"What- what does Semi want to talk about, uh, Wingding, right?" I asked.
"Gaster," he exclaimed, "I prefer to go by Gaster. Only my father calls me Wingding, and that name... it isn't very intimidating, now is it?"
He wasn't wrong. Wingding, or Gaster, did seem like he'd want to seem intimidating, because he acted and WAS intimidating.
"How did you come up with that name?" I asked.
"...It was the name my mother wanted to give me," he replied.
"Oh, is she nice?"
He glared at me. "I never knew her. She died after giving birth to me."
"Oh... I'm sorry, didn't mean to..." That's when noticed he had something in his hands. It wasn't the cube this time, but a small, red notebook. A very familiar notebook...
"HEY, THAT'S MINE! Where did you get that!?" I yelled.
"Oh this, I found this in one of your pockets while you were sleeping," Gaster exclaimed. He opened up the notebook and flipped through the pages. "Doesn't seem that anything interesting written down."
"GIVE THAT BACK!" I got up, stormed up to Gaster, and took the notebook right out of his hands. "You can't just search through somebody's pockets while they're asleep! That's rude!"
I quickly looked through the pages of the book, trying to see if he ruined anything in there. Luckily, all the pages were fine. I then held the book to my chest before slipping it back into one of my lower cargo shorts pockets.
In the book, I had copied down some recipes I had made with Toriel when I helped her with cooking, including her famous butterscotch-cinnamon pie. It was something I treasured, and I kept it with me at all times.
I expected Wingding (sorry, Gaster) to be annoyed with me taking the book, considering the fact he didn't seem to like me that much. But instead, he smiled, then walked towards the door. "Come, my father is waiting."
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
I followed Gaster into the skeleton's living room, where Semi was standing, staring out of a window.
The room was cozy, with a couple of gray couches, and dark blue walls. The coffee table had a couple of books stacked on it.
Semi motioned for us to sit down. Once we did, he turned around and looked at me straight in the eyes. Gaster sat on the opposite couch, continuing to smile, which was quickly becoming unnerving.
Semi spoke up. "You must have been exhausted. You've been asleep for a whole day." He sighed, taking a couple of seconds to think about what to say next. "So your name is Chara. And you are a human that had a not just a monster, but a boss monster for a brother. Is that right?"
I nodded, though I wasn't sure how he knew that.
Semi sat down next to me. "I work in New Home as an assistant to the Royal Guard, helping out by getting their requests for food, cleaning out their spaces. It's a thankless job, oftentimes, but it pays well..." He stopped himself. "Sorry, I'm getting off-topic. While I was working, I was hearing rumors about Prince Asriel and the human the royal family adopted. Those rumors... were confirmed when Asgore called for a gathering of all the citizens of the city."
Semi took a deep breath. "Asgore confirmed that the prince had died. He wouldn't tell us how he died, only that the funeral was held privately. He had also decreed that we are now to bring any humans that are found in the Underground, so that their souls could be collected, and then soon, we could break the barrier, and take back what we lost when the humans imprisoned us here."
"Sounds like a declaration of war, if you ask me," Gaster exclaimed.
"Asgore never said if that is exactly what he meant, but that's what all monsters think is going to happen. Once we are free, we'll fight to take back the surface and destroy humanity for what they did to us. I heard those statements all across New Home after the meeting."
"Also," Semi continued, "Asgore said that his adopted human child and Queen Toriel have disappeared. He never ordered a search for them to happen, much less mentioning whether or not the human child would be one of the humans to have their soul taken, so the monsters just assumed that he already had taken it."
All I took from that was that Toriel, my mother, was also gone. What happened to her? Where did she go? Why did she leave?
...Did she even want to know where I was? If I was okay?
Semi continued to explain the events that happened in New Home. "The monsters are very worried about the disappearance of the queen. Some believe she left because she was angry or depressed about the supposed death of the human child, as well as her son. As for that child, some of the monsters are furious with the idea they might be dead, since they had so much hope riding on them. Others are fine with the idea that their Soul is the first to be taken for the destruction of the barrier.
"And as for Prince Asriel... all the monsters are mourning for him. Hope was wavering across the city, mixed with some hesitancy about whether or not Asgore's plan would work. ...It won't be long before the news has spread across the entire Underground."
Semi turned back towards me. "With that said, I now have only one question. Chara, you said that you killed your brother. I know you said he was a boss monster, but... Was you're brother Prince Asriel, Chara? And are you the missing human child?"
I just sat there, not wanting to speak.
Gaster's smile grew a little wider. This is what he wanted to hear. He hated me, and simply wanted a reason to get rid of me.
But then Semi said, "I'm not angry with you, Chara, and I won't hurt you, no matter what you say, I just want to know for sure."
"Father, what do you mean by that?" Gaster replied, suddenly not so happy with the situation. "She's clearly-"
"Wingding, quiet!" Semi snapped back. "Now, Chara, please..."
Tears welled in my eyes. "Yes, Asriel is my brother, and I- I killed him..."
I explained about are plan to break the barrier, and how I was supposed to eat poisonous flowers that would've killed me so Asriel could absorb my soul, and then how he ate eat them after I refused to, and was unable to take his soul when he died. I was sobbing through the whole explanation.
When I was done, Gaster stood up and angrily stared at me. "So you tricked the prince into killing himself. And they call us the 'monsters'. We should-"
"Wingding! That is enough!" Semi snapped again. "What is with you, threatening a scared little girl!"
"But she just admitted to basically tricking and kill-"
"Sounds like it was less of a trick, and more like her brother's foolish decision to continue along with a foolish plan. She is simply blaming herself for something that isn't truly her fault."
"Not directly, maybe. But she still-"
"Gaster, I believe you've said enough on the matter. Now, until the situation in New Home calms down a bit, and I think I can reason with the king, we will be taking care of Chara, and making sure she doesn't get in trouble with the Royal Guard."
I looked at Semi in shock. He was willing to take care of, instead of turning me over to my father, were I was sure he would kill me and take my soul.
Gaster, however, wasn't so happy with this. "She openly admitted to killing Asriel, the prince of the Underground, and the hope for all monsters. She deserves to die for what she's done."
"Wingding-"
"And even then, if we kept her, it would practically be treason. You said that Asgore has declared that we bring all humans to him for execution. This could be our one chance at freedom, and you would betray us by hiding this human-"
"Wingding!" Semi stood up and crossed his arms. Compared to Gaster, he wasn't very intimidating, but Semi still managed to hold the authority in the room. "Chara is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die for what has happened. And I will not have her death on my conscience. She is staying, and that is final! Do I make myself clear?!"
Gaster closed his eyes and lowered his head. "If you won't take her soul to Asgore..." he suddenly snapped his gaze towards me. "THEN I WILL!"
When his eyes opened, the white dots in them where replaces with blazing circles of different colors, his drooping right eye colored red, and his left one colored purple. He swiped his hand upward, and bones suddenly shot through the floor and towards me. Instinctively, I cowered in fear, unable to get away fast enough to escape the attack. And then... nothing. Nothing happened.
When I opened my eyes, and looked over to see what had happened, I found that the bones had stopped inches away from me. Beyond that, Gaster was struggling.
His white monster soul was out of his body, and was covered in a blue aura. He was hovering a foot above the ground, and was squirming like someone was holding him up tightly, against his will.
When I looked over at Semi, I quickly inched away in fear. The white dots in his eyes were gone, and his hand was raised, as if he was holding something. Then I realized that he was holding something, in a sense, that it was his magic holding Gaster up.
Semi didn't look like a scary person, with his short height, colorful clothes and kind personality, but at this moment, with his dark eyes, grim expression, and the way he had stopped Gaster like it was nothing, he was now the most threatening person in this room.
Gaster kept struggling for the next half-minute, until suddenly he stopped, like he was giving in to the uselessness of struggling. It was also almost like he just realized something, but whatever it was, I didn't know at the time.
At this moment, Semi lowered Gaster back to the floor. Once his magic had been released, Semi told Gaster, "You will go to your room and not leave for the rest of the day. You will not get any dinner tonight. You will think about what you have done."
Without another word, Gaster left for his room. The bones in front of me disappeared.
Once he was gone, Semi turned back to me. The dots in his returned, and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Chara. Gaster is... complicated."
After taking deep breathes, I replied, "he hates me, I know it. He wants me to die."
Semi sat back and wrapped his arm around me, trying to comfort me. "I wish I could say differently, but yes. Wingding hates all of humanity, not just because of the war between them and us monsters, but because of what he's read."
Semi leaned over and picked up one of the books that was on the coffee table. "Wingding finds these books in the dump where the human's junk fall into the Underground. He's used magic to restore them, and read them cover to cover, in order to get an idea of what the surface is like now. I don't know what he's read in them, but it's given him a bad opinion on humans."
The book Semi was holding was labeled "American History". I guess Gaster knew a lot about the war and slavery and whatever else humans have done. Once you know about that stuff, you wouldn't think humanity was that great at all, now would you.
"Wingding is going to have to get used to you though. At least until I can talk to the king."
I was quiet for a moment, then decided, "No. I-I... I don't want to go back there. I ruined my family, my one chance to be happy. I... I-"
Semi pulled me into a hug. "It will be okay, Chara." He helped me off the couch. "How about, for now, we make some dinner. I know how to make some really good ravioli."
I thought about it for a second, then quietly said, "okay," and joined Semi for dinner.
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Author's Note: So now, we know for sure Chara has someplace to stay safe from Asgore, and that young Gaster (or Wingding) is a prick who dislikes humans.
Some point later, I decided to come back and make a small edit, because I felt like I wanted to describe the Soul Modes differently than how is shown in the game (which also ended up being a fix to a grammar error I apparently missed).