A/N: Hello again! it's Saturday! and you know what that means, don't cha? another chapter, another chapter! woo! but first, lemme reply to this anon!

Aaaaaah:/ Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it and think our representation and portrayal of the characters is accurate! we're really enjoying this collab too, so thank you thank you thank you aaaaa-

Alright! now that that's settled, I'll leave you to this!

Arcana of Tricks
The Surgeon And The Rebel
Chapter Seven

As Sans and Akira walked through Sovereihn Town, the latter noticed the mountain. He wasn't quite sure where that was in relation to LA, nor to the airport. Akira figured it was some shortcut road through the land that Sans knew about. And then the skeleton did the unthinkable and turned into an alley near the electronics shop, humming a little. Akira frowned, but followed nonetheless. He reached out for Joker's hand, not facing him, but there was a smirk on his face. Hopefully the kid wouldn't be too shocked by this. "I suggest you brace yourself, bud. This might get rocky."

This rose some eyebrows. Were they going through a ravine? or over a fallen section of forest? Akira took the skeleton's hand, assuming it was for guidance. And suddenly, they wound up at the airport in the city, and Sans looked really tired, the bags under his sockets exaggerated and the sweat trickling down his skull. "Whew. That took a lot outta me…" he took his other hand and held his head, rubbing at his temple. "Guess you could say these ol' bones got a workout."

That pun was horrible, even for him. If it was even a pun.

The sudden jump left the young man confused. It felt a bit dizzying at first, and even once it was over, the change in scenery threw him off. No matter what happened, there was no way they could be at an airport. There hadn't been any roads, terminals, gates, there hadn't even been planes flying about. And yet now they were suddenly in the middle of a busy airport.

That wasn't possible.

Akira slid his eyes towards Sans with a good amount of shock. "Mind explaining?"

"Shortcut," the skeleton smiled simply, sitting down to rest on a bench. "It's one of my abilities. I'm able to go anywhere I want, and take people with me too, but only to places I've already been. And not places too far either. I'd crack my skull." He hopefully clarified this, clasping his hands together.

So it was a kind of teleporting? Interesting. And a bit concerning. He'd have to keep that in mind for later. Akira looked to the airport for a moment. Then back to Sans. "You coming with, then?"

"Mhm. No time for rest, ol' lazybones," he said to himself, to try and motivate himself to push past his exhaustion. He'd be able to rest all he wanted on the plane. The environment looked and felt so different, but he was pretty much used to it from traveling so much. Papyrus too. Eventually, he got up again, and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Thankfully I'm not famous enough to have a fanbase. Everyone knows my boundaries."

Akira wasn't sure where that comment came from, but given that Sans was a monster, he didn't doubt that. It seemed monsters weren't very well known outside this area. Hopefully people would think it was a costume or mind their own business in LA. He looked about, trying to judge what everything said. As much as Ann and Makoto tried to teach him, English still wasn't his strong suit. He walked towards where he thought they printed tickets and waited in line. "So, know how to get a day-of ticket?"

"I'll just say you're with me," was his reply, and he followed. "Since I'm famed as a groundbreakin' scientist, people let me and any others with me ride for free." And then he winked, grinning. He then followed Akira's curious, squinting eyes. He must have been new, and new to the language too, at least when it was written. He pointed to the open area, with a huge sign above it, "That's where people wait to be picked up. It's like a drop-off, but with people instead of prescriptions."

The young man nodded with a quiet, "I know." This wasn't his first time at an airport. Just first time at one that didn't have anything in Japanese. And one so small. Hopefully the size meant everything would be less confusing. At the very least, it sounded like Sans knew how to get them day-of tickets. "You'll get the tickets then."

Sans nodded, still looking absolutely chill with his hands in his pockets. He looked around, for the correct terminal. "Say, where we going, by the way? that's important…"

There were several announcements both booming out of speakers via a robotic female voice and displayed across the top the arrival and departure times of planes. Luckily, theirs hadn't departed yet. Akira looked up for a moment at the announcements. They ended up being unimportant as far as he could tell, but intercoms were hard to hear over. Once they were out of the way, he answered, "Los Angeles."

"Got it," he then walked to the reception desk, and relaxed upon it with a smile. The lady behind it smiled upon seeing him.

"Ah, if it isn't the science guy," she chuckled, and his smile grew. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Los Angeles. And I'm bringing a friend too," he replied, glancing back at Joker and gesturing for him to come over.

"A friend? who?" the human receptionist seemed overly enthusiastic as she looked around the airport's lobby. Akira walked up once Sans had beckoned him and offered the lady a brief head bow in greeting.

And then, quieter than Sans had heard him speak before since he was trying to keep a low profile, he said, "Hello." She might mistake him for shy, but really he just wanted to be forgettable to her. He didn't want anyone connecting him to what would happen.

"Oh, him! he looks almost familiar…" she squinted her eyes slightly, before she dismissed the thought, "but I wouldn't wanna make you miss your flight!"

Sans sighed of relief, apparently wanting the same thing. In reality, he didn't want any holdups. She printed out the two tickets to Los Angeles, and handed them to him. "Thanks, Sharen," he smiled as he took them and handed one to Joker. She nodded in return. "Now let's get to it. See ya later."

He started walking towards the line that headed to the Los Angeles plane, whistling a tune. No one bothered him here. Akira soon followed, head bowed. The two soon boarded the plane and flew without much fuss. As far as Akira was concerned, he slipped under the radar. More people seemed to look at Sans than anything else. When they landed, Akira went right for where security was to see who was waiting. In the crowd waiting outside, there was a guy with blue hair dressed in a white blazer and black slacks drawing on a styrofoam coffee cup. Akira grinned to himself.

As tired as he was, Akira walked right out of the terminal, up to the man, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The man stopped his drawing for a moment as he started to turn red. It took a second for him to look over. "You could just say you're here."

Akira quite mischievously replied with, "Where's the fun in that?"

Sans, having caught up, furrowed his ridges, scratching at his skull, "That's weird, kiddo, but I'm not judgin'. Those days are done." He wondered why Joker had done that. Was he gay? was he teasing? had he seen it recently and wanted to test it? - he had come from Undyne's, maybe Alphys was over? either way, he wasn't judging, just confused. And, either way, this must be one of the guy's friends.

They both turned to Sans just then. The guy with the blue hair frowned, eyes wide for a moment. Joker murmured something into his ear, and the guy's expression just changed to one of your annoyance. "Who cares what you think? our relationship is none of your concern."

Joker chuckled a bit as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Calm down. How do we get to the exhibit?"

The man looked back at the coffee cup. "I took a train here. I'm sure we could take it back - let me just finish this." And he was back to drawing.

Joker stared for a moment. "Did you use your train money on that?"

The other paused before looking up. "No, why?"

"Be honest here, pal," the skeleton monster winced. The young man with the blue hair sure was a fiery one, and he basically just announced he had a relationship to someone he didn't know. Not very tactful, but he didn't really care. "We're planning to rendezvous somewhere in the city."

Now Yusuke looked a bit offended. "I am being honest. I didn't spend train money on a latte this time," he said, mispronouncing latte due to his Japanese background.

Joker set a hand on the guy's shoulder to help him calm down. "I asked because if you did, I'd have to pay for all of us." Then he looked between the two. "Yusuke, Sans, by the way."

Yusuke looked to Joker for a moment. "I can pay my own fare this time. But I must finish this before we depart." And back to drawing.

Sans got annoyed a little bit, but struggled not to show it. He kept the grin on his face, but it spelled something a little from happiness, and shook his head. "Yusuke.. pal.. buddy.. We don't have a lot of time for you to finish that right now." Also, this guy seemed fairly rude, barely acknowledging him at all. He was tempted to place a firm hand on the guy's shoulder.

Joker just sighed at Yusuke's stubbornness. Definitely Yusuke. And he knew nothing they did would get him out of artist mode. Yusuke's muse was a fickle one, and a demanding one. One that he'd grown to love and deal with in scenarios like this. He glanced to Sans. "This'll be a bit. Yusuke won't stop until he's done." Thankfully, Yusuke was too in-the-zone to register that.

"Then we'll leave him here and find your other friends," Sans narrowed his sockets. Already he wasn't getting along with Yusuke. This wasn't good. "Make him the rendezvous point." He rubbed at his head, mumbling something about not standing people who can't take things seriously.

The humor in Akira's face left. And quietly, "Sans, this isn't something we can talk about around a lot of people. Especially not a place with a high amount of security."

And Yusuke, still drawing, added, "I'd rather not be treated like a landmark anyways."

The skeleton pointedly ignored the artist. "Of course not - ya think I'm a sack of funny bones, Joker?" the monster jabbed a finger at him, getting visibly angry, enough that his right eye started glowing blue. "We're going to gather your friends here or somewhere near, and then head someplace where no one is around." He sighed then, calming down slightly. The blue glow flickered away. He looked apologetic and especially sad now. Sans got easily riled up when it came to things like this.

And that made his anger flare up for a moment. He didn't like being ordered around, especially by someone he barely knew. Worse, though, he was also doing so to Yusuke.

How dare he bark like that at you, like he owns you!

Akira took a moment to calm down and at least control himself. "I know this is a sensitive matter, but we have the time and meet sorted out already. We don't need to complicated it by meeting two different places." After a moment, he added, "They probably figured this would happen anyways."

Sans nodded, and closed his eyes, calming himself further as well. "Got it. Sorry. This is just important and every second counts with this. We don't know if Eduardo is doin' somethin' right now." He realized he wasn't telling any puns, and hadn't been for a while. This was important, after all. "What time is the meet? and where is it? Yusuke could meet us there." Again, he was in a hurry.

"Beside the art exhibit. At…" Akira pulled out his phone. What time was it here? he turned off airplane mode. Seven. They'd agreed 8:30 to account for the delays and traffic. "In an hour and a half."

Sans groaned, slumping into a nearby chair, "I.. I get that these things take time… but an hour and a half? ya gotta be kitten me.." Ah, there was a pun. But the skeleton was still fairly serious, and distressed, his head on the desk and hands gripping it tightly at this point. Perhaps this time it was a form of coping.

"We wanted to account for delays and traffic," he clarified. "We're a bit scattered across the area." Akira, of course, had been the most scattered. He'd been in a different state entirely. But given this was the first time they were all in LA, and planes were involved, they wanted to give themselves time. "We can get there sooner," he added. "Leave for the train once Yusuke's done."

"No need for a once," Yusuke said almost immediately. He capped his marker before showing a very detailed drawing of a stylized plane on the cup. "I have finished this piece."

Sans lifted his head and glanced at it, actually smiling a little before he looked up at the artist. "Lookin' pretty good actually… I guess you could say you planed it." It was a pun for "plan". H is grin widened at his own pun as he stood up, waiting for both Joker's and Yusuke's reactions as well as their movements towards said train station. He knew where it was - he'd reluctantly been to LA and other big cities more than once for book signings.

...he also never really participated in them, leaving fans hanging. Sans hoped they understood.

It occured to Akira that, as Yusuke smiled a little more, Futaba would have hated that comment. She and Haru never cared that much for puns, the former particularly hating them.

Especially Yusuke's.

He made no comment as Yusuke led them to the station, going on about the aesthetics of planes. Though, he was quite surprised that Yusuke actually had the money to pay his own fare. It wasn't that he expected Yusuke to lie, it was just that the man was so impulsive about art that he rarely had the money to pay for transportation. Or food.

Smiling at Yusuke's smile, Sans fell into step a little behind the two. He got comments and requests from randoms every now and then for autographs. Each and every time he had to turn them down because they barely had the time. He felt bad for it, of course, chewing his bottom lip. He sighed. Being famous was hard, but at least paparazzi wasn't constantly chasing after him, his brother, Mettaton and his cousin Blooky. Mettaton may not have liked the lack of fawning attention, but he, Napstablook and Papyrus were more than fine with it. Them being must be something to do with it though.

The sun was gradually setting across the sky at this point, turning it all sorts of shades and tints of pinks and purples and blues. It was gorgeous. But it only partially reminded him of the time they had. It was always passing, always moving, and Eduardo… he sighed again, and looked towards the two young men. He wondered if they got any closer to the station, listening to Yusuke jabber on.

Soon, they arrived, waiting for the train. Yusuke had, after all, bought his own ticket. The train arrived within ten minutes. When they stepped on, it was crowded enough there weren't seats, but there was plenty of standing room still. And Akira found that incredibly bizarre as he stepped on and grabbed a hanging rail. He had elbow room. Apparently Yusuke found it odd as well, as he stopped talking to glance around for a moment.

This never happened in Tokyo.

The older skelebro smiled as he noticed their confusion at the elbow room. He chuckled too, standing next to them and holding onto a railing, his free hand still stuffed in his pocket where his bottle of ketchup was.

It took Akira's phone buzzing to snap him out of it. He pulled his phone out to check. It was Haru saying she was the one bringing Morgana. Akira glanced over his shoulder to Yusuke. "Haru's bringing Morgana."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow and asked, "Wasn't she the one who brought him here in the first place?"

Sans's intrigue was piqued with this. He now wondered what they were like, and thus broke the silence he had going, "Okay, you're gonna have to tell me who Morgana and Haru are. Are they your other friends? if so, I'm chuggin' to meet them." Another pun, and he winked at them with a smirk.

Neither of them seemed to get it, since they both just looked over at Sans. "Haru owns a coffee shop," Akira explained. "Owns most the stock of Okumura Foods." A very popular food chain in Japan and Hawaii.

Yusuke then was the one to explain, "Morgana is her cat. Knowledgable one, and quite talkative."

"Huh.. interesting.." Sans poked at his chin. He wasn't upset that they didn't get the pun, since it was a pretty complicated one. He was thinking more about Morgana than anything. "I don't think I'd seen Morgana around in the Underground… he isn't a monster like me, is he?" he was quick to figure it out. As the realist scientist, he had to be. Ah, and with that, he found out what to call himself and Papyrus. Time to tell Blooky when they get back. And then his mind veered into something dark. Perhaps not every monster was trapped in the Underground… but some monsters were worthy enough to be kept as pets. He wasn't sure what to think about this thought, clenching the hand hanging on the railing harder.

Akira shook his head. Morgana might sound like a monster, but considering what they learned in Mementos, he couldn't be. There was no way he was a monster. He wasn't actually sure if there was anything else like Morgana, come to think of it. Akira frowned and thought, scouring the floor. Morgana wasn't a shadow, nor a persona. And the grail was gone. Was there anything else that was like Morgana?

Sans saw the headshake, and was also thinking about Morgana. He had a ton of questions and hopefully the key one would answer all of them. "I guess I'll find out soon. Is he a person who likes answering questions?"

He sure hoped so. He'd hate to take this confusion to his grave. And he'd hate to have another reason to dislike humanity. He also wondered what the rest of Joker's friends would think of him and his kind. Yusuke didn't seem to mind so much, but that was only one. And he was only one type of monster. What would happen if they came and met a boss monster like Asgore or Toriel, a fire elemental monster like Grillby or Fuku, or a ghost monster like Napstablook? this was the unknown quality he was afraid of. But he'd have to face it just like they had to.

Yusuke sighed with annoyance. "If by that you mean preaching to you and scolding you for things you weren't aware of in the first place, yes." Even now, Morgana still chided him for not knowing things about the Metaverse. Or missing a cue.

And Akira nodded with a chuckle. Considering the times Morgana had lectured the crew and urged him to go to bed early, he had to agree with that part. Morgana got irritable quick with how people could forget things or be ignorant about parts of the Metaverse. And he was quick to correct people. Perhaps it came with being a guide.

"Well, I have quite a few questions for this fellow," the skeleton noticed the look in Yusuke's eyes and amusement in Joker's. This lecturing seemed to happen a lot. "For one, a sample question: 'has he heard of Mount Ebott?'" he stared out the window of the train, "stuff like that."

Sans was even more antsy than ever to get there. Not only to get one or more questions about Morgana answered, but to get this Eduardo Silva situation over with before someone was dusted or killed. And, tibia honest, he kinda pictured Flowey to be the one to get rid of Eduardo before the man even did anything, just like he had taught him a "lesson" after Arton had recovered and gotten released from his clinic. But things sure have changed since they all came to the surface. The flower wasn't a weed or a killer anymore in fact; he was a savior. He wondered what caused that. Frisk maybe? he sighed when she entered his thoughts. It'd be nice to know where and how she was, even if… he couldn't finish that thought.

"Mount Ebott?" Yusuke looked over to Akira. Without any tact or awareness of the fact they were in public and Sans might not know his name, he asked, "What's he talking about, Akira?"

Akira looked away for a moment. He shouldn't be surprised Yusuke just spilled that. He looked back. "It's where the monsters were. It's where I found that guy. We'll be heading back there soon."

Sans shook his head, and corrected the young man, "Nah. You found me in the town near it. Sovereihn Town." Years of writing books and doing science caused him to gear more towards specificity. It was highly important. That and Mount Ebott broke back bad memories. "Gotta be more specific, Joker. Wouldn't want any misunderstandings, now would we?: he chuckled, even though he was sweating almost like a pig. "Especially since most of humanity are probably descendents from the magic users who locked us down there…" this he said at a whisper, even upon a crowded and moving train. But the two should hear him just fine. He also noted Joker's true name, but otherwise ignored it and kept like it wasn't even said at all. Aside from an emotionally indescribable aside glance towards him.

Akira just nodded. Yusuke, meanwhile, stared in a mix of shock and amazement at that. Not only did he learn the name of the town and the corresponding mountain, but about the magic users. Who locked the monsters away. "Magic? like?" he looked to Akira.

"No," he answered. "At least, I don't think so."

And that was as much as he wanted to say. He didn't want anyone in public overhearing it, and he still didn't want to tell the monsters. At least yet. Sans would probably overhear some of it.

About then, the train started slowing down for the station. It'd pull in within the minute, no doubt.

The big-boned, short skeleton nodded, and again looked out the windows, the ones lining the opposite side of the train this time, watching the station near ever so closely. Now wasn't the time to say anything about the reveal, he noticed. He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off his face. He always got super anxious and nervous about the Underground and who could blame him? he was the only monster who lived every day with the knowledge that one day everything could reset. He could wake up back in Snowdin. And Frisk had been gone for quite a while. He had no idea what she was up to or even if she was still here. Bottom line, she had the power to reset. And he wouldn't be able to stop it this time. Just like the others.

A/N: And now we delve into the Persona half, the one Clock is in control of! Clock had Yusuke and Joker/Akira, and I had Sans! hope you enjoy, and please leave a review. We love reviews. And be sure to look at AO3's version too.