Loop de Loop
The first time it happened, Frisk thought they had just woken up from a very vivid dream. It was like Déjà vu; everything that they had dreamt was happening, but they still had the choice to change a few things. Toriel's death, for one, and surviving Undyne, for another. But then, Asgore didn't even fight them, and they made it. They got outside. They saw the sunset, and it was beautiful.
The second time it happened, it took them a while to figure out what was going on. They did everything just about the same, wondering why they even had to do so.
The third time, they thought they were going insane. They looked for recognition in Flowey's face, then Toriel's. They jumped to shake Sans' hand before he asked, just to see if it made a difference. It didn't, and everything still played out the same.
When they woke up to Flowey for the fourth time, they burst into tears. Flowey didn't get a word in before Toriel arrived to comfort them. They refused to cling to her at first, but they saw the hurt look on her face and threw themselves at her instead. They stayed with her for a long time, thinking that this was what they were supposed to do in the first place. After a while, though, they got restless and decided to leave.
It still played out the same exact way, and Frisk was left mentally screaming.
The fifth time they were angry. They rushed past the puzzles, hit the dummy as hard as they could, attacked any monsters that popped up in their path, instantly asked to leave, and even lashed out at Toriel. They refused to laugh at Sans' jokes, and told Papyrus that they didn't eat the spaghetti. They got into town and stomped through, not caring to stop and talk with anyone. Papyrus was still in their path, and they attacked.
It wasn't until Papyrus' dust had settled and the scarf lay on the snowy ground did they snap out of it. They stared at the layer of dust on the scarf and found themselves unable to breathe.
"Papyrus?" They asked aloud, reaching a hand out towards the dust before retracting it. "I…" I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I was just mad.
Excuses.
They fell to their knees, clutching themselves and crying. The last thing they remembered was snow crunching as everything faded to black, and then they woke up on the golden flower bed again.
This time, they took it slow and did everything properly. Frisk burst into guilty tears as they were leaving the ruins, turning back and apologizing to Toriel over and over. They refused to tell her what it was about, which just added to the poor woman's confusion. They did the same with Papyrus, who was as equally confused and much slower to calm them down. Frisk didn't care, though, and hugged the skeleton's legs before embarking towards Waterfall.
They took it nice and slow each time after that. They grew impatient often, but held themselves back as to not cause any deaths. It didn't mean they didn't get away with a few shortcuts. After so many times, they had learned the fastest way to befriend monsters, the best ways to make it out of battles alive, and all the secret rooms.
They never got their hands on the artifact though. That dog was more than they were capable of.
In the end, it was a few careless words that had given way to something different. They had been feeling more down the usual, and, when passing Sans in Waterfall, they shrugged off his telescope prank with, "No thanks, Sans. I don't feel like having a pink dot over my eye this time."
It had been such a careless thing to say, but they didn't notice it as they walked with grim determination through the glittering caverns.
They didn't think about it until they saw Sans again at the hot dog stand. They thought about what they said as they bought a few hot dogs from him, and shrugged it off as unimportant when he didn't act any differently.
Then they saw each other in the Last Corridor.
He stood there, bathed in golden light, giving his spiel about EXP and LOVE. Frisk smiled at him as he finished, and waited for him to teleport away when,
"Why do you keep doing it?" He had asked.
Frisk's eyes widened at the new line. Something akin to hope flickered in their chest. "What?"
"You've gotta be bored by now. So why do you keep doing it?" His eyes weren't smiling anymore.
"I," they choked, "do what?"
"This." He gestured to the whole room.
Frisk looked around, confused. What did he mean? They weren't responsible for that room, unless…
"I-It's not me," They said, voice wobbling, "I don't have any control over it. Every time I reach the end, I wake up back at the start."
"Oh," his eyes looked like they were frowning.
"Sans," Frisk cried, "You knew? Why didn't you say anything?"
"Buddy—"
"I was so scared. I tried to talk to everyone, but no one remembered me. You didn't remember me, but you do. Why didn't you say anything?"
"I. I don't remember it either kid," He answered sadly, "I just know how to spot this stuff. Didn't know you were aware of it 'til you said that thing about the telescope."
Frisk whimpered then launched themselves at him. They hugged him and cried loudly; their sniffles echoing down the corridor. Sans hugged the kid and patted their head, feeling as miserable as them.
Frisk calmed down after a long while. They still didn't let go of Sans when they spoke quietly, "I don't want to do this anymore."
"I don't either kid, but it's out of our control."
"Can we stop it?"
"Not in any way I know of. You?"
"I don't think I can. Not without you guys."
"Then we'll just have to wait. It's gotta stop one day, right?"
Frisk hugged Sans tighter.
"It'll stop one day, Frisk," he said, "I promise."
Frisk nodded, tears back in their eyes.
"But hey, until it does, how about this?" He separated them and winked at Frisk, "If you ever need to talk, then just come to me and tell me this password."
He leaned in and whispered something in their ear, and, for the first time in a long while, Frisk burst out laughing. Sans' face lit up with a real smile that he shared with Frisk, and the two of them took a moment to grin at each other.
"Now go on, kid," He said, "I'll be around."
Frisk sighed and nodded, moving forward with renewed determination. This time will be over, and then they'll be back at the start, but…
Like Sans said, it'll be over one day.
One day.