Chapter 4 – Anomaly in Time

A/N: Thank you for your continued support. I'm really glad you're enjoying this so far. Here is chapter 4!

Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale.

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"human….don't you know how to greet a new pal? turn around and shake my hand."

Frisk stiffened, something about his tone almost made her flinch. Still, she turned around and shook his boney hand, letting out a giggle at the rude noise coming out of the whoopee cushion, but when she looked up at the skeleton the laugh died down in her throat as she found herself staring at empty eye sockets.

Frisk could almost feel the temperature around them somehow drop even further and something within her soul shuddered at the sight of those dark endless voids.

And then it was gone. He blinked and his eyes returned to normal. "sorry about that, kid. I'm sans, sans the skeleton." He said causally as if nothing happened.

Frisk frowned, unsure of what to make of what she just saw. Swallowing back her uneasiness, the child smiled a little at the monster. "I'm Frisk,"

"cool. so, you're a human, right? that's hilarious. I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans," Sans let out a sigh. "but….y'know….I don't really care about capturing anybody." he stated, stuffing his hands in his jacket's pockets. "now my brother papyrus, he's a human-hunting fanatic. Hey, actually, I think that's him over there."

He pointed past her to a tall figure in the distance. "I have an idea, go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through, my bro made the bars too wide to stop anybody."

Frisk turned towards the path and walked through the gate with Sans following her closely. The two stopped when they got near the sentry stand.

"quick, hide behind that conveniently-shaped lamp!" he muttered at the sound of approaching footsteps. Frisk nodded and hurried towards the lamp, but then her foot sunk into the snow and she found herself falling face-first into the white power.

"Frisk, are you alright?" Asgore asked, concerned.

Frisk squeaked as she sat up, the snow stinging her face and she quickly whipped it off, shivering violently.

"Kid, you okay over there?" Sans called out from his spot. Just as she was about to respond a loud voice interrupted her.

"SANS!"

The three turned to see Papyrus stomping towards the shorter skeleton. "sup, bro?" Sans asked.

"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S 'UP', BROTHER! YOUR PUZZLE STILL HAVEN'T BEEN RECALIBRATED! IT'S BEEN TWO WEEKS!" Papyrus muttered.

Sans shrugged. "sorry bro, but sitting at my station for hours is just bone tiring."

"NO, IT'S NOT! YOU'RE JUST TOO LAZY TO DO IT AND DON'T START WITH THE AWFUL PUNS!" His brother said impatiently.

Frisk stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Should she go behind the lamp like she planned or just stand here? Would it matter? She looked up at the king who shrugged his shoulders.

Papyrus let a tired huff and finally seemed to take notice of her. "SANS, WHAT'S THAT OVER THERE?"

"I think that's a lamp, bro," Sans answered.

"Oh," Papyrus said in disappointment.

"hey, what that's that in front of the lamp?" Sans asked, his grin growing wider.

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at Frisk and took a step closer to her. "ANOTHER LAMP I THINK? IT LOOKS QUITE SQUISHY THOUGH." Papyrus said thoughtfully and then his eye sockets widened. "WAIT A MINUTE! THIS ISN'T A LAMP, SANS!" he exclaimed loudly. "IT'S A HUMAN!"

"Oh, really?" Sans said, acting surprised.

Papyrus was bouncing in his spot in joy. "I FINALLY DID IT, SANS! UNDYNE WILL….I'M GONNA…I'LL BE SO…POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!" he squealed excitedly before clearing his throat and glaring at Frisk.

"HUMAN, YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU AND DELIVER YOU TO THE CAPITOL! THEN...THEN!" the skeleton trailed off and scratched his skull. "WELL, I DON'T KNOW WHAT COMES AFTER THAT. IN ANY CASE, CONTINUE….ONLY IF YOU DARE!"

With that, he turned around and ran down the forest path, laughing all the way.

"Well, that went well." Sans stated and turned to Frisk who was still shivering from the cold. He raised an 'eyebrow' and took off his jacket, passing it to her. "Here, kid."

Frisk took the jacket and wasted no time putting it on before smiling gratefully at him. "Thanks,"

"snow problem. and don't worry about my bro. he isn't dangerous, even if he tries to be. I'll keep an eye socket for ya," he said with a wink before walking the other way.

"Um….what?" Asgore asked dumbly, trying to process any of what just happened and failing.

"Let's just go," Frisk said and began walking down the pathway.

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The child sighed as she made her way through the forest, her breath visible in the cold. The tips of her fingers were freezing and she rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm them up.

It wasn't long until she reached a point where the path splits at a fork in the road, one going up to the river and the other bending around some trees.

Frisk spotted a box sitting by a sign and approached it. She opened the box and looked inside to find a pink worn glove.

In the first timeline, Frisk had taken the Tough Glove. She hadn't used it to fight any monsters, but having something to protect herself with had put her mind at ease back when she was still afraid and confused of everything around her.

But this time the sight of the dusty glove just made her….uncomfortable. She reached out and touched the worn leather, feeling her skin crawl and her senses buzzing for some reason. Maybe she should-

"What's inside?"

Frisk nearly jumped out of her skin and slammed the box shut. She looked back to see the king staring down at her curiously.

She almost forgotten he was here. She couldn't let Asgore see her walking around with a glove covered in monster dust. What will he think of her!?

He'll be disgusted with you, that's what. A part of her mind kindly supplied. Frisk wouldn't blame him if he felt that way though. Humans would be wary too if they saw someone carrying an object covered in blood.

"Nothing, just junk," Frisk muttered nervously and walked ahead of him. Raising an eyebrow, Asgore glanced at the box for a moment and then followed her.

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The moment Frisk came out of the Ruins, Sans could tell something was not right. He could sense it within the kid, but he couldn't tell what exactly it was or even get a clear read on her soul.

Frisk herself was different from the first timeline and it wasn't just her hair. This Frisk was jumpy and distracted. As he followed her through the forest, he saw her murmuring to herself several times and looking at something that wasn't really there.

Despite how much he wanted to believe that her weirdness was nothing, it was starting to make him uneasy.

Ever since the Resets started happening Sans got so used to seeing everything repeat that his mind didn't know how to respond when he came across something new. Seeing Frisk for the first time had thrown the skeleton off and he didn't know what to make of her so he watched her closely through her journey to get a better understanding of the anomaly.

And just when he thought he finally figured her out, this new Reset happened and now watching her left him with more questions than answers.

The short skeleton sighed and rubbed his skull, leaning against the tree he was hiding behind. He then poked his head around the tree to see an Icecap approaching the human. Once the battle began, miniature icebergs emerged from the snow and began moving towards Frisk.

The kid ran through the snow and managed to avoid most of the ice attacks, but she made the mistake of jumping far to the left to dodge an iceberg which left her open for another attack.

And then it happened.

Three large fireballs appeared above Frisk in the shape of an arch before blasting the iceberg to tiny pieces, leaving the Icecap completely stunned and gaping at the human.

Sans stood there baffled, all of his thoughts coming to a screeching halt. He could feel sweat forming on his forehead as he watched in shock as the child wave at the Icecap awkwardly before walking away from him.

What….was….that!?

Okay, if Sans wasn't sure before, he now knew something wrong. Since when Frisk could do fire magic? Did she always have that or was it something she gained during this run?

His thoughts suddenly drifted back to the Ruins and he quickly teleported back to the huge door. Wasting no time, he knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. For a whole minute nothing happened and he couldn't hear the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door.

A feeling dread and apprehension filling his soul, Sans knocked again more forcefully this time, feeling himself getting more anxious with every passing second.

Finally, after what felt like forever, a soft voice answered. "Who's there?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sans smiled. "shower,"

"Shower who?"

"shower you today?"

The lady behind the door laughed, though it sounded a bit watery for some reason. "I'm alright,"

"is everything okay in there?" Sans asked, suspiciously.

The lady sounded surprised. "O-Oh, well yes. Why do you ask?"

"just checking," Sans answered, looking down at his feet in thought. So the kid hadn't tried anything so far. That eased his suspicions, or at least some of them. After saying goodbye, he teleported back to Snowdin forest to find the human talking to Papyrus, but Sans' gaze remained on Frisk.

He'll have to be more careful while keeping an eye out on the kid from now on, especially around his brother.

It could have been his imagination, it was probably his imagination, but just for a second Sans thought he saw a tall dark silhouette standing behind Frisk.

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A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!