A/N: This one is a bit longer, but a lot more has happened. It gets a tiny teeny bit violently-graphic later but that's it.

Gaster was taken aback by the young skeleton's complaint, not something he would do often. But alas. "I suppose, from this timeline he reacted differently to what I expected he would in mine. Here, he is a lot more…protective, of the underground and its inhabitants. In my timeline, there has been several occasions over the years where he has suggested a life without his powers entirely."

Papyrus nodded eagerly, "Well you know now what he is like, so this won't happen again!"

Gaster shrugged, staring regretfully at Sans, wondering what the hell he was going to do with him.

"I can only hope so."

The sadness drained Papyrus. An unforgiving wave of hopelessness and despair, clutching his soul and threatening to shatter it like glass. If emotion was a physical matter, he would have fallen down a long time ago. He fiddled with his hands idly, a tense feeling in the air between himself and the other scientist.

When he was inwardly pleading for reassurance from his brother, he received only silence in return.

"What is the matter, Papyrus?" the older man queried, who was hovering by Sans' bedside and had hardly left. His face lacked emotion and his speech was unwavering, but actions speak louder than words.

"I can't get him to speak!" Papyrus sobbed, defeated, "When he's awake he's just so distant and stares into space, he won't talk to me anymore…"

Gaster sighed, his eyes falling onto the sleeping brother, "You must be patient, Papyrus, he will come to, eventually."

"But I need to do something now! I can't! Just! Sit here!"

Gaster clenched the device in his hands and twiddled with it, "Well, you will have to, he is not ready yet. He is grieving."

"I know, I know…but…I just…"

"You want to do something, I know." Gaster met his gaze for the first time, as if actually attempting to provide comfort for once, "I…cannot do anything either. My existence I fear makes him worse. He despises me, because I shouldn't be here," he paused, an eye flickering orange and back again, "Because I took his power from him, but…"

"But it's temporary, right!" Papyrus became excited, standing up from the seat and edging ever closer to Gaster, "You'll give it back soon!"

The device in Gaster's hands made a cracking noise, making the skeleton flinch in near surprise.

"Um…"

"In due time, yes, I will give it back."

Papyrus watched him uneasily, before retreating back to the seat in the corner of the room.

After finally arguing with Papyrus until he was blue in the face (and possibly the soul…), Gaster had convinced him to go home and rest, leaving him alone with Sans and some peace and quiet.

At last.

Now he could swamp himself up to the neck with work without distractions.

He decided it was best to start reporting to logs again, to note the progress of the merging timeline, and of course the issue with Sans.

Gaster fished out an audio log recorder from the stashes of his extremely untidy tables and started the first log of many.

"Entry 1. It's been three days since I reinstated the block on Sans. He has yet to wake up," he paused and glanced over to the immobile skeleton, as if to confirm it for himself, "I have sent Papyrus home, although it looks as if he is going to struggle being alone for much longer. I'm considering alternative arrangements," he strode over to Sans' side, taking in the readings from the machine he was attached to. "His soul is…discouraging. Currently at 0.80 when his norm is 1, which for a monster is already extremely low HP. He is deficient even more so than usual," he found himself skipping the subject of the possibility of death.

He left the log going as a few more silent moments dragged on, before deciding he'd had enough. Placing the recorder aside, he slumped down on the chair beside Sans and threw his head in his hands. Could this battle even be won? Perhaps it was too late now.

"jeez, G, you look more defeated than I do."

Gaster, not moving his head from his hands, breathed a quiet sigh of relief, suddenly too tired to move.

So, he's not dead yet.

"could use another nap though."

At that, Gaster lifted his head sluggishly but with some degree of alertness, only to be met with a large grin from the other skeleton. He sighed. Then stared at the floor.

Sans' smile dropped. "c'mon, G, starting to worry me now. how long did I sleep?"

"Three days," Gaster mumbled.

There was a long pause between the two skeletons.

"guessing you didn't sleep yourself at any point during those days"

The silence from him was telling.

"welp, in that case you better go to sleep before I do."

"I was beginning to accept your fate, and arrange for Papyrus to move in with another citizen," he suddenly stated, eyes weary and tired, "I am still not sure how to heal you."

Sans observed him for a moment, analysing the overworked and exhausted face. The truth about how long he had been working to save his life suddenly dawned upon him.

"you better rest, gaster, i'll be fine. or I can call my bro to watch me, or something, i dunno."

"I suppose having your brother watch would be more beneficial than myself in my current state. He is after all, protective."

"what, and you're not?"

"Well, it doesn't matter."

"heh, yeah."

"After all this time, you still don't understand, do you?
You're mine, I will do you with as I please, and you will obey me. Otherwise…" his bro was hauled up in the air, a panicked expression on his face,
"You can say goodbye to your brother."

Sans' eyes shot open, heart pounding in his throat, and unfortunately for Gaster—his frowning face was the first thing he saw looming over him. "Sans, are you—"

Hyperventilating, Sans' eye turned blue in icy panic. He threw out an arm, fear choking him into silence. Gaster's body rammed up heavily against the wall, the black and white figure's eyes widening in shock. He could hear Papyrus' voice screeching in the background, probably yet again telling him to let his victim go, but right now all he could hear was a high-pitched whistling noise in his ear, his panicking brain set on getting Gaster away from his brother.

Before long, Sans' mind had begun to clear and was slowly coming back to reality. A few seconds later, the blue light faded from the old scientist and he nearly fell onto the floor.

He hardly noticed himself wheezing and trembling until the familiar touch of his brother rested on his shoulder, in the same way he always does when he gets like this.

"Breathe, brother, it will all be okay!" he could just about make out the words, the noise in his ears now forming into a duller hissing noise instead, while he panted uncontrollably, "It was just another nightmare! Everything is okay!"

Sans let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding and allowed his brother to embrace him, his legs trembling so much he felt like he was about to collapse.

After a while, Sans and Gaster exchanged a long look, the old skeleton glaring at him for what seemed like minutes before finally turning around with a hrumph and striding out the room.

"huh. guess i've pissed him off again."

Papyrus released his tight grip on Sans, "Brother! What on earth was that!?"

Sans grimaced at images of his nightmare flashing through his mind, "bad dream, i guess."

"Um…what happened to the block?"

"oh that. dunno. guess that went too."

"Again!?"

Sans sighed, shrugging and closing his eyes, "pap i-…listen, i've got no idea, ok?"

"Well…he put the block back, and waited three days for you to wake up…and once you did, it was gone again! Astounding!"

"yup, i'm sure that's how he sees it."

"But not to worry! I bet he's really happy that you've got your powers back already! All on your own!"

"eeeyup."

Papyrus glared at him. "Sans. You're being sarcastic again!"

"don't know what to say, bro."

It was odd for Papyrus; he didn't quite understand what was going on but he assumed it was…good…? His brother having his powers back…that was good, wasn't it?

"Then why are you so down! I know that look!"

He faked a smile, "i'm not down."

"You haven't made a joke in almost a week! It's very concerning!"

Sans took a moment to think long and hard about an amazing joke he could pull off to stop his younger brother from worrying. But alas, nothing came to mind, his thoughts mostly consisted of just a jumbled mess.

"I will go and talk to him for you! I must fix this! Both of you are clearly very unhappy."

"don't even try, pap, just…leave him be, and…it'll sort itself out, y'know?" there was an air of uncertainty in his voice, but it fooled Papyrus, nonetheless.

"Well…if you say so. You know him much better than me!"

Sans shrugged, his eyes drooping as exhaustion came over him again. This set off alarm bells in his brain. If he could glow blue and was growing tired, then…surely the other 'symptoms' would return.

He coddled his ribs pre-emptively, his heart pounding again at the thought of Gaster's reaction to the block yet again inexplicably disappearing. And yet, he had to remain calm and impassive around his brother, as to not worry him.

All at once, the grey doors whooshed open, Alphys following through and carrying with great strain— the kid.

"G-Gaster? Gaster! Where are you!?" the little reptile shouted, completely ignoring the two brothers and scanning the room for the scientist, "Gaster! I-It's the human!"

Sans popped his head up in alarm, and almost at the same time, Gaster strode through the doors and immediately pointed at the table.

"Put them on the table. What happened?"

Alphys was a panicking mess, "I-I don't know! They came in to see me, saying they were seeing weird things, but t-then they collapsed and I didn't know what to do!"

Sans felt himself freeze as Gaster's eyes trailed upon him after Alphys' explanation, before focusing back on the human. He swallowed the rising panic in his mind and stood up, leaving Papyrus' hand to fall off his shoulder as he quickly strolled over, assessing the situation itself. He was ill, but he was still a scientist and had a duty.

Frisk squirmed around the table, face completely scrunched up in pain. Gaster, having a hunch, pulled up the blue and purple jumper and grit his teeth at all the bruising going on underneath. Papyrus audibly gasped from behind them.

"Just as I suspected," he announced, taking a red vial from under the table and slotting it in the syringe, "Similar to Sans. Seems like old wounds have come to the surface. Likely from another timeline." he jammed it into Frisk's side, causing them to yelp and grit their teeth.

Alphys' eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "From—you…what?"

"It seems the progress of the timelines merging is much worse than I had anticipated," he explained, watching the screens and waiting for Frisk's vital signs to even out, "I must find a way to stabilize it before it gets any worse."

Frisk curled into a fetal position and braced their arm around their stomach, eyes squeezed shut and gasping.

Sans put a hand on their wrist to urge them to open up, "Frisk, lemme see, kiddo"

There of course wasn't a reply from the human, continuing to tremble as if they hadn't heard him. They continued to hyperventilate, breaths sawing in and out. Sans move his hand to their arm, tugging at it faintly. He noted the muscles were tight.

"Sans, we haven't got time for this," Gaster growled, glancing back and forth the deafening monitor and the child.

"hold on, G," he mumbled, gently tugging a sleeve up and grinding his teeth at the red blistering layers on the skin.

…shit.

Gaster stared at it vacantly. "How on earth…"

"uh, right, topical silver sulfadiazine first," he instructed, attempting to pull Frisk's sweater over their head only for them to scream in pain. "kid, i need to see the rest of this,"

Frisk violently shook their head in refusal.

Gaster was in disbelief, "There is a lack any bleeding, only burns. A home accident?"

A feeling of heaviness weighed on Sans. His eyes went dark, a grave expression upon his face as he realised.

i know what this is, and i know why.

Alphys growled, "They won't let me take it off either!" the child wailed and writhed around on the spot.

Sans squeezed his eyes shut and sighed heavily, "then cut it off."

kid will die if we don't do something.

While they worked to get the sweater off the refusing child, Papyrus attempted to distract them.

"Human! Let's play a game!"

Frisk stopped squirming and gazed at him in curiosity. Flustered that his incredible plan had actually worked, Papyrus hurried for his next move.

"Um…how about.." he tried to think over the shrill, grating sound of the alarms, "Uhh…I wish I had one of my extravagant puzzles with me! How about eye spy?"

Frisk hyperactively nodded in excitement and pointed at Papyrus.

"Me first? Good!" he narrowed his eyes in concentration, "Eye spy, something beginning with…P."

Frisk hummed, easily ignoring Alphys tearing their sweater in half with a pair of scissors. Then they pointed at Papyrus again.

"Wowie! You got it right! You're excellently good at—" he cut himself off when Frisk tensed up, scrunching their eyes shut as Sans jabbed them in the side with a needle.

"nearly done kiddo, hang in there,"

Frisk pouted in resignation.

"Sans…" Papyrus strained cautiously, now taking in the red scalded skin before him, "Why are there burn marks all over their body?"

Staring at his feet, Sans scowled, his shoulders dropping, "no idea paps."

Papyrus stood up straight, "But you do know! You've been acting all weird and quiet and annoyed and if it's something you—"

"Papyrus," Gaster interrupted him with a stern glare, "Stop this. We do not know." The gaze he was giving him expressed that they did know but didn't want to say.

"Umm…so anyway," Alphys spoke up, attempting to change the subject, "Does um…a-anyone want to um…" she desperately tried to think of something to lighten the mood on the spot, "Um…want to…hang out after this with…Undyne…?" she smiled sheepishly, cringing herself at the terribly strung together sentence.

"might be nice. been a while since i've seen her," Sans offered a response with a half-smile to encourage her.

"U-um…yeah! Okay! I'll let her know!" she paused and took in the current situation, "…after this, though, of course."

Papyrus sniggered, but then stared onwards at the child helplessly. Everyone was able to do something to help Frisk…except him.

Gaster quickly glanced over to the screens and noted the vital signs evening out, giving a subtle relieved look over to Sans. He reciprocated the gaze.

"well, kiddo, looks like you're done," Sans decreed, watching the monitors again for good measure, as if it was suddenly going to drop again. Couldn't be too careful these days.

"See!? You're going to be alright, human!" Papyrus declared, but then his eyes fell upon the ripped up blue and purple sweater, "Uh…you'll need a new jumper!"

Frisk forced a smile to calm the nerves of the enthusiastic skeleton, eager to do something useful.

"S-so…Undyne wants to give a group cooking lesson…" Alphys finished the call to Undyne and tucked the phone away. Papyrus jumped up eagerly.

"That works for me! I will be the ambassador of cooking! Let's go, human!"

Frisk pursed their lips but nodded, managing to slip off the table before Sans' gently grabbed their shoulder.

"just a sec, pal. need to talk with you a moment," he looked up to Papyrus and Alphys peering over their shoulders, "the kid'll catch you up, ok?"

They both tentatively nodded their okay's and walked off, whispering to each other. Sans sighed with half-clenched fists, while Frisk looked up at him worriedly.

"you know what that was, don't ya?"

They nodded.

"so, you from this timeline? or the other one? cos there's only one reason why you'd be so badly burnt like that and if you're from the other timeline…"

Frisk shook their head vivaciously and pointed at the floor.

"you're from here? good. i suppose i could sorta tell. could sense it."

Frisk didn't really know how to reply to that, squirming uncomfortably under the skeleton's stare.

"now, from what G and i could tell, and you've probably guessed, the timeline we're merging with is one where you…" his eye sockets went black, "…killed everyone."

The look on the kid's face sent Sans reeling, "heh, you know i'm kidding. but really. that makes sense. cos that explains this wound that won't go away," he opened his hoodie to reveal the reopening scar that just couldn't seem to stay shut. "i've had a magic block put in my head twice to stop my body from constantly reopening it. but guess what? both of those times i've somehow got past it. since I managed it the first time it's pretty much doing it with ease."

Frisk's eyes went wide, suddenly staring themselves down, assuming the worst. If Sans' wound kept opening back up, would all the burns come back just as quickly?

"yeah, see, that was my worry. but you're human, and your readings are different than mine. probably because i've got powers and you don't, i guess."

Frisk nodded, seeming a little more hopeful in the eyes.

"you feel anything like that again, or any different at all, you come right back to me, got it?"

Frisk once again nodded, crossing their arms into the shape of an x across their chest.

"heh, yeah. cross your heart. i'll hold you to that."

The kid smiled and pointed at the door longingly.

"yeah, yeah, you can go now."

Frisk jumped up and ran out after their friends, leaving Sans alone with Gaster—who had apparently walked out the room while he was chatting. Oh well. Cherish the moment where the entire room didn't feel sombre with Gaster's presence.

Though, with the current mood he was in, he could do that on his own.

To be Continued...

A/N: thank you again for reading! i'm not sure how many people read this but would anyone mind leaving a fav or something? it would really mean a lot as i haven't got any of this piece yet, but i do know activity is a lot less here than it is on a03. i hope everyone is safe and well! :-)