Chapter Text
Papyrus laughed as he gathered up a heap of snow, hefting it onto his snow sculpture with a “Nyeh”.
“AND THEN THE SPAGHETTI CAUGHT ON FIRE! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT SANS? IT’S A GOOD THING UNDYNE HAD SOME BACK UP SPAGHETTI OR…WE…” The tall skeleton trailed off, noticing that Sans wasn’t working on his own snowman any longer. “SANS?”
The shorter skeleton knelt on the ground, his hands buried in the mound he had created. He didn’t acknowledge Papyrus, shoulders shaking and his eyes focused on his hands.
“n-no…it…it happened again…” Sans muttered weakly, his voice wavering. He didn’t notice that Papyrus had moved closer. “why? d-did i do something wrong? i thought…”
“NO SANS, YOU’RE DOING GOOD,” Papyrus said, hoping to encourage his brother. “YOU HAVE A GOOD START FOR A FOUNDATION. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE GLAD TO HELP YOU WITH THE NEXT STEP!” The taller skeleton knelt beside his brother, trying to keep the growing worry out of his voice. He didn’t know what was bothering Sans. Was he really this upset over his snowman? “WITH MY HELP, WE CAN MAKE A VERY…ICE…SNOWMAN!” Puns always made Sans happy. He would swallow his pride and make as many as it took to bring his smile back. “COME BROTHER, PUT A LITTLE…BACK-BONE INTO IT? NYEH HEH HEH!”
Sans didn’t respond, his head bowing further. “i don’t…i can’t…”
“NO NO, YOU CAN DO IT. IT’S EASY, YOU’LL SEE! YOU COULD SAY IT SHALL BE…SNOW…PROBLEM?” Papyrus felt a chill down his spine as a choked sob escaped his brother. Sans had been fine a moment before: laughing making his insufferable puns. Papyrus couldn't fathom what had unsettled him so badly and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder, offering support and comfort. “SANS, WHAT’S WRONG?”
“i can’t do this again! i won’t! i-it’s not fair!” Sans shouted suddenly, voice torn with grief and body shaking.
And then he was gone.
Papyrus sat back, his hand hovering where Sans’ shoulder had been as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. The second his initial shock faded, he was on his feet, racing up the slope to the slippery puzzle above. He didn’t waste time solving it, instead jumping over the gap easily. As he ran past Greater Dog’s station and over the bridge to Snowdin, all he could think is that he had done something to upset Sans.
There hadn’t been anyone or anything else that could have upset him. And the moment he had reached out to him he had teleported away.
HE HAS TO BE AT HOME. PLEASE LET HIM BE AT HOME he thought, running full tilt through the town and ignoring any strange looks he received. As he passed by Grillby’s, he peered through the window, letting out a frustrated cry before he continued to their home.
Papyrus couldn’t get the front door open fast enough. “SANS! WHATEVER I DID, I’M SORRY! PLEASE-“ he looked around the living room and kitchen before stumbling up the stairs. Checking his own room first and finding nothing, he went to Sans’ door and fished out his copy of the key. He pounded on the door even as he was unlocking it. “SANS, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY SO I’M COMING-“ as he opened the door, he looked around franticly. “IN…”
Papyrus leaned on the door frame, his entire body feeling numb and heavy. Ignoring the tears that leaked from his eyes and his shaking hands, he dug out his cell phone and dialed Sans’ number.
Ring…Ring…
But nobody came.
Undyne bashed the piano keys with both fists as her phone started to ring, annoyed at the interruption. Seeing that it was Papyrus’ number, she drew in a calming breath before answering.
“Hey-“
“UNDYNE!” the skeleton interrupted, the distress in his voice catching Undyne off guard. “PLEASE, I-I NEED YOUR HELP! SANS IS GONE! HE WAS SO UPSET, I-I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S WRONG OR..OR IF I DID SOMETHING BUT..BUT HE JUST LEFT AND HE WAS CRYING AND I CAN’T FIND HIM AND I…I”
“Calm down Papyrus,” Undyne commanded, furrowing her brow. “Sans is gone?”
“YES! WE WERE BUILDING…ER…RECALIBRATING PUZZLES AND HE SUDDENLY…I JUST…WHAT DID I DO TO UPSET HIM LIKE THAT? AND HE WAS JUST SO…BROKEN…WHY…WHY SANS…” Papyrus whined, clearly rattled.
“Ok, calm down Papyrus,” Undyne said firmly, trying to figure out a way to get Papyrus to listen. She bit her lip before adding “you won’t get into the royal guard with that attitude.”
That got his attention. “Y-YES…S-S-SORRY UNDYNE…”
“Alright now, let’s be reasonable here. You couldn’t have done anything ta upset Sans. I mean, you’re…you.” She could practically here the nod that accompanied the small sigh of relief. “Maybe something else was eating at him, you know? Did he say anything?”
“NO… BUT…Y-YOU HAVE TO BE RIGHT, UNDYNE. I-I WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING TO HURT SANS.” Papyrus paused a moment. “BUT…IF HE IS UPSET, THEN AS HIS BROTHER, IT IS MY DUTY TO FIND HIM AND TO HELP MAKE THINGS RIGHT AGAIN. MAYBE HE WENT TO THE BIG DOOR BY HIS STATION. I HAVE SEEN HIM THERE BEFORE.”
“Alright, you go check there. And tell the Snowdin Canine Unit to look for him too. I’ll get with Alphys and we’ll check out Waterfall and Hotland, ok Papyrus? Call me if you find him.”
“WILL DO UNDYNE!” Papyrus responded, sounding more like himself as he hung up.
Undyne dialed Alphys’ number as she got herself ready. Sans always has his cool, so for him to lose it like that and not even be able to talk to Papyrus… She narrowed her eyes and ground her teeth together. If I find out someone did do something to upset Sans, then they’re going to answer to me! “NGAHH!”
“U-u-undyne? I-is that you?” Alphys squeaked from the other end of the phone, startled by Undyne’s exclaimation.
“Hey Alphys, you got cameras set up all over, right?”
“Y-yes. W-why do you-“
“Good, I need you to use them to find Sans,” she explained, already exiting her house. “Give Hotland a sweep and let me know if you find anything. I’m going to start checking around Waterfall.”
“S-sans is missing?” There was a crashing sound on Alphys’ side of the phone. “U-uh r-right, I’ll start looking a-and I’ll ask M-mettaton if…if he’s heard from him.”
“Thanks Alphys, you’re the best!” Undyne said encouragingly. She hung up and took off running, determined to locate the missing skeleton.
Sans wandered woodenly through Waterfall, trying to decide where he could go to hide out this reset. He had made up his mind that nothing he or anyone else did mattered. The thought of suicide had crossed his mind, but he realized it would just be undone like everything else he could try.
There had been a time when he had had drive and ambition. He had devised a plan to go back in time to before the resets had even begun. In doing so, he had hoped to find a way to stop them and stabilize the time line, however, he could never make enough progress on the machine to get it working before his work was undone by another reset. In the end, the machine was left in his lab, abandoned in favor of trying to find another solution.
Each reset, he felt his feet dragging a bit more and he had been slowly losing hope. He had stopped counting during the last round of resets, though he had never really figured out the source of the anomaly. The current resets were definitely centered about the human child’s arrival in the underground and had happened less than ten times, if he had to make a guess. They still weighed on him all the same like an anchor around his neck.
After this reset, however, he had felt last thread of hope snap and plunged into depression with nothing to cling to.
Pushing his hands deeper into his pockets, he trudged through another patch of seaweed.
i could hide in the lab. even pap couldn’t find me there… he grunted at the thought. but that’s just more reminders of more resets and more failures… Shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts, he passed by a table with a glowing piece of crystal on it that encased a piece of cheese. Knowing the mouse might never extract the cheese from the mystical crystal... It filled him with diffidence.
this reset can go on without me. i quit, he thought bitterly, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he’d expected to be near his joke telescope. Instead, he found that it was still several feet away. He spun to his right and looked behind him to see he was well passed the table. The two had never seemed this far apart before. Continuing to turn to his right he stopped as he faced the wall of the cavern, momentarily shaken from his depression.
A lone, gray door stood before him. Now that was new. Curiosity and a desire for any distraction lured him closer. He paused for a moment, his hand hovering near the door knob.
why am i so afraid? he wondered, narrowing his eyes as he tried to discern what caused him to hesitate. what’s the worst that can happen? everything will just reset again anyway. He shook his head at that thought and opened the door.
At first, he didn’t see anything in the room. Pushing down his apprehension, he entered the room fully. He had only taken 3 steps when the door abruptly shut behind him, startling him. He looked back at the door for a moment before returning his attention to the room.
“Greetings Sans”
Sans’ eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back as he saw the figure that had materialized in the center of the room: a tall skeleton wearing a long, dark coat over a white turtleneck and black pants. His hands bore odd holes through their centers and his skull had two splits in it near his eyes. The split on the left eye was short and went down toward his mouth while the split on the right went up to the top of his head and was longer. The voice, the appearance of this man; something about him seemed so familiar…
“Do you know who I am?”
“gaster,” Sans replied automatically, blinking. h-how do I know his name?
Gaster moved toward him, his appearance distorting slightly but always keeping its shape. It was as though the universe were having a problem with his existence. “Do you remember Sans?”
Sans stumbled back, suddenly fearful of the skeleton that loomed closer. He reached back for the door only to find it wasn’t there any longer. He wanted to look back, to run, to do anything to escape, but his eyes were locked on Gaster’s. A nervous sweat prickled on his skull as his back pressed against the wall.
Gaster hesitated for a moment before reaching a hand to Sans, offering a patient smile as he waited for the smaller skeleton to take it. Sans’ eyes flickered from Gaster’s face to the proffered hand. Slowly, he forced himself to take the hand in his own.
“Tell me Sans, why are you here,” Gaster asked, bringing his other hand to cover Sans’.
Remembering why he had run off in the first place, the lights in Sans’ eyes dimmed, his expression a mix of pain and sorrow.
“The resets.”
“i can’t…” Sans choked, not sure why he was compelled to tell Gaster anything but not caring at the moment. “i…i thought i finally got them to be happy, ya know? we made it out again. we were friends again. they were happy and …and i thought…” His eyes squeezed shut and he slid against the wall until he was sitting. Gaster kept his grasp on Sans’ hand, dropping to one knee before him.
“why can’t they just be happy? why are they resetting?" Sans trembled and brought his free hand to his head, staring forward blankly. “i couldn’t find the cause of the last resets, but this time i know the entity and i can’t stop him from resetting. i-i’ve tried being their friend …I’ve killed them, they’ve killed me…and it never…it’s never enough…why…?”
Gaster waited patiently, rubbing soothing circles on the captured hand.
“it’s…never enough…” Sans said quietly, slumping against the wall, his free hand falling limply to his side. “i don’t care how it ends anymore, i just don’t want to live this way. i can’t live this way.”
“And yet death is not an option,” Gaster said, his tone a shade darker. He stopped petting San’ hand but held it firmly in both of his.
“heh, nah, i’d just end up coming back again anyway. i feel like it’d be better if i just never existed. then i’d never have to deal with the resets. and no one could miss me either.”
The vision in Sans’ left eye suddenly went blue, as it did when he called on his magic, only he hadn’t. It was welling up inside of him unbidden. He looked up to see that Gaster’s eyes also glowed; the right eye glowed blue like his, the left orange like Papyrus’ could do. His head swam and he struggled to pull his hand free of Gaster’s grasp.
“Then I will show you what it is like,” Gaster said, his voice sounding distorted. Like a switch being flipped, Sans’ vision suddenly went black.
“To be me."