It's dark, cold, and his mind is all muddled when Sans comes to. He can't think straight. The skeleton's body aches all over, but the worst pain is in his chest.

The artificial Monter eventually registers that he's laying on his side, listlessly staring out. The space he's in seems to be empty of all color and light. It's just darkness. An endless void. Sans's soul throbs again in agony, but he can't find the strength to complain or cry out, or even curl up into a tighter ball. He didn't remember this place before, but now if feels slightly familiar. He's been here before. He wanted nothing but to get out last time. He can't find the desire now. It hurts too much. It's too cold. Something inside of him is starting to crumble.

"No No No! Get up! You have to get up!". The voice is so unexpected that Sans moves his head the tiniest fraction, seeing a pair of boots in front of him.

"Get up, Sans! This is not time to be lazy!". The boots stamp down with one foot, and then there's arms trying to pull him up.

"......Papyrus?", Sans asks in confusion, not understand how they could both be in this strange place. He's so, so cold. Papyrus isn't strong enough to pull the taller Monster up, and falls back on his butt. Sans's head lands in his lap.

"You can't give up now! H-help me, Sans! I can't carry you by myself!". Later, the Monster wouldn't remember that Papyrus was crying. "Please, please get up! I can help you, but you have to try, too. I do-don't want you to die. I don't want to disappear........".

    "You're.... so warm, Pappy", Sans sighs. Leaning against Papyrus, he can feel the warmth coming from the Human's chest. It might have been the begging, or the warmth of not being alone, but suddenly, Sans doesn't want to stay here. He doesn't want to stay in this dark place. Slowly, he uses one arm to try and prop himself up.  Agony shoots up his wrist and straight down to his soul. He shudders.

     "You can do it! Come on, Sans! Get up. Now!", Papyrus jumps to his feet and grabs his other arm.

     With much struggling, Sans manages to get to his feet. He has to lean the majority of his weight on Papyrus in order to stand. The first step makes him nearly collapse. Everything hurts. His soul feels so cold. The only thing urging him forward is Papyrus's own warmth and words. They take a few agonized steps forward. Just like that, a screen pops up in front of them. It's exactly the same as before. One options is cracked and broken, but the other is labeled 'continue'.

     Sans's arm feels like lead when he starts to reach out for it. His soul cries out in pain again, the worst he's felt so far. For a moment, he's sure that it's just shattered, but then his hand finds the screen's burning cold surface.

You are filled with integrity. Stay true.

******

This time, Sans wakes up in his real body. The pain and aches and cold is all real, but so is the mess of tubes and wires all over him. He begins to flail and he tries to yank at the cords, scared out of his mind. He can't remember what just happened. There are faces leaning over him and holding him down. Their lips are moving, but Sans can't hear any of them. He rips and claws at anything he can get to even as he aggravates the crumbling cracks in his soul.

     "It's ok! It's ok now. They're just trying to help you, Sans. Lay still!". Papyrus's voice cuts through the panic. He's never appeared around other people before. Sans lets his body go limp, but he's disappointed when he looks around and can't find Papyrus.

Doctor Gaster takes his hands off the skeleton's shoulders when they fall limp. Hansen is trembling a little, staring with wide eyes when she also lets go of the Monster's legs. After the skeleton had collapsed in the gym, they had assumed he had fallen unconscious like before. Gaster drew out its soul just as a precaution. The fragile heart was already nearly snapped in two. So much magic rushed out of the artificial soul that there wasn't enough left for it to function.

Gaster rushed the skeleton to the emergency ward while Hansen prepared a dozen different bags of the artificial magic. The biggest problem is that Human medicines wouldn't work on a Monster, especially one without lungs or a heartbeat. All they could do was pump as much artificial magic as they could back into him. For long minutes, it didn't seem to be working. Cracks were spreading all along the soul. It only stopped when Sans woke up.

The Monster seems exhausted now, laying listlessly on the operation table, but conscience. His earlier panic sapped the little strength he had. It's soul is still pulled out of its body from when Hansen was attaching the tubes. Two different lines are slowly pumping artificial magic back into it.

"So it can manifest attacks", Gaster says the first part so quietly that Hansen doesn't hear him until he speaks again. "We didn't get the soul wrong, no, it's soul is fine. The artificial magic is the problem". Gaster rubs the bridge of his nose in frustration. "We've increased the magic dosage three times larger than I calculated the need to be. It's soul can only process so much at once, but it's no help if it's not close enough to the real thing".

"What do you men?", Hansesn asks him, "The soul is made of the same artificial stuff, so shouldn't it be more suited to it then real Monster magic?".

"If I had made a complete soul from scratch, then yes, that would be correct, but the soul is only half artificial", Gaster gestures to the blue half of the visible soul, "Skeletons have no blood, no lungs, no heart. There's nothing to keep the Human half functional, so the artificial half has to work twice as hard. That would explain the exhaustion".

Monster souls and bodies are weak and made almost entirely of magic, but Humans are not. Their bodies are stronger and more independent from the soul. Their spirit could be crushed and broken while the body is perfectly healthy. Human souls can rage and fight in a dying body. Monster bodies are a reflection of the soul. If either is damaged, the other will also suffer.

Nothing like Sans's soul has ever existed before. Gaster had used an old enough Human soul that personality and memory should have faded. When he introduced it to the artificial magic, color and light seeped back in. Human souls have default reactions to try and heal themselves, so the artificial magic became the other half of its soul. This is what Gaster later introduced to the skeleton body. Human souls do not belong in a body made of magic. The Human half of the soul is in a constant state of attraction to its repaired half, and rejection of the body. The Monster half has to constantly expend energy to keep the three units functioning together. Most of the time, Sans simply won't have the energy to do anything but sleep. When he used all his artificial magic up, there was nothing left to keep the soul intact. Real Monster magic might be enough to keep the Human half grounded, but artificial will never compare.

Doctor Gaster has slowly been realizing all of this as he's observed and worked with the skeleton. He explains it all now quietly to Doctor Hansen. The Monster's eyes have been flickering, and they finally go out when Sans falls back asleep, peacefully this time.

"So....... we have no way to keep him alive?", Hansen shudders. How can they create a living being, only for it to suffer simply by existing?

"Alive, yes. Stable, no. There will always be a chance that its soul will shatter at any given time. It will need constant monitoring from now. Check ups every hour. As large of injections as it can handle. Creating another skeleton with a body made of denser magic, like I had planned, would only worsen the effects". Gaster can't make a body with less magic and more organic material, either. If it's too close to Human, he'll get in trouble with more than one country's experimentation laws.

"So what's the plan? How do we.......", Doctor Hansen bites her tongue. She knew what this project would entail when she accepted the assignment. There's no turning back.

"We proceed with the plans. We take this artificial Monter through as much training and preparation as possible until it is ready to go into the Underground, or expires". Gaster's voice holds a tone of finality. He quickly leaves the room to record the new development and email Doctor Murphy and Alister of the new protocols.

Hansen stays to monitor the Monster's soul. Two lines are still pumping magic back into it. The deep crack that appeared is slowly filling in, trying to repair itself. Hansen is still trying to get over her earlier shock. Sans is fine now. The soul will be ok now that it has more magic. The problem is that it's not fine. Sans is suffering during every conscious moment.