Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a shitty day (though that was the norm for Dr. Gaster). He moaned as his bones cracked in ache from being hunched over his desk, typing away at his computer, for hours. He walked over to the kitchen, hoping to serve himself a hot cup of coffee. Upon finally having a white mug with the dark liquid in his hands, he thought he could relax for a few minutes.

Unfortunately for him, he heard footsteps behind him. He sighed at the sight of the human child. “Human, what do you want?”

He nearly spit his entire coffee at the question the human asked him: ‘what’s with the metal plate in your hand?’. He screeched and stuttered for a few seconds until he realized he wasn’t signing. He groaned in frustration; why was the human so infuriatingly curious and nosy? Gaster took a deep breath, steadying the hands and voice he hadn’t realized were trembling. He summoned his magic hands, intertwining his real ones together against his chest. “First of all, is it not a matter that concerns anybody except me. Second, I have reasons to not infer this matter with you; I’m positive you understand the concept of privacy.”

The human nodded a few times, their expression still as usual. They raised their eyebrow, crossing their hands as if scrutinizing him. He wondered if all humans were as blank-faced when judging others as this one. 

Gaster huffed again, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get back to work with the child’s pestering over him, albeit silently. “If you really want to know, it… makes me feel uncomfortable, anxious, expectant. It feels as though I’m missing something… important.” His hands tightened. He shook his head. “But I pay it no mind anymore.”

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work.” He walked past the human, and even put a hand up, his silent way of saying ‘no more questions’.

The human pouted, stomping their feet for a moment before exiting from the window they had broken into.

***

Previous projects should be put in the past, Dr. Gaster knew as much, but after the prospect of a new job, he couldn’t help himself. Of course, experimental work on SOULs was unfortunately completely off the table now, being unviable and unethical. But having more resources and more liberty on the surface than the royal scientist role could ever provide, made him strangely giddy. Especially since… he could finally research just what the hell was the place in which he resided after falling to the CORE. Maybe the magic of his own creation could be inspected, but he doubted that it would be the same as when it was still running and alive. 

But one of his previous projects could definitely put his own mind at ease: Inter-dimensional research. It was clear that last time he had prodded around other dimensions, things didn’t go well for him; broken arm and all. But after his stay in that so-called void with that same eldritch entity splitting him apart into miniscule pieces across time and space, it was clear to him that his hypothesis of the existence of other dimensions and timelines was positive. On the other hand, it was easier to hide from Asgore and Papyrus about his new secret research outside of work, and Sans couldn’t be bothered to interact with him much to notice he was spiraling into old habits that were… distasteful if found out. 

This time he definitely wouldn’t tear open the plane of existence like last time. Instead, he created an algorithm that would allow him to find weak points in this current dimension on its own, to see if he could locate the creation of other dimensions. It was hard, yes, and it did take him a week’s worth of all nighters to finish it, also yes. But it ran semi smoothly, with some glitches as he inserted his existence back into the timeline, at least smoothly enough to pinpoint several times where the timeline branched off to another: at least two branches when he had just created the sub- brothers, a branch that stemmed from —presumably if Gaster had chosen mercy— when he made the choice to go ahead with the experiments, several others that he assumed where him getting caught or killed before falling to the CORE, some right before Sans pushed him, and it stopped there. 

It frustrated him, even more than Asgore’s pestering on his lack of sleep or eating. Of course it wouldn’t have shown other dimensions outside of this dimension’s timeline. That entity literally came from this dimension and had a seeming presence over its entire timeline, or at least Gaster’s entire lifespan. But the absence of anomalies during the gap where he ‘died’ and was brought back was… strange. 

He didn’t want to admit it—Frankly, it made him a little embarrassed and ashamed. There had to something, anything, that would confirm the times he had desperately tried to reach out to his loved ones, to Sans and Papyrus. He wasn’t fully conscious during that period, but he did remember that excruciating pain was enough for him to have that intent. To torment them, to speak to them, do anything to grab an anchor back to existence. Hurting them even if it was unintentional. And if his hypothesis about this world’s existence being game-like and the existence of other worlds was true, then his corrupted nature must’ve left a permanent mark… right? Or maybe he was as narcissistic as before for thinking like that. 

He put it to rest, being way too tired to tell Asgore to leave him alone. He laid in bed for days when he wasn’t at work, and he would’ve continued sulking if it wasn’t for Papyrus’s admirable yet annoying insistence to get out of bed to go to lunch with him and the others —monsters he didn’t want to face. 

Being in the presence of Toriel, Papyrus, Sans, and Alphys simply put salt in the wound about his secret project. He wanted no more than to go back home and fix that stupid AI program since it hurt his ego a little too much and frustrated him to no good. It was humorous, really, to see him so cranky. He was sure Sans might’ve made fun of him in front of him when he didn’t notice much under his overwhelming thoughts about that damn algorithm. 

The evening went by. He was dropped off by Papyrus who after walking him to his house said, “YOU WERE UNUSUALLY MOODY TODAY. DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT? COMMUNICATION IS ONE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS’S EXPERTISES!”

Gaster stared at him. He shook his head and was tempted momentarily to shut the door in Papyrus’s face, but he simply replied with, “I appreciate your concerns. Work has been… eventful lately.”

He saw his… family member falter at the mention of work. Which made sense in retrospect, that was why he had kept it vague. 

“YOU GOT A JOB! THAT IS… AMAZING. WHERE DO YOU WORK?” He had a small waver to his voice that Gaster noticed.

“…at a research facility.” It wasn’t a lie, really. He did spent most of his work hours researching. 

He saw Papyrus partly relax, though the forced grin remained. “T-THAT’S GOOD. IT IS NOT ONE OF THOSE SCIENCE-Y DANGEROUS PLACES, RIGHT?” 

“It’s not a place where they experiment on SOULs or people, Papyrus.” 

His reassurance shouldn’t have worked at all, but Papyrus trusted him on his word, or tried to at least. After promising to go to lunch at his and Sans’ house the following week, Gaster entered his own home, where he immediately went to his room upon noticing that Asgore wasn’t home. 

It was clear something was different. When he entered the program, it was glitchier than usual, and the algorithm was detecting anomalies in current timeline. And there it was: the confirmation to his theories.

The program had the current timeline depicted in a straight line, with alternate timelines stemming from it like branches in random intervals, all highlighted with singular circles that revealed their time of origin. However, there was one interval detected during his time in the void, which was blaring red in the system. 

When he clicked on it, it read: “PH010722”

Chapter Text

“SANS, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS A GOOD IDEA?”

“yes, i can feel it. think about it, paps, the risk of failure and resources needed are low. and think about how much good we’ll do for monsterkind! you wanna help people, don’t you, brother?”

“…”

“…i promise no harm will be done. it won’t be conscious, sentient. just pure magic that we can use to break the barrier, to free everyone, to save asgore.”

“B-BUT… WHAT IF…”

“please, papyrus. i need your help. don’t you want to help me? why wouldn’t you help your family?” 

…

“OKAY, I WILL. I’M SORRY… I WON’T LET YOU DOWN AGAIN. YOU CAN TAKE IT. YOU CAN TAKE ANYTHING YOU NEED.”

***

He didn’t think it would actually work. After all, it was taken out of foolish human fiction ideas. Homunculus, what a ridiculous yet utterly genius idea of grabbing organic material and keep it in a stable environment to allow it to form! But Dr. Sans could be anything but mediocre, so he supposed it was to be expected. The prospect of making artificial life… it’d be like a miracle for Asgore if he told him that part, but not so much if he spoke of the unethical experimental plan he had hoped to follow. 

He looked up from his notes to the testing tube in front of him. Sans rubbed his eye sockets. Each day, he’d spend all of his time working inside of his lab, and each night, he’d come to that tiny room where his test subject formed slowly. Write how it formed, like putty in his hands —It was almost entrancing.

And it would’ve continued to look entrancing if it wasn’t for the fully formed skeleton-looking embryo in front of him. He dropped his clipboard, and if he hadn’t a fused jaw, he would’ve lost it due to the shock. He hadn’t account for this! How come in the cheap human films, the resulting creature was not at all humanoid but rather… parasitic-like? (Then again, he shouldn’t have based his data on human data…) How could’ve he expected that not only he created a SOUL, but a skeleton?

And he would’ve almost been able to live with it, to ignore it, if it wasn’t for the fact that it looked so much like Papyrus.

On the following days, he tried to ignore the skeleton in the room, and the skeleton nagging to talk to him as well. He wallowed in his actual royal scientist work, but he still checked on the subject, albeit very hesitantly. And though its appearance still made him tense, slowly but surely he was able to ignore it and focus on the important matter. And no, he totally didn’t scream in joy at the defeaning sound of beeping on the health monitor and at the tiny being moving for the first time. Not at all, nope. Not even glowed green.

“you’re alive! alive…”

That was a dangerous statement to make, but he couldn’t deny it any longer. He hoped the subject wouldn’t be sentient because it would make everything worse. 

And then there was Papyrus. Ah, sweet naive brother. He couldn’t let him see this. He would misunderstand everything like he usually did, and he would beg him to stop the project. And stopping was at out of the question the moment he took his brother’s finger. But he couldn’t keep him in the dark for so long. He couldn’t since it would hurt Papyrus. He needed to stall for time.

So he lied. Lying wasn’t hard for Sans, but he needed to be delicate as to not be caught by Papyrus. Usually it was easy, but lying about unethical practice and mad science stuff? He hadn’t done that. He didn’t need to hide his interests and job from anyone before. But he didn’t need to hide much anyway (not even when he killed some of the human children who would come out of the ruins). He texted Papyrus that the progress was slow and that he would show him when he deemed fit. He accepted when Papyrus begged him to come home and rest for a while.

A few weeks passed, and Sans took the specimen out of the M-D solution. He kept it under surveillance in a cell for the time being. He noted how it tripped and stumbled fearfully. He noted how it didn’t seem capable of speech. And he reluctantly interacted with him when he had to reattach its left arm while it wailed in fear.

After teaching it how to walk and eat on its own, he interacted with the subject more. He observed it through the cameras, watching how it prodded the walls and ground and how it screeched when it tried to touch the forcefield once. It was quiet for the most part, which was adequate. And its behavior changed and adapted to the circumstances it was given, like rattling its bones or glowing when in threat. 

Perhaps the subject was ready to meet Papyrus, or perhaps his brother was simply going to break into the lab to meet it. Either way, it was time. Sure, it wasn’t the ideal decision to make, but what could he do about it if Papyrus was insisting on the matter every time they spoke? It was tiring. And he couldn’t say no to his own brother. He simply hoped he wouldn’t regret it in the future, considering what was to come. 

He texted his brother, and in the span of an hour, Papyrus was already knocking on the lab’s door. 

***

“SANS, HAVE YOU BEEN EATING? I BROUGHT SOME FOOD FOR YOU AND… YEAH.” Papyrus muttered as quietly as his loud voice allowed him.

Papyrus wasn’t sure what to expect. For all he knew, he would be seeing an bony amalgamation that growled and dragged itself through the floor like an animal!!! He was scared. He always was when it came to his mad scientist of a brother. So when he received Sans’s message to come to the lab, he frantically cooked whatever the secretly and unethically made specimen and his brother would enjoy. Sweets… it surely was a good choice that both would enjoy. 

Sans grabbed the basket filled with food. “thanks, paps. subject 0 likes sweets, surprisingly.” He set it on the kitchen counter as they walked towards his office. “i will warn you now. he’s very very wary.”

Oh dear.

Papyrus was sweating bullets at the mental image that came from Sans’ comment: his brother throwing food from a metal bucket over to the ‘subject 0’ who opened its jaw so wide it was the size of Asgore’s height. On the love of god, he shouldn’t had been so insistent and just stayed ignorant!

Sans opened the door and made use of his blue magic to grab the subject’s SOUL. Papyrus shivered at the thought of having to restrain it. When he saw his brother’s signal to enter, he did, closing his eyes and fearing the worst…

…if the worst was a child skeleton in a green gown. Seemingly… normal? And healthy? He was feeling a bit silly; a skeleton would obviously come out of the magic of another one, albeit the unconventional method. He let a small sigh of relief, stepping closer to the desk where the shy toddler was hiding behind. The small skeleton peeked up, showing his big pupil-less eyes followed by a soft nervous frown. Guess he wasn’t the only one nervous for this meeting.

Papyrus kneeled down, hoping to ease the child’s anxiety, which worked as he saw the entire skull of the skeleton, watching him with curiosity. He took it a step further by glowing his eyes at the child. It was strange, to glow willingly after so long, but it was worth it as a pair of yellow eyes glowed back at him. He smiled, walking towards the small skeleton who in turn came out of the desk. 

“HEY… SUBJECT 0, RIGHT?” He whispered softly. He witnessed the child’s glow grow stronger with recognition of his name, which soured Papyrus a little. ‘Subject 0’ was no name for a baby skeleton—not so baby, but surely he couldn’t be so old, because hadn’t it been just a month or two? Surely his growth was sped up. “HOW ARE YOU?”

“…”

No answer. Right. Maybe he couldn’t speak yet… well, another means of communication wouldn’t hurt.

Papyrus opened his arms to Subject 0 for a hug, anticipating as if this one would know what to do for a few seconds, before he just grabbed the kid into a tight embrace. How right it felt! And he felt more glad when the little one eventually hugged back. 

He eventually let go, letting Subject 0 curiously poke and touch his face—his jaw and eyes—  and hands—his missing finger—. 

This was no experiment test subject. Just a previous child. No way…

He turned his head to look at Sans, who was nowhere to be seen at that moment.

***

This was unexpectedly hard. Sans wasn’t one to give up on a challenge, but when was the challenge having your brother to interact with the unethically made skeleton you plan to torture? He spent his time stalling for time by building the machines he’d use, but Papyrus’s recent interventions made explaining why he needed a laser machine difficult. And it wasn’t like wasting his time with his equipment was good either, since that meant leaving Subject 0 either by himself or with Papyrus. He swore he locked the door, how the hell did his brother keep getting in?

And just when he thought it couldn’t get worse, his brother went ahead and taught his test subject how to speak. To learn. So all his efforts to affirm that Subject 0 wasn’t sentient went out of the window. It was just blabbering at first, but soon it became pieces of words and whole phrases being strung together with that same tone that Papyrus used with him. He sounded like a child. He sounded like Papyrus. 

Sans wanted to shut it down. But Dr. Sans needed a solution for this. So, he had to improvise. Rationalize these turns of events in a positive light, just like Papyrus always did and, if possible, mitigate the damage of his future plans to lessen consequences. Against his will, he allowed the learning process for Subject 0. 

He thought it’d be a hassle to teach him due to his subject’s cypher(Wingdings Gaster), but Subject 0 was a rapid learner, which he didn’t expect considering he came out of Papyrus. Sans and Papyrus both took turns to teach 0. It was… oddly nice. And it definitely felt great to boast about his intelligence to someone who was actually eager to understand. 

Papyrus and Subject 0 grew to be a tight knit pair. He allowed them to talk together and allowed Papyrus to bring 0 little trinkets he had approved  (even with the possibility of further trauma). He even allowed Papyrus to be clingy with Subject 0, despite the faint sour taste it left on his SOUL. What he did not allow was for Papyrus to stay inside the lab during the night or visit everyday. What if he wanted to start his experiments and his brother interrupted him? That wasn’t an option. (Prohibiting Papyrus from staying the night did permit Sans to document Subject 0’s peculiar SOUL activities during slumber.)

Most days, he would work on the CORE, giving 0 puzzle to play with. Subject 0 was quiet, which he appreciated. And strangely, he caved in when Papyrus complained about the state Subject 0 was living in—aka the cell. So he added a ledge, some blankets and a pillow. Compromises were made for implementing those; the electric beams wouldn’t be disabled and only he could disable them. 

As time went by, Subject 0’s abilities grew. He often asked questions, and Papyrus would always answer while Sans would answer only sometimes. His vocabulary grew and so did the moral dilemmas that ended in fights. Recently, Sans and his brother often disagreed over how to handle 0. He should’ve seen this eventually coming, but it was still iffy. Papyrus had been getting more argumentative for no reason at all. He didn’t get it. Why couldn’t his brother understand that he was trying to protect him?

***

“What am I?” Subject 0 had asked that day. “Am I you? Am I him?”

“you’re you. you’re your own individual self.” Sans replied, stopping what he was doing. 

“…but what am I? You say I’m a thing, but Papyrus says I’m a skeleton,” Subject 0 inquired. Hearing his brother’s name definitely caught him off guard, as it reminded him of his carelessness. “Am I both? Are skeletons things? Are you two also things?”

“NO, YOU ARE NOT A THING. YOU ARE JUST… SPECIAL.” Papyrus quickly chimed in, giving Sans a small glare before turning to 0. “YOU WERE MADE FROM ME, WHICH IS NOT THE USUAL WAY OTHER SKELETONS HAVE THEIR CHILDREN.”

“What’s ‘children’?” 

“it’s the plural form for… young- new monsters.” Sans quickly stepped in, ushering Papyrus away from intervening into the conversation. “you’re just different. no need to worry about such trivial matters.”

“Oh…” Subject 0 seemed a little confused, but he nodded in understanding nonetheless. “So we’re skeletons… so why do you call me ‘Subject 0’ and you call each other ‘Sans’ and ‘Papyrus’?”

Sans tensed, but he answered anyway. “those are names, ways to refer and differentiate between people. usually skeletons name other skeletons by their fonts.”

Silence for a few seconds.

“…Then, why aren’t I called by my font? Is it because… it’s different? Because I’m different?”

“NO, NO, IT IS NOT THAT!” Papyrus put a hand on Subject 0’s trembling skull, being his annoying yet endearing self. “IF YOU WANT, I CAN CALL YOU BY YOUR CYPHER.”

0 sniffed, wiping away his tears. Sans couldn’t help but roll his eye. 

“OKAY, SO WHAT IS YOUR NAME, HM?”

“…Wingdings.”

“NICE TO MEET YOU, WINGDINGS.” Papyrus gave him a reassuring smile. “YOU CAN CALL ME HOWEVER YOU WANT, OKAY?”

“Okay,” Subject 0 returned the smile, “and how do I call you?”

“…” Sans stayed silent. He looked away, ignoring the question. “paps, can we talk in private?”

***

Subject 0 leaned against the door. He couldn’t hear most of what he was saying, but at least Papyrus was standing near the door.

He knew he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but he was a curious one. And he definitely didn’t want to be the reason Papyrus was so sad.

“WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?”

…

“NO, I DON’T WANT YOU TO CALL HIM LIKE THAT.”

…

“AS FAR AS I’M AWARE, HE IS NOT THE SCARY BEING YOU SAID HE WOULD TURN OUT TO BE.”

…

“WHY ARE YOU LYING?”

…

“W-WAIT NO, I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT. I’M NOT TRYING TO QUESTION YOUR INTELLIGENCE…”

…

“I’M SORRY. I DON’T THINK YOU’RE LYING, IT’S JUST…”

…

“SANS… SANS, I-“

…

“…I’M SORRY… SO SORRY… DON’T GET MAD, PLEASE…”

Silence. He didn’t like that. He was tempted to open the door when he heard footsteps approaching. He ran to his chair. 

His eyes widened at the ugly bruise on Papyrus’s left cheek. Yet he simply remained seated as he saw Papyrus leave and he return to the room.

They didn’t speak of the matter again that day.

Chapter Text

He was good. He never really heard it from him, but Papyrus always assured him that he was. 

And he was smart. Subject 0 always did the tests that he would give him. He would notice how he would mutter to himself after he would ace the tests. It made him happy, to be smart.

And the smarter he was, the more things he learned, and he’d get smarter and better. And he liked that because it was hard in the beginning. 

Reading was hard, more than when he began speaking. When Papyrus began teaching him about ‘normal’ talk and his own font, he would talk to 0 in Wingdings, but he wouldn’t. He wanted to speak normal, he really did, but he was different. It didn’t make sense to him, why could they speak ‘normal’ and he couldn’t? The answer to his question was always the same, yet it never satisfied him. He was just different. 

Words spoken weren’t hard, though. Written words were very very very hard, all small and blurry. He always had to stick the paper against his eye sockets to read the strange symbols that weren’t his own cypher. He was so helpless!

But one day, he gave him glasses, like Papyrus! And reading became easier. Life became easier. Sometimes it wasn’t as fun as he’d like, but he was happy nonetheless. And sometimes…

It was loud. They would often fight, and he thought it had gotten better since they hadn’t fought in a long time, but that clearly wasn’t the case. And he couldn’t understand why. At first he thought it had something to do with him, but then he noticed they tried to avoid arguing around him. His limited knowledge made him conclude that it was probably Papyrus’s fault. Which made him guilty, since Papyrus was good to him, but he wasn’t as good to him. And maybe that was why he got angry at Papyrus so often. But seeing Papyrus cry…

But other than that, his life was good. Even if sometimes he got so hungry because he wouldn’t feed him. But Papyrus would stuff him with food, and it wouldn’t be so bad. He really liked Papyrus. He was good. He gave him blankets, toys, puzzles and a pillow. 

Subject 0’s life was so good he didn’t mind him pushing him when he was angry. And he was angry often. And sad. He wasn’t sure which was which most of the time, but he never seemed to like his drawings or when he smiled or tried to touch him or asked too many questions.

He hoped that Papyrus was right about getting through him. The outside seemed so magical from what Papyrus told him, even if it was very limited. He had told 0 that it was a secret, that he didn’t need to know he knew about the outside. He was fine with it.

He was fine with everything.

***

Sans had been delaying everything. How could he let himself go? This always happened when Papyrus stubbornly chimed in. He hadn’t even noticed; it just seemed so natural…

He felt himself crumbling. His brother’s kindness weakened him. He felt himself slipping into old habits of being too soft. And it certainly didn’t help that Subject 0 continued to mimic Papyrus’s behaviors.

He couldn’t even pull away from what he had done. The cell, the glasses, the puzzles… how could he go back and take those away?

“Hey, are you okay?” A voice shook him out of his thoughts.

“uh… yeah, asgore.” He rubbed his eye sockets and looked up, seeing the king’s worried gaze. What gentle eyes, how could they stay soft after everything they’ve gone through? “just busy with projects. and y’know, the core.”

Asgore frowned. He let go of the watering can. “I could see that. You weren’t answering my calls.”

“sorry about that. been very busy.” Sans put his hands on his pockets. “but besides that, everything’s been great.”

“That’s great to hear, and how’s Papyrus? Is he doing well?” He saw how the king’s gaze softened even more.

Ah, Papyrus. What would he do with him?

“…yeah he’s doin’ fine, y'know how he is,” he replied, looking away, “always cooking and being his best self.”

“You seem stressed. You should take a rest,” Asgore advised. He put a hand on the skeleton’s shoulder in the silence, and Sans let himself be swayed by. “There’s always something to make work easier. How about some tea?”

Something to make work easier… 

“yeah, sure.”

He had an idea…

***

“subject 0, come with me.”

“Mm, no…” 0 mumbled underneath the blankets. He grunted as Sans shook him awake. “But the lights are off…”

“i don’t care, ki- 0.” Dr. Sans turned his SOUL blue, lifting the smaller skeleton in the air. “we have some tests to do.”

Sans turned the beams back on and walked through the hallway, a sleepy subject floating behind him. He made note of being stricter with Subject 0 from that moment on. He ignored the mumbled questions the other skeleton threw his way.

Subject 0 had a… talking problem. He spoke too much, Sans had now noticed. Would it make this necessary step more difficult? Dr. Sans pondered his options while taking 0’s hand measurements. Maybe he could prod at 0, see how to get him on his side.

“i know.” 

“Eh?” 

Sans didn’t answer. He simply watched and enjoyed how the subject began sweating bullets, struggling to form a coherent answer. A bad liar, like Papyrus. He would need to work on that. “What do you know?”

“i presume that paps told you somethin’,” Sans looked to the side, his permanent grin widening slightly, “something he didn’t want you to tell me.”

Subject 0 avoided his gaze, fingers fidgeting with his gown. “was it about the outside? because i also have something to share with you.”

Sans knew he had struck gold at his subject’s sudden gleam in his big eye sockets. “as i’ve always said, you’re different, special. once you’ve met all of my standards and tests, you could be eligible to go outside.”

“but don’t tell papyrus about this, capiche?” 

A simple nod from Subject 0 who tried to hide his grin made his demeanor soften. He sent the smaller skeleton back to his cell and spent the entire night coming up with a plan.

***

He had a plate! It was so weird, though. It had his name engraved to it, and it was made of metal for some arbitrary reason… He had told 0 that it was needed to identify him when he finally went outside, which he happily accepted because he didn’t mind tying his own plate to his hand with bandages, even if it proved inconveniently heavy for his hand when he wrote or picked things up.

Now the tests he had were more physical and… uncomfortable. He knew he shouldn’t complain since it was for a greater good for his future, but still… the prodding of his SOUL, sticking things in his eyes, being restrained by bounds, the metal plate tightly pressed against his hand. He also said he needed to be smarter and stronger, so more and more tests were made. He was exhausted each time he had some sort of test. And he tried, really, to not show and do his best, but it was taking a toll on him.

Papyrus seemed to notice, which he chastised Subject 0 for. He would say everything they were working for was a surprise and he was ruining it. Papyrus wasn’t so tough on him, though. He worried, which confused 0 a little since there wasn’t really anything worth concerning at all. Sometimes, he would bring big desserts cooked by himself. Sometimes, he would pull him out of the tests and just make him read or do puzzles together(which he gladly accepted). 

Papyrus once brought him some pieces of cloth that he claimed it was to wear. He didn’t even know he could wear them-clothes, and after two failed attempts later (where he wore the pants on his arms and ripped open the shirt), he told Papyrus to not bother. ‘it’s less convenient,” he told him, “i gotta do some medical tests on him, anyway. the gown should stay on.” (But Papyrus stood firm on a compromise, which he begrudgingly accepted. Now he had a red scarf! It was so soft…) 

It wasn’t so bad, though. Sometimes, he would give Subject 0 some books about the outside. There, he learned that skeletons were the best monsters of all monster kind! He couldn’t wait to get better, so he could meet other skeletons. He hoped they would accept him even if he was a thing and not a monster. He hoped to make a good impression, be a good purpose.

So, that was why he pretended to not be scared every time he was strapped down to endure the lasers shooting into his eyes.

***

He had broken Subject 0’s eye.

He should’ve had expected this, but it was still a shock nonetheless. The subject was made from a very small bone sample, and Sans was very much aware about the physical fragility that 0 carried. Still, he thought that with all of the physical tests and how much his subject was getting better and stronger, he could…

He was selfish, he knew. Dr. Sans touched his right eye socket, all empty and devoid of magic. He just wanted to see, be normal… He looked over at his screen monitor, his attention on the little skeleton on his cell, grasping onto the right side of his face as if it would crumble down into pieces. He lit up another cigarette.

This was bad. How was he supposed to hide that he broke Subject 0’s eye? Papyrus wasn’t so stupid; he would put the pieces together. And if 0 decided to tell him… He lit up yet another cigarette. 

He stood up, his legs wobbling in the process. First thing to do was to tell Papyrus something before Subject 0 could tell him the truth. Then, he could ask him to alleviate the subject. He took his phone out of his pocket and made a phone call.

***

Papyrus had never run so fast before. After his brother called him and broke down in sobs, apologizing and babbling nonsense, he simply had to go and help. He was so confused and concerned; Sans was never one to react so violently. It was so out of character, which only meant one thing…

He pounded on the door of the lab. When his brother opened, Papyrus tensed with the very heavy scent of smoke. Sans hadn’t waited to explain himself as he pulled him to Wingdings. He saw the little boy trembling on the ground, like a small kitten. As Papyrus approached him, he could hear Wingdings sobbing. 

He ran, frantically staring down as Sans put off the force field. “WINGDINGS!”

“Papyrus…” The boy cried out, reaching out with his hands towards him like a small child. He threw himself into Papyrus’s arms. 

“SHH…” Papyrus cooed, rubbing circles in Wingdings’s back. “YOU’RE OKAY… YOU WON’T GET HURT AGAIN.”

He heard a muffled whine in response. Sometimes it seemed Wingdings was so grown and mature, but other times…

“SANS WILL FIX YOUR EYE, OKAY? YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY.” He felt Wingdings tense up in response. Papyrus embraced him tighter. After what had happened, he understood why the child would be apprehensive. 

“I’m sorry…” 

“HUH?” Papyrus looked down, his eyes meeting the child’s tear-streaked eyes(one covered in a bandage). He frowned. “YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR…”

Wingdings didn’t answer, just hiding his face again in Papyrus’s chest. Papyrus sighed, but he let him be. He didn’t understand what was going on…

Chapter Text

Everything hurt. Even after Papyrus’s constant healing magic coursing through his SOUL, 0 still found himself in pain. After some talk with him, he forced himself to look composed. He needed to. “the pain will go away,” he would say, “you need to be strong.” He accepted it.

And so, he endured the tests and lasers. He hoped those would stop or even just decrease, but he didn’t seem to care enough. He never really fixed his eye either. 0, what an odd number to bestow upon him. Maybe he predicted he would become such a dead weight… The thought loomed over him and pulled at his SOUL like claws that drove the ache to enlarge. 

Suffice to say that he felt very down most days. He couldn’t get out of his blankets without his entire bones jiggling like the red jello that Papyrus made for him once (with the pretty swirl of whipped cream), so walking became so impossible overnight. But he would simply frown in annoyance and string him alongside him with blue magic for tests or experiments (he hated having to do either). His hands trembled often, and his head would pound on the inside like a hammer he would sometimes use for various tasks. 

Eventually the pain dulled. Thank goodness! He wasn’t sure how long he could’ve endured more pounding in his skull. His vision was permanently altered, which was devastating, but at least he wasn’t fully blind. And fortunately Papyrus had come to the rescue and severely reprimanded him for leaving him blind the laser session after he had lost his eye, and 0 got to sleep in the room with the large assortment made of a wooden ledge with a squishy thing they called "bed”, for an entire week (it felt pretty nice). Being blind was terrifying; he couldn’t fathom how he was supposed to live in total darkness, walk not knowing where his feet stepped, feeling all the more alone… He had told him and Papyrus that he wasn’t actually blind; just too much magic got in his eyes, so he needed some rest and bandages on them for a day or two.

Papyrus came by more often than not, which would’ve made him more apprehensive, but since the tests and experiments began to occur when the lights were off, no fights occurred. He was really worried, always checking his eye. He always referred to his “brother?”’s concerns as paranoia, but surprisingly never fought him over his touchiness. He even showed Papyrus that 0 could still glow! “OH, WHAT A RELIEF…” Papyrus mused. 0 could always see Papyrus glancing at him (well, not all the time since he could no longer see out of his right side). He assured the other he could see and was okay, but Papyrus never seemed fully convinced. He seemed a little too fixated on 0, which wasn’t a problem, but holding his hand while they walked, holding his face and staring at him for a few painfully long seconds, and reassuring him out of the blue seemed a little overkill after the pain subsided to a bearable degree. He didn’t want Papyrus to worry so much.

…Well, maybe there were some incidents worth fretting over, but he wasn’t about to worry Papyrus further, and he was too scary to talk about those weird visions and voices. Truly, he had thought he was going crazy. When he heard voices when he still blindfolded, he assumed it was from them, even if it seemed silly to think they would talk so loud when the lights were off. Besides, that voice… it spoke in Wingdings! Papyrus had stopped speaking it when 0 no longer had any issues with speech, so it couldn’t be him. He didn’t speak it once. That only meant it was another skeleton. An unrecognizably curious and quiet step was definitely a new stimulus from the heavy (confident from him and hesitant from Papyrus) steps that echoed through the hallways.

It was weird. It spoke as if it was in an unknown place. Maybe he was a surprise…? 

The real surprise was when he saw… what did he see, exactly? A skeleton like him… but he only saw them for an instant as it vanished from sight. Maybe it was just a dream, or… his wonky eye.

The dark ambiance and the harsh contrast of the energy beams were surely messing with him. Yes, that was it. 

***

“SANS.”

He saw his brother look up from his screen. “you’re here early,” Sans settled on after a few moments of staring. His gaze softened, the usual expression that meant worry for Papyrus (or at least he hoped it was). “what’s wrong?”

Papyrus took a shaky breath. Placing his hands together, he hoped to look composed, to prove his statements were in a serious matter. “CAN WE TALK ABOUT WINGDINGS?”

He saw Sans recoil at the choice of designation, both mentally and physically, as if he was trying to draw away from the name and the implications it brought with it. Papyrus didn’t want him to avoid this. This was necessary to acknowledge. “I SUSPECT HE MIGHT… HAVE DEPRESSION.”

His brother focused on him again, his eye devoid of light. Papyrus heard the faint scraping sound from Sans’s phalanges against the desk. He sat down in the chair his brother signaled. “he’s admittedly down emotionally, but i think it is more physical than anything.” Sans spoke softly, a rarity for when tragedy struck. “his stats state worsening results over time. i’ve tried some things to improve his health, paps, but it hasn’t seemed to work. i’m afraid he might actually be sick and we don’t know what it is.”

That felt worse to hear than any other bad news in his life. If it had been depression, they could help Wingdings, cheer him up… He and Sans have also gone through rough patches, and he’s aware of how hard it is. He thought that maybe with some support, show him he matters… but if it was something physical, what was he supposed to do? If healing magic wasn’t enough, what could he even provide? And nothing Sans was doing was working, so were they doomed? What would they do? 

Papyrus slumped in his chair. How useless must he be to let someone he cares so much about suffer tremendously. Again.

“hey. hey…” He felt Sans’s hand on his back, firm and comforting. “he’s a tough… kid. you don’t need to be so hard on yourself, paps.”

“BUT IS HE SICK?” Papyrus trembled at the intrusive notion. He felt magic accumulating inside his eye sockets. “WHAT IF HE GETS WORSE? W-WHAT IF HE FALLS DOWN?”

“that won’t happen.” The conviction in his brother’s voice didn’t assure him. His mind was already running miles from reason and the thought of Wingdings not getting a chance to even get out of the lab, possibly being alone and cold before he closed his eyes for the last time…

“papyrus.” 

He heard Sans sigh through the sounds of his bones rattling. He covered his face, shutting his eyes tightly to avoid shedding tears. “remember what I’ve always told you? he’s special, different. i’m not even sure he can fall down. i will do what it takes for him to get better, but i know that he needs you around. you’re important to him.”

Importance. Few times he’s felt himself with. Papyrus always supposed he was expendable for his lack of impressionable skill at anything. He wasn’t special like Sans, not in a way that mattered. But Wingdings was at stake, so he needed to be useful for once. Papyrus composed himself with a few deep breaths. His eyes met Sans’s; they looked tired and soft.

“do you wanna go see him?”

Papyrus nodded. He saw Sans’s grin dim. 

“okay. let’s go.”

***

Sans looked for G-0. Such an inconvenient situation, truly. He would think that 0 would get used to this routine. Sometimes, unprompted, when Sans wasn’t looking, Subject 0 would slip out of the room, rattling and hiding like a terrified animal. He found it annoying.

He wasn’t sure why he allowed such behavior. In the end, it would only inconvenience him and the schedule they both worked hard to upkeep. But somehow, he always always forgot to lock the door of the “operating room”. That Subject 0 could get out of the restraints (when he was strapped down) and slip so quietly was both unnerving and impressive. But in the end, where could the thing go? It wasn’t like he could actually escape the lab and his hiding spots were limited. He would always find him, no matter how far he ran and no matter where he hid.

“hm?” His brow bones furrowed at the sight. He didn’t expect anything to be found from the storage closet; after all, that was Subject 0’s last hiding spot. However, he did notice signs of tampering in the hastily closed and partly open boxes and papers on the floor. 

The glint of a metal plate glared back at him. His eye dimmed out, mind running in a labyrinth of panic and anger. He kicked and shoved boxes aside, and he wasn’t even sure why: to hopefully still find Subject 0? Or to kill something that wasn’t him? This was bad. Did Subject 0 actually try to escape? Did he realize what the metal plate was actually for? What if he told Papyrus?

Fingers trembling, he grabbed the pack of cigarettes he had with more force than necessary, shoving them into his mouth, one after the other, with a haste use of his lighter. After his frantic smoking that led to his lighter shattering to the ground, he finally pulled himself together. 

Eventually, he found Subject 0, same as he usually looked when caught: frightened, curled up against the wall, defenseless. He wasn’t wearing the bandages on his hand either. He thought of scolding Subject 0, teaching him a lesson so he wouldn’t take the plate off, but a more permanent approach was more ideal. Sans needed to wait. 

“y’know, i am getting a little tired. let’s do something different today.”

***

Well, his arm was broken. Yeah, it was his fault, but surely he didn’t need to be so extreme… At least Papyrus healed it completely, reducing it to a mere dull ache. 

Subject 0 had different lessons now. After he had told Papyrus that he coincidentally fell down during a sparring session, Papyrus visited them everyday and almost never left his side. He told Subject 0 that smiling was very important to his brother; it made him happy, and they all definitely needed more positivity at this time. 

Smiling. It was probably—definitely— easier for him; he had a permanent grin. And he was also very convincing. Subject 0 tried to imitate him, but he ended up scaring himself. Maybe imitate Papyrus…? 

How could they still function? It was so hard to try to keep going. Papyrus always told him to give himself some grace, but if he himself couldn’t follow his own advice, how could 0? Most days he just wanted to cling to his blankets, not be seen by anyone. But he always insisted on working harder, being better. Even if he just couldn’t. 

So he began laughing when Papyrus tried to cheer him up. Engage with the small talks they would have. Smile as much as he could. At least it was easier now that he stopped the physical tests. It was also comforting to fall asleep hearing Papyrus’s stories from the outside and the soft naive assurance that they would both experience new memories, whether stuck in the underground or free on the surface. 

He liked this new arrangement of schedules. It felt nice being hugged by bones that weren’t his own, feel the gentleness of their touch, fall asleep with no worries. He missed that. It made showing being happy easier. He really was, with Papyrus. 

He hoped this would never end.

***

What a fool he was!

He should’ve known that there was something wrong when Papyrus didn’t come visit. He gulped nervously as he recognized the route they were taking. The laser room.

He began sweating bullets, his feet suddenly becoming embedded to the concrete floor. He didn’t hesitate to take Subject 0 to the leather chair with blue magic. Being strapped down and grabbed harshly brought back unpleasant feelings, and despite pleading to himself to be strong, he cried, his bones rattling. He groaned heavily with frustration and a hint of something he couldn’t identify.

“stop squirming; you’ll only hurt yourself more,” he told 0, still fidgeting inside his broken eye. 

“Sorry, it’s uncomfortable.” His bones tensed and eventually stopped moving. 

He saw him grabbing a cord. “What are you doing?” Subject 0 asked. 

He didn’t answer as he prodded open his eye with an eye speculum. He placed inside his skull the extensions of the cord, “i’m setting focal points for the magic to pulse through you.”

“Magic? Why?”

“to rekindle your eye. it’s kinda obvious.”

Did… did he really mean that? “You’re trying to fix me? My eye?”

“your broken eye is useless for either of us. physical damage is one thing, but not being able to glow is a host for emotional problems.” He grabbed a small box-y device, tinkering it in his hands. “and emotions are papyrus’s suit, not mine, y’know?”

“…I guess.” 

“okay. stay still and try to relax.”

Subject 0 looked up, holding his chest high. He felt the magic accumulating like soft swirls. “it should be painless.”

He closed his other eye, not even noticing the bright spark at the back of his skull until he blew up in tiny pieces.

***

Sans stared in horror, immediately standing up after he had been pushed by the explosion. 

He ran towards Subject 0, whose skull definitely saw better days. The entirety of the right side completely gone, while the left struggled to keep itself together from all of the growing cracks. Smoke lingered out of the… wound, making him nauseous. The worst part? Subject 0 was staring at him, moribund and agonizing pleading breathlessly and incomprehensibly at him. 

Such a grotesque scene.

“shit, shit!” Sans threw himself on the dying boy, green magic dominating his SOUL and manifesting to his hands. One hand on the boy’s head, the other on his chest, he was determined to save his subject. No one would die because of him, again.

For a second time, both of their SOULs connected with each other because of magic. He tensed up, letting himself be pulled to the healing world, a mental state where the physical rules of this world didn’t apply.

Sans felt as though he was falling.

* 097/120 HP

He reached for Subject 0.

* 071/120 HP

He felt as though 0 slipped away. 

“fuck…!” He panicked as his magic began to fizzle out.

* 056/120 HP

* 041/120 HP

He threw himself deeper, forcing 0 into his grasp back again.

* 034/120 HP

Subject 0 began slipping away again.

* 028/120 HP

“i need to get him stabilized!” He ran out of the room, a limp boy in his arms. 

* 019/120 HP

He ran.

* 017/120 HP

And ran until he was finally at the stabilization room.

* 015/120 HP

With unsteady breathing and hands, he placed Subject 0 in the tube. 

He filled it with M-D substance.

* 011/120 HP

He placed cords on Subject 0’s SOUL to send magic. 

He finally breathed. 

His gaze fell on the health monitor next to him.

* HP: 003/120 

STABLE

Sans fell onto his knees. He exhaled loudly. He held his chest. What had even happened?

His bones were rattling —how long since that happened? After a few moments of crawling towards his desk, he finally steadied himself, grabbing a cigarette and lighter. He breathed in, finally simmering down. His pocket vibrated.

“yeah, alphys?”

***

Papyrus panicked yet again. Why was it when things got worse that his brother refused to open up? He had half a mind to buy some trinkets and food for both of his very reserved family members. He was aware that their dynamic was odd, and he himself wasn’t particularly very normal either, but he was convinced they were relatively content. That was all that mattered, right?

He dialed Sans’s phone number again. No response again? He looked at the lab’s door. He pounded on it. “SANS? SANS, OPEN THE DOOR!”

How long had he been at it? An hour? Two? Papyrus debated about blasting the door off. 

“papyrus, what do you want?” Sans sounded exhausted. At least he was alive and willing to see him.

Papyrus frowned. “WHY HAVEN’T YOU LET ME VISIT?” 

No response, again.

“SANS, WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME IN THE DARK? YOU LOOK TERRIBLE, AND WING-“

“nothing’s the matter, paps.” His brother gave him a tense grin and an awkward side hug. He could feel Sans’s shivering

Their gazes met. Papyrus’s face softened. “SANS…”

Sans’s expression crumbled and he looked away. Papyrus sighed quietly. “IT IS ABOUT HIM, ISN’T IT?”

“…i messed up…”

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” Papyrus followed as Sans began walking towards the lab and through the hallway. Silence for a few moments, too long to count. “PLEASE TELL ME YOU DIDN’T…”

Whatever it was that Sans was trying to fix with science wasn’t worth it, not when he was wasting the three of them away into nothingness. But what really mattered right now was Wingdings.

“he won’t wake up, no matter how much i heal him.”

Papyrus stopped in his tracks, his shoes squeaking under him. “HAS HE…” his voice gave out.

Sans shook his head. “no, he hasn’t fallen down. but i need you to heal him.” He didn’t stop walking.

“…”

“he’ll die if you don’t.”

“NO…” 

Once they arrived at the doorway, Sans opened the door and Papyrus barged right in. He fell to his knees in front of the table where the boy laid. How come he always looked so serene in his sleep as if living was exhausting? There was some sort of calm in Wingdings’s expression that made him churn with uneasiness because it revealed something he wasn’t fully aware of. 

Papyrus held him, his SOUL clenching at the sight of his partly cracked skull. A tear fell down Wingdings’s forehead. “YOU’LL BE OKAY, I PROMISE, I PROMISE…” 

Magic flowed through him, its warmth enveloping the two. The room lit up green and Papyrus closed his eyes.

Their SOULs connected, and he was pulled into the all more familiar world. A blank canvas of white in which he ran until finding his boy. So small and quiet as always, chin on his knees. He wasn’t sure if he even was awake from seeing the right side of his —in the real world haggard— face. 

He reached out, but he staggered back at the sight of bones closing in around Wingdings. 

Papyrus tried to prod at the bones, but they didn’t waver. He looked inside, their gazes meeting. He pulled harder to no avail. He fell to his knees, but his gaze didn’t flicker once. 

Wingdings trembled, the bones caging him quivering and turning into gelatin. When Papyrus touched them again, they gently dissolved into the air with a puff. 

They couldn’t speak in this world, but Papyrus’s hopeful expression was enough to break Wingdings’s resolve. His trembling settled, and his eyes filled with tears.

The older skeleton opened his arms for a hug, and the younger skeleton reached back.

Everything went back, and their consciousness began to disintegrate.

They were back.

Papyrus hadn’t noticed Wingdings waking up until his arm was touched gently. “Pa…”

Papyrus trembled. He nodded slowly, “THERE YOU ARE. I’M HERE, DON’T MOVE…” He hugged him tighter. 

They were so preoccupied with each other that they didn’t notice the shiny metal plate drilled into the younger skeleton’s hand.

Chapter Text

New arrangements were made yet again. G-0 wondered if they ever got tired of changing things. No tests at all for the time being, and now he was transferred to another room with the “bed” permanently after he had forgotten to feed him a whole day before Papyrus came back from getting food from the outside. 

With all that free time, he slowly began adjusting to the metal plate drilled to his hand. He didn’t tell Papyrus about it. Neither did he, because there was an unspoken agreement to not disclose another thing to upset Papyrus. 0 had asked him once about it (alongside the color cube and books Papyrus had brought) during one of the checkups. He thought that maybe he did it for his brother (or him…), but the monotonous and factual nature of the response —despite the tension and lack of conviction on the tone— discouraged 0 to ask any more questions. Everything always had a logical explanation, it seemed. 

* “papyrus looks after your wellbeing and i look for your long term betterment. your new possessions should help you practice in the meantime.”

* “you see this paper? the blank canvas allows me to invent, create or destroy to my liking. it’s a tool, incredibly useful, just like you are. but it lacks identity as it’s just a resource for a greater purpose.”

“Is that all I am?”

“it’s all you’ll be good for. you were made for this.”

“…”

“c’mon, paps is waiting.”

Fear and pain began to numb away, being ever so present in the background. After a few days, the IQ tests were back in motion, which put the three of them at more ease, as the routine began to settle in. 

“Can… can I ask you something?” 0 had asked one of those days.

He received a hum of agreement.

“Do you… love Papyrus?” He saw his body jerk violently before settling into tension. “He’s not doing so well with everything and…”

0 coughed awkwardly at the feeling of his gaze on him. “I think he’d like it if you spent time with him.”

“finish your test.” 

“Uhm… I already did.” 

He sighed, grabbing the paper from the subject and putting it aside. “if i were to “hang out” with paps, what do you suppose you’d do?”

“I… I don’t know. Wouldn’t it be beneficial for all of us?” 

“…”

G-0 could clearly see his mind processing the proposal. He was sure he could see that he wanted to be alone, for at least a few hours. But he was almost certain it could work because, after all, wasn’t Papyrus their primary weakness? And it would truly be beneficial to keep Papyrus happy. A happy Papyrus meant the dynamic wouldn’t crumble down. 

“that would ease some situations. hm…” He crossed his legs. “did paps want you to ask me?”

“…would it make you say yes?” 0 asked quietly. There wasn’t —as expected— an answer. “Why can’t Papyrus know?”

“you’ll have to elaborate more on that.”

“I mean, why can’t he know about this? We’re underestimating him.” The subject explained. Why was he telling him about this when he could get angry? He wasn’t sure. “It’d be easier and more painless if he knew.”

He sighed, his demeanor softening. It always did that when it came to Papyrus. He supposed they could have something in common. “paps is emotionally driven. it’s hard not to get sucked into that, into his ideals, wouldn’t you agree?”

0 nodded slowly.

“his optimism is a good asset for us in this predicament, as it improves your performance, but it’s dangerous if one gets careless. he’s gotten people killed, indirectly, but he still did.” It seemed he itched to say more, but he contained himself. “he loves and forgives without a second thought. that sort of mercy will be the end of you if you so decide to follow it. you need to be better than that if you want to survive. forgiveness is just resignation for the weak, but revenge is strength only afforded to a few.”

He frowned, unable to speak. What was he supposed to say? He was probably right; he almost always was. But then again… why was kindness a weakness? Being kind was not easy, at least for him. He sometimes felt like killing him. Was that strength? “How… has he gotten people killed?”

He didn’t say anything, simply standing up and leading him back to his room. G-0 was glad he didn’t give him an answer to that question. 

***

Subject 0 was beginning to be lousy and overtly curious. Sans, while aware of that, decided to indulge him, for the most part, because he was sure that the chi- subject was keeping secrets alongside Papyrus and himself. And he was right, as always. While leading G-0 to the laser room, he was taken off guard by an abrupt and uncalled panic attack from the subject. After a lot of prodding (and some threatening), he was able to find out about the odd “vision” which Subject 0 was recently experiencing. A prediction into the near future, which opened many doors for Sans.

The laser treatment was resumed, followed by new sessions to get a better grasp on G-0’s capabilities. But of course, there was Papyrus. After blowing up 0’s head, he almost never left his side, other than when he was at his bland job. He arranged —subtly nudging Alphys to the idea— a hangout for Papyrus with Undyne, under the pretense of letting his brother take a break from… everything. 

The results were… interesting, to say the least. All of the data provided was, while useful, incomplete. They were just predictions, as previously stated. But they served for more than information. 

He knew that the subject kept secrets. It made sense in every way possible. But if Subject 0 was set on keeping secrets, then he could play that game as well. Control was a dangerous tool if it ever fell on G-0. Sans was going to have the upper hand in this. He was going to make sure of it. 

G-0 had a lot of potential, but of course, that came with risks. Not only was he aware of how fragile and precious he was to him and Papyrus, he could also use Papyrus as a manipulation tool. It was almost as if he was provoking him. Sure, Sans knew that was hardly ever the case, but it always felt as though some strings were tugged on his SOUL every time he laid his eyes on Subject 0, like clawing slowly, methodically, hurting him in more than one way. He didn’t like knowing what Subject 0 was truly capable of.

Hopefully the threats of death scared him off any silly ideas Subject 0 could ever envision. Of course, not too many insults. Thinking one’s useless is worse than actually being one.

***

Papyrus was very opposed to the idea. It wasn’t as though he didn’t trust his brother, but considering all of the recent occurrences —that he suspected were intentional, in one way or another—, he couldn’t think of anything else that was not Wingdings. The boy was obviously depressed, and almost dying definitely didn’t help either. But Sans insisted —rather frantically— on him getting out. “it’d make you feel better, bro. you’ve been stressed lately, gotta relax a bit.” It was rather suspicious, but Wingdings assured him he was going to be okay. In fact, he also encouraged the hangout with excitement. Papyrus only accepted after making him a promise that he would bring back something—anything— afterwards.

So, there he was, listening to Undyne ramble passionately about a monster she had her eye on, apparently. They always did stir away from the cooking lessons part. He’d be lying if he said he was actually paying attention, which was odd considering how attentive and reciprocal he normally was. Then again, he wasn’t being himself as of late, who could blame him?

“Hey!” A voice broke his train of disconnection for the third time in a row. The Royal Guard Captain looked at him with annoyance and concern. 

“SORRY…” Papyrus muttered softly, taking off his glasses. He was starting to get a headache, not because of his friend, but… 

He didn’t like how she was looking at him.

He’d known Undyne for a long time, met her some time —some decades— after the King had declared war on humanity. She was such a ball of energy, willing to take ownership with ease. He liked that; he had forgotten how it felt like to feel alive. To light up a room with enthusiasm and duty to protect and serve. She helped him and spent time with him. It felt rather nice, especially since Miss Toriel was no longer in the picture.

Sans wasn’t a big fan of hers, not really his type of person, as he put it, but he never stopped Papyrus from getting friends, much to his relief. 

“Are you having a bad time with your brother?” The fish monster raised her fist half jokingly. “I’m gonna tear his ass if he is, Papyrus, I swear TO GOD—“

“NO, NO, I’M OKAY!” Papyrus replied frantically, a little intimidated. “WHAT WAS THAT MONSTER’S NAME AGAIN? ALANA, ALPHYNA…”

“Alphys.”

“YES, RIGHT. SHE IS COWORKERS WITH SANS.” Papyrus laughed awkwardly. Had he been thinking of anything that wasn’t work or his family these past months? He was certain he had worried Undyne and Asgore tremendously. Great, more people that he disappointed, again…

“Then what's going on, Papyrus? You’ve been MIA these past weeks, and you’ve changed your demeanor drastically.” Undyne served him a cup of tea, which the skeleton recognized as one of Asgore’s favorite types of tea, urging him to take a break.

“…CAN I ASK YOU A SILLY QUESTION?” They made eye contact, and by Papyrus’s pleading look, Undyne sighed with an understanding nod. 

“OKAY, SO… SAY HYPOTHETICALLY, YOU HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH A ROUGH TIME, AND YOU CANNOT SAY ANYTHING TO ANYONE, BECAUSE IT IS SOMETHING COMPLICATED OF UPMOST IMPORTANCE! AND YOU TRY HARD TO MAKE THINGS BETTER, BUT YOU FAIL, AND… YOU FEEL HELPLESS. W… WHAT WOULD YOU DO? HOW CAN I BE STRONGER, BETTER? I REALLY WANT TO BE BETTER, BUT IT IS SO HARD, AND I AM SO SCARED, ALL OF THE TIME, THAT SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN IF I AM NOT THERE, A-AND HE GETS HURT OR—“

“Woah, calm down.” Undyne placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay to feel scared. Everyone’s bound to feel it. For one, I think you’re strong.”

She took a sip of her cup before continuing. “I know how close you are with your brother, but do you ever think he doesn’t need you to do everything, all the time? He’s smart, he can figure himself out.”

God, right. Undyne didn’t know about… well, everything. He wasn’t worried about Sans being alone— No, actually, he was, but not in the sense that Undyne implied it to be. He grabbed the warm mug with both hands, awkwardly hiding his missing phalange. He closed his eyes. He wanted to tell her so badly. But what mattered more, the lives who depended on him, or his own sanity? 

“Hey, you are strong. I ain’t saying this just to make you feel better,” his friend continued, “in fact, you hold yourself back! I could not have that sort of strength, Papyrus. Who could have the ability to go through everything you’ve gone through and still choose to be kind? Ugh, you're infuriating!”

Undyne’s fist to his arm punched him back to reality. They laughed at Papyrus’s stupid reaction, which lifted the mood considerably. “YOU ARE JUST RIGHT. I AM SO STRONG AND GREAT.” He spoke out with a very much appreciated confident tone. 

“Not as strong as me!” Undyne fought back, just glad to see his enthusiasm back. “But if it is your brother’s fault, I’ll beat him up if you want.”

“YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THAT.” 

“Just know I’ll be there if you ever need help. I believe in you.”

Papyrus grinned widely. Wingdings would definitely like this section of this hangout, he thought to himself, going back to beating the egg whites aggressively. And these macarons too, especially since Undyne had finally gotten a hold of almond flour—baking ingredients were a rarity in the Underground. 

“OH, RIGHT! I FORGOT. HOW IS IT THAT YOU MET ALPHYS?”

“Heh!— Ah, well… long story, but I actually saw her at one of Waterfall’s-“

…

Undyne’s chattering didn’t seem to stop anytime soon.

This was nice, Papyrus thought.

***

Red and gold, red and gold, and red and gold again. Then pitch black.

Flickers of images ran across his mind endlessly for hours at a time. Why did he do it? Why did he agree to being left alone? Why? Why?

This felt like dying, and it didn’t feel as good as he thought it would. Hours of lasers in his eyes left him rattling in his bed. And he was alone. Was he destined to die alone? He didn’t bother checking on him. Subject 0 clung to the blankets, hoping to muffle his rattling and the screaming echoing inside his skull, bouncing in several different frequencies at the same time.

Quiet down.

“WINGDINGS.”

That didn’t feel like his name, Subject 0 thought temporarily. He didn’t dare to move, even if his whole being itched for comfort. He tried speaking, but no more than weird gasps and sobs were allowed out. Under the dark fog, he saw Papyrus’s face come in full view; he had sat on the floor, next to the bed. 

“I’m… I’m…” Subject 0 stammered out. 

“DO YOU WANT COMFORT?” Papyrus asked, leaning close to him, but not quite reaching out.

“Hh… don’t know…” 

He felt the mattress dip under him, then some bones enveloping him. His fingers locked into Papyrus’s shirt like a lifeline, tightening when feeling phalanges rub against his skull in slow circular motions. 

The black began fading into a white background, with soft noises, like a sudden lullaby— so relieving to not have someone scream in Wingdings for help, for release of agony, for death. A lot of white. Snowdin, wasn’t it? Papyrus had spoken about it in the past. How pretty…

His bare feet crunched under the soft snow— ice? He liked the feeling. A house in the distance, filled with colorful lights. Monsters of different sizes and colors walked past him. It seemed as though he belonged there. Subject 0 looked around, but he was alone. He rattled more. 

He hoped Papyrus would never ever let him go. 

A squeeze from him reassured Wingdings immensely. 

***

Usually he didn’t dignify him with a response, so this recent flood of information from his part was… alluring. It wasn’t as though it was productive; the answers became repetitive and vague over time when he realized he was spewing too much nonsense to him. He never told anything to Papyrus either, so asking him would also be pointless.

But there was something that had caught his attention.

LOVE.

Level of violence: a scale that determines your will to commit acts of violence after committing one before. LOVE. 

That was strength. Survival at its finest. Or at least that was what he implied. Subject 0 was a little preoccupied about the feeling of the electric saw cutting through his neck to really pay any attention. 

So he asked another day, a day where none of his bones took damage at all. Papyrus hadn’t visited them that week, something about work and the “King” and other things that he made him do, always assuring him that both 0 and him would be fine and dandy. G-0 was glad; at least Papyrus didn’t see the ugly neck brace he needed to have on. 

“What was a level of violence again?” He asked him. 

He hummed, pulling the small flashlight out of G-0’s face. “why’d you ask?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Because if you hurt- kill someone, how does it just… leave a mark forever?” G-0’s gaze fell on the metal plate. “Is it… literal?”

“no, more so metaphorical. it changes your perspective a whole lot.” He faced away from him. “i’ve killed before.”

Figured, 0 thought to himself. If Papyrus had killed —which he was still skeptical about—, then there wasn’t a doubt that he had a higher murder count. His gaze followed the scientist’s hand which grabbed a cup that was sitting idly by. “…why though?”

“survival, but even that reason doesn't matter at all, just like you ask me why i do what i do to you. ultimately useless, because the damage is done and won’t change.” He took a long sip. “but there are benefits. killing inspires; it’s a good method to survive. others can’t hurt you, and you can protect yourself.”

“and when you find yourself between life and death, is there ultimately anything that mercy can achieve?”

Subject 0 didn’t know what to think. Was there truly nothing that would make the act of being kind worth sacrificing everything else? Why choose to be kind if you could be alive? “What about Papyrus?”

“…”

“How did he kill if he’s so… merciful?”

A long drawn out silence made him anxious. What if he had said something wrong again and his arm would get snapped in half again? What if these opportunities to speak were a mere trap that stupid him fell into? 

“being a pacifist implies having ideals; it implies sacrificing everything for what you think is right and not anything else around you that may be of concern. that is even more selfish than the motivation of survival.”

“that gets people killed, because… well, mercy doesn’t care for justice.”

***

He should’ve known it would come to this.

All that talk about mercy, strength, killing, LOVE… was it simply his way to spew innuendos at him that he could not understand? He had said he had passed out a few days ago, due to stress, apparently. He said he was able to produce magic attacks, even in his comatose state. He wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. He was starting to feel tired. All the time. All too often. Many days, weeks, months ago. Maybe he was starting to crack from the inside out. Or maybe that was just his SOUL.

Subject 0 stood in the middle of that grey room, feeling his gaze from above at the control center. He had heard the scientist mutter something about magic and “high-intensity magic emitters” when he used his blasters and bone attacks. He had been practicing patterns with Papyrus the day before. Papyrus did make it fun…

But he wasn’t there that day. It was just 0 and him. 

He let out a yelp and scooted away as a plastic cube with a small metal door was dropped beside him. There was a rasp and high pitched scream that came out of it, which unsettled him more than the way that thing shook against the ground, accompanying it with scratching noises. 

“subject 0, destroy the contents of the carrier.” He instructed, finally making eye contact with the subject.

“Do you mean…” 0 muttered tensely. 

“kill it, yeah.” 

“Why do you want me to kill it?” 

“if you wanna be stronger, then wouldn’t this be expected?”

The severity of death hit him hard. Never once, even with his ideations of it, did he actually consider grasping what it truly felt like to die. What a terrible fate! To wither away into nothing but something as useless as dust, leaving only memories of what you were once and what you could’ve been. To be nothing.

He really didn’t want to do it. Wasn’t there any other way? Why did he have to do it? Why him? Subject 0 took a few steps back. Those screeches felt a whole lot like those screams in his visions, which definitely didn’t help the situation.

“think about papyrus for a moment…”

That got his attention. His gaze did not divert from the carrier, but his attention was fully on his voice. “he will never be willing to hurt anyone, not many people are… but those who will are bound to take advantage of that.”

“…but he said…”

“do you think we’re alive because of his kindness? are you alive because of him? it’s all been me.” He stopped for a moment. “i’m not above admitting to hurting you, hurting him… but we’re here now, stronger than ever, because of it. you need to make a choice.”

Was pain a common denominator? He wanted to stop feeling weak for once in his short and useless life. His vision blurred for a moment. Subject 0 felt as though he was standing in front of two options: FIGHT or MERCY. 

If he killed, his SOUL would never be the same. If he did this, Papyrus would never look at him the same again—that faint light that glimmered when they were together, that he tried hard to keep alive, would fade away. Life was precious, that much he knew. It was devastating to think that he’d steal that from any being, no matter how necessary it was.

This was just a test, he justified to himself. It was for a good cause, he told himself. And even if Papyrus wouldn’t approve of this, did he know better than him? Foolish and naive Papyrus, that was how he called him sometimes. He didn’t want to be like that. He wasn’t weak. 

He raised an arm. FIGHT.

Subject 0 closed his eye. His body moved against his will, and he couldn’t face the reality of what he’d chosen to do. His body felt light. Be strong… He wondered how many people he and Papyrus had killed before. The thought seemed to terrify him a little less than it had a few days ago. 

The sound of the blast stilled him. He was brought back to reality by the faint smell of burning on his nostrils. He slowly opened his eye socket.

The carrier was burnt beyond recognition.

“…No…” 

What had he done? Why did he do it? His bones rattled. He'd just killed someone.

Subject 0 fell to his knees. Why did he listen to him? He shouldn’t have… why did he just… They talked about Papyrus’s will, but what did this say about him? To get carried away by someone who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt and kill him? Was survival worth not living to appreciate life? He was weak, just not in the way he thought he was. With incomprehensible sobs, he crawled weakly to the mush of metal that was in front of him. 

He saw a faint yellow and purple light reflecting from what used to be the carrier. His mind crumbled at the thought of seeing whoever’s SOUL he had taken float in the sky before shattering in countless pieces. But strangely enough, nothing happened. Trembling hands slowly approached the metal scrap only to find absolutely nothing but a small metal device inside, melting from the blast.

He stared at it for a long time. No sounds came out of him as he was pulled into the air and out of the room with BLUE magic. 

There was nothing in the carrier at all.

Subject 0 would’ve laughed at that if he wasn’t so appalled by his own stupidity.