I was sparing with Papyrus for a while and was feeling quite confident before he finally turned my soul blue. It stung a bit—which I told Sans and Papyrus—but it wasn't too bad. I got hit a few times, but they were keeping a close eye on both mine and Frisk's HP. Eventually, we went back inside.

"So, can I ask some questions now?"

"OF COURSE FRIEND. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK?"

"I'm curious about the soul colors and colored magic. Do the colors really match up with traits?"

"for humans, it seems so. they have all the traits but the most dominant one will be the color of their soul. in rare cases, they can have multiple. for monsters, it matches the style of attack. it may still be connected but we're not sure."

"So, are the colors the same as in the game? Dark and light blue seem to be the same. On that note, why?"

"MONSTER SOULS AND MAGIC ARE WHITE. SOME COLORS AFFECT SOULS AND SOME ARE USED ON ATTACKS. ONLY GREEN IS KNOWN TO DO BOTH."

"it takes practice to learn to use color attacks and even more with specific colors to change a soul. you following?"

I nodded.

"good. what do you know about color attacks and the traits?"

"Just according to the game?"

"YES!"

"Well, I guess I'll start with light blue. The color of patience. If you stay still, those attacks can't hurt you, and I know that much thanks to Papyrus." I smiled. "Green is the color of kindness. Green attacks heal, but undine can freeze you in place by turning your soul green." I gave Sans a confused look. "From what you just said, does that mean Undine is good at green attacks?"

"UNDINE IS THE BEST AT GREEN!" Papyrus cheared. "SHE WANTED TO HEAL THOSE SHE'D RESCUE AND FOUND ANOTHER USE FOR GREEN. NO ONE ELSE USES GREEN THAT WAY."

"papyrus probably could. he just hasn't tried."

"I LIKE OUR BLUE ATTACKS, BROTHER. GREEN IS FOR HEALING."

"That's cool. Should I continue?"

"yeah."

"Well, I don't think I know as much about the rest. Dark blue is… integrity, if I remember correctly. It makes your soul fall, although Sans made it fall directions other than down. Yellow is justice. It flips your soul and allows you to shoot some sort of laser, altho that doesn't sound real. Orange are attacks you have to move through, although I forget the trait. Red is determination, the color of Frisk and Chara's souls. I don't think there were red attacks," I said. "And I feel like there's at least one more, but I seem to always forget one when listing them, though not always the same one." I shrugged.

"YOU DID WELL, HUMAN. ORANGE IS THE COLOR FOR BRAVERY AND PURPLE IS PERSEVERANCE."

"Oh, yeah. Muffet uses that, doesn't she? With the strings?"

Sans nodded. "as you've already guessed, green attacks are the color needed to learn to turn a soul green like Undine does."

I nodded to show I was following.

"orange and yellow work together. al was always good at orange so it's not too surprising she learned to turn a soul yellow."

"Wait, wasn't orange bravery?"

"as i said before, it's unclear if the colors mean anything for the monster using them. also, she used to be a lot more confident than she seems. still is sometimes. the colors do relate to each other though. you'd have to be brave to enact justice. probably."

"Yeah, you probably would."

"as for light blue, that can help you get to purple or dark blue. muffet stopped using light blue after she managed to turn souls purple due to multiple colors being a bit difficult to use at once, especially if one's the soul. al will use one or the other."

"But why would you help the person you're fighting? That's all yellow seems to do."

"YELLOW IS JUSTICE. A FAIR FIGHT. YELLOW DOES LITTLE TO A PERSON, ONLY THEIR ATTACKS. YOU CAN BLOCK UNFAIR ONES."

"Oh. So, patience to integrity? How? You say they're connected, but…" I shrugged.

"integrity has to do with truth and honesty, doesn't it? if you're patient and listen to others, rather than assuming things, you can learn the truth of what's going on."

"I guess, yeah. So, you and Papyrus both use blue a lot."

"it's my magic of choice. papyrus has some strange idea that i still classify as role model material. despite training with undine, he still insists on learning new attacks from, or at least with, me."

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU DO, BROTHER."

I couldn't help but smile.

"what's that smile for?"

"Nothing. I just think it's sweet." I answered.

"sure, bud."

"So, on the topic of colors, what about your…" I trailed off gesturing to my eye, but Sans just seemed confused. I stopped quickly, almost as confused. I mentally reviewed my first nightmare from Frisk that had failed to fade from my memory. "That didn't happen."

"bud?"

"Okay, this is probably a really stupid question, but does your eye happen to glow blue and yellow ever?"

"what? no. why would it?"

"And that's about what I thought." I sighed. "Have you not run into that? Did you not notice?"

"all the… whatever that was? i can't exactly make sense of something that doesn't make sense. it does look cool sometimes."

"Wow. I know it was small in the game and the fanfiction made it so much bigger, but nothing?"

Sans just shook his skull.

"I honestly do not know how to feel about that. Okay then. Can I ask another question?"

"OF COURSE!"

"Why does everything here seem to hurt me?" I asked quietly. "I don't want to blame anyone, I just want to understand."

"that's a hard one, bud. we can't know for sure, but my best guess is that souls weren't made to be touched in your world. even here, monsters and human souls respond differently to magic and neither is meant to be handled with the physical form that humans have. it's quite possible that, if your world has no magic, your soul isn't meant to be handled either way. frisk's soul can only protect it from so much."

"Oh. I guess that would make sense. But Frisk and Chara aren't using magic."

"no, but the connection that brought you here is. by letting them reach you properly, you're being touched by magic."

"Oh."

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT, FRIEND?"

"Yeah." I smiled.

"ARE YOU READY FOR THE SURFACE?" Papyrus asked, happily derailing the conversation.

"there's not enough time today." Sans pointed out.

"YES, TOMORROW. DO YOU FEEL READY?"

"I… think so… Yeah. I should be okay." I smiled. "But we do still have some today left. What do you two want to do?"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO HUMAN?"

"Don't turn that on me, Papyrus." I groaned. "I asked because I don't know."

"i'm down for a nap. i'm bone tired." Sans pretended to yawn.

"YOU HARLEY DID ANYTHING BROTHER. IF ANYONE SHOULD FEEL BEET IT WOULD BE THE HUMAN. AFTER ALL, THEY HAVE NOW BEEN BESTED BY NONE OTHER THAN THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" Papyrus cheared.

"Oh, is that how that happened?" I smirked. "If I go by the rules of the video game, then if you stop attacking me, I win. Right?"

Papyrus shook his head, tsking as he did so. "YOU SEE FRIEND, THAT IS WHERE YOU WOULD BE MISTAKEN. I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CAPTURED YOU IN MY EXPERTLY COOKED TRAP AND THAT MAKES ME THE VICTOR!"

My smirk only grew wider. "I thought Sans was the one who caught me."

"SUCH DETAILS ARE IRRELEVANT." Papyrus countered, pulling off the best pout he could manage before all three of us started laughing.

"so. movie?" Sans questioned after a bit.

"Sounds like fun." I smiled.

"FOOD FIRST." Papyrus countered.

After we all ate, we sat down for a movie. We played one game before going to bed.

AN: Ah ha! Papyrus can show up and stick around.