Why There's Snow in Snowdin

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"This is cool," Chance said as he patted the other side of the snowman. Sans left him outside the booth instead and brought an old friend to keep him company. Monster Kid. Of course, like everything else, Chance didn't remember him. But they didn't have a huge history, so Sans filled him in on it. Like he thought, Chance didn't even care about the being chased by spears part, just that he had a friend. 

Monster Kid was patting the snowman on the other side with his feet. "What should we give him for a nose?" 

"A nose? Do snowmen have noses?" Frisk asked as he wiped his nose on another old coat Sans gave him. Funny, he never had problems with his nose getting runny before. 

"Yeah, and faces, and scarves," Monster Kid added. "Haven't you built a snowman before?" 

Had he ever built a snowman? Frisk had never even seen snow until he came to Snowdin. The white fluffy stuff. It was way better than the alternatives. Sharp grass and jungle cutting into his skin, or endless metal in the training facilities. "Nah, I haven't ever played in snow before." 

"Wow, so did you live in Hotlands?" 

No, of course he didn't. He couldn't just say that though. "Uh. I guess you could say that," Frisk lied softly. He brightened up again. "Hey, he should smile. Can we give him a smiley face? How do we make faces? With a special snow pen?" 

"A what?" Monster Kid asked him. "No way, just bits of tree and stuff. You just use whatever to put on the face." 

"Oh, cool!" Frisk almost fell flat on his face as he took off too quick in the snow. Monster Kid did land on his face. "Oops!" He forgot about the prisoner part. He looked down at his friend. "Oh, you alright, MK?" 

"Can't get too far there, Chance" Sans warned him, keeping a lazy watch on him. Frisk hadn't been sure he'd even been awake. 

"Sorry." Frisk returned back to the snowman and patted it down, but he noticed the odd thing Sans said. Why did he say chance at the end of the statement? He must have missed something. A save of some sort of his mom's he betted. Did Sans have a new slang name for him? Before he could think anymore about it, his thoughts were interrupted. 

"That was cool!" Monster Kid came back over to him. "I like that! MK. Can you start calling me MK?" 

"Oh. Sure," Frisk answered. He just kind of called him that by accident. Since no conduit had names, and numbers were annoying, they usually just called each other with their own alphabet slang. It was simple stuff that could be confused as actual words, so the guards never bugged them about it. There was OK. A. AM. PM, and Y. Those were his friends. Well, um, not Y. Not anymore. 

"Frisk and MK. We are cool," MK said as he patted the snowman with his foot. "Hey Frisk, are you related to Monsters?" 

"Huh?" Frisk looked over the snowman toward him. "No. Why?" 

"Uh, 'cause your hand?" 

Hand? Frisk looked at his hand and quickly jammed it into the snow. That was . . . what was that? He drug his hand back up. Was that a trick of his brain? But, MK saw it. He saw it first, so it couldn't be a trick. What was that? That didn't make any sense, and he didn't want to worry his mom. So, for now, he'd just forget it. Life was just a day at a time anyhow. 

Although, it was kind of weird to see his mom suddenly show up next to Sans. Sans grabbed her ball with her only slightly confused as he led her away. 

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 "So." Sans brushed his skull and then put his comb away, turning to Frisky. "I've got you set up to go back to your home. No more shackles. If you answer some questions." 

Oh yeah, Frisky knew she was beaming. No more shackles, and with that Emergency assist she pulled last night, it was more than enough to make up for her failure for the mission. "Ask away." 

"You've got seven other souls in FRISK," Sans asked. "Why couldn't someone else pick up the slack?" 

"Some did, but PERSEVERANCE and DETERMINATION are the group leaders. When it came to intense battles, a group leader was authorized to be there." She shoved her hands behind her back. "I . . . did what I could to keep control, but he had more training. All I had was . . ." Yeah, not good memories. 

"Okay, been wondering about that." He leaned on his bony hand. "How do humans turn into re-resets?" 

Oh. Oh no, not that one. Frisky rubbed her hand. "Hey, I have a joke for you." 

"Cool," Sans answered. "You can tell me after you tell me about re-resets." 

Dangit. Sans hadn't thrown her one pun since they left the house. He really wanted to know it, and he wouldn't let up. Well, lead in with it, I guess. I promised I'd tell him anything he wanted. I have to. He'd know if I were holding something back anyhow, he'd eventually figure it out. Besides, I am authorized to tell him whatever he asks for. She scratched the top of her head. "I tell jokes. I don't mind jokes. Even the worse ones I still like, but . . . I-I tell them the most when things get tense and Frisk is around. Potential re-resets are used as the conduits. It's the lack of an increased essence in any direction that makes them . . . uh, candidates for conduits." She quickly slapped on a smile. 

"And that's what's waiting out there for him when he leaves the Underground? Are you serious?" 

"No. I had failed the mission, but it was not logged. And although the mission cannot be completed, the emergency assistance with FRISK helped. When we go back, we'll go back to a free world." She couldn't help a small smile. "To family. To a real life." 

"You're not just saying that?" 

"I can't exactly lie to you. Do that judging thing if you have to." 

"Okay then. I believe you, and I guess, that about does it for me." He looked straight at her. "Just one more thing, and I will let you go home." 

Really? One more little thing? Frisky looked toward him. "What?" 

Sans yawned. "When you're leader, you can't always have control, but you can't escape either. Can you?" 

Oh. Uh. "No." 

"Yeah. I thought so. That's why I keep seeing you behind the knife, screaming." 

Personal. Real personal. "S'pose." 

"Murdered everyone right in front of yourself, hearing pleas of mercy." 

This was not something she wanted to talk about. He already said he got the answer, why was he doing that? "S'pose." 

"But all the other souls, the ones not in charge?" He yawned again, like it was no big deal. "They could just go to sleep like your kid if they wanted? Right?" 

"S'pose." 

"And during Judgment Hall, they all eventually left you behind the knife, screaming." 

"S'pose." Her voice raised a little. Why was he doing that? 

"And you shoved your hand on the mercy button, over and over." 

"S . . ." Okay, stop it, Sans. 

He wiggled his feet. "But nobody came, and when your soul got tired, you lost all control again." 

Why? Why was he doing that? She stopped being scared of him. She was getting over being inside FRISK. What was he driving at? 

"Not that it was any use. By the time I cast that judgment, everything was all doomed." He yawned again. "Pointless." 

"Y . . ." No, no. Stop that, keep calm. 

"Real pointless. Should have just destroyed that button 'cause you wouldn't leave it alone." 

"N . . ." 

"If I did, the other side of FRISK would have made the point clearer to you anyhow." 

"Just stop it!" She finally yelled. "You think I don't know any of that?!" Jailer. Prisoner. Skeleton who could stab her a thousand different ways in seconds but she couldn't take it anymore. "I tried as hard as I could to spare anything I could, anything! I didn't even care if I could just take control long enough to save a froggit, after hearing all those cries of 'mercy' and 'stop' and even if I knew the monsters would be back safely, I just-I just!" She grabbed at her head. "I tried . . . the surface . . . if I made it, he'd just hit reset and come back harder . . . and the soul just can't keep going forever and ever and . . . then the deal with . . ." 

Then, she saw something drop on the ground next to her. She bent down to look at it. 

It was a mercy button. Not a real one, there was no encounter. Just, a piece of wood that said mercy on it. Mercy. From Sans. She held it close to her heart as she felt him bend down next to her. The impossible . . . I never thought I could get it again . . . from . . . he was right in front of her, his calm eye sockets on her. Just staring. And she realized . . . she was staring back. "Thank you!" She quickly looked away, feeling her heart pound. 

That wasn't right. That wasn't right. She couldn't hear anything but her heart beating and her cheeks were so warm, she'd swear she was moving through the Hotlands! Okay, great, I got mercy, but w-what was that? Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. 

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That relief again. The same kind he felt from last night, but he felt something else inside of it. Something he felt from last night. The feeling was addicting, he didn't want to stop staring at her. 

What was it. What was it. It wasn't EXP, but it was strong. It wasn't LOVE, but it was strong like it. But it wasn't evil. It was like the power of LOVE without being evil. Powerful, energetic. 

She stopped looking at him but the feelings that richocheted off of her though, they were still just vibrating in his bones. Sans wanted to look at her longer, but she broke away with a really loud and strong thank you, and then refused to look at him anymore. She glanced a little over, but refused to turn enough. 

"Joke?" 

Weird. Weird. Weird. Good weird. Good vibes. His bones were still vibrating from the sensation of the relief. Make many signs. Lots of signs. Write it everywhere. Joke, why'd she say joke? Then he remembered, she said she had a joke. How did he forget she had a joke? That would be the one thing he wouldn't forget. "Joke, yeah. What's the joke?" 

"Why's there Snow in Snowdin?" 

"Um." Good joke. "Thought it'd be a knock-knock joke. Used to have someone to practice those with." 

"It's . . . a reboot away," she reminded him. Still not looking at him though again. 

"Nah. Can't." Sans shook his head. "A reboot is just going to start the whole circle again." 

"Yeah, but . . . there's not much of a way to escape." 

"Okay, I give up," Sans said, changing the subject again. "Why's there Snow in Snowdin?" 

"You got my device still?" Frisky asked. Sans held it up. "Track 3. Song of Paradox. There's a little trigger on the side to make the screen bigger. Stare at the screen while you listen to it. Put that little white thing attached to it up to your . . . umm, well to your skull I guess. Make sure you hear it." 

Sans did that, pressed play, and then stopped it after a few seconds. "That's torture. Aren't we done with torturing each other yet? I show mercy and you dunk on me." 

"Sorry, yeah, forgot. That's why MP's work so well as camouflage. Loaded up with the songs of our ancestors." Frisky held out her hand and took it. "I'm ashamed to say I don't have real experience with how song secrets actually work, but I think as long as we don't cover up the white part, it should still work." She pressed play. "Now, just stare at the small screen." 

Sans watched the screen for about two minutes while the song played. Once the song was over, he looked toward her. "Okay? Don't get the joke." 

"You will." Frisky looked up. "Why's there snow in Snowdin?" She pointed up. 

Sans looked up, and he almost dropped backwards from shock. 

Sky. There was SKY above them. Coming from the sky, were tiny pieces of snow, gently falling to the ground all around him. " . . . because . . . it's really snowing?" 

"Yep. A mountain with some random unstable entrance was always just a cover up. An illusion that worked on Monster's eyes because they were different." She held the MP. "I was supposed to destroy the illusion for everyone. No one will come down for another mission in at least two hundred years after all these foul-ups." 

"Don't care," Sans answered as he stood up and held out his hand. "Can barely feel the snow, so small. Look at it." He turned around. "There's snowflaking out on this joke." He pointed upward in the sky. "That thing hiding behind those clouds, that's the sun, right?" 

"Yep. It's not as bright as you might remember when you did make it to the surface because it's really cloudy. It won't come out much over here since it's always snowing." 

"Doesn't need to. I can see it just fine from here." Wow. Incredible. He turned all the way around again, staring upward. He grabbed at his neck again, remembering the pain he already got from the couch two nights in a row. "That joke was a real bright idea." Even as he looked around, he could see the actual brightness of the sky and the snow fall and hit the ground. "Let me guess. Illusion cancels out once something touches the Underground itself." 

"Yep." 

"And that's why the ground always seemed a little brighter." 

"Yes." 

Not even trapped. No Monster was even trapped. It was an amazing feeling, but at the same time, he felt like ripping into something. Everyone felt trapped in a mountain, believed they were trapped inside of a mountain! And it was just an illusion. 

They were free. Absolutely free. The sun, the clouds, the moon, and the stars. Everything was free. 

"If you want to hear the sound of the wind, you'll have to listen to the song itself I think," she said. "But, maybe you can?" 

"No, I don't hear any wind. What'll it sound like?" 

"Like rushing water through the air, sort of." 

"Ehh . . ." Human songs were awful, but he wanted the whole experience. He took the MP player and listened to the dreadful sounds coming from it. After it was over though, a new sound started to come from a distance, until it was there. "Wind." 

Rushing water through the air, but not. It had a sort of whistling effect to it too. He stared back up again, rubbing his neck more so he could endure. He could look up all day at it. "Everyone needs to see this." 

"I don't have the supreme code it takes to do that," Frisky said. "I'm just a PACIFIST soldier. I was supposed to give the word, and a huge beam was supposed to wipe out the whole illusion. If I had known how fast PERSEVERANCE could hit the reset button the first time, I wouldn't have taken so long to make communication back. I was up there. I just wanted to say goodbye first." 

Yeah. She might not be able to do it, but Sans knew he could. If he couldn't figure out a simple illusion trick on it, then Alphys could help. He'd probably need her lab anyhow. No way was he keeping this secret. During his research, he'd already picked up on the strange waves from the output, but it wasn't until now he knew what it meant. "Are there secrets in every song?" 

"No, just the defaults," Frisky answered. "The rest are just songs humans used to like in our history before it was banned. It's the only legal way to listen to the creativeness of our ancestors now. Balancers hate it as much as Monsters do. But, with the new upgrade though, the other songs were wiped out. There's nothing on there but some hide status songs, fake hit point registers, and battle songs." 

"Battle songs? The sounds already beat the drum too loud." 

"No, it's how humans fight. Since we don't have magic, we can use songs as an attack too. The beat dictates digital power waves that can come at us when we fight each other." Frisky stood up with her mercy sign. "Human music increases our DETERMINATION, while it probably just fries a poor Monster's ear. Oh, but before I go, you should listen to the Sound of Healing." 

"Eeehhh . . . is it worth it?" 

Frisky just smiled at him. "It really is. I'd feel better if you played it before I left you." 

"Kay." Why not? It must be something good if she wanted him to hear it. After it was done, he looked back at her. "So what did that do?" 

"No more status effects due to timeline interruption. In other words, you now have everything that you have earned over all the hundreds of resets we've gone through. Even though you don't remember, something small inside the subconscious clings to it. You should have more than one EXP now." 

Sans shrugged. "FRISK is the only thing I had to take on down here." 

"I know, but, now you're safer. It's also got an illusion cast on it when you go into battle. No Monster can see how really powerful you are. Once you hit your previous EXP limit though, it will reveal the truth, unless you use another song on there." 

"I think I am done with songs. For now. I can check more later though. Might need it for any invaders." 

"Just . . . reset." 

"Nope, never." 

"Uhh . . ." Frisky stuck her tongue in her cheek. "Eventually, you have too. There are invaders waiting. They each have their own source of power to reset, and there are conduits that are pretty much unstoppable too. You saw FRISK. It's just like that. Only another conduit can stop another one. Otherwise, they are invincible." 

"Nope. Everything is so bad down here, even a motion setback above a level three will glitch if used more than twice." Sans held up her MP player. "I'm the only one who can reboot, and I never will." He pointed to the sky. "Even if there was a shred of possibility . . . it'll never surface again." 

"You knew the results of a motion shift by levels?" Frisky pressed her hands to her hips. "Sans, what do you know about my device?" 

"That it belongs to the Underground now." He shrugged his shoulders as he shoved it into his coat pocket. "Thems the breaks." 

"Wait. You can't just-" 

"Nope." 

"You don't know what-" 

"Yeah, I do. And I did." He turned around, making sure he could still see Chance playing. "Want a hot dog? My treat before I send you out of the Underground." 

"If you don't reboot, everything is stuck in place." 

"Yuh huh. Hot dog?" She stood up and finally looked toward him. He looked at her back, trying to find that look from before. It was gone though. She didn't have anything that said she feared him, but that other feeling that was there, it was buried deep. 

Frisky took a deep breath. A real deep breath. "Fine, a hotdog," she said roughly. "Sans?" 

"Yep?" 

"Due to what's around the Underground, there have been other things that happened. Sad things. But, if you see someone. If you ever run into a strange spirit named Chara. She was the imbalance. Just, um . . . tell her thank you for me? She would understand it." 

"Long gone," Sans said. "I saw a presence fade away right before I ran into Chance. She's resting in peace now." 

"Chance?" Frisky said rougher. "You can't call him Chance, his name is Frisk for the mission." 

"I promised him if he saved the day and survived, I'd call him Chance. Not gonna break it just 'cause he can't remember it." 

Frisky just inwardly sighed. There wasn't much she would be able to do to make Sans obey anything. She had to ignore it and remain focused. "Teleportation interruption took out most of FRISK. If what you saw seemed 'ghostly', it could have been others departing, not quite retrieving their body. Or, it could have been others, and the interruption shoved them farther away before they became corporeal." 

"It was short for an adult human." 

"So am I," Frisky groaned. "It wasn't exactly an easy process. It couldn't have been Chara. She's tied down here. Somewhere." 

"Doesn't matter who's right or wrong," Sans simply said. "Just head on out of the Underground, and know this place is never going to reset. Ever. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever." 

He skipped. He actually skipped. "Dang it, Sans." 

"Don't worry, I'm not pulling your leg." He raised her ball above his head. "Actually, I guess I am." He dropped the ball next to his booth. "You want catsup on your dog?" 

But before she answered, Alphys walked up to them in the snow.