The image is the same. But the light is too strong. This is how his dreams always plays out.

Machinery hums behind him, sputtering on its last lifeline, sparks showering him overhead. He turns to the side, waiting for that particular metal instrument to break, for fragments to fly right past him, lodging into the linoleum walls. He turns forward again, waiting for that silent pulse, indicating the light's rapidly building intensity. It's alive, and it's real, and it's taken the last link left of their efforts. The Doc is long gone, but it's hard to get that piece of knowledge through one's head sometimes, ya know?

There are words, and there are pictures. They say, Have you found anything yet?

A little shrug, and a hurt smile. It's how he always responded to questions he had no real answer to. Even before all the broken parts, and the shifting planes of existence that overlap each other like thin pages of a dense report, his quirks always verged on the aggravating. People tolerated it, as they tolerated his sense of humor, fit for children, but sometimes endearing in adults. Only sometimes.

"sorry," he says. "i got nothing."

He hasn't visited his basement in a while. He keeps the failure of an idea hidden away, and the blueprints there are gathering dust upon metaphorical dust. He sees the imprint of lines and figures that he had written down once before, and once was compelled to write them down again. There had been the illusion of progress, of actually moving forward. Kind of a shocker when you realize the future is just one giant circle, or one broken record, repeating the same parts over and over again. Would it be better if his memory wasn't so shot about it? Or maybe this whole thing was just one giant fever dream and he had been vaporized along with the others.

Ah, come on now. Don't get so hopeful.

"why even try?" he hears himself say. Probably. He must have said it, right? Not like anyone else was here. Just shadows and light that penetrate his skull, that always threaten to sear him completely, like all the others. But it never does, it never takes him away. Isn't he a lucky one?

He looks up to the light, to the face, melded with shadows and the afterimage of shadows. It sets his chest to heaviness, despite there being nothing beneath his ribs at all.

Do you care so little? they say.To give up on all of us?

He looks up and-

Sans was woken up by what felt like a punch in the face.

If it had been anybody else, the attempted nudge might have been gentle, just enough to rouse Sans from his four-hour nap. But Papyrus was bad at such low-key actions. That's what happened when you got intense, hard-core training from an always pumped-up fish girl, and had bony appendages with no flesh to soften the blow. So when trying to wake Sans up from his usual slacking, attempting to simply poke him, he had instead shoved him right off his chair into the snowy ground.

Sans just barely lifted his head, blinking his eye sockets. "'sup, bro?"

Crossing his arms with a noisome clatter, Papyrus attempted to look indignant. "SANS! I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO APOLOGIZE TO YOU FOR MY RUDENESS… OR YELL AT YOU FOR YOUR RUDENESS!"

"what's this about being rude?" Sans linked his hands behind his head, stretching out his legs, making himself comfortable in the snow. "i'm the nicest guy around."

"IT'S RUDE TO BE SLEEPING AT YOUR WORK STATION!" Papyrus pointed frantically at said sentry station, a modest wooden structure with snow eternally settled on its triangular roof. "IF A HUMAN CAME BY, THEY WOULD BE TOTALLY PUT OFF AT YOUR LACK OF WORK ETHIC."

"i'm sure they'd understand how bone-tired i was." He was already chuckling before the end of his joke, and Papyrus was already screaming.

"SANS. I LOVE BONES AS MUCH AS THE NEXT SKELETON, BUT THIS IS RIDICULOUS."

"alright, alright, i'll lay off. in fact, i'll just lay right here." He did so, shoveling some of the snow over his chest like a comfy blanket, closing his eye sockets.

"AAAHH." Papyrus stamped his boot into the ground, joints popping at the erratic motions. "YOU HAVE ANGERED ME SO MUCH, BROTHER, THAT I HAVE ALMOST FORGOTTEN THE VERY REASON WHY I CAME OVER HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE."

"did ya forget?"

"NO, OF COURSE NOT. WHO DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?"

"oh ok." Sans opened one bony eyelid. "so something is up then?"

"YES. AND YOU SHOULD BE TOO." Papyrus grasped the short skeleton by the sleeves, hefting him up quite easily to his feet. "UNDYNE TEXTED ME NOT TOO LONG AGO ABOUT OUR JOBS. AND HOW WE SHOULDN'T DO THEM ANYMORE. TEMPORARILY. ONE DAY ONLY. AND THEN BACK TO WORK FOR THE REST OF OUR LONG AND FULFILLING LIVES."

Sans yawned, somehow doing so by keeping his grin in place. "then we got the day off."

"EXACTLY. YOU SUMMED THAT UP VERY NICELY. UNDYNE SAID SHE HAD OTHER ISSUES TO ATTEND TO SO SHE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO CHECK IN ON US. APPARENTLY THE GARBAGE DUMP IS A VERY INTERESTING PLACE. I KNOW. I'VE BEEN THERE!"

"the dump is a pretty cool place." Sans shoved both hands into his jacket pockets. "since we're on holiday, i'm not gonna waste it. i'm heading to grillby's. wanna come?"

Papyrus made a startled gasp, empty eye sockets widened in shock and horror. "YOU KNOW I DISDAIN SUCH GREASY TRAPS FOR LOW-COMMON FILTH. IT'S NOT LIKE THE DUMP AT ALL!"

"hey, don't be like that. my treat." Sans gave a friendly wink. "i'll order up some of those milkshakes that you like. even more strong bones in those."

"THAT IS VERY TEMPTING AND I APPRECIATE YOUR OFFER TO REMEDY AN OTHERWISE HORRENDOUS SITUATION." Then Papyrus looked to the ground, scuffing his boot against the powdered snow. He tried to twiddle his skeletal fingers together, but the fact that he was wearing gloves made this seemingly simple task very hard. So he had to resort to just tapping his gloves against the other. "AND I GUESS IF THAT IS ALL YOU WANT TO DO, THAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE, I SUPPOSE, MAYBE, PROBABLY."

Sans recognized that motion, that tone. Papyrus only did that when he was nervous about something, and what did his cool brother have to be nervous for? "hey, papyrus. something bothering ya? you know you can tell ol' sansy."

"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. CERTAINLY THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN NEVER BE BOTHERED, OR BE THE BOTHEREE. NEITHER OF THOSE OPTIONS ARE POSSIBLE. NYEEEH…" He kept looking down, shifting glances to his brother.

Sans knew just how to get him to open up. "come onnnn."

"NYEEEEH…"

"tell meeeee."

"NYEEEEHHH…"

"paapyyyruuuusss."

"NYEEEEEH- OH, ALL RIGHT." Papyrus straightened, placing both hands on his bony, barely existent hips. "BUT ONLY BECAUSE I AM TOO AMAZING TO NOT TELL YOU. YES?" He thought about it. "YES, THAT IS INDEED CORRECT."

Sans grinned widely. He already couldn't remember what his dream had been about. Well, almost. "cool. lay it on me."

"WELL," again another shifting of the eye sockets, though he kept up his heroic stance. "I WAS ON MY VERY IMPORTANT SENTRY DUTIES OF WALKING THROUGH TOWN. AND FIXING UP MY PUZZLES ALONG THE WAY. IT WAS A VERY PRODUCTIVE WALK. ANYWAY, I WALKED PAST A FEW CHILDREN THAT WERE PLAYING NEAR THE FIELDS FAR OFF. ON BIG SLEDS. GREAT SLEDS. SLEDS THAT COURSE ACROSS THE WAVES OF WHITE SNOW LIKE A FEROCIOUS BEAST. AND. UM." He coughed out some snow out of his throat bone. "IT LOOKED VERY FUN? AND I WAS WONDERING IF MAYBE WE SHOULD TRY IT SOMETIME? BUT I HAVE NEVER RIDDEN A SLED BEFORE AND DO NOT WANT TO CRACK MY SKULL OR ANYTHING BUT YOU ALWAYS GO OFF TO GRILLBYS A LOT AND. UM." Then he rushed out the rest. "ANDTHISSEEMEDLIKEAFUNTHINGTODOTOGETHEROKAY."

A brief moment of silence. Papyrus looked off to the side, eye sockets half-lidded. "BUT YOU KNOW, THE GREAT PAPYRUS DOES NOT CARE EITHER WAY."

Sans thought about it. He thought some more, then a little bit more. His grin widened when the thought was thoroughly finished.

"aww, does babybones wanna hang out with his big bro?" His shoulders shook in soft laughter. "that's adorable, paps."

Papyrus predictably stamped his feet some more, a flush coming over his bony face despite the fact that he had no skin or blood to physically do so. "SANS, WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS EMBARRASS ME SO?" He turned away, tugging at his red scarf. "I CAN JUST GO ASK FLOWEY THEN, IF THAT'S HOW YOU'LL BE."

"whoa, hold up." Sans suddenly appeared in front of Papyrus, using space and time to not prank him for once. "i never said no, did i?" He pointed a thumb behind him, down the path. "come on, i know the best place for sledding. it's pretty much the same everywhere else for sledding, too, but that's okay."

At that, his brother smiled, clapping his hands together with glee. "WOWIE! ARE WE REALLY GOING TO GO SLEDDING? I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO WEAR! THIS IS ALL SO SUDDEN!"

"just one step at a time, bro." Which they did, literally taking one careful step at a time through the snow so that Papyrus wouldn't get overcome by all the excitement.

After about two hours on what should have been a twenty-minute walk, they finally arrived at the best place for sledding. Which, as Sans said, was pretty much the same everywhere else. Snowy slopes, tall evergreens, and, um, more snow. There were also a few doggy snow sculptures here and there, some twisting into impossible shapes, with always the face of a tongue-lolling canine to top it off.

Papyrus, who hadn't gotten less excited in even the slightest, was still clapping his hands. "INCREDIBLE BROTHER. WE FINALLY MADE IT TO OUR DESTINATION." Then dismay crossed over his face. "OH NO. I FORGOT. FOR A SLEDDING ADVENTURE WE NEED..." Dramatic pause. "A SLED!"

"no problem, i know a shortcut to the best sled store in town." He stood there, slippers deep in the snow banks, hands in his pockets. "k, i'm back. here." A blue, intricately pretty sled was suddenly in his arms. "got a good deal for it, too."

Papyrus had long decided to not question his brother's strange abilities, and just accepted the gift. "YOU EVEN GOT IT IN BLUE. THIS WILL COMPLEMENT MY SPECIAL ATTACK PERFECTLY."

"heh heh." Sans shrugged good-naturedly. His chest was feeling very light by now. "come on. let's take it out for a ride."

Papyrus wasted no time. With gleeful cackling, he lifted his sled above his head and ran off into the white expanse. "I WILL BE THE NUMBER ONE SLEDDING MASTER. THE SNOW WILL SHIVER AT MY NAME. THE GREAT PAPYRUS. ROYAL GUARD SLASH SLEDDING EXTAORDINAIRE."

Sans nodded to the words as if they were a relaxing chant. He walked a little sluggishly, watching his tall brother climb atop a particularly large snow bank. And though Papyrus tripped every so often, once even landing head first into a snow drift and struggling to get out, he never once gave up. Papyrus was laughing so happily once he finally reached the top. He jumped up and down, pumping his fists in the air while still holding onto the sled, which made things a bit complicated. But he found a way to do both easily enough. Leave it to Papyrus to always find the best solution.

"WOWIE. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW FUN SLEDDING IS."

Sans stood there at the bottom, letting out a relaxed sigh. Mist formed in the air before his skull. "think you gotta be on the sled before it counts as actual sledding, bro."

"AH. I SUPPOSE YOU ARE CORRECT." Papyrus planted the sled down before him, then promptly clambered on, trying to get all of his bony limbs on it. Considering his height, and the length of said lanky limbs, it proved to be a tad difficult. He had to curl up on the sled, sharp elbows jutting out, his pointy knees propped right against his chin. Sans would have been worried about those knees poking out his eyes, if he had any eyes. So luckily, that issue was dodged.

"I IMAGINED SLEDDING WOULD BE A BIT FASTER," Papyrus said after a beat.

"gotta move the sled first."

"OKAY." Gloved hands dug into the snow, propelling the skeleton forward a few inches at a time. "I AM MOVING THE SLED." Another few inches. "I AM GOING."

Sans put a hand over his grin, snickering. "here, bro. let me give you a push."

A quick blink, and his left eye glowed a gentle blue, matching the color of an unseen sky, the shade of an unknown ocean. He unearthed his left hand from his pocket, and held it out before him. Blue light haloed around the sled, barely seen, coating it like rainwater. He gestured with his hand, only enough for his phalanges to barely creak, and the sled pushed forward with more ease.

Finally, Papyrus and his sled were over the edge of the snow hill, and tipped off.

Surprise filled Papyrus' expression, at the rapid speed he was going, clinging to the sides of the sled with gloved hands. This surprise quickly turned to glee, and he started to giggle madly, kicking up snow in his descent.

"LOOKIT ME, SANS! I AM SLEDDING! I CAN FEEL THE WIND IN MY HAIR!" He was tapping his feet excitedly against the curled iron bars in front of the sled. "AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY HAIR. TRULY THIS IS WONDERFUL."

"glad you're having fun, bro," Sans said, and meant it. His eye sockets were back to normal, hands back in his pockets. Papyrus sledded past him, spraying enough snow against his skull to give him a makeshift beard. He didn't bother shaking it off. "remember to turn it."

"I CAN TURN THIS THING?!" Papyrus sounded, indeed, quite shocked. Following his brother's advice, he gripped the sides of the sled tighter, edging it around the slopes. They were wobbly turns, constantly in danger of turning over the great skeleton completely. But of course, Papyrus didn't mind, or didn't notice. He also didn't seem to notice when he ran over a few doggy snow sculptures in his dash, reducing them to regular snow lumps. "THIS IS JUST LIKE CAR DRIVING. I NO LONGER NEED TO SNOOZE WHILE I CRUISE."

"well, i guess there are some similarities." Sans took this as an opportunity to seat himself by a tree, crossing one leg bone over the other, relaxing immediately. He watched as the sled eventually slowed to a stop, even though Papyrus kept trying to turn it. "how about trying from the top again?"

"AN EXCELLENT IDEA." Papyrus shot up from his sled, joints cracking as he did so with a few rattles here and there. "WHY DON'T YOU SLED WITH ME TOO? YOU CAN RIDE SHOTGUN WITH ME, WHATEVER THAT MEANS."

"nah, no worries, bro. i'm just gonna…" Sans grinned wickedly as a plop of snow fell on him from an overhead branch, giving him a little snow hat to go with his snow beard. "…chill right here. heh heh."

"NORMALLY, I WOULD BE VERY APPALLED AT YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES. BUT NOT EVEN YOU CAN RUIN SUCH A FUN TIME." Papyrus grabbed his sled and sprinted up the snow slopes again. "CHILL ALL YOU WANT WHILE I PERFECT MY SLEDDING TECHNIQUES."

"sounds good. i'll keep my eye sockets on ya." Sans settled back against the tree, and did just that.

Papyrus really did give it his all when it came to anything. Whether human-hunting, spaghetti-making, or sassy-posing whenever he went into battle, it was with all of his skeleton heart. It was hard not to admire him for that. He put that same heart by going up all the snow slopes in the area, overturning his sled a few times, but that was alright. Soon, his signature cackles became very soothing to San's nonexistent ears, enough to almost make him fall asleep for the seventh time that day.

At the risk of bad dreams, he closed his eye lids. The snow had finally left his skull, dripping down his cheekbones.

Honestly, it was just nice to see someone happy.

"SANS. SANS, ARE YOU WATCHING ME?"

Eye sockets still closed, Sans gave the thumbs up. "ya better believe it."

"SANS, YOU BETTER WATCH ME. I AM ABOUT TO PERFORM A MOST AWESOME SLEDDING FEAT."

"sounds great, bro." He stretched out a bit more, hands folded over his chest.

"I AM GOING. YOU WILL BE MOST IMPRESSED BY THIS."

"always am, bro."

"THIS HUNDRED FOOT DROP OFF THIS VERY STEEP SIDE OF THIS MOUNTAIN WILL BE, AS THE KIDS SAY, QUITE GNARLY. ESPECIALLY ONCE I CIRCLE RIGHT BACK TO SAFETY."

"that's real-" Sans then shot open those lazy eye sockets. "wait."

"OKAY HERE I GO."

Sitting up, Sans saw just in time to see his babybones brother sled off exactly where he said; a hundred foot drop, where the snow slope edged off down a steep mountain. As well as another little tidbit of information that Papyrus forgot to mention. That said mountain tipped off into what was basically a dark abyss from which there was no escape from, whether you're a monster or the light itself.

Sans felt as if he was watching everything in slow-motion.

"ARE YOU WATCHIIIINGGG?" Papyrus screamed out, waving his arms. "LOOK AT ME OBTAIN MACH SPEEEEED!"

Mach speed was then obtained, and Papyrus just vanished down the side, almost out of Sans' vision.

Like that, Sans immediately got to his feet. If anyone happened to be walking by, they would not have recognized the skeleton as regular ol' Sans. Not with that wide-eyed look on his face.

He moved to the side, and got Papyrus back in his line of sight. His brother was still screeching in delight, but he wasn't gripping the sides of the sled to turn. Eye sockets shut tight, he let gravity take its ill-fated course down the slope… then fly off right off the edge of the ground, hovering above the lower part of the caverns below.

"NYEEEEEEEEEEeeeeehhh-!"

Sans took a shortcut, a little more frazzled in his jump than he was used to, and stepped out just near that sharp drop of the cliff. Papyrus was already several feet away from him, still flying off the sheer force of his sledding speed. He seemed almost to ascend, as if the sled had grown invisible wings and was now lifting him up to the high ceiling of the Underground. Sure, there had been moments when Papyrus seemed to just break the rules of natural physics; floating above people's heads as he walked, just sliding backwards with no visible motion, or spin in circles across Snowdin for hours at a time, but never at a point where he was in danger of falling straight to complete, unending darkness below.

And right now, physics wasn't having any of it. The sled was already starting to fall. Papyrus was still shouting in glee.

Sans' left eye was blazing. It washed the surrounding snow and trees in burning sapphire, tried to illuminate the abyss as much as it could, only to get swallowed up by the darkness. But the force of that light focused on the rapidly descending skeleton, coloring the red scarf in the same shade of blue, along with the rest of his battle body attire. Sans whipped out his hand, and the same magic that had given the sled that tiny push before, now latched onto it with a desperate grip.

The sled shivered in mid-air. He saw Papyrus wobble a bit, still unheeding to his dire situation. Reflexively, he clenched his hand and 'tugged' on that sled in an arc. It swerved over certain doom, making a majestic flight through the air as it headed straight for the safety of higher ground. Papyrus' voice slowly began fading in as he came closer, the bottom of the sled now making contact with the snow.

"-eeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEHHH!" And then he crashed straight into a copse of trees.

Doing more exercise then he had done in his entire life, Sans rushed over to Papyrus, short legs barreling through the snow that reached up past his thigh bones. He pushed aside the bushes in his way, trying to ignore the fact that the sled was several feet away, with no brother in sight.

"bro! hey!" He ran faster, finally seeing the other skeleton's body, which was laid out, face-planted into the snow, completely immobile. "papyrus, are- are you-?"

Papyrus shot up from the snow in one fluid, bone-rattling motion. He pumped his fists in the air, ecstatic. "NYEH HEH HEH! DID YOU SEE, BROTHER? DID YOU SEE HOW I RODE THROUGH THE AIR LIKE A MOST MAJESTIC TSUNDERPLANE? BRIMMING WITH FEELINGS OF UNREQUITED PASSION? EXCEPT MY PASSION IS ALWAYS RETURNED. SO. PROBABLY NOT LIKE IT AT ALL?"

Sans was panting, unaware he had been doing so before. His left hand shook slightly. "that's… something, bro."

Papyrus then looked down, appearing quite bewildered. "WHY, SANS. YOU LOOK DIFFERENT."

Sans already put his hand back in his pocket. Was his eye still glowing? "heh, what do you mean?"

"I NEVER SAW YOU THIS FRIGHTENED BEFORE."

"oh, heh, is… is that what i…" Sans then closed his eyes, bowing his head a little.

Geez, he was actually shaking. That was weird. So weird. He really shouldn't make Papyrus worry, but it was kinda hard to stop. That and the fact that if he had paid even less attention to what was happening was enough to set that familiar heaviness in his chest again. Funny, really, because this time he wasn't dreaming.

A large hand patted his shoulder. Gentle, not pushing him accidentally to the ground this time.

"PERHAPS MY ACCOMPLISHMENT PROVED TO BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU AND YOU SUDDENLY FELT INADEQUATE IN COMPARISON!" Papyrus nodded all-knowingly. "DO NOT WORRY. I WILL TEACH YOU THE ART OF SLEDDING THAT I HAVE JUST LEARNED MYSELF IN THE PAST HOUR."

Sans took a deep breath. The trembling stopped, and he raised his face, almost blinded by the intensity of his brother's smile. "yeah, that sounds nice." He scratched the back of his skull. "i guess it'd be good to stretch out these old bones, huh? i've slept enough anyway."

"WOWIE! YOU WON'T BE TAKING ANOTHER NAP AGAIN?" Papyrus clapped his hands at this momentous event. "DOES THIS MEAN YOU WILL FINALLY CHANGE YOUR WAYS AND BECOME A PRODUCTIVE MEMBER OF SOCIETY?"

Sans shrugged, his grin relaxing into its more natural form. "who knows? this day's full of surprises."

"SANS. I AM BEGINNING TO THINK THAT YOU ARE MAKING LIGHT OF THE SITUATION."

"nah, bro. i don't light up anything. but you-" The sled floated to him, coated in blue magic as Sans retrieved it, back in his arms as it glowed warmly. "are the true light of my life."

Papyrus first narrowed his eye sockets, then widened them back immediately. "AW, SANS. I AM BOTH TOUCHED BY YOUR KINDNESS, AS WELL AS ASHAMED THAT SUCH A HORRIBLE JOKE HAS AFFECTED ME SO. NEVER HAVE I FELT SO CONFLICTED."

Sans' chuckled slightly. "heh, so how do you use this thing?" He hefted up the sled.

"NOT TO WORRY, SANS. THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL SHOW YOU."

Great hands grabbed Sans around the waist, then lifted him overhead, with sled and all. "NYEH HEH HEH. LET'S GO."

"uh." Before he knew it, he was riding on Papyrus' shoulders. And then Papyrus was sitting on top of the sled again, thus having them both fit. He wasn't sure how they were already on top of a snow slope, but here they were.

"READY AND FREDDY."

"oh boy."

And then they pushed off, the wind whistling past their skulls, though now facing away from that cliff and terrible danger. So Sans kept up his smile, even when he fell off and rolled down the hill, snowballing away, with his brother following him straight after.

Heh, days like these…

It's a little difficult to tell when night had settled in. When trapped in the Underground, there were no sun or stars to give you a helping hand regarding the passage of time. So it was a necessity for most monsters to at least have a wristwatch (or whatever body part was available for them to apply watches on). Considering Sans' laziness and Papyrus' tendency to break certain items with his erratic motions, both brothers were only aware that it was past dinnertime when a few passersby were kind enough to let them know.

"OH NO. THAT MEANS I FORGOT TO DO MY BI-HOURLY CALISTHENICS." Papyrus looked slightly worried, but perked up right after. "LUCKILY, I HAVE THE WHOLE NIGHT AHEAD OF ME."

"night's usually the time to catch some shut-eye, paps." Sans was back to laying down, though he kept his word on trying out sledding after riding it first with Papyrus. He did it the trademarked Sans way of course; sliding down a snow slope on his back, hands in his pockets, the top of his skull paving the way for him as he descended. When he finally came to a full-stop, he opened his eye sockets. "should probably head back."

"I SUPPOSE YOU ARE RIGHT." Papyrus was shaking out his scarf, flinging out powdered snow into the breeze. "THIS HAS BEEN A MOST EXCELLENT DAY OFF."

"yep." Sans got up, rolling his shoulders to ease away a creak or two.

"THANK YOU FOR SPENDING THIS DAY WITH ME, SANS." Papyrus then suddenly knelt before his brother, giving him a great, tender hug then the usual. Sans' pupils widened a bit. "TRULY, THIS HAS BEEN A TIME THAT I WON'T FORGET."

Sans' ribs rattled slightly, but he controlled his breathing almost instantly. Papyrus didn't notice. "yeah, i won't forget either," he lied. He stepped back from his brother's arms, and patted his happy skull. "hey, race ya back home. how about it?"

"AH, A HEALTHY BROTHERLY CHALLENGE. I ACCEPT." Papyrus straightened up immediately, already running in place to prepare. "GET READY TO TASTE DEFEAT. AND THEN MY SPAGHETTI. BECAUSE I'LL HAVE SOME READY FOR YOU WHEN YOU FINALLY GET HOME, AFTER YOU HAVE LOST SO BRUTALLY AGAINST MY RACING SKILLS."

"nice, bro."

Papyrus took two steps, then turned back with an accusatory hand. "AND DON'T USE SPACE AND TIME TO CHEAT YOUR WAY TO FIRST PLACE EITHER."

"hey, i always play by the rules." Sans winked. "i'm ready when you are."

"THAT IS YOUR FIRST MISTAKE, BROTHER. I WAS BORN READY. NYEH HEH HEH." Off he went, weaving around madly through the snow, sometimes somersaulting or spinning in circles during his mad dash.

Sans remained standing there, watching him go. His brother had left the sled behind. Slowly, Sans picked it up, hefting it under his right arm.

He didn't want to, but the vague thought came to mind, regardless of his wants. i've done this before, haven't i?

He saw the imprint of lines and figures that he had written down once before, and once was compelled to write them down again. There had been the illusion of progress, of actually moving forward. Kind of a shocker when you realize the future is just one giant circle, or one broken record, repeating the same parts over and over

and over.

Sans raised his head to the cavernous ceilings. The jewels up high were too far away and too covered by mist to fully see them. Not like in Waterfall, where they were worshipped like real stars, clear and bright, mimicking a night sky. Still, not quite though, for actual stars shifted in their orbits, and rocks did not. Always there was that flaw to break the illusion.

Did Papyrus ask for this same thing on this same day? From other realities ago? Usually, Sans would make a note here and there, but a slip-up was always expected. It was him, after all, and organization had never been his strong suit. Maybe other times he had just wanted to make more of those snow skull-tures. Or have a snowball fight, or a fishing trip, or a hike up Waterfall's marshy terrain to count and wish on those fake stars. Or maybe each time, it was the exact same thing; the laughter, the worry, the dares. Each repetition less special then the one before.

Sans grinned. Well, no, not really.

Even for this, even this vague sense of déjà vu in every part of his day, this knowledge of stalled progress, this slight pull of going in circles over and over again not by his own choice; he would rather go through all such predeterminations again than have

nothing.

And wouldn't anyone want days like these? Where joy happens, even if forever on repeat? And if his memory was so shot, it's not like such days could wear out their welcome.

Truly very interesting.

He didn't turn, keeping his gaze straight forward. He didn't have to dream to remember that voice. Sometimes it just popped out of the fabric that held all things together, watching and waiting. Perhaps judging, though Sans could never be sure.

I thought you wouldn't care for any of this at all.

Sans walked, keeping the sight of Papyrus' bright red scarf ahead of him, like a slash of red paint cutting through the white. Bright and ever-present. Unforgettable.

"you and me both." He chuckled. "but sometimes you gotta take what's given to you."

And he'd take days such as these, even after the slate was wiped clean once more.