A/N: I'm very glad that people seem to be liking this story so far. I'm gonna be honest, this is all still very new to me (I'm an animator, so I'm normally writing scripts and whatnot), but it's been a very fun exercise and I'm sort of learning the ins and outs of narrative storytelling and figuring things out as I go along. I'll be putting another note at the bottom of the chapter addressing certain comments. Thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying this story.

The next morning, after Frisk had changed into a new shirt—an orange Denver Broncos jersey she found at the dump—and some new pants, she found some eggs in the fridge and fried one each for herself, Alphys, and Undyne. While she was cooking, Undyne, having woken up, walked over and watched, coffee mug in her hand.

"You're not doing that right," she commented as Frisk carefully flipped the egg. "See, you're hardly getting any air time."

"Good morning, Undyne," Frisk said with a chuckle.

"Sheesh, I did NOT plan to spend the whole night here." She took a sip of her coffee. "Not that I didn't have a good time. So, what's on the agenda today?"

"I should be asking you the same thing," Frisk commented.

"Huh? What do you—" Undyne suddenly remembered the previous night. "Oh, right, I don't have a job anymore." She looked down at her coffee, swirling it a bit, before taking another sip. "Well, I guess my whole day is open, now!" she said excitedly. "Now, what about you? What are you doing?"

"Well, I had a couple of things to take care of today," Frisk responded. "For one, Sans might be coming over later."

"What?!"

"Relax, Undyne," Frisk said as she moved the first egg onto a plate. "Alphys and I thought it was about time we had a little chat with him about what transpired a couple of nights ago." Frisk handed the plate to Undyne and got to work making the second egg. "I'm going to be here a while. Having enemies is dangerous. I'm going to have to rebuild any bridges I've burned as soon as possible."

"But YOU didn't BURN this bridge!" Undyne protested. "Whatever happened is on Sans!"

"See, I kind of did burn this bridge. I…" Frisk glanced around the room, trying to come up with a good lie. Maybe I should just tell her about the resets?

Not a good idea, said Chara. Not right now.

Frisk thought about it for a moment. Finally, she sighed. "I was tipped off that Sans would be waiting for me in the castle so he could 'judge' me, and that freaked me out, so I bailed. I guess that gave him a reason to be suspicious of me? After all, no truly innocent human would fear judgement."

Clever.

"Still…" Undyne shook her head. "Alright, well, if Sans is gonna be here, I'm sticking around, because… One, I'm not doing anything anyway besides figuring out who's going to replace me on the guard, and two, I don't exactly trust him."

"He never actually did anything violent to me. He just, like, restricted my movement with his weird blue soul attack thing."

Undyne shook her head. "You are way too forgiving." Her eye fell and she frowned. "I would know."

"Undyne, come on."

"Ah, I know, I can't be talking like that." She grabbed a fork and started eating the egg, talking with her mouth full in the process—which disgusted Chara. "It's just, you know, I'm not all that used to talking about my feelings and stuff, you know?" She swallowed. "Last night was kind of really new for me, bringing up repressed memories and whatever." She took another bite, then waved a hand dismissively. "I'll get used to it. I'm doing two years' worth of guilt tripping all at once right now."

Alphys, who was still lying on the couch, slowly opened her eyes and smelled something cooking. Her eyes shot open and a look of worry replaced her previous expression. She immediately shot up and ran towards the kitchen area. "What's burn—" she slid to a stop as she saw Frisk cooking the eggs, Undyne eating a well-cooked fried egg. "...ing."

"Mornin', Al," Undyne said with a smile. She took another sip of her coffee. "Hey, I didn't know you had a kitchen. Or a living area. I've only ever seen the one room."

"What did you think the doors on the fourth wall led to?"

"I never look at the fourth wall."

Frisk was confused. "Wait, what makes that wall the fourth wall? How's the order decided?" Suddenly, her phone rang. "Oh, hang on a second." She put the egg on a plate and handed it to Alphys, then picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Human! Good morning! I was simply calling to ask you how the surface was!"

Frisk glanced at Alphys and Undyne. "There's been a change of plans, Papyrus. I'm not crossing the barrier just yet." She sighed. "Uh, actually, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"

"Anything!" Papyrus answered excitedly.

"Can you tell Sans to meet me at the lab in Hotland? It's important," Frisk said. Alphys sighed, and Undyne groaned.

"Hmmm… I shall see if I can find my brother." Suddenly, he sounded annoyed. "He's so lazy he blends in with the furniture! Bear with me while I find him." Frisk moved the phone away from her face for what she could tell was going to happen next. "SAAAAAAANS!" Yup. Frisk could hear a ruckus coming from the other end of the call. "Where are you? Have you fallen asleep with a lampshade on again? How many times have I told you not to do that?"

Frisk hung up. "He'll be here soon," she said, sort of half assuming, as she never really got any confirmation. She then noticed that she burnt her own egg. "Aw, hell," she complained. She shrugged and put it on a plate.

"Oh, here!" Alphys said as she swapped their plates around so that Frisk had the good egg.

"Alphys, you don't need to—"

"It's fine, really!" she assured. "I usually eat junk food, so a burnt egg is no big deal." She shrugged. "On the other hand, I feel like you probably haven't had a good breakfast in a while."

"Yeah. She hardly ate her fries," a voice behind them said. Alphys jumped. Undyne gasped and summoned a spear, turning around to meet the mysterious voice. Frisk simply set their plate aside and walked past her friends.

"Hello, Sans."

"Heya." Sans glanced at the food, then at Alphys and Undyne, the former standing slightly beside the latter, who was glaring threateningly. "Heh. You've been busy, huh? Oh well. Hey, is any of that grub for me? I haven't eaten in like twenty minutes." Silence. "Jeez, who died?"

"S-Sans. We've been expecting you," Alphys said finally.

"Yeah. I thought so." He winked. "You guys are the ones who called me, after all."

Frisk led the group into the living area, where they all sat down; Alphys, Undyne, and Frisk on the couch, Sans in an armchair.

"So, we wanted to talk to you about… What happened the other day," Frisk said as Sans sat down.

"Oh, yeah. I remember. When you avoided judgement and all, right?" He closed his eyes. "I don't blame ya." He opened his left eye, which was completely void of all light. "People with something to hide are always afraid."

Undyne looked like she was about to get out of her seat and kick some skeleton butt, but Alphys stopped her. She let out a low growl. "Sans, you KNOW anybody else would be just as freaked out by your weird little ritual, regardless of any assumed guilt or paranoia on your end."

"Which begs the question," Sans continued, "of how you knew about it?" He leaned back in his chair. "See, there were no warnings ahead of time. I didn't let anything slip. Papyrus doesn't even know I have this job." He chuckled. "It's almost as if you already know what's going to happen, well before it happens." He blinked, and light returned to both eyes. "That's just a theory, of course. You probably have a better explanation."

Alphys raised a claw. "I-I told her about it."

"Nah."

Undyne leaned forward. "Are you calling Alphys a liar?"

"I ain't callin' her a truther."

"How dare—"

"Look, she's got waaaaaay darker secrets," Sans said. Alphys gasped and stared at him wide eyed. "For example, she's a total dork." Alphys sighed and relaxed a bit.

"That wasn't a secret, Sans," Undyne said, unamused.

"The point is that Al here didn't tell the kid about the judgement," Sans concluded. "I doubt anybody in the Underground knows I do that besides the king." He cracked his knuckles and reclined, one leg casually crossed over his knee. "So let's get one thing straight before we continue. I don't like being lied to."

"Hypocrite," muttered Undyne.

"So, let's hypothesize how the kid here knew I'd be there." He looked at the three friends. "What do you three know about resets?"

Undyne looked puzzled. "What?"

Alphys just narrowed her eyes. "What do you know about resets?"

"Ok," Sans said. "That's one person who doesn't know, and one person who does know."

"I didn't say—"

"Kid! Help me out here, let's break this tie. Do you know what a reset is?" Sans awaited Frisk's response.

"I read about it in a book," she replied.

"Like I said, kid, I don't like being lied to," he reminded her. "Let's assume for the moment that NOBODY knows what that is, I mean, why would you? A reset basically lets someone with a very large amount of determination travel back to an important moment in their life and re-write history."

Undyne gasped. "Whoa, that sounds awesome!"

"It is awesome," Sans assured. "When it's in the right hands, of course. Unfortunately for us," he glanced at Frisk. "The reset is in the wrong hands."

Alphys stood up. "Alright, Sans, that's enough of the accusations. We invited you here to make amends, and you're not presenting a good image of yourself right now."

"Listen, Al, I am perfectly content to forget everything that's happened… So long as the human admits that she had other reasons for turning back."

Undyne stood up as well. "She didn't want to fight Asgore, you bonehead! Think about what you're saying for a second, this kid's a total pacifist! If fighting is the only way to continue, of course she's going to turn back!"

Sans thought about this for a second. "You bring up a valid point." He looked between Alphys and Undyne. "So, I can guess that she told you," he pointed to Alphys "the truth, and straight up lied to you," he said, pointing to Undyne. "That says a lot about whose friendship she values more." Undyne was seething with rage. "Heh. But you're right. There's no point in letting burned bridges stay that way. I think this conversation has gone on long enough. I just wanted to let you guys know why I did what I did. I don't have any concrete evidence, but I'm pretty sure this kid did some really bad things in another timeline. But I guess it doesn't matter, because she went back on it. Because that makes everything okay. Just hit a reset button, and the consequences of your actions are a null value." He put his hand out. "I know I sound like I'm being facetious, but kid, I've decided to forgive you for whatever horrible things you may have done in the past. C'mon, buddy. Let's forget all this, okay? Let's hug this issue out and just… Move on. Everything will be a lot easier, for me and for you."

Sans held his arms out wide, eagerly anticipating the human's next move. Frisk, however, was suddenly remembering what happened the last time he gave her a "hug".

Frisk stood, knife in hand, just feet away from Sans, who was sweating.

"Ugh… That being said…" His breathing was heavy. He really was tired. "You, uh, really like swinging that thing around, huh?" Frisk was tired too. "Listen. I know you didn't answer me before, but… Somewhere in there. I can feel it."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"There's a glimmer of a good person inside of you," he continued. "The memory of someone who once wanted to do the right thing."

I did, said the voice in Frisk's head. At one point.

"Someone who, in another time, might have even been… A friend? C'mon, buddy. Do you remember me?" He closed his eyes. "Please, if you're listening… Let's forget all this, okay?" He winked. "Just lay down your weapon, and… Well, my job will be a lot easier."

Sans is sparing you, said the voice. Sans held his arms out, awaiting the human's next move.

Frisk trembled.

Don't you do it.

I can't do this anymore.

Frisk, don't you dare.

Frisk slowly and carefully put her weapon down. Sans raised an eyebrow

God dammit, Frisk, you're a moron, said the voice.

"Alright, Sans." A tear fell down her cheek. "I can't take it anymore. I did all of this because… Something was telling me I had to. That if I got enough LOVE, I could do something extraordinary, and…" She looked away. "I wrongly sacrificed your friends to do so."

Sans looked surprised. "You're sparing me? Finally. Buddy. Pal. I know how hard it must be to make that choice. To go back on everything you've worked up to. I want you to know… I won't let it go to waste. C'mere, pal." Frisk ran over and gripped Sans in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry," she said.

That's the last thing she remembered before feeling bone pierce her body.

Back in the present, Frisk stared at Sans' peace offering.

"Kid? Waiting on you?"

After another moment of staring, which Alphys took to mean "this kid's seen this peace offering before", Frisk slowly got out of her seat and hugged Sans. Alphys' eyes were wide as she watched the exchange. Please have a save, please have a save…

Sans closed his eyes. "Heh… I can't believe…" he began, "...that you would fall for this twice."

Frisk's eyes widened in fear. Alphys nearly jumped from her seat, before a very long, very wet fart noise erupted from the pair. Sans let go of the hug to reveal a whoopee cushion he'd been keeping up his sleeve. "Seriously. It's like I don't even have to try." He let out a low laugh, before noticing that nobody else was laughing. "...Eh. Not every joke's gonna be a hit. Welp."

"OH MY GOD!" Undyne shouted. "You can't take anything seriously! What the hell's your problem, Sans?!"

You can practically see the steam erupting from her ears, said Chara. ...well, if she had any, anyway.

Sans stood up and stretched his arms. "It's been fun chattin'. I'll get out of your hair now. See ya around." Sans left the room.

All three of the remaining individuals just stared at the door.

"Sans is weird," Undyne said after a moment of silence. "You know, Frisk, you shouldn't have accepted that compromise! Now he thinks you're some weird time travelling murderer! Don't compromise with the other person if you are not the one who is in the wrong, dummy!"

Frisk nervously scratched the back of her neck. "I mean, if it helps make them not want to kill you?"

Undyne sighed. "Fair enough. Listen, I dunno what half of that conversation was about, because I didn't really understand most of it, but if there are some things I still don't know, I'd appreciate getting caught up." Frisk and Alphys looked at each other. "Or not, I mean, you know, some things are secrets for a reason."

"Undyne," Alphys said, sighing, "we've been keeping a really big secret from you, I'll admit to that. I've been keeping a really big secret from the both of you, actually. Unfortunately, the gravity of these secrets necessitates that they stay secrets a little bit longer. I'm sorry."

"We'll tell you everything eventually," Frisk said. "I promise."

Undyne grinned. "Hey, I totally understand. It took me two years to spill the beans on my problems, if it takes a little while for you guys to tell me everything, that's fine by me!" She blinked before adding "But I would like to know eventually please, thank you."

"You will, Undyne," said Frisk. Undyne started to walk out of the room. "Where are you going?"

She stopped and turned slightly to address Frisk's question. "I'm gonna go tell Asgore I'm resigning. It's only fair that I tell him in person. Don't worry, I won't mention you." She frowned. "Ah, stupid me, I already called him about you when I was chasing you through Waterfall. Well, whatever. Maybe he forgot." She started walking again, but stopped a few steps later. "And, Frisk… if part of that secret you're keeping involves…" She turned to face Frisk and Alphys and reworded her statement. "If you did something in the past that you think is unforgivable… just remember what you told me last night. You're a good person, Frisk. I can see that. You too, Alphys. I don't care what Sans says. Your pasts don't matter to me."

Frisk gave her a sad smile. "Thanks, Undyne."

"With that being said," Undyne continued, "a really big part of owning your mistakes is working to fix them. I'm going to try my best to fix mine. I would hope you two try and fix yours. ...But that's none of my business." She smiled at them. "I'll see you two around." With that, she left.

Alphys turned to Frisk. "Frisk, we're not ACTUALLY going to tell her about the resets and the murder thing," she asked nervously, "are we?"

"We promised we would."

"Yeah but-"

Frisk turned to face Alphys as well. "Alphys, just because I undid it doesn't mean I didn't do it. It would be best if I came clean about that with Undyne."

"But-"

"It's like you said, Alphys. She's our friend. She'll want to help me be better."

Alphys whined. "Okay but if you tell her YOUR secret, then I have to tell her MY secret, and my secret is kind of worse than your secret because my secret isn't exactly something that can be fixed."

"Alphys, in case you haven't noticed, she has a thing for you? Okay?" Frisk chuckled. "So I don't think you can really say anything that'll lower her opinion of you."

"W-w-what do you mean she has a thing for me?!" Alphys' face turned red and she began stammering out gibberish.

"...you didn't know?" Frisk smirked. "She wants some of that dino booty!"

"...Frisk please don't lie to me, it's not very nice."

A/N: One big thing somebody mentioned is that my timeline doesn't exactly line up perfectly with what most people assume to be Undertale's timeline, specifically the date that Chara fell and Undyne's past experience (or lack thereof, in the case of the game) with humans. In this story, Chara fell in 1963, NOT 201X as is implied by the game's opening cinematic. The reason for this is because the story's first chapter was originally conceived as a prequel to a cartoon I'd been working on for my YouTube channel, before I decided to expand this into its own sort of thing. Because I tend to write most of my cartoons as existing in the same fictional universe, I had to make changes to Undertale's story so that it made sense with everything else. This necessitated pushing Chara's fall date and, subsequently, Asriel's date of death, back around fifty years so that the cartoon could conceivably take place in present-day Colorado. A lot of other minor things mentioned in the story originated from my cartoons as well. As for the apparent fact that, in the game, Undyne questions what humans are made of... that's a legitimate goof on my part. I don't have every single line of dialogue from the game memorized and I legitimately had no idea there was anything in the game that so much as insinuated that Undyne had never met a human. Regardless, that's what I wrote, so I'm sticking with it.

As I said before, this whole story is kind of a big experiment to see if I can keep something like this up and I'm glad people are actually reading it because it means I've got to be doing SOMETHING right. These first five chapters were part of a sort of expositiony act which I really didn't plan out all that much because I still was unsure where I wanted to story to go. I think now I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do and I'm gonna sit down and actually write out all of the narrative beats I want to hit, so the next chapters should hopefully be a bit more cohesive and less all-over-the-place. There might be a time skip. I'm not sure yet. What I do know is that we're not going to be seeing the surface right away. Get ready for more time travel shenanigans with dinonerd!