Just to let people know, I might not be able to upload a chapter next week - we're going to be visiting my granddad over the weekend, and I have no idea if he has internet or not at this point. We'll just have to see, I guess!


"The most important thing you must know about the fairy people," Artemis said, folding his hands in front of himself (and Frisk couldn't help but notice that his hands hadn't stopped trembling yet, which, strangely, made them feel the tiniest bit better), "is that they find it extremely difficult to let go of the past."

Besides him, the fairy that had been introduced as Captain Short rolled her eyes and gave the Irishman a sharp look that they were pretty sure meant something along the lines of get on with it already. Artemis, however, simply raised an eyebrow at the small woman and continued as if she hadn't given him the look at all.

"The People have a similar history with the surface as monsterkind does," he said calmly. "Ten thousand years ago, the fairies lived above ground alongside humanity here in Ireland, and, despite the guaranteed disagreements between the two races, did so relatively peacefully. However, for reasons that fairy historians either do not know or never bothered recording, humans decided they no longer wished to have their magical neighbors and declared war upon them. The war, though not as clean a victory for humanity as the monster-human conflict that drove your people underground, eventually led the fairy people to retreat below ground in a successful attempt to avoid extermination, and, as human civilizations advanced and developed, the fairies retreated farther and farther into the Earth's crust until they came to rest where their underground cities lie today, miles beneath the surface."

*Miles?!

Frisk swallowed down an incredulous noise of their own. The Underground, though mostly out of reach of the sun, was still close enough to the surface that in a few places, you could still see sunlight shining through – the hole in the roof of the caverns holding the Ruins, the Judgement Hall, Asgore's throne room, and the Barrier's room. They couldn't imagine living miles underground, where even the hardiest of plants was bound to have trouble growing. How could anyone stand that?

They weren't the only one thinking this, it looked like. Undyne and Flowey both had disbelieving expressions on their faces, and Papyrus looked downright sympathetic.

"IT MUST BE VERY DIFFICULT, LIVING SO FAR UNDERGROUND!"

One of the unnamed fairies that hadn't dived for cover behind a human gave the tall skeleton a strange look, but Artemis had continued speaking before Frisk could make head or tails out of his expression. "Actually, the only major issue I have yet to see for their society is the threat of overpopulation, and even that is not as significant a problem as you might think. However, that is beside the point – I did not tell you a portion of fairy history to garner sympathy." He pursed his lips. "The People have a very good memory when it comes to their history. Because of their near-extermination at the hands of humans, most fairies see humans as the same violent, barbaric species as they were ten thousand years ago, albeit more technologically advanced. We are the violent nightmares of fairykind, their boogeymen, and they are absolutely terrified of being discovered by us."

"Can you blame us?" One of the fairies that had hidden behind Butler muttered. Another fairy, also hiding behind Butler, shushed him.

"The last thing we need is for humans to find out about us, and start another war," Captain Short said, picking up where Artemis had left off. "We definitely don't want them trying to exploit us, either, and if they caught wind of a new market below ground, they'd clamber over each other to get to us. It's the LEP's job to keep that from happening, to keep fairy civilians and criminals from making contact with humans, but there's only so much you can do with just sheer manpower."

"Thus," Artemis said, "the creation of the mind-wipe, which allows for the fairies to erase the memories of any human who catches a glimpse of them, thus protecting them from human discovery.

...They've wiped other people's memories before.

Frisk wasn't particularly surprised by this. The mind-wipe seemed like a ridiculously advanced technology to have, and there was no way that they'd be so comfortable using it without practice. Still, the thought sent shivers up and down their spine, and they couldn't help but wonder just how many people alive today were missing their memories.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Undyne growled. "What the hell is wrong with you people?!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" One of the other fairies demanded, crossing his arms. "It's just a mind-wipe. It's been standard LEP procedure for centuries."

*Centuries?! They've been doing this to people for hundreds of years?!

Frisk gulped, feeling almost as nauseous now as they usually did in the aftermath of a LOAD. Toriel placed one hand on their shoulder in a gesture of comfort, and when Frisk looked up at the monster, her gaze, leveled now at the fairy that had spoken, was sharp and disapproving.

"Memories are supposed to be private, things to be held in your soul as your own," the monster queen said harshly. "To intrude upon another's privacy in such a way, to intrude upon their very self and change it to your whims – to do it by accident is one thing. To do it on purpose is abominable, and you say this is standard procedure?"

Her last words came out smoldering like embers, and the fairy flinched back, face pale.

"It is," Captain Short confirmed, making a sharp dismissive gesture at the other fairy that had him clamping his mouth shut. "If it helps matters any, the mind-wipe is only a second-to-worst-case scenario. Most fairies are too careful to be seen, but if a fairy's running low on magic, or is going up against an enemy that can see them coming regardless of what they do… well, sometimes you need another solution."

"And your solution is messing with people's heads?!" Undyne demanded.

Short narrowed her eyes at the fish-lady. "Would you rather the Council order us to bio-bomb all those humans instead? Because they could do that."

Bio-bomb? Bio as in biological? They have bio-weapons?

"YOU WOULD KILL PEOPLE TO KEEP THEM FROM TALKING ABOUT YOU?" Papyrus asked, his mouth turning down at the corners. "WHY? ISN'T IT EASIER TO JUST ASK THEM TO STAY QUIET?"

There were several scoffs from the group. "Ask humans to keep quiet about us?" One of them said. "Might as well ask a dwarf to marry a goblin.*"

"MISTER FOWL KEEPS QUIET ABOUT YOU, DOESN'T HE?"

"Fowl might b-be an a-ally now," another fairy said, and Frisk recognized the voice as Crane's partner from their rescue, "b-but he only kept q-quiet about us at first because he wanted to exploit us l-later on."

"Hey!" Captain Short snapped, bristling.

"Holly," Artemis said, calmly. "You cannot blame him for thinking that. It's well within his rights to believe it, and it's not a far-fetched conclusion to come to, either. That being said..." he gave the fairy in question, who had inched out from behind Butler, an icy stare, "I left the fairy people alone at first because our first encounter was much more dangerous and distasteful than I expected it to be. Keep that in mind, Private."

The fairy wilted and nodded furiously.

"And how does this have anything to do with the monsters being a threat to you people?" Frisk said, quickly, before any more arguments could break out. "The monsters don't want to go to war with anyone or exploit anyone. They just want to be able to live on the surface peacefully."

"That may be the case," Artemis acknowledged. "However, monsters are a magical race. They use magic for nearly everything, do they not? And they do not bother to hide it, nor do they bother to hide in the same way the fairies do."

It took them a moment, but Frisk realized exactly what he was implying with this. "The monsters are a non-human race - something that humans thought couldn't exist. So is magic. But now humans have proof that both do, and now that they know, they might go looking for others... and even if they don't, the monsters might find out about them. And the fairies think that will put them in danger."

"That was the People's first concern, certainly, but it is no longer their only one." Artemis spread his hands wide. "After the vast majority of monsterkind had relocated to the surface, an LEP Retrieval squadron – the same squadron that Flowey encountered and subsequently attacked – was sent to explore the Underground." He looked pointedly at Flowey. "The fairy that told you they were sightseeing was technically not lying."

Flowey rolled his eyes at him, obviously not caring about this technicality one bit.

"The fairies intended to use the knowledge they gained in the Underground, along with information I received from Frisk while assisting them with protests as Anonymous, to gain a further understanding of how they may deal with the monsters peacefully," the Irishman continued. "They also intended to use MagiScanners, a new device that Foaly, the centaur who was in charge of Frisk's mind-wipe, had invented, in order to scan the Underground to gain an understanding of how the monsters used magic, and how it differed from the People. The average monster's magic is many times more powerful than the average fairy's. A single monster can achieve, with a single spell, what it takes several fairy warlocks with decades of training under their belts several hours' worth of cantrips. And that is a normal monster, without any particularly earth-shatteringly powerful abilities or statistics." He raised an eyebrow. "Imagine how powerful you are in comparison to a fairy, Your Majesty. Can you hardly blame them for being wary?"

Toriel inclined her head, acknowledging his point, but still looking disapproving. "And why would they choose to target Frisk over dangerously powerful monsters, Mister Fowl?"

"For the same reason that you have every right to target me – because the monsters will always be their first priority over the safety of others, just as I do the same for the sake of the fairy people. Or, at least, that was their original reason."

Frisk twitched. They have a different reason now because they know about the Resets, SAVEs and LOAds, they thought, chilled. I'm more a danger to them than the monsters are, because I remember when time rewinds, and they don't. I could know everything about them, and they'd never know, and that scares them.

They may not have enjoyed the Resets, may have been trying to find a way to stop them even as they fought for the monsters' happy ending on the surface, but they were well aware just how much of an advantage the Resets gave them over any opponents they may face. Unlike everyone else, who only got one chance in everything they did in life, and had to live, or die, with the consequences, Frisk didn't. All it took for them to do things over was to die, and then they could completely avoid the events that had caused them trouble in the first place.

"Their new reason," Artemis said, in a very careful tone of voice, "is that we have reason to believe that Frisk has magic."

Um. What?

How on Earth had the fairies somehow come up with that idea? Frisk didn't have magic. They had encountered magic, definitely, and did so every day, but they didn't have magic of their own!

"Shortly after the gala, the fairies discovered an odd hotspot of magic at the exact center of this very rose spiral," Artemis tapped his foot on the ground, inches from orange blooms, "which matched a magical signature they discovered in the Underground. A magical signature several times more powerful than even monster magic, which had not appeared in this spot until my younger brothers brought Frisk here to show them the fairy roses. At first, we thought this was residual magic from the monsters – however, during the mind-wipe, the fairies present scanned Frisk with a MagiScanner, and found them to have the exact same magical signature. A magical signature which, after several warlocks below ground used a process they refer to as reverse spellcasting, they determined to have a function, rather than simply being residual energy."

Frisk glanced at the SAVE point, hovering between the two groups, with wide eyes.

They found magic where the SAVE point is. That must be what their scanners picked up! I didn't know that the SAVE points left magic on me… and if reverse spellcasting means what I think it does, that means they would have found out about the Resets, even without my memories.

"The last humans in our recorded history to have magic were the ones present during the last battle between fairies and humans**," Captain Short said, sounding almost sympathetic. "Humans were once capable of using magic almost as well as the People do, and Frisk's already subverted the mind-wipe, without needing prior preparation for it. That alone speaks volumes for how much power they already have. Once the Council figures that out, they'll start panicking all over again. Which is why we," she jerked her thumb at herself, and then at the rest of her group, "are taking the initiative now because the last thing we want is that sort of power coming after us because some people got scared and launched a preemptive attack."

"That, and for another more pragmatic reason," Artemis said firmly, folding his hands in front of himself again. "The group known as Humanity's Resurgence has magic on their side. One of their members seems to have the ability to steal fairy magic if the events that took place during Frisk's escape are any indication, is capable of using it, and, most importantly of all, he is aware of the fairy people." His eyes met first Frisk's, then Toriel's. "Until we know more about Luis O'Reilly, the man in question, we need every advantage we can get, and every eye we can use to find him before he makes a move. There is only so much that the fairies can do on their own without being ordered to, and we cannot afford to wait for that."

Toriel straightened. "You are here with an offer as well as an apology, then. An offer of an alliance."

"Alliance with these people?" Flowey scoffed. "When hell freezes over!"

Artemis smirked. "If you are referring to the version of hell first coined by Dante Alighieri, then I must make you aware of fact that the very deepest circles of hell are frozen over, Flowey."

"Shut up! We're not - !"

"Last I checked, Flowey," Toriel said sternly, "you are not someone who can make that decision for me."

Flowey clamped his mouth shut, glowering at Artemis. Toriel turned back to the Irishman. "And why should I accept an offer such as this? You have done nothing for my people. You spied upon us without our knowledge and you have attempted to harm my child."

"We don't expect you to accept," Captain Short said, stepping forward and making eye contact with the goat monster with a determined expression that Frisk had only seen in a mirror before. "But we're offering anyway because if you do, we might have the chance be able to make up for our mistakes."

For a long moment, there was nothing but empty silence. Toriel stared at the captain. The fairy refused to look away, her eyes stubbornly sincere, and besides her, Artemis had an expression of agreement that was the most obvious emotion that Frisk had seen on his face in all the months they'd known him for.

"… I think," Toriel said, finally, "I am willing to give you that chance."


And thus, the Monster-Fairy alliance has been born. Or, as someone in the reviews keeps putting it, they have formed the Avengers.

Well, sort of. It's not actually going to be official until the Council accepts the alliance, and their heads are still firmly lodged in the sand. But Artemis and Co. and Frisk and Co. are allies now! It's gonna be far from smooth sailing from here on out, but hopefully everyone here will manage not to cause an interspecies war.

On Frisk's thinking the SAVE point got magic on them somehow, instead of thinking they might have magic themselves – Frisk's thought process here is that they believe that if it weren't for the Resets, they wouldn't be capable of doing the extraordinary things they've done. This is because they have self-esteem issues left over from their upbringing by their biological parents, some self-hatred left over because of the Genocide Runs, and because they've made a lot of mistakes over the course of various timelines that they're convinced an extraordinary person like people think they are would be able to avoid those mistakes completely. And magic falls under their definition of "extraordinary."

* "Ask a dwarf to marry a goblin:" Dwarves and goblins (lizard-like people who can throw fireballs and are generally dumber than your average rock) do NOT get along. I don't know exactly why they don't, but it's essentially the Lower Elements equivalent to a gang war between the two of them. As it's said in the books (or at least, something similar is said in the books,) a goblin would rather eat his own hand than marry a dwarf.

** Humans with magic: In book 8, Opal Koboi is working to activate the Berserker Gate (which in turn will send a wave of magic over the earth that will theoretically kill all the humans on its surface – obviously this did not actually happen), and it's taking her several hours of intensive magical work to do so. The reason for the Gate being as complicated as it is, according to Opal herself, is that humans were once just as good at magic (or at least almost as good at it) as the People, and the warlock that created the Gate wanted to be certain that no human could use it against the fairies.

And I finally have worldbuilding questions for you guys! Someone on A03 called Bismarkingit asked me "Are there any other countries that are accepting of monsters? I can assume Germany would feel obliged at the least to let them in and treat them kindly (for obvious reasons)"

There are plenty of countries that are accepting of monsters, to varying degrees. Germany was actually one of the first European counties, alongside Ireland, to offer the monsters a place there. The monsters are treated pretty nicely there, both because of Germany's... known past of racism they feel they have to make up for (*coughcoughnaziscaough*), and because since Germany opened their borders to monsters, they've started recovering from the Crash more quickly than they were doing it on their own. Other countries that accept the monsters for the latter reason include Japan (which was hit ridiculously hard by the Crash), England, France, China, and Greece. The USA is a little less accepting of them but has similar reasoning as the countries previously mentioned (though they also have a reason that goes something like "Shit we messed up we need to make it up to them fast" because of what initially happened with keeping the monsters trapped under Mt. Ebott).

Then there's a number of other countries that accept the monsters because they're generally improving the quality of life for citizens with their magic and technology – this category includes most of Central America, several countries in Africa, and Spain (which was also hit hard during the Crash). There are other countries that let the monsters in, of course, but these countries have been the most enthusiastic to do so so far.