PATCHWORK SOUL - NEW MEDIUM

MILKSHAKES MAKE STRONG BONES CHAPTER 5

Lively and cold Snowdin town gave Gaster a heavy sense of nostalgia. The crunch of snow around his boots, the smell of the river; the shine of the coloured lights dyeing the whites festive colours in small patches. And it was cold. Colder than he remembered but, then again, he'd felt cold even in the CORE. He wondered how long that would last.

As he took in the town and Papyrus told him about every little detail, he couldn't help but smile. He felt like he hadn't been to this place in a hundred years. The sign at the west end of town was new, but almost identical to the old one, minus the "Howdy!" that used to sit on top of the other words.

Papyrus took him all the way to the Ruins door and that old, purple-hued stone wall. He was surprised to see it ajar, and then it very abruptly settled on him that Toriel was no longer inside. She had survived all those years ticking down. Toriel, in fact, had adopted his children. She might be at their house right this second.

He ran his gloved fingertips across the worn stone. A flash of a memory ran through his mind and he tilted his head up to look at the Delta Rune on the door. Lopsided. That felt like eons ago.

"Aaaaaand, that's it, that's everything," Papyrus said brightly. "Unless you'd like to see mom's old house, but there's not really that much in there that isn't in boxes already. Oh! Hey. Do you know mom, by the way? Toriel. She was the queen? She's a very large white goat... dragon... something."

"Hm? Oh! I do. Very well in fact," he said. "Or. I did. A long time ago."

"Oh? Did something happen?" Papyrus asked.

"After... After Asriel and Chara passed, she left for the Ruins and sealed herself in. I think I may have been the only one who knew, but... after a few months she stopped answering me entirely," he said. "I'm... happy. That she's alright. And that she's with you!" He turned to his son and couldn't help a smile. "I never would have guessed. I'm glad, actually. You like her, don't you?"

"Well, yes, obviously," Papyrus said with a laugh. "She took Frisk first and then we took Frisk— or maybe Frisk took us— so she took us, too."

"And when was that?" he asked.

"A year and a few months ago in the big roundabout timeline stuff, just a few months ago this time," he said.

"Aah." Gaster folded his arms. "When did you start remembering?"

"Frisk made me remember a few months ago," he said. "Just her timelines, though. Not all of Sans or Asriel's bad ones. Though I don't completely forget those, either. It's hard to explain."

"I see..."

"Hey. Dad?" Papyrus tilted his head. "Could you save? You could, right? Like what Frisk does?"

"Ah. Just, um... Partially," he said. "I believe my determination in terms of sheer numbers was high enough, but it was unnatural. It sort of worked. Where I could force it. The timeline had to already be much more pliable than normal."

"Frisk saw your memories, I think," he said. "I think... She saw when I followed you out of the apartment and you showed me that star behind the building, when I was just tiny. Wow, that's weird, I just remembered that."

Gaster patted him on the shoulder and smiled slightly. "You must've moved out of there a while ago, hm? Do you like it here?"