The two skeleton guardians were led by the children to the base, where most of the survivors from the apocalypse were taking refuge in.

The sight was really pitiful, a lot of people looked so lost and sad. Most of them looked empty. Dream felt his heart sank when he saw most of the survivors were kids.

Soon they were led to the leader, so to say, which turned out to be Sans. No surprises here. Next to him was Undyne and Toriel. They seem to be deep discussion when MK spoke up. "Hey, Sans, we found some...new people."

Ink waved excitedly. "Nice to see you again!"

If a skeleton's face could pale, then Sans' face would have been beyond white. "Hey Ink."

"You know them?" MK gasped. "Do all skeletons know each other?"

Toriel and Undyne both look confused and stared at Dream then at Ink. Sans shrugged. "Maybe we do, maybe we don't. Did you find anything at Grilbs?"

"One French Fry!" MK declared proudly. Ink held in a laugh.

Sans smiled widely and winked. "Guess no one's fried tonight then."

Toriel let out a laugh, but it was more forced than usual. Undyne only grunted and rolled her eye. Dream could tell no one's mood was really that good currently.

"Alright, thanks MK." Sans patted the kid on the head. "You can run along now."

MK beamed at Sans, then at Undyne, who returned the smile with another smile, the monster child left the room for the adults to speak.

"I guess this got so serious to a point you became involved, huh?" Sans folded his arms, his smile dropping slightly. He looked even more tired than before.

"Yeah, this situation is really unnatural, not in the system at all." Ink tugged on his fingerless gloves uncomfortably. "Our only solution is to get Frisk to reset. Though, no worries, the reset will only shoot them back to when you first exited Mount Ebott. Since, y'know, a checkpoint for resets are made whenever there's a big change or something."

Sans exhaled, a lot of weight had been lifted apparently. "That's good to hear."

"So, do you know where they are?" Dream asked hopefully.

Toriel nodded. "Back on the surface, they're exploring despite them already knowing where is where and what is what. It's like all their memories were gone."

Dream placed his hands on his hips and thought for a minute. Then his pupils shrank and he turned to Ink frantically. "Ink, a moment alone, please?"

"Sorry, Dream, I'm incapable of feeling love. But I'm pretty sure Cross would def-" Ink was cut off by Dream pulling him to a corner.

"I think I know what's wrong with Frisk." Dream said in a low whisper.

"What?" Ink whispered back.

"I think, somehow, the player managed to regain control of them."

"That's can't be possible," Ink straightened his back, "can it?"

"It's just a guess." Dream shrugged. Ink nodded in response. "We'll have to take a closer look to know for sure." Ink nodded his head.

"We're gonna need a new plan then." Ink said, he turned around and faced Sans, he pulled out his big paintbrush on his back.

"Ok Sans, we'll be right back!" Ink grinned, spilling some paint of the floor. Without waiting for an answer, Ink jumped in, pulling Dream with him.

Sans didn't care anyway.