The blade flew through the air and I slid to the side watching as it ripped another hole through the blue sweater I wore.
"tsk. you'll need to try harder than that kid."
Pain.
It was searing and all encompassing. I gasp and my hand found its way to my chest. I heard the laughter and saw the demonic smile in front of me. No. No I was so close. I sighed. What was the point. This was the twelfth time they came through and ended up killing me. My knees gave out and with a groan I was on my hand and knees. My right hand was covered in the red blood and I could feel it dripping down my teeth. The cracking started and I grit my teeth to keep from crying out. Each little shard of bone splintered and floated away into dust. Damn them. They hadn't even stayed, they left as soon as they saw the blood. They knew i couldn't do anything now. My breath caught in my throat and a wet ragged cough ripped through me spraying the blood across the golden tiles. I couldn't breath, my vision blurred, and feeling left my arm as it cracked and splintered away leaving me falling forward to meet the floor in a pile of ash.
Day 1 (63rd timeline)
"WAKE UP SANS! YOU LAZY BONES, YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE AGAIN!"
I jerked up my breath coming fast and shallow. I could feel the tears on my face and grabbed my chest where the phantom pain still throbbed. I couldn't breath, my vision swam and I felt the world tip. I landed on the floor in a heap breath still struggling to reach normalcy yet failing. I heard the door open and cursed under my breath.
"SANS? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"
I couldn't stop shaking, the world was blurry and I still Couldn't Breath! A hand on my shoulder shocked me into opening my eyes and sure enough even after 47 deaths Papyrus was kneeling before me. A choked laugh escaped me stealing away even more of my breath.
"S-SANS? WHAT'S GOING ON?!"
He gripped my shoulders and lifted me into a sitting position. My chest hurt nothing was working. Another cough tore through me and I felt the feeling start to leave my limbs. The blurry world from my tears was going hazy and gray, black rounded the corners and slowly creeped forward.
"BROTHER!? TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
I struggled to look up at his face. I reached my shaking hand out to his face and as I felt the smooth bone beneath it the world went dark and everything left.
" . . . . THER . . . . BROTHER . . . . . BROTHER?"
I blinked open my eyes and slowly turned my head to see papyrus sitting to the right of me, next to the couch. His hand was gripping mine and tears were running down his face as he sat there rocking back and forth. He kept mumbling 'brother' over and over. I shifted and groaned as everything ached. Pain encompassed my entire being. Papyrus jolted and sat up with a startled cry. His face was right next to mine and I could see his eyes welling with more tears. I forced a smile and spoke in a cracked and gravelly voice.
"hey b-bro. what's up?"
Papyrus just sat there looking at me in shock before jumping to his feet and shouting louder than I thought he could.
"WHAT'S UP?! WHAT'S UP?! SANS! I CAME IN TO WAKE YOU FOR WORK TO FIND YOU FELL OUT OF BED CLUTCHING YOUR CHEST AND UNABLE TO BREATH! AND ALL YOU SAY IS WHAT'S UP!?"
I flinched and looked down at my chest as I was still laying on the couch. Papyrus sighed before drawing closer.
"BROTHER, PLEASE, TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED. WHY COULDN'T YOU BREATH THIS MORNING?"
I just shook my head.
"it's nothing bro. just had a nightmare and couldn't shake it is all. what time is it?"
He deadpanned. No response from the younger sibling left their mouth and I lay there looking anywhere but them. I shifted, pulling myself up and turning so I was sitting on the green old couch properly now. My body complained and I muffled my groan by gritting my teeth and closing my eyes.
"Brother."
I opened my eyes quickly and stared at Papyrus. He wasn't using his normal loud voice it was quiet almost that of a whisper.
"Why don't you ever tell me?"
I froze. My eyes widened and I felt my breath catch in my throat.
"Why don't you ever tell me what's wrong? I can see it. I can see it every time we go through this, the same thing, over and over without end. But why don't you tell me?"
His eyes shifted and he met my panicked gaze. He knew. He knew this whole time. He knew about the timelines and the human and the killing and . . . Wait. He knew about the human. My gaze hardened and I glared at my little brother. He flinched back with surprise.
"Sans?"
I let out a low growl.
"you knew. you knew and still . . . ."
He gulped and looked away.
"you knew and lied to me, refused my advice, went against everything I warned you of."
My SOUL ached and I felt my right hand clench the area where I had been cut down by the human twelve times. I could feel myself trembling from shock, rage and frustration.
"you ask me why I didn't tell you. but you never . . . you never even hinted that . . . you knew and still . . ."
I couldn't finish my thoughts. He knew. He knew he knew he knew he knew. This whole damn time he knew and still.
"Brother?"
I flinched. Silence filled the air only to be broken by my quiet and hard voice.
"47."
I heard papyrus gasp before inching away. I didn't care. I was dead, my heart and soul were no longer throbbing with pain. The air I was breathing in ceased. Everything was frozen.
"47 times I watched you. . . 47 times I couldn't save . . ."
I needed air. I needed to continue. I needed to figure this out and talk this through rationally.
"47 times you refused me and Died."
I spat the word finally gulping in air and I turned to meet my brothers eyes with my own dark ones. I froze. He was shaking. Tears bright orange were streaming down his face and his jaw was chattering. (The equivalent of a being with skin's lip quivering)
"P-Pap."
He flinched and I felt like I was socked in the gut. I reached my hand out and gripped his shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut and I reached with my other arm grabbing his other shoulder before slowly pulling him forward and engulfing my brother, my once again living brother into a hug. He hugged me back tightly and sobbed. I sighed.
"i'm sorry pap. you're right. i should have told you."
He was shaking and I felt the guilt build up inside me. He remembered, he would remember this. I squeezed my eyes shut a few blue tears leaking from my sockets. As they fell down and hit the exposed bone of Papyrus's skull he froze.
"S-Sans?"
I didn't respond, only pulling him closer. He returned the hug and I felt my chest constrict. This time with the pressure of the embrace instead of the lack of air or the burning pain left by a knife. I let out a wet tear filled chuckle and buried my face in Papyrus's shoulder. We sat there like that for what felt like hours. The sound of footsteps entering the house caught my attention and I slowly looked up and froze my eye sockets widening. They were back. The human stood there knife in hand with a large malicious grin on their face. No. No no no no why? Why couldn't they just stop?! They stepped forward and suddenly they were sprinting and the knife was in Pap's back before I could even blink. I heard his choked gasp and held him as he slowly crumbled into dust. My blue tears were mixing with the remains of my brother and soon red joined the mix as the knife once again slashed into my chest. I ignored the pain one thought on my mind. He remembers. He will remember again. I smiled at the human and reviled in the shocked and frightened look that passed their face as I fell forward my dust and jacket falling to join in with Pap's ashes and scarf.
The End.
Alright, so there's the little one shot that was bouncing around my head keeping me from focusing on the other fic I have going. I hope you liked it. Please leave a review to let me know.
-Temiku