Hope had to wade through what felt like pure power to reach Sans' side. She was able to pick him up easily due to his light skeletal stature. She than backed away as quickly as she could without dropping him. The moment she could, she turned tail and ran.

Her arms started to sting, and she looked down to see Sans still glowing. The color had settled into a mixture of yellow and blue. Where the colors met, they formed a strange pink instead of the more natural green.

The same pink that Hope's eyes had flashed earlier in the car.

She all but dropped him on the guest bed, wincing when she saw how red her arms were. There were a few spots where blood was pooling out of light scratches. Her hair was tender from where Papyrus had clung tight so as to not fall as she ran. All in all, she felt horrible.

She pulled a chair in from the kitchen and sat next to Sans. She reached out, only to pull back when the magic pulsing around him gathered beneath her hand with a painful tension. Papyrus crawled off of her, getting as close to Sans as he could without getting hurt.

They stayed like that for a long time, Papyrus on the corner of Sans' pillow and Hope asleep with her head rested on the edge of the bed. Her arms were rested very carefully, wrapped in a pair of old blankets. She was woken by the sound of choked sobs, looking up to see Sans with tear tracks running from his eye sockets.

"Sans!"

"Hope..." He he cried, his voice laced with pain and... defeat. "It hurts." His hands were fisted into the blanket beneath him, and his eyes clenched shut.

"Sans..." She said softly. Her voice was laden with emotion. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Where's Papyrus? I ne- I need him." His voice cracked with pain.

"By your head. He's been there the whole time." Sans nodded before taking a deep breath.

With visual effort, Sans started to gather the magic swarmed around him into a single point on his chest. It went from the mixed yellow and blue into an angry purple. Sans lifted his arms to grasp at the magic, and it seemed to change under his touch. The blue pulled away again, leaving the yellow.

"Papyrus. I need you to touch me. I think I know the best way to fix this." Two small, bony hands rested gently on Sans' skull. Instantly, something seemed to change in the yellow half of the magic. It darkened, and with a push of effort, started to flow towards Papyrus, the blue not far behind. The closer the yellow got to him, the more orange it became. Somehow, Hope knew that way the color that suited Papyrus the most.

As the magic came closer to Papyrus, he tensed in preparation, slightly turning away in fear. When it made contact, he was lit with a pulse of dancing orange and blue. It only lasted a moment, before dieing down with hardly a sign of it having ever happened.

With the magic no longer surrounding him, Sans relaxed back into the sheets with a sigh.

"Wow." Papyrus jolted at the word, raising his hand to his mouth. "Wh-What?" Despite the lack of physical changes, the magic was enough to allow Papyrus to talk again.

Overwhelmed, Hope leaned forward and scooped Sans up into a gentle hug. Her shoulders shook, betraying her tears to Sans. He sat up in her hold, wrapping his arms around her. His confusion at the blankets wrapped around her arms quickly morphed into worry as he saw her wince at a slight tug on said blankets. He pushed her back at the shoulders and lightly unwrapped one of the blankets.

He sucked in a tight breath at the wounds underneath. "Did I...?" He asked, slightly horrified.

"I couldn't leave you there, magic or no. It doesn't hurt too much." Sans ghosted his hand across her arm, and the soft gasp of pain revealed that she was very much so lying about the pain. Sans' face fell, a look of pure regret taking place. A choked sob escaped him as he removed the blanket on the other arm, revealing the same grisly sight as the other. Her dark blue shirt was tinted purple, a clear sign that the wounds crossed her chest.

Sans gently pushed Hope into a sitting position on the bed. He put his hands on her shoulders and closed his eyes in concentration. The blues and yellows of his magic became visible again, but when they met, they didn't form the same pink as before. This time they formed a dark green that gently washed over Hope. She gasped in shock as a warm, comforting feeling settled over her wounds.

The angry red tone faded to a soft pink, and the scratches lightened and sealed into scabs that could have been left by an angry kitten. Sans drifted forward, landing in Hope's lap asleep.

"Oh, Sans... Thank you." She said, shifting him into a more comfortable position.

Papyrus chose that moment to make himself known, climbing off the pillow. "I was so afraid... Whatever that magic was, it hurt when he pushed it off onto me. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to him. It was enough magic that I can speak, but he had enough to return to his normal size... I almost lost my brother..."

Papyrus climbed onto his brother's chest, clinging onto his shirt as if to remind himself that Sans had survived. Hope merely leaned back against the headboard of the bed, Sans using her lap as a pillow. She was sure they made a sad sight, but at this point, she didn't care anymore. Her boys were safe and that's all that mattered to her.

Hope gently pulled Sans onto the pillow, securing him under the blankets. She knew she should go into the other bedroom, and yet she found herself snuggling against Sans.

She didn't want to leave him. Or Papyrus.

AN: I am back from vacation, so this will probably be the last irregular update till I go to a camp in a few weeks.

Was this chapter better than the others? I'm trying something a bit new, bit it is time consuming, so I don't wanna do it unless it helps.

Also, you know how much I love you guys? The site is horrible, but I love the reviews I get, so I still post it here.