More time went by.

With only Sans trying to build the machine, everything was taking so much longer. Nearly another year passed, and he was still just working on a timeline monitor.

He still went out to Grillby's often, and visited Alphys, but his attention, his Determination, his Soul, was focused on building the machine. He went to Grillby's only when he needed a break, and to Alphys when he needed help with some mathematical calculation or needed to borrow some tools his workshop didn't have.

He worked nearly every waking hour on the machine.

He could barely remember his creator, but he knew Dad would have done the same for him. He loved his father, this unknown person, with a wild strength that drove him on. He would rescue his father.

But his constant focus on his mission meant neglect in everything else.

He rarely talked to people, except for the rare visits to Alphys's or Grillby's. He slept the bare minimum allowed for his body. He ate little more than what he could carry with him while working. He didn't clean up after himself, except to keep his workshop in the basement organized.

Eventually, Papyrus got worried. He sat Sans down for a serious conversation.

"Sans, I'm happy to see you working so hard at... whatever it is you're working on, but I think you need to tone it back just a little! Even I know that a Soul can only take so much hard work before it need to rest, and you need to rest!"

Sans looked at his brother a little, and realized that Papyrus had grown more in the last year. He was now nearly six and a half feet tall. "... pap, i'm fine, really."

"No, Sans, you're not! You're barely eating and sleeping less! Most mornings, I have to keep you from leaving to make sure you've had breakfast! And you're in the basement every day, working all the time! You need to see more people, make more friends!"

"pap..."

"I'm really worried about you, Sans! If you keep going the way you are now, you're going to hurt yourself really badly! Please, Sans!"

Sans blinked. "... papyrus, i... i have to..." ...But no. Sans had promised. Anything for Papyrus. ".... alright... what... what do you want me to do?"

Papyrus looked at Sans. "Well, obviously I'm not going to tell you to stop working. Just... slow down a little, okay? Don't hurt yourself. If-... I don't know what I would do if-... if you-..."

Sans reached out a hand, setting it gently over one of Papyrus's hands. "... alright, bro." His smile widened just a little. "i'll slow down a bit."

Papyrus smiled just a little.

~o0o~

After almost two more years, Sans started to get things working. The farther along he got, the fewer things went wrong. He had gotten better at checking his work.

He also had made a rule for himself, to satisfy Papyrus- no working after nine PM. He spent that time at Grillby's, or with Alphys, or just with Papyrus.

That was how he learned that Papyrus was intending to join the Royal Guard as soon as he turned eighteen. And how he learned that Undyne, a fish monster whom he had some vague recollection of, was captain of the Royal Guard, the youngest captain on record. Papyrus thought she was really cool. Sans thought she sounded a little... arrogant, but he supported his brother in his decision to join the guard.

When he was getting ready to test out the machine, Sans found out that the house was directly wired to the CORE, giving it highest priority to the power there. He realized, with some surprise, that this didn't surprise him at all. That made him wonder how much he subconsciously remembered about his creator.

~o0o~

On one visit to the True Lab, Sans found Alphys in hysterics.

"hey, hey, woah, what happened?" He asked her eventually, after getting her to calm down a bit.

Slowly, in broken bits, she told the story. How she had followed some old research plans to extract Determination from the human Souls and inject it into flowers. But nothing has happened, so she had replanted the flowers in Asgore's garden, and moved on.

Started injecting Determination into the bodies of monsters who had Fallen Down. How they had woken up.

And how they had melted together.

When she had told that part, Sans' hands flew subconsciously to his unmoving jaw. That-... that seemed so familiar.

He got her to let him look at the amalgamated monsters.

Their forms were all melded together, their bodies physically unstable. There was nothing he could do, although, he wasn't sure what he had planned on doing.

She begged him to keep it a secret. He agreed to do so.

~o0o~

Eventually, Sans was ready to start up his folding machine.

Before he did, though, he opened the photo album, flipping to the back page, where he had left the drawing. As he looked at it, running his fingertips over the worn paper, he blinked back tears.

"... i'll... i'll get you back, dad. i promise."

He turned to the machine's control panel. Hit a few buttons.

He was only trying to make two folds here. Not four. He was only folding out, not in. Just out to the Void.

That had been the biggest problem. Finding a way to stabilize the folds when they didn't have exits. But, after three years, toiling alone at his task, he had figured it out.

... So he thought.

The instant the folds were created, that black rift in the planes of space and time tore open, and Sans suddenly felt himself being pulled towards the gaping maw of the nothingness.

A thousand images, different spaces, different times, flooding his mind--

Papyrus's dust in the snow

Taking the child's hand, leading them through a shortcut to Grillby's

Red scarf around his neck, child with a knife approaching

Offering a handshake, whoopee cushion in hand

Lying on a table in the lab, pain flaring through every bone, "you are fine, Sans."

Papyrus's excited exclamation that he had made the human his friend!

Pretending to sleep at his station as the human ran, screaming for his help, a flurry of spears at their heels

Agony in his skull, unable to see out of his left eyesocket, nausea with every movement

Kneeling, hands pressed to his ribs, no pain, just numbness, red leaking between his fingers

Something sparked, popped, and Sans was thrown backwards with the explosion. His skull smacked against the floor, seeming to knock out of his head all the images of the timelines except for a select few.

A red scarf covered in dust.

A traitor where he had thought there was a friend.

His own dust, sliding through his fingers.

And...

The harsh lights of the lab, machine overhead, steel table beneath him, cold, uncaring presence nearby.

He closed his eyes.

Dusty red scarf.

Opened his eyes. Head hurt. Closed his eyes.

No sympathy for his pain, not from the one who caused it.

Opened his eyes again. That had already happened, was over. No more. He had apologized. Closed his eyes.

Determination, glowing slightly on his hands. It was gritty, like there was something mixed into it. Something like dust.

Opened his eyes. No, no, he was here, in the basement. Painful, yes, dying? No. No, he had promised Papyrus. Closed his eyes.

Friend approaching. Not a friend, knife in hand, grin on face, dust on clothes, on hands. Traitor. Here to end it all.

No, no, this was not the end--

...

Not-...

... Sleep. Just...

Sleep.

~o0o~

When Sans woke, he really didn't feel much better. It really didn't help that his rest had been plagued by all the images, of the Bad Times of timeline's nonexistent past, and of the Bad Times in possible future timelines, which meant he woke up screaming.

Once he had managed to calm down a little, he looked around. The lab was an absolute mess. The machine looked like it had been ripped apart, and there was black goop everywhere.

There was yet another spark of panic in Sans' chest. Something about-- another timeline--

"It's okay, Sans. It's okay--"

No, no no nononononononono NO!

He couldn't-- couldn't--

Had to go back-- couldn't--

He had to--

But he couldn't--

He couldn't go back.

He couldn't reset!! He reached and pulled and tugged, trying to trigger it like he had before, but he couldn't!! It just wasn't there!!

Sans realized with a detachedness that his breathing was coming in sharp gasps, and he was getting dizzy--

Blackness.

~o0o~

In the following days, things only got worse for Sans. Nightmares woke him up once, twice, more times each night, often bringing Papyrus rushing in.

Sans had mostly gotten the lab cleaned up, carting all the black Void sludge to the abyss in Waterfall and dumping it there. That had been challenging, as every time he saw the black stuff, it triggered another spike of panic in him.  The worst part was that he had found some of the black goop in the photo album, in one corner of the drawing. He had cleaned it off as best he could, but there was a large black splotch in the corner of the paper.

But even that wasn't the most tiring of it all.

He had promised his dad that he would save him. So, of course, he was going to try again on the machine. But oftentimes he would get to work, only to realize he had already done that, and it was still somehow not done. And-... and it seemed like Papyrus, and all the other residents of Snowdin, and Alphys, all often did things again.

Almost like...

Like...

Like when Sans had reset. Going back, doing things again. But Sans wasn't resetting. It didn't make sense...

But, Sans held on. He had promised, after all. Promised.

And he didn't break his promises.

~o0o~

The day came that Papyrus was finally eligible in terms of age to be in the Royal Guard. Sans had told him that a good way to make a first impression was to get an early start.

Of course, Papyrus took that literally, and got the earliest start in the day as he possibly could-- arriving at the captain of the Royal Guard's house at midnight precisely, the exact beginning of the day.

He returned some time later, around nine thirty, looking excited.

"well, bro?" Sans asked with just a little excitement. Papyrus was one of the few parts of his life that still held light for him. "how'd it go?"

Papyrus grinned at Sans. "She said I wasn't ready to join the Royal Guard yet, but she would train me! And, she said that, in the meantime, I should join the Snowdin Sentries to help watch for humans!"

"wow, bro! that's so cool."

Papyrus struck a dramatic pose, somehow managing to get his red scarf to flap in the wind, despite the fact that there was no wind in the house for it to flap in. "NYEH HEH HEH!! I know!!"

Sans smiled, his permanent grin widening with genuine warmth.

And then Papyrus took a step forward, his own grin widening. "Sans! I know! You should become a Snowdin Sentry, too!"

Sans blinked, his brow furrowing a little. "... i dunno, bro. the way icy it, i'd make a horrible sentry. it's way too cool of a job for someone snow much like me."

Papyrus let out a groan. "Sa-ans! Please!"

Sans just chuckled a little.

Seeing Sans' pause in puns, Papyrus continued. "And I think you should become a sentry, Sans! We can patrol together, you and me!"

"... i'm still not too sure, bro."

"Imagine, the skeleton brothers, patrolling Snowdin! We'd be so popular! And we could do it together! Please, Sans?"

"... pap..."

"We could spend more time together. I could even carry you on my shoulders, if it would get you out of the house more. Please, Sans."

Sans blinked.

For Papyrus. He had promised.

So, he let his grin widen lazily. "... alright, fine. i can be a sentry, too."

~o0o~

Really, being a sentry wasn't so bad.

Sans was often following Papyrus around Snowdin forest, just happy to be with his brother. It was true that he liked spending more time with Papyrus, and, true to his word, whenever Sans started to get tired, as his dilapidated health often caused, Papyrus would lift Sans up and carry him, whether it was on his shoulders, his back, or simply in his arms. With the recent development of his horrifying nightmares, Sans found that one of the best places to sleep was Papyrus's arms.

And when he wasn't with his brother, he sat at his sentry station. There wasn't much to do there, and he appreciated it. What with his constant work on the machine, and spending time with Alphys or at Grillby's, it was nice to have an hour or two spent just sitting out in the woods. It was... quiet. Peaceful.

It gave him some time to think.

And, even with the reset-like deja vu feeling, his work on the machine progressed, and it looked like things might have been getting better.

~o0o~

... Until he got the timeline monitor working again. Because then he saw that something really had been resetting the timelines. They were an absolute mess, twisting and knotted around each other, some just ending, others splicing into each other.

So... so they really had been resets, and not of Sans' own violation. Something-... something out there could-...

Could just undo it.

What, then, was the point? He would never be able to finish. That something was bound to reset before he could finish the machine, and then...

No. No. He had to keep trying. He had gotten this far, he would keep going!!

He had to.

He-...

He had promised.

... He had...

      ... promised...

~o0o~

It was late.

All the other patrons of Grillby's bar had long since gone home.

Sans was sitting at the bar, his skull sitting in the crook of his arm, his other hand clutching a half-empty glass.

Some few hours ago, he had wandered into the bar, and asked Grillby for a drink. The bartender had seen the look in Sans' eyes, seen the despair, the hopeless sorrow, and silently obliged the skeleton's request.

Now, it was getting late, and Sans was on his fourth, fifth-... no, eighth... tenth...? glass.

"d'you know, grillbz" he slurred drunkenly, "wha' iz like? t'know tha' i'ss all poin'less? tha' i'ss all jus' gonna go back, be undone, be reset..."

Grillby's said nothing. He didn't know what had happened to Sans, but he got the sense that Sans had been keeping things pent up for a long time. And, after all, the fire elemental had offered to listen if Sans needed someone to talk to, and it was clear that Sans desperately needed to get something off his chest. So Grillby was silent, letting Sans continue in his own time.

Sans took another drink. "i jus'-... jus' wan'ed to-... to get 'im back, yannow? have my fam-" Sans hiccuped a little. "fam'ly t'gether 'gain. b-but i can't, b'cuz i'ss all jus' gonna--..." he gestured vaguely. "yannow?"

Grillby shook his head a little.

Sans laughed bitterly. "n-no... wouldn' 'xpect ya to... i d-don' either. i c-could do it, though." Another hiccup. "a l-lon' time 'go. i c-could go back. f-fix thin's. b-but now i can't." He took another drink, draining the glass. "n-not that it'd matter, 'nyway. didn' bring 'im back. 'cuz he wasn' there to bring back--... d'you get it? 'c-cuz he ne'er 'xisted. never was there." Shakily, he lifted his empty glass towards Grillby, hiccuping a bit, a pleading look on his face. "'n-nother one...?"

Grillby accepted the empty glass, started to refill it. "...................... Sans... are you sure... you want another...?"

Sans' expression changed to desperation, and he nodded. Then it changed to despondency, and he shook his head before letting if fall back into his arm. "n-no, i don't! i don' wan' it!" He sobbed. "i don't--! ... i jus'--... i jus' wan' my dad back! i wan' 'im back! b-b'cuz-- b'cuz i-it waz m-my fault--!! i l-let g-go-- c-couldn' hold on-- i-it was my f-- faul'--... n' n-now i c-can't even g-go f-fix it--" Sans broke off, unable to keep talking through his choked, hiccuping sobs.

For a few moments, Grillby just watched. Then he set down the still-empty glass, and set a warm hand on Sans' shoulder. The sobbing skeleton flinched, but didn't look up.

"............... Sans..." Grillby prompted quietly.

Sans just let out a miserable whine.

"........ You have a brother....."

"--oh-- an--annoying d-dog-- p-pap-- i wasn-- wasn' even t-thinkin-- i d-don' d-de-serve--"

"............. What's his phone number......?"

Sans mumbled out a number, which Grillby didn't hesitate to call.

Not much later, Papyrus came into the bar, looking concerned. His gaze immediately latched onto his still-sobbing brother, seated at the bar. He didn't hesitate to sweep Sans up in his arms, and Sans immediately clung to him.

"p-pap, i'm s-so sorry-- i l-let g-go--"

Papyrus hugged his brother tightly. "Shh, shh, it's okay, Sans. I'm here now. It's okay."

"m-my fault-- b-b'cuz i l-let go-- i c-can't--"

"Hush, shh, I've got you now, just calm down. Everything's going to be alright now."

"n-not g-gonna let g-go 'gain-- i p-promised, pap--... p-prom-mised--... an' i'ss so h-hard t' k-keep-- b-but i c-can' let go 'gain--..." Sans broke off, hugging Papyrus tightly, crying into his scarf.

There was a little more conversation between Papyrus and Grillby, Papyrus saying something about thank you, and Grillby, hangovers and aspirin.

And then Papyrus was walking away, home. Sans found himself on the couch, blanket over him, Papyrus rubbing his back.

Still crying a bit, Sans fell into oblivion.

§

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