He was sick of this. Sick and tired of the repetition. Of the pain. The Dust. The death. You'd think watching the same people die again and again would get easier, but every time he saw that red scarf fluttering in the thickening blizzard he felt his SOUL break. It never got easier. He supposed that was a good thing—if he grew numb to this sort of thing...

Sans knelt down in the snow, gently working the dusty scarf out from where it was pinned under the armor, careful not to let the wind snatch it away. He clutched it to his chest, mind flashing through his last few hours with his baby brother.

He swore he heard his SOUL crack. Perhaps it had—it certainly hurt enough for it. A potent mixture of agony and fury raged within him. Hatred and loathing for the child who took away the most important person in the world to him. Betrayal, because Sans remembered when he'd once called that same child a good friend. Remembered laughing with them, stacking 'dogs on their head and prank calling their phone, and doing puzzles...

He remembered when they all got to the surface. Thought that maybe that first RESET—the first one after he'd seen the sky—might've been an accident. Maybe it was because the kid needed to save someone. Maybe it was because of Flowey.

But after the third time they'd reached the surface and had everything RESET, he wondered if maybe it was something more. The kid had looked a little jumpy before the RESET, like they were hiding something. That time, it'd taken a month.

And then the first Genocide came. It'd taken Sans completely by surprise. He didn't want to believe it. Frisk wouldn't do something like that...

But they had. Or, at least, they'd started it. He hadn't seen it until the third Geno Run, but the kid's eyes weren't brown anymore... they were red now. And looking back on it, the kid's eyes were red from the moment they first killed his brother.

When he was paying attention, he'd realized that there were two souls that he shattered in the Hall. Almost like Frisk was being possessed by someone. Even still, it had been Frisk that'd started it. That much was clear. It wasn't as awful as it could've been, but he still felt the sharp sting of betrayal.

He was willing to move past this though. Willing to smile and laugh and do puzzles with the kid again so long as it meant an end to this horrific nightmare.

Sans finally shook himself out of his thoughts. The blizzard was getting thicker. The residents of Snowdin were holed up in their homes, thanks to his timely warning about a violent human killing monsters, but the kid would be heading to Waterfall next. And Hotland after that.

He needed to warn Alphys and Undyne and evacuate whoever they could. Even if it was pointless—even if he knew they'd just RESET again... he had to try. Even if Sans had no hope for the situation, he wasn't about to steal the hope of the people around him.

Carefully, with great care, he used a Shortcut to take his brother's Battle Body back to the house. He took only a moment to set it down on the racecar bed, heart aching and fingers twitching with the want of tucking the cold metal in.

"sorry i can't read you a bedtime story tonight, Paps..." He whispered, hand running over the red fabric of the scarf he'd secured around his own neck. "i've... got a few things to do. your bro's workin' late tonight... so be good for me... okay?" He ignored the cyan tears that ran down his cheekbones. "i'll... i'll see you soon." Whether that was in death or after the RESET, it was a promise he intended to keep.

~~~

Undyne knew something was wrong when Papyrus didn't show up at their scheduled meeting time. The guy was eccentric and way too nice, but he was a skeleton of his word. He never missed a meeting. Hell, he'd once come to their meeting with a fever. She remembered how Sans had burst in just moments after Papyrus had arrived and dragged his brother home with a stern scold—something she wasn't sure the shorter skeleton was even capable of.

But snow or shine, Papyrus never missed their meeting. And today, he was very late. She clenched the phone in her pocket. He hadn't picked up either. He always picked up on the second ring. It was just a truth of this world. Snow was white, Sans was lazy, Papyrus never missed a meeting.

She felt something sickening welling up within her. It was like something in the universe was screaming. Something was wrong, and she turned her mind away from those thoughts when she heard something moving in the tall grass just below the cliff on which she stood. She held her spear, eyeing the thick foliage. After a tense moment, she shook it off as a small animal and let her spear dissipate.

She needed to get this feeling to go away. She was going to search for Papyrus herself. With that thought in mind, she set off for Snowdin.

~~~

Sans had known that Undyne would come to him. She was looking for Papyrus, unwilling to give substance to the little thought in her mind that told her he was gone. And as much as he wanted to leave that door shut and curl up next to his brother's racecar bed and cry, he knew he couldn't. Undyne had to know.

They were on a time crunch now—Sans' mourning time was up the moment she knocked. This wasn't like Integrity—this human wasn't going to take their sweet time offing monsters. No, this time the blows would be fast and hard and utterly devastating.

So Sans opened the door when Undyne knocked.

"Hey punk! Where's..." She trailed off, voice tapering off to something of a tremble when she caught sight of the red scarf wrapped around his neck. He could see the fear shining in her eyes, the shock that she tried and failed to hide.

"undyne..." He kept his own voice steady, knowing he had yet to wipe the remnants of tears from his cheekbones. "come in."

"Sans?" She slowly stepped inside, eyes only leaving the scarf at his neck to glance around for its rightful owner. "Sans, what's going on? Where's...?"

He gave a dark chuckle that came out as a half-sob. "can't you tell? he's gone. the human got him."

"What?" Her voice was uncharacteristically soft as she stared at him without comprehension. "No. Y-you're lying! You're just pulling a bad prank!"

"undyne..."

"Stop it! Stop lying to me! This isn't funny, Sans!" She violently shook his hand off her arm and started stomping towards the kitchen. "Papyrus! PAPYRUS! Come out here, you punk! PAPYRUS! PAP—"

"UNDYNE!" Sans never really yelled, but he just couldn't stand seeing this. It hurt too much to watch her call for a brother that was already gone. "that's enough." His voice was sharp and hard and it made the Captain of the Royal Guard flinch violently. "do you really think i'd lie or joke about something like this?" He couldn't keep the pain from his voice. "he's gone. he's... really gone."

"I..." He could watch the fight drain from her as she looked at him again—eyes taking in the details her worry had made her skim over the first time. His exhausted expression, the bright blue tears that fell from dulled eyesockets. The way he gently held the end of the red scarf in his hand.

"we don't have the luxury of mourning." He reminded her. "that human is still out there, killing more people as we speak."

She sat up in alarm, eyes widening and earfins perking up. "You're right." Her voice still shook a little, but there was a note of steel holding it together now—determination.

"i doubt they'll come back to snowdin, but we should evacuate just in case. same with waterfall and hotland."

"I'll start evacuating Snowdin, then. But, uh.... Where do I take everyone?"

"the old Royal Scientists built escape tunnels underground after the Waterfall Massacre." Sans opened a Shortcut and pulled an old map from the drawer of his lab. He took some distant amusement in the way Undyne's eyes widened. "they connect to each major settlement, including snowdin and waterfall. it'll lead you to the basement hidden beneath the labs. i'll warn Alphys about the unexpected company. but, uh... please don't attack anything you see down there."

"Attack...?" She shook her head and took the offered map. "Got it! You can count on me! I'll pass this on to the guards as well! The more people that are aware, the less likely that human can catch us off-guard!"

Sans smiled patiently at her, unwilling to tell her just how utterly hopeless this entire mess was.

"And Sans...? I'm sorry. For earlier... and about Papyrus."

He let out a long breath at his brother's name. "it's... i understand. i won't hold it against you." He gave his best attempt at a smile. "you'd better get going. you've got a bit of a long trout ahead of you."

She gave a surprised laugh at that. "Even now you make your puns." She gently clapped his shoulder. "Stay strong, Sans. We'll make it through this."

"i'll do my best." And he would. He'd fight that human a hundred more times just to give 'em back some well-earned karma. He only let his smile drop when she was out of sight. "and now... for alphys."

~~~

Alphys had known something was up when she'd gotten a phone call from Sans early in the morning warning her about a dangerous human that'd fallen into the Underground. At first she wanted to give the human the benefit of the doubt. Sure, not all humans were good people, but this was a child from what she could see on the cameras! Why was Sans so concerned over this kid that looked like a strong breeze would knock them over?

But Alphys had known Sans for many years. He was the whole reason she became a Royal Scientist in the first place! Even if it was far fetched and made little-to-no sense, she'd trust his judgment. It was only a few hours into her horrified watch that she realized Sans' intuition was spot on yet again. The human was dangerous. She had to hold back a sob when she realized they weren't just attacking monsters—they were murdering them. Hunting them down until there was nobody left.

She wasn't quite sure when Mettaton had come in, though she thought it might've been somewhere around the time the human had walked through the second puzzle that Sans and Papyrus had prepared. She was quick to give the robot a rundown of what the situation was and send him out to warn the residents of Snowdin while the human was distracted by the puzzles of the skeleton brothers. Only...

Sans had already sent out the notices somehow. Alphys wasn't entirely sure how, but Sans always seemed to manage to avoid her cameras no matter what she did (and she'd tried figuring out how he did it, but it was never any good. He'd walk off-screen in Snowdin and just appear halfway across Hotland! Sometimes she wondered if he had some kind of cloning ability).

Since Sans had already taken care of the warning for Snowdin, Alphys had done her best to keep a close eye on the dangerous human. But Snowdin had a lot of blizzards. She'd lost track of them at some point only to have them show back up on their cameras in Waterfall.

It wasn't until Sans showed up at her labs that she understood what that meant.

She'd had half a mind to ignore the knocking at the door, but Mettaton sent her an understanding look. "Go on, darling. I'll watch the human for you."

"T-thanks." She straightened her coat and approached the door, only to have it open before she could key in the code for the lock. The silhouette was familiar, and likely the only other living person who knew the code to the Lab (and had a spare key-card). "S-Sans! I didn't expect to see... you..." She trailed off when she caught sight of red fabric wrapped around his neck.

Wasn't that Papyrus' scarf? Oh... Oh stars...

"heh... hey, alphs... it's uh... been a while, hasn't it?" Been a while was an understatement. She hadn't seen him in decades, maybe longer. Well, hadn't seen him in person. She saw him through her cameras often enough, but that wasn't really the same.

Sans walked right on in without waiting for her invitation, making his way over to Mettaton and the monitor that they were watching the human on.

"Oh my... Sans, is that a new scarf?" The robot asked before Alphys had the chance to stop him. She watched Sans stiffen a little from the corner of her eye.

"no... it's Paps' scarf."

Though Mettaton's rectangular body had no real expressive capabilities, Alphys knew him well enough to tell his reactions by his more subtle body language. The way his fingers straightened, how he rocked slightly backwards on his wheel like he was trying to keep from taking a step back... she saw the very moment he realized what that scarf was, and why Sans had it.

"Oh... oh dear. I am so very sorry."

"alphys." Sans ignored Mettaton for the moment. "i've sent undyne to evacuate snowdin and waterfall using the old escape tunnels."

She felt a jolt of fear and a tiny flicker of betrayal at that. "But Sans! Those lead to—"

"do you really think that matters right now?" His voice was stern in a way she hadn't heard in decades. "if you're that worried about it, then chuck the blame on me. say it was my work and you were trying to find a way to return them to normal."

A bolt of shock ran through her. "I could never!" How could she even possibly think of pushing her mistakes onto Sans?!

"it's one secret weighing against the lives of the entire underground." He reminded her, and she felt herself flinch. "this isn't like the Waterfall Massacre, it's worse."

"W-worse?! Worse than the most horrific tragedy of the Underground?!" He had to be exaggerating!

"Alphys..." Sans took a deep breath. "do you know what i did after i quit my job here as a Royal Scientist?"

"You were a what?!" Mettaton stared at Sans in an entirely new light.

"N-no...? You left after Waterfall because you were..." Because he was worried about losing his brother, which he just had.

"asgore didn't want me to quit. so he offered me another, less time consuming job instead." Sans turned away from the screen to face her. His left eye flashed with patience cyan blue, but flickered to... was that justice gold?! "i'm the Royal Judge now."

She felt her breath leave her body with a hard wheeze. Even Mettaton's screen flickered in surprise. The Royal Judge was supposed to be the strongest monster in the Underground. They could quantify the danger level of an individual by sight alone, and even had a special power called Karma. She'd been fascinated with the Royal Judge when she was younger, and had done a ton of research on the position, but the last one was before monsterkind had gone underground. Since the Royal Judge had to be born with the Karma ability, it's a position held only by one monster in a generation.

They faded into legend after a while, since a new one hadn't been found. It was assumed that when they were sealed underground, the power of the Royal Judge was lost.

To think that Sans would be born with that power...

"as you probably know, the Royal Judge can see EXP and LV. Execution Points... they can give me a rough idea of just how much someone's killed... how much pain they've caused. and LOVE is their capacity to hurt others. Integrity... the one who caused the Waterfall Massacre? their LOVE was probably about 15 or 16. the max is 20."

"A-and... this human?" Mettaton sounded afraid to ask. Alphys didn't blame him. She wasn't sure she wanted to know either.

"right now, it's less than that, but it's climbing at an alarming rate. if they keep going on like this, i have no doubt they'll hit the max." Sans' words sent a shiver down Alphys' spine. "do you understand now why i gave undyne that map to the tunnels?"

"Yes." She sighed, utterly defeated. "I... I'll get the supplies ready."

"We'll need more time." Mettaton realized quietly.

"let me help you supply the labs for the refugees." Sans offered.

Alphys nodded, feeling something heavy fall onto her shoulders. For a moment, when Sans glanced at her with that cyan-gold eye, she swore she felt something crawl up her back, but it was gone the moment he looked away.

~~~

Grillby wasn't sure what to expect when Undyne gathered all the residents of Snowdin. He'd heard of the human who'd been killing ruthlessly—they all had—but he hadn't expected their numbers to be so few.

The labs that they'd been brought to for refuge were dark and dreary. The amalgamations were certainly a shock to the system, but once Alphys explained what was going on... well, it hadn't exactly made things better, but in light of their current situation most monsters opted to let things lay quietly for the moment.

Undyne had gone back out almost immediately to stall the human while Mettaton evacuated Waterfall and Hotland. He tried to keep track of the people that were in the bunkers with him—keep track of who was alive and who had died.

His fiery heart flickered in his chest when he saw Sans speaking to Alphys. The familiar red scarf wrapped around his neck told him everything he needed to know. When it looked like the skeleton had finished his conversation, Grillby made his way over to his old friend.

"I am sorry." He didn't speak much these days, but he could always make an exception for Sans.

The skeleton's eyelights flickered towards him with something like apathetic interest. "me too. i think i finally understand a little bit of your pain."

The fire monster flinched lightly, the image of a young girl with a smile brighter than the sun and flaming braids popped into his mind. He missed his daughter. "I won't say the pain gets better... but it does dull."

He wouldn't lie. Not to Sans. He could still remember when the skeleton beside him was just a child himself. His blue striped shirt had been filthy from long cold nights spent on the streets and days spent scourging for food in an attempt to feed his infant brother. He remembered the distrust that Sans had given him when Grillby had reached out and offered him a place to stay and a job with a friend.

The joy on the boy's face when he'd gotten his scholarship to the college, and eventually a position as a Royal Scientist. The fear in Sans' eyes when the Waterfall Massacre happened. Realizing that the morning he'd left for work could've been the last time he would've seen his brother, and how he quit his job within the year.

And now, Sans had finally lost that which was most important to him. For as long as Grillby had known him, Sans had done everything for his brother. And now... Papyrus was gone.

He carefully reached out a hand and placed it on his friend's shoulder. Skeletons were immune to both frostbite and burns. He knew from experience that Sans would only feel a comforting warmth.

Dulled eyelights glanced up at him. "thanks."

"I will be here for you." He was tempted to pull Sans into a hug, but he thought that the other would not appreciate him doing so around so many people.

"heh... lotta good that'll do me." The cryptic words had something heavy settling in his stomach, but before he could say anything further the shorter monster pulled away. "i've got a few things to do still. can't keep putting it off forever. i think a nap is in order."

"Sans, I—"

"thank you Grillby. i mean it. i'll see you later, 'k?"

Before he could say anything further, the skeleton walked off into one of the nearby hallways. Grillby felt something cold sweep through him at the image of Sans' back. He dearly hoped he would see his friend again.

~~~

Sans leaned against the pillar in the golden hallway. His gaze was fixed upon the Underground sprawled out below him. It truly was a beautiful day. What a shame.

He felt somewhat bad. He'd left Alphys and the others without a breath of where he was off to. But it honestly didn't matter when he was about to die again anyways. If things went like they usually did, everything would be RESET before they even fully registered that he was gone.

And then he'd be back to convincing his brother to stay away from the human. He'd find another scarf in the blizzard, another frantic Undyne at his door, another—

Stars, he was so sick of this. Though his conversation with Grillby was a nice change. His old friend didn't usually come over and talk with him. Then again, Sans didn't usually stick around after warning Alphys about sending Undyne through the tunnels. Maybe he was just getting tired of being alone.

The soft echo of footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts. He couldn't afford to be distracted during this fight.

He may have remembered some things about these RESETs, but he wasn't infallible. He was, however, very observant. Sans felt his grin sharpen when he caught sight of the kid's expression—frustrated, infuriated, somewhat humiliated. They were gritting their teeth as their crimson eyes glowed with an obscene amount of hate.

He wasn't very good at keeping track of how many times he'd killed them beyond twelve, but a hundred and twenty had a very specific twitch to the eyebrow that the kid was demonstrating quite admirably.

A dark chuckle passed through his teeth. "let's just get right to it."

The child charged at him, and Sans sent a wave of bones and Gaster Blasters their way. Of course, they dodged his first few attacks without even a scratch. It was bone chilling, if he was being honest. Watching someone move instinctively away from an attack that he knew they'd seen thousands of times, but he could hardly remember sending out even once.

He hated it. Hated this. Was it that entertaining to kill the same people over and over again? Maybe they'd realized that he retained some semblance of knowledge about these RESETs, and did it just to mess with him.

Something hot and wet dripped from his browbone and his breath was ragged and rattling. There was a fire in his marrow that was more than just his exhaustion. Despite it all, he still couldn't keep his eyes open when it mattered.

The pain was something he never forgot—and it never got any better. But this time, it felt distinctly... slower than before. Like the cut was far more shallow than the kid usually made it.

He raised his gaze towards the kid, who smirked triumphantly. Maybe it was finally time to say something. After all, it wasn't like the kid could make it any worse than this, right?

"aren't you done yet?" His voice startled the kid. He noted the slight shake to their hand as their smile dimmed. "haven't you killed us enough? i know we're well into the hundreds, kid. aren't you bored?"

"You... remember?" The kid's eyes glittered with an unhinged excitement, but for a moment Sans swore they flashed brown with horror.

"dunno." He let a wet hacking cough rattle his bones as Determination dripped to the floor like blood. "i suppose you'll have to RESET to find out, won't you?" He turned to walk away, intent on dying where the kid wouldn't have the pleasure of watching.

"Wait!" The kid called out, and Sans shot them a look over his shoulder.

"what right do you have to tell me what to do? you've killed my brother, my friends, everyone i care about." He spat through pain clenched teeth. "if we were ever truly friends..." He watched with an almost morbid fascination as the kid flinched. "heh... well, you should be able to figure out the rest."

"Sans..." The voice was distinctly different from the one he'd grown used to hearing. And he noted—almost distantly—that the kid's eyes were suddenly brown and not red. But there was an edge of crimson fighting for control. Was the kid being influenced somehow? Well... it wasn't like it really mattered anymore, did it? What's done was done. Trust broken could never be mended the same again. But if it ended this hellish nightmare, he'd be willing to give it a try. Even with that dirty brother killer.

"just... please. end this. end all this killing. i'm sick of this dust." He turned away. "and this is your warning. if i see you come out of those ruins with dust on your hands again... i will kill you where you stand. i don't care about my promises anymore." He could feel the incessant tugging of oblivion pulling at him. For a moment, he swore he saw his brother standing before him, a look of frantic worry etched into his bones. "i'm going to Grillby's." Actually, that sounded like a nice idea. For some odd reason, he didn't really want to be alone right now. He was so cold... maybe Grillby would warm him up a bit. "papyrus, do you want anything?"

He could feel the human's gaze follow him as he disappeared behind a pillar, but it didn't matter. He used the last of his power to open a Shortcut to Alphys' lab. His landing was a bit clumsy, but he stayed on his feet by sheer habit alone.

"Sans? Where've you..." Alphys' voice trailed off when she noticed the Determination that'd dripped to the floor. Thankfully, it seemed there weren't many people in the room. "Sans?"

He felt his legs give out beneath him, and a warm pair of arms caught him. He looked up to see Grillby, who made a pained crackling sound.

"Sans!" Alphys was by his side a moment later, eyes tracing over his injury with a look of fear. "How did this...?"

"d-don't worry 'bout it." He leaned back into the warmth of his old friend. He could already feel that painful tingling sensation eating its way up his arm—like embers eating away at nerve endings. He didn't need to look to know he was Dusting. "not like there's anything anyone can do." He clenched his teeth against another wave of agony. "sorry to drop in like this."

"No. Please do not apologize." Grillby's voice was oddly soft. "Nobody deserves to die alone."

A new burning sensation centered itself around his eyes. It took him an embarrassingly long moment to realize he was crying. "huh... i guess... this is nice too." He decided as he let his bones relax. He ignored the quiet sniffling of Alphys. "i just... didn't want to be alone this time, i guess."

"Sans?" Alphys' breath hitched when he was quiet for a moment too long.

For a moment, Sans imagined that the whirring and beeping of the lab around him was the same as his youth. That Alphys' voice wasn't cracking with sorrow but exhaustion. That he was merely dozing off at one of his many projects yet again.

"sorry alphs... i'm just gonna take... a little nap. milo and gaster can cover for me." His breath was harder to come by now, but it didn't send a shock of panic through him. It was almost peaceful. Like he was actually just drifting off into a warm slumber. A smile tugged at his bones. Even the pain was distant now.

"Sans?" He thought he heard Grillby's hesitant voice.

"t's warm." His words slurred with a pleasant sleepy tone. "nks, grills. can ya watch paps tonight? i need a nap."

There was a moment of hesitation before his friend spoke up again. "Of course. I'll make sure he gets his usual bedtime story too."

He wanted to say thanks, but he was just too tired to use his voice. There was a hint of finality with his last breath—a flare of panic that screamed that this wasn't right. Then there was a distant shattering sound and two distinct sobs.

The next thing Sans saw was the ceiling of his bedroom. Another RESET. For some reason a smile spread across his face as he Shortcutted to Snowdin's forest. His smile became a grim one as he caught sight of the ruins. "all right, kid. let's see what choice you've made."