Warnings- suicide, self-harm, depression, guilt,

You sob one final time before steeling your nerves. You take the knife, one that was meant for self-defense – the irony wasn't lost on you – and carve a deep line into your wrist.

You were done.

You cut another line, the blood gushing out even faster. Your vision started to blur and there was a strange pressure in your head. Such an odd pressure, in fact, you thought you heard a voice.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" The voice said. You were so shocked, the knife clattered from your hands.

"Who's there?" Your voice was surprisingly steady.

"Do you understand the consequences of your actions?" The voice spoke again.

"What do you want from me?" You sobbed, reaching for the knife again. Just as your fingers were about to close around the bloody handle, you blacked out.

You saw Papyrus, but it was like you were watching a movie. The view moved, from looking down at the young skeleton to right in front of him.

Papyrus was in shambles. His skull was ashen and frail looking. He had scratches and small cracks all over his head. You reached out, but your hand passed right through his chest. He sobbed a great, painful sob, and you felt your heart break.

You took in the rest of his appearance. A ragged sweatshirt instead of his usual battle body. Dirty sweatpants, obviously in desperate need of a washing.

"What happened to him?" You asked, but your voice seemed to float away. Where were you? What where you?

"When young Papyrus heard you were dead, he fell into a deep depression. He blamed himself, for not being able to protect you. He felt he was a failure as a Royal Guardsman for failing you. He's letting himself waste away, because he believes he has nothing left to live for." The voice said, seemingly from right behind you. You spun around, but there was nothing there.

"What do you mean? What about Sans?" You asked, desperate to believe Papyrus would be okay. You looked back at the skeleton with wide eyes.

He lurched forward, his face in his hands. You could see his fingers clawing at his face as his whole body wracked with sobs. His wails cut you deep to your soul, and if you were able to cry in whatever form you were in, you would have.

Never had you heard such wails. It was like he was trying to kill himself with the intensity of his mourning. He clawed at his face some one, causing a deep gouge in his skull. His bones must be softer than usual, because he was able to just carve the line in.

As soon as the line was made, his sobs calmed. He quickly sat up and ripped off his hoodie, exposing his bare ribs. You couldn't hold back your cry of fear.

His ribs were an absolute mess. You could see fractures and cracks, as if he had snapped them off and hastily glues them back together. He took one of his bottom ribs in his hand and took a deep breath, on the exhale, he snapped it off completely.

Papyrus bellowed in pain, but the cry soon turned to laughter. His laughs were hysterical, verging on insane. Tears were gathering in his eyes, from the pain or the laughing, you couldn't tell. He let the dust fall from the base of the rib, as if the bone marrow turned to sand and fell free from its casing.

You tried to turn away, but you were stuck there. You had to watch as Papyrus placed the rib back onto the dusting nub and let a dark blue magic cover it. When he drew his hand away, the bone stayed, but had a large fracture at the base.

Finally, Papyrus let out a relaxed breath and slipped his hoodie back on. He ran a hand over his face and leaned back on the couch, letting his skull dangle on the back and let the lights in his eyes extinguish.

"I'm so sorry…" He said to the silent house, one final tear dripping down his face, only to be lost among the countless others in the couch.

You were no longer in the Skeleton's living room, but in Alphys' lab. There was a frantic banging coming from your right. You saw Undyne trying to break down the door that led to the true lab. She was screaming.

"ALPHYS COME OUT! PLEASE! I N-NEED YOU! Don't… don't do anything stupid…" She trailed off, her tears making her words catch in her throat. She slowly slid to her knees, hitting the door with both fists. She continued to sob, but there was no response from the doctor.

"Alphys also blamed herself." Said the voice. You glanced to where it sounded like it was coming from, but only saw a faint shadow of what looked like a man. It disappeared the instant you saw it. "She locked herself in her lab, not eating or opening the door for anyone. Undyne has been banging on her door for three days, with nothing from Alphys. Undyne is getting desperate."

You were no longer in the first floor of the lab. You were in the true lab, in the room of beds. All of the bad been destroyed, as if something had picked them up and threw them at the walls. One bed remained in the middle, and a small form was huddled under the covers. The amalgamates were surrounding the bed, their form melting and molding. A faint whine filled the room but never ended, just grew in pitch and volume.

The form on the bed shifted, the covers pulled down a little to revel a face that was as familiar as it was different.

Alphys had dropped a considerable amount of weight. You could see her bones straining against her scales, which had turned a muddy mustard color. The bruises under her eyes were purple, making her face scales seem even drabber.

"Go away..." She said, her voice scratchy and hoarse. The monsters whined louder, desperate to be fed. "Shut UP! GO AWAY! I HATE YOU!" She screamed, throwing weak punches at whatever was in arm range. The amalgamates just oozed around her fist with extreme ease.

"What happened…?" You asked horrified.

"She gave up…" The voice said. One of the amalgamates turned its head to you, as if it could hear you. It stared at you, or stared at you as much as an eyeless creature could, before turning away. One of them nudged Alphys, who kicked her leg out, trying to make it leave her alone.

You could hear Undyne banging away, the yells so faint it sounded like a bird's heartbeat. Alphys glanced towards the door that lead to the elevator. She could hear the banging too. One of the monsters reached a blob out to rest on her head.

For a second, it seemed like Alphys was going to swat them away. Instead, she leaned into the touch, sobbing quietly.

"I'm so weak…" She whispered.

You were in the restaurant portion of Mettaton's resort. You were surprised to see the room completely empty. Not a single soul seemed to be in the building at all. Mettaton was sitting on the edge of the stage, his back rigid and his face empty of all emotion.

He was humming softly, without much feeling in it. His eyes were trained on something in the distance, but it was obvious he wasn't really seeing anything

"When you died, all of his close friends pulled away. Papyrus ignored his calls, Alphys locked her door completely, and Sans… They were so engulfed in their own grieving, they didn't realize he was all alone. He lost all enthusiasm for performing, so soon the other monsters of the Underground stopped coming to his shows. He realized everything good in his life had lost its luster." The voice explained.

With a heavy heart, you recognized the tune. It was Papyrus' battle song. You could hear Mettaton's voice, as sweet and beautiful as ever, but you could also hear a hint of desperation underneath.

"How could this happen?" You asked, horrified.

"You held the Underground together. When you killed yourself, it fell apart. Relationships were destroyed, lives torn apart. Poor Mettaton was not exempt from this butterfly effect. He is broken, both mentally and physically. Because Alphys locked herself away, he cannot get fixed. He is slowly deteriorating, and as of now it seems as though he will never be fixed. Soon, there will be no way to reverse the damage." The voice continued.

"I'm so sorry Mettaton…" You whimper, wishing you could reach out and comfort him. This was all your fault, you realized. "Please… I don't want to see anymore…"

"I'm sorry, but you must."

"I don't like being alone…" Mettaton said, his voice echoing painfully through the room.

"Please… I don't want to see anymore." You said again, as you felt yourself being dragged somewhere new. This time, the voice didn't respond.

"This one is a little different, because in this timeline these events have already taken place. We will be going back in time so see the effects of your actions." The voice said, sounding farther away than before.

"My actions…" The thought weighed heavily on your mind. This was all your fault… Papyrus, and Alphys and Mettaton…. All your fault.

You found yourself in an unfamiliar room. It was almost like there was a grey scale filter over your eyes, and you remembered the voice saying something about going into the past. There was a bare mattress, and a curtainless window, and a dresser with all the draws ripped out. You heard a sob, something that had become painfully familiar to you.

Without your consent, your head turned to face the center of the room. You couldn't stifle the scream that ripped from your throat. You felt like you were going to scream out your lungs. Suddenly, your jaw clacked shut, as if an invisible hand closed your jaw for you.

You realized this must have been Sans' room. The set up was similar to Papyrus', and you saw some familiar clothing in the piles. What really tipped you off though, what really connected those dots for you…

Sans was hanging from his bedroom ceiling fan by a makeshift noose. You could see he was still breathing, just barely. His face was turning a sickly grey-white. With a last desperate lunge, you tried to reach him. Your hands just passed right through him.

And in an instant, the dangling monster became a pile of dust on the carpet. You screamed again, tears streaming down your face. You somehow heard something over your own screams. The door creaked open.

Papyrus peaked his head in, the color of the room washing out all the color of his costume.

"Brother? Is everything-" The skeleton cut himself off with a scream of his own. He collapsed, using the doorframe as support. He stumbled forward, almost kneeling in his brother's dust. "N-no… no please. Not you too… I cannot…. I cannot do this alone…" He sobbed, burying his face in his brother's jacket.

"Sans felt personally responsible. After all, he was the one you always talked too. The fact that you killed yourself without saying anything to him… he felt like a failure. He believed he failed you when you needed him the most. The guilt ate away at him, keeping him awake for days on end, keeping him from being able to eat. Eventually he started to hallucinate. He thought you had come back to haunt him, blaming him for not being there for you, not being good enough for you. It was all too much for him… as you can see. He, like all the others, gave up." The voice said, but you didn't care anymore.

"Please… please send me back. I don't want this to happen. I don't want my friends to go through this…" You sob, watching Papyrus mourn the death of his brother.

"Have you learned your lesson, human?" the voice asked, sounding softer than ever before. You sob and nod your head, but that wasn't what the voice wanted.

"Y-yes! I've learned my lesson. Please send me back!" You cry out, clenching your arms to your chest tightly and closing your eyes, praying to wake up from this nightmare.

"So be it…"

You stayed in that position for a few seconds, sobbing into your arms, praying to wake up. You felt something warm soaking into your shirt, shocking you back into reality. You pull your arms away and realized that it was the cut on your arm that had been bleeding, which was soaking into your shirt. Wait…

You bolt upright, which caused the room to spin violently.

Even with the room spinning, you could see the familiar features of your bedroom. You scramble to your feet and rush out the door, praying.

You could hear the television coming from downstairs. You ran down the stairs as fast as you can, not bothering to worry about tripping. Of course, you tripped as you come to the last few steps. Before you could hit the ground, something warm surrounded you, placing you back on your feet.

"Careful kid." Sans said from the couch. You felt your eyes sting at the sight of him, alive. You ran at him, throwing yourself into his arms. He caught you with a confused look before he became horrified. "W-what happened with your arm kid?" He asked, horrified.

"I'm so sorry!" You sob, blubbering into his chest. He tried to console you, but was completely flabbergasted at what was happening.

"Calm down there. Tell old Sansy what happened." He said in a quiet voice. It was the voice he used when you were crying about a night mare. You took a shaking breath and tried to explain.

Gaster watched from above as you threw yourself into Sans' arms.

It was all according to his plan.

You were to be the savior of the Underground, something he himself had failed to do. He had been watching your adventure, giving light shoves here and there. He couldn't do much, nothing more than planting a whisper of an idea in your head, but it got you on the right track.

When you were dying, you were close enough to his realm where he was able to connect with you and show you a magic induced hallucination. At first, it was all about saving monster kind.

Now, however, the not-monster had grown quite fond of you. Almost like… a father.

He smiled as he watch Sans scream at you before pulling you into a choking hug.

Yes. All according to plan.

What? Another update? I must be magic!

Nope! Actually this is a pre-apology, because I have two speeches (With matching powerpoints) and an English essay to do before Sunday. This'll be the last update for at least a week.

I've had quite a few requests for depressed Paps (Several from the same guest, I do believe) so I did a little bit of that in this, as well as an US chapter planned, so don't worry guest!

I really like the way this chapter came out! It's like a Christmas Carol type thing. I dunno, I just think it really turned out great :)

Thank you everyone, once again, for putting up with me. You're the real MVPs!

Until next time!

~Starlight