{Handplates chapter references: Like I could walk on air, What you are made of, It has to mean something}

"There's something unusual about those two children. It's not just that they seem to have sprung into existence out of nowhere, but at times..."

"SANS YOU THREW IT ONTO THE ROOF! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET IT NOW!"

"oops"

The two skeleton brothers stood in the yard, staring up at the roof where their flying disc had disappeared to. Papyrus threw his hands up in frustration: "UGH, I'LL GO GET IT I GUESS!"

Asgore sat a little further off on a chair, reading a book. His gaze flickered back to the pages for a moment as a movement in the corner of his eyes made him look up again.

Asgore sat up straight, adjusting his reading glasses and staring up in genuine disbelief. Sans also stared after his brother in surprise: "uh...bro...?"

Papyrus turned around almost too casually as he turned his head, looking down at Sans. He held the yellow disc in his hands, seeming to not notice that he was literally standing in the air.

Sans's jaw practically dropped, not able to speak another word so he just pointed up at Papyrus and then looked at Asgore to confirm if he saw the same thing as he did.

Asgore was also stunned to silence, his book now resting on his lap as he watched Papryus effortlessly stand on air, several meters above the ground.

"They can do things, impossible things, that I've never seen any other monster do."

Sans rattled on the doorknob of one of the locked doors in the building and exhaled in frustration as it still wouldn't budge: "man, why is this door always locked..."

He crouched down slightly, peeking through the key hole: "what's in here, anyway? i'm dying to see what's-"

The door in front of him suddenly vanished and he stood in the middle of a room: "woah! uh...okay...where am i?"

Sans looked around curiously, seeing a single bed. There was a withered plant next to it as well as a bookshelf and a desk with a few papers and a book on it.

"am i...inside the room?", his confusion was quickly replaced by curiosity and he walked up to the desk, his eyes scanning the pages of the book. "what's this..?"

Sans's eyes lit up as he read the first few lines, picking it up and eagerly reading more of the pages. The title revealed it was '1001 bad parent jokes'.

"They don't even seem to think it's odd...it comes naturally to them, unnoticed until it's pointed out.
It's as though some part of them isn't entirely monster, like the rest of us. But something...different.
Something outside the laws of this world. Are they really skeletons? Monsters?
Where did they really come from? What ARE they, really?"

.

.

.

"hey...when you look at the king, do you...you know, see anything weird?"

Sans and Papyrus sat in a makeshift pillow fort.
A lamp was propped up in the middle and a blanket was draped over it, which gave it the shape of a tent.

They had a couple of juice boxes and some popcorn as they sat in comfortable semi-darkness.

The light of the lamp was just enough for Papyrus to read his book. It was an instruction guide on how to have a successful sleepover.

Both Papyrus and Sans were wearing jammies.
Sans's was a full body one which resembled a panda, the feet even had little toe beans.

And Papyrus was wearing a wild mix of blue and green. He had a green scarf, and sweatpants in the same color.
His shirt was a button up in blue with white stripes.
He also wore some sports socks.

Papyrus looked up from his book, raising a brow: "UH A BUNCH OF HAIR AND FUR?"

"no, i mean...", Sans scratched the back of his neck, letting his eyes drift away from Papyrus to consider his words.

"beyond that. like...who he is. metaphorically."

"UH WOW. UM...I SEE A GOOD PERSON, I THINK? EVEN IF HE LOOKS SAD SOMETIMES, I THINK HE HAS A GOOD HEART.
HE SEEMS LIKE THE KIND OF GUY WHO MAKES GOOD CHOICES TO ME."

Sans shrugged lightly, an amused grin on his face: "heh, that's what you see in everyone. but...you don't see anything else?"

Sans decided to push again, his eyebrow furrowed into a mix of a questioning and suspicious expression.

"LIKE WHAT?"

It seemed like Papyrus did not know what Sans was referring to. Was it something only he could see?

He nervously began fiddling with his fingers as he tried to find the words to explain it to his brother: "like...through him, sort of?"

"THROUGH HIM? SANS, ARE YOU SAYING YOU CAN SEE THE KING'S BONES??"

Sans brushed the question off, chuckling a little awkwardly: "not...not exactly, but...i couldn't see it before, but after that...thing happened, my chest feels weird and now it sort of feels like..."

The 'thing' that Sans referred to occurred recently.

With enough practice and the help of Papyrus, he was able to create bones that would not physically hurt his brother.
Or to that time, he assumed, anyone.

To get the necessary confirmation, Asgore did attempt to touch it.

It didn't cause him physical harm but the way he jolted away from the bone, the look of terror and guilt in his face.

Sans knew it had done...something.

And then, suddenly...he could see it.

So clearly.

"...i can see...what he is. what makes him up."

Papyrus brought his fingers to his lips, doing the same thinking pose that Asgore does from time to time.

His gaze was firm and concentrated as he seemed to consider his brother's words. Papyrus exhaled sharply: "...BUT IT'S NOT HIS BONES."

"no, it's like...numbers."

With that statement, Sans had gained another dumbfounded look from Papyrus.

He tilted his head in confusion: "SANS, MONSTERS AREN'T MADE OF NUMBERS. MONSTERS ARE MADE OF MAGIC."

Sans was clearly frustrated that he could not figure out what he was seeing.

What it meant and that Papyrus could also give no direct support in that regard, so he just looked away and grumbled: "i know..i know, maybe it's just me...never mind."

"AND ANYWAY IF MONSTERS WERE MADE OF NUMBERS, I'D BE MADE OF THE BEST AND BIGGEST ONES. RIGHT?"

"yeah...sure."

~🖤🧡~

The automatic doors buzzed as Papyrus stepped through them, his bare feet being the only audible noise as he stepped through the hallway.

"I'M HOME! ARE YOU HERE?", he exclaimed seemingly to no one and glanced around as if searching for someone. There was just the same sterile and monotonous green and gray everywhere.

"I HOPE SO...I GOT SOME ------ , WE CAN COOK IT TOGETHER!"

Papyrus walked further, laser beams shutting the path that he came from off but he did not seem to notice. "HELLO...?"

A shadow loomed over him and Papyrus abruptly turned around: "THERE YOU ARE! YOU SCARED ME, I THOUGHT MAYBE I MISSED YOU!"

He approached the shadow, which was nothing more than a very faint body of mist. He wrapped his tiny arms around the mist, beaming up at it.

After a few moments, he tightened his hold, his voice now slightly calmer as he spoke to the shadow: "I'M SO GLAD YOU DECDED TO COME HOME. I KNOW IT WAS HARD. BUT NOW THINGS CAN BE BETTER! WE CAN DO ALL THOSE THINGS YOU ALWAYS WANTED..."

Black ooze started to seep through the tiles beneath Papyrus.

At first, they were small, only subtle little blodges but they started to grow. The tendrils expanded, swirling aggressively around Papyrus's feet.

With one sudden movement, the black mass rose up, easily becoming double the size of Papyrus and he stepped away out of fear

"OH!! OH NO, HANG ON-!", Papyrus threw himself to the ground as the tendrils tore the shadow down into the black abyss.

Without hesitation, he stuck his hand into the gaping black hole that broke open the foor.

"NO! DON'T WORRY, I'LL CATCH YOU! I'LL-" He wanted to use blue magic to keep the shadow in the air but a sudden surge of panic caused his hand to cramp up and the magical surge faded from his hand.

The situation was almost too familiar but he could not tell why.

Realizing that any help was too late now, Papyrus pulled his hand back. He was shaking uncontrollably as he stared down into the black nothingness, covering his mouth with his hands.
His eyes were wide, and small little sobs escaped his mouth. He slowly rose back up to his feet, holding his own head as he tried to calm his racing heart.

"NO, NO..", was all he could breathe until a strange surge of bravery coursed through him.

This was wrong. He wasn't anything like that anymore. He had changed.

Papyrus raised his head in realization, as he found new courage.

He is no longer the skeleton he used to be. He could go past his trauma.

"NO, I'LL SAVE YOU!", he finally exclaimed. The gray-greenish scarf around his neck slowly faded into a different color, red.

A sign of change.

A sign of Papyrus becoming his new self.

Without another moment of hesitation, he jumped after the shadow into the darkness.

"I'LL SAVE YOU, JUST HANG ON! I'LL SAVE YOU, I'LL SAVE YOU!"

As Papyrus dove further into the darkness, small glowing particles of [s/c] light began to surround him.

They danced around him for a moment before they flew ahead of him, revealing what seemed to be a skull, engulfed in shadows.
Whoever it was, they were walking away from Papyrus.

Instinctively, he reached out to them: "DON'T GO- JUST DON'T GO"

As the skeleton walked further away from Papyrus, a giant jaw of fangs began to close around it, successfully sealing it away from Papyrus's reach.

"DON'T-"

The [s/c] light returned, preventing Papyrus from being swallowed by that creature as well.

It was so bright, he was blinded for a moment until he finally snapped awake.

He woke up gentler, compared to the other times but tears were still forming in the corner of his eyes.

Papyrus just stared up at the ceiling, snapping back into reality. He felt his brother stir in his arms and Sans slowly sat up, wiping the tears from Papyrus's eyes.
His presence grounded Papyrus and he calmed down rather quickly.

"you have that dream again?", asked Sans with a hint of worry in his voice.

Papyrus just groaned, sitting up and holding his head: "...THAT TIME I WAS REALLY CLOSE..."

He let himself sink back into the cushions and Sans snuggled up to him again, resting his head on his shoulder.

"I WAS SO CLOSE...", repeated Papyrus rather begrudgingly, his mind reeling.

What could he have done differently to make it work?
Why was this dream so reoccurring?

"you'll get em someday. don't worry about it.", replied Sans, closing his eyes to drift back to sleep.

"YEAH...SOMEDAY..."