Hey Everyone!

Interference in bold, puns and memories in italics, magic is underlined.

-text- indicates either texts, or mental "talking".

All Undertale stuff owned by Toby Fox, else me or a reference.

Sorry this took so long...I had a fever last week, and could not spell to save my life. Also, I fell asleep trying to write this twice. Sorry!

A squinting child runs up to you. They seem to be flirting with you. You are mildly embarrassed on their behalf.

/*-Option one: The price you pay is the loss of memories so that schooling is the only repair. The payment I pay is the maintenance of your job and the swift return of the SOULs. The consequences of accepting are the confounding of authorities; the consequences of refusing dependant on other options.-*/

Alphys (Time Looped to Examination)

Alphys blinked at her notebook, eyes watering for a moment before settling down. What had she been doing again? She thought she'd been about to pack up her black bag, but...why would she do that in the middle of her examination of Sans? She rubbed her snout, trying to shake the feeling that she already HAD finished, and reread her notes.

init. exam:

shorter ~~ 1 foot - measure

fibula twisted

bones prob. weaker

front skull deformed - scar buildup gone? expression wider range

red on shirt - dt? bone marrow? check

magic unstable/reduced - traces norm pres. GONE

vision off? dist perc. react. wrong, 1 eye light

voice pitch up

too thin - malnur? app. age ~~20/25 m.y., hum ~~10/11

pain thresh. high - hides pain, underest. - ask not help

magic anly:

hp: 1/1

mana: ##/##

atk: 1

def: 1

dt: 72%

Alright, she could work with that...she couldn't quite make out what she'd written under mana, but that didn't really matter much, since she knew both brothers didn't read well on her scanner. It bothered her how much DETERMINATION he had in his system...then again, hadn't he mentioned something about that the other day? Something about those scientists trying to quantify the effects of DETERMINATION on a healthy monster...there was no way this could be normal for him, right? Most humans didn't register above 50% dt, let alone that high...she should have gotten his baseline concentrations when he brought it up...why didn't she think of that? He was probably going to get angry if she asked now, expecting her to know...she was such a- no, stop it Alphys, you're fine, you're working. Panic later, examine now.

"S-s-sans, I'm going to start with some b-basic tests, okay?" The one functioning eye light flicked over to her, then around the room. Sans looked a little dazed, and she scribbled another note under initial exam: 'concussion?'. This was going to be an...interesting examination, "How many digits am I hold-ding up?"

He tried to focus, but was clearly having problems, "um...three?" She was holding up two. She scribbled, then paused. But was that a result of a concussion, visual displacement, or something else? She should have thought of something better, but...maybe a few questions to test his cognitive associativity?

"Okay, um...can you tell me what year it is?" That seemed like a good place to start.

"um...which calendar?" The clipboard bounced against her forehead. Of course that would be a problem, she should have told him- "hey, it's okay, just wondering. i think its...11 AR, right? no, wait, 12. paps got me a new calendar not long ago."

Well, that was okay. What else could she ask? "Um, right. Who, um...who broke the Barrier?"

He gave her this incredulous look, as if he was really wondering about her sanity, "alphys, i was there, remember?" She flinched. Oh, yeah, she knew that, of course she knew that. New question...something else in recent history...

"Right then...um, who hosted the last summer olympics?" That seemed reasonable enough of a question...she waited. And waited.

Sans shrugged, "no clue," that worried her a little, but not too much - after all, sports weren't really Sans thing. She tried another.

"Um...who is the current President of the United States?" Silence, and a growing look of confusion on Sans' face.

"...who?" She began to worry, but tried not to let it show. She'd just try a little bit further back - after all, the election had only been a few months ago.

"um...do you know the first country to acknowledge monster independance?" Beads of sweat rolled off his skull.

"i should, its...its...i…" Sans brought a hand up to his skull, but Alphys caught it before it could do much damage. She knew the skeleton, knew how much he HATED having something wrong with his memory. He took a weird kind of pride in how good he was, but the few times she'd seen him FAIL to remember something...Toriel had had to patch up the cracks in his skull. She wasn't going to let him start scratching now...on top of all this new...old...recovered damage…? Well, she didn't want to be the one to tell Papyrus his brother had accidentally caved in his own skull because he messed up some trivia.

"S-s-sans, don't worry about it," he didn't appear to be listening to her, "Sans?" He started growling, the sound freezing her SOUL. She wanted to run, to hide, to get far away from the scary predator that was hunting her down. But it was Sans - he wouldn't hurt her...would he? She felt the magic swirl around him, around her...it did not feel safe.

"T-T-TORIEL!" The familiar figure of the queen rushed out of the kitchen, spatula in hand. She blinked at the image of the shaking scientist, then reached out with her magic to calm the skeleton down. The moment her green magic mixed with his, Toriel stiffened, her dark eyes squeezing shut. She detatched Alphys' claws from his ulna and radius and scooped the small skeleton into her arms, her own growl joining his own. She did not look happy. Her eyes opened for one moment to glare at the scientist, who scooped up her clipboard and ran. Whatever this was, whatever Toriel was planning to do? Alphys wasn't needed, and she knew it.

Sans

Sans felt fur against his bones, but he was a bit preoccupied with what he might even admit to being a panic attack to care. His mind was a mess, raw and aching and torn up, whole chunks of it gone dark and empty like the Void. He hated it, hated the feeling - why had he agreed to this? He couldn't...he...he just couldn't cope with this! His magic wrapped around him ever tighter, smothering him. Every ounce of pressure it exerted brought a spike of pain, every spike drove the panic a little bit deeper; the deeper the panic went, the less in control he was.

Green threads snaked through his magic, trying to tug it loose, but an alien magic burned through the threads like acid, scorching him in the process. He whimpered. A single thread made it through to his core, warping and twisting so that no drop of acid could touch it. He felt it burrow in and desperately wrap itself around a pot-marked hook in the center of his SOUL, one that had held no connections for as long as he could remember...although right now that didn't mean much.

-Sans, my child, can you hear me?-

He flinched from the voice. Great, now he had two creatures talking in his head? -what the hell do you want?-

He felt concern radiate down the thread at the weariness in his tone. -Sans, it is I, Toriel. What...why...you do not know who did this to you, do you?-

Oh...it was Tori? He opened his eye socket, not quite sure he believed this. The large and somewhat distorted face of his friend from behind the door winked back at him...although there was quite a bit of fury in the line of her brow. He flinched - Tori could get...snippy when she was angry.

-Oh, he knows quite well, little queen. He agreed to it, after all, even if he did not think my offer through as thoroughly as he could have.-

The glint in Toriel's eye told him that, yeah, she'd heard the Trickster, and no, she was not happy about it. -I will give you three seconds to get your magic out of my godchild before I burn you out, creature.-

The acid around his SOUL twinkled out in sparks of gold. -Well, that might be a bit rash, don't you think? I was only keeping him from undoing all my hard work~-

-I do not see how any work of yours, creature, would require you to sink your vile magic into him.-

Sans felt more than a little annoyed that this argument was taking place inside his head without him getting a say in it. -Language~- A gag wrapped around his mental throat. -In any case, were you not listening? He accepted a Bargain from me, and as I have already delivered payment, I cannot retract the price. While I have you here, I believe it is customary to inform the faculty of any large changes in attendance one is responsible for? You may wish to arrange seating in the magelet's classes for another eight students.-

Toriel looked furious. -Some of them, any way. I doubt very much that this one,- Here squeaked at a flare of Nimaron's magic from his dead socket. -Would take kindly to reviewing such elementary math.- The Trickster paused, then continued. -I suppose nine will be enough students to form a class of their own? If so, I am sure, what with the inundation of seven mage-potential SOULs in addition to this one and Silver's own...arrangement...that a special section of Fitness and Magic Practice just for them might be arranged~-

-What- Toriel's furious voice was interrupted.

-This has been most entertaining, but I have havoc to wreak, so ta~!-

Silence filled his head. After a moment, the gag evaporated from his metaphorical throat. He coughed, trying to get the taste of that out of his mind. It didn't work, but he felt better for it. Toriel absentmindedly patted his spine. Ow.

"I cannot say I have ever felt so...infuriated at a creature who has been so…" Toriel's voice trailed into silence, her eyes sparking and her paw rubbing soothing circles across his aching shoulder blades. It hurt, although he wasn't sure…

Oh yeah...that had been a thing, hadn't it? "tori, uh...not that i don't appreciate the gesture, but...um...that kinda hurts."

She stopped instantly, seeming to realise what she had been doing, "Sans, I am so sorry, I…" Her mind seemed to catch up with the Trickster's speech, and she stiffened, her voice unamused, "Sans."

He really wished she wasn't holding him right now...and that he could walk without keeling over in pain. He did not want to have this conversation, "...yeah tori?"

"You will tell me why you accepted a Bargain from one of Them. Now," he flinched, and her grip loosened, although she did not apologize.

"...um, yeah. she, uh…" He was honestly at a loss for how to explain this, "...um...how much do you know about multiverse theory?"

Her eyes narrowed, "Exactly as much as you have told me."

O..kay, "well...you remember what i said about people outside timelines?" She nodded, "personal experience. so, uh...i know what happens when a timeline goes wrong," she continued to stare at him, "and...we were kinda going to go wrong? yeah…she offered to fix that...didn't think it would mess me up this bad."

Toriel breathed out a long sigh, "My friend, I do wish you would not keep to this habit of taking every decision upon yourself. I am certain we could have found a better alternative than one of Them...at the very least, you should have asked for help. They can be...manipulative. They will tell you only as much of the truth as you need to form the impression of it They wish you to have...and that is very rarely correct."

He felt like an idiot. He knew he was dealing with a Trickster, but he hadn't even bothered to pick apart that loosely worded contract. Stupid skeleton, always messing up, "sorry."

She sighed again, a patient smile lighting up her face, "As long as you promise not to jump into another such Bargain without further thought in future, I shall forgive you," He nodded. Definitely going to keep that one, "...Sans, you can tell me what she offered as payment, can you not? She was...rather cryptic."

"oh, uh...yeah. you remember the SOULs?..." A long silence was her only response. He let out a shaky breath, "yeah...i think the phrase she used was 'the swift return of the SOULs'?" Toriel's arms tightened around him, "ow?" Her hold on him shifted, and he found himself deeply engulfed in a fluffy hug.