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You were shivering from the cold, but trying to keep from being obvious about it. It wasn’t as though weakness were necessarily frowned upon per say, but it wouldn’t do to go advertising it. Instead, you pulled your surcoat closer about you and drew in a deep breath, willing yourself into stillness.

You focused on other sensations. The pleasant sound of the birds in the air above you, chasing back the dark shroud of the night. The soft tickle of the dewy grass against your feet. The perfect, peaceful surface of the lake, mirroring the brilliant sunrise above it. Everything was so still. You were one with it. You were perfectly still, your breathing slowing as you willed your very nervous system under your command -

A violent shudder rippled through you, made all the worse by your attempt at placidity. Gods, you were chilled straight to bone, and you didn’t think you would ever feel warm again. You felt as though you could walk straight through fire at this moment and come out unaffected.

“Cold, Poet?” laughed a voice quietly to your left. You glanced over to see your compatriot Alenia laughing softly, a gleam in her eye. You grinned back ruefully.

“Feels like hell itself couldn’t warm me again. I’m no longer Vianelle, the cold itself has taken up residence inside my skin and is puppeting me about.”

Alenia made a show of grimacing, but her smile told otherwise. “Gruesome. But perhaps if the cold was on our side, then we’d win this damned war.”

“Hmm,” you replied in agreement. Victory meant home.

Your conversation was cut short by the clanging of the bell. The sun had finally peered over at you across the mountainside, and it was time for the day to begin.

The area around you emerged slowly into life as the camp began its morning routine. Today you were on the move.
You groaned as the bell morphed seamlessly into the insistent beeping of your alarm. Surely there was no hell worse than dreaming about waking up immediately before actually having to do so. You punched around at your nightstand until the beeping stopped.You lay in bed a moment longer, covers still pulled over your head. That dream had been so vivid you were having a hard time parsing out what was real and what you had dreamed. Your name was not Vianelle. You were not in a camp. You didn’t have to go anywhere today.“Oh shit, is it 9 already? Fuck I gotta go.” The deep voice next to you brought back the rest of your real life with whiplash-inducing clarity. You’d forgotten about Jered. You felt the bed shift around you, and then peeked lazily above the cover at the man getting dressed in your room.“Oh yeah, sorry dude, I tend to get up kinda late.”“Nah, that’s no problem. I shoulda set an alarm for myself anyway.” He pulled the t-shirt back over his head and grabbed his wallet and watch from your nightstand. “Thanks, uh, for… last night. That was fun.”“Yeah, it was,” you agreed mildly, trying to disguise your embarrassment at having forgotten as sleepiness.“I’ll uh, see you at trivia again next week?” he asked, pausing in the doorway of your bedroom.“More than likely,” you grinned back.“Cool. See ya.” Jered waved, closing the door behind him. You waited until his steps receded past the point of your hearing, then let out your breath with a soft whoooosh.“Oops,” you hissed, sitting up properly. It wasn’t that it had been a bad night. It had been fun sleeping with Jered, and you found him attractive and fun to hang out with. You just got the sense that he liked you more than that, and you’d purposely avoided hooking up with him because of it. Apparently your drunk-ass self had not gotten that memo.“Well, that was bound to happen sooner or later,” you sighed, finally pulling yourself together. You couldn’t spend time fussing; you had shit to do.You spent your day between client meetings and actual work. Somewhere around noon you remembered to stop and eat breakfast. Somewhere around four you decided to get dressed. Finally, at seven-thirty, you realized you needed to call it a day if you were going to get ready in time for drinks with Rosa.You settled for wearing your newest (and therefore least lived-in) jeans, along with a plain black t-shirt that you found settled on you in a particularly flattering way. With a pair of flashy earrings, some flats, and an eyeliner wing sharp enough to cut a man, you were on your way.“Come innnn,” Rosa called from somewhere in the apartment when you knocked on the door. You let yourself in, discarding your shoes and coat in the kitchen. “I’m just in the bathroom, my hair won’t currrrrl.”“Want me to do it?” you called back, noting the open bottle of wine on the kitchen counter and pouring a glass for yourself.“Oh god would you? There’s wine in it for you.”“There’s wine, is there??” you trilled, appearing over Rosa’s shoulder in the bathroom mirror, the generous glass of cabernet held up for effect. She laughed.“I should’ve known that’d be the first thing you spot. Did you even notice the kitchen??”“Oh shit right, you painted it, didn’t you.”“Yes! Wait, you actually didn’t notice? Pff, whatever, finish that glass before you go look. I did a shit job so it’ll probably look better if you’re a little drunk.”“Yeah, you can probably count on that,” you laughed as set the glass on the counter next to her and picked up the curling wand.“Mm speeeaaking of, how long did you stick around after trivia last night?” Rosa’s dark eyes flashed at you in the mirror, and you sighed with a laugh before focusing on her hair.“Uhhhh late. Ended up drinking with Jered until close.”“Oh reeeeeeeaaally.”“Yeah. We were dancing to the band upstairs, and then we started making out, and then I sorta took him home with me,” you rushed out, but the look on Rosa’s smug face told you that she already knew that.“You already knew that.”“I already knew that,” she agreed, her grin widening. “He texted me this morning.”“He TEXTED you??”“Yeah, like,” her voice dropped comically low, “‘Hey Rosa uhh so I totally accidentally hooked up with your bestie last night.’”“Why did he text you? You guys aren’t even that close!”“I’m pretty sure he was trying to wheedle out of me how you felt about him.”You set your mouth in a line. “Fuck. Don’t love that.”“I knew you wouldn’t. But you knew that was the risk of sleeping with him,” she admonished you, her singsong voice betraying how much she was living for this.You grinned at her, waving the curling rod. “I wouldn’t get too smug with the woman who’s so generously doing your hair right now. I could fuck up the back and you’d never even know.”She laughed. “Well whatever you’re doing back there, just get it done so we can hit up the bar and find you a guy you actually like.”“Fat fucking chance of that,” you griped playfully, “The mountain could crack open and reveal a secret race of perfect babes and I wouldn’t find a single one that I liked better than being on my own.”The bar was fine. Your night was fine. Despite what you’d said to Rosa, you were on some level secretly hoping to meet a perfect guy and be swept off your feet, but chatting halfheartedly with a dude out on the patio until he offered you a cigarette was okay too.Rosa’s night had been much more successful, judging by how she’d run up to you at the bar, hissing out, “She’s beautiful and she says she has a motorcycle,” before disappearing into the night. She’d texted you a quick “home safe, hope your night is going as well as mine,” so you knew you didn’t have to worry about her. Eventually you had given up on your own quest for love and went to cajole a smoke off someone before heading home yourself.Walking home through Ebott was nice at this time of night. The city wasn’t particularly big, and you were familiar with all the little tree-lined streets. You strolled along semi-leisurely, basking in the night air and your cigarette. Your stroll home took you along the lake, and you gazed across it at the row of flood lights that signified the start of the restricted area which encompassed the whole mountain. You’d heard that over the years some kids had wandered up that way and were never seen again, and now, in the middle of the night, the mountain seemed like a dark void against the sky which could easily swallow you and everyone you loved whole. You grimaced, stubbing out your cigarette under your shoe, and turned for home.You’d nearly reached the outer door of your apartment when you became aware of a distant rumbling. Was that… thunder? You looked up, but the sky was still clear, stars shining overhead. The rumbling grew louder and louder, so loud the ground was shaking with it, and you fell to your knees, ducking your arms over your head, and that rumbling had grown so impossibly LOUD -And then it stopped. You stayed on the ground a moment longer, arms over your ducked head, before you were certain nothing was going to fall on you. You gazed around at your surroundings, trembling.Nothing around you had changed. In fact, if it weren’t for the lights flicking on in the buildings around you, you’d be afraid that you’d imagined the whole thing. Fingers trembling, you pulled out your phone; an event like this was worth interrupting Rosa’s dreamy motorcycle tryst over.You: did you feel that?????Rosa: how could I fucking not it knocked all the damn pictures off my wallsYou swore softly – god only knew what the inside of your own home looked like. Your keys rattled in your shaking hands as you finally persuaded the lock to open; a quick run-through confirmed that some pictures had fallen off your walls, but by and large the place was okay.Your next destination was Twitter; as you didn’t have any sort of cable, the internet was your best source for news, and with something as recent as that seismic event, no news station would be airing anything pertinent just yet. Unfortunately, Twitter was also a bust in this respect; no one had any credible knowledge on what had just occurred. You refreshed and refreshed the Ebott hashtag until eventually you fell asleep on the couch, your phone landing on the cushion next to your face.
The projectile landed a good seven feet shy of the target, and two feet to the left. You swore under your breath.

“At least they’re starting to look like something,” offered Alenia, “Mine are still…” She trailed off mid-sentence, finishing the thought by gesturing her hands about lazily. You snorted a laugh. It was true, her magic culminated in a shape that was perhaps more… organic than was ideal. Yours had finally started to come out looking a little more spear-shaped, but the added aerodynamics did nothing to help your aim.

“If I’d known we would be conscripted I’d have begun practicing long ago,” you joked, watching as another near-spear fell devastatingly close to where it had begun its journey. “As it is, I believe we’ll be full laughed off the battlefield.”

“Speak for yourself – I’m going to become a war hero,” Alenia retorted with a grin, summoning another lump and watching it soar across the field. It held its mis-shape right up until it struck the target, and ended its journey by erupting into nothingness with an unsavoury splatter. The two of you were struck with laughter at the sight.

“Perhaps we can just embarrass ourselves until they give up and concede to us out of sheer mortification,” you giggled, wiping a tear away from your eye.

You watched as Alenia opened her mouth to respond but instead turned pale and ducked her head. “Enjoying a brisk afternoon, ladies?” responded a harsh voice instead. The sneer was practically audible. A moment later the voice was followed by the sight of your captain, his back impossibly straight and his gaze leering. All thoughts of levity immediately died away.

“No, sir,” you responded immediately, your back having straightened by instinct. Alenia had snapped similarly to attention, her gaze straight ahead.

“A shame, I would hate for your training to impede upon your vacation.”

The two of you watched, motionless, as he continued along his patrol. Suppressing a smile, you made eye contact with Alenia, who similarly smirked. She opened her mouth as if to say something snarky, but the only sound she made was a gentle chiming.
The vibration from your phone nudged it away from your head and towards the edge of the couch, but it was the thud of the device hitting the floor that finally did the trick. You awoke with a startled gurgle, took a moment to regain your bearings, and then reached down to grab it and check your notifications. The persistent chiming had been the result of a string of texts from Rosa.Rosa: girl WAKE UP I know you’re still asleep because otherwise you’d be here freaking out with meRosa: you’ll never fucking believe thisRosa: the fucking MOUNTAIN.Rosa: OPENED.Rosa: UP.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“The creatures refer to themselves as ‘monsters,’ and claim to have resided beneath Mount Ebott for – “Your phone chimed again on the sofa next to you. You tore your eyes away from Rosa’s TV long enough to register the name on the screen before flipping it facedown and obstinately resuming your focus.“ – they are apparently ruled by a monarch, a king by the name of As – “Another chime prompted you to now nudge the phone away from you with the back of your fingertips. Your newfound popularity did not go unnoticed by Rosa.“Dude, holy hell, who the fuck is texting you? I’m right here, so.”You snorted at Rosa’s assertion, glancing over at her; her eyes had barely left the news broadcast that’d been going all morning. “I do have other friends you know. Not to mention concerned parents who know I live in Ebott.”“So it’s Jered.”“…God, yes. He started off by asking me if I made it out of the quake okay, then moved seamlessly into asking me on a date next week.”“Damn, boy moves fast. A date, eh? Has he even met you?”“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Rosa shrugged. “Just, you don’t date. You flirt, and you hook up, but you don’t date.”“I’ve gone on dates.”“And not a single one of those did you realize was a date beforehand. You don’t go on dates, you get entrapped into them. Your dating life is the equivalent of someone setting up a box with a stick overtop a beer and some nachos.”“Okay! Fine! I get it!” You snatched up the phone from beside you, decisively typing out a message. “You think I don’t date? I can date. Watch me. I’ll agree to a date right now.” You vehemently hit send and threw the phone down next to you with enough force to send it bouncing off into the middle of the living room. Rosa cackled as you were forced to sully your decisive action by getting up to retrieve it.“Atta girl. I can’t wait for your 3am Regret Texts the night beforehand.”“I’m glad you can predict me so well.”“Girl, I could use you to map my cycles. And don’t think I’m not fucking living for the fact that it took a literal underground species to come pouring out of the mountain for you to agree to a date.”You groaned as her words sunk in. “Oh my god you’re right. That feels like something that should prompt some introspection.”“Introspect later. Now shush, they’re interviewing the monsters’… king? King.”You both went quiet as the camera cut to an enormous white furry creature, with a rather goat-like face and something like a blond beard. A massive gold and purple mantle adorned his shoulders, making him seem even more imposing. The poor news reporter wasn’t even tall enough to make it into the frame, and you guessed, based on the way the mic wavered under the creature’s muzzle as he spoke, that she was standing on tiptoe beneath him.“I would like to thank humanity for being so welcoming towards my people,” King Asgore rumbled into the comparatively tiny microphone. While his sheer size was intimidating even over Rosa’s 32” TV, you thought his facial expression seemed kind. “We have been trapped under the mountain for millennia, and although this fate was at the hands of humans, we bear you no ill will. We understand that that was a different time, and now we simply wish to live freely on the surface in peace. I wish to extend additional gratitude to the government and local charities, who are doing so much to ensure my people have adequate shelter at such short notice.”“Damn, humanity,” hissed Rosa from beside you.“Seriously,” you agreed. “Fucking leave it to us to lock an entire species underground for millennia. God I hope people receive them well. We’ve got like, a lot to make up for.”“That’d be nice, but please, we’re not even that good at receiving human refugees, let alone people that look like – look, that one is a literal fucking skeleton.”Sure enough, what appeared to be a seven-foot tall skeleton could be seen near the front of the crowd of monsters, wearing a red cape and a huge excited smile.“He seems pretty friendly for a spectre of death.”“I bet you he tells some killer jokes.”The two of you watched the interview until King Asgore bowed himself gracefully away from the camera, and the report switched over to a debate about the potential economic and societal ramifications of a new species suddenly being introduced into society. While two of the participants were in favour of Monster integration – although one, admittedly, was more moved by the prospect of Monster gold than by human goodwill – the other was adamant that they should be forced back under the mountain. “We had to have had a reason for imprisoning them there in the first place!”“Fucking yikes.”Your phone buzzed again, and Rosa glanced sidelong at you, batting at your knee until you finally looked over to watch her waggle her brows at you. Rolling your eyes, you opened your new message; shockingly, it was Jered, responding to your agreement to a date the following weekend.Jered: Great!! I’ll text you later this week to figure out specifics.You: sounds good!Jered: By the way, have you been following the news??? Shit is wildYou: seriously!! I keep pinching myself, just in caseJered: Well let me know if this does turn out to be all a dreamJered: Monsters seem pretty cool though, from what I’ve seen of interviews so far You: totally! hopefully we’re not dicks to themJered: Fingers crossedYou took his short response as an invitation to end the lacklustre conversation, and once again returned your attention to the TV. It was late in the afternoon before the news cycle eventually started to repeat itself, and you finally said goodnight to Rosa and headed back to your own apartment, where you proceeded to curl up on your own sofa and succumb to scrolling through Twitter. It seemed that public opinion was fairly divided; while many people were willing to welcome monsters into society, a smaller but intensely vocal number were vehemently against it. Once again you found yourself hoping humanity would be able to redeem itself.The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, and finally, bored of your Twitter feed and too distracted to focus on the book you were currently reading, you gave up and went to bed. 
You warmed your hands at the fire, only half paying attention to the game of knucklebones Alenia was engaged in with one of the general’s squires. The lad had promised half a skin of wine to anyone who could beat him, and Alenia wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, especially if booze could be won. A few short moments later and she was back by your side, swinging the wineskin in your face.

“Swig for your thoughts?”

You laughed. “Congratulations on your newfound bounty.”

She grinned back. “Thank you.” With a quick glance across the fire at the woe begotten squire to ensure he was out of earshot, she added, “Gambling is pretty easy when you know all the right ways to cheat at it.” You couldn’t help the burst of laughter that erupted from you at that.

“So Poet,” she continued, “What’s on your mind? You don’t look nearly happy enough for someone who gets to share in a quarter of a skin with me.

You chuckled and accepted a sip of wine. “I simply don’t understand why we are here. Why we were recruited. Have you seen the other regiments? True soldiers. Men and women who have seen the heat of battle. And then we showed up this morning looking as though we were ready to start tilling the fields. We’re naught more than farmers.”

Alenia nodded, her smile fading. “Tis true. They kept proclaiming that we are definitively winning this war, but our being here does seem to suggest otherwise.”

The squire had scooted around the fire by this point, looking to try and weasel himself into still getting a mouthful or two of wine. He snorted at Alenia’s comment. “We at no point have been ‘definitively winning’ this war, that’s horseshit. We may have numbers on those beasts but their magic is far more powerful than ours. We’ve barely been able to get near them.”

“Then what difference do they think we will make?” you asked in surprise, passing along the wineskin to Alenia, who took a good long gulp before begrudgingly passing it to the squire.
“Fodder perhaps? Who knows. Though truthfully –“ his voice dropped and he scooted closer, “ – I’ve heard that the Grand Mage has a plan up his sleeve to end this thing once and for all.” He leaned away again, looking smug with his scanty and questionable intel. “Perhaps you’re here to serve as a distraction while the true heroes do what they must.”
You and Alenia rolled your eyes in tandem. “Well thank you for the enlightenment,” Alenia scoffed, raising a brow before upending the wineskin and chugging the remainder, to the vast disappointment of the squire, who made a disgusted sound in his throat before moving away.

“You know,” you commented softly, staring back into the fire, “I overheard today that we’ve had virtually no casualties in this war.”

“That seems surprising – we’ve been fighting for four months now. Surely that’s wrong?”

You shook your head. “I doublechecked with one of the cooks who’d been here from the beginning. Hardly anyone has been killed. We’re losing a war, and yet most of us are surviving to tell the tale. Something about this seems… wrong.”
Alenia shrugged, now squeezing the wineskin for any last drops. “I think you are reading too much into it, Poet. If those beasts do not know any better than to kill us, then that is their problem and our gain.”
You glanced at her sidelong. “Perhaps.”

Your gaze moved from the dancing light of the fire to up, up above the horizon, where the mountain stretched into the sky, a dark sentinel looming over the gathering armies. Distantly you could see fires flickering on the hillside – the enemy’s camps. Your eyes fell to a point somewhat below that – impossible to see on this moonless night, but you knew it was there - the ridge of the hill that led down into that last bowl-like valley, before the steady incline of the mountainside began.

The valley where, in five days’ time, you would be led into battle against the monsters.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was rare that an ancient forgotten-by-humanity fully-sentient species suddenly revealed itself in your backyard, but this was not an acceptable excuse to be missing deadlines. The next few days were filled with a combination of emailing clients and researching and sketching out images for a series of magazine illustrations – a fun contract for sure, but not as fun as following the developments on Mt Ebott. In order to get anything accomplished, you were forced to log out of your social media, but during breaks on your Pomodoro timer you allowed yourself a quick scroll, just to see what was news.The hashtags “#Ebott” and “#monsters” had been trending for the past forty-eight hours. For the most part, you avoided looking through those – at this point, you had a fairly good idea of where public opinion was at, and reading some of those takes was doing nothing for your blood pressure. Mostly, you kept to the feed of the special task force formed by the government for the purposes of Monster integration (cleverly named the “Task Force on Monster Integration,”) along with those of the Red Cross and any other charities that you thought might provide you with a good volunteer opportunity. The desire to prove that humanity could be better was starting to ferment into something that was desperate to be acted upon.It was during one of these breaks that you received a new text from Jered. It was the first time you’d heard from him since you’d watched the news with Rosa a few days ago, and you were incredibly thankful for that – you were already dreading this date, and you certainly didn’t need to be trying to keep up a conversation with him every day on top of that. You were already afraid you’d run out of things to talk about.Jered: So any thoughts on what you’d like to do Saturday?You: haha is this you telling me I gotta plan the date you asked me on?Jered: Lol called out! Nah, I just wanted to see if you had any input. You want me to plan you a date, I will plan you the best dateYou: we’ll see about that. tbh after all the excitement over monsters, I don’t think any ol date is gonna cut itYou smirked as you sent the message, daydreaming of a world in which Jered realized your interest wasn’t there and decided to simply bow out gracefully. Your phone chimed with a new message.Jered: Is that soYou frowned down at your phone. That didn’t strike you as particularly promising. You sighed. It’d be fine, you told yourself, you’d just go out for dinner with this dude so you could tell Rosa you went through with it, and then break it to him afterwards that you weren’t interested. Easy peasy. This wasn’t the first time you’d done this – you had a notepad file on your phone titled “Easy Ways to Break it Off” – but it never made you any less anxious.You: is it gonna be olive gardenJered: FuckJered: Not anymoreJered: (JK)Jered: (Unless you like Olive Garden)You chuckled and tried to push your anxiety aside and focus back on your client work – these birds with office jobs weren’t going to illustrate themselves.  
Howls and the clash of metal on metal filled the air around you, the noise almost as palpable as the silvery dust that drifted lazily by, catching in your hair and lungs. You were frozen in place, staring down the Monster that stood before you – a tall bunny woman, whose defensive stance mirrored your own. The shape of your spears had solidified with practice but your aim had not, and so you stood with one clutched across your chest, ready to parry when need be. Neither you nor the bunny seemed prepared to make the first attack; yet, eyes locked on each other, neither seemed willing to be the first to move away. What if that was when your opponent struck?

Perhaps the battle would end around you and the two of you would be left standing here staring unto eternity.

The squire had been right. Your regiment of villagers, merchants and farmers – those not yet drafted who had shown any magical aptitude at all – had been deployed as the first wave, a shield against that first crush of the Monster army. Despite their lack of military prowess, your comrades had been faring rather well so far – as you suspected, the monsters seemed more intent on simply holding their ground than actually dwindling your numbers. It was a poor strategy. It left a bad taste in your mouth.

Or maybe that was just the pervasive dust in the air.

You couldn’t bring yourself to move, to pounce, to strike. You tentatively tried and found that your limbs simply refused the order. The thought of harming a single monster here left you feeling nauseous, though you seemed to be alone in that sentiment.

Dust hung in great glittery swathes in the air, obscuring the fray around you until the bunny woman was all you could see. If it weren’t for the cacophony, you could almost believe that perhaps the fight was over, and it truly was just the two of you left.
You stared keenly at the Monster, the light of the fear in her eyes catching your own. She seemed so, for lack of a better word, human. Nothing like the ravenous, bloodthirsty beasts that you’d been told about. Like you, she seemed someone who would much rather be at home right now, baking bread or tending her crops or playing with her children.
“The Grand Mage has a plan up his sleeve to end this thing once and for all,” the squire had said that night, and with a bit of snooping and some well-placed bribes, you’d managed to discover that this, too, was truth. Word had it that the Soul of a Boss Monster could grant unimaginable powers to the human that fused with it. You couldn’t imagine a worse fate for a creature – for your very essence to be used by your murderer to eliminate your loved ones. It seemed a drastic and appalling method to win a war that you weren’t certain why you were waging.

You’d been standing here an age now. The field around you had thinned, the victory undeniably going to the humans – the monsters seemed content to merely block their enemy’s attacks, only causing enough harm to convince the attacker to retreat. Your allies, when they could get close enough to strike, were nowhere near as generous.

This was ridiculous. This was barbaric. You could no longer be a party to this. Slowly, you straightened your posture, lowering your spear, your expression softening. Across from you, the bunny woman read your thoughts in your face and mirrored your actions. A smile briefly appeared at her lips, and she opened her mouth to call out to you.

And then she was there no longer, replaced by a shimmering cloud of dust.

The breeze picked up the particles and swept them towards you, coating your hair, your skin, your lashes. You stuttered and cried out, something welling up in your chest. As the cloud dissipated, it revealed your beautiful, good friend Alenia, her surcoat nearly silver.

She’d finally mastered her magic.
“Don’t go soft on us now, Poet,” she called to you playfully, before turning and disappearing back into the throng. Still, you could not will your limbs to move, and so you simply stood amidst the emptying battlefield, spear by your side, your tears tracking silver lines down your face. Your mouth tasted like warm hearths and freshly baked bread. You woke up choking and spluttering. You were distantly aware that you’d inhaled some of your own spit in your sleep, a move that had you wondering how you’d managed to survive this long. You groped through the dark for the glass of water on your bedside table and messily chugged it, trying to dispel the taste in your mouth. The water spilled down your chin, matching your wet cheeks and the cooling sweat on your back. Overall, you were far more damp than you generally preferred to be. The clock said 4:17 am. That seemed like a perfect time for a walk. Pulling sweatpants and a hoodie overtop of your pyjama top and shorts, you grabbed only what you needed – shoes, keys, phone and earbuds, cigarettes and lighter. You didn’t smoke often, but sometimes you just wanted a visual representation of how distraught you felt.The chill night air against your cheeks reminded you that you hadn’t really tidied yourself up any, and you used the sleeve of your hoodie to hastily wipe at your face. Your dreams didn’t usually upset you, and they had never been this vivid before. Could this be the result of a change in diet? You should’ve thrown out that yogurt sooner.The streets of Ebott were silent, your footsteps the only sound echoing off the dark houses around you. It had been a while since you’d last been out this time of night. It didn’t take long for you to reach your preferred bench alongside the lake, a stone affair that sat between two wispy trees and directly faced Mt Ebott. To the east, the sky was beginning to lighten with the approaching dawn. Before you lay the still surface of the lake, the placid water a perfect mirror for the mountain opposite. As always, the flood lights illuminated the security fence along the bottom. Much newer were the additional lights further up – you could see what looked like blue and orange tents arranged in clusters beneath them. No doubt it was too early to have acquired more permanent housing for the monsters.You hoped they weren’t cold. At least the weather had been nice lately. Small blessings.Your fingertips started to feel warm, and you realized your cigarette had burned down without you actually smoking any of it. Probably for the best, you reasoned glumly, stubbing it out on the bench. You slipped the butt into your hoodie pocket, the smell be damned, so that you could properly throw it out later.Your phone vibrated in your lap. You stared down at it – who was texting you at this time of night?Jered: Okay so I got it worked outJered: The perfect dateYou: wtf it’s the middle of the night why are you awakeJered: I could ask you the same question???You: bad dreamsJered: Oh shit, sorry to hear that!Jered: Well be prepared for a good dream-like dateJered: A date so good it could be a dream?Jered: I’ll workshop the tagline.You: hahaha. lay it on meYour phone chimed with his response a moment later, and as you read it over a few times, a smile pulled at the corners of your mouth. You’d been dreading the idea of this date, but now, seeing what he had planned, you were… actually pretty excited. Really excited, in fact. Shit. Maybe this wouldn’t suck so much after all.You tucked your phone back in your pocket, said goodnight to the lake and the Monster camp, and began your trek back home. Your dream had started to fade from your mind, and with the prospect of something to look forward to in a few days, you figured you could probably manage getting a few more hours of sleep.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The scraping of a tree branch against the side of the bus startled you, and you jerked back as the leaves brushed against your window. You’d had your face nearly pressed against it, trying to see the chain link fence before it came into view, but the forest was so thick here it was nearly impossible. It was clear that this was a road that was unaccustomed to high traffic; if it hadn’t been paved, the trees might’ve swallowed it up long ago.“We must be nearly there,” you sighed to Jered, who was seated beside you on the sticky grey school bus seat. How long did it take to drive around this damn lake?Jered glanced down at his watch, as if he hadn’t already been checking it every forty-two seconds. “We’ve only been driving about twenty minutes… we’re probably about halfway.” You gave a long-suffering sigh in reply. “But that’s forrrrreverrrrrrrrrr.” You weren’t alone in your anticipation, either; quite a few of the other volunteers were also craning to get a look at the camp the second it rolled into view. One man had even had his head stuck out the tiny window, until a face full of leaves convinced him to be a little more patient.Finally the chain link fence appeared through the trees, and the bus slowed to a halt as a man strolled out of the newly-renovated gatehouse, a clipboard in hand. The door to the bus opened, and he climbed on, chatting quietly with the trip organizer before turning to address the rest of you. With no additional fanfare he dove right into a roll call; you were suddenly getting weird middle school vibes, only now the bus seats were more uncomfortable. As he finished checking off his list, he looked up once again at your group, eyes searching your numbers for any potential troublemakers.“All right, here are the rules for while you’re in the camp. You are to abide by them unquestioningly. Failure to do so, or any trouble of any kind, will have you banned permanently from the premises.“One: no photos or videos are to be taken of the camp or its residents. To that end, you will surrender your phones to security for the duration of the day. If you must make a call or send a message, there will be a space made available to you.“Two: speaking with the residents is permissible, but if you are caught in any way harassing or bothering them, you will be immediately removed from the site and detained until the bus home.“Three: no wandering off from the build site.“Four: if you see anyone disobeying any of the above, you are to report them immediately. These rules are in place for the safety of everyone here – both the camp’s residents as well as all of the staff and volunteers. I cannot stress enough what a momentous event in history this is. If anyone disagrees with any of the above, then now is the time to voice those concerns, and you will be sent on the bus back to Ebott immediately.”Everyone looked around at each other, but no one spoke up. Quite frankly, you would’ve been surprised if someone had voiced a concern; if everyone here was feeling anywhere close to as excited as you, they would’ve happily signed away their kidneys if it meant getting into this camp.Your first reaction to Jered’s text message that night had been one of disbelief: “I can get us on the first volunteer trip to build homes on Mt Ebott.” You hadn’t realized that he actually worked for the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity – you’d been hanging out with the guy at trivia weekly for a year and a half now, and apparently had simply never bothered to ask what he did for a living. The application process for building homes within the monster camp had apparently been thorough; Jered mentioned to you when you’d gathered to wait for the bus that morning that everyone else here had undergone a rigorous week-long screening process, to ensure that anyone applying only had the best of intentions for the monsters that lived on the mountain. Luckily for you, Jered was in charge of accepting those applications and conducting a partial screening, so he’d been in a position to pull some strings and get the two of you on the first bus in.“Isn’t that some sort of conflict of interest?” you’d joked when he’d told you what he’d done.He merely shrugged, a sly grin on his face. “If it was, no one said anything about it.” You’d laughed, though it hadn’t entirely assuaged your concerns, but you figured that wasn’t your problem.Satisfied when no one spoke up, clipboard man disembarked and returned to the gatehouse to open the gate. For the next ten minutes the bus quietly resumed its trek through the dense forest; the mountain truly had just been left to the wilderness prior to this. Finally the trees broke, and you got your first glimpse of the monster encampment on Mt Ebott.It was… underwhelming.The bus dropped your group off next to the wooden frame for a small billboard, but no one had bothered to put anything up there yet. “It’s going to be for a map of the camp… once the camp has enough to be worth mapping,” Jered explained to you as he saw you staring quizzically at it. The second part of his comment made sense to you once you looked at what lay ahead. Before you was a flat-ish dirt clearing; off to the side was a pile of trees, where the forest was still being clear-cut, accompanied by a collection of backhoes and bulldozers. To the right was a row of orange portable washrooms.Thirty feet ahead of you, a group of HFH employees gathered idly around a folding table, which had been stocked with an airpot of coffee, sleeves of Styrofoam cups, and a pile of booklets. Instinctively everyone in your group moved towards the table for the coffee, but found that they were also slapped with a booklet once they were within striking distance. You tried not to judge the terrible clipart on the orientation workbook, which featured a man and woman wearing hardhats and what seemed to be a non-copyright-infringing version of Mike from Monsters, Inc.“G’mornin’ everyone!” A man with an impressive handlebar moustache called to your group. “If I could get everyone to gather over here, we can start with the orientation. My name is Ross Schuman, and I’m your site director. I’m sure Agent Liang filled you all in on the rules here” – you supposed that must be Clipboard Man’s name – “but I would just like to reiterate that there are to be no phones here, so kindly use a label to put your name on your phones, and then pass those along to Carol over here.” He gestured to a woman who was holding a respectable container for everyone’s phones: a pink plastic bucket with flowers on. “There will be a break for snacks at 10:30 an’ 2:30, and lunch’ll be at noon. Snacks’ll be provided, but as you know, you’re on your own for lunch. I hope you all brought something, ‘cause the woods around here are pretty bear.” Ross chuckled at his own pun for maybe a fraction of a second before sobering up and adding, “That’s a little forest humour for you, but trust me, bears are no joke. If you see one, alert the nearest supervisor immediately. Oh, unless of course the bear starts to talk to ya, in which case it’s fine, it’s just a monster, and he lives here.”“Now, due to the important nature of the build project here, we have a photographer on site to document our progress – everyone, this is Edyth Worth.” Ross gestured over to a woman who’d obviously not been expecting to be pointed out and was in the midst of taking a swig of coffee; she swallowed hurriedly before gasping out, “-hhHey everyone.” Edyth seemed to be one of the few not obligated to wear a bright orange Habitat t-shirt, and was instead sporting a plaid button-up with a camera around her neck.“If anyone has any problems with being photographed, please notify Edyth,” Ross continued, “otherwise, let’s continue on with the rest of orientation.”The rest of orientation was predictably pretty dull. You understood the need for it – as both Ross and the booklet stated repeatedly, “accidents can happen to anyone” – but you were still eager to start building. More than that, you were eager to meet some of the monsters; you kept trying to glance around the lot surreptitiously, but thus far the group around you was persistently human. You could see a path through the trees at the far end of the clearing – you assumed that it must lead to the monsters’ current encampment. You supposed it made sense that their new homes would be built somewhere where they weren’t already literally living, but you couldn’t help being a little disappointed.Finally orientation ended and the actual work could begin. Your group was divided into teams, and each team was led through the process of levelling the ground for the separate cabins. The work was surprisingly engaging for what kind of amounted to digging in the dirt, and lunch was upon you before you’d even thought to check the time.Your team eagerly replaced their tools and headed back to the bus, where you’d all left your lunch bags that morning. As you turned to follow suit, you gave a cursory glance to the back of the lot; Jered, who’d been telling you about his job, had gotten several feet away before he realized that you were no longer next to him, and turned to see you gaping at the other side of the clearing.Ross was casually chatting, like this was a regular damn occurrence and not even a little a big fucking deal at all, with a seven-foot tall… goat? woman, who was wearing some kind of purple muumuu. She looked a little like the monster King you had seen on TV – you briefly wondered if they were related, then realized that was probably racist. The monster woman gestured over towards the path, a hopeful smile on her face, while Ross looked contemplative, scratching the back of his neck. After a moment he shrugged and the monster brightened up, looking immensely pleased. She beckoned to someone on the path before she and Ross turned and began moving back towards your group.“All right everyone, I know we told ya to bring your own lunches, but Miss Toriel here is being so kind as to offer an alternative. So if anyone feels like bein’ a little adventurous, she’s got some monster cuisine she’s willin’ to feed yas.”Miss Toriel waved. “Hello, everyone! We cannot express our gratitude enough for all the hard work you are doing. We are thrilled that so many wonderful humans are willing to put in the time and effort to help us feel at home here.“To begin to try and show our thanks, we’d like to provide lunch for the duration of the build! Every day we’ll bring enough monster food for everyone here to eat, should they so choose. Today’s meal is one of my favourites: snail pie!”As she spoke, two more monsters began to move out of the trees and across the lot, carrying two baskets of food each. You started as you realized that you actually recognized one of them – the skeleton you and Rosa had seen on TV. He seemed even cheerier in person, a huge bright smile beaming across his face. The other monster with him was a tall scaly blue woman with a shock of bright red hair and an eyepatch, and whose own smile seemed more designed to intimidate than anything else. They eagerly set up the baskets of food on the table where your orientation workbooks had been, but between the strange-sounding menu item and the blue monster’s sheer number of visible teeth, most of your group seemed hesitant to approach.You, however, showed no such restraint. You were halfway to the table before remembering that, technically, you were on a date and so maybe, technically, you should’ve consulted that date, but it was too late for that now. You strode purposefully up to the table before you’d even figured out what you were going to say; thankfully, you were freed from that particular worry before too long.“HELLO, HUMAN!” the skeleton yelled at you as soon as you got close. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY A PIECE OF SNAIL PIE? IT IS REMARKABLY DELICIOUS! ALTHOUGH I REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU WILL NOT FIND ANY PASTA IN IT.”“UH, THA-thank you,” you stuttered out, accepting the paper plate of pie that was offered to you. You glanced down at it and then up again at the skeleton, adding, “Is… is it supposed to have pasta in it?” You wondered if maybe he thought that pasta was, like, a human-thing.“ALL THE BEST FOODS ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE PASTA IN THEM!” was his shout-reply, as he delicately handed you a plastic fork. You accepted it graciously, and were trying to formulate a response to that particular truth when you were spared by a pleasant voice to your right.“Thank you, young one, for volunteering to help build our homes. I’m touched by how many humans have been so willing to donate their time and resources to our cause.” You turned to see Miss Toriel approaching. You supposed her addressing you was likely due to the fact that you were the only one so far to come over to try the pie – everyone else was still hanging back, pretending to be excited by their own packed lunches. “As I’m sure you heard, my name is Toriel – who might you be?”“It’s an honour!” you replied hurriedly, your voice verging on maybe a bit too way enthusiastic. “To be, uh, building your homes.” You hadn’t considered the fact that finally speaking with monsters might make you nervous, but you wanted so badly to make a good impression. You balanced your plate on one hand while reaching the other out so you could shake and introduce yourself. Toriel’s warm soft hands dwarfed yours, and you hoped that her fur saved her from feeling how sweaty your palms had suddenly gotten.“It is a pleasure to meet you. Please, don’t let me keep you from your lunch – monster food is a little different from human food, so I do hope that you enjoy it.” She gestured down to your plate, and you finally took a good look at the pie – it had a soft flaky crust, and the filling was a rich creamy brown. It smelled delicious. Without letting yourself think about it too much more, you picked up your fork and took a bite. You chewed experimentally.“Oh my GOD this is good.” You shoveled in a second bite as soon as you could make room, then paused, considering that maybe this would’ve really be an ideal time to demonstrate some manners. You chanced a glance up at Toriel, but instead of the disgust you were dreading, you found her eyes brimming with relief. She smiled over at the skeleton and the blue – fish? monster, who both focused their Cheshire grins on you. You realized that you might actually be one of the first humans to have eaten monster food since they’d come to the surface a week ago – at this thought, your nerves resumed with a bubbly enthusiasm, and they weren’t helped by the sight of Edyth taking your photo as you ate.“Sorry!” she called to you, making her way over, “I know eating shots aren’t great, but this is a big moment! How’s the pie?” she added, reaching your side. You nodded enthusiastically, still mid-bite. By now a few other people had worked up their courage to come over and try some as well, and were chatting amicably with the monsters – or at least as amicably as you’d been able to do.“Man I’ve never seen someone cover ground that fast,” Jered joked, joining your trio. “Snail pie really appealed to you, eh?”You shrugged defensively. “How often do you get to try monster food? It’s a big deal!”“Yeah yeah, I’m just joshing you.” He turned to Edyth and held out his hand. “Jered Moase. Do you like, work for Habitat for Humanity, orrr…”Edyth shook his hand vigorously. “Nah, just a freelance photographer. Someone from Habitat posted a job ad on a photography board for a gig on the Mount Ebott build site, said extensive references and a criminal record check were necessary. Didn’t take a genius to figure out exactly who they were building for.” She grinned, the excitement clear in her face. “I couldn’t apply fast enough! Ironically probably the worst cover letter I’ve ever written, I’m sure it’s riddled with typos, the speed I went.”Jered probably said something to her in response, but you’d already rudely backed out of the conversation and were edging your way back to the pie table. While more of your build crew had come over for lunch, the crowd had thinned out quickly, and it was clear that there was still lots of food leftover. “Came back for more, didja?” You glanced up to see that it was the blue – fish??? monster addressing you. Her voice was surprisingly low and rough, but not altogether unfriendly. Just mostly unfriendly.“Yeah, it was really good! I mean, obviously I don’t want to hog it all…” You stopped, and the two of you looked down in unison at the five full pies still sitting on the table. You tried to laugh, like that was a joke that you’d intentionally made, but it came out sounding like an audible wince.“I’m sure we can spare you another slice,” the monster replied with a chuckle, and cut out a generous piece for you. You eagerly held out your plate and then made no move to leave the table; the fish????? monster smiled expectantly at you, her eyes glancing over to Jered every now and then as if trying to will your departure.“Uh. So…” she said hesitantly, once she realized you weren’t planning on wandering off anytime soon. “What made ya decide to volunteer for this gig? Spendin’ all day on top of a mountain digging in the dirt, most humans probably wouldn’t bother.”You gave your answer a full half of a second of thought before replying, “Oh, it was purely selfish. I wanted to dig in the dirt and get a free lunch. Plus: terrible bright orange T-shirt.”She barked out a surprised laugh and you nearly died from the relief that your joke had landed. “Ha! All right, I can respect that,” she chuckled.“HUMAN! YOU CAME BACK FOR MORE PIE!!” You both turned to see the skeleton approaching from where he’d been talking to Toriel. He looked down at the generous piece in your hands and added, “YOU MUST REALLY LIKE SNAILS.”“Uh, I guess so,” you replied. “Is all monster food just like, incredibly delicious?”“MOST OF IT IS! ESPECIALLY MY SPAGHETTI, WHICH IS SECOND ONLY TO UNDYNE’S SPAGHETTI! SHE IS A MASTER SPAGHETTORE AND I HAVE NOT YET SURPASSED HER. NICE CREAMS ARE DELICIOUS AS WELL! INSTANT NOODLES ARE ONLY OKAY.”“INST-ant noodles are only ever okay,” you agreed. You were still having a hard time not instinctively yelling your answers back to him.“BUT UNDYNE! TORIEL SAYS THAT IT’S TIME FOR US TO PACK UP AND HEAD BACK TO CAMP. SHE SAID WE ARE TO TRY AND GIVE AWAY AS MUCH OF THE PIE TO THE HUMANS AS WE CAN!” At this, he turned to face you. “HUMAN! WOULD YOU LIKE THE REST OF THE PIE, TO CELEBRATE YOUR NEWFOUND AFFINITY FOR SNAILS?”You stared down at the five pies on the table, well aware that this was much too much food for one person who lived alone, but your answer died in your throat when you looked up at the skeleton’s beaming face. “Uh… Sure!” His smile, somehow, grew wider.And that’s how you found yourself on the bus home that afternoon with five full snail pies in your lap.The skeleton – Papyrus, you’d gathered, after hearing him boast about his excellent pie-carrying techniques – had informed you that monster food was made of magic and so didn’t actually spoil, so you didn’t have to worry about the pies going bad before “YOUR NEW SNAIL APPETITE IS SATED.” This was a relief, as you didn’t think you had the freezer space for this much food, and you definitely didn’t have enough friends living close by to pawn several magic snail pies off on.The rest of the day had seemed pretty dull in comparison, even if you enjoyed the physical labour aspect of it. The best part of it had been towards the end, when Ross had asked everyone what they had thought of the experience, and whether or not they wanted to be added to the short-list for regular site volunteers. You’d eagerly agreed – the nature of your work meant that your schedule was flexible, and when would you get another opportunity like this? Jered had not done the same – “Some of us have regular 9-to-5’s we gotta get to,” he’d joked when you’d asked him.The two of you sat in quiet exhaustion for the bus ride home, Jered staring out the window while you rested your head against the back of the plastic bus seat. You’d kind of forgotten that today had been supposed to be a date. You wondered if Jered had, too. If not, maybe you could just gift him a pie as reconciliation. You stared up at the sliver of blue sky you could see through the bus’ open roof hatch, your mind wandering to the amazing and kind monsters you’d met that day.You found yourself relieved that none of them had looked like bunnies.  The sheer amount of physical labour you’d done meant that Jered was too exhausted to want to come over to your place, which you supposed was the real blessing of this construction-work date. Gracefully you two said your goodnights outside the bus and you unloaded a pie off on him, before heading to back to your car. Blissfully it was a short drive home, and knowing that the pies wouldn’t spoil meant you didn’t even have to bother putting them away before you jettisoned your sweaty work clothes and clambered into bed. God, had you ever fully appreciated how soft your bed was before this? It was so so soft. It took maybe seconds before your eyes were closed and you were out cold.
Your eyes flew open. How long had you been out? Not long. Seconds maybe. You sat up abruptly as you heard a whimper behind you – you realized that the deer monster was crouched there cowering, her back to the large stone you two had ducked under for cover. You’d been hit with an arrow just as you helped her down, and that coupled with the way you’d hit your head had caused your brief lapse in consciousness. You instinctively reached for your side – the arrow was gone. You didn’t have time to wonder where.

“Can you walk?” you whispered to the deer monster, although the battle raging around you would have drowned you out as easily had you screamed it. She shrugged.

“A little. Not well. And not fast.”

You nodded. “We should go now then, before anyone thinks to look down here.” She frowned but didn’t disagree.

The two of you started at as much of a run as you could manage, her arm looped over your shoulders, yours behind her back. Her thigh was oozing badly, but her legs were much longer than yours and her limp easily matched your brisk jog. The fighting was thinner here than where you’d pulled her from, and mostly no one seemed to notice the human woman carrying the injured monster off the field.

Mostly.

“Vianelle!” Hearing your name, shouted clear as a bell over the din, nearly made your heart stop. A battle a valley-wide and still you encountered her. You turned slowly, positioning yourself between your friend and Alenia.

“Tell me my eyes deceive me, Poet,” she called, stepping closer. Her expression was hurt, her eyes searching yours for an answer she could stomach. The hem of her robes swirled in the silvery dust coating the dying grass.

You opened your mouth but then closed it again. There was nothing to say. Nothing that would turn her mind.

“Speechless, for once. And here I thought you considered yourself an artist with words.” Alenia sighed sadly. “I suppose that’s for the best. I don’t think I could listen to your voice again.”

She braced her arms to summon her weapon, and you realized then that you had never actually seen the result of all her extra training. Clasped in her arms was something that looked like a terrible, glowing morning star. The spear you summoned in your own hands seemed flimsy and half-imagined in comparison.

She paused to stare at you, a pause that seemed to stretch on eons before suddenly she was swinging at you and you were barely able to bring your spear up in time. Your weight landed roughly against the deer monster, who fell backwards; you stumbled forward to compensate and it seemed that Alenia had not been expecting that, for you barrelled into her chest while she simultaneously dealt a blow to your back, knocking you to your knees. She, meanwhile, regained her balance quickly; she stood over you for a long moment before resting the head of the morning star on the ground and using her other hand to pull you roughly to your feet.

“I cannot suffer a traitor but I will not see you cowering. You should die facing your enemy, like the soldier you were supposed to have been.”

You had nothing to say to that, and so only stared at Alenia. You hoped your expression could convey everything you felt.

It was not enough.

Alenia lined the morning star up, its point gently caressing your temple, before drawing back. You squeezed your eyes shut, feeling sick with the anticipation.

A wail ripped across the battlefield, and your eyes flew open to see Alenia turning away from you, morning star hanging limply by her side. She was staring across the field to an outcropping of rock some hundred meters away. A cursory glance around told you that all the fighting had stopped, as everyone stared at the demonstration unfolding in the center of the battlefield.

Atop the rock was the Grand Mage – you couldn’t see his face, but only one man was permitted to wear those crimson-and-gold robes. Kneeling before him and clad in a tattered purple and silver was a great white monster. Even kneeling, his head reached the Grand Mage’s chin. Even kneeling, he seemed the embodiment power and regality.

With one stroke, the Grand Mage thrust his sword through the monster king’s chest.

The whole world dimmed, and from the dissolving monster’s torso erupted the brightest light you’d ever seen, as bright as a star might be if one happened to fall to earth. The Grand Mage watched it hungrily, his face suddenly twisting as it moved towards him. He howled, an unearthly, bloodcurdling sound, and you couldn’t decide whether to cover your ears or your eyes and so remained frozen in shock.

Then the moment passed and the day was dark no longer, and the Grand Mage remained standing atop the rock, all trace of his victim gone. You tried to turn and run but found yourself still frozen in place, terrified of the man standing before you. Seemingly inevitably, the Grand Mage seemed to sense you; after an agonizing slowness he turned his head and you felt, more than saw, his eyes lock onto yours.

You had never felt so exposed before. From a hundred meters away, you felt that this man could see your very core, your very Soul. You could do nothing but stare, helpless, as he dug through your memories, picked apart your feelings, sifted through the facets that made you up. You somehow knew that he did not like what he found within you.

When his attention was finally wrested away from you, you did not bother to give Alenia a second thought before gathering the deer woman and fleeing.
You were halfway across the living room and sweating bullets when you woke up.

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The rest of your sleep was fitful at best. For the first hour at least, every time you closed your eyes all you could see was a bright spot of light, like an after-image burned into your retinas. You must have slept eventually though, because suddenly your alarm was beeping at you and you were instinctively lunging at it, batting at your clock until it finally tired itself out. “Fuuuuuuck,” you moaned to no one in particular, then grabbed your phone off the floor where you kept it. Unsurprisingly, you already had a string of texts from Rosa. Rosa: girl how was your date????Rosa: I need detailsRosa: tell me every little weird thing he didRosa: I want a detailed report of his every off-putting mannerismRosa: and i want it in person. come hang out with meRosa: and will you bring me a coffee, my fucking machine brokeYou: what do you mean your machine broke you own a french pressRosa’s next text consisted of a photo of the lid of a french press placed tidily inside a ring of broken glass.Rosa: rest in many piecesYou: you should get it a little coffeenRosa: fuck you that was badRosa: stop making bad jokes and get over here bitch You: OKAY just gimme like twenty to put myself togetherRosa: <3 You showed up dutifully on the doorstep of Rosa’s apartment half an hour later, coffee tray in hand. You ‘knocked’ by just swinging the door open; you knew it was always unlocked when Rosa was expecting someone. You were greeted with the sight of Rosa laying down plastic sheets on the kitchen floor, a paint tray and roller at the ready.“I thought you’d just painted this?” you asked, by way of greeting.“Yeah well if you’d looked at it you would’ve seen what a bad job I did. Plus Charlotte saw it the next morning and told me that it reminded her of her grandmother’s parlour, so now I have to change it. Her grandmother died in that room.”“Charlotte?”Rosa flashed you a mischievous grin. “My motorcycle girlfriend.”She finished taping the plastic to the baseboard and then stood and turned to you. “Oh bless, you brought me coffee. You are a sweet baby angel.” She glanced at the three coffees in your tray, then up at you. “You expecting someone else, orrrr-”“Nah, two’re for you. I didn’t think only one coffee would tide you over.”Rosa’s face lit up and she double-fisted the two coffees, one of which was still stuck to the tray, and took a gulp out of each. “Okay I don’t care how your date went, Jered can fuck right off ‘cause I’m gonna marry you.”You laughed. “Yeah well Jered’s no match for you anyway.”Rosa’s eyes flashed, and in one graceful movement she’d placed her coffees on the table and spun a chair out to sit on it backwards, elbows resting on the top. “Spill.”You sat lazily opposite her and gestured to her paint set-up. “You sure you don’t want to get started on that while I talk?” Rosa shook her head vigorously.“Uh-uh. You have my full, unwavering attention.” Her grin grew. “Your awkward date stories are my lifeblood. I’m compiling them all on a LiveJournal with the names changed. One day I’m going to publish them as a self-help book.”“Is LiveJournal even still a thing?”“Don’t you change the subject on me.”You smiled and moved as though to get up. “You sure you don’t want me to get you more cof-““GIRL. SIT. TALK. GOOO.”You laughed, dropping back down onto the seat. “Okay so first off, did you know that he works for Habitat for Humanity?“Yeah, he’s worked there for like four years. Did… did you not know that." You grimaced; your disinterest apparently went deeper than you’d realized. “No? I never asked? Anyway…” You spent the next twenty minutes regaling Rosa with the tale of your construction adventure date the day before. You spent a particular amount of attention on the exciting lunch you’d had, interacting (and making friends with???) some of the monsters from the camp. You wrapped the whole story up by saying, “Anyway, so now I have to tell Jered that this isn’t gonna be a thing and we shouldn’t see each other.” “Wait, really? But you just told me how much fun you had.”“Oh yeah, the date was excellent! I had a fucking great time. The problem was not the date. The problem was Jered.”“What’s wrong with him?”You shrugged. “I dunno. It’s nothing I can really put my finger on. It’s just a feeling I get whenever I’m alone with him.”“What kinda feeling?”“Like I want to climb out the window while he’s not looking.”Rosa barked out a single surprised ha. “You said that so fast! …You’d actually considered it.”“I mean I wouldn’t have actually done it! There’s no way I’d have been able to get the screen off in time.”“It’s good to recognize your limits. You climbing out the window would’ve been very well-received on LiveJournal though.”“I give you full permission to take some artistic license with it.”“Thanks, my following will appreciate that.” Rosa took another gulp from each cup of coffee, then gestured to her paint setup. “Anyway, wanna put those artistic skills to mediocre use? I could use a hand here, if you’ve got time.”“Man, for sure! I love painting walls.”“Weird but I love it.”--You spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon helping Rosa repaint her kitchen, then finally headed back home to confront some of your own work that you’d been putting off that day. As you settled in at your computer, you decided first to check your email, and found that you had one in your inbox from [email protected] titled “Mt Ebott Availability.” Inside was a link to a Doodle poll asking recipients what days of the week they’d be able to volunteer at the build site. You flipped through the calendar on your phone, but you already knew that with the nature of your work, you’d easily be able to set aside a day or two each week to head to the mountain. After giving it a moment of thought, you settled on Tuesdays and Sundays; you’d be able to work enough hours the rest of the week to still get all your projects in on time.You finished filling out the poll, then scrolled through quickly to see if you recognized any of the other names that had been added so far. A couple were people you’d had on your own team, but most of them you were unfamiliar with. One name that did stand out, however, was Edyth Worth, the photographer – apparently she’d picked Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, so you supposed you’d be seeing a lot of her. She’d seemed cool, from the brief interaction you’d had, and you were excited to get to know her better.With that done, you closed the poll window and finally got to work.--Your first Tuesday at the build site was only a couple of days later, but those days seemed to each be several hours longer than the usual twenty-four, as far as you could tell. Tuesday morning you were awake bright and early, eager to get back on the bus to the camp.As you sat on the hard plastic bus seat, watching the rest of your group file on through the window, you bounced slightly as someone dropped onto the seat next to you. You turned to see Edyth herself grinning at you and opening her mouth to speak, only to have to stop mid-greeting to yawn. She waved her coffee lazily at you instead.“You’re back,” she eventually commented, her voice still rough with disuse.“Yeah! I had a really good time the other day. I like building stuff.”“So you’re not just coming back with the hopes of more snail pie?”“Okay why does everyone just think I have an inordinate love of snails.”Edyth shrugged. “You were the only one who went back for seconds.” She held up her camera, her grin impish. “I have the photos to prove it.” She scrolled through them on the digital screen, and sure enough, there you were chatting with Undyne while cradling a slice of pie to yourself like you were scared of losing it.“Man, I didn’t even realize you’d taken these.”“What can I say? Candid shots are my deal. I’ve gotten very good at being sneaky.”You laughed. “Evidently.”The two of you chatted amicably for the first half of the drive, until you glanced over while you were mid-sentence and realized that Edyth had nodded off next to you, her head lolling every time the bus hit a bump. You were impressed; that amount of dedication to napping was admirable.The rest of the morning went much the same as it had three days prior; Agent Liang took roll call at the gate, and Ross went over his orientation spiel for those of your group who were new. Regrettably, orientation did not get more interesting the second time, though you were certain that Ross had managed to slip in a few more bear puns this time around.Today your groups were working on building the foundation of the cabins, which would consist of cinder blocks on top of concrete pads on the ground that you’d levelled previously; these would hold up the floor beams.“Normally we would build a basement or a slab foundation with poured concrete,” Ross had explained at one point, “but concrete takes several weeks to cure, and we don’t want to make ‘em wait that long to get out of those tents. This may not be the longest-term solution, but these foundations should hold up until everyone can get their citizenship and move off the mountainside into proper homes.” You wondered how long he thought the monsters would have to stay up on the mountain.Lunch seemed to take longer to arrive, now that you were anticipating it so eagerly. You kept pausing in your work to glance up at the path that led to the monster encampment, and you were beside yourself with joy when you finally saw the large white figure moving through the trees.“Good afternoon, everyone!” Toriel called once she’d gotten close. Trailing behind her today were Papyrus and Undyne, but joining them was a third monster that you’d never seen before. Appearance-wise, she reminded you kind of a little yellow dinosaur. Compared to how tall the other three were, she seemed relatively rather small, and actually seemed maybe even a bit shorter than your own 5’3. She wore what looked like a labcoat and glasses, though it was hard to tell from the way she seemed determined to remain half-hidden behind Undyne.You had to check yourself and slow up a bit to prevent yourself from reaching the lunch table before the party of monsters could. “Hi Toriel!”“Hello my dear, I’m so glad to see you again! Today we brought some quiche! It is filled with cheese and water sausage.” She beckoned the other three over to start setting out the food. “You met Undyne and Papyrus the other day of course, and this is Alphys. Alphys, this was the lovely human that really adores snails.”You inwardly winced, as much from your newfound descriptor as from the phrase ‘water sausage.’ Meanwhile the small bespectacled dinosaur nodded in understanding and waved exuberantly to you, still hidden behind Undyne. You waved back and introduced yourself.“H-Hi, it’s nice to meet you! T-T-Toriel said I c-could join for lunch today s-so…” Undyne moved away from Alphys to help set up the lunch spread, and the small monster temporarily looked lost without the larger one to anchor herself behind. You decided to step in to and try to make her more comfortable.“I’m glad you did! I’m really excited to meet more monsters.”“O-Oh, y-yeah…” The two of you stared at each other for a solid four seconds. It was clear that Alphys couldn’t come up with anything further to say, and her terrified stare seemed to have left you unable to remember how to speak at all, even though you were pretty sure you’d had a solid handle on it that morning. Finally Alphys opened her mouth and only made a slightly alarmed sound before bringing up the reason she was here.“A-Actually, I w-was kind of hoping to t-take a look at one of the human phones. …W-would you mind? If I looked at your phone? I don’t want to d-do anything to it, I just want to see how it w-works. None of the humans working s-security at the c-camp will let me see theirs, but they said I c-could ask here.” You instinctively patted your pocket for your phone before remembering that Carol had it in that little bucket.“Oh! Sure thing, I don’t mind at all – I just have to go get it, we’re technically not supposed to have them on the build site, but since it’s lunchtime and you’re going to be the one using it, I don’t think anyone’ll mind.”“Amazing, th-thank you!”You took a moment to run over to Carol and Ross to plead Alphys’ case; they hardly took any convincing at all, having both warmed considerably to the monsters over the last few days of working here, and before long you were trotting back to Alphys, smartphone in hand.“Oh! Th-these look nothing like our phones,” she exclaimed, turning yours over once in your hand before passing it to you so you could unlock it for her. “N-no buttons? Interesting…”“What do your phones look like?”“Oh, wanna see?” You nodded a little too eagerly and Alphys giggled, pulling hers out of her pocket. Your eyes widened at the sight of it. It looked reminiscent of a phone you’d had when you were a teenager, if that phone had been the size of three separate phones glued together.“It’s so much bigger!”“H-heh, yeah, I guess so? O-Oh, what’s storage like on yours?”“I mean, not bad? Most things I have on it I have backed up in the Cloud.” Alphys glanced up at the sky questioningly, and you had to amend, “Oh, uh, not a real cloud, like uh, a storage space that you can access through the internet?”“Hm, interesting. W-What kinds of things can you store in it?”“Files, pictures, videos, stuff like that. Does yours have much for storage?”Alphys gave you a sly look, like she had been hoping you would ask this. “This isn’t a big thing for monsters, but Frisk told me human t-tech c-can’t do this.” You handed her phone back to her and she pressed a couple of buttons. “S-See, I have a box in here with a c-couple items in it…” She showed you the screen she was looking at, and indeed, it was labelled “BOX 1” and had a list of four items in it. She scrolled down and selected the item called “Mew Mew Kissy Cutie Season 1,” then pointed the antenna of the phone down. Right in front of you, a VHS phased into existence on the ground.“WHAT.” You stared at the VHS, then at the immensely satisfied-looking dinosaur next to you. “WHAT. What??? You can store physical objects??” You nudged the VHS with your foot, then scooped it into your hands and pulled it out of the case. Just as you suspected, it was indeed a fully-functional VHS, with a very well-loved case.“H-Heh, yeah. Apparently monster t-tech allows for some th-things that human t-tech can’t – I s-suspect it’s due to the magic we used t-to create it.”“That is INCREDIBLE.” The shock of this revelation hadn’t worn off, but you were temporarily distracted by the VHS you were still staring at. It looked kind of familiar, but it took you a moment to place it.“Hang on… I think I remember this one. Didn’t this come out at the end of the 90s?”If you thought Alphys had been excited to show you her dimensional phone storage, that was nothing compared to the expression on her face currently. You glanced up to realize she was now immediately at your elbow, and practically vibrating.“Oh my GOD you’ve heard of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie what”“Oh, uh, yeah! Actually, I think I watched this when I was super little, we uh, we rented it from the movie store. I don’t remember all that much from it, but her transformation sequence always stuck in my head.” You rather gracelessly pulled off a series of poses, while humming what you could remember of the theme that had accompanied it. You were pretty certain you’d gotten several poses out of sequence and one blatantly wrong, but that did not dampen Alphys’ brewing excitement.“oh my gosh oh my goSH OH MY GOSH YES-“ She tried to take a moment to steady herself and take a deep breath, but clearly it all got to be too much and she blurted out, “I can’t believe you’ve seen it too Frisk had never heard of it before and I knew it had come from the surface but I thought I dunno maybe that I’d found one of the only copies and only a handful of monsters have ever seen it and my anime nights haven’t quite taken off the way I would’ve liked and OH MY GOSH you said it’s been a long time since you’d seen it would you maybe wanna come over and watch it sometime????”It took a full three seconds after Alphys had stopped speaking for you to process everything she’d just said. “Uh- YES,” you blurted out, realizing she was expecting an answer, but then you had to backpedal a bit, remembering your situation. “I’d really like that! But uh, I don’t know if I can for a while yet though – currently I only have clearance to be on the mountain while I’m volunteering with Habitat, I don’t think I’ll be allowed to just like, come hang out, for a while yet.”Alphys’ expression fell for a split second before she nodded and smiled. “Th-that does make sense! I’m sure we’ll b-be able to invite select humans up here for v-visits soon though! We could hang out then? If you w-want, that is…”Alphys trailed off hopefully and you grinned and nodded. “Absolutely! As soon as I’m allowed to come hang out we’ll do a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie night.”It was clear that Alphys was trying desperately to keep her cool as she locked eyes with you, her smile growing progressively larger. “A-Awesome! W-Well, I’d best head b-back to the camp – p-plus, it looks like you might be about to miss l-lunch.”You turned to see that, indeed, one of the other volunteers had just grabbed the last slice of the quiche, and Papyrus caught you looking dejectedly at the table. “WORRY NOT, HUMAN, I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU! I SET THIS ASIDE WHEN I REALIZED THAT YOU MIGHT MISS LUNCH WHILE MAKING FRIENDS WITH ALPHYS!”“OH, TH-thank you, Papyrus! That’s really sweet of you,” you grinned, hurrying over to the table. You excitedly held out your hands for your slice of quiche as the skeleton proudly handed you a plate of snail pie. “I SAVED IT FOR YOU BECAUSE I KNOW THAT IT IS YOUR FAVOURITE!”As you ate your lunch, you contemplated the possibility that snail pie was about to become your favourite food out of necessity, because there was no way that you would ever be able to say no to Papyrus.-- 
The constant sound of water dripping was going to drive you mad, you were certain of it.

You opened your eyes just in time to be greeted by a drop landing on your cheek. The water was just slightly too warm to be refreshing, and you felt mildly repulsed – though the temperature wasn’t surprising, as everything in here was too warm. There were far too many bodies packed in here with very little air circulation.

You sat up, finally acceding that you wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon, and leaned back against the damp cavern wall. From what brief glimpses you’d gotten, much of the cave system was actually fairly dry; this part was by far the most unpleasant section, so it had seemed a logical place for the monsters to bar off as a temporary holding cell. Grouped at the other end of the cell was a smattering of other humans, all of whom seemed to be having a much more successful go at sleeping than you were.

You weren’t really bitter about being imprisoned by the monsters. Being outside of the cell earned you, what, another 100 metres of cave? Scouts had been sent to explore further but so far had found only cavern wall. The entire species was stuck between a rock and a hard magic place.

The cell was likely the safest place for you, anyway. You may have rescued a monster, but that was nothing in the face of what your people had done, and so far none of the monsters had been very keen to believe you. The unfortunate part was that the humans you were imprisoned with – staunchly loyal soldiers all, who were merely in the wrong place when the barrier went up – did in fact believe that you were a traitor. So far the worst they’d done was call you names and keep their distance, but there was plenty of time for that relationship to sour further.

After all, you were thousands of bodies trapped inside a mountain. Food was bound to become a problem eventually.

Sitting outside the magically-barred entrance was a tall insect-like monster, who’d largely ignored you all for the past several hours (or at least what you assumed had been several hours – with only torches and the glow of magic to light the cavern, it was impossible to tell the time of day.) As you watched, the monster turned his head in the direction of approaching footsteps, which was followed shortly by a voice you’d never heard before.

“Hey Fasmid, shift’s over. King Asgore wanted to see ya. Think you’re about to be promoted for your service in battle, so I’ll be taking over your shifts here.”

The monster trilled happily in a high thin voice. “Oh stars, yes! Sorry man, you’re in for some dull work.”

He scuttled off down the hall, and then the newcomer, the poor guard that would have to watch over the dull humans, sauntered into view.

You thought perhaps you were to be guarded by Death himself when you came eye-to-eye with the grinning face of a skeleton.
 
You outright screamed when you opened your eyes to see your own face staring back at you. Flailing in a panic, your ankles twisted together in your sheets, and your impact with the floor was enough of a jolt to still you a bit. Everything was okay. You’d been dreaming again. At some point in your sleep you’d sat up in bed and faced the mirror on the wall. That was all.That was all.Boy you wanted a smoke.Bundled up in a hoodie, you perched out on the front stoop of your building, an unlit cigarette dangling between your fingers. Rather than light it, you simply twirled it, tapping it frantically against your leg.The skeleton in your dream hadn’t seemed like Papyrus, but he also hadn’t quite looked like a human skeleton. You’d once read somewhere that the human brain wasn’t able to imagine new faces to populate your dreams, and so every face you saw in a dream was a face you’d once seen in real life. That had some terrifying implications. You twirled your fingers just a little too fast and the cigarette flew off into a nearby shrub. You sighed. That was for the best. Pocketing your lighter, you headed back inside for the night.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The rest of your week had been thus far fairly uneventful. Work was whatever, and Rosa was too busy being consumed by both her new motorcycle girlfriend and, recently, the wall colour of the rest of her apartment to hang out very much. Sunday promised to be a blissful respite from the monotony of the rest of your week, but regrettably time was still flowing in its regular fashion and so was several days away. By the time Edyth texted you Thursday evening you were overjoyed enough to entirely miss the fact that you hadn’t given her your number.xxx: Heyyyyyyyyyy I just got back from camp for the day and I gotta say, you missed a good lunch todayxxx: well it wasn’t really much of a lunch. It was donuts. They brought us donutsxxx: but you’ll be glad to know you didn’t miss snail pie todayxxx: oh btw its EdythYou: haha I was wondering.Edyth: yeah I ran into Jared when I was picking up my cheque at the HFH office this morning, I pestered him until he gave me your numberEdyth: anyway listen I’m gonna be up front with youEdyth: I’m not really from Ebott and I don’t know a lot of people here, but you seem coolEdyth: and did you want to like, go for a coffee sometime????Edyth: please I Need friendsEdyth: that sounds so desperate but I’m just gonna lean into itYou: hahaha shitYou: yeah I’d definitely be down for coffee!Edyth: siiiiiiiiiiiiiiEdyth: iiiiiiiiiiick.Edyth: (Sparkles )(Hot Beverage )(Clown )You texted back and forth with Edyth just long enough to settle on a coffee spot to meet at the next afternoon before going back to the nature documentary you were watching. You felt immensely pleased; Edyth seemed really fun, and with Rosa more preoccupied than usual, you’d definitely been feeling a lull in your social life. Plus you never could say no to new friends.The next afternoon you’d grabbed a coffee and were settled down at a table in the coffee shop window, a book in hand for while you waited for Edyth to show. You didn’t have to wait long; a few minutes later some yelling had alerted you to the fact that Edyth had arrived, stopping her bike just shy of hitting some of the coffee shop’s patio tables, and the patrons sitting at them. She locked her bike up nonchalantly and strolled into the coffee shop like narrowly avoiding a collision was something she did on the regular. Maybe it was.After grabbing a coffee of her own, she dropped down into the seat across from you, tossing her backpack into one of the other available chairs. “Hey dudette! Hopefully I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”“Nope! Plus I had some reading I’ve been meaning to catch up on.” You waved your book to demonstrate what you meant, and she reached across to steady your hand and squint at the title.“Nice! What’s it about?”“It’s kind of a gothic horror – a man suddenly becomes a prolific and celebrated author after suffering the death of his wife by murder. There’s a big chunk where the police go on a manhunt after the brother, because they suspect him of killing her, but it’s only when the man himself dies that they realize he’d had her locked in a secret room writing his works for him the whole time.”Edyth scrunched up her nose. “Gnarly. When does that take place?”“Late 1800’s, turn of the century sort of deal.”She nodded. “It’d have to be, I feel like you’d never get away with that sort of thing nowadays.”You laughed. “Have you put a lot of thought into imprisoning your wife to make your millions?”Edyth grinned, before adopting a cool expression and shrugging. “Gotta think of my future, sis." Then she waggled her eyebrows at you and added, "Let me know if you're lookin' to be a wife.” You chuckled.“I'll see how it fits with my life plan. Oh, so you mentioned you don’t know a lot of people here – how long have you been in Ebott for?”She grinned wide at you. “Two weeks.”It took a moment for the significance of that statement to sink in. “Wait… Did you move here just for the Habitat project?”“Sure did,” Edyth answered, taking a sip of her tea. “I’m pretty used to moving around for gigs, and this one was hella worth it. I was only living a coupla hours away, anyway.”“Damn,” you responded with awe. “I mean, I guess I never really considered how… well, prestigious? Shooting the build site right now would be.”“Absolutely!” Edyth set her drink down and nodded vigorously to emphasize her point. “I’m the only one allowed to photograph the camp right now! Aside from the news crews, I’m really the only media allowed to be this close to the monsters. It’s fucking amazing. I can’t imagine what incredibly respected photographers I beat out to get this job.” She grinned at you. “It’s a good thing you’re becoming my friend at this pivotal moment in my life, because HOO BOY am I gonna be famous.”You laughed. “Well I hope you remember us little people when you become a big hotshot photographer.”Edyth shrugged, Cheshire grin still present. “I’ll do what I can. Whatabout you, though? What do you do for a living?”“Freelance stuff too – graphic design mostly, some illustration here and there.”Edyth’s eyes widened. “Oh shit son! Do you have a card? A website? I wanna see!”You pulled up your site on your phone and passed it to Edyth, who scrolled through it, face as close to the screen as she possibly could be without going cross-eyed. “Dude! This shit is dope!” She passed your phone back to you. “Seriously, you’re good! I’ll have to get you to do my card for me the next time I need a redesign.”You smiled. You were genuinely quite complimented, but you played it up by pressing your hand to your chest and gasping sharply. “Moi? Designing the business card for the professional photographer Edyth Worth? Why it’d be an honour.”Edyth laughed, arms stretched out as she basked in your praise. “Yes, I could get used to that.”The two of you chatted a while longer, about Edyth’s first impressions of Ebott, about your taste in art, and about your shared passion for weird indie dating sims. The conversation was just starting to wind down when a man stumbled into the coffee shop. His eyes were red-rimmed, and you could smell the booze even from where you sat.The two of you watched as he approached the front cash, scanning the racks of newspapers and magazines that sat beneath it. The baristas had just become aware of his presence when he started to growl something under his breath, his voice becoming progressively louder. When you could finally make out his words, you rather wished you couldn’t.“-hhhhHHHDAMN monsters,” he jabbed his finger towards a particular headline, which read, “CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY FOR EBBOT’S NEW RESIDENTS.” “They think they can just CLAW their way outta that DAMN FORSAKEN MOUNTAIN-“ at this point a barista began to quietly ask the man to leave, but he simply backed away from the counter, and, unfortunately, right towards you. You started to rise to move out of the way of his path when he grabbed your arm.“YOU, girl, canyou BELIEVE people’re just lettin’ ‘em live up there? The GOVERNMENT is just lettin’ em live up there?” He hiccuped and it took all you had not to flinch yourself three feet away. “Just thinkof what a monster’d do to a nice pretty girl like ya-““OKAY that’s enough,” Edyth interjected and yanked at the man’s wrist until he let go of you. One of the baristas appeared behind the man to corral him out of the shop, while another was behind the counter, on the phone with police. You and Edyth watched him get escorted outside, where he proceeded to stumble away, still muttering to himself.“Fuck. Sorry about that. That’s a shitty note to leave our coffee friendship date on.”You shrugged and managed a chuckle, trying to appear nonchalant about the whole thing. “Well everything that came before it was nice.” You watched quietly as he finally shuffled out of view of the coffee shop window. “…Is that… That’s not… how people feel about the monsters, is it?”Edyth frowned. “…I dunno. I haven’t seen a lot of hatred expressed… that overtly. At least not, like, offline.”You nodded. “Yeah… I guess it was just one drunk guy. Probably not a reliable indicator of public opinion.” Edyth was just about to respond when one of the baristas came over, holding a fistful of cards.“Hey uh… Sorry about that. Here’s uh… coupons for some free espresso drinks. Are you… okay?” She looked worried that you might blame her for what had happened, but you only nodded.“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for the, uh, coffee coupons though.”She gave you a watery sort of smile and drifted away, and Edyth turned to you, her trademark grin back on her face. “Freeeee espresso drinks! I’m getting lattes here for forever.”You and Edyth said your goodbyes and left the coffee shop, going your separate ways. Despite what you’d told the barista, you were still fairly shook up with the whole ordeal – not only because you’d been harassed by a drunk stranger, but because of the sentiments he’d voiced as well. You hoped he was an anomaly in that. You were interrupted from your thoughts by your phone buzzing in your pocket.Rosa: HEY WHO WAS THATYou: who was whoRosa: THAT PERSON YOU WERE HAVING COFFEE WITHYou: Edyth! she’s doing photography at the build siteYou: also wtf how did you see us you creepRosa: my eyes are everywhereRosa: jk Charlotte took me for a spin and we passed by, I saw you in the windowRosa: you better not be trying to replace me just because I’ve got a cool new girlfriend nowYou: girlYou: I could neverYou: you’ve had a girlfriend for like two hours, I can’t possibly move that fastRosa responded with a string of incomprehensible emojis, and you laughed. There would always be shitty people in the world, but at least you had good friends to keep you up.When lunchtime rolled around that Sunday at the build site, you were ecstatic to see Papyrus, and not just for the magically delicious lunch he and Toriel were bearing. As soon as the food had been served, you sidled up to him, clutching the red plastic cup of cider that Toriel had poured for you. “Hey Papyrus, how’s your day going?” you chirped, sipping at your cider.“VERY WELL, THANK YOU! I HAD A PLEASANT MORNING TRAINING WITH UNDYNE AND THEN THIS AFTERNOON KING ASGORE SAID HE HAS GOOD NEWS FOR US! I BELIEVE IT IS ABOUT THE RAPIDLY IMPROVING RELATIONS BETWEEN MONSTERS AND HUMANS.” He finished tidying up the empty pans from lunch and then glanced sidelong at you. “BUT WHAT OF YOU? YOU LOOK LIKE YOU MAY HAVE SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND, AND SPEAKING TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL HELP YOU WITH IT!”You coughed on your cider a little bit – this skeleton was razor sharp. Clearing your lungs, you said, “Actually, yeah. I, uh. I was just kind of wondering… um, how many different kinds of monsters are there?” You glanced over at Toriel, then continued, “I mean, you and Toriel and Undyne and Alphys all look totally different, but uh, I’ve seen King Asgore on TV and he looks a lot like Toriel.”“AH YES, THAT IS TRUE! WELL, MONSTERS ARE MADE UP ENTIRELY OF MAGIC! IT MAKES UP OUR WHOLE PHYSICAL FORM. AND SO OUR PHYSICAL FORM IS THE BEST VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF WHO WE ARE ON THE INSIDE! AND JUST AS YOU MAY KNOW TWO PEOPLE WHOSE PERSONALITIES ARE SIMILAR, SO THERE ARE SOMETIMES SIMILAR-LOOKING MONSTERS, WITH KEY DIFFERENCES PARTICULAR TO THEM!““So then… can how you look change, based on how you’re feeling?”“NOT REALLY! DOES WHO YOU ARE AS A PERSON CHANGE BASED ON HOW YOU ARE FEELING?”You shook your head and sipped at your cider thoughtfully. “No, I guess not.”“EXACTLY! SAME FOR MONSTERS. ONLY FOR US, HOW WE LOOK ON THE OUTSIDE ALWAYS PERFECTLY REPRESENTS WHO WE ARE ON THE INSIDE. I UNDERSTAND THAT THAT’S NOT ALWAYS THE CASE FOR HUMANS.”You shook your head again. “No, not always.” You both were quiet for a moment, before finally you asked the question that you’d really been gearing up for.“Are there other monsters that look like you?”“YOU MEAN, ARE THERE OTHER SKELETON MONSTERS?”You nodded. ‘Skeleton’ seemed like it might be a fairly human-centric word, so you’d avoided using it, but it was good to know that Papyrus identified himself that way.“I BELIEVE THAT THERE USED TO BE MORE, BUT I NEVER KNEW THEM! NOW THERE’S ONLY MYSELF AND MY BROTHER.”You weren’t entirely sure what answer you’d been expecting, but you didn’t think that that was it. “Your brother?” “YES! MY BROTHER SANS! HE USED TO APPLY HIMSELF BUT LATELY HAS GOTTEN TO BE SUCH A LAZYBONES!” You gaped at Papyrus by way of a response, and eventually he simply continued on without you. “PERHAPS SOMEDAY YOU MIGHT MEET HIM! I DOUBT I CAN CONVINCE HIM TO HELP OUT WITH LUNCH, BUT IF YOU ARE ABLE TO COME VISIT US AT THE CAMP YOU MAY RUN INTO HIM.”You nodded again. All you could think of was the skeletal face from your dream. That face didn’t look anything like Papyrus – you wondered how different skeleton faces could possibly be.“Yeah, that’d be cool!” you finally managed, taking another swig of your cider.“I AM GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU’RE ENJOYING YOUR SPIDER CIDER!”“Thanks! It’s really good,” you said, before the name he’d given it finally caught up with you. “…Uh, but, sorry, what did you call it?”“SPIDER CIDER!”“Oh. …That’s kind of a weird name for it, isn’t it?”“NOT AT ALL, ACTUALLY,” Papyrus responded, and with that he scooped up the basket of pans and plates and marched off after Toriel, leaving you to stare balefully into your nearly empty cup.You readily welcomed the end of the build day. As much as you were enjoying your volunteer work, this was far more physical labour than you were accustomed to doing (read: any physical labour at all) and your muscles were getting a hell of a workout. The foundation for the homes had been completed, so today you’d been constructing the floor joists. You and the other volunteers lined up to retrieve your cell phones and climb back onto the bus when you felt someone grab your hand. Had you the energy for surprise, you might’ve jumped; as it was, you looked down and then followed the new arm up to see who it belonged to. It was Edyth.“’Sup, dude! Man, you look wiped,” she chirped, adjusting her camera bag with her other hand.“Yeah, I’ll sleep well tonight,” you responded, then glanced back at her, “Where were you today? I didn’t see much of you.”Edyth grinned wide, the delight clear in her eyes. “Oh man I had the best day. I’ll tell you about it when we get on the bus.” After that she refused to say any more, and just bounced excitedly behind you in the lineup.The moment your butt touched the seat Edyth was practically leaning into you. “OKAY so yeah, I wasn’t at the construction site much today. And that’s becaaaauuuuse-“ She held up her camera so you could see the photo she’d pulled up on the viewfinder: it was of the monster king, Asgore, tending a bed of yellow flowers in front of a (very tall) orange tent. “I was at the monster camp all day.”“Wow! Edyth, that’s awesome! Had you been there before?” You took the camera and began scrolling through the photos. You saw pictures of Toriel, Undyne, Papyrus, and Alphys, as well as a number of monsters you had yet to meet.“Nope! Only a handful of news crews have been there so far, and that’s really just been for news conferences. I got to spend all day there. And walk around! And meet people! Fuck it was just the goddamned BEST day.”You continued to scroll through Edyth’s photos as she chattered on beside you. She was obviously a very talented photographer, and had taken many good candid shots of the monsters going about their business within the camp. You could see monsters that looked like frogs and volcanoes, and even a few that looked like bunnies (that you tried to scroll past fairly quickly.) You’d really started to clip through them at a decent pace when you registered something that made you stop, and you had to scroll back a few photos to take another good look at what you’d seen.It was a photo of the camp. In the foreground was a bear family, who seemed to be playing some sort of board game on the ground in front of their tent. A few more tents littered the background of the photo, all brilliant blues and oranges. You squinted at something in the background, then tapped Edyth’s arm, who was still talking about the amazing day she’d had.“Sorry Edyth, uh, how do you zoom?”“Oh!” She reached over a pointed to a dial on the right hand side of the camera. “This lil guy here. Oh, that’s a cool shot, eh? That bear family was so nice, they offered to teach me this game-“You used the dial to scroll into the background of the photo, a knot forming in the pit of your stomach. Once you’d finally zoomed in enough to make out what you were looking at, your mouth had gone dry.In the background of the photo, poking his head out from one of the tents, was the skeleton from your dream.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Jered: Hey sorry I’ve been AWOL, work’s been nutsJered: Can I take you out to breakfast this morning? You: sure! I like breakfastJered: Great. I’ll pick you up in an hour.It was a full twenty minutes later, once you’d finally woken up, that you fully realized what you’d just agreed to.“Fuuuuck,” you moaned softly, sullenly brushing your teeth. What business did Jered have texting you at eight in the morning? He knew what your sleep schedule was like.“Well,” you reasoned to yourself, picking out some clean and mildly stylish clothes, “I’ll just have a good breakfast with him, and then I’ll tell him that we shouldn’t keep seeing each other.”“Yeah, that’s perfectly reasonable,” you agreed, doing your hair. You felt relieved at having a plan.“On the other hand, though,” you countered, putting in a cute pair of earrings, “he’s gonna treat it like a date, and he’s gonna try and pay for breakfast. And that all kind of sucks if you know you’re just going to break it off at the end.”“UGH that’s true,” you lamented, putting on your shoes. By the time you realized you should just break it off with Jered and forgo the whole breakfast ordeal, he was pulling up to the curb in front of your apartment. Your phone chimed.Jered: Beep beep!You took a breath to collect yourself and then marched out to the curb, where Jered was sitting in his car. He waved to you and unlocked the passenger door, but it didn’t look like he was going to get out. You sighed, then opened the door.“Good morning, sunshine! Your breakfast chariot is here.”“Uh, yeah, good morning, uh, listen, Jered-““Hey, whatcha doing? Get in the car. Breakfast!”“Ah- okay” His direct order threw you for a loop, and you plunked down in the car and closed your door. Shit. You had to do this now, before you lost your nerve. You glanced at his cheery smile once, and then planted your gaze onto the dash. “Jered listen. I really enjoyed our date, and you’re great, but I don’t think this is going to work.”You tried to peek at Jered’s face from the corner of you eye before resuming your laser focus on the dashboard.“Oh. How come?”You chanced another glance over at him. “I’m sorry… Just… the feelings aren’t there for me.”He sighed and sat back in the seat. “Okay.” There was a terrible second of uncomfortable silence before he added, “…Do you still want to go for breakfast?”You couldn’t stop yourself from fully swiveling to stare at him. “Do… you still want to go for breakfast?” That sounded like an awful idea, but you really love did breakfast.“I mean, yeah? Like, we’re still friends. It’ll be fine.”“I mean… okay, I guess.” You settled back into your seat and did up the seatbelt. He said it’d be fine. It’d totally be fine.My god, you would follow somebody into any old wine cellar for the promise of a good breakfast.Rosa: you did not You: yuppp Rosa: holy shitRosa: holY SHITRosa: DUDERosa: i think maybe you should just straight up never date againRosa: but maybe i shouldn’t judge yet. how was it???You: no you had it the first time, I should be banned from datingYou: Rosa it was TERRIBLEYou: we just stared at each otherYou: the food took so longYou: we had nothing to talk aboutYou: he hardly said two words to meYou: two people have never eaten breakfast so fast beforeRosa: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaRosa: i’m so sorry. this sounds like a fucking tragedy You: it was singularly the worst thing I’ve ever experiencedRosa: i’m gonna quote that in the livejournalRosa: BUT look on the bright side. its over and done withRosa: AND you get to keep your new monster children in the divorceYou: that is a weird way to think of a seven foot tall skeletonRosa: (Skull )(Baby )You chuckled and put your phone down so you could focus on your work, but a second later it was buzzing again, this time from a number you didn’t recognize.xxx: Hey! *waves*xxx: This is Alphys  (＾ω＾)You: Alphys! Hi!!You: how’s it going?Alphys: It’s going well, thanks! o(*>ω<*)o I hope you don’t mind that I got your number off your phone the other day! I would’ve texted sooner but I had to figure out how to make our phones pick up human cell signals.You: oh man! I totally don’t mind at all, I’m glad you textedAlphys: Oh yay (✿◠‿◠)You: so what’s up? How’s the campAlphys: It’s good! Actually I have some really good news!Alphys: Camp security has cleared you to join us forAlphys: *does a drum roll*Alphys: ANIME NIGHTAlphys: (=ↀωↀ=)   The drive up the mountain was far bumpier than you remembered it being. You contemplated your previous easy bus rides, hardly bouncing in your seat at all, as meanwhile your car dipped down into one pothole and then climbed out the other side. Were you on the wrong road? Of course not. There was only one road up this way.The gate to the camp was an incredibly welcome sight to you, as was the face of stern Agent Liang inside the gatehouse. There was no hint of recognition in his eyes as he strolled out to meet your car, but you smiled brightly up at him anyways.“Good afternoon, Agent Liang!” you chirruped.“Good afternoon, Ms –“ he cut off to glance down at his ever-present clipboard, and with the length of time it took him to find your name, you were certain that he was purposely demonstrating that you two were not and would never be friends.“Ah. Here you are.” He wrote something down, then looked up again to meet your eyes. You weren’t certain you’d seen him blink once since you’d driven up. “Cell phone, please.”“Oh, uh, you mean I still have to surr-““Yes.”You visibly flinched as Agent Liang cut you off, then grabbed your phone from the cupholder next to you and passed it to him through the window.“Thank you. I assume I don’t have to reacquaint you with the rules. Have a pleasant evening.” With that he strolled away to open the gate. As you drove past you insisted on waving to him, though at this point your smile was becoming a touch more forced.You parked your car at the entrance to the build site, then strolled past the billboard frame and through the lot, empty save for a couple of guards posted at the corners. It was already 6:30, so you’d assumed the HFH crew had already gone home for the day. As you crossed the site towards the wooded path, you could feel the anxiety in your stomach growing – this was the first time you’d see the monster campsite. You’d see more monsters than just the ones who volunteered to bring lunch. You’d see the tents they’d been calling home since they’d arrived on the surface.Maybe you’d see a glimpse of the Underground.A heart wrenchingly vivid image of the inside of a prison cell deep in a cave suddenly flashed across your mind, and the anxiety in your stomach intensified so badly you visibly shuddered. No, that wouldn’t happen. You wouldn’t see the Underground. It’s not like the monsters would build their camps right around the entrance to the place they’d just escaped. Breathe.You were practically sweating by the time you reached the edge of the build site, which you were certain would not be a good look for any of the monsters you would be meeting for the first time. Before you went any further, you stopped to crouch next to a tree and compose yourself.“That was just a dream. It wasn’t real. That was just a dream. It wasn’t real.” You repeated your new mantra to yourself a few times over, coupling it with some deep breathing, before finally you felt you could go to the monster camp for the first time without making an impossibly terrible impression.“HUMAN! DID YOU GET LOST?”All hope of a good impression was dashed with the yelp that emerged from you. You weren’t even aware a person could make a sound like that. You looked up from where you’d fallen to see a seven-foot tall skeleton towering over you.“Papyrus! Oh my god sorry, you startled me.”“NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE! I UNDERSTAND HOW FEARSOME SUCH AN IMPOSING AND HANDSOME SKELETON SUCH AS I COULD BE!” He stepped back to pose, his scarf fluttering in a passing breeze. “I CAME TO LOOK FOR YOU! DR. ALPHYS TOLD ME YOU WOULD BE ON YOUR WAY SOON, AND IT IS NEARLY THE ANIME HOUR!”You crawled out of the dirt, brushing yourself off as you did so. “Uh, it’s a good thing you did! I, uh, got a little lost,” you fibbed, trying to cover for your near-breakdown in the woods. “Thanks for coming to look for me!”“OF COURSE! WE CANNOT BEGIN ANIME NIGHT WITHOUT YOU!” Papyrus began to stride back towards the camp, and you were forced to scuttle next to him to keep up.“Uh, how many people are joining us?”“MYSELF, DR. ALPHYS OF COURSE, UNDYNE BECAUSE NOW THEY ARE A COUPLE AND ARE PRACTICALLY INSEPARABLE TO THE POINT OF INCONVENIENCE, AND FRISK!”You felt the anxious knot in your stomach tighten. You knew that Frisk was literally a child, but also they were the Monster Ambassador, and quite frankly your brain seemed to be latching onto any excuse to be nervous at this point.“That sounds fun!” you squawked.“YES, IT SHALL BE! I ALSO TRIED TO CONVINCE MY BROTHER TO JOIN US, BUT HE SAID THAT HE WOULD BE BUSY TRYING A NEW FORM OF EXERCISE. I AM SO PROUD OF HIM! HE IS USUALLY SO LAZY, BUT HE SAID THAT TONIGHT HE WOULD BE DOING SOMETHING CALLED DIDDLY-SQUATS! I AM ONLY NOW REALIZING THAT THAT WAS A JOKE!”You snorted out a surprised laugh, and you weren’t sure if it was because the joke was actually funny or out of the relief that Papyrus’ brother wouldn’t be joining you. The image of that skeleton peeking out of the tent had haunted you just a tiny bit, and you weren’t certain you could handle meeting a monster that looked so much like one you’d been dreaming about.And then your nerves gave way to awe as you realized you’d finally reached the end of the wooded path, and the monster camp lay before you.It, well, it looked like a refugee camp. The orange and blue tents were ordered into neat 6x4 blocks, with wider roads running between them. That was an image you’d seen before, though admittedly not one you were intimately familiar with. The occupants of the tents, however, were a sight utterly foreign to you.You had no idea the wide variations that monsterkind was capable of, even having seen the news segments and Edyth’s photos. Everything from bears to carrots to lizards to airplanes were going about their daily lives in front of you. Five feet away you could swear you could overhear a pile of rocks having a conversation. One of them was even wearing a hat.“IMPRESSIVE, IS IT NOT?” Papyrus beamed at you, interpreting the awed look on your face. “OF COURSE, THE TENTS ARE NOT AS IMPRESSIVE AS THE HOMES WE HAD BELOW THE SURFACE. BUT IT CERTAINLY IS WONDROUS TO SEE SO MANY OF US TOGETHER, AND OUT OF THE UNDERGROUND!”“It definitely is,” you agreed, gazing around as you followed close behind him.You knew that by this point you were far from the first human that the monsters had seen, but you weren’t getting a small number of stares back yourself. You supposed that it would be pretty rare for a regular civilian to be wandering around the camp. In fact, you were pretty sure that you were the first one to actually get invited up to just, like, hang out.It took you a moment to register that Papyrus was leading you through the alleys of the camp towards a long, low building. As you got closer you realized that it must have been built out of a shipping container.“WELCOME TO OUR COMMUNITY ROOM!” Papyrus exclaimed, brandishing open the door in a dramatic swoop that you had to duck out of the way of. You peeked inside to see a tidily furnished room with a tv, a couch and some beanbag chairs, and a little kitchenette at the far end. Above the couch was a messy cross-stitch that read “HOME IS WHERE THE SOUL IS.” Crouched in front of the tv was Alphys, who was fiddling with the remote control.“Th-they said that if I turned to channel 3 – there we go!”She sat back as a shooting star appeared onscreen, signifying the beginning of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie’s intro, and was abruptly paused in its trail as Alphys again hurriedly pressed a button on the remote. “Whoops! G-gotta wait ‘t-til everyone’s settled…” Seated behind her on the couch was Undyne, who turned to flash a grin in your direction as you and Papyrus entered. You were still not certain whether it was fully friendly or more of a warning gesture.“Hey nerds! Welcome to the animation station. The train is leaving soon so CHOO FUCKIN’ CHOO!”“Undyne!” Alphys chided, getting up from the floor. “L-language! Frisk will be here soon.”“You’re right, my bad.” Undyne clasped her hands in her lap and straightened her back, before enunciating clearly, “Choo fucking choo.” Alphys tried to roll her eyes in exasperation but just giggled instead and Undyne looked positively elated.“I’m glad you c-could make it!” Alphys turned to you, waving you closer. “T-take a s-seat wherever you want! W-we just g-gotta wait f-for Frisk to show and th-then we can start. I invited T-Toriel too, but she said she and Asgore have some p-paperwork to do.”“Pshhh whatever, that just means MORE ANIME FOR US!” Undyne hollered from the couch. “Undyne, th-that’s not how anime works-” Alphys had just started to say when she was interrupted by the door opening behind you. You turned to see Toriel opening it wide and ferrying in a small child, who waved shyly at you.“FRISK,” both Undyne and Papyrus yelled in unison – or rather, you think maybe Undyne yelled and Papyrus just said in his regular speaking voice. Frisk, who’d seemed rather shy and hesitant to enter the room while waving at you, suddenly threw their hands up in the air and bounded in, taking two strides before fully leaping onto the couch. Their landing bounced Undyne, who let out a hearty laugh.Toriel watched from the doorway with a warm smile. “Frisk, don’t be rude to our guest.”Frisk turned to you from their new seat in the dead center of the couch and smiled brightly, obviously feeling more confident in the company of all their friends. “Hi,” they greeted you quietly.You smiled back and waved. “Hey,” you said, and introduced yourself, though you were fairly certain at this point that this introduction had been a point of conversation between Frisk and Toriel earlier.“Well I wish I could join you all,” Toriel lamented, “but Asgore and I have some meetings to prep for. I couldn’t even bake you proper movie night snacks, so these chisps will have to do.” She handed you a bag and your comment of, “aren’t they called chips” died in your throat as you read the label.Hm. Chisps.“Have a good night!” Toriel called, and was met with a score of “goodnights” from your group as she closed the door. As you stood there awkwardly, Papyrus retrieved a bowl from the kitchenette.“FOR THE CHISPS! THIS WAY NO ONE WILL CRINKLE THE BAG SO THAT OTHERS MISS KEY DIALOGUE, UNDYNE.” Undyne grinned in a manner that told you she had no regrets while you emptied the chisps into the bowl Papyrus provided you.By the time you joined the others, they’d assembled themselves with Frisk planted between Alphys and Papyrus and with Undyne seated on a beanbag in front of Alphys. You in turn pulled a beanbag up just next to Papyrus’ legs and handed the bowl of chisps off to Frisk. Undyne immediately grabbed a handful, but also reached over to crinkle the chisp bag that was still in your hand, earning her a glare from Papyrus.“It’s just not the same experience without the sound,” she smiled around a mouthful of chisp.“I AGREE. IT IS MUCH MORE PLEASANT WITHOUT IT,” Papyrus replied, to which Undyne responded by crunching loudly, chisp bits flying. Frisk was grinning ear to ear, head swivelling while shovelling chisps into their mouth.“UNDYNE! THAT IS HARDLY APPROPRIATE TABLE MANNERS TO DEMONSTRATE IN FRONT OF FRISK AND OUR GUEST!”“Good thing we’re not at a table, then!”“I SWEAR I WILL CUT YOU OFF FROM THE SNACK FOODS!”“Uh-oh,” Alphys quietly murmured from the other end of the couch, and then said louder, “I th-think a long slow cooktime is the best way to make p-pasta!”“What?! No! Babe!!” “THAT IS JUST PATENTLY FALSE!”Alphys smiled cheekily at you as Papyrus and Undyne settled in again; this seemed to be a common ritual for them. Frisk was giggling so hard they were snorting soggy chisp pieces out their nose, and nodded appreciatively when you handed them a tissue from your bag.“S-So, you said you’ve seen this before, right?” Alphys asked, addressing you. You nodded while waving your hand in a seesaw motion.“Kind of! I don’t remember a whole lot about it, I watched it when I was a kid. I was probably about your age, actually, Frisk,” you added.“That can’t have been that long ago, you seem pretty young to me,” Frisk quipped suddenly, waggling their brows at you, and you nearly choked trying not to laugh. Where had that come from? That seemed so different from the kid who didn’t want to enter the room with you. You let out a chuckle and grinned at them. “Long enough ago! Thanks though, Frisk, I’m flattered.”“Okay enOUGH, ANIME TIME,” Undyne hollered, to which Alphys blurted out “-WAIT no I brought drinks-“ and scuttled over to the fridge to bring back a bottle of pop and some plastic cups for everyone. “It’s not anime night without soda!” She generously doled out cups of pop to everyone. After the “chisps,” you were curious about the label of this snack food; stealing a glance at the bottle as Alphys handed you your drink, you noticed that the label just seemed to say “POP,” which, well, wasn’t not weird.The addition of the pop seemed to properly satisfy all requirements, and finally Anime Night could get started. Alphys settled back in on the couch and hit the Play button, and the shooting star onscreen resumed its path. A moment later it panned to an iceberg on the water, the titular cutie silhouetted inside.“Why is she in an iceberg?” Undyne broke out, gesturing to the tv. “I thought you said she was a regular human.”“Actually, yeah,” you added, shuffling in your beanbag to lean against the end of the couch, “I remember wondering about that as a kid.”“It’s a metaphor! For the way th-that her f-friends help her to break out of her emotional shell, because when the showstartsoffshe’ssoshyand- Uh. Sh! No t-talking. You’ll just have to s-see for yourselves.” Alphys leaned forward to playfully bat at the side of Undyne’s head, but Undyne easily caught Alphy’s hand and kissed her palm, while Frisk made kissy noises at the pair until Alphys was blushing and Undyne was turning to throw chisps at the kid.“HONESTLY YOU PEOPLE ARE TERRIBLE TO TRY AND ENJOY THE ARTS WITH!” Papyrus vented, before turning to you and adding, “EXCEPT FOR YOU, HUMAN! I KNOW AT LEAST YOU WILL NOT BEHAVE LIKE THESE HOOLIGANS!”You just couldn’t help it. Never once breaking your gaze from Papyrus’ face, you reached over and grabbed a tiny chisp from the bowl, before gently flicking it at him.Papyrus’ squawk was so shrill and indignant that Frisk didn’t stop laughing for a full seven minutes.So far, you really liked Anime Nights.It was halfway through the season’s turning point, “EPISODE 9: KISSES ARE NOT ALWAYS CUTE,” that you realized you’d had altogether too much pop. You glanced around surreptitiously, but as you feared, the shipping container you were all sitting in did not come equipped with a washroom.“Uh – I’ll be right back,” you whispered quietly to the group, who were all too absorbed in the show to properly respond, and so you were met with just some distracted nods. You took that as good enough, and slipped as quietly as you could out of your beanbag chair and through the door of the container.It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you that it had gotten dark in the four hours you’d been watching anime, and yet you blinked up at the night sky as you wrapped your arms around yourself. The nights were chilly up here on the mountainside. All the more reason to find a washroom and return quickly to the warmth of the anime shipping container.Where would a washroom be? You looked around from side to side, but for the most part, all you could see were tents. …Did monsters even have the same bodily needs as humans? Your initial reaction was “of course,” but you realized quickly that you actually had no idea. That would explain the distinct lack of public washrooms, for a camp so large.But of course there were humans that worked there also, and it was in your favour that one such human was currently patrolling the rows of tents not too far from where you were currently standing. You jogged over to them, giving a slight wave when they did a doubletake, realizing that the person approaching them wasn’t a monster.“Uh, hi,” you greeted them.“Evening,” the guard replied, glancing at you suspiciously. “…Can I help you?”“I’m uh, I’m watching anime with Alphys and Papyrus?” you responded, immediately realising that that was not what they’d asked, nor was it something that would get you the washroom you desperately needed. “I was wondering if there’s a bathroom around.”The guard nodded, the apprehensive expression not leaving their face. “Of course. There’s a row of portable toilets down that way, past the tents.” They pointed back in the direction they’d just come from.“Of course. Thank you!” You immediately began walking in the direction in which they’d pointed, and quickly realized that the tents stretched on for a gooood distance. It wasn’t long before you’d broken out into a low jog, but even at that pace it’d be a couple minutes before you’d reach the end of the blocks of tents.You needed to exercise more, you mentally chided yourself, practically winded as you reached the relatively short line of portable toilets. Maybe you could start jogging in the mornings, before work. You were contemplating how early you would have to get up for that when you realized that someone else was up ahead; a short someone who seemed to be out for a stroll. Even from behind, he struck you as being incredibly, heart-stoppingly familiar.“OH,” you said loudly, that being the only thing you could think to say.At that, the monster turned to face you. He looked identical to your dream, only now he was wearing a worn blue hoodie and fluffy slippers instead of a guard uniform.“uh,” he said as you stared at him.And then suddenly you were no longer staring at him, because he was no longer there.
What the fuck.
You were so surprised you nearly fell backwards. You were certain you hadn’t even blinked. One second he was there and the next it seemed like no one had ever been there at all.“What the fuck,” you whispered to yourself, and then louder, hoping he’d hear and explain himself, “what the fuck what the fuck.”You’d just wanted to pee when you’d run into a skeleton that you had previously seen in a dream and now was here and then very suddenly was not here. No one showed up to explain this to you and so you spent the next few minutes mentally floundering next to the porta-potty, before you finally pulled yourself together enough to do your business and go rejoin the others.Your absence was hardly noticed, you realized as you slipped back into the shipping container. By this point they’d moved into the emotional “EPISODE 10: MAD MEW MEW,” and you returned to find Alphys fully weeping into a tissue. By the glisten in Undyne’s eye, the little yellow monster wasn’t the only one affected, but Undyne’s stern expression dared you to say anything about it. Frisk had fallen asleep draped across Papyrus’ lap, hand still submerged in the chisp bowl, and Papyrus was equally unconscious, head back against the top of the couch, mouth wide open. You supposed it was but for the grace of being a skeleton that he wasn’t snoring. You lowered yourself back into your beanbag chair and tried to reimmerse yourself in the world of Mew Mew.You were admittedly pretty distracted for the final two episodes of the season. You were trying desperately to focus on Mew Mew’s revelation that her mind-control might not be strictly ethical, but all you could think of was the skeleton out by the bathrooms.He looked identical to your dream. Just full-out identical. You’d suspected that after seeing Edyth’s photo, but you couldn’t really deny it any longer.But that was ridiculous, right? They were just dreams. Not flashbacks. For pete’s sake, your dream self used magic. She fought against the monsters in a war. A war that, by Asgore’s talk of the imprisonment of monsters, would’ve had to have happened a thousand years ago.That’s right! A thousand years ago. So if, even IF, these dreams were not… just dreams, well, surely nothing could be over a thousand years old.You must have seen Papyrus’s brother lurking in the background of a news clip. And with all the excitement lately, your brain was coming up with wildly entertaining but ultimately fictional dreams.And he definitely hadn’t just disappeared. That was flat-out impossible. You’d probably just scared him, and he’d run behind one of the bathrooms. Obviously.Of course that was it. Anything else was ridiculous.You were starting to feel much better as the show wrapped up. You turned to glance at the others to find Frisk and Papyrus still fast asleep, but both Alphys and Undyne mesmerized. Undyne tried discreetly to sniffle during a particularly robust section of the closing theme.“Well uh, that was pretty good, babe, I gotta say,” she commented with as much coolness as she could muster. Alphys glowed at the remark.“I’m s-so glad you liked it! Unfortunately Season 2 is garbage, or I’d s-suggest it for our next Anime Night.”“Uh, I might have something for us to watch?” you piped up from your beanbag, “It’s kind of similar to Mew Mew. It was my favourite anime growing up – have you seen Sailor Princess MoonSea?”Alphys’ glow from before had nothing on the stars in her eyes now. “NoooOOOOO sometimestoysandkeychainsfromthatshowfelldownandonceevenatwo-piecepjyamasetbutnevertheshowitselfsoI’veneverhadachancetowatchit! Youmeanyouhaveit!!”It took you a moment to mentally catch up with the end of her sentence, and after a pause you blurted out, “Yes! Uh yeah, it’s like seven seasons? I don’t own it myself, but uh, I know where to get them.” Certainly not by pirating them. Nooooo.Alphys’ gentle but persistent squeal eventually roused Papyrus and Frisk, who sleepily began disentangling themselves and tidying up any fallen chisps. Right on cue Toriel appeared in the doorway to bring Frisk back to their tent for bedtime, and that seemed to you like a good time to  say your goodnights and head out as well – you still had that drive down the mountain to contend with, and now it would be in the dark. You didn’t think Agent Liang would take kindly to the idea of a mountain sleepover.Luckily the drive down the mountain, while still unnervingly bumpy, was uneventful. You arrived home just after midnight, exhausted but at least by now at peace with your evening. You’d had a really good night with people with whom you could see becoming very good friends. You’d run into a monster that looked like one from your dream, but that was just a strange coincidence! Your brain playing tricks on you. Weird but ultimately meaningless.Feeling content, you tucked in for the night, reminiscing on the pleasant events of the evening.
You were having a hard time keeping all of it straight in your head.
 
And so may the sweep of your soft soul

A silver treasure to this Earth

Embrace the ones you once held dear

May they find comfort at your hearth
 
I never knew thee but for a glance

And yet that was enough

To understand your heart was pure

You’re- hm.
 
You’d thought of something to finish off that stanza, but now you’d forgotten what it was.

Writing poetry was so much easier when you had something to write on.

You sighed and slumped against the cave wall. You’d been something of an amateur poet before you’d been drafted – thus Alenia’s rather on-the-nose nickname for you – but training in the army hadn’t left much energy for such things. Now you had nothing but time, but scant resources.

Being hungry almost constantly certainly did not make the creative process easier, either.

You’d started composing again a couple of days ago, trying to scratch your lines into the dirt as you came up with them. Unfortunately that method meant that you couldn’t properly remember them, when you woke up later to find that someone else had rubbed the words out.

There were a very select number of people who that could’ve been.

You glanced surreptitiously over at the other side of the cell. The other humans were sitting grouped against the far wall, sleeping. So far, the worst that they’d done was insult you (and apparently sabotage your art,) but you still didn’t trust that they wouldn’t do something worse if ever there wasn’t a guard present.

I never knew thee but for a glance

And yet that was enough

To understand-

“Hey! Hey!”

You glanced over at the bars to see the deer woman beckoning you over. You couldn’t help the smile that broke your features – it was such a relief to see a friendly face. You immediately rose and rushed to meet her. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the skeleton guard watching your interaction closely.

“I’m so glad to see you! And your leg is better!”

She smiled at you, reaching a hand between the bars to clasp yours. “Much better. Magic is good like that.” Her smile faltered as she surveyed your situation. “I’m sorry that you’re in here.”

You shrugged as casually as you could and smiled apologetically at her. “I’m sorry you’re in here, too.”

The two of you were silent for a moment as you both regarded your surroundings.

“I’m Brida. By the way. I uh… I guess we didn’t really get to make introductions. Before.”

You laughed softly. “I suppose not! I’m Vianelle. Thank you for coming to visit me.”

“Yes, well. Thank you for dragging me out of the midst of battle,” Brida smiled. “Visiting was the least I could do, once I heard you were in here.”

The two of you chatted for a little while longer before Brida had to depart, and you watched her go somewhat mournfully – it was so nice to talk pleasantly with someone again.

“so. vianelle, huh?”

You glanced over at the guard, who’d moved closer while you were watching Brida leave. He’d never addressed any of the prisoners before; aside from his occasional banter with the other guards as shifts changed, you’d hardly heard him speak.

“Yes… That’s me.”

“you uh. you actually helped that monster, then?”

You nodded silently. You hoped that the other humans were really truly asleep, because this conversation was not shaping up to earn you any kindnesses from that quarter.

“cool. that was pretty nice of ya.”

The two of you stood there a while, silently regarding each other. The skeleton was a little shorter than you, and his eyes seemed to be pinpricks of light inside an otherwise dark skull. This struck you as something that by description alone you’d think to find unnerving, but it was somehow strangely comforting.

A light in a dark place.

You were about to return to your place in the corner when he spoke up again, hesitantly.

“uh. d’you mind if i ask ya a question?”

You nodded again, then added a soft, “Sure.”

“…if you had to do it all again, knowing that it would end with you down here… would ya?”

You paused to think about that. You thought about encountering Brida on the battlefield, as you yourself were struggling to escape the violence you’d become embroiled in. You thought about the look in her eyes, that fear that she would die there. You thought about encountering Alenia and learning what she truly was capable of. You thought of seeing with your own eyes the Grand Mage’s plan come to fruition.

There was a stirring in the corner, and you turned to see that one of the other humans – a large man named Abe, who had almost certainly been a celebrated soldier – had woken, and was watching the exchange between the two of you with wary eyes.

You turned back to the guard. “Yes,” you replied clearly, “I’d absolutely do it again.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

You’d forgotten to restock your coffee.You stared into the empty bag of grounds, trying exactly to process how this tragedy had befallen you, and what you needed to do in order to overcome it. Unfortunately, that was not the sort of mental aptitude you tended to have first thing in the morning, and so you just stood blearily in your kitchen, trapped in a caffeine-free catch-22. Finally you admitted that you would just have to get dressed and go to the cafe before anything else would be possible.A short while later you were on your way, jeans and a t-shirt pulled on so that you at least looked more put-together than you felt. You’d grabbed your car keys on your way out the door, intending to drive, but when you got outside realized that it was a beautiful warm spring day out. The coffee shop wasn’t that far; you could probably use the exercise.This was the right idea, you decided as you strolled down the sunny street, your headphones in. The sun was shining, and everyone was bustling about enjoying a beautiful Saturday. You loved mornings like this, and wondered why you didn’t make more of a habit of this.It was only ten minutes from your place to your favourite coffee shop, where you’d met Edyth previously – the benefit to living in a small city like Ebott. You waved at a few people you knew, but otherwise just enjoyed a peaceful walk. When you arrived at the shop, even the baristas seemed to be in a better mood than usual. It was the sort of day that just had that effect on everyone.Coffee in hand, you started wandering back to your apartment. As you walked, you mentally planned out your day; you had a couple of projects you wanted to get some work done on, but since it was nice out maybe you would take it fairly easy, maybe even go read in a park for a while. Rosa was working, but maybe she’d want to go for drinks that evening? You couldn’t stay out too late tonight, though, tomorrow was Sunday, which meant that you’d be at the build site on the mountain.Right.The mountain.You’d played over those seconds seeing that skeleton monster repeatedly by that point. Something about that whole encounter had you mildly obsessed, even though you could explain away almost every aspect of it. You’d seen him in a news clip. He wasn’t the same person. You’d blinked and he’d run away between the porta-potties. All very rational explanations for what had happened.All the same, you couldn’t seem to just let it go. You supposed that the repeated dreams featuring him weren’t helping your situation, but that was just the likely result of your imagination running wild on an already momentous event. Monster-kind had occupied nearly every waking thought you’d had the last few weeks, so it made sense that your dreams would reflect that.Still, you wished that they would lay off a little. This was getting weird.After a couple of blocks, you stopped to reflect upon a tree-lined street branching off. It was a little bit of a detour, taking this road, but it was one of your favourites, and it really only added maybe another five minutes to your walk. The houses were so beautiful and picturesque down this way, and you loved the way the light filtered through the leaves.Sure, why not.You turned up your music just a notch as you wandered down it. You were in such a good mood this morning, and after all the weird shit that had taken place the day before, it was kind of a nice change of pace.Your music was pretty loud at this point. Definitely loud enough that you didn’t hear the footsteps of the person storming up behind you, until they’d already grabbed your shoulder.One moment you were enjoying your pleasant walk and the next you’d been abruptly spun around. You could already feel the crick in your neck that formed from the sheer force of the motion. Your earbuds were ripped from your ears before you could even fully register the red-faced man in front of you.“What the fuck are you doing on my street you monster-loving bitch,” the man spat at you, slapping the coffee out of your hand as he spoke. You had a moment to register that it had spilled over your feet and ankles and fuck that was hot and then he’d grabbed your wrist and pulled it closer to him, dragging you along behind it. He shoved something in your face and you recoiled instinctually before recognizing that he was showing you a newspaper.“You fucking think this sort of shit is acceptable ?”You stared at the newspaper, unable to comprehend what exactly this man was trying to demonstrate to you. Why was he doing this to you , anyway? Whatever he was going on about had nothing to do with you. Why wouldn’t he just leave you alone? Why wasn’t he letting go?Oh wait.That was you.All at once you recognized the photo on the front page of the paper. It was you, eating snail pie with Papyrus and Toriel.“Oh,” you said to yourself.“ Oh ,” the man sneered, mocking you. “ Oh . You thought people wouldn’t find out? You’re a fucking traitor to humanity and all you can say is oh? ” He threw the newspaper down into the puddle of coffee he’d spilled. Then in one swift motion he yanked you forward by the wrist, pulled back his palm, and struck you.Your face stung. Your eyes were watering. This wasn’t making any sense. What was happening?“There’s no room here for things like you,” the man spat, and then stormed off. You were left cradling your cheek, staring at your photo in the newspaper as it slowly turned brown with spilled coffee. The headline read, “MAKING NEW FRIENDS ON THE MOUNTAIN.”What?By the time you’d started to figure out what had happened to you, the man was already gone, having disappeared into one of the houses on your favourite, picturesque, tree-lined street.What?You didn’t know what to do. Were you supposed to… go home now? You wanted to cry, but the thought of doing that in public embarrassed you.You cried anyway.Twenty minutes later you were home, front door locked. You pulled a chair immediately in front of it and sat down. You pulled out your phone and stared at it. You should probably… call someone?Who?You: RosaYou: uh soYou: I went to get a coffeeYou: I guess my photo’s on the front page with the monstersYou had typed out, “a guy accosted me on the street and hit me,” but for some reason you deleted it.You: a guy yelled at me
Rosa is typing
Rosa: holy fucking shitRosa: dude are you okay?????Rosa: where was this? who the fuckYou: yeah I’m fine, just shakenYou: happened a few streets away. I don’t know who the guy wasRosa: what the fucking fuckRosa: what a racist piece of garbageYou: haha seriously, who yells at a total stranger on the streetRosa: but seriously are you okayRosa: do you need me to come over? i’m at work rn but i’ll skip out in gd heartbeatYou: nah it’s cool, thanks thoughYou: I appreciate itYou: (Heart)Rosa: (Heart)(Heart)(Heart)Rosa: be safe. i love you.You: thanks girl. love you tooYou reached down and placed your phone on the floor next to you, then drew your feet up onto your chair and wrapped your arms around your knees. You weren’t sure why you didn’t tell Rosa about the assault; somehow it just felt better to keep that part to yourself.You knew that wasn’t a great reaction. You knew that Rosa would want you to tell her stuff like this. And you would. Soon. Tomorrow maybe.But right now part of you needed to pretend that that wasn’t a thing that just happened. Pretend that you didn’t live in a town where someone would physically attack you for who your friends were.You still hadn’t had any coffee. Your head wasn’t functioning properly. You could get away without working today, all your deadlines were far enough off. You didn’t think you could focus anyway.Maybe you’d just go back to bed. Frightened of what was different from us
We fought to remain unchanged
We painted it to seem dangerous
We posited it as deranged And now it is done
The evil’s been fought
And we can see what lay before us
For under a mountain
Beneath hill and vale
We buried
All
Our kindnes-
Your mental recitation of your latest work in progress was interrupted by the insistent growl of your stomach. This was getting to be a concern.

Some quiet shuffling and snoring in the corner assured you that your cell mates were all asleep, which you were grateful for. They hadn’t been a fan of you before your very vocal announcement of your allegiance to the monsters; now they were starting to become downright hostile. Lately they’d been strong-arming you out of your portion of the rations that were dropped into the cell each day, which hadn’t been a bountiful amount of food to begin with. Thankfully there was still plenty of fresh water to drink, but you knew that you couldn’t exist like this for forever.

No good to dwell on that now. That last stanza was okay, but it could use some work.
And now it is done
The evil has failed
And we see desolation before us
For under a mountain
Beneath hill and va-
“hey pal, this isn’t me watching you slowly succumb to madness, is it?”

You glanced up in surprise at the bars – your skeleton guard was there, seated just on the other side, watching you. Last time you’d looked up, he’d been at the opposite side of the room; you hadn’t even heard him move.

“Excuse me?”

He grinned. He seemed to always be grinning, whether or not anything was funny. “well, you’re just sitting there talking to yourself under your breath. i was just wondering whether or not you were starting to go a little shack wacky.”

You were annoyed at being interrupted, but that was quickly overwhelmed by your excitement at the prospect of a friendly conversation. You bit back the sassy retort you’d considered and instead shook your head.

“No, I’m... reciting poetry.”
“neat. i’d ask you to recite some for me, but poetry’s not really my thing. guess you could say i’m,” he paused for a moment, grin widening, “ averse .”
You blinked. “Was that… wordplay?”

He shrugged. “maybe. hey, why are poets the smelliest writers?”

You frowned, embarrassed. You’d been stuck in this damp cell for days now, with no change of clothes and no opportunity to wash oneself, and it was not like anyone could smell nice given those conditi-
“because they’re ode -rous.”
You snorted in surprise, then covered your mouth, astonished at the undignified sound that had escaped you. The skeleton seemed delighted by it though, and he stuck his hand through the bars.

“name’s sans, by the way.”

You took his hand and shook it, unable to help the small smile on your face. “Vianelle. Which… I suppose you know already. Tell me, are these jokes part of your duties as a guard? Or am I just lucky?”

Sans responded with an exaggerated shrug and a wink. “i just can’t resist a captive audience, i guess.”

Somehow that statement didn’t seem cruel coming from him, though you were aware that it could’ve. You chuckled and made a show of rolling your eyes.

“I don’t know that I believe you. This seems an excellent way to torture your prisoners.”

“ya got me. it’s actually the monster kingdom’s primary form of pun-ishment.”

“Oh nooo.” You groaned and laughed, ducking your head in your hands. When you lifted it again, Sans was looking immensely pleased with himself. His grin was the same as ever, but something around his eyes seemed to have softened.

“so uh. you said you were reciting poetry? that a thing you do often?”

“Yes, well… reciting and writing, really. I can’t exactly write it down, so I just commit it to memory.”

He nodded. “that’s pretty cool, pal. mind sharing some with me sometime?”

You smirked at him, eyebrow raised. “I thought you were averse?”

He shrugged and winked at you again, an action which made you feel surprisingly light-headed - you attributed it to the hunger. “nah, i just said that for the great joke opportunity. i can dig some good poetry now and then. lay it on me.”

You pursed your lips, thinking through the poems that you’d memorized. Many of the ones you’d composed recently had been fairly melancholy, but... there was a nonsense poem you’d written years ago, to perform at a friend’s birthday. You smiled as you thought of it. “Okayyy…
A monkey passed by a pie-seller’s booth
And stopped to look at her wares
“Hello,” she called, “Can I interest you?”
“I have berry pies, apples, and pears.”

The monkey considered the delectable choices
Stopping to sniff at each one
He weighed all his options, the pros and the cons
While making a careful decision.

Then BAM! he smacked one, as hard as he could
Berries flew into the sky
They rained down onto both merchant and monkey
As he pummelled the powerless pie.

That one defeated, he moved onto the next,
Kicking straight through the crust
Pears were scattered all over the road
In the monkey’s crazed battle-lust.

Next pumpkin, next custard, and even a mince,
None were safe from his wrath
The pie-seller could only watch on in horror
At the monkey’s fruit-filling path.

Finally, an apple, her most belov’d pie
As the mad monkey next faced it down
He smashed his head right into its crust
Apples smeared his visage, chin to crown.

“My pies!” she cried, “They’re all over your face!
What have you to say for this scam?”
The monkey considered his answer then grinned,
“Were I maybe less cheeky I’d be in less of a jam!”

You finished your recitation and watched Sans’ face carefully. He was thoughtful for a beat before suddenly tipping his head back and laughing loudly, the sound echoing off the cavern walls. You were immensely pleased to see his reaction to the nonsense you’d written years ago, but a little concerned that his reaction might wake your cellmates. Impossibly, they seemed to sleep right through it.

“incredible. ‘less of a jam,’” he chuckled, appearing to wipe a tear from his cheek. “art. you’re an artist.”

You giggled at his high praise. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I hope-”

Not for the first time, you were interrupted by the growl of your stomach, which this time was loud enough for everyone in the room to have heard it, had they been conscious. Your eyes widened and you instinctively wrapped your arms around your stomach in embarrassment. You hoped Sans hadn’t noticed, but the look he gave you suggested otherwise.

“that’s, uh, probably not just the result of listing all those pies off, is it.”

You gave him an apologetic smile. “Afraid not.”

Sans gave the cluster of sleeping humans in the corner a long hard look before seeming to come to some sort of decision. “all right. gimme a sec.” He stood up and left the room, and you sat there watching the door with an odd sort of anticipation. The fact that he was your guard should probably have made you more wary of him, but if you had to guess, you would say that perhaps he didn’t entirely agree with the terms of your imprisonment.

Or maybe he was just bored guarding the humans all the time, and you were the only one who could offer polite conversation. Either way, you would take what you could get.

After a moment he returned, a bag in his hands. He crossed the room and resumed his seat on the other side of the bars, then slid the bag through to you. Opening it, you found half a loaf of bread and an apple.

“it’s uh, not much, but-”

“Thank you.” You surprised yourself with the amount of emotion present in your voice. Your hands shook slightly as you clutched at the bag. “I- thank you very much. You didn’t have to do this and-” You swallowed roughly, not wishing to give too much away. Glancing up at Sans, you saw that he was watching you carefully.
“don’t thank me too much, pal. i don’t think i could stomach all this gratitude.”
You hiccuped a laugh. “Well, thank you anyway.” You brought the apple up to your face and breathed in deeply. It may have been the best-smelling fruit you’d ever encountered. Actually biting into it was like heaven on earth.

“You are an angel.”

“okay,” he laughed, and between the sound of his laughter and the food in your stomach, your heart felt lighter than it had in days.
As the dream faded, you felt a weird pull in your chest, like a deep craving or longing that you couldn’t explain. Now fully awake and lying in your bed, you were just left with a strange, bone-deep sadness.Well that wasn’t super great.You attributed it to a leftover of the terrible events of that morning. Being by yourself was clearly not going to do you any good – time for some friend therapy.You: hey you home?Rosa: yup! just cooking an early supper. want some?You: yessss please. Be right over!Rosa: (Fire )When you got to Rosa’s, the first thing you noticed was the day’s newspaper on her kitchen table, and you instinctively frowned at the otherwise heartwarming image on the front page. The second thing you noticed was your reflection in a mirror she had hung on the wall – there, on your left cheek, were the beginnings of a slight bruise. That was… not ideal.Rosa was busy stirring something in a big pot on the stovetop. “Hey, come on in! You’re getting the ‘last of Rosa’s produce bin’ special tonight.”“That sounds… delicious?” you asked, peering over her shoulder into the pot. Inside bubbled a hearty-looking chilli, filled with carrots and bell peppers, and what seemed like a handful of spinach. “Okay, yeah, delicious.”“I sure hope so. I had some veggies that were threatening to look a little bit shady, so I figured I’d better deal with them. Plus I’ve got some cheese and sour cream to turn this into a proper comfort food.” She turned the burner down to low to let it simmer, and then handed you one of two glasses of wine she’d had poured and at the ready. “Here, I’d figured you could use this.”“Oh bless,” you sighed, taking a gulp of yours as you sat at the kitchen table.“So you said a guy fuckin’ yelled at you today?! What did he say?”You didn’t respond right away, instead ducking your head to rub at the back of your neck. Your hesitance didn’t go unnoticed by Rosa, but she didn’t say anything further, instead contenting herself to purse her lips while she waited for you to speak.“He uh. He didn’t just yell at me.”“What did he do?” You glanced up at Rosa to see that her expression had softened, as had her voice. Her whole focus was on you now, and she sat down in the chair opposite you. You noticed her eyes glance ever so briefly at your cheek, then back to meet yours.“Dude fucking slapped me. He knocked my coffee out of my hand and then he fucking slapped me across the face. I don’t even think I reacted. I just stood there like an idiot.” You rubbed at your eyes and sighed. “He was yelling about how I was a traitor to humanity, and then he just walked off, to probably like, go get his groceries or pick his kids up from soccer, or some inane shit like that.”“Jesus Christ,” Rosa murmured. “Did you call the cops?”“No? I don’t even know what he looked like, he was just some guy. Some regular-ass guy who lives on a nice street and saw me in the newspaper with monsters and got mad about it.”Rosa leaned back in her chair, and you could tell that she was stewing but wasn’t sure of the appropriate outlet for it. It was clear that she was furious, but you had to admit that having talked about it like this with her definitely made you feel a lot better.“Fuck,” she hissed. “I can’t fucking believe people.”“I know. I hardly even know how to feel about it.”“Well…” Rosa sipped at her wine thoughtfully, her gaze off in space. She seemed to reach a conclusion as she met your eyes again. “Does this make you second-guess any of your time spent with the monsters?”You hardly had to consider your answer at all. “Not even a little bit. If anything, it’s made me realize how much more accepting they are. Like, I’ve hardly known them for that long but they just make me feel… I dunno. At home.”Rosa smiled. “Good. Then fuck that guy.” After a moment, she added, “You… should maybe still tell the police, though. Just so that they know that this kind of… sentiment might be brewing in people.”You nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah… you’re probably right.” The thought of that phone call made you strangely anxious, but you figured you’d worry about that later.“Always and forever. But for right now, let Mama Rosa comfort you with questionable chilli!”“I am never ever calling you Mama Rosa. That will never become a thing.”After the mess that your Saturday had turned into, you were especially looking forward to going to the build site the following day. You napped on the bus ride in, and then spent the morning beginning to frame the walls of the cabins with your team. By the time Toriel, Undyne, and Papyrus showed up for lunch you were starving, both for their food and their attention. Today’s meal was a cinnamon-butterscotch pie, which you would’ve normally argued was more of a dessert fare and less of a proper lunch, but today definitely felt like a dessert-for-lunch sort of day.Your conversation with Toriel was limited to a brief exchange of pleasantries – cinnamon-butterscotch pie attracted a larger crowd than its snail cousin, and so the line-up behind you was much longer and more keen than usual. You quickly parted off to go squat on a patch of ground and eat your lunch in peace, before you realized that Papyrus apparently urgently needed your attention.It was hard to miss a seven-foot-tall skeleton striding towards you with such purpose. “HUMAN! I HAVE SOMEONE I WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO MEET!”“Mmh?” you asked, and then repeated, “Oh?” once you’d swallowed the pie you were eating.“YES! MY BROTHER MENTIONED RUNNING INTO A HUMAN IN THE CAMP THE OTHER NIGHT! AND SECURITY HERE IS VERY GOOD AND ALSO NO ONE HAD BEEN BURGLED, SO I KNEW THAT THAT HAD TO HAVE BEEN YOU!”You were glad you’d already swallowed your pie.“Oh I uh-““HE ALSO MENTIONED THAT HE PANICKED AND RAN AWAY! WHICH I THINK IS A VERY POOR FIRST IMPRESSION FOR ONE TO MAKE. SO I HAVE BROUGHT HIM HERE TO PROPERLY INTRODUCE HIMSELF! AND THEN YOU CAN PROMPTLY FORGET THAT THAT FIRST TERRIBLE MEETING EVER HAPPENED, AND SANS’ LACK OF SOCIAL GRACES WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BRING SHAME UPON OUR HOUSEHOLD!” And with a flourish, Papyrus slid to the side, revealing behind him a short skeleton who looked about as keen on this introduction as you were – though judging by the grin plastered to his face, he was prepared to weather it. He shuffled forward and dutifully stuck his hand out for you to shake it.“hi. i’m sans. sans the skeleton.”You glanced down nervously at his hand, and then up at the cool expression on his face. Okay, sure, you’d dreamt almost this exact moment the day before, and sure, apparently you’d already known his name, but it’s not like he could possibly know that. You were just some human. Some weird, totally nondescript human. He didn’t know you from a hole in the ground. Finding some comfort in that, you smiled cheerily at him and grabbed his hand to shake it.“Hi! I’m-“ You were cut off by the distinct sound of a chicken squawking. Sans’ grin had gotten noticeably brighter, and you noticed his grip tighten ever so slightly as he continued to shake your hand. He actually had to speak a bit louder in order to be heard over the incessant chicken sounds.“ya seem real cool, dunno why i was so chicken about meeting you the other day. real sorry about committing that social fowl . i’d say that i was just shy, but that’s a poultry excuse for such poor behaviour.”Your mouth dropped open in shock. No social situation you’d ever been in had prepared you for this.“SAAAAAAANS MUST YOU DO THIS EVERY SINGLE TIME-“ Papyrus had clapped his hands to his cheeks and would likely be pulling on his face if he had skin that moved in such a manner.Sans continued to shake your hand, and was just grinning at you as the persistent squawking emanated from between your palms.“-I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU GET ALL OF THESE GAGS, DO YOU MAKE THEM, I DON’T UNDERSTAND-“You couldn’t help it. This was absurd. Between the noises, and the puns, and Papyrus’ outraged reaction, it was too much. Your shoulders started to shake and soon enough you were nearly crying with your silent laughter, and still the chicken noises had not stopped.“Oh my god how- why-“ You reached your free hand up to wipe at your eyes. At this point you were willing to allow the chicken noises to continue for as long as he was. “Is- Is it battery operated?” you wheezed. “Will it one day run down? Will we one day be free?”Sans shrugged, still grinning. “dunno. truthfully i’ve never done this one before, so now i’m just winging it.”You were struck with sudden inspiration. You grinned back at the short skeleton. “Clearly this gag requires two people. It’s lucky for you that I decided to coop -erate.”“NOOO SANS YOU’VE RUINED HER-“That joke earned you a chuckle from Sans, which made your heart swell just a tiny bit. Clearly you were still on just a bit of a dream-high.“this could go on all day if we just egg each other on like this.”You hated that you were already stumped, only one joke in. You screwed up your face, trying to think of another chicken pun, but you were mercifully saved by suddenly being bodily picked up by Undyne, in the process breaking contact with Sans’ hand and his chicken joy buzzer.“Enough!!” Undyne barked, easily lifting you above her head. You realized that she must have practically run across the build site in order to interfere. “No more chicken noises! And if I hear another chicken or egg joke I fucking swear to the stars-““-you’ll crack ?” The joke was out of your mouth before you could stop it. You could see Sans’ face light up in pure joy as beneath you Undyne just began to yell. She continued to yell as she set you gently down on the ground, marched off, grabbed her baskets of empty pie containers and left the build site. Papyrus fixed you with as steely of a glare as you were certain he could manage. He was still smiling, though.“I FULLY REGRET MY PART IN INTRODUCING YOU TWO! CLEARLY YOU ARE BOTH, NYEH-HEH, BIRDS OF A FEATHER! ” He cackled and stormed off, leaving you on the ground and Sans standing with the chicken buzzer still in hand.“well i guess the egg came first. uh. nice to actually meet you. sorry about uh, being so flighty the other day.”You snorted, pushing yourself back onto your feet. “At this point I gotta assume that the only reason you ran was because I caught you without a pun.”While the grin remained on Sans’ face, something about it seemed more masked than it had a moment ago. “ya got me. i never like to be caught without a yolk .”“Oh my god.” You made a noise reminiscent of a pelican in distress, wiping the remainders of your tears from your face. As you did, you saw Sans’ eyes dart to your cheek, then back to meet yours.“uh, didja have an accident? got a bit of a bruise there.” His grin seemed tight as he tapped his own zygomatic arch.You grimaced a little as you remembered what he was indicating. “Oh uh yeah. Uh. Ha. But you should see the other guy.” You finger-gunned at the skeleton. “He’s fine.”That got a bit of a chuckle. “heh. well it was bold of you to face him head -on.”“Yeah,” you responded with a growing grin, “I’d probably get in less fights if I weren’t so damn cheeky .”Disappointingly, that didn’t quite get the reaction you’d been hoping for. “heh. good one. welp.” After one last glance at the mark on your cheek, Sans turned and waved lazily at you over his shoulder. “catch ya later, pal.” It took a second for you to realize that he was just walking towards the trees. You glanced over your shoulder to confirm that, yes, the monster camp was actually in the opposite direction.“Hey, isn’t that the wrong-“ But when you turned to look back at him, the skeleton was gone.“What .” On the bus ride back home that evening you dropped down into the bus seat next to Edyth. You’d determined to finally talk to her about that photo in the paper.“Sup, dudette? You look fuckin’ wiped today.”You gave her a nervous smile. “Yeah, I’m really feeling it today I guess.”“Oh!” Edyth’s grin grew, and she bounced excitedly in her seat to face you. “Did you see the paper this weekend?”“Yeah! Uh yeah, I saw it.”“Oh my god I cannot tell you how excited I am over that. A story about the incredible strides already being made in human-monster relations? There were a lot of positive reactions to that.”“...Really?” you asked, eyebrows raised.“Oh yeah! I even got some really nice emails commending my photography work and talking about how nice it was for humanity to embrace monsterkind so readily. Honestly, made my whole fuckin week. I could live off praise like that. Well, not really. Rent’s expensive.”“Hm.” You considered your words for a moment, then asked, “Uh, get any negative responses?”“I mean yeah, a couple. Calling me names and saying how I deserve to die, etcetera. Oh shit,” suddenly she bounced in her seat again and grabbed your wrist, her expression one of concern as she turned to face you. “You don’t mind, do you? Being on the front page like that? I know they didn’t put your name in it, but...”Despite your grievances, you smiled reassuringly at her. You’d not been ecstatic over it, what with how’d you found out, but given the positive responses to the article… “Not at all. I’m incredibly honoured to, uh, apparently be the face of monster-human relations.”Edyth smiled warmly at you. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.” After a moment she waggled her eyebrows at you. “Soooo I hear I’m not the only one who got to visit the monster camp!”You smiled at her, too tired for the amount of excitement that visit deserved. “Yeah, I came up Friday evening! Anime night with Alphys. It was super fun, I hope I get to do it again.”“But you weren’t working on the site that day, were you? Did you just drive up?”“Yup! This drive feels so much different when you’re not, like, crammed into a schoolbus. And uh, you don’t have to fight for parking,” you joked. “I just parked on the edge of the build site.”“Oh my god. I’m so fucking jealous.” Edyth reached over and clasped both your hands in hers. “Please invite me next time? Please. Please?”You couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, okay! I’ll invite you. I’ll have to check in with the crew though, I feel like they… got me clearance to visit, somehow.”Edyth sat back, revelling. “Amazing! My girl on the inside.”You snorted. “Yeah, yeah.”You were relatively quiet for the rest of the trip back, content to simply listen as Edyth chatted about the shots she’d gotten that day. Once back in the city, you all said your goodnights as you piled out of the bus, and you returned to your car to drive back home. After the morning before, you were extra careful to check your backseat and lock the doors once you’d gotten in.Yesterday had sucked, there was no getting around that. But as you reflected on the wonderful interactions you’d had that day - meeting Sans for the second first time - you knew in your heart that the friendships you were making were absolutely worth it.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“hey, pal… brought ya something.”

You looked up to see Sans shuffling your way, his hands in the pockets of his guard uniform. As he neared he slid you something wrapped in cloth. You unwrapped it to find an object that looked very nearly like a sausage.

“What… is it?” you asked, glancing instinctively to the other corner of your cell, where the pile of humans was sleeping. They were starting to look noticeably frail from malnourishment - as were you, you suspected - but you had no doubt they could still best you in a physical altercation all the same.

“water sausage. we’ve discovered there’s a bunch of ‘em growin’ down here, and uh, they don’t taste the wurst.”

Your eyes darted up to meet the skeleton’s, and the grin on his face confirmed that that had been wordplay. You smiled gratefully, and a small bite confirmed that it did not, in fact, taste the worst.

Every day now, Sans had been bringing you little treats, making sure you had something to eat while your cellmates slept. When you pressed him as to why, he just shrugged and deflected, so you’d stopped asking - but you suspected it was because he simply enjoyed your company.

You were growing quite fond of his, as well. It was not just that he was a friendly face; he was funny, and far more clever than you suspect he gave himself credit for. He made the differences between you two feel less vast. If this were occurring in any other situation, you might have dared to put words to your feelings.

But it was not. And your cellmates were quicker to put words to things than you were.

“Traitor thinks she can just fuck her way out of here,” you heard one of them hiss one night, when Sans was off-duty and the other guard’s attention was occupied. “Well guess what - nothin’ will change what you are, and what he is. No monster is ever gonna throw in for a human.” Those words ran through your head unbidden, albeit not for the reasons your accusers had intended.

“checkit out, i got another surprise here for ya.” Sans’ voice, deep and low and comforting from just the other side of the bars, brought you back to the present. You looked up to see him digging something out from his other pocket. It was a little wooden cup-and-ball toy. You were struck with the absurdity of possessing such a toy while starving and filthy in a cavern cell, and giggled.

“you ever play with one of these before?”

You shook your head, accepting it gleefully. “No. Never.”

“give ‘er a go.”

You swung the ball on its string a couple of times, missing the cup by as wide a margin as the string would allow for. “This is… incredibly hard.” Sans chuckled.

“i figured being stuck in here with nothin’ to do would drive anyone loopy. and you were already muttering to yourself when i met ya so we don’t have a lot of wiggle room.”

“Well, this shall keep me preoccupied for certain,” you giggled, once again wildly missing the cup.

“apparently.” His eyes followed the ball as you swung it several more times, and lit up as you unexpectedly bonked yourself in the face. When he snorted with laughter, you thrust the toy at him, your fake offense betrayed by the smile you couldn’t suppress.

“All right then, let’s see you do any better!”

He grinned and took the toy back from you, then effortlessly swung the ball into the cup in one try, making you gasp.

“Cheater! I’m not sure how you cheated, but I’m certain you did.”

Sans shrugged and winked, then repeated the success a couple of times over. “what can i say, ball in a day’s work.” His grin widened at your outraged expression.

“Oh, wordplay too! Adding insult to injury. Hand it back so I can show you up, knave.”

He passed the toy back through the bars to you, your fingertips brushing as you accepted it. His fingers felt smooth and warm to the touch - you weren’t sure what you’d expected - but now you could certainly feel your face heat up, and you’d glanced up at him before you could stop yourself.

The look in his eyes as they met yours made you feel like you were falling a great distance.
The feeling had stuck with you all morning, as you woke up and dreamily went through your morning routine. It stuck with you even now, as you faced down your phone and prepared to call the police station.It had taken you a full two days to dredge up the confidence to call the cops. Quite frankly, if you hadn’t been answerable to Rosa, you were pretty sure you’d never call them at all.You actually had to google the number for the local police station - it occurred to you as you’d dialled that you’d hardly spoken to a police officer in your life, aside from maybe the odd “show off your parents” day in elementary school.“Hello, Ebott Police Department.” It was barely 11am and the voice on the other end of the phone already sounded tired. You briefly marveled at the circumstance of two people speaking on the phone, neither of whom wished to be having this conversation at all.“Hi uh. I’d like to report an… assault.”“Your name, please.”When you first gave it you said it so quietly the operator had to ask you to repeat it. As she took it down you wandered to the kitchen for a glass of water - you felt like you might need it.“And what is it that you would like to report.” It was said as a sentence, not a question, as if they were too tired for question marks.“An assault. Uh, a man grabbed my arm and yelled at me, and uh, then he… slapped me.”“Was this a man you knew?”“No. I’d never seen him before in my life.”“And where did the assault take place?”“Over on Pineview St.”“Oh that’s a nice area. What did he yell at you?”“Ah.” You distractedly swirled your water around in its glass with your other hand. “My photo was in the paper the other day, with the monsters. He had a copy in his hand - he was calling me a traitor to humanity. Said there’s no room for me here.”“Oh.” You could just tell that she knew exactly what photo you were talking about, and therefore knew who you were. “I see. And could you tell me what he looked like?”“Ummm.” You pursed your lips and closed your eyes, as if that would help you better bring his features to mind, but it was no use. “Uh, a little taller than me? Five-seven, maybe? Brown… hair. Kind of thinning?”“I’m sorry ma’am, we’ll need more of a description to go off of than that.”“Gahhhh.” You let out the breath you were holding. You realized distractedly that you’d swirled your water around so violently you’d spilled some onto your lap. “I’m sorry. It all happened really fast, I don’t remember much more than that.”“Of course. Well if you do remember more, please let us know. As it is, we can’t do much about this currently, I’m afraid. We will be on the alert for further anti-monster sentiment, however.”“Okay. Thank you.”“If you require any sort of counselling, there’s a list of resources listed on our webpage - do you have access to the internet?”“Yeah, I do. I’ll take a look. Thank you.”“Have a nice day, ma’am.”“You too.”You heard the line go dead and hit the end call button. You were still holding your breath but you didn’t know what for; that had gone about as well as you could’ve reasonably expected.Which, admittedly, wasn’t great.You: well i called the copsRosa: and????You: they can’t really do anything. Said they’ll keep an eye out thoRosa : (Two Hearts ) Rosa: i’m proud of you girlYou were just typing out a response to her when you were interrupted by your phone ringing, and you almost dropped it in surprise. After one look at the caller ID, you answered.“Hey mom.”“Oh good you still remember me! Hi sweetheart.”You laughed. “It hasn’t been that long.”“Well over a month, dear. You last called me for Easter.”Oops. You cringed. “Ahh. Sorry about that. Things have been a little wild here.”“I figured! Someone shared a photo online that looked an awful lot like you hanging out with the new tenants of Mt. Ebott. I’m glad you’re making new friends.”“Oh, that made it online now, did it? Yeah, they’re super nice. I’m really lucky to be able to hang out with them, I don’t think many humans have gotten that opportunity.”“That is very lucky! And, uh, how is everything… in the town?”You paused. “What do you mean?”“Oh ...you know. Is everyone as excited about the monsters as you are?”You pursed your lips, beginning to swirl the water in your glass again. “Uh. Not everyone, no.”“You sound like something’s happened.”Damn your mother and her perception. You made a face as you once again spilled water on yourself. “Yeah, a guy saw the paper and then yelled at me about it. I dunno who he was. I’m fine though.” The words bumped up against each other in their haste to exit your mouth. There was no sense in worrying her more than she was already going to.You could hear her tutting quietly on the other. After a moment she spoke up. “I’m glad you’re okay. And I know you’re too stubborn to stop hanging out with the monsters just because I asked you to… so just be careful, okay?”That hadn’t been the response you’d expected. You loved your mother, but she tended to be a “my way or the highway” sort of person. “I… I will. Thanks mom.”“Of course. And if you need to get out of town you can always come visit.”You laughed - that was how she’d ended off every phone call since you’d moved several hours away from her to live in Ebott several years ago. “Yeah, I know.”“All right. I love you. Don’t forget to eat your veggies.”“Will do. Except for asparagus. Love you too mom.”You hung up the phone and realized that in the course of your phone calls you’d failed to drink any of your glass of water and instead had just spilled a third of it across yourself and the kitchen floor. You sighed and grabbed the roll of paper towel to start cleaning it up. You’d just about finished when your phone started to buzz again on the table. Given your last two phone calls, the prospect of a third wasn’t doing anything to calm you, nor was the number that showed up on the Caller ID when you stood to look at it.2. It was just literally the number 2. How was that a phone number? How was that even possible?You watched the phone continue to ring, and finally your curiosity overcame your anxiety.“Hello?”“Oh this is the correct number! Hello dear, this is Toriel.”“Oh my g- Toriel, how are you? Sorry, I didn’t recognize the number.” That was a bit of an understatement, but ‘I didn’t think your number was even possible,’ seemed maybe a little bit rude.“Oh of course my dear, I’m sorry if it worried you. I got your number off of Alphys earlier today. I was hoping you’d be maybe willing to do a bit of a favour for me?”You barely had to think over your response. “Of course Toriel! What d’you need?”“Oh my child, you could just call me Tori if you like! And I was hoping you’d do a bit of… well, Frisk-sitting for me. Or… Frisk-errand running, more like. They desperately need some new clothes and I’m not permitted to leave the mountain yet. I could send them with one of the soldiers, but well, they like you better.”“Of course!” you bubbled into the phone. “Yeah! I’d be more than happy to.”“Oh wonderful! They’ll be just beside themselves. Does Wednesday work for you? I realize that that’s very short notice, and-”“No no, that’s fine! Wednesday is perfect.” That was another day that you wouldn’t be able to get work done, but hey, maybe you could get some done in the morning. Or work extra hard on Thursday.As it turned out, the caveat to getting the honour to taking the Ambassador to All Monsters clothes shopping was that a security team had to drive in front of you down the mountain, with a lifesized doll dressed in Frisk’s usual clothing safely buckled into the backseat. Frisk, for their part, was disguised by wearing a different coloured striped shirt.“Is this not… super weird?” you asked quietly to Frisk as Agent Liang explained why such security measures were being taken. “I’m gonna steal it and make it do my homework for me,” Frisk whispered back, never breaking their steely eye contact with the Toy Frisk. You nodded solemnly, knowing that cracking a smile would arouse Liang’s suspicion. “Good instincts. You’re the Original Frisk. Make it work for you.” You were pleased to hear Frisk stifle a giggle beside you. You’d initially been a bit nervous about spending the whole day with Frisk - you didn’t really spend time with kids very often. But today was gonna be fine. Fun, even.“That all make sense?” Agent Liang finished up, handing you a paper copy of the timetable that had been drawn up for your day. You nodded, glancing at it as you folded it into your backpack - One Thirty You Arrive At The Store, We’ve Allotted Two Hours For Clothes Shopping, Three Forty-Three You Drive Out of the Parking Lot, Frisk Has Requested Milkshakes at Four O’Clock, Four Thirty You Drive Immediately Back to the Mountain Do Not Even Stop for Gas We Have Given You Enough. You knew that Frisk and Toriel had picked out what Frisk would spend the day doing, but left it up to the security team to make it safer but somehow also Scary.Buckled into your own car, you and Frisk watched the security team’s car depart down the mountain road ahead of you. After a counted thirty seconds, Agent Liang gave you a curt wave that indicated that it was the appropriate time for you to drive off also. You waited until you were around the first curve in the winding road before cranking up your stereo, excited to jam out to whatever happened to be on the radio at that particular moment.It happened to be Dancing Queen. Frisk was thrilled.“AB-BA. AB-BA. AB-BA,” they chanted, bouncing up and down in their seat, the restraint possibly the only thing keeping them from bumping their head on the car ceiling.“Frisk, you’re not even gonna hear the song-” you started to say, as the song ended and the radio DJ announced that “this, cool dudes, was the ABBA Hour.” Frisk shrieked and you laughed, though your ears were ringing somewhat.“How do you even know ABBA? That’s... a bit before your time.”They shrugged with a coolness beyond their years. “There were just a lot of ABBA tapes in the dump.”Your internal question of just how long were they Underground was interrupted by Frisk belting along to the chorus of Mamma Mia in a volume that rendered pensive speculation impossible, so you happily gave up and joined in the sing-along. The ABBA train continued all the way down the mountain and back into town, and somewhere around Money Money Money you arrived at your destination.The shopping in Ebbott wasn’t super stellar - there was a small mall with a handful of big box stores, and the occasional little boutique that cropped up for a year or two before its rent caught up with it. What did thrive in Ebbott, however, were thrift stores - and you’d brought Frisk to the best of the best.“Good Night, Sweet Prints?!” Frisk hollered, face pressed against the window as you turned into the parking lot. “Oh man! I gotta bring Sans here!” You managed a strangled “heh, yea” at this, but thankfully Frisk didn’t seem to notice.The day prior you’d spoken to the security team about where you’d intended to take Frisk - after all, Agent Liang couldn’t risk you going just anywhere, not with the Ambassador to Monsters. He’d promptly phoned up the store’s owner to request that it be shut to the public for the two hours that you would be there. You weren’t certain how exactly Liang got her to agree to the deal (you suspect monster gold had a hand in it,) but the end result was that the two of you essentially had the run of the place.“So what sort of clothes are we looking for?” you asked as the two of you entered the store, and Frisk just shrugged. “Clothes! For me! Tori says I should have more than one set to wear, and the other ones she has don’t fit me.”“Well that should be easy enough.” You gazed at the store’s interior - where other stores might have neatly laid out racks of clothing, organized by style, colour, and brand, Good Night, Sweet Prints eschewed all of that in favour of chaos, in the form of bins labeled “MEN’S,” “WOMEN’S,” and, mysteriously, “MISC.”It was this latter section that Frisk was immediately drawn to, and you arrived a moment later to find them already fully inside the bin and digging around. They surfaced with a dramatic gasp and handed you their find, like a diver who’d hauled up treasure buried in the seabed. As they saluted you and dove back under, you looked down at the item that had been shoved into your hands.It was a child-sized fried egg costume. You snorted out a laugh. “Frisk, I’m not sure this is what Toriel meant-” you were cut off when they shoved a neon one-piece ski suit at you, chirruping, “This is clothes!”“Extremely situation-dependent clothes!” you protested weakly, in time for Frisk to bob up again and pass you a giant fur coat to add your already laden arms.It took a solid hour to assemble a good-looking array of thrifted finds for Frisk - a couple of pairs of shorts, a pair of pants, two more striped t-shirts, a button-up shirt covered in cats, a sweatshirt with a wolf on it, and the egg costume, which you quickly learned was Not Up For Debate. You glanced at the time on your phone - you still had an hour left before your mandated Milkshake Break.“Now what?” Frisk asked, and you paused a moment, surveying the store. An idea hit you.“I know a game we can play,” you said, turning to grin at Frisk. Their matching grin told you they were already in. “It’s called You Might Love This, You Might Hate This.” Frisk’s grin widened slowly as you explained the rules, and they dashed off to the other end of the store as soon as you said the word.For your part, you wandered over to the ornament section, looking for things that Frisk might either love or hate. A lot of it was standard thrift store fare - out of style vases, cut glass candy dishes, one mistakenly donated bong - all stuff that Frisk definitely wouldn’t like, but nothing fun enough to excite hatred. Frowning, you moved down the aisles, pausing briefly to glance at the bin of five cent records. Yes. Perfect.Sitting on top was a nearly pristine album featuring a Rockwell-esque painting of a boy and girl in 50’s style clothing, both bent over their desks reading, their expressions mild and content. Cursive yellow script across the top read “Music to Study To.” This had to be it. You scooped up the record with a little cackle and moved on to the toy section - finding something that Frisk loved would definitely be easy. It didn’t take you long to spot maybe the greatest thrift store find ever. You wrapped your finds in some of the shirts you’d picked up so as to hide them, then scanned the store to see Frisk still intensely searching through a bin. You likely had a bit of time before they were ready… and it would be nice to get some gifts for your other friends back at the camp.A few moments later and your basket was considerably more full. You had nabbed a tacky bedazzled snail ornament for Toriel, a tank top that read “Bad to the Bone” for Papyrus, fish-shaped salt and pepper shakers for Undyne, and a Sailor Princess MoonSea mug for Alphys. You were just about finished when your eyes landed on a little plastic toy on the edge of a shelf - a tiny little maze, with a silver ball rolling around inside. You picked it up, and the ball clattered downwards, away from the hole you were supposed to sink it into. After another thought you added it to the basket and headed back up to the front of the store to meet Frisk.You weren’t waiting for long before Frisk came bounding around the bins towards you, their arms behind their back. Judging by their expression, they were pretty excited about what they’d found.“Who should go first?’ you asked once they reached you. “You!” they giggled, then explained, “Gotta save the best for last!”You grinned. “Okay. First - something you might hate.” You reached behind your back and produced the record for Frisk’s appraisal. As predicted, they made a face and stuck out their tongue. “Gross! ...Though I bet Mom would like that.”You laughed. “Maybe! Maybe we should buy it for her. Okay, now here’s something… you might like.” Frisk stamped their feet as a drumroll, and you produced the treasure you’d found. Frisk gasped, then immediately started to laugh.It was a little plastic toy boat, like might be a child’s bath toy. On the bottom, for reasons beyond comprehension, someone had gone and attached thirty-two little plastic doll feet. The effect was something between a seaworthy vessel and a terrible caterpillar. “I LOVE IT,” Frisk eventually gasped out.Once they’d calmed down enough and their tummy had stopped hurting from laughing, Frisk giggled, “Okay, now it’s your turn.” You clapped your hands in excited anticipation - you couldn’t wait to see what Frisk thought you might like.“First, something you might hate.” You did a little drumroll on your legs, and Frisk whipped one arm out from behind their back. Clutched in their little fist was a mantle clock with a strange… texture. After a moment’s study you realized that everything other than the actual clock face was molded out of cut olives immortalized in a sickeningly pink resin, strongly reminiscent of a 70’s jello-molded meal. You must have made a face, because Frisk started cackling.“It looks like someone was sick a clock!” you protested, unable to tear your gaze away. “I KNOW!” Frisk crowed, laughing harder. You had to admit that they certainly had you pegged on that one, as you did in fact hate it. You accepted it from Frisk so they could free up one hand to wipe their eyes.After a couple more “huhuhus,” Frisk braced themselves for the presentation of their second item, planting their feet in a wider stance. “And now - drumroll please - something you might love!” With an extravagant swoosh, they presented the item hidden behind their back.It was a little pastoral scene, about the size of a postcard, painted on what looked like aged parchment and had been carefully framed. A colourful border encircled the whole scene, and the text at the bottom read “Onríptíd” in a hand-painted calligraphic script, which was unhelpful. “It’s a little painting,” you said, carefully studying it to determine precisely what part of it Frisk thought you might love. They huffed impatiently. “Yes, but you’re not looking close enough! Look at the left side.” You did as instructed, bringing the painting closer to your face so you could investigate, and then suddenly pushing it away from you, eyes wide. “It’s...”“It’s you!” Frisk supplied, clapping their hand. “Tiny farmer you! Though you don’t look like you’re helping much.”The art style was very flat, but you couldn’t deny the likeness of the figure off to the side, seated on a stone. “Wh-Where did you find it?” you asked, trying to hide how shaken you felt. “In the back! Do… do you love it?” The uncertainty in Frisk’s voice brought you back to yourself, and you looked up at them with a grin you didn’t quite feel.“Of course I love it! It’s tiny ancient me!” Frisk grinned to match yours, and they jumped up and down. “Good! I knew you would. Who wouldn’t want a painting of themselves?”The alarm on your phone went off, and you glanced down at the screen to realize that your time at the thrift store had come to an end. “Oop, we’d better pay for this stuff and get going! Wouldn’t want to get chastised by Agent Liang by being late for milkshakes.”You brought your thrift store finds up to the counter (minus the clock, which admittedly neither of you could stand to look at for very long) and settled up before heading back out to your car. “GOOD NIGHT, SWEET PRINTS!” Frisk hollered as you two headed out the door. “Bye!” yelled the store owner in return.The next stop on your agenda was for milkshakes. The security team were relieved to discover that the only place in town was actually a drive-thru milkshake bar, which meant they didn’t have to rent out another establishment. It was decided that you’d get your milkshakes and then park along the lakefront to enjoy them. You ordered chocolate mint for yourself and butterscotch for Frisk, and then dutifully parked along the scenic lakeside. A couple spots down you could see your security entourage, who had also ordered milkshakes. In front of you was the picturesque lake. Beyond that was the mountain. You could make out the spot of orange on its slopes that denoted the monster camp.This seemed the ideal time to bring up that question you’d briefly mulled over earlier. You took a long sip of your milkshake. “Frisk… do you mind if I ask you something?”“Nope!”“How long were you underground for?”Frisk was quiet for a moment - and when you glanced over at them you realized that their whole demeanour had changed in a very subtle way. They were holding their milkshake close to themselves, chewing pensively on the straw. “...Not that long, really. Just a couple days. I think. ...It’s kinda hard to tell underground.”“Yeah, I can imagine.” You felt bad for bringing it up - you’d wanted this to be a fun outing, but it seemed you’d upset them. You tried to bring the conversation to a happier thought. “The bond you made with everyone in that time is amazing.”They nodded. “Everyone’s just so nice. It feels like I’ve known them all a lot longer.”Well, good work. You’d turned this whole thing into a bummer. Desperate to lift the mood again, you switched on the radio, and Frisk brightened right up again as the car was suddenly filled with Take A Chance On Me. You frowned. “I thought it was only an ABBA Hour ?” “Time means nothing!” Frisk shrieked delightedly, clapping their hands. The ABBA “Hour” lasted right up until you were back at the monster camp.Frisk scampered off as soon as you returned to the mountain, while you were held back for a brief debriefing session with Agent Liang, where you told him every minute detail of your shopping trip and handed over all of your thrift store finds for inspection. That complete, you were approached by Tori.“Thank you once again for taking Frisk shopping, my child. It will be nice for them to have some more clothing.” She took the items from you and examined each one in turn, giggling at the egg costume.“Oh this is just eggs -emplary.”“Oh, and I got something for you, too -” You reached in to your bag to produce the bedazzled snail. Toriel gasped, and then gave a snort of laughter.“Goodness! Bless you my child, you didn’t have to get me a gift! But stars, you certainly snailed it.” She winked, and you chuckled appreciatively. After another moment of examining her gift, she tucked him away, then turned her eyes back up to you.“You seem like you have something on your mind, if you do not mind me asking.”Had you been that obvious? “Uh, yeah, actually... I had something I wanted to ask you, Toriel.”“Of course, anything.”You pursed your lips a moment, then continued, “I wanted to ask you… about the war.”Toriel nodded, like she’d been expecting this at some point.“Ah, yes. The Monster-Human War.”“Yeah. Is that okay? To ask about it?”“Yes, dear. Though I may not be the best one to ask - I was very young then. There are others of us who would likely be able to give you better answers. Gerson, for instance, could probably tell you anything you wanted to know.”Your mind was reeling, and you had to purse your lips to keep yourself from gaping openly. “You… were there?”Toriel smiled and nodded, as if this reaction, too, she’d been expecting. “Yes, we monsters can live very old indeed. Though not all of us are that old, of course, there are not an insignificant number that can remember the war.”Well… you suppose that had answered your first question.“So, uh. Following the war… you were all trapped underground by humans, right?” You phrased your question carefully, trying to only mention things you knew were public knowledge. While your dreams had been incredibly… vivid, you didn’t want to mistake the things you’d seen in them for actual factual information.Toriel nodded in response to your question. “Yes. A cabal of human mages formed the barrier which trapped us down there.”You nodded, an image of crimson-and-gold robes flashing unbidden through your mind. “Um. I was wondering… did any humans get trapped down there, too?”Toriel didn’t seem to have been expecting that question. Her eyes softened, and she looked away from you.“...Yes. There were a few… human soldiers who were trapped underground. I didn’t see them personally, of course, but As- I heard about them.”You nodded, attempting to process this, but your mind was racing. What had you hoped for with this conversation? That Toriel would tell you no, no humans had been trapped underground, and you’d once and for all re-establish your place in reality? You swallowed thickly. The next question seemed foolish to ask, humans can’t live that long, there’s no way that this ends well, but -“What… what happened to them?”Toriel’s face grew sadder still. “I believe… they were all executed.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The conversation with Toriel sort of petered out after that. She gave you a hug, thanked you once again for your help that day, and then headed off to begin making supper. That left you, and Agent Liang.“Are you heading back into town now?” he asked, and his tone seemed to imply that that was a course of action he encouraged.“Uh, yeah, I guess-” you stopped, suddenly remembering all the other gifts you’d bought. “-Wait, do I have to? Can I go visit some folks first? I have to drop off the other things I bought.” You watched his face as he frowned, but he’d literally just approved all those items, so it wasn’t a total surprise when he sighed and nodded.“I suppose. But be sure to check out with me when you leave.”“Of course!” you replied, ignoring the obvious point that you literally had to in order to drive past the guard station. This man would obstinately not be your friend but there was no sense in antagonizing him.You wandered the way Toriel had gone back into the camp to track your friends down. It was only once you were greeted with the rows upon rows of orange tents that you realized… you didn’t actually know where anyone lived. And this place was big.Toriel had already managed to disappear, which was astonishing given A) how closely you’d followed her and B) the fact that she was like eight feet tall. That was okay. You would just have to… track down your friends on your own. That would be fine. You could just… wander around hoping to run into the like, five monsters you know, amidst a camp of thousands. Cool cool cool....Or. You had Alphys’ cell number. You could literally just text her.You: hey Alphys! Can I ask a favour? Is this a good time?Alphys: Hii! ( ･ω･)ﾉ Totally, what’s up?You: I am, uh, in the campYou: and I have gifts for folksYou: but I don’t know where anyoneYou: isAlphys: LMAO yeah this place can be overwhelming when you’re newAlphys: Where are you right now??You: just at the entrance to the pathAlphys: Okay OMW!!  ≡=- ( 。>ω<)Sooner than you expected, you noticed a yellow shape moving towards you through the row of tents - slightly taller than you remembered, and definitely coming at a clip you didn’t think Alphys’ legs could move at. A moment later she skidded to a halt in front of you, waving frantically and riding what looked like a cross between a scooter and a segway. It had three wheels, one at each point of a triangular base that she was standing on.“H-Hi!! It’s g-good to see you ag-gain!”“It’s good to see you too! Thanks for coming out to meet me. I like your… uh,” you indicated the scooter she was standing on. Alphys beamed.“My motorped! I b-built it to g-get around the camp faster - I d-didn’t have to do so much travelling when we were living Underground. T-Then I just had to go d-downstairs to get to work.”You glanced around at the camp. “Yeah, I guess uh, you don’t really have options for public transit in here, eh.”“N-Not yet, though if we’re really g-gonna build a community up here it’s something Asgore wants to think about eventually. In the meantime, though, at least I have the motorped.” She patted the handlebar fondly. The engine revved a little bit louder.“Y-you said you wanted to look for someone?”“Yeah! You were actually one of the people I wanted to look for-” you reached into your bag and pulled out the mug you’d purchased for her. “Frisk and I went thrift shopping,” you added as you handed it over.Alphys’ eyes were wide. “A SailOR PRINCESS MOONSEA MUG I know we haven’t watchedthisonetogetheryetbutTHISSCREENSHOTIknowititsfromthehistoricfinalepisodeIreadaboutitonyourInternet-” She took a deep breath and looked up at you, embarrassed. “...I wasn’t trying to spoil anything for myself, b-but I accidentally started to read about this episode and then couldn't stop.”Once again, your brain had to sprint to catch up. “Ohhhhh yeah! That’s such a good episode. We should have another anime night soon, and finally watch it!”“YES please! Let me check my calendar! I’ll try to plan something soon. W-who else are you looking for?”You glanced into your bag. “Uh, Undyne, Papyrus, and um. Sans.”“Okay! Undyne and Papyrus were going training together last I saw them - maybe they’re still there!”“Cool! Where were they?”“Up the mountain, they have a clearing they train in - it’s uh, normally a bit of a hike, but,” Alphys waggled her eyebrows at you, striking a cool pose on her motorped. “Wanna go for a ride?” You had absolutely misjudged the speed at which the motorped could move, you reflected as you hurtled up the mountain path crouched behind Alphys with your arms wrapped around her neck. Between the lack of available standing room at the back of the scooter, and the fact that Alphys was a good half a foot shorter than you, you were certain that at any moment you would be dislodged like a pebble from a tire tread and go flying off into the trees. It was a welcome relief when the woods opened up to reveal a wide flat clearing, and Alphys skidded to a stop, raising a cloud of dust around the two of you.“SICK MOVES, SWEETIE!!” You could hear Undyne’s voice yelling from across the clearing.“Thanks ‘Dyne!” Alphys called back, and stepped off the motorped from in front of you, so that even in your crouched position you could now see Papyrus and Undyne jogging towards you.“Oh hey look who it is!”“HUMAN! WHAT A PLEASANT AND UNEXPECTED SURPRISE! HAVE YOU COME TO WATCH AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE MEET AN IMMOVABLE OBJECT?”“I’m the unstoppable force.” Undyne smiled her terrifying smile at you.“AND I AM THE IMMOVABLE OBJECT!”“Uh, you… you can get off now,” Alphys added helpfully, seeing you still shakily squatting on the platform of the motorped.“Uh, yeah, I’m just… adjusting to the change in velocity.” Still crouched, you stepped down off the motorped, then used the handlebars to support yourself as you slowly drew yourself back up to your full height. “This goes… much faster than it looks.”Alphys smiled brightly at you. “Yeah! I used the same basic engine that I used for Mettaton’s locomotion, though at this point I’ve improved it somewhat - I managed to make it more compact, and it can gain higher speeds than Mettaton can-” You looked over to see Undyne absolutely beaming as she watched Alphys ramble on about the processes she used for the motorped. Glancing over at Papyrus, you whispered, “Who’s Mettaton?”“OH!” Alphys interrupted herself mid-sentence, looking embarrassed. “S-Sorry, I guess you haven’t met him yet. You should! I th-think you’d like him.”“METTATON WAS THE UNDERGROUND’S GREATEST TV STAR!” Papyrus explained excitedly, and somewhere beneath the volume you could have sworn you’d caught Undyne add “ only tv star” in a low voice. “HE PROVIDED NEWS REPORTS, EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION, COOKING SHOWS, AND ONE TIME HE EVEN PUT ON A FIVE-PERSON IMPROV SHOW ALL BY HIMSELF!”“H-He’s a robot that I built,” Alphys added helpfully, which did explain her comments about his “locomotion.”“But you didn’t come all this way to learn about him,” Undyne cut in, which was the reminder you needed to keep yourself from getting too caught up in listening to Papyrus and Alphys. “Oh! Right! I have gifts for you both!”“GIFTS? IS THIS FOR A HUMAN OCCASION? I’M SO SORRY, I AM A TERRIBLE FRIEND! I HAVE NOT GOTTEN YOU ANYTHING!”“It’s okay, it’s not for an occasion,” you interjected, laughing. “I just took Frisk thrift shopping today and got you all a little somethin’ while I was there.”“WHAT IS THRIFT SHOPPING?”“Uh, it’s when you, uh, buy stuff secondhand. Like someone else sells their old stuff to the thrift store, and then you buy it.”“OH! LIKE WHEN WE WOULD MAKE TRIPS TO THE DUMP! I DID NOT REALIZE WE WERE ENGAGING IN AN ACTIVITY AS CHIC-SOUNDING AS ‘THRIFT SHOPPING,’ ALTHOUGH EVERYTHING I DO IS CHIC!”“I… guess?” That was the second time that day someone had mentioned the dump, and it was giving you a grim picture of where everyone got their possessions from underground. “Did you… get a lot of stuff from the dump?”“It was where a lot of human stuff ended up,” Undyne explained with a shrug, before her grin turned sharky again. “Actually, it’s also where I met this nerd.” Alphys squeaked and blushed, but there was no hiding her smile.“BUT WE ARE LOSING THE PLOT! AND THE PLOT IS THAT YOU HAVE GIFTS FOR US!”“Right!!” Without further ado you dug out the items you’d purchased with Undyne and Papyrus in mind. Papyrus did not hesitate at all in pulling the “Bad to the Bone” tank top overtop of his current outfit, though you noticed him looking at it critically. “IT IS PERFECT! I LOVE IT!” he exclaimed, “AND WITH A BIT OF ‘D-I-Y’ MAGIC I BELIEVE THAT I CAN MAKE IT EVEN MORE PERFECT!” Undyne grinned as she examined the salt and pepper shakers you’d bought for her. “These are rad! Alphys, look,” she thrust the shakers towards the yellow monster and wiggled her eyebrows, “now there’ll be three of me around.” Alphys giggled and turned red again.“Who else ya got gifts for, nerd?” Undyne tried to peer into your bag, so you pulled out the little puzzle to show her.“Uh, just one more actually… do any of you know where Sans is?”“He was, uh… helping me this m-morning,” Alphys admitted, “b-but I don’t know where he’d be now.”“KNOWING HIM, HE IS PROBABLY LOLLYGAGGING IN OUR TENT.”“Do you mind if I go check?”“NOT AT ALL! IN FACT, I WILL COME WITH YOU! IF SANS IS NOT THERE THEN I KNOW ALL OF THE PLACES THAT HE MOST LIKES TO BE LAZY IN!”“Well I’m not staying here by myself without a training partner! I’m coming too,” Undyne added, and then grinned at the three of you. “Last one there has to clean off the ceiling after my next kitchen duty!” And then she was off like a shot into the trees.“I AM LETTING YOU HAVE THIS HEADSTART TO MAKE THIS COMPETITION FAIR FOR YOU!” Papyrus called after her, and then he, too, was gone.“Quick, get on!” Alphys squeaked at you with a tone of command you’d never heard in her voice before, and before you could think twice you’d jumped back onto the back of the motorped, just barely managing to grab a fistful of labcoat before you were careening back down towards the camp. Despite her head start, Undyne was the last one to Sans’ and Papyrus’ tent, with Papyrus in second (those long legs could move) and you and Alphys in an unexpected (and thanks to you, shrill) first place. By the time Undyne got there your butt was parked firmly on the ground, looking up at Alphys and Papyrus.“Why’re you on the ground?”“It doesn’t move.”“ACTUALLY, HUMAN, THAT IS INCORRECT! THE EARTH MOVES AT APPROXIMATELY ONE THOUSAND MILES PER HOUR!”Although factually correct, the very idea made you queasy.“LET’S SEE IF MY BROTHER IS INSIDE!” Papyrus opened the flap to the tent, ducking to fit within the entryway. You’d never before considered how poorly outfitted these human tents were for the incredibly diverse range of sizes and shapes monsters came in. Before you could follow that train of thought further, however, you were interrupted by Papyrus reaching down to pick you up by the back of your jacket like a kitten. You were too taken aback to offer any more resistance than a soft “hghrrk.”“SANS! SANS YOU HAVE A VISITOR!” Papyrus held you aloft as he entered the tent, and you took the opportunity to check out the inside while gently rotating in the air. On one side sat a couple of camp chairs, one of which was currently occupied by a rock and a smattering of sprinkles. Across from the camp chairs was a pile of cardboard boxes that seemed to have been made up to look like a TV on a stand, but with a hole where the screen had been. On the ground next to the stand was what you guessed was a paper bag puppet, but with no discernable facial features you weren’t certain exactly who it was supposed to be a puppet of. It looked almost like a smaller TV.The back of the tent was partitioned off with a curtain, which fluttered suddenly, and you were sure that Sans was just about to step out. After a pause, Papyrus raised his fist to knock on the curtain with a soft “pfaff pfaff.” “KNOCK KNOCK!” Papyrus supplied, and after a moment he pulled the curtain aside to reveal the sleeping quarters behind. You got a glimpse of a bare mattress, next to… a racecar bed?“STRANGE… HE IS NOT HERE.” The curtain was dropped and the room swung around you as Papyrus turned on his heel and marched back outside the tent.“HE WAS NOT THERE,” he announced to Undyne and Alphys, who both nodded. “Well, I k-kinda should get back to the lab…” “And I’ve chased down Sans enough for one lifetime, thanks. See ya nerds later!” The couple waved and then Undyne hoisted Alphys, still standing on the motorped, onto one shoulder before walking off.“WELL, HUMAN, NOT TO WORRY! I WILL CONTINUE TO HELP YOU! MY BROTHER IS BOUND TO BE AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE!”“Thanks, Papyrus! I really appreciate it.” You marveled at the sudden realization that held like this, you were eye-level with the tall skeleton. Was this what it was like to be this tall? You could see so much from here.“But uh, you can put me down now.”“NONSENSE! THIS WAY WE CAN MOVE MUCH FASTER.” It was hard to argue with that.Over the course of the next hour the two of you checked all of the places that Papyrus knew Sans to loaf around in - the community room, the bean bag chair next to Alphys’ desk, a low-hanging branch in a tree, and what looked like a hot dog stand.“HE BROUGHT IT UP FROM THE UNDERGROUND,” Papyrus explained. “HE INSISTS ON CALLING IT HIS ‘SIDE GIG,’ EVEN THOUGH HE NO LONGER SELLS HOT DOGS THERE, NOR HAS A ‘MAIN GIG.’” You couldn’t help but giggle at that - and it did seem in line with the skeleton you felt like you were getting to know.Out of ideas, Papyrus walked you back to the entrance to the camp. “I AM SORRY WE DID NOT FIND SANS TODAY! BUT NOT TOO SORRY, AS I KNOW THAT THAT MEANT YOU GOT TO SPEND TIME WITH ME, AND THAT IS A VERY VERY GOOD CONSOLATION PRIZE!” “That’s okay, Papyrus! I had a great time hanging out with you and Alphys and Undyne.” You wiggled your feet, and Papyrus took your cue and set you gently back on the ground. “WELL HOPEFULLY I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON! AND HOPEFULLY SANS WILL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON! AND THEN YOU CAN GIVE HIM HIS GIFT AND HE WILL BE MORE AMENABLE TO BEING FRIENDS WITH YOU LIKE HE AND I HAD TALKED ABOUT!”“Uh-”“GOODNIGHT HUMAN!” And Papyrus waved and strode back towards the camp.You scrunched up your face just a bit as you mulled that last line over in your head. The idea that actually Sans may not like you hadn’t really crossed your mind. Well, he didn’t really know you. You didn’t really know him. This was a silly thing to worry about. Chill out. Determined to chill, you turned around and started back down the path to the build site and your car.You hadn’t realized how long you’d been at the camp until it started to get harder to see through the shadows around you. Regardless, it made for a peaceful walk after a high-energy day. ...Or at least, it had been peaceful, until you heard something move in the woods behind you.You peered into the darkness between the trees, but couldn’t make anything out. Probably… fine. You walked a little faster, just in case.As you made the rest of the walk back you couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following you, a feeling that would have made you nervous before a stranger slapped you in public and definitely put you on edge now. You nearly jogged the last few metres to your car, digging through your pocket for your car keys. You just had to get the car unlocked and this would all be fine.“heya.”You full-out shrieked. The short skeleton leaning against your car next to you seemed unperturbed by it.“Jesus, sorry, Sans, you startled me-”Sans winked and pointed finger guns at you. “i tend to have that effect on people.”“Ah, no, sorry, it wasn’t you, there was just a… I‘ve just been jumpy lately.” You leaned against your car, one hand against your chest as your heart slowed back to something reasonable. “Sorry for.. screaming at you.”Sans’ eyes darted from yours to your cheek and then back. “what happened?” “...Sorry?”“the thing that made you jumpy.” Sans’ expression was still lackadaisical, but a touch more serious than you’d seen from him yet.“Oh.” You glanced down at the ground. You weren’t sure why this still felt uncomfortable to talk about, but you felt almost embarrassed about it. “Uh. A guy just. Tried to scare me, I think.”“was it because of us?”The question caught you off-guard, not least because you were intentionally trying not to mention that part. “Be-because I’m friends with you guys?” Sans nodded, and then you nodded in turn, eyes back on your shoes.“...Yeah. He saw the picture Edyth posted in the paper.”“hm.” His gaze was far away as he stared out across the build site. A moment later he straightened up off your car and started to shuffle away. “well, stay safe, pal.”You watched him take a few steps before you remembered- “Hey wait! I got you a thing!!” He stopped and turned, brow raised in mild interest. “oh? right, paps mentioned.”You dug through your bag for the final gift from your thrifting. You felt a little silly as you presented it - the gift itself hardly seemed worth the trouble you’d gone through to give it to him.Sans took it with interest, his mouth turning up into a grin as he tilted it, sending the little silver ball flying. “heh. i see… nice.” After a moment he looked back up at you. “cute puzzle pal, but what made you think of me?”“Just… just a hunch.” You smiled uncertainly.His grin seemed to relax into something more real. “well... thanks. i appreciate ya thinkin’ of me.” He held out the toy for you to see that he’d already sunk the ball into the hole at the center of the maze.“Damn. That was fast.”He shrugged and winked. “what can i say. i’m pretty amazing.” You snorted a laugh.“All right. Goodnight, Sans.”“g’night.”The drive back down the mountain was peaceful, which gave you plenty of time to think about your day. Thrifting with Frisk had been wonderful, and words couldn’t express how honoured you felt that Frisk liked you enough, and Toriel had trusted you enough, to take them on that errand. “Honoured” was a good word for how you felt about the monsters in general - honoured that they were that open with you, that accepting, that determined to make you feel welcomed.It… also put into perspective how you were feeling about Sans. (Your heart twisted strangely even just thinking of him.) He was the outlier in how closed-off he was around you, but could you really blame him? Humans had imprisoned monsters under the earth for a thousand years. You were certain you wouldn’t feel particularly friendly after that. You wanted to get to know him, to be friends with him, but was that genuine? Or was it just because your dreams had you feeling like you already knew him? It was getting harder to keep it straight. And if he didn’t care to get to know you, well, you couldn’t force him. But it still didn’t make you feel good....But you knew what would make you feel better.“Girl NIGHT girl NIGHT,” Rosa chanted, from the entire time you entered the front door of her building until you’d climbed the stairs to her apartment, where she was hanging out her doorway.“Your neighbours must love this,” you laughed, moving past her into the apartment beyond.Rosa shrugged. “It’s how I keep them abreast of my social life. Plus the Wilsons have super loud sex on Tuesdays so this keeps things fair.”“I’m glad you’ve been able to strike a balance.”“‘S because I’m a Libra.”“Your birthday’s in July.”“Libra moon.”You’d called Rosa as soon as you’d gotten home from the camp, and as you’d hoped, she was free and didn’t have anywhere to be in the morning, so you’d parked at your house and immediately walked the couple of blocks over. It had been a couple weeks since you’d managed a good hangout with Rosa, and this felt overdue. Plus, you had something that you needed to finally get off your chest.She pulled out a couple beer from the fridge and passed you one, and the two of you wandered to the living room, where you did all your good girl talkin’.“Okay so spill, I’m dying. I wanna hear this ‘something huge’ you have to tell me.”You took a deep breath, getting yourself comfortable on the couch - and then just because Rosa looked so antsy, you waited another couple beats, taking a long drink of your beer.“GiiiiIRRRRRRLLLLL-”You laughed. “Okay, okay! Uh. So. Ever since the monsters appeared, I’ve uh. Been having these dreams…”Rosa was largely quiet as you explained the weird dream-relationship you felt like you had with a skeleton you’d barely gotten to know, only interrupting once or twice to ask clarifying questions. After you finished, she was quiet a while longer, sipping her beer as she mulled it over.“Am I crazy? Because I kinda feel crazy. I feel like this means something but this whole thing is so bonkers-”“I mean,” Rosa pointed out, “like a couple months ago magic and monsters were fairytale ideas, when in fact for a thousand years they were living right under our feet. That’s pretty crazy.”“I guess,” you admitted.“So, I dunno. Maybe it is nothing. Maybe your imagination is acting up to compensate for the bananas shit we’ve all been processing lately. Or maybe it’s not.”“You mean- what do you mean? What is the alternative?”Rosa shrugged. “I dunno, dude. That you’re reliving something from a past life? That a ghost is haunting you to help them find closure? That time is wonky and overlapping within your brain space, and those events are occurring at the same time? Something fucking weird, for sure. But I don’t think you’re crazy.”You smiled at her gratefully. “Thank you. I really appreciate this. ...I, uh, kinda wish I’d told you sooner.”“YES THANK YOU ME TOO! Think of how much better you’d feel always if you just immediately dished out the dirt in your life to me, your mama Rosa.”You laughed. “Gracias, mamá.”You felt much better as you walked home that night - but then, you always felt better after a hangout with Rosa. The good feeling didn’t last for long, though.As you walked, you noticed that someone had been papering the telephone poles with homemade posters. This was nothing new - lots of people put up posters for their lost pets, babysitting services, or their extremely unknown metal band - which was why it took you so long to notice the content of these particular posters. Finally you stopped and read one the whole way through, and then ripped it down angrily once you had.“DON’T LET MONSTERS TAKE WHAT IS OURS,” the bold sans serif font had read. “SHOW THOSE ABOMINATIONS WHO THE SURFACE BELONGS TO.” At the bottom was a logo for the “New Humanists.”And they were everywhere. You ripped down as many as you came across, but you knew that if they were in your neighbourhood, they were probably plastered all across town. The idea made you sick. You could only hope that no one gave them any credence.You stuffed the posters into your bag, and then into your dumpster once you got home. Maybe everyone else would do the same as you. Maybe no one would give the New Humanists the time of day.You knew that you were hoping for a lot.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was hard not to notice the dearth of volunteers on the bus to the camp the following Tuesday -  although there could be a ton of explanations for that, you reasoned. People’s schedules were getting in the way. It was a weekday. The natural fervour and resultant outreach following a big event would have to wane eventually (though, in the middle of a build project, that was less than ideal.)

Orrrrrr. Or. People had seen a lot of threatening posters around town and were getting worried.

You really hoped that it was just “people were worried” and not “people were being swayed.” The monsters were so friendly - how could anyone in their right mind be threatened by them? Certainly, they looked imposing on TV, but all of the volunteers had

met

them at that point. How could you be afraid of someone as genuinely warm-hearted as Toriel? Even if she was over eight feet tall.

Ross and his team certainly noticed the dwindling number of volunteers, but seemed determined to act as though they hadn’t; Ross for his part seemed to be throwing in a new bear-related pun for every person that was missing, as though that single-handedly could boost team morale. He did concede that the timeline for building the houses was probably going to be a bit longer than originally projected, the one concession he made to the obvious reality.

Blissfully the work made the morning go by quickly (which you were especially grateful for, as at this point lunch was the main reason you wanted to be here.) Toriel appeared at the edge of the clearing like clockwork, joined as usual by Papyrus and Undyne. And like clockwork, you’d ditched your tools and bounced over to them before anyone else had noticed them approach.

“Hi Toriel! What’s for lunch today?”

“Hello, dear.” Toriel’s voice was cheery but her eyes were doing a quick scan of the volunteer turnout, and a frown tugged at one corner of her mouth before she turned her attention to you with a big smile. “Today we have hot dogs, courtesy of Sans’ ‘side gig.’” She giggled. “He told me that this one would be a real

weiner

of a lunch.”

That was a groaner, but you couldn’t help but chuckle along with Toriel’s pun-based enthusiasm. Once she’d set up the lunch tables you grabbed yourself two ‘dogs (filled with the strangest hot dog wieners you’d ever seen) and made your way over to say hi to Undyne and Papyrus.

The two of them were gathered around the furthest table, their backs to you, assumedly setting up lunch, but as you approached them they turned nearly in unison, each pointing dramatically at you. From Papyrus, the effect was heroic-looking; Undyne still inspired something of a “fight or flight” response in you.

“HUMAN. WE HAVE COME TO A DECISION.”

“Yeah, nerd! So listen up!”

“Uhhh-” you started, but didn’t get any further than that.

“SANS HAS INFORMED US THAT OTHER HUMANS HAVE BEEN GIVING YOU TROUBLE!”

“And we’re gonna make it double!!!”

Had they rehearsed this speech?

“UNDYNE NO WE ARE TRYING TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF TROUBLE!”

Undyne flashed Papyrus a shark-like grin and merely shrugged. Papyrus shook his head, then forged ahead with the speech.

“SO UNDYNE, AS CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, AND MYSELF, AS TRAINEE HOPEFUL OF THE ROYAL GUARD-”

“-which doesn’t really exist anymore-”

“HAVE DECIDED THAT IT IS OUR MORAL IMPERATIVE TO TRAIN YOU IN HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT!”

“So that punks can’t give you shit anymore!”

“LANGUAGE, UNDYNE!”

“There’re no children here!”

This was both extremely flattering and extraordinarily terrifying. You tried to stall. “Uh. Hand-to-hand combat? With you guys?”

“YES! WHO BETTER TO TRAIN YOU IN THE ARTS OF FISTICUFFS?”

Well, probably someone who didn’t call it “fisticuffs.”

“I’m really flattered that you want to help keep me safe, but…” you pointedly stared them up and down, hoping they would catch your meaning. They did not. “But you’re both really

big

and uh,

menacing

.” They both brightened at the compliment. “I don’t think I could

ever

beat you in hand-to-hand combat, even if you were going easy on me.” What you left unsaid was that you were certain you would die in the attempt.

“Yeah, but if you

could

beat us, imagine how effective you’d be up against some puny human bully!” Undyne pointed out. You were forced to concede to her logic.

You turned to Toriel for backup. “Uh, Toriel? Do you think I should, um, learn hand-to-hand combat?”

Toriel looked between the three of you thoughtfully. “I don’t typically condone the use of violence, if it can be helped…” You sighed in relief. An out. “...but if other humans do mean you physical harm, then I suppose learning to defend yourself is the logical next step.”

“Hear that, kiddo?” Undyne drawled with a grin, and you looked up to see both her and Papyrus stepping up and placing arms around your shoulders. “Even Queen Tori agrees! It’s settled.”

“THIS IS SO EXCITING! WE WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH YOU

AND

SHOW OFF OUR SUPER-COOL MOVES!”

You sighed, then were struck with an idea. “Uh - do you think I could bring a human sparring partner, maybe? Then, uh, you’d both be able to demonstrate for me and I’d be able to practice at the same time!”

“BRILLIANT IDEA!”

Undyne’s expression suggested that she knew why you were

really

proposing this, but she seemed a woman who appreciated that you were terrified of her. “Anyone in particular in mind?”

“Yeah - Edyth Worth.” This’d be two birds with one stone, and make good on that promise to Edyth to include her in your next monster hangout. “She’s already been to the camp, so getting approval for a hangout shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Cool, I’ll make sure that happens.” She turned her shark’s grin on you. “And then you got NO excuse for missing your brand-new mandatory training!”

This prospect was terrifying to you.

Later though, as you rattled around in the bus back down the mountain, you reflected on what Papyrus had said: that they were doing this because of what Sans had told them. You couldn’t stop the smile that formed on your lips, or the feeling in your tummy that one might describe as a “warm glow.”

Edyth was essentially vibrating the whole way up the road to the mountain and through the checkpoint (much to Agent Liang’s chagrin.) When you’d finally parked the car, you half expected to look up to find her already tearing across the buildsite, but she did at least have the presence of mind to wait for you.

“God this is gonna be so amazing. I cannot thank you enough for this. Seeing monster sparring, I caNNOT WAIT!” Edyth’s voice rose so drastically in her excitement that the end of the sentence came out nearly as a shriek. The volume made you flinch, but her enthusiasm helped to abate some of the anxiety you were feeling.

As the two of you climbed out of the car, you spotted the tall forms of Undyne and Papyrus striding towards you across the build site, and you waved at them. Undyne responded by flexing her enormous biceps. And then suddenly she was holding- oh god… Was she holding a

spear

?

“So the first rule, of course, is to be alert.”

Twenty minutes later the four of you were back up in the clearing where you’d encountered Undyne and Papyrus training the week before. The two monsters were taking stances across from each other, ready to show you the proper way to defend yourself in the event of another altercation.

“Keep your head up, and keep your eyes on your opponent.” Undyne pointed at her narrowed eye, then across to Papyrus. “NEVER let him out of your sight. He should feel your watchful gaze at all times.” Papyrus responded by nodding sagely.

“THIS IS HOW I KNOW UNDYNE IS A TRUE FIGHTING MASTER. WHENEVER I MAKE A MISTAKE I FEEL LIKE SHE IS WATCHING ME, EVEN IF SHE IS MANY MILES AWAY!!!”

Already this training session felt a bit intense for you. You traded glances with Edyth, and when you’d looked back, Undyne had a blue glowing spear in her hand, and Paps was surrounded by a field of comically large bones.

“The second rule of fighting,” Undyne continued, spear raised and a gleam in her eye, “is to ATTACK YOUR ENEMY WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT! NEVER LET UP, AND NEVER FALTER!!! NGAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Screaming, she ran at Papyrus throwing blue spears, while the skeleton blocked with a wall of bones that erupted from the ground. It was hard to describe what happened next - Undyne seemed to vault the bone-wall and flung herself down towards Paps, while he blocked with a bone-spear of his own - and then the dust grew too thick and you weren’t able to make out much more than flashes of blue light and bone silhouettes. Once it cleared, both Undyne and Papyrus were on their backs several feet away from each other, and for some reason, holding hands.

“And that,” panted Undyne, “is how you successfully bring down your enemies.”

You and Edyth both clapped frenetically, Edyth’s jaw hanging open.

“HOW?????? Spears??? Where did they come from? All those bones!!!!” She ran excitedly over to one of the bones protruding from the dusty earth and hesitantly touched it, then lunged at it, trying to push it over to no avail. “It’s so solid!!”

Undyne sat up grinning, while Papyrus continued to lie sprawled on the ground in a victorious sort of stance. “That’s magic for ya.”

Edyth’s head swung around, the sunlight glinting off her glasses. “Tell me how.” She ran over to Undyne and sat cross-legged in the dirt before her, ready to learn. “I gotta know.”

Undyne shrugged. “There’s not much to know. Monsters are made of magic, so of course we can manipulate it easily. Humans are… you guys are made of like, blood and guts and bones-”

“-CALCIUM BONES-”

“-and not magic. So magic isn’t as integral to how you operate.”

Your mind immediately went to your dreams, because of course it did.

“Does that mean… that humans can use magic, too?”

Undyne’s expression shifted at that, and her eye narrowed a bit. “...Yeah. Humans have been known to be able to use magic too.”

“BUT NOT FOR A LONG TIME,” Papyrus supplied. “FRISK SAID THAT HUMANS HAVE BEEN UNAWARE OF MAGIC FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS!”

You nodded slowly, and you saw Edyth do the same before piping up.

“So what exactly is magic?”

Undyne studied Edyth for a moment before shrugging. “Our magic is our soul, and it’s kind of. All of our everything. Our souls determine who we are, what we look like, and what magic we use. That’s why there’re as many different monsters as you’ve seen - we can look like anything.

“For humans, though, you guys are different. Your bodies ‘n’ your souls are two different things. Maybe that’s why it’s harder for you to use magic - your bodies get in the way of your souls. I dunno. Alphys could explain it better.”

Edyth was nodding slowly, obviously processing. “No, I think I get it,” she said eventually. You weren’t sure you could say the same, but you nodded too.

After that, Undyne showed you and Edyth how to throw and block punches, and you practiced with each other for a while before Edyth needed to take a break to use the washroom. While she wandered off into the trees, you watched Undyne and Papyrus square off against each other once more.

The discussion of magic had kind of left you reeling. You had known that humans had once been able to use magic - they’d sealed off the monsters, after all - but the fact that the explanation of it still enabled everything you’d seen in your dreams was, with all due respect, a fuckin lot. You’d learned so much about both human and monster history, and nothing of it so far contradicted what you’d experienced.

You thought back to what Rosa had said when you’d told her everything: “That you’re reliving something from a past life? That a ghost is haunting you to help them find closure? That time is wonky and overlapping within your brain space, and those events are occurring at the same time?” You wondered which of those might be closest to the real explanation. It seemed bizarre to you to be considering accepting these dreams as some sort of reality, but that was overwhelmingly starting to feel like the only option.

Papyrus had just finished demonstrating what he called his “Blue Attack,” which seemed to affect Undyne’s gravity as she struggled to jump over the bone-hurdles which crested up through the ground at her, when Edyth returned and took a seat in the dirt next to you, yawning.

“Man, I’m

wiped

. I think this may be the most exercise I’ve done all year.”

“God I feel that.” You chuckled and did a half-hearted side stretch, which just emphasized to you how out of shape you were. “Gonna have a hot bath and sleep well tonight.”

Edyth groaned. “God I wish that was my night. I’m still supposed to meet up with someone after this.”

You perked right up at that. “OooooOOOooohh. What is it? A date??”

“Not nearly that exciting,” Edyth chuckled. “Just meeting up with a colleague for a drink.”

“AND THAT, WONDERFUL AND LUCKY HUMANS,” Papyrus hollered, “IS HOW YOU DEFEND YOURSELF SHOULD A FUTURE ASSAILANT BE ABLE TO WIELD BLUE MAGIC AND ALSO BONE MAGIC!”

Undyne was busy decimating the last of the bone hurdles with a blue spear, and so the only words of wisdom she had to impart were, “Ngahh! NgaaahhHHH!! NGAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Afterwards the two monsters escorted you back down the parking lot, where you and Edyth piled back into your car. As you were doing up your seatbelt you heard a knocking sound, and you looked up to see Undyne squatting next to the car and tapping on your window. You dutifully rolled it down.

“By the way punk, Alphys wanted me to pass on that she wants to do another anime night soon. She wanted to know if this Saturday worked for you.”

“Ooh lemme check!” You took a moment to look at your dayplanner, then nodded excitedly. “Yeah that works! Tell Alphys I’ll have Sailor Princess MoonSea with me.”

Undyne smiled, and the view through your car window turned to just rows of shining teeth. “Just what I was hopin’ to hear, nerd! Good. Get home safe!”

As you pulled through the guard post and started the drive back down the mountain, you realized that it might only be polite to invite Edyth too, who had, after all, been sitting next to you for that whole conversation. “Oh uh… Did you want to come to Anime Night too? I’d have to check with everyone, but I’m sure it would be fine!”

Edyth grinned. “Thanks champ, I appreciate it. But nah, I got some work I gotta do that night.”

The two of you made idle small talk for the next little while, until you both fell silent, pondering all that you had learned about the make-up of monsters - and by extension, your own selves.

The feeling of his hand in yours was nigh indescribable. Initially you’d expected him to be cold, given that to the eye he was a corpse given life, but his hands were warm, and soft in a way that you would never had guessed.

As the other humans slept in a pile on the far side of the cell, smelly, dirty and increasingly frail, you and Sans were laying side by side on the ground, holding hands through the bars between you, both searching the cavern ceiling with your eyes.

“ah okay got one,” Sans piped up after a moment, and you followed his free hand, which was pointing at a cluster of specks on the ceiling. Maybe it was just discoloured sediment, but to your captive eyes they took on the beauty of the stars. The spots that Sans was indicating seemed to follow an s-pattern through the rock.

“that one’s treungus the worm. he’s a worm.”

You hissed and shook your head, though your smile remained on your face. “Then why is he in the night sky if he’s just a worm?”

“you tellin’ me that worms aren’t important? that’s rude. you say that to treungus’ face.”

You giggled as quietly as you could. You were both speaking in a low pitch, hesitant to wake up the others in the cell with you, though you knew from bitter experience that they would wait until Sans had left to confront you.

“Hey Treungus,” you softly called to the ceiling, then hesitated. “...Nevermind Treungus. I’m certain you’re a very good worm.”

“that’s more like it. show respect to your elders. okay, your turn.”

You cast your gaze upon the stone ceiling, scanning the crevices and stalactites for something resembling a constellation. After a moment your eyes fell upon one, and you pointed.

“Okay, there we go: Cefarious the fish, who swam every sea in the world. When he’d finished, he looked up one night and saw a whole new sea above him, one he’d never explored before. He jumped and jumped and jumped until finally he jumped right up into the night sky. He’s still swimming through it, exploring a little more every night.”

That one was quite beautiful, if you did say so yourself. The idea of getting to explore - or even look at - the beautiful night sky certainly made

your

heart ache a bit. Sans remained quiet, until you looked over at him and shook his hand where it was clasped with yours.

“Well???”

Sans’ head turned to face you, his grin somewhat wider and a light in his eyes. You were starting to recognize it as the sign that he had a deluge of wordplay to unleash upon you. “you

fishin’

for compliments now, bud?”

“Ohhhh no.”

“nah i get it. you’re a poet, so you’re more so-

fish

-ticated than me and my worm.”

“I didn’t mean-”

“aw don’t worry, i’m just

squid

ding. i just saw a great oppor-

tuna

-ty for a joke.”

You scrunched up your face at him, but you couldn’t suppress your smile. “I suppose I must just await the end of your

sea

of puns?”

“don’t worry, i’m nearly

fin

-ished.”

“Oh good. I

cod

not stand much more.”

“that was a good one! you might just be the

gill

of my dreams.”

The silence that followed that was palpable, and judging from Sans’ expression you wondered if he’d just let on more than he meant to. By the way your heart had skipped when he’d said it, you, too, felt like he’d hit more upon the truth than you were comfortable with examining. After a moment you both stared back up at the ceiling, and Sans pointed at a cluster of spots just above you.

“okay so that one is plempiss the snake. he’s a snake.”

“And I suppose he’s a very good snake?”

“nah he’s a bastard, don’t trust him.”

Later, if you had been pressed on the issue, you would have had a hard time regretting how your lot had turned out, given beautiful moments like these underground.