Too freaky. Way too freaky. Hundreds of timeline reports never showed or even predicted this…this thing showing up. Sans's magic was quietly raging, ready to burst out at any moment, but just the possibility of Papyrus coming back to life suppressed the anger and replaced it with hope—an emotion Sans hadn't felt for a very long time.

"I'M TAKING YOUR SILENCE AS A SIGN OF INTEREST. YOU SEE, I KINDA HAVE SOME EXPERIENCE WITH FIXING…UNFAIR SITUATIONS." Bill provided a blue-flame image of the human child evaporating, with everyone who had reappearing shortly after.

Sans was willing to listen now, but still suspicious. "Prove it."

With the exception of the two monsters in the area, the whole room turned gray and even the air ceased to move. Sans had become so invested in their conversation that he didn't even notice the human walking towards him from the other side of the hall, despite the unfamiliar creature beside him. And the human too, was frozen.

Bill snapped his fingers and a fiery void opened up in the shape of a triangle behind the human. The wing all of a sudden started howling and the multicolored flames were almost blinding. "KIDS LIKE THESE SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL, THAT'S WHAT YOU ALWAYS SAY, AND YET IT NEVER HAPPENS. HOW ABOUT I FIX THAT FOR YOU?"

Sans would love to send that child to hell himself, but no matter how hard he tried, their determination got the better of his own laziness. Now a crazy powerful demon—monster—whatever he was, was offering to change everything, to give this timeline a "happy ending."

And deep down, Sans also knew there was something extremely off about this guy, aside from the power and knowledge. Or maybe he was just being paranoid? Just because Flowey was an innocent-looking demon didn't mean every weird yellow monster was.

Or was that just an excuse to be lazy?

Either way, Sans could get his brother back. Papyrus, who foolishly believed that anyone could be a good person if they just tried, Bill could bring him back here and now, Sans could protect him this time. He could fix everything.

And they'd have the final human soul needed to break the barrier between the Underground and the Surface, if this child even had any soul left.

Right. Of course they'd still have a soul, all a human soul needs to last is determination. And this little shit had proven they have plenty of it.

Now Sans was determined too.

He sighed. "What's the catch? There's gotta be a catch."

"LOOK AT THIS GUY, ANOTHER GREAT QUESTION! ALL I NEED IS FOR YOU TO ALLOW ME TO USE YOUR BODY AS A PASSAGE, SO I CAN, YOU KNOW, EXPLAIN TO EVERYONE WHAT'S GOING ON. ONLY YOU CAN SEE ME, TIME TRAVELER'S SECRET, YA KNOW? IT'LL ONLY BE EVERY ONCE IN AWHILE, YOU'LL STILL BE ABLE TO SEE EVERYTHING THAT'S GOING ON."

If Bill had said this earlier, Sans would've blasted him out of the timeline right then and there. But at this point, Bill could mention taking the Souls and he wouldn't care anymore. Sans just wanted his brother back, his friends back, for this timeline to break out of its loop once and for all.

"You got yourself a deal, weirdo." They shook hands, both covered in blue flame. Sans was already used to the burning, he had been for several timelines now.

"PLEASURE DOIN' BUSINESS WITH YA, NOW TO HOLD UP MY END OF THE DEAL."

The wind froze again. A blinding light filled the corridor; the child didn't even scream as they were sucked into the fiery void, it was more like they were fading away into the light, turning to dust.

The villain was gone, the heroes were back. Everyone was alive now, everyone was safe now.

Papyrus was alive now, and Sans didn't even have to go looking for him.

Bill had disappeared, but Sans could hear his last words echoing: "I'LL LEAVE YOU TWO TO A BROTHERLY REUNION NOW, BYE!"

Another loud voice boomed, one much more familiar.

"SANS? WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE ARE WE? DID I CAPTURE THE HUMAN!?" Papyrus didn't waste any time staying calm.

Sans had never been any happier to hear his brother overreact.