'Your parents sent back the wedding invitations.' You stared at the text from your future-brother-in-law for much longer than necessary. It didn't contain a lot of information, so it wasn't like it took you long to process. Still, you found yourself unable to look away from the small object as a growing feeling rose up in your throat, almost choking you.
Grillby said your name, getting your attention. "Is everything okay?" He asked, flipping the sign on the door to closed.
You wanted to say yes. You wanted to tell him that everything was fine. You didn't want him to worry about you any more than you'd already made him lately. Still, you couldn't stop it when your lips formed the "No" that passed them. Anything else would be a lie.
You didn't fight when he lifted the cell from your grip to inspect it for himself. The next thing you knew, he had wrapped you up in a warm hug.
You allowed yourself to bury your face in his perfect shirt, comfort spreading through you. Why couldn't somebody like Grillby be your dad? He was such a good one, knowing when you needed comfort and when you needed to be alone. He provided life advice when you needed it, and let you learn your own lessons like you needed too. He knew what you were like and what you liked. He fussed after your health like you imagined a real dad might.
He cared.
You held back the tears that were threatening to gather in your eyes as his grip tightened. Tears were still water, and if there was anyone you weren't willing to cry into it was Fuku. But Grillby was a close second, since you ran the risk of actually hurting them.
Why were you such a crybaby lately?
Both of you startled as a frantic knock came at the door. You moved to open it, pulling away from Grillby, who was preparing just in case it was unfriendly.
You weren't prepared for the sight as you opened the door. A highly distraught Alphys stood there, holding an unconscious Undyne close to her body. "Some jerkwad hit her with a car on our way here!" She explained as you caught the sight of dust coming off of her.
Undyne accompanying Alphys to walk you home wasn't unusual, but nothing had ever happened before. You didn't have time to think about that though. You had no idea where it had happened, or how far Alphys had to carry her rapidly dusting partner.
Your hands were already glowing as you reached for her to tug them inside. The door swung shut with a thud behind them, but you weren't paying attention to that anymore as Alphys walked farther into the room to set Undyne down. You followed without even realizing you'd moved, focused as you were on the task at hand.
Her Soul. You needed to start there. If you could stabilize that, then the rest of her body would be easier to heal.
So, you reached for it with your magic. It looked a lot like your own, except for the lack of color. The surface was covered in thin scars just like yours was. Unlike yours, cracks were rapidly appearing across its surface.
It was breaking.
You jammed your magic into the cracks, gluing the pieces together with sheer willpower. The Soul shuddered as you gripped it with your power, forcing it back together. It resisted, trying to pull itself back apart, but you refused. Pouring more energy into your task, you forced the pieces to start moving back together.
Slowly, so slowly, the pieces magnetized back toward each other, closing in until your magic was forced out as it reformed. The crack disappeared completely and relief washed through you. Not that Undyne was off the hook yet, but now you had a chance.
There was a lot of damage. If someone had hit her with a car, they had done it straight on, not just clipped or accidentally. As if they had meant to hit her.
You maintained your magic, reaching out now from her Soul to begin repairing the damage closest to it. Working from a single point outward would be the best way to do it, so that's what you did. Her Soul took your own magic and converted it into Undyne's, using it to remake the body it knew was supposed to surround it with your help.
Healing monsters was so different from humans, while at the same time it was eerily similar. Your magic wasn't flesh-based, so you were used to your magic recreating from the blueprints contained in the organisms' cells. Thanks to that, unlike flesh-based healers you didn't need a working knowledge of anatomy. Also thanks to that, unlike flesh-based healers, you could heal things without flesh, like monsters and plants.
But your magic was entirely based on the body of your patient, not your own medical knowledge. If the body didn't think anything was wrong, you couldn't fix it. You couldn't cure cancer, or autoimmune diseases, or get rid of horrid scars the way that flesh-based healers could.
There were several times in your life that you had cursed that difference.
This was not one of those times. The Soul of a monster kept a blueprint of their body, just like human DNA did, so your magic could fix the damage. You could feel the magic solidifying into a body again beneath your hands, and you suddenly found yourself grateful for the awkward way your power worked.
You felt the sweat drip down your face as you tried to maintain a steady flow of magic into your patient. She'd been farther gone than Fuku had been three years ago, after getting doused in water. Then, you'd had the extra magic from an overload buildup to assist you.
You had larger reserves of magic now than you did then, and you hoped against hope that it would be enough, despite the increased severity. If you didn't have enough to finish the job, Undyne might regress into dusting. You couldn't take that chance.
You only had her hands and feet to go when you felt your magic falter and cut out. Without hesitation you forcibly started the flow up again. So close. You were so close. You couldn't ignore that you were tapping too far into your magic at this point, but she was almost stable.
After all, a mage's power wouldn't cut itself off unless it was low enough to actually be a danger to the user. You were pulling off the stuff that kept you alive to finish the job. It faltered again, but you didn't allow it to stop until Undyne had fully reformed.
Once that happened, your relief took over, cutting off your hold on your magic as it cut itself off again, hiding so deep within yourself that you couldn't reach it again. It didn't matter. Your job was done, confirmed as Undyne's eyes fluttered open.
Warm hands caught you as you staggered back. You glanced up to see, to your surprise, Fuku holding your shoulders to stabilize you. Not far away, Chara stood with Grillby, both looking on in worry. Whether that worry was for you or Undyne was unclear to you.
Fuku led you to the back, knowing you were exhausted, in hopes of getting you changed back into your own clothes. Despite her concern, there really wasn't any way except for honest rest to recover. And that meant you had to get home, obviously. Still, Fuku had sat you down forcefully on the bench and ordered you to stay.
You thought she would be happy when you didn't object, but it just seemed to worry her more. It took almost everything you had left just to re-dress yourself in your normal clothes, and that was with help.
If you'd thought you were fuzzy after healing Sans, it was nothing compared to now. Grillby snapped you out of your daze at some point, trying to tell you something. You couldn't comprehend a single word he was saying. In fact, you were relatively certain you were asleep anyhow.
Someone shaking you forced you to open your eyes again. The only thing you saw was an endless sea of green and orange. Fuku and Grillby maybe? Oh, were you still at work? You should really go back home and sleep in your own bed. You didn't want to inconvenience them. You tried to mumble something to this effect as you stood, but you weren't entirely sure if your mouth had obeyed you.
Might've worked too, if your legs had been nice enough to cooperate. Instead you were suddenly admiring the pretty brown, wooden floor of the bar. Shouldn't that have hurt? Oh well, no pain meant you didn't get hurt, right? That was good.
A loud thud and some yelling entered your ears, but you disregarded it. It wasn't you falling to the floor, obviously. Your arms decided to listen to your orders and you pushed yourself back up into a sitting position. You blinked at all the colors around you, trying to determine where the bench was so you could drag yourself up using it.
Yellow and endless grey entered your field of vision suddenly as you were reaching for the stable wood you'd been sitting on previously. Blue, cloth covered hands grabbed yours as someone tried to talk to you. Nope, couldn't even hear the voice well enough to identify who was speaking, let alone what was being said.
Another very warm, familiar hand tugged at your socks. Suddenly the voices were so loud you might have even understood them if there was only one. As it were, all of the noise blended together into something that almost sounded like a lullaby to your exhausted mind.
Why was Fuku taking your socks off? Weren't shoes supposed to go first? Had you somehow ended up at home and she was trying to get you into bed? You blinked at the mismatched colors on your legs, confused. What had that accomplished?
The hands holding yours tightened. More people talking, but it all blurred together. Home. You couldn't sleep at work. It would be painfully rude to Grillby, who'd done so much for you over the past three years, to use his bar like a hotel.
Sheer willpower got you to your feet as you tried to stumble toward where you knew the door was. The hands holding yours tightened again to keep you in place, causing you to twirl awkwardly. Trying to explain, you were sure this time when you mumbled, you managed to make at least the word "bed" understandable enough.
Instead, another pair of -clawed? - hands were set on your back. To stabilize you, you realized, as you'd been about to pitch backward. Who the heck was in the back room? Since when were so many people allowed back here? This was at least four, by your count. The grey, the yellow, Fuku, and Grillby. Was the yellow the one holding you up?
You twisted so you could confirm, indeed, the yellow had kept you from greeting the floor again. Yellow? Claws for hands? Why was that so familiar?
Suddenly you were pressed up against the greyness, your feet no longer on the floor where you'd gone through quite a bit of effort to get them. You almost protested until you realized how comfortable the greyness was. A bit hard, certainly, but your aching limbs fully appreciated not being forced to work suddenly.
Smaller hands grabbed yours then, and a warm sensation filled you as you drifted off.
Too comfortable.
Alphys's panic didn't fade even as your magic engulfed the two of you. She could see Undyne's Soul through the holes in her rapidly dusting body, and the crack forming in it didn't give her any measure of calmness.
You didn't kid around though. All the dust in the air halted as your power expanded.
The glow from your cobalt magic filled the room as you forced your magic to seal the crack in Undyne's rapidly degenerating Soul. She vaguely saw Grillby pull his phone out, but didn't pay much attention to whatever he was doing.
It was a long wait before the blue magic eased away from Undyne's once again whole Soul. Still, you kept the outpouring constant as her body began to reform. What dust was in the air that your magic could reach got pulled into the reformation as if you'd magnetized it.
How much energy was this taking?
Alphys pulled out her phone to call Sans as she watched her fiancé's body slowly remaking itself. He needed to be here. You were going to need him.
Alphys didn't even know exactly what she was saying, but whatever had actually left her mouth had gotten the sleepy skeleton to full awareness. The door opened to allow Fuku and a very sleepy Chara to enter. She supposed it wasn't quite safe to leave the kid at home alone at this hour, which was the only reason Alphys didn't protest.
Still, Chara didn't need to see the state Undyne was in, a sentiment that Grillby seemed to share as he brought the kid to the counter for some food. A choked noise escaped Alphys's throat when the glow from your magic disappeared completely. Undyne, not quite stable yet, started to deteriorate again almost immediately, but the glow started up dimly again as you caught it.
How tired were you, to just stop in the middle like that? It wasn't like you at all.
It halted again, but this time Undyne remained stable, eyes fluttering open. Alphys rushed forward as you stumbled back, catching one of Undyne's hands in her grip as tears streaked down her face. "What h-happened?" Undyne asked as Fuku led you away.
The only answer Alphys could give her was a cracked sob, at the same time that the door burst open again, revealing the skeleton brothers this time. Of course, Papyrus would come too; Undyne was probably his best friend. "HOW IS UNDYNE?" Sans questioned frantically.
"What d-do you m-mean?" Undyne stuttered, utterly confused.
"You were dusting babe!" Alphys choked out between sobs. "Your Soul cracked nearly in two." She managed to explain the car swerving to hit her, the rush here, and your healing, as well as that terrifying stutter near the end.
Something seemed to dawn on Sans then as he swiftly glanced around the room, panicking when he didn't see you. "WHERE IS _?" He asked.
Papyrus took her place next to Undyne as she stood. It was only right for her to help him, and to express her gratitude to you. Fuku had reemerged from the back to speak to her father in a hushed whisper. A few seconds later, before they even managed to cross the bar to meet up, a crash sounded from the back room.
All five of them, Chara included, rushed toward the door. Being closer, Alphys and Sans reached it first, jerking the door open and taking note of the fallen shelves. You were laying on the ground awkwardly, glaring at your arms as you pushed yourself up.
Sans gripped your hands gently to help you, asking if you were alright. You barely seemed to register that he'd spoken, eyes refusing to focus. The panic reentered Sans's expression. "SHE COULDN'T HAVE." He breathed.
"Couldn't have what?" Alphys questioned as Chara moved to cover their mouth with their hands in shock. Fuku and Grillby seemed to understand what he was getting at though as they both rushed forward. You stared dumbly as Fuku dragged your sock down to reveal your mage-mark. Or, at least, where it should have been.
The skin was blank save for the star tattoos that usually surrounded the swirly heart around a sprout that symbolized your magic.
But then it wasn't as the mark flickered back into existence. It was hard to see though, disappearing again quickly before reappearing again. "THERE'S A POINT AT WHICH A MAGE RUNS OUT OF THE NORMAL MAGIC THAT THEY USE FOR THEIR SPELLS. THEY STILL HAVE ENOUGH FOR IT TO REPLENISH ITSELF AND KEEP THEM ALIVE THOUGH. UNLESS THEY TRY TO TAP INTO IT TO KEEP GOING." He answered, still panicked as the mark solidified itself on your skin again.
Your reserves were empty, Alphys realized. The mark's brightness depended on how much magic you had available to use. It was flickering on and off of your skin because it had no magic to maintain itself. You had stopped before you were done because you had run out of magic.
You could have killed yourself continuing after that. "So, what happened to her? Where'd she get the rest of it?" She asked, lifting the shelving back into its proper place.
"She cut off body processes to use that energy since she had nothing left." Grillby put in, sounding terrified.
Unaware of everything that was going on at that point, you got to your feet, mumbling unintelligibly. Sans rose with you, confused as you tried to make your way to the door. You stumbled and he tugged on your hands, twirling you as Alphys reached up to stabilize you.
"ENOUGH OF THAT." He scolded you, scooping you off your feet and holding you to his chest. You didn't struggle at all, which worried all of them quite a bit. Chara reached out to grab your hands with their own glowing ones, holding up a finger as the adults protested.
Alphys watched as the mark on your leg stopped flickering out of existence as your glazed eyes drifted shut, waiting for Chara to back up. 'Compatible mages can share magic. Since we're bonded, I can share with her.' They explained, signing once your magic was stable.
Sans's grip on you didn't loosen even as the panic faded.