Papyrus only set Sans down when they were safely in their house. Despite Sans objections Papyrus insisted that he eat something before they get started. It didn't take much to get the little guy to agree. So as Sans went to go get some lunch while Papyrus went to his room.

He needed to get his head together. When he got into his room he skillfully maneuvered his messy floor and collapsed on his mattress. He needed to decide what he wanted to know. That was easy, everything. The real question was what questions to ask In what order.

After Sans was done with his lunch he sat on the sofa and waited.

It wasn't easy to just sit there while he was so on edge. He just wanted this to be over with and at the same time he wanted to just hide himself away. Sans just kept telling himself it was for Papyrus. He would do anything for his brother. If Papyrus wanted to know everything he would tell him everything. If Papyrus wanted to see everything he would show him everything. It was the least he could do after putting him through so much.

So Sans waited.

When he heard his brother's bedroom door open upstairs Sans had the sudden urge to run. He needed to get away. He couldn't do this. The guilt in his gut made him want to stay though. His emotions were pulling him in two directions and he had no idea which was the right one. Sans had gotten so caught up in his spiraling thoughts he didn't hear Papyrus come down the stairs.

"Ok, Sans are you ready?" Papyrus asked approaching the couch.

Sans jolted a bit as he was pulled back to the present. He wanted to tell Papyrus "No" he wasn't ready. Sans doubted he ever would be. He had made a promise though and he intended to keep it. So instead of saying no like he wanted to he opened his mouth and said.

"Yes."

Keeping eye contact with the floor Sans didn't risk a peek until he felt the couch dip. Then he snuck a side look at Papyrus. It was a real relief to see that Papyrus looked almost as nervous as he himself felt.

His brother took a moment to adjust himself so his body was half facing Sans. Then he just sat there as if trying to decide what he wanted to say.

Sans didn't say anything. This was for Papyrus. He would let him do this at his pace.

"So..." Papyrus started "You're a human?"

Sans inwardly cringed at the use of the word but nodded and said "Yes."

Papyrus nodded "I guess the first big question I have is how'd you end up down here?"

Sans nodded again that was a fair question.

"Well I fell, like anyone else." Sans started off stating the obvious. Of course Papyrus deserved more than just the obvious so he continued. "When I was just a baby I lived with my mom."

Papyrus seamed started by this change of topic but he didn't speak up.

"My dad had run off or something and it was just the two of us. I don't really remember her because I was so young..."

Sans took in a deep breath to steady himself.

"She died when I was two. I was sent to live with my uncle but that didn't last long. He wasn't equipped to deal with a child. He was always too quick to discipline and his rules were too strict for a little kid. So he sent me away to live with another relative after a year. He sent me live with his cousin. The cousin wasn't very nice."

Sans grip on his knees tightened.

"Sometimes I would do something to make him mad and he would hit me. After he hurt me he would always apologise and tell me it would never happen again. Sometimes he would even buy me presents to make it up too me. I was so stupid. I would always believe him. Every time he would apologise he would sound so sincere and I would think "That was it. He is going to change." But he never did."

Sans felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. When he looked up he saw Papyrus had moved closer so he was sitting right next to him. Papyrus looked mortified but Sans had already started and he couldn't leave his story half told.

"One day he pushed me into our glass coffee table. He was mad at first that I broke the table but when he saw how bad I was hurt he stopped. I got all cut up but he wouldn't take me to see a doctor. I could tell he was afraid he would get into trouble. He picked out the glass while crying and apologizing. I forgave him but after a couple of days it was clear a few of the bigger cuts needed stitches. So he took me to the doctors and told them I hurt myself playing. He had taken me to the hospital a few times before for broken bones and stuff. I think the doctors knew what was going on at that point because I didn't have to go home with him."

Sans had to take a moment before he could continue with the story. Papyrus moved his arm so it was draped over Sans shoulder in a comforting manner. Sans leaned into his side and when he felt better he continued.

"That was when I was five. I was then sent to live with my mother's sister. The two of them didn't get along but my aunt was the only family left so I was sent to live with her. She never hurt me. At first I was glad but then I noticed she also never loved me. She would give me clothes to wear, a roof over my head, there was always food in the fridge for me to eat but she never cooked for me, she never washed my clothes, and she didn't really touch me. She wouldn't even really talk to me. A month in she told me it was because she didn't like me. I was a burden to her.

She never supervised me when I went out to play. One day, when I was seven, I decided I was going to go climb Mt. Ebott. I had heard the rumors about it and I wanted to see if they were true. I packed a bag with a blanket and some snacks. I also grabbed some change from the kitchen counter. Then I set off.

I had seen people take the bus on TV so I figured it would be the best way to get to the mountain. We lived close to the bus station so I walked over and a nice bus driver helped me count out m change and get on the right bus. When he asked me why I wanted to go there I said a friend of mine was going to meet me there and we were going to have a picnic.

I remember getting off the bus at the foot of the mountain but after that everything gets a bit fuzzy. I must have climbed up and fallen in a hole or something because I was found in Hotland. I was busted up really badly from the fall and my soul was on the verge of shattering. All those years of abuse had done a number on my Hope Points and I was about ready to die. They brought me to the royal scientist to try and save my soul so it could be used to break the barrier."

"You remember dad right?" Sans asked suddenly.

"Ya." Papyrus said sadly.

"Remember how he use to always rant about how he made you?"

Papyrus smiled at that. "Ya, He was to much of a nerd to get a date so he had to clone a kid."

Sans nodded. "It takes awhile to grow a soul from scratch. When they brought me in my soul was already fractured and dying. He was working on his clone project at the time and had two monster souls growing in the back of the labs. He decided the only way to save me was to sacrifice one of the two souls to patch mine up.

When it was all done I was alive. I have no idea how it worked. He tried to explain it to me a few times but it just went over my head. However, even though he had saved my soul it could no longer be used to break the barrier because it was no longer fully human. The queen was not happy with that but when dad asked if he could keep me the queen allowed it. She always did have a soft spot for kids.

So that how I woke up. In a hospital room in a strange place surrounded by monsters. I was a mess at first but dad didn't give up on me. I lived in the labs with him and the only monsters who knew I was there were the royal scientist, his team, my therapist, and the queen. I was kept under cover for the first year but you know how kids are. It's not good to keep them cooped up. So dad made me this special mask."

Sans gestured to his head.

"He made it look like a skeleton so he could say I was his son. Dad started taking me out with him when he ran errands. Even though I was painfully shy all the monsters I met were super nice. When I was ten his cloning project finally bared fruit. One day I was playing in the living room with one of the lab techs when dad kicks in the door. He walks into the room all all happy and introduces me to my new baby brother."

Sans looked up at Papyrus stars in his eyes.

"That was you! Dad and my therapist didn't know how I would react to having a brother. They had been preparing me for a few months but I don't think they were expecting it to be the best thing that ever happened to me. After you started living with us I just got better and better. Just having you around helped with my recovery process so much.

I started going out more and meeting new monsters. When I was twelve and you were two dad moved us into an apartment so we could have more social interactions. At that point I wore my costume almost all the time anyways and almost never took it off. So dad wasn't worried about me being found out. We lived there until I was eighteen and you were eight. That's when dad got into his accident and died."

Papyrus nodded he knew the story pretty well from this point on but let

sans finish up anyways.

"It would have been really easy to fall back into my old habits but having you to take care of really kept me going. You always kept me so busy. I wanted to make sure that you had the best childhood possible. Sometimes it was hard but overall, with the help of a lot of nice monsters, I think you ended up ok."

Sans looked up at Papyrus again and scrunched up his face. "Well aside from the whole never picks up your sock thing."

That made the Papyrus smile. It might have made him laugh on any other day but after that heavy story he was still trying to process everything.

"Wow." was all he managed to say after a few minutes of silence. "uhhh... you pretty much answered most of my questions with that story." He finished, rubbing the back of his skull idaly.

The smaller of the two was just stared at his feet. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Yea." Papyrus respond removing the arm that was still slung around Sans shoulders. He stood up and stretched before he turned around and looked Sans strength in the eye.

"Can I see what you look like without the costume?"