You step out of the room, Dr. Cohan staying behind. The door slides shut smoothly. You take another moment to adjust. It was much brighter in here than it was than in the previous room.
Soft chatter wafts through the room. Many monsters with various forms and figures standing around. It seems some of them have already figured out how to speak, seeing as some were murmuring quietly and making small talk.
You nervously walk around, catching the eyes of some of the others. Most monsters looked different, but there were no other skeleton monsters. There was one who had colorful feathers that still looked a bit damp from that solution you all were born in. There was another who was slightly slimy looking, with a large and shiny brown shell. Pretty.
You can't exactly form words yet, so you can't exactly apologize when you bump into a yellow lizard monster half a foot taller than your height. She lets out a grunt of surprise, turning around to face you. You had stumbled backwards and fallen flat on your butt. Ouch, much more painful than when you had cushioning to protect the bones down there. This was definitely a great first impression to the second person you've interacted with in this new life.
"Wh... oh." She says slowly. She doesn't immediately help you up, eyes sliding up and down your figure slowly. You all were about the size of adolescent children; 13-14, if you compared it to your (rapidly dissapearing) memories about human children. She then offers you a hand, which you take, and she lifts you to your feet again.
Her hand is a little cold, just like yours... she must be 'cold-blooded', like a normal lizard. You didn't have any body heat since you were a skeleton now. The lizard monster grins at you, rubbing at the crown of golden frills on her head. "You... have to be more careful. Watch where you're going."
"s...s...'ry." You grate out. Damn it! How were you supposed to speak without a tongue?! It just felt like the inside of your skull vibrated along with your vertebrae. However, the smart lizard monster had already figured out how to speak, and quickly deduced you hadn't.
"You can't speak yet? Ah, that's fine. I think I only saw you come out of that guy's room a moment ago." She said, and you nod. She stares at you for another moment. This monster seemed to be a very analytical person. But then she slaps you on the back before pulling you close. "Y'know what? I'll protect you, seeing how fragile you look! We'll stick together and be the coolest and best buds this batch has to offer."
She looks proud, sharp teeth gleaming along with her scales as she grinned brightly at you. "What do you say, little buddy?"
Your eyelights sparkle, and you nod. You distantly remember her from somewhere in your past life. Part of that... game? Show? How are you forgetting all of this so fast? It's like the memories of your past are melting and slipping through your fingers like ice. However, you knew she was cool. How couldn't she be? She practically offered to take you under her wing after a minute of knowing her.
You check her arm. The number, in black and bold, says C-5873. It has a symbol on it, which is a star. Everyone in this crowd has the same one above their serial number and on the back of their shirt. What did it represent?
You find yourself nodding excitably at the lizard's proposal. You smile back, and she grins. She decides to try and talk to you while you wait for the rest of the batch to emerge from their capsules.
When it's finally done, the two of you were sitting on the ground, 5873 with her arms around you protectively. You leaned against her, slowly humming while you tried to figure out how speech would work for you. It was going well so far, since you could easily pronounce vowels now. Maybe you'd ask Alphys for help later.
Alphys...? No, that wasn't the Lizard's name. Was it? How did you know this? She didn't tell you that. Besides, none of you had names yet. The Lizard was examining herself right now. Her scales were quite pretty and shiny, and your own bones were almost shiny with how clean they were.
"Attention, Please!" A voice says from the end of a room. The crowd goes silent, focus moving to the person at the front. It's a rather small looking monster, floating about teen feet off of the ground with a lab coat. They looked almost shy, but their voice projected well over the crowd. "All of you are here now, so we're going to start! We'll be separating you by monster type to do some check ups on your height, weight, and physical senses! Please listen for your serial number and head to your designated Nurse!"
"think... we're... be'n separated." You mutter. 5873 looks rather impressed at you learning how to pronounce things so quickly, but she agrees and stands up before helping you up too.
"Seems like it. Don't worry, little guy. I'll come back to you once it's over." She declares, stretching her back. Her scales glimmer once again, tail moving along with her. She was pretty. You kind of wish you were a cool lizard and not just... bones.
"C-5835 through C-5850, please head over to the tall skeleton monster with the red wristband." The floating monster says, and feet shuffle as they move to go to their assigned doctor.
"That's you, right? You should get moving. They might not see you, since you're so tiny." She sneers playfully, pushing you gently in the direction the others were walking. Stars, how many times was this lizard going to rub in the fact that you were a bit smaller than the over monsters?! "Go on, I told you we'll meet up afterwards."
"...prom'se?"
Lizard girl laughs, as if your question was absurd. "Of course, you dummy! Now go get over there."
Hesitantly, you wave goodbye to Alphys and walk over to the line with the others that were called.
The skeleton is tall and intimidating, like the floating monster said. He had twin cracks trailing up and down his eyesockets, which were multicolored. One was a burnt orange while the other was a deep purple, the same shade as the one you could see in your joints.
He looks at you in curiosity. You stare hesitantly back up at him, before he smiles. It's a large and toothy smile, full of sharp teeth. (Why did everyone have such sharp teeth?) However scary the grin is, you can feel the warm and familiar intent, like the one you would get from a father or a grandparent.
you haven't felt this in so long.
"Hello there, little one!"
FUCK! HOW SMALL EVEN ARE YOU?!
"I'm glad to see that magic sample I donated turned out well. Welcome to the world... do you mind speaking for me, child?"
"h...'llo, sir."
"Your font seems like Comic Sans MS. Normally, you don't get named until after the checkups, but it's an ancient tradition of us skeletons to name each other based off of our fonts. Welcome to the world, Sans."
The others in the small group behind the tall skeleton chitter in excitement about having a name. Some of them grumble in jealousy about the favoritism points you had just gained from this doctor, who was apparently your biological father. Nice... I guess????
You slide into the group as Gaster begins to walk down a hallway, and everybody else is seated while you're led into a check up room. There's stethoscopes, magnifying glasses, vials to the side with glowing liquids on a table. A bright red one catches your eye. That was important. You didn't know why, but you could just feel it.
Gaster checks your height, weight, and... sturdiness of your bones? While he did that, he hit a small hammer against one of your ribs. It was intensely ticklish the way it vibrated, but Gaster somehow checked the vibration frequency to see how dense and resilient to breaking your bones were.
He looked pretty happy, but his smile was wide and dangerous looking. It was a good thing you could read intent now, because the fatherly way he stared at you could be misinterpreted for a murderous and sadistic gaze otherwise. He was talking a lot, so you tuned him out while he went on and on.
"...and since you are so fragile, I'll prescribe you these magic supplements. They'll help you with your growth and development. You only need to eat one every two days. Do I make myself clear?"
"yessir."
"Wonderful! Alright, take these." He gives you a bottle of chalky white pills, that have a rainbow sheen on them. They smell sweet. "We will let all of you socialize in the lobby for about two ours before you retire to your bedrooms. As large as this facility is, we have limited rooming, so you will have a roommate. Any questions?"
You hesitate for a moment, feeling your body ache lightly in need for food. You didn't exactly have a stomach anymore, so hunger felt like a fierce gnawing in your bones. "i'm hungry. i wanna eat."
Gaster laughs. "Food will be served in the lobby. It's soup and sandwiches."
"soup? sandwiches?"
"You'll just have to wait and see, child. You should get going now; I don't want to leave the next child waiting."
...Sure, sure. But what the hell was a sandwich again...?