Underground

Word Count: 1,805

Chara got along well with the two skeleton brothers. They almost became like siblings with how close they got. After a few days l, it was normal to see them around the lab. Fallen got use to them exploring or watching after the boys after a few weeks. He was able to finish his security system because of it too, yet he's left it off for a few reasons. One was so he didn't get in trouble with Asgore. He did, however, leave the alert on for when someone enters or exits on. He'd get it on a small pocket device so only he'd notice for now, and not who happens to be entering or exiting.

Fallen was nervous the first time it went off. He expected Asgore to be the one who walked in, but to his surprise it was Asriel instead. Either way, Fallen had to at least have Chara hide away from the prince. If Asriel is anything related to Asgore in personality, Chara probably wouldn't be safe if found. Fallen made sure to remind them of that, even if the scientist had partly raised Asriel.

Fallen watched over the kids while he reread a book nearby. He had warned them not to say anything about Chara for the human child's safety, but he wanted to make sure. He wasn't suspecting any of the brothers for being bad, he just expected their mistakes, especially when they're having fun. Luckily, they managed to not spill the beans. Only problem was Fallen's worry about Asriel coming in without him realizing it, since Asriel is now becoming more independent acting as he got older and didn't announce his presence like his father. Mischief waiting to happen. 

Worst part is Asriel actually did once decided to roam the labs without permission. Fallen never noticed since he was taking a nap during the time Asriel entered. He expected his kids to be responsible enough, by apparently that wasn't the case. Instead, Fallen found the four of them, Chara, Sans, Papyrus, and Asriel, all talking happily in the main common room of the lab. Fallen thought he was still asleep at first, but once he realized he wasn't, he decided he'd ask later how it managed to work out. He just watched from afar for now.

They talked casually like old friends. The first one to notice Fallen was there was Papyrus, being as observant as usual. He ran up to the scientist for a hug, bouncing into his arms.

"How are you all?" Fallen asks and gives a small smile to play off his worries. Chara gave a skeptical look at first but just played along.

"We're doing great!" Papyrus exclaims happily. Fallen picks up the small skeleton, allowing for Papyrus to pay the other's head gently. Fallen smiled more, this time more genuine, and hugged Papyrus as best as he could while he's holding the small child.

"That's good then." Fallen says and takes a moment to glance at Asriel. He didn't seem to act like he entered at a bad time.

"How did you rest, Dad?" Sans asks. He seemed to see more problems with the way his smile seemed more on the nervous side. 

"Well enough so far. We'll see as the day continues." Fallen put down Papyrus and looked at Asriel as the kid spoke up. 

"Can we go play together now? Sans and Papyrus said they weren't sure if I could." He explains. That fits a few pieces together.

"Well, you're already here. Might as well let you." Fallen couldn't just turn him away now. At least they all got along. 

Fallen supervised while reading one of his old, favorite books, just as he had always done. He was more attentive to the kids though. Whatever happened while he slept, it was settled now but Fallen wasn't sure how settled it really was. 

Of course there was the point where Asriel had to go home. As skeptical and cautious as Fallen was, he confronted Asriel before he fully left the labs.

"What do you think of Chara, the human?" Asriel jumped a bit in surprise and turned to face the skeleton. This was kind of new from Fallen, so the prince took a moment to respond.

"They're nice. And friendly. What about them?" His facial expression showed his unease, from shifting eyes to his attempt to smile.

"Because after taking care of them for as long as I have, their safety is important to me. If you really do want to hang out with them more, you must not say a word about them to your father. That risk must not be taken." Fallen's height and stare made for an intimidating figure to Asriel. While he understood every word clear, he wasn't sure how to respond. It was clear he knew his father's faults when it came to humans, to put it lightly.

"I-I understand, sir…" Asriel mumbles. He had never before referred to Fallen like that, only his dad when he got into some kind of trouble. Fallen sighed, letting his intimidating figure go, and gave Asriel a pat on the head. He couldn't help but feel guilty for scaring the other.

"I apologize, but I'm sure you understand why." The scientist starts. "Just know I'll be proud if you can keep this a secret and you can continue to hang out at the labs with us anytime." 

Asriel softened his stance a bit and gave a sheepish smile. "Alright." He was still quiet when he spoke but it was at least a bit louder than before. He was probably just still shaken up from the moment before.

Fallen let Asriel leave, leaving him alone with his anxiety to haunt his mind. There wasn't much the scientist could do besides reread a book and hope his trust in Asriel doesn't cost him.

Fallen assumed that since the royal family hadn't stopped by at all, especially Asgore and Asriel, that so far they were in the clear. If they weren't, Asgore would be storming in here, that's for sure. As long as that didn't happen, they were safe for the time.

Asriel would visit the day after, almost making a system of every other day, but it wasn't exactly routined or in a system. He was like that cousin that occasionally came over with little warning which is pretty much what the skeleton brothers at least saw him as nowadays. 

After a few months, Asriel didn't come over as joyous as he usually did. He was quiet, never answering anyone's concerned questions. Fallen offered him things to eat and drink, yet Asriel rarely took any of it. He was there physically, but it was clear his mind was elsewhere.

Asriel stayed the night for the first time, making Fallen wonder if something happened at the castle. Was he even allowed to be here? He was sure he'd know soon enough, but he decided that sleeping wouldn't be easy. Asriel seemed to silently agree.

Fallen checked on Asriel when he couldn't sleep yet the other kids were. The prince laid in bed with his eyes open, like he gave up long before. The scientist tried to talk to the young goat monster.

"May I know what's wrong?" Fallen asks.

"She's… She's gone…" Asriel mumbles with little change in his expression.

"Who is?" While Fallen didn't know much of Asriel's life outside of the labs, his soul ached at the possibilities it came up with.

"Mom left and I don't know where she went…" Asriel buried his face in his paws as he let out a whimper. "They got on another fight because they don't know what to do and she just… left this time… and now Dad won't leave his room…" 

Fallen gently rubbed Asriel's back to comfort him as best as he could. He thought that the couple had things settled and decided on what they would do, but then again, hey hadn't seen a human in years. Things must've changed because of that. Now Toriel just cut herself out of the scenario completely, which made it worse for Asgore. He was already struggling heavily in the emotional bonds he holds for his people as their king. Now his family split because of it.

It was a lot Fallen didn't want to entirely get involved in. He didn't just want to leave Asriel like this, though. "Asgore must be taking it hard as well. Do you think you can help him? It might help you move on as well." He accidentally made it sound like she passed away. While Toriel may not be, Queen Toriel in a sense was.

"It'll be weird without mom there." Asriel mumbles as he slowly pulled his paws from his face.

"I know, but unless she plans to come back, there is not much you can do. Try what you can." Fallen's advice wasn't as good as he wished, plus it's the best he had.

Asriel seemed to understand, bhut he stayed silent. After a moment, fallen decided to leave it at that. "Get some rest." He says as he gets up. "I'll try to do the same." He gave the best smile he could muster before he left the room.

Asriel was gone by the time he woke up. Fallen wouldn't know the situation until Asriel decided to come back to the labs. Fallen wasn't planning to go find out himself anyways. Who knows how that would turn out.

The labs became a bit more solemn while Asriel was gone. He wouldn't come back for a while either. Fallen worried a bit, so he did take the trouble to look for Asriel to make sure he was alright. Fallen didn't bother him though. He just wanted to be reassured in his safety. The anxiety was killing him.

Papyrus would ask where Asriel was after a few days. Fallen would just say he's been busy instead of giving the real story. Chara knew this but they decided not to call him out on it. There wasn't a need to, even if they could also tell Fallen didn't like doing such a thing.

Everyone just hoped everything would pass.

When Asriel finally came back, he wore the best smile he could and tried to hang out like old times. While it wasn't exactly like before, it was better than nothing. Sometimes Asriel even stayed long enough to have sleepovers, perhaps to make up for all the time he was gone.

Fallen was at least glad Asriel was feeling fine enough to manage a fake front compared to before. He should get better with time, especially in a place not as affected by Toriel's absence.

Yet, somehow that's not how it went. Within just a couple of weeks, the Underground would change drastically from the prince's next choices.

Reborn Arc End

Word Count: 1,875

Fallen was sorting his bookshelves, though only because he wanted to change his method to sorting them again. It was one of his nervous ticks to organize and since he never really had anything, he just found new ways for old stuff.

When Fallen was done, he looked back at Sam's. The young skeleton was intently reading a book at a nearby table, wearing a soft smile. Soon Papyrus would be born, probably in the next week, so Fallen and Sans had that to look forward to. For now they planned to relax and wait, spending time in any way they can.

Fallen was the first to look over when he heard the door open. Asgore stood in the doorway, scanning the room with his intimidating look, before heading over to Fallen. It was a nerve-wracking silence until Asgore spoke.

"Gaster, please don't tell me you used the only two souls we had." Asgore begged the scientist somewhat. Although it seemed he didn't have that much anger in his tone, to Fallen it sounded angry enough to bring up his anxiety.

"Of course to-" Fallen muttered while fidgeting with his hands but was cut off. 

"Do you realize how much later that can put us? I might not even be king by then! It's bad enough that Toriel wants us to at least wait until their deathbed to take their souls. We could have only needed five more! Hell, maybe even just four if you never rushed to bring her back." Fallen just listened to the king rant, trying not to care about not being able to explain why. Sans watched, both confused and scared, but didn't say a word. "For the next human, don't you dare bring them back. It halves the power of their soul too, making no point to recollect them." Fallen didn't want there to be a point anyways.

Once the king was out of things to rant on and on about or couldn't repeat anything with a purpose, he finally decided to leave the skeletons alone. Fallen let out a sigh and noticed Sans coming over to hug him.

"Who was that?" Sans asks. Fallen didn't know how to answer at first but knelt down to hug back. He realized Sans probably would never know about the cruel outside world. At least Fallen didn't want him to know. 

"Someone mean who has control of a lot of power." Fallen muttered. "You might have to listen to him someday." He didn't know what else to say. He just knew his bones wouldn't last forever.

Fallen felt a bit down after that event, just tapping his fingers on his desk as he waited with nothing to do. It wasn't until Sans came into the room that Fallen would have something to stop his rhythmic tapping.

"Can you read me a story before bed?" The child asks. Fallen couldn't help but smile softly. Maybe he should rest too.

"Sure." The child leads Fallen to his room so they could read a story together. The scientist tried to focus on the small things like these moments with Sans rather than what Asgore had said. They waited out the time together quicker that way, whether Sans was drawing something, playing an imaginary game, or reading a book he picked out. It also gave Fallen ideas on what he could do.

Sans was excited when Papyrus was born. He tried helping his brother walk his first steps, a struggle since Papyrus was younger. While Fallen watched the two, he also gave Sans advice about taking care of his brother. The young skeleton accepted every bit and by the end of the day he had his younger brother walking. All three were proud of the accomplishment. With Papyrus around, Fallen had to keep him nearby for his safety. He tried to work on a security system for the lab while Papyrus took his naps, mostly where Fallen's free time went. He knew it would be a tough job from the start so it at least didn't bother him that much. Sans usually helped out anyways. 

The older brother always wanted to read Papyrus a story if he could. He was eager to play with him too while also trying to teach him some things. Fallen could rely on that time to draw plans or read his own books. A time to relax and distract his mind.

Whenever Asgore came over, Fallen typically had Sans and Papyrus in another room. He didn't like them hearing Asgore complain, though he was sure they listened in anyways. That alone made Fallen anxious of Asgore's surprise visits. Papyrus might pick up something he shouldn't.

Luckily it didn't seem to happen as far as Fallen can tell.

It wouldn't be long until Asriel is born into the underground world. By the time he's around four, Asgore would drop him off for Fallen to babysit him occasionally. Fallen would try to teach Asriel some things and watch over all three kids closely when they played. He wasn't sure how Asriel was raised so he was slightly overprotective of his boys.

While he eventually relaxed on that, he still taught just as much. Asriel came out a bit nicer than he would've if not and he tended to like that so he came over often. Fallen took a bit of pride in that.

Still it had it's cons with Asgore coming over more often. Fallen tried not to think about that too much. Too much for him mentally. 

Fallen almost thought one night Asriel had snuck out to visit by the loud crash of something falling to hit the ground. While he found the source of the crash, he didn't find out who or what caused it. He went to check on Sans and Papyrus, expecting to see one of them retreating back to bed but instead found them just waking up. Fallen told them to stay there as he went to go out and look. Maybe Asriel retreated somewhere, if it was him at all. It was a slightly stretched guess.

Fallen didn't expect to see a startled human child as the culprit. They were trying to hide behind Fallen's scientific equipment stored in one of the rooms, probably waiting for him to go back to bed. The scientist decided to approach cautiously, guessing they were scared from the other monsters they saw previously.

Fallen went around the counter they hid behind. They stared at him with terrified eyes before suddenly running past him to get away. Fallen reacted quick and used his magic to pick them up by the soul. They still struggled to try to keep running anyways.

"Please calm down." Fallen wasn't sure how exactly to get on their good side after all the terrorizing clearly done with their poorly wrapped bandages around some of their wounds.

The child began to watch Fallen carefully until Papyrus and Sans shuffled into the room suddenly. Papyrus whined a bit loud as he went to hug the scientist. The human seemed to relax at seeing the family. "Who's that?" Papyrus points at them.

"A visitor." Fallen explained. "A human." Papyrus blinked a few times to register the words.

"So… a friend?" He beamed a smile. Fallen let out a soft chuckle as he slowly and gently put the human down. They didn't run, having an advantage already by being at the door, but they watched Fallen advise and lead his kids back to bed. When they asked if they could hang out with the human tomorrow, Fallen gave them a maybe.

Fallen turned to the human and gave a kind smile. "I apologize for what you must have gone through. This is a place where I try to keep the outside out for my kids. You can rest here if you'd like, though.

Clearly, they were skeptical at first. The human watched Fallen for a moment before looking around the room. The scientist decided to leave them be as they left the room but locked the door from the inside as he followed after. Just insurance.

While Fallen couldn't sleep like the other two young skeletons, he decided to work at his desk and write down whatever comes to mind. Sometimes he would him a tune out loud, typically when he had nothing else in mind, but otherwise it was quiet for a few hours.

Fallen decided at one point to check if the human left the labs, only to find them still wandering restlessly. He decided to wave when they looked over. They shrank away a bit yet waved back just slightly.

"Would you like some first aid for your wounds?" Fallen asks with a slight gesture at the other. They clearly had to think about it but eventually gave a slow nod. Fallen smiled and shuffled off for his medical kit. It took a bit but soon he was back to replace old bandages and add new ones to still uncovered wounds. He did his best without hurting them, though slightly unavoidable, to try to not upset them. He wanted a good impression after what everyone else had left on them instead.

"Th-thanks." The human muttered under their breath once he was done.

"You're welcome." Fallen responded. "May I get your name?" He asks as he puts the kit to side.

The child hesitated again. "Chara. That's my name." They bowed their head as if slightly ashamed. Fallen smiled once again.

"It's nice to meet you." He says. "What do you plan to do now? You've gotten pretty far, but I'm not sure if there is a way out." He let out a small sigh. "Even for a human." 

"There isn't…?" They muttered in disappointment. "Really?" Fallen shook his head.

"After testing a lot of different things, it seems so. I know where you can try, if you really want to. You won't have to leave the labs." Fallen says and gets up from the cahri he was in to treat Chara's wounds.

"There's a way out of here?" Chara asks. Fallen gives them a nod. "Where?"

"Follow me if you want to test the option." The scientist says and begins to lead them. He puts up the kit first before leading them down into the lowest part of the lab. Chara followed him even if anxious about doing so.

They headed out into a cave area and came across a piece of the barrier. "This is it." Fallen steps and turns to Chara. "I've known these labs most of my second life. If you can leave out here, you can get to the outside world. If not, you'll be stuck here until the chance arises." 

Chara cringed slightly at that idea. "Okay." They stepped forward and reached out to touch the barrier. Sadly, they were able to flatten their palm against it. "I guess it's the latter."

"Unfortunately so." Fallen comments. "So what will you do now?" He asks.

Chara took a moment to think about it. "I… I think I'll stay here, if it's the safest option, and wait for my chance to leave if that's okay." They gently bit their lip as they waited for a response.

"That's fine by me." Fallen said with a soft smile.

First/Previous | Next

Word Count: 675

Reborn Arc Start

Bones shook as they took one step after another slowly. Arms reached out encouragingly to guide the new skeleton as he walked. "You're almost there." A voice whispered, seeming to speed up the process.

The arms wrapped warmly around the young skeleton to affectionately reward him. "I'll protect you here so they can't use you." The voice continued as if trying to soothe a nonexistent worry of the young one. "And soon your brother will be here too."

The young skeleton clung to the other because of his soft sweater and coat. He wouldn't understand how true world is at the moment or that he even had a brother.

"You can call me Fallen." The older skeleton said as he pulled away from the embrace. "Or whatever you'd like to." He smiled and although his left eye socket was severely cracked, that he never bothered to open it, he still looked humble and kind. "This is your home, Sans."

Fallen let the younger skeleton wander about to explore and watch over to keep him safe. Sans slowly picked up on walking and occasionally tried to run. That usually ended up with him tripping and getting picked back up by Fallen.

Sans watched somewhat of Fallen working on reviving his brother. It wqe a risk to do this since Fallen wasn't sure how Asgore would react since he seemed very intent on getting out of this place and before he already wasted one soul…

Things were just getting worse like that. Every bit of monster society seemed to be getting worse with Asgore as the days pass. Fallen hoped he and the brothers wouldn't turn with them. It made him anxious to think about how one singular moment made Asgore slowly get worse on his view of humanity and influence the rest of mankind. They wouldn't be called hostile, but they were enough to glare at others.

Fallen didn't know if he'd let Sans go out of the lab yet, not willing to go out himself to face problems, but he did know he'd try his best to raise him. Ever since they got down here and everytime Asgore looks at Fallen's broken eye socket, Fallen can see how frustrated the king was getting. He didn't want to be influenced by that like the rest of the kingdom so he tried to fix himself since then. He felt like raising Sans and Papyrus might help with that.

He of course worked on himself beforehand to be kinder to not get in heated debates or arguments, having to not talk back to Asgore when he got frustrated and not getting frustrated with him. He convinced himself there was no point to it through anytime Asgore proceeded to rant to him, usually about what Chatch did that day and how Fallen should be upset about it.

It still bothered Fallen to be called by his dead name, Gaster, but he was working on it. He didn't want to correct Asgore just so no unpredictable reaction was made because of it. It felt like he was back in the labs with those "scientists" as "subject-0" anyways so it felt hard to fight back.

Anton and Aella weren't too different anyways. They didn't get ranty or frustrated like Asgore but they were touchy and pushy by either shoulder bumping with Fallen or in mostly Aella's case a surprise headlock, wherever they decided to surprise visit the lab. He knew they were influenced by how much Asgore was beginning to dislike humans but now how much they were influenced. He's considered making a security system and locking the doors because of them.

Fallen could only predict one thing right now. Him trying his best to both protect and raise Sans and Papyrus. He just wasn't sure of everything related to that like how. He knew he would just have to, especially when Sans smiled at him with a big genuine grin. After a while of waiting he'll have two to happily raise in the labs.

A part of him couldn't wait.

First (You're here) | Next

Word Count: 1,474

Gaster felt like he was still there, yet he really wasn't. He knew that. No matter what he saw blackness as far as he can see. He couldn't really tell if his eyes were even opened or closed, if he was anywhere. He didn't even know if his soul had shattered or not.

He'd rather be walking in Snowdin's forest or the Ruins but it couldn't really be helped. Though after a bit of waiting that seemed to change. It seemed Gaster materialized somewhere in the ruins, probably not too far from Toriel's place.

He looked at his hands, which were glitching every few moments and looked slightly like they were melting and fading. The rest of his body looked the same. He moved slowly at first, testing what he can do before he began to pick up the pace.

No one ever looked at him, like he wasn't even there. He seemed like he turned into a ghost monster but definitely on the dead side. Even Toriel ignored his presence as he watched her go about her day for a bit before moving on. Most he could note is she seemed slow moving, as if upset.

He just walked to Snowdin without any feeling of cold. Normally he could from all his magic but now it felt nice this way. He was thankful for that. It was always a problem during his walks.

When he got to Snowdin, he noticed how it's actually been quite a while since he fell. Sans and Papyrus were talking to some people in town with full snow outfits on and suitcases behind them. Sans was talking about a house for the two of them. Papyrus seemed to wave Gaster's way, making the skeleton look behind himself before slightly waving back. The kid looked pleased with that.

Eventually Sans just moved into Anton's. Grillby was working tonight and the two talked like friends. Papyrus sat on a barstool happily and waved at the flame monster. It seems like Grillby was going to help out the two skeletons, being the only monster that at least acted like he knew them. Everyone else seemed to forget, at least knowing them somewhat since the monster population wasn't that high and they visited frequently, but Grillby and Anton were the only ones that the two personally had that knew them.

That made Gaster wonder where Anton could be, moving to the kitchen at the same time as Grillby. The flame showed Gaster where Anton was, even if not on purpose, sitting curled up in a corner. He was even more dull than before. His flames barely lit up the walls around him and he was beginning to turn orange and yellow like Grillby.

"Sans says he wishes to work for us so he can support his brother." Grillby says as he sits down in front of his father. "I was thinking we could pay for their house as long as Sans works enough to pay it off."

Anton lifted a shaky hand. 'Sounds like a plan.' He didn't write anything else. Grillby sat in silence for a moment before getting up to report to Sans. Gaster just watched the flame and skeleton talk and work things out. If there was anything strange Gaster saw recently, it was how much Sans used his magic. Ye barely used it before but now he seemed to use it for every little thing, as if he wanted to drain himself.

Gaster began to move on once it got boring to watch them work on paperwork, making his way to Waterfall. He didn't expect to find much there but was surprised when he passed an echo flower field. He found Rocksan silently crying all alone. He didn't know why she was like that but when he moved closer she quickly looked in his direction. She didn't seem to see him, for when he looked behind himself she said nothing and shook it off. She dried her tears and walked away.

Gaster found nothing in Hotland besides Cuddles and his other blasters sleeping in his old room. Papyrus could summon Cuddles anytime so Gaster guessed the blaster prefered this room as a nap spot. By the cyan eyelights in one of the ones that were awake, Sans had taken over Gaster's. At least this room was a part of the lab only a very select few monsters knew about.

The capital would provide Gaster of the answers he needed to understand what was going on. More specifically the castle would do so. He found Undyne begging Asgore for something.

"You gotta train me so I can be in the guard like momma! So I can get the last human soul myself like how you got the last six!" That wasn't right. Did Undyne misunderstand who's been doing such a thing? Asgore couldn't even put the souls in a jar since he'd just absorb them.

"Ah… yes. That's right. I did." The way Asgore responded was awkward. He wasn't really a good liar, so it was clear to Gaster he knew he didn't do it, yet his face seemed like he struggled to remember exactly who did. It made it clear to Gaster what happened to him when he fell in the CORE.

Those who barely knew him forgot him, and those who were close struggled to even remember him. It was like he never lived at all.

He watched Asgore take his burden from Undyne's words before they made a deal. If Undyne could beat Asgore in a duel, she can take her mother's position.

Gaster decided to leave and head back to Snowdon, back to Anton's. He made those close to him depressed about him being gone, so he decided to stay near the dying flame that was Anton. Maybe he can sense Gaster's presence like Rocksan seemed to, so he can at least be there.

He sat next to the flame monster most of the time, sometimes listening to Anton and Grillby talk. Anton seemed to lean Gaster's way so he was content with that. He didn't know how to feel when Anton admitted that he loved him. It was awkward to realize he missed that detail. He just kept close either way. He had nothing better to do anyways besides sit there and watch as Sans or Grillby go in and out of the kitchen. If Anton moved, he just moved with.

It wouldn't be long until Anton stayed where he was no matter what. Both Grillby and Gaster stayed behind with him. They watched his flames weaken before dying out completely. No dust, unlike a normal monster. Just embers.

Gaster stayed there for a while, even if Anton was gone or Grillby had already left. He stayed until he saw Sans walk in for work, deciding to get up to at least do something. He made his way to the bar to sit on one of the stools. He watched the casual life of the place and the only two employees occasionally work. They mostly got to talk to each other because it wasn't that busy. It never was. Anton and Grillby lived a calm and happy life here, the complete opposite of Gaster's. When Anton meddled in his life, he ruined his own.

Gaster shook his head a bit, as if throwing the thought out of his head, before sliding off the stool to head out. He decided to just leave for better thoughts, or at least somewhat better. He made his way to Waterfall again, finding Rocksan's river so that when she passed by to drop someone off, he hopped on.

There was a lot more to look at on the river way. New monsters too. It was more relaxing now thanks to Rocksan not fully realizing he was there. He can now stay as long as he wants.

The only problem was that it got boring after a long while. When things got boring, ge thinks way too much. The only other place he could go that he somewhat had something to do is the capital, yet he wasn't so sure he wanted to be there right now.

He ended up back in Snowdon, though this time sitting on the stairs of Sans and Papyrus' new house. He watched Papyrus run up the stairs, too busy to pat attention to Gaster, to head to his room after they were back from Anton's. Well, Grillby's now.

Gaster would honestly wish to leave this world, going with Anton to wherever he went, yet it wasn't possible so far. Instead, he was still stuck in this reality to watch over all he had caused. He eventually decided to just accept it, to watch and wait.

To wait and see if another human would fall. To wait and see if monsters could be free someday.

Connecting Bonds Arc End

First | Previous

Word Count: 1,925

Compared to the other humans, it's been a long time since one has fallen down. Gaster spent his time waiting after he was done with his experiments. There wasn't much more for hum to do besides giving some blueprints and parts for adding onto the CORE every once and awhile. It wasn't enough to cure his boredom fully.

He still ignored Rocksan and Anton when they came by. He didn't care if it upset or worried them. He just wasn't in the mood for talking anymore. How could he be?

Gaster found himself pacing different rooms of the lab, muttering to himself. Usually no one was there when he did this, though if anyone did come by he'd stop and normally be silent.

One time it was Papyrus who came by, racing up with a paper in his hand. Gaster's red scarf was neatly tied around his neck, as it always seems to be since the first day Papyrus managed to get to wear it.

"Look at what I made!" Papyrus exclaims, shoving the paper in the other's blank face. The paper had a crayon drawing with Gaster, who was drawn fairly tall with the purple scarf on, in the middle. Sans and Papyrus were at his sides, Sans wearing his blue jacket while Papyrus had the red scarf and a yellow jacket. All three of them were smiling on the snowy scenery with Snowdin's decorated tree Papyrus loves a lot.

Something probably should have clicked inside Gaster, yet nothing did. "That's nice. Did you show Sans yet?" He simply responded, knowing Papyrus won't stop bothering without any answer. He was used to that fact by now.

"Yeah!" Papyrus answered. That was a fair one since he was probably next to Sans when he made it.

"Then go ask him where you should put it." Gaster responds, making Papyrus nod and run off. The scientist rubbed his face once the kid was gone, now having forgotten what he was pacing and muttering about. Papyrus had thrown him off track.

Gaster just decided to leave the labs for now and take a walk to Snowdin. Maybe he just needed fresh air, as fresh as it gets at least.

He didn't know exactly what he was going to do once he got to the snowy forest area but he just knew that's how far he was going to go. It wasn't until he walked past Anton's that he decided he would go in.

The place was it's usual warm feel and customers. The only difference was a more dim looking Anton, Rocksan sitting next to him, and the fact they were talking about Gaster. The scientist could read it on Anton's half even if he couldn't hear Rocksan's half. Gaster walked up anyways, sitting one stool away from Rocksan while Anton essentially was in the middle on the other side of the bar.

"Don't you have anything better to talk about?" Gaster asks when he gets there, making the two surprised. Rocksan sat up straighter, looking at the royal scientist, before looking away from the slightest bit of shame.

'Ah, hello Gaster. Surprise to see you here, but good as well.' Anton wrote, seeming tired compared to his normal mood.

"You seem dull." Gaster says, not really properly responding to the other. Anton silently sighed.

'It's been a long set of days, however many it's been. You know how it is.' Anton writes in response.

Gaster didn't say anything for a moment. "Can I get a water?" He asks, not following the previous topic again.

'I dunno, can you?' Anton cracks a grin of his own smart reply. 'Just kidding. I'll get you it.' He continued after seeing it didn't really have an effect on Gaster.

It was silent as Anton got Gaster his glass of water, Rocksan being not really sure what to say. Gaster didn't mind it as he sipped his water, though it clearly bothered the other two. The scientist just got up when he was done with the water to leave.

'I hope you visit again sometime.' Anton writes. Gaster just did a slight nod before checking the now beeping device in his pocket. Something wrong with the CORE, an urgent problem. With everyone already switched to using the CORE as their main power source rather than trying to manage just some temporary solutions, it would be terrible if the CORE shut down now. They already had to make ways to keep it cool, more problems wouldn't be good.

Gaster now walked with urgency compared to the sad, disappointing sack of bones he was earlier. Now he had a purpose to follow to the end. Honestly it made him feel a bit better to have something to do.

He made his way into the CORE, where the most recent addition was being made. Some workers were watching some exposed wires spark occasionally, clearly unsure what they should do. They became relieved when they heard and saw Gaster coming over.

"What's the problem here?" Gaster asks as he walks up. The head of the workers move forward to explain.

"Looks like something destroyed the panel and damaged some of the wires along with a special part we don't have access to. Whatever had bumped into it is going to cost us a bit for this section of the CORE." At least it was just for this section.

"I'll take a look then." Gaster says as he pushes past them to look. They were obviously right. Gaster paged Sans to deliver what he needed and waited for the skeleton to appear.

When Gaster saw Sans heading over he put on his electricity resistant gloves and took the parts and materials from the other's hands. Sans stayed next to the workers after. They all watched as Gaster cut off damaged wiring to make his way to the damaged parts behind. He'll weld the wires together with new ones once he's about done with this ordeal.

The main problem was getting the broken part unstuck. It was wedged in when it got snapped in half so Gaster had to use a screwdriver to try wiggling it out. The first half popped out just fine but the other was having trouble. It was most likely due to gravity not helping with the piece.

This then caused a big mistake on Gaster's part. He jammed the screwdriver in too hard trying to pry the part out that it broke it more and made a huge spark. It must've reached past the gloves, for the next thing he knew, he felt a large jolt through his soul. The spark managed to catch the edge of his magic system and shocked his soul like it would any other.

The shock of course hurt a lot, making Gaster hiss out a curse. His vision went blurry, worse than before at least. He was near-sighted, so usually it wasn't much of a problem, but now it felt like there was barely a point to any vision at all.

Sans and the workers started asking Gaster if he was okay but the royal scientist never responded to them. He just tried to power through what little vision he had so they just went quiet and watched as he ripped out the part with his gloved hand. He now could replace the broken part, since nothing else was hurt, and repair the wires. Once that was done he could replace the broken panel to cover it all.

"Th-there." Gaster almost wheezed out. He seemed so weak after the shock. Sans helped him up, worried that something was wrong with the other.  Gaster pushed away from him and stumbled. He leaned against a wall only inches from vanishing into a large, white void, one that can surely swallow him whole if he fell in.

Gasps of fear and shock sounded off because of his location. They were barely audible due to the loud ringing only Gaster could hear. Sans and the workers crowded around him, trying to help, but he pushed himself forward and made it halfway across the bridge over the white void.

He was refusing help. Sans had to approach from behind to not provoke the other. "Look, Gaster. I know you don't normally accept help from others but, please, let us just this once help you get back to the lab. After that you can take care of yourself. Please." Gaster still refused.

"I-I can get there m-myself." He muttered, causing Sans to worry more when he moved to keep going. Sans figured he could catch him in time since fighting wouldn't be worth it in the end.

Gaster made it past the first area fine, even if there were close calls. His bones started to shake as he got to the second area, causing more worry than before.

He won't make it past the second area at this rate. Sans realized this quick and tries to convince him again. "I really think you should let us help-"

"No!" Gaster yelled, turning his head slightly to look at Sans. He kept refusing help yet moving forward. He looked ahead and began to stumble again. The strong skeleton that could carry massive burdens was gone, as if being crushed by it. It was clear he was going to collapse soon from exerting himself.

The scientist teetered near the edge as he tried to keep walking. Sans tried to get closer but ended up making Gaster whip his head around and lose his balance. Next thing Sans knew, he had to reach over the edge to catch Gaster by the wrist.

He wasn't fighting this time. Instead, he stared up at Sans with his blurry eyelights. He didn't grab onto the other, though, to keep from falling. He just watched as he slipped from the other's grip slowly. Sans grabbed him by the soul with his magic as he heard gasps and the work crew running to get help.

Sans never really used his magic often like Gaster did. Maybe occasionally he would teleport past a door or downstairs to be slightly lazy, but it wouldn't have much effect on a moment like now. He struggled to hold Gaster up without straining himself.

"J-just… let go…" Gaster mumbled and closed his eyesockets. "D-don't hurt yourself over me."

Sans tried to argue, wanting to insist it was the lack of energy getting to his head. "If I let you go now, you won't be back. I'd bever be able to forgive myself then."

"And Papyrus n-needs a brother more than he needs me. You f-falling with me won't help the situation at all, w-will it?" Gaster sadly had a point and Sans knew that. He wished the other didn't, even if it would be strange that way. Tears began to form in his eyesockets.

"What about the people that don't want you to go?" Sans asks, trying to pull the other up although his lack of magic nade the other heavier. "They're getting help anyways, so I just have to hold out a bit longer."

Gaster let out one of his trademark sighs. "This wouldn't be the first time I've hurt people around me. It's just finally time for the final one. For it all to stop." He opened his eyesockets and stared at the other. Sans stared back as he made the hard decision to take the other's request seriously.

He let go and watched Gaster continue to fall into the white void, almost looking peaceful. He could almost hear the doors open behind him.

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Rocksan didn't leave when she found Gaster in such a mental state. She moved the soul containers to the wall away from Gaster before coming back to sit in front of him since he was still staring at the same spot.

"I heard the CORE will be open soon." Rocksan says, trying to make conversation with the other.

"In a week if testing goes well."

"I bet people will really like it."

"Mhm." Rocksan wasn't getting very far with this. Gaster only gave minimal responses. He did eventually mutter something while the two were both silent. "Two more to go."

"Is that so…?" Rocksan mutters. She knows very well that they could be out only halfway through the CORE's development or even now with the soul recently collected. Maybe they would have never been down here in the first place.

Gaster mover to bury his face in his hands and leaned over. "How many people have I ended the lives of? How many lives have I ruined?" Rocksan didn't know what to say in response to that. She's of course never seen Gaster in a state like this and no one else might have. Never so admittedly broken in this way at least.

The second one to see would be in soon. Anton softly knocked on the door before entering and slightly illuminating the very poorly lit room. He seemed to already figured what was up as he shut the door. He sat on the ground beside Gaster to wrap his arms around the other.

"Do you think Vedran is disappointed in me?" While Rocksan didn't understand, Anton clearly did as he shook his head. He had Gaster look up in his direction after that.

'I'm sure he's not. He just wishes the best for you.' Anton writes. Gaster just stares, seeming unsure instead. 'I've visited Asgore since you didn't seem like yourself lately. You couldn't burden it anymore, huh?' Anton gave him a weak smile. 'I'm sorry but I just wanted to know what was wrong.'

Gaster shook his head before lowering it again. Anton just gave a comforting kiss on the forehead. Rocksan didn't know much more than Anton was doing better at this than she was. She was going to leave to let Anton take care of it instead but he grabbed her by her sleeve. He offered an arm for her to join the hug as well.

Rocksan was very hesitant at first, wondering if she even belonged, before she gave in and hugged Gaster with Anton. The scientist seemed to calm down after a while until there was a beeping noise. He pulled away and took out a small device. After a moment of looking at it he speaks up.

"I gotta go." He says and teleports off without waiting for any kind of response. Anton silently sighs after just a moment.

'He better not be pushing himself again…' He writes. Rocksan nodded in response and let out a not silent sigh. She could only guess he was doing just that.

Gaster went all the way to another part of Hotland. That's where Sans paged him to go at least. Of course, he was not too far off from there and seemed to be watching something. Gaster heads on over and gets Sans' attention.

"Where?" He almost glares at the other a bit, clearly making Sans more worried than he was before.

"Over there." Sans pointed in a direction with a human like figure in the distance. "They shot Aella back in Snowdon and when their weapon stopped working they started running from everyone they see. I got the monster looking after Aella's kid to look after Papyrus and paged you while running after them to find where they were so-"

"So I can do the dirty work myself." Gaster says, cutting the other off before the details so he can just start his way over to the human already. Sans seemed troubled by that but didn't bother to speak up about it.

When the human noticed him and tried to run away, Gaster just appeared in front of them. Even when they tried to run away in a different direction the same thing would happen then. There was clearly no way Gaster would let them escape. Even they knew that.

Tears began to form in the human's eyes. "How could you take them from me?! What did they do to you monsters?!" Gaster could already have a good guess on what they meant and why they were throwing such a fit down here. He pulled on their soul and lifted them into the air.

"Doesn't mean you can just prance around here causing more problems than we need since we have other problems to deal with in the first place." Gaster glares before piercing them for a somewhat merciless and painless death.

Gaster stared at the yellow soul for a moment after he pulled it out. A soul of justice killed Aella, a mother who just wished to help and protect her kingdom. Everyone's justice can be just that different.

The scientist made his way back to where Sans is. He forcibly gives the soul to the other and starts to walk off, almost leaving Sans completely confused. "I've got some things to do, bring that to the lab."

He went all the way to Snowdin first, where Aella was shot and killed. Monsters were already collecting the dust and mourning about the event together. Besides passing by to see what was going on with that, he also came here because Undyne's babysitter was here. He's pretty sure the babysitter was also the one Alphys was given to after Aksinya's death until she had a proper new parent.

The monster answered the door even if seeming both surprised and confused about his arrival. When he asked for Undyne it lowered both feelings a bit with a tinge of sadness, knowing why he would ask for the poor child. He was one of the pick-up guardians in case something happened and this was one of those very cases. He told them to look after Papyrus a bit longer until Sans can pick him up though.

Nothing was said between Undyne and Gaster until they reached Hotland. "Why are going all the way over here? Mama's house is back thata way." She pointed behind them with one hand while holding Gaster's hand with the other.

"No one can watch you there." Gaster simply answers her. He knows he had to be the one to break the facts to her but he didn't exactly want to.

"Mama can! She always takes care of me!" Undyne exclaims innocently. Gaster tried not to empathize with her since he knows what it's like losing the person taking care of you but it's hard not to anyways.

"She's gone. She doesn't belong to the same world as us anymore." He didn't know how to say it exactly but she seemed to understand it being put that way anyways. Her head fins lowered and tears started to form as the reality started to hit her hard. her voice cracked when she tried to speak in response.

"G-gone?" The tears rolled down her cheeks. "She can't be gone! She has to play music for me and tuck me in at bedtime and show me how to fight and-"

"She's gone and there's nothing you can do about it!" Gaster snaps. They both stop in their tracks and fall silent until Gaster tugs her arm to in a sense say keep going. Undyne speaks up after a small sniffle.

"What do I do then?" She asks. "What do I do without my mama?"

"I'm going to take you to someone who can take care of you. It won't be the same but at least you'll have someone." Undyne just seemed to accept that and kept walking with the other.

She kept her gaze down, probably trying to comprehend it fully, until Gaster knocked on the castle doors. Asgore answered after just a moment, surprised to even see the two.

"What brings you here with Undyne?" He asks the unusual visitor. Gaster gently pushed the kid forward on her back with his hand.

"I just thought that since you have a problem with being lonely, you could look after her." Gaster answers. Asgore didn't quite understand it all yet but told Undyne to head inside to the living room. "Aella got killed by a human that fell down. I took care of them though." The scientist mutters to continue and explain. He hoped Undyne didn't hear but it was hard to tell. With his luck she probably did.

"I see… how unfortunate then…" Asgore mutters in response. When Gaster went to turn and leave, the king spoke again. "Look, Gaster. I know this has been taking a toll on you. How about you come in for a cup of tea? Please?"

Gaster hesitated before he just let out a sigh. "Fine." Asgore got the tea brewing once Gaster came inside. He then got Undyne situated in his home before the tea was ready so he fan pour some for all three there.

"Are you sure you're fine by yourself?" Asgore asks when he hands Gaster his cup. "It's only one more. Should I take this last one?"

"It's because it's only one more that I should take this last one." Gaster responds. Asgore seemed to really want to press on but knew it wouldn't get anywhere, knowing Gaster at least.

"Then how about this. If they make it to my castle, I'll deal with them. If the guards get them, I'll tell them to bring them to you. How's that?" Asgore offers.

"Works for me." Since there was little hesitation, Asgore figures the other would just lie about it anyways. He at least tried to make a deal, but now he was out of options. He just let Gaster go when his tea was gone and continued helping Undyne settle in.

Gaster kept himself in the labs most of the time after to wait. He didn't talk to anyone, even if Anton or Rocksan came by. They would try to get him to open up but it didn't really work. Sometimes Anton would just hug him for long periods of time or Rocksan would sit next to him for awhile.

The only thing that made a difference was dragon fossils that was delivered to him from areas dug out for some of the CORE's area additions, small extra projects. Gaster inspected and even dated them for their age, pretty impressed by the ancient monsters. Legends did say they were strong enough that at least their bones don't dust yet Gaster didn't think it was true until now. He decided to do some experiments with them.

Sadly Gaster couldn't manage it with the whole body, due to missing pieces especially, but using a small skull of a dragon he managed to link his soul up to it to essentially revive it with the soul energy. It had purple eyelights, like Gaster's somewhat of a soul color, and flew around at first to explore the labs. After a long and absolutely annoying chase, Gaster managed to see what it could do and how the link works. He found he could summon it, which would have been useful earlier, while the skull itself could shoot beams like a dragon's breath somewhat and teleport around.

Gaster didn't like how affectionate the skull ended up being, even if probably being only a young dragon anyways. It was constantly nuzzling up against him and flying in circles around him. He'd rather one of the older skulls. He might give this one to Papyrus for a trade out so he doesn't have to deal with it. He'd much prefer that than keep the annoying thing around.

He did end up introducing the dragon skull to Papyrus and they got along well to the point the young skeleton named it "Cuddles" since it was so affectionate. Cuddles eyelights soon changed to orange after that and Papyrus had an easy pet to look after with Sans.

Gaster could just make more from there anyways. It didn't really take a toll on his soul either like a connected weak soul. He just hoped the next ones aren't that affectionate this time so he can have easier ones to handle.

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"How did you know Aster Wingding?" Gaster asks as he stares intently at the other. Rocksan took a moment to answer as her dog boat thing looked at her.

"He was someone in my school that died a long time ago." She answers quietly. "He was suspected to be a murder victim but the killer was never found."

"Only suspected?" Gaster comments, hoping to get more information out before asking a different question.

"They couldn't even get much information about the case since he was a closed off kid and was an orphan. He just was found dead one day. He only talked to one person ever and not even they knew what happened the night before he died." Gaster believed there was more to that story but didn't push it any further.

"Do you know what he was like?" Gaster spoke like his human self was a completely different person. It wasn't like he was wrong, since he could be compared to a permanent amnesiac. He wouldn't know what he felt back then or anything.

"Well…" Rocksan had to think of an answer. "Not too different. He had a sharp tongue to everyone compared to your sharp actions of avoiding people." Gaster rolled his eyes and looked away grumpily, just letting her continue. "Less friends and at best occasionally happy." She's really annoying sometimes. "I think you two were similar only because the world wronged both of you in some way, making you two grumpy misfits."

"Oh great." Gaster growled out. "I'm glad we're both similarly terrible." Rocksan let out a genuine, bubbly laugh to Gaster's surprise. He didn't think she'd laugh at his sarcastic comments. He just decided to think of another one of his questions. "Did you know Aster personally?"

This question provoked an interesting response. Rocksan didn't answer and avoided eye constant. Gaster would ask again to push for a definite said question but the two were interrupted.

"We got books!" It was Papyrus, bounding on over to them. Sans followed behind casually waved at Gaster.

"Books checked out and ready to go, G." He says and pats the young skeleton's head.

"Alright." Gaster says, internally groaning. Ge looks at Rocksan before stepping on the boat. Both Papyrus and Sans followed, though Papyrus was on the other' shoulders for the sake of space.

When the two got off Gaster looked at Rocksan again before stepping off himself. "Now you get more time on your answer." Rocksan didn't respond but it didn't matter. Gaster would be back again without Papyrus and Sans hopefully so they don't get interrupted again.

Did it go that way? Not exactly.

When Gaster went over to meet Rocksan once again, Asgore had noticed the two and was heading on over. Rather than looking like the king of all monsters that he was, he looked like just a casual monster that went shopping recently.

"It is a surprise to see you here, Gaster." He says with a heart warming smile. Gaster just rolled his eyes.

"I think it's more surprising to see you around here." He responds as he crosses his arms. Asgore lets out a laugh and pats Gaster on the head, as if trying to keep the skeleton calm.

"Well I've just been shopping. Thought it would be a good idea to also see how people are doing around here as the king." Asgore said. "What about you, Gaster?"

Gaster didn't know what to say at first. "Just came back from dropping off Papyrus' old library books." Asgore would've believed him if Rocksan didn't speak up.

"Didn't you already do that a while ago with Papyrus and Sans?" Asgore blinked before his smile weakened, realizing something.

"I see." He says and looks at Gaster again. "I hope things are going alright then." The scientist just avoided looking at the other directly. "But speaking of Sans and Papyrus, how are they doing? I haven't ran into them in a while."

"They're doing fine." Was Gaster's simple answer.

"Well tell then that if they want they can stop by and have some tea." Asgore says and smiles a bit more before looking at Rocksan. "You are invited to stop by as well. We can maybe chat over some tea then."

Rocksan seemed surprised yo be talked to. "Oh, I'll see if I can. Thank you."

"It's no problem. Visitors are always welcome anyways." The amount of softness that radiated from this goat was obvious and at large. He looks at Gaster. "That includes you too. I'm hoping one of these times you come to visit me just to casually hang out at least once."

"Too busy." Gaster responded. Asgore gave him a curious look.

"With what?" He asks, making Gaster look away. He looks at Rocksan and remembers.

"With finding and making transportation around Hotland." Rocksan seemed surprised at Gaster's answer. Meanwhile Ashore wraps him in a big hug.

"What a wonderful idea!" He lets go of the annoyed skeleton. "Anyways you can make it a cooler one too? With all this but I'm hesitant to even go back to the castle!"

"I'll see, but obviously you'll survive either way." Gaster says but Asgore just laughs at that.

"Well I must get going to Snowdin." He looks at Rocksan. "Do you mind giving me a ride?"

"Not at all. Hop on." Asgore does just that and soon the two were gone. Gaster just left deciding to give up on chasing his past self. Maybe he should work on those plans now anyways since he's free.

So he did just that. Project CORE was soon underway to busy his time and help out a bit. His ideas would grow out of hand as he makes the blueprints but he believed it could be done, upgrading Hotland in a sense, though he still expected snags and hiccups.

There was already one when he went to tell Asgore about his ideas. Rocksan was happily chatting with the king when he arrived. Gaster groaned but approached the two anyways.

"Oh! Gaster! It's good to see you!" Ashore smiled at his friend and drags Rocksan's attention to the royal scientist.

"Are you too busy or can I talk to you about something?" Gaster asks, quickly.

"Well you can have some tea with us and when Rocksan leaves we can talk, alright?" Asgore knew it was business matters due to the rolled up blueprints in Gaster's hands.

"Fine." Gaster says, but it didn't mean he would probably hang out. Instead he sat on the stairs to wait. He could hear Asgore sigh and soon the two talking. Gaster tried not to hear them when it was about them.

Rocksan eventually left, Gaster of course could tell. Ashore sat next to him and offered a cup of tea.

"Are you alright?" Gaster just nodded a bit at the king's question. "She talks to both me and you it seems. She was curious to know about you too. Do you think things are getting better?" Asgore knew from the beginning who she was since it was hooded cape disguise after all and after a bit of talking last time Gaster visited, Asgore could guess why he lied by the river and why Rocksan was curious.

"I don't really care if it does anymore. It doesn't really matter at this point." Gaster just changed the conversation to the blueprints so he didn't have to talk about that anymore.

Soon Gaster had a construction team to work with him on the project. He supervised and proved certain materials the team would need in construction that only Gaster could make. Whenever he wasn't doing that he was relaxing in the snow forest outside of Snowdin, waiting to see if a human would come by. That was another job he had to focus on, so Asgore didn't have to. It wasn't something the king should have to do. It was his testing and experiments on getting rid of the barrier anyways, so he should catch his own "specimen" so to say. It's his problem.

A human would eventually fall somewhat early into the CORE's construction. That would be the third. Their soul was unfortunately a reminding orange and their body was left to be buried in the snow. It was only their fate. Soon their gloves and bandana would be found in nearby snow.

The fourth human ran into trouble with the guards around in Hotland before Gaster even knew about them, due to supervising as they were halfway through the CORE project. Since Asgore declared a war on humans a few years back, the knights have been trying to catch any they see. They didn't really manage though, only close attempts of cornering them like this one but Gaster always got to them first. In fact, this human ran into the ruins they originally tried to avoid because of this.

Sans was the one who spotted them sneaking through the labs after putting Papyrus to bed. He paged Gaster as soon as he saw them. It took a while for said skeleton to get there, but at least the human was still wandering about.

Almost without hesitation, Gaster swiftly killed the human essentially in a surprise attack once he spotted them. He didn't even warn Sans at all.

"Apologies." He says as he pulls out the soul, which was a green one. "But do you mind cleaning this up for me? I have to notify Asgore of something." Sans just slowly nodded since he wasn't sure what to say other than that. This was just the grim truth after all.

The fifth human would appear even later around the end of the CORE's long production. They were in Waterfall when Gaster was on his way to Snowdin. They weren't far from the main riverway, which is probably why Rocksan later visited the lab later out of concern.

She asked Sans for Gaster and got directions to where he was. He was in the deepest part of the lab where the souls were stored.

Rocksan found him sitting on the floor next to the five collected souls, staring at them all. She knew the newest one was the purple one, similar to Gaster's soul before he could even remember. He probably knew that fact too.

"Are you okay?" Rocksan asks, hoping not to surprise him, yet he didn't seem to care.

"I don't know."

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"So you just let him do it?" Rocksan asks while staring at her clasped hands. Gaster took a sip of his coffee before answering.

"Is there a problem with that? Should I just let Papyrus stay dead?" Gaster asks back at her. "Sans took at least most responsibility away from me anyways."

Rocksan looked up at him confused. "Most responsibility?" She repeated. As if on cue, Papyrus came into the room with a book. He ran up to Gaster and offered said book to him.

"Can you read to me more?" He asks with an excited tone. Gaster didn't answer at first, glancing at Rocksan since he knew she was watching.

"Don't you have a brother who can?" He responds, earning a frown from the kid.

"But you promised cause I fell asleep at the library…" Papyrus muttered sadly. Gaster let out a sigh.

"I've got a patient, so later." Papyrus blinked at the scientist's answer. He looks over at the bed Rocksan was in.

"Oh!" He looks at Gaster again. "Can I help?" Now he's found something new to be excited about and soon let down for.

"You're a bit too young and small for that." Gaster says. He adds on once Papyrus frowns again. "If you grow and learn enough then maybe."

Papyrus quickly perks up. "Smart I'll grow tall and smart and help you! And help with a lot more things!" The kid was practically bouncing with excitement.

"That's right, I guess." Gaster mutters at first. "Now go get Sans to read to you." With that, Papyrus was already heading off to do so. For a moment after he left, it was silent.

"That was softer than I expected from you." Rocksan says quietly. Gaster looks at her and squints a bit.

"Oh really? You basing that off a first impression? Because if I remember correctly yours wasn't pretty either." Gaster retorts. Rocksan looks away and starts to mutter.

"I just didn't expect it out of you, or any of this." Gaster chuckled quietly and took another sip of his coffee. "I thought before you would use them for the barrier or something… not that I would've wanted that as a mother but…"

"The situation between then and now is different." Gaster starts as he stares into his cup. "They weren't for the same purpose or mistake, so therefore their fate didn't deserve to be that way.

Rocksan went silent as she thought about it. Gaster did the same, not bothering to talk more than he has to. He went to leave only to be stopped again. "Thanks for talking with me, by the way."

Gaster paused for a moment, then shrugged and kept walking. Not much came to mind on what to say on that.

For most days, Sans checked on how Rocksan was healing. She requested to stay even though she didn't have to and Sans thought it was fine since they didn't normally get patients nor anything to work on in the labs. Gaster didn't like her staying longer but just decided to accept it since he normally didn't have to deal with her.

Sadly today wasn't that kind of day. Anton visited this time with Grillby since there was apparently a scheduled hang out between Sans, Papyrus, and Grillby. In the end, that meant Gaster had to deal with Rocksan and Anton planned to bug the royal scientist. A bad turn of events for Gaster.

"Oh great." He muttered as he saw Anton entering the room Rocksan and him were in.

'Yo!' The flame monster wrote as soon as he entered. 'Sans said I could find you here!'

Gaster rubbed his skull a bit as he responded. "I'll have to talk to him later… Why aren't you watching them or something?"

'They can handle themselves!' Anton wraps an arm around Gaster. 'Besides, we dad's weren't invited to this hang out!'

"We?" Gaster repeated, knowing that Rocksan was of course paying attention to them. "You're the only dad here, remember?" Anton just silently laughed.

'Sure thing.' Anton then noticed Rocksan watching for the first time. 'Oh hey!' Things could only get worse from here to Gaster. 'The name is Anton! Hope you don't mind reading!'

"No it's fine." Rocksan said with a shake of her head. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Rocksan." As soon as Anton essentially let go of Gaster, the scientist was making his way out of the room. He wasn't going to stay for this interaction.

Anton would say something but his only way to do that would be to head over to the other and get his attention. He just decided he can do that later and looked at Rocksan.

'So how well do you know Gaster?' Anton asks her first. Rocksan hesitated at first but Anton didn't seem to pay mind to that.

"Kind of a while…" She mutters. "I mostly just see him on the boat rides he takes occasionally since I do that.

'Oh? You're the person? No reason you were gone then!' Anton smiles more than he was doing before. 'Thanks for all your help then! You make traveling around this big place a lot easier you know.' Rocksan was admittedly flattered at the thanks. 'If only we had a similar way to get around Hotland though, to get to the capital and back easier. So far we just got more paths getting built around.'

"Yes. Plus it's hot there, as the name implies." Rocksan adds. "What… what does Gaster specialize in? Do you think he could at least make an attempt at it?"

'I don't know but he is the royal scientist! So I bet he knows quite a bit and could help. He's told me once he's been studying sciences of all different kinds for as long as he can remember!' Anton writes, liking Rocksan's idea. 'I can ask him later.'

"As long as he remembers, huh…" Rocksan repeats quietly. Anton perked up a bit but didn't manage to hear what she said at all.

"All right. Visiting time is over." Gaster says as he re-enters the room. He grabs Anton by the arm, which catches the elemental by surprise. Anton makes his arm change shape a bit and moved to pull away from the other before reforming it to the way it was before.

'But I only just got here!' Anton writes quickly.

"And? I didn't plan on you being here at all really." Gaster crosses his arms.

'Fiiiine. Can I ask you a quick question then?' Anton asks and gets a look from the other like "you just did". 'Do you think you can build something in Hotland so we can easily get around?'

"I'll think about it. Now out." Gaster answers after a slight pause. Anton pouted a bit but starts to head put like told.

'I'll just visit another time.' Anton writes, not knowing if Gaster was looking since he was turned away.

"If I let you." Anton silently laughs and quickly heads out at the other's response. Gaster glances at Rocksan once the flame was gone before moving to head back out as well.

"Wait, please." Rocksan requests, making Gaster do so without a response. "I wish to ask you a question myself. Sans doesn't seem to remember me, as well as Papyrus. What about you? Do you remember your past? Of who you were before this?"

There was a long pause before Gaster decided to answer. "Souls are fragile things, especially when outside of the body. They can be easily tampered with and wiped clean of memories or personality. I would say I lost both. The only key I have of my part is my original name from a database, along with the information that belonged to that name."

"And that is?" Rocksan leaned forward a bit from being intrigued.

"Aster. Aster Wingding." Gaster looked back at her and glared, as if she was asking too much. Rocksan's eyelights shook in their sockets. The other studied her expression for a moment before deciding to leave. He felt the need to quickly get out of the labs so he decided to at least head for Asgore's castle. There was a person he wanted to see that could maybe ease his bones that had recently begun to shake.

"…Should I make some tea?" Was Asgore's first question to Gaster when he arrived, looking clearly troubled. The royal scientist just accepted and found a seat in Asgore's big armchair. Ashore got the tea ready as soon as he could and gave a cup to his friend. "Are you alright?"

Gaster didn't answer for a few moments. He took a sip of the fresh tea after letting it cool down to soothe himself amd think of an answer. "What do you think are the chances of meeting someone from a previous life?" He then began to name percentages and explain, as if reading a datasheet from his head.

"Relax, please." Asgore rests a hand on the others shoulder for comfort. "Did this really happen? Did you meet someone from when you were human?" Gaster didn't exactly like that phrasing but he just pushed past that.

"I only think so. I have to confirm but the look in her eyes said a lot already." Gaster muttered and took another sip of his tea.

"I see…" Asgore says quietly. "I say go for the answers you really wish to know and get them while you can, but make sure to be careful on if you may regret those answers."

Gaster takes the time to think as he lets silence fill the room. A realm of possibilities stood in front of him and an unknown past. He could think of a few to ask but with the only known factors a few others were not really an option for Gaster. Asgore meanwhile just patiently waits for the other to say something.

"I think I just need a breather for now." Gaster mutters. Normally he didn't go to the king or anyone else for personal matters like this but it was a choice recently made on a whim rather than thought, things he normally didn't do.

"I see. I hope I helped in some way." Asgore removed his hand from the other's shoulder. He was beginning to leave when Gaster spoke again.

"And thanks for the tea, too." He looked back to see Gaster rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Asgore let out a small chuckle.

"Anytime. Let me know if you need some more." Asgore knew that was Gaster's special way of saying thanks for everything. He just left after that by his friend's request.

That left Gaster with his thoughts completely, staring off at the opposite wall. Maybe he should go back through the logs that the scientists from before left behind about him before he asks any questions so he knows he didn't miss anything. The most he got before was a name, age, date of birth, death, and revival. Unless they were trying to isolate most main variables as much as possible, there could be more about him. If not, he guessed Rocksan was the last of possible chances to get answers.

Gaster got up from the chair once his cup was empty. Maybe he'll go for another walk, or perhaps just check the files now rather than later. He definitely wouldn't go to Rocksan first, that was the last step. He just left Asgore's place without telling the king as one would expect from the royal scientist. He thought he should go for the files since it'll take a long while to go through them all and then a walk to think about any new factors. It sounded like a good plan to at least Gaster since it'll take a few days to even do the first part without interruptions from Sans or Papyrus, or both, and breaks. Even if Rocksan left by the time wege was done then she would still be doing her job of boat rides around most of the Underground since she's managed to do something for monsters with that and they would hate to have it not be as organized since she said where they would go if they had no one on board.

His chance shouldn't disappear, his probably overthinking made that clear to him.

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Word Count: 2,008

Warning: Death

Gaster was forced out of the labs one day to look at books in the library of Snowdin with Papyrus. Picture books would probably be good for the kid and he wanted to go too. The main annoyance would just be the boat ride to get there swiftly. Rocksan, Papyrus, and the small surface area of the boat would be problematic together.

Papyrus’ energy added to the factors as well. The boat rocked when said kid hopped on enthusiastically, though Rocksan acted pretty unaffected like it wouldn't be the first. “Don't rock the boat by jumping on haphazardly.” Gaster advises as he steps on himself. Papyrus just gives a bright smile as he looks at the other. Gaster just sighs, ironically feeling the kid's energy depleted his own faster.

While the boat was moving, it was silent. Rocksan seemed to watch both of them in slight curiosity. Papyrus leaned over the edge of the boat to see down into the water. At first, he was fine but at the next moment he leaned too far and started to fall in. Rocksan seemed to panic for a moment once she noticed but Gaster just used some magic to gently pull up Papyrus by his soul and keep him from falling. Out of the corner of his vision, the royal scientist watched Rickman slowly calm down, slowly realizing the child wasn't going to fall overboard.

Papyrus never seemed to notice nor care. His attention was fully on the water. He stayed like that until Gaster lifted him up with his magic and then gently placed the other on Snowdin's snow. Papyrus instantly sped off in excitement to explore and find the library.

“Gaster.” The voice called him from behind as he went to follow after Papyrus. With a sigh, Gaster looked back at Rocksan. “You brought him back too?”

“More like Sans did it for me.” Gaster shrugs, only slightly remembering when Papyrus was out of the machine years ago.,”he found things out and made the choice a long time ago.” Rocksan looked down a bit as she thought for a moment. As much as she seemed to want to keep talking, Gaster knew Papyrus was getting farther away. Him getting lost wouldn't be good.

Gaster turned to walk away to find the kid. “Can we talk later?” It was Rocksan who asked probably understanding that letting Papyrus run away was a bad idea. Gaster waved his hand a bit as a sort of not really an actual answer.  He'd decide later if he felt like coming by to just talk to her. He knows at least where she can be found with her boat job so it's not like he can't take his time with it either.

Papyrus meanwhile was found staring at the christmas tree in amazement. Gaster didn't immediately go to the other, pausing for a brief moment. He wondered if he would've been like this if the experiments weren't made into what they had been. Vedren might have been in his spot now, while Gaster stood in Papyrus' spot. Of course they would've been on the surface too. Aksinya, Ouphre, and Nomeus wouldn't be dead. No monster would be fighting for hope and survival.

It probably didn't help that Papyrus had Gaster's red scarf neatly wrapped around his neck while Gaster wore the purple one from Papyrus. He let Papyrus wear it since he was being told he should wear the purple one and it wasn't like the kid would ruin it. Luckily, though, Papyrus would notice Gaster and run over to grab his hand. The sudden contact snapped the scientist back into reality.

He looked down at Papyrus as he was being dragged away by the small child. "We gotta find the library!" The young one exclaimed with glee. It took a brief moment for Gaster to lift Papyrus with his magic and put the other on his shoulders so the child wouldn't run off again. Papyrus gasped and looked around as his bones shook with more excitement. "Now we have the high ground!"

"Indeed." Was Gaster's only response. He guessed it was something Sans said during a game between the two. Papyrus was learning quickly and growing gis vocabulary, making Gaster happy that he could understand the child better now.

The scientist didn't take long to find the library and Papyrus was let down to get a book or two he liked. Gaster waited at a table as the child eventually came back with a stack of books. Gaster sighed as he watched the other come sit down and start to read through the books as best he could. Gaster would help with a word or two here and there, otherwise Papyrus was a great reader so far.

Soon Papyrus began to yawn occasionally before leaning against Gaster. He kept trying to read through his books but it seemed that wasn't going to happen. Papyrus fell asleep during one book so Gaster had to use his magic to keep Papyrus still while he put all the books back up.

He walked out of the library carrying Papyrus in his arms and face buried in his purple scarf. He kept his eyes closed on the boat ride to keep his mind off Rocksan, who was definitely watching him. Something felt off and he didn't want to confront it.

He just headed back to the lab to give Papyrus to Sans, who was grateful his brother was asleep since he needed it. Gaster didn't pay much mind yo it though. He just went to his own room to think about other concerns of his.

The next morning, he decided to take a stroll through the Ruins. Being part of the extremely small population that could transfer in and out made it ideal for avoiding familiar faces. Plus less monsters live around here.

It became less of a stroll once he saw a human wandering around. Gaster stopped suddenly to watch them as they walked and soon laid their eyes on Gaster. There were a few moments of pause as the human child seemed to wait for Gaster to make the first move. The scientist just knew what he had to do.

Gaster did make the first move, attempting to swiftly kill them with a bone to the head. However, the child ducked out of the way quick enough to be just barely scraped. They dropped their ribbon on their hair as they shot Gaster from slight surprise of an opening. He could see them bleeding from the head though as they rushed past.

Gaster didn't honestly care about the ribbon, some other monster can have it if they really want, and just went after the kid. They're a problematic one, being patiently observant, so Gaster didn't just rush at them or teleport in front of them or anything.

The human soon hit a dead end though. Gaster was now in the way of another escape, no matter how patient they were for an opening. They clearly knew this too since they pulled out a measly toy knife. It wouldn't really be effective in scaring even most monsters away. They still made a fighting attempt to do so though.

Gaster just killed them quickly like planned. He didn't want to waste more time on them anyways. He pulled out their cyan soul and looked at it for a moment. It was the same kind as Sans', which slightly bothered him. He just tried to ignore the familiar anxious feeling as he made his way out of the Ruins. He skipped Home by teleporting since he knew that Toriel took up residence there after the incident years ago. If she knew what Gaster recently did then that's more to her hate list.

Gaster decided to walk to the labs from just outside the Ruins so he didn't have to get back as quick as he could be doing so. With that plan in mind, he put the soul in his ribcage to keep it safe and hidden. It was a good thing he decided to take a walk apparently.

On his way he found a large, fallen tree branch, probably due to snow piling too much on it. Gaster took a moment to even realize it but Rocksan was stuck underneath the branch. Once he had, he moved to push the branch off the other carefully while assessing the damages.

She had a broken arm af worst and was unconscious. Gaster was annoyed that he now had two problems but he would have to find a way to manage. He would just gave to carry Rocksan to the lab after wrapping up any wounds and using a splint to keep the broken arm straight.

After the mostly just a long, aggravating journey of making sure the splint stayed in place since it was a makeshift one anyways. Once he gets back to the lab he plans to make Sans deal with her instead. That way he can deal with the soul.

Sans instantly accepted the job when he saw how hurt Rocksan was at least. Gaster watched Sans go off to get supplies but didn't stay in the room longer than that because of the one injured there. He didn't feel like staying longer than needed plus he had to go put the new soul up and tell Asgore about it. He would rather let Ashore know about the important matter than also find out Rocksan's reaction to really anything.

Sans, not really knowing who Rocksan was at all, just waited in a chair for her to wake up. While he waited he couldn't help but wonder where she came from. He knew how skeletons came to be skeletons but he didn't know the story of this one or why Gaster left as fast as he did. He must have missed something in the journal. Something related to this skeleton, unless there's naturally made skeletons he never met but that's highly unlikely.

Sans didn't realize when Rocksan was first waking up. She was quiet as she squinted at the ceiling to think of where she could be. By the time Sans looked up from his fidgeting hands when he heard the bed sheets move, Rocksan was already sitting up and looking around.

"Oh- I didn't realize you were awake." Sans says as he stands up. Rocksan jumped a bit but it got her attention all the same.

"It's quite fine." She responds simply, eyeing the other as looking for some clues or specific details. "Can you maybe explain a bit on what's going on?"

"Ah, right. G told me he found you injured so he brought you to the labs for treatment." Sans answers. "By the looks of it, the biggest thing is your broken right arm. Other than that there's some scrapes and bruises around the break as well as other places that have been treated."

"I was able to feel that…" Rocksan mutters as she winced a bit. "But who's G?"

"Doctor Gaster. Sorry about not specifying." Sans rubbed his neck a bit.

"I see…" Rocksan mutters as she looks down. She was silent for a moment, as if thinking. "When do you think he'll be back in?"

"Not sure. He never told me anything. I didn't even see him leave." Sans simply responds.

"Alright…" Rocksan let out a sigh. "Let me know when he's back. I want to talk to him."

"Can do. I might even be able to page him." Sans thinks for a moment. "If he's not too busy, he should come right away. Otherwise the only important thing I can see him doing is talking to the King about something. That or he's hiding off on a break or something." He shrugs and stands up. "He'd only do that though if he believes I can manage the patient though." He gives the other a smile after the explanation.

Rocksan nods slightly. "I see…" She doesn't say much more than that, instead just taking the time to think as Sans pages Gaster.

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Word Count: 2,066

Warning: Death

Connecting Bonds Arc Start

Gaster watched as Asgore walked into the barrier room, letting out a sigh as he stepped out of his hiding spot and walked up to the human from behind. The moment Gaster’s shadow moved over the human they quickly spun around, only to shrink in fear. Gaster had to be at least twice the kids size, but as guilty as he could be for his intentions, things felt numb. Either way, he'd rather kill this human, not Asgore. He didn't deserve the pain.

“Don't worry, your death will be quick and maybe painless.” Gaster mumbles to them, making their eyes widen in fear. “You wouldn't make it past Asgore anyways. I know what it takes, and I wouldn't let that happen.” He says the last sentence with a bit of a sharpness to his voice from spiking anger, before shooting bones up through the kid without even a lift of a finger.

Once he was sure they were dead, he sighed and flexed his hand a bit. One down, six more to go. The bones vanished instantly and Gaster pulled the humans soul out, keeping it close in hand. Sadly, humans don't dust over like monsters until years later, just like their soul. As much as he wished there was nothing he could do besides maybe move it, even if he had to be quick enough to hide it from Asgore at all.

Gaster snarled a bit in disgust as he tried to figure out how to move the body, eventually he just gave up and left it there. He could keep Asgore in the barrier room for a while and just move it later. It didn't matter.

Once Gaster entered the room, Asgore blinked in notice. He stayed where he was, completely confused to why Gaster was here instead. Gaster just showed the blue human soul to Asgore, making his eyes widen in shock. Before he could speak though, Gaster took the chance for a lie.

“They didn't want to try and fight, so they just gave up their soul instead to help.” Gaster said, almost in an obvious rush. Asgore didn't seem to believe it, as much as he wanted. “Humans are nicer it seems compared to years ago.” With that, Gaster tried walking off, hoping to get rid of the evidence quickly. Even so, by the time he reached the doorway, Asgore finally spoke up. Gaster barely turned his head to look at him.

“Gaster, I know that's not true. You killed them, didn't you?” Asgore asked, taking a step forward towards his friend. He spoke again when Gaster didn't answer, his gaze moving away. “Why would you do something like that and try to lie it off? You need to say these things, otherwise things might just get worse.”

“They already are at that point…” Gaster mutters. “I’ll just get soul to a holding tank.” Gaster tried walking again, but Asgore was already moving over at his first bit of muttering. He grabbed Gaster by the arm, making him flinch in reaction and made him raise his arm up as if trying to fight back. Asgore blinked at this, but then just frowned.

“Gaster… You need help… This isn’t okay.” Asgore mumbles to him, but Gaster just looks away instead. “Something is wrong, and you need to do something about it!”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me but yourself.” Gaster responded, not wanting to look at Asgore. He was too kind, and it made him sick even trying to. Before Asgore could speak with more friendly and maybe persuading words, Gaster spoke again. “You shouldn’t have to do this, so I’m stepping in. You’re too soft, and you’ll just end up like me in the end. Careless. You have a kingdom to look after.” Gaster pulled off Asgore’s hand and went into the throne room.

Asgore took a moment, but then followed after and called for him. “Gaster!” He paused and starred, eyes landing on the dead body of the kid. He had suddenly lost what he was going to say, but Gaster turned to face him.

“It’s brutal, and you ordered that out of anger. You’re not going to be fond of the world I’m trapped in.” Gaster says, not a word wavering, before looking at the human. “They were really honest seeming when the guard found them and even when talking to you, but sadly ill fated. We can put the soul to good use, and respectfully bury the body just as we found them. It’s the best we can do for them at this point, since no one is allowed to leave the underground.”

Asgore took a minute to reply. “I have… been in and already seeing the world you are in, but there is an exit. I know a lot of what you’ve gone through, and I can’t let you go down a path that just leads deeper from my mistakes. I am the one who ordered it so I should be the one who does all this!” Gaster just shook his shook his head, turning away.

“It’s just six more, and the exit was closed long ago. I don’t need anyone’s pity either.” Gaster mumbled as he walks off, not daring to look back. “You can give the body to Aella, where she can take it to find a good spot to bury it.” With that he was gone, and leaving Asgore shocked.

Gaster mostly tried to ignore the fact he killed a human by going about his normal daily routine. Anton helped a bit when he came by, even if being absolutely annoying about it.

'If you ever need an assistant or substitute I'll be glad to help.’ He writes with an amused look.

“I don't need an assistant. This isn't a proper learning system at all.” Gaster says with a roll of his eyelights.

'Doesn't mean I still can't try to be one for the little guy. I mean, look at him too.’ Anton had a point and Papyrus seemed excited at the idea, only knowing the word assistant since his brother was one. Gaster scoffed and grabbed a random book off the nearby bookshelf and threw it at Anton for the other to catch it.

“Fine, then try.” He says. Anton opens the book as soon as he gets his hands on it. He reads the first page but seems to grow a bit confused. “Too hard, huh?” Gaster seemed triumphant with that.

'No.’ Anton writes a bit nervously. 'I'm just not good in this… field.’ Gaster rolls his eyes and takes the book back.

“I don't expect many would and especially not Papyrus right now.” He says, which sparks the said small skeleton's curiosity at the mention of his name.

“What is it about??” He asks with a slight bit of bounce in his step. Gaster gives him a look like he was a fool.

“If I told you the name you still wouldn't get it, you know.” He says and shrugs.

Papyrus frowned at that so Anton decided to cut in. 'Maybe he'll teach you once you've learned enough for it then you could teach me about it maybe.’ Though Gaster had to read it out loud to Papyrus, as per usual since the young skeleton wasn't the best at reading just yet. Gaster was working on it though.

“Oh!” Papyrus exclaimed with a smile. “Okay!” Gaster was glad he accepted that answer.

“Anyways, class- so to say- is over. Head back to Sans.” He says before starting to put up the books Papyrus was using. “Blame Anton for a shorter time if you really want to and just come back tomorrow for this too.” He adds when he sees Papyrus frown a bit again.

“Okay…” The small skeleton scoots off the bed and runs over to hug Gaster's legs. The scientist was surprised at first but just watched as the other did the same to Anton before heading out the door. “Bye-bye!”

There was a pause before Anton wrote something. 'Why did you have him leave because of me?’ By knowing Anton, Gaster could already tell he was going to start being even more annoying.

“Go away, fire bastard.” He just keeps trying to put up the books and starts doing the same to papers as Anton silently laughs to himself.

'Aw, don't be so mean.’ Anton pats Gaster on the head after writing. 'You know I love you.’ Gaster gave him a face of disgust.

“Ew.” Anton just wrapped the annoyed one into a hug. “Get off.”

'I visit because I care about you!’ Anton was hugging slightly from the side so he was able to write in front of Gaster.

“Bad choice.” He crosses his arms in annoyance. Anton pouted a bit at the other but knew this wasn't anything new at all.

'Just take my affection for once.’ Gaster just rolled his eyes.

“No. I have a funeral to go to soon anyways so let go already.” He grumbles out. Anton didn't want to be complied anyways. “You were blamed just so Papyrus didn't have to exactly know about it.”

'Well I'll be back anyways.’ Anton writes before shrugging. After that, he left the room and Gaster sighed soon after. He had to admit though that the funeral would probably be worse than both Papyrus and Anton but it was Asgore's guilt filled idea.

Gaster was slightly annoyed for being pulled from researching the soul to deal with the humans funeral, but it was the best he could do to be kind after killing them. Asgore wanted him to do something after all, and didn’t plan to leave Gaster alone. As busy as he was, he couldn’t ignore an order from his king, nor a friend from long ago.

Aella came up and confronted Gaster at one point, planning to explain some things. “As found out from some monsters and some flowers here, the kid loved Waterfall and the flowers the most. That’s why we’re burying them over here in this patch.” Gaster nods, gazing around at the echo flowers that lined the place, then up at the crystal “stars”. The blue soul probably deserved a place like this.

“Seems like a good spot for anyone, to say the least. Plus it adds to what they do even after dying, comparing us to humans.” Gaster mumbled to himself, looking at the echo flowers and expecting an obvious patch to grow among the grave. He almost forgot he knew more on humans than the average monster, thanks to Vedran.

Aella blinks, slightly confused, but goes along with it. “Right, but even so, along the way of finding a spot, we kind of lost a few accessories of the human’s. We couldn’t find them after either.” Gaster didn’t seem bothered, even if underneath his blank face he honestly wanted them all together compared to scattered. They didn’t do anything wrong for an imperfect burial. Even with Gaster’s “level”, something in him felt wrong with the fact. Maybe he hadn’t lost all his care, at least not yet.

Gaster lets out a sigh, letting his stern look fade. “It’ll be fine. Shouldn’t be too big a deal, least not an obvious one.” Aella nods, then looks back at the monsters digging the grave. One was Gerson, who volunteered since he knows these fields well.

They seemed almost done, some prepping the box that held the body to be buried. Gaster was a bit grateful it was almost over, for he felt too busy to stay any longer. He had to get back to their soul and study it more.

By the end of it, the monsters involved with burying it, the guard and other helping monsters, decided to place flowers where they filled in the hole. Asgore was maybe an odd one, having placed Buttercups instead of Echo Flowers like everyone else. Then again, Asgore was acting weird in general with all this. He’s mumbling to himself and keeping a stern look, but he definitely didn’t seem as hopeful as others.

Other monsters chatted and seemed slightly cheery, their main topic being getting out and how possible it really can be at this rate. Gaster didn’t feel so sure though, knowing a bit on how humans tend to act when faced with a threat to anyone, but once all the flowers were placed, he decided to turn and walk away.

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Word count: 2,026

Warning: Self-harm

Things didn't go as really planned for Anton today. News had yet to go out about the prince and Chara so he had no idea what he was getting not or what Gaster knew. Anton expected to just visit but he instead found Sans waiting absently by the royal scientist's door.

“He hasn't came out of his room in a while.” Sans starts to explain once he notices Anton. “I think something happened but he has yet to tell anyone.” Anton stared at the door for a moment before looking at Sans.

'Can you talk through the door for me and let him know I'm here?’ He asks the other. Sans nods and then moves to knock.

“Hey, G? Anton is here to see you.” There was a long pause as if there wouldn't be anyone responding. Sans opened his mouth to probably say something again but was cut off this time.

“Tell him to go the fuck away then.” Gaster says harshly from the other side. Anton didn't seem to care though, even it technically directed at him. Sans didn't respond to Gaster and instead looked at Anton.

“The door is one with a key to it. I'm not sure why exactly but if you really want in that's your best bet. I'm not getting in trouble with someone I will have to deal with.” Sans mutters to him. “You won't get in because of G since he's stubborn.”

'Alright. Thank you.’ Anton writes after he nodded. Sans smiled and gave a thumbs up before walking off.

“Good luck.” Anton just did a small wave to respond before starting his relatively long search. Anton didn't plan on giving up though, not until he knew what was up with Gaster. He even asked the helpers if they knew anything.

They managed to be as their job name suggested and directed him to a drawer with all their “useless” keys inside. It wasn't clear which one it was out of all the keys there besides a few definite “no”s for a variety of reasons. He ended up taking plenty of them to test on the door to find the one that works.

It was one of the last ones that made the door click. Anton smiled in relief as he dropped another key he was holding in his right hand. He was quick to open the door so he got a glimpse of Gaster quickly pulling down his sleeves. Anton wasn't really expecting it.

“Fucking great. You really managed to find a way in.” Gaster muttered before he stood up on the ground where he was sitting. He shot a glare at Anton before moving to sit on his bed instead.

The flame didn't speak back, no matter how rude Gaster was being, yet was moving over to the other. The skeleton glared at him once again but Anton still didn't take offense to it. He just grabbed Gaster's arm to roll up his sleeves.

It was littered with names and two of them were clearly fresh ones. Asriel and Chara. The others were ones Anton could tell were dead.

‘What is all this?’ Gaster had looked away before Anton could finish writing, already knowing what he was going to ask. The elemental forced the other to look at him, not planning to just take nothing for an answer. It still took a while of Gaster gazing down for that answer.

“My- mistakes…” He mutters without looking up. Anton stares at him for a moment before looking down at his cut up arms and running a hand over the names slowly. Gaster didn't show if he was affected or not.

'How exactly?’ The flame soon writes.

“They're… all gone and it all points back to being my fault.” Gaster kept his voice quiet as if he didn't want to be heard. Anton thought about it for a moment before asking.

'These are people from the war and who got ill after… I get the latter but why the former?’ Anton asked it but didn't get an answer. He just had to guess what the other believed to make him in the wrong. The flame just pulled the skeleton into a short hug with a sigh. 'How is Chara and Asriel one then?’ He asks after pulling away.

There was silence before Gaster's answer. “They're gone as well…” Anton stared at the other in surprise.

'That can't be true. How can they be gone all of a sudden?’ Anton frantically writes out. He couldn't hope they weren't though, Chara was sick after all but not Asriel. Gaster didn't just joke like that anyways.

“They're dead, Anton.” Gaster says a bit more stern this time. “They died just a while ago. Together.”

'I thought only Chara was sick though.’ Anton's writing got shaky with his hand.

“They had a plan and it just didn't work. Now they're both gone because of it.” Gaster was slowly pulled back into a hug after he was done speaking as Anton leaned against him.

The hours passed by quietly as Anton took the information in. The underground kingdom fell into despair as well once the news was announced and war later was claimed to inspire hope. Gaster didn't do much more than wait during the period after all the changes, especially of Toriel leaving with Chara's body, while Anton would visit more often to check on him. Sans didn't confront the topic like Anton and just kept his eye on the other skeleton.

The days started to feel quiet as they went by with hours and minutes of wasted time. Monsters continued as normal but didn't talk much between each other as much as they usually did until a bit later. No one wanted to confront the loss of their hope as they mourned and accepted it, eventually inspired for war on humans as their last option to leave this damp place.

Before he even realized it though, Gaster tiredly witnessed Papyrus make his first steps to Sans after being revived. The royal scientist didn't bother with it much and just kept on with the boring old days. Anton would eventually ask on his next visit.

'Who's the new small skeleton?’ He asks.

“His name is Papyrus and he is the younger brother of Sans.” Gaster responds. “That's all there is to it.”

'Though it's suspicious I have heard about him until now. I talk with Sans when I visit and he's never mentioned one or had him come with like today.' Anton writes as he continues to wonder about the new skeleton. 'Did he have babysitter problems or something recently?’

“He's just a newborn. That's all.” Gaster rolls his eyes.

'Really? Huh.’ Anton thinks for a moment before glancing at Gaster. 'I've never seen a skeleton other than you three though.’

“I wouldn't make that connection if I were you.” Gaster says maybe a bit harshly in tone but Anton hasn't cared for these past years he's known him. It's just Gaster being Gaster at this point.

'You gotta prove it wrong first then. It just makes sense to me.’ Anton gave the other an amused grin before patting Gaster's back. 'We can be single dads together otherwise.’

“No thanks.” The skeleton groaned at the thought. An arm of fire wrapped around him to give a side hug.

'Oh well.’ Anton shrugged before getting up. 'I should get going to see how Grillby is doing.’

Gaster watched him go as he waved goodbye and then let out a sigh. Dealing with people can be tiring.

Gaster let Sans be more absent or just work less when it came to Papyrus. Not like they had much to do so Sans focused a lot of attention on raising Papyrus mostly. Sometimes Sans supervised Papyrus in the labs to work and let him help out a bit by usually grabbing papers for Sans. Though that worked only when Papyrus didn't get distracted, listened, or could understand which ones. Papyrus had to always be supervised and banned from some parts of the labs for a reason.

When it came to Papyrus and Gaster's relationship, it was an iffy one. It barely existed since Gaster didn't feel like interacting with him or much of anyone at first. Papyrus started all interactions between the two, mainly when he gets bored, distracted or curious, and wanders his way to wherever Gaster was. The scientist would normally either return him to Sans and get an apology from him or give the toddler some science book for young kids that had pictures because he didn't feel like going to where Sans was.

This made Papyrus ask by pointing at said picture that caught his attention and tugging on Gaster's clothes for the other's attention. The skeleton just answered as simply as he could even if Papyrus wouldn't understand yet and he didn't want to give false information at all. He mainly wanted Papyrus to stop bugging him as they both waited on Sans.

By age three, Papyrus would try to say some big scientific words even if not always saying it right. Sans would get a kick out of it and ask Gaster but the scientist would just shrug it off. He did the same to Papyrus calling him “Ga!”, while at first sounding way too close to “da”, as much as it surprised and perplexed him. He tried to teach Papyrus early on how to say his full name instead.

Anton once stopped by while Gaster had Papyrus “reading” a book. 'How's single parenting going?’ Gaster glared at him for it, almost cursing at the other before glancing at Papyrus. He decided the other didn't need to know those words, yet.

“Maybe you should go home as the only single parent here.” Gaster retorted. Anton was only amused as he continued to crack jokes and build a good bond with Papyrus.

Gaster will only admit “teaching” Papyrus felt nice, especially since it distracted him from his own worries and Asgore's problems now that the queen is gone. It was honestly Gaster's doing if Toriel really wanted to blame anyone since he just wanted to take the souls as a solution, but he wanted to do it himself, not force it ever on Asgore. Even if it's been a year since that as well as Chara and Asriel's death, teaching at least made that feel distant. After all, he relied on his knowledge in his mind, not his problems in there.

Gaster would only start properly teaching Papyrus when he got more older and Sans had finally requested it. He had nothing else to do after all so he started properly teaching things in an easy to understand order that he could manage. Papyrus enjoyed it and even brought Gaster a scarf he made himself since he's the child's favorite teacher as the only one. Gaster wore it occasionally when hiding off in his room even if he already had a scarf to wear. His excuse was to keep warm and comfy.

It had made a while of no human falling feel longer. Gaster figured the chances were low because of either fear of monsters or no one knows about this place really. Perhaps a case of both. Maybe he should be checking to see if any have been falling but can't get out of the Ruins since the door seems locked now. Gaster has never bothered to check himself though.

The wondering about all that stopped mattering in a quick moment when one of the assistants came by to notify him. “A human has fallen down. I tried to direct them into the lab per your request but they honestly declined and went the other path. They apparently got a warning.”

“I see.” Gaster sighed as he stood up from his desk chair. “A warning huh?”

“Yes. They explained they got it from someone on the main river way.” The assistant explains. Gaster didn't say anything to that as he started to make his way out of the labs.

“Get one if the soul containers prepped for containment.” He says as he starts heading for the elevator.

“Yes sir.”

Royal Scientist Arc End

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Word count: 2,369

Warning: Death

This was honestly the first time Anton has ever visited Gaster's labs. He had let Grillby try to close the bar down for what could be called “a day” and now was a bit lost on where to go. Gaster wasn't anywhere in the first part of the lab so Anton was left to find his way through himself. He had no idea where the scientist could be since hd never asked Gaster about visiting in the first place. Anton honestly should have done so, especially for this reason but then he wouldn't be here at all since Gaster would just shoo him away. It's been a month since he went to the bar so Anton wanted to he able to see him.

He was just waiting for an elevator to take him to another part of this labyrinth and when he walked around he hoped he'd just turn the corner to see Gaster there. That didn't happen though, instead running into one of the “helpers” or mini assistants that he had to ask for help. That's when he was finally able to find Gaster in the lower lab but not how he expected nor how he hoped to.

It looked like a tornado had been repeated in a crazy experiment and was allowed to roam the room, though that was probably the most normal thing since Gaster had those helpers organize his paperwork for a reason. The worst part was the machine with singe marks on and around it, a few papers near causing smoke to full the room since they were singed red from where they were slowing burning to ash.

Luckily those papers were isolated and just burnt away. Anton could see Gaster trying to salvage what he can though and muttering plenty of curses under his breath. Anton would've just waited until Gaster gave up since there wasn't many papers left burning and he wouldn't mix well with already burning things in this situation.

Anton quickly took notice when he saw blood running down Gaster's skull and made his way over to the other fast enough to catch him by surprise. It was clear the skeleton didn't know the elemental was there at first because when Anton grabbed him by the arm and pull him closer to inspect the wound, he looked very startled. The blood wasn't from a spider webs of cracks at least. Instead it just branched into a new line at the top of his head. Anton was relieved it wasn't anything extremely bad.

'Thank goodness you're okay.’ He writes once he pulls away from the other. Gaster takes a moment to comprehend, even blinking a few times before just nodding and going back to salvaging. Anton had to tap his shoulder to get his attention again. 'You should treat the crack though. How did it happen?’

“I, uh…” Gaster seemed to be a slight mess as he picked up papers and thought as he did so. “It must've been when I hit my head earlier while working.” Anton could already guess Gaster would say he never noticed by being busy.

‘Well where's your medical supplies then?’ Anton was glad that Gaster just told him and soon he was back with them. Gaster had already salvaged what he could and was trying to decipher as well as organize.

Anton tapped Gaster again to get his attention and showed him he got the supplies. Gaster sighed but just let him so he just read some of the pages and kept still. It wasn't long before Gaster was good to go.

“Thanks…” He mutters before seriously going back to work. Anton watches him for a few moments before tapping Gaster's shoulder for the third time now. The skeleton looked up once again before staring in some sort of confusion. Anton had his arms open for a hug. Gaster paused for a moment, then two, before he moved to give an awkward hug to the other. It was only awkward on his side though, for Anton just embraced him warmly as a “you're welcome”.

The hug was definitely a warm one, Gaster could vouch for that, but it also gave a numbing and fuzzy feeling. It felt like the ache from his stress was just leaking out of his bones and allowing for him to relax. It was enough to have his thoughts drift a little too much and cause hum to start dozing off from his energy feeling sapped. He wanted to refuse it but didn't feel like moving so he was eventually accepting sleep.

Anton had to pick him up to carry him out of the room in attempt to get him to his room. The elemental ended up bumping into Sans on the way out, startling both at first. Once Sans noticed who it was and what happened, he quickly just relaxed.

“Looks like I'll have to turn Chara away today.” He says with a soft smile. “This way.” He directs Anton to Gaster's room so the flame's arms were great when they got there. Once they were, he was able to happily sign to Sans.

'Thank you. He looked like he needed rest honestly so…’ He smiles back at Sans. Though he felt bad that the royal family's child was being turned away now, he was still happy Gaster got the rest he needed anyways.

“I get that. Thanks.” Sans says before starting to leave with a wave. “Visit another time. The kid can do the same.” Anton nodded with a mental “gotcha” before glancing back at Gaster. He smiled even more at the sight of his resting friend before leaving to make his way through the labs once again.

Gaster got his recommended sleep time on complete accident thanks to Anton. He just woke up tiredly when Sans told him Chara was back again. Gaster was reluctant from the tiredness he felt but went up to greet them anyways.

“Ouch.” Chara comments as they eye the bandaging as soon as Gaster walks into the room. The skeleton just rolls his eyes and exhales a sharp sigh.

“As you can tell, there are some setbacks as it sometimes happens to be with things like these.” Gaster states calmly. Chara seems upset but doesn't say anything on why exactly.

“I bet getting a crack in your skull really hurts.” They say, as if adding to their previous comment. “How did you get them, if you don't mind sharing?”

Gaster pauses a moment to think before choosing to respond. “An incident in the first place I lived and in a fight with your previous human leader. The two seem to affect my vision quite a bit.” Chara eyes him for a moment after he finishes answering, some kind of emotion flashing in their eyes.

“I guess that's how you knew f- Chatch.” They close their eyes for a moment and cross their arms. Gaster doesn't take their mistake lightly.

“I feel as if I've known and been affect by him since forever, even now.” He states with a surprisingly calm tone as he looks down at the other. “I'm sure you feel no different.”

Chara glares a bit then shrugs. “I do know he had a plan to take you all out while while you are all trapped in a cage, allowing no human to go down so no monster can harvest a soul.”

“I can see you defied that.” Gaster says quickly before eyeing them questionably. What they said would concern any monster of course.

“Yeah, but I also made sure he couldn't carry out that plan.” Chara says sharply. Something about the emotion in their eyes caught Gaster's attention but he couldn't see what exactly since the teen was already leaving. Gaster just watched them go and sighed once again before heading back down to the deeper labs.

“So what do you plan to do about the machine? Keep trying?” Sans asks curiously while in the elevator. Gaster thinks about it as he closes his eye sockets.

“Keep trying, of course. Though I may have to advice Chara to also try to change their soul themselves.” He says and walks out of the elevator. Sans listens and follows obviously. “It may be hard for them to manage to change, especially as quick as they want.”

“Yeah but it's a plan B. Best to be at least thought of as soon as possible.” Sean's comments as he smiles a bit in attempt to be reassuring. “Do you want me to tell them?”

“Do what you wish.” Gaster responds as the two walk into the revival room and stop. The Royal Scientist stares at the machine with a deep frown for a moment. He hated the waiting it caused but there was nothing he could do about it. Sans just silently decided his next mood as he worriedly watched Gaster.

“Got it.” Sans mutters before looking at the machine himself.

“Five months.” Gaster suddenly says, off topic. Sans nods and looks over at the other again.

“Time sure has flown by when we got busy. The project is at least good for that.” He says before walking off with a wave. “I'll take care of it acter month six as we discussed still.”

“Oh I'll make sure you do.” Gaster purposely says with sharpness. He already dealt with one kid. A younger one would be worse.

After another month of Chara and Anton visiting the labs, Gaster pretty much gave up. His progress sas slowing down by then anyways. He thought he got it working right at one point but it seemed to have no effect when tested. That caused research to be strained.

“Don't rely on it to do something stupid and fix it later.” Gaster had commented on the soul's power of resetting before basically telling Chara to go fix themself by themself. They weren't too happy but just went away to do so. They only came back for a camera and some tapes, once belonging to the king and queen, with Asriel.

Months passed without Gaster realizing since then. One time he had to treat Asgore since he got poisoned from eating flowers by accident. Gaster couldn't say how long ago that was though. He just knows at one point Chara snuck down to “secretly” put back the camera and tapes. Gaster never cared to confront them on why or anything though. Why did it matter? Maybe the two teens got bored of it.

Chara got quickly sick after that. It must've been a coincidence but while he checked up on Chara it didn't seem that eat. While their symptoms seemed a worse version of Asgore's, their traits overall had also dropped significantly, the signs of a weakening soul. They still were determined for the most of it but it was clear they weren't going to bounce back from this unless lucky. It caused Gaster to arrange a quick meeting with the king.

“If they do not make it in the end, we can at least preserve their soul and use it for getting out of here.” Gaster states, maybe too blunt for Asgore's liking. His face looks full of grief after all as he didn't answer. “For them. At least think about it so we can have permission to preserve the soul.”

“I'll think on it…” Asgore finally mutters before leaving the room as quickly as he came.

A short and quick meeting but it was to be expected. Asgore didn't want go talk about it more than he had to. He eventually did after to it though after watching Chara's health decline more. Gaster then could attach a monitor to page him in case something happens and they end up dying unnoticed so hd can collect the soul as soon as possible.

It did its job, making Gaster's pager go off when the time finally came. The scientist rushed out with his equipment to contain the soul as soon as possible but it would reveal to be a fruitless attempt. When he got there, Chara was very much gone of course without a soul to recover.

There were unfortunately no traces of why their body was even gone or where it was. They wouldn't dust like monsters or their found family anyways.

Chara knew where their body was though.

It felt like they were swimming as they looked from a view that seemed higher than what they were normally use to. Asriel's voice spoke like he was in their head yet seemed to slightly echo as of far away. They sounded scared but Chara just pushed them to walk forward with the plan no matter how much he said he didn't like it. They couldn't just turn back now.

Chara was the one mostly in control because of that way of thinking. Each step felt like it was their own but they couldn't tell if Ariel felt the same way.

Every time Chara chooses to look down they see their own poisoned corpse and Asriel would shake terribly. Even if they died by painful poisoning, Chara's body looked peaceful in Asriel's arms. They just decided not to look until they got to the village.

It was quiet at first when they got there but screams were quick to sound off even so. Chara expected it to be. It looked nothing like vicious murder but who could care to look longer than a second with a monster in front of them?

Chara wanted to quickly find humans to pick out and take the souls of but their feet didn't want to move when they did. Asriel's cries echoed badly within Chara's head as things became fuzzy again. After a few painful hits from the humans while Asriel's barely reacted from the mixed reactions, they were turning back to Mount Ebott. Chara screamed in frustration but it didn't change anything, besides add a headache, no matter how hard they cried.

“I'm sorry. I can't do this. I'm so sorry.” Asriel's voice whispered yet it sounded clear to Chara. When they got close to the mountain, they didn't push the monster any further.

It wouldn't be long until they die together among golden flowers and in front of their heartbroken parents.

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Word count: 1,999

Sans was able to watch Gaster's slow decline. Though things didn't repeat for a long time, he didn't do anything that wasn't already done daily. It was as if he was waiting for everything to become a waste.

Sans just attempted to talk to Chara the day after they got tge machine running. There wasn't much to it, just Chara being skeptical as Sans explained. One could say Chara started to accept and be comfortable around Sans, yet it was hard to really tell with them. It took longer for them to accept Gaster's attitude.

Now Gaster sat at the desk in the lowest lab sections. Sans was stopping by since he learned this is what Gaster would now do, watch the machine so nothing goes wrong.

“Is everything alright, G?” Sans asks as he approaches the other. Gaster glanced over for a moment before just staring at the machine.

“Busying myself.” He mumbles.

“There's plenty to do in the above labs though.” Sans responds and glances at the machine. Gaster took a moment to respond.

“I'll do it later.” It wasn't like him to procrastinate. He always stressed about getting things done, yet for a while now its been the opposite. “I'm going to head out for now.” Gaster says suddenly and gets up.

“Where are you going?” Sans asks, trying to follow as the other puts a coat over his sweater.

“Just out to eat. Don't worry about it.” Gaster states without looking back. He had teleported off before Sans could even respond.

Gaster had planned to just walk through Waterfall to get to Snowdon but a place to his right caught his eye. A river with a caped figure on a boat.

The scientist walked over and stepped on the boat. It took a moment for it to get moving since the figure was surprised, but they eventually snapped out if it.

“So this is what you to now?” Gaster says suddenly. The figure seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“Yes. I found a friend and we get paid for our services sometimes. It's never required though.” The friend must've been the boat, for it let out an agreeing back as it's bow took the shape of a dog then went back to normal.

“I see… interesting.” Gaster responds and they both become quiet the rest of the way. It wasn't until the end of the trip that they interacted again. Gaster handed over some gold before stepping off and leaving the other puzzled. The scientist didn't care though, just making his way down to the local bar in Snowdin.

Anton's was a small but comfortable place to Gaster besides his own lab, even if he only knew the owner really. The blue flame monster was even quick go home over when Gaster sat at the bar stool.

‘Hello.’ He wrote with a smile. ‘Can I get you anything, Gaster?’ The scientist shook his head and sighed in response.

“Just came here to pass the time.” He mutters.

‘Aw, come on.’ Anton's smile just grew a bit. ‘You never order anything. The food here's great!’

Gaster rolls his eyes. “I'm sure it is but I'm not hungry.” He says and looks down a bit. He looked back up again when he noticed Anton's writing.

'Something bothering you then?’ He asks. Gaster just shrugs at the other.

“Just been thinking.” He says after a bit. “I wouldn't say it's really anything important though.”

‘I see.’ Anton pauses before changing the subject. ‘I've been thinking as well. You remember Grillby right?’

“Oh yeah. Your kid. Haven't seen him for a long time.” Gaster sits a bit more straight for once.

'Since the last time you were thinking.’ Anton adds on quickly. 'He's grown up since then.’

“I would imagine so. He's a bit older than Asriel, right?” And younger than Sans of course. Gaster would've added that but decided not to. “He was just a newborn flame back then.” Anton nodded, smiling out of pride.

'Right.’ Another pause from Anton. 'Actually, did you ever get that assistant you came here to think about last time?’

“Ah… yes actually. I started immediately, though it took a few years to find the right one…” Gaster subconsciously rubbed the edges around the hole in one of his hands nervously. Anton quickly took notice of the hole and reaches out to grab Gaster's hand.

Anton's hand felt warm and gentle, completely controlled flames flickering as they held on. 'When did you get this?’ He writes it quick, making the flames sloppy for a few seconds.

“An accident while experimenting… don't worry about it.” Gaster answers before pulling his hand away from the other. He glances away and adjusts his jacket a bit. “Things happen.” Anton stared for a movement, unsure, but just slowly pulled away.

'I understand. Sorry if I pressured you.’ Anton writes slowly this time yet still the flames would shake at first.

“No, you didn't.” Gaster said with a shake of his head. “As I said, don't worry about it.” He thought for a moment while Anton didn't respond, remembering the previous topic. “So what were you saying about Grillby?”

Anton had to think about it for a moment. 'Oh right.’ He drew out the last letter to make it accidentally have a slight tail. Gaster hasn't ever really seen him get so shaken up before. Never this worried before. Even in war he tried to be the optimistic one to keep monsters’ spirits up. 'I just have been thinking that Grillby could take over when I feel he's old enough. Maybe he can name it after himself so he properly owns it in name.’

“He's just a teen now right?” Gaster asks as he tries to push back a brewing mental fight from conflicting wants and feelings. “Sounds promising either way.”

Anton gave a soft smile before writing. ‘Yes. For now he works the back of the house. He's a very good chef.’ Gaster gave a somewhat of a smile back.

“I can believe that.” He mutters. “Mind getting me a water?” He makes Anton work up a bit at the request and smile a bit more.

'Sure, friend.’ He writes before heading to the back. Gaster hangs his head and sighs once the other is gone. He know that would make the other happy, finally an order from his toughest customer, but Gaster just felt he needed some anyways.

The skeleton only looks up when Anton comes back with a glass in hand. He takes it when it's placed in front of him for a meager sip. “Thanks.” He mumbles.

'No problem.’ Anton at least had steadier writing now, quite proud of himself and distracted from before.

The conversation turned out better from there. It was away from the lab, both their thoughts and most importantly the resets. Part of Gaster hoped that it wouldn't happen. Gaster didn't know if he could play the part again.

Luckily, he didn't seem to have to anymore. Gaster was able to let the days after pass, watching the machine work even if it seemed nothing was happening at the moment. The soul was attracted though, meaning that it was slowly being reattached to the body.

“G.” Sans was down here again, stopping out into the room. “Chara is here. They want to speak with you.”

Gaster sighs as soon as he hears it. He gets up off his chair to go head up. In the upper lab, he found Chara with their arms crossed and looking as grumpy as ever.

“What do you need?” Gaster asks, getting the other's attention. Chara's gaze seems to soften a bit as they saw the scientist as if their impatience was satisfied.

“Sorry for breaking into your lab, I guess.” They mutter and look away somewhat.

“Apology accepted, I guess.” Gaster responds in a mocking tone. That made Chara look back at the other with a bit of a glare.

“Ha ha. I see how it is.” They say mockingly back. Sans walked up from behind Gaster and patted their head, speaking before any could add another remark.

“The kid and I talked, though honestly it took a long while to stop being angry at you.” Sans explains. Gaster shrugs.

“I get that sometimes.” He responds sharply. “Is that all?” Sans quickly shakes his head.

“I just want to mention that, if you think about it, they only used the power once and that was when they were forced to.” Sans says and then adds. “I just thought I'd bring up the fact before they talk to you about somethings.” Gaster looks over at Chara for what they had to say.

“I don't even know how it works nor do I need it. Enough to wonder if I should try to find a way to just get rid of it, so it's not a burden.” Chara admits, speaking somewhat slow. “If that helps anyway.”

Gaster eyes them for a moment. “How can I be sure you never used it before you got here? Usually humans know of it yet not monsters.” Chara seemed slightly offended but didn't act on it.

“I haven't. I noticed something weird, yet I didn't know anything on it.” Chara states. Gaster thinks for a moment before deciding it was something that made sense with who last had the ability. Why tell anyone after it didn't matter anymore? Just have the facts disappear and rule like a king. “I don't even want to go back to before this place. If I use it, it'll be an emergency you know the main reason to.”

Gaster watches Chara's determined stare for a moment, then turns to leave. “If you wish to not be able to use it anymore, I may be able to help. I'd worry though about who it may go to after you.” He left the room quickly yet could still hear Chara's last comment.

“I'd rather keep power from burdening or consuming me.”

Gaster just his himself in his main lab area for the rest of his “day”. After he took a nap as a break from work, Sans was telling him Chara was back. As much as Gaster didn't feel like it, he forced himself out of bed.

“What do you want?” Gaster says, maybe a bit too harshly. Chara just pauses for a moment, probably notching he was tired.

“I kind of want to at least know if you can get rid of this power somehow.” They start, glancing around the lab that was empty besides them two.

“I'll see what I can do then. Give me two weeks at the least.” Gaster states. “Though, keep in mind that if we use whatever I come up eith then it may go on to someone else who may overuse it while you're stuck in a world that won't remember anything. Maybe it'll go back to the previous owner.”

Chara looked down and let out a sigh. “That'll be the least of our worries, I believe I just want to see if its possible anyways.” Gaster finally seemed surprised for once. It was as if they figured out who the previous one was.

“So Chatch is dead?” He mutters, earning a small nod from Chara.

“Before I dropped down here… people may be in chaos for a while…” They say. Gaster watches their upset expression for a moment as he pieces it together. With their run away, from a previous life and this reaction, Gaster deciding not to ask more.

“I'm going to continue my nap. I'll start working when I wake up.” He says and takes his leave. He can't help but assume their power problems are too close to home and that's mainly why they don't like it.

Gaster just decided to help them for the next month, larger than he expected. Souls are hard to control since they charge with the person's personality. Either way it gave himself something to do while he waited on Papyrus.

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Word count: 2,192

It almost felt like Sans never could sleep enough now, even when its been awhile since he woke up from that event. It troubled him too much apparently. He was constantly yawning and rubbing his face as he tried to understand what happened or may have not at all. Gaster wouldn't just kill a kid like that, right? It still didn't make sense why he would even if its been hours.

He's always looked up to Gaster and studied under him since he was a little babybones who wanted to learn science, so he wanted to make sense of that. Hell, since Gaster is the only doctor and the Royal one he's got to deal with a lot with the well beings of kids. Why was this one different? Was it too much of a human to know what to do? Yet he knows a lot about humans too.

Sans would've just brushed it off as another crazy nightmare but Gaster was acting more agitated and busy. He normally isn't so worked up about his research like this.

“G?” Sans says it like a question, mostly out of concern. Gaster looks over then back at his papers.

“Good to see you're awake. If you can go to the location specifically described on the paper and explore it'll be a big help.” He says, gesturing to the paper taped up on the wall. This happened last time but Gaster never seemed so bothered. Sans just listened and took the paper even if he knew where. “Tell me about it when you come back.”

Sans instantly went to the spot the kid fell to wait. He could have swore he waited hours, but the kid never came. Maybe it was just some dream messing with them. Maybe he hoped that at least.

Sadly, it didn't seem he'd get what he hoped for today.

That kid was in the lab again but this time not because Sans had carried them in order to save them. Instead they must've snuck in since Gaster looked very annoyed to see them. Sans put his “nightmare” to the back of his mind to listen in on the two before letting his presence be known.

“What are you doing?” Gaster spoke sharply to the human.

“Just got some curious questions for you, since you are the Royal Scientist and all, so you must know quite a bit.” The kid met the other's tone with the same annoyance but anger as well.

“Like what happens if your soul were to shatter right here and now?” After that, Sans had heard enough and stepped into the room.

“G?” He acted like he wasn't just there in the hall to listen in. He caught both of their attentions, both gazes on him.

“Ah, Sans. Can you deal with them so I can get back to my work?” Gaster gestures to the kid, first to respond since he was use to seeing Sans just appear after waking up from his naps.

“Uh, sure doc.” The assistant looked at the kid, who glared at him, before ushering them out by pulling their arm. The kid complied, probably only because they knew they could just sneak back in.

“You listen to that guy?” They hissed out at Sans. He looks over, his face just showing confusion.

“He's my boss.” Was all he said against their comment. “What's your name kid?” They glared at Sans like they heard themselves be called that recently, very recently.

“Cut the kid part and call me Chara.” To say the least, Chara seems to be having a very terrible day. Before Sans could say anything else, the other pursued the previous topic. “Doesn't Gaster seem off to you? Especially since he's being a jerk?”

“Well, you did break into a lab, even if I've never seen him really that annoyed.” Sans responds, trying to seem not so bothered.

“He just seems to know more than he lets on!” Chara crosses their arms, then they pause to think. “Have you been getting a strong sense of deja vu lately? Like things repeated?” Sans thought for a moment. It wasn't like they were wrong, he just didn't know if he should say.

“Well… kinda, yea?” Sans hoped they weren't trying to prod at what he keeps hoping is just some nightmare. “Hours worth of it really.”

“Yeah, but to me it feels more like a second chance than deja vu entirely.” Chara starts. “I dreamed, or something, that I fell down in this place and already knew this all would happen. Yet these both feel just as real.”

Sans stopped and sighed once they got to the exit. “Yeah… sounds rough.” He didn't know what else to say without showing he's uncomfortable to the other.

“And that's why I came here. I wanted to talk to Gaster since in that dream or whatever had him killing me!” Chara didn't seem to plan to leave after all, as much as their conversation was fun to Sans. He hated how anxious it made him feel. “He clearly knows something about it as well so we sh-”

“Not gone yet? And I thought you were a quiet kid.” Gaster says with a groan. Chara just glares at him without a word. “I was just fixing your mistake and now you're complaining about it?”

“Was that real then? You killing me?” Chara honestly seemed ready to beat Gaster up with how hard they were clenching up their fists.

“Yes, but I only did it because I knew you would come back. You didn't probably if you've never had it done before, which can be explained by your words.” Chara scoffs at him as he speaks.

“Why didn't you just tell me then? Wouldn't that be a nicer result?” Gaster rolled his eyes at their words.

“I didn't want anyone to use it for personal gain when it could just be forgotten instead.” He speaks harshly, making Sans interject awkwardly.

“Is that why I don't know much about whatever is happening?” He asks, giving Gaster a slightly confused look. The scientist has taught him a lot even on sound in general, but such a thing slipped away from his teachings.

“It didn't really happen often or meaningful enough anymore for me to care to mention.” Gaster turns to head back into the main part of the lab. “Consider yourself luck being the most determined brat at the moment. Don't be stupid with it.” And he was gone.

Sans awkwardly looked at Chara who was fuming still, yet seemed to calm a tad with one thing answered. “If you ever want to visit, just knock next time kid.” He rests a hand on their head, making them look over. “I'll let you in if I'm the one to notice.”

Chara broke away from Sans and crossed their arms before walking away. “Guess I'll think about it.”

Sans watched them head out of the lab and out of sight. He let out a sigh before moving back to work and just decided to nap until he's needed.

With a flop onto his still yet to be made bed, Sans connecting the dots. Gaster was the type to be cryptic but if whatever happened before was real, then why did Gaster seem so upset even after? Why does Gaster have to be cryptic at with really anything?

By the next ‘morning’, Sans was a bit skeptic that he couldn't find Gaster. He even checked the old scientist's room and found nothing. As he remembered the time before his last nap, he decided go check some documents before he continues his search.

There had go be something on red souls specifically that Gaster may know. Something about the most determined and all this going back deja vu stuff. He found a little, but it didn't do much to have him know more than he could just figure out on his own.

He looked at Gaster's desk and noticed the journal lying open on it. He fanned through the pages in search, going back dates to when they were able to be tracked easier. He had to remember wingdings as he read through, slipping out a cheat sheet once he's forgotten a letter.

He was surprised by one entry about two kids being murdered… then something clicked. He fanned to more recent entries, when dates started vanishing, then put it on the last one. ae started to search the room and found a hidden button built into the wall, to look like a part of one. It took a moment, but the wall opened up to reveal a tucked away soul in a jar.

Sans pulled it out to look it over, scanning it's beat and orange glow closely. It wouldn't be long before he was lifting the container to head out of the room. He followed a path he had read in the journal.

The machinery he stopped in front of brought back a lot of early memories, like when he first saw Gaster. He somewhat knew how to get it working, the rest being guess work. Admittedly, he was shaking during the entire process. Frustrated and scared with this all. Gaster clearly didn't say everything, but he didn't think about him hiding this.

“You'll need a body too, if you really want to complete it.” When he heard Gaster's voice, Sans had to take a deep breath. What he had read had angered him with all the scientist had hidden since he was a babybones, but he wanted to not let that control him. That's how he was raised after all, even if by someone who always let the important part of things go missing. Anger doesn't solve anything if there's no solution to the problem. Even if the solution doesn't exactly work fully it needs to be something to allow anger in any form.

“Yeah, kinda figured that. Planned to get this ol’ machine working first.” Sans gestured to it while he made some adjustments and got the soul in place.

With a sigh, Gaster set down a coffee mug on a nearby desk and walked off. Sans enjoyed the peace while it lasted, but Gaster was back pretty fast. He had young skeleton in his arms and a clean one at that. Dead as ever but looked like he's been ready to be revived for years, especially if it's soul was hidden in Gaster's room and the body near the machine. If not, it would be placed to be ready to use incase they decided to try and shatter the barrier. Even Gaster could hide the soul next to the other exit no one knew of, so only him and Sans could get to it.

Which made the assistant wonder why he's alive now if he could have been used for something else previously. Now his soul was weaker. They already knew the power needed to rivals the barrier after all, so they could use all they can but Gaster didn't seem to see it that way. He already had the machine essentially ready to start when Sans gave up on trying to figure out Gaster's cryptic motives.

“Why are you doing this after being caught red handed by someone who may look down on you now?” Sans asks as he watches Gaster fill up the machine and activate it.

The scientist sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I just have to own up to mistakes is all.” He went to his desk where the coffee was to sit there. “The main reason I waited on doing this was because I know I wouldn't last with two kids at once. I know my limits.”

Sans pauses before moving to sit on the desk. “I guess your one kid limit also depends on their attitude, huh?” Gaster hides his ghost of a smile with a sip of his drink.

“Mhm, but we weren't meant to get along anyways.” He mutters. Sans gives him a concerned look and adjusts how he's sitting.

“Why do you say that G?”

Gaster took a moment to answer. “War and the last human I encountered with the same problem and soul type.” With his quick silence, Sans guessed he didn't want to talk about it anymore than that. Sans just changed the subject once he understood what the other meant exactly.

“So how long does this process take exactly?” Sans gestures to the big machine at work. Gaster looked up at it, unconsciously rubbing at the holes in his hands.

“Normally a year for the magic to take effect like it should, but I added something that should make it just a few months now.” He answers before getting up and pushing his chair in to leave.

Sans stayed where he was and watched the machine work. Maybe he could say something to that kid later, even if it didn't really have a chance of meaning anything. He just thought he'd say something that might help them cool off about all this, for the purpose of less problems in the future, even when he still felt his uncomfortable mood lingering in his bones.

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Days had passed by quick, yet also slow feeling at the same time. It was hard to tell time anymore so it stopped having meaning to any monster. They just lived and went to bed when they got tired. Yet the days didn't really produce any new events too often. Monsters had to find ways to pass the time frequently. Akasinya's brother, Arthur, had even opened a library to share his book collection for bored monsters to read.

As for Gaster, he just filled his time with work. He studied the barrier and sometimes even the nature of his own soul mostly, even if there was possible risk factors. He had a few people become minor assistants that did other things mostly related to regulating construction of whatever Gaster wanted built. Sometimes they did papers or organized them at least, but they weren't really proper lab lab assistants to Gaster. He probably would need one soon, but didn't feel like putting in the effort.

In one day though, those boring, more repetitive days didn't happen so often for Gaster anymore with a new discovery. It had an even greater effect than Asgore and Toriel marrying, winning a championship, or even having a prince of monsters to be the new heir within the future.

Speaking of the prince, Asriel was skipping around Home, which had become like a vacation stay for the family. “I'm going to pick some buttercups!” He calls through the house as he goes to leave.

“Alright! Stay safe, my child!” Toriel calls back, presumably from the kitchen.

Asriel wanders the Ruins, all the way to the caves at the and when he got there, he swore he could've heard someone crying out. He quickened his pace in worry, only to be surprised by a human child.

“Ar-are you hurt?” Asriel asks when he gets near them. The human child just reduced their cries to sniffles and looked at Asriel. It showed a few of their cuts and a bleeding lip, a few bruises here and there. Their fall was broken slightly by the crushed flowers under them, yet they looked like they also just came out of the pouring rain and the pollen of the flowers stuck to them.

Asriel started to heal them where he could see the injuries, watching the child closely. They never spoke during the process, as it amazed by it. They looked around Asriel's age, yet he could see a dull, broken look in their eyes. What had happened to them before they came here?

“Y-you're a human, right?” Asriel asks, getting just a small, slow nod. He lets out a sigh, trying to relax before he moves to help the child up. They didn't really fight back, yet they were heavy until they stood on their feet. Asriel walked with them all the way through the Ruins, trying to make some kind of conversation. “My mother has better healing magic than me. She'll make you feel better once you're at Home.”

The human didn't really respond to that, head down to where their bangs covered their eyes. Asriel frowned a bit more, having hoped that would make them feel a bit better.

“My name is Asriel. What's yours?” The human looks up, seeming surprised to hear the question at all.

“Chara…” They speak, slightly hesitant. Chara looks ar Asriel with a deep frown on their face. The prince didn't like seeing it, but tried to keep a smile since they were almost there.

Asriel entered Home and looked for his parents. He could smell the snail pie baking in the oven so he instinctively went that way. He found his father in the living room, who reacted in surprise when it came to seeing the human.

“A human? Down here?” He was surely baffled, offering to check on them with a gesture. “You must've fallen down, where the golden flowers are. Well, we'll fix you up.” He went to get up, but saw Toriel coming from the kitchen.

“Oh my.” She says out of habit. “Hold on.” She walks over and holds her hands above any cuts, bruises or scrapes. Chara seemed surprised on how quickly they healed. Asriel giggled quietly at the sight of the human's face.

Asgore watched with a soft smile before finally getting up. “I'll go get a brush and fresh clothes.” He says before walking away. Chara watched him go before looking back at Toriel.

“Well… I was making snail pie but I can make another kind if you'd like. If you're hungry at least.” She offers, smiling sweetly. Chara nods in response and attempts to give a small smile. “Oh and- I have a question for you. Do you prefer cinnamon or butterscotch?”

“Butterscotch.” Chara answers, yet not much thought to it, seemed to be put into it. Toriel thanked them for an answer and turned to head back to the kitchen. However, she glances over her shoulder at the last second.

“You wouldn't mind cinnamon though, would you?” She asks. The human nods, smile growing a bit in amusement.

When Toriel was gone, Asgore was back. He sat in the chair and gestured for Chara to come over. He brushed their hair until all their knots were out. The child was surprised at how gentle he was and at the same time was glad for it.

Not too long after Asgore was done, more smells came from the kitchen and mixed with the previous one. He gave them the clothes and showed a room they can get dressed in so they weren't wet and covered in pollen anymore. It was refreshing for Chara, who once was out of the room, Asriel was bounding right up to the doorway.

“I'll show you around while we wait!” Asriel says, already geanning Chara by the hand to drag them down the hall while Asgore waved and smiled as they went. They were shown the bedrooms, the plants, and more. Really it was almost everything. Asriel explained what was downstairs, the tree without leaves, and some books he had on a bookshelf. To Chara, it was kind of amusing to see how invested he is with the tour.

By the end of it, Toriel had two pies cooling off. Asriel waited at the kitchen counter for the cue to have a slice, though it'd probably be a while anyways. “I made cinnamon butterscotch pie since you're here, young child.” Toriel spoke to Chara, who waited beside Asriel.

The human seemed surprised, examining the pies until handed a slice. They look at everyone then the slice. Asriel heads off with his own and calls for Chara to follow. That was mostly what they did anyways.

Asriel let Chara sit on his bed next to him as they ate their pie. “I heard from mom that humans don't really like snail pie.” He starts, making the other look over. They were curious to know what he had to say, they had to admit. “It's really good though! At least the way mom makes it.” Asriel takes a bite, as if proving some kind of point. “Why do they think snails are gross?”

Chara shrugs. “Maybe the texture.” They answer softly. Asriel seems happy to get a response, least for a moment before he explains how good his slice is. Chara tried their own, enjoying it immensely. They could confirm this pie wasn't so bad at least.

The day was casual, Chara answering what questions the dreemurrs had about them. They weren't too proding on Chara's life before underground, but more curious things like what they like and their wellbeing. They once asked a personal question, but Chara went quiet on them, so they didn't bother again.

While Chara was hanging out with Asriel in his room, they never noticed the parents packing up things. Only until the two were called out did they realize that some things were cleaned up. “It's time to head back to the castle, Asriel.” Toriel instructs him and he just follows behind his parents happily. Chara found it weird for the sudden leave but just followed to see where fate would take them if they did. They doubted they were just going to he left hanging around here anyways.

They got to a snowy area, walking through it until they get to a town. There were a lot more monsters, so Chara just kept close to the ones they know. Asgore seemed to notice them huddling close, reaching down to give them a pat on the head. Chara was taken by surprise, looking up at the large monster before smiling softly.

The journey was quite long, making Chara tired by the end of it. When they got to the castle, the others helped make a makeshift bed for the young human in Asriel's room. Asgore promised to build a bed for them tomorrow, but for now wanted them to rest soon.

By next morning, Asriel was excitedly waking Chara up to usher them out for breakfast. They were used to being woken up at times but not exactly for this reason. Didn't mean they weren't fine with it though.

While Chara put their plate in the sink, they overheard Ashore talking to Toriel. “I'm going to pay Gaster a visit.” This peaked Chara's interest, so they walked back to Asriel.

“He's the underground's main scientist! The royal one!” Asriel exclaims. “He's a really good friend of my parents, so I call him uncle Gaster. He's a pretty distant guy though, as my dad says at least, so I don't really see him that much.”

Chara listened, yet didn't have much to say again. Asriel was already heading up to his mother. He managed to convince her to let him go play in a place called Waterfall. Chara could guess where that was as they were being pulled out of the house by Asriel. Asgore had went all the way through the Underground with his family, probably taking the scenic route with Chara there if there was a faster way.

Soon the two teens were exploring Waterfall, hopping over streams and onto stepping stones. It was a fun adventure and soon they were looking over a waterfall's cliff and trying to see the water pooling at the bottom. They couldn't sadly.

“Maybe someday someone will explore down there! Then we can see what's down there ourselves!” Asriel says with high hopes. Chara nods to agree, ready to head back home with the other.

Though that's not what happened. Suddenly they were seeing the underground stars on the ceiling. As they gazed up, they watched them be surrounded with darkness until they were consumed. The roaring of the waterfall got louder. Then they couldn't see anything anymore. Everything hurt and felt warm with pain. Chara heard muffled footsteps while Asriel called their name from above, but impossible to make out behind the waterfall.

“Aw geez… this isn't good…” After a moment, whoever owned that voice was doing something. Chara could only tell when they were being lifted up, but passed out a bit after.

Chara was soon awake again, staring up at a ceiling. They closed their eyes and groaned at all the blaring lights. That's when they heard that voice again.

“Hey, G. Looks like they're awake.” Chara looked over to see a young skeleton, making them grow internally troubled. They've heard how special these monsters are, but then again how trustable is he?

A tall skeleton then walked up, glancing over Chara before taking their vitals. They assumed this was G, and maybe even Gaster. They watched him during the whole process and as he left the room.

“Watch the human as I talk to the Dreemurrs.” He says as he goes. Chara prefers a name over “the human” but just watches the other skeleton sit down near Chara's medical bed.

“So what's your name, kiddo?” Chara huffs at him.

“Why are you calling me kiddo, whoever you are? We look to be almost the same age.” The skeleton laughs at that.

“You look to be the younger one and the name’s Sans, by the way.” Sans just had a grin even if Chara glared at him. After a moment, they decide to respond.

“Chara. Please call me Chara.” This only makes Sans chuckle.

“Nice to meet you too, kiddo.” Chara rolled their eyes and glanced away. They already have decided Sans will be a hassle to deal with. “So you're the king and queen's new kid?” He asks after a moment. Since Chara seemed surprised at that, he adds onto the question. “They seem to care for you a lot at least.”

Chara just shrugs, a bit unsure themself. Did they care that much? The teen didn't ask though, just letting silence fill the air as Sans didn't seem to have much to say to continue that thought.

It didn't matter in the end though, for the before mentioned family was already shuffling into the room. They looked worried and Asriel especially looked guilty looking. It was Gaster who spoke first.

“They're lucky to be alive and more so if they aren't paralyzed. I've put plenty of pain medication for enough comfort while we see how to treat them and what's going to be permanent.” He puts it bluntly, just adding to the parent's anxiety. They had listened well to the diagnosis and were now rushing to comfort Chara. The teen must've looked horrible since everyone was put to tears over them. Well, besides the skeletons at least.

Gaster walked over to Asgore and put a hand on his shoulder. “I wish to start treatment as soon as I can. Say goodbyes and please go home.” The king looked hesitant, but complied to soom lead his family out of the room. Asriel just muttered a quick apology to Chara before shuffling out.

“So what'll we do G? Sans asks and looks over at the mentioned other. Gaster glares at Chara, who could do nothing but watch. He moved to be on the opposite beside of Sans, who was now standing up.

“I have an idea that'll work quickly and will fix all of this.” Sans seemed confused at first, but it quickly turned into a look of surprise and fear when Gaster moved the blanket over Chara's head. He would have used his hand to be more quicker but the holes in both made for inconvenience.

Chara managed to catch a glance at Sans and his fearful look, making Chara terrified. They couldn't move either. “Gaster what are you-” his more serious use of words was cut off and ignored.

“See you soon, determined one.” Gaster kills them quick and painlessly thanks to a bone attack to the soul plus the pain meds on top of that. Sans glares at Gaster now.

“What was that for?! What does it fix for the Dreemurrs?!” He yells, making his way around the bed towards Gaster.

He didn't flinch though. Instead, the royal scientist stared down at where the bone punctured the soul and waited. “You should see soon.”

Sans did. Well, at first it was all black but then he was lying in his bed like it was a hard to forget nightmare.

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Travel wouldn't resume until Gaster went back, so he didn't really worry how far he went or how long he stayed out. They probably wouldn't leave for a while since most monsters were curious about the place but also planned to rest after they're done exploring.

Gaster expected that many aquatic monsters would like this area and stay, maybe with a variety of others too. If it wasn't so damp, he may have not mind it too much. For now, he just hoped they'd at least find a less wet area that could be settled in.

Within a quick moment, Gaster saw a figure move past him and around a corner of the cave tunnels. A figure in a cape. She really did probably come then. It was undeniably her at least. Gaster did know at least the looks of quite a few monsters who were on this journey still, and he did start in the underground by helping said monsters.

He would have followed after to see what she was up to, but Gaster could hear Asgore in the distance calling for him. The curiosity was cut short as the scientist started to head back to meet his king then head back to camp. Gaster just hoped Rocksan didn't fall down somewhere since there is some steep cliffs around. If she did without help then her revival may have been a pointless attempt, at least to Gaster it would be. He didn't revive her for her to do nothing with her life before she properly passed on. She should at least use her second chance wisely.

Asgore tried asking what Gaster was up to, for wondering about randomly, but he just shrugged it off each time. Asgore just didn't bother to ask more, even if curious of what Gaster may have learned.

By the scientist's guess of the situation, Asgore had brought him back to the group early before leaving so Faster could get some rest. Not like he knew anything better to do though, so he just complied, though he didn't sleep. He at least tried at first.

Eventually they were heading off again anyways with the expected monsters staying behind, and a few unexpected ones, to settle in some places around the region. Later it would be found for the best, for the nest area was full of magma pools and dangerous terrain. The smaller amount of monsters definitely helped more with it at least. Asgore though didn't seem too much of a fan of the heat, nor did Toriel, even dubbing the area “Hotland” for it. Some monsters turned back at one point to head for cooler climates. The last monsters left were the ones who had to deal with the heat, the guards who had to deal with it, and Asgore who acted like the heat wasn't a problem.

It was a long journey with many starts and stops while tapping into their resources. Most of the stops were because monsters were concerned for Asgore’s well being. He tried to say he was fine, but their concern ended up overpowering him.

Gaster himself didn't really like the trip but the area was a warmer one and there may be something good on the other side, so he kept going. It at least seemed like a good chance of success.

Some monsters also wanted to give up halfway through, but it was too far to turn back and too many resources would be used trying to help them get back. Instead the other tried to help keep them going.

Admittedly, during their travels around the edge of Hotland, Gaster caught eye of a metal building in one section. It seemed to dig deeper into the caverns of magma, but unreachable for now. It didn't look like there was an entrance on this end anyways.

Eventually they did come to the other side of Hotland, or at least dome side that was new. The place was mostly gray, giving a neutral kind of vibe to it. Luckily, it's terrain was much easier. It wasn't long before the cavern started to become just a small tunnel and progress was stopped. The caverns glowed stronger and an invisible wall stood in the way of the exit.

Thus impassable wall was called “The Barrier”, as it goes with Ashore naming things. It made them turn back around to the neutral area, and since they had made it this far with really no where else to go, they decided to build their main home there. A castle was also set up in the way of the Barrier. With all hands on deck and an unknown amount of time passing, the process felt rather quick.

Once it was done and the monsters had proper homes, Ashore drew a blank on what to call such a dull area so monsters just dubbed it as the capital since its up with the castle. It worked at least. They moved onto civilizing Hotland as best as they could next, so it was easier to cross back to see the other monsters. This of course took longer go have happen. They would find ways to reshape the land and find materials to build structures go help when they couldn't.

Gaster would occasionally check to see how they were doing. Usually they needed no help so he just watched or recommended things. Admittedly he mostly wanted to find that metal building he saw when they were travelling. Other than that, Gaster had nothing better to do.

They did eventually report a metal structure and Ashore decided to keep monsters out until inspected properly and construction would continue as normal in Hotland. Gaster asked to lead the inspections by himself, at least until his suspicions were cleaned.

The place was dark for the most part, aside from the hole where they broke in. The magma made it weak, but the only light source. Asgore decided to offer to come along when he notice and Gaster just let him since he has fire magic so he at least could help.

It didn't take long for Gaster to recognize the place, as he expected. They wandered the lab for a while, though it was noticeable if it was a small offshoot of the lab he grew up in. The main reason it was recognizable as not the main one was in the structure and design of the interior, for none of the paths matched up to the ones Gaster remembered. Plus it was far too small. More written documents were also around here when he didn't find many at the main lab.

After a bit of passing through most of the halls in the building, down an old elevator that probably could have been dangerous, they managed to find an exit to another cave system. Asgore looked at Gaster, but the scientist just kept going. He was determined, to put it simply.

“Do you think humans will come in through the labs if they can and get to us that way, now that we're trapped?” Asgore asks, clear that a paranoia was eating at him after the war. Gaster just kept going, his face not showing worry like the other. Didn't mean he didn't have any.

“The chances are low, though not that low. If anything, besides the things on the upper part of the lab, most of the place has been emptied out and we can assume they got their important things out before we got thrown down here. It is pretty deep in the mountain after all. This is the long way.” Asgore took a moment to convince himself with Gaster's words before relaxing a bit. He made his flames glow a bit brighter so they can see more.

They came to a locked metal door, Asgore moving to pry it open. Once he managed to, he relit his flames and slowly moved them around in front of him. The place was as dark as the rest, but it didn't seem to faze Gaster as much as Asgore.

“This might be it.” The skeleton mutters to himself as he walks around, taking glances of the paths available to try matching it to his memory. He checks a few more places around before seeming to start heading for something in particular. He heads into a room and then kneels down to a jar. Giving away the location of itself easily, an orange soul glowed inside. “That'll definitely be proof enough.” He starts checking something while Asgore tries to make things out in the room.

“It's strange that they knew this was here, yet they put us in these caves anyways.” Asgore mumbles in thought before looking at Gaster. The other nodded and took a moment to give a proper response.

“There has to be a reason, even him just simply not realizing these connected, even as the same mountain. Yet, we can take the opportunity now. It will give me some resources at least.” He gets up from where he is and starts to walk off. “I have one last thing to check.” They both head out of the lab through a different exit. They walk the cavern until they can't anymore.

A barrier blocked this cave exit as much as the other, surprising Asgore a bit. He expected it to only block at least the two. “It's like we've been trapped in some kind of unbreakable bubble…” He says quietly. Gaster gives a small nod before starting to head back since he can't go forward anyways.

“In that case, I'll use these labs and this part of the barrier for proper research. Do not allow any monsters to wander in unless I say. Call it dangerous if you need a reason to give, and that I'm handling the situation on my own.” He looks back at Asgore for a response. “That should be enough.”

“Alright. I will do my best to help, so that we can move forward once again.”

“Then I shall do my best to free us from this prison for monsters.”

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They had traveled for a while and had recently set up camp in the snow fields. To monsters with fur, this wasn't too bad of an area to be in. To people with none like Gaster and Gerson, it was freezing cold. Maybe not so much to any flame monsters either, who tended to be popular while the group was here.

Gaster spent most of his time around Anton for the heat of his flames. “Surprised to see a man of bones shivering next to me.” The flame monster signed to Gaster.

“A system of magically manifested nerves, that's all, yet makes for a sad existence. Maybe if I had less magic I would be without the ability to physically feel.” The scientist mutters out with a glance over at the other. He was slightly glad he had a friend that produced warmth as a flame being. Asgore was more happy for Gaster wasn't just hiding away for warmth of some kind.

“I'm sure you'd be glad to be without them during a time like this of course, though I guess it wouldn't be easy to get.” Anton swings an arm over Gaster's shoulder when he finishes writing with his flames. The shivering one was a bit surprised but didn't bother to move anyways. The warmth at least was appreciated.

“Thank you for your kindness.” Gaster responds as he moves his gaze to the nonliving flames burning off of small fallen branches monsters had gathered.

“Isn't it what we need in this period of time to keep thriving on? Kindness and teamwork?” Anton asks, having Gaster respond with a small nod. Couldn't say he was wrong at least but it didn't mean he wanted to comply with it exactly.

They only stayed there for maybe half a day of time to rest before beginning to get moving again. Gaster stayed by Asgore like an advisor as they quickly picked up to get on the move again. Before they could take off into more unknown territory though, a bunny monster walked up to the two and made them pause.

“Hello, your majesty. Some of us here monsters were wondering something.” Asgore looked over at the women, allowing her to know he was listening to what she had to say. “We were wonderin’ if ya minded if some of us who don't mind the cold stayed behind and maybe built a small town here.” Asgore seemed surprised, but clearly in a happy way.

“Yes, that is a wonderful idea. You have my full support in settling here.” The king responded, giving a big, bright smile. “We just need a name for it then.”

“Well with the location it might as well be Snowdin, no?” Gaster gives a small smile, one that rarely appears nowadays. Asgore seemed about to respond at first then paused, dumbfounded.

“Snowdin sounds wonderful!” The bunny spoke up. “Thank you, Dr. Gaster.” She bowed politely to both before walking off. The king was baffled, but eventually went to talk to his guards, without a word of anger said to Gaster over that name. He just helped give the monsters some support with any guards to spare.

With that all taken care of, the rest continued on their travels to explore the cave system. To Gaster, less people might be better anyways. Anton, even if he can keep himself warm in the snowy weather, had to decided to come along and catch up to Gaster at the start of the crowd, giving him a small wave for his attention. The scientist looked up and over, but didn't really bother to wave back.

“How are you?” Anton writes out, clearly hoping for an expansive conversation with the other, but it didn't really go as planned as Gaster just shrugs off the question. He thought for a moment before making another attempt at communicating. “I would have been settled down with the others but I wanted to keep helping this group out first. There's still a lot to go after all so u want to play my part in this.”

“We're glad for your help then.” Gaster responds, giving a weak smile since he was unsure how to respond otherwise. He didn't want to make Anton go away either, mainly because he felt too tired to deal with trying to find a way to let him go away on his own rather than Gaster pushing him away, so it was better to that let it happen and feel the guilt later.

Soon the snow became slushy and the ground was becoming more of a wet area. ”Dang it.” Anton writes with an inaudible laugh that acted more like a smile than anything. Admittedly, it did make Gaster smile a bit.

“Turn back if you need to. We don't want anything bad to happen as we go.” He states. Anton just shrugged it off with little worries about it clearly.

“As long as it doesn't rain or I don't get dunked in water, I'm fine.” He gives a smile and Gaster just nods. Eventually, Anton tries to start a conversation again, or at least revive the one that ended. “So what do you plan to do when you find some place to settle?”

Gaster shrugs at first, taking a minute to get a response. “Work? Most likely the case at least.”

“Really?” Anton starts. “Don't you already do that? And isn't it kind of boring? Even for a scientist like you, right?” Gaster tried to deny it with the shake of his head, but the flame monster clearly wasn't all that convinced with the answer, so he pressed on. “Well, I myself might start a business or go raise a kid so things don't feel so lonely wherever I choose to love. I'm not sure yet though.”

Gaster shrugged, yet again.  Maybe one day he'll get tired of having to shrug things off his shoulders. “Seems like a plan. Depending on how you do it you could have a chance of doing both together.” Anton seemed to like the idea instantly, giving a bright smile.

“Yeah! I think I could try balancing both.” Anton even adds a smile in flames before writing out a ‘thank you’, making it clear he's grateful for Gaster's opinion in the matter. Luckily for Gaster, the conversation ended there.

The group of monsters kept traveling on with small conversations between each other to keep their minds somewhere so they aren't bored most of the way, yet they also quickly became entranced by the sights of the water area. Some guards had to keep an eye out for anyone wandering away, especially any of the kids. It was a dangerous area with cliffs and pitfalls most of the time, so it was only common sense to keep an eye on where everyone was.

They would stop midway, or at least where they thought was midway, to let any monsters who wanted to wander and explore the beauty of this part of the caves do so and let the rest take a break. Gaster actually was interested in this area to explore it for its various features of fauna. The blue flower field nearby became his first research site since it wasn't too far and many had already gathered there, which allowed him to observe others interacting with the new flowers.

Gaster surprisingly enjoyed sitting amongst the flowers and sketching them out in his journal. Most of the facts he gathered came from the monsters, for the flowers seemed to repeat their words, so the interacts were crucial to his data. The monsters even quickly realized what the flowers were essentially doing and gave them a simple name, going around and calling them “echo flowers”, just for they echo back what they “hear” and nothing else. That's just how some names tend to come into play at least.

The monsters even made it a game, to put secret messages for their friends and family, and sometimes just for those passing by. Even wholesome messages were spread around, cheering up each others day or night, whatever the time was anymore. It didn't matter, they were at least happy now compared to the boring old days.

Gaster's observance time of the noise echoing flowers quickly, and sadly, had halted when Asgore took him by surprise, for the king had snuck up on the scientist to see what he was up to and Gaster never took notice until Asgore spoke. “You draw wonderfully, Gaster.”

With a jump and attempt to not react too badly, the mentioned skeleton turned around to face Asgore with an upset look to him. Even if it didn't seem to bother the goat. “Can you not sneak up on me next time you want to say something?” Gaster asks and makes the other chuckle. Asgore sat down next to his friend and takes in a glance at the surrounding area, at his people who were enjoying themselves and dragging others to play with the flowers.

“Sorry.” The fluffy monster starts. “Didn't think I would say anything at first, but your flower drawing is still nice looking.” He gives a small smile, but Gaster just goes back to writing down notes in more detail.

“Flowers aren't that hard to do, honestly.” He mutters out. Asgore lets out a small chuckle before patting the other on his head gently.

“Still.” The other leaned away as the king spoke, trying to get out of the pats as he grumbles a bit. “I'm glad you re finding interests in these caves like everyone else. It'll be good for you.”

“Yeah. Maybe so.” Gaster responds plainly, purposely for nothing to say unless Asgore had different topics, and just kept making more observations of the fauna. Apparently, the other did have something to say.

“I was wondering what to name this place, without letting you this time for last time's well… incident.” Gaster let out a soft chuckle after hearing that, growing more proud of the name. Asgore just continued, even if he seemed upset that his friend just laughed it off. How dare he. “I was thinking of Waterfall, you know, since its a water filled area with waterfalls.”

“That's a pretty overly simple name, don't you think?” Gaster asks, running out of room on his journal page at this point, but it would last enough.

“It is a name good enough to call the area! Everyone will know what they're referring to even if they never heard it before!” Asgore argues, having some kind of point.

“Well, I guess I can't argue with that. Go with it if you really like it.” Gaster didn't want to argue anyways though, so he left it at that. “It's your decision as king.”

“Mhm. I'll announce it then when everyone gathers back up. They'll like the name, I promise you. Which means I'm right.” Asgore states as he crosses his arms. Gaster rolls his eyes, closing up the journal.

“Yet I also have a name to a place, which is also easy to tell what it is. Wouldn't that make it like a tie?” He looks over, finding Asgore's posture seeming to weaken a bit at the facts presented.

“W-well, I'll have three names in total actually! So this'll just be after hearing your type of names that they still like mine, so I'm still right.”

“Alright, whatever you say big guy. I guess you would win in the end, unless they like mine more.” Gaster at least believed he had some kind of point anyways. “I plan to get going now anyways, more places to explore.” Asgore gave a small nod as a start to his response.

“Stay safe and be back soon then.” He says as he gets up with Gaster. The scientist gives him a glance before walking away with a wave, allowing Asgore to be free of his presence. Gaster didn't feel like staying around him anyways.

He kept walking until he found a more desolate place, near a river where a few rocks shine like stars, though not as many as some other areas had. They were definitely more scattered in this area. He'll have to see how they work later though, how they glow exactly. If it's just retracting light somehow or producing it themselves.

Gaster paused when he heard some steps behind him, looking around to see who it was. It sounded like someone was running though, so they were gone from the area quick. He got up and walked the place, trying to find a more interesting area, and maybe he'll find whoever has decided to wander so far from the group like he had.

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