No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

9 ~ Not So Helpful

Everyone decides that you all need to find Sans now, before he finds some way to slip out of telling his story. He has a history of doing that, everyone realizes, what with him slipping away from work back in the Underground.

Luckily, since Alphys controls the cell network that all the monsters' phones connect to, she can easily track Sans' phone's location. Which is, apparently, just at the brothers' house up in the mountain.

So you all pile into the cars, and drive up there. Sans is sprawled across the couch, and on tv, he's watching some documentary about space. He likes those, a lot.

As you all come into the living room, though, he digs the tv remote out from between the couch cushions, and turns the tv off. "'s there something you wanted?"

"Frisk told us." Toriel says. "We know that they can reset."

Sans looks... genuinely surprised. He brushes it off quickly, though, shaking his head and laughing quietly. "i'll admit it, i... i didn't expect you to be able to do that, kid. but, uh. this isn't the first time i've underestimated you, huh?" He closes his eyes, letting his skull fall back against the back of the couch. "so i guess then i have to keep my end of the deal, huh...?" After a moment, he looks up again. "i gotta warn you, though. it's... it's not a nice story. there's a reason i don't like to talk about these things. or think about them, for that matter. it's... painful. so, uh, are you sure you still wanna hear it?"

While he was talking, everyone had taken seats in the living room. You just nod at him.

"well. alright, then." Absentmindedly, he runs his thumb along his jaw. "it was... i-... i don't even remember how long ago. years and years. before papyrus was even around. i-..." he sighs a little. "... i worked at the lab."

"Wait, you had a job at the lab?!"

Sans nods at Undyne. "yeah. as an intern... to the last royal scientist. he was-..." he pauses for a moment. "well. that's not important. what's important is, we were working with-... with dt."

You and Alphys both gasp a little. "You mean Determination?!"

Sans nods. "heh. yeah. he was the guy who discovered it, after all."

You look to Alphys. She nods a little. "I j-just followed the blueprints..."

"yeah, those were his, too. but anyway, even with all the precautions we took... i managed to get an excess of the stuff inside me. and i started to... y'know. melt."

You let out a small murmur, but Sans pays you no mind.

"the royal scientist, though, he knew how to stop it. by the time he did, however, my face had already mostly melted, and when things solidified again... my mouth..." Sans' hand rises again to rub at his jaw.

You get the idea. His jaw had melted into his skull, and gotten frozen like that. That's also why he can't do anything more than smile, you guess.

When you look back to Sans, you see he's not paying attention. He has a sort of far away look in his eyes.

He looks like he's in pain.

And then Papyrus is standing up and walking over to Sans. He pulls Sans up in a hug. "I'm sorry." He says quietly.

Sans, in turn, wraps his arms around Papyrus's neck and lets his head fall on Papyrus's shoulder. "'s not your fault, bro. you weren't even alive."

After a moment, Papyrus sets Sans back down on the couch, then sits next to him. Papyrus seems more than content to be done with this, and just let Sans lean against him.

You still have questions, though. Like, who was the last Royal Scientist? And why does no one ever talk about him? How did Sans know him, was it just through work, or did Sans get the internship because he knew the Royal Scientist?

You start to ask. "Sans, who-"

"no." You're surprised by the force in his voice. "kid, i did what you asked. i told you what happened to my jaw, and that's more of my past than i really care to tell. please, please don't ask me anything else. remembering this stuff..." Sans stands up. "i don't like it. it hurts too much." He walks away, up the stairs, and into his room, closing the door behind him.

For a long time, everyone is silent.

Then, quietly, you ask, "Who was the last Royal Scientist?"

Everyone kinda glances around, but no one answers.

"Didn't-... didn't he build the CORE?" Papyrus asks eventually.

"I think so." Asgore responds. "Strange. You would think I would remember the monster I commissioned to build such a thing."

"You would think." Toriel nodded a little.

"I feel s-so bad for Sans, though." Alphys says slowly. "We h-had no right to f-force him into telling us that."

But you did. You did force him to, and you've only got more questions now because of it.

"Well, um. It's getting a little late. Would you all like to stay the night?" Papyrus invites.

Toriel glances at you. You grin and nod. Staying at the skelebros' house is always fun, even when you're investigating a strange mystery.

Alphys, Undyne, and Asgore all head to their homes, however, and it's just you, Flowey, and Toriel staying over.

Papyrus lets you pick which of the guest rooms you want to stay in. There are plenty of them, as Papyrus wanted to be prepared to be a good host in any situation, and requested plenty of rooms when the house was built.

Long into the night, though, you lie awake, questions running through your mind.

Who was the Royal Scientist? How did Sans know him? Why does Papyrus not know him when Sans does? And the overarching question of it all, who was their dad, and how does this relate?

Obviously, you think, it has to relate somehow. No one can remember the Royal Scientist... and no one can remember the brothers' dad, either. How are they related?

You think this over and over, trying to figure it out, but no connection presents itself. Finally, exhausted, you tell your brain to shut up and let you sleep.

You roll over. Bury your face in your pillow.

... Start to drift off...

And then someone screams.

§

A/N

So, how about that cliffhanger, huh? Well, guess what, depending on how things work out, you might be left with it for a little while...! I realized there are a few details that need to be addressed before plot can move forward, and I'm not sure how to do that. So, it could be a little while before the next update.

But, in other news, a latency of chapters here could very well mean a boost of chapters in GravityTale, so there is that!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!