Level 14

"Wh-what." Papyrus drew quietly away from his brother, hands close to his chest. Sans, who for all his life had looked away when speaking to him, now had the courage to meet his frightened eyes with his own.

Never before had he seen such a determined face.

Denial soon caught up in Papyrus' mind, shaking his head. "You can't-I mean- what?!"

"I'm not going, Pap." Sans smile still held form on his face, and while his eyes screamed for help, they held steady like Papyrus had never seen.

Papyrus' eyebrows bunched together, his resolve quickly dissolving into anger. "You can't just stay here! What would mom and dad say?!"

"I don't know." Sans merely shrugged. He was surprised more than Papyrus was at how relaxed he was in this situation, but he didn't let it show. "I won't be around to ask them."

"Sans!" Papyrus reared his head at Sans, who didn't flinch or scoot back. Papyrus figured Sans must have put his mask back on while Papyrus was vulnerable, that had to be the reason why he was smiling when saying such terrible things.

Pushing himself up, Papyrus trudged over and snatched one of Sans' hands. "No, absolutely not! You're not staying here!"

"I didn't ask, bro." Papyrus paused for a moment when Sans pulled back on his arm.

"I'm not asking either!" Papyrus moved to grab for Sans' other hand, but he hid it behind his back.

"That doesn't make sense, Papyrus." Sans smile grew as Papyrus kept darting his other hand behind Sans' back to try and catch his.

"Yeah well you don't make sense!" In a fit of anger Papyrus threw Sans' other hand back at him, taking a few big steps back.

Sans rubbed the hand that Papyrus had gripped, noticing that Papyrus had placed a hand over his mouth. Papyrus only did that for two reasons, and in this case it wasn't because he was trying to hold back a fit of giggles.

"I don't…." Papyrus could feel his anger slowly drain away while he shook his head, trying to understand the situation. Then, realization hit. "You knew."

Such simple words threw Sans off guard; a crack in his mask being shown. His eyebrows bunched together as he stared at Papyrus, wondering what sort of thoughts were going on in his mind.

He knew that Papyrus would have objected to this decision and slowly he had prepared himself for this moment. What he hadn't anticipated was the deadly silence that formed when Papyrus bore holes into his eyes, how dead they looked.

Sans' smile completely fell.

Slowly Papyrus shook his head, his voice almost a whisper. "You've been planning this for awhile… haven't you?"

Sans was starting to get scared by how Papyrus was reacting, his hand growing tighter around his mouth while chuckles escaped through the few cracks it could. Without a care Papyrus threw his hands to the side, orange tears streaming down his face. "How stupid can I be?! You've probably been planning this before we even got to Mt. Ebott, right? You lied to me all throughout this journey just to give me false hope that we would exit the Underground together. The puzzle pieces are making sense now."

Papyrus gestured his arms out to Sans, taking a step forward but Sans leaned back. He expected his brother to have gotten mad, shout at him, call him many bad names and then leave him behind.

But this, this was a side of Papyrus he had never seen before. "That's why you packed so much stuff, that's why you kept promising me that we would get out alive."

Papyrus' laughter slowly died, and with it his expression. A fit of rage burst from within Papyrus as he slammed his foot down onto the ground. "I'm such an idiot!"

Unable to face his brother anymore, Papyrus turned his head away. His hands found their way up to his arms to hold for comfort while the orange tears flowed heavier down his cheeks.

His voice was quiet and hesitant."What would have happened, if I hadn't had fallen when you took that picture? Was that… was that part of your plan too? To get one last picture of me,"

Through tear-stained eyes Papyrus stared off into the distance, allowing the world around him to melt away back to when him and Sans were in the cave of the mountain. He watched Sans take the innocent photo of him grinning at the mouth of the cave, then take a few steps forward so that he wouldn't fall on accident.

"let me start heading for the mouth of the cave,"

Papyrus moved to the beginning of the tunnel out of the room, a smile on his face and teasing his brother for being so sentimental. Sans however stayed near the hole. His smile was a mix of sorrow and enlightenment.

"would you have-?"

As Papyrus headed for the entrance to the tunnel, Sans took a deep breath and moved backwards. Papyrus moved his head back just in time-

And that was when Sans had shoved himself into his brother's arms.

Papyrus was startled out of his memory, feeling how tight Sans hugged him. "Don't…"

His eyes shifting down, Papyrus saw how Sans' head was buried in his dirty polo shirt. "Don't think like that."

Sans buried his face deeper into Papyrus' chest, as if the gesture would somehow make him disappear from the scene. "Why…why aren't you angrier at me? Why aren't you yelling at me? I'm telling you I want to stay here, and yet you just get angry at yourself! You're supposed to disown me and leave me for dead!"

His hands started to shake from how tightly he held onto Papyrus' shirt, his voice cracking as blue tears stained the yellow polo. "I don't understand why you won't turn your back on me!"

Sans still didn't understand when Papyrus wrapped his arms around him, feeling his brother rest his head on his. Even his voice had calmed down to a soothing tone, one that Sans hadn't heard in a long time. "Sans, I would never disown you. Have you forgotten that you're my little brother?"

"I haven't felt like one for awhile…" Sans didn't have the strength to turn his head up and see Papyrus. He only moved his head to the side for easier breathing, still holding tightly onto his brother.

"Probably because I haven't been a good older brother." There was a tone of guilt in Papyrus' voice, to which Sans shook his head stubbornly.

"No. Don't doubt yourself like that. I couldn't ask for a better brother." Sans felt his words leave his mouth faster than he could process what he was saying. The faint sounds of the outside world around them started to fade away, until the only noise that Sans could hear was his rugged breaths and the quick beats of Papyrus' heart.

"Sans." Papyrus motioned to move Sans from his chest, placing his hands on his shoulders. He crouched down so that Sans didn't have to angle his head up to see his warm, concerned eyes. "Why don't you want to go home? Is it because of school? Because I'll be leaving soon? Is it…"

Papyrus' eyes darted away for a second, his hesitation apparent as he swallowed saliva. "Is it me? Am I… holding you back?"

Sans slowly reached up and clasped one of Papyrus' hands, gently taking it off of his shoulder. His cheeks were stained with blue, but his eyes were innocent like a child. "No Pap. You were never holding me back."

Lovingly Sans brought Papyrus' hand close to his heart, to which Papyrus was genuinely surprised by the gesture. A small smile blossomed on Sans' face, the purest of all the ones he had seen. "You've been a beckon of light to me ever since I was little. If anything, you made my life worth living."

Slowly that smile faded away, his eyes starting to focus on Papyrus' hand. "The reason I'm staying is not because of you. I wasn't going to tell you because I knew you would try to stop me. Kind of like right now"

"But why?" Papyrus leaned a little closer into Sans, feeling his tears start back up when Sans did the same. "You at least owe me an explanation."

Sans kept his eyes trained on Papyrus' hand, as if he wasn't going to answer him. Then he sighed, and nodded his head. "…Yeah. I do owe you that, and much more. It's time… I let you in."

Gently tugging on his hand, Sans led Papyrus to the ground, where both sat across from each other. Their knees touched as they sat cross-legged, with Sans keeping Papyrus' hand in the hole between his legs. He stared intently at the ground, mustering the will to speak, while Papyrus sat there giving him the time he needed.

Sucking in a deep breath of air, Sans opened his mouth. "You know dad. Retired military man, successful lawyer. He was a real hard-ass when it came to school and everything else. But he always said that his harshness was his way of making us stronger."

Sans chuckled, his nose wrinkling in disgust. "Stronger? Pathetic. He was nothing but a slimy monster-no, I shouldn't say that. Compared to the monsters down here, they're more human than he is."

Sans' eyebrows furrowed in anger, but they let up when as he took a breath. "Dad always told us that someday, we'd do something great. But now… I know that he only meant me when he said that."

Papyrus didn't understand where Sans was going, his throat starting to crack from dehydration as Sans continued his tale. "It was just a few months ago, when Dad took me out on that Sunday drive. We drove for a few hours in silence before we pulled up to a cliff over the countryside. He talked to me about my grades, how well I was doing in school. He said that I would go on to do something great for the world, that he was proud of me."

There was no hint of a smile or love in Sans' eyes, instead they only grew more hollow. "Then, he talked about you. 'He's a good kid,' he said, 'but he's not good for you'. He told me that you were holding me back, that I could be doing better in school and clubs if you weren't around. So he said that he would be enlisting you into the army, since it was 'the best option for your skills'. With you gone, I could focus more on my grades; get into that top college he wanted me to go to, 'start my life'. 'It's a win-win' he said, that he was 'doing me a favor'."

Sans didn't notice until now that Papyrus' hand had been shaking. He lifted his head lightly to see fear and betrayal in his eyes, wishing that what Sans was saying wasn't true.

He recalled on all the times their father praised Sans for his grades while giving Papyrus a pitying smile with a small lecture, how whenever Sans did something right his smile was more genuine.

The time when he won his first race and his father didn't even look up from his papers.

"What…" Papyrus swallowed some more saliva, finding it hard to speak with how dry his mouth and throat had become. He was almost too afraid to ask, his voice soft and vulnerable. "What did you say…?"

Papyrus looked to Sans' for an answer, but he didn't respond as quickly as he wanted. A small, bitter-sweet smile formed on his face, and soon a chuckle afterwards. Papyrus flinched as if Sans was going to tell him that he laughed alongside his father, that he was the dead-weight he feared to be.

"I slugged him in the jaw."

Words could not describe the expression that formed on Papyrus' face, eyebrows lurching up in shock while his mouth fell open. Sans continued to chuckle, burying his head in his T-shirt while Papyrus was astonished his brother would ever do such a thing.

He had hit their father. He should have been upset, angry even. But instead, all he felt was love blossom in his shriveling heart, enough so that tears came again.

"I guess I must have broken the camel's back, hitting him when I did." Sans laughter softly died out, his smile transforming into a frown. "Because what would any man do when they are hit? They hit back. You remember my shiner, right?"

Sans lifted his head, pointing to his right eye as if he wanted Papyrus to remember. Papyrus took a moment to try and understand what Sans was eluding to, but the memory came quickly back, along with horrid realization.

Sans knew Papyrus had beaten him to what he was going to say. "Well, I didn't get it from falling down the park's stairs. That's for sure."

The small, pitiful smile that tried to form was squashed when Sans gave another heavy sigh, his head hung once more. "He swore to me that he would separate us, and I know he will. He'll find some way. Now, I don't know about you, if you really want to go into the Military or not. But when that day comes, I know dad will see you off with a smile, mom will see you off with a smile, and you'll want me to do the same."

Sadly Sans shook his head, shoulders drooping. "But I can't. I can't smile for you Papyrus, knowing the reason why. And maybe… this will be better for both of us."

Papyrus felt his normal urge to shout try and burst from his vocals, but he held then shut. Instead, he thought of his words carefully, and moving his hand out of San's grip, he used it to angle Sans' chin up to look at him. "Sans, if you stay here, you'll be killed."

Sans tried to duck back down but couldn't when he felt Papyrus not willing him to. He closed his eyes and let a nervous chuckle escape his lips, which formed into a sad smile. "I know. But if I play my cards right, I can hide somewhere. I could live off of trash and sleep in a hole; I'll do everything I can to survive until I can't run any longer."

Sans opened his eyes, deciding to look at the giant machine behind Papyrus. "But honestly, I would live that life any day than going back to being someone's puppet. Here, I'm free. Here, I'm me…"

His smile slowly faded back into a frown. "It was my smarts that caused our lives to be hell. With me gone, dad would probably set you free to, now that his puppet has disappeared. You can live your life however you want to if I wasn't there to set the bar so high."

Closing his eyes again, Sans gave his usual shrug. "You can tell them I fell down a hole to my death, or got lost in the woods, whatever you want. It's not like I'll be there to ca-"

Sans didn't expect Papyrus to roughly shove him back into his arms, or how badly Papyrus shook. For a moment Sans panicked and wondered if the magic within him was reacting, but his panic churned into fear when a few orange drops fell onto his cheeks. "G-god Sans. Why do you always talk like no one cares about you?"

Papyrus drew Sans closer to him, having heard enough. "Don't you get it? Don't you understand how much I care about you? If you think I'm just going to walk away and leave you down here, then you don't know me as much as I don't know you."

"Papyrus…" It was the only thing Sans could mutter at the moment, his hands finding their way around Papyrus' back and gripping it tightly. Tears threatened to destroy what resolve he had built up in his talk, heart melting the more Papyrus spoke.

"I love you, Sans. I love you more than anyone I've ever known. You mean the world to me, you're… you're what made me me. Your encouragement, your determination, your love and your laughs. You always put me first in your life ever since my 10th birthday, and I should have done more to show you how much I cared about you. I didn't say thank you enough, and there were times when I shoved you away…"

Papyrus moved his head down while Sans angled his up, their eyes locking as blue and orange tears mingled together when they fell to the ground. "But I'm not ready to give you up yet, Sans. We either leave here together or… we don't leave at all."

"Papyrus." Sans felt his heart skip a beat, fear rooting itself deep in his heart. "No, I won't let you stay here with me. I'm ok with dying but you-"

Papyrus shook his head to shut Sans up, returning his fear with that of love and warmth. "Sans, if anything you would die in a couple of days if I left you alone. Together we could take care of one another, hunting for food and sleeping in caves until you're ready to go back to the surface."

"But-" Sans felt desperation grow in his words. "What about your car, your party? Your mix-tapes and your room? You can't throw your life away for me."

"I'm not throwing it away, Sans." Papyrus blinked, then smiled for Sans. It was one that wasn't born from a mask of fear, or made hastily to comfort Sans. It was genuine; it was his heart on his face. "And besides, you threw away yours for me."

Sans couldn't save face any longer. His eyes turned soggy like crying eggs, and without words he was left sobbing with incoherent whines. Papyrus took this to pull Sans back to his chest, letting his brother spill out all of the pent-up frustration and sadness he had been pooling for the last 8 years.

"I-I don't deserve this." Sans weakly stuttered through his cries, then he repeated it over and over while continuing to empty his heart.

Papyrus smiled warmly and rested his head on Sans, sighing. "You do too, Sans. It's time for someone to take care of you."

Sans didn't know how much time had passed before he was finally able to get control of his emotions. He wiped a sleeve on his nose and eyes before picking himself up, leaving Papyrus to fondly look at him while he composed himself.

After a moment Sans let his arms drop, his eyes and cheeks clean of tears while he smiled down at Papyrus. But this time this smile was different, it was genuine, like his brother's. "Come on, Pap. Let's say we head back to Grillbys' and finish that spaghetti?"

Papyrus felt his spirits lift to the idea of pasta, opening his mouth to speak in agreement while moving to get up.

His eyes were trained on Sans just as a white spear ruptured through his stomach from behind.

Sans' eyes grew wide while his mouth opened to let sprinkles of blood fly out. Time moved slow while his body grew numb as it landed upon the ground.

"SANS!" Papyrus rose to his feet just as he felt an unknown presence behind him. He whipped his head back only to have the arm of the intruder smack him over the side of the mass of land, his screams slowly echoing away.

"PA-PAPYRUS!" Sans tried yelling while coughing up blood, feeling the white arrow disappear from his stomach but he still bled as evident from the giant circle of blood pooling on his shirt. His arms shook as he crawled to the edge of the cliff but was stopped when a metal boot pinned his back to the ground.

"I grew tired of waiting." Sans grew paralyzed when he heard Sagiv's voice, unable to turn his head up and see his enemy.

He couldn't hear Papyrus' screams anymore, fighting the urge to start crying by biting his tongue. He hoped he wouldn't hear the lava boiling extra hard to dismantle and melt his only brother.

A tingling sensation clung to Sans' bones as his anger started to take control of his mind, while Sagiv got another one of his arrows ready. "I'm surprised you survived that attack. I take it your fat probably cushioned most of the blow. No matter."

He aimed for Sans' head, not worrying that the human below him started to shake uncontrollably. "This shot will kill."

Sans grinded his teeth from how angry he was, hand twitching uncontrollably for his knife in his pocket. If he could just reach it, if he could just grip the handle-

A shot of blue ruptured from the cliff side of the land, gaining both Sans and Sagiv's attention only for the blue blur to smash into Sagiv. The parrot flew back a few feet before landing on his back, skidding dangerously close to the other side of the lava.

Sans used what little time he had to shakily get to his knees, head angled upwards to try and see who this figure was.

"Sans!"

Slowly descending to the ground was Papyrus, a sight that confused and relieved Sans all the same. Papyrus turned back for a moment to look at his brother, relief washing over him. "Oh thank god I made it! Did he hurt you more?"

"Papyrus! … You're floating." It was stupid, but it was all Sans could mutter. He wasn't flying like with Sagiv's orange arrows, so how-

"What is this?" Sans and Papyrus turned to notice Sagiv stand back up, his bow clenched menacingly in his fist. "You should be dead by now! Boiling in lava! How are you alive?!"

Papyrus sneered when glaring at Sagiv, the blue hue around him disappearing. "I don't know, but I don't care! You tried killing me and my brother and I'm sick of you coming after us!"

Sagiv clicked his beak, not intimidated in the slightest. "So, you want to stop running? Are you willing to fight me?"

"Papyrus…" Sans cautioned, not expecting his brother to take a large step forward.

He stood with the motive to protect. "I'm not only going to beat you, but I'll make sure you can never come after me, or Sans again!"

Sagiv responded to Papyrus' threat with a simple laugh, gesturing his arm towards the bridge before them. "Well then, I'd hate for you to trip and fall back down into the lava after such a bold claim. Come! Let's settle this inside the Core, where an easy defeat won't be in your grasp."

Standing up, Sagiv was the first to cross the bridge, with Papyrus and Sans a little more hesitant to follow. Sagiv stopped, clicking his beak. "I won't push you off, that would be unsporting of me. You have nothing to fear except for when we go inside. Unless… you want to take back your stance as a man."

Papyrus puffed his chest out at such a claim, walking over to pick up his reluctant brother. Sans could see the sadness in his eyes as he gently cradled him, holding him close to chest. "I'll get us out of here, Sans. Just don't die on me, ok?"

Sans didn't respond back, simply letting the soothing rock of Papyrus' walk carry him over the bridge and into the Core. The silence outside was drowned out by a low, humming sound of the machine working, where walls were made of metal sheets and wires were stapled to the edges of ceilings and floors. The path they stood on gave away for fog and white lights down below, and Sans wasn't eager to find out what lay hidden beneath the veil.

However he did recognize this as the room from the TV he didn't break, with Sagiv leading them down a few halls before entering a large, enclosed room. The door behind them closed abruptly as well as the door in front of them, closing them off and trapping them in.

With Sagiv having brought the two humans were he wanted he clicked his beak once more. Papyrus set Sans down in one of the corners of the room, giving him a light hug before standing back up and facing Sagiv.

Sagiv broadening his stance while Papyrus started to stretch his muscles. "You think you can beat the Head of the Royal Guard? Unarmed?"

"Seriously Papyrus." Sans brought his hands up in defense, eyes shifting from Sagiv to him several times and not liking the odds.

"It's ok, Sans." Papyrus turned back to Sans to give him a reassured smile, but there were still small traces of hesitance in his eyes. "But uh, if anything happens to me… run, ok?"

Sagiv took a step forward, to which Papyrus did the same like the two were entering an arena. Sans struggled to get to his feet and run after his brother just as rows of red arrows spiked up from the ground, encasing the two in a circular arena.

"Papyrus!" Sans cried out, hesitantly touching one of the bars only to recoil in pain when it sliced his finger.

"Sans?" Papyrus gave Sans a wearily glance to make sure he was ok, before being pulled back into the arena when Sagiv chuckled.

He seemed confident while putting his bow away. "Since you have no weapon, I'll play fair and put mine away. We'll see who the stronger opponent is through brute force."

He then reached for his shoulder pads and undid the holds for his chest plate around his body. Without a care he tossed the chest plate to the side, revealing a yellow tank top underneath. "I'll even lower my defenses so you have a chance at hurting me. Not that you will get the opportunity."

Sagiv narrowed his eyes. "Just so you know, human, I won't let you leave alive. So if you want to beat me and live to see your precious sunlight, you're going to have to kill me."

Sans gritted his teeth in frustration, angry at himself for being unable to do anything in this situation. He had front row seats to the slaughtering of his brother, a one-time performance that he was the audience for.

"I don't know about killing you." Papyrus spoke, his fingers curling into fists. "But when I'm done with you, you'll know you made the mistake of challenging me."

Swinging an arm to the side, Papyrus puffed his chest out before bringing a fist to said chest. "For I, the Great Papyrus, shall beat the Head of the Royal Guard and avenge my brother for all the times you caused him pain!"

Extending his fist, Papyrus glared at Sagiv. "Let's end this."

Sagiv let out a delighted chirp. "I thought you wouldn't shut up."

As if a bell rung, the human and monster both charged at one another, and Sans couldn't help but shut his eyes.

So who completely forgot that Sagiv was just waiting inside the Core for Sans and Papyrus to come? Must have been one boring wait while those two just poured their hearts out.

Anyways, I would like to announce a couple of things! I've had a few people asking me when this story updates so to help you guys not sit at your computers for hours on end refreshing, I'll let you in on the schedule. Fading Light updates every fifth day after the last chapter has been uploaded, so I hope that helps.

In other news, the draft for Fading Light is complete! I'm now doing major edits but this means that this story has an ending folks! I won't run off and never update for years only to come back and say it's forever on hiatus haha. The ending might shock you guys a bit!

Now with the news out of the way, I've got 1 to 50 that Papyrus is going to beat Sagiv! Who wants to bet on how badly Papyrus is going to get beat up? Do I hear not at all, do I hear somewhat, do I hear he's-going-to-get-beat-up-so-bad-he'll-cry-for-mommy? All will tell in the next chapter, but have fun betting folks!