When Sans started to head the other way, he grabbed hold of his shoulder. "THE HUMAN IS VISITING UNDYNE'S NEIGHBOR. DON'T YOU HEAR THE MUSIC?" He crossed his arms, and started tapping his foot.
Some quick comeback died in the back of his brother's throat as his grin started to droop around the edges.
He wagged an accusing finger, missing the days when he'd done it for something so simple as finding his brother asleep on the job. "YOU'RE NOT TELLING ME EVERYTHING. SANS… I THOUGHT WE WERE A TEAM."
Sans glanced off to the side, the way he always did when he gave him that look. *papyrus, i told ya everything i knew. honest.
"MAYBE SO." He winced as he realized he'd just called his brother a possible liar. "BUT YOU'VE FIGURED OUT MORE SINCE THEN, AND YOU'RE TRYING TO HIDE IT. YOU KNOW WHY THE HUMAN REMEMBERS SO MANY STRANGE THINGS, DON'T YOU?"
Sans didn't nod , or shake his head, or even make a pun to change the subject.
"SANS, I NEED TO KNOW! HOW CAN I FIX THIS IF I DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING THAT'S GOING ON?"
Was that… a wince? He staggered a step backwards, that wince hurting even more than overhearing Undyne. "Y-YOU DON'T THINK I CAN DO IT."
Sans's eyes darted back to him in shock, but the damage was done. *no! of course you can… if anyone could…
He took another step back. "AND YOU DON'T THINK ANYONE CAN, DO YOU? YOU THINK THIS IS ALL POINTLESS." His eyes narrowed. "WELL, YOU'RE BOTH WRONG. FRISK IS GOOD, NOW, AND IT'S ALREADY DIFFERENT, AND…" he shook his head, and marched past Sans.
*papyrus, it isn't like that! c'mon, paps…
They could talk about this later. As much as it hurt to find out that the one person who had always seen his potential didn't really believe in him, the important thing was still saving everyone.
He watched the human wave to the ghost with the snail farm, wishing he could remember his name. He doubled his pace, both to catch up to Frisk, and to put some space between him and his brother. Let Sans take another shortcut if he couldn't keep up.
*papyrus, please!
Sans sounded heartbroken. He sighed, but didn't slow down until he was walking along side the human. It was a lot to take in, after all. Sans was just confused right now. He couldn't blame his brother when, deep down, even he had something that might be called doubt.
Frisk gave him a confused look, then stopped to wait for Sans, like he should have to begin with.
His brother walked up, eyes miserable, grin looking fake. He glanced at the human, then didn't try to say anything else.
He gave Sans a sad smile so that his brother wouldn't worry that he was mad or anything, and then started down the path once more.
Sans shoved his hands into his pockets and hung his head.
Frisk left them to their thoughts for a few moments, but the human's curiosity couldn't stand it for long. "Are you two okay?"
"OF COURSE, FRISK. WHY WOULDN'T WE BE?"
"It's just… you never… I mean… you guys… sure you… but…"
Sans muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, *just spit it out, kid.
Frisk paused to reconsider. "You two seemed like you got along pretty well."
"WE DO." He hadn't meant to be so short, but he didn't want to talk about this until the human told him what he was missing, and he could decide for himself how to prove to Sans that it could be fixed.
"But…" Frisk obviously wasn't convinced.
Sans sighed. *look, kiddo. we're brothers, alright? i'm lucky to have him around, he puts up with me, we mostly mess with eachother all the time, but, believe it or not, we do fight. doesn't happen all that often. paps is too forgiving to let it get 'under his skin', and most things go 'over my head' anyway.
He rolled his eyes, but a grin was forming, despite himself. Leave it to Sans to already be trying to smooth it over with corny puns.
*but every once in a while, one of us might say or do somethin' stupid, same as any family, really. sometimes it feels like it can't ever be made up.
Was he really apologizing through a life lesson to the human? He had to stop his brother before he embarrassed himself further. "BUT IN SUCH CASES, IT'S NOT AS HARD TO FORGIVE AS YOU MIGHT THINK. EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES. EXCEPT, OF COURSE, FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS. NYEH, HEH, HEH!"
He made the mistake of glancing down at his brother, but it, of course, didn't turn out to be a mistake after all. He was able to give Sans a much more reassuring smile, now that he'd had some time to ponder what was wrong. It wasn't actually so much that Sans doubted him. All this talk of befriending the human that had killed them before was probably discouraging his brother, that was all. His poor brother was only falling under the false assumption that there was a chance that nobody could fix what had been done, not even The Great Papyrus, which would surely discourage anyone. Well, he could cleverly double talk as well!
"YOU SEE, HUMAN, IT'S NOT AS IMPORTANT TO NOT MAKE MISTAKES, AS IT IS TO LEARN FROM MISTAKES. YOU DON'T ALWAYS HAVE A CHANCE TO CHANGE A MISTAKE, WHICH IS WHY I AM SO CAREFUL NOT TO MAKE THEM, BUT YOU'VE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE UP FOR YOUR MISTAKES." Wait… no. That was reassuring to the human, yes, but this was supposed to be pointed at his brother as well. He'd gotten off track a bit there. "THE IMPORTANT THING, IS TO REMEMBER HOW FAST YOU'RE LEARNING TO BE GOOD, AND…"
He stopped, because both sets of footsteps behind him had stopped. He glanced back to find the human looking guilty, and Sans looking like he'd expected that. Right in the middle of his inspiring speech! "ARE EITHER OF YOU GOING TO TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG, OR DO I HAVE TO FIGURE IT OUT FOR MYSELF?"
"It was just… such a big mistake."
The look Sans turned on the human was practically a glare. It vanished quickly, but he was sure he'd seen it. "… LIKE I SAID, YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO FIX A MISTAKE THAT MOST MONSTERS COULDN'T EVER HAVE FIXED." He looked pointedly at Sans. "SO THERE'S NO NEED TO BE DISCOURAGED, OKAY?" He looked back to Frisk like he'd been talking to the child the whole time. "BECAUSE FRIENDSHIP IS A POWERFUL THING, AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GOING TO USE TO GET YOU HOME."
"But… what about the barrier?"
"IT WOULD NOT BE WORTH LOSING YOU TO BREAK THE BARRIER, FRISK." He was glad that he was able to say that, now. It wouldn't have been right, anyway, but there was such a potential for kindness in the little human. It was amazing, really. He wondered if all humans had that same range; if each one could be kind with a little encouragement. If each could be driven to murder.
"It, might not have to come to that. The barrier can be broken without anyone getting hurt."
Sans's eyes went dark again, though he quickly closed them to hide it. Such a pained expression on his brother's normally forever cheerful face. But why would such good news upset him? He must feel badly for doubting the great Papyrus when there was a way out after all. He could reassure his brother that he was forgiven a little later. For now… he stooped down towards the human. "DO YOU REALLY THINK SO?"
Frisk nodded. "Yeah. I know there's… gotta be a way."
Well of course there did! That was good logic. There had to be a way to do the right thing without… that stupid nagging feeling. He didn't want to mistrust the human! He did believe that Frisk could do better! And that wasn't the problem. But he refused to even think about the reasons the human could know so much. Because… there was really only one reason. And if that were the truth… well…
Sans wouldn't be the only one with a fear that this might not be something The Great Papyrus could fix after all.