Chapter 17 : Something magical

The little courtyard behind the cabin had to be used for the Royal Guard training. There were some metal installations to train their endurance and for bodybuilding, but also a square of dirt holed by old magic impacts: fire, ice, even some magic plants that the snow didn't manage to kill. A weapon rack was lying on the ground, still holding some wooden swords, covered by some dark dust that was telling what happened here.

Toriel walked to the middle of the magic training area. Papyrus, overexcited, couldn't stop jumping behind her, ready to show her all he could do. More than just an exercise, Sans knew his brother needed this to empty all the tension he piled up recently. It was an outlet too, for his father who never believed in him and denied him the right to grow his magic talents. Next to him, Undyne was a lot calmer and attentive. The cold seemed to bother her, but Toriel made sure she didn't go out without two pullovers and a thick coat that was way too big for her.

Sans and Charlie sat on a bench out of the fighting zone. The skeleton could feel his brother's magic pulsing into his own soul, which didn't help his headache. Another one of these weird consequences due to their link. When one was using his magic, the other one had this instinct that was screaming to help, like they always had been made to fight together, as one. That was actually the case. Their attacks were strangely complementary, even if Papyrus still didn't have the mental strength, nor the discipline to control everything yet. The younger one still had to focus to avoid getting overwhelmed by his overpowered magic, which could be very dangerous for him just as for the others.

Nervous, Sans glanced towards the human next to him. The child was alert and curious, maybe too much for the skeleton who was still not sure he could fully trust them. However, he felt more comfortable around them now. Maybe everything they went through made them closer after all. He still didn't find the time to know them like Papyrus did, but if the child had been so far nice enough to not betray his brother's blind trust, maybe Sans could try to be more "sociable" too. This was not a natural trait of his personality, but he wanted to try. Clumsily, he put his hand on the human's shoulder. Surprised, Charlie turned towards him. They stayed two long minutes watching each other's eyes without saying anything. Well, maybe not a so good idea after all. Sans let go and looked elsewhere, embarrassed.

He focused on what Toriel was saying instead.

"Let's start, children." she said, smiling. "Before I give you some exercises, I would like to see what exactly you two are capable of. This way, I will be able to judge how advanced you are and adapt the training. Sans, you'll do the same once you had rest. I found an old dummy in the storage room, he will be your opponent for this battle. Undyne, do you wish to start?"

The little girl nodded. Toriel put the dummy on a spot in the battle zone, and took a few steps back with Papyrus.

Almost immediately, Undyne's eyes turned a bright green and a huge spear appeared in her hands. It looked a bit too heavy for her and she struggled to keep her balance for a bit. She hit the dummy several times, then invoked several smaller spears behind its back. They hammered the leather protection in no time but she didn't stop there. She created some other spears below her prey and made it fly in the air as her bullets hit it repeatedly. To end her little show, she turned towards Papyrus and suddenly made his soul green for a few seconds, just enough time for her to run to him and kiss him on the cheek, before she lost control over her spell. The small skeleton squeaked, crimson, and hid his face behind his hands in unintelligible gurgling.

Toriel applauded her, just like Sans, impressed. She was way more advanced than he thought, almost at his own level. She maybe couldn't control her green magic for more than a few seconds yet, but her other attacks were precise and always hit their target. She would be a redoubtable opponent once she would gain full control of her attacks. Sans thought his father would have loved her potential… before probably throwing it all in the trash with a horrible experiment or something. He sighed, grumpy.

"I didn't think Toryne trained you to this point yet." Toriel congratulated her. "The war probably forced her to go quicker on these things. Your control is quite impressive for your age. Maybe one of the best I have ever seen actually." she added with a smile. "But I guess your mother was not anybody either. You still need to work on your posture and your balance, and maybe after that we could work on your colour magic, make it stand longer."

She blushed lightly, overwhelmed by the compliments.

Toriel put the dummy back where it went, then made a sign to indicate him it was his time to shine. Sans saw in his eyes all his confidence be blown away. Undyne did too good and the small skeleton was now terrified of doing something wrong. His older brother gritted his teeth. Here were the consequences of what his dad did. Papyrus was easily impressionable and overwhelmed, especially when he needed to do something in front of someone without anyone helping him.

The small skeleton's breath became erratic and his bones rattled nervously. He lifted a shaking hand towards the dummy, but nothing happened. Quickly, Papyrus panicked. His eye sockets filled with tears. Toriel opened her mouth to comfort him, but Sans forestalled her and calmly crossed the training zone to join him.

He stopped between Papyrus and the dummy. His little brother's eyes were shining his so peculiar bright orange light, which meant his magic was well active.

"Sans, I'm… I'm scared…" he cried, panicked.

"It's okay, bro. What are you scared of? We're safe, right? Nothing bad will happen, and even if it does, Toriel won't get mad at you."

"But what if I… I hurt her again? What if I can't control anything again and I… Then how will she protect us? And if…"

"You can do this, you know it inside of you, Papyrus. Believe in yourself. And if you don't believe in yourself, at least trust your old brother. Did I ever lie to you?"

"Yes. Like this one time you said I was the one who ate the cookies but it was you."

"What? I would never!"

"Or this time you said we were going to make bubbles and you trapped me in the bathroom for a bath."

"Ok, fine, maybe I lie sometimes. But that doesn't change anything. You think you can do it? Come on, bro. Don't let Undyne be the coolest. What will happen to my reputation? I told everyone you were the best."

"Fine… I'll try." he answered, half convinced.

Sans stepped back and joined Toriel, to show him he was still near and didn't give up on him. Toriel put a hand on his shoulder, grateful. Sans was so angry. If his father hadn't yelled at Papyrus every time he made a mistake, maybe he wouldn't be so scared of his own magic. It was too powerful, everyone agreed, but it was when he tried to hold back that accidents happened more often, as he pushed himself too much to control it. Before they left their house, that was that precise point that Sans was working with him. They haven't really had the time to try again since. For the older skeleton, these trainings seemed already from an eternity ago.

Papyrus inhaled and looked at his brother with worry. Sans gave him a thumbs up. The small skeleton lifted his hand towards the dummy a second time, eyes glowing bright orange. An energy ball formed in his arm and in a scream, he pushed it on the dummy. Then everything went wrong.

A storm of blue and orange bones escaped all control and ploughed into the training doll. It withstood two hits before it got pulverized into pieces. His magic flow was way too wild and Toriel understood quickly. She set a magic shield up around the children, and, powerless, could only watch as Papyrus completely lost control. Bones fled everywhere around them as if the small skeleton was fighting an invisible opponent. He was trying to stop, but couldn't.

The trees, the walls of the house and the ground soon got covered with destructive colourful bones. Papyrus fell on his knees, screaming in pain due to the pressure of the magic. He begged for help, holding his head with two hands. Something was going terribly wrong.

"Papyrus!" called Sans. "Look at me!"

The small skeleton tried to, but he couldn't see anything. It hurt. Everything hurt. His head, his chest, it was like something wanted to get out. Toriel hesitated to intervene, but let Sans talk first.

"Bro, take deep breaths. It's like home, remember?"

"It h-hurts! I c-can't breathe! I c-can't!"

"Yes, you can, see? You're talking to me. Do like me."

Sans inhaled and exhaled with exaggeration, several times, and soon, Papyrus was imitating him. It seemed to work for a moment and his magic calmed down. But suddenly, a white energy ball formed behind him, much bigger than any of his bones. Papyrus screamed as the energy moved weirdly. He let go of everything he had, all the things that wanted to get out of his soul. In a loud "Pop", a weird animal skeleton head appeared. Papyrus turned around to see it, and his eyes suddenly shined with joy. All his other attacks had been discarded in seconds.

"Sans! Look! I did it! I did my first blaster!" he said, exhausted but very excited.

The blaster looked peacefully around for a few more seconds, then disappeared too.

Sans made a sign towards Toriel to tell her the crisis was over. The skeleton then helped his brother to sit down and hugged him close to comfort him. The Queen rushed to them and put a healing spell on the smaller skeleton, just in case. Papyrus was tired, but he was smiling slightly, which reassured his brother.

"Is your magic that powerful too, Sans?" asked Toriel, worried.

"It's even stronger." answered Papyrus for him. "He can do a lot of things I can't."

"Maybe." agreed Sans. "But at least I'm using only one colour magic at time. You used blue and orange, that's a first. No wonder you're tired."

"I did that? Shoot, I didn't see anything."

"You didn't see anything because you were not in control." said Toriel. "You are way too young to use colour magic… Or create these… blasters? It's very dangerous for your health just as your magic development. You just experimented a magic outburst, which can have very bad consequences if it happens too often. You will need to learn to channel it. The sooner the better. Your magic is strong and powerful, but it's still wild. You need to tame it."

She looked up to meet Sans' eyes.

"But more importantly, you will need to learn to tame it without your brother's input. You rest too much on him, but he will not always be here. Control is important as it avoids getting hurt… Or hurting others. This is going to need a lot of work. But tomorrow. You need to rest first. Tomorrow, Sans will show me what he can do, then I'll teach you to fight in a friendly way." she said to the small skeleton and Undyne. "Now, Undyne, Charlie, please take Papyrus home. I need to talk to Sans for a minute."

The fish lady nodded and supported him to help him walk. Charlie grabbed his second arm. Once out of sight, Toriel sighed and sat down on the ground, still shook by all of what just happened. She stayed silent for a few seconds, then looked at Sans. The skeleton didn't like the expression on her face.

"Sans, I'll be honest with you." she said. "I never saw such firepower in someone without a level of violence, and even less at this age. Your brother's magic is very abnormal and could represent a risk if he doesn't control it very, very quickly. Did your father helped him in the development of his first attacks?"

"No." answered Sans, sour. "He let me do it. He never cared much about Papyrus. I taught him how to make bullets and some basic bones attacks, but… He had these losses of control pretty much since the beginning. It's usually not as violent as the one he just had, but… I don't know how to help him more. Talking works. So, I talk every time."

"I see. The last events probably precipitated things. When a monster feels in danger, its magic evolves to adapt to its environment. This is why we must be ready for your magic. It will probably be more powerful too when you're going to use it tomorrow. Except that, in your case, a magic outburst could be dramatic."

Sans put a hand on his chest, lost in thought. He lifted his head after a few seconds, still determined.

"I don't care. I have to learn. If I have to defend him later, I don't have a choice."

"I agree, even if I really don't like it." Her hand gently rubbed his cheek. "You are two extraordinary little skeletons. It would be a waste to deliver you to the enemy. I will try to help you two the best I can. But we will have to be fast. I don't know how much time we have before they find us, I'm sure you guessed it already. Asgore is probably already looking for me and your father is far from an idiot. They will find us, Sans, and this is what I wanted to talk about."

She sighed.

"If they found us, I want your magic to be powerful enough to hide your tracks and run away while I'll be holding them. I don't want to give up on you without any weapon to fight. It's a human zone, and you know by now they are violent and merciless."

She put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think, however, that you have a secret weapon that could do just the trick. One specific to your type of monster, if I am right. My child, have you ever heard of karma magic?"