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It was still raining when Sans awoke.
He stifled a yawn with one hand and stretched, the soreness in his bones from sleeping in such an awkward position making itself known whenever he moved. He gently slipped off the sofa and covered Frisk with the remaining blankets, careful not to disturb her slumber, setting off for the kitchen to begin making coffee.
It was too early for even Papyrus to be up, and Sans was slightly grateful for the silence. He poured himself a steaming cup in his Black Mesa mug, sipping at while deep in thought. He sat by the kitchen window, letting the steam from his mug condense and collect on the glass. Eventually he let out a quiet sigh through his teeth, forcing his back to straighten and popping his neck bones, physically and mentally preparing for the day.
Six days left.
He took a long, slow drought from his coffee, letting the warmth seep into his bones as he lost himself deep in thought.
Six days until the end of the world.
Sans sat for a while by the window, eyes closed and breathing in the scent of his hot coffee, slipping between consciousness and sleep every now and then, nearly spilling his drink a couple of times before setting it on the table with a clink.
If he hadn't been paying attention to the quiet of the house he might not have heard the soft, uneven rapping at the front door. Sans blinked in surprise, quietly wondering who would even be up at this hour.
The unexpected guest turned out to be none other than Alphys, who stood completely drenched and shivering on the doorstep.
"G-g-good m-morning," Alphys's teeth were clattering as she squeezed her arms for warmth. She wore fitting pants and a turtleneck, both of which were equally soaked, and Sans silently greeted her in with a wave of his hand.
"Ever tried an umbrella, Al?" Sans passed her a towel to dry herself, and she let out a soft sneeze that shook her whole body.
"I had one," she said miserably, drying her head. "It blew away."
Sans sighed, watching as she draped the towel over her shoulders miserably.
"I'm pretty sure I know why you're here so early..." Sans pulled out a chair for her in the kitchen, pouring her a steaming mug of coffee.
"I-I really wasn't sure h-how to bring it up..." she said eventually after taking a few sips, making a face at the bitter taste before dropping in a few sugar cubes. "Y-you didn't really respond t-to my messages, s-s-so I thought it would b-be better to talk to you in p-person."
"Alright," Sans said resignedly, taking the seat opposite her. "I suppose we might as well get it out of the way. I'm... sorry," he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "For taking off last night. Wasn't exactly the most mature thing of me to do."
"No, n-no," she shook her head, and a few droplets of rain landed on him. "I should have-"
"Al," he interrupted her from behind his mug, taking another long sip. "You can't blame yourself for my jackassery."
Her face reddened and she mumbled something incoherent, but they both looked a bit more satisfied. Alphys started to say something, but stopped with a sniff.
"... Sans, h-have you been drinking again?"
"No," he clamped his mouth shut quickly, feeling a heat in his neck. "You sure you aren't comin' down with somethin'?"
Alphys rubbed her eyes tiredly, sighing.
"That would be just my luck," she said bitterly, drawing the towel a little tighter around her. "The way today's been going I wouldn't be surprised."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Sans, I've been working on the second core since the minute you left."
He opened and closed his mouth a few times, flabbergasted, but couldn't quite manage to bring himself to speak.
"... I've been doing some thinking too, you know?" Alphys said quietly as she stared into her murky drink. "About-about the spike. And, e-even if I don't like it, you're still right about doctor Gaster still being probably the best and brightest to come to when it involves the timeline fluctuations."
"So... we're still in the game?" Sans asked hopefully.
"If you'd still have my help," she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
"Alphys, I'd be honored."
"Finally, some good news," she heaved a sigh of relief. "Then we can get-"
"Uh, actually..." Sans coughed into one hand awkwardly, earning a groan from her. "I've... I kinda promised Tori I'd go to the kids' parent teacher meeting today. She's out of town for the next two days for some kind of conference... thing. T'tell you the truth I really didn't hear much after 'parent teacher'."
"Can't Papyrus go in your place?" she asked incredulously. "I mean, honestly, he's practically just as much their parent as you or Toriel are, they'd probably love to have him!"
Sans paused, thinking.
"... Y'know, I probably could go wake him up and ask him."
Alphys stared at him.
"... What?" he blinked.
"Nothing," she shook her head. "I'm just kind of shocked asking him to go for you wasn't the first thing you did."
"Hey," he grumbled, finishing off his coffee. "I'm not that lazy."
It was then that they heard the scrabble of keys amidst the rainfall, and both heads whipped toward the front door to see none other than Papyrus dragging himself in. His attire consisted of a dark brown uniform with many pockets, his trademark red scarfed dangling down his slumped shoulders. Papyrus held a large blue ice pack to his right eye, sluggishly kicking off his boots as he stumbled inside.
"Paps?" Sans gaped at him. "What were you doin' out in the rain? And in that?"
"Good morning to you too, brother," Papyrus answered wearily, dripping rainwater onto the floor in a small puddle. "I'm glad to see you took my advice to heart and finally started getting up at a reasonable hour."
Alphys took the damp towel from around her shoulders and passed it to Papyrus, who merely stood staring at it for a few moments before carefully, gingerly attempting to dry his head with it.
"What's up with the bag of ice, bro?" Sans felt an uncomfortable creeping sensation going up his spine, but he fought it off.
"This?" Papyrus froze. "This... ice pack? The ice bag...?"
"Yes...?"
"The bag of ice which contains ice, hence the name?"
"Yes," Sans said through clenched teeth. "Did something happen?"
"O-oh, no, no, nothing happened," Papyrus shrugged without confidence. "And to answer your question about my uniform, I thought I already told you about my job as a night guard for the local museum?"
"You did," Sans nodded once, his curiosity growing with his concern. "I just didn't know they made you wear a uniform is all. I mean, it's the night watch, who cares?"
"I care," Papyrus held his free hand to his chest proudly. "And I have been doing an admiral job, my supervisor told me so."
"That's great, Papyrus!" Alphys beamed up at him, offering him a place to sit, which he sank into with evident exhaustion. "I'll be sure to tell Undyne that you're doing a fantastic job at everything you do, royal guard or no."
"Of course I excel at everything," he scoffed. "I am the Great Papyrus, it's in the name."
"Paps."
"Hmm?"
Papyrus was still holding the bag of ice directly to his head, and it was dripping water onto the table.
"... You gonna tell me what happened now?" Sans asked quietly, and Papyrus squirmed uncomfortably beside him.
"Nothing that a nice hot shower can't fix," Papyrus smiled, but Sans and Alphys could clearly see that it was pained.
"... Paps."
"Hmm?"
"Take off the ice pack."
Papyrus didn't move for a long, long few minutes, simply staring at a spot on the table. Eventually, at long last he sighed heavily, gradually, slowly pulling the ice pack away from his face, earning an inward hiss from both sides of the table.
Papyrus's face was splintered and cracked all down his right eye, spreading upward towards his cranium and crawling down in a lightning bolt fashion. Sans had to fight to keep his hands from shaking in pure, unadulterated rage, his chest heaving as he spoke.
"... Who did this to you?" Sans asked quietly, holding Papyrus's head in his hand.
"There was... a break in," Papyrus responded dejectedly, letting his head hang when Sans let go. Alphys had her mouth covered in horror, her eyes wide behind her glasses.
"What happened?"
"It was my fault..." he shook his head slowly. "I was supposed to be on guard for the new monster's general history exhibit, and... I fell asleep."
"Paps," Sans held his hand, struggling not to scream. "You can't blame yourself-"
"But I do," Papyrus wailed. "If I hadn't fallen asleep the museum wouldn't have been robbed!"
"What about the police?" Alphys asked. "Can't they do anything?"
"Believe me, I tried working with the law enforcement," he stated dryly. "Apparently monster related crimes are 'out of their jurisdiction'."
"They said that?" Sans's voice stopped working for a moment.
"Well," Papyrus placed the ice pack back over his eye. "Not in those exact words, no. They used much more profanity and unpleasant slurs about non-humans. I... disagreed with what they were saying."
"Didn't they even bother to find out who did this to you?" Sans's hands were shaking fully, and he had to stick them in his pockets to keep his brother from seeing.
"This?" Papyrus blinked with his one good eye. "Oh, no. This is from the police."
It was dead silent, so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop.
Sans let out a low, quiet laugh, humorless and empty.
"Sans, no." Papyrus tried to cross his arms, but had forgotten that he was still using one arm to hold the ice bag.
"What?" Sans stood, his face feeling so hot he could have cooked an egg on it. "You don't worry 'bout a thing, brosheph," he grinned with that same empty, hollow look. "I'm just going to have a few words with the fellas down at the precinct. Just a little... visit. Be right back."
With a snap of his fingers he was gone, leaving the horrified Alphys alone with the skeleton.
"... I have nothing but bad feelings about everything he just said," Papyrus shivered.
Alphys slowly stood, wiping away tears behind her glasses with the sleeve of her shirt.
"Here," she motioned for Papyrus to lean in towards her, as he was still just as tall as her even when sitting. "I-I'm not v-very good at green magic, but I should be able to, um, mitigate some of the damage and heal you, at least a little. L-let me see?"
Papyrus shifted uneasily, clearly more upset about showing anyone his injury than anything, but he eventually pulled the ice pack away and let her see. The damage was worse than she initially thought. Papyrus's eye socket was swollen shut, and the splintering sprawled like spidery fingers over his eye. Alphys took in another sharp breath as she reached deep for the magic, feeling the growing warmth in her hands that let off a low green light.
"It's... sort of itchy," Papyrus mumbled as she placed her hands over his broken eye.
"S-sorry," Alphys tried to even out the output of magic, already feeling the immense drain of straining to heal Papyrus's wounds. The cracks in his head ever so slowly began to recede toward his eye, and Papyrus let out a sigh of relief as the pain began to eventually ebb away. Alphys continued for several long minutes, her head beginning to feel thick and heavy as she healed him to the best of her abilities, though many of the cracks still remained and although his eye socket remained shut it didn't look nearly as bad as before.
"... Thank you, doctor," Papyrus put a hand on her shoulder with a small smile.
"O-oh, it's nothing," Alphys blushed, brushing imaginary dust from her hands. "Anything for a friend."
"Admirable as always," he nodded with a grin, watching with one eye as the red in her cheeks grew a few shades deeper. Why did he have to suddenly remind her of Undyne?
She coughed awkwardly, tucking her hands behind her back.
"... Sans has been gone a while,"Alphys pointed out. Papyrus jolted up, startling her as he grabbed his bright red jacket.
"I suppose that means that I should go fetch him," Papyrus said with a sigh. "Here's to hoping that poor skeleton doesn't get on the wrong side of those officers.
He was gone in moments, almost as fast as Sans teleported out, leaving her sitting with a cup of cold coffee and a very aching head.
"I don't think it's Sans you need to worry about..." she sighed under her breath.
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