It was another cold and beautiful day in Snowdin.

Frisk had had a great day, playing with all their monster friends. The child played hide-and-seek with Monster Kid, went on another 'date' (it was more of a play date) with Papyrus, and even helped some customers at Grillby's. Alphys and Undyne stopped by, and Frisk, Papyrus, and Sans all had a great time having a snowball fight outside of the library. They played and played until they collapsed into the snow, laughing.

When warming up at Grillby's in the evening, Frisk accidentally let loose a cute little yawn and it was decided that they would spend the night at the house of the skeleton brothers.

So there Frisk lay, bundled up in blankets on the couch in the dark living room, smiling to themselves as they watched the light of the fire under Sans' door shine over the room.

With the sight of snow falling softly and silently outside the windows and the lull of the house's heater, Frisk drifted happily off into sleep.

~

It didn't feel like long, however, before Frisk entered what they were beginning to call a 'dream battle' - an imaginary battle within a dream. Frisk frowned and tensed, looking around at the regrettably familiar darkness. They didn't like dream battles. Dream battles were usually memories of battles from previous timelines.

Genocide timelines.

Frisk ducked their head, preparing for whatever their mind might throw at them this time.

They waited.

And waited.

... But no blows were exchanged.

Frisk cracked open one eye, still greeted with nothing. They knew it was a battle - they could see their battle options floating just in front of them and could feel the knife gripped in their hand.

But where was the enemy?

"Hello...?" a voice whispered through the darkness. "Who's there?..."

Frisk's head jerked up, looking around for the owner of the voice. But still their eyes were met with the black background of the battle. They decided to reply to the voice and say that their name was Frisk.

"You... you're called Frisk?" the voice asked timidly. "Are you... human?"

Frisk said that yes, they were human.

"You are... You are! That's... Will you help me?" the voice begged. Very faintly, if Frisk focused and squinted really hard, they could just make out the outline of a being standing in front of them. It almost looked like... No, it couldn't be...

After a moment's hesitation, Frisk decided to ask what the stranger needed help with.

"I... I'm looking for a friend. I've been looking for him for so long, so long that I thought he was..." The figure became more apparent but remained annoyingly unrecognizable. "A-anyway, I found him a short while ago and - and I was so happy! He was alive and okay! But -" They stopped abruptly. "But he... he yelled at me. Told me to go away. Said I... wasn't real."

The silhouette finally came into focus and sure enough, Frisk's initial impression was right - the 'enemy' was a human girl. Younger than an adult but older than Frisk by a good few years, and wearing a plain, short-sleeved dress and flats. Strangely enough, the girl's face was covered in constantly shifting white pixels. She was a Lost Soul.

Frisk asked the girl who she was.

"Who... who am I?" The girl repeated the question uncertainly, as if afraid to answer. Or perhaps it was something else?... "I... that's not important right now. If you trust me and this works out, I'll tell you. Okay?"

Frisk thought something was suspicious about that, but reluctantly agreed anyway.

The girl let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much..."

It was just then that Frisk noticed the font the girl was speaking in. It was not the normal in-game font but it was also not a recognizable one, like Sans' or Papyrus'.

It was, however, oddly... friendly. Happy. They were tempted to ask about it but decided not to. Instead, Frisk asked the girl who she was looking for.

"He... you call him 'Sans', I think. He and the one he calls his brother, they're our friends. He ignores us but I think I know how to get through to him." The girl took a step forward, dress skirt fluttering slowly as if underwater. "There's a secret room underneath the stairs in his house, you can get to it from the outside in the back. You have the key to it, don't you."

It was a statement, not a question. Yes, Frisk did have it. Frisk suddenly remembered a recent pacifist timeline, when they stood in the Final Corridor and told Sans the embarrassing secret passwords. They remembered Sans saying that they could 'finally know the truth' and when Frisk looked down at their phone keychain, a new key, golden and plain, was already there. When they looked back up, Sans was gone. They remembered exploring the oddity that was Sans' room and discovering another key, this time silver. But they never knew what it went to.

Now they did. "Good. You'll need it to unlock the room. I need you to wake up now, but I'll meet you there, all right?"

Frisk nodded and the girl faded back into the darkness.

~

When they woke up, the skeletons' house was just as dark and still and quiet as it was when they fell asleep. Although now, when they wriggled out of their nest of blankets, slipped their shoes on, and sneaked over to the door, the silence felt empty and tense. Accusatory.

Opening the front door just wide enough to slip outside, Frisk stepped out into the chilly darkness of Snowdin. Closing the door behind them, they sped around to the back of the tall house decorated with Christmas lights. The fresh snow crunched tell tellingly under their feet.

Sure enough, there was a locked door on the back side of the building. Frisk had had the key for a long time, but now it was finally time to use it. They still didn't know for certain if that was the actual use of the key, but it was worth a shot. Taking their phone out and fiddling with the keychain, they found the familiar silver key and fit it in the lock, turning it and hearing the tumblers fall together with a click.

It worked.

Gently pushing on the door, it swung open inwardly almost silently and revealed a blue-tiled floor that was empty save for a small countertop set into the wall over drawers and a large pink curtain covering something in the corner. Frisk stepped inside and wandered around for a second. They reached towards the drawers and hesitated for a moment, feeling like they were trespassing. But their curiosity got the better of them and they opened the drawers one by one.

They discovered a photo album with pictures of Sans, the girl, and two other people (except that their faces were mostly blurred out), a strange badge of some kind with a lightning bolt on it, and, on top of the counter, blueprints for a peculiar-looking machine written in a language they couldn't read. ... Or maybe it was just the handwriting.

Frisk was about to peek under the pink curtain when that friendly font spoke. "Good, you made it." They turned around and there the Lost Soul girl stood at the other end of the room, still black and white as if in battle. "Go ahead and look," she said, gesturing at the curtain. "It's why I brought you here anyway."

Frisk glanced back at her before lifting up a corner of the fabric and staring at what lie beneath. It appeared to be a large, round machine partially disassembled. Upon closer inspection, the machine was damaged as well - covered in burns and scratches, and obviously missing parts.

The girl drifted over in a ghost-like fashion. "Thank the stars, it's still intact! We have a chance!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I need to let the doctor know, he'll be so happy!"

The door to the outside closed with an ominous creeaak, click!

The young duo whipped around, startled. Snowy white light disappeared when the door shut and the culprit of closing it was left as a frightening silhouette. "When I gave you that key, kid... I expected you to help. Not snoop," a familiar, deep voice growled.

The Lost Soul was quick to step in front of Frisk protectively. "They're not snooping, I brought them here!" she snapped. "We both know that they have the answer to getting us home! Th-"

"YOU have no right to be here at all. I thought I told you to leave me alone." Sans took a single step forward. It seemed as though their roles from previous nights were switched.

And just as Sans did the night before, the Lost Soul stood her ground unwaveringly. She seemed determined to make sure that Frisk didn't get hurt.

Frisk looked back and forth between the two people worriedly. The two were tense and hostile, about to break into a fight.

They had to do something to stop it.

Darting out like a fish in water, Frisk placed themselves between Sans and the Lost Soul with arms spread wide.

"Frisk, what are you doing? You don't need to get involved!" the Lost Soul whispered urgently.

Sans looked surprised. "Kiddo," he said slowly. "Whadda ya think you're doing?"

Frisk looked at the two of them pleadingly, begging them not to fight. They hadn't spent the last three timelines trying to get full pacifist just for two people to throw it away over something they didn't understand.

The three creatures stood there in tense silence for what could have been an eternity. Finally, Sans sighed. "Never give up, do you kid? ... Fine. Whatever. Chill in here if you want. Just don't come crying to me when nothin' works." And with that, the skeleton turned heel, walked out the door, and left Frisk and the girl in silence.

They were stunned. Neither said anything for a full minute. Finally, the Lost Soul whispered, "Why'd he give up so easily?... I don't... understand..." She shook her head uneasily. "Well... never mind. Let's get to work."