A soft, cold breeze spread around Snowdin like the rain filling a stream. Bits of snow were carried away by the wind, landing on flowers and trees, or simply travelling in the air towards who knows where.

Over a snowy hill, a hooded figure stood motionless staring into the vast, pure white horizon. Even in that dimpled smile, and careless half-closed eyes, a hint of worry could still be perceived in the overall laid back features.

It was going to happen again. He could feel it; it was a strong feeling that told him he wasn't wrong, and that no matter when, the chaos would occur. Sans had learnt to heed those specific feelings.

That demon was still out there. And she would do it again. Sans had been there to watch her kill everyone with a smile wider than his own. Not a single bit of mercy was present on that thing as she murdered anyone she saw. No matter how friendly they were, they would die. They offer friendship, they obtained a killing slash.

Sans had seen that demon face-to-face. He fought against her. And won. And won. And won over and over again. Until, on his most desperate attempt to stop her, he failed, and there was nothing he could have done to keep restraining that poor excuse for a human.

The monsters had tried their best to stop her before their battle. He saw them. He saw them fight or even try to spare that thing. All their attempts had been useless.

Undyne saved a child's life and risked her own doing so without thinking twice, and even when she refused to die and morphed into an even stronger, determined version of herself, she still died at the hands of the demon. But the way she tried was admirable, and Sans had no doubt she was a true heroine.

Mettaton had also done a heroic, but sadly futile attempt at stopping her. Even he knew that his NEO form wasn't strong enough to win against something like that, but he still tried because he cared about what could happen to the entire Underground, and even the surface.

And Papyrus… in Sans' eyes, he had done the best possible attempt. He knew his brother would never fight, even if his life depended on it, and if he did, he wouldn't dare to kill anyone, be it a serial murderer or not. He tried to convince her, and put his nonexistent heart into it. He knew there was a good person within that human; too bad that wasn't true at all.

And then, there had been him. The lazy skeleton who had to take action, and he wished he had done something sooner. Sometimes, Sans wondered why he didn't straight up kill her before she murdered his brother. He was there. He could have done something.

But his response had been to freeze when she killed the most important thing to him and laughed maniacally afterwards. He hadn't talked to anyone until they met again at the Judgment Hall. He smacked himself mentally again and again. He had been a fool for not doing anything and waiting until the last moment.

He did all he could. It still wasn't enough. He didn't know what that thing did after she killed him. The only ones alive after the massacre were Asgore and that stupid flower. She probably killed them too.

The next thing he knew was that everything had turned back to normal. Everyone was alive and happy, not remembering what happened. But Sans did remember it. Not fully, but he did know there had been nobody left in the Underground and a crazed human was murdering everyone for her own amusement. And she was back at it.

He wouldn't let it happen again. He was prepared. He had to do something. He had to take everyone away from there.

He was young back then, but the memory struck him. When New Home was still under construction, Asgore had reunited the monsters to tell them that if something ever went horribly wrong, there was a Protection Center (as always, the King couldn't think of a better name) far away, in almost unexplored parts of the Underground in which there were still no buildings whatsoever. He ordered to build it away from everything and everyone so the attacking anomaly would never find them.

By the time that human came by, everyone forgot about the Center. It slipped out of their minds, because nothing bad happened. Most monsters didn't think such thing would ever be necessary, and erased it from their memories. How wrong they were.

Sans had to get everyone there. It wouldn't be easy, but he had to. He needed to forget about his damned life for once, stop being the careless, lazy idiot he now called himself, and take action. He would save everyone. Even if he wasn't able to save himself in the process.

His decision had been made. He had enough time to warn Papyrus without him willing to know what really happened; the child was probably in the Ruins, acting all innocent around Toriel.

She wanted to go. But not to find a new, more placid home like she had made Toriel believe, no. She had requested Chara to go with her in her second murderous route, and the deceased child gladly accepted to accompany her. They couldn't wait to go on a killing spree once again.

Chara had manipulated Frisk into believing she was a killing machine the first time. A beast with only one purpose: causing death and gloom all over. It was fun, especially for Chara. She didn't have to do the dirty job, but would definitely take control in certain moments. She knew how it worked. Only two monsters would put up a real fight. Pathetic.

She remembered the last run. She would make Frisk lash out at anyone who dared to stand on their way. It was too easy to kill everyone. The other child had accepted she was murderous, as murderous as certain demon. And she liked it.

After a simple 'fight' with Toriel, the old monster was starting to give up. She was making her attacks lessen and miss purposely. Chara liked Frisk's new way of killing, it was the best way; she would lure them into a false sense of security, to then murder them without remorse. Such a wonderful way to kill.

"…I promise I will take good care of you here."

Her smile could melt the angriest of monsters into happiness, but that wouldn't work with Frisk. She didn't do anything, and merely returned the smile. She held the knife behind her back innocently, her hands clutching the hilt with excitement. She couldn't wait to see the look on that innocent face. Chara felt her own spirit wavering in anticipation.

"I know we do not have much, but… We can have a good life here."

Same smile, same return. The small hands clutched the hilt harder. Frisk prepared herself.

Toriel's happy expression faded, seeing her child do nothing. She didn't even move, and her little smile has widening. Toriel could barely understand if she wanted to stay or go. That grin could tell many things, but the monster wasn't the one to tell them apart.

"Why are you making this so difficult? Please, go upstairs…"

Frisk didn't move, but she could barely hold in a giggle. A sadistic giggle. She made no movement whatsoever, and Toriel started to look worried, and saddened. She didn't know what the kid wanted. She didn't respond to her. What was she waiting for? Was she waiting for her to cry, or just give up?

Frisk blinked innocently, and the goat monster had to let a smile of her own carve her white face. She chuckled gently. "Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child."

That was it. Chara grinned; the most sinister, maleficent grin Frisk had seen in her entire life, and she almost tried to mimic it. Right. You cannot save even a single child, the human thought coolly. I suppose you can't even save yourself either.

Frisk stared at Toriel dead in the eye for a moment, and her adoptive 'mother' could have sworn she saw the dimmest of red hues on her eyes as she lunged forward before she could react on the slightest, and slashed her chest and face.

Toriel froze, as blood slowly dripped out of her wounds.

She tried to talk, but found herself unable to. Her eyes glanced at the child. Drops of blood fell from the blade. Frisk laughed silently, watching Toriel with a completely insane face. Chara cackled, her laughter unheard by Toriel's ears but ringing like a pleasant melody in Frisk's.

"You…" the monster's voice cracked, and turned eerily deep. "…at my most vulnerable moment…" Blood stained her purple robe, and fell down her cheek. "To think I was worried you wouldn't fit in out there…"

A frown appeared on Frisk's face as Toriel started laughing, almost like she was brushing it off. Her expression had a smile painted on it. She couldn't believe who she tried to protect. What she tried to protect. She was trying her best to keep a merciless beast safe. She had been such a fool.

"You really are no different than them!"

Her legs were unable to support her any longer, and Toriel fell to her knees on a dying breath. But even so, she managed to chuckle at her terrible mistake. "Ha… ha…"

Her body pulsed, and disappeared into mere dust. Toriel still died with a smile on her face.

"Beautiful." Frisk heard Chara's whispering voice on her head. She giggled. "I knew you had it in you. You don't have enough with only killing monsters, don't you? Heh heh. You must make them suffer mentally now as well, just for your own amusement. Such cruelty. I love it."

"WHAT?"

Papyrus couldn't give credit to what he heard. He was merely re-adjusting his color tile puzzle when Sans popped out of nowhere, as usual, and told him they had to leave. Just like that. No plain greetings, no jokes, no puns. He just told him they had to get out of there, and with a strangely serious tone.

"you heard me. we have to leave. and as soon as possible."

What was that for? That wasn't the Sans Papyrus was used to. He was acting weird.

The elder brother couldn't tell him both of them had been murdered in a previous timeline. Not only because his younger brother wouldn't believe it without what Papyrus considered solid proof, but because he lacked the guts to tell him so. And literally, at that.

Sans didn't imagine himself doing it. If he had to, how would he tell the sensible Papyrus something like that? hey bro, we've been killed by a crazy kid who reseted the timeline and now i'm going to stop her by going who-knows-how-far-away with all the monsters living here. Yeah, sure.

"SANS, I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE WITHOUT AN EXPLANATION."

He saw it coming. Sans was too worried about the kid's presence that he forgot Papyrus wouldn't think he was acting normally. He thought for a second. He hadn't planned it out, he didn't know what his reaction would be, and if he would believe whatever crossed his mind first.

"listen pap, we just need to go."

"BUT WHERE? AND WHY?"

"we've gotta go with undyne. you better come before it's too late."

Papyrus was completely lost. What was Sans talking about? What was the need on bothering Undyne? What was with the hurry? Too late for what? The tall skeleton's mind swam in a bottomless sea of unanswered questions. He gazed at his brother, and stood motionless for a short moment before narrowing his eyes, both thoughtfully and questioningly. "SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH YOU."

Sans made a light-hearted chuckle at his comment. "there are many things wrong with me, bro." He winked. "be a bit specific."

Sans knew that his brother was bad at explaining stuff like that. He was good at explaining puzzles (well, 'good'), but a failure at explaining his reasons and motives. The older skeleton wanted to take advantage of that; it was better to at least have his brother guess something he'd never think of. Having fun playing a 'game' with his brother was better than telling him the hurtful truth.

"YOU… YOU JUST ARE NOT YOURSELF. YOU ARE ACTING ALL WEIRD. I MEAN- YOU JUST CAME HERE AND TOLD ME TO LEAVE. BUT LEAVE WHERE?"

"you want me to tell you? but that would ruin the surprise. go on and guess."

Deep inside, it hurt Sans to lie to his naïve brother. He had to reunite everyone with Asgore first before telling what the problem was. Obstacles like Undyne would be hard to pass through, however. She would definitely tear the truth right out of him if he wasn't careful enough. Lying to Undyne wasn't as easy as lying to Papyrus.

"WHEN YOU MAKE ME GUESS SOMETHING, IT ALWAYS TURNS OUT TO BE A JOKE."

Papyrus crossed his arms and scowled at his brother, who merely laughed it off. "come on. i promise this is no joke. not this time, at least."

Papyrus mmh-ed in thought. Sans had made him guess many things before. All of them ended in an awful pun, an awful joke, or awfully nothing. He did seem serious this time – as serious as an obviously mischievous Sans could be, at least – and Papyrus was out of ideas. He had no choice other than to believe him.

"OKAY, OKAY. YOU SAID WE ARE GOING TO SEE UNDYNE, SO ARE WE GOING TO TRAIN?"

Would be a good idea considering what's coming, Sans thought, his perpetual smile faltering out of his brother's sight. "nope. keep trying. but, it's kinda related to training. we're gonna do a ton of walking."

He winked again, and Papyrus saw it coming from a mile away.

"DON'T YOU-"

"a skele-ton."

"I KNEW IT!" the taller skeleton mildly shouted, much to Sans' delight. "I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO END UP IN A JOKE!"

"alright, alright. that's not it. couldn't resist."

He had to chuckle at the look his brother was giving him. That look of I've had enough of you Papyrus was so good at making.

"but as i said, you're close with the training thing. we're gonna walk for a long time."

"OH, OH, ARE WE GOING ON A FIELD TRIP?!"

"the more or the less." He lowered his joking behavior a bit, showing Papyrus that the fun time had ended. "but really, we've gotta go to waterfall about right now."

In the blink of an eye, they were both at the damp swampland.

Frisk stared, confused, at the almost endless line of trees in the snowy forest. She had crossed Papyrus' poor excuse for a gate in the middle of the bridge, and Sans hadn't made an appearance yet. She remembered he would try to scare her by snapping a fallen branch and pranking her before leading her through his brother's puzzles. He was gone.

"Where did that damn skeleton go?" she heard Chara growl. She hated Sans; along with Undyne, he was one of the few reasons she, along with Frisk, had to reset, and reset, and reset. It was frustrating. He had made their fight so long and thwarting that her hate could be seen boiling out of her. She remembered how much she laughed in pure delight at his ironic death. If he hadn't been such a lazy pile of bones, Chara knew he would've actually stood there, without doing anything else other than pushing her away from him with his gravity-manipulating magic, instead of having fallen asleep.

"Whatever. Let's just keep going." She chuckled darkly, and whispered, "there are many stupid monsters out there, waiting to be killed."