Part 1: Undertale

Chapter 2

The tears stung but he swallowed hard against the grief drowning him. He shoved at his bed, pushing down on the anger, frustration, the grief, with all he had so that he could think. He had to think. He didn't have time. He couldn't waste the precious few minutes he had before Papyrus showed up to wake him.

Grabbing the too bright blue fabric of the jacket, he dug into the pocket and nearly sobbed when his hunting fingers closed around the notebook. He pressed it close to his chest, the fabric of the coat holding against his unrelenting grip. Good. No, this was really good. It meant there was a high probability that whatever he shoved into the pockets would remain outside the timeline like he was.

The cover of the notebook crunched slightly as his grip tightened. The only way to prove that, though, was to write on the pages within and that meant he needed something to write with.

He got up. The coat fell onto the mattress but the notebook was kept pinned under a hand against his chest. He threw things all over the place, not caring in the slightest where it all fell till a thought occurred to him, slowing his movement briefly.

It would be a test, a rather good test in fact, if he changed his room as best he could. Suddenly determined, he strategically threw items towards the walls and his bed, clearing the center of the floor. Along the way, he found a key sitting next to the only pen he found to work. He tucked the key into one of the coat's pockets without much thought, sitting on the edge of the mattress with pen in one hand, the notebook in the other.

The book fell open to the last page with writing on it. There was still room to write and, without knowing how much would change if the world reset again, he used the paper sparingly.

reset 3(r3) – viable evidence trapped in temporal loop (here's to hoping this is trapped with me)
third(?) wake up facedown/mattress after barrier breaks(?) – no memory actually seeing broken barrier – wake up location consistent, at least
keep to short hand as best as possible – no time
no signs of others remembering reset to reset yet
unknown amount of influence on loop – will pap remember if told
room set for reset test
FIND SPACE THAT RE

Sudden pounding on his door made him jump, striking a heavy line of ink across the page.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he called out, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness he was not feeling. Counter to his tone, a frown marred his face as he quickly finished scrawling:

FIND SPACE THAT REMAINS SAME

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!" his brother countered. The chuckle that left him was involuntary but not unwelcomed. It eased some of the tension he was feeling. "TIME TO GET UP!"

The words were there, ready to be spoken without a thought, but a spark of spontaneity hit him, as did the need to know if he could even go against the "script" laid out before him. "Thanks Pap," he replied, the words endearing. He had to focus but it seemed possible as he added, "I'm getting up."

"HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

There was no need to listen to his brother's footfall as Sans looked back at the notebook in hand.

script changeable but takes effort – does not seem to affect the script of others – need to test more

He tapped the pen against the edge of the book. He was going to have to be careful. If he wanted to figure out how to get out of this, he was going to have to find anomalies. But if he broke the script, it would only add to the amount of anomalies there. Additionally, he didn't actually know the script. He knew roughly the general idea – though it was all pretty vague and anything that he had remembered from the last timeline had already hazed over like a dream – but not knowing the script intricately meant that he could miss things.

Magic turned to ice on his bones. If he had had hair, it would have stood on end. Out of the corner of his eye, in the corner of his room, was a figure dressed in black with an odd black and white face watching him. It was fuzzy, unfocused, and all he could make out was the vague shape of head and body. Snapping his gaze to the spot, his nonexistent insides twisted.

The corner was bare. There was no one there, nothing to cause a trick of the eye, no way anyone could have just been standing there so straight and still without tripping over the mount of things in that given corner. Panic and adrenaline rushed through his system, causing his body to react in a way that was disconcerting.

Especially since he could no longer remember what it was that had caused the reaction.

Turning back to the journal, he rushed a quick line:

something in northeast corner – scared me – nothing there when focused on – can't recall what i thought i had seen

He shoved the notebook into the designated coat pocket, pen acting like a bookmark. He yanked the same cloths on automatically and stepped outside his room.

The scent coming from the kitchen wafted up to him as he closed his door securely behind him. He let out a soft sigh, already tired. If this wasn't a reset and all of that had just been the strangest dream in his life, he would not be complaining.

A very large part of him didn't hold any hope to that thought.

He stopped on the threshold of the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe as he looked the space over. It all looked the same. Papyrus was still wearing his battle body and making spaghetti like the last runs. He couldn't remember if anything was in a different place but figured it would come with time if he was truly stuck in a temporal loop. He hoped not.

"BROTHER! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!"

He had to bite back the words of the script before he was able to answer his own way. "I'm not hungry," he said, watching Papyrus closely. "I was thinking of just heading out."

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE."

There had been no reaction to the new words, no disappointment, no relief, no nothing. It was like the words he had spoken hadn't even affected the script. Now, granted, his words had indeed allowed that answer to pass, but it was still a rather conclusive test. He sat down at the table, resting his chin on his palm. "Watermelon sock puppets," he tried in lieu of acknowledging Papyrus's words.

Yep. Not even a twitch as Papyrus put the plate of spaghetti before him. Sans poked at it with his fork. Still the same, for all he could tell. Weariness coursed through him and he grinned at his brother as he fell back into the script without a fight, commenting, "This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch."

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something but it was nothing more than background noise. His mind wandered, most of his thoughts sticking to the resets and what could possibly be causing them. A headache started to pulse behind his left eye but he ignored it to the best of his abilities. He wasn't a scientist. He didn't know how to even begin to deal with an anomaly when he found one. If he found one.

His fingers brushed the notebook in his pocket. Actually, that may not be totally accurate. If the book was indeed his as the handwriting made it seem, he had some rather intense know-how when it came to science in some aspect. May not be in whatever field was required to deal with time anomalies, but at least it would be a start.

He wondered briefly if he had a lab and if it was outside the resets like the coat pockets were.

He hadn't realized he had been eating till he took another bite and the familiar bitterness washed over his senses. It had lost some of its revulsion, to which Sans was immensely grateful for. He swallowed the bite he had been consuming, able to suppress the shudder this time. He put his fork down and keyed into the one sided conversation.

"Hey, bro, shouldn't we get going?" he interjected, bringing Papyrus's train of thought to a halt.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Sans noted that Papyrus hadn't touched his own plate much. Sans's smile grew bigger at that. "IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!"

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

Stepping out of the house, Sans took the moment to look towards the underground's ceiling. Claustrophobia scraped at his soul but he found it rather easy to ignore.

"BROTHER, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

Sans blinked, looking up at Papyrus. It would seem that the morning had worn him out more than he had thought. He made a mental note not to go against the script like that till he was able to nap directly afterwards. The exhaustion clinging to his bones made his limbs feel ten times heavier. "Yeah bro," he spoke, the words flowing easily. "Guess the sandman wasn't quite done with me this morning." Papyrus frowned at that and Sans grinned. "I honestly can't 'sand' the guy."

Papyrus threw his hands up. "SANS! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

Sans's grin grew. "Don't worry, Pap, I'm 'morning' that one too."

"UGH!" Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him with a soft smile belaying his amusement and fondness. Despite it all, his brother's reactions were a familiarity he hoped would never change, even if the jokes were the same, horrible taste.

As had happened in the previous resets, Papyrus glanced back at him briefly at the end of the bridge and the canine royal guards greeted them as they passed. Sans went with the script, greeting them with some predestined acknowledgment. When they reached the last puzzle – or the first, depending on the direction one traveled in – Sans looked to his brother, offering, "I'll trek ahead and check on my post."

"DON'T DILLY DALLY, SANS! WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO!"

Sans smiled gently and pulled at the world around him when Papyrus wasn't looking. As used magic drifted away and dissipated, black swam at the edge of his vision, forcing him to either lean heavily on his station or face plant into the snow. He chose the one that kept snow out of his sockets.

The spell lasted only a moment and Sans was soon able to straighten up and pull at the world once more. He settled on a familiar high branch with his back against the trunk without much movement on his part. He let out a sigh that sounded more like a groan and he succumbed to sleep without a fight.

A low rumble of stone grating against stone filled the quiet forest. His gaze automatically drifted to the door set into the wall as his brain worked to wake up from his nap, still exhausted. He watched as the kid stepped out.

He frowned. Did the kid look more scared than last time?

He slipped from his branch and landed on the tough-looking branch the kid always walked around as spent magic dissipated quickly. The kid's reaction seemed a bit more spooked than normal but he fell back anyways, letting the script guide his actions.

The kid came to a stop at the bridge and Sans slowly strolled up behind them, taking his time to come just out of arm's reach of the kid. An amused smirk pulled at his smile. "Human," he stated plainly, slowly. "Don't you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand."

The kid turned around slowly. Nope, yep, there was definitely more fear than last time coming off the kid. He was not making it up. Well, he was pretty certain at least. If nothing else, it meant that the kid either was out of the loop like Sans was or was the anomaly. Sans internally snorted at the latter. How could a kid be a temporal anomaly?

The kid took his hand, deflating the whoopee cushion Sans couldn't recall putting on his palm. The smile on his face broke out into a grin nonetheless. "Heheh. The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's ALWAYS funny." The kid gave a happy little giggle and Sans lost whatever it was he had been thinking about.

His welcoming speech went as it normally did with nothing new happening. In fact, nothing new happened from when he met the kid to when the kid left Snowdin for Waterfall. He did discover a nifty little tidbit by pure accident.

Sans manned both his station and the telescope as he normally did as the kid traversed Wasterfall. But during a lull between stations, he got caught up staring at the pages of notes in the notebook for far longer than the allotted time held. One minute he was at his Snowdin station, the next he was in Waterfall. He hadn't even initiated a shortcut. He was just there. Briefly startled, he pocketed the notebook with a curious look around. He was curious on how he had ended up there only to see the kid.

His previous thought of the kid being the anomaly was suddenly looking very probable and Sans didn't know what to do with that. If nothing else, the kid had something on them that was causing the anomaly.

His ability to move without a script was sporadic after that point, gaps of time where he was able to mill about on his own. He didn't press his luck, though, keeping close to where he needed to be. Exhaustion turned to pain very quickly the more he pushed against the script and Sans was not up for dealing with pain.

He would figure out the timing. He had to.

He also had to figure out if the kid was the anomaly, or if it was something on their person.

The things scrawled on the pages were unfamiliar but it was clearly his handwriting. Though he didn't understand most of it, it helped him think larger picture at least. Theoretically speaking, especially with no viable evidence going towards his theory, it seemed possible that an item could cause a temporal loop if everything was set up right and the same for it being a person. But that also brought up the point of the actual cause of a temporal loop to begin with. With not knowing the cause, he could not speculate much farther on what was keeping him trapped in the loop.

All these thoughts, inconsistent or even crossed out, were jotted down in the notebook. It didn't seem like there was anything else he could do.

Time vanished and before he knew it, he was Judging the kid. For the first time since all this chaos started, his soul felt like it had stopped.

The kid had killed.

It wasn't much EXP but it was there. He could see it. The kid looked like they were going to cry and that eased what fear had touched his soul. He gave the kid a grin, words falling free reassuring them that they needed to just learn from their mistakes and not do it again. Accidents happen and he wasn't about to fault the kid on that.

But it did mean that somehow, someway, the kid was out of the temporal loop like he was, or he was no longer sticking with his own timeline and was jumping timelines.

The latter thought scared him the most.

The events that followed were the same. The script didn't change. It was still nice, though, to see Toriel and the others, to watch as the room was filled with all sorts of monsters, all of them encouraging the kid as they went up against the thorn known as Flowey, and Hope touched him briefly even as the logical part of his mind was betting on another reset. The world turned white.

Somewhere, somehow, the barrier was destroyed.

The emotions rolling through him were nothing compared to the burst of anxiety that hit him. He was face first on his sheetless mattress once more and he wasn't sure if he wanted to look. One the one hand, his room being unchanged from when he had shoved everything about would be a promising sight but if it all had reset…

Knowing he lacked time, he shoved at the mattress and looked over.

He wasn't sure what slammed into him, what emotion rolled about his soul most, but the physical recoil from the room being reset was real. He reached out without a thought, grabbing at the too bright blue fabric he was coming to rely on as a lifeline. He pulled the notebook out, finding the pen stuck between the pages like a bookmark. He let it fall open.

The sob caught him off guard and he curled around the notebook as he pressed a hand against his mouth to silence any more sobs.

There, on the open pages, were all his notes from the last reset.

He wasn't sure if he was crying because of relief or dread. He didn't care. He shoved the emotions away as he snatched up the pen. With a shaky hand that steadied slowly, he began to write.

r4 – fourth wake up facedown/mattress after barrier breaks – still no memory seeing barrier gone – wake up location still consistent
room failed reset test
kid had exp – one kill

The pen stilled. What else was there to write? Anything? He had already notated his thoughts about the kid either being the anomaly or carrying whatever is causing said anomaly during the previous reset.

He looked up when Papyrus pounded on his door, a weary expression on his face.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he called out, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness he wasn't feeling. Whelp. Here was to another reset.

r5 – fifth wake up facedown/mattress after barrier breaks – no memory seeing barrier gone – wake up location same
same exp
scent in waterfall – familiar but can no longer place it

Gods he hated this.

r7 – no memory of barrier gone – location same
same exp

Somehow he was grateful for the same things happening over and over again. Made it easier to keep track of everything

r10 – no memory – local same
more exp – two kills?
fairly certain i heard a voice – can't remember the words

He opened his sockets slowly, face down in the mattress once more.

r11 – no – same
same exp – most likely two kills, hard to gauge

Groaning, he rolled over and fell softly onto the floor. The too blue coat was right where he expected it to be, within reach of an out stretched hand.

r15 – no – same
same exp
shadow in waterfall

He pulled it close and dug out the notebook. It was looking a bit worse for wear after so many resets. The book fell open to the bookmarked page, the pen still snug between the pages. With his notes having become so short, he had every reset since the 15th on one page. His gaze settled on the latest one.

r23 – no – same
exp increase – three kills
script memorized

He sighed, rubbing at his face. Twenty-three resets. So many that he wasn't able to really keep them all separate in his head. He knew there had been a lot but keeping this running tally was certainly helping. He picked up the pen and wrote:

r24 – no – same
same exp

Pulling the coat back onto his lap, he pocketed the notebook, frowning when his fingers clattered with something metal. Turning his hand over, he pulled out a key. Funny, he couldn't recall knowing what door the strip of metal belonged to, let alone when he had shoved it into the pocket. He could feel magic around it, though. It was faint but he could make out the tell tale signs of a magical tether. He frowned. Odd. Why would a key be magically tethered to its door?

Papyrus pounded on his door and he spared the abused wood a glance.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he called out, his voice lulling the words about in a manner that spoke of sleepiness.

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!" his brother countered. Sans chuckled. "TIME TO GET UP!"

"That was so kind of you, Pap," he replied, getting up. He started to dress. "You're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

Not waiting for his brother's footsteps to disappear completely, Sans gripped the key. From one second to the next, he found himself face to face with a door. A look around revealed he was, indeed, at the back of his house and for the briefest of moments he let his incredulous feeling about the fact there was a door at the back of his house this entire time that he had somehow forgotten flood through him. He shoved the emotion away and inserted the key into the lock.

It turned.

With a click, the door unlocked and swung open to reveal stairs that led down into some unknown space. Swiping his hand over the light switch, the lights flickered on as he took the stairs as quickly as he dared. He didn't have time to be leisurely.

He stepped into a sparse lab.

Relief was weird in this situation but he had no time to really explore. Trying the drawers, he found they were easy to pull all the way out and he placed all of them on the counter. It would have to be enough for a test this run.

He pulled at the world, appearing in the kitchen doorway. He walked nonchalant to the table, sitting down as his brother noticed him right on time.

"BROTHER! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!"

"Aw, bro, you shouldn't have."

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE."

The smile came easily as he rested his chin on his palm. "Sure, bro. Whatever you say."

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him and Sans grinned at his brother and commented, "This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch."

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something in that loud voice of his but it was nothing more than background noise in his head.

All his thoughts were centered on the lab. If the lab was outside the temporal loop, it would give him someplace private to work. He would have to test a few things to see if items placed in the space became separate from the loop like the pockets of his jacket but the initial reset test was first.

He hoped that it worked; that the space was truly separate from the resets.

He put his fork down as he swallowed the bite he had been consuming, finding more comfort than revulsion in the pasta compared to earlier runs, and keyed in to the one sided conversation.

"Hey, bro, shouldn't we get going?" he interjected, bringing Papyrus's train of thought to a halt.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Papyrus hadn't really touched his own place and Sans's smile grew a bit more endearing. "IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!"

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

Stepping out of the house, Sans took the moment to look towards the underground's ceiling. Seemed to be his habit now, but the claustrophobia that poked at his soul was more of a comfort than a nuisance. Kinda like Papyrus's spaghetti. Sans had stopped being claustrophobic within the first 10 resets but the phantom memory of its choking grip helped make him feel not so crazy.

"BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?"

Sans lulled his head to the side to look lazily at his brother, a soft smile on his face. "Yeah, bro," he spoke. "Guess the sandman wasn't quite done with me this morning." Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. "I honestly can't 'sand' the guy."

Papyrus threw his hands up. "SANS! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

Sans's grin grew. "Don't worry, Pap, I'm 'morning' that one too."

"UGH!" Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him with a soft smile belaying his amusement and fondness. His brother's reactions never changed and he looked forward to each one coming.

Slowly but surely the timeline progressed and Sans found no flaws in the script. He sighed, trudging through the snow through Snowdin. If he was right, his brother will be finishing up his interaction with the human soon, meaning that Sans was going to be needed for his comic relief here in a bit.

"Sans."

Sans jumped, whipping around to stare at the path he had just walked as adrenaline prickled the magic along his bones. He frantically searched for the voice that had just whispered in his ear but there was no one near him in the softly drifting snow, not to mention that his foot prints were the only ones in the soft powder.

"Hurry."

Dread drenched his bones in ice as he spun around to face the path leading to where Papyrus and the human were supposed to be having their "confrontation". There was no one there but the urgency in the voice had caused such a reaction that Sans pulled at the world frantically.

He found himself in the midst of the fog that had briefly settled over the path towards Waterfall.

"Papyrus!" he called out, his voice cracking. He swallowed and called out again. "Papyrus! Kid!"

A soft sound caught his attention and he turned, listening. Was that…was someone crying? He was fairly certain he could hear sniffling and he made his way towards it. For the briefest of moments, Papyrus and the human were on the back burner.

It didn't matter in the end.

He came to a space that looked a bit roughened up. He could make out some of the markings in the ground to be his brother's handy work but he couldn't see his brother anywhere. There was a sniffle to his right and he looked over, gaze dropping towards the ground.

His soul stopped as the human looked up at him.

The blaster went off without him even realizing he had summoned it, the red of his brother's scarf shining bright in the human's dust covered hands.

He hit the floor with a thud, magic reeling as he jumped to his feet and found himself not in the middle of the path to Waterfall, but in his room with his magic solidifying into attacks all around him.

The pounding on his door made him jump for the first time in a very long time.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he automatically replied, his voice not even quaking as he noticed the back of his sockets stung.

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!" his brother countered. "TIME TO GET UP!"

"That was so kind of you, Pap. You're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

He rubbed at his sockets to make the stinging go away only to find his hand wet with the magical equivalent of tears for skeletons. He grabbed at the nearest cloth and rubbed vigorously at his face to rid the traces of him crying.

He collapsed to his knees, shaking, as he choked on a sob. Stars above, the human had killed. The human had killed his brother and he had been too late. He had been-

He took in a sharp breath, shoving the random piece of laundry aside and grabbed at his coat. He yanked out the notebook and let it fall open.

r25 – kid killed pap
reset after i took kid out – still bedroom
disembodied voice sent me after pap and kid – may be going crazy
have to warn pap

He shoved the notebook back into its pocket and teleported down to the kitchen. "Pap, we need to talk."

"BROTHER! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!"

Dread rushed through him. "No, Papyrus, I'm serious. We need to talk."

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE."

He flinched, swallowing hard at another wave of tears. He resisted pressing the heel of a hand against his left socket. There was no use in crying and he could ignore the growing headache. "Papyrus, please."

The plate of spaghetti was placed before his spot and Sans gave into the script with a dejected sigh, sitting down. "This looks great, Pap," he offered meekly. "Even better than your last batch."

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking about something in that loud voice of his but it was nothing more than background noise in his head.

He went through the motions of eating a few bites before putting his fork down and cutting in to the one sided conversation when he was supposed to.

"Hey, bro, shouldn't we get going?" he interjected, bringing Papyrus's train of thought to a halt.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!"

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

There was no change when they stepped out of the house when compared to the other timelines. Sans let his head fall back, feeling far more exhausted than he should probably be.

"BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?"

He looked to his brother. "Yeah, bro," he spoke. "Guess the sandman wasn't quite done with me this morning." Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. "I honestly can't 'sand' the guy."

Papyrus threw his hands up. "SANS! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

Sans's grin grew. "Don't worry, Pap, I'm 'morning' that one too."

"UGH!" Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him. As they traversed along the path, Sans wondered what would happen if he just killed the kid outright. Would it do anything? He could try for a few runs. Would make him feel better. Would be an interesting experiment as well, all things considered. But if the kid was killed and the world reset, did that answer whether it was the kid or an object that was manipulating the timeline? Probably not but, as he found himself face down on his mattress, he fought the urge to unleash as much magic he had into the surrounding space and destroy it. It wasn't like it was going to stay that way.

He wallowed in the emotion and urge for far longer than he probably should have. With a sigh, Sans sat up and grabbed his jacket. He pulled the notebook out and it fell open. He plucked the pen from the notebook and wrote:

r26 – warning pap was pointless
abnormal reset, unknown cause – still bedroom

There was pounding on his door.

The resets were consistent with only one thing after that: their restart point. For whatever reason, Sans always found himself waking to the view of his mattress. He wondered how long that would be as he sat up and grabbed for his jacket. His fingers tangled in the fabric and he pulled it close enough to get the notebook out. It fell open, revealing well worn pages and nearly half a book filled with scrawls. He picked up the pen he was using and filled in the new entry.

r102 – neutral
kid's controlling resets, dt involved

Hey, at least something new had happened, but the information was not comforting to say the least. There was nothing he could do. He had done a good amount of researching in hopes of discovering what it was that was causing all the resetting but any information he had been able to locate was limited. It would seem, though, that he had some amount of knowledge on the subject, even if he couldn't even remember a life outside the resets.

His nonexistent stomach gnawed at him. Must be time for breakfast.

Sure enough, there was pounding on his door.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he replied.

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO! TIME TO GET UP!"

"That was so kind of you, Pap. You're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

He listened to his brother's footsteps just because he could. As they disappeared down the stairs, he stood up and dressed. He was glad he didn't have to worry about laundry, though it would make for a bit of entertainment. He wondered what would happen if he went down in the wrong cloths?

No, wait, he had tried that already. Somewhere before the 100th mark if he wasn't mistaken. He had tried both the craziest outfit he could think of and no outfit at all. Somewhere between his bedroom and the kitchen, he would be washed with a sense of vertigo and suddenly be in his proper attire. A shame, really. He would have loved to have been able to get odd reactions out of the kid.

Breakfast transpired as it always did but he was glad for the food. Even tasted good this time around. That or he had officially lost his sense of taste. Would not surprise him.

Kid came out covered in dust.

He sighed, rubbing at his face. Whelp, it would seem that this run wasn't going to be a pacifist run either. At least there hadn't been a true genocide run yet. While he had taken the kid out a few times, he had found it futile. Kid reset almost instantly every time he hit outside the script. Though, that did leave him rather concerned. When exactly was he permitted to actually try and take the kid out? Was he just meant to stand by idly and watch the kid take everyone out?

Papyrus hadn't been touched in runs and Sans hoped it stayed that way.

It seemed his 1 HoPe was working against him.

Everyone was dust.

From the ruins to Snowdin, there wasn't a single monster left that hadn't been taken out by the kid. All that had been warned in time had evacuated to New Home but those that had remained behind were no more. A phantom presence walked beside him as he trekked after the kid towards the spot his brother would be confronting them at. He tried hard not to look at the figment of his imagination. Right now, the fake presence seemed to sooth some part of his frayed nerves about the situation.

He was fairly certain that meant he had long since lost his mind in all this.

He arrived in time to see the final action taken by the human and Sans couldn't help but hold his breath. A make or break decision, the one decision he was fearing.

The kid spared Papyrus.

Sans released his breath, nearly sobbing. For one more reset, Papyrus lived.

The world reset after the kid had passed through the Judgment Hall.

r184 – neutral
phantom presence prior to Papyrus being killed.
presumably, asgore took the kid out
there potentially two personalities or something? a difference between pacifist and homicidal?

Sans ran a hand over his skull. He wondered how many resets he would have to go through to find out the answer to that particular question.

r192 – first true genocide – reset point judgment hall
kid easily taken out

r194 – genocide – judgment hall
kid's only resetting back far enough to take me on

208 – genocide – judgment hall
kid lasted quite a bit this go round – got a bit worried in there
glad i don't actually have to eat or anything

246 – genocide – judgment hall
i think the kid's learning my moved but i can't seem to remember what i do in the previous timeline to change things up

r287 – genocide – judgment hall
kid's learning the attacks i'm repeating

r302 – genocide – judgment hall
i miss pap

346 – genocide – judgment hall
kid got close to killing me

r386 – genocide - judgment hall
kid killed me

His hand was shaking so bad that he wasn't even sure if his note was even legible. He still felt as if he was dusting on the spot. He lost some meal he didn't remember having, expelled magic splattering against the golden tile.

His breath was shaky but he could feel the kid. After so long, he knew where exactly in the hall the kid was at all times. He straightened up, gritting his teeth against the need to vomit, to run, to cry as the kid started to approach their place.

He appeared before the kid like always, spoke to the kid like always. His speech had shortened to something pathetic. Seemed his script adapted with time.

He managed to kill the kid.

He woke face first in his mattress.

He jolted upright, bewildered. What-

Throwing himself to the side, Sans grabbed at his jacket and pulled it to him. He yanked out the notebook and opened it roughly. There, laid out in poor scrawling, were all the resets where the kid had been fighting him, even his last note of the kid having killed him.

Sans shuddered, working to forget that. He ran a hand over his face, trying to deny the fact that his hand was shaking before he picked up the pen and wrote the next entry.

r387 – genocide – bedroom
killed the kid, been a while since this reset point

The pounding on his door made him jump, a Gaster Blaster materializing at his side in the blink of an eye, ready to fire.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

Sans blinked at the door as the words fell out without his bidding. "Five more minutes, Pap." He had forgotten…

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!" his brother countered. "TIME TO GET UP!"

"That was so kind of you, Pap. You're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

Relief was weird as he listened to his brother's footfall disappear down the stairs. He had been through so many runs with the kid trying to kill him that, one, he was clearly still jumpy and, two, he had forgotten what he had been fighting for. He had forgotten about Papyrus. It would seem being stuck in a script meant he stopped listening to the words he said.

He dressed quickly and teleported downstairs. His appearance was right on time and his brother glanced his way as he entered the kitchen.

"BROTHER! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!"

"Aw, bro, you shouldn't have." The words were playful and urging and he filled them with as much love and adoration as he could muster. It was all he could do, especially seeing as he wasn't sure if he was dreaming or if this was an actual reset at the moment.

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE."

The smile came easily and true as he beamed at his brother. "Sure, bro. Whatever you say."

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans happily dug in, feeling as if he hadn't eaten in days. It tasted like heaven. "This is great, Pap. Even better than your last batch."

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking. Sans listened, absorbing every word like it was the first time, letting the melody of his brother's boisterous voice fill him. But, like everything else, there was a time limit.

"Hey, bro, shouldn't we get going?" he interjected, bringing Papyrus's train of thought to a halt.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!"

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans took the moment to take in the town. It left him feeling nostalgic to see the town so full of life. He couldn't even remember the last run he had seen this.

"BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?"

He looked to Papyrus, smiling. "Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn't quite done with me this morning." Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. "I honestly can't 'sand' the guy."

Papyrus threw his hands up. "SANS! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

Sans's grin grew. "Don't worry, Pap, I'm 'morning' that one too."

"UGH!" Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him, completely content with the moment. As they traversed along the path, Sans greeted those they passed joyously. Eventually, they reached the point where Sans went on ahead by himself. Here, Sans took a slow exit, keeping his brother in sight till he could no longer. With a heavy soul, he teleported to his spot.

The sound of stone grating on stone echoed through the trees and Sans had to keep from unleashing an attack right then and there. Just seeing the kid threw him back into the previous timelines and it was hard not to fight the script set out before him. But as he watched the kid, there was no dust on them and they interacted with him as if nothing had happened. As the timeline progressed, Sans started to heavily doubt this wasn't a dream.

The timeline reset. Sans was face first against his mattress. He was so confused. Sitting up, he grabbed the notebook out of his jacket pocket and entered a new entry.

r388 – pacifist – bedroom
what in the world is going on?

He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

r389 – pacifist – bedroom
again?
shadow disappeared behind a pillar in judgment hall

r402 – genocide – judgment hall
pacifist and neutral runs may have been reprieve?

r426 – neutral – bedroom
kid's messing with me
multiple personalities or different kid in same body, not sure which i want to actually be right

r438 – genocide – judgment hall
kid's at it again

r442 – genocide – bedroom

r449 – neutral – bedroom

r453 – pacifist – bedroom
pacifist – frisk

r468 – genocide – judgment hall

r503 – genocide – bedroom
homicide – chara

He closed the notebook, frowning at it. So there was one question half answered. It would seem the human had two personalities at minimum and two souls at max. He wasn't which of those he preferred but he knew one thing:

He hated Chara.

r526 – pacifist – bedroom
black mass following me – vanishes when i focus on it, always there out of the corner of socket

Frisk was a sweet, caring kid with a soul of gold and seemed to much prefer being a pacifist than a murderer. Chara was like their shadow, their evil twin. When Chara was the one in control of the run, Sans found that the script was changing around their dialogue. Frisk never really talked. At least, not that he remembered hearing. Chara was chatty and they were getting more boisterous and cocky as the timelines progressed.

r537 – neutral – hotlands sentry station
new reset location – little weird
abnormal reset – didn't even make it to judgment hall
mass out of corner of eye upon wake up

Chara really liked killing him over and over as time progressed.

r559 – pacifist – somewhere in waterfall
abnormal – barely passed waterfall

He was becoming numb to getting sliced across the chest.

r599 – genocide – judgment hall
25th death in a row
black thing out of corner of socket is shaped like a person now – dubbed phantom just for kicks

He was becoming numb to the feeling of dusting.

r648 – genocide – middle of snowdin forest
chara's toying with me

Chara stepped out of the ruins this go round. There wasn't much dust on their hands but Sans had long since discovered that amount of dust did not equate to kills.

He closed his sockets and felt what little hope he had for the timeline vanish.

r699 – genocide – bedroom
frisk is missing

He wasn't sure how long it had been since he had seen Frisk in control of the body but it was well over 100 resets and he was beginning to not care anymore. Whether personality or separate soul, Sans couldn't tell, but he was getting real sick and tired of having Chara about, not that there was much he could do about it.

Chara was growing more vicious. They were breaking script constantly, though it seemed the script around them adapted. They had long since stopped with consistent reset locations and Sans now found himself resetting to the middle of conversations he couldn't even remember starting. He crunched his way through the snow, fuming. Being suddenly dumped into a conversation he could handle, but Chara seemed get under his skin and he didn't even have any! It was infuriating on how just a few words from the psychopath would drive him up the wall where others saying similar things would hardly draw his attention. A bad run prior and the psychopath reset back to the edge of some conversation Sans derailed because he was still in fight mode. Made a scene and everything and he couldn't help but wallow in annoyance and self pity for the small stretch of privacy had had hiking through Snowdin forest before teleporting home.

Out of the corner of his socket, the phantom was sitting on top of an outcropping of rock. Sans ignored it, even as he got a whiff of cigarette smoke as he stepped passed.

With a voice shifting from a soft, deep voice to something airy and high only to settle halfway between at the end, the phantom challenged, "Babysitting's a pain, ain't it?"

It was like something snapped within him. Whether the blasted thing was real or not, regardless if the voice was nothing more than in his head trying to keep him somewhat sane in all this chaos, he retaliated. His left pupil burst to life with magic and he pulled at the snow around him. Creating snowballs magically was difficult. They were flimsy but put well enough together that they held form for what he needed. The phantom dodged one but the second one had the phantom leaning to the right, arm coming up to protect its face though there was none for Sans to really see. There was no rock to put a hand on and it fell off the outcrop it had been sitting on. Sans chucked snowball after snowball at it even as it laughed and tried to get away from him. It slipped and he chucked a snowball at the tree. It impacted with enough force that a branch unloaded a heap of snow onto the phantom.

Hands buried deep inside his jacket, hood fur brushing his cheeks, he walked over to the phantom as his left pupil returned to normal. Odd, he never thought that his phantom would actually be real enough for snowballs to have effect. But looking at the phantom made it vanish for whatever reason so even now his gaze was off to one side as the phantom sat up. It shifted and he got the sudden sense that it was beaming at him. It was an odd feeling and the supposed smile was rather contagious. If nothing else, it made him realize how childish he had been. He reached down, feeling stupid for helping up a figment of his imagination but finding it too late to pull back his hand.

The phantom hand felt solid in his and it was like a veil was removed from his mind as he pulled – for whatever use it would be – and helped the figure up. Standing before him was a solid person dressed in attire that did not fit the situation and with one too many layers to have him comfortable. The figure's gloved hand left his, the fabric as white as the shirt the figure wore. Though mostly a black suit, the overcoat and pants were clearly a different black to the coat and shoes, both of which were a blue based black. It rather made his head hurt trying to think about it. The tie was a dark red to the point of being black and the vest was, thankfully, gray. He hadn't even been aware there were so many variants of black. Made the figure's red hair stand out even more, even with a mask on the phantom's head rather than their face. Speaking of, Sans wasn't even sure if he was speaking to a person of gender or not. They were clearly human and as solid as he was, but he was fairly certain they were not real. If they were real, though, then something was definitely wrong with the world he was in.

The figure beamed at him, chuckling, and he couldn't help the smile in return. The veil leaving had him remembering the phantom's presence and though a headache grew beneath his temples, he was glad that he at least already knew the phantom to some extent. For one, he knew they were an absolute snarky dork and it was a relief to have some humor in all this, even if it came from his own broken mind.

"Better?" the figure asked.

He shrugged. "More or less. Yer a pain in the ass, you know that?"

The figure laughed and Sans felt less stupid talking to himself for it. "Hey, you're looking at me outright now so I'm not complaining."

Sans's expression fell as he took stock of his memories, the figure pulling a new cigarette out of somewhere and lighting it. Sure enough, whatever had been preventing him from perceiving the figure had lifted. He could recall every instant he had seen them, which brought to mind, "Who and what are you exactly? Are you really a figment of my imagination or are you something more?"

The figure took a drag of their cigarette as he spoke. They pulled the cigarette from between their lips and slowly released the smoke. "How bout we go somewhere more comfortable to talk, shall we?"

From one instant to the next, Sans found himself sitting at Grillby's bar with not a monster in sight. Sans found his hand around a bottle of ketchup and his companion sitting beside him, taking another long drag from their cigarette as they traced the rim of a glass full of some sort of alcohol.

Sans gave them a look and they chuckled, releasing the pull they had taken. "You'd be surprised on what I can do, Sans. After all, I am both real and a figment of your imagination." His look shifted to a flat one and the figure had the gall to actually laugh at him. He got waved off as the figure rested their chin on their palm, elbow braced on the counter. "I am here for none but you, Sans. We're going to get well acquainted while you're here."

A frown pulled at his teeth. "What do you mean?"

The figure's expression quickly became serious. "Your world is going to start decaying if it hasn't already. You'll be noticing it more as time progresses. A single timeline can handle only so much manipulation and you know that."

He did. For whatever reason, what the figure was saying was both new and old news to him. Thing was, he had never really thought too heavily on that particular information before and now that he had, he felt stupid for not having thought of it. He downed half of the ketchup bottle in one go. It tasted weird after so long of not drinking it. He made a face. He was losing his enjoyment of the condiment and the thought was mildly depressing.

"I am only repeating what you already know, Sans," the figure reminded him as the bottom of the bottle connected with the counter.

"Do you know how it's all going to end?" he tested, looking their way. The figure only had eyes for the glass they were rolling about on its rim.

"I'm not omniscient, Sans," the figure drawled, their words suddenly sharp. Sans flinched from the sudden change. "I only know what you know and what you pretend not to know. I point out things from an outsider's position because you asked for it."

The ketchup bottle paused nearly to his teeth and he blinked, processing that. He slowly lowered the bottle, frowning. "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice coming off a bit gravelly. "I never asked for this."

The figure smirked and Sans tensed. The edges of the room started to dim unnaturally and the figure sat up straight. "Whelp, would seem our time is up." They looked back at him, raising their glass in a toast as they offered, "You asked for answers. This is your mind's way of giving them to you. Good luck understanding them. You'll need it."

Sans woke up face down on his mattress. He bolted upright, looking about.

Nobody was there.

Relaxing a bit, he grabbed his notebook and let it fall open.

r700 – neutral – bedroom
met my phantom – not sure how i feel about that – real or am i going mad?

"Fairly certain you're mad."

Sans nearly leapt out of his cloths, taking a tumble to the clothing covered floor. There was a string of giggles from somewhere but as he pushed himself into a seated position, his brother pounded on the door.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he replied, eyes roaming his room.

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO!" his brother countered. "TIME TO GET UP!"

He got up slowly, anticipating something but not overly sure what. "That was so kind of you, Pap. You're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

Sans took the chance and glanced at the door as Papyrus left. As he turned back around, he gave an undignified yelp and fell backwards, tripping over laundry. There was a dull thud of his body hitting the floor.

Another string of giggles, this set completely different from the other and it was unnerving. "Seems you're a touch jumpy there, Sans."

Sans glared at the figure. "I think I preferred not being able to look at you. Or remember you," he grumbled, working to stand up. The figure held out a hand and, after a brief bit of consideration, Sans took the held up. The figure passed him his coat and notebook and he took them without a word.

"You'd get curious eventually," the figure countered, their voice some odd vocal range muffled by a rather creepy mask. Sans did his best to keep his eyes on the figure. There was a quirk to the following words that made Sans think the figure was grinning. "I like 'phantom'. Close to my name already, I'm impressed."

"You're name is similar to phantom," Sans asked, not believing the figure as he pulled on a proper shirt.

The figure huffed, amused, and suddenly there was a name in Sans's head. He froze, pupils pinpricks as they focused on the figure. The mask's grin seemed to grow.

"How did you do that?" he asked, the words breathless.

Fate – for Sans found it hard to call them anything other than that now – shrugged nonchalant. "I am both real and a figment of your imagination, Sans. I'm able to do a many number of things. Interacting with others is not one of them, though."

Sans stilled, coat halfway on. He shrugged it on completely as he asked, "So if we show up in public, no one else will see you?"

"Correct," Fate confirmed, opening Sans's bedroom door. "As much as I can interact with the word around you, I cannot interact with it where others can see me. In fact, I'll disappear much as I had prior to your, ah, acceptance of the situation."

Sans gave a huff of a laugh, lacking any real amusement with the situation. "Great. Let me guess, it has something to do with the script?"

Fate shrugged again as they led the way down the stairs. "More of being a figment of your imagination is limiting."

Sans frowned but Fate vanished as he approached the kitchen. One instant they were there, the next they were gone, and Sans was left with an odd sensation of having walked into a room and having completely forgotten why he was there in the first place. And it was just the sensation, which was even weirder. Sans was glad he was on the edge of the script's time limit seeing as it didn't leave him time to dwell on the sensation.

"BROTHER! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!"

"Aw, bro, you shouldn't have," he commented, taking his normal seat with a glance around.

No Fate in sight.

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE."

The smile came easily as he looked at his brother. "Sure, bro. Whatever you say."

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans speared a forkful as he offered, "This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch."

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking. Sans let his brother's voice become noise in his skull, drowning out any thoughts he may have had.

"Hey, bro, shouldn't we get going?" he interjected without thinking, bringing Papyrus's train of thought to a halt.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!"

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans took the moment to take in the town. Everything looked the same but there was still no sign of Fate. Not sure what he felt about that, he let his gaze wander to the ceiling.

"BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?"

He looked to Papyrus, smiling. "Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn't quite done with me this morning." Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. "I honestly can't 'sand' the guy."

Papyrus threw his hands up. "SANS! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

Sans's grin grew. "Don't worry, Pap, I'm 'morning' that one too."

"UGH!" Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him. He didn't see Fate again till he was making his way to the ruin doors. They just suddenly appeared beside him, their footfall crunching softly beside his own.

"Enjoy yer time away?" he asked, only slightly bitter at the fact that he had been startled. Again.

"To an extent," Fate offered as a sort of nonanswer. Sans didn't pry.

He looked up at the branch he normally occupied. After a moment, he asked, "So what are they? Multiple personalities or two separate souls?"

Fate hummed, though Sans felt it didn't bode well for the answer. "I haven't the faintest clue."

Sans closed his sockets, not surprised. "Of course not. How long are you planning on sticking about?" He turned, looking to Fate, only to find the figure gone. He let out a sigh. "Guess that answers one question."

He teleported to his branch and settled in, watching the door.

Chara stepped out coated in dust.

"How long have you been in this loop?" Fate asked during a lull. For whatever reason, Chara had wandered off rather than take Sans on in their current marathon of genocide fights. Sans was not complaining. He was rather enjoying the reprieve from death sitting in Grillby's empty bar, ketchup bottle in hand. He was in denial about actually being grateful for Fate's presence.

Sans ran a hand over his skull, doing the rough math. "From what I've been tracking and if I'm mathing correctly, you're name came about the month mark, so I've been in this temporal loop somewhere just over a month. Probably close to a week, if I'm calculating all this right without paper. Or a calculator."

Fate seemed to be a statue at his side, unmoving and solid. "And have you gotten any actual sleep in this last week?"

Sans shrugged, not really caring. Something had changed in the kid. Ever since he had gained knowledge of Fate's name, everything has gone downhill. Chara had become even more vicious and in what Sans could perceive as a week, he had been through more than 160 resets, with the kid going at him like a bat out of hell. Sans had stopped keeping track of the resets somewhere in there.

The worst part of it all was that Sans was now getting to see Frisk but it was only when Chara was supposed to take a final hit or when Chara wanted to tease him with a pacifist run. There had been such an odd spattering of pacifist runs that, had he not been taking notes as he was, he would just think them nothing more than hopeful dreams. It was just becoming too much and he was starting to shut down.

"The last run's coming."

Sans gave a dry chuckle as he raised the bottle to his lips, commenting sarcastically, "I didn't realize this was all coming to an end."

It wasn't overly true but there had always been the possibility of him never getting out. To hear Fate say that the last run was coming only seemed to confirm what he had been seeing; the loop was finally destabilizing. However, what that meant for him when it all came crashing down was a mystery. Still, he was looking forward to something other than this.

The bottom of the bottle touched the counter again.

"I won't be there for the rest of them."

Sans snapped his gaze to his companion. Through the past week Fate had been by his side doing their best to keep him from going completely insane. He had become dependent on Fate's calm presence and it was all he could do to not break at that simple statement.

"What?" he croaked, his hand clenching the bottle like a lifeline. "Why?"

Fate gave a nonchalant, one shoulder shrug. "If I had the choice, I'd stick around, but for whatever reason, our interactions are going to diminish till I'm no longer around and you'll be on your own."

Sans wasn't sure what he felt at the moment. He threw back the rest of the ketchup but he didn't taste it.

"I'm sorry."

Sans whipped around, glaring at Fate. "Sorry?" he snapped. "You're sorry?! Why would you be sorry for ditching my sorry ass in my time of need?"

Fate's expression closed off and they reached a hand towards him. "Sans, calm down."

The edges of the room were beginning to dim.

"No!" he barked, slipping from the stool. "I have every right to be pissed right now. You are supposed to be a figment of my imagination and yer just going to ditch me. What? Is my own mind bailing on me now? Is my own sanity throwing in the towel with the finish line finally in sight?"

"Of course not," Fate retorted, their voice settling into a vocal pitch and pattern that felt far too familiar. Sans instinctively shied away from it. "I have no idea why I'm not getting to stick around. I'm not getting to choose." They jabbed a finger at him. "You are having me leave."

Sans's pupils went out.

"What?" he asked, his voice level.

Fate scoffed. "You said it yourself; I'm a figment of your imagination. My staying and leaving has to do with what you have decided on and, for whatever reason, you've decided to do this last bit on your own."

"No I didn't," he spoke, his volume soft.

Fate's only grew louder. "Yes you did!" they bellowed, throwing an arm to the side in frustration before pointing at him again. "You, by yourself, made the decision to get answers without relying on others! You. No one else." Fate drew back their hand, curling it into a fist as they visibly fought to bring themself back under control. Sans was rather grateful the mask was currently a hat on their red hair. Fate focused on him and there was regret in their gaze. "Sans, you made the choice to do this on your own. You chose to turn away the offered hands."

Sans tore his gaze away, the back of his sockets stinging. "You're lying," he croaked.

Fate gave a weak smile. "And you're in denial," they countered, almost gently. "I haven't left yet so let's keep going till we can't go anymore."

Sans closed his sockets letting the darkness engulf him without responding.

He found himself face down on his mattress.

He closed his sockets, just being in his exhaustion for the brief moment he could. He must have dozed off because the pounding on his door woke him.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he replied with a yawn. He could really use a good night's sleep, actually. How long had it been since he had gotten one?

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO! TIME TO GET UP!"

He couldn't remember.

"That was so kind of you, Pap. You're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

He listened to his brother's footsteps disappear and he settled against his mattress, closing his sockets with the intent to get some sleep.

"You'd best get up and dressed, Sans," Fate spoke, appearing without a sound.

Sans didn't respond.

Fate let out a sigh. "The timeline will force you along, Sans, and you'll be worse for wear if you have it force you."

Sans didn't dignify that with a response. He wasn't fighting the script. He was simply catching some Zs where he could and right now was the best time.

Fate sighed again but said nothing more on the matter.

"BROTHER! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!"

Sans opened his sockets, finding himself sitting in his seat at the kitchen dressed. He let out a soft sigh, sad that his nap was now over.

"Aw, bro, you shouldn't have," he spoke, the words taking their own inflection.

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE."

The smile appeared on his face as he looked at his brother. "Sure, bro. Whatever you say."

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans offered, "This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch."

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking. Sans let his brother's voice become noise in his skull, a soothing melody for his tired mind. As much as he had got offended at the thought of Fate throwing in the white towel with the end in sight, he was rather tempted to do just that. Apathy, depression, something had settled in his soul and he just didn't care enough anymore to put effort in the parts that mattered. This part mattered, this part was important. There was no telling if this would be the last time he would get to see his brother and even that thought wasn't enough for him do even put in effort to do the next line proper.

"Hey, bro, shouldn't we get going?" he stated, unintentional words bringing Papyrus's train of thought to a halt.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!"

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans watched Papyrus, watched as the skeleton closed the door, locked it, checked it, and then trekked over to his side. He took in every motion, every shift in Papyrus's form but felt he couldn't truly appreciate this moment as he should.

Stars above, he was tired.

"BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?"

He looked up at his brother's face, smiling softly. "Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn't quite done with me this morning." Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. "I honestly can't 'sand' the guy."

Papyrus threw his hands up. "SANS! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

Sans's grin grew. "Don't worry, Pap, I'm 'morning' that one too."

"UGH!" Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him. The journey was normal and uneventful. They parted ways and Sans took up his spot near the stone doors leading into the ruins.

The sound of stone grating on stone filled the forest.

Sans wasn't sure if he was seeing things right. For the first time in what felt like forever, Sans was watching Frisk exit the ruins. Though as unusual as it was – and despite how much it put him on edge – Sans went through the motions.

To his complete surprise and utter relief, it really was Frisk. The kid giggled at his lame jokes, was enthusiastic to be friends with his brother, and, for the first time in a very long time, Sans got to experience a Pacifist run all the way through. When he woke face down on his mattress after the barrier supposedly broke, he woke feeling rather refreshed. He picked up his notebook and opened it.

"Don't forget about the run prior," Fate voiced from some corner. Sans didn't look their way but the reminder was welcomed and he quickly put in the two entries.

r874 – genocide – bedroom
loop's decaying – maybe this will actually end
fate's leaving for whatever reason – not ok with this

r875 – pacifist – bedroom
it was so nice to see frisk after so long

"You do seem well rested after this last run," Fate commented but Sans chose not to acknowledge them as he dressed.

There was pounding on his door as he pulled his coat on.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he replied with a smile. It was odd how he felt so rejuvenated after a good run. He really needed to figure out how to not get quite so depressed. Eh, that required effort on his part and, really, he was quite content on just staying in the pleasant joy of the previous run

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO! TIME TO GET UP!"

He grinned, speaking honestly, "That was so kind of you, Pap. You're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

He listened to his brother's footsteps disappear down the stairs before following after on soft feet.

"It's odd to see you so cheerful," Fate commented, though it sounded like they were talking to themself rather than Sans. "I wonder what caused the change in mood. Could a pacifist run really cause that much change in a person's mood? Well, I guess after having given up, I wouldn't be surprised."

Fate's mutterings slowly faded out of hearing as Sans made his way to the kitchen. He stood in the doorway watching his brother work, letting the timing catch up.

"BROTHER! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!"

"Aw, bro, you shouldn't have," he spoke, the words endearing as he stepped into the kitchen and took his designated seat. He was rather hungry and was looking forward to breakfast spaghetti.

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE."

He grinned. "Sure, bro. Whatever you say."

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans wound a forkful as he offered, "This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch."

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking. Sans happily listened to his brother talk, not really listening to the words but enjoying the sound of his brother's voice rising and falling with each word.

"Hey, bro, shouldn't we get going?" he stated, unintentional words bringing Papyrus's train of thought to a halt. Aw, pity. He was enjoying the moment.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!"

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans looked to the town. The previous timeline had been wonderful and, though he hadn't seen the surface, it certainly had felt like they had made it. Odd. Why wasn't he paranoid that it was going to be another genocide run now? He couldn't remember what had happened to have such an effect on him. Eh, he didn't really care.

"BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?"

He looked up at his brother's face, smiling. "Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn't quite done with me this morning." Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. "I honestly can't 'sand' the guy."

Papyrus threw his hands up. "SANS! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

Sans's grin grew. "Don't worry, Pap, I'm 'morning' that one too."

"UGH!" Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans happily trailed behind him. Greetings and conversations were exchanged and Sans continued to be relaxed and happy through it all.

The sound of stone grating on stone filled the forest and Sans watched from his perch with an excitement rolling through him. A part of him – the part that still fully remembered the numerous genocide runs that had a pacifist run only to toy with him – was on edge but it was drowned out by this excitement.

Frisk stepped out of the ruins and Sans grinned.

"Five runs in a row," Fate commented as Sans watched Frisk disappear towards Hotlands. "Five runs, all pacifist."

Sans was still attempting to give Fate the cold shoulder but so many good runs had eased whatever hurt he had felt. "Maybe it'll end this way."

Fate hummed but there was a note to it that cut through his good mood and brought reality crashing back down around him. Suddenly overwhelmed, Sans reached for anything to keep him upright. His hand found Fate's arm as the figure moved to help him. Fate eased him to the floor. "Stars above, what am I doing," he breathed, shaking.

"Coming to terms with reality," Fate spoke gently. Sans looked up at them as they pushed the mask up onto the top of their head. "The end is coming. This is a farewell, of sorts, from Frisk, and a sort of play from Chara."

Sans choked, clasping his hand over his teeth. He wasn't sure if he was going to sob or be sick.

"This is the last time you'll see Frisk."

Sobbing it was.

In some isolated tunnel of Waterfall, Sans sobbed. His muffled cries echoed off the walls and his entire body shook as he grieved. This was it. This was the end. His mind had created euphoria to keep him together through the last good run and he had gladly gone along with it.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

Eventually, he calmed down. Fate wasn't present but that was no surprise. The figure – true to their word – was appearing less and less. At least Fate had been there for this, to wake him from his dreaming. Pushing himself to his feet, he did his best to look as if he hadn't been sobbing on the ground and teleported to his Hotland sentry station.

He was grateful when the world reset.

He wasn't sure he would have been able to fake it for the kid much longer.

He pushed himself up from his mattress, feeling exhausted. He started to dress, finding that it was going to be a slow process as he did so. Whelp, it was a good thing that there was a script. Otherwise he was certain that even his brother would notice Sans's depression.

There was pounding on his door.

"SANS! TIME TO GET UP!"

"Five more minutes, Pap," he called out, the words taking the default inflections of the script as he tried to figure out how to pull on shorts without falling over. He was too tired for this and just wanted to curl up on his mattress and block out the world.

"YOU CALLED FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES TEN MINUTES AGO! TIME TO GET UP!"

Stupid script.

"That was so kind of you, Pap. You're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW HURRY UP AND GET DOWN TO THE KITCHEN! WE HAVE A FULL DAY AHEAD OF US!"

He sat down on the edge of his mattress to pull the shorts on. It seemed the safest thing to do as long as he was able to get himself back up. He stilled with his shorts barely over his knees. Stars above, why did it have to be so difficult?

"Come on, Sans," Fate's voice softly coaxed as the figure appeared. "Keep moving. You have to."

Sans watched as Fate stood him up and helped him pull his shorts all the way up but there was a disconnect and Sans didn't care. He was too tired. "What's the point?" he asked meekly, as Fate pulled his shirt off. Apparently it had been inside out.

"You give up now, and Chara wins." Fate put his shirt back on before cupping his cheek and getting him to look at the figure. "You give up now, and you'll never wake up again."

Sans frowned at Fate's words. That sounded rather cryptic. "Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

Fate stepped away and passed Sans his coat. "No, it wouldn't. You would be condemning your brother to a fate worse than a temporal loop."

Sans flinched, taking the coat. "Not sure there's anything worse than this."

"You'd be surprised."

Sans frowned as the coat settled on his shoulders. It wasn't sitting right. He shifted one side and then the other till he realized what was wrong. Odd how panic was the first reaction he had. "Where's the notebook."

"I took it."

Sans looked up, finding the notebook in Fate's hands. He felt his own hands twitch with the need to take it back, to write in it. Fate gave him a strained smile. "You don't need it anymore, Sans. And it would be best to break the habit now."

"But I need it." Sans was both astounded and embarrassed when the words not only came out sounding like whining, but his voice cracked too.

Fate's expression didn't change. "No you don't. The end is near, after all."

Sans reached out but there was a heavy sense of vertigo and he found himself in the kitchen, reaching out towards empty air.

Fate was gone, and so was his notebook.

"BROTHER! GOOD! TAKE A SEAT! BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI IS ALMOST READY!"

Sans jerked, startled by his brother's voice. "Aw, bro, you shouldn't have," came off his tongue without his bidding. He did choose to sit, though.

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed. "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY! WE MUST BE NOURISHED TO BE ABLE TO BE PRODUCTIVE."

He gripped at the edge of the table, feeling oddly anxious without the notebook in his pocket. "Sure, bro. Whatever you say."

Maybe Fate was right.

The plate of spaghetti was placed before him with ease and Sans offered, "This looks great, Pap. Even better than your last batch."

Papyrus beamed at him and started talking, though his voice was nothing more than background noise in Sans's skull. He dutifully ate as he tried to calm himself down. Fate had a reason for taking the notebook away. There was a reason he needed to be without it for the remainder of the resets.

His hand twitched around his fork.

"Hey, bro, shouldn't we get going?" he stated, bringing Papyrus's train of thought to a halt.

"YOU ARE RIGHT, BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "IF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE SHALL LEAVE RIGHT AWAY!"

Sans passed his plate to his brother.

They stepped out of the house and Sans looked to the ceiling in hopes to sooth his anxiety somehow. It helped to be out of the house, at least, but the pocket normally holding the notebook felt empty around his hand. He clenched the inside of the pocket and tried to get his focus elsewhere.

"BROTHER, ARE YOU ARLIGHT?"

He looked up at his brother's face, giving him a strained smile. "Yeah, bro. Guess the sandman wasn't quite done with me this morning." Papyrus frowned at him and Sans grinned. "I honestly can't 'sand' the guy."

Papyrus threw his hands up. "SANS! NOT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

Sans's grin grew. "Don't worry, Pap, I'm 'morning' that one too."

"UGH!" Papyrus stormed off in the direction of his puzzles and Sans trailed behind him, not sure he was going to be able to survive without it.

It turned out that he could, to an extent. Chara exited the ruins and Sans could already tell it was going to be a genocide run just by the glint in the kid's eye. Sure enough, they ended up in Judgment Hall facing each other and reset after reset of them having at each other erased all memory of anything else that had been part of his world before their fight.

The world reset for who knew how many times. Sans was leaning against a pillar, empty sockets pointed towards the ceiling. He could feel it, deep down in his bones. This was it, this was the last run. For whatever reason, this last fight would end this temporal loop for better or for worse and Sans desperately prayed that it would bring blessed death. He was tired of it all, tired of the resets, tired of the same dialogue, tired of the same sensation of dusting from getting hit once.

He was done with this game.

Chara started walking towards him from the other end of the hall and Sans closed his sockets. He was certain that the kid would be vibrating with excitement. Chara seemed to know what was coming with how much their glee increased with each reset.

Sadly, true to Fate's word, the figure wasn't there. Hadn't been in a good handful of resets. He still touched the pocket where the notebook had been but the urge to write in it every reset had finally left. He only wished he had it so that he knew precisely when the last time he had seen Fate. Not that it changed anything. Fate wasn't there and knowing wouldn't change that fact.

Sans pulled at the world gently, appearing before Chara. The kid was grinning at him, visibly bouncing from foot to foot in a display of excitement that made Sans sneer.

"Let's get this over with," he spoke, though he wasn't sure if it was true to script or not as the kid charged at him.

Sans was surprised when the kid took a few hits. He was fairly certain that the kid had come out of their last encounter nearly unscathed as he succumbed to the wound they inflicted. But the kid kept coming at him, using health items here and there to keep from having their health diminish completely.

Sans threw in his all at taking the kid out.

It turned out to be for naught.

Either he misjudged his teleportation or the kid was simply faster than he had anticipated for the blade sliced through his shirt, scrapping against his ribs enough to take off that one measly HP he had. It was pure reflex that embedded the bone in the human's chest.

He heard their soul shatter as his world went black, the sensation of his bones dusting and his soul shattering engulfing his mind.


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