The attack tore through his weakened Aura in an instant; Frisk closed his eyes as he felt the agony of his soul disintegrating.

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[Save Loaded x31]

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"Wait!" Frisk screamed as he opened his eyes. His body was shivering, and it took a few moments before he realized where he was.

It was the bed of yellow flowers again. He was back, before Toriel, before Sans, and before Papyrus. Everything he had worked so hard for had been erased in an instant. Even the relief of knowing they were all still alive paled compared to that single thought.

It had all been for nothing.

"HAHAHAHA!" The laugh of Flowey echoed through the small chamber. "Now, that's the kind of reaction I was looking for." Frisk jumped up instinctively and got into a combat position; he watched as that damn flower popped up out of the ground to taunt him.

Frisk's left eye sparked with yellow electricity, and he lashed out at his tormentor. Arcs of lightning burst from his hand but dissipated before they reached the flower. He didn't have anything to focus the magic this time.

He tried to summon more anger. Flowey had just killed Papyrus. Flowey had framed him for the murder. Sans had killed Frisk in retaliation.

But they were still alive. He couldn't summon the same righteous anger that had forced the flower into resetting before. Frisk decided he didn't care how much power he had and infused his Aura with JUSTICE.

He dashed through some lazily sprouting vines and slid towards Flowey, aiming where he knew the flower would run. His kick cratered the ground slightly but failed to make it in time to catch his opponent.

"Aww, that's no fun. Where did that expression go?" Flowey taunted. "They've all forgotten about you now, yknow?"

Frisk made to step forward before stopping. As much as he wanted revenge, it wasn't going to happen if Flowey kept running away. "Where did all that bravado go now, Flowey? Are you scared to fight me?" He ignored how his opponents' words felt like daggers in his chest.

"Fight you? I don't need to fight you." Flowey bragged. "I can have every monster in the underground kill you an uncountable number of times. I've been their friend, I've been their enemy, I know their dreams and nightmares. This power of mine makes me a GOD! To someone like me, they are just characters following the script of MY design."

Anger burned in Frisk's chest.

"NO!" Frisk yelled, both his eyes glowing with power. "Your just some flower hopped up on DETERMINATION!" He wasn't a god; Frisk had to believe there was a way for him to win.

Those words made Flowey pause briefly before his face morphed into a demented grin. "Right there, THAT'S why I find you so interesting." Frisk flinched back, realizing what he had revealed in anger. "You KNOW and REMEMBER things that you shouldn't be able to. I will use your pathetic attachment to this world to provide stimulation to my existence!"

PERSEVERANCE mixed with JUSTICE on Frisk's hands as he leaped forward. The unstable mix of fire and lightning tore through the thick vines between the two, and he watched Flowey disappear into the ground.

"You Coward!" Frisk screamed as he punched the ground where Flowey once stood. The unstable elements detonated, scattering dirt throughout the room and cratering the nearby wall.

The room shook, and as everything settled down, Frisk trying to catch his breath was the only sound in the area. The fallen human dropped to their knees in exhaustion as they realized the detonation had destroyed their Aura. Looking down at his hands, Frisk saw strange burn marks on his skin.

"Oh, poor child, who did this to you?" Toriel's called out as she rushed to help Frisk.

Those words made him realize that he would have to do everything again.

—

[Toriel's House]

—

Frisk was looking down at his bandaged hands as Toriel entered the room.

"Here you go, my child." She said, passing Frisk the plate. "This is butterscotch cinnamon pie; I hope you enjoy it. It should also help with some of the fatigue you're feeling."

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…

"Thank you, Toriel." It was the same but different.

The first time, it was almost completely new; the second had been difficult enough, but a third time? Going through the motions was difficult, and Frisk wasn't exactly an actor. But he had to; for better or worse, he was attached. He might not have known these people for long, but the time had been life-changing.

So he went through the motions; hanging out with Toriel again was fun and relaxing after dealing with Flowey. But he needed to leave eventually, so he proved himself again. Fought her for the right to enter Swowden and succeeded.

—

[Meeting Sans]

—

The voice only paused for a second. "Turn around and shake my hand."

Frisk turned around and took the offered hand.

Meeting Sans was difficult. Intellectually, Frisk knew the skeleton had been tricked into killing him. Still, when he took the offered hand, a chill went down his spine as the memory of what had happened flashed behind his eyes.

Though it wasn't all bad, as Frisk got used to dealing with the skeleton brothers again, he got back into the groove. The puzzles were a bit repetitive, but Papyrus made him remember what he was doing this for. He even managed to avoid being fooled by San's fake arm trick.

The fun-loving skeletons lifted Frisk's spirits, and it even lasted through the Papyrus fight, where he did much better than before. Most of Frisk's new skills seemed tied to his SOUL, which didn't get reset when Flowey messed with the timeline. So he decided to view it as training for fighting Undyne.

If Frisk could make it to the lab, he could find a way to beat Flowey. Maybe that DT injector thing that made the flower could be used again to suck it out? Hell, maybe Frisk would just inject himself, though he didn't know if that was even possible or wise.

—

[Snowden]

—

"I'll be heading out. Make sure to tell Papyrus that I fed the rock when he gets back. Don't want it to get too fat." Sans called and started walking towards the kitchen.

Snowden was essentially the same, though Frisk got to explore it a little earlier because he wasn't as injured from the fight. He had talked to Papyrus about training but had yet to get around to actually doing it. The memory of Sans clutching his brother's scarf made Frisk hesitant to go.

He had considered telling Sans about everything… but Flowey's words were still stuck in his head. Could Sans even do anything against that kind of power? Frisk had tried to look for any indication the skeleton remembered the reset but couldn't find any. Plus…

{"How about no," Flowey said with a grin on his face.

*Slam*

Frisk froze in his advance as a thorned vine drove itself through Toriel's chest.}

Telling people hadn't exactly gone well last time.

Coming back to reality, Frisk heard the footsteps stop. "Actually, hey, kid. Why don't you follow me? I want to show you something."

Frisk froze; that was different. What did Sans want to show him in the kitchen? "Sure." He got up and was even more confused when the skeleton touched his shoulder and led him past the door.

Then suddenly, they were somewhere else. Frisk stared briefly at the surrounding snow and trees before realizing what had happened. The hand on his shoulder disappeared instantly, and he heard a familiar noise behind him.

*Beom* The sound of a charging Gaster Blaster.

"So, kid," Frisk looked to his left and saw Sans standing a reasonable distance away. "Mind telling a friend what's going on?" His left eye glowed with ethereal blue power.

"Please don't kill me!" Frisk closed his eyes and prepared for the worst. In his mind, he could already feel the magical beam tearing at his soul.

There was a few seconds of silence before Sans sighed. "So I've killed you before." His voice was dull and analytical. "Yet you seem to still fear me doing so again. Whether I kill you now depends on the answer to my question."

"What do you want to know?" Frisk slowly opened his eyes and tried to calm down. He desperately wished for a time when death wouldn't scare him like this.

"It's obvious you have knowledge of the future. I saw the look in your eye when you didn't fall for my ruse with the fake hand." Frisk winced. He wasn't sure if Sans was just superhumanly good at reading people or if he was just a terrible actor. "That, combined with your reactions to my attacks, means you should know something about what is happening to the timeline.

"It's not me, I swear." Frisk guessed he didn't have much of a choice now. "It's a talking yellow flower named Flowey I met when I fell down here. He can control the timeline using his DETERMINATION."

Silence once again filled the snowy clearing. "A talking flower?" Sans mumbled before shaking his head. "I've noticed the number of temporal changes has increased recently, perfectly corresponding to your arrival in the Underground." He pointed out leadingly.

Frisk winced. "I've been fighting him. I can remember the resets for some reason, and he likes to torture me with that. Constantly resetting after killing or getting me killed. Just recently, he framed me for Papyrus's death."

"Where I then proceeded to kill you in retaliation." Sans finished, his face looking demonic at the mention of his brother's death. Still, he lowered his hand and dismissed the Gaster Blaster. "It does all fit."

Frisk's eyes lit up. "So you believe me?"

Sans studied him carefully. "Maybe," he finished.

"Maybe?" Frisk asked, confused.

"You're either telling the truth or the best liar I've ever seen." He explained. "And if you're the best liar I've ever seen and in control of the timeline, then interrogating you here won't do anything." Sans shrugged his shoulders. "So my best bet is to leave figuring it out to me in the future. I guess it sucks to be him."

Ok? "It sucks to be you?"

"Got it right in one! I'll be heading back to the house now; try not to kill anyone while I'm gone. I'd hate to have to break a promise." Sans waved goodbye and walked out into the woods before disappearing.

Frisk sat in the snow and tried to comprehend what was happening. So Sans knew about the resets in general but only knew Frisk had something to do with them because of his reactions.

Sans also might believe him, but wasn't sure enough, so would leave that for future him?

Frisk shook his head.

All he knew was that he might have a new ally, though he would need to convince Sans of his innocence before anything else. While that might not solve the problem Flowey posed, it did make him feel a bit better.