Undertale: Reason to Live

Chapter 30

In less than ten minutes, Frisk was sleeping soundly on top of Papyrus' body.

"Is he asleep, Pap?" Sans asked.

"He is," Papyrus whispered waving his hand over Frisk to check his stats. "But his HP hasn't gone up any more."

"It's not going to be that easy, bro," Sans said while reaching out his hand and rubbing Frisk's hair. "It never is. You can't control how fast people will move through something like this. It might be done going up tonight or it might finish in about a year. We don't know, but it doesn't matter. We'll keep him safe."

"Sans, tell me something," Undyne quietly interjected. "Why has Frisk been so tired today? It can't be because of my meds still. Can it?"

"I don't think so," Sans said. "It's his anemia. I'm not an expert on human bodies, but I can say his body doesn't have enough blood in it yet. It needs more time to make some. The iron tablets should help."

"I hope he gets better soon," Papyrus said. "In the meantime, Undyne and I will pump him up so that when he's ready to get his backpack and face King Asgore he'll be ready. Nyeh heh heh!"

"Not so loud, Papyrus," Undyne whispered.

"Sorry," Papyrus whispered back. "Nyeh heh heh."

"Do you think you can face Asgore?" Sans said showing a bit of worry in his tone for the first time in Papyrus' recent memory. "Do you think he will just let him through? I mean, it's something Frisk eventually has to do, but I don't know if all of us will be able to convince the king to lay off."

"All of us?" Papyrus asked struggling to keep his voice down. "Does that mean you want to come with us too, Sans?"

"I made a promise to look after him, and I've promised the kid I'd be the best big brother ever," Sans said with a smile. "It doesn't seem like I have any choice."

"We'll figure something out together, Sans," Papyrus said. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, together," Sans said as his HP rose another point.

"Sans, you're growing…" Papyrus said with tears at the corners of his eyes.

"I'm going back to sleep," Sans said laying his head on Frisk's torso. "I'll talk to you later."

"Wait, Sans!" Papyrus said. "You can't keep avoiding conversations about your feelings. Wake up!"

"Shhhhh…" Sans said. "You'll wake the kid."

"But, Sans…" Papyrus quietly complained.

"Take things one step at a time, Papyrus," Undyne said shutting her eye again. "Now, go back to sleep. That's an order."

"But…" Papyrus said.

Once he realized he wasn't going to get any more attention, Papyrus shut his eyes and went back to sleep, too.