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Deja Vu II

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Appearing just outside the Ruins, Sans quickly scanned the area. He couldn't explain why or how, but he knew he had to be here. He had to find someone. The memory of those hazel eyes had somehow become seared into his skull and he needed to find the person to whom they belonged.

The door was still closed, but Sans was surprised to find a trail of footprints leading down the snowy path and away from the Ruins. Someone had actually come out. His mind involuntarily provided him with an image of an injured, half singed human. Sans still had absolutely no clue what was going on, but he knew he needed to follow his intuition on this.

Pulling up his hood, the skeleton stuffed his bony hands into his jacket pockets and began following the footprints. Every few steps he noticed that the pristine white snow had been stained red with something he had unfortunately become far too familiar with.

Blood. Human blood...

Slowing to a stop, Sans followed the snowy path with his eye lights. The tall pine trees shaded the early morning's light making it difficult to see too far ahead. If this really was a human he was following, it might not be the wisest decision to just approach them. He had to remind himself that the kid was unique. This human, for all he knew, could be just like the Fifth child. He had to be cautious.

Staying out of sight, Sans quietly teleported through the forest, while keeping careful watch of the trail. Finally, just a little ways off, he spotted a person kneeling next to the small bridge. Getting as close as he could, the skeleton appeared behind a nearby tree and covertly studied this new human.

It was a female, he was sure of it, and she was way bigger than the kid. Of course, that really wasn't saying much. Her complexion was similar to Fearia's, but her hair was ever so slightly longer and more of a chestnut brown color instead of auburn. He didn't know why or how, but he was certain. That was the kid's big sister. This was Frisk.

Deciding to trust his own instincts, Sans appeared a few feet away from the crouching human. He couldn't really tell what she was doing, but it looked as if she was holding her ankle. Maybe that was where she was injured? He vaguely wondered if she knew about the healing stars. Tilting his skull, Sans contemplated how best to get her attention without startling her. This was kind of awkward... Maybe he should just start with a greeting?

"uh... hey."

As pathetically lame as that greeting was, it did in fact get the girl's attention. Flinching, she froze for a second before turning her head. A strange sense of recognition flashed behind those hazel eyes when she noticed him standing there. It was almost as if she had been expecting to see him. Getting back to her feet, the girl turned and gave the skeleton a small smile before lifting her open hand and lightly tapping the side of it against her head. It looked like some kind of salute. Sans figured it was probably her way of saying hello.

Lowering her hand, the girl slid an open palm over the other. She then closed her hands and lifted both index fingers before moving one hand close to the other hand. With a smile, she placed an open palm to her chest for a moment before using both of her hands again. Extending her index and middle fingers out, she tapped both pairs twice against each other before using her dominant hand to spell something out.

Sans just stared dumbly at the girl as he tried his hardest to understand what the hell she was saying. He realized now that he should've had the forethought to ask the kid to teach him some of the basics of sign language. Why hadn't he thought to ask? In all honesty, though, he never thought he'd actually need to learn it. How was he supposed to know that the kid's sister would just show up? Privately, he wished Fearia was here with them so that she could act as a translator.

The skeleton's grin lessened slightly as he thought of the sleeping child. He knew that she was the whole reason Frisk had come. For some reason, the thought of telling her what had happened to her little sister filled Sans with a brand new form of discomfort. He hadn't just failed the kid, but now he realized he'd failed her as well. Despite his own guilt, however, he knew he had to tell her. But first, he might as well introduce himself.

Stuffing his boney hands into his jacket pockets, Sans let his eye lights drift to the side. "you're frisk, right?" He started rhetorically before looking back to the mute girl. "fearia's older sister? she told me all about you." Hearing her sister's name, a relieved smile appeared on the girl's face as she nodded in confirmation. "i'm sans, by the way. sans the skeleton." Slipping his hand from his pocket, he held it out to her, a friendly smile on his skull. "it's nice to meet you."

Without a hint of hesitation, Frisk returned the smile as she reached out to shake his hand.

Sans felt some of the tension leave his bones as the last of his apprehension subsided. Frisk really was a lot like Fearia. She had a gentle LOVEless Soul and a kind accepting nature. This made telling her the truth about what happened even more difficult. Lowering his eye lights from her face, Sans tried to think of the best way to word what he had to say. Catching sight of a bloodied tear in the silky fabric of her light blue tunic, his mind unhelpfully provided him with a perfect way to procrastinate.

"hey, uh, if you're injured, there's a healing star just up that way." He nodded his skull towards the bridge.

Creasing her brow in confusion, a small frown fell over the teenager's face as she retracted her hand in order to search herself for injuries.

"on your side." Sans said, trying to help. "it looks like you got scratched by something."

Finding the tear, the girl's hands stilled for a moment before they began to shake slightly. Reaching for the hem of her tunic, she slowly lifted the fabric up, revealing the wound. A heavy silence fell over them as they both stared down at the blackened flesh. It was almost unnoticeable, but the affected area appeared to be spreading at a very slow pace as dark lines fanned out from underneath her skin.

What the hell was that? Whatever it was, it looked really bad. Sans gave a private sigh as he stuffed his hand back into his pocket. jeez, she really was just like her little sister. He needed to bring her to a healing star before that got any worse. "come on." The skeleton said as he walked past the injured human. "i'll show you where the star is, it'll fix you up."

Feeling a small tug on the back of his winter jacket, Sans looked over his shoulder in surprise. The girl had a sad expression as she shook her head. Confused, he turned back around and arched an eyebrow bone. Didn't she want to be healed?

Lifting her hand, she made a fist and placed it to her chest. She then moved her hand in a small circle as she gave him an apologetic look. *I'll see you again.* She mouthed out the words before giving him a warm smile.

"what do you mean?" What in the world was she talking about?

...

"Sans?" Papyrus asked through the door as he gave a light knock.

Snapping his eye sockets open, Sans sat up and looked around in bewilderment. "what the hell's going on?"

"Sans? Are You In There?"

"yeah, bro?" Sans answered his little brother without giving it much thought.

"Oh. Uh. I'm Heading To Waterfall." Papyrus explained hesitantly. "I... I Think We Need To Have A Talk Later Though. About... What's Been Happening Lately. Okay?"

Already knowing exactly what his brother wanted to talk about, Sans frowned over to the closed door. "you're right," he agreed grimly. "we need to have a talk. i'll tell you everything tonight... i'm sorry i lied to ya, paps..." He added the last part quietly before teleporting away.

He had a pretty good idea what was happening now. Time was being reset over and over again, and he was fairly sure he knew who was responsible. Sans didn't know how it was even possible, but Frisk, the kid's older sister, was somehow manipulating the flow of time. He couldn't be sure how many times she had already rewound the day, but his mind was gradually beginning to adjust to the resets. This time, Sans could clearly remember speaking with her and what had happened.

She had been scared. Whatever that dark stain on her side was, it was enough to scare her into rewinding the entire day to be rid of it. Something was down in the Ruins. Something really dangerous. Sans couldn't be certain of this, but he had a bad feeling that whatever it was, it was targeting Frisk. If he couldn't find a way to help her, then this day would continue to loop indefinitely.

Appearing right outside the Ruins door, Sans got there just in time to witness Frisk's frantic exit. In a flurry of motion, she stumbled out into the snow before spinning on her heel and slamming her petite body against the door in order to close it. A second later, something heavy slammed into the large door from the other side causing a loud bang. Straining under the pressure, the girl's feet began to slide in the snow as the door cracked open.

Before Sans even realized what he was doing, he was right beside her putting his own weight and magic against the large slab of stone. Forcing it closed again, the two shared a look as they held their ground, combining their strength in order to keep whatever was behind the door from getting out.

The minute that had ticked by at a snail's pace finally ended as the pressure pushing against them lifted suddenly. Breathing hard, the skeleton and the human placed their backs to the cool door before sliding down to sit in the snow, exhausted. That was intense, but it looked like the danger had passed for now.

Once he had finally caught his metaphorical breath, Sans gave a tired chuckle before looking over at the slightly disheveled human. "heh. that was a real workout, darlin'. tibia honest... i think i might have pulled a muscle somewhere." he said, grinning in humor. That was so incredibly lame but he just couldn't resist.

Baffled, Frisk simply stared at him for a moment before an awkward smile appeared on her face.

Grin widening a tiny bit more, Sans watched in amusement as the girl dissolved into a fit of giggles. He'd never seen someone without a voice laugh before, but it was kind of funny if he was being honest. Her laughter was silent but at the same time breathy. Even though it was a little strange, he found himself kind of liking it for some reason.

Unfortunately, the moment ended a little too quickly for either of their concerns as the ground beneath them began to rumble. Forcing themselves back to their feet, they watched as dark vines pushed their way up from the snow. Blindly feeling around, they seemed to be looking for something or someone.

Eye sockets widening slightly, Sans recognized those damn vines. They were blackened now and the thorns looked crystalized, but he was absolutely certain as to whom they belonged. Flowey. He needed to get Frisk out of here as fast as possible. There was no way in hell he was going to let what happened to Fearia happen to her as well.

Keeping his eye lights on the searching vines, Sans quietly reached over to put his hand on the girl's shoulder. He needed to teleport her far away from this area. Feeling nothing but cool stone beneath his phalanges, Sans was forced to looked to the side. Where was she?!

Catching sight of the human, Sans was surprised to find that she had already slipped past the vines and was now standing beside the snow covered bush gesturing for him to follow. Sans couldn't help but feel a little impressed by this. She was pretty damn good at evading. With all of the resets, she probably had tons of practice by now, he thought grimly.

Teleporting himself to stand next to the human, Sans was completely caught off guard when two of the dark vines instantaneously snapped out to grab him. Dodging the first, he wasn't so lucky with the second as it wrapped itself tightly around his wrist. Sensing the activity, the rest of the vines turned towards them. Cursing, Sans raised his other hand and magically lifted the human up by her ruby red Soul before tossing her out of harm's way. Not a second later, the vines were bearing down on him.

...

"Sans?" Papyrus asked through the door as he gave a light knock.

Gasping, Sans jerked his whole body to the side and crashed to the unvacuumed carpet. Eye lights completely out, the skeleton panted as he tried to calm himself down. That had really freakin' hurt! He could still feel the pain of his bones being crushed within the constricting vines. Not only that, but he had had the pleasure of experiencing for the first time ever what it felt like to have his magic leached from his body. The feeling was indescribably painful.

Whatever that thing was, it wasn't Flowey...

At least, not anymore...

Skull throbbing painfully, Sans let his eye sockets close as an overwhelming dizziness consumed him. Despite how awful that had been, he couldn't help but wonder how many times Frisk had already suffered the same fate. No wonder she had had to reset over and over again. This time, however... she had actually done so for him instead.

Frisk hadn't even needed to reset at all that time. She'd been completely uninjured. In all honesty, she should have just run away, but the fact that she didn't... The fact that she would willingly redo everything just for his sake... Sans just didn't know how to feel about that.

Guess he owed her one now...

Peeking over the side of the bed, Poff stared down at the unconscious skeleton for a moment before the very fabric of reality began to warp around them. Folding his pointy white ears back, the small dog waited apprehensively. Watching from the corner of the room, the intruder looked just as perplexed as he was.

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If that wasn't Flowey, then what was it?

...

Frisk said, "Hello. It's nice to meet you. My name is Frisk."

...

In the next chapter, Sans tries to come up with a solution to their endless loop problem.

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