#his silence is so useful but it's also true that there are charas who can better replace him but i am not listening

[fragrantpines]

Yangzhou's kisses are like winter's first snow, soft to the touch and come unexpectedly every single time. Every time he touches you, he treats you like a delicate flower, holding your cheek with the softest of touches as his thumb traces your cheekbone gently, noting how perfect you are in his head while a small smile begins to appear on his face. 

Before you can question him, he leans down and brushes his lips against yours, whispering in a low tone. "Can I kiss you?"

You chuckle, for when have you ever refused? He laughs along, a sound so delightful to the ear that it makes your heart skip a bit. It lowers your guard and leaves you defenseless when he decides to lean even closer to you, looking into your eyes unabashedly as if he wished to carve this image into his mind forever. 

"As my master wishes," he replies calmly, however his reddening cheeks exposed how fast his heart was beating out of his chest . You didn't have a chance to tease him about it before he firmly sealed your lips with his own, kissing with fervent passion and a hint of possessiveness that contradicted his usual gentlemanly look. While you were distracted, his free arm carefully wraps around your waist and pulls you closer to him while his hand that had been caressing your cheek slowly moves to the back of your head, combing through your hair before pressing you closer to further deepen the kiss. 

For a while, the world falls silent as he takes his time to embrace you, knowing full well that your time with him is as limited as the few grains of sand inside an hourglass. There was nothing in the world that he wouldn't give to have you all to himself even for just a day but alas, you are Kongsang's young master and treasure before you are his lover. Your duties are piled up higher than the tallest of mountains while food souls that are more capable than him can be found abundantly in this heaven for food souls, making him feel a sense of helplessness as he sees you surrounded by other food souls every day, watching them in envy as the best he can hope for from you is a glance during the day and a moment of your time during the night.

Please rely on me more, look at me more, love me more….

All the words that were spoken during lonely nights turned into wishes that were prayed to be fulfilled by every star in the sky. Even now, as he reluctantly pulls away from you, all he can think of is how stunning you look when your gaze is focused on him and when his prayers will finally be answered. 

"Since you've never refused my kisses before, may I assume that I am allowed to continue?"

[undertaleofficial]

Red Soul = Control Theory

here comes my bi-yearly random undertalerune theory infodump

i think the red human soul trait is control. my other guesses are freedom or power but control has the most likelihood in my eyes based on evidence. starting with undertale and then moving onto deltarune, here's my thoughts!

'since when were you the one in control' - the most potent and obvious evidence, this is the emblematic line spoken by chara (first red soul bearer's reanimated self); it not only is one of the few spoken lines canonically confirmed to be from a red soul bearer, it implies that chara has more control than even the player themself over the game at the very end of genocide and this is proven to be true when they hold your game hostage until you willingly hand frisk's soul over to them, finalizing their resurrection, their control, and thus letting them run rampant after future runs

the major(/'true') theme of ALL routes in both undertale and deltarune (so far) is control. ut paci/geno routes are, broadly speaking, to determine which red soul bearer between frisk or chara retains control over frisk's body and personality by the end, taking it from you the player. ut neutral is about flowey engaging in a power struggle with you over controlling the game. when either frisk or chara wins, they exert their control over you in turn - frisk refuses to be called your/chara's name anymore and assumes their own choices post-game, chara is less subtle and outright enforces their domination over you as soon as they have it (as stated above)

as for deltarune, secret bosses are the easiest evidence of this common theme. spamton's fight is about having been taken advantage of - controlled - and his desire for freedom; jevil only THINKS he's free but in actuality he's the opposite of free (and so, is also controlled).

deltarune's main conflicts so far can be summarized as the controlled vs. the controllers in all aspects: dark vs. light/darkners vs. lightners, kris vs. player, noelle vs. kris, secret bosses vs. the person who gave them a deal they couldnt refuse

the best deltarune evidence for control being the red human soul trait is kris, ralsei, and snowgrave - all of these things being interconnected. in the chapter 1 prison break segment, ralsei subtly teaches kris (and consequently the player) how to use their mindlink/manipulation power ('proceed' or control itself, in absence of a canon name for the ability) for the first time and they/you immediately try it on susie to help her solve the puzzles. HOWEVER, this is resisted and nullified by susie, although she hears kris's voice despite being far away from them... sound familiar? this is for a good reason unlike snowgrave, but it is undeniable from this instance that throwing their consciousness around and influencing others is a power of kris's and not just a meta thing.

speaking of snowgrave and ralsei, ralsei is visibly confused when kris refuses to throw their consciousness into the scenes involving noelle and susie (ferris wheel, noelle's room), instead standing there in stark silence with ralsei until the other two return as ralsei is clearly confused. this and telling them how to do it proves without a shadow of a doubt that ralsei is fully aware of the nature of what kris's ability is and in chapter 1 he talks about how darkners exist to serve lightners, enforcing his identity as someone who believes he and other darkners exist to be used or controlled. this is not a 'ralsei is evil' aside im taking you on (yet?), but ralsei may be very misguided or was possibly manipulated/gaslit in a horrifying way that might be similar to noelle post-snowgrave

finally, snowgrave again. we're talking about the obvious bits, the roles between the player, kris, and noelle. it is a chain of control descending in that order. you control kris who controls noelle through you. compared to susie, noelle doesnt resist much, and the thornring increases your control over her by inflicting pain and putting her in a trance (which seems to prevent her from being fully conscious or recognizing her surroundings based on berdly's fight)

actual final: back to undertale one last time, Ball Game is something i did seriously consider for this. its for sure a meme to prevent actually saying what it is, but i would wager that it being red is likely still important knowing toby's sense of humor/metanarrative. what's important in any Ball Game? power isnt always necessary, freedom either. control is ALWAYS important in Ball Games. whether you're tossing a dodgeball, dribbling or dunking a basketball, hitting a tennis ball or baseball, kicking a football field goal or a soccer goal, putting to the hole in golfing... you need control to do all these things, more than anything else, even if you might need power for some of them. what does it mean, why Ball Game? no fuckin clue man.

alright, now that ive listed my reasons... my last thoughts will be on why i dont think Determination is the red soul trait as it is commonly believed to be. its too obvious, its said throughout the ENTIRE game and yet toby has played coy with it, never directly stating that that is what it is. is that not odd for a word and concept said in all routes, constantly? also, every human has tons more determination than any monster, up to the point where it takes the entire underground to even equal one single human soul.

so, what makes the red soul stronger than the other souls, what makes it so powerful that even sans, omega flowey, and literal GOD asriel can't beat the red soul bearer, the latter two possessing SIX OTHER HUMAN SOULS and god azzy having the equivalent of SEVEN via monster souls? it's surely not just an abundance of determination... if red soul bearers were all that powerful (stronger than any other seven human souls combined) by default, regardless of their rarity, monsters wouldn't have had a chance at all in the war to begin with - even if they were beaten, we know it wasnt instantly.

so, think - if it's not just an above-average amount of determination, what else do all three red soul bearing humans in the games we know have in common? us. they have us. we have controlled all three of them at some point in their lives. it's possible that the red soul bearers become much stronger when they're under our control at the cost of basically subjecting themselves to our will, whatever that may be, and it may in turn be possible that those they control become stronger too (like noelle does) at that same cost.

well thats my essay on why the red soul is control. thanks for reading if you did, id add pics to back up my words but im lazy lol so just ask for specific bits if interested and i can go dig em up... i think the prison 'proceed' bit is particularly interesting since you would only realize what it means on a repeat playthrough of chapter 1 post-snowgrave, among other ch 1 oddities

[autisticundertale]

Sansgore concepts

Welcome to our Sansgore concepts and headcanons. This is all pre-Frisk and/or post-pacifist centered.

Without further ado, let the Sansgore be released...

-----------

1. Sans and Asgore work together on Christmas to deliver Papyrus’s presents from Santa. This eventually grows into Sans helping Asgore deliver any presents in general, since he can take shortcuts and drop them off quicker.

2. Sans and Asgore are both very shameful about their bodies, so they both consistently encourage one another and compliment one another. They are basically body-positivity coaches for one another.

3. Asgore secretely writes poetry and Sans is the only one who knows...and the only one who is allowed to hear it.

4. Sans supported Asgore and helped him during Flowey’s first runs (the ones where he would tell Asgore that he is Asriel.) Sans has known Flowey’s true identity since, and hasn’t said anything, because after trying a few dozen times during different resets, he realized it was no good.

5. Sans tries to find plants and seeds for Asgore underground. When they are on the surface, Sans constantly buys them anytime he sees them at stores, just so he can go home and announce “hey I found a thing for you to add in your garden!” Asgore gets super excited.

6. Asgore used to do a lot of painting before he did gardening, so when he notices Sans struggling to convey his emotions, he teaches Sans to paint. Sans will sometimes just go paint while Asgore is gardening; a peaceful silence between the two, as they both relieve their stresses through creation and growth.

7. After finding out that Toriel used to call Asgore “fluffybuns”, Sans teases Asgore by using increasingly stupid nicknames (such as “fuzzy buzzy” or ”woolie”). He thinks Asgores reactions are cute and sometimes it gets the old goat to laugh.

8. Asgore and Sans both have double-dad tea-parties with Frisk (and Asriel/Flowey and/or Chara if they are around/revived.)

9. Sans gives Asgore personal shows at the castle because Asgore loves his comedy. (Asgore does like Sans’s puns, this is supported in the Xbox version of the game)

10. Sans and Asgore are both terrible at baking. They try and practice together but it always just ends in laughter.

11. Sans loves getting big goat-dad hugs. He also loves being carried, and falls asleep in Asgores fur a lot.

12. (Post-Pacifist) Sans and Asgore grow an echo-flower garden together. They both have vastly different schedules (especially with Asgore dealing with human-monster politics), so theyll leave one another messages in the flowers before going to work, during breaks, etc. Then, at night, they both go to sleep together and giggle about their drawn out echo-flower conversations of the day.

[morporkian-cryptid]

Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro, and its extremely gay and romantic title scene

Hello everyone, this is your new installment of “Elliott rambles about her fandoms”!

Today I am going to be talking (well, mostly yelling) about the opening credits of Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro.

Because I’ve rewatched that movie almost two weeks ago, and I’m still going into a fit of hysterics every time I so much as think about it.

[Image description: Lupin and Jigen sitting in front of the Fiat, with a small nomad cooking space set up. It is night, Lupin is reading a map and Jigen is holding a pan above a small gas stove. The lighting is dim and comes only for the stove. The subtitles of the song lyrics read “My love for you burns”]

https://twitter.com/spacequeenemily/status/1118274079662977025?lang=en

This Twitter link is the only video of the title scene I could find online; the image quality is a bit low but at least it’s the full scene. Please watch it, I promise you won’t regret it.

Fair warning: long post with much capslock, very swearing.

Okay, so.

The lyrics of this song, Fire Treasure, go more or less like this (from the subtitles of the movie, which I assume are the official translation) :

I want to go with you, searching for happiness / No matter how hard the road or how the night may grow cold / I just want to wander on with you

Who else is there to comfort and hold / This lonely traveler when their heart grows cold? / Who else but you can make all my dreams come true?

Like a raging fire my love for you burns / All I want is for you to know how I feel / Make me your prisoner and never let go

(additional lyrics which are on the wiki but not in the title sequence)

You, who wander the wasteland  / I want to let you sleep / The shooting star is for you

I want only you to understand / This love of mine that blazes with flames / I'll clear away the enigmatic mist

You can find the official japanese lyrics here on the Lupin III fandom wiki.

Now this is a pretty basic love song, and we know most of the theme songs in this series are love songs and it doesn’t always mean anything (looking at you, Red Jacket opening theme). The music itself (without the lyrics) is used several times during the movie, especially in scenes with Lupin and Clarisse; and reused later in several movies involving similar dynamics.

But the only time the whole song, with lyrics, plays in The Castle of Cagliostro, it’s during the opening credits / title sequence. Aka, Lupin and Jigen’s road trip.

Yeah. This longing, yearning love song about a lonely traveler and the person who silently loves them and wants to follow them through all the troubles of the road and look for happiness by their side... Is played along with of a video of Jigen and Lupin traveling together.

And oh, if only it was just that...

It could have been two guys being bros, two friends having a fun road trip together. They could have shown the banter and playful fights between them that we see in the rest of the movie. But NO. THIS is what they gave us instead:

[The silhouettes of Jigen and Lupin sitting on and leaning against the Fiat, with a boat in the background and an orange sunset-like sky]

[the Fiat driving on a narrow bridge in the middle of an expanse of water glistening and reflecting the pink and purple sky]

[Lupin lying on his back in the grass, and Jigen sitting near him and cooking in front of a small portable gas stove, the Fiat parked next to them. It is night, and the gaz stove gives a soft glow, the only source of light in the picture.]

[Lupin sitting on the roof of the Fiat and Jigen standing left of it. They are waiting for a train with wooden wagons to pass. There are white flowers in the foreground on the right of the screen.]

[Night time, on a backdrop of dark blue sky with white stars. Lupin is sitting on the roof of the Fiat, lighting a cigarette (the Fiat itself isn’t in the frame). Jigen is standing near him, smoking a cigarette, with only his head visible. The subtitles of the song lyrics write “Make me your prisoner and never let go”.]

[The same scene from a different angle, the Fiat is now visible, with grass in the foreground, Lupin is seen from the back and Jigen from head to feet. The dark blue sky is fading into white at the bottom, suggesting sunrise.]

They could have given us a fun, “straight pals being bros” road trip. Instead, they decided to give us a soft, nostalgic ambiance, with orange and pink sunsets, the boys wistfully looking into the distance under a starry night sky, smoking cigarettes together in silence, with the soft glow of a shared meal around a campfire. THEY MADE THE CHOICE TO MAKE THIS AS FUCKING ROMANTIC AS POSSIBLE. THEY WILLINGLY MADE THAT DECISION.

We all know that this franchise’s subtext is not exactly subtle in establishing, to name just one obvious example, Jigen’s orientation (hum hum kabuki-related slang, hum hum bootleg playboy magazine, hum hum shameless flirting with burly soldiers).

But THIS. This isn’t a “I hate women” joke. This isn’t a two-second frame showing a bootleg gay pinup magazine. This isn’t a subtle parallel between Lupin’s relationships with Fujiko and with Jigen. This is the most OBVIOUS and EXPLICIT bit of subtext I have ever seen in this goddamn subtext-packed series. This is A FUCKING LOVE SONG, WITH THE WORDS “MY LOVE FOR YOU BURNS” EXPLICITLY IN IT, PLAYED ON A VIDEO OF JIGEN AND LUPIN ON A ROAD TRIP WITH THE MOST ROMANTIC AND SOFT VISUALS POSSIBLE. ONE MINUTE AND FIFTY FIVE SECONDS OF TYPICAL ROMANTIC SCENE WITH TYPICAL ROMANTIC VISUALS AND A FUCKING LOVE SONG.

This can’t be an accident. You can’t accidentally make a scene like this. I mean come on, “Like a raging fire my love for you burns, I just want you to know how I feel” with a panning shot of a starry night sky and Lupin and Jigen silently sharing a smoke? HOW DO THEY THINK WE ARE GOING TO INTERPRET THIS? IS THERE ANY OTHER POSSIBLE FUCKING INTERPRETATION THAN “JIGEN IS MADLY IN LOVE WITH LUPIN?“ NO THERE ISN’T. THERE FUCKING ISN’T.

They go and try to tell us that Lupin and Jigen are just friends, they give Jigen barely believable female love interests whom he has little to no chemistry with, they write Jigen getting angry when he thinks Lupin might be gay, and then they turn around and make THIS. FUCKING. TITLE SEQUENCE.

It kills me because IT’S CANON but also it’s not! They’re not stating that Jigen loves Lupin, they’re not confirming that they’re a couple, at no point in the 50 years of existence of this damn franchise has either of them explicitly declared that they were in love with the other, and that is most likely never going to happen. But this fucking scene exists. This fucking scene is CANON, and it’s technically still subtext, but it is the most OBVIOUS and IN YOUR GODDAMN FACE subtext EVER.

Disclaimer: I agree that most of the anime and movies’ (still relatively un-subtle) subtext can be disregarded or interpreted as platonic if you want, and I absolutely respect anyone’s desire to interpret them as platonic friends. All visions and interpretations can coexist. That being said, I’m sorry but for this specific scene I will not, ever, budge from the position that it is a fucking romantic love scene and that there is no other possible interpretation, I’m sorry but just FUCKING LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT IT AND TELL ME THIS ISN’T MEANT TO BE ROMANTIC. I DARE YOU.

This scene is just at the VERY LIMIT of explicitly stating Jigen and Lupin’s love. But it’s STILL NOT EXPLICIT. The song says “I love you” but neither Jigen nor Lupin does. The song on its own could relate to any number of characters (and in the rest of the movie it relates mostly to Clarisse, and more generally to all the girls Lupin leaves behind). The video without the music, while being very sweet and having a romantic vibe, could still be interpreted as a road trip between friends. And yet. AND YET. They made the conscious decision to put THAT SONG with THESE IMAGES. And to then “leave it to our interpretation”.

The Castle of Cagliostro was the second movie of the Lupin III franchise. It came out in 1979, not even ten years after the first episode of the anime aired. This is one of the establishing movies of the franchise, the one that propelled Lupin III on the international scene, the door through which generations of fans have been introduced to the series. A now iconic and unmissable pillar of the pop culture myth that Lupin III has become, a jewel of hand-drawn animation, produced by one of Japan’s most internationally well known animated movie director, future founder of one of its most iconic studios.

This isn’t a “blink and you’ll miss it” nudge in an largely forgettable TV special with weird chara designs and a plot created by writers seemingly on crack. This isn’t a subtle nod to long time fans and shippers like Part 5 did in 2018. This is the FUCKING TITLE SEQUENCE of the CASTLE OF MOTHERFUCKING CAGLIOSTRO by HAYAO GODDAMN MIYAZAKI. AND IT’S A LOVE STORY.

It’s been a week and a half, guys. And I still want to scream. I will never be free. Lupin and Jigen are in love and the world needs to know.

[mudhorn-djarin19]

Time Away - Joel Miller x F!reader

Summary: Eh hehe. I’ve been on a Joel Miller kick recently. Sorry not sorry XD  Joel takes you away for a surprise trip and some fun ensues~ ;) Part of @autumnleaves1991-blog​’s Writer Wednesdays! (A bit delayed on getting this up this week sorry. Wasn’t feeling well last 2 days but finally got it done!) This is only my second time writing for Joel so I hope you enjoy. I plan to definitely write some more for him in the future as he is one of my fave video game charas.  Rating: Explicit Warnings: Language, fingering, unprotected piv sex, and creampie (Let me know fi missed any!) AO3 Link | Masterlist | Join my taglist via here!

Joel strapped your bags onto your horses whilst he talked to Tommy. “We’ll be back in roughly a month or two. Give or take. Keep Ellie out of trouble and safe while we’re gone please.”

“You got it. All will be good. No need to worry here. Just have some fun you two.” Tommy replied. 

“Are you still not telling me where we are going Joel?” You asked as you approached and hopped onto your horse. 

“Nope. I told you baby, it’s a surprise.”

You sigh and shake your head, watching as Joel hops on his horse as well and starts leading you both out of Jackson. You trail along for miles, thankfully not coming across many runners or clickers and any you did you both took out easily. It took you about 2 weeks to arrive to your destination and when you finally did your eyes lit up. 

“J-Joel… are we at the beach?!” You smiled widely.

Joel smirked and nodded. He hopped off his horse and tied it to a nearby fence post, doing the same with yours. “You said you always wanted to see the beach so I found out from a fellow resident how to get here. Figured I’d surprise you and make your dream come true.” 

Once down from your horse you ran over to Joel and gave him a big hug. “C’mon, let’s head on down.” He said taking your hand in his and leading you down the path and into the sand. You waded in the water for a bit, shrieking in fright a bit when a wave came tumbling in thinking it was going to be high only for it to fade out. Joel smiled watching you enjoy yourself and admiring your beauty. He grabbed your hand again and tugged you towards a lifeguards booth. “C’mere.” He said, leading you up the steps into it. You walked over to the window hole in it, leaning in the frame to look out to the ocean. Joel came up behind you, hands caressing your back before wrapping around you and pulling you against his chest. “You’re beautiful, you know that?” He says kissing your neck. You blush and snuggle into him. “Stop it. You’re just saying that.” You jump a bit when you bump back against him and feel his hard on. “Joel Miller..” You teasingly scowl.

“I told you. You’re beautiful. This is what you do to me baby.” He smirks. “Well… normally we’d have to do something about that huh?” You smirk back. “But here might not be good…”

“Why not? There’s no one around. Perfect place I’d say.” “Joel… what if someone shows up? Or infected?” You worry.

“We didn’t see any around when we arrived. Just stay quiet.” He winks as he grinds his hips into your backside. 

You let out a small laugh and shake your head. “One of these days Joel… you’re going to get us into trouble.” You grind your hips back into him. “Haven’t yet. And I never will.” His hands trail down from your waist to your hips, undoing your pants and sliding them down yours legs along with your panties. “Lean against the window like you were, admire the view while we’re here.” You wiggle them further down to your ankles and lean back into the window frame, looking back out to the ocean waves crashing against the shore. You hear Joel undo his belt and his jeans shift to the floor, his one hand then sliding up and caressing your folds.

“Fuck… Joel.” You whine. Already enjoying the touch. He slowly inserts a finger, then another and another. Thumb finding purchase of your clit to twirl circles, getting your warmed up for his cock. “Feel good baby?” He whispers into your ear, placing a kiss as well. “Always. Please Joel, more.” You whine.

“You sure you’re ready?” He asks and you nod. He removes his fingers from you and strokes his cock a few times before lining up at your entrance, slowly pushing it. “Shit… I’ll never get tired of this feeling.” He groans.

“M-me too.” You moan, fingers gripping the edge of the window. Joel's hand gently slaps over your mouth. “Remember baby, gotta be quiet.” He says and you whine in apology. He pulls back and then pushes back in at a slow pace for a while until reading your signals of wanting him to go faster. “I gotcha. I gotcha.” He says, keeping on hand on your mouth to silence you and the other wrapping around you waist holding you against him. “Fuck… Ain’t gonna last long at this pace…” He groans.

You whine in response and start to shake, your release coming forth. Joel takes note and slides his hand from your mouth back down to your clit to rub circles. Within just a few seconds you cum, soaking Joel’s cock. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” Joeal groans at the sensation, keeping his pace and chasing his own release. A few more thrusts and he cums, painting your walls with a long strangled groan. How he manages to keep it quiet you’ll never know. He slowly pulls out, pulling his pants back up and tucking himself back in. You follow suit. 

“Well.. guess you got two treats for this trip.” Joel smirks. “I was only planning the beach fun. Not this fun part.”

“Oh shut up.” You scoff and jokingly smack his arm. “Can we go play in the ocean some more?” You ask with pleading eyes.

“Your trip baby so of course. But it might not be fun to get in the ocean in your clothes.” “I don’t have a swimsuit though…” You pout.

“Again, no one is around. Who says we need clothes?” Joel says, wiggling his eyebrows. “You’re going to be the death of me I swear…” You say, starting to remove your clothes.

“Maybe, but you love me.” Joel replies, removing his as well.  “But who also saves your ass half the time when we’re out huh?” 

[motionbound]

hiyo!! it’s melo again with a second muse, sad human dude seong uihyeon who’s been going thru it since the festival 😭 he moved recently from jeju to work with the aeternals as a therapist, only to lose his wife during the festival to a berserk aeternal. he’s always idolised eden’s aeternals as true superheroes but their response after the festival has totally cracked his worldview & he’s still grieving so 😔 pages here ( stats, bio ), tldr & plot ideas under the cut! hit the ♡ if you’d wanna plot, this is a sideblog so i can’t follow/etc but u can call me beep me at @iinksplit​ or ask for discord!

*tw death mention—much of his backstory is tied to his wife’s death & the impact it has on him, so this is a general warning for the tldr & plots under the cut!

TLDR

just a dude from jeju; he grew up reading lots of comics & generally believing in the good of people, the world, the superheroes out there!

he’s always wanted to come to eden to work with the aeternals, despite being a human. one of those 'i dont have a superpower but i can help the ones who do!! so they can help more people!!’ kinda people, so he went into counselling and found himself a job with the aeternal psych unit once he graduated

uihyeon had it all: working with the aeternals to help people, married the girl of his dreams, started building a life in eden & all that

at least, until pax centennial festival

his wife died during the event, one of the many? few? casualties while the aeternals were going berserk with their powers. in my head it was probably something pretty instant & irreversible, and he’s entirely traumatised from witnessing it

the aeternal who killed his wife simply slapped an nda down & sent him off with a whole lotta money in exchange for his silence. it’s confusion & uncertainty & a considerable amount of pressure placed on him to sign that’s the reason he agrees to it, but now that the dust has settled, he’s starting to question... everything, really

so now he’s struggling to reconcile what he believed about the world, his trust in aeternals & the good of people shaken up totally. it’s starting to affect his job too, questioning what he’s told in his sessions with aeternal clients & having to pull himself back from it, because he still wants to do good somehow & he used to think this was the path for him but—is it?

huge chara insp is hughie from the boys w a tinge of butcher!

personality / misc facts: aquarius sun, cancer moon, capricorn rising. before the festival, he was honestly a really friendly, chill dude. helpful & accommodating, with a whole lotta idealism packed underneath his sensible sweater vest. prone to withdrawing & bottling things up, which has only become worse since his wife’s death. right now, he’s very much in the anger/depression stages of grief, sharper around the edges. easily frustrated, mostly at himself, but also at the world in general. grasping at what used to be familiar instead of processing the feelings like he knows he should, & not coping well at all

lil notes on his wife! in my head they were childhood friends & he had a crush on her for forever, finally got the courage to ask her out way too late when they were already basically in love & they fast-tracked their way through dating & marriage after that hehe she had a similar sort of occupation, wanting to help people too? a lil more practical than him, the half who had all her shit together. i’m so sorry for fridging her rip she’s gna pop up occasionally in his thoughts but more a manifestation of his grief than a real representation of her!

PLOTS

the aeternal who killed his wife—lots of plotting needed for this but i’d love to have this connection

the boys / anti-aeternals agenda—part of his ( non- ) healing has been thinking about taking revenge on the aeternals & he entertains thoughts of actually seeking help, until. he actually does contact them & now he’s not sure what to do

siblings—i don’t see him as an only child, though he was quite an independent kid. as his now only family in the city, though, i think he’d rely a lot on his sibling

good friends—someone who knows just how badly he’s doing & checks up on him once in a while / is trying to help him process this healthily, even tho he’s fighting accepting their help

aeternal clients—i imagine it’s a small-ish psych unit, so he’s familiar with a lot of the aeternals, even if he doesn’t work directly with them! might even just see a couple as work buddies instead of clients? although their interactions now are tense & often angrier than they’re used to him being...

meta friends—he believes ( believed? ) really strongly that meta abilities have a purpose. that they can do good. he’s not sure about that anymore, but someone he used to help out / attempt to learn more about their ability to help them?

people who knew his wife—maybe they knew her better than him, or vice versa? super open to different kinds of dynamics stemming from this! or maybe even a sibling-in-law?

[marimelwrites]

Experience yourself meme (,numbers picked randomly) 3, 6,18, 25, 37 !

o3﹕ do you prefer to write in silence , or with music / background noise ?

-I prefer to write with music playing. It’s usually this massive playlist of a ridiculous number of songs that I enjoy the sound of and which give me the right mood. On occasion, I prefer classical or instrumental soundtracks of which I have a separate playlist for.

o6﹕ is there something about the roleplay community that irks you ?

-Gif icons because they’re so small I can’t see what the heck facial expressions they’re going for? Haha! No, but really, I would say it’s how catty or nasty people can be at times about faceclaims or more than that. I’m very much of the opinion that people should be allowed to write using the faces that fuel and inspire their writing. If you don’t like it, just avoid the face and list that face in your rules for banned FCs. Simple as that. But you don’t need to bring another writer down simply because of your dislike of a face. That face is not the writer, the FC could just have the aesthetic the mun is going for. I detest negativity, hated, whatever. I prefer to enjoy myself while writing, and my biggest aim is to write well for my writing partners so that THEY can enjoy themselves too. I fully support your creativity. I want you to feel like you can do your best work. OH! And one more thing… people who reply to someone else’s reply with one line, usually only a one line conversational response. This does NOT include one line starters as those are fun and leave things open for all sorts of shenanigans. I mean, when your writing partner has given you a reply with effort, they have earned your effort in return. It’s kind of an insult to give only one sentence/line/word. I’m NOT saying write a whole novel in response but cmon, you can give at least a few sentences. If you have no muse for a thread, communicate.

18﹕ which of your verses or arcs is your favorite to write about ?

-I wouldn’t say I have a necessary favorite. I will say that I have been hoping to be able to FINALLY see Madeleine get through a point where she fully trusts the shipmate and finds happiness. Writing her for the years that I have, I’ve never been able to see her realize true and complete happiness, for someone who I created with a horrendous past, but deserves a solid and strong relationship… I just want that for her. Note: i do not care what the opposite does for a living, neither does she, she finds beauty in all but what’s important to her is a person who loves HER, chooses her, doesn’t leave her, actually wants her. She’s far too accustomed to people leaving her and this is both in what I’ve created and what’s happened to her over the years with opposite RP partners. Other than that, or kind of including that, I value a story. I value growth. Give me something to start with and let’s realize a life for whatever charas be it good, or bad. It doesn’t need to be some massive life change, small growth is also growth. Let’s just tell a story together.

25﹕ who is an author whose writing inspires your own ?

-Authors whose books I love… oof. Brandon Sanderson is my absolute favorite for his ability to tell a complex and detailed story, build an entire world, make everything real and believable. His characters are probably some of the most multi-dimensional, thorough, and fully realized characters I’ve ever read in literature. Patrick Rothfuss, also incredibly beautiful way at explaining things. Joe Abercrombie for his colorful characters, and damn him for making me connect even with the small characters and then destroy my life. There are plenty of others, I know, but I am literally drawing a blank right now and will regret this later. (But also if you want to nerd out with me and talk to me about things regarding the above authors? I would be more than happy to) Either way the above inspire me to not be complete trash.

37﹕ have you ever ventured into writing fanfiction ?

-Not on tumblr, but yes. All of my writing outside of tumblr is personal, as in nobody reads it but me. I write a lot. Possibly too much.

[songfell-ut]

I give up, here’s Chapter 17

I should’ve posted this a week ago, but I’ve been like “nuuu it’s cool no one minds a 25,000-word chapter” and yeah here’s only 15k that I finally split off into its own thing. Chapter is here, hi @lostmypotatoes

The Grand Hall lived up to its name: Frisk had never been to the nicer parts of the humans’ castle, but there was no way it could be more amazing than this place, which had a ceiling hundreds of feet tall blanketed with tiny lights, speckled marble columns that reached nearly all the way up, and beautiful murals on the walls showing forests, rivers, even the ocean! Monsters stood in long lines along a central aisle of sparkling white sand, so new that it had obviously been made for the humans’ visit, stretching up a gentle slope to the foot of the grand staircase leading into the Underground.

Queen Toriel had taken Frisk from the house in the Ruins through a snowy town – how did it snow inside the mountain? – and on her first-ever boat ride, which ended all too soon in a place called “Waterfall”; from there, they hurried down to the Grand Hall just in time for the Royal Guard to announce the human delegation. Luckily, instead of having to walk through all those monsters, they used a partly-hidden network of hallways to emerge right at the head of the staircase. Toriel gave the child one more pat, telling her to be good and stay where she was, before the Queen walked out to take her place beside Asgore, nodding to the guards.

Frisk was glad she didn’t have to talk to the King yet; he looked like a bigger, hairier, scarier version of his wife or son, scowling and fidgeting around until Toriel cleared her throat. They stood just in front of Prince Asriel, who noticed the child and gave her a friendly nod before he turned to face the aisle. Frisk crept out far enough to look around the rest of the cavern, wondering why humans talked about the Underground as if it was some kind of filthy mudhole. It was such a beautiful place, with boat rides and snow and twinkling lights…

Something like trumpets sounded, and the Grand Hall’s enormous bronze gates swung open. The monsters all put on their politest expressions as the delegation came through the entrance and headed up the aisle, with the frontmost humans stopping at the bottom of the staircase. “Greetings,” boomed King Asgore, extending his arms and flaring his purple cape out like great wings. “Welcome to the Underground, one and all!”

On cue, the monsters broke into cheers and applause. As the echoes faded, a fussy-looking human stepped forward to give a long speech about greetings and honor and honorable blah blah blah; it was starting to get boring when he was cut short by a cry of “Mama!” and someone rushing past him.

“Chara!” Forgetting her dignity, the Queen of monsters hitched up her robe to run to her estranged daughter. They nearly crashed into each other halfway down the stairs, Toriel’s crown falling askew as the human leapt into her embrace. There was a lot of murmuring and more genuine applause, which swelled into a full ovation as Toriel sank to her knees, holding on as though her child was drowning and her arms were a life preserver.

Asriel had also hurried down to meet his sister, and Asgore was starting toward them when it happened: Chara looked up for the briefest second, and when she saw Frisk near the head of the stairs, the woman’s eyes flashed sheer hatred, as though she wanted her dead on the spot.

Frisk jerked back so hard that she stumbled and nearly fell. When she caught her balance, she found herself looking down at Asgore; he was staring at Chara, and followed the woman’s gaze back up to Frisk. For a long second, the King regarded the human child with a question in his eyes, as though he wanted to say something, but knew better; then Chara was all teary smiles again, hugging Asriel and extending an arm to “Papa!”

The applause grew even louder as Asgore joined them, parents and siblings joyously reunited, and Frisk could have cried with rage. Why did Chara have to hate her for being there when she was lucky enough to have her own perfect family? Couldn’t Frisk have had more than a couple of minutes with those wonderful monsters before Chara stole them back?

It was too much. The child sniffled, and turned to trudge back down the hallway, trying not to think of what her mother was going to say when she found out where Frisk had been.

But as she approached the branching path that led to the Grand Hall floor, she came to a sudden halt: someone further down the hall was shouting, “I’M TELLING YOU, IT IS DEFINITELY THIS WAY!”

“sure, bro,” another person mumbled, his deeper voice echoing up the passage.

“SANS, PLEASE! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE CORRECT DIRECTION THIS TIME! THERE IS NO NEED TO LOOK AT ME IN THAT TONE OF VOICE!”

“relax, pap. i’m just impressed you know all these different ways to go.”

The voices weren’t moving—she was trapped up here. Frisk held her breath as the louder person demanded, “REALLY? THEN WHY ARE YOU GIVING ME THAT SMIRK?”

“…uh, bro? this is how I always—”

“DON’T LIE TO ME, BROTHER! THE GREAT PAPYRUS KNOWS WHAT A SMIRK LOOKS LIKE! IT’S A REGULAR SMILE, BUT IN THAT TONE OF VOICE!!”

“you got me. it means ‘pap is the coolest and knows all the directions.’ you like it?”

“…I SEE! NYEH-HEH. YES, I DO LIKE IT! FROM NOW ON, YOU MAY SMIRK ALL YOU WANT!”

“aww, thanks, bro. you’re the best…and that’s the tooth.”

The joke was so dumb that Frisk had to laugh. Whoever it was, they sounded friendly enough, not to mention silly. Were they humans she hadn’t talked to on the way here? Or—

“DID YOU HEAR THAT, BROTHER?” She jumped as the voice came closer. “IS SOMEONE THERE? SOMEONE WITH EXTREMELY BAD TASTE?”

“hey! i think they’ve got great taste. i mean, they obviously speak our tongue.”

Frisk laughed again, and was only a little afraid when the strange pair came into view. They were skeletons—not just thin people, but actual, literal bones that walked and talked. One was very tall, dressed in showy red boots and some kind of fake armor, while the other was much shorter, in clothes far too casual for an event like this. Why was he wearing pink slippers?

Both of them were also looking her over. With the tiny little lights in his sockets trained on Frisk, the taller one bent down to whisper to his brother. “OH MY GOD, SANS!” he yelled. “IS THAT A HUMAN?”

The short one stared at her for a moment, then nodded, and somehow closed one socket in a wink. “i dunno, pap. he doesn’t look that monstrous to me. who’re you, kid?”

“My name is F—Kris,” she said, giving them a bow, “and you’re right. I’m a human.”

“OF COURSE I AM RIGHT, HUMAN, FOR I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! HOW PLEASANT FOR YOU TO MEET ME!” The tall skeleton struck a heroic pose. “HAVE NO FEAR! WE MONSTERS HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO MAKE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE AND THEN BECOME FRIENDS! THEREFORE, YOU MAY SIMPLY REFER TO ME AS ‘PAPYRUS,’ EVEN IF IT IS ONLY HALFWAY CORRECT.” He indicated the other skeleton. “THIS IS MY OLDER BROTHER, SANS. DO NOT BE DISTRAUGHT THAT HE IS NOT AS GREAT AS I AM, AND TRY TO BEAR WITH HIS TERRIBLE JOKES, NYEHH.” Nudge. “SANS! SAY SOMETHING THAT IS NOT TERRIBLE!”

Sans was watching her carefully; he looked like he was smiling, but Frisk had the feeling it was just how his face was made. He wasn’t happy to see her at all. “sure,” he said coolly. “the name’s sans. sans the skeleton.” Papyrus nudged him again, and Sans sighed, as if resigning himself to his fate. “yeah, i know what his majesty said.” He put on a wider grin. “welp, nice to meet you, kris.”

Fakeness or not, the monsters she’d met so far were still much better than any humans she knew. So Frisk smiled shyly at him, and whispered, “It’s nice to meet you, too, Sans.”

His smile dropped a little. They regarded each other for a few seconds; to her delight, his mouth rose again in genuine approval. “heh. you seem like a nice kid.” Shrug. “pap’s right. we’re all gonna be pals, so…”

Papyrus looked pleased as Sans took his hand from his jacket pocket. But as Frisk reached out to shake it, Pap’s smile suddenly vanished. “WAAAIT A MOMENT,” the taller brother said suspiciously. “SANS, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT—”

Too late. The moment Frisk grasped the skeleton’s hand, something erupted in a palm-tickling explosion of Pfffffftttttppppppfffffffff…ffffffppp…pppf…pp……p.

Silence.

“OH. MY. GOD,” Papyrus said in the voice of doom, and rounded on his brother. “SANS, YOU IMBECILE! YOU HAVE BROKEN THE HUMAN! LOOK, IT ISN’T MOVING! IT—”

Frisk couldn’t hold it in: she howled with laughter, and only got louder as Sans pulled his hand back to reveal the rubbery, air-filled contraption that had made the rude noise. “what can i say? it’s always funny,” he said proudly. “quite a gas.”

“HOW COULD YOU, BROTHER?! THIS IS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF ACQUAINTANCE ETIQUETTE!” raged Papyrus. “HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO ASCEND THE HEIGHTS OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP NOW THAT YOUR IDIOTIC PRANK HAS DAMAGED THE SMALL HUMAN?!” Papyrus stabbed a gloved finger at Frisk, who was now doubled over. “IF THIS IS HOW YOU ARE GOING TO BEHAVE, YOU MIGHT AS WELL GO HOME NOW! YES, HOME! YOU CAN PICK UP YOUR ROOM IN CASE WE HAVE HUMAN GUESTS!”

“i dunno, bro,” said Sans, winking at Frisk again. “it’s probably too heavy for me. you should get it instead.”

“NYEHHH! I MOST CERTAINLY WILL NOT GET IT!”

“aw, pap, don’t be so hard on yourself. i’m sure if you just try harder—”

“LEAVE!! NOW!!!”

Funny as the brothers were, that seemed harsh to Frisk—the nearest houses had to be pretty far away from the Grand Hall, and making Sans walk all the way back because of a few jokes was a little much. She eyed Papyrus doubtfully, wondering if he was like humans after all.

“it’s fine, kiddo,” Sans told her, as if reading her thoughts. He winked one more time. “don’t worry, i know a shortcut. so, eye will see ya later.”

Before Frisk could react, Sans was…gone. Baffled, she looked around, then up at Papyrus. “HM? OH, YES. SANS HAS DEVELOPED HIS MAGIC EXACTLY ENOUGH TO BE AS LAZY AS POSSIBLE,” the tall skeleton said distastefully. “I CAN ONLY HOPE HE IS ACTUALLY CLEANING HIS ROOM NOW. MORE LIKELY, HE IS—”

There was a sound of clapping and cheering from the Grand Hall. “THAT’S RIGHT!” Papyrus threw his red scarf over his collarbone. “COME ALONG, HUMAN! I SHALL INTRODUCE YOU TO THE OTHER MONSTERS! YOU WILL BE DELIGHTED TO MEET THEM, ESPECIALLY THE ROYAL GUARD, AND THE FEELING WILL BE MUTUAL! NYEH-HEH! FOLLOW ME, NEW ACQUAINTANCE!”

“Um…” Frisk bit her lip. Papyrus was a lot to take in, especially without warning, but he didn’t seem to be faking his enthusiasm, or his kindness. Frisk looked at him, made up her mind, and smiled again. “Can we be friends now?” she asked, holding up her hand.

The skeleton’s cheekbones turned bright pink, somehow, eye sockets going wide and glittery. “REALLY?!? WOWIE! I CAN’T BELIEVE I—” He made a noise like a cough. “I MEAN…O-OF COURSE YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND, KRIS! I AM EXTREMELY GREAT.” Papyrus leaned down a little to take her hand. “COME ALONG! AS A FRIEND OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS, YOU SHALL BE KNOWN AND LOVED BY ALL! NYEH-HEH-HEH!”

Frisk sure hoped so, especially if the other monsters were as nice as he was. Even if they weren’t, she’d already made new friends, exactly like she was supposed to. Mama couldn’t be mad at her for that, and Chara couldn’t take them away from her!

 ~

 The dream with Asriel was a fitting end to a frustrating night. Sans had picked the biggest inn he could find and asked for a room with the biggest bed they had, only to find that it still wasn’t big enough for him. He didn’t want to try sleeping in his disguise, which meant another night stretched out on the floor, longing for the massive bed in the High Priestess’ quarters. He never would have thought he’d want to go back to the humans’ castle—that damn bed had spoiled him for life! Not to mention that when he was sleeping in it, he had Frisk all to himself…

He had just started dozing off when the door to the next room opened and closed, a couple of human voices whispering back and forth. Sans made the mistake of concluding that that was it, and was completely unprepared for the sounds that exploded through the wall a minute later.

Sans was not an expert on human…anything, but he knew was he was hearing, and that he was hearing it very very loudly. At that point, he had several options; after mulling exactly one of them over, he sat up and ran a thread of magic through the lamp fixture over the bed, worming it through the conduits in the wall and into the next room. From there, he could feel the vibrations of the bed moving – ugh – and spread his magic in a thin layer under one side of the mattress; then he twitched his hand, and grinned at the shrieks and thuds of the couple being dumped onto the floor.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t need to do anything else. The humans got dressed in a hurry, grabbed their things, and left, and did not come back. Sans let his magic dissipate and settled down, feeling a little smug, but mostly annoyed that the sounds were still stuck in his head.

The giant skeleton tossed and turned, dreamed, and got up in the morning a lot later than he intended; he was so unrested, and so disturbed at having seen Asriel – had it been real? Why and how would the Prince visit him of all people? Why now? – that he barely remembered to put his chain back on before he left the room. He forgot to ask directions when he checked out and had to grump his way around town at random, looking for the stables the warehouse lady had mentioned. He had to get the carts and horses, then go to all the stupid places and get the stupid things…

Well, this wasn’t the right way: he was on a street lined with cute little cafes and humans sitting around in fancy metal chairs. He stopped to get his bearings, and nearly swore as his stomach growled. At least there were food stands everywhere…but what the hell was a “crepe”?

A minute later, he found a place to sit down and gnaw on a couple of folded-over, chocolatey things, which were actually pretty good. There wasn’t much to do as he ate but people-watch, which would have been kind of neat if the people in question weren’t humans. They followed the overall pattern he’d observed at the castle, where the men were loud and stupid-looking, while the women were also loud and ranged from scrawny to actually-lumpy to extremely lumpy. Even the ones with nice faces were still too…human, without any soothing voices, or graceful movements, or sweet expressions…

It made him wonder yet again if Frisk’s SOUL was the real reason he’d been so drawn to her; the first time he’d seen it, he was scared shitless, and then he wanted to rip it out for strictly non-romantic purposes. Was it because she’d reminded him so much of Kris? Or would he have just eventually fallen in love with any human who was powerful enough for him, even if she was a gross person on the outside or inside?

…Nope. It was because she was Frisk. Satisfied with that line of introspection, Sans finished the second crepe and tossed the wrappers in a trash can, forgetting that she wasn’t there to yell at him for littering. Time to ask someone for directions to a more useful part of town.

The first person he talked to just shrugged, and the next pointed him the wrong way entirely, but an irate half-hour later, Sans was back on the right track. This street seemed much dingier, with fewer people around; it smelled weird, too, like horse pee and desperation.

Maybe that was why someone had started following him. Sans smiled to himself, wiggling his fingers inside his coat pockets. Should he get further into the back alleyways before he confronted the guy, or—

“Heya.”

Sans glanced to his right. A man in his early twenties was standing by a side street, nodding at him. “C’mon this way,” he said. “Got somethin’ to show you.”

           “I don’t think so, pal,” said the disguised boss monster. “Whatever ya want, you’re wastin’ yer time. Don’t have any cash on me.” Without waiting for an answer, he speed-walked further ahead, grinning as he heard a soft whistle behind him.

           Sure enough, someone was waiting right around the next corner, an older man in nice clothes. “Excuse me, sir,” he said loudly, “but do you have the time?”

           Sans thought of the old woman again and snorted. “Nope,” he replied, and tried to walk around him.

           The man quick-stepped back into Sans’ way. “My. Her Eminence doesn’t pay you enough to buy a watch?” he asked innocently.

           What the hell? He wasn’t wearing the armband. “Who said anythin’ about—”

The distraction almost worked: the guy made a sudden feint toward him, and if Sans had been any less alert, he’d have backed right into the human sneaking up to grab his neck with a wire loop. Instead, Sans pivoted and slammed an elbow into his would-be assailant so hard that he felt the guy’s ribs crack. The man who’d stopped him cursed under his breath, turning to run.

Almost absent-mindedly, Sans waved a finger in the fleeing human’s direction. There was a shnk of bone erupting from the pavement, and a muffled scream as the man’s ankle was impaled mid-flight. The rest of his body yanked to a stop and hit the ground in a twisted heap.

Footsteps pounded toward them, and Sans turned to face the first guy who’d talked to him, then one other human. They sized up the situation and moved to either side of him, one armed with some kind of club and the other sporting a huge knife.

Sans gave a low laugh as bloodlust started bubbling to the surface. Finally! This was what he’d been waiting for! No more playing cute and harmless! No more letting people do whatever the hell they wanted with him! No witnesses!

Really, the only problem was that it was too easy. Sans let the one with the knife get in close, then grabbed his arm and broke it at the elbow, spinning the would-be assassin around and shoving him into the guy with the club. Both humans hit the ground, but the knife guy was up in a moment, scrabbling for his weapon with his good hand. Sans kicked the knife away, pinned both of his palms to the ground with a couple more bones, and lifted the remaining human by the neck with his magic.

Was that it? He glanced around at the one with the wire loop – on the ground, struggling to breathe – then the guy with the impaled ankle, who seemed to have passed out. The third was staring at his hands and making weird noises – not very knife of him, ha ha – and the last one dangled a few inches off the ground, clawing at the red mist around his throat.

Sans hummed under his breath, surveying the four men with an artistic eye. Well! Where to begin? Might as well start with the one he was holding up. The human windpipe was so fragile that one good crunch would do it…but no one said it’d have to be a quick crunch. Sans began to apply pressure, slow and hard, and grinned as the man’s eyes bulged in terror—

           Out of nowhere, he froze mid-squeeze as a strange emotion hit him. It was…nostalgia, and then—guilt? That was it; the longer Sans stared at the captive human, the less he enjoyed the guy’s fear and despair. He knew exactly what it felt like to be trapped by someone stronger, didn’t he? Back in his jail cell, cowering behind a human witch’s barrier, knowing she could do any damn thing she pleased to him—had he looked like this to her?

           Sans shook his head in irritation. What was he thinking? That was different! He wasn’t Frisk, and these guys had tried to kill him!

           …just like he’d tried to kill her before and after she stopped him from hurting anyone. What had she done to retaliate? Kept him safe, given him her own stupidly oversized bed, let him sleep for over a day, and fed him more in one sitting than he’d eaten in goddamn weeks.

Sans tried again to shake it off, to rationalize that no one in their right mind would hold a psycho like him to Frisk’s standards, but when he looked again at the human in his grasp…

No, dammit! These assholes had attacked him out of nowhere, and he’d defended himself! Surely she wouldn’t expect him to just stand there and get murdered?

…But none of these guys could move under their own power anymore, much less hurt him. Now Sans could see Frisk snarling up at him in all her tiny, furious glory: “If you kill anyone and you cannot look me in the eye to tell me why it was necessary, I don't want you to come back at all!”

           Argh! It wasn’t fair! She wasn’t here to stop him—she would never even know! Why should he quit right when it was finally getting good? Couldn’t he at least nick ‘em a few more times, enough to make them sorry? They might be pretty sorry already, but… “But,” Sans mumbled out loud, scowling.

Now he was thinking of Dr. Serif. The boss monster could practically hear his cool, smug voice: “But what, Sans?”

           Tch. If he had to be hearing things, he’d much rather it be Frisk. He knew he should’ve taken a shortcut back to the Underground last night. Then he could’ve seen her and…done…something? Maybe he wouldn’t be so damn frustrated now, his mind jumping all over the place…

           “Sans.”

Oh, shit. What about the fortune-teller? “Don’t kill anyone.” That guy had been right about stuff so far; would something happen to Frisk if Sans ignored his stupid, cheap advice? For all he knew, it could—

           “SANS.”

           “What?” he snapped. “Whaddya want, Doc…tor?” He gaped at Dr. Serif, who was standing only a few yards away, arms folded. “The fuck are you doin’ here?” demanded Sans, releasing the human from mid-air and ignoring his wheezing.

Dr. Serif came closer and made two gestures. A skeletal hand popped up and seized the fallen human by the throat, glowing green before vanishing. “He should live,” the royal sorcerer said crisply. He glanced at the man whose hands were affixed to the pavement, and the one up ahead. “In the meantime, do you plan to leave these gentlemen like that?”

           Sans was still mad that he couldn’t leave them dead, but… He made a disgusted noise, and the bones all vanished. “Ya gonna tell me why you’re here, or what?”

           “What.” Dr. Serif walked past Sans and snapped his fingers. Two pairs of disembodied hands sprang out of thin air, and one latched onto each human’s head; to Sans’ immense discomfort, the hands glowed blue, and each man obediently got up with sluggish, jerky motions – even the one with the shattered ankle –  to come sit in a row, legs crossed like schoolchildren. “Why did you attack this man?” Dr. Serif inquired. “Only speak if you have useful information.”

The human with the broken ribs mumbled, “He’s the High Priestess’ agent,” in a voice that made Sans feel even weirder. There was good old-fashioned violence, and there was this. “Gonna hold him for ransom and lure in the skeleton.”

“Do not lie to me.” The humans jerked, eyes going glassy as the blue intensified. “This is not an instrument of live capture,” said the royal sorcerer, retrieving the wire loop with yet another hand. “Why do you, or your employers, want him dead?”

There was a round of silence. Evidently, no one knew, or probably cared. They’d had their orders, and that was that.

Sans stepped closer. “Were you the ones going after Frisk a few weeks ago—the High Priestess? Are you gonna try it again?”

“Wasn’t us,” said one.

“No one’s supposed to kill her anymore,” said another, and his associates nodded slowly.

Dr. Serif blinked a few times. “According to who, and since when?”

“Last week. Someone paid the Assassin’s Guild to blacklist her. She’s untouchable—anyone who goes after her gets a bounty put on his head.”

Sans had never seen the royal sorcerer so taken aback. “I didn’t know that was even possible. It would cost several hundred thou—no, a million dinar to make it worth their while,” he muttered. “Do you have any idea who did it?”

More silence. Meanwhile, Sans was not that surprised to find out there was a formal guild for murderers. Humans were such fucking scumbags.

“Are you affiliated with poachers, then?” was Dr. Serif’s next question.

“Yeah,” they all said at once.

The doctor’s foot tapped a few times. “Does your attack on the priestess’ agent have to do with the timing of his delivery to the Underground? Fewer monsters will be venturing outside if food is being brought directly to them—I assume you wanted to prevent this?”

Sans watched the men’s faces stay blank. That was probably too many words for them. “What’re you gonna do if ya can’t catch any monsters?” he asked instead.

The blue light intensified again, and someone finally mumbled, “Ransom. The High Priestess will pay to get her agent back. She won’t know he’s dead yet.”

Dr. Serif frowned. “And you’re hoping she’ll send the boss monster to rescue him?”

Nods. “It’s worth a hell of a lot of money.”

There was an odd pause. “For his magic?” the doctor asked.

“And ransom. She’s screwin’ it,” one man said tonelessly.

Dr. Serif grabbed Sans’ shoulder to restrain him. “Surely you’re not taking that rumor seriously,” he said. “It can’t be worth the danger of trying to capture such a powerful monster—he was relatively weak when he was first caught, and two men still died of their injuries.”

“Lady payin’ us says it’s true. She doesn’t want Her Eminence arrested for mis…missen—”

“Miscegenation?” growled Sans.

“Yeah. That. She wants us to catch it, but not kill it. We’ll keep it and get a shitload of magic, then sell it back later. Win-win.”

“Hm. So, your employer is a woman who wants to help the High Priestess? What is her name?”

No one answered. The blue light flickered, and one man finally said, “Dunno. We just got a few letters, and payment up front. Pretty sure it’s a rich lady ‘cause of the handwriting and the way the paper smelled, but we don’t know for sure.”

The doctor stared the man down, still holding Sans’ shoulder. “And she has hired you to hold the skeleton prisoner…for how long, exactly? And through what means?”

The human shrugged. “She said she’d tell us more once we killed this guy.”

Dr. Serif thought about it for a moment, then snapped his fingers again. The skeletal hands tightened, and Sans watched the men writhe in tandem and fall sideways like puppets with cut strings. “Well, that was more interesting than expected,” said the royal sorcerer. His hand tightened on Sans’ shoulder. “Come along.”

Sans shut his eyes as magic surged around them. It didn’t have the rushing-through-space feel of his shortcuts; this was more as if the ground had jumped out from beneath their feet and just as quickly hopped back into place. He opened his eyes and started. “Where—”

They were standing outside a large, well-kept stable. The doctor released him, saying, “I must commend you for not killing any of those men. We’ve acquired valuable information, and once they wake up, word will get around that the High Priestess’ agent is not to be trifled with.” He smiled, ever so slightly. “They will not recall I was even there.”

Sans gestured impatiently. “What the fuck was that about? Someone wants human-me dead, but they just wanna borrow real me to keep Frisk outta jail? An’ someone else’s paid out the ass to keep her alive? What’s—”

“It could well be the same person.” The royal sorcerer brushed some dust off his robe. “What is miscegenation?” he asked curtly.

Sans’ toes curled. “Boning a monster. It’s a literal crime. I heard somebody talking about it last night.”

“Interesting,” the doctor said slowly. “No one spreading that rumor in the city seems to know about it yet.” Sigh. “If you overheard it here, I suppose it’s only a matter of time before everyone knows.”

Sans didn’t want to talk about that right now, or ever. “How long were you following me?” he asked instead.

Pause. “Long enough.”

The boss monster didn’t like that, either. “Whatever,” Sans mumbled. “But thanks fer gettin’ all that stuff out of ‘em. You’re pretty freaky, but I guess ya come in handy.”

He heard the familiar sound of someone ignoring a pun, and then “You’re welcome.” Dr. Serif crossed his arms. “I was sent here to intercept you and the High Priestess. Given that I have not seen Her Eminence with you, may I assume you were foolish enough to come alone?”

           “Uh…”

           “As you were also foolish enough to leave the castle when and how you both did, I am not surprised.”

           Sans snorted. “Ya think that was my idea?”

           “No, but this almost certainly was.” The royal sorcerer gestured to the smushed roll of papers in Sans’ front pocket. “Come along. There should be three carts on reserve in Frisk’s name here, for when you were supposed to have picked them up on your way to the Underground.”

           Sans followed him into the stable. “What, ya didn’t like us bailin’ on you?” he asked, taking childish pleasure in the older skeleton’s annoyance.

           The doctor reached back without looking and took the papers from Sans’ pocket. “Hello,” Dr. Serif said cordially to the human behind the counter, who stepped right up to assist them.

           This turned out to be prophetic: the doctor not only accompanied him everywhere for the rest of the morning and afternoon, he took complete charge. He made things so much smoother that Sans couldn’t even be mad about it; people listened to him, and he could fully answer their questions while Sans inspected the cargo and supervised the loading. The doctor also signed the bills of lading, reminding Sans after the first visit that as a perfectly normal human and not a monster in disguise, he was not “Sans” and needed to pick a pseudonym already.

           They had almost no time to eat lunch or dinner, electing to grab a couple of sandwiches as the drivers brought the carts to the second-to-last warehouse. “So, was it your idea to swoop in on us like this?” Sans asked. “I know it was annoying to wake up and have us gone, but—”

           “His Majesty is extremely unamused by his daughter’s behavior,” said the royal sorcerer, in a tone that wiped the smirk off Sans’ face. “To be very honest, I am glad I will not be there when Her Eminence receives this.” He extracted a long, expensive-looking envelope from his robe. “His Majesty assembled the paperwork yesterday for—”

           “The adoption thing?” Sans interrupted. “Is it true?”

           Dr. Serif made a face. “No matter where I go, the speed of gossip remains constant.” Another sigh. “Whatever you’ve heard is likely true. Should Frisk’s mission prove successful, His Majesty is prepared not only to pardon her theft, but place her directly in the line of succession.”

           Sans took a long sip of water, trying and failing to figure that one out. “I thought ya said he was pissed off at her. Why…?”

           “Tell me, Sans. Knowing Frisk, do you think she would appreciate being pressured into accepting such a heavy responsibility, especially in anticipation of her little brother’s death? His Majesty knows exactly how she will feel about it.” Dr. Serif paused for a huge bite of his sandwich. “Also, he may personally be unhappy with her actions, but he knows better than anyone that if she can outmaneuver him, then she is worthy of the throne.”

           Fuck. “Yeah, when ya put it like that—”

           The royal sorcerer glanced at him. “Out of curiosity, when did you learn that the King was her father?”

           “Not till we were almost t’the Underground. I kinda found out by accident.”

           Dr. Serif half-smiled. “It’s been common knowledge ever since she was brought to St. Brigid’s. And…by any chance, did she ever tell you anything about her mother?”

           Sans had to whack himself in the chest as the last wad of his sandwich threatened to get stuck in his windpipe. Why did human bodies use the same damn tube for breathing and eating? “Only that she’s dead,” he rasped. “Why?”

           “Wipe your hands, please, and put this somewhere safe until you can give it to her.” Dr. Serif held out the gilt envelope. “It contains copies of all the relevant documents, including an investiture of nobility—she would technically become a duchess first, then Crown Princess upon the death of the King or the Prince.”

Sans scrubbed his hands on his shirt and took the envelope. He was thinking so hard that he almost didn’t notice Frisk’s full name in fancy cursive across the front; then he looked again, and stared at it for a minute, and finally said, “Huh.”

           “You don’t seem entirely surprised,” the doctor observed, sounding almost disappointed. “Have you already heard something to that effect?”

           “Yeah. I had a long talk with Grillby the other day, and…I wasn’t gonna ask Frisk, but I was kinda wondering, and then she said…” Had the King done the calligraphy himself? “I never did hear her last name. I figured the High Priestess just doesn’t need one.”

           “It was not hers to use for most of her life, and I would be very surprised if she chose to do so now, or ever. According to what I have gleaned from Rosa, the name does not have pleasant associations for Frisk—another fact of which the King is very aware.”

           “Holy shit.” Sans looked at the envelope again. “He’s callin’ her that ta piss her off?”

           “It is technically her legal name and belongs on a document of this importance. So, yes.”

           “Shit.” Sans scratched the back of his head, thinking even harder. “So whoever filled out the paperwork for him knows her name, too? Which means everyone is gonna know about it by the time we get back?”

           The doctor raised an eyebrow. “You’re coming back with her, then?” He let the question hang in the air, and Sans ignored it till Dr. Serif continued, “You are correct. I am genuinely sorry to leave this with you, but you will have to give her the news before you return, or else she will be completely blindsided. Please don’t do that to her.”

           Sans wasn’t going to admit that the thought had already crossed his mind: throw the envelope away, let her enjoy the rest of her time in the Underground, and feign astonishment when they got back – hopefully triumphant – and found out she’d someday have the power to do literally anything she pleased, such as freeing monsters with a single decree.

           Except…she was already helping monsters, and had already spent three lonely, stressful years as High Priestess. How much worse would her life be if she became the actual Queen? Would it technically fit that second fortune? Fear stabbed him so hard that he could barely breathe—what if she got surrounded by advisers and hangers-on determined to harass him away from her? There was no telling how long her father and half-brother would be around, and they probably wouldn’t let her keep a pet skeleton around, not to mention a suspiciously bony kid…

           Sans couldn’t help it. Dr. Serif eyed him warily as the boss monster snickered again: a fucking crime. It was too perfect.

           The carts were ready now. The boss monster tucked the fancy envelope into an inner pocket and resolved to quit thinking about it for now. Frisk could handle this; she’d know what to do. If she didn’t, they’d figure it out together.

 ~

             Thankfully, the rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. By the time they were ready to head back to the Underground, the sun was just touching the horizon.

           Everything had fit into three large-ish carts, which Frisk had accurately predicted would be a better idea than two really huge ones. The drivers were nervous about starting so late in the day, but Dr. Serif had implied that they were just headed to the city, the road to which was well-lit and patrolled by watchmen. Sans got a huge kick out of seeing the humans’ faces when the procession reached the outskirts of the village, went about a hundred yards, and came to a sudden halt. “You may remove the horses now,” said the doctor. “Please return to the village. Here is a small gratuity for your trouble.”

           If the humans had questions, they were effectively answered by the five-hundred-dinar pieces Dr. Serif placed in each of their hands. They unhitched the horses and jogged them back in the fast-fading light without a backward glance, leaving the loaded carts sitting in the road.

           From there, the disguised monsters waited until no one was in sight – not difficult, given the hour and the cold – and then enacted the plan they’d agreed upon earlier: Sans encased the lightest cart in a film of red magic, thought carefully about the place by the river where Undyne had attacked him, and teleported the whole thing there. No more than ten seconds later, a large patch of blackness crept over the pale bedrock; Gaster rose from it head-first, followed by the carts, and everything settled into place as the ground shimmered back into ordinary rock-ness.

           “What the crap?” Sans pulled his chain off. “How do you even have that much magic?”

           Gaster brushed himself off again with two extra hands, keeping his own tucked beneath his flowing black coat. He glided in a circle around the carts, checking that they had made the journey safely, and nodded. “Surely you’re not worn out from one spell?”

           “No, but I’m a damn boss monster!”

           The older skeleton smiled. A hand appeared in front of Sans, holding a gray orb slightly bigger than the hole in its palm. “Humans use these to store magic. Keep at least one on your person at all times and let it absorb your ambient power. Put it away when full, then repeat the process. Do so regularly, and you will soon have a supply built up for contingencies exactly like this.” The hand vanished. “Has Her Eminence used the teleportation spell I gave her yet?”

           Sans remembered the brooch she’d gotten on All Souls Day, and shook his head. “I don’t think so, but she wears it a lot.”

           “Good.” Gaster looked at the nearly-night sky. “Lead the way.”

           The boss monster wondered exactly how many more of those stones Gaster had squirreled away in whatever fold of subspace he was using, and contented himself with the fact that the creepy bastard still seemed to be on their side—Sans hadn’t forgotten the fortune about bewaring him, but right now, he didn’t have much choice. Even the lightest of the carts was much heavier than the wagons full of monsters had been, and as tired as he was, he doubted he could’ve pulled or teleported them all on his own.

Gaster’s extra hands were pulling and pushing two of the carts with apparent ease as they followed the river. Sans tried to think of something that would pass the time without leading to invasive questions, and finally thought to ask, “The solar panel demonstration went okay?”

           “Oh, yes.” Gaster’s voice was neutral, and it was impossible to read his expression in profile. “Someone attempted to sabotage it by cutting several of the wires on the main panel, so I used my own magic as a substitute. It was most impressive, if I say so myself.”

           That sounded like one problem too many. They had enough crap to deal with in the Underground without worrying about sabotage or the King being passive-aggressive or some random lady who wanted to keep him away from Frisk! Get in line, he thought bitterly.

           “How is Her Eminence’s mission going?” asked Gaster, as if reading his mind.

           “Pretty good, I think. Asgore hasn’t met with her yet, but he’s letting her do whatever.” Sans felt the corners of his mouth lift. “She’s spent a couple nights with Undyne and Alphys at Toriel’s house, havin’ some girl time. They went shopping yesterday, ‘n pro’ly today.”

           Gaster nodded. “I don’t know how you intended to do this alone,” he said, glancing at the carts, “but given your accelerated timeline, I suppose it was the best way to let her enjoy herself for a day or two. It will also help her cause if the monsters see a great deal of her firsthand.”

           Sans knew what he meant—all Frisk had to do to win them over was be herself. He didn’t notice that he was smiling until he felt Gaster’s stare; the other skeleton was suddenly in front of him, drifting backwards as Sans walked. “Don’t mind me,” murmured the royal sorcerer, examining the boss monster’s sternum.

           “What’s my LV?” Sans asked bluntly.

           Gaster reappeared beside the cart. “You are at LV 16.”

           Sans was…almost surprised. Gaster gave him a hard look. “The first time I checked, you were—”

           A sound off to their left made both skeletons stop to listen. It was faint, but unmistakable. “Keep going,” Gaster said, and they picked up the pace, both assuming their disguises.

           There was no question of outrunning the humans, so they let the sound of hoofbeats gradually overtake them. “Well, well,” said the first rider, pulling up in front of the carts and forcing them to stop. Two more poachers rode up alongside, and three more brought up the rear. Each man had a coil of chain slung over his shoulder, and their leader carried a heavy crossbow. “What are you doing out here so late?” he demanded. “Where you headed with all that?”

           “The Underground,” Dr. Serif said calmly. “We have no monsters or valuables with us, so if you would kindl—”

           “Bullshit.” The leader nodded to the other men. “Search ‘em. There’s gotta be—”

           Sans didn’t even see what happened next: an unseen force yanked each man out of the saddle to hit the bedrock, filling the air with thumps, whinnying, and curses. “This is your last warning,” said Dr. Serif, still sounding very reasonable. “Leave us, or you will suffer.”

           When the men didn’t answer – except for more profanity – the doctor made a gesture. This time, Sans glimpsed the skeletal hands smacking the horses on the rump, one after another; the animals screamed in panic, nearly trampling their riders as they bolted in different directions.

The poachers gaped at each other, then at the human-shaped skeletons. “What the fuck are you?” demanded the leader. With no warning, he whipped up his crossbow to fire at—

           —Gaster, whose body had vanished, leaving nothing but an eerie smile and empty sockets. “Well, then,” he murmured, his eyes lighting blue and yellow. He glanced at Sans. “Please go on without me. I will see you back at the castle in…” He paused, counting on a set of hands. “…nine days.” The fingers snapped once, twice, thrice. “My regards to Her Eminence.”

           Sans opened his mouth to object, and the ground dropped out from beneath him.

 ~

             Silence descended in his wake, leaving the poachers in abject terror. Without the carts’ lanterns, it was impossible to see anything but the light in Gaster’s sockets. “Well,” the monster said. He looked at the men with mild curiosity, like a child with a jar full of insects. The leader jerked as a hand suddenly latched onto his face. “Can I trust you to keep this little encounter a secret?” asked Gaster.

The man nodded frantically, clawing at the hand as blood began welling under its phalanges. The others nodded, too, babbling reassurance.

“Good,” the skeleton said pleasantly. The humans had exactly enough time to start hoping before his eye-lights dilated, illuminating the hideous, masklike face. “What a pity that I do not believe you.”

There was a gruesome sound, and another, and another, and another. Silence; a tide of magic rose and swept over the bedrock, leaving nothing behind but a few splashes of blood.

Gaster nodded in satisfaction and turned to rinse his hands in the river, humming Sans’ favorite song. He paused long enough to chuckle to himself, then brushed his coat off once more, extracted a fresh stone from his coat, and vanished.

 ~

             The sentries outside the Grand Hall’s gates rolled their eyes as another knock came from within. “Any sign of him?” someone asked through the crack.

           “No,” the rabbit monster snapped. “For the last time, you don’t need to keep asking every ten minutes! We’ll tell you when he—”

           A long, low sound from the opposite direction cut him short. “Sans?” called the guard.

           “The one an’ only,” a gruff voice answered over the rise. In the still, cold air, they could now hear the sound of wheels on sandy rock, and the labored breathing of a boss monster managing three heavily laden carts by himself. “Can I get some damn help here?”

           Twenty minutes later, Sans had recovered enough to get up from the cavern floor and hobble through the swarm of hungry monsters by the gates, some of whom had been waiting all day for their share of the food. “You guys don’t need to inspect it,” the colossal skeleton informed the guards, who were busy walking around the carts and poking them at random. “Me an’…someone I trust watched ‘em load it up.”

           The rabbit guard looked at his partner, then at Sans. “This came from humans, right? It’s probably gotta be—”

           “It’s gotta get out to people now,” Sans growled. He pointed at someone randomly. “Go get more help, whoever’s awake. I’m gonna go find Her Majesty.”

           “No need,” said a clear voice. The monsters all bowed out of the way as Toriel stepped off the patchy gray sand of the central aisle. “I am glad to see you back safely, Sans. Thank you so much for your efforts,” said the former Queen. “Please, get some sleep. I will handle the rest.”

           Sans was so tired that he could barely stay upright, but he shook his head. “I’m gonna check in with Asgore first.” Toriel’s face darkened, and he sighed. “C’mon, To—Your Majesty, ya know he’ll freak out if he finds out this came in without ‘im knowing.”

           The other boss monster sighed, closing her eyes. “True. And if you go now, you may run into the Captain and Dr. Alphys. They will also want to know you’ve arrived safely. But after that, I want you go straight home! Do you hear me?”

           He did, but sleep could wait: if those two were at Asgore’s house, then Frisk might be, too. His magic flared up, and without another thought, the skeleton took himself straight there.

           Remembering how easily the women had detected him before, Sans aimed for the end of the house near the master bedroom, and caught himself with only a slight stagger into the wall. Voices were coming from the living room; the boss monster waited for his vision to clear, then pushed himself upright and crept down the hall to listen.

           “It is lovely,” Asgore was murmuring. There was a musical clinking of fine metal and china—the King must be looking at the tea service Frisk had picked out for him.

           “Yeah, she was pretty proud of it. Everything she’s brought has been awesome,” agreed Undyne.

Sans scowled. Frisk wasn’t here after all. Well, he didn’t have enough magic to zero in on wherever she was, and Undyne was still talking, so he might as well eavesdrop. “She got me some targets, and comi—uh, battle strategies, and stuff for my scales. It was really thoughtful,” said the Royal Guard Captain.

           “And I can finally finish Adventure Lady!” Alphys exclaimed. “C-can you believe it?!”

           To Sans’ surprise, Asgore chuckled. He didn’t think the King knew how to do that anymore. “I’m glad to hear it, Doctor. I know how much that was bothering you.” Clink. “What about the agricultural implements Sans mentioned?”

“Yes, Y-Your Majesty. We spent a few hours today looking them over—she knows how to treat plants so that they can go days without being watered! We t-talked about different chemicals that can improve the quality of our soil, specific nutrients for whichever crops we decide to plant first, and all the seeds she brought. The next step is to decide which fields to convert to pasture if we want to raise c-cattle or sheep.”

“Hmm. Yes, that would be wonderful.” Sans heard tea being poured and china clinking again. “What else has she been up to?” asked the King.

“We went shopping for clothes yesterday,” the Captain said, “and Mettaton is teaching her how to dance. It was pretty fun—did you hear he wants to have a big party before she leaves?”

“Yes, I have. Some festivities could be good for our people, but…we’ll see.”

“Right.” She cleared her throat. “And just so you know, Majesty, we’ve spent the past couple nights at the Ruins.”

A long pause. “I…see. Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah,” Undyne said quietly. “Everyone did.”

“That…” Asgore heaved a great sigh. “That’s good to hear. What about today?”

Undyne’s chair creaked. “Today was a little more complicated. She checked on some of the people she brought back—not that she busted in on anyone,” the fish monster added hastily. “She only got started ‘cause Vulkin asked her to come visit.”

Asgore made a startled noise. “Vulkin wanted to see her? Why?”

Sans wanted to run in and shake the King like the idiot he was, but he edged back and tried to think nicer thoughts as Undyne answered, “She said Frisk was the only human who ever gave a crap about them, basically, and her family wanted to meet her. We ended up staying for over an hour.” Another pause. “Also, Majesty…Frisk’s got this thing she does where she can hum something at you, and it’s…really nice. Not hypnosis or anything sneaky, it just…” Sans could almost hear Undyne shrug. “Right before we left, Vulkin started getting worked up, and Frisk calmed her down just like that.”

“She’s done it for us, too, right before bedtime,” said Alphys. “I haven’t s-slept so well in forever.”

“Hm. She has other abilities, then, besides creating barriers?” He poured more tea. “Have you investigated her capabilities in that respect?”

“N-No, Your Majesty. She wanted to have your permission before she made any, even j-just to study them in the lab.”

Sans got the feeling that Asgore was a little put out by Frisk conducting herself so well. “If you believe she is trustworthy,” said the King, “then by all means, study her barriers as fully as you can. The knowledge may prove…useful.” More clinking. “Thank you for your time, both of you. Get some rest. And…” His voice softened. “Please thank her for the gift.”

The giant skeleton smiled a little. Before they could get up and notice him lurking in the hall, Sans used the tiniest wisp of magic – all that he had left – to whisk himself outside to the courtyard. He waited by the tree, foot raised as if in mid-step; when the door opened, Asgore saw him and started. “Sans! You’re back!”

“Hey, Majesty.” Sans raised a genuinely weary hand. “Yeah, I just got in with all the stuff. Everything’s fine. Just wanted to let you know.”

“Thank you very much,” the King said heartily, another trace of his old self showing. “I’ll be down right away.”

“Uh.” The bigger boss monster fake-coughed. “Please don’t, Yer Majesty. Someone’s already got it under control.”

Blink. “Some…oh.”

“Hey, you,” Undyne said, moving around Asgore and hopping down the stairs in one easy bound. “How’d it go? Are you okay?”

“It’s fine, ‘m just worn out.” Sans let out a full-force yawn. “I’ll walk back with you guys,” he said as Alphys came down the steps.

“All right, then,” Asgore murmured. “Thank you again, Sans.” The skeleton nodded, and they politely waited for the door to close before turning to leave.

“Don’t even think about it” was the first thing out of Undyne’s mouth. “She’s asleep already.”

Sans was too tired not to ask, “Where? Tori’s again?”

“I’m not telling you!” snapped the fish-woman. “We had a lot of fun yesterday, but today was pretty rough on her.” She eyed him as they stepped into the elevator and waited for the grating to close. “You don’t look so hot, either.”

“I will be in a minute.” Sans swayed on his feet as the elevator descended. “After all, we’re goin’ to Hotland.”

Undyne twitched. “Nope. We’re not doing those.”

“Aww, c’mon, fish-face.” Yawn. “I’m just gettin’ warmed up.”

Twitch. “I’m serious, boss. Drop it.”

“Drop it like…it’s hot?”

“I SAID—”

The elevator ground to a halt, and he felt Alphys tug on his coat. “L-let’s go to my lab, Sans. You can take a nap and get some magic back befo—not yet!”

Sans had the impression of falling and something grabbing him, but he didn’t pay much attention till Undyne heaved him onto the lab’s concrete floor. “Ow,” he tried to say, but it was too much effort; he decided to pass out instead.

 ~

             They weren’t heading to the family’s main house; for some reason, Asriel had insisted she come with him to the one in the Ruins, where he and his mother had been living before the delegation arrived. He’d told her that he had a surprise for her, but he was so anxious that she didn’t think it was going to be a good one.

           Good or not, she had to admit that when Asriel opened the bedroom door and motioned her inside, she was very surprised: she backpedaled so hard that she crashed into his legs.

           “It’s all right,” said Chara, very quietly, from her seat on the bed. “I wouldn’t be glad to see me, either.”

           “Chara,” Asriel protested.

           “It’s true.” The woman watched Frisk lean into Asriel, clutching his robe with one small hand. “Isn’t it, Frisk?” she added.

           The child inhaled sharply, looking up at the Prince in alarm. “It’s all right,” he told her, smiling with such affection that she had to smile back. “I know all about you, Frisk. You’re ten years old, and you’re a girl, and you belong here. In fact, you could say you’ve come home.” He looked at Chara, beaming. “Right, sis?”

 ~

             Sans must have teleported from the lab at some point – maybe in his sleep – because when he properly awoke, he was in his own room. The boss monster sat up and turned the light on with a speck of magic. A glance at the clock made him do a double take: how was it almost ten o’clock?! Sans sprang to his feet and zipped down to the living room.

           No one was there, but he heard children running around outside, with the occasional shriek of happiness, or anger, or possibly disembowelment—he never could tell with kids. There was Papyrus’ voice, and Undyne’s; then he heard Frisk, and without thinking, he took another shortcut out beside the house.

           Before San could get his bearings, a handful of snow hit him upside the head. “Morning, boss!” shouted Undyne. “About time!”

           “GOOD MORNING, BROTHER!” Papyrus raised his head from beneath a pile of children. “WE ARE AT WAR! WOULD YOU CARE TO JOIN US?”

           Sans blinked. “War?”

           “Yes, indeed,” Frisk said gravely, and he looked up to see her standing on the balcony, not far above his eye level. Magic rippled through him in gentle waves as she smiled. “Is everyone ready?” she asked the monsters.

           The giant skeleton came forward for a better view as the children sprang to their feet, or paws, or seahorse tail. Frisk dipped something into a narrow bottle, raised it to her mouth, and leaned over the railing to blow a stream of huge, wobbly, fast-floating bubbles.

           In an instant, the kids were charging after them, leaping and clawing and even biting them joyfully out of the air. Frisk dipped the stick again and angled herself toward Papyrus to blow another round of bubbles; instead of popping them, the younger skeleton surrounded each one in blue and sent them flying in all directions, which was Undyne’s cue to materialize a short spear and leap after them, yelling, “Come back here, you cowards!”

           When the last bubble had been vanquished, Frisk made even more of them, almost obscuring the pack of children; this time, Papyrus used his magic to grab all the bubbles, and instead of chasing after them, the kids tackled him again. Undyne coordinated the assault, directing her troops to surround the enemy and attack as a unit, ignoring Papyrus’ protests of being muuuurdered and that she could not have his pirate-ship bed once he was dust, because for the hundredth time even if she did have an eyepatch that did not mean she deserved to be a pirate more than him. Then everyone scattered again for Frisk to send another batch the kids’ way, and two more groups for Papyrus to keep away from Undyne.

It was hard to say who was enjoying themselves the most. Sans hadn’t seen his brother playing like this in…how long? Even some of the adult monsters were coming over to watch, standing around and chatting with each other, or asking Frisk how she’d made the bubbles and happily accepting the extra bottles she tossed down for them. It was like she’d never left…

A thought struck him, and he backed further away from the house to crane his neck all the way upward. There it was, the thin brown haze of negative energy that’d been accumulating since he absorbed the last round of it. …But—

Sans had avoided looking too directly at Frisk, and tried to take another quick peek now, only for his eyes to lock onto her. She’d taken off her cloak, revealing one of probably many new outfits: a dark-green velvet dress that accented the curves of her bust and hips, silver earrings that shimmered as she bent down to refill the bottle, and gray boots that reminded him of the fact that she had feet.

And when he finally managed to look back up toward her face, he was ambushed by the sight of a black choker. The damn thing looked like a collar, but it wasn’t even trying to be practical; it was just a little bit of lace hugging her neck, and a flagrant reminder that most things wearing collars had nothing else on. He’d contemplated keeping her as a pet, once upon a time, before he even—

           Suddenly, Undyne vaulted onto his shoulder, crashing his nasal ridge into the bottom edge of the balcony. The Royal Guard Captain rapped him on the skull with the butt of her spear, dispelling the last of his lust-induced stupor. “Quit staring, moron,” she hissed, and gestured to Frisk. “C’mon, lady, we need more bad guys to kill,” the fish monster said in a normal tone, raising her voice to finish, “unless Papyrus is too weak to keep going!”

           “I AM NOT!” The skeleton stomped his foot in feeble rage, trying to catch his breath as Undyne leapt down. “BUT PERHAPS…PERHAPS WE COULD TAKE A BREAK, FOR THE CHILDREN?” Two small monsters ran circles around him as he desperately added, “THEY SEEM VERY TIRED, NYEH-HEH!”

           Frisk bit her lip, and Sans wanted more than ever to scoop her up for a giant hug—not only was it always hot when she did that, it meant she wanted to help Pap without hurting his feelings. Luckily for everyone, his mouth-related thoughts suddenly turned in a more wholesome direction. “Hey,” Sans murmured, catching her attention. “Ya know what you oughta do?”

           The others stopped as Frisk leaned down to hear him whisper. “That’s a wonderful idea,” the priestess said warmly, and Sans felt his skull turn red. “Here, Undyne, I want the children to help me try something,” Frisk told her, dipping the wand again. “You two can supervise.”

           Papyrus was happy to accept his new role, and Sans also paid close attention to Frisk’s lips as she blew a long, low stream of smaller bubbles. The kids grabbed at them and squealed as a sound followed each pop—to their delight, every bubble now contained a tiny burst of music.

           Undyne reached out to poke one. “What, did you whistle into ‘em?” She jumped at the sudden sound, then laughed, popping another one. “That’s so damn cool!”

           “Sans thought of it,” Frisk said. She was grinning from ear to ear, almost prancing in place. “Here!” This time, instead of a single pitch, she whistled a scale of several notes, sliding up and back down; when the children popped them, it produced a whole tangle of sounds. The adult monsters drew closer as more bubbles drifted and burst, scattering bits of music through the chilly air.

“Yo!” cried Monster Kid, bounding nearly straight up for emphasis. “Guys! Let’s try to make ‘em into a song again!”

The adults chuckled and shook their heads, but the children loved the idea. And as it turned out, they were right: the sheer futility of trying to break the bubbles in the right order was so much fun that, before they knew it, nearly every monster in the field was chasing after them. No one could hear much of anything over all the shouting and laughter, but that was okay. Everything was okay.

“Sans?”

Still smiling, the giant skeleton turned to face Toriel, noting that she was coming from the ferry and not the Ruins. “What’s all this?” she asked.

“We’re slaughtering our foes in glorious battle,” a cute little bunny said in passing. “It sounds pretty!”

“LIKE THIS, YOUR MAJESTY!” Papyrus demonstrated with a couple of quick jabs.

Toriel’s eyes widened as the sounds made a faint chord. “How wonderful!” She looked in amazement at the crowd of happy, energetic monsters. “You haven’t even received your rations yet—is this an early celebration?”

“Nah, it’s just fun,” Undyne said cheerfully. “People were fighting over who was gonna get what, and the kids were upset, so Frisk showed ‘em how she could make this stuff. Next thing you know—” Quick as scaled lightning, the Captain flicked an energy-toothpick at a bubble overhead, grinning at the resultant chime. “F sharp! Nice.” With a salute to Toriel, Undyne was off again, lifting a couple of random children onto her shoulders.

“How wonderful,” Toriel said again. She sighed, looking fondly up at the balcony. Frisk was starting to puff a bit, but clearly determined to keep going. “What a fine young woman she’s become! It’s almost like having Chara back with us.”

Sans shuffled his slippered feet. He knew it was the highest compliment Toriel could give, but the comparison really rubbed him the wrong way. Not only had he heard a lot of things recently, he couldn’t shake the dream he’d just had—the Prince so eager to have Frisk and Chara back together, and the child trying to be good, but unable to hide her fear and uncertainty…

And speaking of Asriel: “Tell her I’m sorry.” What was that about? Who was—

Suddenly, the dreams clicked together in his mind like puzzle pieces. Asriel had tricked Frisk into meeting with Chara, knowing perfectly well that the poor kid didn’t want to. Was he only sorry for that, or had something else happened afterward, awful enough to make Asriel want to apologize from beyond the friggin’ grave?

Toriel was saying something, and the skeleton shook his head. “Sorry, Tori. What was that?”

She cleared her throat. “I was asking if you’ve met the boy who’s courting her. Frisk said he’s very kind, and wealthy, but…she didn’t seem terribly enthusiastic.”

           Sans almost laughed out loud. So much crap was going on that he’d actually forgotten about that guy! “Had some girl talk, huh?” he asked carelessly, shoving his emotions way, way back down and hoping his eyes weren’t glowing.

           The goat monster chuckled, still watching the field. “We stayed up the other night to discuss where to distribute all the food you were bringing. Afterward, yes, we did talk about her love life.”

           He made an indifferent noise. He was fine. He could do this. “I met the guy once,” he said. “Kinda boring, but I guess he could be worse.”

           Toriel nodded. Her ear twitched as a longer, sweeter trill came from above—Frisk was pulling out all the stops, Sans thought proudly. “Were you there when she spoke to the fortune-teller?” she asked.

The skeleton made himself shrug, as if he wasn’t screaming internally. Stupid girl talk! How much had Frisk told her?

Well, the fact that Toriel hadn’t murdered the shit out of him meant she probably didn’t know everything yet. How she was failing to connect the dots between Frisk and Sans’ human love interest was beyond him, but he’d keep playing along for now. “Yeah, I went with her to that festival,” he said. “Pretty weird stuff. Apparently, she’s on track to have a kid soon.”

           Toriel grimaced. “I certainly hope not. Frisk is much too young for that kind of responsibility.”

           Sans snorted, and Toriel turned to glare at him. “Sorry, but ya haven’t seen her in action,” he said. “The first time I met her, she kept me from killin’ a whole bunch of people, all by herself, an’ she wouldn’t let ‘em kill me back. She got all bloody fixin’ up some kid who came to ‘er for help at two in the morning, she’s payin’ everything for three or four different orphanages that I know of, she keeps tabs on anyone in the whole damn kingdom who might need help, and she’s workin’ on freein’ us, too.” He shook his head. “She’s not a little kid anymore, Tori. She’s got so much crap ta deal with, and she’s been takin’ care of it all on her own. As long as she finds the right guy, it’s…”

           He had to stop before he got any more worked up. Luckily, Toriel was too deep in thought to notice. “That does sound impressive, but you’re right. Her happiness depends on whether she can find a good husband, one she can trust to stand by her and care about her children—”

           Now they were both grim and silent. “Just a few more,” the human called from above them.

She sounded so breathless that Sans shook his head, reaching up to tap on the railing. “Hey, Frisk? Quit it before ya pass out.”

           Toriel listened for a moment, then nodded. Sans watched her stride out to the middle of the field and clap her hands. “Everyone,” she said, “I am glad you’ve enjoyed yourselves, but please return to your homes now. The Royal Guard will be here shortly to deliver your share of the supplies that Frisk arranged for us and Sans brought in last night.” The former Queen nodded benignly in their direction. “Thank you, both of you.”

The giant skeleton was rather embarrassed by the round of applause that followed, though Frisk seemed to take it in stride. Then again, it could be the fact that she was barely conscious. “Time to come in, Pap,” Sans said, jerking his head as the monsters bid each other cheerful farewells and went their separate ways. The children still seemed more excited about the bubbles than the prospect of food—were the poor little bastards just used to being hungry by now?

           There was no need to ask Undyne to take care of Frisk: she had already jumped straight onto the balcony and was assisting the human inside. Sans teleported into the living room, where he immediately got in the way of the Captain half-carrying her down to the couch. “’m fine,” Frisk muttered.

Sans leaned over her, scowling. “Ya need your breath, kid. Don’t use it all up next time.” Now that he was closer, he could also see dark circles under her eyes. “How much sleep didja get last night?” he demanded, and looked at Undyne. “Were you guys at Tori’s house?”

“No,” the goat monster said, shutting the door behind her and coming to sit beside Frisk. “Mettaton kept her up so late that she spent the night at the resort.” Toriel’s hand came up, glowing green, and brushed Frisk’s cheek. “If you had stayed with me, child, I’d have made sure you rested properly.”

The priestess rubbed some feeling back into her lips. “I beg to differ,” she said a moment later. “Remember how afraid I was to fall asleep that second night? Undyne was already mad because I caught her cheating at cards—”

The Captain swelled like a pufferfish. “For the last time, I didn’t frickin’ cheat! My 6 got stuck behind my queen, and I didn’t know it was there when you asked for it!”

“Mmmm-hm.” Frisk let her head fall against Toriel’s shoulder as the goat monster stroked her hair. Sans had to look away, more irritated than ever—how stupid was it to be jealous of someone mothering her? Especially considering what she’d had for an actual mom…

“Anyway,” said Undyne. She glanced at Sans, saw his expression, and whacked him again to get his attention. “You know what your damn human did to me?” Frisk smirked as Undyne pantomimed writing huge letters across her own face. “GO FISH. Is that the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard, or what?”

Sans snickered. “What? She was probably just being supportive. You know, ‘go—”

Frisk and Toriel dissolved into laughter as the Captain smacked her forehead with one webbed hand. “Argh! That’s the same dumb thing she said!”

“It’s all right,” the human said, in what Sans gleefully recognized as her pre-pun voice. “I guess our humor is just that sofishticated.”

“NOOOOO,” moaned Papyrus, who had just come inside. “NOT YOU, TOO, NYEHH!”

“What’s wrong?” asked Sans, winking at Toriel as she covered her face with one hand. “Are you mad enough to krill someone?”

“SO HELP ME, YOU TWO, I WILL LEAVE THIS HOUSE AND NEVER—”

“But it’s so nice to sea you,” Frisk said, and Sans snorted so hard that he had to sit down before he fell over. Toriel was giggling uncontrollably, clutching her sides; Undyne just shook her head and retreated into the storage room behind the kitchen cabinet.

Papyrus looked mollified. “YES, I KNOW. BUT I—” He stopped, and they nearly died as they watched it hit him. “GRAAAAH! IF HER MAJESTY WAS NOT HERE, I’D—”

“It’s all right, Papyrus,” Toriel said behind her hand. “I know I can trust you to control your temper.” Papyrus nodded, and the goat monster added, “You’ve always been a pacifisht!”

Undyne poked her head into the kitchen, raising her voice over the din: “Pap! Get away from those nerds and come help me! We need to make room for your stuff when it gets here.”

The younger skeleton sighed dramatically, even for him. “NYEH-HEH! I SUPPOSE I MAY AS WELL. AT LEAST SOMEONE AROUND HERE WILL BE DOING SOMETHING USEFUL!”

“Thank you. You’re the least shellfish person we know,” squeaked Frisk, at which Papyrus made an incoherent sound and stormed off into the kitchen.

Sans was pounding the floor, the women nearly sobbing. “Children—children, please,” Toriel said weakly, wiping her eyes. “Really, it’s time to calm down now.” A long pause… “We can’t keep kraken up like this!”

“Oh my God, they’re gonna kill themselves,” Undyne grumbled from the storage room. They had closed the cabinet door, but it wasn’t soundproof enough. “Let’s move some of this stuff to the shed, and…hey, what’s this?” She picked up a heavy package lying in the back corner. “Huh. Looks like one of Frisk’s. Pap, go ask—”

“SANS! POSSIBLY FRISK!” Papyrus charged into the living room, hoisting the box over his head and nearly tripping over his brother. “IS THIS A FORGOTTEN PUZZLE?! MAY I OPEN IT TO KEEP IT COMPANY?”

“Oh!” Frisk gave a last snrk and accepted a clean handkerchief from Toriel to wipe her face. “Actually, Papyrus, that one is for Sans.”

“Wha?” The giant skeleton sat up and quirked a brow at her. “What’re you talkin’ about? I was with ya when we bought all this crap, and I don’t remember you gettin’ me anything.”

“That’s because you weren’t paying attention,” the priestess retorted.

…She had a point. There had been quite a few times when they were in a shop and he was so bored that she could’ve been plotting the death of all monsterkind without him noticing.

“SURPRISE PUZZLES ARE THE BEST KIND! OPEN IT ALREADY!” urged Papyrus, shoving the gift at his brother’s face.

“Yeah, boss,” Undyne said from the kitchen. “Don’t be so damn shy.”

“I’m not bein’ shy! I just…I wasn’t expectin’ it.” Scowling, Sans grabbed the package and dug his phalanges into the lid. One good rip would get this over w—

“Sans!” Frisk’s voice made him hunch his shoulders like a guilty kid. “If you tear it open like that and break something, I will end you! Do you understand?”

The others watched the colossal skeleton set the package down gently, unwrapping the paper and moving it aside as though it was made of glass. Toriel and Undyne exchanged disbelieving glances as Sans located the box’s tucked-in corners, eased them loose, and picked at the ribbons tying it shut.

But a moment later, as he removed the last layers of tissue paper, their amusement faded into gasps and murmurs. Inside the box lay a chessboard gleaming in white marble and flawless onyx, each of the pieces individually wrapped and set in neat rows.

Undyne chose one at random and peeled the paper away to reveal a knight astride a black pegasus, wings spread and hooves ready to strike. “Whoa!” She picked another, this one a rook carved in the shape of a ruined tower, complete with crumbling bricks and a few tiny bird’s nests in the windows. “Where’d you find this?! Are you gonna teach him how to play?”

“We did most nights back at the castle.” Frisk shrugged. “He beat me every time.”

“Incredible,” murmured Toriel. She took the knight and held it up to examine the sculpting of its plumelike tail. “Humans have such an amazing capacity for beauty. I never could understand…” The goat monster sighed, handing the piece back. “What do you think, Sans?”

Sans couldn’t answer. He’d calmed down a lot after all the fish puns, and he would have been fine just hanging out with everyone until the Royal Guard came by. He hadn’t known Frisk was going to give him anything, much less something beautiful and thoughtful and completely perfect—like her, dammit. How was he supposed to stop feeling all these feelings when she kept doing things?

The pause became more and more uncomfortable as he glowered at the chessboard, heat building around his SOUL until he wanted more than ever to just rip his clothes off right there. “PSST! BROTHER!” Papyrus nudged him. “YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SAY, ‘THANK YOU FOR THE MAGNIFICENT PUZZLE, NYEH-HEH! I SHOULD ASK THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO PLAY IT WITH ME, AND WEEP GENTLY WHEN I LOSE!’”

Sans fidgeted, and Frisk looked expectant. “This’s…ya know, ya didn’t hafta waste a bunch more money on somethin’ we—” His head snapped up, startling everyone. “Hey, there’s the Royal Guard! They probably need help, right? Let’s go help!”

“SANS,” Papyrus began, and huffed as his brother disappeared. “THAT’S NOT WHAT I TOLD HIM TO SAY AT ALL! HOW DID HE GET IT SO VERY WRONG?”

 ~

             Sans was not surprised by the others’ reactions when they joined him a few minutes later at the cart by the town Christmas tree. He could only imagine what they’d been saying, though the glare Undyne was giving him made her opinion pretty clear.

           “Good day,” Toriel said to the cat monster holding the supply list, ignoring Sans entirely. The cart had just come through Waterfall, the sacks and crates patterned with condensation that was already freezing into ice crystals. “I have a very selfish request,” the former Queen continued. “As you know, I was awake for the entire night, and I am extremely weary. I would like to bring my share home with me now, unless of course you need me to—”

           “You were up the whole night, Lady Toriel?” Frisk repeated, one hand on the side of the cart. She frowned, then rounded on Sans so fast that he flinched. “You want to be helpful, don’t you? Then you can take her and her things back to the Ruins!” An imperious gesture at the three guards. “The list, please,” she ordered in her High Priestess voice.

The cat-lady handed it over, bemused. The tiny human ran her finger down the page, nodded, and turned to the cart. “It should all in that crate, there, and that stack of—look where I’m pointing! Yes, that one, and those over there. No, don’t put it—”

           Sans obeyed her as fast as he could, setting the boxes neatly beside Toriel. Frisk checked them over again, then handed the list back to the feline guard. “That should be correct, but if you find any discrepancies, let me know. Has everything gone according to plan so far? No thefts or serious disputes?”

           “No, milady,��� the guard replied. “We should be finished by this evening at the latest.”

Frisk smiled. “Excellent work. Please keep it up.”

The Royal Guard all saluted. Toriel’s eyebrows were raised, and Sans wished she’d look at him so he could mouth Told you so. “Good job, guys,” said Undyne, not bothering to hide her grin. “It looks like you’ve got this under control, so Frisk and I are gonna go see Alphys now. You coming, Pap?”

           “HMM.” He glanced from her to his brother and crossed his arms, clearly torn. “SHOULDN’T I STAY AND HELP PUT OUR FOOD AWAY?”

           “Oh, but Sans wants to help so much, we shouldn’t take that from him.” Undyne looked daggers – spears? – at the giant skeleton. “He can come right back here and do it after he drops off Her Majesty. Right?”

           Dammit. “Right,” grunted Sans.

           Frisk was already starting to turn away. He cast around for an excuse to talk to her again, and said, “Hey.” She glanced at him as he rummaged in his inner pockets. “Ya want those invoices back?”

           The priestess frowned at him. He hated it when she did that, especially when he deserved it. “I suppose it could be useful when I talk to His Majesty.” She started to extend a hand, and her eyes widened. “That’s right,” she said to the guards. “Did you give him my note?”

           “Yes.” The dragon guard cleared his throat. “He said no.”

           “What R02 meant to say,” the cat monster, “is that King Asgore regrets he will not be available to speak with anyone today.”

           “But he does want to talk to Sans,” the rabbit said helpfully, “and Dr. Alphys.”

           “I see,” Frisk murmured. “Thank you.” As Undyne glared at R01, the human stepped back, pulling her cloak around her. “You’d better keep them to show His Majesty, then.”

           Sans shrugged, rolled the papers back up, and opened his coat wider to find exactly where they’d been. All he could think about was reaching over to tug down her choker where it was riding too high on her throat; he forgot what else was in his pockets till he noticed her staring at something inside his coat. His SOUL tingled in alarm: the King’s golden envelope was sticking up partway, with the letters FRISK D showing. “Sans? What is that?”

           “…Uh.” Fuck. It was too late to disappear again. He glanced around at everyone listening, and at Frisk, who was already unhappy because of him. Was this really the time to tell her what her father was planning, and that the humans all knew her name now? “It’s…I-I’ll show ya later, I promise. There’s a bunch of stuff we’ve gotta talk about.”

Her frown deepened. “Agreed.” Just like that, Frisk turned to smile at Papyrus. “Shall we?”

“CERTAINLY!” He gallantly held his arm out to her, neither of them noticing how Sans’ socket twitched.

Before the bigger skeleton could say something stupid, a touch on his radius made him spin around. “If you could take me home now, I would greatly appreciate it,” Toriel said quietly.

“Sure.” He gave Frisk one last glance. “Have fun, guys.”

Undyne made another face at him, and Papyrus waved. “GOODBYE, SANS! HAVE FUN! PLEASE BE USEFUL TO HER MAJESTY AND NOT RUN OFF AGAIN BECAUSE YOU ARE EMOTIONALLY INCOMPETENT!”

Sans twitched again, and Frisk smirked. “Have a good rest, Lady Toriel,” she said over her shoulder.

“Enjoy yourselves,” Toriel replied cheerfully. But the moment the trio was out of sight, the goat monster’s smile vanished. “Back to the Ruins, please,” she said coolly.

Sans had a headache already. “Yes’m,” he mumbled. At least all this inner turmoil meant he was generating plenty of magic: she laid a hand on his arm, he made a swiping gesture at the crates, and they were all standing in the entryway of Toriel’s house, easy as butterscotch-cinnamon pie.

“I wish I could do that,” the goat monster commented, not for the first time. “Can you bring those to the kitchen for me?” She strode ahead, briskly opening cabinets and moving things aside to make room. “Also, please tell me what the matter is.”

Sans grunted, twitching a finger to waft the crates over. “Do me a favor, Tori, and gimme a check. You can probably see it for yerself.”

Toriel obligingly turned and squinted at his SOUL. “Good heavens,” she said after a moment, and looked up at him. “Sans, what in the world…?”

           If it looked half as turbulent as it felt, then it was probably pretty scary. “I wasn’t kiddin’ the other night,” he muttered.

“I…didn’t think you were. Still…” She rubbed her eyes, swaying a little with sheer tiredness. “I did want to ask you something. I heard you telling the guards last night that you inspected the carts alongside someone you trusted. By any chance, was that…?”

Well, there was a convenient misunderstanding if he’d ever heard one. “Was that what? Someone I’m totally nuts about an’ hafta stay away from because she’s a human, and just friggin’ deal with it?” He rapped on his chest. “Does it look like I’m dealin’ with it?”

           “No, you are not.” Toriel crossed her arms at the waist. “Sans. I know this must be difficult for you, but—”

“Let’s play pretend for a minute,” he said conversationally. “Imagine I came up to you sometime real soon with a human an’ said, ‘Here ya go, meet the wife.’” Just saying the word made his SOUL ache further. “What would you do?”

           Her eyes narrowed to golden slits. “It would depend,” Toriel said with deceptive calmness, “whether you would prefer I be kind, or truthful. Do you want my blessing to try and find happiness for a few short years, and to be even more alone in the world once she d—”

           That did it. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Tori! Ya think I don’t know how screwed I am?” Sans snarled, and her mouth fell open. “I didn’t tell you about this so you could give me a kick in the goddamn teeth! I told ya ‘cause I wanted to talk with somebody who might have some idea what I’m goin’ through! If that’s too much to ask, just fuckin’ forget about it!”

           “I am sorry, Sans! I truly am!” There was a puff of smoke as Toriel threw her hands up. “If you could marry a human, I would be the first to congratulate you! But as things are…” Her face contorted. “What does my opinion even matter? You know that I have no power here, no matter how many people keep calling me ‘Majesty’! I can do nothing to help you!”

           “You could still be my goddamn friend! That’s all I wanted!” He kicked at nothing. “But no, yer so worried about botherin’ little ol’ Gorey that—”

           Whump.

           Sans stared at the scorch mark at his feet, a smoking, blackened ring on the tiles. Then he looked at Toriel, whose hand was still aimed at the floor, her chest heaving as though she’d run the entire length of the Underground. “Do not. Talk to me. About. Asgore,” she said through gritted fangs. “That wretched man has already cost me my entire family! Do you think I enjoy catering to his paranoia and living in fear that someone else I care for will be banished, or die? What do you think he would do if you were to wed a human? What would happen to you, and to her? If Asgore decided you were truly a threat—”

He could feel his eyes burning, and didn’t trust himself to say anything. Toriel gulped. “It is not safe for you to marry a human, Sans. It is not safe for any human down here! You’ve seen it for yourself! Frisk is the only one he will even tolerate, and he could still…” Another shake of her head, ears flapping against her cheeks. “You know Asgore. All he has to do is ignore her until she leaves. It would be so easy, wouldn’t it?” The goat-woman buried her face in her hands. “Those damned men would just shrug and say that she failed in her mission, and I would never see her again! I can’t lose anyone else, Sans! I can’t—”

           The skeleton’s anger subsided as he watched the former Queen’s shoulders rise and fall. He took a couple of steps toward her, sliding his hands into his pockets. “What happened with Chara?” he asked quietly. “Why wouldn’t he let her come back?”

           Toriel’s fingers curled, claws digging into her muzzle. “It wasn’t her fault,” she muttered, eyes hard and dry. “He said he didn’t blame her, but he still agreed to send her away. And when that bastard human would not marry her as he promised, Chara needed us—she needed her family! But Asgore said she was lying, and he sent her away again! I didn’t see my little girl for ten years, Sans! And then—”

           Sans stayed silent. Toriel let her arms fall, and slid down against the cabinet until she was slumped on the kitchen floor. “I got her back, and it was too late. She hated us both,” she said dully. “She died hating me, Sans. And she was right. I couldn’t protect her from Asgore, and when the accident happened, I could not protect her or Asriel. I was right there, and I could do nothing! All I did was send the humans away, and he even begrudged me that!” The goat monster gripped her robe, nearly puncturing the fabric. “Now my only friend comes to me for a sympathetic ear, and what do I do? I sneer at him for confiding in me and complain about my troubles!” She scrubbed her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m completely useless, as always.”

           “Don’t say that, Tori! Remember that one little thing where ya kept the humans from declarin’ war on us an’ sealing the whole damn Underground? Besides…” Sans shuddered as something else came to him. “For all we know, he woulda had Kris killed, too.” He crouched to her eye level. “You saved Frisk’s life, Tori. Are you sayin’ that wasn’t worth somethin’?”

She swallowed again. “I…I don’t—”

“An’ she grew up to be High Priestess, and she saved my life when I got caught. If it wasn’t for you, she’d be dead, and I’d be dead or worse.” He shook his head. “If she was dead, we wouldn’t be gettin’ any food deliveries, or monsters comin’ home, or random bubble parties—” Despite himself, he chuckled. “Or fish puns—”

           Toriel managed a smile. “That was fun, wasn’t it? Poor Papyrus.” She gave a long, deep sigh. “I may have saved her life, but as far as I am concerned, you are the reason she has come back to us. Thank you, Sans.” The goat monster got to her feet and wiped her eyes again on her sleeve. “I…I still don’t know what to tell you about your human. I haven’t even asked you her name, what she is like, how far your relationship has progressed—may I assume you intend to keep courting her?”

           “Uh…” Sans ducked his head, scuffing his slipper over the burned floor tiles. “Tell you the truth, she’s kinda the one courtin’ me.”

           “Sans!” the goat monster scolded him. “You’ve found a woman with enough magic, strength of mind, and good taste to fall in love with you, and you’re letting her do all the work?”

           The skeleton scratched his neck vertebrae. “…Yeah?”

           Toriel gave him one of her squinty, pursed-mouth glares, and he held up his hands. “I know, I know! It’s just…there’s all this stuff, but it’s her, an’ I never met a her before, an’ I—”

“All right, all right.” Toriel sighed again. “I still wish you would change your mind, but I understand that it’s not so simple.” She couldn’t conceal a yawn. “We can talk more when I’ve had some rest. I promise.” To his surprise, she took his hand and gave it a good squeeze. “In the meantime, go and help the Royal Guards, and then apologize to Frisk. That was the most lovely gift imaginable, and you behaved as though she’d handed you a steaming pile of—”

           “Yeah, yeah.” Sans lifted one shoulder. “Okay, Ma, I promise I’ll be good. Go get some sleep.”

           “Yes, dear. And, Sans—” She gave him a look he couldn’t interpret. “I hate to be intrusive, but…if everyone is gathered again this evening, could I please join you? If it’s all right with the others?”

           Sans made a rude noise. “Of course I’ll come ‘n get you. We’re almost halfway through her offishal visit.”

           Toriel laughed. “Well, water you still doing here? Go on!”

He chucked, raising a hand. “‘Kay. See ya, Toriel.”

           “Thank you, Sans.” She swatted at him playfully, letting him dodge out of the way. “Now, shoo!”

[nevtelenwriting]

Drabble: BAU Bar Shenanigans

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a thing and this is part of a longer fic I’m writing, but hey, words!

Yes I’m Criminal Minds trash now wHOOPS. I own nothiinng, I just like writing funsies.

Charas: All the BAU peeps, Pre-Season 3

Pairing: implied one-sided Hotch/Reid, but more Reid with unfortunate crushes on random people at any given time

Rating: M, for adults with teenage humor

Word Count: 1300~

Summary: The BAU started a really awful game of uh, “profiling” when they go drinking together, aka, Name the Kink. Shenanigans ensue

--

Emily pointed to a man lining up a shot of pool. He didn’t lean over the whole way, and when a team member walked behind him he abruptly straightened.

“Him?”

Morgan scoffed and looked away from the guy at the table.

“Easy. Panties.”

Garcia’s smile went so wide he thought it would break her face, “Oh really?”

JJ snorted part of her drink and Morgan howled as he patted her back.

“That’s my girl!”

“Which one?” Reid drawled.

Reid didn’t know when the game started. After Reid confided in Morgan about his difficulties after Tobias, he suddenly found himself being dragged out for more group nights, sometimes physically dragged when it came to Garcia. They tried to have a group outing once a quarter before this, for holidays and happy hours. Since Reid, and JJ’s, close encounter, the group drinking occurred now once a month, with himself, JJ, Garcia, Prentiss, and Morgan, and then even occasionally Hotch and Gideon.

The game started innocently enough; figure out quirks of the people around the bar. It was a clean, easy exercise to continue honing their profiling expertise. The routine of profiling yet another homicidal sadist became monotonous after a time, turning into the same cookie-cutter summary of what to expect with vague hints as to a specific person. Gideon could accurately guess stutters and tics, could predict sometimes where a person grew up, and they all aspired to reach that level. They also were all competitive bastards. So they turned to the strangers around them, seeking out quirks though they had no way of knowing it was true. It usually turned into a debate, and it was good enough to justify certain traits.

When this version of the game started, Reid couldn’t say. In all likelihood, it was a dangerous mix of Prentiss and Morgan’s sibling-esque rivalry, Garcia’s lascivious remarks, and Reid’s own admitted inability to back down from a dare.

So the game of find the quirk turned into a challenge between Reid and Morgan to find the kink.

“Okay okay,” Emily pointed to a red-head at the bar. “Her.”

She was wearing a form fitting dress, confident, but not revealing, so more conservative. A careful choice in a bar to appear attractive without being too much brash. An intelligent choice, Reid noted.

Morgan made a face, “Nah, she looks run of the mill. Blindfolds, at most.”

Reid clicked his tongue, “No no, look again.”

Morgan studied her, where she was flirting with someone almost her age, maybe younger. The guy flustered at a comment she made and the woman grinned.

“Dammit,” Morgan hissed.

“Yep.” Reid popped the last letter, “Blindfolds, but she’s the one doing the cuffing.”

“Reid, you absolute hound,” Garcia crooned, and Reid scrunched his brow.

“Human sexual behavior is just as nuanced and particular as the people we—”

Emily yawned long and loud, “Next.”

At that moment there was a laugh, nearly unrecognizable, and the whole team looked over. Hotch, who was still beside Gideon and Haley, had a huge grin on his face, creasing big lines across his cheeks. He was absolutely glowing from whatever they said. Tonight was one of the rare outings Hotch and Gideon actually came, but despite Hotch only being a few years older, he sequestered himself to the mature table with himself, Haley, and Gideon, quietly chatting away while the rest of the group devolved into fraternity level intoxication.

“Aw.” JJ pouted her lip out. “They’re cute.”

“That’s it, that’s the one,” Garcia pointed. “What about them?”

Morgan raised both hands up from the wall he was leaning again, “Noo no no, we’re not doing this, profilers don’t profile other—”

Emily lifted up a hand, “Then you forfeit. Reid?”

Reid made a show of curling his fingers over his chin with a contemplative hum. JJ, Garcia, and Emily all leaned forward while Morgan rolled his eyes up.

Then Reid looked over his shoulder to them and counted off, one by one, “Pegging, lingerie, spanking.”

Emily squeaked and slapped a hand over her mouth while JJ’s eyes went so wide Reid thought she’d had an aneurysm. Morgan and Garcia both looked like they broke a blood vessel holding back their laughter.

“You are not allowed to make jokes like that!” Emily wheezed.

Reid turned back around and arched a brow. “I don’t joke.”

“Oh my god.”

Garcia rolled her eyes, “Lingerie is barely kinky.”

Reid arched both brows. “Depends on who it’s on.”

There was a moment of silence where Reid got to bask in the widening eyes.

“Oh.” Garcia whooshed out the same moment JJ sounded like she was going to have an existential crisis.

“Oh my god.”

Emily spluttered, “Who is who?”

Reid scoffed, “I’m not the only profiler here.”

Morgan lost it then, hand over his mouth to hold back his howl of laughter. JJ’s eyes widened, “Oh god, it’s in my head.”

Garcia’s mouth curled up, “Does Gideon even have a freak side? Does Hotch?”

Morgan laughed, “You’re screwing with us!”

Reid would never tell. Instead he kept a raised brow on Morgan, and Morgan did not call the bluff.

“I’ll be damned.”

“Hotch is text-book confident male,” Emily blew a raspberry, “He has to. Right?”

Garcia’s brows rose, but she nodded, and stared off into the middle-distance with a borderline lecherous smile. “That man’s got a secret animal side.”

“I mean, probably?”

JJ groaned and covered her face.

“He’s probably the freakiest of us all.” Morgan piped in between wheezes for breath. It was cut off by Morgan’s eyes widened to a point above Reid’s head, and Garcia bit down on both lips.

Reid snorted, his brain not caught up to the shift in energy. “Hotch is definitely the worst of us all.”

“Worst of you all in what?” Hotch asked.

Morgan shot upright where he’d been leaning against the wall, at attention like a cadet and Emily almost tipped over her drink setting it down. Reid on the other hand, who had nerves made of jelly for jump-scares, screamed.

Their table was curved in the corner, most of their backs turned, except for Morgan, JJ—currently incapacitated—and Garcia who were facing out and supposed to be on look out. Traitors.

Reid craned his head up and looked at his boss with wide, wide eyes, and gave him a not-all-that-remorseful grin.

Hotch cocked a brow. “Do I want to know?”

“No,” Emily rushed out, “No you don’t sir.”

“Sir, please, they’re holding me hostage.” Morgan lamented.

Reid had no voice; mostly because Hotch was looming over him, arms crossed all authoritative and disapproving so Reid could feel the edge of his forearm brushing over his hair, and Hotch’s warm sepia eyes were sort of sparkling in the low light. It was an extremely unfair position.

Hotch blinked at the group of them, and turned on his heel. “I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing.”

Garcia gasped, “A Sergeant Shultz reference? I’m in love!”

Hotch almost, almost, stumbled walking away.

As soon as Hotch was out of earshot, Reid looked back at the group with eyes still like dinner plates, and bit down hard on his lip. The team broke into peals of laughter.

The rest of the night they spent absolutely no time focusing on the two senior agents, instead went back to the more innocent version of the game that ended up escalating to JJ, Garcia, and Morgan’s rendition of Mariah Carrey’s We Belong Together. They all needed to call cabs.

As they filed out of the bar, Gideon tapped Reid on the shoulder to stop him. “Hey, Reid?”

Reid, none the wiser in his inebriated state, looked to Gideon expectantly. “Yeah, what is it?”

“Just thought that eidetic memory of yours could use the reminder.” He smiled at Reid. “I can read lips.”

He patted him on his frozen shoulder, walking to his car on his own while Reid bit his lips on a squeak.

[meltsyoutodeath]

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

I actually did this

Enjoy... I think?

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"F@ck you, mom!" - a voice screamed, followed by a strong, shiny black flash of light, apparently concentrated around something. The void was completely blank, so not noticing something so attractive was almost impossible. They ran in it's direction, sure that would find a strong opponent to fight and raise their abilities as a strong, undefeatable anime-like fighter. Each fight was an opportunity of having their own anime plot!

They approached the light, that got slightly less strong as with each step. They stopped when they saw the source of the light. A... girl? What? What the heck is that? They couldn't understand if it was a human or a skeleton. They saw a portal closing behind her, with angry human noises coming from it. They ignored the fact that they've never seen her before, and shouted:

- YOU! FIGHT MEH! NOW!

She stared at them, confused. The weird light disappeared as she started laughing, becoming a weak, yellow light. Turns out the light came from a ring on her finger.

- You- you wanna- f-fight me?! - she almost srceamed while saying that, laughing more harder each past second. Ignoring this, they continued:

- Yeah! I will show you the power of a true hero!

-Hahahaha! Gosh, you're funny! You almost act like a shounen protagonist! You know that, right?

- JUST FIGHT ME ALREADY!

They yelled, summoning two fount/ain pens and creating shurikens with their ink. They throw three of them at her, who easily dodged the attack. The weapons lost strenght, hitting the ground and stantly becoming ink again.

- I expected nothing else of such an opponent. OUR BATTLE WILL BE LEGENDARY!!!

They created more 10 shurikens, holding 8 of them between his fingers, and quickly throwing the other 2 at the girl. She jumped, and once more the shurikens hit the ground and became ink. With her eyes closed, she said, poiting a finger at them: 

- Ok, so you really do want to fight me, uh? Very well, I will only dodge, if you are able to hit me, I will start taking this more seriously, k?

They nodded, mad at the fact that she wouldn’t take’em seriously.

- Hehe. This isn’t even a bit of my true power! I wil prove my worth to you, and in the end, the power of friendship shall prevail!!

They throw the remaining shurikens at her, who dodged again, with eyes closed. Even if they were getting irritated, they were really pumped, and determined to win.

They kept attacking, drawing more and more shurikens, kunais, anime-like swords, if you doubt he summoned a Kahehameha of pure ink. But it didn't matter, she would always keep dodging, until the moment she summoned a book. Yes, a book. And started reading, trying to make a reference to Kakashi in classic Naruto. Always saying their attacks were doing nothing, and he had to try harder or theh would never be taken seriuosly by anyone.

- Hehe. You underestimate me! I've been revising Naruto lately, and I'm becoming a genius!

They made a random hand sign, along with their best effort to make it look like a super cool thing, and it seemed to get them really excited. 

- Go on, buddy. Give me your best shot then. - She winked with the... human eye? What... is she again? Anyway. Suddenly, she felt something moving behind her. Unsummoning her book, the girl sighed, right before jumping high up, to see that their hand movements (at least the ones they were doing NOW) weren’t useless, he was actually controling the ink from all the previously failed attacks againt the enemy.

Suprised with the fact that they could think, the girl carefully dodged his attacks, that finally, in a ‘last effort’, almost wrapped around her leg. Quickly, she teleported out of there, appearing behind the skeleton (the one that really is a skeleton). 

-Hi. Are you with the idea of giving up already? This is getting kinda boring, ya know?

The ring on that thing’s finger stopped with the solid, normal moss green coloration it had the hole battle, becoming a pale, boring blue. Sadly, the skeleton couldn’t see colors, and even if they could, they wouldn’t notice something like a rings color.

They turned around, surprised by her sudden appearence behind them. By instinct, they summoned one of their fountain pens again, and slashed the enemy’s right side of the face. She laid the her bone hand over the new born scratch. The ring on her finger became fully blank, and suddenly it was a lively green. 

- Did... did I hurt you? OH MY GOD, I’M SORRY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO-

- Hey, that’s fine! I know healing magic, don’t worry.

The hand over the scratch started to glow in the same color of the ring. Suddenly, her skull was clear as new, no scratches, no injuries, nothing. 

- Hey, this last attack... I told ya to hit me so I would fight you seriously, right?

- Yes! And as I said, the power of friendship (and protagonism) always wins! With my friends by my side, I will achieve all my goals, and reach my dream!

- Okay then, congrats. But... - in the middle of the sentence, the opponent made a creepy, scary smile. Her ring turned reddish grey, and a kind of black, gross fluid started falling from her eyes and mouth, the right side of the head turned only bones too. Three red knives appeared between her left hand fingers, in an attempt to make it scarier . - DOES THAT MEANS YOU STILL WANNA PLAY, BUDDY? 

She did a strong, mean voice, that scared the skeleton a little, but their shounen protagonist personality wouldn’t let them show it. Pulling theirself togheter, they shouted:

-No, I am not fighting you again today! I could hurt you!

The girl’s head went back to normal, just like her face. The ring turned into a lively orange.

- Aw, worried with the enemy? You should be fighting me, not giving me free mercy. - she replied, attempting to make them mad.

- Only because I’m sparing you this time, doesn’t mean our battle is over! My name is Domino, and you better remember it, beacause that’s the name of the one who will defeat you!

She left a grin out, that made Domino kinda mad. Truth be said, she was also a real weeb, and wanted her own anime cool story. That was the chance of a lifetime, who would waste that? She never had a rule about being the hero, has she. Even if she’s the kind of person who makes justice in a Death Note like way. Joining the show, she smartly replied.

- But- you were way too strong... during your battle, I was finally able to notice, I can’t reach my full potentail all alone! I don’t want to be your enemy anymore... instead, could we be... friends? We have more chances against the forces of evil if we are working togheter, right?

Actually... she will never admit it, but she really, really did a good choice by playing along. Proud that they had finally turned an enemy into an ally, like in almost all animes, Domino proudly accepted the request, using the opportunity to make another speech about the power of friendship. 

Both talked for a while. They asked which kind of monster she was, so it was explained that she was the result of the love of a random Sans and a random Chara. And so she had the magic of both of them. After a good, long talk, the girl said she had to go, and got up from the ink chair she asked the new friend to make... poor soul, unaware that the ink still left stains...

The mid-mid oppened a portal, with a really unorganized room on the other side. With one foot already on the other side, Domino couldn’t help but intervein.

-Hey, before you go, I still don’t know your name, and that’s against all anime rules I know.

She turned around, staring at him. 

- Oh, yeah, that. Actually... I forgot my name.. 

-What... wait, HOW? Are one of these guys who had a really traumatizing experience and doesn’t remember anything? Or maybe you fell from somewhere, and- NO, NO, it’s probably the crack on your skull that-

-Nah. - she stopped them, before the situation got out of control. - You wish it was something like this. Actually, no one ever called my name, only mom, but one day she just started calling me “daughter”, or “little demon”, things like that. My friends don’t know my name neither.

- So, how do your friends call you?

- As I have no name, I just gave me one. They call me Knia.

- UUU... weird name. IS IT JAPANESE?

- Sorry bud, but no. Well, gtg now.

She fully entered the portal, and Domino was leaving when a head appeared from it.

- By the way, it was really KNIfe to meet yA.

Domino smiled, He said bye again, and then the portal closed. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OH GOSH I DID IT! 

I DID IT IN ONLY A DAY! YESH!

GEEZ! I’m so happy right now!

Domino belongs to - @lollzida

Knia bleongs to - me

(post about Knia without her name because yes)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BONUS

“It was a big day” - they tought, sitting on the voids ground. - But at least I made a friend! And had an amazing battle! 

Suddenly, they heard a weird sound, followed by a strong, shiny dark blue colored light.

- Hey, Domi?

They turned around, surprised by the unexpected visit.

- Did you come for another round?!

- Not really...- she replied, with a sad look on her eyes.

- Are you okay?

Silence made it’s presence in the room. Finally, Knia managed to speak.

- Can I stay the night? Mom and dad are fighting with some weird guys of the government...

- Of course! - he replied, without hesitating - we are friends after all, right?

- Thanks, Domi...

[chemicalcindercat]

Frisk freed the monsters from the underground, completing a true-pacifist run. She was living happily on the surface with her monster family. Everything was perfect. Until it wasn't. When Frisk gets hit by a car on her way over to Sans house, everything changes. Not only does Frisk forget herself, her friends, and all of her adventures in the Underground, but something else has changed. Frisk glitches the Multiverse.

Chapter Summary: Frisk did not expect to have this many “best friends”.

Chapters (8/?): 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Fandom: Undertale

Rating: T (For violence and hints of adult themes)

Relationships: Sans x Frisk, Underfell Sans x Frisk, Underswap Papyrus x Chara, Slight Underswap Sans x Frisk

Additional Tags: Amnesia, Lost memories, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, ...Have I mentioned there is Hurt/Comfort?, Hurt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Goat Mom is best mom (Undertale), King Fluffy-Buns - Freeform, Sad Asgore (Undertale), Female Frisk (Undertale), Aged up Frisk (Undertale), Like duh she’s an adult i’m not a pedo, gross, Verbal Frisk, Frisk has a voice in her head, Sans is a depressed bean, Papyrus is so innocent, Frisk glitched the multiverse, oh whoops, spoiler alert, more tags will be added as we progress

"Well, Ms. Dreemurr, it would appear you have a mild case of Amnesia." The doctor said, flipping the pages on his clipboard. "You hit your head pretty hard when that car slammed into you. You're lucky it isn't worse." He looked at the worried couple standing in the corner of the room. "Her memories should be back by the end of the week. We'll keep her here for tonight, but tomorrow she can go home. She doesn't have any broken ribs, or really anything wrong except for the memory loss, which is practically unheard of for an incident like this. But anyways," The doctor turned back to the confused girl laying in the hospital bed. "If you need anything, just hit the buzzer on the bed next to you." And with that he left the room.

As soon as the doctor was gone, the couple turned to look at the girl. They were strange, the girl could tell. She couldn't remember anything past 10 minutes ago, when she woke up, but something told her that goats weren't usually able to walk, talk, and be, well, normal people.

"Um...Frisk, are you feeling well?" The woman asked, worried. The girl thought for a moment. Was she feeling fine? She honestly didn't know. How could you know if you were feeling fine, when you didn't know what fine was? She didn't know if fine for her was everything being perfect, or terrible. So instead of answering the question, she answered with a question of her own.

"'Frisk'? Is...Is that my name?"

The woman looked like she was about to break down in tears, so the man took over. "Yes, dear, that's your name. Frisk. Do you really not remember anything?" Frisk shook her head. "Well, uh...I-"

"She's your 'mom', Toriel, who you live with; He's your 'dad', Asgore, who you don't. They're divorced, you're adopted, and I'm Flowey, your 'best friend'." Frisk jumped. She had forgotten about the flower on the desk next to her that could talk.

"N-now, Asriel, that's no way to-"

"My name is Flowey." The flower corrected. Okay, Frisk was confused, to say the least. What in Asgore's name were they talking about? Before she could ask, the door slammed open, a blue fish-woman entering, with a yellow lizard-woman following behind nervously.

"Frisk!" Yelled the fish-girl, running over to the hospital bed. "We heard what happened! Are you okay? How are you feeling? Did you break anything? Because that would be cool and yet suck all at the same time. Did you finish Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie? Are you-"

"U-undyne, M-maybe we shouldn't b-bombard her with s-so many questions at o-once? Her head p-probably hurts." The lizard girl interrupted. Undyne looked at her, before looking back at Frisk.

"Oh my Asgore, I'm sorry! Are you okay? Does your head hurt? Are you-"

"Undyne, Frisk has amnesia." Toriel announced. Both Undyne and Alphys turned to look at her.

"What??" They said in unison.

"Y-you mean… Y-you don't remember us? You d-don't know who we a-are?" Alphys asked, walking over to Frisk. The human girl simply shook her head.

"I...I don't remember anything. And no, I don't know who you are. Who are you?" She asked.

"We're your anime pals!" Undyne said, putting her arm around Alphys' shoulder and grinning. Alphys blushed.

"E-every T-Tuesday you come over t-to our house and w-watch anime with us." Alphys explained. "T-this week, the newest season of M-Mew Mew: Kissy C-Cutie is airing, a-and we were going t-to watch it together. You r-really don't remember?"

Frisk looked down at her hands sadly. "No...I don't...I'm sorry."

Toriel came over and hugged Frisk. "It's okay, my child. There is no need to apologize. Do not blame yourself, child; There is nothing you can do. The doctor said by the end of the week, you'll remember, and I'm sure he is right. All we have to do is wait."

Frisk wasn't sure how she felt about this woman she couldn't remember hugging her, but she decided she kind of liked it. Besides, the lady seemed to need it more than Frisk did. Before Frisk could say anything, the lady stepped back, and the door slammed open again. At this point, Frisk was surprised it hadn't fallen off it's hinges. This time, there were two skeletons who entered the room. One was really tall, as tall as Undyne and Asgore, with a red scarf. He was also carrying what appeared to be a plate of home cooked spaghetti. The other one had a blue hoodie, and was shorter, maybe even shorter than Frisk. Once she thought about it, Frisk realized she didn't know how tall she was; She hadn't stood up yet. Would she even remember how to walk? She started panicking, wondering how she would remember to do normal, everyday stuff.

Calm down, Said a voice in her head. Quit panicking about everything.

Before Frisk could respond, the tall skeleton came over and set the plate down on the desk beside her.

"HERE YOU GO, HUMAN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS MADE YOU SOME YUMMY SPAGHETTI!! FEEL FREE TO EAT IT WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE IT, FOR IT WILL SURELY BE THE BEST! NYEH HEH HEH!" He yelled, and Frisk winced a little, not expecting it. She smiled softly at him, not knowing who he was.

I sure did have a lot of friends. She thought.

Yeah, no kidding. Said the voice in her head.

...I just wish I could remember them…

The smaller skeleton pushed past the bigger one, with a nervous grin on his face. "how ya feelin', kiddo?" He asked, his voice surprisingly deep compared to the other skeleton.

"Um...well...I-"

"NONSENSE, BROTHER. WHY ASK HOW SHE IS FEELING WHEN SHE'S IN THE HOSPITAL?" The tall skeleton interrupted. Frisk couldn't believe it. Were they really brothers? They were so different! The skeleton turned towards her. "BUT DON'T WORRY, HUMAN. I'M SURE MY SPAGHETTI WILL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER IN NO TIME!"

"yeah, kid, eat up. boneappetite." The shorter one said. The bigger one groaned.

"UGH, SANS, DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE PUNS RIGHT NOW? YOU MIGHT GIVE THE HUMAN A HEADACHE!"

"nah, look at her, paps. she likes it, you should know that by now, ya numbskull." Oh, so I like puns? That's good to know. Even as Frisk thought this, she could immediately tell it was true. When Sans (was that his name?) made a pun, she had struggled not to laugh.

"BROTHER!!" The taller skeleton protested. "WHETHER SHE LIKES IT OR NOT, A HOSPITAL IS HARDLY THE PLACE TO MAKE PUNS!" He yelled.

"geez, paps, who broke your funny bone?" The shorter one asked, winking at Frisk and stepping closer to her. Something inside of her pulled, and she could tell that he was really close to her. "so anyways, bucko, how're you feeling?" He asked softer, so that only she would hear.

"Well, I just-"

"Heya Papyrus, how're you doing?" Asked Undyne, throwing her arm around the taller skeleton's shoulder. "I know the situation isn't the best, with Frisk and all, but are you still up for some training today?"

"YOU BET, UNDYNE!" Papyrus said loudly. "AS LONG AS THE HUMAN IS ALRIGHT, THAT IS! THE GREAT PAPYRUS MUST BE THE BEST FRIEND EVER, AND A GOOD FRIEND WOULD TAKE CARE OF HER!"

"You're right, Papyrus, but I'm her best friend! Remember?" Undyne argued.

"SUUUUUURE, YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT IF YOU WANT, BUT IT'S WRONG!"

"Guys, I-" Frisk was interrupted by Flowey, suddenly defensive.

"Whatever, you idiots can pretend that she likes you better, but I'm obviously her BeSt FrIeNd!" Flowey claimed, in a demonic voice that sent a shiver down Frisk's spine. Suddenly everyone started talking all at once, Undyne and Papyrus still arguing over Frisk, Flowey hissing at everyone, Alphys nervously asking Asgore how he's been, Toriel joining in the conversation. All of the noise, and all of the new information was really giving Frisk a migraine. She sank deeper under her blanket, trying to block everything out.

Someone grabbed Frisk's hand, and she immediately jumped and yanked her hand back, to see Sans with a look of confusion and hurt. It quickly faded back into his normal smile.

"so, kid, what is it you've been trying to say this whole time?" He asked. Frisk gulped nervously as he leaned closer to her, and she leaned away from him a bit. Doesn't this guy know anything about personal space??

"I...Well, uh...Who are you, exactly?" Frisk asked.

Everyone immediately stopped talking and turned to Frisk.

The pupils in Sans' eyes disappeared, leaving two empty eye sockets, a look of pure shock. For a couple of moments, nobody dared to say anything.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HUMAN?" Papyrus asked, being the first to break the silence. "'WHO ARE WE?' IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND MY BROTHER SANS, YOUR-"

"frisk, what did the doctor say? what…wh...you...you really don't remember me? remember us? anything?" Sans asked, his pupils returning and studying Frisk closely.

All Frisk could do was shake her head.

"I… I have amnesia."

Before anyone could say anything, Sans was gone.

[yastaghr]

True Line 8.1: Family

Summary: Introductions are in order when Cork finally shows up.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6658756/chapters/64752601

Cork paced back and forth across the snow-sprinkled front porch of the Dreemurr. He was not nervous. Hah. Of course he was nervous! He was going to talk to his new boss, his new boss’ girlfriend, the King, the Queen, and the Prince of Monsters, his sibling’s honorary Dunkle, the first monster friend he had ever made, and his sibling the freaking Ambassador of Monsterkind! He was probably forgetting someone or just plain didn’t know about them. It wouldn’t be the first time. Hopefully this time would go better than the last. He still felt sorry for the poor Temmie who was allergic to him. Poor monster.

The other reason, besides his nerves, that Cork was pacing back and forth on the front porch in his fatigues and boots was that he was waiting for the alarm on his phone to go off. The alarm was one he trusted more than anything else. It told him when it was socially acceptable to knock on people’s doors. He, much like his first monster friend, Papyrus, thought that sleep was a horrible thing that only happened to other people.

As it turned out Cork didn’t need to knock, because someone opened the door. It was a kid he recognized from pictures as Prinx Chara. Wasn’t they supposed to be dead? Then again, so was Asriel, so maybe he shouldn’t judge.

The Prinx blinked at him a few times, then let one of the craziest grins he’d ever seen cross their face. They turned back to the house and shouted, “Hey, Frisk! Silver! Your brother’s here!”

“Silver?” Cork said, “Who’s that? Also, how do you know who I am? And aren’t you dead?”

Chara turned back to face him and smiled even wider. Their smile split in a laugh that sounded so cynical for a child. He definitely needed to reread his history book. “Wow, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Mom’s in the kitchen. I’ve got to run down to Gerson’s to get Silver some crab apples. Don’t touch my knife and we’ll be fine.”

With that frightening comment the child skipped down the front path towards the main road. Cork tried to process their speech for a moment, reached the crab apples, and hollered after them, “Pick up an order of the apples for me, too!”

=====

Cork pulled his beanbag out of storage and carried it into the downstairs living room. Then he sat on it. It was still way too big for him. Toriel had bought way too much of the camo fabric for him and insisted on using it all. Then he stared at the child across from him. She was… small. Fragile. Distinctive. Just like Frisk, it looked like this sister was going to be easy to pick out of a crowd, provided the crowd was short enough. Next to them, Frisk and Asriel were sitting and holding hands. He wasn’t ready to process that yet. He was still working on Silver.

“So… my parents didn’t stop being the literal definition of people who shouldn’t have kids, got involved in a cult, and never told you your name so you had to pick your own?” Cork tried to summarize.

“Spatula,” Silver said tonelessly.

“What?”

“They named me Spatula. Everyone said I could pick a new name, so I did. I can show you the story I picked it from if you want? Mom had me write it down when she taught me to write,” Silver said, still toneless. He knew better than to hold that against them. Emotions were hard.

“Well, Silver’s definitely better than Spatula!  Was that all they did to you?” Cork asked without thinking his question through. Frisk and the Prince’s gasps warned him, but it was too late.

Silver described in detail what “the Keepers” had done to her. He felt himself getting more and more mad. Eventually he couldn’t handle it anymore. He reached into his inventory and pulled something out. It was a sheet of corkboard. Silver watched in fascinated silence as he tore it into tiny little shreds. Then he looked back up at her and smiled sadly. “Sorry. I was pi- mad at them for doing that to you. I needed to get it out of my system. Dunkle Sans suggested I use corkboard, once. I think the suggestion was a joke, but this actually works really well.”

Silver’s eyes went funny for a second, like a pair of black sockets were being overlaid on them. Before he could so much as wonder Silver smiled and said, “Consolas says you look healthier. Oh. He says I shouldn’t have said that. Now he’s doing the hand face thing. Now he’s saying to just say hi.”

Cork blinked. “Um… I think I need some more explanations now.”

Azzy took his turn at this. “You know how Frisk can manipulate time and you can manipulate space? Well, it seems that she can manipulate souls. Not as in control them, but as in absorb them and temporarily stop them from breaking. Or. Um, not so temporarily. She has five guest souls in with her. Consolas is a skeleton who worked with the Feds. Usik is a Knight Knight teenager with an authority problem, Nessa and Nyssa are twin cousins of Undyne, and the baby is a ghost that can only manage words sometimes. We’re not testing out the rest of her powers yet because they’re all mixed up in monster magic.”

Cork frowned slightly. “Consolas… wasn’t he that Agent who lost their partner in a mage kid blowup and went rogue?”

“Rogue is stretching it. Stupidly suicidal, yes. Rogue, no,” A different voice said, coming out of Cork’s sister. He jerked and stared into those black eye sockets again. One winked. “We met at that stupid trust building excercise in Fiji, didn’t we? That hike made me hurt worse than dying.”

Cork groaned, “I know, right? Who the he-ck came up with that one? And, uh… dying?”

“The Smiley Man who ran the compound beat me to a pulp. Silver pulled me inside her to keep me safe. He took my body to a different part of the compound and killed me. She thought I was being healed, poor kid,” Consolas explained.

“Shit, shit- sheesh, I need to stop swearing. Please don’t remember that word!” Cork pleaded.

“It is not the worst of words that Silver knows, Diplomat,” A new voice said behind him. He turned. There were three more kids he didn’t recognize standing behind him. One was wearing a blue trench coat that was way too big for them. Another had Native American features - Cherokee, maybe - and a cowboy hat. The last kid had glasses on that magnified their eyes so much that they looked like black orbs.

“O… kay. I take it this is more of the catching up I need to do?” Cork asked.

=====

Cork was laying on the floor of his new apartment surrounded by those little erasable whiteboards. He was scribbling on another one. Each board had the notes on one new person he had met. He’d take pictures of them on his phone later. It was the only system that actually worked for him.

“Okay, so Minori is Japanese-African American and escaped from a Japanese internment camp in the US during WWII. They/them pronouns. They promised Toriel snails and died trying to get them. 6th human to fall into the Underground,” He said to himself as he wrote.

He sat back and scratched his head, staring at the many boards in front of him. “Okay, I’ve got a lot of studying up to do.”

[sleepyfan-blog]

Vows

Fandom: UTMV

characters: Dream sans, Ink Sans, Swap Sans, Underfell Sans, Nightmare sans

pairing: dreammare

word count: 2,185

warnings: unhealthy relationship, forced marriage, cursing

Summary: a ficlet based off of this wonderful picture by @littlepigart

Dream smiles happily up at his other half - as Nightmare was currently sitting up in one of the lower branches of their home. A crown of yellow flowers that he has weaved himself rests crookedly on his head as he didn't want it getting tangled with his circlet "Moonbeam, would you please come down for a minute?" He is holding behind his back a crown of bright purple flowers that remind him of the other, and he wants to give it to Night.

Sure thing, Sunlight." Nightmare murmurs, marking the page of the book he was reading and swinging himself down onto the grassy ground, walking over to him "Did you need something?"

Dream shook his head and responded "Nope! I wanted to give you something, Night!" He holds out the carefully made flower crown for the other to take.

"Aww... Thanks... You know, the mortals give each other gifts like this when they're courting one another... You know that you don't have to do stuff like that... We're always going to be together." The young guardian of negativity pointed out logically.

"I... I know. But I want to marry you when I grow up!" The young positive spirit responded. They had only existed for a brief period, and he loved Nightmare deeply and truly. Dream was also sure that no matter what happened, he would always love Nightmare.

Nightmare went a bright shade of purple and hid his face in his hands after a couple of moments "I... I love you too,  Dream. Once we're of age by Mortal standards, we'll get married alright?"

Dream beamed happily and nodded in response to that, purring contentedly as he hugged his other half. Nightmare hugged him back, smiling warmly and had begun to pet the top of his skull "We'll get married one day, Dream. That's a promise. And I try to keep my promises, especially to you. Do you want to have a big party, like some of the wealthier mortals, have?"

Dream shakes his head "No... I'd rather it be small... Filled only with people who we care about, and who cares for both of us... Maybe at the base of the tree? Wed exchange promises, wearing flower crowns that we've made each other... Maybe even getting rings- or carving or making each other! Maybe in the springtime, when the flowers are blooming and the meadow is really pretty?"

"Oh, that would be nice... Maybe at dusk, or at night, when the stars are out, and the moon is glowing softly?" Nightmare suggested with a small grin, seemingly wanting up further to the idea.

"Yeah! That sounds really nice!" Dream purred, content to cuddle in close with Nightmare. The villagers were celebrating some sort of holiday involving loved ones and family, so Dream had decided to spend the day with Nightlight. Although some of the villagers had seemed kind of disappointed to hear him say that for some reason.

Dream shook himself mentally as he snapped out of that memory - it was one of the memories he had held tight to his soul and treasured, even as any good time with Nightmare had become better sweet at best, as he had woken from a stasis spell and found himself a thousand years in the future, with his other half ruling a large swathe of the multiverse, and their home timeline a decayed, miserable and lifeless wreck. He had spent decades on the run, finding allies and losing some of them just as quickly, fleeing from the dust-hungry tyrant that chased after him, fighting the other only when he absolutely had to, as the power imbalance on raw power alone was laughably terrifying.  Those innocent promise and innocuous plans... He had never expected them to be fulfilled - especially in such a ghoulish caricature.

Nightmare's generals and top people filled most of the neatly arranged rows - but he and his dearest friend sand allies had been captured weeks ago. Nightmare had offered him a choice-

Which had been no true choice at all. Watch as his friends get killed one by one, or marry Nightmare, promising to never again knowingly or willingly work against him ever again, in exchange for the freedom of his friends.  But several of Dream's allies were here - recently captured, but Nightmare had promised that they would be set free and escorted out of Nightmare's territory as soon as the ceremony - and the afterparty - was over... And the worst thing about it was that Dream probably wouldn't have had to be coerced like this, anyways. If Nightmare had just asked to marry him, he might have said yes, as he loves the other even in this awful moment. 

His wedding outfit all black. He was wearing a black button down shirt with a matching colored bow tied around the collar, black slacks and a pair of black socks and black formal shoes. Even the veil he was wearing - thin and see-through as it was, was black. The only bit of color on him was his golden circlet, which rested where it usually did on his head. His eye lights were dimly lit circles, and his expression was a neutrally-resigned expression. Dream could see his captured friends standing on one side, their arms tied behind their back - were they... Were they part of the wedding party? Nightmare's lieutenants were lined up on the opposing side, and everyone looked sharply dressed in all black - hints of gold in his friend's outfits. 

He shut off his eye lights briefly as he heard the wedding march begin to play, and he walked down the carpeted strip of flooring, noting with a silent sigh that there were magical cameras filming this. So this was being broadcasted across Nightmare's domain, was it? Fantastic. Not only were there dozens of Nightmare's minions watching this spectacle go down, thousands if not millions more were seeing this live. He takes careful, measured steps down so as to not trip over his own feet, not wanting to make a fool of himself in front of so many enemies. He takes his place next to and slightly behind Nightmare, looking at the Angelfell Sans who has been conscripted to officiate the wedding.

Dream can't really focus on the words that the other is saying - not when Nightmare is so close and he can feel one of the other's tendrils messing with his veil, acutely aware of what is shortly to come and  doing his best to remember his vows, repeating them over and over in his mind.

The ceremony felt like it took forever and also as if it was over in a blink of an eye light as the Angelfell Sans stated "If there is anyone here who has any reason to state why these two shouldn't get married, speak now, or forever hold your peace."

the silence in the room was deafening, and Dream wondered if someone would be foolish enough to speak. From the expressions he could see on Blue's and Ink's faces, they had some choice words. He shook his head minutely at them - catching and keeping eye contact with an openly infuriated Red and Nebula - who looked like he was about to pass out or vomit.

The Angelfell Sans spoke up "You may now speak your vows, and give each other the floral crowns and rings to signify your commitment to one another."

Dream blinked for a moment of confusion, turning as a Havenfell Frisk and a Horrorswap Chara had come up behind them, one holding a pillow with two... Two flower crowns. One made of golden flowers, the other violet that reminded him so much of the flowers he had once given to Nightmare, so long ago- and he recognized the wood that those rings were made from. The sight of both things nearly sent him to his knees, sobbing. 

Nightmare's smirk was broad as he grabbed the violet flowers with surprisingly gentle hands, gesturing for Dream to kneel, which he did so, trembling only a little as he did so "The flower crowns are a tradition of our home timeline, which I know you are aware, but no one else is. I made this crown while thinking of you, my dearly beloved. Long have I yearned for the two of us to become one in this way, and I love you dearly. I give you this crown to symbolize my care for you, and the promise that my love and faithfulness towards you will be as unbroken as an endless circle." Nightmare pauses for dramatic effect as he takes the wooden ring - carved with runes that Dream can only begin to guess their nature of "For a more... Widely accepted vow and symbol: I promise to LOVE and protect you, for better and for worse, as long as we both shall live." He slides the ring on Dream's left finger, as is a tradition for a surprising number of AUs, and helps him up to his feet. Every word of it sounding like cruel mockery in Dream's metaphorical ears. 

Tears shine in his eye sockets as he grabs the golden flowers, the shaking in his hands getting worse. As he had expected, Nightmare does not kneel, forcing Dream to go up on his tiptoes, his arms extending upwards - as Nightmare is over a foot taller than he is and he speaks, praying that his voice doesn't sound as terrified and miserable as it sounds to himself "With this crown... I offer to you my love and fidelity. I will stay by... Your side. Long have I yearned for the two of us to be as one, and I... I love you with all my... With all my heart." Tears threaten to spill down his cheeks, but the lights are bright, everyone is watching and he can feel the cameras glare down at him. He can't slip now - he doesn't know what Nightmare will do if he does. He allows himself a couple of seconds as he grabs the ring, fingers trembling worse now. "I promise to love, honor and obey you, in sickness and in health. I swear to protect and care for you and those whom you care for... For as long... As long as both of us will live."

Both he and Nightmare say at the same time, and Dream feels the magic bind him to his word, the ring tightening a little on his finger "So mote it be, from this moment to the end of the multiverse." he feels his magic and Nightmare's flare for a moment.

There is a pause and the Angelfell Sans states "You may now kiss your spouse."

Nightmare does not hesitate to scoop him up with a tendril around the waist, bringing hip up and closer still, so that the two of them can kiss. Dream distantly hears a whimper. He's not sure if he is the one who's whimpering, or if one of his friends is. There is a lot of clapping and shouted congratulations to Nightmare. Dream feels dizzy and unsure as he is whisked off to the afterparty, held firmly in Nightmare's tentacles. They go through the traditional dances together before he is introduced to every unfamiliar face who had been invited by Nightmare to the wedding. Name sand faces blended together in his mind, and the small, fake smile on his face that he uses, and the false-cheer in his voice breaking his own soul piece by piece. His friends have been corralled in a corner by Nightmare's lieutenants, and the party goes very well.

Once all but the wedding party have left, hours upon hours later, Dream sort of collapses into Nightmare, and murmurs quietly "You... You promised. Please? Please... Nightmare please!"

"What? What did that fucker promise in return for this farce?!" Blue hisses, struggling a little in his restraints. 

"Dream and I have promised each other that we would wed centuries ago. Long before your timeline was barely a thought in a creator's wild fever dreams." Nightmare snapped, glaring a little at Red "But as agreed, once the wedding was over, I would send your friends home." With a wave of his hand,  Ink, Blue, Red, Outer, and Comic are unbound and fall through separate portals into different timelines. Surprise, horror, and shock are on their faces as they tumble and fall out of sight. "Now, I can tell that you are tired from the day's events... As am I - let us be off and rest together in our marriage bed." Nightmare purred, his tendrils wrapping more firmly around Dream as he teleported off to the castle - using a portal as he had not used the timeline his main base was in for them to wed.

A wave of exhaustion crashes through Dream and he nods, the low positivity of this new timeline not helping anything whatsoever "As... As you wish... Husband..." A single tear runs down his face as his eye lights fade out as Dream slips from consciousness. he has no idea what his future will hold, and he is terrified at the prospect of what is to come.

[ask-thegoatbro]

✋☠💧✋👎☜ ❄☟☜ ✞⚐✋👎Part 1.

The last moment he felt was Chara's knife slicing deep into his neck, pain-filled the last few minutes of his life. Not like it was anything new for him. He has died several times to the point he is used to the stabbing of Chara's knife. Although this time was strange as he seemed to notice that he was still conscious after his death and he was falling. It was dark as there was nothing he could see but the pitch blackness of the Void. His eyes were open and yet it was like they were closed. He had no idea where he was, no idea what happened after he died this time. He was killed, wasn't he? No, he swears he felt his life's flame fading away as his throat was cut open. Then, the feeling of him falling in the bottomless void was put to her stop as his back was laying down on nothing although it was like he was laying on the floor.

Asriel slowly got up. . . at least it felt like he was getting up. He was up as he looks around for anything different than the pitch black. Then again for some reason, this darkness seems to be darker. That doesn't make sense to the Boss Monster. It was already so dark how could anything make it darker? It was impossible no matter how many events were impossible at first that was made possible! The dark void cannot become any more Darker!

✌☠👎 ✡☜❄ ✋❄ ☟✌💧 👌☜👍✌💣☜ 👎✌☼😐☜☼ (AND YET IT HAS BECAME DARKER)

Those grey eyes widen slightly as he heard a noise in his head and the appearance of a line of symbols in front of his eyes. He couldn't understand what was said... But he also could. How? Why?  No one could be in this place. No one could possibly be around here. He was dead, this has to be a strange occurrence due to the timeline right?

☟⚐🕈 💧❄☼✌☠☝☜ ✋❄ ✋💧 ❄⚐ ☟✌✞☜ 💧⚐💣☜ ⚐❄☟☜☼ 👍☼☜✌❄🕆☼☜ ✋☠ ❄☟☜ ✞⚐✋👎 (HOW STRANGE IT IS TO HAVE SOME OTHER CREATURE IN THE VOID)

Asriel's eyes widen even more as his presence was being acknowledged. How else could be here?! Who could see him in this everlasting dark? His mind trying to figure out the possibility and the only one did. Chara. But, that cannot be Chara from those symbols appearing before his eyes. But, then who could it be.

☝☜❄❄✋☠☝ ✌ 👍☹⚐💧☜☼ ☹⚐⚐😐 ✌❄ ✡⚐🕆 (GETTING A CLOSER LOOK AT YOU)

✋ 👌☜☹✋☜✞☜ ✋ 😐☠⚐🕈 🕈☟⚐ ✡⚐🕆 ✌☼☜ (I BELIEVE I KNOW WHO YOU ARE)

The Boss Monster felt a shiver to his body as if someone really was staring at him, intensely as if knowing the feeling of those that he had given such a strong look to when he *checks them. With a sudden reaction, he opens up his paw that created a small flame. Although he could see the flame anything else surrounding it wasn't made visible save for the creator of the flame.

“Golly...! Who are you, what are you, where am I!?”

☝⚐☹☹✡✍   (GOLLY?)

✋❄ ✌☹☹ ✌👎👎💧 🕆🏱 ☠⚐🕈 (IT ALL ADDS UP NOW) 

❄☟☜ ☞☹✌💣☜ ✌☠👎 ❄☟✌❄ 💧❄☼✌☠☝☜ 🕈⚐☼👎 👍☟⚐✋👍☜ ⚐☞ ✡⚐🕆☼💧 (THE FLAME AND THAT STRANGE WORD CHOICE OF YOURS)

✡⚐🕆 ✌☼☜ ❄☟☜ 😐✋☠☝🕯💧 💧⚐☠ (YOU ARE THE KING'S SON) 

✡⚐🕆 ✌☼☜ ✌💧☼✋☜☹ 👎☼☜☜💣🕆☼☼ (YOU ARE ASRIEL DREEMURR )

✌☼☜ ✡⚐🕆 ☠⚐❄✍ (ARE YOU NOT?)

This being in the dark. He knows his father? How? No, that can't be. He knows everyone he possibly could. There was no one mentioning some being that lies in the dark that would know his father.

“I am Asriel Dreemurr. Do you know my father?”

✡⚐🕆 👍⚐🕆☹👎 💧✌✡ ✋ 🕈⚐☼😐☜👎 ☞⚐☼ ✡⚐🕆☼ ☞✌❄☟☜☼📪 ✌💧☼✋☜☹ (YOU COULD SAY I WORKED FOR YOUR FATHER, ASRIEL )

⚐☼ 🏱☜☼☟✌🏱💧 ☟☜ 💣✌✡ ❄☟✋☠😐 ☠⚐❄ ☠⚐🕈 (OR PERHAPS HE MAY THINK NOT NOW)

✋ 🕈✌💧 ❄☟☜☼☜ 🕈✋❄☟ ☟✋💣 ✌☠👎 ☠⚐🕈 ✋ 🕈✌💧☠🕯❄ (I WAS THERE WITH HIM AND NOW I WASN'T)

This wasn’t making much sense to the Boss monster. This thing is saying he worked for his Father. No, Asriel believes he would have known that answer. He kept silent as if trying to process this information that just wasn't there. As well as he was putting it. He worked for Asgore and then he's saying he may not think now?  That he was there and now it wasn't? What are those suppose to me? Although the boss monster's silence was a hint for the creature Asriel cannot see.

✋🕯☹☹ ❄✌😐☜ ✋❄ ❄☟✌❄ ✡⚐🕆 👎⚐ ☠⚐❄ 👌☜☹✋☜✞☜ 💣☜ (I'LL TAKE IT THAT YOU DO NOT BELIEVE ME)

✋🕯💣 💧🕆☼☜ ☜✞☜☼✡⚐☠☜ 🕈⚐🕆☹👎☠🕯❄ (I'M SURE EVERYONE WOULDN'T)

☜💧🏱☜👍✋✌☹☹✡ ❄⚐🕈✌☼👎💧 💧⚐💣☜⚐☠☜ 🕈☟⚐ ❄☟✋☠😐💧 ❄☟☜✡ ☟✌✞☜ ☹☜✌☼☠☜👎 ✌☹☹ ❄☟☜☼☜ ✋💧 ✋☠ ❄☟☜ 🕈⚐☼☹👎 (ESPECIALLY TOWARDS SOMEONE WHO THINKS THEY HAVE LEARNED ALL THERE IS IN THE WORLD)

“Gosh! What do you mean by that?”

☝⚐💧☟✍ (GOSH?)

☟⚐🕈 ✋☠❄☜☼☜💧❄✋☠☝ (HOW INTERESTING)

✡⚐🕆 ✌☼☜ ❄☼🕆☹✡ ✌💧☝⚐☼☜🕯💧 💧⚐☠ (YOU ARE TRULY ASGORE'S SON)

☠⚐🕈 ✋ ☼☜👍✌☹☹ (NOW I RECALL)

✡⚐🕆 👎⚐ ☟✌✞☜ 💣✌☠✡ ⚐☞ ☟✋💧 ❄☼✌✋❄💧 ✋☠👍☹🕆👎✋☠☝ ✌ 🏱✌☼❄✋👍🕆☹✌☼ ⚐☠☜ (YOU DO HAVE MANY OF HIS TRAITS INCLUDING A PARTICULAR ONE)

👎⚐ ☠⚐❄ 🏱☹✌✡ 👎🕆💣👌 🕈✋❄☟ 💣☜ ✌💧☼✋☜☹ (DO NOT PLAY DUMB WITH ME ASRIEL)

⚐☼ 💧☟⚐🕆☹👎 ✋ 👍✌☹☹ ✡⚐🕆 ☞☹⚐🕈☜✡✍ (OR SHOULD I CALL YOU FLOWEY?)

Asriel's body froze as he heard this creature calling him by that. How much does he know?! He spoke with a sight tone of nervousness.

“...Call me Asriel.”

✞☜☼✡ 🕈☜☹☹ (VERY WELL)

✡⚐🕆 💧☜☜ ✌💧☼✋☜☹ ✋ ☼☜💣☜💣👌☜☼ 🕈☟☜☠ ✋ 🕈✌💧 ✡⚐🕆☠☝ (YOU SEE ASRIEL I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS YOUNG)

✋ ❄☟⚐🕆☝☟❄ ✋ ☟✌✞☜ ☹☜✌☼☠☜👎 ☜✞☜☼✡❄☟✋☠☝ ❄☟✌❄ ❄☟☜ 🕈⚐☼☹👎 ☟✌👎 ❄⚐ ⚐☞☞☜☼ (I THOUGHT I HAVE LEARNED EVERYTHING THAT THE WORLD HAD TO OFFER)

❄☟☜☠ ✋ 🕈✌💧 🕈☼⚐☠☝ (THEN I WAS WRONG)

💧⚐ 🕈☼⚐☠☝ (SO WRONG)

❄☟☜☼☜ ✋💧 ✌☹🕈✌✡💧 💣⚐☼☜ ❄⚐ ☹☜✌☼☠ (THERE IS ALWAYS MORE TO LEARN )

✋ ☟✌👎 ❄⚐ 💧☜☜😐 ✋❄ (I HAD TO SEEK IT)

✋❄ ☹☜✌👎 💣☜ ❄⚐ 👎⚐ ☝☼☜✌❄ ❄☟✋☠☝💧 (IT LEAD ME TO DO GREAT THINGS)

☜✞☜☼✡⚐☠☜ 🕈✌💧 ✌💣✌☪☜👎  ⚐☠ 🕈☟✌❄ ✋🕯✞☜  👎⚐☠☜ ❄☟✌❄ ☜✞☜☼✡⚐☠☜ 😐☠☜🕈 (EVERYONE WAS  AMAZED  ON WHAT I'VE DONE THAT EVERYONE KNEW)

🕆☠❄✋☹ ❄☟☜✡ 👎✋👎 ☠⚐❄ (UNTIL THEY DID NOT)

☠⚐🕈 ❄☟☜☠ (NOW THEN)

✡⚐🕆 👌☜☹✋☜✞☜ ✡⚐🕆 😐☠⚐🕈 ☜✞☜☼✡❄☟✋☠☝ ✌💧☼✋☜☹ (YOU BELIEVE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ASRIEL)

☹☜❄ 💣☜ ✌💧😐 ✡⚐🕆 ✌ ✈🕆☜💧❄✋⚐☠ (LET ME ASK YOU A QUESTION)

🕈☟⚐ ✋💧 ❄☟☜ ☼⚐✡✌☹ 💧👍✋☜☠❄✋💧❄ ❄☟✌❄ 🕈⚐☼😐☜👎 ☞⚐☼ ✡⚐🕆☼ ☞✌❄☟☜☼✍ (WHO IS THE ROYAL SCIENTIST THAT WORKED FOR YOUR FATHER?)

He thought about how ridiculous this question was. How could he out of all people not know the answer? It was such an easy question.

“Alphys.”

✌☹🏱☟✡💧✍ (ALPHYS?)

❄☟☜ ☹✋☪✌☼👎 ❄☟✌❄ 🕈⚐☼😐☜👎 🕆☠👎☜☼ 💣☜ (THE LIZARD THAT WORKED UNDER ME)

💧☟☜ 👎✋👎 👌☜👍✌💣☜ 💣✡ 💧🕆👍👍☜💧💧⚐☼ (SHE DID BECAME MY SUCCESSOR)

✌☠👎 ❄☟✌❄ ✋💧 🕈☟✌❄ 🏱☜⚐🏱☹☜ 🕈✋☹☹ ❄☟✋☠😐 ⚐☞ ✌💧 ❄☟☜ ☼⚐✡✌☹ 💧👍✋☜☠❄✋💧❄ (AND THAT IS WHAT PEOPLE WILL THINK OF AS THE ROYAL SCIENTIST)

✡⚐🕆 ✌☼☜ 👍⚐☼☼☜👍❄ (YOU ARE CORRECT)

✌☠👎 ✡☜❄ (AND YET)

✡⚐🕆 ✌☼☜ 🕈☼⚐☠☝ (YOU ARE WRONG)

“I don't understand. What do you mean I am correct and wrong?!  You go back and forth as if both things are true!”

❄☟✌❄ ✋💧 👌☜👍✌🕆💧☜ 👌⚐❄☟ ✌☼☜ ❄☼🕆☜ 💧⚐☠ ⚐☞ ✌💧☝⚐☼☜ (THAT IS BECAUSE BOTH ARE TRUE SON OF ASGORE)

✡⚐🕆 ☹✋😐☜ ☝✌💣☜💧 (YOU LIKE GAMES)

👎⚐☠🕯❄ ✡⚐🕆 ✌💧☼✋☜☹✍ (DON'T YOU ASRIEL?)

❄☜☹☹ 💣☜ (TELL ME)

👍✌☠ ✡⚐🕆 ☝🕆☜💧💧 🕈☟⚐ 👍☼☜✌❄☜👎 ❄☟☜ 👍⚐☼☜ (CAN YOU GUESS WHO CREATED THE CORE?)

✌☞❄☜☼ ✌☹☹  (AFTER ALL)

✋🕯💣 💧🕆☼☜ 💧⚐💣☜⚐☠☜ ☹✋😐☜ ✡⚐🕆 ☜☠☺⚐✡💧 ☝🕆☜💧💧✋☠☝ ☝✌💣☜💧 (I'M SURE SOMEONE LIKE YOU ENJOYS GUESSING GAMES)

⚐☼ ☼✌❄☟☜☼ (OR RATHER)

☝✋✞✋☠☝ ✌💧💧🕆💣🏱❄✋⚐☠💧 ❄⚐ 👌☼✋☠☝ ✡⚐🕆 ❄☟☜ 🕈✌✡ ❄⚐ ❄☟☜ ☼✋☝☟❄ ✌☠💧🕈☜☼ (GIVING ASSUMPTIONS TO BRING YOU THE WAY TO THE RIGHT ANSWER)

Asriel's eyes widen as if this creature thinks he knows him. Although he wasn't wrong but how could he know such things about him. Not many should besides those he had met as he allows his assumptions about an event to bring him the right answer or the very least the piece of the puzzle. This question was much more difficult. Actually, who did build the core? From all the timelines did he ever consider such a thing. The CORE was always there and yet that would be nonsense. The monsters built the CORE but how? When? There would be no way Alphys could have done it. She couldn't even do the things she has told her father that got him to hire her in the first place. Where did the core come from?! Why... why did he never think about it before?! What is the answer? Where is the answer?!  If got everything he could have known didn't?! Then where is the answer to this one... who created it?! And yet he felt there was no answer to it.

👎⚐ ✡⚐🕆 ☟✌✞☜ ✌☠ ✌☠💧🕈☜☼✍ (DO YOU HAVE AN ANSWER?)

“I... I... I do not know. No one could have. It was like it always existed while it's creator is non-existent” Asriel said in a slightly defeated tone.

✌☠👎 ❄☟✌❄ ✋💧 🕈☟☜☼☜ ✡⚐🕆 ✌☼☜ 👍⚐☼☼☜👍❄ (AND THAT IS WHERE YOU ARE CORRECT)

✌☠👎 🕈☟☜☼☜ ✡⚐🕆 ✌☼☜ 🕈☼⚐☠☝ (AND WHERE YOU ARE WRONG)

💧⚐💣☜⚐☠☜  ☟✌💧 👍☼☜✌❄☜👎 ❄☟☜ 👍⚐☼☜ (SOMEONE  HAS CREATED THE CORE)

✌☠👎 ☠⚐🕈 ☜✞☜☼✡⚐☠☜ 👌☜☹✋☜✞☜💧 ✋❄ ☟✌💧 👌☜☜☠ ❄☟☜☼☜ (AND NOW EVERYONE BELIEVES IT HAS BEEN THERE)

🕈☟✋☹☜ ☠⚐❄ 😐☠⚐🕈✋☠☝ 🕈☟⚐ ☟✌💧 👍☼☜✌❄☜👎 ✋❄ (WHILE NOT KNOWING WHO HAS CREATED IT)

☠⚐ ⚐☠☜ ❄☟✋☠😐💧 ✌👌⚐🕆❄ ✋❄ (NO ONE THINKS ABOUT IT)

☠⚐❄ ☜✞☜☠ ❄☟☜ 😐✋☠☝ (NOT EVEN THE KING)

👌☜👍✌🕆💧☜ ❄☟☜✡ ☠⚐ ☹⚐☠☝☜☼ ☜✠✋💧❄ (BECAUSE THEY NO LONGER EXIST)

“That makes no sense! If they no longer exist then why would it still be there!” Asriel said as he sways the arm that wasn't holding the ember he had created.

❄☟✌❄ ✋💧 🕈☟✌❄ ❄☟☜ ❄✋💣☜☹✋☠☜ 🏱☼⚐👍☹✌✋💣☜👎 (THAT IS WHAT THE TIMELINE PROCLAIMED)

💧⚐💣☜⚐☠☜ ☟✌💧 👍☼☜✌❄☜👎 ✋❄ (SOMEONE HAS CREATED IT)

👌🕆❄ ❄☟✌❄ 💧⚐💣☜⚐☠☜ ☠⚐ ☹⚐☠☝☜☼ ☜✠✋💧❄💧 (BUT THAT SOMEONE NO LONGER EXISTS)

✡☜❄ (YET)

❄☟☜✋☼ 🕈⚐☼😐 💧❄✋☹☹ ☜✠✋💧❄💧 (THEIR WORK STILL EXISTS)

❄☟☜ ⚐☠☹✡ ❄☟✋☠☝ ❄⚐  👌☜ ☜☼✌💧☜👎 🕈✌💧 ❄☟☜ ⚐☠☜ 🕈☟⚐ 👎✋👎 ❄☟☜  ☼☜💧☜✌☼👍☟ (THE ONLY THING TO  BE ERASED WAS THE ONE WHO DID THE  RESEARCH)

❄☟☜ ⚐☠☜ 🕈☟⚐ 👍☼☜✌❄☜👎 ❄☟☜ 👍⚐☼☜ (THE ONE WHO CREATED THE CORE)

❄☟☜ ⚐☠☜ 🕈☟⚐ 🕈✌💧 ❄☟☜ ☼⚐✡✌☹ 💧👍✋☜☠❄✋💧❄ (THE ONE WHO WAS THE ROYAL SCIENTIST) ✌☠👎 (AND)

❄☟☜ ⚐☠☜ 🕈☟⚐ ☟✌👎 ❄⚐ 👌☜  ☼☜🏱☹✌👍☜👎 🕈☟✋☹☜ ☜✞☜☼✡⚐☠☜ 👎⚐☜💧 ☠⚐❄ 😐☠⚐🕈 (THE ONE WHO HAD TO BE  REPLACED WHILE EVERYONE DOES NOT KNOW)

🕈☟✌❄ ☟✌🏱🏱☜☠ ❄⚐ ❄☟☜ ☼⚐✡✌☹ 💧👍✋☜☠❄✋💧❄ 👌☜☞⚐☼☜ ✌☹🏱☟✡💧 (WHAT HAPPEN TO THE ROYAL SCIENTIST BEFORE ALPHYS)

☠⚐ ⚐☼👎✋☠✌☼✡ 💣⚐☠💧❄☜☼ 😐☠⚐🕈💧 ❄☟☜ ✌☠💧🕈☜☼ (NO ORDINARY MONSTER KNOWS THE ANSWER)

“.....” The Boss Monster's head was starting to ache as he heard all of this strange wrongs. It does not make sense and for some reason, a strange feeling is saying this the creature is telling the truth. How? He would have surely known wouldn't he...?

❄☜☹☹ 💣☜ (TELL ME)

☟✌✞☜ ✡⚐🕆 💣☜❄ 💣✡ ☞⚐☹☹⚐🕈☜☼💧✍ (HAVE YOU MET MY FOLLOWERS?)

💧🕆☼☜☹✡ ✡⚐🕆 ☟✌✞☜ ✋☞ ✡⚐🕆 ☟✌✞☜ 👎⚐☠☜ ☜✞☜☼✡❄☟✋☠☝ (SURELY YOU HAVE IF YOU HAVE DONE EVERYTHING)

Asriel didn't like what he had said. It implied that he had been watching him not from just entering this place but when he was Flowey. “...”

✡⚐🕆☼ ☜✠🏱☼☜💧💧✋⚐☠ (YOUR  EXPRESSION)

💧⚐ ✡⚐🕆 ☟✌✞☜ ☠⚐❄ (SO YOU HAVE NOT)

✋❄🕯💧 ❄⚐ 👌☜ ☜✠🏱☜👍❄☜👎 (IT'S TO BE EXPECTED)

✌💧 ⚐☠☹✡ ❄☟☜ ☟🕆💣✌☠ 🕈⚐🕆☹👎 ☟✌✞☜ 👌☜☜☠ ✌👌☹☜ ❄⚐ (AS ONLY THE HUMAN WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO)

☠⚐❄ 👌☜👍✌🕆💧☜ ✡⚐🕆 👍⚐🕆☹👎☠🕯❄ ☞✋☠👎 ❄☟☜💣 (NOT BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T FIND THEM)

👌🕆❄ 👌☜👍✌🕆💧☜ ❄☟☜✡ ⚐☠☹✡ 🕈✋💧☟☜👎 ❄⚐ 👌☜ ☼☜✞☜✌☹☜👎 👌✡ ❄☟☜ ☞✌☹☹☜☠ ☟🕆💣✌☠ (BUT BECAUSE THEY ONLY WISHED TO BE REVEALED BY THE FALLEN HUMAN)

⚐☼ ❄⚐ ✡⚐🕆 (OR TO YOU)

❄☟☜ ☟🕆💣✌☠ 😐☠⚐🕈☠ ✌💧 (THE HUMAN KNOWN AS)

☞☼✋💧😐 (FRISK)

“...Frisk? Why them? Why reveal themselves to them?” Another question that came to his head was why he couldn't have met them? Surely he didn't miss any details, right? Although Asriel decided to not ask such a question.

💧✋💣🏱☹☜ (SIMPLE)

❄☟☜ ☟🕆💣✌☠ ☟✌🏱🏱☜☠ ❄⚐ 👌☜ (THE HUMAN HAPPEN TO BE)

✌❄ ❄☟☜ ☼✋☝☟❄ 🏱☹✌👍☜ (AT THE RIGHT PLACE) ✌❄ ❄☟☜ ☼✋☝☟❄ ❄✋💣☜ (AT THE RIGHT TIME)

❄☟☜✡ ☼☜✞☜✌☹☜👎 ❄☟☜💣💧☜☹✞☜💧 ❄⚐ ☞☼✋💧😐 (THEY REVEALED THEMSELVES TO FRISK)

☜✌👍☟ ⚐☠☜  ☝✋✞✋☠☝ ❄☟☜💣 ✌☠ ✌☠💧🕈☜☼ (EACH ONE  GIVING THEM AN ANSWER)

☜✌👍☟ ⚐☠☜ ☟✌👎 ✌ 👎✋☞☞☜☼☜☠❄ 👍⚐☠👍☹🕆💧✋⚐☠ (EACH ONE HAD A DIFFERENT CONCLUSION)

⚐☠☜ 💧🏱☜✌😐💧 ❄☟✌❄ ☟☜ ☞✌☹☹☜☠ ✋☠❄⚐ ☟✋💧 ⚐🕈☠ 👍☼☜✌❄✋⚐☠ (ONE SPEAKS THAT HE FALLEN INTO HIS OWN CREATION)

❄☟☜ 👍⚐☼☜ (THE CORE)

⚐☠☜ 💧🏱☜✌😐💧 ❄☟✌❄ ☟☜ 💧✋💣🏱☹✡ ☺🕆💧❄ ✞✌☠✋💧☟☜👎 (ONE SPEAKS THAT HE SIMPLY JUST VANISHED)

💧☟✌❄❄☜☼☜👎 ✌👍☼⚐💧💧 💧🏱✌👍☜ ✌☠👎 ❄✋💣☜ (SHATTERED ACROSS SPACE AND TIME)

⚐☠☜ 💧🏱☜✌😐💧 ❄☟✌❄ ☟✋💧 ☜✠🏱☜☼✋💣☜☠❄💧 🕈☜☠❄ 🕈☼⚐☠☝ (ONE SPEAKS THAT HIS EXPERIMENTS WENT WRONG)

☟✋💧 ☹✋☞☜ 👍🕆❄ 💧☟⚐☼❄ (HIS LIFE CUT SHORT)

❄☟☜ ✌☠💧🕈☜☼ 👍✌☠ 👌☜ ⚐☠☜ ⚐☞ ❄☟☜💧☜ ❄☟☼☜☜ 🏱⚐💧💧✋👌✋☹✋❄✋☜💧  (THE ANSWER CAN BE ONE OF THESE THREE POSSIBILITIES )

⚐☼ (OR)

✌☹☹ ⚐☞ ❄☟☜💣 (ALL OF THEM)

👌🕆❄ ❄☟☜✡ ✌☹☹ 😐☠⚐🕈 ⚐☠☜ 👍⚐💣💣⚐☠ ☞✌👍❄ (BUT THEY ALL KNOW ONE COMMON FACT)

❄☟✌❄ (THAT)

✋ 🕈✌💧 ☹✋💧❄☜☠✋☠☝ (I WAS LISTENING)

✌☠👎 ✋❄ ✋💧 ☼🕆👎☜ (AND IT IS RUDE)

❄⚐ 💧🏱☜✌😐 ✌👌⚐🕆❄ 💧⚐💣☜⚐☠☜ (TO SPEAK ABOUT SOMEONE)

🕈☟☜☠ ❄☟☜✡ ✌☼☜ ☹✋💧❄☜☠✋☠☝ (WHEN THEY ARE LISTENING)

A sense of dread came over Asriel as this creature. He had to know. “Who... Who are you?” He could hear a snicker coming from the darkness when he asked his question.

✋ 🕈✌💧 🕈✌✋❄✋☠☝ ☞⚐☼ ✡⚐🕆☼ 👍🕆☼✋⚐💧✋❄✡ ❄⚐ 👌☼✋☠☝ 💣☜ ❄☟✌❄ ✈🕆☜💧❄✋⚐☠ (I WAS WAITING FOR YOUR CURIOSITY TO BRING ME THAT QUESTION)

✌💧☼✋☜☹ (ASRIEL)

✋ ✌💣 ❄☟☜  ☼⚐✡✌☹ 💧👍✋☜☠❄✋💧❄ ❄☟✌❄ ✡⚐🕆☼ ☞✌❄☟☜☼ ☟✋☼☜👎 (I AM THE  ROYAL SCIENTIST THAT YOUR FATHER HIRED)

❄☟☜ 👍☼☜✌❄⚐☼ ⚐☞ ❄☟☜ 👍⚐☼☜ (THE CREATOR OFTHE CORE)

❄☟☜ ⚐☠☜ 🕈☟⚐ ☠⚐ ☹⚐☠☝☜☼ ☜✠✋💧❄💧 (THE ONE WHO NO LONGER EXISTS)

🏱✌☼👎⚐☠ 💣☜ ☞⚐☼ 💣✡ ☼🕆👎☜☠☜💧💧 🏱☼✋☠👍☜ (PARDON ME FOR MY RUDENESS PRINCE)

✋ 💧☟⚐🕆☹👎 ✋☠❄☼⚐👎🕆👍☜ 💣✡💧☜☹☞ 🏱☼⚐🏱☜☼☹✡ (I SHOULD INTRODUCE MYSELF PROPERLY)

Those grey lifeless eyes widen as he saw a figure slowly appearing from the deepest darkness, he saw what appeared to be a skeletal head, it's eyes looking quite deformed at least that's what it seemed to the Boss Monster, a smirk on his face. He then saw two strange hands following including the rest of his body wearing some kind of black lab coat with a white collared shirt while those hands seemed to be disconnected from his body which was hovering close by this creature. Those hands seem to be projecting those strange symbols as if he was speaking with those hands of his. Asriel felt himself instinctively stepping back.

💣✡ ☠✌💣☜ ✋💧 (MY NAME IS)

🕈.👎. ☝✌💧❄☜☼ (W.D. GASTER)

👌🕆❄ ✡⚐🕆 💣✌✡ 💧✋💣🏱☹✡ 👍✌☹☹ 💣☜ ☝✌💧❄☜☼ (BUT YOU MAY SIMPLY CALL ME GASTER)

✋❄ ✋💧 ☠✋👍☜ ❄⚐ 💣☜☜❄ ✡⚐🕆 🏱☼⚐🏱☜☼☹✡ 💧⚐☠ ⚐☞ ✌💧☝⚐☼☜ (IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU PROPERLY SON OF ASGORE)

✌💧☼✋☜☹ 👎☼☜☜💣🕆☼☼ (ASRIEL DREEMURR)

🕈☜ ☟✌✞☜ 💣🕆👍☟ ❄⚐ 👎✋💧👍🕆💧💧 (WE HAVE MUCH TO DISCUSS)

[argentdandelion]

No Soul Necessary: Flowey’s Happy Ending (Part 3)

“We’ve got more beef than a prizewinning cow, but I want to forgive you so hard right now.”

If Flowey can’t feel love and compassion, it’s possible he can’t feel love and compassion for himself. Under his guilt and self-loathing, he may be unable to understand his life is valuable, and that he deserves happiness.

If he genuinely can never feel self-compassion, and so let himself pursue happiness again, then he might never really be happy. He might be haunted forever; he might forever disbelieve Frisk if Frisk claims he deserves happiness. More compellingly, he himself (as Asriel, temporarily) tries to separate his existence as a soulless flower from his brief return as a Boss Monster/Boss Monster-looking being, and has no compassion for Flowey.

Yet, Flowey’s happiness may not be impossible: his True Reset speech could be motivated just as easily by a little bit of compassion as by guilt. Perhaps absorbing the souls of so many monsters had some after-effects, however small. It’s unlikely everyone he’s ever killed would forgive him, as they don’t remember, but Frisk could, and maybe that would be enough.

To get his happy ending, Flowey must, to some extent, value himself for himself. As one could call this “selfishness” or “arrogance”, this might seem contradictory. Yet, it makes sense: kind, compassionate Asriel was too selfless, too altruistic, too self-sacrificing. He didn’t care enough about himself, or his worries. His love or loyalty to Chara got him killed, and guilt-ridden for who knows how long.1

So far as can be inferred from his story in the Genocide Route, when he woke up as a flower and couldn't feel love for or from his parents, he turned his turmoil inward. There's no evidence he lashed out at first. He might have instead suffered in silence, until his despair grew too great and he killed himself. He reloaded and used his power for good, but when it didn't make him happy, he turned to violence to fill his life with fun, with some sort of meaning.

Later on, Asriel accepts if Frisk neither forgives nor comforts him, apparently believing he doesn’t deserve it for all his bad deeds. At the flowerbed, he says he can’t go up the surface “like this” (resembling Asriel), because it would only break his parents’ hearts. He doesn’t think well of Flowey; in fact, in the flowerbed speech, he talks about Flowey as if he’s a separate being, and an object rather than a person.2

In the True Reset speech, Flowey still focuses on others: others’ lives and happiness, not his own. He talks about everyone’s happiness and letting Frisk “live their life”, but doesn’t mention himself. His persuasion seems half-hearted, and he doesn’t object much to the idea his memories will be erased: perhaps he’s resigned to his fate as a tool for the True Pacifist ending.

That caring for oneself is 'selfish' is often drilled into humans' heads by society. People are often taught to sacrifice for others, but not how to appreciate and care for themselves.

It is possible monster society takes caring for others, including self-sacrifice, to greater lengths than human society. Asgore himself suffered so much to give his people hope (though that's entwined with his responsibility as king). Monsters also believe their very souls are made of love, hope, and compassion; before breaking the barrier, Asriel notes how strange it is that many monsters love Frisk despite barely knowing them.

If Flowey indeed stays in the Underground, as many works assume, it could be from the belief he doesn’t deserve happiness, that his happiness means misery to others, or both. To SAVE Flowey, he must balance his guilt with his altruism. Given the sheer scope of his crimes (despite the fact time travel erased it all) and indisputably selfish motives in doing so, convincing him he deserves to live a good life may be the most difficult battle of all.

Part 1 → Part 2 → Part 3

Related Reading

Kill 'em With Kindness (spun off from Part 2 of this series)

Flowey and PTSD

More specifically, if his playtime of 9999:99 is true, he's been "playing" and likely suffering as a flower for a minimum of ~13.6 months. ↩︎

Calling Flowey just “a flower” and “it” rather than “he”. Some caveats: the whole idea of 'it' being dehumanizing doesn't work so well when nearly a third of monsters apparently go by 'it'. Some monsters also casually refer to each other by breed, such as Undyne being referred to as "a fish/a fish lady". At the very least, Asriel is misgendering Flowey. ↩︎

[kaimiiru-creations]

Pâro

Fandom: Undertale

Premise: After the True Pacifist Ending, Asriel/Flowey meet a strange yet familiar face that wants to offer him something. Asriel-centric, Frisk-centric, OC and Chara also deeply involved.

Warnings: Nothing so far, but the definition of pâro might give you an idea of what’s in store in the future...

Ch1: Laughter

Ch2: (Not done yet)

The silence was deafening.

I was reminded of those times where I killed almost everyone. There wasn’t any screaming after battles, no movement either, just eerie and utter silence. And it wasn’t like the Underground was all that windy, either.

No, the monsters didn’t send anyone after me when I went on a killing spree. They just ran. Because they were weak. Because they were kind. Because they were afraid.

Luckily, Sans was there to stop me. I’m grateful that he stopped me… and that I had the power to reset taken away from me forever.

A part of me hated to be in this abandoned Snowdin. A part of me felt righteous pleasure that everyone had left me behind. But even those feelings were ephemeral. The power everyone had left me was fading fast, but I grit my teeth and never wandered past where the barrier used to be.

“The world doesn’t need me… the world doesn’t need me anymore…” A tiresome chant was growled through my teeth, distorted terribly.

And that was when I felt a vibration in my roots. Heard crunching of snow. Looked up and saw a familiar form in the distance that took my breath away.

“Chara?” I called hopelessly, and the human lifted their head, “Chara, is that you?”

Chara was unsteady on their feet, and taller than what I remember. On their chest, swung a heart-shaped locket as their red eyes flashed and met mine.

/Don’t go to them! You don’t deserve it! You don’t want the suffering to happen all over, don’t you! Run!/ The Asriel within me cried.

/Chara! My best friend finally came! I want to meet them, talk to them-!/ Flowey called out soon after. I was stuck. Chara made their way over to me, their clothes covered in snow, as if they had been lying in it.

“You’re not Chara.” I said, shaking my head, “You’re not Chara!”

“You’re right.” Chara’s voice spoke, and I looked up to see their face smiling at me, tears in their eyes.

“D-don’t joke around with me, meanie!” I said, so emotional now that Asriel’s voice was coming out, my face surely forming into a goat’s by now.

“I’m not Chara.” Chara repeated, reaching out and wiping the tears so gently from my eyes, as if they were afraid of hurting me. I shut my eyes for a moment, and got a hold of myself.

“Then who are you?! Don’t play tricks on me, Chara!” I yelled, making Chara fall back as I grew in size and glared down at them, roots cracking the ice around us, twining around Chara’s wrists so they couldn’t leave- no, not /again/. I was much bigger now- probably large enough to swallow them whole-

“I am the final threat.” Chara spoke clearly, their red eyes unwavering and overly gentle in an expression that I /knew/ Chara’s never had, “Who do you think was left with the power to RESET after Frisk was gone?”

“You……” I felt cold certainty go through me. There had been someone /puppeteering/ Frisk throughout their adventures. It was obvious. What sane creature would willingly reload their save files just to relive the same thing over and over again? Frisk had gone back /five/ times just to talk to me again before leaving forever. I didn’t count in this equation, by the way. I knew my sanity was thin as it is. My voice distorted, my vines tightened painfully around Chara’s arms, “WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE THIS NOW?!”

“To tease you?” Not-Chara smirked and grit their teeth and raised their head as my vines wrapped around their neck, “Yeah. Kill me, Flowey.”

I stopped. What was… I doing??? I was about to kill someone! I quickly calmed my magic, shrunk in size, and loosened my grip.

“Because you can just load your last save point.” I said tiredly, “Are you done? Is your sick pleasure satisfied? Who even are you? How are you doing this?”

Not-Chara rubbed their neck.

“I can’t tell you my name because Chara’s name will just change to that name.” They moved their arms, and I tightened my grip somewhat until I realized they were just sitting back up, cross-legged, “So call me Chara. I don’t want their name to be lost, too.”

“Call you Chara? I don’t get it...” I grumbled irritably. This person was the one who made Frisk beat me over and over until I had to force myself not to say anything new, just so this person-this /demon/- wouldn’t get bored!

“As for how I did this… Well, it’s simple, really. This is an alternate universe. I copied the original world and inserted myself in… but it’s easier to use already-existing assets in this game, and in the end Chara was the most compatible with my soul.” Not-Chara replied, waving their hands about to illustrate their words- circling their hands, touching their chest, bringing a shining red soul out. I quickly CHECKED their soul.

/CHARA. LV 1. ATK 0, DEF 10. A combination of a time-traveling empty body and a strange mixed soul./

“So your name really is Chara…” I muttered, not sure about the ‘mixed soul’ part, “So, I don’t really get the world-copying thing, but what do you want?”

“I want you to take my soul.” Chara replied simply, “And live on your own on the surface.”

And with that, my suspension of disbelief was shattered. This person HAD to be Chara! Maybe with different memories, but-

“ARGH! Chara is DEAD!” I screeched, didn’t Frisk fight beyond any limits a human could go to show me that very fact?! “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!” My voice was distorting again, I felt the world get smaller.

“Yeah. So kill me and take my soul.” Chara said calmly, lifting up their arms to their sides as they knelt, completely defenseless. They grit their teeth, “Quickly, I can feel pain-”

“NO! I promised I wouldn’t hurt ANYONE /EVER/ AGAIN!” I shouted angrily. Chara frowned, contemplative, and lowered their arms. Slowly, slowly, they lowered their eyes, then their head, slightly. What were they planning now?

“Then let’s go together.” Chara said, and everything seemed to still into silence again as I stared at them, “Come on. I came here fully intending for it to be a one-way trip. I can’t go back to my world… I want to stay with you. I can show you everything. We don’t have to see Frisk and the others… it’s a really big world out there.” They extended their wrapped hands towards me, flashing a big, pained grin, “Whaddya say, Asriel? Let’s go on an adventure. I could use your company.”

My willpower snapped. I let go of their arms and shrunk in size.

“Let me… think about it.” I grumbled.

“Coolio.” Chara said, and laid on the snow. They started laughing for some reason…

“... Weirdo.” I muttered. I didn’t feel like joining them.

“Says the talking flower.”

“Hypocrite, monsters come in all shapes and sizes.”

“Soulless flower.” Chara corrected themselves through their laughter, and sighed, “Man, I thought you were really gonna kill me. That was scary.”

“But you wanted to die…?”

“Doesn’t make it any less scary!”

“Ugh…” I grumbled, putting a leaf to my forehead, “I’m going somewhere else. It’s a headache to talk to you.”

“When you decide… I’ll be waiting in the bone brothers’ kitchen.” Chara spoke with that scary gentle-serious tone from earlier.

“Whatever…” I ducked underground to go somewhere to collect my thoughts.

------------

Frisk woke up with an odd ache and emptiness in their chest. However, they didn’t think much of it- going through puberty meant odd aches and pains everywhere, after all. Not to mention the mood swings...

They got out of bed and set out their clothes for school. A meaty smell drifted through the house-Toriel had finished cooking breakfast. Frisk went downstairs.

“Good morning Frisk!” Toriel greeted warmly.

“Good... morning, mom.” Frisk said, as a faint twinge of pain sparked through their chest again. They touched the center of their chest gently.

Toriel, with her mother intuition, quickly noticed.

“Are you feeling alright? Do you have a cold?” Toriel fussed over them, coming closer to put a hand on their forehead. A wave of healing magic eased the pain somewhat, before it ebbed back again.

“No… just… growing pains.” Frisk replied, and ducked under Toriel’s hand to eat breakfast. Sans, a regular guest, was sitting at the table, looking half-asleep and tapping away at a cell phone.

“Mornin’ Frisk.” Sans said without looking up. His eyes were smiling at the phone- no doubt he sent someone a bad joke- and he was slumped in his chair in a relaxed manner.

“Mornin’ Sans.” Frisk echoed, before shoveling the spinach-egg-bacon breakfast pie on their plate down their throat.

“Whoah there! I doubt you can /quiche/ all that down if you swallow it in one bite!” Toriel said slyly, and Frisk coughed and pounded on their chest and coughed. Toriel looked at them, a bit worried, but Frisk cleared their throat and gave her a thumbs up.

“Don’t /pie/ on us, kiddo!” Sans retorted, and pressed a button on his phone.

“HELLO? SANS? ARE YOU AT GOAT MOTHER’S HOUSE!” Papyrus’s voice came through Sans’s phone on speakerphone.

“No puns... while I eat!’ Frisk protested as the two chuckling monsters flashed each other a conspiring grin, “I... /crusted/ you to not let me choke on my breakfast!”

Toriel roared with laughter while Sans chuckled.

“UGH! IT’S TOO EARLY FOR PUNS!” Papyrus groaned, “FRISK? WILL YOU DO THE HONOR OF ASSISTING ME IN OUR AMBASSADOR DUTIES AFTER SCHOOL TODAY?”

“Of course.” Frisk replied seriously.

“ALRIGHT! IT’S NO BIGGIE! ALSO, I’VE GOT SO MANY FRIENDS IN MY HOUSE TODAY! WOWEE! THEY’RE HUMANS WEARING FANCY BLACK SUITS AND TELLING ME TO STAY IN MY HOUSE OR THEY’LL TAKE ME AWAY? I WOULDN’T REALLY MIND VISITING THEIR HOMES TOO, BUT I HAVE WORK TO DO- ”

There was silence in the kitchen.

“That… well, I’ll head over, Paps.” Sans said.

“Coming with.” Frisk said in a tone that left no room for argument, standing up.

“Cool. I know a shortcut.”

“THE MORE FRIENDS THE MERRIER.”

“Do you require my assistance as well?” Toriel asked.

“No. I can handle it on my own. Sans is just the bus.” Frisk said, making Sans narrow his eyes at them.

“Well, do be safe, you two.” Toriel said, worried, “Do you want me to pack you a lunch?”

“Nah. Sans will treat me.” Frisk said confidently.

“Hey, pal…” Sans said in a mock warning tone, “Well, come over here then. We’ll go to Grillby’s after.”

“Try to be back in time for school, Frisk! You stay safe too, Sans!” Toriel called as Frisk followed Sans. Frisk waved to her with a fearless smile as both they and Sans disappeared from sight.