You woke up shaking. Your body trembled, mind hanging on to your unanswered plee. You sat up wearily, skin sticky with sweat after the effects of another memory. Looking down, you found blood painting both your front and the couch. "Shit..." You growled.

Sucking in a breath to steady yourself, you stood to survey the damage. Finding it was worse than you could handle, even spilling on the carpet. Glancing at the clock, your heart skipped a beat. Though Frisk wouldn't wake up for a few hours, Papyrus would be waking early to prepare for duty.

Darting to the kitchen, you collected materials from under the sink and hurried to the living room. A long time ago, you'd learned how to clean blood without a trace, (Don't ask why...) but if you didn't work fast that wouldn't matter. Mixing the solution, you removed the cushions and pillows that were bled on and got to work. Your mind still lived within the meadow and the unfinished conversation. You worked quickly on the couch, scrubbing and dabbing away at the red blotches.

Shit

Shit

Shit

Shit

Shit!

I can't let Frisk see this!

As you scrubbed aggressively, the chink of a twisted lock alerted your ears of a person coming. You glanced upstairs but new Papyrus and asleep and Sans wouldn't leave his room until Papyrus dragged him out. As you looked at the door, you found it creaking open slowly. Panicking, you threw the cushions down and flopped down on them, pretending to sleep.

A chill swept the room, meaning either their was a ghost or someone had opened the door. Padded footsteps progressed past you, seeming to fade as they past the couch. You opened your eyes cautiously and looked around.

"Heya kid." You jumped out of your skin and whipped around. The small, humerus skeleton looked at you with brow raised as though to question you. "You've done a bang-up job of the couch," He continued. "But it's a bit of a giveaway to have the blood on you."

You looked down at your clothing and your face flushed. "Dammit..." You growled. Looking back at Sans, you mustered together an apologetic smile and avoided his eyes. "I'm sorry Sans. I'll replace it if I have to. I just... had a thing which led to another thing and then a thing happened and now we're here and I'm covered in blood."

He snickered and stepped closer to examine you. "You had a flashback, didn't you? Undyne? That is if you're remembering in order."

"I'm not, but you're still right. I fought Undyne, but it was so surreal. I wanted to stop so bad but I couldn't even move a pinkie with my own will. Chara... she used me and I was left with the scars..." Sans didn't seem surprised by your confession.

Instead, he stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. "Don't worry kid. I'll be helping ya all the way. The faster we get through here, the longer you have on the surface."

You attempted to smile but failed. "Sans... I'm already so frail. If just a memory of Undyne does this to me, what will facing the real one do?"

His smile grew as he placed a hand around your back, leading you to the bathroom. "I kinda handled that already, for your convenience of course. For now, get cleaned up. I'll finish out here."

"What?! But what about-"

"Don't worry kid. I know what I'm doing. I'll bring some clothes down later, just go get a shower. Paps will kill you if he sees you covered in your own blood."

Without rejecting, you nodded. You walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. Your hands turns the knobs in a familiar way, your body remembering more than you did. A stream of frigid water sprayed from above, quickly warming as you milled around the bathroom, locating shampoo, body, wash, and a towel. You folded the bloody clothing and tucked them away in case anyone walked in. You stepped into the heated water and sighed into the steamy air. Your hands worked quickly to scrubs the traces of crimson from your flesh.

Your mind wandered back and forth between hopeful thoughts in Sans' efforts and your bizarre run-in with death that night.

He was so hesitant to promise me... Am I really that bad? In just one timeline, have I damned myself to hell? Am I really just another soul to him?

You exhaled a dull laugh. "Of course I'm just a job. He wouldn't have even faced me had I been a good little prisoner and just died."

You turned off the water and wrapped a towel around you as a knock bounced through the room. "I've got some spare clothes for you. I'll leave them outside the door for ya." Sans said, followed by a thump of fabric. You opened the door the slightest you could and peered out the crack, making sure the coast was clear. Finding the way clear of any monster or small children, you widened the gap and leaned down to collect the clothing. A flurry of feathers flashed against your face as you fell back with a muffled cry. Hades slipped past the door and perched himself on the shower rack, looking at you silently before cocking his head and cawing.

"Out!" You ordered as loud as you dared.

The feathered companion shuffled and rested down on the rack again, looking the other way. You attempted to grab him with the hand that wasn't full of clothing and holding up your towel but he merely fled to an even higher perch. Rolling your eyes, you closed the door and re-locked it. "Okay fine, but if I catch you looking I'm having crow for dinner."

You turned your back to the crow and dropped the towel so it was knotted at you waste. You pulled on your garments as fast as possible, glancing at Hades every so often. You had to reuse your bra due to Sans lack of bras laying around, but you had a comfortable grey shirt to makeup for it. You then dropped the towel the rest of the way and pulled on the pants Sans had left. Unsurprisingly, they were a pair of large basketball shorts. You looked down at your legs and found the faint outlines of scars lining your flesh. You'd had scars when you fell, but some of them seemed brand new. Of course, you didn't remember where you had the other scars, but the issue was explaining to Frisk where the new ones came from.

Wrapping your hair in a towel, you turned and unlocked the door. Hades glided down and perched himself on your shoulder, rubbing against you fondly. "Hey there pretty bird." You cooed.

You opened the door and heard the clatter of dishes. Heart skipping a beat, you immediately looked at the couch. A sigh of relief fell over you as you scolded yourself.

Of course Sans got it cleaned in time! If he hadn't you would've heard Paps and Frisk panicking.

"LARGE HUMAN! WE ARE IN THE KITCHEN PREPARING BREAKFAST!"

You snickered and followed his voice into the kitchen. "Good morning (Y/N)!" Frisk chirped.

"Ah! You are very fast to have already responded to my call!" Papyrus praised. "You're just in time for breakfast! Frisk prepared a cuisine called 'woofles' I think."

"It's waffles Papyrus, and yes I did!" Frisk smiled.

You looked at Sans and he offered a friendly grin, followed by a covered thumbs up. You sighed and let a smile spread over your face. "Large Human!" Papyrus yelled.

"Yes Paps?"

"Why are you wearing my brothers clothing?!"

"Uhhhhhhhh..."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

P.o.V. Sans

"Brother!" Papyrus called.

I looked at him from my perch in my tree, smiling as always would. "Hey Paps. What's up?"

"Are you slacking off again you lazybones?!" He nagged.

I sighed as I fell to the ground, approaching my overly enthusiastic brother. "Nah. I'm on break. Why? You got a bone to pick with me?"

"NYEH!! YOU ARE BEHIND ON YOUR WORK AND YOU'RE AT IT AGAIN WITH YOUR HORRIBLE PUNS!!!"

I shrugged nonchalantly with a quiet chuckle. My eyes darting elsewhere I slipped momentarily back into my track of thought.

"Reaper, tell me it won't hurt. Tell me you won't hurt me."

My breath hitched as Papyrus rested his hand against my arm, jolting me back to reality. "Sans?" He said in a gentler tone. "What's wrong?"

"What do ya mean? I'm fine Paps. Same old Sansy."

Papyrus raised a brow in clear disbelief. "Brother, I've known you for centuries. I know when you are upset, and you are upset. Come, tell me what troubles you!"

"I'm serious Paps, I'm fine. I was just thinking about some stuff." I smiled in his direction to help cement my lie. "I'll be okay. Go do your job, or train with Undyne if she can. I'll just be here."

"But brother-"

A twister of layered black feather cut him off as Hades perched himself in the very tree I had been resting. His form changing quickly so he resembled man. His beady, focused conveyed urgency as he met my gaze. He nodded slightly and I returned the gesture.

Papyrus looked at Hades and grinned, waving happily. "Hello crow! What are you doing here?"

"I must report the findings of my mission to my master." He informed shortly. "Is this a bad time?"

"Of course not! I was just leaving anyway, but promise me you will keep him on task faithful helper!"

"I swear it upon my existence Reaper Papyrus. Worry not, I can assure I'm sure the collection of tired souls is at the top of his mind." He said, an ominous eye turned to me.

I rolled my eyes and nodded towards Papyrus. "See ya Paps."

"Farewell brother. Please try to stay on top of your work, I hate making it up for you."

With that Papyrus disappeared, the folds of his garment collapsing and whisking him away to his next location. I sighed and turned to Hades, raising an annoyed brow. "For you to be that indirectly ominous, something has to be new. What has happened with (Y/N)?"

He straightened his posture and faced me more directly. "(Y/N) awoke after last night's occurrence in more distress than she already was. Other than her body failing once again from releasing wounds in her battle with that world's Undyne, her heart holds much conflict and dangerous levels of determination."

"What do you mean by that? What exactly is happening with her?"

He hid a smirk by clearing his throat. "I had the chance to examine her whole she was dressing herself, and I found that not only scars of the prior nights events were appearing, but many scars of other battles and events prior to the faulty are appearing on her flesh."

I could feel my face brighten as I sunk into my cloak. "You looked at her naked..."

This time he made no effort to hide his smile. "Yes, I did. It was part of my job to monitor both physical, mental, and moral help. As such, I must also report that last night weighed on her negatively. Her trust in you was diminished when her visit was cut short by her waking. She believed that it was your doing as to cutting her off and not answering to her promise."

"Heh, well I don't expect her to trust me. I am Death."

"You misunderstand. I do not mean she does not trust you. In fact, she wants you trust you with all her true honesty. You hurt her."

I could feel my body stiffen. "I... hurt... her?"

The atmosphere seemed to darken just the smallest amount. "You must go to her. Show her that you intend to take care of her. She must understand you have no ill intent against her."

"How am I supposed to do that?! I have no idea when I'll be able to slip into her mind again as long as her body is deteriorating, and if I visit now she'll only believe I want to rush her progress."

"Reaper, you must have more faith in her." Hades was silent a moment. "I know you care for her, not just as a lost soul, but as more than that."

I chuckled. "Jeez, what am I... a book? With the way you're reading me..."

I sighed. "I need to go..."

Hades smiled. "I believed you would."