"or did frisk manage to talk you through all of this?"

Sans closes the door behind Aofil and Chara. The humans trade worried glances, but nod to each other to keep going. They just need to convince Sans to lend them the memory box, that's all.

Aofil takes a steadying breath.

That's all...

"what was that?"

Aofil turns their head around, "What was what?"

Sans points a finger and a lowered brow towards Aofil, "you just collected yourself. why?"

"It's been a pretty rough day today," Aofil throws a hand up, "So, you know..."

"from what i heard you kinda made the rough part yourself," Sans heads to the sofa and sinks down in it, "if only you had listened to your 'ol pal sans."

The silence is deafening.

It doesn't deter Sans in the slightest though, "so the dreemurrs know about that arm of yours now?" he wonders while leaning back with his hands behind his head.

Aofil stifles a grunt. Their head bursts awake with pain at the name, but Aofil needs to keep it in for a little while longer, "They do."

Sans peeks open one eye, "asriel too?"

"Last time I checked he was a Dreemurr," another kick in Aofil's head, and this one they summoned themselves.

"i see," Sans closes his eyes, "gonna be real interesting to see how you'll come back from this one. both figuratively, and literally."

"Yeah, about that..."

Sans peeks his eye. It's narrowed, "you are planning on fixing this and coming back, right? because i'm not really in the mood to deal with the aftermath, you know? i'm a busy monster, i have a lot on my hands."

Sans' hands is full of his head, clasped behind, and resting against the top of sofa cushion, "Yeah," that Aofil can agree on, but otherwise? No, not really. They sill nod despite not agreeing in the slightest, "I can see that."

"and because you are such a wonderful human you'll do your friend right in fixing this mess you've stirred up, aof," Sans glances over to Frisk, "won't you agree?"

Chara opens Frisk's mouth, "Yea-" but immediately closes it.

Dammit.

Sans slowly opens his other eye. He runs them up and down Frisk's body. He then glances over to Aofil, and then back to Frisk, "why are you here?" his words are slow and deeply inquisitive.

"We need to-" Aofil starts, but Sans puts his hand up.

"i asked frisk," Sans informs to Aofil without taking his eyes of Frisk, "i want to hear it from frisk, because apparently they can speak around you now, aof. forgive my curiosity as i wonder how the acoustics will be now with their voice bouncing off your body. a bit weird, don't you agree? even weirder considering the reason why they didn't in the first place. i'm sure you know why, aof. it would be the first thing i would say, but then again, i'm not a human."

Chara looks to Aofil, fear building up behind Frisk's eyes. Chara's still keeping them narrowed, but Aofil can still see the worry clearly. They look at each other for too long, and Sans leans forward. The soft shuffling of fabric is enough to let the two humans know that he's caught that something is amiss. They did plan for it, but now that they're confronted about it, they're not sure if they'll manage.

Chara breaks eye contact with Aofil, and lowers Frisk's head, "Memories."

"what kind?"

"Bad ones."

"from aofil?" Sans moves his surprised face over to Aofil, "about chara?"

The humans trade a quick glance, "No," Chara shakes Frisk's head, "about the first reset."

"i see. but speaking of chara," Sans turns his head back towards Chara, "has it finally decided to fade away now, frisk? only guess i can come up with as to why you can speak with aof now."

"No," Chara clenches Frisk's fist something fierce, "they've not."

"when did you start addressing chara as 'they'? is it just because aofil is around?" Sans scratches his lobe, "i mean i like aof, but don't you think bridging the gap closer between them and chara would be a bit, you know, horribly bad? or am i missing something here?"

Oh he has no idea, and if the humans play their cards right, he'll stay that way.

"because you humanizing chara is giving it more room, frisk. and here i thought you put that, and it, behind you after..." Sans trails off as he's visibly annoyed that he has to remember, "after you managed to convince yourself that chara really was a parasite."

Chara quickly swipes a tear away from Frisk's eye. They were lucky this time, Sans lowered his head and sighed, so he didn't catch Chara's act, but Aofil's a bit concerned how long Chara can keep up the facade. A bit might be an understatement, but Aofil can't show that it is.

"we've been over this, frisk, and i'm gonna repeat myself here so that aofil also hears. bringing back a human is not gonna happen. asriel we were lucky with. a monster is just magic, a human is a combined laundry and shopping list long of impossible reasons on top of the absurd amount of magic. i've no idea what you two have been talking about, but chara is dead. whatever sliver that's left of it is hanging on to frisk's soul, doing nothing but drain frisk of their very essence. in the same way i'm guessing that you would think that just a pinky toe is a lost case, chara won't be coming back from what it is now. i want to recommend an exorcist, but can't for the life of me find one."

Sans throws his arms sideways out from behind his head, "and every single time its name is brought up the mood just crashes through the floor and into the underground, as demonstrated here. i'd say that would be appropriate, but to be frank, and also sans, but at the moment frank, i don't even want to give it the time of day for a pun. i've done plenty damage enough by giving it any time of day to begin with. it might've been the hope of the underground, but the past tense is what it is for a reason. chara might've been your twin, aof, and again past tense, and even more past for you. It might be the only one left that you can't save, frisk, but a dead human is a dead human."

Sans returns his hands behind his head. He follows a tear falling from Frisk's eye, and jerks back as it crashes against the floor mat, "look, kiddo, i know it hurts, but it's gonna hurt much more if chara gets any sort of influence over you, again. the only way it was solved was with a reset, and we can't afford one now. because reason one, we won't be able to put the asriel genie back into the lamp, or plant pot, and then pull him out again. we've already done that trick, and it won't amaze away the memories again. if anything, it would be worse for everyone. even if we bring him back it would just raise the bar up to the old memories' level, not smash above like it did this time. the element of surprise is what fixed this, and i don't think anyone else except perhaps chara can surprise on an equal level as asriel, but as i've just discussed, no."

"and to be honest," Sans scoffs lightly to himself, "i'm kinda enjoying this timeline. just need to convince this one," he nods towards Aofil, who in response massages their lobe while shaking their head, "to come back, and everything will be perfect. as perfect as perfect can be, that is, since it appears that all the cards are on the table, and not in the sleeves where they couldn't to any damage. but hey," Sans shrugs with his palms up, "we've done worse."

Aofil crosses their arms, "Have we now?"

"well, there was this time when frisk here saved all the monsters from eternal imprisonment, and this time when we managed to revive the prince of said ex imprisoned monsters. the worst though," Sans puts up a finger, "was when you lied to toriel about the snails. i mean come on-"

Aofil remembers, and they almost collapse from the pain blossoming inside their skull. They stumble backwards, but manage to find a chair to fall into. They lean forward while clutching their head in agony.

Sans' finger is bent back down by gravity as he stares at Aofil trying to contain the pain bursting from inside, "oh. that kind of bad memories. from the first reset?"

Aofil manages to force a nod, but it immediately shuts them down into a hazy and overwhelming ache.

Sans furrows his brows in thought, "but, it wasn't that different though?"

Aofil's strained breathing tells otherwise.

"unless..." Sans shifts his heads towards Chara, "was there one before?"

Chara nods.

Sans pupils disappear for a short while, but he shakes them back, "alright, i'll have to deal with that later, i guess. heh," Sans eases himself down the sofa, "never a dull moment when you're around, ey aof? try and think about your date with muffet yesterday. should be enough to quell the old memories."

"How did you-" Aofil breathes through clenched teeth,"And it wasn't a date."

"yeah, like you would have any chance with her," Sans winks, "and the fact that you can be embarrassed about it shows that it works."

Sans puts his hand down close to the ground, "imagine, little..." he moves it up and down while furrowing his brow in deep thought, "huh, what would they be? human spiders? spider humans?"

"You just said I didn't have a chance..." Aofil leans back in the chair, massaging their head.

"i'm trying to help you here, aof."

Sure…

"anyways, imagine the wedding. silk dress on muffet, spun from, and by herself. a nice tuxedo made out of spiders on you to complete the arachnigement."

"I'm-"

Sans flexes a finger to move the chair Aofil's sitting on. They almost fall off it, barely managing to counter the movement, "shh," Sans hushes, "i'm helping you."

Aofil's not convinced.

Sans gives the chair another tug with his magic before Aofil has time to form a retort, "as i was saying, spider wedding. would be quite expensive, but maybe she'll cut you a deal on it? what do you say, frisk? five, maybe six percent off?"

Chara's not in the mood to humor Sans. They're rubbing Frisk's arm with their other, looking down, and doing their damnedest to contain themselves.

"was worth a shot," Sans returns his focus to Aofil.

"I met her before!" Aofil forces out with great effort and strain.

"huh," Sans searches his mind for how to save the situation. After some silent thinking he wiggles his eyebrows, "and to imagine, it all started with an impropriety date at the finest of monster restaurants that could in no way be familiar from a previous reset since it could only have been constructed from the circumstances that have no correlation, nor causation, to the events that might've been similar, but ain't, since said resets didn't allow for these sets of parameters to result in parallels being drawn in a logical sense and is therefore not applicable for the soul and mind to squabble over."

Aofil's head is still thumping away, but suddenly they feel it's something they can handle. It's not their memories anymore, it's Sans that's now causing their head to hurt. Although if they really can handle Sans is a question for another time. Right now the illusion is enough, and Aofil don't intend on breaking it anytime soon. They're gonna have a lot more on their mind, in their mind, very soon already. They exhale a weary sigh, and remove their hands from their head.

Sans takes a bow, "you're welcome, aof. i'll send my consultation fee to your home here once you move back. if my guess is correct i'm pretty sure you'll be at the end of royal street, so i might even hand you the bill in hand. if i have the time, of course."

"Yeah," Aofil blows their lips as the soothing tiredness from the pain they just had to endure washes over them, "whatever."

"thing is, and this might just be my gut feeling, my full, fleshed out gut feeling."

"Don't make it worse, Sans," Aofil pleads, despite knowing full well how futile it is.

"maybe," Sans heads back to the sofa, "what my in no way hollow gut feeling says is that first we have to find a more permanent solution to your headaches. memorygraines? yeah-"

"No."

Sans waves away the additional plead, "and i have some suspicions as to which solution you have in mind for these memorygraines. question is though, is there any other way you have in mind? because the thing you're thinking about is not something i want to use again."

"I'm with you on that part," Aofil makes sure to agree. They throw a careful nod as to not rustle their mushed brain towards Chara, "Frisk and I haven't figured out anything else."

"you think it's gonna work on a human?" Sans asks Chara with an inquisitive tone, "it worked with aof and asriel because they were fused."

Chara points carefully at Aofil's arm, they seem to have managed to regained some form of steadiness in Frisk's voice, "Aofil still has some of Asriel inside their soul. Should be enough for the box to hook onto."

"oh yeah," Sans is a bit taken back by himself that he didn't remember, "that should be enough. although, wouldn't that result in aof going through their old memories as asriel?"

"What?" Aofil looks at their arm, "This is all I have of him. Besides, wouldn't my soul sort of, I don't know, take over? I'm a human, and our souls are so far above monster souls it's not even funny?"

"heh. no need to brag," Sans throws a wink to Aofil, who twists their lips into an annoyed frown, "but that's why i said that it might happen. if it happens, you will probably also remember it as being you, and not asriel. whether it'll help or worsen your memories, that i don't know. heck, i don't even know how to use the memory box besides its intended purpose. it's horrible as a conversation starter, it clashes with the interior, and you can't even store things in it."

Sans shakes his head, "horrible."

"My soul bleeds for you."

"thank you. don't let asriel drip all over you organs though."

Aofil needs to close their eyes and recenter themselves for a bit before continuing. Sans made good in calming down their headache, but he is quickly making a new one to replace it, "Where is the memory box, Sans?"

"huh," Sans crosses his arms and scratches his chin, "good question."

No.

"No."

Absolutely not. Aofil refuses to believe that.

"I know that this might be the first exercise you've ever gotten, Sans, but please jog your memory."

Sans chuckles heartily, "good one."

"I'm serious!"

"and so am i, thank you very much. forgive me for trying to distance myself from something that, by all accounts, is a pretty horrible thing to have in existence. the surface has been pretty draining on me as well, you know, i had to relearn to give a damn. gotta tell you, it ain't easy. so please, just give me a minute to think here."

Okay?

Aofil narrows their eyes on the grumbling skeleton, "You alright, Sans?"

He exhales tiredly, "i am, sorry. it's just, heh, having my fate in my own hands again, i kinda forgotten how it felt back in the underground. i woke up for the third time every morning, and though to myself," and flexes his hands, "oh geez, this sure does seem a lot like yesterday. in fact, it's just the same."

"i'm not talking about sleeping the entire day away," Sans makes sure to be perfectly clear, "although that was the case a few times."

"no," with a couple of taps on his skull, Sans continues after a sigh, "i'm talking about the memories. i can't pinpoint exactly when, but the fact remains that i became somewhat aware that something was wrong. that it wasn't my mind playing tricks on me about the world, but the world playing tricks on me. i did some research, probably did the same research a dozen times or so before i could scrape enough memories together to continue. i didn't get anywhere do, and decided to just roll with it. if the world didn't care about moving forward, why should i?"

Sans shrugs with a sideways nod towards Chara, "then kiddo here broke the barrier, and the rest you know, aof. begrudgingly so, i assume, but hey, such is life. anyway, suddenly, tomorrow will became yesterday, and then the day before yesterday, and then yesterweek, yestermonth, and yesteryear. it was so strange, at first. now it's no longer strange for me, but it's strange for me," Sans taps his chest while glancing over to Aofil, "you following?"

Aofil nods carefully.

"so yeah, just need to soldier along with this freedom, i guess. don't think i want to go back how it was though. like i said, i've gotten used to this, just need to get comfortable."

"And the box?"

"hm?"

"The memory box?" Aofil repeats a bit slower.

Sans points behind Aofil. They turn around, and find a plant pot resting on top of a very conspicuous looking box.

They turn back to Sans, "You serious?"

"it clashes horribly with the wallpaper, i know. it's where it clashes the least though, so there's that."

Aofil swears under their breath. Half towards Sans not telling where it is to begin with, and half because they agree that it would look worse everywhere else in the house.

The box is lighter than Aofil expected. It feels heavy in their hand, but it's actual weight is a lot less than it looks like. Its many engravings gives it a very uneven texture. The metallic finishing is weathered from age.

Or use…

Speaking of use, "So how does it work, exactly? How do I activate it?"

"bring out your soul and it should latch onto it. then i guess just think about what memory you want to explore."

Aofil throws a very disdain look at Sans, "You guess?"

"haven't really done much with it, believe it or not."

Chara moves closer, and places themselves next to Aofil. The two humans share a glance.

"I don't want to hurry you up, Aofil, but please hurry up," Chara begs with Frisk's voice just enough for Aofil to hear. It's back to being borderline audible. Frisk's body is shaking like a leaf.

"you should probably step back, kiddo," Sans advises, "we don't want to have it latch onto you."

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

"aof..."

Aofil looks up, "What?"

"what was that?"

"What was-"

"your smile," Sans interrupts sharply and with weight, "that you just did. the one that one do when one knows something the other doesn't. what am i missing?"

Aofil's eyes betray them as they shuffle by their own volition over to Chara.

"frisk?"

The temperature in the room drops below freezing. The weight of it has Chara coughing a sob. It's violent.

"why frisk?"

"To bring them back..."

Aofil's neck tenses to the brink of breaking as they snap it around to Chara.

"I'm sorry..." Frisk's mouth starts quivering, "I need them back. I shouldn't be here."

"so."

A rapid gust knocks Aofil off their chair, as Sans shortcuts in between them and Chara. With hollow eyes he looks back and forth between the humans.

"a family reunion."