Welcome to this fanfic's reboot! It's going to be a bit complicated, but I hope it will be worth the wait and trouble.

As I mentioned earlier, the problem I have with updating this fanfic here is because of the formatting limitations; because in this story, the formatting has become more than just a means for aesthetics; it's actually almost become a plot device as well, in some cases! So... I decided I will keep updating the reboot version here, but it will only be updated here as a means of giving you a preview, and letting my followers know that a new chapter is available. I HIGHLY recommend you read the PDF version of the fanfic (link available above and/or below this line), because it WILL give you a much more agreeable reading experience.

That being said, of course you do whatever you want. Just... Please know that reading the fanfic without the formatting MAY bring a lot of confusion as to what's going on.

How to read a WAY more readable version of the new fanfic:

NEVER MIND IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT THE LINK HERE UGH. The link to the AO3 version of the fanfic is available in the Summary/Description of this fanfic. Don't ask me why I was able to put it there but not in this chapter, I have no idea.
Due to the formatting limitations of this site, even putting links is nearly impossible. While I wouldn't care too much about posting my fanfics here, this specific fanfic has a lot of formatting originally put into it, and this formatting is sometimes mandatory in order to better understand what's going on in the story. As such, the AO3 version (accessible through the link above) offers more proper links towards the original chapters, the way they appeared within my original document, as PDF files that you can read online all you want.

Formatting changes introduced by the PDF version include:
- Fonts for the characters and for other proper uses.
- Color is used in some parts of the text when useful. This effect is used sparingly, but most of the moments when it IS used are much more intuitively understood when the color is in use.
- Images when useful or needed (for example, chat logs and discussions will show the users' avatars)
- The width of paragraphs is modified depending on the type of paragraph it is. This may not seem like it's much for now, but I believe it makes the chapters a lot more readable, and... This may actually better help understand some plot points, to be honest.
- And other changes could always appear.


Learn When to Quit

— Act I —

Don't Let Him Find Out

— Scene 3.1 —


Sans's shortcut to the Hotland lab facilities was, as usual, executed without a hitch. He perked a few wary glances left and right out of habit before getting out of the shadows, then casually made his way to the front door and inside the main building. A button was pressed, and he patiently waited for the elevator down to the basement.

Until the main door opened again and someone leisurely walked in his direction.

"Oh. Howdy, Sans! Long time no see."

He froze in place, mentally cursing his luck. This voice…

When he had told the human that she would have to wait for an hour and a half at most, it was definitely not because he had actually meant to stay for that long. He had just preferred telling her that she would have to wait rather than having her worry or expect him to come back too soon; nothing more.

He had planned to just get in, grab the grub, and then get out before anyone truly had the time to notice he had ever been there. Or, well, he wanted to get to be seen by just enough monsters to let them notice his presence, but not enough to meet someone he actually knew and get stuck in an awkward conversation for who knew how long.

So, of course, of all the monsters he could have been greeted with, it just had to be him.

Sans inhaled swiftly and nervously, then turned around and raised his skull as far up as his spine could allow him. Here stood Asgore.

"oh, uh… h-heya. y-your majesty?" He started giving a small wave. Then he stared at his hand, wondering if that was respectful enough or if he was supposed to follow some sort of protocol that he did not know about. "i just, uh… went for the gru… i mean dinner, y'know. heh eh."

The Boss Monster gave a deep but genuine laugh upon seeing the skeleton's nervousness. "Of course you did." he muttered jokingly, bending forward slightly and letting an amused yet desperately morose spark glimmer in his eyes. "You of all monsters deserve a break every now and then."

"heh, yeah, i do kinda enjoy taking it easy and all that, from time to time…" Please someone just get him out of this. Please.

Sweet mercy, the elevator behind him rang and opened its mechanical doors, distracting the taller monster from him, if only for an instant. Asgore was not the kind of person to be bothered by these slip-ups and occasional misbehaviors, but if only because he was a member of the royalty, it was just… hard to know how to properly speak to him. Especially in the timeline they were currently going through.

Asgore gently gestured him to enter first, so he did, and he was followed silently. Sans pressed the button to lead them in the basement, then buried his hands in his pockets.

This… was fine.

He was just stuck in a small elevator making some small talk with the king of the Underground and all the monsters who survived after the murderous rampage of what had appeared to be a human terrorizing an entire race, also known as the king who still had six human souls somewhere at his disposal, who had sworn to protect all his remaining subjects and was now fully resolved to absorb said six souls if any true danger were to come again, for example, a ninth human who would just happen to somehow magically appear out of nowhere and be in hiding in his house all the way back in Snowdin Town.

No big deal.

"What were you doing outside of the shelter?" Sans stiffened with just enough discretion so as to not let the other monster notice. There had been no suspicion in his voice; rather, just a hint of concern, and maybe of confusion. But still, he just couldn't help but feel on edge. "I still wonder why you preferred isolating yourself like this while working on your project. It would have been safer for you to stay in the laboratory, and you would have had access to all the materials the other scientists have at their disposal."

Even though Sans knew a little bit more about Asgore's personal life than he should thanks to his adventures throughout time and memories of past alternate events, they had never been particularly close — especially since, well, it was hard to get close to a member of the royalty during his reign, even if this particular member was known for doing his best to stay as close as possible to his subjects.

Still. This Asgore… This was a version he had never truly been given the chance of getting to know at any other point during the past timelines, and this was a version he… really would have preferred not getting to know at all.

"well, y-yeah, but… the machine's been standing all the way back there for ages, so i just didn't really feel like movin' it around… you could say it's kinda a, uh, family heirloom. y'know. has some sentimental value an' all that."

This was an Asgore who loved his subjects more than anything else in the entire world, because they were literally the only thing left that he cared about. And after he felt like he had already failed them when Alphys had been unable to contact him in time about the "murderous human child" issue… This was an Asgore who had put his grief past him for real.

This was an Asgore who, after witnessing so much pain and horror coming from one single human child, had ultimately lost all lingering faith he had in humanity. If a child could be such a demon, what could the adults possibly be like?

"I… see. Yes. Of course it would." Asgore glanced to the side, an obvious flow of melancholy and nostalgia stirring within. "Why did the humans that came down here always have to take so much from all of us…? I simply cannot understand."

This was an Asgore who had lost hope, but who had gained the will to… get revenge, maybe? Not even that was certain. The plan was basically the same as before; except that contrary to the previous times when he had to deal with Frisk, this specific time, he really was willing to go through with it. Because if he didn't, he would go through the risk of losing all he had left.

"oh, humans had nothing to do with his… uh, i mean, i-it's got nothin' to do with all that. it's just that it's, well, was, his greatest invention and all, so…" He laughed nervously for a bit. Then he stopped. Better to change the subject. "what about you? you were…"

He had lost everything for the third time in his life. Each of the previous occurrences had left their own aching mark; but this last one… It had not even been done by an actual human at this point, technically speaking; but only Sans truly knew better. The others didn't know that.

"I was looking after the souls, yes." the King nodded slowly, yet sternly. "We cannot afford to leave them without supervision for too long. And even though we do have some volunteers to look after them at all times, I simply could not help but verify myself, after the blackout occurred."

The elevator stopped. There was a ding. The doors opened.

Asgore exited first. Sans released a small sigh when he thought the other monster could not hear him, then he followed.

Had he been given even the illusion of a choice, he would have obviously chosen a more welcoming timeline before inviting his special guest around. But sadly, he was not exactly ready to pass up the opportunity he had been given, knowing full well how unlikely it would have been for him to be given a second chance. If he had been brought back to this point in time when he had first discovered everything, he knew he would have done it again.

Then again, now that he thought about it, maybe he should have warned the human about the real danger of her exposure.

His entire body was stilled as he started to stare in the distance, pondering his options for the duration of exactly two seconds and a half. Then he shrugged. Internally.

… meh. she'll be fine.

He'd probably just forget when he got back home, anyway. Or be too lazy to think about it. But that wouldn't be a problem. She already knew the context and she knew so much already about pretty much everything there was to know in the first place. She should be clever enough to figure it out on her own and avoid getting herself in trouble.

As long as they were the only ones ever wandering around Snowdin or outside the laboratory, it would be unlikely for her to be discovered by someone else. They just needed to avoid the cameras, but then again, what use would they have for going so far into the wilderness?

"Oh, right! I almost forgot." Asgore's giant head tilted upwards in sudden realization, and the sound of his exclamation vigorously pulled the skeleton away from his thoughts. "You came just in time, actually. I was told that Alphys wanted to see you."

Sans blinked in confusion. "did she, now…?"

"She did. Actually, I believe it was related to the power outage from earlier." A gleam of genuine and somewhat childish joy sparked in the taller monster's eyes before he continued, as if he had just made a hopeful deduction. "Does it mean that your project has advanced enough so you could start a few tests of some sort?"

Ugh. Touché. Not exactly what he had in mind, but… This hit way too close to the truth for his liking. And now he had better finish his time machine as fast as possible because if he took too long, the King of the Underground of all people could start to become suspicious. Just great.

"well i'm not done yet, but… you could say that the first half of what had to be done, is done. and…"

The skeleton paused, seemingly considering whether what he had in mind really was worth saying… But after thinking a little more about it, he decided that he could give himself that little bit of credit. He did just manage to make interdimensional travel real. That did probably deserve at least a little bit of praise.

Slightly despite him, but also because he gladly allowed it, his skull ended up smiling with a slight yet almost smug spark of pride.

"… well, yeah. guess i did make some real progress. for science."

"I am very glad to hear this." Asgore answered, a satisfied and happy smile spreading on his face. "Well… I will not keep you busy for any longer. I am certain that Alphys is looking for you right now. You should not be making her wait."

The King promptly left him behind, advancing towards the first door on their left. Sans spent some time to recollect his thoughts and take a deep breath.

So. Alphys wanted to see him. Because of the power outage that he had caused during his interdimensional experimental shenanigans. There were so many possible ways it could go. Obviously, he had no idea what she was about to tell him, it wasn't like he could predict from a mile away how she would react after living through so many outcomes and having known the multiple aspects of her personality for who knew how long. He rubbed the bridge of his nonexistent nose between two bony fingers, grumbling under his breath in apprehension.

Better to just get this over with. Chances were, if he didn't come to her, she would find a way to make it to Snowdin all by herself, and if that happened, she would not be happy.

Still. Grub first.

As soon as he opened the door leading to the main lobby, which had been reorganized to serve its new purpose as a dining room and cafeteria of sorts, the noise and large crowd overwhelmed him.

Compared to how many monsters lived in the Underground overall, there were never that many of them left after a run where the kid had been so murderous; but even then, the Hotland Laboratories' basement was definitely not spacious enough to actually host all of them for so long.

Nonetheless, while the majority of the survivors were gradually relocated in New Home just a few days after the kid was neutralized, they were still always meeting in the True Laboratory whenever they needed something. Supplies. Clothes. Food. Announcements from the King.

The laboratory had become the most important hub for pretty much everything. It was the safest place in the whole Underground, the Capitol being a close second thanks to its improved security infrastructures, which had been built in a rush after Frisk's journey, but were largely strong enough to stand as impressive fortifications for the city. Still, even though they were not technically living there, the laboratory felt safer for a majority of monsters, and since it had turned into the largest public storeroom in the Underground, this was bound to gather the most people given how scared they had been of venturing outside or losing any more than they already had. It took more than two weeks before the first team of the most combat-experienced monsters came out and explored what had become of the Underground, carefully monitored by the security cameras.

Sans quietly joined the line for the food rations, carefully crafting his strategy.

He despised the mere idea of actually going through with what he was about to do, but then again, as long as he didn't get caught doing it and as long as he had planned to change this timeline for the better anyway, in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't really matter.

Besides, it was not like he truly had a choice; even under the most regular circumstances, asking for two rations would have raised quite a handful of eyebrows. The idea of being completely straightforward and casually asking for a second ration because he needed to feed a human in hiding made him laugh internally, but for the sake of the safety of the human and of the entirety of his plan, he just couldn't be that blunt.

Among the monsters responsible for preparing enough food for everyone, as usual he recognized the bunny shopkeepers from Snowdin Town, that 'Burgerpants' guy (he'll get his name eventually), and some others he didn't personally know, but whose faces he had seen a few times before every now and then. He carefully observed the group, the line of the other monsters around him who were, just like him, waiting for their own dinner, and the displays of packed food rations that were stocked all the way in the back of the room, vastly out of reach from everyone in the line and the least supervised of all due to its alleged inaccessibility.

As soon as he saw an open window in time and space where he could exploit a blind spot, he discreetly stretched an arm in what would be commonly considered a vastly unconventional direction, and as swiftly as he could without making any noise, let alone letting anyone suspect that anything was happening, he grabbed a sandwich that was waiting a few dozen feet away from his current position, then retracted his arm the other way through the shortcut and carefully hid his prize in one of his hoodie's inner pockets. He threw a few worried glances around him out of paranoia, but nobody seemed to have noticed. Good. Now all he had to do was wait for his turn and ask for his own ration, and everything would be fine.

Once finally he was out of the line with one ration in his hand and the other still carefully hidden in his closed jacket, he glanced at his watch and noticed that he had already spent forty whole minutes in that mess. Ugh. Couldn't he just find a shadowed corner and warp his way back to Snowdin while no one was looking? He'd just pretend he couldn't find Alphys. He had spent much longer than he had wanted to already, so…

"A-hem."

Oh God damn it.

Well, at least now he did not need to worry anymore about whether or not he should bother to actually look for the lizard scientist, since she had very obviously found him first. Still, was the entire universe playing a trick on him today? It looked like awfully unlikely coincidences had kept piling up all day long, and that was starting to really rub him the wrong way.

"You weren't actually going to leave without even saying hi again, especially not after what coincidentally happened to the CORE after it received some unusual energy spike coming from its Snowdin distribution plant, were you?"

… Welp. No more escaping it, now. After conjuring almost all of his remaining energy into stopping himself from face-palming or sighing too loudly due to his weariness and frustration, the skeleton turned around and prepared a casual, yet too little too obviously fake smile.

"… hey, al. how's it going?"

He knew in all honesty that just pretending that he didn't know what was wrong and that everything would turn out fine was stupid and counterproductive, but then again, he simply had no idea how else to handle the situation, and he was too exhausted to care. He really just wanted to get this over with and find his way out of here as soon as he could seize his chance.

"I don't know, Sans." She rolled her eyes and shrugged in a mixture between amusement and annoyance, as she very obviously mimicked his own teasing attitude. "What do you call a guy who leaves the CORE barely standing after he ran some tests with his creepy quantum physics time-space altering biz, and who doesn't even show up afterwards to help or apologize, leaving me all alone to fix his mess?"

… Yeeeeeah, she was pissed. Rebooting the entire facility and recalibrating each of its features individually, all of this pretty much all on her own, had to have been a huge pain.

"uh…" Was she expecting him to actually answer, or…? Eventually, he just displayed a guilty apologetic grin and muttered the most obvious answer he could think of: "… a numbskull?"

"A quarky boronic bosonhead who bariumly gives a spin about others' sulfuring and could've at lithium sent me a sine before starting his tests instead of having it all lepton me to fix all he hadron," at this point she paused just for long enough to breathe, "and deal with the scared and angry monsters who had no idea what that was all about and never asked for any of this to happen in the first place."

… Sans was, to put it bluntly, genuinely floored. He might have stared at her with wide eye-sockets for a good dozen seconds of stunned silence. Did he just get owned?

Not waiting for his answer, she gave him a silent sign by pointing the dinner tables all the way back in the main lobby, and he followed without giving it much thought when he realized that he would much rather continue this conversation while sitting. He would have preferred talking in a more private and quiet setting, but apparently he didn't have a say in that one.

"… ok, wow. good job on that one. it was actually impressive comin from you." And he completely meant it, at that.

"Thanks! It took me a whole hour to come up with it."

They reached one of the few free tables and took their seat. She actually looked sincerely grateful for that compliment, which astounded him and left him for a few seconds curious as to whether she wanted to scold him or just joke with him. Almost hopeful, even.

When her sarcastic tone came back though, sadly the former option became the obvious one:

"Then again, you gave me all the time to think on it, when I was stuck in front of the main generator and could do nothing but wait for it to cool down to a level that wouldn't risk making it explode if I gave it any other task."

He tried to turn a few sentences in his head in order to find a correct but not-too-obviously standard apology, but he seemed to fail miserably. Then again, maybe he was just too lazy or too tired, and maybe he did not actually care that much about apologizing in the first place.

Well, he had never caused that much damage to the CORE before, had he? This scene was supposed to be entirely new. But then again… Alphys's scolding tended to always follow the same pattern. Even if she hadn't even started yet, part of him already knew how it would go if he didn't do anything to intentionally twist things to force them to follow a different path, and this part of him made him feel… strangely numb.

Sans tried to remember some old memories from the years when they still had some good times together. Since when had she become so predictable and dull…?

Seeing his prolonged silence, Alphys eventually just removed her glasses with one clawed hand and tiredly rubbed her face with the other.

"At least, please just tell me it worked." she murmured weakly. "It looks like it did, but still…" Her look swiftly hardened.
"Just so you know, I'm not gonna pretend I didn't see you snatch that sandwich with that weird trick of yours."

His bones rattled. Did she seriously consider telling on him…? "look, al, i really…"

She sighed again, her eyes dashing to the floor on her side as she appeared more conflicted; she seemed reluctant, but also relieved all at the same time, somehow? "… I know. A certain someone's gonna need it, right?"

Very subtle, Alphys.

Sans threw multiple terrified glances around them, but when he was convinced that no monster around them seemed to have heard her (she had thought of lowering her tone, at least), he took a second to sigh in relief before he sent her a death glare.

"ok, what was that one for? you really want us to get caught or what?"
It took him some extra energy to stay intimidating while whispering these questions so that nobody else could accidentally eavesdrop.

The conflicted frown on her muzzle shook and distorted itself in a funny way. She tried to readjust her glasses back in place, but they shook a little before they regained their balance. "I… I don't know. I'm sorry, I just… D-do we r-really need to keep that a s-secret from everyone?"

His shoulders rattled slightly as he tensed even more. If her stuttering was back, then it could only mean that she cared deeply about that issue.

It was surprising at first to hear this confession coming from the very monster who had been keeping somewhat similar secrets for years. Almost… funnily ironic. Part of him almost wanted to make a joke from it, but he stopped himself from doing so at the last moment.

Maybe he shouldn't point it out.

Maybe she, too, was tired of keeping secrets, after all. He could understand that feeling.

"depends. you think you could tell them what really happened last month? that whatever happened, it doesn't even matter at all?"

The answer was obvious. Yet, she found herself unable to say it.

What was preventing them from telling everyone that instead of an actual human, the thing that had caused them so much pain and disaster was nothing more than a remote-controlled puppet? That the motive behind their misery was not even cruelty or madness, but just— the lack of knowledge from someone who thought they were playing a video game, and who genuinely believed that the lives they had stolen were not real?

What was stopping them from telling everyone that, chances were, the ones who had caused so much death and destruction were not so different from any of them? That just because they didn't know any better… Had any monster been in their place, without knowing anything; would they have done the same thing without even realizing it?

Alphys thought of some of the most popular video games in the Underground. Not all of them were necessarily violent, but the monsters weren't unfamiliar with this type of games either; she had even been asked to help create one of those Massively Multiplayer Online games, and although she wasn't typically one to enjoy video games that much (she vastly preferred reading mangas or watching anime), she could understand the hype they created. She thought back of how Undyne had sometimes spent some time on some of these video games, not only because she was using the excuse that she could use them as a means to create battle strategies, but also because she genuinely enjoyed them.

So now… How would she have reacted if, one day, she suddenly learned that one of these games actually impacted sentient people?

What was preventing them from telling everyone that they had been living the scenario of a video game? This sounded so easy to say. And all at the same time, this was such a painful revelation to receive. This was unbelievable not because it would seem scientifically absurd— way on the contrary, the theory that could explain how a video game could be controlling their world was so easy to understand. But this was unbelievable because nobody could easily accept that this could ever be the truth. Such fact could be received with so many reactions, from anger to hopelessness. Especially after what had happened during the last month… Learning such truth could destroy so much. She knew it had had this effect on her.

Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, everyone… They had all fought to their deaths.

But all their inspiring, yet tragic heroism, had been for nothing.

Because there never was an 'enemy' in the first place.

Because this game could have restarted and erased all of their pain and memories at any point.

Because Sans's plan involved doing exactly that. Erasing everything, one last time.

"It doesn't even matter at all." What a terrible thing to say. What a horrible truth to keep.

She looked down. Sans was about to add something along the lines of "yeah, thought so.", but he eventually decided against it.

"even you can't accept it. not after what happened." he muttered with a detached tone, but a compassionate look. "can you…?"

"I… I-I want to trust you. A-and I saw e-evidence that…
t-they really d-don't…" She cut herself short, trying to regain her composure. When she raised her eyes again to face him, they appeared so empty, yet paradoxically filled with a spark of undecipherable nature. "T-they r-really n-never want-ted this t-to h-happen. D-did they…?"

She looked about to cry. His shining pupils dimmed ever so slightly as they ran away from this disheartening view.

"don't think dawn can speak for all o' them, but… at least she understood the situation fast enough. judging by her expression, she's…" He hesitated, trying to find the right words. How could he describe her? He hadn't really known her for nearly long enough to judge her properly. "… well. she's a person. that's all there is to say. she's a person with feelings, and a minimum of common sense. so she gets to understand how we feel, too."

"Dawn… T-that's her name, huh." she caught on, repressing a stiff giggle. "How did she take the whole thing?"

"she, uh. well, it took her a while to just… believe it was happenin for real." When he thought back of the first conversation he had with her, he chuckled for a bit. "you should've seen it. pretty funny in retrospect."

Alphys's muzzle shook a bit as she tried to laugh along, but the sad expression won over immediately. After a few seconds, the desperate look was replaced with a harsh frown.

"I just really hope you'll keep that one under your watch." she muttered edgily. "The other one caused enough pain as it was."

The death glare she received from Sans made her shiver uncontrollably.

"Frisk would never have done any of this." he murmured gravely.

The lizard gave him a dirty look. Even though she had been told that they weren't actually responsible for what had happened, and that they weren't even the one responsible for trapping their world in endless time loops… Part of her was still surprised that Sans would even keep calling that human by name despite everything that had happened because of them.

Maybe Sans had been able to forgive all of these humans, whether they came from their world or whether they were one of those 'players', but she knew for a fact that it couldn't have been such an easy task for anyone else. She knew the truth, and she was still struggling to forgive any of them. She wanted to, but the scars were still too fresh, and… She just didn't feel ready to disregard her dearest friends' deaths just yet. They had done so much… all in vain? How could she accept that? How could anyone accept that!?

Part of her reasoned that the only reason Sans had been able to forgive everyone so easily was because he had been through so many timelines himself… Maybe he had simply stopped caring altogether. It is so much easier to forgive if you weren't hurt in the first place.

Ever since she learned that he had been able to keep track of the time jumps sometime during the last month, Sans had always refused to tell her how many timelines he had been through, or what he had seen during those erased times. The only thing she knew was that at some point, they had made it all to the Surface, and that Sans's plan involved replaying that timeline once more, at the very end.

Replaying it. As if it were just an act. A play he had learned to rehearse over and over, to the point where he had learned his part by heart and could do it in front of an audience without ever stuttering or having to actively work on his memory to remember his lines.

Or, under a different angle, maybe he simply saw it as an experiment whose results had become entirely predictable. Take those reactants, choose carefully the conditions of the reaction's environment, and you will always obtain the same products with a complete certainty. After the stage of experiments, science always tries to make predictions, after all.

He had seen them all, repeating every day the same lines like a bunch of broken records, merely because they could not remember the other timelines like he did. He must be so tired of hearing the same 'dialogue' all over again… Maybe this very conversation they were having right now… How many times had he lived through it already?

He had seen them all die, only to come back to life a few hours later, over and over… Did he still feel anything when he saw one of them fall to that human? Did he still feel anything at all towards them, at this point…?

They were his family and friends, and she could tell that he still wanted to feel that way towards them, no matter what. But still, in the end of the day… Did he still care about them?

He had to care enough, or at least persuade himself that he cared, because of how hard he had worked on this project of his in order to save everyone. But then again… His plan involved restarting everything. His plan involved erasing this iteration. Erasing them. Erasing her.

Did he realize any of this? Probably not. Sometimes she felt selfish for thinking that he was the selfish one. He wanted to save them, after all. She was the one who thought that instead of saving them, he wanted to save a different iteration of them all.

Still, the facts were what they were. Sans probably saw things under a different perspective, but this was what it was: a perspective. Sans wanted to save all monsterkind; but in doing so, he was neglecting the ones who were still suffering around him, right at this very moment.

His plan involved denying that any of their pain had ever existed in the first place. It involved denying that Undyne had literally cheated death just to give everyone a chance to evacuate. It involved denying that Mettaton had willingly sacrificed himself for the sake of saving even more time. It involved denying that Papyrus had been willing to keep his purest views and put them to the ultimate test. It involved denying her own personal growth during this last month.

She did not want to go back to being the useless insecure nerd she used to be. She wanted to keep that confidence she had worked so hard to regain during this past month. She wanted to keep helping everyone, like she had always been expected to.

Of course she wanted to save everyone and see them all happy on the Surface. But… she wanted to be the one to live through it. Was that selfish? Was that being scared of death?

Not death, technically. The time jump would not kill her. It would just erase her memories and send her back to how she was one month earlier.

But… she really didn't like who she was one month earlier. She had changed so much…
She had started to wonder if the Alphys from last month was the same Alphys as she was now.

This was when she had realized… Even though Sans genuinely cared about everyone, he did not care about them. Even though Sans cared about her, he really didn't care about her, now.

When she raised a tired look towards him, she had so many questions to ask, so many things to say… But she could not find the words.

Instead, she finally noticed that at some point during her zoning out, Sans had pulled his phone out of his pocket and started checking it. When she gave him a questioning look, he merely said that he had received a text:

[ FROM: Grillby — 08:47 PM ]

Hey Sans. First time seeing you here since the beginning of the month. We haven't met in a while, have we? We should hang out sometime. The bar isn't available for now, but working in your basement all day must be lonely.

You look like you're busy with the Royal Scientist so I won't bother.

Give me a sign whenever you want to chat.

The skeleton looked up in the crowd, and soon found the fire elemental with his head risen and locked on him. They shared a look. The former barman rose a fiery hand and made a silent wave from afar. Sans returned it with a light chuckle.

"heh. it's true we haven't talked in forever. i actually miss them…"

Alphys observed him discreetly, trying not to let him notice that she was watching. While Sans was usually hard to read, and while she was not usually that good at studying people's expressions, her curiosity was just that strong, and he tended to drop his mask much more easily when he was distracted by something and forgot everything that stood around him.

A wave of sadness rushed over his skull as he stared back at his cell phone. No, not exactly sadness… Was it nostalgia? It appeared that the one who had sent him this message was someone he was attached to, at least to some extent… but according to his words, it was someone he had not had the chance to talk to in so long. He missed talking with them.

He looked obviously conflicted, as if wondering whether he should answer or not. Did he want to interact with this iteration of his friend, or did he want to wait for the next one so he could have this chat without it getting erased afterwards…?

After a few dozen seconds, the monster's left bony thumb started typing. Apparently he had made his mind.

[ FROM: Sans — 08:49 PM ]

sure, it'd be nice to make up for lost time.

i'll prolly see you some other day. maybe lunch.

When he closed his cell phone and shove it back in one of his shorts' pockets, Alphys judged it was the best moment to carry on with the conversation. But all at the same time… She was not sure she actually wanted to discuss about their former topic so much. There were different matters that were just as important, that she believed they should tackle as soon as possible.

"So… What are your plans from now on?" she asked with a casual tone, but a stern intent and an anxious look. "You can't exactly work on your machine and make sure she doesn't get in trouble at the same time, can you?"

"heh. to be honest, i stopped counting the times she said she wanted to help, actually. not sure yet if i'll take her on that offer, but… she just might be useful. 'sides, it'd be a nice way to keep an eye on her and work faster all at the same time."

She hummed, deep in thought yet paying much attention to his words and expressions. She looked skeptical and worried. If anything, the idea of a human offering to help fix an intricate and potentially dangerous machine made her feel extremely suspicious; yet the fact that Sans seemed to brush this suspicion off as if it should be entirely irrelevant made her at least try to reconsider. He was usually so much more cautious than she was… or at least he was handling his secrets much better than she did. That, or maybe he had just stopped caring altogether due to all these time loops… Until he didn't anymore. Was that making sense?

Sans's behavior during this last month had been… puzzling, to say the least. For years they had grown used to seeing him nihilistic and careless, supposedly because of how any time jump that could occur would erase everything they would do and none of them would even remember what had happened.

Ironically… this used to be his behavior, until he had actually started remembering the time jumps; from that point onwards, well, admittedly she had only been able to see the last iteration of it, but the change in him between the beginning of this loop and how he was behaving just 'the day before' was baffling. From lazy and depressed, literally from one day to the other, he had become so desperate… This desperation had led him to get on the move as soon as he had found the dimmest glimmer of hope.

He had stopped caring… up to the point when the events made him care again.

This was so… strange. And yet, this was the only way she could explain it. Then again, what could she hope to understand of him, from that pitifully shallow view she had of the events? Who knew how many timelines had been squished between the first day of this loop and 'the day before'? Who knew, maybe he had been trapped in time loops for years, and this sudden change in behavior had not been nearly so sudden at all.

Speaking of time loops…

"I'm still wondering… What made you think that these… 'players' would necessarily have the ability to time jump?"

Sans's skull tilted in surprise, as if he had not expected that she would ask. Had he forgotten to tell her? Maybe he had.

"well, that one's easy." he chuckled absent-mindedly, looking in the distance and displaying a small smile. "she comes from a world where there's hardly any magic at all. so, in order for their souls to be stable enough to sustain themselves… they naturally need more determination to just, well, survive." He shrugged. "i made some measurements and all, and theoretically their souls should be around four times stronger than a human soul from here. should be more than enough to do the trick."

Alphys's soul sank.

The human Sans had brought was four times stronger than a regular one. Was he nuts…?!

But… the deed was done. There was no more going back now, no matter how much she thought this should be the wiser solution for now.

"I… T-that would explain it." she sighed, sneaking her clawed fingers underneath her glasses and rubbing her closed eyes in tired circled motions. "B-but Sans, do you just realize w-what bringing one here would…" She replaced her glasses and sent him a scolding, yet terrified look. "S-she's just a d-doomsday-enhancing ha-hazard, now!"

It didn't help that he had slowly raised a pair of fully darkened pupils to face her.

The plainly aware look he was giving her was all the more reassuring.

"i know. that's why i really need you to hush it. no one can know, and especially not asgore. i mean, if he got her and absorbed her soul along with the other six…" His eye-sockets twitched in an eerie way, as if he was about to make a joke. "need a little help here. what's above godliness?"

Oh, you wouldn't know.

The silence that engulfed them was only covered by the sounds of all the other monsters surrounding them, oblivious as ever. Alphys suddenly started to feel them as potential menaces, worried that any of them could have heard even one word of their talk…

Maybe Sans was right. She definitely should have tried to find a different setting, if they were to discuss something so dangerous.

That is, if there were anything else to discuss; judging from how Sans stood up from his seat and addressed her a short glance before leaving, it seemed obvious that to him, the conversation was over.

He was getting near a much less crowded, much darker place; the perfect setting if he wanted to take a shortcut and disappear without anyone noticing. Did he really intend to leave her like this, right after saying something like that?!

"S-Sans, wait!" she stumbled away from her seat and half walked, half trotted after him. Fortunately, when he heard her, he stopped and turned around, although he looked annoyed. When she stopped to quickly catch her breath, she found that for a few seconds she had forgotten her words…
So instead of what she had probably meant to say at first, she blabbered:
"Can I come with you?"

There was a pause. Then, Sans's eye-sockets squinted humorously, as if he wasn't sure he had heard her well. "… what?"

She hesitated, as if she had just realized what she had said. "I-I mean… You look like you haven't had some proper rest in a while. You barely had any time to come here before today! So now that you can take some time for yourself, y-you'll need someone else to look after her, so y-you can at least relax a bit…"

That much was true, at least. During the entire month, Sans had been so reclusive and absorbed in his thoughts; it was obvious that he was completely absorbed in his project, to such extent that Sans, of all people, had started to neglect his sleep.

Well, it was not certain that he had neglected his sleep, but now that she could see him for the first time in so long, it was at least obvious that he looked a lot more tired than usual.
And after that achievement from earlier… No matter whether he was tired or not, he definitely deserved his rest, if only for one evening.

After a few seconds of silence, the skeleton seemed to have thought through a similar argument, because he ended up smiling and shrugged jokingly.

"you know what? you're right. i kinda miss my bed. haven't seen it during the last fourteen hours, you realize that?"

She rolled her eyes teasingly. "Exactly what I'm saying. If you keep going like that, you just might cure that laziness of yours. Next step, you're gonna make it snow in Hotland."

For the first time, they laughed together, from a genuine laugh. It did not last for long, but the feeling remained. When Sans stretched an open hand, Alphys gladly seized it, and they both disappeared, only to reappear in a lit living room at the outskirts of Snowdin Town.

"So… Where is she now?" Alphys asked, turning her head around and looking for any trace of what could be a living being in the house… And then, the realization hit her. "W-wait, y-you actually left a human without supervision, i-in your house, for…"

He leisurely glanced at the watch on his left wrist. "… one hour twenty minutes. could be worse." Sans looked amused by the scientist's terrified attitude. "what, you were worried she'd burn the house down while i was gone?" He fell silent for a few short seconds when he took some time to look around. "… looks pretty clean, actually. huh. definitely not as good as papyrus, but, not bad."

The door behind them opened swiftly, as a humming brunette obliviously walked in, closed the door behind her path, turned back towards the direction she intended to follow— and stopped in shock as she met face to face with not one, but two monsters, who each turned around to face her with a pair of surprised expressions.

When her stare crossed the human's, Alphys's eyes tripled in size. The human blinked while staring at her, sent a quick interrogative look at Sans, then went back to stare at the lizard again. She tried to show a patient smile and greet her happily, but the monster stiffened and very obviously tried to refrain from stepping back. Upon seeing her unease, Dawn carefully stepped back to leave her some space. The scientist seemed to appreciate the gesture, as she trembled at first, but eventually cracked a small and shy smile.

"… H-h-hiya. S-so you're… t-the human, right?" Well, duh.

The poor Alphys seemed to be completely petrified by her view. When she tried to imagine what she must have gone through during this timeline, the human easily understood where that came from. Why did Sans bring her here in the first place…?

Dawn sent another glance at the skeleton, as if she were silently asking for his permission before she would make any move or raise her voice at all. She was met with an absolute indifference; it wasn't really that he seemed to not give a care in the world, but rather that he was enjoying the view way too much to help her in any way. Jerk.

"It… depends on w-which one you're talking about." she eventually answered, whispering in a carefully soft tone, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.
"D-do you know everything about…?" Wait, stupid question. What if Sans had wanted to keep that a secret? Great way to bust it, really, congratulations.

"… Y-yeah." the lizard muttered, avoiding her look but actively keeping an eye out for any subtle movement. "I-I know ab-bout the video game."

Oh. This explained that. "I… see."

If awkwardness could be tangible, one would have needed a full arsenal of blades in order to cut through this jungle of uneasy embarrassment.

"she insisted on coming." Sans shrugged, pointing the lizard with a lazy thumb. Then, he casually walked towards the stairs, sending them a lazy wave with his left hand without looking at them. "you two have fun. i'll go catch some z's."

"Uh— S-Sans, wait…!" Alphys cowered a bit in response to the human's sudden outburst, but she was ignored for the time being. When Sans sent Dawn a silent nod, asking her to tell him what she had in mind, she quickly obliged: "I was just thinking, for tomorrow. What time did you plan to get up? It's just that… I can put an alarm on my phone so I can be ready whenever you want."

The skeleton blinked in utter bafflement. She sure was taking the initiative in a lot of things.

"uh… i didn't have any plans, but… how 'bout eight thirty? 's that good?"

"Sure!" she smiled, already typing on her odd white rectangle again. "It's okay if you change your mind, I just wanted to get an idea."

Alphys gave her a suspicious look, although she tried to hide her wariness.

"So y-you're really going to assist him?"

She gave her a sheepish grin. "Technically, he still didn't say anything. But it's really up to him. I'd love to help, but I totally understand if you don't trust me."

They looked up at Sans, who just shrugged with that "i seriously couldn't care less" attitude. Then he merely said that he'd decide on the next day, and resumed his walk up the stairs.

"A-actually, Sans! I-I'll help you too. W-with the machine. Tomorrow." Alphys stuttered. "The CORE's been fixed, so, t-the other engineers s-should be fine without me. I'll just send them a message tomorrow morning. A-Asgore will probably be happy if I say I'll be working with you."

There was a long silence. The human looked at her with surprise, but she also appeared somewhat reassured. Surely she knew enough to realize that an actual scientist was a lot more competent to assist him; that, or she just thought that three pairs of hands would be more efficient than only one or two. But then again, the final decision only fell on Sans, also known as the most indecisive guy who would be ready to refrain from giving his decision if it could cause some mild yet hilarious annoyance, as long as it could not be responsible for any actually unfortunate consequences. That troll.

In the end… He just shrugged. Again.

"sure. g'night."

He really was doing that on purpose. This last time the girls were to ask him something, when Alphys stopped him as he was on the verge of opening the door leading to his bedroom, part of her only did it to annoy him in return.

"H-hey, Sans. I know you want to have some peace now, but just before you do that, d-didn't you forget something?" Sans grudgingly sighed before turning a pair of silent but glaring eye-sockets towards her. "I thought you'd taken a second ration for her."

He shook his skull as if what he had just heard was nothing but a nonsensical and utterly stupid waste of time. He merely said:

"in the kitchen."

And then he disappeared through his room's door.

Curious, Alphys, who was the one closer to the room in question, opened the door leading to it and stared: right in front of her gaze, a packed sandwich was patiently waiting, obviously displayed in the middle of the table.

She face-palmed, sighing. "… I hate it when he does that."