Chapter Text
Reset #???+53; Reload 4
10:37 AM, Outside Snowdin.
The shortcut dropped them near Sans’ sentry station, the glow of Snowdin’s lights distant and faint beyond the treetops. It was quieter out here, even though most monsters were probably awake by now.
The only sound was the hush of the river sliding past, slow and glassy, catching hints of light on the surface. Someone had left a fishing rod wedged into the dirt, the line swaying gently in the current.
Sans plopped down near it with a grunt, pulling out a folded blanket from who-knows-where and tossing one to Frisk. They caught it clumsily, draping it around their shoulders before sitting beside him.
Frisk didn’t say anything, but they nestled deeper into the blanket. Their nose was pink from the cold, their face unreadable.
“a change of scenery is nice, once in a while.”
“Mhm.”
They sat there for a while, not speaking, the river burbling softly beside them. A gust of wind rustled the trees, sending a few flakes of snow drifting from the branches.
“are you still thinking about it?”
“Yeah. It’s kind of hard not to not think about how I'm probably going to never to experience another day again,” they said with a deadpan expression.
He didn't know what to say, so he just made a vague noise of acknowledgement. “mmm.”
“I try not to,” they shrugged, fidgeting with their sleeves.
Sans glanced at them, but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t the best at emotional support, for sure.
But being here for the kid was clearly a lot more than they usually got.
“I used to think that there was a route that I could find… that there was some timeline where I'd get to keep our happy ending.”
A ghost of a smile passed over Frisk’s face before fading.
“I’m not so sure anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter what I do. I still end up there. Every time.”
“assuming that the world just ends right then and there, there’s nothing we can actually do about it if it’s a predetermined event that can’t be influenced by our actions.”
Frisk seemed even more depressed at the thought. The idea that their actions didn't matter, when they had a power that could change the world... yeah, that was pretty disheartening.
Sans rested his weight on his hands and leaned back to glance at the suffocating darkness above.
“and even if we operate under the assumption that the rest of the world keeps ticking after you vanish… that doesn't mean much if you’re still able to yank the plug whenever you want.”
He sighed.
“no offense, kid. but you being the single point of failure for reality kinda sucks.”
Frisk gave a bitter laugh. “No offense taken.”
The burbling of the river seemed to rise up to fill the silence between them.
There sure was a lot of silence between them. Though, that was understandable considering the circumstances of their friendship and the topic of their conversations.
Sans spoke softly.
“hypothetically. let’s assume that the timeline continues even if you end up in the void.”
"Okay...?"
“and let’s say we can’t prevent you from ending up there.”
Frisk stiffened at the thought of having no choice but to spend forever in D A R K N E S S.
Sans noticed their tensed shoulders, but pushed onwards.
“in the worst case scenario, we gotta’ make sure you can’t reset. otherwise, you could reset the timeline and go psycho-mode after a few centuries in the void. after a while, you'd do pretty much anything to escape, and there's still that route.”
Frisk flinched, the thoughts of darkness slipping away. They didn’t like hearing the fact that they might become a psychopath killer out loud.
But he wasn’t wrong.
Sans stared at the floor, teeth clenched in thought. He had an idea.
He didn’t like it.
Then he looked up.
“...there’s always the DT extraction machine.”
Frisk blinked. “...That machine in the True Lab?”
Sans was barely even surprised that Frisk had discovered that secret as well; there was only so much that could be hidden from a time traveler who had experienced the same twenty-four hours several thousand times.
“yep. the name’s pretty self-explanatory, no?” Sans’ smile was half-hearted. “we fix it. you complete the perfect timeline. then, before your twenty-four hours are up, we siphon off some determination from your soul.”
“not all of it, just enough.”
“enough that you won’t have the juice to... reset or load.”
Frisk stared at him. “You’re suggesting we… trap me. For good.”
“not trap,” he said, but it sounded weak, even to him. “just… let you rest. for real this time. if you can’t reset anymore, then even if you lose it in the void, the rest of us are safe.”
He swallowed. He couldn’t look at them when he added, “and maybe… if there’s a ceiling to how long a soul like yours can last, maybe you’ll just… fade. no resets. no reloads. no more being alone in the dark.”
What a fucked up thing to say to a kid. Barely more than a babybones.
But what else could he offer?
He imagined Papyrus again.
Bright smile.
Making spaghetti.
Peaceful. Safe. Laughing.
Seeing the sun for the first time.
Even if it meant condemning a child to an eternity in sensationless darkness…
Frisk’s voice was barely a whisper. “You mean die.”
He finally looked at them again. There was no pride in his face.
“i mean peace,” he said. “the one thing you haven’t gotten to try yet.”
They were quiet for a long, aching moment.
Then Frisk looked at him and gave a small, tired smile.
“That’s just like you,” they said.
He blinked. “what?”
“In another timeline, you said if you hadn’t promised the lady behind the door… I would be ‘dead where I stood’.”
The words cut deeper than they should have.
He felt like his bones were full of lead.
“Guess you still would,” Frisk murmured, not unkindly. “If it meant giving Papyrus a better future.”
He didn’t respond. He couldn’t.
Because he didn’t want to lie.
They leaned into him, forehead resting against his shoulder.
He wanted to move away, but what right did he have to refuse them this much when he was suggesting—
“If… if there really is no way for me to keep a happy ending… I shouldn’t deprive the rest of you all from seeing the Surface.”
Sans felt both relief and guilt coiling in his gut like twin snakes; they had decided.
They were determined.
“…Let’s fix the machine,” they said, their words muffled by his jacket.
……
He put a hand on their back.
Their shoulders didn't even shake.
He hated himself.
Frisk left to go explore the rest of the Underground. Sans had a feeling that they wouldn’t be back within this load.
'heh. i wouldn't wanna' see my face either after that conversation.'
He pulled out his phone, his fingers clicking away at the buttons already.
legendaryfartmaster: hey al
ALPHYS: oh hey sans (＾▽＾)
ALPHYS: whats up ???
ALPHYS: did u need smth?
legendaryfartmaster: actually yea
ALPHYS: (ദ്ദി˙ᗜ˙)
ALPHYS: anything for an old co-worker :P
ALPHYS: what do you need help with?
legendaryfartmaster: can we talk in-person
ALPHYS: uh… sure…?
Sans took a breath, before stepping forwards and through space. For a moment, he was surrounded by impenetrable darkness. It was so dark, it was beyond the concept of colors.
Then, he was standing outside the lab.
legendaryfartmaster: knock knock
ALPHYS: (-_-)
ALPHYS: …who’s there.
legendaryfartmaster: im outside ur door
ALPHYS: im-outside-ur-door who?
legendaryfartmaster: no im literally outside ur door
He knocks on the door of the lab, boney knuckles clanking against the warm metal.
ALPHYS: fjskdjsk ok WOW
legendaryfartmaster: lol
A few moments later, he heard the rasp of scaly feet from behind the door before it slid open with a mechanical whir.
Wearing her usual lab coat, Sans didn’t comment on the sleep-wrinkled Mew Mew Kissy Cutie pajamas underneath; she probably was lounging in bed until he showed up on her doorstep.
“H-hi Sans…”
“hey al.”
“Uh. C-come on in…?”
They shuffled to the side and he stepped inside.
As the door clicked shut with a pneumatic hiss, Sans spoke.
“it’s about the DT extraction machine—”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“i haven’t even told you what it is yet.”
“You don’t have to.” Her voice cracked. “If it involves that machine, the answer is no.”
“alphys.”
“I said no!”
She was shaking.
Sans didn’t move.
Alphys turned away, arms wrapped around herself. “I’m not doing it again, Sans. I c-can’t. I can’t.”
“we’re not going to be doing DT experiments. we’re just going to be extracting it.”
Well. That was partially true.
Alphys looked back at Sans. “From what? That doesn’t make any sen—”
“the last fallen human.”
The way that he said it made the lizard fully turn and face him.
“…You’ve seen them, h-haven’t you? This isn’t hypothetical.”
“yep.”
“W-what are you using the DT for?”
“nothing. we’re just extracting it from the human.”
“…Why?”
He hesitated. Should he tell the truth? After all, this was Frisk’s story.
Then again, they were a god-like immortal who could rewind time.
‘if they don’t like it... they can just load a save from before I told alphys.’
He took a breath before continuing.
“we know that ‘determination’ allows human SOULs to persist after death.”
The words ‘after death’ caused Alphys to shiver, her eyes flicking towards the “bathroom” door.
“Y-yes…?”
“i believe that a SOUL with strong enough determination can persist through time. or rather, manipulate it and rewind back to before they died.”
“... what.”
Alphys looked completely flabbergasted, her jaw dropping in astonishment. After a moment, she recollected herself and laughed nervously.
“Y-you’re joking, Sans, r-right? Th-there’s no way that’s r-real— ”
“i’m dead serious, al.”
“...Oh my god, y-you are . Y-you actually b-believe that.”
Seeing that Alphys wasn’t getting it, he sighed and tried again. “think about it al. the reports on the timespace continuum would all make sense if we just accounted for a time traveler.”
“T-that’s true, b-but, I don’t t-think…” Alphys looked less sure of herself.
‘ok, let’s seal the deal.’
“you know the readings that the machine has been getting from other ‘layers’?”
“I– uhm– s-sort of? T-this timespace stuff d-doesn’t really make a w-whole lot of sense to me… I d-do know that the sheer quantity of data that t-the machine received ended up breaking it…”
“right. furthermore, the data that we received all ends in abrupt ‘termination’.”
“...W-what exactly does t-that mean?”
“nothingness. the void. oblivion.”
“S-so all those other timelines w-were… d-doomed???”
“well, that’s the worst case scenario; more optimistically, it just means that our timeline merges with another meaning that any deviation beyond that certain point is irrelevant. we don't get any data after that.”
Alphys breathed a sigh of relief. “O-okay. T-that’s reassuring to h-hear.”
“well, the more immediately concerning matter is the anomaly themselves.”
“T-the last fallen human…?”
“yep. i didn’t just see them; i talked to them.”
“W-wha???”
Alphys seemed ready to faint with all the bombshells that Sans had been dropping on her. He winced as he knew that they weren’t even at the crux of the matter yet.
“see, i was thinking. what could possibly make a time traveler restart so many times that it breaks our recording machine? any obstacle could be overcome with a few tries and the number of total resets was totally unwarranted.”
While she looked confused, the yellow-scaled lizard slowly nodded along.
Sans took a breath and continued.
“the reason is because they’ve reached an obstacle that cannot be overcome.”
“W-what kind of c-challenge...?”
“the void.”
“!?!?!?!?!”
Seeing Alphys’ concern, fear, and confusion resurface, Sans placated her with a firm hand on her shoulder.
“like i said, the sudden lack of data past a certain point doesn’t mean that our world is doomed.”
‘it means it MIGHT be doomed. which is a small difference, but then everything is meaningless if we operate on the idea that the world will end no matter what.’
He pushed forwards before she could interrupt.
“what this means, is that the human could be entering a state of self-aware non-existence. but if we assume it’s not the world ending, just the human’s ability to stay in it... then there’s a major problem.”
“...The h-human can still r-reset?”
“bingo.”
Alphys’ eyes widened as she put together two and two.
“You want to r-repair the Extraction Machine to drain the human of determination b-before they enter non-existence…”
The full implication hit Alphys.
“We’re condemning someone to non-existence until the end of time, Sans! How could I—”
“they’ve been looping for years now. they're losing their mind, al."
He let some of his guilt appear on his face. Being more candid with Alphys would likely increase the chances of her agreeing. "and there’s a chance their SOUL just... decays. if we give it some time, maybe.”
Alphys was sweating profusely, mopping it up with a handkerchief. She turned on Sans with an expression that clearly cut straight through his bullshit.
“With so much n-natural determination, they c-can control time if they aren’t handicapped??? With that much determination, they’ll be there even after t-the sun explodes!”
Sans knew deep down she was right.
“think about a bright future on the surface. where you face your fears and more on. maybe even live a life with undyne.”
Alphys immediately blushed and shut down. Sans continued seriously.
“all of that can be taken away in an instant.”
The lizard monster’s expression was the sobering realization of dread.
Sans reassured her.
“they understand.”
“they want this too.”
Those last two sentences left a bitter taste in Sans’ mouth, even though he didn't really normally taste anything.
She didn’t meet his eyes. But she didn’t walk away.
“…I’ll need a few days.”
He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “that’s fine. i’ll talk to you later then.”
They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment.
He turned to leave.
“…S-Sans?”
Sans stopped. “yeah?”
“I f-feel like it’d be wrong t-to create something like t-this without even knowing them… C-can I meet t-them? I mean, t-the last fallen human?”
The skeleton was faced with a dilemma.
‘if alphys met them, she would probably see them as a ‘person’ and might not be able to fix the machine… but if I refuse her, she might also not want to fix it if she doesn’t understand who she’s working with.’
Ultimately, he picked the most cowardly option.
“...i’ll ask. no promises.”
‘i’ll leave it up to them.’
Then, he disappeared on the spot.