Another day, another reset. It's all routine by now. Sans has lost count how many times he's stood here, hiding in the trees. Waiting for the light foot prints to pass by. Introducing himself to the human, who is either very bad, or not so bad.

He waited, and then heard shuffling movement thru the snow. 'That's my cue.' And followed behind the human child. He noticed something was off. The kid seemed trembling, and had their head down; one arm wrapped around them selves. He got closer about do do his 'scary schtick,' when they turned around startled. Wooden stick in a trembling hand. Sans held his hands up in surrender.

Sans was quick to notice the powdery dust covering the humans hands. Knowing exactly where this was going unless he stopped it. He had the whoopee cushion in hand, ready to deploy. Except when he noticed the tears streaming down their face. They seemed to be trying really hard not to cry. "Human, don't you know how to greet a new pal?"

That seemed to set them off. They dropped to their knees, sobbing; dust covered hands covering their face. Stick forgotten in the snow. Sans kicked it out of the way before kneeling, leaving the prank forgotten in his pocket. "uh, kid? you ok?"

The head of the crying child shook hard. "IM SORRY! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" They screamed, catching Sans completely off guard. He looked around. About now his brother should be coming by to check this gate. Things were definitely not going according to plan. "hey, uh kid... come with me and we'll talk about it." Helping the sniveling child up he took a 'short cut' back to town.

Soon the child seemed to settle down enough to stop wailing. Sans was clueless on this one. "so, uh, you ready to talk about it?" They were at a booth at Grillzbys, a warm beverage sitting in front of the kid. Their bottom lip trembled and they sniffled. "I didn't mean to do it. Honest!"

"what didn't you mean to do?" Sans both knew, and dreaded the answer.

The human pulled their knees to their chest, hugging them. "She kept telling me and telling me to fight back or go back to the house. I wanted to go home. So i... i... I didn't know it would hurt her like that!" The kids voice gaining octave. "She only wanted to be my mommy. Why didn't I just let her be my mommy?" The kid broke down in silent tears.

Sans had always wondered what happened on the other side of that door. What sets the human on their quest Of destruction, or of freedom. But something bothered him. "but didn't you run into any other creatures in the ruins? other monsters?" The kid nodded. "what did you do then?"

The kid looked up. "I ran. I always ran and hid."

Sans scratched at the back of his skull, not sure where to go from here. With the queen dead, any chance of this timeline ending happily ever after was moot. But still. The kid just looked distraught. There was only one way to fix this, as much as he hates resets, it was the only option.

"so then start over. try again. learn from your mistakes. you know, reset" Sans said with a wink.

""R-reset?" The child seemed genuinely confused. Sans waved a hand. "yeah. just reset!" Tears stopped in their tracks. "H-how do I do that?"

Sans what startled at that question. They didn't know how to reset it? The universe is toying with him. Has to be. Sans closed his eyes and gave a lopsided grin and shrugged. " hell if i know. i imagine you just concentrate? maybe wish to do things over? i dunno... give it a try?" The child did just that.

Sans waited behind the trees, waiting for his cue. He watched the kid leave the ruins. Head held high; tears of sadness lingering g. But not ones of sorrow. This time around, the kid was empty handed.

Sans did his schtick, scaring the human. Then pranking them. Smiling at the kids giggle. They looked back at Sans, an interesting knowing look on their face. "what's with that look buddy? you're acting like you know me or something." The kid shook their head in no. And they headed into Snowdin. Sans hoped things would go better this time around.