Chapter Text
You’re lying on your bed, face illuminated with dull white light, your phone held tightly in your hands. You didn’t often stay up past midnight reading fanfics, but you had found and insanely good one! It even had four separate installments!
”Bless the author,” you whispered, even as the contents caused you great emotional pain. You never faired well while reading angsty fanfics, but... you were too invested now.
Your flicked your thumb across the screen to scroll down farther.
That’s when you saw it.
The author’s words, so chock full of feeling... had changed, changed into a mess of near indecipherable symbols that filled your phone screen.
“What? What happened? Where’d the story go?” you asked frantically, sitting up in alarm and scrolling up and down, up and down, up and down. It was no use- whatever bug this was wasn’t going away. You couldn’t find a lick of recognizable text.
“I can’t understand this!” you said, scowling and shaking your phone back and forth in a futile attempt to force it back the way it was.
Sighing, you ran a hand down your face. You’d just have to deal with this in the morning, or something.
You shifted in bed to plug your phone into it’s charger. Glancing once more at your phone screen, you nearly screamed in relief when you saw a small bit of text that was not that strange-but-vaguely-familiar set of symbols.
Taking a deep breath to settle yourself, you read the two small words that had appeared.
help me
There was a dull thud as your phone struck the carpeted floor of your room.
“What the actual fuck,” you whispered as you fished the phone off the floor.
You looked again, still startled to see those two words there.
Help me.
Who needed help? And why you? What would- no, what could- you even do?
I am sorry. This must be very shocking for you.
More words had formed before you could ponder upon your predicament further.
“Who is this?” you asked, more to yourself than... whatever had taken over your phone.
You may call me Dr. Gaster
After that fateful night, you had grown rather close to Gaster. In less than a month’s time, you had managed to piece together that your strange friend was a Monster and was now, for some odd reason, trapped in... some place. He (that was one of the first things you had asked of Gaster) never told you, and you were content with that.
Not happy, but content.
It was much easier to communicate, now that you knew that Gaster preferred to speak in Wingdings, of all things. You had managed to get a more tech-savy friend to code you an app to translate Wingdings automatically into a more readable font.
You were lying in bed, once again staring into your phone long past midnight.
If asked, you would have denied feeling worried, but...
You opened the notes app and created a new page.
“Gaster?” you asked, hesitantly. You weren’t sure the monster slept, but you didn’t want to be rude.
Yes?
”Can you tell me how you got... Wherever you are?” you asked, hating the way your voice gave away exactly how nervous you were to probe into your strange companion’s past.
”Uhh, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to!” you corrected yourself as words started to appear on your phone.
It is quite alright. I was wondering when you were going to ask
”Are you making fun of me?” you asked, treating your phone to a playfully suspicious glare.
Perhaps. You have been unusually silent about the topic.
“I thought you would talk to me about it eventually,” you remarked, shuffling around in bed so that your neck was in a more comfortable position.
When Gaster responded with an ellipsis, you gasped in mock betrayal.
“You were running an experiment?”
Yes
”On me, your beloved friend and savior? Your one and only companion? Your- dare I say it- best friend?”
When Gaster didn’t respond, you dropped the playful tone.
“Really, what happened? I can’t read your mind, dude. You’re gonna have to tell me,” you said, trying to keep your voice gentle.
I, in your crude wording, royalty fucked up
Instantly the mood changed. Never before had you seen Gaster drop an F-bomb. He usually spoke with an almost clinical detachment.
This amount of feeling was unusual for him, or at least for you to see.
I have told you about SOULs before, yes?
Before you could open your mouth to answer, text flooded your screen.
And you know about the barrier. Everyone knows about the barrier. You told me about it, for fuck’s sake.
Underground, I used to be someone. Someone important. A royal scientist. The Royal Scientist. I was charged with find a way to break the barrier, or at least get past it.
My theory was that if I got enough DETERMINATION into one body, someone could cross the barrier and absorb the human souls nessisary for our escape.
The problem is that Monsters do not have very much DETERMINATION. Not very much at all.
It must have something to do with our innate magical abilities or our bodies being less physical than a human’s. Not enough flesh to get in the way of the magic.
I am getting off topic.
And if a Monster were to lose too much of their DETERMINATION, they would... Fall Down.
The best way to describe it in human medical terms is a coma. I made a DETERMINATION extractor/inserter, to fix those who had Fallen Down and to get past the barrier.
I...
I did not have the proof that the machine worked. I...
I could not ask King Asgore for test subjects.
I did, however, have my own SOUL.
I...
I...
i...
”Oh, no, Gaster,” you whispered, “It’s gonna be ok, I promise.”
it is highly illogical to make a promise you cannot keep
”I’ll make it a thousand million times if you want me to,” you smiled sadly. “I think it would be best if we both got some rest. Is that ok with you?”
In the weeks to come, information spilled out of Gaster like water out of a faucet.
He told you... everything.
He explained the CORE (that left you with a headache), he spoke of his assistants and scientist buddies, and most importantly, he told you of his family.
Their names are Sans and Papyrus.
“Who?” you whispered softly. You were out in public, treating yourself to some much-deserved sunlight and window shopping when he had dropped this bomb on you.
They’re my brothers.
“You have brothers?”
Yes. I am not sure what has become of them in my absence, but... I hope they are well.
“Well, tell me what they look like, so if I run into them I can tell them that you still love them!
You actually met his two brothers faster than you would have expected.
You were out in the grocery store one Saturday morning, picking up your groceries for the rest of the month when you heard them.
Or rather, you heard Papyrus.
“HUMAN! I APPRECIATE YOUR TASTE IN PASTA BUT I MUST GRAB SOME SPAGHETTI!” a rather loud voice startled you out of some small chat with Gaster.
When you turned around to face the voice, you were greeted with someone you were more familiar with that you probably should be.
Papyrus was taller than Gaster had told you. He was also much, much louder. But the general description was there- a skeleton Monster with small eyes, arms and legs as thin as a stick, and an outrageously flamboyant way of talking.
“Papyrus!” you couldn’t help but say, relieved, surprised, and scared all at the same time as you stood face to face with a Monster you had heard so much about.
“HUMAN? HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?” Papyrus questioned before brushing it off, “AHH! OF COURSE! YOU MUST HAVE HEARD OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS FROM THE STORIES SPREAD FAR AND WIDE OF HIS EPIC COOLNESS!”
You stood there, slightly dumbfounded. Now that you were in front of one of Gaster’s brothers, you didn’t know what to say.
What could you say? Hey, guess what, your long-lost brother possessed my phone and misses you terribly?
“hey kid,” another voice, this one much calmer but infinitely more threatening, broke you out of your trance. It belonged to Sans, seeing as the shorter skeleton (he was a bit chubbier and messier than Gaster had described) stepped out from behind his preening brother and fixed you with a long, hard glare.
“Yes?” you asked, your voice once again betraying your true feelings as it cracked.
“how’d you know his name? i’m not buyin’ any story that you heard it online or on the news or anything,” Sans says, glaring at you suspiciously.
“Umm... I’ll answer that, just... um. Give me a minute, I can... move my cart out of the way?” you stammered, trying to come up with a good enough excuse to consult Gaster.
Sans seemed ok with that, so you quickly moved your half-filled cart away from the pasta. When you glanced at your phone, you were both surprised and not surprised to see rows of text filling the screen.
What happened? Are you ok?
Did I hear Papyrus?
Tell him that I’m ok! And that I’ll teach him how to tie his shoes! i never fulfilled that promise...
Tell him that I miss him! Tell him not to kill his brother or burn down the house!
Wait, is that Sans?
Is he pissed at you? He probably is. He would definitely be pissed at you.
Tell him... tell him I’m sorry. Tell him that I’m alive, tell him that there was nothing he could do to stop it so don’t blame himself.
tell them i love them
”Don’t worry, dude, I will!” you smiled at your phone. As soon as you did, you glanced at Sans, wondering if he had heard you talking to your phone. Did he think you were crazy? You glanced down to see if Gaster had said anything else, and...
thank you
You smiled once again. Gaster- with you acting as a sort of messenger- would be able to speak to his family again.
“kid? you got some explanin’ to do,” Sans reminded you.
“Ah. Yes. About that,” you said, DETERMINED to have this conversation but not sure how to start.
“Your brother kinda possessed my phone and told me all about you?”
It had been considerably easier to convince Sans that Gaster was possessing your phone once you explained everything Gaster had told you.
Papyrus took the news better, and started to address your phone as ‘brother’.
The two Monsters even introduced you to their other friends, but you maintained a healthy distance from them all.
If asked, you would have denied feeling intimidated, but...
You couldn’t help thinking that any one of them at any time had the immense magical power that could spell your doom.
You felt much safer with Gaster and the other skeletons. They made you laugh, and aside from Sans’s first impression, you had never once felt intimidated.
Gaster felt the opposite, from what you gathered.
Human, we need to talk.
”Why?” you asked. It was midnight again, and you had been in the middle of yet another outstanding fanfic. Still, you put shifted in bed. Gaster never called you ‘human’ anymore. Why was he now?
Human, I am not happy about my situation. I wish to possess my old body.
"Yea, that’s reasonable. What do I have to do to help?” you asked.
You should not have to help with anything.
It is... unfair that I have forced this task upon you.
It would be beneficial if I could talk to King Asgore.
I have a theory on how to fix my SOUL.
”Gaster, that’s wonderful news! I can definitely take you to Asgore!” you said, trying to hide the fact that you would prefer to get back to your fanfic than talk to Asgore. He was just so... scary.
No, you would not. You are afraid.
I do not blame you. Monsters can be quite intimidating.
No, I would rather have Sans take me.
If you were to agree to this, you would be without a phone for a significant amount of time.
I apologize, but I do not know exactly how long this will take.
And... If you agree, I can not say for certain that we will speak again until after I recover my body.
There was something ringing. You stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen. Maybe the microwave went off?
It hadn’t. And neither had the fire alarm.
That was when you realized that the ringing was coming from yourself. Your ears were ringing.
You stumbled your way back to bed before speaking.
“You... You don’t want my help?”
If your life with Gaster was strange before, it was even stranger now.
Gaster had always been with you. Your talks had often lasted long into the night.
For weeks after the incident, you stared blankly at your new phone, wondering what you did wrong.
Was it your questions? Did asking him all those things about his life make him hate you?
Or... Was it the fact that you were scared of the other Monsters?
It didn’t matter, you told yourself. He would come back in a proper body and you’d be able to actually hang out then.
Those words felt like lies.
It had gotten better. You found new friends. At first they questioned your habit of texting them at all hours of the day, but eventually you were able to break that habit.
It had been three months since the incident when you had gotten an update text from Sans.
’everythings going fine,’ it said.
’were close to fixing g’s soul’ it said.
You didn’t get another update for two months.
’good news, g has his soul. hes too weak to get out of the house, but hell be fine’ it said.
You felt elated at that. Gaster was ok!
You had been lounging on your bed, reading yet another fanfic when it happened.
The doorbell rang, and you rushed to put on a pair of pants before answering the door.
“Hello, what are you...” your voice trailed off as a tall Monster loomed over you.
He was dressed in a black lab coat and slacks, with a soft cream turtleneck peeking out of the top.
His face was as smooth as a stone polished by a river. Only a pair of eyes, a mouth, and two curious black lines broke the otherwise flawless white skull.
In his pitch black eyes were two pinpricks of silver light...
Just like Sans...
”Gaster?” you asked, voice strangled. You were suddenly hyper aware of how you looked- messy hair, dark bags under your eyes, and your most comfortable (and therefore most grody) jammies.
”Human?” the Monster- Gaster- asked.
“Why don’t you come inside?”