"hey, hey, wake up, Y/n,"
"Whaa-" the young woman pryed her eyes open with great deal of effort. Did Sans teleport himself into her apartment?
"good morning, pal," she heard the voice again. It was coming from her phone. Ah, so he recorded himself to be her alarm tune again, that's-
"Hope you're not too sad, after all-"
"Oh no..."
" it's mourning time!"
"Oh my god..." she hid her head under the pillow in an attempt to escape the skeleton's voice. To no avail.
"so you wanna turn on the radio, right? you do have AM radio right?"
Her shoulders twitched. It was so bad.
"hey Y/n, wanna know how long it takes for me to put on my underwear in the morning? just briefly."
She wailed under her pillow, the wail however turning into laughter as the puns kept coming.
"huh, so..the puns start coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming and they don't-"
"OH. MY. GOD. NO." finally she threw her pillow off her head, reached out, grabbed her phone and turned off the alarm.
Sans seemingly learned every meme in existance and now Y/n had to deal with memes new and old alike everytime she met him. It was horrible.
It was fantastic.
"Or should I say...sanstastic? Pfff" she burts out laughing and threw her hear back on the pillow.
Sans was definitely having an influence.
She thought for a while and then shot Sans a text message:
/Because of you I'm hitting my alarm so frequently, I'm afraid one day it'll hit me back. That'll be alarming./
She knew he would answer her when he'd wake up, which, by her estimations, would be in a couple of hours. Y/n stretched and spend half an hour just lazily checking things on her laptop before forcing herself to get up. Today she was going on vacation, lot's to do before then.
She showered, ate a bit of breakfast, lost herself on the internet again before finally getting dressed. Grabbing her phone, she swiped and selected the ITEM menu - it displayed that two out of ten slots were currently taken. Gods and stars and everything else praise the great for giving her the Beta version of this device to test. It save her so much place and energy travelling.
Y/n thought a little and then proceeded to store items in the device. It had restictions, naturally you could'nt just throw two full bags of luggage in there, but it was spacious enough. Soon her ITEM menu was full with:
Sundress Sandals
Black pants Tactical turtleneck
Pumps Umbrella
Sir C. Doyle's Grillby's Burger
Anti-stress pills Water bottle
She looked at her screen, satisfied with her choice. The clothes were enough to last her a week at home, the book would keep her company during her trip, the burger will be a tasty snack before her flight and the pills never left her side for the last three years. Sometimes she wouldn't need them at all for a week or more, but other days they were a necessity so she always kept them nearby. Nothing strong, herbal medicine pressed into small capsules, but very important when you feel yourself shaking from stress or wanting to kill some racist dumbass.
Y/n also packed some small stuff into her shoulder bag - documents and some make up mostly. She then looked at the time - 11:03. Perfect, time to run some errands and then head to the airport.
Just then, she heard a notification on her phone. It was a message from Sans.
/heh, not bad, bud. don't forget to ring me up as soon as you're back so we can ketchup/
With a goofy smile plastered on her face, Y/n rolled her eyes and answered:
/I'll miss you and Papyrus so much, the first thing I'm doing when I come back is going to see you two. Though, I donut think Papyrus will appreciate our puns./
A few minutes later she received a voice message of Papyrus screaming "OH MY GOD SANS", slamming the door shut and then adding "AND I'LL MISS YOU TOO Y/N" from behind the door. The following message stated:
/showed him our convo. have a safe trip, Y/n. /
She smiled warmly and texted her thanks followed by a bunch of heart emojis - blue ones for Sans and orange ones for Papyrus - before heading out the door.
It was almost 12:00 when Y/n parked her car at one of the city's major hospitals.
The Guild had a couple of medically-trained mages stationed there at all times in case conventional means could not help/wouldn't help fast enough. Healing with magic did take a toll on the mages energy levels, so they took shifts and the doctors were sure to send only cases that were actually matters of life and death their way. Even then, the amount of people coming from all around was huge.
Y/n had her mages working in hospitals on all continents. Others were sent all around the world in search of lost knowledge on magic and maybe even monsters that at some point in history lived in faraway lands. The remaining mages were either scientists, teachers or here busy in the civil division - being lawyers, media rep's or police advisors. There were also those who did not stay in the guild and were living their lives outside of it - Y/n would never force anyone to anyway, nor did her predecessor. Such mages, however, were required to report to HQ for physical and mental examination every two years. And then there were the young ones, who were just learning about their gifts at the Academy and Apprentices, who were just learning the ropes of their chosen careers. Including all these types of mages, however, it still made a number of under 200. Though higher than after the wars, her sociologists stated that that number probably wouldn't increase in a couple of generations at least.
Usually, only the need to choose a new Archmage brings all of the mages together. But three years ago, everyone was called to the castle and it felt like it was never as crowded as then. With everybody on high alert, it took all of the mages being present for the government to be convinced that the Guild could handle it if the monsters did turn out to be hostile.
"Good thing that's over," Y/n sighed as she took her purse as well as a big plastic bag and walked into the hospital. The High Alert status was lifted half a year after the monsters appeared and gradually more and more mages were cleared to return to their lives. By the second anniversary of the monster's freedom almost all of the mages returned to their prior duties except those who decided to stay and help out the monsters, be it by informing and training police officers how to handle things when monsters were involved or by helping monsters get jobs or even figure out paperwork. Some of her mages really impressed Y/n, it seemed that the monsters really brought out the best in some people.
Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows as some mages were dissatisfied with her policies enough to leave the Guild. But, then again, some rejoined out of the same reasons, so she wanted to think that it was for the best. She knew it was. Didn't help, however, that one of the mages who left with a scandal was once her close friend since the first Academy years. Even if they were not as close by then, differences in opinions and principles drawing a casm between them long before, at that moment it still was painful to be as disrespected and as hated by them as she was. Two years later, however, the pain dulled and turned into a kind of sad feeling for the person who was so hateful of others.
"Y/n!" a voice of one of her oldest friends, Stacy, made her delve out of her thoughts and smile widely. Stacy was her friend since the Academy. She had a brilliant mind, even if it could get somewhat clouded my her emotional, impulsive nature. Stacy had become one of the resident MedMages in the hospital not too long ago and was actively advocating letting monsters heal at hospitals and using monster food to heal patients. Progress was made, even if slowly.
"Stacy," Y/n hugged her friend tightly and relished in the heartful squeeze she got back. Trusted friends were a treasure, she learned that when she became the Archmage, and that point was proven more than ever in the last three years.
"I thought you were going on vacation, what are you doing here?" the young woman beamed, her green eyes looking tired but full of joy.
"Came by to see you, of course," Y/n smiled and put her hand on Stacy's shoulder, urging her to walk alongside her and feeling her friends long volumptious bronze hair under her fingers.
"Just couldn't stay away, huh?" the medmage moved her eyebrows suggestively and gave Y/n a sly smile.
"You got me, you're just too damn cute, " her e/c eyes narrowed as Y/n smirked at her friend and lead her into the ' office.
"Sorry to disappoint, I'ma one of those straight gals," the mage flashed her a smile and Y/n faked a scoff.
"Oh, you're one of those."
"You wouldn't-"
"Breeders."
"Oh. My. Stars." the medmage striked a pose worthy of Mettaton, dramatically putting her hand on her chest in a gesture of utter shock and insultment. "You don't get to use that word, only we can use that word!"
The two burst out laughing and Y/n, still smiling widely, put the bag she brought on the table.
"Here, special delivery from Grillby's," she giggled as she saw Stacy's eyes widen in excitement.
"I THOUGHT I SMELLED DELICIOUS FOOD! Fuck yeah, I love Grillby's, " the young medmage rushed to the bag and pulled out a container with a burger and fries inside.
"Y/n. Remember how all our lives we wished for burgers to be healthy? I swear, monster food is the answer to all my prayers," Stacy took a huge bite out of the burger.
"Stars, bless Grillby," she said as she closed her eyes, enjoying the taste. "I love that man- monster, fire elemental, whatever."
"What's not to like," Y/n shrugged, happy to see her friend enyoing what was probably her first meal of the day."He's friendly, he cooks like a boss...plus he's hot."
The medmage stopped mid-chew and looked at the Archmage, her brows furrowing.
"Hwid hyow fsust...?"
"Nonono, no talking with your mouth full," Y/n snickered. "You could still ask for that etiquette course. Butter late than nev-Ah!"
Y/n's reflexes saved her as she dodged a pen that was thrown at her by Stacy.
"I swear, Y/n, you and Sans should just get married already!"
That made the Archmage laugh even harder, she even wiped a tear from her eye as her friend proceeded to maul the burger.
"Maybe I would, but I'm afraid no body would show up at the altar!"
"Oh that's it!"
Y/n could make a barrier of green magic to defend herself, but she figured she deserved it when she was showered in pens, pencils and other office essentials.
"You were supposed to be the kind one! You were the chosen one, Anakin!" Y/n squeeked, holding one hand up to shield her head and putting the other one on her belly that now ached from laughing.
"MEMES NOW?" roared the medmage, sending Y/n into another fit of laughter.
"This is how the Archmage dies, laughing 'till her lungs collapse," Y/n huffed, trying to even out her breathing. There was nothing quite like hanging out with closest friends. Y/n did not have many of those, though she would admit that in the last three years she got quite a few more.
"Just...how do Mr. Graustein and Mr. Carter deal with you?" Stacy sighed, watching as the Great Archmage of the Guild of Mages was gathering writing utensils off the floor.
"Well," Y/n smiled as she picked up a pencil. "Firstly, you know how horribly proper I can be if needed. And, more importantly, I think Herr Graustein just pretends to listen to me and Mr. Carter goes to all these international trips in my stead just to be away from me."
"Huh, good point," Stacy smirked and, as Y/n put all the things she gathered on the table, asked curiously:
"So...you don't have anything with Sans?"
"Pfff, " Y/n scrunched her face."No, it's not like that. He's like a brother I've never had. Same goes for Papyrus. I absolutely love them, that's true. But not like That. It's like having two cool brothers without the agony of having them torture you as you were growing up...so thay can torture you now."
Y/n smirked and so did Stacy.
"I can see that," she nodded and ate another fry, " but I gotta say, that first year and a half you were acting like more of a mom."
"My babies! My skelebabies!" Y/n mockingly wailed and as the medmage burst out laughing she did the same."Can you blame me? You know monsters. You know Papyrus."
"Too true," the green-eyed mage nodded again. "So no crosspecies romance? It's all the rage now, you know."
"I do know. Now that we've got the Supreme Court's ruling it's just a matter of time until I or Asgore get asked to officiate at such wedding, " Y/n sighed. The first few of those were bound to be a nightmare media coverage- and security measure-wise, but she was through worse.
"Anyway, I didn't come here just to bring you and Satoshi some magic food," the young Archmage changed the subject before she got lost in her thoughts. "I'm here because I'm going on vacation and I wanted to help you guys out here."
"I thought you were going to say something like that," Stacy admitted and then her green eyes met Y/n's e/c ones."You were here last week. You know if you do this too often people will start expecting it from you."
"People are jerks, you do something good for them too many times and they start taking it for granted," the Archmage shrugged."I know. But I'll be leaving for a week, so I'll have time to get my strenght back. And besides, after my vacation I'll be slammed with work anyways so I won't be able to come."
"I get your point," the medmage surrendered without much of a battle."And, then again, I won't argue if Her Grace the Archm-"
"Shhhhhh-shut it," Y/n dramatically scoffed and Stacy let out a laugh, smiling at her friend warmly.
"Thanks for helping out and giving us a break, Y/n, really appreciate it."
"You know I'm happy to help," Y/n smiled back at her friend just as warmly.
"You would have made a great medmage, you know," Stacy said as the Archmade made her way to the door, grabbing a spare white labcoat with dark-blue lapels.
"Thanks. But I'll settle for bringing you exquisitely decorated desserts," she answered as she opened the door.
"There's dessert?!" the medmage almost dived into the bag and as she took out a medium-sized cake box, her green eyes were almost glowing.
"Yep. Ordered it yesterday at a local bakery."
"That's so nice of you, you shouldn't have! I-" as soon as Stacy opened the box, Y/n took a second to admire her expression before slamming the door from the other side, giggling at all the swearing that was coming from the office.
In the box there was a small cake with a photo of Marvel's cinematic Captain America's butt on it and the words "SWEET ASS" under it written with pink icing.
It was 15:14 as Y/n said her goodbyes to Stacy and her japanese colleague and walked to her car. She was planning on visiting for an hour or so, making a quick and unnoticable appearance, but of course word got out and everybody and their mom wanted to be treated by the Archmage, some even came from nearby hospitals ignoring the fact that there were other medmages around. So, determined to clean up the mess she herself made, she stayed for two more hours.
Magical healing was almost an art. Monsters, who were made from magic and who's souls consisted of love, hope and compassion, could use healing magic with ease, humans were a different thing altogether. Even mages. Similar to monsters, it also drained energy, but unlike monsters, it took concsious effort and practiced concetration to summon up the kindness, the willingness to take your own energy to heal others.
Y/n was good at it, however. Her HP was high, her magic strong and pure and before suddenly becoming the Archmage she was getting ready to become a medmage.
The heels of her boots made a steady rhythm as she walked, back straight and head high, looking over the nearby park where children were playing after school. As soon as the car door slammed shut, however, she let out an exhausted sigh and slumped in the seat of her car. HP levels and energy levels were two different things and while she was healthy and her mind was as hopeful as ever, her energy level was depleted by all the non-stop healing she had done in the last three hours.
Another sigh escaped her lips and she thought to herself if driving was even a good idea. Maybe she had overdone it a bit. But there were people, sick people. People who chose to put their faith in magic, in mages and, many of them, in monsters. And there was her friend, whom she wanted to help out. And was curing a few more people not worth her momentary weakness? She closed her eyes and sat in her car for a few more minutes, just listening to the world around. A child's gleeful squeal, a passing car, the chirping of a sparrow, the rustling of leaves.
The vibration of her phone.
Grumbling, Y/n reached to the passenger's seat and took her phone from her shoulder bag. Looking at phone, she saw that she got a message.
It was from Asgore.
/Dearest Y/n, I need to see you immediately, at the top of . It is of utmost importance. I will be waiting./
Y/n stared at the message for a moment, her mind was racing over possible reasons Asgore woud want to meet there of all places. An what was so important? He knew she had a flight in less than three hours. Was this really that dire of a situation he could not let Mr. Graustein handle? She called Asgore in hopes of getting some answers, but he wouldn't pick up.
That got her worried even more.
She could always catch another flight, if Asgore needed her help then it took priority over her wish to visit home. She only hoped it didn't require her magic as she was still recovering her energy.
With that in mind, she started her car and, taking a deep breath, drove out of the parking lot and towards the Guild's castle. About half an hour later, she guided Obsidian out of the stable and rode the stallion for another half an hour or so until she reached 's more treacherous path, from where she decided to walk the rest of the way.
On her way there, she called Asgore five or six times, trying to figure out what was happening or if the monster king was alright. All she got was a message that read "I am waiting, dear friend".
As she walked into the cave and carefully made her way through it, stepping over vines and looking out for Asgore, she felt uneasiness in her soul - something wasn't right. She wanted to call out to the king, but instead pursed her lips together tightly and kept to the shadows - was it paranoia kicking in or was there really something wrong here?
As she reached the huge hole in the center of the cave, she looked around once more. Asgore was nowhere to be found. She took out her phone and called him again, her worry about the monster and the nervousness about this situation making her stomach turn.
Then she heard it, the ring of Asgore's phone. As she turned to the sound, she picked up movement out of the corner of her eye. In an instant, a green soulshield appeared, blocking several daggers made from dark grey magic. Y/n steadied herself and looked to the direction where the attack came from.
As she saw her attacker her heart dropped.
It was ExF/n, the same ExF/n who was once dear to her, the same ExF/n who left the Guild spewing insults and accusations in Y/n's direction and hasn't contacted Y/n since. Y/n's eyes narrowed.
"ExF/n," she said, her voice dangerously calm."Where's Asgore?"
The other mage chuckled sarcastically.
"What, Y/n, too good to even greet an old friend? Gotten that prideful have you?"
"ExF/n. Where is Asgore?" the Archmage repeated, dreading what the answer might be.
"Oh, shut up, your precious monster king is fine, I just stole his phone," the once-dear friend scoffed at Y/n, the expression made their face unpleasant to look at. Y/n still remembered how it once used to look - long ago when they were children - innocent and cheerful. Not this hateful grimace.
"Look at you," the mage continued, "so worried for the goat-monster. And not a question to how I'VE been. You're pathetic, Y/n."
Y/n lowered her shield, standing straight and looking at ExF/n with cold eyes.
"You made it clear that your affairs were none of my business, ExF/n, when you made a scene and left the Guild."
"I WAS NOT MAKING A SCENE!" they screamed and the cave's walls ecoed their voice."I left because YOU decided to betray the human race! The council and the government may have swallowed your idealistic, lets-all-hold-hands speaches, but I still can't believe you DARED to let those things live among people."
"Monsters are not a threat, ExF/n. How in the hell can't you see that? You're not stupid, that I know full well," Y/n looked over ExF/n carefully. They haven't changed much physically, maybe the lines of their face got somewhat sharper. The biggest difference was the feeling they gave off. What was once a troubling ting of negativity has now progressed into a full-blown hate-filled aura.
"Oh how generous, you thinking of me as not stupid," the former friend grimaced again. Then, they continued, mockingly imitating Y/n's voice. "Oh look, I'M the Great Archmage and I accept all races, even FUCKING MONSTERS."
The mage spit to the side.
"Disgusting. You're disgusting. You're not worthy of being the Archmage."
That caused Y/n's eyes to narrow, beginning to glow dangerously, making her natural e/c more saturated.
"You think you would have done a better job, ExF/n. I doubt that."
"Of course you do!" the mage exclaimed."Everybody does! They like You, the peacemaker, the talented mage, the sickeningly polite bitch that you are! I may not have your fucking hypocricy and silver tounge to fool people into liking me, but at least I would have done what's right to cleanse the world of this monster filth."
Y/n expression remained unreadable, but she could feel her teeth clench harder. THIS was exactly the reason why ExF/n didn't get along with the rest of the Guild and why they left in the end. There was just so much senseless hatred in them.
"Did you even try to get to know any of them before judging? Or you just wasted the last two years sitting at home, watching me get things done and hating everyone?" Y/n inquired.
Her thoughts, however, were focused on how to get out of this situation. Her energy was low, her HP was alright, however, so she could take a few attacks if needed and concentrate on attack precision instead of power. If there was one reason why she always beat ExF/n in training, it was her ability to keep calm and collected during their battles while the other mage often lost themselves to emotion.
Her questions seemed to hit a nerve as ExF/n grimaced.
"I've told you, Y/n, I've told you since you first became Archmage - I could do it better. I would have dealt with this the right way. But NOOO, you had to be your prideful self, just couldn't let go of the title, huh? And now there's monsters all over the city!"
"The Labyrinth chose me as Archmage, ExF/n. Not you, not even the council can object to that," Y/n stated plainly. They've had this conversation many times, Y/n had heard plenty of times over the years how jealous her former friend was of her title. That jealousy turned to resentmen, then to hatred and now, Y/n thought as she studied ExF/n's face, it may have morfed into something even uglier.
"Shut up, Y/n! Always so condescending! Makes me sick, you and your fucking principles make me sick," the mage spit out the words, every syllable dripping with hatred.
Sensing that there was no way to avoid a fight, Y/n braced herself, feeling adrenaline rushing through her veins and her magic pulsing from her soul and through her body.
"You know you could never beat me," the Archmage warned, still hoping that her former friend would reconsider.
ExF/n threw her an enraged look.
"I know," they replied grimly.
Y/n thought then that maybe her bluff worked and the rouge mage would stand down.
Just then, several more magic knives were thrown at her and were once again stopped by her shield, shattering on impact. A second later, the sound of an explosion scrambled her hearing and the ground under her feet shook violently and crumbled, falling into the abyss and taking her with her.
Falling down, Y/n tried to drag herself out via blue magic, but she was falling too fast and her energy was too low.
Realising that, Y/n gave into fear, her mind singling out one single, instinctive thought before she was about to die from either the fall or the rocks that would bury her:
Her family and friends. The ones who loved her.
She had failed them miserably.
So that was the last Gaster-free chapter, yay!
Took me long enough, right?
Also - dat turtleneck reference, who got it?