Well, that was unexpected.

Sans breathed in. He let the air out slowly, trying to calm himself down. There was a little kid inside his father's lab. He didn't know what he was doing there or how he had gotten inside, and the most worrisome thing; he didn't know how long he had been locked in there. The important thing now was to find the little monster's parents and then he would continue to clean up the lab as he had previously intended to.

"Ok, I won't turn on the lights now, but I will have to do it later so I can see you"-he told him as calmly as he could-"Can you come out?"

The kid didn't reply.

"I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise. I just want to help you get out of here and go back home"-he really wanted this to end as quickly as possible. Being in the lab in complete darkness wasn't the most comforting thing.

"Where is the doctor?"-he asked instead, ignoring everything Sans had said.

"What?"

"I said where is the doctor"-he repeated raising his voice, though it still sounded a little shaky.

"Look, kid"-Sans started, without understanding what he meant. He approached the place where the voice came from-"You really shouldn't be here. Let me take you to your parents-"

"DON'T COME CLOSER"-he screamed, and the smack against the floor after the child tried to get up echoed all over the room.

Sans ran to the light switch. The poor kid was hysterical, slipping again and again in his failed attempts to sit up, and he couldn't take it anymore.

He turned the lights on and had to close his eyes at the sudden change. Behind him he heard a groan and a little whimper. He blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust to the light, and turned back to the child

"Calm down, it's just-"

He couldn't finish the sentence.

The Little monster to whom he had been talking was a skeleton. Just like him. Just like Gaster. There weren't other monsters like that in Snowdin. It was just the two of them…Three. Oh, God. What had his father been up to?

"Y-You're…"-he stammered, incapable of talking.

"Leave me alone. Go away!"-moaned the child, who hadn't turned to look at him at any moment. He had just kept curled up on himself on the floor after falling in yet another failed attempt to rise, showing him only his back. He had hidden behind the stretcher and had become entangled between several cables.

"I don't think I can do that"-he was shaking. Why was he shaking?-"Can you come out for a second?"

"No"-it sounded like he was pouting. That made him smile a little. After all, the kid was just that: a kid.

"Come on"-he tried to encourage him. Maybe if he acted more carefree the skeleton woudn't be so afraid of him-"I'm sure being there all by your own must be very bonely-he heard a muttered complaint-"What was that?"

"Stop making bad puns"-the child said raising his voice, sounding a little more confident.

"Oh, come on, don't you find me humerus?"-he kept going, cheerful.

This time the kid had to stiffle a laugh. Sans smiled. He sounded like a nice boy.

"Can you come out, please? I really want to help you"-he tried again, hoping that he had gained a little bit of the skeleton's trust.

"The doctor isn't with you?"-he heard the shy reply.

"No, it's just you and me. I promise"-he answered, ignoring the feeling in his chest when he thought about why the kid was so afraid of "the doctor"

He started to unravel, taking the cables away from in between his legs until he was finally free and could get up. He stumbled a little bit and grabbed onto the leg of the stretcher so as not to fall. How long had it been since he last walked? Once he had stabilized himself he stared at him, not saying anything.

Sans took a few seconds to look at him. He was very small, and he didn't know if that was because of his age or the conditions in which he appeared to have had grown up. He was wearing a green gown, the type that his father made him wear when it was him that went to the lab. And that made him think: his father had forbidden him to go to the lab some years ago. At the time he had thought it was a miracle, but now it occurred to him that maybe that was because he had found a replacement. Someone else to experiment with. What had been the point? Why had he decided to create somebody else? It seemed that he had even mistreated him more than Sans.

He decided to save those questions for later. Now the important thing was to help the little kid, who seemed more and more confused every passing second. It was probably because of how Sans was looking at him.

"Hello"-he said, crouching so they could be the same height-"I'm Sans"-he smiled and stretched his hand, offering it so he could shake it. The kid looked at it, apparently not getting what he had to do. He didn't seem familiar with introductions. Sans understood. He had learnt only because of Grillby. He removed his hand, still smiling-"What's your name?"

"The doctor calls me P-AI2"-he replied, his voice almost a whisper.

"Oh"-that was new. Sans had had a name since the momento he was created-"Well, that's not a name worthy of someone as cool as you, is it?"-he gave him an encouraging smile.

The kid looked at him surprised but didn't say anything-"What do you think of…Papyrus? It's not that different but it's much cooler, don't you think?"

The child smiled, showing him the first smile so far. For some reason that filled him with pride. Being able to make Papyrus smile made him feel happy and he wanted to do it more often.

"Well, Papyrus, how about we get out of this horrible place?"-at this, the expression on the kid's face changed abruptly.

"No, no, no, he's going to find me, he's already told me. He'll look for me and he'll find me"-he started to move backwards, scared, ignoring the cables that were behind him.

"Hey, hey, watch out!"-Sans got closer and grabbed his arm, trying to keep him from tripping once again.

"DON'T TOUCH ME"-Papyrus screamed, trashing around in his attempt to free himself from san's grip. He let him go for fear of hurting him, which led to Papyrus falling to the floor once again, this time hitting his arm painfully. He grabbed it and started sobbing, without getting up from the floor.

Sans sighed, feeling sorry for the kid. He was so scared and paranoid that he ended up hurting himself

He wanted to cry. How could Gaster do something like that to this poor skeleton? It's true, Sans had had a bad time as well, but it seemed like what he had been through wasn't even a fraction of what Papyrus had suffered.

But he couldn't cry now. He had to be strong for him. So he sat down on the floor, not wanting to get too close for fear of scaring him even more.

"Hey, Pap"-he started, his voice as calm as he could keep it. The kid kept crying-"I know that you're scared and that it hurts, but I don't want to do anything bad to you. I mean it. I just want to help you"

"But the doctor is going to punish me if I misbehave"-he replied, looking at him through his tears, not letting go of his arm.

"Papyrus, I promise you I won't let anyone hurt you. Neither the doctor nor anyone else. You just have to trust me"-he looked at him smiling gently-"What do you say? Are you gonna let me heal that arm? I'm sure it must hurt"-he offered him his hand. Papyrus looked at it, not crying anymore, but not saying anything either. Sans retracted his arm-"Papyrus, look at me"-the child did-"I'm not gonna hurt you. And I swear on my life I won't let anyone else do it. You don't have to worry about the doctor, not anymore. Do you trust me?-and this time he opened his arms in invitation, though he didn't know if the kid was aware of how hugs worked.

Papyrus sat up still looking at him and then started crying harder than before, but finally he approached Sans and let him embrace him. Sans leaned his skull over Papyrus' and let him cry all he needed. He would take care of this little skeleton, no matter how much it costed.

(Hello again! Hope you like this chapter! I've never posted in so I don't know if there's a way to make author notes…?

Anyway, I beg you to tell me if you find any mistakes or if anything sounds funny since English is not my first language. And if you want to ask me anything or message me, either for mistakes or anything else, my tumblr is beinghappyiseasier.

Thanks for reading!)