#scientistredacted

Her touch is instantly grounding, and Gaster exhales slightly in relief. She’s here, and he’s here. He’s not just watching this through the haze of void, not interacting without actually being here. This is real. He wants very much to hold that hand, but he resists that urge, and fidgets with the end of his scarf to keep his hands busy. Left behind. He didn’t even have to actually say it. She just… knew. She has a remarkable way of figuring out how he feels before he could even begin to articulate it. ❝THE LACK OF CLOSURE IN MY LIFE,❞ he mutters bitterly, ❝DIDN’T EXACTLY START WITH THE VOID. THERE’S SO MUCH I’LL NEVER REALLY KNOW ABOUT FROM THE WAR…❞ Then again, did he ever move on past the war? While he managed to recontextualize Alex’s status as a mage to his feelings (he DID know kind mages in the past too; Asgore’s friend and…), and has managed to keep anxiety at work over being surrounded by so many humans to a minimum … has he ever left that tense, frightened mindset it instilled in him? Did he ever stop grieving what was? ❝I DON’T THINK I’M VERY GOOD AT LETTING GO.❞ The hug is a surprise, but one that he returns gratefully and immediately. He tries not to show his disappointment as she quickly pulls back, remarking on how tired he must be. ❝I DON’T KNOW THAT I SLEPT MORE THAN AN HOUR BEFORE…❞ he trails off, ❝I’M NOT REALLY FEELING IT YET THOUGH…GONE MUCH LONGER WITHOUT ANY…❞ He’s not even trying to make excuses this time. He’s still reorienting himself with feeling like this is real, and he’s all too used to being sleep deprived. So whilst he objectively knows he’s in dire need of some rest, it’s not registering for the way he feels. More than rest, more than something to eat, Gaster just wants to hold onto Alex and not let her go until every trace of the way the void makes him feel is gone. He follows her inside, nervously fiddling with his scarf again. ❝I GUESS I SHOULD HAVE JUST WOKEN YOU UP AFTER ALL,❞ he says attempting some levity, but a slight tremble to his voice gives his remaining… whatever this feeling is away, ❝IT WAS A VOID NIGHTMARE; I HADN’T WANTED TO DISTURB YOU, SO I WENT ON A WALK INSTEAD…❞

The returned hug prompted a soft sigh, relief flooding her that she hadn't further upset her friend with the unexpected touch. Then again, with the way he seemed to cling back almost immediately, perhaps it had been more welcomed than she'd feared?

That thought in mind, she offered her hand to Gaster, giving him another concerned frown.

“You haven't talked a lot about the war,” She observed quietly. “Outside of the fact that you were in it, and the fact that you have trauma regarding human mages because of it. Well, and also what happened prior to the war actually breaking out.” Mistral's death, in other words, though she was trying to put it more delicately.

Shaking her head, she glanced side-long at Gaster even as she gently guided him up the porch steps and towards the house. “I always assumed it had to have been pretty traumatic for you, so I didn't want to pry. I'm… I'm sorry that you were forced to endure that kind of thing, though. You didn't deserve it, I'm sure. None of you who lived through it did.”

How could they have, given the Monsters' reputation as being made of love, hope, and compassion?

Sighing, Alex guided Gaster to the living room, instead of dragging him up the stairs like she normally would have. “I know you say you don't feel like sleeping, but you should at least let yourself rest for a bit. I don't want to see you wear yourself out again.“

Her expression softened at Gaster's joke, and on impulse she reached out for another hug. “In that case,” she said even through the embrace, “you officially have my permission to come in and wake me in the future, should you have another nightmare, void or otherwise,” She assured him, giving him a small squeeze. “I promise not to get upset with you if you do. I'd rather be woken up so I can help, than for you to have to suffer alone.”

Valor would have appreciated it if things would stop happening to him. First the grimwalker thing, then the time pool, the portal to the human realm, and now this?

Valor found himself somewhere underground. Swift had caught him before he hit the ground, but when he tried to fly back up he found that he couldn't. Some kind of invisible wall preventing him from going passed a certain height. One that went through the ground itself, because when he tried to cast a spell to shift the ground around it, it didn't help.

He was stuck.

Again.

And this time without even Flick.

He told himself it'd be fine. He'd find another way out. Another way out that . . . was a notion that didn't look very promising when he actually made his way deeper into the caverns. Because there were people down here. Demons, he thought at first, but they didn't react well to him calling them that. Monsters was the term they actually used. It felt all very backwards to him, but he didn't want to make enemies with the people that lived here, so he listened and adjusted.

That wasn't the point, anyway. The point was that they'd been stuck down here for a very long time, and hadn't yet found a way out. Aside from, apparently, killing humans and taking their souls? He didn't like that. Both in general, and also because it painted a target on his back as well, as they seemed very fond of thinking him human, too. Even though they'd somewhat-correctly identified him as . . . Well not a witch per se, but they'd admitted that that had been a similar, but less-nice way of saying mage. (Why did all the words that he knew as species names keep having bad connotations here?)

At least it granted him mercy from some of them.

The others that insisted on fighting him, he fought until he could escape. He wasn't going to kill. He'd had enough of being the mechanism used to take the lives of others, even if, technically, those lives hadn't been taken quite yet. A delayed death, the sigils were, but a death nonetheless.

Regardless, he was going to keep pressing on until he could find some way out.

Though he very nearly stopped when he stepped through the double doors into the snow. Why was there snow UNDERGROUND? Oh he didn't like this. He didn't like it at all.

Stumbling.

It's certainly not the worst landing he's had, but it's far from the best as well; but he's grateful to have landed on his feet however haphazardly, lifting one hand to rub at the side of his skull.

It's a belated realization that this isn't his lab and he blinks, hand trailing down his face.

All Sans almost universally made the 'shortcuts' look easy; he wondered how often they wound up in the wrong location.

Ah, no matter, it should be simple enough to get back, but... Curiosity was a damning maiden.

The scientist is still an enigma. Bizzare. It's been about two months since he just... appeared in the CORE. Dr. Alphys didn't give him a whole lot of details. Just that he had been rather unwell when she found him there. And that, at some point the in the past, there was an accident that had erased him from everyone's memories. That he was the Royal Scientist before Alphys. That he created the CORE.

It was astounding, to say the least. Asgore immediately wanted to help the poor man reassemble his life, but- aside from taking a severance payment for having been unceremoniously replaced as Royal Scientist- the skeleton wouldn't accept any help. He seemed to be trying to avoid them entirely.

The only reason he was here today was because Asgore found some of his things.

Which... raises it's own questions. Were they friends? Asgore knows he must have been the Skeleton's boss, but to have a pair of his glasses, and an old jacket...

That implies a closer relationship than employer-employee.

But he couldn't get much out of the Skeleton in terms of conversation. Just polite greetings and thank yous. And then he was leaving. And Asgore was letting him.

Behind him, he hears Frisk stop Dr. Gaster, and he winces.

|👑| ❝Wait, child, you don't know Hands yet,❞ he says starting to turn around. |🔥|

But then Dr. Gaster responds to them, and Asgore freezes, transported to the past for a moment.

Aster? That sounded just like his old teacher. Like his father's friends. Professor Aster was his babysitter growing up.

And he and his whole family died in the War. Aster fought defending the school to his last moment. Asgore saw him turn to dust. Aster's young daughter, Mistral, was the first war causality in Skystead.

...

Dr. Wing Din Gaster...

He speaks Wingdings, usually, and signs the words in the Monster sign language Hands. He must have Aster as a secondary font. Gaster, Aster.

Slowly,

So slowly,

Asgore turns around to face Frisk and Dr. Gaster, staring intently at the skeleton.

Button no

Whoops?

Wingdings had been keeping an eye on Chara ever since they fell into the Underground. The whole atmosphere and culture of the kingdom right now was something he dearly missed, but he was also intimately aware of how suddenly everything could go south. So, he’d been doing everything he could to prevent that from happening.

Apparently it hadn’t been enough, though, because everything leading up to the child’s death that had happened in his universe was happening in this universe as well, and when Asgore fell ill, well . . . This would be his last chance, really. If he didn’t do anything now, then nothing would change and everything would collapse into a horrible mess and he really didn’t want that to happen again. He couldn’t stop this on his own; he needed the help of others, and for them to believe the gravity of the situation, he would have to tell them. How he knows what might happen, where he’s from, who he is, everything. And it was nerve-wracking, but he couldn’t just sit back and let this happen.

So after Asgore had recovered, he called the king, queen, and Wing Din together, though how exactly he was going to even start explaining this he had no idea.

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// fhdajfhdahfkla OMG Ava, don’t be sorry, this is absolutely hilarious. Also, careful Gaster, Alex would totally be down to learning Gay Magic if it actually existed, particularly if it ticked off the haters.

When Alex had agreed to go with Gaster as moral support and backup when he went to confess his past wrongdoings to the people who most needed to know, she hadn't expected to actually have this level of scrutiny also placed on her. As far as she had been concerned, she was there to support a friend who was trying to do the right thing. That she was called into some level of scrutiny… well, perhaps she should have expected it.