Disclaimer: We finally get to see what had happened in the other timelines, and why Frisk has been acting out of sorts. Fair warning, this chapter involves a lot of violence and death. Then again, that is to be expected when fighting Sans.

hi ace50: Thank you!

I don't own Undertale.

"Speaking"

Thinking

Saving


... Sans... why? Why did you... Flowey? Flowey. Vines. Bullet ring after bullet ring, the dragon skull-Sans. Sans! "Aah!"

Andi jolted awake, and immediately winced as a searing pain raced through her head. "Aah! Ow!" Her head was pounding, specifically, the side where she had hit the dirt in the damp cavern. "Ow, ow, ow." That stings! Rubbing the tender spot, she looked around at her surroundings, the discomfort letting up to let her see clearly for once. "Wh... I'm standing?"

She... she was. She woke up standing. It was a large hallway, light basking through the stain glass windows bearing the Delta Rune. Awake when I don't know how I got here... I'm dreaming again. A shock zipped down her spine at the revelation, and she stepped backwards, hitting the wall behind her. Not again. I-if what she saw last time, really did happen, th-then what was she seeing this time?

At the same time, what she had witnessed before entering the dream world also scared her. How could it not, when was Sans capable of that!? Summoning a giant animal skull that fired lasers!? His entire deportment, he was ready to attack at any moment. His hand was positioned to fire another blast should he felt threatened. Why was he threatened by me? I didn't... the knife. "Sans... he was... scared of the knife."

It wasn't her, but her with the weapon that Flowey wanted her to use. He never saw the hiking pole as something that could be used to attack anyone, but that plastic knife... that was what put him on edge. "Mmm... ow." She rubbed her arm, hissing at the cuts still fresh under her sleeve. "Why? It's a memory, right? Why do I have to feel things?" Lowering her hand, she looked around the hall again. Towering stone pillars reached the ceiling, far above her head, and if she listened hard enough, the young woman could hear bids chirping from outside. Chirping... I'm near the barrier. She was almost to the Surface. Almost... home.

She drifted along the side of the wall, fingers trailing along the gilded surface. "I wonder, if I can actually see i-oomph!" Hard. She... ran into something hard, and solid. Stumbling back, and rubbing her nose from the unexpected hit, Andi looked at what she hit. "... nothing?" That was-what? She hit something, obviously. Where did it go?

"Hmm." Letting go of her nose, Andi brought a hand up in front of her, and leaned forward. Her palm planted against a smooth surface, and she pushed against it. It was firm, yet the texture did not remind her of glass, despite it being see-through. It was just... air, but with mass. If it's here, then would that mean it's behind me too? "Or...?" Keeping a hand on the wall, she moved her limb to the right, searching for another barrier.

None of this was making any sense. What happened before she got dragged back into the cursed dream world, and what was happening now. Were the two connected? The memory from before, while it did clear things up, was very out of order-wait. No, it wasn't. Her hand connected to a corner, and she felt the change from one wall to the next. It made perfect sense. After she woke up, it was not long after that that Sans and Frisk told her about the Underground. Asriel, the different timelines... it was planned.

So then this was planned too, right? But by who? And why? The box was spaced between two of the pillars, and went out into only a fifth of the hall itself. Small, a little claustrophobic. What was the purpose of it? I don't get... footsteps. Someone else was there. "... it."

Peeling herself away from the wall, she looked to her right. Walking across the tiled floor, she almost flinched from the negative energy radiating off of the short skeleton. Hands, gripped into fists, were buried deep within his pockets, and his eye lights were barely noticeable in the black voids. "Sans?" He, to her disappointment, did not hear her. She had a feeling he wouldn't. He didn't last time. "What're you waiting for?" Sans stood there, watching the entrance to the hall. He was expecting someone, wasn't he? But who?

"... that expression. that's the expression of someone who's died twice in a row." Died-I'm sorry, twice? She spun around, her back hitting the wall as she stepped back. "N-no. No, it can't..."

Frisk stood at the end of the hall, a golden star hovering a few feet away from her. Her head was downcast, avoiding the skeleton's gaze. From her neck, a golden heart locket swung freely, several sizes too large for her. After seeing leftover items from the human world around the Underground, she would have easily dismissed the child's find... she could not dismiss the dagger in Frisk's hand, speckled with fine dust.

Dust, that also clung to Frisk's hands, knees, and boots.

"suffice to say, you look really... unsatisfied." He closed his eyes, giving a small shrug. His calmness was the polar opposite of Andi's horrified stature. She never gotten a good look at the child before, when she had stepped out of the elevator. All that she did see, was Frisk's dull expression. A face devoid of any emotions. Positive, or negative. Before, she was horrified. Now... all Andi could do was watch as an invisible witness, and wonder what on earth went wrong.

"alright." Frisk's stance shifted, one foot forward, her hand gripping her weapon tightening. "how 'bout we make it a third?"

They were going to fight. Right now? Here!? Andi had been in many fights; from fireballs, to bones, to spears. From rockets, to tiny robots, to legs... to bullet-style seeds. She expected Sans to be more casual in his fighting style, not really caring about it. Easygoing. That was the vibe he always put up.

But that was before the dragon skull. Before, she learned of what he truly knew, and had been through. Sans... he was not going to be gentle in attacking her friend and sister.

"ready?"

And then... all hell broke loose.

Twin skulls appeared beside him, smaller than the one she had seen in Waterfall, and unleashed matching beams of energy at the young human. Frisk, not lifting her head, sprinted away, narrowly missing where the beams hit the wall. She raced towards Sans, knife at the ready, and boots echoing across the room with each step. Sans held up a hand, and with a flick of his wrist, several long bones materialized around him and were sent after her. Frisk skid to a stop, using her knife to slash at the attacks, breaking them apart before they hit her and sending the splintered bones falling to the ground. Its blade, unlike the plastic knife from the Ruins, was sharp, perfect for what she aimed to accomplish. One smaller bone, though, following up behind the rest, missed the blade, and embedded itself into her shoulder, ripping through skin and tissue before emerging from the other side.

"Frisk!" Andi ran towards Frisk, and bounced back against the invisible wall. "No. No! You got to let me get to her!" She raced back towards it, watching Frisk stumble to the ground and tug at the bone jutting from her limb. Pounding her fists against the barrier, Andi looked from her to Sans. Neither were aware of her. No one could hear her shouts. "Sans!"

He rose his hand, and Frisk looked up at him. He clenched his hand, a large bone appearing next to him. Frisk's mouth fell open slightly, and the older human watched in stunned silence as it flew forward and ran through Frisk's stomach, the momentum carrying through to have it pierce the tiles at her back. "F... Frisk...!" The red soul, having followed after her the entire battle, twitched violently, fractures rapidly covering it... and with a sound akin to the shattering of glass, broke before Sans and Andi, the red dust drifting to the blood stained floor below. "FRIS-!"


"-K!" She inhaled sharply, knees almost buckling where she stood. "I-I'm... Frisk, she... back where I...?" Where I stood. The world... l-loaded. That meant... Frisk loaded when she... died. "Ah... h-ha..."

Frisk controlled the timeline. Her and S-Sans, th-that meant... "hmm." Andi looked back to her right, seeing Sans return to his position in the hallway. His grin was bitter, almost annoyed, and he looked down at the spot where Frisk had been speared. There was no blood, behind that, the wall where the blasters struck was in one piece. "heh... are you ready?" He lifted his head, giving a wink with his right socket.

Frisk shifted at the end of the hall, one hand still holding the knife, and the other rubbing the area where the bone had pierced her. Her neutral look faltered for a second, wincing from the phantom pain. "here we go." Her eyes widened, and just as before, the bone attacks rushed her. The red soul was pulled out into view, and Frisk took off towards the skeleton. Left, right. Back up, jump, swerve and duck. All the woman could do was watch, sealed off in her small rectangle, terrified. That kid-it wasn't Frisk. Frisk never-she never would do this. N-never.

But she would, a part of her argued, faintly, in the back of her mind. Frisk got close enough to Sans, swinging the blade out at him. Teleported, landing a few steps behind her with a shrug. She continued, running at him and slashing at the air. Frisk had killed before. Flowey said so, and Frisk seems to have hinted at it, didn't she? "Shut up." Great. She was arguing with herself now.

A flicker of blue, and she put her attention back on Frisk. The girl's soul was a dark blue. Gravity magic. Sans' socket lit up, matching the magic enveloping his hand, and he swung to the side. Left eye... that's why his winking is always different. Frisk soared across the hall, a force pulling her backwards, and her back smashed against the wall. Crumbling to the ground in a heap, the magic letting her go, Frisk struggled to sit upright. A trail of blood trickled from her mouth, and she glared at her target, still standing around the midway point of the room.

He threw his hand upwards, and with a gasp, Frisk rolled herself to the side. Bones shot up through the floor, splintering the tiles underneath. Papyrus, his attacks charged forward, their ends dragging across the ground. Undyne, her magic spears did no damage when they appeared from below. The bridge, when she used them, remained perfectly intact. Frisk took a few short breaths, stumbling back to her feet, and charged once again.

Bones erupted from the ground, a long wide line of them, and she jumped to the side to avoid them. Several went through the air, deflected by the knife, or stabbed the wall when she dodged them, barely missing her head. Andi's own heart was pounding furiously, its echos unnoticeable in the deafening battle waging before her. Screaming, what was the point? No one could hear her, breaking the wall was impossible. She was, like before, an unwilling witness-a bystander-in a fight that would determine the fate of the Underground. After all, if they were in the castle, besides Asgore... Sans was the last line of defense. "Just please... please let me wake up."

A bone went through Frisk's leg this time, nabbing her when she tried to jump away again. She dropped, giving a pained shout and held her thigh. Blood poured from the wound, staining her shorts red and turning the blue color an ugly purple, and eliminating her ability to dodge again. "Aargh!" She hesitantly put a hand on the bone, but even with her determination to off the skeleton, she did not want to inflict any more damage to herself. Taking it out would only make it worse. Which means... another load.

One of Sans' dragon skulls floated past him, mouth opening and building a charge. Sans hand was in the same position Andi had briefly seen it in back in Waterfall, a trigger to either dismiss the oncoming beam, or let it go and obliterate its designated target. Frisk looked up at them, chest heaving with weak gasps, looking from the blaster to its user. Sans stared back, sockets narrowed.

One... two... three... she mentally counted the seconds. Neither of them moved, though Frisk couldn't even if she tried. Sans' sockets widened just the faintest bit, and for a moment, both humans wondered if he would actually fire. He did not hesitate the last time. Four... five... six...

None of them were certain what he saw, staring down at Frisk. Andi herself did not know what had happened throughout the timeline, though she had some idea. This timeline, and the others. Just from speaking with Sans, she knew the affects of resetting weighed heavily on him. Frisk too. Both were good at hiding their feelings about it, putting on masks for the rest of the Underground to make it appear as though everything was alright. When... it wasn't. Seven... eight... nine...

She hit ten. Sans' eye lights vanished, and he snapped his fingers. The beam was let loose, and Frisk was swallowed up by the bright light, vanishing from sight and from existence.


Load.

Back in the room. No bones, no broken tiles, and n-no... human ashes.

Sans stared down the hall, hands this time out of his pockets. However, they were still clenched in fists, shaking. He was shaking. "... Sans..." he knew... he had to do this. If he didn't, what then? What would happen if Frisk got to Asgore? Got to the other human souls, or reached the barrier? She didn't know, and she didn't want to know. But there was one thing... she was curious about. One thing that this timeline, did not answer.

Why... did Frisk think that killing the entire Underground would bring Asriel back?

Frisk said, back at the hotel, that she had tried everything to get him back. Different outcomes, different results. No matter what she did, nothing worked. How in her right mind did genocide make any sense? That didn't give you a happy ending. And is this why she brought me here? Because she's traumatized from this? Andi didn't blame her. If that was her, regardless if she knew she would never be in that situation, she'd be scarred as well. But... if Frisk-sweet, quiet Frisk-could end up like that... who's to say she couldn't too?

His head turned to the side, and the two locked eyes. He didn't see her, not the concerned expression meeting his stressed one. Her expression, which now had tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. "Please... just stop." Was she speaking to him? To Frisk, or the thing forcing her to watch the memories? It didn't matter. She... Andi just wanted it to stop. Just let it stop. Please. I want to wake up.

Slow and steady footsteps echoed through the gilded hall, and the two looked at Frisk. She was favoring her left leg, the knife held to her chest with wide eyes. For the first time since entering the memory, and watching Frisk enter the arena, the girl expressed actual emotion. Wide, terrified eyes, body trembling underneath the giant sweater. "... heh. so, tell me. how much longer are you gonna keep this up?" He looked around the room, eye lights pausing on the areas where he knew he killed Frisk. The permanent grin turned grimmer with each passing second. "honestly, if i were you, i'd have thrown in the towel by now. but, what do i know about human determination? or bein' a heartless killer?"

Frisk still shook, but didn't reply back. However, despite how far she stood from her guardian, Andi could make out Frisk's head twitch to the side. Is she... listening for something? "c'mon, kid. i don't know why you're doin' this, and frankly, i don't wanna know. but enough foolin' around, alright? put down the knife, and, well... it'll make things a lot easier for me."

The girl's head slumped down, staring at the floor. Sans' grim look let up a bit, and he slowly began to walk towards her, his steps cautious. "... frisk, i don't know... what's gotten into you to do this, but it's time to stop. you remember me, right? let's just forget all of this, and reset the timeline." He continued walking, and from her distance, Andi could see the shimmering of tears making their way down Frisk's cheeks. The girl shook her head furiously, still looking down, before her head snapped upwards with a speed Andi almost feared the girl broke her neck from. "kid?"

"Sans, I-I'm sor-!" Frisk's voice was cut off, head thrown backwards, and the horrifying distinct sound of bone rippled through the air. Sans halted mid-step, sockets wide, and Andi rushed towards the other end of the barrier. If Frisk did not break her neck before, she most certainly did now.

"Frisk!" She slammed her hands on the wall. "Frisk!" The girl's head was dragged back upwards, like somehow had pulled it forward by yanking on her hair. Through the teary drapes covering her irises, still glossy in appearance, red color shone brightly. A calm smile greeted them, and Frisk twirled the knife with disturbing ease between her fingers.

"So... you want to make things easier, hm?" She held the blade up to her face, tilting her head at her reflection. "Hmm. Fine by me. If she's so determined to commit genocide... who am I to stop her?" Frisk lowered the dagger to her side, and took a running stance. "Here I come, comedian."

"chara." The name emitting through the monster's sealed teeth was one of faint surprise and anger. Surprise... Andi was too. The voice that came out of Frisk's mouth was not her own. It... it was the voice. The voice, from the save points, the artifact room, th-the one who warned her to move out of the way of Sans' attack on Flowey and helped her out in Alphys' workshop. Chara...

Chara smirked, and with speed that ranked far higher than Frisk's earlier attempts, raced towards him. Sans hurried to teleport out of the way, putting a large distance between him and the possessed girl. Chara didn't bat an eye, changing her destination on the spot. "Hah!" Chara slashed the air near Sans, side-stepping out of the way. The edge of his hoodie narrowly missed the blade, the tip almost hooking into the blue fabric near the zipper. She tried again, missing, and before she could attempt a third time, Sans hurried to throw blue magic over the red soul.

"wow... you are one creepy kid." Chara's own chest was heaving, body frozen in the air in front of him. The dagger was held out in front of her, still aimed at his chest. Sans was also taking deep breaths. The fact Chara's movements were so much faster than Frisk's, and much more wild, was not good.

"So I've been told," Chara replied back. There not a hint of sarcasm in her tone. "You really want to know why we're doing this, don't you?"

"gonna tell me?" He asked, raising a brow.

"Why should I? It wasn't my idea." She frowned. "I'm only finishing what she's too weak to do. What, you think I enjoyed watching her kill mom?" Mom? Who was her mom? As far as she was aware of, Frisk and her were the only living humans left in the Underground.

"would killing me really make any difference?" Chara's position shifted, lowering the knife herself. It was still pointed at him, but at least it wasn't too close anymore, threatening to tear into his shirt and into his ribs.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I can't reset. That's all up to her." Her smile returned, now mocking. "And I have a feeling killing you might be the push she needs to stop. After all, resetting will bring you back anyway, right? So what's there to lose?"

"... how 'bout some sanity?" What? The magic in his socket flared again, having died out during the conversation. Throwing his hand to the side, Frisk was sent flying back across the hall towards the entrance, body bouncing from the ceiling to the floor along the way, each hit accompanied with the snapping of bones. With his other hand, Sans threw it downwards while bring the other hand up again. A burst of bones erupted from the ceiling and, knowing where Sans was going, Andi hurried to close her eyes and cover her ears.

She did not see Frisk's body get impaled, all of the different sized cartilage stabbing through arms, legs, torso, and head. She did, however, hear the sickly moan Chara made through the gaps in her fingers, the splattering of blood raining down onto the tiles below, and experience the world loading once again.


Attempt number six.

Andi had to force herself not to hurl when she saw Sans again, the gory sounds still ringing in her ears, regardless of the volume being muffled. "Well done. Definitely could not get out of that one." She did not turn to face Chara, but she could hear Frisk stumble while walking forward. "How many times do you think it will take before she stops? One? Five? We could go on forever. Either I kill you, and Frisk gets to see if her little project works, or she gets it through her head that this is pointless. Or you kill me, where either you will tire yourself out to the point I can finally land a hit on you, or Frisk will reset and bring us all back to the beginning." She had thought it all out. Looked at every possible option where things could go from that point on. "This cycle... is repetitive, isn't it?"

"gettin tired?" Sans' own body was slouching, equally exhausted. "makes things... easier for me then."

"You really are not taking this serious." She stopped progressing, and the next thing Sans and Andi knew, the dagger went soaring through the air, spinning blade over handle. The short skeleton tilted his head to the side, the weapon flying past and clattering to the floor several feet behind him. Sans stared at it for a second, and looked back with a raised brow bone.

"so... i'm the one not bein' serious." Said the person who did not just throw away their only form of offence and defense. "what, you got that from the dummy?"

"... shut up." He flicked two fingers, and a blaster went off behind her.


Duck, swerve, dodge. A flurry of bones. Two blasters, even smaller than the ones from before, and another quick dodge. Chara's breathing was off, funny, but she did not slow down. Possibly because the last load went south for her, and ended with Sans judging her for a rather foolish move.

Seven. Seven attempts had been made, and Andi had to wonder how long she had been asleep. Keeping her mind distracted was the only thing that prevented her from a nervous breakdown, watching the two continue to go at it with gruesome results. Seven. It's seven now. Memories; they were a tricky thing. She could have been asleep for hours, or perhaps only a few minutes. Did the multiple loads equal to time passing on the outside? Seven... a key number in the Underground. Seven magicians. Seven human souls. So much for being a lucky number.

Sans was also tiring out, his dodges not as smooth anymore. The older human saw it, he saw it, and Chara definitely saw it. It was why his attacks were coming on more relentlessly, to the point where even though the child had yet to be blasted, or impaled, she was thrown across the room hard enough to hurt something. Blood dripped from her mouth, and when she coughed, a spray of red scattered the floor. "Eurgh!"

"They're going to tear each other apart..." neither of them were going to budge on the matter. Chara-she had points on how everything would go, and even if she managed to kill Sans, Frisk's body might not make it afterwards. They were going to continue, until they collapsed.

Could monsters die from exhaustion? Andi wasn't sure she wanted that answer, but at the moment... it seemed very likely. And should she scream again? Begging for them to stop? She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to. Yet there was no point to it; a futile action. "Frisk..." where was she? If Chara was the one in charge, where was she? Trapped within her own body, hopelessly watching from the inside? A ghost like Chara, watching from the outside?

"heh... heh..." beads of sweat stained Sans' brow, and he looked at her trembling body across the room. "heh... heh... are you ready to s... stop... now?"

"N... never." She tried to push herself up, arms shaking like branches in the wind, and Chara dropped to the damaged tile floor. "Ugh. That can be debated."

Finally. A standstill. It was about time.

Neither of them moved. Chara remained on the floor, stained with her own blood. Sans' appearance was better, but he shared the same amount of fatigue. "well... guess that's it then. if i kill you... we go right back to it. back to fighting. however, if i leave you like that... w-well... i guess we call it a draw. no one h-hurts anyone, and... you don't get to finish."

"S-so that's it?" Chara asked. She wiped the blue sleeve against her mouth, the color changing to purple from the crimson liquid, just as her clothing had done throughout the brawl. "You're going to leave me like this?"

"why not? you can't reset, remember?" He threw her words back at her, and her ruby eyes widened at the mistake. "which means... you can't load either. and judgin' from your words, frisk isn't the one at the helm at the moment..." through the tiredness, the grin appeared smug, knowing he had the girl right where he wanted. "just... give up."

Sans had a point. No matter what happened from then on, no one would win. Not him, not Chara, and not Frisk. Chara's head slumped back to the floor, watching the skeleton with a frown. Sans' skull dipped a little, snapping back up as the fatigue started setting in. Is he...? Slowly, the sockets closed. Bit by bit, as Sans fought to try and keep himself awake. Sans. Sans, don't you dare fall asleep. Andi moved along the wall, standing where she would be directly parallel to him. "Sans, wake up." Chara's head lifted, and using the dagger, stabbed it into the split tiles to try and push herself up. "Sans!"

Once the dust covered hiking boots were back underneath her, her legs no longer sliding out like a newborn fawn, Chara grinned a toothy smile that stretched ear to ear, and raced forward with renewed spirit. "No!" His sockets snapped open, side-stepping as the child barreled past. A giggle, and she pivoted on the spot and slashed at his chest. NO! "SANS!"

Gasping, frozen in place, he stared down at the blade that was brushed up against his shirt, the tip hooking onto the fabric. She... she didn't...? "... frisk?"

The red and blue arms shook, as did the knife still aimed at him. Her head was downcast, hair and shadows covering any view of her eyes. Frisk...? "... I just... wanted to bring them back." Her grip on the handle slackened, and the knife dropped to the floor. A clatter, and spinning in place between boots and slippers. She looked up at him, brown eyes meeting white lights. Brown. "I-I just wanted to bring them back!"

You idiot! Now, of all times, you kick me out!? Andi had slumped against the wall in relief when she saw Chara had not murdered him, her arms still held against the barrier to hold her up. Relieved, that there was no ragged gouge through his shirt, splitting the bones underneath. However, hearing the familiar echoing voice she had grown accustomed to, with no Chara in sight, made her almost jump back. A faint outline appeared over Frisk's shoulder, and while its exact details were hard to make out with her distance, it was obvious what, and who, it was. I had him right there! Right. There! And you chicken out!?

"I-I just-!" Chara cut her short, not letting the teary-eyed child speak.

I, what? What!? She asked, voice rising with each sentence while Frisk trembled underneath her heated stare, feeling the red eyes tear into her bit by bit. Tell us, o determined child. Savior of the Underground. Why did you stop? Stop trying to kill one of your precious fri-!?

"I CAN'T SAVE HER!" The ghost flinched, and Sans took a step back from the outburst. Frisk dropped to the ground in a heap, hands and knees on the cool floor, curling up into a ball. "I-I can't... I just want to save her." Under the curtain of brown covering her face, the sound of sniffling and sobbing cries filtered outwards. "I can't... I-I can't...!"

That. She had seen and been put through... so much over the past few days. Undyne, Flowey, and the bits and pieces of the truth she had learned through speaking with Sans. But Frisk... wailing out her pain that had been bottled for so long, eating away at her? That... was the thing that broke Andi.


As much as I could get into the fights themselves, I think I did a good job making Sans not come off as too powerful, or too vengeful. I also could've kept going with Frisk's breakdown, but I figured that was better suited in the next chapter.

Until next time!

Angel