#chatch

Word Count: 2,633

Two figures with serious faces walked through the lab slowly as they examined the rooms. They halted in the room of Vedran’s death, standing just above his dust and looking down at it.

“What do you believe happened, your highness?” One asks as the other’s, or the king’s, gaze does not change. He looks around at the fatalities. The souls of the humans were shattered long ago, making soul collecting impossible even if wanted to.

“I do not understand completely what happened Nomeus, but from what I was told, Vedran had a strong bond with Aster, or Wingdin as he calls him.” The king looks back down at the dust, kneeling to begin collecting it in a medium sized glass vial.

“Aster is his human name, no? He probably didn’t want it to cause anything confusing or bad. We did bring back a dead person, and maybe with loved ones.” Nomeus replies, putting his own thoughts in. The king stops and stares for a moment.

“Most likely.” He finally stated, then soon continues on with what he was saying and doing. “With Vedran’s dust here… I can’t say it was Aster’s fault for this.” He continues, finishing up cleaning the dust and putting a lid on the container. “The possibility of him being a rabid experiment seems too low for all this.” For a minute, things are silent.

“It does indeed, your highness.” Nomeus says after some thought. “Do you believe the humans have something to do with this? It may explain their strange behavior recently.” The king thinks for a moment.

“Maybe…” He picks up the dagger where Vedran’s dust use to be, getting up and turning to Nomeus. “Some kind of magic seems to have been used to kill the humans here but…”

“But all that killed Vedran seems to be that dagger.” Nomeus continues for him. “I think we can kind of guess what could have happened now.” The king nods, thinking for a moment.

“I… Doubt he would cause anyone harm, at least from what Vedran told me. He might as well be hiding amongst monsters, maybe even scared for his life.” He states, putting the dagger back down. “Nomeus, get the guard to clean this up. Then I need you to try to find Aster’s location. I feel the humans are up to something so I’m hoping you will protect him if anything happens?” Nomeus nods.

“Yes, your highness.” He pauses. “I… have a feeling I know where and who he is. He’s already in great care, but I’ll keep him from any humans. I’ll try to get him to admit who he is, but I’ll need something as a test he wouldn’t expect to be one.” The king thinks for a moment, staring at the vial of dust in his hand.

“If that is so, try bringing him to Vedran’s dust ceremony.” The king begins to recommend, handing the vial of dust to Nomeus, who takes it. “See if you can get a reaction out of him from it. Their bond should show as well then. Maybe you also just need to mention the name to get some reaction.” He takes one last look around, and Nomeus nods.

“Shall I tell Aksinya of her father’s death, or would you like me to send someone else?” Nomeus asks, looking at the dust vial.

“Whatever works for you. She probably already knows anyways. He pretty much disappeared till now. She probably made the guess. Confirmation is all she needs now.” The king explains, and Nomeus nods in response. After a few moments of silence, the two decide to leave…

Meanwhile, Gaster sat outside of the school, watching everyone train. Nomeus had been called away from the school the moment they got there. Gaster was told to leave them be, and a large, brown and white goat monster with some crown on his head too talked to Nomeus.

It wasn’t too long till they started to leave and the class had a substitute that Gaster didn’t really pay attention to. The goat, who Gaster had guessed was the king, had left another, and presumably his son, white goat monster who seemed to like talking to Toriel a lot. Gaster was completely distracted by writing in his journal to not notice the new kid was walking up him a bit later after talking to Toriel for a while.

“Heya! What are you doing all the way over here?” The voice made Gaster jump, looking up at the kid while he held the open journal tightly. The goat monster didn’t seem to notice him jump, and just smiled and offered a hand. “I’m Asgore! Asgore Dreemurr!”

Toriel walks up behind Asgore. When she speaks, both the boys look her way. “That’s Gaster. He doesn’t talk much, but he’s new, so you really can’t blame him.” Asgore pulls his hand back a bit. Gaster growls inaudibly, not liking being talked about like this, even with good intentions.

“Is that so? I don’t see any reason to be shy though! No one means any harm here!” He turns back to Gaster, offering his hand again. Gaster hesitates, but then slowly goes to shake his hand with his bandaged one, quickly pulling away after. Asgore stares for a moment, surprised. “You're… hurt?”

Gaster just sits there and nods, really wanting to go back to his journal. He fidgets with his hand, not liking the way this is going. “I’ll be fine. It was just… An a-accident. I can take care of myself.” Asgore seems a bit surprised as Gaster makes a face to show he’s not too pleased with the topic and stops making eye contact by looking at his journal again. Asgore was going to say something, but was cut off.

“Are ya making friends, young prince?” Nomeus said walking up with the king behind. Gaster looked up and then at Asgore. Prince…?

“Trying to! He’s shy according to Tori though! A challenge for me then!” The prince seemed enthusiastic about all this, making Gaster shrink a bit more into a ball he already kind of was with his knees up to write on without looking straight down. The king came over and kneeled down to talk to Gaster better, offering a hand.

“King Gorin, as you probably know. If he is trying to be friends with you, then so shall I.” Gaster wanted to hide. Disappear from the world for a small time. Be forgot by others for a short while. Be unknown to the world until he feels a bit more comfortable. He shakingly shakes Gorin’s hand, and the king smiles at him. He shoots his hand back as quick as he can.

The conversation would have lasted longer if Ouphre hadn’t showed up to say something to Gorin. “There’s commotion at the front of the town, your highness.” She kneels and bows her head. Gaster notices she’s wearing some kind of armor as well instead of her normal everyday clothes of jeans and some top. “The human leader wishes to speak with you.” Gorin’s face went serious as she said it. He gets up, facing her, and then speaks.

“Where the commotion is?” She nods her head. “Alright.” He begins to walk off around the school building, heading to where the commotion is. Both Nomeus and Ouphre follow, Nomeus explaining to the substitute before actually leaving the school grounds.

The two goats and even the skeleton watch curiously before Asgore perks up. “Let’s go check it out!” He suggests, turning to the group. Gaster tenses up, while Toriel seems to take a moment to think.

“It would be nice to know what’s happening, especially you as prince…” Toriel thinks out loud, only to nod her head a bit later. “I’ll go with you Gorey.” She gives a smile saying so, only for the pressure to go on Gaster as they turned to him, giving curious looks. He shrunk back a bit as reaction, but eventually nodded as he fiddled with his scarf to cover his mouth.

Asgore smiles yet again, and as Gaster gets up, they head off to find out what’s happening. Asgore has a skip in his step, while Toriel calmly follows behind, and Gaster doing so as well but a bit sheepishly and unsure.

The three found a crowd at the entrance of the town. Asgore looked around for his dad, and without hesitation disappeared in the crowd with Toriel somewhat behind. Gaster, however, hesitated but eventually made his way in, squeezing past all the monsters to the middle of the giant ‘C’ shaped group. At one end stood Gorin, most of the monsters huddle behind as Nomeus and Ouphre stood beside him, magic spears in hand to defend anyone if needed.

At the open and opposite end of the crowd stood Chatch, a smirk on his face just like before. He seemed confident for coming all the way with only one or two of his own guards that stood by his side to the main capital of the kingdom of monsters, bearers of magic that most humans feared. Gaster saw him look his way, seeming to chuckle but it was covered by the murmur and whispers of the crowd.

“What are you doing here Chatch?” Gorin soon asks with a stern look. Chatch’s own look doesn’t seem to falter even with the powerful looking monster in front of him.

“Business is all.” Chatch replies, and Gorin gives him a hard, questioning stare. Gaster shrinks back into the crowd a bit, only to find Asgore behind him. Asgore smiles at him and stays at Gaster’s side, Toriel coming up and stays next to Asgore. Gaster looks at them for a minute before looking back at the two leaders like everyone else here.

“What kind of business do you need? What is so important that you cause commotion here?” Gorin asks and gestures around to the crowd with his trident.

“You already should know what I want.” Chatch says, making Gorin give a confused look. “The experiment. It’s location. We feel like there was someone that did something to make him either disappear or escape, and even killed off the humans left in the lab so there was no witnesses from possible opposers. And we have evidence to point towards your side of the experiment.” Gasps set out across the crowd as Gaster began to feel uncomfortable as he shuffled around in place.

“Are you accusing foul play on me and my people?” Gorin’s face was a scowl as he growled, but even with this, Chatch’s face grows more happy it seems.

“In a way.” Was his only reply. “A monster named Vedran was told to have close ties with the experiment. They also happened to have both disappeared at the same time. We also saw only human deaths in the lab, showing a threat as us. We believe the experiment could even being hiding among you, as it wouldn’t be hard with the way the scientist thought he was, species wise.”

Gaster looked at the crowd to see a bright, yellow scaled lizard who looked upset, and almost in tears. He had his guess to who, and if it was he felt bad over it, slumping his shoulders in shame.

“We do not have a clue what happened to the experiment, but we do know Vedran was killed by what I saw at the lab earlier.“ While Gorin said that, Gaster looked at the lizard again, only to see her gasp and begin to cry.

A sudden guilt rushed over Gaster as he watched her hear the news for the first time. Some monsters around comforted her, mostly the ones who noticed. By now the crowd was more quiet for her cries to be heard. Everyone seem just as affected by the death as her, as some even cried with her. *Everyone cares for everyone here it seems…* “We do not have the experiment currently in known possession either way. Your accusation is false.” Chatch finally changed his look by his face going to a more neutral but slightly upset one.

“Right now you have no way to show what you have of him being supposedly killed true, so that also says yours can be instead.” He says, and Gorin squints a bit at Chatch. “We’ll make a deal. You give the experiment back, we’ll leave you alone and continue the experiment properly. You don’t… “ He looks at his own guards, smiling. “We’ll have to take it down the road of war I guess.” Everyone was shocked, even the king himself. Gaster held his chest and took a step back, his face horrified.

“That’s too much for some experiment that can be simply replicated!” Gorin argues, practically baffled by the route Chatch wanted.

“I see it more as a way for monsters to attack us, ruining our experiments with them and taking them for their own. It’s a personal and concerning attack to us.” Chatch explains. “Makes you all a threat.” Everyone was dumbstruck by Chatch’s view. The crowd took a few minutes to actually start murmuring again to each other, and for even Gorin to think of a reply.

That was the point Gaster had to leave. He ended up turning around and heading back to the school. He hid behind the back where practice happens, and pulled out his journal. He was going to write, but after a few moments he ended up tearing up to make his vision too blurry. Over the fact war might happen because he ran away, because he killed over someone who was like a father’s death, because he felt too emotional to control his anger he never really felt too much before. It felt like his fault, and upset him for those reasons.

He tried wiping away the tears but they kept flowing, and he just grew worse with the emotions. He never had a time he actually cried properly before. Vedran’s death was upsetting but it made him more numb than anything. He was passed out the day of it mostly so he couldn’t really mourn until he was at Nomeus’s place and already accepted the fact.

“Gaster, are you alright…?” a voice says while he tries to wipe the tears away. He looks up, not really wanting anyone to see him as a mess like that, but it’s obviously too late now. Asgore had said it and was standing just in front of him, looking concerned. Toriel looked upset as well, and came to Gaster’s side and kneeled down.

Gaster stays silent for a bit, trying and kind of succeeding at wiping his tears away. “Y-yeah I’m just fine…”

“If something is wrong we’re here to help you know.” Toriel says with a sad look. He takes a minute to think of and say something.

“I don’t- really want to burden anyone with what’s wrong if something is. I just- would like it to be left alone- just to not have anyone worry.” Gaster mumbles, making it almost not that audible.

“We… Understand…” Toriel says, looking down a bit. “If that is what you wish, we shall accept it, but just know we are here for you.” Asgore nods in agreement.

“T-thanks Toriel- and you too Asgore…” Gaster replies and the other two reply with a smile.

“Call me Tori if you want, it’s what my friends do.” Toriel says with a smile, and Gaster nods. He wasn’t sure if he would actually use it though.

After that, Asgore sat down by Gaster’s side and Toriel too, but it was silent until Nomeus showed up, who was clueless of what happened. The day continued somewhat normally, but Gaster wasn’t in a very great mood from it. The warning was stuck in his mind all day from then on…

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Word Count: 2,061

Freedom Arc Start

Word Count: 2,011

Warning: Goreish themes

“When people get hurt, the magic in their body will do its best to heal them along with other natural healers.” Vedran was explaining some things to Gaster, as he listened curiously. “Us fragile monsters have a lot of magic in us, so we heal faster. Humans take longer, having so little magic in their bodies besides wizards.”

“And if you use a lot of magic, it makes healing take longer as well?” Gaster infers, giving a small smile.

“Indeed. That’s why you must be careful using it. You may need it later. Of course, many highly trained magic users don’t need to worry as much.” Vedran gives an approved, proud smile before continuing. “This is also where healing magic comes in.”

“Healing magic? So you can heal people somehow with magic?” Gaster asks, and Vedran replies with a nod.

“As you know, magic helps heal us, besides just our body naturally. Healing magic is basically a transfer of this magic into another, to help them heal. It takes a high magic level monster or wizard, and can be very tiring used too long.” Vedran lets out a sigh, his smile disappearing. “It’s especially dangerous for you, being a skeleton…” He pauses, looking away from Gaster for a minute, then looks back, giving a smile. “But with practice, you’ll be able to do it, getting better over time, and maybe even save someone with it.”

“Yeah! So… How do I do it anyways?” Gaster asks, tilting his head.

“First of all, you need to be able to come in contact with the person you are trying to heal. Second, you need to do the same you do to cast a spell, but concentrate more on moving your magic into the person.” Vedran answers, holding up fingers when he says each step. “The magic will flow into them, and heal them.”

“Oh! So it’s not too different than a normal spell?” Gaster asks, and Vedran nods. “I bet I could do it now! I really wanna try!” Vedran chuckles.

“You could probably try using it on me. I may not be injured, but you can transfer the magic either way, and we can still even tell.” Vedran replies. Gaster was going to try, but then the other scientist walk up. Gaster tilts his head confused, both Gaster and Vedran looking their way.

“Vedran. You’re needed in the lab. Come with us.” One of them, four being there, states. Vedran hesitates for a moment, then gets up.

“I’ll be back, Wingdin. Stay here.” Vedran says, walking out with them, locking the door, which had been open the entire time before. Once they leave, Gaster sits there, taking a glance around the cell.

The books were piled in the corner, having grown since the beginning. The calendars have added up to five. Has it really been that long? After a while, Gaster didn’t even realize the days go by. Gaster heard footsteps and perked up. Vedran!

To his dismay, it wasn’t Vedran at all. Instead, it was a human, who looked very familiar. Gaster got up, a look of anger across his face.

“Hey, kid.” The human said, a smirk across his face. He didn’t care for the way Gaster was obviously acting, it only seemed to make him happier. He leaned at the entrance on the bars.

“Where’s Vedran?! Why are you here?! You shouldn’t be!” Gaster barked at him. He knew it was the new leader. Vedran explained what he looked like to him when he asked, only to find out it was that other teen from that meeting before as well.

“Woah woah!” He stops leaning and puts his hands up defensively, giving a look of worry. “I mean no harm! Just here for a friendly chat, and then to move you to your next… ‘test’ location. Your last one to be exact. The name’s Chatch, by the way.” His smile came back after that as he began to lean again.

Gaster hesitated, giving him a hard, cold stare, before loosening up. “Fine. We talk on the way, I guess… “ He mumbles, not all up for this.

Chatch lets out a small ‘heh’, before he stops leaning and begins to walk. “Come on then.” Gaster begins to walk out, following somewhat behind.

Even though they said they would talk, neither one did. It was an awkward, silent walk instead. Gaster would look at Chatch every once and awhile, noticing his face had turned serious. He expected him to start the conversation, for Gaster had no clue what they were to talk about.

Once they got to the room, Chatch cleared himself out of Gaster’s way and leans on the nearby wall, his smirk returning. Gaster eyed him for a bit, but then looked at the rest of his room. He would’ve never guessed what he saw…

Scientist surrounded Vedran, who had his arms tied behind his back as he sat on his knees and one scientist held him down. He looked defeated as he looked down at the ground in mostly shame. A few of the scientists looked worried, some happy, and some neutral.

Gaster let out a gasp of shock, making Vedran look up. “Wingdin!” The lizard monster yelled, eyes wide in shock. He growled as he struggled to break free. “Get off of me!” The scientist struggled to hold him back. The bonds that tied his hands were anti-magic ones that restricted his magic, developed with the help of Gaster.

Gaster was frozen, but in a half battle half ready to run stance. The one scientist holding down Vedran pulled out a dagger, and it all clicked for both Vedran and Gaster. With both eyes widening in shock, both panicked and frozen with fear. Gaster tried to do something by running over, forgetting he had magic for those moments, but two scientists ran over and restrained his arms, knocking him back a bit. Gaster let out a strained screech and at the same moment the dagger sunk into Vedran’s back, who let out a pained yell.

They let Gaster go, who ended up falling to the ground from the sudden action. He scrambled up, looking Vedran’s way, only to see him dusting over slowly. The dagger was pulled out and laid by Vedran’s side, and he fell to the ground when he was let go. Gaster ran over, already in tears.

Vedran rolled over on his side, looking up at Gaster with a smile of kindness. Gaster panicked as the dusting process continued, eventually trying to heal Vedran as a green aura went around Gaster.

“Forget about me Wingdin… I’m already dusting… it’s no use…” Vedran said, coughing a bit as a small stream of blood ran out of his mouth. The dagger had penetrated some of his internal organs.

“I’m not letting you die!” Gaster practically yells. The scientists watch the struggle, seeming to be waiting for something else to happen.

“I’m already dying… healing is pointless… save your magic… don’t let my death go in vain… please…” Vedran says, making it his last words as he dusts over completely. Gaster sits there stunned for a moment, before turning to the scientists suddenly.

“You… You killed him!” He shouts at them, their souls turning blue as they hit the walls. Gaster is a bit surprised, but doesn’t care after a minute of thinking. Chatch seems to have disappeared, but that wasn’t on Gaster’s mind at the moment. These people killed the only person to care for him.

He makes bones go right through only some of the scientists there, who scream in pain from it. Conserve your magic, Wingdin. He hears Vedran remind him in his mind. He leaves the others, letting them off the wall as their souls turn normal and he bolts out of the room. He finds another and hides in it, shutting the door behind. He pants a bit from the running, but gets up and looks around.

Spotting a camera in the corner moving, he destroys it with bones before continuing to look around. He finds a drill, this being the room where they drilled the handplate. With the drill, he begins to unscrew the handplate. It gets jammed when almost out, forcing Gaster to yank it off, causing the area around the screws to crack and bleed. He held back his shrieks to protect his cover.

He covers his hand with his free one as it bleeds out, looking around for something to help him. For a moment, he felt safe in the room, planning to stay there, until he hears banging on the door. His eyes glow purple as a reaction as he also quickly grabs a just found first aid kit there and teleports off into another familiar room. The room Vedran taught him magic.

The nostalgia this place caused was a lot, maybe a bit too much. He sat down, back to a wall, and began to shakingly disinfect and wrap himself up. His mind was going fast before in those other rooms as well as his soul, which was still beating fast. He sloppily has his hand wrapped now, looking around before getting up and wobbling to his feet.

He teleports once again, this time to a new room with screens showing different parts of the lab. Two scientists sat there in chairs, scaring Gaster. He immediately slams them into the screens, to their surprise, shooting bones through them just like the others too. Some of the blood gets on him. The screens and everything else in this room were utterly destroyed, so no hope of getting any recordings. Gaster was unsure how to feel on it.

He opened the door to peek out of the room. He saw no one, so began to sneak out. He saw a few of the scientists run up around the corner, backing up a bit. They stopped and cautiously began to approach Gaster, knowing what happened to their fellow colleagues already. Gaster wasn’t going to let them do anything either way, flee or stop him. It didn’t matter.

Slamming them against the wall as well and shooting bones through them, he started feeling weak and tired. He started walking around the lab, ending up back in the room of Vedran’s death. No one seemed to be left. The place was quiet and empty… or at least at first. There was still Chatch.

He walked up behind Gaster, sword in hand. The sword scraped across the ground, making Gaster turn around. “You’re strong, kid.” He says with a smile, chuckling a bit. The sword swung in his hand, making Gaster a bit unsure of all this, but he kept his ground. Fighting wouldn’t be an excellent option at the moment with Gaster already being worn down by the amount of magic he’s already used. “Not running? How brave.” He glared at him with malicious intent, before swiftly running to Gaster to attack him.

Gaster teleported out of reaction, making him feel even weaker. Each use of magic seemed to hurt him strength wise. “Your reaction timing is pretty nice.” Chatch calls out, turning towards Gaster. Gaster tries to make a wall of bones to push Chatch away and back, but it’s no use as Chatch cuts right through it.

Gaster was sent in a panic. He knew how to fight. Gaster’s instincts led him to one last choice in this fight. Flee. he told himself and bolted out if the room, using bones behind to slow Chatch down from following. He’s heavily exhausted, but does it anyways. Using his one hope of leaving this forsaken place he teleports. When still inside, he keeps trying and trying.

Eventually he actually makes it, landing in a forest, but before getting to really look around, he falls to the ground, too exhausted to move. He heard a voice yelling, but he couldn’t make it out exactly. It sounded female, and that’s all he could tell from his position. “Teacher, Teacher! Someone’s injured!” The voice faded out before he could hear more as he lost conscious.

Lab Arc End

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Word Count: 2,323

Word Count: 2,233

“What is happening over there? What reset is this now?” A human asked five others, staring them all down intensely.

“It's the skeleton, sir!” One of the five spoke up, surprisingly with confidence. “He seems to know what's going on. He's predicting us to change. He's not reacting like he should!”

One of the other humans started mumbling to another. “I told you Chatch should have just let us kill him… it's the only reason we failed in the first place.” Chatch sadly over heard and growled at this.

“You will not kill him! That is my job only!” He yells quickly. “Your job is to make him suffer so his death is more satisfying.” He glared at them all, making the one who said anything shrink back.

“Y-yes sir!” They said as loud as his cracking, fear-filled voice could. Chatch paid no mind to it and just moved on with what he was saying.

“I will take care of him when the time comes, but you have one last shot. I'm not using my power as your leader to keep you guys alive forever. It's just an advantage for this. Don't fail me again, or it's the last thing you do.” Chatch turned around after that and walked off, eyes still in a glare, as he mumbled. “He'll pay even if he doesn't remember. I'll get back at Aster one way, and unknown reasons of pain and karma make the revenge all the sweeter for me.”

The humans looked at each other before slowly moving to get their weapons and running off, preparing for another fight to the death. At this point they weren’t even sure about their leader anymore…

Gaster woke up in pure panic. He threw his hands over his head and curled up tight, breathing harshly as he mumbled words to himself. He felt the memory repeating, the people still there in his vision as they stood in shock. It was so real seeming, to the point that when Asgore put a hand on his shoulder and spoke his name, Gaster jumped and looked at him in fear. He seemed like he was expecting blame, as if he killed Ouphre. Asgore only looked at him confused to Gaster’s surprise.

“Are you alright…?” Asgore asked quietly, trying not to scare him more. “Just breathe calmly… it was probably a nightmare…” Gaster took a few breaths before gaining his sense of place. Once he realized where he was, he was able to relax. He quickly realized he got what he wanted, a reset.

Asgore soon pulled away once he noticed Gaster was finally calm. Gaster just let him and let out a sigh. He didn't plan on or want to explain to Asgore what that was about. He wouldn't know how to anyways. He took the moment to think. He had to think quickly. Asgore stayed silent at least, probably waiting for him to speak up first, still with the guess it was a nightmare that was sadly a worse reaction than the other times Gaster woke up panicked that Asgore doesn’t remember.

Eventually, he thought of something to change the pace of the way things were to go. "I'm going to take a walk…” Gaster mumbles. He gets up and brushes himself off. Asgore looks at him perplexed before starting to search for something.

“O-oh! May I go with you? My cape should be… around here…” He started to seem more unsure and confused as he looks around. Gaster paid no mind to it really as he kept to what he was doing. “I… must have left it at the lab…”

“We'll get it later.” Gaster says, a bit stern sounding, and just walks out without another word. Asgore blinks in surprise, but just sighs.

“Someone help him…” Asgore ends up mumbling under his breath. He watches Gaster wander away before going back to what he was doing.

Gaster wandered out into the clearing where they normally trained and looked around. Even with it full of beauty, flowers, trees and some things crawling around among it all, all Gaster could seem to see is the bloodstained and dusted ground. Flowers crushed, leaves stained red, and trees with markings and cuts in them from attacks. He shivered at it all, the thought of it becoming a bloodstained battlefield again scaring him.

Still, either way, something reassured him this time. If they pulled a retreat on me last time, even if clearly standing, then they won't dare to kill me. He relaxed a bit and looked around. Ouphre shouldn’t expect me to be here, not even with a walk. She won’t come here if i don’t meet her to train first. The humans don’t know where the camp is either. With things added up, he just had to stop them now.

“This time, you need to relax, Gaster.” He mumbles to himself, trying his best to do what he says. “Ouphre isn't going to be here, so no need to keep up with her. No need for someone to judge or know it was more than a scratch. No one will know… as much as I rather not have this happen… know one will know at least.” He took a deep, shaky breath and waited.

They showed up on time but seemed surprised to not see Ouphre like before. Gaster only took their confusion and added it to his finally unused magic to trap as many as he could in a circle of bones around them. Two decided to escape, yelling at the others to get out.

“We can’t do anything here! We should just leave! Chatch won’t let us go back this time!” With that comment from them, Gaster seems to glare at the two. So that’s who’s behind this. Should have guessed. He lets out an almost angry sounding sigh.

He kept cutting off the people, making them try turning around to run away, but Gaster felt they were almost helpless. He eventually trapped them all, slowly getting bored and wanting it finally finished. He could tell some were trying to get out, but paid no mind as he watched a few angrily.

“Lets make this quick…” He mutters, shooting bones through all the circle traps, trying to cut of the noise they made as well. “Anticlimactic, but who could care at this point…?” As calm as he spoke, it quickly dropped once the bones dispersed. Maybe not as anticlimactic as it could be.

He held a hand to his head, shaking slightly. He felt slightly numb to this now. How dare he though? How many has he killed now? My hands are stained with the blood of those scientists that thought they could control me, and now eight humans in this war… I can't go back… With each kill, the level of violence I can do just increases… I'll soon not feel guilty no matter who or where... I don't want this. He started to shake more with all the thoughts that showed no hope. Damn it… I can’t go back like them...

He felt so sick, but he knew at this point there was nothing to get rid of it. He finally knew what it was like to have enough guilt that you could feel something wanting to come up from the pain of it. He hated it, how much it piled up over time, but now he had to live with it and hoped it numbed out. This time it was definitely all his fault.

He heard the quick noise of someone’s footsteps, turning around in reaction, only to find another human. Gaster quickly moved out of the way, and then turned back. He counted the bodies, only to find all five. He looked at the alive human confused, only to realize this one looked a lot different. It was a new one, as a backup probably, and it seemed to be acting more aggressive than the others who tended to avoid Gaster.

He seemed to launch attack after attack, not really letting up as much as Gaster backed up and hoped to gain more concentration. As Gaster ended up losing energy, he started to feel slower and more sluggish, but he had to keep moving. The human definitely had more energy and feel to kill than even Gaster had. He couldn’t stop now.

After almost thirty minutes or less of Gaster dodging and hoping to land a hit, things started to get to the point of exhausting, even for the human. This just aggravated Gaster, for he wanted them gone, and he was getting sick of this. In desperation and frustration to end this quickly, Gaster went to launch himself at the human in hopes to find a way to restrain them. It worked, at least to start.

The moment Gaster moved closer, the human swung at him but his sword got caught in something. It was the scarf around Gaster’s neck, the one Vedran gave, and he could hear it start to tear as Gaster moved out of the way. Panic fueled him, making him shove the human down. They went down with a thud, shocked slightly. Gaster took the moment to pierce them with bones.

Once they stopped their cries of pain and fell limp, Gaster let out a shaky breath. Nine humans… He was trembling a bit, but forced himself to move and walk to where the part of the torn away fabric was, sliding off the other part of his scarf from his neck where it hanged. He picked up the torn part, letting tears well up.

Vedran gave this to him, and it’s the last he had of him. How could he be so stupid and careless? He wanted a way to remember that was close, just in case of the resets messing up in out of paranoia, but didn’t expect anyone to get close enough to destroy it. He expected people stronger than him, but not to face them head on alone.

To add to it, the person obviously had different intentions compared to the rest of the group. They seemed like a rogue monster hater, probably not following Chatch as much, and there could be more of them anywhere. They mostly seemed to want them all dead.

His thoughts began to feel like too much while standing there, almost making him feel sick again. He had to get somewhere to rest, to cool down, and clean up even his mind. He stumbled a bit, but began to walk away slowly even so. He hugged himself a bit as he walked, hoping to calm his trembling…

Gaster came back eventually, a hand to his head due to a headache, and was instantly met up by Asgore. He felt a bit glad nothing was obvious, but he was still trembling. He knew he couldn’t stay out as much as he wanted to hide it, because then they’d ask and worry too much.

“Gaster! There you are!” Asgore says as he quickly walks up. “You’ve been gone all day that you almost missed Ouphre leaving!” Gaster blinked surprised, staring at Asgore in disbelief.

“What do you mean? Where is she going?” He asked it quickly, almost tumbling over his words. He hoped it wasn’t a permanent leave, since that might end up another death put on his mind as his fault.

“Her a few others are going to fight in the war…” He mumbles, a frown growing. “They needed more people to help us, and they were the best they could muster…”

“Has it really gotten that bad…?” Gaster asks quietly, only to receive a sorrow nod. “How is this group supposed to protect itself with its main defender gone…?” Asgore shrugged slowly.

“I’m not sure… We may have to learn to fight for themselves, including me.” Asgore kept his voice quiet as his gaze trailed away. Gaster couldn’t, or didn’t at least, want to believe any of this. Maybe it’s another nightmare, and he’ll wake up soon. He hoped so at least. Everyone here seemed to kind to try fighting at least, especially Asgore, so it didn’t seem real. It frustrated Gaster.

“This is all so stupid.” Gaster mutters sternly, slightly glaring. “All these humans had to be so petty to us just because we’re different!” Asgore seemed to grow worried for him, so decided to speak up.

“Yes… It really is, but not even dad can do anything to stop it. We just have to keep trying and hope it ends soon.” Asgore mumbles, trying to be reassuring. “Maybe the humans will realize their mistakes.”

Gaster shot a glare at Asgore. “They’ll never realize. There’s no hope for them!” Asgore shrunk back, scared slightly at the sight of this new side of his friend.

“But-!” The moment Asgore tried to argue his side, Gaster cut him off.

“You don’t even know what they truly are. You haven’t lived with them for years.” Gaster glared for a bit, but then started to walk off. “I’ll be at the lab. I’m not sticking around for this.” Asgore blinked, surprised by the comment, before looking down. He always had a feeling there was something Gaster wasn’t saying, but now he definitely knew. He just would have to guess himself, because knowing Gaster personally, he’s not going to just say it honestly and straight forward. He’s barricaded himself too much for that.

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anonymous: I would not AT ALL be surprised if Magic Brewer's little "breeding experiments" where done by him kidnapping humans and subjecting them to horrific magical experiments. He's already made a monster out of the remains of a dead child, would not be unexpected if Ouphre's entire lineage was made by making monsters out of crushed human souls or something.

WELL, ESSENTIALLY, yes. Magic Brewer’s ancestor, who started the project, subjected humans to multiple horrible experiments in an attempt to figure out what makes them so powerful, and how they could give that power to monsters. Magic Brewer took up the project once his ancestor passed away, and while he has to be even more underground about it, he’s probably got a secret cellar somewhere in his workshop where he has a human or two still locked up.

Which is!! Horrible cuz now that he’s dead, no one probably knows that they’re still in there!!

@birdsinboatsinspace​: Favoritism Counter so far: Wingdin,Chatch,Chatch with frisk and Chara,Chatch as an old person SUFFERING because their little baby is fucking dead,Magic brewer. step up your game magic brewer you gotta get in more stuff to beat chatch (hopefully with a chair)

HAHAHHA

he wants to be Top Dog

anonymous: of course MB is kind of a dick. this is why we liked him so quickly.

you guys are so silly ^0^

anonymous: Can we know more about Magic Brewer?

There isn’t much to know, really. Magic Brewer was an important figure in the royal family, he served as a “scientist” and a magical researcher. It was his job to understand magic, and find new ways for monsters to weaponize their magic, as well as craft weapons to help them harness their power. Many people knew OF him; many had never actually met him.

Magic Brewer does a lot of his work in the shadows, and many of his projects are kept from the King and Queen’s eyes- the Breeding Project and Wingdin’s creation are among those. The first answer has some stuff about that, too ^^^

anonymous: I agree with that person from forever ago your comic is also making me lowkey ship kingdings more then I already do. (love your comic a ton btw)

WHOOPS..... :^)c (Thank you tho!!)

anonymous: Asgore may need a human soul if he tripped over a flower

anonymous: Bonus points for suffering chatch band wagon( oh god we all love chatch,but wow them suffering is so intreasting to see? not because its sad just because seeing chatch care about someone is fun and seeing them with family is nice and seeing them LOSE FAMILY IS ALSO GOOD BECAUSE THEY ARE PAYING FOR THEIR SINS) but anyways bonus points: Chara’s parents are dead,so Chatch ends up losing their grandkid/only child?? i dunno.

anonymous: Well all need Chatch in our lives

ENOUGH OF CHATCH SUFFERING trust me, you’re all gonna get to see them suffering pretty soon, since they’re going to be back in about 8 or 9 updates

I MEAN that probably sounds like a lot but its better than like… having to wait until part 1 is over

anonymous: How about catch using a butterfly net to- wait for it… CATCH Asriel!

@birdsinboatsinspace: your comic is making me lowkey ship kingdings

oops :)c

ngl im soft trash for kingdings

@aorinappollo: IF CHATCH LAID A FINGER ON WINGDIN OR ANY OF THE MONSTER KIDS I SWEAR I WILL DIE

Don’t worry, most of them are okay

most of them

anonymous: how would Chatch even feel about becoming a grandparent. or a parent, like Grandparent chatch seein baby chara and bein like “Why the fuck did you have a germlin” thats the only way i can imagine it,but then again who knows

thats essentially Chatch’s mentality towards babies.

although they seem to be a little fond of Chara, if not for the fact that Chara probably despises them

anonymous: Asgore’s horns are getting longer. How long has this war been going on?

Its been about 2 and a half months so far, which is sort of short for how long they’ve grown. Although teenage growth can be sort of rapid??