Frisk was floating, surrounded by darkness. Is this another reset?
She could feel the warm breath of a fire wash over her. Not a reset, then. But where am I?
She cracked her eyes open. She could see a wooden ceiling above her head. A warm black coat was wrapped around her. She was lying on a wooden bed. A nearby nightstand held a golden flower.
Two creatures were in the room. One was Sans, wearing a red long-sleeved shirt instead of his usual jacket. The other was a man made of fire.
"I don't see why you bothered," the fire man said. He sighed, head crackling and popping. "This human is obviously infected."
"She's not a human, she's a monster," Sans replied. "Honestly, Grillby, you're losing your touch."
"Watch your manners. If you weren't my best customer we wouldn't even be talking about this. I'd have left you on the porch."
"Good thing you're such a nice guy."
"Maybe Papyrus is right. You're getting lazy and soft."
Grillby turned on his heel and slammed the door shut behind him. Sans stared at the place he'd gone, fangs bared.
"You better not listen to him," Frisk said. She coughed and sat up as Sans' eyes flashed to her.
"About time you woke up," he muttered, but he was smiling.
"It's been ages," Flowey agreed. Frisk turned as the golden flower shook itself and Flowey opened his eyes. "I hate sitting in a flower pot."
"Where are we?"
"Grillby's Grill," Sans said. "We're in a back room. Nobody will bother you here."
"We're back in Snowdin," Flowey added. He shot Sans a venomous glare. "Now that you're up, we should leave. It's not safe here."
"I don't know if I can stand up, much less run from monsters," Frisk said.
"Just rest," Sans and Flowey ordered in unison. They exchanged an uneasy glance. This is interesting, Frisk mused.
"What happened?" she asked. "It's all a blur."
"We fell in the river," Flowey said. "I think you caught hyperthermia. It was all I could do to keep you walking. We got a good way into the woods when he stopped us."
"It wasn't long before I realized you weren't coming back," Sans interjected. "I figured the flower had turned you against me." Was that a hint of sadness in his voice? "Immediately I started looking for you. I could tell from the direction of your footprints where you were heading so I took a shortcut to catch up. When I found you, you were wandering deliriously. We managed to keep you warm long enough to convince Flowey to let me bring you here. And it's a good thing I did."
"We're doing this again?" Flowey mumbled. "Seriously, I would have gotten her out alive."
"You just keep telling yourself that."
"How long was I out?"
"A couple of days. I lost track," Flowey said.
"Eight days," Sans countered. "I didn't lose track."
Eight days. That makes this the longest I've ever lived between resets.
Why doesn't that make me happier?
"So now that we're all together again, mind telling me what the plan is?" Sans asked. "Obviously Frisk can't stay here forever."
"We get out of town, then we split up," Flowey answered.
"Seriously? Again?"
"No, we need to stick together," Frisk interjected.
"Are you sure? This is the guy that killed you a dozen times or more!"
"Look, I'm sorry about that! And I still don't understand how this whole 'reset' thing works."
"We need him," Frisk said. She glanced at Sans. "And he needs us."
"Oh boy, this is gonna turn sappy real fast." He folded his arms. "Don't start crying on my again, flower girl."
"I'm not going to. I'm done crying for a while."
"Then maybe you can finally tell me where we're going next?"
"The barrier. We're going to the barrier."
