After that experience in the void, I couldn't go back to sleep. The knowledge of other universes and other versions of the ones I know was terrifying, but kind of comforting. There were others that had a happier life. But one thought bugged me throughout the night.
"You're Lukas, a variation of Gaster that only exists on this timeline..." Core said. Was I the only one? I thought everyone had different versions but it seemed like I didn't. Gaster, Toriel, Papy, Sans, Frisk and Chara... I was the only one without a different version.
I decided to leave that thought there and got out of bed. It was already morning, only with Toriel at the table in the dining room.
"Good morning my Child." She said with a smile, looking up from her book and cup of tea.
" Good morning Mo.... Toriel..." I said, feeling my face warm up. Damn, I nearly called her mom. Well, she was more of a Mom more than my real one, if I could even call her the real one.
" It's no problem Lukas, don't worry. Slip-ups happen." She waved her hand as I turned on the coffee machine. Only nodding as a response, I picked out the phone from my pocket.
"Do you think I should call my parents? I mean, we didn't even talk since my... sister died." I sighed. Ever since I got my memories back, I had trouble assigning myself as a part of the Reeves family.
"Only if you want, dear. If you want, I found some clothes you can use if you want to change. I put them in your closet." She said, taking a sip. I nodded again, pouring myself a cup of coffee and going to my room. It was hard to press that button, but after it started ringing, it was picked up rather quickly.
" Lukas! It's good to see you call. I'm with your father, how are you?" My 'mother's' tired voice chimed into the phone.
" A bit tired. And you? There's too much noise around you." I answered, picking out a coat from the closet.
" We're at the city arena. Mettaton himself escorted us after we seemed refuge here." She explained, making me freeze for a bit. She remembered him only because Daisy liked him so much.
"Is.... dad there? How is he holding up?" I forced myself to say it.
" He's fine. Getting along with the monsters more easily than I anticipated." I hummed in response.
"Guess you know about... Daisy..." I croaked out, still caring about my sister. Gaster was right, I was good with kids and got attached to them pretty easily.
" It's still... shocking and hard but... But I heard that she was brave and sacrificed herself... That boy, Cam told us when he visited..." She sniffed, trying to hold back tears.
" Yes, she was.. strong and brave. If I'll have time, I'll check in at the Arena. It's a safe perimeter, so it's better than staying anywhere else." I said, then heard that someone took the phone.
"Lukas? I hope you can hear me. I'm... sorry for all those years. I wasn't a proper father." My father said, grinding his teeth.
" I still won't get it why you literally abused me for all those years but... Okay. It's a start." I grumbled, not having the heart to tell them I wasn't actually their son.
" I have to go, ok? I'll check in at the Arena later." I said, putting down the call instantly. This was hard. I couldn't tell them the truth, at least not on the phone. After a while, I picked out my outfit and changed into it. As I looked into the mirror, I facepalmed. I was such an idiot. I put on a gray turtleneck shirt and a darker gray trench coat with light brown slacks. I picked the outfit Gaster was wearing when he and the other came out of the mountain for the first time.
" So, taking your role seriously?" Frisk's voice said behind me, but I already knew it was Core.
"It's only a... minor inconvenience. Aren't you worried that others might see you?" He smiled as I turned around, shaking his head.
" I have my ways. I'll be in touch." I nodded and just stared as they simply disappeared.
"Guess I'll go and talk with Toriel." Sighing, I took a sip of my coffee and walked out. Putting it on the kitchen island, I turned towards the lobby where Toriel and Jessica's sounds were coming from.
"Uhh... Yeah, much better." Jessica said as I reached the unused door frame.
"I can see that Toriel's clothes fir you perfectly, Jessica." I smiled as I stepped next to Toriel. She had suppress a laugh quickly as Jessica's brain froze down. It's was cute seeing her in that oversized clothing.
" T-thanks for the clothes" She muttered. Obviously, this was embarrassing for her.
"Miss Jessica! I see you feel better!" Papy chimed in from behind me. He and Gaster walked next to me.
"Copying my style?" Gaster asked with tired, but smug smile.
"Don't make such a big deal out of it Dings. I literally used your old clothes all those years ago." I retorted, rolling my eyes. It was true, I used to get the run down stuff of his, back before the war.
"Yeah, somewhat." Jessica said, making us turn back to her. Gaster looked at her a bit... strangely.
"I know I should be still resting, but there's an emergency at the center of the city." Jessica explained, her thoughts elsewhere.
"It's too dangerous for you to go alone, Jessica..." I worried, but Papy as always came to the rescue.
"I'll go with you!"
" NO, you're not going. I told you to stay to look after your brother." Gaster obliged, but Papy was having none of it.
" But if you're staying here for that, why can't I go then?"
" Then I'll go, how about that?" I perked in.
" Absolutely not. It's dangerous, and we still don't know what that explosion did to you." G declined yet again.
"That's exactly why I want to go. Neither of us are weak, Gaster." Saying that, I stood next to Papyrus.
"Other humans and monsters need our help. I can't just sit idly..." He tried to reason.
"I'm not asking you! I just want you two to be safe!" Dings growled, filling his hand with patience magic. Six of his hands appeared behind him, but before he could do anything, I summoned my own set of hands and captured him in patience strings.
"You... are so selfish. Just like back then..." I said, remembering all those times he didn't let me join him. Being stuck in his lab and not doing anything was killing me all day until I joined the wizard council.
"We're also worried about you.." Papyrus put a hand on my shoulder, looking at our father/creator.
"We should talk... Shouldn't we? Like we hadn't done that in a long, Long time." Noticing that Gaster wasn't listening, I looked at his eyes to see them shake in fear.
"L E T G O O F M E " Dings shouted, his voice filled with rage and panic. He forced his right hand out of the strings and summoned three hands around me. The hands turned purple before I could make the strings disappear and proceeded to stab me in my shoulders and the right knee. I groaned from the pain and tried to catch my breath, but the other three hands appeared before him and shot a red beam of magic at me. Since my hands were still using patience magic, I couldn't defend yourself.
"Lukas...!" Papy shouted, summoning the top half of a gaster blaster to defend me. The beam hit it and destroyed it, then hit me, sending me into the wall behind me. Toriel rushed to me as the hands disappeared, and immediately started healing me. I must have broken a rib or two from that hit. From the corner of my eye, I saw that the blast from the hands sent Papyrus into the wall next to me, his body armor shattered and laying on the ground next to him.
Gaster's eyes were now normal, not clouded by rage. His worried gaze pierced through me as our eyes met. Tears flowed down his face as Jessica helped me up while Toriel helped Papyrus up after she finished healing my bleeding wounds.
"Are you alright?" She asked me, and I only nodded. What else could I answer?
I summoned two of my hands again and looked at their appearance. The holes were missing from them, and as I focused kindness magic into them, the whole hand was enshrouded with magic. Flying to my back, they proceeded to heal my ribs as we walked back to Dings. His pained face showed me everything I needed to see. Clutching his shirt at his chest, he looked hurt.
"I've been killed several times. Humans, diseases, even my magic. But this? Seeing my own creator, my own father destroying his own mental health, and thus hurting me and Papyrus? This hurt more than that. I'm finally back, the curse is apparently broken, and what do I get for it? To stay home. You made me into what I am today, W. D. Gaster. I was made as something you could show off, and become the nationwide known scientist. But I also became your creation, your son, and a weapon at the same time. So as a son, let me take that burden off of your shoulders, okay?" I looked at him. He didn't say anything.
"The fact is.. when that creature wounded you, I wanted to destroy it. When Sans came back, I wanted to help you all..." I said, before Papy interrupted me.
"This hurt both of us then. It hurt when you two lied to me at the lab. And it hurts now that you prevent me and Lukas from getting involved. I'm tired of you thinking that I don't know what's going on. I know Sans is not well, and I forgive you for lying to me. I know you both went and now go through unimaginable pain." He said, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Gaster, we won't let you go through this alone. Let us help, for once.." We said at the same time. Gaster's eyes looked panicked once more.
" I don't deserve your help! All I've done lately is make mistakes and make everything worse for everyone! I've done only mistakes..." His voice died out slowly. The tall skeleton rushed over and embraced him in a tight hug.
"The only mistake you can make is not asking for help, you bonehead." He said, knowing that he was tearing up. I walk over to them and held out my hand. Gaster's hand slowly howered above it, just inches away from accepting help. Suddenly, a car honked.
"Oh! I think that's for me." Jessica said, and she left to change in the vehicle. Before jumping in, she gave me a small device, which was like a miniature walkie-talkie as earpiece so we could keep in touch.
"Papyrus, I need you to stay here. I'll go with her, if that's okay with you. You'd protect the lab while I'm out. And Lukas, I need you at the Arena to protect the humans, if you accept my request." We both nodded with Papyrus, and eventually, he left with Jessica while Asgore and Toriel left with Chara to find that creature. I stayed with Papyrus until it was time for me to go.
"Stay safe, please." He said, hugging me.
"You know... Can I call you brother? If you're Gaster's son too, then technically you're a 'skelebro' too, as Sans would say it." He asked, his eyes shining from the small tears appearing. I wiped them off as he was taller than me and nodded.
"Only if I can call you that as well. And that includes Sans too." I smiled, waving goodbye and teleporting to the Arena. As I appeared, mounted machine guns were pointed at me and armed soldiers aimed at my face.
"H-Hey! I'm not the bad guy here! Jessica Grey sent me!" I shouted, but they didn't stop. A man with black hair and a small mustache came forward.
"You're our reinforcement? What can a kid like you do?" He asked me, pressing his earpiece.
"I'm the kid with the Monster soul, got it? I don't think that needs explanation." I sighed, summoning a hand next to me.
The guards pointed their guns at that, but the mustache guy made them halt.
"Okay, you're in. Lower the guns everyone, false alarm. Do you know anything about the threat we are about to face, kid?" He asked the question from me.
"Yes, it's an ancient curse, the soul of fear, keen on killing every monster and even humans who stand in their way." I explained, then saw that my birth parents were coming with great haste.
"Lukas! You're here!" My mother smiled as she gave me a gentle hug. Father only nodded as he came closer, a small smile on his face.
"Yeah, I am... Good to see you. Well, not too great since both of you tried to change me ever since I was born but... The past is in the past." I joked sarcastically. Suddenly, sirens blared as the magical barrier was activated around the place.
"What is this...?"
"Are we under attack?"
"No, I'm sure we'll be fine." Trying to calm them was successful until the next second when the same barrier broke and a huge explosion appeared not that far from us. "Or guess not."
I ran with them towards the place of the explosion just to find Betty there, in her new, monstrous form.
"An old enemy and two humans? It will be good to ease my hunger." She snarled, her hand growing large and pink, lunging forward. I summoned a large hand and blocked the hit, leaving my 'parents' alone with her as the shockwave sent me back a few meters.
"Don't you dare touch them!" I shouted, but as I charged up a red beam, she summoned her scythe and reaped them both down. I didn't even flinch.
"See? That's what happens when you let yourself become weak." She smiled as my parent's souls were in her hands. She started walking towards me, and something kept me back from shooting. I still cared about them. A heavy feeling formed a knot in me stomach, causing me to throw up. However, on the ground, my vomit was pure black.
"I said it... you're part of the void. Now embrace it." I heard Core in my head. I focused the heavy feeling into my heart, then my mind. I summoned three hands, pointing them towards Bette Noir.
"I'm not afraid of whatever you threw up. Oh look, a happy family." She grinned, making the soul of Daisy to appear between the two other souls.
As the though occurred to me, black tentacles shot out of the hands, grabbing all three souls in an instant and pulling them towards me.
"I'll be taking that, if you don't mind." I said, but it felt like I wasn't saying it. The souls were absorbed by the darkness, leaving Betty dumbfounded. She released an unearthly scream and lunged at me with a scythe in hand. Black tears ran down my face as my reflection from the weapon showed me before I hit her into the wall of the Arena with a right timed punch in the gut.
"Momma's little boy got angry?" She taunted. I replied with sending seven sawblades flying at her. After blocking them with her scythe hands, she was suddenly engulfed in a blue light. I looked up to the roof to see Mettaton using a magical spotlight to keep the enemy in peace. As the dust settled down, I saw countless people dead around me, surrounded by pink blobs.
" What are you waiting for darling?! Get up here!" The robot shouted, and I obeyed, appearing next to him.
"Good to see you Mettaton."
"You saved me once, now I'm returning the favor." He smiled, but in the next moment, pink spikes pierced through the roof and destroyed the spotlight.
"Dodge!" Mettaton warned me and pushed me away as Betty grabbed him and threw him down into the Arena through the roof.
"It's your turn, you monster." I said, grabbing her with patience strings. As I pulled her towards the hole she cut the strings into bits, but I still managed to hit her down into the arena with a giant hand. I caught up to Mettaton with teleport and helped him up.
"You okay?" I asked, summoning a green hand to heal him. I tried, but it didn't work.
"My mechanic will fix it, don't worry." He said nonchalantly, and we both turned towards a female voice above us.
"Mettaton! Heads up!" She shouted, throwing a suitcase across the Arena. Betty lunged at us, Mettaton jumped and up and caught the thing, and I held up my hands to capture Betty within the big hands surrounded by kindness magic.
"This won't hold me long, and you know it." She snarled, showing her bestial teeth. Behind her, a blinding light flashed, signaling that Mettaton turned into his long awaited Neo form.
"I only needed to buy some time, so yeah." I smirked back, teleporting to Mtt again. As the hands disappeared, that creature turned around and narrowed narrowed its eyes.
"So both of you are taking this seriously. Fine. I'll consider you two real opponents then."