Ness blinks his blue eyes, then rolling over in the unfamiliar bed he sat up; it was morning. And he was in a forest, in a log cabin hotel, near New New Home.

It was the first time he slept in his 'skin' which left him feeling heavy. He had not wanted anyone to feel him, encase monsters were about; his skin did more than just make him appear human, it made him 'feel' like one too, all the while sealing and limiting his magic.

Staring at the window, he smiles; it was pouring down with rain. The sound alone was nice, but heavy rain also stopped him from leaving, taking the decision out of his hand.

Kicking the covers lightly, he removes them from his person, then swinging his legs around he puts his 'bare' feet on the fluffy sheepskin rug. Standing he makes his way over to the window, where he opens it.

The roaring of the rain intensified, he leans against the window frame and closes his eyelids.

To any onlookers, he would seem to have a serene expression on his features. However, below the surface, he was shouting at himself.

Last week he had been a mindless zombie, all thoughts on Papyrus.

He did not want to eat, sleep or work properly. But dragged himself to his job anyway. None of his workmates knew how to handle this sudden change, nor know why it was happening. Ness seemed fine before, everything was going well for him.

Ness' Boss took him to one side and mentioned that perhaps he needs a break.

Ness numbly agreed.

And he said he would take two weeks off. Only to spend the week not knowing what to do with himself.

Then in a moment of madness, Sans opened his menu, finding his shortcuts he checked if the ones back in the underground and where the monster camp had been, was still there.

How his shortcut worked was, he had to tear open a void in time and space, fuse his magic there. The more he used that tear the stronger they became, to the point where ones in his former home would never close. But use that tear only once or twice it could fade heal itself.

All his opening appear on a special page in his menu, it was a black and green giant map that got bigger the more of the world he explored; his shortcuts appear as blue dots, all connected with lighter blue lines. These lines would glow brighter the more he used to go back and fore between two dots.

Giant leaps cost more magic then going back and fore two closer ones, so Sans used to leap over one to another, rather than taking a big one.

On zooming into his former home, Sans had seen that some were still open. The one next to the main opening to the underground was the strongest one on the surface.

So searching for a place to stay and on finding something, he quickly packed his own sub-space rather than the larger bag; then took a shortcut. It was the biggest leap he had ever taken, going many miles across a mountain.

Sans had fell face first on the other side. Then his highly intelligent mind snapped out of it and the number of errors dawned on him.

One, he was out of his skin. Two, it was in his boxers and vest he normally wore as pjs. Three, he was close to other monsters, some that might know his magical scent.

Four...

what was he meant to do now? Everyone thought him dust, not like he could walk up to his brother, give him a hug and tell him where is plenty more fish in the sea.

At the time, his one saving grace was that he always tore his shortcut openings out of sight of others, so he was well hidden.

Soon Ness was fully 'skinned', dressed and was taking the newly installed Aerial lift down the mountain.

It had been crowded.

With the celebrations happening in and around monster territory, it was not hard to see why.

It had taken him half a day to get to the log cabin, much much longer then it should have. On arrival, he booked in and went straight to bed.

On opening his eyes Ness glances the direction he knew Papyrus lived, his left blue slightly flickering between an unworldly blue and yellow.

"*hello bro," Ness whispers softly, his fake lips never moving, "how are ya? heh... do you ... remember me?"

Ness sighs, he watches as the rain slowly eases up. He wishes not for the first time in his life, that someone would rewind time, back to when everything was great. Before the child fell, before the core accident, before he knew how much his brother meant to him.

"*someone save me." Ness said pushing himself off the wall and spinning round to face the room. "okay. game plan. just see if papyrus is safe, healthy and. ..happy. ... well. then that's it. job done. go home."

Ness frowns, he knew this was not the case. He really did not know what to do, he spent the last three years thinking Papyrus was happy with Mettaton, thus forcing himself to get on with his own life.

Alone...

Sure he was doing something he loved, working as a tour guide up the mountain for stargazers and giving lectures on stars and the universe. But always in the back of his mind was his beloved brother.

It had hurt, cutting himself off from his brother, to the point where he almost Fell at one point, but he stood firm. Determined to live. To live the rest of his life under the stars on the mountain.

Now all his choices seemed for nothing if Papyrus was okay on the other end. He should have check... somehow. Papyrus should have always come first.

It left an awful pit in his soul.

Sans pulls the last of his clothes on, a dark blue hooded jumper with loose black jogging trousers. Black sandals on, he walks out the door, ready to face the world.

He still had no idea what he was going to do.