Notes at the bottom.
A moment later, Sans awoke. He took a deep, gulping breath, like someone who'd been drowning and had come up for air. He could feel tears prickling painfully at the corners of his eye-sockets. Blue flame covered the entire left side of his face, springing uncontrollably from his left eye-socket.
Before he could take a moment to observe his surroundings, Sans snapped into a sitting position. He groped his chest, panicking, searching for the handle of the knife that had stabbed him before; only to find nothing there. Sans looked down at his chest, and still there was nothing. Just clothes and bones.
"huuuuh…" Sans let out a ragged sigh, trembling. The blue flames dimmed slightly, receding so that only his left eye-socket glowed with their ethereal light. He flopped back down again, shaking his skull to fight off the tears that still threatened to fall. His left hand still grasped his white shirt, feeling the rapid beating of his soul.
Sans stared up at the ceiling, breathing deeply to try and calm himself. After a few moments, his thoughts were coherent enough to broach the subject.
i just died… right?
Images flashed in front of Sans' eyes. An image of a kid in a blue and purple jumper. A knife in his chest, with ketchup running down the sides. A murderous smile. And a name; Chara. Unlike before, the images were crystal clear, each detail recorded in grisly, horrifying detail. Sans recalled the agonizing pain of his soul splitting apart into a hundred broken shards. He remembered the numbness as his bones turned to dust. Sans shivered, suddenly feeling much colder than any day in Snowdin could have ever made him feel.
Thum-thum-thum-thum.
Sans tensed at the sound of footsteps to his right approaching his bedroom door, his pupils contracting and his left eye glowing brighter. His instinct, forced into overdrive by confusion and distress, screamed at him to teleport as far away as possible. Sans mentally reached inside himself, about to activate his magic reserves and teleport when a loud voice boomed through the door.
"BROTHER! GET UP, LAZYBONES! A HUMAN WON'T CAPTURE THEMSELVES, YOU KNOW!"
Sans stopped himself immediately, sitting up to attention again.
papyrus! it's just papyrus! thank god.
As Sans sat up, a sting punctured his skull, less painful than before but still enough to make Sans dizzy for a few seconds and grunt in discomfort.
"grggh!"
"SANS? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Papyrus' voice, just as before, was filled with concern. Sans paused for an extended moment, realization dawning.
It was all the same. Sans darted his eye-sockets across the room, taking note of every little detail. Everything was in the exact same place as the previous night. Even his fur-lined jacket, normally thrown haphazardly onto his desk, was folded neatly on top of it. The same way Papyrus had left it the night before after washing it.
The pain in Sans' skull intensified and he grunted again, louder. Papyrus called through the door again.
"SANS! ARE YOU HAVING A NIGHTMARE?! DO YOU NEED ME TO COME IN THERE AND SAVE YOU?!"
Under any other circumstance, Sans would have smiled at Papyrus' sweet yet confused idea and told Papyrus a pun. However, Sans definitely didn't want Papyrus to see him like this. While he was sure his brother would do everything possible to help him, Sans didn't want Papyrus to worry. He hated it when Papyrus worried about him.
He unclasped his hand from his chest, moving it up to his temple to rub and try and calm the pain slightly. He forced the light in his left eye-socket to dim completely, taking deep breaths. He steadied his voice.
"nah, i'm alright bro. just… fell off the bed and hit my head a little. don't worry i'm fine."
Sans thought the excuse was thin at best, with the lack of a pun making it seem doubly suspicious. Luckily, however, it seemed to satisfy Papyrus.
"OH...OKAY! MEET ME DOWNSTAIRS WHEN YOU FEEL A BIT BETTER! I'LL TAKE A LOOK AT IT BEFORE WE LEAVE!"
Before Sans could speak again, he heard Papyrus' footsteps retreating from the bedroom door.
Sans let out the breath he'd been holding, relaxing his shoulders. He suddenly felt very tired and guilty. Not only had he lied straight to Papyrus' face for the first time in a long time, but the pain in his head wasn't going away. The pain lessened, continuing as a dull throb, like a headache. Skeletons weren't even meant to have headaches.
Sans slowly, carefully, got out of bed, trying to stop another bout of dizziness. He knew he had a bit more time now that Papyrus thought he was a bit out of it. He took advantage of it as he slowly made his way to his desk to put on his jacket. At the mention of time, Sans' mind filled with new information, new questions and new confusion.
The first, and most important question was why he wasn't dead? There was no doubt that he'd died before. After that other came... Why was everything the same as it had been a couple of hours before, down to Papyrus' exact words? Why didn't Papyrus seem to remember Frisk or that the barrier should have been destroyed? Who exactly was Chara and what had he done with Frisk?
Sans groaned quietly to himself, slipping on his jacket. He rubbed his face with one sleeve to remove the almost-tears. The more he thought about those questions, the more puzzle-pieces appeared. The more pieces that appeared, the more complicated the question. It was a vicious and unsolvable cycle. The only thing that Sans could theorize was that somehow all that had happened over the past three days had been seemingly erased from everyone's memory. Except for his and maybe Chara's. Like some sort of RESET.
but that's impossible.noamount of magic could ever send someone back in time.
But clearly it was possible, or at least it was highly likely to be. In fact, if Sans was thinking about it the right way, time had already been reset twice; once when they'd escaped the Underground and again after he'd been… killed.
Sans opened his bedroom door and sluggishly made his way downstairs. As before, Papyrus stood by the front door. He looked a little less enthusiastic than last time though, possibly as a residual effect from his earlier worry. On seeing Sans, Papyrus walked up to him, beaming as normal, but with his eyebrows knitted and a serious glint to his eyes.
"AH, YOU CAME DOWN! AT LAST!" Papyrus put one gloved hand on Sans' right shoulder. "LET ME LOOK AT YOUR SKULL."
Before Sans could respond, Papyrus had already spun Sans around gently, carefully examining the back of Sans' skull for any obvious marks or cracks. The edges of Sans' mouth upturned slightly at his brother's gentle poking and prodding. He always thought that Papyrus was too concerned about other people and never concerned enough for himself, but he couldn't deny that it made him feel nice when Papyrus fussed over his health.
A short time later, the prodding stopped and Sans felt Papyrus retract his gloved hands from Sans' skull. Sans spun himself back around.
"everything lookin' good back there doc?" He said, smiling. Papyrus nodded, his eyes and eyebrows relaxed.
"THERE'S NO DAMAGE I CAN SEE. HONESTLY, SANS, YOU SHOULD TAKE MORE CARE OF HOW YOU SLEEP. BAD SLEEP POSTURE CAN LEAD TO ACCIDENTS, YOU KNOW."
"heh i know. i'll work on it." That seemed to satisfy Papyrus, who nodded and spun around to face the front door.
You just need to know that you and this whole world are now my new play-things.
Chara's words replayed in Sans' head. Sans shuddered. His bones stop moving and his soul started beating frantically. It felt as if he was paralyzed by a sudden, impossibly deep fear. Papyrus opened the door, revealing the main street.
"ARE YOU READY TO GO, SA-?" Papyrus turned back to see Sans, still standing in the living-room. His pupils were contracted, with faint traces of blue flame flashing within his left eye. The edges of his mouth downturned and his shoulders were tensed. "BROTHER?"
Sans jerked himself back into reality, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself again.
"yeah, pap?"
Papyrus frowned. "Sans, if there is something bothering you, you must tell me. AFTER ALL, THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN ALWAYS HELP WITH WHATEVER PROBLEM YOU ARE HAVING!"
Sans paused. Could he really tell Papyrus what had happened to him before? About him being killed and being terrified to meet the monster who'd killed him again?
no. i can't. even if he believed me, he'd just go and find them anyway.
He sighed.
"nah, pap, i'm… fine. i think i'm just bone-tired today." Sans rubbed the back of his skull with his right hand, shrugging. Papyrus frowned more, though Sans couldn't tell whether it was because of the pun or the excuse. Papyrus sighed loudly, huffing at Sans.
"IF YOU'RE WELL ENOUGH TO MAKE TERRIBLE PUNS, YOU SHOULD BE WELL ENOUGH TO RESET YOUR PUZZLES. BUT… I'LL ALLOW IT!"
Papyrus spun himself back to the front door, one finger pointed at the ceiling as he posed dramatically. The wind from outside created a breeze that made Papyrus' scarf flutter slightly. "NYEH HEH HEH. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GO AND RESET THE PUZZLES BY MYSELF! BROTHER; WAIT FOR ME! FOR TODAY, I AM CERTAIN THAT I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN AND BECOME THE MOST BELOVED MONSTER IN THE WHOLE UNDERGROUND!"
Sans smiled, rolling his eyes in his skull. His brother had a flare for dramatics.
"good luck with that bro."
With his speech finished, Papyrus started walking out into Snowdin's main street.
Your brother too.
Sans' pupils contracted, the recollected words making Sans's dread intensify further. He thought his bones had gone cold to the touch. Instinctively, Sans reached out his hand for Papyrus' scarf as he began to leave, grabbing it tightly. Papyrus stopped with a confused hum, turning back to look at Sans in utter confusion.
"SANS?"
Sans opened his mouth. He tried to tell Papyrus he couldn't leave. That if he did, he'd be killed by the human he so desperately wanted to capture. He knew that because he himself had already been killed once. But he closed his mouth, paused for a moment, and opened it again. "y-you know what? i want to see you set up your puzzles today."
Papyrus turned fully around, his pupils glistening with excitement.
"WHAT, YOU MEAN IT?!" Papyrus started trembling with happiness. "ARE YOU SURE?! YOU'RE NORMALLY NOT THAT INTERESTED!"
Sans forced out a chuckle, feeling his mouth tremble slightly as he made himself smile at Papyrus. "of course i'm serious bro. i want to see how impossible the great papyrus' puzzles really are."
Papyrus made a squealing noise, running over to Sans. He picked Sans up and hugged him, twirling around in a small circle before putting him down again.
is he really this excited about me seeing his puzzles?
An image flashed in Sans's mind of when Papyrus had met Frisk for the first time. He'd looked excited then too. Sadness seeped into Sans' mind before he brushed it away, maintaining his smile. "you ready to go?"
"I ALREADY ASKED YOU THAT! YES!" Papyrus exclaimed back, marching to the front door. Sans followed behind, grinning.
"sorry, pap, guess i'm a bit," Sans made one hand into a fist, knocking it onto his skull. A hollow knocking sound reverberated through his skull. "empty-headed lately."
Papyrus groaned, walking out into Snowdin. "THAT WAS EVEN WORSE THAN THE LAST ONE!"
Sans chuckled, walking out behind him.
As he closed the door of their house, he sighed, his brow creasing.
no-one's going to hurt him. i'll just go with him and warn him when i see the kid. yeah, and then we'll find out some way to deal with this.
Sans knew he probably couldn't get rid of Chara alone. But maybe, if he could at least stop Papyrus getting hurt, they could find a way to deal with that genocidal maniac in Frisk's body. Together.
Sans turned back around to Papyrus and together they walked to the ruins, both ready and unaware of what was going to happen next.
Hi again. So yeah, here's chapter 2 of the story. Hope everyone is enjoying this story at the moment. Stay tuned for the next chapter, where something definitely exciting is going to happen! In other news, I have been in contact with some people and may have some exciting news to announce in the next few weeks... hopefully. Anyway, until then, don't forget to rate and review and thanks again to my lovely beta-readers. ~Caz. P.S. Thank you Fontguy for making me realize I'd forgotten the casing. Hope it looks a bit better now.