It was two am, and Sans was still awake.

This didn't happen infrequently, actually. He got caught up in watching the stars from his balcony, relishing the few nights he would get on the Surface until Frisk RESET it all again. He knew it worried Papyrus, spending all his time sleeping in the day and stargazing in the night. But, honestly, it was worth it.

The stars were beautiful tonight, little pinpricks of light against a dark, dark purple sky. The begining of the sunrise was starting to show, a wash of pink and red on the far horizon. Sans was grateful for his house on Mt. Ebott, if he were in the city below, the buildings and street lights would block this magnificent view. He missed Papyrus, though. This was the first loop that he'd chosen to live apart from his little brother.

It was probably for the best, though. Whenever he slept, be it night or day, he had vivid nightmares of Frisk's recent Genocide run. They child had aborted before the demon could take full control, but Sans remembered watching Papyrus die. Then Undyne. Then himself. Those were the worst.

He hated the feeling of LOVE, the sickening, smothering sadism that he had seen in Frisk's eyes. That he had felt in himself. He had killed the kid forty-nine times before they landed a blow on him.

Papyrus wouldn't want to see him wake up screaming. Protect Papyrus, was his mantra. Spare the innocent, judge the wicked. That was what he had been trained to do since he was a very small child, smaller than Frisk.

So he stayed on the mountain, coming out of his house when he wasn't passed out on the couch after staying up all night, usually to go down to Grillby's new bar. If he didn't just sleep the day away. Sans had an alarm clock that went off every two hours to make him post on the group chat in case he was snoozing for too long- he didn't need Papyrus coming over every day to make sure he wasn't dead.

Sans checked his new watch. 2:14. He smiled, and settled back into his large brown chair to watch the sun creep across the sky, slowly bathing Ebott City in golden light.

Yes, it was a beautiful day outside...