"Father..." Grillby mumbled, shocked at the surprise of his appearance.

"May I please take a seat?" His father repeated, scooting back the chair.

Reluctantly, Grillby nodded.

Ignatius sighed and took a seat, filling the empty seat of the table.

There was a dead silence.

All of the conversations were gone, leaving behind a tight tension.

"Father... I-"

"No, Grillby. Do not even dare to apologize. It is I who needs to apologize..." Ignatius interrupted, his shoulders slouched and his regretful expression consuming the atmosphere.

"I acted very immaturely, and realized I wasn't being fair. I judged Sans based on my past experiences but didn't even give him a chance to speak. I'm sorry, Grillby, for not being the father you expected me to be, and Sans... I really owe you one big apology... From the beginning, I noticed you where different than him, yet I feared things wouldn't turn out great, and shut you out thinking I was protecting Grillby when in fact, I was only hurting him. You saved my life, thank you. Just know, you're thoroughly welcome to the family." Ignatius apologized.

Sans smiled softly.

"no problem, sir" he chuckled.

"Father... I'm so, so s-sorry... I don't care if you don't need to hear it.. I almost killed you... I should have calmed down like you told me to..." Grillby tried to apologize as best he could, wrapping his arms around himself.

Ignatius' expression was soft and warm as he now hugged his youngest son.

"We all make mistakes." He said.

Sans looked away awkwardly and grinned.

Letting go, Grillby laughed along with his father.

"We're good now?" Ignatius asked.

Grillby enthusiastically nodded in response and laid back on his chair.

"Though father... What made you hate skeletons? You never told me anything about them? What happened?" Grillby curiously interrogated.

Ignatius heaved a long, sad sigh.

"If... If it weren't for them, your uncle would still be alive..." Ignatius replied.

"My... Uncle?"

Grillby's expression looked confused at its finest.

"What? You said he died of a sickness!" He recalled, almost offended his father didn't tell him this in the past.

"He did, in fact... the memories. It happened 12 years ago, you were only 13. It was that week when you went on vacation to your uncle's bar at Snowdin." Ignatius began.

Sans sat up more straight and leaned in closer to the conversion at the mention of this.

After all, he did technically have a right to know all of this.

"The reason we sent you there is because we knew you two were close, we wanted to give you two some time together. Your mother and I knew he was going to move out somewhere, but he didn't tell us where. He told us not to worry. While you were out, I investigated where he would move to.
As a result, he had been close to this... Skeleton... I... Can't seem to remember him quite well..." Ignatius trailed off.

Sans' soul skipped a beat.

'could it be?'

"What happened next, father?" Grillby asked.

"Your uncle volunteered for an experiment, conducted by that skeleton. Of course he'd be a perfect candidate! He was perfect in all stats! He was healthy! And that skeleton ruined it! He ruined it by injecting that infernal substance into your uncle!" Ignatius clenched his fists and looked at Grillby with an expression filled with hurt, and sadness- one whom Grillby had never encountered behind that stern expression of his father's.

"He took my brother away from me..." He muttered.
______________

"Brother! What were you doing in there!? Are you out of your mind!?" Ignatius hissed, running his older sibling, whom had just come out of the lab.

"More like: What are you doing here? How did you find me? I told you not to worry, you stalker." The eldest of the two joked.

"Aedus" Ignatius growled, smacking the back of his brother's head.

"I was just volunteering for an experiment, geez. My good skeleton friend,☝︎✌︎💧︎❄︎☜︎☼︎, is conducting an experiment to break the barrier!" Aedus exclaimed.

"But we don't know if it's safe! We don't even know if he's allowed to do this!" Ignatius argued.

"Psht, come on! I feel a-okay! Plus, he's the royal scientist, for Asgore's sake, he can do whatever he wants! He said according to his research, I will only grow stronger! Can you imagine that?" Aedus laughed, flexing his arms.

"Aedus... No."

"Aedus yeah, baby!"

Ignatius rolled his eyes and looked away scoldingly.

"Aw come on brother... Isn't freedom what our grandpa fought for till death? We loved him... We can't just let it all go to waste... We have 5 human souls already! If I become stronger, maybe I could help monsters get out of here." Aedus sighed.

Ignatius hugged his brother and took a deep breath.

"Alright... Let's take you home now."

Just as the two began walking, Aedus collapsed on to the floor.

"Brother!"

"Ignatius.... I c-can't feel anything! It hurts! It's so, so cold! Call ☝︎✌︎💧︎❄︎☜︎☼︎! He must be in the lab! Quick" Aedus panicked as the red hue of his flames slowly dimmed, and the tips of his fingers began melting.

Ignatius ran for his life to the door into the lab and banged on it.

"HELP! MY BROTHER IS IN TROUBLE! WE NEED HELP!! ☝︎✌︎💧︎❄︎☜︎☼︎! AEDUS! HE'S..." Ignatius hollered, turning to look back at his half melted brother.

"no nO NO NO NO! OPEN THE DOOR YOU SICK BASTARD! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO HIM! HE'S MELTING! PLEASE OPEN THE DAMN DOOR AND HELP US!" Ignatius shouted before running back to his brother, who was leaning on the rails that prevented him to fall over the edge into the lava.

"IGnaTiuS... I'm sOrRy... I ShoULd HaVE LIsTenEd..." Aedus tried to apologize.

"Brother! Don't apologize! Everything is going to be fine! I already called him! He'll come. Just stay determined! Please... I... Can't go without you" Ignatius cried.

"It HUrtS..." Aedus mumbled.

"I know... Just hold on tight there buddy." Ignatius consoled.

"I LOvE yOu AlL" Aedus whispered looking into his brother's eyes.

There was a barely recognizable, half crooked smile on Aedus' face in that short moment of silence.

"No brother! Don't you dare do it!-" Ignatius warned, but it was too late.

Loosing grip of his brother, with one last smile, Aedus threw himself to over the edge with the last of his strength.

He'd still die, but at least it wouldn't be as painful, and maybe, just maybe, the impact of hitting the lava would kill him once and for all.

Aedus closed his eyes and everything went blank.

Ignatius stared in shock over the edge as his brother's dust scattered over the lava.

He felt a firm, yet gentle skeletal hand placed on his shoulder.

He turned around.

✋︎🕯︎💣︎ 💧︎⚐︎☼︎☼︎✡︎
____________________

Ignatius wiped Grillby's silent tears off his cheeks.

"I'm s-sorry Grillby..." He choked.

Grillby sniffed and smiled sadly.

"So that's why, eh?"

Ignatius looked to the side and nodded.

Grillby turned his view to Sans and noticed he was on the verge of tears.

"Sans?-"

"i know him..." He sputtered.

"he's my dad"
__________________

Ohohohohohoho~~~~ YASSS this is a great cliffhanger isn't it guys? AHAHAHA!!! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave a comment down below and have a nice day/night!

MWAHAHAHA! I love torturing you guys!