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Chapter 7: Fight

Note: I was writing more fluff, but I didn't really like where it was going. So, here is a chapter to swing back to the plot.

I felt many things as I walked down the long, brightly lit hallway. But more than anything else, I felt disbelief. I'd been called into the Ebott Elementary School office for quite possibly the most absurd reason possible: my son had gotten into a fight.

With seven other boys.

And apparently he won. For a given value of 'won' when dealing with Elementary School brawls. The idea of Roman getting into a fight was bizarre. Roman was the last person I would have thought capable of violence. Sans could be violent when something truly roused his fury, though I could count on one hand the number of times I'd seen that happen and still have fingers left over. Even Vivaldi was more prone to picking fights on the few occasions when she thought it was worth the effort.

But Roman?

My Roman?

It just didn't make any sense.

I finally reached the principal's office and stepped inside. The human secretary looked at me with blank indifference until I mentioned my name, at which point she pursed her lips and directed me to Mr. Wretcher's door. I thanked her politely and wondered where the previous monster secretary had gone. Maybe she'd been moved to a different position when the new principal had been hired last year…

That train of thought cut off abruptly as I opened the door and felt my son's soul. Though our bond was weaker than the one I shared with Sans, I could still sense strong emotions from him. He was usually bright and happy. But I didn't feel that now. I felt something as foreign as a parasite in my son's soul.

I felt his hatred.

My eyes darted to where he was sitting with his back ram-rod straight and his boney hands gripping the edges of his chair in a vice-like hold. He was not looking at me. I followed his line of sight to see Mr. Wretcher standing with his palms flat against his impressive mahogany desk. The man's face was twisted into something ugly, but he was slowly smoothing his features as he turned to me.

"Ah, Ambassador Dreemurr," he said with a sarcastic curl to my title. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming. Sit."

He took his own advice and sat in his throne-like padded chair. I glanced at the only available chair in front of his desk. It was a small plastic thing, the type found in kindergarten classrooms. Sitting in that, I'd be looking up at him like a child.

As a diplomat, my job involved a great deal of power-plays between people. From centuries of experience, I knew that tiny things could make a vast difference in how an interaction played out. I knew which side to stand on when shaking hands for a photograph. I knew which cultures valued being first through the door or last through the door. I knew which position at a table represented higher status than another. I knew every single subtle way a person could manipulate another into feeling weak. Powerless.

I took two steps to stand behind Roman and laid my hands lightly on his shoulders. Then I leveled the principal with a cool, unimpressed stare.

"Thank you for the offer," I said, my voice flat any my body utterly still. "But I will stand."

Mr. Wretcher met my unblinking gaze for five seconds before he finally turned away.

"Do you understand why I've summoned you here today?" he asked, not giving up.

"I am here to listen to your explanations for the conflict involving my son as well as your proposal for preventing incidents like this in the future," I said. "I am extremely disappointed in your failure to maintain a safe learning environment for my child."

I didn't know what had happened. It was still possible that Roman had started the fight, that he'd done something worthy of being punished, but it went against everything I knew about his character. Something else was going on.

Mr. Wretcher's face turned a faint shade of red.

"Your son started a fight with seven boys from Class 3-1A," he said. "As a student from Class 3-4D, he should not have been interacting with the human children at all, let alone attacking them like a wild animal until their HP was down to 0.5!"

I spared a moment to be suitably impressed by my son's ability to knock multiple opponents down to a fraction of an HP. I'd only ever seen Papyrus do that. But another minor detail caught my attention.

"What do you mean Class 3-4D?" I asked. "He should be in Class 3-1A. And why would he not be allowed to interact with the human children? That is the purpose of this institution, is it not?"

Ebott Elementary was heavily integrated with monsters and humans. Both Roman and Vivaldi were enrolled in part because they were heirs to the monster throne and needed to interact with humans, and in part because they were half-humans themselves and they deserved the chance to learn more about their human heritage. This school was also better accommodated to their accelerated learning style with each grade being separated by skill level. The 1A classes were filled with the honor students and the 4F classes were filled with students that needed more help and attention. But class 3-4D put Roman near the very bottom of the third grade, which was ridiculous considering his consistently perfect scores on absolutely everything. At this point, the only person who could correct him on anything was Vivaldi, and even that was rare.

Mr. Wretcher snorted and leaned back.

"In order to prevent conflicts arising between monsters and humans, the children have been separated for their own safety," he said. "Humans are taking classes 1A through 2D, and monsters are taking classes 2F through 4F. Your son was moved to class 3-4D after an oral assessment given by myself and Mrs. Graves."

I felt the temperature of my blood slowly rising, but I gave no outward sign of my anger.

"That policy will be reversed at some other time," I said. "For now, you will explain the circumstances of the fight."

"Reverse—," he spluttered. "Explain? Explain? Your son attacked seven students! That little beast you call a child injured seven innocent—"

"They hurt Vivy."

The fury in Roman's soul screamed even as his voice remained eerily calm, his anger belied only by the minute growl at his sister's name.

Oh.

Well, that did explain a lot.

Segregation. Tribalism. Contempt from those in power. In this environment, it wasn't difficult to see Vivaldi getting bullied for being a hybrid. And Roman… I'd always known that he possessed a guardian streak a mile wide, from his proclamations to protect me to his willingness to die for his sister. He was a smiling, friendly child, but only until someone hurt the people he loved. I closed my eyes briefly to calm myself and suppress the flare of anger at children who didn't know any better.

"You failed to mention that my daughter sustained injuries," I said. Her HP was low, and against seven boys…

Mr. Wretcher scoffed.

"The nurse gave her some of that Monster Candy, and she was fine," he said dismissively. "She's lazing about in the nurse's office now."

She wasn't fine. She was half human. She needed more than magic to heal. I squeezed Roman's shoulder as a signal to leave, and he stood up.

"We're not done here," Mr. Wretcher said, getting to his feet. "Your son has to answer for his crimes or I will expel him."

"Yes, we are," I said. "And you will not punish him."

Mr. Wretcher's face turned a darker shade of red. I held the door open and Roman stepped outside.

"That is not your decision," he said. "I am the principal."

I paused in the door and turned back to stare him down.

"You are replaceable," I said.

The look on his face went from angry to confused to terrified in three seconds flat. And with that, I closed the door and strode down the hall toward the nurse. I'd speak to the schoolboard tomorrow. Principals were not typically removed so soon into a new school year, but this would be the exception.

I would make sure of it.

Roman remained silent the entire walk with his soul still seething. I reached out to sooth it as Sans often did with me, and I felt his underlying fear. Fear for Vivaldi. I pulled out my phone and called for my husband. He answered as I entered the nurse's station. The nurse took one look at me and pointed to the bed by the window. Vivaldi was unconscious. There were no visible wounds on her skin, but her soul…

"yo, how did—," Sans began.

"I need you here now," I said, cutting him off. "Vivaldi is hurt."

The last word had barely left my mouth when Sans appeared at my side and gathered up Vivaldi in his arms, teleporting her home without question. This left me with only the briefest impression of her soul, of how weak and wounded it felt.

Vivaldi.

My Vivaldi.

"We're going home," I said to Roman while internally cursing my lack of magic. Sans couldn't teleport with more than one person at a time, and he would be too busy healing our daughter to come and get us. Roman and I were left taking the long drive back before we would know what had happened.

"You will not return to school for the next week," I said as we stepped out of the car in front of our home.

It would take about that long to drag in a suitable replacement principal from another school. And I'd need to unearth the reason Mr. Wretcher had been hired in the first place. There might be slightly more house-cleaning to do on the schoolboard, and I'd have to keep an eye on things here as well. If all else failed, my children would attend a monster school.

"I wanted to call you," said Roman, and for the first time, I heard a tremble in his voice. "Mr. Wretcher wouldn't let me. He said that Vivy was fine, that she was just being lazy. He said that he'd expel me if I 'lied' and told you what happened, and that you'd get in trouble because you're an Ambassador and you have a reputation and I would ruin it because I was a bad kid…"

His voice trailed off as he sniffed. I knelt down and held him in my arms as he shook with shame and fear. He was trying to protect me, I realized. Just as he was trying to protect Vivaldi.

"You are not a bad kid," I said with all the strength and steadiness I had left to give. "You are my son, and I'm proud of you for protecting your sister. And if anyone ever tries to use me to threaten you, then you have my permission to laugh in their face. You and your sister are my pride, and you will never hurt my 'reputation'. Do you understand?"

Roman nodded into my chest and quieted after several minutes. We made our way into the lab. Vivaldi was sitting up on the bed while Sans sat at a monitor. His eyes flicked to Roman before he gave me an indolent smile.

"clean bill of health," he said. "easy as butts pie to patch her up. no worries, right Princess?"

"Yep!" Vivaldi said, smiling and hopping down from the bed. I could feel the anxiety leaking from her soul despite her chipper attitude. She didn't want us to see her terror, but what else would she feel after having been attacked? Vivaldi ran over to Roman and gave him a hug, which he returned delicately, as though afraid he'd break her if he wasn't careful.

We returned to the house together, and I spent the rest of the afternoon researching each of the schoolboard members. I made calls to every monster parent I knew personally as well as a few of the human parents. I collected the necessary data and scheduled a meeting with the schoolboard members for tomorrow.

Sans brought me dinner in my office, which I barely touched as I wrote up a document to submit to the police for child endangerment.

"I'll give you an alibi if you need one," Sans said offhandedly as he leaned against the door. "you're really going for blood here."

I couldn't exactly argue that point.

"It will never happen again," I said. "He's eight. She's five. They're too young. This never should have happened."

Sans leaned forward and pressed his teeth into my hair.

"we knew something like this would happen eventually," he said. "our relationship was never normal, and we knew that they would face hardships when they grew older, especially from humans."

Not for the first time, I felt regret for my own humanity. It was my strength, but my human blood would cause my children nothing but pain as they tried to grow up in a world they would never quite belong in. Not as monsters. And not as humans.

"They're children, Sans," I said wearily. It wasn't an accusation or defense, but a tired plea without an answer. "They shouldn't have to face this yet."

Sans wrapped his arms around me even as his soul soothed mine.

"they should start training with Pap and Undyne tomorrow, and I can teach Roman how to teleport with a passenger," said Sans. It was a suggestion, but I shied away from the implication: that they would need to know how to fight. That their lives might depend on their ability to hurt others. "Frisk?"

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Sans gave me a light squeeze and pulled me from my chair. He led me to bed, but it was a long time before I could find sleep. All I could think about were the bright smiling faces of my two babies. Their laughter. Their hope. Their joy.

Vivaldi.

Roman.

I could feel the light of their souls in the other room.

And I could remember the darkness within one of them, the anger and fear.

And hatred.

I tossed and turned until Sans, half-asleep, pulled me against his chest and held me quietly. I gave him a feather-light kiss and closed my eyes, trying to will away the images of my own battle for survival from long ago. But as I finally began to drift off, I couldn't help but think about the small goat monster who warned me about the Floweys of this world.

And about what the humans had done to him.

To be continued...