Chapter 7: A Box Lover

A year after these events the royal guard was established as an efficient means of defense. Gerson had trained 8 sentries to keep guard over all stations of the underground.

Training went in cycles. Gerson trained old and new recruits day and night.

The first time he's captured is by two fish monsters. Tony doesn't know who they are.

He is kept in a cell in the castle with a coffin housing another soul. The name, Chara is embellished on the top of the coffin in a red heart.

When he's finally free, he sees his captors. One of the fish monsters has red scaly skin while the other one is blue in color. Both monsters are holding bright blue spears.

"Why are you trying to kill me?"

"We have orders from the King Asgore," the red monster said.

"Whose Asgore?"

"Show some respect, human," the blue monster snapped.

"Who's King Asgore?"

"He's the king of all monsters."

Tony wants to run but then he realizes that the monster had paralyzed him with powerful magic. He closes his eyes while one of the monsters stabs him in the heart.

When he wakes up he's outside Napstablook's home.

"you can stay at my house if you don't have anywhere to stay."

These words sound familiar. It's almost as if Napstablook had never met-

"you're not bored are you?"

Tony shook his head. He sat down.

"i'm sorry. you've barely looked around you act like you've seen this place before."

His heart was pounding quickly.

"i was silent about it because i didn't want to creep you out."

Was it possible? Did he really travel back in time?

Tony felt his lungs constrict.

"It is alright if I step outside for a bit? I need some fresh air."

"alright."

He goes outside and takes a walk. The last thing he remembers is looking into the eyes of his captors: two fish monsters.

He had asked why they were killing him and they had said-

"Oof."

Tony stepped back and rubbed at his shoulder. The collision had been brutal. He looked up and he saw a monster that looked like a tub with a turtle's head. In the tub was water and a yellow bird sitting on a bird perch that stood above the water.

"This is awful. Who knows how many germs I've just acquired."

"Excuse me."

"Ah, how can you walk around looking so dirty?"

"I'm not dirty. Who are you anyways?"

Tony felt his right eye twitch.

"Woshua."

The tub monster suddenly crept up towards him. He took a step backward.

"Wait, don't-"

"I need to clean you. You're dirty."

"Just listen. Don't clean me. What's going on here? Why does Asgore want to kill humans?"

The bird flew off the perch diving for the scrub brush that was floating on the surface of the water it flew to Tony's face and began to scrub.

"Ugh."

"It's a rumour that the king's son died at the hands of humans. Some suspect that he wants to get revenge on the humans while others suspect he wants to collect seven human souls to break the barrier trapping us monsters down here. I kind of feel sorry for that skeleton."

"Skeleton?"

"Sans is his name I think. His father works for the king. Ever since the king's son has died, they've been very busy creating trying to find a way to temporarily extract human souls without killing the human."

"Oh I see."

The next day he decides to take a walk outside Waterfall just to explore. He doesn't go too far in case there are monsters trying to kill him.

He sees a skeleton walking alongside a goat monster. The skeleton is wearing a white lab coat, a white suit with a black tie, black pants and a pair of brown loafers.

The two are staring at an exotic waterfall when some monsters comment on them going on a date. When the skeleton turns around, Tony sees the blue flush on his cheeks.

"I wonder what his problem is?'

He's captured again and the pain is just as excruciating as the first time around.

"What's your name?" Tony asked the two fish monsters.

The red one simply says, "Codin."

From the awkward silence, it's a touchy question for the other monster.

"Krillin, don't be rude."

"I can if I want to."

"What about your last names?"

"Batter," the two fish monsters replied at the same time.

Tony chuckles. He might as well enjoy it before he dies.

The third time he resets, he grows tired of it.

There is no point in risking his life to go home when the king blocks his path. He doesn't know which monsters want to kill him. More than anything he wishes he had someone to share his concerns with but he's certain no monster would be interested in theories of quantum physics and his inventions.

So he walks around trying to catch his breath and then heads southeast.

He catches sight of the skeleton from his last reset in that same white lab coat.

Tony realises he's lost in thought staring off into the river.

"Hello?"

The skeleton turned towards him.

"Hi, you must be the human that fell into the underground. I'm Sans."

"I'm Tony."

Sans chuckled.

"Are you lost?"

"No, are you going to kill me?"

"No, the king already has monsters that do that."

"You're lying."

Tony saw the skeleton's shoulders tense.

"I heard that your father works for the king. He's trying to find a way to extract a human soul without killing a human."

His shoulders relaxed.

'Weird,' Tony thought. 'He was looking really nervous just seconds ago.'

"Nah, why waste the effort? It'd be pointless anyway if you just reset."

"You mean you know all about my time travel?" Tony asked in surprise.

"My father's a scientist kiddo."

"Are you his assistant?"

Sans turned towards Tony his eyes dilating.

"What makes you say that?"

"You know an awful lot about time travel despite only being just an assistant."

Sans looked away.

"I suppose I do."

"Really? That's awesome. Do you write your theories in a notebook?"

"No but my father does."

"Why do you think I have this ability, to reset I mean? Do you know what triggers it?"

"I don't know."

"I know the timeline seems to reset every time I die."

"Have you tried triggering a reset by simply wishing to?"

"What would be the point of that if I'm already making progress? I'm trying to get home," Tony asked. "I have no way of even saving things for my journey."

"Well, if you do manage to make a device like that it would be useful. If you had the time, you might even learn things that would take years to know."

"That's not a bad idea."

He tries Sans' idea. He wishes really hard that the timeline would reset putting his entire concentration in this thought.

When he opens his eyes, he's outside Napstablook's home again.

He visits Sans compelled to visit the skeleton for some reason. The skeleton that had once seemed lost in thought was now a skeleton who looked as though he were contemplating something.

Something Tony hadn't noticed from when he first talked with the skeleton was his posture. His shoulders were held tightly to his neck.

"Have we met before?"

"Yes we have," Tony said. "I did what you asked. I wished for the timeline to reset and it did."

"So what do you want from me, kid?"

"How do you think I could start from a later point in time?"

Sans was silent. Now that he was thinking about it Chara had said that he had reversed the timelines to kill Sans in many of the timelines but in some timelines he had done different things.

On that day, he would have been heading to Waterfall to pick up some supplies from Gerson's shop where the kid had obviously been planning to pick the buttercups. Chara had come with Toriel that day and dropped by his home postponing this trip for another day.

Chara also knew from previous timelines that Sans retained some memory of the previous timeline directly proceeding the current timeline. So resetting at an earlier point following a save in which Chara had killed him would have gave him foresight in knowing Chara's next moves and preparing for them.

From the way Chara was talking none of his timelines had he successfully completed his plan except the one Sans was currently residing in, meaning that killing him during that important event would have bled into the next timeline.

Chara could also use the fact that Sans had no memories of the future of his own timeline against him because of this. He would only know the intent and not the time of the event.

Meaning he had a way of knowing what events would prompt him into taking action and Chara could simply reset until he came across a timeline in which Sans wouldn't or couldn't intervene.

Judging by all this information it seemed that Chara simply had the intent of restarting at a later point in time.

"Wishing. It's done you well so far hasn't it?"

"Would you help me? Build the machine I mean?"

"What machine?"

"A machine that can restore items across time and space."

"Look kid, I wouldn't know the first thing about building a machine."

"You know a lot more about this ability that I have than I do," He said. "We can help each other. Surely you want to know how my abilities work?"

"I hope you don't expect us to be friends."

"I only need help gathering parts. We don't have to be friends but it'd be easier because this job does require a bit of trust."

"It'll amount to nothing if you are caught."

"Are you kidding me? I have the power to reset."

Sans shrugged.

"Well, let's get to it then."

With the ability to save and reset by simply wishing, Tony had managed to track in his notebook when the parts he needed washed up in the river from the human world.

Of course upon realising that Sans had snippets of memory from other timelines, Tony had immediately set forth to using Sans' memories from the other timeline.

Upon many resets, Tony had discovered through use of repetition that Sans' memory remained more clearer than reacting to his presence. He discovered that strong emotion triggered better memory of the event.

Sans groaned when Tony began to recite things he had remembered from the previous timeline.

"You're not thinking of plowing down all the information in my skull are you?"

"We're getting closer everyday and at least I save every time we retrieve a part so don't complain."

By the time they had finished the device it had winded up looking rather square.

"It's a little plain don't you think?" Sans asked.

"It's perfect for what it does," Tony said as he placed some Astronaut food in the box.

"You think it'll work?"

Tony smiled.

"I can always try and if it don't work, well we could always try again."

Sans held out his hand.

"I'll see you around, kid."

Tony reached out to shake his hand. A farting noise echoed throughout the junkyard and suddenly he was laughing.

"Goodbye."

He closes his eyes and concentrates hard wanting to reset the timeline. Once he is outside Napstablook's house again Tony turns on his heel and runs to the trash heap.

The box is still there and with it the memories of Sans. Sans isn't there. At this point he's probably peering at the river.

In the box however he discovers that the astronaut food remains in tact. He decides to reset the entire timeline knowing his experiment worked knowing the box will be there.

Tony wants to make more boxes and he makes a total of four boxes doing this over and over. He never tells Sans.

The first time he tells Sans his involvement with the boxes, Sans only thinks he's crazy.

"That box has always been there," He said.

It dawns on him that if he were to make more progress that he would inevitably encounter Asgore. There's pain in imagining that Asgore could be Sans. He quite likes Sans and his sense of humour. It was quite amazing how a little time between them meant everything to him.

After the boxes are created he doesn't seek out Sans' company although the lingering ache it leaves stings. He isn't sure he can live with the disappointment if Sans had discovered that he had to make a decision that either saved the lives of all the monsters or left all the monsters underground without a king.

He walked around exploring outside Waterfall for the first time and eventually stumbled across a weird village. A village of tiny cat like dog creatures called Temmie. Much of the pathways that were in the area were only lit up by blue glow in the dark mushrooms.

"welcom to tem village. tem look lost but now tem had found new home," one of the creatures said. It had a blue and yellow striped sweater and long grey hair.

"What are you talking about this isn't my new home? Are you crazy?" Tony asked.

Something about the cute fluffy aspect of the creatures was enticing a sense of joy from deep within his soul.

'What are these creatures doing to me?!'

"tem thinks tem will like tem village."

The temmie scuttled off into a large room that broke off from the rest of the village.

Tony saw there were cabinets with vials of bones, bandannas, bandages, dice and other knickknacks.

"What's all this?"

"tem are collectors. tem collect everythin. just sell to tem."

"Is this place a pawn shop?"

"wat a pawn shop?"

"It's a place where the owner buys things off it's customers."

"yes, dis pawn shop."

"You don't look like you get a lot of different customers do you?"

"tem monsters don no where tem village is. temmie sells things tho."

"It must be so boring down here."

"Nah, temmie visit tem monster villages. tem has many friends."

"Isn't it a little easy to get lost in here?"

"it gets hard for tems to visit tem other village but tem can get around. tem is hard to carry tem stuff tho."

"Really? I know something that can help you."

"Wow. Tem likes dis. yous can sell it to tem."

Tony had taken a box with him as a token memory of his friendship with the skeleton. Having met the acquaintance of the temmies however Tony felt a little sorry for the creatures who probably only had a pinch of brain cells left in their head.

It was extremely frightening to imagine these monsters trying to leave the village without getting lost.

He reluctantly sold the box.

Outside his numerous deaths, it was really quite fascinating exploring this power that he had. With that power however came a price.

Throughout many timelines, Tony had managed to make it to Asgore. The problem was finding the courage to kill him.

They had greeted each other like old friends.

"So you're finally here."

No one stops the human child from waltzing right into the castle.

"Why do you want to kill me?" Tony asked.

"Why do YOU want to kill me?"

"I want to go home. I know I have to kill a boss monster to go to the surface. I don't want to do it though."

"You know you remind me a lot about my son. He would always cry over the most silliest things. He's dead now."

"How did he die?"

"He was slaughtered by humans on the surface trying to take our adopted child back to the human village."

"You mean there was another human before me?"

"Yes."

"How did that human die?" He asked. Tony remembered his anger at the time.

"I don't know. He was very ill though."

"If they were on the surface how do you know that your son is dead?"

"Sans seen him. Judging by your expression, you two seem to know each other. I bet it has to do with all that time travel hocus pocus, getting a keen sense of deja vu."

"Surely you don't have to kill me."

"I have a lot at stake. So yes, I do."

Asgore had taken his soul many times. He never liked it but Tony could understand why he did it. Still it made him wonder whether the skeleton's distance had been attributed to that incident and if so did it also have to do with his interest in time travel?

With all this time he could try and get to know the skeleton more by prompting more dialogue after all Tony still could make choices.

Doing a hard reset, Tony had tried saving outside Napstablook's house and deliberately getting captured by Gerson three days after trying to see if getting captured early triggered anything.

When he had finally been taken to the castle, Gerson had prompted him to step forward.

"I've finally captured the human just like you asked, King Asgore."

The king looked up and his eyes widened.

"Have I seen you before?"

Tony chuckles sheepishly.

"Must be a trick of my eyes. Forgive me, young man."

Tony nods before the king turns towards the tortoise.

Thank you, Gerson."

"So when are you going to kill me?" Tony asked.

"I don't want to kill you. I have little choice."

"How does the queen feel about this?"

In other timelines, Tony had known Toriel rather well. She was rather soft towards him despite being a human.

Asgore frowned.

"I guess word travels fast in the underground."

"Well, it does help that I had a little encounter with a certain skeleton."

"Oh really?"

"I seen him walking with the queen just three days ago. I think they were going on a date in Waterfall."

"WHAT?!"

It must have been minutes after this revelation that Toriel had came in. Her eyes widened at the sight of Asgore.

Tony turned and saw the king making large puppy dog eyes.

"Tori, you went on a date with him?"

Toriel's eyebrows raised a hair and her eyes narrowed.

"Who're you talking about?"

Asgore sobbed.

"Why Sans, of course?"

Her eyes widened.

"What?"

"This kid, he saw you two going on a date three days ago."

Toriel felt her face heat up. How dare he accuse her of such a thing?

"We were just walking," She snapped.

Asgore ignored her.

"Tsk tsk, I think you just dug your own grave. I'm siding with Tori on this one," Gerson said.

Asgore's face turned flushed.

"Tori, look I didn't mean to-"

"You want to know the truth why don't you ask him yourself."

"Uh er, Gerson, could you get Sans for me?"

"Oh you have a 'bone' to pick with him?"Gerson asked with a crooked grin.

Toriel snickered.

Asgore frowned.

His grin faded.

"Well, at least the queen thought it was funny."

He left and it must have been minutes before he was back with the skeleton in question.

His eyes were wide and an innocent grin was plastered on the skeleton's face.

"Um, what's this about?"

"Sans, what is the meaning of this?"

"Um excuse me, your majesty but what are we talking about?"

"This human said he saw you walking with the queen three days ago."

Sans glanced at the human.

"How did he know it was me?"

The king's face grew grimmer.

"So it is true."

Sans felt his face heat up.

"What?" He asked in surprise. "Y-you're wrong. It wasn't a date. We were just taking a walk."

Toriel slapped her forehead.

Sans chuckled, sweat beading down his skull.

"Too much info?"

Toriel nodded.

It was the first time Tony had seen Sans looking so flustered.

"Look it wasn't a date alright?"

Toriel snorted and folded her arms.

"You don't need to justify it, Sans. It isn't your fault that the king rather believe a human over his own wife."

"It's alright. I'll admit it wasn't without ulterior motives. Truth is I've been feeling a little guilty over the way things have turned out y'know with the death of your son and I wanted to support you two however I can."

Asgore was quiet as he regarded the skeleton in front of him.

"Well he doesn't appear to be lying."

Toriel walloped him on the head.

"Have a little trust."

Tony's eyes widened at the exchange. The two seemed very happy together despite everything. Still Tony was a little shocked by the revelation that the skeleton had developed an interest in time travel from that event.

"Sorry, Tori."

"Now I think we can all forget this event had ever took place," She said with a smile. "If you're lost Sans can take you home."

"Um...sure."

Despite having been taken from the castle by Sans before Asgore can kill him, Tony still dies in a matter of days.

After this he resets when he was at the beginning of cave wanting to try some more. Tony don't spot Sans at his usual spot but instead enjoys his life as Napstablook's companion. He accepts the inevitability that everything he does will be pointless.

"something is upsetting you. i know we're not acknowledging this but i heard writing in a diary can help. my cousin collects diaries too."

This time he writes in his notebook everything that happens in his day to day life. He doesn't see the skeleton by the river and has a feeling he never will. Still he has many things to tell the skeleton. He writes it all down in his notebook.

This time when he's running from Gerson, the spear punctures his body. Tony clings to his bloody chest wound. He collapses on the ground without seeing the horror on the tortoise's face.

End Notes:

The box: I know in the game the box works in a different way than addressed in this fic but I think it adds a different twist to have it able to save items it's acquired through time.