Hello ! Things are getting a little complicated for our two little skeletons :3 But with no one around, it might be more complex that they thought.

Chapter 2 : In the cold

Sans forced himself to open the eyes with difficulty. His skull hurt and he felt dizzy. Everything was spinning around him and he wasn't sure of where exactly he was. The sun burned his eyesockets, but also informed him that this bloody night was finally other. Around him, there was no sound anymore, no movement. All that was left was human corpses and ruins. The entire village seemed to have been turned to dust.

He got up and made a few clumsy steps. He was lucky no one find him. He had been hidden by the rest of a wall, even if he was not sure of how he ended there in the first place. He kept walking, with the strange feeling something was missing.

No.

Not something. Someone.

He jolted, then turned around and watch everywhere around him, completely panicked.

"Papyrus ?!" he yelled, horrified. "Papyrus !"

He inhaled to calm down. He was holding him close, right ? He was sure of it ! It was one of the last things he could remember of the night. His brother was in his arms ! He couldn't be that far away. Breathe in. Breathe out. His eyes scanned the zone slowly, searching for a hint, a trace, nothing that could have tell him he was alright. Not far away, something red was laying in the dust. He felt his soul beat faster.

He ran as fast as he could and fell next to a big red scarf, stuck under some rubbles. He pushed, no threw away the bricks, but there was nothing there. But he couldn't get rid of the idea. What if his brother had fallen down ? With the wind, he would never know. Tears ran down his cheeks and his hands shook a little.

He couldn't just have lost his brother. Not like that ! A whine of distress escaped his mouth and he sat on the ground, the scarf in the hand, unable to decide what he was supposed to do. Did he really kill his younger brother ? The idea was unbearable.

"S-Sans ?" called back a small voice, somewhere behind him.

Sans froze and turned round. In the ruins of a building, a small skeleton progressed bravely between the human corpses. His brother sighed, relieved like never before. Still wrapped in his huge blue blanket decorated with teddy bears, Papyrus limped towards him. Sans noticed right away he wasn't walking very straight forward, and after every step, he staggered, destabilized by the weight of the blanket.

While passing next to an other body, he tripped up and fell, but he didn't got up. Sans rushed to join him and squatted. He lift the small skeleton and hugged him, comforted just by the fact he was finally holding him. Papyrus didn't look well, but at least he was alive and this was all that mattered for his brother. The small skeleton hold him back, but the grip was weak.

"Are you alright ?" asked Sans. "Are you hurt somewhere ?"

"My head hurts..." he whined back with a weak voice.

"Al-alright. We need to find help. We need to go to the Mountain, remember ? That's what Dad said. Someone will help you there. Everything is gonna be alright, we can do this. It's just you and me now, right ? I'm looking after you. Don't be scared."

He had no idea what he was saying, but it seemed to appease his brother a little. Or himself, he was not sure. Though, something was still wrong with Papyrus. Sans tried to help him lift up, but he was barely holding on his feet. He was feeble and his body was mostly resting on his arms. Worry, Sans pushed slightly his head to see his crack and hiccoughed out of horror. The injury was now crossing almost entirely his skull on the length and a part was open. Sans knew nothing about this, but he had the feeling it was really bad. Papyrus needed to be heal. Quickly.

Clumsily, he ran his hand under his brother legs, the other under his head and lift him cautiously. Papyrus didn't react more than that and soon closed his eyes, cradled by his brother arms. He was a bit heavy, but Sans didn't complain. He had to move. His eye sockets scanned the Ruins until he spotted a big black backpack, the one his dad gave to him. He came close to it and grabbed it with difficulty with one hand, before putting it on his back. He felt his pocket to see if the needle was still here, and it was the case. Despite Papyrus' state, they were pretty lucky for now.

The soul felt with a little more determination, Sans stepped towards the Mountain. The quicker they will get here, the sooner his brother will be alright again. All he had to do was walking straight. Everything would turned alright soon.

… Or not. He was walking for two hours now and each step was an absolute torture. It was snowing. The freezing cold crossed the small bones of the two skeletons who were shivering, covered only with the jackets their father gave to them and Papyrus' blanket. Sans wrapped him in to protect him from the cold, but it didn't seem to work that much. His brother alternated the awaken stages and the sleepy ones, which were longer and longer every time. Sans didn't like that. He tried to keep him awake by telling stories and jokes, but for several minutes now, even the funniest one didn't make him smile or roll his eyes.

Sans knew he couldn't keep going for long. When his brother was unconscious, his body weighted more. His arms shook under the important effort, and he was feeling weaker and weaker as the minutes passed. They had to stop somewhere, but where ? They left the town long ago and only a deep forest was circling them now.

"Sans ?" called Papyrus with a very alarming weak voice. "I'm… I'm really not feeling well now."

A little panicking, Sans looked around him until he spotted a dry zone under a big pine tree. He put his brother down, against the trunk. The little skeleton barely hold straight, forcing Sans so sit down so he can hold him against him. Papyrus was awfully quiet. Sans searched the backpack and pulled out a bag of biscuits. He gave one to Papyrus. The little skeleton shook negatively the head.

"I'm not hungry…"

"Come on, Pap'. You… You need to eat so you can hold a little longer. I'm going to look around to see if I can find a cavern or something. Is it ok if I let you alone for a few minutes ?"

"Ok. I'm… I'm brave, you know."

"Of course, I know."

Papyrus started to eat his biscuit as Sans got up. He walked around the tree for a while, looking for potential dangers like his father taught him to when he had that oral about camping at school. It seemed like a lifetime ago now. Was his father even still alive ? Maybe he was searching for them by now. After all, they were heading in the same direction, maybe he would cross their way soon. Who was he kidding ? His father was only caring about his work and the King. He said he would meet them at the Mountain, and Sans knew he was not going to do otherwise.

The skeleton searched for somewhere to take cover, but found nothing. He got back to Papyrus, disappointed, only to find that his brother had passed out again. Sans sat next to him and hold him tigh against his body. They would have to bear the cold bite until dawn. He layed Papyrus down so he could be more comfortable and decided to look deeper what his father put in the bag.

His father got a military formation, all the things that was in there were certainly useful. There was food for a week and water. Some bandages were laying at the bottom. He caught one and immediately patched his brother's head injury. Papyrus didn't even notice. A little red light flickered deeper in the bag. It was a small device that looked like an old cellphone, but bigger. A big antenna was attached to hit and was producing the light. A big screen covered the upper face of the thing. Sans played with the buttons until it switched on. He yelped of surprise.

SANS : 0,74/1 HP

PAPYRUS : 11/35 HP

GASTER : LOST SIGNAL

ARIAL : NO HEARTBEAT LOCATED

Other lines appeared but Sans couldn't looked away from this four small and precious informations. His father was always building stupid devices, but for once, this one looked actually useful. It seemed it was measuring their stats on live.

He grimaced at the sight of his own HP. Sans had the particularity to be born with only one HP. It was a rare deficiency that could appear randomly in some newborn monsters. He had to get used to it quickly. A cold, a fall, an accidental hit could kill him. His father taught him to divide his soul to avoid dusting right away. It was painful the first times, but Sans was used to it now. He could isolate low pain to a part of his soul to avoid it shattering. But every soul shattering was very tiring on long periods, so most of the time, Sans just avoid to fight. He got very lucky that explosion didn't kill him in the town, but he knew now he had to be cautious. He could still eat to regulate his soul back to normal, but it was not urgent.

On the contrary, Papyrus' HP was very alarming. He lost more than the half of his vitality and Sans feared it continued without proper healing. His eyes stopped a few seconds on his mother's name, but he immediately looked away as tears threatened to escape. You are a big boy now, Sans, his father said. You need to stop crying for pointless things like that. What would Papyrus think of you if he saw you like this ? And just by that, the subject was close. Sans never could have talk about his mother's death with his father again. Gaster thought it was just a weakness, and as the son of the Royal Scientist, he didn't have the choice to accept it and to hide what he was thinking too. So Sans shut himself away, only reserving emotions for Papyrus, so his little brother wouldn't worry. He knew it was not normal, but what could he even do against that ? He was only eight years old.

And now, knowing that Papyrus could became an other victim of this stupid war, he was not so sure he could hold everything once again. He was scared. No, he was terrified. Papyrus was the last one he considered as family. He couldn't loose him too. He sniffled loudly and slightly pet his brother's skull. No, he could do this. He could save Papyrus. Slowly, Sans laid down against his brother. Two small arms squeezed him, he smiled. He forced his head to go blank and closed his eyes for a bit. He needed to sleep too. They had a long road to do the next day.