Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/9461105.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Undertale_(Video_Game)
  Relationship:
      W._D._Gaster/Sans
  Character:
      W._D._Gaster, Papyrus_(Undertale), Sans_(Undertale), Toriel_(Undertale),
      Asgore_Dreemurr, Frisk_(Undertale), Undyne_(Undertale), Alphys_
      (Undertale)
  Additional Tags:
      Past_Child_Abuse, Rape/Non-con_Elements, implied_underage_rape, Darkfic,
      Sans-centric, Drama, Psychological_Trauma, noncon_will_be_somewhat
      graphic_so_be_careful_fam, underage_stuff_is_not_tho, Incest,
      Manipulation, Dynamic_Character, Dehumanization
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-01-25 Updated: 2017-12-06 Chapters: 6/? Words: 16573
****** Fake ******
by pyupew
Summary
     The universe never lets Sans be happy, does it?
     Of course his childhood nightmare comes back when he's at his most
     content and happiest.
     Of.Course.
Notes
     Slathers my slimy hands over UT and gives u this fic.
***** Peace *****
 
He just remembers reaching and reaching, clawing hungrily for the light that
shines so, sobrightly. His intentions were simple, he had been so stuck in so
much dark, so much black, that seeing something so whiteso blinding and warm
surged him with such heavy animalistic desire. If he were at a more stable
mental state, he would have stopped – perhaps calculated, but his mind – his
mind had been so stunned by what he saw, he threw logic out the window and
drove forward with instinct.
It called to him, it blinked tauntingly at him as he continued to try and get
close to it – but he felt the void push him back, push him further away, as the
light merely mocked and laughed at his attempts.
But Gaster was filled with such burning DETERMINATION, a feeling he thought had
died so so long ago that it was nearly overwhelming – and he surged forward,
not letting the black tug him back, before he finally grasped the white shining
light – the feeling of relief burnt through him, feeling complete.
And for once his mind wasn’t filled with so many manydifferent memories,
memories that could be his and could not be, memories that cluttered his poor
brain in merciless searing blinding pain – Instead, Instead only one memory
flickered in his brain, one that he knew was his, one that made him weep.
Then everything went black, he felt his mind slipping, and he felt himself
panic – he couldn’t go back, he couldn’t go back, not to the void please. He
just wants to remember who he was –
Gaster passed out with the image of two smaller children, ridiculously small
bony hands clasping at his black coat, grins wide and eyes so wide with
admiration and trust.
It sent a shiver down his spine.
--
“overruled.”
“WHA—SANS!!!”
The shorter skeleton merely grinned up at Papyrus, who looked like he wanted to
stomp his feet but with his legs currently occupied sitting cross legged on the
floor he had to settle with flailing his arms in defiance.
 “JUST BECAUSE THE HUMAN IS CUTE!!! DOESN’T MEAN YOU GET TO TAKE THEIR SIDE!!”
Frisk giggles, sitting on their knees across from Papyrus, bringing out their
hands to sign, “You think I’m cute?”
Papyrus turns a little orange at the cheeks and flails his arms harder, “DO NOT
TRY TO TURN MY WORDS AGAINST ME HUMAN!!”
Sans looks down at the board game their playing, sitting cross legged, adjacent
to the other two, “sorry bro, rules are rules.”
Papyrus seems to want to argue further but instead he jumps up to his feet and
points a finger at Frisks direction, a hand resting at his hip, “YOU HAVE WON
THIS ROUND HUMAN!!!” The hand pointing at Frisk turns to point to his pumped up
chest, “BUT REST ASSURED NEXT TIME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL DEFEAT YOU!! FOR I
NEVER GIVE UP.”
Frisk just smirks smugly, “Round two?” they sign.
“ok, ok,” Sans puts a hand between the two, deeply amused and wanting to
continue but, “round two has to continue another day, I gotta take you home
kid.”
Frisk pouts and stubbornly crosses their arms while Papyrus lets out an
offended choking noise.
“BUT SANS-!!!”
Sans quirks up an amused brow bone and gets to his feet, “sorry bro, queens
orders, they gotta be home before 7.”
Papyrus huffs and crosses his arms to mimic Frisk, “VERY WELL!!” He gives frisk
another dramatic point of his finger, “DO NOT THINK YOU CAN RUN!!! THERE WILL
BE A SECOND ROUND.”
Frisk just giggles and gets to their feet, quickly running towards Papyrus to
hug him goodbye. The tall skeleton hugs back without a second thought, leaning
down to properly wrap his arms around the human, “UNTIL NEXT TIME, SMALL
HUMAN!!”
Sans smiles and offers his hand up to Frisk who takes it and waves at Papyrus –
before the world blinks out and they’re at the front door of the Queens place.
Sans looks at it before looking down at Frisk, “tell tori I said hi, kid.”
Frisk nods, hugs him a little tight (Sans awkwardly pats their back) before the
kid runs to the entrance of their home– waving with a big smile before they
disappear behind the beige door.
Sans sags a little, exhausted, but not in the bad way. He teleports back to his
and Papyrus’s place, specifically in the living room, nearly scaring the eye
lights out of his brother who was beginning to put away the board game.
“SANS!! WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS DO THAT!!”
Sans merely grins, watching as his brother huffs and goes back to his task – he
almost yawns at how Papyrus is so meticulous about putting the tiny pieces of
the game into a color coordinated matter.
“you need help with that?” Sans asks despite knowing the answer.
“IT IS QUITE ALRIGHT BROTHER, I WILL CLEAN.”
Sans shrugs, “aight, im going to bed then, goodnight paps.”
“GOOD NIGHT BROTHER!!!”
Sans gives his brother one last wide smile before he teleports to his room,
satisfied at hearing Papyrus’s scolding at his teleporting.
His smile softens, flopping down on his bed and stretching out his bones. It
had been awhile since he felt this peaceful.
Blinking, he looks at the ceiling then outside his window, where he sees the
bright lights of the far away city, the moon and the stars.
Perhaps he shouldn’t get so used to this, but after so much endless loops of
resets, could you blame him? He never felt so settled, so relaxed and content
with his situation. Before it felt like he was always filled with adrenaline
and fear, always on his toes waiting for the kid to strike, waiting for the
next RESET.
But they had went to the surface, Frisk had promised him whole heartedly that
no more RESETS will occur (and later he found out it was not Frisk behind the
genocide route, but Chara) and although he had been incredibly doubtful in the
beginning – years had passed, monsters had gained rights, and despite the still
heavy prejudice many humans have – it has been so much better than the first 2
years.
It was nice, feeling so settled.
After everything – the hardhips he had to endure – he really felt like he
deserved this long waited break. Heh.
He briefly recalls a long forgotten past, a past that he had stubbornly hidden
deep behind the darker crevices of his skull – it had used to affect him so
heavily but now… it is merely a memory of the past.
Sans was content.
He fell asleep to happy memories.
--
It’s so, so, so painful, it feels like his body is being ripped and morphed in
all directions, trying to settle, trying to find that something – whatever that
something was.
He feels his SOUL plunging deep within him, sees images flicker through him,
but this time he knows, he knows these memories are his. They are broken, out
of place, and everywhere – but they are his, only his.
And he gasps, lungs (lungs?) filling with air, he barely registers how cold it
is, how his bones rattle almost painfully and all he can uselessly think about
is that he doesn’t need to breath in the void, how he shouldn’t be shivering ,
how he shouldn’t even be feeling.
His vision is blurring, he feels tacky salty tears slide down his cheeks and
hestares– so, so confused – at the dark emptiness above him and it is so
startlingthat it isn’t an endless black but a gray, cracked, worn ceiling.
Then he slowly looks to the side, his heart leaps at the cold, white tiled
floor he’s lying on and at the familiar looking equipment surrounding him – It
can’t be.
As if he had been burnt he leaps up to sit, his vision slightly blurring from
the quick movement but his breathing is controlled – and his eyes adjust easily
to his surroundings.
It’s his lab.
He looks at the cluttered and scattered papers, at the broken vials and cups,
at his many numerous projects – and then, he looks at his hands.
The holes, they are still there, the sight fills him with bitterness, anger,
and…..a surprising sense of pride.
It is all so much to take in, he can’t even orient his memories straight, he
just doesn’t know which Gaster he is, doesn’t know if his name isGaster.
Where is Sans? Papyrus?Is everyone even still alive?
Shaking, he grabs onto a desk to upright himself, his legs so shaky beneath
him, and he notices then that his clothes are so surprisingly whole – then he
looks at a machine that is covered by a crisp white sheet and he shivers.
He remembers, getting locked inside, the machine whirring and shaking and the
panic he felt as he felt his body start to tear itself apart. Remembers
pounding on the glass door for help, feeling a sense of shock rattle through
him as the very monster who could have saved him turned their on him back.
Which monster? He isn’t sure, but he feels it in his bones that his death was
no accident.
And – Gaster clutches at his head, his memories so frustratingly shattered –
for some reason he doesn’t even feel angry. That should be a rational thought,
right? He should feel vengeance, betrayal, something. But he feels so icingly
numb to it.
He doesn’t understand why.
--
Papyrus is weird this morning, Sans muses.
well, weirder than normal.
He watches as the tall skeleton treks around the kitchen, unusually quiet and a
little solemn – he’s picking up ingredients and taking out pans, but he isn’t
humming and the usual prep in his step is gone and sometimes he just pauses and
his teeth pull down with an unusual frown that just does notlook right on his
baby brothers face.
And Sans had been standing here, waiting for Papyrus to notice him with an
expectant brow arch – but nothin’.
“bro?” Sans starts, unsure how to go about this situation.
Papyrus jumps, almost dropping the pan in his hand as he swivels his head
towards Sans who’s merely leaning against the archway of the kitchen.
“Sans—“ Papyrus pauses, and Sans smile turns a little more concerned, “SANS!!
GOOD MORNING! HOW DID YOU SLEEP.”
“good…,” Papyrus promptly shuffles to get out a knife to start cutting the
tomatoes in front of him, before pausing and continuing again with a whistle –
catching himself.
Weird… Sans feels his worry just grow more.The only times he’d seen Papyrus
like this… is when he’d been one of the last few monsters dusted by Chara, a
more darker time where Papyrus’ hope and optimism was chipping away one by one.
Sans finally let himself frown, as Papyrus ushered him to the dining table,
nearly slamming a plate of spaghetti in front of him before the taller skeleton
sat down himself across from Sans – all too eagerly digging into his own plate.
Sans drummed his fingers on the table, noticing how Papyrus forgot to put down
the placemats before he picked up his fork.
“papyrus…,” Sans starts, staring at the other, he notices the other freeze
midway of eating before flashing a questioning look towards him.
“you okay bro?”
Papyrus pauses for a minute, furrowing his eyebrows, his eyes flickering with
uncertainty and his ungloved boney hands noticeably clutch the fork a little
tighter.
“YES??”
“you don’t sound so sure of yourself.”
Papyrus huffs, and looks to the side, “I, WELL,” he looks thoughtful and very
confused, “I HAD A VERY STRANGE DREAM?” he shakes his head, “IT IS PROBABLY
NOTHING.”
Curious, Sans puts his fork down and fully regards his brother, “I don’t think
it’s nothing if its bothering you so much bro, what was it about?”
“Hm, well,” Papyrus starts, looking unsure, voice a little quiet, “WELL--! I
AM... quite unsure how to explain it.”
“its okay bro, tell me about it as best as you can.”
“IT WAS… There was a lab?” Papyrus scratches his skull, squinting at the
ceiling as if the dream was there, “And I saw – I saw you, you were arguing
with someone, he was –“
“he was…?” Sans grows anxious, that sounds a little too familiar…
 “YES! He was, well! TALL!!” Papyrus stands up, putting his hand up high, “AND
I WAS A BABY BONES! AND YOU… looked very very sad and angry,” He cringes, “AND
I COULDN’T DO ANYTHING BUT STAND THERE!!!”
Sans is not liking where his mind is going, because that’s impossible, right?
He must be overthinking, right? “how, how did he look like?”
Papyrus then notices Sans widening sockets and he feels himself tense at that,
“HE…. Was white! Like a skeleton, and wore a very very long coat. HIS FACE...
was a little scary!”
That… Sans freezes, that shouldn’t be possible. He feels himself on the verge
of hyperventilating, pushed away memories flickering towards the surface of his
mind – going so fast – papyrus shouldn’tremember – how.how.
He had erased him, he had made sure, no remnants of him should exist outside
his own mind – nothing.
Sans snaps out of it when Papyrus shakes his shoulders and he slowly becomes
aware of how hard he’s breathing – he forces himself to calm down– in, out,
in...
“SANS?? WHAT HAPPENED, ARE YOU OKAY?”
“yes,” he breathes, his whole body shook, and he wanted nothing more than to
throw up but then he looks at Papyrus’s heavily concerned frown and forces
himself to chill the fuck out, “sorry. I uh—“
“IS THIS DREAM,” Papyrus starts, stern, not letting Sans deflect the issue, “A
MEMORY?”
Sans almost feels himself wheeze back into another panic attack but grounds
himself, “haha, no its just --,” he winces as Papyrus gives him a don’t-you-
dare-glare, “look paps—“ he really doesn’t know what to say, this was so beyond
him, he had made sure. Is papyrus also an expectation? But why now?? Why only
now…. Papyrus has never, not in any timeline, recalled that darker part of
their childhood.
“have you had dreams like this before?” he asks instead
Papyrus frowns more, “NO, BUT,” He clenches Sans shoulders a little tighter,
‘IT HAD FELT… STRANGLY REAL.”
“oh, hehe,” he looks to the side, he feels Papyrus’s analyzing gaze scorch into
his skull.
“WHAT ARE YOU NOT TELLING ME BROTHER? PLEASE… I am concerned.”
Sans winces, and looks back at his brothers genuinely worried gaze, feeling
defeated “I—I wish I knew where to start paps but… oh god,” he rubs his head,
“this is way past my element.”
“WELL HOW ABOUT START WITH WHO IS THIS MAN?”
“well,” sans starts, about to just spillabout that man practically being their
father, but his phone starts obnoxiously ringing – causing him and Papyrus to
jump – subconsciously he hovers a hand over his pocket before catching himself
and looking back at Papyrus, who didn’t look very pleased at the interruption
but he nods so Sans answers
“hey?” he tries to keep the shaking out of his voice.
“Sans?”
Sans blinks and sits up a little straighter, “Tori?” she sounds off…?
“This is an… emergency meeting, its…” she stops, “Please just come over to my
place.”
He frowns out of worry, “are you okay?”
“Yes, just please get over here, bring Papyrus.”
“ok,” he frowns, “see ya there.”
He hangs up and looks at Papyrus, his face daring Sans to try and run away from
their conversation, “WHAT HAPPENED?”
“I don’t know, but tori said its an emergency – she said we both gotta get over
there,” Sans waves off Papyrus’s suspicious gaze, “really paps, she sounded
off, we can... talk about this after, aight?”
Papyrus sighs and stands up to start putting his shoes on, “IS SHE OKAY?”
Sans shakes his head, “donno bro,” he himself puts on his pink slippers,
grabbing Papyrus’s arm, “you okay with us teleporting?”
Papyrus, his face still etched with worry, nods and the world flickers out.
--
Sans feels a weird sense of dread when he knocks on Toriel’s door, it makes his
legs twitchy, it makes him want to run away and for the life of him he doesn’t
understand why.
Undyne answers the door, and it didn’t relieve any of his worries, she looked
confused and worried, “Took you long enough,” she’s uncharacteristically quiet
as she side steps for the two to step in.
“WHAT’S GOING ON?”
“I don’t know!” she’s more louder now, which helps Sans calm down a little,
“I’m just as lost as you! There’s this guy here, he’s making everyone – even
alyphs act weird.”
“who?” he warily looks towards the living room, its unusually quiet – it
unnerves him.
Undyne shakes her head, “His name is--”San’s doesn’t hear what Undyne says
next, because he catches someone shifting out from the living room, and it
feels like everything is blurring together and his ears feel like they’ve been
stuffed with water –-
“d-dad?”
---
--
-
Small white bony hands clutch desperately at the black, so black coat, his
vision is filled with cold uncaring eye lights and a contradicting gentle
smile.
“I’m sorry, Sans.”
 
 
 
***** Reunion *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
 
Sans feels himself shut down, his breathing unusually rabid and panicked – his
current location and situation seems so fuzzily unclear to him – in his head,
he’s a kid again, back in the labs, cowering and hugging the wall while
desperately begging for MERCY while a towering figure (he seemed like a giant
when he was just babybones) cruelly and coldly told him to ‘stop being
difficult.’
He flinches as a hand makes a grab for him, his irrational state of mind
expects to be forced into a table, forced to withstand needles and unwanted
touches –
Sans gasps as his head is sent sideways, his brain freezing, unable to process
where he was and what he has doing and there’s a confusing sting on his cheek.
His vision slowly comes back and he sees old floral wallpaper and familiar
friendly photographs – he remembers he’s in Tori’s house -- he turns and see’s
Undyne, her hand is half raised and her eyebrows are furrowed in concern.
Oh – she slapped him.
“Sans!” She grabs his shoulders and he flinches – Undyne doesn’t notice or
acknowledges it, “Are you okay?”
He nods hesitantly and slithers his eye lights back to… -- he nearly has
another mental breakdown but he forces himself to control his breathing as he
watches Gaster nervously flicker his eye lights between him and Papyrus.
And that made Sans sick, he doesn’t want Gasters gaze anywherenear Papyrus –
“Sans…? Papyrus?”
Hearing his voice makes his stomach twist unpleasantly and a bubbling rage and
protectivenessover takes his initial fear, it’s so overwhelming he can’t help
but shake – he barely notices that there are others behind Gaster, “don’t
fucking utter another word.”
The fire in his voice causes Gaster to flinch – and that only alarms Sans
further – feeling the need to instinctively grab Papyrus and just run.
“I..don’t..”
And Sans is about to go off,his arms automatically pushing Undyne aside and
stomping closer to His Bastard of a Father – but then Frisk steps between them,
their arms outstretched – blocking – their eyebrows set and their frown
DETERMINED.
Sans only has eyes on Gaster, however, “move away kid.”
His intent is not in any way MERCY, it is full of rage and a need to hurt, and
the other monsters can clearly sense it.
Toriel quickly tries to withdraw Frisk by pulling at their arm, but they stay
stubbornly still and profusely shake their head, “Sans – you must calm down, he
means no harm –“
“move.”
“SANS—“
The voice surprises him with a jolt, he had completely forgotten Papyrus was
here… and he realized with more of a start how many eyes were on him – curious,
confused, scared.
He tries to relax his posture, for his friends, but he’s high strung on nerves
and fear.
“I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON,” Papyrus grabs his shoulder and he’s staring at
Gaster, “BUT YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN. BECAUSE HE IS OUR… F-FATHER…? RIGHT?” Poor,
poor, Papyrus has such hope and wonderin his eyes, “SO, HE IS FAMILY, YOU
MUSN’T TREAT HIM LIKE THIS!”
Sans dislikes how he immediately deflates – god he gives up so easily – but
with Papyrus involved its hard to be hostile, “he is no father of mine.”
He feels Papyrus clutch at his shoulder tighter.
And watches as Gaster straightens his back, reorients himself, and he looks so
much more like the Dr Gaster he knew that it nearly sends him to another panic
attack, “Sans, I don’t… I’m going to be honest. My memories are very scattered
and lost… I—I don’t know what I did to make you hate me but – I want to say
sorry.”
He… doesn’t remember?
What a fucking joke, he has to be lyingto him – but the way Gaster nervously
wrings his hands together, how his eyelights look sincerely pleading and
confused, it makes Sans shake – he knows, he’s aware how unusual Gaster is
acting, but his mind wantsto refuse the possibility.
The Gaster he knew was calculating, manipulative, cold. In a way he was overly
confident and easily able to charm others. He wasn’t… awkward, nervous…. Like
the man he is witnessing in front of him.
“And I know --,” he starts again after a long pause, “I know it doesn’t mean
much since I do not recall what I’ve done but… please, I would like to ask you
to give me a second chance.”
He takes his time to fully look at Gaster instead of gracing him with a
response. He takes in how instead of a clean smooth skull there are starkly
black cracks – one eye droppy, lazy, no eyelight. Then his hands, he stares at
the holes in his palms, it made him feel slightly sick – sick with guilt.
He closes his eye sockets and turns his head away, he’s sure that Gaster isn’t
lying – sure the guy was cunning but… this? He wouldn’t make himself look so
vulnerable to trick people, it wasn’t how he worked.
“so?” Sans laugh is humorless and cold, “ya’ think just because you’re clueless
of the shit you did, ya’ think I’d forgive you?”
“Of course not – I –“
“shut up.”
“BROTHER…”
Sans shakes his head, this whole situation feeling absolutely bizarre. He never
thought he’d see this man again – never thought Papyrus would have to lay his
innocent gaze on a man so horrible. God, the man who’d never admit he made
mistakes, avoided and denied his flaws was actually apologizing for something
he doesn’t even even know halfof and its HILARIOUS that his eyes are so filled
with disgusting hope.
It makes him angrythat Gaster is so clueless of the things he committed.
He had enough. Sans grabs Papyrus’s arm and promptly drags him to the front
door, “this is stupid, let’s go bro.”
But Papyrus stops when he realizes what Sans is doing, not letting himself get
dragged any further, “NO, SANS,” Sans freezes, his back against the other, “I
CANNOT LEAVE – I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW, WE HAD A FATHER. AND I… I WANT TO GIVE HIM A
CHANCE – HE IS GENUINE, SANS! DESPITE WHAT YOU BELIEVE!”
Sans slowly looks at Papyrus, feeling churning dread.
“AND, IF YOU CAN FIND IT IN YOURSELF SANS – PLEASE GIVE HIM A CHANCE TOO!”
He lets go of his brothers hand, feeling lost, of course Papyrus would whole-
heartedly believe Gaster – he wasn’t surprised. But he had hoped Papyrus would
be so caught off guard and confused that he’d let him drag them back home.
Sans looks at Gaster – who looks back at him, eyes gazing at him wide eyed,
pleading.
“do what you want.”
He teleports away.
--
“s-“ a choke, small, broken, “stop, please.”
Shaking hands clutch hip bones (so small, way too small.) A side of him yells
at him to stop, to consider what he was doing, but the hunger, the lust, the
needis so overwhelming that it makes his SOUL stutter with nausea – just this
once. Just one time and he won’t ever do this again, just so then the dreams
stop, so the intrusive thoughts can let him rest.
“I can’t.”
Chapter End Notes
     i proofread this 500 times, it aint getting any better than this.
***** Answers *****
Chapter Summary
     A lot to take in.
Chapter Notes
     hey, sorry this took so long. i had the rough draft of this chapter
     typed up for awhile but didnt have time to really edit it until now.
     That being said i still really don't like it and it was just a huge
     pain to edit.
     But hey, its like, 4,000 words. A lot more than the last 2 chapters.
     thumbs up.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
There was a time, when their family was like any other monsters.
When Gaster was just a simple aspiring scientist that had an overbearing
optimistic view of the world – he held strongly onto the belief that one day
monsterkind can be freed from the underground and that he can be the one to
help towards that goal.
And Sans had looked up to him, naïve and starstruck at how heroic his father
sounded each time he voiced his hypothesis and ideals, in response he’d claim
with enthusiasm he’d like to be his assistant and – and Gaster would smile so
brightly, a proud fatherly smile.
They had a mother too, despite how fuzzy his memory was of her, the thought of
her always sparked Sans with a sort of nostalgic warmth. She was a perfect
puzzle to their father, always supporting his ways, always there to push him in
the right direction.
He normally didn’t dwell that far in the past, it was far away and very distant
– those warm memories already seemed so overshadowed by the cold ones.
It’s hard not to think about currently however, as Sans stares listlessly at
the cracked ceiling of his room.
He shifts and his bed creaks in response, he holds tightly to the blankets he
wrapped himself in.
It’s stupid – really – thinking about things you can never go back to – when
the reality of your situation only makes those memories hurt even more. But,
Sans would be a dirty liar if he said he had no hope they could be a family
like that again – if in his heart he never had the idea of “what ifs” filter
through his mind once in awhile.
Sans, however is no fool. He is not naïve of who Gaster really is and the
thought of such a man being an actual father figure in his life is a hilarious
joke. And, the thought of Papyrus being so willing to give that man a shot,
despite not even knowingwhat he did to them – it makes Sans sick.
Honestly though? Even if Papyrus remembered, he’d probably still forgive him in
a heartbeat. He has such a strong ideal that people can change if they really
try, a trait Sans finds endearing but also frustrating.
Sans sighs and sits up, tired – but not sleepy – just emotionally tired.
Being more calm now, he was a little angry at himself for leaving so abruptly,
at leaving Papyrus alone with Gaster.
Well… the others are there as well, but, they are not as involved emotionally
as he and Papyrus are, it is a little different – Which is why he should have
stayed there to guide Papyrus through the confusion he may be experiencing
right now but he just… left.
It’s no surprise, its been established that he’s a coward – and having to see…
Gaster, who is the pure definition of apathy, apologize to him and have the
others stare at him like hewas the villain when – when…
Whatever. Whatever. It’s done, his friends had seen a side of him he hoped
they’d never witness, there’s nothing he can do to take it back.
And – the more alarming question, how was that bastard even alive?
Sans had --… he had madesureGaster was gone – for the benefit of his and
Papyrus’s mental health. When the other was caught off guard he had killed
Gaster with his own invention, had seen his father get ripped to dusty shreds
in the machine – had heard the awful and loud screams Gaster had made while he
was slowly torn apart.
But he’s alive and Sans can’t help but find it sort of morbidly funny. He tries
to kill the human, they never stay dead. He tries to kill Gaster, and that
bastard also won’t stay dead. It feels surreal, for this to happen, and after
so many years…
His whole lifes a joke, what is he supposed to do now? Just accept this?
Sans can’t remember when was the last time he had felt so helpless, it had been
so long ago – but now, laying here, he just felt tired and weak.
He wants to cry, but even that seems like too much work.
Heh.
--
 “DO NOT WORRY, I’M SURE SANS WILL… COME AROUND.”
Gaster stared at the spot Sans was before he shifted his gaze to Papyrus
(Seeing him so grown up and healthy really swells his SOUL with pride), “Thank
you…,” But somehow, deep in his gut, Gaster knows that Sans will never ‘come
around’.
Whatever he had done… it must have been horrible.
Horribly enough to warrant the strong intent that was coming off of Sans. Sure,
he really doesn’t knowSans (his own son too, isn’t that depressing?) but he’s
aware monsters are way too kind to hold grudges and… especially towards a
parental figure, it’s a bit rare. But Sans was ready to dust him there and then
– Gaster is vividly aware of this.
He just isn’t sure whyand that frustrates him.
“Did that punk REALLY just leave????”
He blinks at the fish – what was her name…? He squints, she does look rather
familiar.
She swivels towards him and gives him an accusing stare before pointedly
looking at Papyrus, “LIKE, what about you? He just left you here by
yourself!!!”
Papyrus blinks at her, confused, “I’M NOT ALONE AT ALL! EVERYONE IS HERE,
SILLY!”
“That’s not--!” She grumbles and flounders for a moment, as if unsure how to
word herself “He just should have stayed, ok!!!??”
“UNDYNE, DON’T BE SILLY, HE WAS UPSET.”
Gasters’ brain immediately latches onto the name – right, he remembers her but
only briefly, he recognized she was in the care of Gerson way back then. She
was a lot younger back then.
The yellow lizard (he doesn’t know her name, but she’s vividlyfamiliar) latches
onto Undynes’ arm, who tenses before relaxing into the touch – her eyes
flickering toward the short monster, her gaze soft.
“Whatever, this whole things just a mess,” Undyne sighs and her gaze flickers
up at Gaster, her eyes are heated and scrutinizing, “So? What was that all
about? Who are you?”
Alphys yelps and yanks Undynes arm down, she says something to the fish but –
her voice is so small Gaster can’t catch any of it – but it causes Undyne to
deflate and huff, her gaze wearily on Gaster.
“Now, now,” Cuts in Toriel, “Let’s stop standing around here like fools and
take this discussion to the living room, I shall make some tea.”
He blinks as the Queen turns away to the other end of the hall, probably where
the kitchen is – he barely has much memory of her. As it is with a lot of
people in this room, but for some reason he remembers other small details so
vividly. Since he knows what a house is, what the basics of monster anatomy and
the SOUL theory – but personal stuff? His mind is blank and troubled in that
topic. Strange.
Gaster nearly jumps when he feels a hand on his shoulder, he blinks at it –
white, soft – before he trails his gaze up to its owner. Asgore.
“Over here, Dr. Gaster,” his smile is soft and gentle, his head nods towards to
the living room terrace.
“Ah, right,” he mumbles, awkwardly shuffling into the living room – everyone
seems rather situated while he was off in his own head… how embarrassing.
The kid waves at him with an encouraging smile while patting the empty space
next to them. Gaster obediently sits next to them, feeling immensely out of
place, his social skills aren’t particularly the best currently.
He looks around – the living room is decently sized. There’s a coffee table in
the middle with two 3-seated couches on each side, the end had a fluffy
recliner seat that looked well loved.
On the couch he’s seated, Frisk is on right while Asgore situated himself to
his left – its not too tight of a fit, surprisingly, since Frisk is quite small
and he’s quite thin. On the other side of the coffee table is where Papyrus is
seated, eagerly staring at him on the edge of his seat, with the lizard and
Undyne to his right.
He should really figure out the lizards name, but he keeps forgetting she’s
even there – she’s so quiet and at the times she has spoken she’d only directed
it for Undynes ears.
It’s a little maddening, not knowing, but he doesn’t know if it’s okay for him
to ask – she seems jumpy around him.
“Here we are,” Toriel whisks in, with a tray holding teacups and a teapot,
placing it gently on the table.
She serves everyone tea like a good host before sitting down on the single
recliner chair with her own cup of tea, blowing on it gently.
Awkwardly he picks up the teacup served to him, staring down at the dark liquid
– how long has it been since he’s eaten or drank something? Did he even like
Tea?
He silently sips at it and makes a slight face – No, no he didn’t like it.
Gaster, satisfied with this discovery, looks up at the others realizing with
alarm that everyone’s eyes are on him, silently watching and scrutinizing him.
Strategically he quickly looks back down at his tea, considering if he should
take another sip of the bitter liquid just to avoid filling in the silence.
“So…,” He nearly jumped when Undyne talked, “You’re… Sans and Papyrus’s pops,
huh?”
Papyrus noticeably tenses, Gaster gulps, “yes… yes that’s right.”
“ARE YOU,” Gaster meets Papyrus’s earnest and hopeful gaze, “SURE?”
Gaster’s eyes soften, Papyrus voice sounds uncertain to believe his words, as
if it’s all just going to be a joke in the end – it pains his heart that he
left his children on their own for who knows howlong, “Yes, I am,” he sets the
teacup down. Briefly, he’s glad he doesn’t have to force himself to drink more,
“My memories are frazzled, sure, but I don’t exactly have amnesia. There are
certain things I remember more clearly than others and the little that I have
may be vague but it gives me enough basic information.”
“Ok,” Papyrus nods, slowly, as if processing the information,” And your name is
Gaster?”
He smiles, softly, and nods, “Yes, nice to meet you Papyrus.”
Papyrus’s face brightens up, “YES! NICE TO MEET YOU TOO! I CAN’T WAIT TO GET TO
KNOW MY OWN FATHER, WOWIE!”
It surprises Gaster, at how open Papyrus is to him – it almost makes him want
to cry from relief, “Me too, Papyrus.”
 “Also…,” Papyrus, pauses, his voice subduing once again and his face was
confusingly unreadable, “You said you can remember somethings…right? Do you
know why Sans seems to… be angry at you?”
“I…,” Gaster bites his lips, feeling the weight of eyes on him, nervously he
stares at his fidgeting hands, “Vague is a rather broad term I used. I don’t
know at all why Sans is angry at me, but I do feel guilty, I’m just not sure
whyI do.”
Papyrus slowly nods, his eyes unmoving from Gaster – and for a moment he feels
the weight of those eyes reading him and tearing him apart – but it was over
right when it happened, as if he had imagined it.
“I UNDERSTAND! DO NOT WORRY FATHER, FOR SANS WILL FORGIVE YOU! AND… WHEN YOU DO
GAIN YOUR MEMORIES BACK, IF IT WERE TO EVER HAPPEN, JUST KNOW I WILL ACCEPT YOU
WITH OPEN ARMS!.”
Shaking his head, Gaster smiles, feeling a little thrown off, “Thank you…”
“Dr. Gaster,” He nearly jumps at the voice, he nearly forgot Asgore was sitting
right next to him, “Can you explain where you went, and why I didn’t even
question about your whereabouts?”
Gaster bit his lip, contemplating his response – he didn’t particularly want to
reveal toomuch of what happened to him, more because he wasn’t even sure
himself, it just wasn’t a comfortable thing to share when you know nearly
nothing about it but the mere concept.
 “Well, there was an experiment I was working on--,” he decided not to share
that perhaps someone had intended to dust him, “—something happened, I can’t
remember, but it backfired and I was sent… somewhere quite horrible,” He
shuddered, feeling his SOUL accelerate at the mere thought of the Void, “I
prefer not to talk about it. But it erased me from existence, long story
short.”
“And how are you… back from that place?”
Gaster shook his head, “I don’t know, I just remember seeing this bright light
and I followed it – I woke up in the lab…”
“WOWIE! DID YOU MAKE ANY FRIENDS?”
Awkwardly, Gaster smiled, unsure how to feel at Papyrus’s naiveté, “No, not
really.”
“So?” Undyne quirked an unimpressed eyebrow, “How’d ya end up here? I doubt you
were aware we were on the surface.”
“No…I was confused at how empty it was down there,” Gaster glanced down at the
kid next to him, they smiled encouragingly, “I was really frazzled and out of
it so I merely walked around – mostly to take things in – then I ran into
Frisk.”
“Yes… I was quite shocked when they dragged you in here,” Toriel said, her face
was carefully neutral, “I remembered you immediately when I saw you.”
Gaster gave Toriel a curious frown, “You did?” She failed to mention that to
him until now – nervously he scratches at his chin.
Toriel nods, “Yes, you were the royal scientist – you were a dear friend to
Asgore,” She smiles softly at him and he immediately feels his anxiety ease
away, “And by extension you were mine as well, it was always pleasant to have
you around.”
He felt his face warm up at that – her genuineness made him rather embarrassed,
but he appreciated it – he really did.
“So I also agree with Papyrus, I think Sans will come around – you’re very
sincere Doctor.”
“Yes,” Asgore laid a paw on his shoulder, it was heavy and comforting, “You
will get through to him, you are not a bad monster.”
He nearly tears up, but he holds it down as he looks between the two Boss
monsters, “T..thank you, really,” Perhaps they are right… with time Sans could
forgive him… or at least tolerate him.
“I’m sure you’re tired, Dr. Gaster,” Toriel squints at the clock, “It’s only
the evening but, perhaps we should take a break from… all this, and figure out
where you’re going to live for now, yes?”
Papyrus jumps up from his seat, startling Gaster, “YES!!! YOU CAN LIVE WITH US
FATHER! WE HAVE A GUEST BEDROOM!!”
Gaster wanted to immediately agree, just to become closer with his sons, but,
“I don’t think right now would be the best time.”
Papyrus was about to respond when Toriel cut in, “Yes, perhaps it would be too
much for Sans right now, I would not advise it, currently. But perhaps in the
future?”
Papyrus closed his mouth, squinted in thought, before he nodded, “YES THAT IS
TRUE! WE WOULDN’T WANT TO STRESS OUT THAT LAZYBONES!” Papyrus scratches at his
chin, “AS A MATTER OF FACT, I SHOULD GO CHECK ON HIM! I HOPE YOU DO NOT MIND
THAT, FATHER!”
“Oh,” Gaster shakes his head, “Of course not, please do make sure he’s okay.”
Papyrus smiles warmly at him, “YOU ARE VERY KIND!”
Gaster awkwardly smiles, he’s unsure if that’s true… somewhere deep in his gut,
tells him otherwise – but he actively ignores it, “Thank you, Papyrus.”
Papyrus leans across the table with his arm outstretched, “IT WAS A PLEASURE
FINALLY MEETING YOU FATHER.”
The other skeleton smile was warm and welcoming, full of excitement of what was
to come – Gaster smiled back, he hoped it was equally warm, “Yes,” he got up
and stretched out his hand to meet Papyrus’s giving it a small shake, “You too,
my son.”
Papyrus’s smile widens to a billion Watts, and suddenly Gaster is wrapped in
skeletal arms, practically being carried over the table by Papyrus – Gasters
legs slightly hit the table before he was dangling in midair – goodness was
Papyrus tall.
He smiled and wrapped his arms around Papyrus, before laughing slightly –
feeling warm and complete, “Wow! You’re quite strong.”
Papyrus put Gaster down gently before striking a confident pose, “OF COURSE!
NOTHING LESS FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEHEHE!” Papyrus subdues his bright
expression to a gentle one, “WELL, I MUST DEPART, I SHALL SEE YOU TOMORROW –
FATHER.”
Gaster nods, a sad smile, “Yes, please do, I wish to catch up with you more.”
“AS DO I!” Papyrus gives him one last squeezing hug before he suddenly sprints
towards the exit, he almost swore he saw a gust of dust follow him.
“Wow.”
Toriel laughs, “Yes, Papyrus is quite something, always so full of energy and
very optimistic.”
He automatically smiles widely, “I’m so glad…”
“It must be a lot, to see your children as adults.”
Gaster looks at Toriel, her face held a sad smile – her eyes looked distant as
if seeing something else.
Suddenly he remembers about Chara and Asriel and his SOUL pangs in pain for the
Queen and King.
He’s gifted with this chance to be with his sons again, it would be foolish to
waste it.
--
Papyrus had a lot to think about on his way home.
It is not that he doesn’t trust Gaster! But he can’t help but be a little
weary. For starters, how Sans had reacted to the monster, it had been very
negative. Papyrus had never seen Sans angry ever– Sure, he had seen him upset,
sad, annoyed – but angry? Angry enough that he seemed down right, dare he say,
ready to dustGaster?
It had confused Papyrus to see Sans in such a state – he could sense the intent
heavily on Sans – The Sans who holds his cards so close to his chest had let
them sense his intent.
Intent was everything to a monster, either you are open with your intent or
you’re private with it– Papyrus himself was quite open for example!
Sans, on the other hand, rarely shows his intent – his brother is a very
private person after all.
However, despite seeing such a new side of Sans – he knows his brother is a
good person, he knows that he would neverbe angry at someone like that without
good reason.
Which brings in the dream he had.
Papyrus hadn’t forgotten about it – he’d known right when he saw Gaster that he
was the man in his dream. He remembers feeling a sort of dread and fear
regarding Gaster in the dream, a strange sort of anxiety he rarely experiences.
It confuses him a lot, because Gaster is such a sincere monster! His fear had
immediately disappeared when he talked to him however.
And it was weird – referring the monster as his father. He never really thought
about where he came from – if he had parents, who they were – he always had
Sans and that had been enough for him, so it never crossed his mind.
But now knowing that he has a parental figure… well! He can’t say he isn’t
excited to have one! It was strange and it still feels he’s in this weird
dream. Papyrus wantsto have a father, a feeling he never knew of until now!
He blinks when his home comes into view, his slow strides stopping before the
front door.
But, he can’t be blind to the way Sans reacted so negatively to him or the
holes in his memories where Gaster should be – or, or that Sans had possibly
knownbut had never told him.
If Papyrus hadn’t known better, he’d say Sans was also experiencing memory loss
of their father, but Sans had knownabout who the monster was in his dream.
Sans had known just by the simplest details.
He’s sure his brother has his reasons, don’t get him wrong! But its alarming
since, personally, he feels it’s quite an important detail Papyrus should know
about He isn’t angry; he is just confused!
He unlocks the house door and goes in, the warmth of their home hitting his
bones pleasantly.
He looks down the hall to where his brother’s room is, unsure if confronting
Sans right now is a good idea, but Papyrus is quite sure Sans will avoid
talking about it… best do it now than later.
Noticing himself slumping, his straightens his back immediately—there is no
time to feel so exhausted! It is only the evening after all!
Nodding to himself he strides over to Sans door, and gives it a brisk but soft
knock, “SANS? I AM HOME! MAY I COME IN?”
He waits with slight anxiety for an answer, his nonexistent ear pressed to the
door. Papyrus nearly misses the soft ‘yeah’ from the other side but it prompts
him to quickly open the door – taking in the usual messiness of Sans’s room
before his gaze swivels to where his brother was hiding beneath many layers of
blankets.
Concern flares up in his SOUL – brief memories of the past filter through his
mind of similar situations, a time where Sans did nothing else other than hide
in his room and sleep the day away.
It briefly scares him, because it had been so long since… he’d seen Sans in
such a mood, he had nearly forgotten of the days when Sans always looked so
sad. It was such a long process, for Sans to be more active and social, he
doesn’t want this event to degrade Sans’s process, not after his brother had
worked so hard.
Softly, he walks to the edge of Sans bed and sits on it – the other hadn’t
shifted an inch from his hiding spot – Papyrus frowns and softly pats a gloved
hand on the lump known as his brother.
He hears Sans sigh in defeat before he unravels from underneath the layers,
tentatively looking up at Papyrus with tired, numb eyes. Papyrus’s SOUL bangs
with sympathy and worry – this had dearlyupset his brother…he couldn’t fathom
what their… fatherhad done to prompt such a strong reaction from Sans.
“How are you feeling, Sans?”
Sans sits up and Papyrus withdraws his hand, waiting patiently as Sans gathers
himself with a shaky breath – it doesn’t look like he was crying, Papyrus isn’t
sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
“I’ve… calmed down,” Sans scratches the back of his neck as he sheepishly gives
Papyrus a wider smile, “Sorry I left you like that bro… and that you saw me get
so, uh, angry.”
Papyrus gave Sans a soft smile, “Please, I do not care about that – plus! I
wasn’t alone – everyone was there! You are so silly brother!”
“heh… yeah I really am.”
Frowning, Papyrus softly patted Sans head, “Brother! You know I do not like
pushing you, but I have never seen you so… upset before!” Shaking his head,
Papyrus stared at Sans directly in the eyelights – expression serious, “So I
must ask, what happened? What happened between you and… father?”
Sans gulps, looking away from the others stare, visibly anxious and nervous,
“I…”
“And Sans,” Said monster jumps at Papyrus interrupting, “I am aware that the
man in my dream was him, so please…. Do not try to hide this from me.”
Sans shakes his head, his bones nearly rattling from how anxious he was – how
can he evertell Papyrus of the things Gaster has done – how could he ever --,
“I just…,” he tries to keep his voice steady, his brain trying to come up with
a lie – anything, “He wasn’t a good dad, Paps, he…,” He closed his eye sockets,
trying to block out the touches, the white cold hands, “He didn’t treat you
right, always neglected you for his work – and at some point he just…
vanished,” Not a complete a lie, he just… cut out a few important details.
Gulping Sans looks up at Papyrus, seeing the other mull this over in his head,
reading him as best as he could, “Okay,” He nods, Sans almost lets out a
relieved sigh, “Thank you for telling me Sans.”
Sans nearly winces from the guilt but he just nods, wanting this conversation
to be over so he can just sleep.
“I want you to know that,” Papyrus says, his sockets DETERMINED, “That Father
hadn’t abandoned us! He told us that an experiment backfired on him, which sent
him to this other place!” He explains confidently, before morphing into slight
confusion, “WHICH I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, BUT HE MADE NO FRIENDS – IT
MUST HAVE BEEN LONELY!”
Sans flinched, which Papyrus fortunately didn’t catch, “doesn’t he have
amnesia?”
“NO! HE SAYS SOME EVENTS ARE JUST NOT CLEAR!”
“ah,” he stares at the white of his blankets, “I see.”
“AND BROTHER… I want you to please consider giving him a chance.”
Sans looked at Papyrus, wide eyed, his stomach churning at even thinking -
- “bro…,” he can’t say he’s surprised, of course Papyrus would suggest such a
thing.
“He’s… very sincere,” Papyrus softly regards Sans, as if talking to a
frightened animal, “However he was in the past, I can assure you he’s different
now.”
Sans doesn’t respond, doesn’t know how to respond – he doesn’t want to refuse
Papyrus, but he… he can’t stomach agreeing to this.
Papyrus seemed to read him, “Give it some thought yes?”
Sans watches as Papyrus gets up and stretches before regarding him again, “NOW
BROTHER, IT IS STILL THE EVENING SO I HAVE CHORES TO ATTEND TO!”
“right, thanks for checking up on me.”
“OF COURSE!” Papyrus strides to the door, opening it slightly, before turning
back to Sans, “and… Sans? Please do not be afraid to talk to me… I’m sure
you’re aware I’m always here for you – if you need anything just tell me.”
Sans felt a mixture of warmth and disgusting guilt – why did he always lie to
Papyrus like this, why did he always push him away, “thanks bro,” he tries a
small smile, trying not to cry as Papyrus smiles back brightly and leaves his
room – closing the door with a great amount of gentleness.
He almost wants to reach out and tell him, to scream of the pain that man
caused him – but he chokes up at the idea, how can he put Papyrus through that?
It’s hard to miss the hopefulness beneath those sockets, Papyrus wants a parent
figure – God he’s never really had one, all he had was Sans and he was shit at
raising Papyrus. He never takes care of Papyrus like he should, its always
Papyrus taking care of him. Because he’s a useless sack of bones.
He curls up in a ball, conflicted with himself – Why was he so weak? Why can’t
he be normal… strong – why must his whole mental state break down over
something like this?
What is he supposed to do? Actually let Gaster back in his life? God… no, just
so he can get hurt again? Just so he can drag Papyrus around like he’s nothing,
just so he can degrade them into things again? He can’t let him near Papyrus…
he can’tlet Gaster walk away with all he’s done.
Sans eye flickers, blue yellow blue –
Gaster can’t remain alive.
--
He looks down at the mass of shaking bones, before he looks down at his own
hands, it’s fascinating – what a simple action can do, it’s so simple yet so
complicated, how much you can hurt someone and how that someone reacts to it.
He takes in the way Sans looks up at him (afraid, scared, hurt)
He reminds himself that they’re experiments, things, they aren’t his sons
anymore, this shouldn’t matter.
Gaster tries to still his shaking hands.
..
.
 
Chapter End Notes
     i need to work on being able to come up with explanations for things.
     but i just really wanted to get this chapter out lol.
     also the 'intent' stuff was just a impulsive thing i put in, i have
     no idea lmao. sorry again for the long wait, had a lot of adult stuff
     to do and im very stressed out.
     i know this chapter is p boring but i hope u still enjoyed.
     and ty to ppl who were asking me about this fic on my tumblr, i
     really didn't think ppl would care much for this fic so it rlly did
     surprise me. \o
***** Settling *****
Chapter Summary
     It's fine.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
 
“I hope you do not mind sleeping here for a while.”
Gaster looks from Toriel to the room he’s staying in. It’s rather plain and
unlived in, with a twin sized bed to the side and a wooden dresser next to it
and not much else, “Of course I don’t, and more than anything I’m grateful.”
Toriel smiles, “I’m glad, many like to sleep over so it’s nice to have a guest
bedroom.”
“I see,” He steps and stops in front of the only window in the room, once again
feeling awed at the light coming from the Sun and just how greeneverything was.
It was surreal.
Gaster remembers the feeling of bearing heavy responsibilities as the royal
scientist. Those old ambitions still reside heavily in his skull; it is one of
the things, other than his children, that he can remember clearly. His drive to
get monsterkind to the surface had been strong, and he’d remember thinking he’d
do anythingto get to his goal. In a way, he feels pride at seeing monsters on
the surface – though he’s sure he didn’t have on ounce of responsibility for it
– it is nice knowing he at least partook and participated for the end goal.
“It’s such a nice view, isn’t it?”
Toriel’s voice causes him to jump, having been too caught up with his thoughts.
He relaxes and looks back out the window, “Yes… it really is.”
 “It’s been years but I still get so starstruck by how warm and bright the Sun
is.”
Gaster is immediately perplexed and curious, “Years…?”
“Oh, yes!” Toriel smiles down at Gaster, “It has been around 10 years since
we’ve been on the surface.”
He frowns, his gaze unfocused on the white of the wall. He had assumed
monsterkind migrating to the surface had been fairly recent, and thinking that
perhaps that’s what enabled him to somehow leave the Void – but… if it has been
years… it would make no sense, right? What had caused him to appear now of all
such times? Not a single guess or explanation enters his mind. Perhaps he
should just leave it alone and be grateful, but the nagging at the back of his
head won’t let him.
“Dr. Gaster…?”
He blinks and looks up at Toriel’s concerned smile, “Ah, yes, sorry. Did you
say something?”
Toriel shakes her head, “No, you just suddenly zoned out,” She tilts her head,
“Are you OK?”
“Yes,” He gives her a small smile, “Just… a lot on my mind.”
“I can imagine…,” She looks down at his clothes, slightly rugged and worn but
in general still presentable, “You’re probably going to need a few things, hm?”
“Ah… yes, if it is no bother.”
“Of course not,” Toriel claps her hands together, her smile wide, “We can talk
about this more later, for now, let’s get some food in you!”
“Thank you again, Toriel.”
She gives him a soft pat on the shoulder as she moves to leave, “My home is
your home, doctor, feel free to look around.”
He watches her leave the room, standing there awkwardly at first, before he
slowly followed Toriel to the kitchen and spent the rest of the evening
catching up with the Queen and this new big world.
----
--
Yesterday had felt nothing but a surreal and horrible dream. But when Sans woke
up after dreaming about nothing but black and static noise, he knew what
happened was real.
He looks at the time and visibly flinched – 1:40pm – he was supposed to be at
work hoursago. His alarm clock didn’t seem to wake him, and surprisingly
Papyrus didn’t force him to get up. Perhaps… it was because of yesterday.
That didn’t make him feel any better.
Feeling strangely outside his body, he sluggishly got up to the washroom,
staring at his reflection without exactly focusing in on himself.
welp, Sans the Murderer, whats on the agenda today?
“Sans?”
Said skeleton jumps, not expecting Papyrus to be home. Isn’t he supposed to be
at work?
He doesn’t move an inch when Papyrus’s head pops into the bathroom. Sans could
see his brothers painfully obvious concern in the mirror, he did his best to
give the other a smile.
“hey paps, what happened with work?”
He walks further into the bathroom, standing behind him as he nervously fidgets
with his gloves, Sans stares at him from the mirror and feels achingly guilty.
“WELL, SOMETIMES BREAKS ARE NEEDED! DON’T WORRY I CALLED YOUR JOB AND TOLD THEM
THERE WAS A FAMILY EMERGENCY.  I DECIDED TO STAY HOME AS WELL! I HOPE THAT IS
OKAY?”
Sans sockets soften, “yeah, thanks pap. ya’ always know what i need.”
“IT IS NO PROBLEM, BROTHER,” Papyrus flashes him with a bright smile and Sans
thinks about investing in some sun glasses, “SO, HOW ARE YOU FEELING?”
Sans can see Papyrus visibly deflating in anticipation of the answer so Sans
turns around and tries to brighten his grin, he prays to Asgore it’s enough,
“feelin’ better, paps,” Papyrus remains tense and worried, because Sans is
untrustworthy and a dirty liar.
Sighing, he looks back at his reflecting, realizing the tension in his
shoulders and his strained grin – wow he needs to get it together, “i’ve
thought about what you said.”
Papyrus perks up, his sockets curious and hopeful.
He takes a deep breath, this is painful to say – but it’s required to get close
to Gaster, to know his intentions, to make a plan, “i’ll give him a chance.”
“R-really?” Papyrus says, surprised, perhaps because he had expected Sans to
take a couple of days or even more. Realistically, it should’ve.
“y-yeah,” Sans looks down, gulping down his anxiety, “but that just means i’ll
tolerate him, ok? nothing more.”
“SANS!!!” Papyrus picks Sans up from under the arms and gives him a crushing
hug, the smaller skeleton was surprised at first but returned it, not one to
reject a hug from his brother, “THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!!”
He isn’t let go, instead he’s carried out into the living room and plopped into
a chair, “THIS CALLS FOR MY SPECIAL SPAGHETTI!! ONLY MEANT FOR THE MOST SPECIAL
OF OCCASSIONS. THE SPAGHETTI SPECIAL!”
Sans smiles half-heartedly, “soundstortelligreat paps.”
“OH MY GOD SANS.”
Sans smiles, giving himself a mental pat on the back for the pun, at least he
can still muster up enough strength to tryand act normal -- even though he can
feel the sick dreadand anxiety scratching at his SOUL.
It was just one more thing, another obstacle, but how many more will there be
until he gets a break? How many more times does he have to kill and obstruct
his morals to gain happiness? To protect his brother?
It was weighing, it was tiring. He isn’t sure how he’s even still able to
function currently. He watches Papyrus humming around the kitchen, his brain
feeling like static from over-thinking so much.
“ – AND PERHAPS AFTER WE COULD GO TO THAT RATHER COLORFUL PLACE – A CAFÉ IT
WAS, CORRECT? – AND THEN!—“
But there is that underlying thought – that perhaps Gaster has changed, that
he’s completely different now… does that mean Sans should just leave him be? He
isn’t sure. He isn’t even sure if he can breathe the same air as Gaster without
lashing out, the thought of Gaster stayingalive made him feel sick.
“—SANS! –“
Either way, the outcome won’t really end in his favor. Sans has the option to
kill Gaster or keep him alive, both have heavy cons that outweigh the pros…
“SANS!”
Sans jolted, now noticing Papyrus looking over at him in concern, “whats up?”
“I’VE BEEN TALKING TO YOU! HAVE YOU NOT BEEN LISTENING?”
Sans shrugged, slumping in his seat, “of course i’ve been, everything sounds
radiatori. lookin’ forward to it.”
“I-WHA-!” Papyrus looks incredibly peeved, “THAT WAS A STRETCH AND YOU KNOW IT
! THE STRETCHIEST TO END ALL STRETCHES!”
Sans chuckles, “What can I say? I’m running out of jokes.”
Papyrus squints, “I CAN TELL.”
Sans gives another small chuckle, before he hears a familiar knock from the
door. He tenses as Papyrus energetically goes to answer it – the door is out of
view but he can hear Toriel’s soft voice underneath Papyrus’s loud greeting.
Sans cringes, not exactly ready for Tori to confront him yet. It is no surprise
and he had expected it, but he hoped she’d wait another day at least. He slumps
into his seat with dread.
“THE QU—I MEAN MISS TORI IS HERE, SANS!!!”
He sits up as Papyrus pops back into the dining room, with Toriel right behind
him – she immediately looks over at Sans, her smile gentle and concerned.
She places a container on the table, from the smell he can tell it’s her
blueberry muffins, “hey Tori.”
He awkwardly shies away as Toriel sits down next to him; her sincere expression
makes feel very, very vulnerable.
“Hello Sans, how are you?”
With his eyelights still darted away, he gulps, “i’m goating along fine, what’s
up?”
She giggles slightly, but not as much as usual, which makes him tense, “I hope
you don’t mind but… I just want to discuss with you what happened back there
with your father.”
Sans cringes, “what is there to talk about?”
She puts a paw on his shoulder, forcing him to make eye contact with her,
“Sans…what happened?”
Feeling a little cornered he automatically looks for Papyrus, he’s at the
kitchen archway examining them both silently – and he nods encouragingly at
Sans to continue.
Sans sighs, his eyelights flickering to the ceiling to gather his thoughts
before he shifts them to Toriel, “i may have overreacted, it’s not that big of
a deal.”
Tori’s gaze still lingers on Sans, she didn’t quite believe him, “And what
prompted that reaction exactly?”
He darts his eyelights away, “it’s… a little personal. i’ve talked about it
with papyrus already.”
Toriel looks at Papyrus for conformation, who nodded, “INDEED HE DID!” he
paused, before adding (to Sans immense dread), “AND I WAS TOLD HE’D GIVE GASTER
ANOTHER CHANCE!”
Toriel looks back at Sans with disbelief, and it took all of his willpower not
to flinch under that gaze. She seemed unsure and worried.
 “oh yeah, forgot about that,” He shrugs it off casually under her caring gaze,
blazing and intense.
“Sans,” She puts a paw on his shoulder again, so he looks up at her, “If you
still need time… there is no problem with doing so.”
He pauses, taking her words in. Yeah, but there isn’t any time for that is
there? He can’t sit here and waitwhile Gaster was out there doing god-knows-
what. Gaster is a manipulative and calculating man, charming and always a step
ahead. If this state of Gaster is true, if he really did lose his memories,
then Sans needs to take advantage of it – before Gaster becomes… well Gaster.
“na tori, it’s okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“absolutely,” No, not really, but it’s fine – he has a plan, right? A slight
advantage, that can be everything at a time like this. Gaster is weak and
vulnerable, Sans can use that. It’s not okay but its fine, it’s absolutely
fine. He can do this.
“Ok,” Toriel nods, giving Sans a serious look, “Then, tomorrow, please come
over and discuss things with your father – yes?”
Sans takes a deep breath, “yeah,” He looks at Papyrus, his eyes shining and
brimming with hope, “sounds like a plan.”
--
-
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter End Notes
     o shit waddup
***** Goodnight *****
Chapter Summary
     It was for the best.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
 
It’s been a week of absolute shit, in Sans humble opinion.
He had indeed gone to give Gaster a brief apology. Gaster, in turn, apologized
and gave this whole bullshit spiel of hoping everything can be put behind them
and all that nonsense. Sans didn’t really listen, just zoning out and nodding
in vague agreement to whatever was said. Papyrus was overjoyed, everyone else
seemed rather unsure, and Sans felt irritated and tired.
After that, he was forced to be ‘friendly’ with Gaster, as friendly as Sans can
get anyways. Gaster constantly tried to force some sort of connection between
them, always asking Sans questions and talking to him every chance he got and
Sans had always put no effort into their conversation, giving brief short
responses.
Sans had done his best not to get irritated or snippy with the other, but he
had his moments, and it always came down to his friends looking concerned and
him having to step out to calm down.
And now, he’s carrying a box full of things, it was heavy for his short
structure. He hadn’t slept, he’s been having nightmare after nightmare, he’s
grumpy and today is the day Gaster is moving in with him and Papyrus.
He should’ve known this would’ve happened.
Papyrus had come up to him, wide eyed and hesitant, asking if Gaster could move
into their extra room. Sans had refused the idea at first, but Papyrus looked
crestfallen and guilty. So he sighed, long and hard, and agreed. How could he
say no when his bro looked like that?
So here he was, putting the last box of stuff into Gaster’s new room. Which
isn’t a lot, but the others had salvaged some of his stuff from the old lab and
Toriel had gotten him some new clothes. In total it was 7 boxes along with the
new furniture. Sans had only really carried 5 boxes and Papyrus had done the
rest. But with his weak structure and rather poor health, it had taken a lot
out of him.
Sans stares as Gaster rips the tape off from one of the boxes while Papyrus is
a series of fast excited words, talking about the stuff they could do together
as a family. He’s zoned out of it all; staring around the small room Gaster is
staying it.
The room was meant to be for office purposes (Though they used it for random
junk) so it had a weird uneven shape to it, but it can fit a bed and a dresser,
they even were able to fit in a desk. Fortunately there was already a coat
closet implemented into the room as well.
It’s a shame they had done all this work for nothing, his eyesight’s swivel
back to Gaster, he’s not letting the other stay here for long.
Gaster catches Sans stare and flashes him with a nervous smile, Sans merely
turns away and regards Papyrus, “we still got that left over spaghetti?”
Papyrus takes his time to think for a moment, a gloved hand rubbing at his
chin, “YES… YES WE DO!” He seemed excited about this, looking super proud for
remembering.
Sans smiles, “heh, thanks bro,” He looks back at Gaster, trying his best to
remain friendly, “ya’ want some?”
“Oh-!” Gaster seems flustered, not expecting to be addressed, and he flounders
before he responds, “Y-yes! Yes, that’d be lovely!”
Sans nods, “paps?”
“YES, PLEASE! WHAT A GENEROUS OFFER.”
Sans shrugs nonchalantly and turns to go to the kitchen, he ignores the wide
eyed stare Gaster is sending his way. He doesn’t really acknowledge Gaster’s
existence much, after all.
He opens up the fridge, breathing deeply, steadying his soul. Grabbing a
container filled with noodles and another with marinara sauce, he proceeds to
load three plates with spaghetti, putting a decent amount of sauce and blasting
them all in the microwave. Then he takes out a small glass bottle from his
hoodies pocket, filled with a pale yellow magic, and adds small drops to two of
the plates – leaving one uncontaminated.
The magic is harmless; it just puts you to sleep.
He mentally says a brief apology to Papyrus before he put the bottle back into
his pocket and carries the plates to the dining table. Setting them down, he
strains his nonexistent ears to hear the chattering of Papyrus from Gaster’s
room.
Ok. He can do this.
The short skeleton calls for them from the living room and he hears an
affirmative from Papyrus before he hears the creaking of footsteps. He wills
everything about him to look relaxed and casual, to be as normal as possible.
 “—It’s quite fascinating how much things have changed--!”
“—IT’S REALLY NOT THAT DIFFERENT! FOR EXAMPLE—“
He takes the seat with the untainted spaghetti, staring at the deep red of the
marinara sauce before his gaze goes back to his brother and his never ending
nightmare, “bone appetite” he winks.
It cuts off the conversation the two were having, Gaster snorts in surprise
while Papyrus looks offended.
“UGH, AND HERE I WAS ABOUT TO ENJOY THIS PREMIUM SPAGHETTI! ONLY TO BE RUINED
BY YOUR HURROUNDES WORD PLAY!”
“aw c’mon bro, your spaghetti is enjoyable no matter what.”
“NYEH!” Papyrus sits down, grabbing a fork, “YOU’RE RIGHT!”
Gaster follows Papyrus’s example, he gives Sans a delicate smile, the smaller
skeleton tries hard not to glare, “Thank you, Sans.”
Sans shrugs, taking a bite out of his own plate, “I just reheated it, Papyrus
cooked it.”
“Still,” Gaster looks down at his own food, still smiling, and Sans watches
carefully as Gaster rolls up the noodles and takes a bite out of it, “Wow! This
is amazing Papyrus!”
Papyrus beams at the compliment, “NYEH-HEH! OF COURSE!”
Sans impatiently waits, continuing to take small bites, quiet as the other two
continue with conversation after conversation. It’s strange, how easy the two
could talk, he’d always seen the two as opposites. Papyrus a light, warm and
positive while Gaster was cold, calculative and logical. And yet, they are able
to hold hours and hours of talking – as if they were old time friends.
It made Sans sick in more ways than one.
Sans is going to have to take this away from Papyrus. He’s going to break his
brothers’ fragile heart with his own two bony hands.
The plan he has, it’s rushed and has so many illogical loose ends. It’s
uncharacteristic of him, but he is tired (and scared). Now that Gaster was
under the same roof as the two of them – Gaster’s memories can come back, he
can manipulate Sans and Papyrus, he can hurt them all over again.
Sans hears Papyrus yawn, his frazzled brain stopping the irrational and
spiraling thoughts to take a look at his brother, he looks drowsy, “you tired
paps?” he quirks an eyebrow, to look surprised.
Papyrus blinks sluggishly, trying to focus, he seems perplexed at how tired he
felt, “INDEED I AM! PERHAPS I DIDN’T REALIZE UNTIL NOW!”
Gaster rubs at his eyes as well, confused, and stares at the spaghetti in
suspicion – Sans starts to feel anxiety bubbling up, “Me too.”
“HUH!” Papyrus takes one last bite of spaghetti, Sans watches him take all
their somewhat empty plates to the sink, “IT HAS BEEN A LONG DAY,” Papyrus
glances at a clock in the kitchen wall, “AND IT IS CLOSE TO BEDTIME, WOWIE, I
DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE!”
Gaster considers the clock as well, his eyes dropping in exhaustion, “Time
passes when you’re having fun, perhaps we should turn in early?” His eyelight’s
turn to Sans and he cant help but feel the other see through him, “What about
you Sans?”
Forcing himself to relax his posture, Sans shrugs, “im always tired,” he winks,
“and i always turn in early.”
 “UGH, FATHER, PREPARE TO LIVE WITH THE MOST LAZIEST OF MONSTERS! ALL HE DOES
IS SLEEP!”
Gaster gives him a look of genuine concern, but he doesn’t pursue it, mindful
of Sans temper around him, “Well that is an example I’d like to follow
currently,” Gaster gets up from his seat, he wobbles at first, looking
perplexed at his feet, “My goodness, I’m exhausted.”
With that they all went to their respective rooms. Gaster yawning and wobbly,
Papyrus was too tired for even his routine storybook, and Sans way too wide
awake as he teleports to his room.
Then Sans just waited for 30 minutes, staring at his basic digital clock, the
numbers counting up – red and bright – re-thinking and re-analyzing what he was
about to do, keeping it strictly to the plan and less to the emotional turmoil
he’s trying to ignore.
He hopes this plan ends okay, its rather simple and it isn’t thought out. The
reasons he has planned can look weird and out of place, but it’s all he has
currently. If it all goes to plan, this will just be an old bitter memory, of a
father and an old friend abandoning his responsibilities.
But if any monster starts to suspect something off, which Sans is sure is to
happen,  he’s confident he’ll get figured out – Which, in all honesty, he
doesn’t care if it happens. Let his friends hate him, let Papyrus think he
betrayed him, he’ll handle it. It doesn’t matter.
At least that’s what he keeps telling himself.
With a steady breath, he teleports to Gasters’ room whose softly snoring under
many layers of fluffy blankets. It’s weird still, seeing Gaster so… domestic,
with his sheepish smiles and wide eye sockets – compared to the familiar cold
smile and tired eyes.
“gaster?” he calls, approaching the bed. Just to make sure, he gives the other
a rather harsh shove, Gaster doesn’t even shift.
Sans takes a moment, to stare at the peacefulness of Gasters’ face, he thinks
about Papyrus’ happy eyelights – of the hopeand excitement in his brothers
sockets – he thinks of how differentGaster is.
But then he reminds himself of the pain, the neglectful abuse against Papyrus –
the way he always treated him like he was nothinglike he was an idiot. And then
he thinks of the numerous invisible scars he left on Sans.
Sans clenches his hands to stop their shaking and swiftly grabs Gasters arm and
teleports without hesitation. The softness of blankets and a homey atmosphere
leaves them, and they are left with humid air and the darkness of the
Underground – off limits and abandoned.
They’re on the edge of a cliff, a waterfall splashing down into the darkest
pits of the underground, he can feel the bits of water splashing on the damp
stone and splashing droplets onto his bony legs. He looks down, with Gasters’
arm still clutched in his hand, still snoring away on the cold wet stone.
Sans uses magic to raise Gasters’ sleeping form in front of him, the endless
pit under the prone figure, he takes one last look at the man who used to be
his hell – his nightmares – and then, with one final glare, he releases his
magic and lets the other drop.
He ignores the uneasy guilt and turns away, not looking as Gasters’ body
splashes into water, not looking as his tormentors’ body crashes hard into
roaring waters, and he teleports away as Gasters’ dust becomes one with the
flowing water.
--
-
-
(Sans has dreams of accusing eyes and hurt orange eyelights.)
-
-
--
The next day Papyrus enters Gasters’ room, it’s empty and drawers were left
open in a messy manner. He picks up the note left on the desk he fondly picked
out for his newly discovered Father. The papers stiff and an off white, black
ink is scrawled methodically, letters neat and tidy.
It spoke of an apology and a goodbye.
--
-
-
Ř̗̖̗͕̭̻̝̦͐͊Ë̖̬̜̭̖̹̇͆ͮ̚S̨͉̠͓̥̠̟͎̹͂͆̊̈́̈̓͠Ę̟̼̯͚̰̠̗̔ͣ̄ͣ̓͠T̡͓̮́̑ͣ̓͋ͩ͋?̩͓̞͕̻̠͋ͬ̇̇̎̂͆
Chapter End Notes
     i kept forgetting to say but, on my profile i try to update the
     status of my stories and I have my tumblr links there as well (sfw
     and nsfw) I prefer if you asked my nsfw blog if u have any questions
     concerning the story :)
     hopefully this chapter doesnt seem so rushed. im still new to this
     whole writing thing.
***** Refresh *****
Chapter Summary
     Is he even surprised anymore?
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
White specs of particles shift, shaping and reshaping.
He feels his shift in gravity plummeting, eyelights snapping open, the comfort
of sleep fading away into blinding horror – his hands reach for the retreating
figure, familiar white skull and a recognizable signature hoodie.
It’s pitch black, but gradients into a perfect white, the feeling of emptiness
reminds him of the void.
He feels the slap of the water take down a chunk of his hp, the rest is chipped
away by debris and rocks, he tries hard to grasp at his magic – but he’s still
so tired.
Strangely he’s already standing up and its slightly disorienting, the white
specs of particles shift around him, and he stares in fascination.
It occurs to him that he’d been drugged while he’s taken further down into the
rabid stream of water, he can’t breath and he can’t tell what’s up or down – it
didn’t matter anyways, because all he can focus on was why.
It’s strangely tranquil and too quiet, like noise didn’t exist here.
Perhaps he should have known, Sans had been way too quick to co-exist with him,
too friendly when he’d moved in, less glares and less jibes.
The particles finally seemed to take shape, it keeps fizzing out but it
flickers back to a small figure – it looks either monster or human, the shape
still indistinguishable and incomplete.
His head gets bashed into a spike of rocks and a memory crisps over him
clearly, his hp at 4 –
He cautiously walks to the figure and tries to touch it, but once he does the
particles become solid and a small hand grabs his arm – alarmed, he tries to
back away, but the grip is strong.
-- He sees Sans, his back turned, Gasters’ hands are trapped – spikey bones
pinning them into place. He’s screaming, for his son to let him go – to let him
out, but Sans’ back remains as it is. Gaster remembers feeling a terrifying
acceptance as the machine wurrs to life, he tugged at his trapped hands one
last time, before he feels the searing blinding pain of being ripped apart by
time and space.
The water chokes him and chills his marrow, gasping as his vision blanks, hp
ticking to zero – he spends his last breath feeling betrayedbefore he collapses
into dust.
The figure giggles and that’s when the fog in Gasters’ head clears – he blinked
once and then twice, the cotton in his head dissipating enough for him to
figure out what he sees in front of him.
“Chara?” Gaster says it without thinking, the name sat heavy on his tongue.
Chara smiles wide, the colors of their form washed out with an array of dreary
grays, out of place and different, their skin was even a soft gray – border
lining on white.  The edges of their figure keep glitching out and it’s
remarkably disturbing, as if his brain can’t comprehend what it’s seeing. Their
eye’s however is what truly stands out, Stark red – chilling and deranged – the
color so vivid in contrast to their washed out colors.
“Well, hello there.”
 “But you’re – and I should be,” Gaster backs away. Chara’s grip goes lax,
letting him go.
“Yes, I’m dead and so are you.”
Gasters rubs a hand on the side of skull, his head whirling and feeling out of
depth – as if he was stuck between being real and being a dream. He has so many
questions and concerns, but he could only manage asking with a croak, “Where
are we?”
 “A place between reality and the void,” The response casual, it almost makes
Gaster think hewas the one that was strange, “And boy am I glad you’re here,”
they wave a flickering arm, producing text out of thin air. Gaster stares at
it, the text strikingly clear and much more real than anything else in this
place, “Because I brought you out of the void for a reason.”
“You…?” Gaster gets flashes to the blinding white light so warm and bright
against the dark empty void –
“That was me,” They confirm, smile widening, splitting their face, “You’re
welcome.”
“Why…?” The intentions of the other radiates heavily, the text between them
feels like its drawing him in – calling to him, “For what purpose?”
Chara shrugs, “I can’t do much,” They sigh as if it was mildly inconvenient, “I
just sit here and watch, blocked out by Frisk,” Right, that was the kid who
found him, “I just wanted to stir the pot a little, you know? It was getting
boring.”
“What are you talking about?”
Chara laughs, it’s cold and empty, “The power to reset,” Gaster’s breath leaves
him – a memory flashing through his mind, as if he was actively still living in
it. It was one of his many projects; humans who had gone fallen into the
underground all shared a strange phenomenon of manipulating time and space –
being able to bend it to their will through the sheer power of their human
souls. The problem however, was that their souls easily brittled and decayed
with each small use of the power – never strong enough to last in a battle with
Asgore.
“—A power I and Frisk used to own – but now youhave it.”
Gaster breathes out, the child not noticing the other’s predicament, “Me…?”
The child’s expression becomes alarmingly deranged, pupils shrank and smile
nearly splitting their face in half – Gaster realizes then that Chara’s soul
had decayed as well, “You’re still part of the void, you left but it never left
you,” Strangely, that didn’t surprise him, “Someone existing, suddenly
existing? It favors you!”
It all clicks easily in Gaster’s head, his sockets widening in realization, “So
you expect… me to make things interestingfor you?” This excited them, smile
growing, only proving Gaster right, “…There’s something wrong with your plan.”
Chara deflates, tilting their head, “What?”
“What makes you think I’d doanything?” He just wanted to live his life, “I
wouldn’t… abuse such power,” What was Chara expecting out of him…?
Chara quickly regains their enthusiasm, eyes sparkling with mirth, “If you say
so,” Their voice is light with underlying laughter, as if they knew something
Gaster was not aware of, “I guess if you wish, you can remain here,”
Outstretching their arms wide, they do a little twirl, the particles seemed to
lag behind them – the movement too fast to keep Chara’s form whole, “But it’s
pretty boring, might as well use your ability for emergencies – right?”
Gaster is mortified with the child in front of him, “What…. What happened to
you?”
Chara’s face relaxes back to a smug smile, their eyes half lidded, “I just
decided not to be held down by pointless emotions, what about you?”
“What do you mean?”
They shrug, “Just think about it,” The child sing songs, hands clasped behind
their back – they nod towards the text between them, “Well?”
Gaster frowns as his attention is brought back to the text floating between
them. Even though Chara’s intentions weren’t innocent and proceeding to reset
would only play further into their hands, Gaster really despised the idea of
letting himself be stuck like this. Call him selfish, but it would be illogical
not to take advantage of this – he barely was able to get his second chance
with his children.
He clenches his fist remembering why he was even in this predicament in the
first place.
“Will anyone remember?”
Chara looks at him in thought, the look making Gaster hesitate, but it’s
quickly overtaken with a sharp smirk, “Other than frisk? No-pe!”
Gaster reaches out a hand, phalanges brushing against the surface of the LOAD
button, still hesitant and slightly anxious of what this could do – he was
manipulatingtime after all, who knows of the consequences? This power had
decayed Souls, human Souls at that, what would it do to a weak monster like
him?
“It’s okay, you feel it right?” Chara soothes, “It’s calling to you. It beats
within you – like it did with me, ” It’s true. Gaster’s hand feels like it’s
getting pulled towards the text, his bones throbbed and his head felt so fuzzy,
“The feeling is so rushing and makes you feel so alive.”
Gaster takes a deep breath, before finally pressing the button – it sends a
weird tingle through him, his breath being knocked out of him, like he had been
running a marathon – his Soul beating rapidly and his magic buzzed and
screamedat him – telling him both to stop but to keep going.
     | LOAD? |
 >|NO|  |YES|
   |NO| >|YES|
--
-
It falls away, the darkness and the light, the split of Chara’s glitching grin
and its replaced by a brown sturdy box and the smell of warmth and cinnamon. He
has to blink numerous times for his sight to normalize, for his brain to
process what had just happened. It feels like his breath his stolen – the sheer
possibilities of what this could achieve and the many theories he had proven in
just this onc moment…it all makes his head spin.
Chara had said the human under Toriels care – Frisk – had the same abilities.
But how had such an ability still carry over outside of the underground? He had
thought the properties of the contained years of magic plus the added bonus of
the human Souls had spark a weird anomaly of time manipulation – so how can it
still work out here on the surface? Perhaps he was assuming too much, just
because he could do it outside of the underground, it doesn’t mean the human
child was able too as well.
(Though he doesn’t forget to note that Frisks Soul seems way too healthy for
being burdened with such power)
Gaster takes a hold of himself and his thoughts, he’ll have to run tests later…
his scientific mind can’t help but pick apart what had just happened … to
manipulate space and time like this… it shouldn’t even be possible.
“—YES…YES WE DO!”
Right… Gaster looks at the familiar scene, trying his best not to seem angry at
Sans – from what he could already theorize, the manipulation of time is not
noticeable to others, they don’t seem to remember.
“heh, thanks….,” Sans is different however, he seems to blank out, his
indifferent grin seems strained and his eyelights look unfocused.
“SANS?”
He snaps back immediately though, but Gaster had already caught it and can’t
help but feel nervous, “do you uh --,” Sans pauses, takes a look at Gaster and
he notices the way the others eyelights flicker in and out, “guys want
spaghetti?”
It’s a different line too, is that normal? Gaster isn’t sure, while he had been
aware such a power existed –  he was only able to go off his own frantically
scribbled down notes that had survived the resets and Chara didn’t give him
much information to go off on either, “No,” Sans looks at him in slight
surprise, but why? “I’m not very hungry, if I’m being honest.”
The small skeleton stares at him for a little too long and it only makes Gaster
more skittish – everything about Sans behavior is just weirdand he isn’t sure
if it’s all in his head or not. He was after all, dusted by Sans – he’s seeing
is son in a completely new light.
“BUT YOU MUST TRY MY MOST INFAMOUS SPAGHETTI!!”
“Maybe next time, Papyrus,” Gaster replies probably too fast, but he plays it
off by giving Papyrus an apologetic smile, ignoring the looks Sans was giving
him.
“if ya say so,” Sans finally looks away and Gaster looks at him from the corner
of his eyes, he’s already walking out, “I’m exhausted, headin’ to bed early.”
“SANS!! IT ISN’T EARLY IF THIS IS WHEN YOU USUALLY SLEEP—“
Gaster sighs in relief, mindlessly ripping the tape off from one of the boxes –
he notices then how shaky his hands were. He stares at them blankly, the holes
there so cleanly cut and stark against his white bones. Sans had killed him,
more than once – he gulps down his nausea.
He clenches his shaky hands into fists, closing his eye sockets. What does he
do? He badly wants to confront Sans about it, but the other wouldn’t remember
what happened, right? Sure… he seems a bit off, but perhaps Sans’ had the same
problems Gaster had when he was younger – he had been strangely aware of
resets, but could never remember them, just an off feeling of strong deja-vu –
as if walking in a dream.
“GA—FATHER?”
Gaster jumps, his head swiveling towards Papyrus, he looks slightly nervous –
but is trying hard not to seem like it. He hadn’t known the tall skeleton for
long, but he finds it endearing how Papyrus tries to act confident no matter
what.
“FATHER, I JUST WANTED TO SAY,” He looks down briefly before straightening
himself out, “I AM GLAD YOU’RE LIVING HERE – WITH US!! AND WHILE SANS AND YOU
STILL HAVE MUCH TO WORK ON…I didn’t think I wanted a father! Until now!.”
Gaster’s can feel his phalanges dig into his palms, his soul should have been
warmed at those words – but he merely felt doubt, “Thank you, Papyrus,” He
smiles, he hopes it doesn’t look off, “I’m glad I’m here too.”
Papyrus grins widely in response, before exiting his room, closing Gaster’s
door – to leave him to his things and his thoughts and Gaster had a lot to
think about.
--
Sans closed his door softly behind him and rests his back on it, the quiet and
darkness of his room engulfing him. It’s warm, but he still feels chills run up
his spine and the cold sink of his SOUL as he shakily breathes in and out.
He clutches the bottle of magic in his pocket, shaking, and – with a quickness
he rarely shows – throws the contained liquid across the room, the glass
shattering and yellow magic evaporating in an instant.
Sans’ stares at the tiny pieces, eyes glowing, breathing quick with anger and
adrenaline – he stood there for what seemed like forever, with his arm still
paused from the motion of the throw.
All at once, he just stops; his back hits against the door and he slides down –
his tailbone hitting the softness of the carpet. Calm and numbness washes over
him as he closes his eye sockets – still processing what the fuck just
happened.
Sans had done it, it was over – he had pushed himself to act before waiting at
the last moment. But the kid. The kid Reset, why?
He opens his eyesockets to stare blankly at the small shattered bits of glass
reflecting the moonlight from his bedroom window. Sans willed himself to remain
rational as he takes out his phone, trying to still his shaking hand as he
wakes his phone up and is slightly surprised to see a message already from
frisk, but it disappears to a bubbling anger he tries hard to hold back as he
pulls up the message.
7:30pm – lil’ buddy
It wasn’t me Sans.
I’m freaking out. I didn’t do that. I didn’t reset. Please tell me I’m not
crazy?
Sans stares at the message, baffled, but strangely enough his brain immediately
clicks to Gaster.
7:40pm – sans
what do you mean it wasn’t you? there’s no one else kid.
He had gone off script. Had refused his offer for food – it shouldn’t have been
different.
7:43 – lil’ buddy
Please believe me Sans, it wasn’t me.
He had even looked at him warily, Sans wasn’t sure at the time if he was just
being paranoid.
7:45 – sans
   1. say i believe u. do ya know who else it could be?
Gaster hadn’t smiled at him normally, it was strained, off – his hands shaky.
Sans own panic didn’t notice at the time, but looking back, Gaster was watching
him closely. I-It couldn’t be, could it?
7:47 – lil’ buddy
I don’t know, but I can’t access the save files anymore, something is
happening.
Sans shut his phone off, thumping his head against the wood of his door – he
remains quiet, as his phone buzzes with another message.
Gaster remembered. He remembered. Even if it isn’t confirmed it screams so
clearly through his skull, the possible theories and reasoning behind it makes
so much sense as it rattles in his skull.
His breath hitches, his body shaking –- Sans barely thinks as he snaps his eye
opens, socket flaring brightly with magic as he disappears, the fizz of
teleportation left behind.
He pops in swiftly behind Gaster, who swivels his head around with wide eyes.
Sans doesn’t give him time to react and roughly grabs his arm – coursing his
magic from him to Gaster – the smell of old wood disappears and they’re
suddenly falling. It’s the same place he had thrown Gaster, the sound of water
roaring through his ears.
Sans phalanges gripped tightly onto the others white dress shirt as they both
fall fast with Gaster’s back facing the water. The older skeleton’s eyes were
wide, holding desperately onto Sans arms, but he seemed almost frozen as he
stares into the others flashing eye – the rabid blue and yellow, bright with
concentrated magic – the look was intense and it made Gasters’ whole being feel
cold.
Wind and the scent of fresh water wips around them as they plummet – it felt
like forever, like everything was in slow motion – but Gaster realized probably
seconds in that he should do something and tries to break free – his hands
shoving against Sans skull instinctively -- but it was too late, causing a big
splash as they fell in.  
Water slapped against Gaster’s body hard, making his vision blur and his bones
ache – but he forces himself to keep struggling, as best as he can – pushing
against Sans’ skull or kicking his feet into his torso, anything. But Sans grip
was steel, using their momentum to slam Gasters’ body into a protruding rock,
the back of his fragile skull immediately cracking and oozing with unusual
black tar. The impact causes him to breathe in gallons of water, already on the
losing side of this horrid situation. He grabs Sans’ arms desperately, but the
grip is weak.
Black spotted his vision, his body growing limp – the similar feeling of dying
washes over him – before dusting, all he sees is Sans’ look of judgement.
Then somehow, it all clicks, he gets this feeling – this sort of command that
echoes through his body. It pulses through his bones and Soul.
Time unravels, flickering scenes rewinding – Gaster sees it all this time, it’s
like flashing pictures through his mind, as he’s brought back to the warmth of
his room, to the smell of spices and wood.
He wastes no time and shuffles back, Sans’ hand falls on empty air and he just
stopsthere, looking up at Gaster with a unnerving look of calm.
 “it was you.”
Gaster doesn’t know what he means, but he’s ready to fight this time – his own
eye lighting up in warning but Sans’ doesn’t pull him into an encounter,
instead he distinguishes his magic and pockets his hands.
“how?”
“You tried to kill me.”
“correction,” Sans grin is humorless, “i did kill you, twice,” His body is laid
back, casual, despite the whole seriousness of the conversation, “there’ll be a
third if you don’t answer my question.”
Gaster stares, his attack dissipating, but he remains tense and on guard,
“You…remember?” Strangely, he isn’t surprised – the way Sans’ had acted earlier
had been alarming enough, but it was still strange – How in the world was Sans’
different than any of the other monsters?
The other remains silent, as Gaster tries to collect his thoughts, tries to
analyze the shorter skeleton in front of him, “I don’t know,” He finally
answers, “I was told that I could, so I did.”
Sans teeth tense at that, it makes Gaster wary, “you’re not making any sense.”
“I was told, because I shouldn’t exist the ‘RESETS favor me’,” Perhaps Gaster
shouldn’t be explaining to the very monster who has dusted him three times now,
but strangely he felt a small spark of pleasure seeing Sans calm demeanor
slightly crumble.
Sans eyesockets close, as if in thought, his body slumped in resignation, “who
told you this?”
“It was Chara,” Sans doesn’t look confused or shocked, “What the hell is going
on, Sans?”
The skeleton doesn’t respond, his body language the perfect definition of
tired. Gaster’s fists clench, feeling a spark at anger gnaw at him at the
others uncaring attitude – he doesn’t say sorry, he doesn’t look even
remotelyguilty.
“I remember,” He starts, eyelight watching Sans closely, “That you – you dusted
me – in that machine,” Sans remains stoic, “And now you’ve attempted to get rid
of me for a third time, how couldyou?”
“you think you have a right to be angry?” Sans left eye glows, flickering
between blue and yellow, his teeth stretched into an empty grin, “ya’ don’t
even remember, you don’t know whatyou did to me – to papyrus.”
Gaster gulps, his mind screaming at him to deny, to keep hold onto his anger –
But Charas’ words echo tauntingly through his skull ‘you were even worse then
me.’
“I-it doesn’t matter,” The heat behind his words are gone, however, “That
doesn’t excuse dusting another monster!”
Sans falters at his comment and Gaster catches a brief flash of guilt before
it’s carefully concealed, “guess what ya’ did must have been pretty bad, huh?”
The millisecond shift of doubt on Sans’ expression is what keeps him stubborn,
“You think you have the right to be the judge of my punishment then? You’re
just a murderer.”
“shut up.”
Gaster catches the shift in Sans’ tone, hesitating slightly as bones start to
manifest around Sans, threatening and looming – but he stands his ground, “Go
ahead. I’ll just come back.”
The bones stay still where they are and Gaster then realizes – behind Sans’
mask – there is fear. The slight shake of his shoulders, shadows heavily under
his eyesockets, even his attack bones seem to waver slightly in anxiety –
reflecting on their casters own emotions.
The bones vanish, Sans shaking becomes a little more noticeable, “so? whats the
plan now?”
“What?” He is so taken off guard by his discovery; it takes a minute for him to
process what the other was saying.
“you know I’ve dusted you, you know i still want you gone, what are you
planning to do about that?”
Gaster stares, was he afraid that he’ll pay him back? Does Gaster want to do
that? He isn’t too sure, honestly. He had just wanted an explanation and maybe
an apology – what does Sans expecthim to want other than that?
“I just wanted an explanation,” Gaster says out loud and looks to the side, the
cracks on the wall stark in the dim lighting, “And an apology.”
“that all? not gonna rat me out, not gonna dust me back in revenge?”
Gaster frowns, feeling like the other was trying to prompt a reaction out of
him, “No, I… can’t do something like that,” He turns his gaze back to Sans, he
can’t read him at all now, his metaphorical mask is completely on, “I think – I
still think that we can became a real family, that is all I want.”
Sans stares at him, unblinking, the silence between them stretching long, “ok,”
he simply says, “im sorry,” The apology is flat, not at all sincere, but Gaster
takes what he can get – because in a way he feels a swirling uneasiness in the
way Sans looks at him, but he just isn’t sure what it is.
“Thank you.”
Sans turns away when the words slip from his mouth, back facing him – strolling
out of his room and closing the door with a soft click – like they just had the
most mundane conversation. He strains his ears as he hears Sans’ footsteps walk
down the hall and the soft echo of him entering his room.
Gaster lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, his tense body slumps,
and he seats himself on the edge of his bed, the mattress sinking under his
weight – he stares at the cracks and bumps of the wall, mindlessly tracing
their patterns,  he hopes the gut wrenching heaviness in his Soul is merely
temporary.
Chapter End Notes
     hey! im really slow! but have this chapter *offers*
     my nsfw is qyuqew.tumblr.com and sfw is pyupew.tumblr.com
     i draw! on there! :)
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