Yellow.

She was surrounded by yellow as she woke up, light searing her eyes.

A shaft of light lit up her surroundings and gave the flowers she lay in an otherworldly glow. They were the sort of bright yellow one might expect to see in a movie or coloring book, the sort of yellow one wouldn't have thought possible unless one saw them in person. Wearily, she registered the flowers as buttercups. The air surrounding them was just as unexpectedly quiet as their color had been. It was almost holy, this quiet. Everything- the plants, the ground, the air itself- was peaceful and still.

Frisk sat up. Too still. It was like being in a graveyard.

The smell of the buttercups filled her nostrils, nauseatingly familiar. For a moment she just sat there, staring blankly at the darkened cave wall in front of her. Then she slowly slid her hands down her side, digging her fingers into the soft dirt. After a moment, the fingers clenched into a fist, before relaxing as she slowly sank back into the petals. A sob tore itself from her throat.

Not again.

For five months, she'd been slaughtered in nearly every way possible by nearly every creature imaginable. She had created save after save, activated reset after reset, only to wake up in this same damned place once more. All her suffering, all her agony, all the hope she'd had that maybe this time could be different had been shattered once more. Just like the rest of her had been as that monster had thrown her fragile body against the ceiling.

The odd thing was that she didn't remember attempting to reset. Her death had been so sudden she hadn't had time to think. By all rights, she should've simply loaded her last save point, but for some reason, she hadn't.

Well, she supposed that wasn't really the point, anyway. The point was that she'd reset somehow, and now she was once more at the beginning of the newest version of Hell.

Frisk heaved a sigh, slowly sitting back up again. Maybe...maybe this time would be different, she tried to tell herself. Maybe this time she'd be able to hide up in some cave in Snowdin and escape the endless killing. Maybe this time, just one of the monsters would be nicer. Maybe they'd even spare her!

She drew herself to her feet and started walking. Two months ago, she might've held out that hope. But after roughly a dozen resets with no significant changes in the monsters, that hope had dwindled to scarcely more than a spark. One more reset and it would be extinguished.

Frisk stepped into the next room, where a familiar flower awaited. Flowey had been the one friend she'd had during her playthroughs, but even he had been powerless against the other monsters. Every reset, as soon as Toriel approached, he'd had to hide. Frisk didn't expect this time to be any different.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower!"

...she stood corrected.

"Flowey, it's me, Frisk," she said, staring down at him in confusion. "Remember? C'mon. You've never forgotten me after a reset yet."

"You're new to the Underground, aren't you?" Flowey continued, either not hearing her or intentionally ignoring her. "Golly, you must be so confused! Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!"

"I knowhow things work around here," Frisk huffed, crossing her arms. "It's kill or be killed."

Whatever Flowey had been about to say, he stopped, freezing. His expression made a few rapid changes before landing on a confused frown. "How do you know that?"

"Because I've been killed by these same monsters dozens of times." Her voice was tired now. "C'mon, Flowey. You're my only friend here. Please don't leave me."

Perhaps she sounded pathetic, but she couldn't bring herself to care. After all, sooner or later, she'd be back here once more. It didn't really matter what she said or what she did, because everything would always end up the same way: with her body lying on the floor.

Flowey scoffed. "What a pathetic human. I don't even remember you at all! For all I know, you could be making this up. However, you're different, I'll give you that. At least you aren't boring like everyone else."

He paused, before giving her a terrifying grin. "In fact, you know what? I'll let you live just this once. Now, you should get going! Curtain call's in, oh, five seconds?"

"Curtain call? What do you-"

Pale blue flame erupted into the cavern, singeing Flowey and sending him flying. A tall, white goat monster appeared through the archway, that same fire on her palm and a fierce expression on her face.

No.

Never before had Toriel come so quickly, so mercilessly. Never before had Frisk been so unprepared to face her.

Frisk only stared, frozen in mute horror, as Toriel approached, her flames casting flickering shadows that made her appear even more menacing. In other timelines, Frisk had been able to hide, or at least been able to construct some sort of weapon beforehand. Now she was defenseless. Compared to Toriel, she was as weak as a child. She hadn't even gotten the chance to save yet, which meant her only option was...

"What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth."

Frisk slowly began to back away, fingers grasping for the rough stone of the wall behind her. There had to be another way out of this. Each reset caused her pain that was nigh-unbearable. She couldn't take that again.

"W-Wait! What if I..." Frisk desperately searched her memories of Toriel for a way out. In many previous tries, Toriel hadn't initially tried to kill her. Instead, she'd almost acted...motherly. Much of the time, Toriel didn't attempt to kill her until she tried to leave the Ruins.

"...Mom. I-I promise I won't leave the Ruins. I love you, okay?"

She expected Toriel's psychotic eyes to swirl. She expected to hear Toriel's demented voice ask if she preferred mint or molasses pie. She expected Toriel to reach down and hug her, to get close enough that Frisk could see the patchy, worn fur on the monster's arms.

None of that happened. Instead, she was given a confused, "Child? Have...have we met?"

"N-No," Frisk stammered out, "But, uh, you seem so nice? Like you'd make the perfect mom."

"Child..."

Frisk finally gathered the courage to look up.

Toriel's eyes weren't the hazy red-and-yellow Frisk had grown so accustomed to over the past months. They were dark brown, with the barest hint of warm red in the irises. That was...odd. And now that Frisk was looking, more and more differences jumped out at her. Gone were the flames Toriel had used on Flowey, but the memory of them was not. They'd been pale, almost ice blue, not the brilliant red of old.

Even stranger, those weren't the only changes. Toriel's past garb of a red, frayed dress was gone, replaced by a soft blue dress with a lighter blue emblem embroidered on the front. Neither was her fur matted or sparse or missing in places. Instead, it was soft and almost shiny, as though it were well cared for.

"My child, you are afraid, are you not?"

But the biggest change by far was Toriel herself. Where were the unsettling stares and smiles? Where were the terrifying cackles? Where was the demented voice she used whenever she got into one of her fits?

"Please, do not be afraid. I mean you no harm."

Frisk only stared, shocked out of her reverie. This monster, this creature who'd killed her over and over again, was telling her not to be afraid? No matter how much Toriel's outward appearance had changed, there was no way one reset could have changed her that much.

She didn't hesitate. She bolted, ducking under Toriel's reaching arms, sprinting past her through the archway and into the next room. Behind her, she could hear Toriel pleading with her to come back, saying that she meant no harm and that she only wanted to protect Frisk. Frisk just ran up the stairs and into the next room.

Her side began to cramp up as she flew through the next corridor, flicking the labelled switches as fast as humanly possible before dashing onward. The next room, if she remembered correctly, had a dummy- for what purpose she'd never figured out- so she'd be able to get through there quickly.

Toriel's footsteps echoed behind Frisk, far enough not to be an immediate concern but still much too close. She tried to talk to Frisk occasionally, yelling something about wanting to help every minute or so. But Frisk was not nearly dumb enough to be persuaded by that. She simply kept going, all the way to the large patch of metal spikes at the end of the next room.

That managed to stop her. She'd hadn't had to go through this puzzle on her own for at least four resets. It was difficult to remember how she'd gotten through it; all she could recall at the moment was stepping on the wrong tile at the wrong time and ending up with metal through her leg.

Toriel's footsteps got louder. Frisk was running out of time.

Grimly, she gathered her determination and SAVED. Then she took one cautious step onto the tiles.

The spikes retracted.

Frisk exhaled, heart pounding. She didn't have much time, but one wrong decision could end up with her impaled. Now that she'd focused on her previous reset's memories, her actions were coming back. She remembered reading the hint: "The western room is the eastern room's blueprint." She'd certainly traveled both rooms enough to know their paths by heart, so...

Another step. Another spike retracting. Another slow, deep exhale.

"Child, please wait! It is dangerous!"

Toriel's voice was close enough that Frisk could hear it almost perfectly. She sped up her walking and very nearly ended up killing herself as a consequence; a quick jump backwards was the only thing that saved her.

She started shaking then. Whatever anger she might've normally had at herself for that was quickly forgotten once she remembered she was facing certain death no matter what she did. She couldn't remember how to traverse this puzzle. At the same time, neither could she wait for Toriel's approach. Whatever option she chose, she risked her life.

Frisk closed her eyes and pictured the western room as clearly as she could. She took a deep breath. Edged her foot forward.

"Oh dear, oh dear, I do hope that poor child hasn't gotten herself into any trouble..."

The spikes retracted.

The next few minutes Frisk spent in total concentration, tentatively testing each tile before she stepped on it. It was with a colossal sigh of relief that she finally crossed to the other side.

Of course, that was the exact moment when Toriel appeared in view. She gasped at the scene, shooting frantic inquires about how Frisk had managed to cross and was she hurt? But Frisk only took off once more, more determined than ever to escape.

The next room was the long, empty one Frisk had always hated. Something about it made her feel exposed, as though anyone or anything could be watching her. She was almost glad to run through it, even as her side cramped to the point of agony. At least she was putting more distance between she and Toriel; that was the one thing that mattered. If she could get far enough away from the monster, she could safely cross into Snowdin, then hide until the monsters forgot about her. It wouldn't take long.

It felt like years passed before she was finally out of that room. Her lungs were burning from the effort and her legs felt like jelly, but Toriel's voice was fainter than it had been yet. Frisk just needed to keep going a little longer.

She kept running on and on and on, her determination the only thing keeping her going. She never stopped even when monsters attempted to fight her, continuing doggedly forward. Some of the puzzles had already been solved for her, and those that weren't she completed herself within seconds.

Finally, she stood in front of Home, panting.

Toriel's Home had always been a strange place for her. Of course she'd had a home back on the surface, even if it had sometimes felt more like a house than a home. But Home...in the few timelines that Toriel had been more normal, Frisk had almost enjoyed her time here. Yes, the pies were often burnt or gritty, and sometimes the flowers adorning the place were wilted or moldy, but she'd felt like she had someone who cared for her. Even if it was just until she tried to leave.

It wasn't like her life on the surface had been bereft of love, but at the very least, it had been bereft of parental love. Her parents had been poor but hard-working, always trying to give their only child a better life. In hindsight Frisk recognized their love for her, but as a child of five, of ten, of fifteen, she hadn't understood that. Which was why it was nice to have had those few fleeting moments when Toriel had almost acted like the mother Frisk had always wanted.

Sighing deeply, Frisk stepped inside the house.

There were more changes with confused her. The floors were swept, the carpets clean, and there was hardly a speck of dust to be found. The heavenly smell of freshly-baked pie came to her nose as she started towards the stairwell.

Maybe,the thought came to her, maybe this time is different. Maybe...

But she shook the thought off and started down the stairs.

Without Toriel there to stop her, the journey through the passage was fairly quick. It was only when she stood in front of the doorway leading to Snowdin that she paused.

This was where she usually met Flowey again. In some timelines, she'd managed to get him a pot and carry him around in it; in some he'd followed her on foot into Snowdin; in some he'd promised he was watching over her. What would happen this time?

Frisk rubbed her arms, shivering, and not just because of the rapidly dropping temperature. Flowey had said he'd spare her 'just this once,' so if he saw her again, what would happen? Would he straight up kill her? Frisk was aware of how powerful he was after having fought by his side in several timelines. She didn't have a good chance of winning, not weaponless like she was. And convincing him? Frisk had tried her hardest to convince almost every monster not to kill her. She'd failed every single time.

But if she stayed here, Toriel would eventually come looking for her down here. She needed to keep moving. She knew of several good places to hide in Snowdin, so now she just needed to get there. Which meant getting past Flowey first.

Frisk took a deep breath and strode forward.

"I bet you feel really great."

Frisk startled, head jerking towards Flowey.

"You didn't kill anybody this time. Whoopee. Honestly, it's hard to believe you're still trying to get out of here without killing anybody. You said it yourself, you've been killed how many times? Twenty? Thirty? Fifty?"

Flowey grinned, showing fanged teeth. "You'll get tired of it eventually, and what then? Will you finally kill them back? Or will you just give up?"

Frisk pursed her lips and turned away, walking past him.

The last thing she heard as she passed through into Snowdin was Flowey's demonic laughter and, as she shut the door, "Remember: it's kill or be killed!"

A/N: First off, I'll be using CORE!Frisk along with Errortale and Error!Sans at various points in the story. Neither of those AUs or their associated characters are of my own creation; all credit goes to dokudoki for CORE!Frisk and loverofpigges for Errortale.

Second, I tagged this as Reader/Sans and Frisk/Sans mostly because the 'Frisk' I'm using in this story isn't the original, canonical Frisk. There are age differences, personality differences (although canon Frisk doesn't really have a personality, I'll admit), and I don't have a set appearance for this Frisk. In addition, this Frisk is female, not nb. In many ways, this will be more like a reader insert than an actual canonical character from Undertale, which is why I tagged it as both.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!