EndTale - Galactic (revising w.i.p. - check desc for update notes)

Chapter 1.5: Slow Day

It was 4AM.

Papyrus was normally awake by then, since he didn't really need much sleep. But instead, there he was, still laying at my side in his own bed. Heh... should I be surprised that he was actually nice enough to let me lay next to him? No... he may tease me a lot, but he does understand that I sometimes need real comfort after a "nightmare," even if he doesn't know why I get them.

I blinked my sockets tiredly and reached out a hand to touch his cheekbone, bone gently brushing against bone. He didn't even stir.

"I don't deserve you, bro." I mumbled, under my breath. Even if every reset made me cursed to repeat the same parts of my life over and over again, Papyrus always made it more bearable. The days were dull, slow, unforgiving, and predictable... but he was the brightest star to shine in the dark cavern of my life. He'd always... been that important to me.

I allowed myself to begin to drift back to sleep, rolling over on my back to stare up at Papyrus's ceiling. It was speckled with glow-in-the dark stars I had helped him put up a few years back. Exactly when, was now unclear to me. Constant resets and reloads do funny things to your memory, when you're aware of them.

I sighed, brushing that thought off. This is my one day... and then it's back to business tomorrow.

Maybe I shouldn't spend the whole day sleeping, this one time?

The second time I woke up, Papyrus was no longer at my side. I looked around wearily, being blinded by the "daylight" bleeding in through the window. I patted the spot next to me, the heavy blanket over me shifting. I quickly realized that Papyrus had placed his pillow where he once was, possibly to give me the illusion of him still being there. No, he wouldn't have done it for that. Use your skull, Sans. He probably just put it there so I don't fall off the bed or something.

I brought myself to sit up, stretched my spine, and heard it pop in a few places. I yawned, looking at Papyrus's digital clock for the second time today. 8AM... four hours? Huh. Maybe I really will get to spend time with Paps today. The thought gave me a small bit of motivation.

I sat still for a moment, rubbing the area above my browbone. Zoning out, I stared at the wall intently in thought. Motivation to do much, even with Papyrus, was pretty hard for me to come by. To him I was always the same old Sans. Laid back, care-free, compliant to eat anything he made, lazy at work, a town drunkard. And that's what I looked like to him on the outside. Like a disappointment.

I knew that I'd been lingering in his shadow for a long time now, and at first, Papyrus liked that. It let him feel like the older, commanding brother. But nowadays, me being in his shadow was an issue. He thought he had to do everything in both of our lives. And sure, I tease myself with him to brush it off, but I was still being a drag on him.

But I just couldn't tell him. I'd tried before, and he didn't understand.

For as long as I could remember, it'd been time-loop hell for me. Even before Frisk fell and started setting us all back to the same beginning every couple of weeks, the world used to stutter. Used to repeat.

I had once believed it was because of the other human children who fell, but unlike Frisk, all of them eventually stayed dead after I brought them to Asgore. Not to mention, it'd sometimes jump back two human fallings at once, losing me years of my life, and causing me to repeat my job.

I had just assumed it was normal, and that I was the one remaining monster in the whole Underground cursed to have awareness of it, reclusive as it made me. But then, everything changed when Frisk fell.

Everything.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a firm knocking on the bedroom door.

"Brother?"