"Earth to Papyrus, are you there?" Papyrus shot his eyes open, he didn't hear Sans entering the room so he was startled by the sight of him sitting right next to him on the couch. his eye sockets narrowed as he studied Papyrus. The tall skeleton blinked in surprise, still not sure how did he not hear Sans. Yet he quickly composed himself, cleared his throat, and exclaimed

"OF COURSE I'M THERE, SANS! I JUST..." his eyes fell on the floor in front of them "GOT LOST IN THOUGHTS FOR A MOMENT, IT'S THAT SIMPLE" What a stupid excuse. 

"What were you thinking about? You seemed focused" Sans asked nonchalantly. Papyrus, on the other hand, wasn't as chill about it. He crossed his arms. "NOTHING!" he said in a normal tone and tried to relax. How did he not hear Sans coming? Did he teleport or what? Ugh, does it even matter? Sans focused on Papyrus and leaned forward. He felt a little confused.

Sans tilted his skull "What? Paps, you just said-" he spoke confusedly, almost worried.

Papyrus decided to do the same as his brother whilst thinking of how to get out of this uncomfortable situation. It's not as if he was a good liar, no. But worrying his brother with his stupid things wasn't on his to-do list! "I MEAN, NOTHING IMPORTANT! JUST NORMAL STUFF" he added. "Pap-" but before Sans could continue, he got interrupted by his brother's loud voice "YEAH! SUCH AS COOKING, AND BREAKFAST! I MADE BREAKFAST, IT'S ON THE TABLE" The skeleton smiled with his teeth and motioned towards the table with the fresh food on it. 

He looked back at Sans. He had a slightly irritated, confused expression on his skull. Papyrus knew that look, his brother was probably judging him. He probably should have just stopped speaking, but he hated this look. Papyrus asked in a wavering tone "WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THIS?" his smile wavered. "Will you let me speak this time?" the skeleton asked in a sarcastically annoyed tone to his question and smiled.

"I INTERRUPTED YOU?" Papyrus asked and was met with silence from Sans. "EH, OKAY YES YOU CAN SPEAK" he un-crossed his arms and put his hands on the couch. Honestly, he was sort of scared. He lied right now, and it didn't feel good. What if he wasn't a good brother anymore? Ugh, okay, does it even matter right now?!

Sans' skeletal eyebrows furled in worry. Papyrus broke the eye contact, stressed. The skeleton began "Okay, don't get me wrong Papyrus, but you've been acting really off lately" Papyrus's eye-sockets widened in confusion. Off? off as if for weird? Was he acting weird? "HOW SO?"

"Just off. I don't know how to describe that." Sans looked away, trying to find the right words. He didn't notice Papyrus' smile wiping off of his face. "And now you're acting like this too, just... sort of strange. are you okay?" he asked with genuine worry in his voice. Papyrus wasn't himself lately, it was strange. The skeleton stayed silent for a moment but eventually answered.

"I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE YOU OR ANYONE ELSE WORRY ABOUT ME," the skeleton said in an apologetic tone. His brother looked at him again and had a reassuring smile, hoping to lighten up the atmosphere in the room. "It's okay Papyrus. and hey, answer the question" Papyrus looked at him confused "HUH? WHAT QUESTION ARE YOU REFFERING TO, BROTHER?

"Are you okay?" Sans' tone betrayed his worry. The skeleton stayed silent for a few long moments before receiving the answer he wanted to hear.

Papyrus smiled vividly. "OF COURSE  I AM OKAY! I ALWAYS GIVE A HUNDRED PROCENT!" and laughed. Sans finally chilled out and smiled genuinely, without the analyzing look in his eye anymore. "Welp, in that case, are you hungry?" he stood up, and his brother did too. "there's breakfast on the table" and they both walked towards it. Papyrus laughed "OF COURSE THERE'S BREAKFAST ON THE TABLE, I MADE IT FOR US!" "Really?" "YEAH!"

Sans's smile widened innocently. "thanks bro" it brought a smile to Papyrus' face. 

not a genuine smile, just a smile. He wasn't okay, not really. As much as he wanted to be okay, those dreams did take a toll on him. And it wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was lying. Sans already thought of him as a weirdo, he knew he was off. Just, off. It wouldn't help if he said the truth, it wouldn't help at all.

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Papyrus stood with a brave facade on his face. but in reality, paralyzing fear struck him. He most definitely did not like that human! He saw dust on its hands. but hey! The human is approaching! Maybe it's offering a hug?
It's getting closer! It's gonna hug hi... wait, only then he notices the sharp blade in their hand. The human's knuckles are practically turning white from the strong grip on it. why does the human have a knife? what's happeni-

SWING

Before the knife could hit him, Papyrus barely dodged, jumping backward. but he dodged. He was alive, and he was afraid as hell. he did not expect that to happen. he offered the human his mercy, and this is what he gets in return? near-death experience? he can't let this human go now. But... he is so afraid. so afraid that he will get killed this time. What can he do now? Ah, This is not how this was supposed to end! With a shaky voice, she spoke

"W-well! I can't say I expected that. Still! I believe in you." Papyrus was nervous and his vision was foggy. But he needed to convince The human to stop this madness. he needed to save everybody, but most importantly. He needed to save his brother. To achieve his goal, he needed to show mercy once more. The human can't be as bad as they seem right?

The human, however, looked at him annoyed. The skeleton dodged but was still stupid enough to show mercy, expecting the same in return. However, Frisk had different plans for his fate than to let him go. The grip on the night tightens, its knuckles becoming even more white. and The human swung its knife again.

SWING!

This time he didn't dodge. The knife swang across the skeleton's chest. Most of his HP was gone, leaving him weakened. He stumbled back and hugged himself in pain, His eye sockets widened in shock. it was only then that the skeleton realized the human wouldn't spare him. He looked up to see its face, and there was a smile before the human swung again.

SWING

Papyrus closed his eyes, and felt himself turn to dus-

Papyrus woke up with tears in his eye sockets. All this wasn't real, he was safe. However, somehow he could still feel the dust in his mouth, it was awful. He disliked that taste, the taste of remembering death. He wasn't certain if this was a buried memory of some sort, maybe some sort of timeline. He heard about timelines from a book in the local library, and it seems that people who remember them might have dreams where they can re-live whatever happened in these timelines. He was fascinated by that theory and wondered if it was true.

It was. And he hated it.

Papyrus stood up from his race car bed and came downstairs, still with tears in his eyes. He tried to wipe them, but more tears were still forming. The skeleton wanted to eat some food to calm down, and maybe kill the taste in his mouth. With a tired expression, he walked to the kitchen and took a chocolate from the fridge. Just as he closed its door, sans appeared behind him. And it kind of startled Papyrus, making him flinch. It was a reasonable reaction to somebody teleporting right behind you, especially because it was late at night.

"Hey, and I thought you'll be happy to see me" Sans winked, hoping to annoy Papyrus with his attitude, but Papyrus didn't say anything for a while. He just looked at the floor, hoping that Sans wouldn't notice his expression. He wanted to tell him all about what happened, and maybe drink some hot cocoa together. but at the same time, he didn't want to bother Sans with something as trivial as a stupid nightmare or timeline theory. Plus, it shouldn't have upset him to the point of tears! Especially since it never happened in his timeline anyway. Of course, if the whole timeline stuff is real. Maybe it was just a stupid dream? If so, then he definitely shouldn't bother Sans with it!

"I'm always happy to see you, brother! I just didn't expect you there so late at night" Papyrus turned around and looked at Sans, a metaphorical smile forming on the corner of his skele-lips. But the tears were still flowing. and Sans finally took notice of them. They stood in silence for a moment, the shorter skeleton studied his brother intensely. Papyrus wasn't speaking in a loud tone anymore, he didn't have the energy for it.

" Are you... okay? You seem very upset" Finally, Sans asked with a worried tone to his voice. he hasn't seen Papyrus cry since... well, he never seen him cry. Or at least not since he was a baby bone. Papyrus looked away, his gaze once again meeting the floor. He took a bite of his chocolate and nodded, claiming he was fine. It was very out of character for Papyrus to act like this, and the fact that he was crying. So there is no way he's fine. However, the chocolate lit up his mood a little.

"I just had a stupid dream," Papyrus wiped his tears away, only to be met with another one flowing in its place. "You seriously don't have to worry about it." Papyrus looked up from the floor, meeting Sans' gaze. He looked rather concerned, but his features softened

"I know you say you're okay almost all of the time, but please, just tell me what is going on right now. I promise I will help you" he said as his arms wrapped around Papyrus, trapping him in an embrace. Papyrus returned the gesture and started quietly sobbing. Sans patted him on the back and sighed, he knew something was going on. He was done, no more lies!

"W-well. Okay, I trust you, Sans." he sniffed "How much do you know about timelines?" Sans seemingly froze, not expecting this question. Papyrus misinterpreted the silence as a reason to continue speaking. "I had a dream where a human... well..." he couldn't say it, it was too gruesome, too fresh. "It was just an unpleasant dream. But I've been having them a lot, and this weird sense of deja vu. I just theorize it's not dreams, it's timelines" he hugged Sans tighter.

Sans' eye sockets lost its light. "I'm sorry you have to remember whatever happened" he hugged tighter "You're right, it's not dreams, it's timelines." he released Papyrus and put his hands on his shoulder close to the head. Papyrus tried to keep his mind off of the unpleasant feeling it gave him. He probably would prefer if nobody touched his neck for a long time right now. He wanted to wear his scarf. His brows furled, and tears escaped his eyes. "you don't have to hide" said Sans, trying to lighten the mood "Now I know why you've been acting so weird lately, uhh, no offense." he remained a serious expression. Papyrus on the other hand, slightly smiled. "No offense taken, brother. I know I haven't been myself lately" and wiped his tears. Sans put his hands away.

"What happened in that dream?" Sans asked, and his tone betrayed the worry he felt for his brother. He heard about timelines, a lot. Working in a lab does that to a person. He knew the impact that timelines might have on somebody's mental state, and suddenly every weird behavior Papyrus showed in the last few days was justified. Papyrus sighed. "A human killed me..." he looked away, and at that moment, Sans's eyes went completely blank. "w...what?"