Who Says You're the One in Control?

If it isn't Yours, Don't Touch It

"a fucking time machine?" Sans yelled, slamming some notes down in his father's work space.

Dad looked at Sans' face over his glasses, ignoring the notes on his desk. "Don't use such vulgar profanity in my presence, please." He replied calmly.

Sans refused to let himself get on a different subject. "you're supposed to be recreating a human soul! that's supposed to be our only priority!"

At sixteen, Sans had joined his father in being a scientist. He was the famous W. D. Gaster's right hand man. At seventeen, the humans had declared war on the monsters. King Asgore had ordered Gaster, as Royal Scientist, to find a way to synthesize the human soul for a monster to absorb. They were now a year into the research.

"I'm putting plenty of work into the synthetic soul. However, I'm sure you know, it's still got years of research before we can recreate it. This," He motioned to the papers Sans had violently brought to his attention. "is plan B."

Sans shook his head in disbelief. "what good is a time machine gonna do?"

Dad sighed. "Think about it, Sans. Something led up to this, right? All we need to do is go back and find out what the catalyst was. Then, we can stop this war from ever starting."

"oh okay, so we just hop in a shining time machine, and go back in time and fix everything!" Sans added as much peppy sarcasm as he could. "sounds like a plan, man."

"Would you stop acting like a child and think for a moment?" Dad stood and rooted around in a filing cabinet, pulling out a folder. He laid it on the table. "This isn't something I just started. I'm close. Very close."

Sans picked up the folder and looked at it. The notes weren't written in wingdings, which dad had started using for all notes and reports since the war had started. He had said it would take the humans longer to decipher the notes if they ever got their hands on them.

"these notes go back for years." Sans was surprised. "how come i haven't heard of this till now?"

Dad shrugged. "It was more of a personal project."

Sans sighed. "well, i thi-" Something started beeping. Probably test results. Sans looked at dad for one second more, then decided he had taken a long enough break.

He didn't have another chance to talk to his father about it all day. It seemed as if everyone needed things from him. He decided to work late, so he could finish the report he was working on.

Papyrus came by at around 10 pm. "Brother, I have brought you something to eat!" He yelled as he came in. Sans was glad for a reason to take a break.

"hey, bro. how was school?"

"We had an invasion drill in the middle of a math quiz, so I didn't have to finish it!" Papyrus beamed.

Sans laughed. "nice." He cleared off a chair for his brother and opened the lunchbox he was given. Spaghetti. "you make dinner?"

"No." Papyrus said downbeaten. "Father bought it on his way home." He shook it off quickly. "And how was your day at work?"

Sans grinned. "i found a secret. wanna check it out with me?"

Papyrus immediately sat up straighter. He was so tall. Sans felt a hint of jealously. "What secret?"

Sans jumped up. "follow me." He grabbed the file dad had showed him from the cabinet, and headed downstairs.

In one of the last, unused rooms, he found the machine. "What is this?" Papyrus asked blankly.

Sans was reading into the file more. "It's a time machine. It looks like it uses a mechanic similar to the magic my eye has."