A Tale of Consequences
Reset?
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Chapter 1
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"If we're really friends...don't come back."
Sans jerked awake, sweat rolling down his skull, bones clattering. If he had a heart it would be racing.
The room was dim, dusty and grey. No golden light filtering through the stained glass. No blood creeping lethargically through the grooves in the tiles.
He was...alone.
Damn it. Another nightmare. He rubbed at his skull, trying to ward off the pounding headache. It'd been a long time since he'd fallen asleep in the workshop. He must have slipped off the workbench and rattled his skull against the stone tiles. What did Papyrus always tell him about falling asleep in dangerous places?
Not that he ever listened.
A chill settled into his ribcage at the thought of his brother, and he had to fight the urge to take a shortcut directly into his brother's room. Just to make sure. The flutter of panic was familiar.
He pulled himself to his feet, gripping the edge of the cabinet with trembling fingers. He could take a shortcut. He had before. Had woken his confused brother with his desperate need to reassure himself that Papyrus was okay. That he was still there. Papyrus always took it in good humor, although Sans knew he desperately wanted to ask why. Just like Papyrus knew Sans would never answer if he asked.
No. He would take the shortcut to his own room. Wait an-he checked the dimly glowing numbers sitting on the workbench-hour or so despite Papyrus' yelling and knocking on the door, and then saunter down to breakfast. Papyrus would scold him for being late. He'd call him lazy, strongly suggest he recalibrate his puzzles-and Sans had to admit he should probably dig up a new copy of the word search one of these days. The one out there was almost half a year old. Even a baby bones could do it. Maybe a crossword this time… heh. That would rile Papyrus up like nothing else.
It would be...normal.
Cold fire danced in his mind. The golden glow of the final corridor. A yellow tear streaked face-Alphys? That was new.
He desperately needed normal right now. For however long it lasted this time. He was never sure.
But first… Sans carefully counted the drawers on the bench. He pulled open the last one. The dusty photo album looked the same as ever. With a practiced motion he flipped it open, doing his best to ignore the pressure building behind his skull.
The sunset. So many smiling faces.
A jolt of sadness spiked through him as he traced each one, some, like Pap, Undyne, and Alph he knew quite well. Others...were only familiar enough to make his soul ache.
He shook his head and grabbed a pen out of the drawer, adding another hashmark below the photo. Seven. This was the seventh full reset since that photo. He'd stopped bothering to try and record the smaller ones. They all ended up blurred together.
32. Guess it was my fault this time, eh?
The thought bubbled to the forefront. Sans let it go. He turned the page.
And froze.
There was the scribbled drawing. The don't forget.
But beneath it…
stop me
A child's scrawl.
"Kiddo…"
He didn't realize he was clenching his fist until the pen burst, painting his bones black.
Black.
Black cracks, spiderwebbing through red. Tearing it apart.
Sans dropped the mangled remains of the pen, still wet ink splattering onto the pages. He didn't care. He wanted to wretch, the magical bile building up behind his frozen grin.
Why.
Why did it feel so raw this time? What had been different? Why did his chest feel like someone had stabbed him straight through? Like his soul wanted to splinter into pieces?
You died.
The answer that came to him was a quiet whisper he didn't want to acknowledge.
Sans didn't step so much as fall out of the shortcut. He knew the map values of Snowdin better than anywhere else. His lumpy laundry covered mattress was waiting for him. Sans curled in on himself.
...stop me…
...from what? His memories were in pieces, fragments mixing with nightmares mixing with the bone deep ache reverberating through time and space.
Almost… As if it were thrumming along with a phantom heartbeat.
The kid's face, beaming in the light of the sun. The photo splattered with ink, darkness creeping across the page.
A kid he hadn't met yet. And didn't remember ever properly meeting. Just a face in a photograph and a half remembered promise.
...stop me…
...please…
He eventually just gave up and fell asleep. Either he'd wake up feeling better, or it'd be another nightmare. Couldn't get much worse.
Bang.
Bang.
Tiny fists against metal. Every hit somehow resonated in his bones.
"I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE BROTHER!"
...no...not metal. The door.
Papyrus' heavy glove against the locked wood. It rattled in its frame but didn't budge. Sans stuffed his head under his ratty pillow. Aching. At least the rest of him didn't feel like it was going to fall apart at a moment's notice. Just his skull.
Bang.
He winced.
Bang.
Bang.
"SANS! IF YOU DON'T ANSWER I'M GOING TO KNOCK THIS DOOR DOWN!"
"Bro-I'm-" Sans forced himself to sit up, wincing as the incessant knocking came again. His limbs felt like lead, but he used one of those leaden arms to support his still aching head, the pressure from the bones in his hand helped. A little. He could focus on it instead of the aching.
Damn it. He was not looking forward to the next reset-because there was always a next reset-if this is what it was going to be like from now on.
As if he needed another reason to avoid dy-
Crash.
"...that's one way to make an entrance, bro." Sans finished somewhat lamely, eyeing the splinters of what remained of his door after his brother was through with it. Why was it so dark anyway? How early was it? Even with the door wide open it was barely any brighter in here. "I thought you were kidding about the door."
"THE GREAT PAPYRUS NEVER JOKES ABOUT SUCH THINGS, BROTHER!" Papyrus was a silhouette in the door. Strong and tall, a white bone fading out of the clenched fist he'd conjured to mutilate the poor barrier. The image was so...Papyrus it nearly made Sans cry. "IF YOU DIDN'T LOCK YOUR DOOR I WOULDN'T HAVE NEEDED TO KNOCK IT DOWN."
"If I didn't lock my door, you'd be in here cleaning everyday." Sans pointed out, trying to put the ache in his skull to the back of his mind. At least for now. This was Pap. He didn't want to worry him.
He didn't remember the nightmares well. But one thing always stood out of the worst of them all.
Pap was gone.
They were the ones that scared him the most.
"I REALLY WISH YOU'D LET ME, SANS. THIS PLACE LOOKS LIKE A DISASTER." His brother harrumphed, crossing his arms. Sans saw his head turn, his jaw clench further, and Sans couldn't help a chuckle. He was probably trying to figure out the tornado in the corner. "STILL, I AM GLAD NOTHING IS AMISS. YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN I GOT THAT CALL THIS MORNING."
Crack.
"...phone call?"
Something felt wrong.
This whole conversation was wrong.
"I DIDN'T EXPECT IT EITHER. I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF PREPARING A DELICIOUS BREAKFAST TO TRY AND TEMPT YOU OUT OF BED WHEN I GOT A CALL FROM UNDYNE OF ALL PEOPLE. I THOUGHT FOR SURE SHE WAS CALLING TO COMPLIMENT ME ON MY PUZZLES AND DEDICATION AND MASTERFUL COOKING SKILLS, BUT INSTEAD SHE STARTED DEMANDING TO KNOW WHAT YOU DID! I ASSURED HER YOU WERE TOO LAZY TO BE DOING ANYTHING BAD, AND THEN SHE STARTED YELLING ABOUT KILLING YOU FOR MAKING ALPHYS CRY-"
...everything, even his brother's voice faded.
...making ALPHYS cry?
"S-Sans p-please. N-not you t-too."
"-AND I ASSURED HER THAT WHILE I KNOW YOU LIKE A PRANK NOW AND THEN, YOU NEVER WOULD MALICIOUSLY TRICK SOMEONE. WHICH GOT ME WORRIED YOU ACTUALLY HAD GOTTEN-SANS?"
He blinked, trying to shake away the deja vu before realizing how bad an idea it was with the way his head was hurting.
Ow.
"I'm ok Pap." He hoped he managed to stop the wince in time. "Really. Just-tired."
"BROTHER. LOOK AT ME."
Papyrus' long legs meant he only had to take a couple steps to cross the room, and soon he was kneeling in front of the laundry covered mattress. Sans tried to look away, but Papyrus' surprisingly quiet "Sans." stopped him.
A red gloved hand carefully touched Sans' skull, right above his left eye-socket, drawing back instantly when Sans couldn't suppress the flinch at the blossom of pain it caused. "YOU ARE HURT."
"It's no big, bro. Honest." Sans felt more than saw the wispy green magic building around Papyrus' fingertips, heaving a sigh. "Just fell, that's all. You know me, eh? I'm hard-headed. It'll be fine."
"YOUR SKULL IS CRACKED SANS. EVEN YOUR EYE-LIGHT IS FLICKERING! YOU NEED TO BE MORE CAREFUL."
...Oh. That might be why everything was so dim. Sans didn't protest any further. He tried not to think at all about how it happened or why it got there. All that mattered was his brother's intense concentration as the weak green magic seeped into the cracks, sealing them.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE COME TO ME, SANS. I MAY STILL BE LEARNING BUT IT HURTS TO KNOW MY OWN BROTHER DOESN'T TRUST MY HEALING."
"It isn't that, bro. Promise." Sans sighed, closing his eyes as Papyrus worked, "You're already better at it than I ever managed."
Papyrus did his best at everything he tried. Even if the magic was opposite his affinity.
Man, his brother was cool.
"WELL THAT ISN'T HARD TO MATCH WHEN YOU GAVE UP THE FIRST DAY." Sans could nearly see his brother's reproachful look, "MISS BUNNY WAS SAD WHEN YOU STOPPED COMING."
"Yea. Well. My magic doesn't like green. I tried at least, didn't I?"
"ONLY BECAUSE I BEGGED YOU TO." Papyrus clucked disapprovingly. The faint tickle of warmth from the green magic faded as Papyrus drew his hand away. Much to Sans' discomfort the headache wasn't gone. Just...more manageable. "THERE. IT'LL PROBABLY SCAR, BUT IT'S CLOSED. WOWIE. IT ACTUALLY LOOKS REALLY COOL. LIKE A BATTLE SCAR. DO YOU THINK I SHOULD GET ONE? SUPER COOL WARRIORS HAVE SCARS. OR EYEPATCHES. LIKE UNDYNE!"
"Nah bro, you're the coolest as it is." a knife to the chest, ripping a gaping scar through his battle body. Sans forced his eyes open, frozen grin hiding the horror the memory fragment brought with it. "Think about it. Warriors only get scars cuz they couldn't dodge right?"
Papyrus never bothered to try against the k-them. He always believed in them that much.
"I-I SUPPOSE." Papyrus mused thoughtfully, "THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHOULD BE BOTH NIMBLE AND STRONG. SOMEONE LANDING A HIT ON SOMEONE AS GREAT AND COOL AS MYSELF WOULD BE A LEGENDARY FEAT. NYEH HEH HEH."
"Hey, maybe they'd be too scarred to even fight."
"UGH. SANS! THAT WAS TERRIBLE!"
Sans chuckled as his brother pulled away in disgust, lurching to his feet with an irritated stomp, "AND JUST FOR THAT I'M CONFINING YOU TO YOUR BED FOR THE DAY! YOUR EYE IS STILL DIMMER THAN IT SHOULD BE AND MISS BUNNY SAYS REST AND GOOD FOOD IS THE BEST MEDICINE AFTER AN INJURY. I NEED TO DO MY ROUNDS, BUT I CAN PROMISE TO WHIP UP A BATCH OF NUTRITIOUS HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI FOR YOU TO HELP SPEED UP THE RECOVERY."
"Hey, Eye'd never gonna turn down a good nap. A little shut eye might be just the thing."
"UGH. WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AND WONDERFUL AS ME HAVE TO PUT UP WITH ALL YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES?"
"You know you're smiling."
"ONLY BECAUSE YOU MUST BE FEELING BETTER IF YOU INSIST ON TORTURING ME WITH TERRIBLE PUNS."
Sans merely grinned. Papyrus finally stormed off, moving the slam the door behind him before remembering it was in pieces on the floor.
Once he was gone, Sans allowed himself to collapse back to his pillow.
First the raw pain, and now physical damage? His memory was foggy at the best of times, but he was sure nothing like this had happened before.
...and that phone call.
He desperately itched to steal Papyrus' phone and find out what the hell was up with Alphys. Her remembering was impossible-wait. She had cameras set up everywhere. And he was injured.
...where had he been when he fell? He'd assumed the laboratory since that's where he woke up. But if he'd taken a shortcut…
Ah damn it his head was starting to hurt again, the room dimming further as he could only assume his eyelight winked out for a moment or two. Maybe Papyrus was right.
Maybe some rest would help.
He just hoped to whoever was listening that the kid saved before whatever happened, so he had a chance to avoid it next time. This majorly sucked.
He could afford the day. Probably. As long as he was in the forest tomorrow morning.
...promise me…
"Yeah, yeah, I got it kid." Sans mumbled into his pillow. At least with his face stuffed into the fabric he didn't have to deal with nearly being half blind.
...stop me…
"I guess we'll both be having a bad time this round, eh?"
His counter remained firmly set at zero.
Taunting him.
He knew what was coming and he hated it.
There could be no waiting this time.
