Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the underground the sound of a gunshot could be heard a long way. The echo of it over the cavern walls threatened death and destruction.

--- THE CORE ---

Alphys could tell when something was wrong. She had very keen senses for that sort of thing. Or maybe she was just normally paranoid, and so when something did go wrong she was the first to assume so. Today, the frantic, hushed whispers of the adults told her that her fears were well founded. Teachers who led large groups of teenagers over unrailed walkways in the core weren’t the type to scare easily. But what was more scary than meeting a fiery death after plummeting half a dozen stories into molten lava?

She twittled a pen nervously. A panel to her left hissed as some piece of machinery behind it came to life. Alphys jumped, and – because-she-was-Alphys - she tripped over her own feet and nearly fell into the fiery abyss. A boney hand gripped her shoulder steadying her.

“ WOWIE! YOU ALMOST FELL INTO LAVA AND I SAVED YOU! I can’t believe I did that. THAT WAS SO COOL ! ”

She watched her pen fall to the flames...well so much for taking notes on this field trip.

“Th-thank you P-Papyrus”

“ NO PROBLEM! I AM ALWAYS GOOD AT HELPING RANDOM SCHOOLMATES NOT DIE.”

“ WAIT! HOW DID YOU KNOW MY NAME ? WERE YOU SECRETLY SCOUTING ME OUT IN ORDER TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME ? ”

“Oh! Um...no. I mean I-I think everyone m-m-might k-know your n-name.” She wrung her hands together. “You’re kind of loud.”

“ OH HAVE I BEEN INTIMIDATING YOU WITH MY LOUDNESS ? "

“N-no! I mean m-maybe? Just a little.”

“ I AM SORRY I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT … ”

“Alright students listen up. It appears that our little trip to the CORE is over. If you will all follow me we can get out of this blasted heat!”

“Y-you don’t think the CORE is d-destabilizing do you?”

“ I HAVE NO IDEA! ”

“ I MEAN ” Papyrus tried to whisper, “ I HAVE NO IDEA ! ”

“T-they wouldn't be leading us further in if it was destabilizing. There must be another problem.”

“Alllphyyyssss! Girl, OhMyGod have you heard the news???!!! There is a HUMAN in the underground!!!”

Aphys felt her breath catch in her throat. A human, a real live human. The sixth soul.

“Bratty!!! I wanted to tell her! You are like the worst BFF ever! I was the one to find out.”

“I’m sooo sorry Catty. You can tell her the rest.”

“Well the rest is not good. This human is very dangerous. It has one of those shooty things and it’s totally dusting everything that crosses it. My mom was visiting a friend in Snowdin when she heard the first echos. She just texted me. They spent like forever hiding in the basement and she didn’t have any signal but she just texted me as soon as they got out. She said it was the scariest thing she ever heard. She said it totally sounded as if the mountain was cracking and would fall on top of us. Everyone thought it was a whole army of humans come down to hunt us like rats in a trap! Finish the job and all that - but apparently it’s just one. Alphys keep walking! We can’t slow down girl. The human was spotted in hotland only five minutes ago.”

Alphys’ head was spinning still trying to wrap itself around Catty’s first words... dust...monsters were dying.

“ DID YOU SAY HUMANS ? THEY ARE THOSE MONSTERS THAT LIVE ON THE OUTSIDE, AREN'T THEY ? THE ONES WITH THE UPSIDEDOWN SOULS ? MY BROTHER TOLD ME ABOUT THEM . ”

“They're not monsters. I am not even sure you could say they are people. They are killers though. Come on and help me to get Alphys to mmoooove!”

“Can I b-borrow your phone? I-I need to text my parents. W-we live in hotland. Bettas is in p-primary school but Gamis and Baby Epi a-aren’t old enough yet. They like to p-play outside. What if the human gets them??!!!”

“Oh my gosh she is hyperventilating. Catty what should we do!! We are going to fall behind and get lost in this maze.”

“Don’t worry Aphys, please don’t worry. We’ll text your mom.”

“ NO NEED TO WORRY ! I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL CARRY HER . "

“Ok, thanks tall and boney. Let’s go.”

“Wait! What? Eeek! Oh no.”

“ IT IS OK TO BE A LITTLE CONCERNED. I AM A LITTLE WORRIED MYSELF BECAUSE I HAVE A BROTHER IN SNOWDIN AND IF THE HUMAN WAS THERE FIRST….

“ BUT WE CAN’T LET OURSELVES GET TOO WORRIED. MOST LIKELY SANS SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE THING AND DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE …"

Chapter Text

“Humans” it was whispered and monsters hid. Most monsters anyways…. Sans wasn’t one of them. Sure, humans were dangerous. But Sans knew there was a much greater threat than a human in the underground. 

There was an anomaly. 

And this human would draw it out of hiding.

He pulled out a hastily constructed device from his pocket careful of the loose wires. 

He flicked a phalange against the dark part of the screen and it flickered reluctantly to life. It was badly built but expertly designed. It was designed to be built over and over again from memory every time incase it no longer existed in because of a reset. 

99%

anomaly located: 

coordinates: 

81mW

13mS

determination signature: 158

loading map...

In the relative safety of an abandoned market stall Sans leaned back against a hardened clay wall feeling the warmth of hotlands radiate into his bones. He was waiting for the map to load. In his own area. Snowdin, coordinates were more than enough for him to take a shortcut nearby. But here there was way too much lava.

The map loaded.

Sans took a deep breath and stepped backwards through the wall he had been leaning against through the void and out on a cliff top overlooking multiple paths. He caught a glimpse of his quarry. He dropped his scanner into the lava. Sometimes keeping the tricks of the trade secret became one’s only advantage. A second later he was standing a few feet behind a golden flower just withdrawing bloody vines from its victim. 

So much for the terrifyingly dangerous human.

A spikeless leaf reached forward to grab a yellow soul.

Sans had three seconds to save the world. He turned the soul blue and threw it into the lava.

Flowey watched as his golden prize was torn away from him. All the hard work of his carefully planned ambush that had taken three resets to get right. That’s probably what had alerted smiley trashbag. Now it would take a fourth.

----------

Sans stepped through a shortcut and lost his balance. He tipped over a shelf of glass dishware. Sometimes the recoil of time caught him off balance, especially if time reset to a point in time when he had been teleporting. Looks like this was just going to be his unlucky day. He set down his scanner. He didn’t need to wait for the scan to finish. He knew where the weed was.

Sans teleported, this time cutting in front of Flowey’s ambush. If he could keep the human away….

The human rounded a corner and came into view. Sans barely had time to register the gun as it swung toward him. It was instinct more than anything that saved his life. He was gone before the shot fired, but he could hear the echo from his new position on the clifftop.  

He also saw Flowey’s golden head stop searching frantically for an annoying skeleton to pop out of nowhere. He was too far away to see but he could imagine a malicious gleeful smile creeping onto that golden face as the implications of that echoing gunshot sunk in. 

From his position he could see both the human and the anomaly but the human still had one more corner to turn before they would be able to see each other. 

The human was taking shelter against a rock now. What was it doing? Sans watched its motions carefully. It pulled some shiny bits out of its belt bent the revolver and started sliding them inside. It was reloading its weapon. 

Flowey went under and came up near the corner. He might have seen the human because he jerked instantly back underground. When he came up again he sprouted out of the rock above the human. Sans resisted the urge to call out a warning. It would be best if he let the human die, destroy the soul and force another reset. He couldn’t fight two enemies at once. If he didn’t think of something he might be stuck saving the world over and over again for a very long time loop. Flowey would have multiple chances, but he would only ever have one. He couldn’t afford to be reckless. He couldn’t afford to die. Flowey wouldn’t make the mistake of bringing him back to life a second time. 

Flowey loomed above his target. He loved this feeling of looming power. He remembered what it felt like to have Chara’s soul. How would it feel to have this humans? He hoped he would have legs again. Even if he did end up looking like his past life he would never make the same mistakes his stupid past self made. He wouldn’t be soft. He would gather the rest of the souls and break the barrier. He would honor Chara’s memory with her plan. She was always pushing him to reach his true potential. Though to be honest. If monsters were going to conquer the world they might need some toughening up. Maybe he should gather the souls and come back to oversee that. He could do anything he wanted. He had all the time in the world. 

His vines snaked slowly downwards as the human shakely attempted to slide the last bullet in the back of the open revolver. He grabbed the humans neck and broke it.

Sans teleported, gasterblasting the weed in the face as he snatched the soul again and threw it in the lava.

A vine grabbed his ankle and snapped bone. 

Pain. He managed to fall on top of the injury, blocking it from view.

"So you were waiting for me after all?” Sans stalled. Flowey liked to talk, so Sans would play for time and give his karma magic time to eat away at Flowey’s HP.

“Are you kidding me? You would never do something so convenient as to get yourself killed.” 

Sans kept a firm grip on his magic. It wanted to slip down his leg to heal his broken ankle but he couldn’t afford that. He didn’t have the HP to just absorb this. He focused his magic into an attack without letting it manifest. This timeline was done. The weed would jump back and try again. The only reason they were still doing this was likely to teach him a lesson. Good thing he was hard headed .

“What can I say? Inconvenience is a specialty of mine.” Sans let sprung his attack. Flowey dodged the gaster blaster as intended, putting himself in the perfect position to take an arsenal of tiny bones from behind. 

“Agh!”

“Only 37 bones! Papyrus is right….”

Sans blocked a few bullets with a blaster.

“You are lazy.”

He should have teleported out of here as soon as he was injured. Now it might be too late. There was probably a determined red stain on the ground beneath him. If he left now Flowey might see if before he reset. He didn’t want him putting two and two together.

“You almost have killing me down pat. Thirty seven would have killed me if I hadn't gained any HP from breaking his neck. ”

Flowey studied the little skeleton. He didn’t think he had ever seen Sans injured before. This was something new! Golly he looked like he was in pain too! He usually kept such a good mask on. Even if Flowey handed him a jar of his brother’s dust, he never cracked, though he did kill him, sometimes more than once. Now Sans looked like he was just barely hiding a grimace and something in the way he held himself looked the slightest bit…. Scared. Papyrus had said he had low HP.… that he wasn’t good at healing magic…. That he was fragile. Now he actually looked it. Why didn’t he just teleport away?

Flowey dodged a gaster blaster and pushed another one off target with his bullets. He really wished he was at higher HP right now. Sans was too close. He could grab him. He should. But karma had taken him down to one so he would be in the nest timeline before he had had any fun. What an interesting dilemma.

“Why don’t we take a break Sans? You look strained.”

One more hit was all it would take. Sans just needed to land one more hit and then he could go back to saving the world in a continuous time loop. It was hard wrestling his magic away from his throbbing ankle. It seemed so determined to go there and at least try to heal him even if it wouldn’t work.

He took a deep breath and pushed the pain away. He was the void and felt nothing. He would only act never react. He smiled.

“No thanks, bud, already got one.”

“So the smiley trashbag likes puns even when his ankle's is broken. Well you always were a freekin’ weirdo.”

“Maybe I just hit my groove when the conflict starts es-kel-a-ton.”

“Why do you keep fighting me over this anyways? What if I got better once I had a soul? What if feeling again turned me into a nice person? Maybe you are destroying your one and only chance for a happy ending over and over again.”

“Somehow I doubt that was what you were planning to do with the soul once you got it. And I'm not sure if it will be that simple for you to turn over a new leaf. Good and evil is more than what we feel. It’s what we choose to do.”

“Really or is that just what you tell yourself because you don’t feel anything just like me?”

“It doesn’t matter what I feel.” Sans eyes were as dark as the void.

“Because you don’t feel anything or is this what you tell yourself to make sure you don’t. What if someday you find you are so disconnected from reality that you really don’t care anymore?”

“Well the jokes on you then. I already don’t care. But even not caring I will still… 

Blast.

... fight.”

“I will fight as long as others care…” 

Flowey really should work on not getting distracted by dialogue and letting his guard down.

Sans waited for time to fall backwards, heal his ankle and drag him back into doing this over again and again and again. 

Flowey really ought to know better than to try to tempt Sans with stuff he didn’t believe in. When time looped, there were no such thing as "endings". Other people might end up with happy endings… maybe…. blissfully unaware of things that, from their point of view, never happened. But he had no such illusions for himself. Like as not, his end would be a violent one. 

Chapter Text

Flowey broke free from the rock above the human’s head. Only they weren’t sheltered under it reloading. Shit that’s right. They only did that because they shot at Sans last timeline didn’t they? Sometimes he wished he could take a break between resets to think about things. That last one had been totally worth it just for the dialogue. He could swear he had heard Smiley Trashbag say that he would keep fighting as long as other people cared. What if he made them not care? What if he broke their hope? Would Sans break? It was an interesting thing to consider. But for now he must get the human. He could play with time more in the future if he got bored. He would have probably have a much higher HP after absorbing the soul. Maybe he would even be able to beat Sans. What would the skeleton do if Flowey killed him over and over again?…. Probably just teleport away next timeline…. Uggh!

Well time to catch up with the human.

The human wiped sweat from his brow to keep it away from his eyes. He had made it this far. He wasn’t going to give up now. He was close. He could tell. He was close to something anyway. All these tunnels and paths tended to look the same.

He stilled.

A golden flower grew from the side of the path ahead. For some reason he couldn’t quite identify, it filled him with dread.

It’s just a flower….
Don’t loose your nerve….

Still, he had enough ammunition. He didn’t have to just walk past it.

Flowey had been been waiting with his eyes closed for the sound of the human’s footsteps walking past. Then he would grab them by their gun arm and…. The bullet caught him completely by surprise.

Sans stifled a laugh. The look of shock on Flowey's face was pure gold. For just one moment it didn’t matter if this human had slaughtered a million innocent monsters. Sans was completely on its side.

Sans was still laughing as the world dissolved around him and he was sucked backwards through space and time.

It was nice to know…. Even if life was hell. That it could still have its moments.

Chapter Text

Flowey considered his options. The human would now shoot him on sight. That was fast. In his experience it usually took quite a lot of dusty resets for other monsters to grow completely distrustful of talking yellow flowers. But this human had grown wary of him in five? Yes. Three. Then Sans. And in the last he had been shot preemptively, and that had been six. Well, seven was a lucky number wasn’t it? It didn’t really matter… he could always try again. Maybe he should try a different location… down the road a little.

----------

“Alright everyone. Calm down! Whatever rumors you heard are probably not true.”

“So there isn’t a human invasion?” a student challenged.

“Um. Well, there have been reports of a human in the underground. They were spotted entering Hotland a while ago. As a safety precaution we are canceling the field trip and evacuating back to Westfield. Now everyone please file onto the shuttle in an orderly manner... Please!”

Students were shoving each other aside in a mad rush to get in. It had taken two trips for the suspension cab to get all the students here. It would take two trips to get them back… nobody wanted to wait for the second trip.

“OMG come on. We have to get on the first one!” Catty almost screamed, clutching Bratty like her life depended on it, and dragging Papyrus who was still carrying a panicking Alphys into a desperate crowd. 

Papyrus was not going to get on the first shuttle. It was pretty clear to him that he should wait for the second one. But it was also pretty clear to him that the yellow monster he was carrying would be better off on the first car. 

He started pushing his way through the crowd. 

The other monsters were all pushing and shoving. He had never seen his schoolmates act like this. The fear in the air was almost palpable. It was a good thing he had gone through a couple growth spurts lately. If he hadn’t been able to carry Alphys above the crowd, he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to make it through. At one point he cried out in shock as a blue flame boy pushed past him. He must have let his flame get out of control in the panic. No one would ever do that intentionally.

“I can’t get to it! I can’t make it to the door.” Bratty screeched hysterically. The crowds were too thick. They were against the suspension car now. Papyrus loved this suspension car. Sans had taken him on it a lot when he was younger, per his request. It was made out of an old overworld bus. The wheels were missing and most of the windows were broken… 

“DON’T WORRY!!! A DOOR IS UNNECESSARY!”

Alphys stopped panicking just long enough to realize how much she needed to panic as Papyrus lifted her above his head and passed her through a window into furry arms. Seconds latter Bratty was climbing through. Then just as Papyrus was lifting up Catty the shuttle started moving. Alphys scrambled to the window to reach her but she was too late. She watched as the world seemed to pull them apart, taking her to safety and leaving her friend behind… her friend that could have left her behind and run ahead… but hadn’t.

----------

“NOOOOOO!” Catty cried. Almost lunging out of Papyrus’ grasp. Bratty couldn’t leave without her. That’s not what BFFs did! She couldn’t be here alone. What if the human came? She needed to stay with her friends. She couldn’t be brave by herself. That was not the kind of monster she was. She needed… she had to go with….

Papyrus managed to catch the cat-monster before she managed to scrabble out of his grip. 

He realized she was upset but falling into a chasm wouldn’t help. As the shuttle pulled away but the crowds still pushed from behind, several monster children almost fell. As they teetered and flailed on the edge, the crowds that had been about to push them off reached forward to catch them. The students who hadn’t gotten on the shuttle were backing up now. Two monsters worked together to haul up another that had fallen off but caught the edge of the platform. Monsters that had been shoving and pushing each other a minute ago, were now huddling into groups to hug and comfort one another. 

The teachers were all gone.

He sat down beside the purple Cat-monster and she collapsed against him crying, burying her face in his t-shirt. She didn’t have any friends here to comfort her. Well, it was a good thing then that Papyrus was excellent friend material. He wrapped an arm around her to tell her that they would be OK. Even if she didn’t think so. 

Chapter Text

Sans shifted his position uncomfortably. He watched as Flowey went under. He started counting to 10.

one

He had lost count of the resets now that they had played this game. He and Flowey would stalk the human through hotlands and Flowey would either choose to ambush the human or try to ambush Sans. 

two

Sans couldn’t get close enough to use soul magic until the gun was disabled. He had to wait for Flowey to make his move. 

three

Sans had been in some pretty sticky time loops. But this by far had to take the cake. 

four

The stakes now were higher than ever. 

five

Of the other souls, only kindness had come down when Flowey was around. Flowey had missed her. Most monsters had. 

six

From what Sans could gather she had been too unassuming and gentle to be noticed. 

seven

Flowey hadn’t been able to find her by resetting either even though he reset all over the place and scoured the underground. 

eight

Sans had been among the first to learn of her death after all, and he had counseled the saddened king to take some time to grieve before announcing it to the public. 

nine

Flowey had scoured the timeline two months too late.

ten

Flowey had not resurfaced. Now Sans had to use his magic. He closed his eyes and let the world go black. Then eyes still closed, he used his left eye to study his surroundings. The human soul glowed bright yellow and crackled with LV. He wasn’t looking for a soul though but a soul trait. He caught a dim flash of red coming up behind him.

----------

Flowey was furious. This would have been soooo simple if Sans hadn’t shown up. He would have had the soul 54 resets ago. Yes, he was counting, and he was livid. Now he might never get it. He might have to let time drag on into the future and wait a year or so to bring it back to this point. But even then he might not catch Sans off guard. He popped out of the ground only to see Sans disappearing before his eyes. How did he know Flowey was coming? He hadn’t even looked at him. He had just disappeared.

Up until now Flowey had kind of thought it was fun to have an arch nemesis. Even if the skeleton tended to kill or run more than he talked. It had still been kind of nice to know he hadn’t been alone in this messed up reality. But now, he had found something that he actually wanted, and Sans was never going to let him have it!!!

He really wanted that horrible shit to DIE!!!!

Sans refused to fight him until he killed the human. Flowey would see the soul again and again only to have it pulled away at the last minute. Sans would throw a bone at it or toss it into lava or  teleport away with it and Flowey would have to reset. He could control time. He had a right to win!!!

----------

Sans could stick this loop out he was fairly sure. Everytime Flowey reset Sans got back any energy and magic he had used. He wasn’t going to count. He almost never did. He was completely in the zone now. He didn’t even knock over the dishes in the market place anymore. All he had to do was keep doing his job and not think too much about it. This was his world now, this loop and there was nothing else, and would be nothing else until it ended. 

“Is that the human!” 

It was a new voice. Crap. They gotten further down the path in this timeline. Of course they might encounter new characters.

“Kid listen up you need to turn around and run away.” Sans’ voice was ominously low.

“Um, ok.”  Sans could hear the kid shift nervously. “But I need to find my sister first.”

“Your sis ain’t here. But she will be sad if you stick around and get yourself killed.”

“She is at the core. All the monsters in secondary school took a field trip there today. Her name is Alphys and she is not very brave. But I am.” 

Papyrus had just started his first year in secondary school. Sans’ brother was at the core.

Crap. Crap. Shit. Why out of all days?

“Take that path.” Sans said hurriedly pointing. “Turn right, then left, then keep waking straight till you find a locked door with a code. The code is 8888. Real easy right? It takes you into a maintenance hallway. Find the kids and get everybody out a different door quietly and quickly as possible. Go! Run!”

The kid ran a couple steps before turning back. “Thank you mister.”

Of course Flowey chose that time to spring out of the ground. Sans jumped back. The kid didn’t. His arms reached out for Sans as vines wrapped around him. 

Sans heard the screaming close up, then from far away as he teleported. The scream cut off sharply. Sans sighed…. The kid wasn’t necessarily dead though. Sans just had to force another reset.

A gunshot sounded. The human must have heard the commotion.

Sans waited for the world to dissolve to nothing, then he realized….

...the human must have missed.

----------

Sans was there in an instant. Blood and monster dust mingled together on the ground. Flowey hastily pulled a golden heart towards himself. 

Sans had two seconds to save the world.

He had saved the world over forty times today. 

Flowey had killed in rush - a desperate race against time - he had grabbed the soul as soon as it emerged - He had it mere centimeters from himself when Sans ripped it from between his grasp.

I T   W A S N 'T   F A I R ! ! !

He wished he could get his hands on Sans and disassemble him bone by bone.

Chapter Text

The increase of magic was immediate. Sans felt his bones grow thicker, stronger, harder. He was taller, maybe not quite as tall as his younger brother but his head would probably reach Paps shoulders now. Mostly he felt energized.

But the best feeling by far was the HP increase. It felt amazing…. like a boss monsters’. 

Flowey looked absolutely murderous. But he didn’t reset. He was cussing Sans out.

Sans smiled. Well if the weed insisted….

Sans blasted the weed but Flowey ducked behind the human’s body and underground. 

Sans used his eye to look for Flowey’s determination. He watched as Flowey tunneled around behind him. He waited for the weed to poke its petals above ground. 

“GEETTT HIMMM!” Something screamed inside Sans head. 

The shot flew wide and Flowey had time to duck back underground.

“What the f…”

Oh, right the soul.

Yeah, he probably should have expected that. 

Heyya kid.

Hey…. you should look out. That thing murdered me you know.

Sans closed his eyes and scanned the area. Flowey was gone.

And you didn’t murder anybody, huh?

I left the old lady alive.

Congratulations on your one good deed, Kid.... Or did you want a metal?

Monsters attacked me. It was self defense.  

Sans wanted to ask why the kid had shot at Sans then when he had done nothing, but of course the kid wouldn’t remember what he was talking about. To him that timeline never happened. He had to think of some other hole he could poke in the kid's story.

Self-defence, huh? Let me ask you a question then. How many rounds of ammunition did you pack into that belt of yours? Who walks around planning on defending themselves that much? 

The soul sighed. Alright you got me. Then the soul snickered. Gosh, this is so weird. I am talking to a monster from inside it. I’m dead. I knew I could die but this isn’t exactly the after life I was expecting. Do you mind if I ask you? Are you a good monster or a bad one?

Well unlike some humans and flowers I know, I never dusted anyone for the fun of it.

Neither did I. The human said softly.

Sure, kid, I believe ya.

They were your friend weren’t they?...The one the plant monster killed. I saw it try to kill you both but only you made it away. Then you came back. You didn’t want to leave them did you? They were your friend? 

They were an old schoolmate’s younger brother. What does it matter to you? You would have just shot them.

I want to make you a deal. You obviously have some enemies.

A deal with the dead huh? That’s funny.

Yeah. It’s hilarious skeleton . I’m dead. Your dead. Let’s bargain.

I’m a skeleton monster. That’s different from being dead . And tibia honest I don’t think you have anything more to offer me. I already kinda…. absorbed your soul.

I think I could be more or less cooperative. You can draw magic from me somehow... but can you draw knowledge or skill? I can give you skills. I could help you, for example, shoot that gun. I am an excellent marksman. 

Sans glanced distastefully at the gun laying by the human’s body. Such a weapon shouldn’t exist. He had never seen bullets too fast to dodge before.

And why would I want to shoot your gun?

To kill the flower monster.

So you wanna give me a skill so that I can avenge your death? You need to work on your sales pitch, kid.

Was that your friend they killed or not? How can you not be angry? How can you not want vengeance? 

Nah. I don’t really care. I’m just waiting for the next reset. Flowey will blow off steam somewhere until he decides to try again.

Aren’t you afraid what blowing off steam for him might look like? What if he kills some more of your friends?

Nope. Because after he’s done he’ll reset time to try to get your soul again and when he does that none of this will matter any more.

What are you talking about? You’re nuts.

….Why are you laughing? 

The little voice in my head just told me I was nuts. I mean, it’s not like no one’s ever told me that before…. but when the little voice in your head says it…. 

Oh, look out the flower’s back!

Kid, your inside of me. If you can see something that means I’m already looking at it.

Chapter Text

“Welcome back, bud , ready for another round? Nice LV level by the way. Though I am not sure why you bothered since, ya know, karma magic and all?”

What’s karma magic?

 Quiet kid. I’m busy weeding.

The soul snickered. 

“How does it feel to have someone in your head Trashbag? Disorienting or powerful? I was pretty disoriented at first too. I think life is determined to short change you on everything though. I was definitely taller when I had Chara’s soul.”

“Well, you were a young boss monster in the flower of youth back then…”

“I was going to reset, but after I dusted a few students I found in the core, I thought that even if this is MAJORLY annoying, at least it's something new, so I came back. I would tell you that your brother was among the students, but I know from past experience that you really don’t care about him that much.”

Woah hold the phone! Did he just say he killed your brother? Now don’t you want to kill him?

Please hold, kid, Sans is busy with another killer at the moment… 

Is that your name, Sans? 

“It was funny though how little they fought back. They seemed to think I was the human … It was hillarious… I have never seen so many monsters so afraid all at once….”

Blast. 

Sans summoned two Blasters in an X-shape. Flowey dodged, but not fast enough to avoid taking some damage.

“I would tell you to shut up. But I think that just got my point a- cross .”

“How do you even pun in the middle of a battle? Is this all you do with your extra time - think of lines in case you need them in the future?”

Flowey’s bullets came in spurts from random directions. Some Sans dodged, others he misdirected with bones. Despite dodging and blocking he still managed to summon a gaster blaster. Flowey's attack faltered as he had to dodge. Sans pressed his advantage. 

“It’s called multitasking. I would tell you to sharpen your skillset but it's pointless .” 

Bones came from a variety of angles. After a few hits Flowey gave up and went under.

Sans watched Flowey’s Soul trait move underground. He almost missed the bullets coming toward him. If he hadn’t been capable of teleporting he would have been hit. More bullets appeared and threw themselves at the spot Sans had been standing. It was clear that Flowey couldn’t see what was going on, but the weed had never tried anything like this before. Sans couldn’t blast him while he was under either. He summoned a bone checked quickly for the soul trait and began to pound into the ground. 

Suddenly bullets flew like crazy everywhere. One struck Sans in the back. Sans froze in shock. Last time Sans had been hit like this he had died. If it hadn’t been for the human soul….

No time for a panic attack.

More bullets flashed through the air towards him. Since they were actually aimed at him this time he assumed the flower had peaked above ground at some point although he hadn’t seen him. In a way, bullets with a target were easier to dodge then bullets flying randomly. He sidestepped them almost easily.

He scanned for Flowey’s determination, found it and flipped back to his normal vision just in time to block a hit.

He summoned more bones and stabbed them into the ground.

A vine touched his ankle. His nerves remembered the feeling of breaking bone. His instincts hurled him through the void before he even had time to think about it. Unfortunately he had teleported too far to his right and there was nothing but hot air between him and lava.

An ear splitting scream from inside Sans own head messed up his first attempt at a portal. He voided out the noise and teleported back to the path landing hard on his face. He didn’t wait for vines or bullets to welcome him back to the battle. He teleported again, five meters down the path, to allow him some recovery time. He picked himself up, skull ringing.

Ow, kid. Did you havta scream like that?

Sorry, but we almost died! This battle is so intense I have never seen anything like this. This is amazing… I’ll be quiet now. Don’t worry though. You can take him!

Flowey had surfaced and was looking at Sans almost disappointedly. Sans wondered if he had seen what had almost happened. Flowey went under again.

This was a dilemma. If he used his eye to look for soul traits he wouldn't see the bullets. If he kept his eyes open he wouldn't find Flowey and the weed could pop up from anywhere. Based on Flowey’s reaction to Sans pounding the ground with a bone Sans figured that he could probably sense pressure above him. This would explain the vine attack from underground as well. Sans couldn’t risk letting Flowey get under him again.

Well time to multitask.  He usually didn't use his left eye while his eyes were open. It was confusing to see two worlds at once. He took a breath and let his left eye blaze to life. He pressed his mind to focus... to pull the two worlds together. He could feel the kid now, helping him, reaching out to hold both images steady at the same time. There. They had it. 

Woah. This is wild.

See if you can hold this.

I’ll try.

Sans saw Flowey underground. Red determination making him look as if he were some kind of glowing tentacled sea monster. But he could also see the ground Flowey was under. He could see his surroundings. He could dodge and attack without having to choose between the two. Bullets still flew erratically but it seemed as if they had less intention and direction placed into them.

Flowey was spreading out his vines like tentacles searching for the ground Sans was standing on. Sans side stepped him but he summoned two small bones the size of feet. Then he placed two bigger bones on top of them to weigh them down.

It was almost unnerving to see how quickly and violently Flowey’s vines exploded out of the ground to destroy the fake feet. Sans would have winced to see his pseudo self snapped to pieces if he wasn’t busy blasting the exposed vines. 

From underground he heard a howl of pain and rage. Just give up and reset. The howl morphed into an animalistic hiss as Flowey erupted from the ground grabbing large chunks of dirt and flinging them in all directions. 

Suddenly Flowey’s Soul Trait became all Sans could see of him as he was enveloped in a cloud of hazy dust and dirt. NOPE. He wasn’t doing this. In less than a second he was outside the battlezone looking on. He couldn’t see Flowey’s trait anymore - just the real world.

Can we talk about our deal?

Killing the weed? Isn’t that what I am doing here?

That’s what I am helping you with. What I wanted was something else.

A large chunk of rock suddenly came hurtling at Sans out of the cloud of dirt. Sans blasted it and was showered by tiny pieces of gravel.

Yeah and what was that?

I came down here for someone. I am looking for my sister.

Sans teleported again further away.

Your sister?

The adults don’t believe the old stories of monsters under the mountain. They were up there putting out Amber alerts. They wouldn’t listen. 

Sans clicked this information into place in his brain. The last human. The one with the kind soul. The one the king had been so broken up over...

Kid, I don’t know how to tell you this….

Sans watched another chunk of rock as big as his face fall miserably short of him. Sidestepping a few wobbly bullets that had reached the end of their range and vaporised seconds later, he did a quick check for Soul traits. Flowey was still in the cloud.

Maybe he was daring Sans to come back in after him. Well Sans wasn’t taking the bait.

She’s dead isn’t she?

Yeah.

I had hoped… but all along I knew… that this would be the most likely answer … maybe that's why I waited so long to actually ask the question. ...

…..That’s also why I came with so many bullets since you asked. 

Chapter Text

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Flowey sent a few bullets at Sans. The Trashbag was out of range but hopefully they would deter him from coming in range. He knew Sans didn’t like to fight. He liked to cheat. He would stay around only as long as he thought he could win the battle quickly or he would teleport away. This battle since Sans had stolen his Human soul was the longest he had ever all out fought with him in any reset ever. 

He retreaded further into the cloud of dust and dirt. Sans wouldn’t come find him in the cloud. His instincts would keep him from going somewhere he couldn’t see to doge. Flowey needed a moment. He checked his HP. This interesting new version of Sans packed quite a punch. The karma damage was typical of Flowey’s current LV, but the base damage had increased substantially. A base damage of 1 had always been absolutely ridiculous anyways. Now it was twenty. 

Flowey’s HP wasn’t looking too hot. He still had some left. Now to decide what to do with it? Should he toss it away for one last spare with this version Sans? Or see what this new version of time had to offer? He wasn’t really wanting to jump into his 58th reset over the soul just yet. He should take a break first. Give it some time. Maybe in a month or two he would catch Sans off guard.

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“Alphys, stop. You're like crying yourself sick, girl. You gotta stop. She’s ok. Catty will be here in a few minutes... and … and we’ll all be laughing about how terrified you were. She’ll be fine. She has to be. You saw how fast the tram took off to go back for everyone. They’ll be back any minute now with the rest of the students.” Bratty knew she sounded as much as if she was trying to convince herself as trying to convince Alphys. She wished Catty would answer her texts. If Aphys could just quit crying. She was starting to make Bratty imagine something awful had befallen her BFF. And she knew that just couldn’t be true. They were all supposed to go to the surface together one day. Catty had promised - crossed her heart and hoped to die - that she and Bratty would visit every single mall up there on the surface. They couldn’t go shopping if she was…  

“ALPHYS! Stop crying like she’s dead!” Bratty snapped. “Stop it, just stop! She’s not dead! She’s…” 

The tram took that moment to swing into view. It was ominously empty. No hands waved out of the vacant windows. No shouts of joy cried out to friends. The tram traveled the distance quickly and docked. The ashen face of the old tram driver told everyone their worst fears had come true before he spoke a word.

“I took ‘er as fast as she would go...but there was no one…. nothing but dust.” his hollow voice seemed to tear hollow spaces in the souls of his listeners.

Bratty couldn’t do anything. It was like time had stopped for a moment while she absorbed those words. Nothing but dust. It took a whole thirty seconds for the words to even have any meaning, and when they did, it felt like someone had pulled the floor out from under her. 

Even as the reality sunk in her brain refused to accept it. It couldn’t … Catty couldn’t be… 

Somewhere a young wolf let out a mournful howl. Then the water works began.

Alphys couldn’t stop crying. She felt like she was about to choke to death on her own tears. It didn’t matter if she did though, did it? It was her fault Catty was dead, wasn’t it? They should have gone on ahead and left her to have her panic attack by herself. They could have been in the front of the students arriving at the station. They could have got on first . They had been in back of the crowd because of her. 

They shouldn’t have stayed with her to make sure she made it.

Two people had died saving her. They should have saved themselves. She hadn’t been worth their lives.

Now Bratty cried too. She let her tears slide down her face and wash away all her hopes. 

Catty was dead. Half of the secondary schoolers were dead. For someone her age, that was like, half the people she knew in the whole world … 

….all dead.

In the corner, a kid made of blue flames found himself both shaking and sighing in relief. He had escaped death by a moment...by one tram ride. He looked down at his hands. He had pushed people aside… he had burned them. He hadn’t meant to use his fire like that...but he hadn’t stopped either. In a moment of panick, he had hurt others to save himself. He felt awful. But he was alive. He had lived. Did that mean he had made the right choice? It did…  

...didn’t it?