Gaster.

Sans stared up at the tall Skeleton that looked down at him, seeing nothing but Gaster. The stance, the expression, the magical signature...there was no Papyrus he could find in the Skeleton at all. His hands clenched tightly, teeth grinding as he glowered up at him.

"...What...did you DO to us...?" he growled, his iris flashing blue. When he was met with silence, he leaped to his feet, his soul flaring. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO US, OLD MAN!?"

"What I had to," Gaster's voice replied, his eyelight in the right eyesocket glowing purple. "I did what I had to, to save my children."

Sans took an unconscious step back, disbelief flooding his mind. "...no..." he choked out, shaking his head. "This...doesn't make...ANY sense...!" He hissed, his iris flaring brighter. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH PAPYRUS!? WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!"

Gaster was silent for a few long moments before raising a hand—his right, hole-punched one—and pressed it to his chest. "...For all intents and purposes," he replied softly, "he is still here. He never left. He still...IS."

"That's a fucking lie!" Sans snapped. "I still AM, Gaster! I can still tell MYSELF apart from YOU! So don't you feed me that bullsh—"

"And why do you think that is, Sans?" Gaster interrupted, giving Sans pause. "You read my journals. You watched my work. You ARE my mind, Sans!" He held his hands out to his sides almost helplessly. "This was a gamble I took...and one I am not sorry for, if it meant you two could LIVE!"

Sans stomped his foot on the floor childishly, shattering an already-broken piece of lab equipment under his boot. "IT WAS A FUCKING STUPID GAMBLE!" he shouted. "Since day ONE of waking up in...THIS...!" He gestured to his body. "...I have seen...and heard...and FELT a difference in my brother! BECAUSE HE'S NOT THERE ANYMORE!"

Gaster went quiet for a moment before looking up, his expression going sharp. "And I keep telling you, Sans...that he is NOT gone." He raised his hands, his left making a soft blue light and the right making a purple light. "Though, the process of this gamble was fundamentally different for your and Papyrus's cases. For YOURS...it was the case of your make being one of the mind. Like one cup of water dyed blue and the other purple, when mixed together..." He put his hands together, creating an indigo light.

"...It makes this. But the fundamental fact being that it is still water. Though you cannot separate the blue and purple dyes, the basic fundamental still remains." He snuffed out the lights, his expression going dim.

"...With Papyrus...it was...a much different fundamental." He raised his right hand, waving it and out of nowhere, a small cup of sugar appeared, having been displaced to him from the Void; from the floral pattern on the cup, Sans could see that it came right from his own damn kitchen.

"Papyrus was created with the intent of a physical form. A body. And though my intention was once to have it empty and without a will, the soul that was made developed a will." His smile went sad. "...A sweet soul...if you will."

He waved his other hand, a cup of water appearing in it. "The fundamentals here, as you can see...are much different than that of you and I, which share a similar fundamental. When I gave him my piece of the soul..." He poured the water into the sugar, swirling the solution and watching the sugar dissolve. "...HIS fundamental dissolved into mine."

Sans almost doubled over, feeling sick to his stomach. He pressed a hand to his mouth, shaking. Gaster quietly displaced the cups away, folding his hands in front of him quietly.

"...the gamble I had with Papyrus was almost lost," he said, his voice thick. "...had it not been for him willingly giving control to me so he could live."

"LIAR—!" Sans lurched forward, his magic flaring.

"SANS." Gaster's eyelight flared brightly, the room suddenly feeling wrong...like it wasn't even THERE, but merely a hologram that was distorting around him. Sans felt his soul shift into attack mode, his own iris flaring as he instinctively brought up his opponent's soul stats.

What he saw nearly put him on the ground.

GASTER/PAPYRUS

HP: 22,000

ATK: 90

DEF: 85

LOVE: 15

His body went cold, his iris's light flickering out and leaving just the plain white circle in his eyesocket, all will to fight leaving him. He couldn't fight that! Not a chance in HELL could he fight that! If the HP alone didn't retract the will to fight, that LOVE did! GODS, he'd had dreams of what Gaster had done during the war but to have that much LOVE...!

A hand on his back jerked him out of his terror, his vision unblurring to see the room was back to normal, the fighting air gone and only a calming presence remaining.

He remembered this calm. He had woken up after that terrible experience with the Guardsmen, cuddled into his father's side, Papyrus reaching across Gaster's chest to rest a hand on his arm, Gaster's arms holding onto both of them tightly.

Not LOVE. But love.

"Sans."

Sans looked up, seeing Gaster giving him a sorrowful, regretful look. Before Sans could say anything, Gaster curled his arms around him, pulling him close. Sans felt a weight heavier than a Blue Attack fill his soul as all remaining fight left his body, leaning his head into Gaster's shoulder.

Gaster petted Sans's back, his own soul doing much the same. "...I am sorry, Sans," he said softly. "I did what I could, but the sins of my original intent still remained with him, even after everything that happened." He tightened his arms around Sans. "...the only comfort I can give you is his love that never left...the love he had for everyone...but especially you."

He stood up, bringing Sans with him, keeping his hold on Sans to keep him upright until the smaller Skeleton grounded his feet to the floor. "...Sugar may dissolve in water, Sans...but the water becomes sweeter. So in the end...it is HE who left the stronger imprint on ME...not the other way around." He held Sans's head in his hands, tilting it up to look at him. "...so please remember that."

Sans sniffled, searching Gaster's eyelight for something...and looked down when he perhaps found it. "...I...need time..." he finally said, his voice hoarse and weak. "...so much time..."

"...Then I will give it to you. As much as you need." Gaster stepped back, holding Sans's shoulders tightly before letting go. "...I'll still be here for you, Sans...you know that, right?"

Sans kept his eyes averted, his hands shaking when he heard the echo of his brother's voice...but only an echo. "...just go..." he said. He heard nothing for a moment, and then the sound of thick heels retreating before silence.

He stood there, in the middle of that condemned room, in that condemned house, in this condemned world, and realized that a part of him had been condemned with it. At this point...this lowest point...the only way he could go was up.

Sans wiped his face before kicking the journals to the corner of the room, setting everything on fire with a snap of his fingers before shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat. After a moment's thought, he waved his hand, displacing the photo from the second journal into his hand, staring at the first reminder...with Gaster's memory...of his capacity to love.

He stared at the scene for a long time before letting out a heavy sigh, feeling that he could REALLY use a drink right now. "...Welp...I'm goin' to Grillby's..." he said, tucking the photo away and fishing a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He lit one up and walked out of that house, not bothering to watch it burn.

"...Papyrus...do you want anything...?"

THE END