So, earlier I posted a different second chapter, but I decided to take it down because it wasn't necessary to the story, and it was kind of slow. Instead, this is the second chapter! If you don't understand what I'm trying to say, then you can just ignore it, haha.

Either way, I hope you like it.

(Note: This is from San's perspective and memories as he *SPOILERS FOR GENOCIDE ROUTE* prepares for his battle with Frisk. Some thoughts of his, particularly at the end of this chapter, may not make sense unless you know what happens in genocide.

I remember the day we left the town we'd been in for all our lives.

Things hadn't been bad there, or anything. I had a job at the coffee shop, and Papyrus helped clean houses. You know, it's pretty sweet getting a discount for coffee whenever you want some. And Papyrus would mostly just look forward to practicing his attacks after his shifts ended. Not exactly good money, but it was money nonetheless.

We were probably teenagers, speaking in skeleton years. Still kids. And it was still acceptable for Papyrus to be unhealthily obsessed with becoming a part of the Royal Guard- well, kind of.

I left the shop after my shift ended (alright, fine, maybe a little bit earlier than when my shift ended), and headed home. We were still living in this dumpy shack that could hardly be called a home. I got inside and immediately collapsed on the sofa to watch some television, conveniently next to a window, where I could see everything happening outside our house.

For the first few minutes, all that occurred was snow falling lightly from the white sky and landing on the equally white ground, as usual. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw something new happen. Something peculiar.

Papyrus was leaving the house across from us, having finished cleaning it. The owners of this house, I wasn't particularly fond of. Some kids around our age that were the type to think they were superior. I mean, Papyrus is like that, but he'd never actually hurt anyone. These kids weren't like him.

From the window, I watched as my brother held out his hand for his rightful pay after his cleaning, but the trio didn't make any motion to insinuate they were paying him. Instead, I saw their mouths move, smirks, challenging gazes. And then I saw Papyrus grin and put a hand on his hip, readying to fight. A battle. I felt my heart sink, because I knew, I just knew this couldn't lead to anywhere remotely good. But yet, I didn't do anything.

At first, my brother was doing alright. He seemed to be fighting just the kid in the middle, and he was even winning. Maybe he's okay, I thought. Papyrus has got this.

But then I watched as the second kid joined the fight, and then the third. And I witnessed in petrified horror as my brother was beaten into a quivering ghost of the confident, sassy skeleton he used to be in less than a moment.

My hands were shaking in their pockets. Something gleamed in my eye, something hot and fiery. Pain and confusion threatened to overwhelm my anger, but I don't think it was possible.

I left my house calmly and tromped through the snow to where the four stood. Papyrus was kneeling on the ground, shaking and breathing heavily, as the trio in front of him smiled in triumph, readying their next attack. Beaming and confident, like how my brother should have been. Like my brother always is.

"Hey fellas, what's going on?"

Papyrus glanced at me abruptly and broke into a weak grin. "Sans! Come on, let's fight these guys together!" He hesitated, looking at me strangely. "W-What's that in your eye?"

I disregarded his comment, taking a better look at the three kids. They were bears, diverse in size and color, but each of them had a mocking look on their face. Not like the friendly bears I saw around town. I tightened my fists in my pocket, the smile still screwed on my face.

"Sorry, Skelly, this fight is full. Let us finish up, then we'll play, alright?" The middle one smirked at me. I opened my mouth to intervene, but before I could protest, another turn passed. Papyrus was laying crumpled in the snow, all attacks from the bears powerful and inevitable. That searing pain in my eye, hot and fiery, was worsening. My throat tightened.

I patted my brother's back gently, although every nerve in my body was itching to do something to those bears. Anything. "Hey, how about you flee from this and go grab some food at home? I got it, man."

He didn't even have the strength to raise his head to look at me incredulously. The lofty defiance that'd usually be in his voice was barely audible. "But we can-"

"Nah, buddy. I think it'd be best if you just let me deal with this. You look bone tired, anyways." I stared at the three bears as the words left my mouth. My words were still, the same as how I usually spoke. But I shook from the heat in my eye. The burning in my throat. The fire rushing through my entire body. Entirely indescribable.

Papyrus groaned at my joke, but reluctantly pulled himself to his feet and dragged himself to our house. It was pitiful to watch. Imagine that, Papyrus, just a shameful little lump of bones. My stomach was turning in circles.

"Alright, 'Sans', we'll fight." The three bears were chuckling to themselves, giving me a mocking look. As if they were saying, 'let's entertain the baby bones'.

The one to the left stepped up nonchalantly, preparing to fight me alone, but I shook my head, my hands still buried into my warm pockets. "You ain't fooling me, guys. I know the others are gonna join in and beat the bones outta me before I can blink. Let's just fight, three versus one, get it over with, got it?"

They hesitated for a moment, but quickly regained their composure. "Alright, fine. I gotta warn you, though, we might be a challenge."

I smiled, the edges of my mouth stretching gleefully.

"I can take a challenge."

The battle only took one turn.

I wasn't even aware of how I moved. I just knew that the pain in my eye heightened to the point it was nearly unbearable, and every attack released from an endless supply of energy was filled with so much rage. So much anger. I'm not the type of guy to be overflowing with these kinds of feelings. This kind of blind fury, the kind that would not stop despite what I knew was rational. This isn't what I knew.

I knew jokes, I knew laughs, I knew my brother. Not this.

It was as if I blinked, and everything fast-forwarded for a full minute. The two bears in front of me were leaning over the third, a helpless sack, battered and coughing on the ground. Bits of fur lay around them. Red in the snow. A lump grew in my throat.

"W-What are you?!" One of the bears, the shortest one, cowered away from me, screaming, blood-chilling. "S-Stop looking at me! Get away with that damn eye!"

Everything felt numb. The burning in my eye had lessened, it seemed, but I wanted it back. I wanted to feel something. Anything besides this dreadful emptiness, this exhaustion. The rage, along with my energy, was depleted. My legs were going to collapse underneath me.

I was breathless, slipping my hands back into my pocket. My grin was weak. "Just stay away from my brother." The words were heavy, not even slightly threatening coming out of my mouth.

Was it all worth it?

Of course it was. It's... it's Papyrus.

"You'll pay for this, you little shit!" The words were tearful. I had caused someone to cry.

I jogged into the house again, feeling the warmth breeze through my bones. Papyrus lay on the couch, a hand over his eyes. When he heard me enter, he sat up hastily, staring at me. "You're not even hurt! What happened?"

I shrugged, trying to keep my words steady as I grabbed a bag and took books and junk food off our shelves. "Uh, you weakened them, made them easy." I dumped everything I thought could come into use into the bag frantically, excruciatingly aware of Papyrus's eyes on my back.

"What are you doing?"

My hands were shaking. I took a deep breath, turning towards my brother. "I think it's time we left." His face immediately contorted in disbelief. "Let's go somewhere new! There's plenty of towns around here, we've just got to find the right one. This one's too snowy, anyways."

"Sans, all of them are snowy! What is going on wi-"

I pounded my fist on the counter suddenly, startling even myself. He stared at me from behind the couch, speechless, for once. Sudden fits of anger. Heat, pain, my stomach in knots. Bursts of hatred-fueled power, power that I didn't even know the existence of. This was not who I was.

"Papyrus. We have to leave." I gulped. My voice was failing on me, for the first time in a long time. The lump in my throat felt like it weighed a ton.

"They're going to kill us."

As the sun lay its first finger on the mountains, the two of us began to stumble into the distance. The town, the lights, the warmth that radiated around it even in the worst storms, just because of the fact that there were people there, we left it all behind, trekking into a frozen wasteland without direction. I didn't know if we'd make it anywhere. If we'd just walk until we were buried underneath the snow that whipped us furiously.

Was it selfish? I'm not sure. They weren't after him, after all. They wanted me. I had dragged my brother along into a life of uncertainty in order to run from my own problems.

I was worse than distasteful. Worse than vile. I was... pitiful.

Things could have been different. We could still have been in that town now; Papyrus could have become a master in fighting, and I could have been making my own joke book. I could have compromised with the three bears. Maybe the town wouldn't regard me as some kind of monster. It could have worked itself out, even.

But I didn't. Even. Try.

Is all of this my fault?

... Papyrus...