Hi! Sorry for the long wait. I meant to upload the chapter on Christmas day, but that didn't happen because I was too indecisive about it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I hope you enjoy!

...Percy Jackson opened his eyes and found himself sitting in the snow by the Snowdin Town shop. He sat there for a minute and then jumped up, eyes wide. What just HAPPENED? Percy thought to himself loudly. Weren't we dead!?

He shivered, and then looked back out at his surroundings. Same as before, there was a faint yellow Save Point, that box with the glove inside, the shop, and the inn. Percy looked at the inn for a minute, and then stood up and opened the door.

He tentatively walked up to the smiling bunny woman at the counter. "Welcome to Snowed Inn!" she said. "Snowdin's premier hotel! One night is 80G." Percy's heart sank. He had used up most of his money at the shop already. He checked his pockets anyways and was surprised to find that he had enough to pay for a stay at the inn.

Percy handed her 80G, and she handed him a key in return. "Here's your room key. Make sure to bundle up!" Percy nodded his thanks and went up the stairs to his room, thinking.

When he got into the room, he sat down on the bed and scratched his head, trying to work out why he was there. And why was he alive at all? His hand brushed against the bow he had put in his hair a while ago using the Faded Ribbon. Percy's eyes widened. When he had gone to the shop, he bought a Manly Bandana and put it around his head. It had only fit after he took off the Faded Ribbon.

He had never gone to the shop, though, had he? Not this time anyway. That's also why he had enough money for the inn. It must be. Percy recalled what Sans had said mid-fight, and this time he understood much more of what the skeleton had meant: "our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting... until suddenly, everything ends. heh heh heh... that's your fault, isn't it?"

Those "Save Points," as he had dubbed them, must have something to do with this time travel business. When he was... revived, he ended up back at the Save Point.

But... how had Sans already known about the time travel before it even happened? This must not be the first time someone time-traveled around Sans, then. But how did he even know that time travel was happening? It didn't make any sense.

Percy lay down on his bed, uneasy. He tried to sleep, but it was a fitful sleep, and nightmares haunted him all through the night. When he finally gave up on sleep and let himself wake up, he was kind of just cold and miserable, despite the soft bed. He also couldn't for the life of him tell what time it was, since there was no clock and not even any sun to look at.

He dragged himself down the stairs, and when the bunny saw him she called out, "Hiya! How was your sleep?" When he glanced at her, she smiled sympathetically. "That bad, huh? I'm sorry you had a bad sleep, honey. Here's your money back." She handed him 80G. Percy took the money she offered and looked back up at her, surprised at her kindness. "You can pay me if you sleep well next time," she said. Percy gave her a small, sincere smile, and said to her, "Thank you... I appreciate it."

He waved goodbye and walked out into the snow. Despite his nightmares, Percy was touched by that lady's kindness, and he felt ready for the day! Well, it could be night since he still couldn't tell what time it was.

Percy smiled to himself and looked around at the pure white snow. He started back on his way to the place where he had, ahem, encountered Papyrus most recently. His good attitude was a bit dulled by that thought, but he went nonetheless.

Not long after he started walking, Percy saw a pine tree in the middle of town that looked like it had been carefully decorated. It also had presents packed around the base, and when Percy stopped to look, he saw that some of the presents were addressed from "Santa" to various locals. A polar bear crouched down near the base of the tree, holding a present.

When the bear noticed Percy standing there, he said, "Awful teens tormented a local monster by decorating its tree-like horns. So we started giving that monster presents to make it feel better. Now it's a tradition to put presents underneath a decorated tree."

Percy stood there for a second, and then quietly chuckled to himself. Well, guess that's how Christmas-like celebrations came underground! Percy looked up at the distant cave ceiling, grinning to himself. How did it snow down here, anyways? Percy shook his head, smiling. None of the stuff down here seemed to make sense, yet it had started to become sense.

As soon as he walked past the Christmas tree, Percy caught sight of Grillby's again, and his grin fell into a guilty smile. Percy wanted to see if Doggo was okay, so he peeked in through the window. He saw Doggo sitting at the counter, arm bandaged but alive and well enough. To Percy's surprise, Sans sat next to Doggo at the counter.

The two monsters were speaking together quietly, and Percy thought he probably knew what they were talking about. Though he couldn't see the skeleton's face, Percy knew Sans probably wasn't happy to hear who sliced his sword through Doggo's forearm, accident or not.

Percy stood there in the window, thinking. He wanted to apologize to Doggo, but he wasn't sure what to say, especially with Sans there.

Ah, forget it, he didn't use to think about things this much, it was time to just go for it!

Percy opened the door to Grillby's and stood in the doorway, determined. When Sans heard the door open, he looked at who it was, and when he saw Percy, his eyes darkened and narrowed. When Doggo heard the door open he looked towards the door, sat there for a second, and then said, "Who's there?"

Everyone was staring at him, the new person in town. Percy started walking toward the two monsters at the counter and said, "My name is Percy Jackson." When Doggo saw Percy move, he bent his ears down against his head, and he shrank back and growled, holding his bandaged paw with his good arm. Sans clenched his fist. Everyone looked at Doggo as he growled, and then they stared back at the newcomer.

Percy sat down on a stool just to the left of Doggo, and he said, "I'm sorry about your arm." Sans warily let the lights come back into his eyes. Doggo stopped growling, but he still shrank back from Percy. Everyone else continued to stare at Percy, and it seemed like they were probably missing a few details. "It was an accident," Percy continued, "And I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

Doggo's ears lifted a bit, but Sans narrowed his eyes and said aloud, "how's that been going for ya?" Percy looked at Sans, surprised. Was there any way he could know about Papyrus? ...Or himself? Percy looked away at Lesser Dog playing poker with itself. "It's been, uh, complicated," he said, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Sans kept staring at Percy with that dark expression. Doggo warily shrank back again, still holding his arm. Everyone else in the room just stared at whoever of them last spoke. At last, Sans broke the silence and said, "let's go outside." His expression didn't change as he got out of his seat and walked towards the door, expecting Percy to follow.

Although he was worried about what Sans might do when they were alone, Percy got up, but Doggo mumbled to himself, "I'll just stay here." Percy looked at Doggo with one last apologetic expression before he went outside to meet Sans.

He went out into the cold air and saw Sans walking away and motioning for him to follow, and Percy warily did so. They walked out into the forest quite a ways, far enough that nobody in town would hear them talking. Then Sans finally turned around, and he said after a moment, "...that expression that you're wearing..." Sans closed his eyes for a moment.

Percy waited anxiously to hear what Sans was going to say. When the skeleton finally opened his eyes, it was with a dark expression that Percy was chillingly used to. Sans said softly, "well, i won't grace it with a description."

Percy once again recalled the feeling of dust on his hands, and the sight of Papyrus' red scarf lying in the white snow, not far away from where Sans and Percy lay dying in the snow. The sound of Sans laughing before he disintegrated into dust, and the sickening feeling of Percy's soul shattering inside of his body.

Percy looked down at the ground. Did Sans remember any of that? Or maybe know about it some other way?

"I'm sorry..." Percy whispered.

Sans stayed silent for a moment. "well, that's better than what i expected, all things considered," he finally said. When Percy glanced back at Sans, he saw that the lights had returned to his eyes, although the skeleton still glared down at him.

"what are you gonna do next, then, huh?" The question caught Percy by surprise, and he wasn't sure how to answer.