Frisk fidgeted, her eyes darting wildly. "Why should I talk to you about anything? I should just reset right now!"

Sans chuckled, taking a step forward. "Yeah, I guess you could. But I don't think you're going to."

"Why's that? You're awfully sure of yourself for someone who's died by my hand dozens of times!"

Sans paused a moment. "... And you're awfully sure for someone who I've killed hundreds of times." He shook his head. "You know what I think, kid? I don't think that you're going to reset. Not this time, anyway. I mean, why would you? You thrive off of new experiences. The number of times you've messed with me, saving the world, only to erase it all and to kill us once again, or that one timeline where you thought it'd be funny to kill my brother and nobody else? ... Heh. I used to think you were just cruel. Now, I'm not so sure."

Frisk stayed silent, but Sans swore he saw something flicker on their face.

"I've got to hand it to you, there were times when you made me respect you, also - where you'd kill someone I loved only to go back, to save them. Did you do it because you felt bad? Or just for some sense of finality? ... Was it a mixture of both?" Sans sighed. "It doesn't matter what your motives were, kid. The fact of the matter is, you're someone who craves new things. You live off them - it doesn't matter if someone you love is dying right before your eyes, it doesn't matter if you just betrayed a friend - all that matters is that you haven't experienced it before." He laughed. "Judging by your expression, I'd say that this, right here, is new for you, isn't it? You know that my actions in front of this bridge didn't change, didn't falter- even after you killed my brother for that first time. So when I say there's something important that you need to hear, you know I'm telling the truth. And you can't bear to miss out on it."

Frisk grit her teeth, tightening her grip around her weapon. "You..." She stared at her feet, quivering. "... You don't get it. None of you morons would."

Sans raised an eye socket. That... hadn't been the infuriated response he'd been pushing for. "Explain it to me then, kid. What could possibly drive you to reset the world over and over again? To toy with peoples lives like some kind of sick game?" He could feel his voice rising with each word, each one louder and more coated with hatred and disgust than the last. "To make friends, get to know people, gain their love, their trust, give them what they've been after for thousands upon thousands of years, only to take it away?" His blue eye flared as he choked out the final words, and he felt his composure fall. "Why don't you just explain to me why you keep. On. Fucking. Resetting!"

Frisk was silent. "It doesn't matter what I do." She murmured. "It doesn't matter if I consider you my friends, whether I grant you pity or kill you - you're all going to die, whether you get to the surface or not. I'll... She'll..." She just couldn't bring herself to say it. She bit her lip. "...You said we needed to talk?"

Sans took a moment to steady his breaths. "A-actually, kid - its about your resets."

Frisk frowned. 'My...?"

Frisk felt time stop around her. It went eerily silent - the howling of the wind stopped, as did the distant sound of footsteps. Everything was dark except for a small patch of snow from her to Sans. She'd experienced this before. "Yeah." Sans said. "You see, each time you reset, the strain on the space time continuum grows ever so slightly, wearing away at the walls of the individual timelines. it hasn't been much of a problem until now. You'd reset time and timeline again, and nothing would really change. Maybe a few small details or a strand of dialogue here and there, but it wasn't that big a deal. Now, however?" Frisk shivered as Sans' eyes went dark. "... Kid. You're resetting too much."

"Yeah, so? How do you even know?" Frisk scoffed. She wished that Sans would just get to the point, whether that was the point he was trying to make or the much more literal point of the knife she was twirling in her hand.

Sans growled. "You're not getting it, are you kid? People can remember what you did, or at least, they're starting to. The timelines are beginning to breakdown into one. Maybe a metaphor you might be able to wrap your head around is 'an amalgamate'." He saw Frisk shudder a little. "If the timelines continue to breakdown in this manner, it could mean the end of the multiverse... or worse."

Worse? Frisk thought to herself. How could anything be worse than the end of...? "How do I know you're not lying?" She asked. "How do I know that this isn't just some ruse to catch me off guard and kill me? It wouldn't be the first time you've done it and I mean, killing me at the start of the game?" She laughed. "I wouldn't be expecting it, thats for sure."

"... Game?" Sans muttered. "Jeez, you really are twisted, kid. Trust me when I say this - If I was going to kill you, I could have done it five minutes ago. No, I just want you to follow me, go through with all of Papyrus's puzzles and play along - with one difference. This time, I want you to pay attention to how he looks at you and what he says. It'll be different, I assure you. You'll want to know why he's looking at you so... oddly, so let me tell you in advance . Its because deep within him, he knows he can recognise you. He doesn't know who you are, or where he recognises you from - he just knows that you hurt him and he'll be trying to figure out why. Why he thinks that you hurt him, why you would hurt him to begin with. And you know something, kid? I think those are perfectly valid questions. Why would you hurt Papyrus? Even out of boredom, how could you bring yourself to? ... I don't think I could ever understand."

Frisk frowned into the air, as though she were remembering something unpleasant. "I'll go along with your little act. Just unfreeze time and get those gaster blasters away from me."

With one click of his fingers, Sans resumed the world around them and gaster blasters retracted, disappearing into thin air. The bones disappeared into the earth. "You know where to start off then, don't you?" Sans pointed towards the lamp a few metres in front of them.

As Frisk sighed and slipped behind the lamp for the gazillionth time, she heard more footsteps. Papyrus. He made his way up the snowy path, moving in long, confident strides. "SANS!" He called. "SANS! ARE YOU UP HERE?"

"Sup, bro?" Sans stood innocently, his hands by his sides.

"DON'T 'SUP BRO' ME, SANS! YOU SAID YOU'D BE GONE FIFTEEN MINUTES, THEN YOU DISAPPEARED FOR THE ENTIRE MORNING! WHERE'D YOU GO!? YOU WEREN'T AT YOUR SENTRY POST EITHER! DON'T TELL ME YOU WERE SLACKING OFF AGAIN, LAZY BONES!?" Papyrus scolded.

Sans chuckled. "Sorry about that - I had some errands to run. Guess I got a little carried away. You could say that 'my heart wasn't in it'." Papyrus glared at him. "I 'didn't have the guts'."

"SAAANS!" Papyrus groaned. "AS IF YOUR PUNS AND YOUR LAZINESS WEREN'T BAD ENOUGH, IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL. HAVEN'T. RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION. WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING!?

"Staring at this lamp. It's really cool. Wanna look?" Please say yes, thought Sans.

"NO!" Papyrus exclaimed. Dammit, thought Sans. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT... RECOGNITION... I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN..." He stopped, frowning. "BROTHER. DO FORGIVE ME IF I AM WRONG, BUT... HAVE I SAID ALL OF THIS BEFORE? I COULD HAVE SWORN... YOU WERE ACTING WEIRD ABOUT THOSE DREAMS OF MINE, TOO ... SANS, IS SOMETHING THE MATTER?"

For a split second, Sans looked helpless. "N-no, bro." He forced out. "Nothings the matter. There's nothing you need to worry about, okay?"

Papyrus didn't look convinced. "OKAY, SANS. BUT YOU WILL TELL ME IF SOMETHING IS TROUBLING YOU, WON'T YOU? I'M YOUR BROTHER, AFTER ALL. IF YOU CANNOT TALK TO ME, WHO CAN YOU TALK TO? YOU'RE LUCKY - NOT EVERYONE HAS A BROTHER AS COOL AS ME TO TALK TO IN TIMES OF TROUBLE!"

"Yeah, I know, Papyrus. You're the best."

"EXACTLY! NYEH HEH HEH! I AM GOING TO ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES NOW, BROTHER! AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE... 'BACKBONE' INTO IT! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! ... HEH."

As Papyrus walked off, Frisk emerged from behind the lamp. "So... Uh... He remembered?"

Sans didn't reply for a while. "... Yep. I think you'd better get going," he said, barely looking at Frisk. "You wouldn't want him to come back. Who knows what else he might remember."

Frisk thought for a few moments before she decided not to reply. Instead she turned and began to walking after Papyrus. "Actually... hey, could you do me a favor?" Sans voice made Frisk stop cold. "... Don't harm my brother. Or any more creatures in the Underground. Please. I don't know what your motives were this run - if you were going to kill everyone or save everyone, but whatever they were, push them aside. Cause' I'm really not in the mood to fight you this time."

Frisk paused for a moment. "Don't worry." She smiled and raised her hands. "These hands are dust free."

"SANS! YOU'RE HERE!" Papyrus cheered. It was always a pleasant surprise when Sans appeared next to him. It was out of the blue and a little creepy - like, Papyrus was pretty sure that he hadn't been there before, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that for once, Sans wasn't being lazy! What a glorious turn of events! "THIS IS WONDERFUL! I HAVE SET UP MANY PUZZLES THAT REQUIRE FINE TUNING, CALIBRATION, RECALIBRATION AND RE-RECALIBRATION! YOU WILL HAVE A FUN TIME, I AM SURE."

Sans chuckled. "I'm sure I will, bro."

"DID I TELL YOU WHAT I DID WHILST YOU WERE AWAY RUNNING YOUR 'ERRANDS', BROTHER!?"

"Nah, what'd you do?" Sans stretched out, relaxing. He already knew the answer - he'd heard the story dozens of times by now, so much so that he could practically recite it back to Papyrus. It was just nice to hear his brother talk.

"UNDYNE INVITED ME OVER FOR ANOTHER COOKING LESSON! SHE TAUGHT ME ALL THESE FANCY TIPS AND SECRET TECHNIQUES FOR COOKING SPAGHETTI, SOME OF WHICH I'D NEVER EVEN HEARD OF BEFORE! YOU KNOW, UNDYNE HAS A VERY INTERESTING WAY OF MAKING THE SAUCE? SHE'S SO PASSIONATE ABOUT IT, TOO! I MEAN, ITS RATHER MESSY FOR ME... BUT IF IT WORKS FOR HER, I SAY THE MORE POWER TO HER! I REALLY LOVE HER MOTTO OF 'LETTING THE FLAME REPRESENT THE PASSION', ALSO! I LIKE IT SO MUCH IN FACT, THAT I HAD TO TAKE NOTES! THEN UNDYNE GOT ANGRY AT ME BECAUSE SHE THOUGHT I WASN'T LISTENING AND SHE TORE MY NOTEBOOK TO SHREDS... BUT I DIGRESS! I REALLY FEEL LIKE I'M MAKING PROGRESS, SANS! UNDYNE TRIED MY SPAGHETTI THE OTHER DAY AND YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT SHE SAID!"

"Yeah? What'd she say?"

"SHE SAID I'D 'REALLY IMPROVED', SANS! A GENUINE COMPLIMENT! I MEAN, OF COURSE I'VE IMPROVED - AFTER ALL, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND I AM VERY COOL. IT WOULD BE NEAR IMPOSSIBLE FOR ONE AS GREAT AS MYSELF TO NOT IMPROVE! SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE..."

Just then, Papyrus heard footsteps. For a moment, he thought it might be Sans - but that couldn't have been right. For one, he never heard Sans footsteps... And two, Sans was right next to him. Unless Sans had a twin, which was doubtful. He turned to see who it was and saw... something. Something jagged, something grey and hard - unlike anything he had ever seen before! He exchanged glances back and forth with Sans and back to the thing, their darting eyes getting more and more frantic. "SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT... A HUMAN!?"

"Uh... Actually, I think thats a rock." Sans said.

Papyrus felt his heart sink. "...OH."

Sans couldn't bear to see Papyrus disappointed, even if it was only for a second. "Hey, what's that in front of the rock?" He said hastily.

"OH MY GOD!" He whispered to Sans, "IS... IS THAT A HUMAN?"

"Yes." Sans whispered back.

"OH MY GOD! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! I..." He stopped, squinting at the human in front of him. He'd finally found a human. He should have been ecstatic... but for some reason, he didn't feel happy. Instead, he felt some other emotion, something that he couldn't quite place. "S-SANS... W-WHY DO I FEEL SO FUNNY? WHY ARE...?" He looked down to see his hands trembling. The color of his bones had gone a pastier white than usual.

Fear.

Sans looked up at Papyrus with concern. "Are you okay, Paps? Do you want to go home?"

"N-NO! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MUST CAPTURE THAT H-HUMAN! I MUST BECOME P-POPULAR, A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" Papyrus sounded unsure. He looked from the human and back to Sans one last time, beginning to frown. "S-SANS... CAN I TALK TO YOU... IN PRIVATE..."

"Sure, bro." Sans gestured at Frisk to continue on. Frisk could see the fury smoldering in his eyes as she walked by. She knew that she deserved his hatred, but what could she do? It wasn't like she had known that this was going to happen, that the monsters would start to the remember the crap she'd done. As interesting as it all was, it wasn't like this had been what she had wanted. Then again, she had said that about her first genocide run. Had she learnt nothing from her first encounter with Chara? That her actions had consequences? How could she have been so stupid?

"T-THAT HUMAN... THERE... THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THEM..." Papyrus began, glancing at Frisk nervously. "NOW, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING - YOU'RE THINKING I MUST BE A BONEHEAD, JUDGING THEM OFF OF A HUNCH. YOU'RE THINKING, 'PAPYRUS, WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?' I KNOW IT'S CRAZY... USUALLY I WOULD THINK THAT EVERYBODY DESERVES A CHANCE, AND TRUST ME WHEN I SAY I'M JUST ASHAMED AS YOU MUST BE... BUT IT FEELS LIKE I KNOW THEM SOMEHOW. IT FEELS LIKE THEY'RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING BAD, SANS. NO, ITS MORE THAN THAT - I KNOW THAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING BAD. I'M NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM THEM... AND I'M NOT SAYING I SHOULD EITHER... I'M JUST SAYING THAT YOU SHOULD BE CAREFUL. ... PLEASE."

Sans stared up at his brother. He looked so concerned. It broke his heart. For a second, he wondered if he should tell Papyrus the truth. He immediately decided against it. If anyone or anything had to ruin Papyrus's innocence, he sure as hell wasn't going to be the one responsible. "I'm sure they're fine, bro. Try not to let them concern you too much, okay?" Sans already worried too much about Papyrus. The last thing he needed was Papyrus worrying about him.

"Y-YOU'RE RIGHT, SANS! I'M SURE ITS JUST MY MIND PLAYING TRICKS ON ME! I SHOULDN'T LET IT GET ME DOWN - AFTER ALL, I FINALLY HAVE A HUMAN TO TRY MY PUZZLES OUT ON! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Sans chuckled, more to appease his brother than for any semblance of actual amusement. "That's the spirit, bro."

Frisk stumbled into Snowdin. Was it just her, or had those puzzles been particularly exhausting this time around? She assumed Sans must have consoled Papyrus, as apart from the odd stray look every now and then, the skeleton brothers had acted fairly normal. Papyrus had seemed a little less chipper than he usually did... but at least he wasn't trying to get away from her. She exchanged a few things at the depot box before walking into the shop. The items, surprise surprise, hadn't changed in the slightest.

One thing that Frisk found strange was that the rabbit behind the counter wasn't greeting her like she usually would. Instead she was glaring at her, suspiciously eyeing the items that Frisk was picking up. Frisk cleared her throat. "Is, uh... is everything okay?"

The rabbit jerked back from surprise and began to blush. Being called out had obviously flustered her. "U-uhm... Yes, sorry. H-how can I help you?"

Frisk frowned, picking out a few healing items and the next tier of armour. She considered upgrading her weapon, but that seemed to be what this rabbit lady was checking for. She doubted Sans would be too pleased, either. "... Just these, thanks." She handed the items to the rabbit, who began to check them off. Frisk realised her paws were trembling as she handed the change over. "Is everything okay?" Frisk asked, taking her money. "You seem a little jumpy, if you don't mind me saying."

The rabbit began to sweat, her eyes darting around the room. "Oh! Uhm... I'm terribly sorry. I don't know why I'm so nervous, to be honest. I wasn't like this before... b-before..."

Frisk narrowed her eyes. "... Before I came in?"

"I-I'm sure it's nothing personal! It'd just be a coincidence, I'm sure - but... Y-yes..."

Frisk took her stuff and left the shop without another word, the store bell clattering on her way out. The whole way down, from the far west of Snowdin to the far east, she had people giving her dirty looks. Most of them would dart their heads away the second she turned to look at them, but others just kept staring, not caring what she thought of them. It was unnerving. The only thing that stopped her from have a full blown panic attack was the fact that they were scared of her.

... As they should be, she thought.

Papyrus stood there in the howling blizzard. He knew that the human would have to come through this way, and with the cold incapacitating them and the difficulty he knew that they would have seeing, it would be a cinch to capture them! ... That was if he could figure out a way to see, himself. He tried to ignore the itch at the back of his mind that told him that he should be running.

A dark shape rose up on the horizon. A very... humany shape, perhaps? They approached but didn't come too close, which Papyrus was grateful for - but there was some morbid tension lingering in the air, as though he had experienced this very same scenario before. The white snow, the shadowy figure approaching... it was all uncomfortably familiar. "HUMAN." He began. "LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE... WELL. THE TERROR I FEEL WHENEVER YOU GET NEAR, FOR ONE... OR THE TERRIBLE ITCH I GET ON MY NECK AT AROUND THIS TIME EVERY DAY. DO YOU KNOW WHY I FEEL THESE THINGS, HUMAN? MY BROTHER SAYS NOT TO BE CONCERNED BUT ... I CAN TELL IT'S TROUBLING HIM, TOO. TRUTHFULLY, I... I DON'T THINK HE'S TELLING ME EVERYTHING." Papyrus looked down at the snow, shuffling his feet. "PLEASE... IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL... IF Y-YOU DID SOMETHING BAD... PLEASE TELL ME. YOU SEEMED LIKE A NICE PERSON WHEN YOU WERE DOING MY PUZZLES, HUMAN, SO... WHATEVER IT IS... I THINK I CAN HANDLE IT." He looked up, smiling.

"... Papyrus." Frisk murmured. "What is the worst thing that you've ever done?"

Papyrus looked taken back. "S-SORRY? THE WORST THING...?"

"Let's say if the only way you could talk to your friends without them repeating the same thing over and over again was to hurt them... Would you do it?" Frisk couldn't bring herself to look at Papyrus.

"...O-OF COURSE I WOULDN'T! EVEN IF THEY COULD ONLY REPEAT THINGS TO ME, I'D PUT THEIR WELL BEING OVER MY CURIOSITY!"

"But if they couldn't remember you hurting them, if there were no consequences..."

"EVEN IF NO ONE REMEMBERS IT, THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT NEVER HAPPENED." For a moment, Papyrus thought that human had gone silent. Though as he kept listening he realised that he could hear something - a very faint, feeble sound, drowned out by the roaring wind. The human was... sobbing? "...PLEASE... DO NOT CRY, HUMAN." Papyrus sighed. "I... I THINK I REMEMBER WHERE I KNOW YOU FROM, NOW. I DIDN'T WANT TO BELIEVE IT AT FIRST, BUT... WHAT YOU JUST SAID... YOU... KILLED ME HERE, DIDN'T YOU? YOU'RE THE HUMAN CHILD FROM MY DREAMS."

"Sometimes it was me." Frisk choked out. "Sometimes it was... the other me."

"THE OTHER YOU?" Papyrus pursed his imaginary lips. "W-

"She's not really me. Not really. But..." Frisk clutched a hand to her heart. "I can... feel her. Inside of me."

"...I SEE. WHAT IS THEIR NAME?" Papyrus asked. "I WISH TO HELP YOU, HUMAN."

Frisk seemed shocked. Papyrus waited tensely for her answer. He had managed to get through to her, hadn't he? She was going to say yes, he and Sans could help her work through all of this, his nightmares would go away and -

"There's nothing you can do to help me. All of you people, this world, every world... no matter what anyone does, it's already too late. I made my choice long ago, and there's no going back." Frisk's answer made Papyrus's face fall.

"EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE, HUMAN!" Papyrus insisted, but Frisk just pushed past him and kept on walking.

"Hiya, kiddo. Wish I could say it was nice to see you again." Sans greeted Frisk at his Waterfall sentry post. "So, what'd you think? Did everyone remember enough for you?"

Frisk scowled, clenching her knuckles white. "Let's just get this over with, skeleton. What are we going to do about my resets? I'd prefer to not stop resetting the world, because you people either get boring or die. Obviously, you don't want me to reset too much, because why? There'll be hundreds of Sans running around the place? The sky will fall? The multiverse will crunch?"

"Heh. Something like that."

"I don't like the idea of having to face hundreds of Sans clones at the end of a genocide run, so me continuing to reset isn't exactly desirable, either. So... what?"

"... Honestly? I don't know. I'll have to call Asgore, see if he can work something out with this whole... multiverse business. In the meantime, you can stay with Papyrus and I."

Oh. Frisk shook her head. "I really don-

"That wasn't a request." Sans deadpanned. "Let me put this another way, kid. If I don't see you at our house in the next thirty minutes... you're going to regret it."

There was a click and everything went dark, and when the light returned, Frisk was standing alone.