"Did you kill Papyrus Font?"

The question hung above Gwen for so long, taunting her every move. At this point, she was only continuing the investigation because she had to. She could hand it off, but the skeletons would meet a worse fate under the hands of someone else. She hated it.

Encouraging them to tell the truth or to lie wouldn't help. Either way, this investigation would eventually come to a close. Red would meet the chair despite the outcome. It was hopeless.

Sans itched in his chair, unease evident. They both knew this case was coming to a close soon, whether he talked or not.

How they led to that question was different than the other times. Gwen has asked about the events of moving into the new house, in her universe.

~~~~~~

In the last universe, there was still hope. They knew the Underground, they knew the monsters. They could reach out, and escape.

In this one, there was no hope.

Papyrus had prepared their new home while they stayed back, unable to escape. Sans' foot was bandaged, but he couldn't walk on it. His sacrifice in the end was worthless.

So the three skeletons sat in the old house, scowls covering their faces. Sans wasn't sure if it was him or Blue that had cried, maybe Red. But the fourth chain in the corner only further reminded them of what happened.

The only Sans that stood up, and was gone.

They had nothing now. Papyrus didn't feed them or even enter their room that day, he was busy in the other universe. Preparing to take them away to a place they would have no hope of escaping.

As if. Sans had long since lost that hope. He wondered how long it would be until he dusted away.

Blue had ruined it for them all. Red was the most angry with him, snarling out insults every chance he got. Sans had lost the will to bother and intervene, settling into his respective corner. Maybe he would somehow dust, like his counterpart that was in this room before.

Then, finally, they had been brought to their new universe.

Adjusting to the changes was difficult. Sans' chain was shorter, leaving him attached to the wall. As if he could move anyway, his leg was still busted. Somehow, the move had made it worse, looking at the people around him that shared his face. He hated how they were all him, how Papyrus looked like his brother.

He couldn't imagine how someone would come here willingly. No wonder the original brother had dusted himself.

The incident had taken place awhile after moving. Sans' will had snapped, and Papyrus saw that. He didn't want to lose another Sans from his collection, especially the one who closely resembled his brother. That's why Black wasn't a loss, and why Red was so close on the chopping block to be next. Because they were both born around killing, and were so far different from the others. Papyrus had managed to train Red from his universe, though. That's why he wasn't worried about Red, because Red was too scared to act out.

"Get away from me!"

The chains dug into Sans' wrists, preventing his escape. Papyrus had situated himself between his legs, leaning in rather close, a wild look of obsession in his eye sockets.

There wasn't much from the original universe that Papyrus had took. But if one thing was clear, he hadn't used Alphys just for the machine.

Determination vials, long needles pointing out. Sans knew what they held, and what would happen if he got injected. He couldn't scramble away, this couldn't happen. If he got injected, he wouldn't even be able to naturally fall down. It would bound him to this fate.

"IT'S OKAY, SILLYBONES!" Papyrus had giggled, grabbing Sans' arm. "YOU JUST NEED A BOOST! I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU AFTER YOU MELT, DON'T WORRY! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU!"

L.O.V.E or love? Sans had a feeling it was both, really.

He froze when blood splattered onto his clothes, face falling to horror when he saw the knife sticking out of Papyrus' chest from behind. The unused needle clattered to the floor, determination leaking out from the cracks. His dust then fell, revealing the killer, of which had been standing behind him.

~~~~~~

"I'll repeat."

Gwen swallowed, looping up at Sans as she continued to ask the impending question.

"Did you kill Papyrus Font?"

Silence. Then a shake of his head.

"No," Sans said, "I did not."