"i think we should do it."

Frisk froze, fork halfway to their mouth. "Do what?"

"help gaster."

Frisk blinked once, staring at Sans in surprise. The spaghetti slipped off of their fork and landed on the plate with a plop. "Wait, what? Just like that?"

"yep." Sans wouldn't look them in the eye, and he shifted uncomfortably. "i know the gist of what he, uh, wants you to do. if i can convince him to give us longer RESET sequences then we should have the time to adjust my machine and we can fix this mess."

"But… I… are you sure, Sans?" Frisk asked nervously. "What if something goes wrong?"

"it won't. i'll make sure of it," Sans replied, eyes flickering for a moment. He swept his hand over his face, shoulders slumping as he sighed. "…i'll be back. i have to go talk to gaster so we can start working."

"Wait-" Frisk started, but Sans vanished in a flash, leaving Frisk all alone in the large house. Frisk sighed, and set the fork down with a clink. Shoving the chair back, they wandered out of the house and into the snowy town beyond.

Frisk stuffed their hands into their pockets, their breaths coming out in white puffs as they walked through the snow. The cold air helped them think and cleared their head a bit, and Frisk wanted to just get away from the house for a while so they could consider the last twenty-four hours.

The snow crunched under their weight, and Frisk soon reached the edge of the town. Sitting down in the snow, their back to the town, Frisk absently picked up a handful of snow and started molding it into a snowball.

"Howdy! What're you doing out here alone?" A small yellow flower asked, popping up besides Frisk.

Frisk paused, studying the flower from the corner of their eye, before continuing to mold the snowball. "Hey, Asriel."

Flowey jerked, eyes widening, and the flower's shock was clear. "I… What… How do you know that?! Where did you get that name?!"

Frisk sighed, watching their breath drift into the wind. "My first time in the Underground. Before it was RESET. You don't remember this, Asriel, but I- I've been down here for a really long time."

"No… that can't be, I would remember! What kind of trick is this?!" Flowey demanded.

Frisk set the snowball down and picked up another chunk of snow. "Erm… it's not my trick. But I figured that if something goes wrong this time, maybe you could, I don't know, help me out? I've never tried talking to you like this before, Asriel, so who knows how this could end."

Flowey shuddered, eyes narrowing into black slits. "How many RESETS have you been down here? What have you seen?" Realization dawned on the flower, and he jerked back from Frisk as if they had burnt the flower. "N-no… those dreams… they couldn't have been… you're… Frisk?"

Frisk nearly dropped the snowball that time, spinning to look at Flowey. "You remember my name?"

"That… what… didn't C-Chara return though? I-I… I don't understand… what are these memories?" Flowey's petals curled around his head as he shuddered. "I don't understand. I don't understand. What's happening to me?!"

"Are you okay?" Frisk asked in concern. "I thought you didn't remember my past RESETS after all, but you're just like…" They trailed off. Why are Flowey's memories preserved in dreams similar to Papyrus's? Is the virus leaking memories of all the RESETS into everyone's heads?! "Why don't you come with me?" Frisk questioned. "We can talk inside, if you promise not to try and hurt anyone."

"Nnnng, n-no." Flowey muttered. "No. I need to figure this out. I… I've got to go."

The flower vanished back into the ground, and Frisk gazed at the spot where he had been. They turned away and started making snowballs again. "Asriel… I wonder if I can save you after this," they whispered to themself.

.

(Very well. I can do that.)

Sans turned to leave, no more words left for him to stay. He didn't look back, and it was only Gaster's voice, a voice Sans had only heard once before, that made him pause.

[I knew you would come around, Sans.]

The door loudly slammed shut for the third time in the past twenty-four hours.

.

"we have one month this run." Sans informed Frisk when they walked into the lab. Sans had yanked the sheet off of his machine, and was tinkering with the wires on it. "…frisk, i-" Sans paused, hesitation flitting across his face as his smile diminished. "here's how this is gonna work; the only way i know to do this is to somehow, uh, make it so we're sent to the moment the core exploded. basically, hotwire the RESETS to send us beyond one's personal experiences to a point where we exist outside of time itself."

Frisk swallowed. "That sounds really dangerous."

"yup. each second spent in a time like that eats at one's own DETERMINATION, and if you run out of DETERMINATION while you're in this state, then, well, game over." Sans turned and gazed seriously at Frisk. "it's why humans are needed for this."

"So, this machine sends me back, I save Gaster from falling into the Core, and that's it? Can I get back safely?"

"don't worry, i'm working on that. the machine was originally just a way for me to RESET like you can do naturally, but changing it like this would require a constant connection to the machine in present X, Y, and Z coordinates. this burns so much energy, though, so i need to protect it from overheating and connect it to some other device…" Sans trailed off, hissing in frustration as a spark singed his skeletal fingers as he worked.

Frisk ventured closer, dubiously giving the machine an once-over. "Doesn't this mean I could get stranded if anything breaks?! Sans, how safe is this thing exactly?!"

Sans still didn't look at Frisk as he kept working. "c'mon, kiddo, i'm not that bad of a scientist. it's not the machine you should be worried about, anyways, it's the explosions happening on the other side of the machine you'll need to focus on. while in the past, this machine will latch onto your DETERMINATION, cutting off your ability to RESET whatsoever. if you kick the bucket and fail to SAVE gaster, that's it."

Frisk swallowed. "Why don't we just turn my DETERMINATION off without doing this? Wouldn't that work too?"

"nah. if we tried that, logistics aside, one day you might grow out of that DETERMINATION and well… yup. not a pretty picture."

"…I-I see."

.

"SO, COUSIN. YOU'VE BEEN HERE FOR TWO WEEKS ALREADY… HONESTLY, I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D STICK AROUND THIS LONG." Papyrus said cheerfully. "ARE YOU STAYING FOREVER THIS TIME?"

Frisk blinked up at him and set the book aside. They had been puzzling over Quantum Physics, because honestly they had no idea on the specifics of whatever Sans was working on. They weren't even sure if they needed to be reading the Quantum Physics book or something else in the first place. The end result was the same, however; an incomprehensible headache.

"I'm staying a month," they told Papyrus with a weary smile. "Why? Do you want to kick me out already? It's just my first time here, Papyrus, I'd hate that you'd be tired of me already."

"OH NO, OF COURSE NOT! I WOULD NEVER!" Papyrus defended. "I JUST… HMMM. I'VE NEVER HAD A GUEST STAY FOR SO LONG. NOT TO MENTION UNDYNE IS SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR IN MY ROOM AFTER SHE BURNED HER HOUSE DOWN. WOWEE, OUR HOUSE FEELS CROWDED NOW!"

"Sorry," Frisk laughed. "We got carried away cooking."

"DO YOU LIKE TO COOK TOO, COUSIN?" Papyrus asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I like it. It's pretty fun." Frisk admitted.

Papyrus's eyes glinted and he grabbed Frisk by the arm, tugging them to their feet. "LET'S COOK SOMETHING, THEN! SANS WILL BE HUNGRY AFTER HE FINISHES WORKING ON HIS HOBBY, AND IN THE MEANWHILE YOU, UNDYNE, AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN COOK A SPECIAL DINNER FOR HIM!"

Frisk allowed themself to be dragged along. "Okay, but if we burn the house down, tell Sans it's not my fault!"

.

Sans yawned tiredly and rubbed at his eye sockets. No good. This wire was too small, and he needed a smaller screwdriver. One of his gaster blasters nudged at his arm, and he patted it absentmindedly as it dropped the wrench on his lap.

Outside, he could hear the delighted yells of Frisk and Papyrus. He couldn't help but smile tiredly. This time, he would make sure the kid was happy.

After everything, they deserved a happy ending, after all.

.

"don't you dare move." Sans said coldly, eye glowing blue.

Chara glared back at them, hand frozen where they had reached down to push themself up into a seating position, and Sans watched them carefully. "i had a feeling you'd show up, sooner or later. what were you planning to do, exactly? smash my machine perhaps? that'd give you plenty more time to wait for frisk to break, wouldn't it buddy?"

"Why don't you go jump off a cliff?" Chara snapped. "This doesn't concern you!"

"of course it does. now, this time i kind of can't let things RESET, so how about you go back to sleep for a good month?"

Chara's red eyes glowered up at Sans, calculations on the probability of managing any damage racing through their head. They had been sure Sans was asleep, but it appeared not. If they could force Frisk into RESETTING here, that would work as well, but there were no weapons in sight and the skeleton was watching their every move.

"Damn it all," Chara hissed.

"…please don't cuss with the kid's mouth. that's just unsettling."

"Oh yeah? Well guess what, fu-"

Sans knocked the kid out with one of his bones from behind, watching the kid slump back to the floor with a smirk. "much better," he grumbled, turning back to his work.

That morning, Frisk woke up with a really bad headache, but was relieved when Sans grinned at them and jokingly told them they were too young to be bringing home other people to meet Sans just yet.

.

"Are you sure I can't help?"

"i'm sure, kiddo. i need to make sure this functions perfectly. it's not a hands-on kind of deal here."

"Well, ok… but call me if you need any help!" Frisk asked softly. "I want to help you and make this work as fast as possible too, Sans."

"…yeah."

.

The month had passed quickly enough. Almost too quickly, Sans thought. He didn't have time to sleep because this darn machine had to be completely rebuilt after one essential fuse burned out. He should've had at least a year to go over everything, never mind the idea that in one month if he wasn't done he'd have to start all over.

Good thing he could survive without sleep, even if it was definitely an unpleasant feeling to go without it. At least Sans hadn't been getting any bad dreams. Waking nightmares were the only thing disturbing him for a good while.

Sans set the welding torch down, wiping the sweat off from his forehead. It was the middle of the night, and he had finally finished the machine. There was just one last task to do.

His footsteps echoed in the quiet night, and Frisk, who was sleeping on some pillows in the corner of his lab, shifted as the lab door slid open and snow blew in. Sans slipped out and closed the door behind him. He'd be back before the kid noticed, hopefully.

Sans ventured into the forest, calling for the creature in question he needed to see.

"What is it?" Snapped the small flower, appearing before Sans. "What do you want? Golly I've had an awful month, and I don't feel like dealing with you and your RESET crisis, ok?"

"nice to see ya too, buddy." Sans gazed down at the flower, memories of the two butting heads in past runs flashing through his mind. "so i take it frisk told you the situation?"

"Yes… no. I remembered it once they confirmed my suspicions but… I… I don't know everything, OK? All I know is that my chance to find my best friend hinges on Frisk giving up control." Flowey grumbled.

"real funny, buddy. don't try anything of the sort." Sans shifted in the snow, studying his slippers for a moment. "look… i need your help with somethin'…"
.

"?! That's… are you crazy?! You want me to what?!"

"come on, buddy, it's for the benefit of both of us."

"How is that to my benefit, you idiot?!"

"…do you want to be stuck in a perpetual timeloop with no memory of it?"

"I… that's…" Flowey trailed off, then growled. "Ughhh. FINE, ALREADY. I'LL DO IT."

"great."

.

"anyways, because of certain time constraints i couldn't get the machine to stay cooled down for long. it should be fine for one trip there and back, but after that i'm pretty sure i'll have to rebuild it from scratch if we need to try again."

"Okay... I'm definitely not ready, but go ahead." Frisk whispered, squeezing their eyes shut.

Sans stepped back and glanced down at them. "hold on, kiddo." He picked up the locket area of the choker he had slipped around their neck, and made sure the battery glowed at full percent. He nodded, and pulled a second choker out of his pocket.

"…? Sans, what's the second device for?"

"i'm coming with you," Sans said calmly.

"You're what?!" Frisk froze, eyes widening. "Wha- wait, you don't have enough DETERMINATION for this, Sans! No, absolutely not you'd-"

"-be absolutely fine." Sans flipped his locket over to show Frisk a glowing vial of red attached to the back. "relax, kiddo, i know what i'm doing here. i used some extra DETERMINATION to at least get through thirty minutes in the past. i couldn't just leave you alone, y'know?"

"Where did you…?"

"i convinced the flower to lend me some of his DETERMINATION. more difficult than it looks." Sans said cheerfully. "don't worry, i didn't take enough to hurt him. whatever else i needed, there was a little bit leftover in alphys's lab as well. look, frisk. if you go alone, i'm pretty sure you wouldn't make it back, no matter the result. if i went alone, i know for a fact i wouldn't make it. and maybe together we can? i'm uh, willing to take that risk."

Frisk gazed at Sans with wide eyes, and they nervously felt the choker around their neck. "…sounds good to me," they said nervously. "So. Ready to end this, Sans?"

"you have no idea, kiddo. remember, RESETS are void, and we can always build another machine if we fail this time. if anything goes wrong… hit the button on your necklace, got it?"

"Yep. Let's do this."

Sans clicked a button on the machine next to him, and as its lights turned on with a soft humming noise, Frisk and Sans vanished in a flicker of light.

.

.

.

DETERMINATION being rerouted... stand by...

((FYI for when Gaster is speaking, [out loud] and (Wing Dings) is the format I'm using. Also, Chara was 100% about to say fudge. They would never call Sans anything vulgar of course. Anyways, thank you all so much for the attention and reviews it's been getting! We've just hit over 200 reviews which is seriously awesome. I'm touched all of you have spent your time looking at my work! I'll be busy again this week, but until next time~))