Toriel sent him a venomous look. "You know you aren't supposed to tamper with her memories! If she had lost them it is for a reason." Toriel snapped.

"Calm down Tori. It's also against the rules for me to keep your whereabouts secret from Asgore, but look at what I'm doing."

Asgore... another familiar name. You shrank away and pulled your knees against your chest. You squeezed your eyes shut, replaying the event over and over again. Those people, they were your friends. What happened?! Why were you here? Why was Sans so different? It was so cold, so lonely. He was crying over you. What happened?

You rocked slightly, trying desperately to pry another memory from your blank mind but only resulted in failure.

"I need to go back." You said quietly. "I need to help Sans! I-I need to do the thing. Reset? I need to reset!" You said, raising your voice.

"Sorry kid, no can do." Sans chimed.

"What?! Why! I need to help him! He's alone, and sad. I can't leave him like that!"

"My child, please. Listen to us-" Toriel began to speak but you cut her off.

"No Toriel! Y-You lied to me! I'm not even who I think I am! Why would you keep me here when I'm needed somewhere else? Why would you act like this is all so perfect when someone's in pain because I'm not there?!"

Sans laughed and stood. "Well k-"

"Call me kid again and I'll rip out your tongue. Use my name, or don't talk to me." You hissed.

Sans paused a moment then spoke again. "Fine (Y/N)... You can't return for one simple reason. You're dead." He said frankly.

You stopped and looked at him. "I'm not dead. I can't be! I'm right here."

"Your soul is right here, in the garden of life. Your body is in the physical realm. You saw it sweetheart. Dead as a doornail. Now all I have to do is collect the spirit and take you to judgement."

You hissed towards him, backing away. Shakily, you wobbled to your feet and and took a step back from the two. "You're wrong... I-I'm not dead! He still needs me! I'm going to help him."

Your 'heart' pounded in your chest as you turned and ran. Though your time there had been short, you knew where to go to leave Toriel's "Garden of Life."

"Kid wait! You can't just return to your body! It's too damaged and you've already been proclaimed dead!" Sans yelled behind you.

You ignored him, eyes focused on the exit. As you broke through the curtain of vines and through the doors, you were met with endless black. In your mind, the memory from in the hall was vivid, almost new. You focused everything you had on it and tried to reclaim your body.

Toriel and Sans broke through the exit just as you summoned something useful. You were able to see your body in the original Sans' arms as he cooed whispers to it. You glanced back at Sans and Toriel, balling your hands into fist.

"You called me a lost soul, but I'm no such thing. I will finish my task! I will see my friends again! I will live against the rulings of death. I am... I am the middle ground. I'm a second chance. I will set things how they should be."

"My child! Please do not act so brashly."

You looked next to her and saw Sans preparing to use his magic to capture you. Snarling you jumped through your portal and closed it behind you, tumbling into you body. At first it was cold and numb, frozen by hours of death's blanket. But slowly your feeling returned and you could see a menu in your mind. Before you sat two options: Continue or Reset.

Remembering his earlier pleas, you pressed the glowing button. You were surrounded in sparks of white, blinding you. When your eyes opened again, you sat in a bed of golden blooms. Your attire had changed from the flowing ivory dress to a more simple clothing of a striped black and (F/C) sweater with shorts and ankle boots. A quiet groan rang in the air, catching your attention.

You looked around you and found a small human child wearing a purple and blue jumper. He sat up groggily and looked at you, rubbing his head. "(Y/N)? What are you doing at the beginning? I thought you came in after I got to Snowdin. That's how it's happened every other time."

You looked at him a moment before remembering his name. "Frisk?" You said quietly.

He looked at you and waited. "Yeah (Y/N)?"

Your eyes lit up as you beamed and pumped a fist into the air. "It worked! Thank god!"

Frisk snickered and stood. "Of course it worked, it always works. Resets are reliable."

Not always....

The thought seemed overly bitter but you understood why it came to mind. After all, you were that close to failing Sans and leaving him lonely forever. You stood and looked down at your young friend, smiling. "Shall we go?" You asked.

He nodded and took your hand, taking charge as you walked through the Ruins. Your eyes took in every detail, feeling that everything was both familiar and foreign at the same time. Frisk kept giving you sideways looks, but most of them slipped your knowledge. He suddenly stopped and you almost fell over him.

"Why are we stopping?" You asked.

He pointed directly in front of us, where vines were twisting together and blooming to form a yellow flower. It looked identical to the others until it sprouted a face. It's expression seemed unamused as it looked at the two of you.

"You couldn't even finish one Genocide Run, could you (Y/N)?"

You furrowed your brow, looking at the vaguely familiar flower. "How are you talking? And how do you know my name?" You asked.

His face twisted into something horrid and he glared at you. "We're not playing one of your stupid games today (Y/N)!"

Frisk tugged on your sleeve and looked at you with concern. "It's Flowey. Remember? We've met him tons of times before..."

It clicked in your mind and your eyes widened. "Oh yeah! Friendliness pellets and that whole ordeal! Shouldn't he be attacking us by now?"

Frisk nodded and Flowey sighed. He recited a few lines of what sounded scripted and then summoned small white pellets. You reached a hand out curiously and touched the pellet, your body rocketing in pain as soon as you did. His grin twisted and he snarled. "You idiot! Even after SO many runs, you still touch my pellets. In this world, it's kill or be killed."

You yanked your hand away and watched in fear as you were surrounded by bullets. Suddenly, a flame knocked away the cackling bloom and in its place stood a tall, smiling goat woman.

"What a horrible creature... Attacking such innocent youth. Do not fear children. My name is Toriel. I am the caretaker of the Ruins."

You stiffened slightly at the mention of Toriel's name, but this seemed right. You smiled and offered a hand. "My name is (Y/N), and this is Frisk."

She smiled sweetly and took my hand. "Follow me children. I will take you to my home."

Frisk held tightly to your hand as you followed her. She led you through a few puzzles, then turned to you. "I'm sorry. I must go to attend to some matters. I will give you this phone, call me if you need my help."

You nodded and waved as she left, leaving only you and Frisk. "Well, that was easy. Do you wanna keep going?" You asked.

"(Y/N), we always keep going. Then she meets us at the house, we sleep there a night, eat Bscotch pie and then head to Snowdin. How do you keep forgetting this?" He asked.

Your cheeks flushed and you pasted a fake smile on your face. "Sorry Frisk, I guess I'm just a bit forgetful this reset."

You started to continue down the path but Frisk pulled you to a stop. "(Y/N), what happened to you? You've been acting funny since the last reset. Did something unusual happen when Chara took over?"

You faked a laugh and looked at Frisk. "What? No! Pfft... Chara didn't do anything. I'm not even acting weird."

Frisk crossed his arms and fell into a sitting position. "I'm not moving until you tell me what's wrong."

"Seriously Frisk, nothing's wrong!"

He huffed and averted his gaze. "I'm only doing this because I care about you." He muttered.

You sighed and knelt down next to him. "Okay, yes. This last reset did mess with me. I only have a few memories, but I didn't want to say anything until we got to Sans so we could try to work it out."

Frisk looked at you with concern. "What happened?!" He asked.

You smiled and pulled him to his feet. "I'll explain everything I know when we get to Sans, okay?"

He was silent a moment, but sighed and nodded. "Okay fine, but as soon as we find Sans I'm gonna grill you!"

You put your hands up in surrender and nodded. "That's completely fine. I'm okay with that consequence, but can we go get pie now? I'm starving."

He laughed and took your hand, leading you once again. You smiled, but couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching you. Your eyes moved around the rubble, falling upon a small, sleek creature. "Hold on a second Frisk." You said, separating your hands.

He watched you as you moved closer to the creature, examining it. As you got closer, you could see its sleek, black feathers and small beady eyes. It watched you without fear, triggering your interest.

"Hey there little crow. You're a long way from the surface huh?" You cooed, holding out a hand.

It hopped back from your hand, but didn't flee. Gathering an idea, you opened your inventory and gathered a granola bar from the last reset. You took it in your hands and broke it, biting one half and offering the other to the crow. Frisk appeared at your side, watching the bird.

"Wow, I haven't seen a crow down here before." He mused.

"I know right! He such a beautiful bird too."

"He?" Frisk asked.

"I can tell." You said cockily.

The bird pecked at the bar in your hand and hopped into it. You smiled and lifted your hand to your shoulder. "Here, you can sit here while we walk." You chirped, still holding the granola bar.

Frisk ran his fingers over his slick feathers in awe. "I didn't know you were so good with birds!" He exclaimed.

"Neither did I..."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

P.o.V. Reaper!Sans

I couldn't follow too close or she'd notice when the plants around me wilted. With the distance I had to keep, it was almost impossible to understand what they were saying. Finally giving up, I summoned a creature made of my magic and sent him after them, following her every move and collecting the plan she had in every detail.

The crow I created, bird most connected with death, glided along with the two while I returned to Toriel. As I stepped into the garden, she looked at me with worry. "Did you find her?!" She asked.

I chuckled and met her gaze. "Finding her was easy. It's more a matter of bringing her back without causing chaos. She's already stirring trouble."

Toriel groaned and knotted her hands together. "Oh I pray this doesn't weigh negatively on my child."

"Heh, me too."