Guiding through the shadows

Tumblr dedicated to my Slavetale AU.

[slavetale-timeline9920]

Fathers' Heart

"An accident? How any of this could have been an accident?" - Toriel's voice was exasperated, disappointed, disoriented. It was as if someone told her a very sick joke and she was shuddering over the cruel laugh of the prankster.

"Mom... You have to understand... There is something going on. Something the crown isn't aware. They're doing illegal things to humans and no one is acting to bring justice!" - Chara started to explain, although he felt that words wouldn't suffice to explain the atrocities he saw. By monsters. Monsters who were made of hecking compassion and love! It was outraging.

Asriel was just silent, feeling disappointed himself, but at the same time aware that there would be no other way. It was *kill or be killed* at that point. Still hurt his soul, nonetheless. But also not. The tears of joy he saw on the face of that tiny human child, happy for eating their first proper meal in a long time... Was that wrong?

Asgore too was silent. He felt like he was in a really bad dream and he couldn't wake up no matter how much he pinched himself. And, stars, he tried, believe it. If only there was a way to turn back into past... If only there was a way to stop everyone from seeing his sons statuses... His mind, in depths of despair, brought him a solution. An absurd. Desperate solution.

"I need to talk with Doctor Gaster." - He didn't explain more than that. He only sent word to request his old friend's presence.

They sat on his Garden's beautiful metallic furniture. Drinking Gaster's favorite flavor of tea, butterfly pea with some drops of lime and a dash of honey. The color was a vivid purple.

"Your Majesty... You sent for me so urgently. How can I be of assistance?"

Asgore really didn't even know where to start, but he forced himself through it.

"That project you told me you were working on. To bend the coding of reality. How is it going?" - He drank a sip of his tea, trying to remain as casual as possible.

"Very promising. I successfully rewrote small pieces of our reality code. I've created a food which I named 'crabapple'. It has the softness of a cooked meat of a lobster, but will last safely as much as an apple would. And it can also be grown on dwarf trees." - The doctor too sipped tea and smiled pleasantly. - "It has been quite a while since we had tea like this. I missed it."

"Oh yes. So did I, my dearest friend." - He served himself from some biscuits, brought along with the tea. Maybe the bitter taste on his mouth could be swayed with that. - "Have you tested in living beings yet?"

"I... Have not. I need the direct permission of the Crown to do that, because of the risks involved. But my research is far enough for this."

"If I gave you the permission... Would you do me a favor and keep absolute silence about said favor?"

"My King... What goes in your mind?"

"My children's LV rose. Chara is around 5 and Asriel is near 2."

Wingdin's eyelights shrunk into small pinpricks.

"Yes. It is exactly what you think. And I know it is selfish of me to try and bend reality to my liking, but... I know my sons are just and they would not act violent for the sake of violence."

Gaster could not really argue with that. The Princes always were way more well behaved than his own sons.

"You want me to change their data." - He finally said as a matter of fact. - "This could go wrong. It is a way bigger change than hair and eye color. It's a shifting in their own character. If I fail, we can render your sons eternally unstable."

"Wingdin... If you could have done something, anything to prevent Verdana from being locked up on the Maze Tower... Would you not? If it was Sans and Papyrus in the same situation... Would you not try your everything to turn it around? I cannot bear the idea of not seeing my boys alive and healthy. Please... This is from a father to another."

"I... " - Wingdin took a deep breath. - "Let me see if I have enough control of my experiment to attempt something so grand. If I see any signs of instability, I will abort the attempt."

"An attempt is all I ask, my friend."

[slavetale-timeline9920]

Another situation

Wingdin has been working on a machine to break into what he calls 'reality coding'. He discovered that the smallest fragments of the atoms of his universe are actually lines of code. He has successfully accomplished some experiments with that, but the manipulation is very unstable.

This secret experiment is often observed by Shani, who assists Wingdin in whatever he may need, from taking precise notes based off observation to healing him when something goes wrong and he gets hurt in the process. Nothing major happened so far.

His main plan with the idea is to fix the code of Sans' HP so he can be healthy again. Not only for Sans himself, but for her.

Verdana, his former wife, the love of his life, mother of his sons, she was the one responsible for the healing of Sans after the magical surgery. That went wrong. So very wrong. It left her mentally unstable. So unstable she locked her up on her room, refusing to see anyone except for Wingdin himself and her own slave, Onett. One day, Onett couldn't bring her food, as she was ill. It was Wingdin's who took the food. Verdana was angry at him, territorial. She called him names and yelled. The slave failed to explain themselves. She mercilessly trapped the slave in a cage of bones, piercing his whole body.

She was sentenced to the Maze Tower. One of the first monsters to go there. It haunted Wingdin. His precious Verdana was trapped on the place he designed.

The Maze Tower had a way out. Verdana was smart. She was going to find her way back to him and when she did, their son would be healthy again to meet her. Everything would be fine again. He would make sure of it.

[slavetale-timeline9920]

The maze tower

The idea of the Maze Tower was proposed by the council and initially drew by Wingdin, but since his main assignment was the Core - the main reactor of energy for the whole Kingdom and its various structures spread out the Earth, making sure monsters and humans had free, clean electricity - he couldn't linger at the project. That was when he chose Dr Alphys to give continuity to his job. She was fairly regarded by her technological prowess after giving a robotic body to the world-known celebrity Mettaton - and some other ghost monsters who required it. There were so many nowadays that the Crown was in the process of making laws to recognize robotic ghost monsters as a proper race.

The Tower itself is built to stand tall and intimidating, yet, it's covered in mirrors to reflect the surroundings, so it can be easily missed if you look from far away. That too reflects the idea of the Tower: once there, you are supposed to be forgotten.

In the insides, the Tower has several floors. Infinite floors some would say, but that is because of the illusionary nature of its building. A prisoner is taken to the highest part of the Tower from the outside. Then they're ushed in and locked. From that point on, the only way to escape is climb down. Through out all the mindbreaking puzzles, traps and the eerie meetings with other monsters locked up there.

It's been around 20 years the Tower has been built. No one ever ever escaped.

----

I imagine the Maze Tower to be a mix of these buildings.

It's tall and imposing and has the traits of old architecture, but also has the graceful edges of a modern building.

I initially planned for the Maze Tower to only serve as a place to haunt the dreams but honestly? I think our main character's routes will be inside of it.

[slavetale-timeline9920]

The situation

It's been years since Chara has been adopted into the royal family. He has grown closer to them, but the others... Well... Things weren't really going nice. The judgement never relented.

And it got worse. He started to discover, single-handedly that some monsters were positively hurting humans for their own pleasure. He didn't know why and he didn't want to ask, he just started to rescue such humans, by himself.

Asriel was upset that his beloved brother kept hiding something from him and made an investigation of his own. Especially because something was off. Reports of weird monster deaths took place. Looking at the evidence, it always seemed like self-defense. Like there was no other way. At least, as much as it was possible to make something out of that, with the bodies turning into dust.

There was also always blood on those places. Monsters didn't bleed, Asriel knew that as much. Was that a rebellion?

And then... The day came.

The day when Asriel found what Chara has been doing and decided to step in. Maybe change his mind? Suggest a non-violent approach? If someone else discovered... It would be the end. It was unheard of, but Chara could be sentenced to the Maze Tower, since he had the status as a monster.

When he arrived, Chara was releasing a tiny child, maybe 5 years old? At that age, humans should be at the Royal Nurturing Facility, not being under the surveillance of a master. Asriel frowned as he realized that Chara was too distracted to notice the monster who was charging towards him, pattern bullets ready to strike.

He ran to try to stop it. There was no way he would manage to stop it. There was no way he was going to let him hurt Chara. He couldn't lose his brother. He could never lose the only one who could understand him. He threw his magic against the monster. It dusted him instantly.

Only at this point, Chara noticed that his brother was there. Fear washed over him. No matter. Chara would take responsibility. He always did. He could always blame on the fact he was a human and be punished. Not Asriel. Not his precious brother. He couldn't bear the idea of living without him.

It was the worst possible scenario. They rescued the child and took them back to the facility. They were regarded as heroes and the child was integrated into the Slave Program and named 'Frisk'. That wasn't what Chara usually did when he rescued the humans, but when Asriel suggested, he just went along with it.

Chara checked his own status. LV 5. Exp to next: 233. Then he checked Asriel's. LV 1. Exp to next: 10. There is no monster in the world with such a small need of Exp for the next LV. There was no other way to explain that other than murder. Chara needed to find a solution to explain their high LV before the annual check and fast.

[slavetale-timeline9920]

The Royals:

King Asgore:

Before the war, goat monsters like him were pretty common and they were mostly associated with nobility. He is the last surviving member of the original royal family and tried to postpone as much as he could his duties as new King.

He eventually accepted his position, when he understood that winning the war wasn't the end of their trouble. (And by pressure of the council)

Fell in love with Toriel, but didn't really confess until the war was over. Luckily for him, she accepted his feelings.

Is mostly kept in the dark about the groups of monsters who have been abusing their humans, as the information loses itself on the process of registry.

Was the one who decided to adopt Chara and also the one who decided to hide evidence after 'the situation'.

Plants are his jam and you'll definitely see him at his garden in his spare time, which is not much tbh

Personally, he is not in charge of any slaves, despite the technicalities saying The Crown owns all of them. To solve this, he has 'The Seven Chosen'. These slaves are linked to Toriel's magic, but only serve him. They can be swapped from times to times.

Toriel:

Daughter of a Count. Was supposed to marry one of Asgore's older brothers, but he died during the war. She didn't mind that much, to be fair, it was just an arranged marriage.

Served as a Asgore's light during his darkest times, which kept them going strong as a couple when the war ended.

Humans have a high sense of respect towards her because of her kind ways and gentle guidance.

She is in charge of several slaves(number is not exact). She wears a big bracelet with several linkstones attached to it.

Was the one who found out about 'the situation'.

Has verbally opposed the council loud and clear when they decided to apply the punishment to her children.

With the punishment being applied anyway, she became emotionally distant and most of her smiles are faked. She mastered the ability to do it so, though.

Asriel:

As a perfect blend of his parents, Asriel inherited the kindness, the nurturing nature and the sense of duty. He brought light to the palace when he was born, as he was curious and pleasant to stay around of. He had plenty of acquaintances.

Acquaintances. No friends. There was this stupid barrier between him and most monsters his age. Their parents would tell them, naturally, that they were supposed to treat him with utmost respect and that often meant that kids would allow him to win the games. Barely touch him in fears of 'tainting him'. Never, ever tease him in fears of being sent to the mage tower. Those were... Shallow friendships. And he hated it.

One day, when he was on his father's garden, he met a human. Said human had no magic rune on his body to affirm he was part of the slave program. He also seemed to be way too thin and dirty. Not to mention- Hurt! Asriel helped the human and they became friends.

Not just acquaintances. Friends. This human treated him normally. Without worrying about his position or title. Maybe even, he wasn't even aware of it. This nameless human, was just the right amount of annoying and touching and fun he needed.

Asriel soon found a place for this human to stay inside the palace, a room of his own and for some time, it was a fantasy. Their own world.

But they were found eventually.

Asgore and Toriel were surprised in many levels. A human with no identification and no name. A person who their son actually managed to connect. More than that... That human had magic on them. In fact, he were so powerfully magical, one could have mistaken his for a boss monster, if magic was the only thing taken in consideration. He was also charming and easy to talk to.

The human was named Chara and instead of sticking him into the slave program, they had a better plan. They would make Chara their own son. Asriel's brother. He was obviously the most ecstatic about that.

Chara

Before coming to the castle, Chara lived with his mother inside the forest. She hated monsters. Her monster owner at the time used to hurt her. But he would do that in such subtle ways that there was no way to detect it in the monthly checkup. The monster doctor in charge of her area, also didn't seem very keen on humans' wellbeing.

She fell in love with another slave and they kept a forbidden relationship that ultimately resulted on her pregnancy. They decided to run away from the monsters, hiding on the forest. Her lover was killed during the chase and she managed to stay alive, but had to live on her own. Including her labor.

She made it sure for Chara that monsters were bad and he was supposed to fear them. Hate them.

Hating monsters he did. Despite having never seen one before. When his mother died - mostly out of starvation - he understood he could no longer stay on the forest only.

He advanced towards the city. Especially at the palace's garden. No one really guarded there because there was no threats.

There, he met Asriel. Asriel was too nice. He couldn't be out like this. What if the monsters got him? He barely could believe when he told him that he was a monster himself. No way. Monsters were bad.

That was their only disagreement.

Eventually, he was adopted by the royals. They were so nice. So kind. He came to love them, despite the voice of his dead mother chastising him for befriending the enemy.

He could feel the dirty looks, though. From monsters and humans alike. Who he thought he was? How come a lowly human like him, (uneducated at that!), become part of the very royal family?

Was he bad?

No. Asgore said he wasn't. Toriel reassured he wasn't. Asriel believed he wasn't.

But he definitely knew. There were bad monsters out there and he wanted to catch them.

[slavetale-timeline9920]

About the Gaster family

Wingdin (W.D. for short):

Father of Sans and Papyrus, Master of main character.

During his early scientist days, he designed the Core - a strong energy generator - and has been placed as the Royal Scientist for such feat.

Workaholic. (What a surprise)

Is the main responsible for Sans' sense of humor.

His family understands Wing Dings, but he communicates with other monsters by sign language. It is mandatory to learn sign language for all monsters, as some aren't capable of speech at all(they lack mouths/vocals) and communication is necessary.

He keeps several studies rolling at the same time, including one about the effects of magic on the human body and one about alternative timelines and Universes.

Has a dark purple magic color. The main character is his only slave now.

Sans:

Classic Sans starter pack: Bad jokes to hide his sadness? Check. Prefers to procrastinate and sleep than work? Check. Has a strong af magic but doesn't show it unless extremely necessary? Check. Addicted to a condiment? Check. (It's mayo, btw)

Works on the Royal Lab with his father. Is especially passionate about the Alternative Timelines/Universes study, but works mainly on maintenance of the Core and designing useful machinery for the Kingdom.

Thinks humans are naturally violent and doesn't trust them completely. But this doesn't stop him from getting attached to a small number of them.

Has a navy blue magic color.

Is Master of 10 years old Frisk. But doesn't really take it serious. He mostly adopted them because they had sad puppy eyes when Gaster took him to choose a slave for himself. Papyrus is the one who takes care of them most of the time.

He wasn't born with the 1 HP condition. Instead, he was healthy with an HP of 20 until the age of 9, when Papyrus fell ill. Part of his soul was removed in order to make a transplant to save his younger brother's life. During this procedure, however, healing went wrong and he became permanently ridden with the low stats and stamina.

Papyrus:

The Great Papyrus is now a Royal Guard! Well, even if he only works on administrative and teaching duties. Especially considering that since no real threats occur in this timeline, very few Guards are actually trained to battle.

Possesses 4 slaves. He named them Onett, Twoson, Threed and Foursyde. They are all very attached to him. As stated above, also takes care of Sans' slave, Frisk. Onett used to be his mother's slave and he inherited her after she left.

Fell ill when he was a child and had a magic surgery performed on him. Sans donated part of his soul in order to fix Papyrus'. On his side, the surgery was a success and he never had any health problems ever since.

Good friend for the main character. They share some hobbies in common, like cooking.

His magic's color is gold-yellow.

Verdana:

Wingdin's former wife, mother to Papyrus and Sans. Had some mental instability as she has fought on the war.

Accidentally killed a slave during an argument and has been sentenced to the Maze Tower. Is unknown if she survived or not, but she was never seen again.

Her magic is/was neon green.

[slavetale-timeline9920]

Hello!

Hi! ♡

[slavetale-timeline9920]

About the main character

It's a 20 years old female who's owned by W.D. Gaster. She has been with him since she was 10 and was pretty much raised with Sans and Papyrus.

She possesses a green soul, kindness, and the ability to use healing magic. Humans cannot use magic without a 'medium'. Medium may be an object or an act. Main character's medium is music. She either plays a flute or sings. Singing has a weaker effect than playing. Her magic does not work on herself.

Her magic abilities were the reason why Gaster chose her to guide. He wanted to study and provide proper guidance to her, as he felt that some monsters could use her ability as a means to gain fortune or popularity. (Which is not illegal if it doesn't cause any damage to the human.)

She can understand and write Wing Dings, but is not fluent to speak it. (To be fair, she ruins the accent, poor baby)

She takes care of a golden flower that she named 'Flowey'. But Flowey is not alive. At least, not yet.

She co-exists with Frisk, who's 10 years old in this Universe and is owned by Sans(more details about this on the Gaster family post) and they have a close sibling-like relationship.

Sans was her first (and only) kiss. After said kiss, he became cold and colder to her and nowadays, their relationship is of mere acquaintances. She never inquired why he changed his approach. Instead she accepted and noved on. Feelings lingered.

[slavetale-timeline9920]

About Masters and Slaves

Masters are called either 'Master(ohrly?)' or 'Guides'. Slaves are called 'Guidees', 'Slaves' or 'things/property'(this one is rude and considered to be a slur).

Slaves belong to the Crown and not to the monsters themselves. Masterless Slaves are expected to run errands in random houses and workplaces.

Each monster is allowed to be assigned as many humans as they are able to take care of. It's rare, however, for them to have more than one.

Some monsters, with a high empathy level, are able to have several Guidees. Notoriously Toriel and Papyrus.

Masters are expected to take care of their Slaves financially, providing them with food, clothes and proper sleeping conditions.

Only one Slave is allowed to sleep in the same house as their Master, others go to the main dorm with Masterless Slaves.

Masters and slaves are connected by a special type of gem named 'linkstone'. Linkstones are produced after a brief soul scan. The Master's linkstone will have the Slave's soul color and the Slave's linkstone will have the Master's magic color. Linkstones are usually wore attached to bracelets, but rings, necklaces, collars and tiaras are very common as well.

Relationships between Masters and Slaves are not forbidden by laws, but are frowned upon and considered taboo, as any teacher/student relationship would.

Laws:

Physical punishment is completely forbidden, however, restrictive magic spells may be used during a life-threatening situation.

Slaves may have relationships with each other with the permission of their masters, but can't have offspring.

Misbehaving slaves have a certain amount of strikes they can get before being trapped in the Maze Tower. The amount of strikes depends on stats, soul type and NDV(Natural disposition for Violence) level. An obedient and pacific slave will have more chances to be forgiven than a bratty, difficult one.

A Master who abuses their slave(physically or mentally) will be going to trial to explain themselves. The punishments delivered onto them will vary accordingly to this scale:

Unintentional to light abuse: Will be suspended from having their slave for an amount of time, then will be put on probation to confirm if they are able to keep Mastering. If not, they will lose their slave and won't be able to register another one.

Moderate abuse or recurring abuse: Will be forbidden to have any slaves for a certain amount of time.

Heavy abuse or Moderate abuse of multiple slaves: Will be banned of having slaves indefinitely.

Heavy abuse of multiple slaves or murder of a slave: Will be locked up on the Maze Tower. The sentence will take up a month to be executed and during this time, they have the chance to appeal to the court.

[slavetale-timeline9920]

How it started:

Monsters won the war.

Humans simply couldn't deal with the way their numbers were dropping, how scarce the resources were becoming. Many humans died by the other consequences of the war, like hunger and poisoning by magic. Oh yes. Magic with dark intents is poisonous and fatal. A small amount is fine, but just like radiation, the more you get exposed to it, the sicker you get. Affects monsters too, but needs higher concentrations or the true wish of death.

After studies, monsters came to the conclusion that humans are naturally violent in opposition to their natural compassion.

So, humans should be under surveillance to guarantee this side of them could be supressed through guidance.

There was a training program for the adaptation of both sides.

Strict laws guaranteed the safety of humans and monsters.

Anyone who didn't follow the rules would be locked up at the Maze Tower.

A huge tower, filled with death traps and with no possibility of contact with others locked up inside as the floors were seemingly endless and made no sense. No one, monster or human, wanted to end up there. It was a no mercy area.