W. D. Gaster - An Undertale Story

Chapter Fifteen

   There was a set of light pattering footsteps. There was a wheezing sound of a monster running down the hall. Sans and Gaster glanced at the open doorway of the Lab room. Alphys stopped in front of the doorway, breathing rapidly then looking towards the two skeletons. The three monsters all stared at each other in silence once they saw each other.
   "W-w-what happened?", Alphys stuttered. "Y-y-you're.... b-bleeding..." Gaster touched the spot where the cracks were in his skull. He looked at his bony hands after doing so, noticing that he was still bleeding red bone marrow.
   "Wonderful...", Gaster grumbled to himself. Sans looked at his father with worry, as did Alphys. Gaster sighed.
   "I'm alright.", he said. Alphys still seemed confused. "You want to know what happened, am I right?" Alphys nodded slowly. Gaster sighed once more.
   "A human.", he said quietly. "It was a human." Alphys perked her head up at the words. Her hands became slightly shaky.
   "That's what I c-c-came up here t-to tell you a-about.", she said. "I-I came up h-h-here to w-warn you." Gaster looked at her sadly, but chuckled slightly.
   "Late, huh?", he said with a chuckle. Alphys forced a small laugh, but was still full of worry. Sans hugged his father tightly, not wanting to let go. Gaster hugged his son back. Alphys stood in the doorway, debating to herself if she should leave or not. Gaster looked up at her as she was about to leave. Alphys looked at him, pausing in her steps.
   "Can you take their soul to Asgore?", Gaster asked. Alphys let out a sound of confusion. "The human's soul." Gaster reached into his pocket, rummaging through it's contents. Soon enough, he felt the warmth of the human soul of Bravery, tightening his grip on it, pulling the soul out of his pocket. He lifted the orange glowing soul up to Alphys's vision. She turned around completely to face the two skeletons.
   "This.", Gaster said, gesturing the soul toward Alphys. Alphys walked towards the soul slowly. Sans looked at the soul, mesmerized by it glowing pulse. Alphys reached her hand to the soul, wrapping her scaly fingers around it. Gaster loosened his grip on the soul, pulling his hand away as Alphys pulled on the soul. Alphys put the valued sixth soul into her white coat's pocket.
   "Take it to King Asgore.", Gaster said. Alphys nodded obediently.
   "Of course, Dr. Gaster.", she said. She turned around to face the doorway, leaving the room. As she left, her scaly feet clicked on the concrete tiled floor. She left the room. Gaster touched his bony hands to the cracks on his skull face, groaning in pain as he did so. Sans gripped his arm, shaking his head,as if he was trying to tell Gaster not to do it. Gaster nodded and pulled his hands away from his face. He noticed that his hands were covered in blood, so he was still currently bleeding.
   Gaster picked himself up from the ground shakily. Sans stood beside him, hands up, making sure that if Gaster suddenly fell, he would break the fall. Gaster wrapped his and one of Sans's bony hands together. Sans came closer to Gaster wrapping his arms around his father's legs. Gaster smiled. They both walked out of the Lab, both shaking a bit. But they weren't going to worry much. They were just happy they were alive. They were happy to have each other.

* * *

   Gaster and Sans finally arrived in the cold climate of Snowdin. Before they had, they had went to their house. Gaster had cleaned up his face. After a while, the cracks had stopped bleeding. He changed clothes because the other ones had been covered in his own blood. As he had looked in the mirror, he tried to get used to the thought of cracks on his face.
   Sans also had to change clothes. He had Gaster's blood on him from when he attempted to help his father. After they cleaned up, they headed to Snowdin to pick up Papyrus from Fire's.
   As they made their way through the snowy town, their feet crunching in the snow, they both thought about what had happened, even if they didn't want to. Gaster observed the snowy town. There were monsters around a huge Christmas tree, a library that didn't have "Library" spelled right, snowmen, and many other objects and traditions that were cheerful and comforting.
   As they trudged through the snow, they looked at the path that lied in front of them. They noticed that the restaurant of "Fire's" was visible. "Is Papy there?", Sans asked. Gaster nodded.
   "Yes, Sans.", he answered. They began to walk to the warm, cozy restaurant. They walked up the grey stone stairs that led to the entrance of the town's local diner. Gaster grabbed the doorknob of the wooden and plastic door, pushing the door forward. Inside, there were monsters of every kind. There were booths which had red padding, wooden tables, wooden chairs, most of which inhabited monsters. Gaster walked past the crowd of monsters to the wooden bar. He sat on one of the red-padded barstools. Sans sat with him on the barstool next to Gaster.
   "Fire.", Gaster said the elemental's name, catching its attention. Fire perked up at the sound of his name, turning to see Gaster and Sans. Sans waved happily.
   "Oh hey! Are you guys here to pick up Papyrus?", Fire asked. Gaster and Sans nodded in confirmation simultaneously. Fire formed his fire hand into the shape of a thumbs-up. He went to his back room behind the bar. Gaster and Sans waited patiently, silently.
   "Are you okay, Dad?", Sans asked suddenly. Gaster jumped at the sudden question, looking at him, widened eyesockets.
   "Why do you ask?", Gaster asked. Sans rolled his "eyes" and shrugged.
   "You know what I mean.", Sans replied. He pointed to Gaster's cracks. Gaster sighed. "Are you okay?" Gaster nodded.
   "Yes. We skeletons are stronger and deal with pain much better than the average monster.", Gaster explained. Sans still didn't seemed convinced. Before Sans could ask another question, Fire came through the door holding Papyrus's hand. Papyrus laughed happily when he saw his family members. He ran to them and wrapped his arms around their waists -the only thing he could reach of them from the floor.
   "Hewwo!", Papyrus said with a giggle. Gaster and Sans got off of their barstools and hugged Papyrus, Gaster having to kneel down to Sans and Papyrus's level. Once the three pulled away from their hug, all able to be visible to each other, Papyrus gasped in surprise. Gaster became confused, but then realized -Papyrus had seen the cracks in his skull.
   "W-w-what happened?", Papyrus asked in his always-innocent voice. Gaster and Sans sighed at the same time.
   "It's... It's a long story, Papyrus.", Gaster said. Fire overheard the skeletons' conversation. He observed Gaster's face and noticed the cracks on his face. He hadn't noticed before, but he did now.
   "Actually, maybe you three can stick around for a bit. I'd like to know what happened as well.", Fire tried to reason with a concerned tone of voice. Gaster thought about it for a minute.
   "I guess.", he replied dully.
   The three skeletons stayed at the elemental's restaurant a while longer. As they did, both Gaster and Sans told about what happened. Gaster made a few details of the story more dull than they were while Sans, on the other hand, made other details more enthusiastic than they were. Papyrus was enthralled with the story, as was Fire.
   But it was getting late, and the three skeletons had to get home, especially considering they lived on the other side of the Underground in the Hotlands. As they were walking home, only so far that they were in the Waterfalls, Papyrus continuously asked multiple questions about the ordeal that had happened earlier in the day. Sans and Gaster answered the questions, no matter how silly or insane they were.
   Finally, they arrived in the Hotlands and were almost home. But as they were nearing the house, and feline monster came up to the skeletons.
   "Um, excuse me? Dr. Gaster?", the cat creature asked. Sans and Papyrus looked up at their father in curiosity, but Gaster was just as confused as they were.
   "Uhhh... Yeah, that's me.", Gaster said. The cat creature smiled.
   "I follow your work! You are quite an amazing Royal Scientist! And a bit of a nice one at that!", the cat creature, who was a man, exclaimed. Gaster smiled as he observed the cat creature. The feline wore a yellow button-up shirt. Its fur was a light green, but his face seemed to be darkened and black. His eyes were wide, and he had large, black pupils. He had a wide smile. He was wearing light blue shorts, which stopped over his knees. He had yellow boots that came up to the area right below his knees.
   "Why, thank you! You are so nice!", Gaster said. The feline creature smiled happily, as if he was meeting a celebrity. But Gaster remembered, he was an important Royal Scientist to people.
   "May I ask what your name is?", Gaster asked.
   "Of course! My name is Cheshire!", the cat creature, Cheshire, said.
   Gaster smiled. "Oh, like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland! I love that story.", he said. Cheshire smiled even more.
   "Cool! Well, I'll see you later, hopefully, Dr. Gaster!", Cheshire said. He walked away, his tail waving behind him.
   Sans smiled. "He's cool.", he said. Gaster chuckled.
   The three skeletons walked into their house, ready for another day ahead of them.