*explicit language, depression, panic attacks, verbal abuse, hints of owner/pet relationship, past child abuse, self-hatred, self-doubt, self-harm, emotional/psychological abuse, emotional manipulation, mind manipulation, night terrors, suicide attempts, suicide, blood and dust, detailed violence, dirty jokes, etc.
You have been warned. Enjoy yourself, mate.
Sans's dim eyelights anxiously searched around the narrow golden room, trembling as he fought back his panic attack. You always did this, you always did this! After he uses a huge Blaster attack, you just disappear in thin air like you were never there to begin with! Which was preferable, of course, but it's not like he ever gets what he wants.
"You really think you can beat me, Comic?" your voice, accompanied with that sickening little giggle, comes from behind him, and he swiveled around to face you, his eyelights guttering out in fear. He felt his soul beating a mile a minute behind his rib cage as he tried to control his breathing.
But it was so hard to reign in his fear, because you were staring at him with your soulless eyes, and you were so much more powerful than him, and you kept paying with that stars-damned knife, and- and- and... He can't- He just- He...
He's so LOST.
He's so LONELY.
He's so SCARED.
Sans watched you twirl your dusty knife and cock your head at him. "Come on, where's your smile? I thought it was permanent." you taunt.
The skeleton stayed mute; he refused to humor you with any kind of response. "Fine, you can keep your silence, Comic, but I can't really promise I won't kill everyone all over again!" you snap once you realize this. He flinched and stepped back.
You're not human... You CAN'T be human! What kind of creature just kills for fun?!
How many times did you kill him? How many times did he kill you? Hah... At this point, he's lost count. But who cares? Every time he dies, you'll reset after a while and everyone's alive again.
It was so tempting to let you have your way. Why didn't he just give up? That's all he's good for anyway; giving up, lying to everyone, pretending he was okay. They all deserved someone so much better than him. Especially his bro and his close friends.
He could almost laugh at how weak he was; Undyne and Papyrus are so much stronger than he could ever hope to be. They remembered the resets, and yet they were nowhere near as pathetic as him.
Perhaps that's his role in this cruel world. Perhaps he's meant to be a puppet; to be toyed with and broken and controlled. Maybe that's fate just hates him that much. He honestly doesn't blame fate.
You scowl at him and start running toward him, apparently done with talking. You don't even give your withered soul a glance as everything went black and white around you and Sans, and you don't stumble when your body fades a little. All you do is raise your knife and smirk at him.
Sans gasps and tried to stumble back when you suddenly jump at him, but he tripped over one of the broken tiles and fell hard on his back. Stars danced across his vision when his skull smacked loudly against the bloody floor, and the pain that erupted there left him gasping as a tall shadow fell over him.
He shivered as he looked up at you, his fear pooled up in his eye sockets and rolling down his malleable cheeks. You laugh scornfully at the pitiful sight and snatch him by the hoodie before he could think to shortcut away from you. It's not exactly hard to pick him up, given that Sans wasn't really the biggest monster. He barely reached his brother's hips when he wasn't slouching, and even weight-wise he was small. I mean, he is a skeleton; nothing but bones weigh him down.
Maybe he should've fought against being picked up so painfully, maybe he shouldn't have just given up, but you were undoubtedly stronger than him with your LV-enhanced strength. Everything he did was pointless.
The comedian choked back a sob and bowed his head in defeat, his small body going slack in your unforgiving grip. You laugh at the sudden change in demeanor. "Oh, you're so pathetic... So submissive... Maybe I can do something different this time. More... FUN."
Even though you're talking, the dusty knife trailing along his faceplate is all he can focus on. His breath hitched as it slid under his chin and tilted his head up, forcing him to look you in the eyes. He whined in terror as you stroke his cheek with a free finger, drawing your face close to his.
"We'll have lots of fun together, my little pet. But first, you need to be trained..." you purr, and before he could question what you meant, you hit him with the blunt of your knife.
Consciousness slipped from his phalanges like water.
~0~
Papyrus was woken up when he heard a loud, distressed wail and a spike of magic. He'd recognize that magic signature anywhere- it was his brother!
The tall skeleton threw himself out of bed, tripping over his own two feet in his haste to get to Sans, blearily stumbling out of his room and down the hall. 'What Happened?! Is Sans Okay?! Was It Another Night Terror?!'
The mental questions came to an abrupt halt when opened the door and saw his brother curled up in a ball on the carpeted floor, hyperventilating and sobbing and muttering and- oh stars above, Sans wasn't breathing !
Protect Protect Protect Protect Protect Protect Protect Protect.
"SANS!" Papyrus shouted and fell on his patellas in front of the smaller monster, picking him up and hugging him close to his chest, "IT'S OKAY, SANS! THEY'RE GONE! IT WAS JUST A BAD DREAM!" yelling certainly didn't help, but he entirely blamed his font for his volume.
Protect Protect Protect Protect Protect Protect Protect Protect!
All he could hear right now were the primal commands bouncing around his skull and this brother's rattling bones. Thankfully, Sans did appear to calm down a tiny bit when he recognized the loud voice as his brother. Almost as soon as the recognition came, so did the sobbed apologies, "papy... *sob* 'm—*hic* 'm sorry! *sob* 'm sorr—"
Papyrus hushed him.
He didn't like this at all. Why couldn't he ever help his baby brother? He obliviously let his brother suffer. He had failed to protect Sans. His brother's dust had been on his phalanges, his brother's favorite blue hoodie in his phalanges, his brother's marrow on his phalanges. The small skeleton had been dusted right before his eyes—
PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT!
"You Have No Reason To Apologize, Sans." Papyrus assures in a hushed voice.
It was much like the voice he used when he told himself that _,_,_,_,_ was gone, that Sans was safe, that his friends were safe, that everybody was SAFE. He couldn't imagine what his brother had gone through... He's seen so much worse than him, and for how long? He wished that he could've taken his brother's place, because stars-fucking-dammit, Sans didn't deserve any of that!
Sans just mewled in response and nuzzled his face into Papyrus's scarf, arms wrapped around the other in a desperate plead for affection, and who was he to deny?
Papyrus stroked the rounded skull, orange tears building up in his eye sockets as he felt Sans's fear, which was slowly fading as the elder brother sent gentle commands and positive thoughts and emotions to the smaller skeleton through his soul's magic.
LOVE || SECURITY || WARMTH || PEACE || STRENGTH || REST || RELAX
LOVE || SECURITY || WARMTH || PEACE || STRENGTH || REST || RELAX
After a few minutes of doing so, Papyrus realized that the younger monster had finally quieted. Papyrus looked down and let his smile return. (how he could stop since he was a skeleton, he would never understand.)
Sans had fallen asleep in his arms, and it was safe to blame the "emotional transfers" as Alphys liked to call them. Papyrus didn't know much about personal magic types, but his was definitely emotion transfers. And his brother was definitely going to be a bit drunk off the feelings when he woke up.
Not that Sans hasn't been drunk at one point before... (thanks Grillby, that was really fun to deal with.)
Papyrus stood up, and only then he realized that his best friend was leaning against the door, her arms crossed and her single yellow at stared sadly at the bundle of bones in his arms. "Undyne?"
Undyne startles at being addressed, and tore her eye away from Sans. "Another night terror?" she asks, quietly as to not wake up the sleeping comedian.
He nodded grimly and lay his brother back on his lumpy little bed, his soul clenching painfully as he had to pry the fingers clinging desperately to his shirt before he could pull the blanket over Sans's small frame. When was the last time his brother slept without night terrors plaguing his sleep? When was the last time his brother had asked for his silly condiment? When was the last time he had-
A hand grasping his shoulder jerked Papyrus back into the present. He looked at the respected captain who, despite all the roaring confidence, was nothing but a giant softie. "Do you want me to set up the shield again?" she asks him, but he hesitated. Wouldn't that put a huge strain on her- physically and magically?
She insisted though, promising him that she wouldn't overexert herself like the first time, and it was only then he agreed. Despite her brute strength, Undyne didn't have an infinite magic supply. Hell, nobody did, not even a god.
"Paps, you should go get ready while I do this. I'll be waiting outside when I'm done, alright?"
Papyrus agreed with the plan as his feet mindlessly carried him back into his own room. His room still had that childish feel to it, yet he couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed. It reminded him of better times, of happier times. The timeline before Frisk got corrupted by you was among one of his favorites.
As he pulled on the heavy armor, he wondered: what would have happened if _,_,_,_,_ never came? Would Sans be happier then? Would none of them have these nightmares? Or is his brother just doomed to suffer? Would Papyrus have joined the royal guard? Probably not, he used to be so much softer and merciful. Now? Nyeh heh heh... Why would he care about the species that gave them nothing but pain and grief?
With a renewed vigor to protect everyone he cared about, the royal guard summoned his weapon, which is a long bone that served as both a staff and a sword. In the very rare times that he used it as a weapon he would make one end taper to a sharp point.
He stormed out of his room and down the stairs, making sure to avoid that stair that was unbearably squeaky. It would definitely wake Sans up again, and he didn't want his brother to follow him, not when there's going to be a blizzard later on. Papyrus stepped out of his house and shut the door behind himself, barely fazed by the frigid wind as it immediately began attacking any part of him it could. He merely averted his eyelights to look at his captain, who nodded to him when she saw him.
"Let's go, Paps."