When you awoke, you were in an unfamiliar bed. You inhaled sharply as the memories came flooding back. You groaned and rubbed your face with both hands; you just wanted to sleep forever and not have to face the consequences of what you'd done.

You allowed yourself this brief moment of self-pity, but eventually you forced yourself to peel your hands away from your eyes and take stock of your situation. Patting yourself down revealed that you were still in your same blood-soaked tank top and sweatpants combo, and none of your wounds had been taken care of. It was a stark contrast from the hospitality you'd received the last time you'd passed out and were taken care of by Sans. At least he'd had the courtesy to move you to a bed… or had that been Alphys' doing? Would Sans have just left you were you fell if it had been up to him?

Truth be told, you weren't really sure what Sans would have done or, more importantly, what he would do in the future. A day ago, you would have said you had a pretty comprehensive understanding of who Sans was as a person. Now, you were unsure. That grin plastered on his face at all times made him very hard to read. And now that you were in a situation that had never even come close to anything that had happened in the game, you felt… lost. At least Sans had been willing to hear you out. That fact comforted you, if only a little.

In the meantime, you had a splitting headache and some mildly concerning cuts on your forearm. Any injuries you'd received had long since stopped bleeding, but it felt like your whole face was covered in crusty, dried blood. You needed a shower and some bandages, at the very least. Preferably a change of clothes, too.

You sat up in bed and took a look around. It was dark, but there was a faint light coming from what looked like the first floor of the lab. You heard the sound of hushed voices, but you couldn't make out what they were saying over the constant hum of machinery. Deciding that going down there yourself was out of the question, you called out hesitantly,

"Hello? Is anybody there?" The voices cut off abruptly. There was the pitter-patter of feet, and soon you saw a silhouette emerge from the conveyor to your left. That was probably where the humming was coming from, now that you thought about it; there were conveyor belts all over this place.

"H-h-hi." Alphys shuffled over to you, looking guarded. Even in the dim light, you could see a bead of sweat on her brow. "S-sorry, we… we carried you up here. I, uh, we thought you would be more comfortable?" You craned your neck to peer over her shoulder, but saw no one else.

"Is Sans still here?" You weren't sure if you were relieved or upset when Alphys shook her head.

"Uh, well, he was just downstairs, but… he-he left." She said bluntly as she wrung her hands. "D-do you… need something?" You clutched the blankets under you, a little nervous to have been left alone with a stranger in their own house. It's Alphys, You thought to yourself, She's not a stranger.

"I was just wondering… do you have a shower? And maybe some bandages?" You pointed to your head, and Alphys jumped up.

"Oh! O-of course! The bathroom's just over there," She gestured over her shoulder, "I can show you…?" Alphys hovered at the side of the bed as you stood up, painfully slow. Your legs shook under you, especially the left, and you bitterly wished for your cane. "Do you need any help?" Much to your surprise, she held out her hand to you. You bit your lip, suddenly overwhelmed with how nice she was being to this soulless human whom she just met.

"Thank you." You took her scaly hand in yours gratefully, leaning on it as you began to limp to the other side of the lab. As the two of you passed by the worktable, Alphys spoke again.

"Y-you know, I… um… d-don't really understand exactly w-what you've done. But, I h-haven't always done the right thing, either. S-s-so, whatever happened, I think, m-maybe, you deserve a s-second chance." You felt a rush of affection for Alphys. She'd never been your favorite character in the game, but you thought you were already coming to appreciate her more now.

"That's really nice of you. But this is more like my thirteenth chance, if we're being accurate." Alphys laughed nervously, and you figured that might not have been the most appropriate thing to say. As the two of you progressed down the room, you wracked your brain for something better. "And, uh, I know all about the lab, and the Amalgamates. And... I think you deserve a second chance, too." Alphys looked shocked, and almost let go of your hand. You stumbled, but Alphys recovered and continued supporting your weight before you could fall. Even in the darkness, you could see her cheeks blushing furiously.

"I-I haven't t-told anyone about that!" Her voice was shrill, and you wondered if you'd said the wrong thing again.

"You could, you know. People won't be as mad as you think they will. And I would know," You shrugged, "But, I mean, you don't have to. Just... think about it, maybe?" You both stopped as you reached the door at the end of the room. You didn't think that had been there in the game, but it might've been a trick of the perspective.

"I… I guess…" She let go of your hand and opened the door for you, revealing a small bathroom with only a shower and a wall-mounted mirror, "Th-thank you." Alphys pushed up her glasses, looking awkward just standing there. You gave her a patient smile and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door softly behind you.

As soon as you were alone, you examined yourself in the mirror. It was… well, about what you'd expected. The right side of your face was a gross, brownish-red from all the stale blood, and your hair was an absolute disaster. You peeled your shirt off painfully, and hissed when you saw the discolored skin of your torso. You could see your ribs outlined in dark bruises that wound their way down to your stomach. For a moment, you weren't even sure how you'd gotten such extensive bruising, but then you remembered the vine that Flowey had wrapped around your torso. You were probably lucky that none of your ribs were broken; or at least, you didn't think they were.

Once you'd finished struggling to divest yourself of your dirty clothes, you stepped under the warm spray of the shower carefully. You bit your own knuckles to keep from screaming when the water touched your wounds. You'd been expecting the burning sting, but that didn't make it any less painful. As soon as you adjusted to the water, you reached a shaky hand out to grab the shampoo. Briefly, you wondered why Alphys had shampoo when she didn't have any hair, then you realized with mild horror that it was probably for when Undyne stayed over. You hated the idea of using her things, but it wasn't like you had a lot of options. With a long-suffering sigh, you slathered your matted hair with the shampoo, working as much of the blood out as you could while avoiding the spots that hurt too much to touch.

When your hair was as clean as it was going to get, you sat down on the tiled floor and picked at the crusted blood on your face. You weren't too worried about sitting naked in the shower; the bathroom was so clean, it was practically sterile. You preferred to risk it than to stand unassisted for another second.

After the longest and most painful shower of your life, you were beyond relieved to see that someone had placed a neat pile of towels, clothes, and clean bandages on the floor for you. You hadn't heard Alphys come in, but you assumed it was she who had left the gift. However, you instantly recognized the clothes as being from Sans' dresser, and you weren't really sure what to think about that. Regardless, you dried yourself off and pulled on the clothes all while still sitting on the floor, because you couldn't bare the thought of dragging yourself to your feet again. Eventually, though, you had no choice but to leverage yourself up using the wall, since you had to look in the mirror if you wanted to examine your head wound.

The damage was ghastly; there was a long, jagged crack near your hairline, so large that you were surprised it had managed to seal itself up before you bled out. You were certain it would scar if left to its own devices, but you didn't dare pick at it for fear of breaking the clot. Resignedly, you wrapped the bandage around it, grimacing. You put the leftover material around your arm, too, for good measure.

Finally, after spending what had to have been at least an hour in the bathroom, you emerged. You'd been hoping to just crawl back into Alphys' bed, as rude as that might've been, but were disappointed to see that it was folded up into an easy-to-draw cube. Instead, you were forced to take the conveyor belt downstairs in search of Alphys.

You didn't find Alphys, but, to your surprise, Sans was standing at the bottom of the conveyor belt as though he had been waiting for you to arrive. You wondered if you could move fast enough to run up the conveyor backwards, but before you could even try you noticed Sans was holding something in his hands that you desperately needed.

"Oh my god, thank you." You said with the utmost sincerity as you took your cane from him, holding it almost reverently.

"Yeah," He said simply as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Alphys went to the junk pile to start looking for satellite parts. I said I'd meet up with her." It took you a moment to get what he was implying.

"Oh, um, I'll help. Of course." You didn't think you'd be much use in your current state, but if Sans wanted you to go, you figured you'd better go. A mean little voice in the back of your mind wondered how long Sans expected you to suck up to him, but you tried to ignore it. Sans nodded curtly.

"Follow me." You limped after him, by now mostly used to the disorienting sensation of taking one of his shortcuts. In only a few steps, you found yourself in a place you had never been before, but instantly recognized from the game. There were garbage heaps stacked precariously in seemingly random locations, and the rushing sound of many different waterfalls filled your ears. The whole place was flooded ankle-deep with water, but pallets of wood laid out in a curving path kept you from getting your feet wet. You recognized Alphys a short distance away, digging through one of the bigger garbage piles. Sans didn't give you much time to look around, though, as you had to hurry after him when he set off at a brisk pace down the path of wooden planks.

"So, your leg's better." Sans spoke with forced casualness. You begged to differ, since the both of them felt like hell at the moment, but you knew what he was referring to.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, it was just…. I told Flowey - that flower that attacked us - that I would leave once my leg was healed. So I didn't want him to know that it was getting better." You could only see the back of Sans' skull, so it was impossible to see his expression.

"How did you know that flower? And how did he know me?" It seemed that the real reason Sans wanted you to help in the junkyard was so that he could continue his interrogation of you. That was beyond frustrating; couldn't this have waited until you didn't have a pounding headache? He must've heard your involuntary sigh, because he stopped abruptly and spun around to face you, pointing a finger in your face, "Don't give me that. I have a right to know this shit, and you're gonna tell me, without the attitude." You flinched back, jolting in fear at his sudden movements. You forced yourself to nod silently, remembering that it was because of Sans that you had this headache to begin with. He was being pretty damn nice to you, all things considered.

"Flowey was the first monster to find me when I fell into the Underground. He was going to kill me, but I pretended to be his lost sibling and he let me go. He knows you because he also remembers the resets, and he met you in some of them." Sans looked confused, but satisfied with your answer. He retracted his finger and turned around slowly, starting down the path again.

"He seemed a little familiar, but," You saw the backs of his shoulders move up and down in a shrug, "There's a lot of things I don't remember anymore." With that, Sans veered to the right, his slippered feet splashing in the water as he approached a garbage pile. "We're lookin' for scrap aluminum. Especially the mesh… like from screen doors. But anything you can find would be good." Oh, god, he really did want you to help, didn't he? You pursed your lips, but said nothing as you stepped off of the pallet and into the cold water. You began to sift through some of the lighter garbage, unable to lift the heavier stuff while one of your hands was occupied with the cane.

"So… twelve times, huh?" Yeah, this was going to suck. You stole a glance at Alphys, wishing she would rescue you, but she was too far away to even hear the conversation.

"Yup." You replied bluntly, not sure what Sans wanted from you.

"...Why?" There was a hint of exhaustion in his voice. It startled you. "I mean, I get the first time. You made a mistake, got a bad ending. But then, the second time, we were free. It was so…" He took a steadying breath, but said no more. Guilt gnawed at you.

"I just… wanted to know what else could happen." It was a bad excuse; you knew it was. But it was the truth. "I wasn't going to, at first. But, after a week, I wanted to play it again. I didn't know…" You didn't bother finishing. You'd said it so many times already, there was no use saying it again. Hoping to change the subject, you held up a can and asked, "Hey, should we even bother with these?"

"Yeah, every little bit counts. Start a pile." You retraced your steps and dragged one of the wood pallets closer to the garbage, throwing the can on top of it. Well, it was a start, at least. "You wanna know what the worst one was?" Shit, it seemed Sans would not be deterred from this conversation. Slowly, you went back to digging through the trash.

"I have a pretty good idea." You cringed just thinking about it. You really, really didn't want to talk about this…

"I bet you think it was that one where you killed me for fun, right?" His dark chuckle sent a shiver down your spine. "It was for sport, wasn't it? Why else would you keep reloading, even after you won? You did it so many times, I lost track. Don't even remember most of it, thankfully." You said nothing, because he was right. You'd played the game where you killed everyone twice; once to see what would happen, and once just for fun. You distinctly remembered killing Sans over and over again, trying to do it without ever getting hit. You gave up before that happened.

"But you're wrong," Sans continued on so casually, as though he were talking about the weather, "That wasn't the worst one. Nah, the worst was number eleven. You remember that one?" He wasn't even working anymore, just staring at you as you crouched down and sifted through a garbage bag full of junk. You felt the hairs on the back of your neck prickle. "You killed almost everyone, but not enough. Left a few stragglers behind. I didn't fight you, 'cause I thought you just screwed it up. That, when you realized, you'd reset right away and try again. But you didn't." He took a step toward you. You turned away. "You left me there. For twenty-seven days. I wasn't technically alone, but I might as well have been. Thought it was never gonna end… that I might be alone forever. It was the first time I was happy about a reset." You heard his footsteps in the water as he took a few steps closer. Your hands shook. "'Course, a close second would have to be the first time you killed Papyrus-"

"STOP IT!" You flew to your feet and whirled around to face him, throwing the bag of garbage down violently. You stood nose-to-nonexistent-nose with Sans, your free hand clenched in a fist. "I remember, okay?! I fucked up. I know. I FUCKING KNOW! Here's a novel idea; how about, instead of taking me on a guilt trip, you help me look for some goddamn aluminum so I can get the hell out of here?! Then you'll finally be happy, because you'll never have to speak to me AGAIN!" You had a great height advantage over Sans but, to his credit, he didn't flinch. Or even emote at all. You let out one final, wordless noise of frustration before turning back to the garbage pile, throwing things around with more aggression than was absolutely necessary.

"I don't want that." Sans' voice was almost too quiet for you to hear. You stopped and looked over your shoulder, bewildered.

"Huh?"

"I don't want to never speak to you again." Sans shrugged, grimaced, and said no more, shuffling over to the garbage pile but keeping a good distance away from you. There was a long stretch of silence, both of you deep in thought. Then, suddenly, something Sans had said made you remember,

"Oh, god, what happened to Papyrus? He and Undyne-"

"Paps is fine. Undyne was pissed, but she would never have hurt him." You breathed a sigh of relief, then realized that Sans must have seen Papyrus since then. Maybe while you had been in the shower.

"So, uh, what did you tell him?" You shifted your weight nervously. The idea of Papyrus knowing about your betrayal was… uncomfortable.

"Nothin'. When you ran away, I was in the basement. I heard the commotion and went upstairs. I broke up the fight, and Undyne went runnin' off to look for you. Paps told me what happened, so I went to look for you, too. Told Papyrus to stay home, in case you came back," He paused, his grin slipping a little, "After… all that, I went back home and told him I couldn't find you, but I'd keep looking. He thinks I'm looking for you right now. He's… uh… real upset." You silently cursed at yourself. If you had just gone down to the basement instead of panicking and running off to Waterfall, all of this could've been avoided. You wondered how different things would be right now if you had done that, then quickly nipped that thought in the bud. Thinking like that was how you'd gotten into this mess in the first place.

"You should probably tell him the truth." As much as you hated to admit it, there was no reason to keep Papyrus in the dark anymore, so you gave Sans the go-ahead.

"No." You looked at the skeleton quizzically, wondering if you'd heard him right.

"Uh, yeah? He's upset, you just said it yourself. I'd rather have him know what I did than think I'm dead, or something." Sans shook his head resolutely,

"No, he doesn't need to know. He'll just forget about it anyway, once the reset happens. Why bother?" You watched him for a long while, but ultimately decided to bite your tongue.

"Okay. I disagree, but it's your call."

"Damn right it is." He muttered darkly, and you pretended not to hear. If Sans wanted to lie to his brother, that was his prerogative. You weren't going to take part in it, even though you were secretly a little relieved.

There was another long period of time in which neither of you spoke, both just silently collecting aluminum and adding it to the pile. You made a big breakthrough and found a huge screen door, and you had needed Sans' magical assistance in order to get it out from the bottom of the junk heap. After that, Sans seemed to realize that he could just levitate objects instead of doing any physical work, so he lounged on top of the aluminum collection doing just that while you broke your back digging out scraps. You made a point to throw any cans you found at his face, and were surprised, yet pleased, when it got a chuckle out of him.

A while later, Sans spoke up, "Alright, I've got a question for ya. Don't get pissed." You hid your smile, privately glad that he was afraid of you getting mad.

"No promises." You said, jokingly (and wow, it felt good to joke with him again). Sans flung a stray toothbrush back into the junk pile with the flick of his wrist.

"Who'd you sell your soul to?" You paused in your digging, biting your lip. Deciding that now was a good time to take a break, you plunked yourself down on the wood pallet with Sans, sitting on the opposite side of the aluminum collection.

"Have you ever heard of Chara?"

"The first kid that fell down here? Yeah…?" You took off your shoes and socks, which were too wet to have been doing you any good anymore. There were too many rusty, sharp things on the floor here to be able to keep them off while you were working, but it felt good to free your sore feet for the moment.

"That's who." You said simply, wishing you had the flexibility to be able to massage your own feet.

"Well, that makes no sense. They're dead." Sans kept on pulling things from the pile that looked like they might be aluminum, but he put less and less effort into it as time wore on.

"Yup. They, uh, kind of possessed Frisk. Or at least shared their body. I'm not really sure what happened, there," You admitted with a shrug, "But, after the first time I… well… killed everybody, they asked me for my soul and, in return, they'd let me keep playing the game." In retrospect, it was a pretty dumb reason for someone to sell their soul. Thankfully, Sans didn't point that out, though you sensed he was thinking it. He didn't say anything for a while, but eventually thumped his head against the aluminum pile, sending a couple of cans rolling to the bottom.

"This sucks." Sans said, bluntly. You couldn't help it; you burst into humorless laughter,

"That's putting it mildly!" Sans' smile tilted upward, but before either of you could speak again, someone else called out,

"H-hey, guys!" Both of you turned to see Alphys walking over to you, dragging a huge pile of scrap metal on a sheet behind her. You and Sans looked at each other guiltily; your pile was about half the size of Alphys', and the two of you had been working together.

"I-I think we have enough t-to get started." She said proudly as she stopped near you, wiping sweat off of her brow. You scrambled to put your shoes back on, forgoing the socks, and Sans hurried to add your collection to Alphys' load. He jokingly suggested that you throw your cane into the pile, until you clutched it to your chest protectively, retorting with, "It's not even aluminum, dumbass!" The exchange brought a relieved look to Alphys' face; you figured she was probably glad the two of you weren't tearing each other's throats out. It made you wonder if she'd heard you shouting earlier.

After the three of you took one of Sans' shortcuts back to the lab, Alphys immediately began sorting through the heaping pile of metal.

"Whelp, I better get home." Sans announced, "It's almost bedtime, and you know how Pap gets without his story."

"Can I go with you?" You asked, hopefully. Sans' smile fell instantly.

"No." You nodded, disappointed but not particularly surprised. Would you ever get to speak to Papyrus again? The thought was… not as upsetting as you thought it should've been. You wondered if that was normal, or if re-souled you would have been sadder. You'd been questioning a lot of your emotional responses, lately.

"Y-you can stay with me!" Alphys reassured you, and you smiled at her.

"Thanks, Alphys." When you looked back at Sans, he was already gone. You sighed softly and sat down next to your new host, helping her sort out the usable aluminum from the trash. Sitting on the floor in the lab, you had the sudden realization that, even though you now had a plan for how to proceed, you still had an awfully long way to go.

"Oh my god, I almost forgot! I found t-this mug… it looks just like you!" Alphys distracted you by holding up a mug that, frankly, looked nothing like you. You laughed, and the two of you argued good-naturedly about it.

At least you had a new friend who was determined to help you through.