thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight
🚆 đŸ”„ 🕛
196 posts
writing sometimes
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 8 months ago
Text
working on chapter 4
The focus is totally on papyrus and sans, gonna have so much fun with it
5 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 8 months ago
Note
ive just read all the released TMT chapters
I LOVE IT SMđŸ’„, i like gags u added and characters' personalities are really close to canon. looking forward to new chapters😈
AHHH ANON YOU GOT ME KICKING MY FEET
Tysm! I'm glad you think the characters are close to Canon, I was so worried about that
Papyrus was the hardest for me 💔 he's just too cool for me to comprehend
2 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 8 months ago
Text
Going through my outline to make some adjustments
I've been a tad bit worried that the sans and reader interactions are lacking lol
I meant it when I said slow burn, but rn its going to take a few chapters for them to even consider each other friends
But this could also be because I'm the author so I'm not experiencing the story the same way you guys are 💔 we'll see
1 note · View note
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 8 months ago
Text
I've considered writing side chapters from Sans' POV. This wouldn't happen anytime soon because I want to get further into the story before I write extra content, but it's something to think about 👀
2 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 8 months ago
Text
Nvm. Had to edit the outline, and what would have happened in chapter five has now been pushed out to chapter six
Why do I do this to myself
I'm super excited to write chapter five, you guys have no idea 💔 if only chapter four could write itself so I can get to the good stuff
2 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 8 months ago
Text
I'm super excited to write chapter five, you guys have no idea 💔 if only chapter four could write itself so I can get to the good stuff
2 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 8 months ago
Note
HELLAW I DIDNT KNOW YOU HAVE TUMBLR NOW WAWAWAAAW I LOVE YOUR WRITING SM WELCOMEEE
I really love the way you potray sans!! 😭💙💙💙
WAHHHHHHHH YOU'RE SO NICE TYSM❀❀❀
I try my best 😭
2 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
Fun fact, The Magic Touch almost took place in Underfell.
Classic Sans is just so laid back that finding a human who has magical abilities doesn't phase him. A great opportunity to make jokes? Absolutely. But he never planned on using that info against MC
Underfell Sans on the other hand...
I thought that the conflict would be fun
But there's not a lot of classic sans fics so I knew what I had to do.
4 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
The Magic Touch
Chapter Three: A Sleight of Hand
“no
i was just thinkin’ that
we should get to know each other better. i think there's something here we're both dancin’ around
” You stared at him in disbelief, your mind reeling with possibilities. “you seem like a good person, but there's still some uncertainty here, and that can eat a person up, y'know? you should trust me when i say that since i’m all bones.” “now you can always say no, but i'm extending an offer here
” Oh no, what did he want?
Warning: Spiders. Lots. They crawl on you.
Word Count: 4.6k
Previous chapter
Next Chapter (Coming soon)
Chapter Index
A03 Link
You stared at the card sitting on your coffee table. 
The tiny, white, harmless card, with nothing but a phone number written on it. 
“call it later tonight, i'll tell you what i want then.”
 You played with your fingers and glanced at your phone sitting right next to the card, glistening in the light that peered through your blinds. 
The sun had fallen, and the moon had taken its place. Its crescent shape resembled a smile, and it almost made you laugh at the idea that not even the moon itself could take you seriously. Despite your distance from the skeleton, someone had to take his place in smiling at you in mockery. 
Slowly, but surely, you mustered up the courage to pick up your phone. You shakily typed in the digits, one by one, and paused at the green call button.
This was a good thing, you reassured yourself. You could finally find out what Sans wanted out of you to ensure he'd keep your secret. 
This was nothing to be scared of, this was something to embrace. You could do it.
Your thumb met the green button on your screen, and you held the device up to your ear, taking in every single little ring.
Ring

Ring

Ring

“Hello, you have reached the Hotline for Idiot Babies. Please press 1 for Idiots, 2 for Babies, 3 for Idiot Babies, and 4 for None.”
You froze in your position on the couch, wildly staring at the floor as you took in what the unknown voice had said.
Feeling deserving of it at the time, you went ahead and pressed one.
“Ah, you're an idiot




to tell you the truth, I'm one too. Let's try our best, ok?”
Click.
You continued to sit on the couch, staring at your phone in surprise. The vague sound of cars passing by, and idle conversations from outside pedestrians filled your quiet space with empty noise. 
The night and everyone it held continued on with their lives, and here you were in this divine world, sitting on the couch, after being tricked into calling an idiot babies hotline. 
Strangely enough, you were ok with that. 
In fact, for the first time all week, you smiled.
For the first time in who knows how long, you laughed.
___________
The following two weeks had been relatively quiet. The longer time passed, the more you had convinced yourself that your impending doom was all in your head.
You didn't have many magical mishaps during that time. You weren't sure if there was anything in particular that caused the sudden silence, but you certainly weren't complaining.
Recently, you read an article written by a monster chef. He had mentioned in the title that monster food was beneficial to human health and it caught your curiosity all too easily. 
He never did explain how it helped humans, his only claim being that it would “make you feel happy inside”, but he did share a story that finally gave you some hope about your uh
situation.
“You know, a fun fact about monsters, our kids could eat a whole farm! All of that magic developing and learning to grow, our little ones need the constant extra energy to keep up. I have three little ones myself, and they demanded constant food. I was cooking non-stop! It was worth it though. My kids ended up learning magic much faster than their peers. What does this mean for you, hypothetical human reader? Probably not much, right? Wrong! There's magic inside all of us, your kind just lost touch with it. It's like a fire that you forgot to rekindle, and now you're left in the dark. But who says you can't feel a small spark again? Taste some monster food, and for a moment, you'll know what it feels like again.”
It was a stretch, you knew that. The chef probably only said it to encourage you to follow his recipes or get you to spend money at monster shops. 
But there had to be some merit to his words. You yourself hadn't tried monster food quite yet, (it wasn't until recently that they were approved for human consumption), but you had overheard your peers mention how it felt exciting to eat. Like there was an unknown part of yourself connecting to the food.
Besides, you realized you needed a new angle to the whole magic thing. You couldn't prevent something from happening if you didn't know why it was happening in the first place. If you could get your magic to come out, on purpose this time, then you can understand what makes it tick.
And then you can understand how to not tick it. 
Lucky you, a monster's market was open for the time being. A whole street dedicated to monsters selling monster foods. It never ceased to amaze you how interactive the foods were. 
At Burger Pal's, the monster food was a complete replica of its human counterpart. Any magical elements to it weren't visible, and they were relatively simple. How it tasted or functioned was a complete mystery to you, as you weren't authorized to handle it.
But here you were surrounded by much more lively treats. Apples in the shape of crabs, flowing tea, construction paper advertised as edible flakes— the more you learned, the more intrigued you became.
You had already collected a nice bag of treats. It hung at your side as you walked down the closed off street lined with tents and stands. You hadn't tried them yet, opting to wait until you got home to taste them. If you had any magical reactions to the food, you'd rather wait until you were in the comfort of your home.
You stopped once you noticed a tent that was much more decorated than the others. The outside was a vibrant shade of purple, with sparkly spiderwebs. 
You stepped through, taking in the sight. The first thing you noticed were the spiders–monster spiders.
They were built differently from the arachnids you had been accustomed to seeing. Their bodies were fluffy, with one one round segment. Their arms were cartoonist with how they wobbled and maneuvered. They cleaned up any wrappers that littered the floor, being careful to avoid your feet as you came up with a table set up with sweats.
The monster behind it was a spider as well, but much bigger in size. She rivaled your height, her many arms getting to work making tea. Her raven hair framed her round face perfectly, cut short enough to stay clear of her five beady eyes— all of which were trained on you.
“Oh hello dear, welcome!” Her voice was hushed, like if she spoke too loud it would break. Her smile was tightly curled, hiding only the worst of intentions. Her hands were busy, moving in a way that nearly had you tranced. One stopped its work to gesture for you to come closer. 
You hesitantly followed her command. 
Two of her hands clapped together, the others still at work stirring her tea and wiping the table, “You look new, I've certainly never seen you before. It's always a pleasure to get new human customers, even though they can tend to be a tad bit
jumpy.” She spat the word out like it was made of venom. Her face fell in distaste for a moment, but it was quickly replaced with a toothy grin, “But you're different, I'm sure. You won't let a few spiders won't scare you off, will you?”
Her stare was challenging, almost as if she wanted you to prove her wrong. 
“I'm fine with spiders,” you choked out. You felt something tickling your leg, and you looked down to see that some of the tiny spiders had begun climbing up your legs. They clouded our shoes and shins like a fog.
“Is that so? You like spiders?” Her words reeked of disbelief and condescension. This whole moment felt like some sort of test that you were failing. 
A part of you thought to just turn around and go home. You'd be lying if you said you didn't want to.
But something inside you urged you to keep going. You could handle a less than polite shop owner.
“They're cool.”
Her eyes squinted at you, like they were looking for something. She didn't seem to be satisfied when she eventually gave up.
“Oh how rude of me,” she took a long sip from her tea, “I never introduced myself. I'm Muffet.”
“Nice to meet you. I'm—”
 “—Human, would you like to try some of my pastries? Not for free, of course.”
Oh. Well, at least you could get sweets out of this. 
You nodded, keeping an eye on some of the spiders on your leg. One was using a loose thread from your clothes to swing. 
“What would you like? I have spider donuts, spider cider— that one is our most popular, you know. In fact, why not try both?” Muffet didn't wait for a response as she began bagging your order.
“Uh, sure.” Most of the spiders began to lose interest in you. They descended back to the floor, a wave of furry midnight blobs washing over the floor. The one swinging off of you, however, remained.
When you locked eyes, two of its arms raised high. It was asking you to pick it up.
Feeling unwilling to tell it no, you carefully held out a palm for it to crawl onto. Your palm tickled as its thin legs took their place on your hand.
Oddly enough, it was kind of cute?
“You'll love it all, I'm sure,” Muffet assured, “Our donuts are like no other.” She watched your interaction with the spider carefully. Her movements were slow and steady, like she was getting ready to pounce on you if you made a wrong move.
Holding her gaze, you slowly pet the spider with a trembling hand. It leaned into your touch. Muffet frowned.
Eventually, she picked up a donut. “We use a special ingredient, you know. One you won't find anywhere else.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Muffet leaned in real close. Two of her hands gripped the cheap white table, while another two split the donut in half. You could see your reflection in her eyes. “Wanna know what it is?” 
You struggled to find an eye to focus on.  With how close she was, your eyes almost strained trying to prevent her from turning into nothing but a purple blob. Or maybe that would be better. It would be easier to try talking to a harmless blob rather than an antagonistic spider. 
Your lungs were starting to wear down from the air you held captive in it. You blew a breath out softly. It escaped you, slow and shaky. Your heart thumped in your chest. 
You were really starting to regret staying. You just wanted food.
“Sure
yeah
what, uh, what is it?”
“Spiders,” she brought half of the donut up closer to you, “dead ones.”
That couldn't be true, could it? It took forever for monster food to be approved, there was no way food with spiders in it got approved.
Or maybe it was. Spiders were a delicacy, weren't they? They were edible, you heard.
“That's
cool.” Your voice wavered, caving under the pressure of expectancy. Muffet was anticipating a reaction, but you weren't sure if she wanted one. Was she doing all of this because she wanted to see you scared, or was she hoping you'd persist?
When did the room get so hot?
“Cool?” She repeated.
“Cool.”
“If it's so cool, then you should eat one.” She pressed the donut to your lips. You could taste the sugar that managed to sneak into your mouth.
Run. You should run. 
You had no idea how eating magic food would work for you. What if you had another embarrassing incident? You couldn't afford to do that. Especially not in front of Muffet. As stubborn as Sans was, he at least seemed
harmless? Was that the right word for him? 
Muffet, however, didn't hide her clear disgust towards you. She wouldn't let it go if something happened.
Besides, she clearly wanted you to leave, so you should do that.
You turned to look back at the opening of the tent.
The spiders formed a wall, blocking the exit.
Of course. 
You looked back down at your palm, where the spider in your hand watched you. It was waiting to see your next move.
Okay. This is okay. Plan, you needed a plan.
Just don't swallow. Yeah, don't swallow. That was a plan.
Careful not to make any sudden movements, you held eye contact, and took a small bite of the donut. 
It easily crumbled under the weight of your teeth. It melted on your tongue, quickly dissolving and leaving a sizzling sensation on your tongue. You fought off your temptation to swallow.
The donut was sweet and rich. The frosting coated your mouth, only further trying to force you to let it slide down your throat.
But you persisted.
Muffet sat back, one of her hands clutching the bag she had prepared for you. Her eyes never left you as you made a show of chewing it.
She was waiting for you to swallow.
You stuffed the donut remains into your cheeks and swallowed nothing but saliva.
Muffet blinked in surprise, “You ate it.”
Well, not really, but she didn't need to know that.
You only nodded.
Muffet's whole demeanor changed. She laughed loudly as one of her hands came up to press against her chest,“Oh good! You're one of the good ones! Your type is so hard to find nowadays, you know, ahuhuhu!” 
You awkwardly laughed with her. You weren't sure what to make of her mood swings. 
“My apologies, dear, I just needed to make sure! You understand, don't you?”
You nodded. 
“Oh good! For your troubles, I'll give you a 0.00001% discount!”
How kind.
Her eyes focused on the spider on her hand, and she perked up, “Oh, you can put him down now, dear. He loves to con people into giving him pets. I tell him all of the time; ‘Tim, if you're gonna beg for pets from strangers, at least charge them for it !’ He never listens.” She held out one of her many hands.
You brought yours close enough to the table so Tim could crawl out safely. Tim raised his body—
Just to be pulled back down.
Your eyes bulged as the spider tried to fight its way out of your palm, only for a purple string to pull it back.
Muffet was too distracted with placing the rest of your donut in the bag to notice, thankfully.
You, as discreetly as possible, tried to give your hand a little shake.
Tim stayed in place.
You brought your face closer. 
The string was coming from your palm.
You had a purple string. Coming out of your palm. Holding a spider hostage. 
You felt sweat build up on your forehead. What were you supposed to do? This has never happened before. Since when did you make strings? 
You watched as Tim tried to fight against the restraints.
Muffet tied your bag and slid it over, “That will be fifty.”
You nodded and smiled. You were screwed.
Muffet stared at your hand.
You were screwed.
She frowned.
Oh you were really—
“Tim! I tell you this all of the time, you silly spider. Relax and the strings go away.”
Relax.
Relax.
Okay, yeah you should do that. So Tim didn't get into any more trouble and so you could finally leave.
You took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
Your heartbeat slowed.
The strings dissolved.
Tim scurried out of your hand and onto the table.
Muffet sighed, “I apologize. He's still learning.”
You nodded.
“Now,” she clapped her hands, “I believe you owe me something?”
You pulled out your card. It pained you to see how much money she charged but you weren't in the position to argue right now.
You snatched your bag and hurried out of the tent as fast as possible. Muffet waved you off, requesting you to visit her real shop one of these days.
The second you were out, you spat what was left of the donut into one of the napkins she sent you off with. You threw it away in a nearby trash can.
Well, that could've been worse.
With all of your energy and money spent, you decided to just go home. You'd have more opportunities to explore monster food.
As you walked down the street, less and less stands appeared.
You kept to yourself, gaze on the floor as you recalled the purple string.
What else were you capable of? Did you want to know? 
“hey stranger.”
You stopped in your tracks. 
No. He couldn't be here so soon after

You slowly turned.
Sat behind a table with hot dog rollers surrounding him, tucked away in an alleyway, was the skeleton you were hoping you'd never see again.
Sans. 
For reasons you didn't fully understand, you approached him.
“oh hey, it’s the light of my life. how have ya been?
“The idiot babies hotline.”
The skeleton made a noise that sounded both surprised and amused, “the what?”
“The number you had me call. It was for the idiot babies hotline.”
“hm
i dunno, pal, i'm not an idiot baby so i wouldn't know anything about that,” he idly drummed his fingers, his wide grin doing little to mask his snide chuckles, “but hey, i'm not judging. glad you found a space where you can shine.”
You couldn't help the groan that escaped you. You were too tired for this. “How many more light puns can you make?”
Sans only shrugged.
Trying to understand what angle Sans was coming from was impossible. He would act as though he didn't care about knowing your secret, and yet he constantly held the fact that he knew over your head. Was this just all a joke to him? Maybe he was doing all of this just to mess with you?
There was a moment of silence before he spoke again, “hey, did you want a hot animal? they're available and in your area.”
“...what?”
“hot animals. you know, hot dogs, hot cats, new hot cougar,” he winked, “limited edition.”
You continued to stare at him, dumbfounded. Sans, at your silence, reached into the cooler placed behind him. To your disbelief, he pulled out what looked to be a regular hot dog, until you noticed that one end had a cougar's face. Its tail wagged back and forth as it sent you an unimpressed look. Sans lightly squeezed it. The hot cougar let out a hiss in response.
“Is that a
magic thing?”
“pawsibly, but you of all people should know a magician never reveals their secrets.”
You felt your heart drop slightly. Your internal organs were going to make you pay one of these days for all you put them through.
Sans only smiled, “want one? they're only 5 G.”
This again?
“I, uh, I don't have G.”
“you sure?”
You stared at him for a moment, confusion creasing your eyebrows. Sans only watched you expectantly, his eyes flickering from your pockets back to your face. You held eye contact as you carefully reached inside. A cool metal met your fingertips. What?
You pulled it out to find a gold coin. There was an ingrained image of a dog with a mustache on it, the number five underneath it. Where did you get this from?
“gee, thanks pal.” He held out his gloved hand. In your confused dazed, you found yourself only able to forfeit the coin in response.
Sans pocketed it and got to work heating up your hot cougar. An uncomfortable silence lingered as you watched the hot cougar idly rotate on the roller.
You fidgeted with your fingers, “So
you're managing a hot dog stand in an alleyway
that's pretty strange, isn't it?”
“yeah it is. good thing this is a hot animal stand, otherwise this would be pretty strange.”
A snort escaped you, “Hot animals? That sounds awful and you know it.”
Sans only shrugged, his smile widening, “not my fault you guys are obsessed with these things. i never thought you'd be the type, but hey, I'm not judging. i’ve gone out with a cougar before.”
You had a feeling you knew where this was going. You raised a skeptical brow, “Have you?”
“yeah. turns out she was a cheetah.”
You groaned in annoyance. This only encouraged him further.
“not even lion, almost puma pants when i found out.”
“Can you even—?” Your eyes bulged once you realized you vocalized your thoughts. You slapped a hand over your mouth. Great, you had asked the guy who knew your life altering secret—who you desperately needed to be on your side right now—whether or not he could go to the bathroom. Great. He's sure to keep your secret now.
Sans, oddly enough, didn't look upset. In fact, you'd even go as far as to say his smile was amused as he removed your hot cougar from the roller and placed it in a bun. Maybe he was used to recieving questions like that?
“do ya really wanna ask that right before eating your hot cougar?”
You removed your hand, “I'm
not hearing a no.” You weren't sure what possessed you to keep going. Your mouth had a mind of its own today it seemed.
“hate to be a party pooper, but the answer kinda stinks. i'm a skeleton, bud.”
“I'm beyond disappointed.”
“would you say you're feeling pretty shitty right now? cause I know i'm not.”
You laughed at an embarrassingly loud volume. Shame burned at your cheeks.
Sans asked you what toppings you wanted. You watched him as he applied them. They were thrown on sloppily, yet they managed to stay on the hot cougar without creating a mess.
You should keep talking to him. Maybe if you were friendly, whatever this thing was between you two would go away.
Yeah, good idea. Great idea. 
“Your show with Papyrus was great. Do you perform there often?” 
“nah, i don't at least. the real star of the show was paps. he's great.” There was a sense of pride in his voice. It made you smile.
“You guys seem close. He's your brother, right?
“yep. he's cool, huh?”
“Very. How did he do the
” When words failed you, you chose to form figure eights with your finger.
“he just has a natural talent for raising people's spirits.”
“Can you do that?”
Sans lit pupils drifted off to stare elsewhere as he slid your hot cougar over to you, “my brother practices a bunch of magic, pretty much a pro, so i leave the heavy lifting to him. not much i can do anyway. that should be safe to eat by the way.”
You sent him a questioning look.
He winked.
How did he know?
You took a bite of your hot cougar, against your better judgment. It let out a “meow” when your teeth sank into it. Whatever the meat was made of clearly wasn't real meat, but it tasted close enough. The toppings had an explosive flavor that lingered after you swallowed. It was surprisingly good.
You decided not to dwell on this.
“That can't be true,” you continued, “ I saw you throw a tiny bone at him.”
Sans’ smile grew dangerously wide, “feeling left out?”
With a full mouth, you raised your hot dog to shield your face. Sans chuckled. 
He tapped his fingers against the counter. There was a long pause.
Oh right, you should probably leave. You got your food and you were overstaying your welcome.
“I should probably go-”
“wait.”
You blinked curiously at Sans. He paused for a moment, like he was trying to figure out how to phrase this next question.
“are you busy tonight?”
He had this dramatic twinkle in his non-existent eye. Suspicion settled in your stomach, “No
are you giving me another ridiculous hotline to call?”
“no
i was just thinkin’ that
we should get to know each other better. i think there's something here we're both dancin’ around
”
You stared at him in disbelief, your mind reeling with possibilities. It seemed you were back to ominous and vague statements.
“you seem like a good person, but there's still some uncertainty here, and that can eat a person up, y'know? you should trust me when i say that since i’m all bones.”
You gripped your hot cougar.
“now you can always say no, but i'm extending an offer here
”
Oh no, what did he want?
“i think
”
Here it comes.
“it would be a good idea if
”
You braced yourself.
“you had dinner with my brother.”
What?
Your eyebrows creased as you stated at the skeleton before you, who was matching your gaze with a relaxed expression. 
You were left speechless.
Sans, at your silence, further explained, “eh, look, i know this is an odd request and all, but paps has been beating himself up over that show you two did. i think he's still convinced he gave you some sort of sickness when he made you float.”
Wait, Papyrus thought the glowing was his fault? You thought back to that night, recalling how nervous he had gotten once he saw your shining state. At the time, you thought he was just confused on how to handle the situation. 
“I wonder why he thought that.” Your voice was shaky. 
“he's not one to glow—” how many times was he going to use that pun?— “and make assumptions like that, but i guess you're an exception. anyway, he was kinda bummed he didn't think to invite you until after we got home. it's a pretty nice coincidence that you ended up being into hot cougars-”
“I'm not-”
“-so i figured this was the purrfect time to ask.”
“You're seriously inviting me over?”
“no, i’m sans.”
He was going to give you grey hairs one of these days.
“Out of all the jokes you've told me so far, that has to be the worst one.” 
He shrugged, “i could tell you even worse ones
or
”
“Or?”
“or you could agree to come eat some friendship spaghetti with paps. i'll be there too, if that's any consolation.” He winked.
You took another bite out of your hot cougar to buy you some more time to think.
You didn't know Sans or Papyrus enough to justify going to their house. Papyrus seemed harmless enough, but Sans was a wild card, and you avoided unnecessary social contact for a reason.
Your magic obeyed no rules or reason. Any purposeful attempts to use it were met with failure, and any casual moments that should've gone smoothly ended with confusing whimsical troubles. 
Just the other day, you found yourself unable to take your hand off of a bag of rice. The package stuck to your digits and eventually gave in and sent rice spraying all over. 
But you didn't feel like you were in a position to reason against this. It would be in your best interest to stay on Sans' good side, if you were even on there to begin with, and you still owed him one for keeping your secret.
Sans waited patiently as you swallowed, “Is this the favor you wanted to cash in on?”
“pawsibly.”
You took a deep breath. Guess you were really doing this.
8 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
The Magic Touch
Chapter Two: A Glow-rious Night Shift
"So
about what you saw
"
"uh huh."
"It didn't happen.”
Sans' eyes lit up with amusement, "is that so? didn't realize you'd resort to gaslighting."
Word Count: 2.9k
Previous Chapter
Next Chapter
Chapter Index
A03 Link
It was safe to say that your embarrassing magic display the other night had thoroughly killed any desire you had to return to the Magic Learning Place. 
You replayed the night over and over again in your head for hours, driving yourself mad as you wondered what you should do. 
You could move. Leave this town and never look back
but you didn't have the funds for that, and you had already uprooted your life once. You couldn't afford to do it again.
At some point you had tried to convince yourself that no one knew what really happened, but that thought never survived long. 
Maybe the audience members couldn't tell what was happening, but you couldn't fool beings who have been surrounded by magic their whole lives. The skeletons had to have known. While Papyrus had been kind enough to not call you out, Sans had sent you multiple not-so-subtle hints that he knew the truth.
Now it was just a matter of time until they told someone. 
Unfortunately, there wasn't much you could do in the face of this fact other than hope that no one would believe them, or that they wouldn't hope to seek revenge on you for being the exact thing that had trapped monsters all those years ago. 
Unable to stay still with this looming threat over your head, you decided to do some internet research. You had tried to before in regards to magic, with absolutely no luck, but this time around you were more focused on the monsters themselves and their ambassador. 
Despite attending multiple meetings, being the face of monster and human unity, and being a child prodigy, there was surprisingly little information to find about Frisk. There had been various interviews, however Frisk never provided too many answers. Head nods and shakes were as far as anyone could get with the mysterious child. 
As you searched through the various articles and websites, you found boredom creeping up on you. Nothing on these sites told you anything you couldn't have figured out on your own while living in Ebott City. 
They mainly listed various monster types, all of which you had bumped into at least once (except for a monster named Jerry, though not many people online seemed to like him very much). 
You thought you had struck gold, however, once you moved your attention to researching Papyrus. There were plenty of interviews and articles featuring him, and he was a much more up-beat and active participant in the interviews. 
Except his answers were

“Mr. Skeleton, what do you aim to achieve as the newly labeled representative of monsterkind?”
Papyrus's eye sockets dilated with excitement, “WOWIE, I HAVE MANY THINGS PLANNED!” He stuck his glove deep into a pocket you didn't realize his costume had and pulled out a list. He dramatically cleared his throat, “I'D LOVE TO SCHEDULE A GIANT SLEEPOVER WHERE MONSTERS AND HUMANS CAN BECOME THE BESTEST OF PALS! I, OF COURSE, HAVE ATTENDED MANY OF THESE SPECIAL EVENTS AND AM AN EXPERT IN HOSTING THEM! I WOULD ALSO LOVE TO HOST MANY PARTIES AND SELL MY BRANDED MERCHANDISE—” he turned to the camera and held up a mug with his face on it, taking a long and loud drink from it before smacking his
teeth? 
“That is
nice to hear, but what are you hoping to change about how monsters are currently being trea—”
Papyrus shook his list lightly and multiple papers taped together fell down to the floor. The filming crew were noticeably thrown off, but it didn't deter Papyrus from going through each idea he had listed down to every detail. 
The interviewer let him get to page five before trying to move onto another question.
“I WOULD LIKE TO HANG UP MORE PIRATE FLAGS IN THE CITY BECAUSE THEY HAVE SKULLS AND THAT MAKES THEM VERY COOL—”
“Ah, yes, Mr. Skeleton, that all sounds
very nice! Now, what do you have to say to humans who may be anxious about monsters resurfacing?”
“FEAR NOT, HUMANS, THERE IS NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF! NO MATTER HOW TINY AND FRAIL YOUR KIND CAN BE, MONSTERS HAVE NO INTEREST IN HURTING ANYONE! IN FACT, I HAVE HEARD HUMANS ARE MUCH STRONGER THAN MONSTERS! AND OF COURSE YOU ARE! YOU'RE ALL DESCENDENTS OF SKELETONS, AFTER ALL! AND SKELETONS ARE VERY
” Papyrus glanced from side to side before leaning in like he was about to share a secret, “exo-llent.” 
“...what—”
“NYEH-HEH-HEH!”
“...great, uhm, now I'm passing it to John to see how this week's weather is looking.”
There wasn't a lot of useful information in there, to say the least.
You finally gave up on your research. The internet was still human-dominated, meaning there wouldn't be a lot of accurate monster facts on there anyway. If you wanted to learn anything, you needed to find monster sources.
__________
“Your order will be ready shortly,” you smiled at the mother and her children as they walked off to sit at a nearby table.
You sighed and stared down at the smiling burger pin on your shirt. 
Burger Pal's wasn't exactly your dream job, but the pay was good. It was one of the first fast food restaurants to hire monsters and start implementing monster-friendly ingredients. At the time, many humans were still put off by the idea. Not only did this mean workers would have to put in the extra effort to prepare magical ingredients, but it also meant having to serve monsters, and not everyone was ready to take that step. 
Being one of the few humans to try to get a job there anyway, your pay was increased. It wasn't by much, but it was better than what you would have originally been given.
You checked the clock, frustrated at the reminder that you were only an hour into your shift. 
The soft chimes of the bell on the door caught your attention, and you brought your gaze back to the front of the counter. 
Your face fell.
Awkwardly ducking into the doorway was the skeleton you had been researching only a few days ago, Papyrus.
He dramatically bent over and held the door open. Next came Frisk, with that same blank look on their face.
And though you tried to cling onto your hopes, no matter the fact that you could see a flash of blue through the foggy glass door, or the fact that you could recognize those fluffy pair of pink slippers, or the fact that you heard that same deep voice from that day—
You were only punished for it, as Sans’ distinguishable face came into view. 
“DO NOT INSULT ME IN SUCH WAYS, SANS, I AM IN NO WAY ALLOWING US TO CONSUME GREASY FOODS! THIS IS A MUCH HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE!”
“it's fast food, paps. nothin’ healthy about the way the sodium runs through your system.”
“YOU HAVE IT ALL MIXED UP, THIS PLACE IS CLEARLY THE BETTER OPTION BECAUSE EVEN THE FOOD ITSELF PARTICIPATES IN CARDIO, MY FAVORITE FORM OF EXERCISE!”
“uh
bro, it's called fast food because it's prepared quickly.”
“EXACTLY! THE FOOD IS PUNCTUAL AND RESPECTFUL OF OUR TIME! EVEN MORE OF A REASON TO DINE HERE.”
“you’re so right.”
Papyrus placed his hands on his hips and smiled with pride.
You stared at them in horror.
Your luck was horrible. This was horrible.
You were ruined, it all ended here.
What were they doing here? 
It was a monster-friendly fast food joint but why were they here while you were working? 
Why were they even there in the first place? Could they even eat? 
You were gonna faint, you could see the light, they tracked you down and now they were going to hold your secret against you and everyone would know the truth—
“HUMAN? HUMAN? SANS, I THINK THIS ONE IS BROKEN. DO THEY ALL STARE LIKE THAT?”
“nah, bro, i think this one is different.”
You blinked and made eye contact with Papyrus. He sent you a flashy smile.
You were gonna throw up. 
“W
welcome to Burger Pal's Burger Palace
how can I help you?”
Papyrus puts his hand on his chin and studies the menu posted above you carefully. You tried to focus your attention on him and ignore the much shorter skeleton's stares.
“HMMM
WHAT ARE YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS?”
“The uh
.the milkshakes are pretty good
.I've heard.”
“WHAT A WONDERFUL SUGGESTION! MILKSHAKES ALSO HAVE PLENTY OF CALCIUM. I'LL TAKE A STRAWBERRY ONE! WITH FRIES!!”
“gonna dip the fries in it, bro?”
“OF COURSE NOT! I MAY BE A MONSTER, BUT I AM NO VILLAIN!”
You heard Sans snicker.
You shakily turned towards Frisk next.
The kid stood silently between the two skeletons. You would have found it more amusing that they were the same height as Sans had you not been busy trying not to shit yourself at the moment. 
“And for you?”
Frisk didn't respond, almost as if they didn't know you were talking to them.
A solid minute passed and there was nothing.
“WOULD YOU LIKE THE KID'S MEAL, FRISK? I BELIEVE THAT WOULD BE FITTING AS IT IS A MEAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOU ARE A CHILD!”
That seemed to finally catch their attention. Frisk slowly nodded and Papyrus enthusiastically asked you to add that to the order.
Something felt so off about Frisk. You had seen shy kids who didn't like ordering for themselves, but


there was something so empty about their presence.
“i'll take a burg with fries.”
You tore your attention away from Frisk to the man you had hoped you would never see again.
Sans winked, “extra ketchup.” 
He stood there, relaxed, with his hands in his pockets. His smile was undeterred from your presence. You couldn't even begin to guess what was going through his head.
“Right
”
You added that to the order, making sure to mark Sans’ and Papyrus' meals as “FOR MONSTER.”
“Is that all—”
You looked up to see Papyrus's face mere inches from your own. You froze in place as the skeleton let out a loud hum.
“I SEEM TO RECOGNIZE YOU, SMALL WORKER, BUT HOW? HMM
” He stood up tall and tapped his foot, “WERE YOU IN ALPHY'S BOOK CLUB WHERE WE DISCUSSED FICTION MADE BY FANS?”
You awkwardly pulled at your collar, “Oh uh
no
.I uhm
”
“i don't know how you could've forgotten them, bro. they practically lit up the whole room during the performance.”
Papyrus's hummed for exactly 30 seconds longer before the realization dawned on him, “OOOOOOOH, YOU'RE MY #2 FAN! OF COURSE, I REMEMBER YOU!”
“Haha
yay..!”
“YES, YOU WERE GREAT UP THERE! ALMOST AS MUCH AS I WAS! YOU FLEW AROUND AND THEN—!” He froze before suddenly looking sheepish, “AH AND THEN YOU STARTED FEELING UNWELL! ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN? NOT THAT I AM CONCERNED BECAUSE THAT RESPONSE WAS PERFECTLY NORMAL AND I HAVE DEALT WITH THAT VERY SITUATION MANY TIMES!” You noticed sweat dripping down his skull.
Ok, he was being casual about it. This was fine, “Yes, I'm fine—great actually! The whole thing was great! You were amazing up there.”
“WELL OF COURSE! THAT IS ONLY TO BE EXPECTED FROM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!” Papyrus huffed at Sans while crossing his arms, “SANS, YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING UP THERE! YOU JUST TOLD PUNS AND THEN LEFT.”
“sorry, paps. thought i'd give you time to soak in the afterglow of the performance,” he sent a smug smile your way.
Papyrus sent him a confused look, like he thought he was missing something, before shaking his head, “HE ALWAYS DOES THIS, HIS PUNS AREN'T EVEN GOOD!” 
“not compared to yours.”
“PRECISELY!” He turned to you, “I'M GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU'RE OK! NOT THAT YOU WOULD HAVE ANY REASON NOT TO BE!”
That wording was...suspicious, but you'd rather not stay on this topic for too long. 
Trying to move the conversation along, you read out loud what you had written down so they could confirm the order. As Papyrus went through the process of paying for the food, you couldn't help your wandering eyes from stealing another look at Sans.
He was looking at you.
You looked away, feeling blood rush to your face.
“THANK YOU, HUMAN!”
The group walked away and you let yourself breathe again. They would be gone soon, and you could continue to shove this situation to the back of your mind once they did.
Neither of them had said anything, so maybe they really didn't care as much as you had feared they had.
You took in deep breaths and continued to tend to your job.
It didn't take long for their orders to finish, monster food was always quick to prepare. You placed their bags on the counter and called Papyrus’ name.
Papyrus handed Frisk their bag before taking his own, “THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN, #2! I HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE MAGIC PLACƏ AGAIN SOON!” 
You watched as Papyrus practically skipped out of the room with Frisk clinging onto his belt to keep up with his long strides.
Sans remained. 
You felt your heart beat faster.
What did he want from you? He had continued to make it clear that he knew your little secret
but what were his intentions? Was he trying to intimidate you? Did he want something in return for keeping your secret? 
Sans took his fries out of his bag and picked at them. He seemed to be in no rush, standing across from you as if you were old friends catching up.
Finally, Sans picked up a fry, but didn't eat it. Instead he held it forward
.almost like he was
offering it to you? 
"i'd offer ya a fry to brighten your day, but somethin' tells me you wanna stay away from magic for awhile."
Your confusion must have been clear on your face as he winked and clarified, "monster food has healin' magic."
Oh
he was taunting you again. He had to have been. You were lucky enough that Papyrus seemed to let the situation go, if he even knew. Sans would not go as easy on you.
You took a deep breath, realizing that ignoring the problem only got said problem to stand in front of you and taunt you with French fries.
"So
about what you saw
"
"uh huh," He hummed. He threw back his head to toss the fry into his mouth. Unfortunately, you blinked the moment he did so, and your curiosity towards how he ate was left unsatisfied. 
"It didn't happen.” 
Sans' eyes lit up with amusement, "is that so? didn't realize you'd resort to gaslighting."
You opened your mouth to defend yourself, but nothing came out. 
This was entertaining to him, wasn't it? You were over here sweating yourself to death hoping to any existing higher being that he wouldn't rat you out, and here he was, making puns about it.
He didn't even bother to make new puns, he kept recycling the same bright and light jokes.
You needed some sort of excuse. He couldn't play this game with you if you made him doubt what he saw
oh, so you were gaslighting him

You shook the thought away.
"It was just
an allergic reaction! To the magic
I think. That's happened a few times." You laughed nervously and muttered about how embarrassing it was. Sans expression remained the same as he continued to play with his fry basket
 that was mysteriously becoming more and more empty. 
"really? you're pretty lucky it was a light reaction then, huh?" 
Ok
so that didn't work. 
You only had one strategy left.
You glanced around the room to make sure no one was watching before you slowly leaned forward. "How much money?" 
"for what?"
"For you to not tell anyone what you saw." 
Sans hummed as he looked away in thought. His shit eating grin only grew wider as he looked back at you, "i dunno, that sounds pretty sketchy, bud, but i'll try to look on the bright side. how about 5 g?"
"G? I don't have that."
"bummer," he rocked back and forth on his feet as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets. His fry basket was empty now, "50 g."
"What?"
"sorry, bud. inflations pretty bad," he didn't look even a little sorry, "but for you, i can lower the price. 500 g."
"That's not lower!"
“really? for the prices we have these days,, i'd consider it to be on the light side.”
You couldn't help the groan of annoyance that escaped you.
You heard Sans snort, “heh, i'm just messin’ with you, bud. i don't want your money.”
“What do you want?”
“i dunno, a nap sounds pretty good right now.”
“From me. What do you want from me?”
“gee, pal, i didn't realize this was so important to you.”
“I'm serious about this.”
“as opposed to taking it lightly.”


Sans shrugged at your glare, “lighten up, pal. if i were you, i'd be proud to have the magic touch.”
Your gaze softened as you took in his words. He only smiled at you.
“So you really won't say anything?”
“nah, i'll say a lot.”
Wha—
“hard for me not to when i have a comedy show tonight. kinda gotta speak to do stand-up.”
Of course. Everytime you thought you were on the same page as him, he pulled the rug from underneath you.
“...take this,” he dug into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a card with a number on it. He slid it over the counter, “call it later tonight, i'll tell you what i want then.”
You took the card and stared at it as Sans finally took his food and walked towards the exit doors. Just before exiting, he turned back to look at you–
—and muttered your name just loud enough for you to hear—
-and then he left.
You stood there in utter horror.
That is until you looked down and noticed your name plastered on your name tag.
5 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
Guess what's coming out tonight ❀
Revising and editing as we speak !
Tumblr readers will have to wait a bit because I need to post chapter 2 first once it's done but it will be up on A03 the second I'm finished
2 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
The Magic Touch
Chapter One: A Trick of the Light
He paused for a moment, “i, uh
know you're not all that familiar with magic, buddy,” Sans looked you over, the ridge above his eye socket raising as though it were a brow, “or maybe you are
”
You gulped.
Word Count: 7.2k
>Next Chapter<
>Chapter Index<
>A03 Link<
You've known since your teen years that something wasn't right with you. You could never quite put your finger on it, but anytime a strange string of events played out, you found yourself to be the only recurring factor.
It started small. 
One late night while finishing a project, you felt overwhelmed. It seemed it didn't matter how well you kept track of your work, your teachers continued to pile more onto you until it became suffocating.
Your frustration bubbled up in your stomach and you wanted nothing more than to throw something in frustration. You could hit something, rip something—anything to deal with the itching anger that cursed your mood. 
You sat down and sighed as you tried to clear your mind. You reminded yourself of why you were doing this, and that you had to keep going. 
You just needed to take your mind off of it for a moment. 
Your wish was soon granted, as the moment you opened your eyes, you saw a spark of light out of the corner of your eye. Any other train of thought came to a screeching halt in your head and soon became replaced with curiosity.
You must've imagined it, you reasoned. It didn't mean anything.
Despite that, it stuck with you.
That happened a few times, moments where you could've sworn you saw something. A spark no one else caught.
There was even a less than flattering moment where you saw a spark that you mistook for a fly. You had jumped out of your seat to swipe at the air as if your life had depended on it. You got a lot of weird stares that day.
The final nail in the coffin was during your first shift at a small clothing store. You were dealing with a difficult customer who insisted that he should be allowed to return an item without a receipt. 
You didn't mean to hurt him. You certainly thought about it. You really wanted to when he raised his booming voice and caught the attention of many onlookers
but you didn't mean to go through with it. You just wanted to get through your shift.
What you meant to do didn't seem to matter, however. 
A tiny pellet had flown out of midair and had zapped the guy's hand. 
You'll never forget the look he gave you. 
He looked horrified. His face had scrunched up, his body had tensed, and it was all because of you. Maybe a guilty part of you felt like it was much needed karma, but the whole rest of you felt just as shocked as he looked.
He ran out of the store shouting, "WITCHCRAFT! WITCHCRAFT!" 
You remembered seeing a coworker of yours turn to you and give you a look that said, "that guy must be crazy.”
But he wasn't crazy. 
Hell, if he had been crazy, then you must've been insane because this couldn't have been a coincidence. 
It had to have been you. 
You were the only repeating variable. 
When you had gotten home that night, you experimentally attempted to try
something.
You chickened out the second you saw a glow.
You wanted to forget it but it kept you up that night and continued to plague your mind. 
Something is wrong with you. That wasn't normal. What was wrong with you?
You weren't sure how or why you were able to create small floating dots, but you were terrified of what would happen if someone else found out. 
That one man had run out of the store just because you zapped his hand. What would happen if you were capable of more. Who would you hurt? How would everyone react?
What would happen to you?
Whatever it was, you wanted nothing to do with it. You wanted to continue on with everything and just pretend it wasn't there. 
Everything would be ok. You'd be ok, you just had to keep it under wraps.
So, for your whole life, you didn't tell anyone about your strange predicament. There wasn't much to say, anyway. You weren't even a cool mage. Small floating dots weren't anything to gush at.
Despite your efforts at keeping the whole order under wraps, you had more close calls than you were comfortable with. You greatly underestimated how difficult it would be. Your lack of magical ability didn't stop you from inconveniencing yourself at every opportunity.
Anytime your emotions would get the better of you, you'd start glowing. You weren't sure what kind of lame ability that was, but you didn't appreciate becoming a nightlight just because you were feeling stressed.
Your co-workers were tired of you hiding out in the bathroom, and you were tired of having to stay home from big events out of precaution. 
You felt like you were going insane, and the possibility that it was all in your head crossed your mind more than once.
And it was right before you thought about reaching out to a therapist that the grand news came out.
Monsters existed.
Everyone could remember that day vividly.
The sights playing on your living room T.V. had you speechless, your prepared lunch long forgotten on the floor. 
"You wouldn't believe it," the news anchor had announced, "but just today, a small child was found exiting the mountain with unexpected visitors following them. Real life monsters, Frisk claims, have been trapped under the mountain for centuries, and have now come to the surface.”
Monsters existed.
"They claim to have been living underground because of mages who sealed them with a magical barrier years ago."
Mages existed.
Magic existed.
What did this mean for you? 
Were you really

Could it be

You had no idea how to process that information.
Some were scared of the newly freed monsters. Many argued that they couldn't be safe to be around and that they must be plotting revenge for being sealed underground for so long.
Maybe you should've felt worried, or at the very least skeptical of the news, but you couldn't help but feel relieved.
You couldn't say for sure why but somehow this made you feel validated. 
You weren't crazy. You weren't even the only one. 
Monsters existed and magic was real.
Years and years of denial, all undone in that single moment. 
Maybe you didn't have to hide anymore.
Maybe monsters could help you.
Anything was better than what you were doing right now
which was nothing.
You decided that you needed to learn something about magic. You couldn't stay in the dark about what you were anymore.
Admittedly, this thought had reached you months ago and you had wildly procrastinated when it came to your research. Maybe you were just a little scared to find out. Maybe a part of you wondered if staying in the dark would've been better. Maybe the years of denial you've lived in hadn't quite come undone like you had thought they had

But today you decided to buckle down and commit
probably.
Lucky you, you knew exactly where to start. 
Only a few years after monsters came to the surface, they opened their very own "Magic Learning Place." (That was quite literally the name. Monsters, self admittedly, were terrible at naming things.)
It was exactly what it sounded like, a place for humans to visit and learn more about magic and monster culture. You had planned to go in many many times since you've moved, but you always came up with some excuse before going in. 
Today, however, was the day. You weren't letting yourself chicken out this time
mainly because you had been standing outside of the building staring at it for the past five minutes and you were certain people would give you weird looks if you turned around and went home. The embarrassment from that alone was enough to fuel you into not being a coward this time around. Embarrassment was your best motive at times.
So here you stood, in front of the giant building.
Above the glass doors rested a poorly painted "Magic Learning Placə" sign. You weren't sure how someone managed to accidentally draw the last "e" upside down, but it was endearing in its own way. If you squinted, you could see small doodles of different monsters dancing around the letters. Some looked detailed, clearly drawn up by experienced artists who knew how to curve their lines just right. Others were scribbled on messily by the hands of a monster who wasn't quite as experienced. Regardless, you could tell whoever worked on it had fun, and that was enough to make you smile. 
You sucked in a breath and walked forward before you could convince yourself that waiting yet another day would be in your best interest. 
It wasn't as full as you were expecting, but you guessed that some humans were still too scared to enter a monster dominated building. 
There were small groups of humans, no doubt there with their friends to take pictures and brag about how they met a real life monster. You wondered how many people there actually lived in Ebott and how many were tourists.
There were various glassed artifacts and paintings along the walls. You walked over to study them, curious about the history they could hold. 
There were paintings of some sort of goat family, said to be named the “Dreemurrs.” It was uncanny how human they looked. The mother and father stood tall, gentle smiles painted on both of their faces. Below them stood a young goat child. Unlike his mother and father, who were dressed in regal robes, the kid wore a striped sweater. 
The painting felt oddly nostalgic, and you couldn't help but smile. 
There were old black and white photographs dedicated to monsters who weren't able to live long enough to see the surface again. Beside them were written stories explaining who was in the photo. 
And next, there was a dog.
A dog in a glass cage as if it were a piece of art.
A small white fluffy dog chewing on a bone labeled "SUPER COOL SPECIAL ATTACK" in sharpie. It was written in papyrus as well–? You couldn't remember the last time you'd seen anybody use that font, let alone write in it. 
You leaned forward and tapped the glass. The dog barked and went back to chewing. You looked down at the small plaque in hopes it'd answer one of your many questions.
"Annoying Dog— seriously, this dog is annoying. Won't stop chewing things at inconvenient times and blowing up other things at even more inconvenient times. Please do not let out of the cage."
You stared at it dumbfounded. Maybe it was a joke? That dog had to have been being paid to stand in there as a gag, right? 
You decided to not pay it any mind.
Continuing to observe the various items laid out in display, you found yourself surprised by how endearing the displays were. The place felt more like someone's place of memorabilia than a fancy exhibit. 
They had even displayed the monster queen's recipe book. You weren't sure why so many recipes included snails, but you snapped a few photos so you could try a recipe or two yourself. 
One last displayed item caught your attention— a book titled, "Delta Rune; a promise to our future." You walked over and carefully opened the book. It wasn't very thick, and had scribbled drawings that were clearly made to target those with short attention spans. The endearment the drawings held, however, wasn't enough to save your fleeting smile as you began to read the story,
"Long ago, Monsters and Humans lived together in peace. The powerful races worked in unity: Monsters used their natural connection to magic to help beginning human mages, and humans used their intelligence with crafts to help monsters further their technology.
For years this peace lasted, until one fateful day, there had been a misunderstanding. Humans saw a Monster aiding a Human, and mistook the Monster as the assailant. Humans, in response, began a war with the monsters. The brave royal guardsmen fought long and hard, but it wasn't enough against the Humans’ strongest mages- as it doesn't matter how much a monster trains, they will never be a match against a human's will.
Defeated, Monsters were imprisoned underground with a barrier sealed by seven Human mages. 
While it seemed as though all hope was lost, Monsters learned to make do with what they were given and made cities out of their tomb. 
Legend has it, one day, an angel will descend and clear out the underground, changing it forever

The Delta Rune

But until then, we wait eagerly
"
The use of present tense
bothered you. 
“We wait,” as though they were still trapped down there. You frowned realizing this book must have been written and passed around to spread hope while they were still trapped. 
There were a few more pages going on about the accomplishments of monsters over the years. The book tried its best to steer the mood in a more positive direction, but you couldn't bring yourself to keep reading. You knew vaguely that it had been humans' fault as to why monsters were locked underground for centuries, but to get more clarity on how and why it happened made your heart break. 
And to know that human mages had sealed them
you suddenly felt ashamed.
Monsters weren't a pity case, however. You reminded yourself that they were on the surface now, and had persevered. That was something to be happy about at least.
Though
maybe having a monster aid your magical knowledge wasn't the best thought all things considered. 
You stepped away from the artifacts and wandered into another room. You paused at the sight.
Right before you, different colored booths were laid out in a straight line, all of them titled in bold lettering. On the wall behind them was a decorated sign that read, "My Soul and Me."
How could you have forgotten? Souls were confirmed to exist now.
When monsters emerged from the underground, they revealed a lot of information scientists and specialists have been trying to figure out for years. 
The idea that souls had a physical manifestation and played a big part in
well
everything was difficult for humans to swallow at first. They had to have a monster out a human soul (under supervision of course) to prove their case. 
Admittedly, the only fact you knew about souls was that they were different colors depending on your attributes. 
You weren't sure if souls had any impact on the type of magic you had, but it couldn't hurt to learn more about them. Maybe you can find out why you had magic and no one else seemed to.
There was a booth for every color of the rainbow except for red. That struck you as odd, but at the same time, you've never heard of a red soul. Maybe they didn't exist? 
You decided to start at the orange booth. 
You walked up to greet the two monsters behind the stand, "Hello." 
The crocodile monster looked at you, her face lighting up instantly, "Oh. My. God. Catty, we, like, have a human at the stand."
Catty looked you over before her paws came to rest on her cheeks, her irises growing to a size you didn't think was possible, "Oh. My. God. Bratty, we, like, TOTALLY do!!" She smiled and leaned forward, "It's a pleasure to meet yewwwwww, I'm Catty!!"
"And I'm Bratty!!!"
They grabbed each other's hands and dramatically posed before breaking out in a fit of giggles. You forgot how friendly and outgoing monsters could be
or maybe it was just these two.
Catty pulled away from Bratty, "So, what's up?"
You opened your mouth to answer but Bratty beat you to it, "Catty, you absolute dunce, they're totally here for, like, the ☆magic thang☆" She did jazz hands.
You blinked.
Somehow, you heard stars in that sentence. 
Catty covered her mouth and gasped, "Oh right!" She shot you an apologetic look, "To be honest, we, like, totally don't know that much about magic
or souls. We only took this position 'cause we were promised free glamburgers, but if you have any questions, we can, like, try to help or something."
“Oh! That's alright,” you laughed awkwardly, a little surprised by the admission, "anything you could tell me would be helpful. Uh
is there anything you could tell me about orange souls?"
Bratty flicked her wrist and smirked, "Of course we can, that's, like, total child's play. Orange souls are brave souls."
You waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't.
Your eyes briefly traveled up to the big bold lettering that spelled out "BRAVERY" on top of the booth, "...wow! Really? You don't say.” 
"I totally do say!" She cheered.
"So
soul colors are based on your personality?"
"Pretty much!" Catty smiled.
You pursed your lips, deciding to ask a more risky question, "What about human mages
what were their souls like?"
Bratty blinked, "Mages?"
"I think they're talking about those now dead ancient old super old rotting humans who had magic!" 
Catty said it as casually as she would've had she been pointing out that the sky is blue and you had to hold back a laugh. 
These two were pretty blunt.
Bratty nodded in acknowledgement as she scratched her snout in thought, "Riiiiiight. Hm
not sure honestly! Forgot they even existed. Probably for the best, they're dead in a ditch and should totally stay that way!"
The two of them laughed before they saw you and covered their giggles with coughs. 
"Not like we were
rooting for the destruction of humanity or anything
" Bratty elbowed Catty and Catty elbowed Bratty. 
They didn't seem ashamed by their hatred towards humans as much as they seemed to want to be polite. The not-so-admission caught you off guard. 
You didn't know many monsters. You bumped into them daily, and even served some at work, but you never befriended any.
(Not that you had a lot of friends to begin with.)
Monsters were always friendly to you. You never thought that any of them hated humans, even though you really should have expected it. 
You didn't feel too offended by it, however. You wouldn't be all too enthusiastic about humans either if you were them.
"Right
so
you don't have any information about mages?"
Catty shook her head, "I'd assume their magic worked the same way ours does, but super duper worse cuz they totally copied."
"Totally," Bratty agreed.
You lit up, "How does monster magic work?"
"It's, like, super individualized," Bratty played with her hair and batted her lashes, "everyone does something different. Soul traits do different attacks."
"Attacks?"
"You know, like, moves!" Catty purred, "They all have different abilities. Some are kinda lame tho if you ask me."
“What does orange magic do?"
"Orange magic totally
" Catty's words drew out as she looked around the room in thought. When nothing came to her, she turned to Bratty, "Hmm
I, like, totally can't remember. Bratty, do you remember?"
Bratty squinted her eyes, "I, like
think that's the one where you have to stay still."
"Are you totally sure that isn't cyan magic? Cause I tots thought you had to stay still for that."
"Girl, no! Cyan magic is obvs the one where you have to move!"
Catty pursed her lips is speculation, "But, like
I thought cyan magic made you stay still cause of patience or whatever."
"No, Bratty, you've totally got it all wrong! Cuz you have to be brave in the face of danger
 and stay still."
Catty squinted her eyes in thought before her jaw dropped in awe, "Oh. My. Stars. Bratty, you're totally a genius!"
"I like totally know!!"
You stared at them in confusion, desperately trying to piece it all together, "So
for orange attacks, you have to stay still?" You confirmed.
Catty's ear twitched, "Pretty much. If some girlie attacked you with orange magic, you just gotta, like, stay still! Then it won't hurt."
An attack that forced you to stay still.
Interesting, but what did that look like?
You thought back to your accident with the man at the shop, was he moving when the pellet touched him? Your pellet wasn't orange though
so it couldn't have been orange magic. 
Or was orange magic even orange? Maybe it was in the same way humans labeled red pandas as red pandas, even though they were neither red nor a panda.
Before leaving, you decided to ask them one last question, "Out of curiosity, how come there isn't a red booth? Is there no red magic?”
Catty shook her head, "Not that I can remember. Pretty sure red souls are NOT a thing. Totally unsure tho!"
Suddenly, Bratty snickered and leaned in close to Catty, "Catty
like, look at their shirt!"
Catty glanced down and smiled, "Oh my gawd, that weird skeledude would luv that!"
You joined their stares at your top. It had a skull on it. 
Skeledude? 
"You tots have to go to Papyrus' show tonight and show him that!"
"Who?"
"Papyrus! Can't miss him, he's like super tall—"
"–and super loud!" Bratty cut in, "A total dweeb!"
"He totally loves skeleton merchandise! Wears it all the time.”
“Think he wore a ribcage shirt one time. He thought it was comedy gold
it really wasn't that funny.”
You raised your brow, "He's doing a show? Where?"
"2night! Here!"
Bratty smiled and played with her hair, "They're trying out this new magic showcase or whatever. Monsters are supposed to go up and show off their cool magic so humans will stop being such prissies—"
Catty elbowed Bratty, "We aren't supposed to say that, remember?"
"Oh yeah! It's just for fun."
"Totally not so humans stop being scared of us."
"Totally.” 
After receiving directions from Catty and Bratty, you decided to check out the other booths before making your way to the auditorium. The show didn't start for another hour anyway, so you had enough time to check out the other soul traits first.
While the other monsters at the booths were a lot better at explaining the soul traits, you found that they didn't say anything about magic attacks like Catty and Bratty had. It made you wonder if they had said something they weren't supposed to.
As you sat through the various monsters’ explanations, you found that the soul traits explanations read like glorified zodiac signs.
They explained how humans with these traits may act and respond to various situations, but they didn't bother elaborating with anything more than that. 
Anytime you pressed about magic attacks, they gave you a surprised look before quickly explaining that the different magic types weren't that important and swiftly went back to promoting their online “what soul color are you?” quiz.
While it was interesting learning about the soul colors. You couldn't help but deflate at the fact that you didn't learn about any more magic attacks.
But that was alright, you reasoned, you learned a few things, and that was more than you knew yesterday.
And you still had a magic show to attend.
Remembering the various soul traits

Orange is Bravery,
Yellow is Justice,
Green is Kindness,
Cyan is Patience,
Blue is integrity,
Purple is Perseverance.
You wondered which one you were

Once your free hour period was up, you found your way to the auditorium where the magic show would be. 
You held back your excitement as you stepped in and took your seat on one of the many set out foldable chairs. You looked down in confusion upon seeing a cushion sitting at your feet. You turned to see that the person next to you had one too.
They looked at you and shrugged, seemingly understanding your confusion, “Must be for the show.”
You nodded, some excitement building up. You wondered what the performer would do.
The room was decently filled. There were some families with children accompanying them, as well as groups of friends whispering predictions of what the show would look like.
“I heard this Papyrus guy is going to ask for a volunteer,” you heard one of them whisper.
“No way! I thought monsters weren't allowed to use magic on humans.”
“I thought so too, but hey, times change. Do you think he'll call on us?”
“I sure hope not! Not to be rude or anything, but just being in the same room as him may be too much.”
A volunteer? You wondered what he'd make them do. 
You briefly imagined yourself on stage, considering the idea of not only witnessing magic, but being a part of it.
Though the thought was squashed when you remembered how inconvenient your magical timing may be. Knowing your luck, something disastrous would happen on stage and you'd blow your cover.
It was a good thing you weren't required to have to go up. 
It wasn't a problem if you avoided it.
With less than a minute left of waiting for the show, you began to hear murmuring coming from behind the closed curtain.
Well
murmuring was an understatement. One person was trying to whisper, while the other—
“BUT THE SHOW IS SUPPOSED TO START NOW, WE CAN’T WAIT LONGER. THEY'LL BE SO DISAPPOINTED!!”


“OH I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER—”
The curtains swung out of the way to reveal a tall—
Skeleton?
When Catty said “skeledude,” she was being literal?
You felt slightly mortified wearing your shirt now. You weren't sure what you were expecting, but it wasn't this.
Papyrus was tall. He had to have been at least 4 heads taller than you. He wore what seemed to be some sort of armor. His chest plate was slightly covered by a bright red scarf
that also had a small bow tie pinned on it. His eye sockets were comically tiny, yet filled to the brim with emotion. 
He stepped forward and held his arms out wide, “FRIENDS, AND SOON-TO-BE-FRIENDS, WELCOME TO THE MAGIC SHOWℱ!”
You heard some people huff behind the curtain, followed by several footsteps. Eventually, another small skeleton popped out, a small human child accompanying him.
“I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, THE STAR OF THE SHOW! (WHICH IS SUPER EXCITING BECAUSE I'VE NEVER BEEN A STAR BEFORE, I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A SKELETON!! AND A FEW MARKETABLE PLUSHIES!!)”

what?
“AND THIS IS THE FANTASTIC FRISK! (WHO IS A HUMAN!)” Papyrus gestured over to the small child.
The person next to you leaned over, “What's the monster ambassador doing here?”
You blinked, “That's the monster ambassador?”
“Yeah? I see them on the news all the time. Didn't expect to see them here.”
You didn't either, though, you supposed this event was supposed to be a pretty big deal for monsters. As Bratty and Catty hinted at, it was so humans got more comfortable around monsters. 
You couldn't really tell how old Frisk was. A part of you wanted to say they were on the younger side, maybe nine or ten, but something about their face and body language made you wonder if they were just a really short teen. Their posture as well as stone cold expression carried more maturity than you had seen most adults have.
A kid being the one to free monsters from the underground was old news at this point, but seeing Frisk in person really made you wonder how that was even possible.
Upon being introduced, they turned to the crowd, paused as if waiting for instruction, before waving slightly. 
They must've been more on the shy side.
Papyrus then gestured to the shorter skeleton beside him, “AND THIS IS MY BROTHER! THE STELLER SANS! (HE'S ALMOST AS COOL AS ME!)”
The skeleton, now named Sans, hadn't dressed up like his brother had. In fact, he looked like he hadn't dressed up at all. He wore a hoodie (that had a few notable stains on it), basketball shorts, and fluffy pink slippers. While it was an odd combination, it looked extremely cozy. 
So cozy, in fact, it must have lulled Sans to sleep.
Sans let out a loud snore.
“SANS!” Papyrus stomped his foot, “WAKE UP THIS INSTANT AND GREET THE AUDIENCE!”
Sans peeked open one of his eye sockets. Not only were his sockets much larger than Papyrus’, but they had glowing lights that mimicked pupils in the center. It was fascinating.
“sorry, bro. guess you could say i was bone tired,” he turned to the audience and winked. Mysteriously, you heard a soft “badum-chh” sound play.
“OH, THAT ONE WAS HORRIBLE! AT LEAST COME UP WITH NEW ONES! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOCK OFF THE HUMANS’ FEET AND THEN POLITELY PUT THEM BACK ON IF YOU REUSE THE SAME MATERIAL?”
“woah, didn't mean to rattle you there, paps.”
Ba dum-chh
Papyrus sighed before rolling his sockets. You had no idea how that was physically possible but you found the whole thing so entertaining. You wondered if monsters were amused by the small things humans did too.
“PLEASE IGNORE MY BROTHER AND HIS TERRIBLE
SANSE OF HUMOR.”
Ba dum-chh
Sans snickered, “nice.”
Papyrus ignored this and turned to the audience, “NOW I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS MAY BE ALL OVERWHELMING! I AM A COOL DUDE AFTER ALL! HOWEVER, DO NOT LET MY COOLNESS SCARE YOU AWAY! BECAUSE TONIGHT, YOUR JAWS WILL DROP SO HARD THAT I ALREADY PROVIDED A MUCH NEEDED CUSHION AT THE BOTTOM OF ALL YOUR FEETS JUST IN CASE!”
You mentally thanked Catty and Bratty for recommending you to come to his show. This was the greatest thing you've ever witnessed. 
“NOW, BEFORE WE START, I MUST LEGALLY DISCLOSE THAT I HAVE SPECIAL AUTHORIZATION TO PERFORM SUCH MAGIC TRICKS AND THAT THE MAGIC LEARNING PLACƏ IS NOT LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES THAT MAY, BUT DEFINITELY WON'T, OCCUR!” 
Papyrus spoke so fast that you almost couldn't decipher what he was saying. This was becoming a running theme, you noticed. Monsters were very careful about how they presented themselves. Catty and Bratty weren't allowed to mention the purpose behind the magic shows and the various monsters behind the booths looked nervous anytime you asked about attacks.
You wondered why that was.
“NOW THAT WE HAVE THAT MUMBO-JUMBO OUT OF THE WAY, BEHOLD MY GREATNESS!”
Papyrus held his arms up. A small rumble could be heard as a wave of bones rose from the ground. The crowd gasped as the bones maneuvered themselves around.
They twisted and turned until “GREATNESS” was written in bones behind Papyrus. 
The crowd cheered.
Papyrus pumped his chest proudly in response. 
The show host continued to show off various tricks using his bones. He created various shapes and images with skill and intricacy that made you realize the jaw pillow was a good idea. You never thought you'd see a race car drawn out in bones, but Papyrus made it happen. 
The skeleton was talented and it made you wonder if you were capable of something similar.
The bone show stopped all too soon, however, when the Annoying Dog broke loose, somehow got his hands on a toy truck, and stole Papyrus’ extra show bones. 
He attempted to save the segment by asking his brother to do some bone tricks too, “WHY DON'T YOU AMAZE THE CROWD NEXT, BROTHER?”
“i dunno, bro. i can't possibly compete against you.”
“OF COURSE NOT, BUT WE WOULDN'T KNOW UNTIL YOU TRY! YOU MIGHT BE SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE!”
“alright, i'll throw you a bone.”
“SANS—”
Papyrus wasn't able to finish his sentence before a tiny bone bounced off his forehead. Papyrus didn't ask for Sans’ participation after that. 
You found yourself entranced by Papyrus’ magic usage. He used it with such ease, you almost felt jealous. He was so familiar with that magical part of himself while you actively ran from yours. If only things were different

“NOW, FOR MY NEXT TRICK, I'M GOING TO MAKE FRISK, FLOAT!”
Papyrus sent a strange look towards Sans, as if expecting his brother to say or do something. When he didn't get the reaction he wanted, he turned back to the audience while looking slightly disappointed. 
“YOU SEE, WHILE USING A SPECIFIC TYPE OF MAGIC, I CAN SAFELY LIFT MY SMALL HUMAN FRIEND!” Frisk, who hadn't done much up until now, walked closer to the front of the stage. They stretched out their arms and puffed out their cheeks in preparation.
“THOUGH BEFORE YOU LIFT ANY OF YOUR SMALL HUMAN FRIENDS, YOU MUST ASK FOR CONSENT. THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT! HUMAN FRISK?”
Frisk's head turned towards Papyrus.
“MAY I PLEASE SHIFT YOUR GRAVITATIONAL PULL IN A FRIENDLY AND NON-THREATENING WAY THAT WILL ENCOURAGE OTHER HUMAN FRIENDS TO TRY IT AS WELL?” 
Frisk nodded. 
“GREAT!” 
Papyrus reached out his hands, wiggling his fingers dramatically as if he were about to cast a spell.
You were at the edge of your seat, patiently waiting.
Frisk's body, slowly but surely, began rising. Their arms and legs stirred around for a moment, but it didn't take long for them to stop resisting whatever force was pushing them up. 
You couldn't help but watch in wonder as Frisk floated high above the audience. The audience was stunned and Papyrus seemed pleased by it.
“NYEH HEH! WITNESS MY GREATNESS!” Papyrus spun Frisk around slowly. Frisk seemed indifferent to everything around them, as though being thrown around by a skeleton was normal.
They flew over the audience, flashing various worried guests a thumbs-up. 
Papyrus floated them back over to the stage, dramatically placing a hand on his hip as he used his free hand to control Frisk's movements, “AS YOU CAN SEE, THIS TRICK IS PERFECTLY SAFE AND 100% WITHIN MY CONTROL! AND NOW THAT YOU HAVE SEEN MY PRESTIGES ABILITY
” Papyrus slowly lowered Frisk back to their feet, giving their head a small pat. 
You couldn't help but notice that Sans was now absent from the stage.
When did he leave?
Papyrus turned to the audience, tapping his fingers together as he scanned the audience with an eager smirk, before he jumped and opened up his arms to flash a grand pose, “WHO WANTS TO TRY IT?”
Instant silence.
You heard someone mutter a small, “I told you so,” in the audience. You glanced around to take in everyone's reactions. 
No one seemed eager. 
“OH I SEE, YOU'RE ALL INTIMIDATED BY MY RADIATING PRESENCE! BUT THERE'S NO REASON TO BE SCARED, FOR I WON'T CRASH YOU INTO ANYTHING! THE ONLY THING I'VE EVER CRASHED WAS THE INTERNET (BECAUSE OF HOW VIRAL I'VE GOTTEN)!!!”
There were a few murmurs in the crowd. 
You felt bad for Papyrus, who was still eagerly searching for a participant (that wasn't an overstatement, he was leaning over the stage with squinted eye sockets).
It almost made you want to offer but

You weren't sure if that was your best idea.
Papyrus continued to scan the crowd until he stopped at you.
He looked down, looked back up, then down, then up—
Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up—
And then he brought his gloved hands up to cover his mouth, “GASP!!! I DID NOT REALIZE THAT I HAD A FAN IN THE AUDIENCE!!”
You blinked and looked around—
“TO KNOW YOU ADMIRE ME SO MUCH THAT YOU IMPRINTED MY FACE ON YOUR SHIRT!!! IT BRINGS TEARS TO MY EYE SOCKETS IN A WAY THAT WOULD MAKE YOU QUESTION MY BIOLOGY!” Papyrus wiped a tear from his face.
Slowly, your gaze fell to the front of your shirt. A skull stared back at you and you felt embarrassment wash over you. Various audience members had turned to you, and the spotlight, literally and figuratively, was now on you.
“NOW DON'T BE SHY, FRIEND. I KNOW MEETING YOUR IDOL MUST BE INTIMIDATING, BUT FRISK CAN TELL YOU THAT IT'S WORTH IT.”
Frisk made no move, blankly staring into the audience. They stared off for a solid minute before nodding slightly.
Papyrus seemed pleased by this, turning back to you, “COME ON UP!”
Oh no.
You didn't want to, nervousness clawing at your limbs on a desperate attempt to weigh you down to your chair.
But the stares of audience members and the expectations of your peers brought you to your feet. 
You slowly stood up and awkwardly shuffled through the crowd. You shakily stepped onto the stage to come face to chest with an eager looking Papyrus. 
You jumped when he leaned down, his face mere inches from your own, to loudly whisper, “NOW I KNOW THIS MAY BE DISAPPOINTING, BUT THE #1 FAN SPOT IS TAKEN. YOU ARE CURRENTLY MY #2 FAN, AS FRISK TOOK THE #1 POSITION. BUT THAT'S OK! NUMBER 2 ISN'T SO BAD. MY BROTHER SETTLES FOR THAT ALL OF THE TIME!...NOT THAT YOU SHOULD FOLLOW HIS LEAD, HE'S A HORRIBLE EXAMPLE.”
He didn't move, prompting you to respond.
Your voice cracked, “Great.”
“WHAT'S YOUR NAME, #2?"
You hurriedly croaked out your name. If Papyrus noticed your anxious state, he didn't say anything, standing back up to face the audience.
“EVERYONE, GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR MY HELPER,” he announced your name loudly, and incorrectly. A few audience members hesitantly clapped. 
“NOW, FIRST STEP! I MUST ASK FOR CONSENT. HUMAN FRIEND, MAY I SHIFT YOUR GRAVITATIONAL PULL IN A NON-THREATENING WAY THAT WILL SHOW YOUR HUMAN PEERS THAT MONSTERS ARE SUPER COOL AND SUPER FUN?”
“...yeah.”
Papyrus smiled before stepping back. You stood there, wondering if there was some sort of cue you were supposed to be looking for. Your swarming thoughts stopped when you felt a slight pull in your chest. Your eyes bulged as the pull became stronger.
“DO NOT FRET, HUMAN, RELAX AND LET ME-” He turned back to the audience and smirked, “WORK MY MAGIC!” A string of “nyeh-heh-heh-s” left his mouth as the pull became stronger.
As though someone had gripped your heart and started lifting, your chest beckoned you to follow the strange pull. You felt your feet leave the ground, and you couldn't help yourself from flailing your arms and legs. 
You heard a few gasps in the audience as Papyrus, slowly but surely, made your body fly in slow circles.
Though he hadn't lifted you very high, you still felt as though you towered above your peers. Their faces melded together as you tried to grasp the fact that you were flying. It was incredible.
You couldn't fight the fit of giggles and butterflies that erupted in your stomach. 
Your body felt light as a feather. Noticing your comfortable state, Papyrus began moving you around faster. He guided you in broader circles around the audience, lowering you a few times to allow you to high five a few children.
The utter bliss you felt enveloped in felt unreal. How could humans have locked monsters underground when they could do this?
You weren't fully paying attention to Papyrus' speeches, too entranced by your floating state. 
The last part of his speech, however, caught your attention, “-AND AS YOU CAN SEE, THIS IS PERFECTLY SAFE! NOTHING HAS HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN FRIEND. THEY ARE THE EXACT SAME AS BEFORE, OTHER THAN THE FLOATING AND THE GLOWING!”
Papyrus put his unoccupied hand on his hip. A beat of silence followed until Papyrus unexpectedly jumped- “GLOWING?” 
Your eyebrow raised in question as you looked at yourself.
Your chest was emitting a soft glow that was traveling down your arms and legs. You looked at Papyrus, and back at yourself, not understanding what caused his sudden anxiety.
He was using magic on you, doesn't magic glow?
“THAT'S ENOUGH FLOATING FOR YOU! TIME TO COME DOWN!” Papyrus slowly lowered you until your feet touched the ground.
You felt the pull release, though something remained. A comforting warmth that oddly felt like a hug. 
You still felt like you were on cloud nine, but your stage partner looked like he was internally panicking. 
Wait
had Frisk glowed when Papyrus lifted them? Now that you think about it

If Papyrus wasn't using his magic on you anymore

Then

Oh no. 
Your whole body went rigid as the realization settled — the glowing was from you. 
You stared at the audience, did they know? Did Papyrus know? He had to.
They knew.
They all knew.
“THIS
IS UH
A FUN SIDE EFFECT TO THE FLOATING! PART OF THE WHOLE PROCESS. THE HUMAN IS ALRIGHT, RIGHT?”
You frantically nodded, “Never better!” He knew- he was covering for you- he knew. 
Papyrus went on about how normal this was, but you couldn't stay for it. You forced yourself to ignore the urge to run and exited the stage slowly through the back.
You closed the doors behind you, looking around to see that the area was empty. That did nothing to ease your panicking, however. Your hands were trembling, and even worse, emitting a soft glow.
Why was this happening now? 
What were you supposed to do?
You closed your eyes and tried to calm yourself down. If you thought about something nice, it should go away, right? 
It had to work.
It had to.
Puppies, ice-cream, sunny days, soft clouds—
“that's quite the lightshow you got there, pal.”
You froze as the blood drained from your face. Slowly, you turned behind you to see the smaller skeleton that had accompanied Papyrus at the beginning of the show— Sans.
No, no, no, you couldn't have more witnesses!
Maybe he didn't know. 
Maybe he thought this was normal. 
You were okay, you just had to play this off.
Despite everything, you had some hope for the situation.
You had to keep going.
“Yeah! Must be a weird effect from the floating
thing.”
“floating thing?”
“Yeah! You weren't there to see it but uh
Papyrus
made me float. So now I'm glowing.”
Sans reached up and scratched his cheek, a small snicker escaping him, “yeah?”
“Yep! Magic is crazy like that
heh.”
He paused for a moment, “i, uh
know you're not all that familiar with magic, buddy,” Sans looked you over, the ridge above his eye socket raising as though it were a brow, “or maybe you are
”
You gulped.
“either way, let me shine some light on the situation and let ya know that uh
‘floating things’ don't make you glow.”
You should run, “Really? I do it all of the time.” 
“yeah? is that a hobby of yours?”
You really should stop, “Call me a professional.” 
“how enlightening.”
Oh no. He knew, and he wasn't buying your excuse. Of course he wasn't, he was a monster. He understood magic way more than you did, how could you think you could lie to him about something he knew like the back of his hand? What should you say? Should you lie and say this was a human thing? How much about humans did he know? Monsters have been on the surface for three years, that's enough time to know that humans glowing isn't normal—
“i've been told that my jokes can lighten the mood, but i didn't realize you'd take that to heart,” Sans tapped his chest and you looked down.
The glowing was worse now.
Clearly this situation was beyond repair. Multiple people had seen you glow, and you were positive two of them knew enough to piece together the truth, despite your efforts all these years to keep it a secret. 
Sans wasn't buying any of your excuses and the only way you could make your secret more obvious was if you told him you were a mage.
With your back against the wall, nothing but a blinding hope that told you that you couldn't give up, you only had one option.
You ran.
14 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
The Magic Touch
During your teen years, you came to the mortifying realization you have magic. Maybe once upon a time, that would've been useful, but not only are humans not supposed to have magic anymore, but you can't for the life of you figure out how to use it.
Deciding to learn more about what you are, you went to the "Magic Learning Placə" to study magic.
If you had known that this would've lead to a punning skeleton finding out about your secret, you would've stayed curious.
(A Sans x reader story )
Notes: slower updates! Any needed warnings will be provided before the chapter. The reader uses they/them pronouns and gender neutral descriptions. (not because they're nonbinary necessarily, but because i want everyone to be able to enjoy this story! Reader is you after all)
Story is still on-going ! Updates are irregular
You can read it on:
Archive of Our Own
And right here on Tumblr!
Chapter One: A Trick of the Light
Chapter Two: A Glow-rious Night Shift
Chapter Three: A Sleight of Hand
Chapter Four: TBA
Chapter Five: TBA
Chapter Six: TBA
Chapter Seven: TBA
Chapter Eight: TBA
4 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
Undertale M.List
The Magic Touch
During your teen years, you came to the mortifying realization you have magic. Maybe once upon a time, that would've been useful, but not only are humans not supposed to have magic anymore, but you can't for the life of you figure out how to use it. Deciding to learn more about what you are, you went to the "Magic Learning Placə" to study magic. If you had known that this would've lead to a punning skeleton finding out about your secret, you would've stayed curious.
A love story between you and a skeleton.
Read it on A03
And here!
1 note · View note
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
My Masterlists:
Undertale M.List
0 notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
Wonder what you asked him hehe
Chapter three of The Magic Touch is coming soon! Keep your eyes peeled for updates ~ <3
Up till it releases, I'll be releasing the chapters to be available to read right here on Tumblr!
8 notes · View notes
thetraingotsetonfireonmidnight · 9 months ago
Text
Ugh stopping everything to write for a roblox fish was not my plan for the day
Tumblr media
29 notes · View notes