In the end, they chose to spend the two days that they had before the meeting with Nightmare's gang in Dragontale, and to maybe –they still weren't sure– go in an AU on the third day's morning. They already met a lot of persons since they started visiting the Multiverse, and they didn't feel like accidently meeting Ink –they didn't really care about Dream. Sure, they didn't particularly like him but their hate was more oriented toward the Creator. Their Dream was just a blind follower in the end– before the meeting's date. Drako was still shocked by their unexpected encounter with him and needed to wait a bit before envisaging to try and meet the Creator again.
Or rather, it was the plan for now. Maybe they would change their mind later. Truth to be told, they weren't sure themselves of what they were going to do during three days. For now, they wanted to stay in Dragontale for a bit. Which was surprising in itself, as they just spent a month in said AU as a punishment, but they liked to spend time with their family, now that they actually had the time to do so.
This is what got them to where they actually were; in a clearing, eating a picnic with their father and brothers while Drako somehow decided that it was a good idea to hang upside down from a nearby tree. He was watching the surroundings as if searching for any threat. Nothing unusual there.
It was nice. The picnic was accompanied by light chatting mostly coming from Papyrus –surprisingly, the little one never went out of things to say... Then again, it might not really be surprising coming from a Papyrus–. It created a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere that helped the four brothers from the other Multiverse calm down greatly. It reminded them that they didn't have to fight for their lives anymore, and they were happy about it.
"Oh and Chara then dared Undyne to invite Alphys to her house... She didn't want to do it, but Chara started saying that she was too scared to talk to her... Her... Crat...?" Papyrus paused, frowning. What did Chara call it again?
Demise chuckled and shook his head. "Did you want to say 'crush'?" The Babybone perked up, nodding rapidly and pointing excitedly toward Demise. "Yes! That was the word! Thank you big bro!" Demise nodded with a small smile while Papyrus continued what he was previously saying. "So Chara said that and Undyne was so so mad!"
"I'm almost certain that her skin turned red instead of blue!" Sans added, his tail waving happily behind him while his brothers snickered at the mental image. "And after that, Undyne went straight toward Alphys and screamed at her that she was invited at her house tonight and that she better come or Undyne will come all the way to her house and bring her herself!... Weirdly, Alphys was also all red and couldn't talk..." He gasped, seeming shocked. "Do you think that she was angry at Dydy?!"
Blade and Demise laughed at how pure and oblivious their younger brother sounded and shook their head, letting Torment answer for them while Drako just looked at them in amusement. "No, I think that it's the opposite actually; she really likes your friend and was very happy." Papyrus tilted his head to the side, furrowing his brows. "People becomes red when they're happy?"
Sans giggled, understanding what Torment implied unlike his younger brother. "No, they don't, unless they are in love with the person like those two are." Papyrus gasped, his confusion replaced by excitement. "DOES THAT MEAN THAT DYDY AND ALPHYS WILL MARRY WITH EACH OTHER?!"
Gaster chuckled, gently rubbing his son's head. "Probably, when they will be older." The youngest of the family squealed in happiness, seeming to vibrate in joy on his spot on the tablecloth on which their picnic was placed. "OH MY SPAGHETTIS!! I NEED TO SEE THIS!! THIS WILL BE SO CUTE!!"
And thus, Papyrus' fanboy side came out in the open for everyone to see while he was gushing over his new OTP –term that he learned from Alphys, by the way– .
It was cute, the rest of the family couldn't deny it, but they knew that they had just doomed Alphys and Undyne. Papyrus would totally try to play the matchmaker between them, and if he was just a bit like his Undertale counterpart –and he was, to some extents–, he wouldn't even be subtle about it.
Oh well, it wasn't their problem to deal with anyway. But they all made a mental note to not let Papyrus know if they find someone that they like. As much as the little one was adorable, they didn't want him to try and put them together with other people. Not like it would happen for Torment and Drako; they were probably the only teenagers in this Multiverse and they didn't feel like dating an adult or a child, thank you very much. Blade and Demise could always find a dragon in their AU, if they wanted to. They weren't sure for Gaster though.
"That would be adorable though..." Drako rolled his eyes with a soft smile, executing a back flip to get down of his tree and effectively landing on his feet. This small action –for him it was really a trivial thing to do, as he did it multiple times in the past, as well as a lot of more impressive figures, either to dodge or because he was bored– was followed by a gasp from Papyrus and Sans. Papyrus clapped with a bright smile on his face. 'You're only saying that because you have no risk of suffering from Papy's matchmaker's tendencies.'
Psyche snickered, nodding in the ex-Destroyer's SOUL. "I plead guilty~" Drako sighed with a smile, going to sit next to his brothers and simply grabbing a chocolate bar, which earned him a glare from Blade. This time, he actually took off the wrapper –he was trying to eat normally around the youngest of the family, not wanting them to try and imitate him just because 'Big brother does it!'– before eating the treat, making Torment nod in approbation. He then placed the wrapper in his pocket, for now. He did have the desire to throw it into UnderFell, but decided against it, knowing that the action would be met with a lot of swearing, that his baby brothers didn't need to hear. 'I swear that one day, I'll find a way to make you physical and you'll be sorry for all your teasing.'
Psyche shrugged and Drako felt them smirk slightly. "All the more reasons to annoy you while I still can then Glitchy~" Drako wasn't even surprised by this answer. Truth to be told, he would have said the same if he was in Psyche's place. "By the way, since we're talking about that, do you have any idea to make me physical?" Drako shrugged, gaining his family's attention, who quickly brushed it off, knowing too well about Psyche by now. 'Well firstly I need to know; you didn't try to do your 'poltergeist jokes', right?'
Psyche gasped and he felt them shook their head rapidly. "No! I totally forgot! I need to try!" Drako nodded in agreement. 'Yes, because if you can interact with objects around us, it may help a bit since it would mean that you already have a physical presence of sort, even if we can't see it.' Psyche nodded happily. "Alright, I know what to do once we get back home!"
Drako raised a brow at that. Technically, Psyche could already try with things surrounding them; like leaves on the ground, the picnic basket or really anything around them. But if they wanted to wait until they got back home, who was he to judge? 'I also thought about... 'Borrowing' a SOUL or two from Error's Anti-Void to examine the codes of it. There should still be traces of Frisk and Chara's bound, which could help.' He felt Psyche nod in his SOUL, humming softly. "I guess it could, yes, but Chara is a ghost, unlike me. I'm just a Voice, not sure that it's going to help you much."
Drako shrugged, watching his father put everything back into the picnic basket while lazily playing with his strings. 'I'm not sure either, but we need to try everything that we can if we want to actually succeed in creating you a physical form.' Psyche shrugged inside of his SOUL. "Alright then, if you think that it can help."
Gaster then got up, soon imitated by Drako and Torment, Demise and Blade taking place on their respective shoulders. Papyrus, seeing that everyone was ready to go, also got up and gestured to Sans to come to him, which the youngest dragon did, landing on his brother's skull, making said brother huff in annoyance and cross his arms over his chest. "So... Do you want to go back home or walk around for a bit?"
Before any of them had the time to even think about answering, Papyrus spoke up. "WALK! WALK! LET'S WALK!" Torment chuckled at the younger's enthusiasm. "I guess that you have your answer." Gaster nodded with a smile while Papyrus grabbed Drako and Torment's hands, starting to walk straight forward without knowing where he was going. Gaster sighed, shaking his head with a smile and quickly following his sons before Papyrus decided to get lost in the jungle... Not that it would be a problem; he knew that Torment and Drako would bring their younger brothers home safely if it was to happen.
Thus, the walk began. They didn't have a destination in mind –and if they had, they doubted that Papyrus would be able to guide them like this, considering how he didn't seem to care about where he was going as long as he was walking with his brothers– and just followed the youngest. Said youngest seemed to find amusement in this walk, calling it their 'Family expedition' of which he was the leader. He started commenting everything that they saw; which resulted in many 'And to the left, we have trees' or 'In front of us, there's flowers... Really pretty flowers!' since he didn't know most of the plants' names.
"OH! OH! LOOK! A RIVER!!" Drako laughed as Sans groaned since he couldn't nap while Papyrus was screaming.
Of course, they went toward the river and watched the fishes swimming inside of it, none of them noticing when Blade used his elemental magic to splash a bit of water on all of them, making all of them jump in surprise before they glared at the dragon. Unfortunately for him, splashing Torment made him splash himself too, but he guessed that he deserved it in a way. "So there is some kind of justice in this life... How surprising." Drako rolled his eyes. 'Before you try to do your little shit by saying that you're the only dry one, know that you won't be for long when I'll find a way to make you physical.'
"Why do you keep threatening meeeeeeee?! I didn't do anything! You're making me not want to be physical!" Drako shrugged. 'You're being way too smug for not having to suffer like me. I'll make you regret it.' Psyche sighed loudly and dramatically. "Why did Destiny and Karma have to bound me to such a sadist?!" The black boned skeleton rolled his eyes. 'If it wasn't for them doing that, you wouldn't even exist, Psy'.'
Psyche paused before answering, letting out a defeated sigh. "... True. And I'm fucking happy to be with you Glitchy... Even if I'm going to regret everything if you manage to make me physical." Drako smirked, trying not to think about how he would torture his Voice sibling. It wouldn't be funny if they knew what he had planned after all. 'When I make you physical, not if.' He was determined to get back at Psyche for all of their teasing.
After a while, they arrived at a village that the oldest of the group recognized as the closest one to their house. They didn't comment on it though, as Papyrus didn't seem to even notice it. Sans, on the other hand, did. Before Papyrus could enter the village, Gaster sighed and grabbed him with his magic, making the young skeleton float toward him, so he could hold his son in his arms. "I don't want to lose you, so you're going to guide us from here, alright?"
Papyrus nodded with enthusiasm at the question, pointing toward the principal alley, whose ground was decorated by flowers of all types, contrasting with the pine trees covered in what seemed to be fake snow –or rather they guessed it was fake, as it was clearly too warm for snow to not melt–, making Torment hum softly. "I'm guessing that this is Snowdin's equivalent?" Gaster shrugged, nodding to some people with a small smile. "You're right, this is the village's name. I don't know what the other Snowdins look like, so what made you come to this conclusion?"
Torment shrugged, looking around with mild interest. There wasn't much difference with the other AUs' Snowdin; just more houses and therefore a larger population. "The pine trees and the fake snow, mostly. In other AUs, Snowdin is a little town covered in snow, with occasional snowstorm. They can be quite violent... But why is this village called Snowdin?"
"It... Snows in the Underground...? How surprising..." Gaster paused, trying to imagine how that was even possible before shrugging and continuing to walk. "This village is named like this because this part of the continent is the one where it snows the most in winter. Everything is covered in snow, and we too have snowstorms sometimes." Torment and Drako hummed at this answer, nodding more to themselves than to Gaster, as he wasn't facing them and couldn't see them.
Now they were curious; did all the villages have the same names as the different zones in the AUs? They didn't really pay attention to it until now. They could see why the lab's village would be called Hotland, as there was a volcano nearby, which could be a good enough reason to name the village like this but otherwise? They had no idea. Maybe they should ask Gaster about that later.
They continued to walk, smiling at the sight of the dragons and birds flying above them... Was Drako dreaming or was Dias in the group? Heh, it shouldn't even surprise him; Dias was an ice falcon after all. "I'm surprised that you remember his name." Drako chuckled. 'Truth to be told, I'm just as surprised as you.'
Soon enough, they arrived in front of a building that they all knew very well; Grillby's restaurant. They were surprised to see that the building was way bigger than his original version and had two floors. Demise stared at the second floor curiously. "Grillby's restaurant has a second floor?"
"Hmm? Oh, no, it's not the restaurant; it's his apartment." Demise let out a small 'Oh!' in response, looking back toward the first floor, where he could see the many regulars chattering happily. The interior was quite similar to his Undertale version, just with a lot more space to welcome people, and therefore more clients. "OH!! Daddy! Can we get hot chocolate from Mister Grillby, please?"
Gaster shrugged, looking at Torment and Drako, who just nodded before nodding himself. "Alright." Papyrus cheered as Torment opened the door for their father since he was still holding Papyrus and Sans in his arms. As the door opened, the little bell above it rung softly, making a few customers look up to see Gaster and his children, most saluting the skeleton father either by a simple nod or by a wave, letting Torment and Drako guess that he was probably a regular too. That or they knew that he was the Royal Scientist and wanted to be polite, unlike some guards, who were probably still traumatized.
Grillby looked up from the glass that he was cleaning, nodding politely as a greeting, making Gaster smile. They all went toward the bar and took place in front of said bar. The four oldest brothers took the time to analyze the fire elemental. His outfit was the same as his Undertale counterpart, even if it was in a slightly lighter shade than said counterpart's outfit. The principal difference was in his flames' color. They were black and faded to a deep purple. His eyes were hidden by his glasses. Unlike his Undertale counterpart, he had a visible mouth, that was showing a soft smile, which contrasted with how dark he looked like.
"I didn't expect to see you today Gaster." Gaster chuckled, gesturing to Papyrus with a small hand movement. The little skeleton waved happily at the fire elemental. "My youngest wanted to have some hot chocolate after noticing that we were walking past your restaurant. I couldn't deny him that." Grillby nodded with a small smile waving back at the Babybone, who seemed pretty happy to see the fire elemental. His gaze then turned toward Drako and Torment. "And who might those two young men be?"
Gaster smiled proudly at the mention of his sons, who waved at the barman with a smile. "They are my sons, I adopted them almost two months ago. Their names are Torment and Drako, and their dragons are named Blade and Demise." Grillby hummed at that, smiling at the four teens in front of him. He did heard that his friend had adopted a few more children, and it would be a lie to say that he wasn't excited to finally meet them. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Torment smiled, feeling how happy the fire elemental was to meet him and his brothers. "Likewise." Grillby smiled a little more and turned to grab a few mugs. "So, do you all want hot chocolate or just the little one?" Blade and Drako looked at their father expectantly at the mention of chocolate while Torment shrugged, not really caring about it. "Hmm... Five chocolate and two coffee please." Demise perked up at the mention of his favorite drink, making Gaster chuckle softly.
Grillby hummed and nodded. "So three mugs and two bowls of chocolate and one of each for the coffee, right?" Gaster only nodded in response, taking out the amount of G needed for the drinks, knowing by heart the prices of the drinks with how often he came here. Grillby muttered an 'Alright...' in response, starting to work on the hot beverages.
After a few minutes, the dragons all had their bowls in front of them and the skeletons their mugs. They all started to drink their drinks happily. Grillby leaned against the counter to talk to Gaster. "So, I heard that you made them your assistants, correct?" Gaster nodded, seeming quite proud of his sons. "Yes, you can't even imagine how smart those two are!"
Grillby chuckled, his flames crackling softly in amusement. "Like their father then?" Gaster smirked a bit at the praise but shook his head. "Oh no, I'm pretty sure that they outsmart me in many ways." Grillby tilted his head to the side, silently eying the teens, who were looking at them with a smile. If Gaster took pride in one thing, it has to be his knowledge and cleverness; it wasn't often that he openly admitted that someone was smarter than him, and if he did, he didn't do it as willingly as he just did. It could only mean that those two really were smarter than most, which was a surprise in itself as they couldn't be more than sixteen, and therefore couldn't have learned all the things that Gaster learned during his years of study to become a scientist and after becoming one.
Gaster continued to talk with Grillby for a while, his sons listening attentively and occasionally smiling when their names were mentioned –which happened more often than not since they were Gaster's pride and happiness–. Grillby mostly listened to Gaster ramble about how fantastic his kids were, occasionally asking questions and giving short replies. The fire elemental learned a lot about the now oldest sons of the family, and could tell that even if they were only part of said family since two months ago, they loved their younger brothers and their father dearly, which made Grillby smile happily. If his best friend was happy, he was too. He knew how much Gaster cared for his family, and he was certain that he would give his new sons the affection they deserved. He wasn't stupid, and even if he didn't openly ask about their injuries, he could guess that they had a rough past before meeting Gaster, which confirmed the rumors that he heard. He was happy that they met Gaster, as he was undoubtedly the best person to take care of them and help them get over their past, which he guessed was full of abuse.
Soon arrived the time for them to go back home and they all bid their farewells at the bartender –who didn't hold himself back from teasing Gaster with a 'Try to not adopt all the children that you see, G', making Gaster laugh and answer that he wouldn't promise anything– before going back home. It was already late, the sky now pitch black, decorated by the numerous stars present, as well as the moon. Once home, they ate something fast and went to bed.
Once again, it was a great day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I originally didn't plan for Dias to reappear, but here he is-
The brothers met a new person! :')
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! ^^
Lunar's out!~