In, stop. Out, stop.

Everything was reset, giving him another opportunity to fix things. A new chance. A new timeline. A blank slate. Before, many resets ago, this would have filled him with unbridled joy, with hope. Now, well... he simply felt even more exhausted than he had before. He had no way of telling what this cycle would hold, if he would succeed, or fail once again.

In, stop. Out, stop.

Breath after breath, he tried to get his racing thoughts under control, force the nagging uncertainty to cease. With so much running through his mind at once, it made it incredibly difficult to piece together a coherent thought or gain any new ideas. That clanging noise downstairs wasn't helping matters either.

In, stop. Out, stop.

He felt his frustration growing with every moment.

In, out, in in.

His left eye burned. His chest hurt.

In, in, stop. Out, in, out, in in...?

His vision went dark and heard a muffled shout, and then felt a sharp pain shoot up his entire arm. He absentmindedly noted that his breath was coming too quickly once his room slowly came back into focus. It took him a moment to realize he'd punched the wall. Cracks spider-webbed their way up the plaster. It must have been himself who yelled, he realized after another moment.

A long, drawn out sigh.

He had to admit that, at least while he'd been fighting, he had gotten a small sense of satisfaction from that fact that he'd managed to catch the human by surprise, but even still, he knew he wouldn't be able to replicate that a second time. They'd be expecting him to attack far earlier, now that they knew he truly could and would. SO what should he do? Try to keep Papyrus from leaving the house again, and meet the human at the judgment hall once more? They wouldn't expect that after what he'd done, or would they?

No, no he couldn't do that. They'd just kill everyone like usual if he went with that plan.

So should he just meet them in the forest once more? That seemed to be the best, and only, option he had right now. The only one that would avoid any more death. Or at least, so he hoped.

The biggest obstacle that he faced, was not the human, but the reset. If he succeeded in killing the human again, they would only reset, and it would become undone. Erased, as though it never happened in the first place, just like last time. Unless...

Sans slowly pushed himself out of bed, stifling a pained groan. The fight had really done a number on him, even if it wasn't from physical injuries. Food, he needed food.

"Hello, brother!" Papyrus called out cheerfully when he heard Sans come down the stairs. The smaller skeleton resisted the urge to sigh, but smiled nonetheless. If only he could be so happy and clueless as Papyrus was to this situation.

"Hey bro," he replied.

"So, did you rest well?" Papyrus asked, not turning away from his spot at the stove. "You're up awfully early!"

Sans sat down at the table, leaning back against the chair, arms folded behind his head. "Uh, yeah, sure."

The taller skeleton nodded, but said no more. For a moment, Sans wondered if he somehow suspected something, even if only for the fact that he didn't have to be dragged out of bed this morning. If Papyrus did suspect something was off, he supposed that couldn't be helped now.

A couple minutes passed, filled only with the sounds of Papyrus cooking. As grateful as he was for the stillness, it felt heavy and uncomfortable. He was glad when his brother finished cooking, so that at least now he's have something to do that wasn't simply sitting in awkwardness.

The moment he received his plate, Sans began practically inhaling the spaghetti as though he hadn't eaten a meal in years. It wasn't until he nearly choked on it that he noticed was Papyrus staring strangely at him. He slowly swallowed, resisting the urge to fidget.

"Sans? I've never seen you eat my spaghetti quite like this before," the taller skeleton commented, eyes narrowed slightly. For a moment, Sans felt as though his stomach had dropped clear down into his feet. He didn't have time for his conversation. Not now.

"You must really enjoy it!" Papyrus continued gleefully, bringing forth a sigh of relief from the shorter brother. "I'll go make some more for you!"

"Uh, a-actually," Sans chuckled, pushing his plate away. "I gotta go, like, uh, right now. Sorry, pap."

"What? Where are you going?!" Papyrus asked, watching in confusion as Sans quickly stood and walked towards the door. "Work doesn't start for another two hours!"

He ignored his brother's question, heading out the door before Papyrus had too much time to protest. A loud sigh escaped him as soon as the door slammed shut behind him. Guilt tugged at him for his behavior towards his brother, but every moment he wasted gave the human a better chance at killing everyone, at killing Papyrus. He couldn't risk it, not now.

No, right now, it was about time someone got a real taste of their own medicine.

As he walked through the snow, he could have sworn he felt someone staring at him. When he turned around, however, there was no one there.

The feeling never left the farther he went from Snowdin.

AN: I'm so extremely sorry that this chapter's so short! It was really difficult for me to figure out how to transition from the last chapter to the one I have planned. I've actually been sitting on this for a little while but didn't want to post it because of how short it was. But yes, I'll hopefully have another chapter done sometime soon (and it hopefully won't take another few months this time).