Sans woke up with the strangest sense of peace he'd ever known. everything was so still, so quiet. He wished it could be like this forever, as if he were still dreaming. His dream flashed into his mind just then. A long hallway. Frisk walking up to him, a smile on her face, a red heart locket around her neck. They joked and laughed, never noticing the shadowy figure lurking behind them. Sans looked up at Papyrus on the couch. He caught a glimpse of the calendar.

"Three days," Undyne said, noticing him wake up, while she was making some toast. She threw him a piece as she crunched into her own. Sans looked at the brick before crunching into it. "Then you are officially… Wait, how old are you?!" Undyne realized.

Sans looked away, his eyes black, "23. In three days I will be 23." He stood up. "I'm going to talk to Alphys. Tell Pap I'll see him for lunch." He teleported to Alphys' lab, where the Scientist was sitting in front of her computer. She sighed as she turned to face him.

"I knew you'd be here sooner or later." She led the way to the lower floors. "Sans, do you remember a man named Wing Ding Gaster?" She watched as his already dark eyes started to glow. "I thought so. Well he left me a secret key to his lab. Your Lab." Sans was silent as she input the code to the door. As it swung open, she gestured for Sans to go in front of her. "After you."

Sans trudged slowly down the hallway. All he could think about was Papyrus. Sweet, innocent, with no idea just how much he had really suffered in life. He opened the door reluctantly, half expecting to see Gaster himself sitting at a desk, writing in blood. What? Sans can have an imagination. Instead, Sans saw Phil sprawled on top of one of the desks. The hologram's glasses were taped to the sides of his head, and the sleeves of his gray lab coat were rolled up to his elbows. "Who the hell are you?"

Phil examined him like a specimen ready for dissection. A strange feeling exuded from the digital skeleton. Sans could sense disappointment and sadness, but also a hint of relief. "Alphys," Phil spoke quietly, "could you please let us talk alone for a few minutes?" Alphys nodded, blushing, and left the lab. Sans and Phil stared into each other's eyes. "I have a message for you. It took a while to print out, but the computer wouldn't translate it." He gestured at an envelope on the desktop.

"What's your name, friend," Sans inquired wryly, scooping up the letter and tucking it into his jacket pocket. He looked curiously at Phil. He was medium height, with a strange line going down his jaw.

"My name is Phil. I was created by Gaster to act as a therapist for you and your brother. However, he never put to to my assigned directive. Instead he used me as a camera to pour out his own guilt." He watched as Sans backed off his left eye visibly glowing. "I remember why your other eye stopped glowing. It was…" he stopped abruptly, turning away. "Nevermind."

Sans wanted to leave, but he had to know the answer to the question hiding in the back of his head. "Phil, did Gaster know my mother?" He watched as the face in front of him, previously calm and collected, broke into a scowl filled with rage. "He knew Arial. They were quite close, until a year before she gave birth to you too. She had wanted to send you to a foster home, but Gaster had the right to you both." It took a minute for this last comment to process. "T-the… right? Tell me you're not saying…" He fell to his knees, his eye now a bright ember of blue fire, while Phil just nodded, looking dejected.

The next thing Sans knew, he was laying on a very uncomfortable bed, and he could feel his hand being clutched. He was barely able to turn his head to see Pap, his eyes closed, tears still falling down his face. Sans looked back at the ceiling. All he could see was Gaster's face, cigarette smoke obscuring his eyes, and a stern frown glued to his mouth. But now, Sans saw the eyes clearly. They were so much like his, yet the glow was dimmer, sadder. A memory surfaced from the back of his mind.

The last experiment Gaster had done to him was a simple test of memory. He would hold up a picture, and Sans would name it. "Bone. Ice. Waterfall. Red. Tools." he had gone on and on, getting very bored. The final picture was of a pretty female skeleton, with a lovely dress on and a huge smile. Sans could barely contain his confusion. He had never seen the woman in the photograph, but he felt like he knew her. " ... Sir… Who is that?" Gaster looked at him, the strange glow in his eyes gone. "This is my wife, Arial. She died about 4 years ago now. a year before…" Gaster abruptly stood up and exited.

Sans looked back at Papyrus, now in an uneasy slumber. He ran his free hand over his brother's skull, and he fell back to sleep.

Hey everyone. not much to say, hoping the wait for this didn't kill you or didn't meet your expectations. If i did disappoint, then I'll make it up in the next chapter. Also my deviantart self just died of feels, so that happened.

-Jarhead