Chapter 2
Guilt
Papyrus was at Undyne's house, training as usual; except he was rather slow today. Usually he's full of energy, ready to do anything he puts his mind to. But after seeing what Sans did to the human... he didn't know what to think of it. All throughout his training with Undyne, he would keep his head down, as if he was ashamed. He got nailed by a few of Undyne's spears, which was normal. Papyrus wasn't concerned with dodging, but instead with blocking. Normally he'd very good at blocking Undyne's spears, but today he was slouching. After some time, Undyne stopped throwing spears; noticing Papyrus's change in attitude.
"Papyrus! What's gotten into you today?!" Undyne, straight to the point as always. Papyrus looked at her, struggling to make eye contact with her. He didn't want to tell her what Sans did, but at the same time he felt like he didn't have a choice in the matter. He felt like he had to tell her what happened, how else was he to become a member of the Royal Guard one day? But… was it worth it to rat out his brother? "PAPYRUS!" Undyne's yell shook Papyrus, and he started to panic.
"UNDYNE… CAN… CAN I TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOMETHING?" Undyne looked somewhat surprised that Papyrus wanted to talk about something and actually asked. Papyrus had always just been right to the point with her, but this time it was different. "I… I SAW SANS DO SOMETHING. I SAW SANS… KILL A HUMAN EARLIER TODAY." Undyne's eyes seemed to widen, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sans, the laziest pile of bones in the Underground, killing a human himself?
"What?! Well, that's great! Come on, if Asgore gets that soul, we'll be outta here!" Papyrus's eyes lit up. How could he have forgotten? Sans hadn't killed someone that was important to keep alive for the Underground's sake, but instead he killed someone that needed to die in the first place. Suddenly he felt a lot better about this whole situation.
"YEAH… YEAH, YOU'RE RIGHT! COME WITH ME, I REMEMBER WHERE I FOUND SANS. IT'S IN SNOWDIN FOREST!" And with that, Papyrus and Undyne were on their way. If they took the soul, then Sans wouldn't be seen as a villain, but as a hero. Papyrus needed to get the soul to Asgore as fast as possible.
Sans was struggling to sleep. He felt so guilty because of what he did. Not only did he kill a human, but he ran away from Papyrus when he tried to help. He suddenly envied Frisk, and their power to reset. If Sans could, he would go back and stop this from ever happening; but he had no choice anymore. But in a way, this was a good thing. In one of the many timelines, Frisk had actually managed to free the monsters from the Underground and they made it to the human world. However… the humans… they didn't take kindly to monsters living on the surface. In a matter of hours, it was an all-out war. Mothers killed in front of their children… children killed in front of their mothers… it was chaos. Sans couldn't let something like that ever happen again. So he swore to himself that he would stop Frisk from ever releasing the monsters to the surface world.
Realization struck Sans like a truck. Since he killed the human, their soul was right out in the open. If he let someone grab the soul, then they would break the barrier, and there would be nobody to reset the timeline. Sans couldn't let that happen. He had no choice but to take the soul himself, and he'd worry later about what he could do with it. But for now, he absolutely HAD to get that soul. If Papyrus had already taken it... he didn't want to think about what he would have to do to take the soul from him. He had no time to waste, he teleported straight to Snowdin.
It didn't take Sans long to find the soul. Papyrus hadn't taken it yet; so everything was lining up perfectly for him. He walked towards the Soul slowly. He knew what this soul was capable of. He wondered to himself if he could ever obtain these powers if he were to absorb the soul. "frisk… i really wish we could've been friends. at times, you tried to save us all. though, it didn't work out in the end. but that wasn't your fault. maybe that's what made you want to kill everyone… i don't know. regardless… thanks for trying to help when you did." Sans held the soul in his hands. It was a bright red color, and shined his reflection. He couldn't see anything inside of it, and he just kept staring at himself for a while. He felt so guilty for what he'd done the past day. But what choice did he have? Frisk would have killed everyone if he didn't do what he did. Suddenly, there were 2 other figures that showed up in the reflection. They were both significantly taller than he was. As they got closer, Sans's eyes went completely dim, his white pupils fading out completely. "SANS? IS THAT YOU?" Papyrus had come back, and with Undyne. This was officially a really bad situation for him.
"bro… why are you here?" Sans was scared. Not so much for himself, but for his brother. Undyne would try something stupid, seeing as how she got mad so easily. He needed to get out of there, fast.
"We're here for the soul, Sans! With that soul, we could escape this prison forever!" Sans was scared that she'd say that. He sighed loudly. He didn't want to do this, but he had no choice.
"look guys… i'm really sorry but…" Sans turned to them, and absorbed the soul right in front of them. He closed his eyes, and once he reopened them, both of his eyes shined a bright blue color. "I really can't let you two have this soul. I'm really sorry. But if I let the two of you have this… the entire monster race could be at risk." Undyne and Papyrus stared at him, dumbfounded. For once, Sans sounded so… serious. It was like he was an entirely new person to the two of them, now that he absorbed that soul.
"Sans… you do know what happens next now that you've done that, right? That soul is the key to our freedom. And… if it's a part of you… then…" Undyne summoned a spear to her hands. Papyrus looked like he wanted to cry a new ocean. Sans looked at Papyrus. He felt even guiltier now. Papyrus did absolutely nothing wrong, he was always walking around there. In every single timeline he was always there. Sans didn't take this into account. He should have just killed Frisk earlier and hid the soul, before Papyrus showed up. Regardless… he didn't want to fight Undyne. He felt so weird now, though. Even his voice felt different. He knew what to do, and he hated it but he had to do it.
"Alright Undyne… I'm gonna warn you once." Sans summoned a Gaster Blaster next to him, aimed directly at Undyne. "Leave, now. Nobody has to get hurt, nobody has to know. Just back away and go home, and don't open your mouth about this." Undyne looked even angrier now. Sans, in just one minute, not only absorbed the key to her freedom, but threatened to kill her. She started to walk forward.
"Sans… you… do NOT want to fuck with me right now…" Undyne was really mad now. She looked like she wanted to jump at Sans and shove her spear right through his skull. Sans's Gaster Blaster slowly started to open. Suddenly, Papyrus jumped in between the two of them.
"ENOUGH! PLEASE, BOTH OF YOU, STOP THIS. WE DON'T NEED TO FIGHT OVER THIS!" His voice was butchered by his tears. Seeing Papyrus like that emotionally tore at Sans. He couldn't do this, he just couldn't. "BROTHER… PLEASE JUST TALK TO ME. I CAN HELP YOU. I CAN FIX YOU! PLEASE, JUST TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG. I'LL LISTEN! I PROMISE!" Papyrus wanted so badly to help. Sans felt guiltier and guiltier, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't begin to explain the full story behind what's happening.
"Paps… I'm sorry." Sans pointed his blasted at the ground and fired it. Smoke rose up, covering them both. Sans took the time he had to teleport back to the bench in Waterfall. He couldn't fight Undyne, not with Papyrus there. He had done enough for today anyways. He needed a break. He felt so much different… so much stronger. Absorbing the human soul really changed him. He laid down on the bench, he was exhausted. He closed his eyes, and quickly drifted to sleep. He was scared of what would happen in the morning, but he didn't care right now. He needed today to end.