I'm back! Finally!

Okay I'm going to hardcore rush everything now. Bye.

Chapter 2

Six SOULs

Five weeks later, when her back had finally been fully healed, Sans led Melanie outside to a long hallway with a floor of red leaves. He had given Melanie one of his spare hoodies since her shirt was rent in the back and down the left side, but had blatantly muttered that he only had one pair of pants, and thus she was still wearing the same torn jeans.

"Alright, we're here," he announced. "Now, let me remind you that I'm only doing this because–"

"You've told me a thousand times," Melanie interrupted, rolling her eyes. "You hate me and you want me occupied with something so you can sleep."

"Something like that," the skeleton agreed. The two stared at each other for a while, unblinking. Sans' left eye twitched. "This is the part where you tell me what you want to learn," he explained. Melanie blinked, then nodded.

"Oh. Okay. Uh…" She thought back to five weeks ago, when she had seen Sans fighting those men, slaughtering them. The first had been impaled through the stomach by a common yet powerful white magic projectile, while the other…Sans had done something even worse. All it had taken was a snap of his fingers, and that demonic skull was hovering right behind the man, materialising from thin air. And then it had fired that blazing white beam, until all that was left were charred smoke and ash. "You know that skull thing you summoned?" she asked him. "When you uh, clicked your fingers and then it showed up and shot this really epic laser–"

"Of course you want me to teach you the Gaster Blaster," Sans grumbled. "I should have seen this coming. And while I will do it, it'll take a skele-ton of effort on your part, kiddo." Melanie almost reconsidered her choice upon seeing the expression on Sans' face. He wasn't kidding around; in fact, he was dead serious. That pun had been a futile attempt to lighten the mood on both ends, but neither Human nor Monster was laughing. Melanie broke of the staring contest by nodding once.

"I understand." Sans snorted, shaking his head as he began to walk to the other side of the hallway.

"Screw that, kid. You won't understand – not until you feel it for yourself." Melanie was confused, but followed him as he began to mutter under his breath. For a moment, she wondered what his brother was like; Sans hadn't talked much about him, the only information she had managed to glean being that he was a terrible cook, and desperately wanted to join the Royal Guard. He sounded pretty easy going, compared to Sans and his kill-or-be-killed attitude.

The skeleton stopped at the end of the room, turning around to face Melanie. He scowled at her, before facing the other end of the hallway.

"Okay. Show me the strongest, heaviest white magic attack that you've got up your sleeve," he instructed. Melanie blinked, frowning.

"What does this have to do with–"

"Do what you're told," he interrupted, both eyes suddenly blacking out. "Or your back gets broken again. And this time, I'm not gonna heal it." Melanie glared at him, but sighed and did as she was told. She focused on the doorway at the opposite side of the room, glowering at the dark space. She stretched out her hand, channelling every bit of energy in her body. She bit her lip as pure white magic burst from her fingertips, the small streak turning into a blossoming flame which slowly burned its way through the air to the other end of the hallway. Melanie gasped as she felt her arm droop downwards, exhausted from the effort of casting. Almost instantly the flame flickered out, as she slumped to her knees, sweat running down her forehead. Sans looked mildly impressed as he extended an arm and helped her up.

"Not bad," he admitted as she regained her balance. "But there's two things which you majorly messed up." Melanie groaned as she stumbled a little, letting go of Sans' hand.

"Is this going to be a lecture?" she questioned distastefully. "Because if it is, make it a short one."

"You're the one who extended its length," Sans grumbled. "But yeah, lecture time. Major stuff up number one, the attack took too long to reach the other side of the hallway. Number two…well, look at you. I don't really have to say much else." Melanie snorted, turning to face him. "Your attacks take up too much energy; that's why your fire was ineffective. If you compress that power, conserve your energy…" he snapped his fingers, and a monstrous skull materialised in the air behind him, firing a blinding white laser at the wall before vanishing instantly. "…you can achieve things you may have thought to be impossible." Melanie stared at the new darkened splotch on the wall, mouth hanging open.

"So, uh…" She tucked her hair behind her ear, expression thoughtful. "I just need to find a way to conserve my energy?"

"Something like that," Sans replied nonchalantly, sitting down on the floor cross-legged before leaning back against the wall. "Now, don't be too loud." Melanie frowned, confused at first, but her eyes widened as she realised what he was about to do.

"Don't you dare–"

"Zzz…" Sans was already snoring. She thumped her fist against the wall, then cried out as she recoiled, clutching it tightly.

"Oh, man," she muttered as she looked at the doorway again. "This is gonna be tough."

xXx

Three weeks later, the only progress that Melanie had made was that she no longer dropped to the ground in exhaustion after unleashing her powerful white magic attack. Sans hadn't been surprised at all, waving her off and putting it up to a lack of motive. When he had suggested that she had wanted to scream, but had instead calmly talked with him about how she was completely motivated. Then he'd snorted and zipped off to bed. The joy of living with a sarcastic skeleton…

As the days kept going by, she found herself becoming more and more frustrated at herself. Sometimes she screamed when she released her energy, anger overtaking every instinct. It was the fifth time she'd screamed when Sans had finally emerged from his room, suddenly appearing next to her and grabbing her hand.

"Don't," he'd whispered. "If you get mad, you can't control your power. You have to stay calm." Melanie had tried giving his advice a try; surprisingly, she had found herself not exerting as much energy as usual. She'd turned around the thank him, but once again, the lazy skeleton had retreated back to his room.

Right now, she was alone in the hallway, relentlessly battering the other wall with her white magic, peppering the bricks with countless holes. Every day, the wall seemed to be unscathed, as if someone had repaired it. At first she had suspected Sans, but the skeleton was always sleeping. She'd then put it up to the other Monsters dwelling in the area (Sans referred to them as the Ruins), though she had never encountered any of them. Sans had mentioned them often, often poking fun at something called a Loox, though the only thing she'd managed to gather about it was that it had two pointed horns and a single enormous eye.

Melanie let out a roar of frustration as she unleashed yet another powerful attack. The time it took for the fire to burn its way through the air had somewhat decreased, but she was hardly satisfied with her progress. It was pathetic, really; it had never taken her this long to master a new technique. Then again, no technique she'd ever attempted had been as complex as the Gaster Blaster. Making physical weapons out of magic had only been compressing the energy into a compact shape. Firing it in bullets had taken a little more effort, but no less than a day or two. And yet here she was, struggling to hit a wall at a decent speed without dropping to the ground. There had to be another way to do this.

She sat down, crossing her legs as she remembered the two times that Sans had shown her the technique first hand. An enormous, monstrous skull, a blinding white laser, but then nothing. The skull disappeared as soon as it had exerted its power. Just the way that Melanie had been exhausted each time she had released her fire…

Suddenly, an idea came to mind. She released a wave of magic, but instead of turning it into fire, she instead grouped it together, compressing it into a large, recognisable shape; the Gaster Blaster. She forced the skull to crack open, its jaw widening as the empty sockets suddenly began to glow. And then she let go. Instantly, all of the energy she had put into the form of the Gaster Blaster burst from the skull as it instantly vaporised, leaving nothing but a blinding laser which scorched the other side of the room. After a moment the laser died, the only sign of it ever existing being the new, darker mark in the wall. Melanie stared. And then she smiled.

xXx

Sans awoke to the sounds of Melanie whooping. The world seemed to spin as his empty eyes focused on the ceiling light of his room, his body jolting as he became aware of himself falling asleep.

Damn, I do that easily.

He grunted, getting out of bed as Melanie cries of joy continued to reach his non-existent ears…what was she so worked up about anyway? For the past three weeks she'd been nothing but an emotional wreck, screaming at the wall and throwing attack after attack at the rigid bricks. If Sans hadn't asked the local Migosps to repair the wall every night while she was asleep, she would have burnt a gaping hole through their entire house. He sighed, zipping down to the room where he knew she was practicing – and almost ran into an enormous laser. He stared at it in shock as it died, fading into nothingness before another scorched the spot behind him.

"Oh, hey Sans!" Melanie yelled at him cheerfully from the other side of the room. She motioned to the left, and another skull came to life, firing a laser at the wall before disappearing. Sans blinked at her, refusing to believe what he was seeing. But he was unable to deny it as she raised her hands, summoning an entire row of the monstrous skulls and forcing him to dodge out of the way of the oncoming barrage. She'd mastered the Gaster Blaster, in no less than a few weeks. Sans himself had taken months to even summon the skull; the laser had taken another two. But Melanie had apparently figured out how to summon both the skull and fire the laser in the space of the last few hours. She was a genius.

"How the hell are you doing this?" he yelled at her over the din. She cupped her hand to her ear, leaning forward.

"What?"

"I asked how the hell you're doing this?" he repeated in uttermost confusion. "Yesterday you were swearing every time your fire took less than a second o reach the wall, and now you have Gaster Blasters at your disposal?"

"Oh, yeah, that," she said, grinning widely. "I just thought about how on the surface we were trained in close ranged combat, so instead of using a staff like the other kids, I used a rod of blue magic, like this." She placed her index fingers together, drawing them out until the blue magic trailing from them had strengthened into a powerful blue rod. "Whenever I wanted to get rid of it, it sorted exploded with energy. So I figured, why don't I just propel the energy given off when I let go of the construct? Pretty clever, huh?"

"Yeah," Sans muttered, still in disbelief. "That's pretty fucking clever, for a numskull like you." Melanie's grin quickly changed into a snarl, as she summoned a row of Gaster Blasters, each animalistic skull pointed in his direction. He stumbled back for a moment, suddenly very aware that at this level of power, it was possible for her to kill him. "Woah, woah," he said, raising his arms. "I only have–" The Gaster Blaster fired. He only had a minute to shortcut out of the room before quickly warping back in after the lasers had died. "Seriously?" he yelled at her. "Do you know that I've only got 1 HP?"

"The hell is HP?" she asked unconcernedly. "That's some video game crap that developers made up to represent physical durability."

"It's a real thing," he growled at her. "HP is short for HoPe. Read any book down here and you'll find that definition."

"That takes longer to say," Melanie muttered, clearly not fazed by the fact that if he hadn't moved, Sans could very well be dead. "Anything else you want to tell me?" Sans scowled, but said nothing more as she walked over to him, hands in the pockets of her hoodie. "So, anything else? Any flaws?" The skeleton shrugged, looking at the now destroyed wall. Some of the bricks were still smoking.

"Definitely not in your Gaster Blasters, that's for sure. However…" He flicked a white bone at her, which embedded itself into her knee. She cried out as she fell backwards, face scrunched up in pain. "Yup," he muttered. "You can't dodge for shit."

xXx

"So tell me, how is the Human?" Sans frowned as he looked through the doorway into the dining room. Melanie was currently seated at the table, ravenously digging into her plate of spaghetti. She still had the childish gleam of excitement in her eyes as she slurped up her food, accidentally getting the sauce onto her face.

"Melanie's fine, Tori," he said as he observed her. "Fully recovered. Exactly like I've been telling you for the past three weeks. Although, she'd finally made a breakthrough in her magic. She's been using me for target practice for half the day."

"So, you have become attached to her?" Sans scoffed at the suggestion, shaking his head even though she wasn't there to see him.

"Shut up, Toriel Dreemurr. I haven't been attached to anybody in years, and you know it."

"Yet you called her by her name," Toriel pointed out from the other end of the line. "Which could mean one of two things–"

"Alright, calm down," Sans said hurriedly as Melanie turned to look at him in confusion. He waved her off, pointing at her plate. "Eat your food!"

"Yours is getting cold," she said, pointing at his plate. "I'm just saying."

"Whatever." As soon as she turned away, Sans went back to the conversation. "I'm tolerating her, that's for sure. But don't you dare start thinking that–"

"Sans," Toriel said seriously. "I have known you for a very long time, have I not? And for all this time, there have been two things that anyone can always rely on you for. First, you always keep your promises. And second, you have always despised Humans, since the first days of the war. Yet now you tell me that you are tolerating one, even if I was the one who asked you to protect them?" Sans sighed, slumping back against the wall. Whether he liked it or not, Toriel was correct – to a certain extent. Melanie might not be his favourite person in the world, but her arrival had changed his overall view of Humans as a species. After the war, whenever he heard that word, all he could think of were darkened images of the creatures wallowing in the blood and dust of Monsters and Humans alike, holding their bloodstained weapons over their heads in triumph as the seven magicians had cast the Barrier over the underground, seemingly trapping them there forever.

But Melanie was the opposite of all that. She had fallen through the Barrier after her own kind had turned on her, peppering her body with deadly bullets until she was no longer capable of walking. She had shown no hatred towards Sans despite the fact that he was a Monster, and had stated several times how much better the underground was from the surface. She'd had nowhere to go, and for some strange, unknown reason, she saw this place as her new home. For a while Sans hadn't understood why, but soon the reason had become apparent; Melanie was simply an exceptional Human being. She cared more about her morality than hundred year old feuds. She'd strayed away from the distasteful weapons of war the Humans had tried to force her to wield, and instead turned to magic, a field which could be used for more than just death and violence. She'd found another path, differed from the rest of her group. And now she saw herself not just as a Human who had once lived on the surface, but as a Human who had been reborn the day she had fallen through.

"Fine," Sans admitted after a period of silence. "Melanie is…I don't know how to explain it, to be honest. She's incredible. It took me months to fire my first Gaster Blaster, and she's managed to pull it off in a couple of weeks. The kid's got backbone, I'll give her that. And that's not all, Tori. She doesn't hate us. She sees Monsters as better than humans, even though she's met none but me."

"Then you must have given her a good first impression," the queen snickered playfully as Sans sighed.

"You don't understand, Tori. From the moment she fell down, she's shown nothing but indifference to her own kind. But the moment she realised that I was a Monster…well sure, she panicked – anybody would have done that. But she didn't panic because I'm a Monster. It was because she realised that it had all really happened. The Humans had really betrayed her. And that was what hurt the most. Hell, only a week after that, I had to kill those two Humans who came after her." The skeleton paused, a new thought crossing his mind. "You did get my package in the mail, right?"

"Yes, of course we did," Toriel assured him. "And Asgore has already placed the two you sent next to the Barrier. I haven't actually told him about the Human yet, though the time may come very soon. You know, because we–"

"Because we have five," Sans interrupted, "and we only need two more. I know, but listen, Tori – you can't tell Asgore. Not yet. I need to be the one to tell him, when the time is right. I can't have him lashing out at you again." Toriel went silent, but he could almost hear the little gears in her brain ticking before she let out a resigned sigh.

"Very well. I will leave you to it, Sans." As she prepared to hang up, Sans suddenly spoke up.

"Wait a second, Tori." The woman stopped herself as the skeleton stopped her. "Melanie is, uh…lacking in certain physical fields. You know. So I was wondering if–"

"I'll call Undyne for you," she interrupted. "Have a good night, Sans."

"Yup, good night, Tori." He hung up, finally walking over to his seat at the table and shovelling the spaghetti into his mouth. He scowled at Melanie, who looked down meekly. "I thought you said that it was getting cold."

"It was," she said. "I swapped plates." Sans looked over at her plate, and realised that it was true; she had switched plates with him. "I only ate, like, half of it," she continued. "And uh, you gave me like three times as much as yourself. Plus, you've been nothing but nice to me, even if you hate Humans. And you looked stressed out by that phone call. So um, yeah. Hope you're not mad." His eyes flicked between his plate and hers, before they went to her face, her expression anxiously waiting for me to answer.

Shit. I'm making the kid nervous.

"…thank you." Melanie looked shocked at his response, her eyes widening. "I'll admit, ever since the war I've thought of Humans as nothing but scum. But you…" he looked back at his plate, prodding it with his fork. "…you're not scum, Melanie. You're a good person." He looked up at her face, the shock not having worn off yet. "So thank you, for helping me realising that not all Humans are bad."

"…wow," she muttered. "Did you just thank and apologise to me simultaneously?"

"Shut up," Sans grumbled, making another one of snorting sounds. He frowned, staring at her plate, which was practically untouched. "Why aren't you eating?"

"Uh…" Her expression quickly turned to embarrassment as she tried to bring it up with her fork. "…I think it's stuck to the plate."

xXx

"Sans?" Melanie called as the skeleton was washing up after dinner. It had been only a week since the day she'd mastered the Gaster Blaster. "Someone's at the door!" Sans froze turning his head to the direction of Melanie's voice.

"Ask them who they are," he told her. He heard a brief exchange between Melanie on one side of the end of the Ruins and the Monster on the other side, though their voice was muffled.

"They said that their name, is, uh…Toriel? Did I say that right? I think I did." Sans frowned, quickly zipping outside and appearing next to her. Melanie barely reacted.

"Summon a Gaster Blaster," he said as he approached the door. "When I open it, point it at them. We can't take any risks." After the girl nodded, Sans pressed his hand against the door, causing the construct to swing open.

Standing in the doorway was a Monster who at first looked to Melanie almost Human, but after a moment or two she started seeing the distinct differences. Her body, while maintaining a similar structure, was covered in white fur the colour of snow. And her head was that of a goat's, with two pointed horns curving out the sides of her head. The goat woman smiled, extending a hand.

"It is good to meet you face to face, my child," she said calmly. Melanie stared at the extended hand, prompting her to lower it. Her eyes turned towards the Gaster Blaster aimed towards her head. "Perhaps you could…ah, dispel that weapon of yours?" Darting her eyes towards Sans, who nodded, Melanie pointed the Gaster Blaster in the opposite direction, before allowing it to fire into the wall. "And Sans, it is good to see you too."

"Likewise, Tori. Always good to see you." He nodded at her, then motioned towards the house with his head. "Well, don't stand there. Come on in. We only just had dinner, but I'm sure I could fix something up for you." However, Toriel held up her hand, shaking her head.

"I am not here to eat, Sans, though I appreciate the gesture. I am here to meet the Human."

"My name is Melanie." Toriel turned to her, frowning.

"Sorry?"

"My name is Melanie. Not the Human. Melanie."

"Ah, of course," she said pleasantly. "Where are my manners? Yes, Sans mentioned that. I am Toriel, Queen of the Underground." Melanie stared, not saying a word. For a few moments she was completely frozen, every muscle in her body ceasing to move. She turned her head to Sans, who winked at her.

"Yeah, I forgot to mention her. Sorry about that."

"Uh huh." Melanie frowned, looking back at the queen with renewed interest. "Do I have to call you your majesty? Because I think that eventually, that's going to slowly kill me. Even more than the spaghetti getting stuck to the plate." Toriel chuckled, winking back at Sans.

"She has a sense of humour; that's a good thing." Melanie snorted at the queen's comment, but made no effort to reply. She began walking away, her interest dying just as quickly as it had rejuvenated. Sans watched her leave, then shrugged.

"Eh, she's a strange one. You want to come inside the house, Tori? Melanie's probably going to go practice." Toriel smiled gratefully, nodding.

"Yes, that would be much appreciated." Sans nodded back, closing the door after her before zipping into the house. Toriel followed afterwards, her eyes focused on Melanie as she blasted relentlessly at the wall with her Gaster Blasters. "Are you concerned about the damage she is dealing?" she asked the skeleton, who merely shrugged as he stared pensively out the window. Melanie had formed another Gaster Blaster, this time composed of blue magic.

"The Migosps help me out," he explained. "If not for them, the Ruins would have been ruined after the first week." Toriel chuckled at the pun, despite how terrible it was. The skeleton winked at her as she sat at the table, zipping into the seat opposite of her. "She hasn't told me too much about her life on the surface. Just that Humans don't encourage the practice of magic. So yes, once again, I'm going to request that Undyne stop by."

"She hates Humans," Toriel pointed out. "Well, not entirely, but she is willing to do whatever it takes to get the Monsters back to the surface."

"Melanie could help," Sans said as he watched the blue Gaster Blaster expand, before it fired a beam of pure magic and disappeared. "She's definitely not loyal to the Humans, that's for sure. As far as I can tell, she hated it there. Down here, she not only has food and a bed, but she can practice her magic as much as she wants. She would be a good person to have on our side, if we ever get out."

"Then make sure she will be." At first Sans was confused, but nodded as Toriel rose from her seat, casting a final glance at Melanie. "I expect a call tonight."

"You'll get one." Toriel nodded at him, then quietly left the room. Not long after, Sans zipped outside beside Melanie. She didn't blink when she saw him, simply summoning another Gaster Blaster and aiming it a little to his left.

"Is she gone?" she asked nonchalantly, firing the Gaster Blaster. "I was beginning to get bored."

"You should be sleeping," he muttered. "But it's good that you're awake; I need to discuss something with you. Something important." Melanie frowned, her attention fully focused on the skeleton as he took a small step forward. "When I agreed to teach you, it was because I was pissed at you for being here. But I'm not pissed anymore."

"And what does that mean?" she asked worriedly. Sans shrugged, pulling down his hood.

"Well, it means that I can still teach you, Melanie. But it'll come at a larger price." She gulped, clearly expecting something terrible. He wondered what she would make of this. "The queen…wants to know whether your loyalties still lie with the Humans." Melanie stared. Then she just laughed.

"You're kidding."

"Not kidding."

"That's stupid. I'm not a pawn for the Humans," she argued. "Did you really have to ask that?"

"It's not just that," Sans explained. "She also wants your allegiance with the underground." This time, there was no laughter. Melanie frowned, clearly confused.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that if worse comes to worst, you'll fight by our side in the war. That is, if there is another war." The explanation clearly helped, because the tension which was present quickly died away. Melanie grinned at him, nodding.

"Yeah. I'm cool with that."

"Good." Before she could react, there was a white bone embedded into her leg. She fell to the ground, wincing as Sans stood over her, chuckling to himself. "Now we just have to get you to dodge."

xXx

6 Months Later

"Come on, get up!" Melanie groaned, forcing herself to get back to her feet despite the rising pain in her legs. She glared hatefully at the distant silhouette of a Monster, completely encased in a suit of reinforced armour. Out of one eye socket there was a dangerous yellow gleam, as the Monster suddenly dashed forward, one arm drawn back with a deadly long spear in hand. Melanie tensed, waiting patiently as the form of the Monster drew closer. At the last second, she leapt out of the way, tumbling on the bare stones of the Ruins as the Monster screeched to a halt, removing her helmet.

Out of all the Monsters who Melanie had encountered, Undyne was by far the most humanoid. Ignoring that she had blue scales instead of skin and that her ears looked more like fins, she definitely could have passed off for one. Her long red hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, which she flicked back over her shoulder as she turned towards Melanie.

"You've made little progress since I last came," she said in a tone which was meant to sound disappointed, but came off more as playful. "I mean, you know how to dodge, but now you hurt yourself while doing it. You're basically negating the need to dodge in the first place if you take an equal amount of damage while doing it."

"Save it," Melanie shot back, scowling at Undyne. "I don't need to be reminded of how terrible I am at literally everything you throw at me."

"Not everything," Undyne said. "Your progress is incredible when it comes to your magic. Hell, you managed to best me, even if it was with the no dodging rule."

"Only because your arrows are the slowest I've ever seen," Melanie muttered. "Besides, it just comes to me. Dodging doesn't." Undyne scowled, but her expression quickly became thoughtful.

"Alright, I've got an idea," she said suddenly. "Your magic is able to take shape and form barriers, like how you block my arrows. Imagine using a barrier like that, but on yourself, pushing you in a certain direction." Melanie frowned, considering the idea. It made perfect sense; if she was able to reject certain objects and propel them away, why not herself? "Want to try it?" Melanie shrugged, shifting into a defensive stance.

"I guess it couldn't hurt." Undyne smirked before putting her helmet back on, lowering the visor. She placed her right leg forward, then dashed towards her. Melanie stood her ground as the Monster approached her, feeling magic channelling itself through her veins. She stared her down, eyes narrowing as Undyne continued to approach, her spear pulling back slightly. At the last second, Melanie sent a burst of magic towards the left, leaving a faint trail as she stumbled clumsily to the right from the recoil. However, the trail must have been largely compressed, because the Monster soon tripped over it, her arms windmilling through the air before she hit the ground. Melanie didn't seem to notice, more or less just surprised that it had even worked.

"Wow," she muttered. "I can't believe you didn't kill me."

"As if I could kill you," Undyne growled bitterly as she got to her feet. "You'd just fly away on one of those stupid Gaster Blasters." Melanie blinked, confused at what she meant.

"Fly…on a Gaster Blaster?" she repeated with interest. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, don't pretend." Undyne grinned at her from under the helmet, puffing out her chest. "I already know. You think I don't see Sans whizzing around on that stupid thing, stirring up trouble in Waterfall?" When Melanie just stared in shocked silence, Undyne came upon a startling revelation. "You actually have no idea," she muttered. "Well, how about that?"

"HE CAN FLY?!" Melanie screeched, pulling at her hair. "SANS CAN FREAKING FLY?! WHY THE FUCK DID NO ONE–"

"–Tell you?" Undyne guessed. "Probably for that reason." Melanie cursed, turning her back on Undyne with a loud huff.

"I'm going to skin that stupid skeleton…"

"Pretty sure that's impossible," Undyne piped in. "Even if he allowed you to, it wouldn't do a damn thing."

"It's just an expression!" Melanie yelled in frustration as she turned around, not noticing the yellow streak of magic zooming past her, before curving around and striking her in the butt. The brunette yelped, her eyes bulging momentarily in shock before the magic faded. Undyne chuckled, covering her mouth with a closed fist.

"You got a pain up your butt?" she asked innocently, before staggering back as Melanie spread out her arms, summoning a row of Gaster Blasters. "Hey, we can play this cool, right?" Undyne stepped backwards, raising her hands. "Ha hah, play it cool…" Melanie glowered at her, raising her right hand a little higher.

Click.

xXx

After Undyne had left Ruins, her armour scorched by white lasers and her only actions being grumbling at Melanie, the Human went to find Sans, still annoyed that he hadn't told her about flying. She found the skeleton sleeping peacefully in his bed, snoring loudly. Not bothering to care about the consequences, she kicked the bed, causing him to jerk awake and fall off of it in alarm.

"What's burning?" he yelled out, still rolling to the side. "Is it the spaghetti? Was I cooking spaghetti? Oh, please tell me I wasn't…"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked in annoyance. "You can fly? Since when?"

"Since forever ago," Sans grumbled as he sat up. "Is that all you came for? Because you want to fly?" Melanie hissed, but her eyes soon went to the window in his room.

"…no."

"Then what is it?" he questioned. "Make it quick, dammit." For a while Melanie was silent, but she eventually spoke up.

"Undyne mentioned another place you've never told me about before," she murmured. "Waterfall?" Sans' anger faded away as he realised what she had woken him up for. "What's it like?" He didn't reply to her, simply standing up and walking out of the room. Melanie followed him, waiting for an answer.

"Beautiful," he muttered eventually. "Waterfall is beautiful. There are these amazing flowers…Echo Flowers. They uh…echo. And then there's Onionsan. Damn, I wonder where that kid went…" He chuckled, turning towards Melanie. "Long story short? Definitely one of the coolest places down here – beaten only by Snowdin."

"Yeah," Melanie said dreamily. "It sound incredible." Sans sighed leaning on the kitchen table with his fingers entwined.

"You still want to leave?" he asked, causing her to freeze and stared at him. He winked at her, but his tone was anything but humorous. "I know how much you want to see the world, kiddo." Melanie joined him at the table, staring forwards.

"…that's true." Sans clearly wasn't surprised by her answer. He looked at her, raising an eyebrow, as if to say that's it? "It's just…I've been here for more than six months," she explained. "And Undyne comes and goes, Toriel stops by every once in a while…I'm just…"

"Curious," Sans said, finishing her sentence for her. "I understand, kid. I know how you feel. I'm glad that you're bringing this up now, though." Melanie tilted her head in surprise, eyeing the skeleton with interest.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because we're leaving tomorrow." She instantly frowned, not believing what he'd said. But Sans' expression was completely serious, his grin feeling more like a mask. "While we were asleep last night, a Human made it through," he explained. "I only just got a message from my brother, Papyrus. He's leading a defence, but doesn't want to kill the Human." Melanie stared at him in pure shock. She couldn't believe it."

"A Human got through?"

"Look, I know–"

"A HUMAN GOT THROUGH?!" Sans sighed, shutting his eyes and praying that Melanie would calm down. Her fits usually didn't last long, but then again, there had been that time when Sans had made that terrible lasagne…

"Listen, just be happy that we're finally leaving," he said in an attempt to reason with her. "We're going to Snowdin, and we'll deal with the stupid Human. I swear, if you help with this, I won't force you to stay here anymore. You can go wherever the hell you want." Melanie perked up at his offer, grinning from ear to ear.

"Is that so? Very well then…lead the way."

xXx

The walk to Snowdin was a short one, with Sans taking the lead as Melanie trudged slowly behind him, taking in the large, imposing trees which lined the road they were taking. As they came to a short bridge spanning over a ravine, both suddenly heard the deafening sound of clashing metal. They paused momentarily to shoot a look at each other, before taking off at full speed, Sans zipping forwards while Melanie summoned a Gaster Blaster, clumsily jumping onto its back and holding onto its central horn. The monstrous skull shot forwards, Melanie barely holding on as she closed her eyes. They zoomed towards Snowdin, the sounds of battle slowly increasing until they finally arrived. The streets were near empty, except for the two fighting figures in the midst of a fierce snowstorm. Melanie was forced to shield her eyes, but Sans could see perfectly clearly. There was a human boy around Melanie's age, wildly swinging a gleaming sword towards a tall skeleton wearing a red scarf. It didn't take a genius to figure it out; this had to be Sans' younger brother, Papyrus.

"Calm down, Human!" the skeleton yelled as he swiftly leapt over the Human's thrust, deflecting his next with a summoned white bone. "Let us discuss matters peacefully, diplomatically, and…what else? Err…"

"Be silent, you vile creature!" the Human screamed back, swing his blade blindly through the relentless storm. "Let me carve through your inferior flesh and take my EXP!" If Papyrus felt insulted, he didn't show it. The skeleton's grin didn't falter as he continued to dance around the Human, easily dodging the slow and uncalculated attacks.

"Well, I have no flesh as you can see!" he replied cheerfully. "However, I'm told that having your flesh cut is not very pleasant. Also, EXP gathering is quite illegal, in case you were not aware. I do believe that King Asgore made that law about a century ago, though it is very likely you had not been born by then…" Melanie watched in horror as the Human boy managed to hit Papyrus with the flat end of his blade, causing the skeleton to stumble backwards. However, instead of retaliating, he simply jumped backwards, avoiding the next strike.

"He's not fighting back," Melanie said suddenly. "Why?"

"Papyrus wouldn't hurt a butterfly," Sans grumbled. "It's why he could never join the Royal Guard, no matter how hard he tries. If he keeps fighting he's going to get killed, especially against a purple SOUL."

"Purple SOUL?" Melanie asked in confusion. "What the hell is that?"

"Each Human has a SOUL," Sans began, "and each SOUL has a trait. Purple SOULs, like the Human fighting Paps, are of the trait PERSEVERENCE. You're a red SOUL though; much, much rarer."

"And what do red SOULs have?" Melanie asked. Sans frowned, looking back towards the battle.

"DETERMINATION." As Papyrus continued to duck and weave, Melanie could see a drop of sweat slowly working its way down the side of the skeleton's face. She wasn't sure what to think of it; was he nervous? "Say, kiddo…" She perked up at hearing the skeleton addressing her, turning to face him. "Remember that promise you made me? That your loyalties would lie with the Monsters from now on?"

"Of course." Melanie frowned, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I want you to prove it." She blinked, not understanding as Sans continued to stare at the scene. "I want you to fight the Human, and I want you to kill him." Melanie had mixed feelings about that. She was against killing, even if she had done it before – albeit accidentally. She was prepared to injure, but taking another life was a completely new concept for her. Then again, she had to keep her promise.

"Tell your brother to come back," she said calmly, stepping forward. "I'll take care of this…Human." Sans nodded at her, then raised an arm.

"Papyrus!" he yelled, though his voice was significantly drowned out by the storm. "Get out of there!" `

"Oh, hello Sans!" his brother greeted as he dodged another swing from the Human. "How are the Ruins?"

"Come here!" Sans called out again, waving his arms frantically. "She'll take care of it!"

"She?!" Papyrus asked, but grinned upon laying his eyes on Melanie. "Oh, it's your Human friend. Alright, take the lead!" As soon as he bounded out of the snowstorm, Melanie was walking into it, arms at her sides, her hips swaying to counter the wind. The Human clearly hadn't heard the exchange between Sans and Papyrus, because upon laying his eyes upon her, he gave her a broad grin.

"Another Human in the underground!" he called out happily. "Now surely we will take care of these Monsters without a problem!"

"Do you have to talk like a goddamned old timer while reciting your propaganda?" Melanie hissed back in obvious disdain. "I mean, come on, we're in a freaking snowstorm! I'm chilled down to the bone!"

"Oh don't complain," the Human said, waving her off nonchalantly. "Once we deal with these idiots, we can leave quickly. The quicker we–"

"You really are a dumbass, aren't you?" He growled when Melanie continued to advance towards him, her steps light and uneven, but menacing nonetheless. "Why the hell would I let you get away with destroying all the harmony in the underground? I've been here for less than a year, and already I can see the beauty in all of it. The Monsters, the animals, the freaking plants, they all live together, coexisting peacefully. Then you show up and start swinging a fucking sword around – who do you think you are, dickhead?" The Human raised his sword towards her, glowering fiercely as he began to walk towards her as well.

"So you're the traitor," he grumbled. "You've caused us a lot of problems upstairs."

"I'm glad to hear of it," Melanie said cheerfully, raising her hands and creating a rod of blue magic, which was still the only weapon she favoured in hand to hand combat. "After all, I always did want to go out with a bang. Oh, whoops. Too touchy of a subject? I mean, that was a pretty big boom, huh?" She chuckled, slapping the rod into her palm repetitively, catching it every time. "Now, how about we get down to business?" The Human boy didn't bother replying, instead dashing towards her and clumsily aiming the jittery blade towards her. However, his shaky and uncertain advance only caused Melanie to raise her guard even higher, her gaze edged with suspicion. Surely he couldn't be that cowardly. Deciding to test him, she spun round and quickly tossed her rod towards him. The Human stumbled slightly to the left, eyeing the projectile wearily and embedding itself into the snow. Melanie cursed, realising that unlike her, the Human boy was decent at dodging. This would be a difficult battle. But then again, what kind of test would it have been if it had been easy?

Using the temporary to her advantage, she released a widespread burst of white fire, causing the boy to halt his charge as she rolled underneath and attempted to sweep his legs out from underneath him. The attempt was half successful as the boy saw it coming, but as he moved her leg caught his, causing him to stagger backwards, arms windmilling momentarily. However, he quickly regained his composure, before swinging his blade down onto Melanie. The girl raised her hands, forming another blue rod and blocking his strike with a deafening clash of magic and metal. She forced herself upwards, pushing back his weapon and clumsily kneeing him in the side. The attack hardly fazed him, as he quickly countered by pulling back his blade and sending a well-aimed punch cracking into her jaw. Melanie gasped as pain rocketed through her skull, the rod dropping from her hand and detonating in the snow, melting the crystals and blasting a spray of water into the Human's eyes. He cried out, slashing out with his blade as Melanie held her injured jaw, the pain pulsating through her head as she groaned.

However, the boy was quick to recover from the hindrance, running towards her and carving a downward arc through the air with his razor sharp weapon. She yelped as she fell backwards, the boy's grin widening as the sword almost touched her flesh. However, both stared in shock at the large white monstrous skull which had appeared in the space between them, which quickly blasted a powerful white laser towards the Human. He staggered to the left in shock, barely escaping the laser before being hit in the chest by one of Melanie's balls of white fire. The damage appeared to be insignificant, causing only a small burn mark to appear on his chest, but it angered the Human all the same, as he growled fu0riously at Melanie. She gulped nervously at his maddened cry, his sword slashing furiously at the air as she let out a blast of blue magic toward her feet, sending her careering backwards through the snow, leaving a wide trail from flailing movements.

"Stay still!" he screamed at her, hurling his sword through the air, the deadly weapon soaring just over Melanie's head embedding itself into the tree behind her. She didn't bother trying to pull it out, instead running quickly to the left; her head would probably get smashed into the handle before she made and significant progress. The boy rushed towards his weapon, grasping the handle and tugging with effort. She blanched upon seeing the purple aura radiating from the boy's hands as he pulled the blade out, stumbling back as he did so but smirking with a bloodthirsty rage. She was outmatched in almost every field; strength, agility, combat skills and stamina – which left her only one advantage. Silently thanking Sans for agreeing to teach her in the first place, she raised her arms, smiling as she summoned a row of hideous Gaster Blasters, each monstrous skull primed and ready to fire. Before the Human knew what was happening, he was hit with the force of twenty powerful lasers, sending his body flying backwards out of the snowstorm. His dishevelled form went limp after bouncing along the ground several times, lying still on the ground with no sign of movement. A lump formed in the back of Melanie's throat as she approached him, silently hoping that he wasn't now a messy pile of blood and organs. To her relief, the body seemed to be whole, despite the disjointed appearance as a result of the blast. However, she realised too late the obvious giveaway – his sword was still in his hand.

Before she could even make a clumsy attempt to dodge, the Human's sword had penetrated the flesh of her leg, Melanie gasping her blood ran down the blade, dripping and staining the snow. The boy smirked as he stood, ramming the blade further so that it emerged from the other side of her leg, ripping through her pants and painting her skin crimson. She growled angrily, throwing her right arm towards him, the appendage glowing with blue magic. The boy's smirk was promptly knocked off his face as he was struck by her attack, his own blood splattering from his nose to join hers on the ground while his sword flew with his hand, pulling itself out of her flesh. The two Humans, both injured, glared hatefully at each other as they readied themselves, Melanie pulling her arm back and summoning another blue rod as she shifted painfully onto her other knee, while the boy twisted his sword, the bloodstained blade leaving a thin trail in the snow.

Melanie acted first, using her good leg to push herself off the ground, soaring just barely over the boy's head. Their two weapons clashed, a purple fire burning in the Human's eyes as his blade began to burn, the flames spreading from his hands down to the tip of the weapon. She grimaced, summoning a row of Gaster Blasters which the boy quickly ducked under. He charged forward, blade poised to strike, before slashing at Melanie's side, causing her to stumble backwards, clumsily using her blue magic to blast herself away from him, her expression determined. The boy grunted as she zoomed away, rushing after her and dodging as she fired Blaster after Blaster, trying her best to hit him again. But despite everything she threw at him, she knew that he would only continue to persevere.

She aimed her palms towards the ground, releasing a blast of magic which sent her flying over his head once more, although this time she fired a rain of white arrows down onto him, a trick which she had picked up from Undyne. The Human growled as he managed to evade most of the projectiles, though a few managed to strike him lightly. Then he did something which caught Melanie completely off guard; he jumped, stabbing his sword into her stomach. Her body halted in mid-air, expression changing to shock. She stared at his eyes, her own widening as he grinned. She could feel blood dripping from her chin as it travelled from the wound in her stomach. At first, there was no pain, just a feeling of numbness. But it only took a few seconds for that bliss to fade. Then she was screaming. The pain almost seemed to take on a life of its own, hitting Melanie in waves of various strengths, each pulse hurting but at a completely different level. She gasped, eyes watering as she stared at the human, his grin seeming to widen as he licked his lips.

"Good fight," he drawled. "It's a pity you're about to die. I reckon we could have been buddies if we'd been on the same side…"

"Pretty sure I'd recognise the asshole vibes," Melanie shot back, her voice weak but still laced with venom. "I'd never be friends with someone as bigoted as you. You call them Monsters for what they look like…but you're a Monster for what you are. Anyone could recognise that."

"Fuck off," he growled angrily. "It's not like–"

"You're an idiot." He frowned at her, not understanding until he felt something penetrate his chest. The boy dropped his sword, Melanie falling painfully to the ground as he stared at the yellow arrow embedded between his ribs. The weapon was slowly fading as he fell backwards, eyes empty. She stared at the corpse laying before her, feeling not a single shred of regret. Six months ago she would have hated herself, but not anymore. Humans were nothing to her now. Nothing. She could feel herself fading as Sans zipped next to her, staring at the body.

"You did good, kiddo. Real good." Melanie smiled to herself, watching as her blood began to soak through the snow.

"I just try my best," she whispered back.