It was a quiet day. I was practicing more sign language in the living room. Since Gaster found out I took his book and just gave it to me, I've been less concerned about Semi see me practice.
"Hey, Chara," Semi asked, walking into the room, "do you know where Wingding is?"
"I... no." I hadn't seen Gaster since I got up. Now that I think about it, it was strange. He didn't have school today, and unless he went with Semi to the Clearing, he would usually stay at home. Then again...
It's been a few weeks since Semi started teaching me how to control my magic, and giving me ideas on how to expand on it, and since then, Gaster had become increasingly distant from us.
"Hm..." Semi thought. "Maybe he's at the piano..."
I perked up. "Piano? There's a piano?"
"Yes, Gaster occasionally drops by it on the way home from school. Though it's close to the Waterfall community, so it's too dangerous for you-"
"Where is it?" I interrupted.
"Well, remember where we first found you?"
I shrunk down from that. It wasn't a good memory.
"Sorry, I didn't..." Semi sighed, "if you continue past that point, and take a right, there is an old piano. It's been there for a while, and the public likes to go there from time to time to try to play it. Why?"
"I... I like the piano... ...If Gaster is there, I'll go find him. I just want to..."
"Chara it's close to... well." Semi sighed. "I suppose it isn't too close. And it is hard to not know if monsters are there, if they're playing... Okay, just... be careful Chara. And remember to take an umbrella."
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I was moving at a quick pace (not too fast, as I didn't want to get wet from the rain). It's been so long since I've played the piano. It was one of my favorite things to do, and I have begun to worry I'd never be able to do it again.
As I approached, I could hear the far off sound of the piano. Now out of the rain, I slowed down, lowered my umbrella, and peaked around the corner. The sound of the piano got louder, and I could see someone around the corner. Careful not to make a sound, I slowly approached, making sure that it wasn't any random monster.
Luckily it was just Gaster. He was playing a dark, yet simple tune. I become less tense, and returned to a brisk walk. "Hey Gaster, Semi was looking for you."
Gaster stopped playing, and turned his head towards me. As I approached, I noticed something odd. He hadn't moved his body, and yet his hands were on his lap. So how was he playing the piano?
I found the answer as I approached. There a hovering skeleton hand, detached from Gaster's body. That must have been what was playing the piano, while both of his normal hands were on his lap.
"Hey, Gaster, what is that?" I asked.
"Oh, it's exactly just what you think," he replied. "I'm playing the piano."
"But that... uh-"
"Oh, this hand... just some simple magic bone construction, made out in the shape of a skeleton hand. With some creative changes."
"What do you mean, 'creative changes'?"
"The palm. Normally, there a series of bones, extended from your individual fingers. But this, like the skeleton monsters, is more... solid."
He raised the magic hand, and I could see that the palm was a single wide bone with a circular hole in it, like what I've seen with all skeletons. I didn't know normal human skeletons were slightly different. Was it like that for the original revenants?
"So, why are you here, human?" Gaster asked.
"I... Semi wanted to know where you-" I started, but Gaster interrupted.
"Oh, that's not really it, is it?"
I crossed my fingers together. "I... heard there was a piano, and I... like the piano. I... kind of wanted to play it... and..."
"So, you like the piano, huh... So, human, would like to see another trick I've been developing."
The hand suddenly opened up, and something appeared in it. A short bone, acting as a handle, with a glowing, light-blue triangular slate fused on the end. It took the shape of a simple kitchen knife.
The hand, holding the knife, shot forward, and stopped with the blade tip an inch from my chest.
"I've watched you, and I've noticed something. Whenever you cooking up your little desserts, you seem to be nervous using the knives. I guess, this is your one weakness."
I became as still as a tree. My hands were shaking. I tried to scream, but couldn't.
"I just don't understand. Why does my father care so much about you? Does he even know anything about you?"
I couldn't speak. Tears swelled in my eyes.
"Too scared to speak. Don't worry, I know the answer. No, he knows nothing of you. And yet, even after you admit to killing your own brother, he lets you live with us, protects you, cares for you." He started walking in a circle around me. "YOU! You've done nothing since you got here, but bake treats, learn pointless things, and take my books. And now, my father wants to teach you magic. When you will never have any use for it. You're a WASTE! YOU'RE NOTHING!"
He stopped at my side. "Why... why are you trying to impress me? Trying to make me your friend? I don't care for you. I work hard, so that one day, I can become powerful. So I can destroy your kind. You want to be friends with me?" He walked up to me and said in my ear, "you just want someone to love you. That's all. And what will that do for you? Nothing. It will not save you."
My hand started closing into a fist. "You know..." I managed, "you don't know... a-anything about m-me either... What I've g-gone through... Why I just want someone... t-to be my family... Why do you think I feel guilty about my brother?"
Gaster's stepped back. His magic hand flew back about five inches. The knife was still pointed at me, but I felt at least a little more comfortable. "I'm listening," Gaster replied.
I gave out a shaky breath. "No... let me show you." I grabbed the bottom of my sweater, and started pulling it up.
"Human, even I know that this is indecent for a young lady-" Gaster was starting to raise his hands to block his view, but he stopped when he saw what was my body.
Bruises, cuts, even burned, covering my back and arms. I kept my upper chest covered for that decency Gaster wanted, but wanted him to see my dark secret.
"Wh-what is this-" Gaster stumbled on his words, which was weird to hear. "Why...? Who-"
"My father. My own father did this to me!"
"You mean you're biological one, right? Not Asgore."
"No, not even Asgore is that bad. My father beat, cut, whipped, and burned me, all because I wanted a break, to play for a while. I know we have to work hard sometimes, but all he wanted me to do was study and train. I never had fun, never made friends. I couldn't take it. So he beat me, told me the pain would teach me, make me stronger. And my mom, she just watched. Looked at me with disapproval."
"So I ran away. And on the street, no one bothered to help me. No one even batted an eye. Then I decided to leave society, tried to live in the wild. I climbed Mount Ebott. And then I took shelter in a cave, and... I fell into a hole. I broke my leg, I couldn't move. I thought I was going to die."
"Then Asriel found me. He brought me to Toriel and Asgore. And they... they loved, cared for me. I- I never had anything like that on the surface. The monsters... they cared for me more than any human, even more than my real family did. And then I..."
I broke down crying. "I screwed everything up. My new brother died because of me, my adoptive father betrayed me, and..." I sniffed, "my mom just disappeared."
I looked at Gaster. "I just wanted a family that cared about me. Is that too much to ask?"
Gaster didn't say anything. He just stared. But after about thirty, maybe forty seconds... I heard a clattering sound on the ground. When I looked over, I found bones on the ground. The different segments making up Gaster's magic hand, and the bone knife that was in its hand. I watched as the glowing blade of the knife faded away, and the whole pile of bones disappeared, Gaster's magic dispelling. When looked back towards Gaster, he was gone.
I got up, put my sweater back on, and walked to the piano. I still wanted to play, and right now, I needed something to take my mind off of what happened.
I sat down on the bench, and rested my fingers on the keys. "You used to love to hear me play, right Asriel?" I knew I was talking to myself, but I wanted to believe I was talking to him. "Do you want me to play our favorite song? I... I'll keep practicing."
I started playing, simple, soft medley, a theme bringing back memories of the good times. I was a little rusty, but I quickly picked back up to my old skill. As I kept playing, I started crying.
I missed Asriel so much.
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What Chara didn't know was that Gaster was still there, just behind the corner, listening. Gaster heard what Chara said before she started playing, and then the simple, beautiful melody.
He soon left, walking away until he was in the rain. And then he kept walking still. He skipped the path to his house, and soon after, slipped down a hidden path, leading into a small crevice. An area many monsters visited, trash piled up on the walls.
The Garbage Dump. The place where all of the human's trash fell into the Underground from the surface.
Gaster walked down into the water, and then he began picking through the piles, pulling out different items, looking them over. But everything he found, it wasn't what he was looking for. He was even sure what he was looking for.
Eventually, he got frustrated, lowered his head, and smashed his fist into the water and then into the ground below. As he did, the ground and walls cracked open, as numerous bones burst out in all directions. And then he screamed.
Because of the disturbance made from the sudden magic attack, something fell from the top of one of the piles, and tumbled into the water. This caught Gaster's attention. He quickly dashed over, and pulled the item from out of the water.
He checked over the box, and opened it up. Despite the damage to the box, and being completely soaked, and sound played from the box. Broken, but still working, playing along as best it could, despite everything.
Such Determination, even for a broken box, to keep playing, even after losing so much. ...Just like the human... like... Chara.
Gaster closed the box, and held it close to him. He looked up at his bones, and the cracked ground from the force of his attack... and got an idea.
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Author's Note: So first of all, I just want to mention that yes, I went from first-person to third-person. I've been wanting to do this for a while, when reading in Chara's perspective, it's in first-person (playing up the Narrator Chara theory), while in everybody else's perspective, it's in third-person. I just haven't had the chance to really change perspective from Chara, and unless I reconsider how I tell the story (which I might), it won't happen again for a long time.
Also, when I was describing the box (which, if it wasn't obvious, it is a music box), it only came to me while writing this description that it was like the box was determined to play, despite its damages. I thought that could play well into this part of the story, for Chara specifically.
As for the story itself, yeah, things have gotten a little darker. We now know Chara was abused on the surface. This is why she left for Mount Ebott, and why she hates humanity. It also seems to Gaster has been affected by this revelation, too. What will happen next?
Well, this is only the first part of a two-parter.
If you want to know what Gaster and Chara were playing, Gaster was playing, of course, Gaster's Theme (or Dark, Darker, Yet Darker, but that isn't the official name), and Chara was playing His Theme, what she will later refer to as "Memory", as it is on the Undertale OST, Memory is actually the music box version of His Theme. Here are the names of the piano renditions I imagine them playing, so you can look them up on YouTube (I wish links would work on this site):
- "Sign Language" by DM DOKURO
- "His Theme / Undertale" by Navarone Boo