Warning: PTSD, brief character death

"Sans?" You glanced over at your friend, brows furrowed. The skeleton was clenching the blanket so tightly the threads were coming undone under his fingers. His eye sockets were so wide they covered almost his entire skull, the lights almost nonexistent. There was sweat beading his forehead, and his trembling was obvious.

His eyes were glued to the television, where the fight scene was playing. It wasn't even a good fight scene, in your opinion. The blood was bright red and watery, and the knife was almost a foot from the protagonist yet it still injured him.

Despite its awful quality, Sans seemed to be getting whiter and whiter. The antagonist dodged the attack, goading on the hero.

"What, did you think I would just sit there and take it?" He asked, a cocky grin on his face. The protagonist just spit at him and attacked again. The two of them went at it for about ten more minutes before the protagonist finally managed to connect the killing hit.

Sans' hand flew to his chest and he let out a choked whimper. You paused the movie, turning your whole body to face him. You had never seen the lazy skeleton so torn apart. He was violently trembling, unshed tears lighting up his eye sockets. His hand gripped at his shirt, right over his soul, so tightly the fabric was starting to rip under his fingers. The other hand reached and was resting on the top of his head, as if to protect himself from something.

You reached a hand out towards him, but before you could make contact, you found yourself thrown against the wall. The back of your head slammed onto the wall, leaving a dent and a throbbing pain in your skull.

Your body was yanked by an invisible force and thrown into the kitchen, your back bending around the sink. You managed a yelp but Sans was too out of it to notice.

His hand was outstretched, blue surrounding it. His usual grin was turned down into a pained grimace, his eyes black as the night. He lifted his hand, and you found yourself being lifted along with it. You were thrown into the ceiling, some of the material cracking and raining down onto the floor.

Suddenly, you were in an encounter. The feeling of your soul being forced out of your chest has never been comfortable, but it had been so long since the last battle, it was a shock to feel the icy magic ripping the heart from your chest.

You were thrown right into it, jumping and dodging and getting hit. You tried to think back to your last save. You hadn't been saving a lot since coming to the surface, once every few months maybe. The last one was a week ago, right after the family dinner on Saturday night.

You tried pleading with Sans, to get him to realize what he was doing, but there was no life in his eyes. It was like he was a puppet being controlled by some outer force. He was rambling on and on, muttering something about anomalies and not caring.

He kept jerking out of the way, as if to avoid an attack, but you weren't fighting back. You realized he was stuck in a flashback. You had heard of PTSD, and how extreme cases could render the person stuck in the flashback

"S-sans! Please! It's me!" You tried pleading, blood trickling down your chin. He flinched a little as the red drops splattered on the ground, but didn't stop. He attacked again and again, and you managed to dodge most of them.

Your soul cracked in two. It was a dumb mistake, a step in the wrong direction. You stared at him with wide eyes, but he was still just standing there, arm outstretched and staring over your shoulder at something that wasn't there.

He blinked and took a step towards you as your vision blurred. For a second, you thought you saw life in his eyes again.

Then everything went dark.

You blinked, feeling the cold concrete under your hands and backside. Your stomach was full, and the smells of desert were drifting from the house. You were sitting on the steps outside of Toriel's new home. She couldn't see it, but you were happy to see the little golden star flicking in the bushes. You hopped off the steps and walked over to the save, placing a hand on it.

The star read the date, which was one week from the last memory you had. You sat back down and stared at your hands, remembering what happened. You had gone over Sans' house, watched a movie… and something happened to make him snap.

He attacked you, flinging you around until your health was gone and you died on the kitchen floor. You could still feel the phantom ache from your body, from your head that slammed against the wall and your chest that had coughed up blood.

You wiped away the few tears that had escaped your eyes, trying to hold back the rest of the tears that were sure to follow if you didn't get your emotions in check.

You heard the door open and close, but didn't hear any footsteps. You were suddenly unable to move. A shadow appeared in front of you, seemingly out of nowhere. You saw Sans' slippers in your peripherals, unable to move your head.

"Why'd ya do it?" He asked, voice dark. You tried to respond, but you were frozen. He seemed to realize this and released you.

"What happened to you Sans?" Was all you said, continuing to stare at your hands - despite being free from his powers.

"That's my line kid. Why'd you reset. You promised me no more resets…" His skeletal hand gripped your shoulder and you flinched from the pain.

"We were watching a movie." You started quietly, remembering what happened – it seemed – just ten minutes ago. "There was a fight scene. I thought it was dumb, but you started freaking out. The bad guy said something and you just… snapped. When I tried to ask you what was wrong, you threw me against a w-wall." It was getting harder to talk about.

"What?" He didn't want to think where this was going.

"You threw me into the kitchen, and I slammed my back on the sink. I felt something crack in me. You threw me into the ceiling and the wall and the floor… I tried to talk to you but I just kept coughing up blood… I don't know what I did wrong," You started crying outright, the emotions too much for you.

Sans stood frozen in front of you. His anger disappeared almost instantly as he realized what happened. He had killed you…

"W-what movie was it?" He asked, wondering if what he was thinking really was what triggered his flashback.

"Some dumb movie with awful acting. We got it from Alphys…"

"What did the guy say?" He was looking at his shoes.

"What?" You finally looked up.

"You said the bad guy said something. What was it?"

"Um…" You tried to think back. "Something like, 'did you think I would just stand there for you to hit me' or something,"

Sans' face paled noticeably He came over and slammed down on the steps next to you, placing his elbows on his knees.

"Sans what the hell was that all about?" You asked, your own anger starting to simmer a little. He killed you, and now he's just sitting there.

"You know what happened with the kid before you?" He asked gravely. You shook your head and he sighed. "They… weren't so nice. They went through and slaughtered everything that moved. We fought, and I lost, but it took dozens of battles before I failed. I… said something kinda similar to the kid over and over, like a script. When I woke up again, you came through. That's something no one could understand, at least those of us that remembered the timelines.

"With each complete reset, a new human falls down. We never could figure out why that happened, why the same human didn't keep falling down over and over… but in that run it was better that the little demon never came back." Sans practically spit the last sentence out.

You could only imagine how awful that must have been for him. Losing all his friends, trying to fight an eventually dying himself, only to wake up later, not sure if it'll be the same kind of run again. You rested your head on his shoulder, not saying anything.

"I'm so sorry kid…" He whispered, his breath causing the air to fog up.

"Why?" You asked, genuinely confused.

"I must have had a flashback and took it out on you. I'm so sorry… fuckin hell." He cursed, jerking a little. "I can't believe I lost control like that." He seemed angry, but it was obvious the anger was at himself.

"Don't apologize. You couldn't help it. This is not your fault." Part of you still wanted to blame him for killing you, but seeing him like this, you just couldn't find it in yourself. "Let's go back inside. Mom made some new pies for the dinner tonight. I know for certain the strawberry-rhubarb one is pretty good."

He smiled at you and stood, offering you his hand. Taking his hand, he helped you to your feet. Walking into the house, everything seemed fine for the moment, but you decided to do something in case this happened again.

Dear Sans. It happened again, but you probably don't remember it. That's okay though. I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but I'm here for you, just like I was after that first time at Toriel's. I know it's not your fault, so you shouldn't blame yourself.

If you don't remember what happened, you had another flashback and attacked me, or someone else. Most likely, you killed me, causing me to reset. I know I promised I wouldn't, but this was an emergency, and I'm sorry.

Whatever you do, don't think this is your fault. Don't think you're broken, because you're not. You just need support and love, and that's why I'm here.

I love you Sans. You're my best friend and I could never let you go through this alone. Even if you don't completely remember, I'll always be here for you.

You tucked the note in your phone case, between the plastic and the actual device. You needed to keep this with you where ever you went, just in case.

You hoped you would never have to use it, but you should have known better. The next time you used the note was almost a month later.

You had been very diligent with saving after that first incident. Sans seemed okay after that, keeping himself calm and collected.

It was almost a month after that first time when it happened again. You and the skeleton had been walking through the park when something caught his eye. A child was running across the meadow, their green and yellow striped shirt almost blending in with the grass. Their brown hair was the only thing that stood out against the nature.

Sans froze, as if he had been stabbed in the back suddenly. You had a feeling you knew where this was going, so you quickly pulled him behind some trees so no one would see and get upset. You just let him do it, knowing the last save was just that morning, before he came to your house to take you to the park.

It didn't hurt as badly this time, because you weren't fighting it You just let him kill you.

You woke back up next to the star that was for some reason inside your closet. You never knew why some of the saves were in such strange places.

A buzz at your front door told you Sans was ten minutes earlier than he was supposed to be. You slipped your phone in your pocket and went to answer the door. Before his scowl could say anything, you took your phone out and thrust the paper in his face.

He warily read it, the light in his eyes following the lines of writing. He handed the paper back with a numb hand, his eyes searching yours, almost pleading for it to be a joke.

"I'm sorry…" You said, taking the paper back and replacing it in your case. He reached a hand out to you, but seeing your slight flinch, let it drop to his side.

"Hehe, maybe going out today isn't such a good idea." He said with a sad chuckle.

"Let's just hang out today." You suggested. "Maybe take a nap." Sans just gave you a tired smile and ran a hand over his face.

"Yeah… that sounds good kiddo."

This is a pretty short chapter, but I had some time and was able to write this up. I know I didn't explain the PTSD in detail, but that was to show that the reader didn't really understand it themselves, but still wanted to help their friend.

Short chapter, short A/N! I don't really have anything else to say but thanks for the support and care you've been giving me! I love you all so much!

Until next time!

~Starlight