It's an unfortunately slow two weeks before you're able to safely and comfortably get up out of bed.

That's not to say you didn't try getting up sooner. You tried twice, in fact. And twice, Toriel had to call Gaster to come make sure you hadn't hurt yourself worse, or you weren't internally bleeding or something.

Gaster takes good care of you, though. He comes by every day or so to check on you and see how well you're healing. He assures you that you're healing quite speedily, and by the end of a month, the runes shouldn't have even left scars. He also assures you that the runes are working perfectly, not just in keeping your body from reacting badly to Magic, but also in safely storing the excess Magic. So there's a chance that you could learn to use it.

Despite the fact that the two weeks seems to drag on forever, it's not just boring lying there. Everyone comes to visit you and encourage you in your speedy recovery. Even Matt and Elise, who have apparently decided they want to move in to the Monster Kingdom and are in the process of applying for citizenship, stop in frequently. They also tell you that, as soon as it's official, they're going to try applying at Gaster's lab for jobs.

You don't expect that to work out too well, but the pair of them are just so adorable, and you don't want to crush their dreams. So, instead, you tell them they should probably apply for jobs at Grillby's or something at the same time, because Gaster's hiring process takes a really long time, and they'll still be needing to make some income in the meantime. They both seem excited by the idea, and you're glad you don't have to tell them Gaster would never hire a human.

Though, who knows. One time when they're there, Gaster comes to check on you, and... he acts almost civil towards them. Almost. He does a lot of dark, angry glaring, but he does manage to keep from insulting them the entire time.

He just insults them most of the time instead of all of it.

And then Gaster says, as long as you take it easy, you can get up. Of course, you're up immediately, pestering him about when can you learn Magic and how do you learn Magic and what do you have to do and-

"Frisk. Calm down. Taking it easy, I said. Remember? Go... climb a tree, or get Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys to do piggyback races with you, or something."

You are suddenly very confused about what Gaster considers "taking it easy."

And you can't even tell if he's serious or not.

Fun as it sounds, you don't have a piggyback race with your friends. Instead, you play video games and board games and generally pull a Sans. Your chest still kinda hurts if you move around do fast or too much, and you don't want to be confined to bed again.

But, as summer nears its end, you find yourself in the park one day with all your friends as Undyne tries to teach you to use Magic.

"You just have to find that burning power inside you!" She shouts to you by way of encouragement. "And then, you take it, and just!! NNNNGGGAAAAAHHH!!" The last shout of exertion is accompanied by Papyrus's shouts of surprise, as he was standing next to Undyne, and she proceeded to suplex him.

You can't help but chuckle.

Gaster, who's sitting nearby with Sans leaning against him, speaks up. "It might not be that simple, Undyne. Because monsters draw their Magic directly from the Soul, and I honestly have no idea where the runes are storing up the residual Magic in Frisk. If it is in their Soul, then it still has to make it through their body, which will be a lot tougher on account of them having more physical matter. If it's not in their Soul... well. Then it's not there. Besides, monsters are born instinctively knowing how to use Magic, whereas Frisk hasn't even had that option up until now. Who knows, maybe, even if they can learn it, it'll always be forced."

After a moment, Sans looks up at Gaster and lets out a small snort. "'member what you told me when i was first learning? it was pretty much 'figure it all out yourself.'"

"Hey!" Gaster protests, laughing a bit. "It was a bit more detailed than that! ...That was fun, though. Teaching you to use Magic. Remember when we used to spar all the time? That was fun."

Sans snorts. "if i remember correctly, last time we fought, i had you on your back in seconds."

"Well, I've picked up a few new tricks since I was in the Void."

"suuuure."

Undyne interrupts here. "That sounds an awful lot like a challenge!"

You can tell she's itching to see Sans fight, even if it's not against her. Since last Christmas dinner when it was mentioned, she's brought up the topic of Sans being a weapon a few times, but was always quickly shut down. Now, though, Sans seems willing to go, and Undyne doesn't seem to want to miss the opportunity.

Gaster seems all for it as well. "What, do you want me to show you? I'm a heck of a lot stronger now, Sans."

Sans gives a surprisingly vicious grin. "fine, then. let's find out."

With that, you and Undyne move to the edge of the field, and Gaster and Sans move to stand in the middle.

And you are once again left musing how funny it is that Gaster seems to be the only one who can really get Sans excited.

§

A/N

I swear, Matt and Elise were only supposed to be in the story for, like one chapter, and they weren't even supposed to have names, but apparently, they're moving in!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!