"I've been wondering if monsters can get sick. How are they treated, if they can? What would they do if Frisk ever needed more medical attention than what Toriel can heal with her magic?" -Francine I. Kane-

Chapter 5: Bone Deep

Sans felt the pulse of… something, right before Frisk suddenly wound up in the middle of the fight. It almost felt like magic, but at the same time it didn't. Then, she started summoning those pencils all over the place, and those were definitely magic. But the thing that was disturbing him most wasn't her little "shortcut" (and he was pretty sure that wasn't what happened), or the fact that a kid who never displayed magic abilities before now was suddenly using it (a little clumsily, yes, but still with more skill than a complete novice should display.) No, what sent chills up and down his spine were her eyes.

They were red. Eyes that were once a warm amber now blazed as red as her soul. It was almost like someone else, or something else, was looking out of her eyes…

Whatever was going on, it was taking its toll on Frisk. She was obviously having a hard time breathing, so he could understand why she couldn't talk. But when she finally did, it was almost like two people were talking at once, and that second person was trying to imitate her voice to make it echo.

"About time."

She was smiling, but it wasn't an expression he'd ever seen on her face before. It was like she felt an unholy glee in whatever she was about to do next. Sans had a very bad feeling… which got worse as Frisk raised her left hand, forming five red kitchen knives in the air. She sent them all flying at her uncle. Her accuracy suddenly improved and she stabbed them into both his elbows and both knees as the last one went into his belly. He fell to the ground, but the knives didn't fade away. Frisk's turn wasn't over, yet.

Her smile became even more disturbing (which should have been impossible) as she started rotating her wrist, twisting the knives while they were embedded in her uncle. Even though it wasn't doing much damage, that had to hurt… which the man confirmed by screaming out in pain.

Sans shook his head, snapping himself out of his shock. He had to stop this! Not so much for her uncle's sake, but for Frisk's.

He grabbed her raised hand by the wrist, leaving his left side turned toward the human on the floor, just in case. He jerked her hand up and away, pulling the knives out of her uncle as he did. Frisk stopped smiling and looked at him with a cool expression, eyes still glowing red. She said nothing, furrowing her brow at him in a silent question. Sans had one of his own.

"kid, what d'you think you're doing?! you're gonna kill him at this rate!"

When Frisk answered, her voice was soft and hoarse, as though she'd been screaming for a while. "Don't you remember what I told you, in the Last Corridor?" The disturbing smile was back, as well as that weird effect on her voice. "I want him to suffer." Her forefinger was still mobile, so she pointed to the air above her uncle to summon a huge knife, forming it right over his chest. She brought her finger down and the knife started falling…

Sans wrenched at her hand again, driving the knife into the floor, just beside her uncle. The princess wasn't amused, but neither was Sans.

"look at him. there's no need to kick him when he's already down."

Frisk raised an eyebrow at him. "Hmph! That's rich, coming from the man that was tossing him around like a ragdoll, just a moment ago." Sans winced a little at that, but didn't let it stop him.

"that's not my point! look, kiddo, i know what kind of damage guys like him can do. i know how much pain they can inflict, especially on kids. i can't even begin to tell you how many good kids i've seen them ruin by making them feel the kind of hatred you're displaying, right now!"

A little bit of amber came back to Frisk's eyes as she said, "He's the one that hurt me first!"

Sans spoke as soothingly as he could. "i know, i know… i get it, okay? he's hurt you, and made you feel helpless. now you're thinkin' it's a good time for a little payback, right?" He shook his head slowly as he said, "believe me, frisk, it's not."

The princess blinked at him. He hardly ever called her by her name. In fact, she was starting to think he had forgotten what her name was and called her "kiddo" as a way of covering it up. After getting her full attention, Sans continued.

"it may feel good, right this second, knowing you have the strength to do whatever you want with him, but there's something you need to know. magic isn't something you just throw at people whenever you want. it's an expression of your SOUL, a reflection of what's going on inside of it. the way you decide to use it has a massive impact on you. right now, you have a big decision to make."

There was a commotion coming from the house, but Frisk wasn't paying attention to it. All of her focus was on Sans and her uncle, who had just wasted his turn groaning on the floor. Only two options were available to her now.

To FIGHT and kill him? Or to show MERCY and spare him? Frisk's lips peeled back from her teeth as she looked to her right. Before she could tell Sans where to shove it, he was speaking to her, again.

"showing mercy doesn't necessarily mean you're showing forgiveness. no one is forcing you to forgive him for what he's done. all we're asking you to do is prove that you're a better person than he could ever hope to be. the kind of person you have been, since you fell down here."

Sans finally released her hand. He tried to smile as he said, "i know you'll do the right thing. i believe in you, kiddo."

He moved to stand behind Frisk, looking toward the newcomers to the party. Papyrus' bone gate had dissolved and Undyne was kneeling beside him, checking on him while the other guards took positions all around. Asgore was walking closer, looking at Frisk with an expression of concern. The vase Frisk had been holding tight when Sans arrived was on the floor. He thought he saw a face on one of the flowers, but when he blinked it looked like any other. He didn't have time to ponder it before he heard Frisk groaning. It was soft sound, but audible nonetheless.

Frisk clutched at her head. The fire in her chest was now in her skull, threatening to split her forehead in two as her vision started to blur. Pins and needles assaulted her hands and she could hardly feel her own hair as she struggled with her own thoughts.

*The mad dog NEEDS to die! He's never going to stop hurting people unless you put him down, NOW!

*But killing him won't help! Sans is right. I'll just be stooping to his level if I keep going like this.

*Whatever he did to the star is being negated, but only for now. That thing is too important to lose! If you don't take this chance, you may never have another one like it. You have to stay determined!

*Determined to PROTECT the monsters, NOT to kill him!

And that was what all this was about, wasn't it? Protecting her friends, protecting all the monsters… that was all she really wanted to do. Protecting them from not just her uncle, but from anyone that would want to hurt them. But princesses weren't above the law, and murderers couldn't protect their loved ones from prison.

Frisk's limbs were numb and she could barely see, but she still raised her right hand and brought it down onto the Mercy button.

The fight was over. The little green heart Frisk drew with magic disappeared, though Papyrus' HP hadn't recovered even one quarter of the bar. As light returned to the room the guards were swooping in, surrounding the human man and cautiously restraining him. Frisk could no longer stand and almost collapsed, but Sans caught her before she could. He lowered her gently to the floor as Asgore ran to her other side. The king cradled her in his arms, as though she were a much smaller child than she was. He was so warm…

Asgore's attempt to comfort Frisk only made her cry. Though she could barely talk, she still said, "It hurts… Why does he always make me hurt like this? Why? Papa, make it stop…!"

"Shhhh… I am here, Frisk" Asgore said softly, hugging her. "Your papa is here. You will be alright. That terrible creature will hurt you no longer, I swear it." Both he and Sans looked up, watching the guards haul away the half-conscious man before returning their attention to the softly sobbing girl between them. Her eyes were open and back to their normal amber color… but what was supposed to be white was now badly inflamed. Moreover, something red was mixing in with her tears…

Sans didn't like the looks of that. It had been a long time since he had researched humans, but… "uh, asgore? i don't think her tears are supposed to be that color…"

Asgore shook his head. "They are not." The king gathered his daughter into his arms to carry her properly as he said, "Frisk needs immediate medical attention."

Sans nodded. "papyrus does, too. we can use one of my shortcuts." He didn't normally like using it in front of so many people, but this was an emergency.

When he turned to collect Papyrus Undyne had already gotten him off the floor. She was walking toward them, supporting Papyrus as she did. She handed her subordinate over, saying she overheard them. The taller skeleton leaned gratefully on his shorter brother's shoulder, making for a better crutch. After one last order from Asgore to make sure the human man made it to prison in one piece, Sans blinked the four of them to the doors of the Underground's hospital, in the heart of the capital.

Asgore took the lead, Sans walking a bit more carefully so he didn't jostle his brother's abused ribs any more. By the time the two of them made it in, Frisk was being laid upon a gurney to be whisked away for treatment. Another was already being brought up for Papyrus, which Sans was grateful for. With the two of them in good hands, the king and judge took seats in the waiting area while they filled out the paperwork given to them by the receptionist.

Sans was bone-tired. He wanted nothing more than to sleep for the rest of the day, and throughout the night, but he didn't think he could without having a nightmare or two. He could still see the smile on Frisk's face as she twisted those knives… His bones tried to rattle as he shuddered, but he stopped himself before they had a chance. He had felt the anger in her soul, and seen the hate on her face long before anyone else had, but to think their little princess was capable of that…!

But as he thought about it, maybe it wasn't all that surprising. How much did they know about Frisk, really? She had told them a great deal… but reading between the lines, she hadn't been living with her uncle all that long before she decided to make a break for it. She was thirteen years old, which was more than enough time for other people to leave their mark on her. More than enough time for despair and hatred to just build and build…

Judging from the expression on Asgore's face, he was probably thinking along the same lines.

It was some time later. The worst of Papyrus' injuries had been healed with magic, and he went right back to protecting his princess (when he should have been resting, himself). His breastplate was too badly damaged to be worn but he still stood outside her hospital room, wearing just the padded clothing over his torso that all the guards wore underneath their armor (and his old chain mail shirt over that). It looked a little bit silly, since he was still wearing the rest of his armor, but word had already spread about what happened to the princess and nobody felt like laughing. In fact, Greater Dog had joined him at his station, growling just a little bit whenever someone new came down the hall.

Frisk lay resting in her bed with a cool, damp cloth covering her eyes. She no longer felt like she was on fire, and her limbs no longer had pins and needles jabbed in them. She could breathe properly, as well. The doctor in charge of her case was keeping her comfortable, giving her potions for her body and eyes. Without truly knowing why using magic had made Frisk's body react the way it had, that was the best she could do. Some tests had been done, and a special picture had been taken by a machine Frisk had never even heard of, but her mind had been too numb for curiosity. She was still struggling to understand what had happened, what she had almost let herself do…

She was under doctor's orders not to use any magic while she recovered, but Frisk wasn't sure she could repeat her feats, even if she tried. How many times had she wished for a magic spell to make her life better, when she was younger? Something to protect her when she needed it? As far as she could remember, nothing like this had ever happened to her, before. So why now?

The back of her mind offered no insight, so she continued to lay in her bed, listening to herself breathe and feeling lonely. But she was used to that.

A few floors down, Asgore and Toriel were sitting in the doctor's office to talk about the princess' condition. As they sat in chairs waiting for her to appear, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. The former queen had been extremely unhappy with how Frisk had been injured after only a couple of hours under her "father's" care. Only Sans' intervention had spared him the full brunt of her wrath, but it had been hard. It was so very, very hard to keep herself from throttling the wretch, or torching him… She made herself remember Sans' words.

"it was another fluke of fate," her friend had said. "the princess went to go convince a friend to come with her to the surface, and she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. then again, considering how many lives she saved by warning them, one could argue it was the right place and time."

He didn't even need to mention how close he had come to losing his own brother. Toriel's anger faded enough to realize he had to have been equally worried about Papyrus. And there were other monsters worried about family on the surface, wondering if their loved ones had been dusted by that despicable man…

The office door opened and Dr. Talia Flat walked in. She was almost the spitting image of her twin brother, the Earl of Sharpe, if one allowed for the fact that the doctor had muscles, skin and scales over her bones. And, despite being born on the same day, she was about twenty physical years older than her brother, because that was how old her first child was. But her position as one of the best doctors in the Underground owed nothing to nepotism, and she was the picture of professionalism as she bowed to the royals in her office.

"Your Majesty, Miss Toriel, I apologize for making you wait. I had some research to do and had to confer with several of my colleagues about what we found in scans of your daughter. In the end, however, none of us is what anyone would call an expert in humans. Fortunately, I know two people that come closer to that title than anyone else, but neither of them is a medical professional. Still, with your permission, I would like to call them in here so that we may go over the images taken of the princess, together. I'm sure their insight would be invaluable."

"Who, exactly, are these people you speak of, Doctor?" asked Toriel.

The doctor smiled. "They're people I know very well. I believe you know them both, as a matter of fact. Comic Sans Gaster and the former royal alchemist, Alphys? They've probably learned more about humans than anyone else, besides the two of you. If they can't shed any light on what I've found, I don't know who possibly could."

"What have you found that is so baffling, Doctor?" asked Asgore.

"It may be easier to show you, Your Majesty," said Dr. Flat. She walked to a large screen mounted on one of her office walls, turning it on to show them what she had on a small tablet she had brought into the room with her. For the moment, it was blank, but they knew it wouldn't be for long.

"As you both know, most maladies suffered by monsters can be attributed to either a deficiency of magic in their bodies, or an overproduction of it. These abnormalities can be detected with a crystoray scan, allowing us to treat the monster accordingly.

"However, the princess is obviously not a monster. If she possessed no magic, the only thing I would expect to show up on a c-ray image would be her SOUL, that being the most magical thing present in her body. This is the scan we took of Her Highness soon upon her arrival…" Dr. Flat tapped and swiped at her tablet, throwing the image onto the bigger screen to shock the already concerned parents.

Her soul was, indeed, very much visible… as was her ribcage surrounding it, the bones of her shoulders and arms, her skull and teeth… Her entire skeleton was on display, looking for all the world like any other skeleton child. Toriel and Asgore left their seats to walk closer to the screen, neither of them truly believing what their eyes were trying to tell them.

The king was shaking his head. "But… Frisk told me, the day we met, that she was not a magician! If she had this much magic within her, why could she not use it?"

"I don't know, Your Majesty," the doctor said softly. "That's why I would like to call Sans and Alphys in here. I simply don't know enough about humans to say anything definite, one way or another."

Toriel shook herself out of her shock to ask, "Did Sans not object to looking upon another's bare bones? Especially a child's?"

Dr. Flat nodded. "Yes, he did say he was uncomfortable with that. However, I believe he's more concerned with the princess' well-being than anything else. And I think some of his old, scholarly curiosity may be getting the better of him, as well." She smiled wryly. Nobody could ever figure out why he left alchemy to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. He wasn't telling anyone, either, but… "He'll always be a huge nerd at heart, no matter his current occupation. Helping to solve a puzzle like this is right up his alley, if you'll forgive me for likening your daughter a puzzle."

"Doctor, I can think of no better analogy at the moment," said Asgore. "I would not object if Sans and Alphys wish to help."

The doctor nodded to him as she said, "Thank you, Your Majesty. And you, Miss Toriel?"

The former queen was unsure about how she felt about people that weren't doctors seeing such a… revealing image of her child, and it was showing in her expression. But then Dr. Flat added, "If it helps at all, the princess was fully clothed when this image was taken. But, because they were all made with purely physical material, they don't appear on the image in any way. I've informed Sans and Alphys of as much." The doctor's professionalism eased a bit as she smiled fondly and said, "They're good people. They always have been."

After a moment of more thought, Toriel agreed, as well. She still had her misgivings, but she wanted all the help her child required. And, in all honesty, she was curious as to what her friend had to say on the matter. Sans had never mentioned that he had any background in alchemy although, from what she gathered from others, that had been a rather long time ago. She hadn't even known he was the High Judge, and that he could have easily killed Frisk, had the child proven it to be necessary… If Toriel known all that, she wouldn't have asked him to watch over Frisk.

Or would she? She didn't have time to ponder as Dr. Flat went to her office door, poking her head out and calling for someone to come in. She was soon followed by Alphys, with Sans bringing up the rear. Alphys bowed to her king, and Sans gave them a little wave and smile.

"Hello, Sans. How is your brother doing?" she asked.

He gave her the "okay" gesture with his hand as he said, "oh, he's fine. he's already back on duty. like i've said before, nothin' can keep him down for long!"

"I am relieved to hear that," said the queen. However, Sans himself seemed tired, despite the smile. Before she could comment on it, Sans and Alphys turned their heads almost in unison to look at the screen that still had Frisk's c-ray image upon it. Their reactions were immediate, and simultaneous.

"what the-!?"

"OH MY GOD! I-i-is that FRISK?"

The two of them joined Dr. Flat near the screen as Asgore and Toriel stood back to give them space. Alphys continued to stammer, even as she gazed at the image intently.

"I-I mean… I know you said you had taken a c-ray of Frisk, b-but this is… How can…? But she's n-not…" She suddenly shot a dirty look to Sans. "I swear, if this is one of YOUR pranks…"

Sans only raised his hands in a placating manner. "don't look at me, al! i haven't had the time to set up something this elaborate. besides, i wouldn't prank myself like this."

He brought one hand up to rub the back of his neck as he said, "this almost looks like one of those 'x-ray' things the old medical texts talked about, back when we were tryin' to figure humans out. mind you, neither those books or the pre-war research ever mentioned anything about this goin' on in humans. but looking at this a little more… her bones don't look quite right."

Alphys looked again, then nodded after a moment. "Y-you're right… The magic in her isn't very… even, is it? Talia, could you zoom in on Frisk's skull for us?"

Dr. Flat obliged, and they both winced as she said, "I see you both recognize the signs of sudden-onset magicalcification. It's made the bone abnormally magic-dense in and around her orbital sockets. She presented with blurred vision in her eyes, inflammation and bleeding from her tear ducts, not to mention the 'mother of all headaches,' (her words, not mine). This would be uncomfortable enough, as a skeleton, but I postulate that whatever caused the sudden spike in the magic here very nearly torched her soft tissues."

Alphys nodded. "Frisk will need an eye exam, and probably some kind of test for her neural function. We need to be sure there's no permanent damage."

Dr. Flat made a note on her tablet, then moved the close-up to the top of Frisk's skull. She said, "As you can see, the magic isn't nearly as dense here. We didn't get an image of her facing the other way, but I would wager that her magic is practically paper-thin on the back of her skull. And, as we move down to her jaws and teeth, the density starts climbing again, but not nearly to the degree found around her eyes. As we move down to her ribcage, we find 'normal' levels for the average skeleton her age. Since this is where Her Highness' SOUL resides, it makes sense that its magic would settle in those bones.

"What does not make sense is that there is no sign of the sudden-onset the rest of her body displays. This magic has been stable here for a very long time, possibly her whole life long. However, I cannot say that with any certainty. Moving on, we see more signs of sudden-onset in the bones of her shoulders, arms and hands. Although we can't see it here, the soft tissues along the way were also affected adversely, but only temporarily.

"As you can see, the magic is weakening the farther away we go from her SOUL." Sans looked away as the close-up moved over Frisk's hips. Everyone pretended not to notice as Dr. Flat continued. "Her lower half shows hardly any signs of magicalcification, except for some old, weakening traces in one spot on her right foot."

Dr. Flat ended the close-up look, letting them all see the entirety of Frisk's body, again. She turned to Frisk's parents and said, "Were she a monster, I would prescribe a draught to help even out the flow of her magic, and an ointment to repair the brittleness this sort of inconsistency causes. However, since her tissues were adversely affected by her own magic, I'm reluctant to give her such a draught. And the ointment would be pointless since her physicality is probably more than enough to support her body.

"I'm afraid the best I can do is ease her discomfort. That involves using potions to reduce her swelling and pain, but we have her under close observation and she seems to be responding well. Still, I wouldn't want to attempt anything more than that, given what caused the damage in the first place."

Silence fell. Alphys was wringing her hands, claws going clack-clack-clack. She muttered, almost to herself, "We're going to have to go through the old research, again. Maybe we m-missed something…?" Sans nodded, then crossed his arms over his chest, hiding his hands in his coat's loose sleeves as he pondered. He was staring at Frisk's legs…

"if i didn't know any better," he said, "i'd say she has osteoporosis."

Alphys was somewhat incredulous as she looked at him. "What? B-but I don't think humans and monsters develop that disease the same way…"

"no, they probably don't," said Sans. "in my grandma's case, her magic was weakening as she got older, makin' her bones more brittle. but the way some of frisk's bones look… they have that same porousness grandma's did before she passed away."

"Sans, I don't get what you're trying to say…"

"i'm sayin' that, maybe, frisk used to have plenty of magic all over, but that might've been a long time ago. then it stopped, for whatever reason, and the magic weakened. then her body starts being magic again and she overproduced because of that fight, so she magicalcified." Sans turned his back to the screen as he said, "it's just a theory, and a pretty flimsy one. but it's the only thing i can think of that'd explain the inconsistency we're seein', right now."

Dr. Flat looked thoughtful, but Alphys wasn't completely convinced. "M-maybe… but then what stopped her being magic? Why did this Fight restart its production, when all the Fights she ran into before the barrier came down hadn't? Why isn't any of her soft tissue showing up the way it would for any other monster's body? W-well… besides a skeleton's, of course."

"those are all great questions, alphys," said Sans. "my only answer is 'i don't have a clue.' but i know one thing, for sure…" He paused, pointed to a certain spot on Frisk's image, then closed one eye. "nobody can ever accuse our princess of being spineless."

The only person in the room to laugh was Toriel.