Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“My children, are you sure you know where you are going?” Toriel asked as the seven mage children traversed through the forest in the receding light.

“That’s why we’re letting Mark lead the way,” Robert stated. “He’s got a good knack for being able to figure out directions.”

“Still, I would feel much better if one of us led the way.”

“Now, Tori… El,” Asgore stated. “They remember the surface much better than ourselves, so they would naturally have better senses of direction.”

It had been a few minutes since the monsters had regrouped, now following the Purple mage. “As well as the fact th-that the underground had some magnetic interference, so we can’t really be sure of where exactly ‘north’ is,” Alphys agreed. “The iron content in the magma really doesn’t help underground direction, either.”

“Please do tell me you still remember the general direction the sun goes in the sky,” Mark stated in a deadpan tone.

“Who cares?” Undyne raised her arms. “The longer we stay out of there, the better!”

“You’re lucky I can spot Polaris if we stay out that long,” Mark grumbled.

Chara appeared in front of the children. “You’ve got myself to help as well! It’s a shame that our footprints have likely long washed away. In the first rainfall after that, in fact.”

“Are you sure we are still going the right way?” Frisk asked, looking at the darkening sky.

“I’m positive that we’re going the right way… Ish,” the dead girl replied.

“‘Ish’?” Emily whispered.

“Cut me some slack! Being dead for a decade does things to your memories, even if you’re a Red with Purple,” Chara stated.

“Still need to know how the heck you managed to come back,” Amanda grumbled.

“‘Determination’ is the only answer you’re getting. If you don’t like that, then go down to Alphys’ True Lab. In fact, remember: Red Souls aren’t good at dying. Or staying dead, for that manner.”

There was no way they could answer without revealing the existence of Chara, so the group just chose to stay silent. After a few minutes, the sun finally disappeared over the horizon, which led to two orbs of fire to appear over them; one was hotter than the other. “How long were we… You know?” William finally asked. “It felt like day and night still worked with the normal day and night up here.”

“to be fair, you guys did sleep quite a while in the hotel,” Sans stated.

Chara gave a look to Frisk. “And that’s why you’re a lazy butt. The supreme one of all of us.”

William leaned over to Chara. “Why do you keep calling him a lazy butt? And when did that start?”

“He’s a lazy butt because he’s a lazy butt,” the ghost girl replied. “And he has been since you woke up in the dump. He’s just the biggest one, and don’t get me started on those noodles he calls arms.”

Frisk held out an arm and looked at it. “Robert’s not much older than me, and you don’t call his arms noodly,” he mumbled.

“That’s because he has Orange as his primary trait, so his arms aren’t noodles.”

“Now, children. What are you all whispering about?” Toriel asked.

“Mage things,” Robert quickly answered; Clara’s eye twitched at the bold lie, despite her clearly understanding the importance.

“Oh, I see,” the motherly goat responded. “Perhaps any of you would like to tell us what it is?”

“Nothing, it’s just one of them teasing Frisk,” Mark stated loudly from the front of the group.

“Really?” Toriel replied. “I must tell you, it is very rude to tease, even in a playful manner.”

“Not like it ever stopped me from teasing Azzy,” Chara quipped. “It’s not like you could really stop a Red mage once their mind is made.”

The group of mages and monsters kept making their way through the foliage at a steady pace. “WOWIE, I DID NOT KNOW THAT THERE WERE THIS MANY TWINKLING LIGHTS IN THE SKY!” Papyrus exclaimed.

“those are called stars, bro,” Sans stated, looking at the sky intently. It looked like he was attempting to commit every little twinkle to memory; as if he was expecting them to be ripped away from him at any second.

Nevertheless, that seemed a bit odd to the seven plus one, but they decided to not pay any more attention to it. “How much of the stars do you know, Sans?” Robert asked.

“HE KNOWS A LOT ABOUT SCIENCEY TOPICS, THOUGH HE HAS A CERTAIN MAJOR LIKING FOR ALL THINGS SPACE.”

“Makes sense,” Mark commented. “If his telescope in Waterfall is anything to go by.”

“OH GOD, PLEASE DON’T TELL ME HE DID THE RED-EYE PRANK ON ANY OF YOU,” Papyrus groaned.

“Frisk was the only one who fell for it,” Amanda stated. “Though it’s only because he was the first.”

“GAH! AND I COULD ONLY GUESS THAT HE OFFERED YOU A GRAND REFUND OF ZERO G.”

“worth every coin,” Sans stated.

“THAT’S NOT HOW YOU CONDUCT A BUSINESS, AND YOU KNOW IT!”

“well i can’t just give ‘em any more than one, otherwise i’d be losing money.”

“AND YOU WOULD RIGHTFULLY DESERVE THAT!”

“Sans, I think it would be wise for you to stop your practical jokes on the children,” Toriel stated. “It could end up backfiring onto you.”

“AH, DO NOT TAKE THIS AS A DEFENSE,” Papyrus began. “BUT MY BROTHER’S PENCHANT FOR PRANKING IS HARMLESS. MOST OF THE TIME, AND ALL OF THE TIME. IT DEPENDS ON TARGET.”

“I took a look at the notes when we slept over,” Robert stated. “Sans was clearly doing it over vague technicalities.”

“THE IMPLICATIONS WERE ALL THERE! AND MY LAZYBONES OF A BROTHER KEPT ON DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WITH HIS SOCK!” Papyrus stomped his foot. “I KEPT TELLING HIM TO PICK UP HIS SOCK, BUT HE WOULD LEAVE IT THERE!”

“i did pick up the sock. never stated until later that i had to actually move it anywhere.”

“THE IMPLICATIONS WERE CLEAR FROM THE START! YOU JUST WENT OFF OF THE TECHNICALITIES UNTIL IT WAS POINTLESS FOR ME TO CONTINUE!”

“Da- ang,” Undyne stated, correcting herself at the sight of Toriel. “Never thought Sans could do anything that could make you give up on something… On the other hand,” she turned upon the short skeleton. “You were the WORST sentry we ever had!”

“thanks for that.”

“That’s NOT a compliment!” Undyne stated loudly. “You were always napping whenever I came by to check. You’re lucky you did the bare minimum needed to keep your job, otherwise you would have been fired! But I’m kind of impressed anyway.”

“YES, YOUR DEDICATION TO SLOTH IS QUITE A REMARKABLE THING TO BEHOLD. NEVERTHELESS, I PLEASE ENCOURAGE EVERYONE AGAINST SUCH ACTIVITY, OR LACK THEREOF IN THIS CASE!” Papyrus looked at the children.

Robert raised his hands. “Hey, no need to look at me. I have a primary of Orange.”

“YES, AN ORANGE SOUL OF BRAVERY IS QUITE THE OPPOSITE OF BEING LAZY!”

“Still doesn’t stop you from being a lazy butt,” Chara stated to Frisk. “You need to get up when you need to, otherwise you will only perpetuate how much of a lazy butt you currently are.”

“How much longer?” Frisk asked, ignoring Chara’s comment.

“How do you not know how much longer? Didn’t you walk down the mountain like a month ago? From our perspective, of course,” the ghost girl stated. “Honestly, still proof that you’re a lazy butt, but in this case the memorizing department.”

“At least several more minutes,” Mark answered, also ignoring Chara’s comments. “I suggest you figure out how to present yourselves.”

“Ah, yes,” Asgore stated. “If we are lucky, the first ones we’ll meet will at least have one mage in the group; they might be more reasonable.”

“Y-yeah!” Alphys joined in. “With magic as our common factor, it would theoretically h-help speed up relations!”

“I INTEND TO BE NEAR THE FRONT OF OUR GROUP!” Declared Papyrus. “IT IS MY DUTY AS THE MASCOT TO MAKE AS GOOD OF AN IMPRESSION AS I CAN POSSIBLY DO!”

“there’s no better mascot for monsters in my opinion,” Sans stated. He appeared to have stopped gazing at the stars, now staring ahead with his hands in his pockets.

“OF COURSE! THERE CAN BE NO BETTER MASCOT THAN MYSELF!”

“Heck yeah!” Undyne shouted, pumping her fist in the air. “Show them that we shouldn’t be messed with!”

“Er, perhaps that could have been worded better,” Toriel stated. “Maybe we could suggest that we are of no harm to them?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Undyne waved her off. “In the end, the less trouble for us, the better!”

“The humans might not see it that way, but we should hope that they would be reasonable.”

Emily pointed off to the near distance to the slight right. “I hear a group of footsteps in that direction.”

Mark quickly glanced in her direction, nodding and adjusting their path. “We can get there in about a minute.”

And so the group of humans and monsters quickly made their way through the quickly receding forest, buildings beginning to appear in their vision. And before they knew it…

A (thankfully not Annoying) white dog appeared from beneath some bushes, wearing a vest with the Delta Rune emblazoned on the topside. It looked in their direction, ears straightening out as it barked behind it three times. “Looks like she found something!” A voice called from out of sight.

“Let me check ahead,” another, very familiar voice stated, Frisk freezing as well as the six other children looking up in recognition.

A few seconds passed, accompanied by multiple footsteps. The Red mage boy was the first to act, Chara disappearing from sight with the voice. Right as the figure entered their view, Frisk jumped at them, embracing them in a hug. “Grandpa!”

There was a lighthearted chuckle from his grandfather. In the middle of the hug, the older mage looked up, to see the monsters, the other children gathering. “Well, it looks like you brought some… Interesting company.”

Chapter Text

Roughly One Hour Earlier…

Fritz Ebbot sighed as he was finishing with his paperwork for the day. It had been quite a few hours since he had seen Frisk (from his perspective, of course) but though this extra time was more than from before… Well, he wasn’t expecting miracles from his grandson but he was also hoping it would have taken less time for Frisk to figure out what he needed to do, and likely need a complete Reset to figure out a better way to go about things.

Even more concerning was that, a little over half an hour ago, time jumped back several minutes. He hoped with all of his Soul that it was an intentional return, but with how Frisk behaved over the past month (again, from their perspectives), he couldn’t allow his hopes to go too far up.

Which led to his current activity of passively looking out the window of his office. He had to admit, it was quite the breathtaking view despite the overcast skies.

“Sir?” A voice at the door asked, breaking Fritz out of his pondering.

The older mage shook his head, clearing his mind of thoughts as he turned to the voice in question; a young woman from one of his earlier afternoon classes. He gave an acknowledging nod. “Yes, what is it?”

She seemed to scratch an ear in slight nervousness, the purple accenting on her clothing showing itself prominently. “Well, I was just wondering…”

Summoning his Patience, Fritz waited for the girl to continue. “Please, take your time.”

His student stammered for a few seconds. “I… Just need help figuring out what I should do for my Alchemy final.”

The Red mage looked at the calendar; yep, the first day of the finals was one week from now. He looked back at the student. “Well, do you recall what the second portion is about?”

“Imbuing an object with the primary and secondary colors of my Soul, so that it would make the most out of what it is intended for,” she repeated. “Right?”

“Right,” Fritz nodded. “If I may use an example, a friend of my grandson,” he halted for barely half a second. “He shares his primary color with you, and yet he always carries around a notebook. He has probably the best memory retention of a Purple I have known, but he is hardly ever seen without it. Could you guess why he uses it?”

The young woman thought for a moment. “I… Don’t understand.”

“What are notebooks used for?”

“Information recording… But it makes no sense for a Purple to have one so obsessively.”

“I asked him once,” Fritz explained. “It was a while after my grandson met him. He simply said that he writes in it because others do not have his memory.”

“And how does this tie into Alchemy?”

“He would likely make his notebook retain its information, long after its information should have faded from its pages.”

“Wow, that’s-” she began, but looked out the window. “Huh?”

Fritz looked out the window as well, wanting to see what she was distracted by.

A few stray bolts of lightning began to form around the upper half of the mountain. It built up over several seconds, crescendoing in a noticeable quake and a large beam of light erupted from it. The once overcast evening was abruptly turned into what had not happened last time; the sun beginning to set.

“What wa-?”

Fritz quickly began to pack his items. “I’m sorry, but I believe that is my cue. You should know my after-hours office number.”

“Yeah, well…”

“I promise that if you need anything, you could call me with the number. Now, let us leave,” the older mage stated. The young woman nodded nervously, moving out of the way. Fritz just shook his head. “You may leave through the door. I will be Pinching my way back.”

The student nodded, closing the door after her with a face red with embarrassment. “Sorry…”

Fritz took a few seconds to compose himself, taking a few deep breaths before initiating his Pinching. “Better be good news…” He muttered to himself.

He didn’t bother to Pinch to his usual destination at the front door, instead going straight to the living room. “Now, where is that damn remote?” He stated, looking around. After one or two minutes of searching, he found it where Frisk usually left it; between the cushions. Victorious, he turned on the television and immediately switched it to the local news channel.

“… Correspondents are not sure what has caused Mount Ebott to erupt with what appears to be pure magic, but rumors are beginning to float around that taboos are going to be broken, and a team of researchers are going to ascend the mountain to get a better idea of what may have occurred. They say to not get your hopes up just yet, which neither confirmed nor denied the rumors. If you would like to get a place on the team, they ask you to please consult their website for further information…”

Fritz had stopped paying attention to the newscast the moment the website showed up at the bottom of the screen, booting up the computer in the other room. This was one of the less favorable aspects of having Cyan as a trait; when they feel they’re in a rush, they tend to be more agitated.

And right now, he was feeling very agitated.

The computer (he should get a new one anyways, the old thing) finally finished, he quickly signed in, waiting the bare minimum amount of time it took for everything to get prepared. The moment that happened, though, he got onto the internet and quickly typed in the address. Right there, in big font, was the team sign up. He clicked on the link as soon as the site would register his clicking.

The location the link took him to was pretty basic, just an address. However, the address made him want to facepalm.

It was back at the university he taught at.

Sighing, Fritz prepared to Pinch once again. A moment later, he was back in his office. “Magical Studies… Magical Studies,” he muttered under his breath as he swiftly left the room and navigated the hallways to his destination.

Within a few minutes, he managed to locate the wing that the website had stated; Thaumaturgical Experiences was emblazoned on a plaque at the entrance. Sitting at a desk that was obviously placed there barely minutes before was an older (but still quite young compared to himself) man. “Sir?” The man questioned. “I believe I know why you’re here, but I still need to ask; why are you here?”

“I saw the news report and wish to join,” Fritz explained.

“Right, right,” the man nodded absentmindedly, shuffling through a small stack of papers. He then pulled out an empty page and clicked a pen. “Just need you to give some information before you can be allowed through.”

“That’s fine,” Fritz nodded.

“Name?”

“Frederick Ebbot. Two ‘b’s’ and one ‘t’, and I prefer ‘Fritz’.”

“Date of birth?”

“September twenty-third, Eighteen thirteen.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “That basically answers the next question of if you’re a mage. Is that all for what you are?”

Fritz nodded. “I’m a pure Ebott mage, for what I know of my ancestry.”

“Okay… Occupation?”

“Alchemy professor at this very institution. Though, officially it’s ‘magic-based chemistry’.”

A nod. “Last one… What reason do you have for being on this team?”

“Honestly? I feel my grandson has something to do with the beam.”

“Whatever you say,” the man shrugged, writing the information down. “Are there any last things you would like to add to help your case?”

Fritz thought for a moment, grimacing; he absolutely hated pulling this card, but he needed to ensure his spot. “I am the son of the late Red Archmage Freische Ebbot.”

“Guess I’ll have to look into that,” the man stated. “Well, that’s all that is required of you. Let me send this over to the team to see if you’re allowed, and wait,” he gestured to a small line of people.

“Of course. I hope to get on the team.”

“We’ll see.”

After standing for several minutes, the line began to inch forward with names being called out. Sighing, he placed his hands into his pockets before pulling out a small, worn journal. He glanced around, making sure that no one was looking, and began the beginning process of Pinching. But no, he was not intending to return anywhere, he simply needed a moment of private reading.

Flipping to an earlier page, he read over the information of the page.

It is with the heaviest of regrets that I partook as part of the spellcasters of the barrier beneath Ebott. As part of the terms of surrender, we will not pursue any future hostilities once the spell has been cast. I wish that the war could have been avoided at any cost, but that is reality.

I just hope that, for their sakes, Asgore and his wife will live to see their freedom once more.

Fritz wished that his father could have been more specific with the war he mentioned in his journal. To be fair, there were points in the book that had sudden changes in tone and would have little context to anyone else. Heck, there were points where there were mentions that only occurred once that never were spoken again.

Like who was this ‘Kris’ mentioned in an entry around the fifteen hundreds, by his estimates?

Nevertheless, there were some instances where it only made sense to anyone who had any knowledge of their family’s special magic. The mysterious war involved several mentions, but most of them were failures. The only one seemed to be a formal surrender, but it didn’t say who the parties were, or what the reasons were.

He grumbled as he canceled the Pinch. However, the moment after that he heard something that made him perk up.

“Fritz Ebbot! Please proceed to the team-designated line!”

Well, he was glad that, to this day, his father’s name still holds weight. He was at least glad for that.

Chapter Text

*Okay, you can stop hugging now.

Nope, Frisk responded, strengthening his hugging. I’m glad for us to get out of this… Everyone.

The hug let up with the arrival of other people. Frisk could tell that many of them were mages just by the colored accents upon their clothing. Speaking of other mages…

“Clarissa!” A man rushed up to the group.

“Dad…” Clara groaned, covering her face with embarrassment. “Not in front of everyone.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Clara’s father quickly stated, looking at the monsters. “Now, what are… You doing?”

“I AM THE OFFICIAL MASCOT OF MONSTERS!” Papyrus declared. “AND I AM TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!”

“Er…” Asgore stated. “Well, we recently left the mountain after imprisonment…” He didn’t seem to know how to continue in this situation. The fact that they weren’t attacked yet was at least a significant piece of progress.

“Well, at least now I know what my father meant in his journal,” Frisk’s grandfather muttered. “How else would’ve I known they were a completely different race…”

“I think you mean ‘species’,” Mark corrected.

“Regardless,” Clara’s father interrupted. “I’m going to ask this only once more: What are you doing?”

“Like we’ve said,” Toriel stepped up. “We were recently freed from the mountain with… The help of the children. With the power of their Souls, they were able to destroy the barrier.”

“Wait wait wait,” a team member stated. “Start with that: What the hell was trapping you? And why?”

Asgore and Toriel looked at one another briefly. “Well, it appears that your people didn’t record the history as well as we thought,” Toriel cleared her throat quickly. “As you see, about a thousand years ago there was a war between humans and monsters. Few mages took place in the actual fighting, but they did partake in the creation of the barrier, which were the conditions for surrender that the humans ordered.”

“My father mentioned such in his journal,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “He was among the mages that helped in the barrier.”

Many of the team members looked at him. “Why didn’t you tell us that?”

He shrugged in response. “Never thought I’d be meeting the ones responsible for that entry.”

Asgore stepped up. “If I perhaps, may I ask for your surname?”

“Ebbot,” the grandfather stated.

Asgore’s face broke out into a smile. “Ah, I remember your father well. He was a good man, even when he was pushed to help with the barrier. I trusted his judgment then.”

“He always had such a strong amount of Integrity,” the older mage nodded. “Well, since you knew my father so well, I suppose I am obligated to offer you something in return.”

“Ah, well there is something you could help us with,” Toriel responded. “We could use some help with re-integration with the surface world.”

“You will have to speak with the current Archmages,” Clara’s father stated, stepping up. “Though I say that it is getting a little late for such matters. Still, we’ll need to first set up some legal matters, such as an ambassador. At least for the time being.”

“Actually, we have already selected an ambassador,” Asgore admitted. “Frisk?”

Frisk nodded, grabbing his grandfather’s hand and pulling him over to the king. “I was the only one who accepted.”

“Really?” Frisk’s grandfather replied, raising an eyebrow. “I have little doubt of your potential, but you are still quite young.”

“I, FOR ONE, DO NOT DOUBT THE AMBASSADORIAL ABILITIES OF FRISK, MISTER OLDER FRISK!” Papyrus declared, placing a hand on his chest. “YOU DID NOT ATTACK US DESPITE OUR APPEARANCES, SO THAT MUST MEAN THAT HE WAS DOING SOMETHING RIGHT!”

“can’t argue with that flawless logic right there,” Sans lazily made his way to the front. He held out a hand. “nice to meet you.”

“Sans, do not ,” Amanda groaned loudly as Frisk’s grandfather grasped the shorter skeleton’s hand, a wet farting noise proceeding to ring out through the surrounding trees. “Of course you did.”

The older Red mage gave an unimpressed look to the skeleton. “Really? I could practically sense the impending Cyan magic coming a mile away. After it traversed the globe, first.”

Sans gave a wink. “whoever said it was a use of cyan-based magic?”

“The fact that your hand was wreathed in hard-to-perceive shadows and your pocket had the signature imprint of an impending Pinch,” Frisk’s grandfather crossed his arms. “I have a secondary of Cyan, I see these things easily.”

“FINALLY SOMEONE CAN SIMULTANEOUSLY FALL FOR MY BROTHER’S PRANKS AND DECONSTRUCT THEM!” Papyrus exclaimed. “MAYBE FOR ONCE HE MAY ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT HOW UTTERLY CHILDISH THEY ARE!”

“the day i stop pranking will be the day i pick up the sock for good.”

“DO YOU SEE WHAT I HAVE TO DEAL WITH ON A DAILY BASIS?!” Papyrus stomped his foot on the ground.

William took a look at the taller skeleton, then frowned. “Why are you smiling then?”

“IT’S A SMILE OF DISCONTENT!”

“Er, is this common between the two of them?” Asgore quietly asked.

“This happens ALL the time, from what I hear!” Undyne replied.

“Nevertheless,” Toriel cleared her throat as she looked at the children. “I think it is about time that we should speak about any arrangements for the night. It appears to be getting particularly late.”

“I suppose that’s something we could be able to arrange,” another member of the team spoke up. “Though I would also like to learn a bit more… This excitement is too much to get any sleeping done tonight. Would you like us to escort you back up the mountain?”

“If I spend any more than another SECOND in that mountain today, I’ll collapse it myself!” Undyne stated, crossing her arms.

“You’d have t-to wait for everyone to leave first, remember?” Alphys placed a careful hand on her girlfriend’s arm.

Undyne’s expression turned to embarrassment. “Right! I’d just REALLY like to not go back.”

Frisk’s grandfather sighed. “I guess that I can allow you to come spend the night at my house, then.”

Yet another member piped up their opinion. “Are you sure it should be allowed? If he is their leader, then he should have something more appropriate? Alongside the fact that it sounds unprofessional, and that is not considering the fact that they are still fairly big unknowns.”

“If it helps that last addition, you are invited as well. Get all your research done, and experience some Ebbot Family hospitality. Goodness knows how long it has been since we’ve had any guests,” the older mage stated, then looked to Asgore. “As for you, think of this as a visit with an old family friend.”

“Are you sure you’d be so willing to let us into your home, Mister Ebbot?” Toriel asked at the same time as the most recent objector.

Frisk’s grandfather looked at the team member. “Freische Ebbot,” was all he stated, causing the team member to back down.

“Mister Ebbot, I wasn’t as well acquainted with your father before our imprisonment, but are you sure he would be fine with using his name for clout?” Toriel questioned in a lower voice.

“No, he would not,” the older Red mage replied. “But I’d be willing to say that, for old friends, he would be willing for these few times,” he shook his head before muttering, “never liked using his clout, anyway.”

“Well, if you think things have been settled,” Clara’s father began, “I guess it is about time that I take Clara home and get started with a report back at the office.”

“Dad,” Clara grumbled. “Can I just stay the night?”

“I assure you, they will be safe with me about as safe as their new friends,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “I will be contacting the parents and guardians of the others, if they are also willing.”

“Don’t bother with my dad,” Robert grumbled. “Could do with another night away.”

Clara’s father looked conflicted for a few moments, sighing at last. “Okay… But contact me once you have settled for the night. I’m still searching for a certain gun, though.”

Clara’s face actually began to flush with embarrassment. “I kind of… Borrowed it.”

“What? How? Why?”

“I thought I would need it, and Emily grabbed it for me,” Clara explained.

“Why would you believe that you needed it? You aren’t supposed to use it unless it’s an emergency,” he stated sternly.

“Dad, I remember the lessons of gun safety you gave me,” the Yellow mage rolled her eyes. “You hammered it in the moment I was strong enough to hold the darn thing. And as for the other thing…” She looked awkwardly to the side. “We fell through a hole. Who knows what dangerous things could have survived down there.”

“Actually, I do not recall any animals falling through during my… Time there,” Toriel stated. “I believe the poor things sensed the barrier, and avoided strong detections.”

“Well, it wasn’t like we knew that,” Clara concluded. “Point is: I know it ain’t a toy,” she took it from the holster it was in. “And I won’t need it any time soon.”

The father sighed as he stepped forward. “Still.”

“SEE, EVERYONE?” Papyrus announced to the rest of the team. “WE COULD HAVE ALL OF THIS SOLVED WITHOUT VIOLENCE! THERE IS NO REASON FOR HUMANS AND MONSTERS TO NOT COEXIST! THEREFORE, WE BELONG ON THE SURFACE.”

*Bold words for the self-proclaimed mascot. Still, it’s kind of funny that he managed such. Looks like they’re even taking him somewhat seriously.

That’s because he’s the Great Papyrus! Frisk replied to the dead girl. There’s a reason he calls himself that.

*He clearly came up with that moniker himself, you dork.

With that, Frisk’s grandfather took the lead out of the edges of the forest.

Chapter Text

The past couple of hours felt like they simultaneously took a short amount of time and an incredibly long time. But, given the circumstances, Fritz decided that it was for the best that it was done… Mostly. Granted, while many of the team members had left for their own homes, there were still those who were taking this leftover time to continue giving the monsters a barrage of questions.

He suspected that if they took any longer, he’d have to just invite them to stay the night as well, so that they could continue their barrage in the morning.

Meanwhile, Frisk and his friends were sitting in a circle in a side room, whispering among themselves. If this kept up, he’d have to practically force them to bed, considering the hour it was.

“Do you guys have anything interesting to have here?” Undyne asked loudly near the dining area; she was left alone earlier during the questioning. He had a feeling that it was because the team was intimidated by her apparent brashness.

“There are several boxes of Soulflower teas in the upper cupboard next to the stove, and the kettle is in the drying rack,” Fritz responded.

“Soulflowers, huh?” The fish monster replied. “Never heard of those.”

“They’re a flower native to the region,” the older mage responded.

“Excuse me, but I believe that the golden flowers are related to them?” Asgore piped up. The person that was questioning him looked annoyed at the interrupted questioning.

“Ah!” A voice shouted out with the creak of a cupboard opening. “Wow, that’s a lot of red ones! They must be good, if you have this many of them!”

“I would suggest against that!” Amanda shouted from the side room. “That stuff tastes like blood!”

“No it doesn’t!” Frisk loudly protested.

“Just because you, Clara, and your grandfather don’t mind the taste doesn’t mean the rest of it like it,” the Blue mage girl loudly grumbled.

“Amanda, this house is inhabited by two Red mages,” Clara stated in a tired-of-this tone. “Of course it would be the most common.”

Fritz knew that an argument was inevitable at this rate, so he pulled out a tried-and-true method of getting the two to stop it at this late; “If you two continue this, then I’ll force you two to share a room by yourselves.”

There were a few seconds of silence, ending with hasty apologies. The older mage gave a self-satisfied smile before returning his attention elsewhere.

After several more minutes, Asgore walked towards Fritz, standing just within his peripheral vision. “Do you have anything to say?”

“Ah, actually, I have quite a few things to ask of you, now that the others have been satisfied with what I can tell them for now,” Asgore stated.

“And what would the first of that be?” Fritz asked.

The apparent king shuffled slightly on his feet. “I have but to ask, for my own sake; I would assume that your father has been gone for quite some time. If I may ask, how long ago was that?”

The older Red mage shifted uncomfortably. “He passed away a little over a century ago. Nineteen-Twelve, to be more specific.”

“Was it peaceful?”

Fritz nodded. “From what we could tell, he passed away in his sleep. He needed such an end to his life, after spending much of it as the Red Archmage.”

“Ah,” Asgore acknowledged. “Would you care to tell me where his remains are? So I may see them in my own time once we get things sorted out.”

Fritz looked off into the distance. “He was buried in the town center, the small park just across from the magocracy building. A significant patch of the golden flowers grow there now.”

“I didn’t know that!” Frisk stated loudly, having wandered his way to the doorway.

“Frisk,” Fritz sighed. “You cannot go interrupting like that.”

“But I didn’t know that,” Frisk repeated. “Chara wanted her body placed there.”

Asgore flinched at the name, for a reason Fritz didn’t, but started to, understand. “I- er, yes. That is what she requested.”

The older mage looked between the two. “I can tell there’s something I’m missing, because there’s only one ‘Chara’ I knew in my life, and she disappeared some time before you were born.”

The king frowned. “I think there may be a link. Who was your Chara to you?”

“She was my grand niece,” Fritz replied. “I did not know what happened to her, but I heard that she was then seen dead. I was not there for the incident.”

Asgore wiped away a tear. “I see. There was still the possibility that they were not the same one.”

Frisk walked up to the king and began to hug him. “Don’t worry, I think that she thinks her time underground was the best time of her life.”

“Thank you, young one,” Asgore stated, ruffling the boy’s hair. “I am unsure that she would think of it like that, though,” nevertheless, Frisk looked at the king determinedly before wandering his way back to his friends. “He is a kind one, right?”

Fritz nodded slightly. “Red as his primary, but he has a significant amount of kindness, no doubt. I would say he gets it from his father, though I didn’t know him as long as I should have.”

The king’s expression turned curious. “What do you mean by that?”

The older Red mage shook his head miserably. “I would rather not say that. Not now, anyway.”

Asgore nodded in complete understanding. “I see.”

“It’s just that…” Fritz took a breath. “It has been only Frisk and myself for a little more than a decade, now.”

Asgore nodded once more. “It seems that our pain is both relatively fresh.”

A few minutes passed in silence. Asgore kept making sounds like he was wanting to say something but not knowing how to start it. Another minute passed before Asgore took a large breath. “There is one other thing I have to ask of you for now.”

Fritz nodded. “And what is it?”

Asgore appeared to think for a moment. “Has you father… Mentioned anything special in the time he was alive in your life?”

Fritz frowned. “Special how?”

“Special as in… I know that certain individuals of your bloodline have a special ability. I am fairly certain that Frisk has inherited the ability.”

The frown deepened; is Asgore implying…? “And what would that be?”

The king hesitated. “Before I… Confronted Frisk, there was a certain look in his eyes that said that he somehow died by my hands countless times. Freische mentioned such a thing, and even proved-”

Fritz held up his hands as if in surrender, and began to talk in a low voice. “Okay, I get what you’re saying; my father has told you of the magic special to the Red mages of our bloodline.”

Asgore seemed to sag, though not entirely in regret. “Thank you for confirming that you know. He told me some time before the war. That was why I seeked him out before we surrendered.”

“He must have had a reason to tell you,” Fritz stated. “Like we both know, he had a very strong sense of Integrity, that he trusted you with that knowledge.”

“Though that still leaves the reason Frisk looked that way…” Asgore stated awkwardly.

“Yes,” Fritz gave the old king a critical look. “I suppose we could leave such talks for a different time. Though I have one more thing to ask of you regarding such.”

“Yes?” Asgore replied in a question that seemed like he was afraid of the answer.

“Did you fully intend to kill my grandson?” Fritz asked in a low voice.

Asgore gave a helpless shrug. “I promised my people hope, at the expense of humanity. I do not believe I would have had the will to even evade his attack should’ve we fought… Or maybe I didn’t dodge at all when his look suggested we fought…”

“Don’t think about time travel tense too much,” Fritz advised. “Even with the knowledge of it yourself, it is not healthy for your mind to attempt to fathom.”

The goat-based being gave a small chuckle. “Your father told me the exact same thing centuries ago…”

There was only silence for the next few minutes, finally broken by the sound of the kettle whistling. “Finally! Your stove doesn’t heat up fast enough!” Undyne’s voice called out from the kitchen.

“Actually, I think you used the bad part,” Fritz replied. “That one takes longer to get to the desired heat.”

“Then you should have told me in the first place!” The aquatic monster shouted back, the clear sounds of rifling through the cabinets for some cups.

“What is your favorite tea?” Asgore asked, seeming to want some more normal conversation. “I know Undyne said you have a lot of the red Soulflower tea…”

“Then that is your answer,” the older mage stated. “Though I wouldn’t say no to the occasion cyan Soulflower tea. Frisk should be glad I didn’t inherit my father’s ability.”

“Oh ho!” Asgore laughed. “I remember that; I couldn’t say no to his tea, even though it was of poor quality.”

“I’m fairly sure he’s glad I didn’t inherit it either,” Fritz chuckled. “What is your favorite tea?”

“It is a recent acquisition, within the past decade, but I myself much like the golden flower tea,” Asgore replied.

“Huh,” the Red mage muttered.

“What?”

“It’s just that…” Fritz collected his thoughts. “The year after my father’s death was the first time they were ever seen.”

“Really?” Asgore asked, looking intrigued.

“Yes. The Soulflowers were planted upon his burial place as requested. But instead of the expected red ones, they grew in as a bold golden color. Above all the rest stood a larger one, with six petals.”

“Golly!” Asgore exclaimed, though not too loudly. “He was really special, if that was of any doubt.”

Frisk gave out a loud yawn from the other room. Fritz gave a sigh as he stood up. “Looks like we could all go to bed.”

Asgore nodded, standing up himself. “I guess we all should. Tomorrow is a big day, after all.”

Chapter Text

Consciousness came slowly to Frisk the next morning. He did not want to get out of bed just now, considering how long he had stayed up. The Red mage merely turned over in his bed and hugged the pillow tighter as he tried to return to the emptiness of his sleep.

*Boo!

That plan, however, went out the window with Chara’s intervention. Startled, he tumbled out of the bed and landed on something soft.

“Oof,” Robert gasped. “What?”

“Nothing,” Frisk mumbled as he crawled off of his friend’s prone form. “Chara just spooked me. Loudly.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Robert grumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

“She shouted it when she was not appearing.”

“Dang, that sounds like it sucks.”

*I wouldn’t need to do it if you weren’t so intent on being a lazy butt.

“I’m not a lazy butt,” Frisk crossed his arms and pouted.

“What did she say about you being a what?”

Chara appeared in the room. “I said I wouldn’t need to do it so often if he were so intent on being a lazy butt.”

Mark groaned as he lifted himself up from his sleeping bag. “What makes him specifically a ‘lazy butt’?”

“The fact that he is one.”

William shifted in his own sleeping bag. “Please, stop teasing him.”

Chara looked at the three other boys in disappointment. “You don’t know what fun you’re missing in teasing him. Like the fact that he’s adorable.”

Frisk’s pout deepened. “I’m not adorable.”

“You’re going against your own statement, Frisk,” Chara stated. “Now, let’s see if your grandfather has anything for breakfast.”

“You’re a ghost, and ghosts don’t eat,” Mark stated as the dead girl disappeared from sight.

*My statement still stands.

Frisk wiped the remaining sleep from his own eyes as he began the routine he did most other days; not even in the previous attempt did he stray from it after leaving the underground; switch from his pajamas into some day clothes, wander around to check that things were still in their normal places as before bed, and walk down the hallway to the bathroom in an attempt to tame his bedhead.

And like the previous attempt, have Chara tease about the futility of such an action with his length of hair. He liked it this length, and he’ll never even touch a brush with it if he could help it. Chara disagreed.

“Frisk,” William stated from outside the bathroom door as the boy exited from it. “Does your grandpa have the usual things for breakfast?”

Frisk nodded. “Yep!”

The two walked down the hallway, talking about whatever. As they got closer, however, the smell of something… Cinnamony emanated through the hall. “What is being made?”

Frisk shrugged. “Let’s find out.”

The two boys walked through the dining room, and from the view they had of the kitchen, Frisk’s grandfather was busy making breakfast. “You didn’t have to help make breakfast, you know,” he said, looking over to his left.

“I insist, Mister Ebbot,” Toriel’s voice came from the direction the older mage looked briefly in. “We may be guests, but I would feel bad to have this hospitality and give nothing back to you in return.”

“… Still, I’d prefer for you to not use most of my cinnamon…”

Toriel was silent for a few seconds before a gasp was heard. “Oh dear. I did not intend to use that much!”

“Well, you may as well not waste that,” the grandfather grumbled. “Increase the amount of other ingredients. We may be able to salvage some leftovers later.”

“Good morning!” Frisk announced as he walked into the kitchen, hugging his grandfather.

“Morning, Frisk,” the older Red mage returned the hug quickly before turning back to what he was preparing; on a burner he was not currently paying attention to was a kettle that sounded to be nearing boiling.

“Greetings, children,” Toriel turned away from her task in acknowledgement of the breakfast newcomers, the rest of his friends.

“What kind of tea are you planning to make?” Frisk asked, pointing to the kettle.

His grandfather made a face. “Orange Soulflower.”

“I still do not understand why you would intentionally make and willingly consume a tea that you clearly have a distaste for,” Toriel stated, shaking her head.

The older mage had a deadpan expression. “Because I absolutely forbid the use of coffee in this house. And even with my personal dislike for it, I find that it is more effective at early morning energy.”

“Please do not use ‘and’ at the beginning of a sentence in front of the children. It is improper grammar,” Toriel stated, seemingly almost out of reflex.

“Alas, I have not had my atrocious cup of tea, so please forgive me for any snark in the past, present, future, and all of the above,” the Red mage replied.

“That did not make any sense.”

“And it does not need to, nor will it ever, and it may have never made sense in the first place. Really, it’s all a matter of perspective.”

“UGH!” Papyrus entered the dining room. “MY FINELY-TUNED JAPE-SENSES ARE TINGLING. IS MY BROTHER BOTHERING ANYONE ELSE THIS LATE IN THE MORNING?”

“It’s Frisk’s grandpa,” Mark stated. He then looked at a nearby clock. “And it’s only half-past eight.”

“MORNING STARTS AFTER MIDNIGHT, SO IT IS, IN FACT, CLOSER TO LATE MORNING,” Papyrus replied. He peeked into the kitchen. “OH, OH! YOU LOOK LIKE YOU NEED SOME HELP WITH THE PREPARATION MISTER OLDER FRISK! PLEASE, TELL ME WHAT I CAN DO TO HELP!”

At that moment, the tea kettle began to whistle loudly. Frisk’s grandfather reached over and picked it up. “For starters, you could get out the cups and pour the water in.”

The tall skeleton took the kettle and gave a sharp nod. “OF COURSE, GOOD SIR! WHAT KIND OF TEA ARE YOU PLANNING TO HAVE?”

“Orange Soulflower.”

“AH. WHILE I AM QUITE AWARE OF THE SELECTION OF TEAS YOU HAVE, I AM UNFAMILIAR WITH THE OTHER TEAS OF THIS VARIETY. WOULD YOU RECOMMEND IT?” Papyrus poured the hot water into cups.

“I, personally, despise it. The energy it gives, however, is of necessity.”

“WELL, I, AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD NOT NEED THIS. I AM ALREADY BOUNDLESS WITH ENERGY,” he took a look at one of the cups as he placed the flavorings within. “HOWEVER, WOULD YOU BE AVERSE TO MYSELF HAVING A TASTE TEST OF IT?”

Frisk’s grandfather shrugged. “You’re welcome to try.”

“What’s everyone talking about?” Amanda questioned as she entered the room, Emily trailing behind.

“Papyrus is wanting to try out the orange Soulflower tea,” the blind girl stated.

“Is that a wise thing to do?” The Blue mage asked aloud.

“EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING I DO COULD QUALIFY AS WISE!” Papyrus declared, mixing the rest of the teas before taking the first tea. “I SHALL TRY THIS NOW!” He stated as he brought it close to his mouth.

*You know, I never knew how a skeleton could even eat.

Please be quiet, Chara , Frisk replied, watching the skeleton (somehow) drink.

*Do you not know me? That’s a tall order that’s never getting filled.

The tall skeleton finished his cup. The moment he pulled it away, eyes bulged from his sockets and began sparkling. “WOWIE! THAT’S A GREAT TEA! I SHOULD PROBABLY GIVE SANS A CUP! MAYBE HE WOULD FINALLY GET OUT OF BED THIS LATE IN THE MORNING!” He said with hardly a breath. In a moment, he dashed off elsewhere in the house, no doubt locating his brother.

Frisk’s grandfather looked at what he was doing, before looking at Toriel’s work and gave a quiet sigh. “Well, I think we have made enough for everyone to be somewhat satisfied,” he leaned in the direction of the dining room. “Frisk, can you get the rest and bring them to the table?”

Frisk stood straight, nodding. “Okay!”

Frisk fidgeted as he walked in the formalwear his grandfather had him change into. Apparently, the clothing he had chosen earlier was deemed to not be appropriate for the meeting they were going to with the city’s magocracy; they had apparently contacted the older mage while Frisk was still asleep.

Nevertheless, he was not happy with the fact that he had to wear the traditional tunic of all mages.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be out of it before noon comes around,” his grandfather stated, having clearly noticed his fidgeting.

“It’s itchy,” Frisk complained.

“Child,” Toriel stated. “You should try to ignore the itchiness.”

*She’s right, you know.

The boy only grumbled as they began to make their way to the building that held the (main) seat to the city’s decision-making; for the most of the walk, which took the better part of an hour, nothing really happening aside from people along the street halting to gawk at and even going so far as to record the two mages and two boss monsters make their way to the building.

In front of the magocracy building was a circular area, the Delta Rune emblazoned upon the stones as well as the main doors of the building. And in front of that was something that many people in the city considered important; a public park containing a particularly large patch of golden flowers.

Frisk tugged at his grandfather’s arm. “Grandpa.”

The older Red mage looked down at him. “Yes?”

Frisk pointed to the flowers. “Can I see the flowers?”

The grandfather frowned looking between Frisk and the flowers. Eventually, he sighed. “Fine, but we’ll be entering shortly.”

Frisk nodded, jogging his way to the flowers. Finding his way to the center, he sat and looked down. How long have we both lived and never knew?

*Two decades in total. C’mon, Frisk. It’s basic math!

You know what I mean.

*Sigh. Our whole lives before last night. It’s extra strange for myself considering I was here with Asriel almost a decade ago.

… For what it’s worth, I think he’d be happy with what we’re doing.

*Yeah. Great-grandfather would be proud.

The two (technically one) sat there for a few minutes in silence until Frisk heard his name being called and a crowd forming.

*Showtime.

Chapter Text

Unlike last time, where pretty much nothing happened until the end, a lot can happen in the span of a single month. That means doubly so when talking about helping the integration of an entire race into modern human society. Frisk wished he could do more to help, but at the moment he was used little more than as a figurehead at the moment. At least Papyrus was using his excessively excellent personality to help keep the attention on monsters at the moment.

On the political front, though, the United States government still had to make any comment on the appearance of an entirely other race appearing from underneath its territory.

Chara had brought that up to Frisk, who relayed it to his grandfather. All he said on the matter was that the government was still mildly embarrassed about anything related to the city due to an incident in the nineteen-fifties.

Nevertheless, while they still allowed him into the frequent meetings (that would hopefully become less frequent) his brain was beginning to feel like a wrung out piece of cloth. He was just glad that Chara was able to soak in the information rather well.

When she wasn’t constantly teasing the Red mage during the meetings, at least.

“Mister Ebbot, you appear like you aren’t paying enough attention to the meeting,” one person stated; the clothing and coloring he wore indicated that he was one of the ‘sages’ that worked under the Blue Archmage. He didn’t really know what they were for, but what little he knew was that his great-grandfather had something to do with their position.

“Sorry,” Frisk mumbled. “I have a small headache.”

*Wow, that’s unusually rude for you. I am nothing like a headache!

The boy shook his head afterwards. “It shouldn’t be for much longer, though.”

The ‘sage’ just clicked his tongue in annoyance. He turned toward the others. “He should be outside the room for the rest of the meeting. Let the adults talk this out.”

*Seriously, it’s like that guy has it out for us! … Well, you. Out for you.

The Red Archmage gave a long sigh, as if they had already been over this a hundred times. “You remember that he’s their acting ambassador, right?”

“Yeah, but he’s only a kid!”

“He’s still the only one who currently has both the knowledge and willingness to do the task. Not to mention, he’s a Red.”

“That shouldn’t be an excuse, still.”

“Gentlemen,” Asgore stated, giving what Frisk assumed to be a kingly sigh. “I know he has large, er, boots to fill, but he should be present here so that he could learn how to fit into the role.”

*Thanks, Mister Dad Guy!

“Nevertheless,” the Red Archmage sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I suggest that we take a short break, and relax before we continue this discussion.”

There were agreements all around as everyone left their seats and began to file out of the meeting room doors. Thankfully, there were small tables set around outside in case anyone needed something to drink during these meetings. His grandfather was sitting in a chair near them, reading something in the newspaper.

“Done already?” He raised an eyebrow as he looked at the two.

Asgore shook his head. “No. Everyone is just, ah, taking a short break before we continue with the meeting.”

His grandfather gave a single nod as the boy walked over to the table that held refreshments; his nose wrinkled at the bitter smell of coffee before he took a cup for himself; a green one with red Souls around the rim.

*Fill it to the brim!

Frisk frowned as he poured some golden flower tea in the cup. Why?

*It’s like what I keep telling you- It’s the most efficient way to fill a cup!

You never really explain it to me, either.

*Well, you’re half-German! You should know if something is more efficient.

Ask my uncle, then. He’s the full German one available.

*Yeah, well I can’t exactly ask him myself because of the obvious. And you don’t see him often enough.

Frisk shook himself from his internal conversation as he turned his attention to his cup; he cringed as he noticed that the tea was peeking just over the rim of the cup. Chara! He whined to her.

*What? Don’t blame me. You were the one paying more attention to the conversation with a dead girl.

Frisk grumbled as Asgore walked up next to him. The king took a look at his cup before giving off a chuckle. “Oh, I knew someone that liked to do that with her drinks. She said that it was the most efficient way to fill a cup!”

*It’s true! Azzy even picked up the habit after watching me do it several times.

The boy gave a single grumble as he loudly slurped the excess liquid, not wanting it to spill everywhere. “I don’t understand it…”

“I did not as well, but she was rather insistent on it, so I never questioned her logic,” Asgore chuckled as he poured some tea himself. He hummed at the weight of the container. “Golly! I should have thought to bring some more with me.”

The two stood there in silence for a minute before Frisk quietly muttered a “Thanks.”

The king’s eyes widened slightly as he finished his cup of tea. “Oh! What are you thanking me for?”

“For letting me help out, even though I haven’t done much.”

“Oh! Well, I think I could have done a little better in that regard, though,” Asgore replied.

Frisk frowned. “How?”

The boss monster placed a hand on his shoulder, kneeling down. Chara was snickering at the sight before them. “Perhaps, it was foolish of me to ask this position of you. It is not a job suited for a child.”

*Can’t really blame you for accepting it, though. Even though it was your friends who kind of pushed you into this position.

The boy frowned, looking around. “Would it be better for me to stop being it?”

Asgore gave a surprised expression. “Oh, no! That wasn’t what I was meaning! I was just intending to tell you… Some of these things would be better suited for an adult. That does not mean that you can’t learn how to do these things. It will just take some time for you to learn.”

*If it helps, I had to do some similar things myself. Not on the same scale, though.

Frisk nodded, partly to Chara. “Alright.”

Asgore gave a pat to Frisk’s shoulder. “There, there. Use some of that renowned determination that all Reds are known for, and maybe one day you might become as well beloved as your great-grandfather.”

*I kind of doubt that, but you should appreciate the sentiment all the same.

A thought came over the young Red mage. “But how will we get the others to listen to me?”

The king gave a sigh as he stroked his beard. “That may take some time. And there is the possibility that they will not take you seriously as long as you are a child…”

“Then how can I help with them?”

“Only time will do,” Asgore stated. The doors of the meeting room reopened. “It looks like we’ll have to continue later.”

Frisk nodded as he followed the large goat monster back into the room.

*Oh boy.

The doors opened once again as the meeting officially concluded for the day. Frisk immediately beelined toward his grandfather. “How did it go, Frisk?”

Frisk immediately began to hug his grandfather. “I think we managed to get more things done.”

The older Red mage chuckled. “‘More things’, eh? What do you mean by that?”

Frisk squirmed slightly. “Well, to help the monsters learn more about us, they’ve been allowed to help set up this year’s Soulfest.”

An eyebrow was raised. “Really? And what else? You couldn’t have spent all the time in there talking about the Soulfest.”

“Well…” Frisk was unsure of how to phrase it.

“The question over integration has finally been resolved,” Asgore walked over to the two mages.

“And what would it entail?”

“We were given the land around the magocracy’s half of the city’s jurisdiction,” the king’s deep voice rumbled. “We will be able to develop the land for our own uses.”

“I almost feel a ‘but’ in there,” Frisk’s grandfather frowned.

*Lazy butt?

Not now, Chara.

“It’s not much of a ‘but’,” Asgore explained. “It’s just a matter of helping understanding. In order to get stronger integration, and a better understanding of us, many will have to partake in cohabitation with mages and humans. The willing ones, of course.”

“Well, I wish you the best in this endeavor,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, giving a sharp nod. “It should not be terribly difficult to find willing mages.”

“Of course not,” Asgore smiled. “Our peoples have the ease of magic use in common. I am highly optimistic about our chances of peace.”

The trio headed out into the bright early summer sunlight, many people with cameras and microphones flocking to the steps of the magocracy. Frisk blinked multiple times as the flashes went off, covering his eyes. “Agh,” he whined.

The large boss monster held up his arms, which caused the noise to subside. “Attention, everyone!” He cast a look around the crowd as murmurs spread. “I may not be your leader, but there is good news! In a few days, we, the Kingdom of Monsters, will begin our true and peaceful integration with your people. You will be given the opportunity to learn how to live with us in peace, and we will learn in turn. Your city’s government will give more information later, so that you may come to know us.”

There was silence for a few seconds before the explosion of questions that came after, and more camera flashes. That was… Strange.

*It’s strange, but he has that type of charm.

Frisk nodded as he covered his eyes, edging toward his grandfather. Hope this will end soon.

*Doubt it.

Chapter Text

Flowey grumbled as he looked down at himself; yeah, he knew that returning to this form was an inevitability. That did not mean he had to like it. He also knew that it would’ve happened not too long after the seven visited him, but he wished it had lasted longer than the time it would’ve taken for them to return to the others.

Still, he should count himself as lucky that he could even feel echoes of anything positive toward the other children right now. After he released the Souls, he felt more than this but less than before that.

He knew it was irrational to still be bitter about that fact, but he couldn’t really care less about that right now.

And so, the Soulless flower sighed as he looked over the rest of the flowers where his dead sister likely lay. “I really wish you were here right now,” he muttered, mostly to himself. “Even if you wouldn’t have liked this outcome much. It’s still rather happy compared to what we would’ve ended up with.”

The sounds of footsteps came his way. He held back a scowl as he ducked beneath the ground, making sure to pop back up a short distance away to observe (and potentially eavesdrop). He did not like the fact that apparently Toriel had hired some monsters to keep an eye on the flowers that had grown here after Chara’s burial.

“What’s the first thing you’re going to do once we’re on the surface for good?” One of them asked the other; great! It’s a duo this time, so he might be able to get even a sliver of information this time.

“I don’t know,” the other replied, stopping right by the patch of flowers.

“How do you not know? The surface has an infinite amount of possibilities for us! There must be something up there that is worth something to you!”

Flowey cringed as he watched the other pour a little too forcefully onto the flowers; Toriel wasn’t really the best gardener herself, but this was a tad bit much. “I think that’s probably the problem, dude. Too much, I guess.”

“Well, I guess you could see what you would like to do once you find some humans to room with. They could probably help with that.”

This piqued the flower’s curiosity; it had barely been four weeks, and the monsters were only already beginning to venture out in greater groups? Sheesh, the human leaders moved a lot slower than he thought they would! Even considering the fact that the main city leaders were likely sympathetic to monsters, considering their own magical capabilities. Magic was the great equalizer to them, after all. Flowey tuned out the conversation, burrowing down into the dirt to go off to… He doesn’t know right now.

Find the others? Yeah, that seems like the best course of action.

With a (vague) direction in mind, the flower went off to the surface.

One of the first things Flowey learned upon popping up to the surface was that this amount of sunlight felt good .

Yeah, he had known that, as a flower, he needed a lot of sunlight to be healthy; Asgore was quite the gardener, and once upon a time he imparted knowledge of how to care for plants. But until now, he hadn’t been in direct sunlight. Granted, he was also an unnatural flower that ran off of (stolen) determination, but he felt better nevertheless.

Taking a look at his surroundings, he saw that he was upon the ledge that was immediately outside the tunnel that led from the underground. It felt like it was a lifetime ago that he was last on this ridge. Except this time he wasn’t as powerful and he wasn’t carrying the corpse of someone he considered as his sister.

He shook those thoughts from his mind, looking off into the distance toward the city that stood not-too-far away from the mountain. If anything, its closest point was just at the bottom of the foothills if he remembered it correctly. Flowey judged that, by the sun’s height and location, it was late morning. So, if he went toward the city now, then he should be there in about ten minutes by his usual speed.

“Doo dee doo,” a clear voice hummed out as Flowey watched the city. He internally grumbled; of all the times Asgore had to use the path, it had to be now?

… Though, to be fair, there was an opportunity; Asgore’s demeanor meant that while he remembered the event that preceded the final fight as well as everyone else (that being barely), he was the second-least likely to attack him if he showed his face.

Mind made up, Flowey cleared his throat. “How- Hello there.”

“Hmm?” Asgore replied, turning in the flower’s direction. Of course, he looks confused for a second before looking down. “Ah, howdy!”

“Gee, the surface sure is nice!” Flowey bounced his stem around a bit, making sure he looked as innocent as possible.

Asgore gave a smile. “Golly, it feels and appears as nice as I remember it,” his expression then changed. “Wait, I requested that most should stay in the mountain until the moving was official and ready to start.”

“Well, Mister Dreemurr,” Flowey stated, feeling strange to call him that, “I wanted to start early. I can manage on the surface on my own for a while. Just little old me and the sunlight.”

The king nodded, his expression turning contemplative. “I’ll have to say… I don’t recall any plant-based monster having any greater appreciation for the sun in the past, and I certainly don’t remember any citizen looking like a golden flower.”

Flowey shook his head. “Nope, it’s just the one and only me. As far as I’m aware, I’m the only one of my kind.”

“Ah,” Asgore replied, humming a bit. “It is not often these days for a new monster type to come about,” he sighed. “Well, with the surface now open to us, I expect for us to grow in number.”

Flowey gave an awkward chuckle. “I assure you, I am literally the only of my kind to exist. I doubt any more will come about.”

“Now now, don’t say that,” the boss monster replied. “Well, I have to ask once more of you: What are you doing out here?”

“Me?” The determined flower replied. “I just want to see the humans that… Freed… Us.”

“Hmm,” Asgore hummed. “Well, I don’t know much of where the… The Six live, but I know of where Frisk lives. But I have to ask… Why do you wish to see them? Not that I could blame you, of course.”

“Gee, well, you see… I only truly met them after we all woke up with the barrier’s destruction,” Flowey settled for a partial truth. “I like to think that I made a good enough impression for them to want to see me again. I understand that everyone else has that impression, but…” Flowey feigned nervousness; he knew how to make the king do what he wanted.

“Hmm,” Asgore replied. “Well, I assume you are of the type that can burrow, so you should be able to reach him wherever he is at the moment,” the king knelt down to his level; that was hilarious, though. “Though, I do request that, if you cannot locate him before the sun’s setting, then you should return to the mountain and wait for the morning.”

“Okay!” Flowey bobbed; he doubted he would need to do so, and he was inconspicuous as a flower. So, he should be safe. “See ya!”

Flowey popped up from the ground for what felt like the hundredth time already today. He looked around for a few seconds, gauging his surroundings; just from the feeling when he navigated into this place, he knew he was in the middle of some sort of courtyard, considering all of the non-earthy materials he had to navigate around.

Sure, he was capable of burrowing through practically anything, but that didn’t mean he was exactly comfortable while doing so.

He simply let out an aggravated sigh. He was not going to find any of the others, much less Frisk, at this rate today. Flowey couldn’t rely on a lucky Load from Frisk, either. He wasn’t even sure if the Red mage still held the power anymore.

He felt the soft footsteps before they were audible to him. Grumbling, he ducked beneath the ground and retreated a short distance away. Specifically, beneath a bush. The footsteps came nearby, lightly scraping as they turned, then a grunt as they sat. Flowey peeked out from behind a leaf.

A short distance in front of him was an old man sitting on a bench, expression clearly annoyed. He sat back, running his hand through his hair of mixed gray and an achingly familiar shade of auburn. His eyes swept their gaze over to the bush that Flowey was hiding under, making a double take. “If you’re here to absorb anything on my person, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”

Flowey was confused for a moment, before he gave an exasperated groan; of course they have met the Annoying Dog. Well, now that he had the man’s attention, he may as well take advantage of it. So, he quickly left his hiding spot. “I am not, in fact, that dog.”

The old man seemed only mildly surprised at the truth. “I didn’t know that your people had known of that dog, either.”

“Oh, that stupid mutt has been everywhere that has enough magic,” Flowey rolled his eyes. “Trust me, I have had more than my fair share of experience with it.”

“Likewise, I didn’t expect more of you to leave the mountain just yet,” the man nodded.

“Right,” Flowey grumbled. “Well, I just need to ask you one thing, and that’s… Okay if you don’t know but it’d be a lot easier if you did.”

“Of course, it would be easier. But we can’t always get what we want. Still, ask if you need it.”

“Right right,” Flowey composed himself. “Now, do you know where Frisk lives?”

Chapter Text

Fritz Ebbot gave a critical eye to the flower that was before him; even though the (relatively few) examples of monsters he had seen in the past month or so, he had not seen any of them look so… Normal. Especially to resemble the very type of flower that grew upon his father’s resting place.

It has also been said that spotting a six-petalled golden flower would bless the first viewer with a lucky life, but he had the feeling that this particular flower would bring anything but.

Still, it would do no harm in him answering its questions. “Why do you need to know about such?”

“My reasons are my own,” the flower responded.

The Red mage raised an eyebrow. “And how would you believe that I’d know of such?”

“I have no reason to know that you know. I just want to know if you know. C’mon, I don’t have time for this.”

Fritz crossed his arms. “I wish to understand your intent with my grandson.”

The flower’s expression on its almost comical face turned surprised, then gave a borderline nervous look. For what, he didn’t really know. “G-golly, you’re his grandfather? That’s almost the best thing I could have looked for. In that case, I guess I could wait a bit longer…”

The stare he gave the flower was almost withering. “I ask again: What is your intention with my grandson?”

“Alright, alright!” The flower flinched. “Just stop that gaze!”

“You wouldn’t have lasted a second against my daughter, then,” Fritz stated, though averted his gaze.

“Well,” the flower shifted in its spot a bit. “You see, I met Frisk and his friends a little over a month ago. I was the one that greeted them, after all!”

The older mage frowned; he heard from the children that a flower was involved with their journey, but their details about it were rather sparse. Even Mark, the one who would just nonstop spout things he learned during their journey, would just shut up any time it had shown up in the few parts of the story that it appeared in. The flower seemed to be involved with negative memories, after all. “From what I heard through Toriel, she only had two mentions of a flower such as yourself during the journey. She stated that, the first time, it was attacking the children.”

“Please, please!” The flower seemed to be panicking at this point. “That was me then! But that is not me now, I swear! Frisk has even forgiven me for what I’ve done! Call him, and he’ll tell you the same thing!”

Fritz once again leveled his stare at the flower, halting it. “If what you are saying is true, then I have a proposal, first. Just to confirm that you are being truthful with the second part.”

There was the barest (metaphorical) glimmer of hope in its eyes. “Really? What?”

“Submit a portion of your intent to me, so I may know.”

The flower’s faux eyes blinked. “Huh? How would I do that with a human?”

The truth was, he was a bit rusty with that Red mage ability; few Reds even knew the ability existed. His father, however, made sure he knew of it and how to use it. “Just send a little bit of your magic to me, and I’ll evaluate it. You can’t hide your intentions from it, after all.”

The flower straightened out. “Alrighty! That I can do!” Fritz hadn’t really seen any monster magic in action, so he was slightly surprised when a small white pellet materialized next to the head of the flower.

The older mage frowned as he touched the pellet with a finger and sent a small bit of magic to it; the intent within the magic felt hollow, as if it had formed without a core. So the intent there was much weaker. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t anything detectable. It was just… Weaker. Still, even with the rust on his skills, he sensed nothing malicious within it.

“You were being truthful,” Fritz stated, flicking away the small orb of magic.

“See? I was being perfectly honest!” The flower leaned forward. “So you can let me see Frisk, or any of them, right?”

Fritz held a palm out. “Patience. I can take you back to my house when I am finished with my work here.”

“Of course, of course!” The flower bounced in place. “Uh, but how long will that take?”

“Again, patience,” the Red mage repeated, standing up. “Fortunately for you, it should not take too much longer.”

*I still say you don’t know what you’re missing out on.

You never really explain what I’m missing out on, Frisk grumbled back to Chara as he changed the channel from one showing the first season of Mew Mew.

*Well, I don’t want to risk giving out obvious spoilers. I have seen all the Mew Mews that were made before my death. Even the ones that only came out after my fall into the mountain.

… You care a bit too much about Mew Mew.

*And I say that you don’t care enough about it. Come on, where’s that passion you had for the reply that the others canceled for you?

That’s because Alphys’ thoughts over the first were really a bad opinion! That doesn’t mean I actually liked Mew Mew any more.

*Hence, why I named that place ‘Bad Opinion Zone’. But do tell me, my dear Frisk: If you don’t like it period, then why on earth did you feel the need to risk Alphys ghosting you?

Because the second one was better than the first! Frisk crossed his arms.

*I repeat: Why did you feel the need to tell her in the first place if your claims of not liking it are true?

… Grandpa bought the movies for me a few years ago, Frisk explained. I think… It was before I met the others? I don’t really remember, but it seemed like he wanted to give me something to do when I got home from school. I don’t really remember much about either, but I do know that I preferred the second one. The first was lame.

*Tsk. The first one is for those who can’t go ten seconds without seeing a beach ball. I’m surprised they even had the money to make a second in the first place, but I don’t regret that.

… How did you even watch the ones that were made after you fell?

*Remember how Amanda said it was a trash anime? There’s a reason so many ended up in the Waterfall dump. No regrets, still; I loved that stuff.

I’m kind of glad that we can’t really easily share memories. I don’t think I’d last long under all that Mew Mew knowledge, Frisk shuddered.

*You know, I could just share the memories right now if I wanted… But I think it would be much more entertaining to watch your reactions in real time. For that reason alone, I shall grant you mercy and leave you in peace… For now.

Please don’t do it at all for the near future. I don’t want to see any more Mew Mew things than I have to.

*No promises~

Frisk grumbled as the sound of the front door opening echoed through the lower level of the house. “Frisk?” His grandfather asked loudly into the silence.

“Yeah?” The boy stood up from his seat on the couch. “What?”

“One of your… Friends? Of the monsters want to see you. Straight from the mountain.”

Frisk perked up; it had been quite a while since he had seen anyone else aside from Asgore and the occasional Toriel. “Who is it?”

“It… He? Never gave me the name,” his grandfather stated.

*It must be someone who wasn’t with the original group. He probably remembers their names. So who…?

“Frisk, get to the freaking door!” A very, very familiar voice called out in clear irritation.

Frisk’s attention sharpened to a point, and he rushed toward the front door. In the middle of the porch was none other than Flowey the flower, an expression of annoyance on his face. “Flowey!”

An eyebrow of his grandfather’s lifted. “‘Flowey’? What kind of name is that?”

“I think he gets his naming stuff from his dad,” Frisk scrunched his face.

“Hey! Now isn’t the time for giving away such secrets!” Flowey… Or Asriel? Replied. “Remember what I told you the last time we met? Now would be a good time to make good on it!”

*So, he wants you to call him by his lame name? Well, that’s for you. I’m still going to call him Azzy.

Frisk held his hands up. “Okay.”

There were a few seconds of silence before the older Red mage cleared his throat. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I will prepare dinner. Take it… Him, to your room until then.”

“Well, Frisk,” Flowey stated with a slightly amused smile as the grandfather left sight. “Let’s get to it. I haven’t seen your room the last time, and I wasn’t really paying attention to the surface. Now would be a great time to get reacquainted!”

Frisk frowned. “Okay? How do you…?”

“Oh, don’t you worry about me! I roughly remember where it is based on the window we spoke at. See you there!”

Another frown as the flower dipped beneath the surface of the porch; he still didn’t know how he could burrow beneath such things. Still, he wasn’t the type to leave friends waiting, so he immediately went to his room. Lo and behold, the flower was in the middle, looking around with mild interest. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” Flowey asked. “There are many questions about me that it could mean.”

“Dig into non-dirt-y things.”

Flowey only winked with a single pellet floating from behind him. “Magic.”

Chara’s form appeared beside Frisk; the girl crossed her arms. “Ask him specifically.”

Frisk’s mouth opened to repeat, but Flowey’s eyes immediately darted to Chara’s ghostly form. Within them were glints of caring… And fear?

“Chara?”

Chapter Text

Several seconds went by in silence, before Chara spoke. “Wait, you can see me?”

Flowey seemed to shake himself out of whatever state he was in. “Well of course I can!”

“How?”

“I don’t know!” Flowey stated. “The only thing I can guess about that is from Alphys’ basement lab. It’s been a while since I’ve last read those notes, but it did mention that I was brought back with the determination from your Soul.”

Frisk looked between the two. “Then how can the others see you when you appear?”

Flowey’s eyes widened. “Your friends see her?”

The boy shrugged. “She only appears to us.”

“Wait wait wait,” the golden flower shook his head. “Let’s back it up: How in the world are you alive?”

Chara held out her hand and waved it in a seesaw motion. “Eh, more like I came back. Somewhat.”

“But how ?!”

The dead girl pointed her thumb at Frisk. “Because this lazy butt and his friends fell on my grave, and his determination woke me up.”

Flowey’s face scrunched up slightly. “‘Lazybutt’?”

“I’m not a lazy butt,” Frisk whined, crossing his arms.

Chara sent him a pointed look. “It’s either that or noodle arms.”

“Neither.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad compared to what she used… To call… Me…” Flowey trailed off, the fear they spotted returning in full force. “W-well, at least before we died. I mean-!”

The ghost girl covered her face in what was clear to be familiar annoyance. “Azzy… You really need to stop putting your foot in your mouth.”

“I’m sorry!” Flowey blurted out. “I’m sorry I hesitated! I’m sorry I got us killed! And I’m sorry for everything I did in our past! Just please… Please…” He pleaded. “Don’t hurt me.”

“Azzy, Azzy,” Chara replied, crouching down to the flower’s level. “Don’t apologize. I don’t blame you for what you did. Not anymore, anyway.”

Flowey took a careful peek at the girl. “Why? I was the one who got us killed. I bailed out at the most crucial moment…”

Chara put a finger to what was Flowey’s mouth. “Shush. I already told Frisk’s friends what I believed. I believe why, at least I, was brought back.”

“And what was that?”

“Redemption,” Chara stated, slightly miserable. “Your little speech at the beginning didn’t really help turn away that belief.”

Flowey shook slightly. “So you were listening during that? How? I didn’t see you!”

Chara stood straight. “For most of their journey, I was just narrating everything Frisk did. As a… I don’t know how to really say it without the words ‘Soul’ and ‘mate’. I was just a voice only he could hear.”

“Then why didn’t you appear at any point before then?” Flowey shook, though it slowed down considerably.

“I don’t really know,” the ghost girl admitted. “I think it was because I didn’t have enough determination on my own to do such. I’ll have to thank you for Hyper Beam, though. That’s when I basically had to take some of the determination he was making.”

Flowey’s expression turned faintly embarrassed. “So… You remembered my attack names? And that’s why your-” He looked to Frisk- “Eyes dimmed slightly during that attack.”

Chara rolled her eyes. “Of course I remembered the names of your dorky little attacks. I would have made any effort to remember them even if I didn’t have a secondary of Purple.”

“Hey! They weren’t dorky!” Flowey protested.

“They were so dorky,” Chara asserted, looking up in a haughty manner. “And literally nothing you can say can convince me otherwise.”

Flowey wore an irritated expression. “Great, now that I know that I know that you don’t have any long-lasting dislikes toward me, I’ve just got one more important question for you. Either of you.”

“What?” The two asked in tandem.

“Do you still hold the power of the Save?”

Frisk frowned, thinking. “I think so, but I haven’t seen any Save Points since coming up here.”

“Really?” Flowey questioned. “When I first woke up, the Save Points weren’t there. In fact, I don’t recall seeing any until my first Load.”

Frisk turned to the door, before making his way out. “Looks like I’ll have to be away for a bit,” Chara stated, looking at the flower before disappearing.

The sentient golden flower next appeared beside Frisk as he entered the kitchen. “Grandpa, how do I make a new Save Point?”

*Gee, that sure isn’t awkward. Starting a conversation like that.

“I am… Not entirely sure how you mean by that,” his grandfather replied, not turning from his work. “Could you explain your situation with it?”

“Wow, your old man is aware of that power?” Flowey asked.

The older mage immediately turned around and set his gaze upon the flower. “And how is it that you of all beings know about the special magic of our family?”

Once again, the flower began to look nervous. “Well, you see…”

“Grandpa,” Frisk repeated, almost whining.

“I suppose that can wait for later,” Frisk’s grandfather conceded, turning fully toward his grandson. “Well, I am not sure about some of the other members throughout our family history, but for myself and my father, we typically had our Stars floating just above our shoulders. It could be changed if you need, but its first usage would depend.”

Frisk frowned. “But what if I want to keep it this way?”

“Then you can keep it that way. But with your question… It sounds like you will need to figure it out yourself,” the grandfather turned back to his work. “Now, we can speak more of this after we eat. You know when to come.”

Frisk nodded, making his way back to his room deep in thought. “How to use it…”

Chara appeared beside him as Flowey popped up in the room. “You know, I think I know how to help you with it.”

“How?” Flowey asked.

The ghostly girl gestured between the three of them. “I think that we all have similar methods of how we Save.”

The flower gave a short scoff. “How would you know what my method was?”

Chara gave a pointed gaze at the flower, who visibly withered under it. “You have my determination going through you, so of course you would use the same method.”

Frisk tilted his head. “And what do you think this is?”

“Well, during my time underground, I noticed that they would appear in places when I felt determined,” she looked at him. “I think a few of yours were in almost the exact same spots as my own.”

“Great,” Flowey mumbled. “All you need to do now is feel determined. But the last time I checked, determination doesn’t grow on trees.”

“But it does grow in a specific flower,” Chara teased.

“You know what I mean!” Flowey retorted. “Can’t believe I wished you to be back so much.”

“Aw,” Chara stated, crouching down to the flower’s level. “But we both know you wouldn’t give me away for anything in the world~”

“Yeah, yeah,” Flowey rolled his eyes.

For the next few minutes, Chara threw around ideas of how to invoke a Save Point as Flowey just grumbled in response. Finally, there was the sound of Frisk’s grandfather calling for Frisk. Chara gasped, remembering something. “By the way. Azzy… Don’t mention me to Frisk’s grandfather.”

Flowey blinked. “Uh, sure. Why?”

“Because he’s my granduncle, and I’d rather not answer anything to him.”

Confusion came over the flower’s features. “Why? If you’re family, then shouldn’t he know?”

“I’d rather not,” Chara replied before disappearing.

Frisk returned to his room after eating, watching as the flower popped out once again. “Chara,” Flowey asked. “Can you answer a few more things for me?”

The Red mage girl appeared before the determined flower. “What?”

Flowey looked down a bit, as if he feared the answer. “Was your life before falling… Really bad?”

Chara’s expression darkened slightly. “If your family treated you like how mine did, then you’d probably want to go up a cursed mountain as well.”

“But what about Frisk's grandfather? You don’t seem to be averse to him.”

Chara frowned. “He was the only one I actually liked, of the family at the time. My side of the family comes from his twin sister,” her frown turned disgusted.

“Really?” Flowey asked, intrigued. “What’s she like?”

The dead girl grasped her chin thoughtfully. “Well, the best word that can describe her is a certain five-letter word that starts with ‘b’.”

“‘Beach’?” Frisk suggested.

Chara was silent for a few seconds. “Eh, close enough.”

“But what about her made you leave?”

“Oh, it wasn’t what she directly did that made me leave,” Chara shuddered. “It was the things she instilled in my parents… Well, I don’t know which side she is on. In any case, she has made at least one completely terrible human being. I think I’m the only one of my family who didn’t inherit that trait.”

“Who else, then?” Flowey asked.

Another shiver. “My older brother, Julian.”

“I don’t like him,” Frisk whined. “He always made fun of me at any family events.”

“Even worse, his secondary is Blue. He probably won’t change that anytime soon.”

Flowey turned toward the boy. “Hey, just wondering by the way, but what’s up with your side of your family?”

Frisk frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Why do you live with your grandfather?”

The Red mage shrugged helplessly. “I don’t really know that much. Just that my mom and dad died when I was a baby.”

Chara cringed. “Last I remember of your mom was of her marrying your dad.”

“Golly!” Flowey replied in a sarcastic tone. “We all have such terrible pasts. Who knew?”

“Yeah,” Chara scoffed. “Whatever. Let’s move on.”

“Good!”

Chapter Text

Sans hummed a mindless tune as he walked through the house, looking around at all of the packed boxes that filled the house. Without much thought, the short skeleton took a shortcut the rest of the way, ending up in his room. With a content sigh, he stepped over to his bed and flopped onto it.

The brothers had just got their letter today, describing which humans they will be living with until the appropriate housing could be built. Considering their friendships with the seven humans that came through, the two were clearly among the first to get their letters. It was a shame though; he liked this house.

Maybe he could get them to rebuild it on the surface?

Nevertheless, he quietly groaned as he considered one of the things that has been on his mind for the past month or so; finally, for some inexplicable reason, the timeline has utterly halted the loops. While he supposed that should be good news, it was a cause for concern. Whatever has happened with the anomaly might start up once again, so he couldn’t relax until then.

Whatever the case, he needed to keep an eye upon the humans as well. Especially Frisk. They all clearly had some level of knowledge regarding the time loops, so he couldn’t rule them out as either suspects or just highly knowledgeable.

Thinking back to their little ‘date’ at the resort, he had noted that while Frisk had shown the most clear reaction to his mention of dying, the others had also made less overt expressions over it. That meant some level of recollection, even if they weren’t consciously aware of the temporal looping. He still needed to locate the correlation between remembering and who is allowed to get deja vu.

(He should probably consider it a stroke of luck that his brother is special enough to have it. He deserves it, for being the cooler brother.)

With a grunt, Sans lifted himself up and, in nearly the same movement, shortcut his way to the back shed. Taking out a key, the skeleton unlocked the door and walked down the short stairway to the basement area. The only downside to the lack of timeline rewinds with the kids was that he wasn’t able to do his secret codeword. It would’ve been worth the shift just to see the looks on their faces as they uttered the ridiculous phrase.

Welp, no use wondering over what-ifs that he would be unable to experience as himself. Still, it had been just over a month since he had last checked upon the machine. He believed that the last time was… At least a few days before the kids had fallen into the underground? The day before? He would’ve shrugged at the specifics, considering that he could practically feel it in his bones that another jump back in time was practically inevitable.

Without further ado, he quickly pulled the sheet from atop the machine. Walking to the front of it, he fiddled with the controls that controlled its operation. While the device was broken for the most part, there was one function that still worked to the extent he needed; the temporal reader. The short skeleton hummed some more as he waited for the bootup sequence to finish.

Of which, at that moment, there was the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. “SANS!”

“yeah?” Sans replied as he leaned lazily against the machine.

His brother reached the bottom, hands held sternly against his hips. “SANS, PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME THAT YOU INTEND ON BRINGING THIS THING UP TO THE SURFACE. WE DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH HUMAN POWER COSTS YET, AND I DO NOT THINK OUR HOUSEMATES WOULD APPRECIATE THE POWER BILL.”

Sans shook his head with closed eyes. “nope. this thing’s already causing us trouble by its mere existence. best keeping it down here where it belongs.”

“GOOD!” Papyrus crossed his arms proudly as the bootup finished, several options popping up on the screen; most of them were glitched, with a few displaying error messages. “GAH! THAT DISPLAY IS EVEN WORSE THAN I REMEMBER IT BEING! WHAT HAPPENED?”

“attempted repairs to the machine itself, coupled with some botched re-coding attempts,” Sans stated as he turned to it, scrolling through. “the actual coding was never really my forte, but whatever. here we go…” Sans managed to get to the necessary option, selecting it. A few seconds later, the display lit up. “huh, that’s new.”

Papyrus looked over his brother’s head, squinting slightly. “WHAT IS NEW?”

“nothing. and everything.”

The taller brother tilted his head. “SANS, DO NOT PARTAKE IN YOUR VERBAL TOMFOOLERY. ALL I SEE ARE SMALL LOOPY LINES AND THEN A LONG, FLAT LINE.”

“that’s the nothing and everything i mean.”

The air in the small basement suddenly turned very still. “Tra la la. I would suggest you stop what you are doing.”

If he had the energy to care, Sans would have sighed; once again, the river person held knowledge of things he had taken a long time to figure out, or even attempted to hide. As usual, it was pointless to hide anything like this from them. “that was what i was intending, anyways.”

“Hmm,” the river person hummed thoughtfully. “Still, I would be careful if I were you, with the forbidden knowledge you have long since first seen.”

“RIVER PERSON SIR,” Papyrus turned toward the cloaked figure. “CAN YOU PLEASE NOT GIVE US VAGUE OMINOUS WARNINGS?”

“Tra la la. I suppose I could do that,” they stated, moving toward the machine. “I see that at least one temporal point has occurred in this span of time previously. Not that I needed this to know that.”

Sans took another look at the graph, and sure enough, there was a faint line looping back to one of the most recent reconvergence points. “none during that span of time. what could have caused that?”

“Tre le le. That is information that is reserved for the Children of Fate, and all those of which it concerns.”

“great,” Sans grumbled, shrugging as he powered down the machine. “and is there any reason you can’t just give us this information for free?”

“No chance from the Howling Winds,” the river person replied, turning their hood toward the shorter skeleton; in spite of the ever-present darkness within it, Sans couldn’t help but feel like they were sending a disapproving glare. “As I said, that is not information that concerns you.”

“hey, take it easy. i want to keep any time loops to a minimal. i only know the one timeline, you know.”

“Tra la la. Bold words coming from a nihilist of your caliber.”

“UGH!” Papyrus crossed his arms in clear agitation. “RIVER PERSON, PLEASE. CAN YOU STOP TAUNTING MY BROTHER? I KNOW HE IS DOING THINGS THAT HEAVILY CONCERN YOU, BUT HE DOESN’T MEAN ANY HARM IN ANY OF WHAT HE DOES!”

Sans shrugged. “pretty much.”

The hooded figure appeared to look between the two brothers for several seconds, before they bowed. “Tra la la. Very well. The current Holder is very fond of you, Papyrus. So it means that your brother is associated by proxy. Nevertheless, any actions I would wish to do wouldn’t be sanctioned.”

“SANCTIONED BY WHO?” Papyrus questioned.

“Once again, I am not permitted to say. However, there is at least one other piece of news that you should be aware of.”

“and what would that be?”

“… There are forces beginning to conspire against the monsters at this time. It is only a seed right now, but it has the ingredients for an explosive series of events. Not of the spectacular kinds, though.”

Papyrus crossed his arms as he regarded the cloaked figure. “HMM… IF WHAT YOU ARE SAYING IS TRUE… THEN WHY DID YOU NOT GO THE KING? OR EVEN UNDYNE? MAYBE THE ASGORE CLONE?”

“Because they are less likely to question the information if such comes from the words of either of you than if they heard them from me.”

The taller brother leaned as he dramatically scratched at his chin. “BUT WHY IS THAT THE CASE?”

“i think that what they’re saying is that we’re the resident local weirdos in the friend group. meanwhile, they’re just the fast travel service.”

“BUT WHY WOULD FAST TRAVEL NOT BE CONSIDERED AN IMPORTANT SERVICE WITHIN THE UNDERGROUND? YOU COULD GATHER A LOT MORE INFORMATION A LOT FASTER, SO IT WOULD ONLY BE LOGICAL TO TRUST SUCH THINGS COMING FROM YOU…”

The hood turned toward the shorter skeleton. “Tra la la. While I would have said what you have with much more tact, the point still gets across. You both are in the king’s closest circle, which gives you a level of credibility that I do not have with him.”

“AND AS FOR WHY YOU COULDN’T HAVE TOLD UNDYNE?”

There was the impression of a sigh from the hood. “Her more… Extremist attitude has a high possibility of unintentionally sabotaging the budding friendship between the two races.”

Papyrus cringed back heavily at the statement. “AH, THAT… WOULD MAKE SENSE. BUT IF YOU DON’T WANT THEM TO BE DAMAGED, THEN YOU SURELY KNOW THAT US TELLING EVERYONE WOULD ALSO CAUSE SUCH A REACTION?”

The river person shook their head. “On the contrary, as long as Asgore is present, he could temper Undyne’s attitude enough to not impede progress.”

“‘progress’, huh,” Sans muttered. “kinda makes our lives sound like nothing more than the npc’s of some game.”

“NOW NOW, SANS,” Papyrus picked up his brother. “DO REMEMBER THAT EVEN NPC’S CAN HAVE A VERY IMPORTANT ROLE IN SOMEONE’S LIFE, WHETHER A GAME OR OTHERWISE.”

“Precisely,” the river person nodded, heading toward the entrance. “Farewell, then.”

Chapter Text

“Is everyone ready?” Frisk asked as he stood up from the couch to turn off the lights.

“Yep!” Several voices spoke out in unison.

“Start it already!” Chara shouted, perched on the arm of the couch. She gestured wildly to the others and then him. “Don’t you see why I call him that? He’s slow .”

“I seriously regret knowing about your existence,” Mark muttered.

“Can you seriously regret something you have literally no choice in?” Chara asked. She propped her chin in her hand. “Because I’ll be doing this for the foreseeable future.”

“We could have done without your loud teasing,” Amanda grumbled. “You already do so much of it to Frisk.”

“Hmm,” the ghostly girl thought aloud. “You’re right. You all need your own nicknames as well!”

“What have you done?” Robert groaned, facepalming.

“Can you please quiet down?” William frowned. “The movie is starting.”

“Hmm… You’re right! I can use this time to think of your nicknames!” Chara’s smile brightened.

“You can do it wherever you go when only Frisk can hear you,” Mark stated.

“Hey!” Frisk protested.

Today was a day where Frisk’s grandfather was out for most of the day running errands. Considering that it had been quite a while since he had been with his friends, combined with not having any ambassadorial duties for at least a few days, he decided to spend at least today with them. He had wanted to invite some of their monster friends over, but most of them were busy getting moved up to the surface.

“Well, you clearly had to put up with her the whole time we were down there,” Amanda pointed out. “And nonstop since getting up here. So you have the most experience with dealing with her.”

“I’m kind of like snail pie; an acquired taste!” Chara shouted. Most of the children groaned in disgust. “Hey, Mom’s pies were the best! I didn’t even gag after the first few times we had it!”

“You nearly threw up the first time you tasted it,” Flowey inserted, finally having deemed it relevant enough to pitch in. “You even complained about the taste lingering in your mouth for several days afterward.”

The children fixed their gazes (well, minus Emily) upon the flower at the mention. “You can see and hear her yourself?” Mark asked.

“Yeah. Haven’t you re- oh yeah, you were still dead when Frisk went through the True Lab,” Flowey muttered. “Basically, I have Chara’s determination.”

“How?”

The golden flower gave a look of irritation to the Purple mage. “Why don’t you go down there and read the notes yourself?”

“I would have if I had known in the first place,” Mark grumbled as the movie went to the menu.

“Hush, everyone,” Chara held up her arms for attention. “Sir Chubbycheeks is starting the movie. This one looks to be made after my and Azzy’s deaths. And I want to see every second of it!”

Frisk’s face reddened slightly as the others (save Mark and William) gave off varying sounds of laughter. “I’m sorry… ‘Chubbycheeks’?” Amanda struggled out through her wheezing laughter. “That’s a new one.”

“She gave me a headache after you suggested using me to get past Toriel,” Frisk pouted.

“So that’s why you flinched,” Clara stated, nodding breathlessly.

“I was also the one who suggested patting his cheeks during the fight with Mettaton!” Chara stated loudly. “Even the ratings can tell that they’re truthfully very adorable.”

“I’m not adorable,” Frisk’s pout deepened, puffing his cheeks out.

“You’re not exactly helping your own point,” Flowey pointed out. “But still, it’s nice to see her make fun of others every once in a while.”

“Is that so, Azzy?” Chara set her attention to the potted flower, a grin with too many teeth on her face.

Flowey flinched back, eyes closing. “Ah! Not the creepy smile!” He shouted, remnants of the goat boy he once was present in his voice.

“Attention everyone: This flower before you was once the biggest known dork in the underground,” the dead girl stated. “He even told me of his various ‘original characters’ and all of their abilities.”

“Chara, no !” Flowey exclaimed, betrayal clear in his voice.

“Chara, yes !” Chara replied. “Did you know that the first form he used when fighting Frisk was called the ‘Absolute GOD of Hyperdeath’? Yes, he put ‘god’ in all capitals.”

Mark was one of the few that didn’t laugh. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“You and me,” Chara sighed.

“Neither does your apparent need to sigh.”

“It’s a sigh of expression, buzzkill.”

“It still doesn’t make sense,” Mark grumbled.

“It doesn’t have to make sense,” Chara huffed. She suddenly snapped then pointed to the Purple mage. “That’s it. You’re ‘buzzkill’.”

Mark crossed his arms. “You can call me whatever. It still doesn’t make whatever you say or do change the weirdness.”

“I thought we were supposed to be having a movie,” Emily mumbled.

They had about half an hour left of the movie when Frisk’s phone began to ring. “Sorry,” he mumbled to the others, taking the device out of his pocket and walking out of the living room. Clearly curious, Chara followed the boy out. However, she stood at the door so she could continue to watch the movie. “Hello?”

“HELLO, FRISK!” Papyrus’ loud voice boomed through the speaker. “IT IS I, PAPYRUS.”

Frisk smiled softly. “Hi, Papyrus!”

“AH, IT HAS BEEN QUITE A WHILE SINCE WE ALL SAW ONE ANOTHER, HASN’T IT?”

The Red mage nodded. “Yeah…”

“BUT ALAS, AS YOU KNOW, CURRENT EVENTS HAVE BEEN KEEPING US ALL BUSY. AND ANY AMOUNT OF TIME WITHOUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS TOO MUCH TIME SPENT WITHOUT ME!” Papyrus stated. “HOWEVER, I INTEND TO RECTIFY THAT VERY SOON! WITHIN A FEW DAYS, DEPENDING ON HOW LONG IT TAKES FOR MY BROTHER AND I TO SETTLE IN ON THE SURFACE, WE WILL ALL BE ABLE TO ONCE AGAIN SPEND SOME TIME TOGETHER AS FRIENDS.”

“All of us?” Frisk asked.

“YES, ALL OF US. ME, SANS, UNDYNE, ALPHYS, THE KING AND HIS FEMALE CLONE, AND OF COURSE, YOU AND THE OTHER HUMANS!” Papyrus declared. “DOES THAT SOUND LIKE THE GREATEST MEETING PLAN EVER?”

“Yeah, it does!” Frisk replied. “It should be even greater because you were the one who thought of it, right?”

“Dweeb!” Chara called from her position.

“WHY YES, THAT IS THE MOST CORRECT WAY TO PUT IT,” the boisterous skeleton replied, clearly not hearing the dead girl. “BUT OF COURSE, THAT WON’T BE ABLE TO OCCUR TODAY. SANS AND I, (MOSTLY I,) ARE BUSY BRINGING OUR STUFF UP TO THE SURFACE. THIS CALL IS MERELY A BREAK IN THE MOVING. OUR NEW HUMAN HOUSEMATE NEEDS TO REST FOR A MOMENT. I WOULD PREFER HE NOT, BUT I UNDERSTAND THAT MANY HUMANS DO NOT HAVE THE SAME PHYSICAL ENDURANCE AS MYSELF.”

Frisk tilted his head. “Who is the person you’re going to live with?”

“OH, HE IS A VERY NICE HUMAN! EVEN THOUGH HE DOES NOT HAVE MAGIC, HE STILL TREATS US KINDLY,” Frisk could practically hear the skeleton make a side-eye. “THOUGH I SUSPECT HE MAY BE JEALOUS OF ME.”

“Oh,” Frisk frowned. “What’s his name?”

“Frisk?” A very familiar accented voice to the boy questioned over the phone. “Excuse me, but you’re talking with Frisk ?”

The ten year-old boy immediately lit up. “Uncle Max!”

“NYEH?!” Papyrus replied. His head was audibly switching between what sounded like Max and his phone. “YOU KNOW ONE ANOTHER?”

“Of course we know one another,” a chuckle was heard. “His father… Was. My brother.”

“OH,” Papyrus stated, clearly understanding the meaning of the second statement. “BUT! STILL! WOWIE! WE HAVE MET ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS…”

“Oh, sorry for stopping your call. It was just…”

“NO, NO, IT WAS FINE!” Papyrus answered back. “I AM GUESSING YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ONE ANOTHER IN QUITE A WHILE, HUH?”

“A lot of ambassador stuff,” Frisk frowned. “But now that a lot of the bigger stuff is out of the way, maybe we could see each other more often!”

“That sounds good, actually,” his uncle murmured, clearly walking away. “You can come over to the restaurant sometime. Not that it isn’t a good idea. Your friend’s family owns it, after all.”

“WOWIE, ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS OWNS A RESTAURANT?” The tall skeleton asked excitedly. “WHICH ONE IS IT?”

“William,” Frisk replied. “I think it was kind of obvious.”

“AH, YES… HIS APRON AND FRYING PAN SHOULD HAVE GIVEN IT AWAY,” Papyrus cleared his throat as his voice moved away a bit. “WHAT JOB DO YOU WORK THERE?”

“Mostly just cooking!” His uncle shouted from the background.

“YOU’RE A PROFESSIONAL CHEF, RIGHT?”

“Not really!”

“BUT YOU COOK FOR A LIVING, SO YOU MUST HAVE A PASSION FOR IT!”

“Yes?”

“ALRIGHT, THEN!” Papyrus declared. “ONCE WE ARE FINISHED WITH THE TRANSPORTATION AND SETTING UP THE BASICS, YOU CAN GIVE US A WELCOMING DINNER! IT’S THE MOST PERFECT PLAN!”

“Oh, oh!” Frisk bounced on his feet. “Can we come over and help?”

“AH, IT WILL ALL DEPEND ON WHAT YOUR UNCLE THINKS OF IT…”

A few seconds passed in silence. “I… Think that would be fine,” his uncle admitted through the phone. “But only a few of you at most. I- We won’t have that much space. Ask your grandfather if it’s okay, still.”

“I WOULD REALLY WISH THAT YOU ALL COULD COME, BUT WE SHOULD RESPECT WHAT HE WANTS,” Papyrus sighed. “BUT HEY, AT LEAST A FEW OF YOU WILL COME, SO THAT SHOULD COUNT AS A WIN IN ANY CASE!”

The Red mage nodded. “Okay.”

“IN THAT CASE, WE WILL SEE YOU IN A FEW HOURS! NYEH HEH HEH!!!”

With that, the call ended. He sighed slightly, and turned to Chara. “What did I miss?”

The girl shrugged. “I don’t know if it was good or bad.”

Before Frisk could begin to return to the living room, his phone buzzed once again. “Huh?” He murmured, checking it once more. Luckily, it wasn’t a call.

Just those ads. Ugh!

Chapter Text

Asgore took a sip of his tea as Fritz did as well. These past weeks have been quite the trial, but at least now his people could begin to integrate fully. Now, applying the integration would require multiple waves, as agreed upon at Toriel’s request. Of course, while she didn’t attend beyond the first meeting, he did know that he should listen to her advice. She was the brains of the throne, after all.

And now, here he was, sitting on the surface with a child of a man he once knew long ago. Thankfully, the man has not inherited his father’s inability to make tea. “So…” Asgore murmured. “Now that things have settled down quite a bit, there’s quite a bit of discussion we have to do.”

“Yes,” Fritz replied, taking a sip of his own tea. Red flower tea; Asgore hadn’t drank much of it before the war, but his thoughts of it were that it was a nice tea. “Quite.”

“Things that are quite personal.”

“That is so.”

“To both of us.”

The Red mage wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Then I suggest you quit beating around the bush with it.”

Asgore was taken aback with the directness of this statement, considering the man had a secondary color of Cyan. But, to be fair, his primary was Red, so that would ultimately win out. Still, he had to get out with it. “I am deeply sorry for what I attempted to do to your grandson and what I had done with his friends.”

Fritz shook his head. “From what you had told me, you had already partly succeeded multiple times before. It is a lucky thing that nothing you had done would have possibly taken his Soul. Not unless he had deliberately allowed himself to die.”

The king of monsters sheepishly looked away. “When I started the battle with him, I was aware of that. I was just hoping… He would finish what his friends attempted as well. By the time I fought him, there was no more will within myself to even attempt to dodge.”

“And what? Shackle him with the horror of potentially killing someone?” Fritz replied. “Sorry, that shouldn’t have been allowed. Even I had difficulties with my first kills.”

“Oh,” Asgore looked away. “I’m sorry, I did not think about that burden… But as Toriel would say, I tend to think more with my heart than with my head.”

“And that was clear,” Fritz stated, taking another drink. “But I would be only… About the eighth in line, at minimal, that you should be apologizing to. At least six of those should be obvious.”

Despite the cutting remark, Asgore couldn’t help but give a small chuckle. “You sure clearly got the silver tongue of your father.”

The Red mage sat back slightly. “His came from centuries of experience. I had to make do with my own methods,” he looked to the side.

The boss monster gave a heavy sigh. “But still, I feel it necessary to apologize to you as well. As an extension of an apology to Frisk, as well,” he let out another sigh.

“Again, that would be left best to an actual apology to those you have directly wronged. In my grandson’s case, what you had intended to do.”

Asgore’s brows furrowed. “But… Shouldn’t I apologize to him over what I had done to him in another time?”

Fritz waved him off. “As far as the world is concerned, your confrontation with him never occurred.”

Asgore gave a hollow chuckle. “And as far as most of my people know, the, er, ‘Six’, never were dead in the first place. So any apology would need to be kept as little known to anyone else as possible, as much as it would kill me inside.”

A few seconds of silence passed. “What do you mean by that?”

The old monster scratched behind his neck, not sure of how to explain. “Well, from what I have gathered from the others as well as what I have asked of my people, all we remember before everything went white was a flower, and that Frisk and his friends were in some way responsible for the barrier’s destruction.”

“How could his friends have helped if they were dead?” Fritz asked. “And a ‘flower’? Do you mean a moving, thinking golden flower?”

“Hmm, curious,” Asgore hummed. “Recently, I met a talking flower on my way back to the mountain. Strangely, it had asked where Frisk lived. I did not think much of it afterward, even though I brought it up. Now…”

“I believe we have met the same flower,” Fritz stated, then shook his head. “My opinion on it is… Not the most favorable, to say the least, but it harbors no ill will toward my grandson, which is all I wanted at the time.”

“Ah,” Asgore replied. “What has it said that made your opinion unfavorable?”

“Well, for one thing Toriel mentioned a flower attacking the children when she found Frisk and his friends,” Fritz stated flatly. “And it, him, whatever, even admitted that it attempted to kill them.”

The old king frowned. “That does sound like it wouldn’t make the best impression, especially Tori…” He took another sip of his tea. “But even then, most monsters wouldn’t have attacked them. Chara rarely decided to show herself in public, so most monsters are not particularly aware of how a human appears.”

Several seconds passed with only silence. “I have one more question for you.”

Asgore suddenly felt like he was going to dislike the next question. “And what would that be?”

“Why did you intend to kill them in the first place?”

The air surrounding the two became almost icy cold. “What?”

“I do not wish to repeat it; why did you kill and intend to kill?”

Asgore gave a shuddering sigh. Looked like he wasn’t going to get out of this. Still, he might feel better if he let it out. “It was because of the circumstances surrounding Chara’s death. You see… After my son returned to the underground, he was too beat up to continue. And we couldn’t heal him until… Until…” He couldn’t keep composure before some tears leaked from his eyes. “Until he turned to dust across the throne room. We watched as both Souls shattered.”

“Wait, both?” Fritz questioned, brows coming together. “As in…?”

“Asriel… Absorbed Chara’s Soul after death,” Asgore breathed. “I assumed he was attacked. All I could think was that it was the humans that killed him… And with that, I made a public decree of war. Every human to fall in the underground must die, so I may use their Souls to destroy the barrier, and wage war on humanity so we may no longer live in fear once we have escaped.”

The son of his old friend swept a critical eye over Asgore. After a few seconds, he himself gave a small sigh. “Asgore… Understand that I still heavily condemn your actions.”

“I should hope so,” Asgore murmured.

“But I do ask: What made you not wish to fulfill it?”

The boss monster wiped his face. “Time… The details are hazy, but I do faintly recall a short argument between myself and Toriel, which ended with her turning in for the night. The next morning, she was gone.”

“Wait, as the queen she just… Left?” Fritz blinked, frowning.

Asgore shrugged. “I don’t know, and I do not blame her. But I snapped out of my fury not too long afterwards. I wanted to take back what I had said, but…” He took a few deep breaths. “I saw the look of hope on my people’s faces when they turned their gazes upon me, so I couldn’t bring myself to deny my people their hope.”

“So you’re clearly not predisposed to violence.”

Asgore gave a small smile. “It is rather clear. Not even during the war had I acted in such anger.”

Fritz nodded. “My father wrote that you were fairly weepy after your parents died. More distant, but still able to go on.”

A few moments passed, the two having the rest of their tea. Afterward, Fritz stood up. “I should probably get back home. This has been… Quite a heavy conversation.”

Asgore nodded, standing up as well. “I would like to accompany you. So that I may… So that I may make a formal apology to Frisk.”

The Red mage gazed at the boss monster for a few moments, before sighing. “Okay. But it shall take a while to get back, then.”

Asgore’s eyes widened slightly, then he smiled a bit. “Actually, if you don’t mind, I could bring us there myself.”

“How? Are you capable of Pinching as well?”

“Quite so,” the goat-based monster nodded, summoning the necessary magic and projecting it outward.

Fritz looked around curiously as the sight around them contracted. Then, after several seconds, the area changed to show the front door of Fritz’s house. Strangely, Sans was leaning against the door, apparently sleeping. “Your magics are varied,” the man commented.

“Not as potent as even a Red mage’s,” Asgore replied, looking at his sentry. “Sans?”

The skeleton’s eyes opened slowly. “‘sup, asgore.”

“Why are you here?”

“just dropping off frisk. decided to take a nap first, to be sure.”

The human man gave a look to Sans. “I assume the dinner went well?”

“yep. i needed to speak with the king about something, but you can do what you need first.”

“Ah,” Asgore responded. After an awkward moment, he pulled the door open and stepped in, making sure to stoop low enough. “Well, I guess I can do that.”

And so, the two traversed through the house. Fritz located his grandson in the living room, flipping through channels. “Frisk.”

“Grandpa?” The boy replied, tilting his head slightly. Those deep brown eyes of his slid over to the large boss monster, widening slightly. “Asgore?”

“Howdy, Frisk,” Asgore replied awkwardly, giving a wave. “I hope you have been finding this day well?”

The younger Red mage nodded slowly. “Yeah… Why are you here?”

“Oh! Er, I wanted to visit you, to apologize.”

Frisk frowned slightly. “What?”

“I wanted to visit… To apologize for trying to kill you.”

Frisk’s mouth opened slightly, moving a bit. “Uh… Thanks?” Poor child, he honestly didn’t seem to know how to reply to such a thing. “I mean, I accept your apology? Everyone we met did try to kill us at least once.”

Well, it seemed like it was time for his own form of diffusion, then. “Oh, is that so? Then in that case, I am not sorry.”

Fritz gave a tired sigh behind him. “That’s not what he meant.”

Still, that got the boy to smile. Standing up from the couch, he walked up to the large monster and gave him a large hug. “Thanks, for that.”

“Oh, well then…”

“Yep, he’s quite the hugger,” Fritz murmured.

Frisk practically shouted, face still pressed against Asgore. “And don’t you forget it!”

Chapter Text

“Good evening, folks, and welcome to tonight’s news,” the reporter announced. “I am your anchorman for tonight, Lucien Smith, and we have quite the story for you.”

*Yawn. Can he get to the good stuff already?

Be patient, Frisk replied, staring at the television screen intently.

*Determination plus integrity or patience does not equal perseverance. No matter what the art teacher would say.

Shush, was his only reply.

“-and we all know what happens when the week of July the seventh comes around,” Lucien continued. “Starting a little under two weeks from now.”

“The Soulfest,” his partner responded, nodding. “The city, if not the entire region’s most popular event of the summer. However, we all remember the ground-breaking news that rocked the whole world around a month ago. Another race revealing their existence from beneath our namesake mountain. Freed from an unusually forgotten event occurring one thousand years ago, they wish only for a peaceful existence with humanity.”

“You know, rumor has it that the well-known Red Archmage, Freische Ebbot, had something to do with the conflict’s resolution. Of course, his two living children have nothing to say about it, though for presumably different reasons.”

“Quite. However, I wouldn’t doubt it if he used his legendary silver tongue.”

“Now now, Anna. We’re no historians,” the anchorman continued. “But anyway, we are glad to announce that, to help with their integration, the leader of the monsters, King Asgore Dreemurr,” a picture of the kindly king was shown. Humorously, he was holding a particularly small watering can. “Has agreed to have his people help set up, as well as participate in the event. And while our reports state that they use their own brand of magic, they will not be having a dedicated day for their magic. Instead, they will showcase their variances of the colored magics with each day.”

“The king has been stated to want to make those displays to educate humans, whether magical or not, about the monster’s connection with magic and how it is used in their daily lives. And, like every year, the Red day will center around duels. There will be a new addition to these duels, however. Lucien?”

“Yes, and that they will be double duels, with a mage and a monster pairing up to defeat an opposing team of yet another pair.”

“I am sure that this year’s Red day will be the most popular one in years!”

“If you are a mage, and would like to fight alongside a monster, then go to the link at the bottom of the screen to apply, and you will be matched with a monster that would complement yourself.”

*I feel like that’s the end of the good stuff.

But I think Asgore said another thing about the news…

*Oh, yeah. That. I guess you should watch that part as well.

“And of course,” the reporters continued. “The king would like to thank the monsters’ young ambassador, Frisk… Actually, just call him an Ebbot. But anyway, they would like to thank him for his contributions.”

*Do you even know what your legal last name is?

Frisk only shrugged in response.

“He may have big shoes to fill, considering his great-grandfather’s legacy. But only time will tell if he will manage to fill them.”

“Wow,” Flowey deadpanned, leaning back from his provided pot as the news moved on. “Way to put that much pressure onto you. Nothing is more encouraging than such a statement.”

Chara appeared in front of the flower. “And how is that much different from Dad’s statement when I was nearly unconscious?”

The flower cringed. “You heard that? We all thought you were comatose when he said that.”

The ghost girl rolled her eyes. “I only barely heard that part. The rest of that time we heard from the video tape you had.”

“Oh, so that’s why I was able to hear that whenever I died,” Frisk stated.

Flowey violently shook his head. “Wait, what? You heard that when you died? How?”

“Well, because I’m technically connected to his Soul, I could technically give him memories,” Chara looked at her former brother. “That’s one way I helped him Save you.”

“Huh?” The flower replied, then mumbled his next sentence. “No wonder it was so effective despite not being you.”

“Did you hear anything when you died?” Frisk asked.

Flowey made his best impression of a shrug. “It was typically the last thing that made me feel determined in any particular significant timeline. It kind of blurs after the fiftieth timeline.”

The two human children looked at Flowey with wide eyes. “How many times did you Load? Or even Reset?”

Another shrug-approximation. “I’ve read every book, and I’ve burned every book. I’ve won every game and lost every game. I’ve appeased everyone and I’ve killed everyone.”

“You’ve killed everyone?” Chara looked at Flowey.

“What? I didn’t come up with ‘kill or be killed’ in one go,” Flowey retorted. “It took me a lot of timelines to come to that mentality.”

“I’m just surprised that you of all people came to believe that in the first place,” Chara crossed her arms.

“Hey! Lacking a Soul, combined with a traumatic cause of death, can lead to such thinking!”

“What about Papyrus?” Frisk asked.

Flowey blinked, turning toward the living Red mage. “What?”

“What if it happened to Papyrus? What if he was in your position?”

“Hmph,” the golden flower responded. “Considering how he is, I doubt that anything less than… Say, a hundred years worth of resetting would make him even try. Believe me, I’ve done a lot to try to corrupt and break him…”

“How long have you had the ability to use it after you woke up?” Chara asked.

“Again, I don’t know. All I know is that the total length of time I’ve had it could be no longer than a few years. But as far as Alphys would be aware, I only came into existence no more than a year ago. Minimum nine months.”

“How do you not know how long you were awake as a flower?” Frisk asked.

“Excuse me for not paying that much attention to the passage of time in this timeline,” Flowey responded, turning his face into a sharp-toothed expression. “I was expecting myself to reset within a few weeks had you and your friends not fallen.”

“Thank goodness for that Annoying Dog, then!” Chara clapped twice. “Not that it would’ve affected me specifically.”

“Why not?” Frisk turned to the dead girl.

“Because time is meaningless to the dead, lazy butt. Use your head for once, and maybe get out of bed faster once in a while.”

“The first time you called me that, I couldn’t have gotten up any faster!” The boy protested.

Chara just turned her head up haughtily. “Excuses are all I hear!” The sound of Frisk’s grumbling was interrupted by the echo of the front door opening. “Guess that’s my cue to disappear.”

The ghostly girl popped out of sight long before the footsteps of his grandfather approached the living room. “Grandpa?” Frisk asked, getting up from his spot.

“Yes?” His grandfather replied, busying himself with the process of putting away some extra articles of work stuff.

“What’s the most amount of time you have spent in a single period of time?”

A frown. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“What is the most amount of time you have spent rewinding?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Cause of me,” Flowey interjected. “I Loaded for at least a few years worth of time.”

“Well, that solves that question,” the older Red mage muttered. “Obviously, you know and even remember. But I thought that the past year’s worth of rewinds were caused by Julian.”

Frisk’s face scrunched up. “He had the power?”

“I’ll assume that he had it until your little friend somehow took it,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, looking at the plant in question. “After Chara’s death, he apparently got a hold of it. He always knew what was going to happen after any time it went back. It’s only automatically transferred when there is no ‘heir’, so to speak.”

“Wait wait wait,” Flowey shook his head. “‘Somehow’? I thought that it was because Frisk’s will over the world was stronger than my own… Ugh! I wish that the power had a freaking instruction manual. Then we wouldn’t have to do all of this stupid guesswork.”

*To be fair, I gained the magic after I fell into the underground. Who knows, it probably has some sort of priority system.

“But what was the longest amount of time you spent in a loop?” Frisk asked.

After a few seconds of silence, his grandfather shrugged with a sigh. “I honestly don’t remember. There were a few times where a single event had to be redone for at least a few years. Over the course of a few days. All of those times were during the World Wars.”

“Yeesh,” Flowey cringed backward. “It kind of makes me glad that monsters have so little determination compared to humans. They may have been so boringly predictable, but I could at least take advantage of that.”

“Monsters have little determination?” Frisk’s grandfather raised an eyebrow. “Nevermind that. But apparently, contrary to what I’d assume you’re thinking, other people don’t have any reactions that really significantly change between tries.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure that, with your greater determination, there’d at least be more variation within each individual.”

*Okay, this is going on for too long. Change the subject.

Frisk looked around, mentally grasping for a new topic. His eyes landed upon the array of movies they had. “Want to watch a movie?”

His grandfather let out a breath as Flowey looked annoyed at the change. “We have time for one before I have to begin dinner. Which one?”

“Uh… Groundhogs Day?”

“No. I absolutely forbid it.”

“Why are you so against it?” Flowey asked.

“Watched it once. I had nightmares over the plot for months after all.”

“Why?”

“Uncontrolled time loops.”

*Of course you have to pick such a movie at random! Just your luck.

Then what do you say?

*Mew Mew 2!

No!

*Huff. No fun!

Chapter Text

Frisk watched from a distance as the equipment for one of the stands was being set up. Most of the volunteers present were humans, a mix of mages and normal humans; the rest were monsters, many of them were ones he hadn’t seen on the trip through the caverns. I wish I could help more…

*I’m glad. You getting sore from working will make me sore. I can feel almost everything you feel, remember that. Besides, you can’t help with this any more than now because of your noodle arms.

Why must you always bring that up? Frisk wondered as he picked up a box; he struggled to keep it in his grip. Someone apparently noticed this, because they came over and picked up the box for him.

*Because it’s true! You failed to pick up that single box!

That box was heavy! Frisk internally whined to Chara.

*Still. Noodle arms. Arms of noodle. Spaghetti-

Stop!

*Sigh! I shall spare you this one time. But do not expect this to continue in the future.

“I can practically feel you and her converse,” Flowey stated, almost hiding behind the human boy. “Mind telling me what it is?”

“I don’t want to,” Frisk pouted.

Seeing that there was no one currently around who could both see and know of her, Chara appeared before the flower. “He’s wanting to help everyone out more with the set up.”

“Why?”

“Exactly! He’ll just get sore from carrying everything, which would end up not being that much because of the noodly nature of his arms.”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Flowey shook his head. “Why would you? Everyone else seems to be working on the stuff without much effort.”

“Could you honestly blame him?” Chara crossed her arms. “He’s probably a bigger softie than you were, and you were the type who would nearly cry every time you stepped on a bug. By accident .”

“Yeah,” Flowey looked away almost sheepishly. “But I watched you hug every. Single. Vulkin. Ugh! Those are basically miniature volcanos!”

“They weren’t that bad to hug!” Frisk protested. “Their lava barely even hurts!”

“Your wording means that it still hurts to hug,” Flowey pointed out. “So why do you still want to help?”

“To be fair, his secondary Soul trait is Green,” Chara stated.

“That… Actually makes everything you do suddenly make a lot more sense, even with your goody-two-shoes shtick,” the golden flower admitted.

“It’s not a shtick!” Frisk protested again.

“Is so!” Flowey countered. “You don’t need for it to be faked for it to be a shtick!”

“Frisk?” One of the monsters present, vaguely resembling a computer mouse, came up. They gave a look to Flowey that was simultaneously confused and concerned, but turned back to the boy. “We need more of the paper cups. Will you please go to one of the trucks and see if there are any more?”

The Red mage perked up. “Okay!” He began to make his way to where one of the supply trucks were located.

“I still think it’s kind of creepy how all the monsters know his name and the names of his friends,” Chara mentioned.

“Hey, it was the best cover-up I could think of at the time,” Flowey grumbled. “It only seemed fair.”

“But why and or how did you make everyone also know the names of everyone else? Frisk was the only one who directly told you his name, so I assumed it was through assimilation… By the way, Frisk, that means taking in.”

“I allowed everyone to know Frisk’s name,” Flowey corrected as the boy poked around the interior of the back of the truck. “As for knowing the rest’s names, well, that was basically just another step added.”

“Why did you allow everyone to know?” The ghost girl asked.

“Because… Since I was going to bring them back to life anyway, I may as well let everyone know their names as well. It just seemed… Unfair to let their efforts through the underground to be unremembered without their names. In fact, aside from the ones already present at the barrier, no one else knew that his friends were dead.”

“Wow,” Chara stated in a nearly flat voice. “I was wrong. You’re still a big softie! Even without your original Soul, you still did such a nice thing.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Flowey rolled his eyes. He looked as best he could into the truck. “Holy… How is anyone able to find anything in there?!”

“Wish Emily were here,” Frisk grimaced as he moved aside another box.

“How would a blind girl be able to help with searching? ” Flowey asked incredulously.

“Blind Cyans are ironic like that,” Chara crossed her arms. “Fun fact: There’s a reason why Cyan mages in ancient times would deliberately remove their ability to see, even permanently.”

“Too much gross human information!” Flowey cringed away.

“That wasn’t even the graphical part of the fact.”

“Implications are enough!”

“Oh, whatever happened to Mister ‘Killed Everyone’?” Chara questioned, a small smirk upon her face.

“Hey, monsters at least turn to a pile of dust when we die,” Flowey grumbled.

“But monsters still have all the necessary functions,” the dead girl pointed out.

“Again: At least it’s made of dust. Clean death… Mostly.”

“Found them!” Frisk shouted triumphantly, holding them as high above his head as he could.

“Don’t hold them so high,” Chara stated. “Or else everyone will see your arms. Then I won’t be the only one around talking about them.”

“Thought you just said you wanted everyone to know?” Flowey moved out of the way from where Frisk jumped out of the truck.

“Yeah, but I want to be the only one with the right to actually call them that,” Chara huffed.

The Red mage made his way to the monster that requested the paper cups. Satisfied with his work, he placed them in open view. “Anything else?”

The monster made a few clicks, turning this way and that. “From us? Nothing. However, one of your leaders has come around requesting for you to come to their personal office in the building,” they jerked their head(?) in the direction of the magocracy building.

Cold shivers ran down Frisk’s spine. “Which one was it?”

Two clicks came out, almost like an approximation of a shrug… Somehow. “The color that was most common on their robes was red. Don’t remember the smaller details, though.”

“Wow,” Chara stated, watching the monster move on. “You’ve just been invited to have a personal meeting with the Red Archmage. No pressure, or anything.”

“‘No pressure’?” Flowey repeated. “Wow, nothing ramps up the tension of such a thing looming so suddenly than those two words.”

Frisk huddled his shoulders nervously as he walked up the steps. “Wonder what he wants to do with me?”

“Hold up,” Flowey stated, appearing at the top of the stairs. “I realize this is a bit late, but exactly who is this guy? ‘Red Archmage’?”

“He’s the one that represents determination among the magocracy,” Chara simply stated. “They all technically have the same amount of power, but it’s obvious that the Red Archmage is the one that calls almost all of the shots. Must be all that determination.”

“Right,” the flower drew out. “What’s stopping another Red Soul from taking the spot of the top Red?”

“I don’t think it works like that,” Chara stated.

“Then how does it work?”

“I don’t know,” the dead girl shrugged. “I didn’t learn that during my time above.”

The two continued to bicker as Frisk carefully navigated his way through the building. Another couple of minutes passed before he finally came across the door. He raised a fist, shaking slightly. “Okay…” He muttered mostly to himself.

Several seconds passed like that, before Flowey got fed up. “Just knock already!”

The sounds of several footsteps came from within the room. Finally, the door opened, an adult man wearing red robes with purple accents looking down at the boy. “Frisk, you got my message.”

“H-Hi,” Frisk stated nervously. “Sorry about my… Friend,” he gestured to Flowey.

The Red Archmage looked more down at the flower, an eyebrow raised. “Your friend is a flower?”

“Nice to meetcha!” Flowey winked. “Don’t have any wrong impressions about me, after all I have lots of determination as well!”

“Err,” the older Red mage began, not knowing how to begin. “Would you like to enter? I promise I’ll make this quick.”

“Okay,” Frisk nodded, entering the room. He looked around idly, resisting the urge to explore. “What is it?”

“First off, the king would like to extend his thanks to you for your contributions to the human-monster relations,” the Red Archmage stated.

The boy’s eyes widened. “What? But… I haven’t done much.”

“You’ve done what you could,” the adult mage placed a hand on Frisk’s shoulder. “That is the least he wants from you.”

“Learn to take a compliment, Frisk,” Flowey rolled his eyes. “Compliments aren’t cheap.”

“I agree with Azzy,” Chara stated, looking at Frisk.

“The other thing is a gift from him, as well,” the mage continued, walking over to the desk that sat in the back end. “In fact, he was wanting to give them to your friends as well,” he opened a drawer, pulling out an envelope. “And considering that I heard you were helping with the Soulfest today, it meant that I could ask for you so that Asgore could continue with efforts on his own side.”

Frisk looked at the envelope curiously as it was handed over. “Thanks…?”

“You should open it,” the Red Archmage gestured.

The young Red mage looked at it curiously, opening it. The colorful slip of paper immediately stood out to him, but as he pulled it out fully, his eyes widened. “A Prism Pass?”

“What’s that?” Flowey asked, unimpressed. Chara, meanwhile, looked ecstatic.

“It means that he and six other people of his choice can enter the Soulfest every day with discounts on everything.”

A wide grin nearly split Frisk’s face. “Thank you!”

The Red Archmage merely shook his head and shrugged. “Don’t thank me. Thank the king.”

“Just be glad he’s not hugging you,” Flowey stated.

“I’ll hug you then!” Frisk declared, leaning down to the flower.

“That wasn’t an invitation!”

Chapter Text

“I still could hardly believe you can actually get a discount for wearing the day’s color,” Flowey grumbled, slouching from his position in the portable flower pot Frisk was carrying him in.

“Actually, the discount comes from proving that you have it as one of your colors while wearing some noticeable amount of it,” Chara explained, walking beside Frisk. “That’s why they led William to that small private booth. It was to make sure that he had Purple as one of his colors despite being a Green.”

The golden flower looked around briefly, making sure that no one else would give them suspicious looks. “And how do you know if someone isn’t lying about the ‘secondary’ Soul trait?”

“We have machines that can almost read and print the results,” Mark stated; today, he had opted for a purple shirt, the exact shade of his Soul, with some lilac-colored stripes. “Not to mention that the mage-dogs have the ability to sniff out colors.”

“I thought dogs were colorblind,” Flowey replied, skepticism evident in his voice. “The Dogi couple couldn’t tell the difference between green and red if their lives depended on it. Literally.”

“Don’t say it like that!” William chided. “They used the dogs this year. I don’t think anyone is complaining, though.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Flowey rolled his eyes before turning to Frisk. “How much money did your old man give you?”

“Don’t call him that,” Frisk complained, but still reached into his pockets to count.

“But he is old,” Mark pointed out. “Two-hundred years is still considered old for a mage.”

“That sounds mean, though,” William supplied.

The determined flower gave the dollar bills a critical look as Frisk fumbled with it. “I still think base ten is still a weird way to order money. Base seven makes a lot more sense.”

“Ebott hasn’t used the old currency that monsters use since before the Lewis and Clark expedition,” Mark stated. “Which, by the way, was over two-hundred years ago.”

“Sheesh, don’t drop such information on me. I haven’t had that much time to research surface history,” Flowey stated sarcastically.

“The more you know!” Chara stated. “By the way, the other way around seemed weird to me at first when I fell into the underground. I only ever saw the old money in my grandmother’s collection.”

“What’s so weird about ‘gold for biggest, silver for medium, copper for smallest’?” Flowey complained. “Seven colors for each magic, after all. And seven coins to get to the next bigger value.”

“Well, you see, most humans don’t care for Soul colors,” the Purple mage grumbled. “So money based on seven makes little sense to them.”

“Stop complaining about him,” William whined.

“I have fifty dollars,” Frisk finally stated.

“And how much would that be?” Flowey grumbled. “Not enough, more than enough…?”

“Relative to what?” Chara asked.

“Relative to whatever you want to do here.”

“That’s enough,” Mark concluded, adjusting his glasses.

“Great. Now let’s get to it,” Flowey rolled his eyes. “Just don’t ogle at everything and do nothing. Do something.”

The trio of (living) mages weaved through the crowds for the next few minutes, looking around; there were many people here, both humans and monsters. Quite a number of booths were manned by monsters, and others manned by mages of today’s color. However, it was near the border of where it began to transition into food stalls that something caught their attention…

“Ahuhuhu~” A high pitched laugh floated over to the trio. “Why, isn’t it among a few of you wonderful dearies!”

Chara gave a groan. “I would have been happy to never see her or her little ‘pet’ ever again.”

Frisk and William, however, still gave polite smiles as they made their ways to the stand. “Hi, Miss Muffet!” They crossed the emptiness of the last few yards several yards; it was clear as day that most were giving it a wide berth.

“It has been quite a while since we last saw you,” the spider monster set each of her eyes on each child.

“How is everything going?” Frisk asked; his smile was slightly strained as he tried to not look at every spider that was crawling over the stand.

Muffet gave a small, distasting sigh. “I had no idea many humans find spiders so unpleasant! Only a few really came up recently, aside from you three, ahuhuhu!”

Despite his own discomfort, Frisk frowned. “Have any of them been mean?”

“Thankfully, no,” she shook her head. “Unlike everyone else near, they seemed unfazed. Now, would any of you like anything?~”

“Can I get a croissant?” William asked, pulling money from his own pockets.

“Of course, dearie!” The spider monster laid her eyes upon the Green mage as one of her arms reached back and picked up the pastry. “That will be five dollars!”

“Your prices have certainly dropped,” Mark stated, opening his notebook. “By a lot.”

At least three of her eyes gave an unamused glare at the Purple mage. “You don’t have to be so blunt, dearie,” she stated. “It is a simple matter of economics. I could not afford to use the same prices I had underground!”

Frisk took a glance behind Muffet as William was handed his pastry. “What’s behind you?”

“Hmm?” Muffet responded. “Oh, it’s just a recreation of my parlor! As a side room, it was meant for anyone who wants to see the usage of the purple Soul mode! It’s such a shame that such a lovely color of magic has fallen out of usage by most monsters.”

“Can we use it?” Frisk asked, suddenly bouncing on his feet. “Maybe people watching us will make them more likely to ask you?”

“Please don’t,” Chara groaned. “Her fight was annoying to get through in the first place. You’re lucky that you ate during that fight before you stumbled into those donut bullets.”

Unaware of the dead girl’s comment, Muffet’s eyes blinked in a wave. “Oh, that sounds wonderful, dearie~. But you’ll have to be charged for it. That’ll be fifteen dollars.”

Frisk immediately pulled out the wad of money, pulling out enough bills. “Deal!”

“Ahuhuhu~. Well, I am making good on that offer when we encountered each other. We spiders always make good on our promises,” the spider monster covered her mouth as she turned to the parlor. “Let’s get this started~”

The Red mage followed her to the center of the parlor once he handed over a groaning Flowey to his friends. “So, how will it start?”

Muffet picked up a tea set that was on a small table. “You will simply need your Soul doused in my special purple tea. Then we shall begin~”

“Okay,” Frisk shuffled nervously as a countless amount of eyes crawled into sight. Curiously, one side was open-air. Presumably to let people watch a demonstration. From the corner of his eye, he could see Mark and William position themselves near the front of a small crowd that was forming.

“Let’s start this, dearie~” Muffet giggled, pointing her tea set toward his now-exposed Soul. Immediately, enormous purple drops spilled forth from them; rather than fall to the ground, they instead homed in on it. When it couldn’t be seen, it cleared away to show that his Soul had turned purple.

Swiftly, there were murmurs among the crowd, many of them concerned. “Isn’t it dangerous to change a Soul drastically from their natural state?” A crowd member asked loudly.

Muffet aimed four of her five eyes at the asker, almost glaring. “Not at all! Monsters do it all the time! All I have merely done is turned it to a lovely purple~”

“At least she didn’t make the comment about how it looks much better,” Chara grumbled.

“Now, let’s have fun~.”

The boy wobbled slightly as he shifted between the webs he was forced to stand upon. Alas, he was not destined to have much readjustment time as spider-shaped bullets began to speed their way down the line. There was a slight stickiness to the nature of the lines, like any normal Purple’s line magic, so his movement along the lines was slow. However, like a Purple mage’s own magic, he could quickly jump between each line anytime he wanted.

“It’s kind of weird how Purple magic is so similar to her webs,” Chara commented.

Not now, Chara, Frisk replied, thankfully not tripping as he changed lines again.

“What is that magic you’re sending after him?” Another audience member asked.

“They’re called ‘bullets’,” Flowey stated boredly. “It’s another magic unique to monsters. Don’t ask me why, they just are.”

“They can also look really nice!” William chipped in.

“Ahuhuhuhu~” Muffet giggled as the surrounding spiders clapped to the music. “You should stay here with me; you can answer everything! Though some may prefer personal experience ~”

Frisk grit his teeth as a new attack came, this time it was composed of multiple donuts bouncing around, finishing off with a few croissants flying in like boomerangs. He needlessly wiped his forehead after that attack. “See? Not too bad.”

“Aw, you’re wanting to leave so early?” Muffet laughed. “I was really hoping to introduce you to my pet~. Still, I can’t make the money we need by keeping you here all day~” the spider monster stated, releasing her magical hold upon the boy. There were a few seconds before all of her eyes snapped onto the audience. “What are you standing for? Either leave, or meet me back at the stall.”

Wanting to leave that gaze, the crowd dispersed quickly. For one reason or another, a few stuck around, chatting. Mark and William made their way back to the stand. “Not bad,” the Purple mage noted. “You could’ve been better, but that was better than I was expecting.”

“Wow, way to boost your friend’s confidence,” Chara crossed her arms as Frisk frowned. Still, clearly his battle with the spider monster had done the trick for her; more people began to come closer to the stall. A couple of people spoke with her, handing money before disappearing into her parlor. “How much do you want to bet something bad will happen involving her by the end of the day?”

“One gold, two silver, and three copper,” Flowey muttered.

“Not in the old currency~” Chara teased.

“Twenty-five whatevers, then.”

“Deal!”

Chapter Text

“THANK YOU, HUMANS, FOR INVITING ME TO COME TO THIS GRAND EVENT THAT EVERYONE IS PARTICIPATING IN!” Papyrus exclaimed, marching through the crowd with Frisk, Emily, and Amanda behind him.

“It’s not an issue, Papyrus,” Amanda stated. “I wanted to leave the home for the day, anyway.”

“Is everyone there giving you issues, again?” Emily asked.

“It’s like all the kids there want to give me a hard time,” the Blue mage grumbled. “I was already far from the most popular one there before falling into the underground, but my involvement seems to have caused a lot of my… Lesser favorites trying to get all cozied up to me,” the girl shuddered.

“I DO NOT SEE HOW BECOMING MORE POPULAR COULD CAUSE SUCH SITUATIONS TO ARISE,” Papyrus said. “IF ANYTHING, IT SHOULD’VE MADE THINGS A LOT EASIER FOR YOU! YOU MAY BE A TAD BIT… BLUNT, BUT I DO NOT SEE HOW SOMEONE WITH SUCH INTEGRITY AS YOURSELF COULD BE BOTHERED BY SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT…”

“Like what I mentioned, I don’t get along with the other kids,” Amanda grumbled. “The worst of them are acting like they’ve been friends with me the moment I ended up there. Their Integrity is just clashing with mine. That is, if they had any in the first place.”

“HUMAN,” the tall skeleton stated sternly. “JUST BECAUSE THE OTHER HUMAN CHILDREN HAVE DIFFICULTIES WITH THEIR OWN INTEGRITY, AS YOU IMPLY, IT SHOULD NOT EXCUSE SUCH RUDENESS FROM YOURSELF.”

“Well, the advice you gave me doesn’t sit quite right when talking about their levels of Integrity,” Amanda grouched.

*Make them switch topics. I can feel myself getting a headache from the bickering.

“Can we please just start playing some games?” Frisk asked, looking at his friends.

“AH, YES. THAT’S AMONG ONE OF THE MORE POPULAR THINGS WITH THESE DAYS, APPARENTLY,” Papyrus stated. He narrowed his eye sockets, looking around at some of the stalls. Several people, mages included, flinched at the gaze of the living skeleton. “WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST?” 

“I’m of no use with the stalls,” Emily stated. “I sense that many of them would require more than my ability to, well, ‘sense’ them. Specifically seeing things.”

“THEN WE SHOULD FIND SOMETHING THAT ALL OF US COULD PARTAKE IN,” Papyrus concluded. He made a loud hum as he searched through all of the stalls' contents. “WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST?”

“I have no idea,” Amanda shrugged. “This is the first time I’ve ever been to, well, any of these events. And before you ask, it’s because my caretakers never allowed any of us to come to one for one reason or another.”

*Do they still use one of those earthquake simulation platforms?

Wordlessly, Frisk took Papyrus’ hand and began leading him through the crowd, looking around. “NYEH? HUMAN, DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTION OF WHAT WE SHOULD DO?”

“There’s an earthquake simulator around here, I think,” Frisk murmured.

“AND HOW DOES THAT CORRELATE- WAIT, I NOW GET IT!” Papyrus stated. He then looked down at the boy. “THOUGH I DOUBT YOU COULD REALLY SEE IT WELL THROUGH THIS CROWD.”

Amanda laughed. “He’s got you there; you are rather short.”

“No I’m not,” Frisk whined, head craning around.

“YOU ARE RATHER SMALL,” the tall skeleton conceded. “EVEN IF THAT WAS LESS NICE THAN I’D WISHED.”

*At least I’m not alone with my shortness… Even if you are slightly taller.

“BUT FRISK! YOUR DISADVANTAGE GIVES YOU AN ADVANTAGE IN ONE OF THE GREATEST WAYS POSSIBLE! OBSERVE!” Papyrus exclaimed. In a quick succession of movement, the skeleton picked up the Red mage just under his arms and placed him on his own shoulders. “THERE! YOUR RANGE OF VISION SHOULD BE SUPREMELY ENHANCED COMPARED TO YOUR TYPICAL! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!”

“Thanks!” Frisk replied. He immediately looked around as best he could. “Uh… I think I can see it over there!”

“SEE? EVEN THOSE DISADVANTAGED IN HEIGHT CAN SUCCEED DESPITE THAT!” Papyrus exclaimed, marching them through the crowd. “SOMETHING YOU ALL HAVE OVER ME! AS LONG AS YOU DON’T HOLD IT OVER ME, IT WOULD BE SOMETHING I WOULD ALWAYS BE HAPPY TO DO!”

Emily raised an eyebrow. “‘Hold it over me’? I may be blind, but even I can spot a pun or joke.”

“THAT WAS UNINTENTIONAL.”

“And… You’re not complaining?” Amanda asked. “I thought you hated them, considering your reactions to your brother’s puns.”

“WHAT? NO,” Papyrus replied, almost seeming offended. “I DO HAVE MY OWN ENJOYMENT OF SUCH WORDPLAY. SANS JUST HAS THE BAD HABIT OF DOING IT AT THE WORST. POSSIBLE. TIMES!” He shivered. “HE ALWAYS USES THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR. MY JOKES, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE MASTERFULLY CRAFTED! SO EVEN THE LESS-KNOWLEDGEABLE CAN HAVE A HEARTY LAUGH!”

“That… Makes a surprisingly large amount of sense. Except the parts that don’t,” Amanda stated.

“THAT SEEMS TO BE A COMMON THEME WITH YOUR CRITICISMS ABOUT A LOT OF PEOPLE.”

“A Blue is nothing, if not consistent,” Amanda stated haughtily, stepping up to the person manning the platform as they neared. “Can we use this?”

The man at it looked down at her. “It’s five dollars per person.”

“Papyrus, can you let me down?” Frisk asked, tapping the skeleton’s temple.

“OF COURSE, FRISK!” Papyrus replied, taking the boy down. “IT WOULD BE FAIRLY DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO ACQUIRE YOUR CURRENCY FROM YOUR POCKET OTHERWISE!”

Frisk took out four bills, all five dollars each. But before he handed the money, he looked to Emily. “Do you want to use it?”

The blind girl shrugged. “It doesn’t require sight to succeed, so I may as well try.”

The Red mage turned to the attendant. “Four people, please!”

The man running it took a look at each bill, nodding before he placed them within the till next to him. “Use the stairs to the left, and stand on one of the circles,” he seemed to think for a moment before remembering something, looking at the Cyan mage. “Oh yeah. In your case, you could, er, try sensing where the magic is. They should be easy to spot… Or whatever you do.”

Emily nodded her head. “Thank you,” she murmured. In a single second, the air around her pinched before snapping back into place without her presence.

As for the others, they followed the instructions of the attendant and stood in their own circles. “WOWIE, EACH OF THESE PLACEMENTS ARE WITHIN THE CENTERMOST POINT OF THEIR QUADRANT! SUCH NEATNESS!”

The man in charge turned to a small control panel next to the simulation. “One final question: What difficulty would you like it to be?”

“WHAT DIFFICULTIES ARE WE ABLE TO CHOOSE FROM?” Papyrus asked.

“Uh, tremor, percussive, earthquake, and ascending. That last one, uh, is like the first to the third. In a slower rise.”

“HMM,” Papyrus rubbed his chin in deep thought. “WHAT WOULD YOU SAY, FRISK? YOU WERE THE ONE TO PAY, AFTER ALL.”

*Ascending. No need to let them hold back when I’m sure that you’d fall even on tremor difficulty.

Frisk gave a large sigh; he didn’t want to get out so early, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to stand on his own two legs for long, having seen many without Blue fall on the easiest. “Ascending, I think.”

“Ascending it is,” the attendant nodded, turning a knob and pressing a button. “Here you go.”

The platform beneath their feet began to hum and vibrate. After a few seconds, it increased by a little. Frisk’s legs were already beginning to feel wobbly, and after several more seconds of periodic increases, the boy finally collapsed to his knees. “I… I can’t.”

*Hmm, it seems that more than your arms are noodles. Legs of spaghetti!

Frisk quietly whined as he crawled his way to the exit area. The attendant helped him off and led him to a small row of chairs. “Thanks.”

And so, the Red mage watched on as his friends did their best. Emily collapsed barely a minute later at what he assumed was ‘percussive’. With her Pinching next to him, it was down to only Papyrus and Amanda, both doing their best as it increased to ‘earthquake’ levels. They looked at one another almost challengingly.

This went on for several more minutes, before ominous groaning came from beneath the platform. With an expression of alarm, the attendant immediately powered down the platform. “Sorry, but you’ll have to leave the equipment.”

“WHAT? WHY?”

“Uh…” The man took out a handbook from a small drawer next to the console, flipping through it. “It will need about… Fifteen minutes to settle down, and another fifteen to do a maintenance check?”

“AH, THAT MAKES SENSE!” Papyrus stated as if it was obvious. “OF COURSE IT COULDN’T HANDLE THE SHEER STABILITY OF MYSELF AND OUR FRIEND, SO THE VIBRATIONS RISK SHAKING THEM APART! NYEH HEH HEH!”

“You understand machinery?” The man looked him up and down. “I would offer you to help, but…”

“OF COURSE I UNDERSTAND HOW MACHINERY WORKS, HUMAN! I HAVE TO KNOW THE INS AND OUTS OF EVERY DEVICE I MAKE SO THAT MY PUZZLES WILL BE IN TIP-TOP CONDITION!” He took a look beneath the platform. “AND WHILE I WOULD LOVE TO HELP MAKE SURE IT IS IN PROPER CONDITION, I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE MECHANISMS OF THIS SPECIFIC ONE.”

“You make puzzles?”

“IT IS A PILLAR OF YOUTH TO HAVE TO NAVIGATE THROUGH TRAPS INVOLVING DEADLY SPIKES IN THE UNDERGROUND! ALL KIDS LOVE DEADLY SPIKES!” Papyrus proclaimed.

“Settle down, Papyrus,” Amanda stated.

“BUT OF COURSE, BLUE HUMAN!” Papyrus replied; he turned away from the dumbfounded expressions of the growing crowd. “I WONDER IF ANY MONSTERS HAVE SET UP ANY BLUE-RELATED PUZZLES OR PATTERNS, YET?”

“Why not do it here?” Frisk suggested. “Use Blue magic on us to show how it works for a monster.”

“BECAUSE THE PLATFORM IS HERE,” Papyrus replied. He then scratched his chin in thought. “IS THERE ANY PLACE WE COULD DEMONSTRATE?”

“Uh…” Someone from the crowd mumbled. “You could use the dueling circle in front of the magocracy building to showcase?”

“WHAT A BRILLIANT IDEA!” Papyrus declared. “THANK YOU, HUMAN!” He turned to Amanda. “AND COULD YOU DO A FAVOR FOR ME THIS TIME?”

An eyebrow raised. “What?”

“DON’T RESIST MY MAGIC’S INFLUENCE, THIS TIME. NOT UNLESS YOU WANT TO SHOW A COMPARISON.”

The Blue mage rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“EXCELLENT!”

Chapter Text

“Frisk, you need to slow down,” Fritz stated, making his way carefully through the crowd that was near the front of the entrance.

“Or you could hurry up!” Flowey shouted. “You’re not getting any younger, after all!”

The older mage just grumbled as he was flanked by Robert and Emily, walking beside him. “I think that Frisk is just excited that you finally have time to do something with him,” Emily stated.

“More than I could say for my own father,” Robert added. “We just try our best to minimize our contact.”

“I still do not approve of what your ‘father’ does,” Fritz replied. “It’s a wonder he hasn’t already joined that group that’s been brewing outside the gates today, considering what he thinks of us.”

The Orange mage merely shrugged. “I wouldn’t doubt it if his ‘other things’ prevented him.”

The older Red mage huffed. “Being anti-magical in the highest concentrated city… Madness I say.”

The trio finally caught up with the younger Red mage, who was almost vibrating as visibly as a Temmie. “I wonder what things the monsters have come up with for today?”

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), there was a hotdog stand near where the stalls were beginning. And of course, Sans was sitting behind it, asleep. Robert sighed and walked up to the stand. “I’d say in Papyrus’ place, you should probably stop slacking.”

Lazily, the short skeleton opened one of his eye sockets. “‘sup, toby?”

Robert’s face screwed up. “Do I look like a ‘Toby’ type of person?”

“sorry, bob.”

“And I’m not a ‘Bob’ either!” The Orange mage groaned loudly.

“sure thing, rupert.”

“What are you doing here?” Emily asked as Robert let out a loud groan.

“what does it look like? i’m selling ‘dogs.”

“That wording doesn’t work with me,” Emily deadpanned.

The skeleton gave a look to Fritz as he walked up to the stall. “looks like someone like you could use a ‘dog. yes, you heard that right; a ‘dog.”

The older mage gave a critical eye to the skeleton. “Do you have anything else to do? Or are you supposed to be doing something else right now?”

“oh, yes. i’m slacking off at my main job. and the main job is showcasing cyan magic.”

“So why are you slacking off at such an important event? Like letting people see what it is like?”

“because to do so, they first have to buy a ‘dog.”

“That’s no way to run a stall…”

“could be worse. ‘cause by doing my main job, i’d have to then slack off of my side job. which is selling ‘dogs.”

Fritz pinched the bridge of his nose. “What kind of logic is that?”

“i dunno. but right now, you’re making me slack off at both. not that i’m complaining, though,” Sans shrugged. “more slacking makes everything easier on me.”

“That’s some irresponsible thinking there.”

“Can we have a hot dog?” Frisk finally stepped up. Fritz noticed the potted flower in his grip nearly wither under the skeleton’s gaze.

Sans quickly looked up to Frisk’s face. “sure, kid. i would offer you an actual meat version, but the ones from the underground are much cheaper.”

“I’ll have a hot dog, then!”

“sure thing, kid,” Sans replied. He then took a look back at the flower pot. “whoops, looks like your hands are a little full. guess i’ll have to put it up here instead,” he stated, placing the hot dog on top of the boy’s head.

“Sans,” Fritz grumbled, facepalming.

“Can I have another?” Frisk asked.

“sure,” Sans stated once again, placing the next hot dog on top of the first.

Frisk only looked up slightly. “Again.”

“here. have fun.”

“More.”

“ I swear, you have a single brain cell right now. And you’re using it for this ,” Flowey complained as the stack grew.

“Hot dog stack,” was Frisk’s only response.

A small but amused crowd began to accumulate as the heights grew. Finally, when Frisk asked for a thirtieth hot dog, Sans shook his head. “i’ll be ‘frank’ with you. twenty-nine hot dogs? that’s a fine number. but thirty? that’s too much. does it look like my arms can reach that high?”

“You used magic most of it,” Fritz deadpanned.

“How are you going to get all of those down from on top of you?” Robert asked Frisk.

“Um…” The younger Red mage mumbled out, having clearly not thought this through.

“One. Singular. Brain cell,” Flowey ground out.

“i didn’t ask anything from you,” the short skeleton replied, gazing once again at the flower. “say, i don’t recall us introducing ourselves.”

“And I don’t intend to do so,” Flowey replied grumpily.

“Emily, can you get the hot dogs out of Frisk’s hair?” Fritz asked, looking down to the blind girl.

“Certainly,” the Cyan mage nodded. Promptly, the stack pinched out of existence from atop the boy’s head.

“thanks. saves me a lot of work. and ‘dogs, as a result,” Sans winked. “but i still suspect you still want some ‘dogs yourselves. so let’s get to it.”

Fritz sighed as he took out his wallet. “How much are they?”

“about two bucks a pop. why you use whole deers as a currency is beyond me.”

“Not literally,” Robert stated.

“Would everyone like at least one?” The older Red mage asked; the three mage children nodded their heads. “Then we would like four hot dogs.”

“four ‘dogs each? that’s a tall order.”

“You know what I mean,” a deep sigh.

“got it. four ‘dogs. and any of you could ask to have a demonstration of my blue bones,” Sans tilted his head slightly. “though you’ve had enough practice with my bro.”

“I would like a demonstration,” Fritz stated, taking a bite of his own hot dog. “And don’t you mean ‘cyan’ bones?”

“cyan, blue, same thing,” Sans shrugged. “unless you would like to be ‘cyan’ it later?”

“Many mages, myself included, would choose to disagree,” the older mage grumbled.

For the next couple of minutes, the small group stood aside to let others get hot dogs from Sans as they ate. Once they were finished, Fritz waited until the line was finished before stepping back up to the stand. “Let’s just get straight to the point.”

“couldn’t have said it better myself,” the short skeleton chuckled. At once, he Pinched them to the small stage behind him. “nothing much to say. don’t move when the blue bones get to you, and they won’t hurt you.”

With that, several rows of small bones appeared and slid toward him. Just as stated, they harmlessly passed through the older mage before fading away. Several seconds later, Sans stopped sending attacks. “welp, that was a workout. guess i should slack off from this once more.”

“And back to your stand, I assume?” Fritz asked.

“yep.”

“Is there a cyan Soul mode?” Frisk asked the short skeleton, who Pinched back into his stall.

“yeah, but monsters could only ‘store’ one soul mode at a time. so you’re out of luck for checking that out from me,” Sans stated. He appeared to think for a few seconds. “say, i do recall old gerson is skilled enough to have it, and he has no reason to change from it anyhow,” he leaned back and set up his legs upon a conveniently-placed stool. “now if you’ll excuse me, i have a few z’s to catch.”

“Who is ‘Gerson’?” Fritz asked aloud.

“He’s a turtle monster who’s as old as Asgore,” Frisk stated, pulling his grandfather’s hand, Flowey grumbling in his pot.

“I think he’s a tortoise, actually,” Robert stated.

“Whichever he is,” Fritz stated, looking around. “Let’s go find him.”

For the next several minutes, the small group weaved through the crowd on the search for the old tortoise. They were firmly within the exhibition area, filled with both storefronts and games when Emily heard a familiar laugh. “He’s this way,” she murmured, dragging the group in the direction.

Seconds later, they were in front of a basic storefront with a few antiques on the table and crabapples plus sea teas closer to the back. “Wa ha ha! Why, isn’t it three of the saviors of the underground,” Gerson stated.

“Sans said you know how to turn a Soul Cyan,” Robert stated, looking up at the tortoise.

“Really? That lazy skeleton suggested?” He replied, before snorting. He turned to the older Red mage. “And just who are you?”

“I am the grandfather of Frisk,” the grandfather stated, placing a hand on his grandson’s shoulder.

“Guess that makes sense,” Gerson nodded. “Say, you kind of look like someone I knew before the barrier.”

Fritz raised an eyebrow. “You probably mean my father.”

“If you’re an Ebbot, then you are correct!” Gerson gave a chuckle. “While I didn’t know him quite as well as ol’ Fluffybuns did, I did respect the man.”

“Can you show us Cyan Soul mode?” Frisk asked; he tilted his head as well.

“Eh? Oh, yes. Cyan Soul mode,” the old tortoise raised an arm. “Would any other of you like to try as well?”

“I would!” Robert stated loudly, pumping his fist.

“Alright, then. Be careful, though! Even most monsters are unfamiliar with how it works. Wa ha ha!” He laughed, summoning their Souls in front of them. Almost immediately, they were turned to Cyan.”

“How does it work?” Fritz asked.

“Try moving a bit, if you haven’t,” Gerson told the affected children.

They stood still for a couple seconds, faces turning confused. Robert’s, however, turned to realization. “Don’t try too hard!”

Too late, because Frisk tripped over his own feet. “Wha-?” He got out before getting caught by his grandfather.

A couple seconds later, Robert stumbled, though managed to recover. “Remember, Cyan,” Flowey grumbled, head held low.

Gerson squinted his eyes at Frisk for a couple of seconds, before laughing. “I nearly forgot; even when your Soul is affected by others’ magic, you Reds still manage to be slippery.”

“It happened with Papyrus as well,” Frisk stated softly. “I couldn’t jump as high as you guys…”

“Wa ha ha!” Gerson laughed. “‘Resist’ is your color’s whole shtick, so don’t act so down about it. If anything, it’s really darn useful!”

“Let me understand; Cyan ‘mode’ delays your reaction time?” Fritz asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep. Helped me a lot back in my fighting days, too,” Gerson nodded. Within a few seconds, the boys’ Souls returned to their normal colors and disappeared back into them.

“And how long ago was that?”

“Longer than you’ve been alive!” Gerson guffawed. “Now, either buy something, or leave! Or chat. I don’t care, as long as you stop clogging the front,” he pointed to the crowd gathering behind them.

“Oh, yeah,” Frisk replied, moving out of the way sheepishly. “Well, see you!”

“See you all again sometime! Wa ha ha!”

Chapter Text

*You seem really excited.

Uncle Max will be here today! Frisk replied to the dead girl as he weaved through the crowds with William by his side.

*Yeah? You also saw him a few weeks ago, when the skelebros moved in. What’s so important about it?

He said that he’s got a special job for today!

“You are really excited about something,” Flowey grumbled from his pot.

*See? Even he senses it.

“His uncle is participating in something today,” William stated, looking at the flower. “Something big.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“There are a few events he could be in,” Frisk stated. “He could be a judge, helping with a stall, or even making food himself!”

“Judge for what?” Flowey raised an eyebrow.

“There’s typically a cooking contest on this day,” Chara appeared before them.

“Competing does not sound like something a Kind person would do.”

“It’s about the love and care everyone puts into the food for the duration, and how good they-”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Flowey responded. “I get it.”

“Oh! I wonder if Undyne and Papyrus are going to join?” Chara nearly squealed. “That hangout with Undyne was so fun! Even if I just watched,” she then looked at the two boys. “You’re both such softies. I mean, petting the tomatoes?”

“You both pet those tomatoes?” Flowey asked, incredulous. He then shook his head. “You both are Green based, ugh.”

“So… Do you think those two will compete?”

Frisk hummed as he thought. “I believe I recognized Max’s car near the front of the parking lot. And he wouldn’t really keep such a thing from Papyrus. So, Papyrus probably came with him, as well.”

The flower’s petals seemed to droop with terror. “Everyone here is dead. I’m calling it.”

“The hangout wasn’t that bad…” William frowned.

“It literally ended with a flaming house,” the dead girl deadpanned.

“And that’s not even the first time it happened,” Flowey grumbled. “I was witness to most of them, and even participated in one. Any kitchen activity with her present ends in fire.”

“What about Papyrus?” Frisk asked.

“On his own, at least fires don’t get to that level. They’re usually contained to the pots and pans he uses,” Flowey admitted, begrudgingly. “He at least knows how to deal with a grease fire. And it’s not with water.”

“… Have you tried putting one out with water before?” The Green mage asked. “I was taught about it, as well.”

“Well, explosions are a painful thing to deal with,” Flowey stated in a low voice, looking around at the crowd. “I learned the explosive bit with Undyne…”

“How does water make fire explode?” Frisk asked, craning his head around.

“Grease fires,” Flowey corrected. “And I’d rather not learn how, the experience was enough deterrence.”

The Red mage’s eyes immediately lit up as he spotted his target. “Uncle Max!”

His uncle had his back turned; however, he looked back at the boy before smiling largely. “Frisk!” He held out his arms as Frisk ran after him.

In mere seconds, the boy crossed through the crowd and embraced his uncle. “Hi!”

“Ugh, too much hugging,” Flowey grumbled as he was between the two humans. “Just end it quickly so I wouldn’t be stuck as this annoying third wheel.”

“Frisk, keep doing it,” Chara told the Red mage. “It’s funny watching Azzy squirm from it!”

To Flowey’s relief, Frisk ended the hug. He looked up to the bearded man with big brown eyes. “What’s your job here?”

He gave an embarrassed smile as he scratched the back of his head. “Well, I was hoping to let you only know when it starts…”

“Please?” Frisk asked.

His uncle gave a short laugh. “Don’t think that look will work on me! I saw your father pull that look all the time on our parents.”

“Great,” Flowey groaned. “Now, I’ve got a question for you myself.”

“Flowey! Don’t say it like that!” William scolded as he caught up.

“What?” The golden flower replied. “It’s a serious question.”

The older man gave the flower a lookover. “I don’t think we have met, really…”

Flowey huffed. “Flowey the flower, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too. I’m Max,” the older human nodded politely. “What was it that was your question?”

“What’s up with your accent? There weren't too many like it in the underground.”

Uncle Max gave a slight grimace. “Right, you were underground… Well, I am not a native of Ebott, much less America. His father and I were born and raised in Germany.”

“Where’s that?” Flowey tilted his head. “Our information of the surface was limited, and the best source was typically water damaged.”

“Well, it’s in central Europe.”

“… Yeah, nothing to me. It’s a miracle we even known the bare-bones of more than just the region of Ebott. I heard a lot was lost in the w- Er, with the barrier’s creation.”

“Well, that just means you have to try extra hard to learn more!” William suggested. “You could probably use the computer.”

“Does it look like I’ve got the ease of using it?” Flowey asked. “My summonable vines only have so much stren- They’re freaking plants, alright?!”

Suddenly, Frisk’s uncle’s phone began to buzz. “Well, it looks like I will have to cut this short. I will see you all later,” he gave them all a smile before making his way through the crowd.

“So… Are you going to try entering the competition yourselves?” Flowey asked as they began to make their ways throughout the crowd.

“They can’t,” Chara stated, crossing her arms. “By official rules, children aren’t allowed to take part in the competition unless a parent or legal guardian is present and allows for it.”

“Then why not use the uncle?” Flowey raised an eyebrow.

“Because it would have to be Grandpa,” Frisk stated.

After several more minutes of talking back and forth, the small group managed to make their way to the competition section of the event. “HELLO, HUMANS!” Papyrus greeted. When his gaze went over to Flowey (who was visibly shrinking in on himself), eyes bulged from his sockets. “FLOWEY! IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE I LAST SAW YOU! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?”

Flowey, on his own end, looked rather nervous. “F-fine, I guess,” he looked around. “Where’s Undyne? Or even your brother?”

“UNDYNE IS OFF GETTING ALL THE INGREDIENTS WE WILL NEED TO MAKE THE GREATEST FOOD ITEM EVER MADE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS EVENT! THOUGH IT WOULD BE UNFAIR TO HOLD EVERYONE TO MY OWN STANDARDS. BUT! THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THERE WOULDN’T BE OTHER WORTHY OPPONENTS IN THIS CULINARY BATTLEFIELD! NYEH HEH HEH!” His gaze then went to the side. “AS FOR MY BROTHER, HE’S JUST BUSY. BUSY WITH BEING LAZY. HE IS TRULY A MASTER AT THE ART OF SLOTH.”

“What are you planning on making?” William asked.

“I AM SORRY, GREEN HUMAN, BUT NEITHER MYSELF NOR UNDYNE CAN DIVULGE THAT INFORMATION RIGHT NOW,” Papyrus stated.

“Why?” Frisk asked.

“UNDYNE SAID THAT WE SHOULDN’T LET ANYONE ELSE KNOW, SO THAT NO ONE COULD TRY TO STEAL OUR IDEA,” the tall skeleton sighed. “BETWEEN YOU AND ME, I DON’T SEE WHY ANYONE WOULD TRY. THIS IS THE DAY OF KINDNESS, SO THERE IS NO REASON FOR ANYONE TO GO TO SUCH LENGTHS.”

“And what do you intend to do to prevent Undyne from blowing up the whole event?” Flowey asked.

A few beads of sweat appeared on Papyrus’ skull. “W-WELL, I WAS HOPING THAT SHE COULD POSSIBLY TONE DOWN HER PASSION FOR THE SAKE OF EVERYONE’S SAFETY.”

“She doesn’t ‘do’ lowering passion,” Flowey deadpanned.

“HMM,” Papyrus thought aloud. “AHA! I’VE GOT IT!”

“What?” William asked.

“UNDYNE HAS A NOTORIOUS WEAKNESS TO REVERSE-PSYCHOLOGY,” he looked to the side. “WELL, NOTORIOUS TO THE LIMIT OF MYSELF. BUT IT WOULD NOT BE MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE TO ‘TRICK’ HER IF THE RESULT WOULD HAVE A LESS FIRE-INDUCING CONCLUSION!”

“Huh?” Frisk and William asked simultaneously.

“He means-” Chara began, but was cut off by a blue blur.

“Ngahhh!” Undyne roared as she nearly bowled over the two boys. In their confusion, she managed to wrestle them into twin noogies. “It’s been a while, punks!”

“Can you greet in a normal fashion, you crazy fish?!” Flowey groaned aloud.

Undyne’s gaze briefly snapped to the golden flower, eye twitching as if in slight alarm, but she apparently didn’t see enough to attempt attacking him. “Not with two of my besties , weird flower monster!”

“UNDYNE,” Papyrus started, looking at the stares people were giving them. “MAYBE YOU SHOULD LET THEIR HEADS BREATHE?”

“Huh? Oh, right,” the fish monster released them after a final, hard noogie. “But we can’t possibly let this occur without a captive audience,” she had a wide grin as a spear appeared in her hand.

“NOT THE SPEAR,” Papyrus sighed.

“Yes, the spear!” Undyne cackled, swiftly summoning and swiping at their Souls. “I haven’t seen another monster demonstrate this trick yet. So trapping you should be enough of a demonstration!”

“Fish stick, I bet you can’t cook any safer than you typically do,” Flowey spat out, rolling his eyes.

Undyne’s eye bulged at the challenge as the two began to set out their ingredients. “What’s it to you? We just met.”

“SIGH,” Papyrus dramatically let out. “IF ONLY HE WAS RIGHT. BUT I SUPPOSE YOU CAN’T PROVE THAT SUCH PASSION FROM THE FORMER CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD COULD BE REFINED INTO SOMETHING LESS DANGEROUS FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED. IF ONLY THERE WAS ANOTHER WAY…”

“Wha- Papyrus!” Undyne rounded upon the skeleton, who just continued to set up their area. “Okay, you know what?! I will prove I can fit my passion into such a wimpy display of cooking! In fact, it will explode with passion with the very first bite anyone takes! Fuhuhuhu!” She gave a shark-toothed grin. “We’ll see who’s right at the end of this!”

“Can you please… Um, let us go now?” Frisk asked, pointing to his and William’s Souls.

“Not a chance!”

Chapter Text

Frisk looked around as Clara and Amanda flanked him, pointedly avoiding looking at one another. “What should we do?” He asked aloud, looking back at them.

Clara gave a noncommittal shrug accompanied with a vague grunt. Amanda shot the other girl with a near-glare before turning away.

*What is up with those two? I know they’re constantly at odds, but I basically tuned out all of that while you were underground, and I haven’t seen anything while up here…

They can be like this at times. I don’t know why, Frisk replied.

“Can you two just speak up and do something?” Flowey loudly complained. “I didn’t see you two be this avoidant with one another during your little trek.”

“You don’t know anything deeper about either of us, then,” Amanda gave a cutting glare. “Thought you would’ve learned such during that final ‘heart-to-heart’ you gave everyone.”

“Hey! I wasn’t looking for that stuff at the start of it, and I chose not too before, uh, stopping,” Flowey looked around shiftily. “Chara, help out here,” he finally muttered.

“Of course you need me to bail you out,” Chara stated the moment she appeared. “Even with all of your supposed experience, you couldn’t find a way to proceed.”

Clara gave Chara a critical look. “What makes you think you could help with this?”

“Hmm,” the dead girl hummed, tilting her head. “What is your Secondary?”

“My secondary is irrelevant today,” Clara stated in a low voice.

Chara gave a deadpan stare. “I repeat: What is your Secondary?”

“If it’ll get you to shut up, then whatever; it’s Red,” the Yellow mage replied, refusing to look at the Blue mage.

Chara gave a nod. “Ah, just as expected.”

“How does that explain anything?” Flowey complained.

“Because those with a Secondary of Red tend to be way too stuck in their ways,” Amanda stated.

“Says the one whose trait is centered around being stuck in her ways,” Clara almost growled.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Amanda replied. “A good Blue has some wiggle room with our morals,” she waved a hand at Frisk, who had a confused look in his eyes. “His great-grandfather was known for his strong integrity even though he was also known to be a Red!”

“He was mine as well,” Chara stated, crossing her arms. “But that’s beside the point. The point is that today is the Yellow day, and you’ve got a Red Secondary,” she turned to Amanda. “What is your Secondary?”

“Yellow,” the Blue mage stated, clearly seeing where this was going.

“Therefore, your Yellows are colliding,” Chara concluded.

“… That’s the kind of analysis I’d hear from Mark,” the Yellow mage grumbled.

“My own Secondary is Purple, and we are good at making such observations,” the first fallen human puffed her chest proudly.

“How do you expect Miss ‘Clover’ here to stop it then?” Flowey looked in the other (living) girl’s direction.

Clara pulled her hat as far down as she possibly could. “Do not call me that,” she grit out.

“‘Clover’?” Chara asked, looking at Clara with a stare.

“What’s so embarrassing about that?” Flowey raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I may be a plant myself, but it’s not that embarrassing. It just sucks.”

“I think that it’s because someone likes her,” Frisk stated. “Calling her ‘Clover’.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Clara grumbled.

Chara looked at Flowey. “One thing you need to learn about Reds, my dear brother: Mostly only Reds can deal with Reds. Isn’t that right, ‘Clover’?”

“Whatever,” Clara replied quickly.

Frisk locked his big brown eyes onto Clara’s own gray eyes. “Can you just stop being so judgy for today? And let us all have fun?”

The Yellow mage looked at the boy for several seconds, before giving a large sigh. “Fine… But do only if she ,” she looked at Amanda, “makes no mentions.”

Amanda shrugged. “I hardly did anything. I just know that you were like this the moment we both arrived.”

Clara looked like she was about to argue back, but Chara stepped between the two. “Girls, wait until you’ve got a private moment if you want to continue. Those big brown eyes have spoken, do you really want to say no to them?”

“I did nothing wrong,” the Blue mage repeated. “Just leave it behind.”

Clara, seeing how she was outnumbered, just huffed and pulled her hat down once again. “Whatever…”

“Great!” The dead girl clapped once. “Now, are there any shooter games? I want to see how many times Frisk will miss!”

“Hey!” Frisk whined. “I wouldn’t be that bad! I still have the Yellow mode app on my phone!”

“Last I checked, you hardly used it during the fight with Mettaton,” Chara stated. “Most of the shooting was done by Miss Justice right here. You were the one who even suggested she do the ‘big shot’. If you wanted a big shot, then you should have done it yourself.”

“But I don’t have enough Yellow.”

“Excuses excuses!”

“You made a ‘big shot’?” Flowey asked, looking at Clara. “Sounds like something some shady salesman would say.”

“It’s not anything like that,” the Yellow mage grumbled. “Frisk just wanted me to send a large attack at the bucket of bolts.”

“Ugh, I watched parts of your little dance off while in New Home. I didn’t see that part though, because some idiots were being inconsiderate and began blocking the view,” Flowey groaned.

“I think that I can spot the shooting game,” Chara stated, pointing to a stall on the opposite side of the walkway. “No one’s running it, though.”

“Maybe they’re out?” Frisk suggested.

“We won’t know unless we go over,” Amanda stated. “So let’s go.”

The trio walked over to the stall; there was only a bell on the counter and speakers playing vaguely familiar music. “‘Ring the bell for attendant’,” Frisk read aloud. Grunting as he shifted Flowey to only one arm, he reached to the bell and tapped its top.

A few seconds passed of nothing, before a certain bedsheet ghost appeared in the booth wearing a hat. “ohhh… it’s you guys…”

“Napstablook? Why are you here?” Clara asked.

The depressed ghost turned to her. “well… i heard that humans with today’s color have the ability to make bullets… and mettaton thinks i should ‘meet people’ more… he says it would help me with potential future fans… not that i think i would make that many……”

“That’s not true!” Frisk argued. “Your songs are good, and you have Dapper Blook!”

“thanks…” Napstablook gave a small smile. “though there have not been that many people coming to this booth. so i have been spending most of my free time making a new mix…”

“It would probably help if you stopped disappearing every time there’s a free moment,” Flowey muttered under his breath.

“Do not further upset the sad ghost,” Chara stated, pulling on one of the flower’s petals.

Napstablook’s gaze slid over Chara, but remained near her. “oh. it sounds like you have another ghost friend… i can’t see her though…? but i’m sure you would probably want to spend more time with her anyway than myself………”

“No,” Amanda placed her hands upon the table. “She is just an annoying little pest of a thing. You at least don’t make me want to plug my ears all the time.”

“oh… i’m unsure if that was a compliment or an insult. i wouldn’t blame you if it was an insult though…”

“It may as well be both,” Clara grumbled under her breath. “But I agree with her.”

Chara huffed, crossing her arms. “Whatever you believe won’t change anything.”

“Then shut up,” Amanda stated, turning to her.

“Nope.”

The ghost monster’s gaze turned to behind the children. “oh… it looks like some people are coming up right now. i guess you will have to leave now, since none of you are wanting to use this? oh no… i’m accidentally shooing you away… but this wasn’t my intention… oh no……”

“You look like you need to work, anyway,” Frisk stated, turning away. “Bye!”

“Bye,” Clara and Amanda stated simultaneously, looking at one another with a wince.

“Let’s see if there are any other good booths nearby,” Chara stated once they got away from Napstablook’s stall.

And so, the children looked around a little bit more, until there was another unmanned stall within sight. “That one looks like it’s actually not manned,” Flowey stated boredly.

Chara sped up ahead of the trio. “Huh, looks like a booth set up by Alphys.”

“She’s up here?” Frisk asked.

“No, she appears to have just set it up for today,” the dead girl stated, pointing to a note. “It says to hold the controller and press the yellow button to turn your Soul yellow.”

“Okay?” Clara stated, stepping up to the booth and grabbing one of the controllers. She pressed the yellow button in the center of it. “Yellow, it shoots.”

Frisk walked up to the stall and pulled out his phone. “I think I’ll use my app.”

“Don’t you have to have your Soul out first?” Flowey asked.

The Red mage shrugged, pressing the button. His Soul immediately appeared before him and turned yellow. “Okay… What now?”

Chara looked at the note again. “It just says… Shoot the targets as they appear. With something that says that the bullets are harmless to ‘anything not a bullet’. You must press the big red button.”

“Makes sense,” Clara stated as she pressed the said button. In an instant, several white and red targets appeared; Frisk missed quite a few shots himself, but it did matter because Clara hit every single target without fail. “Never try to test a Yellow’s accuracy.”

“Your accuracy is better than most, you know,” Amanda stated, crossing her arms. “Haven’t you seen that video of the Yellow Archmage?”

“Yes,” Clara held her breath as she readied for the next shots.

“Why were you so bad of a shot when healing Frisk?” Flowey asked, though he looked around nervously.

“Listen here you little-”

Chapter Text

“I wish Robert was able to come today,” Frisk stated as they entered today’s event.

“Why?” Flowey grumbled. “He’s easily the most boring person associated with Orange I have ever known.”

“I believe it to be over the principle of him being an Orange,” Mark stated. “This event is typically more ‘fun’ if experienced with someone that has at least their Secondary be the color, like myself.”

“Whatever, Buzzkill,” Flowey stated, rolling his eyes. “Then why have you been here every day, then?” He looked at Frisk. “Other than ‘Green’ day, it doesn’t make much sense for you to have been here.”

“Actually, it makes a lot of sense from those who understand Reds,” Chara stated, appearing beside the Red mage.

“How?”

The ghostly girl smirked and pat Flowey’s top petals. “Because while we have our own abilities, a significant feature of a Red is their ability to use all six other magics. While it is weaker even for their Secondary, that is enough when dueling.”

The former prince shivered at the contact. “S-s-stop. Your hand is freezing .”

Chara pulled her hand away, but the smirk continued. “Don’t question Reds. By mage standards, you would count as one.”

“But I’m not ,” Flowey replied. “So I don’t know everything about mages.”

“Whatever happened to ‘I’ve read every book and I’ve burned every book’?” Chara inquired, leaning in.

“The only books about mage abilities were in Alphys’ possession. But they were all water damaged, and the section about Red mages was downright unreadable,” Flowey huffed. “I think that part was actually underwater at the Dump.”

“Makes sense,” Mark stated. “The Red section is traditionally among the last chapters of any informational books about mages.”

“Why? Isn’t red the first color in the rainbow?”

“Again, Reds use the other six,” Chara stated. “You need to understand the others before you can learn about Red.”

“Why must you mages be so complicated,” Flowey grumbled, drooping in irritation.

“Because monsters can be needlessly complicated at the best of times,” Chara looked down at the flower. “Believe me, you probably witnessed that yourself over your own fair share of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff.”

“You do not know how weird that phrase sounds coming from your mouth,” Flowey muttered.

The dead girl smiled as she once again pet the flower’s head. “And it’s worth seeing your reaction, then.”

There were the sounds of quickly approaching footsteps; they sounded like they were coming directly toward them. When they turned, Frisk’s eyes widened slightly. “Robert?”

“Sorry I’m late,” the Orange mage stated, not even leaning over for breath.

“Thought you were grounded,” Mark stated, raising an eyebrow.

“I was. Technically, I still am.”

“You were grounded? And you managed to sneak out?” Flowey’s expression turned to a large grin. “Wow, you’re much more reckless than I gave you credit for!”

Chara pulled on a petal. “It’s not reckless if he didn’t get caught,” she looked at Robert. “You didn’t get caught, did you?”

“Nope!” Robert stated proudly, placing his hands on his hips. “He knows I am an Orange, so it was stupid for him to think I’d stay while he goes out.”

“What were you grounded for?” Frisk asked.

“He didn’t like how I came to Soulfest on Sunday,” Robert slumped slightly, grumbling. “And you know how he is with mages. And monsters now, I believe. Is there a term for both?”

“‘Magicals’ would probably be the best one for now,” Mark stated.

“Why does your dad keep you around if he’s so against anyone with magic?” Flowey asked.

“I don’t know. One of the only things I ever got out of anyone was that it was something about my mom,” Robert shrugged.

“Where is your mother?” The flower continued.

“Dead.”

Flowey blinked. “Oh. You don’t even sound that sad about it.”

“That was the only other thing, and it was from my dad. He refused to tell me why.”

“Wow, are there any of us who don't have a terrible parental situation?” Flowey grumbled.

“Neither me, Emily, William, or Clara,” Mark answered.

“That wasn’t meant to be answered.”

“Can we please get away from this talk?” Frisk spoke up. “It’s sad, and Soulfest isn’t meant to be sad at all.”

“It’s deviating from the event, anyway,” Chara added. “I don’t need to see Frisk get all teary right now. It would be embarrassing .”

“But nobody would see you if I did,” the Red mage whined. “And I don’t think I would cry. It’s just sad.”

“Secondhand embarrassment on my end,” the dead girl stated. “And no offense, but you’re an absolute softy. It is written in the universe itself that that would be a thing you would totally be the person to do so.”

“I would not,” Frisk pouted.

For a moment, Flowey gave a mildly sympathetic look. “Now you see what these situations were like for me.”

“Quiet, Azzy. You know that I still have a lot of stories to back up anything against you ,” Chara gave her ‘creepy smile’.

Flowey cringed away hard. “Please don’t do your creepy face!” He pleaded. “And I wasn’t that bad!”

“Yes, you were. Don’t try to deny it.”

“What activity should we try to find?” Mark asked, clearly tuning out the two siblings.

“Can we do that strength test thing they always have?” Frisk asked, looking at the others.

“The Orange Slammer?” Robert stated, face scrunching in clear annoyance.

“What? You’re too wimpy of an Orange Soul to take on such a challenge?” The golden flower asked, exiting his bickering match with Chara.

“No,” the Orange mage replied. “It’s because that is so annoyingly stereotypical of us; all muscles without any brain.”

“Sheesh,” Flowey rolled his eyes. “Don’t dump that without warning.”

“He hates it when people make such a reference to his intellect,” Mark said.

“I hear you, you know,” Robert grumbled.

By this time, the group has managed to get to an area filled with tents of varying sizes. Of the festival variety, of course. “Wonder what’s in those,” Chara thought aloud. “There wasn’t any part of Soulfest that looked like this when I was last here.”

“It’s kind of a cultural thing they came up with a few years ago,” the Purple mage informed. “It’s to show off what other mages of the world think of the colors.”

Flowey twisted around and looked up at Frisk. “Why didn’t you bring us here this past week?”

“Grandpa said to avoid large crowds here,” the boy replied. He then stood on his toes. “And there’s a lot of people coming and going.”

“Why would he want you to avoid them?” The determined flower raised an eyebrow.

“Probably because he’s so short,” Chara stated.

“You’re shorter than me!” Frisk protested.

“Only barely.”

“‘Cultural Heritage of the Monsters’,” Mark read aloud the sign that they managed to get near. “Makes sense. Because they’re new to the surface, it would be best for integration.”

“Wonder what this tent contains,” Robert pointed to the closest tent to them, before pushing his way through the crowd. The others tried, with no success, to get in themselves, but the Orange mage walked out only a few moments with an annoyed expression. “Let’s leave the area. Now .”

“Why?” Frisk asked.

“Your great-aunt,” was the only thing he grumbled.

“Oh,” Frisk replied, backing away. “I think we should avoid it today… She tends to stay in an area for a long time.”

“How do you know how their great-aunt looks?” Flowey asked, looking between the two present Red mages. “Or even who she is?”

“Believe us, everyone knows who she is,” Chara shuddered. “If you weren’t already aware, she’ll make sure you are aware that she’s an Ebbot.”

“She’s the embodiment of bad Orange stereotypes,” Robert said as he led them away.

“Reckless, nearly thoughtless, and very loud about their abilities,” Mark listed off. “And never knowing when to stop rushing ahead. I’m fairly sure she has Red as her Secondary.”

“How would you know?” Flowey questioned.

“Remember yesterday’s conversation,” the dead girl stated. “That’s the only way someone like our great-grandfather could produce such a person.”

The golden flower huffed. “Whatever. Let’s find other stuff to do, if you’re so insistent on leaving this place behind,” he looked around the crowd boredly. “You’ve done the other Soul colors here, why not try finding a monster that could use Orange Soul mode?”

“We don’t know of any monsters that might know,” Mark sighed. “You’ve got to remember, our journey through the underground was mostly linear. Hardly any split-offs.”

Flowey did his best imitation of a shrug. “See if Grillby is here? I heard rumors that he was capable of turning the Soul Orange. I never managed to find out if they were true, though.”

“Fire is super-effective against grass,” Chara summed up.

“I am not grass,” Flowey complained.

“It’s a pokemon reference,” Robert supplied.

“Whatever!”

“Even if he were here,” Mark picked up the conversation. “We wouldn’t know where he would be. Specifically.”

“Obviously in the food place!” Flowey argued. “He could have set up a temporary bar-and-grill.”

“Would the ‘bar’ part even be safe?” Mark asked aloud. “I’m fairly sure alcohol is flammable.”

“He’s not a literal fire,” Chara stated, shrugging. “Fire monsters have a solid form. I think it’s made of ‘solidified flames’.”

“That makes no sense. And it is almost definitely impossible.”

“Just chalk it off as ‘monster logic’ and be done with it, then,” Flowey groaned. “You don’t always have to make that mention whenever something about us doesn’t fit within your preferred perception of the world.”

“I would like to add it. But I would also like to understand it first,” the Purple mage emphasized.

“Wow, I now understand how and why your next biggest trait is Orange; you’re way too pushy about how you use your main color,” Flowey rolled his eyes.

“Shouldn’t we… Be finding where to go?” Frisk murmured, looking between Flowey and Mark.

“Nah, let them debate it out,” Robert whispered into Frisk’s ear. “Let nature run its course.”

“I wish we had popcorn,” Chara whispered as they watched the two continue to bicker. “This is way funnier than I expected.”

“Come on…” Frisk whined quietly.

“No can do, noodle arms.”

Chapter Text

“If you keep vibrating like that, you’ll become a Temmie,” Flowey grumbled.

“I don’t know what a ‘Temmie’ is,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, looking down at his grandson. “But I believe I understand the meaning. Your shaking won’t make us get inside any faster.”

“I’m just excited, that’s all,” Frisk stated, still shaking.

“If you’re that excited, maybe you should release some of that energy. I think I’m starting to lose feeling in my neck- er, stem,” the flower replied.

“And how should he release the energy?” Clara asked, leaning to the side as the line moved up.

“I don’t know, magic?”

“I would advise against that,” the older Red mage replied.

“Why?”

“Because a Red randomly expelling magic is rather explosive,” Mark stated. “Unless they intentionally choose the color.”

Flowey rolled his eyes with a groan. “And Frisk, I think, has Green. Therefore, it should be completely safe!”

“I’m… Not that good with my magic,” Frisk sighed, some shaking having been quelled at the reminder. “Never was.”

“So that’s the reason you were practicing with Toriel that first morning,” Flowey said.

“Just how long were you watching all of them?” Frisk’s grandfather asked.

“After I realized I couldn’t, um, re-attempt what I tried to do to them?” Flowey stated, noticeably shrinking under the grandfather’s piercing gaze.

“How did you not know that you could not try it again?” Amanda asked, leaning into Flowey’s face.

“Hey! I didn’t get any indication that it changed, or that it could change! Nope! Not even so much as a sensation!”

“How did it feel to attempt?” Emily asked, tilting her head in the flower’s direction.

“Like trying to walk through a brick wall,” Flowey grumbled.

“Well, for your sake you should be glad that it failed, even before the realization,” the older mage stated. “Otherwise we would not be having this conversation. Period. Or ever.”

Flowey shivered. “Yeah, honestly I’m glad that it never came to that. I needed to get out of that, er, place. Mental place, I mean! They all really helped me, in the end!”

“Grandpa, please stop the questions,” Frisk asked as he looked at his grandfather. “I forgave what he did, and he’s trying to be better.”

“Yeah! Listen to Frisk!” The golden flower almost pleaded; a small bead of sweat(?) appeared on his face.

*Poor, poor Azzy. At least he’s not a complete train wreck, or else we wouldn’t get this free show!

The older mage gave a heavy sigh. “Very well, I will not continue this. For now.”

Flowey gulped, leaning away. “Okay…”

“What are we going to do?” Robert asked, looking around as they neared the entrance. “Obviously, it’s going to be busy,” he looked up at the sky. “And it looks like it will rain soon.”

The flower looked at the sky as well, frowning at the increasing cloud cover. “Why couldn’t they have changed the week? Make it so that it would happen on a week without rain.”

“Because that’s impractical,” the grandfather stated.

“Why? Humans can predict the weather good enough, from what my short time up here tells me.”

“Human ability to tell the weather is still quite unpredictable. At least we understand it better than when I was a child.”

“It’s also tradition to always have the week of Soulfest always contain the seventh of July,” William added. “Seven is important to both, after all.”

“Yeah yeah,” Flowey grumbled once again, finally setting back to his default behavior. “What will you do if it starts raining? I hated Waterfall, but the dripping was still tolerable.”

“There’s always a group of Green mages present during large open events,” Mark stated. “I came here a few years ago during rain. They maintained a barrier the whole time.”

Flowey winced, rearing back. “You create a barrier to keep rain out? How have you even left it when you needed to?”

“It’s an actively produced barrier, not one very much like what my father helped create,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “It needs to be done in short shifts, with magic food always at short reach to ensure they could keep it up, and even rest,” he scratched his chin. “It has to be if it isn’t closed off.”

“Or else what?” The determined flower questioned.

“Or else the magic will fall apart, like an incomplete soap bubble.”

“What would be the problems coming from it?”

“Everyone would get soaked in a few seconds.”

“Wow,” Flowey rolled his eyes. “All these years monsters have been making out human magic as some sort of very powerful stuff. But it can fail if one caster so much as sneezes too loudly.”

“And what of the magic of monsters?” Mark asked.

“It does exactly as we want, with the only negative being it isn’t very strong,” Flowey stated. “Unless you’re a boss monster. Then it can probably hurt as much as the real thing it’s based off of.”

“‘Boss monster’?” The older mage questioned as the line moved up some more.

“It means that they’re a special type of monster, sort of like how mages are compared to the average human,” Mark stated.

“Who came up with such a term? It makes you sound like you’re basing yourselves off of a video game.”

“No one really knows,” Flowey shrugged.

*Sounds like something the Dreemurr line came up with. ‘Asriel’ was probably the best name he could have been given. Or it was Mom’s idea. Eh, it doesn't matter at this point.

“How do you know about video games, anyway? Last I checked, you’re like two centuries old!”

“Mages have to learn how to keep with the times,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “Those that do not try are fated to be lost to the sands of time.”

“Yeesh, did you just quote something to me?” Flowey shook his head. “Yeah yeah, it’s probably from your father or something.”

“It’s a common Ebott saying. I believe it even predates my father’s birth.”

“Great, over a thousand years of quote digging. We’re going to have to spend quite a bit of time looking around once we get back,” he leaned as far as he can to try looking at the start of the line. “How much longer will this line take to get us to the front?!”

“I’d give or take another five to ten minutes,” Robert leaned over the line dividers. “Red day is the most popular day of the seven.”

“I don’t think you have ever told me what makes the Red day the most popular,” Flowey grumbled. “Aside from the fact that Red mages apparently are the best ones.”

“Owing to our range of magical abilities, the main events through the day are mostly about dueling, even if they’re not Reds or mages,” the grandfather stated.

“Wait wait wait,” Flowey looked up at the mage. “I get the non-Red mages, but the non -mages?”

The older Red mage placed his hand upon Frisk’s head. “His mother was actually quite the duelist herself. She didn’t need magic to defeat opponents. Just a little… Determination.”

The flower looked between the two Red mages. “How does a duel even work ? Monsters having an encounter have clear rules whether they intend violence or just a conversation. Does it continue until death? What determines when certain conditions are met. Why-”

“Slow down,” the grandfather stated. “Any and all questions you may have will be answered once the tournament starts. They do that every year for anyone who is either new to Ebott or it is their first experience.”

“And when does this tournament start?”

“Always around one o’clock,” Robert stated. “It’s so that anyone who has come later could at least get stuff to eat before it starts. I think they even play a commentary through the speakers placed around. I don’t know, I’ve never been here on Red day.”

“Which is a shame,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “Every mage, and now magical, should be here if they could spare the time.”

“Will you be a part of the tournament this year?” Frisk asked, looking up.

The older mage gave a soft smile. “Of course. I even made sure that I could use my special robes for this year.”

*Oh god, that ugly thing?

Frisk lit up, while the others cringed at the affirmation. Flowey looked around, noticing the reaction differences. “What’s the matter? And why are the rest of you so disturbed?”

“What? They are the best robes for dueling,” the younger Red mage stated. “Grandpa won a lot of tournaments with them.”

“No. Just… No,” Clara shook her head. “Sorry Frisk.”

“I’m not really into fashion,” Amanda crossed her arms. “But it is absolutely hideous . It just makes me want to…” She made a gagging impression.

“They’re supposed to look like that,” William attempted to defend. “I don’t know how, though.”

“They give me a migraine,” Emily nearly whined.

“Wait, how are you affected?” Flowey turned to the blind girl. “You can’t even see , if they’re that ugly.”

“She’s a blind Cyan mage,” Mark stated. “And those robes clearly have some sort of anti-Cyan spells placed onto them.”

“Alchemy,” the older mage corrected.

“Whatever it is,” Flowey rolled his eyes. “Everyone here but Frisk clearly hates them, so why do you keep using them?”

“Because I’ve never lost a duel with them. Even when I don’t need them. In fact, I would much consider their comments compliments instead,” Frisk’s grandfather shrugged.

“Why?”

“Because it’s true, and intentional.”

The group had finally made it to the front of the line. The person manning their entrance gate looked bored until they noticed the Prism Pass Frisk was holding out. “We all are part of one group,” he stated.

“Uhuh,” they stated, going over their little computer. “Do any of you have Red? If so, how many?”

“Three,” the older mage stated. “Two Primaries, one Secondary.”

“I’m the Secondary,” Clara stepped up, looking the attendant straight in the eye.

“Okay, you’ll need to step into the door next to the entrance to confirm,” they nodded, turning to the two Red mages. “And please provide proof that you are both Reds.”

At that moment, a voice called out that made the whole group freeze.

“Hello there, brother !”

Chapter Text

“Hello, Harriet,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, turning to his sister. “It is nice to see you here, today.”

“I think that’s the fakest smile in the world,” Emily whispered to Frisk.

“What makes you think he is- Oh, he is smiling,” Flowey asked as he looked at the older Red mage. “How do you know he’s smiling? You’re blind .”

“It is quite obvious from how his words sound,” the Cyan mage stated as Clara left from the small room.

The other older mage stepped curtly up to the group; she took one look over them, eyes full of judgment. “Are you chaperoning these children today? Aside from your grandson, of course,” she asked, bending down and giving Frisk a hard pinch on the cheek; Frisk hated it when she did that.

*I would usually make a comment on your cheeks… But she just needs to go away . Especially because I feel most things you feel. And ouch.

“I don’t suppose you used that beat up old tin can you call a vehicle,” she gave a grimace at her own mention.

“With a party this large, some compromises have to be made,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “But I did.”

The older woman rolled her eyes. “I still don’t know why you insist on continuing to use that thing. It looks like it’s being held together with used chewing gum and wishful thinking.”

“That’s what I thought,” Flowey mumbled.

Frisk’s grand aunt turned to the flower, narrowing her eyes. “I was not aware that you were acquainted with a monster.”

“Um… Yeah?” Frisk fidgeted. “Do you have a problem?”

“Oh, no,” the older other mage shook her head. “I wouldn’t want to house one, but I would love to duel with one.”

“Sir? Ma’am?” The entrance attendant looked between the two older mages. “You’re blocking the path for other people. Can I suggest that you take this somewhere else…?”

“Yes, we shall,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, turning to the children. “Let’s get a move on, we don’t want to be rude, after all,” he gave a pointed look to his sister.

The other mage huffed, marching after them. “Is this really how you would leave a member of your own family?”

“You know the answer to that,” the older Red mage retorted, leading to a less used area near the entrance.

“Can you two just solve things either later or quickly?” Flowey complained. “Preferably later. Ideally not while we’re all here.”

An ill intended smile crept up onto the older woman’s face. “Of course, we can get it out of the way earlier.”

Frisk’s grandfather gave a sigh, like he knew the coming sentence was inevitable and best done quickly. “You still insist on using that card.”

“You know me too well, Freddy,” her smile quirked as the Red mage cringed at the name. “I challenge you to a duel!”

The declaration was loud enough to cause a brief silence in the nearby crowd, before quickly turning into an excited roar. Frisk cringed; he knew that with the amount of other people that heard, then they were forced into accepting. “Wow, I didn’t expect to see a mage duel until later,” Flowey commented. “They allow that?”

“As annoying as it is, yes,” Frisk’s grandfather replied, looking his sister in the eyes.

“Are you going to be using-” Frisk began to ask.

“No,” the older Red mage shook his head. “Remember, they’re for official competitive duels.”

“All the better for it!” The older woman clapped her hands twice.

“You’ll be less affected by it than any other person,” Flowey grumbled. “Even if it’s the eyesore everyone but Frisk claims it is.”

“Who should we appoint as the judge?” The grandfather rolled his eyes as they stepped back to the crowd. “You do recall that a Yellow certified for judging duels will have to, well, judge.”

“Well, we are Ebbots, are we not? We can get any Yellow to judge for us, whether or not they’re certified,” the other lifted her nose.

An exasperated sigh escaped from Frisk’s grandfather. “You know that Father would not want for us to be using his name, much less our family’s name, at every opportunity.”

“He’s a hundred years dead. Get over it,” Frisk’s grand aunt shot back. “I don’t need you to tell me what I can and can’t do with his name. You were always his favorite,” she grumbled at the end.

“That’s because you did everything you knew he would dislike. He never truly disliked you. I think he pitied you, in fact.”

“The old dinosaur was too stuck in his ways to accept me,” the elderly woman complained.

“This is the part where you attack his Blue trait,” Frisk’s grandfather groaned. “I seriously don’t understand sometimes how the two of us could have come from the same parents, when you’re trying so hard to make yourself different.”

“Excuse me,” a familiar voice nearly called from the crowd; everyone parted to allow a short, slightly overweight man wearing a bright yellow tunic with green accents. “I heard from the others that one of you requested a duel?”

“Practically the whole entrance area heard it, but yes,” Frisk’s grandfather nodded as his eyes looked at the gleaming ring the other man was wearing; it was an orangish metal with a comparatively large yellow gemstone attached, cut in the shape of a heart.

“My brother insists that we need someone to judge it,” the older woman stated, looking at the gemstone briefly. “Mister Yellow Archmage.”

The Yellow Archmage shook his head at the last part. “Please, I’m here for as much leisure as I am to watch over. Call me by my name,” he gave a slight sigh at the last part. “Archie.”

*How unoriginal. He should have known better than to take up the job with a name like that.

“Would you know anyone who is certified to judge a duel?” The older Red mage asked.

“Actually, about that,” ‘Archie’ stated. “I was just thinking that I could do the judging of the duel myself,” he looked over to Frisk. “It would certainly help the cause your grandson is fighting for. And Justice for what they deserve.”

“Are you able to judge?” Clara asked, looking at the Yellow Archmage.

He seemed to notice her. “Ah, a fellow Yellow. Of course I am certified, I was there when the law was made. It helps that I judged duels to pay for college, so I know what I’m doing.”

“Maybe you could meet our friend Undyne!” William suggested. “She’s a monster that uses some Yellow magic, I think.”

“Really? I didn’t know monsters were able to use colored magics,” Archie stated, but shook his head. “Anyway, if you’ll both agree, then we shall go to the grounds. But first, you are required to sign-”

“Yes,” Frisk’s grandfather nodded. “We know, we’ll have to sign a form that makes us responsible for any injuries and potential property damage. This is a common fiasco we have every time we meet,” he sighed at the last part.

“Well, in that case, I shall be off to get the papers, then,” the older Yellow mage turned away. “You should go to the grounds, then, yourselves. I’ll get the paperwork necessary.”

“Well, you heard him. Let’s go to the grounds,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, ushering the children away from his sister.

“Where even are these ‘grounds’ you speak of?” Flowey asked.

“Technically speaking, they’re just in front of the magocracy building,” Mark explained. “That large central circle with the Delta Rune placed in the center?”

“Ah, that place,” the determined flower nodded as he rolled his eyes. “What’s so special about that place to make it used for duels?”

“It’s mostly because it’s the most recognizable part of town, so everyone knows where it is,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “It doesn’t get set up for the competition until about an hour before, but it’ll look very different once that happens.”

It took a few minutes, considering the crowds and the infectious excited buzzing of the crowd; as Red day tradition, practically everyone and their dog knew that a duel was going to take place. Once they broke through the crowd and entered the clearing, a couple of security guards, wearing yellow and orange on their uniforms, escorted Frisk’s grandfather to a small table while another guard corralled the children to the large stairwell in front of the magocracy.

Unsurprisingly, Frisk’s grand aunt appeared from the crowd not a minute later, a young man following her dutifully. “Not Julian…” Frisk whined quietly; from her spot, Amanda wrapped her arms around her midsection.

*Ugh, him . Hated him when we were kids, and I can tell that I’ll probably hate him even more now.

“Who’s that other human?” Flowey asked, clearly not having listened to Frisk’s whine.

“Chara’s… other brother. By birth,” Robert grimaced.

“Oh,” Flowey responded, looking to the sides. “Well, between us, even now I’m still fairly sure I’m the preferred one.”

*So true…

Another minute passed as Frisk’s grandfather and grand aunt signed the papers, then the Yellow Archmage nodded to them as he began to walk towards the stairs, a small podium at the foot. He tapped the microphone a couple times. “Hello good citizens of Ebott! It looks like we’ll be having our first declared duel of the day, between two very distinguished individuals!” His voice boomed through the crowd. “Now, there are two main rules for duels, in case you are new. Rule one: Get seven solid strikes on the opponent! And rule two: No ‘low blows’ as some of you may say.

“Now, is everyone who came ready? Because you’ll be wanting to watch this one. Applaud for our duelists, Fritz and Harriet Ebbot! Three! Two! One! Begin!”

Chapter Text

Fritz hardly flinched when his sister disappeared from sight at the count of three and reappeared right in front of him when the Yellow Archmage let them officially begin. She had a fist clenched, and ready to snap forward with a punch. He wouldn’t let her get away with the satisfaction of her breaking his nose again, not after this many years, so he quickly leaned to the right. It merely landed on his cheek, not even bruising.

Still, it would count as a legal strike within the duel.

“You really need to let the judge finish the count before you start your strike,” the Red mage deadpanned as he prepared a Pinch. “One of these times, you’ll end up with a penalty. Or foul.”

A wicked grin crossed Harriet’s face. “You know these don’t have those pesky little rules. Unlike the competitive duels.”

Fritz sighed as he Pinched several yards away, farther from their own grandchildren (and Frisk’s friends). “And yet you still insist on more rules for me.”

His sister, despite looking to be well in her sixties to seventies, began to dash at him. Forcing a hand forward, he used Blue magic to push at the air in an attempt to cause her to stumble; it barely hit her, but the distance wasn’t close enough for him to capitalize on it. “That was a pathetic use of Blue magic!” She taunted. “Your grand-nephew could do it much better!”

“Of course he could. I don’t have Blue as my secondary,” Fritz replied sharply. “You know Reds, though.”

Harriet’s fist began to glow orange. “You in particular can’t just stick to a single colored magic.”

The Red mage rolled his eyes as he held out a hand and sprayed a long line of purple lines, resembling cobwebs, onto the ground. His sister’s movement quickly began to slow with each step. Looking to the side, he saw a few monsters join the crowd. They seemed to whisper to one another. He walked over to his sister, keeping well out of hitting range, and gave her a sharp hit to a shoulder blade. “Again, Reds.”

The Purple magic he sprayed down began to wear off, allowing her to better pursue him. “I’m sure that your grandson couldn’t make even half as good of a use with his own Secondary, even.”

Fritz refused to take the bait, even as he saw Frisk cringe back; he knew of his issues regarding his magic use, but he supposed that it was difficult considering the mantle he was taking up even before his journey beneath the mountain. “Do not say things you know you will regret saying later,” was his only answer.

“What? No extra witty comebacks?” Harriet snarked back.

“I would use the ‘family’ card, but we both know it would be wasted on you,” the Red mage stated sharply. This elicited multiple gasps from the crowd. “You should quit your taunting, it’s a waste of breath.”

“How is it?” His sister replied, running up to him once again.

Fritz sighed, Pinching out of the way and right behind Harriet. He delivered another strike to the center of her back before stepping back. “Do not play dumb over that. You know me better than that. Or has your Orange-with-Red pushed that out of your head?”

Several more gasps came from the crowd at that comment, though he could tell that most of them were just surprised over his words. A few, even, sounded impressed. Still, he next stood his ground and summoned a green shield as the other charged at him. The result was her bouncing back almost comically, thanks to the strike she was intending to deliver being enhanced with more Orange magic.

Fritz looked down at his sister, swiping a hand down and sending out Yellow magic to stun her. “One and a half centuries of yearly duels, and your technique still hasn’t changed at all.”

Harriet glared at him once the magic struck, jolting her. “Maybe if you’d actually done something and quit using multiple colors, then you’d actually lose for once.”

Fritz rolled his eyes as the Yellow magic quickly wore off of Harriet. “Once again, I reject your notions. You insist on continuing these needless duels with me,” he once more readied a Pinch.

His sister nearly growled as she saw him do this; she charged at him, but it was too late; he had already moved to a different part of the grounds. “Why don’t you just stay still for once during a duel and take a hit?!”

“What? You think I’ll just stand there and take it?” Fritz asked. “Sorry, but with how Oranges’ magic works, that would make you a hypocrite. So that means less than nothing, coming from you. Even other Oranges know better than that.”

“Hahaha! Yes!” Flowey’s voice cackled out from where Frisk was; if he could look, he would’ve seen a disturbing smile upon the flower’s face. “Bury her with your magic! Show her the true power of determination!”

He didn’t need to, but he at least knew what the plant meant.

“I don’t need to know it,” Harriet stated sharply. “I already have as much as I’ll ever need.”

“Remember the old adage about Reds in a duel?” Fritz stated, locking eyes with his sister as she prepared to once again charge.

“Never really cared for those silly little sayings!” She replied, raising a fist. “They’re pointless against individuals of our standings.”

Fritz sighed, using Blue magic to stagger his sister as she neared, earning him yet another strike against her. “‘Never try defeating a Red in a duel. Their determination makes them slippery’. You only have it as your Secondary, so it does not, and can not, match mine. That’s not arrogance, that’s a fact.”

“WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?” One of Frisk’s friends, Papyrus, shouted. Or just simply asked. He suspected that he was just naturally loud at this point.

“Duel!” Frisk shouted, beckoning the tall skeleton to the group as Fritz Pinched away from another attempted strike.

“A DUEL BETWEEN TWO MAGES?” Fritz heard the skeleton say as he walked toward Frisk. He idly noted the fish monster, Undyne, following him. “IS THIS HOW HUMANS EXPRESS MAGIC? THE MAGICAL ONES, AT LEAST?”

“Sometimes regrettably,” Fritz answered.

“Quit being a baby,” Harriet stated to the Red mage.

“Sweet!” Undyne shouted, punching her fist to the air. “Even your older people could kick a- er, butt! Yeah!”

“I DON’T EVEN THINK THE COMPETITIONS MENTIONED HAVE STARTED YET,” Papyrus stated in a lower voice. “I DON’T REMEMBER ANYONE CALLING FOR ME TO LOCATE MY ‘DUELING PARTNER’ YET.”

In the time the two were talking, Fritz managed to get another strike in. As usual, his sister was getting sloppier in her frustration. He sighed, raising an open palm that glowed with Green magic; he pressed it against his upper arm.

“It appears that Mister Fritz is requesting a chance to undo any strikes done upon him!” Archie announced, taking out a wheel split into seven sections. “As with a Red, if the arrow lands upon the Green section, then one strike is taken away! Let’s see if fate smiles upon him in this duel!”

He honestly didn’t care whether or not if it was successful. He just needed a few seconds of respite. His sister, after all, still took a long time to cool down.

“Sorry, Mister Ebbot,” the Yellow Archmage stated, showing it having landed on blue. “Looks like you’ll have to keep that strike. You both may continue.”

Immediately, his sister continued her assault on him; predictably, he had Pinched away before she could get close. “You abuse Pinching,” Harriet grumbled..

“And you’ve got nothing else besides First Chance and Knockback,” Fritz replied. “Yet I am not complaining.”

“That’s because you can abuse any color you’d like!”

“And I would be a fool to not use any other, like I mentioned.”

“That’s not fair!”

Fritz sighed loudly as he Pinched directly behind his sister, almost smacking the back of her head with his strike. “If you want to complain, then take it up with the various figures throughout the town’s history, any deity of your choosing, or magic itself. Not sure you’ll get anything out of it, though.”

“That’s it, mister!” Undyne shouted from the side. “Pummel her! Both physically, magically, and verbally! Suplex it over her head if you have to!”

Harriet cut the fish monster a nasty glare. “He lacks any Orange, so even if it were physical, then he wouldn’t be able to increase his strength enough to lift it!”

“I don’t know, he is kind of kicking your butt at the moment!” Undyne replied, allowing the Red mage to get another strike in.

“Hey!” Harriet shouted to Archie. “He struck me while I was distracted!”

The Yellow Archmage shrugged slightly. “I’m sorry, but that is still a legal strike. I can have her moved, though.”

“It’s her fault she got distracted by me!” Undyne jumped from her seat.

“UNDYNE, I DON’T THINK IT WOULD BE WISE FOR YOU TO START A FIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT,” Papyrus stated in what seemed to be a low voice.

“Ugh, fine!”

Harriet turned back to Fritz, who was waiting on the other end of the grounds. “Let’s finish this!”

The other mage nodded. “Yes, let’s.”

The two elderly mages continued their fight over the next few minutes, almost no more chatter between the two; it was clear that his sister was laser-focused on finally winning the duel. Her fighting was becoming more and more erratic, though not quite desperate. Not even his next strike caused her to panic.

Until, finally…

“Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that we have a winner! Fritz Ebbot!”

Fritz looked to his sister, who was breathing heavily out of sheer frustration. “I don’t suppose you’ll accept it this time?”

“No!” Harriet shouted, eyes dark. “I will never stop these, not until you eat your own words!”

“Those words were said a century and a half ago, long gone,” Fritz stated, walking up to Frisk and his group of friends. He turned away and began to lead them away. “And as always, I’ll be seeing you again eventually.”

“You should regret those words!”

“And I do not. Goodbye.”

Chapter Text

“Now that we have that out of the way,” Frisk’s grandfather stated once they were a safe distance away. “I forgot to ask any of you earlier; have any of you had breakfast yet?” The response was what could best be described as a chorus of ‘no’s’. “I guess that settles it, then.”

“OH! OH!” Papyrus’ boisterous voice shouted out from behind the group, hopping his way through the thickening crowd. “I CAN HELP!”

“As can I!” Undyne raised her hand.

“How can you help?” Amanda asked, raising an eyebrow. “There’s no place to cook, it’s all pre-made.”

“AH,” Papyrus looked disappointed. Then he lit up. “AH! WE CAN STILL HELP WITH THE FOOD!”

“Yeah!” Undyne pumped her fist into the air. “No offense, but most of you are slow. We can get the food a lot faster on our own.”

“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “I believe we can manage on our own.”

“WE INSIST!” Papyrus replied. “YOU JUST HAD A MAGICAL HUMAN ENCOUNTER, SO YOU SHOULD REST UP IF YOU INTEND TO DO MORE THIS AFTERNOON!”

The older Red mage looked them over for a moment before speaking. “Are you familiar with the dollar? I understand that some monsters might not be too familiar with how our money works,” he gave a look at Flowey.

“Tattletale,” the flower grumbled.

“Of course!” Undyne rolled her single eye. “Understanding your money was one of the requirements necessary for the integration program.”

“I FIGURED IT OUT ON MY OWN!” Papyrus placed a hand on his chest as his cape billowed in a dramatic wind. “IT’S EASY TO USE A BASE-TEN MONEY WHEN ALL OF OUR PUZZLES USE TEN FOR MEASUREMENTS.”

“Okay,” Frisk’s grandfather stated after a moment.

“EXCELLENT!” Papyrus produced a notepad from somewhere on his person. “WHAT WOULD EVERYONE LIKE?” And so, each of the children told the two what foods they would like. Once they were done, the tall skeleton straightened out, gave a copy to Undyne, then gave them an unnecessary salute. “WE WILL BE BACK SHORTLY, SO PLEASE FIND A PLACE TO SIT NEARBY!”

“Yeah!” Undyne added.

“Those two are rather enthusiastic,” Frisk’s grandfather noted as the monsters left their sight.

“Yes, they are,” Robert stated as they all looked around for a table.

“I wonder where Alphys or Sans are,” Frisk asked idly.

“I kinda understand why ‘Alphys’, but not Papyrus’ brother,” Flowey groaned. “Smiley Trashbag.”

“I’m sensing that there’s some kind of story behind your phrasing,” Frisk’s grandfather stated as he located a table.

“Yeah? Well, here’s some advice about him,” Flowey grumbled. “Don’t let him find anything about you. He’ll… Well…” He looked to the side. “He’s caused me his fair share of trouble over time.”

“I bet it was deserved on your part,” Amanda stated, smirking slightly.

“Whether or not I deserved it is irrelevant,” Flowey shot back.

“It is absolutely relevant, considering what little I know about you,” the older Red mage looked down at the flower sternly, causing it to flinch.

“Well, if it makes it better, Papyrus was one of my favorite monsters to mess with,” Flowey stated. “It took a long time to get bored of him… I even managed to get him to start a ‘Flowey Fan Club’ one time. Many different times, in fact.”

“That sounds unnecessary,” Mark said. “Why would anyone need to make a fanclub about themself?”

“Hey! I was running out of ways to entertain myself!” The golden flower defended. “Cut me some slack!”

Frisk’s grandfather gave a deadpan stare. “You could have chosen other methods to entertain yourself.”

“Like what?”

“Helping people, for starters.”

“Ha! That was among the first things I did when I first woke up! After I went into despair before, ahem, discovering the power.”

“Why did you not help anyone when you woke up this time?” Frisk asked, looking down at the flower.

“First off, I didn’t know that you or everyone else was going to end up falling into the underground. Second, by the time we all met, my only source of entertainment, otherwise, was waiting for new things to happen, which takes a really long time to happen on its own!”

“That still sounds to have been a short-sighted plan,” Frisk’s grandfather sighed.

“Hey! I barely had it for more than a few years worth of time before it was taken from me!” Flowey shouted. “I thought I could afford a short-sighted plan, considering that the underground feels like it gets smaller with every attempt.”

“How large is the underground?” Mark asked.

“You guys only barely scratched the surface of what it contains,” Flowey stated. “It’s bigger than you would have expected. I mean, you should’ve seen what powered the place before the CORE was even made!”

“And where was this place that you mentioned?”

“Somewhere in the depths of Hotland. ‘The Steamworks’, I think it was called. Take one guess who named it that.”

“Asgore?” Frisk guessed.

*Definitely him.

“Why do you sound like you’re not sure?” Flowey asked. “Of course it was Asgore!”

“Nerds! Your food is here!” Undyne shouted, fast and heavy footsteps approaching.

“That was quick,” Emily remarked.

“OF COURSE IT WAS!” Papyrus assured, placing the Cyan mage’s food down in front of her. “WE WILL ALWAYS STICK TO OUR WORDS!”

William took a look at the food Papyrus got for himself. “Not spaghetti?”

Undyne looked at the food as well. “Yeah, Papyrus. I thought you liked spaghetti?”

“WHAT? NO, I MAKE BECAUSE EVERYONE LIKES IT,” Papyrus replied.

“Sorry, but debatable,” Amanda whispered.

“What is your favorite food, then?” Clara asked.

“I… ACTUALLY DON’T REMEMBER,” the tall skeleton admitted. “I’M FAIRLY SURE IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I LAST HAD IT… BUT I KNOW I WILL EVENTUALLY REMEMBER!”

“It’s that oatmeal with dinosaur eggs in it,” Flowey muttered loudly enough to let his annoyance be known. He then added in a quieter tone “Idiots.”

“AH! YES, I REMEMBER IT NOW!” Papyrus stated. “THANK YOU FLOWEY!”

“How the heck do you know what Papyrus’ favorite food is?” Undyne asked, messily eating her meal; it was some sort of sandwich. “I’ve known him for quite a while, and not even I knew that!”

“I’ve known him for quite a while as well,” Flowey retorted. “I mostly kept to myself, after all.”

“Where are Sans and Alphys?” Asked Frisk between bites.

Undyne’s single eye looked to the side fondly. “Well, she’s at this place. Somewhere nearby, the place with all the tents.”

“Why?”

“I dunno, something nerdy, I didn’t really follow,” she sighed. “But she seemed really excited.”

“ALAS, I BELIEVE THAT MY BROTHER IS SOMEWHERE HERE. SLACKING OFF, NO DOUBT,” Papyrus stated. “THOUGH I AM NOT SURE IF HE IS CURRENTLY RUNNING A STALL OR JUST BEING AN ALL-AROUND NUISANCE TO EVERYONE THAT WALKS PAST HIM.”

“We tried going to the tent place yesterday,” Robert said. “But I bailed us out at the first tent.”

“NYEH? WHY?”

“Mister Ebbot’s sister,” he groaned.

“WELL, I’M SURE THAT SHE WOULD BE AN AMIABLE PERSON-”

“She was the one I was dueling,” Frisk’s grandfather stated. “She has always been like that, even when we were children.”

“ST- STILL!” Papyrus tried. “I BELIEVE THAT SHE COULD DO BETTER, EVEN IF NO ONE THINKS SO.”

“It may take another century,” the older Red mage deadpanned. “But if you do, just be careful.”

“OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS CAREFUL!”

“Is that blood?” Flowey asked, stretching himself up to gaze at the drink Undyne had.

“Looks like Red Soulflower tea,” Frisk looked over.

“Red?” The flower had a single brow raised. “Determination?”

“Not really,” Frisk stated.

“What? Do you have a problem with me drinking something made of your cousins and brethren?!” Undyne shouted, gazing challengingly at the flower.

“I couldn’t care less about other teas made from what I am,” Flowey stated. He then muttered “Literally.”

With that, the meal settled into silence among them. Frisk stood up, and then the rest began to as they finished. “Where should we head first?”

Frisk’s grandfather looked at his watch, frowning. “I have a couple of errands here I need to attend to. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour.”

“UNDYNE AND I CAN WATCH OVER THEM WHILE YOU GO OFF!” Papyrus raised his arm. “IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE ALL HAD A HANGOUT!”

“Are you sure?” The older Red mage looked over them. “I promised their parents and guardians that they’ll be back before curfew.”

“I doubt they’ll get away,” Undyne waved dismissively. “They all stuck together for the most part.”

“If you say so,” Frisk’s grandfather nodded. “I’ll be back soon.”

With that, the older mage Pinched away.

“Alright, punks!” Undyne placed her fists on her hips. “You all stick with us, got it?”

“Got it,” they replied in unison.

“WHERE TO?” Papyrus asked.

“The tent place,” Frisk stated. “We haven’t been there this year, but it looks interesting!”

“Let’s go!” Undyne wrapped four of them in her grip, leaping into the air as there were shouts and laughs. Papyrus, meanwhile, just led the rest to the transitioning of said place; it wasn’t that far, and his height made him noticeable.

“THAT WAS UNNECESSARY,” Papyrus stated to the fish woman. “BUT YOU ALL ARE FINE, SO THAT’S A PLUS!”

“Define ‘fine’,” Mark stated faintly, looking sick.

“NOT HURT.”

“Which I didn’t,” Undyne flashed a smile as she placed them down next to the first tent; there were small groups entering and leaving it.

Frisk, who was nearest, pushed aside the tent flap, looking around. “Wonder what this one has?”

“Look at the back, idiot,” Flowey grumbled, cocking his head in the direction.

*Huh… Weird mirror.

At the back of the tent was a large pink or magenta mirror. At the edges of it were noticeable blue rocks.

“Geez, I haven’t seen that thing in a long time,” Undyne stated once she entered; the rest of the group entered as well.

“What is it?” Robert asked as they all gently nudged their way to it.

Weirdly enough, it was Emily who was the first to manage to get close to the mirror. “Weird… It has a lot of magic in it.”

“How could you tell?” Amanda asked, looking at her reflection boredly. “Oh right, you’re blind.”

Clara turned to Undyne. “Is there anything special about this?”

Undyne shrugged. “It was just… There… In Waterfall. I don’t know the first thing on why it’s here, though.”

Frisk stepped up to the mirror, hand hovering over it. “It probably means something. Or it just looked nice. Probably that.”

The children and monsters all gazed into the mirror for a moment, while others milled about the tent; some were taking selfies of their own reflection. Finally, William spoke up to the others. “Were there any signs there?”

“Yeah,” Undyne stated. “I don’t really remember what it said other than something about touching it.”

“Well, I doubt there’s anything dangerous about it,” Robert stated as he looked at his reflection again. “Couldn’t hurt,” he mumbled as he touched it.

One by one, the children, as well as other people listening, touched the mirror. “Ah,” Frisk hissed as he touched his reflection.

*That did not feel pleasant.

“Anything?” William asked loudly.

“No,” the others replied.

“N-no,” Frisk stated, stepping back as he shook out his hand.

He was barely a few steps away when there were several gasps from nearby people, causing Frisk to turn around. His eyes widened.

The mirror version was still where he left it, but it stepped out of the mirror. It stared at him, before his Soul was suddenly revealed.

Chapter Text

“Hello?” Frisk called out, looking out at the unknown magenta-colored space he found himself in. His head swiveled around as he tried to not begin panicking; a creepy jazz tune was playing all around him. “Hello?” The Red mage tried again.

A figure shimmered into view in front of him, almost like a wavy mirror. It straightened out. “ It’s… you? ” A whisper was heard.

It sounded eerily like himself.

“Guys?” Frisk looked around nervously; at another close look at the lookalike, it was exactly himself, except his eyes were covered in shadow save for a single white dot where his right eye was. “Chara?”

His clone was silent as his own Soul appeared before him; it was the same color as the mirror. Then, out of nowhere, an exact copy of it painlessly separated from him. Silently, small versions of his mirror self appeared randomly and emitted… something from the mouth area. He did not need to guess what would happen if they touched his Soul; like a monster’s magic, it would probably end up with pain.

Once the attack finished, Frisk turned around and attempted to flee from ‘mirror’ him.

Without warning, the mirror appeared in front of him. “ Who are you running from? ” It asked.

Another attack started; this time, his Soul gained three lookalikes; one of them had what looked to be a crosshair over it. Before he could figure it out himself, there were three warning symbols appearing over three of the hearts, including the one in crosshairs. Pain was felt across his body as the battlefield flashed with a white light. Pain is an excellent motivator to learn quickly, apparently. Groaning, he maneuvered his Soul through the four quadrants it was allowed to jump to, but he got hit another time before the attack ended.

“ You feel the sense that you’re not being watched, ” his whispering voice came from nowhere.

“Uh… Uh…” Frisk frantically thought over what he could do; Chara was typically the one to perform the Check on monsters in the underground, as he couldn’t rely on his own magic a lot of the time. However, he was going to have to rely on his own abilities here. “Ah! Check…?!”

“ Unknown enemy. Unknown attack, unknown defense. No data is available, ” his own voice whispered.

“What does that mean? How do I not know?” The boy whined; that was an absurd thought, in his opinion. How could he not know anything when his opponent was just himself?

The others were surprised over this turn of events.

While none of them were close enough to witness what happened, they knew that something bad or alarming was happening to cause many of the people currently in the tent to rush through the exit. “What happened?” Mark asked.

“I don’t know,” Undyne stated, shrugging as she stepped to the side. “I wasn’t watching.”

“Hello?” Frisk’s voice called out from the mirror; it was heavily distorted, like talking through several layers of walls.

“Frisk?” William stated as the last few people left. He stepped up to the Red mage’s still form. “Frisk, we’re here!”

“Hello?” Frisk called again.

Papyrus’ line of sight followed the source of the voice. When it reached the mirror, he snapped his fingers. “AHA! IT APPEARS THAT THE YOUNG RED HUMAN IS SOMEHOW STUCK IN THE MIRROR!”

“Stuck in the mirror?” Undyne questioned as Frisk once again called out. “How the heck does someone get stuck in a mirror?”

“I only got a couple seconds heads up before it happened,” Flowey stated. “Frisk kind of startled like he was shocked, and then something walked out of the mirror.”

“WHAT DID IT LOOK LIKE MY FLOWERY FRIEND?” Papyrus got closer to the two.

Chara appeared before Flowey just before he could answer. “Tell him that it looked exactly like himself.”

“It looked like himself,” the flower repeated. He then took a look at the boy’s exposed Soul. “You better make sure nothing bad happens. It looks like he’s in a fight.”

“Who would he be fighting?” Robert asked.

“Himself, obviously,” Mark stated.

“How is that obvious?” Undyne asked. “He could be fighting anyone that was in here when it happened!”

Meanwhile, Emily was just humming what sounded to be a jazzy tune. “The music seems strangely appropriate to the situation Frisk has found himself in.”

“What music are you talking about?” Amanda asked, crossing her arms.

“Remember Napstablook’s place? I can hear it.”

“IT MUST BE A SONG DIRECTLY RELATED TO HIMSELF, THEN!”

“Can we just find out a way to get him out of this?” Flowey grumbled. “It’s quickly becoming annoying for him to just be standing here.”

“I agree,” Chara nodded. “He wouldn’t answer me, either.”

“NO WORRIES, HUMANS!” Papyrus posed. “WE CAN PROBABLY FIND A SAFE PLACE TO KEEP HIM WHILE WE FIGURE OUT HOW TO UNDO THIS!”

“How hard could it be?” Undyne shrugged, stepping over to the motionless boy and grabbing him.

Frisk’s body refused to budge.

“What the hell?!” Undyne shouted, trying harder to move him.

He still refused to budge.

“TRY BEING… GENTLER?” Papyrus suggested.

“Tra la la,” a certain voice filtered into the room; its owner walked in moments later. “It would be best if you do nothing right now.”

“What do you mean by ‘doing nothing’?!” Undyne shouted, letting go of Frisk as another version of himself appeared in the mirror and began to attack him. “We can’t really stand by and do nothing!”

The river person did not flinch as the fish monster turned upon them. “Hmm… Well, doing anything major to one under the effects of the Mirror of Oneself could have unpleasant effects on the affected. And when dealing with a Child of Fate, it can have far worse consequences than one could guess.”

“SO WHAT COULD WE DO TO HELP FRISK?” Papyrus asked, wringing his fingers slightly as he watched another attack descend upon the Red mage.

“Tri li li. Make sure nothing negative happens to him. I will speak to him myself.”

“We’ve tried getting through to him,” Clara groaned. “No responses.”

“That is because you do not have the ability to do so. Literally,” the river person stepped up to the mirror; almost like a liquid, a sleeved arm emerged from the side and they brought it very close to the mirror. “Child of Fate, if you may help?”

Several seconds of silence passed. “Are you talking to me?” Chara asked, pointing to herself.

“Affirmative.”

The dead girl sighed, walking over to them. “Let’s get this done… I don’t know how you know of my existence, though.”

Once Chara placed her hand on what seemed to be their shoulder, the river person placed the open end of their sleeve against the mirror. “Child of Fate, listen to me,” Frisk’s appearance flinched violently at the sound of their voice. “In order to get past yourself, you need to stay one step ahead. Take a deep look within yourself.”

Frisk couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised when the river person began to speak to him. “Can you help me, then?”

“Do what they said,” Chara’s voice rang out, though slightly muffled. “Do not mention my name, though.”

“Tru lu lu. You need to remind yourself of who you are.”

“Do a little self-love and care as well. We all know you need some.”

“How?”

“Reach out for yourself? I don’t know. But still try that, it might work.”

Frisk hummed to himself, closing his eyes. Almost entirely with his mind, he reached out to his mirror image. A light tapping hit his shoulders. The boy opened his eyes in surprise and looked to his sides.

Nobody was there.

Once again, it was the split mirror image. He had to suppress a small whine as he began to dodge the attacks the miniatures were sending after him. Unlike the first attack, he got hit by one as he was dodging another bullet. He groaned, thinking about how he had nothing that could heal him at the moment.

“Now what?” Frisk asked loudly.

“Well, you’re one of the absolute biggest softies I personally know. So try thinking about that?”

Frisk thought about how he had treated everyone, including before, during, and after the underground. He could feel himself love himself a little more.

Once again, his Soul split into four with his actual own being targeted. Moving through the attack with a little more confidence, he only got hit once that time. “Now what?” He asked once the attack ended.

“Tra la la. Now try reaching toward yourself again.”

Again, Frisk found himself closing his eyes as he reached out for ‘himself’. He only felt the smooth mirror in front of him.

The sound of breaking glass surrounded him. Frisk opened his eyes to see another completely new attack; multiple cracks seemed to form in the air itself. He did not want to know what would happen if he was caught in any of them. Still, they caused his movable area to shrink.

Until the attack abruptly ended, undoing the damage around himself.

“Now, show yourself some love! Don’t worry, you wouldn’t bite yourself. I’m fairly positive.”

Taking a deep breath, Frisk tried to show some love…

A warm feeling began to rise within his chest.

Once more, the world around him began to crack. While it was easier this time, his heart was still pounding once he finished.

“What else can I do?” Frisk shouted; his whole body felt numb.

“Keep showing yourself love. That’s one of the only ways to escape.”

The boy nodded to himself, breathing deeply. He tried showing more love to the figure in front of him; the warmth only grew from there.

Another turn, another attack. More cracks, but he was kind of getting kind of annoyed with the same attack. “Now feel!”

Frisk obliged, closing his eyes for the third time. He mentally reached out toward the figure in front of him.

A loving embrace surrounded him.

He smiled a bit, but it turned to surprise when the miniature attack reappeared, his Soul faded from view; he knew it was still there, somehow, but he quickly scrambled to dodge the attacks. One clipped his side, but it was otherwise no different.

“Love yourself! That might be the final thing you need to do!”

“It is true, Child of Fate. You cannot run from yourself. Embrace it.”

Frisk shifted in place, trying to feel as much love for himself as he could… A sense of calm washed over him. The unease he had been feeling in the air had finally disappeared.

“ Despite everything, it’s still you, ” the whispers of his own voice echoed through the air.

Walking forward, Frisk hugged the figure.

The next thing he knew, he stumbled forward. “Uh…” Frisk groaned, rubbing his chest.

“FRISK!” Papyrus shouted, leaping over to help steady the boy. “YOU’RE OKAY!”

“We all saw the hits he took,” Mark stated. “Let him eat before doing anything else.”

“I’ll get it!” Undyne shouted, raising her hand as she sprinted out of the tent.

“Can you help her?” Frisk looked at Papyrus.

Papyrus placed his hand upon his chest as an unseen wind blew his cape. “OF COURSE, RED HUMAN! YOU APPEAR TO HAVE HAD QUITE THE ORDEAL. YOU’LL NEED TWICE AS MUCH HEALING!” He proclaimed, leaving the tent as well.

Frisk looked to Chara and the river person. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” the ghost girl crossed her arms as she smiled. “What would you do without me?”

“Tra la la,” the river person stated. “It is good to be of help on occasion, Children of Fate.”

“What do you mean by that?” Robert asked.

“It should be quite obvious,” was their response. “Now, I must leave for now.”

“Thanks again,” Frisk stated, waving his hand as the cloaked figure left. Despite everything, it was still him. And that filled him with determination.

A golden star bloomed into existence.

Chapter Text

Papyrus and Undyne reentered the tent a few minutes later, holding more food than necessary. “Alright, punk! Prepare to eat once again! You will need to have all your strength for later!”

“Isn’t that amount of food a little too much?” William asked.

“MAYBE JUST A TAD BIT,” Papyrus stated, squinting to the side. “BUT IT SHOULD NOT MATTER! BECAUSE ALL FOOD MADE BY MONSTERS AND MAGIC HUMANS CLEARLY HEAL THE BODY (AND SOUL).”

“But he’s not going to be participating in the duels later,” Mark pointed out.

“STILL! IT IS BEST TO SOLVE SUCH PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO BECOME PROBLEMATIC IN THE FIRST PLACE!”

“Healthier foods are much more effective,” Undyne stated. “But the sooner you heal up, the faster we can get to other stuff!”

“Great,” Flowey rolled his eyes. “What are you two going to do with all the extra?”

“Save it! Duh!” The fish monster replied. “The dimensional storage boxes would keep them safe even if it could spoil.”

“Are we just… Going to ignore the fact that the river person was the one that was able to help Frisk in the first place?” Robert asked.

“Answers will come to us, given time,” Emily stated. “I am sure of it.”

“They seemed nice,” Frisk stated, taking some of the food the two monsters had brought; he had used the Save Point to heal himself, but he did not want their purchase to go to waste. “I wonder when we will next see them.”

“THE RIVER PERSON CAN BE A STRANGE ONE A LOT OF THE TIME. EVEN STRANGER THAN SANS COULD BE AT TIMES.”

“You both are strange. You can be especially strange at weirder times,” Amanda grumbled.

“I WILL CHOOSE TO TAKE THAT AS A COMPLIMENT!”

“They only show up when necessary, I assume. They’re all we had for transportation, after all,” Undyne shrugged.

“BUT IF THEY WERE UP HERE, THEN WHO WAS MANNING THE BOAT IN THE UNDERGROUND?”

“Stop asking questions with no answers,” Mark complained. “I think you’d end up giving me a migraine.”

“BUT SPECULATION IS THE BEST PART OF HAVING NO ANSWERS! IT MEANS THAT ANYTHING IS TRUE!”

“Mostly. Mostly anything.”

“Whatever!” Undyne waved off.

Frisk finally picked out which food item he wanted to have; something that resembled a funnel cake in the shape of a Soul. “Thanks for this,” he turned to his friends. “Would you like any?”

A little while later, Frisk’s grandfather entered the tent. “Alright, I have returned,” he stated as he did.

“Great, can we leave this place?” Flowey asked boredly. “This place is giving me the creeps.”

“FLOWEY,” Papyrus stated sternly. “THAT WAS NOT AN APPROPRIATE GREETING AFTER WHAT WE WITNESSED A WHILE AGO.”

The older mage looked around the tent, eyes lingering on the Save Point for several seconds when they landed upon it. “What happened while I was gone?”

“Frisk fought himself,” Amanda bluntly said.

“… Elaborate.”

“His mirror reflection attacked him,” Mark explained. “I’m still trying to figure out how it could happen. Even with it being a magical mirror.”

“I’ve seen this mirror a few times back in the underground,” Undyne added, for his information. “It’s never done anything like that when I touched it.”

“So something happened when Frisk touched it?” The older Red mage walked over to the mirror, staring himself in the eye.

“Yeah,” Clara leaned next to the mirror. “Though the, uh, river person helped him.”

“‘River person’?”

“Someone we met in the underground,” William said. “They were the one providing the main transportation of the monsters. Black robes, taller than us, and you couldn’t see into the hood.”

*Why do you think he’s not mentioning the Save Point? Wait, ignore that. I think it’s obvious.

How? Frisk asked, standing up and walking to his grandfather.

*It’s not like he’d know that the others know about it. And Papyrus and Undyne are present, so it would be even more to explain.

… I think I’d probably trust Papyrus with explaining anything about it.

*What about Undyne?

Maybe, Frisk replied. “Can we go now?”

“Oh,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, stepping away from the mirror. “Yes. Let’s go.”

The others began to leave the tent, the two monsters leading everyone out. His grandfather, though, kept a grip on Frisk to keep him from leaving. “What are you waiting for?” Flowey complained. “Go!”

The older mage gave the flower a serious glare before looking at Frisk. “I see that you’ve made a Save Point at last,” he gestured to the golden star.

“Yep,” Frisk stated simply, smiling.

“I can’t help but tell you, but I am deeply proud of you for managing to do so on your own,” he looked at the mirror. “I assume that this had something to do with the events mentioned in my absence?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Whatever,” the golden flower grumbled in the short silence. “I don’t see why you had to make the others leave as well. Except for Papyrus and Undyne, of course. Frisk’s other friends could clearly see the Save Point as well.”

“Well, I was unaware of that,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, turning away. “I guess we should count ourselves lucky that no one else could see them. Perhaps they could be seen in another universe, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Let’s just get out of here,” Flowey grumbled. “It’s a wonder no one else came into this thing afterward.”

“Wonders often occur in the presence of an Ebbot,” the older Red mage quoted. “No matter how good or bad, it all depends on how they are as a person.”

“Great,” Flowey rolled his eyes as they began to exit. “What’re we going to do with the Save Point?” He added in a low voice.

“We can retrieve it later.”

“Wh- retrieve it?! You can do that?!”

“I’m glad of the fact that you only had it for little more than a few years worth.”

The three left the tent, quickly locating the other children. “WHY DID IT TAKE YOU A LITTLE LONGER THAN US TO LEAVE?” Papyrus asked. “GASP! IS IT YOUR ADVANCED AGE TAKING ITS TOLL ON YOU?!”

“No, no,” Frisk’s grandfather shook his head placatingly. “I just had to speak with Frisk alone.”

“Better hope so,” Undyne grunted. “It would definitely not look good for us if you happened to drop dead right now.”

“Believe me when I say it: I still have a few more centuries worth of life left within me.”

“SO, WHAT IS NEXT ON OUR AGENDA FOR THE DAY?”

“more of the same stuff?” Sans’ voice came from between two tents.

Most of the group flinched at the sudden appearance of the skeleton. Papyrus, on the other hand, didn’t skip a beat. Instead, he turned to his brother with an annoyed expression. “SANS! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT SURPRISING ANY PASSERSBY?”

“not to do it.”

“AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW?”

“woah, i’m not surprising just any ol’ passersby. could it be called that if i happen to surprise anyone i happen to know at a passing glance?”

“THAT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE DELIBERATELY TRYING TO KNOW PEOPLE SO THAT YOU COULD SCARE THEM OFF WITH YOUR BAD CHOICE IN HUMOR!”

“i dunno,” Sans shrugged as he vaguely gestured at the growing crowd around them. “i think they’d like my humerus jokes.”

“SANS!” Papyrus stomped his foot as a few people laughed at the antics. “WE BOTH KNOW THAT YOU OVERUSE BONE PUNS!”

“ patella that to the crowd.”

“Do they always do that?” Someone in the crowd whispered in the crowd.

“Occasionally,” Undyne replied to the asker. “Just let them finish it.”

“I think we should move on,” Frisk heard his grandfather state loudly. “You can leave your brotherly bouts for later.”

*Please take it. I can feel a headache forming.

Frisk held his forehead for a moment. I don’t.

*Metaphorically.

It was, however, not fated to be. “I AM SORRY, MISTER RED HUMAN! IF I DO NOT TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY, THEN HE WILL JUST CONTINUE!”

“a skeleton at rest will remain at rest,” Sans commented. “that’s just how i like to be.”

“DO NOT BE QUOTING PHYSICS AT ME!” Many people backed up as Papyrus began to stomp. “THAT’S NOT AS LITERAL AS YOU ARE INTENDING TO TAKE IT!”

“then why are you smiling?”

“IT’S A PITY SMILE!” The crowd began to laugh. Clearly, despite himself, Papyrus was smiling as well.

The older Red mage had placed his hand over his face in clear exasperation. “If you insist on continuing your bickering, then you should probably take it somewhere else.”

Papyrus briefly dropped his annoyance with his brother. “LIKE WHERE?”

“a stage, perhaps,” Sans suggested.

“BUT WHY A STAGE?” The tall skeleton narrowed his sockets in suspicion. “YOU JUST WANT TO TURN THIS INTO ONE OF THOSE STAND-UP COMEDIES, DON’T YOU?!”

“yep.”

“AND YOU WILL START IT OFF BY SITTING DOWN, COMPLETELY RUINING THE WHOLE POINT OF SUCH A GAG.”

Sans’ smile widened slightly. “you know me so well, papyrus.”

“IT’S MY DUTY AS YOUR BROTHER TO KNOW HOW YOU OPERATE,” Papyrus crossed his arms in annoyance. “MAYBE IT WILL TAKE A PUBLIC DUEL OF WITS FOR YOU TO GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!”

“oh, you’ll win that for sure, bro. no one could beat you in such a duel.”

“BUT I DO NOT HEAR YOU OBJECTING TO IT?”

“nope.”

“THEN WE SHALL FIND THIS STAGE OF YOURS!”

“of course. i made sure to find where all the good ones are. there’s a lot of nifty shortcuts around here.”

“BUT IF WE USE A SHORTCUT, WE WON’T HAVE A CROWD ANY MORE!”

“eh, they’ll find us. it’s not hard to.”

“NYE-!”

Chapter Text

For as entertaining as the past couple of hours have been, the competition was drawing closer and closer. At some point during their banter, it was clear that Papyrus was only continuing his nagging of his brother because it was making the audience they had acquired happy.

*Sans’ pieces are the worst !

They’re not that bad, Frisk responded.

*That’s because you have poor taste in humor.

“alright everyone, that’s a wrap,” Sans stated. “some of us are participating in the competition.”

“But you two are so good!” Someone shouted from the crowd. “Can’t you do it just a bit longer?”

“I AM SORRY, HUMAN, BUT AS MUCH AS SANS NEEDED A GOOD CHASTISEMENT, I AM AFRAID THAT I COULD ONLY GO ON FOR SO LONG,” the taller skeleton placed a hand on his chest as his cape blew. “BUT WORRY NOT, HUMANS! YOU WILL GET TO SEE MORE OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS IN A LITTLE BIT!”

“What about you?” Someone else asked from the crowd, pointing toward Sans. “Will you be taking part in the dueling?”

“nah,” Sans shook his head. “i’d rather not risk getting into a match against my bro. i would have to immediately concede. can’t compete with his level, after all.”

“But you held your own against him!”

“that’s for joking,” the short skeleton corrected. “but in an actual battle, he has way more stamina.”

“I WAS TRAINING WITH CAPTAIN UNDYNE!” Papyrus stated proudly.

“Yeah!” Undyne pumped her fist after climbing onstage. “I would HATE to see anyone go up against him!”

“Will you be part of the duels?” Frisk asked.

“Pffft! What kind of question is that, punk? OF COURSE I WILL!”

“You’re probably going to need to prepare a Save before it begins,” Flowey whispered. “Who knows how much damage that fish will do?”

“For once, I completely agree,” Frisk’s grandfather nodded subtly. “But more figuratively, not literally. She does seem the type who takes everything to the most extreme.”

“What are you talking about?” Undyne asked loudly as she and the skeleton brothers made their way through the crowd.

“We’re just expressing sympathy to anyone you fight today,” the older Red mage stated quickly.

“Well, of course you should!” Undyne grinned widely. “They’re going to have their butts handed to them!”

“I PRESENT A COUNTER,” Papyrus stated. “I WILL BE ONE OF THOSE THAT DO NOT.”

“Of course you won’t!” The former Royal Guard Captain trapped the skeleton in a headlock. “I trained you, after all!”

Comical eyes popped out of Papyrus’ skull. “PLEASE DON’T NOOGIE THE SKELETON!”

“I haven’t even started yet! Fuhuhuhuhuh!” Undyne cackled as she began to grind her knuckles against her friend’s head.

“We should locate the admission’s tent, so we will find our dueling partner,” Frisk’s grandfather stated, nodding his head in the general direction of the dueling arena. “Though once we enter the tent, someone will have to keep an eye on the children.”

“They’ll be fine, I’m sure of it!” Undyne released her friend, who rubbed his skull. “They handled their way through the underground no problem. I’m sure they could be on their own for a few minutes.”

“YEAH!” Papyrus began almost marching their way to the arena. “EVERY CHILD SHOULD HAVE SOME FREE TIME!”

The older mage shook his head as he took the front. “‘No group of children exceeding three in number should be without a chaperone’. And once we enter the tent, we can’t leave until the duels begin.”

“AH, SO YOU NEED SOMEONE TO WATCH THEM WHILE WE GET READY,” Papyrus put a hand to his chin. “I CAN SEE HOW THAT CAN BE A CONUNDRUM.”

“eh, i could watch ‘em for you,” Sans stated, appearing next to the large group. “i got nothing else lined up for the day, so watching seven kids should be easy.”

Frisk’s grandfather frowned. “After seeing your ‘routine’ with your brother, I fear your ability to be able to watch them. Rather, your lack of ability.”

Undyne pulled a buzzing phone from her pocket, looking at the screen. “Looks like Alphys will be joining us before the competition starts.”

“I hardly know her, and I still believe I’d trust her over you,” Frisk’s grandfather stated.

“Well of course you would!” Undyne grinned. “She’s probably among the best to trust the punks with!”

“REGRETFULLY, I MUST AGREE WITH HER,” Papyrus nodded. “SHE’LL PROBABLY HAVE SOME SORT OF CONTRAPTION THAT KEEPS TRACK OF THEM SOMEHOW. ALL WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF MEETING WITH US.”

“wow, you’d trust undyne’s girlfriend over your own brother,” Sans shook his head. “welp, can’t say i blame you. watching over them might end up poorly after all for me.”

“YOU’D JUST KEEP DOING PRANKS THAT END UP SOMEHOW RETURNING THEM TO YOUR LINE OF VISION,” Papyrus deadpanned. “EVEN IF THEY WERE REMOTELY FUNNY, I DOUBT ANY OF THEM WOULD ENJOY BEING THE VICTIM OF YOUR JOKES.”

“You do remember that we are here, right?” Amanda whispered loudly. “And that we could hear you.”

“THAT IS OF NO CONCERN!” Papyrus brushed off. “BUT THE PRINCIPLE OF IT STILL STANDS!”

“And what is the principle?” Mark asked, adjusting his glasses.

“THAT YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT LIKE BEING THE VICTIMS OF HIS JOKES,” Papyrus stated. “CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT I’M DEFENDING YOU?”

“His pranking wasn’t that bad,” Frisk stated, frowning slightly.

“You fell for two of them,” Clara said. “Neither of which were actually funny.”

*She’s got you there.

Frisk only answered in quiet grumbles.

After several more minutes of wading through crowds, the group had finally managed to get to the admissions tent of the competition, Fritz had finally managed to talk out the details; Sans would watch over the children until Undyne’s girlfriend, Alphys, arrived. He hasn’t interacted with her much since the day Frisk and his friends returned, but he already knew that anyone of the little friend group was better than Sans.

“Does your brother always intend to misuse Cyan magic?” The older mage asked Papyrus as they entered the tent; a short line was present.

“I DO NOT BELIEVE THERE IS ANY MAGIC HE WOULDN’T MISUSE,” Papyrus replied. “SIGH.”

Undyne slung her arm across the tall skeleton’s shoulders. “You’re lucky your brother was even halfway good at all his jobs.”

“YES, HE IS,” Papyrus stated. “I JUST WISH HE COULD CHANNEL SOME OF THE EFFORT HE PUTS INTO HIS IMMATURE HUMOR INTO HIS JOBS.”

A moment later, they were at the front. “Name and colors,” the person stated dully, clearly bored with his position.

“Fritz Ebbot, Red with Cyan,” Fritz stated formally.

The young man blinked, looking up to the Red mage. “Ebbot?” His eyes widened. “Oh, of course sir,” he picked up an incomplete wristband and fed it through a machine the size of a cash register. “Sorry, this’ll take a moment.”

The machine whirred to life as the wristband was fed into the machine. A few seconds later, it left out of the top with new coloring, a thick red band with a thin cyan line. The two colors repeated across the wristband’s length. “Here, sir. And good luck,” the man turned to the two monsters as Fritz moved on. “Name and colors?”

“NYEH?” Papyrus tilted his head briefly. “OH, OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND… WELL, OUR SOULS ARE WHITE, BUT I KNOW BLUE SOUL MODE.”

“I’m Undyne!” Undyne stated proudly. “White, but I know Green Soul mode!”

Fritz stopped listening as he moved further into the tent; apparently, those two weren’t the first monsters to have arrived to compete in the duels. Still, he found one of the dressing rooms set up; he entered one that was open, flipping the provided sign on the door to ‘Back in a Pinch’. Sighing, the Red mage concentrated on his bedroom.

As usual, he appeared in his bedroom. He walked over to his closet, and pulled out a large box, though not nearly a trunk. Grabbing two corners, he concentrated on returning to the tent, bringing the box and its contents within. He gave a small smile as he opened.

Held within the large box was a set of robes that would be described, at the nicest, as ugly. He quickly replaced his outer clothing with the robes, closing and locking the box. Fritz picked up the box, and walked out of the dressing room; there’s always a spot in the tent that holds personal belongings.

As usual, when he was in the open view of the tent, there were many stares, a few even gagging at the sight.

He did not care in the slightest.

The older Red mage made his way to a part of the tent that held personal lockers. He located an empty locker, and placed his box within. With a special lock for these events, he allowed the tiniest amount of magic through his hand on the lock. Now no one but a few could get in.

“WOWIE, MISTER RED MAGE!” Papyrus shouted from behind him.

“Yes?” Fritz turned.

The tall skeleton stared at him with a strained smile, while Undyne was wearing an open grimace. “THOSE ROBES ARE CERTAINLY… UNIQUE! YES! UNIQUE!” His sockets wandered away. “IN FACT, THEY ARE SO UNIQUE THAT I THINK I WILL APPRECIATE THEM BETTER! FROM OUT OF SIGHT, SPECIFICALLY!” With that, the boisterous skeleton bounded away.

“What… Are you wearing?” The fish monster grimaced harder.

“My dueling robes,” Fritz stated simply.

“… Is that thing even allowed?” Undyne’s single eye began to water.

“As long as it doesn’t use spells, it’s allowed.”

A few seconds of solid silence stretched between the two. “It’s freaking UGLY!”

“Thank you, it’s intentional.”

A few more seconds passed. “Right, I’m just gonna locate Papyrus.”

With that, Undyne ran out of view.

Chapter Text

“How much longer do you think they’ll be able to fight?” Clara asked boredly, only half paying attention to the current duel; it was between a Yellow mage with a vulkin, and a Green mage with Papyrus.

“Papyrus and his partner will clearly be the winner of this,” Robert stated. “I just can’t see anyone but Undyne be able to match his energy, even after all this fighting.”

“I think they are given magic food after each fight,” Frisk added. “So that they won’t be magically or actually tired by their next fight.”

“It’s a wonder that vulkin managed to hold out this long in the competition,” Amanda muttered. “It’s clearly not very intelligent.”

“ Thank you! ” Flowey whisper-yelled. “ The only ones who stand a chance in this whole thing are Papyrus and Undyne. ”

“D-don’t put down the poor thing too harshly,” Alphys defended. “The ones in charge o-of this event actually did quite a good job at choosing the r-right monster for the right human.”

“And how was the vulkin a good match for the Yellow?” William asked, eyebrows knitting together in thought. “I mean, I get why Papyrus is with the Green, as they’re both nice.”

“Vulkins can speed anyone up with th-their lightning attacks,” the dinosaur monster explained. “A-and I see that Yellow mages are always quick to aim and attack, s-so it would make sense for it to speed up their reaction time as well.”

“How much do you know about mages?” Mark asked. “Apart from the water damaged stuff.”

“And anime,” Amanda added, crossing her arms.

“How did y-you-” Alphys stuttered out, but shook her head. “Not relevant. But anyways, a-all information of human magic was to be turned over t-to me in case… Well, b-b-best not to mention that here.”

Clara’s senses were clearly on high alert. “Please, don’t lie to me.”

A bead of sweat appeared on Alphys’ forehead, but quickly went away. “R-right,” she mumbled. “The truth is… Ijustthinkhumanmagicisreallycool!” She rushed out, as if she couldn’t hold it in for any longer.

“What’s your magic like?” Emily asked.

“Er…” Alphys halted. “Nothing really s-special. Nothing as cool or strong as some other monsters.”

“Human magic is mostly the same when talking about the same color,” the blind girl responded. “Monster magic is more varied. And kind of fuzzy?” She tilted her head for a moment. “Actually, that last part is just me. And other Cyans.”

The rest of the crowd gave a collective groan as the final blow was made on the vulkin’s side. “YOU’RE BOTH TOO TIRED TO CONTINUE! I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU CONCEDE TO US SO YOU BOTH CAN REST UP!”

“Never!” The Yellow mage shouted, exhaustion clear in their voice. With a shaky step forward, they threw their arm forward like they were throwing something with yellow Justice launching forward.

A green shield appeared before the two, but it seemed to not be necessary because the Justice fizzled out just before it could hit the shield. The Yellow mage collapsed in place. “I WISH THAT YOU COULD HAVE CONCEDED. ALAS, IT HAD TO COME TO THIS,” several green bones were summoned in front of the tall skeleton, shooting toward their fallen opponents as other people were collecting them. “YOU FOUGHT WELL, NYEH HEH HEH!”

The human-monster duo left the arena as officials began to prepare it for the next duel. “So what is your magic?” Emily asked once again. “It can’t be terribly bad.”

Alphys shrugged and curled her tail around herself somewhat. “W-well, Mettaton uses at least one of my own magics… It’s the l-lightning shaped bullets.”

“Well, they’re nothing like vulkin’s,” Amanda stated. “Not too painful, at least.”

“Is that all of your magic?” Mark asked. “From my observations, monsters tend to have at least two types of attacks or patterns.”

Alphys shrugged helplessly. “Lightning is my only natural b-bullet. I can c-copy other bullets or magic, but I need to understand h-how they work first.”

Frisk took out his phone, pointing at the yellow Soul mode button. “How did you make this, then?”

The Royal Scientist looked at the arena, Undyne and her dueling partner entering it. She took a breath, as if trying to summon her girlfriend’s determination into herself. “I-it’s just a little program I made in my spare time… It actually uses some of my own magic to work. Just trying to copy the effects of a natural user of yellow Soul mode. It doesn’t work exactly like it, though, and I’ve tried to find more monsters who could use it. It was a complete nightmare to debug it, though, as problems kept showing up.”

“Wait,” Mark stated. “You’re saying that part of your magic is almost literally programming ?”

“Oh!” Alphys replied. “Y-yeah!”

“Isn’t that a problem? If something goes wrong with the ‘coding’ so to speak?”

Alphys shook her head. “No; like all magic, it’s sentient, so it would know if a, um, ‘program’ needs to be stopped. If something would go bad in a normal line of code, then in my case it just doesn’t work instead of ‘crashing’!”

*Look at that, her stutter practically disappeared.

I think she sounds better without it! Frisk replied to Chara.

*Tsk. Softie.

“What’s the difference between your yellow Soul mode?” The Red mage asked as Undyne and her partner began their round; he wasn’t paying much attention to the opposition.

“Normal yellow Soul mode shouldn’t allow the affected to do anything but attack with harmless simple bullets or their own methods,” Alphys gave a half shrug. “I could never figure out what was causing my own attempts to fail in that way.”

“Is there anything else major you have done with your magic?” Mark asked.

“I was the one that designed the colored tile puzzle,” Alphys murmured.

“Papyrus mentioned that, I think,” Amanda stated.

“Oh, right,” Alphys looked slightly embarrassed. “I… May have been the one to turn that one as easy as it was.”

“How?” Clara asked. “You were all the way in Hotland when it happened.”

“I put backdoors into all the puzzles I design,” the dinosaur monster said. “It’s in c-case someone needs to get through but doesn’t know the solution. R-remote access, also.”

*Great, her stuttering is coming back in.

“What if you didn’t allow us to pass easily?” Emily asked.

“I distinctly remember some of the possible paths starting with a red tile,” Mark deadpanned. “I don’t think we could have gotten through if that were the case.”

Alphys shook her head. “The p-puzzle was specifically designed to have a definite start point with m-multiple possible end points, all made with at least one guaranteed path.”

“Did you think of the puzzle yourself? I think it was neat!” William exclaimed.

Another shake of the head. “No, I think it was… Papyrus’ i-idea? But Sans was the one to let me know of it. As I said, I-I merely designed it and its programming. Sans made sure that at least one path c-could be possible at all times.”

Amanda snorted. “I bet he just made jokes and gave each thing a single look before passing it on.”

“Actually, when it comes to his brother, S-Sans could do quite a lot of work. Both hard and willingly,” Alphys stated. “I’ve known him for a long time.”

“But he’s always being an annoyance to his brother,” the Blue mage responded.

“Sans puts up s-such a front with his brother,” the yellow dinosaur monster explained. “But when it comes to his brother’s well-being, I kn-know that for a fact.”

Everyone in the crowd gave a loud groan, leading the group to turn their attention back to the competition; Undyne had thoroughly thrashed the opposing monster in the battle, complete with… Circling birds and spiraled eyes? Whatever the case, Undyne pumped her fist as she cackled, sending multiple spears at the remaining mage. “Eat these , punk!”

The opposing mage was gritting her teeth, holding onto a purple line like her life depended on it; she swapped lines quickly, narrowly dodging each spear. Once the last spear reached her, the intensity of her glowing purple irises increased briefly as she sent what appeared to be cobwebs of purple line magic. Undyne’s fierce grin did not stop even as she was nearly immobilized. “It’s time to end this!” The fish monster said, her voice rang out in an almost anime style.

The opposing side did not see the mage robed in red Pinch their way into close range, landing a solid strike against the opponent. “And that’s it for the semifinals!” The announcer declared.

“How much more until your grandpa duels?” Robert asked, craning his head.

“He’s always the last one in these,” Frisk stated. “He has to duel whichever wins the next one.”

“Why is it done th-that way?” Alphys questioned. “N-no offense.”

“I don’t really know,” Frisk shrugged. “He just said it’s tradition that whoever wins the finals needs to see if they can, uh, ‘de-throne’ the current champion.”

“Okay, but wh-why haven’t we seen him just yet?”

“I believe it’s so that the champion can’t come up with a quick and easy way to deal with anyone challenging his title,” Mark stated. “Of course, it’s much harder to achieve that result because the average winner is typically a Red mage.”

“I-including or excluding repeat winners?”

“From how the rankings work, excluding. Everyone gets the same ‘score’, so to speak,” Mark said. “I wonder how this year will go, with needing to duel two people instead of one…”

“Do you think he’ll have someone with him, or not?” William asked.

“I don’t know,” Frisk replied. “There were a few people without a partner…”

“Attention everyone,” the announcer began; Papyrus and Undyne, with their respective dueling partners, stepped into the arena, facing one another. “Whoever wins this duel will have the chance to challenge the champion himself! Now, put your hands together for these two duos, and see who has what it takes to be able to challenge the best!

“Begin!”

Chapter Text

Fritz looked at the clock that was provided in the tent; there was still some time left in the event for him to duel. That was good, in his opinion. As the reigning champion of the Red day duels, it was his obligation to continue to be the final obstacle of the day. He doubted that anyone not a part of the family would be able to dethrone him at any point in the future. In fact, he may hold the title until he dies. While there have been a few times where the battle was close, too few were able to get terribly far.

At this point, probably one half of the audience was waiting for his defeat, while the other half just liked watching him swiftly defeat his opponents.

The Red mage sighed as he closed his eyes; of course, while he wouldn’t mind finally losing the title to someone else, he was sure as hell not going to let go of it without making his opponents work for it.

The crowd outside gave a loud groan; at this distance, he could only barely hear Papyrus. All he heard after the groan was something about a special attack? Even the taller skeleton’s boisterous voice hardly made it. He knew it was to prevent anyone from gaining an unfair advantage, especially Cyans. Well, if Papyrus was to use such an attack, then it might mean that the current duel would be ending soon. So, he made another check-over of his robes.

His special dueling robes were completely covered in an eyesore arrangement of colors, patterns, and contrasts. This was intentional; it was mostly for opponents who relied more on outright watching him for them to make their moves. It was simple, really; the sheer ugliness of the robes made his opponent want to not look at them when striking. The patterns make the opponents disoriented enough so that those with no fashion sense would still be affected.

But the key part of the robes were what he infused them with alchemically. When he began dueling, the official rules only stated that spells couldn’t be placed on them to prevent others from hitting him. But they weren’t disallowing alchemically infused robes. So, being one himself, he naturally used it for his own.

Deeper pockets to hold items, cushioned to prevent major injuries, anchoring to help against tackles. Damage resistant, difficulty to sense with Cyan magic, and the ability to be usable when the universe says they should’ve disintegrated long ago. Those were the main abilities.

“We have a winner!” The announcer exclaimed. “Winners, would you like to challenge the champion when you have rested?”

“Hell yeah!” Undyne’s voice was barely audible. Figures it was her. Her partner’s approval was unhearable to him.

“Then it’s settled! You both will duel with the champion. Prepare yourselves for a duel of a lifetime!”

Fritz took that as his cue, standing up and walking out of the tent. It was then several seconds of silent walking. Then, once he was finally visible to the crowd. The reaction was immediate; many people cried out in disgust, others still cheering but in a strained tone. It did not matter to him.

A tiny tent was set up next to the arena on his opponents’ side. As usual, with the final duel in sight, they wanted to get back to it as soon as possible. Inside, he knew, was a veritable bounty of magic food high in both magic and calories, to help them speed up energy restoration, and in case of any injuries. The older Red mage stepped onto his side of the arena, got into position, and waited.

Barely a minute later, Undyne and her dueling partner left the tiny tent; the fish monster was wearing a set of metal armor, while her mage partner was a young man wearing red-colored robes. “No wonder you got through the duels fairly well,” Fritz commented.

“We got through because NO ONE can match the power of our combined determination!” Undyne declared, patting her partner’s shoulder hard enough for him to grimace; that was actually somewhat impressive.

“Do you both understand what you’re both going to face up against me?”

“Pffft, yeah!” Undyne waved dismissively. “I watched your earlier duel!” Her partner was clearly less sure of their combined abilities, but still gave a determined nod.

“You remember my duel earlier? With my sister?” Fritz continued.

“Yeah? What about it?” Her single visible eye narrowed.

The older mage began to pace his side of the arena slowly. You could almost hear a pin drop in the sheer silence that filled the air. “Well, I’ll have you know… And you specifically,” he pointed at Undyne directly. “That I was not using my complete strength against her. If you want to defeat me for the title…”

Fritz used the tiniest amount of magic just to make his eyes glow with a determined red. “You’re going to have to earn it yourself.”

The crowd groaned as Frisk’s grandfather Pinched behind the opposing Red mage, landing a solid blow against him. As usual, the final part of the duels had the current champion decide when to start their match. Many assumed it was as a very minor compensation for not being allowed to watch any of the previous matches.

Whatever the case, Frisk didn’t care that most people were very clearly avoiding their gazes from his grandfather. To him, they may as well be the most awesome dueling robes in the entire world, and no one could ever change his mind about it.

*Gag. You should really look away, or else I think I will feel the need to throw up.

You don’t even have the parts needed to throw up, Frisk pointed out as he continued looking at his grandfather.

*Still. It’s the principle that your grandpa’s robes are the ugliest robes in existence. I don’t know how you aren’t feeling the need to throw up either.

He’s my grandpa, Frisk replied as he watched his grandfather get locked into green Soul mode. Why would I want to?

Flowey, sitting in his pot, looked a little green in the face. “I think I really, really hate your grandfather right now.”

Emily was rubbing her temples vigorously. “I can’t even sense him right now without-” She audibly gagged. “I need to stop.”

Flowey looked to the blind girl in mild jealousy. “At least you don’t have to see what his robes look like.”

“You should have seen her in Waterfall,” Robert stated. “She was miserable the whole time we were there.”

“Too much detail,” Emily added. She then curled up into as tight of a ball as she could manage. “Please let me know when I can sense again,” she nearly whimpered.

Flowey turned to Frisk quickly, desperation clear in his eyes. “Frisk, please don’t make a Save just to keep your old man from losing this. This is already too much.”

*Now that he says that… I’m tempted for you to do that just so he could be annoyed.

Frisk shook his head and shrugged. “He doesn’t need it to show how good he is.”

The golden flower gave a skeptical look. “How would you know?”

“Because he’s my grandpa.”

*That shouldn’t legally count as an answer.

What does that mean? Frisk asked as he watched his grandfather manage to get a strike on Undyne.

*Legal. Something about laws. Therefore, it shouldn’t count as an answer by law.

You know what I mean, the young Red mage replied.

“Frisk, I hope something ends the fight. Quick,” Flowey said suddenly.

“Why?” Frisk replied as he tilted his head slightly. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind-”

“I think ‘the brilliant doctor’ is developing the tiniest crush on your old man,” the flower informed.

Frisk blinked. “What? What makes you think that?”

“Look at her expression.”

The human boy took a quick look at Alphys, then looked back at the flower. “So? She always looks like that when watching Undyne closely.”

“Her eyes are flicking between her and your grandfather. It’s kind of creepy.”

“That could mean anything,” Frisk responded.

Flowey gave a scrutinizing stare. “Did you even pay attention to any of the other answers available during the tin-can’s ‘final answer’?”

Frisk shrugged. “I was kind of focusing on us being an answer.”

*Facepalm. I told you to pay more attention to them before speaking aloud.

Flowey straightened out, like he was about to give a lecture. “Well, since you’re not very perceptive, I’ll tell you something: She crushes on anything faintly resembling attractiveness.”

Frisk looked between his grandfather’s duel and Flowey. “I don’t get it.”

“Did you even see the log she left next to the fan room in the lab?” The golden flower asked.

*The one that mentioned her sweating as she worked on Mettaton’s body.

Frisk frowned, nodding. “Yeah? I didn’t see anything that could mean something like that.”

Flowey blinked, gaining an incredibly annoyed expression. “Well, because you are so braindead about such issues, I’ll just condense it into a single package. She sort of likes your old man, so this should stop soon. ”