The sun only held his attention for a moment. Sure, it was amazing and it was so beautiful and so much brighter than anything he'd ever known, but that was nothing compared to the idea of meeting more humans. He could be the first monster to meet the human king, he could be an icon, the mascot that humans thought of when they thought of monsters! Forget about the royal guard, this was a popularity level he only could have dreamed of before today!

He ran off with barely a second thought, toward a place where he could see buildings.

"Papyrus, wait a second!"

Undyne caught up with him and said a lot of things he could barely keep up with, about diplomacy and an ambassador and a mascot's job being very important, and he couldn't help but feel like her priorities were skewed because this was the surface, filled with humans and sunlight and everything they'd ever been waiting for. But he relented and headed back to the cliff with her and watched as she cheered about finally being on the surface.

"I've gotta tell everybody," she said, eyes wide. "I've gotta get everyone! Papyrus, you stay here, okay? I-I've gotta get everyone. Everyone's hopes and dreams..."

And then Undyne ran back into the Underground. As soon as she was gone, Sans returned, almost like he was waiting for her to leave. He sat, his feet dangling off the cliffside, and patted the ground next to him, indicating for Papyrus to sit down. He complied and they watched in silence as the sun sunk past the horizon, leaving an orange-pink-gray that slowly faded to purple-black. Sans leaned into Papyrus's side absentmindedly (probably too half-asleep to sit up straight, honestly, only Sans could think about sleep at a time like this) and Papyrus put his hand on Sans's shoulder, rubbing it in a half-hug as they both looked at the sky. And as pinpricks of light broke up the black, It was...

It was...

Papyrus frowned.

"Hey, Sans?" He asked before he lost the nerve, "Can we talk?"

Sans turned from the sky to Papyrus without skipping a beat. "Yeah," he said, grinning, "Not sure how, exactly. I mean, we don't have vocal chords and my mouth doesn't even-"

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at him, good-natured but serious.

Sans's grin twitched for a moment before settling on a casual smile again as he turned his face back toward the stars. "What's up, bro?"

Papyrus followed suit, looking at the stars searchingly. Quietly, as if it was casual, he asked, "Did Frisk tell us their name before the barrier broke?"

"Uh," Sans said automatically, sounding like he didn't understand the question. "No?" he answered.

"Not once?" Papyrus asked, some feeling entering his voice.

"They don't really talk much," Sans said, sounding unaffected. "I don't think we would have missed it."

"I know. I know, but." Papyrus felt silly now, but he couldn't stop himself. "Do you remember what I said about them seeming familiar when we first saw them?"

Sans froze at that, now actively looking away from Papyrus. "I thought you said you knew who you knew," he said, his voice shaking a little bit.

"Yes, but. I'm not really so sure anymore." Papyrus wanted to stop now, he knew he was worrying him by insisting on this, but his voice went on almost by itself. "Because when they said their name was Frisk, it felt like, somehow, I already knew. And when we went to stop the fight with Asgore and Flo-and that flower tried to attack them, and when they said they wanted to be the ambassador, and-"

And these stars, he didn't say. And these stars should be incredible and breathtaking, they're much more bright and beautiful than the wishing room. But they just look like light, it feels natural, even though obviously I've never been to the surface before.

And you, you should be utterly engrossed in this. Astronomy is one of the few things you've ever gotten excited about. But you just look as bored, as uninterested, as ever. You feel it too, don't you? Maybe not about Frisk, you're not best friends with them like me, but about this sky at least.

He didn't say any of that. Even in his head it sounded ridiculous, like he was projecting his weird feelings onto Sans. Instead, he just sighed and shrugged. "I guess it's been a long day," he said.

Sans looked at him in away Papyrus couldn't place, and Papyrus begged with his eyes for Sans to just forget about it and pretend he hadn't said anything.

Sans looked like he wanted to say something, but after looking at his face he relented. "Yeah," he said, grasping Papyrus's hand and squeezing it for a moment before letting go and looking at the sky again. "It's been a really long day."

The air was tense, waiting for one of them to say something.

Sans volunteered to be the one and spoke up. "Did you know that stars are super hot? Like, made of fire?"

Papyrus reeled from the sudden change in subject and shook his head, bewildered.

"In fact, you could call them-"

"Oh no," Papyrus said, recognizing the tone of voice.

"-Space heaters," Sans finished with a wink.

"Sans!" Papyrus yelled with mock-fury.

Sans cackled with the smuggest possible look on his face. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to make that one," he said

And in a conversation so nostalgic it was actually supposed to be familiar, the feeling didn't seem so bad, so he let himself take Sans's bait, more puns dissolving into playful bickering dissolving into brother-wrestling and giggle fits under the night sky.

The more time passed on the surface, the more Papyrus's feeling of déjà vu faded. Some key events still felt unsettling, like finding the perfect car and budgeting out a way to afford it with Sans, or Undyne bragging about her "historically significant" day on the beach with Alphys, or Toriel's party to celebrate earning a teaching license. But as more things happened, as everyone settled into their lives and monsters formed a legitimate alliance with humanity, the feeling began to fade. So he stopped thinking about it.

Toriel was radiant this evening in her simple yellow sundress. "Thank you so much for this, Papyrus," she said, smiling fondly.

Papyrus grinned. "Nonsense, Toriel! Frisk and I will have a wonderful night together! I have a wide selection of games and movies picked out!" With a teasing tone, he added, "You two have fun!"

Toriel nodded gratefully and turned away from him, bending her knees in order to properly hug Frisk. "Be good for Papyrus, alright?" she said, unnecessarily.

Frisk nodded, but their smile looked forced to Papyrus. Usually they were excited to spend the night with him, but right now they looked like their mind was occupied.

The oddness did not go unnoticed by Toriel, who frowned as her eyebrows furrowed in concern. But then Sans came down the stairs in a shirt without ketchup stains, as close to presentable as Sans could get, and she just kissed their forehead fondly and ruffled their hair.

"I'll see you in the morning," she whispered, and Frisk managed to lose their tense expression and nod.

'See you soon, Mom,' they signed, and Toriel looked satisfied.

(Shortly after they'd come to the surface, it had become clear that Frisk's simple one-word answers and typical silence were because verbal communication didn't come to them easily, and, as such, everyone had scrambled to learn sign-language to allow more comfortable conversation with them.)

Sans clasped Toriel's hand, unaware of Frisk's odd mood. "Don't burn down the house, bro," he said over his shoulder as she opened the door for the two to leave.

"You're thinking of Undyne!" Papyrus called out in mock-indignation as Sans closed the door behind them. He huffed and turned toward Frisk, his face falling as he saw their strange, uncomfortable expression.

He was always the one who made conversation, so he managed to not seem especially tense as he babbled amicably while starting up a bowl of popcorn and choosing a movie, a familiar one he and Frisk had already watched together a few times. As he grabbed the popcorn and the title showed, it was pretty obvious neither of them were paying any attention to it. Frisk was gazing at the floor and Papyrus was gazing at Frisk uncertainly.

When Frisk noticed his scrutiny, they met his eyes for a few moments. 'Hey Papyrus?' they signed, face looking thoughtful. Papyrus paused the movie and nodded in acknowledgment. 'You know that thing you said to those jerks at the supermarket yesterday? About how it's never too late to change and anyone can be a good person if they try?'

Papyrus did remember that. They had pushed him and said quite a few rude things about Monsterkind's presence on the surface. But he didn't understand why they'd be thinking about that now. He nodded uncertainly.

They turned away. 'Does that mean that it's okay to do bad things, as long as you fix everything in the end?'

"I think it's never too late to go back and be a good person," he said slowly. Were they guilty about something? Had they gotten in trouble at school? He smiled and continued in a reassuring voice, "It's alright if you did something wrong, Frisk, nobody's going to be mad at you. You're a very good person. You're one of my best friends."

'Yeah, but. What if I'm going to do something bad?' They seemed to realize what they had signed, because their face screwed up and they frantically continued, 'But it's something I can fix! It's just something I'll do once, and then I'll make everything right.'

Now Papyrus was really confused. "Frisk," he said uncertainly, "you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

'But it is something I want to do.' they answered insistently before their face filled with shame at the admission 'Is that bad?' they asked, their movements slightly shaky.

"Why would you want to do something if you know it's bad?" Papyrus asked with a voice he hoped was confused rather than judgmental.

They paused at that. 'I'm not really sure,' they signed with an uncomfortable smile which faded as they continued. 'I guess it's because I want to know what will happen. Part of me thinks that the things I'll learn might be helpful or might make things better in the long run, but really it's because I can. I can do it, and I can turn back, and I can fix it, and I'll still be a good person.'

"I think you're kind of misinterpreting what I said," Papyrus said, trying to be lighthearted as if he really believed this was a totally hypothetical conversation.

They laughed as they signed 'Maybe.' They stopped shaking and frowned. 'It doesn't really matter,' they signed. 'You're not going to remember this.'

"I'm not?" he asked, his voice small.

Frisk nodded and didn't look at him, as if they weren't actually addressing him so much as expressing their thoughts with careful hand movements. 'You don't remember the time I made mistakes. And you don't remember the first time I did the right thing either. In the end, you're not going to remember the bad things I do either. You'll only remember the last thing I do, and it'll be the best one. I won't do anything wrong, and I won't want to do anything wrong anymore, and we can stay like this and I'll really be good.'

Suddenly everything made sense. They really are familiar! This really did all happen before! I really do know who I know! And they're the reason. I have to tell everyone, I have to tell Sans, what does this mean? Is this the "anomally" that he wrote about in that stack of scientific papers I didn't understand? What does this mean for our future? Does anyone else know? Have they been keeping this to themself for all this time? Or, if this has happened multiple times, even longer? How many times have I tried to capture them like that? How many times have they had to build up the courage to face King Asgore? How long-

Snapping out of his thoughts, Papyrus looked at Frisk and realized their eyes somehow both glazed over and focused with something Papyrus didn't know the name of right now. He understood what was happening and his eyes widened as he reached for their shoulders frantically. "Frisk, wait-!"

-Papyrus woke up.

Ah! What a nice nap! Short enough to be properly refreshing and prepare him for his day. If he'd had a dream, he didn't remember it. He removed his pajamas and slid on one of his favorite sets of cool clothes, putting on his battle body on top of the outfit. He bounded down the stairs and started to stretch excitedly. His new job as a sentry was waiting for him, and, any day now, a human would come through and he'd capture it and secure his place in the Royal Guard!

While Papyrus stretched, Sans sauntered out of his room and smiled coolly, muttering something through a yawn that almost resembled a greeting. For Sans, this was an unusually early time to be awake. Papyrus thought to question him, but decided against it. After all, why discourage a change he'd always wanted to see?

And besides, Sans being up at a reasonable hour, grabbing a small container of spaghetti from the food museum for breakfast, heading to work without procrastination ... somehow, even if it wasn't the norm, it didn't seem all that strange on this particular day.

In fact, it seemed...

...familiar.