Chapter Text
Undyne woke up with her head and arms resting against a table and a gentle weight draped over her shoulders. She didn't remember falling asleep at their table. She sat up wearily, releasing an anxious breath as she spotted Alphys at the other end, resting her head against her collarbone and looking rather exhausted. Undyne checked the clock. Only a few hours had passed since they'd brought the brothers home and both were still resting. She glanced to the couch where Gerson had been when she finally passed out.
Only to see Sans sitting there, clutching Papyrus' hand for dear life, and definitely still exhausted. Gerson was no where to be seen. Fuck.
Trying her best to be discreet, Undyne studied him with an uneasy eye, slowly prepping herself to speak to him. Gosh, he'd hardly slept at all if he'd woken up before her. She'd have thought he'd at least make it through the night before being ready to get up and go at it again being so frail and all, but. There he was. She supposed he really did love Papyrus more than anything. His facial expression was pure agony. God, she had really screwed up.
"Mornin' Fishface," Sans' voice was a croaky murmur, but it still caught her off guard. She'd meant to speak first.
Undyne made a silent sigh, and turned her head brazenly towards him in her internal defeat. He wasn't looking at her, "Hey..." she ground out stiffly, "How, um... how are you feeling?"
"Pretty alive at the moment," he replied, "And you? I heard you carried us back here, so. Thanks."
It felt awkward. She owed him an apology but the words were stuck in her throat. She felt like she couldn't breathe for a second. And now he was thanking her before she had the chance to say anything else.
"You're welcome..." Undyne said, but bit her tongue, "No, I mean. No problem. Look, I... I'm not..."
Sans finally spared her a dimly lit glare from the side of his eye sockets. For a skeleton with limited expression, he sure was good at scrutinizing.
"Look, I... I was just trying to help him, and I. I messed up. I just didn't... we didn't know who else it could be."
It was ME though, she wanted to say. It was ME who went jumping to conclusions, it was ME who failed your brother and caused him to run away, it was ME who locked you in the shed and she wouldn't blame him for resenting her for it. There was just no helping what had happened. She'd really messed up, jumping the gun, rushing over to their house without any solid proof besides what they had told her, without the full story behind it all (and she still to this moment had her doubts about what had happened). And she'd just believe it was him without question.
I'm SO sorry, she wanted to say but she knew there would be no purpose behind them. She grew more frustrated the more she thought about it and it visibly frustrated her. She hoped Sans didn't take it the wrong way but knowing her luck he probably would.
Sans looked away, hiding his face. He probably had some smart remark to say so Undyne prepared herself to keep composure.
"'Sall good," he said mildly instead, "Forget about it. It's in the past now. It's over."
Damn it, Undyne sword internally. He had his priorities in order. Brother first, betrayal later. He just had to make this difficult for her, didn't he?
"It's not in the past, but... I respect you for trying to act like you're cool with it."
Sans was kneeling at Papyrus' side and only seemed to protrude his shadow further as they talked. She could tell this was getting on his nerves. He didn't reply.
Then there was silence. Apparently Sans had nothing more he wanted to say on the matter. It probably wasn't the best time for apologies, given the situation. Papyrus was still technically in danger, but Undyne had faith. She knew Sans probably did too, but something about him just seemed more... broken than usual. He was probably sitting there stewing on his worries while she was bothering him about some stressful interpersonal crap that he wasn't in the mood to talk about. He was obviously still upset, I mean who wouldn't be. But he was taking it like a god damn man and not being shitty about it. God, she had misjudged him SO badly.
"So that thing..." Undyne said finally, when the quiet was too much to bear. The thought of going back to sleep after watching Sans sitting vigil like that left a nasty feeling in her stomach.
"I don't know what it was," Sans told her, voice creeping with a dark edge, "All I care about is that it's dead and he's safe."
"Yeah, figures," Undyne shrugged, though she had to force down her doubt that what he said was true, "I mean, he was probably too scared to tell anyone what that thing was."
"Yeah, obviously." Sans said with a muffled quality to his voice.
"I just hate that it took so long for any of us to notice. I mean, you're his brother, you're with him every day, and even you didn't notice."
"Thanks Undyne, hadn't keyed in that detail."
"Nng, no! No, I mean... I didn't mean it like that..."
"I know what you meant." Sans didn't say it with any offense. He sounded ashamed. Undyne felt even more ashamed.
"Sans, you... you can't blame yourself."
"Why not?"
Undyne bit back the immediate remark as she realized what he meant. "Why not? You did. Everyone else did."
"You were a good brother. You saw he was in danger, and you went after him. Hell you escaped the shed and Grillby's before you made it to him. You covered a lot of ground for him." Another gap of silence. "Sans, for what it's worth... I never would have thought any of that about you. I mean, yeah you're a drunk and I've always thought you were kind of a slob, but... but Papyrus has always talked about you in the most caring and loving way, and I... I just wanted to know what was wrong with him."
She saw Sans eye lights flicker upward.
"I'll shut up now, if that's what you want." Undyne sighed. Please to God, let someone shut her up.
"Thanks Undyne," Sans said, a little dismissively, "But I really don't need to hear your little spiel. It doesn't really matter anymore."
Oh. "Well, if that's how you feel about it."
She'd screwed up bad and now there was nothing she could do. Sans was already so emotionally gone anyway, she'd probably just do more harm than good if she continued bothering him about it. In the moment she'd realized she was wrong, Undyne had really only needed to focus on killing that flower monster... thing. She didn't have to worry about anything else, just protecting her friends. Now that the calm had returned, so did the guilt of what she'd almost done. Imprison an innocent monster because of her impatience and bad judgment. What kind of Captain was she?
All Sans really wanted was for her to shut up so he could look after his brother. Hell, he had earned whatever he asked of her at this point, and if it was just silence, well. She was happy to oblige.
Biting her lip, she pushed herself out of her chair and walked over to stand beside him kneeling there. She put a hand on his shoulder and moved him to stand. He jumped at first, and even resisted when she started pulling his arm, but he let her lead him into the chair Gerson had been sitting in. He was tense the whole time, and part of him was still trembling from the fight. It wasn't her best idea, but he was on a bad foot and she figured she should be helpful. She immediately took her hand away from him after helping him. He was weary of her now.
She stood beside him and watched Papyrus' sleeping figure. Paps looked so peaceful. Lifeless, but peaceful.
"I'm gonna check the crowd outside," Undyne said finally, after a few more agonizing minutes of silence. Sans was too good at silences.
Sans nodded in reply, but she only caught it because she stared at him all the way to the door. She actually almost ran into the table as she turned the corner, but Sans didn't comment.
As she made it outside, she eagerly jumped at the opportunity to help by mediating the crowd. Talking, reasoning, generally keeping busy was a good way to feel useful. Anything to get out of her own head, and to get that grieving image of Papyrus' brother out of her brain.