Dream
Two weeks have passed ever since Gaster was saved from the void. Or actually, ever since you and Sans have saved him...
In those two weeks, you have seen the skelebros rarely, as they were obviously busy with their father: they had lost so much time together, and they needed to make up for all those years they were without one another.
However, from time to time, you had seen them, mostly when you were walking outside. You would see the three of them sometimes when you were taking a walk with Undyne, or Alphys, or both of them.
The three of them seemed happy together.
Whenever they greeted you, you would always try to smile at the skelebros, but whenever it was about greeting Gaster, you would always stay silent and avoid his gaze while Alphys and Undyne talked to the skelebros.
And even so, you could still feel the weight of his gaze on you.
This whole situation...it felt so weird. It felt weird that this man one moment loves you, and the other moment doesn't even remember who you are.
Well, when he was brought back to the real world, it must have been traumatic for him: just like when you experience a tragic event in your life and your brain then forgets it to avoid storing unpleasant memories and to save your mental health.
In his case though, he forgot not only the unpleasant memories but even the sweet ones: the ones he shouldn't have forgotten...
In any case, whenever you felt bad about this whole thing, you would always think about Toriel's words to cheer yourself up. And luckily, it would always work.
Today, you were chilling at your house, taking a day all for yourself: you totally needed it and especially deserved it, and no one could debate on this.
You sat down on the couch with your phone in hand, as you were comfortably texting to Undyne and Alphys about, well, frogs: Alphys had found cute drawings of frogs and she wanted to share them with the two of you, to the point that she even created a specific group chat for that.
Nevertheless, it was pretty cute of her.
As for Undyne, she often teased her girlfriend whenever she found the occasion, to the point that Alphys would stop texting for some seconds and then start typing again: she had probably blushed madly.
Y/N: Get a room you 2, you texted with an entertained expression.
Spear Fish: Who tells you we don't have it already? ;)
Alphys once again took some seconds to answer.
Alphyyyyys: UNDYNE.
Spear Fish: AHAHAHAHAHAHA
You kept speaking to the two girls for a while until your stomach growled, sign that you needed to eat something. You said goodbye to your two friends and stood up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen. There, you found Oreo looking at you near his bowl, as if he was already waiting for you to fill the bowl.
"Hehe, you're hungry as well, aren't you? Hold on, lemme get your food real quick"
With that said, you stretched your arm towards a shelter and grabbed Oreo's food and put it in his bowl. He was still a kitten, but he was definitely bigger now.
"There you go, now eat until your stomach is full" you said with a wink, as you then started preparing your own food after feeding Oreo.
As for what you wanted to eat, it was certainly not spaghetti.
You prepared yourself something healthy and sat down on the couch with the tv on, having decided to watch some anime that Alphys had previously suggested.
And as you kept watching, as you started digesting everything, you began to feel a little bit sleepy. You turned off the tv and lied down in a comfortable position, but before you could fall asleep, Oreo jumped on you and turned into a loaf on your belly, looking directly at you.
"Hey there cutie, I see you have finished eating as well" you told him with a smile as you started caressing his head and giving him scratches. As a response, he meowed with his eyes closed and rested his chin on your stomach.
Seeing that he wanted to sleep with you, you smiled and closed your eyes, until your breathing rate got more stable and you eventually feel asleep.
And in that moment, life started feeling beautiful again
*****
You slowly opened your eyes, only to find yourself in the living room, just like you expected.
The first thing you did was to look at the window near you: the sun looked like it was about to set.
"Hold on, have I slept this much-" you were saying as you were raising yourself on your elbows, but stopped in the middle of your actions and words as soon as you remembered that Oreo was sleeping on you: you didn't want to wake him up so abruptly.
But when you looked down on your stomach, Oreo wasn't there.
"Huh...where could he be?" you asked yourself as you now stood up and started looking all around the house for him.
"Oreoo? Oreo, where are you-" you called him, but stopped as soon as you saw him sleeping on the floor, in front of the window, where it was hit by the last rays of light of the day.
"Oh, there you are cutie" you said as you went to kneel down and to caress him gently, waking him up as he looked at you and started meowing.
"Are you hungry? Hehe, lemme just prepare something real quick" you said as you stood up again and walked to the kitchen: huh, perhaps it was actually time to even prepare your own dinner.
You went to the kitchen and put an apron on. And as you were cooking and using pots all the way, as outside everything became darker, you grabbed Oreo's food, ready to put it in his bowl.
However, when you looked at his bowl, you noticed how it was still full: Oreo had eaten only just a few snacks.
"Huh, weird...he seemed hungry this afternoon. Could he perhaps be feeling unwell? It didn't really seem like it a moment ago" you told yourself as you started recalling the previous moments.
At this point, you couldn't fill his bowl - and his snacks looked fine although they had been out of the box for a while - but you still decided to keep an eye on Oreo: it was the first time he ever acted like that. You even gave him the nickname of "chimney sweep", given how much the bowl looked clean after he ate everything, so it was really, really weird...
"Hey, Oreo, your dinner is ready...!" you called him as you also finished preparing your own. The little orange cat then walked to the bowl as usual, which was a good sign. The bad sign though, was that he was not as energetic as usual.
Could he perhaps be tired?
After glancing at him, you started grabbing all the plates you needed and headed to the living room, where you usually ate. After setting everything, you started eating, although without stopping being worried about your cat.
After more or less five minutes though, you stood up and went in the kitchen to check on him, whether he was actually eating or not.
But when you entered the kitchen, you found him lying down next to the bowl, without touching it.
And the food was still there in its entirety.
"Oreo...? What's wrong?" you said worriedly as you kneeled down to take him in your hands.
But when you touched him, you noticed that he wasn't fully conscious.
And that he was growing cold.
"Oreo?! Hey, don't do these tricks to me, wake up, wake up I beg you!"
But Oreo kept meowing faintly, not meaning to wake up anytime soon.
"Oreo! Oh my god...a vet, I need to find a vet!" you exclaimed as adrenaline was running through your veins. You rushed to get your old black coat, as there was still cold outside, put Oreo in your pocket to keep him warm and rushed outside of your home, searching for a vet.
And the only option was Toriel.
As you ran while holding Oreo tight in your pocket not to hurt him while running, you seriously hoped - or actually, you prayed - that Toriel could do something for your little cat.
Toriel's healing powers were the only thing that could help Oreo.
You reached Toriel's house in more or less five minutes, and you almost hit the door as you reached it. You immediately started knocking - banging would be a more correct term - calling out Toriel's name.
"Toriel?! Toriel, open up, please! I need your help!"
And although you were loud, no one was opening the door.
"Toriel!! Come on, I beg you! Oreo is not feeling well, open up!" you shouted as warm tears now started rolling down your cheeks.
But even after 5 minutes, she wouldn't open her door. With your back now against her door, you put a hand on your forehead as you breathed heavily and started becoming unable to think properly.
"What do I do...?! I can't leave Oreo in these conditions, I need to find someone with healing powers as soon as possible...!"
The only person you knew that possessed healing powers was Toriel...so what could you do now-
...
...hold on.
There was another person that could possess such powers.
But it was a person you weren't ready to meet yet.
But you would have put all circumstances aside just to save Oreo.
And so, you started walking and then running towards what was now his house, and in less than five minutes you were there, at his door.
At the skelebros' house.
You repeated the same thing that you did to Toriel's house.
"Sans, Papyrus! Open up! I need your help, open the door please!"
The lights were all turned off, but as soon as you started shouting, a light could be seen turning on from outside, lighting up the hope in your heart for once ever since you noticed that Oreo was sick.
You waited a few seconds, and after that, Papyrus opened the door, looking kinda drowsy as he had probably been sleeping for a while now.
"NYEH? ...Y/N, WHAT'S WRONG?" the boy asked you.
"I need help, Papyrus! Oreo isn't feeling well! I couldn't...Toriel was nowhere to be found, you were the only ones I could ask to...!"
Hearing your words, he kinda woke up a bit and grabbed your shoulders and pulled you inside, gently conducting you to the couch.
"HEY, HEY, IT'S ALRIGHT, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL DO ANYTHING TO HELP YOU AND OREO"
Tears were still rolling down your cheeks.
"hey butterfly, what's wrong?"
You turned your face, and noticed Sans going down the stairs with his usual clothes on, him with a drowsy expression as well.
But he wasn't alone.
Behind him, following him down the stairs, was his father in his black coat and black tight trousers, looking the least drowsy. Actually, he probably wasn't sleeping anyway.
And he looked at you ever since he acknowledged your presence there at their house.
"Oreo...l-look for yourself" you said as you gently opened your coat and showed the small cat sleeping in your pocket, still with a sick face.
Sans looked at your cat closely, while Gaster kept some distance, although he was observing Oreo as well now.
"I...I'm so sorry, I didn't know where to go...I couldn't leave him in these conditions"
"hey, hey butterfly, that's okay. you've done the right thing by coming here. you don't have to worry"
He then turned to look at his father.
"think you could do something?"
Gaster didn't reply immediately. Instead, he simply kept looking at Oreo for a few seconds and then, after seemingly deciding something in his mind, he slowly approached you, stretching his hands towards Oreo.
"Pardon me" he told you as he gently took Oreo in his hands and gave him a first glance. And for the first time, you didn't remove your eyes from him as he moved around you.
And you felt something aching in your heart as you watched him.
To avoid feeling more pain, you looked at Sans, who looked lost in the middle of his thoughts and completely in his own world. In that moment, Gaster glanced at him as well.
"Don't worry Sans, it was my plan to take her back home anyway. Checking her cat here wouldn't be the best idea" he said as he gave you back Oreo.
Sans immediately changed expression and became astonished at the sound of his father's words. You glanced at Sans to understand what was going on - you were pretty confused as well - while Gaster went in his own room to grab his equipment.
"i was just thinking that perhaps checking oreo at your own house was probably better, since you have all his things there. and well, dad just read my mind: i still need to get used to this power of his, heh. he also has this habit of answering to my thoughts out loud"
Oh, yeah...
He could read minds, that's true.
You looked down, reminiscing of how you had discovered that he could read minds, and how you and him promised that he would stop reading it.
You subconsciously closed your hands in two fists on your knees because of the tension, and when you noticed it, you quickly relaxed them and shook your head, to take a slow breath.
In that moment, Gaster emerged from his room as well with a suitcase, probably full of his equipment, and looked at you.
"Shall we go?" he said as he extended a hand to you, to teleport to your home.
It was holed, just like you remembered.
You hesitated for a few seconds, looking at his hand as if he had just revealed something special, but then you gradually raised your hand and held his. And in a fraction of a second, you were back at your home, in your living room.
"Pardon me again" he said as he gently took Oreo once again in his hands and put him on the couch. You looked at him as he checked your cat all throughout his body.
You wanted to ask him so many questions. "How is he?", "Will he recover quickly?", "What was the cause of his sickness?" and so on, but you didn't want to disturb him. Not to mention, the atmosphere was already obviously awkward between the two of you.
"I...I'll be in the kitchen, if you need me" you told him as you wanted to give him space to work without any distractions. He looked at you for a second, concealing a small look of surprise for your words, but nodded, before giving his attention back to Oreo.
You hesitated a second, printing the image of him checking Oreo in your mind, and went in the kitchen. And once inside, your hands immediately grabbed the counter as if your life depended on it. It was as if you had started breathing again.
The consciousness of it all just started making its roots in your mind just then.
Oreo was sick.
And Gaster was checking him in your living room.
Calm down Y/N, everything is going to be fine...once this night passes, you will return to your normal life here...
In that moment though, you remembered something, which made you immediately stop thinking.
Gaster was able to read minds.
And he didn't remember your promise, which meant he could read your mind if he wanted to.
But he didn't say a single word, which was surprising, since Sans said he has the habit of answering to everyone's thoughts out loud...
Perhaps he was just too focused on Oreo to answer your thoughts.
You sighed as you slowly calmed down.
The only thing you could do now was wait.
And so you sat down on the floor and hugged your knees, as time went by, waiting for a good sign about Oreo.
Waiting for anything at this point.
*****
Half an hour later, you were still sitting down on the cold kitchen floor, next to Oreo's untouched bowl, waiting for Gaster to tell you about Oreo's condition.
Staying still in that position was now almost dragging you into unconsciousness, but you had to stay awake.
For Oreo.
But just when you reminded yourself to stay awake, you heard footsteps approaching and a second later, a certain figure popping in the kitchen, who found you immediately in the room and locked eyes with you.
"There you are. I was having some hard time finding you now" he calmly told you.
"...no need to apologise. How is Oreo?" you immediately asked as you stood up now. Funny how you still had to look up at him given the height difference.
Gaster lightly smiled, which caused your heart to ache a little bit more now.
That smile.
That damn smile.
"He is fine now. It seems that he had some sort of intestinal virus that wouldn't allow him to eat. You don't have to worry about that anymore: I used some of my healing powers. He should be fine for the night"
In that moment, you felt so grateful for what he had done. In the middle of the night, he still helped you and Oreo.
You were so grateful to the point that you wanted to hug him.
But you knew you couldn't.
"Uhm...can I offer you something to drink? It's the least I can do for what you have done to help me and Oreo" you asked him.
"Don't worry, I'm completely fine" he said with a small smile as he lightly waved a hand around "helping your cat was exactly the least I could do as a scientist"
You lightly smiled as you now looked down: every interaction with him...even the smallest one...was enough.
He was so beautiful.
"Then...if there isn't anything else I can do, I'll take my leave now" he declared as he kept looking at you.
Already?
He already had to leave...?
"...sure, you must be tired by now"
You noticed how he was still standing there, looking at you, which made him obtain your completely puzzled look. How come he was still there?
"Uh...aren't you going to teleport?"
"I was thinking of taking a walk. Some fresh air never hurt anybody, right?" he replied.
You faintly chuckled.
"No...I suppose not. Well then, I'll accompany you the door"
You quickly showed him the way, as you walked to the front door with him following you, step after step. But...it didn't feel right. You didn't want this moment to end.
Another moment...another moment to talk to him...even just like this...
"May I ask why Sans calls you butterfly?" he suddenly asked you out of nowhere, almost five meters away from the front door.
And as he asked you this, you immediately stopped in the middle of your steps.
"...come again?" you asked him as you slowly turned around to look at him, almost as if you couldn't believe to his words.
"I asked you why does Sans call you butterfly. Haha, you must be tired as well" he said.
How come...why did he want to know this now?
"Well...before coming here, I had a job where codenames were involved. My codename was Monarch Butterfly. I guess Sans really likes to call me butterfly because of that, haha...why do you ask?" you questioned him as you were now quite literally in front of the door.
After hearing your words, he seemed a tiny bit astonished, but he was trying to conceal it.
"Hmm, how should I put it...ever since I found you and Sans in the True Lab back then, I always felt...quite confused. I still don't remember how I ended up there, I only remember working on the Core in the Underground and the next moment Sans as a grown up boy with you, fainted next to him. But recently...something happened"
Your eyes inevitably widened. What in the world could have happened...?
"I've been having a dream for the past three nights by now. In this dream, I am floating in a dark dimension. It feels rather...anguishing, but I can't do anything to fight it. It's as if I have lost my ability to move there, as if...I am a prisoner of this dark dimension. But then, at some point, something catches my eye. This something is a monarch butterfly"
You had to use all your strenght to contain a gasp.
"The butterfly flies all around me, as if it recognises me, as if... as it's there for me, only for me. And although I can't do anything to escape from that dark dimension, that butterfly makes me feel as if I am free.
This is why I was curious about why Sans calls you butterfly. And then this codename of yours, Monarch Butterfly...you wouldn't happen to know anything about the butterfly in my dream, would you?"
You had to hide your hand almost shaking as it was grabbing the door knob.
Why...? Why did he have to say these words...?
"...no. I'm sorry, it must be a coincidence" you lied.
He hesitated before giving you an answer, and although you weren't looking, you could feel the weight of his eyes on you as they were examining you, looking for proofs for what you had just said.
"...I see. Yeah, it must be a coincidence"
You nodded as well, still without looking at him.
"Well then...I shall take my leave now" he said.
"...alright" you quickly replied as you turned the doorknob and opened the door "...goodnight, Gaster"
"...goodnight, Y/N" he said as he gradually escaped from your sight, leaving you alone in your house, until you could no longer hear the sound of his footsteps.
You slowly closed the door behind yourself, and once it was safely locked, you sat down on the floor and started crying.
Just when you thought you were overcoming this situation.
He dreamt you.
And still, although this could be perceived as a good sign, you felt like the universe was pranking you.
What could his dream ever mean...?
Oh, man...
Perhaps you weren't really going to return to your daily life as soon as you thought...