She was unable to feel anything as she entered a bright yellow hallway. On her left and right, there were tall, thick pillars, holding the ceiling above her. For some reason, she felt like the pillars were alive, watching her move and judging her as she went past them. She, however, didn't even raise her head to look around herself. She didn't look at the windows and the light shining down on her. She ignored the songs of birds chirping to make her life a bit brighter. Looking at her feet as she was stepping closer to the shadow waiting in front of her, her heart was beating fast. There was a part of her struggling to get back into reality, but she was being pushed towards the smiling monster whose tired eye sockets were closed. In her head, there were still images of the Ruins in another light. Everything was covered in golden flowers and everything was slowly falling into place. Still, she couldn't think of a reason why the skeleton in front of her was just waiting there as the memories she had were piercing through her Soul. Still, she refused to feel anything.

As she got closer, Sans took off his hood and slowly opened his hollow eye sockets, meeting her lifeless eyes just staring at him as every step she took hurt more and more just by being in his presence. Something about him didn't feel as friendly and welcoming as before, even though he was still smiling widely, like he wanted to embrace the miserable child.

She stopped as soon as she heard church bells ringing in the distance. The kid finally raised her head to look at the windows, seeing a strange symbol on them. Not even questioning what it was, she looked at the smiling skeleton which had his hands in his pockets. The dark circles under his eyes were now even more visible as the light shone upon them, creating a calming atmosphere which was weighing Frisk down. She still didn't feel anything, though.

His smile was wide and looked like it was etched into his skull at this point, since she knew that he was well aware of what she did. He sighed as he tilted his head to the right.

*on time again, it seems. just as i predicted.

As he said that, Frisk took a step back, not even knowing why. They were both silent as they were waiting for the bells to stop ringing. Frisk could feel slight anxiety of what was to come after the bells stopped singing their song. When they finally went silent, Sans reopened his eye sockets, the pupils showing themselves again.

*took you a long time to get here, frisky. you're six years late, you know that…?

She took her knife out with her trembling hand.

*in six years… a lot of things happened. metta's show got turned down. undyne lost the will to fight like before, thinking you'd never come. alphy lost confidence. my bro's been scared of never joining the royal guard. …as you can see, those changes aren't really nice. but still… you decided to show up,* he smiled and shrugged his shoulders, raising his head, *at that point, everything got better. you see, we needed a human in our lives to make them worth living. to fill us with hope. someone with such a strong soul like yours…

His eye sockets turned hollow again.

*should be using it for a good reason, don't you think?

Frisk was just looking into his empty eyes as chills were running up her spine. The voices in her head started whispering loudly as he closed his eye sockets again. The whispers were getting louder and louder with each second passing and she was struggling to keep standing at her feet from the terrible, scary noises they were making, until he opened his eye sockets, revealing two white pupils. At that, the voices all disappeared, leaving her completely alone with the skeleton which looked around himself, just to show he wasn't planning on doing anything yet.

*now, you will be judged. you'll be judged for every exp you've earned.

His smile slightly shifted as he saw that the human looked confused.

*judging by the look on your face, you must be pretty confused. heh. exp… is an acronym for execution points. you gain 'em by defeating monsters… and eventually, if you defeat enough of 'em, your love will go up. love, too, is an acronym. it stands for level of violence.

Frisk didn't respond at that, which made the skeleton's smile get slightly smaller.

*you didn't know… still you seem not to care. fair enough. it's just that i've been wondering. all the time we've spent together… it meant nothing to you, right?

She was looking at the floor and didn't respond, so the skeleton silently laughed and took something from his hand, throwing it onto the floor.

*i've been keeping it… just in case.

She looked at the yellow, flowery bracelet which was now lying on the floor. The remaining petals on the flowers were all wilted and she wondered how they were even still holding on.

*but it seems like i won't be needing this anytime soon*, he said and stepped on the flowery bracelet, so Frisk looked at the floor again as something resonated within her. For some reason, the heaviest part for her was that the skeleton wasn't wearing his light pink slippers anymore.

*you've been busy, huh? i mean… i don't really know. just guessing 'cause of all the dust… all over you and so on.

"Yes", she silently said, but her voice echoed through the long hallway. He was silent for a few seconds again, just like he was waiting for her to think about every sentence she'd say.

*i've got just one question before we end this once and for all… do you think even the worst person can change? even though they have done something so terrible they shouldn't even be forgiven…?

She didn't respond.

*truthfully, i don't care what you thought as i asked that. i'll be frank with ya, kid. i've never cared. not that i didn't try… knowing it'll all end again and again, without any warning, i just distanced myself a bit too much. after all, i'm just another puppet in your game, aren't i?

She raised her head, seeing his eye sockets empty like her Soul felt at this point. He got his hands out of his pockets, shrugging.

*what? you thought i'd say the exact same words after five years…? come on. we've known each other for quite some time, player. i thought you'd figure out that i wouldn't be able to remember all the lines… heh.

Frisk was just looking at him as he kept talking.

*not that it matters. you're still gonna come back. again and again. and my dialogue will always differ. just 'cause i don't know if this world will stay like this… or turn around yet another time, destroying the previous timeline and all of our memories just like this. good memories, bad memories. everything gone in a second. sounds scary, am i right? welp. it can happen any time. and in those six years you spent hiding in the ruins… you could have learned that killing is not right. right?

Frisk mumbled something and Sans stopped his speech to look at her.

*what?

"You shouldn't have released me, then."

He didn't respond.

"Why did you release me? What were you even doing around there…?"

Sans chuckled.

*since no one's around, i might as well tell the truth. i've been waiting for ya to get out, kiddo. being a sentry in snowdin is pretty boring, since no one's coming. but i take my job quite seriously*, he said as his eye sockets turned empty again, *i'm not anything like you imagine me to be. if it weren't for the old lady in there, i would have killed you the moment you stepped outside of your hideout. i have predicted your position. calculated the time you'd get out of there. i only got it wrong for three hundred sixty five days, five hours, forty eight minutes and forty six seconds multiplied by five. i'll… let you do the math.

He said and his pupils appeared again as his smile widened. He looked away for a brief moment.

*as i was waiting, i started practicing knock knock jokes. pretty lame, huh? welp, one day, i heard a voice responding… but i guess you already know that story. why did i listen to her when she told me to watch out for you?

He looked down.

*i don't know. she sounded like the type of person to listen to you and to like you for the person you really are… and not for the person everybody else wants you to be. and people like that are really rare. she sounded like someone to listen to you as you were telling jokes and think: 'wow. this guy's been though some hard times'. almost nobody sees through me. i just wanted another friend to listen to my struggles, i guess. someone besides grillbz, who had been sitting through my terrible puns and lamentations for who knows how long, if we count every restart ever made… thinking 'bout it, this guy just sits there listening to me in every timeline, trying to keep my spirit up… some people are sent to us to brighten our lives, don't you think?* he winked, but his smile got smaller. He then widened his eye sockets as the pupils in them went bigger too.

*…and, also, i had nothing to lose. i'll never know if she really knew the real me, but who cares. what's past is past. what's present is present. who knew, right?* his smile widened, making him look even more sad than usual.

Frisk was looking at the floor as she was listening to him, trying to feel something and searching for the right words. But none came. She knew she had to turn him to dust too if she ever wanted to leave again, but the thought of him getting turned into dust was making all of her joy in killing go away. With each kill she made, she felt less and less happy about the things she was doing, but had an irresistible urge to keep up with her wrongdoings. The sins were piling up on her since then, and since she started, only bigger and bigger ones were coming at her.

*the moment i found out you were a human was quite surprising, since i gave up from finding one, thinking i was wrong. my eye flashing blue back then… it wasn't from the surprise, though. let's say it was a… hunch, okay? something on you… never mind. as i spent time with you, i actually thought we could be friends and i completely scratched my theory on you being evil and so on, but…

He suddenly stopped and widened his eye sockets. He looked at the non-existent watch on his hand.

*huh. looks like i've told you too much. promise to keep that a secret, oxygen potassium?* he winked at her.

She didn't respond, so he sighed.

*humans. i'd appreciate what i'd been given if i were you. not only do you have a soul capable of feeling every emotion and the ability to make choices, but you also have much more matter and thought put into you than anything else has. with that gift i certainly wouldn't go walking around, killing brothers, and stuff.

She couldn't even look at him.

*since you weren't nice enough to answer the previous question, i've got another one. do you wanna have a bad time, kiddo? taking another step forward will confirm that. also, you won't like it. like, at all. but it's always been your choice, hasn't it?

She sighed and slowly stepped forward, feeling like she made her biggest mistake yet. His pupils vanished again and a second later, a glowing, circular pupil appeared in his left eye, flashing light blue and bright yellow, its glow spreading into the air.

*welp. sorry, old lady. this is why i never make promises.