Epilogue

Light snow falls from the heavens, the morning sun obscured by clouds. Another morning, another day. Yesterday could be today and today could be tomorrow. Little changes as a sentry of Snowdin, even less changes when you're repeating a routine. Sans thinks that if time always repeated to this spot, he wouldn't mind, though. It's so peaceful.

He leans with his back to the door to the ruins, sitting in the snow. It's locked, like normal. He hasn't checked today, but he doesn't need to. He just watches the snow and waits, for his knock-knock buddy to get to the other side. Or maybe he's waiting for someone else, he feels like someone different will be there today.

He hears something on the other side, and the peaceful trance breaks. Abruptly he stands, pressing his head against the door, listening. There's voices, but he can't make them out. And footsteps, getting closer, but the pace and weight behind them is different. Not his knock-knock buddy. They're coming towards the exit of the ruins.

He disappears behind a nearby tree. His hands are nearly shaking. Whatever happens next... he thinks it will determine the fate of the world. There's no logic behind it; he just knows.

The doors that have been locked for decades finally open.

It's the time anomaly, wearing the skin of a human.

...He has no idea what kind of being they are. Are they good? Are they evil? Why do they mess with time? Maybe they are just lonely. Maybe if they get what they want, they will stop messing around with the timeline. For the sake of the world stopping its infinite repeat... he will endure any outcome. Even if the anomaly ends up killing his brother.

The doors close behind the human as soon as their feet step on the snow.

And then they run. A full on sprint, arms flailing gracelessly, the snow beneath crunching loudly with each step. White puffs of air escape their mouth from each breath.

There's no way they could have sensed him, right? Did something happen in the ruins? Sans watches them; follows them; but he doesn't get it. They run like their life depends on it. They're getting closer to the bridge.

He teleports a few steps behind them. Better for him to make first contact than the other monsters in Snowdin, so he can figure out if they're a threat or not.

Instead of continuing their mad dash, the human stops. They don't turn around. They can probably hear his steps though, and feel his presence. If they haven't seen this before, anyway.

"Human," he breathes, practically on their neck. "Don't you know how to greet a pal? Turn around and-"

The human does turn around. But instead of taking his hand, the child launches their entire small body into his frame. Their warm little hands wrap around his form. The whoopee cushion drops both from the impact and his shock; he hadn't expected a tackle-hug. His eyes are wide, staring at the small human who has wrapped themselves around him.

"I'm sorry!" Tears run furiously down their face. The lines run all the way down; they must have been crying for quite some time, and not just when they turned around. Instead of burying their face, they looked up at him, unashamed of their red crying eyes or the snot dribbling from their nose. "You're right I don't want to be like this I'll take what I have and just be a normal person I just want to have real friends and be human!" They're talking so fast he can barely understand them. They only pause a moment to sniffle. "I promise I'll never reset not ever even if I die I'll just stay dead if that will make things right so please, I mean it I'm sorry and I'll fix it!"

They finally stop, looking up at him expectantly. He doesn't get what they're saying and he's pretty lost. But there's a child clinging to him and crying... "uh... uhm..." He knows he needs to say something, likely something in another timeline... but it's hard to do when in his perspective, he's only just met them now... what is he supposed to say?

"...You don't remember me," the child knows. Their tear-stained gaze drifts to the side. He knows it hurts them, even if he can't do anything about it. "It's okay. I know to you, it's just like we've just met, so you don't know anything about me..." Their arms begin to fall from Sans.

He returns the hug before they drop their hands completely. Sans smiles at them, really genuinely smiles, returning the hug. "it's ok, buddy. all that timeline stuff, it doesn't matter. i know the most important thing about you." They look up to him in shock.

"you're a true friend."

That's all he needs to know about them. Finally he extracts himself from the hug, taking their hand instead. "so come on, friend. i'm not gonna let you die. let's make this world the one that counts, right?"

They wipe their tears, and nod.

Sans knows that the journey through the timelines is over. Finally... perhaps for the first time since everything began...

He's actually looking forward to the future.

Notes:

This is the end of this story! Sans became a little more determined, Frisk regained their humanity, and the world's not messed up. Yay! Below are some parting words?

First off, THANK YOU! Yes, you! For reading, or skimming, or just clicking the story. I'm honestly super flattered anyone would actually use their free time to check out something I've written.

Like all authors I've met, I'm my own worst critic. There's a lot of things I'd do differently in hindsight. But that's the thing, being so worked up about getting it perfect can often lead to me doing nothing. So I kind of just throw the 'first-draft' version up here. (Thanks for being patient.)

I had more, but I deleted all my notes, they were so long, lol. I'll continue writing Undertale things, I don't have a tumblr or anything, so everything will be here.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say was, it was a journey. Thanks for taking it with me. I had fun, and hope you did too.