I was having a rather pleasant dream of my own when it was abruptly shattered by a scream. I woke up to a dark house and as I forced my eyes open, I saw Sans standing on the balcony. He was staring at me, and it looked as if he'd just woken up as well.

"SANS!"

Both of us jumped slightly and stared at the door to Papyrus' room. Sans was gone in an instant and I was left sitting awkwardly on the couch.

Papyrus had sounded so unusually hurt and sad. I wanted to go help, but at the same time, I could only assume a nightmare woke him. Based on the muffled voices coming from Papyrus' room, and lack of screams, Sans seemed to have whatever it was under control. It felt far too wrong to barge in on them, so I lay back down and waited for Sans or possibly Papyrus to come out and at least let me know it was okay. They remained for too long and I'd fallen back asleep before they came out.

—

I woke up to the sound of someone cooking in the kitchen. When I got up to go help Papyrus, I quickly found there was no Papyrus in the kitchen.

I couldn't help but stare when I saw Sans in a light green t-shirt and dark brown shorts stirring some eggs in a pan. The colors weren't that odd. Despite normally wearing black and white, I'd seen him in other colors, but… "No blue jacket?" I questioned.

Sans just shrugged and glanced at the table where said hoodie was resting on a chair. "not the most friendly thing to wear when trying to cook. mind stirring this for me, bud?"

"Sure." I smiled, taking the spatula from Sans. "So, are you making anything other than scrambled eggs, or are you just dumping breakfast on me?"

"now why would i do that?" Sans smirked, gathering ingredients. He casually floated off the ground to reach an ingredient in a higher cabinet on occasion, but never far.

"Because it's probably easier than whatever you're doing. What are you making anyway?" I answered calmly.

"who said i was making anything?"

I rolled my eyes. "Did I mention that it seems like something you'd do? Where's Papyrus?"

Sans shrugged. "out running or something. he's fine, bud."

"That's good." I smiled. "I'm glad to hear he's okay, but really, what are you making?"

Sans just continued to smirk as he mixed some stuff together. He pulled out another pan, a plate, and a spatula. He poured a bit of the stuff into the pan. Sans moved the pan to spread whatever he made thin.

"Is that… are you making crepes?" I beamed.

"you expect me to answer?"

"Looks like crepes to me. What do we have to put in them?"

"stuff."

"Sans," I whined.

Sans laughed at me.

"Fine. I'll find out, eventually. Now I'm hungry." I groaned.

"and yet you keep helping papyrus cook."

"Yep! It's fun!"

"sure, bud."

"Are you saying it's not?"

Sans shrugged, flipping the crepe. "never bothered to learn more than i needed to and i never really saw the appeal. what little was there vanished when everyone else turned out to be much better than i am at it. papyrus' is great. tori's got the best sweets and grillby's is always around. there's no reason to cook anymore."

"And yet, here you are."

"papyrus can't make crepes, or he at least pretends he can't. they always fall apart on him, but he asked for them so…" Sans trailed off, preparing the next crepe as I pulled the eggs off the heat.

"So, you admit you're making crepes?" I smirked.

"i've been caught," Sans gasped. "and here it was supposed to be such a grand surprise. you've ruined it."

"Uh, huh, sure. Would you like me to grab anything for your grand surprise or just leave to be surprised later?"

Sans snickered. "strawberries are in the fridge."

"With sugar?"

Sans just razed his brow bone at me as if I was crazy.

I pulled out a box of the most perfect strawberries I'd ever seen from the fridge. "No sugar. Alright then, I'll do that. with any luck we still have time. So, where's the sugar?"

Sans pointed to one of the cupboards, still looking at me like I was mad.

I found it easily enough. "Alright then. I will need a knife though…"

I felt a small spike of fear from Frisk, but it didn't take long for Sans to flip his crepe and set out a cutting board with a small knife that he seemingly got from nowhere.

"so, what berry mysterious things you planning over there, bud?"

"Just sugar strawberries," I answered, pulling out a bowl to put them in.

"that really doesn't answer anything. what do sugar and strawberries have to do with each other?"

I stared at Sans for a moment, waiting for some dumb joke, but it didn't happen. "I don't think I've ever been so mortally wounded by words before. You've never put sugar on strawberries?"

Sans shook his skull slowly.

"You just named three cooks and you clearly know enough and none of you have put sugar on strawberries?"

Sans shook his skull again.

"What's the big deal? Shugar's for pies and candies and such, right? You don't just eat it plain."

"Alright. This needs to be fixed, now. How has no one here put sugar on strawberries? It's so good."

"if you say so."

"I most definitely do," I responded, grabbing the knife and starting to cut up the strawberries. They were very easy to cut up quickly, with no bad spots to look out for. I sprinkled the sugar on top and put it away.

"that's it?"

"Yeah. Now we just need to wait a bit and the sugar will make them sweeter. You'll see." I smiled, slipping the bowl back in the fridge.

Sans just shrugged it off as I continued to help him with breakfast. We were done by the time Papyrus got back.

"SUGAR ON STRAWBERRIES?" Papyrus questioned.

"Yes! Try it." I giggled slightly as I ate a piece.

"That's actually pretty good." Chara commented.

Both Sans and Papyrus tried a piece. Sans didn't do anything more than admit that it was good while Papyrus lit up like a light bulb.

"THIS IS GOOD, HUMAN! YOU MUST TEACH ME YOU'RE TRICKS!"

"They're not really tricks. Just little cooking things I picked up from my… mom…" I quickly shook my head and beamed at Papyrus. "I'm glad you like it, though. If you're looking for more tips, you can blend this into a strawberry syrup for waffles and pancakes."

"so, are you two planning to eat or…"

"SANS!" Papyrus groaned, staring at the food already on Sans' plate. Sans just winked at both of us before taking his food to the table.

"After you." I smirked, waiting for Papyrus to get his food before getting my own. It was delicious.

"ARE YOU UP FOR SOME FRIENDLY SPARING NOW HUMAN FRIEND?" Papyrus asked as soon as we'd finished.

"Ready as I'll ever be. I just… what exactly are we doing?"

"SPARING!"

"That isn't exactly helpful."

"and? you aren't exactly clueless. you just need a bit of practice."

"Yeah, I guess. Outside?"

"THAT WOULD BE BEST."

I followed Sans and Papyrus outside and after some reassurances from Papyrus—that weren't necessary but appreciated—that this would be safe; he pulled out my soul and boxed it.

I dodged Papyrus' attacks well, but he was going very easy on me. He hadn't even turned my soul blue or anything.

"WOWIE, HUMAN. YOU ARE VERY GOOD AT THIS." Papyrus complimented me as he released my soul.

"Not really," I mumbled, leaving my soul in front of me. "You're just going easy on me."

"nah, bud, you're doing pretty decent for your first time. some of the kinder humans we've met couldn't even handle this much."

"I have an advantage."

"true, but you're still doing well."

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE A BLUE ATTACK NOW, FRIEND? STAY STILL AND IT WILL NOT HARM YOU."

"Got it!" I smiled, preparing myself as Papyrus boxed my soul again. A blue bone appeared, moving towards me, but I remained still. As soon as it touched my soul, I felt a stinging sensation as if I'd let my entire body fall asleep. I forced my soul not to move until the bone had passed, but small tears pricked my eyes. Papyrus let me go quickly.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT FRIEND?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"so, what happened?" Sans asked.

"I don't really know. All I'm sure of is the blue attack hurt. Not like a monster attack normally hurts though."

"and how would you know what an attack feels like? you've never been hit."

I shrunk slightly. "Oh, I guess I wouldn't know for sure, but the dream memory things I get from Frisk don't really work like dreams should. I've been hit in a few of them and… well… it wasn't exactly painless. Whatever just happened with that blue attack, it wasn't that."

"well, frisk's hp hasn't gone down from the blue attack or the dreams. i'm checking yours."

"Kay." I nodded.

Sans opened his phone and turned on the device for a moment. "you're hurt," he declared, a slight growl in his voice. "i thought we agreed that you'd tell me if anything hurt."

"That was if you did anything that hurt."

Sans did not appreciate my correction.

"HUMAN, THE POINT WAS TO KEEP YOU SAFE. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?" Papyrus asked before Sans could.

I sighed, looking away from the disappointment and concern in Papyrus' eye sockets. "I don't know. I guess I just didn't realize it was a problem. I've heard you can't feel pain in dreams, but I've never been able to test that, so I wasn't sure if that was true. Not to mention, they're not dreams and not mine. You've already said you can't do anything about them anyway, so why complain?"

Sans groaned, rubbing his skull. "because i could at least try. just because I can't do anything about the memories doesn't mean i can't stop them from hurting you."

"Can you?" I asked skeptically.

"no, not currently, but i haven't tried yet."

"And have you tried to stop me from seeing their memories?"

"yes actually. i said i couldn't do it because i can't and it isn't my focus, doesn't mean i haven't tried. i noticed your hp change, but i thought that was your world. You said you'd tell me."

I flinched slightly. "Sorry," I whispered.

"did you tell the kids?"

"No." Chara growled.

I shook my head. "I didn't realize they didn't know."

"Of course we didn't know."

"only your soul took damage. i doubt they felt anything."

"Oh," I whispered, staring at the ground. "Sorry."

"NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE SO MUCH HUMAN. I'M SURE IT WAS ALL A MISUNDERSTANDING." Papyrus smiled.

"Yes, but I did say I'd tell Sans if anything he did hurt. I should have realized he'd want to know about this problem too."

"that's what i don't understand. i told you to tell me. why would you think i wouldn't want to know you were in pain?" Sans asked.

I couldn't help the humorless laugh that escaped me. "Let's look at it this way, shall we? Everything else hurts, so what's one more thing?"

Sans seemed to cringe a bit from that one.

"You already said you can't stop the dreams, just like you can't stop Frisk and Chara from hurting and you can't stop your device. Looked like just another thing I have to deal with being here, unless you wanted me to tell you every time one of those other things popped up as well."

Sans sighed. "you win bud. just tell me from now on if there's anything new or worse than normal."

"Good." I smiled. "And I am sorry I didn't say anything about the dreams."

"THAT'S ALRIGHT FRIEND. AT LEAST YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN ANY REAL DANGER FROM IT YET."

"Yeah, that's good… wait, why not? As far as I know, my health's only been dropping."

"you have a lot of hp, bud. sleeping rases hp and you…"

"I'm sleeping there. My HP is constantly recovering?"

"YES! NOT FAST, BUT YES."

"your sporadically damaging dreams aren't too much of a problem, but they might be if you had maybe three or four bad ones in a row…"

"Oh. I'll keep my eye on that from now on."

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTINUE, FRIEND?"

"Yeah."

AN:

To be honest, monster food annoys me greatly. I have so many questions on how this stuff is even supposed to work, but it is stated somewhere that it doesn't spoil so perfect strawberries here I come!