Chapter 1: Accident

It was a beautiful day outside. The birds were singing. The flowers were blooming. On days like these, Papyrus loved to drive his car along the lake, staring off past the horizon, admiring the shimmering water, not a care in the world. His red convertible always had the top down, Papyrus soaking up every ray of the sunlight that he could. Despite being of the surface for almost a year now, it never got old. Sans loved highway driving, so he usually came along with him, short legs dangling over the end of the passenger seat, grinning at Papyrus' joyous expression, relishing every moment of his time spent with his brother on the surface.

Sometimes you even came along. More than often you would sit in San's lap, enjoying the breeze in your hair, laughing when the short brown locks got in San's face and he shoved you playfully. Today was no exception. Papyrus was a careful, safe driver, so you were never worried. Sans had chosen to don a pair of sunglasses, nothing name brand, preferring the cheap plastic kind as they were usually designed for children, thus fitting his skull and not depending on his nonexistent ears. Speaking of which, he really could listen a bit more to his brother, especially when he was being serious.

Like now, when Papyrus barked abruptly at him to stop bouncing you on his lap.

"Sans!" He glanced over at the two of you, taking one hand off the wheel to shove his brother, who chuckled giddily. You weren't complaining. However, it was quite the opposite. You secretly loved it when Sans messed with you, even if you pretended to be annoyed by it. It was childish, but you figured there was no harm in it since Sans was just as bad, despite being older than you.

"C'mon Pap, she's fine!" the skeleton under you chuckled, holding onto your legs a bit tighter. You couldn't help but smile at the small gesture.

"Seriously Sans! It's distracting!" The road was fairly clear, but he figured he could never be too cautious.

His brother seemed to disagree. "C'mon bro, YOLO!"

You cringed, but Papyrus didn't seem to notice.

"Sans, I swear, this is your-! " Papyrus started to chastise Sans again, but was cut off by a car from the other side of the road swerving directly at him. He clutched the wheel so tightly his bones stiffened audibly, frantically trying to move out of the way, but not in time. With a flash of red and silver, your car collided with the approaching one. Sans quickly grabbed at your chest, pulling you as close to him as he could as the red vehicle flipped over the side of the opposing one, landing across the top of the one that had just sped towards you, forming an 'X' of crushed metal and cracked bones.

You awoke suddenly to a piercing scream, deep and reverberating through you. Eyes bolting open, you went to turn around towards the source of the noise behind you, but immediately cried out and halted your actions, a sharp pain piercing through your stomach. You remembered all at once where you were and what had happened, the crash…

Whipping your head around despite the pain, you saw Sans on top of you, mangled car pinning you both down. There were chips in his skull, orbits cracked with chunks of bone chiseled out roughly, and blood on his cheekbones, dancing bright red like a horrid, repulsive blush. His pupils had vanished, causing panic to rise up in your chest. You mustered up your voice, coming out clearer than you expected, but still hoarse.

"Sa-ans, are y-you hurt?"

The skeleton's eyes glowed dimly, making you sigh in relief, though it's more like a strangled cough. He too let out a breath at seeing you alive, and you winced when his grip on you regains a bit of strength. You were grateful you were both alive, even if you have no idea how.

"Kid, you're okay." He whispered, struggling to speak. He muttered to himself, "Good, good." It seemed more like he was trying to calm his own nerves than yours.

"P-Papyrus?" you called out, unable to see much more than grey metal past San's overbearing grip on you.

Sans swiftly turned to his left, breath heavy, releasing his hold on you slightly. "Pap?" he whispered. You saw his eyes grow dark again out of the corner of your eye.

"Pap?" his voice rang out a little louder, but shakier. You felt him start to tremble.

"Pap? Bro?" he yelled, arms darting over to dig around at the pieces of seat and car frame barricading his view of his brother. You held your breath, preparing for the worst, hoping for the best.

"Papyrus!" Sans was screaming now. "PAPYRUS!" You saw a sliver of bone, only glancing over, not having the heart to look directly at him, too terrified of what you might see. It looked splintered, though.

"NO! ANSWER ME PAPYRUS! PAPYRUS!" Worried beyond control, you turned, horrified at what you saw and regretting it an instant later. Papyrus' red scarf was torn to bits, battle body punctured through the back and metal beams coming visible through the front.

Sans continued to claw at the debris surrounding his brother. You were helpless, grimacing in pain, squeezing your eyes shut and releasing cries of "No, please no." Each breath you took felt like you were inhaling death. You tried to block out your surroundings. Just when things on the surface were perfect…

It was only when you started choking on each intake that your eyes shot open. You smelled smoke. "Sans!" you shouted. The skeleton turned his attention to you, expression grim and more distraught than you had ever seen him before. "S-Smoke!" you coughed.

Shock flashed across San's features, terrified that he could lose both you and his brother in an instant. When his screams for help brought not a soul, he looked around hastily, panic crossing his features, before muttering a barely audible "fuck it" and clutching you tighter than he ever had before. "Hang on, kid." he groaned, and then everything went white.