This is based off of a role-play with a close friend of mine on Amino. They are an amazing person and an even better role-player. They mainly roleplay as Gaster and they're my beta-reader on this work. There are some trigger warnings. Uhmm... Child abuse, suicide mentions and attempts, medical stuff, and death.

I wrote this chapter listening to the Rock the 2000s playlist on Spotify as well as NSP's new album Under the Covers Vol II. There are a number of headcanons that I've created and added in to this tale.

Comments are appreciated, as is criticism.

Anyway, onto the story!

When she had jumped, she expected that to be that to be the end of it. After all, death was the end of everything, right? Even necromancers knew that... Unless you could set up the ritual and have it done immediately after you died, that was it.

But when she landed- if she actually did, she had no memory of it- she woke to golden flowers and a bright light shining onto her face from above. It definitely didn't help the thudding in her head and landing on her back did nothing for the burn that The Circle had given her a week before she jumped.

In all honesty, if she knew she would still be alive down here after jumping all that way, she would have just let The Circle kill her. At least she wouldn't be hunted down here... Right?... She flinched a little as she sighed before slowly rolling onto her stomach and pushing herself onto her knees and hands. She finally sat upright after a minute of trying not to crack the burn any more than it already was by moving. Every breath stung and every movement caused a jolt of pain to shoot up her spine.

She didn't make a sound though; she knew better. She had been in painful situations enough to know that when a sound of pain was made, more was sure to follow. The Circle had done a good job of whipping that into her mind, quite literally. Instead, she took slow, shallow breaths, not letting her lungs expand entirely to calm herself down. She shakily stood, dusting herself off slowly and getting her bearings in this strange world.

It seemed like she was in a cave; however, it didn't have that musty cave smell. There were golden flowers growing down here and from the light from above, she had to be close to the surface... But how far would The Circle go to hunt her down? This was the third escape she had led but the only one in which she and the other forbidden magic users weren't immediately captured or killed...

She looked around and eventually found her soul-bound suitcase, picking it up and shrinking it to store in her bra before making her way forward through the madness that was this... Strange place.

It seemed like a dream, a horrible, never-ending cycle of the same plants and the same rocks. It was quite monotonous until she stumbled upon a plant with a face. Tilting her head and looking down at the weed at her feet, she waited for a while and just as she was about to step around it, it began talking.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!" It seemed to giggle, causing a sneer to spread across her face. She hated most flowers and talking ones that giggled were worse. "Hmmm... You're new to the Underground aren'tcha? Golly you must be so confused!" She raised a dotted eyebrow, looking down at it as it winked, a small star coming off its face. "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here. I guess little old me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!"

Her sideways soul popped out and the battle sequence began. She had done this a million times before with humans so she knew how this worked. Once her LV popped up, the flower stopped what he was doing, an almost evil grin coming across its face. "Say buddy... You have a pretty high LV... Whatcha say to... Giving me some of that?" Her soul was surrounded by bullets, the flower cackling evilly. "After all it's kill or be killed in this world. And you should know that buddy." It laughed, grinning widely as the circle began spinning and just as it was about to close in, the flower was smacked away by a fireball.

A goat monster stepped in, a fireball balancing in her palm. "What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor..." It was then that she noticed her LV and froze a little, clearing her throat and looking down before returning her gaze to the young woman. "Unfortunate youth... I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down."

"Come young one... I will guide you through the catacombs to the Ruins, where I live." She nodded slowly, putting her soul back into her body with a simple push. Being a witch with her… Specific talents, she was used to dealing with souls and on a number of occasions, had taken her own soul out to simply stare at the strange colored sideways soul. Toriel looked at her, offering a hand after putting the fire magic out. She looked at the hand, almost glaring at the goat lady. She didn't need help from anyone. Toriel sighed softly, drawing it back to herself.

Getting back to the Ruins was rather uneventful. She solved the puzzles with no problem and with hardly any help from the goat monster who watched her. She did try to NOT make enemies down here, showing Mercy for the first time in her nineteen years of life when confronted by a smaller monster. It kind of hurt a little. Mercy was never given to her.

Why should she give it to anyone else?

She stayed in the ruins for quite a while, her burn worsening daily; however, one day almost two weeks after she arrived, she went downstairs, walking down the hallway Toriel had warned her from going down. Toriel was waiting at the end, her eyes closed as she stood in front of a massive set of doors. She slowly approached, her case hidden in her bra as Toriel opened her eyes and looked at her.

"...Normally I would try to stop the children from going out... But you are more than capable of protecting yourself... I can remember the last time I saw a mage's soul..." Her shock was barely evident on her face as Toriel stepped away from the doors, letting her pass. "Please... Be careful out there... Not all the monsters will take so kindly to seeing such a high LV..." She could only nod, opening the door and walking out into the cold. The door closed behind her and a click was heard as she slowly wrapped her arms around her body, stretching the still burnt and now infected skin of her back.

Her eye twitched in pain, her lips curling into a grimace as she shivered a little. She took a deep breath, straightening up and casting a simple fire spell, cupping the small fireball in her palms to warm up a little before continuing on, the fireball disappearing. As she walked, she felt eyes on her as she stepped around a fallen branch. The branch cracked a short time afterwards, her eyes narrowing into small slits as she turned, scanning her surroundings.

Nothing but freshly fallen snow could be seen.

She sighed and shook her head, closing her eyes and slowly lifting a hand to rub her tired eyes. She didn't trust the goat lady and because of that, she didn't sleep—save for short cat naps when the monster was out searching the ruins. She yawned, trying to hide the dark circles under her eyes as she rubbed them again. She was stronger than this.

Sleep was something she had done without before.

She turned back towards the path, rubbing her eyes again and yawning widely again. Why was she so tired? In the back of her rational mind, she knew that it was because her body was hurt, she knew that sleep helped heal injured bodies. But her irrational mind was full of paranoia and worry which is why she hadn't slept yet. She shook her head to clear it again, taking a semi-deep breath to calm her racing mind and heart.

She walked a little further in the freezing weather, her shivers growing more and more noticeable as she walked on. She still felt the eyes on her back as she walked along, slowly stopping just short of a bridge as footfalls sounded behind her. She almost turned to attack whatever it was but stopped herself, biting her tongue and forcing herself to stop muttering the first spell that came to mind.

As the footfalls grew closer, she let her hands drop to her sides, clenching her fists as they finally stopped and whoever-or whatever- had walked up behind her spoke:

"don't you know how to greet a new friend? turn around and shake my hand." She almost didn't but something told her to, slowly turning and looking at the skeleton that had a hand stuck out in offering. She slowly lifted her hand, taking its hand. Just as they shook, a fart sound emitted from the skeleton's hand and it laughed, showing the small whoopee cushion in his palm. "gets 'em every time... but uh... you don't look impressed buddy..."

She shook her head, taking her hand back as he looked her over, eye-sockets seeming to widen a little at seeing her soul. That seemed to make him take a small step backwards away from her. She was used to people being frightened of her; she was a necromancer for fuck's sake. She slowly moved to turn back around, the world spinning as she stumbled a little. Her eyes closed and she shook her head to clear the racing thoughts that seemed to be overwhelming her.

"hey buddy you okay? you don't look so good." She turned back, glaring icy daggers at him.

"I'm fine. Now leave me alone." She snapped, causing him to visibly recoil. She took great satisfaction in that, turning back to continue on her path when suddenly everything went black and she fell forward. The skeleton frowned and called someone on his phone, the conversation short. A much taller skeleton raced over almost immediately after he had hung up, looking down at the smaller skeleton.

"SANS! YOU HAVE A HUMAN?! HOW DID YOU GET..." The taller skeleton seemed to stop for a moment, looking down at the unconscious human before looking back at the shorter one. "HER?" 'Sans' sighed, looking down at her and kneeling to pick her up. The taller skeleton helped as well, frowning as she made a pained face when her back was touched.

"she just fainted paps. i'm gonna call alphys and have her get ready to check her over. she's hurt..." The taller one frowned, looking at Sans who had moved the girl in his arms so her back wasn't being touched at all.

"YOU DO NOT WANT FATHER TO CHECK HER OVER? HE IS THE BEST DOCTOR IN THE UNDERGROUND."

"i don't want HIM anywhere near this human papyrus! she looks like she's been through enough. and knowing him, he'd just do experiments on her." Sans snapped, Papyrus frowning and nodding slowly as Sans sighed, looking down before looking up at his brother. "sorry papy... i didn't mean ta snap..."

"IT IS OKAY SANS. I KNOW YOU ARE STILL ANGRY AT HIM." Sans sighed, making sure she was secure in his arms. "COME. THE COLD CAN'T BE GOOD FOR HER IF SHE IS INJURED." Sans nodded and started off towards Hotlands, ignoring all the strange looks they were being given.

Undyne met them at Waterfall, holding out a spear. "Drop the human Sans! King Asgore needs her soul to break the barrier!" Papyrus moved to stand between the human, his brother, and his mentor.

"SHE IS HURT UNDYNE! REALLY BADLY. SANS SAID SHE FAINTED WHEN SHE TRIED TO WALK AWAY FROM HIS BAD PUNS." Undyne let her spear disappear as Sans stepped forward with the human. Undyne looked over the unconscious girl, her hard look somewhat disappearing as she took her from Sans.

"I'll help ya to Alphys' lab... She's gotta be gettin' heavy on ya." Sans slowly nodded, looking at Undyne who just headed to Alphys' lab. She struggled a little through Hotlands but Papyrus gave her a glass of water which helped immensely with the heat.

Soon they were at Alphys' lab and when they walked in, she had a bed waiting for the human. Alphys immediately rushed forward, taking a very quick look over before frowning.

"O-oh no... S-s-she doesn't l-look so g-good... H-h-here, s-set her here on t-the t-t-table..." Undyne eased the girl on the table, causing her to grimace and whine softly when her back was touched. Papyrus looked down at her, frowning deeply as even Sans frowned a little. Alphys began an examination, taking her heartbeat.

"i think she's got somethin' wrong with her back... she seemed like she was in pain the entire walk from the ruins. i watched her the whole way." Sans spoke as Alphys frowned, slowly sitting her up with Undyne's help and lifting her shirt. She quickly put it back down, paling a little before moving to get a medical kit.

"T-t-this is n-not g-g-good. S-she has a-a re-really b-bad b-burn o-on her b-b-back." Undyne frowned, helping her keep the human upright while Alphys took off the mage's shirt to reveal the badly infected burn spreading across her upper back.

"OH NO HOW DID SHE GET THAT? SANS WAS THAT FROM..." Papyrus started off, looking at Sans who just rolled his eyes and helped Alphys take her shirt off as Undyne held her.

"paps you know i don't even have fire magic." Sans said, the mage whining softly as Alphys worked on healing the burn the traditional way by cleaning it out and wrapping it up to keep the now opened skin from getting even more infected. "and beside, even if i did, if i had done this, it wouldn't be infected."

"I-I th-think t-this w-w-was done o-on the s-s-surface... T-th-there are s-s-still m-m-mages, aren't t-there?.." Sans looked at the girl, frowning and helping Alphys clean up as Undyne laid the girl back down with bandages covering any parts that may have been showing.

"Mages did this to her? I thought they didn't attack humans..." Undyne started, moving to sit down and look at the human on the table with a frown. "King Asgore will want to know about her." She finally said as Alphys began healing her with magic to take the infection away.

"...i'll go tell him. i can get there quicker." Sans spoke as Undyne nodded, looking at Alphys. "i'll be back." He disappeared in a flash, appearing in the golden flower filled room. He walked around for a minute before finally finding the cloaked figure he was hoping to find. "asgore?" He spoke to a cloaked figure, watching as it watered some of the flowers before stilling and standing upright to turn and face Sans.

"Yes?" A different goat monster spoke this time, looking down at the much smaller skeleton. "Oh hello Sans. How is Papyrus doing with his Royal Guard training?" The monster sat down, offering Sans a cup of tea. Sans shook his head, looking at Asgore, King of the Monsters.

"no thanks fluffybuns and he's doin' pretty good. i found a human. a woman, not a kid... she's hurt pretty badly. undyne said you'd probably wanna know 'bout her." The goat monster's eyes widened, setting his teacup down and standing to his full height before walking over to Sans.

"...Take me to see them. If they are an adult as you say, they... Will have to stay... Only a child's soul can break the barrier..." The monster stood, making his way over to Sans who teleported them to Hotlands where the human was still out of it, Asgore stepping over and pulling her soul out before gasping and gently cradling the sideways soul. "...She's a mage..."

"S-s-sir that d-doesn't m-make sense... I-if s-sh-she's a m-mage, w-why w-w-would s-she have b-been b-burnt by a m-mage?" Asgore frowned, gently moving to sit her upright after putting her soul back into her body. "S-sir?"

"...After the war between the mages and before we came down here, I... heard that... Witches who had 'unnatural powers' or 'corrupt sources' were branded and locked away and sometimes tortured... But I had assumed that... It was just a tall tale... Told to keep the monsters in line..." Asgore whispered, a finger tracing a number of scars along her back that the bandages weren't covering. What he hadn't told was that it was his idea. After a Necromancer had hurt his 'brother', he had convinced the Circle to control them. Everything was good, until she woke about halfway through his story, staying still and listening before finally speaking up.

"...It's not a tall tale... Necromancers, voodoo witch doctors, anyone that... Didn't follow The Circle's perfect image..." Everyone except for Asgore moved back when the human spoke. Asgore was still holding the mage upright, looking down at her. "...Where am I?.."

"Y-you're in m-my l-lab... S-s-sans br-brought you to m-me... H-how d-d-did you g-get burnt?.." She lifted her head to look at the nervous looking dinosaur before looking up at the King who simply let her go, laying her back down on the table gently.

"That's none of your business." She snapped, glaring at the dinosaur who squeaked and hid behind Asgore. Asgore stood up straight, looking down at the pale human who simply looked up at him, unimpressed and unafraid.

"No but it is MY business. As King of the Monsters and you now that you are here, I need to know if my people will be in danger of an attack by the mages." Asgore spoke, his voice hard and commanding as she sighed, closing her eyes and sitting up. She winced when the burn itself was tugged on, pulling her shirt back on.

"It's... A long story..." Asgore sat down in a chair that Undyne had pushed forwards for him, motioning her to begin speaking. She sighed, moving off the table to sit in a chair in front of them, looking down at her hands before muttering a spell, one all necromancers knew, the spell to summon memories. A picture began unfolding in her hands as she spread them apart, making the imagery visible for all in the room to see.
Undyne gasped as the images flickered from a happy and content family practicing magic and casting cute spells to what seemed to be a torture room, a young girl gagged in the center of the bloody room and beaten by magical whips of different colors wielded from wands of different woods and materials.

"I was eight when I was captured the first time. My own father gave me up when I came home and told him that my magic type had been chosen by the bones. My mother agreed with his decision whole-heartedly." She let out a snicker, shaking her head as the image changed to a fiery red-haired man shoving his daughter into the arms of a cloaked figure as the child cried out, begging to be taken back.

"Can't say I blame her. The Circle didn't take to kindly to a female necromancer. See up until me, all the newborn necromancers had been males so they didn't have much trouble. But... I was the first female one in a few hundred years... So, they had to... Dust off their sterilization methods." The image changed again to a young girl being held down by straps and cut open, eventually passing out from the pain as internal organs were removed. Alphys looked like she was about to be sick while Sans and Undyne looked on in shock and horror. Papyrus had already gotten sick, having to turn away and cover his eye-sockets. Asgore appeared... Almost saddened by the story so far, his eyes full of an unknown emotion to her.

It was guilt she finally realized, smirking at him.

"I don't want to bore anyone with the gory, painful... Traumatic details, so I'll skip ahead. Even though I see them every time I close my eyes. I don't want to traumatize the skeleton there. Looks like he's already sick with it." The vision changed to a crowd of young adults running from a massive group of the same cloaked figures that had taken her as a child. The now multi-colored hair woman broke from the crowd, racing up the mountain as fast as she could. She fought back as much as she could while she ran, one of the figures falling after being hit by a black bolt. Alphys looked away just as the girl was struck in the back with a fireball, causing her to fall forward just as the image went dark and the spell was ceased, the last image shown was the woman falling into the black abyss of Mt. Ebott.

All was silent for a few moments; Undyne and Alphys looked almost sickened that someone could hurt their own kind while Sans and Papyrus just looked down, shocked silent and sickened. "...You were... Locked away and beaten by your own kind... You had the... Very thing that makes you human taken... I... Can't even begin to imagine the pain..." Asgore spoke softly after a long pause, breaking the tense silence that had filled the laboratory room. Sans stood, looking at Asgore with a determined expression as she looked at him, raising a dotted eyebrow. Even Papyrus seemed to be shocked at the resolute look on his brother's face and the speed he stood.

"she can stay with me and Papy. we have plenty of room." Asgore nodded, looking at the human. "as long as she tells us her name." She hopped off the bed, walking over and holding her left hand out, the magic spell that hid the skeletal arm fading as she grinned.

"Call me Skelly. That's the only name I'll give you. There's power in a name you know." Sans looked almost worried at the arm's sudden change but changed hands, shaking hers with relative ease. That seemed to shock her a little but that was only evident in her eyes as she looked down at their hands. He shook her hand with such ease and how could he be so calm around her? She knew he could see her soul; she felt him staring at the strangely shaped heart.

She slowly took her hand back as Papyrus stood and raced over to hug her and even go so far as to spin her around. "OH, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE SUCH FUN MAKING SPAGHETTI AND TRAINING AND YOU WILL BE OUR NEW SISTER AND WE WILL WATCH METTATON MOVIES TOGETHER!" Fear and shock and a million different emotions ran through her and she had no idea how to process any of them. That information had been beaten out of her.

"Let me go. NOW." Papyrus set her down as she quickly moved away from everyone, backing into a corner and glaring at them As Asgore raised his hands in a show of peace. "Don't... Touch me. Ever. Got it?" Papyrus nodded, standing beside Sans—who had summoned a Gaster Blaster with one eye flickering blue flames-and Undyne who had summoned her spear into her hand and pulled Alphys behind her with the other hand.

"Drop the wand... We do not want a fight." Asgore spoke gently as she looked from the group to her hand where her wand had been summoned from its place inside her suitcase. "Perhaps it would be best for you to get antiquated with the Gaster brothers... On your own time. Sans, I name you guardian of her. I will inform Wingdings of her exista-" Sans cut him off before Asgore could finish his statement, shaking his head.

"no. don't tell him anything. i don't want him to know anything about her." Asgore opened his mouth to say something but he was quick to shut it again, simply nodding and sighing deeply. "you saw her memories. she's been through enough. and he'd just wanna experiment on her or question her."

"Very well. I will let you three leave... I am certain that there are arrangements to be made." Papyrus smiled widely as Sans took his hand and grabbed her, teleporting them to their home in Snowdin. Once they were safe in the skeleton's home, she jerked her hand away, glaring at Sans who just shrugged while Papyrus slowly made his way to the kitchen to make dinner. All was silent for a while, save for the sounds of Papyrus banging pots and pans together.

"Let's get something straight here. Don't touch me without my permission. Don't bother me when I'm alone. Don't even THINK of aiming those dogs at me again or I will destroy them." Sans chuckled, sitting on the couch and yawning widely as his eyesockets closed.

"alright, alright... i get the point. personal space is important to you. But i have some rules too." his eyes opened, the small white pinpoints gone and his sockets solid black now. "if you even THINK of hurting paps, you'll be in for a bad time buddy." She stepped back a little, watching him before nodding, her eyes focused on him. "tomorrow we'll fix up the shed for you. tonight, you can sleep on the couch." He stood, stretching and leaving the living room as she sat down on the couch when he left, sighing and closing her eyes.

How had her life ended up like this?

She curled up, finally drifting to sleep. Papyrus set a plate of spaghetti down for her after a few moments; "WHEN SHE WAKES UP, SHE MIGHT BE HUNGRY", he reasoned with sans. Sans left shortly after to go to Grillby's while a gentle knock sounded on the door.