Chapter Text
How long does he have to keep these secrets? How long must he suffer in silence? How long does he have to live in total darkness, unable to let his thoughts ascend beyond it?
All questions he has asked himself countless times before, only to have to ask them again, and again, and again.
The kid failed. Again.
They failed a lot, it seemed. He kept repeating the same morning, over and over, for the past few years. The first few times, he didn’t understand. He just thought he was having dejá vu, but when that feeling kept up for another two weeks, he knew something was wrong.
For some reason, he knew it was the kid. They were the only human to have come down within his lifetime, and the strange feeling never occurred until after they had appeared.
Yesterday, he watched them intently. Followed them around the Underground, watching and waiting for something to happen. What he didn’t expect to see was that the kid was running from Undyne…
And avidly avoiding every other monster.
Well, not avoiding, but not harming or killing any of them. The kid smiled at them and even spared them during Confrontations. He couldn’t understand. The stories of the previous children, and of the humans from the war, told that these creatures were emotionless, cold, and would murder any monster they found.
Yet this kid, this short, pudgy, fleshy human, simply smiled and laughed. They carried no weapon, and only had a Tutu on.
What the hell was with the tutu?
Either way, he followed them yesterday and found that they were running from Undyne, and eventually had to enter a Confrontation. The Captain refused to let the kid go. She was determined to get the kids’ soul.
Unfortunately for Undyne, the kids’ soul was red.
Determination.
The kid avoided nearly every attack that Undyne flung their way, but was eventually struck down and killed-
And he woke back up in his room to his brother yelling at him.
That was nearly two years ago, give or take. Time didn’t flow the same in the Underground, since they had no sun or moon like the humans did. It was either dark or darker. The kid moved slower now and didn’t have as much spunk as they used to.
He occasionally took up a conversation with them, but it all ended the same; just the same conversation over and over and over. Nothing ever changed. Just have to continue having the same conversation over and over and over until something happened. Something different.
But of course, that wasn’t going to happen.
This kid may have once been his hope, the Underground’s only hope, but since something kept happening and making them relive it all, that hope had dissipated, just like his patience was.
After a while he stopped caring about the kid. Wouldn’t meet up with them, wouldn’t take them to Grillby’s, and went to his workshop every time Papyrus brought them over for their date. His thoughts refused to let him go further than the week he had to relive. He began to forget some of the things that happened before the kid showed up, and lost hope for the future.
Why think of a future when there will never be one?
He sighed. The kid should be around Waterfall by now, which means it should be resetting soon. He was at his hotdog stand in Hotland, but nobody was present. He wanted to watch and see, just to… make sure…
…that it stayed the same…
As he took a shortcut to Waterfall he shook his head. He needed something to keep him here. To keep him grounded. If he continued this way, one reset he would go insane…
And he couldn’t let Papyrus see him like that.
He heard a distant roar, only belonging to Undyne. Huh, the kid was further than he thought. He teleported deeper into Waterfall only to find the kid running towards Hotland. His brow rose in surprise.
Something was finally different.
He took a shortcut back to his hotdog stand and waited. Thoughts came racing back to him as he thought that this was it, that them getting a little further was all there was going to be for another two years.
Another two years of waiting for them to just stop trying.
In the end, the kid…. Became friends with Undyne.
The kid passed the endless loop of death, but… He didn’t know how to feel about it.
On one hand, the kid finally got further. It was a week and a day since it reset. He was so happy, ecstatic, relieved, and he just couldn’t believe it.
On the other hand, their next challenge would probably claim their life again. He’d have to wait, again, for them to get to this same point, and there was no guarantee that they’d get past Undyne again.
The negative feelings always overcame the positive. He couldn’t even look at the kid.
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A day later and the kid came back to Snowdin. Alphys seemed to trust them, and so, Undyne allowed them free roam of the Underground. The kid had even been on Metatton’s show, the cooking one, and gotten some pretty decent ratings…
Or so Sans heard. He couldn’t stand the show but Papyrus was beyond happy at this point.
The kid had come to Snowdin, to his house, and asked to meet up at Grillby’s.
He hadn’t taken them to Grillby’s yet. Not in this timeline.
Suspicion began to overtake his mind as he made the short walk with the kid, who remained silent. Neither of them felt the need to speak, and that only told him that the kid was either up to something, or knew something.
The made it to Grillby’s ordered a burger and two orders of fries…
And the kid told him everything.
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It has now been two weeks since the last reset. Ever since the kid told him about… everything… he insisted on giving them advice to help them along.
And it worked.
They got past Metatton rather quickly, simply gave Muffet some of her Cider and was let off the hook, and they were finally at Asgore. Needless to say, Asgore was rather surprised to see Sans with the kid, especially defending them. Nonetheless, the kid fought Asgore.
All of the kids’ friends appeared. Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys… and the woman behind the door, Toriel. He finally got to meet her, and was immediately enraptured.
A certain yellow flower had other plans.
This… This had been unexpected.
Something was happening with the flower and the kid, Sans could feel it, but couldn’t see it. It didn’t matter.
Nothing would come to fruition anyway. It would all reset, and him and the kid would go over this again.
And again.
And again.
Nothing mattered. Not how he felt, not his sanity, not his friends, not his life.
Who would care if his life ended. No, it wouldn’t matter even then, cause it’d reset and bring him back.
“Sans…”
A voice… No, it didn’t matter. They didn’t matter.
“Sans.”
The world could end and he wouldn’t care. He was just reliving hell week after week after week.
“Sans!”
Papyrus would be better off without hi-
“SANS!”
His eyes opened to find the kid staring at him with wide, teary eyes. He slowly looked around him to find everyone else awake, alive, with the same expression. What…
He looked back to the kid and found them on their knees, sobbing.
“I…. We…. We did it…” Through the sobs, words came through that sounded more like music to his ears.
But was that the truth? Did they really do it?
It can’t be the truth. There’s no way.
Everyone got up and went to the kid, and a heartfelt moment commenced. Sans wouldn’t partake, and the kid knew why. They got up and motioned for everyone to follow them. They went through the last hallway of New Home and came to a door. The door was illuminated with magic – but it wasn’t monster magic, it was the magic of human mages who long ago sealed every monster underground.
The kid walked up to the door and placed their hand upon it-
And the barrier…….
The barrier broke.
They continued to follow the kid through the door and Sans saw something illuminate the hallway before him. It was a light unlike any light he had seen before. The entrance was closing in, and the white light beyond was nearly blinding. Squinting, they all walked into the blinding light.
As his eyes adjusted, Sans began to cry. Unbidden tears flowed within his eye sockets, rolling down his cheekbones.
He had never seen it, but he knew what the sun was, and it was rising. He was finally seeing morning for what it truly was.
Orange and yellow washed over the land, giving way to the lush landscape that was Mount Ebott. Green were the trees and blue was the water beyond, but the sky was just beginning to settle its colors. He stopped wishing for mornings, stopped believing in them. He wanted nothing more than to fall asleep and never see another morning, but now…
If morning was truly this beautiful, then he would always hope for morning.