Two things for you guys! Firstly, I've drawn a picture of what Frisk looks like in this fic, both in their usual casual clothes and in their formal wear from the gala chapters! Here's a link: wingd1. deviantart art/ Magicae-est-Potestas-Frisk -705822439 (remove the spaces!) And just in case that link doesn't turn up, look for Wingd1 on Deviantart, and then look in the Magicae est Potestas folder of my gallery.

Secondly, there is now a Discord chatroom for Magicae est Potestas! There aren't very many people that chat there, but if you guys wanna stop by, chat about the fic or ask questions about it, or even just hang out, then I'll be sure to keep an eye out for new people there! I usually hop on Discord around 7:30-ish, USA Mountain Time. Here's an invite link to the chatroom: discord .gg / chXZWqM (again, remove spaces, put and hopefully this one will work. If it doesn't, you can find the link in the Archive of Our Own version of this fic - look for SomniumOfLight)

And if you don't have Discord, it was free for me to sign up, so it'll probably be the same for you guys! ^.^

*The sight of the orange roses and the realization that things might be about to get a hell of a lot more complicated fills you with Determination.

Reality re-solidified around them, and Frisk took a deep breath as they turned away from the SAVE point and towards the skeleton waiting at the edge of the rose spiral. They were already signing before they even reached the edge of the flowers, too anxious to wait any longer than they absolutely had to.

What have you found out, Sans?

He shrugged, and pulled his own hands out of his pockets to sign back.

Lots. Not as much as I'd like.

He started walking away, and Frisk practically leaped over the last low-slung growth of blossoms to follow him.

Magical discoloration? They signed, squinting back over their shoulder suspiciously for visible eavesdroppers. There were none, but that didn't mean there wasn't anybody there.

Probably.

So there's magic here?

Probably.

Frisk sighed and shook their head. So you're not sure?

He shook his head. Got some evidence for it. Flowers sprung up outta nowhere, right? And they're growing in a spiral. Spirals are used a lot in runes. Also, exact same color as the Bravery trait. Discolored plants usually take on color of most prominent trait that influences the magic around them.

They blinked. So the magic around here was influenced by Bravery?

He nodded. Brave act of some sort. Probably something really major.

Frisk couldn't think of anything they knew right off the top of their head that could be a brave enough act to influence magic, not on the Fowl Estate at least. There hadn't been anything about it in that book they'd found the fairy roses' entry in, at least.

Moving on, then. Magic?

He shrugged again. Probably.

Was it the fairies?

Don't know. Could be.

Frisk squinted at him. It has to be the fairies – humans don't have magic anymore, right?

He actually snorted at that. Just 'cause you haven't met one with magic doesn't mean they're not there.

They actually stopped in their tracks at this. What? Why didn't you say anything about that before?

He showed no sign he had heard them, not even so much as another shrug.

*Well isn't that just typical of him.

It was typical of him, unfortunately. Unless Frisk asked him for specific information, he kept pretty quiet about what he knew, and even when they did ask, he usually only gave them the bare minimum.

They weren't particularly surprised by it, though, now that they thought about it. It stood to reason that Sans wouldn't trust them with everything he knew, when the monster knew about the Resets, and what had happened in previous timelines… and what might happen in future ones. Any one of those little facts could be remembered and then used against him, the next time that… that those runs happened.

So instead of repeating their question, Frisk just sighed and moved on.

It's still more likely to involve the fairies, right?

He didn't answer immediately, and Frisk felt a bubbling sensation of dread beginning to rise in their gut.

Sans. It is more likely to involve the fairies, right?

Not sure, he signed back finally. The people here are acting… odd. Man that took me n Paps n Flowey to the roses earlier was suspicious of all of us.

They started and stared at Sans incredulously.

Seriously?

Yup. Not just him either. Your little psychologist buddy was too. Gave Flowey an odd look when he first saw him.

Myles had been suspicious of Flowey? Had the flower monster done anything around any of the Fowls that warranted suspicion? For that matter, had Sans? They couldn't think of anything… being rude wasn't the same thing as being up to something, and Sans had been at his usual level of laziness the whole time he was here, at least so far as they knew…

Any idea why?

Not for the weed, no. Me – Sans shrugged. Confronted the big guy about his LV.

They'd almost reached a corner of the mansion by that point, and Frisk glanced around again, just in case someone had appeared when they weren't looking and was watching them.

Ok. They continued uncertainly. We'll figure more of that out later, then. What about… what happened in the study? You said there was something… off, about Artemis Fowl?

Yes. One – at this point, instead of spelling out the word or using the sign for the number, which Frisk knew existed, Sans just lifted one finger, but the meaning was clear enough. He was a bit too quick to address me and the weed. Could've at least pretended to be polite and wait for introductions, right?

That was a little odd – Frisk had noticed that themselves, though they hadn't thought about it much until now.

Two – again, Sans just held up two fingers instead of signing the number – he reacted to my CHECK.

"What?" They were so surprised at this that they actually blurted the word out loud. Startled, they glanced around, and then switched back to speaking in hands quickly. What do you mean, reacted? They'd seen Sans CHECK people outside of encounters before, in other timelines – no other human had ever noticed it before!

He didn't react much to it. The skeleton admitted. But he kind of flinched. Twitched, really. Then he left pretty quickly afterward.

So he felt it?

Maybe. Not 100% sure. But something was going on, for certain.

Frisk took a deep breath. And you don't know what could've been going on, do you?

The skeleton shook his head and finally stuffed his hands back into his pockets. Apparently, he had nothing else to share. With another sigh, they lowered their own hands.

"We'll have to figure it out," they told him. "Do research, that kind of thing. Do you at least have an idea of where to start?"

"Yup." He didn't say anything else, though, so Frisk left it be for now. Sans may hold back information with some frequency, but if it turned out to be important, then he would share it. He'd never held back when it came to the important stuff, after all.

"So, kiddo, already know where you're gonna hide? Bet Paps is already looking."

They were confused for a moment, then remembered. Right. They were supposed to be playing hide and seek now, weren't they?

"I spotted a couple of spots on my way outside," they admitted. "You are actually playing too, aren't you?"

Sans shrugged. He'd been doing that a lot.

"Might as well. Spotted a vase on the bottom floor I could hide behind."

He gave Frisk a mock salute. "See ya later then, kid."

And with that, he walked off in what was presumably the opposite direction of the vase, leaving Frisk alone with their thoughts.

The rest of the afternoon passed surprisingly quickly, considering what they'd learned, and the uneasiness that had come with the information. Barely fifteen minutes after Frisk had hidden themselves properly in what appeared to be a lounge on the ground floor, Papyrus had marched into the room and found them pretty much immediately. To no great surprise, he'd already found Sans standing behind a vase that wasn't even wide enough to hide him, and much of the rest of that round was spent scolding him.

The rounds that followed took a bit longer than Papyrus's. The twins were almost experts at hide and seek, if there was such a thing, and, since Frisk and the monsters didn't know the manor nearly as well as the boys did, their hiding spots were always the hardest to find, and Beckett, at least, found them remarkably quickly when it was his turn to seek.

When it came to be Myles's turn, on the other hand…

"Oh man, this is so cheating," Beckett snickered.

Frisk grinned. The two of them apparently had come up with the same idea, because both of them were hiding on top of sturdy library bookcases standing up against the wall, using various potted plants and sculptures for cover. And both of them had definitely had the same idea when they'd gone to Papyrus for help getting up there, so as to avoid moving the library ladders and giving Myles a clue about their whereabouts.

"He cheats, we cheat," they pointed out cheerfully.

They sat up there for maybe another four minutes before a sudden loud sound nearly made Frisk start off the top of the shelf.

"Myles, Beckett, Frisk, supper will be ready in fifteen minutes! Finish up your game soon, please!"

*Holy shit, what the hell?!

When Mrs. Fowl's voice had faded away and Frisk's ears had stopped ringing, they shot a suspicious look in the direction of the sound and spotted what appeared to be a speaker embedded into the wall – a speaker the same color as the walls, that they hadn't noticed until just now.

"Loudspeaker?" They asked.

"Yeah, sorry about that," The blonde grinned sheepishly. "I forget sometimes that other people aren't used to having those in their homes."

A little while later, Myles came into the library. It took him exactly a minute of looking around to spot them up on top of the shelf, and when he saw them, he leveled a stern glare at the other two children.

"How on earth did you get up there without a ladder?" He demanded.

Beckett giggled, and Frisk grinned slyly. "That's for us to know, and you to find out."

He sighed, shook his head, and walked over to one of the unused ladders and began dragging it over.

The rest of that round passed in a blur, and then Frisk, Papyrus, and Sans were following the boys through the manor's corridors to a dining room a few doors down from the entrance hall.

"This is… a lot smaller than I was expecting," Frisk admitted when they walked in. The room was still impressively ornate, with a reasonably tall ceiling and some decorative carvings on the walls, but it was closer to the size of a normal dining room than the enormous hall they'd eaten in during the gala.

"This is where we normally eat," Beckett said cheerfully. "We don't need as big a room when there're fewer guests around, so Mom and Dad decided here was probably fine, so long as you didn't bring too many monsters this time!"

"I guess that makes sense..."

The other Fowls were already seated at the table, along with Toriel, who gave Frisk a surprisingly sunny smile upon seeing them – not that they'd expected her to be frowning, per se, but she seemed remarkably relaxed. She must have really hit it off with the Fowls, to be so at ease around them.

"Having fun, Mom?" They asked.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one to ask that, my child?" She teased warmly. "Yes, I am enjoying myself. There's no need to worry." She patted the seat next to her, and Frisk followed the unspoken suggestion, settling down in that chair and reaching for a napkin to spread across their lap. The others followed suit, the twins hesitating for a moment before Beckett chose to scramble for the seat next to Papyrus, and Myles settled in the next seat over.

Then the huge man from earlier – Butler, wasn't it? - started bringing out food, and Frisk stopped paying as much attention to their surroundings in order to stare at the food and try not to drool, because stars, it all looked so good. There were dishes of meats, potatoes, breads, tons of different cheeses, some sort of thick, hearty-looking stew, and lots of different seafood dishes – fish, lobster, some sort of shellfish, mussels maybe, or oysters, among other things. And there was just so much of it all.

There were also, they were pleasantly surprised to notice, dishes labeled as monster food.

Noticing their look, Toriel chuckled. "The Fowls were polite enough to order specially prepared food for us, in case we did not wish to partake of their other options. They have escargot, as well!" She seemed positively excited at the prospect of eating snails – something Frisk still didn't entirely understand, but decided not to comment on, instead waiting as patiently as possible for the cue that they were allowed to start dishing up food of their own, and then trying not to look like they were diving for that stew and a dish they vaguely recognized from a restaurant in Dublin that they remembered liking.

Chara snickered.

Oh, shut up! I like Irish food, okay?

After a few minutes, when everyone had their plates filled, conversation started – soft and formal at first, but gradually easing into more natural conversation as people relaxed and enjoyed the meal.

"So monster food is made of magic?" Beckett looked curious, almost bouncing up and down in his seat and eyeing one of the plates of monster food on the table, obviously considering trying it.

"Well, there is a great deal of magic involved, yes, but there are some physical ingredients as well." Toriel gestured to her escargot. "For instance, there are real snails in this dish, as well as a great deal of magic."

"Huh." Beckett considered the plate for a moment longer, then dished himself up a portion.

"How did you aquire the ingredients when you were underground?" This question was from Artemis Fowl, from his own seat further down the table – he looked genuinely curious. "I hardly imagine there is adequate room for farms underground, nor enough sunlight."

"I think they use magic for that," Frisk offered uncertainly. "Sans mentioned once that the monsters used to use magic to grow the trees in the Snowdin area, and I think they do the same with crops, right?" They glanced at the monsters for confirmation.

"WELL, OF COURSE!" Papyrus puffed up his chest. "WHERE ELSE WOULD I GET THE SUPER-FRESH INGREDIENTS FOR MY EXCELLENT PASTAS?"

"Well, I'm sure there were other pasta-bilities, bro."

"SANS, STOP! NO PUNS AT THE DINNER TABLE!"

"You guys use magic for everything, huh?" Beckett took a bite of his food, and his eyes brightened. "Whoa, that's a rush! Myles, try this! It's like a sugar rush, but with less sugar!"

Myles reluctantly tried the food, and then looked thoughtful as he chewed.

"Monsters use magic for a great deal," he considered. "And yet you're still capable of using technology… there are many people, most notably creators of fictional media, who thought that magic and technology would not function well together."

And thus the conversation continued along that vein for a time. The twins were absolutely bursting with questions about magic and how the monsters used it (and their older brother, too, seemed curious, adding his own questions and observations at times), and the meal seemed to pass remarkably quickly.

When Butler brought out an armful of brightly wrapped presents, Frisk frowned. They knew that the twins had said that they didn't need to bring a present with them, and they hadn't really had time to look for presents in any case, what with the assassination attempt and their ambassadorial duties, but…

*You don't need to feel bad about not giving them anything, Frisk.

But I feel like I should give them something.

Then an idea struck them while watching Myles unwrap what turned out to be a large package full of several-inch thick books.

They're very interested in learning about the monsters, aren't they…? And they probably have more questions than just the ones about magic, and there's bound to be ones that the monsters might not want to answer…

*Well, go ahead, if you really want to. Just don't tell them about the Resets or monster souls.

I know, Chara. I'm not stupid.

Their idea firmly in mind, they waited until the twins had finished unwrapping the last of their packages (some of the presents were ones they hadn't expected – Beckett had been given a pad of watercolor paper and some watercolor paints as well, and he hadn't struck them as the artistic type), and then cleared their throat nervously.

"Well, I don't have a physical present for you, but..." they glanced at Toriel, and hoped she and the other monsters wouldn't mind this too much. "If you have any questions about the monsters that haven't already been answered that I know the answers to or questions about my experiences in the Underground, then I guess I could answer some for you?"

Beckett's eyes lit up, and a question immediately came rushing out of his mouth. "The monsters were sealed underground by humans, right? Does that mean that humans have magic? I mean, they built the Barrier and everything, so - "

Then he paused, seemed to realize what he'd said, and looked sheepish. "Sorry, um, you don't have to answer that one… I mean, if it makes you guys too uncomfortable..."

Frisk glanced towards the monsters again. Toriel and Flowey seemed a little uncomfortable – Flowey had even gone so far as to hunch up in his flowerpot – but the skelebros didn't seem particularly upset at the idea, and, after a moment and a reluctant nod from Toriel, Frisk decided to answer the question anyway.

"Well, I know that humans had magic eight thousand years ago, at least." They said. "That was when the Barrier was created. And apparently," they glanced at Sans pointedly, "it's still a possibility, but I guess if there are humans with magic around they're in hiding."

The boy looked positively elated at the idea, and his brother immediately jumped in with a question of his own. "How did human magic work, precisely? Did it differ from the monster variety?"

"I think so. From what I can see, monsters don't really have a limit to what their magic can do – each monster's magic sort of… develops as they age, and looks and acts differently for every monster. But, well, two of the wizards, or shamans, I guess, since they were Native Americans, only really had one or two abilities, and couldn't do much else, at least according to Gerson..."

"Gerson?"

"He's an old turtle monster that owned a shop in Waterfall before he moved to the surface," Frisk explained. "He was alive before the Barrier went up, and supposedly fought a couple of the wizards himself, so he knew how their magic worked, at least to an extent."

"Whoa, cool!" Beckett actually leaned forward now. "What could they do?"

Frisk frowned, sorting through their memories until they found the information they were looking for. "The Cyan and Yellow shamans… Cyan could teleport and might have had some sort of enhanced eyesight as well. The monsters could never sneak up on them, and they used the teleportation for..." they glanced at the monsters again. "… hand to hand combat. Yellow, on the other hand, could absorb magical attacks and then throw them back at the monsters. You throw a fireball at them, you got a fireball thrown right back."

Myles tilted his head to one side. "They were known by colors, rather than names? That seems rather… dehumanizing."

Frisk grimaced. "I think that's referring to their soul colors, more than anything."

"Soul colors?" This was not from either of the twins, but Mrs. Fowl, who leaned forward with a look of interest herself. "I was aware that monsters knew that souls existed, but… they have colors? How can you tell?"

Now that the conversation had slipped a little away from the topic of human magic and the Barrier, Toriel seemed comfortable enough to add her own voice to the conversation.

"Monsters are able to draw out a human's soul, under the right conditions," she explained. "It was usually used for combat, but it can also be used to check on the state of a human's health." She glanced at Frisk. "Humans have a number of different traits, each with a color that represents them, but only the most dominant of these traits, the ones most important to who they are, will show on their soul."

"Red, purple, green, yellow, orange, dark blue, and cyan," Frisk offered, counting each color off on their fingers. "Red is Determination, purple is Perseverance, green is Kindness, yellow is Justice, orange is Bravery, blue is Integrity, and cyan is Patience."

"Most humans have two to four dominant soul traits, and as such have two to four colors," Toriel continued, smiling at Frisk in thanks. "But the wizards…" she hesitated, then continued. "The wizards all had single colored souls, rather than multi-colored. That is very rare, especially for humans at their ages… children will sometimes have single-colored souls, if I am remembering correctly, but they generally gain more colors as they get older, as they mature and experience more of the world."

"WOWIE, I HAD NO IDEA!" Papyrus looked just as intrigued by this as the Fowls. "ALL THE HUMANS THAT FELL UNDERGROUND HAD ONE SOUL COLOR!"

"Yes, I noticed that as well… it is very strange, but it is also believed that single-colored souls were more likely to develop magic, so perhaps that had something to do with it..."

The twins exchanged glanced, then, after a moment of apparent psychic sibling communication, turned to look at Frisk.

"What color is your soul, Frisk?" Beckett asked curiously. "Yours only has one, right? You fell into the Underground."

Frisk hesitated, then smiled a little uncertainly. "Mine's red." They admitted. "For Determination."

"Color me surprised," Artemis Fowl said, a tad dryly and with a hint of sarcasm. "Or, perhaps not."

There was an ungainly snort. Frisk glanced over at Sans, whose grin had grown a little wider.

"Nice one," the skeleton snickered.

Artemis paused and seemed to consider what he'd said for a moment, even as Beckett (and Papyrus) groaned.

"Arty, really? I reached my pun limit for the week hours ago!"

"The pun was not intentional, Beckett, I can assure you." The Irishman's lips quirked up at the corners. "And I can also assure you, Sans, that my usual pun quality is far better than that."

"Your usual pun quality is still horrible." Beckett was actually groaning into the table at this point, apparently having abandoned his near-perfect posture in order to stew in his pun-induced anguish properly. "Come on, Artemis! C. Nyle Dementia? Sir. E. Brum? Those're awful."

Frisk blinked. "You wrote those books in the library? Those were your punny pen-names?" Somehow, the words Artemis Fowl the Second and punster didn't seem to belong in the same sentence, but considering the ghost of a smile on his face, that impression was pretty far from being true.

"Indeed they were." His smile grew into a small smirk. "As were Violet Tsirblu, and F. Roy Dean Schlippe."

Sans actually snickered, and a familiar look had crept onto his face – a look that Frisk easily recognized as his look for incoming hurricane of puns. Oh dear.

"So you're a sciency kinda guy, huh?"

"I'd daresay so, yes." The elder Fowl sibling raised an eyebrow – apparently he'd noticed the look as well, though he didn't recognize it for what it was.

"Just psychology?

"I know a great deal of physics and chemistry as well."

"Chemistry, huh?" Sans's grin grew a little wider. "Say, do you know the names of the recycling triplets?"

Artemis's eyebrow rose farther, and he looked visibly nonplussed. "I am afraid not."

"What, you don't know Polly, Ethel, and Ian? Shame."

The Fowl blinked – and then, as he translated the joke, his smirk returned. "Oh, I see. Polyethylene. That was atrocious."

"Well, all the good chemistry jokes Argon."

"SANS."

"Ah, well, that's a problem, now, isn't it." And – yup, his smirk was definitely growing, if only by a smidgen. "Just as well I am here, yes? After all, as an accomplished chemist, I have all the solutions."

Beckett, Papyrus, and Flowey groaned loudly, in perfect harmony.

"Good one." Sans's smile grew even larger. "You wanna hear a Potassium joke?"

"I suppose so."

"K."

"OH MY GOD SANS, STOP!"

"Artemis, please stop!"

The elder Fowl did not, in fact, stop. "I suppose you wouldn't have heard about the famous microbiologist who visited dozens of different countries and spoke over six languages?"

"Nope."

"Pity that. He was a man of many cultures."

"Oh nooo," Flowey whined. "He's as bad as the smiley trashbag!"

"Aw, c'mon buddy." Sans winked at the flower. "No need to be so soulless."

*Ouch. Low blow, smiley, low blow.

Frisk aimed a disapproving stare at the skeleton, fully in agreement.

Flowey twitched, and his eyes narrowed. "Keep it up, Sans. Go ahead and keep punning. I dare you."

"FLOWEY, THERE IS NO NEED TO BE THREATENING AMONGST FRIENDS! THAT BEING SAID, SANS, I FULLY AGREE! NO MORE PUNS!"

Judging by Sans's almost gleeful expression, and the calculating look in Artemis Fowl's eyes as he probably came up with more puns, it didn't seem like Papyrus's wish would come true just yet.

They almost felt sorry for him.

And now Sans finally knows why Butler was unaffected by most of his puns in the garden. :3

Artemis has used a lot of punny pen-names and aliases in the books, amongst which are the ones mentioned here, along with Emmisey Squire – E=mc^2. He's also been shown to have a rather punny sense of humor in book 5, during a conversation with Minerva Paradizo – however, most people don't understand his puns, because they are, of course, based off of well-known scientific terms, or sometimes more obscure ones (like the Freudian Slip one, F. Roy Dean Schlippe. I certainly didn't know what that was before I looked it up on google.)

In this case, the punning between Sans and Artemis is not just a case of them sharing a sense of humor, but also a case of "I sense a challenge, let's see if I can come up with better puns than his," on Artemis's behalf.

If people are getting sick of all the puns in the latest chapters, sorry, but I had to. They were too good to pass up. Plus, Undertale fanfic. You entered at your own risk.

Some worldbuilding in this chapter, as well, involving human souls and magic. And, to keep with that theme, I've decided that the worldbuilding I'm gonna share in the notes today is the soul colors of Artemis and Co.! I actually came up with these a while back, long before daniel was actively helping me with the fanfic, (though he WAS the guy who asked about the soul colors in the first place, so I guess it still comes from the both of us!)

Artemis - Purple (Perseverance), Red (Determination), Dark blue (Integrity), and Orange (Bravery)

Butler - Light Blue (Patience), Dark blue

Juliet - Orange, Green (Kindness)

Angeline Fowl - Green, Dark blue

Artemis Senior - Purple, Yellow, Dark blue

Myles - Purple, Green, Red

Beckett - Orange, Green

Holly - Dark blue, Orange, Red

Foaly - Purple, Yellow (Justice)

Mulch - Light blue, Purple

No. 1 - Green, Red, Dark blue, Orange

Qwan - Purple, Yellow

Commander Kelp - Yellow, Orange, Red

(And just for fun, since these people aren't going to turn up in person in the fic: Opal's was Purple and Red, Commander Root's was Yellow and Red, and Minvera's is Purple, Light blue, and Red)