Chapter Text
The snow fell steadily, a cold and empty world of white outside. Nothing stirred. No one was nearby. Not a single monster, normally so active and cheerful despite the weather, was in sight, and the golden lights coming from the buildings in town seemed foreboding.
Indeed, all of Snowdin Town was empty.
It was only a matter of time now.
With a sigh, the short skeleton turned and went back inside, shaking the gathered snow off his slippers on the rug. Right on cue, Papyrus walked out of the kitchen and placed a plate of food on the table.
“AH, THERE YOU ARE, BROTHER!” his brother greeted cheerfully. “I WAS JUST ABOUT TO GO FETCH YOU!!”
“why’d you make spaghetti again?” Sans inquired, eyeing the plate as he sat down in his usual spot. “breakfast was a few hours ago.”
“I KNOW, BUT I WANTED YOU TO BE FED BEFORE I LEFT!”
Sans still stared at his spaghetti absentmindedly. “left for where?”
“SANS, DON’T STARE AT YOUR FOOD. JUST EAT IT!”
“where are you going, Pap?”
Still grinning broadly, Papyrus plopped himself in the chair across from him, twirling a fork into his own spaghetti. “WELL, I FIGURED I SHOULD TRY TO STOP THE HUMAN.”
Of course. That was his goal, as always.
Sans continued poking at his meal, silent. Papyrus ate across from him, not uttering a word. It was useless, useless to say anything, but— “it’s pointless tryin’ that, y’know.”
The other skeleton shook his head, quick and firm. “NOTHING IS POINTLESS,” he said.
Sans chuckled humorlessly. “if you say so.”
“THE HUMAN STILL HAS GOOD IN THEM,” Papyrus continued calmly, as though it was just second nature to believe so.
“they’re not gonna listen to you.”
Papyrus shook his head again. “IF ANYONE CAN CHANGE THEIR MIND, IT’S ME.”
Sans let go of his fork, letting it hit the glass of the plate with a loud clatter, causing his brother to look up at him, frowning.
“it won’t work. no matter what you do, it won’t work.”
“IF THEY JUST TRY—”
“they won’t,” continued the shorter skeleton, anger bubbling within him. Papyrus rose to his feet with his own dish in hand, only half-way done with the food, heading for the kitchen anyway.
Sans snapped after him, “there’s NOTHING good in them! why are you even trying?!”
“YOU ARE WRONG, BROTHER,” called Papyrus, not unkindly. “THE HUMAN WILL CHANGE.”
His soul twisting in his chest, Sans pushed himself out of the chair and proceeded to shove it over, then furiously rammed his foot against it for good measure. Hearing the commotion, his brother quickly reappeared; seeing his state he rushed over.
“BROTHER, IT’S OKAY,” he assured, gently resting his gloved hands on his shoulders. This time, Sans shook his head.
“no, no, it isn’t, i-it really isn’t,” he muttered, going on to say something similar until Papyrus pulled him close.
“IT IS. I’LL BE BACK, I PROMISE.”
“you won’t. t-they’ll kill you, th-hey always...” Sans choked back a sob, wrapping his own arms around his brother.
“I’LL RETURN BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, SANS. YOU CAN TRUST ME.” He nuzzled the top of his skull, then pulled away, moving to wipe away the tears that had started to pour from his eye-sockets. “PLEASE, TRY NOT TO FEEL SAD. EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY. I SWEAR TO YOU, IT WILL.”
It wouldn’t. It really, really wouldn’t, but he could never know that. It was bad enough Sans let anything slip out of him, even if he was aware of Papyrus’s fate.
He didn’t deserve to know. He should be smiling, always. He deserved to be happy, he deserved to live, right up until the moment he no longer was.
Sans didn’t. He was useless, useless to his brother, useless to everyone.
Nodding shakily, reluctantly, he let him go.
It’d only been a few minutes since Papyrus went out the door. Sans was watching outside the window, alert as ever, his eye-lights dim and small.
They showed up, a moment later. A knife was in their hand, as always. Their purple and blue shirt was covered in snow and dust, as always. Their expression was blank, as always.
Everything was as it would be, always. And Sans despised it. If this was how it would always be, then why even try, he thought.
...Well, that’s what his previous thought was. But he remembered his earlier conversation with his brother. How insistent he’d been, how determined. How he would try anything, even at the cost of his own life.
He knew what it might cost him, he knew it right now, Sans was sure of that. And yet, he still tried.
Every time, he tried.
Every time, he told Sans to try, and he didn’t. He didn’t even attempt to.
He never tried. He never had. He was too weak. Too afraid.
But somewhere, deep down, he wanted to, because Papyrus told him to. Because he did the same. Because he believed he could, and he believed Sans could.
And, even if it wouldn’t make a difference—he knew it wouldn’t—Sans wanted to try, too.
He appeared in front of the human, instantly taking them off guard. He used it to his advantage and turned their soul blue, suspending them in the air.
He wanted so desperately to kill them, right now.
Just to get it over with.
Not a moment later, however, he heard a shout from behind, further up the path:
“SANS, WAIT!!!”
He stopped, and whipped around.
“DON’T KILL THEM! PLEASE LET THEM GO!!”
Ah, of course Papyrus still wouldn’t want him to kill them. Even now, he was determined they could change.
Sans let his grip on the human’s soul fade. He let them go, though he didn’t truly wish to. Perhaps the sight of his brother struck him, given the fact he usually didn’t see him again until another reset happened.
But it wasn’t what he should have done, regardless; because once they hit the ground once more, they raised their knife, ready, and dove forward.
He briefly recalled Papyrus screeching at him to dodge out of the way. He didn’t. He couldn’t. He hadn’t seen it coming, despite everything.
Distantly, as Sans fell, something red escaping through his front, he saw the human go for Papyrus next. Papyrus didn’t let them, and suspended them with his own magic. When he was certain they couldn’t move, he dropped to his brother’s side, shouting something from far, far away. Probably shouting at him to get up. But he couldn’t. Sans knew what was happening. It was happening all over again, just a bit different this time.
He had failed.
“SANS?” was all Papyrus got out after a moment, weakly, and Sans realized there were tears in his eyes. Why? He didn’t have reason to cry!
Choking on the same red substance that was pouring out of his chest, Sans grinned up at his brother, bigger than he’d grinned in years. “see? i tried,” he let out a laugh, but it only turned into a sob. “y-you told me to try, and i did.”
“S-Sans...” He said his name in a soft, small voice, like he actually felt bad this was happening. Tears were running town his cheekbones, like this actually mattered.
Sans attempted to say something else, to assure him it was okay, but his vision was getting blurrier, and darker. He was letting himself go already. Honestly, he’d always been weak like that. He’d always let things happen, simply doing nothing.
But, that did not mean anything now, for he was dying.
None of it was important, for in the end, above all else, he had tried.
And so, he let the darkness consume him, just as Papyrus turned on the human.