What felt like weeks passed. Papyrus convinced Sans to let me wander Snowdin on occasion, each time a bit longer than the last. The last time, I got to play a game with Papyrus outside rather than in my room. He somehow got Sans to let us have a small snowball fight. That stopped the moment I actually managed to hit Papyrus, but it was fun.

I had a few more of Frisk's dreams, but they were much less frequent, terrifying, or informative as the first two had been. Most were simply Frisk and Chara doing normal things, hanging out with the monsters. Some were us, the player, going through the game. It was cool to see it for real, especially on the rare occasions I actually saw it differ from the game and noticed.

From the bit of information I got from Sans, it sounded like he was analyzing different parts of my soul to find something. He never really clarified what, and I got the feeling it was different things he was looking for to send me home safely. I had to stop him constantly for short breaks, but it wasn't too bad for me. Sans seemed to be struggling despite whatever he already knew about souls.

"Can I really not help anymore, with anything?" I asked quietly, a little surprised to find myself asking again despite knowing what the answer would be.

"unfortunately not. your silence is appreciated." Sans answered, used to the question, but thankfully not annoyed by it yet. "were you needing another break?"

"No, I'm good for now." I sighed, wishing I had more to do, but going silent again. At least Sans had eventually caved to Papyrus' wishes enough to give me paper and a pencil. I'd played some games with Chara and Papyrus, folded origami, and drew some pictures. Sans always took my creations away, probably to throw them away, but I didn't care. It was something to do.

I was folding more paper stars until, out of nowhere, Sans stood up staring at the computer screen. I jumped slightly, my attention shifting fully to focus on Sans.

"That can't be," he declared, staring at the screen. His eye sockets were wide and his eye lights had nearly vanished.

"Sans?" I whispered, only to flinch back when he looked at me.

"that's not possible," he said, turning back to the computer and sitting down. "are the kiddos awake?"

"Yes."

I groaned from the added pain. "Yes."

"good. i need to test something and it may hurt them a bit, but it won't last long. ready?"

"As we'll ever be."

I nodded very slightly, not daring to try to speak through the headache and the combined pain of Sans' device and Frisk's fear. In a matter of seconds, only the device pain remained.

"That was far too quick for Frisk to calm down. Sans? What did you do?"

Sans didn't respond, but the pain returned as if it'd never left. The device stopped.

I sighed, glad to only have Frisk and Chara. "What just happened?"

"Ow, ow, and more ow. That jerk better apologize. That hurt way more than it should have to try and talk to you. I couldn't even get a word out. Rude."

"Sans? What did you do? Both Chara and Frisk want an apology from you." I sighed, noticing Frisk's fear turn to a slight annoyance.

"tested a sudden discovery and, i guess i owe all three of you an apology," Sans said, getting up from his chair and glancing nervously at me as he scratched behind his skull. "tibia perfectly honest with ya, i really wasn't egg-specting this. you've really scrambled me up here, bud. but i, uh, hope i haven't beat your opinion of me too low. ah, who am i kidding? i've all but cracked it apart. heh." Sans sighed. "sorry."

I stared at him, momentarily stunned into silence. "How many puns did you just shove in there?" I finally asked. All other thoughts had been shot from my mind.

"don' know. couple dozen." Sans shrugged, smirking now.

I couldn't help the smile that creeped its way onto my face. "You did not."

"Oh, he did. He most definitely did. Please, just kill me now," Chara whined.

"Come on, Chara, it wasn't that bad."

"Yes, yes, it most certainly was. Tell him to stop."

"Nah." I smiled.

"so, uh, i'm sure you'd like outa here. here," Sans offered, holding out his hand for me to grab.

I stared at it, petrified. "I don't… understand," I whispered, completely lost and confused. "Why? You'd never let me touch anyone except when you grab my arm to let me out. Papyrus isn't here to nag you into doing that, though. This is feeling a lot like a trap here, Sans. You're not trying to drop me off a cliff, are you?"

"heh, na." Sans smiled. "that'd just be counter productive. not to mention tori'd have my skull for harming the kiddos. come on lillinia, do you really have that little faith in me?" Sans winked at me, completely startling me.

"You… I thought you wouldn't bother to remember or even pay attention to my—. I don't…" My vision quickly blurred with tears, but I pushed past the confusion and relief causing them. "I don't understand. Why…"

"you do want out, don't you?"

I nodded, finally accepting Sans' hand. The scenery changed, and I was sitting on a couch rather than a table. I couldn't see much through my tear-filled eyes, but I could tell I was in a cosy living room. I was free of my room and I wanted to see all I could in case Sans dragged me back, but the tears wouldn't stop. "I don't… understand." I sobbed, trying and failing to wipe away my tears. "Why am I here?"

"well, you've mentioned wanting to see the rest of the house. i could give you a tour… of the whole underground if you want it. or just the house. could even get papyrus ta do it if you'd rather that. you're free to look around as much as you want."

My crying stopped for a moment at the word house. Even through my tears, I could recognize the bleared image of Sans' and Papyrus' living room. Most everything was exactly where the game showed it to be, including the green couch I was sitting on. "Why?" I asked again.

"eh. my bro and i decided we'd wait till we've got a proper home before moving our stuff to the surface. it's safer down here for now." Sans shrugged.

"You know that's not what I'm asking, Sans. Why am I free? I don't get it. If this is just some trick, then please stop, or at least tell me what I did to deserve this?" I cried.

"this isn't a trick. you won't be locked up again without very good reason, and you're free to go where you wish within the boundaries of snowdin town. it would be best if you—"

"You're still not answering the question. Why'd you let me out? You barely let me do anything. Did I do something?"

"yes. and no, nothing new. it just took me till now to realize how… genuine you are." Sans finally answered, ignoring the fact that I'd interrupted him. "i can't excuse such a tiny cell for you to myself or my brother anymore. you're not free, just less confined."

"Genuine?"

"you really do want to help. you really don't have an ulterior motive, at least, none that would harm us."

"How could you tell that?"

"i stopped you for a moment. how you and the kiddos felt for the moment they couldn't reach you, that's how it should be. we don't have the ability to let you receive anything from frisk and chara should be too busy as your connection to this world to push through the pain talking to you would cause. the reason they can do what they can now, is because your soul is helping them. you can only do that if you genuinely want to."

"So… you know I'm telling the truth now?" I asked, hesitantly.

"on that point, yes. don't misunderstand, i still don't trust much of what you say easily, but i can't ignore that you do care to hear the kiddos and all you've said so far fits them properly. snowdin town is empty. there's not much harm you can do here, and escape is almost impossible. any trips beyond the aria will be like your trips out of the lab before."

"That is your lab!" I couldn't help but smile. It faltered under Sans' stare. "I… uh, guessed that was the room i was in just… never bothered to ask. Heh." I shrugged weekly. "So basically, you're giving me a bit more trust, freedom, and a bigger cage because you've found proof I'm not an insanely good faker?"

"something like that."

"And you offered a tour? I think I'd like that."

"i offered two. the house, or the underground. only where the other monsters aren't though."

"Just the house is plenty." I smiled, not moving from my seat on the couch. I looked around, trying to convince myself to stand, but failing.

When I looked back at Sans, he was smirking at me. "do you really want a tour, or do you just want me to confirm that you really are allowed to get up?"

"I guess conformation, and someone to clarify the rules if I step out of bounds."

"heh, come on bud. i got ya covered." Sans continued smirking as he offered me a hand up.

I took it, but still mostly got myself up, although reluctantly. I cautiously began wandering around the room as Sans moved to where Papyrus normally stood in the game. The biggest difference I noticed was the upstairs was more of a balcony over half of the living room rather than floor over the kitchen. It and the stares didn't have any railing. The couch, TV, table with the pet rock, quantum physics book, and even the sock with post-it notes were all where the game said.

Touching the sock for some reason felt invasive, despite knowing what the post-its would likely say, and I didn't feel like messing with the book or TV, so I made my way over to the pet rock. It really was a rock covered in sprinkles, although it was painted to look cute. under the table I saw a bag labeled Rock's paper sprinkles, written in all caps, but sprinkles was crossed out and replaced with scissors in lowercase letters. I smiled, before looking at it slightly confused. Looking back at the rock, I realized the sprinkles weren't real. They were just rainbow colored scraps of paper cut really small. I turned at the sound of Sans chuckling at me from across the room.

"What are you laughing at?" I huffed.

"you," Sans answered, not even bothering to hide it. "why so confused? you didn't think we'd feed a fake pet real food, did you?"

"I guess not just… why?"

"papyrus wanted a pet. he read about them in one of your human books, but they aren't really a thing down here. al told me about some humans having pet rocks, so i got a rock. my bro painted it and made it paper food so it'd be more realistic. he says it's mine cause i got it, but it's all his."

"That actually sounds like a lot of fun. People seriously need to give Papyrus more credit." I pouted. "The game doesn't tell us the food is fake, so yes, people in my world think it's real. But even if the food was real, it isn't as strange as people make it sound." I smiled, dusting off some of the paper and petting the smooth surface of the rock. "Although normally just for decoration, or for children, pet rocks are a thing. Pretending it's real because you wish you could have the real thing isn't strange either. Letting the world know and join you in your imagination may be strange, but it's also very brave, and I'm glad for it. Otherwise we wouldn't have books, now would we? May I?" I asked, holding up the bag.

"sure." Sans shrugged.

I happily sprinkled some of the papers around the rock before giving it a little pat and putting the bag away. Sans was watching me with an almost smirk like smile.

"Quiet Sans." I pouted.

"i didn't say anything."

"That smile says a lot. Stop it."

"can't stop smilin' bud."

"Really? I had my suspicions but, really?"

Sans nodded.

"Welp. Hasn't stopped you from expressing yourself now has it," I huffed, glaring slightly. "Would you stop laughing at me? And don't say you aren't." I pouted.

I watched Sans' smile shrink. He seemed to scan me again. I sighed, rolling my eyes. At least he wasn't laughing anymore, and I was used to this. I still had no idea what he was looking for. Maybe he was looking for a lie, a flaw in my statements, processing what I'd said. I didn't really care.

"But wait, what about the annoying dog? Or Muffet's pet?" I said after quickly reviewing our conversation topic.

Sans just raised his non-existent eyebrow at me. "muffet's friend, her whole family really, is unique."

"But the dog that stole Papyrus' special attack. Did that… not… happen?"

"how could anyone steal an attack? even if you could somehow steal the summoned object, it's magic. the monster who made it could easily make it disappear and make a new one. pap decided not to use his special attack last minute because he didn't want to hurt the human. it's harder to stop than his other attacks if your health drops too low."

"So, like what he did with the bridge?"

"yeah. i don't know what dog you're talking about. the sentries of snowdin aren't pets."

"I know. It was a normal dog, and I guess it's just a part of the game only." I shrugged. Carefully, I walked towards the kitchen. Sans simply teleported to where I'd been, his expression back to its neutral state, despite the smile.

The kitchen was not like the living room. It was bigger than the game suggested. There was an oven and counter space to the left, but it was further than the game showed. The sink was at the end at a perfectly normal counter height. It was even attached. The trash was directly to my right, and the fridge was in the back right corner. Also to my left, before the counter, was a nice small round table to eat at that the game had completely ignored, despite the fact that it made sense for it to be there.

Almost directly across from me was another door where the ridiculous sink had been in the game. Cautiously, I crossed the room and opened the door. The moment I did, I was sure I could feel Sans eye lights focus in on me, hard. I almost shut it again. In front of me was none of the craziness I expected. It was simply a set of stairs that led to a platform and more stairs going back.

"Um, am I not allowed to go this way?" I asked Sans, shivering slightly from his stare.

"no, you are, you just never have." Sans answered, his tone gentle despite the intensity of his stare. "you always stop at the first platform and stare at the wall. must be too different in the game for reality to compensate."

"Oh. Then should I really be going down there?"

"i'm not stopping you. if you want to see, go right ahead."

"Okay." I walked down the stairs with Sans close behind me.

AN:

Finally, out of the lab!

As funny as the whole part with the annoying dog stealing Papyrus' attack is, that just really never made sense to me. To be fair, everything about the annoying dog just doesn't make sense. There's a reason he's the annoying dog, and not in this world. Same with the ridiculous sink. As fun as it is… no. Not happening. There's enough odd theory worthy shenanigans around Sans and Papyrus to deal with without adding the absurdity that is their house into the mix.