Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

7 Days until the “Accident”

Sans was very aware that he was dreaming, he couldn’t roam freely in his dream though. He just stood there watching as his house burned with him still inside. He could faintly hear the phone ringing, and just when he was about to pick it up, he woke up. Even if in the dream he didn’t feel scared, he woke up sweating, which was a rare occurrence because Snowdin wasn’t exactly hot.

He has about to leave his bedroom when he heard a soft thud. Looking back at the direction of his mattress, he didn’t like having a bedframe, he tended to move a lot when he was asleep, often falling off the bed, having extra height because of the bedframe would only make it more painful when he tried to get up.

 Anyways, back to the noise, the only thing that could have made the noise would be Pérez, his mouse plushie, that thing was at least 15 years old, it had a lot of mends, patches, basically signs of how much it had been used over Sans’ life. 

He went closer to the toy and picked it up, noticing how its bead eyes stared at him, like trying to tell him something. Sans paid it no mind, looking at it made him feel weird, scared even. He left it on his nightstand and left the room, that mouse hadn’t done a good job at keeping the nightmares away. 

Papyrus had probably passed out on the couch, Sans knew his brother was going through something. It had happened so quick! One day he was bothering Sans as usual and the next day, he acted as if two decades had passed! How could someone change so suddenly?! 

Sans was aware that people were disappearing, he assumed that maybe, that was why his brother felt so bad. Yet he didn’t even want to look at Sans, every time he wanted to start a conversation Papyrus just look away from him, and ho to a different room! It was infuriating!

The rest of the day went as always, Sans left to work in Waterfall and Papyrus headed everywhere but his working stations. 

Sans came home by 4, as always, his brother wasn’t there, Sans went to cook dinner for his brother, he wasn’t particularly hungry so he would just drink a glass of milk and go to bed.

6 Days until the “Accident”

The same dream again, the house was on fire and he was still inside while the phone rang. The only difference this time was that he could move, a bit, he couldn’t go near the windows or the front door, but he could explore this burning version of his house, one of the main differences he noticed was that Pérez wasn’t in his nightstand, but on the couch, leaning towards the small table with the landline phone. He tried to pick it up again and just like the last time, he woke up. Why did he feel so sad?

Pérez looked at him from its place on the nightstand, emanating fear, sadness, and overwhelming guilt. 

Today there had been 17 reported disappearances and 6 confirmed murders. 60% of the guard had been moved to the castle to protect the queen against this threat, leaving the further areas (Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall) to fend for themselves. 

His brother started avoiding Sans to the point where they couldn’t be in the same house at the same time.

The people on the “Missing Board” had nothing in common. It was stressful, he had never completed a case on his own before, he wasn’t sure he could do it.

5 Days until the “Accident”

The nightmare changed slightly, the phone wasn’t ringing, the house was still on fire, but this time he wasn’t alone. And the people with him weren’t entirely friendly either.

Sans didn’t know who they were, he just knew how to avoid them, though it was mostly his survival instinct other than logic. The melting kitchen clock was the only way he could tell what time it was, and he couldn’t go in there frequently, now and then a silhouette would come out of a drawer with a knife in hand, giving Sans enough time to leave the room.

There were other entities there, Sans couldn’t count them all, some of them just stared at him or screamed in his direction, while the rest would try to kill him, by appearing in cupboards, under the couch or trying to open forcefully one of the bedroom doors.

Sans felt like crying, having to run across the entire house to close the door, push the coffee table to scare the thing under the sofa and have to listen for footsteps when the other 9 figures were yelling at him was stressing and tiring. Even more when the amount of air was so limited and pieces of wood were falling from the ceiling. Eventually, the phone rang, Sans ran as fast as he could and reached for the phone. He woke up.

The mouse still was on his nightstand it still had that depressing aura, Sans wanted to leave. Still in his pyjamas, he went to his brother’s room, he found the room empty, as expected. It was a new day and apparently, he was going to have to spend it alone again.

4 Days until the “Accident”

Just like the previous nightmare, he had to avoid all these distorted monsters however, he had been trying new strategies, and some of them were successful! Though the majority ended up in him having to run to a hiding spot where they wouldn’t be killed by another creature… Could he even die while he was here? The phone rang, Sans didn’t pick up, he could let it ring a bit longer. He hurried to push the coffee table towards the couch and then ran to his room. He wanted to know what was going on inside there, it was the only room where the creatures never got out of, he never heard anything inside it when he passed in front of it, unlike his brother’s. When he got in the room, the first thing he saw was holding a familiar lighter and an almost empty cigarette package. 

• Pérez?

The mouse didn’t speak. Sans looked at him in its dull, black eyes, the landline’s ringing was muffled and the room stopped burning, getting darker every second, Sans felt cold. 

“It had to be done.” Pérez finally spoke, looking sideways, he continued, “It’s not your fault, but at the same time… it is.” 

• Pérez, what are you talking about?

“The fire ” 

• Did I start it?

“Not directly…” The toy looked at Sans’ eyelights. “You may want to pick up the phone now, your brother wants to talk to you” 

Sans looked behind him, the phone was right next to him. He crawled towards it, and just as always, he woke up.

This was the only time he woke up feeling calm.

Sans hadn’t got any updates about the disappearances only reports of new cases. The underground sounded empty, yet, it was not. Sometimes he would see his neighbour coming from the grocery shop, Sans was probably the only one who saw him every other day, since he came from errands at weird hours, usually, a couple of moments after Papyrus arrived home.

Doggo still called sometimes, he was one of the few guards that remained in their regular station. Those interactions never lasted long, they usually were to tell him where his brother was, and to ask if he’s gotten any information on the disappearances. 

3 Days until the “Accident”

Unlike the other nightmares, this time, Sans appeared in his room. like he had woken up in the middle of the night. He knew this wasn’t the case, because of some minor differences. Sans’ bedroom wasn’t in the attic, so there was no way for his ceiling to have that shape, nor he could see the moon from his window, otherwise, it would’ve been accurate. 

Pérez was there, though it didn’t look like it was going to say anything anytime soon, so Sans decided to get out of his room and explore a little this new version of his house, he didn’t make it past the doorway when he saw the fire again.

“He will apologize after the job is done.”

The phone rang. 

Sans picked it up.

Sans decided that today he was getting out of the house, all this investigation was starting to depress him and some fresh air would surely help a bit, besides, he might find his brother on the way there. Sans went to get dressed to start the day.

It was surprising how Muffet’s was closed, for what he’d heard, she got arrested, mostly blamed for the mass murder, however, Sans knew that 8 of the disappeared didn’t have any relation with Muffet’s or her patrons. Maybe he should head back home.

2 Days until the “Accident”

Just like the first time he had this dream, the house was on fire and he was alone. There wasn’t any screaming, unlike the previous times, just the sound of the wood-burning. Sans decided to explore a bit more, now that there wasn’t anything stopping him from doing so. He already knew he couldn’t open the windows, and everything was always pitch black, however, the window next to the front door was different. He could see the dark forest, the only light was coming from the fire in his house, he could see the shape of his brother just in front of the house, facing to the forest, he picked took something out of his pocket and began fiddling with it, a couple of seconds later, the phone rang. Sans picked up.

Sans began preparing breakfast, his brother was still asleep, he had checked on him as soon as he woke up. He still wondered about the dreams, the cigarettes on the fourth dream, his brother calling him from outside the burning house… he hadn’t got any news from Alphys or the guards that went to the castle. There were no new reported disappearances, but the air was dustier than last week’s. How many people were still alive? Probably not many. 

Sans had a clue of why his brother was avoiding him, and honestly, if somebody told him that he was about to die, he would have avoided his loved ones as well! Though, it was clear that Papyrus wasn’t the one dying in a few days…

1 Day until the “Accident”

Tonight was a dreamless night.

Sans got up from his bed and grabbed Pérez, if the mouse wanted to tell him something, it would have to speak while he was awake. Sans went to check his brother’s room, he wasn’t there. At this point, it wasn’t a big deal.

He was going to the kitchen to officially start the day when Pérez finally spoke, “You should take a bath, a long relaxing one” it’s gaze fixated on him. “This week has been stressful.” 

He turned around and headed to his bedroom to get clothes and a towel, he refused to use his brother’s.

Once he had gathered what he needed he went to the bathroom. He was undressing while he waited for the tub to fill. 

About 10 minutes later, he stepped into the tub and closed the curtains, leaving Pérez next to the sink. 

It was right, it had been a stressful week, he began playing with the bubbles, it was… reliving, it made him forget about what was going on, even if only for a little bit. 

He had been in the tub for longer than he initially intended to. He got out to dry himself and get dressed before grabbing Pérez and finally started breakfast, he was starving. 

When he finished eating, he sat on the couch with his notepad, determined to at least find a bit more information. He called Grillby, Alphys, Doggo, Even Undyne! No one had picked up. 

It was around 4 p.m. when he decided to take a break. He had been erasing, and correcting so many things… When he stood up rubber bits fell off his lap, he was going to sweep that later. Sans was hungry, not enough to prepare himself a meal, maybe a sandwich would help. The day was cold, too cold, even for Snowdin. Sans went to close the windows after eating his sandwich. The cold weather made him feel tired.

He would forever deny that he took a nap.

0 Days left.

Sans remembered falling asleep on the couch. However, He woke up on his mattress, on top of his bedsheets, only covered by a small blanket.

He didn’t know what hour it was, his mouth felt dry, and at the same time, he was sweaty. He took the blanket off him. He was still in the same clothes as the previous day, he looked down to his feet, he was still wearing shoes, he could see how some of the grey bedsheets were stained by them. He got up from the mattress and opened his door. 

He didn’t make it past the staircase when the house was filled with an overwhelming light. Sans fell back and closed his eyes for a bit, the wall was too hot. He could feel himself start sweating. 

Opening his eyes, he saw the fire. He knew that this time it wasn’t a dream. He stood up and tried to exit the house, the front door was blocked by the couch. He ran towards a window that was quickly obstructed by a piece of the ceiling. He ran toward any possible way out of the house, but couldn’t get away because of how quickly the fire expanded. He couldn’t see well because of the smoke and he was getting tired, and because of the lack of air, he felt like he was going to pass out.

He tried to move the couch, he was getting weak. He was putting all his will into moving it but it was not enough.

The phone started ringing, he started sobbing out of desperation. The phone kept ringing as Sans stopped pushing the couch when it caught on fire as well. Taking a few steps back, Sans collapsed on the floor. He was sweaty, tired, in pain, and so fucking scared, he hadn’t been this scared since the night he got his scar. His vision started going dark while he remained conscious.

“It will be okay.”

*beep* S-sans? Hello? Uh… I know how you might be feeling right now, ya know, if you are, by any chance awake. Uhmm, It seems bad, but, p-please remain still… I know that you are scared, I’m also scared but, it had to be done. Sans, b-brother, give up. It will be for the best. I know that you probably don’t understand why am I doing all of this, when all of this is over we will be together again! I won’t bother you anymore a-and you will forget that any of this EVER happened! how does that sound? Just let go now… I’m immensely sorry about this, but if I don’t defeat them they will come back and kill you more times than you can possibly count! … I- Uhh… You probably don’t know who I’m talking about, you have to let go. I know better than anyone else that it isn’t in your nature to stop trying. Stars, you are the most perseverant person I’ve ever known! 

Sans, I love you. And this will be a one-time thing. I promise I will bring you back, I will bring EVERYONE back. We will be happy again… I’m sorry. Sans, if you’re still there, don’t call back, this is anything but your fault, I love you, and I can’t wait to be with you again, hope that you can forgive me /*beep*

It was everything he needed to hear.

• Pyrus…

Chapter Text

7 Days until the “Accident”

Sans was very aware that he was dreaming, he couldn’t roam freely in his dream though. He just stood there watching as his house burned with him still inside. He could faintly hear the phone ringing, and just when he was about to pick it up, he woke up. Even if in the dream he didn’t feel scared, he woke up sweating, which was a rare occurrence because Snowdin wasn’t exactly hot.

He has about to leave his bedroom when he heard a soft thud. Looking back at the direction of his mattress, he didn’t like having a bedframe, he tended to move a lot when he was asleep, often falling off the bed, having extra height because of the bedframe would only make it more painful when he tried to get up.

 Anyways, back to the noise, the only thing that could have made the noise would be Pérez, his mouse plushie, that thing was at least 15 years old, it had a lot of mends, patches, basically signs of how much it had been used over Sans’ life. 

He went closer to the toy and picked it up, noticing how its bead eyes stared at him, like trying to tell him something. Sans paid it no mind, looking at it made him feel weird, scared even. He left it on his nightstand and left the room, that mouse hadn’t done a good job at keeping the nightmares away. 

Papyrus had probably passed out on the couch, Sans knew his brother was going through something. It had happened so quick! One day he was bothering Sans as usual and the next day, he acted as if two decades had passed! How could someone change so suddenly?! 

Sans was aware that people were disappearing, he assumed that maybe, that was why his brother felt so bad. Yet he didn’t even want to look at Sans, every time he wanted to start a conversation Papyrus just look away from him, and ho to a different room! It was infuriating!

The rest of the day went as always, Sans left to work in Waterfall and Papyrus headed everywhere but his working stations. 

Sans came home by 4, as always, his brother wasn’t there, Sans went to cook dinner for his brother, he wasn’t particularly hungry so he would just drink a glass of milk and go to bed.

6 Days until the “Accident”

The same dream again, the house was on fire and he was still inside while the phone rang. The only difference this time was that he could move, a bit, he couldn’t go near the windows or the front door, but he could explore this burning version of his house, one of the main differences he noticed was that Pérez wasn’t in his nightstand, but on the couch, leaning towards the small table with the landline phone. He tried to pick it up again and just like the last time, he woke up. Why did he feel so sad?

Pérez looked at him from its place on the nightstand, emanating fear, sadness, and overwhelming guilt. 

Today there had been 17 reported disappearances and 6 confirmed murders. 60% of the guard had been moved to the castle to protect the queen against this threat, leaving the further areas (Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall) to fend for themselves. 

His brother started avoiding Sans to the point where they couldn’t be in the same house at the same time.

The people on the “Missing Board” had nothing in common. It was stressful, he had never completed a case on his own before, he wasn’t sure he could do it.

5 Days until the “Accident”

The nightmare changed slightly, the phone wasn’t ringing, the house was still on fire, but this time he wasn’t alone. And the people with him weren’t entirely friendly either.

Sans didn’t know who they were, he just knew how to avoid them, though it was mostly his survival instinct other than logic. The melting kitchen clock was the only way he could tell what time it was, and he couldn’t go in there frequently, now and then a silhouette would come out of a drawer with a knife in hand, giving Sans enough time to leave the room.

There were other entities there, Sans couldn’t count them all, some of them just stared at him or screamed in his direction, while the rest would try to kill him, by appearing in cupboards, under the couch or trying to open forcefully one of the bedroom doors.

Sans felt like crying, having to run across the entire house to close the door, push the coffee table to scare the thing under the sofa and have to listen for footsteps when the other 9 figures were yelling at him was stressing and tiring. Even more when the amount of air was so limited and pieces of wood were falling from the ceiling. Eventually, the phone rang, Sans ran as fast as he could and reached for the phone. He woke up.

The mouse still was on his nightstand it still had that depressing aura, Sans wanted to leave. Still in his pyjamas, he went to his brother’s room, he found the room empty, as expected. It was a new day and apparently, he was going to have to spend it alone again.

4 Days until the “Accident”

Just like the previous nightmare, he had to avoid all these distorted monsters however, he had been trying new strategies, and some of them were successful! Though the majority ended up in him having to run to a hiding spot where they wouldn’t be killed by another creature… Could he even die while he was here? The phone rang, Sans didn’t pick up, he could let it ring a bit longer. He hurried to push the coffee table towards the couch and then ran to his room. He wanted to know what was going on inside there, it was the only room where the creatures never got out of, he never heard anything inside it when he passed in front of it, unlike his brother’s. When he got in the room, the first thing he saw was holding a familiar lighter and an almost empty cigarette package. 

• Pérez?

The mouse didn’t speak. Sans looked at him in its dull, black eyes, the landline’s ringing was muffled and the room stopped burning, getting darker every second, Sans felt cold. 

“It had to be done.” Pérez finally spoke, looking sideways, he continued, “It’s not your fault, but at the same time… it is.” 

• Pérez, what are you talking about?

“The fire ” 

• Did I start it?

“Not directly…” The toy looked at Sans’ eyelights. “You may want to pick up the phone now, your brother wants to talk to you” 

Sans looked behind him, the phone was right next to him. He crawled towards it, and just as always, he woke up.

This was the only time he woke up feeling calm.

Sans hadn’t got any updates about the disappearances only reports of new cases. The underground sounded empty, yet, it was not. Sometimes he would see his neighbour coming from the grocery shop, Sans was probably the only one who saw him every other day, since he came from errands at weird hours, usually, a couple of moments after Papyrus arrived home.

Doggo still called sometimes, he was one of the few guards that remained in their regular station. Those interactions never lasted long, they usually were to tell him where his brother was, and to ask if he’s gotten any information on the disappearances. 

3 Days until the “Accident”

Unlike the other nightmares, this time, Sans appeared in his room. like he had woken up in the middle of the night. He knew this wasn’t the case, because of some minor differences. Sans’ bedroom wasn’t in the attic, so there was no way for his ceiling to have that shape, nor he could see the moon from his window, otherwise, it would’ve been accurate. 

Pérez was there, though it didn’t look like it was going to say anything anytime soon, so Sans decided to get out of his room and explore a little this new version of his house, he didn’t make it past the doorway when he saw the fire again.

“He will apologize after the job is done.”

The phone rang. 

Sans picked it up.

Sans decided that today he was getting out of the house, all this investigation was starting to depress him and some fresh air would surely help a bit, besides, he might find his brother on the way there. Sans went to get dressed to start the day.

It was surprising how Muffet’s was closed, for what he’d heard, she got arrested, mostly blamed for the mass murder, however, Sans knew that 8 of the disappeared didn’t have any relation with Muffet’s or her patrons. Maybe he should head back home.

2 Days until the “Accident”

Just like the first time he had this dream, the house was on fire and he was alone. There wasn’t any screaming, unlike the previous times, just the sound of the wood-burning. Sans decided to explore a bit more, now that there wasn’t anything stopping him from doing so. He already knew he couldn’t open the windows, and everything was always pitch black, however, the window next to the front door was different. He could see the dark forest, the only light was coming from the fire in his house, he could see the shape of his brother just in front of the house, facing to the forest, he picked took something out of his pocket and began fiddling with it, a couple of seconds later, the phone rang. Sans picked up.

Sans began preparing breakfast, his brother was still asleep, he had checked on him as soon as he woke up. He still wondered about the dreams, the cigarettes on the fourth dream, his brother calling him from outside the burning house… he hadn’t got any news from Alphys or the guards that went to the castle. There were no new reported disappearances, but the air was dustier than last week’s. How many people were still alive? Probably not many. 

Sans had a clue of why his brother was avoiding him, and honestly, if somebody told him that he was about to die, he would have avoided his loved ones as well! Though, it was clear that Papyrus wasn’t the one dying in a few days… 

1 Day until the “Accident”

Tonight was a dreamless night.

Sans got up from his bed and grabbed Pérez, if the mouse wanted to tell him something, it would have to speak while he was awake. Sans went to check his brother’s room, he wasn’t there. At this point, it wasn’t a big deal.

He was going to the kitchen to officially start the day when Pérez finally spoke, “You should take a bath, a long relaxing one” it’s gaze fixated on him. “This week has been stressful.” 

He turned around and headed to his bedroom to get clothes and a towel, he refused to use his brother’s.

Once he had gathered what he needed he went to the bathroom. He was undressing while he waited for the tub to fill. 

About 10 minutes later, he stepped into the tub and closed the curtains, leaving Pérez next to the sink. 

It was right, it had been a stressful week, he began playing with the bubbles, it was… reliving, it made him forget about what was going on, even if only for a little bit. 

He had been in the tub for longer than he initially intended to. He got out to dry himself and get dressed before grabbing Pérez and finally started breakfast, he was starving. 

When he finished eating, he sat on the couch with his notepad, determined to at least find a bit more information. He called Grillby, Alphys, Doggo, Even Undyne! No one had picked up. 

It was around 4 p.m. when he decided to take a break. He had been erasing, and correcting so many things… When he stood up rubber bits fell off his lap, he was going to sweep that later. Sans was hungry, not enough to prepare himself a meal, maybe a sandwich would help. The day was cold, too cold, even for Snowdin. Sans went to close the windows after eating his sandwich. The cold weather made him feel tired. He would forever deny that he took a nap on the couch.

0 Days left.

Sans remembered falling asleep on the couch. However, He woke up on his mattress, on top of his bedsheets, only covered by a small blanket.

He didn’t know what hour it was, his mouth felt dry, and at the same time, he was sweaty. He took the blanket off him. He was still in the same clothes as the previous day, he looked down to his feet, he was still wearing shoes, he could see how some of the grey bedsheets were stained by them. He got up from the mattress and opened his door. 

He didn’t make it past the staircase when the house was filled with an overwhelming light. Sans fell back and closed his eyes for a bit, the wall was too hot. He could feel himself start sweating. 

Opening his eyes, he saw the fire. He knew that this time it wasn’t a dream. He stood up and tried to exit the house, the front door was blocked by the couch. He ran towards a window that was quickly obstructed by a piece of the ceiling. He ran toward any possible way out of the house, but couldn’t get away because of how quickly the fire expanded. He couldn’t see well because of the smoke and he was getting tired, and because of the lack of air, he felt like he was going to pass out.

For a moment he thought about moving the couch When saw one window that hadn’t been blocked! it was on the second floor but it was worth it, it led to the back of the house, there was snow under right? There was a chance to survive there. It took all his will to climb the stairs to get to the window, it led to the back of the house and all of a sudden it felt like a bad idea, however, Sans didn’t have much time (nor he was in the right mental state) to think about it. He jumped through the window landing on his side. The cold snow brushed against his recent wounds. It hurt horribly, Sans stood up and walked a bit to lean against a tree. It still was painful, but not as much as his wounded limbs brushing against the snow. 

He waited until the pain was slightly bearable to start moving again, he was walking to the by of the house. When he heard his brother’s voice 

-It seems bad, but, p-please - Sans could tell his brother was crying, his body language gave it away. -  probably don’t understand why am I doing all of this, when all of this is over we will be together again! - What did he mean? - I’m immensely sorry about this, but if I don’t defeat them - … He was sorry? At that moment the memory of the cigarette made sense. Papyrus must have noticed his presence by that moment. Sans saw as he threw his phone in the snow, he started to walk in Sans’ direction. 

Sans started walking backwards, Papyrus had tried to kill him by burning the house down with him still inside. Upon noticing that his plan failed, he was going to kill him directly! The fear he felt before was NOTHING compared to what he was feeling now!

Sans whimpered as his brother got closer, he was at a low hp already, only ONE  hit and he would be dead. Sans grabbed his brother’s arms a few seconds before he used them to hit him. There was a small tussle as his Papyrus tried to hit Sans. The smaller of the two lost his balance and fell back, as a way to protect himself he raised his arms to protect his skull.

There was a crack, Sans opened his eyes and looked at his brother who was impaled by three bone attacks. 

Had Sans done this?

He began to hyperventilate, he had killed his sibling! Even if Papyrus tried to kill him first!.. It was too much LV. Had his brother been responsible for all of the disappearances..? 

“I’m immensely sorry about this, but if I don’t defeat them”

Defeat who? Who was the person that made his brother do all of this?!

He heard footsteps, a small silhouette, presumably from a child was a few feet behind the library. The knife they were holding was clearly fake, however, the murderous aura they dragged along with them was not. 

This must’ve been the person Papyrus talked about.