After Sans went dark on the floor, Papyrus phoned Undyne and Alphys, and shot a quick text to Mettaton, who was already being released from the hospital and was waiting quite dramatically to see Frisk. Papyrus honestly wasn't worried about his brother too much, this had happened before when he over exerted himself, but he truly did not have time for this.

"Come now brother! This is no time to nap! Lazy bones, must I do everything?" Papyrus scolded loudly, propping Sans up against the wall. The cellphone in his other hand was buzzing spastically, Mettaton sending encouragement and Undyne sending curses.

-HE COULDN'T KEEP IT TOGETHER TILL WE GOT TO THE HOSPITAL ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHY DID WE EVEN CALL HIM IF HE WAS JUST GOING TO PASS OUT LIKE A FUCKING WIMP-

-Don't worry darling! I'm sure your brother and lovely Frisk will be up and about in no time, I'll throw a party in my new apartment to celebrate! After all, you're the only one who's seen it ;)-

The last text made a very noticeable orange blush creep up his neck bones, cheeks and nearly to the top of his skull. Over the last few months he and Mettaton had become, well very... Very close. Though he had failed to let any of his friends know.

It wasn't that he was embarrassed! After all, he was the great Papyrus! And Mettaton, oh, how could he ever be embarrassed of him?

He just really did not want to have a conversation with his brother about that, he always seemed to conveniently forget whenever he called.

Undyne and Alphys arrived quickly; the latter's claws clicking against her phone screen as she tried to get more details from the hospital and Mettaton. Of course his retelling of the accident did not help in any way, but Papyrus was happy to know he came away without a scratch... then felt horrible immediately remembering Frisk.

"I do not know whether I should be relieved at Mettaton's health, or worried about the human! I should be worried about the human! She is so small and I, the great Papyrus, should have been protecting her while Sans was away!" Papyrus said quickly while shaking his head and slinging his brother over his shoulder. Undyne was not as gentle.

Alphys chimed in quickly "Oh no, I did designed him to be near indestructible but- but that's not helping heh...heh..." She quickly scurried behind her girlfriend, drowned out by her yelling.

"What the hell with your brother?! He gets here and passes out?! We already have one person, well two but he's okay, ONE person in the hospital! He could've waited to wimp out!" Undyne was all agitation and scales when she grabbed Sans from Papyrus and dashed to the car.

She would've never grabbed Sans so roughly if he was awake (he was possibly the one person she wouldn't fight, she's heard stories.) but, for once Papyrus wasn't moving fast enough for her.

Alphys was still typing, ignoring her as she instructed Mettaton where to meet them and when.

"Let me, let me sit in the back- I'll see if I can help Sans wake up. In the meantime Papyrus, you drive. Mettaton is waiting on us." She shuffled into the backseat and waited for everyone to pile in.

"YES, wake brother on the way so the hospital won't have too!" Papyrus yelled happily as he ran towards the car.

Sans was unceremoniously dumped into the back seat by Undyne, all the while grumbling about skeletons and timing.

Alphys did some quick reviving to get Sans on his feet. They all piled out of the car, Sans somewhat woozily while Papyrus tripped over Undyne while attempting to sprint through the front doors where Mettaton was just ahead.

"Over here my lovelies! Oh Pap, slow down, I'm not running away!" Mettaton nearly spun to Papyrus's side, quickly grabbing hold of his hand and placed a winking kiss on his wrist.

Papyrus was blushing again, but still gathered Mettaton in a tight hold and knocked his head against his affectionately.

Undyne and Alphys were less then amused, one rolling her eyes and the other blushing.

"Now is not the time for that!" the rest of the conversation was lost on Sans.

After arriving, Sans slipped away from the group, not even noticing Mettaton's very touchy greeting of his brother, and went to find the room Frisk was being held in. While he wasn't fully 100% just yet, the sight in front of him was sobering.

Frisk... Oh no kid... Why wasn't I there...

Frisk was laying on a bed, her face and neck covered in bruises and scratches, but still flushed with a pink tint that looked unnatural against her tan skin. The bandages covering her right hand were clean, but still far too big to provide comfort, and her hair was splayed out around her, wild and smelling of blood.

Sans really hated the smell of her blood.

Her chest was rising and falling with a barely noticeable hiccup, something only someone who's watched her for years would notice. He face was twitching slightly, her lips pulled into a scowl rather than her normal small smile.

Frisk was by no means as happy go lucky as Papyrus, a lot of Sans's sarcasm had rubbed off on her, and Undyne's colorful vocabulary was hard not to imitate. Even so, the sour expression was rarely seen on her face, especially when she wasn't awake.

From what he remembered of Papyrus's rambling, there was some sort of car accident. Mettaton wasn't driving, but they were in his limo... Completely totaled from what he heard.

Sans didn't have the nerve to walk further into the room, much less sit down in a chair, instead sliding down the opposite wall and covering his face with one hand. The insistent beeping of the hospital machines was slowly giving him a headache, and the sight before him was doing wild things to his heart.

Frisk had always been his partner in crime, his little sister and then best friend as she grew older. He had always been right by her side, cracking jokes when she was sad and keeping her entertained when she was bored. Even when her nightmares had reduced her into a shaking ball of tears and fear, he held her and shushed her until she had calmed enough to voice her fears...

He kept her safe from Humans and Monsters alike who threatened harm. He would have died keeping her safe, and not only because of that promise he had made some 11 years ago...

Which is why it came as such a surprise to everyone when he just suddenly decided to announce he was taking a trip, and wouldn't be back for a while. To Sans though, it was all he could do to keep Fisk safe. A few weeks before his departure, he had started noticing things. Small things, like the way Frisk's face would scrunch up after a really good pun, or the way the sunlight liked to reflect in her eyes. With dawning horror, Sans realized he was falling for his friend, and had no idea how to stop it. Not that he was sure he wanted to…Frisk was everything he ever dreamed about. Though lately his dreams had been… well waking in blue sweat and feeling mighty uncomfortable in his shorts was not something he was used to.

And he was sure nothing good would come of this, no matter how good his dreams were. Frisk was more then he deserved. Not to mention he was around when she was just a child, something bound to turn more than a few heads. Plus he was so difficult; Frisk needed more than just him, if she even felt the same way, that is.

After all, finding out your skeletal best friend has had a very deep crush on you? That would at the very least ruin their friendship. There was no way the attraction was mutual, Sans had never been so lucky in his life and wouldn't dare to start hoping now. His leaving was meant to protect her, get him to clear his head in a way. No matter how much he'd missed her he'd done it for her.

And yet, he couldn't protect her from something as common as a car accident. The condition she's in, if he had been there, if Mettaton hadn't been there...

Sans eyes were glowing dully behind his hand, his magic pulsing in agitation at his emotional distress. The painful ache of failure manifesting physically to show his self-loathing, this was entirely his fault it seemed.

This was never a sight he wanted to come home to.

Authors Note:

WOW. Guys thanks for the reviews! I was just like, okay maybe like 20 views, went to sleep and woke up to over a hundred in a day? Thanks so much! I'm so happy and just thanks! Now I won't be posting daily, but I can promise 2 chapters a week, I started this one right after the last and figured I won't make you guys wait. But seriously thank you, Hopefully you enjoyed this a tiny bit. Feel free to review, need to know what you all think! -Jaz