When Frisk woke up, the lingering feeling of wary disappointment followed them. They knew that the next time Frisk went to sleep, the world would RESET. Frisk sighed and shifted, glancing around in confusion as they realized they were no longer in the lab, but in Sans's room instead. "Hello? Sans?" Frisk swung their feet out of bed, pulled their sweater on, and wandered downstairs, shivering in the cold climate ever present in Snowdin.
The silence in the house told Frisk no one was home. Confused, Frisk checked around the house, and finally found a note stuck to the fridge.
kid, me and paps went out for a bit. you were still sleeping so we carried you back from alphys's lab, and left you here while we attended to business. i'll return for you before too long, so just, uh, enjoy yourself in the town. if you're hungry, there's always spaghetti in the fridge… or you could go to grillby's, i told 'em to put whatever you get on my tab. –sans
Frisk tossed the letter down onto the table with a sigh and pondered if they should go walk around or just stay here and watch a television or read a book. Come to think of it, Frisk hadn't explored all of Sans's room yet despite temporarily living there. They hadn't wanted to push it with the skeleton being so wary of them, but if Sans wasn't here for a little bit, why not?
Frisk returned to Sans's room, and glanced around. They had come in here once, long ago, when they had been given Sans's key to his room after they had gotten the curious responses from him after using SAVE. It was odd, Frisk realized, that they hadn't realized the extent of what that interaction had implied about Sans. They had been thrown off from realizing the truth by his prank with the treadmill, but now Frisk knew better.
They crossed the room, and glanced at the dresser. The lamp had a flashlight in it in place of a bulb for unknown reasons, and as Frisk pulled open the drawers, a glint of a key caught their attention.
"What's this key for?" Frisk wondered, reaching inside and picking it up. It seemed like a fairly nondescript object, the small key faded and slightly dented, but Frisk couldn't help but wonder. Glancing around, Frisk started searching for a keyhole first in Sans's room, and then throughout the rest of the house.
Nothing.
Frisk felt slightly guilty by this point, so they returned the key back to its original position and flopped back onto the bed. It wasn't fair to pry into Sans's personal stuff, anyways.
Frisk's stomach growled, and they sat back up, realizing the last thing they had eaten was the popcorn Sans had knocked onto their head last night. Pulling on one of Sans's jackets he had told Frisk to use as needed, Frisk stepped out of the house and stood blinking in the snow, their breath collecting in front of their face in a small cloud of mist and the voices of cheerful villagers ringing out around them.
Frisk kept their face down, eyes forwards as they wandered towards Grillby's. Snatches of cheerful, happy conversations drifted towards them, but Frisk didn't bother going up and talking to anyone who didn't outright initiate a conversation. The memories of the silent town, fearful pleas, and stolen goods still lingered like a bad taste, and Frisk blinked away the memory as they paused in front of the large building. Staring up at the flickering sign, they reached out and pushed the door open, warm air greeting them as they thankfully walked in.
The inhabitants, all monsters who had been cleared out by Sans last time they came, paused for a moment to glance at Frisk curiously, but Frisk made a beeline for the counter instead. Sliding back into the same empty seat Frisk always seemed to use, they shifted and glanced uneasily around until their eyes met Grillby's who was washing plates in the back.
Grillby placed the last plate to the side and came over, waiting for Frisk to speak.
"Can I have French fries… please?" Frisk asked, wondering what the flame man thought of them. What had Sans told him? Grillby nodded, and left for a moment, returning with the food which he silently handed to Frisk.
The conversations started picking up again as Frisk quickly ate the hot food, tongue stinging from the hot food when they ate too fast. I'm glad this turns straight into energy, Frisk thought blankly as they stared at the French fries. Even though the food here would make me sick if it was human food, I've never felt ill from monster food. The taste is a bit weird, though, no matter how many times I try it.
"Did Sans tell you to put this on his tab?" Frisk asked, and the duck monster besides Grillby nodded and waved his wing.
"Yeah kid, don't worry 'bout it. We heard."
"O-oh. I see, great."
"Hey, you new 'round here? Folks rarely move into Snowdin 'cause of the snow and climate here."
Frisk fidgeted, uncomfortable, and nodded. "You could say that." I've been here for quite a while, though…
"Hmmm. Well, kid, don't catch a cold while you stay here, all right? Take care of yourself. And tell Sans hi for Grillby and everyone here."
"Okay. Thanks…" Frisk agreed. They turned, burying their hands into the jacket's pockets and started heading back to the house. It was harder to talk to people, but Frisk knew they had to get over this roadblock. Part of it was Frisk's shame and guilt, the human supposed as they crunched along the snow, but part of it was also apathy. Without Sans here, it was so very easy to slip right back into the same hopeless mindset that had started to eat away at Frisk, and they realized that they needed to see the skeleton again soon. He was proof that maybe, there was a happy ending to this. That Frisk wasn't alone.
The house came into view, and Frisk paused, gazing at it. It was their home for now, too, they supposed. Sans's mailbox had mail actually spilling out from it at this point, so Frisk walked over to bring it in.
They opened up the mailbox, and a pile of mail slid out into Frisk's arms. However, a gust of wind caught one of the envelopes, and it went racing away. "Oh, shoot!" Frisk exclaimed, starting to run after it while trying not to drop anything else.
Luckily, the wind blew it straight against the house where it lay there, pinned to the wall…
No, wait. This wasn't a wall.
It was a door, hidden with the same color of paint as the house's exterior.
"…? This is…" Frisk glanced around, then back at the hidden door. A small lock was visible, and Frisk couldn't get it open. "Wait a moment… a lock?"
They ran back inside, dumped the junk mail on the table, and raced up the stairs to grab the small key from Sans's room. With some quick fumbling, Frisk returned to the door and slipped it in the lock. The door activated with click, and the door slid up with a soft rasping sound.
Inside, the silence was absolute. And yet, Frisk could almost hear whispers echoing around them as they stepped inside, but it seemed to be just their imagination when they strained their ears to hear the whispers better only to once again hear silence. The turquoise walls and pink tiled floor wasn't anything impressive, and the room itself was also quite small. The air, however, seemed to carry an aura of sadness, of things that were meant to be yet never happened.
A blanket was covering a strange machine in the corner, but Frisk didn't have any idea what it was used for. Dust had gathered on it, and Frisk pulled back to look around again.
Troubled, Frisk wandered over to the counter, where sets of blueprints were resting. A machine was scribbled on them, the same one Frisk had just glanced at, and some strange writing covered the blue paper. Frisk was unable to read it, and pulled open one of the drawers.
A badge lay there, and Frisk hesitantly pulled it out and flipped it over.
SANS/S01- LAB ASSISSTANT- CLEARANCE LEVEL 2
Frisk frowned, the badge only having a picture of Sans in a white lab jacket with the words and a bar code beside the photo. Had Sans worked with Alphys before? He had never mentioned this.
Curiosity pulled Frisk to open the last drawer, but the contents this time were the most troubling thing in the room.
A photo album. Frisk hesitated once, and then opened it. There were pictures of Sans with different people. One was Sans standing next to another skeleton, a wide grin on his face.
But this skeleton wasn't Papyrus...
"this is kind of a random question, but… have you ever met a third skeleton?"
"What…?" Frisk murmured to themself, flipping through the rest. Most were humans, Frisk realized. All about their age. A girl with a tutu, a boy with a cowboy hat, a child wearing a bow grinning with Sans's arms around their shoulder. All of these, Frisk realized as their stomach churned, must have been RESET later on.
And finally, Frisk turned to the last page, and their own face stared back at them. Frisk and Sans were both grinning, looking happily up at the camera with everyone else surrounding them, the only photo of everyone out and free in the Overworld.
This one was also RESET, though. Frisk couldn't feel any better about their accomplishment now, after all.
"… i wasn't uh, planning to show you all of this, kid." A voice muttered from behind them, and Frisk nearly dropped the photo album as they spun around in surprise.
"Sans! You're… back…" Frisk said weakly, realizing they had been caught red handed. "I'm sorry, Sans, I just…"
"it's fine." Sans gazed wistfully around for a moment, but a frown appeared on his face when his gaze landed on the machine. "you uh, wanna go inside? i don't really come here that much anymore. too many bad memories."
"Sure."
Frisk placed the book back where they had found it and quietly followed Sans back into the house, where they sat down on the couch uncomfortably as Sans dug around the kitchen before returning with two cups of water. "here," he offered, holding it out to Frisk. He watched Frisk for a moment and then sighed. "so, what made you want to go digging around for skeletons in my closet?"
"….today's the last day I have here before RESET." Frisk said softly, and Sans studied them for a moment before also taking a seat on the sofa.
"…i see. feeling down?" He asked, and Frisk nodded. "well, uh, don't worry too much. just come back out of the ruins and we'll meet up again, no biggie. nothing will really have changed, kiddo."
"That's the problem!" Frisk shouted, but upon seeing Sans's pointed glance they wilted in on themselves. "….I'm tired of nothing changing, Sans. I want everyone to remember me. I don't like just saying 'oh well, it won't matter' and just accepting that everything is fine this way."
"i never said you had to do that, frisk." Sans said softly, but Frisk shook their head in reply.
"But… you're like that yourself, Sans. You've seen so many of these RESETS, so until I did something drastic, you behaved exactly like that. How long until I don't care at all anymore, Sans? Each RESET, I feel less and less like myself. I just feel numb. Sure, I can laugh these emotions away for a little bit, but when night falls, when I'm alone with my thoughts, they just…. happen."
Sans's gaze flickered, and he turned his head away from them. "do you know why i didn't believe you for so long, frisk? …it's not worth growing attached to anything when it can just be snatched away. not anymore, frisk. you just get tired of lost hopes and dreams that once happened. that's just what i believe, kiddo." He was silent, and then sighed. "we'll try and work this out, okay? before this happens to you. i was alone, frisk… but you're not. i'm not going anywhere, and we haven't even tried anything together yet. so just… bear with me, here."
"…OK." Frisk agreed softly, and Sans nodded at them.
"welp, papyrus should be home any second. i went out and found a board game in the garbage pile so… up for some monopoly? it's missing some pieces but we can just use pap's action figures instead."
"All right," Frisk said, and they tried to force their mind off of the heavy feelings that had filled their soul a moment ago. "I'm coming."
.
"you ready?"
"Not really an option here, is there?" Frisk replied sleepily, the two sitting on the sofa. "The RESET'S coming whether I like it or not."
"so have you tried staying awake?" Sans asked in the darkness, but Frisk scowled and shrugged their shoulders helplessly.
"I did at Toriel's. It RESET anyways, at about midnight, though."
"got it. well, try and focus. see if you can spot the option's screen at all, see what's going on here," Sans advised, and Frisk yawned before nodding.
"I'll try… hey, Sans?"
"what?"
"You'll be waiting for me, right?"
"…of course, kiddo. see you soon."
And Frisk fell asleep, their eyes sliding shut as Sans waited for the inevitable moment where he wakes up to the smell of burning spaghetti.
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DETERMINATION tells you to review in an attempt to see the SAVE files…
((This is 50 pages total on Word, save me. Also, happy new years exactly with a new chapter! While I wrote this chapter I listened to the secret room's theme, which is It's Raining Somewhere Else slowed down and honestly this music is so good to write while listening to. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this fanfiction, thanks so much for all your support! Please leave a review telling me if you liked this chapter. And onwards to another year of fun~))