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ENTRY NUMBER █████:
Everyone is awake! Papyrus is even walking around like nothing even happened… did it really work? It must have worked… I’m so relieved. I don’t think I could’ve taken much more of Sans waiting.
ENTRY NUMBER █████:
something’s wrong.
Papyrus marched happily down the hall towards the elevator out of the underground lab. Sans was walking beside him to his right, looking over the documents Alphys gave them with his recovery instructions. Sans read them out for Papyrus, his own smile wider than usual.
He was going to get back home.
Things would go back to normal.
He was DETERMINED to ensure things would be normal again.
“…and she wants you to come back in a week so she can check if the DT is affecting your SOUL at all, then again after two more weeks, and to come back immediately if anything feels off,” Sans read aloud.
“NOT TO WORRY, SANS,” Papyrus began, confident as ever. “WITH MY EXPERT SELF-CARE ROUTINE, THERE IS NO WAY I’LL NEED TO COME BACK EARLY! JUST WATCH, SOON ENOUGH THIS WHOLE THING WILL BE OVER AND WE CAN GET BACK TO DOING WHAT WE DO BEST!”
Sans chuckled and smiled warmly at his brother. It was as if nothing had happened at all. He was the same old Pap he loved. In that moment, he could almost forget why he had to bring Papyrus to Alphys’ lab in the first place.
Suddenly Papyrus paused, stopping mid-step. Sans stopped as well and looked at him, concern quickly etching its way onto his face.
“…pap? you alright?” he asked slowly.
Papyrus slowly began to reach towards his chest before shaking his head and standing up straighter. He resumed his march down the hall.
“I’M FINE, SANS,” Papyrus replied. “STILL NOT 100% BETTER, I GUESS. I’M SURE I’LL BE JUST AS NORMAL AS I WAS BEFORE IN NO TIME, THOUGH!”
Sans frowned a little, now worried about him. He continued to follow Papyrus, keeping an eye on his movements now. He seemed tense, his movements were more stiff and robotic than normal. He was putting on a strong face to not worry Sans, but his brother knew his tells.
“…maybe you should bring it up to alphys before we go. i know she-“
“I’M FINE,” Papyrus insisted. “THINGS WILL BE BETTER. THEY HAVE TO BE.”
“yeah, but if you’re still not feeling well, we can’t-“
Plop!
Sans stopped in his tracks.
On the floor in front of him was a small blob of white goop that had fallen off of Papyrus. Sans crouched down to get a better look at it, reaching down to touch it.
As soon as he made contact with it a horrible chill ran down his spine, and he shook his hand to get the goop off of him.
“SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? COME ON!”
Sans looked back up at Papyrus, who was continuing to walk down the hall. If he had skin he would have paled.
Papyrus was melting. His skull was liquefying and dripping onto his scarf like sweat. His arms and legs weren’t far behind.
And yet he was still marching toward the elevator.
“paPYRUS WAIT-!”
Sans clambered onto his feet and rushed after his brother. Papyrus was about to turn and look back to see what suddenly had Sans panicked when his legs suddenly felt like jelly and he collapsed onto the ground face-first, the left side of his skull taking the most impact. Sans wasn’t able to stop himself in time and tripped over his brother, falling on top of him with a splat!
Sans’ whole body shivered as impact was made. He was once again hit with that feeling of wrongness, of something contradicting itself on a fundamental level. Not to mention the fact that skeletons aren’t supposed to be squishy. He instinctively tried to get off of his brother, but he was stuck. Papyrus’ bones were acting as a glue, keeping him trapped there. Papyrus himself tried to get up, but he wasn’t strong enough.
“SANS...?” Papyrus croaked out, and his voice started to sound almost glitchy. “WHAT’S… H-HAPPENING… TO ME…?”
Through the static feeling overflowing his senses, Sans tried to teleport them to Alphys. It didn’t work.
“i-i don’t-! i don’t know! just hang on-! ALPHYS!!!”
Sans called for help, hoping that the scientist would hear and come to their rescue.
…
But nobody came.
Papyrus whimpered underneath Sans, trying one final time to try and get up. He just succeeded in sinking Sans into the puddle he was now becoming. Sans sobbed and fought to wrap his arms the best he could around his brother, burying his face into Papyrus’ shoulder with a squelching sound. All he could do was try to comfort his brother through this hell they were going through.
The feeling of wrongness slowly started to get duller, and from the corner of his eye he could see himself begin to melt as well, mixing with Papyrus’ form. It burned.
Their screams as they fused echoed through the lab, mixing with the ones of the other patients.