Sans shot out of bed with a shriek, startling everyone sleeping in the tent with him. A heart-rending scream ripped through the quiet atmosphere of the peaceful night, piercing even as it was muffled by the blankets wrapping tightly and tangled around the tiny skeleton who was hopelessly thrashing in the makeshift bed of sheets.

In a flash, Papyrus was already out of his hammock and at his brother’s side, worried his thrashing might have loosened the bandages and splints holding together the fragile bones. 

“BROTHER!! BROTHER, IT’S OKAY! PLEASE! CALM DOWN BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF!!” Papyrus pleaded, already attempting to loosen the blankets Sans somehow managed to twist around himself, binding his legs and pinning his right arm awkwardly across his chest and his left at his side. Cold blue light flickered from under half-lidded eyes, and a line of bones shot through his bed, a few almost nicking Papyrus in the cheekbone. While others perforated the blankets, although they hadn’t made Sans any less tangled, however, and a summoned special attack tore into the ceiling as he fought whatever threat his mind had conjured this time.

Papyrus turned to the panicked, sleepy expressions of the other monsters. “PLEASE WAIT OUTSIDE UNTIL I HAVE CALMED DOWN, MY BROTHER. IT IS NOT SAFE FOR YOU ALL TO STAY IN HERE WHEN HE GETS LIKE THIS. PLEASE FORGIVE ME.” Papyrus hurriedly explained, Sans’ nightmares were always messy, but this was the worst he’d been since they’d arrived on the surface. 

The other Monsters wasted no time leaving the tent, all of them have learned the hard way how violent Sans nightmares could get, and they also knew by now that only Papyrus could handle attacks such as this.

Papyrus sensed an impending attack and sidestepped another line of bones as they jabbed up from the floor before he once more went back to his brother’s side. 

“Sans?” he said quietly this time—having realized that shouting never helped—and bent to lay a hand on his shoulder gently. “Sans, You’re Dreaming Again. Everything Is Alright. You Don’t Have To Fight. You Are In No Danger Brother”

Sans made a strangled sound, and another attack thrummed a hair from Papyrus’ skull. His brother hadn’t caught what he’d said, but it didn’t surprise him, and he certainly didn’t give up. Flashy as they were, Sans’ attacks weren’t that strong, and Papyrus reached over to start unwinding the sheet undaunted.

All this fuss over a couple of sheets…

He accidentally tugged a section too tight, and Papyrus heard the sound of bones creaking under pressure. Sans’ eyes snapped open, hollow and unseeing. There was a flicker—and Papyrus found himself clinging to his brother as he felt his SOUL change to blue, and a portion of his body was now floating off of the ground. Only the top half holding onto his brother kept him somewhat stabilized to the ground. 

“Sans?! SANS!! PLEASE BROTHER!! WAKE UP!!!” Papyrus shouted—the time for being quiet had passed— “COME ON, SLEEPY SKULL!! ENOUGH ALREADY!! YOU’RE GOING TO END UP HURTING US BOTH!! PLEASE!!!”

Sans’ eye flared in a cyan-yellow blaze, and Papyrus glimpsed another special attack manifest. An idea occurred to him, and with a frustrated groan, he wrapped his brother in his arms and turned himself blue. His magic was somehow canceling out the one that Sans had used on him prior. Papyrus landed in a heap on the floor, only narrowly avoiding getting hit by the Blaster, releasing another blast that tore a hole through the roof of the tent and shot into the night sky.

Papyrus winced as he watched the Gaster Blaster vanish into the air. Indeed the Humans stalking them must have seen that attack just now.

But Papyrus didn't care about any of that at that moment. All that mattered to him at this very moment was waking up Sans from his nightmare and making sure he would be alright.

The skeleton's gaze was quickly drawn back to the sorry state of his brother. The smaller was still laying on the ground, in a fetal position, and hunched in on himself. Still hopelessly tangled in the blankets, twitching and writhing in his sleep. The sight was simply heart-wrenching.

Magic raged through Sans's SOUL as well, lighting his rib cage up like a lantern. Papyrus could just make out its inverted heart-shaped outline, glowing fiercely beneath all the bandages and splints holding his broken bones together, and through the thin blankets Sans was trapped and tangled up in. He could also make out the horrible crack in the center of his brother’s being, and he swore he could see the small organ trembling from the force of Sans’s wild magic.

Stressed.

Without hesitation, Papyrus eased himself forward, right up against Sans's trembling, heaving side. And again, he began to work at the blanket, attempting to loosen it from his brother’s still shattered body as best he could without hurting him. After all, Sans did not like to be restrained, even while asleep. Doing so would only worsen his fear and panic. Indeed he must have already been feeling pretty bad due to the blankets wrapped tight around fragile bones if Papyrus had to guess by how quick and panicked Sans’s breathing was.

Sans's breath was quick and harsh, sounding strained, but Papyrus continued, just as much for his comfort as for Sans's. He continued slowly unraveling the blankets from his brother, this time being more mindful of following the folds, detangling his sibling from the loose sheets. 

“Shhhh, Sans, It’s Okay. You’re Safe, Brother. I’m Here.” Papyrus soothed, doing his best to calm down the smaller skeleton in his arms. His SOUL is also starting to send out his magical pulses full of love towards the battered, injured one resting in Sans’ ribcage to calm him further.

This went on and on for a while. It probably seemed longer than it was, but to Papyrus, it might as well have been an eternity. Yet slowly, Sans's eye lights began to sharpen and clear. Finally, the smaller skeleton blinked, dazed and disoriented, as he was eventually freed of the ruined sheets.

"...p'rus?" Sans slurred weakly.

At the slurred murmur of his name, Papyrus gave him a patient smile. “Yes, Dear Brother. It Is I. Easy Brother… You Had Another Nightmare.” He explains, not fully relaxing quite yet, knowing this stage could still be quite tricky to deal with.

“w-wha? o-oh geez… pap. i-” Sans stammered as he shut his eye sockets closed. The tiny skeletons shaking seemed to return with a vengeance. A hand slowly moved over his injured SOUL, which, now that the blankets were no longer around him, Papyrus could see where the bandages had come undone due to his brother's thrashing. A few splints had even fallen to the ground revealing the bare, still very fragile bone beneath.

Papyrus considered just immediately taking his brother into his arms and fixing the bandages right away, not wanting to risk his injuries getting agitated, especially when Paps could finally see his bones were slowly healing and mending themselves back together. But they still needed the splints so they wouldn’t get misaligned. And he also worried about what the thrashing did to his brother’s other injuries. However, he restrained himself, knowing he still needed to take this slow and steady until his brother was more awake.

It was then that Sans released an odd sound. Sort of like a laugh and very much like a choke simultaneously, sounding far more unhinged than Papyrus would have liked. It was the sound that sprung from exhaustion and a crumbling endurance. Sans was so tired, and Papyrus sometimes wondered how he could still face these nightmares at all. They were so taxing on him. So horrible to endure, even if Sans never spoke of just what he was dreaming.

Sans's nightmares were unlike Frisk's or anyone else's that Papyrus had ever known. The horrors seemed to trap him, hold him captive far longer than Papyrus thought was normal. Most people would have jolted awake when they shouted out at that very first scream, but Sans always had to struggle to consciousness. It was as if the poor skeleton was trapped in the middle of the ocean. Only his nightmares were the water trying to drag him down, his dreams so painful it was like they were happening in real life. Like Sans was left, stuck between sleep and waking for long, agonizing moments that left him almost delirious in his fear.

"h-heh-nk..." Sans shook his head, obviously still a little disoriented. “s...s’rry… ab-bout tha’ bro…”

“For What My Brother? You Didn’t Ask To Have Another Nightmare. It’s Okay.” Papyrus soothed as he finally gave in. As gently as he could, he reached forward and scooped up Sans into his arms before pulling the other skeleton into a grounding embrace. He held Sans's skull pressed up against his shoulder as the other's breath hitched and stuttered, soothing his free hand up and down Sans's back as the other's shivers increased and then eased.

The contact usually helped in these cases once Sans was awake. Papyrus secretly took the opportunity to check his brother over for injuries as he ran his hand gently against the other's back and arms before sliding it up, soothingly, to Sans's shoulder blades and shoulder, then back down. It was a feather-light touch, one that Papyrus hoped would help as he continued to gently comfort his brother while simultaneously checking his brother for any other misplaced splints or loosened bandages.

While doing this, Papyrus began to notice a couple of dislocated bones in his spinal cord and his right arm, shoulder joint entirely, and a few in his ribs. Papyrus let out a mental huff as he slowly began to realize the rest of the night would be pretty stressful on everyone trying to realign these bones again. He made a mental note to ask Alphys for help with the realignment process as he kept Sans for later.

Regardless, Papyrus continued the motion gently, just happy that that was all Sans had done and glad he hadn’t rebroken his bones or something. "It Was Just A Dream, Brother. You’re Safe. It’s All Going To Be Okay Now." The words may or may not have come across as hollow comfort. Still, Sans began to calm anyway, his weak hold eventually turning into an equally insistent embrace.

“‘kay…” Sans muttered into Papyrus's shoulder, repeating after him quietly as though it were some sort of game. “...’m o-okay… ev’rythin’s okay… ‘m safe.” A sad, strained little match that neither of the brothers wanted to play. And yet, here they were, just like so many times before, the younger brother comforting, the older. "jus' tired...but m'okay. was jus' a dream..."

"...You're Slurring." Papyrus pointed out, a look of concern on his face and heavy in his voice.

“y...yeah, m'magic mus' be low… ‘r s-s’mthing..." Sans replied sleepily.

“Well, That Is Quite Obvious, Sans. You Did Kind Of Go Crazy A Bit With Your Special Attacks When Reacting To Your Night Terrors. It’s No Wonder You’re So Low On Magic Right Now!” Papyrus responds a bit teasingly and tries to lighten the mood.

Sans cracks a small smile at the joke, “heh… yeah… tha’ mus’ b-be why…”

“Do You Want Me To Get Your Emergency Candies Or Something, Brother? Before We Work On Realigning Your Bones? I Also Need To Replace Your Bandages And Splints.”

“n-not… yet. it’s jus’... can we stay like this f-for jus’ a little longer?” Sans asks.

The taller skeleton nodded without another word, cradling the smaller skeleton and pulled him in a little closer with a gentle sigh.

They stayed like that for a little while, caught up in the comfort of each others' presence. Papyrus’s SOUL continued to send the older brother gentle pulses of magic filled with all the love, hope, and compassion that he felt towards Sans, which helped soothe the emotions of the other and calm him down a little. And Sans leaned into the pulses, allowing his body and own SOUL to be surrounded in it. It was something they had always done, even back when they were children, and the world of the Underground had seemed so big and scary. Though, back in those days, it had been Papyrus who had nestled into his brother's embrace, not the other way around.

It was kind of funny in a sad sort of way, how time had switched their roles.

Papyrus continued his ministrations, soothing his hand up and down Sans's spine. At the same time, Sans simply focused on his breathing, controlling his shaking body, and getting his head back in order. The crickets outside chirped, the owls hooted, and frogs belted. It helped ground the injured skeleton. And remind him of where he was right now and what was happening. It was very peaceful, after all the excitement.

‘i’m safe…’ Sans reminded himself, even nuzzling a little, against his brother’s ribcage covered by his “COOL DUDE '' T-shirt he was wearing for his sleepwear, instead of the battle body he typically wore every day without fail. ‘i’m safe…’