Alex sat there beside Chara, Frisk, Asriel, and MK with his sister, enjoying lunch. It was Chara's first day back since she got her own body, and the day was going fairly well. Although still uncomfortable around groups of humans, she was doing better now, especially in the presence of her amazing siblings. Not to brag, or anything.

"Yo, it's so nice to meet you Chara!" MK said with a wide grin, bouncing up and down in place for a moment. Everyone else at the table was grinning as they continued to converse while enjoying their lunches. Chara, however, stopped after a few moments and just sat still, as if listening to something far away.

Alex wanted to ask her what's wrong. Maybe she was thinking about her first day? Before he could ask, they all hear shouting and crying in the distance, just a few tables away.

"Guess I'm not strong enough for one? Maybe a second?" He heard an eerily familiar voice say. Alex turned toward Chara to see her gone. Looking back toward the commotion, he saw Chara approaching quickly, taking the stick the kid, Joseph, was holding and smack him to the ground with it. Alex turned back towards Frisk as they both thought the same thing and ran to find the teacher.

After a moment, they found Mister Sower, approaching his table from what appeared to be a talk with another student. Frisk shouted in fear, "M-Mister Sower, the b-bullies are back, a-and they're hurting another m-monster!"

Without a moment's hesitation, the teacher took off towards the tables, quickly finding Joseph, Chara, and the new monster Verdana on the ground in the back. He approached quickly, surveying the scene before him before slowly and gently picking up Verdana and trying to comfort her. He turned back to Frisk, "Frisk, would you please do me a favor and inform your mother that there was an incident during lunch."

Alex looked to Frisk as she ran off to get their mom. The teacher took that time to try to comfort the young monster, which Alex hold only met for a short while several days ago. While they waited for a moment, Alex walked over and checked on Chara, "A-are you alright Chara?" He asked.

She shook her her head for a moment before looking up at Alex, "No… not really. I… I really hate bullies. If not for you and Frisk, I might have…" Alex put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and smiled gently at her. She smiled back weakly, thankful for the gesture as Frisk returned with mom.

The teacher smiled in relief upon seeing here since his attempts to calm the frightened child were failing, "Mrs. Dreemurr, would you be so kind as to bring this little girl to the infirmary? I know you can be quite good with monster children." He politely asked.

Their mom, being the monster she was, smiled gently and nodded toward him as she turned her attention to the trembling skeleton. She spoke some reassuring words to the young monster, which seemed to work as she soon picked her up gently and took the monster to the Infirmary. Alex really hoped she'd be ok and that mom would do a good job.

As she began to walk away, Alex and his siblings explained the full story to Mister Sower as the suspect still sat on the ground in a ball in fear. Afterwards, Chara accompanied the kind teacher and Joseph to see the Principal to explain what happened.

The last few minutes at the lunch table were in silence after what happened. Everyone sitting there was too uncomfortable to go back to their earlier conversations. Finally, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, and everyone flowed back into the school to get to their next class. Luckily, before their next class began, Chara rejoined them and told them about the bully's expulsion. Though they deserved it, Alex couldn't help but feel at least a little bad for him.

The rest of the school day went without incident. The final bell rang as the four Dreemurrs rushed outside to Papyrus' car, anxious to see the skeletons and see how the younger one was doing after the incident at lunch. As they approached the beautiful red car, Papyrus waved wildly to them.

"HELLO EVERYONE! WAS SCHOOL GOOD?! CHARA, HOW WAS YOUR DAY?!" He asked quickly, barely taking time to take a breath.

Asriel spoke, "Yeah, we had a good day." Chara nodded in agreement with a smile.

Frisk, the pacifist, spoke up right after, "H-how's Verdana?" She asked quietly.

Papyrus rubbed his chin, "SHE SHOULD BE RESTING. DAD DID SAY SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT MADE HER COME HOME EARLY, BUT DIDN'T ELABORATE." Then, Papyrus gasped dramatically for a moment, both hands on his head, "SHE DIDN'T GET IN TROUBLE, DID SHE?"

Alex smiled reassuringly, "No, Papyrus, not like that. But some kids were mean to her during lunch."

Papyrus hummed aloud in thought, "PERHAPS THEY WISHED TO TRY SOME OF HER LUNCH? AFTER ALL, MY CUISINE IS QUITE CAPTIVATING! NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus said with a wide smile. "I'M SURE IT WAS ALL A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING!"

"Maybe…" Alex said quietly, not really thinking that Papyrus was understanding what they were trying to say. "So, shall we head home?"

Papyrus gasped, "O-OF COURSE. SILLY ME, I ALMOST FORGOT! COME ON CHILDREN, LET'S GO!" He said as he ran back over to his seat and motioned for everyone else to climb in.

They all did as he told and climbed into the car. They each buckled their seatbelts as Papyrus started up the car. "ALRIGHT, LET'S GO!" He exclaimed as he began to hastily speed out of the parking lot and toward his house. Luckily, as fast as Papyrus drives, he does manage to avoid breaking the law.

Papyrus pulled up into his house's driveway and promptly parked the car. He led them all inside quickly, wanting to check on Verdana again since it had been a good twenty minutes since he last checked. The kids came inside and sat on the couch for a moment, waiting for Papyrus to return after immediately running up the stairs to check on Verdana. After waiting there for a moment, He came back downstairs with relief on his face.

"SHE'S DOING FINE. IN FACT, SHE'S FINALLY AWAKE. SO AWAKE, SHE REQUESTED SOME OF MY FABULOUS PASTA! NYEH HEH HEH!" He exclaimed as he dashed off to the kitchen to prepare a fresh batch of spaghetti. As he got the ingredients together, he looked over his shoulder and spoke, "YOU CAN GO UP THERE, BUT YOU SHOULD GO ONLY TWO AT A TIME SO AS NOT TO OVERWHELM HER!" He said before anyone of them could try to get off the couch.

After a small discussion, they decided Alex and Chara would go together and Asriel would go with Frisk. The latter going first. After those two climbed the stairs and disappeared into Verdana's room, the Chara and Alex sat in silence for a moment on the couch.

Breaking the silence, Chara turned toward Alex. She spoke innocently, "So, the school dance coming up…" She started.

Alex turned his head to the left to look into Chara's eyes, "Yeah, what about it?"

"You excited for it? I mean, you're quite a good dancer after everything I've seen and heard." Chara asked.

Alex gave a soft shrug and smirked, "I don't know, I'd rather not show everyone up." He said. They two of them laughed a bit for a moment before it returned to silence. After a moment, Chara, trying to maintain an innocent tone, spoke again.

"So… you gonna ask Frisk?" She asked.

Alex froze in place, eyes widening. He sat there as he fought the blush that continued to form on his face. He tried to formulate an intelligent response, to no success, "I- uh, well I don't- ummm."

Chara sat back on the couch and began to laugh as Alex's blush only got deeper. "Sh-shut up, I don't feel that way about her!" He quickly added, trying desperately to recover.

Chara laughed a bit more before wiping a tear from her eye, "You're so obvious, you know that?!"

Alex immediately denied it, "N-no. I have no i-idea what you m-mean!" He tried to play ignorant.

Papyrus suddenly turned around for a moment, looking directly at Alex, "ALEX, C'MON. IT'S SO OBVIOUS!" Alex just buried his face into his hands in defeat as the blush appeared on his face at full force.

Chara couldn't help but laugh even harder at this. She turned toward Papyrus for a moment before looking back at Alex, "Man, if PAPYRUS, of all people, figured it out… you're so screwed!" Alex was unable to come up with a response as he kept his face attached to his hands. Chara laughed for a moment longer before the room returned to silence.

After a few moments, they heard the door upstairs creak open as Frisk and Asriel left the room Verdana was in and closed it behind them. On cue, Chara and Alex got up to walk toward the stairs. Alex's blushed was finally fading as they climbed past Frisk, desperately hoping that she both didn't hear anything through the door AND didn't see his blush.

Finally, they reached Verdana's door, opened it slowly, and walked in. Chara closed the door behind them as they looked forward, seeing the young skeleton monster lying on the bed under the sheets before them. Alex was about to speak, but Chara cut him off.

"Hey Verdana, are you feeling any better?" She asked softly. Softer than Alex normally hears her speak.

"Yeah… I h-h-have a w-whopping t-three more HP t-then when…" Verdana trailed off. Chara approached slowly and put an arm around the skeleton.

"It's alright, at least you're not in danger anymore." She said with a reassuring smile. She frowned a bit, "I'm… I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I thought I heard something, but… I waited too long…" She said as she let some of her hair block her red eyes from view in shame.

"I-it's okay," Verdana said, looking down. Alex walked over beside Chara and put one of his own hands on her shoulder, trying to comfort his sister.

Alex looked over to Verdana, "Hey, um, Verdana… are you going to be at school tomorrow?" He asked. Chara quickly looked up and shot a look to Alex, as if telling them that now might not be the time to worry about that. Alex flinched a bit, "S-sorry…"

"I-i-i-i d-d-dun-dunno…" Verdana said, eye-lights looking away, shrinking in on herself.

Alex smiled a bit and looked back at Verdana, "W-well regardless, I'm sure Frisk or Asriel might have already said this but… would you like to, maybe, be friends with us?" He finally asked. Luckily, Chara didn't seem to disagree with Alex and actually relaxed a bit.

Verdana nodded a little, yawning. Seemed the conversations were tiring the poor little skeleton out. Chara smiled and stood back up beside Alex, "Well, we'll let you rest them. I'm sure Papyrus will be up soon with your 'requested pasta'." She said.

Alex smiled too, "I hope you feel better soon, and… I hope to see you again at school. We'll make sure no one else even thinks about being mean!" He said, peering to Chara for a response, to which he received a confident nod.

"Okay…" Verdana mumbled, before falling asleep, little cute snores escaping her. Both siblings smiled warmly toward her as they made their way back out of the room and down the stairs.

Looking towards the couch, Alex saw a familiar scene before him. Frisk, for just a moment, had a large blush across her face as Asriel was smiling a bit. As the pair walked down the stairs, he could hear Chara whisper into his ear, "You'd be so cute together!"

Alex immediately ran back up the stairs and ran into the bathroom for a few minutes to try to hide the blush that had begun to reemerge on his face. He sighed in realization. If Chara and Asriel were working together on this, did that mean Frisk ACTUALLY liked him back? He couldn't think straight and decided to sit there for another few minutes, washing his face and trying to remove the blush before he left.

The rest of the evening went by without incident. Papyrus brought some of his famous spaghetti up for Verdana to enjoy, and soon thereafter, Toriel arrived to pick up her children to bring them home. The next morning, it was time to return to school, and all of the Dreemurrs were hoping to see Verdana again, this time not allowing ANYONE to do anything to her!

They all arrived at Mister Sower's homeroom once more and were delighted to see Verdana walk into the classroom, although a bit disappointed that she went towards the back once more to sit alone, and seemed to be checking behind her every couple steps, as if she expected to be attacked again.

Chara stood up from her seat in between the 'lovebirds' and went back to the back of the room, stopping next to Verdana. "Hey, Verdana, mind if I sit next to you?" She asked nicely and quietly, so as not to bring attention to them.

"U-u-um, o-o-okay," Verdana said, seemed to be permanently half hidden by her jacket. Chara, despite Verdana's shy response, smiled gently and took a seat beside her. She looked forward for a moment and nodded toward Asriel, who was looking back at them. He smiled and began to put another part of their plan in motion.

Asriel bumped against Frisk sitting beside him, knocking her into Chara's old seat and her top half falling onto Alex's lap. From there, Chara knew they were both madly blushing, and let out a laugh beside Verdana. Chara, as her laughing began to die down again, turned toward Verdana, "What do you think about them?" She asked, a bit quieter this time so as to not let anyone else know what she was talking about.

"W-w-what d-do you mean?" Verdana whispered back, tilting her skull in confusion. Chara let out a smaller laugh this time, nodding over towards Frisk and Alex, who were still trying to recover from what just happened. She then let out and "oh" as she realized why Verdana was confused.

"Oh right, you've only just met us… But still, I'm sure you've noticed their crushes on each other." She finally said.

"Y-yeah? S-so?" The skeleton girl asked, sockets blinking.

"So? So, what do you think about them? You think they'd cute together?" She said, this time a bit louder, earning a glare from Alex a few rows up. Chara could still see the faint blush on his face from even this distance, earning another laugh out of her.

"I-i-i g-guess…" Verdana said, nervously looking away. Chara smiled still and let her laughter die down.

"Anyway, I'm glad you came back today!" She said, putting one of her hands on Verdana's shoulder. The little skeleton flinched at this, flinching so much it pushed her chair a bit away from Chara. Chara flinched herself a bit, "Sorry about that, guess I should've warned you."

"I-i-it's o-o-okay, I-i j-just… d-don't like b-being touched," Verdana told her.

Chara smiled weakly, "You know… I used to be scared like that too. Thinking anyone and everyone was out to get me…" She sighed, "I'm just saying… I know how you feel." She said as she tried to smile a bit to reassure her.

Verdanas sockets widened a bit in surprise, not having expected this. She turned, looking down at her desk, considering this new information. Just then, the next bell rang as the teacher stood up in the front of the classroom.

"Good morning everyone." He said with a smile, it growing a bit larger when her saw both Chara and Verdana sitting next to each other. "Before I take attendance, I have a quick reminder…" His smiled disappearing as he became serious. He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Yesterday, there was another incident of bullying and discrimination against monsters. It ended with both the unnamed victim being brutally attacked and the attacker being expelled." Several student began to murmur or gasp. "In case you all need yet another reminder, that will NOT be tolerated here. Everyone understand?" A collection of nods and yeses erupted from the students quickly.

The teacher looked back to Verdana and shot her a quick smile. She gave a small one back, appreciating that he didn't say her name. His smile stayed as he spoke again, "Now, why don't we begin with roll. Alright…"

Lunch finally began after the morning classes finished. As the students ran outside and gathered at their normal tables, the Dreemurrs did the same at their normal table with MK and his sister. Verdana sat at the same, off to the side, half hidden table as yesterday, looking around warily.

As the Dreemurrs and other monsters began unpacking and eating, Frisk turned around to where everything happened yesterday and saw Verdana all alone again. She turned back to the table, "Hey, should we go over to Verdana?"

MK widened his eyes when he looked over to the skeleton, "Yo, is that the one that was attacked by the bullies yesterday?" His sister nodded to her brother, answering his question, "Yo, we, like, totally should. She's all alone!"

Chara, Asriel, and Alex all gave their agreeance as they gathered their lunches back up and approached Verdana in the back, all alone. In the distance, Mister Sower was watching the whole thing carefully, but couldn't help the smile he was forming. After a moment, they all arrived at her table, with Alex speaking, "Hey Verdana, mind if we sit with you?" He asked softly.

Verdana jumped a bit in surprise despite the softness, looking to him, panicked for a second before she recognised them. "U-uh, s-s-sure," She said, turning back to her lunch, pulling out a homemade muffin… and homemade cookies… and… spaghetti? Papyrus went all out it seems.

Chara quickly took a seat beside Verdana with Asriel sitting beside her. MK and his sister sat together too, forcing Alex and Frisk to sit right next to each other with little space between them. Chara smirked, looking at Asriel smirking back. Plan successful, she thought. She then turned toward Verdana and put on a more friendly smile.

"Hey, you having a better day today?" She asked. Verdana nodded, holding a chocolate chip cookie out for Chara, having heard how much she liked chocolate. Chara's eyes widened and her mouth opened up slightly in surprise as she looked at the cookie in the skeleton's hands.

"R-really? For m-me?" She asked, stuttering a bit in surprise. Before she got a response, she heard a snicker from Asriel beside her, earning him a quick kick under the table.

"Y-yeah," Verdana stuttered shyly. Chara smiled widely as she slowly took the cookie and took a big bite out of it. Her face showing the joy she was feeling right now.

"Careful Verdana, she might follow you home now!" Alex added with a snicker. Chara would have tried to kick him under the table, but didn't want to accidentally hit Frisk.

"W-wouldn't I-i just be safer then?" Verdana asked, not getting the teasing, nibbling cutely on her own cookie.

Frisk joined in, "Yeah, but then she'd eat all your chocolate. And if you ran out, you'd be in for a bad time!" She said with a smile. Now, with no more quarrels against hitting Frisk, Chara kicked under the table and hit her in the leg. Frisk frowned and held her leg a bit, sticking her tongue out at Chara.

"Real mature, Frisk." She muttered, "You'd really do that with Alex right there?" She asked, teasing in response and getting a blush out of both of them. Verdana giggled a tiny bit, a small smile on her face as she held another cookie out to Chara. The teasing and jokes went on for the rest of lunch until the bell rang. They all returned to their classes as the rest of the day went by.

Now that the day was finally over, all the kids rushed outside to head home for the evening. The Dreemurrs ran over to Papyrus' red car, quickly climbing in, to head to Gaster's lab. Yesterday, he promised another day to practice magic, especially after Alex's first incident in the other timeline. As they climbed in and took off for the ride there, Verdana saw Gaster leaning against the same tree they arrived by, smiling warmly toward her.

Verdana smiled back at her adoptive daddy, going over and glomping him in a hug. He smiled and let out a chuckle, "Hey Verd, how was your day? Better than yesterday, I hope!" He said as he still held her tightly.

"A-a-a lot better, daddy," She assured him, resting the side of her skull on his leg.

He nodded, "Excellent." He paused for a moment until the hug ended and he knelt down to her eye level, "I was thinking, if you didn't have too much homework, that you could accompany me to the lab to learn some magic, if you wish."

"O-okay. I-i managed t-to finish it all i-in class, it w-wasn't hard at all," She told him, smiling a bit wider.

His smile still wide, "Perfect. That's my little girl." He was a little surprised he said that last part, but it didn't matter since he meant it. He held out his hand toward Verdana. She blushed a little, the left cheekbone green, the right the same assortment of colors she had cried yesterday, taking his hand. He smiled and held it tightly, but not too tightly. They quickly faded into the background, disappearing from under the tree.

After just a moment, they appeared in his lab just as Papyrus was pulling up in his car. Too bad Papyrus never learned about shortcuts, although he probably wouldn't use them anyway since he doesn't want to 'become lazy like his brother'. Gaster led Verdana to the main entrance and held it open as the others flooded into the lab.

"HELLO DAD!" Papyrus said cheerily, then he looked at Verdana, "HELLO SIS, DID YOU ENJOY MY LUNCH I MADE?"

Verdana nodded, smiling. "I-it was s-so good, I s-shared some, a-and the other k-kids liked it too," She told him.

"EXCELLENT! I'M GLAD YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ENJOYED MY COOKING!" He said with a wide smile as he walked further into the lab, "SO, DAD, THE HUMANS ARE GOING TO LEARN MORE MAGIC?!"

Gaster nodded, "Yes." He motioned them all to follow him as he led them back down to the basement level where they could test their magic. He turned toward Frisk and Chara for a moment once they made it down.

"I've been doing more research on Determination Souls, and I've learned a bit more of your magical potential. You remember your power to influence time, right?" He asked. Papyrus looked shocked as he looked around, seeing a similar confusion on Verdana's face.

"THEY CAN INFLUENCE TIME? THAT'S… THAT'S…" Gaster expected Papyrus to be very shocked and maybe upset, "THAT'S SO COOL! YOU SHOULD SHOW US!" Then, Gaster remembered that this was Papyrus.

Verdana looked at Gaster with a silent question, remembering he said something about injecting determination in her when he was fixing her up yesterday. Gaster smiled down at her and nodded before looking back at Papyrus, "Yes, I have learned that the one with the most Determination can rewind time by moments, day, months, or years even. However, it may be more complicated now that Frisk and Chara are now separate. But there's more!"

Chara and Frisk were paying close attention now. They could actually influence time beyond Resets and Loads? They were practically vibrating in place in excitement.

"Theoretically, if you can control your Determination well enough, you should be able to both pause time temporarily and even rewind by a few moments without the use of 'Save Points'." He added.

Alex took a step forward, "T-then how come we've never been able to do that before?"

Gaster facepalmed, "Right, I forgot you can absorb it as well." He shook his head for a moment, "It seems like this ability is both very difficult to do and requires a lot of energy."

Chara and Frisk looked a little disappointed, but remained hopeful that one day they might learn it. Verdana looked curious, thinking about this. Suddenly, from right behind Verdana, they all heard a voice.

"heh, but why don't we start with something simpler?" Sans spoke. Verdana screeched in surprise and fear, jumping away, sockets wide.

"heh heh, sorry about that. i could tele that you didn't expect that." Sans said, no hint of an apology in his tone. Gaster sent a glare at Sans. He shrugged, "yeah, i guess not everyone's used to me appearing, but it still makes for good jokes."

Papyrus facepalmed, "SANS, I DON'T THINK WE'LL EVER GET USED TO THAT! NOW, APOLOGISE TO OUR SISTER!"

Sans nodded, "yeah, sorry about that sis. i just love making pranks." He said.

"T-that's n-n-not a p-prank, t-that was just mean. M-meanie." Verdana said after calming a little down.

"you're just like paps, no funny bone." He said, although still a bit apologetic.

"I-i h-have one, b-but I-i j-just consider t-that some p-people don't want to hear them," Verdana said back. Shots fired.

"Tibia honest, I found it quite humerus." Alex announced, smirking at Sans. Sans smiled back and pointed his hands at Alex in the shape of guns. "Ehhh!" He said, holding back a laugh. Then Alex promptly received a smack on the back of his head by Chara. Verdana giggled a tiny bit at this, before shaking her head.

"C-can w-we g-get to the magic now?" She asked.

Sans nodded, "yeah, truth be told i didn't actually come here just for jokes." He took a step forward and looked at Frisk and Chara. Sans summoned a bone and let it float just above his open palm. "ya see this?"

Alex raised his hand, smiling. Sans pointed at him with his free hand, "yes, weird kid in the back!"

"Is it Papyrus' funny bone?" Alex asked, still smiling until Chara took another swing at him, which he barely dodged.

Sans chuckled, "close, but no. it's a bone. and why is this important?"

Chara responded this time, "Because you're a skeleton?"

Sans nodded, "yes. being a skeleton, bones are the easiest things to summon. which is why we don't use our blasters all the time." Sans got rid of the bone, "now, you two can summon and produce things like us, but certain objects will be easier to summon than others."

Gaster and Papyrus smiled, actually impressed by Sans' ability to teach and actually be serious when it was necessary. "How do we know what is the easiest for us?" Frisk asked quietly.

Gaster took a step forward to explain now, "Since you're both humans, it will likely be different for the two of you. It would most likely depend on your past experiences and personality. Just, try a few different things until you find what works best." They both nodded as Chara and Frisk took a few steps forward to try different things.

Alex took a step forward toward Gaster, "What about me? What can I do?"

Gaster nodded, "Well, after looking further into Purity souls and found out something peculiar. Although the Trait Bracelet helps you use different soul traits, it seems that you should be able to do so without the need of the device. That is, if you feel that specific feeling strong enough."

Alex smiled widened greatly as he ran off to an empty space to try it for himself, practicing alongside Frisk and Chara. Gaster stood there, smiling and watching them practice. Nothing too extreme or dangerous yet, luckily. Papyrus decided to go back upstairs to grab a few things while Sans and Asriel stood beside Gaster, watching this whole thing too.

Verdana squirmed a bit, not sure where to start. Gaster looked down at her, "Is there something wrong, Verd?"

"I-i d-dunno where to s-start…" She whispered to him. He nodded, understanding what she was talking about.

"I see…" He smiled gently, "You wish to learn some magic as well, yes?"

Verdana nodded to her daddy, shifting from one foot to the other. He smiled, gently grabbed her hand, and slowly led her over to the side a bit. "Skeleton magic is made of mostly bones, but I've learned we can use some soul trait magic, and even summon special weapons of my own design…" He held out a hand and focused his magic, bringing one of his blasters into existence beside him, "I call them: Blasters."

"what about gaster blasters. that's so much better." He heard Sans shout from behind him. He shook his head and said a bit more quietly, "Yes yes, or 'Gaster Blasters'. Though I don't really see the need to have MY name attached to it."

"D-did you c-c-come up with them?" Verdana asked. Gaster nodded, smiling a bit with pride.

"Yes. It took a while, but since it utilizes bone magic, it is still fairly simple to use. Although still quite a bit harder than regular bone attacks." He said, "Sans and Papyrus actually loved my design so much that they learned to create it as well."

"C-c-could I make my own?" Verdana asked.

Gaster looked to the side a bit in hesitation, "W-well… I guess I could, but I'm going to put on some magic nullifiers while you work." He looked back at her in slight concern, "When I was working on my Blasters, the first few attempts ending in harsh explosions that caused injuries and damage. All they'll do is prevent magic overloads."

"O-okay Daddy," Verdana said. "B-before I s-start trying to, h-how do I do trait magic?"

Before Gaster could explain, he heard loud cheering to the side. "Yeeaah, I did it!" He heard Chara shout. He smiled down at Verdana before turning to the side to look at Chara. She was cheering with a huge smile on her face as she held a collection of red, glowing knifes over her hand, floating. She looked over to Gaster and waved with her free hand.

"Doctor Gaster, I did it! I found my main magic form!" She cheered. He smiled at this and looked to the other two humans. He saw Frisk with many different things floating around her, but due to the sweat on her face, he assumed she hadn't found hers yet. Alex was still focusing on his silver soul in front of him, with what looked like a very light shade of purple appearing on his soul.

"Excellent work so far. Frisk, Alex, you're close. Keep it up!" He then turned back to Verdana, "Sorry about that, what'd you ask again?" He asked, forgetting for a moment.

"H-how do I d-do trait s-stuff, before I-i try making my blaster?" She asked again.

Gaster nodded, "From what I've learned, all skeleton's are proficient, or at least can be, with Integrity, or Gravity magic. Other than that one trait, we can still learn several others." Gaster summoned forth his soul, a white, upside down monster soul, but with an odd streak of purple on it.

"O-okay, h-how do I do that?" Verdana asked, squirming a little, excited.

Gaster smiled, but tilted his head to the side a bit, "The streak of purple or summoning your soul?" He asked.

"U-um, I m-meant the t-trait stuff, b-but the soul thing too," Verdana said.

"Oh yes, sorry. Us monsters have normally white souls without traits, but we can still use them for magic purposes. The first part you must be familiar with is your own magical abilities. Then, for the trait, you need to focus on it, trying to amplify your emotions and let it flow through your magic. Monsters' emotions are very strong and powerful for us."

He tapped his skull for a moment, thinking, "For instance, Sans and Papyrus focus on different things when they use their blue magic. Papyrus' own innocence and integrity make his blue magic work. Sans, on the other hand, focuses on his role as a Judge, allowing him to use blue magic."

Gaster then pointed over towards Alex, who's soul was now a brilliant purple color. He was cheering and jumping in place in excitement. "You see that, Alex's Purity soul lets him use magic in a similar way to us. He likely focuses on his drive and perseverance to master his magic, allowing him to use purple magic." Gaster said, smiling and sending Alex a thumbs-up.

"O-okay, n-now how do I make blasters?" Verdana asked, getting some ideas.

Gaster smiled, "That is a bit trickier. You must channel your magic into a solid state. Much like how we are mostly made of magic from our soul, you must try to create another 'body' or object to channel your magic through. Think of the object you wish to make down to the finest detail imaginable. Feel the magic flowing into it in certain way, like it is almost separate from yourself."

He instructed before looking a bit cautious, "But, the reason many monsters do not try this is that it costs a heavy price. While these 'extra bodies' are in existence, your own magical energy in your own body will be much lower, leaving you vulnerable." He motioned toward Sans.

"Your brother's HP is at 1, partially because of his emotional state, but also because of the blasters. Rather than unsummon them, he keeps them hidden so he may bring them out at a moment's notice. This amount of energy keeps his stats extremely low." He said, frowning with a bit of worry in his voice.

"W-why?" She asked, turning to him.

Gaster sighed, "My time in the Void has revealed many things to me. His paranoia. His fear. His lack of motivation. It all occurred because of one, single issue…" He looked down to his adopted daughter, "Resets…" He finally added.

Verdana tilted her head, confused. "Resets?" She questioned.

Gaster looked down at her, looked over and motioned toward Frisk and Chara, then looked back at Verdana, "You remember earlier, when I said they could rewind time?" He asked quietly as the children continued practicing, now with Asriel getting involved too. Verdana nodded, comprehension in her sockets.

He smiled weakly toward her for a moment before frowning a bit, "Before them, there was a… monster... named Flowey. This monster abused this power, forcing Sans to relive the same few days over and over again, with only himself and Flowey remembering it. During that time, he…" Gaster fought back the sadness, trying not to even come close to crying.

He continued, "He tortured Sans, killing Papyrus in front of him over and over again. Killing everyone he cared about, just to taunt him…" He looked over to said skeleton, watching the humans practice, "He knows the kids will never abuse their power, but a part of him still thinks the Resets are still possible. He's afraid of waking back up in Snowdin, repeating the days over and over again." He finished.

Verdana shook at this, starring with sympathetic eyes at her brother for a second, before shaking her head. She'd do something to make him feel better later. Instead, she closed her eyes, seeming to be concentrating.

Gaster closed his eye a moment, shook his head, and cleared his throat somehow. "Sorry about that, didn't mean to get so serious." He walked over to a nearby computer on the wall and typed in a few commands, turning on just a few magical inhibitors in the walls. Not enough to turn off magic, but just enough to weaken it and prevent any sort of overloads.

Verdana shut her sockets tighter, concentrating more. Something started forming next to her, slowly forming, mostly because she wasn't that experienced with making things. Gaster let a smile form on his face as he watched the display.

Slowly, what kinda looked like Verdanas skull formed, but with two differences. One was that it had horns that pointed forwards, and the second there was a little white bow on it. Gaster's smile widened, "Perfect. You're a natural!" He praised.

Verdana opened her eyes, looking at the skull and smiling widely. She sent it around herself experimentally, before saw that no one was really looking at her. Feeling mischievous a little, she sent it behind Chara, and had it charge a little.

Chara was having a mock battle against Asriel at the moment, her magical blades versus his fireballs. She felt something odd, like a chill run down her spine as the pressure behind her shifted. She turned around, spinning quickly and saw the blaster. Although used to seeing blasters before, she still let out a quick scream as she fell onto her butt. She caught her breath for a moment, clutching at her chest before examining the room around her, eyes quickly locking onto Gaster and Verdana. Gaster had a hand over his mouth to halt his laughter.

Asriel laughed aloud for a moment at Chara's scream before he immediately realised he probably shouldn't have done that. In a moment, he was pinned against the back wall by several magical knives, piercing his sweater and pants as he hung a foot off the ground, experiencing no pain other than his quickly beating heart. He narrowed his eyes towards Frisk and Alex as they began laughing now at his misfortune.

Asriel, watching them closely, realised that as they laughed, their eye were closed, including Chara. He summoned many bright orange fireballs in front of him as he was somehow filled with a foolish bravery to get Chara back. He forced the fireballs together into a large stream of orange fire that blew across the field towards those laughing at him, although he was kind enough to hold back on some of his power, it might still sting a little.

Verdana, the kid not laughing, realised what he was doing. Abandoning the white blast, her left eye turned green as the light in the right vanished, her holding her hand out to her blaster. The bow on it turned green, and it moved quickly, charging a blast that shot in front of the kids, making a green wall.

The fiery stream crashed against the newly created shield and was deflected away harmlessly, leaving a few burn marks on the ceiling now. Then, as quickly as it was created, the fire disappeared. The kids stopped laughing and was staring in awe at the scene before them. No one spoke for a moment, until Sans broke the silence.

"well, orange you glad that verdana just save ya." He looked to Asriel for a moment and continued, "no need to be green with envy, kiddo. it's no hue-se." He smiled in victory as he winked, earning groans from nearly everyone present, except Alex who laughed with Sans.

"T-that one was a stretch, e-even for you, big brother," Verdana said, eyes going back to normal as the blaster turned white, returning to her side.

Papyrus' screams of anger could be heard through the floor while he was above them still. Sans chuckled, "heh, c'mon sis, you're gonna make me blue." As he said that, he turned Asriel's soul blue as he pulled him off the wall and back onto the floor, "or… at least you'll make asriel blue." He said with his usual smile.

Verdana seemed to get an idea at this, turning to her blaster thoughtfully. She tried turning it blue, her left eye going the same color, the blasters little bow matching. She had it shoot at a spot at the floor, and that seemed to glow blue.

"C-can someone try stepping in t-t-that?" Verdana shyly asked. No one responded for a moment, until Asriel pointed to Chara, now beside her. "I think Chara volunteered!" He quickly shouted.

Chara sent him a glare, but sighed, "Yeah, yeah. I guess." She slowly made her way over to the blue spot on the floor. When she got close, she felt herself be pulled forwards, and when over it, abruptly felt her SOUL turn blue, pulling her face first into the spot on the ground.

Verdana's eye-sockets widened at this, covering her face. She didn't think it'd do all that. Luckily, Asriel had the decency to not laugh this time, mostly since he still had a desire to live. Alex began to rush over to the spot ignoring that it was still blue. As he got closer, he felt his soul blink blue, but something odd happened instead.

He felt the need to persevere and help Chara back up. His feeling to do so was so strong, in fact, that it overrode the blue magic as his soul remained its brilliant purple. He reached the spot, reached down, and picked up Chara before slowly carrying her back to everyone else. Everyone remained silent and in awe at the display. Never before seeing someone actively and successfully resisting a soul effect.

He looked at them for a moment in confusion, "What? I didn't shrink in there from the gravity or anything, did I?" He asked.

"N-no, y-you just… resisted t-the soul effect," Verdana said, so surprised she'd lost the blush she had gained from tripping Chara, turning her blaster and eyes back to normal and pulling it back to her side again.

Before Alex could respond, Chara spoke in his arms, "I'm not Frisk, you know. You can let me down now!" Alex blushed at this comment and promptly, and accidentally, dropped Chara back onto the floor.

Gaster, who had remained silent for a while, gasped all of a sudden, "Wow! I suspected your 'Pure Traits' were powerful, but not THAT powerful." He ran over to Alex and examined his still-purple soul, "There are so many tests I want to run now. So much to look into. How could I have missed this?!" He began to say, speaking without taking a breath, not that he needed to.

Gaster spent the rest of the evening wrapping up the magic lessons with everyone, but not having enough time to run any real tests. The Dreemurrs were picked up by Asgore this evening and brought home for dinner. Papyrus, Sans, Gaster, and Verdana all headed home too in Papyrus' car and enjoyed their evening before going to bed in preparation for the next morning.

Author's Note:

So, this one was a bit longer… But I'm sure you all didn't mind. Anyway, here was a bit of lore and some sort of explanation of some of the uses and limits of magic in the story. Hope it made sense… If not, let me know if you have a question. Thanks again for wasting your time reading my story.

-swrWriter