a margin away from the point. “There’s a less heavily guarded entrance here that you should have an easier time accessing and entering through.”

Alex beamed at Flowey as he ran his hand over a number of petals. “Thank you,” he spoke, his words heavy and met with a stunned expression on Flowey’s face. “Thank you so much.”

He quickly marked both spots.

“But what good is that going to do you?” Flowey asked. The question wasn’t quite a challenge to Alex’s idea, too colored by confusion.

“Toriel is working on waking everyone else,” Alex informed the potted flower, picking the pot up gently. “And I’m going to stay out of the way till she has succeeded.”

He picked up the jamming device and adjusted the radius before tucking it into Flowey’s pot.

“You do realize that if you don’t do it in the right order, then people are just going to lose their memories again, right?”

Alex shrugged as the lab doors slid closed and locked behind them. “I’m sure Toriel will figure that out. After all, you are just a flower. It is very unlikely you are the one continuously drugging everyone.”

Flowey scrutinized him. “You seem certain that it’s something that has to be regularly administered.”

“It was an assumption after I had woken up when I had seen Alphys prepping a syringe with some strange liquid. I figured the only reason I hadn’t gotten dosed then was because I had covered up enough for them to believe I was still under the influence. The theory only grew stronger the more and more Alphys tried to corner me to try and give me a shot, a pill, something to drink or eat, same with any of the others.”

An impressed look crossed Flowey’s face. “So you locked yourself up in your lab.”

Alex hummed a confirmation. “As well as keeping my room locked.” Said room was empty and dark when he opened the door and he flicked the light on. “But, yes, I mostly kept to the lab for prosperity affects.”

He locked the door before crossing to the nightstand and setting Flowey’s pot down gently.

“But what are you going to do about the camera?” Flowey asked. “You know you can’t keep it jammed forever. There’s no telling when he’ll check again, let alone what he’ll do when he can’t see anything.”

Alex sat on the edge of his bed with a sigh. “I know.” He rubbed at his shoulder mindlessly. “Can you tell when he’s activated the camera?”

Flowey shook his head. “And I doubt it’s consistent on when and for how long. That monster is not stable.”

Alex reached over and picked up the device. He kept it active as he rolled it about in his hands. “You do realize that we will be unable to talk with this thing off and the camera clear to transmit a feed at his beck and call, right?”

The petals drooped and Alex’s hand twitched as he restrained himself from reaching over and rubbing one.

“I know but what other choice do we have?” Flowey met his gaze. “I’d like to be free of that monster as much as the rest of you as soon as possible too. So what are a few more weeks of inanimate behavior.”

Alex gave in and reached over, cupping the side of Flowey’s head and rubbing what petals his thumb could reach. “I’ll get you free as soon as I can. I promise.”

The expression on Flowey’s face was hard to read but the flower gave a sharp nod. “Just make it quick.”

That quick turned into a week and a half. Alex kept to the rough routine he had set when he had been trying to find the brothers on his own but now he added an hour here and there in his lab to turn on the jamming device so that Flowey had a moment of normalcy in all the waiting. Even though there was no way the flower could properly convey such thoughts, Alex felt sure that Flowey was grateful for the moments of reprieve even while being a snarky little plant. Alex quickly found that Flowey was an excellent chess player once the flower figured out the rules and got the hang of moving things with his vines so the hour here and there was mostly spent playing chess.

It was during one of their little matches that the news came.

There was a knock on his lab door. Alex looked up, the space a wreck now that he was actually trying to work on actual work. Getting up from the center of the paper strewn floor where he and Flowey had set up – said flower was still contemplating his next move and completely disregarded the knocking – Alex crossed to the door. There was the sound of the door unlocking before it hissed open.

Toriel was on the other side beaming, Undyne behind her left shoulder and Alphys at her other side. “Everyone is awake,” Toriel announced happily. “Asgore is gathering a few others but he told us to go ahead and settle in the dining room and make a plan while we wait.”

Alex nodded, determination settling over his expression. “Let me gather a few things and Flowey and we can head that way.”

“F-Flowey?” Alphys asked, frowning behind her large glasses.

“Flowey the Flower,” Alex supplied, picking up said flower. He carefully stepped around their game as Flowey quietly cursed him for interrupting his plotting. “He’s the reason we even know where to look for the brothers.”

“Can we trust it?”

He stilled, hand over the map they needed. Flowey’s vines snaked out, rolled the map up for him, and gingerly wrapped around the tube of paper as the flower’s face turned to look up at him. Alex didn’t look at him, instead turning to look at Undyne. He couldn’t fault her for her question. Papyrus was her best friend and part of her unit.

“Whether we should or shouldn’t, I do,” Alex informed her calmly. “And right now I’m willing to take what information he has given us – the only lead I have of where our friends-our family has gone – and seeing where it ends because right now it’s all we’ve got.”

There was a breath, a moment where the others waited to see what would happen, before Undyne nodded, giving him that. “Alright,” she said, determination filling her own expression. “Then where do we start?”

“With this.”

The map was pushed out on the dining table, pinned down by objects on every corner. Flowey got placed over the lab. The last week and a half had allowed Alex to find a better, larger map of the area that had the best terrain detailing he could find. The lab took up a hardy chuck of the southeastern corner on which Flowey seemed quite pleased to be sitting. Alex got briefly distracted, wondering what sort of mini adventure Flowey was dreaming of.

“I have no idea how this building managed to go undocumented for three centuries, regardless of inhabitance or not, but I managed to find it on maps printed within the first two hundred years of the Underground. Unfortunately, very few of those maps still exist and it wouldn’t be wise to trust the outdated terrain on them anyways. The blueprints were a whole lot harder to find and while I’m not confident on the accuracy of what I did find, Flowey assured me they were close enough. Still, though, we’ll probably be going in partially blind if there is any major changes since the blueprints were created or any significant structural damage.” Alex pressed his finger to the first entrance Flowey had shown him. “This is roughly where the entrance Dr. Gaster mainly uses is located. It opens to the first sublevel of an old lab. This entrance over here,” he pressed his finger to the second mark northwest of the first one, “is in through the original building itself.”

Undyne leaned forward, hands splayed on the table’s surface. “Do you have a blueprint on you?”

One of Flowey’s vines picked up the pieces of parchment from the floor. Alex affectionately rubbed a petal in thanks as the blueprints were passed to Undyne. “Those two are the only ones that I could find that were intact enough to read. I have no way of knowing if they were made for this structure specifically or if there was another made like it but Flowey was certain they were close enough to be of use.”

She pressed out the two blueprints, the one far more faded than the other clearly being the more detailed one. The newer one more closely resembled an emergency exit map than actual blueprints. She pressed a finger to a part of the section labeled ‘Sublevel 1’. “This the entrance you were talking about.”

Alex nodded, reaching across and pointing out the entrance they would be using on the section labeled ‘Floor 1’. “This will be where we will start at. If we can’t gain access from here, our best bet is to check out the rest of the upper building before trying our hands on the one we know that works. I’d rather avoid facing Gaster till the last possible minute if I can help it.”

“Wh-what does he l-look like now?” Alphys asked from where she stood apart from him, Undyne, and Toriel.

He looked to her, offering with a weak smile but it was Flowey who answered her question.

“Nothing like the skeleton he had been.”

“Skeleton?” Toriel asked, frowning.

Flowey shrugged, pulling it off with the two leaves situated on the stem that supported the flower’s bud behaving as arms. “I don’t know much about Gaster personally but I have heard his mutterings from time to time. He was not always the goopy, inky mass he is now.”

“Goopy?” Undyne asked as Alphys inquired at the same time, “Inky?”

Again, Flowey shrugged but the glare he sent them was new. “I don’t know how to explain what he looks like, ok? You’ll just have to see it for yourself.”

Alex reached over and rubbed a petal. Flowey relaxed a bit. "Regardless, we're going to attempt to not run into Dr. Gaster if we can help it."

“You can’t be sure he’s grown complacent,” Flowey pointed out.

Alex rubbed a new petal. “True, but I can at least hope. Our main goal is to find the brothers and get them out. Trying to pick a fight will only delay us.”

“Teams then?”Undyne asked.

Alex shrugged. “It may not come to that but I am not opposed to it.”

Toriel spoke up. “Why do you think it won’t come to that.”

Alex reached over to the blueprint of the building, touching a massive room on Sublevel 1. “Flowey said the main door Dr. Gaster uses leads into Sublevel 1. That led me to believe that he was utilizing a space on that level to work, which would make sense. There would be no indication of life if all the activity is happening beneath ground level. And if the structure is sound enough, he would most likely have taken up residence in the largest room. Most experiments need quite a bit of space, especially ones that require a lot of equipment. If nothing else, it’s something to aim for.”

"That is quite a bit of speculation," Toriel pointed out, looking to him. "Are you sure?"

Alex shrugged, taking a step back. "I am not a fighter, nor a strategist. I'm a scientist, which means I can make hypotheses about where Sans and Papyrus may be but I can't guarantee anything."

"That is why I will take it over from here."

All eyes turned to the door as Asgore stepped in followed by a few canine monsters that were in the Royal Guard as well as a few human guards.

Alex nodded and picked Flowey up, holding the pot close to his chest. He settled in the background, gaze on the map, ear open to the conversations, but not actually engaging.

He blinked, looking up as Toriel touched him arm. She offered him an encouraging smile. "They will be leaving in a few minutes. It would be best if you went and got ready as well."

Alex gave a muted nod, pushing off the wall he had been leaning on. He and Toriel went separate ways barely halfway to his room and he was grateful. He pressed his face partially into the back of a few of Flowey's petals, lost in thought.

"Why are you doing that?" Flowey drawled.

"Sorry," he offered weakly, removing his face.

Flowey gave him a scrutinizing look. "That doesn't answer my question."

Alex didn't meet Flowey's gaze as he opened his door. "I guess I was just looking for comfort. This whole situation is freaking me out and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to weather through it."

Flowey frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know of my condition?" Alex asked casually, placing Flowey on the nightstand.

"What condition," Flowey demanded. Alex missed whatever expression had been present on the flower’s face at that as he started to change clothes.

"Left Ventricular Non-Compaction Cardiomyopathy," Alex spoke in rote. "A heart condition that makes things, ah...interesting."

"I don't understand."

Alex pulled out a jacket and slung it on over the shirt and long sleeve undershirt he had changed into. "Basically, it's a complicated name for simply not having a fully developed left ventricle. My heart can't handle stress very well." He looked to Flowey, certain his exhaustion was written all over his face. "On top of that, my lungs are damaged and not just from my smoking habit. If I make it out of this alive, I'll be impressed. I've been pushing my life expectancy since I turned six, so, there's that."

Flowey was still frowning at him when he picked the potted flower up. "Aren't there drugs and things to help with that?" He gained a flat look from the flower. "Like not smoking."

He chuckled. "If my condition was more common, sure, but there have not been enough of us born with it in this Underground or any of the ones we used to be in contact with to actually have anything of sustenance to study and work with. As much as it would be nice to have a normal life, I'm honestly ok with the death date hanging over my head."

Flowey actually looked startled at that and Alex laughed, gaining a few passing glances. "Don't worry, I'm not suicidal. Just tired." He gave a tired smile. "And, honestly, I couldn't see a greater thing to die from than working to save the brothers."

Flowey turned, looking ahead of them as he crossed the two leaves acting as arm mimics. "Well, just don't go getting yourself killed. It certainly wouldn't be doing anyone any favors after all this."

Alex shifted the weight of the pot into one hand as he chuckled. He rubbed at a few petals with his free hand with a fond smile. "I'll do what I can but I'm not making any promises."

He wondered if Flowey pressing into his touch was his imagination from him walking.

Undyne found him before he could wander very far. She didn't say anything as she turned and gestured for him to follow. He fell into step dutifully, Flowey quiet in his arms.

The others were already at the main entrance of the lab when they arrived and Alex was surprised to see a few extra people there, particularly Toriel and Alphys. Last he had heard, they weren't coming with.

"We'll be seeing you off," Toriel informed him as she approached him, keeping him briefly separate from the rest of the group. He passed her Flowey, ghosting a hand over the top of his petals in a quick gesture.

"Don't mind his sharp words while I'm gone," Alex offered as a weak conversation piece. The smile on his lips felt just as weak. "And make sure he has something he can engage in. Boredom will only make his words sharper."

A vine smacked at his hand as the flower glared at him. His weak smile turned into a weak grin as Toriel smiled. "I will keep that in mind." She placed a large paw on his shoulder. "You will take care, will you not?"

Alex nodded, any pretense of amusement falling from his face. He wondered if he looked more tired like that. "As best I can. Our main objective is get in, get the brothers, and get out with no confrontation if we can help it."

"I-I-I will be e-expecting to see you afterwards, A-alex," Alphys spoke up, her gaze sharp behind those large glasses resting on her snout. "I-I-I want to be c-certain you are f-fine after this."

Alex nodded, not looking to counter her decision as Asgore straightened, gaining everyone's attention as he looked over the crowd and asked, "Is everyone present?" When there was no word against the question, he nodded. "Then let us head out." His gaze fell on Alex and Undyne. "Lead the way."

Alex nodded and stepped forward, Undyne falling into step behind his right shoulder. He could hear the plates of her armor moving against each other in a soft, smooth sound. Though it didn't get used very often, she clearly still took care of her armor. It was obvious by all – even Asgore – that despite his words, they were anticipating a fight with how everyone was dressed in some form of armor. Alex was clearly the only civilian going and he suddenly felt like he was in the way as he took the first step into the fresh snow just beyond the lab's parking lot, footfall sure as he led the way into Snowdin’s forest.

Spoiler: Chapter 15

The trek was quiet beyond the sounds of the forest and their footfall in the snow. The sliding of well kept plate armor and clothing was an undertone to the harsh crunching against the ice layer beneath the fresh powder. Occasionally there would be muttered words or the sound of sniffing but it was nothing more than the canine monsters as they wandered the border of the mass of people and reported any findings.

There weren’t many.

A hand settled on his shoulder and he jumped, looking over at Undyne. Her good eye held concern as she asked softly, “How you holding up?”

“I’m fine, Undyne,” he offered with an amused smile.

Her gaze hardened. “Your hands are shaking.”

Surprise rushed through him as he looked down. Sure enough his hands were trembling in the gloves he couldn’t remember shoving on. He clenched his hands into fists, trying desperately to stave off the tremors. Her grip tightened on his shoulder and he fought the urge to shrug it off. “I can lead from here if you want to head back to the lab.”

Alex shook his head. “No. I want to help find them.” He met Undyne’s gaze again. “If I’m not there helping, I’ll just kill myself with worry. Besides,” they stepped around a clutch of trees and the ruins of a building were suddenly ahead of them, “it would be pointless to leave now.” He turned as the group behind them came to a stop, Asgore the only one approaching. The boss monster’s expression was hard but Alex recognized it for the mask that it was. “Here’s the main entrance to the building.” Asgore stopped before he stepped fully between Alex and Undyne. Alex studied his face. “Does it look familiar?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Asgore confessed, “I am not sure. It feels as if I should know this building but I do not know if it is time’s affect on the building or myself that makes it unrecognizable.”

Alex nodded, stepping back as Asgore moved forward, a pair of canine monsters rushing forward to follow. Undyne stepped up to Alex’s side, questioning, “What made you think Asgore would recognize it?”

Alex gave her a side look. “Because he’s a boss monster, one that has lived so long to be able to say that he had lived during the times of the Overworld War. On top of that, he and Toriel have been in Snowdin since their children passed away some 77 years ago and then some. If anyone knows the lands, it would be them.” He looked back at the building. “Not to mention this building is currently being occupied by one Dr. W.D. Gaster, the original Royal Scientist. If this had been the monster’s home or lab, it would have given us a bit better of a chance of knowing the layout. As much as we scientists isolate ourselves, Asgore and Toriel are very personable and would have made house calls to check up on both the progress of the projects and how the scientist is handling the strain, making sure that breaks are taken and proper food is consumed before proper rest is found.”

Undyne arched an eye ridge at him. “They do that? As Royals?”

Alex shrugged, watching as the trio returned from their scouting of the building’s perimeter. “You and I both know that their old titles have no standing anymore. The Council had offered them places on it, had encouraged it, but after the death of their children and so many others, after so many years of service, they retired. Now they simply run the Snowdin Lab out of something to do and they’re good at making sure their scientists tend to themselves properly.” He shot Undyne a smile as the canine monsters rushed by back to the group. “Did you never once question why there were actual living quarters in the lab? Why each of us were granted living quarters for loved ones and personal work spaces? The Dreemurrs led the construction and expansion of the Snowdin Lab.”

“That had been quite an enjoyable experience as well,” Asgore added as he joined them, a pleasant smile on his face. “I am glad the Council allowed Tori and I to retire after everything. So much good has come of it.”

Alex hummed in agreement.

Asgore placed a large paw on both Alex’s and Undyne’s backs guiding them gently back towards the main body of the group. “Come. I want one last word before we enter.”

Alex fell into step without another word, though he could feel Undyne’s eye on him.

“There was no sign of activity or security from the boundaries,” Asgore spoke, his expression serious even as he didn’t remove his paw from Alex’s back. “The front door looks feeble enough that I am going to send Dogi and Spencer to see if they can get in quietly and carefully.” The two canine monsters that had checked the house with Asgore moved towards a human. The human nodded. “Don’t forget to check to see if the door is already unlocked but be careful opening the door regardless,” Asgore directed to the human specifically before returning his attention to the whole group. “Once they have gained entrance, they will scout ahead as we file in behind them. Alex will take the lead at this point and guide us to the first sublevel. Once there, we fan out in teams of twos and threes looking for Sans and Papyrus and any other survivors. Avoid killing anyone to the best of your ability. Any questions?” There was a number of heads that were shook no but no one actually said anything. “Good. Then let us find the brothers.”

The trio dashed ahead and Alex settled back at the edge of the forest. Undyne seemed to be his shadow now as she joined him without a word. A few minutes later, they all watched the front door open and the three dashed in. Alex shifted but offered no words when Undyne glanced his way. There were no words to be spared as they all waited for some sort of signal, good or bad.

Dogamy returned to the door and gestured for them to follow.

Alex raced across the grounds, Undyne easily keeping pace even as he hit the deck’s stairs. He was across the threshold first, his footfall unpracticed but as soft as he could make it as he walked carefully into the space. The place looked thoroughly abandoned, not even a piece of furniture remaining to dictate that anyone had once lived there. The trio that had entered first had found the stairs down a side hallway and Alex nodded to them before he started down, Undyne so close that he feared she would trip him up on their descent.

That never happened and his foot touched level ground without an issue. It was unbelievably dark and it was only thanks to the spear Undyne had summoned that he had any light to see by. She passed him the spear as she summoned another one. He stepped away from the stairs, orienting himself with the maps he had looked over enough to have nearly memorized. He briefly noted that a few other monsters had created their own lights through their magic. The brightest light came from Asgore’s trident where a flame had nestled among the prongs. Alex caught the boss monster’s gaze long enough to receive a nod before he turned and started walking down the hallway he hoped would lead to where he needed it to go.

Thankfully it went unobscured and he was able to continue on to a new hallway some minutes into his search.

The next turn proved how close they had gotten as he found one end of the hallway bathed in low light from the room at the end. He moved towards it but a hand around his bicep stopped him. He looked back to see Undyne and some human Alex didn’t know there with him, Undyne’s hard gaze on him.

“Don’t go wandering off on your own,” she growled out, voice barely audible even in the silence.

He pulled his arm from her grip, finding that her hold broke rather easily all things considered. “I had thought you were with me,” he answered honestly, his voice just as soft. “Besides, you have to be as eager as I am to find them before Dr. Gaster discovers we’re here and does something to them.”

She gritted her teeth. He was right and he could see she was not ok with that. Still, she nodded but instead of letting him go on ahead, she took point, giving him a pointed look when he tried to surpass her. As they neared the lit end of the hallway, Undyne directed him and the other human up against the left wall. They stopped at the edge of the space and Alex took in the expansive room beyond.

It was a wreck, tech and equipment everywhere. Wires, cables, and pipes looked corroded and in desperate need of replacement. There was clear signs of electricity being fed through some cables that were dangerously exposed and Alex couldn’t help but shudder. Undyne glanced back at him.

“Where to, brainiac?” she asked.

He gave her a flat look. “Let me lead.”

She glared at him but he didn’t waver. With a soft sigh, she stepped out of his way.

Hunched low, Alex moved forward, gaze going back and forth to take in all the room that he could see during his slow progress through it. He could hear Undyne and the other human behind him, moving with him. It felt like ages till they reached the other side of the room. There was a giant machine of sorts blocking their view but when Alex glanced around it, he saw-

“Sans!” he hissed but the skeleton did not stir. Undyne, however, moved to look around the object as well, pressing a hand into his back to keep either him in place or herself steady. She edged out farther than he had only to come back, hand tangled in his jacket and forcing him to follow her some ways back the way they had come.

“They are both strapped down,” Undyne informed them, eye wary but her expression hard, “and it doesn’t look like our big bad is anywhere nearby. Let’s backtrack and get the others.”

Alex grabbed at her wrist, his grip as hard as he could make it around the fabric armor. “We can’t just leave them,” he ground out. “We leave and we run the risk of him returning and doing the brothers more harm. There are three of us. We go in, grab them, and book it back to the others. No big deal.”

Undyne shook her head. “It’s too much of a risk. If this Gaster returns-“

“Then we run, right?” the other human supplied, clearly on Alex’s side with this. “Meaning no offence, Captain, but the scientist has a point. Not to mention we would be wasting precious time going back to only return here. If we move quickly, this will be a non-issue and we can leave this place completely.”

Undyne growled, not appreciating being out numbered, but their logic had worn her down. She gave a sharp nod. “Fine. But let me break their bonds. Grison, you grab Sans. Alex, you’ll help me with Papyrus.”

The two humans nodded.

Undyne moved back to the edge of the machine and looked around as Alex came up right behind her, waiting. When Undyne dashed forward, Alex was right behind her, the other human on his heels. As much as he wanted to go to Sans first, he passed the stout skeleton slowly coming to at the commotion he was certain they were making. Papyrus made no such reaction.

“Ullux?” Sans slurred from his table, the sound jarring in the silence. “Wuz goen on?”

No one answered him as spears twirled into existence over the lock parts of the bindings and sliced through with such precision that the bindings were cleanly cut while the skeletons were left untouched. Alex caught Papyrus with a grunt, the lanky skeleton’s dead weight being far more than he had anticipated. It seemed the other human was far better prepared to catch Sans for when Alex glanced over Sans was draped over the human’s back, arms dangling over the human’s shoulder and legs being brought up on either side of the human’s waist so that the human could hook his arms underneath the skeleton’s knees.

“Were u taken us?” Sans slurred some more, this time the words sounding like a demand.

Undyne took Papyrus off of Alex and hefted the skeleton into a fireman’s carry. Alex was partially perplexed on why Undyne even had him help in the first place till he remembered she had been the one to break the skeletons’ bonds. Knowing Undyne had it from there, he quickly hurried to the other human’s side, careful hand pressing against Sans’s exposed cheek. “We’re getting you home, Sans,” Alex whispered, his thumb rubbing against bone he had feared he would never touch again. “Just stay quiet, ok?”

“M’kay,” Sans mumbled, what faint pupils had formed vanishing as Sans seemed to fall unconscious again.

Alex looked to Undyne and nodded. “Let’s go,” he breathed.

She gestured with her head for the human with Sans to go ahead of her but nothing she did got Alex to get ahead of her so she settled with having him keeping close to her side, watching her back. Alex was glad she had because no sooner had they slipped beyond the machine did the room flood with light. Alex tried to clear his eyes of spots as Undyne yelled, “Run!”

Desperation shoved his feet after her and managed to keep pace with the laden fish monster. A voice reverberated through the space in words that made no sense and caused them all to flinch. But even as his ears heard noises that made no sense, Alex’s mind was filled with a voice that echoes and reverberated in ways that hurt.

“ANd whERE EXACTly dO yOU THINk yOU aRE gOiNg?”

“Faster!” Alex screamed without glancing back. He had no need to. Whatever Gaster had become was making enough noise for Alex to know that they were losing ground rapidly.

They passed into the hallway they had come from and, for a brief - foolish – moment, he thought they were going to be safe, that they were going to be free.

Then something slammed into his back, tendrils slapping around his torso to grip tightly, and he knew that he had been so very wrong.

Yanked backwards, he let out an involuntary cry at the painful change in directions. Undyne and the other human slowed but he was dragged too quickly back into the large lab space to know if they actually turned around or kept going.

He hoped they kept running.

Whatever was dragging him through the space wasn't overly careful as he bumped and banged into different objects, all hard, all unforgiving. By the time he was flung to the floor, his entire body ached from the mistreatment and he reached up with a shaking hand to fix his glasses.

The room came into better focus and he found the space to be unfamiliar, not that it meant much. Clambering shakily to his feet, he made to get out of there but was slammed into some wall. Whatever had thrown him into the unyielding surface was still pressed against his torso, tendrils oozing slowly around his chest to encompass him in full as the mass that was now Dr. W.D. Gaster came into view.

He jerked against the mass pinning him, hands pressing into the goopy mass only to have it slowly give under his pushing and sucking his arms into the goop still oozing to encompass his torso. He jerked again, this time jerking backwards and hitting his head against the unforgiving wall.

Pain flared through his skull that only intensified with the distorted chuckle that rang through it.

“YOU caN STruggLe aLL you WaNt. ThERe iS nOWheRe fOR you TO gO.”

He forced an eye open against the pain, flinching away as a tendril reached towards his face as what passed as Gaster’s face moved closer.

A shudder ran down his spine when the tendril rubbed against the bridge of his nose and he opened his eyes to stare up at a hazy Gaster, the tendril dangling his glasses before his face. The goop around his torso was starting to climb his neck.

“piTy You’rE brOKEN.”

He had only a moment to gasp at the sensation of some of the slimy goop slipping under his shirt and sliding to his chest before pain erupted from where the sensation stopped. He tried to curl up, tried to get away, but whatever was digging its way into his chest was spreading throughout his body. There was nothing he could do except scream as the pain and whatever was filling him reached through his limbs and started to crawl up through his neck. He squeezed his eyes shut, gave one last futile attempt to break free as his pain filled scream turned fearful.

He knew nothing more when it touched his brain.

Sans wasn’t sure what he was seeing was real. There, beside his brother, was Alex. Magic made spears that were oddly familiar were materializing over Papyrus’s bindings and, for a moment, he feared the worst.

But then Papyrus was falling from his bindings and Sans suddenly found him chest against someone’s back he didn’t know. To even summon pupils hurt but even the faint ones he formed cleared his vision enough for him to watch Papyrus being hefted onto Undyne’s shoulders from where he laid dead weight on the stranger’s back. There was a jostle, like the human was hefting him higher up, and the words spilled out in a slur without his bidding.

“Were u taken us?”

The Alex he could barely make out stepped clearly into view, hand coming up to cup his face. Sans felt a shudder race down his spine at the contact.

“We’re getting you home, Sans,” Alex whispered, his thumb rubbing against Sans’s cheek. “Just stay quiet, ok?”

“M’kay,” Sans mumbled, what faint pupils he had formed vanishing as he fully slumped against the stranger holding him. If Alex said they were going home, he trusted him, even with as foolish as that was.

Alex looked to Undyne and nodded. “Let’s go,” he breathed.

There was sudden jostling and Sans barely registered that the stranger he was draped across had gone first as the blurry world started to dash by. There was a moment, a pause as they made their way back towards some exit and then the room flooded with light. He flinched from the sudden sensory assault as Undyne yelled, “Run!” somewhere behind him.

The stranger carrying him made no attempt to make it a smooth ride and he couldn’t blame them in his foggy mind. Especially not when that voice rattled through his head making his hands twitch.

“ANd whERE EXACTly dO yOU THINk yOU aRE gOiNg?”

“Faster!” Alex screamed somewhere behind him. Sans felt his soul quicken at that. How far did they have to go? Would they make it in time?

The lighting changed drastically and it was with faint pupils that he took in a hallway he couldn’t remember them entering. He raised his head as best he could and looked back.

Magic condensed rapidly into pinprick pupils as he watched Gaster slam a tendril into Alex’s back, a spider web of smaller tendrils slapping around the human’s torso, and yanked him back towards the lab they were leaving.

He wasn’t sure if it was him or Alex that had screamed.

Probably both.

“Keep moving!” Undyne barked even as the human carrying him seemed to speed up.

“But what about-“ the stranger started but Undyne cut him off.

“He’ll have to survive until I can get aid.”

Chatter drew Sans’s attention from the shrinking doorway behind them and he turned to see Asgore and others pouring into the hallway. Undyne moved passed the slowing human carrying Sans and carefully passed Papyrus to the Dogi. The couple was very careful, supporting the unconscious skeleton well.

“Alex was captured,” Undyne quickly explained to Asgore. “We have to go back for him.”

Asgore nodded, looking to those that gathered. “Wait here. We’ll take the most direct route out as soon as we have Alex.”

There was a collection of nods as the pair raced back towards the lab. Sans watched them go as screams started to reach them. Sans bit back some noise that had climbed up the back of his throat and pulled at the human’s top even as exhaustion begged him to sleep again. “Put me down.” The human glanced back at him but he didn’t give them a chance to argue as he repeated, “Put me down. Now.”

The human complied without a word, setting him on shaking legs. But they stayed under him and he found that he couldn’t bring himself to ease the fist tangled in the human’s top.

The screams suddenly changed and Sans took a step forward, magic churning inside him so painful that he would have collapsed to the floor had the human not wrapped their arms around his chest.

“Alex,” he croaked, pushing against the human’s arms even as he was pulled upright.

“They’ll rescue him, Sans,” the human urged, not letting go. “But they can only do that if you stay here.”

The majority of the lights suddenly went out in the lab. What light remained flickered and danced in a way that made Sans uneasy. And just as he was trying to figure out what was going on, the smell of smoke touched his senses.

His pupils shrank. “Fire,” he whispered as his right socket throbbed. His entire body started to shake and he gripped at the arms holding him up. “Oh stars.”

“Sans?” the human asked but he ignored them, left socket trained on the end of the hallway as he pressed his hand against his right socket trying to ease the sudden pain.

The flames were being fueled by something potent because it wasn’t long before the fire was making its way down the hallway. The body of people slowly moved back the way they had come till the fire cut them off. Sans barely noticed that those that had made it down the side hallway were returning looking scared and defeated.

“How do we get out now?” someone asked.

A thought flickered through his mind and he spoke without moving his gaze from the inferno heading their way, “There’s an exit at the other end of this hallway. It leads into the surrounding forest.”

“We should start heading that way,” another said.

Someone else shot back, “Not without Asgore and Undyne.”

“I’m not getting burned alive!”

There was movement at the fire filled end of the hallway and suddenly Asgore came bursting through the wall of flames, Undyne right on his tail with spears appearing and firing at something.

And then Gaster appeared and Sans jerked back, nearly throwing himself and the human off balance.

The tar mass that was Gaster was spreading, tendrils slapping against the wall as he was spread out so that the entire other end of the hallway was obscured by his mass. Other tendrils shot out and forward, some getting impaled by Undyne’s spears, others dodging but not making any actual progress in grabbing either escaping prey. The hallway was quickly shortening as Gaster came after them.

Asgore was upon them all far too soon, meaning Gaster was not too far behind.

“To the exit!” Asgore barked, and Sans found himself suddenly hefted up onto the human’s back before being carried away from the monster chasing them all.

There was a rumble, low but telling, and Sans tore his gaze from Gaster in time to watch the ceiling give out. Somehow the fire had spread to the floor above them because when the ceiling gave between Gaster and the group of fleeing humans and monsters, there was quite a bit of burning material that nearly crushed Undyne in the process of halting Gaster’s progress. Undyne raced ahead, no longer burdened with the task of protecting the back of the fleeing group.

But Sans was unable to keep from watching the burning blockade as Gaster screamed in rage. It wasn’t till the brisk night air hit him that he realized they had made it outside.

Somewhere in the trees a large fire was ragimg. He wondered if it was the rest of the lab.

“How’s Alex?” Undyne asked as those running came to a stop some distance from the exit.

Sans looked over to the boss monster being questioned and found Asgore’s arms laden with an unconscious Alex. “I don’t know,” Asgore confessed, meeting Sans’s gaze over Undyne’s shoulder. “But we’ll get them all home and checked over. There’s no need to stay here now that we have Sans and Papyrus back.”

There was a collective agreement as the group started for the Snowdin lab. Sans fought the exhaustion as best he could but was unable to keep the darkness at bay. It took over as the lab came into view and he was unconscious before the human carrying him made it to the parking lot.

When he woke again, he found himself in his room staring at a ceiling he hadn’t realized he had missed till that moment. He looked over to his bedside and found it empty. It made his soul hurt to not find someone there waiting for him to wake up.

Pushing himself upright was exhausting but he wasn’t about to lay about when he knew nothing of his brother’s condition nor Alex’s. He shuffled his way over to the door and opened it, stepping out into a quiet hallway. He hadn’t bothered to glance at the clock and see what the time was. It didn’t matter. What mattered was finding out how his brother and Alex were doing.

His soul twisted at the thought of what Gaster could have done to Alex and he quickened his pace as best he could.

He found Papyrus’s room first but it was empty, though there were clear signs that it had been used recently. Turning, he started in the direction he had just come from aiming for Alex’s room.

It was there he found the others. Papyrus was seated in a chair beside Alex’s occupied bed, Toriel and Asgore standing near the door as Undyne was seated in a chair at the foot of Alex’s bed, Alphys on the floor leaning back against Undyne’s legs with Undyne’s arms draped over her shoulders. For some reason there was a potted flower with a face sitting in Papyrus’s lap.

“So what’s the damage?” Sans asked, his voice coming out gravelly and lower than normal.

Everyone looked at him but he only had eyes for his brother and the unconscious Alex in the bed. Alex looked sickly pale as Papyrus looked exhausted and thin. The last who knew how long had not been kind to either of them and Papyrus’s magic was not able to fill out the clothes draped over his bones like it normally would have, making Papyrus look as skinny as his physical form truly was. It was a haunting image.

Sans wondered if he was the only one to see the orange magic churning in Papyrus’s sockets, not as tears but as barely restrained magic.

“Gaster did something to Alex but they’re not sure what,” Papyrus spoke, expression hard. “I’ve been given the green light to move about but they said that the trait infusion may have done some unforeseen damage to my system.”

“T-t-trait infusions like w-what Papyrus went th-through usually h-have some sort of r-repercussions,” Alphys supplied meekly from her spot on the floor.

Sans turned his attention back to Papyrus. “How do you feel about it?”

Papyrus shrugged, exhaustion creeping into his hard expression. “Right now, exhausted but not any different. That may be due to the lack of magic from Gaster’s last experiment.”

Sans nodded, remembering how Gaster had forced Papyrus to expel so much magic that it had left Sans wondering if he would even have a brother when Gaster made him finally stop. It hadn’t helped that Gaster had done the same thing to him before turning on Papyrus.

“They found Frisk.”

Sans jerked at that, sockets wide as they focused on the potted flower in Papyrus’s hands. There, in the center of the petals, was a round face with few details beyond a pair of eyes and a mouth. The expression he was seeing was guarded and wary. “They found Frisk about the same time they found you and Papyrus,” the flower continued.

“Flowey’s right,” Toriel spoke, causing Sans to jump. Her expression was hard to read when he looked over but he was sure that concern and regret was part of it. “Asgore’s group found the child in a cell not far from where you and your brother were found.”

“Did you find any others?” Sans snapped, not sure if it was fear or anger that had made his words sharp.

“No,” Asgore spoke, expression hard as he stepped forward and partially in front of Toriel. Sans lowered his face to show that he hadn’t meant anything by it. “Only the one child. Should we have found others?”

Sans shook his head. “The other was a menace, completely controlled by Gaster. If you were only able to find and save one, I’m glad it was Frisk and not Chara.”

“Could Chara have made it out?” Papyrus asked.

Sans looked over. He couldn’t read Papyrus’s expression and wasn’t sure if he really wanted to. “It wouldn’t surprise me but I’m not sure where they would have gone.”

“Could we save Chara, too?”

Sans focused on Flowey. “Why would you want to rescue them?”

“Because they aren’t truly mindless.” Sans arched an eye ridge at the flower. He doubted that and Flowey seemed to understand that for he explained, “Chara was made long before Frisk and behaved very similarly in the beginning. They had been kind, caring, and did as Gaster asked, up to a point. It wasn’t till the other experiments started to fail and Gaster started making Chara destroy them that they changed. When Frisk had been created, they had tried to help Chara but, at that point, Chara was beyond whatever help Frisk could offer.”

Silence met his words and Sans, for the first time since all this started, felt sympathy for the child with the same name as the villain in his dream.

“When Frisk awakes, we will ask them if they know where this Chara may have gone if they had survived,” Toriel spoke up. Sans caught sight of her expression and was unsurprised to see her moved and determined. He smiled weakly. Toriel had always been rather fond of children, especially since her own had passed so long ago.

Flowey nodded, leaning into Papyrus’s soft touch as the skeleton stroked the flower’s petals.

“So how long till he wakes up?” Sans asked, turning his gaze once more to Alex.

The response - surprisingly - came from Undyne this time. “We don’t know. Could be a few hours, could be a couple of days. Until we know what Gaster did to him, we don’t have any answers.”

Sans shifted his gaze to his brother to find Papyrus studying him. Sans, for his part, merely held his brother’s gaze. He knew deep in his soul that neither he nor Papyrus were going to just up and abandon Alex. The human could be in a coma for years or wake up not remembering them at all and they would still stick around and make sure Alex was safe, healthy, and well taken care of till they turned to dust.

He prayed to whatever deity was listening that Alex actually woke up.

He wasn’t sure Papyrus would make it through losing Alex after all this.

He certainly wouldn’t survive that sick twist of fate, that’s for sure.

Spoiler: Chapter 16

Whatever he was in – be it a void or simply darkness itself – was heavy and refusing to let go even as awareness dragged at him. Caught in the limbo between both states of being, he simply existed with no thoughts till something outside of him changed.

He wasn’t sure when it had started, nor when he had realized he noticed it, but there was a faint buzzing that was slowly, steadily increasing that made him think of forgetfulness; though it wasn’t so much about forgetfulness itself as it was about him having forgotten something that had probably been important. He just couldn’t remember what it was he was supposed to remember.

Voices joined the buzzing. A few rang rather familiar, others did not. A lot did not. He frowned in that nothingness now concerned with what he had forgotten. With those few familiar voices came the sudden sense of urgency and foreboding and he couldn’t for the life of him remember what it was these feelings were meant to be towards.

There was the impression of an image – a mask-like white face with cracks from both void-like eyes and an equally void-like grin spreading too wide – and his eyes snapped open. Air rushed his lungs and his heart rate soared, clashing with the immediate lead weight of his body. He choked on the air and his body reacted accordingly. The coughing rattled even the heaviest parts of him and his body’s infuriating reaction jerked him into a sitting position. Surprise mingled with the pain, panic, and adrenaline of the coughing fit as he took in the blurry view of the room. Bodies blurred beyond recognition pressed in at the edge of his bed and what he could make out of the room looked a lot like his room in the lab. Words flittered in and out of his mind but none were comprehensible as the coughing fit zapped him of what strength the adrenaline had given him. Sluggishly he pulled himself away from those nearest him; none of the voices brought comfort and the dark shapes beyond the speakers added a weight to his chest that cut off even more air.

A spot of off-white, round and stout, drew his attention instantly as the bodies nearest his bed ebbed and flowed. That spot of off-white had two dark spots on it and, despite not wearing his glasses, he knew exactly what it was.

“Sans,” he croaked, reaching towards the spot. The effort it took to reach out was more than he could handle while trying to stay as upright as he was and flopped back onto the mattress. Another spot of off-white – this one oblong and a bit more rectangular – joined the first, both cutting in front of the mass of bodies to stand at his side. They both bent close enough for him to see both their faces, blurry but clear enough to discern the relief. “Papyrus.” He reached for them both and he felt two different boney hands take his. “What’s going on? What happened?”

Papyrus reached around his brother and grabbed something that didn’t make sense to his brain till the skeleton brought it to Alex’s face and the world cleared. He blinked against the sudden clarity as the glasses settled on the bridge of his nose. Not only could he see the brothers clearly, he could now make out those behind them. He tugged on Sans’s hand, asking in a low voice, “And who are all these people?”

Sans’s expression changed to something that made his stomach drop. He couldn’t find the words to describe the look but he watched as the stout skeleton turned away, asking one of the people behind him, “Tori, do you and the others mind giving us a minute?”

One of the goat monsters nodded as everyone filed out. Everyone, that is, except for Sans and Papyrus.

The more that left, the greater the shadows grew, and more than just exhaustion had him shaking.

“Alex.” He looked at Sans, finding an expression that spoke so much more than the gentle, careful way the other had said his name. “Can you tell me what you remember before waking up?”

He frowned. The memories were there, he could almost see them, but some sort of apprehension made him avoid the question. It was irrational, truly. Memories couldn’t hurt him. “Wh….Yes, but what does that have to do with my questions?”

He was given a strained smile. “Please, Alex? Just humor me.”

His shaking increased as he relented, his hand gaining a squeeze from the skeleton ones still holding on. He didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to even think about it, but he knew he was being ridiculous. It wasn’t like it was a hard question. He could remember what had happened before he had fallen asleep. He forced his mouth to move, forced the words out, because Sans had asked him to. “You and Papyrus had been cau…cap….”

The words stalled out. He could see it, could see them tied up to the tables, blue spears appearing to pierce their restraints. He felt Papyrus’s dead weight, heard Sans’s voice through the room. He remembered running, remembered…

Something wrapped around his chest, squeezing hard, yanking him back, and he tried to scrape at whatever was holding onto him but his arms were pinned and whatever it was didn’t move. It didn’t even budge against all of his desperate flailing. A desperate, wordless cry escaped his lips as he panicked. Magic rushed over him and terror ripped through his throat.

He screamed.

He found his back colliding with something hard. The wind was knocked out of him but he didn’t still, didn’t stop as he tried to get away. He had to get away. He couldn’t – wouldn’t – let it do it to him again. He wouldn’t survive a second time!

Firm hands pressed on either side of his face and he blinked rapidly, vision clearing. Words suddenly rushed his mind and he started to realize Sans was talking to him as the skeleton held his head steady, low voice calm as Papyrus hovered not far behind. His breathing stuttered as he gasped for air and suddenly he couldn’t breathe for a completely different reason. It was all he could do to not be swallowed by panic a second time as his lungs seized and the coughing fit stole his ability to breathe.

Everything hurt.

There on the edge of blissful unconsciousness he felt himself returning to full awareness with each painful but easy breath. His face felt tacky. He tried to rub at it but his arm was too heavy.

“Welcome back.” Sans’s voice wrapped around him, just as careful as the silence that followed. He closed his eyes to blink but found that it was difficult to open them again. He got them to open anyways. “Do you need anything?”

He shook his head slowly out of a habitual reaction but the motion was sedated and stalled out halfway through. Annoyance flittered briefly through the exhaustion weighing him down. “No.”

“Do you know what happened?”

Alex frowned at that, assuming Sans was talking about whatever had led to him ‘waking up’, but he couldn’t seem to pin down any distinct memories. His chest burned like it did after one of his really bad fits. “One of my fits,” he croaked tentatively. What else could it have been?

The air around him grew thick. “What?” he demanded with another croak. His throat hurt.

“You had a panic attack, Alex,” Papyrus corrected him gently. “A really, really bad one.”

“Do you remember it getting triggered?” Sans asked, concern heavy in his words.

Alex gave a wry sort of chuckle. It scraped against his lungs and caused him to cough a few times. They were small coughs that barely moved him but they still hurt. “I don’t even remember the fit, so no.” He let that hang in the air, waiting for anything to be said. When nothing came, he asked softly, “So how bad are we talking?”

“You remember the day terror Pap and I had before we were kidnapped?”

He frowned. They had been kidnapped? “Yes,” he spoke, his words heavy with his confusion, “but when di–”

“Worse than that kind of bad,” Sans cut in. “I don’t really know what Pap and I did when we had been trapped in it but I do know that we hadn’t really reacted physically. I saw the aftermath of Pap’s experience. But you…”

The words died and Alex wondered if he wanted to know the rest.

“Alex.” Papyrus came into his line of sight and he blinked at the skeleton. His eyelids didn’t want to open when he had closed them but he forced them open. “I’m going to place my hands on your chest and use healing magic. Is that alright?”

He frowned. “Why do you need to–”

He had moved to see why Papyrus would need to waste magic on him, but Sans’s hand covered his forehead and pressed his head back down, pinning it down. Panic swirled in his gut as his position was changed by the action and he found himself staring up at Sans. “Why does he need to heal me?” Sans didn’t answer him, didn’t even look at him as Papyrus came closer. Alex thrashed, scared. Sans pinned him by placing his other hand at the top of his sternum. Exhaustion kept the rest of him still despite the adrenaline now rushing through him. “Sans! Why does he need to heal me?!”

“You dug at your chest.”

That cut through even the panic and froze him in place. “What?” he managed to choke out.

“It’s nothing overly serious,” Sans assured him, though the other’s tone was flat and Sans was still not looking at him. “You managed to tear your shirt and some of the scratches are bleeding but it’s nothing serious.”

“I don’t understand,” Alex countered, flinching when he felt his shirt get pulled away from his body. Whatever angle Sans had his head pinned at made it hard for him to even see Papyrus. “Why does that warrant all this? Why can’t I look?”

“Because you don’t remember the panic attack.”

The silence was filled with the faint hum of magic as Alex felt two skeleton hands press against his chest. He flinched away, a part of him feeling too exposed and wanting to get away, to hide and cover himself. The larger part of him flinched back out of fear. The magic that curled over him and seeped into his body made his lungs itch like he had to cough and his heart ache under the weight but the warmth of it made him want to sleep again. It was oddly familiar and despite not being able to recall any time prior he could have become familiar with the lanky skeleton’s magic, it soothed some of his fried nerves and he didn’t resist as it carefully spread through him, ever conscious of his condition.

“Can you answer a few questions for me?” Sans softly inquired, drawing his attention away from Papyrus’s magic. “Simple things that will hopefully not have you falling into another attack.”

He frowned, focusing on San’s face. The skeleton wasn’t looking at him but that was fine. It was a decent assumption that Sans was watching his brother work, after all. He could see the brilliant green of Papyrus’s healing magic reflecting off of Sans’s face. “Sure.”

“How many years has it been since your mom died?”

“Sans!” Papyrus snapped as Alex flinched at the spike of magic. The magic was quickly quelled.

Alex raised his hand but it only hovered about a foot under where he had intended for it to go before it fell back to the bed. “It’s ok, Pap. It’s a good question. It checks to make sure I know what year I’m in and how many years have passed from a significant event.” Not that he remembered the event specifically but that wasn’t important right now. He focused back on Sans. “16 years.”

“Can you describe what your mom and dad looked like?”

He closed his eyes on that one, feeling the guilt churning in him for one of those mentioned but he was already answering, “No.”

“Who founded the Snowdin Lab?”

“Asgore and Toriel Dreemer.”

“Have you met either of them?”

His eyes opened as he frowned. “Not that I can recall.”

“What did we do for your birthday?”

“This last one? The three of us went to the frozen lake nearby and spent the afternoon and evening ice skating and eating what food we had taken along.”

“And the one before that?”

Alex wondered if the hint of resolve was part of his imagination. “We had a small celebration after you guys cornered me on my smoke break.” His expression softened with the fondness of the memory. “It was the same time you guys called me family.”

“Did we do anything afterward?”

Again he frowned. “Not that I can remember.”

“And how many people work at the lab?”

That stopped Alex short. He tried to remember, tried bringing up the number that he felt like he should know just as readily as his own age, but he couldn’t get a number to appear, let alone any faces. “I…I don’t know. I know people float in and out but I don’t know the current amount. I’m assuming those strangers are part of that number, then?”

“Most of them,” Sans confirmed, his words heavy. He didn’t like the sound of that.

A scream ripped itself from his chest.

Any thoughts of asking Sans to clarify were drowned out by the searing pain exploding from every inch of his body.

The magic that had been seeping into him, the magic he had paid no attention to due to Sans’s inquiries – due to it being Papyrus’s and safe – had reached so deep within him that when Papyrus yanked he felt it everywhere.

But that, that had been fine. The yank had been fine. It had been what Papyrus’s magic was yanking at that scraped at his very soul unwilling to release him and it hurt. It hurt so much.

He couldn’t remember why he was asleep but when he opened his eyes, it was to the faint glow of green magic from Sans’s hand on his forehead. It was more blue than it was the proper shade of green. The look of relief on Sans’s face when he met the skeleton’s gaze was disconcerting. His sluggish brain wouldn’t give him any answers as to why.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked, finding the words coming out in a breathy whisper. Speaking seemed to awake his nerves and faint tremors skittered across his body with each wave of pain. He gritted his teeth against the sensations, willing the pain to go away. It didn’t but he could hope. “Why the healing magic?”

Sans’s expression tightened at that and whatever hope had been there was quickly dashed. The magic on his forehead sputtered out. “You passed out when Papyrus tried to remove every trace of ______,” Sans offered but whatever the last word had been – or words; he was rather certain Sans’s statement hadn’t ended with just one – hadn’t been retained and the thought of that empty word made his brain do a sort of short circuit with fear. A part of him knew if he had Sans repeat himself, he wouldn’t ever hear it and he feared what that meant.

“I don’t,” he choked on the words like he wanted to cry but he pushed forward, spitting out in despair, “I don’t know what that last word was. I…” He found the words stuck in his throat and he forced them out over a lead tongue. “I don’t think I’ll be able to for a while. I think there’s a part of me blocking it out.”

Sans deflated and guilt ate at Alex’s soul. Despite the disappointment he had seen, Sans’s expression remained determined. “Can you name any of the faces that had been at your bedside when you had woken up? Either of the goat monsters, possibly?”

He frowned at that. Woke up when? The only time he remembered waking up was-

A brief memory flashed through his mind of a mass of bodies pressing in at the edge of his bed, shifting and moving in a way that made him uneasy. The shadows behind them that encroached worse than the crowd.

He shook his head vehemently in order to rid himself of the latter part of the memory but it was enough to answer Sans’s question at the same time. Sans closed his sockets, looking a bit in pain, but it was brief. “What do you remember, Alex?”

The words rolled off his tongue as easily as the small bit of memory. “You two approaching, talking to me.” He frowned, trying to dredge up what pieces he still had. It worried him that there wasn’t more he could find. “I think I had asked something because I had pulled you closer but I don’t know what it was.” Alex shifted as best he could so that he could look at Sans easily from where he lay. He felt oddly numb, probably heavy even. “Sans.” He gained the skeleton’s gaze. “I don’t have Dissociative Acute Amnesia, right?”

Sans shook his head. “Just Acute Amnesia. There’s even probably something actually actively suppressing your memories, but it’s not Dissociative. You haven’t given anything that hasn’t happened but what remains seems very selective. It’s the only reason I’m not just calling it amnesia.”

“Will it go away like yours is?” Papyrus asked, startling Alex. Sans seemed to notice his surprise because the skeleton’s hands pressed more into his chest as if to reassure him. When had Papyrus gotten there?

Sans shrugged, giving his brother his attention even as the hand on Alex’s forehead moved into his hair to run through it in a sort of absentminded, repetitive action. “It’s possible but there’s no guarantee. It might be that we deal with the trauma that’s caused his amnesia and it’ll all come back. Or his memories could be permanently lost. We’ll have to work under the assumption that his memories will never come back while also doing what we can to stimulate their return. But with the few fits that have happened, I don’t think it’s wise to push our luck with trying.” Sans’s gaze fell onto him again. “We’ll do slow introductions after we tackle breakfast. We won’t eat in the dining room but we will at least see how passing through it and back treats you.”

“You think I’ll have an adverse reaction?” Alex clarified.

Sans shrugged again. “Anything’s possible at this point. Memory’s a tricky thing and if it’s being suppressed by trauma, there’s a high possibility of some reaction to the stimuli. If nothing else, you certainly hadn’t seemed happy with so many people at your bedside.”

A yawn broke through, stretching Alex’s jaw and bringing with it exhaustion. He caught Sans’s gaze flicking to the side. The stout skeleton offered, “It’s getting late. Why don’t we all get some sleep and keep talking after breakfast?”

Alex nodded. Sans shifted which quickly informed Alex that he was partially on the other’s lap. Papyrus moved forward and, between the two skeletons, Alex was back in bed tucked in up to his chin. The prospect of sleep was tantalizing. He hoped it came soon.

The pair stepped away but Papyrus lingered. “Do you want either of us to stay here?”

Alex shook his head, a soft smile gracing his face. “There’s no point in keeping either of you from a good night’s rest. Besides, nothing can hurt me here. I’m safe and you two aren’t that far away.”

The brothers shared a glance but it was Sans who made the final decision. “Alright. Holler if you need anything.”

The brothers were quick with the lights but with each light that went out, the prospect of sleep seemed to get farther and farther away. He wanted to call out, to tell them to turn a light back on – turn all of them back on – but it felt like there was something in his throat and he couldn’t get the words out. He tried to ignore the looming shadows and what they hid.

Sans paused in the doorway, looking at him. The two soft lights of Sans’s pupils were bright on the skeleton’s backlit face. “Sleep well, Alex.”

“You too, Sans,” tumbled out. The words weren’t what he wanted to scream.

The door clicked shut and it was all he could do to try and sleep. He hadn’t been lying. He knew he was safe. If anything tried to come after him, it would have to get through the entire lab before it could reach him. While possible, it wouldn’t leave him defenseless.

But there was a part of him – a part of him that was growing larger and larger as the seconds ticked by – that knew of something that could be in the dark already.

Not something.

Someone.

Alex surged upright. Every muscle in his torso screamed but the adrenaline and fear were far greater. He shoved forward, first hitting the nightstand light; it wasn’t enough. The shadows skittered back and away only to creep back in when the light settled on a brightness. He got to his feet, stumbling over legs that wouldn’t move quick enough. He turned on every light he had in that room until every nook and cranny was illuminated.

It wasn’t enough!

Sans listened to the latch click into place. It was more difficult to let go of the handle and walk away than he had anticipated. He wasn’t even sure how Papyrus had managed to walk so far away without turning around and marching right back into Alex’s room. Stiffly, he turned and shuffled over to his brother's side. Papyrus fell into step as Sans kept moving towards the kitchen. If he stopped now, he would end up back in Alex’s room whether the human wanted him there or not.

“I don’t like this,” Papyrus finally voiced when the kitchen came into view.

Sans gave a humorless chuckle. “I don’t either, Pap, but there’s nothing we can do. He said he was fine and going against his desires right now may do more harm than good, despite what we may believe.” His expression tightened as he recoiled from his next words. “Let’s get through this first. Then tomorrow.”

They turned the corner into the dining room, cutting off any response Papyrus may have had if there had even been one. Everyone who had been in Alex’s room was milling about, some sitting, some standing, and all of them talking. It took a moment for everyone to realize they had arrived but they didn’t quiet fully till he sank into a seat. He was too bone tired to stay standing despite the agitation from leaving Alex alone skittering through his soul like electricity. Papyrus stood behind his right shoulder, radiating the same agitation.

He cut straight to the point. “I believe Alex has Acute Amnesia.” There was an uproar that was nothing more than noise to him. He was all for letting them shout themselves down but it was Asgore’s heavy voice cutting through that silenced them all. Sans assumed the boss monster was asking for an explanation because he hadn’t retained a single word the goat monster said. Stars above he was tired. “He didn’t recognize anyone in the room beyond Papyrus and me, and the things he does remember pertain to either himself, alone, or include me and Papyrus. It is not what I have and may not behave in the same way. He could regain his memories over time or they could be lost forever. The good news is he hasn’t lost any knowledge that would hinder any project he was working on, so there’s that.”

“You’re joking, right?” Undyne challenged.

Toriel cut in on the tail of her words. “You cannot expect him to work after all that he has been through, Sans.”

Sans gave them both a tired look. “As much as I would love to give Alex the chance to take time and recover, we all know he would be back at work of his own volition in less than a week without anyone’s supervision. At least this way I can make sure he doesn’t overdo it.”

He was grateful that his words stalled there.

“You are not useless, Sans,” Papyrus muttered behind him reading into the words he left unsaid far too clearly.

Sans sighed. “Regardless of the circumstances,” he spoke towards the group, “I still don’t have enough memories back to continue working on anything alone and, unfortunately, the only other one that has any idea of what I was doing is Alex.”

“S-so what now?” Alphys voices softly.

“We tread carefully. All of you, every person in this lab, and the Underground itself are complete strangers to him now. He may remember you over time, he might not.” He hesitated, suddenly unsure about how much information he wanted to share. “He suffered a severe panic attack while we were seeing how bad his memory loss was.” There were a few gasps but Sans ignored them. “And it was so bad that it caused a loss of short term memory.” He recoiled from their confused expressions. “He didn’t remember the panic attack, the trigger, nor the very bad paroxysmal coughing fit that followed after. It’s why I don’t want him having another panic attack. Whatever Gaster did to him has compromised his body even more and I’m concerned doing reintroductions too quickly could trigger more attacks which will most likely lead directly into fits and more memory loss. There’s also no telling what too many too close together could do to him.”

There was a low muttering through the group and Sans realized that a good number of those present had just learned a portion of Alex’s medical condition. There wasn’t anything he could do about it now as Asgore asked, “Do you know what the subject of the panic attack had been?”

Sans shook his head. “The only thing we know is that it was tied directly to the memory of Gaster’s lab. Whatever happened in there is triggerable by just having him try and recollect the rescue effort. If it changes, though, I’ll let you know.”

Asgore frowned but said no more.

“So here’s the plan for tomorrow,” Sans offered, starting to lose the fight against the exhaustion dragging at his bones. “Papyrus will walk with Alex through the main dining space to the kitchen during breakfast time, or close in there to. I’ll be with Toriel and only with Toriel in the kitchen so that he can meet her first.” He looked to Toriel. “I want to properly introduce you two so that he can start asking you for things should we be unavailable for whatever reason.”

Toriel nodded, a determined look on her face even as her arms tightened around Flowey’s pot.

“As they are passing through, no one is to interact with Alex and Papyrus beyond saying good morning,” Sans directed to everyone else. “If you say good morning to Alex, do not use his name or any nickname you may have used on him. That goes for habitual nicknames used on the collective, too.” There was some griping about that. Sans let them have their grumbling. “After that, Pap and I will eat with Alex in his room so that he can process all of it and come down from any overstimulation that may happen. Depending on how it goes, we’ll go from there. Sound good?”

There was a round of nodding and verbal affirmations.

“Good,” he all but sighed. Papyrus gripped the back of his chair as he stood. “Pap and I are going to go to bed. If you have questions, comments, or concerns, write them down so you don’t forget. I’ll deal with them in the morning.”

There was a chorus of good nights and sleep wells as the brothers left but Sans didn’t send any back. He ran a hand over his face, feeling the start of a headache in the middle of his skull.

“Well that went surprisingly well,” he commented, dropping his hand back to his side.

“Hopefully tomorrow goes just as well,” Papyrus responded offhandedly.

He glanced at his brother but didn’t say anything. There was a part of him that hoped the same. A larger part wasn’t expecting their luck to hold out that long.

Spoiler: Chapter 17

Papyrus was up and going far too early in the morning, not that he had been sleeping properly to begin with. Unable to remain in his room for more than the half hour it took for him to admit defeat and get dressed, he closed his bedroom door and started to wander the halls in the hopes that the late night stroll would help him sleep.

He was surprised to find he had forgotten how much the lab didn’t sleep. The hall lights were dim but he passed one guard on his walk and could hear the distinct sound of laughter echoing down the hall from some lab still occupied by its scientists. He gave the guard a nod, the other returning the gesture in kind with a bit more formality than he thought necessary.

He paused at his brother’s door, listening to the low snores coming from within. Whatever churned his soul keeping him from sleeping seemed to be partially soothed by the sound. As long as it seemed Sans was getting some much needed rest, he could get through a sleepless night just fine.

The wall beside Sans’s door held his weight when he leaned back against it. Oh how he wished he could be asleep like Sans was now, instead of tormented by what had happened over the last who knew how long. Despite knowing the proper amount of time that had passed, he was not convinced they hadn’t lost more time.

The things Gaster had done still haunted him, still gnawed at his very consciousness that it caused sleep to evade him thoroughly for the last two nights. It was all he could do to get a few hours of sleep before he was wide awake again. Perhaps that was just the conditioning left over by Gaster’s work. Perhaps he wasn’t convinced they had been rescued.

He rubbed at his face only to let his head rest against the appendage, propped against a knee. Jealousy churned in his soul at the thought of Sans having no problem sleeping. Guilt and self loathing were quick to rid him of it. He knew it wasn’t true. Sans sleeping was a good thing, even if it was exhaustion driven. Despite how powerful Sans was magically, his body was still as frail as ever, if not more so due to both the coma and Gaster’s toying. No amount of teasing and complaining about Sans napping all the time erased how aware he was that Sans was a workaholic by nature and would push himself to his limits till his body told him ‘enough’. This – the sound of Sans’s deep snores rolling softly from behind the closed door – was a blessing that Papyrus was not about to deny. If Sans could manage to sleep through his demons, Papyrus could manage to not let his take over.

It was hard, though. Shifting so that his back was flush with the wall, he looked around. This particular hallway was presently deserted, the low lights even dimmer with no one walking through. Even his slight movements weren’t going to trigger the motion detectors to increase the lighting, magical or otherwise.

His soul manifested before his chest with a soft tug of magic. A part of him was too used to seeing a blue – regardless of the hue – soul appearing that he recoiled from the orange one that appeared. Ugly flittered through that part of him and he dismissed it vehemently. As much as he didn’t like it and what it represented in him, he was not about to bash the bravery trait he was now in possession of.

His fingers curled carefully around the soul with barely a breath between bone and magic. He wondered if having the new trait meant he was braver now or if he now simply housed more bravery than patience or integrity.

He gripped the soul probably harsher than he needed to and a jolt shot down his spine from the sensation. He couldn’t help it. After everything he had gone through, to change from integrity to patience and now this? It felt like everything he had gone through was for not. Everything he had done was utterly useless.

The magic in his hand vanished as the full weight of his soul returned to his ribcage. His hand collapsed into a fist and he squeezed it tight before resting his head against it, propped up by a knee.

“Pap?”

He brought his head up, unsure if he had fallen asleep there next to Sans’s door or had simply been zoning out for the entire time. He got to his feet, too tired to make it quick, as Sans’s hands hovered close.

“You alright, bro? You seemed to be pretty out of it.”

Sans wasn’t wrong. The hallway wasn’t a busy thoroughfare to begin with because of it housing the private quarters but scientists never kept good hours to begin with and he could see a small number milling to and from their labs. He sighed and offered what he could even if he didn’t believe the words fully himself. “It would seem my inability to get more rest caught up with me. I had not intended to nap next to your door.”

The expression that crossed Sans’s face left an odd urge to say something on the back of Papyrus’s tongue. It didn’t go away when Sans smiled at him. “Taking a leaf out of my book, bro?”

Papyrus huffed a laugh as he fell into step beside Sans. It wasn’t hard to figure out where they were going. “Please. Any soldier should be able to rest wherever they get a chance to stop.”

The laugh that escaped his brother did nothing to mask the concern Papyrus could still see. It pulled on his soul and it was all he could do to not try and urge Sans to not worry. It would only make it worse.

They came to a stop before Alex’s door and, for a moment, Papyrus thought Sans would open it. The stout skeleton didn’t but stared at it instead, asking, “You’ve got him, then?”

Papyrus rested a heavy hand on Sans’s shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll be right behind you.”

Sans nodded but it took a moment longer before he stepped out from under Papyrus’s touch and disappeared. Papyrus did not miss the fact that Sans had not torn his gaze from the door in the process.

The first thing he noticed was how bright it was in the room. Bewildered, his gaze went to Alex’s bed searching for the human in hopes of finding him awake and ok.

He wasn’t there.

With every instinct suddenly screaming at him that something was horribly wrong, his gaze snapped around the room looking for any sign that there had been an intruder. Maybe it was a sound or maybe it was instinct, but his gaze moved to the corner opposite the door and locked onto Alex huddled on the floor pressed as close to the wall as he could get.

He found Alex’s name escaping him in a shout – or was it a cry – as he cleared the distance between them in an instant. He hesitated only for the briefest of moments before he wrapped his hands around the other’s shoulders, feeling the tremors he could very clearly see as he called for Alex again.

Alex jerked back at his name, blinking at him. Dark bags clung to the underside of those large eyes that seemed larger behind the man’s glasses. Had he been there all night?

“Pap?” Alex croaked, blinking some more. A shaking hand reached out and clung to Papyrus’s shirt. It seemed to shake worse there. “What are you doing here?”

Papyrus pulled him into his chest, wrapping his arms around the thin frame only after Alex had settled into him. “It’s morning,” he offered hoarsely. “Why didn’t you come and get one of us?”

Alex gave a breathy laugh and Papyrus couldn’t fathom where he found humor in all of this. “Sorry. I must have gotten stuck there.” A breathy chuckle bubbled up through his words briefly. “Funny. I don’t even remember making it to the floor.”

Papyrus’s grip around him tightened. He hoped the edges of hysteria were just his imagination. “Let’s get you back in bed. I’ll let Sans’s know and–”

“No!” The shout startled him and his gaze quickly returned to Alex’s face. He could see Alex’s own surprise at the shout through the fear clearly written across that exhausted face and his arms tightened around the human briefly. Alex sent him a smile but it didn’t erase the exhaustion, nor the fear. “No, I’m fine. I still want to go through with Sans’s plan.”

“But–” Papyrus tried to protest but there was no strength behind it and Alex was already extracting himself from Papyrus’s hold.

“Besides, I want to see if anything’s changed.” Alex settled on his own two feet, offering Papyrus a hand when he was steady. “It’s not like anything can get to me while you’re here. You’re part of the Royal Guard, after all.”

Papyrus frowned but took the offered hand. He stood without putting any weight on Alex. Either the other hadn’t noticed or didn’t care because the smile had remained on Alex’s face and the other even took the lead to the door.

That lead lasted all of the trip through the door. Out in the hallway, Alex’s steps came to a halt. Papyrus half assumed it was because he was waiting for him to close the door but when Papyrus not only heard but felt the door click shut, Alex didn’t move till he did.

“Did you sleep well?” Alex asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

“Unfortunately no,” Papyrus responded, concern rolling through him at the quake in Alex's words. “Though that is nothing new, considering what Sans and I went through recently.”

Alex hummed but offered nothing more.

A curious glance at the other was enough for Papyrus’s speculations about the style of response to be wrong. Confusion had filled that exhausted face and spoke of things that sent up every red flag he had. This was a bad idea and he knew it but Alex kept walking and that confusion slowly bled into apprehension. He started to wonder if fear was filling the other’s throat and weighting down his tongue as the silence thickened between them.

With each passing minute and every person they passed, Alex got closer and closer till their arms were brushing. They stayed that distance for most of the remaining trip. It only changed when the first sounds of the dining room reached them; Alex took a solid step closer. Instinct drove him to raise his arm out of the human’s way and he quickly found Alex flush against his side. He should have turned them around long before they had gotten there and knew it was too late now with the dining hall in sight. Alex would fight him and Papyrus was positive that would only escalate things.

Alex shot him an apologetic smile, muttering, “Sorry.”

There was a shift from Alex like he was fighting the urge to stay pressed up against Papyrus but couldn’t win. Papyrus didn’t give him an option; he placed his hand on Alex’s other shoulder and gave the other a soft squeeze, effectively pinning the human to his side. The only good thing about it was that it would put Papyrus between Alex and those in the dining room on their way to the kitchen. “There’s no reason to apologize, Alex. You’re doing just fine.”

The smile he received looked strained. It did nothing to distract him from the white knuckle grip Alex had of the fabric over his heart.

He should have turned them around.

The first step into the dining room was a cautious one and the majority of his focus was on Alex waiting for some sort of reaction. But when none came, when he simply kept step with Papyrus, Papyrus kept moving.

But sometimes triggers happen when least expected and not always with a clear cause. The only warning Papyrus got was Alex fisting the back of his shirt before the human froze completely, jerking him to a stop.

Papyrus turned, floundering for the briefest of moments as he fought the urge to leave Alex and get Sans. It was an easy urge to fight as he placed himself between Alex and the rest of the room. The noise of the room seemed to fluctuate but he couldn’t give it enough attention to understand why or how.

“Alex,” he tried softly, his hands going to Alex’s shoulders, his neck, his face. “Come on, Alex. It’s ok. I’m right here.”

The urge to wash his magic over Alex was far harder to fight and he nearly broke under it - until he felt someone undoing Alex’s hold from his shirt.

That urge was suddenly the need to protect and the magic surged backwards towards whoever was there. His brother’s magic was strong and unrelenting, clashing with his and containing it so easily, Papyrus felt his own magic cower under the enormous might of his brother’s magic.

“What happened?” Sans carefully demanded with a steady voice. Papyrus wasn’t sure if the lack of verbal reaction to his magical response upon Sans’s arrival was a good thing or a bad one.

Papyrus shook his head. “I didn’t see but he needs to be taken out of here.”

Sans nodded. “I’ve got him. I’ll take him back to his room while you–”

Alex jerked back, a strangled noise escaping him, and the brothers moved forward as the human tried to retreat. Papyrus’s hands found Alex’s hair as Sans’s found Alex’s hands, boney fingers tangling with flesh ones to keep Alex from grabbing at his chest again.

“My room,” Sans rushed, tugging on Alex’s hands. “We’ll go to my room.” He shot Papyrus a gaze drowning in the same toxic blend of emotions he was trying not to drown in. “We’ll see you there.”

Papyrus nodded, removing his touch from Alex’s head. “I’ll bring food.”

They were gone before he had finished the last word, leaving him feeling lost and useless. With a bitterness towards himself more than anything else settling over his soul, he started for the kitchen.

Sans grunted against the sensation of using a shortcut as his legs gave out from under him. Alex went down far harder than he did and it was everything he could do to keep the human from doing any more damage.

The trip had not been kind to Alex and Sans almost regretted not trying to get Alex to walk down the hallway back to his room. Almost.

Alex started coughing and choking as his lungs refused to take in the air properly, his heart probably not handling the stress any better. Sans grabbed at Alex and pulled, getting the human up enough to get under him. Alex spasmed around him and it was all he could do to not use magic again.

He half guided, half dragged Alex to his bed where he got the human to sit. The coughing fit spattered out and ended but the panic didn’t go away. Sans grabbed at Alex again and from one moment to the next, Sans had Alex on his side, head resting on a pillow on Sans’s lap. He buried a hand into Alex’s hair as the other rubbed circles into Alex’s back with words tumbling from his chest.

He wasn’t really thinking of what he was saying because if he thought too hard, he was certain he would say the wrong thing. It was working, though, whatever it was he was saying. The tremors under his hands were calming and the tension eased from the other’s form till he suddenly realized Alex was asleep.

His words sputtered out till silence rang in the room but Alex remained asleep. Sans leaned his head back against the wall, grateful he had had the forethought to give himself something to lean against.

A soft tapping woke him from the doze he had ended up in. He opened a socket, not caring to exert more energy than that. He found Papyrus standing in the doorway, tray in one hand, doorknob in the other. He sat upright, focusing on Papyrus as the other entered fully, asking, “How is he?”

“Asleep, from what I can tell,” Sans offered in the same soft voice. “Whatever had triggered him had been bad. I don’t think we can try that again and get him anywhere near the dining room before he’s incapacitated.”

The look that crossed Papyrus’s face matched the emotions he was feeling but he didn’t pay it any mind as his attention went to the door. It had remained open but not unoccupied.

Toriel and Undyne were hovering there, both looking like they wanted to help without not knowing how. He focused on Undyne. “Thank you for getting me. I’m glad we didn't have to discover what would have happened had you not.”

Undyne gave him a sharp nod. “It’s my job to protect the people of the Underground, and, as stubborn as he may be, he’s still one of my responsibilities.” Her fins folded down partially. “I just wish there was something more I could do. I hate feeling so useless.”

Sans shook his head. “You’re not useless, Undyne. Far from it.”

“We’ll spar later,” Papyrus cut in, gaining her attention. The lankier skeleton grinned at her. “You’ll see how far from useless you are.”

Undyne snorted. “Not sure how whooping your ass is proof of my merit.”

“It will.”

From the expression on her face, it looked like she believed him. She gave him a sharp nod, offering in turn, “Looking forward to it, then.”

“Thank you as well, Tori,” Sans voiced.

She smiled at him. “Glad I could help.”

Toriel closed the door as the pair left. The silence that fell was only broken by Papyrus messing with the dishes and Alex’s soft breathing. Sans watched his brother, fingers running through Alex’s hair. “Any idea what triggered him?”

Papyrus shook his head. “I had been too focused on him to pay any attention to what was around us.” There was a bitterness to his words that Sans wanted to get rid of but his brother kept talking. “Whatever it had been, it made him freeze. Wasn’t anything like what we’ve dealt with up to this point.”

Sans looked down at the sleeping human. “Do you know if he slept last night?”

The sound of the dishes stopped abruptly and Sans looked up to find Papyrus staring at the dishes in his hand. It took a moment but the other met his gaze, answering, “He hadn’t. All the lights were on when I arrived and he was in a corner, frozen in what I’m assuming was terror. He didn’t even see me when I was right in front of him till I...woke him up.”

Sans sucked in a breath at that, a hiss escaping him as he did so. “Shit, Pap. We shouldn’t have done this. You should have just sent word to me instead of bringing him to the dining room.”

Papyrus shook his head, a rueful smile on his face. “I had wanted to turn around but he was determined to see it through. It was either going with him and making sure he had support or fighting with him about it and possibly ruining everything.”

“Stubborn human,” Sans ground out.

“As stubborn as his partner, if memory serves right.”

Sans blinked before looking up at Papyrus. As fond as the statement had been, the look he received was almost sad. Something dark and heavy coiled in his gut because of it. “We have to do something, Pap.”

“I agree but there isn’t much we can do right now except let him rest. But first,” Papyrus turned back to the food and picked up a shallow bowl before crossing to the bed. Papyrus’s touch was just as soft as his words. “Alex, food’s here.”

Alex jerked awake but it didn’t seem they had woken him from a bad dream. Instead, the human smiled at Papyrus, sitting with some difficulty. Sans reached out and helped the human sit up proper, feeling the tremors that flickered over Alex’s muscles under his fingers. Even the human’s face was tight with exhaustion but his hands were steady as he offered to take the bowl. “Smells good.”

Papyrus gave a mischievous grin. “I would hope so.” His brother’s hands didn’t leave the bowl till he was certain that Alex had a good hold on it. “I did put it together, after all.”

Alex brought it to his lap, smiling again up at Papyrus. “Everything you put together is great.”

Sans snorted as Papyrus straightened and sent a glare lacking any heat at Alex. “Flattery will get you nowhere. Now eat.”

There was some chatting here and there but, overall, the meal was a quiet – and quick - affair. Alex fell asleep halfway through. Despite their urgings throughout the meal, Alex had eaten far less than Sans would have liked. He shared a concerned look with Papyrus as they cleaned up. Sans tucked his blankets in around Alex, commenting softly, “We can’t let him sleep alone again.”

“I doubt he will give us much of a choice.”

Sans wasn’t sure how Papyrus meant those words to be taken but he agreed with the two meanings that came to mind.

Silence settled over them but it wasn’t bad. Sans watched Alex’s chest rise and fall, mind wandering slowly from topic to topic. It wasn’t long till it settled. “I’m not sure he’s going to be able to stay here.”

For a moment, he thought that maybe Papyrus hadn’t heard him. But the silence between them only lasted for a minute at most.

“Is there truly no hope for him here?”

Sans leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his face. “I wish I could say that I had high hopes that he would get better, that today was just a fluke, but there’s a part of me that can’t be wistfully optimistic. We have to prepare for the worst and, right now, that’s Alex getting worse staying here.”

“So then where else could we take him? Our house isn’t overly ideal, is it?”

Sans shrugged. “I have a lab there he and I can utilize and it won’t have the number of people wandering about the halls like there is here. Would let you go to work without having to fret about us and would provide a better environment to get used to others in anyway.” He offered a tired smile. “I’m sure Grillby would be glad to see us again.”

Papyrus blinked. “We have been away for quite some time, haven’t we?”

“Close to four months at this point, if I’m doing the math right. Wonder what’s changed?”

Papyrus offered him a soft smile. “Knowing our little town, probably nothing more than the residents at the inn and what Grillby’s special is.”

“Probably.”

Papyrus rose to his feet. “So do we have a new plan, then?”

Sans settled more into his chair. “We’ll let him sleep as long as he will sleep and then we’ll relocate to your room. I’m unfortunately not the best of bunkmates and I’m still waiting for a bad night to hit me. From there, whatever he feels up to. Probably some sort of work, maybe he’ll be up for a round of cards. Or food. He may be hungry when he wakes.”

“Then you will move him to my room and I will get food before meeting you both there.” The tray shifted precariously in his hands as he moved it about but nothing fell off. “And tomorrow?”

Sans shrugged. “We’ll try introductions again, but we’ll go about it differently. See how he reacts to Toriel and then maybe Undyne. Beyond that? I don’t know. Flowey? Alphys? We could probably try Frisk and see how he reacts to a complete stranger.”

“Do you want me to ask Frisk if they know Alex first?”

“Probably best since we can’t ask Alex. If they have some sort of history, we could always try one of Undyne’s people stationed in New Home, or Grillby, even. It's been long enough that even if they had met in passing, I doubt there would be anything negative in their interactions to trigger.”

“I will pass on the plan. See you both in my rooms whenever he wakes.”

Sans nodded, leaving the conversation at that.

When Alex woke, it woke Sans from a doze. He had dozed hard enough to have bizarre dreams so there wasn’t any hard feelings towards the awkward wakeup. Alex looked like he could do with another twelve hours of sleep with how he blearily blinked at the room around him, blankets that had once been so nice and neatly tucked in around him pooling in his lap.

“Whose room we in?” Alex asked groggily.

“Mine,” he offered. “Wanted to take you to Pap’s but I couldn’t focus well enough.”

Alex frowned at him and for a fleeting moment, he wasn’t even sure if Alex even knew what had happened to him.

“Why?”

He closed his sockets against that. “You froze in the dining room from another panic attack. You reacted negatively at the mention of your room, thus my room.”

Silence settled over them but it wasn’t enough for him to look quite yet.

“And why you couldn’t focus.” He opened his sockets, meeting Alex’s gaze. “You said you had originally wanted to take me to Papyrus’s room?”

Sans nodded. “I’m not a good bunkmate even before my coma, let alone the events that led to your own amnesia. Pap will be far more consistent in his hours and his room will remain guest friendly.” He shrugged. “I’m not the neatest of monsters and I’m honestly surprised we can even walk through my room right now.”

Alex gave a faint chuckle at that, drawing his gaze again. “Alex.” The human looked at him, looking just as weary as Sans felt. He wondered if it was more than just a physical exhaustion. “You can protest all you want but we’re going to have you sleep with Pap till things stop triggering you so badly. It’ll get frustrating, what with being forced to have a bunkmate, but I’m hoping it’ll help your recover by allowing you to get some actual sleep. Depending on how tomorrow goes, we’ll be relocating to Pap’s and I’s house.”

“Too much here, huh?” Alex asked with a sad little grin.

Sans returned it. “Unfortunately. Good news is the house has a lab so we won’t have an issue continuing some of our work.”

“Good.”

With nothing more to talk about - as far as he could recall - Sans stood up, Alex’s eyes on him the entire time. “Whelp, Pap should be at his room by now. Care to go for a walk?”

Alex pushed at the covers. “I may not be overly steady.”

Sans wrapped his hand around Alex’s arm as the human started to stand, his other going to Alex’s chest to help keep him upright. “That’s why I’m here.” Alex leaned into the assist. Sans could feel the tremors from the effort it was taking for Alex to stay standing. “Just take it slow. I’ll follow your pace and take your weight so just focus on getting to Pap’s room.”

“Ok.”

The walk was slow. The tremors running through Alex’s body worsened the farther they went. By the time they made it to Papyrus’s room, Sans was certain he was the reason why Alex was even upright right now. They arrived in time to hear the clatter of dishes on the tray Papyrus was placing on the nightstand. Papyrus didn’t seem overly surprised to see them when he turned around but Sans wasn’t sure if that was because he had known they had been approaching or if it was something else. “Just in time,” Papyrus spoke, grinning. “The food is still nice and hot.”

“What is it?” Alex asked eagerly as Sans helped him sit on Papyrus’s bed. It was hard to tell if it was a genuine interest or if Alex was doing it for their sake. With how little Alex had eaten earlier, he was pretty sure it was genuine.

Papyrus looked pleased with the response and started talking, Alex holding his own in the lanky skeleton’s conversation. Sans, for his part, settled into a chair with a sigh. Despite the nap he had gotten, he was bone tired and there was still so much to do. He took the offered food and ate it, content to just watch.

Alex managed to eat his entire share before passing out again. Sans gathered the used dishes realizing he had eaten far less than his brother and Alex. He knew there was no point trying to hide it from Papyrus; the other skeleton would have already noticed but he still tried to hide it under the other dishes. Unease at his own actions made him talkative and he asked softly, “So what did Frisk say?”

“They have not interacted with Alex as far as they recall but they are uneasy about meeting him alone,” Papyrus informed him as the lanky skeleton tucked Alex in. Standing straight, he looked at Sans. “I offered them if Alex doesn’t negatively react to Toriel, they can meet Alex while she is here. They seemed to be quite happy with that idea, if not a bit hesitant still.”

Sans nodded. “Then we’ll do Toriel first. Probably after breakfast.” A yawn cut in, making his jaw ache afterwards.

Papyrus put a heavy hand on his shoulder but he welcomed the touch. “Go get some sleep, Sans. I have him.”

Sans smiled up at his brother, offering unnecessarily, “Call if you need anything.”

Whatever other well wishes his brother sent after him were left behind with used magic.

Spoiler: Chapter 18

Morning came far too soon but it came after decent enough dreams so he couldn’t really complain. Alex and Papyrus were already up when he arrived laden with a breakfast tray.

“Guess who caught me in the hallway?” he announced as he closed the door.

Papyrus stood up. “It would seem Toriel did. I had asked her to put something together for me if she didn’t mind when I had gone down a few hours ago.”

Sans had to glance at the clock to make sure his math was right. “Couldn’t sleep again, bro?” he asked around the clatter of dishes as he put the tray down.

Papyrus crossed to his side, taking over the dispersal of the meal. “I got enough. That’s all that matters.”

Sans took what he was handed not surprised to see Alex’s portion was being passed to him as well. He crossed to the human and Alex grinned at him. He even looked better as he happily informed Sans, “I slept through the night with some rather strange dreams but I’d happily take those any day.”

Sans chuckled as he sat down. “I’m sure.”

Their chatter ebbed and flowed from topic to topic until the only one left eating was Alex. Sans knew the human’s body had to be starving but whatever appetite Alex had was not lasting through the meal. His brother was currently distracting Alex enough that the human was still eating but it wouldn’t last long.

“So,” he broached carefully. “You still up to meeting Toriel?”

Alex closed his mouth around his spoon, looking at Sans. There was a pause as Alex finished off the bite before answering, “We going anywhere to meet with her or is she coming here?”

“She’ll come here. So far this has been a safe enough space for you and we run less of a risk of triggering you here than we do taking you through the labs.”

Alex nodded, putting his bowl aside. It wasn’t empty but it was close enough. Papyrus stood and picked it up. “What time?”

“Eh, whenever your ready, honestly. I’m sure the kiddo’s up now too so we’ll introduce you to Frisk if you don’t react negatively to Toriel’s presence.” His sockets narrowed. “I’m….not sure if Flowey’s being brought along or not.” He looked to Papyrus. “Did you check?”

“No, though from what we’ve been told, Flowey should be just fine. He had spent quite some time with Alex so there is very little chance that the little monster will do any harm.”

Sans tipped his head. “Fair enough.” He looked to Alex. “You tell us when you need to stop. We won’t be able to do much if you don’t speak up.”

A soft smile curled Alex’s lips. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you know.”

Papyrus left with the dishes leaving Sans and Alex to talk about work. His initial statement of Alex’s knowledge around the work they had been doing was untouched held true as Alex led their conversation, testing the boundaries of both of their shattered memories.

A few knocks against the door announced Papyrus’s return and he wasn’t alone. Sans smiled at Toriel. He heard Flowey’s harsh whispers from somewhere out of sight and he assumed the kid was carrying the potted monster.

Papyrus and her were talking about something, their tone light and full of laughter. Sans was happy to see the joyous expression on his brother’s face.

Sans turned to speak to Alex, that joy that had been part of his brother’s disposition contagious and leaving him feeling a bit lighter. That bit of joy that had seeped into him was quickly snuffed out by the look on Alex’s face.

His hand reached out before he could thing against it and he wrapped his hand around Alex’s, trying to get his fingers between Alex’s fist and the fabric over his heart. Alex’s hand convulsed but Sans managed to get his hand in Alex’s. “Hey,” he softly called. Alex’s wide, fearful gaze snapped to him. “We don’t have to do this.”

“Toriel is the safest monster to start with, Alex,” Papyrus assured over Sans’s shoulder, far closer than the last place Sans had seen him. Alex’s gaze snapped to the other skeleton. “She will never do you harm.”

“Beyond maybe your pride for the sake of your health,” Sans tried teasing. Alex’s gaze flickered back to him before going beyond the both of them towards the doorway. His smile fell. “Alex.” He gained that gaze again and his soul hurt to see the edges of terror on that face. “Do you want me to send her off or do you want to speak with her for a little bit?”

Alex’s gaze drifted back towards the door. The grip on his hand had not lessened but Sans could see some of the tension leaving the human’s shoulders. “I...I can talk to her.” The grip on his hand tightened. “But you guys have to stay.”

He reached out with his free hand and caught sight of Papyrus reaching out from the corner of his eye. Both of them touched Alex, Sans’s free hand going to Alex’s cheek, Papyrus’s right going to Alex’s hair while his left caught Alex’s other hand.

“We’re not going anywhere,” he reassured Alex, his words heavy with their sincerity.

“Wouldn’t even dream of it,” Papyrus added.

It took a moment, a breath, before Alex gave a final nod. Papyrus moved first but it seemed Alex didn’t understand why the lanky skeleton was moving. Sans suppressed the wince from Alex’s suddenly painful grip as the human visibibly seemed to panic. His soul hurt worse than his hand, though, seeing the terror there. Papyrus moved and sat heavily on the bed beside Alex as close to the human as physically possible.

Sans clambered onto the bed as well and squished Alex between him and his brother. Alex leaned into him, small tremors still quaking through the human’s body. He intertwined their fingers and gained a squeeze for his efforts.

He looked to the door. Toriel was standing just inside the now closed door. It was hard to tell what she was actually feeling but there was unconditional love in that complex expression of hers. He nodded to her.

“May I come closer, Alex?”

The door clicked shut behind him, the weight of the handle strangely heavy in his hand. He let it go, looking to Toriel. Frisk was beside her, Flowey’s pot in one arm while the kid held onto Toriel’s skirt with the other. She had a hand on Frisk’s head but her attention was on him.

“He’s asleep,” he offered, unsure if that was even her question.

“He cannot stay here, Sans,” she informed him, her voice hard but edged in a strange sadness. “If he had that hard of a time with me, I fear the damage of meeting some of the more careless.”

Sans let out a heavy sigh. “We’ll move him to our house when he wakes up and eats something. I had hoped he would be able to weather some of it but it seems I’ve misjudged the amount of damage Gaster did.”

He looked up when her hand rested on his shoulder. Despite the size and probably being just as heavy as Asgore’s, her touch was solid but carefully light in an unconscious sort of way. It made his soul heavy at the implication. “Stay in contact. Your place is not far from the Lab and I would hate for this to do you and your brother any harm.”

Sans smiled gently at her. “Pap and I’ll be fine. We won’t be under house arrest and we most certainly won’t be doing that with Alex. I’m hoping that when he’s physically stronger in a few days we’ll be able to go on a walk around our little town.”

Toriel nodded, stepping back. “Just let us know what you need before you leave.”

“Of course, Tori. Thank you.”

The ice on the door crunched and fell away when Papyrus put his weight behind forcing the door open. Sans chuckled from where he stood supporting Alex. The human was holding his own weight rather well but that was probably more due to the fact that Papyrus had carried Alex the whole way on his back than anything else.

Alex’s voice shared Sans’s amusement as he asked, “Does it ice over like that often?”

“No,” Papyrus grumbled before Sans could answer. The skeleton glared daggers at the now open door. “It would seem I neglected making sure our home was tended to during my absence.”

“Hey, as long as a pipe hasn’t burst, a little ice won’t hurt us,” Sans spoke up, starting for the open door.

“Fair enough.” Papyrus kicked off his snow-covered boots leaving them to thaw on the tiled entryway. “Kick off as much snow as you can and settle in. I’ll see about getting the heat going.”

A strange sensation settled into Sans’s bones as he crossed the threshold. The home looked much like how he remembered it, but there were distinct differences that put him on edge. While the stairs were still on the far wall, there was a door on the other side of the TV from the kitchen’s doorless door frame. The kitchen held a few differences at first glance but it was the door on the left that was throwing him for a loop. Barely paying any attention to how he was kicking his own snowy boots off, Sans quickly crossed to the door and tried the handle.

It was unlocked.

He stared at the space beyond, not daring to step further in case it suddenly vanished. He heard Alex shuffle up to his side.

“Different from what you remember?” Alex asked softly.

“Completely,” he confessed. “The lab had been in the basement only accessed from the back. And it had looked nothing like this.”

Alex stepped past him, entering the room and solidifying it for Sans. He still didn’t dare enter. Alex wandered the edge of the room, looking at the cluttered surfaces, the things pinned to the walls, glancing in a cabinet here and there, and even looking out both windows.

He had forgotten that strange sensation of duality he had only ever experienced outside of reality. To have it now was disconcerting. But the room was right despite his lack of memory. The left and right walls were lined with counters, cabinets above and below them. There was a sizable table in the middle of the room on wheels ladent with a lot of things and the mess under it suggested it hadn’t moved in quite some time. The far wall holding one of two windows - the second was center on the left wall between the counter and hanging cabinets - was covered with notes and articles pinned and taped to it leaving the window clear to be open and let in the light from outside.

It was nothing like the sublevel lab he remembered from his dream and couldn’t even remember this one but it was right. There was a part of his soul that just knew this was as he had left it.

Alex picked up a random piece of paper. “When was the last time you worked in here?”

Sans shrugged, finally stepping into the room. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He picked up a random piece of paper. “We’ll have to ask Pap when he’s done with the heater.”

A low rumble filled the house quickly followed by the sound of rushing air. Both of their gazes snapped to the air vent.

“Seems like he’s got it mostly working,” Alex commented as Sans crossed to it and put his hand in the stream of air. It was cold.

“Eh, not quite. May take the system a bit more warming up before it starts actually heating anything.”

Alex gave a hum in a sort of agreement but Sans didn’t push for a stronger response. Instead, he looked down at the page still in his hand.

He frowned.

“Alex, what do you have in your hand?” he asked, quickly skimming through his page a few times.

“Something about thermal dynamics, I think?” There was a rustle of paper. “Thermo...thermo-something. It’s smudged but a rough bit of it sounds rather fake. Why?”

Sans crossed to his side, his page tight in hand. He grabbed at the free edge of Alex’s page and looked it over.

His eyelights vanished.

“This is Gaster’s work.”

When he got no response, he looked up at Alex to find the human staring blankly at the page looking dazed. He pushed at the other’s arm, asking tentatively, “Alex?”

The human blinked, eyes focusing almost immediately before snapping back to him. “Sorry. Did you say something?”

Sans’s soul dropped to his nonexistent gut. “I asked what you had in your hand.”

Alex blinked at him again before looking down. “Had I picked something up?” Confusion distorted the other’s expression. “Strange. I could have sworn I wasn’t going to touch anything. What is this about?”

With every alarm bell going off in his head, he softly tugged the sheet from Alex’s hand. “Something that I hadn’t realized would be a problem.” The silent, confused question sent his way was very clear. He offered a tight smile. “You’re easily triggered right now, Alex, and I don’t think consistent short term memory loss is a good thing.”

“Oh.”

Sans didn’t blame him for the lack of words. He tucked the page face to face with the one he was reading and kept the pages out of sight. “Let me comb through this stuff before you start arbitrarily picking things up.”

“Ok.” A glance at him told him nothing. “Do you know where Papyrus went, then?”

He opened his mouth only to come up short. “I...no, actually. I saw him go upstairs but that was about it.” He put the sheets down. “Come on. Let’s go see if we can’t find him real quick.”

Alex closed the door as Sans stopped on the bottom step. He led the way up the stairs and found himself looking at an odd sight. Between the doors he knew that led into his and his brother’s was a third door that sat wide open. He peaked in to find a bathroom. The tub he could comprehend. The toilet, not so much, though he was suddenly grateful for it. How had he forgotten about such a significant amenity Alex needed? Even Alex commented on it.

“Glad to know you guys have all the normal workings,” Alex half joked. “Does the toilet actually work?”

“Don’t know. Let me check.” He stepped around Alex back into the hallway. “Hey Papyrus!”

“What!”

It was muffled, like it was coming through several rooms, but it was clear enough that he stepped up to his brother’s partially closed door and pulled it open. There was a door on the right wall that seemed like it should lead into the bathroom. It took a minute for his brain to figure out there was actually space left for a small room behind the rather small bathroom. Papyrus’s desk was pulled away from the door that was sitting wide open, a tapestry or banner of some kind draped over it as if it had been covering the door.

“Does the toilet actually work?”

There was a clunk and then a clatter before he got his brother’s response. It was still a little muffled but he heard it clear enough. “It should. Try flushing it. I ran the water in the sink and tub so we have water. Now I just need to get the furnace to work.”

Sans stepped back to let Alex know but before he could get the words out, there was the distinct sound of a toilet being flushed.

“The handle works,” Alex announced. There was a gurgle sound. “And it flushes fully.” Alex stepped out enough to look at him. “Sounds like the tank’s filling, too, so we should be good.”

He nodded. Looking back to where Papyrus was hiding, he offered, “Toilet works.”

“Good,” came back rather sharply. Another clang, this one louder than the last. “Now this thing just needs to work.”

“So why forced, heated air rather than radiators?” Alex asked, coming to stand at Sans’s side.

“Requires water in pipes we don’t trust.” Sans shrugged. “We don’t mind the drier air and it's an easy system to troubleshoot. All it really requires is a pilot light and, thanks to magic, it shouldn’t go out unless an outside force blows it out.”

Alex grinned at him.

Sans didn’t trust it. “What?”

“You remember quite a lot for not remembering much.”

Sans punched him in the arm, though there wasn’t any strength behind the gesture. “It comes and goes. And if I don’t think too hard before I speak, I can generally recall a lot without realizing it.”

“Does it stick around afterwards, though?”

Sans gained a thoughtful look as they heard Papyrus give a cheer of success. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

It was no use. Despite how much old information seeped into his every day, only a scattering bit of it seemed to remain around long enough for him to realize he had remembered it. He sighed dramatically as he slumped into the couch cushions. The house was quiet beyond the hum of the heater going and the occasional page turn from Alex at the coffee table.

“You ok over there?” Alex asked without looking up from the page he was reading.

“Yeah,” he sighed, grunting as he sat up. “Just trying not to get depressed from my lack of cognitive retainment of memories.”

“Gesundheit.”

Sans snorted. “Anyway, it’s been about a month-”

“Two weeks-”

“-since we left the Lab. You still ok with seeing Grillby later?”

“Yep.”

“And then Toriel and Frisk if that goes well?”

“Yep.”

Sans sent the other a suspicious look and he caught the hints of a smile at the corners of Alex’s lips. “Are you certain?”

Alex chuckled and put the page down. Those bespeckled eyes were full of love and adoration that it made his soul skip a beat painfully. “Sans, I haven’t been triggered for over a week, I’ve been handling our morning walks as we send Papyrus off, and sleeping with Papyrus has kept the nightmares from returning.” A pen was pointed at him in a threatening manner as he opened his mouth to make a rude joke. The grin on Alex’s face was nearly savage. “And don’t even think about articulating that joke, Sans. I will make your life a living hell.”

A solid set of knocks landed on the door. Sans snapped his mouth shut as he glanced at the front door. He found a resolved look on Alex’s face when he looked back, the edges colored by apprehension and worry but no terror, no fear. Standing, he walked over the door and opened it.

The fire elemental standing on the doorstep looked uneasy but presentable like always. A scarf was loose around the neck and tucked into the partially zipped jacket. Despite being made of nothing but flames and magic, a pair of glasses rested on a noseless face of which eyes were hard to discern there aren't glasses acting as markers.

“Hey Grillby,” Sans greeted warmly, stepping back with a gesture into the house. “Come on in. Did you see Toriel on your way here?”

Sans caught movement out of the corner of his vision and focused on it enough to know that Alex was standing. There was still none of the terror they were waiting for there.

Grillby shook his head, the door shutting softly behind him. “I had not kept an eye out for them,” he spoke in a blend of gestures and soulspeak.

“That’s quite alright. It’s best if this part is without them anyways.” He looked to Alex and saw a rather familiar frown. There was no fear, no worry, and it eased a lot more weight than he had expected. “Grillby, this is Alex. Don’t mind his expression. He’s picking apart some puzzle.”

Alex scoffed and that frown gave way to a smile. “Rude,” the human muttered in his direction before focusing on Grillby with a soft smile. “Pleasure to meet you. Sans and Papyrus have talked highly of you.

Grillby glanced his way but he said nothing, letting the fire elemental take control of the conversation.

“He truly does not remember,” Grillby pointed out as if he was still trying to come to terms with it half an hour later.

Sans shrugged. “Not sure what he was supposed to remember myself, honestly. Pap didn’t say anything about Alex knowing of our little town or you. But, then again, I never did ask outright.”

He felt Grillby’s gaze on him. He pretended to be far too fascinated with watching Alex smoke on the front step through the large living room window. Papyrus was out there with him and the pair were laughing their heads off about something.

“Do you have what he has, then?”

Sans sagged into the couch. “Not exactly.” He looked to Grillby and for the first time in a long time, he wondered at what his life had been before his coma, who he had been and what impressions he had left behind. But Grillby didn’t seem all that different from his dream, if not a bit more present in his and his brother’s life. “I have a more complete version of amnesia compared to him. I don’t - voluntarily, mind you - remember anything prior to waking up from my coma and some of the things that do return don’t like to stick around.” He looked back out the window, watching as Alex spoke very passionately about something to Papyrus. He had the skeleton’s full attention and yet all Sans could see was how pink the human’s nose and cheeks had become in the cold and how bright those green eyes were. How long had it been since he had seen them so vibrant? Maybe it was the pink of the man’s cheeks clashing horribly with his red hair and scruffy face that made them pop more. “In the wake of those lost memories, all I have are the memories that remained from a twisted dream.” He looked back at Grillby. “If you want, Alex’s got a recording of what I shared with him upon waking. It’s a doozy, though, so I wouldn’t suggest listening to it before bed.”

The fire at the top of Grillby’s head crackled and Sans got the distinct impression that the other was frowning. “That seems oddly generous for who you have become.”

Sans chuckled. “As much as it may seem that I’ve changed, there’s a part of me that hasn’t.” He looked back out the window just as a squeal came from outside. Alex was trying to get away from Papyrus who had a handful of snow and the back of Alex’s coat and presumably shirt. “That part can’t help but want to share with you what I had shared with Alex, for whatever reason.” He glanced at Grillby. “Despite how much I don’t remember, though, quite a bit is coming back.”

Silence fell between them as they both looked out the window. Papyrus had moved away from the front step waving up the path. Alex was at the door kicking his shoes free of snow.

Sans hummed. “Toriel must be here.”

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He wasn’t sure how long it had been buzzing before he realized it was. Digging it out, he stared at the caller I.D. without reading it for a good few seconds before simply answering it. “Papyrus speaking.”

“How is he?”

He sucked in a breath, held it, and let it go, offering at the tail end of its escape, “Not good.” He stood up from his chair and stepped out of the room. A glance back assured him even his brother - head rested on folded arms on the mattress - slept through the start of his conversation. The door clicked shut behind him. “He finally woke up but he’s certain it’s the day before yesterday.”

“Is it permanent?”

He heard so much in that question that he paused at the top of the stairs, closing his sockets against all of it. “Toriel, this isn’t your fault and this certainly isn’t Frisk’s either.”

“But-”

“Please, Toriel,” he all but begged, starting down the stairs. “None of us knew he would react that way to them and there certainly was no telling how severe his reaction would have been even if we had guessed.” Movement from the kitchen drew his attention. Grillby stepped just inside the living room, dress shirt sleeves rolled up and apron protecting the front. He met the fire elemental’s curious and slightly concerned gaze even as he took in the fact that Grillby was untying the apron. “All we can do now is move forward.”

Grillby pulled the apron up over his head when Papyrus reached the last step.

“How is Sans?”

Papyrus sighed. “Probably taking this far worse than you are - than any of us, really. He had brought Alex here in hopes of protecting him and now he’s done who knows how much damage trying to help.” He sat heavily on the couch, leaning forward till his elbows were on his knees and his forehead pressed against the heel of his spare hand. “At least, that’s my speculation. He hasn’t talked to me since I got back from work yesterday.”

“Is Undyne giving you the time off you need? Do I need to talk to her for you?”

He cut in before she really got going. “Undyne’s offered me more time than is probably wise.” There was a soft plopping sound and he looked up to find the apron, neatly folded, had been deposited onto the coffee table. He sat up a bit straighter to watch Grillby walk around the piece of furniture to sit at the other end of the couch. “Heck, even Grillby’s still here helping out and I can’t even get him to leave without fear of being burned alive.”

The look he got from the fire elemental was a death threat should he ever think of trying and repercussions of accusing him of such things. Despite how horrible he felt, it made him smile. He let his gaze drift away, focusing back on the conversation. “I’m a little shaken up about what happened but, out of everyone, I’m probably the least affected second only to Grillby. I’m taking the rest of today off just so that Sans can get some much needed rest. Tomorrow, I’ll go in for a partial day. Undyne refused to have me do full days till we know if Alex will be ok or not and since Grillby has to go open his restaurant tomorrow, I didn’t fight her on it.”

“You said that Alex thought it was the day before yesterday; does he remember Grillby?”

“I don’t think so. Out of one of the questions Sans drilled him with, Alex had asked if Grillby and yourself were still coming over. We’re going to wait to reintroduce Grillby until after we know if the short term memory loss is permanent or not but for now Grillby’s presence has been immensely helpful.” He glanced at the lounging monster beside him. “He just can’t stay full time. Yesterday and today were only because he was able to get a few employees to fill in for him. Now he has to fill in for them.”

Grillby nodded in time with Toriel’s hesiated, “Alright.” There was a breath before she continued on. “You will call us if you three need anything, alright, dear?”

“Of course, Lady Toriel.”

“And call me when you have more information and I will make sure the rest of those seeking after Alex’s health know.”

“I will.” He let his head fall against the back of the couch. Grillby’s reassuring touch on his arm was warm and he blindly reached sideways. His fingers found Grillby’s forearm and he gave it a squeeze, the heat of Grillby’s body seeping into his cold fingers. “And thank you.”

“But what about-” The knock on the door drew both of their gazes from the paperwork strewn all over the living room. Alex clambered to his feet as Sans leaned backwards over the couch to peak out the curtains but the whole thing barely caused a pause in Alex’s words. “-all the data that supports it? Certainly it would be worth trying out?”

Sans frowned at the gathering on his porch, a good amount of which was laughing. Papyrus was cutting through it looking for keys - if Sans wasn’t mistaking the hand digging through pockets - with Grillby on his heels. “We can run the numbers but I don’t want to test it till the numbers support it.” He let the curtain close, settling back onto the couch. “It’s Papyrus and a few others.” He frowned. “Were we expecting company?”

Alex unlocked the door with a shrug. “Not that I remember.”

Sans reached out and started gathering pages. A blast of cold air made him shiver.

“Good timing,” Papyrus praised Alex, stomping in. There was the sound of other boots kicking off snow. “Undyne’s place is out of the question for the next couple of game nights so I offered our place for tonight.” A pause. Sans didn’t stop in his paper gathering task. “I take it neither of you got my text.”

“Nope,” Alex confirmed in an amused voice. “Give us a sec and you’ll have the living room all to yourself.”

Papyrus scoffed. He glanced up in time to see Papyrus, two others, and Grillby enter the kitchen. “I am not about to let you two disappear into that lab of yours," Papyrus called back. "You two are staying out here and playing with us.”

Sans looked to Alex. The human chuckled, rolling his eyes in feigned exasperation. Sans snickered as well.

With the last of the pages topping the tower on his arm - he shot Alphys a soft ‘thank you’ for her help - he started for the lab, taking one last glance at Alex in time to see Undyne clasp his shoulder.

Alex smiled at her as she asked, “So, how’re you and the other nerd handling your exile from the Lab?”

“Good,” made its way into the lab a bit muffled but clear enough. “Though I wouldn’t really call it an exile. You’d be surprised how many people drop by.”

He quickly deposited the stack poorly on the nearest flat surface and just as quickly returned to the living room making sure the door was shut and locked behind him. There were three in the living room that Sans didn’t recognize beyond being Papyrus’s co-workers that had begun to - carefully - rearrange the furniture. Alex still looked relaxed and amused and that eased the bit of worry that had started to gnaw at Sans. This was the first time they had so many people at once in the house.

“Th-the three months haven’t hindered a-any of your work?” Alphys asked, joining the conversation that was still near the front door.

The other two Sans didn’t recognize that had followed Papyrus into the kitchen were carefully carrying a partially ladened kitchen table out to be tucked into a corner.

Alex shook his head, glancing at Sans as he made to join them. He gained a nod, though it was hard to tell whether it was something other than a gesture towards him. “Sans’s lab is pretty well equipped but it’s not like we’re doing anything more than crunching numbers and speculating. We still have months of data to go back through before we try for a final time.”

“Alright!” Papyrus announced, exiting the kitchen even as the clatter of dishes continued. Grillby didn’t join him so it was easy to assume that Grillby was still prepping food. “Enough chatter about work! It’s time to play some games.”

Spoiler: Chapter ---ERROR---

Laughter filled the home for what seemed like the hundredth time. Undyne was yelling something as she gestured with the very large hand of cards she now possessed. The glint in her eye and the way her snarl kept threatening to turn into a grin spoke largely of how much of it was for show; she was, after all, the one that had caused her own destruction. Sans squeezed his hurting ribs as he tried - and failed - to get his laughter under control. Each gasp for air was painful but the joy of the whole thing made it hard to stop laughing. Alex pressed into his back laughing too, but there was a heaviness to Alex’s weight that spoke of an exhaustion greater than the joy. Slowly his laughter gave way to the occasional giggle and he sat more upright, gently helping Alex upright with the same momentum. The human’s laughter gave way to a mild coughing fit that petered out in a matter of seconds. Sans could still hear the wheezing, though, and it dampened some of his enjoyment. Despite the heavy exhaustion on Alex’s face, the joy was still very much prominent.

He caught Papyrus glancing at the clock at the edge of his vision.

“I don’t think we can push our luck anymore, Undyne,” the lanky skeleton spoke up, his dejection evident in his words. Sans rubbed away the happy tears that still lingered on his cheeks as bodies began to move. “Do you want us to walk you home?” Papyrus asked Grillby, standing. “Undyne and I are walking Alphys back to the Lab before going on to our shifts so it’ll be on our way and would make up for the last minute invite.”

Grillby dipped his head in a sort of thanks. “If you wish to accompany me, I will not stop you.” There was a slight shift in the flames and Sans got the distinct feeling Grillby was smirking. “You’re not that bad of company.”

Papyrus chuckled. “I’m glad.”

“Get your coat on, Flameboy,” Undyne called over from the entryway. She was helping Alphys into a bright pink, very puffy coat. “We’ve got to get going if we want to be on time.”

“We’ll walk you out,” Alex offered, clambering to his feet.

Papyrus reached out as if to steady him. “No. You’re going right to bed.”

Alex was sure on his feet but still sent Papyrus a soft smile of thanks. Undyne, however, cut in before Alex could say anything. “You sick?”

Alex shrugged with a soft smile. “Outside my normal state of being, no. I’ve just been tired these last few days is all.”

“More so than normal,” Sans interjected, getting to his feet. He met Alphys’s worried look. “Don’t worry. If it turns out to be more than a simple cold, we’ll drag him to see a professional.”

Alphys nodded, the gesture quick and sharp. Undyne relaxed marginally, barking, “Good.” She placed a heavy hand on Alphys’s shoulder, meeting Papyrus’s gaze. The skeleton and fire elemental had joined them at the door and were about ready to walk out. “Come on. We’ve got a nerd to drop off.” Her eye flashed as she took in Grillby. “Make that two.”

Those flames shifted again and Sans got the distinct impression that Grillby was smirking at her.

The air outside was crisp, almost sharp, as it blasted in from the front door. Sans shivered from its initial touch before focusing on the others. Undyne and Alphys were out the door first. Grillby followed sedately as Papyrus swept Alex up in a tight hug. There was soft exchange before the pair parted and Sans found himself suddenly wrapped in a big, tight, warm hug. He didn’t want to let go.

“Make sure he gets to bed soon,” Papyrus urged quietly. “And you too.”

Sans gave him an easy grin as they parted, offering, “I’ll get us both to bed in an hour or two, don’t worry.”

“Promise?”

Sans snorted, rolling his eyelights even as Papyrus half glared at him. “Yea yea. Now get going. You’re threatening to extinguish Grillby in this cold if you don’t leave soon.”

It was a lie. The fire elemental looked quite content - and warm - standing a few feet from the bottom step, a bag over one shoulder, hands buried in coat pockets, and face half obscured by a thick scarf.

Papyrus pressed against the top of Sans’s head, rubbing at it like one would to ruffle someone’s hair. Sans laughed, grinning as he shoved his brother out the door. Papyrus grinned back till he reached the edge of their tiny porch and simply skipped the steps to bound to Grillby’s side. A conversation was started as the pair took off after Undyne and Alphys.

“You guys be safe getting there,” Alex called out, one arm tight around his torso as he waved vigorously with the other. Undyne and Alphys glanced back at his shout and waved when they understood what was going on. Papyrus and Grillby waved at Alex, too.

Alex’s arm fell to his side but the human didn’t move to enter the house and Sans didn’t try and make him. When the others were well out of sight, he heard Alex let out a heavy sigh. The human leaned into him and Sans felt Alex quaking with shivers. He gently nudged at Alex. “Unless you want to smoke, let’s get inside and on our way to bed before you actually do get sick.”

“Alright.”

Fifteen minutes of silence ended as Alex’s voice filled the room as Sans hunted for suitable clothing. “Do you think they might date or am I seeing things?”

“Who?” he asked from where he was digging through a drawer.

“Papyrus and Grillby.”

Sans froze as his brain tried to process that. Straightening with some random shirt in hand, he looked at Alex. The human was lying on his stomach on Sans’s bed, still dressed. “Why do you think they would date? Grillby’s way older than either Pap or me could be. He's probably closer to a father figure than a friend anyways.”

Not that he could back that up. He still didn't remember anything about the fire elemental.

Alex shrugged, the arm draped over the edge of the mattress barely leaving the floor it was laying on. “You're probably right. Just seemed close, was all.”

Sans crossed over to the bed and was tempted to do something to the strange human. In the end, he settled on turning around and sitting on the mattress so that his legs were over Alex’s back and his head was close to the wall the long edge of the mattress was pressed up against. “People could say the same about us.”

Alex huffed a tired laugh. “Oh? And why would they do that?”

Sans sat up and tugged his shirt off. “Well, we’ve been sharing a mattress for two months now.”

“Because I can’t sleep alone and Pap’s been doing night shifts,” Alex lazily pointed out.

“I can’t recall the last time we’ve been seen with other people.”

“That one is not my fault,” Alex chastised. Sans could feel the laughter through his legs.

He dug a heel into a ticklish spot in Alex’s side, gaining a squeal and Alex’s body jerking to get away only to press more into Sans. “And because I’m fairly certain that most assumed we had been together before all this shit hit the fan.”

Alex shifted and Sans was surprised when it brought the human even closer to him. When Alex settled, he had bodily wrapped himself around Sans, knees digging into Sans’s lower left side and head pressed into his right. Sans rested his hand in Alex’s hair, unsure of what to do with the sudden closeness - not that it was unusual in and of itself. Alex was a fricken octopus at night when they slept so physical closeness wasn’t strange anymore but this seeking some sort of comfort was.

“Alex?”

Alex’s body shifted close to him as the human took a deep breath. “What do you remember from before your coma, Sans?”

He carded his fingers through Alex’s hair, worried but willing to play along. “Quite a bit now, but I’m not sure what specifically you’re asking about.”

“So you don’t understand the significance of Papyrus pushing ‘Spin the Bottle’.”

He frowned at the wary certainty in the other’s words. “Should I?” Alex shrugged but it wasn’t enough for him. “Alex, what...why was it significant that he was pushing it?”

Alex took a shaky breath.

It caught in a way that Sans was intensely familiar with.

Alex spasmed around him as the human started coughing. Sans shimmied this way and that until he was able to get himself detangled from the other. Freed, he quickly pulled at Alex to get the other to sit as upright as possible.

The fit lasted far longer than Sans would have liked. By the end of it Alex looked completely exhausted leaning against him seemingly unable to support himself anymore.

“Come on,” Sans softly coaxed. “Let’s get you into bed.”

The maneuvering was awkward and Alex’s breath sounded oddly hollow by the time the human settled on his stomach. Sans bit down on suggesting that he sleep on his back or side.

Alex took a deep breath in. It caused him to cough weakly.

The skin beneath his magic covered hands flinched, bringing his awareness to his actions. He recoiled mentally from what he was doing but the initial flinch was the only negative reaction he got out of Alex before the human moaned low and deep into the mattress. Sans relaxed, letting his not quite the right green healing magic seep into Alex’s back and lungs.

“About a week before your coma, the Lab held its monthly game night.” Sans started at the sudden words. Enough time had passed that he had sworn the other had passed out beneath him, he himself zoning enough to be classified as dozing while casting. In the abrupt change of awareness his soul clenched in his chest. A strange sense of forbidden rolled down his spine as he realized what Alex was talking about. “I...can’t remember who all was there. Even now the memories are horribly pieced together but I know the group playing ‘Spin the Bottle’ - Truth or Dare edition - was pretty big. You were sitting almost directly across from me in the circle, Papyrus one or two people to your left and three people to my right.”

Alex shifted against the mattress as if he could burrow into it without moving more than his head. “I don’t remember whose idea it had been. The game, I mean. People had been more than happy to play. I would be surprised if Alphys and Undyne didn’t remember the event. I think they even spun each other.”

Sans was certain of it, though he couldn’t actually remember any of it.

“It was Pap’s turn to spin.” A beat heavy with something Sans couldn’t decipher. “And it landed on me. As soon as the bottle had stilled, Pap had gained a triumphant look.” Another beat but this time Alex’s next words carried the human’s mild frustration. “I can’t remember why I wasn’t able to choose truth. The only thing I do remember about it was that it was part of the house rules and I couldn’t avoid the dare I knew he was about to give me. I had known it the instant he had dragged me to that circle.”

Sans felt his soul twist in his chest, anticipation making it beat harder.

Alex took a shuddering breath before he all but confessed, “He dared me to kiss you.”

It was like his entire system got interrupted by that. His healing magic sputtered out and all his brain could focus on was the memories of asking Alex what they had been back at the beginning of his recovery. Something coiled heavy in his stomach and his eye sockets seemed to burn.

Words kept tumbling from Alex’s lips and it took a moment for Sans to start understanding any of it again. “-you stood up and walked over to me and it was all I could do to not drown under the toxic blend of emotions.” A breath. “But you reached down and your hands were so steady that I felt so alone. How could this have happened? Why was Pap ruining everything?” A second breath, this one shakier and far more raw than the last one. “But instead of the longest, agonizing thirty seconds of my life that was going to destroy everything we had worked so hard to steady, it turned into thirty seconds of bliss that didn’t last long enough.” Alex gave a breathy laugh that sent magic rippling from Sans’s hands like goose bumps. “I don’t even know how you managed to kiss me like that but it was-” a choked word and Sans buried his fingers into Alex’s hair to reassure the other, “it was something that’s haunted me till my own amnesia rolled in.”

“Did we talk afterwards?” Sans asked, his voice hoarse in his throat.

Alex trembled under his hands. “No.”

“Liar.”

The word was past his tongue before his brain could form it. But as Alex twisted around to stare at him, he found that he could back up his claim. The memories were slowly trickling in and with each new one, the bitter taste on the back of his tongue grew. “We talked about it and I promised-” He recoiled from the memory and he forced the rest of the sentence out, “I promised you a date the same day I was stupid enough to fall into my coma.”

Alex struggled to get upright. “You didn’t do that on purpose!”

“Didn’t I?” Sans challenged, his words edged in a sorrow he hadn’t known. “I could have left Gaster’s work alone. I could have picked up on the warning signs earlier and had gotten help before I passed out on the same day we were supposed to go out!”

“That doesn’t matter now,” Alex urged, shaking his head.

“Doesn’t it?” Sans barked back. “All this time and you didn’t continue to pine after some skeleton that wasn’t coming back?”

“I had come to terms with that!”

The shout echoed through the room but it wasn’t what had stopped Sans short. Nor Alex. Sans watched as thick tears streaked down Alex’s face and the human jerked away, desperately trying to rub the tears away. A solid, bitter weight settled in Sans’s chest as he heard the first choking sob escape the other.

It took far too long for him to reach out and pull the human towards him. The gesture was harder than he had intended but Alex followed willingly. He felt Alex’s fingers dig into his shoulder blades as the human’s arms constricted around his ribs. He held the other just as tightly, feeling like the ass he was.

He carded his fingers through Alex’s hair hopelessly lost on what to do to make things better. If only he hadn’t been so blinded by whatever it was he had been researching.

“I’m so sorry, Alex,” Sans offered, letting his soul lead his words. His mind was too muddled to even try and filter any of it. “I had promised you so much and then turned around and forgot all of it. I forgot you, this world, everything we’d ever done together, and for what? A solution that I never got? A broken mind for my efforts?” He pressed his face into Alex’s hair. “I had wanted to do right by you. Papyrus had done me a favor daring you like that and I’d thrown it out the window chasing fantasies.”

Alex shifted against his chest like he wanted to pull away but the human didn’t leave his chest. “You were-were trying to save the Underground,” the human urged between sobs. “It was our job.”

He pulled Alex off of him if only to seek out those green eyes. Somewhere Alex had lost his glasses and those green eyes fought to focus on him through tears that didn’t seem to end. “But you’re just as important.”

Alex was shaking his head, already prepared to counter his words. “The Underground-”

“I don’t care about the Underground if it means I lose you!”

They both sucked in a sharp breath, but where Sans’s caught in his chest and stayed there, Alex’s wrenched out a massive coughing fit. Guilt bit at Sans’s soul as he went through the motions of getting Alex to breathe normally again.

The fit left Alex shaking against him, breathing shallow and rattling horribly. Sans found himself running his hand through Alex’s hair again.

“You and I both know I don’t have much longer to live, Sans.” Alex’s voice - weak and hoarse - barely carried through the still air. “You’ll outlive me by centuries even if I do live long enough to see the Overworld. But with how things are going, as long as I get to see you and Pap happy, I don’t care if I never see it. Just as long as you two do.”

“You’ll see it,” Sans retaliated. “We’ll figure out the solution and we’ll keep you living till you die of old age.”

That gained him a pitiful chuckle out of the human but nothing more and Sans fell silent.

“At least you finally remember me too. S’the least I’d hoped for.”

The words cut through the air and with them came a few stragglers of memories. They were little things, things that made his soul ache against all the damage he hadn’t meant to cause and he moved before he could think against his actions. He cupped Alex’s cheek, coaxing the other to look up at him. “Thankfully it wasn’t the most.”

He saw the confusion start to stretch across Alex’s expression as he let instinct and defiance drive the kiss.

At first it was short, hesitant, but the more Alex responded, the more Sans didn’t want to stop and it wasn’t till a new sob broke through that Sans realized the significance of what he had done. He felt rather justified as his entire being seemed to burn with more of the memories that had originally driven him to strut across that circle of people and kiss Alex like it was the only chance he was going to get.

He cupped Alex’s face and wiped away the tears with his thumbs only to have more replace them. “Hey, I know I’m a bad kisser but crying seems a bit excessive,” he tried joking, his smile tight and his soul hurting. Despite how confidently - or cockily - he had kissed Alex, it hadn’t stayed and now he was left with concern and doubt.

Alex gave a watery laugh. A few coughs cut through but Alex didn’t let them keep him from urging, “No, it-that had-” Another watery laugh and those green eyes bright with tears locked onto his face. “I had honestly believed you would never kiss me like that again.” Another sob broke through, this one heavy with a sorrow that stabbed through Sans’s soul. “I had given up hope you would ever come back for me.”

Screw his apprehension about consequences and misstepping. He pulled Alex’s face to his and he kissed the stupid human soundly. It was wet, it was sloppy, but damn if it wasn’t filled with every ounce of love he had for the bloody octopus of a human being.

The kiss broke as Alex’s lungs betrayed him again. Sans helped him through the fit like he always did, stating plainly as the coughing subsided, “I’m going to make all of this up to you. Every missed moment, every lost date, I’m going to make it up to you.”

Alex gave him a breathy chuckle, asking mildly, “And how exactly are you going to do that?”

Sans shrugged, catching Alex’s lips in another kiss. “Not sure yet.” Another kiss. “But I do know that I can at least drown you in kisses tonight.”

He kissed along Alex’s lower lip as the human chuckled under him. “We should probably talk about this first.”

“Nuff talkin’,” Sans grumbled as he kissed Alex’s jaw. The whiskers of Alex’s scruff of a beard was a strange sensation that Sans was quickly growing fond of. “More loving.”

“Heh. Rude.”

Sans huffed and caught Alex’s lips in another kiss. It was slow, languid, and he felt Alex’s hands press into his chest. A spark filled shiver raced down his spine as those hands ran up his ribs, along his shoulders to his neck, to his head, to his arms, down his back…

Sans nipped gently at Alex’s throat. Something primal escaped Alex’s throat as the other’s nails scrapped at him, one set at the back of his skull, the other at his left shoulder blade. Alex’s throat bobbed against his teeth as the human swallowed. “Sans.”

It was breathy but it was like a pleasurable weight on his back, on his head, and it ---error--- his magic he hadn’t ---error--- his coma. He hummed against Alex’s throat, tracing the nonexistent bite mark with a conjured tongue.

“I…” a panted breath, “what were we going to do, that first date?”

He ---error--- shirt and ---error--- him to get away from the cold ---error--- with a soft, slow drag of ---error---. “I think I wrote it down somewhere because I didn’t want to forget.” Another ---error--- Alex. “It had been a really good one, ---error--- it.”

“Would….” A shaky breath escaped Alex and it was all Sans could do not to pull back and meet the human’s eyes. He could feel the tension - the hesitation and self consciousness - with every ---error---

A jolt of magic shot down his spine at that and he jerked back, searching for ---error--- ---error--- ---error--- His face twisted against not being able to straighten out his thoughts enough to explain. ---error---

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---error--- Not even two minutes ago-”

Alex cut him off with a kiss. “I know,” came out as a whisper between them. “And I know I said ---error--- ---error--- ---error--- ---error--- ---error--- ---error---

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---error--- the hollow of Alex’s throat before kissing up the other's throat along a scratchy chin to lips that responded groggily.

"Hey, ---error--- muttered between kisses. "Think you can manage ---error---

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---error--- Bath?"

"Sounds nice."

Alex actually managed to get himself upright and off the bed. Sans walked with him into the bathroom and started up the water. "Set the temp to what you want," he directed Alex as the human sat on the edge of the tub. Sans stole a kiss as he cupped the side of Alex's head. "I ---error---

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He buried fingers in sweaty red locks, pressing a kiss to Alex's temple. He gained a tired giggle in return. "If I ---error---

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---error--- bath was long and languid. Sans ---error--- traded places. ---error--- water stayed warm for all of it and Sans felt another pang of guilt when he had to rouse Alex again.

"Come on. Bed's clean," he coaxed.

Alex grumbled something but complied. There was no point in trying to get ---error--- other was asleep on his feet and Sans wanted it to stay that way. He ---error--- ---error--- don’t have to, you know.”

“Want to,” was the mumbled reply.

Sans chuckled softly and went back ---error---

---error--- flopped onto ---error--- as they were within range and Sans chuckled again. “Want ---error--- sleep?”

“Sleep,” came back muffled.

He dug through the dresser ---error--- ---error---

---error--- ---error--- wrapped around him before he was even fully sitting and an amused smile pulled at his face.

“Think ---error--- in the morning?” Sans inquired softly, happily wrapping himself around Alex in turn.

“Not a ---error---

---error--- one last time, offering ---error--- to sleep. He felt Alex accomplish sleep long before he did and Sans let himself drift off with nothing but blissful thoughts.

Spoiler: Chapter 20

There was a clang from the kitchen that was muffled by the door. It woke him up and for a moment he hovered between returning to sleep and waking fully. The decision was made for him when the gnawing of hunger made itself known. Yawning, Sans sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress before stretching. His spine cracked in the best of ways. A heavy, pleased sigh escaped him as he sagged forward. A goofy grin pulled at his face and he couldn't bring himself to care. Alex shifted behind him and his grin grew bigger. Stars above preserve his soul; he pressed his hands against his cheeks in a failed attempt to ease the strain on his cheeks.

Another clang sounded through the door, muffled as the last one and accompanied this time by Papyrus’s annoyed voice chasing after it. “Man, wonder what Pap’s making for breakfast,” Sans commented, listening as a third crash suddenly sounded through the door and the floor, Papyrus’s enraged voice just as loud. Sans chuckled as he leaned back. “Might as well go down and find out, huh?”

Sans looked over his shoulder at Alex, still grinning and expecting to meet an equally content expression.

The grin faltered.

Alex looked ashen with skin shining from sweat. The smile vanished completely and he reached out to run a hand through Alex's hair. “What’s wrong?”

His hand was batted away.

“I’m fine,” Alex ground out as he shoved himself upright. Sans hands shot out when Alex swayed on the mattress but Alex just batted his hands away again. The gesture forced Sans backwards and he got to his feet watching Alex press bare feet into the clothing covered floor without another word. Sans hovered despite the glare sent his way as Alex stood.

He didn’t stay standing for long.

Alex hit the floor with a dull thud. “Alex!” Sans cried, hitting his knees beside the prone human. He rolled Alex over, one hand going to Alex’s neck, Sans’s cheekbone going over Alex’s mouth and nose. Sans’s soul felt like it would give out.

Alex wasn’t breathing.

There was no pulse.

“PAPYRUS!” Sans screamed, his voice cracking as magic surged and crackled around him.

He couldn’t use it.

Despite being able to use low levels of healing magic on him, despite the instinctual urge to use magic to help Alex, - despite last night - Sans fought to rein his magic in. He couldn’t risk causing more damage. There was no telling how Alex’s body would react to the amount of healing magic required. So he settled on the next best thing.

Thundering footsteps crossed the landing outside the bedroom doors as Sans placed his hands on Alex’s chest and started chest compressions. The door banged open and Sans’s gaze snapped to Papyrus, already rushing, “The defibrillator!”

Papyrus turned and booked it back down the stairs. Sans focused back on Alex as he listened to his brother. Out of all the places for Alex’s heart to give out, they had expected it to be in the lab where Alex was stressed the most. Sans mentally cursed himself. Why hadn’t they put the AED in one of their rooms? Why did they have to have kept it in the lab?

Why didn’t they have a spare?!

Papyrus’s heavy footfall on the landing put an end to his thoughts as he looked to the door. There was no point getting himself worked up over it now. He had to focus on saving Alex.

Papyrus rushed in with the modified AED. The taller skeleton placed it above Alex’s head and popped the container open. There was a crackling in the air and Sans shuddered when he felt Papyrus’s magic join his in the air and push. He sucked in a breath as he pulled at his magic, trying to rein it in better.

An electronic voice cut through the air in the room, chilling Sans’s bones as it started giving directions.

He stopped compressions for the two seconds it took Papyrus to slice through Alex’s shirt. Counting away and giving breathes, he half watched Papyrus pull out the defibrillation pads. There was no tremble to his brother’s sure hands as the pads were quickly, meticulously placed. Sans wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry when he realized just how much calmer his younger brother was.

At least one of them had their skull on straight.

The electronic voice spoke and Sans flinched when Papyrus grabbed his arms and firmly pulled his touch away from Alex. Sans watched, waited as the machine went through the automated process. He only moved when Papyrus released him to return to chest compressions or when Papyrus pulled him away.

Finally, finally, after what felt like far too long, Alex’s heart started beating on its own. Sans sat back heavily, the sigh that escaped him sounding far more like a moan, overwhelmed and grateful as they watched Alex’s pulse on the monitor, waiting. A few minutes passed before Alex started to wake. Papyrus took the initiative and shut the AED down before removing the defibrillation pads from Alex’s body. Sans reached over and rested a heavy hand against the human’s chest, asking, “How are you feeling?”

Alex frowned up at him for a breath before answering, “Feels like Undyne kicked me in the chest.”

Papyrus stood with the packed AED in hand. “I’ll go call the doctor."

"No, don’t. I’m fine." Alex tried to sit up but Sans pushed on his chest, pinning him. "Sans-"

"No. Pap, call the doc. See if we need to take him to the hospital." Sans focused back on Alex as the human made to protest again. "Alex, you are going to be checked over. I'm not a medical doctor and neither are you and we need to make sure that you're going to be ok."

Alex tried to bat his hand off his chest but Sans didn't relent. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am!"

"You're shaking, Alex. You're not fine."

He watched as Alex raised a hand to his face and they both watched it tremble between them.

The sudden sob startled Sans and maybe it started Alex too because the human curled in on himself and away from Sans. He didn’t let the other get very far, pulling at him to bring Alex to his chest. Those trembling hands clenched the back of his tank top with enough force that Sans would be surprised if there weren’t holes in it when he took it off.

He started to hear his brother’s voice as it drifted in through the open door. From what he could make out over Alex’s sobbing, it sounded like the other was on the phone. He hoped it was with the doctor. The words settled at a level just below his ability to make them out clearly and he waited, holding a sobbing Alex tight.

When Papyrus finally did return, Alex’s sobbing had petered out. “Dr. Bastian will be here in 15 minutes. She said to get Alex comfortable wherever he wanted to be. She’ll determine whether or not he needs to go to the hospital when she gets here.”

Alex shifted against Sans but didn’t pull away. He looked down at the human, coaxing, “Where do you want to be?”

“Can it be the couch?” was mumbled into his chest.

He looked to Papyrus. “Think we can manage the couch?”

Papyrus nodded, kneeling behind Alex. “Of course. Alex, I’m going to pick you up.”

Sans felt the grip around him tighten briefly before letting go completely. Papyrus’s motions were sure and Alex was up in his arms in a matter of seconds. Sans followed them down to the living room, hovering as Papyrus took care of settling Alex into the couch. He wasn’t looking forward to the wait once the other was settled.

The knock on the door seemed to take forever. A glance at the time was proof the doctor was early.

Papyrus put a hand on Sans’s shoulder and stood in his stead. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be offended or grateful that Papyrus wasn’t letting him leave Alex’s side. Said human’s grip on him tightened and he settled on grateful.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, Dr. Bastian, Cecile.”

“Of course, Papyrus,” Dr. Bastian spoke, entering the home. Her eyes were quick to pick out Alex and Sans entangled on the couch. As soon as Sans had sat down, Alex had designated him as a good enough pillow and had yet to release him. Her gaze stayed on Alex only for a moment before she focused on Sans. “You can stay sitting with him but I’m going to need him to sit up so that I can work,”

He felt Alex fight him on that but the human sat up as Cecile crossed to the coffee table and put down the large bag they had been carrying. Dr. Bastian knelt before Alex, giving him a soft smile. “Hi, Alex.”

“Hi, Dr. Bastian.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired. My chest feels like Undyne kicked it.”

Dr. Bastian chuckled. “I’m sure it does. Will you let me check you over and see if we need to get you to the hospital?”

“Sure.”

She turned, picking through the bag still being unpacked. “We both know I’m assuming this is a result of your current heart condition so I’m going to check to make sure your heart has regained its steady rhythm again. If everything checks out, I’ll want to put a heart monitor on you so that we can have some advanced warning for if it happens again.” She gave Alex a flat look. “If it happens again, you go to the hospital.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She went back to going through the bag’s content. “Now, I know your body naturally fights any magic used on you but the heart monitor runs off of your own soul magic so I’ll need to have Cecile summon your soul for me.” Her gaze moved to Sans and he tried not to squirm under her sharp gaze. “Unless you’re more comfortable with Sans or Papyrus doing it.”

“Sans can,” Alex croaked quickly.

Dr. Bastian’s focus was completely on Sans now. “Have you pulled out his soul before?”

“Last night, after everyone had left,” Sans informed her, the latter directed at Papyrus when the other shifted in question.

Dr. Bastian sat a bit straighter. “Any adverse effects from it?”

Sans fought to keep his magic from dusting his cheeks. “None that were apparent. He didn’t have a customary fit afterwards, at the very least.”

Dr. Bastian’s gaze snapped to Alex’s face. Pink had dusted the human’s cheek but that was the only show that he had thought of the same thing Sans had. “You’ve gotten used to his magic, then?”

Alex shrugged. “I had asked him to do it. I wanted to see it.”

Dr. Bastian picked up some instrument. “Fair enough. Let’s get everything else out of the way first.”

“So…” Sans started as Dr. Bastian entered the kitchen behind him. Cecile was talking quietly with Papyrus as Alex started to succumb to sleep against the skeleton’s side. “What’s the verdict, Doc?”

“I’m concerned his heart may give out on him completely and not restart no matter what we try. He’s already on borrowed time.”

His chest tightened. “The plan?”

She looked at him. “Keep him comfortable. His chest will hurt for the next few days as the heart loses the proverbial bruising. Keep an eye on his heart rate but regular exercise throughout the day will help him heal faster. I’m sure Cecile’s already given the regiment to Papyrus.” Her gaze drifted to the couch where Alex was now fast asleep wrapped in a warm blanket. Papyrus was still sitting next to him, arm wrapped around the blanket covered shoulders holding the human close. “Beyond that, all we can do is wait and see what happens.”

“Nothing else?”

She looked at him but it was weary. “His soul is healthy. I don’t think I’ve seen a Perseverance soul so bright in the last few years that has made it through so many trials, illness aside. He’s strong but he’s stubborn. Besides,” she returned her gaze to the trio, “with how his body reacts to magic, there’s isn’t much the hospital can do for him. Most of our operations have some sort of base in magic and we can’t rely on either you or your brother to provide magic his body is mildly comfortable enough with. It just doesn’t work that way.”

Sans watched as Papyrus stood up with Alex in his arms, saying something to Cecile before disappearing up the stairs, presumably to put Alex to bed. “No idea of any doctor that could do the needed surgery without magic?”

“Not that I know personally but I’ll ask around. I’m sure there’s someone who does. It’s been long enough since the first inquiry that someone’s bound to have learned how.”

He saw Dr. Bastian and Cecile out before heading upstairs.

He found them in Papyrus’s room, Alex asleep under the covers and Papyrus reading in the desk chair. Papyrus looked up at him, taking the glasses off. “Well?”

“Waiting game,” he offered in the same hushed voice. “She’s going to look into anyone that can do the surgery he needs.”

“They’re going to try and repair the damage.”

He nodded. “I’m assuming - if nothing else - they’re going to try and get his heart to keep from doing this again but it’s a dangerous surgery within and of itself if one can’t use magic on the patient.” Papyrus sagged at that. He amended, “Still dangerous with magic and it would have to be his decision. It’s not an easy surgery to go through.”

Papyrus sighed. “So we just keep him calm but active till we hear more.”

“Pretty much.”

Alex woke an hour later. The only reason Sans knew from his lab was the faint pinging chime he could hear and the sudden pull on his soul. Instinct drove him to shortcut his way to the second floor landing and he rushed into Papyrus’s room hearing Papyrus’s soft, coaxing words.

“What happened?” he asked softly, slowing his approach.

“Nightmare,” Papyrus supplied without looking away from the human. “Alex?”

“I-I’m…I’m…” Those green eyes flickered between them, very bright and slowly losing the haze of sleep. A shuddering breath and then, “I’m ok. I’m awake.”

Sans reached out without thinking, burying his hand in red hair. Alex pressed into the touch. “Do you remember any of it?”

He saw and felt Alex shudder. “Something was-was after me. Trying to do something to my chest. I don’t remember what it was but it was-I didn’t like it.” Papyrus engulfed Alex in a hug. “I was so scared.”

“You’re safe now,” Papyrus urged softly. “G-” a flicker of eyelights towards Sans, “It can’t get you now.”

They stayed huddled around Alex till the human seemed to drift back off. Only then did Sans speak up. “Hey, how bout we get some food in us.”

“It’s still early enough for breakfast,” Papyrus mused.

Sans snorted. “Bro, it could be dinner time and it would still be appropriate to eat breakfast.”

A soft giggle escaped Alex and maybe that was why Papyrus gave so easily. “You’re not wrong.” There as a shrewd look in those sockets. “Especially when your sleep schedule isn’t normal like the rest of ours.”

A soft, little, “Ooooh,” came from the snickering human and Sans realized his misinterpretation of Papyrus’s actions. He chuckled, taking the burn without much thought to it. “Fair enough. Mind getting food going, then, Pap? I’ll make sure sickly here does some exercising before we head down.”

Papyrus got up as Alex sighed. “Do I have to? Can’t I just go back to sleep?”

Papyrus ran a hand through Alex’s hair before slipping out, dragging a hand over Sans’s skull as he went. Sans gave the human an amused, sharp look. “You’re not getting out of physical therapy this time. Up ya get.”

Alex gave an exaggerated sigh but there was the hint of a smile on the corner of his lips.

By the time they had gone through the sheet and tested each activity, wonderful smells were drifting up the stairs they were descending.

"Smells good."

Sans glanced over and caught sight of Alex’s expression. It held the same apprehensive disappointment his voice had carried and Sans gave his hand a squeeze. Those green eyes met his. “Papyrus will have something you can eat, something easy after what you’ve gone through.”

Alex gave him a soft smile. “I haven’t been hiding it very well, have I?”

“Not from me but that’s not why I said it.” He stopped at the foot of the stairs, Alex stopping one step up. The human leaned into him and Sans took the human’s weight without complaint. “You just tried dying on us. Papyrus is going to worry, he’s going to fret, and he’ll end up making you something light but filling that’s easy on your system. Even monster food weighs on the human body.”

Alex pressed a kiss into his skull, the gesture tired but loving. “I’m not going to be able to eat all of it.”

“And Pap won’t be offended.”

For a moment they stood there listening to the sounds from the kitchen, Alex clinging to him like a lifeline. When the sounds in the kitchen quieted, Alex pulled away and stepped down. Sans kept pace with him into the kitchen and to the table.

Papyrus had outdone himself. The three place settings had three very different meals laid out. Alex’s was the simplest; a bowl holding a variety of monster oatmeal with a small glass of juice waited for the human. The oatmeal would be light but filling and the look of relief on Alex’s face spoke loudly of the human’s thoughts on the simple dish. He smiled at Papyrus as he sat. “Thank you, Pap. Looks great.”

Papyrus nodded, sitting down with a bowl of mixed fruit in hand. “Of course. Don’t force yourself if I made too much.”

Another flicker of relief. Sans smiled at it. Honestly, Alex was worse than he was fretting about Papyrus. Sans settled at his designated spot and started digging into the three sunny side up eggs, a mound of hash drowning in ketchup, and three thick strips of bacon. There was also a short stack of waffles and it wasn’t till his first bite of food that he realized Papyrus had pegged his hunger level perfectly. Papyrus was just as ravenous as he was - a plate of waffles triple the height of his, a massive bowl of mixed fruits and berries, and half a plate of eggs - after the morning they’d had, everything before the taller skeleton vanished just as quickly as Sans’s did.

Alex was the last to finish eating, which was to be expected, but at least he had eaten something. Sans took Alex’s half empty bowl to the sink and added it to the stack Papyrus was already working on. Alex watched them but Sans couldn’t help and feel uneasy about it. He turned to Alex, leaning back against the counter. Unsure as to what else to offer, he spoke up with, “You feeling up for some paperwork?”

Alex’s head tipped to the side slightly, his eyes focusing on Sans. Sans suddenly realized Alex didn’t have his glasses on. No wonder Alex’s expression was off; Alex couldn’t actually see them clearly. Sans refrained from smacking himself, if just barely. “I wouldn’t be opposed to getting some work done.”

Ah. Alex had taken it as a negative notation which, without being able to see Sans’s uneasy expression, hadn’t been what Sans had intended by it. Sans crossed back to the table, plopping into his seat with a shrug. “Up to you. If you’re up to it, you’re up to it. If you want to do something else, we can do something else.” Sans watched the understanding flicker in Alex’s gaze. “Just, I vouch for the kitchen table or the couch, rather than the lab.”

“Couch is fine,” Alex commented before Papyrus could put in his two cents. Sans grinned at his brother and, while Alex’s gaze flickered to the taller skeleton, it focused back on Sans. “I take it Papyrus was going to vote on one?”

“I was going to agree with Sans, yes,” Papyrus confirmed as he walked over. He placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder as the man looked up at him, green eyes taking him in without glasses. “If you want to work, the least amount of stress and strain is best. I know neither of us can convince you to take a day off.”

Alex gave Papyrus a sad smile. “Not with the kind of deadline that’s looming over our heads. Though, I doubt I would have said anything had Sans not.”

That green gaze was teasing and Sans shrugged. “Hey, if you want to go sleep, I’m all for it. You just don’t look tired enough to sleep.”

Papyrus chuckled. “I will make sure Alex makes it to the couch without incident if you would go fetch him some work to do.”

Sans nodded, getting up. “Any requests?” he directed at Alex.

“Just the latest stuff.”

Sans nodded again. He stepped out of the kitchen and went to the lab. It was in the same state they had left it in the day prior so all Sans really had to do was scoop up the pile still standing on the table. It held the latest charts and tests, the latest reports from the Lab, the last sets of results from the different experiments; it was all either of them were going over. They had both come to the agreement that they had missed something in the latest reports and had been going over them and comparing them to their own notes and experiments. Sans also grabbed the tablet and used it to support the stack of papers. With a quick flick of his wrist, the lab went dark.

He closed the door behind him as he looked at the couch. Alex was a human burrito nestled with his back against the front of the couch and the coffee table pulled up like a desk. Papyrus was seated in his normal spot closest to the door, his leg against Alex. The pair looked at him as he walked over with his stack and placed it on the low table. Papyrus gave him a look. “That seems a bit excessive, Sans.”

“Actually,” Alex cut in, deflating the argument before it could gain any real passion. Sans noted that Papyrus had gotten Alex his glasses. “I’ve been doing a lot of cross-referencing. This is only the most recent stuff and I’ll probably be done with it by dinner time.”

Sans plopped on the other end of the couch, tablet still in hand. He gestured at the stack grinning. “Yeah. Some of it’s mine as well so it’s more than it seems.”

Alex looked at him. “You still going through those old files?”

Sans sighed as he opened said old files. A rather familiar font filled the screen before he swiped at the screen, creating a side-by-side translation. As much as he trusted the program to translate the Wingdings font properly, he liked being able to read the original just in case. “Yeah. I’m certain there’s something in here that’d help us, I just don’t know what yet.”

Alex nodded and got to work. Sans glanced at Papyrus as the lanky skeleton turned the TV on, the volume so low that Sans doubted that Papyrus was actually able to discern anything. He did notice that Papyrus hadn’t shifted his leg from Alex’s side and, if he wasn’t mistaken, Alex was actually leaning against it. A soft smile curled his expression as he focused on the tablet. He was glad that the event that morning hadn’t done any serious damage to their relationships with each other.

The hours passed both slowly and quickly. Sans noted that Alex spent more time watching the tv with half lidded eyes than actually working, which Sans supposed had been his brother’s intent in the first place. Papyrus made lunch but neither brother was ok with Alex moving from his spot so they had sandwiches where they sat. Papyrus left the two scientists at the couch as he went and changed for his guard shift. He came back with a bundle of light armor dressed in the uniform. The light armor was strapped on in the entryway before he bade them farewell on his way out, the armor sliding smoothly to barely make a sound.

They both sent Papyrus off with encouragements but Sans was half distracted with keeping an eye on Alex. If Alex didn’t speak up, Sans was calling it an early night after dinner.

A frown pulled at Alex’s features as Sans placed dinner next to the papers Alex was working on a few hours later and, without looking up from the paper, Alex asked as he pulled the bowl of soup closer, “Hey, Sans, what about this?” He passed Sans the paper, ladling a spoonful of soup in his mouth as the skeleton settled on the edge of the couch. “What if the results are not from a lack of us trying?” Sans read the report, reaching over Alex to pick up a few other pages as Alex continued, “I think we’re on the edge of it. We just need to add more.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ve tried every element combination we have on hand,” Sans offered sadly, shuffling the papers in his hand as he reread parts.

Alex shook his head. “We haven’t tried multiple combinations yet. Nor distorted elements.”

Sans gave Alex a credulous look. “We’ve done some. With so many variables, though, we cannot control the tests well enough to prevent some of the more volatile reactions. I don’t think we could handle anything more volatile than what we’ve already risked our lives with.”

Alex grimaced at the reminder of their close calls. “True.” He started going through the mess on the coffee table. “But I think those had more promising results than the most recent experiments.”

“There’s also the fact that we’ve been avoiding using magic for a reason,” Sans pointed out as Alex pulled a few papers from the bottom of the pile that promptly dumped itself on the floor. Sans got up as Alex ignored the mess in favor of flipping through the papers he had grabbed, countering, “Which I think needs to stop.”

Sans gave him a look. Alex rushed on, “I know magic is volatile when added to experiments like this and that any test of just pure magic on the atmosphere has resulted in negative results but I think if we start adding magic to the elements we’re using, maybe we’ll get the results we need. We haven’t even touched soul power.”

Sans slammed the stack he had created against the coffee table, snapping Alex’s gaze up and causing the bowl to clatter. “We will never get permission to be able to use souls on this project,” Sans uttered, his eyes narrow. “And don’t even–”

Alex cut him off, covering one of Sans’s hands with his own. “I won’t. It was just a statement.”

“A dangerous one.” Sans’s expression softened. “We can’t risk another being for an experiment that has a high chance of failing. We’ve already been over this.”

Alex chuckled softly, some form of dark humor flickering through those green eyes. “Yet we risk our lives time and time again, not to mention we’re running out of time. Other Undergrounds have already been fully compromised not to mention we’re losing contact with the neighboring Undergrounds and our own time is running out. The filters are beginning to fail at a rate that can’t be countered anymore.”

Sans let out a sharp hiss of air as he placed the remainder of the mess back on the table. “I know.”

Alex opened his mouth to offer something, his expression soft, but the door banged open scaring both monster and human. Sans’s magic flared as his hand came up out of instinct but the magic vanished quickly as Papyrus leaned in using the doorframe as support, out of breath and magic palpable around him. His armor looked disheveled.

“The Lab’s being attacked.”

Spoiler: Chapter 21

Alex yanked at the blanket he was still securely wrapped in as Sans teleported to his room. He tore through his closet and dresser, tossing things out of the way and aiming a few articles at his mattress. Sans found he had automatically pulled out what he had worn in that coma induced dream of his that still haunted his dreams as regularly as any Gaster related nightmare. He had really liked the outfit at one point but now he could use it to fight in without fretting of losing a good shirt or a comfy pair of shorts. Heavy footfall was heard on the stairs and he was soon joined by Papyrus carrying Alex as he tossed a pair of Alex’s jeans onto the bed next to a long sleeve shirt and a random t-shirt he had come across. The extra layers would do Alex some good. Sans dressed quickly before helping his brother aid Alex in dressing as well.

Worry gnawed at Sans’s soul. He could feel Alex shaking beneath his careful hands as he helped the human into the jeans as Papyrus went digging through the mess around them. Alex needed to recover, not go head first into a battle. Sans helped Alex into the t-shirt as he urged softly. “You should be staying here.”

Alex gave him a tired smile, his expression tight around the edges once his head came free of the fabric. “I can’t. I’ll worry myself to death if I do that.” The dark humor was unwanted by the two skeletons. It wasn’t helped by the soft beeping coming from the heart monitor on Alex’s wrist. Alex didn’t apologize. “Besides, I know how to shut down the main systems, how to keep the place from blowing a hole to the Overworld. It’ll keep me out of harm’s way and useful.”

Papyrus draped a leather jacket across Alex’s shoulders, passing Sans an all too familiar blue jacket. Papyrus cupped the side of Alex’s head. “Just don’t overdo it. We don’t want to lose you for real this time.

Alex nodded. “I’ll do what I can.”

There was a brief stop at the door for shoes before the trio stepped out into the snow. As much as Sans was eternally grateful the Lab was within the Snowdin region, he cursed the distance they had to cover to get there. Alex was shoved onto Papyrus’s back by both skeletons before the human could even think of running said distance. With their sick human secured, Sans led the way, Papyrus easily keeping pace.

The sounds became understandable long before they actually saw anything. By that point, Sans was really hurting - they didn’t need to breathe, not really, but damn if it didn’t feel like he was suffocating - but he wasn’t going to say anything. Instead, he looked to Papyrus and Alex. A sort of scream roar echoed through their heads and Sans watched as Alex flinched, his grip around Papyrus’s neck tightening as the human buried his face in the crook of his arm. The lanky skeleton sent a look to Sans. Sans nodded. They would do everything in their power to get this done quickly so that they could get Alex home.

Sans caught glimpses of a black mass nearly as tall as the Lab itself through the trees. He shuddered, risking a glance at his brother and Alex again. Papyrus’s wide sockets spoke too clearly that he had seen it. Thankfully Alex still had his face hidden.

Sans ran harder.

They came to a side entrance, both brothers breathing heavily but too pumped with adrenaline to care. Sans grabbed the back of Alex’s coat, guiding him off of Papyrus’s back as he rattled off, “Get inside, help with the shut down, then get as far from here as you can. We’ll keep the attackers out of the lab for as long as we can manage. You just make sure it’s not going to explode when they do.”

Alex nodded and slipped through the side entrance. Sans grabbed his brother’s hand and teleported them to the battle field.

It was utter chaos. Already a fourth of the forces trying to keep Gaster at bay had been wiped out. Distorted creatures were coming out from every part of the dark mass. Left eye ablaze with blue magic, Sans summoned an array of blasters and let loose. White blue beams of burning magic shot out of the skulls, decimating the creatures oozing out of Gaster’s inky blob of a form but seemed to have no affect on Gaster himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught flashes of white orange beams of magic. Only once did Sans allow himself a glance at his brother.

Papyrus, ever the caring soul, had dived right in. His bone attacks were controlled and organized, taking out enemies without the threat of injuring an ally. The fact that Papyrus was able to simultaneously let loose bone attacks with such precision and do the same with blasters of his own without even looking left Sans with a sense of awe and pride. Even one of Papyrus’s blasters suddenly materialized beside him, taking out an attack Sans had left himself open to. Sans focused back on his surroundings and patted the massive skull. “Thanks, bro,” he muttered as the skull disappeared. “I can take it from here.”

Where his brother had finesse, Sans had raw power. He reached out with his magic, turning every soul his magic touched blue. There was a brief flash of worry as he started clamping down on souls. Would he be able to tell the difference between the creatures and his allies or would they be indistinguishable under his magic?

It turned out to be a non-issue. The first time he moved people out of the way, he was startled to see no creatures caught up in the blue magic. He happily disintegrated the open targets. The second time, he actually focused and discovered something that made his figurative skin crawl.

The creatures had souls but the souls were and weren’t there, as if each soul of every creature Gaster had brought with him was on the brink between existing and not. Sans was at least grateful he didn’t have to work more that he had to when using the blasters in such a way. He was already straining.

Though full of raw magic, it was extremely difficult to control and maintain a steady stream of over an extended period of time and he found his magic draining far faster than he would have liked.

His blasters suddenly shattered and Sans crashed to his knees from the backlash. Sweat beading his brow and body shaking, Sans tried to reign in what magic remained.

Movement to his left forced him to dodge a melee attack from one of the creatures. He’d let himself get surrounded.

Bones embedded each creature as he spun, making sure each attack hit the intended mark. The souls that were there and yet not dusted on impact but the bodies of the creatures seemed to disintegrate and liquefy at the same time. Sans flinched as splash back splattered his clothes and face as his shoes slid in the liquid remains. He rubbed at the splatter on his cheek, making a face at the substance. “Ok, that’s just gross,” he voiced to no one in particular. Oh how he wished he could just use his blasters indefinitely. A glance at Papyrus, though, showed that Papyrus was covered in whatever these creatures turned into with death and that the blasters Papyrus was using had settled on a specific count and were doing short, precise blasts. Sans envied his brother’s tactical mindset.

Turning back at the swarm closing in around him, Sans gave them all a grin as he pulled at the world, appearing high above the mass of creatures. A quick brush of magic confirmed that there were no allies blended in with the hoard beneath him as he started to fall back towards the ground. His grin grew as he raised his hand and snapped his fingers. An obscene amount of bones shot out of the ground, impaling the majority of the hoard but a small number got lucky. Sans moved his arm, a barrage of bones appearing around him in the air. He snapped again and the bones rained down on the surviving creatures. He pulled at the world before he could fall much farther. His shoes squelched in the remains but he kept his footing with ease.

With an unobscured view of the battlefield, he was nearly re-acquainted with dinner.

Bodies, dust, and the liquid like remains of the creatures made the grass turn into a muddy mess, dust, blood, and creature remains creating a sort of tar like substance that clung to everything and made it even harder to move. But what made him want to vomit the most were the human remains that stayed behind instead of dusting like monster forms did. What remained of the humans was the perfect indicator on just how vicious and vile the creatures actually were.

“They’ve breached the lab!”

Sans’s magic turned to ice on his bones at the cry. Sans spun around, taking in the massive hole in the front of the lab. There was still a line of monsters and humans holding the creatures back but it wasn’t going to be enough. The line was already within the lab walls. One good push from the creatures and all would be lost.

He sneered. Throwing him magic outward, blue bones erupted between the horde and those holding the line, effectively killing a number of the creatures and blocking the hole in the process.

Sans staggered. He wouldn’t be able to hold it for much longer. He had used the Gaster blasters for too long, had been fighting too hard.

“Sans!”

His head whipped around, finding Papyrus running towards him. Two creatures launched themselves at the lankier skeleton but Papyrus didn’t even spare them a glance, sending a bone through each. Sans winced and focused back on his attack. The creatures were pounding on the bones, trying to get through, but they were killing themselves or their fellow creature as they started to try and scale the things to get in. Blue bones were meant to do damage on moving creatures and stationary blue bones meant that stationary creatures weren’t getting through. But blue bones took a lot of magic and far more concentration when not used in brief bursts.

Magic flared at his side as Papyrus came to a stop beside him. All the monsters and humans between them and the gaping hole were picked up by Papyrus’s blue magic and suspended above the creatures high enough that Sans had a clear opening. With his brother’s own magical attack blended with him, a combination of blue and white bone attacks flooded their way from the temporarily patched hole in the wall, ending when the last creature between them and the lab was taken out. All of his magical attacks dissipated including the constructs that had been obscuring the hole in the lab and Sans crashed to his hands and knees gasping for air. He was aware of Papyrus carefully putting everyone down but that was the extent of what he could make beyond the black spots trying to take over his vision. He nearly jumped when Papyrus’s hand settled on his shoulder blade.

The groan he let out was nearly obscene as his brother’s magic rushed into him. The spots vanished and his brain caught on to what his brother was doing. Jerking away, he ended up on his rump even as he grabbed at Papyrus’s wrist. “Pap-“

“I’ll be fine, Sans,” Papyrus informed him in equal parts stern and gentle. He clasped Sans’s forearm in turn and resumed his magic transfer. “The blasters drain you far more than they do me. I have plenty of magic to not only give you, but to keep yourself and others safe as well.”

Sans smiled weakly at his brother but before he could tell his brother just how cool he thought the other was, movement over his brother’s shoulder caught his attention. His pupils vanished as his magic flared and he reflexively tightened his grip on Papyrus as he teleported them out of danger. The gaping hole in the lab arched over their heads as Sans watched a clawed, inky sludge hand slam into the ground where they had been standing only a moment before. Magic flared from his left socket as he watched Gaster’s size diminish rapidly with the last of the creatures spilling out. Gaster dragging himself to the spot the brothers had just left to become a pile of inky sludge, the white mask-like face failing to hold its oval shape completely with the motion. Globs dripped off and floated about in ways that defied the laws of gravity only to be reabsorbed after floating for a short while. It was a flicker – like a trick of the light – but Sans swore he saw parts of Gaster actually glitch, distorting in places only to realign. Sans shoved at Papyrus’s side, urging the skeleton into the lab as Gaster’s face turned towards them and the cracked smile turned into a warped grin. Sans threw up a renewed wall of blue bones, Papyrus throwing up a second wall of blue bones just behind Sans’s. Hopefully it would be enough to by them some time.

There was the sound of shattering bone from the far side and Sans winced as a chunk of his attack was taken out.

“So much for that idea,” Sans offered with a weak smile. “Too many cracks.”

“Sans,” Papyrus groaned. “No.”

Sans chuckled.

Another sound of shattering bone and the majority of what remained of Sans’s attack was taken out. Sans turned to those standing about, preparing to defend the Lab, and ordered, “Get everyone out the back and loop back around to the grounds to finish off the stragglers. We’ve got this.”

The monsters and humans complied with surprising ease and efficiency, quickly fleeing deeper into the Lab to get out again. The skeletons readied their magic as a portion of Papyrus’s attack shattered into used magic and Gaster’s face appeared between the bars of bone. Another swipe and the entire barrier fell.

Sans summoned two blasters as Papyrus summoned three and all five went off at once, slamming into the single point that was Gaster’s face. There was a screech almost like high pitched static that scrapped like nails on chalkboard in Sans’s skull. He flinched and his blasters shattered. Papyrus grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and pulled.

A tendril sharpened to a deadly point slammed into the floor where Sans had been standing, embedding itself into the floor so deep that Sans would have been bored through till nothing was left had Papyrus not acted so quickly. Sans rotated in the air, landing hard on his feet but staying upright. His brother, as always, had a bit more finesse to his landing but that was to be expected of the armored Royal Guard that his brother was.

Said armor saved his life not a second later.

Sans hadn’t even seen the attack coming but from one instance to the next Papyrus went from standing beside him to being thrown into the far wall. Sans automatically glanced towards Papyrus, taking in that his brother was most likely bruised but otherwise unharmed, before instantly regretting the motion. He pulled at the world as he turned about; the world reforming with his back to the roof till gravity took hold of him again. He had gotten lucky. Another tendril had embedded itself into the floor where he had been standing and had he not teleported when he had, he would be dust. Again.

Apparently Gaster was on to his disappearing act as five tendrils were sent his way. He dodged the first three with ease. He barely dodged the fourth, teleporting away as his sternum stun. An all too familiar slash through the front of his shirt and jacket caused him to catch the fifth in the pelvis. As fluid and goopy as Gaster looked, those sharpened tendrils were like razors, slicing through his bones like they were butter. It didn’t stay imbedded, thankfully. Sans pressed a hand against the puncture wound as he spun from the attack’s inertia and he used it to embed a white bone through the tendril into the ceiling, pinning the tendril there. It did nothing as the tendril only turned to goop and fell back down to Gaster.

Sans pulled at the world, skidding on the floor as his momentum transferred to the horizontal plane. His left leg gave out due to the pain in his hip. He hissed, suddenly very vulnerable.

His brother’s arms were around him and they were rolling sideways as three separate tendrils embedded themselves through furniture and into the wall or floor. Papyrus’s hands found their way to Sans’s injuries and there was a burst of green light. The healing magic was like living fire and Sans was healed in three seconds – which was good, seeing as that was the only reprieve they had.

Sans found himself airborne again but he went with it in style. Maintaining a tight pattern, Sans unleashed a volley of bones from above as his brother countered from the ground. Gaster was hit from what seemed to be all sides but the goopy entity didn’t seem to retain much damage. Sans appeared beside his brother, this time able to neutralize the change in velocity through the shift in location.

“It’s like we’re fighting a boss monster,” Sans ground out, already feeling the wear and tear of the prolonged fight getting to him again. Every bone ached for rest and it was all he could do to keep his magic at such a high level; he was running out of reserve stamina. He had been exhausted before Gaster decided to come say hi in person. “Our attacks are doing nothing.”

Papyrus grabbed his arm but Sans pulled at the world and dragged Papyrus to a different location. Gaster seemed to have anticipated their move. Papyrus reacted faster than Sans did and Sans found himself deposited on the other side of the room on the upper walkway, Papyrus within reach. Papyrus crashed to his hands and knees, shaking. Near panic gripped his soul as Sans gripped his brother’s arm. Words poured off his tongue as he tried to process the fact that Papyrus had just teleported them. “Pap, come on. This is no time for a freak out.”

“Sorry,” Papyrus responded, getting up. Sans went with him and they dashed for the nearest door. Tendrils slammed into the wall behind them and ahead of them. Sans pulled at the world, moving in short bursts in an attempt to avoid being impaled again.

Papyrus leapt over and slid under tendrils as needed. It left Sans impressed by his brother’s ability to move in such ways and disappointed in himself for not being able to handle such physical movement.

That is till panic nearly made Sans trip into an incoming tendril.

He had watched Papyrus jerk back, face marred by a sneer and a touch of pain as a tendril caught the front of his neck leaving a gash that had Sans remembering things he didn’t want to remember.

A white bone impaled the tendril that had missed Sans by a hair and it spurred Sans back into action. Papyrus was still alive and now was not the time to get himself killed over old fears.

H wee slammed the door open when he reached it first, stumbling when it gave far easier than he had expected. It was in his favor as a tendril shot over his head and he quickly moved to the side as it slammed downward. Papyrus wrapped his lanky arms around him and pulled, forcing both of them to dive into the left hallway. Gaster screamed in frustration.

Sans took off down the hallway, Papyrus on his heels. They had quite a bit of ground to cover before they would be able to go a different direction, let alone to a different wing, and sadly the area Gaster had attacked was perpendicular to the hallway they were in.

The wall erupted with spikes as Gaster released a volley of attacks without being able to see them. Tendrils were pulled back only to be shot through the hallway again at seemingly random intervals. Sans grabbed at Papyrus and pulled at the world.

Gaster screamed again.

Sans took the lead when the end of the hallway a floor above formed around them, booking it into the west wing.

He didn’t dare use magic again.

They stopped near the middle of the west wing on the fifth floor, the top floor. Only thing above them was the roof. Sans collapsed against the wall, gasping for breath, but he wasn’t completely out of steam to not return to his previous worry as Papyrus sank to the floor beside him. “What happened back there? When you had teleported us, what happened?”

Papyrus shook his head, gaze on his hands. “I don’t know.”

Sans put his hand out, palm up. “Give me your hand.” Papyrus hesitated but Sans wasn’t having any of it. “We don’t have time for this, Papyrus. Give me your hand. I have to check.”

Papyrus took his hand and Sans sent a burst of magic through his brother. They both flinched at the rough invasion but it was the only way Sans could get a quick but solid understanding of his brother’s magical standings.

It was a mess.

While there was still so much magic housed in his brother’s body, the teleportation had done some serious damage to Papyrus’s magical system. There was a distortion that Sans wasn’t sure he even knew how to fix and Papyrus was now losing magic as if his system had a leak somewhere. If they didn’t end this quick, they would both be out of magic and in more trouble than they already were.

Sans didn’t get the chance to voice this to Papyrus and, in hindsight, Papyrus probably understood the situation already.

A thick tendril crashed through the ceiling and slapped into them, sending them through the floor. Papyrus’s immediate reaction protected Sans from the brunt of the attack. They slammed into the floor of the fourth level but the tendril kept going, shoving them beyond the fourth floor through the third, second, and first, into the first level of subfloors. Papyrus groaned as Sans shifted out from under his brother to look up.

His sockets widened and he blindly pulled at the world as he dragged his brother along. They appeared on the other side of Gaster as the mass of goop collided with the point they had been at, parts of Gaster splattering everywhere. Briefly suspended in the air above Gaster, Sans let off a series of attacks, unintentionally pulling on his brother’s magic with his arm still firmly around Papyrus’s ribs, and managed to land a good number that he hoped did some actual damage. Downside was that it drew Gaster’s attention and Sans was forced to pull at the world again despite the need to counter gravity’s pull.

Either Gaster knew where Sans was going to appear or Sans was becoming predicable because as Sans reoriented himself with where he had dragged them, the first thing he saw was a sharpened tendril almost touching him.

He pulled at the world again as Papyrus released several bone constructs in a desperate attempt to give them time.

“Get inside,” Sans spoke, the stout skeleton’s hand fisted in the back of his leather jacket as a guide off of Papyrus’s back, “help with the shut down, then get as far away from here as you can. We’ll keep the attackers out of the lab as best we can. You just make sure it’s not going to explode if they do.”

Alex gave a brisk nod before slipping through the side entrance. The task of shutting down the multiple generators was a hardy one. Nearly every major lab within the all encompassing Lab name had its own generator. Some even had multiple, his and Sans’s lab being a fine example of that. They had a pair of turbine generators used for mixing elements and generating power as well as four isolated generators in case of power failure. Only down side was that any generator on – which most backup generators were to some extent due to some experiments’ temperaments – could easily become a bomb with the right kind of outside influence. Brute force was a great start. Piercing the machinery was another.

He made it to the first batch of generators as a siren blared to life. He jumped, gaze snapping to the pulsing red lights. His heart was in his throat as the voice echoed from the emergency signal.

“Imminent overload detected. All personnel, shut down all generators and evacuate the building. I repeat: Imminent overload detected. All personnel, shut down all generators and evacuate the building. No generator is to be left on. Flee if in immediate danger. Imminent overload detected. All personnel, shut down all generators and evacuate the building.”

The announcement continued as he turned his attention to the lab techs. He recognized none of their faces but they seemed to recognize him.

“We’ve got it in here, Alex,” one of the techs called out, the last generator shutting down. “Head down to the main generators. We’ll make sure the rest on this floor are shut down.”

He gave a sharp nod even as his chest felt too tight. They were safe, they were fine. He had nothing to worry about.

He covered the heart monitor on his wrist as it started beeping softly at him.

“Be quick and try to avoid whatever is attacking the lab.”

“Flee if in immediate danger,” echoed his sentiments.

The technicians nodded, determination settling in their expressions.

He took off down the hall, people running this way and that, most with determined expressions despite the fear and panic coloring the edges. Other traits kept fear and panic at bay but Alex couldn’t focus on the faces passing him anymore. He was already having a hard time breathing and noticing the number of strangers was not helping. He pressed on, determination be damned; perseverance was his soul trait for a reason and it wasn’t about to let him down now.

The beeping from his wrist got louder and faster.

The main power generators were in the largest lower level space available in all of Snowdin Lab. Six massive generators, each on its own isolated system, were still filling the massive space with noise.

A face he half recognized approached him and relief filled the turmoil in his chest.

He still couldn’t breathe.

“Generator Five,” the half recognized person ordered, gesturing to the farthest generator down the left column. “They should be starting its shutdown sequence once you get there.”

“And the other generators?”

A part of the humming started to gradually change pitch in the space and they both looked over to see the first generator on the left start to slow down.

“Handled. Now hurry.”

Alex took off running.

He situated himself at Generator Five’s large console controls once he arrived, taking up the last free space available.

“Initializing shutdown sequence,” someone shouted from behind him. “Beginning sector isolation and stabilization.”

Ingrained training kicked in and he automatically flipped switches to divert power and compensate for the fluctuation about to be caused for his section. The others on the large console controls around him were mirroring his actions for their sections.

“Sector Three stabilized,” the person to his left shouted over the noise.

“Sector Two stabilized,” he shouted as he got a number of green lights and dials in the necessary areas, the person to his right shouting at the same time, “Sector One stabilized.”

“Sector Four stabilized,” came the final shout farther to his left.

“Generator in the green,” was faint behind him.

“Shutdown sequence proceeding. Turbine in free spin.”

There was a noise from the generator beyond the console bay and the pitch began to gradually change. As much as that was a celebration in and of itself, they weren’t out of the woods quite yet. He watched his section, the dials twitching and feeds fluctuating but nothing was abnormal.

“Sector Three green,” came from his left.

“Sector Two green,” he added.

“Sector One green,” was quickly followed by, “Sector Four green.”

“Siphoning off power. Applying breaking system.”

The pitch of the generator started to shift faster but there were no changes to his readings. It was a long minute before he heard the much needed words: “Turbine stopped and locked. Generator Five is off.”

He sighed, sagging in his chair as his section of console went dark. There were a few cheers from those around him but he wasn’t celebrating just yet.

Generator Four was still running while Generator One had yet to stop completely. Generators Two and Three were whining against the braking systems but slowing. He set out to help with Four as two of those that had been with him on Five headed to One.

Alarms were blaring from the console and at least two sections were not stabilizing as they were supposed to. There were commands being shouted and Alex took half a second to see if there was anything he could do to help.

The half remembered person that had greeted him at the door was shoving him to one of the sector controls. “Take over. I have the other one.”

He didn’t say anything, simply went with the command and tapped the other scientist out. The scientist looked far too relieved to be trading out as a rumble filled the space that had nothing to do with the generators.

“They’ve breached the lab entrance!”

His hands stilled, his mind suddenly filled with worry. No, they needed more time. Surely Sans and Papyrus...Sans and....

“Come on, Fatum! Don’t quit on me yet!”

The shout was almost in his left ear and he flinched away as he came back to the present. It seemed like everything was screaming at him and he quickly started typing out commands and flipping switches in an attempt to get ahead of the mess he had let fester.

Slowly lights became green and dials returned to the needed zones. He heard the faint shout from his left of Sector Four stabilizing but it wasn’t enough to break his attention away from his task.

The last light turned green as the final dial fell into the proper zone and he rushed, “Sector Three stabilized!”

“Generator in the green!” There was a slight panic in the urgency of the words shouted behind him.

“Shutdown sequence proceeding! Turbine in free spin!”

It seemed the entire area held its breath as things flickered to red in the different sectors. His didn’t fall back into green like it should have and he started countering the errors popping up.

More errors started to appear as the sound of Generator One vanished. Generator Four was the last one to be shut down.

“Get everyone not needed out, now!” the person to his left commanded as he frantically worked to get Sector Three green. “We’ll follow as soon as we have this one shut down!”

“Sector Three,” came the strangled shout from behind him. “I need you in green!”

“I’m trying!” he snapped, his words holding a frantic edge to them. The person to his left moved closer, hands filling in spaces his left behind. It took a few desperate seconds before they found a rhythm around each other before, one by one, things started returning to green.

The last one came into the needed zone and he stabbed a button, shouting, “Sector Three green!”

“Siphoning off power! Applying breaking system!”

The pitch of the generator started to shift faster. His readings fluctuated and, for a moment, he feared the worst.

“Turbine stopped and locked. Generator Four is off.”

The entire room seemed to sigh in relief as everything went dark. Alex draped himself over the dark console, letting out a shaky breath. His heart was pounding in his ribs so hard that it hurt. His wrist was still beeping incensantly at him.

“Alright everyone,” the person to his left – the person he half recognized – directed, standing. “Let’s get out. Double check labs as you go.”

There were rings of acknowledgments from those present and Alex pushed himself to his feet. The person he half recognized laid a heavy hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Go via the medical labs and offices. Make sure your friends there got out.”

He frowned, not understanding for the moment it took for his brain to dredge up the yellow dinosaur monster that he had interacted with a few times and the fish monster that was usually around her. He nodded, giving the other’s hand a squeeze. “See you in a bit, then.”

The person gave him a brisk nod before hurrying after the others.

He stood in the dimly lit generator room for a moment, his heart still not back to a normal rate. He covered the watch style heart monitor hoping to stifle its beeping. Turning, he took off towards the medical area with the hope of not finding anyone there.

Spoiler: Chapter 22

A left turn a good number of minutes later had him running into one of the creatures from outside – literally. His momentum shoved them both forward and the thing liquefied when he landed on top of it. The other creatures were quick to take notice of his presence and leap at him. He didn’t even have time to flinch as each one lost its form as teal spears pinned them to the ground. The spears vanished with a shout of his name from somewhere beyond his head. He pushed himself onto an elbow ignoring the black substance sticking to his clothing and skin and found a hand offered to him. He looked up to find Undyne grinning at him and despite his lack of memory about her, he gladly took hold of her proffered hand and the aiding pull to his feet. Her grip was nearly painful on his arms as he slipped about in the goop.

“Oh thank g-goodness,” Alphys stuttered, rushing over from where there were others huddled near some room. The pain in his chest flared. “You g-gave us quite the f-fright th-there, Alex.”

The world suddenly spun and he wasn’t sure if his legs were holding him up or if the touches that burned were dragging him down. He tried to scream, to shout, but he couldn’t even breathe as his world erupted in pain.

Something was screaming, like an emergency alarm of some kind.

It was a while before he came back to reality, the pain slowly losing potency in his chest but not going away. He rubbed at his sweaty face with a shaking hand that weighed far more than it should. He slowed his breathing, determined to get it back under control. It took longer than he would have liked.
His heart wasn’t slowing down and the pain hadn’t gone away.

He opened his eyes.

“A-Alex?”

Alex lulled his head towards the voice and Alphys’s face swam into view. He frowned at her before forcing himself upright despite the way his muscles screamed. Hands hovered near him but didn’t touch. Alex swallowed, finding his throat dry. “Wha…” He coughed, the word hoarse and weak. “What happened?”

Had he been screaming?

“You collapsed,” Undyne stated, taking a small step back. Alex took his glasses from Alphys’s shaking hand. “Alphys?”

“Are y-you still in p-pain?” the yellow monster asked Alex in lieu of answering Undyne.

“Yes,” Alex croaked. He rubbed at his throat trying to swallow again. “My heart won’t seem to slow down either.”

Alphys’s expression hardened and had his heart not already been in his throat, it would have dropped to his stomach. “I’m sorry, Alex. The best I can give you is t-two hours. Maybe four.”

Alex felt a strange numbness settle over him, changing his expression as the meaning behind her words dawned on him.

“Wait, what?” Undyne asked, not understanding. “Alphys, what–”

Her words cut off but the rest of her question was obvious. Alphys took her glasses off and twirled them in a nervous gesture, watching as the frame and glass caught the light. Alex found himself equally transfixed by the nervous gesture, hyperaware of his bare wrist. “Alex suffered a...a heart attack of sorts. Half of his heart will not f-function properly anymore. I-It’s only a matter of time before it s-stops completely.”

“There’s nothing you can do?” Undyne asked, sounding strained. Alphys looked up at her with tears in her eyes but it was Alex who responded.

"I had a heart attack this morning and have pushed my body too hard. I'm not surprised my borrowed time has finally caught up with me." He slid off the bed. His eyes were hard behind his glasses as he met Undyne's gaze. “I was a dead man walking when I was born and there has been nothing anyone could have done for me for just as long. But now that I have a definitive amount of time left, I’m going to make the most of it.”

He stepped around them both. Undyne’s hand snapped out, wrapping around his wrist. His steady gaze settled on her and she lost the ferocity she had been about to use. Instead, she softly asked, “What are you going to do?”

“Protect what family I have left.” He slipped his wrist from her grip. “All of it; including the parts that I can’t remember.”

He turned and ran out before anyone else could stop him. He had to make sure Sans and Papyrus made it out of this situation alive before he succumbed to his own limitations. And if he happened to help those that were trapped in the lab get out, then he would die with no regrets.

No regrets, beyond leaving behind his family like this.

He climbed up to the same floor where the catwalks for all the labs were and used the catwalks to scour the lab for the brothers. He knew the fighting had entered through the main lab entrance so he figured it was best to start there.

He burst through a door onto a catwalk slamming into the rail opposite the door. He leaned over the railing with the momentum, looking down as the sound of something breaking filled the room.

To his utter surprise, Sans and Papyrus were on the first floor, doing what they could to stay alive against something that made Alex’s entire being revolt against staying there. Terror adhered his feet to the walkway.

The ink blob of sludge that was attacking the brothers seemed impervious to the brothers’ attacks and it took all he had to look away and take in the lab they were fighting in.

It was his and Sans’s lab. Surprise shot through Alex as his quick mind started forming a plan and then some. Despite the terror that froze his feet, his mind was still as sharp as ever and whether it was intentional or not, the brothers were leading Gaster towards the pair of twin turbine generators. Or, more specifically, between them.

Conventional or not, he and Sans used the two generators to blend the atmosphere and their test sample. It was all gaseous anyways and it wasn’t like it was harming the equipment anyways. That all could be cleaned and replaced as needed; which brought an idea to mind. It was risky but if the brothers could keep Gaster’s attention, it could work.

He ran to the nearest service ladder secured to the wall and slid down it as a plan formed around his idea, steps outlining themselves before his feet hit the bottom. It was a foolish plan, one that would cost him and Sans a great deal in their research but it could save so many lives.

He started slamming buttons and flipping switches, inputting commands and starting sequences as he got things turned on and running. There was a low rumble as one set of turbine, then the next started up, picking up speed and increasing in pitch and volume as the rest of the machine came to life. The ink blob of goop either didn’t give it any heed or didn’t care as the whine of other machines joined in.

Sans did.

For the briefest of moments, Alex caught Sans’s gaze and grinned at him, giving him a thumbs up that was surprisingly steady, what with how much adrenaline was coursing through his veins. Sans gave him a frantic look before the inky blob of goop got in the way. Alex hurried off to the last station as he started up their last experiment. It was the only way he could guarantee that the system did not jam from what he was about to do.

The power levels started to stabilize as he gathered an assortment of tools. As he shoved the last one in his pocket, the last level turned green and the system was ready to receive the test compound. All he needed to do now was get the compound in the machine. Alex moved away from the terminal and to the nearest lever. He caught a glimpse of the brothers in between the two generators losing ground as they were pushed back towards the main machine. He could make out the panic on their faces and it made his chest clench in a panic. He pulled with all his might on the first lever.

One of two panels on the turbine unit slid open, the air rushing passed him as one part of the twin turbine was exposed to the area the brothers and goop were in. He jammed one of the tools into it, forcing it to stay open despite the spring and anti-locking fail safes.

He dodged a wayward tendril and rolled sloppily to the other turbine. He scrambled to his feet and pulled at the lever there.

One of two panels on the second turbine unit slid open and the amount of air rushing passed increased, whipping at him as if to tempt him towards the center. He dragged himself away from the torrent of moving air only to stumble into the still air on the backside of the turbine unit. He took off running. A glance towards the goop mass revealed that the entity didn’t seem to care about the sudden pull of air.

He couldn’t breathe but it didn’t matter. He had to make sure that his sacrifice and the sacrifice of all that he and Sans had worked so hard on would rid the world of Gaster without taking one of the brothers at the same time.

Just two more levers, two more and they would be free.

He came to the first of the final levers. Sans and Papyrus were briefly parallel to the lever till a well aimed tendril forced them to retreat even more. Except there was nowhere to retreat to and Alex’s voice died in his throat as another attack assaulted the brothers.

Papyrus took a sharpened tendril through the shoulder and through the hip where the plate armor had been ripped away from earlier attacks, slicing through the sudden bone defense he had erected like it had been nothing more than paper.

It had been enough to keep Sans from taking any damage from the barrage.

Sans took the brunt of Papyrus’s weight as the lankier skeleton collapsed, the tear in Sans’s shirt becoming prominent as it gaped open in his attempt to keep his brother from hitting the floor.

Alex yanked at the lever.

The handle snapped.

He cussed. Whatever colorful language he had used was lost to the sound of rushing air and static as he stumbled backwards, broken lever in hand. Nothing on his person was strong enough to replace the lever handle.

In the end, it didn’t matter.

A resounding thud and a pair of pained cries jerked his attention to the right. He watched the brothers collapse to the floor, a sizable dent in the heavy plating of the machine itself. Sans seemed to be fighting to keep some form of coherency but from where Alex stood, it looked like Papyrus had been knocked unconscious. He was proven wrong when the lanky skeleton shook himself as Sans tried to get them both to their feet as the mass recoiled.

The tendril that had slammed them into the machine reshaped into a point as the brothers shifted about and it was very clear what was going to happen next.

Alex moved without thinking.

His feet ate up the short distance between him and the brothers. His shoes skidded on the smooth floor as he threw his arms out to either side facing the creature head on as that very same tendril shot towards them.

It was a war they knew they couldn’t win. Gaster was far stronger than them both combined and they had known that going into this but Sans had never once fathomed that he would ever have a glimmer of hope of actually beating the monster that had caused him and his family such pain until Alex grinned at him.

At first, panic had filled him at seeing Alex so close to danger, but when it seemed Gaster didn’t care for what Alex was doing, Sans did.

And it was brilliant.

It took nothing to keep Gaster focused on him and Papyrus. The blob seemed far too interested in them to care that machines were coming to life, that the panels were moving to expose the spinning turbines.

Despite the good intentions of keeping Gaster’s attention, Sans found himself getting overwhelmed, Papyrus barely a step ahead of him. A well placed slap of a tendril and Sans was seeing stars, sinking to the floor with his back against the body of the machine. He tried to fight the darkness that was tearing at him, tried to get Papyrus to move but the tendril was sharpening to a deadly point and Sans knew they were out of time.

A sickening squelching filled the air as his left cheek started to sting.

Blood splattered to the floor pooling rapidly at Alex's feet as the human curled forward on the tendril burrowed through his chest as thick as the man's thigh when it stopped. Sans stared in horror with sockets void of eyelights as the razor sharp tip ghosted against Sans’s face beneath his left eye. Warm blood slowly dripped from the tendril to Sans’s face and shoulder for the breath that it hovered by his face.

The tendril jerked back and retracted, dropping Alex in the pool of blood.

There was a strange disconnect in Sans's brain as he stared at the gapping hole in Alex's chest where a heart should be. His breath rattled through him as he felt Papyrus grab at his shirt, a ringing in his skull that faintly reminded him of screaming. Papyrus yanked him back and Sans suddenly found it easy to tear his gaze away from the body as a chuckle low and distorted echoed through his skull, drowning out the ringing. Gaster had reared back and up into his full height, grinning. “PitY tHe HumAN DiED. SuCH a waISt Of An iNTeRestINg ExPEriMEnT.”

Wrath surged through him so hot, he almost mistook it for the magic that poured through him in the same instance. Blinded by it all, he pushed his magic out to the sides. It slammed into the two remaining levers and wrapped securely around both despite one missing most of its handle. Papyrus’s magic pooled with his. With a shared scream, they shoved the levers down.

The paneling on the generators snapped open.

Sans reached for Alex’s body as the air was suddenly sucked towards the set of turbines but he had no magic left to gap the distance between him and the body being dragged away. Papyrus was there in his stead, long arm reaching beyond him to carefully protrude bones out of the ground between Alex and Gaster. Alex’s body bumped up against them but moved no more.

Gaster screamed as he was pulled in two directions, seeming to keep from being sucked in till the turbines gained a purchase on his physical matter. The moment that happened, it was like someone had pressed fast forward and Gaster was swallowed by the machine in a matter of seconds regardless of how hard the creature struggled.

The panels snapped closed.

Gaster was gone.

It felt like he was in a daze just staring at the point where Gaster had been. There was movement along his peripheral but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Someone stepped into his line of sight and it wasn’t till they squatted that he realized it was Undyne. She looked terrible.

“Hey,” she spoke softly. "I need to get you two out of here.”

“No,” slipped out before he could even register her statement and it broke something in him. A choked sob shook his body as the tears suddenly sprung forward, falling heavily from his sockets. He pressed a hand to his mouth, his other hand clenching desperately at the tear in his shirt as despair tried to drown him.

He couldn’t breathe – couldn’t think as he was swallowed up and tossed around by the grief that was quickly overtaking him. With no magic left to his name, he prayed to whatever was listening that he shattered into dust then and there, to never have to feel this again.

The arms that wrapped around him were too tight, too stiff, and too familiar, but he couldn’t do anything to push his brother away. The only thing that seemed to cut through any of it was a series of beeps and chimes that drew his attention from a trained response of years of repeated process.

“The experiment,” he croaked, finally pushing away from Papyrus. He stumbled as he stood up but he brushed away the hands that reached out for him.

It took everything he had not to glance towards where Alex’s body should have been. Even as out of it as he was, he could hear the moving of bodies in that general area and he didn’t want to know who was tending to the mess.

Instead, he marched over to the terminal currently chiming away at him as Alphys came hurrying over from somewhere. He glanced her way and a faint part of him prayed she hadn’t seen any of the aftermath.

He mentally flinched from the sudden clear memory of Alex's body and ruefully pushed it away.

“Hey, Alphys,” he spoke, his voice still raw. “Do me a solid and hop on that other terminal, would ya? I need a second set of eyes for this next part.”

She nodded and hurried over to the other chair.

He went about inputting a few commands, watching as her terminal came to life and started to chime too. It took very little brain power to utilize the practiced motions of keeping the process going, getting the elements added together and blended in a way that could be made into a gas that would blend with the final sample of atmosphere.

He made certain the compound that had been Gaster was properly isolated and only a small portion was removed for testing just in case they had to replicate anything should there be any significant readings.

“Compounds ready for injection,” Alphys announced.

Sans pushed himself away from the terminal and walked over to the lonely canister resting beside the proper front of the machine. He flicked open the canister port and locked the last canister in place. For a moment he stared at the canister of toxic Overworld atmosphere lost in a bewildered thought that they were wasting this because the only way they could defeat Gaster was to use the equipment. He bitterly hoped there were some decent results.

He walked over to the isolated terminal and pressed a button. A hiss sounded from the canister as the machine withdrew the air. The chair squeaked as he sat on the edge of it. A few clicks and a live video feed between him and Alphys appeared in the upper left. She looked at him as he started initializing sequences. “Let’s begin the purification test,” he spoke, pressing another set of buttons. “Transferring atmosphere to the trial tank.”

There was a breath.

“Trial tank full,” Alphys confirmed as he received the alert.

“Starting purification sequence with .0001 parts per 1000.” He pressed a button. Despite the toxic atmosphere of the Overworld and the vaporized solution having no color, he couldn’t help but look at the trial tank, hoping to see something.

Alphys’s voice cut through his thoughts and he focused back on the computer terminal before him. “Solution vapor fully integrated.” He started typing. “Saturation period has begun. Sample removal to be initiated in twenty seconds.”

A small countdown appeared in the upper right of his computer screen as he typed a few more keys before leaning back. Alphys turned away on her end of the video chat, talking with some of the lab workers that were coming back in to check on experiments. There was a low hum that joined the sounds of the lab. Sans glanced towards the other wall. The generators were being brought back online and systems that had relied on them were returning. Case in point, the amount of light in the room suddenly increased and there were a number of cheers from around the room.

“Sample removal initiated. Analysis process has begun.”

He sagged into the back of the chair as a progress bar appeared on his screen. He rubbed at his face before pushing forward again. Stopping would be bad. Stopping would let his mind wander. “Isolating and containing remaining substance. Prepping for next test.”

He tapped away, inputting commands here and there in different windows as the progress bar continued to fill at the top of his screen. A boney hand softly touched his shoulder and he glanced up at Papyrus briefly. “We’ve got about a minute before we start getting the results. It’ll be about three before the final results come in.”

The grip on his shoulder tightened but Papyrus offered no words.

Sans kept working, kept himself busy as the progress bar kept moving. If he stopped, if he gave himself a chance to be still, he didn’t think he would survive a second dance with the emotional turmoil rolling at the edge of his consciousness.

There was a chime that echoed from Alphys’s computer. His gaze flickered to her video feed as she came back into view. “Preliminary results are coming in. Two minutes until final results are in.”

“Thank you,” he responded on rote, clicking the pop-up.

It was a wall of text, letters and numbers blending in a way that an untrained eye wouldn’t understand. Having stared at these results for years, he knew what he was looking for, what numbers he needed before delving further. He felt Papyrus lean forward over his shoulder and a small part of him wondered if Papyrus understood any of it after so many years of watching him work.

The more he read, the larger his frown got. “That…can’t be right.”

He started typing in commands, opening new windows and closing others. Three more video feeds popped up on his screen as he caught sight of Alphys leaning out of frame. He could hear her calling to a few of the scientists milling about from across the lab and through the feed. He focused on the video feeds he had brought up. “Hey, I’m sending you guys the latest preliminary results from our current experiment. I need you guys to look it over and tell me I’m not going crazy.”

Each one wore some variation of confusion – and even one tried to get a word in edge wise – as they all affirmed their willingness in some fashion but Papyrus was drawing his attention from them.

“Sans? What’s going on?”

“I’m don’t-give me a few minutes to see, Pap.” He started typing again. “Extracting three samples. I’m rerunning our test but Kyle, Nien, can you two run diagnostic tests on a sample for me.”

They confirmed for him. A lab tech appeared at his side, young, anxious, and looking ready to bolt. The machine hissed in front of them as two small vials extended out of the machine. He nodded to the tech. They darted forward, hands carefully but securely wrapping around the two vials. The machine gave another sound and released the vials. The tech took off, faster than Sans had been anticipating. He turned back to the video feeds. “Samples on their way. Second analysis started.”

A new pop-up appeared on his screen as Alphys announced, “First analysis complete. Full report now available.”

“Tior, I’m sending you the full report to have another set of eyes on it.” His own eyes flickered to the first page but he forced himself to wait. “Take a look at it and then compare it to the results from the others. I need to know if there are any discrepancies that could be caused by a malfunction.”

The third nodded and he finally gave into reading the results. Already the noise coming from Alphys’s feed was increasing and it was hard to not just ask. He sped through the jargon of numbers and letters down to the field he desperately wanted to read.

Final Results: 100% of Toxins Neutralized

Cheering kicked up from the other side of the lab but something bitter swam through him and he barked, “Do not celebrate yet. We still have three other tests that need to be completed before we trust what we’re seeing.”

That cut through a lot of the joy. He found it difficult to feel guilty. He half watched Alphys agree with him. She was still grinning, though. Stars above he prayed that this wasn’t a false reading. He wasn’t sure he could watch everyone lose that kind of hope.

“Sans.”

His gaze flickered to Kyle. The human was as white as a sheet. “Sans, this…” The man ran a hand through his graying hair. “We got the same results. As far as our systems can tell, it’s fresh, pure air.”

“We’re getting the same results over here, too,” Nien spoke out. Unlike Kyle, the cat monster was grinning from ear to ear, whispers spread wide in excitement. “What did you use?”

“Tior?” he asked instead.

The stone monster came back into view, adjusting the petite glasses on his face. “I just got the results from the others. Unfortunately, I can’t view them on the screen so I’ve printed them out to compare.”

Sans shook his head. “Take your time and go through it all with a fine tooth comb. I know that’ll take a few hours but as long as you’ve got all of our results, that’s all I needed to hear.”

The stone monster settled into screen fully, taking those petite glasses off to give him a hard look. “Sans, why are you being so adamant about checking these results? You’ve never had anything come close to this kind of purification before.”

Sans rubbed his face. “Because this will only be the first hurtle.”

He got confused looks and even he didn’t really understand his own words till he thought about them. He noticed that there were quite a number of people watching him through Alphys’s feed.

“The compound we used as the neutralizing agent is very limited and I don’t currently know if we can even replicate it, let alone if it will be enough. Just because it can purify the Overworld air doesn’t mean we have access to the surface again. Because it’s such a finite resource, we will have to be careful with transportation and dispersal, not to mention everyone having to change gears and start working on how we’re going to go about that and letting the other Undergrounds know.”

Kyle shifted forward. “Approximately how much of the compound do you have?”

Sans shook his head. “Hopefully enough. We’ll have to crunch numbers and run a few more tests to see how far this stuff goes before we start celebrating anything. As of right now, preliminary results would state we need 530 billion particle weight but we’ll see just how much we have and how potent it is.”

“Preliminary results for the second test are coming in. Two minutes until final results are in,” Alphys chimed.

He started typing again. “Sending these to you guys.”

He brought it up himself, situating it alongside the first set of preliminary results. He skimmed both documents, sight seeking out specific lines and the more he read and compared, the more he found there to be no discrepancies. It was nearly an identical report and it was hard for him to even get mad at the excitement he could hear coming from Alphys’s end of the lab.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his face.

“Are they the same?” Papyrus asked, drawing his attention.

Sans gave him a tight smile. “Yeah, Pap. They’re the same. We may have found a cure for the Overworld.”

“Full report now complete,” Alphys’s quickly uttered over the video feed.

Sans was quick to send it out before going right to the field of text he wanted to read.

Final Results: 100% of Toxins Neutralized

The excitement from the other side of the lab turned into a cheer. It rose and rose till even the noises of the machines were drowned out by the sound. He could hear others coming in, word of the project’s success must have spread as fast as gossip did in the halls. Soon the lab was swarming with technicians and scientists till it seemed the whole of the Lab was in that one room. The bonus was now he suddenly had extra hands jumping in ready to work and he let himself be swept up by the bodies, taking charge and directing eager hands to work as they started to crunch numbers and celebrate even as groups of people were now pouring over the data sheets making sure these weren’t somehow false reports. From there they started crunching the numbers to figure out how much they needed, how much they had, and how potent it was.

He didn’t make it back to the house. By the time Asgore came through and ushered people to either home or bed, it was almost four in the morning. He wasn’t sure when Papyrus had left but a brief stop at his brother’s room found that the lankier skeleton had remained at the lab as well. The room was dark and empty but the dishes on the desk were still wet from whatever meal Papyrus had enjoyed before going off to train or work.

His own room was dark. Flicking the light on only made it appear sad and empty. He was tempted to just go about things in the dark so he couldn’t see the stark, barren space full of things.

He frowned. Odd. He hadn’t ever had an issue before. He dug through the dresser and picked at random. It wasn’t like it mattered overly much. He’d be up in a few hours anyways to get back to work. Maybe he could ask Alex-

He crashed to his knees, one arm on his bed out of a weak attempt to keep himself upright as the other pressed to his mouth. Bitter emotions rolled through him like violent magic and he choked; whether it was on a sob or the urge to vomit, he couldn’t tell. His entire body shook from the force of his grief and overwhelm as he gripped at the sheets on his bed, wails of despair barely muffled by the hand gripping at his face.

They had found it. They had found a way to neutralize the toxic atmosphere of the Overworld and all it cost them was Alex.

It had cost him Alex.

Rage and grief burned through him, churning his magic and forcing it to manifest around him. That burned more than anything and he fought against the pain in his chest as his magic crackled in the air and damaged nothing but himself.

And it hurt. It hurt so much, but it was barely a whisper of wind against his bones compared to the hole in his soul that grew larger with every involuntary repeat of Alex’s death. His own mind would not let him see anything else beyond that memory over and over again. With each time his partner, his friend, his family was impaled, it felt like he was being impaled too and he desperately, ruefully wished he could do it all over again and die in Alex’s place because he wasn’t sure he could live with the hole in his soul that Alex had left.

He wanted Alex back, to see the triumphant grin at finally finding the answer, to bury his hands in the other’s hair as he helped Alex through another fit, be there when Alex came out of surgery with a stronger heart, to grow old together.

He wanted Alex back.

He woke an hour later slumped against the side of his bed half dressed. His face felt raw and his bones felt heavy. His soul was strangely numb while his magic still burned but that was probably because he had spent what little he had regained while he had grieved.

Those emotions still sharp and ready to bite were only held back by the numbness in his soul. He forced himself up and changed back into work clothes - he did pick a new shirt out, at least. He wasn’t going to sleep so he might as well get to work. A glance at the clock informed him that it would be late enough for people to assume he had slept.

It was pushing it but a nap counted as ‘slept’, right? Besides, it wasn’t like there wasn’t a reason for his restlessness. They finally had a way to return to the Overworld.

He paused at his door and glanced back, sockets heavy with exhaustion and a pain he could not articulate.

He shook his head sharply to dislodge thoughts that threatened to drown him and stormed out of his room. Thinking about anything except the work that had to be done was only going to get in his way and cause him trouble. Best to just hunker down and get swept up in the work to come.

He had countless lives resting on his shoulders.

Watching	Confused	Accident
Always watching	Not understanding	Never meant to speak to each other
Never talking	Something strange?	Never meant to interact
Just observed	Something wrong?	Something wrong


Understanding	Trapped	Smoke
Her questions	He gave her a moment	They’re burning
Her obsession	She took more	He can smell the gasoline




Heat	Noise	Wind
She’s laughing with glee	He begins to understand	Her remains






Smile	Damaged	Changed

Forever
We had	Promised
Parted	at the break of day
knowing	We’d never see each other again
	Ignorant	of the fate awaiting us
	Watching the sun rise	beyond the cell bars
	Metal gleaming	sharp
			Swift
			A silence heavy
			Weight of shattered hearts
			Echoes of yesterday
	There was no one	crying
	Nothing	beyond our shadows
	As the crowd gathered	Outside
Yesterday	there was hope
There was	Love
But	now there was only
Death

Thread: As the Story Crumbles

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As the Story Crumbles | Updated Dec 2nd

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