Dark - Darker - Yet - Darker

 Chara’s eyes widened in horror as the tall figure leaned over them. He looked like he was melting. The black liquid spilling out from the cracks in his porcelain mask resembled oil or tar. Did his insides rot?

 They yelped in disgust when it stained their clothes, and Chara reflexively brushed their hand to swipe the foul substance off, but regretted it immediately. It burned.

 “S-Shit! Back off!“ they hissed while furiously wiping off the acid against the ground. “What’s wrong with you!? Leave me alone!“

 No way, could they actually take damage here? This was crazy, they were already dead! Could they die again? If they perished here, would they be gone forever?

 “-kh!!” Chara bit down a cry as they were lifted up by the demonic entity, again. “C-cut it oUT..! You sick f-freak!! Go to hell!“

 They were dead! There shouldn’t be anything he could do to hurt them, yet… Chara was scared. They couldn’t hide their anxiety. No matter how much they tried to cover it up with insults, this current predicament was too much.

  Gaster’s voice rung in their ears like he was shouting, but Chara could barely register their meaning. What was he talking about? The core? That big machine in Hotland? What about it? Did messing with that turn him into a melting acid battery?

 But Gaster’s next words did reach them, every syllable loud and clear in their mind.

 Chara lost the remaining colour in their face and stared up at the doctor in shock. Their chest felt empty, yet full of needles. They bit down so hard their teeth could break. Anger was flaring up again, burning through their entire being at full force.

 Yeah, they definitely preferred this.

 In the next moment, a flash ripped through the air, as well as the doctor’s hand; a sharp glowing blade, drawing a blood red arc in the blackness surrounding them.

[☣]

   He hadn’t spoken with the intention of upsetting the ghost, the scientist only stating what to him was a fact. Oh, not that he particularly minded or cared that it did seem to have hit a vulnerable spot. But still, the child’s reaction surprised him - for multiple reasons.

   The knife sliced through his hand with ease, the bone-like material crumbling and breaking like chalk. Eyes widening, the scientist actually moved away, releasing Chara in the process - before his smile grew again, splitting his face in half. That color, that feeling the blade in their hand was radiating... could it be?

      ❝Fascinating! Human souls truly are marvellous.❞

   He could fight back. Whether he would win or not was a different question, of course, but he could fight back... but Gaster wasn’t going to. Now that someone had finally remembered him, finally confirmed his existence in this timeline once, he had no intentions of letting them disappear.

   No, he needed the ghost. They could - no, they would be his way out of the void’s pull. He wanted to learn more. More about how they existed, more about how it was they could remember him. He wanted to learn everything.

  The child fell to the floor with a dull thud. They lied motionless for a few seconds, their head hurt and the monster’s broken mess of a voice wasn’t helping. It was like a drill in their ears.

 Did Frisk already go to bed? The thought of them sharing some kind of fever dream was very appealing rigth now. How else could they make sense of this surreal situation?

  “What-” Chara reluctantly sat up and stared at the deranged doctor, their expression a mix of dread and disgust.

“What the hell happened to you?”

  He didn’t look alive, anything with that kind of body couldn’t be alive. But monster souls are destroyed upon death. They don’t turn into ghosts like humans could. He looked more like some kind of disease than a living creature. He was absolutely revolting.

 Why was he here? Why did he, the Royal Scientist, the most loathsome monster in the entire underground, stand in this secret area, looking a melting slug? Why had Chara forgotten about him? No…

 Why had the world forgotten about him?

  “What did you do, Gaster!?“

[☣]

   He was still shaking, fighting for control over his own form - his own emotions when Chara’s question reached him. A moment of anger surged up in the scientist, broken fragments of fingers and palms circling the ghost’s form like a threat - but the euphoria of being remembered outweighed it quickly again, bone pieces crumbling to dust.

      ❝ Me?❞

   More hissing static as he laughed more, less amused and more scornful now. New hands forming, his melting frame bent over the child, drops of his tar-like form now dripping onto their body. His appendages were still fragile, the creature having a hard time to remain concentrated, but they would do for now. Grabbing onto their arms and legs once more, he heaved Chara into the air, closer to his face

      ❝I did n-☠othi-i-✋ng. Do you believe I WANTED this form?!❞

   He needed to calm down. He couldn’t disappear again - not now where he finally had someone who remembered him. And them, of all people! No... he needed to compose himself. Getting too excited wouldn’t do him any good.

     ❝I fell into the CORE. My own creation. They LET me fall. But, lo and behold, it seems hope is all but lost after all!❞

   Voice still crackling, accompanied by an uncomfortable highpitched static screech, Gaster hat at the very least gotten to the point where he was no longer losing his ability of speech. Temporarily having stopped to melt and shift, his face slowly began to reform as he once more grasped Chara’s face between his hands- Tilting their head roughly from side to side, the creature peered into their eyes as if trying to read something.

The dislike is seen, hell, Sans practically reads it as he straightens up and shrugs. Soon he starts walking towards the other before passing him, waving a hand lazily. Nah, he isn’t going to deal with one that didn’t like Sanses, he already had to deal with one lie that- He tried to kill him with a black slimey tongue around his skull.

Looking at you avoiided.

*cool, gaster, i guess it has its reason; not really open about it though.

In other words, he was about to nope out of a possibly bad situation. His paranoia was starting to seep out and it showed as he scratched at his left socket, tapping and scratching at each crack.

*welp, ’m due for a smoke, so i should get goin.

[☣]

   Smoking? As far as he was concerned, none of the other variants of ‘Sans’ has ever mentioned such a habit. Of course it was rare for every single variant to be exactly the same, but this was the first one he had encountered one this different from the others.

   Oh this would provide to be educational.

     ❝A rather short visit. Personally, I have no... aversion to smoke, so why not stay for a while longer? I have to admit that my curiousity is piqued.❞

   If the other decided to leave nonetheless, would he be able to stop him? The skeleton had always been known for his rather annoying ability to teleport, and this one didn’t seem to be any different from that for once. In fact, seeing how he could just skip through different timelines, it seemed that his ability was even beyond that of the others.

   An ability that Gaster would love to learn more about.

The high school boy covered his mouth and pressed his back against the stone. His lungs were burning but he needed to be quiet. The frantic voices of his pursuers were close by, searching for him.

Takashi pushed himself as far back as he could as he tried to avoid detection, when suddenly the solid ground ended.

“Aa-kh!”

His startled cry was cut short. The drop was only a little over a meter deep. Takashi lied on the hard floor for a few moments, letting his shock dissolve into relief. The cave was slightly damp and the chill felt pretty nice after running. He sat up and rubbed his head. Short fall or not, it still hurt.

It had seemed like a small crevice at first glance, but it was surprisingly spacious. He couldn’t hear the youkai anymore, it should be okay to rest here for a bit.

What was Nyanko-sensei doing? He was going to give him a piece of his mind later.

[☣]

   Following the noise, his pace began to speed up as his body continued to reform, legs solidifying. He detested the slug-like unshapely form he was often confined to, finding it to be a rather pleasant surprise that he was able to regenerate with more ease in this world.

   Now all that was left was to find a way out of these tunnels. Oh, they were far more preferable than the void of course, but still... the scientist could think of more pleasing sights. But first things first; he would have to find the source of the footsteps from earlier. If the life form would turn out to be intelligent, that would make his stay here so much more enjoyable.

   It didn’t take long for him to stumble over the presumed origin of the sound, either; turning around a corner, he could spy a pale creature sitting on the ground. Human from the looks of it - it was rare to find a realm where they didn’t crawl on the planet’s surface like a disease. Well, at the very least they were not boring. The smile on his lips spread.

   He was a doctor?

   That was somewhat reassuring to her. It explained his fondness of books and why he would’ve been allowed to visit the archives in the first place. And perhaps also why he looked so strange. In her experience, folk studying science or medicine tended to be quite eccentric. But they were pursuing knowledge in order to help people, so they weren’t bad!

   Or at least she hoped so…

   Still, Zelda relaxed just a tiny bit. Talking to a scholar, no matter how creepy-looking, was still better than talking to a demon.

   Noticing were he was looking, her face tinted slightly red in shame. He was thinking the same thing. But the books hadn’t been damaged, and he had scared her so it should be his fault, technically…..

   When he asked for her name, Zelda tilted her head to the side, confused. Hadn’t he realised that she was the princess? That was a bit odd, she was wearing the royal crest after all.

   Maybe he was cooped up all day in a study, nose (wait no nose) deep in a book and didn’t pay attention to much else, or perhaps he was just asking out of courtesy.

   “I am Zelda,“ she answered, observing him carefully to detect any kind of reaction, more out of curiosity than anything.

[☣]

   Her reaction to him asking her name was an odd one, the confusion clearly visible in her face. Was he assumed to know her then? Or were names not a common thing in this place? A possibility - it would not be the first world he would encounter with such odd habits.

   However, when the girl introduced herself, that quickly erased that possibility, as well as the one that she might have forgotten her own name. So, assuming by that, she was someone known enough as though even strangers would know her name. How curious. He would have to continue a little more carefully then in order to not draw anymore suspicion to himself.

     ❝Ah, of course. You must forgive me, I am... not from the area.❞

   Gliding over to the collapsed heap of books, he delicately picked one up with long fingers, opening it up at a random page. The same script as before greeted him, still a mystery that ought to be solved. Perhaps...

   Awareness returned to him in the middle of what appeared to be a cavern of sorts, the scientist’s form solidifying as he slowly looked around. Not an unfamiliar experience by all means, but one that was uncommon. Most of his time was spent trapped in the void between realities, shifting in and out of consciousness.

   But, sometimes, he would find himself in one of the many worlds for just a while. More than not, those were quite interesting experiences. A welcome diversion from the agony that was timelessness. 

   Slowly, uncaring of the fact that his body was still partially broken, Gaster began to move forwards. Usually his time in such realms was limited, meaning he would have to use it wisely if he wanted his visit to be... educational. It had been faint, but there had been noise audible to the monster just when he came to consciousness. The tap-tapping of steps on brittle stone, echoing through the tunnel system he found himself in.