It's a wonder that Tim is even still speaking to him. That he hasn't simply fallen silent, a dismissal. It's done. Sans will try to do better, maybe fail--probably fail. Trying isn't good enough. He's gotten better at trying, but actually doing, actually succeeding, is a different story.

He tilts his head a little. Who told him that?

"i...i don't know. i don't--it's the trying again that's..."

You fail once and it's over. You come out wrong and your life is set in stone from then on. Born doomed, like Chara said. Named for it. Tell a kid they'll be dead where they stand, and that's it. No taking it back, no fixing it. Fail to stop the anomaly and that's it. It all ends. A Reset happens, and you can't remember what you did, what worked and what didn't, so it might as well be that nothing worked, because you're still here.

Easier to follow a script. Easier to fail once and give up, even though there's a future here, even though you can't just call it quits, because someone's still hurt and time is still moving forward, and you can't avoid it forever. And trying again, being willing to start over, knowing it might just go the exact same way next time, is so fucking hard.

Chara said that following through was more important than trying just once. He has to be better. He has to be.

"i thought that...if i left you alone, that it was like giving up on you. i did it to someone else. i left them alone because i thought they--needed it, that they were better off, but. it was giving up. it was leaving them alone. and i didn't want to do the same. i didn't want to make the same mistake. i don't...know what i'm doing. if i ask someone what they need, it's invasive. if i try to guess, it's manipulative, it's sneaky. there must be--a middle ground, right? and i can't expect people to just tell me, when i... i can't expect honesty if i'm not honest myself."

Is that where it starts?