This was it.

This was the moment they'd been waiting for. All the sleepless nights, all the close calls, and time spent searching for everything they needed. With all the careful planning and the rewriting of those plans, it had been a stressful endeavor. And it had all led up to this. And they both silently agreed that it was worth it. It always was, after all. No regrets.

The two observed with tense anticipation, as the eight-headed dragon rose from the sea. She readied her sword. He prepared a spell. They took their predetermined positions and waited for their moment to strike. The creature moved toward the shore, oblivious to its coming demise.

"Ready?" It was Alphys' voice that came from the headset.

Sans paused for a moment, removing one of the headphones to listen for his brother. He'd locked the door. Then he'd locked it again just to be sure. The blinds were closed and the room was dark despite the window and computer screen. Papyrus likely thought he was taking a nap. Things would stay that way as long as he could keep his excitement under control.

"Let's do this."

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In her abode, the yellow lizard smiled. She pressed the W key with exhilaration. Her character charged forth with her enchanted sword. A few seconds later she was protected from most of the dragon's magic attacks. The spell wouldn't last long, but that was fine. She wasn't afraid in the slightest.

Excitement filled her eyes as she watched the dragon's health bar decrease. It wasn't much. She'd expected that and welcomed the challenge. Her dull claw slammed against the mouse, commanding her character to keep fighting. The tapping was drowned out by the sound of her favorite anime on in the next room.

She tended to really get into these epic showdowns, and always had another sound loudly playing to hide her voice. Together, she and her partner worked to bring their enemy's HP to zero. Her weapon was running out of charge.

She was thrown before she could switch blades. "No," she screeched and took some health potions before swimming back toward the battle.

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"Uh-oh."

He felt genuine fear upon seeing the creature turn its attention to him. They hadn't planned for this. His character had a pitiful defense stat. It had to be that way for him to have obtained so many powerful attacks. A blizzard shot from his character's outstretched hand and he called for Alphys to hurry up.

Her avatar was still a long way off, though, so he hoped he could dodge until then. Cast spell. Dodge. Cast spell. Dodge. Cast- RUN AWAY. Having been so focused on avoiding attacks, he'd forgotten about checking his HP. Stupid poisonous dragon!

"Crap! Crap! Crap! Heal yourself, darn it!"

"We've almost got it! Just hold on a little longer! I'm almost there!"

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She lost sight of her friend's avatar, but knew he hadn't died yet. If such an event were to happen, she knew she'd know about it immediately. Almost there. She yelled at her character to swim faster as Sans' character was flung back toward the beach.

"I'm out of potions!"

"Then use a healing spell!"

"I can't yet!"

Finally! It no longer mattered that her sword had little magic charge. All it would take was a few hits and they could consider this game beaten. Clicking wildly, she watched the blade move across her screen. The dragon's health bar was going…. Gone!

"YES!"

She leapt from her seat and jumped happily, cheering as her character received her prizes. Her victory jumping came to an abrupt end. She didn't hear her partner celebrating. Sitting back down, she walked over to the other avatar and saw it idle.

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"IT MUST'VE BEEN A VERY EXCITING DREAM."

"It was," he replied, hoping that his brother didn't notice the light coming from the computer.

He'd opened the door as little as possible. He'd covered the thing with a heavy blanket beforehand. Yet paranoia persisted. Would it be suspicious not to explain the "dream" which caused him to yell random nonsense? It probably wouldn't hurt to come up with something. Or better yet….

"I can't remember much about it, but I know there were acorns falling from the sky."

"ACORNS?"

"Maybe instead of a dream, I had-"

"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENT-"

"A nutmare."

Papyrus stormed off, yelling, "STOP PLAGUING MY LIFE WITH HORRIBLE PUNS! ONE DAY I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET IT!"

"Don't pretend that wasn't funny," he argued, laughing at his own joke.

He closed the door, locked it, and hurried over to the computer. Throwing the blanket in a random direction, he didn't look at the screen as he re-equipped the headset. Things hadn't looked great a minute ago and he really didn't want to see his character dead.

"Did we win? Tell me we won."

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"Open your eye sockets," she told him, relieved that their secret was safe.

"Yes!"

"Axe of Storm Conjuring for me," she said, smiling at the image on her screen. Selecting another item, she clicked "drop" and equipped her new weapon. "Staff of Water Bending for you."

The duo played with their new items for a while, flooding deserts and striking cows with lightning. They had agreed to only play for a few minutes longer. By the time she glanced at the clock, three hours had passed. They really had to log off. Papyrus would have dinner ready soon and she needed to eat something too.

No, video games weren't illegal. To these two however, they may as well have been. Video games were often spoken of as overly violent. Her parents had forbidden them. What they didn't know didn't hurt them. And her friend's younger brother saw it as the worst form of laziness. "PRETENDING TO DO SOMETHING WHEN YOU'RE NOT."

Again, what people don't know won't hurt them. Sans wasn't "the worst form of laziness" and Alphys, quiet little Alphys, didn't participate in such a violent activity. Later that night, she would find herself on the webpage of an upcoming game.

The farther along in the description she went, the wider her smile became. She sent the skeleton a text and at last went to bed. She dreamt of defeating enemy armies from the comfort of her desk chair. Oh, what fun this would be!