AN: Lots of thanks and love to you readers again for being so encouraging. I always feel so flattered whenever someone feels the need to offer some kind of response. And getting a bunch of new follows and reviews in the last few days had been an unexpected surprise that pushed me through the last few days of editing. Shame that I might be about to dump on all that goodwill.
This chapter was a hard one to write, and not just because of a scene that went through three separate rewrites. I promised at the start that things would get dark, and after that last chapter of fluff it's finally paying off big time. I'm torn between not wanting to spoil and feeling like there might need to be a trigger warning for some things I know certain people take serious offense to. I'll just say that things are going to get ruff. Some people might hate me for this. I know I hate me for this. Let's hate me together. If a lot of people feel really offended by certain events, I may end up adding a warning later, or even bump up the rating if people think it's necessary. I'm just hoping that people don't blow up at me over what in the end was just an incorrect judgement call on what people do and do not need to be warned about.
Sans made a point to see Frisk every day after the sleepover. Even if it was just for a few minutes, he'd somehow find an excuse to be at the temporary "embassy" (Which was mostly just a rented office space for the humans that were helping to create and fill out the paperwork that would officially grant the monsters citizenship on the surface) when Frisk showed up for the day. He'd usually chat with them a little bit, prepared with a joke about something office related, but sometimes he hung back, just watching unnoticed from the sidelines as they went over plans for a publicity event or tried to explain what a moldsmal was to some of the staff who were very confused when Frisk started doing a sexy wiggle as a demonstration of the creatures' defining characteristics. He wouldn't go as far as to call what he was doing "stalking," more like a continuation of what he'd been doing back when they were still underground. He just wanted to get a feel for how the kid was doing, see if he could catch a build-up of one of those "bad days" before it got too far.
What he saw wasn't the progression of that sullen, squinty look he'd seen that day though, but something different. Each time plans were discussed for some future event or deadline, he'd catch for an instant an almost wistful expression. Like they were thinking about the future less as a definite eventuality, but more as this vague, that-would-be-nice, possibility that they only half expected to see through. Frankly that scared him, more than any sort of temper flare-up from having a bad day would have, because of what it reminded him of.
His knowledge of the timelines back when he was underground, while complete to the best of his knowledge with all possible variables, didn't extend very far into the future. In fact, there was a point when every scenario he thought of just sort of hit a wall. The best way he could describe it is like an epilogue, where you know the end result of the events in a story, but can't really know what happens after, except for the vague assurance that "they all lived happily ever after" (or not). That didn't sound so bad when it was happening to someone else as he read bedtime stories to Papyrus, but when it was your own life in question the effect was a bit more unsettling. On good days he told himself this was just because by then there would be new events with new variables that he couldn't even know about yet. On bad days he was convinced that whatever it was he couldn't predict was something cataclysmic that was going to end everything. On really bad days he was pretty sure he knew what that cataclysmic something was, and that it wasn't just ending the timeline but looping back to the beginning of it and causing all these variables in the first place. He tried to have more good days than bad, but really it was a struggle enough just to have more bad days than really bad days. He didn't have an exact date for when this would happen -just like how he hadn't known exactly when it would be that a human would exit the ruins or how long it would take them to get to Asgore- but the fact remained that for every timeline he'd predicted and mapped out, suddenly everything just stopped. And for this timeline, that endpoint was still looming overhead, the epilogue not quite finished but drawing ever closer to its end.
That reminder made it all the more urgent that he talk to the kid and finally get some answers for what was going on. He told Toriel that he'd stick around to give Frisk a ride home that day. She seemed to be skeptical of his motives but didn't question it too closely. She'd trusted him to watch out for the kid once after all. As far as he was concerned, that hadn't ever really stopped, there was just more in the way of it now. When it was time for Frisk to go home he was waiting for them outside with his moped. "it felt like the two of us were due for a longer talk," he explained. Frisk looked nervous, but didn't run away or refuse when he offered them a ride. "so, it looked like you guys were making plans for some kind of shindig?" he asked, throwing a softball question to break the ice on a conversation he hadn't realized had frozen over.
Frisk gave a half-shrug as they checked their helmet for stray hot dogs. "Nice Cream Social in two weeks. We got my principal to let us have it at my school, and it's supposed to be for human and monster kids, but grown-ups can come too. It seemed like a fun way to introduce other kids to monsters, and get them to try monster food too." They looked like they were trying to sound casual about it, but they were clearly excited as they offered up those details unprompted. One thing he'd picked up on with the kid early on was that they never talked more than was necessary to respond to someone unless it was something that really mattered to them. It wasn't like Alphys' social awkwardness, that fidgeting nervousness until everything bottled up couldn't be held back and it all bubbled forth at once. It was more like they were just used to playing their cards close. Sans could respect that, but it made things damn difficult when it came to finding out what he needed to know from them.
"oh yeah? sweet. i think i butter pecan that event. seems like a sherbet that it'll be a choco-lot of fun." Although Frisk smiled at the jokes, the smile never reached their eyes. There it was again, that wistful look. To kids, time might seem to take forever, but what the hell would make them think of two weeks as being long enough to question getting to see it? "what about things at home? everything alright with you and your brother?"
They froze for a moment, tensed at the mere mention of their brother. "Why do you ask?"
"come'on kid, you know why. it doesn't take a genius to see he's kind of a jerk to you. so is he still giving you grief?"
Frisk wouldn't look him in the eyes. "Just the usual stuff," they said quietly. They moved their right arm to grip their left, protectively holding themselves.
"yeah? what's the usual for him?" maybe it was a good thing Frisk wouldn't look him in the eyes, as they missed the flashing anger in them that he couldn't hide for a moment.
"Lots of name calling. Messing with my stuff. Scaring me 'cuz he thinks it's funny…" Their words faded into silence as they carefully chose whether or not to say more about the things he did. "He isn't always mean to me, you know. When he's in a good mood he can actually be really nice sometimes. He'll let me hang out with him, show me the cool stuff he does for school or scouting projects, tell stories about Dad-"
"that doesn't make it okay for him to bully you. someone ought to put him in his place." Frisk squeezed their eyes shut tight and slowly but firmly shook their head no. The kid really wasn't giving him much to work with. Even knowing the guy was a jerk, Sans was slow to act on his dislike for him. Maybe it was just that he needed to be undeniably certain of a person's sins before he went around judging them, but as long as Frisk kept withholding things from him he'd felt like there was nothing he could do. Even if he thought he had a pretty good idea what it was Frisk didn't want to tell him about Trip. It wasn't that he wanted to be right, but he didn't feel like it was his place to intervene until his fears had been met. Frustrated, Sans gestured for Frisk to get on the back of his moped already. They rode in silence, the wind whistling past them on his bike too loud for even a private conversation. At least it gave him time to think of what he'd say next. When they pulled up to the house everything was dark, no lights shining in the windows, even the jeep was gone from the driveway. When had Trip gotten back his driving privileges? This was almost lucky, as he wasn't sure he could stand to send the kid home knowing that guy was waiting for them. "listen, i know there's stuff you're not telling me. everyone's allowed their secrets, that's fine. but if there's something big that's going to happen that you know about, something you can't handle on your own, i want to be there to help you out."
"That's just it, I don't know what's going to happen," Frisk admitted to his surprise. "All of this –having you guys here- it's all so different. So much has changed already, some good some bad, that I just don't know anymore. Just having you guys around could be enough of a change to fix everything." Despite the hopeful tinge in Frisk's voice as they said that Sans felt pretty certain they didn't believe themselves.
"well, why don't you tell me about what you do know and we can figure out the rest together," Sans offered, trying not to let show how exasperated he was feeling. Why couldn't Frisk just say what was going on already? Them almost saying something, but then backing down and keeping it to themselves was getting old for him. Especially when it sounded like they were talking about something related to the timeline stuff. But again the kid was silent, shaking their head at his offer. "what, you don't think i can help? you know, i may be a lazy bones, but i am good for more than just telling jokes," he pointed out, starting to feel insulted now at their lack of faith in him.
"I know you are," Frisk replied quickly. It surprised him a little, how quick they were to agree with him. "I know you are, but I've got to handle this on my own. So please, just don't do anything unless you have to, okay?" Their lips tightened into a thin line and their eyebrows furrowed as they considered the weight of their next words. "I know you're pretty good at just standing by and letting things happen, too."
Sans could tell that Frisk had said that purposefully to be mean, but not because they were feeling bad this time. They wanted him to get mad and storm off, leave them to whatever it was they wanted to face alone. This wasn't about hurting him, it was about driving him off for whatever reason they didn't want him around. Knowing that didn't mean that it hurt any less though, or that he could stop himself from being angry over it. "no promises, kiddo," he grumbled as he kicked his moped back into ignition. After a conversation like that he really needed to be somewhere else. Preferably a place with dim lighting and a smoky atmosphere.
Although monsters were slowly but steadily streaming out of the Underground, there were plenty of stragglers. A trip from Ebott to Snowdin and back wasn't impossibly long really (even shorter if you happened to know a few shortcuts), so there were still some monsters making the commute regularly to go to the embassy to meet with the humans who were trying to organize housing, job and school placements for all of them. Grillby was one such case. It wasn't like the fire creature didn't want to go out to the surface, but it was proving a slow and difficult process to get all the necessary permits to start up a new bar aboveground. Until the day that the Fire Inspector stopped having a mental breakdown every time he saw Grillby, the monster was content to continue running his old place back in Snowdin, serving burgers, fries and brews to a dwindling but loyal clientele.
This suited Sans just fine. Sure, Grillby's had lost some of its convenience now that he was living on the surface, but it made up for that in comfortable familiarity and in its actual physical distance from his problems. He needed a place he could think on things in peace for a while. He was still fuming over the way Frisk had treated him. Why the hell was the kid so determined to keep him out of whatever was bothering them? If that's the way they were going to be he should just let them deal with it on their own. No skin off his back if something happened because he wasn't there to keep an eye socket out for them.
Except he did care if something happened, and not just because of some vague half remembered feeling of dread and paranoia that made him feel like there was something much worse at stake. He cared about Frisk, probably about as much as he cared about his own brother, though really you couldn't exactly quantify that sort of feeling in terms of which one he valued more. Frisk was like family to him now, that was all there was to it. But Frisk didn't seem to feel the same way, which brought him right back around to the start of the problem, an endless logic loop that couldn't be broken, only drowned out.
Sans was busy doing just that, deep into his second burger and third bottle (beer, ketchup, didn't matter, he liked them both and tended to alternate between them) when his phone rang. Normally he wouldn't have been able to hear it over the sounds of the bar, but the sparse crowd made it easy this time. Not a number he recognized. He answered it anyway. "Hello?" Sans didn't recognize the voice either. He was about ready to presume it was a wrong number and hang up when they said, "Is this the skeleton guy? Sans?"
"who is this?"
"Oh, right. It's me, Kelly." Kelly? He didn't know any Kell- oh. Trip's girlfriend. The one that hadn't said two words to him when they met, unless that initial scream had been hyphenated and he missed it. "I got your number off of Trip's phone," she offered unhelpfully. It explained the how of this phone call but not the why.
She did say anything for a moment. In the background he could hear loud noises, music. Was she at a party somewhere? "you still there?" he finally asked when he got tired of waiting for her to say something.
"I'm 'ere, 'm here!" she exclaimed, slurring her words a little. Drunk, so definitely at a party then. "There was something I needed to tell you…" Silence again as she seemed to forget whatever it was she had been about to say.
"kelly? what was it you wanted to tell me?" Getting information from the inebriated was hard enough with them right in front of you, Sans wasn't enjoying the challenge of doing it over the phone. He should just hang up and not get involved with whatever this was.
"I broke up with Trip!" she burst out, apparently remembering suddenly. She started giggling excitedly, but he couldn't tell if the excitement was from remembering or if she was expecting congratulations about the breakup. "He was being a real dick tonight, and I was sick of his shit so I dumped him! Because I~ am a strong, independent woman and I don't need to be taking shit from anyone! Not even guys that have good hair and play shortstop and know how I like it when he uses his tongue to…" she trailed off again with a moan, mood swinging from elation to regret.
"well, uh, congratulations on your newfound independence, and i'm flattered that you called, but you see i have a policy against dating girls on the rebound so…"
"What? No! Ew." Kelly exclaimed. Even though he hadn't really been serious, Sans couldn't help but feel a little insulted at how disgusted she sounded by the suggestion. "It's Frisk!"
"what about frisk?" He asked sharply, the drunk teen now having his full attention.
"Well Trip was really mad when he left. Like really mad. Like super really scary mad. So I thought maybe someone should go check on the kid. Because he was mad."
Was she really saying what he thought she was? "let's be clear here: are you saying you're worried that trip is going to hurt frisk?"
She blew a raspberry into the phone. "I dunno. Maybe. Iz not like I've ever seen him hurt 'em bad myself, but I'm sick of pretending it's impossible that he would. He's always pushing the kid around and taking stuff out on 'em, it always just kinda seems like a matter of time before he goes too far with it."
"but why call me about it? why not the cops?"
Another raspberry, this time longer and wetter, like the first one helped her remember how to make a good one. "I may be drunk but I'm not stupid. I'm not going to rat on my boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. Fuck. Whatever. Look, are you going to do something or not?"
"yeah, i will. thanks for the tip," he told her as he hung up the phone, already heading out the door. He almost wondered if he needed to be worried about her at all, but she wasn't really anything to him and if she was lucid enough to call a near stranger for Frisk's sake she was probably going to be fine. The kid came first. He quickly brought Frisk's number up waiting tensely as the phone attempted to connect. No answer. Sans swore quietly as he waited for the away message to turn to voicemail. "i'm coming kid, just hang on. just… damn it, you knew about this, didn't you? i'll have a bone to pick with you later. please let there be a later. please be okay."
Grillby's distance from Ebott which had once been appealing was now torture. Even using every shortcut he knew it didn't feel like he was moving fast enough. When he finally got to Frisk's house he rode right up to the front door, not wanting to waste even a few seconds parking on the street. Trip's jeep was still gone and for a second he thought that maybe he was overreacting. He could see lights on in the house but no movement or signs of life. He rang the bell. No answer. He tried the door, it was unlocked. Taking that as enough incentive to investigate further he went inside.
"frisk?" The first thing he noticed was the picture frames, the ones along the wall in the entrance hall. Several had been knocked down, a few even broken. Sans carefully stepped around broken glass from the photograph of Trip fishing with his father as he explored the rest of the house. There were a few other things in the living room area knocked over or broken; a lamp tipped over, books thrown about, the offending coffee table from the other day had been shoved out of place so that it sat at an odd angle to the rest of the heavier furniture. There was a dingy grey smear on the carpet near the archway that divided the kitchen from the living room. But no people.
Sans moved on to the kitchen. More signs that someone had come through here on a rampage. He wanted to keep going until he actually found the kid, or at least something that could point him to where they were, but his eyes caught on a splash of color by the sink. He got closer for a better look. That was definitely blood. It was splattered on the sink and the cabinet beneath it and on a few places on the floor. In the sink he found clumps of bloodied white fur and what looked like an animal tooth. He tried to convince himself that the stain he'd noticed before had been ground-in dirt, not dust. It didn't work.
After he'd finished emptying his stomach of everything he'd eaten prior to coming there, Sans tried to go to the laundry room to search out a towel or clean rag. He needed something to wipe his mouth off with. The door was locked though so he moved on to the upstairs and found the bathroom there. From there he started systematically checking the bedrooms, looking in the closets and under the beds and anywhere else he could think of that a child could hide. He found Frisk's bedroom, but no sign of Frisk.
Damn it, what was he missing? Did Trip take them someplace else? Even given what little he knew about him it didn't seem likely. This was his home turf, literally, and there wasn't much point in a change in venue if the bastard wasn't going to at least try and cover up that something happened here. Maybe if Frisk was hurt bad enough to need to be taken to the emergency room…but he didn't really want to think about that. Could Frisk have run away, gotten out of the house to someplace safe? They'd never mentioned a friend or neighbor that they could possibly turn to, save the monsters. A quick text to Alphys confirmed that they hadn't shown up there. This was immediately followed by a flurry of concerned questions from the dinosaur lady, which he ignored except to extract a promise from her not to tell the others about this until he had something definite to tell them.
He tried Frisk's cellphone again. He could hear a distant ringing somewhere in the house. Following the noise lead him back to the kitchen, and then outside the laundry room. That was when it clicked for him. Why would a laundry room need a lock? And not just one of those simple courtesy locks they put on bathrooms, but the heavy-duty kind that usually go on the outside of a house that required an actual key. If he recalled the house layout correctly the laundry room was right next to the garage, maybe this door was a remnant of an old entrance before it was remodeled. That still didn't account for the side that needed a key being inside the house. He recalled the heavy keyring Frisk had used to lock up the house. There had been more keys on it than a kid really needed; even accounting for the ones they collected underground. Daring to be just a little hopeful he tried knocking on the door. "knock knock," he added when there wasn't an immediate response.
"Who's there?" The voice was small and trembling, but undeniably Frisk.
"toucan,"
"Toucan who?"
" 'tou can come out now, the coast is clear." Sans could hear shuffling, followed by the click of a deadbolt turning. The next instant a small child was burying their face in his stomach. Frisk's shirt was stretched out and torn and he could see bruises that he definitely didn't remember being there before, though maybe he just hadn't been able to see some of them when the shirt was intact. Mostly though, they just seemed weak, legs shaking as Sans had to support them to keep them standing. Other than that, they seemed unharmed, the worst of his fears apparently unmet. "come on, let's get you out of here."
"The dog, it saved me. Kept biting him until I could escape. Is it-," Frisk started to ask but Sans stopped them from finishing.
"i didn't see it when i was looking around. it probably ran away once it knew you were safe," Sans half-lied. He couldn't really be certain what he'd seen was monster dust, and if anything could fake its own death it was probably that dog. He kind of liked the idea of it holed up somewhere, probably back Underground, doing whatever it was that dog normally did all day. He picked them up since it didn't look like they could walk on their own and held them against his body, trying to shield them from the scene by the sink in the kitchen. He didn't think it worked as they buried their face deeper into his shirt as they crossed the threshold into the living room. So long as he was getting them someplace safe though he could deal with that in time.
Blankets and hot tea. That was what those EMTs had fallen back on when they didn't know what else to do, so Sans figured he'd do the same thing now. Never mind that the only blankets he had on short notice were the tangled mess from his bed, at least the tea was hot, expertly microwaved by Alphys as her contribution to comforting Frisk. She had been up waiting for them anxiously; when she saw how bad Frisk looked it was all Sans could do to keep her from panicking loud enough to wake the entire household. It was probably a mistake to have tipped her off that something was going on, but the doctor was there now, and he couldn't help but feel a little grateful not to be handling this on his own. If everyone were up though it would be a circus, and he needed answers more than he needed Papyrus fretting or Undyne threatening to pummel everything in sight. He wasn't going to wake any of the others just yet, not until he knew what he wanted to do.
Once he had Frisk wrapped up in blankets on the couch and the tea was served, it was time to talk. "okay kid, tell me everything. no more hiding this kind of stuff. i need to know what's been going on." Frisk swallowed nervously and shrunk deeper into the blankets. It had always been hard for them to talk a lot, maybe it would help if he directed the conversation. "i'm going to ask a series of yes or no questions. you can say as much or as little to answer them as you like, but i need you to give me an answer to them, alright?" Frisk nodded. "good. seems like you understand. now, was trip the one who beat you?" Another nod. There was a soft gasp from Alphys, but he ignored that. Answers were more important. "has he done this before?"
Frisk started to shake their head, but turned it into a shrug. "He hasn't tried to beat me up in a long time." Their voice was dry and horse and they took a sip of tea before continuing. "Not at full strength anyway. Probably not since he turned thirteen. That was the time he broke my arm in two places. Mom was so mad at him for that. He's been careful ever since."
"careful not to hurt you?"
"Careful not to get caught."
"so he does other stuff to hurt you?" Another nod. "what kind of stuff?" Frisk didn't answer at first. "right, yes or no questions only. my bad."
"It's not always the same things," Frisk burst out, surprising him. "He'll do one thing for a while, then get bored and try something new. He likes to see what gets the best reaction from me. Would I cry more from a slap or an indian burn? Would I be more scared of knives or of fire? It's an experiment to him."
"It-it's sick is what it is!" Alphys exclaimed, full nerd ire raging. "I can't believe your mom has been allowing this to happen! She s-seemed so nice, how can she be okay with him doing this stuff to you?!" Frisk flinched at the mention of their mother.
"she doesn't know does she?" Frisk was very still for a moment, then shook their head no. "have you tried telling her about it?"
"She can't know. It would break her again if she found out."
That caught Sans' attention. He'd been assuming that Susan was just willfully blind to what a bastard her son was, but it changed things if she was really being kept in the dark. And that a child felt their parent needed to be protected from what was happening instead of the other way around. "explain."
Frisk took a deep breath, collecting their thoughts. "My mom was really sad after what happened with my dad. Trip says I was too little to remember, but there are some things I do remember. Like how before, Mom would smile a lot more, usually for no reason at all, and there was something about the light in her eyes that would make you feel like smiling too. After what happened to Dad though, it felt like she wasn't really there anymore, just this lifelike doll that kind of looked like her. She didn't smile as much and even when she did, that light wasn't there anymore, just this emptiness that made it feel like she wasn't really looking at you. For a long time, she'd go days without leaving her room, weeks without leaving the house. Trip kind of took over taking care of all three of us out of necessity. Someone still needed to make food, or do laundry, or forge Mom's signature on notes from school. She wasn't doing any of that stuff.
"Don't get me wrong, she's a lot better now! I don't really know why, but one day she just decided to stop being sad. Do-nothing-sad, anyway. She still doesn't smile much, and sometimes, she still has days like before, but they don't last as long as they did back then. Instead she's been doing everything she can to be a good mom for us. She went back to school so she could start working again, and she works really hard at her job so that she can take care of us. Because she's working so hard, she still relies a lot on Trip though, to watch out for me and be 'the man of the house' or whatever." Once it had started it seemed like Frisk couldn't stop themselves from explaining the whole thing. It was the most Sans had ever heard them say in one go, and he hated that it had to be talking about this.
"so you don't tell her because you think finding out how bad things are with him would cause her to go back to the way she was back then?"
Frisk nodded again. "Trip says it would, and when she has a bad day, I think he's right."
"W-what about telling someone else, like a teacher?" Alphys piped up again. Frisk's expression was almost bitter.
"One time, a teacher asked me about some bruises he saw during P.E. He thought Mom had hit me. Once I convinced him that it was Trip's doing, he just thought it was normal sibling rivalry stuff though. I could almost see on his face the exact moment he stopped caring after it was no longer something he was legally obligated to report."
"Well you could have told us!" Alphys exclaimed sharply, as close to angry Sans could ever imagine her getting at the child. "Toriel or Asgore or Undyne or Papyrus! Any one of us would have done anything we could to stop him from hurting you!"
"or me," Sans said. Alphys and Frisk were shocked for a moment when they looked his way. His eyes had gone dark, and for once he didn't immediately correct it once they'd had their dramatic effect. "i've given you plenty of chances to speak up about this before, hell i flat out asked you about it earlier tonight, so why not say anything? why let it go this far?"
Sans could see Frisk's feet moving under the blanket as they fidgeted. "When you say anything, would that include fighting him if you had to?" they asked with quiet solemnity.
Alphys gulped nervously and actually hesitated for a moment before giving a single nod. It was unlikely that Frisk actually expected Alphys to fight but she probably did it for the symbolism of the gesture. For Sans it wasn't even a question. "you know I would."
"Then that's exactly why I couldn't tell you," Frisk said, their eyes slowly filling with determination as they spoke. "Trip is tough, a lot tougher than me. If it came down to a fight most of you would probably lose. I didn't want any of you to get hurt because of me. And even if you could beat him…" Their determined eyes were locked on to Sans' empty ones.
"I didn't want you to be a dirty brother killer."
Dizziness. Bile. A hornlike droning noise in the back of his head that he'd imagine a heartbeat felt like if he had one. Those senses hit him all at once as their words sunk in. That phrase was so exact he couldn't ignore it. He'd never said it to his knowledge, but what if he had before? A timeline he couldn't remember, there was one kind of scenario he could imagine where he would say those words. Well, really there were a lot of combinations that could lead to it, but only one variable that mattered. Two if you counted a conditional to it. One specific person dead, but at least one other person alive. He realized now he'd never really mentally prepared himself for that one. Somehow that version of the past was so much worse than even the worst version he had been prepared for. It made no sense to kill him and spare others -spare even a single other monster.
"that's different," he could barely get the words out as his permanently smiling teeth ground against each other. His trembling hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly as he forced himself not to ball them into fists. His eyes didn't have that furious glow yet but it wouldn't take much to set him over that edge. Alphys was looking between the two confusedly, trembling with fear though she didn't understand why. "that's different and you know it. he is completely different from papyrus and if you're going to compare something like that to giving that punk exactly what he deserves then-"
"He's still my brother!" Frisk burst out, their tiny face contorted into a shocking mixture of fear and pain. That brought Sans suddenly out of his dark ruminations. "For everything that he's done and everything he will do, he's still my brother. If you were to do that to him, I'm sorry but that's all I'd be able to see you as whenever I looked at you. And because I brought you here it's all I'd be able to think of myself as when I looked at my mom." Their mom? Of course. Trust Frisk to consider how much it would hurt other people to lose someone they cared about, even as they were hurting them.
Sans' shoulders relaxed, seemingly resigned as he rubbed the side of his forehead with the heel of his palm. "all right, all right. i get you now. nobody's going to die, i promise." Frisk relaxed a little and Sans knew this was a promise he wouldn't be allowed to break. "for now we should probably wake the others already. or at least toriel. we need to let your mom know you're safe and out of all of us, she's the best one to keep her from completely losing her mind worrying about you." Sans said it like he was trying to lighten the mood, but the words definitely fell flat and Frisk didn't seem to appreciate being reminded of how panicked their mom would be coming home to the scene he saw. He gave a small half-hearted laugh before tilting his head at Alphys and giving her a look. She understood him and followed him out of the room. "you handle tori. fill her in on what's going on as quickly as you can, but whatever you do, don't let her let frisk's mom take them home. i don't trust her to keep them safe there."
"Okay…but what are you going to do?"
"i'm going to find trip of course. gonna make sure he knows not to mess with the kid ever again."
Alphys gaped at him. "A-are you sure that's a good idea? You just promised Frisk that you wouldn't-"
"i promised them that no one would die. didn't say anything about not giving him a taste of his own medicine." Sans sighed and glanced away as he tried to figure out how to explain this. "look, for a long time –too long really- i've avoided doing anything more than what i thought was the bare minimum. i'd wait things out, see if thing's solve themselves without me having to do anything. most of the time, they do. but when they don't, well, it always feels like i waited too long to actually do any good, and if i had acted sooner, it would have saved a lot of pain and hassle." Sans turned back to Alphys, his eyes bright with guilt and anger. "this is one of those times. i waited too long, and now look what happened. i may be too late to have stopped this from happening, but i can still make sure that it doesn't happen again." Sans reached behind him to grab the doorknob –Alphys hadn't realized he was so close to an exit until he opened it. "don't worry, al. he'll be fine when i'm done with him. i just need to let him know that if he keeps this up he'll be in for a bad time." On that he was out the door, not even hearing Alphys shout out behind him as he headed into the night.