Preface / Author's Notes

This fanfiction would not have been possible (at least, not as polished) without the help of several amazing friends. I want to thank jayalaw for reading early chapter copies. I also need to provide an unending round of thankful applause to pandamerium and treepelt, who provided me with ASL information and feedback to ensure that my use of the language in this story is grammatical, accurate, and well-presented. I am so thankful to have learned more about ASL through this journey.

Although I have "Reset or Resume" marked as completed on FFN, I will admit this is about a third of my planned material for the story. I had high hopes for this fic and created the most intricate outlines and structures for this piece, but ultimately, I realized I did not have the time in my life to complete it. It's been well over a year since I last added material to my draft, and I consistently don't feel in the mood to tackle this again. I am sorry that this leaves story threads hanging and incomplete, and some areas might have subtle glitches in characterization I never corrected after tweaking some plot areas. But I know I will not finish this story. I planned to post it only ONLY when it was completely done (so as not to have reader commentary influence my planned plot, quality of writing, or level of enthusiasm for the project), so the fact I am posting it now means I have accepted this will not progress any further than it has. I am calling my work on it "done."

"Reset or Resume" might not have its ending. Nevertheless, I have worked too long and too hard on this story not to share what I did complete. It's the fanfiction I have worked with the hardest effort and greatest amount of editing or planning. It's not done but I'm going to humbly say… I'm proud of it. Disappointed I couldn't finish it, but proud of what did get written. I hope you enjoy it, too. Individuals who have read my drafts have emphatically agreed with me that this is something that should be shared, something worth reading, something that can be legitimately enjoyed by readers despite its lack of planned ending.

So here it is.

Even without the scenes where Papyrus would have stepped out and shined, scenes explaining how the different plot lines connect together, and scenes leading up to Gaster's fateful demise, I hope it's enjoyable to read.

If anyone wishes to learn what WOULD have been written had I finished, please feel free to request that in reviews. After I post the full text for "Reset or Resume", if there is interest, I can provide outlines, a summary of what would have occurred, and explain how everything would have been connected together.

Thank you so much for looking at my fanfiction. Your readership truly means a great deal to me.

All the best,

Haddock

Hopefully Helpful Disclaimers:

1. This fanfiction is rated T for material including profanity, death (including major character death), and gun violence.

2. The artwork cover is my own. I drew it.

3. I am a professional linguist but I do not speak American Sign Language. I did my best to represent ASL accurately (fyi: full caps depict word-per-word translations, italics generic translations in grammatical English). I asked two ASL speakers for assistance and had them read all chapters with ASL in it. I don't remember if they read the final, rougher chapters, though. Those may potentially have unintended errors of translation or description. Let me know if there is anything major I need to fix, and I will be happy to either rewrite that moment or put in an A/N comment explaining my inaccuracy.

4. I also did my best to research quantum mechanics and physics to provide a scientific-based approach to Undertale time traveling lore. Again, I am a linguist, not a physicist. I never even took a high school physics class. There will be some intentional finagling of science to get time travel to work - this is science fiction, after all - though there may occasionally be errors in my depictions of science. I apologize if I've done so. I've endeavored to be as accurate as possible. But please... there is no need to send corrections to me over it... this is science-fiction.

5. This story isn't precisely my headcanon for Sans and Papyrus' backstory. Some elements in here are my headcanons, but lots of this explores what I thought would be an interesting hypothetical.

6. Lots of scenes were planned for characters like Papyrus and Undyne, but I did not get to those moments, and as is such these characters' representation is incomplete - not per say misinterpreted. Papyrus is, after all, far, far, far more than the peppy brother to Sans. He's complex, central, and impressive in many ways. Especially, Papyrus is the individual whose philosophical vision is central to Undertale. Papyrus, while someone who desires to be in the Royal Guard and is incredibly skilled in fighting magic, is also the person who encourages Frisk to make friends with everyone. This philosophy of befriending everyone is what is needed to do a True Pacifist Ending and save the Underground. Papyrus holds the key to the greatest ending, the key to how all monsters can be saved and spared and freed from the underground. I planned to pull in a lot of great Papyrus material highlighting his great strengths as well as his nuanced relationship to his brother, but that would have been the bulk of Parts Two and Three.

And because I didn't finish this story, how Sans got from A (what I first present in this fanfiction) to B (what you see in present-day Undertale) is also absent.

If you still don't happen to like how I interpreted and presented the characters, that is totally fine! No worries! It's only to be expected that each of us have different preferences on how a character is portrayed, interpreted, or developed in the derivative world of fanfiction. Rather than posting toxic hateful reviews, you have the full power to not read my fanfiction and instead find material you do enjoy. Let us all work together to make the fandom an enjoyable place where we can kindly and excitedly relate to what we love in common.

6. I can never say it enough so I'll say it twice to you today: thank you so much for looking into my story!