Frisk 'woke' with a shuddering gasp.

"Uhh, I learned a thing." She said, falling to her knees and holding her hands above her heart, where the spear hit.

As he saw Frisk hit the ground, Sans' eye sockets widened, all of a sudden feeling extremely concerned, maybe even more than he should be. He was immediately at her side, a strange sense of loss nestled in his chest.

"wow there, what happened? you learned what?" He asked, for some reason checking her for any injuries she couldn't possibly have gotten in the short seconds that passed between her being perfectly happy and then just… not.

"Brother, what's wrong, are you okay? What happened to the human?" Papyrus concern was easy to see.

"Electrized fish sticks are actually very painful." Frisk said flatly.

"wait… what." Sans asked completely flabbergasted.

"Spears, whatever. It. Hurts. And still hurts, a little. Or maybe a lot?" Frisk answered, her voice squeaking at the end. She flopped cross-legged on the ground, clutching her chest.

"did you just say… spears?" Sans muttered in disbelief, his soul sinking.

The prospect of what she said was terrifying. When she nodded weakly, expression completely dark and shaken, he felt like someone had just hit him. The sense that he failed Frisk suddenly took over him and he could do nothing but just stare at her.

Without thinking, he suddenly took her in his arms, squeezing her tightly. For some reason he felt like it was his job to make her feel better.

"S-sans what's going on? Why are you hugging the human? Why are you crying?" Papyrus asked as he hugged them both.

Frisk turned into Sans, softly sobbing into his coat.

Sans' grip on her tightened.

"i'm so sorry, kid." The words came out unwarranted, like there wasn't a filter between his mind and his mouth. "i should've been there, i should've protected you. i shouldn't have…"

He drifted off, eye lights dimming. His entire body tensed as the ghost of an intense pain rang through his chest and spread to his head.

"i promised… i…" The small skeleton's bones started to rattle and the pounding in his skull intensified. He held it between his hands, a whimper of pain escaping him. "they keep… taking you away… why… i can't… ngh…"

He couldn't take how much it hurt. None of his thoughts were making any sense. He pushed away from the other two and curled in on himself, shaking.

"Dad," Frisk sobbed out the title, "I'd just called you Dad, then, then-" She cut off unable to finish the horrible sentence.

He couldn't gather his thoughts in any way possible. Nothing made sense all of a sudden. It was just a jumbled mess of emotions and incoherent thinking. It was like his mind was currently a puzzle in which most of the pieces were missing. Sans could discern the picture vaguely, but couldn't tell what it actually was.

He glanced at Frisk, her words finally registering into his mind. He held on to them like they were his lifeline and inched closer to her. His eyes were begging for answers to questions he didn't even know he had. But the word 'dad' resonated with him and stirred something inside him.

"you… can call me…" The words just came, once again without warning, like a faded memory he'd long forgotten.

But when he tried to dig deeper and figure out what it was, the pain in his skull only increased and he doubled over, a sharp cry leaving him as he crashed onto the snowy ground.

"Dad!" Frisk cried, rushing over to him. She asked what was wrong, hugging him when he didn't respond.

Papyrus rushed over to Sans pulling him into a hug, "Sans I need you to breathe with me, in,out good again in, out." Papyrus continued to calm Sans, until he was falling asleep.

"Human do you know what's going on when did Sans adopt you?" Papyrus asked as he lifted the sleepy Sans in one arm and grabbing Frisk's hand with the other taking them inside.

"Tonight. I-I died. When I die, I go back and try again. I didn't use a key spot in almost half a day, so we went back to that moment.

When he heard 'die', Sans snapped to attention, his short-lived tranquility once again broken. He started looking around in a disoriented panic, searching for Frisk.

"no, please. i can't… i can't lose you anymore…" He mumbles, stumbling over his words without actually knowing where they're coming from.

"Dad, I'm here." Frisk said, going around Papyrus so Sans could see her. "But if you can't lose me, then don't... Don't make me see you die again. Please." Barely suppressed tears began flowing from her eyes again.

"i… died…" He said, absentmindedly raising a hand to his chest. As if by instinct he takes his hand away and stares down at it, almost looking for something that isn't there. "slash…" He utters quietly.

"It was a spear. She was trying to kill me, and you just... Were in front of the weapon. Like you moved there in an instant. And then you... Then you..." Frisk trailed off, unable to finish. "Right in my..."

Sans shook his head to try and clear his hazy thoughts. "a spear. Undyne." He tried to make sense of what she was telling him. "but i…" He trailed off. Everything was just so confusing.

Raising his head he looked at Frisk in the eyes, noting how disturbed she was. "i'm sorry, i won't do it again." He assures her, knowing that's what she wants him to say.

Finally getting a hold of himself he brings her into a hug.

Frisk took a few shuddering breaths, looking up at Sans.

"We fight together, and for each other. And when worst comes to worst, we die together. I don't know if that blackness will try to take us over, but if it does... We need to be together."

Sans nodded wordlessly, his mind drifting. The incomplete puzzle was lingering in his thoughts. He was missing something, something important. Closing his eyes he tried to focus enough to get anything from it, but all he got was another headache and a whole lot of nothingness.

Giving up he brought his attention back to Frisk. "together." He agreed.

"Okay you two rest I'll make some spaghetti for dinner and then you can explain what's going on to me." Papyrus told them as he left them on the couch.

"Take a nap both of you I'll wake you for dinner, lazybones."

"heh. thanks pap." Sans smiled tiredly. A nap sounded wonderful right about then.

He sunk into the couch cushions, eyes closing of their own accord. Instinctively, his hand reached for Frisk's, resting over it as he felt himself being pulled into an all consuming darkness.

"Sans you can't stay here, it's dangerous. Your connection to the void is growing as you get closer to remembering the last time the void took control of your child. Protect her and forget!" The voice from the darkness said.

Sans looked all around him for the source of the voice that seemed to be all around him, yet there was nothing there. He felt a pull from the darkness that was becoming harder and harder to ignore.

"what do you mean forget? forget what? how can i forget something i just can't…" He stopped talking when faint, blurred images flashed before his eyes momentarily. "...remember."

"My son, you must ignore the feeling of having forgotten something, or you will remember, and lose the child you have found." The voice said as he showed his face to Sans preparing to scare him awake again.

The shock of seeing that familiar, yet not, face was enough to jolt Sans back to the waking world, the remnants of a blue-ish glow sparking on his left eye. He sat up choking back a scream, a shudder crawling up his spine.

He brought a quivering hand up to rub his skull. He remembered what the voice told him clearly. But its orders were like telling someone not to think of something. Suddenly it was all he could think about. He looked at Frisk, who somehow hadn't woken up with his sudden movements.

Deep in his soul he felt two very conflicting things. Hatred and love. He looked in another direction. "what's happening to me?" He whispered to himself, trying to curl into as small a ball as he possibly could.

"Sans are you okay... " Papyrus rushed over and hugged his brother pulling him tight to his chest "Deep Breaths Sans in, out good in, out." Papyrus relaxed as Sans did, noting that Sans latest panic attack had woken Frisk.

"Human are you okay?"

"He shouldn't remember. We had to forget. We had to forget. If we mess up again, we won't be able to go back. Someone was talking to me. They called themselves a 'Child of the Void.' They said that they were corrupted long ago. The Void used them to corrupt me, but they were able to erase memories with someone's help to save us from the corruption."

Sans' eyes slowly moved to look at Frisk, confusion written all over his face. "what are you talking about?" He asked. "forget what? remember what?" The volume of his voice was rising with each unanswered question, anger starting to seep through. "why does nothing make sense anymore?" He growled, holding his head between his hands.

His pupils dimmed gradually until they were gone altogether. "it's your fault, isn't it? all of this is happening because of you!" He shouted, feeling a burning rage starting to take over him, completely unable to stop it. "everyone is dead!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, he froze. His breaths were coming out in uneven huffs and he felt ready to faint.

"Darn your memories aren't staying sealed like I hoped they would. Dad was right, I'm not strong enough to seal them. We need to save him if we want to free you two from the void's hold." Papyrus said with tears in his eyes holding both Frisk and Sans to himself.

In a panicked frenzy, Sans pushes Papyrus away. He stands between him and Frisk, shooting her an icy glare that would chill anyone to the bone.

"s-stay away from my brother…" He hisses at her, unexplained anger completely blinding him.

"Sans, you need to calm down. You're having a flashback, Frisk, your sweet daughter is standing in front of you, don't push her away." Papyrus said as he grabbed Sans' shoulder pulling Sans into a hug.

Frisk stood, eyes slightly glazed over. She was doing her best not to get too upset, but she could barely hold back her sorrow. She had practically been rejected by the man she considered her father. First her blood father leaves her for dead, and now... Sans hated her.

"Sans? Please, I'm not gonna do anything. I won't, just please, don't hate me!" Frisk sniffled, not daring to approach Sans.

"I won't even call you Dad if you don't want me to, I'll do anything to keep you from hating me!"

Sans tried to block her out. "stop. stop with all the lies. you'll just come back to finish the job."

He lifted a shaking hand towards her, eye sockets devoid of light. "you'll just keep coming back to kill us all… i'll only stop hating you once you're dead for good." A blaster appeared suddenly in front of him, blocking her completely out of his sight.

"Then kill me. I'll do my best to not come back. I just won't come back. Anything." She said, tensing in preparation.

"NO NO NO YOU CAN'T SANS DON'T YOU DARE KILL HER" Papyrus shouted as he pushed Sans behind him and reached for Frisk as the blaster fired killing them both.

Sans collapsed to his knees, blue tears pooling at the corners of his sockets. "Paps…" He whispered, his voice completely broken. "Frisk…"

His soul was surrounded by an unbearable guilt that threatened to choke him. He started crying uncontrollably, trying desperately to hold himself together. He felt like he could turn to dust if someone so much as blew on him.

"what have i done…"