You smiled into the mailbox, retrieving the two envelopes inside. Exams were over, and final grades were finally in. You called a greeting to your neighbor as he blearily stepped outside to grab his daily paper. Poor guy worked the night shift.
You barely noticed his grumpy reply as you bounded back into the house. Fuku glanced up as you exuberantly reentered the house, grinning when she saw what you were holding. "Time to see if you maintained that four-point-o from last semester?" She questioned.
"Yep. Than we can get ready for purging." As it was the last Friday of the month, it was time to deep clean the house. It was something the two of you had agreed on early.
You handed her the appropriate envelope and prepared yourself. The two of you ripped them open at the same time and tugged out the precious papers inside.
You cheered, flinging your fists into the air, one decidedly higher than the other. Top marks. All that fretting over exams was really silly. A quick glance at Fuku told you that she was pleased with her marks as well. You glanced over her shoulder to look.
Scanning the paper quickly, you found the small box containing her GPA. Three-point-seven. It was excellent, considering that college was the first human school system she had ever attended.
"Let's get to work then." You said, tying your hair back with a kerchief. The bathroom and kitchen were your zones, since their cleaning involved copious amounts of water. You set to work scrubbing the tile walls.
It was an hour later, in the midst of mopping the floor, that Fuku shouted at you to answer your phone. You dropped the implement and headed to the kitchen table where the two of you had deposited the devices.
Asgore was calling. "Heya." You answered cheerily. He had called several times since that first occurrence to see if you could babysit again, which honestly just turned into a magic tutoring session every time.
This call was much less pleasant. "I need your help." His desperate voice reached your ears.
You listened closely, cursing as you realized what was wrong. You gave a quick shout to Fuku before running out of the door, phone already dialing again.
When you got to the park, Chara was cowering Asgore as he spoke with an enforcer. Standing across from them were three boys standing proudly by their mothers, sticking their tongues out at your friends.
"Who's this now?" The exasperated officer demanded as you walked up. In answer, you simply held out your identification card. "You their tutor, or what?" he questioned, handing it back quickly.
You paused. "Their teacher. We just haven't done the ceremony yet." You internally cringed, despite the fact it really wasn't a lie. If you looked at it objectively, you were only really missing that step in your relationship.
"A bit young for that, aren't you?" He demanded.
Putting on your most offended expression, you straightened. "Excuse me? Did you even read my mage ID?" The enforcer stuttered. You hated doing this. "I'm a rank seven healer. Are you trying to tell me I'm not qualified?"
"I can't accept you as counsel or anything unless that ceremony has been done." He sputtered, grasping for anything to get you away from this case.
A tug on your sleeve caught your attention.
Finally, Chara addressed you directly, as if aware of the gravity of the question they were about to ask you. C-A-N Y-O-U O-F-F-I-C-A-L-L-Y B-E M-Y T-E-A-C-H-E-R? Silence reigned at your lack of an immediate answer. Confusion cycled through Asgore so heavily at your hesitance, even you could sense it. Especially since the two of you already had sessions to help Chara with their magic.
Monsters didn't know. Quite a bit of mage culture was beyond their understanding, you supposed. The same was not true for Chara though; they knew full well what they'd just requested. Were you ready for something like this? You weren't sure, but if there was anyone you'd agree to this for, it would be this child. A-R-E Y-O-U S-U-R-E.
If there was anything you were certain Chara picked up from her monster family, it would be their ability to know what they wanted. You had to give them credit for that as they nodded with absolutely no hesitation.
Asgore wasn't a mage. He didn't understand what it meant that Chara was asking you this. Still, your gaze shifted to the monster. "Is this something you're okay with?" You made sure that your voice was deadly serious, in order to convey the depth of the request. You hoped that the enforcer would take this as a question of circumstances rather than permission.
He caught on. "This is safe?" He questioned, the double meaning ringing clearly to you as the enforcer backed away, probably to call his superior.
"Absolutely." You responded immediately. Danger wasn't why this was taken so seriously. It was serious because being a mage's teacher was usually something only family did. The ceremony would connect you in that way.
The monarch studied you for a moment. "I'm fine with it." Asgore finally answered. To be honest, this was more a matter for mages. You were simply being polite by asking permission.
You walked away from the group, Chara only a half-step behind you. Chara held out her non-dominant hand to you once you were sure the two of you had the required amount of space. You took it with your own. Summoning your magic, it began to flow through the both of you.
The child didn't know the precise sequencing required for a bond of this nature, but it proved to be unnecessary, as glowing cobalt symbols formed in the air around the pair, spinning around you slowly. Copy them, you told the young mage through your combined magic.
Chara obeyed, impressed that you hadn't needed to draw the sequence out first. Bonds of this nature may constitute the use of unspecialized magic, but it was still very advanced stuff. You were flattered at their awe. Slowly, very slowly, red symbols appeared over yours, tracing them. The meaning of each individual symbol was fed to them as they appeared in the air.
The young mage bit their lip. Even when they screwed up and traced wrong, you never admonished them. A simple border would appear around the incorrect symbol, shaping it properly. Then it would disappear so the child could continue. It took them a moment to realize how much freedom you were already giving them. You easily could have just given Chara the borders to fill.
You were already teaching them.
Finally, the symbols were all traced. Reverse the spin on your sequence. You guided, waiting patiently as they struggled. It wasn't long before Chara accomplished this as well. Now we bring them in, mine on you and yours on me. Watch closely.
Your sequence, still spinning, dropped to the ground, shrinking to fit around just Chara before rising back up to chest height. The time-mage repeated the process, albeit a bit more haltingly. Your sequence moved again, flipping over the child's head before shrinking again to circle around Chara's wrist, still connected to yours. Again, the child copied you.
Ready? You inquired. You waited for them to confirm before beginning a short countdown. At the end, both of you simultaneously shrunk your sequences, searing the magic into each other's wrists. You took over from this point, cycling the magic back and forth between your conjoined hands repeatedly.
You flipped Chara's hand up so they could see when you finished. There, imprinted onto the back of their hand, was your cobalt mage symbol. On the back of your hand was their scarlet one.
So, you were their sister now.
You two didn't have time to celebrate. "I suppose you were planning on it, to be able to execute the ceremony so perfectly under these conditions." The enforcer commented. Not really. You were just excellent at sequencing. You could probably get a job in it, if you wanted. "So, the situation."
Chara had already fed you the extent of what had happened through your magic. They had been practicing the smaller stuff in the park when the boys had begun throwing rocks at them. As they'd been working on, Chara had stopped and rewinded them out of reflex, causing them to shoot back at the boys who had thrown them.
It would simply be a matter of playground bullying if magic hadn't been involved. The police wouldn't even had gotten involved, much less their magical counterparts in the enforcers. "I know it." You stated.
Two cars pulled up then. One you recognized as belonging to Boss. Not surprising, as you had called for help. Out of the second stepped a vaguely familiar man. It took you a moment to remember that this was Mr. Lee, the queen's lawyer.
Boss, Jamie, and a third mage you didn't recognize stepped out of his car. You were surprised the man had come himself. They met up with Mr. Lee on the sidewalk, probably exchanging information since they were on the same side.
'What's going on?' Chara asked through your bond. You smiled, realizing this was the first time you'd heard their voice.
'Any help I qualify for, at this point you do too. They're here to provide it.' You answered just as silently.
"Miss _." Boss greeted you as they got closer. "Your Majesty."
The enforcer grimaced. "What are you doing here?" Boss's smile grew terrifying as he and Mr. Lee started throwing legal terms around. You had to admit, you weren't fluent in legalese.
"Why don't we just do a recreation? Miss _ is more than capable of sequencing one for us. We can speak about legal ramifications if it's proven that young Chara did not begin this altercation with the intent of using magic to harm the boys."
"How would I know it was going to show the truth? I'm not an expert in sequencing." The enforcer spat back.
"I have an answer for that." You piped up again. They all turned to you. "Get a statement from each of the children including small details like rock size or a bird flying by. I wasn't here, so I don't know exactly what went down. Then, you can check the recreation for those details, since I won't know them."
You set to work drawing the sequence with Jamie's assistance as he did what you asked. You were happy he was helping. A sequence of this size would take a considerable amount of power, and you weren't sure you had enough left after the bonding sequence.
Jamie shot a sidelong glance at you as you worked, easily spotting the new mark on the back of your hand. He'd known you for years, and it was almost unheard of for you to get so close to people. Besides your brother and sister, your years at the academy had been spent mostly in solitude.
You had barely even talked back then, preferring to read or study in a secluded corner.
It was impressive, seeing how far you'd come these past few years. These monsters had taught you how to trust people again. He was grateful for it.
Your sequence went off perfectly, as expected. You had always excelled at the calculating precision necessary for this type of magic. He supposed it was the same level of precision you needed for your own, specialized magic. Healing wasn't a simple process, after all.
The enforcer grumbled off as it was proven who attacked who, leaving you with a warning. You had straightened to you tallest, glaring at him as he stalked away. Despite the fact he knew you would never actually try to hurt anyone, you made an intimidating picture.
Until Boss ruined it by ruffling your hair affectionately, causing you to protest immediately. You were definitely one for proper decorum with people you saw as being in a hierarchy.
Jamie turned to watch as your new family member clung to your shirt. It was irritating, knowing that if they hadn't gotten involved then the child easily could have ended up in a holding cell for the night. He supposed that's why the King had called you, hoping you could help.
They were more restricted on what they could do with magic than a felon trying to buy a handgun. Especially since the justice system still hadn't recognized that magic was a valid form of self-defense.
Age didn't matter if magic was involved.