Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sans opened his eyesockets in confusion. Why didn't he smell spaghetti? Or pie? Or any sort of food that Papyrus would have made already?
Sans groaned, realizing he'd have to pull himself out of bed. Luckily he'd discovered a new technique, one that Papyrus referred to as 'ABSURDLY LAZY' and 'RIDICULOUS'.
Ping.
His soul turned blue, and with a flick of his finger, Sans flew out of bed.
"who's lazy now, bro?" he chuckled to himself, standing up.
Making his way downstairs, he continually sniffed the air to no avail.
"damn, did paps really not make breakfast? maybe he went to ihop. ihope so."
Sans smiled at his own joke, and stepped into the kitchen. A pile of dust greeted him, with a scarf bundled on top.
Sans froze.
"p-papyrus…?"
His hand dove into his pocket, and he speed dialed his brother.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
"HELLO! YOU HAVE REACHED THE VOICEMAIL BOX OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS. DO NOT FEAR, I WILL RETURN YOUR CALL AS SOON AS I CAN! NYEH HEH HEH!"
Papyrus ALWAYS answered the phone within the first three rings.
"bro, this- this isn't funny," Sans whispered pathetically.
The pile of dust didn't answer.
"papyrus? where are you?! i'm serious!"
No response.
Sans crumpled to his knees, sobbing.
"papyrus… what- what am i gonna do all alone?"
Suddenly a thought struck his mind.
Frisk.
Frisk had told him about their power to save and reset time as if it was a game.
Frisk could make everything better.

Chapter Text

Sans opened his eyesockets.
Papyrus.
He bolted out of bed and ran to his brother's room, frantically banging on the door.
"papyrus?! are you in there?!"
The door swing open, and Sans fell forward onto the carpeted floor.
"SANS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Papyrus demanded. "WERE YOU TRYING TO BREAK DOWN MY DOOR?"
Sans breathed a sigh of relief despite having no lungs.
"i'm just glad you're ok, bro."
"WHY WOULDN'T I BE? BESIDES FEELING A BIT- UM, NEVER MIND."
Sans tilted his head to the side.
"feeling a bit what?"
Papyrus glanced away.
"IT MIGHT SOUND A BIT WEIRD, BUT… I FEEL A BIT DEJA VU-EY. LIKE I'VE DONE THIS BEFORE. IT'S NOTHING THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN'T DEAL WITH!"
"i'm sure it's nothing-"
"MAYBE ITS BECAUSE OF THAT 'RELOAD' THING THAT HUMAN-FRISK KEEPS MENTIONING."
"the WHAT?!"
"YEAH, FRISK MUTTERS STUFF ABOUT 'RELOADING' EVERY TIME SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS. MAYBE IT'S SOME SORT OF HUMAN METAPHOR."
Well, now Sans had quite the dilemma on his boney shoulders.
"papyrus, i have no clue what that means," he lied. "humans say a lot of weird things. let's go make some breakfast, bro."
"OH! LADY TORIEL SHOWED ME HOW TO MAKE RANCH TOAST!"
"ranch toast?"
"YEAH, THE EGG BREAD THAT YOU MAKE IN THE PAN. RANCH BREAD!"
"i think you mean french toast, buddy."
Papyrus waved his hand.
"SAME THING. LET'S GO MAKE SOME!"

Sans had only left his brother alone for five fucking minutes to change his clothes. He couldn't exactly drag Papyrus into his bedroom while he changed into his iconic blue hoodie, now could he?
He had just finished picking out a pair of pants when he heard Papyrus scream.
"HEY! PUT THAT DOWN! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT FOR?"
Some things were more important than pants. Sans dashed downstairs and followed the screams into the living room.
"SANS!" cried out a voice, but he didn't see his brother anywhere.
"papy? where are ya, bro?"
"I- BEHIND THE COUCH…"
His loud voice trailed off. Sans ran over just in time to see his brother's head disintegrate into dust. He had failed Papyrus once again.

Chapter Text

Sans woke up for the third time that day. Or rather, the third day that time. He had told Frisk to reload once again. This time, Papyrus would survive. He had to.
Sans noticed a dark figure stood in the corner of the room. It ran up to him, eyes glowing.
"SANS!"
It was Papyrus. No Boogeyman, no axe murderer, just his sweet little brother.
"what's up, bro?"
Papyrus glanced around, knitting his fingers together.
"I- I DON'T KNOW… YOU'RE GOING TO THINK I'M CRAZY, BUT…"
"but?"
"I FEEL LIKE SOMETHING HORRIBLE IS GOING TO HAPPEN!"
"woah, paps, calm down. what kind of horrible thing?"
Papyrus shook his head rapidly, clearly on the verge of panic.
"I JUST HAVE THIS PREMONITION THAT SOMETHING TODAY WILL GO HORRIBLY WRONG!"
Horribly wrong. The death of his little brother could be described as something going very, very wrong.
"uh, i'm sure everything's gonna be fine, paps."
"IF YOU'RE SURE, SANS…"

The two stepped outside. Papyrus had decided against making french toast, and opted to buy pancakes instead. Papyrus drove his red car over to IHOP, and they went inside and sat down. Papyrus ordered smiley face pancakes, and Sans ordered eggs slathered in ketchup.
Both began to eat their breakfasts when Papyrus suddenly shuddered.
"S-SANS? I FEEL FUNNY…"
"whaddya mean?" Sans asked nervously.
"I FEEL… LIKE MY SPINE IS SCREAMING…"
Papyrus collapsed into his plate of pancakes.
"papyrus? oh god, are you ok?"
Ping.
Papyrus glowed blue as Sans magically lifted him into the air, along with his plate of pancakes.
"What's going on over here?" asked a waiter, who had come from another table to see what on earth was happening.
"my- my brother, he suddenly collapsed, I dunno what to do."
"Are there doctors for monsters?" the waiter questioned.
"doctor alphys! she's gotta be able to help. listen, i'll pay you for the food some other time, I gotta get paps out of here."
Sans sprinted away, his brother and the pancakes floating beside him.

Sans rang the doorbell so aggressively it snapped in half. Ah well, Undyne does that too.
Alphys opened the door.
"S-sans, what a surprise. Is Papyrus coming too?"
"he- he's not moving, he collapsed at breakfast. what happened to him? what's wrong with my brother?" Sans pleaded.
Alphys reached up and grabbed Papyrus from the air.
"I'll ch-check him on the table. Um, Undyne's in the living room if you want to talk."
Sans nodded, and entered the house.

"So, Alphys and I were watching this really cool show-"
Undyne stopped her speech as Alphys entered the room, her head hung low.
"I- I don't know how to say this…" she whispered.
A spear materialized in Undyne's fist.
"What happened? Is someone being a bitch? Let me at 'em!"
Sans felt his soul sinking in his chest.
"it's about papyrus, isn't it?"
Alphys nodded gravely.
"He-"
Alphys grasped her other hand, taking a deep breath.
"He's fallen down."
"WHAT?" Undyne screeched. "I thought he had food poisoning, or didn't sleep enough last night! How- why-"
"Buttercup poisoning. I found traces of it in him, and in the pancakes. I'm so sorry, Sans…"

Sans stood over his dying brother. He could dust any second.
"i'm so confused, paps," he whispered. "what's happening to you? why's this happening to you?"
Papyrus didn't answer. Any traces of light in his eyesockets were completely gone.
A tear dropped from Sans' eye onto his little brother's cheek, and Papyrus blew away into dust.

"Buttercup poisoning," Toriel whispered. She'd come right over the second she'd heard the news. The former queen sighed, and squeezed Sans' hand.
"I'm so, so sorry for your loss, Sans. I know exactly what it's like to lose someone you loved so much."
Sans didn't respond, his eyesockets dark.
"It is a bit strange, though. My child, Chara… I found out recently through a series of tapes. This is how Chara passed on as well."
"buttercup poisoning?"
"Yes, Sans. Though… it seems in Chara's case, it was intentional. I do not understand why such a poisonous flower was in your brother's food. All I can offer is my support."
Toriel spread her arms wide, and Sans leaned in for a hug.
"Mom?"
Sans glanced over to see that Frisk had walked in.
"Yes, my child?"
"Um, can I talk to Sans? Alone?"
Toriel glanced down at the skeleton in her arms. Sans nodded.
"yeah, i'll talk to the kiddo."

"Let me guess," Frisk began. "You want me to reload again."
"i'm that predictable, huh?"
"I mean, it's kinda obvious. I did promise to only reload in an emergency, and your brother constantly dying is a pretty big issue."
"i'll give ya the benefit of the doubt that you didn't kill him, even if you are being a bit snarky about it."
Frisk widened their eyes.
"Sans, I've never killed anyone, much less my best friend! I didn't even kill Jerry!"
"and asgore, before you reloaded back to before his fight?"
"I told you, that was Flowey. But he promised to stay underground after he broke the barrier. I honestly don't know what or who is killing Papy."
Sans closed his eyes.
"welp, all we can do is reload and hope things don't go horribly wrong."