"I thought I told you never to bring that situation up again, Tenebris!" Selendis was still sour over having to relive the memory of her waving her arms around uncontrollably simply because she ate some of his spaghetti. Frisk didn't have it as bad with her inability to resist washing dishes enthusiastically, Selendis stated it was the only good thing that came out of that scenario since Frisk hardly ever washes dishes, but it was still a bad memory to her.

Not even all of the failed snowdogs all around her, nor could the nice cream they saved from earlier, could completely lift her sour mood.

Tenebris gave her an innocent shrug. "Like I said, how was I supposed to know? It's not like I deliberately made the spaghetti to have those effects. If anything, the only thing I'm still trying to replicate is the one time where I made something seemingly inedible, yet Frisk said it was strangely delicious."

Frisk put a hand up to her chin. "What food item was that? I've forgotten."

"I think it was a hamburger... or was it onion rings? I can't seem to remember either."

Selendis sighed. "If only I wasn't so impatient with teaching you how to cook. Maybe you'd be less of a lethal chef outside of your pizzas."

"Not so much 'lethal' as it is 'random effects'." Tenebris looks at the nice cream he was eating before looking at his arm. They had recently just discovered that monster magic can damage the rest of their body just as badly as attacks to the soul; souls acted more like weak-points to humans. "Changing the subject, is it just me or does the food down here actually heal any and all damage we suffer?"

Selendis and Frisk looked over themselves. All of them had gotten pretty injured during a nasty run-in with Snowdrake, a monster named Icecapp, and... Jerry. Selendis secretly would of preferred eating Tenebris' cooking to dealing with that little shit. The feeling was mutual with the other two humans and even other monsters; Tenebris had to imprison Jerry in a shadow barrier box just to let everyone ditch him.

Frisk nodded. "Yeah. It's like the food has healing properties. To be honest, that's all that matters to me. I don't like seeing you two looking so damaged..." She trails off at the end.

Ternebris pats her on the head. "Frisk, we take the damage intended for you because... well, we care about you too much." Selendis nods as she rubs the girl's shoulder.

"But then... you two would take all of the punishment and come close to death because of it..."

"Frisk, I know you wish to be a bit more independent." Selendis kneels down to look at Frisk at her eye level. "But if I must be honest, things like this... kids like you shouldn't have to suffer through."

"Selendis, while I do agree with you, I can also see where Frisk is coming from now." Selendis looks at Tenebris with a confused look. "All three of us are in it for the long haul. It wouldn't do either of us any good if we simply took every attack in place of Frisk." He shook his head. "I don't like seeing her hurt anymore than you do, but if we are to make it through this journey, we need to be able to cover each other when it counts."

Frisk gave him a smile. "Thank you for understanding, Tenebris. Plus, now that we know the food down here heals us, it'll be easier on our food supply if we spead the damage out evenly between us."

Selendis looked between the two before finally sighing. "Alright, you win. Its just... I want to protect those I care about"

Assuming she simply referred to him as a friend she cares about, Tenebris chuckled. "That should be my job. I'm the one with magic at my disposal, offensive AND defensive. I just need to figure out how to use it well enough to properly fulfill that job."

Frisk's eyes suddenly widened. "Maybe you could ask Sans! Papyrus mentioned that your magic reminded him of Sans' magic, which could mean that Sans uses magic in the same way you're supposed to use it!"

"Eh, suppose it wouldn't hurt. I doubt it, considering how lazy he is, but it's worth a shot if I can master my magic and prevent any harm from affecting us period."

"Then we'd better get a move on." Selendis shivered a bit. "I get the feeling we've spent too long out here."

The very next thing that they encountered was Tenbris' worst nightmare: an ice sliding puzzle. He cursed it out every time he failed to solve it before rage-quitting, leaving Frisk to be the one to solve it.

They reached a field of snow poffs and found 30G in one of them before encountering the Greater Dog. It's attacks were a bit tricky, resulting in damage across all three humans, with Tenebris and Selendis honoring Frisk's wish of dealing with her fair share of damage, which isn't much thanks to Tenebris strengthening the barrier enchantments around all three of them. He ultimately made it contented enough to be spared.

When they came across a bridge, Selendis noticed something about it was off. "It's not swaying and... it's far more solid than it should be."

"T-t-that's g-good." Tenebris was shivering. He also hated heights a lot. As a result, they quickly made their way across the 'solid' bridge before stopping in the middle, when they saw Papyrus. "OH, THERE YOU ARE, HUMANS!"

Sans was with him. "'took you a while to get here. did you 'slip up' that last puzzle or something?"

Before Papyrus could even respond, Tenebris forgot his fear of heights and started yelling, "Are you kidding? I didn't just slip 'up'! I slipped everywhere because the ice down here is freaking stupid! Since when does ice get exempt from the laws of friction?! It shouldn't, but NOOOO, you guys just HAD to have that oh, so special ice that seemingly has NO friction! AT! ALL! SERIOUSLY, why is it that-" He ranted like that for a little bit, almost letting a few cuss words slip, but managing to make last-minute word-swaps to preserve Frisk's and Papyrus' innocence. That didn't stop him from outraging completely.

In the middle of it, both Frisk AND Selendis backed away from him cautiously, while Papyrus simply said, "SANS... YOU BROKE TENEBRUS..."

"... oops?" Was his only response.

After he was done ranting, Tenebris was red in the face and huffing aggressively, his left eye spewing a lot of dark mist and the iris was glowing fairly bright, almost looking like it was a semi transparent purple flame. "H-have I... made my... point... clear?" Both Papyrus and Sans nodded extremely fast. "Good..."

"T-Tenny... are you okay?" Tenebris looked to see the scared faces of both Frisk and Selendis, blanching when they saw his eye.

"Y... yeah. I just needed to get that off my chest." The 'fire' and the mist slowly receded.

Papyrus let out a small cough. "IF YOU'RE... CALMED DOWN, TENEBRIS, THEN THIS IS THE FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE FOR ALL THREE OF YOU! BEHOLD, THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!"

The humans recoiled when a spiked ball, a massive torch, two spears, a cannon, and... a dog suddenly appeared. Frisk whispered, "If it weren't for the dog, I'd be more terrified."

In the end, Papyrus didn't use the gauntlet on the terms that it's too direct and has no class. He passed it off as another victory for himself before giving a confused laugh and leaving again.

Sans sighed as the humans got across the bridge. "sorry about that one puzzle, tenebris. never knew you had such a deep-sated hatred for those kinds of puzzles."

"It's fine. I wouldn't be questioning it if the ice physics down here weren't questionable themselves."

"Didn't you have a question for Sans?" Selendis gave Tenebris a look."

"oh, right, um... hey Sans? Think you could teach me how to use magic?"

This blind-sided the skeleton. "uh... you're asking me of all people to teach you?" A nod later and he sighs. "i'm guessing it's because you overheard papyrus saying our magic is similar. i would say it's mostly true, save for the fact that, like i said, mine's skeleton magic and yours is shadow magic."

"I know, but... I was thinking that perhaps we have to apply our magic similarly."

Sans sighed. "alright, buddy. for now, why don't all three of you follow me into town?"


Flowey observed from afar as the trio of humans and the one annoying skeleton heading into Snowdin. "I wonder just how much that bag of bones intends to teach him... or how much he currently knows overall."

He thought back to when Selendis, the kid's older sister, was the only anomaly in the timeline. Before her, the kid didn't really have a personality and didn't talk much. There was also some confusion over her gender and, since monsters don't like assuming one or the other, they just labeled her with gender neutral pronouns.

On the 'run' where Selendis first showed up, right after Flowey got a few holes in his memory, the kid had left the ruins as per usual and had just reached Snowdin before her sister came out of the Ruins. Sure, he did attack her, but Toriel managed to save her as well. "I guess that old woman let her go through on that run because she was the kid's older sister."

It was also the first time the kid had completely forgotten what happens in the underground, something that became apparent when she was fooled by his friendliness pellets ploy after seeing it for the third time in a row.

After that, not much changed from previous runs on that run in particular, though there was one situation in hotland that amused him. She also did start falling in love with Papyrus, but wasn't able to go anywhere with it. When a reset happened for a new run, the kid had waited until her older sister joined her before leaving the ruins. That time, however, they had seemingly taken their time reaching Asgore's castle, making friends with as many monsters as possible.

The end of that run is where one of many holes in his memories appeared. He can't remember what happened then, but he wasn't too concerned. What does concern him was when the kid suddenly and finally took his "kill or be killed" mentality to heart in the very next run and started killing everyone in sight. He can't remember what happened at the end of that run either, but he does remember Selendis confronting her little sister with Undyne, pleading her to stop "this senseless destruction of lives."

She was killed while Undyne was pulling herself back together with her determination. When it happened, the kid had a psychotic smile, yet was also crying at the same time. What this meant to Flowey, he didn't know in the end.

"Come to think, that was the last run that happened before the guy showed up with Selendis. Tenebris, I believe. I wonder just how much more will change with him in the game now. Best to keep observing while waiting for my chance to strike at the end."


"Despite it being so cold out, the friendliness this town radiates warms my heart." Tenebris stated in awe.

Sans chuckled. "yeah, it's a quaint town, but everybody is very friendly, almost to a fault." He points to the first building they see. "if you need food to go or some extra protection, the shop right here should cover your needs." Looking at Tenebris he adds, "there's also Grillby's for some good food that's, sadly, not to go. if you like, we can head there."

Selendis shook her head. "Tenebris can go. I think Frisk and I should stock up on supplies for now. I know Tenebris has his training, but I figured it would be best if we got it out of the way."

Frisk nodded while Tenebris and Sans shrugged. "if you say so. let's go, buddy."

"Wait, where should we meet after?"

Selendis thought for a moment before Frisk piped up. "How about in front of the igloo closest to us?"

"that works. welp, have fun, you two." The two parties waved at each other before the two males went to Grillby's. When they arrived, all of the dog sentries were there along with some other monsters. They all greeted Sans, which signaled to Tenebris that he was well known in Snowdin, until a bird-like monster asked Sans, "Weren't you just in here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"

Tenebris gave Sans a dumbfounded look as he chuckled. "nah, i haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour. you must be thinking of brunch." The entire establishment, save for a fire monster behind the counter, laughed. Even Tenebris snorted at how casually Sans passed it off.

"here, let's have a seat." Normally, Sans would slip a whoopee-cushion onto his seat as a practical joke, but he was curious about what he saw earlier. He sat to Tenebris' left so that his shadow eye was facing him. "let's order. what're you feeling right now?"

Tenebris looked at the menu briefly. "I haven't had anything with grease for a while, so I think I'll splurge with that cheeseburger."

"sounds good. grillby, we'll have a double order of burg'." The fire monster, most likely Grillby, quickly went to the back. Sans waited for a bit before asking, "so, what do you think of my brother?"

Tenebris chuckled. "Do you need to ask? I like him a lot. Sure, he has his... annoying moments, but we all do so I can't dock him on that. Besides with how hard he tries and just how funny he can be in a good way... you can't help but find him endearing." He thought back a bit more and snorted. "Remember that 'trap' he set? The message he left with it sold me. He's too hard to hate, not even worth trying."

Sans felt warm from his analogy. "so your overall impression of him is great?"

"More like outstanding. You'd have to be a heartless monster- I mean... a soulless abomination, in order to hate him in any capacity."

Sans chuckled at the last minute word switch. "I heard you doing that a lot during your rant."

Tenebris shook his head. "Yeah, I needed to get that off my chest badly. I tried my best to avoid cussing outright to try and preserve Frisk's and Papyrus' innocence."

Sans patted him on the back. "thanks, buddy. that means a lot to me, it really does." Grillby came out with two burgers. "here's the grub. want some ketchup?" Tenebris nods and he hands him a ketchup bottle. "bone appetit."

"Heh, nice!" He was about to pour the ketchup when he noticed something. He quickly tightened the lid on the bottle before pouring. Noticing Sans deadpan look, he chuckled. "Trust me when I say I've done it so many times myself."

"oh? you do that to other people as well?"

"Mostly to Selendis and Frisk. You won't be able to trick them either; I've made them THAT paranoid."

Sans almost busted a rib laughing. "aw man, that's hilarious." He waits a little bit before finally dedicating himself to his original intent. "so... i wanted to ask you something."

Tenebris was munching on the best burger he had in a while. "Hmm?"

"just a little something i need to confirm. What did you see about me?" Tenebris felt a chill run down his spine; he knew exactly what Sans was talking about. "And don't try hiding it from me, bud. I can read faces... and yours? you saw something about me that made you stop dead."

Tenebris was still for a few moments before putting down his half-eaten burger with a sad chuckle. "Guess I'm that easy to read, huh? Doesn't take an expert to read me most days of the week; I'm fairly transparent." Sans stayed silent until he started speaking again. "You're right, I saw something. That one time I looked at you? I... I'm going to put this bluntly; I didn't see a fun loving skeleton with a shit-eating grin that one time. I saw a skeleton wracked with depression, looking like the weight of something was crushing him."

Sans blanched and Grillby started paying attention; he thought he was the only one who knew about Sans' depression. "i... heh. don't know how you managed to see that, bud."

"I have a hunch. It's my eye. When I looked at you with just that eye open, I saw all of that weighted down on you. When I looked at everyone else, they didn't have that same hopeless depression on their faces." Sans didn't know what to make of it.

"... Tenebris, correct?" He jumped when he heard Grillby speak. "Try looking at me with your eye.

Tenebris was unsure, but complied by closing his right eye. "I see... a face full of compassion and care. Full of empathy for those who need it the most."

Grillby nods and Sans adopted a surprised look. "... You can see... my true feelings and nature... that is your gift."

"heh... you've managed to see something even i wasn't able to. grillby is right. your eye can see a person's true nature; what they hide under their metaphorical mask."

Tenebris gave Sans a shocked look. "Then.. does that mean you actually are depressed?"

"don't worry about it too much, bud. i have my moments, but i've learned to cope. just ask grillby; he's seen me break down a few times." The fire elemental nodded before going to serve another customer. "what i'm wondering now is, why didn't you know about your ability?"

Tenebris shuddered. "I've... always hidden my eye when I was on the surface. I never exposed it out of fear of being called a freak of nature, even by Frisk and Selendis."

"you're letting them see it now."

"That's purely because I had to be coaxed into doing it. I'm glad they don't think any differently of me, but now my concern is using my magic to protect them from and and all harm. I'm the one with magic; it should be my responsibility."

"i got ya. you know what? just for you, i'll train you to master your magic; it really is similar to mine. just promise me you'll never use it to kill an innocent being."

Tenebris nodded. "Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."

"gruesome, but i'll hold it to you. there's just one thing i wish to test you on before we begin in earnest."