No leads. No, fucking, leads. The angry monster with the pupil-less eye sockets (as they were completely blank out of frustration), couldn't believe that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a single damn person who knew a thing about Gaster. He had tried getting the information out of several people he had been sure that might have known about his whereabouts. However, they claimed they knew nothing which he knew was absolute bullshit. They always seemed to end up dying before he could get the info he needed out of them. 

Right now, the skeleton was in the headquarters, staring down at a desk with a couple of files placed upon them, having pictures linked to them of people he had gone after to try and get what he wanted. They were now all marked with big red obvious X's; they were all dead now and he had nothing. Maybe he wasn't going to find Gaster at all. 

"fuck sake, dad... where are ya?" He growled to himself. He was becoming way too impatient. For so long he had been wanting the return of his father, but that day would never come. He'd never find him. He'd never come back. What if he was dead? Or what if he was taken prisoner in such a way that they were hurting him and he wanted to scream for help but he couldn't, because no one would come for him. He probably wanted to hold onto the hope that someone would save him; no one would. 

"i need a drink..." Sans grumbled, heading towards the elevator. It was hypocritical of him to try and resort to drinking to fix his current emotional state, seeing as he had told Grillby that doing that exact same thing wouldn't solve your problems. Though he admitted in his own head that he was a hypocrite about it at the time, so did it even matter? 

When Grillby saw Sans emerge from the elevator and he saw the look on his face, he could already tell what the man was here for. He obviously wanted emotional comfort. Normally, Grillby might have complied; he knew Sans could get pretty agitated if he didn't get what he wanted. This time, he wouldn't. Grillby knew how awful it made him feel afterwards when he drank to try and fix his problems. He should stop letting Sans making the same stupid mistakes that he was making. "Sans, don't even bother asking. I'm not giving you anything today." 

"what? but why not?" Sans growled. 

"You know why. You said the same to me, there's no point in drinking to fix whatever you're mad about. It won't go away." the flame monster frowned. Already he could see that Sans appeared annoyed by this.

"for fuck sake, grillby, let me have a drink." 

"No, Sans."

"grillby..." 

"Sans." 

"FOR FUCK SAKE, GRILLBY, JUST..." Sans seethed, actually going to slam his angry fists on the bar as he glared at Grillby, before he trailed off and seemed to be going from angry to upset in the flick of a switch. It was then that the skeleton suddenly broke down, placing his face in his arms as they laid on the bar. "i can't take it anymore... i just want him back. i want my dad back. everyone wants him back. ya want him back... i just... i just... i miss my dad." Sans sobbed. 

Sighing, Grillby's face saddened, as he could understand Sans' pain. Perhaps it was different to the pain he felt, considering Sans was a son to Gaster; Grillby was a best old friend. Their situation was different that way. Even so, they still both felt upset because of the whole thing. It was clear to the monster of flame that Sans felt like it was his responsibility to bring him back; maybe because he couldn't he felt like he was failing him. Grillby was about to open his mouth and speak, before glancing towards the door where he could see the human emerging through it. 

"Hey guys! Toriel just gave me a lift after I was with a friend today and..." She stopped when she saw Sans crying. Immediately, she rushed over to his side, going to sit on the stool beside him. "Hey, what happened, what's wrong?"

"fuck off." Sans grumbled into his arms. Why now of all times did it have to be Frisk that showed up and saw him like this? Saw him having a breakdown. She always had to show up at the most inconvenient times. 

"Sans, be nicer to Frisk. She's only trying to be kind to you." Grillby answered, not seeming to agree with the way Sans was treating the human. "Sorry, Frisk. Right now he's just having a hard time." 

"It's okay, I get it." Frisk gave Grillby a reassuring smile, until she looked back towards the tearful Sans. "Come on, you bone man. It's okay to talk to people about what's bothering you. There's nothing wrong with it." She said. 

"oh, and like ya know? like ya ever have any problems ya feel the need to ramble about." Sans muttered. Frisk sighed. 

"Actually, when I wanted people to talk to, I wasn't lucky enough to have anyone at my side to listen to me. When my parents died, I was all alone. My grandparents were already gone - they had passed away when I was young so I couldn't go to them. Any extended family I had didn't seem to want anything to do with me, for some reason they seemed to hate my parents and me, treating us like outsiders, like freaks. I didn't have many friends either. Instead, I could only cry and hold my knees close as I was sitting on the street in the freezing cold. You're lucky enough to have people who care about you, Sans. Even if you don't want that, it won't stop people from feeling that. So, while you have people who want to talk to you, you should take the opportunity to talk. It would probably make you feel somewhat better." Frisk said. "So, come on... Grillby, I'd like to order some fries please for this grumpy skeleton, I'll pay for it." She beamed, finding it difficult not to mentally fist pump when she noticed the surprised look on Sans' face. He wasn't used to this kind of treatment, but thanks to Toriel lending her some money, she would be able to pay for it.

Agreeing, Grillby set to going to start cooking some fries, as the skeleton went to wipe his tearful eye sockets. Even after all this time when he tried to push her away, she still tried to talk to him, to be his friend. Why did she do that? Did she have some kind of super power or something? She definitely had a lot more patience or determination than he'd ever have. "ya don't have to listen to me anyway. all i'll be is an old dusty bone pile ramblin' on." Sans grumbled.

"Hey, you're not old. You're only twenty." Frisk pointed out firstly. "And besides, I don't HAVE to, you're right. I WANT to. There's a difference." 

"why though? all i ever do is treat ya like crap. i don't see why you'd want to be friends with a guy like me. not many people do, for obvious reasons. i'm not good at the 'friend' thing." 

"Even if you try to act like you're some kind of macho skeleton, I don't really believe that's who you are." 

"ya don't know who i am, frisk. ya hardly know me." 

"Then maybe stop being so mysterious and talk. Talk about what's got you so upset." She spoke, giving Grillby a thankful grin when he placed a bowl of fries in front of Sans. "I've got all day." 

Hesitant, Sans was silent for at least a minute or two. He looked down at his bowl of fries, going to eat one before his stare slowly went towards the girl who was looking back his way, appearing to wait intently for him to talk. Why? While she could be annoying, she obviously had her heart set in the right place. She was a good soul. He was not. Why did she want to waste her time on him? He was no one special. 

Even so, thinking all this, he decided to slowly open his mouth and all the words just came tumbling out. He said exactly what he was upset about (how he couldn't find out where Gaster was) and how he was starting to lose hope on ever finding him. He found himself starting to break down again, wanting to cry; Frisk seemed to sit silently listening, having a look on her face that said "I'm not judging you if you want to cry". Somehow, he just allowed the flood gates to open again and he started to sob again, having Frisk gently pat his shoulder while trying to speak words of reassurance. 

"You're no failure, Sans. Don't give up hope yet, okay? You'll find him, I know you will. I believe in you that you will." Frisk smiled. "You are a strong monster, I know you can do it." 

The skeleton monster remained quiet, but Frisk could tell her words had probably got the gears started back up on the inside of his skull, making them turn once more, making him maybe regain some hope that his father would be discovered. She didn't want Sans to give up hope, she knew it was terrible to lose a parent. Sans had never said anything about his mother, so for all she knew he might have lost her at some point too. She wouldn't ask about it though, that might have been too personal for him to talk about, or a story for another day.

But if it was the case that he was also without parents, it didn't really make them that much different.