Well above Snowdin's monolithic steeples of pine, the towering purple heights of the Ruins were visible from a mile away. Though snow had ceased falling from the above for now, yesterday's weather had spread a plush winter blanket high to your knees. Following in Sans' track made it easier on what were quickly becoming popsicles for legs. The felt-lined jacket he had salvaged from his closet certainly helped, but still you struggled.

When you started falling behind, Sans opted to carry you on his back for the journey's remainder. It was the least he could do, he said, when his teleportation magic had yet to fully recover. Nothing you said would stop him. It was the first time in a while you had hated your decrease in stature.

"I hope you're right," you said behind his shoulder in mist of breath. "She's never reopened the door before."

"eh." He shrugged passively. "not all ravens are black."

At the foot of the door, he shuffled up to the bush on its far right. There, cradled in branches behind dark leaves, rested one of Alphys' cameras. Its light blinked green: active. Sans hunched over and waved into the lens, grinning mischievously. You climbed forward and stuck out your tongue.

"'sides, you know her," he went on. He picked at his near-perfect teeth in the reflection, if only to mess with the dinosaur watching. "prolly worried sick. it'd help if she at least heard our voices."

Your finger had been wiggling halfway up your nose when shame washed over you, only for a different reason. Toriel had asked for a call when everything was settled; however, somewhere in your rush to get to Snowdin you'd lost the cell she'd given you. If only you remembered her old underground number like you did Papyrus'.

Sans caught your expression in the glass and smiled reassuringly over his shoulder.

"'s not your fault, bud. heh. yer only human."

He let you down beside the entrance. The heights of the ruins shot so far above, your neck nearly broke to seek them out. Sans' gaze failed to follow, too preoccupied with the pillar-flanked door ahead of you. By the time you looked back, his hand was readied in a fist to knock, but … stayed put. You could see the sweat gathering on his skull, the hollowness driving more deeply into his eye sockets.

"y'told her, huh?" he asked finally. The lights of his pupils shifted to you sideways. "'what i did … what i almost did."

Your feet scraped through the snow; the sound grated into your ears like sandpaper. Your cold hands hid in your sleeves.

"It was the only way she'd let me go," you admitted.

He thought so.

He took a preparatory breath and dropped his knuckles to rap audibly against the cool purple stone. The sound seemed so quiet from this side, but you knew too well how every tiny breath shook like thunder in that hallway. Your head swirled with images of fire, of magic hands rushing down as if to sweep away your soul—but you hadn't seen them this time. This time, she'd let you go without a fight.

He'd barely finished the final stroke before you heard a voice, hoarse with the gravel of first waking words.

"Who's there?" Toriel asked quietly.

Sans hesitated a second, but not long before a small smile tugged at his cheekbones. He leaned into the barrier between them, mouth almost flush with the stone.

"cash."

"Cash who?"

"heh … more of a pistachio guy m'self."

When Toriel's laughter bubbled contagiously through the door, Sans chuckled too. Then, Toriel knocked back.

"who's there?" he asked.

"Mist."

Sans' genuine smile softened at once, hidden when his forehead fell to meet the stone. "mist who?"

"Missed you."

You found yourself smiling wider than you rightly should, but it diminished just a little when Sans wiped quickly at his face with his indigo sleeve. He stood still a moment, his back to you.

"missed you too, lady," he said quietly.

It hadn't really hit you until then, just how close Sans and Toriel had been to start, and how terribly distant they had become after leaving the underground. After you'd rejected the offer to live with her and chosen Sans instead, Toriel had—perhaps inadvertently—began building a wall between them. In less time than seemed fair, their relationship had become purely surface-level … and though Sans had respected her boundaries, he'd never fully recovered.

Yet another thing you messed up, you thought.

"will ya let me in?" he asked timidly.

There was a long pause from the other side before Toriel stammered, "Oh, well, I … I promised myself I would never …"

"kid's here too."

"Hey, mom."

"Oh! Greetings, my ch … . D-did you just call me "Mom?'"

You snickered.

"please," said Sans. "just this once. it'd mean a lot … to me."

After several moments of silence, the inner mechanisms of the door clapped and clanged against each other as the gears of a massive clock. You and Sans took a few steps back to make way for the door as it swung slowly outward. The snow scraped away in a quarter circle, and beyond its curtain was revealed Toriel, tall and soft and beautiful as always.

She and Sans regarded each other bashfully. For the once queen of monsters, this was the first time she had ever laid eyes on him, though Sans remembered meeting her nearly a hundred.

This time, though … this time was different.

Sans looked up into her face trepidly, eyes brighter than you'd seen them all day. Something like joy, something like fear, gleamed out of them like the tiny fireflies they were. They sparked and dilated as she bent down and dwarfed him in an inescapable hug.

"I am so sorry," she said gently.

His stick-straight spine melted in her hold like coconut oil, and he folded into her like a paper doll.

Upstairs, Toriel asked you to make yourselves comfortable and disappeared into the kitchen. While you simply took a seat at the table, Sans spun his eyes around "Home" with intrigue. He released a low whistle.

"heh, weird. so new home is just a recreation? guess asgore couldn't capture the soul—pun intended."

"I just thought that when Toriel left, she took all the color with her."

"deep."

In a matter of moments, said boss monster had returned with freshly rewarmed butterscotch-cinnamon pie, which she sliced and served to you both at the kitchen table. You had eaten nothing but monster food for so long, you wondered what it would feel like to taste human food again. Your tongue salivated at the thought of some gosh darn pizza.

The dessert filled your soul with warmth as usual, as if Toriel had pumped emotion into its very substance, and yet something about it felt different. Still good, just … not what you remembered. Maybe not every batch was the same, you thought.

Sans retched and coughed on his first bite. When you spun to face him, he was staring at his slice of pie, face ablaze with a royal blue flush. He glanced stiffly at Toriel, who only smiled innocently. You didn't understand; however, as he continued to consume the dessert, piece after piece, he appeared to be having something of a spiritual experience with it. It was as if he felt every bite, as if it were transforming him from the inside out. Though you didn't know it, he certainly sensed it: a piece of his soul resurrecting, the cracks inside him thinning away.

When he finished, he granted your hostess a knowing, appreciative look. "thanks, tori."

She rubbed his back warmly.

"so, uh …" Sans stared at the crumbs on his plate a moment thoughtfully. "truth is frisk and i have a little more in our brain ovens than just the pie. might've noticed yesterday the kid knew a few slices more than they should."

Toriel's gaze teetered back and forth between the two of you. "I did find it rather … odd."

Sans looked at you pointedly, inviting you to answer her.

You bit your lip, dug your fingernails into the table's edge. The wood grain captured your interest.

"I've kind of done this before," you said. "A lot. I've been to the underground. I've met Asgore. I've met you. I've done it so many times I can't count, and … Sans remembered every time. It's my fault he did what he did …"

"kid."

His eyes closed and would stay closed for the remainder of the conversation.

You didn't retract your statement, but the edge in his voice cut it short. You said what you could to Toriel with expressions.

"That's why I knew all that stuff," you said in conclusion. Your hands curled into fists. "I'm really sorry."

Toriel's burgundy eyes had widened with many difficult-to-place emotions. "But … but how …"

"that's one thing we wanna figure out," said Sans. "first step's always 'go back to the start,' right?"

Outside Home, you and Sans waited for Toriel by the massive, red-leafed tree. Sans had surfaced his phone, tapped a few buttons on the touch screen, and scanned the maple from root to foliage. You had seen him modify his phone the evening before, but you didn't know in what way. Its readings must have been rather ordinary, since he pocketed the device nonplussed.

You glanced back toward the door to Home as a precaution for privacy and leaned in close to Sans. "What was that about?"

"seemed to me this tree's a little too happy to be underground."

"No, not that. The pie."

"oh." Sans glanced back to the still-empty doorway as well. "heh. well, uh … y'see, pal … magic is all about intent. monster food is imbued with magic, so … ain't really that far off. most of it's whipped up just to charge your batteries, but specialty stuff can have some extra emotion built into it. nice cream fills ya with nice thoughts, glamburger makes ya wanna vogue … . it's pretty easy to tell what you're in for just by lookin' at it."

You caught his drift before he said it.

"tori made that pie with me in mind," he said. "the flavor was definitely you, not trying to take away from that, but … she baked in all these feelings about how much she cares about me and stuff. pinch o' positivity, clove o' love, cup o' encouragement … it was practically on 'i'm here for you, sans' steroids." He pocketed his hands below a softening smile. "heh … lady wasn't even sure she'd open the door, but made me a pie anyway." His eyes closed fondly. "sure is somethin'."

Indirect sunlight rippled through the barrier as through water, casting the site of your landing into a field of gold. The bed of yellow flowers sprouted happy and healthy, minus a bald, torn patch where you must have met the earth. The air was damp; cool patches of water speckled across the cave floor, filling your sinuses with the aroma of wet, earthen rock. Roots spiderwebbed out the walls, all the way up into distant heights.

That fall should have killed you.

"eesh," Sans hissed. "you didn't tell me you fell from the space needle."

The three of you stared upward into the distant light, but as your stomach pirouetted, you averted your eyes. You had always said you "fell." Always. Down stairs. Down hills. Down here. After this long, would it do any good to say otherwise?

In the corner of your eye, something green and yellow moved at the far wall but disappeared the moment you turned your head.

Flowey?

Your eyes scoured the cave, but if he were there, he didn't show.

"huh," said Sans, seizing your attention once more.

He was crouched at the flower patch with his phone out. Toriel stood beside him, and soon, so did you.

"You gonna be suspicious of every photosynthesizer we cross?" you teased.

Sans chuckled. "nah … but somethin's off here. either that or the scanner's messing up."

You checked the display over his shoulder but could make neither heads nor tails of it. Through the screen, it seemed as if any area within camera view was subject to the scan—in this case, the patch of flowers—but every reading showed its answers in strange symbols, the majority of which were hands.

"frisk, stand over there, would ya?"

You relocated to the wall, where he'd motioned, and found yourself under the scrutiny of his scanner. You were honestly surprised he hadn't done it sooner—or maybe he had when you weren't looking. After this, he flipped between the two reading results, muttering to himself.

"well there's definitely traces of time funk but not enough to be the cause of … well, anything." He tore his eyes away from the screen and lifted them to Toriel. "you seen any weird goings-on around here? noticed something that … shouldn't be?"

Toriel shook her head.

"I would have seen something," she said. "I come here every day. This is … where I …"

After eyeing you a nervous moment, she bent down and whispered something into Sans' tympanic cavity. His face sobered, eye lights softened. Then, he smiled, however small, and touched Tori's arm supportively.

After scanning everything from the puddles to the walls, Sans walked over to where you sat at the far wall. His eyes were dim, rimmed with dark, tired circles.

"hate to say it, but there's not much to go on here," he said, flipping through all the results.

You watched him uneasily, chewing your tongue as if limbering it up for the thought you'd been sitting on all day. "You said, the first step is to 'go back to the start,' right? Wouldn't that technically be … the rift … ?"

"not a good idea." Sans' expression became firm. "'s too dangerous, kid."

"But if that's the source of all this, then …"

"i said 'no.'"

His eye sockets emptied into darkness, your queue to give it up. You grew concerned when you saw the light tremble run up his spine, but it faded quickly enough. His shoulders relaxed just a little, and he dropped his head.

"trust me, there's nothin' to see down there," he said softly. "even if there were, we should do what we can up here before takin' on something so … drastic."

Toriel escorted you to the Ruins' exit. You could feel the cold air bleeding through the cracks of the heavy door, a draft that would be bothersome if any closer to Toriel's home. The stone barrier clapped and clanged as it had before, as it did every time, and scratched heavily open.

Toriel handed each of you a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie to go, wrapped in parchment paper and sealed with a heart-shaped sticker. You threw yourself into her warm white fur and purple tunic, where she held you for more time than necessary, but less time than you could ever want.

When you turned to leave, Sans stayed put.

"i'll, uh, be out in a minute, kiddo," he said sheepishly. "wanna have a quick word with goat mom."

You obliged, however reluctantly, and slipped out the door into the cold.

Outside, the already frigid air had dropped yet a few more degrees. Your breath practically left you in icicles. Judging by the layer of crisp, icy white over your old tracks, it must have snowed a little since heading indoors. Oh, well. It was only an hour to Waterfall from here.

You waited beside the door, observing the twinkling crystals overhead that sought to mimic stars. They never really came close. You remembered a timeline where you'd lingered after breaking the barrier, long enough for the real stars to come out. It gutted you now, to think how Sans had stayed behind that evening, watching the sparkling skyscape alongside you. How many times had he looked you in the face that night, searching for an answer? How many times had you failed to see the apprehension, the hope, the blatant plea in the stars of his own eyes?

Something rustled in the brush of the deep forest, and when you looked, you saw a shadow moving farther away. Your curiosity and boredom got the best of you. Scraping through knee-high piles of snow, your feet carried you to the treeline. Among the foliage nearby you saw nothing, but in the distance, something shifted again. You glanced back at the stationary doorway and ventured in a little farther.

No sooner had you broken past the edge of the woods did you feel something spiral around your ankles. A noose of a green vine snapped tautly, snatched your feet out from under you before you could even comprehend it. Snow, twigs, and dirt scraped violently against your backside until finally you were lifted upside down from the ground, well out of sight of the Ruins' door. You shouted and struggled pointlessly, even more pointlessly as additional vines appeared to clench your arms in place.

"You IDIOT," said a small, grating voice.

You stiffened. The vines turned you to face a yellow flower, white countenance painted with absolute rage.

"F-Flowey—mph."

Another vine gagged you before you could say more.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Chara?!" he practically screamed. He brought you inches from the florets of his face, glare intensifying. "Don't think I didn't notice that little stunt you pulled back there."

Your eyes started watering, your face burning.

"Do you think taking away the power to reset will change anything? You think I'll lose interest if you're as powerless as everyone else? HUH?" His fake smile slipped back into place. "I guess I should be grateful. Something this interesting hasn't happened in, well, ever. Not since that little game I played with trashbag's brother. So I guess you could say I'm intrigued."

Malignancy reignited on his countenance and he squeezed you more tightly, as if the blood rushing to your brain weren't bad enough. You coughed against the roots slowly entombing you.

*smells like chloroplast.

"Or I could just kill you now," Flowey said, "be done with it all. Maybe if you're out of the picture the power to reset will come back to me. But I think you know what I really want. I think you've seen how this ends, and I think you've seen it more than once. So, Chara … knowing everything I have in mind … what're you gonna do about it?"

You couldn't answer him even if you wanted to. Your mind was going dark, tunneling into a point until all light faded away. It was hard to breathe and think and …

A/N: Oh, no! A cliffhanger. I don't like doing those but this was the best place to leave the chapter. I wrote into the next scene but at that point it just started to feel too . . . draggy. Sorry, y'all.

Updates! Aiming to post once every two weeks. That said, I don't want to overwork myself or burn myself out, so I'm keeping that pretty flexible. I'm excited about my ideas so I'm hoping things will come sooner rather than later on average, just like in this case.

Chapters! I reworked some things and the outline is sitting at exactly 20 chapters. Let's see how well I stick to that.

Title! I plan to take away the "No More" subtitle in the next update.

Tumblr! I'm preparing to start also posting this series on Tumblr. I've got the account set up but I'm an artist (professionally) and I'd like to make some chapter illustrations to go with the posts, just some simple stuff. (I might regret that.) I'll be sure to drop the account name when I've got it rolling, hopefully in the next update.

Next Chapter! While Sans and Toriel talk some things out, Flowey has Frisk all diddly darn tied up. Will Sans get to them in time to help? (See that? I basically just told you nothing. Look how sorry I am about that cliffhanger.)

Thank you for reading! If you have any thoughts or feelings, please don't hesitate to express them!