Despite his brother's offer to share all of his notes, he couldn't help but notice that Sans was giving each a quick scan before adding them to the pile in front of him, and some were getting tucked back into the drawer. He wondered if he should be more proud of Sans for working so hard to keep a secret like this, or annoyed, because he was probably just too lazy to tell anyone. After a while, though, the notes in front of him distracted him too much to pay attention to what Sans was doing.
"WHAT DID YOUR EXPERIMENTS HAVE TO DO WITH DOGS?"
Sans blinked, not expecting that question. Then his eyes twinkled like there was a pun to be found. He didn't laugh, though. *different kind of lab, bro. it's referring to the laboratory in hotland.
"OH."
There was a lot more science stuff that he didn't understand. Some of the notes were filled with numbers, resembling complex puzzles. It appeared that if he wanted Sans to actually recalibrate his puzzle, he'd have to find a way to make him use numbers.
He rubbed his head between his eyes. Everyone was alive, now, but that didn't take the pressure off. From what Chara had said, the human could do it all over again. He frowned, glancing back at his brother, feeling guilty that something was still nagging at him. But he had to ask. "I KNOW YOU CAN'T REMEMBER, BUT…I GUESS I DIDN'T FIGHT THE HUMAN. JUST… TALKED TO THEM, AND TRIED TO CHANGE THEM. WOULD YOU…" he winced, wanting to look away but not wanting to miss the truth if it appeared in Sans's eyes, "WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN… ASHAMED OF ME?"
Sans looked shocked, but only at the last part of the sentence, which was something of a relief. *papyrus… never. i could never be ashamed of you. you're the coolest! what made you even think that?
He sighed, staring down at the notes Sans had scribbled about blue magic attacks, and 'gaster blasters'. He'd known his brother had never sparred with his full potential, but this was more than he'd suspected. "IT'S JUST…" Chara's cruel words came back to him again, and he shoved them back. They'd proved they were lying when they tried to make him think that Sans actually hated him. If that had been the only thing weighing on his mind, he wouldn't have even brought it up. "IT'S JUST…" he paused, half hoping that Sans would get bored of waiting for him to finish. But if there was anything good about Sans's laziness, it made him very, very patient. After a full minute of silence, Sans set the paper he'd been holding aside, eyes never leaving his face. His hands dropped onto his knees, and gave the impression that he was just settling in for the long haul.
He sighed again, and waved the paper at him. "I SAW ALL THE DAMAGE YOUR BATTLE DID. AND UNDYNE'S. YOU DID BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE, EVEN IF I HAD TRIED. AND I JUST…" he tried to stumble for the right words that wouldn't give the wrong impression that he, The Great Papyrus, doubted himself for a second. The sense of hurry wore off when Sans just sat there calmly, letting him finish. He let his head drop. "I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER, WHY THE HUMAN CHOSE ME. I DON'T KNOW HOW OT FIX THIS. WHY WOULDN'T THEY SEND YOU BACK, INSTEAD?"
There. His guilt was out in the open. He hadn't chosen to come back instead of his brother, but it had happened anyway. And now that he was looking at these notes, thinking about how much better Sans seemed to understand the situation, he wondered if maybe… maybe the human had just been playing some kind of cruel trick.
*hey…
He looked back at his brother, relieved to hear the soothing reassurance in that one word. Sans was, of course, smiling, but his eyes were serious as he gestured to the papers.
*i don't know how long this has been going on, or how many times i've apparently tried to stop this anomaly. but i do know for sure that i never got this far. don't you realize what you did, pap? you saved us all from being wiped out of existence! i can't think of one, single other monster who could have done what you did. and you know something? i'll bet the kid knew that. He slapped his hand into the sheet of paper he'd written his attack patterns on. *course you coulda fought better than i did. but ya didn't, pap. and that's why you succeeded when no one else could've.
"REALLY?"
*yeah. really. so stop doubting yourself, kay? you've never even seen this crap before, and you already understand it way better than i do.
"BUT…"
Sans seemed to be done listening. *nope. no buts. looking at all this, hearing what you've told me, my plan would be to lie low, wait for the human to make all the moves, and then maybe try to step in at the last second, when there's nothing else to stop the kid from ending everything. maybe try to win 'em over with a pun or two. i don't know.
He smiled at that last bit. Sans's puns were generally for his own benefit, not anyone else's.
*and it looks to me like that plan crashed and burned.
It didn't seem right that Sans was allowed to doubt himself, just because the plan hadn't worked. "I KNOW YOU DID YOUR BEST, BROTHER."
*but you know what i woulda done if i'd met this chara, and found out that they were going to just, erase everything?
Sans eyes were slowly going black, and he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.
*i'd have fought them. and if they'd beat me, you know… again, they'd've erased us all. The whites of his eyes reappeared, his normal, happy go lucky smile in place. *but you… i'm so proud of ya, papyrus.
He hadn't even realized he needed to hear that, but the praise made him glow so much he found himself embarrassed by it. "SANS! WHAT DID YOU SAY EARLIER ABOUT SAPPY STUFF?!"
His brother grinned, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, and leaning back against the bureau. *that don't count. haven't i always said that?
"ABOUT OTHER THINGS, YES." But somehow cooking classes and training for the royal guard, and puzzle making just didn't seem QUITE as important as this last achievement. "DO YOU REALLY THINK I DID THE RIGHT THING?"
He chuckled. *that's what i'm sayin'.
He gave a relieved sigh, not 100% sure why his lazy brother's confidence reassured him. But if he thought back, very hard, there'd had been one or two times when Sans had had to remind him to never doubt himself, before this. "I'M SORRY. YOU'RE RIGHT, OF COURSE. WHAT WAS IT YOU WERE TRYING TO SHOW ME?"
Sans quickly explained some things he had a hard time following; he'd never thought much about quantum physics before. But by the time his brother finished, he understood a little better what had been at stake, and what still was.
"SO… ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS CONVINCE THE HUMAN TO STOP."
His brother nodded slowly. *yeah. i guess that is 'all' we have to do.
He considered the pun carefully, trying to decide how annoyed his response should be. "I… DON'T GET IT."
*those were air quotes. not a 'pun'ch line.
He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "SANS!"
His brother cackled at the expression on his face. *you're grinnin'!
"I AM, AND I HATE IT!" He glanced down at his brother, wondering if Sans really knew that he didn't hate it as much as he pretended. He'd have settled for a knowing wink, but Sans ignored the look completely, standing up, and brushing himself off with a few lazy swats.
*alrighty then. we've agreed that you're the expert here. what do we do first?
Wowie! And to think, he'd been panicked when he thought he'd have to do this without Sans's knowledge of science-like things. "WELL… I THINK THAT YOU WERE OFF TO THE RIGHT START, BROTHER. I CAN'T THINK OF A WAY TO CHANGE THE HUMAN'S MIND WITHOUT THE HUMAN ACTUALLY BEING HERE. WAIT! THE TRAPS! SANS, WE NEED TO CHANGE THE TRAPS! PERHAPS, IF WE ARE MORE WELCOMING AND FRIENDLY, THE HUMAN WILL NOT BE FRIGHTENED AND ATTACK US!" He thought back to his walk through an empty Snowdin. "AND… WE MIGHT WANT TO TELL THE MONSTERS TO HIDE. JUST… JUST IN CASE."
Sans nodded. *sounds like a plan. wha'da'ya' need me to do?
His brother was actually offering to help? In a tone that implied that he was actually going to do it? Miracles were possible after all! That human didn't stand a chance, with all this change going on! They'd just have to listen to THE GREAT PAPYRUS, and learn, not just to be better, but maybe even how to help him save the entire Underground! He couldn't contain a chuckle at the thought. "NYEH, HEH, HEH! COME ON, SANS. LET'S RECALIBRATE OUR PUZZLES!"