Sans POV

My skeletal fingers fiddle with the bag handle as I face the class, and my teeth grind together to keep myself from losing my nerve.

"Okay, dearie!" Mrs. Muffet starts annoyingly, waving one of her arms invitingly. "Try introducing yourself to everyone!"

I hesitate a moment. The whole class's curious eyes are on me, waiting for me to speak. "I'm Sans." I manage finally. "Nice to… meet you all."

"Sans has been in the hospital for a long time due to his fractured rib-bone." Muffet explains cheerily, writing my name on the board. "He hasn't been to school for a while, so I'm sure he'll be quite confused. However, I hope you dearies will help out our new classmate, yes?"

The students nod eagerly, their happy gazes trained on me. I look down at the ground in disgust.

"Hey Sans, where did you go to school before?"

"Were you in any clubs?"

"Did you play any sports? How about art?"

"How's it like being a skeleton? Having no hair must be really strange!"

I stare at them emptily, not sure how to respond. I must have been visibly sweating. All this pressure was getting to me. I couldn't remember; was school always like this? Why were there so many people surrounding me? It was pretty chaotic, to say in the least. Why couldn't the crowds just go away-

"Sans?" I raise my head warily, and I see that it's another student. Great. "You need to go the the nurse's office, right? Do you know where it is?" Her voice is chipper, but it's different from the tones the others use.

I narrow my eyes. "No…"

"I'll can take you there then." She replies, her brown bangs swinging as she smiles. "I'm the health officer for this class." She explains. She then pauses before turning to address the little crowd surrounding me. "Sorry everyone, but Sans has to go attend to the nurse's office during breaks."

"Oh, really?" One of the people behind me apologizes. "Sorry for keeping you."

"Talk to you later, Sans." Another says. And thus, the crowd disperses, leaving just me and the kid. I sigh a breath of relief.

She walks in front of me confidently, smiling all the way. "Sorry about that." She says, referring to the crowd that had surrounded me before. "They're not trying to be mean. It's just rare to have a transfer student, so they're all excited over it."

"It's fine." I mumble. "Thanks anyway."

"There's no need to be that nervous!" She replies brightly. She's getting it wrong, but I don't correct her. "We're classmates, after all!" I keep following her as we turn the corner, and I catch some students staring at us curiously. "My name is Frisk Dreemur," She suddenly blurts out. "But you can just call me Frisk."

"...huh."

"And I can just call you Sans, right?"

I raise my bone-brow. "Not much else you can call me." I grumble through my teeth, turning my head to the side. " 's weird."

"Huh?" She tilts her head to the side cutely, interest in her gaze. "That's not true! It sounds like a really cool and exciting name!"

"Welp, it's nothing like my name then."

She suddenly stops, and I wonder if she's annoyed with me already, but she just turns around with a reassuring grin on her face. "Aw, don't say that!" She smiles sheepishly, but continues nevertheless. "You have a wonderful name, so you can just be cooler to match it!"

I can't help it, but I have to avoid her gaze. Her enthusiasm is dangerously contagious.

Given that p is a prime number, and n is an arbitrary natural number, prove that (1+p)^p-n^p-1 is divisible by p.

"How about you try this problem, dearie?~"

I stare at the words on the screen, completely baffled. What was this ridiculous problem? Quantum physics I could handle, but this? This was outrageously impossible. How could anyone solve this? I cast a backwards glance at the class, and they give me expectant stares. No one looks confused. They already know how to answer it. Only I don't.

I raise my arm for a moment, to at least perform the act that I may know the answer, but once the pen reaches the board, I'm stuck. I think on writing something, anything, to make it look like I know what I'm doing, but my mind is clogged. My arm trembles at being held up for so long. I can feel the pressure of the class's peering eyes, and I'm suddenly feeling very overwhelmed.

"Oh, you were away from school, weren't you dearie?" My shoulders are shaking, but I try to hide it. "Make sure you borrow notes from a friend, okay?"

"He got light-headed just from warm-up exercises?" Someone whispers in the crowd. "Man, that's pretty bad."

"Well, he couldn't do much when he was trapped in a bed of a hospital. It can't be helped."

I sit in the corner of a shady column, trying to catch my breath. I tiredly wipe the towel over my skull, trying to get rid of the beads of sweat residing there. It wasn't my fault I was so out of shape. Well, not saying that I was regularly in shape anyway. It wasn't like not being trapped in a hospital bed could have presented a different outcome either way.

I can only sit and watch as the other students participate in the class. It's honestly kinda embarrassing; I just sit here and speculate as they work their butts off. They run laps on the track and perform high jumps on the squishy mats. I kinda wanna just sleep there too, but I can't. I'm stuck here, trying to regain my bearings from a simple warm-up exercise.

I take another deep breath and close my eyes. I'll just rest here for a while.

Sans, you can just be cooler to match it!

I can't do that.

The sneakers pass over the yellow tiles of the bridge, and the shadows pass over the sneakers. I notice that, once again, the laces are untied. I sigh at my own laziness, but keep walking.

All I do is cause trouble for everyone. Not to mention that I constantly embarrass myself too, while I'm at it. Will it always be this way? Will it always be like this?

Then it'd be better if you just died then, huh?

Huh. Maybe it would.

Yeah, you should just die.

Just die, huh? I close my eyes briefly, then suddenly snap them open when I realize that something is off. I come to a complete stop, and finally realize that I'm not walking on the yellow tiles anymore. Instead, the ground is covered in strange black designs of humans' body parts. There's haunting eyes too, staring back at me.

Startled, I raise my skull. My eye sockets widen at the sight. I'm not even on the bridge anymore. Black hills of corpses lie around here and there, and a swirling red sky looms above. It looks almost like a graveyard, with crosses standing up all over the place. It's like I'm inside a painting of doom. The whole place reeks of dangerous secrets.

"Where…" I narrow my eyes. "...is this?"

There's rumbling noises behind me. I turn, and a stone archway rises from the ground. It's intricately designed with fancy sculptured people and everything. Wary, I take a step back. Suddenly, creepy paper people appear from under the archway, moaning and groaning in my direction. They move towards me like zombies, hands outstretched and faces disoriented.

My bony hands tremble, but I know I have to run. I attempt another step back, but end up tripping on my own stupid shoelace and falling over. Of course. Any other normal human being would've been able to run away just fine, but I couldn't. Not me. Not stupid-ass lazy me. I hurry to pick myself back up, but they're already too close. There's no escape.

But then from behind, I hear gun shots and see arrows sailing through the sky. They strike the paper enemies down in an instant, and one hits the archway square in the area above it.

Beautiful yellow ribbons appear, and they swarm the archway. In the next moment, they tighten themselves around the stone, wrapping and trapping the enemies down with it. My eyes widen with surprise.

"T-that was close." It's a yellow monster in a strange costume. She carries a long gun in her arms.

Someone in a poofy pink dress stands up next to her, carrying a bow in her's. "It's okay now, Sans!" She reassures me. It takes me a moment to realize how she knows my name, but when I see her bangs, I recognize her as the health officer from my class. Frisk. I'm surprised I can even remember the name at all.

"You're…" I start, but don't know how to finish. There must be obvious confusion on my face.

"They're Magical Monsters." Comes the reply from behind, and I turn to see who it is. "They hunt witches." My eyes widen further when I see that it's a creature with a flower on his head. It's so strange, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it.

Frisk and the other girl ready their weapons, pointing at the wrapped-up archway. "Who knew someone would find out about our secret so quickly?" They tease. "Just don't tell our class, okay?"

And they fire, blasting the archway into smithereens, and letting off bunches of pretty explosions like fireworks. It's huge and magnificent, bright and brilliant. I can only stare in awe as I watch it happen.

"So Frisk," I ponder, raising an eyebrow. "You always go 'round fighting those things?"

We're in Alphys' room, in which I've learned is the yellow lizard's name, and it's honestly pretty messy. The couch is torn, the carpet's bland, and every square inch of table surface was covered with either some kind of lab experiment, junk food, or anime disc. At least her snacks were pretty good.

"Always?" Frisk ponders before chuckling nervously. "Well, only Alphys is the veteran here. I just only contracted with Flowey last week."

"B-but!" Alphys contradicts, a grin on her face. "You've had so much improvement! The way you fought today was much better than before!" Frisk smiles back sheepishly, embarrassed from the praise.

"But you're fine?" I ask, worried. "You're not… I dunno, scared?"

"Well, we are." Frisk responds honestly. "But every time we take out a witch, we save a lot of people! It's worth it, isn't it?" She turns to Alphys, and she nods earnestly. I can't help grinning at her casual enthusiasm. Even Flowey seems to agree as he sits on the table. I don't even wanna question what he's doing here in the first place.

"It's good that she's a Magical Monster." Alphys agrees promptly. "After all, we'll be needing her before the Walpurgis Night arrives."

The world's in chaos. The sky is grey with ash. Broken trees float in the air, dismembered at their trunks, and a witch in a blue dress stands in the middle of it all, upside-down as the gears turn under her. We're the only ones left, standing on a bridge that, for some reason, still hasn't crumpled yet like the rest of the world.

Frisk and I are on our knees. And between us lays a limp and lifeless Alphys.

"...I'll be going, then." Frisk finally decides, getting up.

"Don't." I plead. "She… Alphys died from that."

"That's why I have to go." Frisk replies. "I'm the only one left who can stop the Walpurgis Night."

"You can't win against that! It's hopeless!" Then after a deep ragged breath, "You'll die too, kid!"

"I'm still a Magical Monster." She insists. "I have to protect everyone."

I hesitate. "Can't we just… run away?" I swallow a breath, stalling and trying to fake up excuses. It was cowardly and selfish but I knew I couldn't let Frisk go, no matter what. "There's no other choice. It's the only way. No one will hate you for it."

"Sans." She turns, a small smile on her face. "I'm glad I met you. I'm glad I could be friends with you. I had made it just in time when you were attacked by that witch and… I'm still proud of that. So… I'll always be glad I became a Magic Monster. I really am."

She sounds so sincere even at times of death like these, and I feel tears crawling down my cheek bones, no matter how hard I want to hold them back. "Kid…" I beg. "Please…"

"Goodbye, Sans." A last look. "Be well." Then she turns and rushes away before jumping towards the witch, straight to her death.

"No!" I cry out, reaching upwards, though I know it won't do any good. "Please, don't go!" She's fading away from my sight now, too far away to hear me. I call out to the emptiness. "Friiiisk!"

But nobody came.

The boulders are broken, the cities torn and the wires ripped. The sky's a tan yellow, and it's raining. The world feels grey. I'm sitting in damp puddle, the raindrops hopping off the surface like bugs, creating ripples among it's purple surface.

Before me lies a limp and lifeless girl with brown bangs.

"Why…?" I tremble, tears flowing out my eye sockets. I'm soaked but I don't care. "You knew you were going to die, and yet…" I pause momentarily to keep out the hiccups. "I wanted you to live, ya know?… Instead of saving me, if that's what had to be done to save you…"

"Is that so?" An annoying voice sounds from a rock above. "Now the question is, would you be willing to trade your soul for that wish?" Flowey pads around on the rock above, but I can barely hear the stupid weed over the death ringing in my ears. "If you just happen to have any desires so strong that you'd be willing to accept a fate of combat, then I can help you."

I'm finally listening. I raise my head, trying to ignore the lifeless body next to me. "Really?" I ask. "If I contract with you… can I really have any wish I want granted?" There's doubt there, but the hope isn't gone quite yet. If I can save Frisk, if I can change this terrible fate, I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes.

"Correct." Flowey grins, petals twitching. "You qualify. Now tell me…" He stands taller on the rock, facing me seriously and majestically. "With what wish will you make your Soul Gem shine?"

It's that simple? "I…" I gulp, calming myself down so that I can make the perfect wish. I only have one chance at this. What can I say to cover everything that needs to be fixed? I slowly stand up, rubbing my eye sockets before turning to look squarely at Flowey. "I wish to relive meeting Frisk for the first time again," I say clearly. "Not as someone she protects, but as someone that can protect her instead."

"Well said." Flowey comments, and then there's suddenly a burning sensation in my rib cage. I clutch at my chest, trying to stifle the sensation. It's painful, and it brings back too many memories of fractured bones.

I can't hold it back. Something is moving out of my body now, and it's like it's being forced out. It passes through my sternum, and then my jacket, before appearing before us. I can still feel the tingling in my bones, but I'm more focused on the sparkly object before me.

"The contract is complete." Flowey announces. "Your desire has overcome entropy. Now…" He grins more broadly, almost sadistically. "Release your new power!"

I reach forward, and my skeletal hands clasp around the object floating in the air. It shines in my hands, and my vision is suddenly fading before me. There are blue and purple sparks dancing everywhere, and metal is churning at the edge of my vision.

The gears turn.

And time is suddenly moving back.

I snap my eyes open in surprise. I'm on a bed. There's wind outside, blowing the blue hospital curtains open. I sit myself up, suddenly confused. Where was I? I look to the wall to see a calendar. There's markings on it, red crosses and pink circles to mark important dates. Apparently, I haven't even been released from the hospital yet.

I move to scratch my head in confusion, but stop when I feel an object in my left hand. Slowly, I bring it up to my face. I startle at the sight of it.

It's a dark blue gem, shining meekly in my skeletal palm. "It wasn't a dream…" I realize. A chuckle escapes my teeth, and I lay back down into the covers.

"Okay, dearie!" Mrs. Muffet starts, waving one of her arms invitingly. "Try introducing yourself to everyone!"

"Hey. I'm Sans." I smile, my eyes trailing over the class to find the kid. An idea suddenly pops into my mind, and I grin wider. "And let's just say that I'm… Sans-ational!"

A moment of silence, and I'm wondering if anyone got the terrible pun, but then the class is bursting into laughter. I've finally found her; she's sitting near the back of the class, and she's laughing too. Knowing that she's happy because of something I said… it makes all my bones feel warm.

...It looks like I'll have to learn more puns.

Mrs. Muffet can only smile sheepishly, but she moves to write my name on the board nevertheless. "Now dearies," She starts to explain, "Sans has been in the hospital for a long time due to his fractured rib-" She stops when I interrupt her by moving forwards to an empty seat. But on the way, I pass by Frisk's table and lean down a bit to speak into her ear.

"Guess who just became a Magical Monster?" I whisper cheekily.

"Welp, here I go." I make an attempt to charge forwards, a club in my hand. It's only too late once I've realized how ridiculous I must look, but there's no time to go back. I finger my shield device, trying to figure out how to get it to work.

The gears turn.

And suddenly, time stops. The whole world is black and white, a frozen timespace. Only I can move. I charge forward, but somehow manage to trip before I even reach the damn practice dummy.

Stupid shoelaces.

I get back up again and bonk the top of the dummy. It gives me a look, like it's asking if I'm even trying. Rolling my pupils, I strike it on the side. This time, it bends like it's been struck with a hot waffle iron. Grinning in triumph, I knock it a few more times on the head.

Not much time passes before the gears stop, and by then, the dummy's beaten up pretty badly. Though, I can't say I'm much better. I fall to the ground, huffing. No matter what timeline I was in, I could never seem to be in a good physical condition.

Alphys and Frisk spectate the dummy's condition, trying to figure out how effective or poorly I had managed the attack.

"What do you think?" Frisk asks Alphys.

"S-stopping time, huh?" Alphys taps her chin thoughtfully. "I-It's pretty amazing! B-but the question is how to use it…"

I hear them talking, and I immediately set my mind on finding an answer to the question myself.

There's clotheslines everywhere, white shirts hanging from them like feathers as they stretch across the wide expanse of blue, cloud-filled skies. Wooden chairs were falling. That was certainly something.

I cling onto a clothesline, barely able to hold on. This was ridiculous. Why was I ruining all this clean laundry, while attempting to avoid falling chairs at the same time? I growl at the thought of it, and debate on whether or not I should stop time yet.

No, not yet. Alphys and Frisk are doing fine. They balance along the lines like ballerinas, avoiding projectiles and running across to the witch in the center of the mess.

Yeah, the dang witch. She's shaped like a spider, and the clotheslines are like her webs, spun in perfection to trap her prey. Only, this spider wears high-school uniforms. And it has six arms, even two in the place of her legs, which would basically make her an insect instead… But I just think spiders make a better imagery.

"What do you call an undercover spider?" I call out to Frisk. She diverts her attention to me momentarily, and I grin cheekily. "A spy-der!"

Frisk rolls her eyes, but there's a smile on her face. Things are falling out under the witch's skirt. I try not to look, but I catch the sight of more miniature skirts and legs. The fall vertically onto us, their feet wearing red shoes with sharp blades at the end. Frisk bounds forward before ducking, flinging arrows into the air and deflecting the skirts.

"Alphys, now!" She calls out.

"O-okay!" Comes her response. She's almost climbing vertically up another clothesline, but I'm more focused on her ribbon tactics. They zoom upwards in spirals before stretching out and clinging onto all the nearby lines, pulling them together before constructing a bridge straight to the witch. "Your turn, Sans!"

"Right." I mumble quickly, hopping off the line I had been clinging onto for the entirety of the whole battle. And I had started to grow fond of it too… but now wasn't the time for that.

The gears turn.

I land on Alphys' ribbon constructed bridge. It's surprisingly sturdy, even if there are a few gaps in between the ribbons. Or… maybe it's just not moving because time is frozen. Who knows? I jog down the bridge, trying not to trip on the holes. I'm making slow but steady progress. I take ahold of the bomb in my hand, readying it.

Yeah, I made it myself. Got a problem with that?

I tap the top of it, pressing a button and activating it. It starts to beep, a red light flashing. I'm running out of breath, but now's not the time to quit. I jump upwards when the bridge line runs out, and I toss it as far as I can manage to throw it. It ends up somewhere inside the witch's skirt, and I try to not to feel bad for it as time pulls back together.

It explodes behind me in fiery fire, and I can almost hear the witch burning away to death. And now, I'm falling down. At the speed I was going, I would definitely collide with the ground. Clotheslines and trails of smoke pass me, and everything's moving around me so fast that I have to momentarily shut my eye sockets.

But then suddenly, yellow ribbons surround me. They grab ahold of me before creating a soft surface that I can lay on. Relief floods through me. It starts its slow descent, and I blink in awe.

"We… did it." I say. A grin is slowly making its way onto my face.

The ribbon disappears, but now there's a different force onto me. "We did it!" Frisk yelps happily, hugging me like a teddy bear. I can't find myself to push her away. Her enthusiasm is always contagious. "That was amazing!" She squeals, kicking her legs like a puppy.

"Makes me wish I had a webcam for that." I wink.

"G-great job, team!" Alphys cheers, standing on the grass next to us. She doesn't look as excited as Frisk, but the pride in her eyes is proof enough of her happiness.

Frisk is still strangling me, but I don't mind. "That was amazing, Sans!" She repeats. "Amazing!" I grin in response, happy. And I believe that now, things will end differently. And maybe even for the better.

We're here again, at the end. But this time, something's different.

Her hand trembles as she holds her gem. It's usual bright red is gone, replaced with a more scarlet color of blood. It's turning darker, and black spots appear inside it. Frisk fidgets as she lets out yelps of pain. Her eyes are squeezed shut as she attempts to hold herself together.

Something's wrong. But what? "K-kid!" I bend down to reassure her, but I'm equally as worried as her. "You gotta hold on!"

Her body gives a sudden jerk, and she screams. In her hand, the gem crumples in on itself before letting out a black stream of evil. It floods into the sky, and as I look up, lightning strikes the earth. The smoke is curling around in evil ways, and I'm starting to make out distinct shapes of a menacing face and eyes.

It's terrifying. For the first few moments, I don't understand what's happening. The shape above me contorts as it slowly makes its form, sucking in the water from the puddles like a hurricane vortex.

A witch.

I'm slowly starting to realize what's happening, and for one, this is not my desired ending.

The gears turn.

I shoot out of bed, the fat covers getting flung off the mattress. I'm back in the hospital. Everything looks normal.

But I still remember.

"...I have to tell them." I decide suddenly, already starting to get out of bed, even though my tibia and fibula feel like wobbly jello. "Everyone's being tricked by that stupid weed!"

Papyrus turns slowly. "I AM AFRAID THAT MAKES NO SENSE!" He obviously doesn't believe in me. "WHY WOULD FLOWEY LIE TO US ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT?"

We're in another abandoned factory. Surrounding us are fat, red pipes that extend all around us in a mess of complicated layers. The four of us stand together in the center of it all. Here, no one can hear us talk.

"Well." I sigh through my teeth, a little exasperated at this other skeleton. "That's because-"

"WHY WOULD YOU TELL US THESE WEIRD THINGS?" Papyrus guesses, then makes a face of realization. "WAIT. YOU'RE NOT WORKING WITH UNDYNE, RIGHT?"

"What?" My face scrunches up at the accusation, and I suddenly feel anger building up in me. I'm here trying to help, trying to deliver this hella important information, and this is the thanks I get? "No, I'm-"

"Please," Frisk cuts in. "Let's stop fighting amongst ourselves." Alphys looks on from the side, nodding her head slightly but not saying anything.

Papyrus sighs dramatically. "BUT STILL! I REFUSE TO TEAM UP WITH YOU!" He hesitates. "NOT BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT 'COOL,' OF COURSE! BUT BECAUSE YOU USE BOMBS!" He waves his hands around in annoyance. "SEE, FRISK AND ALPHYS USE PROJECTILES, SO IT'S FINE! BUT EXPLOSIONS!" His eyes widen. "I CAN'T HANDLE THEM!"

I huff, amused. "Jeez, guess you're really blowing this up in my face, huh?"

Frisk giggles, but Papyrus looks more angry. He stomps a bit on the ground as if to prove it. "SANS, THIS IS SERIOUS! WHO KNOWS HOW MANY TIMES WE'VE ALMOST GOTTEN HIT BY THEM?"

"Dude, you've got quite the explosive personality there." Another laugh from Frisk makes me grin in success.

Papyrus' eyes widen even further with annoyed fury, but thankfully, Alphys butts in to save the day. "W-well…" She turns to me, a hopeful look on her face. "P-perhaps Sans has other weapons besides explosives that he can use?"

I hesitate and lower my head. "Looks like I'll just have to bomb it." I grin under my breath.

Wow, this museum really is full of great things. I supposed they wouldn't mind if I took a few things.

The gears turn.

People are frozen around me. There are a few projectiles I can use here. There's even a gun, heh. I tuck it underneath my time shield. I guess it'll just have to do.

The witch raises himself on the stage, his blue cape flying. Spotlights shine onto him, bright like a real star's show. Red dolls with blue hair dance under and around it, all moving in sync. It's like a disco party, but wilder. A contraption opens up above the witch, and tons of white wheels bounce out.

"What the hell are you?" Undyne screeches, flinging her spear around as she deflects the bones coming her way. "What did you do to Papyrus?"

"Papyrus!" Frisk squeaks as she ducks between the rolling wheels. "S-stop it!" Her bangs swing wildly as she runs, and there's more than enough close calls where she almost gets rolled over, but she always makes it away just in time. "This isn't something you'd want to do!"

Then suddenly, one strikes her in the face. Yelping, she falls onto the floor as the dancers giggle and mock her. More wheels are sent, directed all at Frisk. She's alone and helpless on the ground, her pink dress dusty, and the wheels are spinning towards her at top speed. No one can make it to her in time; Undyne and Alphys are both busy with their own battles.

But I know I can.

The gears turn as I run, and the barrage of wheels all stop. I rush out in front of Frisk, huffing for breath as I pull out my pistol. I aim at every individual wheel that I can see and fire a bullet. It charges forward a few inches every time, but stops with time just as it gets close enough to hit the wheels.

I finally stop, sighing with relief. I wipe my skull to get rid of the beads of sweat forming there, and I take out my signal device. "Heh." I mumble darkly. "Sorry, Paps."

Time resumes, and the wheels in front of us explode with the collision of the bullets. Frisk is safe behind me. The witch stands still for a moment, confused, until a beeping sound comes from underneath it.

The witch explodes in flames, my bomb being the one that did it. It screams into the fire as the labyrinth around us fades away into nothingness. We're back at the train station again.

Undyne bangs a nearby bench with her fist, her teeth clenched together in disbelief. It's rare that I ever see her so down in the dumps. "Papyrus…" She trembles, her brows knitting together in regret. "Damn it… this is…"

Frisk still sits behind me, but she's sobbing into her hands. "It's so terrible." She cries softly. "It's too much."

I myself am shaking as well, but I stop when I see yellow ribbons surround me. Before I know what's happening, they wrap around me, and I hear a gunshot and the sound of breaking glass.

Undyne's eyes are shocked and empty as she falls to the ground, her gem shattered. I swerve my skull around, fear slowly making its way into me. "A-Alphys?!"

She loads her gun, facing me and shaking so terribly that I can hardly understand how she aims the thing. She swallows a sob as she talks. "I-If the Soul Gems give birth to w-witches…" She shakes, slowly becoming more and more crazy as each second ticks by. "T-then we all have to die!"

I struggle from the bonds holding my radius and ulna together, but I can't get free or reach my shield to stop the time. This was unbelievable. Was this really going to be the end for me?

She aims her gun, ready to shoot. "B-both you and I!" Alphys cries, tears staining her collar.

"Stop it!" I yell, desperation and fear crowding me.

But then a pink arrow fires, breaking Alphys' gem. She yelps as she fires her own gun, but she's already falling to the ground, and she misses me by a landslide. The ribbons around me fade away, and I suddenly realize that Frisk was the one who saved me. For a moment, we both stare at each other with shocked silence.

"I-I've had enough." She finally wails, crumpling to the ground. "I've had enough of this…" She set the bow down beside her and ducks into her lap to cry. I slowly make my way forwards, thinking of comforting her.

"...it's okay, kid." I say after I kneel down to her height, but I know it's not okay. "Let's work together. We can work together to take out the Walpurgis Night."

She finally raises her head to look at me. Her expression is so pained that it makes my heart wrench, but she forces a grim smile and makes a single nod of agreement. I grin back, if only to make her feel better about all this.

Though I'm pretty sure nothing can make this better.

This time, it's the both of us.

The rain clouds above us are dark, devoid of hope. Cuts and bruises cover us, the after-effects of trying to fight the Walpurgis Night. Even the back of my skull is cracked. We're lying in the puddles, and rain falls on us, but we don't care. Our arms intertwine, each of our hands holding our gems. I hold mine in my left, Frisk hold her's in her right. They're both dull and discolored, and I know that it's the end.

Frisk turns her head towards me. "It looks like it's over for both of us." She says despondently, giving me a sad smile.

I stare back at her, a pained grin on my skull. It hurts to smile. "Say… ya got any Grief Seeds left?" She turns away for a moment before shaking her head at the sky. "...I see."

"Say." I start, and idea sparking in my mind. "I know this might sound strange, but… do you just want to become witches and destroy everything in the world?" Frisk gives me a strange look, but I plow on, looking to the sky for inspiration. "We can destroy everything. And we'll keep destroying everything, until all the bad and sad things… look like they've never happened at all. Doesn't that sound nice?" I gulp, and for a second there's no response, but then I feel a tapping against my Soul Gem.

Startled, I quickly turn my skull. Frisk is holding a Grief Seed over my gem, and it slowly sucks the blackness out of it. My eye sockets widen in shock, but Frisk just smiles sheepishly back at me.

"I lied just then." She admits. "I had one saved."

"W-what? But you can't…" I bend over to look at her more clearly, obvious disappointment in my voice. "Why did you give it to me?"

"Because… I wanted to ask you to do something that I can't." The darkness in my gem slowly travels out and into the Grief Seed, and I can only watch as she explains. "You've said you can go back to the past, right Sans? You've said you can change history so this all won't have happened, right?" She breaks up more after every word, and at the end, she can barely contain sobs.

My gem's all purified now. It glows like the color of a deep ocean. It's all thanks to Frisk. Good old, innocent Frisk. Tears are falling out my eye sockets like waterfalls, but I manage a croaky, "Yeah."

Frisk sniffles, crying with me. "C-could you save my stupid self before I get tricked by Flowey?" She requests, her brown eyes staring at me. They're so sad, so lost of hope.

I hate promises, but this isn't something I can say no to. This isn't something I want to say no to. "I promise." I say defiantly. "I'll definitely save you. No matter what. No matter how many times I have to repeat all of this, I will protect you!"

I receive a small smile in return. "Thank you." She whispers.

Suddenly, her body lurches. Her gem is almost as black as night now, and I quickly pick myself up, my skull throbbing. Her gem's going to turn into a Grief Seed soon.

"C-could I ask you for one more thing?" She manages between surges of pain.

"Anything." Is my immediate and desperate response.

"...I don't want to become a witch." She croaks. "A lot of horrible and sad things have happened, but there are so many things I had in this world that I wanted to protect."

"Frisk…"

A grin suddenly spreads across her face. "Y-you called me by my name." She states, weakly raising her hand. "I-I'm so happy."

My tears are mixing with the rainwater, but I have a request to fulfill. Making my shield appear, I take out a pistol that I had stored behind it. I can barely contain undignified squeals that sound like a crying baby, but I ready my arm and aim at the gem in Frisk's hand.

It happens quickly.

And the gears turn.

When I wake up this time, my eyes are wide with determination.

I throw off the covers and hop off the bed, my bony bare feet slapping on the stone floor as I make my way to the door. My legs feel wobbly, but I fix that right up with the magic from my Soul Gem. Heading to the coat hanger close by, I sling on my blue jacket.

I couldn't count on being friends with them. They wouldn't listen, and everything would be for naught.

No one will believe the future. No one will be able to accept the future. I scowl in annoyance. Looks like I'll have to…

The moon's in the sky. I walk up to Frisk's bedroom window, balancing on the roof tiles. This is creepy to say in the least, it may even be considered stalking, but I have to take risks to secure her survival. I make my way closer to the glass, Flowey's dead body swinging from my hand.

She hears me and swerves around on her chair. "Who's there?" She asks, her gaze searching. She doesn't see me outside the window.

"Hey kid." I grin in the darkness. "If someone appears promising you a miracle, you mustn't do as he says."

"What?..." She blinks, not understanding. Her eyes search her room.

I don't respond. I just back away and fade into the shadows.

I steal guns and bones. I fire guns. I throw bombs. And I kill witches. Whatever it takes.

I won't depend on anyone anymore. There's no need for anyone to understand anymore. In fact, I won't let Frisk fight anymore. I'll take care of all the witches by myself. And this time…

I'll stop the Walpurgis Night myself.

The city's torn, and the witch flies up in the air, wings spread out behind her as the world spins in chaos.

There's no time to waste. I leap upwards, soaring towards the witch. A city building is heading straight towards me, but I stop time and move out of the way just in time as it goes crashing into another one. Smoke explodes from the collision, sending flying debris everywhere.

Red flames surge towards me. I dodge the first two with time manipulation, but by the third one, I bring out my shield to block off the attack entirely. Too much magic consumption will only be a disability in this fight.

Frisk stands on a bridge below with the stupid flower-animal. She had refused to leave, insisting on watching the battle. I hadn't had time to argue, as the witch had grown impatient and had already started attacking. They're below me now, watching as I fight the witch. It looks like they're talking to one another, and I don't like it one bit.

A fireball slams straight into me, and I realize that I had been paying too much attention to Frisk. I'm sent flying straight into a tree branch, and wood comes splintering off. I lay there for a while, trying to regain my bearings. Frisk looks at me from far away, fear on her face.

"Kid!" I get up slightly, yelling as loud as I possibly can. "Don't listen to what he's saying!"

She looks towards my direction for a moment, but then her attention returns to focusing on Flowey as he spouts lies at her. The branch I'm on snaps, and I'm suddenly sent plummeting down towards the earth. "Don't be tricked!" I scream desperately as I free-fall through the air. "That's what he wants!"

She's not listening. I can only watch from far away as she's suddenly surrounded by a bright, red light. "NO!" I shout, but I can't be heard any longer.

It's already been done.

"Wow." Flowey grins giddily. "Transformed Frisk was really quite a sight!"

I kneel, alone at the edge of the the floating metal platform, half-submerged in the ocean of rain. A huge, dark figure stands in the distance, half covered by clouds. Flowey sits comfortably on the other end, grinning knowingly.

"I had predicted she'd be the strongest Magical Monster, but…" He smiles wider, showing fangs. "I never would have imagined she'd destroy the Walpurgis Night in one hit!"

I turn around slowly, eye sockets dark. "You did that, knowing what would probably happen?"

He shrugs his tail, indifferent. "Sooner or later, the same thing would've happened either way." He looks to the sky, seeming content. "She defeated the greatest enemy as the strongest Magical Monster. So of course, naturally she would have to become the worst witch after that was over." The both of us face the dark figure in the distance. Frisk's witch. "In this form, she'll probably destroy the planet within ten days or so, hehe!" He turns to me, smiling. "The rest is your problem, you idiot. Or humanity's problem! Either way, I've already pretty much hit the quota of energy that I needed to collect."

I pick myself up, and walk away from Flowey. I walk away from the grey shape in the distance, and I walk away from this fate altogether.

Flowey pauses, and turns to me. "Aren't you going to fight?" He teases.

"Nope." I reply, monotonous. "My battlefield is elsewhere."

Flowey's smile suddenly disappears, and his eyes go wide with disbelief. "Smiley trashbag?" He starts. "Are you-?"

Too late.

The gears are already turning.

I shoot Flowey's body and it explodes apart, but a clone of himself is already darting behind me. I chase after it, and his paws thrum on the ground as it runs. I aim some bones at it, and it barely avoids each one as it jumps. I'm so close.

I'll repeat it. I'll continue to repeat it over and over. Visiting the same time again and again, searching for the single exit out. Searching for the path to save her from a fate of despair.

I duck behind some columns, but startle to a stop when I see her. It's Frisk, and before her lies a limp Flowey. She carefully reaches forward to pick it up and cradle it in her arms. The sight of that creature exploiting Frisk's innocence made me feel sick.

I step forward, and she looks up. Frisk… my one and only friend.

Her eyes are fear-filled as she stares at me. "S-Sans?" She asks weakly.

I hate this. The way she looks at me, like I'm some dangerous monster. Like I can't be trusted, like I'm here to harm her. I don't even realize it, but I'm slowly taking steps backwards. Annoyed, I grit my teeth and clench my hands. I regain my posture and walk forwards to make up for the steps I took backwards. I erase all signs of sympathy on my face.

'Cause… if it's for Frisk… I have no problem being trapped eternally in this maze.