Frisk dragged their feet through the snow. They were lost in thought and feeling emotionally numb. The weight of Chara's words from last night burdened them greatly, so much that Frisk thought of nothing else since then. The possibilities... The risk... The consequences...

It had all happened so conveniently, and also ironically. Ironic that just as Frisk was beginning to let go of the past, it would present itself so suddenly and readily available. Ironic that just as things were starting to go right in a timeline that had gone so wrong, so, so, horribly wrong... After Frisk had exhausted all other options, a new solution was begging to be explored.

Could they really do this?

One shot. Frisk would have one shot to set things straight again. Otherwise that's it, GAME OVER. Not only could they screw things up monumentally, but it would be permanent.

Frisk shivered, not from the icy wind, but from the memories of dying over and over in their previous run. How could they perform in essence: a perfect play-through?

Frisk would give their life if it meant sparing everybody else. No question about it. But their prosperity depended on Frisk's not dying. Not only that, but Frisk wanted this future. What they had with Toriel, with their friends, with Sans. What if this current timeline only happens because of the momentous failure? That would mean they'd have to give it up. No. they didn't want to. Even though it hurt, even though it was hard to live this way, they had all pushed through, survived, and found happiness.

What did Chara have in him that guaranteed things wouldn't wind up the same way?

But Frisk thought about their friends. What if they ever found out that they had the opportunity to fix things and chose not to because they were just comfortable being here? They might not ever find out, they wouldn't remember it anyway. Frisk knew they'd do it without hesitation. Except maybe Sans... Frisk couldn't live with that guilt either.

Goodness this was aggravating. If the reward didn't cost so much risk they would've done it by now! There wasn't room for error this time. Not only was the crippling fear of death looming over them, but the very-real possibility that they could ruin everyone's lives with one wrong action.

Frisk had been standing in front of the door too long, resting their head on the wood as the wind blew snow over them.

Well, whatever they were going to do, they weren't going to do it without telling Sans first. They lifted their head from the door and put up their fist to knock-

"if you like the front door this much, wait until you see the inside."

Frisk blinked a few times, frozen in place. Right on cue this skeleton was, as always.

Sans stood there, waiting awkwardly for Frisk to snap themselves out of it and finally enter the home. Tonight was game night. Everyone was going to play Twister, Monopoly, and Connect-Four and many other human games Frisk had brought to their attention, while eating junk food and keeping score of who would be crowned "Grand-Daddy of Games" until next week.

They walked in on a staring contest that had been going on long before Frisk arrived between Undyne and Papyrus. Apparently this was Undyne's fifty-eighth rematch, she having not trumped Papyrus even once. Her eyes (one was in her eye patch of course.) were terribly bloodshot, thin streaks of tears running down both cheeks, her good eye had developed an unsettling twitch. Maybe she had it in her head that holding her breath would keep her from blinking, because her cheeks were puffed with captured air and her face was beginning to turn a deep shade of purple. Papyrus, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine- if not a little guilty.

"ARE YOU SURE YOU DO NOT WISH TO STOP? THAT CANNOT BE GOOD FOR YOUR EYES... OR YOUR LUNGS."

Undyne only shook her head, straining to keep her breath in.

"Pl-please Undyne, stop! You're not going to win! Papyrus doesn't even have eyes!" Alphys fretted.

In slides Mettaton, with a glittery bow-tie and microphone. Cameras seem to appear out of nowhere, along with the loud applause of a studio audience. "Would you look at that folks? It looks like our friendly-neighborhood-skeleton has got the feminine-fish-warrior in a deadlock! Papyrus has the gotten the upper hand on the scoreboard by a landslide! But, could it be that the Underground's favorite heroine is making a comeback? Why, just look at that concentration!"

By now Undyne's face is the ugly color of a deep bruise, her eyes are rolling back.

"Ahh! S-someone do something!" Alphys squeals. She begins frantically searching through her purse. "Eye drops! Where are those eye drops?"

Sans is only pumping his fist and hooting. "go paps, go! never give up, never surrender!"

"I-I COULD BLINK IF YOU WANT ME TO. I DO NOT LIKE THE LOOKS OF THIS." Papyrus offers.

Undyne's entire body begins to tremble. "Mmmmmmphh!"

"nah. don't do that paps, this is funny!"

"SANS! YOU ARE BEING INSENSITIVE, UNLIKE THE GREAT AND SYMPATHETIC PAPYRUS."

"ya hear that, fish stick? you have his pity!" Sans instigates.

Undyne's pupils have already rolled to the back of her head, the yellow in her eyeballs have gone full red, she holds back a violent scream. "MMMMMMMNNNNFFF!"

"Lookie-here folks, do I spy an oncoming forfeit?" Mettaton narrates.

Undyne blinks incredulously. "Forfeit?! I NEVER FORFEIT!"

Mettaton's recorded audience gasps, everything goes dark, then the bright, sudden spotlight singles her out. She realizes what she has just done.

"NNNGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"yeah, you never forfeit but that doesn't mean you never lose!" Sans gloats, waving his hands in the air like he just doesn't care.

Alphys breathes a sigh of relief. "At least it's over."

Papyrus does too. "WELL, THAT WAS ENTIRELY EXPECTED."

"I don't believe iiiiiiiiiiit!" She screeches.

"you better believe that my bro's gonna be grand daddy tonight!" Sans gleams with pride.

After getting swept 40-1 in checkers against Alphys, tied with Undyne after maybe a dozen rounds of extreme tic-tac-toe (the
extreme part is that you have to make your move faster than the "ticking" of the timer, while sitting on a bunch of "tacs", and your plays are made by writing on the piece of paper with a pencil in between your"toes.") and dominating Papyrus in hang man, the group took a quick break to get snacks. So the last game of the night was Frisk's best: charades.

Sans leaned in to whisper. "you do the moving and i'll do the talking. nothing new eh?"

Frisk was feeling more than confident until he sat down with a playful wink.

Everyone else had gathered on the floor, ready to shout whatever they guessed Frisk was imitating. Sans sat to the side, deviance clear on his features. With a gulp, Frisk began to wave their arms around and bend, hoping to look like a blade of grass blowing in the breeze.

"You're a fish! An eel! A lobster!"

"A proud, majestic flag!"

"NO, SURELY YOU MUST BE A GRACEFUL STRAND OF SPAGHETTI, ELEGANTLY FLOWING IN THE SUMMER'S GALE."

"U-uh, umm. Waves? Wind chimes? An electrical current?"

Frisk raised their eyebrows, Papyrus wasn't actually that far off. Then Sans spoke...

"a breath of fresh air."

Frisk felt their temperature rising, thankfully no one else noticed his blatant flirting. They tried something else, now crouching down low with their arms hovering over their head. Perhaps this would look more obviously like a plant?

"A flying fish! A coral reef! Sea cucumber!"

"Hmm. Uhh. A box? A rock? Maybe a barrel?"

"Why, you're a television!"

"OR PERHAPS YOU ARE A CLEVER TRAP?"

"the roots that keep me grounded."

Frisk shot Sans a look that clearly stated "what are you doing?!" now getting even more embarrassed. Okay, a tree, Frisk would be a tree. All they had to do was stand tall and move their branches a little against the wind.

"Octopus!"

"O-Oh, I think I know! You're that mid boss in level twenty-one of the relic dungeon in Kissy Cutie Mew Mew Adventures that you can only unlock after beating expert mode!

"ONE TALL, SUAVE, HANDSOME SKELETON."

"Yes you are."

Everybody stopped for that.

"the beginnings of a beautiful relationship."

Everybody stopped for that.

Frisk felt the back of their neck beginning to sweat, he was going to give them away!

"Ugh. Stop being creepy Sans. No wonder Frisk can't concentrate." Undyne glowered at him.

Not wanting the group to dwell, Frisk stomped their foot loudly to grab their attention and immediately began hopping and flapping their arms about wildly. They're a bird now! A bird! No one could mistake a bird!

"Helicopter!"

"Dolphin!"

"It's a bomb! I'm the bomb!"

"THAT ONE INCIDENT THAT WE SHALL ALL NOT REPEAT WHEN THE GREAT PAPYRUS MISTAKENLY THOUGHT HIS CAPE WOULD GIVE HIM THE ABILITY TO FLY."

"you're the wind beneath my wings."

...

"YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY WINGS BROTHER." Papyrus said in a questioning tone.

"Jeez Sans... You sure are... Poetic today." Alphys smiled.

"No he isn't, he's annoying!" Undyne said, stomping harshly on the ground.

He only shrugged. "oh you know what they say: when in lov-" That's when Frisk threw the bowl of cheese dip at him, landing right on top of his head. A bit of it splattered on Undyne's shirt and that's when she yelled "FOOD FIIIIIIIIGHT!" Soon it was utter chaos. Frisk wasn't going to let the edible war put him off the hook though. They tackled him to the ground and glared at him in an accusing manner. Sans fell on his back and slid to the other side of the room, grinning at his partner's precarious position above him.

He eyed Frisk sat atop of his lap and chuckled. "at least let me buy you dinner first." He said suggestively.