Sans woke up in a bed that wasn't his own. He stared at the ceiling trying to make sense of what was happening. His father fell into The Core... No he fell into the portal...
Sans lay unmoving, he didn't want to get up, he didn't want to face reality. He didn't know what to do. Where would he and Papyrus go? How was he meant to take care of a five year old? Was it possible to get his father back?
It all seemed easier to just give up. His dad was gone, he couldn't take care of Papyrus, he should just give it all up.
He closed his eyes. He wanted to fall down. He was losing HOPE. He was going to fall down.
"SANS!" Papyrus called out, he gently placed his hands on Sans's shoulders and shook him. "ARE YOU AWAKE? PLEASE! I DIDN'T WANT TO BE ALONE!"
he'll do fine without me... Sans just wanted to die, he couldn't save his father so what good was he to his brother? he doesn't need me...
"SANS! JUST WAKE UP, YOU... YOU... LAZYBONES!" Papyrus was shouting. Was Sans's condition really that bad? "BROTHER, PLEASE, I NEED YOU!"
no, he doesn't. i'm better off dead...
"JUST STOP! STOP WITH THIS! HP GOING UP AND DOWN JUST STOP! DON'T FALL! PLEASE!" Papyrus was getting louder and Sans felt a tear drip onto his cheek.
aww jeez, i'm making him cry... i'm a horrible brother.
Sans kept slipping. He was slowly loosing HP and then slowly regaining it ever since Asgore brought them to the castle. It was like Sans couldn't decide whether to live or die and there was nothing Papyrus could do to stop his brother from falling down but he wasn't going to give up, he couldn't.
"SANS WHY WOULDN'T YOU JUST GET UP?"
Sans just wanted Papyrus to leave so he could die. He'd given up but he didn't want to turn to dust in front of his brother, his HP was sitting at 0.5/1, this time was it. He was either going to die or wake. Sans thought that Papyrus should just move on and leave him to dust alone, he didn't know what to do if he stayed.
"... IS IT BECAUSE YOU'RE BONE TIRED?"
"heh... heh heh..."
no don't laugh, idiot. just die. dust already that's all you're good for. you failed to save dad.
But it was just so unexpected, Sans couldn't help but laugh, the joke was hilarious and it was the last thing he expected from Papyrus of all people since he hated puns. The fact his little brother make the joke was funnier to Sans than the joke itself and the joke was really funny. Sans woke up and couldn't stop laughing.
Sans sat up, still giggling and wiped a tear of laughter from of eye. Papyrus lightly punched his arm, "OKAY, BROTHER, YOU CAN STOP LAUGHING NOW! IT'S WASN'T EVEN FUNNY!"
"it was your joke!" He couldn't stop the laughter.
"AND PART OF MY SOUL DIED SAYING IT! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD ONLY WAKE UP BECAUSE OF A JOKE! I WAS REALLY SCARED! YOU ALMOST DIED! LOOK AT YOUR HP!" Papyrus scolded him and Sans was hit again.
Sans managed to stop laughing and hugged Papyrus tightly, "i'm so sorry, bro. for everything. i'm so sorry. oh god i'm sorry!"
Sans couldn't believe he was ready to accept death. Papyrus may be better off without him but they were brothers and Papyrus needed Sans, it was selfish of Sans to want to die and he felt guilty. Their dad was gone and Sans needed to be there for his little brother. He was his only family, the only other one left of their race.
"SANS?" Papyrus asked pulling away from his brother.
"yeah, papy?"
"YOU... YOU REMEMBER DAD, RIGHT?" Papyrus was shaking.
Sans frowned at Papyrus, what a weird question. "of course i do. why wouldn't i?"
Papyrus looked away from him. "BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE DOES. EVERYONE FORGOT HIM AND US AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN WHERE WE CAME FROM. NO ONE WILL BELIEVE THAT A ROYAL SCIENTIST WHO DOESN'T EXIST CREATED US IN A LAB, ALONE. WE CAN'T EVEN LIE AND SAY OUR PARENTS DIED BECAUSE THERE ARE NO OTHER SKELETONS, IT'S LIKE WE JUST APPEARED FROM NOWHERE TO THEM..."
Sans looked shocked for a moment and took a deep breath. "dad's... not dead... he's alive, right?"
Papyrus nodded, slowly. "I THINK SO... I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED."
Sans looked away as well, this was too much but he couldn't go back into that half fallen down state again. "he shattered himself across time and space, he didn't die but he was erased. everything he did was erased to stop a paradox," Sans explained to his brother.
"BUT WHAT ABOUT US AND THE CORE? IF DAD NEVER EXISTED, THEN WE SHOULDN'T EITHER."
"we can't be erased without causing more harm. same with the core and i'm sure there is more of dad's work that still exists. people's memories were altered to amend things. i'm sure that's what happened."
"SO, AS FAR AS EVERYONE'S CONCERNED, WE JUST RANDOMLY CAME INTO EXISTENCE."
"yeah... let's just keep our past quiet. let people just think it's too traumatising to talk about or something. trying to tell the truth might be a bad idea."
Papyrus nodded, "YEAH, AS MUCH AS I HATE LYING, WE DON'T WANT TO MESS ANYTHING UP IF WE'RE PARADOXES."
"ok. now we need to figure out what we're going to do... and i think i need some healing."
Papyrus fidgeted a little before he reached forward and began using green magic on his big brother, trying his hardest to get back the 0.5 HP he lost. "IF DAD'S NOT DEAD... CAN WE BRING HIM BACK?" He asked as he worked.
Sans shrugged, "tibia honest, bro, i don't know. i can try. if it is possible it won't be easy."
Papyrus nodded and took Sans's hand, using more magic to heal him. It wasn't easy to heal someone with so little HP and even harder when they had lost hope. "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T DO ANYTHING DANGEROUS! I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU AS WELL!"
"i won't, bro. you're the most important thing and my top priority. but i'll try to get dad back as well."
"GOOD... WAIT, BROTHER WAS THAT A PUN!?" Papyrus pulled away his hands and his magic faded. Sans's HP sat at 0.8/1.
Sans giggled and pat Papyrus's head. "took ya long enough to notice."
"YOU ARE THE WORST! THIS IS REALLY SERIOUS!" Papyrus shouted as he beat his brother's chest with his fists.
Sans just laughed and grabbed Papyrus's wrists to stop his brother from hitting him and pushed Papyrus back, only to be tackled. They began play fighting and soon Papyrus was laughing as well, for a moment things seemed normal.
"Howdy!" Asgore walked into the room as the boys were rough housing, "oh, I see you are awake! That's wonderful, how are you feeling?"
Sans looked up at Asgore in surprise. He had been so concerned with Papyrus he forgot to ask where he was. Now he knew exactly where he was and he was so happy to see one of his father's best friends and it took everything he had not to go and hug Asgore. After all Asgore wouldn't remember him. "oh... um, i'm fine. you helped my lil bro? thank you."
Asgore smiled at the boys kindly. "You are quite welcome. It was no trouble, really. I can't just leave two orphans alone in The Core."
Sans stood up and tired to straighten out his clothes. Asgore didn't know him, he had to act right in front of him because he wasn't his father's best friend whom Sans had known since infancy, he was the King and Sans was just a random orphan.
He bowed to him, it felt wrong to act this way when he knew how much Asgore didn't like the formalities but he'd have no way of knowing that, being some kid from the streets. "no really, thank you so much, your majesty. you didn't have to do anything for the likes of us."
Asgore put his hands up, "please, there is no need for that. I just want to do the right thing, you do not need to stand on ceremony!"
Sans stood up, thankful Asgore had stopped him so quickly, it was so weird to act like a stranger to someone he knew so well. "so," he said, feeling very awkward, "what's going to happen to me and pap?"
Papyrus had also stood up and was clinging to Sans. Sans put an arm around his brother, protectively. He didn't want to be sent to an orphanage where they were likely to be separated due to their wide age gap.
Asgore sighed and took a seat on the nearby chair and motioned for the boys to sit as well. They didn't. "We need to talk about that. Do you have any relatives anywhere? I mean, I thought there were no more skeletons left but there must be if you two are here. Are they hiding somewhere for some reason?"
Sans shook his head, "um... our dad just died. we're the last. i won't let anyone take papyrus away from me." Sans held onto his brother tighter.
"No one will. We just want to help you boys. If you don't have any family what about family friends? Is there any of your parents' friends who could help you?"
Sans looked to the floor, all of his father's friends wouldn't remember them, Asgore didn't, the remaining Followers wouldn't, even Grillby wouldn't and Sans spent a lot of time at his bar. He slowly shook his head.
"SANS," Papyrus spoke, voice shacking, "SANS, I WANT TO GO HOME!"
Sans looked to his brother as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He still hadn't had a chance to mourn and he was beginning to realise just how much he'd lost. "i don't think we can, bro."
Asgore looked thoughtful, "where is your home?"
"SNOWDIN," Papyrus said.
"Snowdin...? I go there often; great bar there, owned by a friend. You lived in the town?"
"uh... yeah," Sans didn't know what to do but if they could somehow get back to their house... maybe there'd be something there, a clue, some of his father's notes and research. That was if their house was still there and providing it didn't belong to someone else.
"Do you have a key to your house?"
Sans shook his head, "dad had the only key," he could shortcut inside but he felt like he maybe shouldn't let Asgore know he could do that, it wasn't a skeleton power and they were weird enough already. Besides if it was inhabited by other people that would cause a lot of problems. "he had it in his pocket when he fell in..."
"MAYBE WE CAN JUST GO TO SNOWDIN?" Papyrus asked.
"maybe..." Sans muttered as he put his free hand into his striped hoodie's pocket. He frowned, his pocket's were meant to be empty but there was something there, something metal. He pulled it out; their house key with a photo frame key chain that contained a photo of seven year old Sans holding newborn Papyrus. "ok... that's weird."
Papyrus gasped, "YOU HAVE THE KEY! WE CAN GO HOME!"
Asgore frowned, "that's all well and good but I simply cannot allow two children to live alone, especially when you were on the verge of falling-"
"we'll be fine," Sans was excited, there could be something there and he had no idea why he had the key, he definitely didn't have it before, there had to be a reason he had it now. They wouldn't need to worry about being alone if he could bring back his father. He made sure he had a good hold on Papyrus and smiled at Asgore. "thanks, asgore, but we better get going. see ya later." With that he teleported away.
Their house was exactly how they left it. But before they could do anything Sans got an earful from Papyrus about how he can't just teleport away from Asgore while he was talking to them and trying to help them. Then he got another scolding about how he shouldn't use magic like that when he wasn't at full HP.
Papyrus then fully healed Sans before they got to work searching the house for any clues on how to get him back.
There was nothing.
There were notes and formals, sure, but nothing important, no clues. Sans figured anything big and important was at the labs but he still wanted to search the house properly first. So the brothers spend the whole day desperately looking for anything that might help them, they came up with nothing. Sans eventually decided to put Papyrus to bed, he had to fight with him to get him to go but he did eventually agree and left.
Sans to, went to bed, but he couldn't sleep. He just wanted his dad back. After two hours of tossing and turning he got up and went into his father's room. It used to be so well organised but once the boys got to it... well, they made a mess, desperately trying to find something, anything but they found nothing.
Sans sat down at the small desk in the corner and turned on the computer, maybe there was something on there. Most of the files were glitching and corrupted, unless. Sans opened his father's emails. There wasn't much and his email address and the addresses of the senders were blank. All except a one, a email from the bank, curious, Sans opened it.
He cried.
His father had been putting money in bank accounts in Sans and Papyrus's names for a long time. They had one each, Sans's starting a few days after he was born and Papyrus's starting on the day he was born. Sans had more money than his brother did since his was started seven years before Papyrus's but it would end up the same because it seemed money was still going in. Their college funds, probably and Sans never even knew he had them... They couldn't access it until they were eighteen but there was so much money in there, his father had been rich, of course he would be giving them a lot of money and that money was collecting interest.
Sans realised he wouldn't see a lot of his father's money, he had the money in his college fund but he'd never get his inheritance, how would he claim it? His father never existed in the first place, he couldn't go to the bank or a lawyer and demand inheritance from a man who didn't exist.
Sans also realised that he would have to worry about money now that his father was gone. He never had to worry about money and prices before. He knew that he was spoilt, anything he wanted he got, sure he had an allowance but if there ever was something he wanted and couldn't afford, his father just gave him more. Now, however, daddy wasn't there to pay for them... and once the cash in the house was spent...
Sans shook his head. He was worrying about it now, he had to find all the cash he had. He had to make sure he and Papyrus would be okay, he had to make sure they could pay for food and pay the bills. He'd have to wait six years before he got access to his bank account and he was worried that in that time the bank would notice there were two accounts getting money from nowhere and assume it was a glitch or a scam...
He'd have to budget, only buy the cheapest food and use things like water sparingly, only wash clothes when they got really dirty, maybe try to convince Papyrus to shower with him so they weren't wasting the water... Maybe Sans could skip meals so they wouldn't have to buy so much food... He could always eat from the trash and only feed Papyrus with the fresh food. If they could get away with sitting in the dark they should, he should try to get food that didn't need to be cooked...
He'd have to get a job but there was child labour laws, he was twelve, maybe he could get a paper round... but that wouldn't pay a lot, he could do odd jobs around town, clear pathways from the snow for the elderly, things like that. If he got desperate he could beg on the streets of New Home. He might even have to drop out of school. His father would hate that. School was free but he had to make money, he couldn't be spending time at school when he could be making money.
This was a mess...
He just wanted Papyrus to be happy. He decided then that he would do anything for his brother, anything. He'd work hard, he'd stop being lazy, he'd do hard manual labour if it meant Papyrus could still go to school, if it meant Papyrus could still have a normal life. He was all that mattered and Sans had to live for him.
"shit..." Sans muttered and lent back on the chair, "you just had to fuck with time and space, didn't you old man? what a mess..."
It really would be easier to give up but he had Papyrus to care for. He could give up once Papyrus was grown up and could care for himself but right now he had a small child to protect.
"SANS?"
Sans jumped and turned around to see his brother standing in the doorway wearing his scarf and with a matching red blanket wrapped around him. "what is it, bro? shouldn't you be asleep?"
"SHOULDN'T YOU?"
"can't."
"YEAH... ME TOO..." Papyrus walked into the room and stood next to Sans. "CAN YOU READ ME A BEDTIME STORY? DADDY USED TO ALWAYS READ TO ME AND I CAN'T SLEEP WITHOUT IT."
Sans nodded and forced a smile. "ok, what do you want me to read?"
Papyrus woke up on the sofa the next morning. He was cuddled up next to his brother who was still sound asleep. After the story they still couldn't get to sleep so they moved to the sofa and put on a movie, they must have fallen asleep halfway through it as the TV was still on, the film was long finished.
Papyrus looked up at his lazy, sleeping brother. Having him was a huge comfort to Papyrus. He may just be a little kid but Papyrus wasn't stupid, he was smarter than most children his age. Papyrus knew they'd struggle, Papyrus knew they had to be sparing with money and food but Papyrus knew there was nothing he could do to help. Sans was twelve he might be able to get a job, a five year old defiantly couldn't.
Papyrus got up, if he couldn't help make money, he'd cook and clean so Sans didn't have another thing to worry about. He walked into the kitchen, he'd make his brother some breakfast. There was a problem, however; Papyrus couldn't reach to counter. That wasn't going to stop The Great Papyrus! He pulled out a kitchen chair and moved it over to where the kettle was, climbed up and grabbed it, got off the chair and used blue magic on the chair to move it towards the sink. He then got back onto the chair and filled the kettle before getting off again and using magic to get the chair back so he could put the kettle on. Next he took the chair over to the toaster and bread, he put two pieces in the toaster, one for each of them, and put that on as well. So far, so good.
Papyrus turned again to get off the chair, he was still wrapped in the blanket and it tangled at his feet as he turned and when he went to get off of the chair he slipped...
"AH!" Papyrus screamed, closed his eyes and braced himself to hit the floor hard, but he never did, he did feel a heavy pressure on his soul though. Opening his eyes slowly, he looked around and saw Sans standing next to him, with his soul, turned blue, in his hand and one eye glowing.
Sans gently lowered his brother onto the floor and let out a sigh of relief. "what where you thinking? you could've gotten badly hurt! idiot!" Sans snapped harshly in shock.
Papyrus, realising he was in trouble shifted from one foot to the other. "I'M SORRY, I JUST WANTED TO MAKE BREAKFAST."
Sans took a deep breath, letting go of the anger he felt. He didn't want to be angry with his brother, he was just stressed and scared and the last thing he wanted was Papyrus to be hurt. "it's ok, bro, just don't do that again, it's not safe. if i wasn't there you could've broken a bone... man, dad would've flipped if he saw you pull a stunt like that. probably wouldn't stop fussing over you for weeks after."
"MM HMM," Papyrus muttered, "HE REALLY WOULD'VE. I'M SORRY."
Sans pulled Papyrus in for a tight hug, "next time you get hungry just ask me, ok? i'll make you something."
Papyrus didn't know how Sans would react if he told him he wasn't making breakfast for himself so he decided not to say anything about it, instead he said, "I CAN MAKE FOOD MYSELF."
"course you can, you are the great papyrus! you're just not tall enough to reach the counter, shorty!"
Papyrus huffed, "OH YEAH! WELL JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET GROWTH SPURTS! I'M GONNA BE TALLER THAN YOU ONE DAY!"
Sans laughed, "i know. i'm real short for my age, always have been, always will. you'll easily outgrow me but for right now, you are smol!" Sans then booped his brother's nose.
"STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!" Papyrus called as he stomped his foot.
"aww, sorry bro. look why don't you sit down, i'll finish up making breakfast."
Papyrus sighed and nodded, going over and sitting down at the kitchen table and watched as Sans worked. He just wanted to help, he wanted to grow up faster so he could.
Sans got to work, he spread the toast and cut each slice into four triangles, then put it in front of Papyrus. He already decided he wouldn't have anything to eat to save the food for Papyrus. He then poured his brother a glass of milk before he went over to the kettle. There was a box of coffee next to it, it was mainly their father's but Sans was beginning to like it, Papyrus hated the stuff. Sans figured he might as well use it up. He'd use it sparingly so he wouldn't miss it too much once it was finished, after all coffee was a luxury, he didn't need it so he wouldn't buy it. He made himself a cup of coffee.
He sat down with only his mug and look a sip. Papyrus hadn't started eating yet, Sans frowned, "what's wrong?"
"ARE YOU NOT EATING ANYTHING, BROTHER?"
"i'm not hungry. i'm good with just the coffee."
Papyrus didn't seem to like that answer, "BUT DADDY ALWAYS SAID BREAKFAST WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! YOU SHOULD EAT SOMETHING."
"nah, it's alright. i'm just not hungry, maybe i'll have something later."
Papyrus wasn't stupid, he knew what Sans was doing, they didn't have access to a lot of money because they were kids. Sans was trying to ration food by not eating. Papyrus didn't want him to do that, he'd rather just have smaller portions and spilt everything equally but he knew Sans was stubborn and wouldn't accept the half of Papyrus's breakfast that he had planned on giving to Sans in the first place.
Papyrus had an idea, he began to eat. Sans was trying to ration the food, he'd never let any go to waste. Papyrus ate four triangles and looked at the next slice. It was too obvious if he offered a whole piece of bread so he picked up the next triangle and tried to make it look like he was struggling to finish it but he did and even took one small bite out of the next one as well before he looked up at Sans trying to look guilty.
"I'M SORRY, SANS BUT I DON'T THINK I CAN FINISH THIS."
Sans looked at his brother and put down his coffee. "really?"
"I'M NOT REALLY THAT HUNGRY. I'M SORRY, YOU CAN FINISH IT IF YOU WANT TO."
"you can't even eat one more slice?"
Papyrus shook his head, "YOU CAN HAVE IT OR JUST THROW IT OUT."
Sans sighed and took the plate, he looked down at it and back at Papyrus. Sans ate the toast.
It was going to be hard without their father but they'd manage somehow, they had to. Sans would keep looking for a way to bring him back but first he had to find a way to make money. He had no pride unlike his father and brother, he wasn't above begging and dumpster diving but those were a last resort. He'd have to get Papyrus enrolled in school as well since their records were most likely erased. Sans knew that if he was to go back to school he'd no longer have skipped a grade, which meant he'd be repeating a year anyway, the year he was technically meant to be. Not like he planned on going to school.
He got up and smiled at his brother, "welp, i'm going out to see if i can find a job or something. be careful and don't hurt yourself while i'm gone. call me if something happens."
"YES, BROTHER! I'LL KEEP LOOKING FOR ANYTHING THAT MIGHT HELP US FIND DAD!"
The brothers hugged and parted ways for the day. Everything was different and the skelebros hated it. They were both really depressed and trying there best to hide it from each other. They had to be the other's strength.
Gaster watched from the void, screaming. Trying to warn them of what was to come.