After your first success with the staff Gaster gave you, Undyne goes super-ultimate-training mode on you. She puts you through a super hard training regime, and makes you stick to it. She pushes you harder than ever before.

But after an entire week, all you can manage are a few red fizzling sparks. You ask Gaster about it, and...

He just shrugs. "I really don't know anything about this stuff; my guess is only a bit more educated than yours. I'm sure you can figure it out, though." So you just keep trying.

October comes, and with it, Halloween. In addition to all the candy you get, you learn Gaster can do some pretty freaky stuff, like go from slightly-eccentric-but-normal-Gaster to a full-on being of the Void, Soulless black eyesockets accompanied by a gaping crevice across his face of a smile and black ooze that bubbles and broils for a body. Needless to say, despite the rather cheery decorations Papyrus put up, the Gaster household earns more screams than any other house in Ebott town. At least, until Papyrus sees all the traumatized children and won't let Gaster answer the door anymore.

Only a few days after the candy gathering holiday, you get a new result from you attempted Magic usage.

But it's not a good one.

You and Undyne are at the park, training. You're bundled up against the November chill, and Undyne is wearing her usual tank top and jeans. She "refuses to show weakness in the face of nature" or something like that. You don't really understand why she'd put herself through that chilly suffering when she doesn't have to, but hey, it's Undyne.

Regardless. The pair of you are standing opposite each other. Undyne is holding a spear, and you've got your staff.

"Come on!" Undyne shouts to you. "You can do it! Hit me! This time you'll do it for sure!"

She continues shouting encouragement. You focus, reach deep inside yourself. Gaster's assured you that, living in this monster populated area, the air is completely saturated with Magic, and you should never run out of your borrowed scraps. It just takes effort to pull at it, draw it through you.

A moment or two of concentration, and a soft red flicker, the color of Determination, jumps at the runes carved into the staff. The sparks are edged in all manner of other colors. Gaster hypothesized that this is because it is borrowed Magic, Magic that was made by other monsters, so even though you've made it your own, it still retains a touch of the color from the creator.

On seeing the sparks, Undyne let's out a triumphant cheer. "Yeah!! That's it!! Keep it up! NNNYAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!"

She proceeds to suplex a park bench.

You screw up your face in concentration and pull harder at the Magic.

You can feel it, pulsing in your chest.

Grab it. Pull it. Wrap it around you. Guide it along your arms. Through your palms. Across your fingertips.

Pulsing power, slipping from your hands into the staff.

It's strong. Very strong.

Suddenly, the staff is alight with a deep red glow, and with a sort of ZZZZWWWHHHHSSHHHH noise, you feel a sudden burst of Magic tear through the wooden stick. It's powerful, so powerful, positively burning with power.

Maybe-

Maybe burning a little--

--a little too hot!!

With a sharp cry of pain, you drop the staff, stumbling back, your hands burning. There are dark charred lines along the staff, like they were seared there with fire.

And your hands! Oh, your poor hands!

If they were cold in the crisp autumn air, they're not anymore. They burn and ache, they hurt so bad.

Sure, you can take a hit to your HP like a champ, but you're still a twelve year old kid, and the red skin on your palms, already blistering, hurts you just as bad as anyone else.

The shock of it beginning to wear off, you let out a small sob. It hurts. It burns.

The pain requiring your full attention, the sensation overrides your brain, and you drop to your knees, crying. In an instant, Undyne is scooping you up, telling you to hold on, tough it out, punk! You can do it!

She's carrying you.

Every footfall seems like another burn to your hands.

You just want to curl up.

Cradle your hands against your chest.

And wait for the pain to stop.

Hold on!

But you can't.

Hands are burnt. Burning. Can't hold on, hurts too much. To curl your fingers. Agony. To grip against the pad of your palm. Burning. Fiery. Pain.

Almost there! Just hold on!

Can't hold on though. Hurts too much.

And then there's a cool, icy relief seeping through your hands. Slowly, you relax and look up.

Undyne is still holding you, cradling you in her arms. You're in the lab. And Gaster is rubbing some sort of salve or something with a very sharp scent into your palms.

He's frowning.

You whimper a little- his touch still makes your hands blister in pain- but the salve is easing your pain in an astonishing way. It's numbed down to a dull ache.

"What happened?" Gaster finally asks, sharply, after finishing with your hands. He gestures, and you see in your peripheral vision a pair of his hands fishing some bandages out of a cabinet.

"Dude," Undyne explains for you, "that staff completely exploded. There was red light everywhere and the Magic in the air was thick enough to cut it with a knife. The staff burned Frisk's hands."

Gaster's frown deepens a little as he begins winding the bandages around your hands. "Did it? That's... interesting. I wonder what caused it to do that." Without pausing in his task, he looks at Undyne. "Was any of the staff left intact?"

"Yeah, but it was all charred and-"

"That's fine. I know how to decipher burnt out runes without-"

Before he can finish, you hear the door slam open. To your surprise, it's Matt, and he's carrying the very same blackened staff.

He's also gasping for breath, leaning against the doorframe. "Frisk!" He pants. "Oh, thank Annoying Dog...!" (You've noticed that Matt and Elise have both picked up the local expletive since moving to Ebott town.) "You're okay-...! I saw-... I saw what happened in the park-- and I wanted to help-- but- Undyne-- so much faster-..." He takes a few more deep breaths, then straightens up, then notices Gaster, who's finished bandaging your hands and is now giving Matt a dark look.

For a long moment, the two are silent, Gaster glaring and Matt looking astonished because Dr. Gaster was LOOKING AT HIM.

Eventually, Matt clears his throat a little. "Uh- um, Dr. Gaster- sir." He holds out the staff, trying for a confident voice and only failing a tiny bit. "It- I th-think it's broken. T-the energy release felt a l-lot like when the CORE prototype exploded. I d-don't know a lot about runes, but j-just based off that observation a-and what Dr. Alphys has explained to me, I'd g-guess there was a similar overflow of m-Magic and the s-staff was unable to contain it-"

"Yes." Gaster said in a monotone voice, his expression unchanging as he grabs the staff away from Matt. "You'd guess so."

It's clear that Gaster doesn't mean it this way in the slightest, but somehow, Matt takes that as a compliment. He grins.

Before he can babble on about anything else, though, Gaster turns towards the elevator, burnt staff in hand. "Frisk, I'll study this. See what I can't figure out. In the meantime, be sure to tell Toriel that those burns weren't my fault."

And then he's gone, the elevator doors closing behind him.

Undyne settles you back into your own two feet, and Matt turns to you, stars in his eyes.

"I think he was impressed."

You just smile politely and nod. "Yeah."

§

A/N

Thank you everyone, for your patience with me as I slog through this depressing writer's block! I swear I'll get back to the usual updating speed eventually...

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!