:-"A walk down memory lane"-:

When Frisk comes to, they feel the tickling sensation of flowers and grass on their face. They decide to continue laying there, letting the phantom pains subside and attempting to clear their mind...

After a few minutes, Frisk gets up and checks their Pockets:

Pockets:
'Not even a comical fly. Oh how the great have fallen.'

Looking around the small room, Frisk sees that everything is the same... The pillars, the hallway, and the archway with the Deltarune above it that leads to the next room...

Frisk takes another moment to calm down, then goes to the arch to leave the room; they hesitate for a moment upon remembering Flowey...

After a few moments to brace themselves, Frisk enters the room.

Sure enough, Flowey is there in the dark, empty, room and he does not look happy. He immediately begins yelling.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! ! ! ! WHY WOULD YOU RESET AFTER EVERYTHING WE'VE BEEN THROUGH!?"

Frisk replies sadly, "...a giant blob of fused humans killed everyone..."

Flowey is not convinced, he responds harshly. "Do you really expect me to believe that?! Only monsters can become amalgamates!"

Frisk momentarily feels something stir within them, but it fades. They reply "If you had been down in the village, you would have seen it... I couldn't even LOAD, and it ate my SAVE stars."

Flowey's face starts to look confused, and a little concerned... but his thoughts are interrupted by the sound of footsteps. "You'd better fix this Frisk, or I'll be really angry! I have to go, M-... Toriel is coming. I'll be watching you."

Flowey burrows away from the area, and, sure enough, Toriel emerges from the other room. Frisk's eyes start to tear up and they run for her, giving her a hug. "Toriel! !"

Toriel is caught off guard. "Huh?... pardon me, but I do not seem to remember you... though, you do seem familiar... How do you know my name, little one?"

Frisk doesn't respond, they just keep their face buried in her dress. Trying not to cry.

"Well, if you are that upset, perhaps we can talk about it later. Come. Let me guide you through the catacombs."

Frisk lets go of Toriel and follows her into the next room. It's just as purple and old as before. The red crinkly leaves on the ground are swept into a neat pile. They see the base of a large set of staircases on the sides of a small clearing. When Toriel goes up the stairs on the right, Frisk immediately notices that their SAVE star in the clearing has a weird other-worldly purple glow. It also seems like something is trying to escape from... behind it? No matter how Frisk looks at the star, it seems to have writhing energy coming from behind.

Frisk steps closer and reaches out for the star... but the energy around it lashes out at Frisk. They are unable to SAVE.

Though worried about not being able to SAVE, Frisk decides to move on. 'I'll have to talk to Sans about this, probably has something to do with that horrifying thing.'

Toriel guides Frisk, just as she did the first time. She completes the first puzzle of buttons quickly, then encourages Frisk to complete the second puzzle; she also comments on how she labelled the correct switches. Frisk flips the switches, and they continue to the next room. Frisk does not pay a lot of attention to what Toriel is saying.

After Toriel gives her speech, Frisk approaches the Dummy and gives it some encouragement; this time, it almost seems to smile a little. 'Huh... didn't do that before.'

Toriel is very pleased with Frisk. "That was wonderful! You are very good."

In the next room, Frisk offers their hand to Toriel as they enter and they guide her through the, rather easy, spike maze bridge; the froggit doesn't approach Frisk this time, it's too intimidated by Toriel.

Toriel responds, very proud "My, that was quite impressive little one. Perhaps you will be safer here than I thought."

:-:

When they enter the long hallway, Toriel explains what she is about to do and Frisk waits. They watch Toriel run and hide behind the pillar, then they go down the hallway. Once Frisk makes it to the end, Toriel emerges.

"Greetings, my child. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me."

Frisk replies "I know, you're going on an errand and want to make sure I'll be OK alone. Maybe a cell phone would be a good idea. Also, I like butterscotch, cinnamon is OK."

Toriel is surprised once again. "My child... how do you know all of this? It is almost as though you have done all of this before..."

Frisk tries to keep their mind clear. Despite their efforts, their Face subtly changes to one of sadness. "I have done this all before... All the monsters were freed and everything was going so well... then something... ruined everything..."

Toriel is not sure what to make of the information just given to her, until she thinks of the prophecy. "My, that sounds terrible... What do you plan on doing to fix it?"

Frisk isn't sure how to answer that question... They hesitate for a moment before replying. "I'm not sure, but there has to be a way... I'm the one who's supposed to set everyone free..."

Slowly losing composure, Frisk starts to tear up again and looks down at the floor.

Toriel kneels down to give them a hug, and speaks in a sad but soothing voice. "Such a great burden, on such small and innocent shoulders... if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know."

Frisk hugs Toriel back, continuing to do their best to not cry...

After a moment, they wipe the tears from their eyes and step back. They reply "butterscotch-cinnamon pie would be nice..."

Toriel smiles softly and says, "well, if that will help then I am more than happy to make you some pie. Here, take this spare cell phone."

Frisk takes the cellphone.

Toriel pats their head and says, "stay safe. Call me if you need anything, my child. I assume... you already know the way though the RUINS?"

Frisk nods, Toriel sighs quietly and leaves to get the ingredients. Frisk proceeds through the RUINS alone.

In the next room, the crunchy red leaves are exactly where they were before...

* Frisk remembers when they first played in these leaves, it fills them with Determination.

:-:

The SAVE star in this room also looks weird... Frisk is concerned, but doesn't think they can do anything about it right now.

Frisk goes to the left into the small room with the monster candy. The vines on the far end of the room look healthy, and the small pools of water on the left and right sides of the room gently wave from an invisible wind. In the center of the room is a short pillar with a bowl full of candy. A ring of red leaves is around the pillar, Frisk playfully steps on them. Unlike last time, they take four pieces of monster candy... the bowl falls down as they try to take all four at once...

'Oh no, now I feel bad... I should have only taken one...'

Now feeling bad, but having something to heal with, Frisk continues through the RUINS... albeit faster and without being hurt. They dance through the bullet patterns sent at them, easily talk all the monsters down from wanting to fight, and eventually get to the room with the rocks and buttons... and spikes blocking the way forward.

Frisk recalls what the plaque in a previous rooms says. '"Three out of four rocks suggest you push them..." but that one gave me trouble... hmm...'

Frisk pushes the first to rocks into position and proceeds to the third.

When Frisk walks up to the third rock in the room, it says "WOAH there, pardner! Who said you could push me around HMM?" just like last time.

Frisk replies "Would you move over there and sit on that button for me, please?"

The rock replies. "So you're ASKIN' me to move over? Okay, just for you, pumpkin." Then slides onto the button. The spikes blocking the way retract.

Frisk walks up to the rock again and says "thank you, would you be able to stay there for me?"

The rock replies, "well, if you really need me to."

Remembering to thank the rock again, Frisk leaves the room. Clear communication really is key.

Another unsettling SAVE star reminds Frisk that Napstablook is in the next room...

The small little room still has a small mouse hole on the left wall, and the table that has an old piece of cheese on it looks just like it did the first time Frisk was in the RUINS...

* Knowing, without a doubt, that the mouse will get the cheese... fills Frisk with Determination.

:-:

Frisk enters the next room and approaches Napstablook, they are pretending to sleep on a pile of red crinkly leaves; just like last time.

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Frisk, only slightly amused but more anxious, says "I know you're not sleeping, would you please move?"

Napstablook continues pretending to sleep.

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (are they gone yet?...) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Frisk tries to walk through Napstablook, they are a ghost after all, but fails. Napstablook gets up, and they begin to fight.

Doing the same thing they did before, Frisk smiles patiently.

Seeing Frisk's cute smile cheers Napstablook up a bit. "heh..."

After dancing through some tear-like bullets, Frisk tells a little joke "what kind of key does a Ghost use to unlock his room? A Spoo-key"

Napstablook looks a bit better. "heh heh... i want to show you something."

Frisk nods and Napstablook makes his "dapper blook" hat.

Frisk gives two thumbs up, Napstablook is happy.

"i usually come to the RUINS because there's nobody around... but today i met somebody nice... oh... i'm rambling again... i'll get out of your way."

Napstablook fades away and Frisk proceeds forward to the spider bake sale.

'An investment in spider made products, made of spiders, will save me from spider related issues later... and it's a worthy cause!'

Frisk enters the small room and sees the sign for the spider bake sale, and two spider webs. They walk up to the web on the far end of the small room and buy some spider cider. They tuck it in their pocket for later.

Frisk continues through the RUINS, making sure to fall down the hole to get the faded ribbon in the room with the six holes in it. 'I wonder why I didn't keep this last time, it's cute...'

They decide to also fall down the hole that Napstablook is in, just in case, but he is fine and vanishes again.

Frisk makes their way to HOME, it doesn't take long. They ignore the other path on the far end of the hall way, they don't need a toy knife; they have real ones at home. As Frisk approaches HOME, Toriel walks around the leaf-less tree and starts to call them. Before their phone rings, Frisk walks back around the corner and holds their phone. They pick it up before it gets the chance to ring.

Frisk is feeling mischievous, they whisper. "What does someone need if they don't know how to do something?"

Toriel is confused, "What?"

Frisk jumps out from the corner and says "A TuToriel!"

Toriel giggles at the joke. "Hehehe! That is very cute." Then takes on a more serious tone and asks, "...Are you hurt?"

Frisk shakes their head.

Toriel looks Frisk over and is happy with this. "Not a scratch... Impressive! Come small one, let us go inside."

Frisk follows Toriel into the cute little house... The SAVE star next to it is just as weird looking as the others.

* Seeing the small tidy house in the RUINS again fills Frisk with Determination.

:-:

Inside the familiar house, Frisk feels better already...

They see the stairway going down out of the RUINS immediately upon entering, to the left is a living room and Frisk can see a fireplace, a chair that looks like its a perfect fit for Toriel, and a table with three chairs. To the right is a hallway.

Toriel breathes in and says "Ah, smell that? The pie is almost ready. Come, I have a surprise for you... Well, perhaps it is not a surprise to you... Still!"

Frisk follows Toriel down hallway on the right, to Asriel's old room...

"Here, a room of your own, so you can relax. Even the strongest person needs to take some time for themselves."

Frisk looks up and gives a subtle smile, "thank you, Toriel."

Toriel rubs Frisk's head gently before heading into the kitchen to get the pie. "Make yourself at home."

Frisk does just that... Knowing that time moves differently here than outside of the barrier, Frisk takes their time and explores more. They look at the... mostly wilted plants, the bookcases, and play around on the rug. Frisk ignores the dulled fireplace tools, but they take a few books from the bookcase next to the fireplace to read them. When Toriel comes out of the kitchen, Frisk chats with her while eating a slice of butterscotch cinnamon pie. It's all so... familiar and calming.

After a while, Frisk is too tired to stay up and goes to Asriel's room to sleep. The toys that haven't been touched in ages are still at the foot of the bed, the Wardrobe to the left of the bed looks like it was recently dusted off, and the stand with shells on it is well kept... Frisk gets up into the bed, and drifts into dreamless sleep.

Frisk wakes up in the morning to the smell of a piece of pie. A plate is in the middle of the room. Instead of impatiently trying to get out of the underground, Frisk takes time to read some more and chat with Toriel. Frisk also decides it would be best to tell Toriel their name, since they know she will never ask. After Toriel finishes talking about how one can use snails in 72 different ways, she asks a question.

In a subtly concerned voice, Toriel asks "Frisk, you said you have done this all before and that all the monsters were set free... did you have to...?"

Frisk responds reassuringly, "I didn't have to kill anyone, and how the monsters were freed is... complicated. I would rather not talk about that."

Toriel replies understandingly. "Maybe some day we can talk about it, if that is alright?"

Frisk nods and the two sit together in silence for a few minutes, before Frisk has an idea.

Excitedly, Frisk asks "Hey hey hey! Can you show my how to use fire magic? For cooking and keeping warm in Snowdin?"

Toriel looks at Frisk inquisitively. "I thought humans could no longer use magic?"

To which Frisk responds by meditating for a moment before attempting to manifest a green bullet... Nothing seems to happen. They try for a little longer... it feels like grasping at floating straws.

Eventually, Frisk manifests a single Green bandaid bullet.

Toriel is surprised, but pleasantly so. She expected that a human would have learned something more... combat oriented first, not healing magic.

"Well, it looks like my information is out of date... how can you use magic?"

While proudly holding the band-aid bullet above their head, Frisk responds. "The underground is full of magic, until the barrier is broken the surface wont have magic."

Pondering this fact, Toriel responds. "Hmm, well... Who taught you how to use magic, if there is no magic on the surface?"

Frisk points at her and gives a subtle smile.

Toriel smiles, "I see, that makes sense. Well, if I was teaching you magic before then I will keep doing so... but maybe you should wait until you can make more healing bullets?"

Lowering their arm from their proud pose, Frisk responds "I can manifest more, I just haven't absorbed enough magic yet."

Toriel takes a few more moments to think before saying "well, I suppose there will be no harm if you are careful; we can practice at lunch time, alright?"

Frisk nods and allows their bullet to vanish. Toriel starts to read her book again, and Frisk roams around the house before deciding to check on their SAVE star...

It is still all weird... Frisk has an idea... it could be dangerous though, so they go inside to get Toriel.

"Could you watch over me while I try something in front of the house?"

Toriel looks up, smiles and nods, then puts her book away before going outside with Frisk. When outside, she asks "what are you going to try to do, my child?"

Frisk does their best to clear their mind before responding, "I... there is a bunch of magic in front of the house, and I want to try absorbing it..."

Curious, Toriel asks "Oh? How can you tell? I didn't think magic was visible?"

The response is slow, "it is a special kind of magic, only certain humans can see it."

Toriel ponders this for a moment, "Well, alright then. I don't have any knowledge on human magic, so I will have to defer to your... previous experience.

Frisk smiles and approaches the star...

Holding their hand out over the star, Frisk begins to feel their SOUL... just like Sans taught them. After a few moments, they see it... Bright red. Frisk looks to the edges of their SOUL, and sure enough there is an infinitesimally small line around it separating their SOUL from Chara's... Frisk is relieved to know that Chara is with them. The energy flowing through their body is sparse... but that is expected. Frisk beings to attempt to search outward for magic...

After about a minute, Toriel asks "Frisk, is it working?"

Frisk, quietly and carefully, says "not yet," and continues trying to reach out with their SOUL...

After what feels like an eternity, but was really just a minute, Frisk begins feeling something. It's very strong, and feels similar to Perseverance... somehow.

With Determination, Frisk continues reaching out to their SAVE star... After another minute Frisk is able to feel the star, and the energy keeping it hostage. It seems to just be normal magic... Frisk attempts to pull the magic away from the star...

Suddenly, everything goes black.

* A BURNING SENSATION FILLS FRISK'S MIND.

:-:

Frisk wakes up in Asriel's bed... It seems like they only passed out for a few minutes. Frisk leaves the room to check if Toriel is in the living room, but she isn't. Frisk checks the kitchen and sees her. She's getting a glass of water.

When Toriel turns around and sees Frisk, she puts her glass down and rushes over "Oh good, you are awake! I was worried sick... How do you feel, my child?"

Frisk pauses for a moment and looks within themselves... Everything seems OK, but it's hard to see with...? It takes a few moments, but Frisk realizes that their body is almost overflowing with magic... Their HP, however, seems to be lower than usual. They can see small cracks in their SOUL.

Looking up with a confused face, Frisk responds. "I feel fine, but... I seem to be hurt."

Toriel looks at Frisk with concern and sadness. "I could not heal all of the damage, it is possible that you overloaded on magic and your SOUL and body need time to heal..."

Now curious, Frisk asks "what happened when I passed out?"

Hesitant, Toriel replies "well... I do not remember much either. I remember a very bright flash, and then waking up on the ground... uh... next to you. I rushed you inside immediately and started healing you."

Frisk contemplates this information for a moment. "Perhaps... trying to siphon magic like that was a bad idea... can I look outside to see if it's still there?"

Sternly, Toriel says "No. You need to rest... I am glad you asked me to watch over you. Who knows what would have happened if I had not been there..."

Sad, but understanding, Frisk nods and says "OK, well... Can I look out the window? I just need to see if it's there, or if it all exploded."

Toriel winces as Frisk finishes the sentence. She hesitates to respond, but eventually does. "Alright, my child, I will let you look out the window... Here, allow me to help."

After moving to the window, Toriel picks Frisk up and holds them so they can see out of the window... but not enough for them to see the ground. "Is this good?"

Frisk nods and looks outside... The SAVE star is there, and it looks like the energy around it is gone. "Just like I thought, it's all gone... Only thing that remains is a bit of determination."

Frisk notices some red specks that appear out of place.

Toriel puts Frisk down and says "well, I think we have had enough... excitement for one day, do you not? I think it is best that you not go outside for a while."

Frisk nods, but begins planning on ways to sneak out... they decide it's a bad idea.

The two return to the living room, Toriel picks up a book, and Frisk decides to practise magic. Clearing their mind has been getting easier for Frisk, but it still takes them some time.

Frisk manifests a green bullet, and then another. They decide to try to move the bullets around, hoping to get them to spin around in a circle. At first nothing happens, but eventually Frisk manages to get them moving slowly. One of the bullets arcs too wide and leaves their hand; they are unable to control it any more. It floats towards Toriel at a slow pace, and when it slides closer, over her book, she notices it and lifts her head to see it... but that causes it to hit her snout and she has to hold in a sneeze.

Toriel holds in a giggle and says "I forgot how much healing magic tickles, that caught me off guard."

Frisk is a little embarrassed, if it hadn't been a green bullet it would have hurt Toriel... They need to learn how to control their magic better. Frisk decides to see how many green bullets they can summon...

Summoning the bullets is slow, it takes frisk about five seconds to summon each one, but eventually they have 12 bullets in their hand. After attempting to summon a 13th bullet, one of the older bullets starts to slip from Frisk's control and slowly glides away in a random direction... Frisk puts on a subtle, mischievous, grin and starts to try walking around the house with their bullets. It's a success. Using the momentum from walking, Frisk tosses the green bullets at Toriel.

Toriel looks up from her book as green bullets start pelting her, and blinks. Then one hits her snout and she fails to hold in a sneeze, unable to withstand the tickling sensation. The two begin giggling, and Toriel joins Frisk in tossing green bullets back and forth.

Eventually the two settle down and lunch time rolls around. Frisk is eager to try using fire magic, but waits patiently. They decide to go down the hallway and look in the mirror while waiting...

Purple, squared lines look like they have been seared into Frisk's skin around their eyes... 'Well, the eyes are windows to the SOUL... right?' The skin around the lines looks damaged, almost as though it was burned with some sort of acid... Frisk decides to stop looking in the mirror.

Soon after, Toriel calls Frisk into the kitchen. Frisk eagerly walks at a fast pace to the kitchen. It is a small kitchen, really only enough room for one person. There is a fridge on the left of the room, a counter next to it, a sink, and a stove that looks like it isn't used much.

Though still a little spooked by seeing the magic burned onto their face, Frisk manages a subtle smile and asks "what are we going to make?"

Toriel opens the fridge, it's full of snails. "I was thinking we could make snail sandwiches, but I am not sure you would enjoy that very much."

Frisk thinks for a moment... "Have you tried cooking them with garlic butter and thyme? Mom loves cooking snails when she can..."

While pulling ingredients form the cabinets, Toriel responds "I have, actually. I suppose it is decided then, unless you have any other ideas?"

Frisk shakes their head and Toriel begins preparing the snails, by purging them, killing them, and then finally removing them from their shells.

'The cycle of life, live long enough until you are eaten by something bigger...' Frisk shivers at the thought, remembering what happened before the RESET... 'Hopefully we're not small creatures at the mercy of larger ones, that may or may not eat us...'

Toriel waves Frisk over and says "In my experience, learning how to use fire magic is easier with an example to use as inspiration when you visualise it yourself. I am going to make a small fireball, and then I am going to hand it to you. Alright?"

Frisk nods and moves closer.

Toriel manifests a small fiery bullet, and holds it out for Frisk. "Put your hands under the fire, and try to reach out with your SOUL and feel it."

Remembering what happened with the SAVE star, Frisk is hesitant... but continues anyway. They put their hands under the fire, close their eyes, and feel for the magic power... It doesn't take long before Frisk can feel the bullet with their SOUL. It feels Brave, but also... excited, and active. Frisk asks "what do I do now?"

Gently, Toriel releases the small fireball from her control while saying "hold on to it with your SOUL."

Frisk does their best, but is worried about failing. Without their eyes open, Frisk is not aware that they are already holding the fireball.

They begin to feel uneasy. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea..."

Toriel smiles gently and responds, "why don't you open your eyes, my child?"

As Frisk opens their eyes, they are greeted with the sight of the small fireball floating in their hands. Frisk is happy and gives an almost visible smile.

"Now, watch me and do what I do."

Frisk nods and watches as Toriel takes their pose, then moves over to the wood burning stove and pushes an imaginary fire onto the logs. She moves out of the way and Frisk repeats it, but slower. The fire does not want to move as readily as the bandaids did. After a few moments, Frisk manages to light the stove.

Toriel is pleased "Very good, you did splendidly. Remember, magic reacts to our intentions and our emotions... I am not sure how it works for humans, but monsters have to be able to feel the same emotions the magic represents."

Frisk nods and the two begin cooking lunch.

:-:

Lunch goes smoothly and, shortly after, Frisk attempts to make their own fireball... but they only get a few sparks. Frisk is not feeling particularly Brave right now. Memories of what happened before the RESET still haunt them, and after a while Frisk begins feeling panicked... Tears well up in Frisk's eyes and Toriel consoles them. Eventually, Frisk ends up falling asleep in her lap.

When Frisk wakes up, they are greeted to a warm smile. They get up and start thinking...

After a few minutes of hesitation, Frisk says "I should probably go save monsters again... Will you come to Snowdin with me?"

Toriel tries her best to hide her sad expression, and replies "I think you should stay here for a little longer, get rest."

Shaking their head, Frisk responds. "The longer I'm here, the more things change, and the less likely I can save monsters..."

Continuing to try to hide her true feelings about the matter, Toriel says "I will have to defer to your experience, my child... I am sorry, but I can not leave. There are monsters here who need me. Please, feel free to call or visit; I will leave the door open."

Frisk nods and replies "make sure that annoying dog doesn't steal your phone, like last time."

Toriel grins and says "I will try my best... Would you like me to walk you to the door?"

After thinking for a moment, Frisk nods. "Just don't try to talk me out of leaving, it didn't work last time and it wont work this time."

Toriel is saddened again, "I will do my best to refrain, but I am sure you know how much I worry..."

Frisk offers their hand and Toriel puts her book away and takes it. They walk downstairs together and through the long hallway, eventually turning left and approaching the door leading out of the RUINS.

Before letting Frisk leave, Toriel asks "Frisk... how many times have been through the Underground?"

Frisk replies "this will be my second time. This time I will prepare for things in advance, make sure everyone can survive."

Toriel gives Frisk a sad smile, kneels down, and embraces them. "I am sure you will do wonderfully... Just... please be careful..."

Frisk returns the hug while saying "I will," and they wait there for a few moments, enjoying the fluffiness of the boss monster wrapping their arms around them...

When they both let go, Frisk asks "Toriel, could you make another little fireball for me to hold? Snowdin is cold... and I would like to keep practising."

She thinks for a moment, but then smiles sadly and holds a small fireball out for Frisk. "Be very careful, I will not be around to... help."

Frisk nods, holds their hands under the fireball, and repeats the process they just learned.

Toriel rubs Frisks head with a smile before opening the door and waving goodbye to Frisk. Frisk waves back, and goes down the long hallway.

Flowey is waiting in the large empty room right before Snowdin Forest, just like last time.

He's surprised to see Frisk holding a fireball... "what... what do you plan on doing with that?"

Frisk replies calmly, "Keep warm."

Flowey isn't convinced. "Uh huh... Well, I heard what you said to Toriel. I saw you almost die too, you were pretty reckless. If Toriel hadn't been able to put you back together... I'd be really annoyed with you."

The statement takes Frisk by surprise, so they ask "what do you mean 'put me back together?'"

Flowey puts on his creepy face "just that, Frisk. I saw you all over the place, your arms and legs... Everything was scattered, small purple lines are all that connected the pieces. It was pretty gross. Toriel woke up with your blood all over her. I'm surprised she let you go... Actually, maybe she's scared of you now."

Frisk shakes their head, "no I don't think she is... she probably just needs time. Besides, she knows that... well I told her... I have to save monsters, again..."

With an unamused face, Flowey responds "ever the little hero huh? Well, how do you expect to get everything to work this time?"

Without having to put much thought into it, Frisk answers "I am going to get Sans' help."

Flowey rolls his eyes, "oh, him. Good luck with that Frisk... I'll be watching, from a distance... Don't get blown up again."

:-:

After Flowey burrows away, Frisk continues out into the Snowdin forest with the fireball in their hands; they hold it close to their body to take in as much of the warmth as possible.

Snowdin forest... feels colder than before, but maybe it's just because of the fireball.

The long, previously ominous, walk down the snowy path ends with Frisk standing at the small bridge with bars that are too spread apart to stop anyone... They turn around before Sans asks, and do their best to clear their mind of the horrible memories that are threatening to invade. The fire flickers briefly.

With his usual grin, Sans looks at the fireball and at Frisk's face and comments "you turned around before I said to... ...weird."

Frisk carefully adjusts their hold on the fireball so they can hold out their hand for Sans to shake. It takes a few moments, but eventually Frisk grabs Sans' hand. The whoopee cushion goes off, and Sans smirks.

Before Sans can say anything though, Frisk interrupts "The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick, right? You're Sans, Sans the skele-"

Sans interrupts with a wink while saying "hey, that's my line. c'mon kiddo, you gotta leave me somethin' to say."

Frisk frowns slightly and lets Sans' hand go, as their memories slowly creep back in, and whispers "...I'm the Legendary Fart Master and I call on the inter-timeline Broski, Grandmaster of dunking."

Sans' eye sockets go dark. "so... that's how it is, huh? ...what happened?"

Unable to keep their composure, Frisk takes on the face of someone who watched a dear friend die horribly in front of them. The fire begins to sputter as their memories flood back in... and eventually goes out. Frisk is almost crying as they practially leap forward and hug Sans as tight as they can...

Sans is taken by surprise, but the super secret passphrase has been spoken... He doesn't have the same feelings of brotherly love, but he hugs Frisk back none-the-less.

"that face you're making... it must've been pretty bad. c'mon, maybe seeing papyrus will cheer you up."

Frisk lets go, wipes the tears from their eyes and nods. Sans walks with Frisk slowly this time.

Curious, Sans asks "so, how far did we get this time?"

Doing their best to regain composure, Frisk responds "we got out of the Underground, but after you separated Chara's SOUL from mine, a giant... thing killed everyone. It was after me, my Determination."

"huh, so you have a hollow soul piggybacking on you? the king and queen's adopted kid no less, that's not good."

Frisk shrugs. "Well, it turned out that I was possessing them... so maybe it isn't that bad?"

Sans stops walking and contemplates the information for a while... "how long do we have?"

After pulling out their cell phone, Frisk answers. "Time in here moves differently, for us it has only been 52 years, but for you it has been about 2000. My parents will probably go crazy from me going missing, but we have a few weeks down here."

With a silly grin, Sans responds "we should work fast. I wouldn't want your parents to get bonely without you. anyhow, papyrus is on his way now. you should go through this gate and hide behind the conveniently shaped lamp."

Frisk and Sans continue down the path and Frisk hides behind the conveniently shaped lamp, Papyrus shows up right on time.

Casually, Sans asks "sup, bro?"

Not pleased with Sans, Papyrus says "YOU KNOW WHAT "SUP," BROTHER! IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T... RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!"

Keeping a straight face, Sans says "staring at this lamp. it's really cool. do you wanna look?"

Papyrus begins stomping his foot while yelling "NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!"

Taking on a daydreaming and proud pose, Papyrus continues "THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT... RECOGNITION... I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, "FRIEND?" I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING."

"hmm... maybe this lamp will help you."

Stomping in place again, Papyrus yells "SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!"

"hey, take it easy. i've gotten a ton of work done today. a skele-ton."

"SANS!"

"come on. you're smiling."

"I AM AND I HATE IT! SIGH... WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME... HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION..."

"wow, sounds like you're really working yourself... down to the bone."

"UHG! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES... AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, "BACKBONE" INTO IT! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"

Papyrus runs off, but returns shortly with a final "HEH!" before leaving again.

"ok, you can come out now."

Frisk steps out from behind the lamp, and says "I can't believe how much I miss his antics..."

"heh, he's so cool... you oughta get going. we can talk more later. have fun, kiddo."

Frisk continues through Snowdin forest. The SAVE star at the three-way intersection looks OK... Frisk reaches out and...

* Seeing Papyrus again, and the convenience of that lamp, fills Frisk with Determination.
* FILE SAVED.
* FRISK FEELS REJUVENATED.

:-:

Frisk is relieved that they are able to SAVE again.

'Hmm... is my face all healed now?' Frisk takes a moment to look within themselves... Everything seems to be in order. They would ask Sans, but he is already gone.

Seeing Papyrus again, and spending some time fooling around, really helps Frisk relax from all their troubles. Frisk walks though Snowdin forest just like before, well... almost. They effortlessly dance through bullet patterns, easily talk all the monsters down from fighting, and the puzzles are a breeze too; before they know it, they have a piece of the snowman and are entering Snowdin proper. None of the ice along the way was clear enough for Frisk to use as a mirror... Frisk thinks about how last time felt like it took longer... then Frisk remembers that they forgot to ask Sans about their face. Oh well, there is always next time.

Snowdin looks just as cute as before. The first thing Frisk sees is the colourful banned saying "Welcome to Snowdin" next to a building, then Frisk sees the shop connected to an Inn, with a box and SAVE star in front of it.

* Seeing Snowdin town again fills Frisk with Determination.

Frisk doesn't feel the need to SAVE this time, they know Papyrus wont kill them. They continue on through Snowdin past the Doghouse shaped shortcut entrance, the intersection leading up to the Snowdin residents' houses, and past Sans and Papyrus' house/garage. Frisk continues in the direction of Waterfall to confront Papyrus. The familiar haze grows, and Papyrus emerges from it, stopping Frisk from going into Waterfall. Frisk is as flirty as always, so the "battle" goes smoothly. Even with their SOUL turned blue, Frisk never gets hit by any of Papyrus' bones. The Annoying dog, right on cue, steals one of Papyrus' bones and makes him use a "really awesome, totally normal," attack; which Frisk thinks is just his Special attack, minus one bone. Frisk almost ruins the mood with a bad joke, but decides to spare Papyrus the lazy humour.

After Papyrus' final speech, he leaves; using his Blue magic to make himself run through the air in a comical manner.

Frisk proceeds to Waterfall. 'I can come back for the... "date" later.'

When Frisk makes their way down the path, with the river on the left that carries ice cubes from Snowdin, they enter Waterfall proper. The purple stone and flowing water puts them at ease. They see Sans standing at one of his stations in the far corner of the room, with the weird fish monster that explains Echo flowers to the left of the entrance. Seeing Sans again makes Frisk happy. Monster kid is on the right side of the room, looking out over the edge and appreciating the view of the cavern. Frisk approaches their SAVE star.

* Seeing Sans at his station, and listening to the familiar sound of rushing water, fills Frisk with Determination.
* FILE SAVED
* FRISK FEELS REJUVENATED.

:-:

Frisk decides against listening to the Echo flower, or the guy who explains them, and instead walks directly up to Sans. Frisk is content.

"Hey there, have any 'Hot Dogs...?' ?"

"i only sell those in hotland, kiddo... oh hey, so my legally-required break is coming up. i'm going to grillby's. wanna come?"

Frisk nods "Yeah."

"well, if you insist... i'll pry myself away from my work..."

Sans walks around his station and says "over here. i know a shortcut."

Frisk gives a subtle, knowing, smile. 'Sans and his teleportation...' Frisk follows Sans in the wrong direction, and they find themselves in Grillby's. It's a cozy little bar, on the right are some booths, to the left are a few tables, and directly forward is the bar proper. To the right of the bar is a jukebox.

The fire elemental named "Grillby" tends the bar.

As the two walk into the bar, Sans says "hey, everyone."

The dog couple responds as Sans walks up to them "Hey, Sans. (Hi, Sans.)"

The big mouthed plant monster and the drunk bun respond as well as he approaches "Greetings, Sans. Hiya, Sansy~"

As the two get ready to sit at the bar, an unattractive fish monster asks "Hey Sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"

To which Sans replies nonchalantly "nah, i haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour." Then he winks as he continues "you must be thinking of brunch."

Everyone in the room starts laughing before Sans says "here, get comfy."

The two sit on the bar stools and, as expected, a whoopee cushion goes off.

"whoops, watch where you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats. anyway, let's order. whaddya want...?"

Frisk thinks for a moment... 'I got fries last time... but I didn't eat them.'

After making up their mind, Frisk says. "I'll get a burger."

"hey, that sounds pretty good. grillby, we'll have a double order of burg."

Grillby leaves to the back for a moment, and Sans pretends to comb his non-existent hair.

"so, what do you think... of my brother?"

Frisk replies genuinely, with a small smile, "Cool."

"of course he's cool. you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit everyday. he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to. oh well. at least he washes it. and by that i mean he wears it in the shower."

Frisk suppresses a chuckle as Grillby walks out with the burgers.

"here comes the grub. want some ketchup?"

As Sans holds the ketchup out for Frisk, they remember very clearly what happened the last time they agreed to ketchup... They decide to do something... different...

With a mischievous smile, Frisk says "Yes" but instead of trying to put ketchup on their food, they take the bottle and pop the cap off before drinking some of it and handing it to Sans.

Sans responds "man. you really like ketchup, don't you? you're pretty weird." Then finishes it off.

After scratching at his pants, as though he were itchy, Sans says "anyway, cool or not, you have to agree papyrus tries real hard. like how he keeps trying to be part of the royal guard."

Frisk interrupts Sans with a subtly bored expression, then says "yea, I know. He went to Undyne's house and begged her to let him join. Sans, we need to talk... maybe we should go somewhere more private?"

The mood becomes serious. Sans nods, but instead of leaving he stops time. The rest of the room grows dark as light ceases to move outside the small bubble surrounding them.

"so... how 'bout you fill me in."

Frisk gives a nod and talks in a serious tone. "A little while after the barrier broke, we learned that time moves differently in the Underground. We were going to get the Legendary Artifact to see if we could figure out why, because it's the reason the barrier is up in the first place, but we never got around to it. I gave Alphys a "Last Dream" for a project to get power from the CORE to the village, and she advised that I learn magic from Toriel. I also asked you for magic lessons, and you started helping teach me magic in secret. You used our first lesson together as an anchor while we teleported to the secret lab, I'm not sure why you needed an anchor. After you removed Chara's SOUL from mine, a boy you call 'CU-270' killed the Lich, but I was asleep for some reason when that happened. Before we all died, you said a bunch of SOULs went back to their bodies -which are in the giant human amalgamate thing-, and that, combined with me being super charged with determination, caused the thing to head to the village..."

Frisk takes a moment to catch their breath and calm down...

Sans replies, "seems like we're in quite a pickle. can't let that hollow soul continue to piggyback on yours, but removing it will cause everyone to die... you know where the legendary artifact is?"

"Yea, it's in waterfall. Undyne put it behind a piano puzzle. Last time I tried to get it, an annoying dog took it."

"hmm, when we get it maybe we can find a way to use it a second time."

Frisk nods, then remembers something. "Hey Sans, I uh... Does my face have purple lines all over it still?"

"nope. your face looks fine."

Frisk is relieved.

A few moments pass and Sans remarks "i'd ask if you know who is messing with papyrus, but i don't like spoilers..."

The world returns to normal, Sans gets up and says "welp, that was a long break. i can't believe i let ya pull me away from work for that long. oh, by the way, i'm flat broke. can you foot the bill? it's just 10000G."

With a subtle, unamused, expression, Frisk replies "Yes."

Sans immediately retorts "just kidding. grillby, put it on my tab." then goes to walk out before stopping and saying "by the way... i was going to say something, but i forgot."

'Probably just covering his tracks, since no one knows that we actually talked...'

Frisk eats their hamburger... it isn't made with meat at all. They leave and head through waterfall. It's very peaceful, with occasional rivers and ponds that need bridge flowers to cross, and soothing dark purple rocks everywhere. The twinkling of the mineral stars in the ceiling is also very calming. Frisk eventually makes it to the docks and through the second part of Waterfall, they expertly dodge Undyne's attacks. Monster kid is as oblivious, as always, while Undyne chases Frisk through Waterfall.

Frisk makes it to the room where Sans has his prank telescope, they smirk and squint their eyes in a knowing fashion... The next area is a maze of forked rivers with bridges going across some of them. Some of the rivers turn into waterfalls, disappearing into a bottomless abyss. Frisk makes it to the small hallway with deep pools of water beside a solid path, where Onion-san is... Frisk never knows what to say to them... but this time around they were too deep in thought to pay much attention to what Onion-san was saying... After Onion-san finishes speaking to Frisk, they submerge down into the water on the side of the path. Frisk feels bad for not listening to Onion-san, but they continue forward.

Frisk is at their destination. To the left is the puzzle room with the piano, and directly forward is a long hallway.

The next area is rainy, probably caused by the heat from Hotland. Frisk goes down the long hallway, past a statue that is being rained on, and to the can that holds Umbrellas; they take one.

After walking back down the hallway, Frisk gives the statue the umbrella; mostly just because it feels like a nice thing to do... Frisk continues going, turns into the puzzle room, and sits at the piano to play the bittersweet melody. It resonates with something inside of them, their SOUL feels all warm... Frisk continues to play the whole melody, even after the puzzle has been solved.

Frisk takes a break when they are done to clear their thoughts, before wiping tears from their eyes. Frisk is feeling the weight of everything they need to do, and stress from the potential results of failure.

After regaining their composure, Frisk looks in the direction of the room that holds the Legendary Artifact... The secret door is open.

'How am I supposed to get it when that annoying dog is going to show up and take it?...'

Frisk decides to return to Snowdin. 'Maybe Sans can help.'

While walking back to Snowdin, however, Frisk remembers that Sans is usually not around. The next place they will see him is in hotland... Unless they manage to catch him while he plays the Trombone. Frisk continues going to Snowdin, maybe they can catch him before or after their "date" with Papyrus. Frisk makes it back to the docks and gets a ride across the wide river from "Ferry." When Frisk makes it to the river, that they needed to use Bridge seeds to cross, Frisk remembers to go to the small secluded spot around the corner, to get the "Abandoned Quiche" under the bench. Frisk decides to sit at the bench for a while... The peaceful area, combined with their own tiredness, lulls them to sleep.

:-:

* CHARA'S SOUL STIRS WHILE FRISK HAS NIGHTMARES.