A/N: Been a while since I've written typed fanfiction. That's okay. I've been into Undertale lately and came up with the idea of Frisk getting cancer sooooooooo. Frans warning, by the way (actually here's the ships that are in this: Papyton, Alphyne, and Frans). And since I have most of this planned out I'll also give out the warnings of abuse, rape, murder, suicide (attempts and threats), cancer, self-harm, and possibly other triggering themes, not all in this chapter, though (I should just call this chaos "You Probably Shouldn't Read This If You Get Triggered Easily"). I'd also like to say that the chapters are pretty long (this is also handwritten, due to me not having the chance to type this when I got the idea) and I have 32 pages of college ruled lined paper and two chapters (I'm typing this on Google Docs, my goal is 12 pages xD). Soooooo yeah. Also, I decided to make Frisk a dude (Frisk is written and drawn as female way to often in my opinion, and don't read this if gay shipping makes you uncomfortable obviously) because writing about a genderless character is really confusing, to be honest. And Frisk is around 18 or 19, as well as Papyrus (Asriel is a year older) and Sans is maybe 21 or 22, and this takes place about five years after a pacifist run. Sorry about how long this author's note is, I'll stop it here. Prepare for extreme angst that I wish I didn't write.
--
"Frisk, are you okay?" asked Sans as Frisk continued to cough after about three minutes; he'd had coughing fits like this left and right over the past couple of weeks.
"Yeah, Sans," he replied. He looked over at Papyrus and Mettaton. "I'm fine. Mettaton, if you start making out with Papyrus, I will hit you, I swear. We're in public and don't want to be associated with 'that skeleton and—'"
Another coughing fit.
"Frisk, darling, are you sure you're okay?" Mettaton almost sounded more worried than Sans.
"Yeah, it's just a cough, guys," Frisk said, sounding annoyed. "Papyrus, you haven't said anything. Are you worried out of your mind too?"
"I've only known you for five years, but in those five years you've had a lot of coughs," said Papyrus, also sounding annoyed, but with a hint of anxiety.
"Frisk, like Papyrus said, you've had coughs before, and they were never this bad, kiddo," Sans mentioned.
"Pretty sure you can't call me 'kiddo' anymore, Sans," Frisk said with a smirk. "I'm nineteen."
"And why should that dictate whether or not I can call you 'kiddo'?"
"Sans, this is going to end up turning into an argument," Mettaton said, sighing.
"Okay, I'll stop," said Sans.
--
After another week of too-long coughing fits, Toriel decided to call a doctor.
"Mom, you should've called the doctor, like, two or three weeks ago," Asriel had said. "I mean, my brother and your adopted child is literally dying from lack of oxygen every fifteen minutes."
"I know," Toriel had replied.
--
"What did she say, Sans?"
"She recommended an oncologist," Sans said. "A cancer doctor. She said that Frisk has all the symptoms, but he needs to go to a professional for us to know for sure. We made the appointment while we were there."
"Okay," said Toriel. "Thank you, Sans."
--
"I'm sorry, I don't understand human medical terms," said Asriel. "Does my brother have cancer?"
The oncologist sighed and looked at Asriel with a sad look on his face.
"Mr. Dreemurr, I-I'm sorry. Yes, he has cancer. I'll call you and talk to you some more in a few days, I'm sure your family needs time to analyze this."
"Yeah," said Frisk absent-mindedly.
--
"Mom!" yelled Asriel as he opened the door. He ran to Toriel and started sobbing in her arms. Frisk ran up to his room and slammed the door.
"Frisk," Sans said quietly through the door.
"Leave m-me alone, Sans!"
"Hell, no," said Sans. "Your mother would have my head. C'mon, kid."
The door opened.
"I thought I told you not to call me that anymore," said Frisk, laughing a little.
"C'mere." Sans pulled Frisk into a hug. "You'll make it out of this. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"C'mon, your mom probably has dinner ready."
--
"M-Mom," started Frisk. "I-I want to sleep with Sans tonight."
Asriel's drink spewed out of his mouth and onto Papyrus.
"Not in that way," Frisk added. "Just, you know, sharing a bed."
"Sans, I swear if you do anything to him—" Asriel started.
"What, like send a bone through his chest? I'm not going to do anything, Azzy," Sans replied. "We'll just be sharing a bed. Besides, it can get pretty damn cold in my room at night."
"How would you know? You don't have skin," said Undyne.
"Doesn't mean I can't get chilled to the bone," said Sans with a wink.
"NOT AT THE DINNER TABLE, SANS!" Papyrus yelled.
"Aw, c'mon, bro. That's just how I roll," Sans replied, picking up his dinner roll.
"Seriously, stop," said Undyne. She looked at Alphys and smiled when she saw that Alphys was smiling.
"Okay," said Sans. "I'm probably being pretty fishy."
"Anyway," said Frisk. "We're not going to try anything, Mom. Promise. You know Sans and I are together. It's just a comfort thing."
"Okay," said Toriel, sighing. "I wouldn't be able to stop you anyway. You're nineteen, you're old enough to make your own decisions."
"I'm all bones anyway, Toriel," Sans said. "Not like I can do anything anyway."
"I-I mean," began Alphys. "You could. You are technically made of magic."
Sans blushed violently.
"But I won't, because Toriel would break every bone in my body."
"As long as you don't try anything, it's fine," said Toriel.
"Thanks, Mom."
--
"Frisk," said Sans later that night. "W-What if the treatments don't work?"
"Don't worry about it, Sans," said Frisk, putting his arms around Sans's ribcage. "I don't want to leave you so I'll fight the cancer as hard as I can."
Sans turned around and kissed Frisk.
"Do you think that counts as trying something?" asked Sans jokingly after the contact broke.
"Probably not," said Frisk. "She's seen us kiss before."
"Fair point," said Sans. "I love you, Frisk."
"I love you, too," said Frisk. "Should we go to bed, do you think?"
"Yeah, probably."
"Today's been a long and interesting day," said Frisk, yawning. "I'm ready to sleep."
"Me too," said Sans, climbing into his bed. Frisk followed, and within minutes both were asleep.
--
Sans's bedroom door flew open and slammed against the wall, waking both Sans and Frisk up.
"Have either of you seen Asriel?" asked Toriel with nothing but panic in her voice.
"N-No," said Sans, yawning. "I've been asleep and so has Frisk."
"H-He's missing," said Toriel. Frisk jumped out of the bed, running to his and Asriel's room.
"We have to look for him," he told Sans as Sans slammed into the door of the open room.
"But—"
"He's my brother, Sans! You can't expect me to not look for my damn brother!"
Thunder crashed and rain pattered the windows.
"Well, I'm not letting you look alone," said Sans. "Not in this weather."
"Let's go," said Frisk, grabbing his jacket. "Mom, we'll find him."
"Thank you," whispered Toriel, hugging Frisk tightly. "Be careful."
"We will, Tori. C'mon, Frisk."
Sans and Frisk ran out of the house.
"Look for footprints," said Frisk, scanning the ground.
"We'd be lucky to find any in this weather," said Sans. His eye was glowing bright blue.
"We still have to look for him, Sans," said Frisk.
"I see some," said Sans, pointing to a spot in the mud. "They're going toward the square."
"Oh, no," said Frisk. "That's where he got attacked."
"C'mon," said Sans, running in the direction of the footprints.
"Asriel!" shouted Frisk as he caught sight of his brother. Asriel turned around and sent stars flying at both Frisk and Sans. Sans created a wall of bones to protect himself and Frisk.
"Asriel, your mother's worried sick!"
"Asriel, you're bleeding," said Frisk as tears ran down his face.
"So?"
"I can't lose you," said Frisk, running over to Asriel. Asriel's eyes widened when Sans levitated him.
"Okay, kid," said Sans. "You're going to a hospital."
"Fine," replied Asriel. "I'd like you to know that I'll hate you the rest of my life."
"Oh, well. Hate me for eternity for all I care."
--
"Sans, I'm scared," said Frisk the next night.
"And you have every reason to be," replied Sans, his eye glowing. "I won't leave your side while you're going through treatment."
"Promise?" Frisk asked, hugging Sans tightly.
"Promise."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, Frisk."
Frisk kissed Sans. Eventually, Sans fell on top of him. Frisk laughed a little. The door opened, and Undyne walked in.
"Bad time?" she asked, blushing violently and laughing nervously.
"N-No," said Frisk, fixing his hair. "What's up?"
"I was just wandering around," Undyne replied. "Although, Toriel does want you two to go downstairs. She's worried about both of you."
"It makes sense why she's worried about Frisk, but why's she worried about me?" said Sans.
"Because you two are really close so Frisk's cancer diagnosis would've hit you pretty damn hard."
"Fair enough," said Sans. "I'll go show Toriel we're fine. C'mon, Frisk."
"You two have been up to something," said Toriel the second she saw Frisk.
"What makes you say that?" asked Sans with a nervous chuckle.
"Frisk's hair is messed up and you both started blushing when I said you've been up to something,"
"Okay," said Frisk, putting his hands up. "You got us, Mom."
"Asriel's supposed to be released tomorrow, by the way," said Toriel. "The hospital called."
"That's good, at least," said Sans. "It means he hasn't been causing problems."
"True," said Toriel. "Anyway, I guess I'll let you go back to what you were doing. You're both adults, so I can't stop you."
"We could always just watch TV," said Frisk. "That never hurt anyone. I say we watch some anime with Alphys and Undyne."
"I'm not—" started Sans,
"Did I hear anime?!" shouted Alphys. Sans glared at Frisk, who smiled innocently back. "Mew Mew Kissy Cutie!" Alphys continued.
"Alphys, why are you yelling?" asked Undyne, walking into the room.
"ANIME!"
"Hell, yes, nerd!"
"Fine," said Sans with a sigh.
"You still love me," said Frisk, looking at Sans.
"Yes, yes, I do," said Sans.
--
"First day of chemo," said Sans; his eye was glowing insanely. "Ready?"
"It's chemotherapy," said Frisk. "I could not be any more excited," he added sarcastically.
"I asked if you were ready, not if you were excited," Sans pointed out. Frisk sighed.
"Kind of," he said. "Considering it's chemo."
"I'll be right by your side," said Sans. "I never break a promise."
--
"I want to see my brother, dammit!"
"Asriel, stop! You'll open your stitches!"
"I want to see Frisk!"
"Asr—"
Asriel ran into Frisk's room.
"Woah, Asriel, calm down," said Sans, putting up a bone wall between Asriel and Frisk's bed.
"Ow! Sans, you lowered my HP!"
"Oh, well," said Sans. "Hey, it's only one HP, it's okay."
"Says the guy with one HP," Asriel said loudly. Sans was now holding a bone.
"I will, Asriel, don't think I won't."
"Okay," said the nurse. "Stop threatening each other." Sans pointed at Asriel and Asriel pointed at Sans.
"He started it!" they said in unison. Toriel walked into the room.
"Both of you, stop," said Toriel. "You'll wake up Frisk, and he needs his rest in order to beat this."
"She's not wrong," said the nurse. "Frisk's body needs to rest if he's going to get better."
Frisk yawned.
"Now you've done it," said Sans, glaring at Asriel.
"Me?" said Asriel, glaring back at Sans.
"Yes, you!"
"Can you two stop please?" said Frisk, rubbing his eyes. Sans and Asriel continued to glare at each other for a second, then looked at Frisk.
"Yes, sir!" said Asriel. Frisk rolled his eyes.
"I thought we were done with that," he said.
"Clearly not," said Asriel, smirking.
"Anyway, you're older than me, I should be calling you 'sir', actually," said Frisk.
"Fair enough," said Asriel. Frisk started coughing. A few minutes later the coughing fit was over. Sans hugged him.
"You'll beat this," whispered Sans as blue tears ran down his face. "I know you will."
--
"And he gets a STRIKE!" shouted Sans. "Ha! Turkey! Beat that, Dreemurr!"
"You're cheating," said Asriel, laughing.
"How the hell do you cheat in a Wii game?" asked Frisk.
"I don't know, why don't you ask Sans?"
"I'm not cheating, Azzy," said Sans. "I don't think you can even cheat in real bowling."
Asriel swung his remote.
"See? Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" said Sans after Asriel got a strike.
"I still say you're cheating," said Asriel, playfully glaring at Sans with a face full of suspicion.
"Frisk, your go," said Sans. "Nice spare!"
"Okay, Sans, let's see if you can get a fourth," said Frisk.
"Okay," said Sans. Sans threw the remote, and the remote shattered the TV. "Sh—"
Frisk burst out laughing.
"It's not funny!" yelled Sans as Asriel started to laugh.
"Sans, what's going on out there?" asked Toriel from the other room.
"N-Nothing, Tori! Everything's fine out here!" said Sans, laughing nervously.
"I'm coming in there," said Toriel.
"Th-That's really not necessary, Toriel," said Sans even more nervously.
"I think it is," said Toriel. She gasped when she walked in the room. "Who did this?"
Asriel and Frisk laughed even harder. Frisk's laughs were turning into a coughing fit. Sans sighed.
"This is why you use the wrist strap!" said Asriel through his laughter.
"Sans—"
"I know, Tori," said Sans. "I'll pay for a new TV."
"Just be more careful, next time," said Toriel. "And calm down, you two. Frisk, if you laugh too hard you'll start coughing and I don't want to have to take you to the ER."
"'Kay, Mom," replied Frisk. He coughed a little more before fully calming down.
"I wish we could've gotten that on camera," said Asriel. "'Crazy skeleton accidentally breaks TV when he goes in for a fourth on Wii sports.'"
"Shut up, Dreemurr," said Sans. His face was bright blue.
"It's okay, Sans," said Frisk. "It was just an accident."
"It's not okay," said Sans. "I still owe Grillby at least a thousand G."
"And that's your fault," said Asriel. "You're the one who never paid your tab."
"Okay, fair enough," said Sans. "I guess I'm one thousand, seventy-five G in the hole now."
"Again, that's your fault," said Frisk. "If you'd paid your tab, instead of procrastinating and telling Grillby you would later, you wouldn't be over a thousand G in the hole and you wouldn't have Grillby jumping down your throat every time he sees you."
"Okay, that's a fair point. I guess I'll go get that TV. Want to come?"
"Nah, I should probably sleep," said Frisk, yawning. "I can't battle this without getting a lot of sleep."
"Yeah, true," said Sans. "See ya later, Frisk."
"What, no 'bye' for me?" Asriel was glaring at Sans again.
"I shall see you later, sir," said Sans jokingly with a very fake British accent.
"I shouldn't have asked for a bye," muttered Asriel. Frisk chuckled.
"See you two tomorrow, probably," said Frisk. "I am so tired," he added as he yawned again.
"Stop, that's contagious," said Asriel, laughing.
"Good night," said Frisk, walking to the doorway.
"Good night," said Sans and Asriel in unison.
--
"ASRIEL, TURN THAT DOWN!"
Frisk woke up to Undyne yelling. He rolled his eyes. He could hear what Undyne was talking about, though; the Wii Sports theme was on full volume downstairs.
I guess that's my cue to get up, he thought as he got out of Sans's bed. Sans was awake on the floor and his eye was glowing.
"You okay there, Sansy?" asked Frisk, laughing a little.
"Other than the fact that I would've had a heart attack if I had a heart, I'm fine," Sans replied. "I think that's our cue to go downstairs, though."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too," said Frisk, grabbing Sans's hand to help him up.
"Thanks, Frisk."
"No problem."
When they got downstairs, Undyne still had her hands over her ears.
"Did I wake you two up?" Asriel asked innocently.
"Well, obviously you did!" said Undyne. "You almost blew my eardrums, I'd be surprised if you didn't wake them up!"
"Okay, Undyne, calm down," said Alphys as she walked into the room. "Seriously, though, Asriel, next time check the volume before you turn anything on."
"What's the fun in doing that?"
"You did that on purpose?" Sans asked. Asriel nodded, grinning widely. Sans's eye started glowing brighter. "I could've slept longer but no, you had to blast that and wake up everyone in the house!"
"S-Sans, c-calm down!" stuttered Alphys. "I-I know you like to sleep, but a little p-prank once in a while d-doesn't hurt a-anyone!"
"Besides, it's really hypocritical of you to say that when I know for a fact you've woken up Papyrus in the middle of the night with a trombone," said Undyne. "A very loud trombone."
"Fine," said Sans. "Asriel, I forgive you, but please don't do that again."
"Okie-dokie," said Asriel. His smile faltered when Toriel walked in the room.
"You're in deep doo-doo now, Azzy," whispered Sans, laughing.
"Asriel!" said Toriel angrily.
"Hi, Mom," Asriel said quietly.
"Don't you 'hi, Mom' me!"
"I guess a little prank once in a while did hurt someone," Sans whispered, still laughing.
"Be quiet!" snapped Toriel. Papyrus and Mettaton walked in the room, pausing when they saw Toriel glaring at Asriel.
"I-If anyone needs us, we'll be at the ice cream parlor down the street," said Mettaton, whispering the last few words, as he and Papyrus backed out of the room.
"We're coming with you," said Frisk, grabbing Sans's hood.
"Woah, woah, wait," said Sans. "I didn't agree to this."
"Too bad," said Frisk, dragging Sans out the door. "I really don't think we need to watch Asriel get yelled at by my mom."
"You're no fun," said Sans.
"Frisk, darling, how have you been?" asked Mettaton, looking over his shoulder.
"Mettaton, POLE!" yelled Papyrus suddenly. Mettaton barely dodged it.
"I've been fine," replied Frisk. "Aside from consistent coughing fits, obviously."
"That's good, at least," said Mettaton. "You seem to be getting better."
"Yeah, I think I am," said Frisk. "I've only had one round of chemo though, so it might be getting worse, too."
Sans turned around and grabbed Frisk's shoulders, his eye glowing.
"Don't you dare say that," he said angrily. "You're going to get better."
"Sans, I'm being realistic. Cancer's really unpredictable. There have been people who think they're cancer free, but five months later find out they have cancer somewhere else in their body. Hope for the best, right?" said Frisk, saying the last sentence a little nervously. Sans was crying.
"You have to get better," he said. "I don't know what I'll do without you, Frisk."
"You'll find ways to deal with it," said Frisk. "Sorry, that was kind of mean," he added quickly.
"It's okay, you're right," said Sans.
"At this rate, we won't be at the ice cream parlor for at least another hour," said Papyrus.
"Sorry," said Sans, chuckling a little. "My boyfriend does have lung cancer and it's pretty hot out here so I think we'll get stopped again."
"Here," said Mettaton, picking up Frisk.
"Are you two actually that desperate to get to the ice cream parlor?" asked Frisk, laughing. "You know I can walk, right?"
"Yes, we are that desperate," Mettaton replied. Sans rolled his eyes.
"C'mon, put the kid down," said Sans. Mettaton gently put Frisk back on the ground.
"We've been over this twice now," said Frisk. "You can't exactly call me 'kid' or 'kiddo' anymore."
"I don't think we agreed to it, though," said Sans.
"Let's call it respecting your boyfriend," said Frisk.
"When you put it that way, okay."
"Thank you very much, kind sir," said Frisk in a mock British accent. He went into a coughing fit.
"See, what'd I say?"
"Okay," said Frisk once the coughing fit was over. "Ice cream."
"Let's go," said Papyrus. They ran to the ice cream parlor.
"Woah, woah, woah," said the cashier when they walked in. "We don't serve monsters."
"Well, that couldn't be more racist," said Frisk angrily.
"We don't serve monsters," the cashier repeated.
"Frisk, it's fine," said Sans, grabbing Frisk's arm.
"No! It's not!" He pulled out of Sans's grip.
"Frisk, you'll just cause more trouble! That's the last thing we need!" said Sans. He used his magic to pick up Frisk and they left with Mettaton and Papyrus.
"You wouldn't let me stand up for you?"
"Frisk, it was fine, it didn't ma—"
"What do you mean, 'it didn't matter'?" Frisk was almost yelling. "Of course it mattered!"
"C'mon, Frisk, it was fine!" said Papyrus. "We can get ice cream from somewhere else at some other time!"
"I'm not standing for this," said Frisk. "Sans, put me down!"
Sans almost dropped him out of shock.
"Where are you going?" yelled Mettaton as Frisk ran down the street.
"Back to that ice cream parlor!" replied Frisk.
Sans rolled his eyes. A few minutes later Frisk came back with four ice cream cones, all vanilla.
"Thanks," muttered Sans.
"You're welcome," said Frisk. They slowly walked back to the house.
"Hello," said Frisk to Alphys when he walked inside with Mettaton, Sans, and Papyrus.
"H-Hello, Frisk," she replied.
"Hey, Frisk, want to go to a park with us?" asked Papyrus, wiggling his thumb between himself and Mettaton.
"Yeah, sure," said Frisk.
"I'll stay here," said Sans as Mettaton opened his mouth.
"Okay," said Mettaton.
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" asked Frisk. He sounded slightly worried.
"Yeah, I'm sure," said Sans.
"Okay," said Frisk. "Mom, can we take the car? The nearest park isn't exactly close."
"Yeah, of course," said Toriel.
"Thanks, love you, Sans," said Frisk.
"Love you, too," said Sans.
"Frisk, you have your phone, right?" said Asriel.
"Yep. Why?"
"You never know, Mom could go to the hospital, Undyne might accidentally stab Alphys —"
"Okay, for your information, Dreemurr, I've never accidentally stabbed anyone and I'm definitely not going to stab my girlfriend," said Undyne exasperatedly.
"My point is things happen, Frisk, I just want to make sure you have something we can contact you with," finished Asriel.
"Okay, yes, I have my phone," said Frisk.
--
Frisk jumped.
"Got it!" he said, waving a blue Frisbee in the air.
"Good job, human Frisk!" said Papyrus, clapping.
"Considering you — and I spoke too soon," said Mettaton, as Frisk started coughing again.
"Maybe you shouldn't jump?" said Papyrus, looking at Frisk with concern on his face. Frisk's phone rang.
"H —" Frisk coughed a little bit. "Hel —"
"FRISK, YOU HAVE TO COME BACK!" shouted Alphys.
"Alphys, calm down, you'll burst my eardrum!" said Frisk, taking the reciever away from his ear.
"S-SANS —"
"We have to go," said Frisk to Mettaton and Papyrus. "Something's happening with Sans."
They got in the car, almost speeding to get back to the house. When they got to the house, Frisk ran to Sans's room.
Sans was holding a knife; he was pointing it at his chest.
"Sans, no!" said Frisk, running forward and wrenching the knife out of Sans's hand. He tackled Sans and started kissing him. Sans looked at him in shock for several seconds before kissing him back.
"Never do that again," said Frisk, glaring at him with tears running down his face. Sans wriggled underneath Frisk, trying to grab the knife back.
"Sans, stop!" sobbed Frisk. "You made a promise to me!"
"I don't care," Sans muttered so quietly Frisk barely heard it.
"S-Sans, I'm your boyfriend," whispered Frisk, still sobbing. "I love you, don't do this."
"I'll do what I want," said Sans, glaring at Frisk with his eye glowing and tears running down his face.
"Please don't, I'm begging you."
Frisk felt himself jerk up; the knife fell out of his hand. Sans grabbed it, immediately stabbing himself. Frisk fell on the floor.
"SANS!" shouted Frisk, sobbing harder than ever. His sobs turned into coughs as Alphys and Undyne ran into the room. Blood was all over the sheets.
"Frisk, call 911!"
"My ph-phone's in the car!"
Undyne had already dialed the number. Sirens were blaring outside. Papyrus ran in with Mettaton, looking between Sans and the knife.
"W-What happened?" he asked as tears cascaded down his face.
"He st-stabbed h-himself!" Frisk sobbed. Papyrus stared at Sans, falling to his knees. Mettaton knelt next to him, hugging him tightly.
"Where are they?" asked a paramedic downstairs. Undyne ran out of the room, yelling for the paramedics. Toriel walked by with Asriel; both gasped when they saw Sans on the floor. Frisk ran into Toriel's arms.
"His soul's badly damaged," said one of the paramedics, lifting Sans's shirt and jacket up. "I don't know if we'll be able to save him."
Papyrus sobbed into Mettaton's arms. Frisk saw Papyrus look at the knife a few minutes later. Frisk grabbed it, walking back over to Toriel.
"We should take this somewhere, I saw Papyrus staring at it," he whispered, wiping his eyes. Sans groaned.
"He's conscious!" said one of the paramedics. "Can you stand?"
"I don't want to," said Sans, coughing a little; blood dribbled out of his mouth. "Whether or not I can is another story."
"Well, he's talking, that's a good sign," said another paramedic.
"Try to," said the first paramedic, helping Sans up.
"Ow! It hurts!"
"Maybe you shouldn't have stabbed yourself, Sans," said Frisk loudly.
"Oh, shut up," said Sans, glaring at Frisk. "I think I can stand," he added to the paramedics.
"Okay," said the second paramedic. "On three. One, two —"
Sans yelled in pain.
"Do we have the stretcher?" asked the first paramedic. The second pointed to a stretcher right outside the doorway. "Good. Try to walk to it."
Sans started to walk toward the stretcher, limping slightly as he did. He got on it.
"You can meet us at the hospital if you'd like," said the second paramedic.
"O-Okay," said Mettaton. Papyrus was still crying into his arms. Toriel walked into the room when the paramedics and Sans were gone.
"Frisk, Papyrus, I'll take both of you. Sans doesn't need to be bombarded with visitors when he just attempted suicide."
"I'll stay behind," said Frisk. "It hurt enough to watch him do it, I don't want to hurt more by seeing him in more pain."
"I'll go," said Mettaton. "I'll be there to support Papyrus."
--
"Why'd you try, Sans?" said Frisk; it had been two nights since Sans had tried to kill himself.
"I don't want to see you suffer through cancer," muttered Sans with his back toward Frisk.
"You made a promise to me," said Frisk quietly. "You promised me you'd be with me through my treatment."
"I said I didn't care," said Sans. "I said it and I meant it."
"You know you care. If you didn't —" Frisk sighed.
"You can't think of a reason, can you?"
Frisk broke down. Sans turned around and stared at him.
"I — I love you," Frisk said through sobs. "I don't want to lose you."
Sans sat up and kissed him.
"How'd they put a skeleton on an IV?" Frisk asked, chuckling, when they broke apart.
"They drilled a really small hole in my arm so they could put it into my bone marrow," Sans replied. "I was asleep when they did it."
"At least you're okay," said Frisk. "The paramedics didn't know if you'd make it. How's your soul holding up?"
"It still hurts, but I'm healing. The doctor said I could be out by the end of the week."
"As long as nothing happens, right?"
"I'm not going to try anything, Frisk."
Frisk started coughing. After a few minutes he hadn't stopped.
"F-Frisk?" said Sans a little nervously.
"I —" He fainted. There was blood on his sweater where he'd been covering his cough. Sans's eye started glowing.
"Help!" he shouted, almost sobbing. A doctor ran into the room.
"I don't know what happened, he coughed for a few minutes and fainted, and there's blood on his sweater!"
"We'll get him to the ER so we can check on him," said the doctor.
--
It was a few days before Frisk was out of the hospital. He and Sans were discharged at the same time. Toriel picked them up.
"Sans, what were you thinking?" she said angrily, glaring at Sans through the rear view mirror.
"I'd rather not discuss this," he said, turning blue and smiling nervously.
"He didn't want to see me suffer through this," said Frisk.
"First Asriel, now Sans," Toriel muttered. "This family's going downhill."
"Family's a strong word, Tori," said Sans. "I don't exactly —"
"Be quiet!" Toriel snapped. When they got back to the house, both were bombarded with half a dozen voices asking if they were okay.
"We're fine!" said Sans loudly. Frisk tapped his shoulder, pointing at Papyrus.
"Look at his arm," he whispered. There were cracks up and down Papyrus's arm with tape covering them. Frisk looked at Sans. His eye was glowing and he was crying. He started walking over to Papyrus.
"S-Sans, give him a little b-bit," Frisk stammered, grabbing Sans's arm.
"Why? He's my younger brother and he's either breaking his arm intentionally or being abused," said Sans, with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Let's just get settled back in, then we can go bother — where's Mettaton?"
"Good question," said Sans. "God, I hope he's not contributing to Papyrus's arm."
"Probably not," said Frisk. "C'mon, let's go settle back in."
The door to Alphys and Undyne's room was open. They were kissing on the bed.
"Do you two want me to shut the door?" asked Frisk with a nervous chuckle.
"Really?" said Sans. "Did you really just interrupt them to ask that?"
"Well —"
Undyne got off the bed.
"Real smooth Frisk," she said with a smirk. "We can walk."
She shut the door. They went to Sans's room.
"That's not coming out anytime soon," said Frisk, looking at the sheets; there were still blood stains on them.
"I hate myself," muttered Sans, sighing. Frisk walked over to him and hugged him. "Has Toriel even tried to clean those?"
"Probably not, it's as vivid as it was before."
"Where's that knife?"
"Sans, don't even think —"
"I'm just curious!"
"I hope somewhere nobody can get to it."
"Me too," said Sans, hugging Frisk tightly.
They stood there for a few minutes before they heard Papyrus sobbing and Mettaton's voice. Sans's eye started to glow.
"Let's go check on them," said Frisk. "But unless Papyrus is being hurt, whether it's by himself or by Mettaton, we're staying in the hall."
They started walking to Papyrus and Mettaton's room. They opened the door slightly, peeking around it. Mettaton was hugging Papyrus tightly.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes," said Mettaton. "He's just —"
He sighed.
"— suicidal."
Papyrus sobbed harder.
"M-Mettaton, I don't want to keep living!" Papyrus shouted.
"P-Papy, it's okay," said Mettaton in a comforting tone. "Sans and Frisk are okay, darling. It's okay."
"N-No, it's not!" Purple tears started to leak down Mettaton's face.
"P-Papyrus, listen to me," said Sans. "If you — if you do anything, nothing will be okay."
"I d-don't care!"
Sans's eye started to glow aggressively.
"P —"
Bones flew at Sans and Frisk. Sans put up a wall before they were hit.
"Papyrus, stop!" Sans sobbed.
"I'd recommend leaving, I'll try to calm him down," said Mettaton.
"Ok-kay," said Frisk. "C'mon, Sans."
They went back to Sans's room, where Sans curled up on the floor, still sobbing.
"I might lose you, I can't lose Papyrus, too," he said. Frisk kneeled on the floor next to him, rubbing Sans's arm.
"S-Sans," said Frisk, laying on the floor next to him, "everything's going to be fine."
"Don't make p-promises you c-can't keep. You can't control what anyone does, and there's no guarantee you'll make it out alive."
"Is everything okay?" asked a voice at the door. "We heard Papyrus yelling and could hear Sans screaming."
"Oh, yeah, everything's great!" said Sans sarcastically, not looking at Alphys and Undyne. "My younger brother just threatened suicide in front of me, the day I got out of the hospital for attempting it!"
Alphys and Undyne stood for a minute.
"We know you're upset," said Alphys. "But you can't sob your heart out every time something goes wrong."
"Yeah, like you haven't done that over Undyne," said Sans. Alphys gave a little hiccup and ran down the hall.
"I can't believe you'd say that," said Undyne angrily. "You can go back to the Underground and die for all I care."
She left the room, leaving Sans sobbing harder than ever.
"It's okay," whispered Frisk as tears ran down his face. "You didn't mean it. You're just really upset."
"I did mean it," said Sans. "I just wish I hadn't said it."
"You have to go apologize, you know," said Frisk.
"Yeah, like Undyne's going to let me anywhere near Alphys."
"We'll go together. I doubt they think I'll let you hurt them."
"Tomorrow," said Sans, looking up at Frisk. "I'm tired."
"Me too."
--
Nobody talked at breakfast the next morning. Alphys and Sans exchanged a few glances; Sans's of guilt and Alphys's of fear. Papyrus was leaning on Mettaton, tears running silently down his face. After everyone was done eating, Toriel broke the silence.
"Something happened last night and you six aren't telling me," she said, glaring at Sans, Frisk, Mettaton, Papyrus, Alphys, and Undyne.
"H-How do you know?" said Sans, turning bright blue.
"Because breakfast is never this quiet," said Toriel between clenched teeth.
"I don't want to talk about it right now," said Sans, his eye glowing. He and Frisk got up and went to Sans's room. They heard chairs scraping against the floor. They walked a little faster.
"Well, that could've gone better," said Frisk, sitting down on Sans's bed.
"Yeah, no kidding," said Sans, sitting next to him. "I wish last night never happened."
"Where was my mom last night? You'd think she'd've heard Papyrus yelling."
"I think she went somewhere with Asriel," Sans replied. "I could be wrong, obviously, but I think she was shopping or something."
"She'd have to be deaf to not have heard Papyrus, though," said Frisk. Asriel walked into the room.
"Mom wanted me to check on you two," he said. "So what happened last night?"
Frisk sighed before explaining.
"We just got out of the hospital yesterday, as you probably know," he began. "We came up here to get settled back in, and a few minutes later we heard Papyrus sobbing and Mettaton's voice. We went to see what was going on, and Papyrus threatened to kill himself. Kind of. Technically he said he didn't want to live anymore but he has cracks in his left arm. Mettaton's not abusing him, so they were put there by him. He sent bones at us, which Sans blocked. Mettaton had us leave, he said he'd try to calm him down, which I'm assuming he did. We left and a few minutes later, Alphys and Undyne came to check on us. Alphys told Sans he couldn't sob his heart out every time something went wrong, to which he replied 'Like you haven't done that over Undyne,' making Alphys run down the hall sobbing. Undyne then said she couldn't believe he'd say that, then told him he could go back to the Underground and die for all she cared."
Asriel stayed silent for a few minutes.
"You know you shouldn't've said that, Sans," he said, looking at Sans.
"I know, I was just really upset and stressed out and I didn't know what to do," Sans answered.
"I'll go tell Mom."
"No, don't! She'll pester Papyrus, and that's the last thing we need, it'll just stress him more!"
"Sans, she needs to know what's going on and why Alphys and Undyne are avoiding you," said Asriel. "And why Papyrus is suddenly crying all the time, he's been crying almost nonstop since we got up."
"We can tell her when everything's sorted out," said Frisk, glaring at him.
"Okay, fine," said Asriel, "but we need to tell her some time."
"We will but not while Papyrus is as stressed as he is," said Sans. "I'm gonna go check on him. Hopefully he doesn't try to kill me like he did last night."
He left with Frisk; Asriel walked in the direction of Undyne and Alphys's room.
"Hey," said Frisk, opening the door a little. There was a sound of metal falling. Mettaton put his arms on the bed, blushing with a nervous smile. Papyrus had gotten under the blanket almost as fast as Mettaton had fallen off the bed. Sans snorted.
"Were you two busy?"
"No, of course not!" said Mettaton.
"Papyrus, it's not like I haven't seen your ribs before," said Sans, looking at Papyrus. Papyrus slowly took the blanket off. He was blushing violently.
"We just came to see how Papyrus is doing," said Frisk.
"I'm fine!"
"You're at least doing better than you were this morning, I guess," said Sans.
"Well, you know he's okay, toodaloo!" said Mettaton.
"Oh, my God," said Sans, laughing. "You were about to do it."
"Do what?" asked Papyrus in what he seemed to think was an innocent voice.
"I think you know, Pap," said Sans.
"Okay, Sans, let's let them get back to what they were doing," said Frisk, grabbing Sans's hood and dragging him out of the room. When they got back to Sans's room, Sans burst out laughing.
"I can't believe I saw that," he said. Frisk sighed.
"I thought you'd be more defensive of your brother," he said, rolling his eyes. "Y'know, 'Don't even try to do that or I'll send a bone through your soul,' something like that."
"Nah, he's an adult," said Sans. "He can make his own decisions, my days of holding his hand through things are over."
"He's still your younger brother, though," Frisk pointed out.
"That doesn't mean he's not an adult," Sans retorted. Asriel walked in, looking extremely flustered.
"You okay, Az?" said Frisk, laughing.
"You two look happy," said Asriel, smiling.
"And you look like an extremely flustered goat," said Sans, snorting.
"I walked into their room at the wrong point in time," said Asriel.
"Seems like sex is a pretty popular coping mechanism," said Sans. "Mettaton and Papyrus were about to do it, but we caught them right before. Mettaton fell off the bed, Papyrus had the blanket all the way up to his neck."
"Yeah, Alphys and Undyne were worse," said Asriel.
"There's a reason you knock," said Sans.
"Anyway," said Frisk. "How are they?"
"Well, Undyne nearly sent a spear through me, but they seemed to be doing okay."
"That's good, at least."
"Well, see you later," said Asriel. "I'm gonna go let Mom know everything's okay."
--
"Sans, there's something you should know," said Mettaton. "While Papyrus is asleep."
Frisk looked back, trying not to run into anything on the street. Papyrus was asleep on Mettaton's back.
"Yeah?" said Sans.
"Pa —" Mettaton sighed before continuing. "Papyrus has been cracking his arm."
Sans's eye started to glow.
"I know," he said. "Well, kind of. I saw the cracks in his arm and thought he was either doing it himself or being abused. I ruled out abuse, I know you wouldn't do that to him."
"I think we should go back to the house," said Frisk. "It's getting dark and I have chemo tomorrow."
"Yeah, you're right," said Sans. Papyrus adjusted his head a little on Mettaton's shoulder. Asriel met them at the door.
"Hey, Azzy," said Sans.
"Are you okay? Your eye's glowing," said Asriel, looking worried.
"Yeah, everything's fine."
"Are you sure?" asked Alphys.
"Oh, you're talking to me again, are you?" said Sans with a small smile.
"I decided you didn't mean to say what you said," said Alphys nervously.
"And you'd be right," said Sans. "I wish I hadn't said it."
"But I'm assuming you meant it," said Undyne. She was glaring at Sans.
"Maybe," said Sans quietly.
"U-Undyne, let's forgive a-and forget," said Alphys.
"So why is your eye glowing?" asked Undyne. "I know it doesn't just start glowing for no reason."
"Well —"
Papyrus yawned.
"I'll tell you later," said Sans, walking over to Papyrus and Mettaton.
"We're home," said Mettaton, looking at Papyrus with a smile on his face. Papyrus groaned.
"I don't want to moooove," he said, holding onto Mettaton tightly.
"I guess laziness runs in the family," teased Sans. Papyrus scowled at him, getting off of Mettaton's back.
"Why's your eye glowing, Sans?" he asked.
"Because Frisk has chemotherapy tomorrow," lied Sans.
"Oh, yeah," said Papyrus, glancing at Frisk.
"Welp, I'm tired," said Sans. "I'm going to bed."
"Me too," said Frisk.
"Good night!" said everyone in the room.
"Good night," said Sans over a yawn. Frisk heard footsteps following them.
"Sans," said Alphys with a worried voice. "W-What's wrong? Your eye's been glowing since you got back, at least fifteen minutes."
"Oh," he muttered. "That."
"We can wait until we get to your room," said Undyne. They walked to Sans's room in silence. Frisk shut the door behind them.
"Papyrus hasn't been really mentally well since I tried to kill myself," said Sans. "He started c-cracking his arm."
Alphys gasped.
"We have to tell someone!" said Undyne.
"He tried to kill me and Frisk the other night, I don't want to go through that again," said Sans. "We aren't going to tell anyone."
"Sans," began Undyne, "if we don't it won't get resolved, and it could get worse."
"We'll just leave him alone for now," said Sans. "If it gets worse, Mettaton will tell me, and we can get him help from there."
"I-I hope you're right about that, Sans," said Alphys.
"Good night, then," said Frisk, practically shoving Undyne and Alphys out of the room. "See you in the morning, I guess."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Frisk," said Undyne, trying to resist Frisk's attempts to shove her out the door.
"I have treatment tomorrow, and both Sans and I are extremely tired, and like I've said before, I need sleep to beat this, so good night." Frisk shut the door as Alphys opened her mouth.
"That was just a little rude, buddy," said Sans.
"Yeah, you're probably right," said Frisk. "It's okay, I'll apologise tomorrow."
--
"E-Everything's going to be fine," said Mettaton in a comforting but nervous tone to Papyrus. "Wanna go on another walk?"
"No," said Papyrus, cuddling up closer to Mettaton. "I just want to sleep and never wake up."
"P-Please d-don't say that," said Mettaton, trying not to cry. "I d-don't know what I'd do without you. Please let's go for a walk."
"Fine," said Papyrus a little angrily. Mettaton stood up.
"It'll get your mind off things, I know it helped me to walk around Hotland when I was stressed in the Underground."
Papyrus sighed.
"C'mon," said Mettaton, holding out his hand for Papyrus to grab and smiling. Papyrus grabbed it, getting off the bed and hugging Mettaton.
--
Frisk coughed.
"I want to be out of the hospital," he groaned. Papyrus and Mettaton walked into the room.
"Hey," said Sans as they entered.
"Hello, human!" said Papyrus enthusiastically.
"You seem more positive than you've usually been the past few weeks," said Frisk.
"Maybe so," said Papyrus. "But I, the Great Papyrus, will keep you company until you're back home!"
"Thanks for the nostalgia, bro," said Sans, laughing. "And don't worry, Frisk. As long as you stay in good health —"
"I'm already not in good health, I have lung cancer," interrupted Frisk.
"— besides the cancer," continued Sans, "you'll be out in no time."
"Thanks for that advice, Sans."
"You're welcome."
--
A/N: Okay, so I had a small panic attack at the end of writing this (the last few paragraphs aren't the original paragraphs I wrote). I messed up the copy/paste thing on my keyboard and ended up erasing the entire story, but it's okay because I write on Google Docs and was able to get the story back. Anyway, hope you payed attention to the warnings in the first author's note because some of those warnings are coming in chapter 2. Thanks if you're supporting me, and sorry this was so angsty (the next chapter's going to be worse in terms of triggers). Thanks for reading this horrendously long first chapter! Bye!
ALSO, I'm not promoting suicide or self-harm. If you or someone you love is having suicidal thougts or self-harming, please get help. Look up your suicide prevention hotline number. You have so much to live for.