Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Golden light filtered through the large windows, each adorned with the Delta Rune symbol, into the lengthy and spacious hallway. Thick beige pillars that extended from the ground to the ceiling stood at even intervals. A short, young child with dark brown hair stepped into the Judgment Hall. They wore a black sweater with two red stripes and black shorts. A thin layer of dust coated the front of their clothing, arms and hands. The blade of a knife gleamed against the light as they swung their arms back and forth.

Midway through the trek through the golden corridor, a short and stout skeleton stood in the way. He wore a thick black jacket with a red shirt underneath and black track shorts. His wide cheshire-like grin revealed sharp, jagged teeth, and a sharp gold colored tooth glinted in place of his left canine.

“heya. you’ve been a real piece of shit, y’know?” the skeleton began.

“As the saying goes, an eye for an eye. If everyone wasn’t so mean and out to kill me,” the young child replied sharply and tightened their grip on the hand of the knife.

“so i got a question for ya.”

When the skeleton didn’t receive a response back, he continued, “d’ya believe even the worst person can change…?”

There was a pregnant bout of silence before the child replied back quietly, “I did.”

They paused before, “But I was wrong.”

The brown-haired child took a step forward, knife held in front of them and ready to initiate an encounter.

“heh, so much for mercy right, ya dumb flower,” the red-clad skeleton muttered.

The child sprang towards him and the battle began. A jagged line of misaligned bones shot straight towards the young child followed by the appearance of several giant, draconic floating skulls. A thick, crimson beam of light shot forth from each of their maws and punched the child’s body full of holes not dissimilar to Swiss cheese. The young child was dead before their body hit the ground.

(Reload)

“you take me for an idiot or somethin'? you’re that shitty anomaly that’s messin’ with the timespace continuum.”

The young child missed a platform and fell. The sharpened end of a femur skewered through their abdomen as they landed.

(Reload)

“timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting until it all ends. you’re the shitty bastard that’s doing this right?”

The child didn’t respond and simply swung their knife at the stout skeleton, who easily dodged the attack. The child jumped pass an incoming wave of bones but missed the red beam of light that shot through them.

(Reload)

“what’s your end goal in all this?”

A mess of platforms, bones and red energy beams floated around the child. They just barely avoided everything. Beads of sweat and the beginnings of fatigue settled upon the skeleton’s face.

“I want to get out of here,” the child replied sharply.

The child mistimed a jump and fell headfirst onto the ground.

(Reload)

“so let me ask you again… d’ya believe even the worst people can change? d’ya believe redemption is possible for the monsters down in this shithole?”

The child halted in surprise due to the raw bitterness dripping from the skeleton’s voice. In that very moment, a softer voice echoed in their mind.

If someone like me can become a better person, then every monster down here has the chance as well.

The child remembered the story the flower told them of where he had also once went through the Underground murdering everything in its path but found the motivation to change. They thought of the flower who had become their companion and friend on this journey through the Underground, helping them with every chance he can; Flowey, whom they had cut down on their murderous rampage.

During this moment’s distraction, the child failed to notice the cluster of bones that erupted from the ground and speared through them.

(Reload)

“so what d’ya say bud? wanna give it one last shot before decidin’ to end everything?”

The child turned and faced the short skeleton. They saw the beads of sweating dripped down the skeleton’s head like rivers. They saw the weariness and fatigue lining his face. Slowly, they nodded. As they saw the red beam charge from the gaster blasters, they simply closed their eyes.

In the black space of the void, two words hovered above the child.

[Continue] [Reset]

They thought about what Sans had said. Despite all their failed attempts to escape the Underground, despite all the deaths they’ve encountered, they’ll be willing to give one last shot. Their hands reached out and pressed the word.

[Reset]

---

In another universe, a child wearing a blue sweater with purple stripes jumped up numerous platforms while avoiding an array of varying length of bones.

“c'mon, buddy. do you remember me? please, if you're listening... let's forget all of this, ok? just lay down your weapon, and... well, my job will be a lot easier,” pleaded a short skeleton wearing a white shirt underneath a blue hoodie, black track shorts and pink slippers.

There were tears in the child’s eyes as they began to regain control over their actions from the other presence trying to wrestle it away. They slowly dropped the real knife from their hands and opened their arms outwards in a hugging motion.

“you're sparing me? finally. buddy. pal. i know how hard it must be... to make that choice. to go back on everything you've worked up to. i want you to know... i won't let it go to waste. ... c'mere, pal.”

As they embraced the skeleton into a hug, they felt a sharp bone impale through their heart.

In the black space of the void, two words hovered above the child.

[Continue] [Reset]

They thought about what Sans had said. They can barely figure out how the second presence in their mind had gained so much control over their own actions. Their curiosity got the better of them, and they ended up on this murderous path. They will go back and try to fix everything. Their hands reached out and pressed the word.

[Reset]

---

At that single moment in time when the child in black, who only hurt because others hurt them, and the child in blue, who only hurt because of curiosity, pressed the [Reset] button, their two universes were connected. And something unexpected but extraordinary happens

Chapter Text

Papyrus blinked awake and found himself staring at maroon walls, much different compared to the crimson he normally woke up to. He was also lying on a mattress much softer than his own. He shot up and found himself lying in a red racecar bed. It was definitely not his own impossibly great and normal, non-childish bed with dark frames and blood-red sheets. He stood up and found, to his disbelief, action figures of what appeared to be superheroes. Although his own room contained miniature wood figurines, carved by his great self, they were used for his plans on ruling the Underground as the Royal Guard’s Captain.

Papyrus quickly realized that although he recognized certain aspects of his own room, such as the bookcase and computer, this was decidedly not his room. He tensed as he stood up and marched towards the door, wrenching it wide open. Once again, a sense of jarring familiarity hit him; the color of the walls was not correct, and the signs taped across the door did not read “Do not enter or die”. A framed picture of a bone hung from the wall, replacing the evil grinning skull.

Everything, from the colors to the atmosphere around him, seemed softer. The tall skeleton scoffed at the thought. Everything was kill or be killed. Even if it seemed nicer on the surface. He’d learned his lesson from believing in the good of others. Trust no one but yourself and your own judgment.

Papyrus looked down at himself and clicked his teeth with approval. He still wore his black armor, red gloves and boots. His worn red scarf wrapped around his neck with the tattered ends falling behind him almost looking like a cape. He didn’t know where he was or how he ended up in this twisted place but he was going to find out. He was the great and terrible Papyrus, after all.

The tall skeleton vaguely remembered his brother briefly explaining, a long time ago when he and his brother were on friendlier terms, about “alternative timelines and universes”. He didn’t believe in the load of rubbish at that time, and still can hardly believe it now, but decided to keep the idea in the back of his mind.

At the thought of his pathetic brother, Papyrus’s eye sockets narrowed as he glared at the door down the hallway. He stomped his way to the room and raised his hand, ready to barge his way through the doorway. His fist stopped centimeters from the door.

Given the differences between this place and his own, he had to make sure this actually was his brother. After all, in a kill or be killed setting, assessing your surroundings was a top priority so that you had the full advantage.

His gloved-covered hand grasped the knob and turned—

The room was pitched black. He heard a soft whirling sound coming from his far left side.

At least there was some air of familiarity here. He quickly cringed at his own impromptu pun.

After his sockets had time to adjust to the darkness, he noticed a white lump sleeping away on a messy mattress without sheets. Something about this sight set him off, and before he even realized, he took five quick strides towards the mattress.

“SANS! YOU LAZY, GOOD FOR NO—”

This was definitely Sans lying on the old mattress but not his Sans.

For one, there was no scar running down from his temple to below his left eye socket. In fact, there was no indication that this Sans had any scars. His teeth were not sharpened like his own, and consequently his brother’s, but flat. No gold tooth either.

The imposter’s sockets opened and round, white pinpricks of light stared at him with a look of confusion. They appeared slightly hazy from sleep.

“wha—”

The tall skeleton immediately summoned a pointed femur.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” Papyrus snarled, as he pressed the pointed bone just above where the imposter Sans’s soul would be located.

“whoa there, buddy. this sure has taken a sharp turn. if ya ju—”

Papyrus bristled at the lack of fear or urgency in this imposter’s voice and loudly interrupted, “IF YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO JOKE, THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE NO TROUBLE DYING BY THE HANDS OF THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!”

However, before Papyrus had the chance to shove the bone through the Sans’s soul, he felt himself slam face first into the bluish-gray carpet. During Papyrus’s momentary shock, the Sans had gotten up from the worn, sad-excuse for a bed stood and stood a few steps from his face. The tall skeleton struggled against the gravity magic. He looked up at the imposter and noticed his left eye flickering a yellow-cyan color.

“geez, talk ‘bout rude. didn’t even get t’finish speakin’.”

Papyrus struggled with renewed efforts, absolutely offended that he was reduced to this pathetic state. His magic and fighting prowess had grown vastly superior to his own brother’s from his years of training; he couldn’t believe something like blue magic, which he was versed in, was currently giving him such an embarrassing display. He, the Captain of the Royal Guard!

The tall skeleton attempted to summon a bone or attack but felt the pressure on his soul increase. He eventually gave up his struggling as he figured it would just wear him out faster. He was a master actor, after all. Once this Sans let his guard down, he would be nothing more than dust. This Sans’s ease at magic use may have been a small shock to Papyrus but this imposter was still some strange version of his pathetic brother.

“a papyrus huh? coulda fooled me,” the small skeleton drawled with a shrug of his shoulders. “definitely don’t look or act like the one i’m familiar with.”

“THE SAME CANNOT BE SAID ABOUT YOU.”

“hey, guess you can say i’m my own double,” Sans said and winked with his right socket.

“THAT WAS NOT A COMPLIMENT!”

Papyrus narrowed his sockets as he gave another push against the blue gravity magic but to no avail.

“look buddy—”

“I AM NOT YOUR SO-CALLED ‘BUDDY’! STOP CALLING ME THAT!”

“ok. what d’ya want me to call you?”

“YOU SHALL ADDRESS ME AS ‘BOSS’”

“boss, eh?” the Sans gave it a thought but then replied, “nah. how ‘bout ‘edge’? fits nicely with all that sharpness.” The small monster gave another right-eyed wink.

Papyrus let out an indignant squawk.

“THAT’S A TERRIBLE NAME!”

“well it’s that or buddy.”

“ADDRESS ME AS ‘BOSS’!”

“sorry, can’t. i already got three of ‘em and addressing you and ‘em as ‘boss’ can get confusing, y’know?”

Papyrus found this Sans’s lack of seriousness absolutely infuriating but refused to respond back to his goading comments.

He gave a grunt of disapproval at the name and replied, “LET ME GO!”

“i’d let you go if you promise to not kill me.”

The tall skeleton gave as much of a nod as he could in his current state. As soon as he felt the pressure lift, he summoned a wave of serrated white bones and shot them towards the imposter-Sans. The short monster dodged them all with relative ease but Papyrus was ready. Immediately after, he summoned a sharpened femur. He swung his weapon at his brother-imposter but missed. The tall skeleton saw his soul turn blue.

That won’t work again!

Papyrus instantly launched a spiked bone up from where the imposter stood, who let go of Papyrus’s soul to dodge the attack. Papyrus swung forward for another attack but his ossified weapon smashed into a desk lamp, sending it crashing onto the ground.

”aw, that lamp was the only bright spot in my room.”

Papyrus ignored the short skeleton’s jest and let out a barrage of bones. His brother’s imposter dodged them lazily. Papyrus's patience quickly wore down and he got sloppy, leaving openings in his defense. He eventually found himself trapped within a cage alternating between blue and white bones. His elbow bumped into one of the blue bones from the momentum of his last halted attack. A sharp but brief burst of pain shot through him, and he watched his HP drop 1… then 2… then 3 points.

“so much for that promise of not tryin’ to kill me,” the imposter-Sans said.

“IF YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVED I WAS GOING TO GIVE IN THAT EASILY THEN YOU ARE MORE OF A FOOL THAN I THOUGHT!” Papyrus answered sharply.

“it was worth a shot,” the short monster replied with a languid shrug. “you ready to give it a rest?”

Papyrus let out a huff, crossed his arms across his chest and turned away in annoyance. He hadn’t expected this Sans to put up this much of a fight. Granted, all he really did was dodge all of Papyrus’s attacks but that was still more than his own brother ever did against him in the recent years.

From his periphery, he watched the Sans pick up a blue hoodie from the floor and slip it on. He turned to face Papyrus, slipping his hands into the front pockets.

“so you hungry? want me to pick up something for you?”

Papyrus stared at him blankly for a few seconds before responding indignantly, “ARE YOU SIMPLY GOING TO KEEP ME TRAPPED HERE? WHY NOT JUST KILL ME AND BE DONE WITH IT?”

“eh, i’m not that kind of monster. don’t know where you’re from but ‘round here, we don’t go around attacking and killing monsters,” the Sans answered. “you should take some time to chill.”

Anger and scorn flooded the tall skeleton but he restrained his urge to attack. Despite the nonchalant attitude this version of his brother gave off, Papyrus could pick out how closely he was being watched. All he had to do was wait for this Sans to leave, and he would make his escape.

“ANYTHING WITHOUT GREASE WILL DO,” Papyrus responded coldly to the earlier question.

“guess some things don’t change, heh. be back in a few.”

Immediately after the Papyrus heard the Sans close the front door of the house, Papyrus began to break through the bone cage. He had to give some praise to the smaller monster for alternating between blue and white bones, making it more difficult for him to get out, though not impossible. The great and terrible Papyrus would not be stopped by something like a simple bone cage.

He formed a sharpened femur and began to chip away at the bottom white bones. Papyrus still couldn’t believe that this was the only major danger he’d encountered thus far. This place was far too trusting and soft, especially given this Sans’s actions. Not killing an enemy that’s been subdued? A place where killing wasn’t the norm? Papyrus found the thought impossible. Either way, he would use this mercy to his advantage.

After what felt like hours, Papyrus broke through five of the white bones, just enough for him to slip out, though he would have to go through four blue ones. His HP had only dropped by a few points from the last accidental hit. Though this Sans’s magic control was better than his brother’s, his attacks were far weaker.

Papyrus crawled through the narrow opening, hitting the four blue bone constructs as he did. Sharp, pulsating pain racked through his body but he made it through. A little pain would not stop the great and terrible Papyrus. He had definitely experienced worse.

However, after he got out and noticed that the intense burn persisted, he checked his HP. A mix of disbelief and confusion permeated him.

670/680… 669/680… 668/680… 667/680

Impossible! His HP—he didn’t understand why it continued to drop. His HP finally stopped at 660/680.

Papyrus’s sockets narrowed in contemplation. This Sans’s bone attack did damage similar to poison.

He eventually realized he had wasted enough time at this faux version of his home. He strode down the stairs and pulled the door open. He didn’t know when his brother’s imposter would be back but he planned to be gone by then. Without a moment of hesitation, the tall skeleton stepped into the snow-covered ground.

Papyrus found himself, once again, in a familiar but much friendlier Snowdin. The lights decorating “his” house made him scowl in disapproval. He noticed that most of the town was deserted in the early morning. As he stomped pass the town center, his sockets fell upon a tall tree decorated with even more lights. Papyrus couldn’t help but let a scoff escape. Something like that would never be seen back at his home. He abruptly stopped as the realization that this was not his home finally sank in, that he may never see his brother ever again. He quickly squashed the hint of regret growing within him.

As if I’d miss that lazy fool! He probably wouldn’t even miss me.

The thought only further incensed him, and he began walking faster. He soon stepped into Snowdin Forest. He hadn’t taken more than a dozen steps before he heard someone call out to him.

“Hey!”

The tall skeleton spun around, about to attack whoever addressed him in such a manner. He looked down and realized it was a snowdrake.

“You’re the brother, aren’t you? Of the short skeleton that’s always joking around? Sans was he called?”

Papyrus felt offended that the snowdrake didn’t recognize him and the implication that he was somehow related to the flippant imposter-Sans.

“I AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS! YOU HAD BETTER REMEMBER THAT NAME!”

“Papyrus, huh? That’s cool. Hey, do you wanna hear my jokes? I’ve been practicing them!”

Papyrus felt an unrelenting rage rise within him from everything seemingly being a joke in this world. A rage that brought along vindication for what he was going to do. A long, pointed femur appeared behind him, hidden from the Snowdrake’s view.

“I'd love to hear it,” the tall monster replied, as he gave the Snowdrake a cruel smirk.

After all, it was kill or be killed.

Chapter Text

Sans was, to put it simply, a bit miffed. It’s not every morning you wake up to a towering monster, who resembles your awesome and cool brother but is clearly not, without any reasonable explanation as to how or why that happened. And that wasn’t even getting into being threatened by bone point. Heh.

Sans left the aforementioned monster stuck behind his created white- and blue-bone prison. He hoped his magic could keep hold of the monster long enough for him to re-orient himself to everything that was happening; something didn’t feel right. For example, where had this strange version of Papyrus come from and where was his brother? With his keen sense of reading others, Sans could tell the edgy monster’s level was much higher than most monsters in the Undergound.

The short monster made his way down to the basement behind the house and unlocked the door with a small silver key. The stale air of the lab hit his face as he flicked on the lights. He opened the drawer closest to the tarp-covered machine. A worn, small spiral notebook sat in the back corner along with some photos with pieces of loose leaf paper sticking out from the edges of the notebook. Sans couldn’t help but feel a small pang of sadness and disappointment when his eyes briefly glanced at the group photo of everyone smiling on this surface with the yellow sun shining brightly behind them. No use dwelling on what had obviously happened in a previous timeline.

Boney hands grabbed the spiral notebook and flicked through the crinkled pages. Three quarters of the notebook had been filled with messy scribbles of his previous selves’ notes. He located the last few pages of writing and began reading.

lady behind the door stopped answering.

dust

kid killed papyrus. Sans’s hand tightened around the notepad.

killing every monster in the underground

undyne dead. mettaton dead.

heh, guess it’s just me n’ asgore left. alphys safe with remaining monsters.

watch for the kid.

A kid? The same kid that Sans had promised the lady behind the door to protect? Sans flipped through the other pages, surveying the notes of timelines before the last one. There seemed to be no record of this kid, anomaly, killing everyone. He surmised from his notes that the human won't show up until a bit later. Sans saw no mentions of the previous anomaly, before this kid, causing the timeline shifts from an earlier period of his life except for scribbles of watch for suspicious flower. There was also absolutely nothing hinting of a dark, edgy look-a-like of his brother and no mention of his brother seemingly replaced by said look-a-like.

He had to figure out how this monster got here, where his brother was, and find a way to get him back. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that his brother’s disappearance occurred at the same time as the appearance of this edgy counterpart. He remembered learning about alternative universes similar to but different from his own back when he was studying about timelines. He’d have to go through the old lab to find the previous Royal Scientist’s notes on the theories behind these alternative universes, something he was not looking forward to. The labs simply brought along more unnecessary memories of the accident. Either way, he would have to be on a lookout for any other strange discrepancies or phenomena in this timeline compared to the others.

Sans walked towards the back of the room and surveyed the tarp-covered machine. He hesitated for a moment before pulling the dusty covering off. A contraption with a long metal door with a single rounded window stood before him. He turned the circular latch on the door, the old rusted hinges producing a jarring screech. The inside appeared as broken and worn down as it had been when he’d first moved the machine to his secret room.

Welp, looks like the machine’s got nothing to do with this.

For the first time in what felt like years, apprehension grew from the bottom of his non-existent stomach like an indolent tumor. This strange phenomenon was completely new. He had nothing to go off of except for whatever similarities written in his notes and from his own deductions; who knew how this new Papyrus will alter the current timeline. What would happen if he were to get killed? Would that forsake his chances of bringing his brother back to this universe? Sans’s number one priority was confirming the safety and location of his brother, starting by getting answers from the stranger who took his brother’s place.

The short skeleton closed the steel door and went back to the drawers until he found blueprints scribbled in strange symbols and filled with complicated math equations. He decided to grab them in case he wanted to take a closer look at the design of the machine, which he hadn’t done in who knows how long. Any progress he could’ve made to get the machine working again went down the drain with those resets from the first anomaly, until he simply gave up. Fixing the machine felt kinda meaningless when everything simply repeated over and over.

Before he left the room, he flipped to a blank sheet in his notebook and scribbled down papyrus replaced with another version of him. find cause.

With his preparations completed, Sans stepped out from his secret room and relocked the door. He wanted to pick up a few things before he headed back home. He hadn’t been completely joking when he’d asked the edgy Papyrus about food. He also didn’t feel too willing to dodge more attacks from said Papyrus. He figured he’d give the monster some more time to chill before heading back. Besides, he would know if the Papyrus tried to escape.

Sans stopped by the Snowdin Shop and picked up a few cinnabuns, told the Shopkeeper a few of his best worst jokes before making his way to Grillby’s. As soon as the door opened, a slew of welcomes greeted him, which Sans returned with a wave. He spotted Doggo, who had not yet left for his sentry duties. He sauntered to the dog’s table and sat down. He did notice a few bemused glances from some of the other patrons from not sitting at his usual spot.

“hey doggo, you’ve seen my bro around?”

“Your brother? The one that’s constantly MOVING?” the dog answered.

“yep, that’s the one.”

“Hmm… Yes, I have then. He’s usually busy calibrating his puzzles,” Doggo replied. “Is he perhaps, HIDING?! I can go look for him.”

“nah, it’s fine. ‘preciate your offer to fetch him but he should be back soon. thanks.”

He asked a few of the other patrons, who all responded similarly to Doggo.

Seems like everyone’s memory of Paps is still the same.

“Hey Sansy! How ‘bout you give us some good jokes! I miss them,” a swirly-eyed bunny head exclaimed in a drunken slur.

“here’s a good one. it’s on the house,” Sans grinned. “what d’ya call a belt made out of watches?”

Drunk Bun gave it a moment’s thought before she replied, “I don’t know.”

“a waist of time,” the skeleton answered flippantly with a wink.

A mingle of chuckles and groans filled the bar with the swirly-eyed bunny letting out a bout of drunken laughter.

“Sansy, you’re jokes are always so funny. Where d’you come up with them?”

“heh, I got a who—”

Sans suddenly felt a disturbance in the connection of his cyan bones, a ripple that felt like a taut string snapping. He stood up quickly, with Grillby and some of the patrons staring at him in mild surprise.

“i just remembered somethin’ my bro wanted me to get done.”

“Oh but Sansy! That was only one joke!” the swirly bunny head answered with a few other murmurs in agreement.

“sorry guys. i’ll be back with more later. and just put it on my tab grillbz,” Sans said with quick wave.

As soon as he stepped out the door, he took a shortcut into his room. He found five broken white bones from his constructed prison with nothing inside. He let out a curse under his breath and vanished from where he stood, reappearing behind his house. He peered around the surrounding area and wandered around Snowdin, not sighting any tall, imposing skeleton. When he reached the town square with the tall Christmas tree, he noticed a pair of large boot-shaped footprints in the snow. He followed the trail until it led passed the center of town, the ‘Welcome to Snowdin’ sign and across the bridge.

Sans hadn’t taken more than a few steps into Snowdin Forest before he heard the sounds of a battle encounter further ahead. He took off at a brisk pace until he made it to a clearing surrounded by trees. He easily recognized the towering, red and black figure of the other Papyrus, and suddenly halted—

A sharpened femur pierce through Snowdrake’s body. The felled monster collapsed into a pile of dust.

Sans stared at the pile in momentary shock, brief images of a different, much larger pile with red fabric lying in it, flashed through his mind. A shudder, along with a spine-tingling chill, racked throughout his body with little of it from the weather. Although he’d never witnessed it in person, Sans recognize it as residual effects from the previous timeline; it felt like déjà vu. A scoff broke him out of his revere.

“Well that was absolutely disappointing. He didn't even put up a fight. Everyone here is far too weak,” his brother’s look-a-like sneered callously.

Sans pulled his face into a mask of calmness, shoving his clenched fists into his hoodie pockets.

“hey, didn’t i tell ya we don’t go around killing monsters here,” the short skeleton stated evenly, his usual grin giving a tight smile.

“YES I DO REMEMBER QUITE WELL,” the Papyrus retorted. He summoned a sharpened bone that rivaled its wielder’s height. “THAT JUST MAKES IT EASIER FOR ME TO TAKE OVER THIS PLACE. NYEH HEH HEH!”

Sans ignored the quick burst of anger that shot out within him from hearing his brother’s signature laugh be warped into something that foreign and vicious.

“look here, buddy. you’re headin’ down a dangerous path and if ya don’t stop now,” Sans gave a brief pause and took a step forward towards the towering monster. “Y o u ' r e g o n n a h a v e a b a d t i m e.”

Sans blinked out his eye lights as he stared down the Papyrus.

“OH? SO YOU CAN TAKE THINGS SERIOUSLY? THEN COME! LET ME SHOW YOU THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OUR WORLDS!”

As Edge initiated the battle, Sans quickly checked him.

Papyrus
Lv 12
HP 660/680
AT 75
DF 40

The Great and Terrible Papyrus, Captain of the Royal Guard

The Papyrus charged forward and struck his bone staff out towards Sans, who quickly side stepped to dodge the attack. Sans summoned a wave of tall and short bones, alternating between blue and white, in retaliation. The edgy monster dodged most of them but mistimed a few of the blue ones. Sans saw his face grimace in pain but the tall monster didn’t stop. He let out his own wave of sharp, jagged bones. Sans weaved through the patterns with relative ease. He would thank his brother a million times over for their spar sessions together back when they were younger. It was one of the reasons he got so good at dodging.

Sans side stepped another close range bone attack, letting out another slew of bones. He watched as the first few hit its mark but the rest missed. Edge recovered quickly from the damage and charged swiftly forward, lifting his arm to summon a flurry of bones as he did. Too busy from dodging the onslaught, Sans felt the pull of gravity on his soul. A mixture of moving platforms and bones suddenly surrounded Papyrus, distracting the monster long enough for Sans to quickly short cut out of the tall skeleton’s blue magic. Sans felt hesitant on using his blasters. Sure, he may be only doing one damage but with the amount of LOVE this monster had, it would surely pack a punch. Even his normal bone attacks were sapping at Edge’s dwindling HP.

As the fight wore on, the smaller monster noticed a few things about Edge. One, he had clearly realized the KR effect Sans’s attacks was doing to his HP. Two, he was impressively agile despite his tall stature and adapted quickly. And three, despite the fact that he’d been avoiding more and more of Sans’s blue-and-white bone patterns, he lost a large chunk of HP from Sans’s earlier barrage of attacks. His current HP read 26/680

A white bone appeared in his periphery, and Sans jumped back just in time to avoid another melee attack from Edge. The two monsters stood a few feet away from each other, both panting heavily. Sweat trailed down Sans’s forehead.

“ready to call it quits?” the shorter skeleton huffed.

“THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER LEAVE A BATTLE UNFINISHED! IF YOU WISH TO END THIS, YOU’LL HAVE TO END ME!”

Edge suddenly straightened up and stretched out his right arm. The ground rumbled and split open in a manner reminiscent of a crooked grin on a face. Sans found himself surrounded by a complex lattice structure of blue and white bones.

“BUT I HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF DYING HERE! THOUGH I MUST THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THIS IDEA. IT’S A SHAME THAT I HAVE TO END YOU NOW. YOU COULD’VE HELPED ME GREATLY WITH TAKING OVER THE UNDERGROUND.”

Edge charged forward with his sharpened bone staff pointed towards where Sans stood trapped within the constructed prison.

Welp, was hoping i didn’t have to show him this trick so obviously.

Just before the sharp weapon reached him, Sans vanished from where he stood and reappeared directly behind Edge.

“WHA—”

“sorry bud, maybe it’s time you take arrest.”

The short skeleton let loose a short bone, which knocked right into the back of Edge’s skull. Sans made sure he avoided the already present crack running down the tall skeleton’s eye, not wanting to accidentally split his face apart or something worse. Sans watched as Edge’s HP dropped until it hit 9/680. He let out a weary sigh after seeing Edge crumple into the snow-covered ground, unconscious. That fight gave him enough activity to last him the rest of this timeline. If he had put any more intent into that last attack, then this Papyrus would’ve been dust. He really had to admire his own brother’s finesse at controlling his attacks and damage; his brother was simply too cool.

After taking a brief survey of the surrounding area for any stray monsters who may’ve seen the fight, he then stared down at the pile of dust lying a few feet away from where he stood. He was definitely not looking forward to doing damage control for this edgy monster’s actions. Then again, he was partially to blame for taking this Papyrus so lightly. Sans gave a huff of mild annoyance as he grabbed one of Edge’s arms and took a shortcut back home.

Chapter Text

When Papyrus came to, he found himself pressed against the wall with something lodged between the ulna and radius of each arm. A sharp burst of pain traveled down his arms throughout the rest of his body as he tried to pull free.

“probably not the best idea to do that buddy. you’ll be doin’ more harm than good,” a low voice drawled.

Papyrus turned his head and saw that several blue bones had been pierced in between both of his ulna and radii against the wall, effectively trapping it so any movement would cause damage. The tall monster checked his HP.

56/680

He was sure his HP had been lower. Had the Sans healed him? The idea was preposterous to him. He was an enemy, and he’d just killed a resident monster in cold blood. No monster from his world would heal a beaten enemy.

“this arrangement ain’t the most comfortable for you, but i can’t have you goin’ around terrorizing the underground,” the short skeleton replied.

Papyrus watched as he walked over and sat down in the green lumpy couch. He still had that obnoxiously laidback grin on his face with hands buried in the pockets of his jacket. Papyrus frowned deeply when he noticed the pink slippers. At least his own brother actually wore sneakers.

Papyrus looked around, noting that he sat, trapped against the wall, in the left corner of the living room directly across from the stairs to the second floor. The door of the house was barely visible in his peripheral vision. The tall skeleton suspected that it blocked him from the view of anyone in the house’s doorway. Papyrus couldn’t understand the reasoning behind this arrangement and decided to let that go for now.

“MY HP WAS MUCH LOWER. YOU HEALED ME. WHY?”

“can’t have you falling down now, could i?”

The answer only served to confuse Papyrus more. Everything this Sans did confused him.

“WHY? I TRIED TO KILL YOU SEVERAL TIMES! ARE YOU NOT ANGRY? ESPECIALLY AFTER I KILLED THAT MONSTER?”

“tibia-nest it takes too much effort to be angry,” the imposter-Sans replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Papyrus gave a small huff before commenting in a much calmer voice that previously, “You’re puns are just as horrid as my brother’s.”

“hey, humor’s pretty subjective. can’t please everyone.”

“Well both of your jokes are awful,” the tall monster said shortly. “How long have I been out?”

“eh, a bit more than half a day.”

“YOU’RE JUST GOING TO KEEP ME TRAPPED HERE?” Papyrus stated more than asked.

“after that stunt you pulled? yeah. think of it as house arrest.”

That means no one else knows what I did? It’s almost as if he’s… hiding me. The idea only led to more confusion for the tall skeletal monster.

The two fell silent. Papyrus felt irritation simmer inside him, having nothing to do except watch this strange copy of his brother lounge around doing nothing productive. His mind slowly began to drift to his own Sans, wondering how he was managing without Papyrus there to whip him into shape. His mind soon went to thoughts of how he ended up here, in this strange backwards version of his own world. Or the better question of where he was and how he was going to get back to his world. His ruminations soon got rudely interrupted.

“anyway, since you’ve finally calmed down enough to have a conversation, i have a few questions for ya.”

Papyrus’s sockets narrowed suspiciously at the blue-clad skeleton. Then he realized he had no real choice in the matter. Not that he couldn’t guess what questions were going to be asked. After all, he also had information to gather of this place.

“You want to know where I come from and how I ended up here,” Papyrus stated matter-of-factly. “I will only answer your questions if you answer mine. Otherwise, you can forget it.”

“sounds fair. information for information,” the Sans agreed before turning to face Papyrus. “how did you get here?”

“I woke up in that most childish looking bed of, I assume, your brother’s. It is most juvenile and uncool.”

“juvenile and uncool?” the imposter began evenly. “heh, look here pal, my bro is the coolest. i’d say your get-up’s way more juvenile. as if you’re compensating for something.”

Papyrus’s magic sparked in reaction to his sudden burst of rage, causing him to jerk his arm forward. Sharp bursts of pain coursed throughout his body from the blue bones. The tall skeleton watched as his HP began to drop, digit by digit, until it stopped at 46/680. This mysterious effect sparked his question.

“MY TURN,” Papyrus demanded. “You’re attacks are weak yet my HP drops as if poisoned. Why?”

“oh that? just a nice little effect my attacks have on anyone with high LOVE. the higher the LOVE, the worse the damage.”

Papyrus’s sockets widened in surprise. It explained how, despite this Sans’s weak stats, his attacks did so much damage to Papyrus. He had greatly underestimated this Sans and would have to be more careful. Papyrus could only imagine what that ability would have had in his own world. It would’ve definitely made taking over the Underground and getting rid of troublesome monsters much easier. Too bad he was somehow stuck in this saccharine place where the ability went to waste. Though if he were to somehow make it back to his world with this Sans, he could easily use that ability to his advantage. The only issue was somehow getting the Sans to come with him.

The tall skeleton’s mind ran through numerous plans. He eventually settled on obtaining more information and getting to know this skeleton better. Look for any weaknesses and exploit them, though if this monster truly was similar to his brother, Papyrus could already come up with a few.

“so where’re from?” the small monster asked.

Papyrus remained silent for a few seconds, reorganizing his thoughts, before responding, “As I’ve said before, I come from a world where its kill or be killed. Only the strong survive. The weak simply exist to die.”

The corners of Papyrus’s mouth lifted slightly into a self-satisfied smirk as he noticed the Sans’s fists clench through the pocket of his jacket. Papyrus had finally struck a nerve.

“Oh? Is there a problem? You seem a bit tense.”

The Sans’s smile tighten, coming off very forced.

The smaller monster ignored the comment and simply replied, “so any ideas how you got here? you’re brother still back in your universe? know about multiple universes?”

“HEY! THAT WAS THREE QUESTIONS! BUT MULTIPLE UNIVERSES?” Papyrus asked, the question throwing the tall monster into a loop.

“yep. timelines that diverged enough to become their own world so to speak.”

Papyrus sat there in shock. Were his brother’s theories on multiple universes true then? And he somehow got transported to this soft copy of his own universe? That certainly explained some things but Papyrus still had a hard time grasping the concept. There were other Papyruses and Sanses?

“so if you’re here, then where’s my brother?” imposter-Sans uttered in a slightly accusatory tone, as if his being here caused this Sans’s brother’s disappearance.

“How should I know?” Papyrus answered indignantly, already beginning to get fed up with these questions. “It wouldn’t be a surprise if he ended up taking my place. Hmph, if he’s as weak as you, maybe he'll get himself killed.”

Papyrus let out a surprised howl of pain as he felt two blue bones shift against his arms. After the pain subsided, he glared up to see the Sans looming in front of him, eye sockets pitch black.

“hey, pal, i suggest you watch what you’re saying” the Sans threatened. “my bro may be the nicest monster in the underground but he is by no means a pushover.”

An unfamiliar emotion spouted forth within Papyrus from this Sans’s unrelenting defense of his brother. His own brother had long since stopped supporting him. After all the training and effort he had put into becoming Captain of the Royal Guard, his Sans failed to show an ounce of appreciation for it. This world’s Sans, however, seemed to personally take offense to any ill words against his Papyrus. Seeing that absolute loyalty made Papyrus want to be left alone, away from the presence of this blue-clad Sans.

“Leave me be, I’m feeling tired,” Papyrus grounded out, trying his best to suppress this inexplicable feeling.

The native Sans was caught off guard by his response, eye lights blinking back in bemusement. He took a few steps back from Papyrus.

“you ok? come to think of it, you haven’t eaten since you got here,” imposter-Sans said. “got some leftover spaghetti if you want. though, i’d say you’re too caught up at the moment to eat it, heh.”

Papyrus didn’t understand what this monster was trying to accomplish by offering food and goading him with awful jokes but it made his anger boil.

“I’M NOT HUNGRY! LEAVE ME ALONE!” Papyrus snarled.

He had almost attempted to wrench free from his bone restraints before he stopped himself. He gave his most intimating glare at the Sans, who simply raised his arms in surrender.

“fine, fine. i’ll leave ya alone. need to catch up on my naps anyways. later.”

Papyrus waited until he heard the upstairs door close before feeling himself relax, his emotions still in disarray from the last conversation. Silence reigned over the room. As he mulled over his feelings, Papyrus couldn’t help but feel terribly alone, forced to sit in this corner. Even back home, at least he had his Royal Guard members to order around, as well as his brother even if they rarely acknowledged each other. At the thought of his brother, Papyrus inwardly cringed and forced his thoughts elsewhere. Eventually, sleep overcame the tall skeleton.

Papyrus heard the crunching snow indicative of footsteps behind him as he ran as fast as his skeletal legs can carry him. He suddenly tripped over a rock and fell headfirst into the snow. The icy substance fell into his eye sockets and nose hole. He found himself trembling, though he wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or the fear of getting caught by the infamous Royal Guard pair, Dogamy and Dogaressa.

He let out a yelp of pain as something cold and sharp bite into his right clavicle. He felt a pair of strong paws grip his left leg and lift him into the air, leaving him dangling upside down.

“Dogaressa, I’ve finally caught him!” Dogamy growled out.

A towering dog dressed in black armor stepped besides Dogamy. Both of them had a battle axe in their hand.

“Ready to say good night, pup?” the low timber of Dogaressa’s voice taunted as she raised her weapon.

“No hard feelings. You either join the Hunters or are left to dust.”

Papyrus tried summoning his magic but only fear flooded his entire system. Without warning, Dogaressa let out a howl of pain as a sharp bone pierced the arm holding the battle axe.

“let go of my bro you shitty mutts!” a voice growled.

Papyrus turned and smiled in relief as he saw a short, stout skeleton run towards him. A flurry of bones shot toward Dogamy, who dropped Papyrus. As soon as he fell, Dogamy was lifted into the air and slammed into Dogaressa, followed by sharp femurs erupting from the ground. A few of them struck the dog couple.

Papyrus watched in amazement as his brother forced the two dogs into retreating.

“We’ll be back and you’ll be sorry!” Dogamy threatened as he ran off.

Ignoring the stinging pain coming from his shoulder, Papyrus ran up to his older brother.

“paps, did they hurt—“

“SANS! THAT WAS AMAZING! YOU’RE THE COOLEST!” the teenage Papyrus exclaimed, his voice dripping with admiration.

“heh, of course i am paps. anyone that hurts ya will get double the hurt back from me,” his brother responded with a wide grin.

“JUST YOU WAIT, BROTHER! I’LL TRAIN TWICE AS HARD TO BECOME STRONG!”

“i’m sure you will, bro. after all, you’re just as great as me,” his Sans answered warmly.

“I’LL BECOME CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! I’LL BE ABLE TO PROTECT MYSELF AND YOU! NYEH HEH HEH!”

When Papyrus woke up, he found himself staring at a set of wooden stairs. Memory of the previous day’s events seeped into him. He was currently stuck here in this much too soft world, or universe, as the imposter-Sans had called it. He huffed in annoyance as he found himself still pinned against the wall.

His mind drifted back to his dream. No, it was more like a memory. A memory from way back before the relationship he had with his brother became what it was now. How things have gotten so bad between them, Papyrus couldn’t even remember. It all seemed so long ago.

All of a sudden, a loud pounding came from the door. Papyrus’s head snapped in that direction, which he discovered was blocked by the lumpy green couch. The pounding continued, and Papyrus had half a mind to start shouting at the imposter-Sans to get up before he heard the door upstairs opening. The sound was soon followed by footsteps coming down the stairs.

“coming, geez, don’t gotta break down my door.”

As the Sans passed Papyrus, he gave a gesture for him to remain quiet. Papyrus gave him an indignant scowl before nodding slightly. Papyrus mentally cursed at the Sans for putting him in the inconvenient position where he couldn’t see past the couch.

“oh hey guys, what brings you here?” the Sans asked casually.

“Ah, Sans, we’ve received a report of, uh,” a deep female voice began hesitantly. “Basically, a monster reported seeing your brother attack and kill Snowdrake.”

A pregnant beat fell upon the room. Papyrus felt a chill run down his spine as he realized the voice, although lacking the rough quality, belonged to this world’s Dogaressa.

“you sure that monster wasn’t seein’ things dogaressa? you know my bro would never hurt anyone.”

“Well, yes, Sans. It’s hard to believe that he would. It would be completely out of character,” a male voice, belonging to Dogamy, agreed. “That’s just what has been reported to us.”

“who’s the monster?”

“I’m afraid we can’t disclose the information. It’s part of the legal right of the witness,” Dogaressa explained.

“Yes, and well, there’s not many skeleton monsters but the witness clearly described a ‘tall skeleton monster wearing all black and red’.”

“hm, that sounds mighty suspicious. you sure it’s not some monster tryin’t impersonate my brother? he doesn’t have anything that’s black and only the scarf and boots are red,” the Sans rebutted evenly.

“I see,” Dogamy answered.

Papyrus had to give the native Sans praise for his composure. If Papyrus had been accused that to his face, he would be demanding to see the witness to have him killed. Accuse the great and terrible Papyrus without evidence was a crime back in his world, though in this case, the evidence clearly did point to his murder of that Snowdrake.

Just when Papyrus thought everything was in the clear, he heard Dogaressa ask, “May we speak to your brother Sans?”

“uh, i wouldn’t recommend it. he’s been sick all week. nasty skeleton illness that causes our joints to stiff up and makes it difficult to move. ‘nother reason why it couldn’t’ve been papyrus. i can bring you up to his room to see him if ya want.”

Papyrus nearly screamed at imposter-Sans in rage before he heard Dogaressa respond.

“That’s quite all right. To be honest, I find this whole situation hard to believe as well. Anyway, we hope your brother gets better. Have a nice day, Sans.”

The door closed soon after the couple left. The imposter-Sans let out a sigh as he plopped down onto the couch.

“whew, crisis averted. for now at least.”

Papyrus’s eye sockets narrowed. He had thought this Sans would readily turn him in for his crime but just now Sans had lied on his behalf.

“You’re not going to let the Royal Guard take me in for questioning or punishment?” Papyrus asked, confused.

“nope not a chance. too much at stake here. besides, it’ll take too much effort to explain this mess to ‘em.”

The emotion he felt yesterday came crashing back into him at full force. Papyrus finally, in that moment, realized what that emotion was. He had experienced it before, ages ago.

Jealousy.

And it reignited the anger he had felt yesterday.

“SO YOU’RE JUST GOING TO KEEP ME TRAPPED HERE IN YOUR HOUSE?” Papyrus demanded with suppressed rage.

“you want to leave eventually, don’t you?” the Sans asked.

“OF COURSE! THIS PLACE DISGUSTS ME!”

“then i’ll let you go when you stop tryin’ t’make every monster here a target—“

“I AM NOT SO HORRID THAT I WOULD GO AROUND KILLING EVERY—“

“you’re right. can’t take over the underground if everyone’s dead, can ya buddy?”

Although the Sans had the same casual grin on his face, he felt like he was being judged. As if this monster had the right to judge Papyrus when he was covering up Papyrus’s crimes. And for what? Protecting the innocence of his brother and guaranteeing a way to get him back. It now became obvious to Papyrus that this Sans would do anything to ensure the safety and well-being of his brother. It made him unbelievably angry and resentful.

“YOU’RE NO BETTER THAN ME FOR TRYING TO COVER UP MY CRIMES!” the Royal Guard Captain shouted.

The Sans stared at him in bewilderment but Papyrus didn’t give him a chance to respond.

“I SEE WHAT YOU ARE NOW! A HYPOCRITE!” Papyrus continued vehemently. “YOU SPEAK OF MONSTERS NOT KILLING OTHERS HERE BUT WHEN I DO IT, YOU LET ME GO WITH BARELY ANY PUNISHMENT.”

There was a beat before the Sans argued weakly, “what? do you not believe even the worse person can change?”

Papyrus could tell that though the smaller monster hides it well, the tall skeleton’s words were slowly affecting him in some way. It gave Papyrus a sense of self-satisfaction.

“DO NOT GIVE ME THAT! HAS THE IDEA OF MY BECOMING A BETTER MONSTER EVEN CROSSED YOUR MIND? OF COURSE NOT! EVERYTHING YOU DO ALL COMES DOWN TO YOUR DEAR BROTHER, DOES IT NOT? SO IF IT CAME DOWN TO IT, YOU WOULD KILL ANOTHER FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR BROTHER! IN THAT CASE, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME!”

The native Sans looked as if he’d been struck, not expecting to be called out on this. The small monster stared at the ground, his eye lights blinked out. He didn’t respond for a long time; so long that Papyrus almost felt a tinge of fear of accidentally killing the monster with his words. Slowly the blue-clad skeleton got up from the couch and dragged his feet towards the stairs, not even giving a glance at Papyrus.

“wow, uh, if that’s how ya feel ‘bout me, i won’t try t’stop ya,” the Sans mumbled wearily. “’m gonna catch up on some Zs.”

Papyrus watched as the monster made his way up the stairs, shoulders slumping more. The tall monster noticed a fatalistic weariness in the Sans’s movements, as if he were carrying tremendous weights on his shoulders. He heard the door shut softly.

Papyrus glared at the green couch, as if it offended him. For the first time since arriving in this word, Papyrus finally managed to get a response other than jokes and dismissive quips from the imposter-Sans. He just wasn’t sure this was the reaction he’d wanted; he had expected anger or at least a rebuke but all he got was resigned acceptance.

Hmph, I don’t have to feel bad for what I said if it’s completely true!

As the rage and jealousy faded, a trace of guilt began to take its place. Papyrus stared at the couch, the stairs and eventually upstairs, wondering if the native Sans was truly sleeping. His mind began to drift back to the dream he had earlier and then to his brother. Was he the reason their relationship grew so turbulent? The more Papyrus considered over these thoughts, the more regret he felt. The feeling only grew after what seemed like hours with no signs of the Sans coming back downstairs. The small monster failed to show up for the rest of the day.

Chapter Text

Sans tried his best to warn Papyrus about the dangers of fighting the human child but the tall skeleton refused to listen. The child’s actions during all their encounters thus far felt off; they’d remained silent throughout all the puzzles, japes and jokes. Even after Sans had threatened them, he only saw the corners of their lips curled into a smirk before he’d disappeared.

“DO NOT WORRY SANS! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL SEND THIS HUMAN ONTO THE RIGHT PATH! AFTER ALL, ANYONE CAN CHANGE! I’LL JUST HAVE TO PUT MORE BACKBONE INTO IT! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Despite the worry permeating throughout his skeletal body, Sans chuckled at Papyrus’s pun. If there was one person he had difficulty denying, it was his brother.

“alright bro, i’ll leave it to you. just be careful,” Sans answered with a forced smile as his fingers clenched tightly into fists in his hoodie pocket.

Whether Papyrus suspected something off about his brother or he was simply an affectionate monster, Sans couldn’t tell but the short monster let out a soft huff of surprise as lanky skeletal arms wrapped around him into a hug. Sans embraced back, burying his face deeply into his brother’s battle body and holding onto him as if it were his last chance. Moments later, Papyrus broke the hug as he stood up and opened the door.

“I’LL BE BACK BROTHER AND I’LL BRING A NEW HUMAN FRIEND WITH ME!”

Sans watched, eye lights filled with admiration, as his brother marched out the door and into the snow-covered town, red scarf fluttering magnificently behind him. A second later, Sans disappeared and reappeared at a distance away from Papyrus and the child’s encounter.

He watched the human child saunter towards where the tall skeleton stood. Just the way the child moved sent alarm signals through Sans’s head. Every bone in his body screamed at him to stop this. That he could easily summon a bone, pierce it through the brown-haired child’s soul and put an end to this massacre, one that he had been expecting from his years of research into the timelines.

But he didn’t. Not only would he be breaking his promise to the lady behind the door but what kind of brother would he be to not even believe in Papyrus?

Instead, he stood there and watched. He stood and watched as his sweet brother opened his arms in a gesture of forgiveness. He stood and watched as the human child barely even gave the action a second’s thought before slicing the toy knife across Papyrus’s neck. The edges of Sans’s vision began to fade to black as he watched his brother collapse into a pile of dust.

Sans tried to move, to shortcut over but he found himself frozen in his spot. He’d expected to feel anger, rage or even sadness. All he felt, as he watched the ends of his brother’s red dusty scarf billow in the wind, was emptiness. Eventually he forced himself to move to the pile of dust and immediately fell to his knees. As he numbly ran his hands through the fine powder, grasping at the red scarf, an all-consuming despair filled him.

Without any warning, the scarf wrap tightly around his wrists. The pile of dust grew into the shape of Papyrus. His face morphed into a look of utter betrayal.

“YOU COULD’VE STOPPED THIS SANS!”

“no! i-it’s not my f-fau—”

“NOT ‘MY FAULT’ IS THAT IT BROTHER?” the dusty form of Papyrus asked. “YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED THIS YET ALL YOU DID WAS WATCH AS THE HUMAN DUSTED ME!”

Sans struggled and finally wrenched himself free. He fell backwards.

Crack!

Everything went black for a split second before he felt the world suddenly shift around him.

“ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?!” the loud and concerned voice flooded his hearing.

Sans sat up but something didn’t feel right. The surrounding air around him was suffocating and thick, as if filled with powder, of dust. When he felt looked up, he was staring up into his brother’s face, distress etched clearly on it. Instead of the relief he’d expected to feel, a burst of anger and indignation flooded him. Sans then realized he was seeing everything through the view of someone else.

“’m fine. what kinda stupid monster are you askin’ that type of questions?” he retorted without meaning to. The voice coming out of his mouth sounded like his own but had a much gruffer quality to it. “i’ll make sure ya regret underestimatin’ me.”

Crimson magic burst forth from within the body his consciousness currently occupied as jagged bones erupted from the ground. Sans tried to stop the attack but his efforts proved to be futile when the opposite happened. Sans felt his inhabiting body’s magic sputter out and a gaster blaster materialized in front of Papyrus, who appeared shocked.

Sans struggled to dismiss the gaster blasters as the draconic jaws opened and a red beam of light began to charge. He attempted to warn his brother to get away but he couldn’t. This wasn’t his body. Once again, he stood there and watch as the red blast issued from the gaster blaster with a roar.

“Papyrus!”

Sans bolted up from his bed, left eye glowing brightly blue and yellow as he attempted to stop the gaster blaster’s attack. Slowly, as his vision readjusted to the darkness and mess of his room, the magic in the air dissipated. A soft rattling emitted from his body, making him realized he was trembling slightly. A weary sigh escaped from his clenched teeth as the scenes from his most recent nightmare replayed in his mind.

The first part had been straightforward enough, an event that happened in the previous timeline, and sent chills down his spine. The second part of the dream, however, shook his very core. That had to have been the universe that the dark Papyrus came from. He’d been seeing everything through the viewpoint of that world’s Sans, who had attacked his brother. Whether that had truly happened or not didn’t matter to Sans; just the idea that his brother really did, somehow, end up switching places with the current Papyrus and is in danger of being dusted in that world drove Sans mad with fear. Fear that he didn’t know he could still feel after everything he’d been through. He had to find a way to get his brother out of there and his current best bet was to get the machine working again.

Sans stumbled to his desk, wrenched open the drawer with the silver key to his secret room and pulled it out. He quickly slipped on his blue hoodie before opening the door and quickly making his way towards the stairs. From the view, the small skeleton could tell that Edge was asleep, his head leaning against the wall.

Sans’s thoughts drifted back to the conversation they had almost a day ago. He hadn’t spoken to Edge since then, choosing to hole himself up in his room or taking shortcuts when he needed to get out of the house. He hadn’t expected to be called out on that fact that he was keeping this edgy monster under his watchful eye to ensure his own brother’s safety and return. He also hadn’t thought of the idea that Edge had a chance at redemption; it hadn’t even crossed his mind until now.

But would he kill another for the sake of his brother? That he couldn’t answer. Clearly the Sans from the previous timeline hadn’t retaliated against the human child’s killing of his brother. And he himself wouldn’t either, not unless the child’s actions ended the timelines. Though in that instance, he had his promise to watch over the human child and the possibility of a reset meant that his brother wouldn’t truly be gone. The current situation, however, was completely new, and Sans wasn’t sure how this unfamiliarity could change his actions.

The small monster quietly made his way down the stairs. Just as he was about to make a beeline for the door, he glanced at the rough-looking Papyrus. To his surprise, the monster’s face appeared relaxed, and except for the scar and sharper teeth, Sans found him similar to how his own brother looked while sleeping. His soul churn with melancholic longing.

Sans checked the monster and inwardly cursed at the sight of the monster’s low HP.

10/680.

Sans immediately chalked it up to him trying to escape but soon questioned when was the last time this monster had eaten? When he’d given him healing items after their fight in the forest?

Sans crept into the kitchen, grabbed a plate and placed two cinnabuns on it. He slunk back to the sleeping monster and contemplated how the monster was supposed to eat with his arms trapped by his blue bones. He could simply stuff the food into Edge’s mouth, though that would mean waking him up and listening to his irate rants. Or he could set one arm free and believe in the best of this monster. The idea had Sans inwardly snorting as look at where that bit of negligence landed him. It was basically babysitting. Babysitting a murderous monster with a penchant for dressing up like a rebellious teenager.

After weighing his options for a few more minutes, Sans finally decided to take a risk. He placed the plate beside Edge’s left arm and dispelled the blue bones trapping that arm. He was only going to his lab for a little bit, and this time, he would be ready if this monster tried to escape again.

Sans left his house, closing the door quietly behind him. He made his way to his secret room, unlocked the door and stepped inside. He grabbed the blueprints and began his work on the machine.

After spending a couple of hours fixing parts and matching the different parts to the blueprints schematics, Sans was ready to call it quits. He was about ready to leave when he noticed a small crevice in the side of the machine. The short monster stuck a phalange into the crack and found it completely empty. After perusing the blueprints, he realized that some sort of chip was supposed to be placed there— a chip that powered the machine.

He would have to go back to the lab to look for parts for it. Alphys could probably make a replica of one, given her engineering skills but Sans was hesitant on getting her involved. It would mean having to explain how this other Papyrus had gotten here and everything he knew about alternative universes. Then there was the possibility of Undyne finding out, through Alphys, about Papyrus’s replacement with this evil version of him and how said evil monster had dusted Snowdrake. Just the thought made Sans want to crawl back to his room and sleep forever. But if there was a chance to get his brother back, he would do anything for it.

Deciding that he’d spent enough time on the machine, Sans grabbed the blueprints and locked the door to his secret room. Sans readied his magic to shortcut into the labs when he remembered that he’d freed one of Edge’s arms. He had to stop by the house and check to make sure the monster didn’t try to break free.

When he walked into the house, a pair of angry sockets greeted him. The stout skeleton noticed the plate empty of cinnabuns. Edge’s right arm still appeared to be trapped against the wall which was a good sign.

“heya, glad you finally ate,” Sans began casually. “you were lookin’ kinda bony.”

Edge let out an indignant squawk, while Sans gave the monster a right-eyed wink. He found amusement in Edge’s reactions to his jokes. The reactions were similar to his brother’s except more angry and exaggerated, as if the jokes personally offended him.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” the tall monster suddenly accused.

“eh, you did say you wanted some time alone. don’t tell me you’re feelin’ bonely.”

“I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Edge retorted furiously, sending a vicious glare at Sans.

“ya sure? it seemed so t’me.”

Edge gave an indignant huff before responding coldly, “It’s because of what I had said.”

Sans’s grin faltered ever so slightly but quickly replied back, “look buddy—“

“EGDE!”

“what?”

“CALL ME EDGE! THINK OF IT AS AN UPGRADE FROM BOSS!”

Sans simply stared at the tall monster, who looked like even he was surprised at what had just come out of his mouth. Edge huffed and his sockets glared at the wall to his side. Sans suspected if Edge’s arms had been freed, he would have crossed them across his chest.

“I-IT’S ALSO MUCH PREFERABLE TO BUDDY! Y-YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY TO GET THIS HONOR!”

Seeing the dark monster act this embarrassed from agreeing to a nickname that Sans had suggested two days ago had him chuckling in amusement. This only seemed to incense Edge even further.

“WHAT IS SO FUNNY?! IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT—“

“whoa there, i have no problems with calling you that. no need to get so rattled.”

“THAT WAS TERRIBLE! WILL YOU FOREVER PLAGUE ME WITH THESE INANE PUNS?!”

“yeah, until you get back to your world.”

The blunt statement brought Edge’s attention back to the short skeleton. Sans didn’t expect to see a look of suppressed disbelief on the tall monster’s face. An uneasy silence fell between the two monsters.

“ok, i’m gonna be straight with ya,” Sans began evenly. “i won’t deny the fact that i’m keepin’ a socket on you to ensure the safety of my bro but that doesn’t mean i’ll dust you or abandon you without any sort of help. you’re likely worried about your bro—”

“I AM NOT!” Edge interrupted with a voice brimming with bitterness. “My brother stopped supporting me years ago.”

Sans was speechless, having some difficulty believing there would be any universe where he didn’t support his brother. Surely there must be something that happened between the two, some sort of misunderstanding. Sans’s mind drifted back to the dream and it renewed his concern over his brother. Surely the Sans in that dream didn’t actually attack his brother? If that dream-Sans did end up attacking Papyrus, then he’d have a real bone to pick with his counterpart when they finally meet.

“I have worked hard to attain my position as Captain of the Royal Guard, even if some of those actions were, I will admit, less than moral,” the tall skeleton grounded out. “BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, I DID THAT ALL BY MYSELF AND MY WORTHLESS BROTHER HAD NO PART IN IT!”

Beneath all the seething rage, Sans could single out a look of confused betrayal on Edge’s face. It was subtle, and if Sans hadn’t been so well versed in reading people’s expressions, he wouldn’t have noticed it. It reminded Sans of the look Papyrus would sometimes give him whenever Papyrus knew he was keeping secrets from him. The expression made Sans’s soul churn.

Despite this monster’s rude behavior and murderous tendencies, he was still a Papyrus. And while Edge was not his brother, Sans couldn’t help but notice their similarities— the exaggerated anger at the puns, his dislike of grease, his enthusiasm and strive to prove himself to others, and that expression of hurt he’d sometimes see in his brother’s face.

His brother always believed in the best of others and believed anyone can become a great person. Shouldn’t he give that same chance with this monster? The thought of forgiving this Papyrus due to his own Papyrus’s words had Sans chuckling ironically.

“look, edge, as i was tryin’ to say earlier,” the smaller skeleton began deliberately, shoving his hands in the pockets of his blue jacket. “even though you ain’t my bro, you’re still a papyrus. and, uh, i do believe you can become a better monster if you gave it a shot. maybe all you need are some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends.”

“WHAT? THAT’S PREPOSTEROUS! I—“

“we didn’t start on the best footing but i’m willing to give you a chance if you’re willing to take one. how ‘bout it?”

The tall skeletal stared at Sans suspiciously, as if expecting some sort of trick. After a moment, however, Edge stuck out his left gloved hand as if to give a handshake.

“Hmph, I cannot guarantee that I’ll change,” Edge gave a short pause. “However, I would not be the great and terrible Papyrus if I don’t even try.”

The grin on Sans’s face grew as he removed his right hand from his hoodie pocket and lightly grasped it within Edge’s, causing the Papyrus to give him a surprised look. Sans noted how much smaller his own hand was compared to the other monster’s, nearly engulfed by the red gloves.

Their handshake was abruptly broken by a loud, furious pounding from the door.

shit, Sans thought, easily recognizing who that pounding was coming from.

“HEY! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR OR I’LL BREAK IT DOWN!” a loud, brash female voice shouted.

Undyne.

He had no idea how she found out so fast.

welp, this is gonna suck.

Chapter Text

Papyrus tensed as soon as he heard the female voice shouting from behind the door. He didn’t know how the Undyne of this universe acted but the one from back home was vicious and merciless. He had countless failed attempts to overthrow her rule over the Royal Guards. He’d only managed to defeat her by manipulating both Alphys and the Royal Guarddogs to go against her. The many defeats he’d suffered through while trying to become Captain left a sore spot for him. If this Undyne provoked him in any way, he would not hold back.

The bones that had Papyrus’s arm trapped against the wall suddenly dissipate, much to his surprise. He felt a small, bony hand grasp his larger, gloved one.

“close your eyes for a sec and hold on.”

Too surprised to argue, Papyrus did as he was told. He felt something shift unnaturally, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by darkness. A soft whirling sound hit is hearing, and he realized he was back in this Sans’s messy room.

“stay here while i handle everything.”

Before the tall monster had a chance to even take a step forward, the Sans was gone. Papyrus made his way to the door and tried to open it. It was locked.

He growled in annoyance. He did not plan on staying hidden from someone like Undyne, especially when he could hear the fish woman’s loud, obnoxious voice echoing downstairs.

“WHERE IS HE?! WHERE’S THAT IMPOSTER BASTARD!”

“water you talkin’ about? imposter who?” Sans’s voice drawled.

“DON’T GIVE ME THAT! THE VILLIAN THAT KILLED SNOWDRAKE!! WHERE IS YOUR BROTHER?”

“whoa there undyne. that’s some accusation you’re makin’ against my bro.”

Papyrus heard something slam loudly downstairs and then stomping footsteps.

“hey, wait. you can’t just bar—“

“SHUT IT! I’M GONNA ARREST THAT MURDEROUS IMPOSTER OF PAPYRUS!”

“hey, hey, can’t we just talk this out peacefully?”

Papyrus could hear the edge of nervousness creeping into the Sans’s voice. The sound of scrambling footsteps from slipper-wearing feet, followed by a loud thud and a soft grunt of pain had anger flooding through him. He summoned a sharp bone in one of his hands and jammed in against the lock, breaking it. Papyrus wretched the door open, aiming the weapon at the incoming Undyne. The fish woman’s one eye widened in shock before she immediately dodge the attack.

The Fell monster glared at his opponent and noticed a glowing blue-green spear clutched tightly in her hand. He saw Sans picking himself up off the ground behind her. The thought that she had attacked him filled Papyrus with an inexplicable, blinding rage, one that was building upon the hatred he already had for the fish monster.

Papyrus saw a flash of blue in his vision and retaliated by summoning a long, pointed bone staff. He parried Undyne’s just in time before it could land a hit on his torso. Realizing the cramped upstairs space was no place to have a battle, with spears no less, the two raging monsters jumped down the stairs and through the house’s doorway.

“NGAAAAAHHHH! WHAT DID YOU DO TO PAPYRUS, YOU IMPOSTER?!” Undyne roared. She thrusted several spear attacks at Papyrus, who parried them with his bone staff.

“NOTHING! I AM PAPYRUS, YOU FOOL!”

The tall monster barely noticed the cold, wintry air of Snowdin as he sent out waves upon waves of bone patterns at this world’s Undyne. Snow flew through the air as the two monsters thrusted their weapons at each other in close melee combat. Bone and spear pattern bullets flew out from Papyrus and Undyne, respectively. Papyrus blocked each of Undyne’s spear attacks without much trouble. He found this Undyne’s attacks less vicious than the one from his world but the patterns more varied.

After the third wave of spears, Undyne finally landed two damaging hits at Papyrus’s chest, causing his HP to drop from 54 to 30. Before Papyrus could strike back, he felt his body suddenly frozen in place. Undyne stood before him, spear pointed directly at his chest.

“You’re not the Papyrus I know! A teenager comedian, that snowdrake, is dead because of you! To believe a monster would harm its own kind!” Undyne spat. “You’re just a coward who’s hiding behind that lazy, no good brother of the real Papyrus!”

Papyrus saw red as he furiously fought against the magic keeping him trapped in place. With a roar of absolute fury, he broke out and swung his arm outwards, causing huge spikes of bone to sprout from the ground. Screams filled the air as Snowdin residents dodge the sharp, ossified objects. The tall monster’s fury was so great that he failed to notice his soul turning blue until his face planted into the snow. The jolt of the cold, white substance falling into his eye sockets brought him back down from his blind anger.

Sans stood in front of the tall monster with his back turned. He faced Undyne, who was also lying face down on the ground.

“both of ya need to chill. you can’t go attackin’ each other in public like this,” the small monster stated evenly.

Papyrus strained his neck to look up and saw the scared expressions on the Snowdin residents’ faces, many of them hiding behind houses and snow structures.

“NHAGGHHH! You’ve got some nerve Sans!” Undyne snarled. “Not reporting a monster dusting but also hiding the culprit and lying to the Royal Guard! I should have you arrested and reported to the King!”

“hey, this situation is more complicated than a simple monster dusti—“

“HOW COULD YOU TAKE—!”

Undyne's face was dunked back into the snow.

“if you two would stop attackin’ each other, i’ll explain the situation, ok?”

Papyrus gave a scoff and glared at Undyne before replying, “As long she promises not to attack me! The great and terrible Papyrus would not stand for any more of her belittling behavior!”

The Fell monster could tell that set Undyne off as she fought against the blue magic and screamed curses at both him and this world’s Sans.

“look, undyne, i have an idea where papyrus is but i won’t tell ya if you continue to act like this,” Sans warned.

The fish monster grumbled a few more unflattering words under her breath about the short monster before reluctantly agreeing. As they gathered themselves back up and dispersed their weapons, whispers broke out among the Snowdin residents.

“Unbelievable, that monster dusted Snowdrake?”

“What kind of monster would kill another monster?”

“Isn’t that Sans’s brother?”

“I think so? Though he looks different.”

“I can’t believe Sans is hiding him!”

Both Dogamy and Dogaressa had looks of utter betrayal on their faces and muttered, “he lied to us. I can’t believe he lied to us!”

Anger sparked up once again within Papyrus, and the tall monster repressed the urge to yell at the residents to shut up. Although he disliked that the residents treated him like some sort of evil human, he felt more bothered by the way they were treating Sans as if he were equally as bad. Especially since the short skeleton was only trying to help him. Papyrus frowned at the thought as he followed Sans and Undyne back into the house.

Undyne rounded at Sans as soon as the door slammed shut.

“All right, explain!”

Sans motioned for Undyne to sit, which she did only after glaring at the monster for a full minute.

“so you ever hear of alternate universes?”

Undyne stared at Sans incredulously as Papyrus sighed and crossed his arms. He really didn’t feel like going through this explanation again.

“Is this a joke? Alternate universes? That’s just scifi bullcrap!”

“yeah, well, whether you believe it or not, it’s real. and this papyrus is from another universe. one similar to but different from ours.”

The fish monster suddenly stood up and pointed an accusing finger at Sans.

“Is this one of your stupid jokes or is this your sad excuse for this monster’s actions?!”

“HOW RUDE! I CAN VOUCH THAT I’M NOT FROM THIS DISGUSTINGLY SOFT WORLD OF YOURS!”

Undyne simply glared at Papyrus.

Sans held up his arms in a placating manner. “you wanted an explanation, and i’m giving it to you. whether you believe it or not is up to you.”

“Hmph, fine. Let’s say this monster is from another universe or whatever. Where’s our Papyrus then?”

Papyrus felt a flare of anger at the ‘our Papyrus’. Once again, everything was about this world’s Papyrus. He didn’t understand how or why all these monsters cared about this world’s him so deeply but it caused unrelenting jealousy toward his doppelganger.

“most likely in whatever universe this papyrus came from.”

“How can you be sure?”

“i can run a few tests t’check,” the short monster answered shortly.

Silence fell upon the room. Papyrus could feel the tension eluding off of the fish monster. It was thick enough to cut through with a knife.

“And Paps would be safe in this world?”

Silence reigned once again, and Papyrus could see that even the Sans’s permanent grin tightened in worry.

“He not, is he?” Undyne got up and began pacing in the room. “Well whatever science mumbo jumbo you’re working on to find Papyrus, you better get to it! I’ll ask Alphys to see if she knows anything.”

Papyrus noticed a brief grimace in Sans’s features before returning to its usual easygoing look.

“thanks. i’ll just—“

“This monster, however!” Undyne spun around and gave a death glare at Papyrus. “He’s still under arrest for killing another monster!”

Undyne stalked towards the monster. She hadn’t taken more than two steps before the blue-clad skeleton stood in front of her, blocking her way.

“i think it’ll be best if this doesn’t get out to king fluffybuns.”

“WHY?! You plan to keep this… killer here in Snowdin?!” Undyne shot another vicious glare towards Papyrus, who returned an equally vicious one. “You’re putting everyone here in danger!”

“HOW DARE YOU MAKE THAT ASSUMPTION!” Papyrus interrupted furiously. He couldn’t stand being slandered any longer. “I DO NOT GO AROUND MINDLESSLY KILLING MONSTERS!”

“Is that so? Then what’s your reasoning for killing Snowdrake?!”

Papyrus felt his rage dissipate as quickly as it came. Why had he killed Snowdrake? Because he simply could and he was simply angry at how different this world was compared to back home?

“look, whatever reasoning this papyrus had for dustin’ snowdrake, it’s in the past,” Sans pointed out. “whatever happen’s happened. can’t change it. it’s best to… to try and move forward.”

Papyrus noticed a strange look flash upon Sans’s skeletal features. A look that Papyrus didn’t know how to describe.

“So what? You’re gonna just keep him here? Under house arrest?” Undyne intoned skeptically. “How do I know you won’t slack off on your duties like you always seem to do?”

Papyrus felt offended that these two were talking about him as if he weren’t there. They didn’t even ask for his input in the matter. He felt the need to interrupt but stopped when Sans gave him a knowing look.

“hey, i can be a hard working monster when i want to.” The short monster turned back to Undyne. “’sides, he’s still a version of my bro. i’ll keep a socket on 'm and make sure he won’t go ‘round making a ruckus. whaddya say?”

The fish monster looked contemplatively at the monster before giving a sigh, “NHAGH! I’m giving you one shot at this Sans! Any other reports of dusted or injured monsters because of him,” Undyne pointed an angry finger at Papyrus. “I’m arresting him and bringing him to Asgore, no questions or complaints, got it?!”

A sudden spike of fear flooded Papyrus at the mention of Asgore. The Asgore back home was truly a merciless, paranoid monster, not giving a second’s though about dusting another monster and manipulating everyone to have his way. Papyrus had been lucky to not fall within Asgore’s ‘danger’ radar to have been eliminated.

“sure thing, capt'n.” Sans gave Undyne a cheeky grin as she got ready to leave.

“Also, that monster better not step a foot within Alphys or I’ll be sure to make his life here miserable!”

Papyrus couldn’t help but scoff, “As if I’d ever want to be anywhere near that crazy lizard.”

“WHAT DID YA JUST SAY, PUNK?!” Undyne roared as she stalked towards Papyrus.

The Fell monster stood his ground and glowered back, arms folded across his chest.

“YOU HEARD WHAT I SAID!”

“You insult her again and I’ll kick your ass back to wherever you came from!”

Papyrus’s skeletal feature morphed into a sneer. “I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY AND BEST THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!”

“Hah, you’re no Papyrus to me!”

“WHAT? HOW DARE—“

“alright you kids, break it up. can’t have you two breakin’ the house with your fighting,” Sans interrupted. Both monsters glared at the smaller one before relenting.

Just before Undyne turned to leave, she whispered to the non-native monster out of Sans’s hearing range, “You better watch yourself. If anything happens to Sans, I’m gonna blame it on you. He may be annoying but he’s still Paps’s bro. Anyone that upsets Papyrus will have to answer to me!”

Jealous raged burned through the tall monster once again. “You do not threaten me!”

“Keep that attitude, and I’ll make sure to get you arrested!”

With those final words, Undyne spun around on her boots, wrenched opened the door and walked out. The door slammed loudly behind her as she left.

A pregnant pause filled the room before Sans let out a weary sigh.

“welp, that went slightly better than expected.”

Papyrus watched the short skeleton plop unceremoniously onto the couch, lean heavily against the backrest, and close his sockets. Papyrus sat down on the floor. Sans opened his right socket and looked at Papyrus.

“you can sit on the couch y’know. it’s not gonna attack ya.”

Papyrus gave a huff and moved to sit down on the far end of the lumpy furniture. Once he did, Sans closed his socket again. He was confused that the Sans didn’t even bother with restraining him back against the wall.

“You’re going to just leave me free to move around?” Papyrus asked.

Sans didn’t reply, making Papyrus think he’d fallen asleep. He soon noticed the monster give a half-hearted shrug.

“figured i’d give ya a chance. any more attacks though and you’re going back against the wall.”

Papyrus gave a curt nod before falling silent. The tall skeleton stared at the Sans, noticing the dark circles below his sockets for the first time. And even though he hid it well, the smaller monster’s look of exhaustion did not go unnoticed by Papyrus. It almost made Papyrus feel bad for being the cause of this Sans’s exhaustion.

“like what you see?” Papyrus saw the Sans give him a suggestive look, sockets at half mast.

“HAH! NEVER! DON’T ASK ME THAT AGAIN!” the tall monster retorted, feeling flustered.

“ok.”

“AND GO TO SLEEP! YOU LOOK LIKE YOU’RE ABOUT TO KNEEL OVER!”

The Sans gave him a brief look of surprise before saying, “ok. as long as you’re not gonna—“

“I’M NOT GOING TO RUN AWAY! THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS DOES NOT RUN LIKE A COWARD. NOW STOP PESTERING ME!”

“ok.”

Papyrus rested his head back against the couch and closed his eyes. He thought back to when the short monster had stood up for him against Undyne, even taking the Snowdin residents’ comments in stride. That Sans had considered him a version of his brother. The statement caused a number of emotions within him, emotions that he hadn’t felt in years.

For the first time since he’d started his vigorous training in becoming Captain of the Royal Guard, he felt a trickling of comfort settle within him. He’d felt a jolt of happiness at being acknowledged by this Sans as a version of his brother, as a Papyrus. After all, his own brother always addressed him as boss for the past few years. When he’d first become Captain, he had wanted his Sans to call him boss but now he wondered if that had been a huge mistake on his part.

A sense of regret began to slowly claw its way into him. The monsters of this world treated dusting another monster as a huge offense, and the realization that this Sans had put not only his life, but also his reputation, on the line to cover up for Papyrus’s mistakes, made all the feeling worse. Papyrus’s soul churned at the thought and he almost felt the need to apologize. He restrained himself before a single ‘sorry’ could get out.

Papyrus slowly drifted asleep as his mind replayed the events of the last few days.

When Papyrus woke up, darkness shrouded him. He was propped up against one corner of the lumpy green couch with a thin blanket covering his lanky body. He peered around and saw a plate with two cinnabuns on it as well as alternating columns of white and blue bones blocking the outside door.

The tall monster seized the two cinnabuns and scarfed it down. He let out a soft sigh as he felt his HP increase.

89/680

The food and sleep definitely helped it though he was far from maxed. He did feel an ounce of appreciation for this Sans’s hospitality.

He suddenly realized that the smaller monster was completely absent. He uncovered the blanket off of himself, set aside the empty plate and crept upstairs towards the native Sans’s doorway.

Papyrus didn’t know why he came up here. To apologize for his recent, unsightly behavior? To thank this Sans for the blanket and healing food? He was hesitant, unsure why he felt the need to acknowledge these gestures when, back in his world, monsters would never do this. Back at home, monsters always treated him with respect, and he always got what he wanted. In fact, this Sans rarely ever treated him with the respect he had come to expect since becoming Captain of the Royal Guard. It left him frustrated and confused but also drawn to the behavior.

Sudden, soft and pained groans came from the doorway, freezing Papyrus’s thoughts. He slowly pressed his non-existent ears against the door.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Papyrus frowned at the rattling sound and knocked on the door.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Sans was definitely asleep, probably too deeply to hear the knocking. Papyrus gave one final hard knock.

No response came.

He grasped the doorknob he’d broken earlier and turned it quietly. Papyrus made a mental note to bring that up to this Sans. What kind of foolish monster would leave their door broken and unlocked while sleeping? It was asking to get dusted.

When Papyrus stepped into the dark room, he noticed a faint blue glow emitting from the sleeping Sans’s left eye. The monster’s face was scrunched up in a pained expression with sweat beading the top of his white skull. Papyrus noticed the trembling under the ball of sheets.

Was he having a nightmare? Papyrus remembered his own brother used to get them all the time when they were younger. He’d even get them sometimes.

Papyrus crouched down into a kneeling position beside the mattress that functioned as a bed. He slowly reached out his gloved right hand and placed it on Sans’s forehead. He gently stroke down the side of the small skeleton’s face, remembering back to how he’d done it to his own brother. The grimace on Sans’s face began to relaxed and the shaking subsided. Papyrus continued his ministrations, almost fondly, and observed the dark circles under the Sans’s sockets. He wondered if this Sans had nightmares often.

“pa-papyrus?”

Papyrus hadn’t even realized when the Sans had awoken until he found hazy, white eye lights peering up at him in confusion. The tall monster felt a strange jolt in his soul from being addressed by his actual name. Realizing that he was still lightly stroking down the side of Sans’s face, he immediately retracted his hand, as if burned.

Sans’s eye lights followed the hand until he fell upon Papyrus’s face.

“edge? what’re you doin’ here?”

A strange sense of disappointment filled Papyrus at being addressed by his nickname but he quickly ignored it, crossing his arms tightly in front of him.

“Hmph, I walked by and heard something coming from your room and went to check it out. Nothing else,” the Fell monster answered shortly.

The Sans simply nodded but didn’t say anything back. Silence flooded the room. Papyrus had to restrain every nerve in his body from asking if Sans was okay. He had to leave before he made any more embarrassing gestures. Papyrus got up.

“hey,” Sans called out, “thanks. whatever you did helped.”

Papyrus remained quiet, not expecting the thanks. “Well, it’s the least I could do for everything you’ve done for me. The great and terrible Papyrus is not so terrible as to not reward… certain behaviors.”

As Papyrus turned the doorknob, he heard Sans chuckle lightly.

“heh, see, told ya you could become a better monster if ya tried.”

Papyrus chose to not comment as he stepped out into the hallway. He let out a sigh he hadn’t realized he was holding. He walked back to the lumpy couch and laid down, that feeling of comfort and happiness coming back. The comfort and happiness soon faded into guilt as he thought back to the monster he’d dusted, and the weary look this Sans tried so hard to hide. He should start trying to make up for his past mistakes, no matter how difficult it may be. At the very least, the great and terrible Papyrus was willing to put in his best effort.

Chapter Text

Ever since the edgy, red-and-black wearing Papyrus showed up and took his brother’s place, Sans’s life had become much more difficult than he remembered. Not that his life prior to Edge’s showing up had been all sunshine and rainbows; in fact, it was more like the opposite, all darkness and rainclouds. But at least he had his brother there to support him. Without him, Sans found himself falling into his old routine of sleeping for most of the day and lounging around doing nothing.

Even going outside his house was not worth it anymore, with all the reproachful looks he’s gotten from the Snowdin residents. After that fiasco between Edge and Undyne, the entirety of Snowdin found out about Edge’s dusting of Snowdrake and his trying to cover it up.

The one good that came out of all this was his slowly growing relationship with Edge. Since he barely left his house, and when he wasn’t holed up in his room, Sans spent a decent amount of time chatting with the dark monster. Edge was still insulting, proud and short-tempered most of the time with smatterings of kindness peeking through, such as that night he’d found Edge helping him out of his nightmare. The gentleness took Sans by surprise.

Sans also asked more questions about Edge’s world and about the monster himself. When the small skeleton inquired how he’d become Captain of the Royal Guard, the tall skeleton boasted his story with an air of excitement and enthusiasm that was so reminiscent of his brother that it had Sans’s soul aching at his brother’s absence.

Throughout all their chat sessions, Sans also discovered quite a number of differences besides the ‘kill or be killed’ nature of Edge’s world to his own. Although it didn’t excuse Edge’s violent and cruel actions here in this world, Sans did gain a better understanding of him. Sans never broached the topic of Edge’s brother, his own doppleganger, realizing it was a sore spot for the tall skeleton.

On the fourth day after the heated meeting with Undyne, Sans finally found just enough motivation to get out of the house and spend some time working on the machine. That motivation quickly dissipated when he realized that without the missing parts, he was at a standstill. The short monster sighed as he locked the door to his secret room and decided to take a break at Grillby’s. He hadn’t gone there in days. In fact, this was the longest period he’d ever gone without going to the bar.

Grillby’s went dead silent as soon as he opened the door and stepped inside. His usual cordial greetings never came. Chilly and accusatory looks stared back at him. The Royal Guard Dogs gave him particularly vicious glares underlined with betrayal.

“heya guys, long time no see. thought i’d ketchup with ya,” the small skeleton greeting, forcing his voice to sound casual.

He was met with silence. Even Drunk Bun gave no reaction to his pun, which usually had her howling with laughter. Sans deflated at the lack of response and slowly shuffled over to his usual barstool. Whispers broke out in the bar though none of it was addressed to him; no doubt they were about him though. He ignored it as best as he could.

“just my usual grillbz,” Sans said to the flame monster. He pulled his face into his usual grin. Grillby’s flames flickered in understanding.

Sans sighed as he propped his chin up against the palm of his right hand, idly tracing circular patterns in the polished wood countertop. He deserved the chilly, heh, treatment he’d been getting from all the Snowdin residents. It was his fault for not watching Edge more carefully and causing Snowdrake’s death. Now the situation spiraled way beyond his control. He wondered why he’d even bothered putting so much effort into covering for Edge’s actions. Once again, his putting effort into something only made things worse.

His self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted when Grillby placed a plate of burg and bottle of ketchup in front of him.

“thanks.”

Sans poured a copious amount of ketchup onto his burger and took a bite, savoring the familiar grease. At least he still had this one source of comfort.

“Grillbz says to hurry up and finish eating and leave. You’re not welcomed here anymore,” Red Bird, who sat a stool away, said.

The small skeleton stopped mid-bite and stared at the fire monster, whose flames flickered violently from orange-red to blue. Sans felt his soul sink. He suddenly wasn't hungry anymore, tasting the burger as nothing more than a greasy piece of meat and carbs slathered in ketchup. A warm hand fell on top of his skeletal one before he got the chance to get up. Sans saw the fire monster gesturing at Red Bird in anger, who looked slightly sheepish.

“So what if I gave a false translation. It’s what everyone else in here is thinking,” Red Bird grumbled. He moved over to the back corner of the bar.

“… I apologize for that… Sans…” Grillby said. His voice was soft, barely above a whisper.

“it’s no big deal,” Sans replied with a shrug. “and geez, was wondering if you could talk. nice to know you can. anyways, should prolly head back.”

Sans got up to leave. Grillby’s flaming hand never left its position on top of Sans’s.

“… You’re welcomed to stay… don’t let the others… stop you.”

“heh, thanks grillby, could always count on ya t’be a pal but ‘m gonna head back ‘n catch up on some naps.” Sans gave the bartender a wink with his left eye. Grillby returned the wink with, what Sans guessed, a look of concern.

The skeletal monster really did appreciate Grillby’s thoughtful gestures but found no reason to stay with all the judging looks and whispers about him. Grillby held up a hand before Sans could leave. The fire monster expertly bagged the partially eaten burger along with a bottle of ketchup and handed it to Sans.

“thanks pal. really ‘preciate it.”

“… take care… of yourself Sans…”

“heh, well you know me. i try.”

Sans left with his bag of leftover food. He didn’t even bother to walk back to his house and simply took a shortcut back home. He found Edge sitting on the lumpy green couch watching whatever reruns were currently playing of Mettaton’s shows. The tall skeleton sprang back from Sans’s surprise appearance.

“I really wish you’d stop doing that!” Edge proclaimed.

Sans gave the monster a flippant grin and replied back, “what can i say. i like makin’ a sansational appearance.”

Edge let out an indignant squawk before his sockets settled on the bag in the smaller skeleton’s hands.

“You actually went out for food.”

“yep. not feelin’ too hungry though. here,” Sans dropped the bag onto the table beside the couch, “you can have the rest. sorry i took a few bites out of it already.”

Edge opened the bag to peek inside but immediately threw it back onto the table with a look of disgust.

“DISGUSTING! LOOK AT ALL THAT GREASE! YOU SHOULD EAT SOMETHING HEALTHIER!”

Sans felt a dull, aching throb from his soul which he tried to ignore. He shuffled his way towards the stairs, hoping to sleep the remaining day away. He was so tired.

“Are you going back to your room?” Edge suddenly asked.

Without turning around, Sans gave him a halfhearted wave. “yep. it’s time for my regularly scheduled nap.”

There was a brief moment of silence before the red-and-black wearing skeleton replied, “You’ve been sleeping most of the day for these past few days.”

“you can never get too much sleep is what i always say.”

Sans didn’t understand why the edgy Papyrus was making a big deal out of it now. It wasn’t as if he cared in the last three or four days.

Sans hadn’t taken a single step up the stairs before he found himself staring at Edge’s black armor-covered chest. The tall monster had his arms crossed in front of him, scrutinizing Sans with a frown. A fleeting look of concern flashed across the tall monster’s face. It appeared so quickly that Sans wondered if he’d imagined it.

“You’ve been sleeping this much but never look well rested.”

Shock ran through Sans; he hadn’t expected Edge to notice anything different from his usual behavior.

“In fact, you’ve been looking more worn out… ever since Undyne was here,” Edge stated, his normally cold voice softening.

“what are ya talkin’ about edge. ‘m fi—“

“NO, YOU ARE NOT!”

Sans flinched slightly as if struck. Had it really been that obvious? He usually hid everything pretty well. If Edge, a monster that he’d only just met a few days ago, noticed then he really was slipping through the cracks.

“YOU SHALL ACCOMPANY ME TO THE KITCHEN!” the tall monster suddenly declared.

A gloved hand lightly gripped Sans’s arm. The short monster peered up at Edge in bemusement.

“what?”

“TO COOK OF COURSE! YOU EXPECT ME TO LIVE OFF OF CINNABUNS AND THAT GREASY GARBAGE YOU CALL FOOD? THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS ONLY EATS FOOD WITH NUTRITIOUS VALUE!”

Sans found himself dragged along into his own kitchen. Once he sat down in a chair by the table, Sans watched as the dark Papyrus scrambled throughout the kitchen looking for ingredients. Edge opened cabinets to pull out pots and pans, reached into the fridge to grab the vegetables and set them on the counter.

“Where do you keep the spaghetti?”

Sans felt as if the air was suddenly knocked out of him. He numbly pointed at the top fridge, which Edge went through with enthusiasm. After washing the vegetables thoroughly, the Fell Captain summoned a sharpened bone and chopped furiously through them.

As Sans watched Edge work, the punny skeleton realized that, given Edge’s poor relationship with his world’s Undyne, his cooking skills were in fact less aggressive than Sans’s own brother’s. Feeling slightly bad for doing absolutely nothing except watching Edge cook, Sans helped out by using his magic to hand ingredients over to Edge when he needed them. He was still going to help out in the laziest way possible, which didn’t go unnoticed by the tall monster.

“I can’t believe you are lazy enough to use magic for something this simple,” Edge grumbled, earning him a cheeky grin from Sans.

“hey, at least i’m helpin’. this is cutting into my regularly scheduled napping time, y’know.”

Edge gave a reactionary growl at the pun and continued to smash the tomatoes into tiny bits to make the sauce. Every now and then Sans would provide some help with his magic. At one point he’d even dumped half a bottle of ketchup into the sauce, causing Edge to squawk indignantly. Sans found that he enjoyed cooking time with Edge.

He admired the edgy skeleton’s ability to cook without burning down the house or destroying parts of the kitchen. Sans idly wondered if he should tell his brother to cut back a bit when he cooked, whenever he’ll get a chance to see his brother. If he’ll ever see his brother. Sans’s mood dampened at the thought of possibly never seeing Papyrus again.

Nope. Gotta think positive. Get the machine to work and find Paps.

“The great and terrible Papyrus will help!” the Fell monster declared without warning.

“what?” Sans gave Edge a startled look, wondering if the tall skeleton had somehow read his mind.

Edge rolled his eyes and repeated, “I believe with my sharp wit, we’ll figure out a way to get back to my world in less time.”

Sans gave the idea some thought. He hadn’t brought up the topic of the machine to Edge, and he had doubts of whether the tall skeleton could be that much of a help.

“i ‘preciate the offer, pal, but i’ll—“

Clink!

Edge slammed two heaping plates of steaming spaghetti in front of Sans.

“I tire of your self-isolating behavior! You will accept my help and that’s final! I will take no other answer from you!” Edge growled.

Sans found himself at a lack of words to respond to Edge’s declaration. The edgy skeleton took a seat across the table from Sans. He lightly placed a gloved hand on the smaller monster’s shoulder.

“I have acted as you are now in the past,” the dark monster began. “Perhaps… perhaps it is why things have gotten so bad between my brother and I. Besides, it seems like you haven’t gotten any progress on your own.”

That much was true. Sans hadn’t gotten that much farther on fixing the machine. Not without the missing components. And even once it was fixed, he would still need to somehow find the coordinates to Edge’s world. Having a second viewpoint may bring in some new perspective. Sans felt a glimmer of hope for the first time since he'd found himself in this situation with Edge.

“alright. i’ll let ya help.”

The royal guard captain’s face lit up into a bright smile. It was the first non-threatening, non-arrogant smile that Sans had seen since the monster’s arrival. The short skeleton felt a faint fluttering in his soul at the sight, which he promptly ignored.

Sans shoved a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth and tasted an explosion of flavor. His sockets widened in shock.

“whoa, edge, this is great! didn’t know spaghetti could taste this good.”

“Hmph! W-well of course! A-anything made by the great and terrible Papyrus is bound to be the best!” the tall monster stuttered with false bravado.

Sans noticed a faint dusting of pink across Edge’s face, causing his grin to widen.

“hey, what’s this, are ya getting embarrassed buddy?”

“Me? E-embarrassed? Nonsense! I do not get embarrassed! And stop giving me that suggestive look!”

Sans chuckled lightly, getting a kick out of teasing Edge. The smaller skeleton had enough mercy to eventually stop his banter. By the time the two monsters had finished the spaghetti, Sans found himself in higher spirits than he had in the last couple of days.

---

True to his words, Sans showed Edge the blueprints to the machine and eventually the machine itself. He had been hesitant on letting the dark monster into his secret room, which even his own brother didn’t know of, but realized that there was no way to hide the machine once the Fell monster saw the blueprint schematics.

After much brainstorming, discussion and even some arguments, Sans decided he had no other choice than to go down into the True Lab and look for parts or other notes. Being a former scientist who worked at the labs years ago, Sans had been hoping to avoid going there. And no matter how much he tried to convince Edge otherwise, the tall skeleton insisted on going with Sans.

In the late hours of the night, two days after Edge’s offer to help, Sans took the two of them through a shortcut directly into the True Lab. An involuntary chill ran up Sans’s spine as soon as the two appeared.

The last time he’d set foot into the lab, it was soon after he’d received a distressed call from Alphys sobbing about Determination, melted monsters and a missing flower. Sans didn’t initially help Alphys, having horrible flashbacks of being a former test subject for DT. It wasn’t until he felt guilt eating him away that he finally helped her out. She was a friend-of-sorts after all. He mostly stopped by every now and then to feed and look over the Amalgamates.

“follow me closely and don’t wander. it’s easy t’get lost in here and not everything here’s friendly.”

“What sort of monsters should I expect here?”

“eh, monsters that look… sorta melted together.”

Edge gave Sans an inquiring look but didn’t ask to elaborate.

“anyway, we’ll get outta here when one shows up. our attacks won’t have much effect on ‘em.”

“Is that so? Not to worry. I’ll be on careful watch.”

Sans was glad that Edge didn’t ask more questions. Explaining all the mysteries of the True Laboratory would take forever. There was stuff even he didn’t know.

The two monsters made their way through the rooms until they reached the one with the giant animalistic skull at the center. No matter how many times he’s seen the DT Extraction Machine, it still gave Sans the shivers. Even Edge seemed to find the machine intimidating, if the tenseness of his posture was anything to go by.

The two skeletons quickly walked past the machine and into the room up north. The room had metal shelves filled with binders of notes.

“i’m gonna take a look through these notes to see if there’s any leftover theories on multiple universes. you can start over on the other shelf if ya want.”

After receiving a nod from the tall monster, Sans picked out the first dark binder and flipped through it. Finding it nothing but notes on Determination, Sans swiftly placed the binder back to its place on the shelf. He went through several more binders but found nothing.

Eventually, he found a thin small folder stuck in between two massive textbooks. The former scientist perused through the papers, finding a passage that caught his attention.

Universal displacements.

A phenomenon where two universes converge for a single moment due to the same event occurring at the exact same time in two separate universes.

“hey, edge, i think i found something.”

No response.

Sans looked around the room and realized that the tall monster was nowhere to be seen.

“edge?”

The small skeleton grabbed the folder and stepped out of the room. He froze, rooted to the spot, as he saw Edge standing beside the DT Extraction Machine with a small vial in his hand. The vial contained a dark red liquid.

Determination.

Sans didn’t know how or why there was still a vial of it left but he definitely didn’t want it anywhere near this Papyrus.

“edge, buddy, pal, you shouldn’t touch that,” Sans warned, slowly making his way over to the tall skeleton.

“What is this?”

“ya don’t wanna know. just put it down and we can leave.”

Edge stared at the liquid inside the vial, as if mesmerized. Sans went to snatch it out of the monster’s hands but Edge simply maneuvered himself out of Sans’s reaching range. The short skeleton surrounded the vial with his blue magic and plucked it from Edge’s hand.

“HEY! GIVE THAT BACK TO ME! I FOUND IT!”

“ya don’t know how dangerous this stuff is. It can—”

The sound of static and dial-up noises suddenly filled the air. The two monsters stared at the entrance to the room and found a Memoryhead making its way to them.

"Lorem ipsum docet"

“oh shit.”

“WHAT IS THAT?!”

The Memoryhead’s “eyes” fell upon the bottle of Determination hovering just above Sans’s outstretched hand. It let out a static filled roar and charged towards them at a surprisingly fast pace. Before it reached them, Sans felt the vial of Determination wrench out of his control. It fell into Edge's grasp, who pulled out the stopper and pressed the vial's opening into his mouth.

"no, don't!"

Sans watched in horror as Edge downed the red liquid.

Chapter Text

A bone-chilling sensation crawled up Papyrus’s spine as soon as he’d laid eyes on the giant goat-shaped skull. Something about that machine was not right and it gave off an aura of unpleasantness. He had come back out into the room with the giant skull contraption. He was sure he’d caught a glimpse of black shadows moving towards the machine, almost as if beckoning him over. Indecipherable static drifted from within it.

Papyrus strode up to the machine, peering behind the covering of wires, tubes and the giant goat skull. A small, thin vial of red liquid sat in the center. He slowly reached in and seized the vial. He could feel pulses of power eluding from whatever the red liquid was.

“edge, buddy, pal, you shouldn’t touch that.”

Papyrus turned towards Sans as the smaller skeleton made his way over. Papyrus could see apprehension, and possibly even fear, written on the Sans’s face. It only spurred Papyrus’s curiosity of the red liquid.

“What is this?”

“you don’t wanna know. just put it down and we can leave.”

The Fell royal captain felt a sudden urge to drink the liquid. It would give him more power. He could feel it.

The vial flew out of his grasp before he could open it.

“HEY! GIVE THAT BACK TO ME! I FOUND IT!” the tall skeleton roared.

“you don’t know how dangerous this stuff is. it can—”

The sound of static and dial-up noises suddenly filled the air. The two of them stared at the entrance to the room, and to Papyrus’s horror and disgust, a warped, white monstrosity that looked like a gigantic grinning face with several pairs of eyes lumbered towards them.

It said something indecipherable to Papyrus.

“oh shit.”

“WHAT IS THAT?!”

Papyrus saw the monster’s “eyes” fall upon the vial of red liquid hovering just above the Sans’s outstretched hand. It let out a static filled roar and charged towards them at a surprisingly fast pace.

No! That monster is not going to get this!

Papyrus used his own control of gravity magic to wrestle the vial from Sans’s grasp. He swiftly pulled out the lid and—

"no, don't!"

The liquid seeped into Papyrus’s sharp teeth-filled maws. His entire being felt like it was on fire as his magic absorbed the liquid. The liquid left a burning sensation wherever it went. Papyrus held back the scream threatening to escape his mouth.

Crack!

He’d drank about half of the red liquid in the vial before the glass broke apart, spilling the remaining contents onto the ground. He then felt himself get pushed out of way as large grinning-faced bullets scattered around the room. He immediately summoned a row of bones to protect himself.

From his periphery, he watched Sans dodge the attacks while pulling something out of his pockets. It was a small, hand-held device. As the short skeleton punched in some numbers on a keypad, Papyrus realized it was a cell phone. A burst of frustrated anger shot through him.

“NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO BE USING A CELL PHONE!” Papyrus shouted.

A string of dial-up noises echoed throughout the room, catching the attention of the many-eyed monster. Papyrus readied his next move, expecting the monster to attack the Sans of this universe. To his surprise, the static noise dissipated like blowing hot air at snowpuffs, and the monster retreated through the rightmost doorway.

“I demand you tell me what that was!” Papyrus ordered.

His brother’s doppelganger gave him a contemplative look, probably trying to find the best way to explain everything. Papyrus also noted the tenseness in the Sans’s posture. Beads of sweat dripped down his unmarred skull in rivulets.

“they’re called amalgamates.”

There was a beat of silence as Papyrus waited for Sans to continue. He never did.

“And? What are they exactly?”

Sans never got the chance to response, as a stuttering, female voice pierced into the room.

“S-sans? W-w-what are y-you doing h-here?”

Papyrus spun around and found himself staring at a short yellow lizard monster in a white lab coat, fear and shock etched upon her face. Her hands were trembling noticeably. This monster, if she was who Papyrus thought she was, did not seem like the mad scientist he was used to seeing. Normally she would be cackling in glee at meeting any of the skeleton brothers.

“heya alphys. sorry t’drop in on ya with no notice. we’re just ‘bout to head home,” Sans explained nonchalantly.

Papyrus just noticed the folder that Sans was trying to hide behind his back.

“W-wait! Um… Why were you even h-here?” This world’s Alphys’s eyes fell upon the folder that Sans attempted to hide. “A-are you just planning to take some notes and l-l-leave?” Hurt and betrayal lined her voice.

“what? no! i just needed to borrow these. i’ll return it after i’m done. it’s kinda complicated.”

That seemed to upset the lizard monster even more as she frowned deeply. Her eyes fell upon Papyrus and widened in fear. The expression almost had the tall monster scoff in annoyance. How weak this Alphys was, even compared to the one from his world. At least this meant she wasn’t a crazy mad scientist.

“Y-y-you’re that um… f-fake Papyrus!”

Blinding rage ignited within Papyrus like a burst of wildfire, “WHAT?! I AM JUST AS REAL AS THIS WORLD’S PAPYRUS! YOU’VE GOT—“

“whoa, ok. calm down edge. no need to get so rattled, heh,” Sans tried to mediate.

“BE SILENT! NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME FOR YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS!”

Everyone fell quiet for a moment before Alphys turned to the imposter-Sans and asked, “What, um, notes are you taking? You could’ve just asked me for them instead of… instead of breaking in and s-stealing it. A-a-and how did you even—?”

“it’s just some stuff on multiple universe theory,” the short skeleton interrupted.

Papyrus could tell the Sans did not want this Alphys to know of his so-called ‘shortcut’ ability.

“Multiple universes?!” the yellow lizard squealed in excitement. “L-l-like where this monster’s from?”

This world’s Alphys gave a frightened glance at Papyrus. In fact during the whole conversation, the scientist kept giving him frightened side glances. She didn’t even attempt to talk to him. Papyrus’s annoyance and temper flared.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that! If you have something to say, then say it!” Papyrus demanded furiously.

“Y-y-you d-d-dusted Snowdrake! I s-s-saw you do it!” the lizard scientist stammered.

The accusation, however true it may be, only caused his anger to worsen. That denouncing tone made it too easy to set him off. In the back of his mind, he wondered how she’d seen everything. She was probably the one who reported to Undyne and the Royal Guard Dogs?

“So you saw me kill Snowdrake but did nothing to stop it?” Papyrus countered, feeling vindictive. “You know why? Because you’re nothing but a coward!”

Cowardice was a trait that Papyrus always saw in his world’s Alphys so it wouldn’t be too farfetched if this one, already evident based off their brief interaction, also had it.

Alphys looked devastated and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Papyrus saw Sans give him an eyeless glare before walking over to the Royal Scientist. His arm hovered over her back to give it a pat. The yellow monster drew away with tears streaming down her face.

“hey, alphys, ’m sorry for stealin’ the notes. didn’t want to bother ya,” the small skeleton apologize softly. “don’t listen to what he said, you’re not a coward. he probably didn’t even—“

“P-p-please leave.”

Papyrus was actually surprised. The imposter-Sans was as well, given his stunned expression. Alphys had her head bowed.

“I-it seems like w-w-what Undyne told me was true—that you’re willing to c-cover… for what this monster has done despite everything.” Alphys looked up, glaring at the two of them with tear-stained eyes. “Y-y-you have what you want. T-t-take it and leave.”

Nobody said a word as the lizard scientist led the two of them back out of the lab. Even Papyrus could feel the thick tension in the air, thick enough to cut through with a knife. From his periphery, Papyrus caught the forlorn expression on Sans’s face, his shoulders slouched heavily. A tinge of guilt surfaced as a result. Papyrus had realized, after their spaghetti dinner, that he preferred it when Sans was laughing and enjoying himself compared to now.

Once the two of them stepped outside the lab, Sans mumbled a final apology to the lizard monster before grasping Papyrus’s hand and shortcutting them back to the house. Papyrus hadn’t been prepared this time and promptly fell onto the green couch as soon as they appeared in the living room.

He probably did that on purpose.

The short monster turned to face him. His hands were stuffed in his hoodie pocket. Papyrus could tell they were clenched in anger.

“what you said back there was uncalled for, buddy,” Sans said evenly.

The Fell monster could tell Sans had put up a mask of calmness. One that Papyrus was beginning to recognize easily.

“If she hadn’t kept looking at me as if I was going to dust her and simply spoke to my face, then I wouldn’t have said it!” Papyrus scoffed.

“first undyne, now this. you need to stop settin’ people off. and i told you not to drink that red stuff but you still did. it’s dangerous.”

Papyrus’s anger and annoyance came back at full force. He was being patronized and treated like some kind of misbehaving child, like an annoying younger brother. It was insulting to someone as great as he. Who was this imposter-Sans to tell him what to do? This Sans was always telling him how to act towards everyone in this world. Even his own brother had stopped doing that years ago.

“YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ORDER ME AROUND! STOP TREATING ME LIKE A CHILD!” Papyrus pointed an accusing finger at the Sans. “I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER AND NEITHER ARE YOU MINE!”

Sans’s face morphed into such a look of utter dejection that Papyrus immediately regretted his words. No one spoke for the longest time.

“y’know… i’ve been tryin’ real hard to help you after all you’ve done since coming ‘ere, puttin’ up with your rude behavior. if you’re that tired of me, you’re free t’leave. i won’t be stoppin’ ya any longer.”

Without another word, the short skeleton turned around and lumbered upstairs. Papyrus stood rooted to his spot, shock running through him. He plopped unceremoniously unto to the couch after he heard the door close. He really had to learn how to keep his temper in check and think before he spoke. He had made so many mistakes because of it, not only in this world but also in the past. When had he become like this, all angry and judgmental?

He took a quick glance back upstairs, contemplating on actually going upstairs to apologize. He quickly decided that his brother’s double probably didn’t want to see him. He’d essentially been thrown out. Papyrus thought he would be overjoyed at finally leaving this house freely but he only felt hollow. Despite his earlier words, he couldn't help but feel disappointed in himself. He was the Great and Terrible Papyrus. He'd accomplished so much by himself but couldn't keep his temper in check, and let it overtake his judgment. The events of the evening finally caught up to the tall skeleton as he soon drifted asleep.

Papyrus found himself staring at his own room. Much to his surprise, his brother stood a few steps away from him.

“ya really think this will work with just the kid and flower’s help?” his brother asked dubiously.

Papyrus was confused and was about to ask what was going on. Instead—

“DO NOT WORRY! WITH HELP FROM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, I’M SURE EVERYTHING WILL WORK OUT AS PLANNED, ESPECIALLY IF WE ALL WORK TOGETHER!” The voice that came out of Papyrus’s mouth sounded different from his own. It lacked the gritty quality and was filled with a wholesome enthusiasm.

”alright, guess i’ll give it a shot.”

His brother reached out his dark leatherjacket-covered arm and slowly shook hands with him. Although Papyrus felt the handshake and saw everything happening in front of him, he knew this wasn’t actually him. He caught the spark of hope that appeared in his brother’s red eye lights.

Papyrus shot up from his prone position and found himself lying on a lumpy green cough, not the red one that he was accustomed to and saw in his dream. Questions flooded him. What was that? A dream? A vision?

He clearly saw his brother talking to him. Or maybe that was the other him? The him that was supposed to be in this world. Papyrus couldn’t stop the burst of envy that filled his soul at the look his brother gave to the other him, a look that he failed to ever bring out in his Sans.

Giving a frustrated growl, the Fell monster got up and looked around, noting the absence of any sounds that indicated this world’s Sans being awake. His mind drifted to the conversation he had with Sans from earlier.

Feeling as if he’d been abandoned, the tall skeleton wrenched open the now unsecured door and marched outside. It was still early enough that most of the town was empty. That didn’t stop him from getting some frightened glances from the monsters that were outside. He ignored them and kept walking.

He really should have apologized to Sans for how he’d acted but it was too late for that now. He had no doubt that what he’d said last night left an indelible rift in their growing relationship. A sense of sadness flooded his soul as memories of their previous interactions drifted in his mind. So deep in his thoughts, Papyrus hadn’t realized he’d stepped into Snowdin Forest until he found himself face-to-face with a blue snowflake monster wearing sunglasses. Chilldrake.

“Hey you! You’re the bastard that dusted Snowdrake! He was my best friend!” the snow monster yelled.

Papyrus glared down at the monster, “So what?”

“Hah! I can’t believe the Royal Guard let you go after what you’ve done! Must be all because of that false comedian! Well, if the Royal Guard won’t do anything, I’ll have to take it into my hands to avenge my fallen friend!"

Crescent shaped projectiles surrounded Papyrus in an arc above him. The tall skeleton quickly summoned a row of sharp bones that blocked the attacks.

“You know what makes this entire situation worse?” Chilldrake asked, his words filled with rage. “Finding him as a pile of dust! That there was no JUSTICE in any of this! That I had to tell the news to his old man!”

Numerous columns of bullets shot down in straight lines towards Papyrus, who blocked the attack with his bone structures. He could easily kill this monster but he thought back to Sans, probably still sleeping back at the house.

“even though you ain’t my bro, you’re still a papyrus. and, uh, i do believe you can become a better monster if you gave it a shot. maybe all you need are some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends.”

He’d told himself that he was going to put in his best effort to change but had he really? Not when he’d precariously hurt both this world’s Alphys and Sans due to his own temper. He hadn’t been trying as hard as he could, not as hard as he’d done when he was becoming captain of the royal guard. If he put in that same amount of effort, then maybe he could become a better monster.

Papyrus parried another round of bullets before releasing a circular formation of bones to surround Chilldrake. He let some of the bones hit the monster without dropping his HP to zero. Once Chilldrake was encapsulated, Papyrus stopped his attacks and marched up to the snow monster.

“What? Are you going to end my life too? Well get on with it then!”

“I will not dust you,” Papyrus responded coolly.

“Hmph! You think I’m gonna forgive you just because of that? Keep drea—"

“No, I do not. I cannot change what I’ve already done in the past. My only option now is to move forward and learn from my mistakes.” Papyrus let the bone structures surrounding Chilldrake disappear. “I’m letting you go.”

The Chilldrake didn’t move and simply glared back at the Fell captain.

“That’s some nice word you’re saying but I ain’t believing a lick of it! You believe that you can still change after what you’ve done? That’s not a funny joke! You’ll always be a low-life monster-killer! I’ll never forgive you!” Chilldrake snarled venomously. He turned around and ran off.

Rage boiled within Papyrus but he held back. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He was even desperate enough to think of lousy puns in his head, ones that Sans would be proud of hearing.

Slowly, after breathing deeply several times, his anger faded. Doubt took its place as Chilldrake’s words rang through him. Maybe redemption really was beyond him. After all, his biggest supporter had just kicked him out and left him to his own devices. This world’s Sans had given up on him.

“Wow, that guy sure laid it on you, didn’t he?” an overtly saccharine voice said behind him.

Papyrus spun around and initially saw nothing but trees and snow. He looked down and spotted a yellow flower that had a grinning face. Vines creeped around the base of the flower.

“Howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower!”

Papyrus stared at the flower in bemusement as the plant drew itself higher with its vines. Papyrus couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity. He’d met this flower before, somewhere. Maybe back home in his own universe.

“I must say, Papyrus, you must be going through such a tough time,” the flower cooed in that sickly sweet and childish voice. “To have no one believe in you must be so annoying.”

“It is,” Papyrus answered shortly. He wasn’t sure he trusted this monster, though he appreciated being addressed by his actual name for the first time since waking up in this world. Besides that time Sans had unconsciously said it. “It’s nice to have someone finally address me properly!”

“Yes, yes! You deserve the name of the Great and Terrible Papyrus.”

The tall skeleton’s mood elevated from the compliment.

“Say, whatever happened to your plan of taking over the Underground?” Flowey suddenly asked. “Don’t tell me Smiley Trashbag changed your mind about that idea. Isn’t he always such a nuisance?”

Smiley Trashbag? He can’t be talking about—

“Sans. I’m talking about that lazy pile of garbage.” Flowey gave Papyrus a toothy grin.

Papyrus frowned at the insult and almost felt the need to respond back with a retort.

“Papyrus! This is your time! Think how easy it would be for you to take over the Underground if we worked together.” The flower held out his right leaf as if to give a handshake. “ What do you say, friend?”

Papyrus stared at the leafy with a vaguely unpleasant look. He felt skeptical about this flower’s intentions, especially given his comment with regards to Sans. And how had he found out about his initial plans to take over the Underground? However, as Chilldrake’s words reverberated back in his mind, Papyrus became drawn to Flowey’s words. Besides, it was always good to have a back-up plan.

Slowly, after much deliberation, the Fell monster shook Flowey’s leaf hand.

---

Sans woke up feeling uneasy. He scrambled out of his bed and pulled out the silver key from within his drawer. He took a shortcut into his secret room and placed his updated notes into the last drawer. Notes he wrote on his progress on the machine, as well as the fact that this foreign Papyrus now had Determination in him. Not that it was a lot but any amount of Determination was bound to have an effect on the monster. At least the monster didn’t melt or turn into an Amalgamate. He just hoped it wasn’t for the worse. Though given their last interaction, that hope was dwindling fast.

Sans quickly flipped through his older notes and froze.

It was today. The day that the human was expected to show up.

He couldn’t help the inexplicable dread that filled his soul. This was all new. How would everything change with this other Papyrus around? And how would the human act? Would they be friendly or an enemy that went around killing monsters? He really hoped it wasn’t the latter.

Sans put everything away and took a shortcut to his living room. He was surprised to find Edge absent before realizing he’d essentially kicked the tall skeleton monster out of his house. He could still feel the dull throb of pain in his soul as he reflected back on their last conversation. And that entire disastrous interaction with Alphys.

Sans laid down onto the couch and stared blankly at the ceiling, a weary sigh escaping his mouth. It would be so nice to just sleep and never wake up. Then he wouldn’t have to deal with this mess. Even his brother seemed to be doing okay in the other world, if what he’d seen in his latest dream was true. At least his brother was safe for now.

Sans lounged on the couch for what felt like hours before he finally got up. He should get back to his sentry job, which he’d been neglecting in the last week in favor of babysitting Edge. He let out another sigh before shortcutting to his sentry station.

At least I got here before the human showed up.

He waited for some time before he heard the creak of a large, stone door. A human child walked out of the ruins.

Their hands were covered in dust.

END OF ARC ONE

Chapter Text

Dread flooded Sans’s soul at the sight of the thin layer of dust covering the kid’s hands like a pair of gray gloves. Some of it clung onto the front of their striped shirt and pants. His soul clenched painfully as he thought of the lady behind the door he’d often traded knock knock jokes with, who was most likely a pile of dust. What could he do to stop the kid from continuing their murderous rampage?

Sans discretely trailed after them as they sauntered their way through the forest, trying to come up with the best plan of action. He was at a complete loss as his notes from the previous timeline were essentially useless with the changes that have occurred. The Papyrus that has taken the place of his brother was a total wild card and had no set script to follow. There were so many variables and unknowns to consider. He would just have to play it by ear and improvise when necessary.

The human child didn’t even flinch when he made sure to crack the thick branch in the snow-covered path. Once they passed the first overhang, he used his magic to force them to slow down. They did so as soon as they’d felt it but didn’t turn around. Just what kind of game was this kid playing?

”Human. Don’t you know how to greet a new pal?” Sans prepared the whoopie cushion in his left hand and held it outward. “Turn around and shake my hand.”

Here comes the moment of truth.

The kid slowly turned around and stared at him blankly before grasping it tightly.

PPHHHHTTTTTTTT!

The blank expression remained on the human’s face, though Sans was sure he caught a glimpse of red flash in their eyes. They also didn’t let go. He felt sweat form on the back of his skull.

“that’s, uh, your cue to laugh. or, uh, to emote at all.”

The human kid finally let his hand go and turned back ahead, expression completely unchanged. It was seriously unsettling and sent a chill down his spine, heh.

“ok, that’s fine. everyone’s got their own sense of humor,” he said once the human continued on their way.

Welp, that lady behind the door sure knew how to pick ‘em. This was gonna be a problem and who knows whether Edge would make it better or worse.

The thought of the darker skeleton sent disappointment and regret through his soul. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to warn him about the human. In fact he didn’t even know where the tall skeleton was. The image of him and the human fighting flashed in his mind and sent a rush of anxiety within him. Sans quickly caught up to the kid in the next section of the forest.

As he expected, the kid didn’t hide behind the conveniently-shaped lamp, though it ended up being entirely unnecessary as Papyrus never came. This had confused the human, who stilled for several minutes, peering around for Papyrus to appear. Sans felt vindicated that something caught the human off guard. It was short-lived, as the kid turned around, their eyes narrowed in suspicion but also tinged with excitement. Sans noticed their eyes were red like Determination.

“Where’s your brother?” they asked.

It took a split second for him to realize they were addressing him the question.

“whoa there, kid, i don’t remember ever tellin’ you i had a brother.”

Irritation crossed over their features before their lips curved slightly upwards, “Don’t play dumb, Sans, we both know each other.”

“sorry, i don’t believe we've ever met,” Sans answered dismissively. “either way, it’s been a displeasure knowin’ ya.”

“Oh ho~ what’s this? Are you, perhaps, finally going off script and intervening early this time and not when I’ve already killed everyone?” the human’s lips curled into a wide, face-splitting grin. “Is he hiding somewhere? Maybe all I have to do is find him.”

Sans knew the kid was trying to goad a reaction out of him but he wasn’t going to give them that satisfaction; instead he gave an easy shrugged and responded, “alright bud. just don’t work yourself down to the bone tryna find ‘im.”

The human’s sneer immediately disappeared and was, once again, replaced by the blank look.

“here’s some friendly advice. if you keep going the way you are… Y o u ' r e g o n n a h a v e a b a d t i m e.” Sans blinked out his eye lights as he stared directly at the human, who barely reacted to his threat. They turned around and walked off.

Sans wasn’t liking where this was heading. He had to find Edge and warn the other skeleton of this human. What would happen if Edge died? Would that mess up his chances of saving his brother? Would it send him back home? Either way, he couldn’t risk Edge accidently getting killed by the human, no matter what.

The short skeleton took several shortcuts throughout Snowdin Forest, looking everywhere for the tall, dark skeleton. After thirty minutes, he eventually found Edge staring at the snow-Papyrus and the lump labeled ‘sans’. An odd, wistful expression etched on his usually gruff face, one that Sans wouldn’t have minded seeing more of in the future. He quickly shook that last thought away. He needed to focus on the current situation.

“hey,” he began, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pocket. Edge tensed but didn’t turn around. “there’s a pretty… bad situation goin’ on right now. the human’s here.” Sans paused, waiting for a response. When none came, he continued, “it would be best if you stayed away from them.”

“And why should I?” the darker Papyrus asked snidely. He finally turned around and narrowed his sockets.

Sans let out a weary sigh, “they’re dangerous, and i don’t want you to do anything rash that may—”

“Hmph, there you are ordering me around and treating me like a babybones again!” Edge snarled. “Do you think I would simply hide away and do nothing while they’re going around killing monsters? Do you think I did not hear the encounters and see the dust of the other monsters? I am not a coward!”

“i never said you were but there’s too much that can go wrong. if something happens to you here, i dunno if you’ll be able to get back home.”

Edge fell silent. A pained, almost sad, grimace flashed across his face so quickly Sans barely caught it before it changed to his usual glare.

“It is fine, I do not need your help any longer. I’ve met someone else that’ll be of more help for me. I’ll be a load off your shoulders,” Edge said in a voice cold as ice.

The darker Papyrus turned and left without another word. Sans stared at his retreating back, too stunned to stop him. He knew what he’d said about getting him back home had upset the monster, given his expression; he just couldn’t figure out why. Hadn’t they agreed to work together to find a way for Edge to get back home? Why was he now so upset and decided to get help from someone else? And who was that someone else?

Sans had an inkling it wasn’t someone he would’ve approved of, given how Edge had never revealed their name. Either way, this was definitely not ‘getting a load off his shoulders’. If anything, it was gonna create even more problems in the future. He could feel it in his bones.

Sans slumped down onto the ground and laid there, staring listlessly at the snow-Papyrus, wondering what was even the point of doing anything. It was pointless with everyone avoiding him, now even the monster who’d caused him to be in this situation in the first place. He couldn’t even muster the energy to feel anger or hatred at Edge for putting him in this situation. He slowly felt himself drift asleep.

It was snowing all around Sans. He tried to peer through the thick blizzard but only saw as far as his hand. Scattering sounds of fighting reached his ear, and he sprinted towards the direction of the sound. His soul pounded frantically in his chest as he ran. No matter how fast he went, he didn’t seem to be moving any closer towards the sound.

He finally reached a point where he saw two silhouettes battling furiously against one another. One figure was tall and lanky while the other was short, almost his height. Sans already knew who it was without having to see both shadow’s faces.

“HUMAN! I THINK YOU ARE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE!” He heard a voice sounding like his brother say. “SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! BUT WORRY NOT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE RIGHT AROUND!!”

“No, Papyrus!”

The snow suddenly drifted to a halt, uncovering a scene of the human slicing the toy knife across the tall skeleton, who immediately collapsed onto the snow-covered ground. Sans scrambled to the crumpled pile of bones, expecting to find his brother. He felt as if the air was knocked out of him as he found, to his great surprise, Edge glaring back at him. His legs had already turned to dust.

“A coward is what you are! A coward who can only hide! A coward who can’t save anyone, not your brother or any version of him! Nyeh heh heh!”

Sans bolted up from his prone position in the snow, soul pounding frantically in his chest. White eye lights darted around his surroundings as he took deep, heaving breaths. His eyes fell upon the snow-Papyrus.

He was in Snowdin Forest, Papyrus was not here, and he was not a pile of dust. He was in Snowdin Forest, Papyrus was not here, and he was not a pile of dust. He was in Snowdin Forest, Papyrus was not here, and he was not a pile of dust…

A scream rang out in the quiet forest and the short skeleton jumped up in response. Sans quickly seized the truck of a tree for support as his knees threatened to give out. He thought back to the dusting monster from his most recent nightmare and shuddered violently. He had to find Edge. He couldn’t allow it to happen to Edge. Even if the foreign skeleton wasn’t his brother, he couldn’t allow this Papyrus to get killed. He would do anything, anything within his power to make sure he survived.

-----

Papyrus strutted his way through Snowdin Forest, keeping a vigilant lookout for any signs of a small human. As he went back onto the main path, his eyes fell upon a trail of dust, and quickly followed it. The forest was completely silent.

His mind was in turmoil, feeling upset and hurt by Sans’s recent words. He knew the smaller skeleton had meant well but he couldn’t help but feel like he was simply another task for Sans to help fix, to help get rid of him. Because, clearly, no one liked him here. Even he couldn’t deny that it was well deserved after what he’d done.

A whiny howl suddenly came from up ahead, sending the tall skeleton immediately on alert. He took off in the direction of the distressed sound, his sharp bone staff at the ready. A short bipedal creature with brown hair, wearing a blue and purple striped shirt along with dark blue pants, swung a plastic knife at Dogamy. The white dog monster was crouched on the ground next to a large pile of dust, whining mournfully at it.

Before Papyrus had a chance to intervene, the human slashed the knife across the canine’s torso. Dogamy didn’t even get a chance to make a sound before he joined his wife’s fate. Papyrus sent a column of sharp bones during the human’s moment of distraction. They looked up too late and one of them pierced into their left shoulder. A scream escaped from their lips. Papyrus found himself pulled into an Encounter.

“STOP, HUMAN!” Papyrus announced.

He took a step forward and directed the pointed end of his bone staff at the human. They gave a wide grin and swiped at him with the knife despite their injury. Papyrus jumped back, and the human missed.

“How exciting, you’re attacking me right off the bat! So many changes this run!” they stared directly at him with their blood-red eyes and tilted their head slightly. “Though you’re not the Papyrus I remember. Who are you?”

“I AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, AND YOU WILL STOP YOUR MINDLESS SLAUGHTER!”

Papyrus knew it was hypocritical of him to say that, given everything he’s done, but he would never mindlessly kill every monster like this human was doing. Sans may not believe in him anymore but he was still trying to become a better monster. He wanted to prove to the smaller monster that he could change. Besides, he was a Captain of the Royal Guard. He couldn’t simply stand and watch as everyone got dusted.

“AS CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE A STEP FURTHER”

“Oh, is that so? Let’s see what you can do!”

The striped human rushed forward with the knife held in front of them. Before they could reach Papyrus, sharp bones erupted from the ground and speared through their torso.

A whiny howl suddenly came from up ahead, sending the tall skeleton immediately on alert. He took of in the direction of the distressed sound, his sharp bone staff at the ready. A short bipedal creature with brown hair, wearing a blue and purple striped shirt along with dark blue pants, swung a plastic knife at Dogamy. The monster was gone before he had a chance to intervene. Papyrus found himself pulled into an Encounter.

When Papyrus sent out a column of bones at the human, the human dodged it, much to his surprise. It was almost as if they’d expect it coming. A sensation of deja vu fell upon him. He shook it off and stepped forward, pointing the end of his bone staff at the human. The human gave a wide grin and swiped at him with the knife. Papyrus jumped back to avoid getting hit.

“STOP, HUMAN!” Papyrus announced. “I AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, AND YOU WILL STOP YOUR MINDLESS SLAUGHTER! AS CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, I WILL—”

The human swung at him, and he dodged.

“Let’s get right to the point, shall we?” they said with a wide grin.

Sharp bones erupted from the ground, but the human dodged it with practiced ease. Papyrus sent a follow-up attack consisting of alternating pattern of orange and white bones. His enemy got most of them but mistimed their jumps on the last one and fell on one of the sharp ends of the bones.

A whiny howl suddenly came from up ahead, sending the tall skeleton immediately on alert. He took of in the direction of the distressed sound, his sharp bone staff at the ready. A short bipedal creature with brown hair, wearing a blue and purple striped shirt along with dark blue pants, swung a plastic knife at Dogamy. The monster was gone before he had a chance to intervene. Papyrus found himself pulled into an Encounter.

The sight sent a strong feeling of deja vu through him. Ignoring it, he sent out a column of bones at the human, who dodged it. There was an expression of absolute glee on the human’s face as they swiped at him with the knife. Papyrus jumped back to avoid getting hit.

“STOP, HUMAN!” Papyrus announced. “I AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS—”

The tall skeleton stopped as another bout of deja vu hit him. He narrowly dodged a knife thrusted at his torso and summoned a column of bones at the human. They dodged it with practiced ease.

“You can be quite tricky but let’s see how this’ll last,” the human said.

What was this human talking about?

They swung at him before he got the chance to ask. He summoned sharp bones from the ground but they dodged it all with ease. Papyrus sent a follow-up attack consisting of alternating pattern of orange and white bones, which they also dodged. Sharp pain exploded from the side of his ribs as the knife grazed passed it. His HP dropped by thirty points.

Attack after attack Papyrus sent out but the human kept dodging his attacks while he fell on the defense. Papyrus leapt back to create some distance between him and his enemy, and surrounded the human within a bone cage. He had to come up with some other solution to stop this child, who seemed to know his attacks as if they’d seen them before. It didn’t make any sense.

He thought back to the mercy Sans had shown him when he’d first gotten here. Maybe he could offer the same to this human.

“Human, perhaps I have been going about this the wrong way,” Papyrus began, as he looked directly into their gaze. “When I first came here, I had also acted as you have now. I may not be the best person to say this, but maybe all you need is some guidance into the right direction, just as I had.”

The human remained silent for several minutes before they gave a nod. As soon as Papyrus had released his bone constructs, they walked several paces closer to the tall skeleton. Their face morphed into a look of disappointment.

“Aww~ and here I thought things would be more different. Guess in the end, you are still Papyrus after all.”

They suddenly sprang forward towards Papyrus with blinding speed, catching the skeleton completely off guard. The knife managed to hit his right shoulder and agony burst forth within his entire being. He threw himself sideways, narrowly dodging a follow-up attack from the human.

He checked his HP and found it hovering in the single digits. That single attack had taken nearly all his health. He could barely move from the injury, definitely not fast enough to dodge. The next attack would end him.

He had been stupid and naive to believe that everyone could change, just as he’d been stupid to believe that he could change. Maybe this was what he deserved.

The human rushed towards him. Papyrus closed his eyes, expecting to feel a sharp pain. Instead, he heard a faint pop, the sound of ripping fabric and… the clatter of bone? Papyrus opened his eyes and felt his soul freeze in disbelief. Even the human appeared dumbstruck.

Sans stood in front of him, one hand in his hoodie pocket while the other clutched at his chest. He stumbled backwards towards Papyrus, who caught the short skeleton as he fell. Papyrus’s soul was stuck in his nonexistent throat at the sight of the gaping slash running across Sans’s torso. A red substance poured from the wound and from his mouth.

“hey, edge... why couldn’t the skeleton just die?” Sans’s eye lights appeared dim and flickered like flames on a candle. His feet slowly began to dust. “cuz he didn’t... have the guts, heh…”

Papyrus finally found his voice and blurted out shakily, feeling something wet drip from his sockets, “W-why? Why did you do this? I didn’t ask for you to do this!”

Sans slowly raised a trembling hand, which Papyrus quickly grasped within his own. He smiled at Papyrus.

“do you… do you think… i’ll finally see him…?”

With those final words, Sans collapsed into fine powder. Papyrus stared in shock and horror, as he felt the gritty material within his gloved hands. The image continued to play over and over again in his mind, as if stuck on replay. Then, something snapped within him.

A blinding rage that he had never felt before rose within his soul. The forest rumbled deeply and hundreds of bones erupted from the ground. A high-pitched whining filled the air and when Papyrus looked above him, a giant skull shaped like a goat floated above him, its jaws wide open. Crimson light charged within it and, within a matter of seconds, released the concentrated beam of magic directly at the still-shocked human.

They disintegrated completely. Before Papyrus could comprehend what had happened, the whole world seemed to lurch around him, and everything went black.

Chapter Text

Sans woke up feeling uneasy and confused. He scrambled out of his bed and pulled out the silver key from within his drawer. He took a shortcut into his secret room and reviewed his latest set of notes that were placed within the last drawer. There were notes on his progress with the machine, as well as how the foreign Papyrus, Edge, had Determination in him. There was also a date with the word human scribbled next to it. It was today.

A jolt shot through his entire being and the sudden image of a plastic knife slicing across his chest flashed before him in a blink of an eye. A sharp gasp escaped his mouth, and he clutched at his ribs. His breathing quickened and soon came out in short gasps. Black spots lined the periphery of his vision.

Did he die in the last timeline? Somehow got killed by the Human? And what about Edge? Edge?!

Sans stumbled out of his secret room and clumsily locked it up with trembling hands. He ran into his house and was disappointed to find no signs of the dark Papyrus. Their last argument, on how he’d acted towards Alphys and taking the Determination when he’d told the tall skeleton not to, came fluttering back to him. He’d told Edge to leave, had essentially abandoned him, and left the human to find him. Guilt flooded his soul as he ran out of his house and began to search for the other Papyrus.

He did not see Edge in town and continued his way into Snowdin Forest. He explored the first four areas from Snowdin and eventually decided to take a quick respite at his sentry station. His mind was still reeling from his death. How had it happened and what led to it? Did he attack the Human much earlier than he'd promised the lady behind the door? Was it due to Edge?

Sans was so deep in his ruminations that he just barely felt something curl around his ankle. Before he could react, he suddenly felt vines twist under his shirt, wrapping tightly around his spine and ribs. A particularly thick one twisted itself firmly around his arms and wrists, pulling them above his head. He was lifted from his sentry station and into the air. He dangled several feet off the ground.

Shortcutting out of this tight, heh, situation was unfortunately not possible without bringing these vines along. Sans’s left eye socket flickered blue and yellow, and a blaster hovered above him. As soon as it’d appeared, he felt a sharp tug at his left floating rib and a painful squeeze of his lower spine.

“Ah, ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a sickly saccharine voice spoke to him, and suddenly, something thick and gnarled shoved into his glowing socket. He gave a startled gasp of discomfort, and the blaster dissipated immediately.

“That’s better,” the voice continued and withdrew, what he supposed was, the vine. Sans peered below using only his right eye and saw a yellow flower leering up at him, a wide grin on its face. “Howdy! I don’t think we’ve ever formally met in this timeline but I’m Flowey, Flowey the Flower.”

“heh, so you’re the one causing all the previous timeline shifts,” Sans huffed, struggling against his restraints. The vines tightened in response.

“You must’ve taken some good notes of me.” The flower drew up on his main stem until he was facing Sans.

“what can i say, guess i’m a budding detective,” Sans replied as casually as possible despite his soul fluttering with apprehension. The outlet for his magic had been temporarily disabled, and it would be so easy for Flowey to kill him.

Flowey scoffed indignantly at the pun but then smiled cruelly. Sans felt the vine wrapped around his lowermost rib pull harder.

“Hey, Trashbag! Here’s a cool trick I learned about intent.”

Snap!

Sans let out a surprised scream as an unbearable burst of pain came from his lower left rib.

“If my intent was to only hurt you, but not kill you, I can do things like this.” Another vine twisted around the right lower rib and pressed inward forcefully until—

Crack!

A sharp gasp escaped from the skeleton’s mouth as he felt his lower right rib bend abnormally. He shuddered violently against his bonds. His HP fell to a 0.5.

“See, this way, I won’t have to worry about dusting you! Isn’t it so neat? I learned that while watching the new Papyrus and human fight during the last timeline,” Flowey explained in a voice much like a monster child reciting something they’ve recently learned in school to their parents.

If he weren’t wracked with agony from broken ribs, then Sans would’ve found that piece of information highly useful. At the moment, however, all he could do was calm his breathing (which he technically didn’t need to do; it was more of an instinct) to minimize further damage to his ribs.

“Speaking of last timeline, it was going so well! Everything was new and exciting until you ruined it!” Flowey’s voice became low and filled with manic rage.

Sans figured the flower was talking about a reset of the last timeline. But what would his death have anything to do with it?

“That Papyrus and I even had a plan to work together! And now because of the reset, we’re back to square one!”

What?! Edge was working with this abomination of a flower? He knew their last interaction was not on the best of terms but was it so bad for Edge to want to work with Flowey of all monsters?

The vine wrapped around his spine suddenly squeezed painfully, threatening to force the vertebrae apart, jolting him out of his thoughts. Intent or not, that would do enough damage to dust him.

“Golly, what perfect timing! If it isn’t the skeleton we were just talking about!” the plant exclaimed with a huge smirk on his face, and Edge’s familiar heavy footsteps rushed into the area.

The tall skeleton appeared frantic and concerned. His sockets narrowed into a glare as his gaze traveled from Sans, who pulled against his bonds, to Flowey. Sans couldn’t help the burst of anger and betrayal from seeing him and from Flowey’s last words. The only positive in all this, which was barely a positive, was that he’d gained back just enough of his magic to summon a bone.

“YOU WILL LET SANS GO THIS INSTANT, YOU PLANT MONSTER!” Edge ordered and summoned several white bones.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Flowey taunted. Sans gave a pained groan as he felt a vine forcibly tug at another rib.

“STOP! DON’T HURT HIM ANY FURTHER!“

Sans was surprised by not only Edge’s words but also the concern dripping in his tone. Had Flowey lied about him and Edge working together? He was an idiot for even believing the flower in the first place. Said flower gave a tut of disappointment.

“What happened to our agreement to work together? Then again, I assume you don’t remember what we’d discussed last time.”

Edge looked bemused for a split second before it morphed into a furious glare, “I WILL NOT ALLOW SANS TO DIE AGAIN!”

Sans’s mind came to an abrupt halt, and it seemed as if Flowey’s did as well, given the flower’s bulging eyes.

Edge actually remembered?! But that’s—

“Impossible! How can you remember?! Only me and the human should remember!” the flower asked in disbelief.

“IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW I REMEMBER BUT I WILL STOP YOU!” Edge growled.

“How lame! Just because he’d died, you’re willing to throw my help away!” Flowey ranted.

Even though Sans would’ve loved to theorize why this Papyrus remembered what happened in the previous timeline, he took Flowey’s moment of distraction to summon a bone construct half a foot long, the best he could managed with the current state of his magic. He signaled discreetly at Edge with a quick jerk of his head in the direction of the hidden bone. Edge noticed it and gave a short nod of his head, as if he’s agreeing with whatever words were spouting out of Flowey’s mouth.

Welp, this was it. Hopefully he won’t die again.

Sans struck the bone construct into Flowey’s main stem, and the flower screeched in pain. Unfortunately, the vine wrapped around his rib jerked forward.

Snap!

Sans screamed. Black spots lined his vision as he felt his consciousness slip. This was it; one more broken rib and he’d be dust. No matter the intent, once he’d sustained enough damage to his 1 HP, he would still dust.

He heard the sound of several sharp bones piercing into something solid followed by angry shrieks. The vines around him suddenly loosened, and he felt himself fall. Everything went dark before he hit the ground.

-----

As soon as Sans began to fall, Papyrus turned his soul blue to slow the descent. The flower monster had disappeared into the ground as soon as he’d been hit by several of Papyrus’s bone attacks. He was a true coward!

Papyrus sprinted towards Sans’s motionless form in the snow. He winced as he noticed three broken ribs, with a strange red liquid flowing out of them, and several bruises along his spine. He checked the unconscious monster and his soul dropped to his nonexistent stomach at Sans’s HP, which read 0.1/1. How had this monster survived this long with only 1 HP? Even his brother had a higher base HP!

Healing magic was not used back in his world so he never learned it. Now he wished he had. His only option would be using monster food, which meant getting it from one of the Snowdin residents.

The Royal Guard captain took off his ragged red scarf and, after making sure that the three broken ribs were set in place, gingerly wrapped it around Sans’s rib cage. He then place his right arm under the small monster’s knees with his left supporting the neck and picked Sans up into his arms, trying his best to not jostle the injuries.

Papyrus made his way swiftly back into town. He ignored all the frightened glances and whispers he’d received. He knew none of it was flattering considering that he was holding an unconscious monster in his arms, and Sans no less. They probably thought he’d done something to the short skeleton. Papyrus ignored them, too worried about Sans’s condition to care. His top priority was to make sure Sans didn’t dust.

Papyrus’s first stop was the Shop to stock up on more healing items. The rabbit shopkeeper tensed as her eyes saw his towering form.

“I NEED ANY MONSTER FOOD YOU HAVE!” the tall skeleton demanded urgently.

The Shopkeeper flinched slightly before her eyes narrowed in suspicion, “You think I’m just going to give it to you after what you’ve done?!”

Rage burst within his soul but it was overshadowed by his increasing concern for Sans. Every wasted second arguing was simply another opportunity for Sans to dust. He shuddered at the phantom feeling of the small skeleton’s dust in his hands.

Papyrus stared directly into the Shopkeeper’s eyes and pleaded desperately, “I KNOW WHAT I DID WAS WRONG BUT I CANNOT CHANGE WHAT I’VE DONE IN THE PAST! BUT, PLEASE,” he clutched Sans closer to his chest. “SANS HAS BEEN GRAVELY INJURED! I CANNOT LET HIM DIE! AT LEAST HELP HIM IN SOME WAY!”

The rabbit monster looked dumbstruck for a moment before her gaze softened. She reached behind her counter, pulled out some sort of brown beverage and held it out.

“This is Sea Tea I got from old Gerson. This stuff has no use for me and tastes terrible but it should do the trick. It gives more energy too. I’ll give it to you free of charge given the situation.” Her eyes fell upon Sans’s injuries and frowned sadly.

The tall monster shifted Sans so that he could grab the bottle and immediately turned to leave.

“Hey,” the Shopkeeper called out. “Everyone makes mistakes. It’s good that you recognize that and are willing to change. I know some of the residents are a bit judgmental and harsh but maybe some of us still have a thing or two to learn. Keep it up and you’ll get there eventually.”

Papyrus was touched by her words, and a wave of gratitude flooded his soul, “THANK YOU, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS WILL EVENTUALLY REPAY YOU!”

Papyrus made his way back into his counterpart’s childish room and gently placed the wounded skeleton onto the race car bed. Supporting Sans’s upper back with one arm, he tipped the Sea Tea to Sans’s grinning teeth. Most of it spilled onto the bedding but enough of it got into Sans to raise his HP back to max. Although his broken ribs were realigned and no more red liquid dripped out, Papyrus could still see visible cracks at where they’d snapped. He knew from personal experience that broken bones were rarely completely healed by monster food.

The Royal Guard captain sighed with relief and stared at Sans. He looked peaceful for once. The image of him turning into a pile of dust flashed before Papyrus’s eyes, jolting him from his crouched position next to the bed. He paced listlessly around the room, wringing his hands together to stop them from trembling.

He had been startled awake this morning from a dream of watching this Sans take a fatal hit aimed at him and dust before his eyes. It had sent a never-before-felt dread within him and was absolutely crippling. It was as if he’d watched his own brother get killed, which despite their rocky relationship, was his worst nightmare. Papyrus had initially shrugged it off as a bad nightmare but when flashes of the scene kept repeating in his mind like a recording, he knew something wasn’t right.

Shaken and confused, Papyrus had rushed out of the house to search for Sans, running throughout Snowdin Forest, thinking he was in there. He ignored taunts by Chilldrake, who had attacked him. He’d left the persistent monster incapacitated but alive. When he’d finally heard Sans’s pained scream, he promised himself that he would do anything and everything in his power to prevent the events of his dream from occurring.

And now, with what that blasted flower monster had said, there was no doubt in his mind that what had happened in his nightmare had happened previously. Something about timelines and resets, which may be related to whatever ridiculous thing was going on with alternative universes. It was truly like a scrambled puzzle.

But nothing compared to the immense guilt he’d felt over, not only Sans’s supposed death due to him, but also the argument they’d had the night before when they’d snuck into the laboratories. After reflecting on his recent actions and how he’d treated this world’s Sans, the guilt clawed at his soul like a persistent itch. Sans didn’t deserve the way he’d been treating the lazy, pun-spewing monster. This time, he had to make up for everything he’d done.

Papyrus suddenly heard a groan and stopped his restless pacing to peer at Sans. His sockets were shut tightly in pain and his permanent grin came off more as a grimace. Papyrus walked over and place a hand lightly on his left shoulder, causing the small skeleton to jerk violently up in response. Pain-filled eye lights gazed into his.

“g-gah, feels like i’ve been just run over by the canine unit.”

Relief flooded Papyrus. At least Sans was now awake. Seeing the monster's discomfort, an idea suddenly popped into Papyrus’s head.

“LIE DOWN,” the tall skeleton ordered in a voice much rougher than he’d meant to sound. Sans didn’t move and stared at him with apprehension. Papyrus flushed in embarrassment and self-directed anger. “S-sorry. I meant to say, please lie down. This will make you feel better, I promise.”

Sans still looked skeptical but he eventually relented. Papyrus tugged off his red gloves and moved onto the bed to straddle Sans between his knelt legs.

“w-wha?” Sans’s sockets widened in surprise and a barely noticeable dusting of blue lined his cheekbones.

“Trust me, Sans, I used to do this to my brother to help him relax.”

Papyrus pressed a palm of his hand to each of Sans’s shoulders and rubbed careful, kneading strokes around his clavicles and upper ribs, fingers dipping lightly into the crevices between each bone. He made sure the pressure was not hard enough to worsen Sans’s rib injuries. He worked his way downward and soon heard a sigh of relief escape from the small skeleton’s mouth.

“wow, this feels… really nice,” Sans muttered softly. Papyrus glanced at Sans and saw his sockets were closed in contentment. A smirk slowly crept into Papyrus's face.

The Royal Guard captain soon moved his way down to Sans’s spine, frowning briefly at the faint bruises there. Using the tips of his phalanges, he very gently messaged each individual vertebra. His fingers had just danced over the second one from the bottom when Sans’s breath hitched. As he continued to message upward on the spine, Sans’s breathing quickened.

“a-ah, e-edge!” the smaller monster gasped.

Papyrus halted in alarm, thinking he’d pressed too hard and peered up. His own breathing hitched at the sight of the dazed expression on Sans’s face; a darker hue of blue adorned his face and his sockets were lidded at half mast. It was so different from the skeleton’s usual, calm demeanor that an unexpected pulse of desire shot through his soul. He wanted to see it more, wanted to see this Sans become undone by him.

He was about to continue his ministrations when three knocks came from the door downstairs. Sans, to Papyrus's unexpected disappointment, blinked out of his aroused haze and attempted to get up. He let out a grunt of pain and fell back into the bed.

“You are definitely not well enough to move about. I’ll open the door.” Papyrus moved to get up but felt a hand grab his arm.

“i don’t think so buddy, it’s gonna create more problems.”

The tall skeleton huffed in frustration. He already knew how this was going to go.

“Are you afraid I’ll attack them?” Papyrus asked curtly.

Sans shook his head, “more like the opposite.”

Papyrus was surprised, and somewhat delighted, to be wrong. “Then I’ll carry you.”

“uh, no thanks. i’d rather walk.”

Papyrus noticed the faint blue coloring was back on Sans’s face and retorted sarcastically, “What, are you afraid I’ll drop you? How do you think we got back here? By taking a ‘shortcut’?”

He couldn’t stop the smirk from gracing his bony features as Sans gawked at him. The Royal Guard captain took that moment to pick the small skeleton up, eliciting an indignant cry from Sans, and plop him on Papyrus’s right shoulder and arm. Papyrus grasped Sans’s side to make sure the skeleton wouldn’t fall. Sans didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, hesitantly moving towards Papyrus’s skull but then jerking back.

“You can grab on, you know. The Great and Terrible Papyrus will allow it.

One hand grasped his arm supporting Sans and the other one lightly touched the surface on his skull. Papyrus had to admit that it felt sort of nice, though he internally scolded himself for think that.

Papyrus went downstairs with Sans in tow and opened the door. A short, brown haired human wearing a blue and pink striped shirt stood in the doorway. Fear and nervousness etched on their face but that didn’t stop the sudden, blinding rage from filling his entire being. A rush of magic surged within him and a ringing sound flooded his nonexistent ears.

He felt Sans turn around and mutter, “h-holy shit.”

Papyrus looked behind him. A giant, goat skull with opened jaws hovered behind him.

WHA-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!

Chapter Text

Sans immediately picked up the high pitched whining of a charging Gaster Blaster and turned upwards. He cursed. Sure enough hovering above him was one charging a mouthful of crimson magic. The skull was much longer and larger than his own. It was also more angular, and less round, with much sharper canine teeth.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!” Edge roared.

Seeing the magic shooting out of the giant maw of the blaster and at the short human standing in his doorway, the one who he’d promised the lady behind the door to protect, Sans urgently warned, “move outta the way!”

The human dodged just in time as the thick, red beam issued from the blaster and blew through the doorway, tearing through the edges of the doorframe. The house whole shook.

“you should put that away before it charges again,” Sans recommended, eyeing the giant floating skull.

“HOW? I SUMMONED THAT?”

From his periphery, he saw the human peek from the side of the ruined doorway. Sans signaled for them to wait before entering. They must’ve been the trigger that set Edge into summoning it. The kid nodded before disappearing. Sans turned his attention back to Edge, who stared at the Gaster Blaster in horrified awe. It dissipated. At least that meant that Edge was no longer angry. The rest of his house was safe from further destruction.

“yeah, looks like ya did. it’s called a gaster blaster and it shoots out concentrated magic,” Sans explained from his perch on Edge’s right shoulder. He shifted slightly, still wondering how and why he’d allowed himself to be placed there, not that he disliked the position. He quickly squashed that last thought. “it’s something both me and my bro could do, though paps rarely uses it. is this your first time using it?”

“What do you think?” Edge responded dryly. He stroked his chin in contemplation. “Hm… I do remember my… no, forget it... there’s no way he’d be able to control it…"

Sans could barely make out what Edge was saying and was surprised at how quickly his rage had disappeared, especially since intense emotions are oftentimes the trigger to summoning the blasters. A soft sneeze suddenly came from the doorway.

“That human is still alive?!” Edge’s sockets narrowed in the direction of the sound, his whole body tensing for an encounter.

Sans lightly knocked on the top of Edge’s skull. “i know you’re angry but let’s talk this out first before you start breakin’ my house.”

An angry huff escaped from Edge’s mouth and he retorted, “They killed you last time!”

Sans’s soul stuttered, and a chill shot down his spine. The sound of hesitant footsteps reached his nonexistent ears. The kid stood in the doorway, looking tearful, immense guilt and regret written on their face. Trembling fingers signed “I’m sorry” over and over again. He didn’t detect any deceit coming from the human.

“HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOURSELF TO ME!”

Sans didn’t give Edge a chance to attack, as he placed his hands in front of the tall skeleton’s sockets, eliciting an indignant squawk from him. “edge, c’mon, talk first, attack later.”

The Royal Guard captain wrenched Sans’s hands from his face, sockets narrowed at him, and growled, “YOU’RE BEING NAIVE! WHAT IF THEY ATTACK YOU!”

Sans was touched that Edge was worried for him though it didn’t mean he’ll allowed Edge to attack the human. “if the kid shows any violent or killing intent towards me, then we’ll both be here to take ‘em down, you ok with that kiddo?”

The child nodded and rapidly signed that they won’t attack either of them and had an explanation for what happened. Maybe they’ll give some clues as to why everything was so different this time around.

Edge glowered at them, as if it would make them disappear. After a minute, he nodded stiffly and allowed them through. Edge plopped Sans onto the lumpy green couch and stood next to the small skeleton with his arms folded across his chest. The human chose to sit on the other far end of the couch after seeing Edge’s withering glare when they attempted to sit next to Sans.

“DO YOU SPEAK OR WILL I HAVE TO GUESS ALL YOUR STRANGE HAND SIGNALS?” Papyrus declared unpleasantly.

“don’t worry, i’ll translate.” Sans gestured for the kid to continue.

They began by apologizing again and introducing themselves as Frisk. Then they explained how curiosity, spurred on by the voices in their head, led to what happened during the previous two timelines. How they barely had control of their actions as they went through the Ruin and Snowdin Forest, mowing down all their enemies. As Sans explained this to Edge, his features remained as an unimpressed glare, though his gloved hands tightened into fists. Sans was skeptical of the kid’s explanations. He didn’t sense a lie in the child’s words, but the idea of voices telling them to kill monsters made for a rather lame excuse.

“ok, so let’s say the voice—”

Frisk spelled out the name C H A R A. And added on that that was the name of the voice that told them what to do. Sans frowned at the familiar name and continued, “ok so let’s say that, this chara, led you to go around dusting everyone. what’s different this time?”

I gained back control, Frisk signed. Sans translated it for Edge, who gave an incredulous scoff but didn’t comment. The fact that the darker skeleton wasn’t reacting how he normally would set Sans on edge (excuse the pun). This could only mean he was planning something.

When you… died… and he... Frisk faltered as tears beaded the corners of their eyes and pointed at Edge killed me... I was able to gain back control and reset.

Well that was slightly reassuring, though he cringed involuntarily at the thought of another reset. He still didn’t know what to think of all this. Not to mention how Edge remembered. He himself barely remembered events from previous timelines, requiring him to take notes, except for vague flashes, nightmares and sensations of deja vu. Edge must’ve been experiencing the same thing.

Maybe the Determination was the cause?

Sans suddenly noticed that Frisk was signing him questions. Where’s Papyrus?

“he is papyrus,” he stated without even thinking. “just a different one from my bro. his name is edge.”

“THAT IS NOT MY NAME! I ONLY ALLOWED YOU TO CALL ME THAT!” Edge interrupted heatedly at the short skeleton. As if just realizing what he’d said, the tall skeleton humphed angrily and glowered at the side wall, his cheeks tinged faintly pink.

“aw, how kind of ya, edge. you sure know how t’make a skeleton feel special.” Sans gave Edge a cheeky grin. A little payback for Edge’s earlier so-called “massage” and shoulder ride.

“I’LL REVOKE IT IF YOU CONTINUE TO ACT THIS WAY!” Edge then turned his attention back to Frisk. “YOU ARE TO ADDRESS ME AS THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!”

The kid smiled shyly at the dark monster and nodded. So where’s your brother?

Sans immediately deflated at the question, “dunno. but we’re workin’ on it. speaking of which, you notice any other differences this time when you reset?”

Frisk frowned in thought and then began to sign slowly, During the reset before this last one, I saw a glimpse of another me, one wearing dark clothes.

Sans glanced at Edge whose sockets widened in recognition. “That’s probably the human from my world, though I don’t remember ever interacting with them. Only their description sounds vaguely familiar.”

The small skeleton didn’t know what to make of this information and filed it away into the back of his mind. There were still too many unanswered questions and unknowns. He’s sure that the two humans—no, anomalies— shared a connection to everything. He had to fix his machine and get to the bottom of all this.

“So what will you do now, human?” Edge asked in a voice that carried an undercurrent of threat.

I’ll do it right this time, Frisk answered with determination written all over their face. I’ll free the monsters from the Underground, and I’ll do it without hurting anyone!

Sans was glad to not have to deal with a murdering human, though he still didn’t fully trust them.

“are you gonna continue to waterfall or stay in snowdin for a while?”

I’ll stay here for a bit. I have to make friends with everyone before I leave, the kid signed enthusiastically with a bright smile.

“you can stay here if ya want,” the short monster suggested.

“WHAT?!” Edge exclaimed in disbelief.

“as long as you help fix the door.” Sans winked at them with his right socket.

Frisk gave him a determined nod and signaled that they had to stop by the Shop. He responded with a yes, and the human left the house with a wave at the two skeletons. The beat of silence fell upon the room. Edge rounded at him

“DID YOU HIT YOUR HEAD TOO HARD? WHY ARE YOU LETTING THEM STAY HERE?!”

Sans regarded the other skeleton evenly and replied, “makes it easier to keep an eye on ‘em.”

“BUT IT PUTS US BOTH AT RISK!”

“better than them takin’ us by surprise later though, right?” Sans raised an bone brow. “if you have another idea other than simply killing em, i’ll gladly hear it. they’d probably just reset anyway.” The less resets that happen, the better. It might’ve worked this time but who knows if it’ll continue to work with his and probably Edge’s timelines messed up.

“FINE, THAT SOUNDS FAIR ENOUGH,” Edge conceded. He sat down on the couch and glared at the blank television screen.

With the kid finally gone, at least temporarily, Sans finally could ask the question that’d been plaguing his mind, “how’d i die last time?”

Edge tensed, his face a strange mixture of fury, guilt and something that looked like fear. He didn’t answer for a long time. Then he sighed and he uttered curtly, “The human attacked you with a plastic knife."

“uh, yeah, i coulda figured that. anything else? there must’ve been something more.”

Edge’s gloved fists tightened. He peered to the side of the living room. “You took a fatal attack from the human that was aimed at me.”

Oh. So that’s what happened. In retrospect, that made a lot of sense.

“I HAVE NO MEMORY OF WHAT LED TO IT BUT IT'S THE SCENE I KEPT SEEING OVER AND OVER AGAIN. THE HUMAN AND FLOWER ONLY CONFIRMED IT.”

Shock jolted through Sans like an electric current upon hearing Edge’s regretful tone. In that moment, the normally tall, imposing skeleton appeared small and unsure. It reminded him of his brother, back during his younger years, after he’d been rejected by his school peers. Sans’s soul clenched at the sight, and without even hesitating, he settled a comforting hand on Edge’s back. The foreign monster peered back at him.

“it’s ok. i’m alive now, ain’t i?” he gave a playful left-eyed wink.

Edge crossed his arms. “IT WAS UNNECESSARY AND IDIOTIC OF YOU TO DO IT! BUT THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS THANKS YOU NEVERTHELESS.”

“heh, it’s no skin off my bones.”

"YOU AND YOUR TERRIBLE TASTE IN PUNS!”

Sans didn’t mistake the ever-so-slight tilt at the corners of Edge’s mouth, "aw, c'mon, you know you like 'em."

“NO I DEFINITELY DO NOT!”

Sans chuckled but dissolved into a low hiss as pain lanced from his still-healing ribs. Edge sprung up from his seat, immediately turning his attention to the older skeleton’s ribs.

“YOU ARE NOT TO LEAVE THIS HOUSE AND WILL REST UNTIL THIS HEALS!” the Royal Guardsman ordered, his right hand pointed at Sans’s wounded chest.

“gee, thanks, mom but i’ll be fine. i’ll sleep for a few days and be good as new.”

Edge gave an irritated huff. Sans sputtered in surprise as he was carefully hoisted into lanky arms and carried back upstairs into his brother’s room. He was placed back onto Papyrus’s racecar bed.

“The Great and Terrible Papyrus would like to apologize. I’ve been acting unfairly towards you,” Edge proclaimed, staring intensely at him.

It was the first Sans had seen such openness, such clear remorse, on this strange version of his brother. His soul fluttered within his chest and an unknown emotion surged within him. He quickly glanced away, feeling his cheeks warm.

“eh, it’s not like i did much to deserve an apology,” Sans answered with a flippant wave. “‘sides, if you were gonna apologize to anyone, it should be alphys.”

Edge frowned deeply at his response.

“we may need her help. she knows a bit about the multiple universe theory and is a far better engineer than me.”

“How about this, I’ll apologize to that Royal Scientist if you accept my apology and let me deal with the human while your injuries heal.”

Sans disliked the fact that Edge felt the need to make this into a stipulation. He must’ve really disliked his world’s Alphys if it carried so strongly over into this universe. He sighed and shook hands with Edge in agreement.

“no tryna kill the kid.”

“I can’t promise you anything but the Great and Terrible Papyrus will not attack them without reason.”

Sans gave it some thought before shrugging, “eh, good enough.”

Sans messaged Alphys using Undernet, writing a lengthy (for him) apology, explaining why they were in the lab. Edge’s was much shorter than his and read, ‘THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS APOLOGIZES FOR HIS BEHAVIOR TOWARDS YOU. YOU MAY NOT BELIEVE ME BUT I DO NOT GIVE THEM FREELY SO YOU SHOULD ACCEPT IT AS IT IS!!’ Sans was, unfortunately, too late to stop Edge from sending it. He decided to just let it go and not get too worked up about it. Several hours later, and after eating some spaghetti that Edge had made, he received a reply.

i’ll accept your apology. ^^ And i’ll be interested in helping since it sounds exciting! ^o^ B-but don’t bring the other Papyrus with you next time when you come over. S-sorry i still don’t trust him. >_<

That was fair. Overall her response was better than he’d expected, and he could work with that. Exhaustion crashed into him like a forceful wave, and he settled into his brother’s racecar bed. His mind drifted to Edge. The darker Papyrus had gone downstairs to help fix the door. He had to admit that he was really beginning to enjoy the taller skeleton’s presence.

Chapter Text

Since the encounter with Flowey, Papyrus had cooked, cleaned and fixed the broken front door. That had been fix soon after meeting the human, who helped buy supplies. Papyrus watched them like a hawk when Sans slept, making sure they were always in his line of sight. Even when they wanted to go into town, he always demanded to know where they were going and when they were getting back. He didn’t speak to them otherwise, even when they tried to initiate small talk with him. He knew that it made them uncomfortable but he didn’t care. This was all to keep Sans and himself safe.

The short skeleton spent most of the time sleeping, eating and practicing terrible jokes with him and the human. The human loved them, giggling every time they heard one. Papyrus always voiced his annoyance at the jokes and puns, but it was now more out of habit than true dislike. There wasn’t much else Sans could do with Papyrus insisting that the smaller skeleton not do anything too strenuous until he was fully healed. Papyrus was surprised at how much he cared about this Sans’s well-being, though he’d convinced himself that it was simply his way of paying back to Sans and nothing else. That didn’t stop the flutter in his soul every time Sans comforted him. Or when he was reminded of that dazed, aroused look that he’d drawn out of Sans two days ago.

Was he seriously becoming attached—no, attracted— to a monster who was essentially an alternate version of his brother? But this world’s Sans was not his brother and differed in ways that mattered—he was way more even-tempered than either him or his brother, more lazy and always seemed to have this world-weariness about him. He also cared a lot about his brother, so much that it made Papyrus envious of his counterpart.

The thought of his Sans brought about a wave of guilt and regret. Would he be stuck here, never to see his brother again? Since arriving in this kinder, more merciful world, he’d come to realize just how much he missed his brother, how much he had to apologize to his Sans. Sometimes he wondered if he was projecting his feelings towards his brother onto the Sans of this world.

“hey, edge, you’re lookin’ pretty rattled?” Sans’s baritone voice cut through his muddled thoughts.

The dark skeleton barely reacted. A small bony hand settled on top of his gloved one, and he found himself peering at Sans’s questioning expression, “you ok there?”

Another flutter in his soul had him wrenching his arm away as if burned.

“T-the Great and Terrible Papyrus is fine!” The Royal Guard captain exclaimed. “I was simply… thinking of my brother.” It wasn’t a complete lie.

A look of understanding crossed Sans’s features, “here’s some good news. alphys is willing to work with me on this timeline business. i’m planning on meeting with her later today.”

“What?! It’s only been two days! You are not well enough to leave!”

“i ‘preciate the concern but see,” without warning, Sans lifted up his white shirt to expose his ribs. Papyrus felt heat rise to his cheekbones, “almost good as new.”

Indeed the injuries were mostly healed; only a faint, barely noticeable line persisted. Papyrus resisted the urge to rub his phalanges against those pearly, unmarred bones, drawing out breathy gasps and moans from Sans. He immediately purged those thoughts from his mind.

“heh, what’s got you all hot and bothered?” Sans teased, giving an infuriatingly impudent grin, as he lifted his shirt even higher.

Papyrus’s cheeks burned like fire but not wanting to be outdone by Sans again, he gave into his impulse and sensually dragged his gloved fingers down Sans’s ribs. Fine tremors racked the small skeleton, and a stifled gasp escaped from behind his teeth. Sans swiftly tugged down his shirt and backed away from Papyrus, a blue glow dusting across his face.

With a smirk, the Royal Guardsman pronounced cockily, “If you’re going to tease, you should expect to be teased back! Nyeh heh heh!”

Sans grumbled something under his breath, eye lights trailing to the table with the action figures. Papyrus continued to bask in his victory until the blue faded from Sans’s cheekbones.

Eventually, Papyrus said, “I will stay and watch over the human.”

Large sockets narrowed at him with suspicion. Papyrus offered a hand before Sans could say anything. “You can trust me to not attack the human.”

The short monster regarded the outstretched hand for several seconds before accepting it, “i’ll take your word for it, pal.”

The two skeletons shook on the promise. As if to prove that he was fine, Sans finally left the native Papyrus’s room to go downstairs. The human sat on the couch watching reruns of Mettaton’s show. They smiled at the sight of him and signaled for him to join them. Papyrus sat on the far end of the cough, away from the two of them. He tried to stay awake but found himself nodding off several times. It did not go unnoticed.

“geez, edge, when’s the last time you slept?” Sans asked with concern. “you look even more tired than me.”

“The Great and Terrible Papyrus can function perfectly with only a few hours of sleep!” He probably got three hours within the last two days. Watching over an injured monster and a possible mass murderer did not allow for much time to rest.

“nope, you’re goin’ t’bed, buddy.” Sans shifted closer to him. The tall skeleton made to protest but Sans interrupted him before he could, “don’t make me hafta force ya. besides, it’s pretty hypocritical of you to order me to rest when i can’t do the same.”

Well, there was no arguing that statement. With a huff, he got up and grumbled, “Fine!”

Papyrus went into his double’s room, closed the door and laid down. He tossed and turned until he found himself staring at the ceiling. Exhaustion settled within him. He had to admit, it was nice being fussed over for once. He couldn’t even remember the last time his brother had done it; usually it was the other way around. His mind drifted to Sans. He still held an inkling of concern that the human would attack the small skeleton, but sleep took over him.

Papyrus opened his eyes and was temporarily blinded by something bright. His vision adjusted and saw a light shining above him. A large, skull-shaped device stood in the left side of his periphery. Shivers ran through him. He found himself lying, half-naked, on top a cold, metal surface. Thick, leather straps wrapped firmly around his wrists, which were placed at his sides. Straps also bound his ankles and cervical vertebrae to the table. He struggled against his restraints but they didn’t give.

What was going on? How did he end up here?

Footsteps filtered into his hearing, and a short, yellow figure wearing round glasses and a long white lab coat hovered over him. The light reflected off the glasses, obscuring her actual eyes but Papyrus could tell from her devious smile that something horrible was about to happen to him. Sure enough, a sharp tug at his soul had a grunt of discomfort escaping from his mouth. Alphys ignored him and continued her task until a white, inverted heart hovered in front of his bare chest. A tinge of bright orange glowed out of his soul.

Orange? This was not his soul! Was this… his counterpart’s?

A sharp jolt of pain disrupted his thoughts. Wires extending from the large machine were pushed into the soul. Shortly afterwards, the most unbearable pain he’s ever felt flooded his entire being, ripping an agonized scream out of him. It was as if fire ran through his bones. He would rather die than continue to experience this torture.

The pain suddenly ended, and Papyrus found himself crouching in a snow-covered forest, barely able to move due to the injury on his right shoulder. The small human stood a few feet away from him with a face-splitting grin on their face and a dust-covered plastic knife in their hand. They sprang forward. A faint pop reached his nonexistent ears, and before he could react, Sans appeared in front of him. Papyrus watched in horror as the other skeleton took the attack, and a large red gash appeared across his torso. Papyrus caught the injured skeleton as he fell backwards. Dust scattered in front of him, covering his clothes, his gloved hands and even his face.

”Aw, isn’t that too bad? You couldn’t save him before it was too late,” the human said in a mocking tone. “Will you watch him die again?”

Papyrus shot up with a gasp. His gaze fell upon the action figures standing on the table. He was lying in the red racecar bed and not on a metal operation table. It took several minutes of deep breathing to calm his nerves. He immediately bounded down the stairs. He only found the human sleeping on the couch with no signs of Sans. A surge of rage coursed through him, and he had to suppress the urge to skewer them.

“WAKE UP HUMAN! WHAT DID YOU DO TO SANS?!”

The child shot up and shook their head furiously, holding up their arms in a pacifying manner.

“THEN WHERE IS HE?”

They signed something which Papyrus couldn’t understand, much to his frustration. They gestured frantically at the door and then curled their thumb and pointer finger into a circle in front of their eyes. He could only deciphered that Sans had left the house to look for someone. It did nothing to appease his growing anger and paranoia.

“WHERE DID HE GO?! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOUR INDECIPHERABLE GESTURES!” Papyrus roared.

The human looked around the room until they spotted a blank sheet of paper and withdrew a pen from their inventory. They scribbled something on the paper before handing it over to him.

He went to Alphys’s lab. At the mention of that name, the intense pain that he’d felt in his dream pierced through him. Despite the differences in personality between the Alphys of this world compared to his own, he still had to find Sans. Why didn’t the damn skeleton wake him up before he left?

The human snatched the paper from his hand and wrote something else. If you’re going after him, I’m coming with you. Papyrus startled away from the human, glaring at them with distrust. The image of them attacking Sans and him turning to dust flashed within the Royal Guardsman’s mind.

No, he had to stop the human. Had to eliminate them before they killed Sans.

“DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!” Papyrus growled, as he wrenched open the door and left without another word.

Snow and dense fog surrounded him as he trekked towards the outskirts of Snowdin. This fog definitely did not exist in his world but if he kept going straight, he would eventually reach Waterfall. He stopped right before the exit out of Snowdin and turned around to face the human. They stood several feet from him, panting from trying to keep up with him. Now was his chance.

“HUMAN! DID YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD BELIEVE YOUR PATHETIC EXCUSES? VOICES TELLING YOU TO KILL EVERYONE? THAT’S RIDICULOUS! YOU ARE A HUMAN AND UNTRUSTWORTHY!”

The human scribbled something on the sheet of paper and tried to give it to him. They even opened their mouth, as if to say something, but no words came forth.

Papyrus promptly ignored them and continued, “I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR ENEMY! AS CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARDS, I WILL STOP YOU!”

Papyrus forced the human into an Encounter and turned their red soul blue. Columns of alternating long and short bones shot out at them. They jumped to avoid getting hit. Bones hovered in the air around Papyrus and sped past him, aimed at the human. They ducked and skidded sideways. Papyrus remained on alert, prepared to dodge any hits from the human. But none came.

Attack after attack they dodged his bones with practiced familiarity but not even once did they retaliate back. They only tried to sign and gesture to him, occasionally opening their mouth to try to say something. It frustrated him to no end. They were underestimating him, toying with him.

“WHAT IS THIS GAME THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO PLAY?! I KNOW YOU ARE ONLY ACTING NICELY SO IT’LL BE EASIER TO KILL US LATER! DO NOT THINK I AM NOT PRIVY TO THAT LOWLY TRICK!”

Papyrus summoned another flurry of bones, this time adding in some harder patterns. The human mistimed their last two jumps and the sharp tips grazed against their left arm and leg. Even with the injury, they still did not attack him back.

“It… it may not be right… for me to… say this,” a soft voice suddenly said. It was raspy from disuse and barely audible. “but maybe... all you need... is some guidance into the right direction.”

A wave of familiarity and deja vu crashed into him. He faltered.

“Those were… words you said to me… in the previous timeline.”

The tall skeleton froze. Impossible! He said those things?

“Your words… and Sans’s death…” the human shuddered, “...allowed me to gain back control.” They held their arms outstretched in offering. Papyrus thought he saw faint, gold outlines of two words that hovered in front of the human.

Were they Sparing him? After he’d tried to kill them? Could he actually trust them? Although their eyes were squinted, they had a look of determination on their face.

“What I did last time… was unforgivable… but I believe even the worst person can change… that anyone can become a better person if they tried,” the human continued in the same gentle, hushed tone. “I will not attack you… or Sans… or any monster. Because I believe that I can change for the better… just as I… and Sans... believe you can too.”

Guilt flooded his soul at the mention of the small skeleton’s name. What was he doing, attacking this human? Hadn’t he promised, just hours ago, that he would watch over them and not attack them?

Papyrus accepted their Mercy. The two of them stood in the settling snowstorm, most of the fog having cleared away during the battle. The stripe-wearing child smiled brightly at him.

“I, the Great and Terrible Papyrus, accept your words.” He glanced away and was formulating his apology.

A higher pitched, childish voice suddenly pierced through, “Oh~, this is quite an interesting run we have here.”

The Royal Guard captain turned his attention back to the human. Their lips were curled into a wide grin and gleaming red eyes stared into his own. A chill shot up his spine, and Papyrus recoiled back several steps. This was the same human that appeared in his earlier nightmare. Several sharp bones hovered behind him.

“Oh don’t worry, as I said, I won’t attack you. It’s too early to end everything now, especially when everything is so new and different, wouldn’t you say?” The human giggled and tilted their head slightly to the side in inquiry.

The riddle this human, different from the one he’d battled earlier, spoke in confused him. And with that confusion came rage.

“WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE OTHER HUMAN? AND CEASE SPEAKING IN THESE RIDDLES!”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll leave.” They didn’t sound apologetic at all. “It doesn’t matter who I am. Besides, there’s not much I can do. A much more powerful force is at work here than simply me and my partner.” They tapped lightly on the back of their head.

“WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” Papyrus demanded.

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. Maybe your flower friend will be more willing to share,” they gave a half-hearted shrug. “See ya around, maybe, you seem like someone fun to chat with.”

After those words were said, they crumbled into the ground. Papyrus dispersed his bone attack and stalked towards them. A faint pop reached his nonexistent ears, and Sans suddenly appeared in front of him. He took one look at the fallen human, eye lights lingering on the scratches marring their arm and leg before turning to Papyrus. For the first time since he’d arrived here, Sans glared at him with anger.

“you attacked them.” It wasn’t a question and more of a confirmatory statement.

“THEY WERE… I—” There was no excuse for him to give; he had attacked them without provocation.

“what? you didn’t mean to? it was an accident?” The scathing way Sans had said it was similar to taking a direct attack to his soul. There was no way to rectify this so he may as well be frank.

“I did attack them. Because I didn’t trust them.”

A beat of silence.

“that’s it? that’s your reasoning?”

“They could have attacked us! They could have killed—”

“you made a promise. you said you wouldn’t fight them.”

His temper flared, and he retorted, “SO WHAT?! YOU’VE NEVER BROKEN ANY PROMISES YOU’VE MADE BEFORE?!”

Sans flinched slightly but quickly recovered, “i trusted you! i believed you would keep it!” the small skeleton peered away, eye lights dim, “guess that was too much to ask for, huh.”

If Papyrus felt horrible before, nothing compared to now. But before he could respond, Sans’s eye lights blinked out of its sockets, and he spoke curtly, “You should leave.”

Papyrus was left utterly speechless, watching as Sans carefully picked up the human and disappeared without another word. The Royal Guardsman stood there for several minutes, trying to process what had just happened. Eventually, with a soul as heavy as lead, Papyrus stumbled into Waterfall.

There was one similarity this Sans had to his brother, Papyrus realized. Sans’s rejection of him was just as painful as his brother’s rejection all those years ago.

Chapter Text

Shortly after making sure Edge was comfortably asleep, Sans decided to pay Alphys a visit. He was glad that Edge was finally getting some rest after spending so much time fussing over him. He appreciated it; it reminded him almost of his own brother. But he would never want nor approve of Edge’s taking care of him in place of the Royal Guardsman’s own well-being. Thankfully Edge agreed to finally sleep without much insistence.

A tinge of worry lingered within Sans at leaving the kid and Edge together without supervision despite the dark skeleton’s promise. He wanted to give Edge the benefit of the doubt. The foreign monster hadn’t tried to attack the kid these past several days and had changed quite a bit since their initial sharp meeting in his room. Sans found himself more than willing to trust in Edge’s words.

Sans took a shortcut to Alphys’s lab after grabbing the blueprints to the machine. The scientist greeted him normally with a nervous stutter, though he did notice her peering behind and around him before inviting him inside. Did she not believe him when he said he wouldn’t bring Edge along? He chatting with her normally, ignoring the sharp sting within his soul at her distrust. Then again, he deserved it for breaking into the True Labs and taking notes without confiding in her first.

As soon as he unfurled the blueprints, Alphys became a bundle of excitement, pouring over them. The complexity of the equations involved had her round glasses glinting from her jittery movements. She looked up at Sans in confusion once she fell upon the strange symbols littered around the mathwork.

“W-what do these s-s-symbols mean? C-can you r-r-read them?”

Sans gave a half-hearted shrug as he surveyed them briefly, “not all of it.”

“D-do you know who w-wrote this?”

“not completely,” he answered shortly.

It wasn’t a complete lie. He remembered the Man as the previous Royal Scientist before Alphys. Both he and Alphys had worked together with him, though she seemed to have lost all memory of it. Well, everyone did. Except for him. Even his memory was hazy at best. A tragic accident of some sort that occurred with the Core. And a badly drawn picture with the words ‘don’t forget’ written in his own handwriting.

Sans couldn’t even recall the scientist’s name. Only that he used hand gestures over speaking verbally and that he most likely help built that machine in his secret room.

“there’s some missing pieces for the machine. thought maybe you could give it a look and maybe help with it.”

“T-this looks r-really complex, Sans. What does this machine even do?”

That he actually knew, though he was hesitant to answer. But since Alphys’s trust was as flimsy as it was, he answered, “it can observe timelines and travel through them. kinda like a time machine.”

Alphys gaped at him like a fish before she squealed, “Omigosh! This is just like in Mew Mew Kissy Cute season two when they try to prevent the world from getting destroyed by going back in time!"

“uh, yeah, it doesn’t work quite like that. so you wanna help me get the parts to fix this? the machine’s back in my place but i could give ya the stuff i need. once it’s finished, you can run some tests with it.” Like find a way to Edge’s universe and bring back his brother.

“Of course! Can you believe what kind of scientific breakthrough this could be?!”

The two of them spent the next two hours reviewing the blueprints with Sans translating the text that Alphys couldn’t understand. At the end, they discovered three missing pieces that would have to be constructed to get the machine functioning. The lizard scientist volunteered to get started on them as soon as possible, her previous wariness towards Sans forgotten.

Before heading back home, Sans took a quick stop at his secret room to check on the actual location of the missing pieces. He would have to let Alphys know the exact measurements so they’d fit properly. Once completed with the task, he sauntered back to the house. A rare burst of excitement flooded him at informing Edge of the good news. He could even imagine the tall skeleton saying something like, “THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS IS NOT USUALLY ONE TO GIVE THANKS BUT FOR THIS ONE TIME, I WILL. BUT DO NOT TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY OR ANYTHING!” in his usual loud but rough tone, most likely sporting a pink flush along his cheekbones.

Heh, Edge was simply too easy and fun to rile up. Even more so than his brother. He was also a good buddy to banter with.

His amusing thoughts immediately ceased as he walked into an empty house. He swept through the first floor but found no signs of either Edge or the kid. The upstairs bedrooms also revealed nothing. Sans shortcutted out of the house and into Snowdin forest, his entire being filled with dread. He went around all the major points, stopping at every sentry station, but still could not find either the human or Edge. With a final ditch effort, he appeared near the outskirts of Snowdin, close to the entrance of Waterfall, and felt his breath catch.

Edge stood in front of him with his sockets narrowed in suspicion. A sweep of the area had his eye lights falling to the prone, unconscious figure of the kid. There were several fresh scratches on their arm and leg. His soul gave an unexpected throb of pain as he turned his attention back to the tall skeleton standing in front of him.

“you attacked them.”

“THEY WERE… I—”

“what? you didn’t mean to? it was an accident?” Sans spat that last part.

He didn’t know why he felt so hurt from this, especially since he himself didn’t fully trust the human’s earlier words.

“I did attack them. Because I didn’t trust them.”

Sans nearly recoiled at the answer. But then he remembered Edge’s words before he’d left.

“that’s it? that’s your reasoning?”

“They could have attacked us! They could have killed—”

“you made a promise. you said you wouldn’t fight them.”

Edge’s face contorted with anger. “SO WHAT?! YOU’VE NEVER BROKEN ANY PROMISES YOU’VE MADE BEFORE?!”

This time he couldn’t help but flinch back at Edge’s response, though anger and betrayal quickly took over.

“i trusted you! i believed you would keep it!” he looked away, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his soul. “guess that was too much to ask for, huh.”

Had he simply misjudged Edge’s words? He thought he could trust the other skeleton but clearly he was wrong. That was the problem with promises. They were so easy to make yet so hard to keep. It’s why he hated making them. And yet Edge trampled on the promise he’d made to Sans within hours, as if the tall skeleton barely gave it any thought. And that, for some reason, hurt Sans more than anything.

“You should leave,” Sans uttered tonelessly, his sockets black.

He should’ve known better than to hope. But that was his own fault for putting faith into a monster with any close semblance to his brother. Because Edge wasn’t his brother, and he never could be.

Sans turned around and carefully arranged the kid into his arms without worsening the injuries. Without a word or even a glance to the other skeleton, Sans took a shortcut back home. He carefully laid the human on the green couch and rummaged through the kitchen. Finding no healing foods in the kitchen or his inventory, he went to get some at the Shop. The Shopkeeper greeted him kindly, which caught him off guard. He’d been expecting her to still treat him coolly as all the other residents in Snowdin were.

“Don’t worry about it, hun. Perhaps I, and the rest of us, are being a bit judgmental of you and your guest,” the rabbit monster responded after being asked.

“or maybe they aren’t,” Sans mumbled back under his breath.

“What was that?”

“nothin’, thanks for the cinnabuns.”

Just as he was about to open the door to leave, the Shopkeeper called him back.

“I’m glad to see you up and about. That other skeleton was really worried about you when he came in here last time.”

“last time? when did he ever come here?” Sans asked with a blink of his eye sockets.

“Oh, has he never told you? Don’t know what happened but you looked in a bad shape with those broken ribs. He demanded healing food at first, which I denied him. But then looked so upset and practically begged me for something on your behalf,” the Shopkeeper explained. She took a breath. “If I were in my younger years, I would’ve even called it romantic.”

Edge had done that? For him? Some unknown emotion twisted in Sans’s nonexistent gut.

“He has a long road ahead of him but hopefully with you as a support, he’ll change for the better.”

Yeah, as if he could do anything to help Edge. He could barely help himself. Sans quickly shook out the bitter thoughts and thanked the Shopkeeper again before he left.

When Sans got back home, he kept himself busy taking care of the kid to prevent his mind from wandering. He had always been proud of his ability to have an objective view of most situations. Currently, however, he was wracked with emotions, both known and unknown, he didn’t even know he could still feel. The betrayal from Edge breaking his promise, his anger at the other for breaking it, the unknown fluttering in his soul from the Shopkeeper’s words. It left him confused and unsure.

At some point, Sans must’ve fallen asleep, as some time later, he was startled awake by a sudden, insistent tug at his jacket. He saw the kid peering at him from the couch, just finishing the last bite of a cinnamon bunny. They were signing something to him.

‘Where’s the other skeleton?’

He attempted to squash the guilt gnawing at him for leaving Edge behind. It wasn’t as if he was being unfair. The dark skeleton had broken his trust. On top of everything else.

“he’s not with us anymore.”

The kid frowned. ‘Did something happen to him?'

“nah, me and him are takin’ a break.”

‘Is it because of me?’

“what, of course not, kiddo. we just had a disagreement. he’ll be fine.”

The human shook their head furiously, brown hair whipping across their face, ‘No. We have to bring him back!’

“but he attacked ya when he promised not to.”

‘It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t mean to break it. He was only worried.’

“worried? ‘bout what? what could he be worried ‘bout here besides makin’ sure he gets home?”

The kid looked away shamefully, the bangs hanging over their eyes. There was a beat before they signed, ‘He was worried that I was going to attack and hurt you.’

The short skeleton didn’t know how to respond to that, the strange fluttering invading his soul again. If Edge really did care for him— and he couldn’t understand why he would— he could have at least consulted with him first before attacking them, at least talked to him before breaking his words.

‘Sans,’ Frisk began. ‘Do you think even the worst person can change? That anyone can become a better person if they tried?’

Those words sounded familiar to him. He said something similar to Edge when they’d first met. And he had a feeling he’d said those exact words in a previous timeline.

“yeah, i guess i do.”

‘The other Papyrus believes it too because he’s said those things to me. He said that all I needed was some guidance to the right direction, just as he had.’ Frisk paused briefly to look at him, who stared back at them with wide sockets. ‘He means you, Sans.’

There was no way. What had he done besides provide Edge with some food and housing? And apparently taking an attack aimed at him, which Sans couldn’t even remember happening. Besides, that was in the past.

‘You don’t have to believe me but you can’t just abandon the other Papyrus. If you’re not going to look for him, then I will!’

Frisk pocketed the remaining cinnabuns into their inventory and started towards the door. They hadn’t taken more than two steps before Sans appeared next to them, making them nearly jump a foot into the air in surprise.

“alright, kiddo, i’ll come with ya. can’t leave you with all the fun.” He still had to keep an eye on this kid.

The two of them went into the direction of Waterfall. Sans wondered if he would be upset if Frisk had ended up attacking him. He realized that he didn’t.

So why did Edge’s breaking his promise get such a reaction out of him? Was it because he actually grew to… care? He decided it was easier to simply not think about it.

After passing through the beginning areas of Waterfall, both of them still found no signs of the dark skeleton. Frisk went around sparing all the monsters they encountered, staying true to their pacifism. They didn’t spot any piles of dust, which was good news for them. They had just passed the hallway with his telescope when the kid suddenly froze. Their hands brushed the air briefly before they peered around.

The clacking sound of bones echoed ahead of them. Moments later, a chill shot down Sans’s spine as his eyes fell upon a hallway that wasn’t there before.

“looks like we don’t need my telescope tibia looking further,” Sans remarked with a nervous chuckle.

He knew something wasn’t right when the kid didn’t laugh at his pun. Not that that one had been one of his best. But they’ve laughed at all his other jokes thus far. A mysterious door appeared as soon as they stepped into the hallway.

Welp, at least they finally found who they were looking for.

Edge stood in the pitch-black room with a circle of bones summoned around him. He was putting more weight on his right leg and clutched at his right arm, which hung loosely at his side. Probably a broken arm and leg injury.

Several feet away from him was a formless black blob with a cracked, grinning white face that appeared melted. The blob turned his attention to them, specifically the kid, and then back to Edge. Sans heard a static-filled screech and large floating hands with circles in the center materialized in the black space. A deep sense of familiarity hit him like a wave as he saw the hands contort to various signals.

[All Anomalies to the timeline must be eliminated!]

Sans was still mad at Edge for what he’d done earlier but was not about to abandon the other. Especially after this weirdo’s message. Magic flared around him, and he summoned several white and blue bones of his own.

Chapter Text

Papyrus wandered through Waterfall with a heavy soul. His ruby eye lights drifted listlessly at his surroundings. If he hadn’t been so distraught over Sans’s rejection, he would’ve admired this world’s Waterfall. There was a calming, almost wistful, quality to the place from the eerie blue glow casted by the water and echo flowers, a vast change from the dreary, red ambience he’d seen back home. The echo flowers also weren’t filled with the pained screams of falling monsters.

What was he to do now that he had nowhere to go? He couldn’t run back to Sans pleading for forgiveness. He had too much pride for that, and it was not an action he was familiar with. Begging was also a sign of weakness, something that could easily be used against him back home. It might not be the case here, but years of conditioning made him shudder with revulsion at the thought of him begging.

He also couldn’t figure out why he was so upset in the first place? Sure, it’s been more than two weeks since he'd found himself in this world, but why should he care what Sans thought of him? He’d admit to growing attached to the small skeleton; had it grown to be even more than that?

“Yo, mister! Wait up!” A loud voice interrupted his thoughts. Light footsteps sounded behind him. “Oof!”

Papyrus spun around just in time to see an armless monster crash headfirst into the ground. He must’ve tripped on the rock. Papyrus noted that they were this world’s Monster Kid. The one from back home had a creepy, almost obsessive, admiration for him. He never could figure out why but suspected it was due to his being the Captain of the Royal Guards.

“Are you part of the Royal Guards? Your armor is so cool! You know Undyne is as well?! And she’s the coolest!”

Red hot anger burst within Papyrus at the mention of the fish monster. Their last interaction had left a sour taste in his mouth, and he was not going to stand for her belittling remarks towards him. He doubted she was as strong in combat as he was. Still, her last warning about bringing him to this world’s Asgore set him on edge. It would not be good for either of them to meet.

Papyrus ignored Monster Kid and continued onwards, treading through the ankle-deep depths of a waterfall. Just as he arrived in an area overgrown with tall grass, he heard the faint clinking of armor in the distance

“Oh, that must be Undyne! Wait till you see her! I wanna be just like her when I grow up!”

“WILL YOU SHUT UP?” Papyrus hissed at his unwanted stalker. “STOP FOLLOWING ME!”

“Undyne told everyone in Waterfall to be on a lookout for a scary tall skeleton and let her know if he shows up. That’s you, isn’t it? If I tell her, maybe she’ll like me!”

In a fit of rage, Papyrus seized the armless monster by the collar of his striped shirt and lifted him into the air. He hissed, “YOU WILL NOT SPEAK A WORD TO HER!”

Papyrus dropped Monster Kid roughly onto the ground and stormed away in the opposite direction. He needed to get out of Waterfall as soon as possible to avoid any unnecessary confrontations with Undyne. He hadn’t taken more than a few steps before hearing Monster Kid’s rushing footsteps behind him. The sudden urge to retaliate back rippled within him. Instead of giving into the compulsion, he quickened his pace, jumping over the Bridge Seeds and sprinting into an area littered with echo flowers. Glowing blue gems hung in the ceiling like stars.

“Yo! Stop going so fast, mister!” Monster Kid called back at him.

Papyrus ignored the armless lizard monster and passed a telescope and exited north. Water sausages grew in thick clusters on either side of a wooden boardwalk. The clinking armor that he’d heard earlier drew closer. Magic filled the air as he readied an attack. Much to his surprise, however, Undyne went the opposite direction of where he currently stood.

Heavy panting approached him, soon revealed to be Monster Kid. “Yo so I, uh, didn’t give you away since you looked so upset earlier. Sorry about what I’d said!”

“WHY DO YOU INSIST ON FOLLOWING ME?” Papyrus seethed.

“I’m looking out for you as Undyne ordered!”

Papyrus was certain that this pipsqueak misinterpreted her orders but he wasn’t going to argue. He slowed down by a pace, allowing the short monster to catch up to him. It wasn’t worth the effort to keep running if Monster Kid insisted on following him. He would simply ignore the other until they got bored.

The next area he came across had another telescope and an inventory box. Papyrus had the distinct feeling of being watched.

“Whoa look! Another telescope?” Monster Kid chimed in. He took a look into it. “LAME! There’s nothing to see except a buncha red.”

Papyrus noticed a ring of red paint around the eye that Monster Kid had used to peer through the telescope. Papyrus could only assume it belonged to Sans, given the childishness of the prank.

A chill ran up Papyrus’s spine when a gray door suddenly appeared in the dark blue walls of the hallway. Distorted noises issued forth from it. There was something ominous about whatever was inside. Before Papyrus could stop them, Monster Kid darted past him towards the door to open it.

For a good minute, Papyrus stood frozen in his spot, mind wracked indecision. Now was his opportunity to get rid of the annoyance that stuck with him like an unscratchable itch. Was he seriously just going to let this monster die though? There was no other monster, no Sans, to watch him do good or bad deeds. Besides, he already ruined the cordial relationship he had with Sans— the one and only monster that actually mattered to him in this weak, merciful world.

Monster Kid’s scream suddenly echoed throughout the hallway. Without thinking, Papyrus sprinted towards them with his arms outstretched. A barrier of bones emerged in front of Monster Kid just as thick, black tendrils advanced towards them. The ossified barrier forced the tendrils back into its gray room.

And Papyrus realized he couldn’t do it; he couldn’t simply leave this armless, bipedal lizard alone. Even if Sans wasn’t here to see his kind gesture, he was the Great and Terrible Papyrus, Captain of the Royal Guards back in his home world. It was his duty to protect the weak.

He reached Monster Kid just in time to push him out of the way of another attack from the thick tentacle.

“GO GET HELP! I’LL STOP THIS NASTY CREATURE!”

Monster Kid stared at him dumbfounded.

“WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT ME FOR?! GO!!”

They gave a shaky nod and ran back in the direction they’d come. Papyrus turned into the gray corridor and came face-to-face with a ghastly grinning face attached to a formless black blob. There were two prominent cracks running unevenly down each of the monster’s black eyes. It looked like a melted skeleton. Indecipherable sounds came from the strange being as floating white hands with a circle in their center signaled at a blinding speed. The hand gestures were vaguely familiar in the sense that he’s seen them somewhere. But he couldn't remember when.

“I CANNOT UNDERSTAND YOU,” Papyrus shouted over the cacophony.

Without warning, thick black tendrils lashed out at him, and an Encounter began. One of the appendages wrapped around his lower left leg and smashed him to the ground. A rush a white half-faded bones shot out towards him. They were uneven and distorted, similar to a reflection on a broken mirror. Papyrus rolled to the right, just missing the attack. Searing pain shot up his left leg as he tried to stand.

“WHAT ARE YOU?!”

Another thick tentacle lashed out at him. Papyrus tried to jump to avoid the attack, but felt the familiar heaviness of blue magic pressing against the culmination of his being. Stuck as he was, Papyrus raised his arms to block the appendage. It smashed right into his right forearm.

Crack!

He grunted in agony as he felt his arm break. The formless monster then turned his attention away from him and elicited more static noise. The white hands hovering around him signed something else. Papyrus felt the hum of magic in the air and turned around to see Sans and the human standing in front of the doorway. The rows of blue and white bones hovering around the short skeleton shot out towards the formless black ooze. Immediately after, the strange monster’s mangled soul turned blue and was pressed into the earth.

Papyrus’s soul gave an excited pulse at the sight of Sans, though it is short-lived, as the short skeleton’s attention was drawn entirely to the strange individual before them. Even the human had a disturbed look on their face.

“heya,” Sans began. “you must be him… the previous royal scientist.”

The white floating hands signed back a response punctuated by static noise. To his surprise, he realized that he actually understood one of the words.

Stop.

“look, pal, this is all a misunderstanding. i’d love to chat and catch up but i can’t allow ya to harm them.”

Shrill buzzing filled the air around them, and three thick tentacles lashed out at them. Papyrus summoned forth a row of serrated bones that sheared out of the ground and tore through the dark, slimy appendages. They congealed together and began their onslaught again, this time also using the hands as a method to prevent their escape. One of them snagged Papyrus’s right leg. Five massive beastly skull heads suddenly appeared around the goop monster, surrounding him on all sides and above. Each of them opened its jaw of sharp teeth and issued a concentrated white beam of magic, completely obliterating the hands and stray appendages. A warbled shriek ripped out of the formless scientist.

“c’mon, we gotta get outta here,” Sans said.

Another volley of beams bombarded the mysterious creature. During the distraction, Sans pushed the other two out of the gray room. The door faded away as soon as they stepped out. Instead, only the blurry appearance of the dark stone walls remained. The walls had discolored tiny blocks in front of where the door had been. When the human tried to reach towards the strange distortion, Sans quickly pulled them back.

“don’t touch that,” Sans advised.

Without warning, blue spears erupted from the ground. They all leapt out of the way of the spear.

“NGAAAAHHHH! YOU, FAKE PAPYRUS, DARE TO SHOW YOURSELF HERE!! Who are you terrorizing now?!”

“Wait, no, Undyne, don’t attack him!” Monster Kid shouted from behind her. The fish captain simply continued to charge towards Papyrus with her spear raised.

Rage surged through Papyrus. He had almost been killed by some formless blob monster and now this world’s Undyne is mindlessly accusing him and attacking him. His magic fed into the anger, and without his meaning to, a single, charging gaster blaster materialized in front of Undyne. The fish monster’s one eye opened in shock.

“Whoa, what is that?! That’s SO COOL!” Monster Kid exclaimed.

The human gasped sharply.

Undyne dove down to the floor just before the burst of magic could touch her, singeing the ends of her flaming hair

“YOU TRYING TO KILL ME NOW, PUNK?!”

“I’M NOT... I CAN’T—!” Papyrus began.

As if spurred on by Undyne’s taunting attitude, his magic slip out of control. A high-pitched hum filled the air. Undyne drew back her arm with the spear, yellow bullets hovering behind her.

Ping!

The fish captain froze where she stood, her sharp bullets dissipating.

A hand settled on Papyrus’s back, and Sans’s low voice reached his skull, “calm down, edge. take a deep breath and imagine a place that makes you happy.”

Papyrus followed the directions, taking in several heavy gasps, and picturing himself back home in his world, watching television with his brother. Both of them were much younger and had just gotten the new house. The surge of power waned, and before long, the blaster disappeared.

Papyrus fell to his knees in exhaustion. Sharp bursts of pain shot out from his broken arm and injured leg. Sans stepped in front of him to face Undyne. She leveled him with a venomous glare.

“Sans! You better let me go or I’ll kick your ass all the way to Hotland!”

“that ain’t a nice way to ask, capt'n,” the short skeleton responded. “‘sides, i need ya to promise me you won’t attack us.”

“You bet your bony butt I will!” Undyne struggled furiously against the gravity keeping her pinned in place. “NGAAAAHHH! Not only did he put Monster Kid in danger by attacking him—”

“He didn’t attack me! Like I was saying earlier, he helped me!” the striped-wearing child monster argued.

Undyne stopped struggling for a moment and gawked at Monster Kid in disbelief.

“I refuse to believe it!”

“WHAT?! IT’S THE TRUTH! IF I HADN’T STEPPED IN TO STOP THAT THING’S ATTACK, MONSTER KID WOULD BE DUST!” Papyrus spat angrily. “YOU CLAIM TO FOLLOW JUSTICE BUT YOU’RE JUST AS JUDGMENTAL AS ALL THE MONSTERS HERE!”

“What?! I’m not judgmental!”

“IF I PROVE TO YOU I CAN FIGHT WITHOUT KILLING, THEN WOULD YOU BELIEVE ME? I BET YOU WOULDN’T!” Papyrus challenged.

Undyne’s single eye narrowed, and she retorted back, “Of course I would! It’s my job as Captain of the Royal Guard to believe in other monsters!”

“THEN IF I FIGHT YOU AND BEAT YOU WITHOUT INJURING YU, WILL YOU ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM?”

The fish monster took a few seconds before giving a nod. “I accept this challenge!” She directed her attention back to Sans. “Now let me go!”

In this moment, the human walk out from wherever they had been. Papyrus had thought they had left. The sight of them had Undyne baring her shark-teeth at Sans. Sweat beaded the back of his skull.

“wait, the kid is—”

“You’re also in league with the HUMAN?! They should be killed and sent to Asgore! In fact, you should be too for not doing your job and for helping them!”

“you gotta let me explain.”

“Explain?! Your time to explain is UP!”

With a determined roar, Undyne wrenched herself free of Sans’s blue magic, catching him off guard. She hurled her blue spear at him.

Despite the aching fatigue in his bones, Papyrus forced himself up and pulled the small skeleton behind him, taking the full brunt of the spear attack. Pain exploded in his back, and a scream tore out of him. Sans’s sockets grew as wide as saucers and his eye lights shrank into pinpricks. Black spots filtered into Papyrus vision, and he collapsed forward.

“Undyne?! You attacked him!” That sounded like Monster Kid.

“What?! I didn’t mean to… I—”

“edge? you ok there, buddy? tell me you’re gonna be fine.”

There was so much fear and concern in Sans’s voice that he wanted to reach out and reassure the other that yes, he was going to be fine. That the Great and Terrible Papyrus would not fall to such a simple trick. But he could already feel his consciousness slipping.

He hoped this made up for breaking that promise.

“papyrus!”

Darkness took over him.

Papyrus opened his eyes and found himself lying in a red racecar bed. He laid there taking in his surroundings, his mind mulling over how he’d exactly ended up in the bed. Like a dam bursting, scenes of his confrontation with that strange amorphous monster, Monster Kid, and his encounter with Undyne flooded into his mind. He remembered taking Undyne’s spear attack for Sans.

At the thought of the other monster, Papyrus shot up. He groaned at the dull ache that pulsed through him, and spotted bandages wrapped around his ribs, right arm and left leg. He Checked himself, and saw that his HP was nearly fully restored.

He descended the stairs, and found the small skeleton staring into the oven with blank sockets. Sans didn’t stir when he approached, remaining in his crouched position. Not knowing what to say, Papyrus simply stood there silently for several minutes. A mess of emotions swirled within his soul, relief, confusion and anxiety.

If he was back here… did that meant they were on friendly terms again?

Sans finally snapped out of his reverie and caught sight of him. White eye lights reappeared, and he sighed in relief.

“h-how’re feelin’?”

“Fine,” he answered in a subdued tone. “What happened?”

Sans didn’t answer immediately, glancing around the room before finally gazing at him. The bags under his sockets were heavier than it had been in days.

“the two kiddos kept her distracted enough for me to shortcut you back here. used some leftover monster food and bandages to treat your injuries.” Sans cringed slightly and went back to watching whatever was baking in the oven. “she, uh, seemed pretty upset at what happened to ya.”

Papyrus couldn’t help the scoff that escaped from his mouth. “And am I to assume that the bet is still on?”

The blue-clad monster spun around, gaping at him with wide sockets.

“you still gonna follow through with that? you’re still healing.”

“Oh, do not give me that excuse. I WILL STILL FOLLOW THROUGH WITH MY CHALLENGE WITH HER! I’LL SIMPLY HAVE TO PRACTICE FIGHTING WITH NO ILL INTENT BEFORE THE NEXT TIME WE MEET.”

Sans gave a weak nod.

“AND WHAT OF THE HUMAN?”

“they’re, uh, in waterfall tryna befriend everyone there. i checked on ‘em earlier and they seem fine.”

An awkward silence fell between them. The tension became thick enough to cut with a knife.

Beep!

Both monsters startled before realizing it was coming from the oven. Sans fumbled with opening it and brought out a crusty yellow concoction with brown borders. Was that a pie?

To Papyrus surprise, Sans held it out to him.

“look, uh, thanks for savin’ me back there,” the short skeleton mumbled, eye lights trailing to the floor. “this is for you.”

WHAT?!

Papyrus numbly grabbed the offered food, mind drawing a blank at how to respond. He hadn’t received homemade food since he was a babybones.

“anyway, just warning ya that it might not taste good. but, uh, yeah, it’s yours.”

Sans strolled passed him. Papyrus immediately grabbed the back of the other’s hoodie, stopping him in his tracks.

“JOIN ME.”

“what?”

“EVEN IF IT DOESN’T END UP TO MY STANDARDS, IT’LL TASTE BETTER EATING IT WITH SOMEONE ELSE. COME!”

Without giving Sans a chance to decline, Papyrus scooped up his brother’s counterpart, balancing the plate of pie with his other hand, and set them both at the table. He brought out plates and utensils, cut them each a slice and began eating. Although they ate in silence, and the pie was more salty than sweet, an inexplicable sense of happiness filled him.

Chapter Text

The moment Edge fell asleep after their awkwardly silent meal, Sans made a beeline to his secret room, and spent a better part of an hour updating his notes. Instead of his usual shorthand phrases or single word reminders, he extensively detailed everything that had happened since the last Reset. His report on Edge and the possibility of a displacement was still there from before the Reset. He also decided to leave instructions for the next Sans if—no, whenever, this timeline Resets.

work with alphys to rebuild machine

figure out what’s going on with gaster

The name had hit him so suddenly back in the mysterious room that he wondered how he’d forgotten it in the first place. It was like a huge missing puzzle piece finally fell into place. Now he had to figure out what the former Royal Scientist was planning. From his disjointed memory, Gaster hadn’t been an overly cruel or violent monster, only cold and very goal-oriented. What had changed? Obviously whatever had happened to him to become so… melted wasn’t good for his mental state. He filed the idea away and continued writing.

watch for human. friend or foe?

keep promise to lady behind the door of the ruins

And his final instruction… help edge get home.

If there was a Reset, at least Edge would still remained in this world. His brother would still be gone. A sharp pang pulsed within his soul.

They would both forget everything that’s happened.

Sure, sensations of deja vu and a smattering of scenes would come to them, but the majority of their memories would be gone. The thought filled Sans with a deep sense of melancholy. Although they’ve had their disagreements and fights, he found himself dreading the idea of going back to their stormy relationship before the Reset had occurred. Even if the guilt was eating him alive from how injured Edge had gotten from taking Undyne’s spear attack for him. If only he had been more attentive...

If only he hadn’t abandoned Edge in the first place, then the taller skeleton wouldn’t have almost died.

That attack had dropped his already low HP to single-digits. One more hit, and he would’ve been a pile of dust. The fleeting, familiar imagine of his brother’s dust had flashed within his mind, shaking his very core. He’d immediately taken a shortcut out of there with the unconscious Edge. The kid could always Reset, but he didn’t want to bet on Edge’s life with something like that.

Had Edge also felt like this from his death in the previous timeline?

He should’ve given the other monster a chance to explain himself when he’d seen Edge with the human, instead of getting angry and yelling at him.

Sans gave a weary sigh as he took out his cell phone and sent a quick message to Alphys, asking if she was available for him to visit. Two seconds later, his phone dinged in notification of a response.

Sure! I started building some of the parts so, um, you should come over and check them out! (^o^)b

Sans locked up his secret room and took a shortcut to Hotland, appearing right outside Alphys’s lab. He knocked three times for the lizard scientist to open the door. A look of confusion etched in her face.

“H-how did you get here so, um, f-fast?”

He shrugged languidly and gave his usual cheeky grin, “was close by and decided to drop in. texted ya right before.”

Alphys leveled him with a suspicious look before relenting and letting him inside. She brought him into her workshop behind one of her always-locked doors. The room contained two work benches and a desk. A small chip the size of his hand sat on the desk and a medium-sized TV screen leaned against one of the benches.

“This chip,” Alphys held up the square-shaped part, “will be the new motherboard for the time machine. It’s not fully complete yet.” She placed it back on the desk. “The screen is a new addition. It will allow you to see events of whatever timeline you enter. Of course, you would have to know the exact date, time and universe coordinates. I haven’t s-started on the engine yet.”

“geez, alphys. you got a lot done since i last saw you.”

Alphys’s cheeks flushed pink at the praise.

“W-w-well, this is all very interesting! I c-c-couldn’t stop myself!”

“heh, thanks for helping with this after everything that’s happened.”

“It’s n-nice to work on scientific things with you a-again. I-it’s been, what? Y-years since we’ve last s-spoken.”

Just another addition onto his piling guilt. They’d already been on shaky terms after the accident that led to Gaster’s death (apparently he didn’t actually die), but after her experiments with Determination, he’d minimize their interactions to occasionally helping with taking care of the Amalgamates. No science had been ever spoken of or done during any of these interactions.

“yeah... sorry.”

“I-i-it’s fine, Sans. You s-shouldn’t beat yourself up over e-events of the p-past.”

Sans nearly scoffed at her hypocritical comment.

“you shouldn’t either. you were doing what you thought was best for the monsters here.”

Alphys remained quiet for several seconds; and whispered bitterly, “and l-look how that t-t-turned out.”’

Sans dropped the topic, given her stricken expression. The two of them went back into the main lab area. His sockets fell upon the large screen displaying a camera feed of the kid wandering around in Waterfall. They’d just Spared Aaron by flexing with him.

“O-oh yeah. This is, um, just to k-keep an eye on them.”

Sans didn’t respond and continued to watch Frisk lighting up a mushroom.

“H-hey, um… h-how’s the other Papyrus d-d-doing? I, uh, s-saw what h-happened and was surprised. I-I’m sure Undyne didn’t m-mean it.”

Anger burst within him. He wanted to retort back a scathing remark but he resisted the urge. There was no doubt in his mind that Undyne hadn’t actually meant for that attack to hit him or Edge. She knew about his abysmal health; just not that it’d been a measly one HP.

“he’s fine. got him resting back in my place, which i should be headin’ back,” he replied. “thanks for helping with this, alphys. i owe ya one.”

“Oh! I-it’s no p-problem. M-maybe next time, you can b-bring the o-other Papyrus a-along,” the lizard monster stuttered, her cheeks flushing pink and her glasses fogged.

“heh, i’ll let him know. thanks again.”

Sans gave Alphys a final wave and stepped out into the sweltering heat; not that it affected him all that much. Before heading back, he took a shortcut to the area that he’d seen the kid in from Alphys’s camera feeds. It was dangerously close to Undyne’s house, a section away.

He found the kid in an Encounter with Shyren, trying to convince her to sing. They were doing a good job of it, given that she had started humming. It wasn’t long before other monsters drew closer to the area, entranced by Shyren’s song. Sans even decided to help sell tickets for the concert, and found toilet paper to use. She must’ve been popular since rows of monsters lined up for the toilet paper tickets. After two more songs from Shyren, the human Spared Shyren and the two parted as friends. They saw Sans in midst a field of thrown socks.

‘How’s other Papyrus?’ they signed with a worried frown.

“better. even woke up for a bite to eat. i’m headin’ back since it’s getting late. you wanna come?”

Frisk smiled back at him, ‘No. There’s still more monsters to befriend. And Undyne as well.’

His soul twisted painfully at the mention of the fish captain. He wasn’t usually one to hold grudges against others, but their last encounter was, for lack of a better term, a shitshow. Traces of anger coiled within him, though it was drowned out by his guilt. It was all thanks to Frisk and Monster Kid that he got away so easily. And he still had a promise to keep.

“you gonna be ok? i won’t be able to help ya this time.”

A mischievous glint flickered in the kid’s squinted eyes, their lips curling to a knowing grin, ‘You should go back and take care of other Papyrus. Leave Undyne to me.’ They gave him a determined look.

“welp, tell ya what, kiddo, i’ll give ya my number. call me if anything goes wrong.”

Sans took their offered phone and punched in his number.

“To actually be able to get your number. This run is just full of surprises.”

They had spoken so softly, barely a whisper, that Sans thought his nonexistent ears were playing tricks on him.

“what? what did ya just say?” he asked, baffled.

Frisk stared back at him in confusion, and signed back ‘nothing’. His sockets narrowed as he scrutinized them carefully. He was sure he’d just heard them say something. A higher pitched, almost singsong voice. When he Checked them, their stats were still the same as when he’d first met them. HP 20/20, EXP 0, and LV 1. They fidgeted nervously at his intense gaze.

Realizing he wasn’t going to get the desired answer, Sans bid them farewell and took a shortcut home. Silence greeted him when he appeared in the living room. Normally, his brother would be bustling about, excitedly recounting his day to Sans while he cooked their meal. A sense of longing, as deep as the abyss in Waterfall, filled Sans’s entire being.

He missed his brother so much.

He sighed and ascended the stairs, peeking into his brother’s room to find Edge still passed out in the racecar bed. From his distance at the door, Sans could almost imagine it to be his brother. Except Papyrus would never be sleeping this early. Once he’d deemed that Edge was fine, he trudged back to his own bedroom and collapsed onto his bed. It had been such a crappy day; he was glad it was finally over. He lay there for several hours until sleep finally consumed him.

Sans found himself standing in some sort of arena-laboratory hybrid with lights illuminating the entire area and off-white walls surrounding him. He jolted at the appearance of his brother, wearing an attire reminiscent of the dark Papyrus that currently resided with him, standing several feet away from him with one arm raised. There was something different in how his brother held himself, something more imposing and… determined. Columns of blue and white bones hovered around him, causing his magic to run cold.

Why was his brother attacking him?

”RED, DO YOU TRUST ME?”

”i… i do,” answered a rough voice that was not his own.

Papyrus gave him that familiar, radiant smile. He brought down his arm, and the bones shot towards him at a blinding speed. Heavy, blue magic suddenly wrapped around his soul, and then he was falling.

Sans blinked awake. He was staring at the familiar, white ceiling of his room. He lay in his bed for minutes, mulling over his recent dream. Was this another one of those strange dreams of the other universe? Who was ‘Red’? Edge’s brother and his worldly counterpart? Why do these strange dreams keep occurring?

CLACK!

Sans jolted out of his mattress as if he’d received an electric shock. More loud crashes and clacks of bone drifted from downstairs. It came from outside. Fearing that Edge had somehow hurt himself, Sans dashed downstairs, wrenched open the door and came upon the sight of the tall skeleton smashing empty ketchup bottles with bone attacks. All of which had been cleanly cut in half.

“shouldn’t you be resting?” he inquired, bewilderment in his tone.

“THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS CANNOT REST WHEN MY BATTLE WITH UNDYNE IS COMING UP!”

Sans’s soul churned achingly at the mention of Edge’s upcoming fight with Undyne. His usual mask of nonchalance must’ve slipped since a gloved hand settled on his left shoulder.

“You’re upset.” It wasn’t a question.

Sans lifted his shoulders in a halfhearted shrug and muttered back, “you should at least wait ‘nother day before doing anything strenuous.”

“NONSENSE! I GAINED MOST OF MY HP BACK FROM SLEEPING AS MUCH AS YOU DO. BESIDES, I CAN TOLERATE A LITTLE PAIN WHILE TRAINING.” Despite this, Edge rubbed lightly at his ribs, a grimace flashing in his sharp features.

“sorry for gettin’ you hurt.” White eye lights trailed to the snow-covered earth.

“STOP! YOU DO NOT GET TO APOLOGIZE BEFORE I DO!”

Sans stared up at the dark skeleton as if he’d grown two heads.

“I MADE A PROMISE TO YOU AND BROKE IT.” Edge withdrew his hand that had been on Sans’s shoulder and crossed it loosely in front of his chest. “YOU HAVE GIVEN ME MORE CHANCES TO BETTER MYSELF THAN I DESERVE. IT WOULD BE UNFAIR OF ME TO BLAME YOU FOR THESE INJURIES.”

Sans’s soul fluttered with an unknown emotion. Doubt still riddled his mind.

Didn’t Edge realize how close he was to death?

“but… but if i hadn’t left you alone to fight—”

“NO! IT DOES NOT MATTER! I AM STILL ALIVE, AM I NOT? LAST TIME, YOU HAD DIED TO TAKE A HIT FOR ME! I WAS NOT GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN TO YOU AGAIN!” Edge curled his phalanges tightly into fists as he took a deep breath. “IF YOU STILL FEEL BAD, THEN HELP ME TRAIN TO FIGHT WITHOUT HARMING UNDYNE.”

Sans was left speechless. After a minute of silence, he finally found his voice to blurt out, “wouldn’t the kid be better for this? since they’re pacifying their way through the underground as we speak.”

Edge scowled, pinching his nose hole. “IF I WANTED THEM TO HELP ME, I WOULD’VE ASKED. I WANT YOU.” For emphasis, the Royal Guardsman pressed his pointer finger into Sans’s sternum at the same time he’d said the last statement.

Heat rose to Sans’s face as ruby eye lights stared at him with an intensity that he’d never expected.

“WELL?”

Sans nodded numbly, barely registering it.

“EXCELLENT! WE’LL START TODAY!”

He blanched. “shouldn’t you, uh, at least eat first?”

“HMPH, WHAT DID YOU THINK I WAS DOING WHILE WAITING FOR YOU TO WAKE UP?” Edge huffed, rolling his eye lights.

“ok. uh, lemme grab something quick.”

He disappeared into his house, shoved a piece of his quiche in between his teeth and slipped a new bottle of ketchup into his hoodie for later. Within five minutes, the two of them began their trek into Snowdin Forest. He had suggested to the taller skeleton that they go to an area that minimized towns keepers and Royal Guard members from interrupting.

Their hike through the snow-covered forest remained mostly quiet. The unknown emotion still gnawed at him, making him feel flighty and almost nervous. They steered off the main road and through dense pine trees, their fresh scent wafting through the cool air. Sans noticed Edge paying close attention to their surroundings, as if marking the differences of this Snowdin Forest to his own. They eventually came upon a clearing.

Sans turned to face Edge directly, and asked, “anything in particular you wanna start first?”

“THOSE BLASTER CANNONS… YOU CAN SUMMON MORE THAN ONE AT A TIME,” the taller monster stated.

“yeah, but i wouldn’t recommend doin’ it if you can’t even control one.”

“THEN SHOW ME HOW! I CANNOT KEEP HAVING THEM APPEAR SO SUDDENLY!”

“well, first off, you can’t let your anger and emotions take control of your own magic to summon ‘em. that’s a recipe for disaster,” Sans explained. He took hold of his magic and summoned a single Gaster Blaster, allowing it to hover in the air between them. “anger is the most common cause of stray blaster summons and attacks.”

Recognition suddenly dawned in Edge’s face, followed by a flash of regret. Sans decided not to pursue it, doubting he’d get a straightforward response.

“try summoning yours.” His own blaster disappeared with a wave of his hand

The tall skeleton gave a short nod and closed his sockets in concentration. Nothing manifested in one... two... three minutes. Beads of sweat trickled down Edge’s forehead as a grimace graced his features.

“don’t force yourself if you can’t do it. imagine a scenario where you are calm and in control. channel that to using the blasters,” Sans suggested.

Another five minutes later and still nothing. Edge tensed in irritation and ire. Sans fleetingly wondered if the other was incensed enough to actually summon a blaster. In the end, Edge emitted a frustrated growl, and Sans suggested they move onto something else.

“so if ya wanna beat undyne without doing any damage to her, you have to convince her through your skills. by blocking.”

Sans sauntered to the center of the snowy field and stood with his hands in his hoodie pockets. He then pulled Edge into an Encounter. Five short bones, each about two inches in length, instantly shimmered into existence around him.

“WHAT?!—”

“i dunno what undyne’s like in your universe but, here at least, she mainly attacks with small, dangerous spear heads coming from every direction at various speeds. you have to block the ones coming closest to you. she even provides the shield. heh, what a blockhead.”

There was a slight twitch in Edge’s bone brows at the pun. Sans was disappointed when the dark skeleton didn't react how he normally did and signaled for him to continue.

“i’m gonna attack and you have to block my hits in whatever method you choose.”

A long, sharp bone staff appeared in the taller monster’s hand. Sans was briefly reminded of his brother in his dream.

“I AM READY!” Edge called out.

The five short bones hurdled towards Edge, who twirled his weapon rapidly in front of him to deflect all of them. Another round initiated, this time shooting at him from all different directions and at different speeds. Caught by surprise, the Royal Guardsman swung the staff at a bone each coming from his left, behind, and in front of him, but mistimed his guard to a follow up one behind him. This led to him missing two other bones coming from his right and his front. They dissipated before their hits landed.

Sans wasn’t planning on any of his attacks to land; despite them doing a single hit point of damage, his KR effect would do more than enough to Edge to make up for it.

Edge noticed the pause in his rounds and shouted, “CONTINUE!”

And so, he continued his volley of bone attacks, increasing the number of bones and pattern of attack each time. With each round, Edge’s timing improved until the fifth wave, where he parried all of them. He was left panting heavily, chest rising and falling rapidly with each intake of breath. Concern filled Sans, and he Checked the other to see that his HP had dropped by five points. He must’ve strained some of his wounds.

“let’s call it a day. we can continue tomorrow.”

For once, Edge didn’t argue, and the two skeleton went back to the house. The foreign monster spent the rest of the day resting, eating and watching crappy Mettaton movies with him. Sans still didn’t understand why the strange fluttering in his soul lingered for the remainder of the day.

Edge’s reaction time continued to improve the following day. After seven rounds of blocking bone attacks, Sans deemed him ready to take on Undyne. Especially since she actually provided a shield, rather than a single piece of bone, to block all her directional arrows. They moved onto summoning and controlling the blasters. Try as he might, the Royal Guardsman just couldn’t get it to appear by his own volition. Sans even attempted to get him angry by calling him, “an edgy reject from those human fantasy movies with naked skeleton villains” and various other insults, but it must’ve not been enough for it to appear.

Edge kicked a nearby tree in frustration and sat down on a large rock, with his arms crossed, shoulders tense and sockets narrowed in a death glare. Sans sensed that the other was holding back, almost as if he were afraid of it. He allowed Edge a few minutes to himself before sitting down next to him on the rock.

“something’s bothering ya,” Sans began softly. “it’s why you’re having so much difficulty.”

The tall skeleton remained silent, face filled with that familiar regret he’d seen yesterday. Sans hesitantly settled a hand on Edge’s back and drew small, soothing circles. He learned into the ministrations.

“whatever it is, you don’t gotta tell me. but—”

“If it is this difficult to control the blasters, then I’ve failed as a brother.” The tone was subdued and tinged with pain and sadness. “I remember, now, there was once a time when my brother had attacked monsters with blasters to save me. I hadn’t known it was so difficult to control. If only I had known… I should have given my brother the chance to explain.”

Sans didn’t understand the full details but it sounded like this was what possibly caused their broken relationship. His soul clenched in empathy and continued to rub circles in Edge’s back.

“hey, as a sans, i’m sure your bro won’t hold it against ya.” The other looked about ready to retort back, when Sans continued, “you can apologize to him when ya get back home and work together to become a better bro for him. i’ve been workin’ with alphys to fix the machine. once it’s completed, we’ll figure out a way to your universe.”

Edge looked stunned at this information and then gave a pensive frown. “That is sooner than I expected. I am… glad. It would be nice to see my brother again.”

Despite his words, the other did not seem all that excited. Sans chose not to tell the other about his dream, not wanting to worry him. He also had all the confidence in the world for his brother, and knew there had to be a reason why Papyrus was attacking Edge’s brother.

Sans eyed the snow-covered ground, an idea suddenly popping into his head. Something that could give Edge a way to relax. It was something he remembered doing all the time with Papyrus when they were babybones.

He scooped a handful of snow and rolled it into as good of a snowball as he could with his bony hands. His teeth curled into a mischievous grin as he discreetly levitated the snowball behind Edge with his magic and smashed it into the back of his skull.

The Royal Guardsman sprang up and roared, “WHAT?!”

“heh heh heh. did i… chill you to the bone?”

Edge’s sockets narrowed dangerously at him as he continued chuckling. In one swift movement, the taller skeleton crouched down, grabbed two handfuls of snow, piled them together and chucked it at Sans, who easily dodged to the left.

“heh, you think i’m simply gonna stand there and take it?”

Three more balls of snow came at him, which he all evaded. A fourth one came his way, but before he could jump out of the way, a familiar heaviness enveloped his soul. The snowball hit him directly in the face, and he yelped as the cold, slushy substance fell into his eye sockets. Another one pelted his back. He raised his hand in surrender.

“stop, stop!”

He shook his head furiously, trying to get all the snow out, leaning his skull forward to do so. He could hear Edge’s triumphant ‘NYEH HEH HEH!’ in the background. A relieved sigh fell from his mouth once he got it all out. He collapsed into the ground, ready for his nap. He couldn’t remember the last time he did something this strenuous.

“DID I HURT YOU?” Edge asked, voice tinged with concern, as he approached Sans.

“nah. you really worked me down to the bone.”

He heard Edge scoff, “THAT WAS EVEN WORSE THAN YOUR LAST ONE. PERHAPS I SHOULD PROVIDE SOME BACKBONE FOR YOU.”

Sans shifted to get up to find Edge leaning over him, pinning him into the snow. His cheeks burned like the lavas of Hotland as he tried to push out from under the taller skeleton, only for Edge to barricade his escape.

***

“heh, that was actually pretty— ah!” The startled moan flew out of his mouth before he could stop himself, and Edge ground his hips roughly into his pelvis again, sending a burst of arousal within him. “Edge!”

A smirk slowly crept into said skeleton’s sharp teeth. “IS THAT FOR ME TO STOP… or an indication for more?” The husky and rough tone had him shuddering.

Spurred on by some unknown desire, Sans brought his face closer to Edge’s and pressed his teeth lightly against the other’s with a soft clack. A rush of red flooded into the Royal Guardsman’s cheeks, but he didn’t pull away. In fact, with a flash of red, a soft, squishy appendage pressed against Sans’s teeth. He granted it entrance, and the tongue explored the inside of his mouth, brushing against both rows of teeth.

Sans’s left eye flashed and his own blue tongue materialized inside his mouth. A muffled groan escaped from his parted teeth as the red appendaged twisted around his own. There was a certain spicy, heady quality to Edge’s magic that sent him reeling. The two of them pulled apart, both panting hard and flushing their respective magic color. Gloved, red hands moved to remove Sans’s jacket when—

***

A ringing pierced into the forest, immediately halting both monsters. It rang again, and Sans realized it was coming from his phone. He finally detangled himself from the other and pulled out the cellular device. It was Frisk.

“sup?” he answered with a gasp.

“I befriended Undyne!” came a raspy yet excited voice.

Were they actually speaking? He thought they were mute.

“that’s great, kiddo. anything else ya need to update me on?”

“Undyne says she’s... sorry about what happened. She is still… looking forward to her fight with other Papyrus.”

“when?”

“She says whenever he’s ready.”

“ok. i’ll let him know. thanks, frisk.”

They hung up and sent a text that read, I hope you had a nice time with other Papyrus. Wink.

That snooping little kid.

“WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?”

“eh, kid just told me they’re now friends with undyne and she says sorry. still up to fight though.”

“THEN WE’LL GO TODAY!”

“what? so soon? you feel ready?”

Edge readjusted his clothing and nodded, strutting in the direction they came. Sans felt disappointed that he hadn’t made a comment about what’d happened earlier. Was it just a one time thing? He wasn’t usually one, or interested, to become intimate with other monsters but that had… felt nice. His face was probably still blue, even.

The dark skeleton suddenly stopped and turned to face him. “ARE YOU COMING?”

“uh... ‘course i am.”

As the two of them made their way back, Sans finally identified the strange emotion he’d been feeling for the last two days. And it brought one question into his mind.

Just when exactly had he fallen for Edge?

Chapter Text

Papyrus and Sans met up with the human before the entrance of Waterfall, neither of them willing to say much. Papyrus was still reeling from what they had just done. He’d noticed for a while now. Ever since his confrontation with the human and the subsequent argument with Sans. He simply didn't want to admit it and tried to ignore it.

He loved Sans.

He didn't know when exactly it happened, but the realization that he’d fallen for his brother’s counterpart left him stunned and confused. Did that mean in loved his brother in that way as well?

No, it wasn't as if the love he had for his brother was anything more than familial, though he rarely displayed it.

He wasn't planning on acting upon his feelings; there was no point if he was going to go back to his universe. It would only get I his way. Love was seen as a weakness in his universe after all. Only LOVE mattered. He also doubted this Sans was interested in returning his feelings. A sharp pang shot through his soul at the thought.

“... against undyne?”

“WHAT?”

The corners of Sans’s teeth tightened ever-so-slightly, which Papyrus recognized as his being upset. From what, he didn't know.

“kid asked if you feel ready against undyne,” Sans answered evenly. His eye lights glanced at a passing echo flower.

“OF COURSE! THERE’S NO WAY THAT I WILL BE BESTED WITH THE EXCELLENT TRAINING THAT I’D RECEIVED!” He hadn't even realized the compliment until he saw the soft blue glow on Sans’s cheekbones. He back pedaled, “IT WAS ONLY SO SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF MY GREATNESS!”

The damage had already been done, however, as the human waggled their eyebrows suggestively at him, signing something at Sans. The smaller monster’s blush darkened.

“WHAT DID THE SMALL HUMAN SAY?”

“don't worry ‘bout it.”

They puffed out their cheeks in annoyance, and then signed rapidly. Whatever they said caused Sans to blink out his eye lights and his whole body stiffened,

“is that what you call those small alterations of the timeline, kid? reloads?”

Frisk flinched and nodded. Their mouth curled into a frown and eyebrows drooped.

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO TALKING ABOUT?” Papyrus demanded, irritated at being left out of the conversation. When nobody spoke, he barked, “TELL ME! DO NOT KEEP IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM ME!”

Sans sighed and answered shortly, “the kid said they can reload if anything were to go wrong.”

When no further explanation came, Papyrus huffed and marched ahead of them, only to spin around and block their way. He crossed his arms in front of him.

“AND AM I SUPPOSED TO SIMPLY KNOW WHAT A RELOAD IS?” Papyrus’s eye sockets narrowed, ruby lights peering intently down at the other skeleton.

Sans shifted uncomfortably. “they can cause the timeline to shift backwards and erase what had happened… allowing them to redo it if something goes wrong.”

Papyrus turned his attention to the human. Guilt marred their face, and they signed something that he assumed was “sorry.” The information left him speechless, his trust in the human waning. Then he thought back to the confession they gave to him and Sans a few days ago, about how they had killed Sans in the previous timeline before they’d Reset.

Was this something similar to that power?

The idea that this human child had so much control over their lives and actions shook his very core. And Sans had known about it for this whole time? What else was he keeping from him?

Displeasure bubbled forth within Papyrus. He was about to go off on a tirade at Sans but decided against it at seeing the other’s state - the familiar weariness that he's seen numerous times before. Thinking back, it must've been a burden to be plagued with this information, especially if only he knew, by the looks of it. Had his brother known as well? A wave of sympathy for the other crashed within him.

“LET US KEEP MOVING,” Papyrus stated. “BUT I EXPECT AN EXPLANATION WHEN MY FIGHT WITH UNDYNE IS OVER!”

With a flourish of his crimson scarf, Papyrus whipped around and continued to the next area. Sans and the human soon followed.

It didn't take long for them to reach Undyne. She was waiting outside her outrageously hideous fish house. She wore metal armor without the helmet. When she saw them, instead of her heated battle cry like Papyrus had expected, she walked over without a word. Her face was lined with regret. Tension hung in the air as Papyrus glared at the fish monster.

“Hey, I know it may be too late for this, but sorry about happened last time. To both of you,” Undyne apologized. She turned to Sans. “NGAH! I was a huge idiot! I could've dusted you, Sans!”

“it’s no skin off my bones, heh,” the short skeleton said with a nonchalant wave. “think edge deserves more of an apology though since he was the one ya injured.

Papyrus frowned at Sans’s flippant attitude and deflection of the apology. The other did it a lot, and it worried Papyrus. He was also not ready to forgive Undyne just yet. Even the monster herself appeared to think the same, as she slapped a hand to her forehead.

“Geez, Sans, I’d prefer if you got mad at me.” Sans shrugged in response. Undyne directed her attention back to Papyrus. “You ready? We fight with no intent to harm.”

“LET’S JUST GET ON WITH IT!”

As soon as Undyne started the Encounter, a green shield materialized in Papyrus gloved hands. It was wide enough to cover his entire lanky body. The first wave of arrows came slow, and there were only four of them. Right, left, left, front. He successfully blocked all of them. The second batch came at him at a faster speed with six arrows and added more varied pattern. One almost hit him. Undyne was just about to start the third wave when static noise filled the air.

The surrounding environment around him suddenly distorted and broke apart into tiny, blocks of discolored fragments, everything becoming gray and drab. Then, for a split second, everything went dark. When the darkness disappeared, Papyrus was no longer in the Encounter, though Undyne still stood a few feet away from him. The kid gaped behind him. Papyrus spun around and—

There was no way. His eyes must’ve been playing a trick on him,

Because standing in Sans’s place… was a similar skeleton, except dressed in a black leather jacket over a red shirt, track shorts, and sneakers.

Ruby eye lights met his own, and the eye sockets they were in widened as large as dinner plates.

“boss…? is that… really you, boss?”

“SANS?!”

Was this real? Was his brother actually standing there?

“Whoa, who’s this dude? He’s not Sans!” Undyne stated.

“HE’S… BROTHER, HOW DID YOU GET HERE?”

Papyrus heard a soft gasp from the human.

“What? How? Where's Sans?” the fish monster sputtered.

Her question remained unanswered for several long seconds before his brother spoke.

“if i’m here, i’ll bet the other me’s taken my spot in my world.”

Another bout of silence.

Papyrus took in his sibling’s appearance. He look well; there wasn't any new injuries or scars to note. His brother furtively glanced at him and shrank away. The sight sent a jolt of pain through his entire being, and the conversation he had with Sans earlier today evaded his mind. Though he fleetingly worried about the native Sans’s well-being, he had to take this opportunity to make things right with his brother.

“SANS—” Papyrus began. It was strange for him to refer to two separate monsters by that name. “BROTHER, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN…?”

Papyrus left out the “without me”.

Beads of sweat lined his brother’s skull, and his red pupils darted around their abnormal surroundings. The fuzzy and blocky distortions were still present.

Continuing to avert his gaze, his brother answered timidly, “it's been… ok. the other papyrus’s been—”

“Whoa! Paps is with you?!” Undyne interrupted. She bared her shark teeth. “You better have not hurt him!”

“i haven't and wouldn't dream of it. he’s been helpin’ me and the human a great deal.”

“Of course Paps would help ya. He's one of the nicest monsters around,” Undyne praised.

A burst of jealousy rose within Papyrus. All this time he'd been worrying about his brother. Yet here he was singing praises to his other self while acting so cautious with him…

“IF YOU ENJOY THE COMPANY OF THAT OTHER PAPYRUS SO MUCH, WHY DID YOU EVEN SHOW UP?!” Papyrus couldn't keep the rage from his voice.

His brother flinched.

“Hey, that was a rude thing to say to your bro, asshole!” Undyne hollered.

“I DIDN’T WANT YOUR OPINION!”

“and i’m sick of hearin’ yours, boss,” his brother suddenly hissed, eye sockets narrowed into a glare. “i’ve been worried down to the bone, wonderin’ where you were and when i finally see ya, all ya do is yell at me!”

Papyrus knew he shouldn’t have let his anger and jealousy take over him and now he regretted his words.

“BROTHER, WAIT, I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT.”

“like what? like how ya always griping me ‘bout bein’ weak, lazy and worthless?”

Papyrus recoiled back from the accusation, acknowledging it was all true. But it had only been to help his brother grow stronger in their kill or be killed world. It was to help his Sans become the cool brother Papyrus always saw him as a babybones. But old habits die hard, and his rage resurfaced.

“NO! WILL YOU AT LEAST GIVE ME A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN?!”

“forget it! i don’t wanna hear it!”

As soon as those words escaped from his brother’s mouth, a jagged, fuzzy gray line suddenly cut across their surroundings, and the colors around them altered to a mass of blue, red and gray. From the center of the distortion, a familiar black, melted shape with a white face faded into existence. Floating white hands with holes in their center signed at them accompanied by clicks and static.

“YOU AGAIN?” Papyrus snarled, summoning a column of serrated bones.

“what’s he doin’ here? and you’ve seen him before?” His brother’s teeth were grimaced and crimson magic flared in his eye.

Undyne readied her spear, while the human child tried to communicate with the goopy monster.

“IT’S NO USE NEGOTIATING WITH HIM. HE ATTACKED ME WITHOUT WARNING LAST TIME!” Papyrus growled.

“you’re the one causin’ this mess? wouldn’t put it past ya!”

It occurred to Papyrus that his sibling must’ve recognize the monster. Similar to how Sans had as well. When this was all done and over, he was going to get answers, one way or another.

The two hands floating on each side of the amorphous creature gesticulated, filling their surroundings with clicks. Once again, Papyrus made out the word “stop”, “leave” and “fix”. Papyrus attacked with a flurry of bones. The former Royal Scientist responded by lashing out with dark tendrils and a slew of flickering gray symbols and blocks scattered into the air. Everyone moved out of way of the incoming onslaught.

Their surroundings twisted even more, the appearance similar to a crease in a folded picture. More appendages shot out from the monster, one of them latching onto his brother’s left leg. Papyrus leapt to grab his arms.

“SANS! NO! LET MY BROTHER GO YOU INSOLENT CREATURE!” Papyrus roared.

A gaster blaster materialized above Papyrus as a second tendril slithered towards him.

His brother’s sockets widened in shock as a red beam of concentrated magic traveled towards the formless monster. As soon as the blast hit their enemy, an ear-shattering noise reverberated through the entire area, and Papyrus actually felt the space around him warp.

A split second later, everything went back to as it was. Including the native Sans standing in front of him, features etched in confusion, and peering around him.

“Whoa! What the hell was that?!” Undyne’s fiery voice yelled.

Sans uttered a response that Papyrus didn’t hear. He stood, rooted to his spot, feeling numb. His soul clenched painfully as he stared, unseeing, at where Sans stood.

Papyrus had been too late. He had been given a chance. A chance to apologize to his brother, but he’d wasted it. And now their relationship was the same it had been when he’d first arrived in this merciful world.

Chapter Text

Sans was thrown in a loop from the strange phenomenon that had taken place. He finally saw his brother again after however long it has been since Edge’s arrival — a few weeks, maybe even a month? He had, somehow for a short period of time, been transported to the other universe, Edge’s universe. Since appearing back to his home universe, Sans noticed a change in Edge’s disposition. Even as he’d explained everything that he’d seen in the other universe, which Frisk dubbed “Fell”, to Undyne, Edge remained silent the entire time, staring blankly at the dark water. Sans’s soul twisted with concern.

It was very likely his counterpart, Edge’s brother, had been here. Did their meeting not go too well?

Granted, his own meeting with Papyrus could’ve gone better, but simply seeing his brother well was enough to ease Sans’s mind. This displacement also proved that it was possible to get his brother back home, possibly even without the machine. The only issue was getting the displacements to occur voluntarily.

Sans saw Frisk signaling to him in a rush of barely distinguishable gestures.

I can see into the other universe.

“whoa there, kiddo, dontcha think that would’ve been useful information for us to know?”

Though he was one to talk, given how many secrets he’d kept from others -- his brother, Frisk, and Edge.

I didn’t think it was important. I thought they were just weird dreams of another world.

“What?! Not important?! Whatever happened just now was CRAZY! If seeing the other you is possible, imagine that! Wait til Alphys finds out about this! She would be so psyched!” Undyne proclaimed. Due to learning sign language from Asgore as a child, she had no issues understanding Frisk.

Frisk’s eyebrows drooped. There were instances where I communicated with them as well.

This time, even Edge turned his head towards them, eye sockets widened. “AND THEY RESPOND BACK?”

The kid nodded hesitantly, their mouth curling into a guilty frown

“NARGH! This sounds just like one of those animes Alphys showed me about parallel universes!”

“anything important you guys talked about?”

We introduced ourselves to each other. They are me. They sometimes dream of things here.

“I CAN SOMETIMES SEE THINGS HAPPENING IN MY HOME UNIVERSE AS WELL,” Edge interjected. “BUT I AM NOT ABLE TO COMMUNICATE.”

“I’ve never heard of this alternate universe stuff,” Undyne grumbled.

Sans was stunned. He contemplated on revealing that he, too, had caught glimpses of Fell. But he ultimately decided against it.

What did this mean? Why could he, Edge, and the kid see events of the other universe in their dreams? What was the connecting factor, given that Undyne couldn’t. Determination, possibly? That and having knowledge of Resets gave him the ability to be aware of the different timelines, even if his memories of what happened in them rarely carried over.

“Bah! This conversation is going nowhere!” Undyne thrusted her spear into the ground, clearly frustrated. “Now what to do with you two.”

The fish captain turned to Frisk and Edge, and gave them a scrutinizing glare, which Edge returned. The scene reminded Sans of the time when Undyne had finally agreed to train his brother into becoming the Royal Guard. Undyne had refused initially, and only gave in due to Papyrus’s stubbornness - a quality that Sans greatly admired. Of course most of Undyne’s “training sessions” were more “cooking sessions”. And they ended up becoming best friends.

An idea suddenly came to Sans.

“hey, undyne, betcha can’t cook as well as edge here. he learned all on his own.” His teach curled to a teasing, yet challenging smirk.

Sans winked discreetly at Edge, who proudly puffed out his chest.

“OF COURSE, I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE EDGE, WOULD NEED NO LESSONS FROM UNDYNE TO PERFECT THE CULINARY ARTS!”

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Undyne snarled, a blue vein throbbing on her forehead.

“I MAKE EXCELLENT PASTA — SPAGHETTI, LASAGNA, YOU NAME IT!!”

“Oh, it’s on, punk! I taught Papyrus how to cook!” Undyne rounded to Frisk. “You too. C’mon, kid!”

The blue fish captain seized Frisk by the back of their shirt with one hand and beckoned Edge with the other to follow her into the house. Sans went in after them and sat down on the chair by the table.

“NOTHING brings us closer than cooking! It’s what brought me and Papyrus together. And now we’re BESTIES! ” Undyne pointed at Edge. “So we’re both gonna cook to show off our PASSION!”

Undyne dumped a box full of spaghetti into a large boiling pot and cranked the heat to high. Then she brought out some tomatoes. Meanwhile, Edge took out the other pot, filled it with water and some light salt, and turned the heat to medium.

“Look, punk!” Undyne shouted to get Frisk’s attention. “Let’s start with the sauce! Now POUND!” The fish captain slammed her fist into the tomatoes, spattering red bits everywhere.

Edge recoiled, squawking indignantly, “THAT IS NOT HOW YOU MAKE TOMATO SAUCE, YOU AMATEUR!’

“What did you just call me?!”

The tall skeleton sighed and brought out a knife, making the kid flinch back. A involuntary shiver shot up Sans’s spine as the blade glinted in the light. Edge carefully chopped the tomatoes into tiny pieces and dumped them into the boiling water.

“AND YOU HAVE THE HEAT ON WAY TOO HIGH! DO YOU WANT TO BURN DOWN THIS PLACE?!” Edge dialed down the heat to medium despite Undyne’s protests.

“Where’s the passion in this?! This isn’t cooking!”

“HMPH, YOUR SO-CALLED PASSION SHOULD COME FORTH IN THE TASTE OF YOUR FOOD!”

Undyne drew back with her one eye wide opened. “Wow, that’s pretty deep coming from you.”

“WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?”

Sans chuckled at their banter. In the meantime, Frisk helped stir the pasta in the boiling water, making sure they didn’t clump together. Sans watched with amusement as the three of them cooked. Every time Undyne attempted to do something crazy, like stir the sauce with her spear, Edge would make a snide comment to stop her. Frisk mainly helped with the grunt work, though Sans made sure the knife never got within their reaching distance.

Before long, Edge towered over the table with three plates of steaming spaghetti, a wide smirk gracing his face. His red eye lights twinkled brightly as he watched Frisk shove forkfuls of spaghetti into their mouth. Bits of red sauce littered around their lips.

“Bah! You call this weak looking thing pasta?” Undyne growled, waving her arms angrily at the dishes.

“THE HUMAN CHILD CLEARLY ENJOYS MY WONDERFUL MEAL!!”

Sans grabbed a plate and practically inhaled the food. It was so good. As much as he loved his brother, his cooking still needed some work. It would be nice if Edge could teach Papyrus this recipe.

Frisk nodded and stuffed the final bit of pasta into their mouth.

Undyne scoffed, “Fine, fine, you win. But next time, my passionate pasta will be better!”

“WELL, I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, DO NOT MIND GIVING YOU SOME TIPS.”

Undyne narrowed her eye at the tall skeleton, surveying him for several seconds before giving a wide, toothy grin.

“Alright, next time, punk! You better keep your word!” Undyne gave Edge a quick slap in the back, who glared. “Well, anyways, this was fun you two! I gotta get back to my duties. I better not catch you two slacking like Sans always does!”

After everything was cleaned up, Frisk declared that they were going to continue into Hotland. Sans decided to tag along, since he had to pay a visit to Aphys anyway, and to keep a socket out for them. Edge insisted that he come, though he refused to explain why. Frisk went on ahead to Hotland while Sans and Edge trailed behind in Waterfall.

“the cooking session did ya some good, edge. d’ya feel a bit better?”

The tall skeleton frowned and answered curtly, “I AM FINE. YOU NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT MY WELL-BEING”

Disappointment flooded Sans.

“you didn’t seem fine. did the meeting with your bro not go as well?”

Edge suddenly stopped and glared at Sans. “YOU’RE ONE TO TALK! HOW ABOUT YOU START BEING MORE HONEST WITH ME ABOUT ALL THE RESET AND RELOAD NONSENSE! I BET YOU NEVER CONFIDED YOUR BROTHER ABOUT THIS INFORMATION.”

Sans flinched from the accusation, which was admittedly true. He was reminded of Papyrus’s own words during their meeting.

“DID YOU THINK I WAS CLUELESS TO ALL THE TIMELINE STUFF? I MAY NOT UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING, BUT I DO KNOW THAT IT BOTHERS YOU, SANS, AND I ONLY WISHED YOU WERE MORE HONEST WITH ME ABOUT THEM.”

“all right. i’ll try.”

And Sans began to talk. He explained how he used to be a scientist and researched into the timelines, Determination and the ability to Reset and Reload. He also admitted to recognizing the mysterious monster that had attacked them - W. D. Gaster, the former Royal Scientist.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM TO BECOME SO… FORMLESS.”

Sans dug through his memories to try and come up with something, but only ended with vague flashes of pitch blackness.

“don’t remember, honestly. heck, i only just started remembering him.”

“FAIR ENOUGH.”

Sans paused for a breath and then continued, “and, uh… i also have dreams of events in your universe. i see ‘em through your bro.”

Edge gazed at Sans in surprise. “WHY DID YOU NOT SAY ANYTHING EARLIER?”

“cause i still don’t fully trust the kid.”

“AND YET YOU TRUST ME,” Edge pointed out with a tinge of smugness in his tone.

Sans felt heat rush to his cheekbones, and averted his gaze to the luminescent mushrooms.

“well yeah. i’ve known you longer and you’re a papyrus… so of course i’d trust you over the kid,” Sans mumbled the last bit, hoping that the darkness in the area kept his blush hidden from the other’s view.

Without warning, gloved fingers lightly cupped his chin, startling Sans to look up into the dark skeleton’s smirking face. Ruby eye lights peered intently down at his own, causing Sans’s soul to flutter rapidly in anticipation...

Of what, exactly?

Because then Edge released his grip on his jaw, turned around and continued walking. Sans was left disappointed. It would’ve been a big fat lie if he hadn’t thought something more was going to happen.

The two of them continued in silence, and eventually reached the field of echo flowers.

Someday, I'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under.

Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around... That's my wish.

A sudden weariness fell upon Sans as he heard the wishes.

“Waterfall is a lot… nicer here than the one back home,” Edge commented in an almost wistful tone. “THOUGH STILL AS NAIVE AS THE REST OF THIS WORLD. REACHING THE SURFACE? THAT’S A FOOL’S DREAM.”

Sans couldn’t help but agree, “yeah.”

It was a hopeless endeavour. After all, even if they did reach the surface, everything would be Reset again, and they’d all be back down here.

Edge threw Sans a concerned look, and asked, “IF WE EVER WERE ABLE TO REACH THE SURFACE, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?”

“go see the stars, the real ones, on the surface.” His response sounded breathless, as if he’d just run nonstop.

“THE STARS? THAT MUST BE QUITE SOMETHING.”

And before he realized it, Sans spouted off everything he knew about them from his readings. Edge listened attentively, asking questions every now and then. Sans wondered if his counterpart didn’t have the same interest, given Edge’s lack of knowledge of it.

“have ya seen the wishing room?”

The Royal Guardsman paused, face grimaced in thought. “NO, I DON’T BELIEVE I DID. OR I MISSED IT.”

Sans held out his hand and said, “grab on. i know a shortcut.”

Edge hesitated for a few seconds before engulfing his much larger hand around Sans’s. One seconds later, both of them stood in the wishing room.

“WARN ME NEXT TIME WHEN YOU USE ONE OF THOSE ‘SHORTCUTS’! UGH!” Edge took several steps back and looked around. Familiarity dawned on the taller monster’s features.“I HAVE BEEN HERE LAST TIME.”

He looked up and his eye sockets widened, crimson eye lights growing minutely in size once he spotted the glittering gems that adorned the far wall like stars.

“betcha didn’t catch the stars last time, heh.” Sans strolled up to his telescope. “the view’s better through this.”

Edge marched up to the telescope and peered through it with his right eye socket, turning the optical tube slightly to the side every now and then. The sight of the normally angry skeleton looking through the telescope with an almost childlike wonder filled Sans with happiness.

He had brought his brother to the wishing room a few times back when they were still babybones, and it never failed to lift Papyrus’s mood. Sans was glad it was the same case with Edge.

“I CAN APPRECIATE THIS PLACE,” Edge informed, standing back up and turning to face Sans. “BACK IN MY UNIVERSE, THE COLORFUL GEMS IN THE ROCKS HAD BEEN REMOVED. NO DOUBT STOLEN. IT’S NICE THAT THIS EXISTS HERE.”

“yeah, if you think this is great, it doesn’t even compare to the real stars.”

“BUT YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE, SO HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?”

“i saw pictures of ‘em in the old books i found at the dump and the librarby.” Sans gave a lazy shrug. Edge hummed in satisfaction. “you ready to head to alphys’s? gotta check up a few things with her.”

“THE MACHINE?” Sans nodded. “VERY WELL.” The Royal Guardsman took an unnecessary breath and held out his hand. “I AM READY THIS TIME.”

Sans’s mouth curled into a mischievous grin, as he waited three seconds longer before disappearing from the wishing room. Edge cursed once they appeared at the entrance of Hotland, glaring at Sans for purposely delaying the shortcut.

“Sometimes I wonder why I endure your childish pranks,” Edge muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Sans to hear.

“cause it’s fun.”

Edge only huffed irritatedly. They walked to the front of Alphys’s lab. The kid was nowhere to be seen. Sans knocked twice on the door and heard scrambling footsteps and stutters coming towards them. Within less than a minute, the royal scientist opened the door. She looked extremely frazzled, glasses askew and white lab coat rumpled.

“Oh, ummm h-h-hiya!” Alphys froze when she caught sight of Edge and gave a weak smile, which the tall skeleton returned with a slight dip of his skull. “I-I, um, wasn’t expecting b-b-both of you to come.”

Sweat dotted her forehead, and she wrung her hands frantically in front of her. Sans observed the poorly hidden guilt on her face. He wondered if Alphys had seen their confrontation with the goopy monster and the appearance of Edge’s brother. He knew there was a high possibility that she had seen everything from the cameras hidden throughout the Underground.

“sorry to just barge in unannounced, but some unusual stuff’s been happenin’”

“W-what kind of s-s-stuff?” Alphys then noticed that she had not invited them in, and quickly stepped aside to do so. “Y-you mean what h-happened at Un-Undyne’s place?”

Sans nodded, surveying around for any signs of Frisk.

“If you’re, um, looking for Frisk, they just l-left. Mettaton’s, uh, k-k-keeping them busy.” She nervously adjusted her glasses. “But don’t w-worry. I gave them my phone number so they can c-call if anything goes wrong!”

“DOES METTATON HAVE A SHOW HERE AS WELL?”

“Y-y-yes! It’s all on my camera feed!”

Alphys led the two of them to the computer console which currently displayed the kid on some sort of fake cooking show with Mettaton.

“IS THIS WHAT YOUR METTATON CONSIDERS QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT?” Edge quipped with disdain. “THIS IS NOT EXCITING AT ALL! WHERE’S ALL THE VIOLENCE AND DEATHS?”

The royal scientist gawked at Edge with horror and fear. Hoping to save face and prevent another fight, Sans quickly interrupted, “do ya, by chance, remember the previous royal scientist?”

Alphys turned her attention back to Sans and blinked twice as her lips curled into a frown.

“or does the name gaster ring any bells?”

The frown deepened and confusion crossed her features. “N-n-no…? Was he the one that c-caused the s-shift? Like h-how you just, um, d-disappeared?”

“not too sure about that.”

Universal displacements, as he remembered it being termed, were caused by the same events occurring in two similar but separate universes. Whatever transpired in Edge’s universe also took place in his; his brother must’ve been fighting Fell Undyne while Edge’s fight was taking place here.

But then what had caused the initial displacement of Edge and his brother?

Sans glanced at Edge and noticed that the regretful expression had returned.

“Um, I also h-have some b-b-bad news. ” Sans turned his attention back to Alphys, whose beady eyes darted to the floor, glasses glinting in the artificial light.. “The p-parts to the m-machine… they, uh, got d-damaged. I-I’m so s-sorry, Sans!”

Sans felt his soul drop, and Edge didn’t say a word.

“what happened?” He kept his tone neutral.

“It wasn’t me!”

Alphys spun around and led them to her work station. Sans’s white pupils blinked out as he caught sight of the cracked motherboard. The way it had been damaged... some kind of solid material must have been smashed against the piece.

“It a-appeared like t-this when I ca-came in!”

Sans stepped towards the desk and saw three suspicious droplets. Bending down, he ran the tip of his pointer phalange through one of the droplets. It was thick and tarry - very similar to the substance that came off the mysterious figure that had attacked them twice.

Gaster. He must’ve done this. Had being trapped in the Void twisted him as much as it did his body? Sans’s memory of the late royal scientist was still murky, but he didn’t remember Gaster being overly malicious.

Sans heard sniffling behind him and turned to see thick globs of tears pouring from Alphys’s eyes, shoulders slumped heavily. Edge must’ve caught sight of the dark droplets, since he uttered, “THIS WAS NOT YOUR DOING. ONCE AGAIN, THAT GOOP MONSTER IS UP AGAINST US!”

The royal scientist stared at the foreign skeleton in shock.

“yeah, alphys, it’s not your fault,” Sans reassured, carefully placing a hand on her shoulder. She tensed initially and then relaxed. “see the black spots?”

Alphys squinted her eyes at the floor, and they widened when she saw the inky substance. “I-is that…?”

“yeah, looks like the previous royal scientist’s been messin’ with your stuff.”

“HE IS A NUISANCE!”

The three of them fell silent.

How had Gaster even gotten in? Then again, he probably knew the labs better than even Alphys did. Sans wondered if Gaster had more notes on displacements. If they could control when they occurred, it could be a method to get Edge back to his universe. The thought of Edge leaving sent a wave of sadness and disappointment within Sans.

Would he ever see the edgy Papyrus again? Probably not. It was too bad there was no way for Edge, his brother, and even his counterpart to all stay in one universe.

Maybe it was for the best. Sans couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if his relationship with Edge became something more — it was probably just wishful thinking that Edge could ever love a monster like him — with the looming threat of a Reset erasing their memories of it. Sans simply didn’t know if he could endure something like that.

It was better if he didn’t act on his feelings and do what he did best — absolutely nothing. He would at least help Edge return to Fell. Peeking at the other, Sans sensed that Edge was deep in thought as well.

A series of notifications brought Sans out of his musing. Alphys was typing furiously on her phone.

“Frisk got through Mettaton’s cooking show and is continuing forward in Hotland,” she informed.

“hey, alphys, do ya mind if i go through gaster’s old notes? it may give some insight into what’s goin’ on.”

“O-oh sure! But I have s-s-stay in the main lab to k-keep an eye on Frisk.”

“that’s fine.”

Sans and Edge made their way down to the True Labs, Sans grabbing a bag of dog food on the way in case they encountered the Amalgamates. Thankfully they did not, and got to the room with the Determination Extractor with no interruptions. They wandered into an office with shelves filled with binders, notebooks and files. Sans retrieved a thick stack and began flipping through the worn pages, while Edge started from the other shelf. The two of them worked in silence.

About an hour in, Edge commented, “THERE’S A LOT THEORIES ON THE CORE AND... THIS PLACE CALLED THE VOID? WHAT IS THAT?”

Sans’s soul gave a sudden, painful throb at the mention of “CORE”.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

Sans realized he had his left hand pressed against his chest. Concern etched on Edge’s face.

“yeah, i’ll be fine. anyways, let’s finish this up.”

Not long after, Sans finally found a folder of notes scribbled in wing ding. He could barely make out the text, but was able to decipher out the part about synchronizing the events in the two universes to cause a displacement.

“welp, looks like i found a possible solution, edge.”

Now to only figure out when would be the best time for it to occur.

Chapter Text

Sans had texted the human to meet up at the MTT Resort. He explained his plan to Papyrus, which consisted of synchronizing the same event to occur in both universes. They would convince the human child to communicate with their counterpart in the Fell universe; that way, there would be a necessary alignment to force another displacement, just like during the fight with Undyne.

It was a sound idea. But a sharp pang pulsed within Papyrus’s core as he thought back to his universe. Was he having regrets about going back to Fell? When he’d first arrived in this world, he wanted nothing more than to get back home. Now that the possibility was becoming closer, he realized that he would miss the beauty and kindness of this place, the “stars” of the wishing room.

Or, more truthfully, he would miss the Sans of this universe.

Now that he’d acknowledged his feelings for the other skeleton, he wondered how nice it’d be to live with Sans, along with his brother — another stab of pain — and his counterpart. He would’ve liked to meet his other self after hearing so much about the native Papyrus.

Forgoing using any more shortcuts after Papyrus had claimed that he wanted to see more of Hotland, both he and Sans ended up walking to MTT Resort. Hotland was only marginally better than the one from Fell, unlike the more drastic differences between Snowdin and Waterfall. Even then, the monsters never showed any signs of aggression.

The two of them took the L1 elevator to the MTT Resort. When Papyrus stepped out, he immediately straightened his posture at the sight of Royal Guardsman 01. He opened his jaw to issue a command when Sans suddenly asked, “hey, edge, you ever had nice cream?”

Startled by the question, Papyrus snapped his head to Sans with enough force to make it creak.

“NICE CREAM? I ASSUME THAT IS THIS UNIVERSE’S EQUIVALENT TO MEAN SLUSH?”

A grimace flitted on Sans’s face. “slush? no, pal, it’s made from a hundred percent ice cream. c’mon.”

Sans sauntered up to the blue rabbit in yellow and red uniform standing next to an ice cream cart. Meanwhile, Papyrus glared at RG01, who stood there polishing his head armor.

What an absolute waste of time! He should be more vigilant!

“here.” Sans held up a blue ice cream bar in his right hand for Papyrus, while his other hand had a red one.

Papyrus wanted to believe that the colors meant absolutely nothing, and that he was simply reading too much into this. He grabbed the popsicle and placed it into his mouth. A sweet, tangy taste of blueberries erupted in his mouth. The ice cream melted down his conjured throat and wrapped around his soul as would a warm blanket. Before he realized, he’d finished the whole thing. Only a wooden stick remained, with the words “Is this as sweet as you?” written on it.

What a strange thing to put on a stick.

A loud slurping noise broke the haze of contentment that Papyrus was in. He turned and saw Sans messily licking and sucking on the red popsicle, red juice dribbling down the side of his chin. Arousal shot through Papyrus.

The things Sans was doing to that ice cream bar could be put to better use. How would it feel for Sans to do the same to his bones?

As soon as those thoughts slipped into Papyrus’s mind, heat rose to his cheekbones. Sans leered at him as he moved the popsicle in and out of his mouth.

Sans wouldn’t— couldn’t be purposely teasing him, could he?

Papyrus clenched his gloved hands into fists, swooped down and licked the side of Sans’s mouth, tasting a sharp cherry flavor.

“Mine is sweeter,” he whispered to the side of Sans’s skull.

Faster than a blink of an eye socket, the small skeleton flushed the same color as the blueberry ice cream that had been in Papyrus’s mouth. He smirked and pulled away to find both the Nice Cream Guy and RG01 staring at them.

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO LOOKING AT?!”

The blue rabbit monster held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “Calm down, man, we’re not judging.”

Sans turned an even deeper shade of blue. The remainder of his Nice Cream seemed to have melted. Papyrus strutted up to the red carpet laid in the front entrance of the MTT Resort, then turned around when he realized that Sans hadn’t followed. The blue-clad skeleton was still gaping at his melted nice cream — now only a wooden stick.

“ARE YOU COMING? AREN’T WE WAITING FOR THE HUMAN IN THE RESTAURANT?”

Sans gave a weak shrug, replying, “uh, yeah. ‘m gonna wait out here for the kid. you go on ahead.” His white eye lights darted to the side.

Papyrus deflated at the rejection. Had he been too forward? It was Sans’s fault anyway for teasing!

With a huff, Papyrus marched into the glamorous building. The ridiculous Mettaton water fountain came into view, and Papyrus halted at the statue of a calculator. He’d heard rumors back in Fell that Mettaton had a non-humanoid form. Was this it? In this universe, was this rectangular shape Mettaton’s preferred appearance?

“Welcome to the MTT Resort. This place is great for staying a night or simply passing through. Please enjoy your time here!”

Papyrus nodded at the receptionist. Just as he was about to take a left into the MTT Restaurant, a glinting yellow star caught his sight. It hovered in front of the fountain.

“WHAT IS THAT?” he asked, pointing to the golden light.

The Diamond Receptionist stared at the spot Papyrus pointed, tilted their body in confusion, and answered, “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re pointing to, sir.”

“ARE YOU BLIND? IT’S RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF THE FOUNTAIN!” Papyrus stomped a boot for more emphasis.

The monster blinked several times and then shook their head. “Sorry, I don’t see anything there.”

Papyrus peered around him to see everyone there ignoring the obvious star. With a frustrated sigh, he stormed over to the golden object. To his bewilderment, it disappeared without a trace when his hand reached over to touch it. He turned his head this way and that, but found no signs of the mysterious light.

Papyrus put that onto his growing list of anomalies. Maybe Sans would have an idea of what it was.

Wanting to evade the strange looks by the hotel patrons, Papyrus stepped towards the restaurant. The fish receptionist at the entrance stopped him to ask if he had a reservation.

Scrambling to come up with something, Papyrus blurted out, “I’M HERE WITH SANS TO DISCUSS SOME IMPORTANT MATTERS. NO EATING WILL BE INVOLVED.”

Somehow, the fish let him pass through without arguments. He presumed the reservation rule only pertained to those that ate at the restaurant.

The purple wallpaper and lighting gave the room a somber atmosphere, despite the bright stage located on the right side. Admiring the sophisticated appearance of the place, Papyrus stepped towards the bulletin board adjacent to the stage. It was a performance schedule that read “Comedian, dancers, and Sans.”

So Sans even worked at this resort. Just how many jobs did he have? Did his brother work this many jobs as well?

Without warning, there was a swish! and snowflake bullets surrounded Papyrus. Bones shimmered into existence, surrounding Papyrus in a circle, and intercepted each attack. One flake escape through the ossified barrier and pierced into his lowest right ribs. Papyrus grunted as intense, sharp pain exploded from his right side.

“It’s you! I was told you’re the monster that killed my son!” A blue-tinged snowflake monster wearing glasses and a bowtie roared.

As if trapped in Undyne’s green magic, Papyrus froze at those words. Regret and guilt crash through him, rolling from his soul through the magic that kept his bones together. Papyrus found himself unable to retaliate back.

“It was you, wasn’t it?! What do you have to say for yourself? Why did you kill him?!” Tears sprung from Snowdrake’s father’s eyes and dripped down his icy body.

Every excuse that Papyrus could think of fled his mind at the sight of the parent weeping pitifully.

“THERE WAS NO GOOD REASON. I KILLED HIM NOT BECAUSE I HAD TO… BUT BECAUSE I COULD,” he stated clearly.

He wasn’t going to lie or sugarcoat what he had done. A disheartening realization dawned upon Papyrus. He’d made the mistake of thinking that simply doing a few “nice deeds” would forgive his earlier actions. But it didn’t.

“THIS MAY BE MEANINGLESS, AND I AM NOT EXCUSING WHAT I DID TO YOUR SON, BUT I AM SORRY.”

The snowy monster stamped against the ground in distress, shaking his body fiercely enough to fling water droplets everywhere.

“You’re right! This is unforgivable! A monster taking another monster’s life?! You may as well be as horrible as those humans!”

Papyrus staggered back as if struck, the scathing words hurting far more than all the physical wounds he’d received in this world. Another round of bullets surrounded him. Agony shot from his right ribs as he maneuvered into a fighting stance.

“whoa, there, you two. fighting ain’t allowed in here,” a low baritone voice interrupted.

Papyrus spun around to find Sans standing a few feet away from them with the human child lingering behind him. Sure enough, the few other guests at the restaurant had ducked under the tables or edged to the far sides of the room, away from their battle. Snowdrake’s father flushed with embarrassment. Then he gave one final withering glare at Papyrus and stormed out of the restaurant.

“you ok there, edge?”

“I AM FINE,” Papyrus lied. “LET’S JUST GET THIS OVER WITH.”

Truthfully, Papyrus wanted to go back home and sleep. When did he start feeling so tired and unmotivated?

Papyrus, Sans and the kid all sat down in the far back table. Papyrus gazed forlornly at the potted plants decorating the back wall, Snowdrake’s father’s words repeating in his head like a mantra. He was only half listening to Sans’s explanation of universal displacements. Every now and then, concerned eye lights would glance over at him.

Sans shouldn’t be worrying about him. He was fine! He was the Great and Terrible Papyrus. Nothing bothered him!

Eventually, Sans explained the plan to purposely cause a displacement by synchronizing both actions in the two universes.

“you said you can communicate with that other frisk, correct?” The kid nodded. “if the two of you could, i dunno, do the same things."

The kid tilted their head and blinked several times in confusion, and then signed something.

“they already defeated mettaton?”

They nodded and signed a five letter name.

“so they’re gonna confront asgore soon? then we have to meet asgore at the same time. if all the same players are involved we should be able to cause another displacement.”

Frisk agreed with the plan, and Papyrus huffed, his soul twisted in a mess of emotions. If this went as planned, he’d meet his brother again.

Would his brother even want to see him after how their last meeting had gone?

Papyrus caught Sans giving him another probing look. Torn between guilt from his encounter with Snowdrake’s father and gratitude from Sans’s concern, Papyrus stood up, ignoring the stinging pain from his ribs, and stepped out into the lobby. He needed some time alone to think. Everything was happening at once, making it difficult for him to reorganize his thoughts and emotions.

The ache throbbing in his soul, left by the snow monsters words, persisted as he wandered around the lobby. Every time he walked, his ribs stung. Sometime later, Sans came out of the restaurant with the human child in tow. Nervousness and tension eluded off of them, and Papyrus wondered if it was due to some conversation they had with Sans. The short skeleton suggested they stay a night at the resort, since he received discounts for performing at the resort restaurant.

The human wanted to explore the resort and engage in the final encounter with Mettaton. That left Sans and Papyrus to hang around in the hotel room. Papyrus was more than grateful for the much needed break. Sans flipped on the TV as soon as they got into the room, while Papyrus made a beeline to the bathroom, not missing Sans’s lingering concern. Papyrus locked the door, and then stood in front of the mirror.

No wonder Sans was so worried; he was barely recognizable, his usually confident and imposing shoulders slumped. Dark circles hung under his eye sockets, similar to the ones that seemed permanently fixed on Sans’s face.

Papyrus lifted his armor and undershirt and noticed the cracks along two of his bottom-most right ribs. He gingerly pressed a gloved phalange in the area, wincing at the severe pain. His healing magic was non-existent, never finding the use for it in his ‘kill or be killed’ world. He lowered his dark undershirt and went back into the main room before Sans came searching for him.

Although the television was playing one of Mettaton’s movies, Sans laid on his back on the bed closest to the door, staring blankly at the ceiling. When Papyrus sat down on the other unoccupied queen-sized bed, the small skeleton broke out of his trance and turned his skull towards Papyrus.

“you ok there, bud?” His voice was soft and hesitant.

“I’M FINE.”

Sans rose from his prone position. “heh, you’re tryna imitate me or somethin’?”

The words confused Papyrus, until he realized how similar that phrase was to how Sans would typically respond.

“c’mon, edge, i’m bein’ more honest with ya. it’s only fair that you return the favor.” Sans’s shoulders hunched into itself, making him even more petite than usual.

Papyrus knew that Sans was upset; after all, hadn’t he disparaged Sans for always hiding things not too long ago?

“YOU’RE RIGHT, IT’LL BE HYPOCRITICAL OF ME IF I WASN’T HONEST WITH YOU.”

Still, Papyrus found it difficult to speak. He didn’t know why or where his usual bluntness had gone.

“was it because of whatever snowdrake’s old man said?”

Papyrus nodded listlessly, his pupils directed at the plush maroon carpet. Yes, those earlier words still stung, but that wasn’t only it.

He startled, his magic flaring, when he felt a hand place lightly on his right shoulder. His magic receded once he sensed Sans standing besides him, tracing small circles into his scapula. A relieved sigh escaped between his fanged teeth.

“well whatever he said, if it was against you for what you did to snowdrake, don’t let it get to ya.”

Papyrus shook his head, spatting out, “BUT I’M STILL THE SAME AS I ALWAYS AM!” He paused, and then continued in a subdued, regretful tone, “I met my brother when you disappeared, and the meeting was a disaster. All because of me. I let my anger get the better of me, and yelled at him instead of apologizing. The good that I’ve done will never come close to undoing all the wrongs I’ve committed.”

Papyrus sucked in deep, shuddering breaths while Sans’s soothing strokes remained. He didn’t deserve all this comfort from Sans. From someone who he had hurt numerous times. Why was the other even tolerating his presence?

The bed dipped behind him, and a pair of arms wrapped around his ribs. The calming strum of Sans’s magic pressed against his back ribs, filling Papyrus’s soul with warmth.

“you’re right that you can’t change what you’ve done in the past. hey, i’ve got some skeletons in my closest, heh, that i wished i could change. but take it from me, edge - personal experience and all - you can’t let it drag ya down. the fact that you’re puttin’ so much effort into improvin’ yourself isn’t something you should just brush aside.”

Papyrus sank into Sans’s arms, allowing the smaller monster’s magic to wash over him.

“you probably don’t even realized how much you’ve helped me get through these last couple o’ weeks without paps. so just know that if no one else forgives ya for what you’ve done, i will instead.”

Sans shifted his arms, accidentally brushing against Papyrus’s broken ribs and causing him to flinch. Sans immediately drew back and saw the flicker of pain in Papyrus’s face.

“are ya hurt?!” Alarm rang out in his voice.

Papyrus attempted to crawl away from the bed, only to fall back onto the bed and further aggravate his wound.

“lay down and let me see!”

“UGH! I AM FINE!” Papyrus growled, squirming to get up.

A familiar heaviness settled into Papyrus, preventing him from moving; his soul was a dark blue. Papyrus squawked indignantly as his black armor and shirt was removed to reveal the cracks he’d gotten earlier, in addition to the old battle scars he’d gotten from working as a Royal Guardsmen and ex-gang member. Papyrus tried to curl into himself, to hide the ugly marks, but the gravity magic remained strong.

Sans sockets widened to the size of dinner plates, and his white eye lights quivered slightly.

“h-how did you get all these? was this from snowdrake’s pop? why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Sans’s teeth drooped, his usual grin looking more like a grimace.

“ONLY THE CRACKS ON MY LOWER RIGHT RIBS! NOW LET ME GO! I CAN TAKE CARE OF IT MYSELF!”

Much to Papyrus’s surprise and frustration, however, Sans didn’t release the blue magic on his soul. Instead, he straddled Papyrus’s long femurs. Heat rushed into Papyrus’s cheeks as he peered up at Sans. Blue dusted the other’s face as well.

“remember when you did this to me?” Sans dipped his head until he was inches from Papyrus’s sternum. “let me to return the favor.”

Before Papyrus could refuse, a warm appendage licked the top of his sternum and clumsy phalanges danced timidly along the scars on his upper clavicle. Papyrus gasped in response to the pleasurable stimulation. His soul, still a deep shade of blue, hovered just below his ribcage. Sans ignored it and languidly trailed down to the bottom of Papyrus’s sternum, leaving Papyrus breathless.

Sans paused and peered up at him, white eye lights dilated and shining brightly. Papyrus’s soul pulsed with desire at the soft, loving expression.

“these are so cool,” Sans whispered with admiration, fingers brushing across a chip in the middle left rib.

Papyrus moaned at the praise, feeling lighter than air despite the heaviness of the blue magic.

“every one of these has meaning,” Sans brushed over a patch of discolored bone, “and tells a different story,” a finger traced lightly down a faded cut. “you should be proud of these.”

Each of Sans’s touches set Papyrus’s bones on fire, his ministrations and words leaving a tingling sensation. Sans eventually cupped his face.

“your teeth are sharp, just like your style.” His tone was a teasing. “and even this,” Sans’s phalanges trailed down the jagged scar that ran from Papyrus’s left temple to the bottom of his socket. “gives ya a hard edge.”

Despite groaning at the terrible jokes, Papyrus couldn’t remember the last time he'd felt so good, so safe, so loved. At least, not since he was a babybones. Even when Sans stroked his recently cracked ribs, the pain was barely noticeable over the pleasure.

“SAAANNNSSS… AAHHH,” he panted, soul shining brightly beneath his sternum.

Sans’s grin widened at the sight.

“i don’t know healing magic, but i can send my magic directly into your soul to fix the cracks, if you’ll allow me.”

Papyrus hesitated. “THAT IS NOT SOMETHING I HAVE EVER HEARD. IS IT... PAINFUL?”

“nope. quite the opposite, actually.” Sans held out two opened palms, smiling earnestly. “do ya trust me?”

“YES!”

Sans laid his hands over where the inverted heart was, withdrew the blue magic and cupped the pulsating organ in between his hands. The soul glowed the indigo of Integrity. Sans's fingertips caressed the soul. Magic and healing intent gushed into Papyrus’s soul, numbing any pain that he had been feeling. His body shuddered violently, as Sans’s love and care poured into him, overriding all other senses.

“you’re just as great as you say you are.”

Papyrus arched his spine off the bed, emitting a particularly lewd sound. Pressure coiled within his soul, building up in a manner similar to a shaken soda can. He felt a light squeeze of his soul and came with a howl. A rush of dark blue light and fluid exploded forth from the culmination of his entire being, briefly tinging the room with its vivid color.

Nothing compared to the amount of bliss Papyrus had just experienced. He allowed the high from his orgasm to persist a few seconds longer.

“heh, bet that was pretty mindblowing,” Sans quipped breathlessly, cheekbones still flushed blue.

With his weariness cleared, and the heaviness in his bones gone, Papyrus sprang up from the bed, tore the cyan hoodie off of Sans, and used his right hand to pin the other’s thin wrists above his head. Sans stared up at him, dazed from the rapid change in position.

“DID YOU THINK SOMEONE AS GREAT AS I WOULD NOT RETURN THE FAVOR?”

Sans glanced away, appearing flustered. Papyrus smirked at the sight, his still visible soul pulsing rhythmically in anticipation.

“it's fine. you don't owe me anything.”

Papyrus tsked and pushed Sans’s white shirt up to his clavicles, long, nimble fingers ghosted over the other’s spine. Sans jerked into the motion, breath hitching. His teeth were clenched tightly, and his pupils were still directed at the wall.

“WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DENY PRAISE?” Papyrus leaned down and exhaled over Sans’s exposed ribs. Sans shivered. “AND DON’T SAY YOU DON’T DESERVE IT BECAUSE YOU DO! MORE THAN YOU REALIZE!”

Papyrus nibbled and licked at Sans’s cervical vertebrae, finally drawing out a moan from the skeleton beneath him. Sans tilted his head to expose more of his neck. Papyrus bit down on the white bone. Sans jolted

Papyrus withdrew from him and uttered softly, “You are so much more than you realize, Sans. You’ve given me so much support. You believed in me when no one else did… not even myself. And for that, I thank you.”

A blue glow suddenly flooded the room; Sans’s soul hovered above his chest, centimeters away from Papyrus’s own. Hazy, blown-out eye lights peered up at him through lidded sockets, and a thin rivulet of blue drool dripped down Sans’s chin. Seeing Sans in such a state sent sparks of renewed arousal throughout the culmination of Papyrus’s entire being.

“You’re beautiful, Sans.”

Clack! Papyrus kissed Sans. His tongue darted out and swiped across Sans’s flat teeth, desiring entrance. It was granted, and Papyrus’s long, red appendage explored the inside of Sans’s mouth, flicking over slightly fanged canines. Their tongues twisted around each other, and a sweet, tangy taste flooded Papyrus’s maw. Just like the blueberry nice cream.

A muffled moan tore from Sans, and he grinded his hips into Papyrus’s, who returned in kind. As they continued their rutting, their souls mingled together in between their ribs. Papyrus saw stars as overwhelming pleasure swept every part of him — his mind, his bones, even his magic. A familiar pressure bubbled within him until a burst of two shades of blue hues filled the room. The liquid magic released from their souls splashed onto their ribs.

Both panted heavily, face flushing the respective color of their magic. Papyrus fell back, and as his soul returned back into his chest, he caught a tinge of cyan within it.

“t-that, hah, was pretty orgasmic, heh,” Sans mumbled, turning onto his side to face Papyrus. Sans smiled gently, the corner of his eye sockets crinkling with genuine happiness.

“THAT WAS HORRIBLE!”

“yeah, but you’re smiling.”

“I KNOW, AND I HATE IT!”

And truthfully, Papyrus didn’t mind. Contentment settled within him, and he felt more intimately connected with Sans than ever before.

Chapter Text

Sans and the human kid stood facing each other in a hallway bathed in golden light. Sans revealed to them the meaning behind LV and EXP. There was no doubt in his mind they had heard this before, given the kid’s complete neutral expression. Their defeat of Mettaton was nothing to scorn at either, having beaten him fairly in a dance off on his own show. The robot was now probably getting fixed by Alphys.

“It’s time to begin your judgment.” Sans took an unnecessary breath and continued, “Look inside yourself. Have you really done the right thing? And considering what you’ve done, what will you do now? Take a moment to think about this.”

Frisk stared back at him for a period, and signed, I will continue forward to face Asgore and free all the monsters.

Sans Checked them to reveal a brilliant, scarlet soul. But there was something not quite right about it. Their soul appeared blurry, almost appearing duplicated. As he peered closer, his eye sockets narrowed at distortions rippling across their flavor text as if he were viewing it in a disturbed lake.

Ḟ̶̙̳̇r̴͛ͬ̔͛i̳͕͚͓ͨ̋̄̈́͗͞ͅs͉͓̘̣͋́̏́̿̉̿kͧ
Lv 1
HP 20/20
AT 0
DF 0
EXP 0

“you never gained any LOVE. ‘course, that doesn’t mean you’re completely innocent or naive, just that you kept a certain tenderness in your heart. no matter the struggles or hardships you faced, you strived to do the right thing. you refused to hurt anyone. you never gained LOVE, but you gained love.” Normally he had more to say as the Judge; he decided to keep it short, “will you move forward?”

They gave him a look filled with determination. Without saying anything, he stepped aside to allow them passage. They gave him a smiling nod and ran off to face Asgore. Sans exhaled a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

Something was off; he could feel it in his bones.

Before he could collect his thoughts, sharp booted footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. Sans tensed at the sight of Edge’s towering silhouette, his strides wide and fierce. Sans knew he shouldn’t have disappeared to the Judgment Hall without saying anything to him after their intimate session. He’d simply never anticipated it getting as far as it did. And now that left him doing what he did best — running away from his problems like the coward that he was.

An ugly scowl spanned across Edge’s skull, though he remained silent. Three times the dark skeleton opened and closed his mouth without saying a word. Sans jammed his hands into his hoodie pockets and gazed at the tiled ground. His soul pounded within his ribcage like a loud drum.

“welp, sorry to, uh, bone and run, heh.”

Edge crossed his arm, responding, “HOW TYPICAL OF YOU TO DEFLECT WITH YOUR USUAL SUBPAR JOKES WHEN YOU’RE SKULKING AROUND!”

Sans snapped his head up at Edge, gaping as if he’d grown two heads. He burst into chuckles. Edge realized his own joke and screamed in abject horror, eyes bulging out.

“good one, bud, heh heh. really tickled my funny bone.”

Sans appreciated the other’s accidental pun slip; it made this whole interaction more bearable and less awkward. The black and red clad monster paced around to calm down, skull flushing pink. He faced Sans, red pupils piercing through him.

“LOOK WHAT YOUR BAD INFLUENCES DID TO ME!” the tall skeleton huffed. “EITHER WAY, I THANK YOU FOR THE GOOD TIME.”

“... yeah, same.”

A period of awkward silence fell over them.

“it’s been… great gettin’ to know ya.” Sans scratched the back of his skull, eye lights still directed at the side. “i’ll, uh, miss ya.”

Edge frowned, and responded softly, “Yes I—.” He cleared his throat. “ALTHOUGH YOUR PRESENCE HAS MADE MY STAY HERE MUCH MORE BEARABLE, I WILL BE GLAD TO BE BACK HOME!”

If this all worked as planned, they would never see each other again. A sharp pang rang out from Sans’s soul. He ignored it. There was nothing he could do if Edge winds up back in his own universe.

“hope, uh, everything works out with you and your bro.”

Again, silence engulfed the light-bathed hallway.

An ugly scowl spanned across Edge’s face, though he remained silent. Several times the dark skeleton opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it before a word got out. Sans jammed his hands into his hoodie pockets and gazed at the ground tiled ground. His soul pounded within his ribcage like a loud drum.

“welp, sorry to, uh, bone and run… heh…”

Sans’s bone brows creased downwards. Why was this familiar to him?

Edge crossed his arm, responding, “HOW TYPICAL OF YOU TO DEFLECT WITH YOUR USUAL SUBPAR JOKES WHEN YOU’RE SKULKING AROUND!.” He blinked several times in confusion. “WAIT… WHAT?”

The two stared at each other, recognition dawning on each of their skulls.

“a reload.”

“A RELOAD?”

As if their thoughts were synced, they both dashed down the corridor into the Throne Room. When they finally arrived, both he and Edge halted, sockets gaping as wide as dinner plates.

Gray, snowy patches hung in the air like missing puzzle pieces, and the reality around Sans warped and appeared fractured.

Asgore knelt on the ground in the middle, frozen in place and attention drawn to the opposite end of the room. Sans understood why. The focal point of all the distortion came from the human and Flowey, both currently surrounded by six differently colored souls.

Sans could not even make out the kid’s form, their whole body nearly engulfed by the gray patches. These were the same ones that appeared when they were in the mysterious room with Gaster.

They were glitches. Abnormalities within their world.

Flowey was there in front of the human, quivering viciously. He shrieked, bearing fangs, “No, stop! I will not let you get ahold of these souls! They are MINE!”

Sans watched in horror as the six souls drew closer to the human. Just as they were about to merge with the human, Sans caught something black latched onto the kid’s soul like a parasite. Without thinking and with his left eye socket flashing cyan, Sans swung his arms outward to use blue magic to separate the black substance from the red soul.

The most spine tingling, otherworldly noise Sans had ever heard, sounding like a mix of shattering glass, static and robotic bellows, emitted from the human. Their surroundings became dead silent, and Sans found himself in never-ending blackness. There was no floor, ceiling, or walls.

“edge, you there?” he immediately called out.

“I’M RIGHT BEHIND YOU!”

Sans spun around, and sure enough, Edge stood behind him with a ring of sharp bones hovering in the air. His eye sockets narrowed in suspicion and his crimson eye lights shined brightly in their dark surroundings.

“what happened to the kid?”

“I HAVE NOT SEEN THEM SINCE WE CAME TO THIS STRANGE PLACE. IT REMINDS ME OF THE ROOM WHERE I MET THAT GOOP MONSTER,” Edge answered.

Was this the Void? Sans could barely visualize anything in front of him besides Edge. Footsteps and anxious chatter soon reached Sans’s hearing.

“WHO’S THERE? REVEAL YOURSELF!” the Royal Guardsman roared.

One of the summoned bones shot into the dark at two incoming shadows, one short and stout and the other lanky and tall.

Clack!

A bone intercepted Edge’s attack halfway, and Sans’s breath caught in his nonexistent throat.

His brother came into view, his battle body slightly torn but otherwise unharmed. His chest puffed out. To the right of him was a skeleton monster greatly resembling Sans, except for the black and white attire, red eyelights, sharp teeth, and scar matching Edge’s.

This had to be his other self, Edge’s brother.

“bro?”

“SANS?!”

Sans suddenly found himself scooped up into a pair of familiar arms. He sighed and returned the embrace, burying his face into the springy material of Papyrus’s battle body.

“pap, ‘m glad you’re ok.”

“OF COURSE THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL ALWAYS COME THROUGH UNSCATHED. LIKE A TRUE HERO! NYEH HEH HEH.”

“heh, you’re the coolest.”

In his periphery, Sans saw Edge and his brother standing in front of each other, both brothers’ pupils directed elsewhere. Sans was about to wiggle out of Papyrus’s grasp, when they both apologized simultaneously. The foreign skeleton brothers gaped at each other with red dusting their cheekbones.

“i, uh, shoulda listened t’ya last time, boss. ‘m sorry,” the other Sans mumbled. Sweat poured down the sides of his skull.

“AND I SHOULD NOT HAVE YELLED AT YOU!” Edge had his gloved hands clenched tightly at his side.

Sans was glad that they finally got the chance to apologize. Papyrus let Sans down.

“SANS, ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MY NEW BEST FRIEND, RED.” When Papyrus saw Edge, his pupils twinkled into stars. “WOWIE, YOU MUST BE THE OTHER PAPYRUS! IT IS TRULY AMAZING TO MEET MYSELF!”

While Papyrus bounded towards Edge, Sans carefully surveyed his double, noting that the other was doing the same to him. Sans was tempted to Check him, though if this ‘Red’ was a Judge in his own universe, it would be pretty rude. As long as Papyrus was safe, it didn’t matter. Sans offered to shake the other’s hand.

‘Red’ glanced over at Edge, whose attention was drawn to Papyrus. He grasped Sans’s hand. PPPHHHHHHTTTTT!

A beat of silence. Then, two simultaneous cries of exaggerated rage rang out while Sans chortled. Red’s sockets widened for a brief second before he joined in on the laughter.

“nice one,” the other Sans snickered.

“THAT PRANK OF YOURS HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST CHILDISH!” Edge quipped.

“INDEED, OTHER ME. MY BROTHER IS ALWAYS PLAGUING OTHERS WITH HIS ENDLESS PRANKS. IMAGINE ALL THE YEARS I HAD TO LIVE WITH THIS!”

“TRULY HORRIFYING.”

“hey, don’t rib at the ol’ whoopee cushion prank.”

“yeah, it’s quite humerus.”

Despite the darkness, the atmosphere lightened considerably. Sans couldn’t have expected a better meeting. Now this only left the question…

“what’s this place?” Red asked.

“AND WHERE DID OUR HUMAN FRIEND GO?” Papyrus added, sockets sweeping across the dark expanse.

Without warning, two yellow flowers sprouted out in front of them. One of them had slightly larger eyes while the other had an angry scowl. Sans’s left socket flashed blue and yellow as soon as he saw the scowling Flowey.

“We’re in the Save Screen,” Flowey uttered.

“FLOWEY! WOWIE, THERE’S TWO OF YOU!” Papyrus exclaimed.

“There’s no time to explain. We have something else to worry about,” the other Flowey said, turning his petal-face straight ahead.

Sans did the same and spotted two human bodies lying unconscious on the ground. One was the brown-haired child wearing the blue and purple striped shirt. The other wore a black and red striped shirt. Standing in the midst of the two fallen bodies was an indistinct, gray outline of a human, their face completely obscured by white glitches.

The strange sound Sans had heard earlier resonated around them, catching the attention of the other pair. A chill ran down Sans’s spine as white text appeared above the human shadow.

[Who knew it would end up like this just from a few changes of code.] The glitchy head shifted slightly but did not disappear.

“who the fuck are ya?” Edge’s brother growled, his magic flaring.

Edge stepped in front of his brother and materialized a ring of bones around the figure, trapping them within it. Despite this, fear transfixed both flowers’ expressions.

“you know ‘em?” Sans questioned, taking a single step forward. His brother did the same.

Flowey hissed, “You finally deciding to show yourself? You’re not Chara! You can’t fool me!”

More text appeared in midair. [You are correct, I am not Chara. I am above even them; I am the one with full control over the human’s actions and more.]

This was the true time anomaly?

Sharp bones, summoned by Edge, erupted from the ground to pierce the shadow. They dissipated before even reaching their body.

“THAT DOESN’T ANSWER THE QUESTION. WHO ARE YOU?” the guardsman challenged.

[Flowey clearly recognizes me, though I guess the rest of you aren’t coded to know of my presence and your true purpose.] The glitches covering their face dwindled until it only showed a gray blur of a human head. [I am the Player. You could say I’m the driving force behind Frisk’s actions. I also have a few other powers up my sleeve.]

The cluster of white spots expanded into a U formation. To Sans, it almost looked like a grin.

“Look at what you’ve done!” the nice Flowey waved his leafy appendages around the dark expanse. “This is all your fault! Do you think you are above consequences for all this damage? For overriding the script?! See what your curiosity has led to?!”

[Why shouldn’t I do whatever I wish to ease my curiosity? After all, none of you are even real! You’re from a game; all of you are just a bunch of pixels and code.] A shadowy arm pointed at Edge and Red. [Both of them and their universe are even fake, not being part of the original canon.]

“the hell’s that mean?”

“HOW DARE YOU!”

Sans’s eye lights flickered out of existence as a familiar sense of hopelessness overcame him. They weren’t real? Edge and his brother weren’t part of the ‘original canon’? What did that mean? Of course the two of them weren’t part of his and Papyrus’s universe. Was that why all the events occurred differently this time around?

In the back of his mind, he always knew there was another entity-- this Player-- that was the force behind everything that happened in the Underground. They were the one that controlled not only the kid but also the timelines; they were the one with the power to Reset and Reload. If they had that much power, was there even a point in trying to fight back?

[Everything that’s happened this playthrough has been truly amazing! I wonder what else will change if I restart from the beginning?]

A black box filled with lines of white code materialized into existence. More lines appeared, followed by two brightly colored text emerging in the black space.

[CONTINUE] [RESET]

The others voiced their dissent, magic humming in the air, while Sans fixated on the two words. A static-filled noise abruptly filled the area. Sans turned around and saw Gaster’s amorphous form materializing in front of the Player.

“YOU AGAIN?!” Edge snarled.

Gaster ignored the other skeleton, his attention drawn entirely on the Player. His mouth gaped open, worsening the appearance of the two ghastly cracks running lengthwise down his deformed skull. Distorted cries flew out of his mouth while his glowing white hands signed furiously.

I̸ W҉҉̧I̶L̛̕͟L͘ N̢O͏T͢ AL̶L͘O͜W̕ ̷̨A͟ ̶̢̕W̸͘͢RE͞͏T͟C̵H̡͏E̡D͞ EX͢͜I҉̢S̢͡TENCE ͝L̸IK̡͝͏E̵̢ ͢YO̕U͝ ̴TƠ̢͞ C̨̕O̧͠N̛͠T҉IN̴̨͘U̧̡͝E̶ ͢THI̢S͘.̵͘ Gaster must’ve done something to disable the command box with all the code, as error messages flooded the area. YO̢͜͡U̷ ͟͠MA̧͝Y ̷̢Ơ͜͠N͢͝L̷͜Y͟ ͘͘S͡EE U͢͠S̛ ͡͡A͡Ş̵ ̛͝B҉L̴O̷͜͡C͢K̶҉S ̸OF ̷̢̛C͡O̷͜DE,̵͠ B̸͢U̡͠T̕͠ ͏͟W̧E̡͝ ̷͏D̷O͏ ̶͜EXI̧ST. I͘ ͟W̶̕I͠Ļ̵L҉ ̵͢N̷O̕͜T͜ A̛LĻO͜͠W ͟͜YO͢U̷̵ ҉̨T̛̕͞O ̡̧EŖA̴̧̛S̨͘E͡ ͡E̡͠VĘ͞R̢YT̛H͢I͏NG̨͡ ͠͠T̶H͏A̕͜҉T͘ ̴H͢A͡͏̶S̢̡ ͢͟H̷Ą͠P͘P̨̡E̛N̡͢ED.̶̕͜

The glitches around the human silhouette exploded into strings of odd letters and numbers. [I will do whatever I want. You do not control my actions!]

A gray and white box that read “Windows Task Manager” appeared in the darkness around them. The Player’s disappeared, and everything froze

A bright flash later, they reappeared with the command box. Lines of code appeared in the box.

[I will Reset everything and start anew, and I’m not letting anyone stop me!]

In the split moment Sans overcame his hopelessness, he realized he couldn’t allow this to happen. There was too much at stake now for him to just give up.

Five charging gaster blasters appeared around the Player, as wingding symbols appeared in the command box along with regular code. The basters fired, but the Player was faster.

The [R͍̞̼̻̲͓̼̆̀͊̑ͬ̚Eͦͬ͊̆҉̮S̓̈́ͧE͎͉͉̗̘͋ͭ̇̿̍ͤT̡̞̠̘̞ͥ̓̓ͯ̄ͪ̋ͅ] flashed gold, and blinding whiteness blanketed the entire area.

Sans woke up staring at the familiar ceiling of his room. He could hear the swishing of his trash tornado. Any minute now, his brother would be banging on his door to wake him up.

But nobody came. In fact, he didn’t even hear the banging of pots and pans coming from downstairs.

Was Papyrus still asleep or already out on sentry duty?

Sans finally got up, and immediately realized this wasn’t actually his room. It was a fair bit neater with only one lone sock lying on the blood-red carpet.

Wait - red carpet? He didn’t have a red carpet.

Sans explored the room and found more discrepancies. His closet was filled with red and black, though he still wore his white tee-shirt, black track shorts and blue hoodie. He cautiously crept outside the room and found himself in some bizarre alternative version of his home, filled with dark, foreboding colors.

When he arrived in front of Papyrus’s door, he was surprised to find it labeled as “Do not enter or Die.” The door was also locked, and Papyrus never locked his door. He frowned.

Where was he?

Sans eventually made his way downstairs, but found no signs of his brother. The kitchen was empty; even Annoying Dog was absent. Concern for Papyrus’s well-being bubbled forth within him, and Sans ran to the door.

If Papyrus was also here, he had to make sure his bro was safe.

Just as Sans reached the door, it swung open to reveal his brother standing in the doorway.

Except it wasn’t truly his brother.

Instead of his usual battle body, this other Papyrus wore red and black armor. He also had a terrible scar running down the left side of his skull. A ragged red scarf billowed behind him. Ruby eye lights caught sight of him, and the tall skeleton’s sockets widened in shock.

“SANS! YOU’RE HERE?! WHA—HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?”

The other monster reached out his right hand towards him and took a step forward. Sans took a step back.

“whoa, there, buddy. do i know you?”

End of Part II

Chapter Text

Papyrus stared at the small skeleton standing before him in disbelief, sharp pangs pulsing from his soul in waves. Sans’s words echoed continuously in his head, taunting him.

“you ain’t my bro but you’re… you’re...?” Sans mumbled, narrowing his eye sockets, as though enduring a nasty headache. Then, a sudden look of recognition dawned on his skull. “edge?”

Papyrus snapped out of his trance and gazed eagerly at Sans, shouting, “DID YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED?”

“only you dustin’ snowdrake.”

Papyrus’s staggered back a step, soul plummeting. Out of all the things Sans could’ve recalled, this was definitely the worst one. He had expected this to be another one of Sans’s unfunny pranks, and maybe the two of them could laugh it off. Instead, Sans narrowed his eye sockets in suspicion and straightened his posture into a defensive stance — one that was prepared to fight.

“DO-DO YOU NOT REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED AFTER ALL THAT?” Papyrus rasped in disbelief, painful throbs filling his entire being. “ALL THE TIME WE SPENT TOGETHER? HOW WE BECAME… FR-FRIENDS?” And maybe something more?

Too bad all of that was gone.

“‘fraid not. and you’re supposed to be under house arrest.” Sans responded, his tone cold. He turned his head around the upstairs hallway. “though this ain’t exactly my house? what’s this place?”

Papyrus didn’t answer, disappointment, hurt and anger swirling within him like an unrelenting storm. Had Sans actually forgotten everything except for the one unforgivable mistake he’d made while in Sans’s universe? And what exactly had happened? The last he remembered was him, Sans and the human about to fight the Asgore from Sans’s universe. How had he ended up back in his world?

Papyrus took a few seconds to recollect himself, pulling his face into his usual glare. He crossed his arms. Sans still remained as tense and alert as earlier.

Papyrus tried to ignore the agony in his soul, as he said, “YOU ARE IN MY UNIVERSE. I DO NOT KNOW HOW YOU GOT HERE. I ONLY RECALL A FIGHT OCCURRING WITH THE ASGORE FROM YOUR WORLD, THEN SOMEHOW WE ENDED UP HERE.”

Sans’s eye lights extinguished from his wide sockets while his phalanges clenched into tight fists. “have you seen my bro? he should be here, right?”

Papyrus’s soul twinged. “NO, I HAVE NOT. IN FACT, SINCE YOU ARE IN MY BROTHER’S ROOM, I ASSUME HE IS MISSING AS WELL.

The vestiges from the stormy meeting he and his brother had still plagued him with regret. Now, he was finally home, but there weren’t any signs of Red when he’d surveyed their house.

“that so? welp, this is some situation, ain’t it?” Sans gave a humorless chuckle.

Papyrus regarded Sans and noticed the rigid way his back was positioned, tense and similar to an overstretched elastic band. Wanting to ease some of Sans’s concerns (and his own), Papyrus added, “IT IS UNLIKELY FOR HIM TO BE THERE IF THIS IS ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE ‘DISPLACEMENTS’.”

Sans took a sharp intake of breath, his white pinpricks reappearing. He stared at Papyrus with a contemplative yet guarded expression that held none of its usual fondness.

“D-DO YOU… DO YOU SERIOUSLY REMEMBER NOTHING? OF ALL THE TIME I SPENT IN YOUR WORLD?” And with you, Papyrus added in his mind.

“nope. accordin’ to my memory, we just met. maybe a day ago.” Sans’s brows furrowed in uncertainty. He sighed, “‘m sure some space-time shenanigans is in the works. surprised you already identified it as a displacement. my bro...” Sans cut off his words, gaze trailing towards the ground.

“IT IS BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME ABOUT THEM! WE EVEN RESEARCHED ABOUT IT TOGETHER!”

Sans grimaced, his left hand shooting towards his chest. Papyrus, filled with concern, took a step towards him. Sans jerked as though to recoil back, though he didn’t. Papyrus considered it a plus. The short skeleton shook his skull.

“sorry, pal, but nothing’s coming to me. guess my head is too empty, heh.” The bitterness seeping through Sans’s tone was almost palpable. Guilt flickered on Sans’s face.

Papyrus let his arms drop to his sides and drooped his shoulders in disappointment.

Sans had truly lost his memory of what had happened. But then, why did he remember? If he could find the reason, then maybe he could reverse the amnesia and ease this gnawing ache within his soul. Something was missing there; and only a void remained.

“SO WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW?”

Sans didn’t respond for a period, his seemingly-permanent grin curving downward at the corners ever so slightly. Papyrus wasn’t sure what he expected as a response, but it was definitely not, “i gotta make sure pap’s ok.”

Jealousy consumed Papyrus’s soul. Of course Sans cared more about his brother than him. Papyrus latched onto the feeling as a way to fill the painful void.

“AND JUST HOW DO YOU PLAN TO DO THAT?” He demanded, throwing his arms akimbo.

Sans shrugged and slid his fists back into his blue hoodie. “maybe take a look outside. d’ya—”

“YOU CANNOT LEAVE THIS HOUSE!” Papyrus took a large stride towards the small skeleton, who, this time, recoiled back.

“you, uh, make it a habit of givin’ orders to people, buddy?”

“WE ARE IN MY UNIVERSE SO YOU SHOULD FOLLOW MY RULES!” Papyrus huffed and stomped his left boot in aggravation. “BESIDES, IT IS NOT SAFE FOR YOU TO WANDER OUTSIDE! AND YOU DO NOT LOOK LIKE MY BROTHER SO THE MONSTERS HERE WILL FIND YOU SUSPICIOUS!”

Sans parted his teeth to argue, but then backed down, deflating slightly. A familiar hopeless weariness overtook him, one that Papyrus despised seeing on Sans.

“DO NOT WORRY, FOR THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS SHALL PATROL THE SNOWDIN AREA. IF I SEE ANYTHING SUSPICIOUS OR STRANGE, I WILL LET YOU KNOW!”

With a raised brow, Sans asked, “alone? so i’m supposed to just stay here and lounge around?”

“ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU DO BEST?”

Though barely noticeable, Sans winced at the backhanded comment.

Papyrus immediately regretted his words, and quickly backpedaled, “I MEAN TO SAY, YOU SHOULD TAKE A BREAK. AND BESIDES, I AM THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARDS AND KNOW SNOWDIN LIKE THE BACK OF MY PALM. IT WOULD BE BEST IF I LOOKED AROUND!”

Sans still appeared unconvinced; nevertheless, he conceded to the plan. Papyrus wrung his gloved phalanges together, at a loss of how to proceed. He had agreed to patrol around and check for any changes in Snowdin from his absence, but he was afraid to leave Sans behind.

Did Sans faced the same problem when he had first arrived in the other’s universe?

Sans stared at the crimson carpet as though in a trance. The awkward silence stretching between them drove him to the point of wanting to lash out. Papyrus shook out of his musings and straightened his spine to appear more imposing. He then turned away, trying to maintain his cool mask, and cleared his throat.

“ANYWAY, YOU ARE FREE TO USE THE TV IF YOU WISH. THERE ARE SOME LEFTOVERS IN THE FRIDGE. I WILL HOPEFULLY NOT BE TOO LONG!”

Without another word, Papyrus left the room. He was out of the house before Sans could stop him. Once he was outside and closed the front door, he rubbed his eyes in frustration.

Everything hurt. He dearly missed the friendship that had formed between them from before; now it’d been somehow reset to 0 from Sans’s end. There was no point in mulling over what had happened. It was best for him to simply move forward. It wasn’t as though anything would’ve come out of their friendship anyway. Once this matter was all solved, they would part ways to their corresponding worlds.

Papyrus metaphorically buried away his pain and began his patrol.

Snowdin was the same as he remembered. Monsters cowered in his presence, the streets were as empty and desolate as ever, there was no colorful and festive gyftmas tree at the town center, and no welcome sign at the entrance. After staying in Sans's inviting and cheery Snowdin for a good two months, Papyrus's own Snowdin felt foreign to him.

Papyrus hadn’t taken more than five paces into the forest when he heard clanking armor and lumbering footfalls against the snow-covered earth. Greater Dog’s massive form came into view, heading towards him. As soon as he saw Papyrus, Greater saluted.

“Captain, sir! You are back?!” Greater asked in shock.

Papyrus raised a bone brow. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“We haven’t seen you in almost a week! Because of it, gang activity has started up again in Snowdin.”

“WHAT?” Papyrus growled. The low hum of magic filled the air as fury surged within Papyrus.

With his strict rule within Snowdin, he’d been able to minimize the gang activity that had once plagued Snowdin during most of his younger years via his power as Captain of the Royal Guard. To hear about a resurgence of them when he had only been gone for a week — if Greater’s words were to be believed — was infuriating. Some monsters were going to pay for their breaking established Snowdin rules. He also knew that certain members of the canine unit swore their allegiance to the Hunters.

Despite being a head shorter, Papyrus loomed over Greater Dog, who flinched back from the surge of gravity magic. “WHERE IS MY BROTHER?”

Greater’s ears drooped as he yipped, “I have not seen him slinking by his duties at his station. He’s not at home?”

“HE IS NOT.”

“Then I don’t know, Captain!”

“USELESS!” With his temper reigning free, Papyrus used blue magic to lift Greater Dog into the air. He woofed and whimpered in fear. “YOU AND THE REST OF THE CANINE UNIT BETTER HAVE NO INVOLVEMENT IN THIS GANG NONSENSE! DELIVER THIS MESSAGE FOR ME OR ELSE!”

He tossed the gigantic dog-in-armor into a snowpuff like a ragdoll, the force expelling him from his bulky armor. The canine’s tiny form trembled.

“Y-yes, sir!” Greater Dog scurried away with his tail tucked between his legs.

Papyrus continued on his patrol throughout Snowdin Forest, reaching his first puzzle. He took several minutes of his time to recalibrate it, and then moved on. He did not find his brother, even when he reached his Sans’s sentry station. He did encounter Lesser Dog along the way, and threatened to break one of his legs if he took part in the gang activity. He did not see Dogamy, Dogressa or Doggo.

He suspected they were at Grillby’s. At the thought of the disgusting grease-hole, Papyrus shuddered. Still, he decided to pay the establishment a visit. It was only to ensure that Grillby was in line and not causing unrest with his being the leader of the Infernos.

It was definitely not because he wanted to get a burger, ketchup and fries for Sans, Papyrus repeated in his mind like a mantra as he approached the establishment.

He had a fist around the doorknob when a high-pitched howl echoed from the northern part of town. Sensing trouble abound, Papyrus dashed passed Grillby’s and up the north pathway. As soon as he neared the sharp cries, they halted all of a sudden.

Square blocks of ice hurtled towards Papyrus. He dodged to his right. With a swish of his arm, clusters of serrated cyan bones flew at the ice blocks. The ice blocks shattered into tiny pieces upon impact. Papyrus charged at the Ice Wolf that ambushed him. He grabbed ahold of his soul and lifted him up into the air with his control over gravity.

Ice Wolf smashed into the perimeter of the ice refinery. The icicles hanging from the ceiling shuddered and fell on top of him. Pained whimpers came from the fallen monster.

But Papyrus didn’t stop there; he seized Ice Wolf roughly by the scruff of his neck. Without saying a word, Papyrus strolled over to the river — portions of it was iced over — and dangled him over it.

“Papyrus!! Boss! Please don’t!” Ice Wolf pleaded, scrambling to escape his iron grip.

“ARE YOU PATHETIC ENOUGH TO BEG? DO YOU BELIEVE I WOULD BEG IF YOUR ATTACK HAD HIT ITS MARK?!” Papyrus roared, shaking Ice Wolf over the river.

“No, please! I pr-promise I won’t do it again!” The gray-furred wolf trembled like a leaf. “Have m-mercy! I’m gonna freeze to death! You just gonna kill me for following orders?!”

Papyrus was ready to drop the traitorous mutt into the freezing stream. Then, sharp, angry words rang out in his mind.

”You’re right! This is unforgivable! A monster taking another monster’s life?! You may as well be as horrible as those humans!”

Papyrus froze.

”...even the worst person can change… anyone can become a better person if they tried. Came the timid words of a child. ”...just as I… and Sans... believe you can too.”

And finally.

”you’re right that you can’t change what you’ve done in the past,” Sans soft, smooth baritone. “the fact that you’re puttin’ so much effort into improvin’ yourself isn’t something you should just brush aside.”

Papyrus shook his head to clear the distracting voices and glowered at Ice Wolf.

“NO, I WILL NOT.” Papyrus gave his right arm a quick jerk. Ice Wolf went crashing into an evergreen, the shakened snow burying him beneath it. “HOWEVER, TELL ME WHO SENT YOU, AND I SHALL SPARE YOU!”

Once Ice Wolf collected himself, his eyes bulged in shock.

Had Ice Wolf not expected him to be merciful?

“I don't remember, I swear!” Ice Wolf genuflected before him.

Rage boiled within Papyrus, threatening to break his composed facade. “YOU DO NOT REMEMBER?!"

"It is like waking up with only the direction to eliminate you. Please, Papyrus, sir, forgive me!"

What the hell? Papyrus glowered at the groveling monster. He decided to file the information away in the back of his mind to address later.

"IF I CATCH YOU ACTING IN GANG ACTIVITIES OF EITHER SIDE, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO DUST YOU!”

Papyrus turned on his heels and stormed off. He claws were clenched so tightly it threatened to break through his gloves. He knew Grillby would be wreaking havoc with his absence. The old veteran’s blood knight tendencies never did end after the human and monster wars. Because of this, Grillby was always itching to start fights and battles.

Before he paid a visit to the bartender, Papyrus decided to head home for a bit. He wanted to check up on Sans and maybe eat some leftovers. When Papyrus entered through the front door, he was met with silence. He’d expected the lazy skeleton to be watching TV in the living room, munching on food or still sleeping upstairs.

Instead, Sans was nowhere to be found.

Chapter Text

Sans stood rooted in the threshold between the upstairs hallway and his not-brother’s room, staring at where the other Papyrus had been standing moments ago. He had left for his patrols around Snowdin. Confusion, disappointment and… pain poured from Sans’s soul.

A Reset had occurred. It was back to square one. Apparently he’d forgotten a number of important things that happened between him and this edgy Papyrus -- Edge? The nickname had a nice ring to it. A familiar one. A sharp pang rang out from Sans’s soul, as though a vital piece of it were missing. He ignored it.

Sans wandered throughout the house, taking note of its differences. The colors were all variations of red, black and brown. Whereas photos of Papyrus and of bones filled his and his brother’s home, this house had few decorations. It was drab and… and incredibly lonely. When Sans finished his self-tour of the place, stepping out of the pristine kitchen, he flicked on the TV. Instead of seeing Mettaton’s wacky sitcoms, the two stations available only played monsters trying to escape violent death traps.

Sans didn’t have the guts to stomach, heh, more than two minutes of the show before turning off the TV. He laid down on the hard couch, trying to catch up on some Zs, but couldn’t stop tossing and turning. Restlessness bubbled forth within him, partly from the lack of information he had of this new and alternate timeline. He itched to explore more of this universe, despite the dangers and Edge’s warning. His first priority would be finding his worldly counterpart’s secret lab.

After deliberate consideration, an idea popped into Sans’s head. He knew it wasn’t safe to roam around in a new universe, especially a dangerous one like this. But if he could use his shortcuts to get to places, then he could remain relatively hidden.

To test his theory, Sans pulled at his magic and pictured the location and appearance of the kitchen. He vanished into the void. His surroundings tilted, discolored blocks flashing before his sockets, and he reappeared standing on the dark tiles of the kitchen. He then took another shortcut, this time aiming for his counterpart’s room. Once again, he saw the same mess of static before he materialized at his destination. A second later, an unexpected wave of fatigue swept through him, causing him to stumble until he seized the desk for support.

His shortcuts worked, though it wasn’t as smooth as it was back home. It also drained his magic far more than he liked. It would be safer for him to use it as a last resort.

Sans took a few minutes to gather his bearings and peered around the dark room. Realizing he would need the key to the secret room, Sans rummaged through the drawer where he usually kept his.

Except it wasn’t there.

He furrowed his brows, wondering where the other Sans could’ve hidden it. There were more differences between their two universes than Sans had expected. He checked under the bed, within the sock drawer, and even in the trash tornado. The treadmill that usually sat in the middle of his room was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a large punching bag.

Maybe this universe’s Sans didn’t lock the door to his secret room?

Sans pulled up his gray hood and stepped out into the bitter cold. He shivered at the dead silence that pervaded the town — a stark contrast to his home Snowdin. Even the house was bare of its usual festive decorations and lights.

Sans strolled behind the building, spotting the familiar grayish-blue door to the secret lab. He tested the knob and was disappointed to find it locked.

Where could his other self had hidden the key? Did Edge have a tendency to snoop in his brother’s room? Is that why the other Sans had hidden it in a different spot than his drawer or room?

Sans sighed, deciding to wait back inside until Edge returned. Just as he walked back to the front of the house, a low growl echoed behind him. With his soul beating rapidly, Sans spun around to find Politics Bear lumbering towards him. He wore a black leather jacket embroidered with purple flames.

“Sans! You think you can hide from me by wearing different clothes?!” Rage tinged his voice. “And your damn brother isn’t even here to protect you!”

Before Sans had a chance to evade, he was pulled into an Encounter.

Politics Bear
LV 10
HP 90/90
AT 10
DF 4

A strawman. And a lost cause.

“Ha! You are weaker than I thought!” Politics Bear sneered as he Checked Sans.

Sans grinned. “hey, pal, why did the king want a bank in his castle?”

Round bullets scattered into the air and encircled him. A cage of white bones sprang around him, dissipating the bullets as they met halfway.

“so he can make knightly deposits.”

Enraged, the ursine charged at Sans. Sans ducked to his left. A volley of alternating length bones erupted from the earth. Caught off guard, he failed to escape the attacks, and was struck by them. Politics Bear howled in pain, striking his thick arms around mindlessly in an attempt to land a hit on Sans.

Dodge left, parry, dodge to the right, and step back. Back and forth the two of them fought, with Politics Bear on the offense and Sans on the defense. Sans threw a few more jokes and puns at him; they managed to distract Politics Bear for a split second pause in his onslaughts. Sans only retaliated with weak, easy to dodge bone patterns. Despite this, given Politic’s LV and Sans’s Karmic Retribution, the damage dealt by the bone attacks far exceeded the number of hits that actually landed on him.

Eventually, Politics Bear was brought down to his knees, panting raggedly with his HP in the low double-digits. He glared at Sans, eyes wild and furious.

“Well?! What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to finish me off?”

How would his counterpart answer?

Sans lifted his arms and shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. “it’s ain’t worth my time. how ‘bout another joke?”

Another round of circular bullets appeared. Sans prepared to sidestep them when, faster than a blink of a socket, Politics Bear charged towards him, snarling like a feral animal and jaw dripping with saliva. The ursine monster swiped his humongous paws with a loud swish; it was a breadth away from ripping into Sans’s ribcage. The fabric of his blue hoodie tore apart. In midst of sudden panic and adrenaline, Sans pictured his sentry station in Snowdin Forest and vanished.

Ear-shattering static met his hearing and indecipherable text flickered across his vision. The world shuddered. Everything went white.

Then, Sans was spat out from the void, falling face-first into the chilly snow. Clumps of the white substance invaded his eye sockets. With a gasp, Sans shook the snow out of his head and stood up, clutching at the surface of the sentry station to steady himself as dizziness swept through him.

He rested against the wooden panels for minutes, keeping his eyes and ears vigilant for native monsters. When his soul finally settled down, and he no longer felt like toppling over, Sans searched within the sentry station for anything that could help his low magic, With his pathetic stats and dwindling magic, he might as well have been free EXP for the monsters of this violent universe.

He grimaced at the three mustard bottles, two nearly empty and one completely full. The other Sans sure had terrible taste in condiments. It was another difference between them that he noted. He cursed his own lack of foresight for not bringing any consumable foods. Then again, this morning had been a string of errors.

A sigh escaped from Sans’s mouth as he grabbed the full bottle. After leering at it for a few seconds as if it were poison, he covered his nose hole, squeezed a mouthful of the disgusting stuff and swallowed. Tears dotted the corners of his sockets as the sour and spicy flavor filled his mouth. He nearly spat it back out but suppressed the urge when he felt the surge in his magic levels. Once they were restored to adequate amounts, he surveyed his surroundings.

He’d somehow shortcutted into the middle of Snowdin Forest. Edge must be flipping out from his disappearance. Sans frowned at the thought of worrying the other Papyrus.
But why would Edge care?

Even if there were some gaps in his memory, Sans found it difficult to imagine them becoming that close after their initial rocky meeting. And why should he believe Edge’s words in the first place? He dusted Snowdrake with barely a second thought.

Despite his grievances against the other Papyrus, a deep sense of longing flooded Sans’s soul, one that gnawed away at the culmination of his entire being.

Sans shook himself from his muddled thoughts and explored the nearby area, eventually discovering a path relatively cleared of trees. He remained on high alert for any ambushes and stayed within the shadows whenever provided. An eerie silence hung in the forest, which only served to heighten the tension building within him, much like an overstretched elastic band. Even the pines seemed to tower over him, giving off a foreboding atmosphere.

He must’ve been in some unexplored area of Snowdin Forest, way off the main path, because it took Sans almost an hour to finally find something recognizable — his brother’s X and O puzzle on the sliding ice panels. Except this one was lined with sharp spikes that reached taller than his slippered feet. Stepping on one of them would not dust him, given their lack of intent, but it would definitely damage him and make him more vulnerable to unpredictable attacks.

While observing the puzzle he realized the solution was the same as his brother’s puzzle, sending a surge of nostalgic longing. Slide across, up, left, down two steps, then finally right. He completed it with ease and continued forward, passing into the next section. Doggo’s empty sentry station came into view.

Sans ducked low and attempted to scurry across the wooden station. Howls echoed around him. He side-stepped to his left just in time to dodge one of Doggo’s daggers. For the second time that day, Sans was yanked into an another Encounter.

Doggo the Destroyer
LV 9
HP 70/70
AT 33
DF 10
Loyal Member of the Royal Guard. Hobbies include eliminating all enemies.

Daggers glinted in the air in an arch, the last few of them glowing orange. They hurdled towards Sans. Left, left, back, right, run forward. He evaded the bullets and orange attacks. Maybe Doggo had a better sense of humor?

“hey, doggo, why did the dog need to go see a dentist?”

Doggo responded by assaulting him with more daggers.

Sans weaved through the pattern without even breaking a sweat. “‘cause one of his canines were loose.”

“Your unfunny jokes will not stop me from pounding you into dust!” the dog sentry snarled and charged forward.

“welp, guess ya can’t dog-on please everybody.”

Sans summoned a series of alternating blue and white bones. Doggo was too late to halt his movements, and received the brunt of both blue and white bone attacks. He crumpled into the snow, his HP ticking down to less than half of his maximum value.

“Since when did you learn blue attack, Sans?!” Doggo roared in disbelief. He jumped right back up, looking ready to strike again.

Right as Doggo’s about to charge forward, he let out an agonized scream. Sans’s eye lights constricted to pinpricks as he saw the blue bone protruding out from his chest, only inches above where his soul was located.

“Make one more move, and you will be dust.”

Standing behind Doggo was none other than the Papyrus of this universe with his crimson eye lights blazing brightly with rage. Doggo’s HP plummeted to a low 6/70.

Before Edge made another move, Sans turned the taller skeleton’s soul indigo and pressed him into the snow. The cyan femur buried within Doggo dissipated immediately, causing the canine guard to collapse like a stringless puppet.

“that’s enough.”

In that moment, deja vu struck Sans harder than ever. Flashes of him using his blue attack to stop Edge and Undyne flittering across his mind. Sans shook his skull.

A pitiful whimper came from Doggo, and the sentry limped away. Sans noticed but didn’t make any attempts to stop him. He turned his attention back to the skeleton struggling against his blue magic.

“WHY DID YOU STOP ME?!” Edge growled

“you were ‘bout ready to dust him. it ain’t worth it.”

“IT WAS JUST A THREAT! I WASN’T PLANNING TO KILL HIM!”

“you sure, buddy? ‘cause that’s not what it looked like.” Sans raised a bone brow in skepticism.

A hurt expression flickered across Edge’s face, it disappearing so quickly that Sans thought he’d imagined it, and was replaced with his typical anger.

“LET ME GO! YOU HAVE ALREADY ALLOWED THAT MUTT TO ESCAPE SO THERE’S NO NEED TO KEEP ME LIKE THIS!!” Edge grunted from fight the strain of gravity keeping him pressed to the ground.

With the immediate danger gone and his magic calmed, Sans suddenly sensed fragments of his own soul mingling together with Edge’s. He released his grip on Edge’s soul as though burned.

Why was that there? And how?

He was about to question it, but the words died from Sans’s mouth as soon as Edge leveled him with a face contorted in fury, towering over his diminutive stature.

“THAT NAIVETE FROM YOUR WORLD DOESN’T WORK HERE! DOGGO WILL BRING US MORE TROUBLE!!” Edge roared.

Sans shuffled his slippers against the snow. “you don’t know that.”

“OF COURSE I DO!” Edge stomped his sharp boots in frustration. “I’VE LIVED HERE ALL OF MY LIFE! HOW WOULD SOMEONE LIKE YOU KNOW ANYTHING OF MY WORLD?!”

“this place is still an offshoot of the original timeline. with differences, there’s also similarities.”

“OH REALLY?” Edge mocked.

“yeah, you, i and every here are all still monsters. made of love, magic and compassion.” Sans’s voice softened as he asked, “what even happened in this universe for monsters to become like this?”

“IT JUST IS! DEAL WITH IT!”

Sans bristled, offended by Edge’s adamant dismissal of his theories. “what’s got your pants in a bunch? too tight for ya?”

“UGH! SOMETIMES YOU CAN BE SO-- SO DIFFICULT!!” Edge took a single stride and loomed over Sans, who shrank back. “YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY?”

Had Edge always been this tall?

“BECAUSE YOU COULD HAVE DIED, YOU DAMN IDIOT! WHY DID YOU EVEN LEAVE THE HOUSE?”

Sans was struck dumb. Edge actually cared about his well-being?

“THE GUARDS COULD HAVE ATTACKED YOU! OR ANY OF THOSE STUPID GANGS!” Edge began pacing back and forth in agitation.

Finally snapping out of his trance, Sans retorted, “and how was i supposed to know that if you never told me? you just up and left with barely any explanation of this place.”

Edge threw his arms in the air in frustration. “SURELY YOU HAD ENOUGH COMMON SENSE TO STAY PUT AND NOT WANDER IN AN UNFAMILIAR UNIVERSE!”

“hey, i didn’t mean to end up here. it just… sorta happened.” He trailed off.

“OH WHAT, DID YOU TELEPORT OUT HERE ‘BY ACCIDENT’?” His tone dripped with sarcasm.

Sans winced. Edge finally stopped pacing and cross his arms, ruby eye lights boring into Sans, causing his magic to tingle strangely.

Feeling faintly and inexplicably embarrassed, Sans stuck his hands in his hoodie pocket, and answered, “how didja guess?”

Edge huffed in resignation and glowered at the ground. “IT DOESN’T MATTER. YOU WOULDN’T REMEMBER EITHER WAY.”

Guilt sprung forth and twisted around Sans like a snake. The melancholy seeping from Edge sent a deep twinge through Sans’s soul.

“sorry,” Sans mumbled after a beat, wondering why he even felt the urge to apologize. “didn’t mean for the situation to end up like this.” He gestured to their white and green-filled surroundings.

“WHETHER YOU MEANT IT OR NOT, IT HAS ENDED UP LIKE THIS, SO I MAY AS WELL DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES.” Edge brushed off any lingering dirt on his red and black armor. He marched past Sans without a glance. “WE NEED TO HEAD BACK!”

A spike of… something — anger, hurt, disappointment? — surged within Sans. He hung his head, gaze lingering at a thick underbrush. A swift movement caught his sight; something green and thin.

A flash of yellow petals, and coiling green vines flickered through Sans’s head.

Before it completely slipped away, Sans pierced a two-inch bone through it. A high-pitched shriek came from the bush, snapping Edge’s attention to the bush as well. Sans could sense the other’s magic heightening in preparation for battle.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” Edge demanded.

After some whines and shuffling of foliage, a yellow flower popped out of the bramble.

“I mean no harm! Please don’t attack me again!” the flower pleaded, his face contorted with fear.

“FLOWEY!” Edge narrowed his sockets and bone constructs emerged from the air. “WHICH ONE ARE YOU?”

Which one? That meant this could’ve been—

Sans’s white pupils blinked out of existence as Flowey’s face flashed between a manic sneer and the current fearful expression.

Vines coiled inside and around his bones, yanking at his lower ribs. His magic buzzed into life.

This was the same flower that had attacked and killed everyone before, wasn’t it? The first anomally?

“Wait! Stop! I mean no harm, honesty! I promise!” The plant monster wiggled in distress. “We need to work together to fix everything! Both our and the original universe are messed up!”

Both Sans and Edge froze, their magic sputtering out.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? WHAT IS GOING ON?”

There was a scoff from the bush, “Perhaps you should let me take over.”

“WHO?!”

The leaves shook violently, scattering snow everywhere. Sans recoiled back a step just as a small human sprang out from it.

They wore a blue sweater with two purple stripes and blue pants. Except their attire also seemed to fade into a green sweater with one yellow stripe. They had fair skin, rosy cheeks, and blood-red eyes that bored at Edge and then Sans. Their lips split into a wide grin as their gaze met with his.

“Howdy, I’m Chara.”

Chapter Text

Papyrus, Sans and their two tagalongs made it back to the house without disruption. They had decided to continue their conversation in the safety of Papyrus’s home. Throughout the trek back, Papyrus sensed something different about this human than when he’d met them in Sans’s universe. For one, they were much more talkative. So much so, in fact, that Papyrus had to hiss at them to remain silent multiple times. Every time he did, they would respond with a creepy, smug expression and shut their mouth for a short interval. Eventually, they would make another snide observation about this world’s Snowdin.

It was infuriating. Papyrus had to resist the urge to knock them out.

He noticed that Sans kept an unrelenting vigil with everything they did. His back and shoulders were taut with tension. It set Papyrus to high alert, and he made sure his magic was readily available to retaliate against the human child.

Once Papyrus had shut and locked the door to his house, he heard Sans address the child.

“so, you’re the human of this universe?” Hints of skepticism bled through Sans’s voice.

The human blinked their red eyes and sneered, “Wow, trashbag--”

Papyrus bristled at the insult.

“You actually forgot everything before that last Reset? That or you really are a numbskull. Aren’t you supposed to be smart?”

“what’s your point?”

They rolled their eyes and picked up Flowey by his stem. “Why don’t you ask your good friend, Flowey, here?”

Papyrus saw the constricting of Sans’s white eye lights and the subtle flinch that he gave as the human brought the flower monster closer to him.

The child’s grin widened. “What’s the matter, Sans? Am I digging up unpleasant memories?”

Protective instinct surged within Papyrus at this insolent child’s taunting, and without even asking for permission, he Checked them.

Frisk Chara

The Human…?

Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets in suspicion at the flavor text.

“WHO ARE YOU? THOUGH YOU WERE WEARING CLOTHES OF THE OTHER UNIVERSE’S HUMAN, YOU ARE NOT THEM!”

The human gasped and clutched at their chest in mock shock, their expression filled with fascination and glee, “You remember me? How surprising! What other surprise do you two have for me? That you two will confess your undying love to each other?”

As soon as those words left the human’s mouth, Papyrus grabbed their crimson soul and smacked them against the wall of the living room with a resounding bang! Before he could continue the assault, vines snaked around his arm and held them still. Papyrus glared at Flowey. Sans stood a few steps away, his sockets as black pits and seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Papyrus would be more concerned if he weren’t consumed with anger.

“Please, don’t attack them further!” Flowey begged. Flowey turned to the human brat crumpled against the carpet. “And stop antagonizing them, Chara. We need their help if we want to fix everything!”

“Fine, fine,” they grumbled as they picked themselves up off the ground and turned to Sans. “I’m from your the same universe and timeline as you. The last Reset must’ve gotten corrupted, and somehow, I replaced Frisk as the main control of this body.”

“FRISK IS THAT OTHER HUMAN. IF YOU WERE ABLE TO POSSESS THEIR BODY, ARE YOU A GHOST?”

Chara shrugged, “Kinda. I don’t have a physical body per sey, but my spirit’s as real as any monster.”

“waitaminute, chara… you’re the first fallen child?” Sans asked in disbelief. “how’re you alive?”

“THE KING AND QUEEN’S ADOPTED CHILD?” Questions whirled within Papyrus’s skull like his brother’s disgusting trash tornado.

The smirk on Chara’s face retracted slightly, suddenly making them appear much older.

“I fell into the Underground, got adopted by the King and Queen, gotten ill and died, blah blah blah.” They waved their right hand dismissively. “It’s not that interesting, and I don’t feel like talking about it right now.”

“WHAT? AND WHY NOT? IT CAN PROVIDE IMPORTANT INFORMATION! TELL US!” Papyrus demanded.

“Nope~!” They were back to their priggish self.

“YOU LITTLE BRAT! I OUGHT TO SIMPLY FORCE IT OU--!”

“Please, don’t fight you guys! We’ve got more urgent stuff to discuss!” Flowey interrupted, vines twisting in the air in warning.

Papyrus clicked his teeth in irritation. In his periphery, he noticed Sans leaning away from the vines and regarding them with apprehension. Sans quickly shook himself out of it and spoke, “so what’s happened during the last reset? why’s everything like this? my brother’s not in this universe?”

“No, because he’s dead!” Chara exclaimed with glee.

Sans’s stiffened, his eye lights blinking out of existence. Papyrus sprang forward readying an attack, assuming that Chara had killed his counterpart.

With a sharp smack of the table, Flowey whined, almost child-like, “Stop it, Chara! This isn’t the time for mean jokes! Just let me continue from here!”

Chara scoffed, “Spoilsport. Fine, whatever. I’m going to find something to eat.” They got up and left for the kitchen.

“DO NOT TOUCH ANY OF MY COOKWARE OR ELSE I’LL--”

“Yeah, yeah, calm down, I’ll just be in the fridge. ”

Papyrus ‘hmpf’ed as Flowey turned to Sans.

“I have not seen your brother here. He might be back in your original universe.”

Sans’s white pupils reappeared. “got any proof of that, bud?”

Flowey shook his body, his petals drooping.

“I’m sorry, I don’t. But rest assured that if he’s,” Flowey pointed a leaf hand at Papyrus, “here then your brother should be back home.”

“WAS HE HERE WHILE I WAS IN SANS’S UNIVERSE?”

“Yeah, he--” Flowey stopped and stared at Papyrus with wide eyes. “How come you can remember what happened? I thought only me and the human remembered stuff that happened in the previous run. How much do you remember, anyway?”

“I DO NOT KNOW HOW, BUT I REMEMBER EVERYTHING UP UNTIL ENCOUNTERING THE WEAK ASGORE.”

“whoa there, edge, just cause king fluffybun’s merciful, doesn’t make him weak,” Sans retorted.

“HE COULDN’T EVEN ELIMINATE A CHILD!”

“killin’ isn’t everything, y’know.” Sans stood with his hands at his sides, body coiled with tension.

Papyrus couldn’t believe Sans had the nerve to say something so self-righteous after everything he had done to better himself. Even though Sans had no memory of it, Papyrus could not stand Sans’s assumptions! Red magic crackled in the air as Papyrus summoned five bone constructs.

“Stop! We can’t afford to keep getting sidetracked! We need to work together to stop the Player, not fight against each other!” Flowey roared, reigning in both skeletons’ attention.

At this exact time, Chara came out of the kitchen with a loaf of bread in their mouth and a plate of lasagna in their hands. They sank into the red, lumpy couch and began stuffing themselves with the lasagna. Papyrus felt his right socket twitch at the sight, desperately hoping that the brat hadn’t messed up his kitchen and won’t spill sauce on the couch. Not that it would be noticable.

“the player...” Sans’s expression grew contemplative.

“You know,” Chara said with a mouth full of food, “the person, or entity, controlling my partner’s actions.”

“PARTNER?”

“They mean Frisk,” Flowey provided.

Sans stuffed his hands in his hoodie pockets and furrowed his brows. “then how’re you going off script?”

“Just like how I had gone off-script back in Undertale. I just can. Always could. Might also be a glitch since the Player’s trying to add data that isn’t supposed to be there. Like this universe, for example.”

A burst of fury, fed by frustration from not understanding this conversation, filled Papyrus. Even Sans appeared befuddled with that last part.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? DATA? GLITCHES? EXPLAIN YOURSELVES!” he stomped his right boot against the carpet.

Flowey crawled over to Chara and settled himself on top of the right arm of the couch. His petals and stem hung lifelessly, from sadness or disappointment, Papyrus couldn’t tell.

“Have you ever wondered why the Underground is the way it is? Ever wondered why things like LV and EXP exists? Or why there’s text when you Check another monster? Why we all have assigned numerical values to things like health?”

Now that this was brought to his attention, Papyrus did find it odd. He had always assume it was simply how their world was.

“It’s because we’re not real.” Flowey said.

“WHAT?! THAT IS ABSOLUTELY PREPOSTEROUS! HOW DARE YOU--!”

“It’s true,” Chara interrupted. “You, Sans, Flowey...” Chara pointed at each of them as they called each of them. “Even me… we’re all just pieces of data that revolve around the actions of the Player. Normally I, or Frisk, is the one they control to progress.”

Chara fell silent and went to scarf down the remainder of their lasagna. Papyrus had the inkling that they had more to say, but they never did.

“PROGRESS WHAT?”

With Chara too busy stuffing themselves, Flowey responded in their place, “Progress through events in the Underground in hopes of getting to the end. Of getting to a happy ending. One where we can reach the surface and finally get away from the Player’s control.”

Papyrus still wasn’t fully comprehending their explanation. He felt like he was still missing some vital piece of information. It didn’t help that Papyrus didn’t trust either the human child or Flowey. For all he knew, this could be an elaborate jape to get them killed.

He glanced over at Sans, who had been unusually quiet during this whole conversation. Said skeleton hunched heavily, as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and had a hollow, familiar weariness about him that Papyrus had come to despise seeing in the smaller skeleton. He strolled over to Sans, wanting to provide some sort of comfort or reassurance to him, when Sans suddenly glared at Chara.

“this still doesn’t answer my earlier question. how is the player not in control of you now?

“Do you not believe what I said earlier? I was always in control!”

They jolted up from the couch, causing the empty plate to crash onto the floor. The words that came out of Chara was distorted and a strange, goopy black substance trickled down their gaping round pits for eyes.

Both Papyrus and Sans recoiled, with Papyrus summoning a row of sharp bones and Sans’s left eye flickering blue and yellow in preparation for an Encounter. Then, without warning, Chara’s face became normal again, their eyes reverting back to their normal crimson and the black inky liquid disappearing completely.

“Anyway, it probably has to do with whatever Gaster did to stop--”

“GASTER?!”

“gaster?”

Both Papyrus and Sans had shouted at once. They gawked at each other for a split second before turning their attention back to Flowey and Chara.

“where didja see him?” Sans’s eye lights swept across the room, as though searching for someone, before settling on the maroon carpet. “been lookin’ for him for years.”

“Well, you’re in luck!” Flowey chimed, springing up to his full two-feet height. “We need both of your help to find him again!”

“AGAIN?! WHY WOULD I WANT TO FIND THE ABOMINATION THAT ATTACKED ME?!” There was no way he would agree to this.

“he attacked you? when? and why?”

“BACK WHEN I WAS IN YOUR UNIVERSE!” Papyrus snarled as he stalked towards Sans. “AND HOW SHOULD I KNOW WHY HE ATTACKED ME?”

“i was just askin’. calm down, pal,” Sans muttered, his arms outstretched in a placating manner.

It only served to infuriate Papyrus more. All of this was just piling up more trouble on top of his already growing list.

“Too bad, Edge, we don’t have a choice but to find him. He’s the only one that has power to overwrite some of the Player’s actions since he’s not fully coded in and not programmed to act a certain way,” Chara said. They picked their ears with their pinky.

“WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN, CODED IN? PROGRAMMED? AND DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

Chara stared into his sockets, eyes unblinking. It was a bit unnerving; not that Papyrus would ever admit to it.

“Really? Aww~ why is Sansy here allowed to call you that but not me?” Their mouth curled into a shit-eating grin. “Why does he get special treatment, hmm~?”

Heat rose to Papyrus’s cheeks. Caught off-guard by the sudden teasing, and still befuddled by all this ridiculous information, he clenched at his gloved phalanges into fists and stormed to the entryway into his house.

To his surprise, Sans took a step to follow him. “where’re ya going?”

“I NEED SOME TIME TO THINK! ALONE! BESIDES, THERE’S SENTRY DUTY TO BE DONE!” Papyrus spun around and wrenched opened the door, nearly breaking it off the hinges. “DO NOT FOLLOW ME! AND ALL OF YOU ARE TO STAY INSIDE!”

He swung the door closed behind him as he left the house. Papyrus took several deep breaths to curb his agitated emotions. As Papyrus began his patrol around Snowdin proper, he realized that he had left before getting the answer to what ‘code’ or ‘program’ Chara was talking about. He cursed at his own rash decision to leave, but it would be an embarrassment to himself if he were to go back now.

Besides, why should he believe all this nonsense?

He tried to sift through all this new information without… distractions. His thoughts immediately went to Sans. The small skeleton had remained surprisingly calm throughout the whole conversation, which wasn’t too strange for Sans but he didn’t even seem skeptical of everything they discussed.

Did Sans know of all this beforehand?

Papyrus frowned, upset and angry at the fact that that there were still secrets that Sans hid from him, even after the conversation they had in Waterfall back in Sans’s universe. He bet his counterpart knew nothing of this as well.

Papyrus froze in front of the Shop, scanning his surroundings. Not a single monster about; the entire town was deserted, and an eerie silence pervaded his surroundings, setting Papyrus on high alert. Even North Snowdin was empty; Ice Wolf who normally hauled ice, was absent. Papyrus narrowed his eye sockets and turned in the direction of Grillby’s. That flaming asshole was probably up to something.

Papyrus bounded in the direction of the bar, slamming the door open when he arrived. The noisy chatter died as though someone hit the mute button. Papyrus was met by a sea of eyes, some of them wide with fear.

The entire canine unit was absent. Good.

Papyrus ignored the patrons and glared at the violet flame monster.

“Captain Papyrus,” Grillby mocked. “What brings you to my humble establishment?”

“CUT THE PLEASANTRIES! I KNOW YOU ARE UP TO NO GOOD! WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?!”

One of the monsters sitting at the bar counter closest to Grillby -- Red Bird, was it? -- stood up to face Papyrus, ready to fight, but Grillby held up a hand.

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken. I’ve been busy managing my business, isn’t that right, everyone?” Nods and a mumble of assents filled the stifling building. “See? I’ve been following my duties like any law-abiding citizen of Snowdin. But what about you, captain?”

Grillby’s shapeless head expanded and sparked brightly as his mouth split into a ghastly grin.

“WHAT ABOUT ME?”

“Word around town claims you are hiding some… unusual individuals at your place.”

Despite his soul clenching in fear at the claim, Papyrus coldly denied, “I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, BUT ANY FALSE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD WILL BE REPORTED TO THE KING!”

Without backing down, Grillby countered, “The same to you, Captain.”

Papyrus trembled with his fists clenched tightly, using every iota of magic in his being to resist making a fiery pincushion out of Grillby.

“ONE STEP OUT OF LINE, AND I WILL END YOU!”

When he left, he made sure to slam the door hard enough for the glass to rattle. The raw anger raging within Papyrus burned away with every step he took back to his house, replaced with worry. Somehow, Grillby had already found out about Sans and Chara. There was no doubt in Papyrus’s mind that he would be the one in huge trouble if the King were to find out that he housed the human.

Had Grillby found out already that Sans wasn’t his brother? Who else, besides blind Doggo, saw Sans?

Papyrus wasn’t willing to wait for the bartender to find out. He had to make sure that no one else see Sans. Of course, when Papyrus got back to his home, he found the living room devoid of anybody.

No Sans. No Chara or Flowey.

Panic bubbled with him as he scrambled around his home, into the kitchen, his room, and finally his brother’s bedroom, all yielding the same result. He was just about ready to punch a hole through the wall when he heard soft chattering coming from outside. Right below the window that the desk and lamp was blocking.

Papyrus swiftly followed the whispers outside until he reached the back of his house. There, he found Chara and Flowey ducked against the door to their basement.

But Sans was nowhere to be seen.

The sight of just the two of them there, without Sans, had him marching over to them in three wide strides. He seized Chara roughly by the collar of their shirt and pressed them against the basement door. Chara groaned at the rough treatment.

“Where’s Sans?!” Papyrus growled, low enough to not draw attention.

“Calm down, Edgelord, he took a shortcut into the basement to try and let us in since we couldn’t find the key,” Chara said.

“Didn’t I tell you three to stay inside? Why the fuck are you even out here?!”

“We’re trying to see if fixing the machine in your brother’s workshop can help us find Gaster,” Flowey explained.

“Yeah, it’s better than sitting in that living room doing nothing,” Chara added as they struggled to get out of Papyrus’s vice-grip.

At that moment, the door swung inward, causing Chara and Papyrus to stumble inside. Papyrus straightened back up and peered around the workshop, the similarity between it and Sans’s almost uncanny. Even the tiles were the same blue.

He saw Sans standing to the side of the room with a silver key in one hand and a worn, spiral ring notebook -- one with pages sticking out and bindings coming apart -- in the other that he was perusing through. As Sans flipped to the next page, the corners of his permanent grin tightened.

Papyrus scowled, brows downcasted. There were so many secrets that his brother had kept from him. So many secrets that Sans had kept from him; ones that shook the entire foundation of what he thought was his world.

Papyrus felt something within him snap as he watched Sans flip through the notebook without any regards to him, not even an offer to let him see it. Without saying anything, he approached Sans and snatched the notebook clean out of his grasp, not caring that pages tore apart from the force of his pull.

“hey! i‘m readin’ that!” Sans reached to grab it back. Papyrus raised the journal out of Sans’s reach, and slapped his hands away with a resounding clack!

“NO MORE SECRET! I AM SICK OF IT! DO YOU AND MY BROTHER THINK WE PAPYRUSES ARE TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND ALL THIS TIMELINE--RESET STUFF?! OR WHY I RETAINED MEMORIES OF THE PREVIOUS RESET WHILE YOU DIDN’T?!”

At Papyrus’s swift movements, one of the pages fell out and fluttered onto the floor. He caught sight of the words scribbled in his brother’s handwriting:

magic transfer from pap. involved souls (?)

A whirlwind of emotions flitted through Papyrus -- shock, confusion, envy, hurt, a slew of others Papyrus couldn’t be bothered to recognize. At the forefront of all of them was rage. Unbridled rage.

With a twitch of his right arm, Papyrus sent three white bones at the others. Flowey shrieked as one of them pierced through his root, keeping him trapped against the floor. The other two stabbed through Chara’s sweater into the wall.

“hey, what’re doing?”

Before Sans could even thought about stopping him, Papyrus turned his soul blue, forcing him to the tiled floor. While keeping his hold on Sans’s soul, Papyrus spun around and stalked towards Flowey.

“YOU WILL TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED HERE WHILE I WAS AWAY! IF YOU DON’T, I WILL BEAT IT OUT OF YOU!”

Chapter Text

After Flowey conceded to Edge’s demands, Sans felt the weight pressing down on him lessen enough for him to escape out of it. His soul gave a startling jolt as Edge’s intense gaze paused at him and then turned to Flowey. Sans shivered involuntarily despite an unrelenting heat surfusing through his core and to the rest of his bones. His soul pulsed like a beating drum within his ribcage.

What was going on? He’d begun to notice his soul reacting increasingly more the longer he’s been in close proximity to Edge --reacting in ways similar to just now.

He was going to check his soul when he’d first shortcutted into the secret workshop, but then got distracted by the key and notebook lying in the middle of the floor of the workshop. It had mentions of his brother in the latest entries, distracting him until his reading got interrupted by Edge.

As Sans listened to Flowey’s explanation of everything that had happened, his need to fix the machine increased. Flowey received few interruptions as he told about how Papyrus had tried to befriend everyone --his brother was so cool!-- and impersonated Edge in an attempt to stop the gang fights in Snowdin. Edge’s frown deepened considerably at that part.

“And so, after the Player met all of us in the Save Screen, they tried to Reset everything. Gaster came to stop them, and now we’re in this situation.”

Silence filled the workshop as Flowey finished. Sans thought long and hard, but nope, he couldn’t recall any of that happening.

“I DO NOT REMEMBER MEETING THIS ‘PLAYER’,” Edge comment with a scowl, arms crossed tightly in front of him.

Sans had the strange urge to reassure the other.

“welp, me neither. guess that makes two of us.” Edge’s expression lightened ever-so-slightly. “anyway, i think we should get started on fixing this machine.”

Not only because he wanted to find Gaster and reverse all the damage this Player had caused, but also to ensure the safety of his brother. There was no doubt that he had swapped places with his counterpart. He wondered if the other Sans also forgot everything that had occurred in the previous run.

Sans browsed through the drawers to look for blueprints of the machine. Upon closer inspection, a strong sense of deja vu struck him.

Edge was leaned over besides him, the two of them looking through various blueprints of the machine.

Sans stumbled backwards and felt his spine hit a towering, bony structure. He peered upwards and found himself staring into a pair of red eye lights.

Another flash of deja vu, and suddenly, the same eye lights were filled with anger and hatred. An electric current shot through Sans’s entire body. Sans flinched as though burned and ripped himself away from Edge, his soul pounding rapidly behind his sternum.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

“ye-yeah, i’m fine.” Sans shivered, though he couldn’t identify the exact cause. The heat from earlier also returned.

Edge huffed and continued to peruse the notebook clutched tightly in his fists. Sans didn’t miss the pain that flitted across Edge’s face. Suspicion gnawed at Sans’s soul, swiftly replacing the heat that had been there.

Why the hell was his body and soul reacting in this way? Did he really become that close to Edge in the previous timeline? Or had the violent monster done something to him? He couldn’t imagine Edge doing something like that. After all, he was still a Papyrus at his core.

Flowey interrupted Sans’s ruminations with, “I’m going to go outside for a bit.”

The flower had his vines clinging to the door.

“why?” Sans asked, sockets narrowing. He still didn’t trust the flower.

“To check for any differences or abnormalities in Snowdin.”

“Good idea, Flowey. Be on a lookout for glitches,” Chara suggested while bobbing their head.

Sans looked over at Edge and found the taller skeleton frowning at the suggestion.

“IF YOU DO, MAKE SURE TO REMAIN HIDDEN!”

“That’s easy. I’m good at weedling my way around the Underground.” Flowey winked at Sans, opened the door to the workshop and burrowed under the snow.

Caught off guard, it took Sans a few seconds to catch the pun. He heard a groan and a snicker as he chuckled. Maybe this universe’s Flowey was truly good, opposite of the weed he remembered from back home. There were quite a few opposite qualities of this place compared to his own timeline’s.

Sans sauntered around towards the posterior of the machine, picking out a dented panel with some wires poking out. Chips and scratches littered the surface of it. With a grunt, he wrenched open the panel; it swung opened with a loud creak. He expected some exclamation from either Chara or Edge from the sound, but received nothing. Peering around the machine for the other two, Sans saw Chara leaning against the wall with their eyes closed. Edge, meanwhile, was sifting through the various blueprints, his ruby eye lights narrowed in concentration with brows furrowed and a deep frown.

Besides Edge’s earlier use of blue magic on him, and dusting snowdrake, he didn’t seem so bad. If his soul reactions when in close proximity to Edge was from their previously formed friendship (were they even friends?), shouldn’t he put some effort into mending it? It would be better than constantly being on edge, heh, with the other.

Hoping to lighten the awkward, tense atmosphere, Sans lifted a fist up to the closest wall and struck it twice in quick succession.

“knock knock.”

Edge glared at Sans. “I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES. AND THERE’S NO TIME FOR IT!”

Sans drooped and reverted to examining opened panel, feeling oddly hurt from Edge’s cold rejection. There seemed to be some missing pieces within the panel. Sans wondered if replacing the pieces would get the machine working again. His concentration was interrupted by a rancorous banging from outside.

“Captain? Captain?! We have a situation!” The tone was sharp, husky, and decidedly female.

Edge’s head snapped towards the door, and then glanced over at Sans and Chara.

“YOU ARE NOT TO LEAVE THIS ROOM WHILE I DEAL WITH THIS!”

The taller skeleton was gone before Sans could refute the order. A resigned huff escaped past his teeth as he turned his attention back to the machine, only to find Chara’s red pupils boring into him with their lips curled into a knowing grin. A blurry, terrible grin with the bright glint of a knife flickered across Sans’s mind. He straightened into a battle-ready stance, lifting his left arm out of his hoodie pocket.

“What’s the matter, comedian? Don’t worry, I won’t attack you while he’s gone, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“i’m not sure i believe that, pal.”

Chara’s smirk widened, nearly splitting their face.

“Oh? And why’s that? Because you don’t remember what I did last timeline?” They shrugged. “Then again, who can you trust in this universe?” It was less of a question and more of a statement.

“definitely not you.”

“What about that edgy Papyrus?”

“what about him?” Sans’s shoulders stiffened.

“Do you trust him?”

Sans hesitated on answering, reflecting back to their recent interactions and his reactions to them.

“i do.”

“Do you now? Because I think you’re lying~.” Chara tilted their head slightly to the left and brought a finger to their chin. “If you really trusted him, why are you so jumpy around him, hmm? You may not remember what happened in the last timeline, but your body clearly does.”

Sans was about to counter their argument, but Chara interrupted him before he could, “Think of it this way, Sansy. With the high LV Edgelord has, he probably has little regard towards other’s lives.”

Sans didn’t comment on how hypocritical of a comment that was coming from Chara. He didn’t even need his memories of previous timelines to discern that they’ve killed monsters before with little to no compunction.

“What’s to say he’s being nice to get you to trust him. And then use you for his own gains?”

“no. he wouldn’t,” Sans denied, tone flat.

Sans returned his attention to the machine in an attempt to ignore what Chara had said; it wormed itself into him like a parasite in rotten meat, spreading its poison.

“Why? Because he’s still Papyrus? Or because you believe everyone can change and become a good person if they tried?”

Those words brought another bout of familiarity, temporarily stunning Sans. When the feeling passed, Sans’s phalanges were clenched into tight fists and a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

“Whatever, if you don’t believe me,” Chara scoffed. “But don’t forget that he remembers what happened previously while you don’t. He may have done things last time that you don’t know, and he could choose to not tell you.”

Their comment struck a chord within Sans.

Did Edge do something to him to cause his soul to react like the way it did when he was around Edge?

Sans saw Chara shuffling through the various drawers, humming a nostalgic tune. He huddled in as much as he could behind the machine, away from the kid’s view, and brought his hands close to his sternum. With a deep breath, he summoned his soul, making sure to cover the white-blue organ within his palms. His eye lights blinked out of existence in shock.

There, swirling within it, were spots of indigo.

What? How? This couldn’t be-- he’d soul bonded with Edge?!

Sans didn’t know much about soul bonds but he knew enough to recognize it when he saw one. And the only way he could’ve done it is if he and Edge had been--

What Chara had said earlier made the magic coursing through him freeze.

Edge wouldn’t have tried to… force himself on him… would he?

With a sudden and loud bang, the door to the secret workshop slammed open. After returning his soul to its rightful place, Sans spun around to face Edge. Said monster towered within the threshold, skull contorted with fury. Edge’s oppressive and agitated magic poured out of him in waves, hitting Sans and forcing him a step back.

“SOME URGENT MATTERS HAVE SPRUNG UP IN WATERFALL AND IT REQUIRES MY ATTENTION. YOU TWO ARE TO EITHER STAY IN HERE OR STAY IN THE HOUSE WHILE I DEAL WITH THIS. YOU ARE NOT TO LEAVE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.”

Once the shock faded, Sans argued, “aren’t ya gettin’ tired of giving orders to us all the time?”

Edge’s bone brows twitched violently. “OF COURSE I AM! I WOULDN’T EVEN NEED TO GIVE THEM IF YOU HAD MORE COMMON SENSE AND LISTENED TO ME LAST TIME! WHEN I COME BACK, YOU TWO HAD BETTER STILL BE HERE!”

A bout of irritation bubbled forth within Sans as he snuck his fists into his parka. “no.”

Edge marched over to Sans in three wide strides and loomed over him.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” Edge ground out, tone soft but carrying a dangerous undercurrent.

Sans stood his ground. “i’m tired of listening to you orderin’ me around, pal. i can handle myself. ’m not your bro. or some pawn of you--”

Sans gasped as, without warning, a gloved hand hoisted him up into the air by the collar of his jacket. A pained yelp slipped past his teeth as he was pressed roughly against the wall.

“BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY NEXT, WHELP! BECAUSE I AM SICK OF DEALING WITH YOUR SHIT!”

Sans’s soul tingled and trembled with something he couldn’t identify, which only confirmed his fears and Chara’s earlier words. He kicked his feet out in an attempt to get free against Edge’s vice grip. When it failed to do anything, Sans glared at Edge with blackened sockets.

“Then why don’t you tell me how I soul bonded with you?”

The taller skeleton’s eyes bulged out comically and dropped Sans unceremoniously onto the tiled floor.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I DID NOTHING OF THE SORT!” Edge’s cheeks were flushed a deep red.

“I’m supposed to just believe that I miraculously got a part of your soul in mine?”

Edge gaped at him in disbelief. “I-- WHA--?”

"Did I even agree to it? Probably not given how you seem to take whatever you please. And why do it?” Sans’s left socket flickered yellow and cyan, stance rigid. “Is it to use--”

A sound of bone hitting bone echoed within the room as Edge struck him across the face, the force of the strike jerking his head to the right and cutting off whatever else he had to say. Sans’s eye lights reemerged as shaky phalanges slowly reached for the blue-tinged cheek.

Magic crackled in the air, and Edge’s scarlet pupils flared. “HOW DARE YOU MAKE SUCH ACCUSATIONS! WHY WOULD SOMEONE LIKE ME WANT TO SOUL BOND WITH A LAZY AND WORTHLESS PILE OF BONES LIKE YOU?!”

“At least I don’t go around murdering every monster I meet.”

Sharp bones emerged into the air and embedded themselves along the tiled floor and wall. They weren’t aimed at anyone in particular, though one was buried inches above Sans’s head.

“AND I’M SICK OF YOUR FUCKING JUDGMENTAL ATTITUDE! I’D RATHER DIE THAN SOUL BOND WITH YOU!”

The air around them suddenly became deathly still. A searing pang ripped through Sans’s soul, the sensation similar to taking on a direct attack.

Feeling hurt and frustrated, he retaliated back, “if you’re so sick of me, then what’s the point of orderin’ me to stay?”

“THEN LEAVE! I HAVE MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS TO DEAL WITH THAN YOU AND ALL THIS SCIENCY BULLSHIT!”

Not wanting to stay in the stifling room any longer, Sans used his shortcut to reappear in his counterpart’s dark room. Sans plopped down onto the dirty, unmade mattress and stared blankly at the wall, waiting for the pain in his soul to subside. It felt like hours when his mind finally processed everything that had happened since his awakening in this universe. His annoyance and suspicion of Edge faded; with it gone, guilt took its place.

He needed some space away from the other Papyrus to figure out what he actually felt towards the other. But how? And where?

Sans eyes trailed to his doppleganger’s closest, catching sight of the thick, black leather jackets. After a minute’s glance at his blue parka, and then the closest, Sans slipped out of his blue attire and donned one of his counterpart’s.

It weighed more than his own, and was a fair bit larger as well. He zipped it up to cover his white shirt and flipped over the hood to cover most of his face. With his disguise set, Sans stepped back out into the dreary chill of this universe’s Snowdin.

He’d thought about hiding out in Waterfall for a bit, but stopped in his tracks when he caught the flashing Grillby’s neon sign.

He could use some burg slathered in ketchup right now. And if he acted like this world’s Sans, probably rude and angry, nobody would notice. After all, hadn’t his own brother pretended to be Edge with some success?

How hard could it be. It was still him in a way.

Guilt consumed him again at the thought. If he and his counterpart were still Sans, then Edge was still Papyrus.

He shouldn’t have let Chara’s words cloud his judgment of Edge.

Sans looked in the direction of the secret room, contemplating on returning and apologizing to the other, but ultimately deciding not to. Edge probably didn’t want to see him anyway.

Sans let out a weary sigh and strolled over to Grillby’s. All chatter ceased and a sea of eyes stared at him. There were less patron than he’d expected with the whole canine unit absent. He was surprised to see the purple Grillby; another difference between their universes.

“whaddya lookin’ at?” Sans growled.

“You’re still here!” Drunk Bunny, whose normally swirly-eyes were angry lines. “We thought you were dead.”

“‘m not dead, and mind ya own business!”

Sans hoped that was convincing enough. He sauntered over the the bar counter, paying no mind to the continued ogling. Eventually, the low buzz of conversation restarted, easing some of the tension in Sans’s shoulders.

“hey, grillbz, i’ll have an order of burg and some ketchup.” Sans kept his voice low and gruff.

“burg and ketchup?”

“Yep.” Sans could feel sweat beading on the back of his skull.

Was that not what his counterpart usually got?

To Sans’s relief, Grillby ducked behind his counter for a brief moment and pulled out a bottle of the red condiment. He settled it onto the wooden counter with a resounding clunk. Sans took a single small sip of it, and could barely suppressed the pleased sigh from escape his mouth.

Yep, this was the good stuff, though it had a bit of a spicy kick to it that he contributed to, again, universe differences.

”I’m happy to see you, Sans. Good to know you’re still… alive. Where’ve you been?”

This Grillby was more of a talker than he expected.

“i’ve been home. just, y’know, busy with some things.” Sans gave a shrug. “helpin’ around the house.”

“Your brother’s orders, no doubt?”

“heh, you know him, always orderin’ me around.” His soul gave another painful spasm.

“Mhmm.” The top portion of Grillby’s embers crackled and sparked, and for a tense second, Sans thought he’d been caught; but then the bartender went into the kitchen without a word. The sizzling sound of oil could be heard coming from it.

Sans could sense eyes on him as he sipped away at the ketchup.

Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. Forget about the food, he should leave before the monsters here got too suspicious.

He stood up from his stool and felt the world spin around him. Blinking slowly, he noticed that his vision was blurry.

What the hell?

Sans took a single step forward. Then his world went black.

Chapter Text

Papyrus hid in the igloo tunnel, keeping a sharp eye out for the trap that he’d laid. He’d slipped some false leads to both the Infernos and the Hunters to set the scene.

It didn’t take long for Punk Hamster’s stout but short form to come into view; at the same time Nacarat Jester approached from the opposite direction. The two were second-hand men of the Infernos and the Hunters, respectively. Papyrus stepped out of the igloo to make himself known.

“Ya tricked us, you lying bastard!” Punk Hamster hissed at Nacarat as a magically-constructed wheel shimmered into existence.

In response, Nacarat Jester hissed, “This was a set up!”

Punk Hamster scoffed, spat on the ground and charged towards Papyrus while Nacarat Jester summoned a ring of seven orbs around himself. Before any of them could attack, Papyrus used his magic to turn both of their soul blue, forcing them to the ground.

“What?!”

“The hell?!”

Both monsters froze in their struggling when they saw him approach. Papyrus smirked at the sight of Snowdin residents trickling into the area from the anticipation of a fight. It was perfect; he would make this a public demonstration so that no one else dared to defy his rule, to crush the gang activity that plagued Snowdin once and for all.

Papyrus stood, his back rigid and his right arm pointed at them. “FOR BOTH OF YOUR CONTINUED PARTICIPATION IN THE INFERNOS AND THE HUNTERS DESPITE ME OUTLAWING THEM, YOU TWO SHALL BE PUNISHED!” He declared with enough volume so every single monster would hear.

“Punished how?” Nacarat Jester sneered. “By locking us up?”

With a snap of his gloved fingers, bones burst from the earth, impaling through the Hunter member. Nacarat Jester didn’t even have a chance to scream before he became a pile of dust. Two seconds later, Papyrus felt a rush of power and an increase in LV. His sharp teeth cracked into a wicked smile as he turned his attention to the remaining monster.

“Pl-please, Papyrus! Our, our amazing C-captain!” Punk Hamster whimpered. “H-have mercy! I--I’ll quit, I swear!”

Papyrus held Punk’s gaze for a full minute before releasing Punk’s soul. Just as the hamster turned to flee, Papyrus skewered a sharpened femur bone through his torso. A choking sound slipped from Punk’s mouth, and he, too, became powder.

Pathetic, that goveling fool didn’t even provide enough EXP to raise his level.

Papyrus glared at the fear-stricken monsters crowded around the area.

“THIS WAS A DEMONSTRATION OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I CATCH ANY ONE OF YOU PARTICIPATING IN EITHER GANGS. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING.”

To rid the plague that corrupted his brother into what he’d become — lazy and apathetic unless it pertained to the Infernos, Papyrus would stop at nothing to get rid of them. Even if it cost him his mercy and kindness.

---

Anger wormed back and forth within Papyrus, Sans’s words and accusation only further fueling it. He stood with his shoulders drawn back, entire frame trembling and phalanges clutched so tight as fists that he would tear through his gloves.

He’d formed a soul bond with Sans? Ridiculous! That was unheard of in his world, only a fantasy. It must’ve been a mistake.

And how dare Sans accuse him of such a thing! He may not have been the best of monsters in recent years, but he would never, never force himself on someone. The thought filled him with revulsion.

A low whistle pierced through his clouded rage, his skull snapping to that human brat. They were leaning against the workbench. They glanced at the door and then back at him, a mix of glee and curiosity glinting in their red eyes.

“That was quite the heated argument you two had there. Sansy really rattled you, didn’t he?” The smugness in their tone had Papyrus wanting to knock them senseless. “Man, you were so angry, you looked ready to kill him.”

“I WOULD NEVER!” he retorted vehemently as sharp pangs shot out from his soul at the human’s accusations.

Had he really allowed his anger to control him again? Wasn’t that the cause of so much of his problems and led to the failed relationship he had with his brother?

“Well, I guess part of it was because of what I said to him earlier,” Chara said, flicking their hair.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“I was only messing around with the comedian. Teased him a bit about how he couldn’t remember how close you two got but you did.” Chara winked. Papyrus’s nonexistent gut plummeted. “I didn’t realize he would take it as badly as he did.”

Chara gave a shrug, turning their attention back to the blueprints. Papyrus’s breath caught in his throat as he pondered over what they’d said. Something wasn’t adding up. With a growl, he marched up to them and seized them by their shirt collar.

“WHAT ELSE DID YOU SAY TO HIM, YOU CRETIN? I KNOW HIM BETTER THAN YOU THINK. HE WOULD NOT BELIEVE YOUR WORDS SO READILY!”

Chara didn’t answer him for several minutes, head hung low so their bangs hid their eyes. He shook them roughly in impatience. They eventually peered at him with a splitting grin.

“I also suggested that you had an advantage over him with your memory of the past timeline. How fragile was his trust in you that he even considered my suggestion, hmm? Maybe everything that happened between you two had been all a huge fluke.”

Papyrus tossed Chara onto the tiled floor like a sack of potatoes and retorted, “NO IT WAS NOT! THIS—THIS WAS ALL YOUR DAMN FAULT!”

Without giving them time to recollect themself, Papyrus pulled Chara into an Encounter.

Frisk Chara
HP 20/20
LV 1
AT 0 DF 0

*Is lost.

Papyrus found the flavor text odd but ignored it as he assaulted them with a slew of jagged bones. They jumped up and rolled sideways.

“Oh? Did I hit a nerve, Edgy?” Chara teased, a wry smile adorning their lips.

Ping! Papyrus picked the human up by their soul and threw them against the wall with a loud smack. They grunted as they hit the floor.

“YOU RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU INSTIGATED THIS NEEDLESS FIGHT WHEN WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING TOGETHER!”

High-pitched giggling poured from Chara, making him wince at the crazed, almost desperate sound.

“Work together? After all you’ve done? Pul-ease! Just because I was in the back seat during Frisk’s little adventure in the last run, doesn’t me I didn’t know or see what you’d done. You think you’re above consequences for murdering another monster just because you wanted to change? Wanted to redeem yourself? Hah! There’s no redemption for monsters like us!”

“STOP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” Papyrus roared, repeatedly stamping his foot into the tiles.

Despite knowing Chara was only taunting him to get a desired reaction, he still fell for their goad, picking them up once again with blue magic and tossing them into a sharp, cyan bone protruding from the ground. They shrieked in pain as it punctured through their left side.

Papyrus approached them step by step, a click echoing from his boots with every gait. His head buzzed like a swarm of bees, and red filled his vision. Chara lifted their head off floor and bore into him, bloodied lips still curled into that infuriating sneer.

“Are you gonna kill me now? Go ahead! I only have one more HP to spare! It’ll be so easy for you to just end my sad existence!”

He wanted to end it. He wanted to crush them and never hear another word from their mouth.

But what would he gain from that?

Absolutely nothing except a confirmation of what Chara had just said. He would be no better than them, no better than the old him who took monsters’ lives like they were nothing to him.

He remembered when he’d first fought the other human, Frisk, and how they believed in him. Just as how Sans believed in him. He’d made a promise. Not only to Sans, but also to himself; he’d promised that he would become a better monster. He wouldn’t be the Great Papyrus if he couldn’t even keep his own words.

Like scattering clouds broken by the sun after a thunderstorm, his anger dissipated. His vision returned to normal, and as he returned Chara’s gaze, scrutinized their facial expression, he saw the droop of their brows, the darkened circles under them, and the melancholy in their crumpled form.

‘Monsters like us’, they’d said earlier. No doubt they meant the figurative ones that those human children's books depicted. Perhaps the two of them weren’t so different.

Papyrus understood, then, the meaning behind their flavor text. Lost; similar to a period he had experienced and sometimes still experienced.

The bone construct shattered into nothing. With a heaving sigh, he ended the Encounter.

“Wha--?”

“Killing you would accomplish nothing, and only prove your point. you and I are similar. We have both made poor choices in the past and regret them. I believe —no, I know I can change for the better. ” Chara’s red pupils widened as he held out his hand to them. “It would be hypocritical of me if I cannot offer the same belief in you. You only have to believe in yourself.”

The two of them remained motionless for several long minutes. Eventually, a hesitant, shaky hand grasped his, and he pulled them up. They wobbled, grimacing as they clutched at their wounded side. Crouching to their height, Papyrus reached into his inventory and proffered a Spicy Bun he’d acquired from the Snowdin Shop.

“You’re seriously offering this to me?” Chara asked incredulously.

“OF COURSE, I CAN ALWAYS ACQUIRE MORE.”

Their eyes narrowed. “Ok, what’s your deal? First you were trying to kill me and now… this? What are you trying to gain here? My good side?”

Their doubt and distrust resonated with him. After all, hadn’t he thought the same thing when Sans had first offered him help?

“You may believe that you are irredeemable, but step by step, you can change for the better.”

His mind wandered back to Sans, to the time after he’d met Snowdrake’s father, when the small skeleton had comforted him when he thought of giving up. He heard the voice of the kind Snowdin Shopkeeper: Everyone makes mistakes. It’s good that you recognize that and are willing to change… Keep it up and you’ll get there eventually.

Did Chara have anyone to encourage them to do better? He doubted it.

Papyrus straightened his back, still offering the Spicy Bun, and stated, “PERHAPS YOU JUST NEED A LITTLE BIT OF SUPPORT. I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, WILL YOUR BACKBONE.”

Something glittered in their eyes before they dipped their head. A soft giggle slipped from their mouth, “He’s, he’s really rubbed of on you.”

Heat rushed to Papyrus’s skull when he picked up on the unintentional pun, figuratively cursing at surcumbing to Sans’s poor taste in puns.

“But I can’t believe it,” they whispered, chin quivering and mouth curled into a frown. “You could have ended me. For good. I can’t Reset or Reload. You didn’t even know that and yet.” They sniffled. “And yet you still spared me. Offered to help me.” The human finally looked up at Papyrus.

He was caught off guard by the tears trickling down their cheeks, but quickly rebounded. “BECAUSE I BELIEVE YOU CAN BECOME A BETTER PERSON.”

A minute later, Chara finally accepted the Spicy Bun, cheeks flushed pink. “Thanks.”

When their health fully restored, they turned away to face the wall, as though embarrassed. Papyrus nodded with satisfaction, his thoughts snapping back to Sans. Guilt churned within him as their last conversation replayed in his mind. He’d said some hurtful, regretful things to the other, had basically thrown him out into the wild without any means of protection.

A stab of panic froze him momentarily before he scrambled towards the door. Without saying anything, he dashed outside towards the front of his housing, praying to the stars that Sans had simply decided to crash at his place. He called out for the other.

But nobody came.

Upon reaching his brother’s room, he discovered Sans’s blue hoodie discarded near the old, ratty mattress and one of his brother’s red-and-black jackets missing. His soul constricted as he searched every corner of the room in desperate hope of finding any clues as to where Sans could have gone. When nothing came up, he slammed a gloved fist into the wall from the pent up stress, leaving a crack in it.

“What’s the wall ever done to you?” Chara’s voice chimed in.

Papyrus startled, his eye lights flaring. They settled at the sight of the human. Their brows were furrowed in confusion.

“SANS HAS LEFT. YOU WILL STAY HERE AS I LOOK FOR HIM.”

He left before he heard their response. Once outside Snowdin, he spotted a set of familiar footprints leading to Grillby’s. Papyrus sprinted over to the establishment, swearing repeatedly. His heightened magic threatened to raze the grease pit.

For the second time that day, Papyrus stormed through the entrance with a slamming of the door, his back straight, right arm directed at Grillby and right arm akimbo. Everyone else was nonexistent to him; his attention was solely focused on the fire monster.

“WHERE IS SANS?!”

“Whatever do you mean? I have not seen… your brother,” the flickering edge of Grillby’s indistinct head darkened in color.

“I WILL NOT FALL FOR YOUR LIES, GRILLBY! DO YOU THINK I AM THAT STUPID TO NOT NOTICE HIS FOOTPRINTS LEADING TO THIS PLACE?” Papyrus snarled.

He snapped his fingers. Five bones materialized in mid-air, all of them aimed at Grillby, and hurtled towards him. Violet flames engulfed them until they were nothing but ash. He was about to send another barrage when the sound of wood scraping on wood reached his ear.

Papyrus suddenly saw fireballs, daggers, bombs and a whole slew of other bullets hovering in the air, every one of them targeted at him.

Grillby stood behind his counter, arms outstretched on either side of him. “Do not forget, Papyrus, that you are in my territory. If you attack me again, you are fighting not just me, but the Infernos in its entirety!”

Papyrus barely held back his scoff of disdain. He had become a Royal Guard in the first place to combat the gangs. He would’ve loved to beat every one of these monsters senseless as punishment for restarting the feud between the Infernos and the Hunters, but he had a far more important problem to address first.

“I WILL CEASE MY ATTACKS IF YOU TELL ME WHERE SANS IS!”

“All I can say is orders are orders,” Grillby answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

Orders? From Asgore?

Papyrus left Grillby’s without a word.

Once he got Sans back, he would fix everything wrong with Snowdin; he would change it for the better. But right now, he needed to make sure Sans never meets with this world’s Asgore. There’s no doubt in his mind that no good would come out of it. And if the King was involved, then Alphys was almost guaranteed to be involved as well.

As Papyrus approached his house, he heard the tale-tell echoes of fighting. His sockets twitched in annoyance, already anticipating what he’d find. And sure enough, he saw the human in a fight with Ice Wolf. Chara appeared unharmed, leaping up to evade a claw swipe.

Remembering their inability to Reload if they died, Papyrus prepared to interrupt and end the Encounter but noticed that they were holding off well on their own, dodging Ice Wolf’s claws without a misstep. In fact, they seemed to be reasoning with him. Ice Wolf’s attacks faltering until he froze at the sight of Papyrus.

“Ca-captain! I--this human...” he stammered, his tail tucked between his legs and form shrinking.

Papyrus frowned. He was the one that brought on this fear.

“THEY ARE WITH ME. IF YOU HAVE NO OTHER MATTER WITH THEM, THEN LEAVE US,” he ordered firmly, crossing his arms.

Ice Wolf’s eyes widened in bewilderment and then nodded. “Th-thank you for sparing me, Captain!” He spun around to leave. Before he did, he glanced furtively in the direction of Grillby’s and then whispered, “I heard some rumors that the Royal Scientist was interested in your brother. Offered, uh, y’know, high price for him. Please don’t tell him I told you or I’ll be a goner.”

Papyrus kept a cool mask, though dread seeped into his soul. He reassured the other that nothing would happen to him, and the wolf monster fled

“At least we know where your soulmate is,” Chara teased with a twinkle in their eye.

“BE QUIET! HE IS NOT… my s--mate,” Papyrus trailed off as heat suffused his cheekbones. “AND WHAT DID I TELL YOU EARLIER ABOUT STAYING IN THE HOUSE? YOU ALL ARE INCAPABLE OF FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS!”

“Hey, I helped convince Ice Wolf to tell you what happened to Sans, didn’t I? Isn’t that worth some praise?” Chara asked, crossing their arms.

“FINE, I WILL CONCEDE ON THAT POINT. BUT YOU SAID YOU CAN’T RESET? WHY?”

Chara grimaced and tugged on the front tips of their hair. “I don’t know. Ever since I woke up in this run, I haven’t seen any Save Points, and I can’t access the menu to Reload. Guess I’ll just have to be extra careful. Or have you be my bonyguard.”

“THAT WAS TERRIBLE!” It also reminded him of his earlier pun. “I WILL WATCH OUT FOR YOU IF YOU DO THE SAME. NOW LET’S GO!”

Papyrus’s concern over Sans’s well-being and what Alphys might do sped him on with Chara jogging to keep up with his wide and swift strides. It didn’t take long for the two of them to get passed the dense mist (and dust) settled near the entrance to Waterfall. When Papyrus stepped into the marshy, wet area, his jaw hung open.

“Whoa, what happened here?” Chara had verbalized his exact thoughts.

Instead of the dark, dreary red hue that he expected to find, Waterfall flickered rapidly between the blue of the other universe’s Waterfall and the red of his own. Drifting in the air were tiny white particles, indiscernible symbols and repeating numbers.

“Looks like whatever Gaster tried to do blotched both worlds,” Chara stated. “Those white specks? They’re glitches.”

Papyrus opened his mouth to answer when a sudden bout of excruciating pain exploded from his soul. It convulsed and felt as if it would split in two. The agony was so unbearable that he sank to one knee, clenching his claws against the damp earth. It continued for what seemed like hours. When it finally passed, Chara was crouch in front of him, hands in the air and twitching with the indecisive urge to help.

“What happened?”

After the haze of pain cleared, fear and dread overwhelmed Papyrus. Something must’ve happened to Sans, something bad, and it had somehow transmitted to his soul.

“You alright there, Edge?” Chara asked, the concern in their voice surprising him. He didn’t have time to dwell on it though.

He forced himself to stand, inhaled deeply and pointed forward. “WE MUST HURRY.”

They passed through several sections of Waterfall, glitches found everywhere with the echo flowers and scenery fluctuating between red and blue, mingling into a violet color. Eventually, Papyrus recognize the looming shape of Undyne’s angry fish house.

Except standing in front of the house was a shining armor-clad Undyne carrying a glowing cyan spear. She turned her attention to them, paused and then charged, stopping in front of them with a loud clang of her armor.

Papyrus scowled deeply, already feeling a headache forming. Because, somehow, the two worlds’ Undyne had swapped places.

Chapter Text

When Sans came to, he found himself lying on a cold, hard surface. Thick leather straps trapped his arms, ankles, and chest to a smooth surface, and any attempts he made to escape led to bouts of dizziness. By the time his vision finally cleared, it had to adjust to the blinding fluorescent light shining down on him. Sterile white walls surrounded him, adorned by shelves filled with flasks of oddly colored liquid. He also noticed, to his great alarm, that his dark jacket had been removed, leaving only the thin white shirt. He still felt utterly exposed.

Last he remembered, he’d been at Grillby’s. Or this violent world’s Grillby’s. He’d ordered food, chatted with the elemental, drank some ketch— he’d been so stupid to walk into the bar without regards to Grillby’s disposition. No wonder he’d blacked out and somehow ended up here.

Sans struggled within his bonds, and when that failed, he visualized Edge’s house within his mind and grasped at his magic. Except it was being restricted, as though the essence of his magic were trapped within plastic wrap, unable to be summoned. He glanced down and only then saw the metal cuffs wrapped around each of his wrists. Whenever he tried to reach for his magic, a tiny red light would blink, followed by the repressive heaviness pressed against his magic.

An electronic buzzing suddenly reached his nonexistent ears, and the door to the room— a lab of some sort— slid open. He heard the tap, tap, tap of heeled footsteps and something being rolled along the floor. Sure enough, a yellow lizard wearing swirly glasses, a stained lab coat and tan latex gloves came into view.

“alphys?”

A crazed smile crept onto her snout when she heard him. The bright light in the room casted a glare on her spectacles, sending warning signals to go off in Sans’s head. “Oh good… you’re AWAKE.”

She scurried over with whatever she was rolling. A silver tray lined with needles, syringes, scalpels and a vial containing a blood-red liquid came into view. Sans shivered involuntarily at the sight of it. Swirly-eyes Alphys, who he decided to shorten to Swirly, reached over towards one of the syringes. He strained against the straps holding him down.

“alphys, buddy, pal. let’s talk about this first,” Sans attempted to reason.

“I am NOT your buddy or pal, you STRANGE Sans clone!” She snatched up the syringe and eyed the various gauged needles.

“c’mon, i’m still sans, ain’t i? did-didn’t our time workin’ together mean something?”

Swirly froze, her cheeks puffed out and glowing red.

“WHAT?! Enjoy working with YOU? When you did NOTHING but throw JOKES at my expense?”

As if to spite him, she picked up the thickest and longest needle. Sans internally cursed at his counterpart for being such an asshole, apparently. His mind scrambled to come up with something else as the alternate Alphys grabbed the vial of red liquid. He immediately thought of those silly big-eyed cartoons that she always watched.

“hey, what’s your favorite anime?”

Swirly froze again, staring down at him through her glasses. Her beady eyes narrowed.

“Since when DO YOU watch anime?! Are you really Sans?”

Throwing away all pretense and trying to save face, Sans explained, “i am and am not. you believe in multiple timelines and universes?”

Swirly cocked her head with interest and placed the needle back on the tray. A wave of relief swept through Sans.

“what if i told ya i’m from one of these other universes. would ya believe me? you’re a scientist. it must interest you.”

“Yes, I have read the PREVIOUS R-royal Scientist’s notes on the MATTER.” She glanced at the door briefly.

Sans pasted on his biggest and fakest smile. “then i’ll tell you all ‘bout it... if you let me go.”

Swirly’s face darkened and her eyeglasses glinted.

“NO! You’re trying to TRICK ME! J-j-just like EVERYONE ELSE!”

“wait! al—”

“SHUT UP!” Swirly shrieked as she capped the needle onto the syringe. She ignored his protests as she drew up one milliliter of the red substance.

“no!” Sans squirmed within his bonds.

A gasp parted from his mouth as he felt an insistent tug at his soul. He resisted but when an unexpected shock came from the bands around his wrist, he could do nothing but watch as his soul materialized above his sternum. Within the white inverted organ, he noticed the familiar flashes of indigo mingled with the cyan of his own.

A flash, and Edge’s face flooded Sans’s vision. A soft, wet appendage sensually tickled his neck. Soft praises flooding his hearing. Their ribs and sternum pressed so close together like puzzle pieces slotted together.

Sans’s mind reeled from the memory of their soul bond— their purely unintentional one he’d thought.

“W-wh-what is THIS?” Swirly shrieked, ripping Sans back to the present.

“i-it’s no-nothing!” Sans grunted, straining to hide his soul back within the safe confines of his chest.

“How in-interesting. You f-formed… formed a SOUL BOND?” A deranged, splitting grin appeared on Swirly’s face.

Without warning, her claws gripped his soul, forcing a whole-body shudder from the invasive feeling. Her intention wasn’t murderous, but it was tinged with a dangerous curiosity, one that promised that he wasn’t going to have a good time. Sans’s sockets squeezed shut on reflex as the sharp syringe needle pierced into the dead center of his soul.

Seconds later, the most excruciating pain Sans had ever experienced exploded from his soul; it was so intense he feared his soul would split apart. Fire flowed through him as he writhed on the table, twisting against the restraints so hard it bruised his bones. The pain was so intense he barely registered his screams bouncing off the walls.

Memories flooded his mind. He, Edge and the kid were sitting in his living room chatting. Flash— he was helping Edge train in Snowdin Forest. Flash— the two of them were traversing through the blue-hued Waterfall. Flash—Edge rubbing soothing strokes across his burning ribs. And last, Edge drinking a same vial of red liquid, followed by the container shattering before he could finish.

After what seemed like hours, the pain abated, leaving Sans gulping large, heavy breaths in between groans. His entire being ached, racking his frame with violent tremors. He could still feel the alternative Alphys’s grasp on his soul. When he saw her bring the syringe back towards the inverted heart, still half-filled with the red substance, Sans couldn’t suppress the whimpers from breaching his mouth.

“pl-please, no… no more.”

Swirly raised an eyebrow and scrunched her snout in distaste. “What? You’re ASKING me to stop? That was LESS than one milliliter of Determination!”

Swirly was about to stab the needle into his soul when a harsh crash and stomping footsteps come from the ceiling. Swirly paused and looked up, her eyeglasses glinting in the bright artificial light. When the stomping and crashing didn’t subside, she let out a huff and, much to Sans’s relief, released his soul and placed the syringe back on the cart.

“I WILL be back.”

She scurried out of the lab, the door automatically locking behind her with a click. Sans inspected his soul, noticing it had gone back to its white color with flashes of indigo and cyan. Any indication that he’d just been injected with some amount of Determination was indiscernible.

“Whew, that was a close one if I do say so myself,” a child-like voice said.

His soul disappeared behind his sternum, and moments later, Flowey popped into view.

“Golly, whatever she did must’ve been painful. I could hear your screams from the hallways!”

Sans’s pupils constricted in irritation and pulled against the restraints, “would be nice if ya helped me outta these.”

Flowey huffed, muttering, “You skeleton brothers can be so useless sometimes,” before he pulled himself up onto the table. When he caught sight of the tube of crimson liquid, he froze, his yellow petals standing on its ends.

“Disgusting! I see she hasn’t gone away with her Determination experiments,” Flowey snarled.

He swiped a thick vine against the vial. Sans heard the sound of shattering glass. He lifted his skull as much as the restraints allowed to see the contents splattered across the linoleum floor. Sans eyed Flowey carefully as the flower glared at the spilled Determination.

“you know what that is?”

“Of course! After all, it’s the reason why—” Flowey abruptly stopped talking and leveled the same glare at Sans. “You know what, who cares! We need to get out of here!”

Thin vines and sharp thorns slid between the tight space between leather and bone to cut away at the straps. It didn’t take long for Sans to get free, though nothing the two of them tried could remove the magic suppressing bracelets.

“I can’t help you with that. You’ll probably have to get Alphys to get that off.”

Sans inwardly cringed at the possible other experiments she could perform on him if he stayed here any longer. Now that more and more of his memories of the previous timeline were returning, his guilt over what had happened increased ten-fold. His top priority was to reunite with Edge to fix this mess. With his magic blocked, he couldn’t use his shortcuts; he would have to walk.

Dizziness swept through him as he stood up from the table. Flowey hovered nearby, watching cautiously.

“Are you even ok enough to walk?” Sans was surprised by Flowey’s concern. “I can lead us out of here but if you can’t walk on your own, then you’ll be extra baggage.”

Sans grinned and mumbled drily, “wow, for a second, i thought you actually cared ‘bout this old pile of bones. thanks anyway.” He meant the last part.

With a scoff, Flowey countered, twisting his body around to face the door, “Don’t get the wrong idea. Just because I want to become the savior of the Underground doesn’t mean I like you or anything, trashbag! You and the other you! Now let’s go!” Flowey slithered towards the door.

Sans used the cart next to him to get up and stabilize himself, trying his best to ignore the instruments on it. His legs felt like jelly, and the achiness in his bones persisted as they stepped out into the dimly lit hallways. An eerie green surrounded them, casted by the walkway lights embedded along the hallway. Everything appeared very similar to the Secret Labs back in his universe.

This also probably meant that the Amalgamates were here. Sans hoped they weren’t as violent as the monsters here.

“how d’ja even get down here? or know how to get down here?” Sans eventually asked.

Flowey didn’t respond for an extended period of time; so long that Sans had thought he wasn’t going to answer.

They were almost at the exit when he said, “I’m more familiar with this place than I’d like.”

When Flowey chose not to elaborate, Sans decided not to probe further. Although this Flowey seemed much nicer than the one back home, he wasn’t keen on antagonizing him, especially with his magic blocked. He also vaguely remembered Alphys once bemoaning about losing a “yellow flower” she’d experimented on. He didn’t need much more to connect the dots and come up with some theories as to what had occured.

“so you know what else is down here.”

Flowey twisted his main stem around and leered at Sans with suspicion. “How do you know about them?”

Shrugging languidly, Sans replied, “believe it or not, i was actually on good terms with the alph i knew.” Though he didn’t know how much of the friendship had been soured by the fallout between her, him and Edge… whelp, that must’ve been another memory he got back.

“Let’s just say I had some assistance to keep Alphys distracted.”

The two continued passed two rooms. Something caught Sans’s eye as they made their way passed a corridor leading to several rooms. Without saying a word to Flowey, he rushed into the space blanketed in fog until he reached a familiar bag of dog treats in the far back corner. It was unopened.

“Are you an idiot?! What are you doing?!” Flowey roared.

Sans ripped open the bag and grabbed a handful to store in his inventory. Eventually, he decided to grab the entire bag.

“sorry, just had to grab something.”

Flowey looked ready to strangle him. He spat a seed at Sans, who evaded it with easy.

“it could be used later.”

“Whatever. Stop wasting time and let’s go!”

As they approached the first room of the Secret Lab where the elevator was located, a resounding roar echoed throughout the area. Sans snapped his skull towards the sound and saw Swirly’s cowering form in the corner as Endogeny loomed over her. Despite being an amalgamate, Endogeny had always been one of the tamer ones; this one, however, had razor sharp teeth with a wide, gaping maw. Clumps of dust dribbled onto the ground, greatly reminding Sans of Greater Dog’s drool.

“C’mon, Sans, keep moving while she’s distracted,” Flowey hissed, straining his stem towards the elevator door towards freedom. Yet as he took one last glance at the scientist, trembling and huddled in a fetal position, he couldn't find it in himself to escape.

Sure, this Alphy had hurt him, but she was still an Alphys. Just as Edge was still a Papyrus at his core. What kind of monster, and friend, would he be if he’d abandoned her to that abomination?

Ignoring Flowey’s disbelieving protests, Sans pulled out the dog treats he’d found earlier and approached Endogeny. It was only then that Swirly noticed his presence, her beady eyes wide at the sight of him.

Sans whistled with his teeth. “hey, pal, y’wanna play some fetch?”

The amalgamate turned to him, growling lowly. Sans waved the dog treats above him, watching as Endogeny’s amorphous head follow it. At that exact moment, the door to the previous room slid open. Sans tossed the treats through the doorway and watched as Endogeny dashed after it. The door closed with a click. Sans inwardly thanked Flowey’s discrete assistance.

“Y-you! How did you ESCAPE? And you HELPED me? Why?!”

“Because he’s an IDIOT!” Flowey’s shrill voice chimed from behind him.

“yep, a true bonehead, heh.”

No one laughed. Instead, the color drained from Swirly’s face.

She gave a strangled cry. “That VOICE! He, he's alive? A-a-and still here?!” Her breathing became harsh.

“Of course I’m alive, no thanks to you!” Flowey retorted.

Sans filed that information away in the back of his mind and interrupted, before Swirly had a full blown panic attack, “look, what ya did to me was wrong, but i was pals with the alphys in my universe, and even though you’re different from her, i wasn't gonna let that monster swallow ya.”

Swirly gaped at him as if he’d grown another head, lower jaw quivering. It took minutes before Swirly calmed down. Eventually, she picked herself up off the dusty floor and scurried into the elevator without a glance at Sans or Flowey.

Relief rushed through Sans. He had been prepared for an attack, but as he suspected, Swirly was more like his world’s Alphys. She must’ve left in embarrassment.

A sharp snapping sound brought Sans’s attention to Flowey, who was waiting in the now-empty elevator with a grimace. Sans sauntered over,

“How can you be even more brash than the other Sans! I have no idea how both Papyruses put up with it,” Flowey muttered, crossing his leaves in front of his main stem.

Sans grinned and shrugged nonchalantly despite the sharp pangs that pulsed from his soul. “hey, if ya want tibia savior of the underground, sometimes you gotta learn to forgive and forget.” Sans couldn't stop the bitterness and self-loathing from seeping through into those last few words.

Flowey remained silent the way up. Once they stepped out, Sans spotted his counterpart’s black jacket lying in a heap. Wordlessly, he slipped it back on, and Flowey crawled into the back hood. Sans found it mildly uncomfortable but didn't feel like complaining.

He took a quick survey of the first floor. Swirly was busying watching whatever was going on on her main computer console, no doubt reviewing the camera feeds.

Sans froze in his tracts as the fuzzy figure of Edge came into view, his soul constricting. He appeared to be fighting--

What?

Sans’s pupils shrank into pinpoints,

How the hell did his universe’s Undyne get into this world? And he could see Chara cheering on the side. Since when did that brat cheer?

Edge was actually faring exceptionally well against Undyne, easily blocking all of her spear attacks. In fact, it seemed as though he knew her pattern. In that brief moment, another memory, one of Edge fight Undyne in Waterfall, flooded into Sans.

Swirly suddenly spun around, shoulders tense and claws clenched into fists. “It's all your fault!”

“what is?”

Swirly marched right up to Sans, who flinched back. “Th-this, this IMPOSTER Undyne here. Where’s MY Undyne?! Since I saw you arrive in Snowdin, she's been gone. WHERE IS SHE?”

As he watched Edge parry the final wave of Undyne’s hits, an idea formed in Sans’s head.

“i promise i’ll help ya get the Undyne you know back if you get me outta these.” He exposed the metal cuffs on his wrists.

Swirly’s eyes darted around their surroundings before narrowing suspiciously. “Where’s the flower?”

“don't worry bout him. i’ll help ya get undyne back, but we’ll need to work together. it might be hard but you gotta trust me. whaddya say?” Sans held out his left hand to shake.

Swirly’s right arm twitched to grab it, going back up and down several times. Eventually, she gave in.

“Fine. There's two ways to remove the magic suppressors. There's some holes in the suppressor field so you can force it to break, which may backfire and result in you dusting yourself. Or you can use this.” She reached into her lab coat and pulled out a small, rectangular device with various silver buttons.

Before she got the got the chance to press any of the buttons, a robotic-sounding intercom message announced, “Dr. Alphys, you have a message from King Asgore.”

Swirly blanched and quickly withdrew her hand from the handshake as though burned.

“I-I-I’ll be right back.” And the scientist disappeared behind one of the doors.

“Are you sure you can trust her? I've had very little success in trying to Redeem Alphys,” Flowey said behind his skull.

“it's the only chance i’ve got to get these magic suppressors off. besides, we need her help to get the missing parts of the machine.”

“Just be careful, Sans.”

“aww, i‘preciate your concern, buddy.”

Flowey humphed but didn't comment further.

When Swirly returned, her head was downcasted.

“what's—”

Stars suddenly sprang into Sans’s vision as he heard Flowey curse. It took a second for him to realize he was lying facedown on the floor. The complete lack of magic that normally circulated his body and held his bones together hit him with enough force to make him gasp weakly.

Peering up, he saw Swirly’s blurry form stumbling towards the entrance of the lab, nearly tripping over her lab coat. The door opened to reveal RG01 and RG02 in the threshold, their spiky black armor glinting in the flickering light from the lava.

Sans couldn't do anything as the two Royal Guards approached him. RG01 snatched him up by his hood and slung him over their shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

“I-I-I’m so-sorry, I truly am... but I can't disobey the King,” he heard her whisper.

Sans barely paid any mind to her attempt at apologizing, the burn of her betrayal still registering. He could only watch her slumped form diminishing as he was carried away towards New Home.

Chapter Text

Papyrus grunted as he blocked another volley of Undyne’s arrows. He spared a glance behind him to check that Chara was unharmed.

The two of them had spent the last twenty minutes trying to evade Undyne’s glowing blue arrows that would surface from the earth while trying to convince her to stop attacking them. She was infuriatingly stubborn with her goal of capturing the human. It didn’t help that glitches lined every part of Waterfall, making it difficult to dodge her arrows. There had been two narrow misses, one of which had grazed the human’s arm. Another healing food had to be used up because of it.

When Undyne eventually cornered them, Papyrus stood with his chest forward, legs spread and challenged, “UNDYNE! I, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, HAVE ALREADY APPREHENDED THE HUMAN SO YOU NEED TO STAND DOWN!”

Undyne froze in her spot. She threw off her helmet to reveal a scowl. “You think I, the Captain of the Royal Guards, am stupid enough to not realize how you’ve been protecting them?”

“I’M THE CAPTAIN HERE!”

“What was that? Captain?!”

“Hey, hey,” Chara interrupted with a clap of their hands. Both monsters glared at them, which only made them smile. “How about you two fight over me the old fashion way? With a duel?”

“A duel? I’m always up for a challenge!” Undyne’s spear blazed brightly in her hand.

Papyrus caught the wink they gave him, and it was as though he’d read their mind. “YES, IT WILL BE YOU AGAINST ME, CAPTAIN VERSUS CAPTAIN. AND IF I SHOULD WIN, YOU MUST STAND DOWN AND ALLOW THE HUMAN AND MYSELF PASSAGE INTO HOTLAND WITHOUT INTERRUPTION!”

“And if I win, you’ll hand over the human to me!”

“DEAL!”

Papyrus suddenly found himself unable to move. A green shield materialized in his gloved hands, wide enough to cover Edge’s entire body. Right, left, left, front came the first round of arrows. He successfully blocked all of them with practiced ease. The second round hurtled towards him at a faster speed, but he easily recognized the pattern, parrying all of them.

As more volleys came at him, it became muscle memory to Papyrus. He still remembered Undyne’s bullet patterns from when he had fought her back in her own universe. No wonder the kid abused their Reloading powers so much; if he could redo every fight, he would be king of the Underground by now.

Left. Right. Right. Back. Left. Front. Left. Right. It was a new pattern that Papyrus didn’t recall; he mistimed the last two arrows. Searing pain exploded from where the bullets grazed his left femur and upper right arm. His HP dropped by thirty points.

Ignoring the sharp throbs, Papyrus turn Undyne’s soul blue and summoned forth a column of femurs. Caught off-guard by the blue magic, Undyne mistimed the first few. She grunted as three bones collided into her.

Papyrus broke out of Undyne’s trap and glanced over at Chara to find them staring intently from their right, a contemplative expression etched on their face. A heated roar from Undyne snapped his attention back to her.

“I can see your passion shining through!” Undyne complimented, “But why waste it protecting our means of escaping this Underground?”

“THEY ARE NOT OUR ENEMY.”

“Then who is the cause of all the weird stuff happening in Waterfall? Everything is falling apart because of them!”

Yellow surrounded him on all sides, each shooting towards him at different velocities. A column of short and long ossified pillars sprung around Papyrus before a single one landed a hit on him.

“IF YOU WOULD STOP BLINDLY ATTACKING US LIKE YOU DID LAST TIME, WE CAN EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!”

“Last time? What last time? This is the first time we’ve met! You’re nothing like the Papyrus I know! Where is he?!”

Papyrus ground his jaws in frustration as he parried Undyne’s follow-up assault. He was wasting time participating in this duel when it could be better spent saving Sans. He had to speed this up somehow.

As he mulled over various strategies, including the idea of using his blasters, he saw Chara indicating in the direction of Hotland and running off. Which would lead them straight to the Royal Scientist’s laboratory. Papyrus grimaced at the thought of running from a duel, especially one that he had initiated. But to save Sans, he would use any opportunity to win.

Closing his sockets and inhaling deeply, Papyrus grasped at his magic.

He could this. He had to.

Channeling his magic as Sans had instructed him a timeline ago, Papyrus focused on his urge to protect, to save. When he heard Undyne’s surprised gasp, he opened his eyes. The monstrous blaster hovered above his head. His teeth parted slightly in excitement at his success.

A beam of concentrated magic issued forth from the blaster’s mouth and shot towards Undyne. She summoned a green shield to block the beam. Using that as a distraction, Papyrus dashed through the final stretch of Waterfall, towards the bridge into Hotland, while allowing the blaster to trail behind him. As he got closer to Hotland proper, the amount of glitches and distortions lessened. He soon heard the rhythmic clanging of Undyne’s armor along with her furious disparages at his cowardly behavior.

He was just about to cross the bridge, seeing Chara waving at him from the other side when, without warning, his surroundings fractured. It was as though someone had drawn a jagged gray line across the landscape. A mass of indiscernible numbers and symbols exploded around them and a distorted beeping sound resonated in the air.

A second later, Hotland restored to its original color and form. The fiery lava bubbled below the worn bridge and Chara still stood at the other side of the bridge, scarlet eyes locked onto his blaster.

“WHAT the heck was THAT?!” Undyne roared.

Papyrus spun around, having momentarily forgotten Undyne’s presence. Her one eye was as wide as dinner plates, staring back and forth between Waterfall and Hotland as though trying to solve a particularly difficult puzzle. Papyrus didn’t blame her; even he was at a complete loss over why the other Underground was mixing with his. At least Hotland still looked familiar to his own.

The fish monster’s confusion gave Papyrus the perfect opportunity to reason with her.

“THE HUMAN HAS AN IDEA WHY THIS IS ALL OCCURRING, WHICH IS WHY WE ARE TRYING TO GET TO ALPHYS. SHE MAY HAVE SOME ANSWERS. THIS WAS BEFORE YOU INTERRUPTED US!”

Undyne’s eye narrowed as she raised her spear. Papyrus readied his blaster, prepared to retaliate against her attack. Instead, much to his surprise, her weapon disappeared.

“All right, I’ll forget catching the human for now if it means preventing that from occurring again.” Her mouth widened to a toothy grin. “Besides, you were pretty good at blocking my attacks, not-Papyrus!”

Papyrus scoffed and puffed out his chest. “I WAS BETTER THAN “PRETTY GOOD”! IN FACT, I WAS GREAT! YOU ONLY LANDED THREE HITS ON ME!”

“Well you should be blocking all my hits! But that skull blaster is SO COOL! How didja learn to get one of those?!” Undyne’s one eye gleamed with intrigued hunger at the draconic skull.

“THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS HAS MANY SECRETS! And was taught by the best,” he whispered the final part so that Undyne wouldn’t hear.

He was harshly reminded that Sans was in danger, his soul clenching at the foreboding possibility of being too late.

“Hey~! It’s great that you two are buddy-buddy with each other but we should keep going,” Chara interrupted.

Undyne directed a scaly finger at the human. “NAARGH! Don’t think you’re off the hook this easily, human! C’mon, not-Papyrus, you better explain the full details to me as we go.”

And sure enough, during the short trek from the entrance of Hotland to Alphys’s lab, Papyrus explained that this wasn’t the universe or timeline she was from and about the entity known as the Player. Undyne scowled and furrowed her brows in skepticism the entire time. It didn’t help that Chara gave vague answers.

The time it took to finally reach Alphys’s lab raised the tension within Papyrus like a overstretched elastic band. When the laboratory came into view, he dashed ahead of the other two and towards it in record time. With his soul pounding against his ribs in apprehension, he pounded a clenched fist against the iron door.

After receiving no response except for scrambling footsteps, Papyrus’s magic sparked in agitation.

“YOU HAD BETTER OPEN THIS DOOR UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO BLAST IT APART!” He roared as his blaster materialized again.

There was a squeaky gasp, immediately replaced by the metallic slide of an opening door.

“Wh-what do you WANT?” Alphys stammered, her normally yellow face a cream color.

She stood in a rumbled lab coat and a heavy slouch to her shoulders. Papyrus narrowed his sockets, observing small claw-like indents along her cheeks. Something that she did whenever she was nervous or upset.

Papyrus snatched Alphys up into the air by the collar of her lab coat. “WHERE’S SANS?!”

“H-he was TAKEN to the K-k-king n-not to long ago! I’m sor--Ahh!”

In a burst of rage at the response, Papyrus had thrown the Royal Scientist roughly onto the floor, earning whimpers of pain. “YOU REPORTED HIM, YOU CONNIVING BITCH!”

“HEY!” Undyne growled and stalked towards them. “Cut it out!”

Her words were ignored. Alphys shook and curled into herself at the sight of the serrated bones hovering behind Papyrus.

“I SAID STOP, ASSHOLE!!”

Bright spears sprung out of the ground in front of Papyrus. He leapt a foot back from one that would’ve skewered him and glowered at Undyne, who had stepped in front of Alphys with her weapon drawn.

“WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!” Both of his hands were clenched so tightly into fists that he almost tore the gloves.

“What is your problem, attacking a defenseless monster like Alphys?!”

“DEFENSELESS?” Papyrus scoffed, crossing his arms in front of him, sockets twitching in irritation. “THAT SPINELESS SCIENTIST IS ANYTHING BUT DEFENSELESS.”

Undyne’s face tinged red with fury as she aimed her spear at Papyrus.

Chara stepped between the two of them, arms raised in a placating manner, “I really think you two should calm down.”

“Shut up!” “MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, HUMAN!”

Chara’s brows curled downward, looking affronted. “You two can be so stubborn and difficult,” they muttered.

Their comment went ignored as Papyrus snarled. “DID YOU EVEN COMPREHEND A WORD I’D SAID EARLIER? THIS IS THE ALPHYS OF THIS WORLD! SHE’S A LAPDOG FOR THE KING. YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HER!”

“That doesn’t mean I’ll allow you to attack her for no good reason, punk!”

Papyrus ground his teeth and had to hold himself back from attacking Undyne.

“SHE SOLD SANS OUT TO ASGORE! HE IS NOT MERCIFUL LIKE YOURS!”

“It doesn’t give you the right to attack her when she’s defenseless! What if she had no choice?”

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS UNIVERSE, SO DO NOT LECTURE ME ON HOW I SHOULD ACT!”

Undyne opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted by Alphys’s stuttering, “I-it’s true!” Much to everyone’s surprise, tears fell from behind her swirly spectacles. “I-it’s my fault! I—”

Alphys curled further into herself, as though to protect herself from their judging gazes, which was the definite case for Papyrus.

“H-h-he tried to HELP me… and I let, I let the Guards take him to-to Asgore! I-I’m the WORST!” She let out a pitiful sob.

Papyrus was momentarily frozen in shock, never before seen the Royal Scientist act in this sniveling manner. He watched Undyne crouch down to Alphys’s height and place a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, it’s ok, Alph. We all make mistakes. It’s good you recognize that.” The Guardsman drew soothing circles along Alphys’s back. “If you feel bad about it, you can help us save him.”

The tension and anger within Papyrus relented as he heard Alphys’s broken apologies. She sniffled, blowing her snotty nose against her white coat, and pulled out a remote device to give to Papyrus.

“T-take this with y-you. It’s f-f-for the m-magic suppressor.”

Red filled Papyrus’s vision, forcing him to take two wide strikes towards the scientist. “YOU USED A MAGIC SUPPRESSOR ON HIM!”

Alphys flinched violently, causing Undyne to growl at him to back down. Papyrus raised his right arm, readying his magic when—

“Papyrus, stop! We don’t have time for this!” Chara voice cut through his rage like a knife in butter. “Hey, Alphys, did you make Mettaton’s body?”

Alphys stared at the human, bemused, and nodded hesitantly.

“If we’re going to New Home, tell him to not attack us on our way there. That’ll make us even.”

“NO IT DOES NOT,” Papyrus said.

“Then at least if you do that, we won’t have to kick your butt!”

Undyne guffawed. Alphys glanced between her, Chara and finally Papyrus. Sucking in a deep breath and letting it out, her expression became firm.

“To m-make up for what I-I’ve done, I’ll show you the SECRET way through the laboratories. And, and Mettaton will be your guide.”

“IS THIS ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR TRICKS?” Papyrus asked, narrowing his sockets in suspicion.

“No, I promise it’s not. Pl-please, let me help. It--it’s the least I can do for what I’d done to him.”

After weighing his options and glancing at Chara, who nodded subtly, Papyrus agreed with the assistance. Sensing the urgency of the situation, Alphys immediately requested for Mettaton’s presence, who showed up within a minute.

“How may I be of service, Alphys?” the robot asked with a flourishing bow.

Standing at her full height, the Royal Scientist ordered, “You are to lead them through the secret lab to New Home. Absolutely no delays or tricks or shows. Do you understand.” It was not phrased like a question, but more of a statement. Papyrus was almost impressed by Alphys’s drastic change in demeanor.

“Of course, it would be my pleasure.” Mettaton winked at Papyrus, whose brows barely twitched.
He decided to forgive Mettaton for his unnecessary flirting for this one time.

Undyne decided to stay behind with Alphys, leaving him and Chara to go along with Mettaton towards Asgore’s palace.

-----

A familiar hallway lined with elegant, arched windows and thick pillars extending from the tiled floor to the high ceiling surrounded Sans. Light trickled in from the windows, bathing the hall in gold. At the far end of the Last Corridor stood a towering monster donned in an armor so dark, nearly pitch-black, that it seemed to absorb light. His facial hair was as black as his attire. He held a glowing crimson trident as tall as him in his right hand. The horns on this Asgore’s head were longer and thicker, curling upwards to a sharp point.

Beads of sweat trickled down Sans’s skull as this universe’s Asgore towered over him. He felt small and pun-y, heh, from the oppressive power eluding from the monster. Hate-filled eyes bore down at him from his knelt position— one that he’d been forced into. He had regained his ability to move his limbs and keep upright, which was little assurance when he still didn’t have access to his magic; his best odds if an Encounter were to occur would be to keep dodging.

It didn’t help matters that being in the Last Corridor set him on edge, given the memories he’d regained of this place.

“The Royal Scientist has informed me that you are an anomally, Sans… If that is who you really are,” the King stated. “So let me ask you, who are you and what is your purpose here?”

Sans could sense the underlying threat within the King’s deep, rumbling voice. His mind scrambled the best way to answer the question without him ending up as a pile of dust. His soul shuddered at the image of Edge finding him like that.

Phalanges picked at the inner lining of his hoodie pocket as he answered, “i mean no harm, your majesty, if that’s what you’re implying. i’m sans, just one that grew up… differently.”

“So a doppelganger? Or a liar! Hmph, someone that has no purpose of being here.” The King raised his trident.

“i’m not lying! If you know of anomalies, then surely you also know about there being alternative timelines. I’m from one of the other—”

The King pounded the bottom of his trident against the tiles, the resounding thud reverberating throughout the hallway cut Sans off.

“Multiple universe do not exist! I have given you a chance to justify yourself but you have not, therefore…”

The King raised the trident and directed it at Sans, who straightened his back in preparation to dodge.

“Wait, father!” a young, child-like voice interrupted.

Sans’s breath hitched when he saw Flowey curled around the King’s feet. When did he get there?

The King glared down at the weed, who continued, “It’s me, Asriel.”

Asriel? As in Asgore’s kid? The former prince of the monsters? Confusion rang through Sans.

The King roared, face contorted in disdain, “You dare descretate on my son’s good name?!”

“It’s really me, father! I still exist because of the Determination from the human souls—”

Swish! Swish!

Two swipes was all that was needed to reduce Flowey into nothing more than petals and stem pieces.

Urgent footsteps echoed from behind Sans, but he didn’t have a chance to see who they were coming from, his attention entirely focused on this mad Asgore and Flowey’s remains. The King raised his trident and aimed it at Sans. Sans couldn’t get himself to move, frozen in shock at what had just occurred.

He was prepared to feel pain as the prongs flew towards him.

But it never came.

Instead, there was a blur of black and red, and a lanky, skeletal back came into Sans’s view, blocking the hit.

Sans’s pupils widened as he watched Edge collapse backwards. He canted up to catch Edge before he hit the ground. The taller’s skull leaned heavily against Sans’s right shoulder.

Suddenly, Sans found himself standing in a field of snow, hidden behind trees overlooking a clearing. His brother stood before the human child with his arms open for an embrace. The human charged forward and slashed the toy knife across his brother’s neck.

“pa-papyrus?”

Another flash, and the glint of a knife invaded Sans’s vision, followed by an explosion of pain pouring from his ribs. He staggered back and fell into his brother’s arms, except it wasn’t his brother; it was the rough, darker version of Papyrus, the one he’d spent a timeline with and had forgotten.

As more scenes flooded Sans, more memories returned. He remembered. He remembered everything.

“I’m sorry,” the soft, pained voice pulled Sans back into the present.

He blinked and Edge came back into view. Asgore’s attack had ripped through the taller’s black and red armor, exposing the shattered bones of his ribcage. Sans’s pupils shrank to pinpricks.

“edge!”

Said skeleton smiled at him, filled with a gentleness he’d never seen from Edge. “I guess this makes us even.”

The weight against Sans abruptly vanished. He slowly peered downwards, hands trembling with a clattering of bones.

Only a tattered, dust-covered crimson scarf remained in his arms.

Chapter Text

Chara first realized their re-existence when they had awoken in the body of an eight-year-old wearing a purple and blue striped sweater, brown hair in a bowl cut. Initially, they had very little influence on this human child, who they’d later learned was called “Frisk”. They could only watch as Frisk went around in the Underground befriending everyone.

Frisk’s first mistake was when they had accidentally dusted Toriel, or “Goat Mom” as she was called.

The sight of Goat Mom’s dust littering the floor of the ruins rekindled an inexplicable rage within Chara. They remembered, then, their death. How they’d entrusted their soul to Asriel as a method to free the monsters from their prison and go to the Surface.

But Asriel betrayed them.

The rage was so strong within Chara, they wanted to gain control over Frisk’s actions to ruin the Underground. Then, Frisk had died, prompting them to RELOAD, and Chara discovered the truth about the Underground and their world.

Chara had realized that when Frisk died, they started back at the last point when they’d touched the golden star. Chara called it a SAVE Point. It was exactly like what happens in a video game.

Their entire world, the Underground, was essentially trapped within the confines of a video game. And if that were the case, where actions had no consequences, then why not have a bit of fun?

Chara waited patiently, through multiple endings—dubbed the “neutral endings”— that Frisk had obtained, to exert their influence on Frisk. Finally, during Frisk’s third attempt at trying to obtain a happy ending, Chara broke through.

Frisk had killed a froggit. And that LV was all Chara needed to influence Frisk to go through the Underground murdering everyone.

It had been exhilarating, feeding into their anger and releasing it against the monsters who had failed them, and who they had failed. It wasn’t until their encounter with that Smiley Trashbag that Frisk’s Determination had overcome their own thirst for revenge; they had fallen back to being Frisk’s passenger.

During that third run, another aspect of their situation had caught Chara’s attention— the presence of a third Anomaly. There were instances where Chara had felt their own influence over Frisk get ripped away. And sometimes, Chara felt the Anomaly’s presence in their own mind, controlling their own emotions. An Anomaly so powerful, it had control over not just the RESETs, but every action of both them and possibly the entire Underground.

Chara did some soul searching during the fourth run, especially after having a much-needed chat with Flowey, who they’d discovered was actually a soulless Asriel. The guilt over their past actions hit them harder than a freight train.

What they had done, both while living and in death, was unforgivable. They were irredeemable. They were above forgiveness.

Which was why when they had awoken in this new universe, with their own body and not Frisk’s, they planned to do whatever they wanted, whatever entertainment they could create from messing with these insignificant characters. But then that alternate Papyrus, one that had LV, had not judged them as a demon; in fact, he had offered them help of all things. Drawn to Edge’s convictions, they didn’t—couldn’t— shy away. Both of them had a mutual understanding of each other and the mutual goal of atoning for their past sins.

This was why when Chara saw this other Asgore’s—Assgore’s— trident cleave through Edge’s chest, it felt as though that same trident had stabbed them in the gut. Chara gaped at the tattered scarf lying in Sans’s trembling hands. Another presence entered Chara’s mind, followed by a choked gasp coming from them, the sound not of their own doing.

So you finally decided to show yourself again, Frisk? Chara couldn’t help the bitterness from slipping through. The mute human didn’t respond, their presence vanishing once again. Hah! Guess you’re still mad at me. It’s not like I need your help anyway!

Assgore’s booming voice echoed throughout the corridor, ripping Chara from their thoughts, “Human child, your dastardly tricks will not work on me. You may look alike, but you are not them.” Though Assgore glared down at them and raised the tip of his trident into the air, Chara noticed a slight hesitancy in his movements. “Once I get rid of this false Sans, I will have your soul!”

Chara glanced over at Sans, who remained hunch over Edge’s remains without a single twitch or sign of moving from Assgore’s incoming attack. He probably hadn’t heard a word Assgore just said.

Despite the varying emotions raging throughout them, Chara bent their left knee and sprinted off in the direction of Sans. They grabbed him by the hood and threw the two of them to the left, just narrowly dodging Assgore’s trident. Prongs struck the tiles and cracked them.

In a swift movement, Chara took ahold of the remote Alphys had given them and reversed the effects of the magic suppressor on Sans. With a clink, the metal band wrapped around Sans’s carpels fell onto the ground.

“There! You’ve got your magic. Now fight back!”

The comedian remained frozen. Silently, Asgore retrieved his trident from the ground and readied it again. The crimson weapon descended upon Sans. Chara shoved him out of the way. The momentum from the push had them skidding behind a pillar.

Shiing! The prongs sliced through the top half the pillar, chunks of marble crumbling from the damaged spot.

Dragging Sans up, Chara grunted, “Come on, Sans! Do you want to get us both killed?!”

Sans slowly, like a wound up doll, turned his skull away from the dusty scarf to face them. His sockets were black pits, and his normally grinning teeth were tight. Alarms rang out within Chara’s head at just how empty, how not there, he looked. They puffed out their cheeks, hands clenched tightly into fists and teeth grinding together in frustration. They reacted in the way they knew best.

“How typical, you’ve given up already. Edge’s sacrifice was wasted on a trashbag like you.”

Sans’s left hand twitched ever-so-slightly, though the movement had been so subtle, Chara wasn’t sure if they'd imagined it.

“Well I’m not going to be a sitting duck.” Chara picked themselves back up and pulled out the Toy Knife. They walked out from behind the pillar and glared at the boss monster. “Hey, Assgore, if you want my soul, I’m going to make you work for it!”

“Insolent child!”

Chara was forced into the Encounter, but they were ready, brandishing their Toy Knife. Five scarlet slashes came at them at startling speeds. Chara weaved through the pattern, recognizing the familiarity it had to the original Asgore’s attacks. The monster king took a step back, beady eyes widened in shock. Chara used that opening to jump to Assgore’s side and draw a horizontal slash with the Toy Knife, putting their rage at Edge’s death into the attack. It only did fifty points of damage.

Swish! Swish! Left, back, and right. They twirled to avoid the trident. They Checked him:

Asgore Dreemurr
Lv 17
HP 2450/2500
AT 100
DF 60

The Mad King waits...

For what?

Chara filed the question away in the back of their mind, and turned their attention back to their target, who fixed his stance. With a giggle, Chara rolled behind Assgore and stabbed the knife into his right side where the pieces of armor were the weakest. Their lack of killing intent led to less damage than usual. As much of an asshole this Asgore was, killing him made them no better than him.

Chara squashed their insecurities. and sneered, “What’s wrong, Fluffybuns? You expecting me to just stand there and take it? Not a chance after what you’ve just done! I bet the reason this universe sucks so much is from your poor rule.”

“You know nothing of what I’ve done!” Asgore’s eyes glowed orange and purple. “Your emotions are clouded by Papyrus’s death. Foolish! The Captain of the Royal Guard is replaceable, especially since he died in such a pathetic manner.”

The callousness in Assgore’s voice sparked something within them, and they charged at Assgore. They readied the blade.

“What?!”

Purple threads of magic wrapped around their legs and torso, trapping them in place. It dawned upon them, then, that this Asgore’s eyes flashed purple, not light blue. Which meant what followed next…

Six oranges slashes shot towards them.

Was this the end? To die before they could redeem themselves? They couldn’t Reload; if they died now, nothing would be fixed. Sans would be forever trapped in this timeline. Chara’s gut dropped at the thought of it.

They turned their head away and closed their eyes, waiting for the pain. A guttural roar filled the corridor. Heart pounding rapidly, Chara’s peeked open an eye and their mouth widened at the sight of five blue and white bones striking Assgore. When they Checked him, his HP had dropped by four hundred points and was still plummitting with every movement he made.

Standing behind the monster king was none other than Sans. His left eye flickered cyan and yellow, stance rigid with his left hand raised. Edge’s tattered scarf was wound around his neck, its long length causing the two frayed ends to almost trail to the ground.

With a grunt, Assgore yanked the ossified weapons out of him and roared, “You will regret attacking me!”

Assgore made a horizontal slash with his trident. Fireballs encircled them, hurtling towards Sans. He sidestepped each and every one of them.

“He was the coolest… the great and terrible Papyrus.” the short skeleton muttered, gaze directed at the golden tiles with a strained grin pasted on his skull. He then glared at Assgore, sockets as black pits. “He is not replaceable!”

Swinging his left arm forward, Sans turned Assgore’s soul blue as more bones erupted from the ground. Chara watched as the monstrous king’s HP continued to drop from mistiming his jumps to Sans’s bone patterns. Assgore staggered back, stabbing the prongs of the trident into the floor to stabilize himself.

“Wh-what is this?!” Assgore’s eyes grew wide as he watched his HP plummet to below two hundred. “I cannot—no, I will not be defeated!”

Fire swirled within the air around them, sending a blast of heat to Chara’s face. They recoiled back until the heat abated. Peering through one open eye at Sans, the skeleton appeared unfazed and summoned an array of bones.

Boom! The force of the magic clash was so strong that it sent heat and pieces of bone flying everywhere. Arms raised in front of their face and eyes screwed shut, Chara ducked down to avoid the debris. When the explosion of magic finally cleared, Chara’s mouth dropped open, ruby eyes bulging.

In the center of the Final Corridor stood Assgore. Five thick femur bones impaled straight through his wide torso like a pincushion. His eyes were wide with shock, trembling, weaponless arms raised. His crimson trident laid, fallen, on the checkered tiles

“Im… impossible…” Assgore’s words were barely above a whisper.

The King took one step back. And collapsed into gray ash.

Ping! Suddenly, Chara felt a weight on their soul, and before they could react, they were lifted into the air and slammed into a pillar.

“Ah!”

Pain exploded in their back as the force of the collision ground their spine against the pillar.

“Sans!” They gasped, grimacing.

Said skeleton stood with his shoulders straightened, left arm brandished out in front of him while the other hung at his side. Chara’s blood ran cold as they noticed his left eye flashing yellow and cyan tinged with bits of red. With Sans’s mouth curled into a splitting grin, the gleam from his left eye creating a crazed look that sent chills down Chara’s spine.

“Wh-what’re you doing?!”

Chara cried out as the blue magic wrenched them to the floor. As soon as Sans pulled them into an Encounter, they Checked him.

Sans
Lv 3
HP 1/1
AT 3
DF 1

Is Determined to get Papyrus back.

Before Chara had a chance to Act, Sans sent out a wave of cyan and white bones. Chara leapt over the white ones and froze a second too late. The first blue one knicked their lower right leg. There was a fleeting pinch of pain before it grew to a dull ache. Checking themselves, they saw the attack had only done three damage. Sans’s KR effect was either nulled by his increased LV or their lack of LV.

“You’re making a huge mistake!”

“this is the only way to bring edge back. i only need you to reload.” Desperation bled through Sans’s voice.

“You’re being an idiot, comedian!” Chara jumped, ducked and slid past another series of bone patterns. Thankfully they dodged all of them this time. “If I could RELOAD, don’t you think I would’ve done that already?!”

Sans faltered, white eye lights reappearing back in his eye sockets. That lasted only a moment before they narrowed into a vicious glare.

“L i a r!” Sweeping his left arm above him in a wide arc, a ring of ossified constructs materialized into the air. “Do not think I forgot what you’ve done in the last two timelines, you d i r t y b r o t h e r k i l l e r !”

Guilt pierced into their soul. Chara opened their mouth to retort, but as memories of the almost-successful genocide run flashed within their mind, they closed it. The gritty dust that had covered their hands, the screams of the monsters as they’d struck them down. Chara hung their head in shame, eyes staring at the contrasting tiles.

They really were the worst, weren’t they? What right did they have to lecture Sans when all he’d wanted was Edge back.

Magic buzzed in the air.

“sorry to hafta do this.” The softness in Sans’s tone surprised Chara. “i’ll make it painless.”

Chara remained frozen in place, prepared to take the full brunt of the assault. Without warning, a familiar, strong presence forced its way into their mind.

Chara, stay Determined! There is a way to fix this and bring everyone back, but you have to live! ACT on your instinct to SPARE Sans!

Their soul flared red in the final second before the slew of bones hit. With more energy than they’ve ever used, Chara leapt back, rolled to the right, halted at some blue bones, and charged forwards to lunge at Sans. The skeleton dodged it, but they had been prepared. Swiftly maneuvering their momentum to seize one end of Edge’s scarf, they yanked hard on the cloth, and couldn’t help but smirk at Sans’s white eye lights dilating in shock.

Sans toppled over. Before he could retaliate back, Chara caught his left wrist with their right hand and pinned it against the floor while keeping their other hand wrapped around Edge’s scarf. They surveyed the comedian. Their smirk fell at the ragged way his chest rose and fell, beads of sweat dotting his skull. Dark bags lined the bottom of his sockets, and his normally bright pupils were dim.

“what’re you waitin’ for? dust me already. ‘s better off that way.” There was a hollowness in the way Sans said those words. His eyes were directed to the side, away from Chara.

The soul bond Sans had formed with Edge. Chara's heart panged at the agony it must’ve been for Sans to have the bond broken due to Edge’s demise.

Chara loosened their hold on Sans and gently wrapped their arms around the short skeleton.

“I’m sorry, Sans,” they muttered, burying their face partially within the crimson fabric. It smelled of Italian spices, pine and dust. “For killing your brother, Undyne, Toriel… all those innocent monsters. For causing Edge’s death…”

This all occurred because they’d purposely tried to create a rift between Sans and Edge.

The guilt within them was so overpowering that tears sprung into their yes.

“I’m, I’m sorry for everything.” They paused to take a deep breath, and then continued shakily, “I know you hate me for what I’ve done to you and everyone else. It’s hypocritical of me to say this, but I know you’ll regret it if you kill me. It’s not who you are, Sans. And I’m sure it’s not what Edge would want you to do either.”

Chara fleetingly wondered if they were going to die in the same manner as the end of their genocide run. But then they felt a pair of bony arms hesitantly reciprocate the embrace. Slivers of warmth flooded them, seemingly healing away some of the aches in their body. The two of them stayed in the hug for some time.

A sniffle in the back of their mind had them smiling. Frisk had returned.

About time you showed up!

Uwah, sorry! I wasn’t completely hiding, Chara, I swear! I can feel the Player’s control this run. It’s probably why we can’t Reload or Reset.

So now what? We just sit here and wait for the end? Not on my watch!

We can fight back control over our actions where the Player’s influences are the weakest.

We could use the SAVE Point that I saw back in Waterfall.

It would allow them entrance into the room hidden behind the Mysterious Door— the Developer Room in Snowdin. While this was a different Snowdin, there was no doubt in Chara’s mind that the Developer Room could still be accessed there, an area of the Underground where the source code could be manipulated.

“... -et go now.”

Chara shot up at the sound of Sans’s voice. “I’ve got it! I’ve figured out a way to Reset the timeline!”

“heheh, that’s great kid, but could ya let me go already?”

Chara looked down to find Sans still trapped within their arms. More beads of sweat dotted his skull. They immediately let go, their cheeks growing warm. Likewise, Sans did the same and took two steps back. He fiddled nervously with the scarf about his neck, pupils staring intently at it.

“so, uh, what’s your plan?”

“Y’know that mysterious door that sometimes appear in Snowdin?” The comedian nodded. “Well the room that it leads to has access to the source code to everything relating to us, and the Underground can be cracked there. I can use that room to regain control over the Player.”

Sans’s sockets snapped up to them at the mention of the Player. “are they behind all this?”

Chara shrugged, fingers playing with the hem of their striped shirt. “Maybe. I will admit that I, uh, may have played a role in causing you and him,” Chara indicated at Edge’s neckwear, “to fight. But my inability to Reload or Reset is because of them, so all I have to do is force a Reset using the source code.”

The only problem was if that would cause more glitches in the new timeline, given that they would be Resetting an already corrupted file. They hadn’t planned on revealing this issue to Sans, but the skeleton seemed to have noticed the uncertainty in their expression.

“what’s with that look? there’s something you ain’t tellin’ me.” Sans stomped up to them, hands grasping their shirt collar. “spill. tell me what else can happen?”

“Well… if you haven’t noticed already, our universe’s Waterfall is somehow mixed into this darker universe’s. The timeline’s basically completely off its own path, so I’m not exactly sure what’ll happen when I Reset.”

A beat fell between them. Although Sans put a good front, Chara could see the ever-so-slight droop of his sockets and the heavier slouch of his back.

“But I’m sure--”

“will i… will i lose my memories of edge again?” He whispered, eyes growing hazy.

Chara’s soul clenched. They responded honestly, “I can’t guarantee it will not happen. This is all new, so who knows what could happen.”

More silence pervaded the room. Sans stared at the tattered fabric hanging from his neck. Chara gave it a few minutes before they grew antsy. They paced back and forth around the corridor before they couldn’t anymore. They placed a firm palm on Sans’s shoulder, ignoring his flinch.

“I’m going to head to Waterfall first to grab something, then head to Snowdin. It might take some time, but I’m going to fix this.”

Chara half expected Sans to attack them again; instead, he snapped out of his trance and offered a hand.

“‘m coming too. can’t have an unsupervised kid runnin’ around in this violent place.” Sans closed his right socket. “besides, i know a shortcut.”

“Your shortcuts still work in this world?” Chara said with a raised eyebrow.

Sans shrugged and idly scratched the back of his skull. “it works, just can’t guarantee a smooth ride.”

Chara curled their lips into the first true smile in who knows how long and grasped the bony hand. Their surroundings turned pitchback in a blink of an eye and spun as though getting pulled into a vortex. The sensation abated in less than a second, replaced by the damp coolness of Waterfall. They opened their eyes to find blue cavern walls and the sound of flowing water. A gold star, barely visible, twinkled intermittently at the end of the passage.

The sole SAVE Point.

“this the place?” Sans asked with a tilt of his skull.

Chara snapped their attention away from the star and faced the doorway.

They blurted, “Yup. Feel free to stay out here while I do most of the work.”

Sans shrank into his counterpart’s bulky jacket, bowing his head so that the scarf covered his mouth.

Oops.

Chara sighed, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“it’s alright. can’t fault ya for speakin’ the truth, heh.”

An awkward silence fell between them as Chara kept their gaze glued to the fading SAVE Point. The atmosphere became so uncomfortable that they walked towards it and reached out a hand to grab it. As soon as they did, a black dialogue box with white text greeted them.

C̴̛h̴̕a̛r̶҉̶͟͝a̸̧̕͘ LV 1 ??:??
Waterfall
▌▌▌▌ Return

While keeping their hands enclosed around the SAVE Point, Chara called out to Sans, keeping their eyes on the star, “Can you bring me to Snowdin? To the Mysterious Door?”

Dragging footsteps made their way over to them. Sans didn’t even give them a heads-up; he grabbed their upper arm, and in a blink of an eye, Chara felt another jerk of their entire being. Without warning, strange, static buzzing evaded their ears.

Sans muttered a curse. “brace yourself.”

Chara gasped as if the air was suddenly squeezed out of them, and then they were spat out into the chilly, dusty Snowdin air. They tumbled within the snow, hands pressing the SAVE Point close to their chest, right above their soul. Their back hit something hard.

“Ooof!”

When they regained their bearings, a blue door greeted them. As they were just about to shove the door open, an amorphous black form faded into existence, his white, crooked face twisted with rage.

Gaster.

“҉D̡em̕on ̵ch͡ild,̵ ̛y͟o̧u͢ ͝wi͢l͜l ̸n̨ot take a step f͘u̕rt҉her! Yo̧u m͡a҉y not̶ b͏e ͠th͡e ̶root̛ ça͢u͝se o͏f̢ th̨is me̷s͏s͘,̡ ̸bu͜ţ An̨o̧ma̡li̡eş ҉such ͡a̵s͝ ̕y͏ours͏e̢lf ̛are ̢no ͘bętter t͏han̡ th̡e ͝P͢l̷ay̢er̷.͏” ̷

“Let me through! I can fix this blotched timeline if I can just Reset it!” Chara argued, moving to the left to try and evade the formless black blob.

Gaster emitted an ear-shattering screech. Chara flinched back.

“Yo͢u̷r͜ ͘i҉n̢t̵er̷f͟ere̕nc͢e͟ w̸ith ҉the gam̕e ̡cod̵e will͟ on͏l҉y c̸au̷s̵e̛ mor͏e͜ d̸ama̢g͏e t͠o ͏t͟he̷ ͡in̕t͜eģri̕ty͏ ̛of͜ o̡u͠r ͘w̵orlds͟. Th͘ere͡'s ͠n͡ot̶h̶i̢n̨g le̶ft f̡or͡ you t̡o ͝do.͢ Let͝ thi̡s t͜ime̵lin͏e ͠f̸a̢de̛ o͟ut҉ of̧ exis̕te̵n͘ce̛.͡” Gaster expanded his gelatinous body to tower over them.

“No, I refuse!” Chara snarled with a loud stomp of their feet against the wet ground, their hands pushing the SAVE into their soul. “I need to save this world’s Papyrus. Do you not care anything for the monster you once raised?”

Static shrieks filled the area. “Th͞at P̸a̸py̸ru̴s҉ ҉i͡s a ̸po͜o͜r i̸miţati̷o͢n ͏of͢ ͞the ori͢g̨i͝n͢al.͠ ͢M͏a͢i̶nt͏a̢ini͜ng the ̴st҉abi̵l̨i͞ty ou̡r̡ ͝ųn͢i̕v͢erse̶ is much m̸o̸r͘e i̧m̧p҉or҉t̶a̴nt͝ than ̛t̛h̛e li͢f̨e̷ ҉of͠ a͝ ͠si͠ngle͟, f͝ake͜ m̧o͢ns̸te̶r.”

A high-pitched whine suddenly echoed around them, followed by a magical, white beam colliding into Gaster, splitting him nearly in half. Footsteps sounded behind them.

Chara spun around to see Sans standing beside them, hollow sockets narrowed in a glare. Despite beads of sweat lining his forehead and his slouching, Chara could feel the magical energy pouring from the skeleton’s body.

“Sans?”

“go on, i’ll keep this old man busy.”

A furious, distorted roar came from Gaster, who had moved away from the Mysterious Door. “S̛şs̴̛͢an͜n͠s̶s̨ss̸!̴͡ Y̷ǫu̡ ͢҉o҉̡f̡ ̶a̛l̢͏l͘ ̶̷͘p̷ę̛͟rs̷o̧n̴s ̵̢s̶̵͟h̸o͜ư͜l̢d̴ r̛͠e̴͜ali̢͟ze̢̧͟ ̨͡t͏̴h̢̡e ҉h̕a͘͜͝r͞m̧ ̨t̕͡h͞i̶s c̶o̵̶͘u̷҉̵l̶̶ḑ̷̸ le̵a̛d҉̶ to͢! ͏̴W̢h̴̢y ̸̧a̕r̛͟͞e ͟y̵̶̕o͢u̡ ̨͢i͜ņ͡t͟er̷͘f̡͟e҉̛r͘i҉҉͜n̶g̛͘?͘”

“edge is just as much a papyrus as my own brother. the monsters in this timeline are just as real as any of the original.”

“A҉͏r̴̵e̶ ̷̡̛t̵h͢ȩ͘y̨ ͠no̸͝w?̸ ͞It͝ ̕͞s͏ų̵̵rp̸r͏is҉e҉̷̵s̢͘ ̨m҉̢e ̵̢t͏h͢a̢̢t ̨y̡̕o̕ư̴ ̶̢ca̛r̵҉͘e͏.͜͠” Gaster slogged towards Chara. A wall of bones blocked his path.

Sans indicated at them to go, and then turned to face Gaster. “sorry, doc. looks like i can’t afford to not care anymore.”

“I’ll set everything right again, Sans, I promise.”

“good luck kid, i’m rootin’ for ya.”

As gaster blasters erupted in midair, Chara caught a familiar expression on the comedian’s face. The same one that he had when they’d fought back in the genocide timeline. The expression of someone who had nothing to lose, but everything to gain.

With their soul filled with Determination, Chara pushed their way into the Developer Room. The Annoying Dog was nowhere to be seen. Spotting the computer in the back right corner, Chara dashed over and turned it on. It revealed a dark screen with a single white cursor blinking every second. When Chara attempted to pull up the source code, the screen froze and blue-screened. White text appeared across the blue background.

[Did you really think I would allow you to alter the game code that easily after everything?]

Straightening their back and pointing a finger at the screen, Chara growled, “You! Everything’s gone wrong because of you!”

Giggles erupted in the room. Chara withdrew the Toy Knife from their Inventory, head cranning in every direction to find the source of the sound. They found new lines of text on the computer screen.

[My fault? Is that the only thing you can do, CHARA? Blaming others for your own actions? It’s not like I forced you to get in Sans and this world’s Papyrus’s way. You did all of this by your own choice, just as you forced Asriel into your little revenge plot against the humans. You have no one but yourself to blame for your actions.]

Chara trembled, hands clenched so tightly into fists that the handle of the Toy Knife bit into their skin.

They took a deep breath and scoffed, “You’re not one to talk, forcing Frisk to go through the Genocide path and blaming me for your lack of control of your actions. You’re just as bad as me!”

[Am I? Why should I care? You’re a character from a game, with the only purpose to entertain me and sait my own curiosity. Why shouldn’t I mess around a bit to see what other paths exists, and what I can create? I'm above consequences!]

Without warning, the screen blacked out. A digitalized, white smirk invaded the computer.

[In fact, you should be thanking me, CHARA. After all, the only reason why this Underfell universe exists for all of you is because I. Created. It.]

Chara felt their gut drop.

[If I hadn’t programmed it into the original game source, none of this would exist.]

With a furious roar, Chara slammed their hands against the keyboard, hoping to find some way regain control. The computer remained frozen. More laughter filled the room. Chara ground their teeth together from the sound of it.

[Ah ah, this run has been so much fun, I can’t have you ruining it.]

Chara thought of the moment Assgore’s trident had slashed through Edge. Of their fight against said monster king and then Sans. Of Sans currently-- hopefully-- still holding out against Gaster.

They had to win against the Player. They were determined to do so.

The SAVE Point, Chara!

Chara wrenched the gold star from their soul and shoved it against the computer screen, forcing out the Player’s obnoxious grin.

Beep beep!

Finally, they were able to use the computer!

Fingers danced across the keyboard as they utilized the SAVE Point to quickly gain access to the multiple save files, one designated as ‘Undertale’ and the other as ‘Underfell’.

[WHAT! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! How dare you mess around with my game files! I’m in control here!]

“You must have misunderstood. SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?”

The world faded to black with two pieces of text glowing in midst of it.

Ę̨̨̥̰̥̠͈̪̳̠̝̥͇͕͚̠̹̮͘R̢͘͟͏͔͓͉̦͖̖̼̲̦Ą̶̡͇͙̯̦̤̯̮͍͕̜͙̗̘Ş̵̦̬͚̳̖̙̣͉̮̩̦̠̲͓̬̣̮̕ͅE̩̗̫̱̩̯̱̗̟̥͔̱͇͈̺͙͟ͅ ❤️D̤̥̰̜͙̰̮͓̝͔͖̦̘̮͙̩͜͞͡O҉̪͖̳̠̰̺̜͞ ̠̮̯̘͎̰̤͢N̴̪̙̯̩̰̰̝̱͎̮͎͚̭̞̟O͓̖̳͇̭̯̦̜̲̞̦̮̻̥̱Ṭ̛̱̤̻̱͇͈̘̫̘ͅ

Chara selected their option; then, the main menu came into view.

CONTINUE ❤️R̶͇̦͖͇͕̲̬̻͔̞͉̱͘͡E̸̢̛̩̖̲͍͔̞̫̭̦̳͕͉̯̕͠S̡͏̴̵̳̹̘̯̹̳̜̰̼̥Ę̖͉̻͈̰̝̗̥̣̜̕T̢҉͏̬͔̠͍̮̘͖̜͕

Chapter Text

Sans woke up to a white ceiling. Any minute now, Papyrus would be bounding up the stairs, shouting “WAKE UP SANS! WE HAVE TO PATROL FOR HUMANS!” Humans? A pale-faced, brown-haired human child with red eyes flickered in his mind. Flash! His blasters firing their magic at Gaster. Flash! A tattered red scarf covered in dust.

Was he back home in his timeline? And Edge— was he?

A painful spasm shot throughout Sans’s soul, jolting him out of bed. The thin blankets entangled about his limbs had him stumbling and crashing into the dark stained carpet. He heard loud, booted footsteps coming up the stairs. Grunting with effort, he finally freed himself from the bedsheets and scrambled towards the door. It swung open just as he reached the threshold. A towering skeleton with sharp features, donned in black and red armor, stood in the doorway.

Soul pounding, Sans hesitantly reached out his left palm towards Edge, eye sockets wide as saucers. The image of Asgore’s spearing slashing through Edge’s torso flashed before his eyes. He could feel gritty dust covering his hands.

“papyrus— edge?” his voice cracked. “you’re alive?”

Sans flinched away upon seeing the intense stare etched on Edge’s expression. Of course the other would want nothing to do with him. Edge had died because of him! But to Sans’s surprise, Edge crouched down and placed a firm claw on his shoulder.

“Sans, you remember me?”

“i do, yeah.” He turned away, eye lights trailing to the trash tornado at the corner of the room. “sorry... for everything. ‘s my fault you died last time.”

And he’d killed Asgore too. The rush of power he’d felt after the initial gain in LV, the desire to act in more violence; not to mention he’d almost killed the kid despite them not gaining any LV. Sans shuddered and wrapped his arms about himself.

To think he’d lectured Edge on his behavior when all Edge knew was the violence of his world. And now that he’d seen first-hand how horrible it could be, Sans shouldn’t have judged the other so harshly. He should’ve trusted Edge more during the last timeline. Edge wouldn’t have died otherwise. He truly was the worst.

“I can see you overthinking again,” Edge’s sharp but gentle tone drew Sans out of his brooding thoughts.

“i’m sorry,” he muttered again.

His sockets burned with unshed tears and his magic buzzed with the need to reach out to Edge’s soul.

Nothing met him.

Instead, a sharp, piercing pang shot out from Sans’s heart without warning. He retracted from Edge’s arm due to the intensity of the pain. Edge reacted similarly, jolting up from his crouched position. A frown crept onto his skull. There was a brief period of tense silence.

“IF YOU ARE WONDERING, WE ARE STILL IN MY UNIVERSE. EVERYTHING SEEMS TO HAVE RESET.” He placed a claw on his hips and tapped his boot, looking off to the side. “WHAT HAPPENED AFTER I DIED?”

Sans shrank into his blue jacket, gazing at the carpet. It took a second to dig through the final bits of his memory… He had fought Gaster, buying time for the kid— Chara wasn’t it?

“not too sure. kid loss their ability to reset so they were, uh, tryna get into the… game code… or somethin’.” Sans wrung his phalanges together inside his hoodie pocket. “didn’t see what they did since i was fightin’ gaster.”

Edge bared his sharp teeth and growled, “HIM? AGAIN?! WHAT DID HE WANT THIS TIME?!”

“he wanted to stop the kiddo from meddlin’. blamed ‘em for everything wrong with the timelines.” Sans shrugged, not feeling it important to mention the true reason why he’d fought against Gaster was to make sure Chara Reset the timeline to bring Edge back.

Edge hummed and stroked his chin with a contemplative expression. Sans opened his mouth to ask another question, but a knock from the front door of the house interrupted him. Sans and Edge gaped at each other for a split moment, and then Edge rushed down the stairs. Sans followed after him.

Sans grasped at his magic as Edge peered through the eyehole. He would be ready to protect Edge if needed; he couldn’t allow Edge to dust again. Frisk stood in the doorway, their brown eyebrows furrowed with concern. A bright smile broke out on their face at the sight of Edge and Sans.

You’re both okay, they signed.

Edge seized them by the collar of their striped shirt and dragged them inside the house, shutting the door behind him and then locking it. Frisk had their hands gripped around Edge’s glove-covered arm. They struggled against his tight grasp.

“Let them go!” a high-pitched voice cried.

Flowey’s head popped out from Frisk’s right shoulder sleeve.

“... so..rry… i…’m so-sorry,” they rasped.

Sans took a step towards Edge in case his assistance was needed. Edge simply plopped them onto the couch.

“EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED,” he demanded with a deep scowl.

Edge crossed his arms in front of him. Frisk glanced over to Sans, who shrugged.

“sorry, kiddo. i told my part but i’m curious what ya did as well.”

Frisk lowered their head. Their bangs draped over their face, completely covering their eyes. Edge cleared his nonexistent throat and began to tap his foot against the floor.

“SOMETIME TODAY WOULD BE NICE.”

“Wow, rude,” Flowey grumbled with a roll of his beady eyes. “I thought you’d be nicer after what happened in the last run.”

“SHUT IT!”

The kid sighed, and hesitantly began to sign. Sans was prepared to translate when Edge held out a hand for him to stop.

“THAT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY, SANS.” Edge glared at Flowey. “YOU CAN TRANSLATE FOR THEM.”

“Not with that attitude I ain’t,” Flowey glared back.

“alright you two, let’s settle down. don’t wanna ruin this budding friendship.”

Both Edge and Flowey scoffed at each other. Sans noticed Edge struggling to keep his expression stern. The tension lessened. At least Edge still tolerated his jokes. He gestured for Frisk and Flowey to speak.

Frisk signed while Flowey translated, “After Sans agreed to fight Gaster to allow them to get away—”

Sans could sense Edge’s questioning look from his periphery. He ignored it.

“Frisk found a way into the game’s source code and they used it to RESET—”

The kid shook their head, signing It was Chara.

“What?”

It was all Chara. Frisk froze with a faraway stare.

Hearing their name still sent a chill down Sans’s spine despite their last meeting ending on better terms. Could he trust them to not mess things up this time? Sans peered over to Edge, who raised a bone brow.

Flowey waved a leaf at the kid and asked, “Frisk? Are you there?”

Awareness came back into their eyes. Sorry, Chara was scolding me. They looked sheepish.

Sans perked up and blurted, “they’re still with you?”

Frisk agreed. Don’t worry Sans, they’re on our side. I promise.

“heh, i believe ya kid.”

“CONTINUE. WHAT HAPPENED?”

Frisk puffed out their cheeks and gestured, I guess my Determination helped her a bit. Anyways, we were able to temporarily gain control long enough to RESET the timeline. They smiled again. I am glad you two are back. And you both seem to remember…?

“YES, IT SEEMS I’VE RETAINED EVENTS OF THE PREVIOUS TIMELINES.”

Sans soul gave a nervous pulse. That meant he should still remember their soul bond.

Wait, since when did Edge understand hand?

“SINCE JUST NOW,” the taller monster answered.

Had he thought that out loud? Edge’s ruby eye lights bored into Sans, who flushed and averted his gaze.

“you just remembered how to read in hands? you didn’t understand ‘em last time.”

Edge furrowed his brows and frowned. “MAYBE I LEARNED SIGNS FROM ANOTHER TIME PERIOD?”

“It is possible that things that happened in previous Reloads and Resets are starting to come back,” Flowey suggested. “Though what’s triggering it?”

“dt.”

The burn of Determination rushing through his magic, underneath his bones followed by the rush of memories. It had occurred after Swirly had injected the DT into him. And Edge had drank the stuff back in his universe.

“Hm, that does make sense. It’s why I remember everything. Heck, I’m a monster solely alive because of Determination,” Flowey said. He pointed at Frisk. “And it's why they remember and control the Resets.”

The kiddo’s expression scrunched up and their shoulders drooped. Even though Chara Reset the timeline, I can’t Reload or pull up my Save.

“What! Again?!” Flowey exclaimed.

Frisk nodded sadly. Sans’s soul dropped. His pinpricks of light met Edge’s, whose whole stance was rigid. Edge’s claws gripped his humerus tight enough to make Sans worry it would fracture.

“SO WHAT IS OUR PLAN NOW? IS THE PLAYER GOING TO INTERFERE AGAIN?”

Frisk suddenly jumped up, their fingers signing as if possessed by a ghost. I… redeem… make… right.

“whoa there, kid, slow down a bit will ya?” Sans said.

Frisk pointed at Flowey.

“We can change the mindsets of the monsters here. Frisk discovered they can Redeem them in this universe, similar to how they can Spare monsters them back in your timeline, Sans,” Flowey explained with a smirk. “They did it with the Queen!”

Frisk beamed with pride as Sans and Edge gaped at them, slack jawed. Edge’s eye sockets widened, and he dropped his arms to his sides.

“WHAT? HOW? NO ONE HAS HEARD FROM HER IN YEARS! ARE YOU JAPING US?!”

Frisk waved their arms in a placating manner while shaking their head.

No, please believe me! She’s very similar to the original Toriel. She’s just a bit more angry than sad at Asgore and what he’s doing. Frisk brought out a cellphone from their Inventory and waved it in front of Sans and Edge. I even got her number!

Sans leaned forward and perused the device. Sure enough the first entry on the contact list was listed as “angry Goat-mom”. Sans snickered at the name. Edge swiped the cell from the kid’s hands and glared at it for a few seconds before giving it back.

“FINE. YOU GOT HER NUMBER. HOW EXACTLY WILL THIS ‘REDEEM’ --Edge used air quote for the word-- “THE OTHER MONSTERS?”

Flowey rolled his eyes. “You did it last time, Papyrus. Remember Ice Wolf? Even Alphys, though I guess that was more on Sans. I know if we work together, we’ll get them on our side again.”

Frisk nodded along, their mouth set in a firm line and their eyes shining with determination.

“And if we get Alphys on our side, I’m sure she’ll be able to help Sans with the machine,” Flowey interjected as he twisted towards Sans, who took a step back.

Sans shivered involuntarily at the phantom pain of her injecting him with DT, though her betrayal hurt more. A hand settled on his right shoulder, wrenching him from the memory. Warmth flooded his soul.

“I WILL OFFER MY ASSISTANCE. HOWEVER, YOU WILL KEEP SANS OUT OF IT,” Edge demanded.

Sans’s jaw dropped. A moment later, he ripped himself away from Edge’s contact.

“what, why?” Sans clenched his phalanges tightly in his hoodie pocket. “think i’m too weak? or that i’ll get in the way?” And get you killed again, was what he wanted to say.

“NO!” Edge rebuked. Having realized the harshness in his tone, he sighed and explained, “IF YOU CAN START WORKING ON THE MACHINE EARLY, BY THE TIME WE CONVINCE ALPHYS TO HELP US WE’LL BE ABLE TO HOPEFULLY CONTACT YOUR OR MY BROTHER FASTER.”

Even with the fair explanation, Sans’s posture slumped as if a heavy weight settled upon it. He clenched and unclenched his fists.

Was this not just an excuse to keep him pent up inside the house? A nicer form of house arrest? And what if something happened to Edge?

His chest constricted at the vision of finding Edge as a pile of dust. And this time it could be permanent. It’s grainy texture covering his palms. No matter what he did he couldn’t get it off! He couldn’t save Edge, couldn’t save his own brother. He—

“Breath with me, Sans.”

Sans found himself wrapped within bony arms, taking heavy gulps of air (even though it was unnecessary). Edge’s broad ribcage expanded and constricted against his. He tried to match the other’s pace. Black spots lined his vision. From Edge’s shoulders, he saw both Frisk and Flowey staring at him with a mix of concern and sympathy.

It was so damn pathetic. He was so pathetic.

Sans gasped as he was lifted off the ground while still wrapped in Edge’s arms. The taller skeleton turned around to face Frisk and Flowey.

“Perhaps you two should continue through Snowdin for now. I’ll contact you later with updates.”

“Sure, we’ll give you our number.”

Edge pulled out his phone from his Inventory with one hand and exchanged numbers with Frisk. Sans’s ragged breathing had settled down by the time the two of them had left. Heat continually rushed to his cheekbones as Edge carried him upstairs into his room, his soul thundering within his chest. Edge set him down onto the neatly-made bed and sat down next to him. Sans kept his skull bowed.

“SANS—”

“i’m fine, don’t know what came over me back there,” he blurted, fiddling with a zipper.

Edge gave a soft ‘tsk’ and said gently, “Please look at me, Sans.”

Head shake.

“What I had suggested to them upset you.”

It wasn’t a question. Sans shrugged while keeping his pupils glued to the soft, dark bed sheets. Edge gave a long suffering sigh, which only led to Sans shrinking further into himself. Why did Edge even put up with him anymore?

“I’m sorry.”

Sans finally turned his attention to the darker skeleton. “what? no, i should be—”

Edge cupped Sans’s left cheek. “No, I still never properly apologized for my behavior last time.”

“it’s ok. i forgave ya.”

A thumb tenderly traced along Sans’s jaw. Sans hummed.

“I know. It wasn’t fair. Even now, I’m still making demands without considering your input.” Red eye lights darted to the side in shame. “I just want to keep you safe. If the child can’t Reload and something were to happen to you… I don’t want you to end up facing Asgore again.”

Sans grinned, his soul fluttering. “hey, i coulda taken him. me and the kid took ‘em down last time.”

“And I expected nothing less of you.” Edge pulled his arm away and folded them in his lap, teeth set in a deep frown. “I saw you die, Sans, back when we were in your universe. You took a hit meant for me. I don’t want that to happen to you when there’s no confirmed way to reverse it.”

Sans’s eye lights widened at the slight tremble in Edge’s fingers and the fear within his eyes. Sans had never seen him so vulnerable. He reached out and took Edge’s hands within his own.

“and you did more than enough last time to make up for your mistakes,” he said, pouring as much gratitude and appreciation as he could. “you think your death wouldn’t affect me the same? well i got news for you, pal. i don’t wanna see you bite the dust either.”

Edge groaned, though it was half-hearted, “Sans, that was terrible.” Despite his words, his sharp teeth curled upwards.

“but you’re smiling.”

“I am and I detest it.”

“heh.” Sans intertwined his phalanges with Edge’s. “i can’t afford to not care anymore, so please, let me help ya. ”

Edge stared at their clasped hands and replied, “I will. However, Sans…”

Said skeleton tilted his head in question. A smirk crept onto Edge’s skull.

“YOU NEED TO PUT SOME MORE BACKBONE INTO YOUR PUNS! NYEH!”

Sans blinked once. Laughter broke out of him, the first one he’s had since coming to this world. It wasn’t long before Edge joined him. Their souls buzzed in unison.

-----

Sans’s cell phone did not work in this universe. He and Edge later discovered that the phone Frisk had was native to here, which was why they were able to use it. Without any means of contacting each other Edge tried, again, to convince Says to stay home and work on the machine in the basement lab while he, Frisk and Flowey made their rounds through Snowdin. After some back and forth, Edge reluctantly agreed to let Sans come with him as long as he disguised himself as his brother. He was also forbidden to go inside Grillby’s, which Sans had no objections.

Frisk and Flowey did bulk of the work, going around befriending and Redeeming the various monsters. At least the ones that were not involved in the gangs. It was simply a matter of, according to them, appealing to their core personality, which they knew from the original universe. They encountered more resistance when confronting the Canine Unit.

Edge, being their Captain, challenged Doggo, Lesser Dog, and Dogaressa to duels with stipulations for the loser. He would give up his right as Captain if any one of them were to beat him while they would listen to the kid if Edge were to win. Sans watched each Encounter from the sidelines, discreetly using blue magic to repel any stray bullets from hitting him. The dog royal guardsmen were too enthralled in the battle to notice, though Edge probed him with suspicious looks after the Encounters.

Once Edge beat Doggo, Lesser Dog and Dogaressa, Frisk was able to Redeem them. Dogamy easily followed Doggressa’s paw-shaped footsteps, while Greater Dog only required some games of fetch to win over. Within two days, the Canine Unit were brought to their side and patrolled Snowdin and its surrounding areas to disrupt any violence between monsters.

Ice Wolf didn’t even require a fight to Redeem. A conversation with Edge was all that was needed to convince him; although he did mention that he knew in his soul it was the right decision. Flowey hypothesized (with Sans agreeing) that some monsters may experience residual deja vu like effects from the previous timeline. At least it made things easier, and Sans was more than happy with that fact.

With the Hunters gang essentially disbanded, Snowdin calmed down considerably. Even Grillby and his Inferno’s activities died down with no opposing gang to spark dissension, and the Royal Guard stopped any crimes before they began.

With Snowdin largely settled, Frisk and Flowey continued forward into Waterfall. Sans and Edge followed after them. The sight of Waterfall left Sans rooted to its entrance with wide sockets; its atmosphere and layout was identical to his universe’s.

Edge frowned and said, “IT LOOKS LIKE THIS HASN’T CHANGED.”

“this, this is… waterfall?” Sans gaped at the glowing blue echo flowers and familiar marshland.

“INDEED.” Edge moved his claws against his hips. “THIS WAS HERE LAST TIME. IT SEEMS THE RESET HAS NOT FIXED THIS-- WHAT DID THAT BRAT CALL IT, OH YES-- THIS GLITCH’.”

Sans’s magic ran cold at the implications. If sections of this universe had merged with his own, what would happen to the monsters from each side? More importantly, Papyrus was in danger!

“YOUR BROTHER WILL BE FINE.”

Sans snapped his skull up to Edge, who held a firm gaze.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE MORE FAITH IN YOUR BROTHER’S ABILITIES, JUST LIKE YOU SHOULD WITH MINE.”

Sans averted his eyes in shame. It was clear Edge meant his interference with the canine unit Encounters. Of course his brother would stand on his own in a fight; he knew that better than any other monster. Sans stuffed his fists into the dark jacket pocket.

“you’re right. ‘m sure my bro and yours are workin’ together too, just like us.”

“YES… OF, OF COURSE.” Edge didn’t sound so sure.

The two of them walked through Waterfall in silence. Sans trailed a foot behind Edge, who was deeply absorbed in thought. A deep ache swirled within Sans’s soul. It had been almost three days since the timeline Reset, yet he still had no idea if their soul bond remained intact. Truth was, he was too afraid to check.

After their little heart-to-heart, Edge made no indications that he cared whether the soul bond existed or not. It hurt but maybe this was for the better. There wasn’t even a guarantee they would see each other again after he got back home. How nice would it have been if Edge and his brother lived together with them? It was wishful thinking.

The ringing of Edge’s cell cut through Sans’s musings. It was a call from the kid. Sans couldn’t hear what they discussed, but his curiosity peaked at the pink blush creeping into Edge’s skull.

“FINE, YOU MEDDLESOME CHILD. WE’LL TAKE A BREAK,” Edge huffed and ended the call.

“what’s up? besides the rocky ceiling, heh,” Sans said.

Rolling his eyes, Edge answered, “FRISK WILL TAKE CARE OF WATERFALL ON THEIR OWN. DON’T WORRY, THEY WILL CALL US WHEN THEY GET TO UNDYNE. YOUR UNDYNE, BY THE WAY.” Edge sighed and spun around in the direction of snowdin. “LET’S HEAD BACK.”

Sans didn’t object and walked alongside him. Their trek home was uneventful but as soon as they entered the house, Edge stepped in front of Sans and summoned a meter-length bone. One end of it was sharpened like a spear. Before Sans could say a word, Grillby walked out of the kitchen flanked by Red Bird and Punk Hamster.

“Well, well. Glad the two of you made it back safely,” Grillby uttered softly, his indistinct mouth in a gaping sneer.

Edge brandished his bone spear in front of him, pointing it at the purple fire monster.

“STATE YOUR PURPOSE, GRILLBY, OR I’LL HAVE YOU ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING PRIVATE PROPERTY!”

Hollow laughter rang out from Grillby. His facade twisted in anger and his embers burned a bright orange-red.

“You do not threaten me! I have already reported your disloyalty to the King for helping the human child. It is my duty, by his order, to end your existence!”

With a snap of his fingers the two monsters beside him sprang into action. Sans readied his bone attack. Suddenly, blue magic surrounded his soul and flung him outside into the snow. The door slammed shut in his face. He heard a click as he hastily got up. Sure enough when he turned the knob, he found the door locked.

Sans huffed, internally cursing Edge’s hypocrisy. The sound of clashing bullets and whooshing fireballs reached his ears. Scrambling around the perimeter of the house, Sans tried to find a way inside. All the windows had been boarded up. His only option of getting inside was using a shortcut, which he hadn’t tried since the last timeline. And that hadn’t been the smoothest ride.

Sans sucked in a deep breath to try to calm his agitated magic. Edge was strong. He was Captain of the Royal Guards. There was no way he would be beaten by those three. Still, he had to help in one way or another. As his magic settled, he pictured the upstairs banister of the house, with its maroon carpet and two bedrooms —it wasn’t too dissimilar to his own house— and pulled at his magic.

There was a swift jerk, a bunch of static and a split second of darkness. Sans found himself standing on the top of the stairs. His position allowed him a front-row seat of the battle occurring in the living room.

Both Red Bird and Punk Hamster were lying in a corner of the room, groaning in pain. Though scratches and scrapes littered their body, a Check revealed they were simply low on HP. Once Sans caught sight of a flaming violet fist smacking Edge so hard that he hit the back wall and crumpled to the floor, something snapped within him. As if a nasty pit of darkness swallowed his soul. A sudden surge in anger and violence overtook Sans; it was the same one that had taken over him when he’d fought against Chara.

In a blink of an eye, Sans stood in front of Edge with his left arm raised, grasping at Grillby’s soul. The bartender’s eyes widened in shock and fear as he was flung back and forth against the wall and the floor like a ragdoll. He groaned in pain.

There was a synchronized hum. Three blasters hovered behind Sans, all of them aimed at Grillby. Sans’s left eye flashed cyan and yellow. White beams of concentrated magic issued from the gaping maws of the blaster. Another set of blasters, these having sharper, more angular features, countered them with crimson beams of magic.

BOOM!

Smoke and debris shrouded the room, blinding Sans. A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and held him tightly against strong ribs. Soft reassurances were whispered into his ears.

“It’s okay, Sans, I’m fine. I’m here… I’m here.”

As the haze of anger cleared away from Sans’s mind, all the strength seemed to leave him. The world around him spun as the room finally cleared. The couch, table and TV had been blown to an unrecognizable pile, but there was not a single speck of dust. Sans spotted Grillby’s prone body in the far end of the room.

Sans gasped as soothing warmth enveloped his soul, filling his mind with peace.

“Rest. I’ll take over from here.”

And everything went black.

Sans was crouched behind a patch of bushes and trees overlooking a field of snowy white. Two distinct silhouettes stood in the distance, the strong wind and heavy snow hiding their identities. It didn’t matter; Sans knew who they were as soon as he saw them— the tall lanky form of his brother and the short human child.

he words were the same ones he’s heard before. In his dreams. In his nightmares. In the first genocide run.

Sans could only watch helplessly as the kid sprang up and slashed their weapon across Papyrus’s neck. His skull fell off his body and onto the snowy ground. It rolled.

“YOU’RE FAULT!” It cried.

And rolled.

“THIS WAS YOUR ALL YOUR FAULT!”

It rolled without stopping until it reached him.

Except the head didn’t belong to his brother’s.

”YOU’RE THE REASON I DIED, YOU MONSTER-KILLER!”

Ruby pinpricks of light glared at him.

“SANS!”

No! It can’t!

“SANS! WAKE UP!”

Sans screamed. He shot up and CLACK—!

“NYEH!”

Pain exploded from his forehead. The intensity of it had him clutching his head and his sockets shut. It took several minutes for it to pass.

“DAMN, I KNEW YOU WERE HARD-HEADED BUT NOT THIS MUCH!”

Sans peered up and found Edge hovering close by, his expressed filled with concern. A dark scorch mark marred the right side of his cheeks. He had taken off his battle armor and wore a simple tight black shirt, his pants and the trademark red scarf.

“you’re ok? but, but grillby... he, he hurt you. i... fought…? what happened?”

The deep-seeded anger he had felt. The urge for violence. Sans shook as he stared in horror at his open palms.

He’d almost killed another monster. Without hesitation. Just like in the previous timeline. If Edge hadn’t interfered he would’ve—

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Edge smoothed, pressing him against his chest and drawing large, calming strokes down Sans’s back. “Grillby’s fine. He’s still alive. I’m alive. It’s not your fault.”

Sans leaned heavily against the darker skeleton’s sternum. He felt raw and split open, like a gaping wound. The corner of his sockets burned as the emotions he’d bottled up from the start of this Reset and the previous timeline finally spilled over. Tears trickled down his face before he could stop them.

“i’m-i’mma terrible person.”

“No you are not.”

“almost killed grillbz.”

“But you didn’t.”

“killed asgore and almost killed the kid.”

“That happened last time.”

“imma hypocrite for, for judging you like i did in the beginning.”

“I deserved it.”

“and our soul bond is gone and you don’t seem to care but i do.”

It had slipped past Sans’s mouth before he’d even registered. Edge stilled and then broke the embrace, holding Sans out by his arms.

“Do you mean it?”

“forgitaboutit,” Sans blubbered. He looked down at the red bed sheets, thinking it was too late, while trying to rub away the tears. Stars, why was he so leaky? “‘m probably a horrible bondmate anyways.”

“Sans, please.”

Two bare fingers gently lifted his chin. Sans sniffled as his hazy white pupils met Edge’s. Red dusted Edge’s cheekbones. Without saying a word, the sentry captain leaned in and pressed his teeth against Sans’s own. Some sparked within Sans’s soul, sending pulses of heat throughout his bones. In too short of a time, Edge broke the kiss.

“If you still feel the same about me, I’ll be more than happy to continue the bond with you,” Edge uttered in a deep, rough tone as he wiped away Sans’s tears with a thumb.

Sans responded by wrapping his arms around Edge’s neck to continue their kiss. The spark within him flared. Feather-light touches traveled down his spine. Sans shivered and arched into the ministrations. Those expert hands worked their way down each vertebrae and slowly removed his thick jacket.

When he and Edge broke apart again, Sans’s shirt was stripped off of him and he was laid onto his back. Edge removed his clothing and then loomed above him. His crimson eye lights glittered with hunger and… something so tender it had heat rushing into Sans’s face.

“You’re so wonderful, Sans, more than you can imagine.” Edge brushed his fingertips down Sans’s neck, his clavicles and his arms. Sans leaned into the gentle caresses, fighting back groans. “When you forgot about our soul bond last timeline, I thought it had been a mistake. A fluke.”

Sans opened his mouth to protest, but Edge pressed his index phalange against Sans’s teeth. He then leaned down until his ribcage hovered inches above Sans’s own. Sans gasped as he felt the beat of Edge’s soul thrum together with his.

“Do you hear that, Sans?”

He nodded.

“our bond. it still exists.”

It was faint, but there was no doubt in his mind that it could be mended. Sans gave a surprised moan when Edge suddenly grazed his claws against a sensitive spot underneath Sans’s sternum. He twitched from the abrupt burst of pleasure. Hands sprang up to cover his aroused expression.

“Let me see your cute face, Sans?”

“sorry, pal, it’ll blue you away,” he quipped as an attempt to ease his abashment.

A deep, rumbling chuckle echoed above him. His wrists were captured within large hands and held down above his head. Sans had no choice but to meet Edge’s pupils, which were filled with open adoration and affection.

“I want to make you feel good,” Edge purred beside where his ears would be if he had any. He pumped Sans’s spine, making him whimper and squirm. “Do you trust me to take care of you?”

Parting his teeth in a silent plea, Sans ground his clothed pelvis against Edge’s. Short, ragged breaths poured from his mouth as his desire mounted. Edge smirked and then swooped down to kiss him again. This time a wet twisting tongue probed his teeth as if asking for entrance. Sans granted it and summoned his own to meet Edge’s. The two appendages wrestled between their open mouth. Sans gave an aroused, muffled cry as the younger skeleton’s tongue drove down his throat. He closed his eyes as pleasure consumed him. He was floating.

When Edge eventually leaned back, Sans’s soul materialized above his sternum. It glowed white with hues of cyan. In the center of the inverted heart was a barely noticeable speck of indigo. A bright twinkle brought his attention to the second soul nearly touching his; this one glimmered a deep blue.

“Are you ready, Sans?”

“Yes! Please, Papyrus!”

Smiling widely, Edge whispered, “You should keep calling me Edge. I like it,” and leaned down to press their soul together.

Both moaned wantonly as their souls made contact. Emotions, feelings and shared memories filled Sans’s entire being— worries, bouts of rage, and sadness. It was difficult to discern what belonged to him and what belonged to Edge. But their shared love was like a beacon for the souls.

Sans knew then that this was all worth it. That fighting for a future— their future— together would be worth it even through a million Resets. The frayed but repairing length of string shared between them, their bond, grew stronger and thicker than ever.

Sans’s body spasmed violently as he and his partner came in unison. A flash of brilliant light blanketed the dark room. When the high from the shared orgasm faded, their souls returned to their rightful place. Sans snuggled against Edge, who wrapped an arm around Sans, tucked him under his chin and used his left to drape the comforter over their bodies.

“that was amazing,” he uttered, a sudden wave of exhaustion taking over him. “thanks, edge, i love you.”

Edge kissed the top of Sans’s skull and mumbled, “I love you too, Sans.”

Sans slept the remainder of the night knowing that, despite what the future had in store for them, their soul bond would keep them together.