Frisk felt like time had stopped.

The only thing assuring them it hadn't was the infuriated growls of a trapped beast and the uncertain snorts coming from the large creature in front of them. The soft hum of Toriels' soul as they were pressed against her chest, hand outstretched to Papyrus in the hope at least he would be different from Sans in the 'Gaster Blaster' forms.

Thump, thump.

They could hear their own heartbeat inside their chest, breath held as they waited for the skeletal beast to make a move. He seemed to be conflicted, before slowly leaning his snout forward to press it against the skin of their hand.

Sucess.

Papyrus held the position for a few seconds, then pulling away and turning his attention quickly back to his brother, who still seemed to be acting wild and aggression. A low rumble sounded from the taller beast as he slammed Sans' head against the ground, hopefully not enough to injure him but to make him fall unconscious.

Toriel pulled Frisk closer to them, not having witnessed the moment they had with Papyrus. He turned his head to stare back at them, offering some form of purr before walking a distance away – why was he just leaving? The child looked up at their confused and worried mother, watching as the concious beast started dragging Sans towards the house.

"Papyrus! What the hell are you doing?" They blurted out before they could stop themselves.

Papyrus dropped his grip on his brother and looked at the two, snorting before he continued what he was doing. It seemed he was the one of the two that actually remembered them – he didn't have that wild look in his eyes that Sans had. Perhaps it was because he had a better control of his magic, at least to the extent where he could time and shape his attacks perfectly.

They pulled from Toriels' grip, wincing a bit as their damaged arms brushed against the purple dress of their mother. Sans had done quite the number on them, it was like he was a savage animal intent on eating them all… Well, he was that at the moment.

"Frisk..." Toriels' worried voice came behind them as they carefully walked closer to the two skeletons. "Don't go too close, please. Sans may wake up, or Papyrus may hurt you..." She had gotten it in order, right? Papyrus was the one with orange pupils, right?

"Mum, it's okay!" Frisk looked back at their mother. "Papyrus remembers us, he's not going to hurt us… Right?" They looked searchingly towards the monster now in front of them. Toriel still looked quite stressed, but she was too bruised to make it over in time.

Papyrus looked down at the human then towards the goat, what could he do to prove it to them both? As far as they knew he could just be a friendly monster in this form, or ready to kill them at any time. The fact he still had his scarf indicated he either was him or was a beast who killed him. Shifting on his four legs – it felt strange, he was so much used to two – he opened his mouth and tried to speak.

"Pppprrrrr…..Rrrrrrssss."

Frisk looked extremely confused, which must mean it hadn't worked. It was hard to adjust to these new noises he was able to make, and the inability to speak properly. Papyrus still had to try, if he could say his own name then it might reassure them it was him mentally and physically. He just had to find the right noises to make… The r's was easy to make, but the other letters were a bit more of a challenge.

"Pppppppaaaaaarrrrr…."

That wasn't it.

"Pppppaaarrrpppppp….russsssss?"

Frisk only now just realized what was trying to be said. It came out more like 'Parprus' but that was close enough! They excitedly pointed to him and looked at Toriel, "See? It is him, he's trying to say his own name."

Toriel crossed her arms, "Hmm, it could just be coincidence, or because we were saying his name." She breathed, there wasn't much of an explanation though – if these two beasts that shared the same magic and colours were around and not Papyrus and Sans, where would they be? "Just please be careful, my child. Papyrus and Sans could be somewhere else, and these two are just here by chance."

"Mum, I -" They lowered their voice, would Papyrus get insulted by this? He seemed more focused on Sans now. "I saw Papyrus change. He was protecting us, because Sans doesn't seem to have control." They felt themselves get pushed forward to realize the beast behind them was now nosing them.

Papyrus had used his magic to summon some sort of glowing orange rope – like a vine almost, but made of magic. It was tied around Sans' muzzle and legs for when he woke up, but right now they needed to get him to Alphys. He couldn't change back either, if he did he wouldn't have any of his clothes on, and that would be an awkward situation.

The child looked over the face of their transformed friend, seeing his temporary capture of his brother. The makeshift ropes were a little loose… Typical Papyrus. They pushed past the skeleton and walked over to the unconscious one and started to tighten up the ropes, starting with the muzzle. If he woke up mid-tying then it would be best if he couldn't fire a blast. They then tended to the 'ropes' around the feet now, tightening it up and listening to the sounds Sans made so they could be indicated if he woke up.

The beast behind her let out a disapproving snort, it was obvious he had realised that Frisk was corrected a mistake he had made. Papyrus turned his head now to look towards Toriel, offering a respectful nod before he began to walk past her. He had to find his battle body and fix his scarf, which was still hung around his neck but was ripped quite a bit.

He hoped magic would be able to fix it, he didn't have the skill Sans had with making things.

Papyrus didn't want to leave for long, his brother could wake up and go back to terrorizing his friends any moment now. The spot he had first shifted wasn't too far away, so he easily located the chestpiece of his armour – well, chestpieces. It had been ripped in too, which made him whimper in disappointment. How was he supposed to fix it? Picking it up with one swoop, he used one leg to hold everything as he now limped around for the second part.

The blue briefs he usually wore were a bit more difficult to find, but he was relieved to find them in one piece with the golden belt still attached. How they hadn't been damaged was beyond him, but he was just glad that was one less thing to fix – now his boots. Nosing around in the bushes a bit, he searched for a good minutes for the missing boots.

Are they in that tree?

No.

Are they in that bush?

No.

Are they behind that suspicious smiling flower?

No, probably not.

Papyrus growled in frustration, but was quickly replaced with optimism as he cradled the remaining bits of his battle body in one arm. Walking with three legs was stranger than four and terrible unbalancing, but he made his way to the other two in no time, who seemed to be settled with the fact he was himself and not savage like Sans – for now.

To his dismay, Sans was awake and now struggling in the magic ropes.

Toriel had Frisk in her grasp, standing back and holding the child close to her abdomen. At least she had mustered the strength to get up, that was a good sign. Flicking his tail, Pap set the armour down onto the ground and walked over to his brother, rumbling and hoping he would respond as himself and not some predator.

The atmosphere was tense, the silence almost sickening.

Sans let out a loud growl, swinging his head in an attempt to attack Papyrus, who luckily jumped back to avoid the blow. He whined and lowered his head, it was still the savage beast and not his brother – this is why he should've taught him to control his magic more! Then this wouldn't happen. The blue pupils inside the tied up skeletons' eyes were complete slits, as he wriggled around and tried to break free.

"It's okay, Papyrus." Toriel quietly said, "It isn't you're fault. I think we should bring him – or it – to Alphys, she's the scientist of the group. Are you able to change back?" It would be easier for him to explain if he changed back.

Papyrus only responded with a nod, half his attention on his aggressive brother.

"Don't change back now, we need you to guard Sans while me and Frisk go call Alphys." She didn't ask for Frisks' consent, more focused on getting this problem solved than anything. They had to help Sans, and any arguments would just make things more complicated. "Come along now, dear."


Frisk grasped their mothers' hand with their uninjured arm as they were led out of the forest, throwing a worried glance at Papyrus. What if Sans broke free and he got attacked? It seemed during battle Papyrus would be more feral than when things had calmed down, he had tried to blast his own brother back when they were fighting! They looked back up at Toriel, sighing heavily.

It didn't take long to go back to the house as they had started running, soon inside and looking around for the phone. Frisk had their ears peeled for any roaring in the distance or any indication they were fighting, while Toriel was grumbling about some white dog possibly stealing her phone again.

It was just then Frisk realised they had a phone in their pocket the whole time.

Toriel looked more than disappointed as the kid sheepishly pulled out the mobile, as Tori carefully grabbed the shoulder on the side of their injured arm and led back outside the house. With the thumb on their free hand they scrolled through contacts until they got to Alphys, slamming their thumb down on the call button and putting it up to their ear.

"O-oh, geez! I didn't expect to, umm, get a call right now… Hello?"

Phew.

"Alphys, hey! We need you're help right now, badly. Please."

Toriel kept quiet this whole time, if Frisk was focusing on the phone call she could focus on what to do if they got back and the two skeletal beasts were trying to tear eachothers' ribcages off.

"What's the problem….?"

"Sans and Papyrus had a fight and… It's a very big problem. Can we just give you our location?"

"W-what?! Oh, um, yeah, if it's u-urgent…!"

As they arrived, Frisk had to hold in their laughter of the sight they ran into as they described the location to their lizard friend.

Papyrus had taken it upon himself to become part of the equipment to hold down Sans, and was now carefully sat on top of his brother like a mother hen. It was enough to lessen the smaller blasters' furious attempts to get out of his capture, and Pap seemed to perk up when he saw their friends arrive. Why was Frisk laughing? This was completely natural!

Alphys had arrived shortly after with Undyne in tow, though the grumpy look on Undynes' face and the leaves and sticks stuck in their scales and clothes was an indicator Frisk had not been clear enough. They shrugged nervously and looked up at Toriel, searching for an indicator she was going to speak first.

"Alphys, Undyne! Hello!" The goat monster respectfully nodded her head towards the shocked looking pair, who had obviously spotted the two skeletons. "As you can see, we have a bit of a situation here. Sans and Papyrus turned into… Those. We thought maybe you could figure out exactly what they are and how it happened?"

She paused.

"Papyrus can apparently change back at will, but Sans seems to have turned into a feral animal."

To prove their point, Papyrus offered a curious chirp to his brother which was responded with another loud growl. He snorted and placed a paw on his brothers' forehead, pushing his head against the ground. He couldn't risk anything.

"That's so…." Undyne struggled to find words. "Awesome! Do you see what those two turned into? They are like living weapons, how cool is that?!"

"Not cool at all, Undyne." Toriel snapped, "This isn't a matter of how awesome it is. Papyrus and Sans are potentially very dangerous to humans and monsters in these forms, it was hard enough getting thrown around by Sans." She still felt bruised and Frisk needed to get that bite sorted out in case it got infected.

Alphys observed the pair, squinting behind her glasses. "You're HP is very low. They – umm, I m-mean Sans – did a number on you. How d-do you know Papyrus, is, well… Papyrus?"

Frisk smirked and cleared their throat. "Have you ever tried eating a clock? It's very time consuming." As if on cue, the beast behind them let out a loud roar of frustration. That was terrible!

"O-okay, that proves it." The lizard giggled, hobbling over to Papyrus and gently resting a hand on his snout. "You can change back now if you, um, want to."

Toriel shook her head, "If Sans breaks free of the ropes then we'll need him in that form. It makes it easier to capture him a second time. Easier." She remembered that Papyrus had a bit of a struggle when battling Sans before…

"Hey, Pap." Frisk piped up suddenly, they were curious now. "Why did you attack Sans? I know you would never kill him, just… It seemed unlike you to actually hurt him." They felt very worried when they spotted the confused expression the skeleton gave them – he didn't remember?

"Wait, Papyrus actually tried to hurt Sans?" Undyne said disbelievingly. The only time he ever hurt anything was in a battle, but he never actually killed them – even then, Papyrus would never hurt his brother even in battle. It just seemed like something impossible for the skeleton.

"Yes, and he doesn't seem to remember it, either." Toriel sighed. "How much of the battle do you remember, Papyrus? Can you tell us?"

How was he supposed to tell them? The blaster looked thoughtful for a moment before demonstrating his attack, carefully stepping off of Sans and slamming himself into the closest tree, knocking it over after a few more charges and then leaping on top of it, 'pinning' the tree down.

Alphys and Undyne looked towards Frisk, watching for a reaction to see if this was a bad or good part to remember. The child looked extremely concerned, so it obviously wasn't a good sign.

"Guys, that was towards the end of the battle. That means Sans isn't the only one that turns feral."


So the ending is pretty scrappy, sorry 'bout that.

I hope you're enjoying this as much as I like writing it. ;u;
Not sure if the magic and blasters put people off? I think it's an interesting thing but I'm not going to make them overpowered, at least I'll try not to! The only reason I consider Papyrus more powerful than Sans is because of his almost perfect control of magic.
Like man, imagine the willpower and training that takes.

Ciao.