Papyrus awakens finding that in his sleep he must have turned to the wall that one side of his car bed faces. He sits up turning his body to face the end of his bed, where he can see other parts of his room. His desk with the slightly older computer is still in the corner. His wood closet sliding doors are as he had left them.
The left one halfway open and the right one closed.
Papyrus turns to look to the table next to his bed, slightly looking at the wood bookshelf with books before his gaze reaches the table, and sees that his toys and figures are still there. Just as he had left them. His skull and cross bones flag hanging on the wall. He turns away getting up to his feet. He is wearing blue pajamas with white bones as a pattern. He heads to his closet taking out the pile of his battle body from the floor of the closet. He strips off his pajamas changing them out for his battle body. He heads out of his room once dressed, and onto the balcony like hallway of the upstairs. He can see the living room from up here.
The green couch sitting where it's always been in front of the tv. The small table with the pet rock that has sprinkles surrounding it. The sock left on the floor with a few sticky notes stacked on the wall in a messy line. The front door is also still shut.
Papyrus notices that his brother Sans is probably not up. He doesn't smell his brothers pancakes he sometimes makes, and he doesn't see him napping or being lazy on the couch. He sighs to himself shaking his head lightly. "Lazy bones." He heads down the hall passing by the framed picture of a bone. He arrives at Sanss room door.
A plain brown wood door with magical flames coming out the bottom.
Papyrus knows that the magic placed there by his brother keeps out everyone else. Well except for the two skeleton brothers that is. He opens the door with ease and heads into his brothers room. He spots the other laying on his side facing away from the door on his mattress. He heads into the room trying to ignore the clutter, random treadmill, and the trash tornado in the corner. He kneels next to his brothers bed seeing him resting his head on the bedding. He had put the bedding there for Sans to put on his bed... But the other has decided to use it as a pillow instead.
At least Sans sleeps in his usual clothes, so he has his unzipped hoodie to help keep him warm.
Papyrus reaches over placing a gentle hand on his brothers shoulder. "Sans. It's time to get up." He tells him as he gently shakes him.
Sans let's out a groan at being awoken making Papyrus huff.
Papyrus rolls his eyes and picks Sans up holding him close. "Oh don't be so dramatic." He tells him as he carries him out of the room. "You know that it's time to get up. So you can come with me while I make breakfast." He takes his brother down the hall to the stairs. He walks down them careful not wanting to slip.
A creak or two can be heard as Papyrus descends the stairs.
Papyrus ignores it and heads around through the living room turning the corner into the kitchen. He places his brother so he's sitting on the counter.
Sans blinks sleepily at him but stays where he is placed.
Papyrus leaves him there to let him wake himself up. He moves away grabbing the dry ingredients to begin making the pancakes. He pours the amount of dry ingredients needed into a bowl, before grabbing two eggs along with water. He hums softly to himself as he mixes the mixture together to create the batter. He soon has it all set and grabs a spoon along with a frying pan. He puts the pan on the stove turning the heat to high. He loves cooking on the high heat. He uses the spoon he used to mix the batter to scoop some onto the pan. He lets the batter sit for a bit before flipping it. He nods at seeing the brown on the part of the pancake that had just been against the pan. He continues making pancake after pancake until all of the batter has been used up. He separates the pancakes evenly onto two plates. He adds their favorite syrup on top letting it also drip down the sides to rest on the plate. He turns to his brother who looks to him.
Sans looks awake though the usual dark bags under his eyes can be seen easily.
Papyrus knows that sometimes it is hard to sleep even with the all the jobs that Sans does. So he doesn't push on the issue. He at least knows that his brother at least seems to have slept okay last night. "Here is your pancakes brother." He places his brothers plate next to him. He turns away after getting a nod of thanks. He picks up his own plate and digs in. He enjoys the fluffiness of the pancakes he had created. His hunger keeping him eating until they are all gone. He turns to Sans to see if his brother finished too. He frowns at what he sees.
Sans hasn't really eaten much of his pancakes. He is looking at it as though he's trying to eat it but something is stopping him.
"Sans?" Papyrus asks worriedly as he puts his empty plate down. He moves closer to Sans who looks to him. "Are you not feeling well?" He takes off one of his gloves placing a hand onto his brothers forehead. He doesn't find a fever though is still rather worried.
Sans gives Papyrus a smile trying to stop his worrying. "I'm fine Paps. Just not that hungry this morning. I'm sorry."
Papyrus shakes his head then puts an arm around his brother. "You have nothing to apologize for." He informs him as his brother leans against him. "Sans. I know that something is wrong. That you're lying to not make me worry. Does your stomach hurt? It's okay. You can tell me. I won't be upset."
After a moment Sans nods slightly glancing away. "Yeah. It does. I'm not sure why."
"I'm going to look. See if I can see anything." Papyrus gently grips the slightly worn down grey t-shirt. He lifts it up exposing the others ribs, spine and space where his stomach should be. He gazes at his brothers body attempting to find where the problem is. He can see a handful small old scars on his brothers ribs and spine. He remembers that Sans had gotten them in running away accidents when they didn't have money so he stole, getting into a few fights when Papyrus was teased, and a few from when his teleportation went wrong when he was still learning it. He gently touches the space where his brothers stomach should be. He puts some of his magic onto the tips of his fingers. He uses it to stir up his brothers magic enough to summon the stomach.
It works as a blue stomach appears with Papyruss fingers resting on it.
Papyrus moves his hand and looks at his brothers stomach for anything bad. He notices some black marks that could be a sign of an illness. He hopes that maybe Sans just needs a bath. He tries to rub one off but nothing happens. He decides on what he's going to do after seeing this. He lowers his brothers shirt. "We'll stay home today." He tells him as he meets the others eyes. "I'll call Undyne about it. But first I wanna do a double check. Just in case she wants me to be sure that it's not overreacting." He moves away grabbing a cloth. He gets it damp before he tries to clean the spots on Sanss stomach. He can't get them off so he concludes that Sans must have caught a flu bug. Just as he had suspected.
Being skeletons an illness can be seen either on the bones, or on the magic body they can make. Since their bodies aren't built like other monsters, their bodies are more magic based. Even magic based in digesting food that they eat. The missing parts of their bodies can only be seen if the summon them, though most including them prefer to only summon inner organs if they really have to. Leaving the general summon of their body basically like it's just slightly see through skin. So an illness affects their magic to show up. One of the big downsides though is that they're extremely sensitive to magical disturbances. They have refused to go down into the old lab because the magical disturbance is so strong.
Luckily Alphys had understood and never forced them to go there.
Papyrus grabs his phone from where it's charging. He dials Undyne number and waits for an answer which he soon gets.
"Yo Papyrus! What's up?" Undyne questions as she answers the phone.
"Hey Undyne!" Papyrus greets his friend back. "Me and Sans are staying home. He's sick and I'm going to take care of him. I made sure that I wasn't overreacting. I think it's some kind of stomach flu bug."
"Okay thanks for letting me know." Undyne agrees to this sounding a little worried for her other friend. "Tell Sans to get better soon. I'll have others cover your work today."
"I will. Thank you Undyne." Papyrus promises and hangs up. "Undyne is okay with it. She says that she hopes you get better soon."
"That's nice of her." Sans smiles having expected the response. He was rather clever after all and has even helped Alphys in a few science projects. His own lab is in the basement with the stairs to it being behind the house. He was happy when Papyrus said that he could use that part for his own lab.
Papyrus puts his phone into his pocket then picks his brother up.
Sans rests his head on his brothers shoulder closing his eyes. He allows the other to carry him to the couch in the living room.
Papyrus sits down and slightly frowns as the springs squeak a little. He makes a mental note that he'll need to probably get them a new one. He doesn't want a spring to spring out when Sans is sitting or laying on the couch. He pushes that errand idea out of his mind for now as he lays his brother onto the couch next to him.
Sanss head rests on the arm rest as he lays on his back. His eyes drift close as he starts to fall asleep once again. His body relaxed being comforted that Papyrus can take care of him.
Papyrus turns on the TV putting it on mute as he watches a few reruns of Mettatons show. He lets it play so he can stay there with his resting brother.
After a few episodes play out Sans has already fallen asleep. He just lays there on the couch next to his brother.
Papyrus turns to him and blinks a few times as he feels like the room is spinning. His vision starting to fade out before snapping back to normal. He must just have relaxed a bit too much... Right? He turns away from his brother glancing to the kitchen. He gets up and moves towards it thinking of a cup of water. He only gets as far as the entrance. He stops only to blink and as his body starts to ache things change around him.
The kitchen looks old and dirty. The cupboards are broken, the stove along with the fridge look out of date with rust, the stove burners are old spiral metal burners that look worn down, the tall sink is just a regular rusted sink the same height as the counters, and there are filthy plates scattered on the counters. The pancakes Papyrus made for Sans are completely untouched. The pancakes look to be undercooked as though the stove had barely managed to cook them. The wallpaper is peeling and there's a few chunks missing from the floor. The cable on the counter, the one that Papyrus had plugged his phone into, is now just an old piece of rope. Inside the cupboards that can't close there is some canned food, and a few bags of dry food. Some looking as though they hadn't been touched in a while as labels cannot be read. As if they were placed there once a time ago yet weren't picked up.
Papyrus turns away almost falling over in his dizziness.
The living room also isn't what had been seen earlier. The carpet is filthy looking being matted with some of it missing, the tv is nothing more than two large rocks stacked on top of each other, the screen is a carved square with a carved stick figure in the middle, the sock is old with some tattered paper on the wall above it, the table with the pet rock looks as though it could fall apart, the sprinkles are nothing more than pieces of the carpet sprinkled on the rock, and the couch has dirty spots as well as ripped areas.
Papyrus moves closer to the couch looking for his brother.
Laying there with its head against a torn armrest is a small doll that kind of looks like Sans. The doll has an armature look to it, a button eye is missing, a permanent smile stitched on its face, wearing clothing that looks like Sanss, and being only about as big as an average sized teddy bear.
Papyrus turns away noticing that the windows are boarded up, the living room wall paper is peeling, and that the boards over the door that can't fully close are broken. He feels pain rising in his stomach. He pushes onwards heading outside pausing to glance around. He sees old abandoned homes as though monsters once lived here then left. He doesn't see anyone else here other than himself. He heads around and goes towards his brothers lab entrance. He wants to know if an experiment perhaps had gone wrong. He wonders if Sans put the doll there to sneak away to do lab work while sick. He is careful on the cracked stone steps. He opens the scratched up door entering the lab.
The light on the ceiling is barely lit. Though the room can just barely be seen well enough. The floor is just stone, the table looks like it will fall apart in a small breeze, the papers on the table look old and a little worn, there is a machine hidden beneath a dirty blanket, parts of the blanket seem to show dips where parts of it missing so it's clear it's unfinished, and there's an old framed photograph on the table in a beat up frame.
Papyrus sees the old yellowish brown picture of child him, child Sans, their father Gaster who ended up dying in an experiment gone wrong, and their mother who is a beautiful skeleton who looks more like Sans. He remembers how a cave in accidentally killed her not long after monsters were sent underground. He can also recall that since Sans was a young teen, and he himself still being a child, his older brother took care of him. He knows that Sans would go out to do what he had to so they wouldn't starve, and come back tired though still willing to play with his brother. He turns away from the room heading back up then into the home. His own steps stumbling a bit more than before.
Was everything always looking like this though? Like he just walked into an old ghost town?
Papyrus heads towards the stairs seeing that they looked old as if ready to break when he steps on them. He manages to make it upstairs.
The railing for the protection of anyone at the edge of the balcony like hallway has pieces missing. The carpet is the same as the living room one. The wallpaper is peeling just as bad as the other rooms.
Papyrus looks to his bedroom door. He is almost dragging his limbs as he pushes past the door.
The door has scratches like an attempt to make caution tape seem to be on it.
Inside of Papyruss room is nothing like what Papyrus had woken up to. The carpet and wallpaper are in rough shape, the desk barely holds a big rock that was placed there, the bookcase has a few collapsed shelves, the few books that are on the shelves are obviously read a lot as seen by the cracked spines, the flag is more torn and worn, the closet doors so old they're slightly falling apart as well as being stuck in place, a ratty set of blue clothes on the floor of the closet, the table with the toys is also old looking, the toys are worn down as well as scratched showing that they're not in the best condition, and the race car bed is nothing more than a dirty mattress with a few broken boards of wood surrounding it.
Papyrus looks down at himself seeing a worn down red scarf, a well worn also with holes white t-shirt that is short in the stomach area, short blue short shorts that have a rip on the left leg, red gloves with holes in them, a finger or two is missing as if torn off when continuously pulled on to help remove the gloves, and well worn red boots with a few holes around the foot area. He turns away feeling even more dizzy as though he is about to collapse. He grabs his cell only to realize that it's a scratched up rock. He starts walking towards his brothers room and uses the wall for a little support so he won't collapse. He passes the spot where a picture of a bone is now shown to be a plank of wood, messily nailed to the wall with rusty bent nails. He gets to his brothers door finding it to have pieces missing, and it appears to be heavily scratched up. He heads inside as the door creaks when it's opened.
The carpet is in the worst shape out of all of the rooms, there is piles of debris laying around as though parts of the home fell down, treadmill is nothing more than one rather neat pile of debris, the trash tornado is just a pile of old clothes with a skinny dirty white small dog laying on top of them, and the bed is a dirty mattress on the floor with old clothes acting like a pillow.
Papyruss eyes land upon what's on the bed other than the clothes.
A monsters dust that is laying underneath the clothes Sans especially loved to wear.
Papyrus collapses to his hands and knees as his vision darkens. His mind flickering memories of the truth as he slightly drags himself towards the mattress. He had been given the doll so he could have company when Sans was gone. He'd wait here staying in the old town of Snowdin.
A town that had once held monsters who moved on as better homes were built. Away from the cold area.
Sans and Papyrus stayed in one of the old homes being homeless after their fathers death. They stayed here where they didn't have to pay to be able to stay. While Sans would go out to find odd jobs, beg for money, or even try to steal things so they could live, Papyrus would wait for him.
Papyrus would sometimes wander Snowdin while his brother was away. He had agreed to stay behind after a discussion when they made snowmen together.
Sans had told him that because they didn't want anymore fights, from when immature teen monsters wouldn't stop teasing Papyrus, so Sans could still get begging money or small jobs that Papyrus would stay here. He couldn't be labeled as willing to do constant violence.
After all they couldn't lose chances for income. Their income was the only reason they could get old clothes and buy food from cheap stores.
Sans would try to invent things from stuff he found in dump. Though he knew how hard it'd be as a lot is already made. Even more so that he has to rely on the dump for parts. So it wasn't an income to rely on.
Papyrus didn't mind staying behind too much. He once had bugged Sans with notes from old paper he found, about a sock. He knows that Sans would often be really tired when he came back, but it was just something for Papyrus to kind of do. He thought of it as a small game so Sans had treated it as such even leaving the single sock there. He did need to be able to play games or use his imagination while his brother was gone. He had started to notice Sans was more and more tired as well as eating less. He learned to cook with the old appliances. He had to cook things on a high heat as it was the only way the stove would get hot.
Sans hadn't been able to find any parts in the dump to fix it, and he didn't want to take any from Alphys as she didn't mind his help, so it was there to stay. His condition got worse until one day Papyrus came into Sanss room... And found that during the night his own brother had turned to dust. He had fallen ill with the illness of falling down which happened when monsters hope became low. He had explained it to Papyrus adding that his hope was only low, because no one had any jobs for him recently. That he was disappointed that he'd have to possibly steal again if the food ran low. After having a good streak on no stealing. He added that when he'd beg for money more monsters refused to give him any, saying that they needed it for themselves or for loved ones who were falling down.
At the discovery of his brothers dust a part of Papyruss mind just snapped. Causing him to start projecting imagined images around him. His mental health falling rapidly as he imagined things in his life. He would use the doll that he had for a long time, made by Sans, to act as Sans. He would sometimes even imagine dirty marks on the doll were illness patches; ones that would have been able to be seen on a live skeletons bones or magic. He eventually forgot about reality and stayed in his fantasy. He had made parts of Snowdin forest have things he found to represent things he'd imagine. He hadn't even noticed the hope for his own life falling as he lived his days in imagination. He fully collapses next to the dirty mattress and reaches out. He gently brings his hand to rest upon on the back of the dusty unzipped hoodie on the mattress. "Sans... I don't feel so good." His voice is rough and after those words were spoken his eyes fall shut. His vision being taken over by darkness as his body begins to turn to dust.
The end.