In-betweens.

Lines and Threads

The night was cold and Frisk thought they would feel warmer in Snowdin still.

"...HUMAN?"

Despite the dark, they could easily make out the silhouette of the tall skeleton. Papyrus was standing in the doorway, eyes wider than usual and flicking between Frisk and the room as if unsure whether looking at them was appropriate or not.

"I HEARD A NOISE AND CAME TO CHECK IT OUT IN CASE I WAS NEEDED TO PROTECT SOMEONE."

Frisk released a shaky breath and drew their knees close. "Sorry for waking you up," they said quietly, hoping not to wake anyone else, although if anything they would be awoken by Papyrus' naturally strong voice. "And there's nothing here, no protection needed."

Papyrus' eyes cast over the room before resting on Frisk, seemingly searching for something. "DID YOU HAVE A BAD DREAM?" he asked in a way that gave Frisk the feeling he already knew the answer. "I SOMETIMES PROTECT SANS FROM BAD DREAMS SO HE CAN SLEEP BETTER. I KNOW BAD DREAMS CAN BE SCARY, BUT ONCE YOU REALIZE THEY'RE NOT REAL IT GETS A LOT BETTER," he explained, arriving next to their bed.

"How do you protect Sans from bad dreams?" they whispered, staring at the ground in front of Papyrus.

"THAT'S EASY," he answered. "WITH HUGS AND MY AMAZING ABILITY TO SCARE OFF ANY MORE BAD DREAMS JUST WITH THE HELP OF MY MAGNIFICENT PRESENCE."

There was a smile pulling at their lips for a moment, but it was dampened by the memory of their dream and the very real implications it held. Papyrus must have noticed for he went ahead and climbed onto the bed, pulling Frisk into a hug that really shouldn't have been this comfortable, given that he was literally just bones. But it was and they were overwhelmed by the feeling of safety, of stability, of strength.

And yet- Frisk could nearly feel how just that moment was so incredibly fragile. Their entire reality was hanging on by a thread every single day and Frisk held the scissors in their hands, blades opened on either side and ready to go snap-

"HUMAN? ARE YOU CRYING?"

Frisk wanted to say no, but realized he was right when they lifted a hand to their face and disrupted a pair of fresh tear tracks that covered their cheeks. Something stirred in their memory, a scene from another time, a moment that didn't exist. Not anymore. And now it never would, no matter how often the nightmares made Frisk remember the rush of resetting. The pain that followed always had them crashing to the ground.

"I didn't do it," they breathed, face buried in Papyrus' chest. "I didn't do it."

They didn't see Papyrus eyes blinking in confusion. "DIDN'T DO WHAT?"

Undeterred by the question, Frisk kept clinging to the skeleton's shirt, sobbing and mumbling the same words over and over, trembling so much it must have made Papyrus' bones rattle. Frisk tried to focus on the present, but couldn't quite keep the pictures from resurfacing in their mind, glaring at them with the same clarity as in the moment they had first seen them. The black void, the grinning, golden flower in front of them, face morphed in a way it looked nothing like the innocent monster its dust had once belonged to. Worse than all of that yet, were the words echoing inside the seemingly endless darkness.

"One last threat."

Even the echo of those words sent shivers down their spine, ice cold tendrils reaching just short of their deepest center, their soul.

"One being with the power to erase EVERYTHING. Everything everyone's worked so hard for."

The implication had plunged them into freezing air that had done nothing to satisfy her lungs. Ideas and thoughts racing through their mind at blinding speeds, calculating, searching, hoping-