Chapter 3

Sweat dripped from Sans' brow in the heat of his surroundings as he summoned up one of his 'shortcuts'. He raised a hand to his face in order to wipe some of the moisture off and ended up clobbering himself in the skull, not yet used to his arm's new, increased length. He glared at his limb, feeling a little betrayed, before stepping into the gap in the space-time continuum he had casually created.

When he emerged on the other side, the skeleton sighed with happiness as he felt the familiar, if somewhat dusty carpet underneath his slippered feet. He never had been the best at cleaning his room. The cavity behind him was still letting in heat from the lava land he'd just left behind and Sans closed it in irritation. He fell backwards onto his bed, folded both arms under his head and stared up at the ceiling. He stayed like that, quietly reliving the traumatising events of the past couple of hours until a demanding knock on his door yanked him out of his pit of deep, somewhat dark, thoughts.

Sans sat bolt upright on his mattress and stared at the door, frozen in horror. He couldn't let anyone know what he'd done, not until he'd got the human their body back…somehow. But Sans was frozen in place, he could only stare transfixed at the doorknob as it began to turn slowly. It was the loud click the door made signalling that it was about to open that startled Sans into action. He grabbed his balled up blanket on the mattress beside him and shook it out frantically. Tucking his long legs underneath him, he tried to make himself appear as small as possible as he spread the blanket over his body.

He had just managed to pull it over his head when he heard loud footsteps stomp across the room to where he lay.

"Get up, lazybones! We have a big day ahead of us! The human said they were going to break the barrier remember? We have to be there to support our friend," Sans' brother Papyrus was tugging at the blanket. He said the last word emphatically, his very first human friend was extremely important to him and he wanted to show them that he cared. Sans grunted in reply, too terrified to form actual words.

"Sans! Come on!" the tall skeleton pulled harder, only making his brother hold on tighter. Sans' eye was starting to glow in panic under the blanket. Papyrus, his baby brother, was the last person he wanted to see him like this. All his life he had protected him with everything he had, and now…now he was the very thing Papyrus needed protecting from. He felt the cover start to give way and he clutched onto it tighter, his eye burning brighter with desperate aquamarine energy.

"I thought you liked the human Sans," Papyrus, still pulling on the blanket with all his might, decided to change tack, "But obviously you don't care about them enough to go and support them." This was a mistake.

The build-up of emotions churning inside the skeleton had reached a boiling point and at these words, something inside Sans snapped. His eye flamed with power and the blanket, as well as everything else in the room, glowed turquoise and rose into the air. Sans leapt out of the bed and towered over his normally taller brother who scrambled backwards and pressed himself up against a wall at the sight before him. Sans, vision blurred in his fury, approached the trembling skeleton who was staring up at him in terror. When he reached him, he bent over and pressed his fearsome face against Papyrus'.

"i care about the human more than you could ever know." the grin on the monster's face grew sinister in his anger. A long stretch of tense silence permeated the room as Sans breathed angrily onto his brother's terrified face. Papyrus studied the other skeleton carefully and tears filled his eye sockets as he took in every facet of Sans' terrible transformation. He knew that his big brother must have committed something unthinkable to make him so monstrous. He could hardly reconcile the looming skeleton in front of him with his short, lazy, wise-cracking brother.

Papyrus' knees shook and his voice quivered as he replied, "S-Sans, just know th-that whatever you may have done…I s-still believe in you."

With that one innocent, trusting statement all the fury drained out of Sans' body and the glow left his eye. His vision gradually became clearer and, when he saw the tears running down Papyrus' face he slumped to the floor. Racked with guilt, Sans curled into himself and shuddered in utter desolation. He had been an absolute beast to his own baby brother. He wouldn't be surprised if Papyrus never wanted to lay eyes on him again.

So you can imagine his shock when he felt a gentle hand on his back, rubbing small circles into his shoulder blades. He gasped, remembering that this was precisely what he had done to calm down Papyrus when he was just a baby bones. He looked over his shoulder hesitantly and found his brother smiling sadly down at him.

"Do you remember when I had that nightmare, brother?" he said softly, the soothing circular movements continuing. Sans nodded wordlessly. Papyrus had only ever had one nightmare in his life and he had never spoken a word about it. As if reading his thoughts, Papyrus said, "I never did tell you what it was about, did I?" Sans shook his head and slowly got into a sitting position, cross-legged on the floor facing Papyrus. The younger skeleton now took his hand and started to rub even smaller circles into his palm. Sans watched his movements ashamedly. He didn't deserve this.

Papyrus took a deep breath, "It was about losing you, Sans. My nightmare was that I didn't have you around at all, to protect me, to tell me bedtime stories," they both smiled slightly at that, "or to comfort me when I was upset." Papyrus let his older brother's hand go now and Sans looked involuntarily up into his eyes. "You should know, brother, that this is still my biggest fear…" Papyrus said quietly. Sans spoke now, voice thick with emotion, "but even after i -".

Papyrus cut him off, "I said, that is still my biggest fear, Sans." Sans only stared at the other skeleton in shock before a tentative smile lit up his face. Without warning, he threw his long arms around Papyrus' shoulders. The younger skeleton hugged him back tightly and pressed his face into his brother's jacket, breathing in its familiar smell. He may have changed physically, but Papyrus knew Sans was still the same on the inside, and that was what mattered.

"I-I love you, big brother." Sans sobbed into his brother's red scarf at these words, and hugged him tighter. "No matter what," Papyrus wheezed, tapping Sans on the arm to let him know that he was running out of oxygen. Chuckling, the larger skeleton obliged reluctantly and they both got to their feet.

Sans rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "heh. sorry, bro. i guess you could say the feels were too strong." The pun was so unexpected and downright absurd coming from his brother's frightening figure that Papyrus actually laughed, and a radiant smile graced Sans' face as a result. The younger skeleton beamed back at him and decided that his brother didn't look so terrifying after all and, if he needed to, the Great Papyrus would show everyone that.

Heading to the door, he yelled back over his shoulder, "I will fix up some spaghetti for us both and then you, brother, can tell me exactly what happened to make you," he hesitated, "er, this way." Sans shuffled after his brother obediently, deciding that Papyrus deserved to know the truth. When Sans reached the landing, the other skeleton was already marching towards the kitchen but before he disappeared through the doorway, a thought struck Sans and he called out to him.

"wait!" Papyrus stuck his head out and looked at his brother quizzically. Sans scuffed his foot against the wooden floor and blushed deeply before continuing.

"i…love you too, pap."