Fonttale

Chapter Fifteen: Hear No Evil

"I don't want you going in there," said Papyrus grabbing hold of Sans' sleeve.

"why not? what's in there? it's something about Dad right? Gaster?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you. Please respect my wishes and stay out of that lab," requested Papyrus.

"i have a right to know. i'm respecting your wish not to talk about it, but i can't just ignore this."

Sans struggled to keep his voice at a reasonable level. Alphys was kind enough to allow him to access the True Lab due to the fact that he knew about the Almalgamates, but he still didn't want to disturb her while she was working on Mettaton's upgrades or whatever. He knew what could happen if one thing went wrong.

"Tell me brother, have you ever heard the story of Pandora's Box?"

"yes. a girl opened a box and released all the evils into the world, and at the bottom of the box was hope."

Sans had learned that story from a human book he had found at the dump when he was younger. He had thought that Papyrus at the time had no interest in reading books of any kind, but apparently he had gotten a hold of Sans'.

"You won't find 'hope' in that lab, only darkness. A darkness so strong it will snuff out any light you've found elsewhere."

"i'll find more," said Sans firmly.

Papyrus should really write poetry or something.

"You may not survive to find more Sans. This is knowledge that WILL change you, if not kill you." Papyrus looked desperate. His eyes pleading for him to walk away. The smaller skeleton actually felt sorry for him.

"as long as i have you, i can get through it."

"You'll most likely not want to be anywhere near me if you find what you're looking for," Papyrus said softly.

"i'm not scared of you."

"You've no reason to be. I speak of hate brother."

Is that right?

"what did you do?"

Although Sans had wanted to keep from asking his brother questions, he couldn't help but ask that one.

Papyrus shot him a venomous look, anger and tears in his eyes. "I won't say anymore. If you want to destroy your mind and our lives, be my guest. I can't stop you, but I'll have no part in it."

Sans could see that he had given up. Every warning thrown his way only increased his curiosity, and Papyrus knew it. At this point, he was only doing everything he could to avoid feeling guilty in the future when something DID happened to Sans. He wore the same expression back at the dump when he asked if he wanted him to 'go away'. He looked like he truly believed his life was over, like he was awaiting execution.

Sans shook his head to clear the memory of the last conversation he and his brother had had, but Papyrus's warnings still echoed in his skull, ominous and dreadful. His voice had been absolutely dripping with a despair he never knew anyone could posses, nonetheless his little brother.

Papyrus had left the lab some time ago, leaving Sans alone in front of the lab door.

He still couldn't go in.