Meanwhile, Papyrus and Frisk were putting the finishing touches on Sans' new dating profile.
"You think that's enough?" Frisk asked still sitting on Papyrus' lap.
"Let's see," Papyrus said taking a break from typing on the computer to read over his work. "'I'm a desperately lonely 29-year-old skeleton with no standards who is looking for any woman who will date me. I think I'm hilariously funny, charming, and outgoing. I like long romantic walks next to the water in Waterfall, going to expensive romantic restaurants, and spending lots of money because I'm rich. I'm single, but I like kids and would like to get married and start a family ASAP. Women also say I'm a great lover.' Whatever that means. What does that mean anyway?"
Frisk who could barely contain his laughter said, "I don't know. But guys say it to women around bars on the surface all the time, so I think it's a good thing. This is great. Submit it. Submit it."
"Alright," Papyrus said pushing enter and giggling to himself. "This is gonna be hilarious. Sans has never been on a date in his life."
"I wonder how long it'll take for women to respond," Frisk said wiping the tears that were coming out of his eyes from laughing so hard.
As if an answer to his inquiry, they immediately received a message.
"That was fast," Frisk said.
"I guess Sans is sexier than we thought," Papyrus said opening the message. "Alright, this message reads, 'OMG! I totally want to meet you! Can we go out on a date tomorrow night? Sexy Queen 37.'"
Papyrus and Frisk could barely contain their laughter.
Frisk snickered quietly while Papyrus responded.
"'Yes,'" Papyrus said out loud. "'Meet me at my house in Snowdin tomorrow night at this address…'"
Papyrus typed in the address and sent the message. When she affirmed the message, Papyrus and Frisk laughed out loud together for about a minute.
"God, we've got him," Papyrus said between laughing. "I can't believe it. Frisk, you are a diabolical genius. I'm so glad I adopted you."
"I haven't laughed this much in a long time," Frisk said as his HP raised another point.
"Hey, you're getting better," Papyrus said. "That's great. You've raised your HP by 8 points today."
Suddenly a twinge of sadness flashed through Frisk's mind and he looked away from Papyrus in shame.
"Frisk, what's the matter?" Papyrus asked.
"I'm sorry I killed you," Frisk said. "I wish I never did it. I wish I did everything right the first time."
Papyrus rested his head on Frisk's and draped his arms over his shoulders.
"Well, I'm glad it happened this way," Papyrus said.
"What?" Frisk asked in confusion.
"Well, I'm not glad you murdered people per se, but I'm glad you're here with us now. If you hadn't messed up, you would not be here with us like this now. I'd say it was almost worth it."
Frisk looked back at him and smiled.
Then without warning, Papyrus grabbed his right forearm and Frisk was mentally suddenly somewhere else, somewhere dark. His breathing grew shallower, and he started quaking in fear.
"Frisk, what's the matter?" Papyrus asked in concern. "Frisk? Can you hear me?"
Frisk couldn't hear him. When Papyrus' hand touched his arm, Frisk's mind went to another place, specifically back to the beginning of this run, when Flowey used his vines to hold his hands down so he could…
"NO!" Frisk screamed scrambling out of Papyrus' lap, falling over on the floor, wrapping his arms around himself, and digging his fingernails into his arms as his HP dropped a point. "STOP IT! STOP IT PLEASE! No. Flowey. No. NO…"
Undyne kicked down the door unnecessarily with Sans short cutting in front of her.
"Papyrus, what's going on?!" Undyne asked while Frisk kept whispering to himself and lost another HP point.
"I don't know," Papyrus said. "We were just sitting at the computer and he flipped out! It's worse than earlier when he was staring at the mirror. Now, he's losing HP. It's like he doesn't know where he is. I don't know what to do…"
"Remember, Papyrus," Undyne said as calmly as she could. "It's like he's having a nightmare. We just have to wake him up."
"Do you think tossing him around will help?"
"We should probably try something bigger this time if the nightmare's worse."
"What did you have in mind?"
In the meantime, Sans walked over to Frisk, got on his knees in front of him, and put his hands on his shoulders.
Sans got him out of a panic attack that morning. This couldn't have been that much harder.
"Kiddo, can you hear me?" Sans asked quietly. "I'm right here…"
Inside, Frisk's head, he heard His voice say, "I'm right here, Frisk. Listen to me. I'll guide you out."
"I'm so scared," Frisk said out loud while trying to concentrate on the voice of the Holy One.
"You're not alone," Sans and the Holy One both said in unison. "I'm right here. Just breathe."
"What do I do?" Frisk asked fearfully. "How do I make it stop?"
"Listen to his voice," the Holy One said. "Let yourself be cared for. You're weak, and that's okay. I use the weak to shame the strong."
"Did you hear me, Frisk?" Sans asked calmly. "You need to take some deep breaths to calm your heart rate down. That should help you feel better."
"Okay," Frisk responded as he started making himself breathe deeply.
Frisk stopped scratching his arms and gripped his hands tightly around Sans' forearms as if he was trying to stabilize himself.
Sans gripped Frisk's wrists back and his breathing slowed down. Frisk's expression changed, and he blinked as if he were seeing a bright light after being in the dark.
Sans smiled and asked, "Are you alright, kiddo?"
"I lost two HP…" Frisk said.
"You'll get them back."
"Why does this keep happening? He's not here. Why is he here inside my head? Why is it getting worse? Will my HP go all the way down again…?"
"Hey, you lost two. You didn't lose all of them. You're still making progress, Frisk. I mean you still don't want to die anymore, right? Eventually, I know you'll beat him."
Frisk shed a few tears and smiled.
Sans smiled back to hide his anxiety, let go of Frisk's hands, and said, "Hey. Dinner's ready. Let's go eat."
"Okay," Frisk said standing up and noticing that Papyrus and Undyne were still formulating a plan.
Sans stood up next to Frisk who said, "Sans, I don't think they notice I'm better."
"I don't think they do either, kiddo," Sans replied.
"Should I tell them?"
"Nah, let them figure it out on their own. Grab onto me. We'll short cut so we don't disturb them."
"How long do you think it'll take them to notice?" Frisk asked while putting his hand on Sans' shoulder.
"Don't know. You wanna place bets?" Sans asked.
"Yeah," Frisk answered happily as Sans short cut downstairs.