Work Text:
A crash. A bang. A boom. Then—
“AGHHH!”
Gaster screamed in pain as the machine began to spark. Something had gone wrong.
“G-Gaster, we have t-to turn off the machine!” Doctor Gaster’s assistant screamed. Alphys was a brilliant scientist, and especially excelled when it came to engineering. She belonged to the lizard sub species of monster and had bright yellow skin. Doctor Gaster himself was a tall skeleton, with cracks running up and down from his eye sockets. (He’d gotten those when he had attempted to increase his magic with an untested machine.) “N-NO! WE CAN’T WE’RE CLOSE!” Gaster managed to shout through the pain. He had to endure. If this worked, he would know so much more about the human souls. “B-but Gaster-““DON’T TURN IT OFF!” Gaster shouted at Alphys, as loud as he could, so that she’d listen.
The machine was nearly finished, he could hear the noises quieting.
Hold on.
Why was the world spinning? Why was his vision fading to-
…
Doctor W.D Gaster, the most famous scientist in the history of the underground, awoke in a dingy old hospital room. It was very primitive, as it had been built long ago. It was made for any lab workers who were injured during work and couldn’t make it to more reliable places. Infront of him was King Asgore, ruler of The Underground. During the war between humans and monsters, his father had died, and the mantle of king had been thrust upon him. With no other options, he told all of monster kind to retreat. They’d fled into a massive cave in the depths of Mount Ebott and humans cast a spell, creating a barrier to prevent them from leaving. It was part of Gaster’s duty to find a way to remove this barrier. “WHAT HAPPENED?” The King looked startled, but recovered quickly. “The doctors told me you would not be awake for a while.”
“WELL THEY WERE WRONG. NOW, I ASK AGAIN: WHAT HAPPENED?”
“…You passed out from the pain. And, due to this, I am afraid I must force you out of your duties. At least for a while.”
…
Gaster had been in shock when Asgore had said those words, been in shock on the way home, and still in shock as he knocked on his door.
The door opened suddenly, and Gaster looked down to see his sons. To the left was Sans, a small short skeleton, but one with remarkable magic capabilities. On the right was Papyrus. He was tall and strong, but had less magic than average.
“BOYS! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN!”
…
It had been a week since Gaster had been forced to take some time off.
A week.
He was being driven mad by all the ideas bouncing around in his head, all the potential experiments, and all disappearing as quickly as they’d come into his mind. He couldn’t do it anymore. He needed back int the labs, he had to research, to experiment. And luckily his son had just the thing he needed. Gaster quietly snuck to Sans’ room, and opened the door. “SON? ARE YOU AWAKE?”
The small skeleton made some noises and moved a bit. “i don’t wanna go to school…”
“SANS, I NEED YOUR HELP!”
Sans groggily got up and rubbed his eyes. “wha- dad? it’s still night.”
“I KNOW, BUT I NEED YOU TO TELEPORT ME.”
Sans looked annoyed at this. “no. dad, you can’t just-“
“PLEASE, SANS? I’LL GET YOU PIZZA!”
Gaster knew Sans couldn’t resist the promise of pizza.
…
Gaster was ready. He had put all the precautions into place- although he’d done it hastily- and put everything into place.
“ENTRY NUMBER SIXTEEN. I RECENTLY DISCOVERED WHAT I HAVE DUBBED A TEAR. THESE PLACES CAN HAVE VARYING EFFECTS, BUT USUALLY INFLUENCE TIME AND SPACE.”
Gaster flicked a switch. A light began glowing red.
“TODAY I SHALL ATTEMPT TO OPEN ONE OF THESE TEARS.”
He pressed the button. And all hell broke loose.
The Tear opened almost immediately, which Gaster definitely had not expected. But then it began to suck everything inside of it. The glass began to crack. Gaster tried turning it off, tried pulling the power plug, but nothing worked. It had already gotten to big. And, finally the glass shattered.
The glass didn’t even have a chance to fall to the floor. It instantly got sucked into the tear. Gaster, thinking quickly, used blue magic to make himself heavier. Then he heard a shout. “dad! help!” Gaster looked to his side only to see Sans flying into the rift. He didn’t have enough magic; he couldn’t pull him back-
Relying on instinct alone, Gaster leapt off the ground and tried to grab his son—
…
A child wearing a green and yellow sweater, slaughtering everyone.
A human.
All bad.
Put them here in the first place.
“heh. the ol’ woopie cushion in the hand trick.”
An anomaly.
…
When Gaster awoke, he found he was on the floor. Everything was black.
Gaster tried to open his eyes, only to realise.
They already were. He was surrounded by an infinite expanse of nothing, no tear in sight.
No son in sight. He might be stuck here, might be trapped, all because of his damn curiosity.
“Heh! All alone, the doctor’s here! Things have never been more clear!“
A voice came from the darkness.
“W-WHO’S THERE?”
“A simple friend, here to play! And to force you to stay!”
That didn’t sound good. Gaster summoned one of his blasters. He’d created them to use force to disintegrate the barrier but that had not worked. He now used them as extremely powerful weapons.
“Wow, Gaster, I’m not a threat! You should not be here yet!”
What the hell did that mean? What did it mean not yet?!
Gaster allowed the blaster to charge.
“WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN!”
The voice paused for a long moment, then a massive cat-like figure appeared. It had one yellow and one pink. It also had a tail with a point at the end.
And held by the tail was Sans. “Tell ya what, I’ll give you a deal! A once in a lifetime opportunity deal! You can learn everything, the secrets I know! Or you can fight, trade blows! Tell me, is he worth that much? You can know all, at a simple touch!” The thing extended a paw. Gaster was tempted to take it, to learn all, to sate that unending curiosity he’d felt since he was young. All he had to do was take it’s hand. He had another son, this one was just the backup he created. So, the answer was clear.
“NO!”
Gaster fired the blaster, and the thing recoiled in pain. The creature’s tail let go of Snas, and Gaster used gravity magic to pull Sans towards him. The thing pointed it’s tail at Gaster, and he expected a fight, but the creature spoke instead. “Well, good job, curious one! It looks like it is the end of our fun!”
Using it’s tail, the creature tore a whole. A stable tear.
“Your prize is a way out! No need for violence nor shout!”
Gaster didn’t think about why it was letting him go. About what it’s words could mean.
Curiosity, after all, did kill the cat.
…
As Gaster floated in the endless nothing, and saw a tear open, and saw his sons on the other side, a memory resurfaced.
“BUT SATISFACTION BROUGHT IT BACK.”
