Papyrus suddenly feared for this small concubine's life. He only had 1 HP, and he had suddenly lost so much! He was distinctly aware that bites like these were only supposed to take away .1 HP, though no one ever really paid attention to that little piece of information. Because what was .1 HP to any monster really?

How did he even lose so much HP with that one bite? Papyrus's contemplations were interrupted by a soft sob coming from in front of him. He looked up to see the smaller skeleton quaking, tears falling down as he stared as his hands in his lap.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry, master."
"I'm sorry, brother."

His voice hiccuped over his words, eyelights distant and so, so lost, deep in his despair.

"I-I'm sorry for c-c-crying."
"I'm sorry for leaving you all these years."

He looked so broken, so sad. The bedsheets underneath him were getting wet with his tears.

"Pl-Please, p-punish me."
"I deserve it."

"I deserve everything you're doing to me. Because I failed you. Because I left you alone for so long."

Papyrus's soul twisted in real pain. He understood now. Sans was hurting, not just physically, but emotionally. That's why so much HP had been lost in that one bite. Monsters were fragile. If a physical blow was also met with emotional stress, that blow was that much more effective.

He stared at the quaking skeleton in front of him, the brokenness of Sans's voice feeling like splinters stabbing into his soul. He could feel the guilt that he had been keeping locked up finally spilling into him again, leaving him breathless and in so, so much pain.

"Sans.." He extended a hand towards the crying skeleton, but stopped when Sans flinched violently away from him. Realising what he had just did, the smaller skeleton looked completely anguished, returning back to his place on the bed as he struggled to keep himself from shaking.

"I-I'm sorry, m-master. I d-didn't mean t-t-to.." Papyrus cut him off, pulling the skeleton closer and into a hug. Sans's eyelights were still small and quivering with fear, but he gave no resistance, letting his body sag limply against the taller skeleton.

Papyrus swallowed back his guilt as he held the small, lifeless body closer to his chest. He could feel his own sockets pricking with unshed tears. What had he done? The first person that he had truly cared about, truly loved, was sitting broken in his arms. Because of him.

Papyrus looked down at the bleeding wound. It was a thin crescent of crimson, blood still dripping out steadily. His hands lit up green with healing magic, hovering over the wound site and slowly knitting the injury closed.

Papyrus wasn't a certified healer, but he would say that his healing skills were pretty decent. He watched as the injury finally sealed closed, as if it had never been there in the first place. He checked Sans's stats again.

·Sans·
LV: 1
HP: 1/1
AT: 1
DF: 1
*...Numb.

Papyrus swallowed, shame crossing his features as he felt the apathetic aura emanating off of Sans. But he focused instead on the fact that now Sans was back to max HP, not in danger of dying anymore. Or not in any more danger than he had been before, with such a low base HP.

Papyrus cradled the small skeleton protectively, wiping off the blood that remained with his sleeve. He used his other sleeve to wipe the rest of Sans's tears away. Sans had stopped crying for awhile now, just laying there limp and unfeeling.

Papyrus looked down at Sans. He was still awake, but his purple eyelights looked dull, staring off into nothing. Papyrus could feel his tears threatening to brim over, but he held them in and kissed the top of Sans's skull, laying him down on his bed and pulling the covers over him. He lay next to Sans, wrapping his arms around the smaller body and pulling him to his chest.

It almost felt like he was burying a corpse.

A/N: The italicised words are not being said aloud. They are there to symbolise what the words he's actually saying mean underneath.