Well above snowy pine steeples, the Ruins' purple walls towered visibly from a mile away. You and Sans trudged toward them as a beacon. Yesterday's weather had spread a plush winter blanket to your knees. Though following in Sans' tracks made it easier, you fell behind as your legs quickly froze into popsicles.

Sans opted to carry you on his back, then. It was the least he could do, he said, while his teleportation magic recovered. Nothing would stop him. For the first time in a while, you hated your decrease in stature.

"I hope you're right," you said over his shoulder. Your breath misted alongside his cheekbone. "She's never reopened the door before."

"eh." He shrugged passively. "not all ravens are black."

At the Ruins' gate, Sans shuffled over to a bush on its far right. There, cradled in the branches behind dark leaves, rested one of Alphys' many cameras. Its light blinked green: active. Sans hunched over and mischievously waved into the lens. You hung over his shoulder and stuck out your tongue.

"'sides, you know her," he went on. He picked at his teeth in the optic's reflection, if only to mess with the dinosaur watching. "prob'ly worried sick. it'd help if she at least heard our voices."

Your finger had been wriggling halfway up your nose when shame washed over you—as it should have, but not for the obvious reason. Toriel had asked for a call when everything was settled; however, somewhere in your rush to get to Snowdin you had lost your phone. You wished you remembered her old number like you did Papyrus'.

Sans caught your expression in the glass and smiled reassuringly.

"'s not your fault, bud. yer only human."

He let you down by the entrance. The heights of the Ruins shot so far above, your neck nearly broke to seek them out. Sans' gaze failed to follow, too preoccupied with the pillar-flanked door ahead. By the time your eyes fell back to earth, his fist readied to knock but … stayed put. You could see sweat gathering on his skull and hollowness driving into his eye sockets.

"y'told her, huh?" he asked finally. The lights of his pupils shifted to you askance. "'what i did … what i almost did."

Your feet scraped through the snow; the sound grated into your ears like sandpaper. Your cold hands hid in your sleeves.

"It was the only way she'd let me go," you admitted.

He'd thought so.

He took a preparatory breath and rapped his knuckles against the cool amethyst. It sounded so quiet from this side, but you knew well how tiny breaths shook like thunder in that foyer. Your head swirled with images of fire and magic hands rushing to sweep up your soul—but you had not seen them this time. This time, she had let you go without a fight.

He had barely finished the final stroke when you heard a voice, hoarse with the gravel of waking words.

"Who's there?" Toriel asked.

Sans hesitated a second, but not long before a small smile tugged at his cheekbones. He leaned into the barrier between them, mouth almost flush with the stone.

"cash."

"Cash who?"

"heh … more of a pistachio guy m'self."

When Toriel's laughter bubbled contagiously through the door, Sans chuckled too. Then, Toriel knocked back.

"who's there?" he asked.

"Mist."

Sans' genuine smile softened at once, hidden when his forehead fell to meet the stone. "mist who?"

"Missed you."

You found yourself smiling wider than you rightly should, but it diminished when Sans wiped quickly at his face with his indigo sleeve. He stood still, his back to you.

"missed you too, door lady," he said quietly.

It hadn't struck you until then how close Sans and Toriel had been to start, and how terribly distant they had become after leaving the Underground. After you had rejected the offer to live with her and chose Sans instead, Toriel had—perhaps inadvertently—began building a wall between them. In less time than seemed fair, their relationship had become purely surface-level … and though Sans had respected her boundaries, he had never fully recovered.

Yet another thing you ruined, you thought.

"will ya let me in?" he asked timidly.

A long pause lingered before Toriel stammered, "Oh, well, I … I promised myself I would never …"

"kid's here too."

"Hey, mom."

"Oh! Greetings, my ch … . D-did you just call me 'Mom?'"

You snickered.

"please," said Sans. "just this once. it'd mean a lot … to me."

After several moments of silence, the inner mechanisms clapped and clanged against each other as the gears of a massive clock. You and Sans took a few steps back to make way for the door as it swung slowly outward. The snow scraped away in a quarter circle to reveal Toriel, tall and soft and beautiful as always.

She and Sans regarded each other bashfully. For the once queen of monsters, this was their first face-to-face encounter, though Sans had met her nearly a hundred times before.

This time, though … this time was different.

Sans looked up into her face trepidly, eyes brighter than you had seen them all day. Something like joy, something like fear, gleamed out of them like the tiny fireflies they were. They sparked and dilated as she bent down and dwarfed him in an inescapable hug.

"I am so sorry," she said gently.

His stick-straight spine melted like coconut oil, and he folded into her like a paper doll.

Upstairs, Toriel asked you to get comfortable while she disappeared into the kitchen. You took a seat at the table. Sans, meanwhile, spun his eyes around "Home" and released a low, slow whistle.

"heh, weird. we passed through here on the way down, but … guess i never realized that new home is just a recreation o' this old place. 'cept gray. i guess asgore couldn't capture the soul—pun intended."

"I just thought that when Toriel left him, she took all the color with her."

"deep."

In a matter of moments, said boss monster had returned with rewarmed butterscotch-cinnamon pie, which she sliced and served to you both at the kitchen table. While it smelled delicious, you had gone so long without human food you longed for what it might feel like. Your tongue salivated at the thought of some gosh darn pizza.

The dessert filled your soul with warmth as usual, as if Toriel had pumped emotion into its very substance. Something about it felt different, however; still good, just not what you remembered.

Sans nearly choked on his first bite.

When you faced him, he was staring at his portion, face ablaze with a royal blue flush. He glanced stiffly at Toriel, who only smiled innocently. With every bite, he seemed to be having a spiritual experience, as if it were transforming him from the inside out. Though you did not know it, he certainly sensed it: a piece of his soul resurrecting, a few cracks inside him thinning away.

When he finished, he granted your hostess a knowing, appreciative look. "thanks, tori. can i call ya tori?"

"Of course," she said warmly.

"so, uh …" Sans stared at the crumbs on his plate thoughtfully. "truth is, we have a little more in our brain ovens than the pie. might've noticed yesterday the kid knew a few slices more than they should."

Toriel's gaze teetered between you. "I did find it rather … odd."

Sans eyed you one trepid moment. "mind if i explain?" he asked.

You shook your head "no."

"there's somethin' fishy going on with, well … time," Sans went on. "the kid's been back and forth, rompin' through the underground. they've … set us free a few times now and lived to tell the tale. heh, i just stuck around for the ride."

"You mean," said Toriel with hesitation, "you're from the … future?"

You and Sans exchanged worried glances. You supposed she was right but when she described it like that … You bit your lip and dug your fingernails into the table's edge. The wood grain captured your interest.

"uh …" Sans began slowly. "bit more complicated. more like … the video tape rewound and most of us don't remember since we're not the ones pressing the button."

"I have been experiencing many deja vu moments since the child's arrival," Toriel admitted. "Tell me, if we are not the ones controlling this, then … ?"

"It's my fault," you interjected.

Sans and Toriel turned to you with contrasting expressions.

" I pressed the button," you said. "The resets … what happened to Sans. He remembers everything, and I made him relive the same moments over and over until he couldn't take …"

"kid."

The edge in Sans' voice cut you short. His eyes were closed tightly.

"It's true," you persisted, if a bit more sheepishly. "It's why I knew so much about him, and you. I'm really, really sorry." Your hands curled into fists. "It won't happen anymore."

Toriel's burgundy eyes had widened with many difficult-to-place emotions. "But … but how … ?"

"that's one thing we wanna figure out," Sans sighed. "first step is always 'go back to the start,' right?"

Outside Home, you and Sans waited for Toriel by that massive, leafless tree in the courtyard. Sans had surfaced his phone and tapped a few buttons on the touch screen, to which blue lights blinked into life by the camera. He swept it as if taking a panoramic photo of the old maple from root to branch. On the screen, however, you glimpsed charts and graphs, numbers, and symbols.

You had caught a peek of him modifying his phone the evening before, but whatever it was he had done, he hadn't mentioned it yet. Those readings must have been rather ordinary, since he pocketed it nonplussed.

You glanced back toward Home as a precaution and then leaned in close. "What was that about?"

"ah … temporal scan. seemed to me this tree's a little too happy to be underground."

"No, not that. The pie."

"oh." Sans also glanced back to the still-empty doorway. "well, y'see, pal … magic's all about emotion, and monster food is imbued with magic, so … ain't really too dissimilar. nice cream makes you have nice thoughts, glam burger makes you wanna vogue … you've noticed that." He pocketed his hands below a softening smile. "heh. lady wasn't even sure she'd open the door, but made me pie anyway." His eyes closed fondly. "sure is somethin'."

Indirect sunlight rippled through the barrier as if through water, casting the site of your landing into a field of gold waves. The bed of yellow flowers spread in full blossom, happy and healthy, minus a bald, torn patch where you must have hit the earth. Cool patches of water speckled the cave floor, filling you with the familiar aroma of wet minerals. Roots spiderwebbed from the walls toward a barely visible cliff edge above.

That fall should have killed you.

"eesh," Sans hissed. "you didn't tell me you fell from the space needle."

The three of you stared upward into the distant light, but as your stomach pirouetted, you averted your eyes. You had always said you "fell." Always. Down stairs. Down hills. Down here. After this long, would it do any good to say otherwise?

In the corner of your eye, something green and yellow moved. It disappeared the moment you turned your head.

Flowey?

Your eyes scoured the cave, but if he were there, he didn't show.

"huh," said Sans, retrieving your attention once more.

He had crouched by the flower patch with his phone out. Toriel stood beside him and, soon, so did you.

"Are you going to be suspicious of every photosynthesizer we cross?" you teased.

Sans chuckled. "nah … but somethin's off here. either that or the scanner's messing up."

You checked the display over his shoulder but could make neither heads nor tails of it. Through the screen, everything within camera view was analyzed—in this case, the patch of flowers—but the readings answered in strange symbols, the majority of which were hands.

"frisk, stand over there, would ya?"

You relocated to the wall and found yourself under the scrutiny of his device. The fact that he hadn't done this sooner surprised you—or maybe he had already done it behind your back. After this, he flipped between the two results, muttering to himself.

"definitely traces of time funk, but not enough to be the cause of anything." He tore his eyes from the screen and lifted them to Toriel. "you seen any weird goings-on 'round here? noticed anything that … shouldn't be?"

"No," she said with a regretful shake of her head. "I would have noticed. I come here every day."

Nervously, she bent down and whispered something into Sans' tympanic cavity. His face sobered and his ocular lights softened. He touched Tori's arm supportively.

After scanning everything from the puddles to the walls, Sans walked to where you sat among a bed of moss and rocks. His eye sockets were dim, rimmed with dark, tired circles.

"hate to say it, but there's not much going on here," he said, flipping through the results.

You chewed your tongue as if limbering it up for the question you had suppressed all day. "You said the first step is to 'go back to the start,' right? Wouldn't that technically be … the rift?"

"not a good idea." Sans' expression became firm. "'s too dangerous, kid."

"But if that's the source of all this, then …"

" , ' n o . ' "

Darkness settled over the cave, your queue to give it up. You grew concerned when a light tremble ran up his spine, but it faded quickly. His shoulders relaxed and he dipped his head.

"trust me, there's nothin' to see down there," he said softly. "even if there were, we should figure out what we can up here before trying somethin' so … drastic."

Toriel escorted you to the Ruins' exit. Cold air bled through the cracks in a draft that would be bothersome if any closer to Home. The stone barrier clapped and clanged as it had before, as it did every time, and groaned heavily open.

Toriel handed each of you a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie to go, wrapped in parchment paper and sealed with a heart-shaped sticker. You threw yourself into her warm white fur and purple tunic, where she held you longer than necessary, but for far less time than you would ever want.

When you turned to leave, Sans stayed put.

"i'll, uh, be out in a minute, kiddo," he said shyly. "wanna have a quick word with goat mom."

You obliged, however reluctantly, and slipped out the door into the cold.

Outside, the already frigid air had dropped yet a few more degrees. Your breath nearly left you in icicles. Judging by the crisp layer of white over your old tracks, the winter spell resting over Snowdin must have flurried more since heading indoors.

You observed the twinkling crystals overhead that sought to mimic stars. They never came close. A timeline came to mind, one where you had lingered after breaking the barrier long enough for the real celestial bodies to arrive. It gutted you, now, to think how Sans had stayed behind that evening, watching the sparkling skyscape alongside you. How many times had he looked you in the face that night, searching for an answer? How many times had you failed to see the apprehension, the hope, the blatant plea in the stars of his own eyes?

Something rustled the brush, and as you turned you glimpsed a shadow moving deeper into the woods. Your curiosity got the best of you. Trudging through knee-high piles of snow, your feet eventually carried you to the treeline. Among the foliage nearby you saw nothing, but in the distance, something shifted again. You glanced back and then ventured a little farther.

As soon as you passed the forest's threshold, something spiraled around your ankles. A green noose snapped taut and snatched your feet from under you. Snow, twigs, and dirt scraped violently against your backside what felt like miles until you were lifted upside down, well out of sight from the Ruins' door. You shouted and struggled pointlessly as more vines clenched your arms in place.

"You IDIOT," said a small, grating voice.

You stiffened. The ivy turned you to face a small, yellow flower. Rage distorted his white countenance in impossible ways.

"Flow—mph!"

Another vine gagged you before you could say more.

"What do you think you're doing, Chara?!" he screamed. He swung you closer, inches from the florets of his face. "You think I didn't notice the little stunt you pulled back there?"

Your eyes started watering, your face burning.

"Do you think taking away resets will change anything? You think I'll lose interest if you're as powerless as everyone else? HUH?" His fake smile slipped back into place. "I could be overreacting. Something this interesting hasn't happened in, well, ever. Not since that little game I played with trashbag's brother."

Malintent reignited on his face. He constricted his vines, as if the blood rushing to your brain weren't bad enough. You gasped and writhed against the roots slowly entombing you.

"I wonder what happens if I kill you now," Flowey said. "Maybe if you're out of the picture, the power to reset will come back to me. But I think you know that's not what I really want. I think you've seen how this ends, and I think you've seen it more than once. So, Chara … knowing everything I have in mind … what're you gonna do about it?"

A/N: Oh, no! A cliffhanger. I don't like doing those but this was the best place to leave the chapter. I wrote into the next scene but at that point it just started to feel too . . . draggy. Sorry, y'all.

Updates! Aiming to post once every two weeks. That said, I don't want to overwork myself or burn myself out, so I'm keeping that pretty flexible. I'm excited about my ideas so I'm hoping things will come sooner rather than later on average, just like in this case.

Chapters! I reworked some things and the outline is sitting at exactly 20 chapters. Let's see how well I stick to that.

Title! I plan to take away the "No More" subtitle in the next update.

Tumblr! I'm preparing to start also posting this series on Tumblr. I've got the account set up but I'm an artist (professionally) and I'd like to make some chapter illustrations to go with the posts, just some simple stuff. (I might regret that.) I'll be sure to drop the account name when I've got it rolling, hopefully in the next update.

Next Chapter! While Sans and Toriel talk some things out, Flowey has Frisk all diddly darn tied up. Will Sans get to them in time to help? (See that? I basically just told you nothing. Look how sorry I am about that cliffhanger.)

Thank you for reading! If you have any thoughts or feelings, please don't hesitate to express them!