The wall was fixed pretty quickly. Alphys was capable of creating a fully-functioning phone in a few seconds, so building a wall meant rather little to her. Mettaton helped too in fear his reputation would be tarnished. Undyne helped simply because Alphys was and Papyrus, as usual, gave it his all. Between the four of them they got the job done rather quickly.
Even Sans tried to help.
Tried.
He had picked up a few boards and sleepily made his way over, surprising everyone by actually doing something. But then Papyrus scooped him up and dropped him onto the couch, shoved a plate of spaghetti in his arms, and went back to work.
Sans didn't seem to try to argue with his brother. No one else seemed to mind this either. Usually Sans's lack of effort annoyed at least Undyne, but they all (except Mettaton) feared to let Sans do anything that had the slightest chance of killing him again.
When they finished re-building the kitchen wall they went back to the Intricate Pillow Fort and found Sans sitting in his tent, his fingers prodding at his sternum.
"SANS?" Papyrus said, approaching him. Sans lifted his gaze and grinned.
"yep. sup?"
"NOTHING." Papyrus said "JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE ALRIGHT."
"hate to tell you this, Pap, but I'm not." Sans said. He winked as Papyrus let out a startled shriek "i'm left too." He waved his left hand as he said this.
"DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!" Papyrus whimpered. A rare somber look flashed on Sans's face and he turned his attention to his hands.
"right. sorry."
Alphys took a deep breath and walked up to Sans, scrambling to get on the couch next to him. The short skeleton took a (surprisingly) firm hold of her forearms and helped her up. She shot him a grateful look as she settled down.
"Sans, I k-know you don't like people to pry, but-" she started. Sans cut her off with a dismissive wave.
"yeah, yeah. i'm assuming you guys want some sort of explanation." he said. Undyne snorted in a way that could be transcribed as 'no duh' and Papyrus nodded eagerly. Sans sighed "alright, alright." He thought for a moment, propping up his skull on his hand.
"I would like to know if you could do it again." Mettaton chirped. He waved his hands out dramatically "I can see it now: 'Dumb Ways to Die! Starring Sans the Skeleton!'" He swayed about "You're going to be FAMOUS, Darling!"
Sans gave him a look that made Mettaton feel rather unnerved. Undyne glared back at him, uncertain of how to respond and Alphys shuddered slightly. Had she seen that look before? Not that she could remember…
Papyrus caught it and quickly sat at his brother's right, wrapping his arm protectively around him. "METTATON, NO KILLING MY BROTHER OVER AND OVER FOR ENTERTAINMENT!" he snapped. Sans's expression went back to his regular grin. He shrugged.
"probably won't do good for your show if you showed a monster's soul going all nutso again." He pointed out.
Mettaton thought this over a moment "But that's where the drama comes into play-"
"B-b-but it wouldn't be as good!" Alphys butted in "If it didn't star Mettaton!"
This earned a robotic laugh "Of course, of course! How silly of me! Sorry Sans, Dear, but I'm afraid Dr. Alphys is right. The show wouldn't be NEARLY as good if it didn't star ME!" He gave a bow "That said, I bid you adieau!" he scootered backwards, stopped to open the door, then scootered off into the distance.
The four remaining monsters looked annoyed as the sound of Mettaon faded away. Undyne kicked the door shut and then shot a glare toward Sans.
The short skeleton ignored her and addressed Alphys "thanks. starring in a tv show doesn't sound like my kind of thing." He cringed and gripped at his chest "also that hurt."
"DOES IT STILL HURT?" Papyrus yelped. Sans forced a grin.
"it…stings a bit. but i soul-d be able to take it."
"SANS, STOP TELLING JOKES WHEN YOU'RE IN PAIN."
"but laughter is the best medicine."
"LAUGHTER IS HELPFUL, YES. BUT I DON'T KNOW IF IT ACTUALLY HAS ANY SORT OF HEALING ABILITIES."
Sans shrugged "it's just the" he winked " 'heal'-ling i get."
Papyrus vibrated angrily, a muffled scream of frustration being held inside his oddly shaped skull. He stopped when he spotted Sans's eyes locked on the small cut beneath his eye socket.
"how about that? does that hurt? do you feel okay?" Sans asked, motioning to the scar.
Papyrus put his hands on his hipbones and grinned wider "I'M PERFECTLY FINE, BROTHER! DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!" he posed dramatically, some invisible wind pushing his scarf like a cape behind him. Sans chuckled a little.
"well if you're sure."
"THAT I AM."
"can't argue with that, then."
Alphys shuffled a bit, fidgeting with her claw. Her heart pounded against her ears and she struggled not to breath in a frenzy.
"S-s-sans…" she stammered out. The skeletons and fish turned their attention to her. She felt the pressure on her chest increase. "W-who's G-g-g…" she took a breath "Gaster?"
Sans's shoulder rose slightly, the corners of his grin tilting downward. He laughed awkwardly. "who?"
"Gaster!" Undyne snapped, throwing her arms up in the air "I heard it too! You were yelling for Gaster to stop doing something-"
"With a saw." Papyrus frowned. "I HEARD A SAW."
"you can't hear saws, you see a saw." Sans winked. He shrugged "the name doesn't really mean much to me-"
"BROTHER, THIS IS IMPORTANT." Papyrus said, standing tall. Sans went to say something-
"What if your soul goes crazy again?" Alphys prompted.
"Next time you might accidentally take Papyrus's HEAD off!" Undyne snapped.
This caught Sans's attention. His shoulder slouched slightly. "Er…" he fidgeted. Everyone stared at him. Sans abruptly grabbed Alphys by the forearm and dragged her off the couch and out the door. He waved "need scientific opinion or whatever. tell ya in a bit."
"WAIT, SANS!" Papyrus darted upstairs, ran into Sans's room, ran back out, did a swan dive off of the balcony, landed in Undyne's arms, rolled out of them, ran towards Sans, and threw his jacket around his shoulders. (and the author ran out of breath reading this sentence.)
"oh. thanks." Sans said, fidgeting with his hood.
"AND MAKE SURE TO PUT YOUR SLIPPERS ON." Papyrus chided, motioning to where the pink shoe-like things were thrown lazily on the floor. Sans rolled his eyes and shoved his feet into the shoes, wiggled his toes a moment, and then continued to drag Alphys out the door.
The small lizard monster shivered as the cold air hit her scales. Snow drifted down lazily from an unknown source and the flakes landed on her nose. Her face reflexively scrunching up as the strange tingling sensation darted through her snout. She took a few, short breaths in and-
"bless you." Sans said.
The sneeze was caught off guard and fled. Alphys sniffled a bit, rubbing at her nose.
"Uh… thanks." She said "S-sans, where are we going?"
The short skeleton was dragging her to the right of the door they had just exited. The cold of the snow and ice beneath them froze her claws and made her feet numb.
"not too far, i promise." Sans said, not looking back at her. Alphys frowned, staring at where Sans gripped her wrist. His grip was surprisingly firm. One: skeletons have no muscle, so that fact they could grip at all was interesting. Two: Out of the two of them, she expected Papyrus to have a stronger grip. Or maybe he did? Papyrus was oddly gentle, so chances are he never really gave it his all in the fear he might hurt someone.
Sans continued to lead her by her arm. He looked around, almost suspiciously, then turned the corner and went into the deeper snow behind his and Papyrus's house.
"S-sans?" Alphys said, tilting her head. Sans let go of her wrist a moment and walked up to a wall. Alphys followed sheepishly "Uh…what are we doing?"
"ssh." Sans hissed through his teeth. He spoke quietly "hold on a minute, then we'll talk." He began to brush against the wall with the tips of his bony fingers. After a moment, his index finger caught on the edge of the siding. "here it is" he mumbled. He took a key from his pocket and fit it into the wall.
Clunk
"Sans-"
Sans turned to give her an oddly somber look before pushing on the wall. Which turned out to be a door. "Come on." He said before disappearing inside. Alphys swallowed a lump in her throat before following. The door slammed shut behind her, hardly making a noise. The room was pitch black and so quiet that her breathing sounded like a tornado. She heard what she hoped was Sans move quietly about, which came to her as a shock. How could he be so quiet in here?
She heard a few things move aside, a low bang followed by a quiet "fuck!" and then a "don't repeat that around papyrus. ever."Alphys chuckled awkwardly. Sans was a very concerned brother.
Suddenly the room flared up, a white light shining from above. It flickered awkwardly for a moment, as if struggling, then steadied out and its glow illuminated the room. Alphys blinked away the tears the sudden burst of light produce and squinted to focus. Not more than a yard in front of her, Sans stood with his hands in his pocket, his skull tilted slightly to the side as he looked at her. Behind him, something large was covered with a worn sheet. The room itself was all chrome and counters, drawers. A small vent hummed to life in the corner, stirring up dust and such. Papers littered the counters. A few cabinet doors hung open. They're contents all unknown, labelled only with strange symbols she couldn't recognize. Racks of what looked like vials, blueprints, data in the form of charts and graphs. Notes. A few scattered tools here and there-
Alphys's eyes widened. There was no way around it.
"Sans is this a lab?"
"nah, it's a laboratory."
….
"Oh my god Sans."
It seems Sans is being forced to open up a bit. And I managed to update this in time! Huzzah!
Replies to Reviews:
Rdococ- you. I like you.
Frisk Dreemur- Thicket. Your turn.
Honeyhoshi- please don't cry. Then I'll cry and then everything will just be a big mess.
TheDeductionist- I don't know if this was clear, but they all heard Gaster. And Sans. And the screaming. Also, might I say, I love the opening line of that review. Made me laugh.
Kiryma- Her name is Sally and she's a scarecrow. And maybe… I guess we'll see about that.
Welp. That's it for review replies this time. If I didn't respond it's because I couldn't think of a response. Sorry.
Tra la la, A lab is a dog. A lab is a place. Tra la la