.

Not with a Bang but with

Have fun, guys!

CHAPTER EIGHT:

File Saved

oOo

When Sans was sixteen, the world reset.

oOo

The past four years had treated him and his brother well.

Within three months of being hired as a page in the castle, Sans had managed to pay off his debts to the Temmies. Within a year and a half, he and Papyrus moved out of the shed for good.

There was a property on the main Snowdin road, near the Waterfall border, that had been up for rent. The house was huge, especially for a pair of children – and Snowdin was so far from the Capital, not to mention so very cold, that the rent was cheap, enough so that Sans could manage to pay off his monthly debts while also making sure he and his brother had enough to eat.

But all these years later, and he and Papyrus were still getting the place properly furnished – once Papyrus' room was done, decorating the rest of the house had gone on the back burner. The vast majority of the rest of furniture had been found at the dump, and the carpet the house had come with was a real eyesore, but Sans didn't feel like going through the effort of replacing it.

Though the brothers now slept in separate bedrooms, and had been doing so for a while, Papyrus sought him out nearly every other night, and Sans was more than happy to let his baby brother crawl under the covers and snuggle against him as he fell asleep.

The page job itself, meanwhile, was painfully easy, and Sans got on well with the castle staff and other pages. He was careful to keep up an easygoing air and shrug off questions – most of them about where his parents were, or why he wasn't in school – with puns, and those were enough to ward the questions off.

The job even came with perks. Although it hadn't taken too long before the brothers were able to regularly afford their own food without stealing or begging, the kitchen staff often slipped him plastic containers of food in exchange for small favours – helping to fold laundry or wash the dishes and such. One of the chefs made a killer porridge – using real oats and barley instead of the instant packets – and Papyrus absolutely loved it. He had never seen barley before, and for some reason took to calling the coarse grain "dinosaur eggs."

"Pretty sure dinosaur eggs are bigger'n that, bro," Sans had informed him, watching his brother devour the latest oatmeal the chef had sent him back home with.

"Of course they are! They are baby dinosaur eggs! It just takes too long to say!"

Sans grinned. "Y'know, you could save even more time by callin' it barley."

Papyrus threw his head back and groaned. "I KNOW it's called that! I'm not a BABY! I am nearly double digits! I just LIKE calling it dinosaur eggs because it's more exciting, and way COOLER that way!"

"Hey, I'm not out to stop ya. Just thought I'd save you a lotta work if you wanted."

"Yeah, because you're LAZY."

"Oh, 'course I am. I'm the king of relaxing. The relax-king, ya might say."

"Sans!"

Times were good, and at a certain point Sans let himself get used to it. He almost let himself believe it would last.

oOo

Papyrus woke him up one morning, like he did nearly every morning, by poking him in the ribs and shaking him, hard. "Sans. SAAAAANS. Sans, wake up!"

Sans groaned, sliding his eyes open with great reluctance just as Papyrus began to jump up and down on the bed, already dressed in his school uniform. Even his tie was done up to the best of his nine-year-old ability, though it looked awkward with his omnipresent red scarf wrapped around his neck and stuffed under his shirt in a poor attempt to hide his daily uniform violation from the teachers. "Wake up, you lazybones! I'm going to be late for school!"

"You are?" Sans stretched. "Well, that's no good, is it?"

"No, it is not!" Papyrus hopped off the mattress and began to tug on Sans' arm. "It isn't good at all, which is why you need to TAKE me!" When tugging with his hands didn't work, he bit down on the sleeve of Sans' pyjama top and began to tug like a puppy monster.

Sans chuckled at the sight, allowing Papyrus to continue tugging while remaining stoutly in place. "What day is it, anyway? Sure it ain't Saturday? 'cause I'm pretty sure it's Saturday, bro."

Papyrus dropped his sleeve and scowled. "It's TUESDAY! SANS!"

"Okay, okay, I'm gettin' up." He sat up with a groan, scrubbing his hands down his face. "Lemme get dressed."

"And brush your teeth! It's important to get rid of the germs!" Papyrus called, already bolting out the door.

"Aye, aye, soldier."

Ten minutes and a granola bar breakfast later, Sans stepped out the front door, dressed and with his teeth brushed and germ-free, Papyrus at his heels. Despite his apparently life-threatening lateness, Papyrus didn't run ahead but walked alongside his brother at a comfortable pace.

"So what's the plan for today?" Sans asked.

"Well! TODAY! Undyne is picking me up at the Waterfall border and will walk with me the rest of the way to school!"

"'kay." Heh. So much for fussing about being late for school. Even though the border was well out of the young fish girl's way, Undyne and Papyrus arranged to meet this way at least once a week. They liked walking part of the way to school together, and this plan ensured Undyne actually went to school, even if the children tended to get a little distracted along the way.

And despite the fact that the brothers lived a stone's throw from the Waterfall border – not to mention that Papyrus was plenty old enough to wander the Underground by himself – the younger skeleton still liked it when his big brother took him as far. Undyne was almost always late, anyway, and Sans kept him company during the wait, listening to Papyrus chatter away.

Today, after fifteen or so minutes, Undyne came barrelling forward in a blur of red, grey, and blue. She made no signs of slowing as she approached, and next thing Sans knew, she'd rammed directly into his brother, tackling him to the ground, skinny nine-year-old limbs wrapping around his waist with a battle cry of "SNOW WRESTLING!"

"Noo – " Papyrus' cry was suddenly muffled as his face was shoved into the snow. He wiggled, then finally Undyne's grip slackened enough for him to break free and get to his feet to brush the snow off his clothes.

"You're supposed to attack me back, stupid," Undyne grumbled as she picked herself up. She shook the snow from her long red hair. "It's a wrestling battle."

"You just caught me by SURPRISE! That's all! Ugh!"

"Off-guard, you might say," Sans cut in with a wink, and Papyrus groaned loudly.

Undyne apparently was having none of it. "You can't be caught off-guard on the battlefield, Papy! It's really important, or else a human could come and kill you and not even care if you were paying attention or not. And then you'd be dust like that." Undyne couldn't snap her fingers, so she clapped her hands together to get her point across.

Papyrus jumped, but looked appropriately cowed. "Okay, Undyne, I know… well! Bye, Sans!" The children turned to go.

"Hey, whoa, whoa. Where's my hug goodbye?" Sans pretended to be mortally offended, and Papyrus turned on his heel so fast he nearly slipped in the snow.

"Right here!" He barrelled into Sans in a hug, nearly knocking the elder brother over as he buried his nasal bone in Sans' shoulder and squeezed him hard.

"Whoa," Sans chuckled, hugging him back and reaching up to rub the top of his skull: Papyrus was nearly as tall as he was now, coming up to his eyes. "I swear you're gettin' bigger every minute. No way you were this tall when we left the house."

Papyrus suddenly pulled back, eyes shining. "Oh, yes! That's because I wrestled with Undyne! When you fight, it makes you grow! AND grow MUCH QUICKER and STRONGER, TOO! HA!"

"That's right," piped up Undyne, grinning her trademark sharp-toothed grin. "'cause it calls on your fighting spirit, and training and fighting makes you really tough! So me and Papy have to fight constantly if we're going to be in the Guard! Every chance we get! We're gonna be sooo much taller than you when we're old teenagers, Sans. Come on, Papy! Let's go see if there are any HUMANS to fight on the way to school!"

"YEAH!" Papyrus punched the air in excitement and bounced up and down on the spot before turning around again and returning to Undyne. "BYE, SANS! I LOVE YOU!"

"See ya, Paps. Drink your school. Eat your milk. Have fun at vegetables."

Papyrus giggled, turning to wave over his shoulder. "Sillybones."

Sans caught Undyne roll her eyes. "Your brother's so weird, Papy," he heard her say as the two walked away.

Sans smirked to himself, stopping to rest his back against a broad pine tree, watching the children as they made their way towards the school. He could hear Undyne saying something about slaying humans at recess before the pair disappeared into the next room and out of earshot. Heh. He was sure Papyrus would have all kinds of exciting tales of the day's tribulations when he got home, as he always did. Undyne certainly kept him on his toes. Sans privately woed the day the two of them got their magic; Undyne was active enough as it was.

From there the day passed by uneventfully – work was its usual pleasant lull. He and his brother nuked a frozen pizza for dinner, and he helped Papyrus with his math homework before playing a puzzle game with him until it was time for bed. He read Papyrus' favourite Fluffy Bunny book as a bedtime story.

Sans slept on his own that night, and though he could not recall his dreams, he was painfully aware of a sudden jolt, a lurch, in the space around him even as he slept. For a moment he was almost displaced: he felt as if he were drifting in the middle of a great dark chasm, and that chasm surrounded him. Something was shifting. Something was spinning. Shadows snapped and snatched at each other. The space around him began to stretch in every direction, outwards and inwards.

Then it was over, the sensation gone as quickly as it had come. And in his dream, Sans shrugged, and carried on.

oOo

It started out like a mild toothache.

A nagging feeling of discomfort he couldn't quite shake – not bad enough to be considered actually painful, but uncomfortable to the point of distraction.

Papyrus woke him up by poking him in the ribs and shaking him violently. "Sans. SAAAAANS. Sans, wake up!"

Sans groaned, sliding open first his good eye, then the other. As was his wont, Papyrus clambered up onto his bed and began to jump up and down. He'd changed into his uniform on his own again, though his tie was done as sloppily as ever. "Wake up, you lazybones! I'm going to be late for school!"

Sans chuckled, propping himself up one elbow. "Paps, it's fine… you're late half the time when you meet Undyne at the border anyway. 'member last week she dragged you off to the marshes to look for humans disguised as bugs and I got a call from your teacher sayin' you walked into class two hours late covered in mud?"

"Well… yes!" Papyrus emphasised each word with a hard bounce. "But as I'm! Meeting her today! I don't! Want! To be late! MEETING her!"

"Oh, you meeting her again? You met her yesterday, bro."

Papyrus stopped bouncing to look at him, and Sans put his hands up in surrender quickly. "Never said ya couldn't. It's fine."

"Yesterday I walked to school all by myself!" Papyrus sat on the edge of the bed, tugging on Sans' sleeve in an effort to get him out of bed. "You don't remember?"

Sans cocked a brow. "Wasn't that Monday?"

"Of course, sillybones – YESTERDAY was Monday. It's Tuesday today!"

A cold, unsettling feeling took hold of Sans. "Bro, today's Wednesday… "

"No it isn't! I KNOW yesterday was Monday! Because Monday is library day! And yesterday we went! Anyway, come ONNNN, I'll be late!" He took Sans' sleeve between his teeth and tugged like a puppy monster. Sans pried his sleeve free.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming… lemme just get dressed and brush my teeth."

"Yes! Brushing your teeth is important to kill the germs!" Papyrus scurried out of the room. "Be quick, brother!"

"Yeah," Sans muttered, staring at the door as Papyrus shut it behind him. "You got it."

Once his brother could be heard making his way downstairs, Sans brought his hands to the side of his skull, screwing his eyes shut a moment. Well, of all the confounding things. He could have sworn yesterday was Tuesday – that Papyrus had met up with Undyne at the Waterfall border. Undyne had tackled him to the ground in a snow wrestling contest. And then after picking Papyrus up from school, he'd helped him with his division homework and stuck a frozen pizza in the microwave for dinner. They'd played a puzzle game, and read Fluffy Bunny before bed.

He could recall it all in clear detail – like it was only yesterday. It had been only yesterday. Clearer than he could possibly have recalled a dream. So why was his brother…?

Sans didn't keep a calendar in the house, so he couldn't just check to see if he'd crossed off the date or not – he'd never felt a need to keep track of specific dates and it wasn't as if his and his brother's daily schedule changed up very much.

"SANS! Are you dressed yet?!"

Or maybe it had been a dream. Hey, he'd even go as far as to say it'd make a nice change. He'd take a weird, boring dream of his daily routine over the usual nightmares any day. "Coming, bro!" he called.

He took the time to change into his page uniform, then quickly brushed his teeth in the tiny bathroom at the end of the hall to the sound of Papyrus jumping on the couch and singing the theme song to some cartoon he liked to watch at Undyne's house.

Papyrus bounded over to him as he came down the stairs with eager demands for breakfast. Sans snagged some granola bars, partially out of habit and partially as a test, and Papyrus didn't whine about having to eat them for breakfast two days in a row. (They'd had crab apples from Gerson's shop on Monday if he recalled correctly).

He listened to his brother's chatter as they walked to the Snowdin-Waterfall border. Papyrus could chatter about all kinds of things, and Sans didn't always pay much attention, but as they walked he realised that Papyrus' words – pretty much his every word – sounded familiar. As though he'd heard it just yesterday. He couldn't quite finish his brother's sentences in his head – he hadn't been paying that much attention before – but he recognised far too much to simply ignore it.

… if it had been a dream, then how had it been able to predict the mundane goings-on of the upcoming day, in such precise detail?

A jolt in the space around him…

"Sans?"

Sans blinked back into reality to see Papyrus frowning up at him with wide eye sockets. They had reached the border. Papyrus tugged on Sans' sleeve, and the older skeleton grinned weakly, rubbing the top of his brother's skull. "Sorry, Paps. Spaced out for a second."

"Did you hear what I just said?" was the scowled challenge.

Sans paused. "Uh… somethin' about puzzle class, right?"

"… yes." Papyrus huffed. He looked off toward the border, still annoyed, and Sans followed his gaze to spy Undyne, again. The nine-year-old fish girl was barrelling towards them in a blur of red, grey, and blue. Sans put a protective hand out in front of Papyrus. "Watch out – "

"SNOW WRESTLING!"

Undyne slammed into the both of them, causing both herself and the brothers to be knocked to the snowy ground. The young fish monster was undeterred, however, crawling straight for Papyrus and trapping him in a headlock before shoving his face into the snowy ground.

"Noo – " Papyrus' distressed cry was muffled by the snow, and Sans couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he got to his feet, brushing the snow from his uniform. It didn't matter whether or not he'd been witness to the same thing yesterday – this was a rather frequent occurrence.

After a minute, Papyrus managed to wriggle free and got to his feet, shaking snow from his eye sockets and brushing his own uniform down. "Did you HAVE to do that?" he complained.

"Yep!" Undyne jumped to her feet and gave her blazer a shake. "You need to learn defence, Papy! And you need to fight back! That's why it's called a wrestling battle."

"You just caught him off-guard, is all." Sans grinned, causing Undyne to harrumph. "Heya, scales."

"Hi, Sans." Undyne tugged hard on Papyrus' tie. "Come on, let's go see if there are any humans to fight on the way to school… "

"'kay. Bye, Paps. Drink your school. Eat your milk. Have fun at vegetables." He couldn't really think of what else to say, so he just repeated yesterday's brotherly advice.

Papyrus just rolled his eyes. Huh. He didn't show any signs of remembering anything from yesterday morning. Sans waited for his brother to turn and follow Undyne, but this time, Papyrus went right for his hug, and Sans squeezed him back.

His brother let go far too soon for Sans' taste, joining Undyne and giving a wave. "Bye, Sans! I LOVE YOU!"

"Love ya, too Paps."

The children turned to go, Undyne saying something about hunting humans, when Sans found himself stepping forward and stopping them. "Hey, scales?"

Undyne paused and turned. "Yeah?"

Sans made himself give a little laugh and shake his head. "Sorry, weird night last night. Uh, did you walk with Papyrus to school yesterday, too? Can't remember."

"No. Of course not." Undyne shook her head and looked at him oddly. "Maybe you have snow in your skull and it's mixing up your head and stopping you from thinking right," she said, helpfully.

"Heh. Maybe. Okay, you better get going before you're late for school. Maybe you could race."

"Oh, yeah! Good idea!" Undyne grinned at him toothily. "Come on, Papy! Readysetgo!" She shot off then, causing Papyrus to squawk in alarm before he set off after her as fast as his legs would carry him.

Sans stared after them for a long time, returning to lean against the broad pine tree. Then, sighing, he stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets, hunched his shoulders, and began to walk back home – he always ducked behind the house and out of sight before teleporting to work. Not that he needed to, Snowdin was quiet today – yesterday – but it was a habit he'd formed long ago, and Sans stuck close to his habits.

Just as he was nearing the house, however, he spied Tex, Snowdin's maintenance officer. The lynx monster was washing the windows of the Librarby before it opened. Sans jogged over to her. "Morning, ma'am."

"Oh." Tex smiled at him politely, tipping her hat with her bobbed tail. "Good morning, Sans. Off to work?"

"Yep." He shuffled on the spot, the snow crunching pleasantly under his feet. "Hey, sorry, d'you know what day it is?"

"Tuesday. The seventh of May," she added helpfully.

Tuesday… "Oh, right. Thanks." Sans gave a nonchalant shrug. "Weird, could've sworn yesterday was Tuesday."

"No. I can assure you it's today." Tex touched a paw to the glass where she had not yet begun to wipe it. "I always do Main Street on Tuesdays, see, so if I had any doubt then this would confirm my answer."

"Right-o. Okay. Well, thanks, ma'am. For confirming the day and all. See ya." He quickly turned on his heel with a wave as Tex returned the farewell.

Sans bowed his head, walking quickly in the direction of the house. Ducking behind it, he stopped a minute to lean against the wall, bringing a hand to his forehead. This was weird, far too weird. And something was very, very wrong.

… Or maybe he was just overreacting. After all, he had a tendency to get a little paranoid over any strange going-ons. There was this recurring nightmare he had, about Gaster escaping the Void and coming back to reclaim him and his brother, but that was just a nightmare.

Gaster was gone for good. Gone from existence. The Void wasn't the sort of place you could crawl out of.

Sans sighed. Whatever. Maybe it was some weird sort of dream. He was Determined, after all. Who knew what kinds of wild time energy he could pick up on?

oOo

But after that, any doubts that he'd had that the "day before" had been some sort of weird dream vanished when he woke up that same Tuesday again.

Papyrus woke him up by bouncing on his bed. He told Sans that Undyne was meeting him at the Waterfall border and that they were walking to school together.

Sans picked out granola bars for breakfast, and Papyrus didn't complain.

"SNOW-WRESTLING!" Undyne shouted as she barrelled into Papyrus.

Frozen pizza in the microwave for dinner. Sans could never get tired of it.

Papyrus had the same math homework, and Sans helped him through it, faster this time now that he already knew the answers.

A bedtime story of Papyrus' favourite Fluffy Bunny book before bed.

And that night, there it was again. He must have missed it the last time, his yesterday – a jolt in the space around him. Something shifting. Something spinning. Space stretching around him in every direction…

oOo

Tuesday again.

oOo

And again.

oOo

And ag –

For whatever reason, Tuesday only lasted until half past two before everything ended and he was jolted back into bed of the same morning.

Sans was growing tired of this very quickly.

oOo

Determination.

"If an anomaly is a being with high amounts of Determination. Then why not. Create one?"

"By all definitions you exist outside of spacetime, outside of our closed system."

Heh. Funny. Thanks, Gaster, old buddy.

oOo

"SANS! Sans, wake up!"

Sans groaned as he felt Papyrus shake him. He batted the small offending hands away, yanking the sheets over his head. If time had to repeat, one day, on a loop, over and over again, did it really have to be on a weekday? And on a day Papyrus insisted on shaking him so violently awake?

"Ugh. Go meet Undyne on your own, bro, you're big enough… I'll pick ya up or somethin', lemme sleep… "

"Sillybones! I met Undyne YESTERDAY!"

"… wha'?"

Under the sheets, Sans opened his eye sockets. He slowly emerged to see Papyrus standing over his bed with an irritated expression on his face. And he was still in his pyjamas.

"I met Undyne YESTERDAY," Papyrus repeated. "On Wednesdays Undyne shows up to class late, don't you remember? It's tradition!"

Sans propped himself on one elbow, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Wait, bro… hold up. You mean… is today Wednesday?"

"Yes! And yesterday was Tuesday!" Papyrus rolled his eyes. "OBVIOUSLY."

"Obviously?" Sans' voice cracked. "What's so obvious about it, huh?"

A huff from his little brother. "Lots of things! Sans, why don't you – " Then Papyrus paused, and frowned. "Brother? What's wrong?"

Sans quickly lifted a hand to his cheekbone to see if he'd been crying, but no, it was dry. He didn't answer Papyrus straight away, instead reaching out to him with a weak laugh. He pulled Papyrus onto the bed in a hug and rubbed his skull. "Nothin', bro. Everything's… everything's great. I just… get the feelin' this is gonna be a really good day."

"And it'll be even better if you WAKE UP." Papyrus' voice pitched into a whine as he wiggled free. "And I can't find my shirt, what have you done with it… "

Wednesday carried on from there, and Sans had no idea what was going to happen one moment to the next.

And it was wonderful.

And when that day closed, it opened again onto Thursday, then Friday, then the weekend, and before Sans knew it, three weeks had passed without a trace of time jumping back.

The staggering truth hit him in the face one day, a delayed realisation. That it really was over. That all of those repeating Tuesdays were starting to feel like a bad dream.

Not that he didn't think about it.

There could be all kinds of reasons for the repeating Tuesday. Time was so fragile here in the Underground, after all. It could be just a small glitch, like a scratch on a record.

… or it could be Gaster. Sans was well aware that was a possibility. But he didn't want to think about that more than he had to.

The thought stayed with him anyway: once it took hold, it refused to let go.

Papyrus was sleeping over at Undyne's that night, so Sans volunteered to work a later shift at the castle. He needed something to do anyway. But now that it was eight o'clock, Sans and a few of the other pages were finally gathering their things to go home. The King was bidding them all a good night as usual. Sans was the last to sign off his shift. While he was in line, it occurred to him that there was a question he could ask King Asgore, a question he wasn't comfortable asking anybody else.

It was probably a bit risky. And definitely a total gamble. But Sans had to be sure – though of what, precisely, he couldn't say.

He ducked to the back of the line, so that he and the King would be left alone together in the throne room.

"Hey, Your Majesty? Can I ask you a question?" he asked, before the King could open his mouth.

King Asgore blinked, startled at Sans' abruptness. Then he lifted a paw in invitation. "Of course, Sans. Whatever I can do to help you."

Sans stuffed his hands into his pockets and shuffled from one foot to another, his gaze sliding down to the golden flowers on the floor. "Uh. I was just wonderin', I don't really keep up to date with this stuff – what you can tell me about the Royal Scientist right now? Like, I don't even know who they are – figure I oughta know at least that – "

The King's brows came together in puzzlement. "Royal… Scientist? Well." He cleared his throat, seeming to think. "Royal… well, there isn't one right now. Didn't you know?"

Sans blinked. "There isn't one?"

"Well, no. There hasn't been for a number of years. I… quite a number, I believe."

"Oh." He hesitated. "Could ya tell me anything about the last one? Like, what they did, or… ?"

"The last one?" Asgore rubbed his beard. "No. No, I'm afraid I couldn't, not on the spot, at least. Golly." He gave a deep chuckle. "Isn't that funny? It really must have been a while, then. I believe they did something with the CORE, but that is not so much my area of expertise. However, if you are curious, I'm certain there must be some form of documentation in the Royal Archives somewhere – "

"Don't sweat it, Your Majesty," he said abruptly.

"It would be no trouble, really – and with you having expressed such interest in science – "

"No, really. I was just… idly curious. But it don't matter."

Asgore coughed. "Well, if you are certain. Just let me know if you change your mind, hmm? Now, Sans. Is there any other way I might help you tonight?"

"There is, actually," he said, impulsively. "Just one more question." He shuffled on the spot, gathering his courage. "Does… the name Doctor Gaster mean anythin' to you?" Internally, he winced – it felt so strange to say the name out loud, so many years later.

"Doctor… " The King gave a deep and thoughtful hum. "No. No, it does not. I am certain it would ring a bell had I heard it before, though. Do they work at the New Home hospital or the CORE? Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Sans said quickly. "It's nothin'. Forget about it."

There was a pause. "Something troubles you."

Sans gave a grin, and a shrug, tugging his jacket on over his page's uniform. "Who, me? Aww, you know me, Your Majesty. I don't wear worry."

Asgore's brows came together to form a frown before he sighed. "If you insist. Perhaps I am just a foolish old man who worries too much. Well. Goodnight, then. And get home safely."

"Yeah… 'night, Your Majesty."

The thought stayed.

oOo

It started out like a mild toothache.

Papyrus woke him up from his sleep by shaking him hard on poking him in the ribs. "Sans! SAAANS! Sans, wake up!"

This was not, for the record, out of the ordinary in any way. Not even on a Saturday. Sans groaned and rolled over, tugging the sheets over his head. "Ugh. Ten more minutes, Paps… "

Papyrus climbed up onto the bed, beginning to jump up and down on it.

Sans mimed a snore and he heard Papyrus groan loudly. The mattress creaked as he jumped off the bed and began to tug at his arm.

"Ugh… " Papyrus tugged harder, and Sans sighed, rolling over to face him. "Okay, okay. Calm down. I'm up, I'm up." He cracked open his dead eye. "Happy?"

"You can't even SEE me!"

But just because he couldn't see Papyrus didn't mean he couldn't tell he was rolling his eye sockets in exasperation. "Heh. You're too smart for me, bro." Sans shut his right eye again.

"Wake up, you lazybones! Or I'm going to be late for school!"

Sans froze, opening both eyes this time. Papyrus' figure came into focus. His brother's eyes were bright but annoyed. He was wearing his school uniform. As innocuous as that statement was… something was off. And a cold dread filled Sans. "… what?"

"School! I'm going to be late for school!" Papyrus thumped his chest dramatically. "AND! I am meeting UNDYNE before school at the Waterfall border and don't want to be late meeting her!"

"I thought it was Saturday," he said, his voice going quiet.

It was happening again.

It was all happening again.

"No, sillybones! It is TUESDAY today! I know because we went to the library yesterday, and Monday is library day!"

"Right." Sans paused. He just had to check. Just in case. "Hey, uh, bro? … d'you know the date?" Not that he kept that close track, but it was somewhere around the first week of June.

"Yes! It is the seventh of May! I've been keeping very close track on my calendar!"

A hollow pit opened in Sans' chest, the world narrowing to a point as he felt himself tumbling down into it.

"Brother – " When tugging at Sans' arm seemed to do no good, his brother took Sans' sleeve between his teeth.

And tugged.

Like a little puppy monster.

"I'm… getting up, bro," he heard himself say, drifting back down to earth.

Papyrus let go, tilting his head in concern. "Brother? Are you all right?"

"Fine, bro," he bit out, plastering on his grin to be a little more genuine. "Just sleepy. Just… gimme a minute, okay?"

Papyrus pressed his mouth together into a tight line, eye sockets narrowing. "Fine," he said. "But one minute, brother! NO MORE! And remember to brush your teeth! It's important to get rid of germs!" With that Papyrus turned on his heel and dashed out of the room.

As soon as Papyrus was gone, Sans dropped onto the bed. He found himself staring down, hollowly, at his hands.

He'd really believed that the time jumps back were over. It had been weeks, after all. Freaking weeks of the same old routine; nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. But sitting on the edge of the bed now, the sounds of Papyrus singing (a song from one of his favourite cartoons) downstairs, the entire idea seemed so laughable.

Just the notion that he might really have been free.

It was a joke.

If not for this, it really might have been some kind of glitch, a scratch on a record. Spacetime was so fragile in the Underground, after all, and Sans remembered Gaster telling him once that some of his readings had indicated a surge in Void energy. That could lead to all kinds of instabilities. But if time had dialled all the way back… there was no way this was a glitch. This had to be intentional after all, the work of an anomaly.

The question that remained was what made that – this – Tuesday so special. Why the anomaly had chosen – today, he supposed – to return to, every single time they Reset? Unless their control over the timeline wasn't that straightforward?

"HURRY UP, SANS! IT HAS BEEN, LIKE, TWO MINUTES!"

Sans blinked, forced himself to get to his feet. "Oh. Right. … sorry, babybones. I'm coming," he called, and even from downstairs he heard Papyrus groan loudly.

It was Tuesday again for him. But for Papyrus, it was Tuesday for the first time. He had to put something in for his brother.

So Sans got changed into his page's uniform as quickly as he could, brushed his teeth, and teleported downstairs just to save a bit of time and effort, and Papyrus seemed pleased enough. He went through the motions, helping his brother make last-minute preparations for the school day.

And everything was the same. Everything was exactly the same.

Granola bars. Papyrus didn't complain.

Walk to the Waterfall border. Papyrus chattered away, and Sans let the words wash over him.

Undyne came barrelling forward with a battle cry of, "SNOW-WRESTLING!"

It was the same damn thing.

Undyne and his brother chattered about hunting humans before heading off to school.

And tonight, Sans would nuke a pizza in the microwave. He'd help his brother with the same math homework and read him the same Fluffy Bunny book before bed.

And as far as he knew, when he woke up tomorrow morning, it would be today again.

Sans stayed in his spot against the pine tree, staring after them long after they'd gone. He knew he should probably get to work soon, but he couldn't quite bring himself to leave his resting place just yet. He was tired.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of yellow and green. Sans blinked, startled, and turned towards the distraction.

There, popping out from the snow, was a small yellow flower. A flower that hadn't been any of the other times. At least, not that Sans had noticed. Granted, the flower was rather small and easy to miss. But on the other hand… maybe it really was the first time the flower was here. If spacetime was being manipulated and toyed with by an anomaly, the timeline was likely to come with variations. It could well be their influence, in this timeline, this today, that had brought about these little changes. Small ripples. Small tears sewn together in new and innovative ways.

It took Sans a moment to notice the face on the flower's disk – a monster, then. The flower's "head" tilted to one side, and he was fixing Sans with the oddest look, as if he were studying an equation he couldn't quite figure out.

Sans frowned, pushing off the tree. "Heya. Noticed you were starin' at me back there. Can I help you?"

The flower blinked, then straightened his stem, looking startled. "Oh! Oh, yeah. I mean, no thanks, heehee! Sorry about that! I just, um, what's the… I spaced out, that's it! Heehee, sorry again – didn't mean to creep you out or anything!"

Sans shrugged, offering the flower a grin. "No worries. We all space out sometimes." He cocked his head to the side in thought. "You new in town? Ain't seen ya around before. I didn't know flower monsters could grow in Snowdin. Heck, I didn't even know there were flower monsters anymore."

Blink. "Oh. Well, I'm from New Home, really, heehee. But my roots go deep." The flower gave a little shiver, seeming almost elated. "Way, waaaay deep. I can pop up anywhere I like! It's really neat!" He extended a leaf. "Anyway, I'm Flowey!" He paused. "Oh. Guess you couldn't really shake my hand too easy – old habits. Um… but it's the thought that counts, right?"

Okay, so this "Flowey" was a little eccentric. Sans didn't know what he could mean by old habits. The longer he stared at him, the more unsettled Sans started to feel. He felt as if he were looking at something he couldn't quite place, something that didn't quite belong. His head hurt just slightly, and a cold sensation prickled at his bones.

But Sans shrugged it off. If the anomaly had initiated a Reset after so many weeks, he was bound to be jumpy. And the Void was bound to be a little more active, too, what with being having torn open once again. "Sure. I'm Sans. But ya know, I better get to work. See ya 'round, bud."

Flowey didn't respond for a minute, then threw back his head with a dramatic groan that reminded Sans of his brother. "Puns. My mom used to make those aaaalll the time. It annoyed me so much!"

Sans politely noted the past tense, and didn't comment on it. "If you're sayin' ya don't find my puns humerus, it's okay. My little bro hates 'em too."

"Good! He has standards!"

Sans chuckled. "No, but I really am late. So still see ya."

Flowey studied him for a moment longer, then gave him a little shudder. "Oh, you bet!"