Going to the Core had been another family outing of sorts. Both the King and Queen had stressed to their children that this venture was very important for all involved. Asriel nodded in understanding, even though butterflies kept flying through his chest.

He had wanted to see this place before, but all he could do was nervously shift whenever they went down a long, blue-tinted hallway. To the sides were the power of the Core, giant make-shift towers that brimmed with energy that was hotter than the lava back in Hotland. Lights cut through the walls, flashing bright and then dimming every few seconds. Led down the way by a gray-tinted monster in those white lab-coats, Asriel and his parents were off on their way to see the Royal Scientist's latest work.

The group would cross bridges, sides descending down into unending darkness. Asriel craned his head up to the rafters, finding metal nodes with their centers dark. Defense systems, he heard the gray scientist say, keeping out trespassers. And even if such ingenious technology wouldn't work, there were always the guards. It was intimidating to just look at them, the tall and silent Knight Knights instantly kneeling when the royalty passed them by, gripping their staves, the giant eyes on their chest following all movements. Occasionally, a Madjick would hover near, floating by, their ecstatic smiles discomfortingly familiar.

His best friend was purely fascinated with it all. This was where the monsters instilled both magic and technology together, didn't they?

Asriel was only too glad to answer them. It had been the first time in weeks since they'd spoken with him. Their previous conversation was still held up in the air, but maybe this meant that his best friend would finally forget about that plan. It was really much too dangerous.

"Yeah, they use all these big machines and extract our energy from it. At least, I think so. I think Dad knows more about it."

Their best friend smiled widely. Maybe they could ask him later?

"I guess?" Asriel scratched the back of his head. "Hey, why are you doing your creepy face now? I didn't ask you to yet!"

Because he didn't have a camera this time, silly.

At some point, as Asriel and his best friend talked with other, both had gotten separated from the others. Buoyed by the sound of their parent's voices, a constant to their footsteps, neither had noticed how much fainter it got as time went on. That and the hum of power from the Core, continually simmering and heaving like a ragged breath, made everything sound mixed up, akin to a one-note symphony. Asriel finally faced forward, realizing that the pathway beyond was bare of any royal parents.

"Uh." He looked left and right, feeling a slight panic speed up the rhythm of his heart. They were both at a crossroads in the Core, pointing at all four of the cardinal directions. "D-did you see where they went?"

His best friend was busy looking at the west hallway. Perfect time to explore, wasn't it?

"You know we're not supposed to!" They were already off, forcing Asriel to follow. "Hey, wait!"

They could be pretty fast when they wanted to be.

The pathways in the Core had a tendency to be confusing for newcomers. It was why the King and Queen needed guides, and why some of the scientists even needed a map for their workplace. It didn't help when the corridors would suddenly change from one day to the next, with builders constantly restructuring the location. Not on their own terms, but the Royal Scientist had some strange fail-safe solutions when it came to his work. Precautions must be made, and sometimes regular guards just wouldn't do.

Asriel didn't think too much about that. He just wanted to find his friend, and hastily went after him, his bare feet slipping on the shiny floors. He knew he was only getting himself lost on the way, and the constant hum of the Core was giving him a massive headache. But he didn't want to be alone, and though he couldn't see them anymore, though they wouldn't respond to his calls, he turned a corner and came upon a dead end.

At the end of the corridor was a locked door, and one of those fancy lab doors, too. The kind that swished open whenever one got near them with a futuristic sound. It was made of bright metal, polished so well that it was a perfect mirror for anyone looking in it. Asriel saw his reflection from a distance, though the details were fuzzy for him. All he could make out was his white muzzle and his striped green and yellow t-shirt.

But he wasn't paying much attention to that. Because in front of the door was his best friend in the same matching t-shirt.

And Sans.

They were talking with each other.

Why were they talking?

Both didn't seem to notice him. Like a frozen block of ice, Asriel remained where he was, feeling sweat dampen his fur again. He wasn't sure why, suddenly, he felt so very nervous. His best friend was only talking to the skeleton, hands clasped behind their back, their voice calm, their words clear in their enunciation. And maybe that was the strange part. How clear their words were, yet Asriel couldn't grasp them. Like something out of a dream, the meaning of those words escaped his grasp, making it almost seem that his best friend was saying nothing at all.

Sans was standing in front of the door, hands in the pockets of his lab coat, identification card still missing. He was looking down at the human child, though not by much, standing only one or two inches taller. The whiteness of his skull was so very bright, standing out against the blue-tinted walls, against the hum of energy and magic continually coursing through the air.

He didn't look very happy.

Asriel felt his legs moving forward, slow and careful. He was afraid of the slickness of the floor. What if he missed a step and fell over the very edge, into that brightness where every home got its power from? Why did that thought pound inside his head over and over, like an inevitable thing, like something so predetermined it was foolish of him to think there could be any other possible outcome?

As he got closer, he realized that his best friend was the only one talking. And strange, really. They had never talked this much before.

He knew that Sans saw him, a quick shift of those white pupils, trailing him as he walked forward. But only distantly, an acknowledgement that, yes, there was something else out there, but now was not the time to give it more than a glance or two. For one quick second at him, he took several more with the human.

The skeleton was not happy at all.

Asriel was getting worried.

He tried to move fast, or as fast he could despite whatever danger he felt he was in. The air was too thick, and his limbs moved too slow. Each step he took only allowed his best friend to edge in another word, only allowed Sans to listen to it, to store it, to keep it on record for as long as it took.

You're not going to like it-

Asriel stretched out his arm.

-if you stay in my way.

He grasped his best friend's shoulder. They turned, eyes wide.

"H- hey, what's… do you…" The prince looked from both the human and skeleton. "Do you two know each other?"

Why would neither have told him that?

Weren't they his friends?

"heya, royal buddy," Sans greeted. "this your friend? thought they were the new pizza delivery monster at first." A sneaker scuffed across the floor, looking too big for the monster's feet. "guess the lack of pizza should've tipped me off. and monster."

His smile looked strained.

Before Asriel could say anything, his best friend tugged away from his grip. They immediately walked off. Mom and Dad were probably looking for both of them. Should probably hurry.

He couldn't understand. "I… I guess?" was all he could say, watching their receding back. He started to follow.

"hey."

He stopped, but only for a second. If he waited any longer, he was going to lose sight of them again-

"asriel."

That made him pause completely, made him turn. Sans hadn't ever said his name before.

The skeleton gestured him over. "let them go."

What…? "But, I have to-"

"just for a sec." He gave an easy wink. "need to talk to you about something."

It happened sometimes.

When Flowey would start his resets, hovering in that space of pure nothingness, where the world that he knew didn't exist, where time itself was nothing but a concept, he'd remember certain memories, certain events.

Each time, as Sans kept making a fool out of him, the memories of his time as a kid would resurface. Sometimes about the home-cooked meals from his mom, his gardening trips with his dad, or his private conversations with his best friend.

And sometimes, he'd remember Sans.

He didn't like these memories much at all. Not anymore.

The words 'Continue' and 'Reset' floated before him.

"have you been thinking about what i said?" Sans asked him in all seriousness. "back at the lab?"

He took Asriel further out into the hallways, retracing their steps through the Core. Not unlike another time, when he had been alone in the Ruins, meeting a skeleton for the first time, who had a love for puns. Except now, there was a very, very subtle edge in the hint of Sans' voice. Not like he was angry, but more like as if he was watching out for something.

Asriel could only try to answer the best way he could. Which wasn't very good. "Oh, uh, yeah. Like, um…" He gestured in the air, but it was hard without the materials.

"here." Seemingly out of nowhere, Sans had another of those spaghetti containers in his hand. "better picture now?"

Asriel kept staring at the spaghetti container, its top now peeled off, revealing its overcooked contents within. Red sauce that was much more water than sauce sloshed all around it like a living thing. "Yeah, um, like…" He pointed at it, hoping he could make himself understand at that moment. Didn't work. "About time and time travel, right? Time stuff and all of that is like…. noodles, because…" A pause. "Squishy?"

"well, time can get pretty squishy." Sans made an A-OK sign with his hand. "so you're not completely wrong."

Asriel had tried understanding what the skeleton had told him before. A hint of what he was working on. Time travel. It was something out of a science-fiction book that he had once read, having found it in the dump where all sorts of human refuse fell to. He had tried showing it to his best friend, fascinated with the plot, but they had said they had read it before. He then tried telling him about Sans and the stuff both had discussed back in the lab. Again, his best friend said they had read all that before.

It was still hard to comprehend. He scrunched his forehead in thinking, instantly starting off a migraine. Sans snapped bony fingers to catch his attention.

"here, don't worry about it. no one gets it on their first try." He held up the spaghetti container higher. He pointed at the noodles. "so remember? time is weird and all. it's not a straight line actually. it goes all over the place, left, right, stopping, starting, beginning… ending. and the future…now, here's where it gets real tricky. past affects the present, present affects the future… but then it goes back around again, until the future is now the past, see?"

Asriel could tell that the subject was a bit unsettling, but he didn't know why exactly. He nodded. "I get it."

"nah, you don't."

He huffed. He had to get better at lying more.

"basically, time is like spaghetti. all different timelines, possibilities and whatever, just crisscrossing each other until you can barely tell which belongs to which. so…" he was already chuckling. "the pasta-bilities are endless."

The prince had to laugh at that. "I think I get it a little!" he said. "For real, this time."

"little's fine. better than none. but you see, the problem with this…" Sans held out the container far from him. "something like this can happen."

He upended the spaghetti, dumping both sauce and noodles onto the floor.

Asriel jumped back. Luckily, none of the sauce had fell on his clothes. "Wha…" Sans hadn't told him about this before. At least not this way.

"don't worry. it wasn't edible. anyway," Sans tossed away the plastic container to the side, though Asriel never heard it clatter to the floor. "time can stop, too. completely. without warning. get it?"

"Y-yeah?" Asriel found himself asking, "Why would it though?"

Something shifted in San's expression, but it happened so fast that he couldn't be sure about it at all. "that's what we're trying to find out."

"Oh." Asriel almost felt a little disappointed. "I thought that maybe you were going to travel back in time to like… before the humans sealed us off. I mean, I guess that sounded way cooler in my head but-"

"that's a lotta work. got no time for that." Sans was chuckling again at his joke. It took a while for Asriel to catch on.

"besides," he said, softer, looking away. "time's too tricky to mess with like that. you never know if you'd actually change anything."

That was confusing. "But why wouldn't you?"

"well, the thing is, the future's all set already, right? if you know what's going to happen, can you actually change it? like, here, if we did somehow go back to before we all got stuck down here. if we went back and tried to change it…what if that's what we were supposed to do in the first place?" Sans finally stepped around the spaghetti pile, shoes cleared from any sauce splatters. "future affects the past, enough that anything we do, no matter what, doesn't actually change a thing. all predetermined. almost like..."

Sans' eyes grew so dark then. It was hard to tell with the way he was turned away.

"kinda like we're stuck in a never-ending time loop." He turned to the prince. "ya get me?"

For the first time, he felt frightened of Sans. He stepped more to the side. "I… I don't know if I do."

Dim light came back to the eye sockets, like the lights to a dark house. "that's probably for the best."

Asriel thought about the mess on the floor. Time can stop. So everything led to-

"speaking of which," Sans checked his wrist, where a watch might usually be. But there wasn't, so he was just looking at a bony wrist. "it's probably time for you to go back." His gaze shifted to a point beyond Asriel's head. "right, kid?"

Asriel looked behind him, finding his best friend seated on the floor, several yards away. They'd been waiting for him.

"Oh! I'm sorry! We- we were just talking about stuff." Asriel took a few steps, hesitant. His best friend wasn't making their creepy face but still… "Did you find Mom and Dad?"

Yes. Both were in the next hallway, stuck in boring talk with some scientists.

"We should probably go, before they really notice." Asriel turned to Sans, giving him a wave. "Thanks for… for helping me out again."

Sans' shrug was super lazy. "not a problem. it was nice seeing ya again."

His best friend said it was time to go.

"I know, I'm coming."

"oh yeah," Sans called out to the kids as they walked off. "thanks for hanging out with a bonehead like me. really appreciate it. learned a lot, too."

His best friend tightened a hand around his wrist. Did he have to be so slow?

"Ow, that kinda hurts…" Asriel turned back again. "Um, yeah! Of course!" Though what did he mean really? "I'll see ya later, okay?"

And then, Sans started to laugh, just barely. He didn't… he didn't like that sound. It wasn't like before.

"right. later. just watch out for yourself."

His best friend's fingers dug deep into his fur. The words trailed after him, like an echo.

"won't always be here to look out for ya."

Future affects the past.

Flowey thought it over with great distaste. What little science project did that skeleton do to make him think such a stupid thing? All that Flowey ever did was change the future to his own liking. Not by some preordained way. This was his choice, all done through his power. He ruled over everything. He was the prince of this world, and the rest here were nothing but idiot pawns.

He was not acting out a script to some cosmic play. He was God now. He was in control. He did all this because he wanted to!

What gave that comedian any right at all?!

The words 'Continue' and 'Reset' started to fade.

His best friend confessed something to him. About his other friend. About that skeleton. Did he know that Sans had been following them?

Asriel gasped, his little voice encompassed within the four walls of their room. The hour was late, the soft snoring of their parents letting them know that this was the safest time for them both to talk. "What do you mean?"

Oh, Asriel knew what they meant. Wasn't it clear that Sans didn't like his best friend? After all, some monsters down here still didn't trust humans. And his best friend had tried to break the ice back at the Core. Didn't Asriel hear them try? Didn't they see Sans not giving them any care at all?

"He was acting really weird." Asriel didn't want to believe it, yet he couldn't help connect that with their first meeting back at the Ruins. Those words he left him with, that look he gave his best friend. Was Sans really like that?

Obviously he was. His best friend gripped his hands. He had to see, didn't he? That was why they had to leave Asriel at the cliff back then! Because they had seen Sans, and knew what he wanted. A human soul, an easy prey to break out of their prison. They only came back because they were worried for Asriel and the danger he was in with Sans. It had been risky, because Sans could have hurt his best friend then. He could have hurt them very much.

And it made Asriel so very sad. "But he can't do that. It's not like you've done anything wrong."

No, they hadn't. But Sans thinks they will. Future tense. They will. And wasn't that all kinds of messed up? He was a monster speaking of irrationalities, finding excuses for a human sacrifice. His best friend once knew people like him, and those people always did something drastic.

Asriel gripped the hands back. "I won't let him hurt you! I promise!"

His best friend laughed bitterly. It was too late. Asriel had talked with Sans too much. Given him too much. He had messed up again, like always. What kind of friend would do that?

Asriel felt the tears, and did his best to wipe them away. "I'm sorry! I… I never meant to. I didn't even talk about you with him that much!"

No, but he had talked with him anyway. And that was enough. More than enough. His best friend smiled. And now there was no other choice.

His best friend reminded him about the plan.

He shook his head. "We can't. What about Mom and Dad? It would… they'd never let it happen!"

For once, Asriel needed to listen. For once, he needed to not cry like a big baby. Sans was a perfect example of restless monsters. After all, the monsters wanted to leave, and saw no way out. And Sans being a scientist, one of those trying to find other ways of breaking the barrier… obviously such ways were failing. Obviously, Sans was growing resentful. Obviously, he had heard about the strength of a monster with a human soul, and about the only living human here in the Underground. Babbling about timelines and science formulations was just a cover-up.

It would be better if both Asriel and his best friend beat him to the punch. Then they could both free everyone.

Like a crybaby, Asriel wept. "I don't want you to die…"

The hands gripped his back so painfully, enough to ache his bones. Didn't he understand? He couldn't let a crazy monster get hold of a human's soul. Mom and Dad wouldn't be able to stop Sans, not with the weird way he moved around. His best friend knew that more than anything. So don't bother crying to them about it.

Asriel couldn't say anything more.

His best friend then spoke so soothingly. Please, they were friends forever, right? He'd do this for a friend? For his family? Or did he want to let Sans kill his best friend first? And Sans would, wouldn't he, Asriel?

Wouldn't he?

Flowey chose to RESET.

There were names he couldn't remember.

There were faces too, gone from existence.

All things that barely mattered anymore.

Just as each reset made him remember certain memories, it also made him forget something else, with those memories washed out like some ruined painting. He couldn't keep both. He could never keep both. Eventually, the memories became flickers here and there, until they ultimately floated away from him like nothing. Useless. Unimportant.

When Flowey finally woke back up, in that garden with all the flowers, all he knew, all that he could recall in clear, crisp detail was the promise he and his best friend had made. Yes, I would never doubt you. Not you, he had said. I'll go get the flowers. Then we can finally be free.

"And you'll come back for me, right?" Flowey asked out loud, watching the world shift back to its original position, watching another line in the realm of endless possibilities form again. "You promised, after everything was done, you would."

Again, no one answered.

They must have not heard him.