Sans used to love games.

He has fond memories of running around with Papyrus through the snow when they were younger, pelting snowballs at each other, building forts, tackling each other and generally just being children. Children love to play, after all. And apparently Chara is no different.

Their laughter sounds closer as he sprints down the river bank, panting and gasping for air. Just thirty seconds he just has to stay out of their grasp for thirty more seconds-

Abruptly he stumbles and finds his face hitting the snow, and before he can stagger back to his feet, Chara has grabbed the back of his collar and is holding his upper body above the ground. They grin manically as he chokes and struggles to get to his knees to ease the pressure off of his neck. "I win~"

Sans shuts his eyes at the second peal of laughter that rings in his ears. All of the childlike delight he used to take in 'tag' has completely lost its appeal. "yeah...there's...there's a..shocker…"

"What do you think Sans, shall we play again?" They say, tugging his collar tighter.

He chokes, holding his throat, "y-you never...never get..tired of...beating me...do you…? eheh…"

"You didn't answer my question so I will assume you want to play again. So, what should the punishment for being caught be? Hmmmm~"

"up to you.." Sans answers, awkwardly bracing his feet under him with his legs mostly bent to relieve his choking, "it always is.."

"Wow, Sansy is actually right for once! Alright, the punishment for getting caught will be a broken arm. How does that sound?"

"uh…'disarming'..."

The child laughs. "Okay, for that one you get an extra five second head start. Ready? Go!" They release his collar, staying in place as they begin to count aloud how long he has to get as far away as possible. "15, 14, 13, 12..."

Sans takes in a breath, forcing himself forward. His shoulders are heaving heavily and his vision is spinning. He really wishes he would have taken up Papyrus's consistent offers of morning runs. Maybe then he wouldn't be suffering so much. Of course, Chara would just find a way to even that out, if that were the case…

He takes an abrupt left when he comes to the library, running around the back pushing open the window, jumping inside before closing it again. Immediately he collapses to his seat, wheezing and gasping heavily with a hand over his chest, eyes shut tight. What did it feel like to not be exhausted, again? Sans isn't sure he can remember. All he's sure about is that his legs are about to disconnect at the knees, he's so sore ...

"5,4,3,2,1! Here I cooome~"

Sans pushes himself behind a bookshelf - just a few seconds. Just a few seconds to catch his breath and he'd-

He closes his eyes to blink, and falls asleep.

"Sans, Sans, Sans. Tag is hardly Tag if the runners hide and fall asleep, that sounds more like hide and seek to me."

He jolts awake at the sound of their voice, "oh sh…. shoot …" Sans winces, scooting a little further against the wall, "h-heh...sorry...uh...didn't mean to turn this into a round of 'hide and go sleep '.." He forces a grin.

"Give me your arm~"

Swallowing, Sans tugs back the sleeve of his left arm and holds it out, trying to keep it from shaking. They hold it for a moment, then twist it sharply, hearing a snap.

"GAH!" Sans tries to jerk his arm back.

They maintain their grip on it, but clutch it by the elbow. "When I said your arm, I meant your whole arm Sansy~"

His eyes squint up, "c-c'mon, kid.." He pleads. Don't they know how much a broken arm hurts…?

...yeah of course they do. He's broken their's more times than he can remember. The problem isn't a lack of empathy. They just really really enjoy seeing him suffer. With a quick motion, his elbow snaps, and they move onto his wrist. Sans grits his teeth and shuts his eyes tightly, curling up his other fist and breathing heavily.

"Awww, is Sansy being brave? Shame I do not have any lollipops for you~" They mock, as they slowly start to twist his wrist.

"hff...you're a...sore winner...y'know…" A brief but sharp cry escapes him as the bone snaps, and he ducks his head forward, shoulders heaving silently. "not..not a lot of fun to play rigged games, either.."

"It's not my fault you fell asleep." They counter, grabbing a finger.

"your fault i'm this tired.." Sans jolts a little as his pinky snaps, "ow."

Chara pauses, "...you know what? I'm bored of breaking your hands all the time." They sit back.

Sans doesn't let his guard down for a second, "so then what-?"

His left ankle is suddenly viciously twisted and he cries out, lurching forward and shutting his eyes tightly, "AH! h-holy f...g-gh.."

"Now, I think you need some exercise after all that sleeping, lazybones." Chara clips the leash on to his collar and forces him to his feet, "How about a nice long walk?"

"k-kid can't...can't we please call...call it a day…?" Sans tries, standing heavily on his right leg and panting.

"Nonsense, pets need a lot of proper exercise~"

"ten consecutive games of tag is plenty, Chara, trust me…"

They pull him along. "Don't be an idiot. We are going on a walk and that is final."

"not like putting it to a vote would solve anything."Sans says wearily, limping after them at as steady a pace as he can manage. He really hates their 'walks'...which is often just Chara leading him along their paths of destruction and telling him different stories about who they found where and how they murdered them and what they'd tried to do to escape Chara and survive...overall not a good time.

"The woods are so peaceful with everyone being dead, don't you agree, Sans?"

"...it's really quiet." He answers neutrally.

" Especially with Papyrus gone….he was always so loud , yelling about how 'great' he was, messing with his stupidly easy puzzles, talking about how he's going to be a member of the Royal Guard...ha!" Chara laughs loudly and suddenly, startling Sans a bit, "Why would he ever get to that position? He can't protect himself , much less anyone else! What an idiot."

"Papyrus isn't an idiot."

"You just keep telling yourself that Sansy."

"yeah, i will ." He snaps, a little grumpy from exhaustion.

They tug on the leash harshly at his attitude. "Good."

"great." Sans stops suddenly, stiffening and glancing around, "..uh.."

Chara yanks him forward again, "What?!"

Sans tumbles to his hands and knees, picking himself back up and glancing over his shoulder as he brushes off his jacket, "...just thought i saw somethin'...guess not, though."

Giving a huff, the child continues to pull him along, "Of course not. Everyone else is dead , remember? Now….let's go walk around the evacuation site, and I'll tell you all about how they died, and what their screams sounded like~"

The shudder Sans gives isn't just borne from that statement. He feels like someone's gaze is crawling on his back.

Beady little eyes hidden beneath the snow watch the two pass by. A silent giggle follows their abrupt disappearance.

Sans shivers again.