Sweat forms on his forehead as the fever from the poison finally breaks. He shuts his eyes, willing for all of this to be over. He can't handle much more.

"I'll tell ya, I slept wonderfully last night. Paps bed is suuuper comfy!"

Sans gives them a weak glare, the shadows under his eyes seeming to stand out more.

That's when Chara takes out a familiar red scarf and a pair of scissors, which they set down next to them. "And what a cozy looking rag I found while I was cleaning up in there as well~"

Sans's eyes widen in horror. He tries to sit up, but can't even move his shoulders. "n-no! n-no don't cut...p-please.."

"I dunno, you made me really angry last night, and I am not very forgiving.." They say as they pick up the scissors.

"Ch-Chara no! i-i'm sorry, i-i'm so sorry i didn't...i w-wasn't th-thinking..!"

"Well, maybe this will help you think better in the future~" They go to the edge of the scarf, and cut two inches off of it.

Sans gives a strangled cry. "Chara p-please i-i'll...i'll do anything! a-anything you want j-just please...!"

"If you can grab it from me you can have it~" Chara taunts as they slowly brought the scissors up to the fabric.

Sans gives a sob, in spite of trying his hardest not to, "Ch-Chara...i already...i a-already l-lost the t-tape i need...i can't do this without..without some piece of him, please ...i'll...i'll never ask for anything again, i-i swear…"

Chara laughs, and finishes the cut, watching as the piece falls to the floor.

"Ch-Chara p-please! i need...i n-need my b-brother, i..." Sans shuts his eyes, tears rolling down his cheekbone as he starts to give up on reasoning with the being that only ever wants to hurt him.

"If you want the scarf so badly, you are going to have to take it~" They repeat, raising the scissors once again.

He can't. He hasn't stopped trying to move since he first woke up. The scarf will be in shreds before he can even lift a finger. A miserable sob is all he can give in response.

"Tell you what, if you sleep outside tonight, I'll give you another piece of candy. Bad dogs sleep outside anyway. Deal?" They say, smirking.

Sans shifts his jaw, looking away from them and giving a shaky sigh before nodding, "d-deal.."

Chara takes out the last piece of candy, and places it on his mouth, then starts slowly cutting into the fabric again. Sans bites down on it, absorbing it faster. More of the poison goes away. He sits up, more than ready to snatch the scarf away. But the kid is much faster than he is.

Chara dangles it just out of his reach. "Come and grab it!~"

Sans has to brace himself up on one hand, shaking for a moment before snatching his arm forward.

Chara lifts it out of his reach then cackles. "You gotta try harder than that~"

Sans gives a bit of a growl before darting forward again, faster this time.

Chara jumps out of the way. "Oops, too slow~"

Sans falls forward as his legs give out, still mostly immobile from the poison. "hhff...hff...c-c'mon, k-kid, i-i'm too weak to p-play with you right n-now.."

"Nonsense Sansy~ Your brother's scarf is on the line~"

The skeleton swallows and pushes himself back to his feet. He's very unsteady, and so braces his hand against the wall to hold his balance. "..j-just..j-just give me a second, then.."

Chara holds up the scissors. "I don't think you have a second."

"sh-shit.." Sans takes in a breath and rushes the kid, hand outstretched.

He is able to grab it from their hand before Chara can pull it away, causing them to jerk on empty air and thus making them lose their balance and fall to the floor.

Sans quickly wraps the scarf around his neck, over the collar, and hesitantly approaches the grumpy child on the ground. "y-you okay, boss?"

They are laughing, and they roll onto their back "Nice one Sansy~"

He nearly gives a small smile, but his expression stays quietly miserably. "..uh, thanks..."

Suddenly, they whip their foot out, tripping Sans and causing him to fall. "Don't you know better than to play rough with children~"

Sans's head smacks harshly into the floor. He rolls over and grips his skull, panting and groaning. He feels more fragile than ever, now, with his maximum health depleted.

It's so unfair. But he can't say so.

"...s-sorry, boss...won't happen again.." He pushes himself up to his hands and knees, taking a moment to catch the breath that he just lost.

Chara is smirking as they stand, dusting themselves off "Damn right"

"..s-sorry." Sans tightly clutches at the scarf, scared that it might get taken from him.

"Look at yourself, you are so pathetic" Chara taunts "Can't save you brother, can't save your friends, and now you can't even save yourself"

Sans buries his face in the red fabric, fighting back tears and breathing in the lingering scent of comfort. "i-i kn-know.."

Chara scoffs, then is silent for a moment before asking "What did you mean by 'the script'?"

"...h-huh?" Sans dares to look up from the scarf.

"You said something about me not following the script. What exactly does that mean?"

Sans gives a sniff before shuffling back, finding his bed and curling up in it. "th-there's, uh...certain...certain events that happen with every RESET. genocide, neutral, merciless, pacifist...they each have their own lines. "don't you know how to greet a new pal? puzzles might be fun if you try them." ..that kinda number, you know?"

"Yeah, I remember things repeating"

"not just..lines, though, there's certain..set paths, that you're not supposed to venture from. with all the routes, you have to confront Asgore after bein' judged, and either kill him or spare him." Sans closes his eyes. "and then suddenly, everything stops."

"It would stop cause we reset" Chara sits down.

"yeah. if you RESET. if you kill everyone, you don't have a choice. but..other routes, you can go back to the surface and keep letting time move forward."

"But then we reset, we did each time choose to reset you know." Chara looked dubious, this line of questioning not as interesting as they'd hoped.

"what was i supposed to do? if you knew how in tune i was to the RESETS, who knew what you'd do. it was for Pap's sake that i'd say the same old lines, follow the same route, react the same way...the less he knows about the timelines, the better."

"Surely you could have known that we would get bored after a while, right?"

"i thought you'd just go back to the pacifist route, to let us go back to the surface and just live, because at least it'd be something new." Sans looks down at the scarf, holding it closer. "you can obviously act nice, so everyone would just think you were Frisk-" Sans shuts his mouth immediately, putting both hands over it and staring at Chara. That had been a mistake.

"What makes you think that I want to be anything like them?" Chara sneered, standing up and walking towards Sans

Sans curls away as much as he can in the tiny bed. "..i-i don't kn-know, i...i-it was a r-really dumb idea..."

Chara grabs him by the collar, and by extension, the scarf "Yeah, it really was" They lift him to his feet

Sans grabs the scarf with both hands, choking and shutting his eyes. He wishes he wasn't so tiny that absolutely everyone could pick him up. "i-i'm s-sorry, b-boss.."

"If you were SORRY , you wouldn't have DONE it"

Sans is clinging to the scarf like a security blanket, trying to hide his face in it. "i-it w-was a-an a-accident , b-boss..!"

"To think you would learn your lesson, but I guess not..let me set this straight: Frisk doesn't exist , has never existed , and never will exist, do you understand me!?"

Sans nods, drawing in his shoulders and shivering.

"y-y-y-yeah.."

His bones are rattling.

"I'm so tempted to just throw you down the stairs and watch as your HP flows out of you, and then reset and make your brother my pet!"

"Ch-Chara n-no, p-please...! i-i'll do anything y-you want just please d-don't hurt Papyrus...!"

"And yet, you keep pissing me off !"

"i don't mean to!"

Chara throws him down. "I guess I'll have to teach you some better manners.." Chara says, taking out their knife.

Sans tries to scoot away, eyes wide in terror as he looks at the blade that's caused him so much pain in the past and is going to in the future. His left eye starts to spark, somehow the magic in it still alive, as he starts to panic again.

Without meaning to, Sans suddenly teleports away, leaving the room empty except for Chara.

The child stands stunned for a moment. Then they clutch their knife tightly. That damn skeleton.