Reset {UNDERTALE}

Consequences

              Things at home were infinitely better due to the simple fact that Papyrus survived that day. But...things seemed to only be getting worse at the research lab. By this point, everyone in the group of five had reset, and the effects were becoming obvious. As far as Sans knew, he was the only one who had reset twice, but the others seemed as lethargic as he was after only one. There also seemed to be...much fewer monsters than he thought they had started with, but for the life of him he couldn't remember who the others had been. Maybe they had dropped out from the stress of the work.

He still wasn't on speaking terms with Gaster. Maybe he wouldn't ever be. But the research needed him, and, quite frankly, he was still just as desperate for information on resets as he had been when this whole mess had started.

But...not much work was getting done today, admittedly. Sans, exhausted as anything, kept dozing off against his notes. He sat up straight as he heard a soft voice.

"Sans?"

His head shot toward the source, then he relaxed. "Oh, hey, Terrin," he greeted easily, though his brow furrowed as he looked the fish-girl over. "You, uh, you all right? You look a little green around the gills."

She managed a weak smile. "I just...wanted to talk." She gestured at the poorly-drawn doodles on his notes. "You, um, didn't seem all that busy."

"Heh, guess not. So what's up?"

She half-smiled. "God, it was so much easier last time..."

"Last ti-"

"Look, I have...I have a massive crush on you. And, um..." She swayed slightly on her seat. "Wow, sorry, I am...really tired..."

"Did you reset? Again?" Sans asked quickly, catching her arm to keep her steady. She looked up at the ceiling.

"I was just...I mean, you said yes last time...well, you actually said 'sure, why not,' but I...I said something stupid about your brother and...and I just thought that I could...fix..." Her mouth went slack, and Sans jumped up to catch her as she fell out of the chair.

"Terrin? Terrin, look at me!"

Her head lolled back, and the color drained from her face. Sans stared in horror as she began to melt right out of his hands.

"Gaster!" he cried out, looking around for the other skeleton and vaguely aware of the others' cries of horror as...whatever Terrin melted into seemed to seep out of existence. The elevator from the downstairs lab whirred, and Gaster threw himself out of it just as the last bits of Terrin seeped away.

"Write this down!" he barked out. "Anyone!"

"We ha—"

"Write this down!"

Sans remained frozen for a moment, but he finally forced himself to move enough to grab a pen and scrawl out, "Terrin gone, melted, reset?" over his notes.

He turned back to look at the others. Why was he breathing so hard? The others were looking at each other blankly, and Ceris held her head.

"Did, uh, did something happen?" she asked, breaking the room's silence. Wynn scratched his ear aimlessly.

"Maybe there was another reset?" he suggested. "Is it like déjà vu?"