#wolfwalker!reader

Still within his space of freedom, the imp leaned back against the wall and slid down it until he reached the floor. His eyes traveled up to the striped ceiling as his mind seemed to wander on its own. The faint memory of the tall skeleton he met still lingered in his head. If not the skeleton himself, then the messages he had given.

One particular message stuck out to the jester.

"✂︎⚐︎☞︎ ❄︎☟︎⚐︎💧︎☜︎ 🕈︎☟︎⚐︎ 💣︎✌︎✡︎ 👌︎☜︎👍︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎ 🕈︎⚐︎☹︎✞︎☜︎💧︎ 🕈︎☟︎✋︎☹︎☜︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎✋︎☼︎ ☟︎🕆︎💣︎✌︎☠︎ 👌︎⚐︎👎︎✋︎☜︎💧︎ ☹︎✌︎✡︎ 💧︎☹︎☜︎☜︎🏱︎✋︎☠︎☝︎📪︎ 👌︎☜︎☹︎✋︎☜︎✞︎☜︎ ✋︎❄︎ ⚐︎☼︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ⚐︎☠︎☜︎ 💧︎❄︎✋︎☹︎☹︎ ☼︎☜︎💣︎✌︎✋︎☠︎💧︎📬︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎✡︎ 🕈︎✋︎☹︎☹︎ ✌︎☼︎☼︎✋︎✞︎☜︎ ✋︎☠︎ 👎︎🕆︎☜︎ ❄︎✋︎💣︎☜︎📬︎ ✡⚐🕆 🕈✋☹☹ 😐☠⚐🕈 🕈☟⚐ ❄☟☜✡ ✌☼☜📬✂"

How long had it been since he had been told so?

Perhaps days. Weeks, months... it was no use to count the time down here. There was almost no way to.

He's tried. And after a while, counting each second can drive you mad.

Jevil had heard stories of their kind. Wolfwalkers, they called them. Beings who could roam freely as humans during the day, while their souls would leave their human form during the night to wander the land as a wolf. They were said to wield many sorts of abilities, one being seen more so than the others. The power of healing.

But that was just an old guard's tale, now, wasn't it?

Everyone thought so.

But the devilish jester figured otherwise. He had a feeling that what he was hearing wasn't just a mere story made up to help children rest easier at night or to get their imaginations going.

Something within told him that they once truly existed.

Now he had the odd void-dweller only confirming his instincts, which shot his brain into near overdrive as he attempted to piece everything together from within his little freedom. Thinking for hours on end in complete silence, with the only nearby sound being the noise of the bells on your hat jingling, could be just a tad maddening.

At least it was something.

The jester snapped from his thoughts with a jolt as he turned his head to look over his shoulder and through the steel bars of his cell, the sound of footsteps hitting the hard floor from outside reaching his pointed ears. 

As the series of footsteps grew louder before coming to a stop behind him, he smiled from ear to ear, exposing his sharp teeth once again. "BOO HOO, BOO HOO, UEE HEE HEE. SO LONELY, LONELY, I BE..." he rose into his usual hovering stance as he turned to face the visitors, his tail needlessly supporting him as he remained in place. "BUT LO, THREE VISITORS STANDING INSIDE? WHO ARE YOU FEW?"

"There's four, actually!" the shadowed goat replied, stepping aside to show an extra member of the party behind him.

Within mere seconds as Jevil's eyes landed upon your form, he felt a chill rush up his spine. If he focused hard enough, he could almost catch a glimpse of your SOUL, glowing faintly with yellow markings embedded into it.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Ralsei, this is Kris, tha-" he was abruptly cut off by the pink monster to his left.

"So, what the hell are you doing in here?"

With a sudden glance in the goat's direction, he perked up once more. "I AM INNOCENT, INNOCENT. I JUST WANTED TO PLAY A GAME, GAME. BUT THE BORING KINGS FOUND SUCH FUN TO BE A TROUBLE. AS PUNISHMENT, THEY CRAVED TO IMPRISON MY BODY. BUT I'M FAST, FAST, CLEVER, CLEVER. THEY LOST THE CHASE, AND LOCKED UP THEIR ENTIRE RACE, BUILDING A PRISON AROUND THE WHOLE WORLD."

The jester's grin only seemed to tighten, as if he was growing more excited or furious by the second. Which of the two, the group couldn't tell. "NOW I'M THE ONLY FREE ONE."

"Huh? Free? But you're clearly the one behind bars..." muttered Ralsei.

"THINGS DON'T SEEM SUCH FROM HERE, LIGHTNERS!"

"Well," Susie scoffed, "sounds like you don't need any help, then."

"THAT IS UN-SO." The yellow pupils in Jevil's eyes appeared once more as he perked up. "I GROW LONELY IN MY LITTLE FREEDOM. SO, SHALL YOU PLAY A GAME WITH ME, ME...? I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FREE!"

The jester watched as your group shared unnerved glances, before the leader, Kris, shrugged. "May as well."

"SPLENDID!" exclaimed Jevil. "FIND THE KEY, AND I'LL LET YOU BE FREE, FREE. THE KEY IS HIDDEN FROM THE EYES. THE OLD SHOPKEEPER KNOWS A SECRET."

Kris gave a faint nod in response, turning around to lead the group back up the staircase. You turned to follow the trio, only to be halted as the whimsical voice of the jester rang out from behind the bars once more. "WAIT, WAIT. BEFORE YOU GO."

You turned your head to look back over your shoulder, faintly raising an eyebrow at him as you waited for him to continue. "Yes...?"

"I DON'T BELIEVE I EVER GOT YOUR NAME, NAME!" He tilted his head at you, his grip on the steel bars seeming to weaken as his void-like eyes seemed to burn through you.

While the jester was set on getting to know the peculiar stranger who followed the trio down to his little space of freedom, he was also giving himself time to absorb what was in front of him. The odd aura that hovered around your form, of which that would likely unnerve anyone around, but only seemed to excite him further. He had to know that he wasn't just imagining things.

That he was right.

"Oh," you glanced to the side for a moment, seemingly taking a second to ponder on whether or not you should introduce yourself. "It's (Y/N). Nice to meet you, sir."

Jevil's grin only seemed to widen, as if that were even possible. Those yellow pupils of his gleamed brightly in the dim light of the corridor. "WITH GRAND DELIGHT."

You gave him a nod in response, flashing him a quick smile before walking up the rest of the staircase to reach the elevator, as to not keep your companions waiting any longer.

As you left his residence, the imp caught himself staring up at where you had exited from. With each passing moment, Jevil only seemed to be holding back a sudden burst of excitement as he continuously beamed at the elevator above, his curled tail swiftly swaying behind him.

"mornin," a familiar voice spoke.

You lifted your head, looking over at the staircase to see none other than a certain tall skeleton in an orange hoodie standing on the last step at the bottom, leaning against the railing as he stared back at you.

You had been outside in the snow for a while before now, after finally coming back inside from your usual run during the night while your human body rested, only to head into the living room and curl up with a cup of hot chocolate while you waited for the skelebros to wake up. Turns out Carrot over here had other plans.

"Mornin'," you answered. "You're up earlier than usual."

"eh." Papyrus shrugged, walking over beside you. "couldn't sleep."

You stretched out your arms, letting out a yawn as you let your elbows pop, prompting Papyrus to give a faint grimace. Once you relaxed back into your spot, you looked over at Papyrus with a raised eyebrow, something that had almost become a habit at this point.

As usual, his hands were hidden away in the pockets of his hoodie. Once your eyes met, you could catch an amused gleam in those black ones of his. "didja have a good run?"

"Yep!" You stretched your arms back over your head as you let out a yawn. "Lots of snow to run through. We don't exactly get much snow where I'm from, so it's a nice change of scenery."

"heh." Papyrus gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. "in that case, i don't think you'll be getting tired of this place anytime soon. plenty of snow here."

You let out a breathless laugh in response, a smile stretching across your face. "It's really pretty out here, I'll admit. I just..." you trailed off, your gaze growing distant as you glanced away from the skeleton beside you. "I kind of miss the giant, open sky full of stars I used to run under."

Papyrus blinked, his usual relaxed smile faltering as he watched your expression fall, eyes traveling down to your hands as he noticed you nudging them into your pockets. After a moment, he perked up a bit. "y'know," he began, "i always wondered how those wolfwalker abilities of yours worked. mind enlightening me about 'em?"

You visibly perked up, which prompted the weight in Papyrus' non-existent chest to lighten as you glanced over at him. "Oh! Alright. What... exactly do you want to know?"

"well, for starters, how exactly does the whole transformation thing work? you mentioned it's sort of like the soul leaving the body, which, uhh..." he trailed off, his eyebrow ridges narrowing a bit. "sounded a bit mindboggling, ya know?"

You blinked, slightly raising your eyebrows in response before nodding. Right! Their concept of souls worked quite differently than the concepts you had known of before coming down here, to the point where souls could be exposed for instant harm. Just the mere mention of souls could cause anyone down here to grow uncomfortable, especially since Monster souls were so... fragile.

One wrong hit and it'd cause their soul to shatter and turn to dust.

"(y/n), wakey wakey." Papyrus snapped his fingers in an attempt to get your attention, and fortunately, it worked. "no zonin' out on me, buddy. i just got here."

"Oh!" you jolted. "Right, right, uh-"

You furrowed your eyebrows, glancing down to the side as you brought a hand to your mouth, silently trying to figure out how to explain it all. "Well... to put it simply, when we go to sleep, even just to the point where our brain is just barely starting to shut off, our "soul" starts to leave our body," you said.

"I've always been told it's our soul, which makes it even more interesting since it's automatically a wolf, but that doesn't stop me from being confused. 'Cause you would think that by having the soul leave the body, then the body would just die at some point, wouldn't-" you came to an abrupt stop, your eyes growing wide as you stared ahead. "Oh."

You could see Papyrus slightly tilt his head out of the corner of your eye. "what'd you notice now?" While that line would usually be taken as an offense, his tone was purely lighthearted and genuine.

In the back of your mind, you could faintly recall all of the times when your mother advised you to never wake up a sleepwalker.

"Why is that, Momma?"

"Because their soul would be lost! They can't get back into their body if the body isn't asleep."

You chuckled, a fond smile forming on your face. "Just a little something. Have you ever been told not to wake up someone who's sleepwalking?"

Papyrus shrugged. "a few times, i guess. 'cause their soul would be lost, right? though i've only ever heard about it in those human books my bro has."

"Exactly!" you exclaimed, though you were mindful of your voice's volume. "I never quite understood that until now. All these years as a Wolfwalker myself, and it never clicked. Wow."

Papyrus chuckled in response. "welp. better late than never, right?"

"True."

You let out a sigh. "Anywho. What else?"

"hmm... could a monster become a wolfwalker? since it's passed through bites n' all."

You paused, humming to yourself for a second. "I'm... not too sure about that one. I haven't ever heard of a monster becoming one, but maybe it'd be possible? I'd have to see it to know, but I don't think I'm willing to just bite anyone to test it out."

Papyrus gave another chuckle. "yeah, i don't think we need that. especially if it doesn't work and then you just bit someone for no reason."

"Exactly," you laughed.

Papyrus narrowed his eyebrow ridges in thought once more, taking a moment to think of another question. Fortunately, he's had questions stored in the back of his mind since he met you and learned about... all of this.

"what if... you were to get, uh. fatally injured in any way? i know you have healing magic, but doesn't it have a limit?"

"I'm pretty sure it does," you replied. "Minor injuries like scrapes, bruises, or just things like a sudden cut on the arm will usually heal up relatively fast. It may take several minutes depending on how bad or deep the wound is, but still, it'll heal eventually." You went quiet, your gaze drifting down to the floor.

"As for more serious injuries... chances are, something like a stab wound won't be able to heal on its own. A singular wolfwalker's magic will do what it can before either wearing us out or disappearing until we can get others to help." You subconsciously crossed your arms over your midsection as you continued. "If it's a fatal injury, then our magic will likely be unable to do much at all unless there's multiple wolfwalkers pitching in to heal the same wound."

Luckily, you didn't notice Papyrus' eyes shift down to your arms as they crossed over your torso, your eyes growing distant once more. Like you were reliving a faint memory.

After a moment, you blinked and snapped yourself out of... whatever you had just been in, before continuing. "Alright, what else?"

Papyrus blinked in response, barely expecting you to come out of it so quick. "uh- just how strong is your hearing?"

"Strong enough to hear people chatting outside and their footsteps in the snow."

"huh?"

"I take it most monsters wake up early?"

"ehh..." Papyrus shrugged. "you could say that."

He readjusted his position, propping his own legs up on the couch and crossing one over the other to get more comfortable. "so does anything about your eyesight change when you're in that form?"

"Quite a bit, actually," you said. "The way we see colors compared to our human form is generally the same, except the hues we see are slightly different. It's just the way that wolves see things, except... we get to see the colored scent trails of everyone. And if we shut our eyes, then we can see nothing but the full-on outlines of everyone around us. Wolves, squirrels, you name it."

"really now?" he tilted his head. "can you see mine, then?"

You squinted your eyes at him, blinking a few times in hopes of setting off your wolf vision. You were fairly tired, after all, so maybe it would be easy. "I can try..."

After another blink, everything around you went dark and you could see the outline of the hooded skeleton in front of you; orange and glowing faintly against the now dull room around you. You gave a slightly victorious smirk. "Aha."

You blinked a couple of times afterward, prompting your vision to return to normal as you leaned back a bit. "Orange, eh? I don't think I've seen that outline color before..." you mumbled, reaching over to grab your mug.

Papyrus almost seemed to stiffen once you mentioned the color. "huh. ya think they're connected to how souls operate?"

"Possibly," you replied. "Most of the people I met above ground had green or blue outlines, so that's probably it."

You hummed, taking a sip from your hot chocolate as you peered down at the floor. Didn't some of your family members have a blue outline? Or was it orange?

Man, if some of your family members had the Integrity or Bravery soul trait, then they sure never acted on it.

You knew your mother definitely had a yellow outline...

What was yours, again?

Wasn't it purple?

Oh! Wait, no, it was-

A sudden whistle caught your attention, instantly causing you to look up. You had already lowered your mug, while Papyrus was still sitting across from you, with an eyebrow ridge raised as he stared back at you with his usual amused grin. "ya zoned out again."

"Bah, perfect," you said. "Love to hear it."

Papyrus chuckled in response. "i think i got one more question for you."

"Shoot."

"what about a coma? would ya still be able to "transform" or... does being unconscious make a difference?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it makes a difference." You glanced down at your sleeves, fidgeting with them a bit before attempting to explain it all. "I've been unconscious before, whether it be through anesthesia for surgeries or that injury I gave in to a few weeks ago," you paused, peering over at Papyrus, only for him to glance away.

You playfully rolled your eyes before continuing, "and each time, I never turned into my wolf form or anything. I don't quite know what happens in the brain to change that, but oh well."

Your eyes soon found their way over to the fireplace, watching as the flames flickered, prompting the light from it to follow. You brought your hand up and rested your chin in your palm, propping your elbow up on the arm of the couch.

You let your eyes shift down to the cup of hot chocolate in your hand, which was now practically empty, but had some leftover liquid that was more chocolate syrup than actual hot cocoa you felt like would taste appealing.

Your fingernails idly traced the nicely drawn designs on the sides of the mug. Only now had you started to notice the faint shivering your body was doing thanks to the cold air of the house itself.

"oi," Papyrus' voice managed to snap you out of it once again, and you glanced over at him, only for a blanket to suddenly be draped over your shoulders. How long had he been trying to get your attention? Goodness.

"don'tcha think you need a blanket, kid? you're shivering with a mug in your hand and i don't think blue would appreciate any stains on his beloved couch."

"Huh? Oh." You glanced back down at your empty mug before blinking and resting it on the coffee table beside you. Afterward, you readjusted the blanket around you by tugging it back over your shoulders so it wouldn't fall. "Right. Can't have that, can we?"

"nope, we cannot." Papyrus scooted a bit closer to you than he had previously been to wrap the blanket around you, resting an arm over your shoulder as you leaned against him.

"y'know," he started, prompting you to peer up at him, "you really oughta let me come with you on one of those nightly runs of yours. maybe it'd be fun."

You let out a small, breathless laugh. "To explore a place that you already live in?"

"'ey, it'll be more fun now that you're around, right?"