While this may be already obvious, I'm not going to be going over the journey in as much detail as I did before. This is largely because, outside of some altered dialog, it is largely the same as the neutral section of the story and, as such, it will be assumed that most events will play out like they did then.


The trio of humans went back to the room they were previously sleeping in to prepare for the journey into the cold that Toriel warned them about. Even though the sisters proved him and his nightmares wrong, Tenebris continued to carry a heavy heart. They may have forgiven him, but he will never forgive himself. Little did he know, Frisk carried the same heavy heart he had over the guilt of murdering almost every single monster in the Underground in a previous timeline.

When they reached the room, Tenebris opted to continue wearing his father's black duster coat, though he wrapped his mother's music box in a scrap cloth he managed to find in order to protect it. Frisk found an orange jacket that fit her perfectly.

Selendis managed to find a blue coat that complimented the dark yellow shirt and grey skirt she had on. When she mentioned the skirt, Frisk shot her sister an uncertain look. "Will your legs be okay in the cold, Selly?"

Selendis hummed a bit. "I'm used to my legs being cold in… well, cold weather so I'll be fine. Besides, the skirt's fairly long, about a C rank on that Zettai Ryouiki chart Tenebris once showed me, and I doubt there would be any bottoms here that would fit me; I was lucky enough to find this coat."

Tenebris let out a small sigh, still not in the mood for joking. "I hope you'll be fine. Who knows how long we'll have to spend in the cold."

"I wouldn't think too long, but I thank you two for the concern. I'll be fine, though." Frisk and Tenebris share worried looks, but didn't press the subject any further.

When the trio were squared away, they went through the door that was in front of them when Tenebris confessed being a murderer. After traveling through a long hallway, the came across a small patch of grass that had nothing on it.

This immediately tipped Frisk off that something was up. First time through here, Flowey was here to mock them for not killing a single monster. Second time through when Chara was in control, Flowey recognized her as such and declared that the two of them were going to destroy everything in the world. Third time through and he's absent, making Frisk wonder if something else has changed in this RESET than previous ones.

It didn't take long for the cold that Toriel warned them about to hit them as soon as they exited the Ruins. Only Frisk realized it, but thanks to them properly preparing for the cold, they didn't fare as badly as before. Tenebris noted that the memories from the crystal ended right at the door and began wondering if they were actually someone else's memories that somehow wound up inside of the crystals conveniently meant for repairing his soul.

As they walked onward, the large stick they passed brock, startling everyone including Frisk; despite it happening for the third time, she will never get used to it. When they reached a bridge, they heard someone approaching from behind, making them freeze.

"Humans." That's all Sans got out before Frisk slowly turned around, much to the confusion and dismay of the older humans. The tension dissipated almost instantly when the whoopee cushion went off in Frisk's hand. Frisk laughed, thankful she was able to this time, unlike last time when Chara was controlling her body. Tenebris was able to forget his sins and laugh as well, regaining some of his jolly nature back, whereas Selendis was glad it brought everyone out of their ruts from earlier.

"heh, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick… wait a sec, have you heard it before or something, kid?" Sans still remembered little tidbits about the other two timelines that were recently RESET, though it slightly frustrated him that he kept forgetting the kid's name. "you turned around before i said to… weird…"

The older humans once again shot Frisk confused looks, who merely shrugged. "I may have. Mostly just the fact that I turn around when someone starts talking to me." Selendis frowned since she's never heard her sister do something like that.

Sans shrugged. "whatever… anyways, you're humans, right?" The older humans shot worried looks at each other this time; Toriel mentioned once that humans haven't fallen down in a long time, yet this skeleton was able to identify them. "i'm sans. sans the skeleton. as you can probably tell, i'm supposed to be on watch for humans right now." Frisk noted that his word choice was different from the first timeline, with the second one being an obvious change due to her… less than friendly reception.

Selendis frowned, however. "You know… I somehow get a distant feeling that you've said this once before, even though we've just met."

That made Sans raise a boney eyebrow. Perhaps the older humans have some leaked memories from the RESET's, hence the familiarity. "oh? that's interesting. perhaps i need not mention the fact that my brother, papyrus, is a human-hunting FANATIC?" Tenebris let out a small grunt, which brought Sans' attention to him. He just noticed the blind eye the male human had; the same eye that was sliced out before he was killed. It made the skeleton worry a little bit.

Sans managed to get the humans across the bridge and into hiding before Papyrus came along and bantered with his brother. Frisk heard Tenebris slip in a few, quiet puns himself during the exchange, giving her hope that he's back to his normal self, though it did almost tip Papyrus off to their presence.

On the other hand, Tenebris recognized both Papyrus' and Sans' voices from his dream, where Papyrus was saying he didn't believe in him anymore and Sans was telling him to burn in hell, making him worry that they might have that same response if they ever found out.

After Papyrus was gone and Sans sent the trio on their way with his request, they re-found the gloves in the dimensional box, which went to Frisk despite her having bad memories with murdering monsters with it. The difference between the first time and now was the fact that Tenebris didn't have to worry about the cold because of his duster.

What threw Frisk off was when they re-met Papyrus and, after the spinning thing, said, "SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT… A BUNCH OF HUMANS?! AND THEY LOOK SO FAMILIAR!" During the second run, Papyrus never acknowledged that she was a human until Sans told him straight out, even when she didn't hide behind the lamp. The fact that Papyrus seemed familiar with the trio worried her a little bit.

Sans let out a small snicker. "uh… i think they look familiar… because… they're a bunch of rocks?" Once again Papyrus buys it and Sans directly points out the humans, making the tall skeleton go into his spiel about becoming a royal guard and popular before leaving.

After that, the humans come across Doggo again and managed to get him to retreat by petting him. Sans reminded humans of Papyrus' blue attack, though Frisk knew that it was a different kind of blue attack. Another thing Frisk noticed was that monsters outside of the royal guard dogs were much more reluctant to actually attack the trio, more than likely because of how damaged Tenebris' soul was.

When they reached the invisible electric maze, Papyrus startled the trio a bit more. "REALLY THOUGH, THOSE HUMANS! DO I SOMEHOW KNOW THEM FROM SOMEWHERE?"

Sans did his best to keep his cool because he remembered. "uh… do you not know who you know?"

That made Papyrus sputter a lot from the word-play. "OF COURSE I KNOW WHO I KNOW! I JUST WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU KNOW OR KNEW. I KNOW WHO I KNOW AS MUCH AS I KNOW I KNOW WHO I KNOW… YOU KNOW?" He turns and notices the trio. "OH-HO, SPEAKING OF THE DEVILS!"

Selendis had started holding her head. "Please, no more confusing word-play. Too many knows!"

Tenebris nodded, feeling a bit dizzy. "I… I'm pretty sure you guys… um… have a good idea of what you're talking about, but please let us know where you wind up next time." Frisk had to force down the maddening urge to laugh at the older humans.

Papyrus looks to the side awkwardly. "APOLOGIES, I DIDN'T MEAN TO CONFOUND YOU IN THAT SORT OF WAY! BECAUSE, IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES… NONE OF WHICH INVOLVES COMPLICATED WORD-PLAY, I ASSURE YOU!"

After more hijinks with the electric maze, getting some nice cream, and playing the little snow golf game, they come across Sans' "puzzle; the word search that Frisk never got around to doing in the first timeline.

Tenebris went to pick it up this time, but because of his lack of depth perception from having a blind eye, he missed it entirely and got a hand-full of snow, which gained worried looks from everyone present. The fact that he had to focus on the paper in order to pick it up didn't help. "SHADOW-EYED HUMAN, WHAT IS THE MATTER? YOU SEEMED TO HAVE DIFFICULTY PICKING UP THE WORD SEARCH…"

Sans spoke up before anybody else. "i think he's blind in one eye, bro. it… kinda hurts your depth perception in many cases."

Tenebris let out a small sigh. "I'll be okay, Papyrus, so no need to apologize for something out of your control." Papyrus gave him a very worried look up until he said, "It was very 'perceptive' of Sans to notice that!"

"I WASN'T GOING TO APOLOGIZE ANYWAYS!" Papyrus outbursted before running away undignified, leaving a facepalming Selendis with a laughing Frisk, Tenebris, and Sans.

They had another run-in with the Dogi and spared them the same way as before; rolling around in the dirt, having them re-sniff the humans, and the petting both of them. They did the same thing as the first timeline; they pet the older humans in thanks before running off, causing some embarrassment between the two. This time, Frisk was a lot more aware of why they were blushing, once again wishing for the two to find their way to each other without need of external guidance.

After solving the puzzle that Papyrus claims is the same shape as his head, Sans decided to troll the kid a little bit after she got it right on the first try. "hey kid, you must be better at puzzles than your siblings, huh?" He didn't realize it, but Selendis started blushing a little bit when he called Tenebris Frisk's sibling. "i mean… it's impossible for you to have seen this one before." That made the older humans frown a little; the puzzle seemed pretty familiar for it being the first time they've ever seen it, similar to all previous instances. Frisk awkwardly looked to the side as she nervously sweated a little.

The tile puzzle once again failed Papyrus, though it reminded Frisk of the one Mettaton would throw at them in Hotland and attempted to remember the solution. Tenebris once again spared the Greater Dog by giving it love and attention, though this time it was Selendis who was slightly jealous of the dog, much to Frisk's amusement. And, just like the previous timelines, Papyrus decided not to use the "Gauntlet of Deadly Terror" on the humans, though this time Tenebris didn't ask Sans about the training. From afar, Flowey observed the humans, hoping that Frisk would take his advice.

Since Tenebris didn't go with Sans to Grillby's to discuss the training, the trio were able to explore Snowdin together, rather than just Selendis and Frisk the first time around. After buying a manly bandanna and making Tenebris wear it, they decided that there wasn't much to do in Snowdin besides continue on.

Of course, in the area with the icy fog, the group found Papyrus again. "HUMANS." He was being strangely formal, which completely threw Frisk off. First time through, he had mentioned training Tenebris before remembering his wish to become a royal guard before engaging them. When she was possessed by Chara, he tried to get her to stop by believing in her and the fact that she could still be a good person, right to the bitter end.

Of course, Selendis tried to do the same thing right after Papyrus died, only to be cut down as well. Frisk fought back tears as she remembered how she cried at Chara to stop. She started trembling slightly, which Tenebris noticed and recognized it not being from the cold.

Papyrus, since he couldn't see her properly, kept going. "ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE… THE JOY OF FINDING FELLOW PASTA LOVERS. THE ADMARATION FOR THE PUZZLE SOLVING SKILLS OF OTHERS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A GROUP OF COOL, SMART PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE ALSO COOL.

"THESE FEELINGS… THEY MUST BE WHAT THE THREE OF YOU ARE FEELING NOW!" Tenebris bit back a snort as Selendis gives him a dumbfounded look from the fake-out. "AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE. TO THAT… I PITY YOU, HUMANS. THOUGH THE THREE OF YOU HAVE EACH OTHER, YOU'RE STILL LONELY DOWN HERE. WELL, WORRY NOT! NONE OF YOU SHALL BE THAT LONELY ANYMORE FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR… YOUR…"

Frisk had an idea of what was coming next, but still asked, "Our what?"

Papyrus' breathing became a little funny before turning around. "NO… NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN'T BE FRIENDS WITH ANY OF YOU! YOU ARE HUMANS THAT I MUST CAPTURE IN ORDER TO FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS! THAT'S PAPYRUS, THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

The humans entered a battle with the humans as expected. While the older humans really didn't want to cause harm to a skeleton that is as innocent as him, Frisk was having an internal panic attack. Despite knowing it wouldn't work, she tried to flirt with him, if only to make herself feel better. This immediately made Selendis facepalm. "Frisk… really right now?"

Papyrus looked taken aback. "WHAT!? FL-FLIRTING?! SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS FOR ME, HUMAN FRISK! BY EXTENSION, THEY ALSO EXIST WITHIN SELENDIS AND TENEBRIS AS WELL!"

Tenebris frowned at how familiar it sounded, but shook his head. "How does that make any sense? Does he think that we influenced Frisk to flirt with him?"

Selendis sighed. "I hope not, but I doubt he'll see otherwise, so I guess we should just play along with it."

Papyrus clearly didn't hear the humans talking as he nervously cleared his throat. "W-WELL, I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!"

Selendis, remembering his obsession with spaghetti, nervously clapped her hands together and said, "I can make spaghetti!"

"OH NO! SELENDIS, YOU'RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS!" Selendis recoiled at that working, though Frisk shook her head in amusement.

Tenebris though about what could appeal to Papyrus, only to come up with nothing redeeming about him, especially because of how he murdered people. He opened his mouth to speak but Frisk, seeing the look on his face, immediately said, "Tenny, you can also cook spaghetti!"

He did a double take. "Wait, what?! Frisk, you know full well I can't cook spaghetti. Need I remind you my train-wreak of a first attempt?" Selendis let out a loud groaned the memory and Frisk blanched a little; she did forget about it in her attempt to stop Tenebris from speaking down about himself.

Despite this, Papyrus gasped. "IF YOU EVEN ATTEMPTED TO MAKE SPAGHETTI… THEN YOU ALSO MEET ALL MY STANDARDS!" All this earned him was a couple of flat looks from the older humans while Frisk quietly celebrated her small victory.

Outside of her trying to make Tenebris not put himself down, Frisk noticed that the battle largely went the same as last time, though Tenebris noticeably received damage when Papyrus attempted to turn his damaged soul blue. It was then that Papyrus took notice of the shattered soul and, realizing that Tenebris was in a bad situation, decided to use his special attack and his "ABSOLUETLY NORMAL ATTACK" sooner, resulting in a much shorter fight than the first time.

After reassuring the skeleton after the battle, getting the directions, and getting told that he'll be waiting at home being a cool friend. When he left and the older humans decided to take up his offer later, Frisk got their attention. "I think we should go on that date now, otherwise we'll never go on it!"

Selendis gave Frisk a baffled look. She knew her kid sister was insistent on things, but her tone caught the older humans off guard. "Are you serious? I know you flirted with him in an attempt to get him to relent, but there's no need to follow up on it!"

"I want to get to know him better. Otherwise, what kind of friends would we be?"

Tenebris wanted to retort, but knew Frisk had a point. "Alright, we'll humor him a while longer. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to do this…"

Turning back to Snowdin, they found Papyrus standing in front of his house. "SO ALL OF YOU CAME BACK TO HAVE A DATE WITH ME! I… GET THE FEELING THAT A DATE SHOULD ONLY BE BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE, BUT I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT THAT FOR NOW!" The older humans shared a look; they never thought about the fact that dates were between two people. Papyrus continued in spite of the looks. "REGARDLESS, I JUST HAVE TO TAKE YOU THREE SOMEPLACE SPECIAL…"

He beckons the humans to follow him before taking off… only to loop back around and stop in front of his house again, making Selendis wonder what the point of that was. "MY HOUSE!" He quickly enters, though he noticeably left the door partially open for the trio.

The house had a quaint feel to it. It wasn't as homely as Toriel's home, but it seemed like a house that would be owned by a pair of brothers. The trio toured the house under Papyrus' guidance, although Frisk still remembers it all, and even had incidental music courtesy of Sans.

After a bit, they moved to Papyrus' room, where he clapped his hands nervously. "SO, UH… WHILE I DID SAY WE COULD DO WHATEVER IT IS THAT PEOPLE DO WHILE DATING… WE STILL HAVE A BIT OF A CONUNDRUM HERE. WHILE I KNOW IT WAS FRISK WHO FLIRTED WITH ME, I CAN STILL TELL SHE'S TOO YOUNG TO DATE ME RIGHT NOW." Frisk nodded calmly, knowing that her age would be a problem. "UNLESS YOU WANT IT TO BE TREATED LIKE A PLAY DATE!"

Selendis snorted in amusement. "A play date, huh? I can live with that." Tenebris shrugged, but didn't comment.

Papyrus grinned wider. "EXCELLENT! IN FACT, WE COULD MAKE IT A DOUBLE PLAY DATE!"

This threw Tenebris for a loop. "Wait, a double play date?"

"EXACTLY! FRISK AND I WILL DATE EACH OTHER, WHILE YOU AND SELENDIS DATE EACH OTHER! THE PERFECT SET-UP!"

Frisk was trying her hardest not to laugh at the older humans, who had become beet red at the notion of dating each other, despite it being played off as a "play date". She decided to tease them with it. "Aw, come on you two! What's wrong with a double play date?"

Papyrus nodded, confused over their embarrassment and unknowingly about to add fuel to the fire. "YEAH, IT THE BEST WAY TO DO THINGS SINCE YOU TWO SEEM LIKE A PERFECT MATCH!"

Selendis looked away with both her hands over her mouth while Tenebris stuttered, "Th-th-that's n-not h-how things g-go!"

Frisk was about to say something when Papyrus cut her off with a sigh. "I SUPPOSE IF NEITHER OF YOU WANT TO HAVE A PLAY DATE, THEN FRISK AND I WILL DO JUST FINE BY OURSELVES. OH WELL… I GUESS THAT MEANS THE BOTH OF US MUST WORK EXTRA HARD TO MAKE THIS PLAY DATE A SUCCESS!" Frisk rolled her eyes in amusement, but nodded as well. At least this confirms that their feelings for each other are still there.

As the "play date" went on, the older humans recovered from the embarrassment that Papyrus put them through and were even amused at some of the things the skeleton and child did during that time. What amused Tenebris the most was Papyrus' comment on "caressing his bicep" before claiming everyone would if they could.

At the end of it, Papyrus clapped his hands together with clear joy. "WELL, THAT WAS FUN! PERHAPS A REAL DATE WILL BE MUCH FUNNER, BUT FOR NOW THIS WILL DO!" Frisk shot a look at the older humans with a cheeky grin, which only Selendis noticed and that caused her to look away with a nervous look. "HOWEVER, THE FACT THAT YOU THREE CAME HERE TO, AT THE VERY LEAST, HANG OUT WITH ME SHOWS JUST HOW COOL OF FRIENDS YOU ARE! AS SUCH, I WISH TO GIVE YOU TWO PRESENTS!"

Tenebris chuckled a bit. "You don't have to, Papyrus. We're content with making you happy from this."

"NONSENSE! I MUSH GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO SHOW MY APPRECIATION. GIFT NUMBER ONE: I WISH TO GIVE YOU MY PHONE NUMBER SO YOU CAN TALK TO ME ANY TIME YOU WISH!" That made Selendis snort in amusement since you typically give your phone number to someone you want to seriously date. "SECONDLY, I WANT TO GIVE YOU THIS… COOL-LOOKING, BUT OTHERWISE CREEPY CRYSTAL I FOUND THE OTHER DAY!"

That immediately got the attention of all three humans. "You found a weird-looking crystal?!"

The skeleton was taken aback by the trio's outburst before clearing his 'throat'. "WHY YES, I DID INDEED FIND IT THE OTHER DAY. I WANT TO GIVE IT TO TENEBRIS SINCE IT MATCHES THE PURPLE OF HIS EYE!" He walked over to his box of bones and fished around a little bit. "AH! HERE IT IS!"

Sure enough, it was a glowing, purple crystal, though this one looked like it was chipped on both sides rather than just one. Tenebris hesitantly reached out for it, hoping that this one didn't contain any memories. "May… I see it?"

Papyrus obliged with excitement. Sure enough, the crystal flashed before shattering in a burst of light, with said light going into he reappeared soul. Another section of the soul became flawless, but the two flawless sections suddenly fused together, leaving a half complete soul. Tenebris also relearned everything he "supposedly learned around this exact same time", but it was completely ignored.

He did get new memories, starting where the ones from the previous crystal ended. He remembers continually running through the barren paths of Snowdin forest, seeing all of the piles of monster dust scattered all over the place as he desperately called out to Selendis and Frisk.

The last memory given to him from it was him holding Selendis' dying body.

Unlike the last crystal where he let out a cry of surprise, this one was different. He let out a scream of pure anguish, tears instantly streaming down his face as that exact same scream echoed in his memories.

His scream immediately caused concern over Tenebris' well-being, even getting Sans' attention from it being one of the few things he remembers from the last timeline. It also horrified Frisk; when Chara was in control and after trekking through Waterfall for a little bit, she had heard a distant, echoing scream from behind her. She realized it now: that was Tenebris' scream from when he found Selendis.

Selendis, unaware of what had happened or why Tenebris screamed like that, quickly caught him as he fell over. "Tenebris? What's wrong?! Please answer me!"

He took one tear-filled look at her before suddenly bringing her closer, clutching her like she was going to slip away from his reach, and sobbing even harder. "Please… don't… leave… me… us…"

Selendis could tell that it was like he was begging her not to die. With this in mind, she tried her best to comfort the distressed boy. "Shh… it's okay, I'm not leaving you or Frisk… it's okay…"

Sans had been observing the scene as Papyrus started freaking out over his gift causing Tenebris so much anguish, a somber look on his face. He sincerely didn't want Tenebris or anybody reliving what happened last timeline, but it looked like Tenebris has to stand being the cosmic chew-toy once again.

Slowly but surely, Selendis managed to calm Tenebris down, though tears and the occasional sob still came from him. Even though he wasn't paying attention, a small pain appeared in his soul, disconnected from the pain of the loss he felt from reliving the loss of Selendis' life.