Warning #1: In this, Frisk gets a Pacifist Neutral and then a True Pacifist ending, without resetting a bunch of times to relive their adventures or to start a genocide just for funzies.
Warning #2: First three chapters have no Gaster in them. They're there so I can set the stage and so you can get the feel for the world. This story is plot-heavy, so you have been warned. But after the first three chapters Gaster will be by Reader's side about 95% of the time. So that's something.
I'll try my best to keep it interesting and I do HoPe you have fun reading.
"Sans," a young woman raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, looking at the skeleton sitting beside her.
"oh come on, Y/n, just one more. Come on, pal, I know you find my puns-"
"Don't-"
"-humerus."
"Aaargh Saaans goddamn it, " the one called Y/n covered her eyes with her hand and shook her head, her smile however betraying that her frustration with the skeleton was dramatically exaggerated.
"you know you like it," he chuckles and takes a sip of his ketchup while Y/n removes her hand from her eyes and grabs hold of her cocktail - Grillby hired someone to make drinks and since then the business had been booming, as you could actually order something to drink now. Sans, however, still preferred ketchup. Or was just too lazy to change his habits.
"I do, " she smiles and her lips touch the cold glass as she finishes her drink. "Listen, Sans, it's getting late already, I should get going."
"right," he agrees."don't you have that trip tomorrow?"
"Yep, " she nods and takes out her wallet. "Let me take you home, I know you know 'shortcuts', but that way we can talk some more."
"sounds great, pal. Besides, it's good that you volunteered to give me a ride, 'cause I'm bone tired."
Y/n lets out a short but genuine laugh and smiles widely at Grillby as she puts the money for her dinner plus a tip on the bar counter.
"You do know that you ruined a bunch of places for me, right, Grillby? Nowhere else compares, your burgers are simply the best."
It's a small detail, but the fire elemental's shoulders seem to proudly broaden and on his flaming face Y/n can discern an outline of a smile.
"...Thank you. Come back anytime."
"aw, you're so nice, Y/n. You can bring a bright, warm smile to anyone's face."
"Sans," the young woman stands up and straightens her clothes. "One more pun and I'll reconsider being carpals with you."
Sans' white lights-for-eyes shimmer with delight as he hops off the barstool and follows Y/n out of the bar.
Y/n walked into her apartment and threw her keys in a nearby bowl with a tired sigh. Leaving her darkbrown leather jacket and shoes by the entrance, she walked down the hallway, ignoring the door to her office and heading straight to the living room, where a laptop was sitting atop a small coffee table. Taking a seat on the sofa, Y/n opened the laptop and checked her e-mails. Being who she was, messages could come at any time on any day.
Tonight, however, there were just a few reports from her friends in the Research division about their findings and the contribution of Dr. Alphys in helping them understand some complex magic workings. Y/n smiled as her eyes ran through the letter. Alphys was more of an engineer, using magic where technology couldn't quite reach and improving existing inventions combining them with magic. Sans was the more magic-savvy individual, but for the purposes of this research Alphys was more than knowledgeable. She was also a kind, gentle soul and Y/n decided that she should drop by Alphys' work to thank her in person and maybe even give her a gift as a thank you. Maybe an anime-figurine. Or a cosplay item. Y/n would think on that.
When her phone rang and the screen showed the name of her Second in Command, she instinctively glanced at the clock on the wall.
23:24
Huh.
Sans has long since put Papyrus to sleep, Frisk probably had succumbed to sleep while trying to read a book under the covers using a flashlight, even Aplhys was no doubt pulled from her work by Undyne to get some rest.
But no, Y/n had no privilege of leaving work conversations at work. With that thought and a sigh, she swiped right, answering the call.
"Guten Abend, Herr Graustein. Was kann ich fur Sie tun?"* she kept her tone professional, but warm at the same time as the man on the other end was no stranger to her.
"Guten Abend, Archmagister, " the man's voice was tired, but she noticed how it warmed up from her use of his native language. She tried to do that more often when they were speaking one-on-one.
"Herr Graustein..."
"Y/n, " he coughed, correcting himself. A stickler for rules, he would often forget himself and call her by her title in private conversations, even though he knew her since she was first admitted to the Mages Academy. He spoke again, continuing to use German: "I apologize for calling this late."
"It's no problem, really, " she gestured with her hand as if he could see it. "Did something happen?"
"No, everything is calm," he chuckled, "Isn't that a surprise?"
"Oh yes it is," she let out a quiet laugh. God, she was happy that the past year went by without any major incidents, things were finally calming down since monsters came from the underground.
"So, Y/n," the man cleared his throat, "You will be departing tomorrow evening, correct? Nothing changed?"
The young Archmage smiled - the man was sometimes such a doting mother hen.
"Nothing changed, tomorrow at 18:00 my plane takes off and a few hours later I will be home, trying to get my overjoyed dog off me."
"I see, " he answered. "Y/n, you do remember to be careful? This whole monster hysteria has calmed down, but there are still people who are opposed to your way of dealing with things."
"I know, " she sighed, feeling as if a pile of bricks was dropped on her shoulders, additional bricks being added by the second while the topic circled around politics, opposition groups and the like. "Herr Graustein, you know my family is careful and my father has installed every form of security measure you can think of, I even put some spells on the house just in case."
"I'm not talking about the safety of your family, I'm talking about yours."
"Oh. Yes, that too. I'm not out for trouble, I just want to visit my hometown, my house, my family and friends," she sighed again and looked at the night city through the bulletproof windows. Fortunately, they've never come in handy, but the thought that they even had to be installed was unnerving enough.
"Y/n?" the voice of her teacher distracted her from her thoughts. She cleared her throat.
"And besides, I'm the Archmage, it would take a bit of ingenuity to harm me, don't worry, " Y/n said, trying to calm the older mage down.
"Several cleverly placed snipers. Or an explosive in your father's car. Or an even bigger explosion, maybe taking out a whole restaurant. I doubt radicals would mind a few dozen people as significant collateral damage-"
"Herr Graustein-"
"I know...I know. I apologize. Things weren't heated for a while now, the number of radical opposition members has dwindled considerably and more and more of them are more agreeable now."
"Of course, only morons wouldn't see that monsters mean us no harm."
"Morons still account for a high number of the population."
Y/n smirked grimly.
"No argument there. But let's not delve into our usual philosophical musings on the prideful and prejudicial, lest you want me to fall into a misanthropic mood and go on and on about the types of people I hate until you accuse me of being anti-human and unfit to bear the title of Archmage."
"My dear Y/n, you know full well that I'm far more fit to be accused of misanthropy than you, I have far more years of experience hating certain people," the older mage was now in a lighter mood and Y/n could hear papers being shoved aside.
"Herr Graustein, if there's nothing else, then I thank you for your concern and order you as Archmage to go and get some rest. Get some flowers from the castle garden and give them to your husband as an apology for being home so late," the young woman giggled as she heard a thoughtful hum from the man.
"I'll inform the guard that I have your direct order to run around the garden picking flowers in the middle of the night."
"You do that," she smiled, assured that her teacher could hear it in her voice."But no one would question you anyway, you know that."
The man gave a satisfied smirk and the two of them exchanged goodbyes.
Yawning, Y/n stretched and the sound of her joints cracking reminded her of her skeleton friends. Stars, being around those two was a pleasure and a balm on her soul, which was worn out by the past three years of stress. Funnily enough the monsters - the reason she had so much work now - were the ones who would be able to make her relax.
It fell into the jurisdiction of the Guild of Mages when things involved magic or monsters. When, centuries later, the whole world thought that monsters didn't exist there was no reason for the government to look into or change that ancient rule. Heck, Y/n herself heard a couple of jokes from her aquaitances in City Hall that maybe it's her job to deal with monsters under the beds of their children. She even agreed to that once, when she was invited to dinner at the house of one of the official's. In the later hours of the evening their 5-year-old son came to the dining room after he had a nightmare and Y/n volunteered to walk them to their bedroom and, as The Archmage, scare the monster away. How ironic was it, that a while after the monsters came from the Underground that same kid asked her if she could maybe make a monster appear under his bed, as monsters were, apparently, the new GreatestThingEVER in children's minds. If only all the grown ups were just as excited.
As soon as monsters emerged from the Underground, she was there. King Asgore later theorized that her being the Archmage somehow attuned her soul to the Barrier and that's how she instantly felt when it shattered. When she reached the place where the Barrier had once been the sun was already setting, coloring the sky in shades of gold and casting a warm light on the inhuman figures standing near the top of the mountain where a huge hole was visible. Y/n remembered never being so scared in her life. Two weeks later the monsters were greeted by the Guild of Mages and later - the army, the police, and the news. It was a truly chaotic time and Y/n was more than impressed with how much understanding monsters handled all of it. Then again, monster hearts were made mostly from love, hope and compassion. What a bunch of cinnamon rolls.
While the government was in a state of panic and the military was debating which type of warfare would deal the monsters more damage, she and her advisors quickly stepped in, reserving the right to deal with the situation and reminding everyone that this was why the Guild was stationed near Mount Ebott in the first place. Even if the government wasn't convinced, they've already went public with the announcement and it would be a mess to give the general populace the impression that they didn't know what they were doing. Legally, they couldn't stop the Guild too, since no one bothered to change "that one line about monsters".
Since then, she and the Guild were dealing with every monster-involved incident, being blamed for everything that went wrong and being hated by certain people for everything that went right. Racism, prejudice, even homophobia came into the mix and sometimes late at night when she was dead tired but plagued by insomnia due to the sheer stress Y/n wondered if she should just off some people in the middle of the night. Luckily, the city and the areas around it became accustomed to the "new neighbors" and recognized their lack of ill intent relatively quickly. The rest of the world still debated the issue with varying intensity, but at least hometurf was a safe zone.
Then there was the social issue of interspecies relationships. Oh, that one was "fun". She distinctly remembers the hearing of the Supreme Court when a man cried out in exasperation something along the lines of "If we don't stop and don't punish this, then who knows what they'll do then!" and the lawyer replied "Yes, those two creatures loving each other, how DARE they do that! What will we tell our children, how do we explain the phenomenon that two beings love each other regardless of gender? Of race?". Oh she loved that lawyer so much at that moment. The irony didn't seem lost on the judge of African heritage who's son was dating a white guy. She didn't know how she resisted the urge to run up to the judge and kiss him when he announced that, at least in this country, love wins.
And the monster-human school! How much energy her and Toriel invested in that!
And the international trips with Asgore! Y/n refused to let the king, who had become her close friend, to be in any danger and used her Archmage status to accompany him to the countries he wanted to visit to establish monster-human relations.
And the issue of employment for monsters! And suitable living arrangements! And the media coverage! And the interviews! And the police and military protocol involving monsters! And infomercials, children's books and documentaries explaining to people what monsters really are! And all the scientific data researchers wanted to have! And those stupid parents who screamed that Mettaton was inappropriate for their children when said children ADORE him! UGH!
She was getting exhausted even thinking about all of it...
Y/n raised her hand and rubbed between her eyes, she felt that thanks to these few years she would get furrows there as well as on her forehead before she'll reach thirty. A "pleasing" thought, considering she was 25 now. Well, she was 25 for a while - mages aged a bit slower than regular humans, usually depending on their magic abilities which, in turn, depended on the wizard's attunement to their soul. Being an Archmage, her chances of living long were quite high - if no one kills her that is.
"That's it," the thought, standing up and, grabbing her phone and laptop, walking to the bedroom. "Netflix & sleep."
Half a season of Mettaton's fabulous film noir parody series later, she finally fell asleep.
So that was the first chapter!
Not the most spectacular one in the world but it had Sans, so that already makes it sansational, right?
...I'll shut up now, bye.
