Chapter 27: Gone

Papyrus hadn't seen his brother all day, and he was beginning to become concerned.

He knew that Sans would occasionally disappear—sometimes in the middle of a conversation—but this time just felt… different. As if his brother wasn't simply holed up in his bedroom or in the basement. And there was a peculiar sense of something missing.

Today was inexplicably different from yesterday.

It was quiet, which was typical for when Sans was snoozing somewhere, but it almost felt too quiet. Early was never really a time his brother enjoyed being awake, but he usually would have slouched out of his room to take up residence on the couch by now. Or he would have already passed by as he headed out to his post or to Grillby's or to the basement lab.

He tried to remember if anything noteworthy had happened last night: anything that could have hurt or unsettled Sans.

But Papyrus had yet to see tooth nor bone of his brother all morning. He knew Sans was a lazybones, but this was unusual. Poking his head out of the kitchen to send a worried look up toward his brother's room, Papyrus decided he was going to have to take action.

Dusting off stray noodle-bits from his mittens and hanging his apron off the tall sink, he took a moment to check that the tomato bobbing about in the pot of pasta was softening up nicely. Perhaps Sans could be persuaded from his room by the power of delicious spaghetti.

"SANS?" he called, hoping to get a response. Even if it would probably be a pun of some sort.

He headed for the stairs. When he passed by the dirty sock, he noticed that the notes were no longer standing upright. They were scattered, as if whatever had been holding them up was gone. For some reason, that made him even more worried.

His red boots thunked loudly on the steps.

"I KNOW THAT… YOU…"

He reached the top of the stairs, and got a clear view of the door to Sans's bedroom. There was no flickering firelight at the base of the door. No red and gold flames harmlessly defending his brother's room.

Something cold settled into his bones.

"…SANS?"

No response.

Papyrus hurried to the door, knocking twice and impatiently waiting for his brother to pop up and tease him for worrying over some prank.

No response.

Maybe Sans was still asleep.

Hesitating for a moment, he finally got out his copy of the key. The lock clicked and the door swung open to darkness. He flicked on the lights.

Nobody was there.

There was the treadmill, shoved out of the way against the wall. Five socks had collected in one corner of the room, opposite the dresser with the broken lamp. The mattress had only the bundle of clumped up sheets, no sleeping brother to be found.

The unusual quiet was even more obvious now, and, with a start, Papyrus noticed that the tornado of trash in the corner of the room had fallen apart into a pile of garbage.

Sans was gone.

He shoved that thought away, refusing to acknowledge the possibility. Perhaps his habitually lazy brother had actually gone to his post, and he simply hadn't noticed him leave. That had to be it.

Right?

Papyrus was out the door, tearing out of Snowdin as fast as his long legs could carry him. Some of the other residents gave startled shouts as he passed them. He didn't care.

Crossing the narrow bridge then skidding on ice, he ran past all of his deactivated puzzles—as well as the cleared space set aside for whatever puzzle his brother came up with. But at the moment, the tall skeleton didn't care that the spot was empty. Sans wasn't there, and that was all he noticed.

Any of the other sentries he happened across, he asked if they had seen him. None of them had.

As he neared his brother's sentry station—the farthest one from town—he found himself slowing down. He needed to know, to hurry and find his brother, to reassure himself that Sans was okay, but at the same time… a part of him already knew.

The station was empty.

Sans was gone.

Feeling almost numb, Papyrus blindly continued down the path. Tall tree after tall tree passed him by. He knew there was a door at the end; it led into the Ruins, and his brother had mentioned once that it was a great place to practice knock-knock jokes. Maybe, perhaps…

His footsteps crunched loudly through the snow. He barely noticed.

The purple stone wall that marked the boundary of the Ruins rose into view between the trees. There was a large stick in the path. He stepped on it, and it cracked loudly though the quiet.

There was nobody by the door.

Papyrus stood there, and, although there were other places Sans might yet be, he thought he knew why the world had felt so inexplicably different today.

Because something was missing.

Someone.

That realization hit with SOUL-deep certainty. It hit, and it felt like he was shattering. Everything hurt and everything in the world was wrong, because his brother was gone.

In front of him, the door swung open.

He barely noticed.

"I do not wish to fight," somebody said, confident but defensive. "So long as you intend my child no harm, you…"

The voice petered away when, slowly, Papyrus looked up.

In the doorway stood a tall monster with fluffy white fur, rich purple robes, and a large paw held out protectively to defend a small figure hiding behind her. From one of her pockets glared a familiar yellow flower who, despite his scowl, seemed mostly rattled by the entire situation.

"Oh, goodness…" Her tone softened, becoming worried and gentle. "Are you alright?"

Flowey was staring at him, the flower's bewilderment twisting into shocked disbelief: near denial, but now faced with too many signs to continue crying false.

Then there was a painful, strangled noise—as if somebody else had just witnessed the confirmation of all of their worst fears. A small hand pushed aside the shielding paw, and a small child stumbled out into the snowy clearing. They were short, fragile as hope, and human.

And they were trembling, tears in their eyes. "H-he's really g-gone, isn't he?"

Papyrus had no idea who this human was, but, somehow, he knew they were asking about Sans. There was nobody else they could have been asking about. He didn't care that it made no sense.

Because nothing made sense.

Sans was gone.

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Undertale.

Happy—! Uh, today isn't really a holiday, so far as I know. So I guess this is just 'Happy June 24'!
(Or sad. This chapter was pretty sad.)

I have an older brother, and I can't imagine what the world would be like without him in it.

Sans is well and truly gone: not replaced or forgotten, but simply… missing. Cut out of the fabric from the very moment reality reset that final time. His brother feels it, a sudden unease shivering down his spine. And Frisk… well, to be honest, they knew that Sans wouldn't be waiting for them outside the Ruins—knew that he was gone. But they still hoped that maybe, just maybe, he would be there.
He wasn't, of course.

Here's a question for you guys: What do you think should happen with the selection of the Champions? Should it still be Cedric? What about Cassius? Wouldn't that be a twist! Will our dynamic duo prevent Harry's entry entirely? Hmm… questions, questions.

I have other exciting news, but I haven't gotten permission to share that here yet. Suffice to say, it's freakin' unbelievable!

Usual updates are on the first of the month, this one's just special.
Thanks for all the support in reviews, favorites, and follows! You guys are amazing, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

2104lm: There will definitely be a boggart confrontation, although I haven't quite landed on just what Sans's boggart will be. A lot of the things one might consider him scared of—most notably his brother's death—have happened before, countless times, to the extent that they're almost empty fears.

Kinji: Sirius's disguise is a lot of transfiguration of his hairs, so Mad-Eye's magical eye wouldn't pick up on it as easily. You do have a point about Sans's glamour, however. All I can say is, it's actually a good thing this Mad-Eye isn't genuine.

FanGirl: I, too, like dogs.

Guest: I… I don't think that word means quite what you think it means. Sans, quite simply, is not interested. If anything, in this situation, he's is like an undercover cop.

See ya on the flipside, everyone!