Chapter Text
“heh, guess that’s it, huh?”
“Well, don’t say I didn't warn you.”
“welp, i’m goin ta grillb-b-b-b-b-b-b-“
*static*
“...”
“...”
“..wh-why would you do this?”
“..are you really.. such a horrible person?”
“..you didn’t have to h-hurt us..”
“..but you did.. you- you really are the true monster, aren’t you..?”
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The scenario had glitched in a way that Geno hadn’t expected. the sans that the human killed.. he was just a kid! Did Geno somehow switch aus? what had just happened?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the human wore a cruel smile, and Sans glares, his blue-purple eye glowing angrily as he mutters;
“I won't let you. I won't let you kill anyone else.”
He lifts his shaking, melting hand, and holds the human in place with blue magic, while several gaster blasters fire up above them, and bones form, preparing to attack.
but before he can make his move, his vision wobbles, and blackness creeps in at the corners of his sight.
and just like that, the human deals the final blow, and he melts into dust.
“AAH!! N-NO!!”
he shoots awake, his momentum sending him spinning in the low gravity as he tries to catch his breath.
“..hhh..”
he blinks, then sighs, mumbling;
“..hh.. crud..”
just then, his brother opens the door to his room, announcing;
“BROTHER! I HEARD YOU YELL AND I CAME TO INVESTIGATE!”
Sans jumps, well, as much as someone can jump midair, and looks over at his bro.
“..h-hey bro. mornin’..”
“..brother? did- did you have a nightmare?”
Sans looks away, trying not to remember what it felt like to turn to dust, and failing.
he covers his face, trying to block the tears that pool in his eyes, and, again, failing.
“..brother- don’t cry! I am here! just.. Please, say something? you- you’re worrying me..”
his brother walked over, looking up at Sans with concern.
“.. i-i’m sorry.. i- i didn’t mean to wake you up..”
Papyrus blinks at his brother, then says;
“No need to be sorry brother! i, the great papyrus, will help you go back to sleep, by letting you sleep in my room!”
Sans wipes his eyes on his sleeve, mumbling;
“you really are the best bro..”
“Now, how do we get you down from there?”
Papyrus asks, frowning, his scarf seeming to move on his own as he thinks.
Sans blinks, then shortcuts to the floor, flopping on his back and letting out a small sigh.
as the world stops spinning, Papyrus picks up Sans and carries him to his room.
“Today is the day, brother! today we will finally get to meet a human, I can feel it!”
The two brothers walked towards the wrecked ship at the edge of their moon.
“I can feel it.. in my bones!! nyeh!”
“good one, bro.”
“I know!”
Sans yawns as he follows his brother, kicking a snowball, and sending it spinning into the air.
“brother, why don’t you go on ahead? I'll catch up in a bit!”
“sure, okay.”
Sans shrugs, and shortcuts to the exit of the old wrecked ship, and smiles a bit as he gets an idea.
he grins, knocking on the door, and says;
“knock knock!”
*nobody came
“..who’s there?”
“etch.”
“etch who?”
“bless you!”
Sans laughs a bit, sitting down and leaning against the door, staring up at the stars above him.
In the silence, he hears voices from behind the door, making him blink, and get up, pressing his skull to the door to hear the conversation.
“i will escort you, human, so that you may return to your home safely”
“thank you, miss toriel.”
“Of course, my child.”
then the door creaks, making Sans jump, and shortcut back a few feet.
Queen Toriel and a human child step out, and blink at Sans, who says;
“..uh.. heya..?”
Queen Toriel and the human blink at him, and Sans shifts uncomfortably, his eyelights flicking to his boots as he shoves his hands into his pockets.
Then, after a moment, Queen Toriel smiles kindly, saying;
“Hello there, little one.”
“. . .”
“..ey! I ain’t little!”
Sans crosses his arms, glowering.
Queen Toriel laughs a bit, saying;
“Of course not!”
The human giggles at Sans’ expression, and he cracks a smile, laughing a bit too.
“Why are you out here, young one?”
“..mm.. me an’ my bro were gonna look fer a human..”
“Your.. brother?”
“..yeah, Paps would be so excited ta meet a human.. uhm.. Papyrus, i mean.”
“Well, perhaps he can meet Frisk here.”
“..yeah, okay.”
“Oh, dear! I forgot to ask your name!”
“..Sans. Sans the skeleton.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Sans! I am Toriel.”
Just then, a voice calls from further into the forest of stardin;
“SAANNSS!!”
Sans jumps, turning around to see Papyrus running towards him from in the forest.
“..aand there he is.”
Sans sighs a bit, rolling his eyes a bit as Papyrus skids to a stop infront of him.
“SANS! I FINALLY FOUND YOU!”
Papyrus blinks at Toriel and Frisk, then his eyes sparkle and he exclaims;
“AA HUMANN!!”
The human blinks, hiding behind Toriel’s dress.
“..Paps, you’re scaring ‘em..”
“..oh- sorry! Nyeh, i did not mean to frighten you, human..”
Papyrus looks down, and Sans immediatly goes to his brother’s side, murmuring;
“nah, it’s alright. ya didn’t mean to. i’m sure it’s fine..”
“Nyeh! You’re right!”
Sans lets out a small sigh of releif, shrugging a bit at Toriel’s questioning look.
“Human! I, the great Papyrus, do not know your name! And if i do not know your name, we cannot be friends yet! Therefore! I wish to learn your name!”
The human blinks at papyrus, then says quietly;
“..Frisk.”
“Frisk, you said? Excellent! Now we can offically be friends! Nyeh heh heh!”
“..c’mon bro, ya seem like yer a bit.. ‘spaced out’?”
Sans says, chuckling at his brother’s reaction to the pun.
“BROTHERRR!!”
“Heheheheh! C’mon.. I thought it was pretty.. ‘Humerus’?”
“NYEEEHH!!”
“heheheheheheh- ouf-”
Sans blinks, frowning at the snow on his face.
“NYEH! I got you, brother!!”
“..heh, yeah, you did.”
Papyrus seems put out by his brother’s acceptance of defeat, challenging;
“Well? Aren’t you gonna throw one at me?”
“huh?”
“A snowball, you bonehead!”
“..uhm..”
Sans glances at Frisk, and as he meets their gaze…
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Flashes of previous timelines flicker in the skeleton’s skull, making him flinch, his eyesockets going black and empty. The human.. Chara.. Had.. hurt him, and his friends and family.. With no good reason. Sans glares at the human, determined to make their sins crawl on their back.
Determined to make them have a very, v e r y bad time.
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“ah!-”
Sans jumps, his eyelights flickering out as he stumbles backwards, breathing heavily.
“Sans? Brother, are you alright?”
Sans frowns, his eyesockets narrowing as he thinks, having not heard his brother.
These weren’t his memories.. They were.. Some *other* sans’ memories. So.. why was he remembering them? What did this have to do with *him*? They’re clearly not from his timeline.. The judgment hall doesn’t look like that.. Neither does stardin, for that matter. And.. the human. Chara.. That name.. That was the human that Toriel and Asgore adopted as their own child. Why did they seem so… cruel..?
“SANS!”
“...AH! …s-stars, Paps.. ya- ya scared me..”
“..Brother, i- i have been calling your name for three minutes..”
“. . .”
“…what?”
“Sans, is this about the nightmare?”
Sans looks away, unable to meet his brother’s, or either of the two onlookers’ gaze.
“..it is, isn’t it?”
“..are you sure you’re alright, brother?”
Sans huffs, his eyelights rolling a bit.
“m’fine, bro. don’t worry. imma go home now, cya.”
and before his brother can protest, Sans shortcuts back to his room, using blue magic to flick the snow still on his face out the window.
After the snow is gone, Sans uses blue magic to grab a notebook and a pen, mumbling to himself about timelines and alternate universes, at one point smacking himself in the face with the heel of his palm, accidentally creating a tiny crack in his skull, and ignoring it.
as he thinks and writes, he mutters;
“this definitely wasn’t my timeline. The judgment hall was different. not to mention stardin..”
“.. and i was a lot older.. tch, even in this timeline, i’m normally older than twelve.. thirty five, usually, i think.. so, about two decades.. twenty three, to be exact..”
he pauses to think, then continues;
“.. what could have happened to screw up this timeline?”
he thinks harder, and memories of previous timelines.. genocide timelines in particular..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He ran to where his brother had fought the human, but he wasn’t there.. and the only thing left was his scarf.. stained by stardust.
his eyes widen as he feels the human’s blade slice across his chest..
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the crack in his skull snaps, widening as his eyes darken with hopeless thoughts.
“GAH- ack- ghh-“
his hand snaps to the crack, and he hisses, his eyes narrowed in pain.
“..n-no.. stop! stupid!”
he scolds himself, glowering at the notebook.
“..stupid!”
he mutters one last time, then rolls his eyelights at himself and continues trying to think of what could have gone wrong in his timeline.
…
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scenes, scenarios, images of people who had been turned to dust..
the memories of deaths flashed in his mind, horrifyingly vivid and distinct, seeming clear enough to touch..
Everyone..
Everyone was dead.
Everyone was dead, and it was all his fault.
all because he hadn’t done anything.
no..
n-no.
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“NO!”
Sans snaps out of his thoughts as his skull cracks more, the jagged edge nearing his eyesocket.
he stares at his hands, trying to catch his breath as blood flickers in his vision, covering his fingers..
“..hhh.. hhh.. n-no..”
he mumbles, shaking his head to disperse the dark thoughts.
“..i can’t give up.”
he glares at the notebook, then checks his stats..
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*Sans. atk: 1. def: 1. hp: 0.6/1
*is having a bad time.
-----------------------------------------------
“..0.6? ..jeez.”
he mutters, ignoring the ’humerus’ statement underneath his stats.
“..i swear, if that kid tries anything, i’ll friggin make them wish they never landed on our planet.”
he growls after a moment, his blue-purple eye flashing dangerously.
---------------------------------------------------------------
*you used Determination. your HP was restored to max.
---------------------------------------------------------------
…
“…whaaaaaat??”
Sans blinks, checking his stats again, confused.
-----------------------------------------------
*Sans. atk: 1. def: 1. hp: 1/1
*doesn’t know how to use DT. yet.
-----------------------------------------------
“..huh.. yet, it says..”
he blinks, frowning.
“..mehh.. i need a naap..”
he mumbles, getting up and falling face-first onto his bed, sound asleep before he even hits the pillow.
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He sat in the lab, staring past his brother’s scarf, which was held in his hand, his eyelights vacant from his sockets.
His friends talked near him, but he wasn’t listening to their conversation. The only thing he could think about was his brother.. and how he had been needlessly murdered.
the human hadn’t needed to kill him.. yet they did, not caring about consequences..
“Sans, I loved him too..”
Undyne’s hand lands on his shoulder, and sans turns swiftly, glaring at the fish, before shaking his head a bit, saying jokingly;
“sorry, Undyne, you scared the ‘carp’ out of me.”
“…”
Undyne stares at him for a moment, before muttering;
“right, that’s how you always are..”
Both he and Alphys watch as she walks out of the lab, yelling something about ‘everyone chanting her name’ and ‘not giving up’.
“..Alphys?”
“y-yes, Sans?”
“Do you keep the recordings from the cameras?”
“y-yes, but- why-“
“..do you have any around Snowdin?”
he snapped out of his nightmare with a *crack*
----------------------------------------------------------------
The crack had been real, somehow . . .
and his vision was only usable with one eye.
oh..
oh, no..
“..no. no, no, no..”
he can’t wrap his head around it..
“no, no, no, no, no, no, no..”
he can’t think.
“no no no no no no no no no no no..”
he’s spiraling..
“no no no no no no no no no no no no no..”
At first, all he can feel is anger..
“no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no..”
then.. the hurt comes. the pain. the grief.
“..no-“
a sob catches in his throat.
“..n-n-not.. no.. n-no..”
he refuses to accept it..
“..n-not.. not p-p-p..”
he can’t..
“..n-no..”
not..
“..n-not.. n-no..”
there went
“..p-p-paps..”
his happy ending.
“..p-papyrus..”
he doesn’t hear
“..n-no..”
when someone opens his door.
“..wh-why..”
he doesn’t hear
“..no..”
his brother call his name.
“…n-no..”
he’s
stuck
in
a
loop.
“..no..”
a
loop
of
darkness.
“. . .”
a
loop
of
t o r t u r e . . .
“..you do remember what happens when you make a mistake, correct?”
he freezes as the cold tone in his father’s voice, his eyes going wide and empty.
“..so, Sans.”
his father says, more loudly, and in a much kinder tone.
“..tell us about your dream.”
it wasn’t a question. it was a demand.
“..i-i can’t..”
Sans mumbles, barely audible even to himself.
“What was that? I couldn't hear you.”
Sans looks up at Gaster, his sockets still as black and empty as a void.
“.. i. c a n ‘ t.”
Gaster stares right back, unphased.
“you must.”
“ . . . “
“Why is he acting like that?”
Toriel’s voice asks, and Gaster replies;
“he has pushed away his emotions. I believe it is his way of dealing with pain.”
“..Papyrus was dead.”
Sans mutters, trying to hold back the tears that prick at his eyes.
Gaster merely raises an eyebrow, and says irritably;
“Papyrus was the one who said you needed assistance. besides, it was a dream.”
Sans’s eyes widen, and he hisses a curse under his breath, glowering at Gaster.
“..it. was. r e a l.”
he snaps, then shortcuts into the ice forest of Stardin.
as his vision glitches from his house to the forest, he hears a distorted voice, Papyrus, who says;
“Wait! Don’t leave! You haven’t heard about the sleepover the human and I are having!”
He stares around the ice forest for a second, then snaps back to his room, his gaze locked on Papyrus.
“..So! While you were sleeping, Frisk and Miss Toriel stayed here, and then Frisk got tired so I said we should have a slumber party!”
“..th-the human’s stayin in yer room..?”
Papyrus blinks at him.
“Yes, of course! Where else would we sleep? In your room? The living room?”
“..right, good point..”
Sans mumbles, then sighs a bit, before saying;
“hey, why don’t i join yer party? I could read you two a story if ya want..”
“Nyeh! Of course you are welcome!! Come on! Nyeh heh heh heh!!”
Sans follows his brother into his room, eyeing the human as they also follow his bro.
as Papyrus and Frisk settle into Sans’s brother’s bed, he sits down by the door, prompting his brother to ask;
“Sans, are you alright sleeping there? We can make room if you want..”
“..nah, m’fine here bro. y’know i can sleep anywhere.”
“Alright, if you say so.”
as Papyrus and the human drift to sleep, Sans sits there, his eyelights flashing brightly in a dark, intense blue-purple.
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the next morning, Papyrus woke, and looked over to where Sans sat, and he jumped, exclaiming;
“Sans! you’re awake before i am!”
Sans blinks, looking over at his brother, mumbling;
“..mmmornin bro..”
“Sans!! you didn’t sleep at all!!”
“..mm..”
“..hrmm, it's almost as if you were staying awake to protect me from some unseen, possibly imaginary threat..”
“UH.”
“but that can’t be right! we both know that I am the one who protects you!!”
Papyrus picks Sans up in a hug as he says this.
“..y-yeah.. s-sure..”
Sans mumbles, his eyelights flicking away.
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Later, Sans & Papyrus show Toriel and Frisk to Grillby’s, and Sans gets Papyrus a shake.
afterwards, Sans goes back home, saying he’s gonna take a nap, but instead reading as much about Timelines and alternate universes as he can, trying to figure out who could be giving him the dreams, meaning that when Papyrus comes back home, he finds that Sans is just as or more tired than when he, Papyrus, woke up.
…
…
“SANS!!”
Sans jumps, his eyelights flicking out as he looks up at his brother.
“Sans. You look worse than you did this morning, and I am beginning to suspect that you are not alright.”
“…mmhhgg…”
“..Sans.. I know this may not be the best time.. but I want to.. tell you something.”
“..yeah, bro?”
“..I know.. a lot about you. more than other people.. and.. I know you don’t tell me a lot. about yourself. I know you keep secrets.. from me, from everyone.”
“..b-bro..”
“and I just want you to know that I can be- no, I want to be here for you! I am your brother, and I want to help!”
“…”
“..so.. if there’s something wrong, please.. tell me? if you’re alright with it, and.. whenever you’re ready.. I'm here. okay?”
“…p-paps..”
“..yes brother?”
“..you’re the best, bro.”
“..Sans..”
Papyrus rolls his eyes, sighing.
“Really, though, Sans. if there’s anything wrong, please, tell me.”
“..bro.. i don’t think i can.”
“why not?”
“..i don’t got the ‘guts’ for it.”
“oh my goodness Sans i swear-“
Sans laughs at the pun he made, adding;
“i jus’ don’t have the ‘backbone’ to do it.”
“SANS. OH MY GOD.”
“eehhheheheheheheheheheheheh!”
“..uuooohhhh..”
Sans mumbles after a moment, a hand going to his skull where a minuscule crack was slowly creeping towards his socket.
“Sans. You need. To rest. Now.”
“okay.”
Sans murmurs, his sockets drifting shut as his brother picks him up, taking him to his room. again.
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Sans wakes up, and looks around his brother’s room, frowning.
“…Paps?”
“Paps, where are you?”
----------------------
*but nobody came
---------------------
his mind flashes back to the dream. the one where…
“s h i t.”
Sans gets up, ignoring his spinning head as he dashes onto the balcony overlooking the living room, his eyelights searching for his brother’s scarf.
to no avail.
“PAPS!”
“WHERE ARE YOU?!”
He waits a moment, listening, then growls under his breath, his blue-purple eyelight flashing menacingly as he shortcuts to the spot where, in his dream, he had found his brother’s scarf.
he scans the densely foggy area for a second, then yells (rather frantically)
“PAAPS!! WHERE ARE YOU?!”
--------------------------------
*again, n o b o d y c a m e.
-------------------------------
“…”
“i swear to Asgore if that stupid little brat-“
he cuts himself off, not wanting to voice his fears.
“..PAPYRUS?! …c-can.. CAN YOU HEAR ME??!”
he hears giggling.
why would-
it doesn’t sound like-
did the human-
was his dream-
is his brother…
actually..
. . .
d e a d . . . ?
. . .
“..p-paps- this- this isn’t f-funny..”
“..c-come out already..”
…laughter.
“..why-why aren’t you a-answering me?..”
“..b-bro?”
he frowns worriedly, slowly pacing through the thick fog, trying to see in front of himself. and failing.
“awwwh, Sans..”
the voice startles him, making him jump out of his skin. haha..
“You always did look after your dear brother, didn't you?”
whoever’s talking, their tone is one of mockery, and their voice.. is vaguely familiar..
“hehehe! what’s wrong, Sansy? don’t you remember me? your best friend?”
they giggle, and, as sans peers through the astral fog, he sees the figure. the human. but not Frisk. of course it’s not them.
it’s
her.
the faceless (well, not so faceless anymore) antagonist in all of his nightmares.
Chara.
“heheh! that look on your face; that’s the look of someone who’s terrified! hahahah!”
“where is he.” Sans demanded, his eyelight flashing ominously.
“oh? miss your brother already? well, don’t worry…”
her eyes fill with black, which starts dripping like tears.
“you'll be with him soon!! SIX FEET UNDER!! AAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!”
“..you-“
Sans stares, knowing his eyelight had flickered out.
“..you k i l l e d him…”
“Yeah! of course! hehehe!”
“. . .”
it
had
been
…
r e a l.
he stares at the white snow, his gaze falling through it, and into a void of emptiness. unbeknownst to him, his eyelights, both of them, had flashed back on, in an enraged crimson.
“Awh, boo hoo. I’m surprised that you didn’t expect this.” Chara says, raising an eyebrow.
“...i’ll kill you.”
Sans mutters, his bloody eyelights flicking to the kid’s face.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Geno watches as Chara and the Sans face off, concerned for the Sans. afterall, he was clearly too mad to see reason, and the reason he should flee rather than attack. “C’mon kid, you gotta run away! The human’s too strong!”
But, of course, the younger skeleton couldn't hear him. So it was useless.
But he had an idea.