Papyrus, though he wasn't one for violence, was actually contemplating if he should slap Mabel or not. Of course he didn't, but the thought of violence to deal with his emotions did flash throughout his mind.

He was having a lovely honeymoon with Mettaton, then, on the last day, the sky suddenly turned red. He drove home with his husband in a hurry to discover a few citizens turned to stone and his brother unresponsive over text. Then after finding his friends at Alphys' lab, Papyrus learned some more facts that had him upset.

"So you're saying this after this all happened before, and you found out the demon who did it was still alive and dating my brother, and you decided to not tell him?" Papyrus demanded.

"Bill wasn't doing anything, I thought it was safe! I thought I was... Sans was..." Mabel blinked back tears, dogging into her brown hair. "I didn't mean to! Bill wasn't doing anything, he said he just wanted to be with Sans. And it was like all of those romantic movies where love wins so -"

"Mabel, I thought we learned this last year!" Dipper yelled, "Your love quests got us almost killed several times! And you know Bill is a manipulative demon! Sans was an old scientist, of course Bill would try to date him, to get the equation!"

"I know!" Mabel replied, trying not to cry.

"Hey, I don't think yelling at her is going to fix anything. It's pretty clear that we have a doomsday kind of situation on our hands." Undyne placed herself between them, to focus on the important part. "You guys have all dealt with this before, but we know from Papyrus this isn't just inside of Gravity Falls. We might all be surviving because of the weirdness runes you guys placed in all of the public buildings, but the rest of the world has no idea what's going on."

Dipper nodded, she was right. Gravity Falls was the town most prepped for something like this. So far, from what Papyrus had told him, only four of the towns citizens were turned into statues. That was it. They were just the four who were unlucky enough to be caught right when it happened, but everyone else had time to prepare. The rest of the country, or even the world, didn't.

"So he dated my brother just to get the equation. That was it? Sans was... just for that?" Papyrus clung to his scarf, frowning at the idea of Sans being used. He'd be dealing with Bill personally for sure.

"I thought Bill liked him! He talked about him so sweetly and even looked happy!" Mabel covered her face, "I'm so stupid."

"It makes sense, though. Bill used the soulmate dream to trick Sans, then built a body and personality Sans would be most attracted to and trick him into giving the equation. No wonder it felt like they were soulmates, Bill literally made himself for Sans..." Dipper tapped the birthmark on his forehead. "What did he do with Sans, though? After he used our Grunkles he just sorta left them."

"Do you think he put him into a bubble, like mine?" Mabel asked.

"A what?" Undyne asked.

"A bubble. My sister was trapped in this perfect world so she'd never leave. He might have done that to Sans. He did it to Mabel to keep her from teaming up with me, since he knew we could have a chance to stop him."

"Could we try the magic circle again?" Wendy finally spoke up from her spot in the window, lowering her crossbow as she turned towards the others. "It only failed last time because your Grunkles got into a bad mood. But this time everyone is on good terms."

"Our Grunkles aren't here, though," Mabel groaned lightly.

"And the magic circle is a spell we tried to use to kill Bill before. It didn't work." Dipper was quick to explain to the others, holding out his hand. "We need certain people to stand in a circle and... it's better if you guys just saw it in action."

"I just want to get Sans back first, we have to make sure he's alright." Papyrus kept trying to message Sans over his phone, but his replies went unread.

"I guess we'll have to try and find a bubble then," Dipped said, looking towards the window Wendy was guarding. "A second time."

~~~~~~

Sans felt warm when he was roused from his slumber. Tucked beneath a thick, comfy blanket that he could forever sleep below. And he almost did, too. But confusion etched itself across his soul. He had last been talking to Bill, right? The weirdness happened, the same type the townsfolk had described before. He drove home immediately to check in on Bill. That's what he last remembered. Them talking before the conversation gradually drifted into a void of memory.

Sans sat wearily, rubbing his eye sockets with a tired, almost draining energy. As if his sleep did the opposite of helping him and instead acted like caffeine. He could go straight back to bed and get the sleep he needed from the first time.

Sans wasn't in his house. Well, he was, in a sense. It was his rooms layout, yet his furniture was entirely changed. He told Bill about his dream bedroom, maybe Bill bought the stuff while he was sleeping? Because this was definitely his dream bedroom. A king sized bed that practically engulfed him, posters about science and the stars hanging across the blue walls.

Okay, this was new. Unexplainable type of new. What did the kids call the red sky and pyramid thing again? Sans couldn't remember, but they said it was chaos.

This certainly didn't seem like chaos.

Sans explored out of his bedroom, sluggishly pushing his exhausted body forward. Was he knocked out from behind or something when he was talking to Bill?

Was Bill okay? He sure hoped so. Whatever happened, it wasn't good.

The rest of the house was about the same, filled with things it didn't have, but Sans had mentioned was his dream house. A big TV, bookshelf, the entire set, ready for the enjoyment of the short skeleton. Sans tried the front door, but found it was locked. Much like all of the windows, covered by some black sheet or something from the outside. His magic didn't work, either.

"Phone, phone," He muttered, patting the sides of his pants. He found none.

Sans tapped against the door lightly. No echo or sound, as if nothing existed outside of the house. This was weird.

Weird.

Definitely the demon triangle they told him about. Where was Bill, Sans had just been talking to him! Did the demon attack Sans from behind and force Bill to make a deal?

What was the demons name again? No one really mentioned it, they said to look out for a triangle.

His head hurt.

Sans sat down onto the nearby couch, gripping his throbbing skull. Throwing up felt preferable to whatever made his head hurt. A nap also sounded pretty nice.

"Aw, Sans, I'm so sorry," A familiar voice spoke out from behind him suddenly, arms wrapping around him. "I'm sorry for using that spell on you, it causes you to sleep for a whole day but it makes you really tired. You should probably head back to bed soon."

Sans blinked, sleepily turning to find Bill. He gave a soft smile, but it looked strained.

"What happened?" Sans asked.

"I... you should probably get some sleep first." Bill suddenly appeared on the couch next to Sans, and before the skeleton could even ask about it, the man gently grabbed a nearby blanket and draped it over him. Sans' body seemed to make the decision for him, leaning against his boyfriend, and he was out in an instant.

~~~~~~

When Sans woke up again, it was refreshed and to the smell of bacon.

Bill greeted him, setting down the steaming pile of bacon and eggs onto his lap. Covered in ketchup, naturally.

"How are you feeling?" Bill asked.

"Uh... better," Sans said, glancing at Bill.

Bill rubbed his arms nervously. Sans didn't go for the food.

"Where are we?" Sans finally asked.

"At home. Our new home. The one you said you always loved," Bill said, "I couldn't make the bubble too big, so I couldn't make a starry sky outside for you."

Bubble. Sans knew that. He and Mabel had talked about it once, when she had talked about her own dream room. "It had been perfect. A little bubble, my own world. I loved Mabel land, it was a dream come true. I had the best room, and the world gave me whatever I wanted." She had taken a small glance at Bill, before sighing softly. "It was a cage, but it still made me happy. And I'll remember it forever."

"Remember when we were with Mabel? When we all shared our dream houses?" Bill mumbled.

"She said... the demon created the bubble..." Sans said, "And you just said you made this bubble. I'm in a bubble, and you made it. You're..."

His voice felt dry. It was an obvious path from point a to point b with that information. Bill had been oddly calm when the sky turned weird. He himself was always weird. It was something Sans liked about him, but now... Bill said he made a bubble...

"The equation. You asked for it." Sans choked on his words, hands trembling on his lap. "You used it on the town, didn't you? To launch Weirdmageddon? You're the dream demon, aren't you?"

Bill looked to the side guiltily. "Yes."

"So I was just used? For the equation? Everything about us was... you..."

"No, no, don't get the wrong idea!" Bill suddenly gripped Sans' hands, trying to comfort his lover. "You weren't ever used. Us, our relationship, all of that was real! I do love you, I have for a long time. I'm just... keeping you here for a bit while I take over the world."

Sans tried to pull his hands away. "L-Let me go, I-I - we - you lied, you're -"

Bill didn't let go. "Sans, it's okay! You're going to be safe. I know it's a lot to process but I'm not going to hurt you."

"What about Papyrus you bone head?" Sans snapped, "What about my friends? I know what you did to Gravity Falls, how you tried to kill everyone! If you hurt Papyrus I swear to whatever god is out there that..." Sans couldn't speak anymore, blinking back tears. He sucked in a breath, shallow. "Paps... is h-he... did you do anything t-to..."

"I'm not sure, I let my underlings loose on earth. We're still in the process of conquering it, so I'm not sure where anyone is..."

A sob broke out from Sans, the simple thought of Papyrus possibly being murdered by his boyfriend breaking his spirit.

"Oh, no, Sans, don't cry! He's probably alive, I'm sure of it! I'll even send some demons to go hunt him down. Do you want him to be inside of his own bubble?"

Sans only responded by sobbing louder.

Bill pressed Sans against his chest in a hug, allowing for his boyfriend to cry it out. No matter how much Sans tried to push against him, how much he pounded on his chest, Bill kept his arms firmly locked and Sans' face against his shoulder.

So they sat. And Sans kept sobbing.