Chapter Text
RESET
Sans suddenly woke up with a gasp, unsure of exactly what he'd woken up from, but he had a feeling it was bad based on how much it seemed to get under his skin. The skeleton grabbed at his panting chest, looking down and half expecting to find a red slash across his torso for some strange reason. He could hear Papyrus calling for him downstairs, and Sans slowly, shakily pulled himself out of bed, trying to shake off his unease as exhaustion from another night of little sleep sunk in. He was so tired; it felt like he hadn't slept at all, though he knew that wasn't the case, as he'd woken up from a nightmare he could no longer remember.
Down in the kitchen, Papyrus kept talking about how he could feel in his bones that a human would fall today, and Sans had the same feeling, only it was accompanied by dread, the unease from his forgotten nightmare creeping down his spine, as chilling as the Grim Reaper's fingers. After forcing down his brother's honestly inedible pasta, because try as he might, his brother was cool, but his pasta... well.... it was bad to the bone. Sans had a strong sense of deja vu the whole time, but didn't pay any mind to it, a decision that would come back to haunt him, and not for the first time. After they left the house, with Papyrus's steps quick and well-paced and Sans's slow and his feet dragging in the snow, Sans went to patrol by the Ruins, like he did every morning. To his somewhat surprise, a human child exited through the old magenta doors, though the kid was covered in dust and they had an unnerving smile on their face.
The human stumbled through the snow, feet catching on ice chunks, arms hanging at their sides, and they seemed like a puppet being controlled by strings, but the puppeteer was unskilled in how to make the marionette not look so boneless. The smile was as wide as the kid's eyes, which were opened as wide as they could be, even with the gusts of wind hitting them in the face. They were unbothered by the cold, despite only wearing a blue and pink sweater, blue pants, and brown boots, despite Sans knowing humans could feel cold, not even a shiver going through their body. Their face was one he felt he recognized, the look of someone who's killed many times now, and he forced down the feeling of being rattled for now, opting to try getting more information on them first.
Sans couldn't help but feel like he'd seen this all before, chills going down his spine with each second that passed, but he wasn't sure how they were familiar. He stalked them silently, hiding behind the pine trees of the pathway, eventually breaking a branch under his foot in an attempt to draw their attention, but they just kept walking. Sans was confused, but figured they probably hadn't heard him, so he approached them later on, though they turned around before he'd said to when he'd approached. Then they hadn't even attempted to play along with Papyrus's puzzles, and Sans could tell they were heading down a bad path, even tried to warn them against it, but they didn't listen.
Then he got a sudden feeling in his soul that he needed to go to the path to Waterfall as fast as he could, and he teleported there just in time to see Papyrus, arms wide to hug the human... have his head cut off sliced off at the neck. The child left as he turned to dust, not sparing a glance at him, and Sans ran to his brother as he disintegrated, crying cyan tears as his brother's scarf fell into his arms. The short skeleton fell to his knees, tears falling onto his brother's dust as it was slowly covered by snow, the human continuing through the blizzard and going out of sight. Sans glared after the human as he put his brother's scarf in a large inside pocket of his coat, pulling himself to his feet, brushing off snow that had gathered on him.
He watched as they killed everyone else in the Underground, smiling as they turned everyone Sans knew to dust, and the skeleton knew his time was coming as well. Sans met them in Judgement Hall, the place of his oncoming death, and he could tell by their expression how many times he'd killed them, but then... he'd lost. He was slashed across the chest, bright red liquid he did yet didn't know he even had because he knew what it was and it shouldn't be possible for him to have it without dying from it. Only Undyne could have some Determination, and even that had caused her to melt eventually.
Sans wasn't stupid though, not with the way he seemed to sweat during their fight, his bones liquifying a bit as the fight continued, exhaustion seeping into his movements and slowing his attacks, but he'd been determined to stop them. Asgore and that stupid flower were the only ones left, other than the refugees, and when Sans had gone to check on Alphys... he only found her dust on the floor in the lab, away from the few remaining members of the Underground's population. Everyone he knew was dead, and it was up to him to convince them to stop, to just Reset, an ability he'd figured out they had based on their expressions, and bring everyone back; give them the happy ending they deserved. They didn't want to do that, though, not when they had so much fun being a genocidal maniac ranking up LV and Execution Points like a trick or treater with a great costume getting candy.
Sans stumbled behind a pillar, not wanting them to get the satisfaction of seeing him die, his hands turning to a mix of dust and goo from the Determination he didn't understand how he had, and he sluggishly reached into his jacket pocket. It took a few tries, his hands not responding or just simply vanishing, but he succeeded at grabbing his scarf, Determination dripping from Sans's mouth and onto the dusty fabric. Tears fell from his eye sockets, holding the scarf to his chest and dampening it quickly as his knees gave out, his vision blurring and eye sockets almost melting shut before everything went black, his soul shattering a moment later after his body had dissipated into a mess on the floor.
Sans woke up again, clutching at his chest in panic, the same way he had previously, but this time, the memories of his "nightmare" remained, burned into his mind and covering his vision like a film he couldn't bling away. Is this what he'd woken up from before, or had that all just been another bad dream? Surely enough, it wasn't, as everything happened the exact same way all over again, the day filled with death and despair, Sans once again meeting his demise. The whole time he tried so hard to rationalize why they'd done this; why they felt such a need to kill everyone. They hadn't done anything to deserve such a fate, so why... why did they kill everyone?....
And this happened again...
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Should I tell someone?
And again.
And again.
And again.
They won't remember....
And again.
When will it end?...
And again.
And again.
And again.
Stop, please...
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again. Timelines blurred together in a haze.
And again.
And again.
And again. How many times had this happened?....
And again.
And again.
Please, stop...
And again.
And again.
And again. Why didn't they just stop?...
And again.
And again.
No... no......
And again.
And again.
PLEASE, STOP!!!!
And again.
And again. They killed someone a different way, and Sans's soul fluttered with faint excitement from the change.
And again.
And again.
And again.
They wouldn't stop.
And again.
And again. Nothing new again.
And again.
And again.
He didn't care anymore, he knew it wouldn't end.
And again.
And again. Something new, more faint excitement.
And again.
And again. Timelines blurred together, it could be a dozen or hundreds, maybe thousands...
I.. don't...... care... anymore!
And again.
And again.
It would never end, why bother pleading for mercy when they knew none?
And again.
And again. Another new thing, more excitement that grew in the overwhelming hole inside of him his emotions once were.
And again.
And again. Something new. They offered him to join him, and he declined without a second thought, spitting Determination in their face as he died.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined. Timelines blurred together again, he couldn't tell them apart.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
And again. They offered again, he declined.
It happened over and over, each time exactly the same, never changing other than Sans's deaths growing faster, the human dying less and less from remembering his attacks that he couldn't change. He'd honestly lost count of how many times it'd happened, and he slowly became numb to it all. Death was a daily occurrence to him, his life so filled with the loss of lives around him before eventually his own, and it was such a monotony that Sans was completely desensitized to it. He didn't seek out his brother, he didn't try to stop Alphys from ending her own life, and he accepted his death at the end, no longer fighting to get them to reset, his requests lacking hope, and he just repeated everything because... well... nothing ever changed here, and if they wouldn't change things, why should he? Sans was sure that if he didn't have Determination, he would be dead from a lack of hope, but he wasn't an ordinary monster, now was he?
The human always seemed to look forward to him the most, eagerly anticipating their fight and killing everyone as fast as they could, hurrying into Judgement Hall to face him. He didn't know why they were so obsessed with him, but he knew it was a bad thing, and yet... he just couldn't care.
"this is it, huh?..." Sans asked again, the words practically a mantra with how many times he'd said them, and he panted a bit, clutching his wound as he continued, starting to head behind his designated grave, "welp, i'm going to grillby's... papyrus, do you want anything?..."
"Wait just a minute.... I didn't come all this way for nothing." The human said, and Sans looked at them tiredly. Why couldn't they just let him die already? "I have a request to make of you."
"a request for you? after what you did?" Sans asked as Determination dripped from his mouth in the same way it always did, "hehe... go off yourself."
The human grinned at him, and continued, "Are you sure, Sans? If saved in time would you kill monsters with me? Try something new?" The human proposed, and it was absolutely preposterous.
Sans's eyelights vanished in his shock at the sheer audacity they had to offer that to him. And then... Sans erupted in laughter, a forced smile on his face.
"i thought you were crazy before, but you really took it to another level. i will never be scum like you!" Sans snapped as he settled down from his laughing fit, his timer continuing to count down towards his death.
"You always do that.... the fake smile thing. You weren't like that, Sans. Not at the beginning..... Your smile was different at the beginning, you know my words are true. That smile is your one last hope. I remember how I thought. Your laugh.... your smile..." The human's face broke into a wider, unhinged grin, "Oh~ When I went back! That look on your face!" The human laughed, "That first time that I Reset this world! You tried so hard to rationalize why! You started thinking 'Should I tell someone? They won't remember.... I.. don't...... care... anymore!'!"
Sans could hear himself thinking that, and he narrowed his eye sockets at them as they kept monologuing while he slowly died.
"You want to continue, or stop. Anything other than Reset. So.... To avoid the pain... you closed yourself off. But when I do something new, you feel something. Something new."
"i don't. i......" Sans started, but the human cut him off like they cut open his ribs.
"Don't lie to me, Sans. I have seen what you are! A part of you enjoys hurting me! Trying new things and feeling new things!" The human said, and Sans realized they probably figured out he remembered by him changing his attacks in an attempt to end their existence once and for all, but that was a fruitless effort, "And getting hurt by them. That's why..... I give you this opportunity to do something new. I want you to kill everybody with me, but don't worry, they won't remember after I Reset. Come with me, Sans! Let's kill them all!"
They were actually crazy.
Sans spat Determination in their face, glaring daggers at them as the liquid dripped from their skin onto the floor, like the wound on his chest dripped, like the Determination on their blade dripped.
"like i said..... no........ go... ... off... ......yourself." Sans spat, eyelights weak and he felt himself being a moment away from dusting, seeing and hearing one last thing before he died again.
"This is the one hundredth and seventy sixth time you've said no to me! Maybe I need a new way to persuade you."
Something changed. Something in his mind changed, he could feel it the moment he woke up. He wasn't sure what it was, and a part of his soul was almost excited by it, and Sans spend the timeline trying to figure it out, but nothing held any promise... until their offer once again came to him as he turned to dust.
"Oh come on, Sans. That's the two hundredth time you've said no to me." The human sighed as he stared at them blankly after rejecting them, but this time it seemed more difficult to do so, something pulling at his mind to just say yes. "Don't you want all this to end? I know you don't feel anything anymore, but I'm offering to change that. I'm offering you to feel something new. You'll only have to do it just once, and then it'll all be over... So what do you say?"
They offered him their knifeless hand, and he stared at it in defeat and pain... before finally shaking it, his body practically moving on it's own. Their face lit up with a sinister grin.
"See you next Reset then, comedian." The human said, and everything went black as he turned to dust.
When he woke up, he just teleported outside of the Ruins, skipping breakfast, and not long after, the dust covered human exited the Ruins, looking at him with a smile.
"Ready?" They asked him, and he nodded, just wanting to get this over with.
They both massacred the Underground in no time, monsters screaming in panic, fear, and confusion as one of their own slaughtered them alongside a human. A part of him even found it fun, just like they'd said, but he buried that feeling in numbness, the timeline flashing by in a blur of emotions, pain, screams, and something new. One timeline turned into two, which turned into three, which turned into.... Sans lost count.
They told him so many things; that their name was Chara, about themself, and in return the words pulled themself out of Sans's mouth outside of his control. They'd whisper things to him, murmurs that echoed in his head endlessly, sometimes replacing any and all other thoughts. He could go on autopilot after so many resets, just following their instructions and letting his mind empty was so much easier than dealing with the pain of the emotions Chara promised him would go away, as long as he listened to them... To his best friend...
He lost count when black liquid started trickling from his eye sockets, he lost count when the liquid grew and his soul was agonized, he lost count when everything was an even bigger blur and an even bigger, insane haze, the only constant was Chara's presence that grew to be a chilling reminder and a twisted comfort at the same time. Everything flickered after the blur continued for a while, and Sans found himself seeing his own hands opening the closet in his room, Chara leaning against the wall, looking at him with a smile as he searched through his clothes for something new. They stepped behind him, an arm around his shoulders and their mouth next to his skull, whispering things to him.
"Not that one, Sans."
Sans stilled, hand hovering in front of a purplish blue jacket.
"No, that isn't right for you, partner."
Sans moved his hand away from a light gray hoodie, hovering in front of a dark blue jacket with a fluffy tan hood, waiting for their approval or denial. They hummed next to him, and he saw them nodding from the corner of his vision, so he grabbed the jacket, putting it under his arm as his hand hovered in front of a black turtleneck.
"That looks good, Sans. Grab that... It'll make your soul stand out more..."
Sans grabbed it, his hollow eye sockets hiding his gaze as he looked over at them.
"Good. You have good taste, partner..."
Sans reached towards a pair of dark blue shorts upon looking back at the closet, and Chara tsked, making him stop moving.
"No, not that one. You lost me there. Grab this one instead."
Their hand reached forward, their arm now visible as they gently grabbed his wrist, Sans letting them move it to a pair of white shorts with a black stripe on each side, an inverse of his current ones. Their arm was a green sleeve, Sans able to see what they really looked like outside of the body they were possessing, controlling it like a puppet, like they were controlling him, but they didn't need to possess him for that. He let them guide his movements like he was nothing more than their marionette, not unused to them guiding his movements, his arm slack as they moved his arm to it, holding it there.
"Right there. That one. You're going to look much better with this wardrobe change, partner... You'll be perfect..."
Sans grabbed it, and Chara grabbed a pair of blue sneakers from off the floor before pulling him into a tight hug, squeezing him a bit when he didn't initially return it, and Sans realized his error, hugging them back. The gesture meant nothing to him, but it probably meant something to them, and Sans was supposed to make them happy, right? That was his job... That and killing... Why did he do that again?... Oh, right. Their words replayed in his mind, a helpful reminder to him to remember his purpose.
"As my best friend, you'll do anything to make me happy, partner, won't you?~"
"of course."
Sans woke up with a strangled gasp, feeling their grip still around him and still in his mind, and he tumbled off the bed, clawing at himself and his own head, trying to get them away. He could still feel the contact, hear their voice in his mind, and the blanket wrapped around him, suffocating him like their hug had. He tried prying it away, the fabric under his back preventing his efforts from being successful as they only fueled his panic. He heard a loud bang as his bedroom door shot open, Sans a mix of relieved, guilty, and terrified as his brother opened the door, running over to him, skidding to a stop on his knees. Sans was trembling, rattled, and he backed away automatically. He saw Papyrus's head falling away from his neck, heard Chara whispering next to his skull, but he didn't want to listen. His mind wasn't an empty, blank canvas for their words to write out every thought he had when he let them, he was himself, and he wouldn't let his brother be hurt while he was himself.
"SANS? BROTHER ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Papyrus asked, reaching a hand toward him.
"no! papyrus stay back!" Sans yelled desperately as he backed away, flooded with panic as he remembered how close Papyrus was, and that at any moment, his mind could snap into being Chara's mindless weapon.
"BROTHER, WHAT HAS YOU SO FRIGHTENED? I PROMISE YOU, I AM NOT GOING TO HARM YOU." Papyrus reassured, not knowing Sans was afraid of harming Papyrus.
Sans backed himself into a corner, trembling as he managed to kick away the blankets, and Papyrus was trying to figure out how to proceed. Sans could see the thought process on his face, trying to deduce how to continue when Sans was so upset and Papyrus was so concerned.
"WOULD SOME OF MY SPAGHETTI HELP YOU, BROTHER? WHAT ABOUT SOME KETCHUP? I KNOW YOU LIKE THAT. OR WHAT IF THE GREAT PAPYRUS READ YOU A BEDTIME STORY FOR ONCE? THOSE ALWAYS HELP ME SLEEP!" Papyrus asked him, trying his best to find a way to help his brother.
Sans didn't deserve him. He could only curl up in the corner, shaking and begging his brother not to come closer, whispering that he didn't want to risk hurting him. Sans wasn't even aware of everything he was saying, everything tumbling out of his mouth, Sans trying to blink away what could be tears but could also be that black liquid from... whatever he'd seen unfold in his mind. Exhaustion was soaking into his bones, the blind panic and the struggle against his blanket setting in, and Sans's rushed breathing didn't help either.
"SANS, YOU CANNOT HURT ME. AFTER ALL, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus reassured him, and he pulled his brother into a gentle yet firm hug.
Sans tried getting away at first, weakly thrashing, but the exhaustion quickly took its toll, Sans's struggles slowing down, and he eventually hugged his brother back, whispering and sobbing out apologies as he broke down. It was.... all a nightmare? His soul wasn't a target floating out from his chest, his eye sockets weren't leaking that black liquid, and he could feel emotions, something he never knew someone could even miss. Was all of that just a nightmare?... Was it not real at all?
No. He knew it wasn't, but he wasn't sure how or why that had happened, but he had a bad feeling it was going to happen again. Once Chara came out of the Ruins, Sans would confront them, taking this opening as a chance to get some revenge, if they didn't have a way to put him into that state again; if this was all normal, but no, his soul was still an upside-down white heart... What was going on?... The night ended with Papyrus carrying him to his room and putting him on the racecar bed, and reading him a story for once, trying to calm him, and it had the desired effects. Sans fell asleep to his brother reading, dried tears on his face, and he desperately hoped that none of that happened and he wouldn't see anything like that again. He wasn't that lucky.
In the morning, Papyrus was in the kitchen making spaghetti, and Sans went downstairs on his own, surprising his brother.
"SANS! HOW ARE YOU FEELING, BROTHER?" Papyrus asked.
"i'm ok... last night really chilled me to the bone though." Sans replied, winking with his left eye, trying to play off his still present unease.
"ARGH, SANS! THAT WAS HORRIBLE!" Papyrus groaned.
"aww, i thought it was a real... rib tickler." Sans joked.
"BROTHER, ONE MORE PUN AND I'M TELLING GRILLBY TO NO LONGER GIVE YOU KETCHUP!" Papyrus threatened.
Oh well, not like it'd last. Everything would just Reset anyways.
"WHAT'D YOU SAY, BROTHER? RESET?" Papyrus asked.
Crap, had he been talking out loud?
"uhh... nothing." Was all Sans could think of.
Papyrus regarded him in concern, before shrugging it off.
"WELL, HURRY AND EAT UP, LAZYBONES, A HUMAN WILL FALL TODAY, I CAN FEEL IT IN MY BONES! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus posed dramatically, scarf blowing in nonexistent wind in the kitchen, and the nonexistence wind also sent a shiver down Sans's spine at the familiarity of it.
After eating the.... valiant but futile attempt at pasta, Sans tried to go on a patrol, but Papyrus said they'd take the day off, which is something that hasn't happened yet. They wound up watching a physics documentary and Sans hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until he woke up to a blanket covering him, his brother gone. Thankfully no nightmares had woken him up again, and Sans let himself relax.
Wait.... images of Papyrus flashed in his mind when he blinked . . . PAPYRUS! Sans fell off the couch, teleporting to the first guard post after the Ruins, looking around in a panic. He saw the human there, not far from his brother, and Sans teleported between the two, Gaster Blasters forming behind him and in front of his brother, all aimed at the kid. They didn't look like they usually did, the yellow and green sweater gone, but Sans was prepared for the trick, focusing on protecting his brother, if only for a bit longer.
"WOWWIE! WHAT ARE THOSE?!" Papyrus asked in wonder as the kid backed up in both confusion and... fear? "BROTHER, PLEASE, YOU ARE SCARING THEM."
Papyrus went to move to get in front of his brother, and Sans's soul pounded in panic. It twisted and clenched in his ribcage, and Sans's breathing grew shakier.
"papyrus no! they'll kill you!" Sans warned him, voice a mix of panic and worry, and Papyrus looked at him in confusion.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, BROTHER? THEY'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG." Papyrus asked him.
The kid went to take a step forward, and Sans turned their soul dark blue, flinging them against a tree and taking 1 HP. His left eyelight had turned cyan and yellow with the usage of his magic, and he didn't realize how much he was trembling until he heard his bones rattling.
"don't even think about it, chara!" Sans snapped, Gaster Blasters aimed at them and preparing to fire, and they didn't move other than by trembling.
Papyrus got in front of him after that, "BROTHER, PLEASE CALM DOWN! THEY MEAN ME NO HARM! AND DO YOU KNOW THEM? YOU CALLED THEM 'CHARA'."
"pap, get out of here." Sans told him, dead serious for once, bones still rattling and the smile on his face was an extremely strained grimace, the cyan and yellow eyelight vanishing, replaced by his regular white eyelights.
"NO, I WON'T! SANS, THEY HADN'T DONE ANYTHING BESIDES JOKE WITH ME! THEY HAVEN'T HARMED ANYONE, BROTHER! IT'S ALRIGHT." Papyrus told him, "IS THIS ABOUT YOUR NIGHTMARE LAST NIGHT?"
Sans's eyelights shrunk at that, and he actually looked at the kid and read their expression. They hadn't harmed anyone, they hadn't gained LV, there was no dust on them, and they weren't smiling. They were, however, trembling with tears streaming down their cheeks as they looked at him in concern and fear. They weren't a threat, they were a pacifist. His Gaster Blasters disappeared, and he released their soul, it turning red again before going back into their chest.
"Are.. are you ok?" The kid asked him.
"... fine. i'm fine...." Sans replied, trying to force the tremors to leave his body and for his soul to stop twisting in panic.
"THEIR NAME IS FRISK, BROTHER. I AM UNSURE AS TO WHY YOU CALLED THEM CHARA." Papyrus asked, before gasping, "DO YOU HAVE TWO NAMES, FRISK? I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TWO NAMES!"
They shook their head no, and while Papyrus was confused, he shrugged it off. Sans forced himself to calm down, trying to even his breathing and force himself to stop panicking. That was easier to do when they didn't look like Chara and had no LV, so he was mostly alright... for now... but he was still rattled.
Sans approached them slowly, and they tensed as he reached his left hand out, only he hadn't attacked them this time. "come on, kid, you can shake my hand. i won't hurt ya. it was just a big misunderstanding. tibia honest, i thought you were... someone else."
They hesitantly shook his hand, a loud fart resounding in the area. The gag helped Sans calm down, more so when the human laughed a bit, smiling slightly and not in an unnerving way, and Papyrus groaned. Their expression helped Sans calm himself down, if only a little.
"name's sans. sans the skeleton." Sans introduced himself as remembered he had so many times before, "you're a human, right? that's weird."
"OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE A HUMAN?!" Papyrus asked in shock, "I MUST RECALIBRATE MY PUZZLES SO THAT I MAY CAPTURE YOU! AND BROTHER, DON'T CALL THEM WEIRD, THAT IS NOT NICE! PROCEED WHEN YOU WISH, HUMAN, AND FACE MY PUZZLES, IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!"
Papyrus ran away excitedly, heading to make sure his puzzles could capture a human. Sans knew they couldn't, and he knew the kid knew too.
"Sans? Are you ok?" The kid asked him again.
"never better, sorry i had ya rattled. now come on, we can't leave paps waiting." Sans said, and after that, he teleported to his brother before they could respond.
The kid played along with each of his brother's puzzles, got captured, and the kid actually didn't hurt him. Then, once he'd spared them.... they spared him too. The amount of relief Sans felt at that was inexplicable. They moved on through Waterfall, Sans keeping a close eye on them... only this time, Papyrus followed. This had never happened before, not from Sans's memories. It was something new. Sans grimaced at his internal choice of wording, trying to pull himself away from thoughts of his nightmares and the way the shadows seemed to dance with versions of his friends that were so heavily distorted it was hard to find any similarities, just their voices giving them away. Their faint screams echoed in his mind, along with shadows of Chara, sometimes across from him and other times next to him, leaning over his shoulder and whispering things he couldn't always identify. They lingered in his peripherals, gone when he looked at them but back when he looked away.
"SO YOUNG HUMAN, WHAT BRINGS YOU TO THE UNDERGROUND?" Papyrus asked, breaking the silence and a mirage of Chara flickered out of existence.
"I don't really remember. I think I hit my head on the way down." The kid replied.
"you probably hit it a bunch of times then, all things considered." Sans muttered, and the kid gave him an indescribable look he didn't pay attention to.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, BROTHER?" Papyrus asked.
"well, the underground is pretty far under ground, so it had to be quite the fall, right?" Sans replied, covering for himself.
"OH! THAT MAKES SENSE!" Papyrus said.
The kid probably couldn't remember much before the resets due to there being so many, if he was right about this, but this didn't seem like Chara, which was admittedly comforting. The kid also wasn't used to things changing, going off of their expression; they probably weren't familiar with any of this. Who knows how many times they'd Reset and nothing had changed, but now, so much has changed already. They were definitely out of their element, and Sans was admittedly satisfied at that, but he didn't know what would happen next either, so that made his satisfaction decline. It wasn't until Papyrus left to find Undyne and the two were alone that the human spoke.
"So, you know about Resets?" The kid asked.
"what makes you say that? you determine it?" Sans asked, slipping in a pun.
"Well... you've never done that before, and you've definitely never called me Chara... How do you know them?" The kid asked.
"here's a better question, why do i remember you continuously resetting and killing everyone?" Sans asked them, eyelights vanishing.
"I... I don't do that every time, that doesn't seem right. I'm... not in control over my body all of the time. Sometimes it's me, Frisk, but other times... there's different personalities with different names who use my name and body. Sometimes they're a pacifist, like me, but other times.. not so much..." The kid answered, before asking again, "How do you know Chara though?"
"i.. it's complicated." Sans replied, reluctant to admit the truth, and he settled for lying, "it's not that i know them, but... i know the name. you?"
"It's complicated." The kid replied. Smart mouth. "They've never taken control over my body to do a timeline, but they've taken control to Reset. You mentioned some kind of genocide loop, which I don't remember happening ever... Are you ok?"
"yeah, i'm fine. 'sides, tibia fair, i probably didn't see what actually happened. i just saw nonstop genocide." Sans replied, "these resets gonna stop?"
"Oh... I wish I could say that it'll all stop, but... I can't promise that. I'm sorry, Sans, but i can't stop them." The kid apologized.
"it's not your fault, kid." Sans reassured.
Besides, he understood it from his nightmare. The thrill, the enjoyment... he could understand why the other personalities wouldn't stop, and Chara was probably just Resetting out of boredom or entertainment. He just wished that he couldn't remember that nightmare, and that he could stop the kid's body before they could hurt or kill anyone, but that would fail in the end. It was all like an unsharpened pencil; pointless.
"BROTHER, FRISK, IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND I HAVE RETURNED WITH UNDYNE!" Papyrus announced, striding over with the fish monster in tow.
"Hey!- Wait..." Undyne's gaze landed on the kid, "HUMAN! PREPARE TO DIE!!"
Undyne summoned a spear, preparing to use it against the kid.
"UNDYNE, WAIT! THEY ARE ALRIGHT! YOU DON'T NEED TO ATTACK THEM! THEY ARE A FRIEND!" Papyrus jumped in front of her.
"Get out of the way, Papyrus!" Undyne ordered.
"I'M AFRAID I CANNOT DO THAT. THE HUMAN IS HARMLESS!" Papyrus replied, not moving.
"I don't care, Papyrus, they need to die or the Underground will never be free!" Undyne said.
"WE CAN JUST TALK ABOUT THIS INSTEAD! PLEASE UNDYNE, DON'T DO THIS!" Papyrus pleaded.
". . . Sorry Papyrus." Undyne swiped her spear, turning his soul green before running around him, intent on attacking the kid.
The kid hid behind Sans, scared, and Papyrus looked at him pleadingly. Damnit. In a way that was eerily familiar to his nightmare, he turned Undyne's soul blue, pinned her against a nearby wall, and created blue bone attacks which he then aimed at her as his eyelights vanished. He felt Chara gripping his shoulders, whispering next to his skull, and he felt his mind blank out.
"Don't let anyone hurt me, Sans. You're my best friend, after all!"
Right.....
"She's a threat, she's dangerous.... You'll protect me, right, partner?~"
Of course.
Undyne went to move, and Sans reacted automatically, a blue bone extending from the ground, right under her chin, able to hit her if she so much as swallowed wrong.
"i w o u l d n ' t." Sans said, the threat clear in his tone, which for the second time today, was dead serious.
He was snapped back to himself by Frisk gripping his shoulders shakily, their breathing fast, and he glanced over at them to see the sheer level of how unnerved they were, and he looked back at Undyne, seeing Papyrus off to the side, looking at him in concern and worry and fear... Sans could hear Chara's laughter in the back of his mind, and he blinked a bit, eyelights returning as he tried to play this off.
"first, release my brother." Sans told Undyne, who did as told, looking shellshocked, "secondly, can we just talk about things? otherwise i'll just leave you here."
"Ok..." Undyne replied, still freaking out a bit, and Sans released her soul and got rid of his attacks, Undyne relaxing a bit.
"thank you." Sans said.
"UNDYNE, THIS IS FRISK, MY FRIEND WHO IS A HUMAN. THEY ARE VERY NICE AND I'D MUCH PREFER IT IF YOU DIDN'T KILL THEM." Papyrus introduced, trying to get rid of the tension, "I HONESTLY THINK YOU TWO WOULD BE GREAT FRIENDS!"
"Papyrus, I told you, they have to die, for the sake of the Underground. I can't be friends with them." Undyne said.
"you can't be friends with them? never thought the day would come that you'd admit you couldn't do some-fin, undyne." Sans said, and the kid quietly giggled behind him.
"I-! I can do anything!" Undyne snapped, and Sans saw a bit of fear in her eye as she replied in anger, and a tiny part of him enjoyed that expression. He told that part of himself to go die in a hole.
"except for befriending a human, which would probably go swimmingly." Sans said with a grin that was less forced than earlier.
"You know what, punk?! I can do anything! Come on, Frisk, I'll be the best friend you'll ever have!!" Undyne shouted.
The four then went to Undyne's house... which somehow managed to get blown up while cooking pasta of all things. The interaction kept Sans out of his own head, Chara's voice quiet and the hallucinations not as frequent, and Sans made sure to pay attention to Undyne and Frisk so he couldn't get absorbed into his mind playing tricks on him. As they stood outside of the burning house once it exploded, Sans played his trombone.
"SANS!" Papyrus yelled, and the kid laughed.
"That explosion was sick!!" Undyne shouted, and the kid was looking down guiltily, "Don't worry about it, punk, it's alright!"
From there, they went to Hotlands, though Undyne lacked her armor so she wouldn't overheat. Sans could remember being in the lab with Alphys as she worked on evacuations because of the kid, but those were soon replaced with memories of killing her or finding her already dead by her own hands. Sans's soul clenched painfully, though he hid his expression expertly, annoying the quiet giggle from Chara in his mind, bouncing around his skull. Then Mettaton showed up, and everything really went downhill.
Sans hated that guy.
It started with a quiz, then a baking show, and then disabling bombs, and Mettaton was showing off the whole time, and Sans was getting more and more irritated. In the end, the kid dealt with Mettaton after they'd been closed in an area together, the fight broadcasted across the Underground from Mettaton's attempt to inflate his own ego more than it already was, and Sans was extremely satisfied once he lost. After a bit of talking with Asgore and the barrier being broken, everyone waiting for Frisk to be ready before heading to see the sun. Frisk started acting nervous, though, and that caught Sans's attention. The last thing Sans was aware of was the kid saying sorry before their eyes opened, turning red as the world shifted around him, and his soul clenched painfully as everything went black.
RESET