Chapter Text
Papyrus set the time and date to approximately the time that he himself and his brother had escaped all those years ago.
Once the machine whirred to life, he stepped through. He was disorientated for a while but eventually regained his senses. He focused hard on where he wanted to teleport. Teleporting in a different reality wasn't easy. Teleporting in general wasn't easy, but once you knew the place you wanted to go to like the back of your hand, you were there.
He didn't know this place though. He knew where it was. He knew what it looked like. He even remembered what it felt like trapped in those rooms.
But this was different.
He could still teleport based on coordinates and gut instinct, but it required focus. So focus he did.
The world snapped around him and it was dark. He was in a small, dark room. He waited a moment for his vision to adjust and steeled his emotions for what he might see.
He spotted two white beds in each corner of the small bland room, close to the white tiled floor. The walls were made of glass, and it looked like there was a slightly bigger room that had plain white walls surrounding this small prison.
There were two small sleeping forms on each of the beds that nearly blended in with their surroundings. Neither of them moved an inch with his entrance.
He couldn't tell which one was which, but started with the left one. He carefully picked up the small child with both hands, easily lifting their light weight and laid them up to rest against his shoulder, supporting their exposed bones with one hand. They were cold to the touch and completely limp. He turned to pick up the other with one hand and held them fast to his chest. This one stirred a bit but still remained asleep. He backed away to the middle of the tiny room.
He focused on where he wanted to be and held fast to the children before disappearing.
~
He woke up in a... different room. He was laying on something... soft. This wasn't his room. This wasn't his bed.
Feeling around him, he felt the bed below him with his small phalanges before the side of his hand bumped into something. He recognized it. It was N. He sat up to get a better look at him and realized they were both covered by some kind of colored sheet. He threw the fabric off of both of them and placed his hand on the other's exposed shoulder. He gave a testing shake, hoping N would wake. Normally if he shook N when he was sleeping he would wake up instantly, worried and concerned. But not this time. N did not stir, and it took him a glance to N's skull to remember why. His face bunched up in unease.
He turned away from N and took in the light of the room, checking his surroundings more. It was light in the room. It wasn't light like in the Lab, where it was so bright it hurt if you looked at the ceiling for too long, but it wasn't dark like when The Doctor turned the lights off and locked them in their room together. It was kind of... in between. It made him feel sleepy.
There were things in the room that looked weird, not like the stuff in the Lab, this stuff wasn't as scary. They didn't have flashing bright lights and cords everywhere. The walls were... blue, he remembered what that color was, and the floors were two colors. One was blue like the walls but the other was... red? No. It was... 'orange.' He heard N's voice in his head, remembering his lessons when N was teaching him what the colors were. The floor hurt his head to look at, so he turned back to N.
Scooping N up in his arms, he dragged them both off the bed and stood for a moment in the middle of the room. He saw a door and backed away from it. Looking to the other side of the room there was a desk, there was lots of room under it. It wasn't like The Doctor's desk. Instead of large desk legs there were thin poles, and instead of papers on top there was something that looked like tiny monsters, but they didn't move. They weren't real. They couldn't be. He dragged N under the desk and crouched down beside him, letting N's head bury into his rib cage as he held him tight.
It was cold but not the same kind of cold he was familiar with. It wasn't like in his room at night.
He waited and watched the door.
The door opened eventually and someone came in. The Doctor looked different. He wasn't wearing that white lab coat he always did, and his face had healed up, leaving no sign that there was ever any damage. His clothes were weird, it was that... orange color again. The Doctor was staring at them.
The Doctor waited, just watching them with a weird expression on his face. After a moment The Doctor walked forward, stopping in the middle of the room and got down on his knees to look under the desk. He clutched N tighter and shrank away from his gaze. Was he in trouble? Did The Doctor come for N? Was he going to take N away? Was he going to help him? He held N fast anyway.
The Doctor looked to them and raised his hand, giving a small wave. It reminded him of when he first met N, a long time ago. They weren't allowed near each other but they would wave and gesture to the other with their hands. He felt some familiarity when The Doctor waved his hand to him but he didn't feel comfortable returning the gesture. The Doctor had never done that before.
The Doctor's face went neutral and instead he raised one of his fingers before speaking and leaving the room.
"Wait here a moment."
He left the door open a crack, and voices could be heard through the threshold.
It took a couple of minutes but The Doctor returned.
He carried a clear glass cup and crouched down in the same spot as before. He set the cup down next to him and looked at the two under the desk.
"Are you thirsty?"
He shook his head. The Doctor just nodded slowly and looked towards N.
"Can I see your... your brother?"
He didn't move. He knew if The Doctor wanted to see N, he didn't have a choice. The Doctor made a hand motion for him to come out from under the desk but he froze. The Doctor let out a small breath and picked up the cup before crawling closer to the desk.
"I just want to help him, is that okay?"
Slowly he nodded and felt his grasp on his brother loosen. N slumped down a bit and The Doctor reached out slowly to extract him from under the desk. He left the glass next to the desk and took N back to the bed before putting the colored fabric back over him.
The Doctor's face looked different. Not because he was missing those huge cracks running from his eye sockets across his skull, but because of his expression. He didn't look filled with glee, as he did sometimes when he figured something out or had a new idea. He didn't look angry like he always did when he and N didn't want to do what he said. He looked... sad. Sad like N had looked at him those times when he had to go with The Doctor alone.
He wrapped his arms around his legs and pulled tight against himself. The Doctor never looked like that before. He had never seen anyone but N look like that before.
After a moment of silence, someone else entered the room.
He was a skeleton, just like The Doctor, but shorter.
Were there two Doctors? His mind was drowned in confusion. Two Doctors? That...wasn't possible. Their entire lives it had just been him, N, and The Doctor. There was nobody else. Now there were two Doctors.
This 'New Doctor' came into the room slowly, looking around as he did and his gaze flicked from the two on the bed to the one under the desk. He approached and sat down where The Doctor had crouched moments before and gave a soft smile.
"Hello there," he spoke softly, like The Doctor's voice was soft sometimes when he tried to get him and N to do something. N said that was his lying voice.
"Doctor?"
New Doctor and The Doctor shot him a surprised look, and for a moment he thought he was in trouble before New Doctor's face smiled, although nervously.
"We're not Doctors," New Doctor(?) raised his hands as if to show he wasn't a threat. "My name is Sans," he enunciated his name slowly and nodded his head as he did so, "and that over there is my brother, Papyrus."
"Your 'Doctor' is gone now. You won't be seeing him again," the tall skeleton on the bed said, he already forgot his name. "You two are safe now."
"Doctor... gone?" They both nodded. His gaze drifted towards N as he was lost in thought, confused.
"You and your brother are going to be living here from now on. There's not going to be any more experiments or tests. We're going to help you, okay?"
"Help... N?"
They both looked towards the bed, and ...'New Doctor', (he forgot) who wasn't a Doctor crawled a little bit closer to the desk, reaching out to the glass that 'The Doctor' put there, picking it up and holding it close to himself.
"We're going to help your brother, don't worry."
The 'New Doctor' was looking directly at him with a look he couldn't place, but both of their attentions snapped back towards the bed when a strangled sound pierced the room. 'New Doctor' stood up fast and took a couple of steps closer to the bed before stopping and watching. He brought one of his hands up to his face to cover his mouth. 'The Doctor' was holding onto both of N's arms and trying to keep steady.
"N!" He cried out to his brother and crawled out from under the desk, considering rushing over to him but the looming skeletons made him reconsider. He stood frozen in front of the desk.
"Sans take him to the living room."
"Okay okay..." 'New Doctor' sounded stressed and he turned to face the small skeleton. "Come with me please."
An arm reached out to grab him and normally he would have recoiled away but he was too concerned for N right now. He only realized what was happening as he was being pulled out of the room by a gloved hand gripping him. The skeleton whipped him around out the door and closed it behind him, but not before another horrible noise came through the door before it was shut completely.
The next thing he knew he was being helped down the stairs and walked across a strange, open room, larger than the one he'd been in moments ago. The soft floor beneath his feet turned to tile, the sound of his phalanges clicking across the ground reminded him of the Labs briefly, but he was hoisted up onto a chair before the memory had time to settle. He was face to face with 'New Doctor' for a moment, who gave him a sad smile. He looked like he was about to cry but was holding back. It reminded him of N.
He was still shocked at seeing this new person. The Doctor told him and N that there was nothing else. N asked him if they could go outside or leave perhaps, when they were far younger, but The Doctor had looked displeased. He explained that there is no 'outside,' and that there was nowhere else to go. They were all that was. N said he was using his lying voice when he said that.
"Sorry about that. Your brother is going to be okay. My brother is going to take care of him." 'New Doctor' sat the clear glass down on the table in front of him and walked over to the counter. He took some deep breaths before turning and sitting down at the table next to him.
"Are you... hurting, anywhere?" He hesitated but nodded. He had some dull pains in his body from the tests a couple of days ago.
"You must be hungry too, I'll get you something to make you feel better, okay? Hold on a minute. There's some water there if you're thirsty too." 'New Doctor' stood up and went towards this... box thing in the corner of the room. It made a humming sound when he opened it. He reached inside and pulled...something out and put it on the counter. He reached up to open one of the cabinets but kind of struggled due to his height. He pulled out a familiar looking orange, cylindrical container, and it rattled as he jostled it.
'New Doctor' placed a plate in front of him with some weird blobby mess on it, and placed a pill on the table beside it. 'New Doctor' obviously saw his disgust at the pill.
"You don't have to take the pill if you don't want to, but you should eat that food. It will make you feel better." He sat there staring at the pill, shaking his head slowly.
"It's just a painkiller, I promise. I know you've had these before, right? They make it stop hurting for a while. I can take one to prove that it's safe, okay?" He stared at 'New Doctor' disbelievingly. The Doctor never took any medicine when he and N were around. He always made them take it.
He was woken from that thought with another rattling sound, the orange cylinder opening and 'New Doctor' taking a small round white tablet from it. He held it between his blue gloved fingers and showed it to the smaller skeleton clearly. He nodded his head and then popped it in his mouth.
"There, see? It's okay."
He nodded back to 'New Doctor' and downed the pill. He knew what painkillers were but The Doctor didn't give them to him and N often. Whenever he did, something really bad happened. Like with N...
'New Doctor' got up, opened one of the drawers and pulled out a long silver tool. It was sharp and glinted in the not-bright light. He sat it down on the plate next to the blobby thing and waited patiently.
Was this some kind of test? He didn't understand.
"New Doctor?"
'New Doctor's face was startled again. He relaxed and spoke gently. "I'm not a doctor, remember? My name is Sans," he enunciated his name the same way he did before. He was much too distracted to remember his name the first time he said it, but this time it started to stick.
"Sans," he spoke in much the same enunciated way that Sans had moments ago.
"Very good!"
"Saaaaaans," his face wore a more confident expression as he repeated the name. This reminded him of when N would teach him new words.
"Yes, I'm Sans. I'm not a doctor. I'm going to help you. Remember?"
He nodded and grabbed at the edge of the table. He looked down to that blobby mess and sniffed it. It smelled... nice. He was about to ask Sans what it was but was interrupted.
"What is your name?"
He looked up from the plate and looked into Sans' eyes. He paused for a moment but spoke.
"My name is WDG E-ONE ZERO THREE C."
~
Papyrus heard the door click shut behind him, but not before another horrifying sound escape the kid's mouth. This kid was in serious trouble. It reminded him so much of his own brother and was conjuring extremely unpleasant memories, but he had to stay strong. The small skeleton went limp on the bed and Papyrus released his arms. Reaching into his hoodie pocket, he pulled out a syringe filled with deep blue liquid and popped the cap off it. He rested the hand with the syringe in it on the child's forehead, pointing the syringe away and brought out his other hand to his rib cage. Reaching inside the small chest cavity, he easily found what he was looking for and clutched it carefully, the SOUL's host letting out a low groan at the feeling of invasion. Papyrus heard the noise but ignored it.
Papyrus brought the small red heart into view and positioned the syringe above it, ready to strike. He took just a second to register the damage done to this SOUL. Papyrus' own soul was sickening to look at when he was younger but man, this was worse than he could ever imagine. Papyrus was snapped from those thoughts by another low groan, reminding him of the pain the smaller skeleton was in. He had to act.
Carefully, Papyrus inserted the tip of the syringe into the small magical core and injected the liquid slowly. The deep blue coloring mixing against the muddy fractured red color turned the soul into a sickish purple brown color.
Papyrus thought he was going to be sick. He removed the syringe and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The child gasped at the sensation of his SOUL being freed and calmed down a bit, going back into a calm sleep.
He knew it was bad but...how could it be THIS bad?
He'd gone back to stop their Underfell versions of themselves from becoming huge evil assholes. They were horrible people but deep down he knew he couldn't blame them, not when they went through similar experiences, but with the way their world worked of course they would turn out to be like that. It was 'Kill or Be Killed,' wasn't it? With the kind of power The Doc- Gaster gave them, they could have destroyed anyone they wanted.
Now he's just surprised they didn't turn out worse.
Papyrus looked down at the child, gauze was wrapped around his head covering both of his eye sockets and his breathing was labored, but not as bad as it had been before the injection. Just staring at the bandage wrapped around his skull was making Papyrus queasy.
Two fucking eye implants.
Two.
Papyrus could barely handle getting one of them, and this kid was getting a second one put in.
It made him sick.
He didn't want to use these kinds of drugs and syringes and scary medical equipment because it would set a bad example for the kids, he didn't want these kids taking these awful drugs.
He didn't want to be like him. But there was no other choice right now.
When he and Sans had gotten their eye implants, they went blind for... a long time. He wasn't sure how long, but it felt like eternity before he was able to see his brother's face again. He remembered being so happy to open his eyes and see Sans, but the happiness didn't last long. The days after he recovered were grueling, Gaster tested the full limits of the magical eye and he pushed Papyrus to the edge. The only thoughts that kept him going were of his brother, and how his sacrifice would keep Sans safe.
He can't believe he was so stupid.
Gaster had used Papyrus to test his idea and it worked. And then he put an improved version of the eye implant in Sans.
Papyrus was furious when he found out, when Sans returned to the room, blind and drugged, Papyrus knew he couldn't keep letting this happen. He even ended up turning his magic on Gaster, but was too exhausted from all the experiments. He was easily defeated.
He told himself he would get Sans out of there once his vision recovered. He'd protect him from any more harm.
They escaped.
Papyrus was half surprised to see these two kids in that dark room. He set the date approximately and with no good judgement of time back then, it was a wild shot. But they were still there, so he took that chance to get them out. He thought if he overshot it then they'd be gone, and he would have gone looking for them in Snowdin, since that's where he took Sans when they escaped. But they were still there. He grabbed both of them and teleported out, using a remote version of the machine to bring himself back. He took both kids to Sans' room and checked their bodies, but noticed something strange.
They were both the same height.
Papyrus wasn't the same height as Sans until quite a while after they were free. A long time after, actually. He checked the data with the machine and spent some time thinking about how many years they were free, doing the math.
He had missed the date of their escape by about three years.
These two didn't escape like Papyrus and Sans did. At least, not as early as they did.
They must have been through so much.
It was too late to take them back and undo this. He fucked up. Now that they were here there was no use complaining about it. Papyrus turned away from the smaller skeleton and clasped his hands on his face.
Dark thoughts started to creep into his mind. It was selfish and disgusting. He wasn't thinking about these poor kids. He was thinking about himself.
Because if they didn't escape, this would have happened to him.