#i have NEVER drawn alphys before??

[factual-fantasy]

28 ASKS! THANKS AGAIN YALL!! 🥰💥

I've thought about this a bit actually :00

Way back when the crew was only four people, (Seafoam, Octo, Ellie and Louis) they got caught in a great storm while out at sea. Becuase there was only four of them, they didn't have enough hands on deck to control the ship.

Blue Beauty saw this ship clearly struggling and in danger so she helped guide the ship back to calmer waters. It was her help alone that prevented the ship from sinking. Seafoam thanked her profusely. She hadn't been treated so kindly before.. So she secretly followed them around for a while before making herself more known and officially joining the crew. :}

XD I imagine that wouldn't fare well for Blue Beauty-

XD Foxy would be like "..Am I malfunctioning or are those cookie talking--"

Hmm.. I assume the textures all relate to the food/animal they're based on. Or maybe their personality..? <:0 I don't know!

OOO these are so good!! Thank you! :DD

XDD Its really tough for me ngl. I've never been the best with names-

@luna-purple454 (Post in question)

The Undyne one is a bit vague.. I pictured the group has a run in with an Undyne. She is able to maybe separate Papyrus from the group and even capture him. Maybe her Papyrus is dead or he's on the other side of the underground. For one reason or another she knows this is "not Papyrus". So she questions this imposter to his face.

..But Papyrus is silent. Its been so long since he's heard Undyne's voice.. he suddenly cant speak..

Now the Alphys is actually an older character in the AU. I mentioned that at some point early on the gang found an AU with an old Alphys. This Alphys had made a bunch of robotic arms for Monster Kid in all different sizes.

Well since MK is all grown up, some of the smaller arm models don't fit him anymore. So she gave some to Goner Kid! I didn't really have intentions for her to come back into the AU in any major way. I just felt like drawing her :)

Oooo that sounds cool!! :DD

ASKJANJ SALTY TENTACLES XDDD THATS AMAZING!

Also thank you so much!! :DD

XDD Well "actively", I don't tend to dip my toes in that fandom too much anymore. I've dealt with a surprising amount of uncomfy stuff there so I'd rather mostly stay away from it-

But I have drawn a decent amount for it none the less! And I'm glad you like what you see so far! <XDD

Oh boy, the Jevil gang wouldn't stay there then! <XDD

@astaherussy

I unfortunately still to this day have not watched the Mario movie. So I cannot answer the first part of that question :( I think I have a problem upstairs-

As for Peach or Daisy breaking down, I believe they would approach them the same way Luigi did Rosalina :00 Very gently and try to figure out what's wrong 🥺

@neo-metalscottic

Thank you!! :DD I'm glad you liked what you saw! And I'll keep Jevil and the gang in mind! :))

AND YESSSS THE CALICO JACK IDEA WAS SO GOOD!! Thank you so much!! :D

And once again- thank you for the compliments to my Toadsworth drawing! I was rather proud of that one! XD When it comes to his relationship with Peach,, that is a good question.. I was thinking it was an Alfred Pennyworth situation. Kind'a a royal advisor turned father figure situation.? :0 He was running the Kingdom while Peach was gone, and he was overjoyed to see her returned safe and sound!

(Post in question)

XD Just wait till you find my Super mario bros tag and all the comics and angst under it

(Also thank you!! :}}} )

@rotting-glitter-corpse (Link in ask)

I NEED!! TO LIVE THERE!!! RIGHT NOW!! 💥💥

Oh man, he'd do everything he could. I'm not sure what kind of demands he would make to the rest of the group. But if there was something they could do to help he would absolutely demand they to it :0

@fawncr33k

<XD I don't know if Seafoam would want to have kids at his age- but its a good question. I'm not sure what a child between them would look like, considering that Blue is a mermaid- :0

@pinkbomb08 (Post in question)

My Welcome Home AU is kind'a all over the place becuase of some changes I'm making to Sally and Poppy.. <XD But I can talk a bit about Julie! She hasn't changed much--

The idea I have for Julie is that her and her sisters are actually these huge grotesque monsters.. much more horrific looking than they are in canon. Anytime anyone saw them they'd run away screaming.. Julie grew up knowing that she was scary and people are afraid of her becuase of her appearance..

Now at some point when she was little, she discovered the Neighborhood. She would see Wally, Barnaby, Poppy and Eddie walking around every now and again. She wasn't sure why.. but she was so fascinated by them and their lives. Something about the way they walked, the way the talked, how they dressed, how they sounded, how they looked. She loved all of it.

She was so fascinated by the Neighborhood and she dreamed of becoming apart of it one day. But she knew that she couldn't show up looking like.. this.. so she used the Neighbors as a reference and began to drastically alter her appearance.

No one has horns, so she was able to greatly shorten hers and make them look more.. cute! All the residents have 2 eyes so she shall as well! Poppy has pretty eyelashes.. so shall she! She cant get rid of her tail but she can make it shorter and cuter! Wally, Eddie and Barnaby all have 4 fingers. So she shall as well!

Now the feet.. She never saw Wally or Eddie without shoes on.. but Barnaby is always bare foot. So feet paws she shall have! A lot of her form was transfered to her mane-hair! To her hair- :DD

Now she was trying to get her legs to be shaped more like Wally's. So she altered them a bit and began to practice walking. But she tripped and fell, letting out a yelp!

Someone heard her, and came looking.. Since she couldn't use her new legs yet- she couldn't escape-

..Poppy found her. .

Julie hadn't completed her transformation from "monster" to "person" yet! So when Poppy saw her she thought she blew it. Surly Poppy would run away screaming upon seeing this horrible monster.. Julie started to cry.. but Poppy didn't run. She saw this poor little child covered in mud and with a scraped knee. She quickly jumped into action, "Oh dear! You poor thing, here sweetie let me help you up," Poppy guided Julie out of the woods. After she was cleaned and patched, they talked a bit about Julies situation.

"Where are your parents, dear?"

"..I don't have parents.."

Suddenly Poppy had adoption papers in her hand XD Huh, wonder how those got there-

(Post in question)

I mean... I got my skin back at least.. 🥺

thh... thank yoiuuuu!!! :33 ✨💖✨

I don't know.. is it offensive in the games for a character to be called a cracker? Are there cracker characters?? <:00

Oooo I'll keep this in mind! :00 Thank you!

@djadecutie

AKJJSD CRIMINAL XDDD

@storylover2

<XD Oh man, I looked through some doodle dumps and found I drew that creature at least 20 times. None of which looked the way I saw it in my head.💀I gave up on drawing Chain Chomp a looong time ago.. 💔💔

(Thank you for the suggestion though! :000 )

I'm not sure <XD Google doesn't want to tell me what real seafoam tastes like. Its only showing me what the candy seafoam tastes like!

I cant really remember much of that movie,, so I'm not sure how they would interact with the residents there. But a world made of candy? I'm sure they'd feel right at home! XD

@beryl-shade

Oh yeah for sure :0 that could be what happened to Tuna! 😱

(Also sorry for not including the gifs! There wasn't a way I could paste them into this ask post :((( )

@yourstrulylightstar283

Aww! That's adorable! :D

[loomingcastle]

TW: SUICIDE (not drawn but it is implied and spoken of)

.

I’ve looked and well, people seem to agree that Alphys committed suicide in genocide and some neutral runs

I’m actually so happy with how I drew everyone mkklkjnnj especially Undyne. I like to think she just has her hair gelled back cause like, where do those bangs come from in the date?

Find Sans & Papyrus here

Undyne’s confidence has been affected. She had failed. Everyone died.

Toriel has accepted she had died, but is angry at Asgore. Killing children for their souls only to never be able to use them in the end.

Asgore does not believe he is fit to be a king. Any issues he had about it before have multiplied, and he now refuses to wear his crown.

[ainyan]

♡ !

You want to win Kali's heart? Well, it helps to be a citrine-eyed, silver-haired gunbreaker...

I jest. (Mostly).

Kali is drawn less to the physical and more to the intellectual. She likes men who are bright, but don't necessarily flaunt their intelligence. She enjoys having some depths to plumb, and it's hard to do that when they're going around shoving their brains in your face. (Sorry, Alphy, you never stood a shot.) She likes mysteries and puzzles, both in her adventures and her adventurers, and the more a man has to hide, the more likely she is to pursue him - or at least his secrets.

I say man, and he, but Kali has found herself romantically - or at least intellectually - attracted to women before as well. It's just women are not usually on her radar as someone to be attracted to until they've gone and done something that pings her hard and has her halfway to the finish line before she realizes she's even in the race. She doesn't mind when a woman piques her interest, though, and she's an equal-opportunity friend with [excellent] benefits.

Original Ask Meme

Thank you for the ask!

[arceal-doodles]

alphys is not getting paid enough for stuff like these

[littlebittykittycommittee]

Gaster + acronyms

(This is something I feel that people have probably already discussed before, but I've never seen it and it made me really happy with something I'd been on the fence about before, so I wanted to write it out in case someone out there like me had the same hang-ups and might like to read this.)

So, for a long time I was like "man, I love the twist about what LV and EXP really stand for in-universe, but the acronyms are a little rough. I wish there was a more elegant alternative to use."

Because LV/LOVE = Level of Violence and EXP = Execution Points is a fun reveal that hits you really hard at first, right?

But as a real acronym, it's real rough! LV = Level of Violence looks fine, but Level Of ViolEnce ain't right, and then EXecution Points doesn't really work at all as an acronym and even worse, there's no good solution to it (like, be fair, how many words starting with "X" would even work there? good on ya for figuring something out, Toby).

But then I realized something.

The same issue with "improper" acronyms can be said of one W.D. Gaster.

So we know Gaster's first name is Wingdings. We can safely assume this because Entry No 17 is written in wingding font, making him one of the few characters who uses an alternate font; this is also true of Sans and Papyrus, who speak in their own font. They are skeletons named after the font they speak in. Gaster's notes are in wingdings and he is commonly assumed to be a skeleton, so following that trend he'd also be named after his own font, making his first name Wingdings. So then, is his full name Wingdings Gaster?

It's possible, but first let's propose an alternate theory: let's say Gaster named LV, EXP, etc and possibly outlined what it all means. I know "Gaster did it" is overused a lot, but in this case I think it actually works really well!

So, let's say Gaster's first name is Wingdings, which seems to fit his initials if you apply the same improper acronym reading to his name as with EXP and LV. WingDinGaster. This leaves the "aster" part of his name as a surname, which works because Aster is another type of font.

So reading his name normally, we would assume his name is Wingding Aster or as the followers might refer to him, Dr. W. Aster.

However, following the Undertale acronym "system", it could instead read as WingDinG aster or Dr. W.D. Gaster.

Much of Gaster's work that he did in life is unclear, all we know for sure is that he created the CORE and we don't even know when he did that (whether he is a long-lived monster who did it when Asriel and Chara were alive, or is a monster with a more normal lifespan whoonly sometime within the past decade or so prior to Undertale).

(Tangent #1: Some speculate he might've also drawn up the blueprints for the Determination Extraction Machine, started the determination experiments, and/or participated in the timeline research Sans mentions; I don't like thinking that he was behind so much of the research because it undermines how that was all Alphys' storyline, her breaking new ground with the discovery of determination leading to the creation of the Amalgamates and Flowey, and giving Gaster credit for that doesn't sit right with me since it puts almost EVERYTHING Alphys did as Royal Scientist (for better or worse) in Gaster's shadow. I'm inclined to think the determination experiments were all Alphys (all the notes other than Entry 17 seem to only be from Alphys, the different writing styles seem to be reflections of her outlooks and don't match what we can be pretty sure as Gaster's writing with the all-caps style), though he might've first drawn up the blueprints with intentions of using them for something else (perhaps prototypes to the Gaster Blasters, that Alphys repurposed as determination extraction machines, perhaps provided them by Sans) and him focusing on researching timelines might help explain why he was scattered across time and space; depending on how he was researching that, it could've believably led to something going wrong like that.)

Since so much of his other work as Royal Scientist is unknown, let's say that Gaster researched and went on name/label and write up systems for these units of measure: EXecution Points, Level Of ViolEnce. If you want to go with the fanon that HP actually stands for HoPe, he can be the one who named that, too.

(Tangent #2: Since hope actually makes up part of the monsters' soul, it would make sense that it is literally the lifeforce for monsters, and could be considered the monster equivalent of determination.)

In my opinion, it'd make sense for Gaster to have researched and invented these systems. Depending on when you think he was alive, he was likely either there before Chara joined the royal family (a time when monsters are implied to have been so fearful of humans still that they hid as far back from the barrier as possible, all cooped up in Home/the Ruins) or present when the fallen humans were ordered to be killed and their souls collected (when monsters expected to wage war against humans when the barrier was broken, and before that be ready to kill any humans who fell in). Consider that with how powerful humans are, that they can so easily wound and even kill monsters just by hitting them with enough negative emotion, and this is widely known enough to be put in children's textbooks. In other words, regardless of his time period, it would make sense for a Royal Scientist to have researched human aggression and how powerful killing makes them; know thy enemy, right?

Also, as I mentioned at the start, these aren't proper acronyms: LOVE for Level Of ViolEnce, EXP for EXecution Points. If we assume Gaster named them though, it would follow the same pattern we see with his own name. That might be a quirk of his personality (he seems like a weirdo, can't rule it out), or it could be because his primary font is so wildly different from most that it sort of functions as a separate language and thus "translations" might be a little funky. Wingdings being his natural way of speaking but being hard for most to understand, and him having to learn to speak in a second font, would explain why his notes for himself are written in wingdings, but why when he talks to us, the players, he speaks in a non-wingdings font, probably used to people not being able to understand him at first.

It would also tie in with Gaster being an entity so associated with breaking the fourth wall (found only in easter eggs, speaking directly to players, hijacking Toby's Twitter account), for him to be the one who researched and named the concepts of EXP and LV that turned our understanding of those things as players, on their heads. Hell, since even our earliest pegging of him (a contemporary of Chara and Asriel) would put him in the 2010's, maybe Gaster even named those units of measure as a riff on RPG tropes on purpose, maybe out of a very dry sense of humor or maybe because he's an even bigger nerd than any of us have possibly conceived. As a man of science, I can see him researching human technology that fell into the Underground, and like his successor would with anime, I can see him being an RPG geek.

The bottom line: In this case, I think if we say "Gaster did it!" wrt the funky acronyms, it actually fits shockingly well and gives us a little more about him to talk about.

[itsrainingsomewhereelse]

Nerds with glasses! Because glasses make everyone cuter. :3

Also featuring @talkingsoup‘s Dr. Betas because how could I not include this precious sweetheart. ;w;

Sketches under the cut because I like how they turned out:

[elfyourmother]

tagged by @kunstpause​

This is from the next kink prompt, where Gisele gets into Eulmore as a dancer at the Honeybee instead of as Alphi’s assistant

-

And as Gisele mused upon the vagaries of Fate which led her to yet another strange world, the straight-backed and elegantly besuited Elf before her circled her with an appraising eye that seemed to bore right through her. He towered over her—even in this strange Viera form that caused her to tower over most—but Gisele stood undaunted, perfectly still, with her head bowed and hands clasped before her. 

“Exquisite,” the Elf murmured approvingly. “Your name?”

“Gisele, messire,” she replied, her head still bowed. 

“Gisele,” the Elf repeated, nodding as if committing it to memory. “Very well, my dear. I am the Queen Bee of this sweet hive, but you may address me as Dianthus. And pray, look me in the eye.”

“Yes, my Queen.” She did so, dutifully, and traced his features with curious eyes. He was breathtakingly handsome, of course; no one but crossed the threshold of this establishment who was not, even the guards and attendants, and Gisele noted this well. Were they upon the Source, she may have named him a Duskwight, for his pallor resembled that of Ysayle, and he shared the angular features common to the clan. His thick, silky hair of platinum blond was trimmed short, parted to the side that his bang might sweep across one of his pale blue eyes. 

But it was his mouth that Gisele was drawn to, for his lips were full and made a luscious pout, glistening with the faint sheen of balm. An older gentleman he was, mayhap of early middle years, though naught but the streaks of silver in his hair might have given it away. 

She realized then that she had been holding her breath, and exhaled slowly, willing her gaze to lift and meet his own once more.

The corners of Dianthus’ luscious mouth curved slightly into a smile that caused Gisele’s heart to skip a beat. “I am told you have some skill as a dancer,” he mused, surreptitiously taking up a crystalline glass from the tray of a passing server with careless grace, and a flick of his wrist. 

Gisele was a bit startled when he then offered it to her, but she accepted it from his outstretched, slender hand with a gracious incline of her head. “Yes, my lord,” she replied. “Thank you.”

“Tis our specialty,” Dianthus explained, as he took a glass for himself. “At any rate, love…have you other skills, to amuse or entertain?”

“I am oft told my singing voice is lovely, though I fear to offer it upon a stage, in truth. But I am also well-versed in the game of kings, and do read fortunes by the art of cartomancy,” Gisele answered.

Dianthus nodded thoughtfully, taking a sip from his glass, and his gaze never left her as he did. “And have you any preference in love?” he asked, in a rather matter-of-fact tone. “Lords, ladies…?”

“Both,” Gisele purred. “And others.”

Dianthus grinned, his approving gaze much a burning smolder that sent a pleasant shiver down Gisele’s spine. “Good. A Bee is no respecter of flowers, for all nectar is equally sweet,” he remarked. “Come, love. I shall show you to your quarters myself.”

[shattered-mirror-fanfic]

This isn’t even my final form! *laughs in angst*

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32206135/chapters/83214115

Chapter below cut for non-Ao3 readers: 

“It’s not that bad…” Reginald said softly, gripping his right arm to cover up the fresh cut. Right frowned more before sighing. 

“It is, ya have to put an end to this before he aims to kill ya!” Right practically shouted. He grabbed a bandage wrap and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol out of the medkit. "Now give me your arm." 

"Righty, I'm fine, this isn't the worst pain I've felt, you know that." The brunette extended his cut arm to his friend. Right poured some of the rubbing alcohol on a rag, then ran it against the fresh wound. Reginald let out a quiet hiss at the stinging and gripped his right arm with his left. 

"Y'know, kind of tempted to teach ya self defense since this keeps happenin'" The Aussie chuckled as he set down the rag and started to wrap the bandage around the disinfected cut. 

"I know self defense! You were there!" Reginald said, defending himself. 

"Sure, then how come you got this cut in the first place?" Right teased. Reginald puffed his cheeks and shoved the ginger with about the force of a teddy bear. "Okay kitten, I got your point now." 

Right laughed a bit while Reginald sat there, cheeks puffed and red and crossing his arms. "Y'know Reg, you're cute when you're mad." With this comment Reginald turned bright red and shot his hands up to cover his face. Right laughed more and closed the kit, standing up to set it on the wooden desk next to the bed. Reginald grabbed his gloves from beside him and put them back on, avoiding any and all eye contact with his companion. “Reg, y’know that just because I gave you a compliment that doesn’t mean ya get to hide from me now.” Right said, calming his tone. He sat back on the bed next to the brunette, placing a hand on the other's back and rubbing it thoughtfully. Reginald nodded and smiled, before yawning and stretching his arms. “Actually I really want to tell you that-”

“Oh goodness! It’s so late, I hadn’t realised! I’m so sorry Right but you’re going to have to hold that thought! I have some more paperwork to do before tomorrow and it’s already 10:30, oh dear.” Reginald interrupted, letting his anxiety build up the more he rambled on. 

“No, no, it’s fine, it wasn’t that important anyways. I’ll just head off and leave you to work then.” Right responded with a bit of despair in his voice. He got up and walked over to Reginald’s bedroom door, turning back to look at his friend. “Don’t burn yourself out again.”

~~~

Right regretted that day so much. It had been 14 years and he could never let that day go, and now all that regret he felt came right back at him, much harder than ever. The one thing he regretted about that day was not being able to say what he wanted to. But he couldn’t focus on that right now, right now, he had to panic over the fact that a stupid fucking flower tried to kill Reginald for the second time. 

He had collapsed on the ground grabbing the broken soul from the glass shards and holding it close to his chest. 

“Oh lord! I am so sorry! Shit, shit, shit, I’ll think of something.” Flowey spoke in a panic. He flipped through the book, trying to find an alternative to save the soul. Right just sat there paralyzed with despair. Tears started forming at the corners of his cyan eyes. He couldn’t say a single word, he knew Reginald would fade soon, there was nothing he could say. 

Flowey continued looking through the book when he spotted something he didn’t recognise. 

“Hey big guy, do you know what a soul bond is? It says here it’s the two human equivalent of monsters absorbing human souls.” The flower asked. Right had only a vague idea of soul bonds from hearing Henry talking to himself about them. But, there was one thing he knew for sure, it would be Reginald’s last resort.

“Tell me what to do.” Flowey glanced over the pages before clearing his throat.

“Ok, apparently this is going to be easier if you’re a DETERMINATION soul. What you need to do is channel your DETERMINATION to his soul, get the soul rebooted with that, then you’re going to try and get his soul bound to you in some way, it’s not very descriptive at this part.” He instructed. Right didn’t fully understand, but he knew he would still have to try his best. 

Cradling his best friend’s soul in his hands, he focused on it, he felt as though he would be able to fix it. He didn’t pay attention to anything else, not even to his own soul that had been drawn out. He needed to fix Reginald. He was DETERMINED.

Right felt his soul grow heavier and saw out of the corner of his sight, it glowing brighter. He felt a tear roll down his cheek, then he was hit with a wave of pain that made him feel like his skin was being torn off. 

“Oi flower boy! Get the doc!” The man shouted as he bent over more in pain. Flowey managed to tilt his pot enough to fall over, he pulled himself out of the pot with the table ledge as a stable support then proceeding to fall onto the ground before sinking in. 

The Right Hand Man gripped his chest with his left hand, still using his right to hold his chief’s soul. His own soul was glowing bright, blindingly so. Right had to close his eyes from how bright his soul got.

“Reg! You have to work with me here! I need you to be strong right now! Please! I…” He paused, letting more tears fall down his face. “I love you!” 

 And then…

He opened his eyes again, the bright glow stopped, the shards that had chipped off of Reginald’s soul stayed in place. A stream of red DETERMINATION flowed from Right’s soul to the other, filling the break like it was glue. The shards reversed, attaching themselves to the soul once more. 

He was fixed.

~~~

Flowey re-emerged from the ground in a panic, looking around for anyone, to only see Frisk, the white-haired human, and their once sibling. He sighed and burrowed down again to get closer. 

“Listen Frisk I’m just saying…..what are you doing here?” Chara started before addressing the appearance of the flower. Flowey couldn’t choke this time, he knew what he had to do.

“Where’s the doctor?!” He shouted. The two humans and the ghost were a bit startled at this.

“Why? Is something wrong?” Henry asked. 

“Um...god, what was his name again? Why can’t I remember it?! I only remember how stupid it was!” Flowey panicked to himself. Henry immediately knew what was going on.

“Right Hand Man! Is he in danger?!” Flowey nodded in response.

“He’s in the medical tent! And the souls in trouble too!” With the mention of something having gone wrong with Reginald’s soul, Henry shot up. 

“I’ll go get the doctor, you kids stay here!” He explained, focusing attention to Frisk and Chara. He ran off in the direction of where everyone else was, leaving Flowey, Frisk and Chara alone.

“So, um, how are you doing Flowey?” Frisk asked nervously. Chara glared at the Flower.

“It was your fault wasn’t it? That’s all you do.” They said. 

“No, I was just helping.” Flowey argued. 

“And you helped the underground by stealing all of our souls?”

“Chara! He did manage to break the barrier, cut him some slack.” Frisk stated. “Plus, he’s really trying to make amends.”

“your friend is right, y'know kiddo, that flower’s done some awful stuff.” Frisk turned around to see the voice coming from Sans.

“Hello smiley trashbag, when’d you get here?” Flowey asked.

“just now, thought i should poppy in.” He laughed. Flowey rolled his eyes. “anywho, i came here to inform you kiddo that your new friends seem, not so great.”

“What do you mean Sans? They’re really nice.” Frisk asked.

“niceness can only get a soul so far, especially for level 13 soul.” Frisk was shocked at this comment. “judging by your expression, you never even CHECKED them, kid, that’s like asking for a fight. i only got to check henry as he was searching for alph, so who knows about the others.”

“Sans, you’re being paranoid! If they haven't hurt us yet then, then won’t hurt us soon.” Sans sighed at what Frisk said.

“just be careful kid. You should not trust people who came from another world.” His tone had shifted from his usual one, to a serious tone. “anyways, i’m off to check in on pap.” 

Before Frisk could even speak again, he was gone.

~~~

Alphys had been in one of the tents nearest to the medical tent, talking with Undyne about some anime they hoped to watch since on the surface, it’d be much easier to access new anime. As they were discussing, Henry ran in, taking a moment to catch his breath.

“Woah there punk! What’s got you all riled up?” The tall fish lady asked. 

“Emergency...in the medical tent...danger!” Henry spoke between pants. Alphys jumped in surprise. The three of them rushed to the medical tent, throwing open the fabric entrance to see Right Hand Man trying to get up off the floor using the nearby chair as support.

“Oh my goodness! A-are you ok?!” The doctor asked in a panic, rushing over to help them man up.

“M’fine, jus’ a little after shock. Nothin’ I ‘aven’t ‘andled before.” Right answered in his usual thick accent while rubbing the left side of his head.

“Then why’d...your eye!” Henry started before cutting himself off as he noticed that Right’s left eye had gone from it’s normal turquoise color to a light blue shade, with even the red ring around the iris having changed to a teal color. Alphys looked up at the aussie before noticing the same change. 

“I-It’s true! Whatever you did must’ve changed your soul!” She explained, pressing a hand against Right’s chest and retracting it to let his soul be drawn out. 

His normal soul did pop out, but it had faint teal orbits circulating it. Along with his soul, a familiar light blue one also appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, it’s break had been sealed with solid DETERMINATION and even had more pumping through newly visible veins.

“Is that?! No it can’t be...unless…” The other human started before trailing off into his thoughts. Then he noticed the discarded leather book on the table, opened to the page with a familiar process. “You binded your soul with the chief’s, didn’t you?” Right looked away for a moment while raising a hand to the teal soul and stroking it lovingly. 

The soul glowed brighter.

“It was the only option, Reg’s jar got knocked over and it broke, he was goin’ to fade if ah didn’t do something.” He looked back. “Granted, the flower didn’t give me warnin’ that the process would hurt like a stab to the chest.”

“Yeah, the pain of the other’s death is reflected onto the bonder.” Henry receipted. The other three in the tent just stared at him. Even the way Reginald’s soul was facing and glowing felt like judgement. “Hey, I just read it somewhere.” 

“Well now what?” Undyne asked in a monotone way. 

“Now, we let Reginald soak up enough determination from Right’s soul until he’s ready to show himself, then he’s got to get used to being a ghost for a bit and if he understands what to do, he’ll fix himself.” Henry answered. He left the tent after finishing his sentence, wandering into the woods for a bit. 

“Well he was helpful, I mean, he didn’t even explain half the things I would have to do!” Spoke a disembodied voice in a British accent. Right looked around for a moment, Reg wasn’t there.

“Course not Righty, I’m dead remember? But now since you binded our souls, you can hear me! And I can hear you!”

Right was losing his mind wasn’t he? Maybe he needed more sleep? Well, if you can hear me, then did you hear what I said to bind our souls? Also, what can you see since you can only hear me? He thought.

“Nope! Didn’t hear a thing until your DETERMINATION powered me! And, well, I don’t know where I am, it’s just pitch black and I’m all tangled up in something, not sure what it is, I think that since it’s coming from my wound, it’s blood. Y’know it’s so nice to talk to you, I missed you a lot, I’m actually glad you were the last thing I saw before I ended up in this hellhole.”

Right laughed internally, tied up in your own blood? Yikes. He smiled, now knowing that his darling friend was at least somewhat happy.

~~~

“Hey Heny~ what’s wrong? Missed me?”

“God no, it’s just that...now Right Hand Man is caught up in this whole soul bond business. I don’t want him to know that you exist.” Henry responded, leaning against a tree.

“Well I know what can help that doesn't involve killing all your friends~” Player cheerfully said while reaching into their cloak pocket, only to pull out a-

[cellydawn]

Sans is a Darkner Theory (MASTERPOST)

I know that this theory has been touched on before, but I’d like to compile all the evidence from the original post with some additional stuff I found relevant into a single comprehensive post. To preface this, I would like to remind everyone that the merchandise based on Sans isn’t canon and that though Deltarune isn’t a direct sequel to Undertale, the Deltarune FAQ confirms that connections between the two are not precluded.

I’m going to divide this theory into three parts because I want to cover all my bases and there is an extensive amount of evidence, so without further ado, let me introduce you to my completely self-indulgent crazed ramblings!

WARNING: This is very long. Also, a bunch of speculation here so read at your own discretion.

1. Sans has connections to the Deltarune universe

Let’s list off what we know for sure:

Sans instantly recognizes the Player as a human and has knowledge of the Surface.

In the conversation at MTT Restaurant, Sans confesses that he knows the feeling of wanting to go home.

According to the Snowdin Shopkeeper, Sans and Papyrus showed up one day and “asserted themselves”.

In his lost soul dialogue, Sans says that “you’ll never see ‘em again”.

During his battle, Sans reveals that he “gave up trying to go back a long time ago” and that “getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore, either.”

After being defeated, Sans says that he’s “going to grillbys”. In Deltarune, the first place we see Sans is at Grillby’s. Sans’s house and the restaurant in Deltarune are the same as in Undertale (except for slight alterations like the lack of snow and...’sans)

Undertale!Sans and Deltarune!Sans have identical sprites.

After talking with the Clam Girl and learning of Suzy, you can go to Sans’s workshop and find a card sticking out from the back flap of the binder, described as a poorly drawn picture of three smiling people with the words "don't forget" written in lowercase. Deltarune’s credits song is titled “Don’t Forget”.

We can safely assume that Sans came from another place that is not the underground nor the surface; Sans misses his home and his friends there (presumably the people in the picture); Susie and Suzy are related somehow. Additionally, we can speculate that Sans and Papyrus may have arrived from another dimension. It might very well be the case that Sans originated from the Deltarune universe: Sans is completely resigned to the fact that he can’t alter the past no matter how hard he tries. Deltarune’s prophecy is all about inevitability. Sans’s defeatist attitude might stem from this.

Here’s some evidence that is more debatable:

River Person warns the Player to “Beware of the man who came from the other world”. It’s possible that the man in question is Sans.

I’ve noticed this isn’t brought up as much, but Sans’s word search is from ICE-E’s, which is a brand we only see in Deltarune. As far as we know, there is no trace of this brand in the Undertale universe. It definitely doesn’t appear to be one from a newspaper—it’s a distraction given to kids at restaurants.

BONUS: There’s a wacky inflatable mascot that resembles the ICE-E’s mascot in the dog shrine found in the skelebros’ house (console version)

During Shyren’s encounter, if the Player hums twice, the flavor text describes Sans selling tickets made of toilet paper. Now, we know that all the food in the Underground is made out of magic. Magic nourishes monsters, but it doesn’t pass through their bodies as waste. Why does Sans have toilet paper? 

Alphys seems to be in-the-know about Sans’s time-space shenanigans. In the epilogue of the pacifist ending, there’s some dialogue that suggests Alphys and Sans are quite familiar with each other. Both of them want to keep this a secret for whatever reason. In a neutral ending in which Alphys becomes the ruler, she is mournful of the deaths of Undyne, Alphys, and Asgore, but is glad that “at least Sans is here”. In the MTT quiz, if you pick “Don’t Know” to the question about her crush, Alphys reveals that she has done research on alternate universes and knows they exist. Both Sans and Alphys have connections to Gaster, who is quite prevalent in Deltarune. She, along with Sans (and coincidentally, the ICE-E word-search) are affected by Fun values and have their own Fun events. It seems a little random, but what if all the Fun events are Gaster-related? Are Alphys and Sans the two people mentioned in Entry 17?

So I think all of these pieces are sufficient in establishing Sans’s connection to Deltarune, though it is still unclear whether Sans came from Deltarune into Undertale or vice versa, OR Sans showed up from yet ANOTHER universe. That’s a theory for another time, though. On to the next part!

2. Sans has abilities/properties exclusive to Darkners

Some of the basics:

Sans can teleport, that is, use “shortcuts”, as evidenced by appearing both in front and behind the character in Snowdin, going to Grillbys, chasing after Papyrus in the wrong direction during the Pacifist ending scene, etc. Though Rouxls Kaard is shown to teleport, Lancer’s style of teleporting most closely resembles Sans’s. There are multiple instances in which Lancer stays ahead despite the Player passing him (for example, Lancer sneaking a sign past the party despite there only being one way to the door).

The door to Sans’s room greatly resembles the fast-travel doors that only Darkners are able to create. If you get the key to his room, the pitch-black and seemingly-endless walkway is not dissimilar to that of the supply closet. Papyrus also happens to liken Sans’s room to “another world”. All of the weird junk could be representative of various landmarks in the dark world.

Sans can manipulate shadows as seen through his first appearance (I also like to think that this is the reason why his “eye-lights” can disappear). This is most prevalent with Ralsei, Lancer, and the King obscuring parts of their body with shadows.

Darkners have colored portraits. At first glance, you would assume Sans doesn’t have one, but his head is already—conveniently—black and white.

If that wasn’t enough, let’s take a look at Sans’s battle in the Genocide Route. The most distinguishing feature of this fight is Sans’s ability to dodge your attacks, an ability that was thought to be unique to him. As it turns out, Darkners are also able to dodge (provided that they are warned). In order to actually beat Sans, you need to tire him out, and once you have dealt the final blow, he runs away. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

I believe that Sans actually survives the encounter as well. I’ve seen people claim that when he goes off-screen, the “dusting” sound effect signifies that he dies. This is wrong. That sound effect plays at the end of every battle, regardless of whether you spared or killed an enemy. I’d like to point out that the EXP you gain from the battle does not confirm Sans’s death. If you pick on Loox, you can get 5 extra EXP stacking up to 3 times. This means that killing an enemy is not required for you to gain EXP. I’ll also include that the kill counter doesn’t go up once Sans’s battle is over. It’s believed that this is the case because of Chara’s interference, though I don’t personally agree.

Let me also present this tidbit that I see no one else talking about: unlike literally any monster in the underground (besides Flowey, but he doesn’t count), Sans HAS NO HP BAR. When he gets hit, the damage numbers are present, but the HP bar that should have appeared above him is absent. Darkners don’t have a visible HP bar when struck.

Here’s some stuff that’s a little bit more controversial/speculative:

Lancer more or less implies that Darkners bleed, though we haven’t seen any examples of this yet. Ralsei doesn’t correct him, however. We know that the monsters in the light world don’t bleed (“Does it hurt to be made out of blood?”), and Susie’s comment (“Everybody bleeds, right?”) could be read as her trying to look cool for Lancer. Then, does Sans bleed?

It has been confirmed by @nochocolate​ that the red coming out of Sans is the exact same red as his ketchup bottle. This is a deliberate choice, but it doesn’t completely deconfirm that it may be blood because we don’t have other instances of blood to compare it to. Additionally, there is a mention of both blood and ketchup from Noelle: "This isn't another trick, is it, Kris? Like when you put ketchup on your arms and told me it was blood?" This might just be Toby Fox poking fun at the fandom or intentionally misdirecting us—really, it could go either way.

Sans’s mouth doesn’t move at all while he talks. It turns out that there may be an explanation for this! In Undertale, you can see the mouths of face sprites move while words are being spoken.

However, in Deltarune, both Lightners and Darkners don’t feature moving mouths in their textboxes! In instances wherein the full-body sprites are shown (Papyrus date, Alphys date, literally all the battles), the mouths don’t move either. So while his expression rarely changes, it might turn out that Sans DOES actually move his mouth while speaking, we just can’t see it. I’m a bit iffy on this theory since it varies from monster to monster in the Light World. Moreover, in Undertale, while Mettaton’s mouth doesn’t move at all (I’m going to disregard this since he is a robot) it’s very peculiar that the same can be said for Alphys.

Seriously, why doesn’t Alphys’s mouth move at all?? This HAS to be intentional, all of the other characters with a face sprite have moving mouths. Deltarune!Alphys doesn’t have one either. This brings up more questions than answers: Are certain monsters Lightners and others not? Is Alphys a Lightner? Did her “research” on alternate universes involve her actually traversing the multiverse? Am I overthinking this? In any case, it’s more stuff linking her to Sans...

If it turns out that not all monsters are Lightners, then it makes sense that Sans is so devoted to Papyrus, assuming that Papyrus is, in fact, a Lightner. No other person’s death makes as much of a difference as Papyrus’s concerning Sans’s behavior towards you. Alternatively, if Papyrus is not a Lightner, then it stands to reason why Sans is so depressed—he has no way of fulfilling his purpose. “Sans”, after all, means “without”.

The Light World has virtually no indications of monsters being able to use magic. In Undertale, it’s stated that magic is a method of self-expression for monsters, yet the only magic we see in Deltarune is from within the Dark World. If we compare Deltarune!Toriel’s stovetop to Undertale!Toriel’s, we see that the flavor text has omitted her use of fire magic. Susie is able to send out magic ax attacks, but this is likely due to the nature of the Dark World. I need to clarify that she is not the one that casts the Pacify spell at the end of a “neutral” run; she realizes that the King is tired, and waits for Ralsei to finish the job. Her remembering Pacify is exactly what it means, and Ralsei comments on it because he is expressing surprise that she cared to remember the spell she made fun of him for. I’ll also point out that the lack of magic would be the reason why the monster-human war ended differently/didn’t even happen, therefore allowing monsters to reside on the surface. If Sans did hail from this world, he wouldn’t have magic or would have very limited magical capabilities if he isn’t a Darkner.

Here is a piece of dialogue from Sans about the Underground. Interestingly, he differentiates himself from monsters, though this could just be because he doesn’t want to lump in Papyrus with them. The King has a similar line (“Show my son the monster you REALLY are!”). Monsters are possibly complicit in Darkners’ imprisonment. Is it possible that Sans is also resentful? Do Darkners exist in Undertale?

I feel like this interaction is worth mentioning. It’s entirely possible that Darkners were sealed so long ago in the Undertale universe that nobody even remembers their existence. 

Going back to Papyrus, if Sans is a Darkner, then it’s important to mention that Papyrus is not. We see Papyrus turn to dust when he is killed. For that reason, it seems that Sans and Papyrus are not biological brothers. I think this actually makes a lot of sense given how different they look. Yes, it’s true that Sans and Papyrus both have a skeleton motif, but they don’t look remotely similar. The face shape, the jaw, the build, the height, the eyes, the nasal cavity—nothing matches! Each monster species look the same, hell, even boss monsters like Toriel and Asgore resemble each other. Compared to Papyrus, Sans seems a lot more solid (his gut) AND he’s almost completely covered up save for his face (what are you hiding under there?).

Their bone attacks are distinct as well: Papyrus’s have a more angular aesthetic compared to Sans’s rounded edges.

In comparison, Toriel, Asgore, and Asriel have the same exact fire attack.

So, if Sans is a skeleton-themed Darkner, what type would he be?

3. Sans is the Ace of Spades

This part of the theory is a bit more conjectural, but I think there is enough evidence to put this in here.

Let’s start with how Sans, Lancer, and the King are similar:

Their sprites have the same color scheme: black, blue, white, and grey.

They sport uneven and toothy grins, are round and chubby (“if you eat too many hot dogs…you’ll probably get huge like me”), and have a hood.

The spades seem to have a smile motif. The grinning “mouth” of the Card Castle has the same number of “teeth” as Sans. Additionally, you can see portraits of spade people inside the castle. They’re all smiling.

These three are the only characters that can freely shift between being completely submerged in the shadows and becoming visible. The ability to cloak their body with shadows is a trait thought to be shared by all Darkners; Ralsei, after all, exhibits this all throughout our journey. What’s interesting is that there are clear parallels to Sans, Lancer, and the Kings’ shadows: they conceal their entire form and reveal it during their first appearances.

Sans and Lancer are shown to be able to teleport. I’m bringing this up again because it seems that not all Darkners can teleport without the use of a door as indicated by Ralsei’s confusion. If Ralsei has extensive knowledge of Darkner powers, and he is unaware that Lancer can teleport, then teleportation must be an ability unique to the spades, or, at the very least, card-themed Darkners.

Sans and the King’s fights are eerily similar. You need to fight/tire them out and listen to them monologue in order to progress. A major theme of both fights is how you can’t truly spare them. Appearing worn out from the battle, they appeal for mercy. Should the Player fall for it, they launch an unavoidable attack that deals catastrophic damage. Additionally, before his fight, the King employs the use of silent text, just like Sans during his judgments and his intimidating moments. Also worth noting: in both fights, the battle box is manipulated deliberately to suit the needs of the Player (for our last attack against Sans) and the King (his weird stomach tongue latching onto the box). Sans is also capable of stretching the box as seen with the attack before his special attack.

Lancer and Sans, in particular, parallel each other quite nicely. They are both playful jokers, they both own bikes, and both of these characters have a strange relationship with food (particularly with red condiments).

The two just so happen to have stands to sell questionable foodstuffs.

Sans is evidently constantly eating:

Undyne: “And his brother kept making 100’s of midnight snacks.”

Papyrus: “GRILLBY’S… IT’S DARK AND FULL OF GREASE. PURGATORY OF FRIES… HAMBURGER ABYSS… ANYWAY, MY BROTHER PRACTICALLY LIVES HERE.”

Big-Mouth: “Sans is interesting. He has told me about all kinds of incredible foods. But, despite his knowledge, he always orders the worst burger off the menu.”

And we know that Lancer barely eats at all. He doesn’t think that having three glasses of milk as his dinner is unusual, he’s not allowed to eat the Dark Candy, he pretends to eat the salsa in the stump, and he has to get fed worms by Rouxls because his father forgot to feed him. Sans and Lancer both have terrible eating habits. I’m not sure what this is supposed to mean, but you know, food for thought.

Why the Ace of Spades:

The designs of both Lancer and the King originated from @kanotynes​ who created an entire deck of cards. The Ace of Spades does not have a distinct design.

French manufacturers standardized the four playing card suits. “Sans” and “Lancer” are both French words.

It symbolizes uncleanliness and depression (Sans’s socks and his room, the latter is pretty self-explanatory), omens (River Person’s warning, Flowey alerting us to not reveal our abilities to him, “you’re going to have a bad time”), and death (the reason for his skeletal nature).

In Blackjack, Aces have a numeric value of 1 (matching his stats) or 11 (the same number of unique pre-battle dialogue from Sans, though this may just be a lucky coincidence). The Eleventh Hour is an idiom meaning nearly too late. Sans’s fight is your last possible chance at quitting before the world ends and your game gets corrupted.

Remember that bit where Sans has toilet paper? In the Card Castle, you can see that a bathroom, the Royal Flush, is occupied. Darkners have to digest their food. On a related note, the royal flush is a poker term for an A(14), K(13), Q(12), J(11), and 10 hand. Interestingly, in the sequence before his “special attack”, we see Sans disappear and reappear at the edges of the screen 14 times (again, probably just a neat coincidence).

The ace is paradoxically the least and most valuable card (in Blackjack, Poker, etc.), paralleling Sans being the weakest and strongest enemy.

Ace of Spades also represents “an end”, and Sans is there at the end of our journey, judging us before Asgore’s fight. He is also responsible for initiating the phone calls at the end of every neutral route.

Okay, this one is a little bit of a joke. In this deleted tweet, Toby said that Sans would be too lazy for sex, causing fans to speculate that he is “ace” lol.

BONUS: Sans was originally intended to run a casino. This one’s a bit self-explanatory. Also explains his poker face.

The most important piece of evidence, however, is this: the French expression fagoté comme l'as de pique means "(badly) dressed like the ace of spades." Checks out.

On Gaster Blasters:

Gaster Blasters might have a spade motif. If you connect the natural curves of the eyes and the top of the nose ridge, you get a spade shape. The GB's crests resemble King Spade's crown and possibly the neck/shoulder part of his cape.

A GB's nose resembles King Spade's when he isn't snarling at you; this might also apply to Sans if he stopped smiling (mouth shape affects the shape of their noses). 

Also on the topic of noses, Sans, Lancer, and King Spade's noses translate to the same shape in their overworld sprites.

The fog from Snowdin, which has been theorized to be either a front-facing GB or Sans' face (and honestly I lean more towards it being Sans's face because of the eye shape) has a hidden line underneath and above the nose. Perhaps Sans resembles the Gaster Blasters and the Spades more than we anticipated?

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....

[keelywolfe]

FIC: All A Bad Dream Spinning In Your Head

Summary: Edge wakes up

Notes: In this chapter there is some violence. Angst! Drama! We got it all!

Tags: Spicyhoney, Brotherly Relationships, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Pregnancy, More Angst, Violence

Warnings:  Implied underage pregnancy. Implied miscarriages. Past Trauma.

~~*~~

Chapter List

What Will Be, Will Be

Something To Say, But Nothing Comes

Can’t Go On, Thinking Nothing’s Wrong

Seldom All They Seem

Voices Are Heard But Nothing Is Seen

Winter Makes You Laugh a Little Slower

That Place Where You Can’t Remember and You Can’t Forget

Casting Its Shroud Over All We Have Known

There’s a Place I Like To Hide

~~*~~

Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Something was wrong.

Edge could sense it, feel it in the marrow of his bones through the heaviness of sleep.

Wakefulness was slow in coming and Edge struggled to shake the darkness away. Even tangled in mental cobwebs and shadows, he knew this was not a natural sleep. Years of living on the streets trained him very well to quickly snap awake at the first twitch of anything suspicious and at this moment, his instincts were wailing, shrieking that something was very, very wrong.

His sockets were barely slit open enough to see as Edge fought off that unnatural pull of drowsiness. Around him everything was too soft, offering no traction and he struggled through cloyingly padded surroundings to where light came in through the door, belatedly remembering the pillow nest.

He came tumbling out of the closet, fighting to get his footing. His limbs felt stupidly clumsy, as if they weren’t his own, and when he tried to stand, he nearly collapsed back to the ground, staggering on unwieldy legs, looking around wildly for the attacker.

It could be nothing else, he never fell asleep like this even when he was ill. This was deliberate, one of his enemies seeking to make him vulnerable. With enormous effort he managed to summon his own magic, a wavering shield of bones hovering before him. First hold back any incoming attacks, next form his own, if outnumbered, look for an escape, never let ‘em corner you, and don’t ya ever panic under fire, never, we call monsters who panic dust, never--

His brother’s voice in the back of his mind faded. There was nothing, no one else was in the room. Only furniture, the bed, the dresser, the tidy line of possessions along the wall from when Rus emptied out the—

There was no one else in the room.

Rus.

Edge bit off a snarled curse and headed for the door. He still felt drugged, clinging to the banister as he made his clumsy way downstairs, trying to shake off the sedation that still clung like a tarry shadow.

Then it felt as if something around him gave with a soggy pop. One minute he was struggling to stay upright, then he was snapping alert; whoever was casting either let the spell go or had their concentration broken, and there was only one way to find out which. Edge jumped the railing, landing lightly on the ground floor and ran outside.

One of the first things he’d learned when training for the guard was to assess a situation before engaging. Running in blindly was a good way to very quickly dust.

But no amount of training could have prepared him for seeing Rus lying crumpled in the snow, looking too-small and vulnerable with the snarling clash of fighting far too close by from two people he would never have thought to see in Underswap.

Undyne. His Undyne, the air around her bristling with summoned spears, launching in a pattern only she knew at her opponent and suddenly the reason for all his earlier muddled confusion came clear. An Underfell Knight Knight, their twisting, smoking armor already telling a tale of blaster damage as they struggled to hold off Undyne’s ferocity. Knight Knights were formidable foes and could force another Monster to sleep, dusting them in the midst of their unnatural slumber.

Whatever happened, Edge was coming into the middle of it all and Rus was too close to the brawl by far, the pallor of his bones stark against the bright orange of sweatshirt, nearly blending into the snow.

Undyne didn’t even look at him, caught up in the dance of battle. She barked out with savage glee, “Hey, nerd! ‘bout time you showed up! Keep back, take care of your boy!” Her needle-sharp grin was as vicious as her words. “I can handle this fucker.”

Of that he had no doubt. Even as he watched, the Knight Knight fell to one knee, her great shoulders heaving as she barely held off the last round of spears that poured down on her.

There was no time for strategizing, one wrong step would send the combatants trampling over Rus’s crumpled form. Edge flung a hand towards Rus, calling up blue magic and taking a firm hold of his soul to pull him closer. The limp way he hung in Edge’s gravitational grip was distantly horrifying, his panic buried beneath practiced control; he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted from the battle. Edge pulled Rus in until he could gather him into his arms. Even as pregnant as he was, his weight was inconsequential, nearly as light as the pillows he’d carried not long ago.

“Rus?” Edge said, jostling him lightly, then harder when he didn’t respond, “Rus!”

His sockets fluttered briefly, and he let out a breathy snort but didn’t wake. His face twisted into a grimace as the swell under his sweatshirt stirred, the baby moving restlessly. A quick Check confirmed both their stats were full and holding steady, and Edge didn’t have time to consider their text, Rus’s an unconscious blank and Lucy’s, *almost*. They were alive and unhurt, that was all that mattered.

Most of his attention was necessarily on Undyne still hammering attacks down on the Knight Knight. A sweep of her arm sent another wave of spears denting into already battered armor and a couple embedding into the siding of the Swap brother’s house with a quivering thud.

There was no way for him to assist her, even if she’d allow it; he’d have to put Rus down, and that would be a desperate move reserved for the moment it became apparent she was losing.

Behind him, Edge could hear others running, the residents of this Snowdin drawn by the sound of battle into a loose crowd; the Swap brother’s house was in the middle of town, and the innocent inhabitants of this world were milling foolishly close, adults and children who should be safely in their homes were instead watching with fearful curiosity, frozen in the ankle-deep snow as they stared.

“Keep back!” Edge barked. He cast a wall of bones around them, concentrating to keep the intent low, the goal was to keep the fools away, not to injure them. In his arms, Rus moaned, low and dazed, and Edge shifted his ungainly, limp form to hold him closer, murmuring, “I have you, you’re safe, Rus, you’re safe.”

There was no telling if he understood and no time for anything else. More shouts and Edge glanced to the side to see Underswap’s Alphys and Blue running from the direction of Waterfall. They were going to be too late, the Knight Knight was no longer attacking, only struggling to hold Undyne’s back.

Until a sudden shield of bones that weren’t his own rose up between them, too far away yet to be Blue’s and the magic signature was one Edge knew intimately, far stronger and more immovable than nearly anyone would guess.

“stop!” Red barked. He was crouched on the roof like the gargoyle Rus so often called him, one eye light strobing with nauseating intensity as he held back Undyne’s attacks. “knock it off, fish lips!”

“What the fu—get out of my way, you rotten little cunt!” Undyne howled, pounding against the shield. Abruptly, Edge understood; Undyne wouldn’t hesitate to strike a killing blow and while a portion of denying that was not wanting the children of Underswap to see such a thing, there was another, more pertinent reason to keep this Knight Knight alive.

“Don’t kill her!” Edge snapped. He read her furious look clearly, grudgingly mollified only when he added, “She can’t give us answers if she’s dust!”

"You look after your baby mama," Undyne shot back. She shook back the fronds of her fins from her damp face, sweat dripping from the ends despite the chilly air. “He went down like a stone when chuckles here grabbed at him.” Her sudden grin was appreciative. “Your little honey got off a hell of a shot before he dropped, though.”

Red stepped out of a shortcut at ground level at the same moment Blue dashed up with Alphys at his heels. With a flick of his wrist, Red sent another wave of bones out to surround the Knight Knight, pinning her down. His brother barely gave their prisoner another glance as he came towards Edge, his fierce gaze on Rus.

“how is he?” Red asked curtly, even as he cast his own Check. Rus flinched from it, turning to press his face into the front of Edge’s shirt.

Blue was pale with worry and Edge dropped into a crouch, enough to allow him to see his brother, watched as Blue ripped off his gloves and tossed them into the snow, his slim hands fluttering over his brother, from his face down to the rounded bulge of his belly. “Papy?” Blue implored, “Brother?”

“He’s all right and so is the baby,” Edge told him. Automatically, he tightened his grip when Blue made to take his brother away. Not that he couldn’t carry him, Edge was well familiar with Blue’s strength, but the even with the Knight Knight contained, his instincts were still inflamed, demanding he keep Rus close to him, shrieking out a pulse of protect, protect, protect.

Blue started to protest, swallowing it back when Red touched his shoulder and shook his head. He was obviously displeased, but didn’t argue when Edge stood again, settling Rus more comfortably into his arms. The solid weight of him was reassuring as was the occasional thump of the baby kicking, anchoring Edge when his strongest impulse was to keep them safe.

Much as he wanted to take Rus into the house, away from all of this, they needed answers. He was unconscious but his stats were fine and so were the baby’s, and Edge was unwilling to leave him alone in the house and equally unwilling to allow the Knight Knight out of his sight.

Undyne and Alphys were currently eyeing each other suspiciously, literally in their cases as they only had one apiece. To Undyne, Edge asked, “How did you get here?”

She shrugged, “Beats the fuck out of me. Tagged along with your shitty brother. What in the name of Asgore’s balls do you have in your basement, looked like a fucking black hole.”

“You went through a black hole to help out your pal here?” Alphys looked mildly impressed. Nearby, the other locals were still milling around curiously and Alphys turned towards them, shaking a scarred fist as she barked at the lingering lookie loos. “Go on, show’s over!”

Reluctantly, they drifted off and it was a stroke of luck that they were out of sight when the Knight Knight suddenly collapsed into dust, even her armor crumbling away.

“Whoa, fuck!” Undyne yelped, leaping back. “There was no fucking way I did enough damage to dust her!”

“you didn’t,” Red said, disgusted, waving a hand to dispersing the jagged bones caught in the dust. “that’s one of asgore’s little toys, suicide tag in case one of his private guard gets caught. like we said, can’t ask dust any questions.”

“Asgore? Your Asgore?” Blue rounded on Red accusingly, "Where were you? Where were both of you, how could you let this happen?"

Edge met his reproachful gaze as it swung to him, ready to accept his fault. Blue was right, they were to blame, and he’d sworn that Underfell would never touch Rus and their child and yet here it was dusting at their feet. Guilt was thick in his throat, there was no apology he could make, no excuse for not protecting his…his…Rus, and the baby.

Assistance came from an unexpected source as Alphys spoke up.

"Not his fault," Alphys said, nudging at the dust with her boot, "Knight Knights got some specialized skills, they—whoa!!" She recoiled as the dust began to bubble, dissolving away the snow beneath it into foul sludge.

"might want to keep away from that, who the fuck knows what it can do. knight knights can put you under is what she's saying," Red said tersely. "makes ‘em good for some espionage with a side order of kidnappin’. someone's been watchin', boss." He gave Undyne a pointed look.

She snorted loudly and shook her head, unoffended. “Not me, nerd, and you already know Alphys keeps an eye out. She called me. Told me one of Asgore’s skeeves was hanging around your place. Figured I’d better check it out.”

“And you didn’t contact me?” Edge snapped.

Another unapologetic shrug. “Woulda, if I’d had time. I showed up and saw that one going into your basement…” She trailed off uncertainly. “I think it was your basement, I don’t—” she shook her head as if trying to rattle the memory loose. “It was like there was no door and then there was and then there wasn’t.”

“that’s when she came lookin’ for me,” Red threw out. “didn’t have time to argue so i brought her along. lucky i was headed home.”

Lucky. Edge didn’t normally prescribe to luck but lately, there seemed to be a slim thread of it for him, as though someone on high were watching. Instead of relief, it made him shiver unpleasantly. The margin of failure was painfully high; if Undyne hadn’t found Red, he would been confronting the Knight Knight still under her influence, trying to protect Rus from whatever her intentions were. She’d tried to grab him, Undyne said, and killing him for his meager LV was likely the kindest possible ending to that. His and Lucy’s, for what little quantity an unborn child might have.

Nausea churned in his soul, thick and sour. Edge only realized how tightly he was holding Rus when he let out a whimper of complaint and stirred. Everyone stood stilled, waiting, but his sockets stayed closed even as he curled in closer to Edge, nuzzling at the front of his shirt with a soundless sigh. Closer to sleep than true unconsciousness and some of the tension wound tight around Edge’s soul loosened.

When Rus didn’t bother to fully wake, Red spoke up again, “when we got to the basement, the door lock was busted. i took a sec to set up a little welcome for anyone else who might try it and scrambled the coordinates, but—” Red shook his head. “when we got here, the honey bun was about shoving a blaster up her ass ‘fore he dropped, but it didn’t take her down. undyne stepped up to the plate, think you know what happened from there.”

“How did she see the door?” Edge demanded, “No one else ever has.”

“dunno,” Red shrugged, scratching at the back of his skull. “i’ve never known how that fucking things works. barely even know how we ended up with it, it just was.”

“Yeah, exactly none of that made any fucking sense, Papyrus,” Undyne snorted. She cast another glance at Alphys who met it evenly, “I don't got a clue what's going on here.” She looked around, visibly disconcerted, at the clean, tidy houses in Underswap, the Gyftmas lights draped over eves and trees, and when she shuddered, it was not from the cold. “Where the fuck are we even?”

“Papyrus?” Alphys frowned, her scaly brow drawing down, “Your name is Papyrus, too? Sans, what the fuck--?”

“Why don’t we go inside and have some tea?” Blue interrupted, brightly determined. There was a certain panic layered beneath it, understandably, this was not an eventuality any of them had prepared for. “Papy shouldn’t be out in the cold anyway.”

“yeah,” Red agreed. Already there was a certain calculated gleam in his eye lights that was a relief to see. Surely if Blue didn’t have a plan for dealing with Alphys and Undyne then Red did, he always had plans, contingencies for his contingencies, always, “he don’t need to be out here, bro, get him inside and we-all can chat.”

Before Edge could take a single step, Rus gave a snorting sort of inhale, his sockets fluttering. He looked up with hazy eye lights, staring at Edge with pained befuddlement. “edge? wha…ohhhh,” Rus moaned, curling around his belly at the same moment a sudden burst of wet warmth soaked through his sweatshirt, rivulets running over Edge’s hands, dripping brilliant orange patters into the snow.

“What happened?” Edge said, dumbly, the sickening blood-warmth on his hands making his gorge rise. In his arms, Rus was whimpering, his fingers twisting in his soaked sweatshirt as he clutched at his swollen middle. Sweat trickled down Rus’s skull as he tensed, his pretty face twisted into a grimace.

“fuck! what happened is you need to get him inside now,” Red snapped back, “fucking go!”

Edge turned on his heel and nearly ran into the house. Slipping through slush and snow with the others right behind him, and all he could hear was Rus whining in pain again, feel the squelching wetness on his hands as he carried the ones dearest to his soul inside. Even as he ran, he called up a Check, and their stats were holding steady, but it was the text showing in his child’s that tipped him into panic.

*Now.*

tbc

[ama1gamates]

theory:deltarune is one of gaster’s experiments

apologizing ahead of time if this is written in a disorganized manner, also the fact that i veer off topic a couple times to just talk about ways the games are related. its very difficult to organize my thoughts when there is so much to consider despite the fact that this is like my fourth time rewriting this (woops)

theory: deltarune is one of gaster’s experiments. like the entire thing is an experiment.

if you’ve never heard who gaster is in relation to undertale, you should probably look into that first because that’s what this entire thing is about. tldr; he was the royal scientist before alphys, fell into his own experiment and “died” or disappeared. he is presumaby sans’s and papyrus’s father or a part of the family (assuming that w.d. stands for wingdings going along with the whole “named after the font they talk in” thing, especially considering the fact that the journal 17 hidden room is written in wingdings). although we don’t exactly know when gaster is in the timeline of the backstory, we can assume he was hired as the royal scientist to figure out how to get them out of the underground. we can probably assume that he worked with determination, considering that the one time he is visible in the game he appears kind of drippy, like the fact that that’s exactly why amalgamates even happened in true lab. also, the determination extraction machine - was gaster’s. there are blueprints in sans’s workshop, written in a code that frisk cant understand, as well as a broken machine covered by a sheet; we’re assuming that’s an old determination machine and sans translated the blueprints for alphys (she even says in a journal entry “i used the blueprints”). if the “creation” gaster fell in wasn’t the core, it might have been this, because once again he appears all melty like the amalgamates or undyne when she dies. gaster’s appearances in undertale kind of seem like random easter eggs about a character from the past, but i’m not convinced it’s unimportant; in both deltarune and undertale you cannot name your character gaster, it just restarts the game.

now onto why i think deltarune is an experiment: when you download the game onto your computer, the file saves as “SURVEY_PROGRAM.exe” which actually scared me a little bc i was scared i just downloaded a virus, plus the fact that the license agreement when i was installing it said “YOU AGREE TO EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS FROM NOW ON” or something like that. terrifying! and once you open the game it does survey you, asking you to create a vessel and name it as well as yourself, unlike undertale where you only name the first fallen human, chara. plus there is someone that talks you through the whole intro asking you these things, which seems very separate from the narrator of everything else that happens in the game. and i think that this is how gaster was experimenting with human souls; when you die and when you save, the game doesn’t focus on determination like undertale does. (the flipside of this is alphys experimenting how to break the barrier with monster souls and determination).

MY BIGGEST REASON WHY I THINK THIS THOUGH: journal entry 17 from gaster. the entire thing is talking about a darkness growing stronger and cutting deeper, saying “i think this next experiment is going to be very very interesting.”  THE ENTIRE PLOT OF DELTARUNE CHAPTER ONE IS RESTORING BALANCE TO THE WORLD BECAUSE OF A FOUNTAIN OF DARKNESS MAKING THE DARK WORLD GROW STRONGER.

it’s also just very Funny(tm) to me that undertale has the surface and the underworld, and that deltarune has the light world and the dark world. there’s just! a very specific! kind of parallel there! like someone might have based it off of the concept of having a surface world and a world underneath!

one other fun thing: clam girl, a rare-appearance npc, talks about her neighbor “suzy” and how the protag should meet her. and once you talk to her, if you go to sans’s workshop, one of the drawers contains a poorly drawn photo of three smiling people the protag doesn’t recognize that says “don’t forget”. but only if you talk to clam girl! also goner clam girl, an even rarer npc, says that u never met suzy but the time to do so is “fast approaching.” i just think it’s interesting ;)))

about kris: i’m thinking that the soul kris out at the end is the player’s? maybe that’s a common theory, idk it probably is. like gaster just chose a human on the lightener world and said “here you go! here’s a soul! have fun being my experiment!” and this soul has more determination than kris; i saw this pointed out in a video, but the first time you play the game and you get to the first save point, you literally overwrite a save file under the name “kris.” in undertale, only the person with the most determination has the ability to save, which is why the only time flowey could save is when he had six human souls in his control, so we can assume the player has more determination than kris. also the fact that kris literally doesn’t emote at ALL the entire game, to me that makes it rlly clear that the soul they rip out is Not Good.

of course i don’t have all the answers! and this isn’t without holes, because yeah our information about gaster is limited and we only have one chapter of deltarune. something i realized today though: in undertale when you read the signs in waterfall, the last one mentions an angel who has seen the surface, presumaby asriel, come will back to free them all (which does happen in true pacifist!) the only other time an angel is mentioned in undertale is when you talk to gerson about the delta rune emblem; apparently the other bleaker take on the angel is an angel of death who’s a harbinger of destruction. SO ITS REAL INTERESTING I THINK that in the deltarune prophecy, it mentions that when the trio restores balance, they will “banish the angel’s heaven?” and somehow even after we closed the fountain (which btw i’m not convinced it worked) we don’t know what that means or what it’s referring to. but if we’re going off of the thought that undertale’s “angel” is asriel...... we bring in the theories about ralsei and asriel having something to do with each other, considering their names being anagrams and looking somewhat similar. also the fact that theyre probably related and asriel will make an appearance in the game in the future makes me nervous about that. THIS COULD BE A THING! WHO KNOWS. just wanted to point it out as well even though i don’t think it has anything to do with gaster.

ANYWAYS THIS IS A MESS but those are my thoughts on the ways that undertale and deltarune are related!!! and if anyone wants to add their thoughts feel free, i’m open to discussion

[coolbattlegirl]

The Diamond Rose Theatre Chapter 2: Gossip

Turns out the person they called "Commander" was a sweet-looking monster (at least, he appeared to be). He seemed to be the theatre's Logistics Manager. They wore a circular crown on their head and had golden eye lights that reminded Horror of the sun. "Hello, Commander. Sci told me you might be able to help me."

The Commander looked up from their book and gave Horror a kind smile. "Please call me Dream. Commander makes me sound old." Dream let out a soft chuckle at the title.

Horror nodded and asked Dream about the previous female lease, Chara. Dream smiled sadly at the mention of the previous female lead. He guesses that they used to know each other.   While the   Commander wasn't that interested in the topic about Chara, Dream had a lot to say about Lust.

"Lust's personality is nice, but he isn't that close with other members of the theatre. Yet the gentlemen in town flock to him and bring with them all sorts of gifts as if he is the queen. Or perhaps he deserves it? After all, he is like a queen on stage most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Horror murmured to himself, the detective could tell that there was something hidden in those words when Dream said that. Commander seemed to have heard Horror as he nodded in response.

"Yes, most of the time.  But  l ately, his performance has been fluctuating. Perhaps that's why the director thinks he's inferior to Chara. After all, that woman might have died, but she delivered a flawless performance,"  Commander frowned as is he was lost is some bad memories, before shaking his head.

"Yet I think they are essentially the same.  After all, Lust is also a lunatic who said, 'If I can't deliver a flawless performance, I'd rather die before the curtains are drawn.'"

Horror cocked his head in curiosity, "Also?" He questioned Dream. The commander nodded and sighed, "Yeah, Chara used to say the same thing as Lust... He reminds me of her you know." Horror hummed in response as he wrote down the new information into his notepad. Still, he wondered what made Lust say such a thing.

Before Horror could ask Dream any more questions, Killer walked into the room. "Yo! Horror!" His old friend called out to him. The detective turned to find his friend walking towards the duo. "Guess he finished rehearsal already."

The theatre's rehearsal took much longer than Horror anticipated, but Horror wasn't going to complain. Afterall the show must be perfect. From the corner of his eye, he saw the cast members come to the lobby after the rehearsal, but they didn't look well, almost as if something upsetting had happened.

Horror scanned the crowd to see if he could spot the famous main lead Lust, but to his disappointment he found nothing. Killer seemed to notice his friend's disappointment and gave him a sad smile, "Our queen wasn't interested in his people at all today," Killer said regretfully as he couldn't keep the promise he made earlier.

" Perhaps that crown isn't suitable for him anymore. He isn't Chara; even Nightmare may be better than him, " Killer exclaimed in anger before he could go on a rant a voice interrupted them, "Perhaps he only needs more time." A tall man wearing a dark purple suit stood behind Killer. Horror took note that  they were well-dressed and the detective could see the pleasing humility in his eyes, which Horror has so often seen in the past.

"Killer had told me why you're here. I'm sorry that you've come all this way for nothing." The old monster smiled at Horror before introduced himself as the director. "It's nice to meet you, X."

The director nodded before furrowing his brows. "I had no idea that Lust was admired by that gentleman. If I had known I'd never have let that happen.  Lust has been overwhelmed by those crazy love letters lately, and so he had no choice but to cancel all of his dates."  He sighed in exaggeration. But the humble smile returned quickly. "But please inform the gentleman that he will get better soon. We will await his visit with the most perfect performance." X then handed Horror a beautifully framed ticket holder before politely taking his leave.

Horror stared wide-eyed at the ticket. Snapping out of it, he quickly stored it into his inventory for safekeeping. He then felt Killer pat his shoulder in reassurance. Horror smiled softly, "I'm thinking about going around and asking some of the other cast members about Lust."

Just as Horror was about to begin his quest when he felt someone gently tug on his jacket. Horror turned around to find a human with short brown hair, wearing a small frown on their face. "The love letters had  nothing  to do with it!" They whispered to him, their voice sounded agitated. Horror blinked owlishly at them, "Who-?" Killer pulled Horror slightly closer to him before whispering that  this was the theatre's stuntman, Frisk, an admirer of Lust.  

Frisk looked up and down at Horror before nodding to themself. "So you're the detective I heard about, right?" Horror nodded in response, eager to hear what Frisk had to say. If they were a fan of Lust surely they must have information about them.

Almost as if they read his mind they started to talk about Lust, "   You see  if   the director didn't compare him with Chara so much, and didn't give him so much pressure, he wouldn't have hit rock bottom.  And when he desperately needed help," Frisk looked at the people around them and started to speak louder, "You all actually go and choose to support that imposter! You bunch of-!"

Someone next to Frisk gave them a tug and stopped them from going on. "S-Sorry, Frisk's j-just agitated. T-They doesn't t-think before s-speaking. T-they mean no h-harm to Nightmare."

Horror saw that i t was a yellow lizard monster, who wore a white lad coat.  Her eyes roamed among the apprehensive people until Frisk grumbled unhappily in their grip,  "Don't worry, Alphys. Since you've helped me before, I won't tell the director what Frisk just said."  The girl whom Killer called Alphys, let out a sigh of relief before nodding and pulling Frisk away.

As the duo watched the two cast members walk away Horror looked at Killer, hoping for him to tell him who they were. "That's Alphys. She's usually in the theatre's stage control. She's a good friend of Frisk. She's really smart though she's a little difficult to befriend cause of how shy she is."

Horror had to give Alphys some credit for a shy monster, she looked like she was ready to defend her friends if needed.

"That poor boy still doesn't understand..."

Horror turned around to find a skeleton wearing a blue scarf. "Pardon?" Horror asked the new person, who in return shook their head, "It's the goddess of destiny who gave up on their queen,  not us." Horror tilted his head, trying to understand what they meant by that.

"Killer who's this?" Killer looked up and perked up at the sight of them. "O-Oh! They're Error! He's the theatre's stand-in!" Horror couldn't help but notice the slight blush that made its way onto his friend's cheek.

The detective couldn't help but shoot Killer a knowing smile. Killer stared wide-eyed at Horror before teasingly punching his arm. "Quiet you!" He couldn't help but laugh at Killer's reaction. Horror then turned back to Error, to give the stand-in his attention.

"Nightmare has cleaned up his mess time and time again. But thanks to him, Nightmare's performance has improved a lot from the extended rehearsals."  Error looked off at the distance as if they were thinking back,  "When I was waiting offstage today, I didn't even realize it was Nightmare and not Lust on stage."

Horror frowned to himself at the new information,  "So... It was the understudy on stage? Not Lust?"

He wondered why Lust wasn't on the stage today.

[northwind4]

Dearest WingDings（23）

*It's a story about HandPlates! Gaster and Wing! Gaster

*I’ll appreciate it very much if you point out the mistakes I made in the translation, all kinds of help are welcomed!

*previous & next

*Handplates by @zarla-s

Wing!Gaster by me

——————————————

Chapter23

“We never say Goodbye.”

416

G: Do you know where you will be teleported to?

W: Maybe returning to the void or some other world

W: I have some feeling...but I’m not sure

417

It had been a week since Wing confessed that he was about to disappear, and the influence of time and space became more apparent on him. It became more and more difficult for the black monster to maintain his shape, and sometimes the body parts would even turned translucent.

“Feels like the countdown.”He laughed at himself, and Gaster knocked on his head.

“Don’t make things like you’re going to die.”

418

G: I should attach something to you

G: Then I can find you no matter where you go

Wing held out his left hand.

W: Here you go

G: (*working)

G: Alright.

Wing saw a silver ring on his ring finger.

G: Fine. You can never escape from me.

G: This one is full of DETERMINATION.

419

G: Remember the wedding of Alphys and Undyne before?

W: Of course, they threw the bouquet at my face...nice shot!

G: And a flower stuck in the crack on your head

W: And I had to leave it there till the end of the party

G: (*smiled)It suited you well.

420

G: I changed my mind

G: I want you to dance with me in front of everyone

W: Of course that’s fine-

G: After you come back.

421

W: ...

W: But I...

G: Stop acting like those messy TV shows.

G: Listen, there’s nothing to be afraid of

G: You saved me, you know?

G: We can say that you also saved the world...

G: Be confident, you are a Gaster, you can do anything.

G: WE can do anything.

422

G: Even if-even if the worst thing happens

G: Promise me not to give up hope

G: Remember the world where there are always people who love you

G: I mean...you have me.

G: At first it was I who opened the cracks of the void. I brought you here.

G: Then I will be able to bring you back

G: Just walk towards the light—like the first time. It’s not difficult.

W: ...

The black monster hugged his love and sighed softly.

W: Yeah...

He rested his head on Gaster’s shoulder.

W: My hero.

423

G: You will wear dress when dance with me

W: OK

G: Wear every dress recommended by Alphys

W: OK

G: And...

W: OK

G: ...

He buried his face in the black fluid.

423.5

W: Flags, so many flags

G: HEY

424

It was a beautiful day as usual. Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming.

W: ...

W: Two news, my love.

G: ?

W: The good one, I can feel my original world calling me.

G: And the bad one...

W: NOW.

425

The chair fell to the ground, and Gaster threw himself into Wing’s arms. He could feel the other one’s body getting thinner and thinner.

G: You said, if you want to keep something...

G: Just hug him tight.

426

G: ...

G: Sorry, I’m not trying to stop you from going home

G: It’s been so long...it must be happy

G: I just...

Wing hugged him tight with his half-disappeared arm.

W: I know

They just weren’t ready to say goodbye.

No matter how long they had prepared.

427

The black fluid seemed to be evaporating, and Wing became more transparent. The sun shined through his body.

G: Oh my-you know how much I’m afraid of this

G: ...

G: No, forget it

G: Remember not to give up hope

G: What’s more, don’t forget us

Wing nodded solemnly, now he couldn’t even make a sound.

428

No matter how much you have prepared before, time always seemed to be too little at the last moment.

“Say hello to the children.”Gaster said finally.

The black monster used a smile to suppress the urge to cry.

—I certainly will.

They kissed each other, and the feeling was like butterflies in the air.

—I will introduce everyone to them.

Wing’s vision was being blurred, and he tried to see Gaster’s face clearly.

—I will tell them what miracle I have met.

His body flowed away from Gaster’s fingers, like water or quicksand.

—That would be

He disappeared into the light.

—a wonderful story.

429

Gaster stood in the empty room, and the sunlight made him dizzy.

He sat down, taking some time to react.

The chair next to him was empty.

There were two mugs on the table.

The coat was hung at the door.

Wing was no longer here.

430

The underlying fear rose from his heart, and he remembered what Wing had said.

“In a world I saw the Gaster was erased...and then everyone forgot him.”

He dared not imagine what would happen if he forgot Wing.

Gaster thought he had to do something to make sure... if he couldn’t believe his memory...

The used things, the photos taken together, the data registered in the computer, everything could prove the existence of Wing, but in Gaster’s eyes they were so pale and weak.

If all these were not enough—

He suddenly thought of something.

431

Gaster rushed into his private laboratory and opened the cabinet with rows of bottles and tubes in it.

A glass tube was drawn out, and the black fluid lay inside quietly—it was the part Gaster extracted from Wing in the name of scientific research when the two first met.

It did not disappear together with Wing.

Gaster removed the lid and poured it out. The fluid hesitated for a moment and then fell in his hand. It crawled around Gaster’s hands for a few times, and finally formed a ring around his ring finger.

A unique ring.

Gaster couldn’t tell if he was smiling or crying, or both.

Wing would come back, he knew it.

Here were signs to guide him back.

432

Wing suddenly woke up.

He was standing in the control room of the core. The status lights indicated that the various devices were in sleep mode. The console was covered with a transparent dust cover, with a thin layer of dust on it.

The black monster opened the door and walked out. There was no busy monsters or mechanical sounds, and the place was so quiet that it made him nervous.

A protective net was installed under the long bridge, but there were no more golden quantum magma below.

The whole core seemed to be sleeping.

As the footsteps moved from near to far, Wing saw the familiar figure.

“Alphys?”

433

Dr.Alphys was startled.

Alphys: Ah! I-I don’t know there was still-

Alphys: No! How did you get in? This place is...

Alphys: Who are you? You...wait-I...

Alphys: Uh...

She covered her head as if in her memory there was something appeared—recovered.

Alphys: ...

Alphys: Dr.Gaster?

434

Alphys: God...it’s you!

Alphys: You are our hero! You sacrificed yourself to save the underground...and now you’re back! !

Alphys: The King and Queen must be very happy!

Alphys: And, and your children, Sans and Papyrus must miss you so much!

Alphys: I, uh, my name is Alphys. I’m a royal scientist now, and I, I read a lot of books about you...

Alphys: Wait, you know me? but I-

Alphys: Uh...let’s go back to the surface first!

435

Alphys: Yes! The barrier has gone!

Alphys: A human child named Frisk made it! Now they are the ambassador of peace between monsters and human

Alphys: Most monsters chose to go back to the surface to live, there is no need for core power in the ground, so we decided to turn on the sleep mode...

Alphys: I just come down for routine check...

Alphys: This way Doctor

Alphys: Doctor?

Alphys: Are you crying...are you okay?

W: ...I’m okay

W: I just...

I just remember the old days.

I just remember my promises.

I just think of lost time.

I just miss you so much.

Wing felt like he had a long, long dream, and only the silver ring on his finger told him it was reality.

436

W: And then

W: You two saw me.

There was an astronomical telescope on the balcony, Wing was leaning against the beanbag sofa, and Papyrus was holding Sans in his arms.

W: Do you know how much I miss you?

P: ，(´･ω･`)HOW MUCH?

W: (￣∇￣)I can’t even imagine!!

He kissed his children on the forehead, and the skeletons giggled in his arms.

S: so you went to another world like this one

P: AND MET OTHER SANS AND PAPYRUS!

W: Yeah

P: WOWIE!

P: WILL WE MEET THEM?

W: ...

W: Of course we will.

He looked up at the distant starry sky above.

W: They must be glad to meet you.

[alvaar-aldaviir]

Wondrous Tails: "There’s only one bed.”

Time Frame: Early ShadowBringers

Notes: I wrote too much crap before ‘Academician’ was finalized for English. For now I’m just going to take calling Alphi a Scholar to my grave cause it’s faster.

Got a bit long so it’s under the cut.

  “Are you certain you don’t wish to carry on to Eulmore? Alternatively I’ve a contact in Wight as well and that would put us closer,“ Alphinaud suggested, though even with his own apparent reservations he wasn’t about to argue with the Warrior of Light.

“My head is pounding, it’s been daylight since I got here, and I’ve no idea when the right time to sleep is. So, before I end up in a place that will probably try to kill me statistically speaking, yes. I’d like to sleep. This your temporary place?” Alvaar asked, gesturing flippantly at the small but sturdy shack ahead of them.

“We’re here for diplomatic reasons Alvaar,” Alphinaud chided before perking up. “Ah, yes it is,” he replied cautiously.

“Looks good enough to me. Anywhere not in the open is fine. I don’t fancy waking up to teeth.”

Glancing at Alvaar again, the Scholar silenced his reflexive protest. More than anything he wanted to carry on to Eulmore. Where the last few months had seen his efforts to parlay stonewalled, seeing the Warrior of Light had been like a shot in the arm. Wherever Alvaar went, progress was never far behind so he didn’t doubt his plans would find fruition one way or another. Securing an alliance with Eulmore for the Crystarium would gain them malms in their crusade to free the First from its Calamity and help to secure the Source as well.

It would also avert the dark future Urianger had foretold and save Alvaar’s life in the process.

But another glance confirmed what he’d already noted a few times on their walk, and he had not seen Alvaar looking quite so haggard since his clash with Zenos. It would be foolish to deny him a moment of respite when it was available, but as he unlocked and shoved the door in, he couldn’t help the twitch of anxiety in his stomach at the humble abode. Little more than a single room with a bed, fireplace, small cooking stove, and a table he’d littered with various notes and papers.

Alvaar paced ahead as Alphinaud gestured him through, pausing with a squint as his eyes adjusted to the gloom after being in the perpetual rays of day. Looking about with a faint sniff he un-shouldered his bow and set about removing his gear with a tidy efficiency.

“Could use a good dusting,” he commented placidly, and despite everything it made Alphinaud chuckle.

“I’ve been a bit too busy in my efforts helping the poor and downtrodden to fetch a duster,” he replied wryly.

“Tsk. Rich boys seldom change in matters of cleaning,” Alvaar teased, and if not for the grin that followed it, he might almost have been offended.

Sinking to a seat on the edge of the bed, Alvaar began unlacing his boots with a faint sigh as the Scholar found himself a seat at the table.

Studying the floor a moment, Alvaar glanced up briefly. “There’s paw prints in the dust.”

Blinking a moment, Alphinaud looked away abruptly as he found a few of his old scribbled out notes suddenly extremely interesting. “I’ve found a few spare moments to study,” he deflected cooly.

“A lot of paw prints.”

“Carbuncles pace Alvaar, you know this.”

“They stop here and there’s no sign of bedding down on the floor but plenty that suggest they’ve jumped.”

The Scholar pointedly kept looking away as his ears started to burn, shuffling a few papers about. “Yes, well, it gets cold some days and smoke attract sin eaters or unwanted attention. Furthermore, I’m lead to believe many a hunter keeps a hound for protection.”

A soft amused sound left the Bard as he pulled his bow into his lap to inspect. “Sure,” he answered noncommittally a moment, testing the string with an audible twang. “... so when do I get to borrow one for a cuddle companion?”

Scoffing and tossing a hand at him just made Alvaar laugh good-naturedly.

“Ah don’t get upset. If I was any good at magic I’d absolutely keep a carbuncle around. They’re precious.”

The answering grumble preceded a brief silence Alvaar used to wax the bowstring. It was a familiar sound, the low scrape humming faintly in the room. A place that had so often been filled with silence...

“It’s been... solitary,” Alphinaud states offhandedly, still leafing through his papers.

There’s a pause before Alvaar goes back to work. “Yea. I can relate...” he replies softly.

It’s enough to have him meeting pale lavender eyes after a moment, and though it’s been over a year he understands it in an instant all the same. In that same nameless and wordless way they could exchange a look in Doma and be on the same page. The unspoken understanding he’d long only shared with his twin.

Loneliness hadn’t been his burden alone it seemed...

They resume their own work without a word but the quiet isn’t uncomfortable; instead it ranges between them with an air of easy familiarity.

    It’s the soft repeated pops of his spine as Alvaar stretches that signal the Bards finished his maintenance routine.

“Finally ready for bed?” Alphinaud asks, flipping through one of the tomes he’d since borrowed from the locals, hardly surprised when the only reply he gets is a grunt of affirmation. “Rest as long as you need. I’ll keep myself busy in the meantime,” Alphinaud finished, offering a quiet smile over the book in his lap.

He’s unsurprised to find Alvaar fixing him with an unreadable stare, but it doesn’t stop the nervousness from bubbling in his stomach anyway.

“You’re not going to rest?” Alvaar asks.

“I’m fine. I got plenty of sleep earlier.” It’s the continued scrutinizing stare that has him waving it off with a hasty, “Really! You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I always worry about you,” Alvaar replies bluntly, and it’s only the brief surprised blink that says he hadn’t meant to say it. Shaking his head with a sigh, he thumps onto his back on the cheap mattress and stares at the ceiling. “... It’s that there’s only one bed isn’t it?”

Even without Alvaar staring at him, the Scholar feels the flush burning on his face. “H-hardly. I would simply rather you sleep well and if I need to rest myself I’ll make do.”

“Oh please,” Alvaar huffs sarcastically. “It’s not even the first time we’ve shared sleeping space you baby.” The automatic affronted huff it earns has him meeting brilliant blue eyes as the Scholar glowers faintly.

Alphinaud had expected some retort. Perhaps even a bit of teasing at his sensibilities. He had not been expecting the Bard to rise to his feet and tromp over before hefting him up over a shoulder like a a bag of popotos. Curse it all did he really weigh that little?!

In the least he’d managed not to squeak, even if he still scrabbled for purchase like a surprised house coeurl with similarly ineffectual noises of protest. But even as he tenses in expectation of being tossed to the bed, he instead finds himself set down with surprising care. There’s a brief moment where Alvaar’s face is close to his and even as his stomach flips with something suspiciously more than vertigo at the abrupt movement, the dark shadows under Alvaar’s eyes are more striking still.

Everything about him is exhausted and that bothers him more than the embarrassment. He almost reaches for him on instinct until Alvaar thumps down beside him heavily, resting on his side and laying with his back to him.

“Sleep, or read, or... whatever,” Alvaar murmurs, words quiet and weighed with guilt. “Just please don’t go.”

It’s far from the first time Alphinaud has found himself sharing the same bed space with the Bard, though the majority of them Alvaar didn’t seem to remember given he’d been hopelessly drunk and lonely. Perhaps that’s what tips him off to what the Bard is looking for, as it was only ever when he’d drank himself into a stupor mired in the heartbreak of his deceased lover that Alvaar would ever admit he needed contact. That the stalwart and stoic Hero of Eorzea needed the reassurance of another’s touch. But usually when he did he was wrapped around the Scholar protectively, warding off threat and cold alike...

Seeing his back like this was honestly rather disconcerting. Like the many times he’d watched the Warrior of Light march into danger only he could face and left him behind to fret and hope and wait.

But this time there was no Primal threat or great danger. This time there wasn’t anything to stop him and no excuse to keep his distance.

So he pushed back his anxiety and reached out anyway. Just as he had before in a myriad of other places. The same as the Bard has done for him repeatedly, be it a steadying hand or the familiar ruffle to his hair.

Alvaar doesn’t jolt when a palm presses to his back, but he does go very still.

“Give me a moment? You’ll want the shades drawn to help you sleep,” Alphinaud murmurs, only moving after Alvaar gives a faint nod. Slipping to his feet he draws the wood slated shades and curtains, casting the room into a dim shade it takes him a moment to reorient to. Removing his poncho, he drapes it over the back of the chair and quickly hangs up the black leather jacket and cape Alvaar had stripped off earlier. All the while he can feel the Bards stare at his back.

Again steeling his nerve, he makes a shooing gesture at the Bard while he steps out of his boots, giving Alvaar a faint push when he doesn’t move. The low huff of annoyance is at least amusing before Alvaar shifts back to make room for him and stilling again as the Scholar pulls the covers up before slipping in beside him.

He’s fit up against Alvaar’s chest in a moment, hesitating just a second before looping an arm around his waist. There’s a long pause that he spends hoping and maybe even praying he hasn’t overstepped some new boundary in the year and a half they’d been apart. Surely he hadn’t? Alvaar had pulled him close like this many times before in the past so he couldn’t be-

The feel of a strong arm settling around his back and a warm sigh ruffling his hair quiets the fears and an abrupt sense of relief surges through him.

“Thank you.” It’s soft, barely a whisper, but the Scholar hears it all the same.

“Anytime. Get some rest Alvaar. There’s much work to be done,” he murmurs, unable to stop the faint grin as the Bard gives a soft snort.

“There’s always much work to be done,” Alvaar grumbles good-naturedly and just a little sleepily. Another slow sigh leaves him, muscles steadily easing and unwinding as another comfortable silence spans between them as the Bard drifts off to sleep.

    It’s quiet here, Alphinaud thinks to himself. Quiet and warm and familiar listening to the steady soft breaths of the Bard. Same as it had been in Gridania. Same as it had been in Gyr Abania and Ishgard. A gentle sort of reassurance and protection found him when Alvaar was nearby. A feeling that made even the most frightening of enemies and worries fall away.

Gods but he’d missed this. The calm air of resolve and skill that made impossibilities seem perfectly in reach. That served as the solid base for him to continue striving ever forward to reach his dream.

And perhaps even to be worthy of the Bards unwavering faith and diligent protection...

Fingers clutching against the back of Alvaar’s shirt he pressed the faintest bit closer now that the Bard was asleep. Selfishly soaked in that warmth and comfort. A heat that kept even the bitterest chill at bay, even partially summoned as he was, almost more aether than flesh and blood. Where food, drink, and even sleep were little more than a passing nuisance and temperature no longer bothered him as it once did.

A great many things bothered him less on the First, as if leaving his body behind had left many of the instinctive desires as well.

But wrapped up in Alvaar’s arms, hearing the soft and steady beat of his heart against his ear... it eases something in him that he’d almost forgotten. Quiets the doubts and settles that feeling of loneliness that had been gradually growing in him as the days had passed by in the First.

Traveling to a foreign land wasn’t a new experience for him, the most difficult part had been learning the new terminologies and getting by without a reputation to work with. But as the days turned to weeks, turned to months...

His work was an important distraction, but even in Kholusia, worlds away from the Source, he’d still looked up on occasion half expecting to see the Bard on the horizon.

And then one day, there he was. And while he’s made many acquaintances and friends on the First, it wasn’t quite the same as the kinship he felt with the Scions and even less the unbreakable bond he’d forged with the Warrior of Light. Inducted at the same time and having endured trials across the Source side by side.

It was rather like the relief he felt seeing Alisaie again after her many solo adventures. A heartfelt happiness that they were alive and well. An easing of the walls he’d had to put up as a visitor from the Source.

Alvaar feels more like home than anywhere else and the sudden guilty realization of it doesn’t keep him from tightening his grip. It doesn’t stop the low humming dread that had lingered in his stomach since they’d first heard Urianger’s vision and the death that it foretold.

It doesn’t stop him from thinking how eerily close Alvaar’s life teeters on the edge if they fail to save the First. The haunting memory of the Bard staring sightlessly into a snow swirled abyss and leaned so far over wrought iron rails it had made his heart freeze in his chest.

The steady pulse that beats back against his fingers where he’d unknowingly placed his palm to Alvaar’s chest is a comfort he couldn’t explain. A slow and gentle tempo that soothes his sudden worried thoughts.

No, he’d been there once before to drag Alvaar back from the brink of death. This time, he mouths the words to himself like a silent oath, this time would be no different. This time he would keep up. He would be there with his magic to offer aide and protection. They would save the First and then the Source and live to see peaceful days again.

And with Alvaar once more standing resolute at his side, it felt more a matter of time than happenstance.

[shattered-mirror-fanfic]

Chapter 1 is out! Already working on chapter 2 but it may be a while. If you wish to reupload my work then please contact me first for my consent.

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32206135/chapters/79807672

Chapter below the cut for readers who don’t use Ao3:

The days ticked by, at a rate humans can't understand, all they know is that it's slow. But compared to the time other days tick by as, it is short, which no one can seem to get a grasp on. As the sun was ticking down, a group of four individuals, all connected by a large, officially interspatial, crime group, slowly walked up the large mountain, praying the days had ticked at a satisfactory rate, for them to reach the location of their desire. 

"So I was thinking...to spice things up a bit-" the oddly bobbing ghost started, before being cut off by their white-haired companion.

"For the last time, I'm happy with how everything is going. Now shut up!"

"Henry, you don't need to be so rude, I was just asking if you wanted to set up camp since sleeping beauty can't walk by himself anymore" Ellie chimed in.

"Uh, shucks, sorry Elles, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to...a figment of my imagination, camp sounds great, we could use some rest!" Henry said apologetically, glancing at the air next to him when he said 'imagination'. Ellie chuckled and nodded as she spun around, somehow still walking, to speak up.

"Hear that boss? Someone actually agrees saying that we should rest!" She mocked as Right Hand Man's expression went from his usual scowl to a sour and bitter frown.

"I'm jus' saying! We're already close! It's not 'at further!" He barked back, still dragging his feet behind as he carried a half asleep Reginald on his back.

"Tell that to princess sleepy head!" The red-headed woman laughed in return. Roughly 18 minutes ago, Reginald was in a state of nearly passing out from exhaustion so his right hand man logically thought to carry him until reaching the cave they were meant to go to was impossible in that day's time frame. The unfortunate part was that their two underlings kept teasing Right's actions as though they are similar to what prince charming would do in fairy tales. But Right was not taking any of that bullshit, what he was doing was completely normal between two friends. 

“Right...we’re all tired, just put me down and let’s set up camp” Reginald tiredly chimed in. Right sighed and gave a low "fine…" before setting down the brunette. After taking a moment to regain his footing, Reginald stretched his arms before promptly asking, "So where shall we set up?"

"I think we should look for some sort of open area and just lay down some….." Henry began before cutting himself off.

"What? What's wrong?" Ellie asked before Henry stopped her from going any further. 

"Do you hear that?" Everyone froze, listening closely to what sounded like talking. It seemed like it was coming from just a bit further up the mountain, where the group was aiming to get to. 

"Permission to look ahead and potentially dispose of threats?" The ghost chimed in with a non-existent grin.

"Let's all go ahead together, stay close, and stay alert" Henry quietly told the others, ignoring the ghost's request. The group moved forward slowly, careful to not alert the people ahead.

~~~

The surface was great, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and on days like these, kids aged around 10 would be playing outside in the garden or at a friend's house, but frisk was not like other kids, while other kids were playing cops and robbers, frisk was saving monster society. It hadn't even been 20 minutes when the ambassador came across their first issue, 

Where would the monsters stay before they could join the humans in towns and cities?

 The idea that first came to mind was that until a place was established to be available for monsters, they would remain underground. It wasn't the best idea, but it was better than just letting them fend for themselves on the surface, plus, it would only be worse when other humans got involved. For now, the main issue was dealing with lodging for their friends that came with them in the first place.

And that is what they were doing. Right now the young child was sitting in front of the underground's exit, talking with Asgore, the king of the underground, and Dr. Alphys, the head royal scientist. They were mainly discussing how to proceed with getting the monsters a way to live with humans, with alphys there to bring in human facts that she knew (mainly from anime) on how they would react to such sudden actions. It seemed to be going…. neutral, no good ideas, and no bad truths. But logically, the lovely sunset ahead was rushing the discussion into being about setting up some sort of camp, which they neither had the materials for, nor the means to get some. It would be difficult to go back down to get supplies while having a logical enough excuse for others on why going to the surface is going to take longer. Regardless, those of Frisk’s new friends who had seen the surface would probably be against the idea of going underground again for a presumably long while, since it was at this point obvious that getting the monsters their own place on the surface would take months and months.

“Dang, only a miracle could be able to fix this, and what’s worse is the town of ebott is known for being a super anti-monster.” Chara stated while hovering next to Frisk. Frisk thought for a moment, a miracle could happen. Frisk knew it, something would happen. They were DETERMINED.

File Saved.

“Y’know, that’s not always gonna work Frisk, it was cute the first time, but now it’s-” Chara started, but as if on queue, there was the sound of something slipping on rock, a yelp, and a few loose rocks dropping down the mountain. Frisk, Chara, Asgore and Alphys immediately turned around to see 4 people, all with shocked and scared expressions on their faces.

“N-no way...it can’t be” Ellie said, staring in awe at the group. “I thought it was just legends, stories to scare kids who don’t behave…..”

“Ellie? What do you mean? Do you know something?” Henry asked, pulling his gaze away and towards his friend. She sighed and lowered her head.

“It’s long to explain but… I used to live in this town and there was a legend about monsters living under the mountain, I never knew it was real.” She explained.

“Well, it seems you all don’t mind that much.” Asgore chuckled.

“Don’t get used to it Mr. Asgore, not all humans act friendly at first.” Frisk chimed in.

“Eh, you all don’t seem like a threat, I don’t mind bein’ hospitable” Right Hand Man casually mentioned. This statement led to Henry and Ellie sarcastically gasping and giggling as they knew that Right was never the ‘hospitable’ type.

“Neither do I, I am Asgore the king of the monsters, and this is our ambassador, Frisk” Asgore said, gesturing to the young child. “And this is our royal scientist, Alphys.” Alphys gave a nervous wave.

“Pleasure to meet you, your highness. I am Reginald Copperbottom, leader of the Toppat clan. These are my employees, my Right Hand Man, Ellie Rose and Henry Stickmin.” Reginald introduced while bowing slightly (As a way of respect? Henry was puzzled by this, but the chief always had a tendency to be dramatic, so he shrugged it off). 

“Please Mr. Copperbottom, no need to be so formal, I understand the title is grand but it doesn’t suit me.” Asgore said with a soft voice.

“Of course, apologies, I normally default to being proper with new people.” Reginald corrected himself. 

“It’s no issue, it’s very welcoming to see such wonderful humans, even after my past opinions.” 

While the two leaders were busy discussing formality, Henry took it upon himself to chat with the ambassador. He walked over and sat down next to Frisk giving a calm smile before seeing a red glow behind the child. He looked and saw a ghost, a child whose appearance was similar to Frisk’s, with a few changes.

“Who’s that?” He asked, directing his gaze at the idling bobbing ghost, who was only paying attention once Henry pointed them out.

“You...can see them?” Frisk asked, shocked as no one else had been able to hear or see them.

“Yeah? Wait...did they die and through strong determination they’re now stuck to you?” Henry asked.

“Yeah! I was dead until I met Frisk!” Chara responded. Frisk nodded frantically, showing off their red soul. “How did you know this?!”

“I’m in a similar boat myself” Henry responded, slowing his words. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his own ghostly companion fluttering about like mad, shouting silently with their non-existent mouth. Henry stood up and walked to where the ghost was dramatically pointing at, only to be greeted by three familiar figures, dressed in their military best. They hadn’t noticed him, thank god, but this was still bad. His throat grew tight as it normally did under stress, he figured it was best in multiple cases to just sign. He picked up a rock and threw it at Reginald which hit the brunette with slight force. The chief turned around to see Henry frantically signing and gesturing around the curve that the group had originally taken. It took a minute but, after a few loops of the same signs he recognised, they were in danger.

“Ellie, Right, Henry is calling a code green, get your weapons drawn and stay quiet. Henry, I’m trusting you to keep the king, ambassador and doctor safe. Got it?” Reginald commanded in a whisper shout, pulling out the revolver he kept under his hats. The three nodded in response, each pulling out their own weapon, with Henry also rushing their new friends into the cave for cover. With a few skids of rocks from the government soldiers rounding the corner, it had begun, the fight that would set where the ending would start. The government may have had strong JUSTICE, KINDNESS and BRAVERY. The toppats would fight their hardest with the PATIENCE, PERSEVERANCE and DETERMINATION they had.

~~~

Mr. Williams sat there, staring at his mirror. He brushed his soft hand over the blue gems, chipped and shattered, yet still retaining their natural beauty. He smiled softly as he pulled his dark chocolate hair back into its usual ponytail before placing the mirror back on its wall. Walking over to the door, he smiled, he could tell from the graying clouds crossing past the mountain it was going to rain. He liked the rain, always so peaceful for a nice book and a cup of tea. He was in an earl grey mood, but he was also tempted to have some coffee.

~~~

It seemed easy enough, the toppats had been practising soul magic for a while at this point, and they had the advantage in numbers. But, the government came prepared with better weapons, especially made with intent on doing damage to souls. That fight had been going on for about 15 minutes at this point with neither side taking major damage. At this point something in the fight needed to change or it would be a will of who gave up first. The government’s side had a secret advantage that was making things easier for them, and that was Charles Calvin, a  KINDNESS soul who has rather low level healing magic, but healing magic non the same. That was what was making things so difficult, until Ellie used her own magic and COORDINATED a plan.

“Aim for Calvin, right on the top of his headphones, that’ll distract Galeforce and the other one and I’ll get a clean shot” She whispered to Reginald, as both were ducked behind a rock that had fallen during the chaos. Her boss nodded and sat up aiming for the center of Charles’s headphone, perched exactly above his blonde hair. It felt like time was slowed, as he pulled the trigger, sending a bullet speeding ahead, grazing the red artificial leather on top. As the bullet raced by it grabbed the attention of the three soldiers, as well as Right Hand Man, distracting them long enough so Ellie could make her move. She pulled out her own gun and shot at Rupert, managing to hit him just below the liver a few times. He let out a loud yelp as he fell over and clutched his side. With a sorrowful expression the general declared,

“You won’t get away with it next time!” He shouted as he picked up his subordinate. Ellie and Reginald rose from their spots and walked forward, watching in a sort of victory as the pilot helped the general pick up their wounded comrade. 

“Hell yeah we will! You’re just lucky you chose to run!” Ellie cheerfully yelled out in response to the general’s statement. 

“Still don’ see why we have to spare ‘em. Would’ve been more beneficial to just end ‘em.” Right Hand Man mentioned to Reginald. “Seriously, we’re jus’ gettin ourselves into a bigger mess, an them bastards aren’t worth pissin on to put out fire on ‘em.” 

“Righty, it’s only fair that we spare them, none of us got hurt.” Reginald spoke in response. Rupert turned his head to stare at the criminal brunette, who dared to pity them after nearly shooting one of their best pilots. With what little strength he could, he gripped his pistol, and raised his arm.

“That’s…..what you thought...asshole,”

[keelywolfe]

FIC: A Pressing Engagement ch3 (Not baon AU)

Summary: Edge has questions. Stretch would pretty much like to avoid the answer.

Tags:  Spicyhoney, Fluff and Angst, Dating, Developing Relationship, Humor

~~*~~

Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Edge was still waiting patiently for Stretch to pick up the ball of conversation he’d tossed in his direction and since talking was way down on the list of what Stretch actually wanted to do, he let it fall to the ground between them, rolling around loose.

The bedroom was at least a room he knew, even if he wasn’t usually upright when he saw it. The contrast to his own shabby chic was always impressive; there were no balled-up socks on the floor, no collection of dishes waiting with dismal hope for their chance to hit the dishwasher. Not perfect, though, not tonight. The blankets were drawn down and there was a book lying on the bed, a mug sitting on the side table. All clear signs that Edge had probably been settled all cozy into bed, ready to dive into his secret stash of trashy dime novels when he clued into their silent alarm.

Now he was sitting on the bed all but aiming the ring box at Stretch’s head as he picked up the conversation he’d dropped. “I understand you not wanting me to see these, but I’m failing to see why you thought committing a possible felony was the best route to keep it from happening.”

“oh, come on,” Stretch let out a dismal laugh, “seriously? like you would’ve let me root through your car without seeing what it was?” He’d learned a long time ago not to take Edge’s distrust personally, especially since Red was usually higher than he was on Edge’s shit list.

Edge hummed thoughtfully, “True, but what was stopping you from showing me literally anything else? A lucky lighter or one of those atrocious little toys you always have. I would never have known the difference.”

“yeah, that’s actually a pretty good idea,” Stretch groaned, sagging back in his chair, “shame i didn’t get your input earlier.”

“Well,” Edge didn’t open the box again, only twisted it in his hands. “That doesn’t really matter. I have seen them. Stretch?”

That was a hint for him to get talking and, fuck, did he want a cigarette, a little numbing nicotine buffer would go down swell right about now. Stretch went ahead and fumbled out his lighter but left his smokes where they were. He knew better than to try smoking in Edge’s room, adding a sprinkle of annoyance on top of this meal probably wouldn’t end well. Or maybe he should go ahead, he had a feeling this wasn’t going to end his favor, anyway. He thumbed the rasp of his lighter, watched the little spark form. “i don’t know what you expect me to say.”

“Perhaps some insight into what you were thinking would be a good place to start,” Edge leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “We don’t even live together and here you are planning proposals?”

Said like that, it didn’t sound like he was thinking at all, not past the simple fact that when he heard about Alphys and Undyne planning to get hitch, he sort of…wanted that, for himself, and everything that came with it. He’d spent all day thinking about it, letting different scenarios play out in his head where Edge would say yes and maybe kiss him in the park right in front of everyone and then they’d all break into applause because hell, if you’re gonna daydream, do it right.

He’d even talked about it with Blue, a little piggly wiggly before he went whole hog with the shopping, but now that his head was below the clouds, Stretch figured that his bro probably wasn’t an impartial audience. He’d gone starry eyed, literally, yammering about planning weddings and flowers, hell, they’d both gotten swept up in the idea and before he knew it, he had rings and something like a plan to propose. Probably should’ve felt it out sooner to make sure he had a groom before they’d started thinking about receptions. The way this was going, the only thing he was gonna be going home with was his bruises, fuck the rings. He was gonna toss them out the window on the drive.

“all right, i was stupid, is that what you want to hear?” Stretch hunched over, wrapped his arms around himself. His head ached and so did, well, all of him, his reward for spending the evening getting knocked into walls. Worse was the tightness inside his chest, his soul squeezing together disappointment and hurt. “just give me those and let me go home.”

The gentle touch on the back of his skull startled him. Edge’s hand slid down to cup his cheek bone, trying to urge him to look up. “Don’t say that, you aren’t stupid. Stretch, I care about you, you do know that.”

“yeah.” The word came out small and he couldn’t keep the miserable hurt out of it. Cared. Yeah, right.

A soft sigh, then, roughly, “Fine, I love you. I have said it before.”

He had, a couple of times during sex and the more this chat dragged on, the dumber his impulse to buy rings seemed. He’d been blinded by his own hopes and goaded by Blue’s eagerness, thinking he and Edge were on the same page when a quick glance up at Edge’s impatient frown seemed to confirm they weren’t even in the same section of the librarby.

“All right, this isn’t working," Edge announced as he abruptly stood, "all I’m doing is hurting you.” Stretch squawked as Edge scooped him up right out of the chair and for one absurd second, he panickily thought he was about to get tossed out the door.

Instead, Edge settled them both on the bed, leaning against the headboard with Stretch lying back between his spread legs.

Okay, yeah, that helped, a little. Edge was warm and solid behind him, pressing soft kisses to Stretch’s skull as his gloved hands soothed over him. He made a quiet sound of dismay when he found a bruise, probably leftover from Blue attempt at scrubbing him against the garage, and brushed a gentler kiss over it, his breath a soft gust as he said, “All right. Let’s talk about marriage, then.”

Stretch squirmed, but it wasn’t their position bringing the uncomfortable, "why? we already talked about marriage, you were very clear on your opinion.”

“I know what I said, I was there. Now I’d like to talk about Underfell marriage. If I may?”

Then, despite his little announcement, Edge didn’t say anything. His hands moved absently, following the lines of Stretch’s jaw, down the bumps of his vertebrae to toy with the strings on his hoodie. The silence drew out, but Stretch didn’t rush him; the sooner Edge spoke, the less time he’d have to be here in his arms.

“Marriage in Underfell isn’t like here,” Edge said at last. That flatness in his voice was familiar, a relic from his old world; he always sounded like that when he talked about Underfell, like he couldn’t bear to discuss it if he didn’t have his mental shields in place, and Stretch hated himself, a little, for forcing Edge to dredge them up. “Generally, it was only done by royal decree. Asgore would arrange marriages to encourage offspring for his army, without any care for the wishes of the Monsters involved. I know your experience is different, but when I consider marriage, it is not a loving bond, it’s little more than royally sanctioned slavery.”

“I’m not liking the sound of that,” Stretch admitted. A soft puff of amused breath gusted over his cervical vertebrae in a soundless chuckle, that flat coldness fading.

“Neither do I,” Edge agreed, “We were on the surface for some time before I understood the differences here, but even in this world, it seems to be a contrivance that’s easily cast aside in divorce and used mostly for health benefits and to assign a next of kin.” Gloved fingers slipped beneath Stretch’s chin, urging him to look up into Edge’s gaze. “That brings us back here, to our relationship. What we have is entirely by our own consent and our freedom to choose.”

“And that’s fine,” Stretch said, trying to keep the desperation at a minimum, “we can keep doing that.”

Edge shook his head. “I don’t think we can. Because that’s what I want. It’s not fair to you, if you want more.”

Stretch tried to swallow around the sudden lump of his soul rising into his throat, managed to mumble out, “please don’t dump me.”

Not that he’d blame Edge if he did, ill-considered proposals followed by breaking and entering were probably not anywhere on Edge’s list of fun weekday activities.

It was impressive the way Edge managed to fit so much exasperation into an expression that barely changed, “I’m not about to leave you for loving me. If you care to recall, I love you, too,” He leaned in to brush a soft kiss over Stretch’s mouth and that simple, gentle touch wrung most of the aching fears out of the Stretch’s soul, relief surging in to fill the new real estate. He didn’t linger, drawing back to say, “And there were loving bonds in Underfell, they simply weren’t ones of marriage.”

“okay. then what would a loving bond be like?” He had to assume that’s where Edge was leading this, and how the hell did he always managed to be straightforward in such a roundabout way.

Edge hesitated and Stretch wondered at his answer, but what he got was, “Will you wait here until I come back? Please?”

That meant moving so Edge could get up and as much as Stretch wanted to latch on and cling ‘till dawn or joint cramps, that was probably not the multiple choice answer he was looking for. So he went with the first option and reluctantly roll off to let Edge get up. As long as he was going solo on the bed, Stretch took the chance to kick off his shoes, hey, the deeper he got under the covers, the harder it was for Edge to toss him out. Edge didn’t protest when Stretch burrowed into the blankets, only paused at the door and called, “If either of you are out there when I open this door, I will make you regret it.”

There was a muffled thump, the sound of brothers frantically scrambling away.

Typical. “you still got it, babe.”

“That implies I could possibly lose it.” Edge walked on out, closing the door behind him for which Stretch would always be grateful. He couldn’t do much about their brothers’ intense need to meddle, but he didn’t really want their podcast switching to pay-per-view.

Edge wasn’t gone long and when he came back, Stretch couldn’t really figure out why he left in the first place. He didn’t pull Stretch back in for another round of spoons, either, instead sitting cross-legged on top of the blankets.

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that each section of the Underground had its own societal quirks,” Edge said, softly. He shifted a little, then again, and Stretch realized abruptly that he was actually fidgeting, seriously, this was a night of strange happenings. “Snowdin was far enough away from New Home to come up with its own way of handling familial bonds. My brother and I assumed them not long after we moved there and I joined the guard.” His gaze moved over Stretch’s face searchingly, “You’re aware that Red wears my collar.”

“yeah, of course,” Stretch said. All of them learned real quick that dog jokes did not go over well with either of the Fell brothers.

Edge nodded. “I believe the trend may have started with the Dog family, but it took hold quickly. Collars are distinctly visible from some distance with little room for protesting about misunderstandings. Red’s collar distinguishes him as being my brother and under my protection in a way that no one can mistake. Children often wore collars that allowed others to easily identify their parents. And—”

He hesitated again, shifted again in that peculiar fidget, then moved his arm. From his sleeve slid a long, plain box and he didn’t hesitate, boldly handing it to Stretch without another word.

The white cardboard revealed nothing and when Stretch cautiously lifted the lid, all his prickling suspicions were confirmed.

A simple collar, plain leather with none of the spikes that poked out threateningly from Red’s.

Hesitantly, Stretch picked it up, draping it over his hand. The leather was buttery soft, a narrow glossy black backlined with a border of rich crimson. The burnished buckle was delicately tooled into the shape of a soul, what Humans always wanted to call a heart. Lovely and simple, subtle instead of blatant. There weren’t many people who’d get the implications here, but as of about ten minutes ago, Stretch was one of them.

“oh,” Stretch said quietly.

“I had it made a few weeks ago,” Edge said hurriedly. He reached over to run his thumb down the length of it, more deep red against black. “Although I will admit, I wasn’t expecting this conversation to come up so soon.” His chuckle was tinging on shrill, holy shit, he was nervous, after everything tonight, how could he be…? “It would be considered a betrothal collar. Not a marriage, but a promise to a certain level of commitment to each other. I’m aware that it isn’t what you were hoping for—”

The words broke off as Stretch flung himself at Edge, kissing him silent, and then not so silent, a groan muffled between their mouths as Stretch straddled him. It shifted to a sound of displeasure as Stretch drew back, but he knew where that road ended and there was something that needed to be done before they hit the delicious trail.

The box and collar had fallen beside them onto the blankets and Stretch picked it up, holding it out as he asked, “can you put it on me?”

Edge rose up on his elbows and took the collar, and the rough way he said, ‘of course,’ almost ended him right back on the bed.

Down, boy, Stretch told himself, tipping his head back to exposing the line of his cervical vertebra. The leather was cool against his bones as it circled them, the buckle cooler still and hardly took a moment for the collar to settle. Stretch looked back down, taking in the deep satisfaction in Edge’s crimson eye lights, swallowing hard at the way they moved over him, lingering on the collar.

Oh, he could feel it when he swallowed and Stretch did it again, just to feel that faint rise and fall.

“does it look okay?” Like he even needed to ask.

In answer, Edge made a hungry sound and lurched up to take his mouth again, abruptly rolling them both until he was on top, his weight was settled between Stretch’s spread femurs, heavy and perfect. He kissed his way lower, down the line of Stretch’s jaw to the collar and Stretch shuddered at the feel of his tongue testing the difference between delicate bone and leather.

A gloved hand starting to work its way beneath the dark hoodie, oh, fuck yes, maybe the game tonight ended on an unexpected score, but they were going into overtime and—

It would probably be pretty rude to shout ‘fuck off’ at the knock on the door. Especially when his brother’s voice followed it.

“Can I please go home now?” Blue asked plaintively. “because I could use a hand, there’s a great deal of, well, road under and around my car, and not in the good way!”

“think we can talk him into sleeping over with red?” Stretch whispered.

“I think that merely assisting in a felony shouldn’t involve cruel and unusual punishment,” Edge said dryly, then called, “Hold on a moment, we’ll be right there.”

With a grimace, he rolled to his feet and Stretch started to follow, wincing as he accidently knelt on something hard, what the hell…he dug through the covers to pull out whatever trap was hidden in Edge’s bed, but what he pulled out was the ring box.

Oh.

It still pinched a little to see it, surrounded by all those deflated daydreams, and Stretch started stuffing it into his pocket, trying to laugh it off, “i’ll give ‘em to blue to toss into my place, see what the return policy is in the morning.”

A light touch on his arm stopped him.

“Don’t,” Edge said quietly.

“but—", and he’d said it before, a wedding ring laying around the house was like having a loaded gun, and Stretch was fast figuring out that neither should go off prematurely.

“Hold on to them,” Edge paused, struggling for words, then asked, pleadingly, “Give me time?” And it was stupid for that to make Stretch soul swell with love and hope and every other damn soft emotion that could cram its way in, but eh, he’d always said he was idiot. Might as well hold the title for it.

Stretch cleared his throat and managed a hoarse, “babe, you can have all the time in the world.” And then it was his turn for kisses, kept them as soft and reassuring as the collar around his throat.

“Thank you,” Edge murmured against his mouth. Then he pulled away with a grudging sigh and headed for the door.

Stretch touched the collar at his throat lightly. A level of commitment, Edge said, and fuck it, may as well go for broke, “you think we could go out on a date this weekend?”

Edge paused with the doorknob in hand, frowning faintly, “We have a standing date every Saturday for movies and dinner.”

“yeah, but.” But that usually included their brothers, along with Sans and Papyrus, and look, Stretch was openminded, but a six-way split was out. “how about something that’s just you and me?”

“Of course,” Edge said, surprised and pleased. “What did you have in mind?”

‘Anything with you’ probably came off as slightly desperate, so Stretch improvised, “let me surprise you.”

Which was code for ‘I have no idea, give me a day to panic and figure things out’. Good thing Edge spoke his language, he only smiled faintly and agreed, “All right.”

A date, Stretch thought giddily, a real date, and maybe proposals were off the table for now, but not for never.

Blue and Red were sitting on the sofa when they came down and Stretch couldn’t see Edge’s face, but he could see Red’s and knew the second he caught sight of the collar. The shifting emotions pouring across his face could’ve been made into a short film for Sundance, but in the end Red only slouched further into the sofa, and if he looked smug, eh, Stretch was feeling charitable, he’d give him that one.

Blue was less happy and followed anxiously behind as Edge led the way out to his car. “What happened?” he hissed.

“i’ll tell you later,” Stretch whispered furiously out of the corner of his mouth and at Blue’s doubtful look, he sighed out, “promise.”

He didn’t miss the way Blue glanced at the collar, but he blessedly didn’t ask. An hour in Red’s company was a good way to make even the stoutest teetotaler beg for a drink and Stretch didn’t want to stand in the way of his brother’s well-deserved hangover. Between the three of them, they got Blue’s car clear of the rubble and off he went, tires squealing and leaving Edge and Stretch standing alone beneath the darkened streetlight.

He missed out on getting the post-engagement kisses of his dreams, but suddenly getting swept up into Edge’s arms on an empty street was a pretty close second.

“Now, where were we?” Edge murmured. He paused with his mouth a breath away from Stretch’s, “Wait. How did you get in the garage?”

“um,” Stretch hedged, because that was sort of one of those secrets he was hoping to take to his grave.

Rescue came from an unexpected source, in the form of a hoarse, cheery voice, “Still up tonight, boys?”

Edge turned, carrying Stretch with him, to see Mrs. Gerson making her slow way down the road. Huh, she’d made it a whole house down since they last saw her.

“Not for much longer,” Edge said, politely, “Good night, Mrs. Gerson.”

He didn’t wait for a reply, carrying Stretch back to the house and yeah, it wasn’t a happily ever after, not yet.

But it was on the right path.

-finis-