The Lies Unturned. (Depressed Underswap!Sans)

Part 8: Truth.

Papyrus eventually opened his eyes towards a brand new day. Fortunately a weekend, one he could try to relax on... Honestly, he really felt relieved after his brother mentioned that he was alright, but.. He still had a feeling.

And while he recalled Muffet's advice to be there for his brother, he just... He had to figure out what was really wrong with Sans. The short skeleton would never lie to him, surely.. He never seemed like the type to even know what a lie was.

But he needed to get to the bottom of this.. So, he got up and slid his orange hoodie on over his white t-shirt after getting up from his mattress. He yawned lightly as he shoved his hands into his pockets, closing his eyes.

No relaxing this weekend, Papyrus thought as he teleported outside of the house. And, he headed towards Alphys' house... Again. He had to know why Sans still had that same sweater on. Even though it was dirty and needed to be cleaned..

There was no way his brother would have just.. immediately put it back on after getting home, right? It was more suspicious considering he hadn't seen Sans in that battle outfit in a long time. So his mind begged the question, of course.

Soon the tall lazy skeleton ended up at the dino's door. He knocked on it slightly and glanced down, pulling a honey bottle from his hoodie pocket to drink a bit of it.

Alphys opened the door quickly after it was knocked on, and she cracked her knuckles slightly. "Hey there Papyrus. Never expected you to be showing up so often lately. But uh.. I gotta tell you somethin'. So come on in here."

Papyrus gave a small eyebrow raise as he heard that. Well, that sort of confirmed his suspicions, if he wanted answers. He walked into the door and glanced around, going to take a sit on the couch.

The dinosaur soon sat up and closed the door behind the skeleton, and she began to pace slightly. "So, just recently, I was provided a text from your uh, brother.." She began, stopping and rubbing the back of her head.

"Well, lemme start off with uh.. Your brother didn't show up for work yesterday. You know that, yeah?" Alphys continued, glancing back at Papyrus. This was her chance to drill the new planted information in. Sure, she may have been taking this a bit too far, but Sans did need to learn.

Kindness is never the answer.

Papyrus perked up a bit at the question, slowly raising an eyebrow. "Nyeh? Really? I could have sworn he went to work yesterday, I saw him leave." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his head while the other hand raised the honey bottle to his teeth again.

Alphys smirked a bit before turning around, providing a small disappointed look. "Well, to be honest, Sans quit the royal guard. He said he didn't wanna be too nice for it anymore. Honestly I'm a little worried about him.."

Well, that last part was a blatant lie. If anything, she was the one who caused all of this..

The skeleton sighed slowly as he walked forwards, putting the bottle back into his pocket. "That's impossible." He stated simply. "My brother would never do that."

Though, the more he thought about it, the more he realized... Maybe it was possible. Considering how Sans had been acting lately, all the odd situations, and how he hadn't been seeing him wearing anything but that dark sweater...

Maybe she was right.. Alphys sighed a little as she grabbed her phone off the countertop, going towards Papyrus again. "Here, look." She said, walking over and showing her phone to Papyrus...

Now of course, to the naked eye, that did look like a normal string of messages, but Alphys had the trick up her sleeve.. That was actually a mere screenshot that she edited. One to frame that pathetic little skeleton.. What a monster.

Papyrus stared in shock as he read the messages.. Which were in summary, seeming to lead to Alphys being kind and understanding, while Sans was merely sad but straightforward.

Alphys moved her phone back again, leaving it on the counter. "Yeah.. Really, I tried to get him to stay, but he just wouldn't." She shrugged, going towards the kitchen. "Anyway, I had some snacks I was in the middle of making anyway, so you can wait there if you want for me to finish em."

As Papyrus watched Alphys leave, he needed just a moment to think about this. Why would Sans ever just suddenly leave the royal guard? From those messages, Sans didn't even explain why he left the guard. He probably had to go home..

Though, just as the skeleton was about to leave, he glanced down at Alphys' phone... Still on the same spot. Though, he really wanted to pry for more. Maybe... Maybe the reasoning was farther down the messages?

And yet, as Papyrus moved his finger up the screen to scroll, the lie was revealed. The information of the screenshot showed, and he gasped a little in shock. He slowly tapped the home button, his eyes locking onto the messages app.

That screenshot.. Was that even real?

As Papyrus went onto the messages, he glanced up to make sure Alphys was still facing away.. He then looked back down, going to Sans' messages.

What he saw when it was opened, his mouth dropped open. That... That was impossible..

The most recent message hadn't been read yet. But it was from today. Actually, just a few minutes ago.

'Alright, Alphys. You win. You're getting what you asked for. And I'll admit it. I'm sorry. I've been too weak. And I'm going to give you want you really want. I'm doing it tonight, since my brother isn't here. He probably wouldn't care either. I hope you got what you wanted. Goodbye.'

...

Papyrus dropped the phone, bolting it out the door. Now was one of those times he had really wished he learned how to teleport like Sans could.. But there was no time to think about that now. He had to save his brother.

Meanwhile, Sans had already been gripping his knife in his hand, a large steak knife from the kitchen.. His phone laid on the floor near him, and he finally dropped his knife... He glanced back at the chair, his eye glowing in the dark room.

The small skeleton pushed himself up onto the chair, staring at the noose In front of his face. He supposed this was it... He could finally make his brother happy.. He would make everyone happy just by finishing this. All he had to do...

Was put his head in. And kick away the chair.

And his brother was nowhere to be found.