Three days... it's been three days. Since Gaster attacked me, and since he left. We haven't since him since.
Semi was extremely worried. He had heard some monsters had seen a skeleton matching Gaster's description, but he was never there when he searched.
I didn't dare tell him Gaster had attacked me. That was the last thing he needed to know right now. But I did tell him that I showed Gaster my secret, and then told him that about secret, about my scars. He didn't ask anything more after that.
I spent the time trying to solve Gaster's Rubix Cube. It was just on the coffee table, and I thought, maybe, I could try to solve it until he came back.
After a while, I put down the cube, taking a break from it, and went to the kitchen to get a drink. At that moment, Semi walked back inside.
"Didn't find him, again." He turned to me. "How was your day?"
"I- I'm sure he's alright," I said. "He's strong, right? A powerful monster wizard? He's..."
"I know you're trying to make me feel better, but please... I just need to... keep a clear mind."
I quieted down, as I poured myself a glass of milk. "Want some?"
"Sure."
I was grabbing a glass for Semi, when there was a knock at the front door.
"What... we rarely get visitors down here," Semi said. He went to the front door, while I poured him a glass of milk, when he yelled, "Wingding!"
I quickly put the milk jug down, and ran to the door, to see Gaster, soaking wet, his clothes muddied and dirty.
"G-Gaster, you're back!" I pushed past Semi, and pulled Gaster into a hug. "Where were you!?"
Semi, who was apparently in shock, shook his head, and joined into the now group hug.
"Wingding," Semi spoke up, "We were so worried."
"I'm sorry," Gaster replied, "but I had to do something important... for... Chara."
I was shocked. This was the first time he referred to me by my name. "Do what for me?"
"Please, come."
Semi and I looked at each other. Neither of us knew what to make of this.
"I-I- Okay," I said.
Gaster nodded, then quickly slipped inside and grabbed an umbrella, Semi's large one. Then we followed him.
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
He took us back down the rain path, right to the end where me and Gaster first met. Then he took us a few steps beyond that, where...
"Asriel..." I said, tears in my eyes.
A stone statue, made the likeness of... the fallen prince. My brother.
"You did this, Gaster?" Semi asked, amazed.
"Yes," he replied. "I've never met the prince, so I only had artist's interpretations to go off of, but I used all my magic, every magic bone I've ever constructed, to carve this statue."
"...You made this for me?" I asked Gaster.
"Yes..." he replied. "But that's not all. I heard you play, Chara. And after listening to you, I added something special."
Gaster leaned down, where a box was slotted into the lap of the statue. He opened it up, and a simple tune started playing.
"A music box. Where did you find this?" Semi asked.
"In the dump, I fixed it up, and made a new song for it to play," Gaster replied.
"Memory," I said. "Asriel loved this song. This was his favorite theme. My favorite to play..." I turned to Gaster, and pulled him into another hug, this one tighter then the last. "THANK YOU!"
"You're welcome..." I stopped hugging him, and he turned to his father. "Father, may I speak to Chara alone for a bit."
Semi sighed. "Yes. But Gaster, you come straight home after this. As impressive as this is, you did disappear for about three days. And you need to accept the consequences for that."
"I understand." Semi left, and then Gaster sat down next to the statue, and padded the ground next to him, signaling me to sit down next to him. I did so, and to start, he said, "I want to apologize."
I lowered my head after hearing that.
"I didn't realize that you went through so much pain... at the hands of humanity. I knew humans hurt each other, but to this extent... I... just can't believe it."
Gaster looked at the ceiling. "You ever notice the shining rocks above Waterfall?"
"Yeah," I replied. "They're like stars, right?"
"Do you miss the real ones? What are they like?"
"They're... it's like looking out into space, well it is, and you can see... glimmers of what's out there. And it makes you wonder... just how much is there to see? How much bigger is the world out there?"
"Beyond the not just the Underground, but the whole world. Maybe... maybe that is something I could look forward to. Seeing the true extent of what there is to see. It makes me feel determined." Gaster turned his head back to me. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Space?"
"Determination. You know... monsters don't have a lot of it. We manage without it, but we are born with very little of it. With a few, rare exceptions. ...Like me."
"You?"
"Yes, like you, my primary soul trait is determination. With preservation equal to that."
"Wait, I know about the soul traits, and your primary trait, and stuff like that, but you have TWO primary traits?"
"Chara, look at my eyes, and don't be scared." Gaster eyes then changed into the right-red and left-purple I saw months ago. "This is special magic for skeletons. It's called soul vision. It allows us to see not just another's soul, but the aspects of it. Certain levels, that tell us who you are, and what you've done. But more important to this conversation, when it's active, others can see the color of our traits in our eyes. Those don't even show on our monster souls."
"So, purple... for preservation, and red... for determination." I pulled out my own soul, a crimson red heart.
"And, do you know why, Chara... why my red eye is drooping?"
I shook my head nervously.
"Determination is powerful when it comes to magic. I can use it to fuel my spells. It's why I advanced so far in my training. It is a gift. But it is also a curse." Gaster started unbuttoning his shirt, and when he opened it up... I saw that some of the ribs of his skeleton body were melted into each other. It wasn't as horrifying as the scars on my body, but I was human. As a monster, made of magic...
"A monster's body is not made to handle large amounts of determination, not without a stronger soul to support it. So if my determination gets too high... It happened... once... and this is what happened to my body.
"My left eye drooped down, my ribs melted into each other, and I lost my right big toe." I snickered at that, but quickly regained my composer. This was too serious of a moment to find funny. "Too much determination, apparently, overwhelms the magical bodies of monsters... and we melt. And if we melt enough... to put it simply.
"It's the end of us."
Now it made sense, all that time ago, when Gaster attacked me and Semi stopped him. He struggled, and then suddenly stopped. So easily, too easily. But now, I knew, that he had to do it. It wasn't like a determined person to just give up, but he had no choice... or he would die.
"I'm still trying to learn how to control it, to find the balance between effectively using my gift, and keep my curse from killing me."
"Gaster, I'm so sorry. I didn't-"
"Now we both know each other's secrets, we both know about each other's scars. ...We're even."
"Gaster-"
"I'm sorry."
"...You've already said-"
"About not believing in you. For not being kind to you. For not being there... when you needed it most... For not being a friend."
He lifted his hand towards me. "Would you accept my apology?"
I smiled, tears in my eyes, and said, "yes. Yes, I will Gaster."
"Please, call me Wingding," he told me.
"Okay," I replied, and then I shook his hand in acceptance.
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Author's Note: Some big character moments for Gaster and Chara. Finally, I've waiting to get to this moment. I also explained the statue that plays the music box version of His Theme (or Memory, as explained the description of the last chapter). Now that Gaster and Chara are friends, it's time to move on with the story.
This is what I would call the end of Act 1 for the first book. Acts 2 and 3 (especially Act 2) are going through numerous time skips, yearlong time skips, both between the Acts, and occasionally during the middle of them. Also, in Chapter 11, I intend to introduce some more characters, to liven up the story. So look forward to that.