Alphys really hated earbuds. The darn things never stayed where they were supposed to go, especially since her ears were reptilian and had nowhere for them to catch. It was a good thing Toriel had masking tape in one of her kitchen drawers, or she'd have to watch her anime with the sound on where everyone could hear them, and that was simply not an option with the type of shows Alphys liked to watch.
It was just getting to a particularly romantic bit, with the protagonist's eyes glimmering as she stared into the eyes of her love interest, when the cell phone on the table began vibrating and playing a loud song.
Alphys jumped in her seat and grabbed the phone, nearly dropping it in panic. She touched the green 'answer' button and stammered into the receiver.
"H-hello?"
"Howdy, Alphys, it's been quite a while!" came an impossibly deep, friendly voice on the other line. Alphys blinked and pushed her glasses up by the center piece over her nose.
"Asgore! H-hi! Um," she stammered. "How… how are you?"
The voice at the other end stopped to chuckle good-naturedly. "I've been all right. Busy as usual, as much as I dislike dealing with politics. But I called to check on you, my dear," he said. "I have not seen you since the… incident, and I have been worried about your well-being. Are you busy today?"
The yellow monster's face burned. Though she was deeply in love with Undyne, something about the former king's reassuring voice and gentle concern flustered her. "U-um, not really? But I was g-going to visit a friend of mine today. She's staying with P-Papyrus and Sans," she told him. "I-it was Halloween last night and Undyne, er… wanted to celebrate…"
Asgore let out a short bark of laughter on the other end. "Let me guess, she drank your friend under the table? Dear me, that girl..."
Alphys giggled along with him. "Y-yeah, pretty much. B-but, yeah, I was going to visit sometime today. Did you want to… um, come along? Maybe?"
"That seems like a good idea. I would like to see Frisk, but Toriel, ah…"
"Y-yeah, it's okay. Though maybe you could p-pick me up? It's on the way. I-if it isn't too much bother!"
"Not at all! I shall see you soon."
"Papyrus… this is so bad."
The two of them sat on the living room couch, munching at leftover spaghetti warmed up in their Tupperware containers. Sans was absent; he had an afternoon shift at a nearby café, where he apparently worked. Holly had been the tiniest bit disappointed that he wasn't going to be home to hang out, but she quickly squashed that feeling down. People had lives, and making them feel guilty for that would be very selfish. She did want to spend more time with the elder brother, though; she was just starting to feel as though they were bonding a bit. Sans was much more reserved than his brother, but it didn't mean that she couldn't appreciate his company as much as Papyrus's.
Voices blared from the television as a woman with wind-blown hair and a flowing white dress sang alongside a handsome robot in a romantic musical number. Holly recognized Mettaton, though she hadn't known he had performed in several Bollywood movies.
"I BEG YOUR PARDON! Mettaton is an artist!" the tall skeleton protested, his eye sockets practically sparkling as he brought his clasped hands up to his chin. "He was a star in the underground! He even had his own resort!" Papyrus sighed wistfully. "Ah, I wish I could be as popular as he is. It must be wonderful."
Holly wanted to mention that fame often caused unending stress for movie stars on the surface, but she refrained from crushing her friend's dreams. She shrugged and went back to watching the movie.
A timid knock came at the door and Papyrus immediately rushed to answer it, flinging it open to reveal Alphys and—Holly choked on the spaghetti she'd just taken a bite of.
A huge monster, easily two feet taller than Papyrus, hunched in the doorway. Holly recognized him as the monster in one of the pictures in Frisk's room, though right now he was currently wearing a large short-sleeve button-down with floral designs down one side and a pair of khaki shorts. He wore no shoes—probably because his very large paws were an odd shape and far too large for anything made for humans. It was crazy enough he'd found clothing in his size.
"Oh! Your majesty!" Papyrus greeted, sounding surprised. "And Dr. Alphys! Come inside, it's so nice of you to visit!"
The monster Papyrus had greeted as 'your majesty' chuckled, his laughter sounding like rolling thunder. "Just 'Asgore' is all right, Papyrus," he corrected, his eyes seeking out Holly as she stared. He gave her a very warm smile that made his eyes crinkle. "Howdy! I have heard a lot about you, human. Your name is Holly, correct?" He'd crossed the room in just three strides and held out a huge paw.
Holly realized that her mouth was slightly open and she closed it, blinking and trying to recover from her initial shock. Asgore towered over her, even as he hunched to try and meet her height.
This monster has killed children who probably didn't even reach his knee in size…
The invasive thought made her cautious, even though Asgore exuded calmness and civility. She reached out her hand to shake his, though she could really only grab two of his fingers to reciprocate the gesture. "Y-yes, it is," she finally answered, straightening as much as she could. It didn't make all that much difference.
"I'll make some tea! Undyne has some here for when she visits. You can sit in the living room, if you'd like!" Papyrus said, immediately going into the kitchen. Holly smiled; it was adorable when the younger skeleton acted as a fussy host.
The remaining three found seats in the living room. Alphys looked between her human friend and Asgore, fidgeting slightly, but the huge boss monster attempted conversation before the silence could get awkward.
"I apologize that I did not make it out to visit sooner," he said, his enormous weight making the couch creak dangerously. "Are you and Undyne well, Alphys?"
The much shorter monster shook her head. "Y-you already apologized," Alphys said. "At least you called and left messages…" she muttered under her breath, a note of uncharacteristic bitterness entering her tone. Holly gave her a worried glance, but the monster was already moving on. "And w-we're great! Undyne is…" Her eyes went a little fuzzy, the corners of her mouth turning up. "Undyne is really great. We both work a lot, but w-we've managed to m-make some time for each other."
"Ah, I am glad to hear it." Asgore fixed Holly with his gaze, which, though gentle, managed to pin her in place. "So, tell me, human. How is it that you came to be friends with so many of us?"
Holly regaled Asgore with the story of how she awkwardly managed to befriend Alphys and Undyne before meeting the others, becoming close despite the circumstances of their meeting. She left out the part where Sans had remained suspicious of her for quite a while, instead playing up the happy moments with her new friends. His face went slack with surprise for a brief moment when she talked about how Undyne demanded a dance, as if to make Holly prove her worth. He laughed good-naturedly when she concluded the story, however. His easygoing attitude made it easier for her to talk, and soon her cheerful personality presented itself.
"…And then Sans just appears with this trombone, right—which I figured out was a pun later, by the way—and then Paps and I started dancing. I mean, I'm not very good at it, but Papyrus was great at leading me around, at least."
"Of course I was! I am very great at everything," came said skeleton's voice as he came back with several mugs on a tray. The amber liquid in each cup rippled slightly as he carefully placed them down. "You should give yourself more credit, though! Though you weren't as amazing as I was, you, too, have some dancing talent."
"Y-yeah! Holly is really good. I m-mean, for someone with no training o-or anything," Alphys added. Holly felt her face warm.
"Pfff, guys…" She waved off their praise with embarrassment and plunked two sugarcubes into her tea. "So, Undyne's supposed to come soon, right?" she asked, attempting to change the subject. Alphys adjusted her glasses and pulled out her cell phone to check the time.
"Yeah, actually. She should show up any sec—"
As if on cue, the door banged open wide, revealing the fish monster with the pointiest grin Holly had seen on her face yet.
"HEY ASGORE! WHERE THE HELL'VE YOU BEEN?!" Undyne roared immediately upon entry. Her hair was pulled back into her usual ponytail, but she was wearing a dark uniform that had patches on the sleeves and the word "SECURITY" in bold, embroidered letters on the front and back of the shirt.
Asgore stood immediately and, with shocking quickness for someone his size, made his way over to Undyne who threw herself at him with a shriek of joy. The boss monster caught her and spun in a circle to counter her momentum.
"I t-texted her to let her know he was here," Alphys said happily. "Th-they go way back…"
"I can tell," Holly commented with some amusement, watching as Undyne managed to grab one of Asgore's horns so she could mess with his floppy ears. Though, as strong as Undyne was, Holly had the distinct impression that Asgore was letting her do what she wanted to him. He just seemed so… powerful. Even Undyne seemed small in his presence, which was saying something for the seven-foot fish monster.
Asgore must have been very used to Undyne's brand of affection, if his ever-smiling face was anything to go by. It was no surprise at all when the fish monster held out a hand in invitation, her visible eye shining brightly.
"C'mon! It's been ages, let's dance!" she crowed. The boss monster took her outstretched hand in his, giving a sort of deep nod.
"I'd be delighted, of course."
Holly was suddenly paying very close attention, having never seen two monsters dance together. She also had no clue what the former king's dance could be, though she had no doubt that he'd be impressive doing it. Undyne straightened her shoulders, grinning up at Asgore as they assumed a starting position. The way their hands were placed, and the space between them… Holly could instantly tell it would be a sort of ballroom dance.
Without any need for musical prompt, they began their dance in the broad space of the living room. The two moved in sweeping circles, moving to a nonexistent beat with perfect timing. Instead of her usual capoeira, Undyne was leading the larger monster immaculately, as if she was born to do this dance. For some reason, when she moved like this, Holly could perfectly picture her as the captain of the Royal Guard. She certainly had a surprising knack for decorum.
Asgore was gentle and graceful in an effortless sort of way. He looked as if he'd done this thousands of times—which, for all Holly knew, could have very well been the case.
Their souls (or, as Sans had revealed, the echoes of their souls) began to appear very quickly, though something was odd. Instead of seeing normal, brightly-colored heart shapes, the echoes that appeared were white. They also seemed to be flipped upside-down. Holly frowned and nudged Alphys.
"Um… why do their souls look like that?" she questioned. Alphys blinked in confusion before realization dawned on her features.
"Ohhh! I forgot that they look different for you." She straightened her glasses and began explaining in what Holly referred to as 'nerd voice'. She stuttered a lot less like this, but often sounded a bit like a textbook. "So, human souls look like what you've seen. They are flipped and they are usually bright colors instead of white, like monsters'. Monsters are comprised of magic, and each type of magic usually has a specific color." She gestured towards the dancing monsters. "If you look carefully, you can see their magical aura, which exhibits their specific color. The soul itself is white, because monsters have so much magic that it registers as the presence of all color, which is—"
"White," Holly finished, nodding in interest. She didn't know a lot about magic, but she knew colors, at least. She was an artist. "So, humans don't have magic, right? Why aren't our souls black?"
"There isn't an absence of magic in humans. Not completely," Alphys answered, seeming pleased that Holly was showing interest. "It's just inert. There were once humans who knew how to use this magic, though it took many human mages to match the magic of a single monster." She seemed uncomfortable for a moment, but shook it off. "Humans still have a color. Their aura, per se. For example, your purple soul could suggest that you have magic that limits movement."
"Huh. But I can't use that because I'm not a mage," Holly clarified, noting how odd this conversation was. Three years ago, monsters, souls, and magic were all things from a fairytale… but now a nerdy dinosaur was explaining soul magic to her.
'What a time to be alive,' Holly thought, almost laughing aloud. Instead, she asked, "So, why dancing?"
Alphys tilted her head, seeming to try and come up with the best answer. "I'm not sure how th-that came about, really," she admitted. "But it has many purposes. F-for example, bonding, or 'testing' a partner, like Undyne did the first time you danced," she said. "Dancing for short periods of time gives each participant a basic understanding of the other—their main qualities, like personality traits. Some say that auras and colors are representative of a specific personality trait, but the way those traits are presented in each individual…" she trailed off, frowning. "It's different for everyone. L-like… justice, for example! It doesn't always mean that a person is good and just." Holly nodded at her to continue. "If a person is bad, or had a twisted sense of what is 'right' and 'wrong', then their justice would be warped from what a 'good' person's justice would be."
"That's… huh. That's really cool," Holly commented, mulling over all the new information. "So, to go back to my first question… why do the soul echoes look different for me when I dance with you guys?"
Alphys hesitated, fidgeting with her claws as she always did when she was anxious. "W-well… human souls are always more powerful than a monster's. E-even, human children eh heh…" She glanced away. "If a human really wanted to, th-they could hurt us very badly. Intentions are everything with souls, s-so if you had the desire to do harm…" she trailed off and glanced back up at Holly, who had gone quiet. "Even in a dance meant to b-bond with each other, you could p-potentially, uh. N-n-not that I think y-you would!" she stammered, seeming sheepish and uncomfortable.
"No, I wouldn't," Holly said quietly, her mind suddenly full as she realized the implications of her monster friend's explanation.
Her eyes fell upon the elated face of Undyne as she danced with who was obviously a father figure for her. Her friends… Undyne, who had tested her, Alphys, who was sweet and eager, Papyrus, who saw the best in everyone. All of them had trusted Holly with their souls—their monster souls, which were so fragile compared to her human soul. She couldn't help but to feel touched that they would share that part of themselves with her, and she realized now why Sans had been so vigilant. Holly could have utterly crushed Papyrus during their dance, if she'd so chosen.
The thought sent a chill up her spine, and she reflexively grabbed the tall skeleton's hand and gave him a friendly grin when he blinked down at her, not having been paying attention to Alphys's magic lesson. Holly reached her hand out to Alphys, too, who smiled shyly but laid her claws in the human's palm.
Oh, how dearly she already loved all these monsters. She would never let anything bad happen to them as long as her heart was still beating.
A/N: Special thanks to Akinai_Sere and CadetSparkleWolf for being my beta readers!