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She has not seen him for over a month now. No phone calls, no text messages, nothing. Ever since Asgore called for that meeting, and they saw those cracks in his face- scars that neither of them understood- they realized this project of his was worse than they ever thought.That was the last time he would push them away.Alphys cared very much about his well being, and so did Asgore. It was like he had disappeared from the Underground itself. Even though he did not talk to them much since he began the barrier research, Asgore and Alphys had never experienced true silent treatment from him.But it was Alphys who would react first- without Asgore’s advice.Gripping the tablet in her hands, she faced the first locked door of the Lab. The words, “No access. Only authorized personnel beyond this point” flashed in bright green. Such a warning only caused the anxiety to boil within her. She was authorized for this, right? She was a scientist for Asgore, after all. If anyone had the right to find out exactly what he was doing to hurt himself, it was her.As she plugged the tablet into the magic pulse reader on the wall, she scanned the hallway a few times. Hopefully, he wasn’t making his way back to the Lab already. The magic scanner made a quick "beep" noise that startled her for a second but helped to regain her focus on the task at hand. She could hear the locks shifting in the door and once it was open, she unplugged the machine and closed the door on the way out. She began walking into an area she had never seen before.The loud tapping of Alphys claws against the magic duplicator echoed into the hallways and rooms of the lab. She had to drown out the silence around her, or she might just drop what she’s doing and instantly forget about all this. But the rooms she viewed intrigued her. One had a laser mounted on a wall, the other looked like an operating room, and there was even a very large, empty room with machinery at a higher level. She did not go into the rooms- she just kept walking and walking, looking for something that would make sense out of all this.She heard a faint buzzing sound in a hallway to the left of her. The faint light that came from that direction also called to her attention. She turned left and made her way towards the sound. In the distance, she thought she could make out a grid of lasers, or a forcefield of some kind.Alphys only grew more nervous as she got closer. What could possibly be caged down here? What was this “barrier research” he started years ago?That’s when she saw them. She was so startled that she dropped her tablet onto the concrete floor.“Sk-skeletons?!” she gasped. “I thought th-they, I thought he was the last one?”Alphys was so confused and shocked to see two of his own kind. She stared at them, and they stared back with their heads tilted. Their tired eyes bore into hers with apprehension.“Why are y-you in this... um... holding c-cell? Are you two, hurt or… sick?”The taller one spoke to the skeleton next to him, “👌︎❒︎□︎⧫︎♒︎♏︎❒︎📪︎ ⬥︎♒︎□︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ⧫︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎✍︎ ♋︎❒︎♏︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎⍓︎ ♋︎ ❍︎□︎■︎⬧︎⧫︎♏︎❒︎ ●︎♓︎🙵♏︎ ◆︎⬧︎✍︎” The smaller one responded back, “♓︎ ♎︎□︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎🙵 ⧫︎♒︎♏︎⍓︎🕯︎❒︎♏︎ ♋︎ ⬧︎🙵♏︎●︎♏︎⧫︎□︎■︎ ♌︎❒︎□︎📪︎ ♓︎♐︎ ⧫︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎🕯︎⬧︎ ⬥︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎🕯︎❒︎♏︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎🙵♓︎■︎♑︎📬︎ ♌︎◆︎⧫︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎⍓︎🕯︎❖︎♏︎ ♑︎□︎⧫︎ ♋︎ ●︎♋︎♌︎ ♍︎□︎♋︎⧫︎ ●︎♓︎🙵♏︎ ♒︎♓︎❍︎📬︎ ♓︎ ⬥︎□︎◆︎●︎♎︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ⧫︎❒︎◆︎⬧︎⧫︎ 🕯︎♏︎❍︎📬︎”Alphys couldn’t understand what they were saying, but their speech pattern seemed familiar. “Maybe I should try… sign language?” She moved her hands so to communicate the question she asked before. But they didn’t seem to understand that, either. They became more curious about the monster in front of them and walked up to the force field. In the light, she caught a glimpse of something on their hands. Something shiny. The smaller skeleton pulled the other back when it got too close to her. And that’s when she noticed the metal on their hands. It spelled out the initials W.D.G.She almost fell backward then, and the world around her seemed to get a little blurry.“Oh my god…no no no… he-he couldn’t have… I mean, he… he isn’t bad, is he? It’s all okay. He’s just doing this to… wait… what is he even doing?? Why does he need-”All these questions buzzed in her head. She thought back to the rooms in the hallways. The operating room… And the lasers, the complicated machinery, the tools… Were they really his offspring, or… creations of his?She just really needed to sit down.Then she heard footsteps. They were in a rush.How long had she been down here? It couldn’t have been too long; there was no one behind her. But she closed the door. It kept him out, yes. But she wouldn’t know if he was coming. What if… there was another entrance? She began hyperventilating. All she could do was slowly back away from them.“I-I-I’m sorry, I have to- I have to go. They’re w-waiting on me, a-after all… M-m-maybe we’ll s-see each other s-soon. G-goodbye.” She turned around, but did not move forward. She was frozen in place.He was standing behind her, bent down and catching his breath, but still holding onto the Blue magic that kept her still.“✌︎●︎◻︎♒︎⍓︎⬧︎📬︎📬︎📬︎” He didn’t have the strength to sign at first, and he was still breathing. But then the blue hands appeared and waved signs in the air.“Alphys. I…” the hands stopped. Gaster looked up at her in disappointment. “I really did not want it to come to this.” He walked over to her. With all her soul, she really, really wanted to back away. She saw pity in his eyes. Was he sorry that she tried to help him? That was all she knew to do. She didn’t want him to go through this alone. She wanted to help.Gaster stopped moving and took a heavy sigh. “I’m not going to hurt you Alphys. But, I can not let you leave. I can not allow you to tell Asgore about this. Now that you know what I have done… I am afraid you will have to stay here until my research is finished.”“Gaster wait, let’s- let’s think about this. I-I won’t tell anyone, I p-promise! You-you can’t just l-leave me here. I-I have things I n-need to do. A-asgore n-needs me. The u-underground needs me!”“It needs me also,” he responded back. He made his way to another magic pulse reader next to the cell. He put his hand on it, with the perfectly cut hole that she had never gotten used to. The forcefield shut off, and the brothers never moved an inch. Then he stared blankly for a few moments. Gaster looked so tired and empty, while Alphys’ heart was racing so fast, that she thought he might hear it.“Please Gaster, don’t do this. E-everything will work out. I-I could help you! I could h-help you with your research. We- we could break the barrier together! Just… just… don’t make me hate you.”That snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked at her in confusion. But he shrugged it off as he used his magic to place her into the cell.“The-they’re going to find me!” The forcefield turned back on. “Y-you won’t be able to keep doing this for much longer!”“You’re right. They will look for you.” He agreed. “But we’ll play it off. They won’t believe anything is going on. I’ll show up when Asgore calls me. And so will you. He will not be worried about me anymore.”He turned around and made his way down the hallway. Alphys couldn’t react. All she could do was sit there and stare out beyond the green lasers. Things wouldn’t be the same anymore.Suddenly, her phone rang and she jumped up. The skeleton kids were also startled. The footsteps stopped and made its way back toward them. She rushed to grab her phone out of her pocket so that she could try answering it, but Gaster was staring at her, arms folded.“Ahem.” Alphys was about to answer it, but stopped short of pressing the button. “You will have to give up your cell phone. And any other gadgets you may have.” She looked back at her phone in her hand and the tablet in her other pocket. After a few seconds, she sighed and got up to hand him her devices between the lasers. Gaster tensed up before he used Blue magic to take the items from her.“There will be no tests today.” He said as he looked behind Alphys. “I will have to sort out this new complication.” The brothers' faces glowed from this good news. “And Alphys.” She looked up at him. “Teach them sign language. You do not understand Wingdings, and it would make things easier if we understood each other.”She turned to look at her new roommates, who now took pity on her also. She was going to help them all. But now, she’s the one that needed help. This was such a failure.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
He was lost now. He didn’t know what to do after this. His mind was going through a maze of different thoughts, similar to the corridors he was walking in now. A maze of darkness. When he was on his way to the Lab, he did not expect to receive an intruder alarm. And he did not expect Alphys to be the intruder. It was partly his fault though, he has pushed her away ever since the beginning. She understood something was wrong, but because she respected his privacy, she never asked. It was inevitable, really. One day he would have forced his friends to be so worried about him, that they would go behind his back to find out what he was hiding. He was extremely tired from the mess of the past month. And he’d like to retreat to his office so that he could smoke alone, and drown in his own thoughts. Gaster slowly staggered into the room and let out a heavy sigh when he sat into the chair. Opening the drawer next to him, he grabbed the pack of cigarettes he found in Waterfall, lighting it with the lighter in his pocket. He held it in between his phalanges and he placed his other hand on his left temple. As Gaster breathed in the fumes, and let them out, it was like he was expelling the feelings he held in. It cleansed him, in a way. Helped him focus. He questioned why he was keeping Alphys here in the first place. Imprisonment seemed like a rash response to her compassion for him, just because she was curious about what he did alone. And it’s not like he didn’t want to tell someone about his secrets, because deep down inside, Gaster was worn out from this project. He could tell he wasn’t the same anymore, that he didn’t have the same energy as when he first began experimenting with his Subjects. Of all the people he could tell though, Gaster would never let Alphys find out. He knew what it would do to her if she did know- it would break her. It would break one of the few friendships she has. But at the same time… He can afford a few broken relationships when it comes to freeing the Underground. If he had let her go, the entire kingdom would have discovered his project even before the King did. The burden of a new secret would have been too much for her. Gaster reached for his phone inside of his lab coat pocket and turned it on. His background was still a picture of him and Alphys awkwardly throwing peace signs at the camera. It came with the phone upgrade she gave him a few years ago, including the translation program that was installed with it. Staring at the picture reminded him of everything they have done in the Underground. All of their accomplishments, every happy moment, every friendly conversation... She was too kind for her own good. Gaster turned the phone back off and stared into the dark reflection. He told himself that he wouldn’t give up, that he would do whatever it takes to free everyone. He was determined then. As he saw his face stare back at him, something which he has not seen in a long time… he knew that determination was still there. There was no turning back before, and there was no turning back now. A simple “complication” in his work will not stop him. Nothing will. Sure, things have gone downhill in the past few months, but things would change. He would make them change. Maybe there was a way to teach her, somehow. To show her that what he’s doing, is for the good of monsterkind. That he’s not illogical, or sadistic, or crazy. That there is a reason behind all of this. Maybe she will see. Alphys is smart, after all. She may understand. He turned his head to the test tubes on the far wall. How long has it been? Maybe 6 or 7 years, but he could still remember when he first incubated them in the tubes. If he tried hard enough, he could still feel the pain he had to undergo to create them. It took lots and lots of planning to make sure everything would work out. And Gaster could not afford anything but perfection when it came to the creating process. Or so he tried to. That work couldn’t go to waste, could it? He didn’t want to lose his test subjects. That’s why he protected them when that monstrosity showed up from the Other World. It… nearly killed him, if it wasn’t for Subject 2. He was sure his arm wasn’t completely healed, even after all this time. Gaster bent his arm, just to see how it felt. Better than before. He was lucky to have survived. The monster did say something unnerving then, that… no one would remember him. Everything he would do would go to waste. If this is true… It can’t be true. Gaster would not let himself accept defeat. He could have been talking about another timeline, not this one. At least, that’s what he hoped. He put out his cigarette and tossed it in the ashtray as he got up. Now he walked over to the empty tubes. The question that faced him was, where would he go from here? The SOUL tests haven’t been very useful in the long run, so what other options were left? He began to reflect on the amount of work that was put into the CORE. The endless precautions, the complicated design… that was also when he began the Inter-Dimensional Fatigue research. He was inexperienced then. And when he tried to use the CORE to power his time machines, it led to disastrous effects. Yes, he almost killed his test subjects and himself just a month ago, but that was his mistake. He should not have been trying to reach unstable timelines. But maybe instead of exploring weak realities, he could find stable realities, and access the most vital parts of the past and future... That’s exactly what he would do. He would not dare to open the Void again. Instead, he would locate points in the Underground’s history. There were so many benefits to timeline exploration that he could easily find a way to break the barrier, hidden within other worlds. Gaster saw his eyes sparkle in the glass. He could feel his curiosity flare inside him. It sort of made him feel young again, after all these years. He was back to square one, but that didn’t matter. Things would be different now. To end his day, he went to the computer on his desk and entered the command to shut off the lights in the Lab. The darkness quickly flooded the hallways, and he was left with the glow emitting from the screen. A smirk appeared on his face as he headed out of the office. ======================================================================================== Darkness… then blinding light. She awoke by the sudden shift in illumination. She lifted her head, and the first question that came to her mind was why she was laying in a blanket on a hard floor. As her eyes began to dilate, she noticed her surroundings. Alphys almost forgot she was trapped, locked behind those green lasers in front of her. Now she remembered what happened before the lights went out- she was given this blanket. One of the brothers gave it to her. They had two at the time and didn’t need an extra one, especially since there was a new prisoner that day. They were able to share the other one. Alphys looked over to them; they didn’t seem to be waking up just yet. They were against the wall on a bunker, the smaller one asleep under the taller one’s head. They held one of their hands together- the taller skeleton’s was twitching. He must be waking up. He opened his eyes and gently shook his brother. A sluggish jumble of sounds came from his mouth. “☟☜✡📪 👌☼⚐❄☟☜☼📪 ❄☟☜ ☹✋☝☟❄💧 ✌☼☜ ⚐☠📬” The other one opened its eyesockets halfway, only to close it again. “□♒📬 ♓ ♎□■’⧫ ♐♏♏● ●♓&♏ ⬥♋&♓■♑ ◆p ⧫□♎♋⍓📪” responded the skeleton. “👌☼⚐❄☟☜☼✏” He shook him a little harder. “❄☟✋💧 💣⚐☠💧❄☜☼ 🕈✋☹☹ ❄☜✌👍☟ 🕆💧 💣⚐☼☜ ⚐☞ ❄☟☜ ☠☜🕈 ☹✌☠☝🕆✌☝☜ ❄⚐👎✌✡📪 💧⚐ 🕈☜ ☟✌✞☜ ❄⚐ ☝☜❄ 🕆🏱📬” His brother responded in a tired tone as he sat upright. The taller skeleton grabbed the blanket they slept in and put it on the ground. They both looked anxiously at Alphys, who sat on top of her sheet. She blinked a few times and looked at them. Were they waiting for something? “Oh, right,” she mumbled. “I need to continue teaching you two my language.” She looked around for the papers from last night. They were in the corner of the cell. Alphys slowly got up and collected them. She also grabbed two pencils. Afterward, she sat back on the floor and spread them out in front of her. The skeletons watched her until she finished setting up their lesson, then they slid off the bunker and sat crossed legged on Alphys’s blanket. On some paper, the Wingdings alphabet was sketched in black. Under that, the primary monster language was written in blue. After getting them to practice writing their ABC’s on the other sheets- which they picked up fairly quickly- she had a little time to write out some words and teach the sign language with it, that is until the lights turned off. She decided to test their knowledge before continuing with the new words, and so she pointed to the word in front of her. It was “home.” Then she motioned for them to sign it. At first, they looked at each other and back at the paper. Then the taller skeleton’s eyes widen, and he put one closed hand at his mouth, moving it to right under his ear. The shorter skeleton nodded and did the same. Alphys clapped her hands in response. “Good! Okay, try this one.” She pointed to the word “monster,” and then back at him. He responded back, sort of mockingly, with his hands opened up at his head, ready to claw at her. His brother did it also, then he signed back to the other skeleton next to him, who chuckled.
Alphys giggled watching them. After that, she showed them the rest of the words. The two monsters opened and closed their hands, touched their chins, and performed other signs for the words they learned yesterday. Alphys smiled and nodded back when they were done. After that, she took a new sheet of paper and wrote a different word in Wingdings. She passed it to them and the taller one wrote it out, giving it a puzzled look. The word was “knowledge.” “Yep, that says knowledge. Here’s the sign language for it.” She waved her hand in front of them to get their attention, waited, then pointed one hand at her head. The smaller skeleton matched her motion. His brother followed in suit. She nodded again and responded gleefully “Great!” They kept that position for a few seconds before the taller skeleton lit up and quickly hugged his brother. “🕈☜’☼☜ ☹☜✌☼☠✋☠☝ ✋❄✏ ✋❄ ☟✌💧 👌☜☜☠ 💧⚐ ☹⚐☠☝ 💧✋☠👍☜ ✋ ☟✌✞☜ ☹☜✌☼☠☜👎 💧⚐💣☜❄☟✋☠☝ ☠☜🕈✏ ✌☞❄☜☼ 🕈☜’☼☜ ☞✋☠✋💧☟☜👎📪 🕈☜ 👍✌☠ ☞✋☠✌☹☹✡ ❄✌☹😐 ❄⚐ ☟☜☼✏” “♑●♋♎ ⍓□◆’❒♏ ♏⌧♍♓⧫♏♎ ♌❒□📪” added the other skeleton. This interaction was interrupted by an all too familiar sound of footsteps. Alphys’s grin dropped quickly as her lips tightened and the brothers’ faces immediately became frightened. The three of them looked beyond their cell... and waited. Alphys noticed all the papers askew and quickly stacked them together, trying to make their cell look neater. Gaster arrived in front of the lasers and looked at each of them. He scanned his hand on the wall, and they turned off. Alphys was curious as to why he decided to just stand there without keeping them locked in. But then he looked towards the brothers. “✋🕯❖♏ ♑□⧫ ⬧□❍♏⧫♒♓■♑ ■♏⬥ ♐□❒ ⧫♒♏ ⧫⬥□ □♐ ⍓□◆ ⧫□♎♋⍓📬" They looked shocked at his words, as Alphys noticed. But she was confused and concerned about what caused them to be in peril. Gaster faced her and his magic blue hands appeared in the air. “They will only be out for an hour,” he responded with his signs. She still didn’t understand what was going on. Why would they be gone for a whole hour? Why is he taking both of them? What… what was he going to do to them? She began to panic. “Come on.” He motioned for them to follow. They looked at each other for a few seconds, exchanging panicked faces. But they got up, held their brother’s hand, and headed out. Just then, Alphys blurted, “Wait. Wait! Wh-why d-do you n-need them both? Di-did they… or did I…” He ignored her calls and just looked towards the two smaller skeletons. “Wh-where ar-are you g-going?” He turned the lasers back on. “W-will th-they be okay?” No response. “Don’t… don’t hurt them!” They turned and walked down the corridor. “Please! ”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s been more than an hour. It has to have been. Or so she guessed. It felt liked time passed so slowly here. Ever since he took them away, Alphys just sat in the middle of the cell, wondering what could be happening to them. She has read manga before where curious scientists would push the limits of human strength and mind. Probing, injecting, and testing what was inside of them. Only for personal gain, or for “science.”
She really hoped these stories were not actually coming true. But at the same time, she was witnessing one unfold right in front of her. While scary thoughts and images loomed in her head, she heard light, small footsteps. They’re returning. The thought made her jump up to the laser beams. Alphys tried her best to peek between them. She expected to see the skeletons bandaged up, or crazed from the experience. But first, she saw Gaster, whose own thoughts distracted and confused him. She decided it wasn’t right to be impatient, and so sat on the bunker, holding the edge tightly. He got to the cell, looked around inside, reached over to the scanner, and got to the side. Behind him, the two skeletons were holding each other up. Nothing looked damaged, but they seemed really tired. Drained. They walked into the cell slowly, almost tripping over each other. It took her a second to notice, but both of their heads were burned at the temples, and only ashes were left. They made sounds at the pains they felt. She was too focused on the skeletons to notice the other scientist staring at her. He looked back at his Subjects before signing to her.
"Heal them."
“Wait. I-I don’t think-” she couldn’t even finish her sentence before he disappeared down the hall. “✋︎ ☝︎⚐︎❄︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ 👌︎☼︎⚐︎❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎📬︎ ☺︎🕆︎💧︎❄︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ☹︎☜︎❄︎🕯︎💧︎📪︎ 💧︎✋︎❄︎ 👎︎⚐︎🕈︎☠︎📪︎” the taller skeleton kneeled on the floor and still held his brother by the shoulder. The smaller skeleton dizzyingly fell on his knees, and almost lost his balance, if the other wasn’t there to pick him up. He held his head and looked at him. “♑︎□︎♎︎📪︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ♒︎♏︎♋︎♎︎ ♒︎◆︎❒︎⧫︎⬧︎📬︎ ♒︎□︎⬥︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ♒︎□︎⬥︎ ♎︎♓︎♎︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ♒︎♋︎◻︎◻︎♏︎■︎📬︎📬︎📬︎" “✋︎☞︎ ✋︎ ☼︎☜︎💣︎☜︎💣︎👌︎☜︎☼︎ 👍︎⚐︎☼︎☼︎☜︎👍︎❄︎☹︎✡︎📪︎ 🕈︎☜︎ 🕈︎☜︎☼︎☜︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ 🕆︎💣︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ✋︎☠︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ ☟︎☜︎✌︎👎︎💧︎☜︎❄︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎ 🕈︎☜︎ 🕈︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ 🕈︎✌︎❄︎👍︎☟︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ 💧︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎❄︎☟︎✋︎☠︎☝︎📬︎📬︎📬︎” “□︎♒︎ ⍓︎♏︎♋︎♒︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ♓︎🕯︎❍︎ ■︎□︎⧫︎ ⬧︎◆︎❒︎♏︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ♌︎◆︎⧫︎ ♎︎♓︎♎︎ ♒︎♏︎ ⬧︎♋︎⍓︎ ⬧︎□︎❍︎♏︎⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♋︎♌︎□︎◆︎⧫︎ ✋︎👎︎☼︎✍︎ ●︎♓︎🙵♏︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ⬧︎□︎❍︎♏︎⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ❒︎♏︎♋︎●︎♓︎⧫︎⍓︎✍︎ ♓︎ ⬥︎♋︎⬧︎ ⧫︎□︎□︎ ♌︎◆︎⬧︎⍓︎ ❒︎♏︎❍︎♏︎❍︎♌︎♏︎❒︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♒︎□︎⬥︎ ⧫︎♒︎□︎⬧︎♏︎ ⬧︎♏︎♏︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ⧫︎♏︎⬧︎⧫︎⬧︎ ⬥︎♏︎■︎⧫︎ ●︎♋︎⬧︎⧫︎ ⧫︎♓︎❍︎♏︎ ⧫︎□︎ ◻︎♋︎⍓︎ ♋︎⧫︎⧫︎♏︎■︎⧫︎♓︎□︎■︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ●︎♏︎♍︎⧫︎◆︎❒︎♏︎📬︎📬︎📬︎” “✡︎☜︎💧︎📪︎ ✋︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ✋︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎☠︎😐︎ ☟︎☜︎ 👎︎✋︎👎︎ 💧︎✌︎✡︎ 💧︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎❄︎☟︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ☹︎✋︎😐︎☜︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎📬︎ ✋︎❄︎ 🕈︎✌︎💧︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ 😐︎✋︎☠︎👎︎ ⚐︎☞︎ ☞︎🕆︎☠︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ✌︎❄︎ ☞︎✋︎☼︎💧︎❄︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ 🕆︎☠︎❄︎✋︎☹︎ ✋︎❄︎ 👌︎☼︎⚐︎😐︎☜︎📬︎" The smaller brother felt his eye sockets become droopy. “⍓︎♏︎◻︎📬︎ ♓︎⧫︎ ⬥︎♋︎⬧︎ ♋︎●︎●︎ ♐︎♓︎■︎♏︎ ♎︎♋︎■︎♎︎⍓︎ ◆︎■︎⧫︎♓︎●︎ ♒︎♏︎ ♎︎♏︎♍︎♓︎♎︎♏︎♎︎ ⧫︎□︎ ⧫︎♋︎🙵♏︎ ♍︎□︎■︎⧫︎❒︎□︎●︎📬︎📬︎📬︎” Even though they were tired, they also were weak. Alphys could tell their HP went down from the last time she saw them. She got up and walked over to the skeletons. “L-let me t-try to- to heal you two…” Alphys reached out to touch their shoulders, but when the brothers realized she was near, they jolted back towards the wall. In cowardness… or in fear. She stepped back for a second, surprised by their response. Have they never been healed before? That... didn’t make sense. No, someone had to have healed them before. But who? If she remembers correctly, Gaster has not been able to heal anyone in these past few years. It seems they could have only been healed by each other. So no one else has given them Green Magic. They’ve only been cared for by their other brother. Alphys took another look at their face and saw what they were staring at. It was the lab coat she was wearing. She was scaring them only because she wore that. She had almost forgotten that it was still on her, and as she looked down at herself and saw the brother’s apprehension once more, she took it off. Alphys set it on the ground. “I’m… not like him. I won’t hurt you. I promise.” The skeletons may have not understood what she said, but they did ease up a bit when she took off the lab coat. Alphys reached out her hands once more, and this time the taller skeleton knew what she intended, so he held out one of his. She grabbed it and felt the energy flow through her fingertips and into his body. She got closer to the skeletons and knelt. The taller brother nudged the other to do the same, and giving her one last look, the smaller skeleton extended his hand. A warm feeling surrounded the three monsters, as magic flowed equally into the brothers. At that moment, they could feel something genuine within her. Empathy. A SOUL for kindness. The burnt temples began to heal completely, and the skeletons smiled at the newfound energy. When everything felt normal, she let go of their hands and took a few deep breaths. The tall skeleton laughed a little and yawned. His brother yawned also. It has been a tough day, and even though they felt rejuvenated, they had nothing better to do than sleep. Their eyes began to close as they took a well-deserved nap, where Alphys hoped they would be at peace. Alphys wished she had something to do. Watching the brothers sleep is sort of calming, but was that the only way to keep herself busy? She does have papers and pencils. She could start a journal, or draw. But why waste them when she has to use them for ASL lessons? Mettaton is still waiting for his new body, and she barely began building it… It won’t be finished any time soon… And so she daydreamed about what she could be doing, which only made her feel depressed. Or she thought about what possibly could have happened down here in the past few years. Footsteps. They were starting to annoy her now. She would rather silence for a day than have to worry about what he wanted. He came to the cell and looked at the skeletons. Alphys saw Gaster nod to himself. Maybe he noticed that she healed the brothers, which reassured him somehow. Hopefully they wouldn’t wake up soon. “I see you have healed them. Good. They did not have the energy to do it themselves, and you know I couldn’t heal them either.” Gaster signed these words as his greeting to her. He stared at her for a few seconds. His expressions towards her have seemed unfamiliar. Like he forgot who she was. “I’ll need to have a talk with you soon. There is something-” he paused. “I need to explain.” She looked concerned. “If-if it’s about, what you have b-been doing… I don’t want to know.” Alphys turned her head away from him. “I… don’t need you to- to explain-” Suddenly, a chirpy, 8-bit song played. It shocked both of them, but most of all for Alphys, since she immediately recognized the theme. It’s her ringtone. Gaster felt the vibrations in his lab coat pocket and pulled the phone out. He gave her an annoyed look before turning off the beams.
“It’s Asgore. Come answer this call.”
She stood up after the magic hands disappeared. She quickly took the cell phone out of his hand and anxiously gazed at the screen. What could he be calling her for? Does he want to see her? What should she say? Her thoughts came to a halt when Gaster put his hand on the phone. Alphys tensed up from the contact. Not out of bashfulness like when he touched her before, but out of fear. Gaster looked directly into her eyes. “Don’t make Asgore worry.” Alphys gulped before she answered the call and put the phone up to her head. “H-h-hello A-asgore. I’m d-doing fine. Yes, I had a g-great breakfast… W-w-well… you see, I’ve-” she started to notice how nervous she was while she was talking. Her whole body was shaking. She really, really wanted to say the truth to Asgore, but Gaster just stood there next to her. Alphys took a deep breath before starting again. “I have been v-very busy… I am s-sorry that I haven’t visited l-lately, or c-called you. Yeah, the Mettaton u-upgrade is a lot of work… I-I’m having a h-hard time getting started… Maybe, but I know more a-about robots. Yep, g-got it Asgore. I’ll t-try. Yeah, um, s-see you soon.” Beep. The King hung up. Alphys shut off the phone. If only she could see him soon. After a few seconds, she saw the blue hands in front of her. "I’ll need the phone back,” he signed. Alphys was too busy sulking to hand it back, but she turned around to him and placed it in his hand, not looking up. Out of curiosity, she asked him, “What would h-happen if… he a-asked me to talk to him, i-in person?” Gaster cocked his head to the side. “I already told you. We would follow his request and go see him. Though I would have to give an excuse for why I came with you… Maybe we were working together, or you called me up to visit him too. Something along those lines.” Maybe that would be a better opportunity to give a message to Asgore, or maybe it would just make things worse. He gave Alphys a hard stare and she backed up into the cell. Gaster reached over to the panel on the wall, but before he turned the force field back on, he signed one last remark. “If Asgore calls on this phone again, I will make sure that you answer it. If someone else calls, I may allow a quick conversation… But that’s it. I don’t want them to suspect anything.” That was… surprisingly generous of him, even if he would listen to all her conversations. “T-thanks,” she muttered. Gaster gave her a sideways glance before the lasers appeared in front of her again. Then she was alone with the brothers, who were luckily still asleep. That was the best thing you could do in this lab, and so Alphys grabbed that second blanket and closed her eyes to the harsh light. There will be much to prepare before the next experiment can take place. Standing in the same room where he fought off the Void monster, Gaster held the parts to build more machinery. The portal was not stable before, and if the monster did not want to return to its world, it would be stuck in this world forever… That cannot happen again. He would be opening even more dimensions, and he could not risk collapse. Gaster also brought a few binders with the old Inter-Dimensional notes, to remind him of some of the dangers of time travel, and how to avoid them. He set down the parts on the floor next to the main control panel and grabbed a binder. Flipping through the first few pages, he found a list of rules.
How to Best Avoid Dimensional Collapse:
Never have the same two monsters of the same age in one dimension. They will have to be forced to replace the other, which causes Player identification errors, and creates an unstable universe.
Never allow the events of the future to be explained to the past. Their knowledge of these events could lead to changes in the space-time continuum.
Never mix items from different dimensions.
Seemed simple enough. He created these rules only because he did not follow them before. And he has learned from his mistakes. There were also a few pages explaining the other worlds he has seen. Some are harmless, some are dangerous, and some are completely inaccessible now… But there was work to be done, so he set the binder on the control panel. He pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket. As he opened it up, it revealed the blueprints he made for the Stabilizer. He brought a few boxes of metal, tools, and magical emitters, and hopefully that would be enough to complete this project. He walked over to the right of the machine. That creature's blaster destroyed the dial readout panel, so it needed to be rebuilt, too. There was also the base in the middle of the large room. It was not destroyed and it would still be used for the Inter-Dimensional Stabilizer. After placing the blueprints in front of him, Gaster walked back to the computer and booted up the console. Loading… Garbled sounds emitted from the machine. There was a magical scanner embedded in the panel to the left of the keyboard, so he placed his hand there. A surge of magical energy fed into the portal base at the center and it glowed a faint blue.
Magic detected. System standby.
Everything was working properly.
It’s going to be a long night…
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The brothers made great progress in learning sign language. It wasn’t long after Gaster had left Alphys last night, or she assumed that was the time, that they woke up. She noticed that they seemed to smile a little when they opened their eyes. At first, the taller skeleton got up from the bunker and took the color cube, sitting down on the hard floor. He made X’s and O’s on the different sides of the cube. Then when he said something to his brother, the shorter skeleton also got up and slowly made his way towards him. They casually played together and talked in their shared font. The simple interaction warmed Alphys heart. It surprised her to see that the two of them could feel joy in such dark circumstances. She still needed to teach them how to talk to her, and when things calmed down, she redistributed the pages of Wingdings translations in front of them. Alphys made sure to go over the past signs before she showed them the new words. They covered a variety of basic nouns and vowels. Some words they didn’t understand, so when Alphys put both hands in front of her and moved one to the side, she realized they probably didn’t know what a " door ” was. And neither did they notice the visual picture in the sign. They didn’t seem to know what a“ mother ” or“ father ” was, and they didn’t understand what“ bathing” or “ negotiating ” was like. This threw Alphys off at first. She didn’t realize how many things they never saw. He must have really kept them in the dark. After all those hours, they did learn a lot of words, and they could even ask basic questions. Alphys felt like a mother, someone who would teach her own children how to speak or show them the world they lived in. As her pride towards these skeleton kids grew, she remembered something that she had left in her lab coat pocket. Inside was some candy she planned on eating, but she decided to give the brothers the pieces as a reward for their hard work. Their faces lit up, and they struggled to get the wrapping off in the way of their sweet treat. Once they got it unwrapped, the taller skeleton popped it into his mouth, while the other skeleton’s candy disappeared right in front of his teeth. Their eyes grew wide at the sweet taste, and the taller skeleton was completely in awe. He wrapped his tiny arms around Alphys, and both the other skeleton and herself were a little surprised. After a few seconds, he let go and signed “THANK YOU FOR THE ‘CANDY!’ IT WAS YUMMY!” Alphys grinned and signed back, “You’re welcome!” The thought of food made her realize then that it has been a while since she and the brothers were given something to eat, and she heard her stomach growl. Luckily, Alphys didn’t have to wait too long until he came and brought them all their dinner. She noticed that he was wearing a tool belt and his sleeves was rolled up. Alphys wondered what he could be building, and what it could be used for. Hopefully, it was nothing dangerous. Once they all finished eating, the lab became pitch black. The brothers then sat on top of the bunker, and Alphys realized that the darkness meant their day had ended. It didn’t feel like it was nighttime though... It was the next day now, and Alphys was already awake, staring at the floor and waiting for the brothers to stir. She looked up when she heard one of them yawn. The taller skeleton stretched his arms and shook his brother. "❄︎☟︎☜︎ ☹︎✋︎☝︎☟︎❄︎💧︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ⚐︎☠︎ 👌︎☼︎⚐︎❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎📬︎" The other skeleton opened his eyes and turned his head towards him. "□︎♒︎📬︎ ⍓︎♏︎♋︎♒︎📬︎ 📬︎📬︎📬︎⬥︎♏︎●︎◻︎📪︎ ❍︎♓︎♑︎♒︎⧫︎ ♋︎⬧︎ ⬥︎♏︎●︎●︎ ♑︎♏︎⧫︎ ❒︎♏︎♋︎♎︎⍓︎📬︎" He jumped off the bunker and closed his eyes while he stretched, but when he opened them back up, he stared blankly at the wall behind Alphys. His brother seemed a little confused by what he had said, but he got off their bed and followed him anyways. Alphys didn’t like how empty the smaller skeleton looked, but she also couldn’t expect anything else. She signed a casual greeting as she stood up. “Good morning! I hope I can teach you two some more words today. Maybe I can teach you some greetings, as well.” The tired skeleton signed back angrily, "don’t count on it. he’ll be here soon. and by the time we get back, we’ll be too messed up to do anything.” “I would hope…” her hands faltered as she looked down at the floor. “ ... that he would not take you two right away. You both don’t have the energy, after all, to do much after you wake up.”
“i don’t think he cares about that. if he can hurt us whenever he feels like it, i’m pretty sure he won’t mind getting the tests done early.”
“I HOPE WE DON’T DO ANYTHING WITH THAT HEAD-THINGY AGAIN,” the other skeleton interrupted. “IT GAVE ME A BAD HEADACHE.” Their conversation drowned out the sounds in the hallway, so they didn’t notice Gaster had already made his way to the cell and was standing there to hear the taller skeleton’s remark. His cough brought their attention suddenly to him. He casually sipped out of his coffee cup before he spoke up. "📂︎📫︎💧︎📬︎ 📄︎📫︎🏱︎📬︎" He shut the lasers off and folded his arms. "👍︎□︎❍︎♏︎ ⬥︎♓︎⧫︎♒︎ ❍︎♏︎📬︎" The brothers exchanged nervous glances before looking at him again, and they started walking in his direction. "☟︎◆︎❒︎❒︎⍓︎ ◆︎◻︎📪︎ ⬥︎♏︎ ♒︎♋︎❖︎♏︎ ♋︎ ●︎□︎⧫︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♎︎□︎📬︎" They were just about to head down the hallway when Gaster looked back at Alphys and signed with his magic hands, “Yes, you too Alphys.” Her heart stopped. “Wait- wha-what?” she blurted out. He sighed and placed a hand on his head before he continued. “I just want to show you what I built.” “Oh… o-okay…” Gaster watched as she stepped out of the cell behind the brothers, and he turned around to lead the way. After what felt like a minute of silence, Gaster’s magic hands appeared in front Alphys while they were walking. “I think it’s quite extraordinary. I spent all night building this machine.” He took another quick sip from his coffee. He turned right and stepped into a huge room, or at least, some type of arena. There was a console on the wall to the right of the entrance, and connected to it were large power cables leading to a metal ring in the center of the room. More power cables were connected to that, leading to other machinery, and some magical generators. Even though this place was huge, the entire floor seemed to be filled with contraptions. Alphys was completely in awe since she entered the room, but 1-S was the first to speak up. “what’s this, some new torture device?” He spoke and signed at the same time, even though he didn’t know all the words that he said. “No,” he sighed. “This is the Inter-Dimensional Stabilizer. A time-machine,” Gaster answered. He also talked in Wingdings while he signed, to help make the process go faster.
“oh. neat. … wait, i’m pretty sure the last time we used something in this room, that monster almost killed us.”
“Yes, but we won’t be bringing other timelines to us. We will punch a hole through the universe itself to travel to those other dimensions.”
Alphys circled the ring, looking for the power source. “This… th-this is amazing!” she blurted out. Alphys' volume surprised herself, and she put her hand to her mouth. She spoke a little lower. “But… but didn’t we- wasn’t the IDF project… s-shut down? You can’t just- y-you can’t just start it up again, i-it was A-Asgore’s orders…” Gaster walked over to her and signed, “It does not matter. Asgore doesn’t know what I’m doing, anyway. He never did. And I already started this project before you arrived here, as you heard from Subject 1. It was a… risky move, yes, but I’m not opening that timeline again.”
She glanced at the smaller skeleton before turning back to follow him. “But- but Gaster it- it nearly- the Core almost- it almost destroyed-” “That doesn’t matter.” His sharp tone cut her off. “This is the only way to solve the barrier problem. I cannot afford to lose Asgore to his genocidal goals…” He spoke that last sentence so gravely. Even though she wouldn’t have understood his garbled speech, she could feel the emotion behind it. There was about a minute of silence before Alphys asked, “So… c-can you explain what p-powers this machine?” He stopped pacing and took one last sip of his coffee before signing this information. “The Inter-Dimensional Stabilizer is, of course, powered by magic. Any magic would do, but it would take a substantial amount of energy to open up a portal. So the most powerful magical energy we have is Blue Magic… and the beams from the Blasters. That’s what this is for.” He pointed to two boxes behind him which had a metal filter on the side. It almost looked like a big speaker. “This is to absorb the Blaster’s energy and transfer it to the Stabilizer. Blue Magic is only used to initiate the program.” “So that’s w-what those g-generators are for. To g-gather more energy.” Gaster nodded. “Wow. I-I’m impressed with how m-much work you could get done in- in one night.” “Well, I have had some experience with time travel. And I am an unparalleled genius…” he signed back, smirking. Alphys chuckled, but cut herself short. She looked over at the brothers, who stood watching the two of them interact, anxiously. Gaster strolled to the main control panel and placed down his mug. “Alright. If you want to see how the Stabilizer works, Alphys, then I advise you to come over here.” She obeyed and stood next to him. Gaster glanced at the other skeletons. “I have a test for the two of when the portal is open.” “wait- hold up,” the smaller skeleton interrupted. “are you telling me we’re the ones that are gonna have to use blasters to power this? you know we don’t have enough energy to keep the beams going forever, right? ‘specially if we do it together.”
“You’ll be fine,” Gaster responded. “Hopefully you two won’t pass out as quickly as you both did during the last training exercise.” “A-are you s-sure that they will be okay?” pleaded Alphys. “I’m sure. Now, let’s start the Stabilizer.” The computer console was already on and awaiting a magical response. Gaster placed his hand on the scanner next to him. It lit up from the Blue Magic and that energy passed through the power cables into the ring at the center. The spark of magic made the inside of the ring glow blue. Magic detected. System standby. The computer spoke in Wingdings. “I have activated all the magic emitters inside the outer ring. The portal is in standby now and will need directions on what timeline to go to. After everything is complete, that ring will create a shield of magic as a security measure against corruption,” he explained. “So, which timeline should it be…” A menu of files appeared on the monitor, listing multiple dimensions. Gaster scrolled through them all and stopped on TML-522.UT. He selected and confirmed this as the proper timeline. A list of data about the timeline appeared on a second screen in front of him as another prompt popped up. Gaster needed a FUN value also, and as he picked from a range of numbers, he entered F value #11 into the program.
TML-522.UT and FUN value 11 selected. Begin inter-dimensional travel?
He entered [Yes].
Request recognized. Loading file…
“Subject 1. Subject 2. Stand over there.” Gaster pointed to the two magic-absorbing boxes on a platform. The brothers walked on top of the platform and stood slouching over the boxes, waiting for him to command something else. “I will create one last magical pulse through this panel, and afterward the two of you will activate your Blasters. Understood?” The skeletons nodded slowly. “Good. The scanner is reading my magic… And….” The panel glowed blue. “Now.” They both grasped each other’s hands and shot beams out of their Blasters into the boxes. The skeletons kept a steady pace at first. Then about a third of the way through, they started to drag. Their combined power was too much to handle, and they let go of each other’s hands. They instead activated the blasts at separate speeds. About three-fourths of the way, the brothers ran out of energy and gasped for air. The smaller skeleton was holding his knees long before the taller one sagged. Alphys was paying close attention to the brothers this whole time, and when they started to give up, she grabbed Gaster’s attention. “Gaster! I- I d-don’t think they can k-keep this up much longer!” “We still have a fourth of the timeline left to load,” he signed. “They can handle it.” He peered over the console to see the skeletons struggling to stand. Subject 2 managed a final, not entirely charged blast, before kneeling on the ground. He raised a brow bone in surprise and waited for a few moments to see if they would get up. They panted loudly, their bones rattling with their breaths. He called across the room. “Get up. You’re not done yet.” "⬥︎♏︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ♍︎♋︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ♓︎ ⧫︎❒︎♓︎♏︎♎︎ ⧫︎□︎ ⬧︎♋︎⍓︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ⬥︎♏︎ ♍︎□︎◆︎●︎♎︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ♎︎□︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎📪︎" he didn’t bother signing. "👎︎□︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ♐︎□︎□︎●︎ ❍︎♏︎📬︎ ✋︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎ ♒︎□︎⬥︎ ❍︎◆︎♍︎♒︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♍︎♋︎■︎ ♒︎♋︎■︎♎︎●︎♏︎📪︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ⧫︎⬥︎□︎ ♎︎♓︎♎︎ ❍︎□︎❒︎♏︎ ⧫︎♒︎♋︎■︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ♌︎♏︎♐︎□︎❒︎♏︎📬︎" "❍︎♋︎⍓︎♌︎♏︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ♓︎♐︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♎︎♓︎♎︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ⬧︎⧫︎♓︎♍︎🙵 ⧫︎♒︎□︎⬧︎♏︎ ♒︎♏︎♋︎♎︎⬧︎♏︎⧫︎⬧︎ □︎■︎ ◆︎⬧︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎■︎ □︎◆︎❒︎ ♌︎❒︎♋︎♓︎■︎⬧︎ ⬥︎□︎◆︎●︎♎︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ♌︎♏︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ⬧︎♒︎□︎❒︎⧫︎📫︎♍︎♓︎❒︎♍︎◆︎♓︎⧫︎♏︎♎︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ □︎❒︎ ⬧︎□︎❍︎♏︎⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎♑︎📬︎📬︎📬︎" Gaster raised his hand, ready to prepare something, when Alphys cut him off. “Wait! Wait! L-let me give them some m-magic energy, Green Magic is more than j-just for healing.” He glared at her for a few seconds before looking towards the Subjects. He would rather them not get too attached to her magic.... But, he gave in. “Alright fine. Just for a few minutes.” She ran to the other side of the room and stood on the platform. The brothers tried their best to move toward her, and she reached out and placed her arms behind them. A slight green aurora surrounded them as her energy moved through the skeleton children. “That’s enough,” Gaster blurted out. Alphys got up and smiled down at the brothers, who also stood up after she stepped off the platform. When she stood next to Gaster, he called back to them. “Can you two create some more Blasters to finish the timeline?” This time the taller skeleton answered, “I… I THINK SO. BROTHER, ARE YOU READY?” He reached out his hand to him. “yeah. sure bro,” he took his brother’s hand. They had just enough energy to release one, very large, double beam.
Loading complete. Opening TML-522.UT…
The inner ring began to shine a rainbow of colors on the floor before stabilizing into an image of a different room. The light rippled and quivered as the outer ring started to levitate. It floated up, creating a blue magical barrier beneath it like a waterfall. The Inter-Dimensional Stabilizer was set. “Everything is complete,” Gaster stated.
“Now, to the task at hand...”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“We don’t have much time. The portal cannot stay open forever, so I will try to make this quick.”
Gaster grabbed something from on top of the console and walked toward the brothers. “Before I can send you two through the portal, you will have to have these.” It was a circular device which exposed its wires underneath it. He kneeled in front of Subject 1 and was about to place the device on him when the small skeleton jerked back. “what the hell is that?” he barked. “It’s just to track your vitals in the other timeline. I have to make sure nothing happens to the two of you while you are gone,” Gaster flatly responded. He pressed a button on the top of the circle and it lit up.
“oh, so now you’re gonna care about us. you just hate to keep your eyes off your precious subjects.”
The tone behind that remark caught Alphys off guard, and so she stared in their direction. She wasn’t paying attention to them at first. Instead, she was looking at the computer console in front of her. But even in Wingdings Alphys could tell that what the skeleton had said left the room feeling cold. Gaster glared up at the small skeleton for a few seconds, and the Subject’s smirk quickly faded. Instead of continuing this game with him, he looked at his brother standing next to him. “2-P. I think you will be more willing than 1-S to cooperate. I will place this monitor below your skull, do you understand?” he signed. “YES, I DO. IT’S OKAY IF USE THE CIRCLE ON ME,” the taller skeleton answered calmly. He placed the device on the side of his neck, and it latched to him. Alphys noticed that on the computer’s monitor a readout of the skeleton’s vitals appeared. Subject 2 fidgeted with the circular device on his neck and signed nervously, “OH! UM… H-HOW DO YOU TAKE IT OFF?” “I don’t want you to take it off, Subject 2. If you take it off then I cannot check your health while you are away.”
“OH OKAY. I WON’T TOUCH IT.”
“bro, you okay?” the smaller skeleton spoke up. “YES, I AM FINE. IT FEELS A LITTLE WEIRD TO HAVE SOMETHING ON MY NECK, BUT I WILL BE OKAY,” his brother signed back. Subject 1 narrowed his eyes at the circle placed on his brother and then at Gaster. “I will do the same thing to you,” he stated. “Are you ready?” Subject 2 smiled slightly to his brother, and he sighed. “ugh, fine. yeah, i’m ready.” Gaster turned on the device and placed it on the small skeleton’s neck, to which he grimaced. “1-S, you will stay behind while 2-P travels first,” he stood up. “I do not want to keep track of both of you while you explore unfamiliar areas. Subject 2,” the taller skeleton looked up at him. “I will be sending you to observe and record details of the area. You will wait to recite what you saw there when you get back to this timeline. Understood?” he nodded in response. “I will be able to talk to you through the same vital monitor that I gave you, so do not be alarmed when you hear me. I want you to focus on the timeline you are in and not anything else. Subject 1, I want you to stand at the monitor with Alphys.” “okay sure,” he signed back and climbed up the platform where Alphys stood. “I will make sure everything is clear, and then you can walk into the portal," Gaster signed to Subject 2. “OKAY! THIS SOUNDS FUN! I’M READY!” he responded gleefully. He somehow rolled his non-existent eyeballs at the Subject as he walked to the computer console. Looking up at the IDS, he could see that the portal was still on and everything was functioning properly. “Alright 2-P, you can head into the portal.” He smiled back at them and walked up to the magic blue filter. He stuck out his hand to touch it, and the light refracted and bounced around his fingertips. It was satisfying. He rarely felt anything similar to it, like flowing water. The taller skeleton took a sharp breath and then passed his whole body through the filter. He looked around and saw that he was still intact. Happily, Subject 2 stepped into the portal and noticed a gray floor stood before him- different from the dark blue-green flooring of the Lab. A moment passed, and the three monsters at the computer console saw the skeleton fizzle and warp inward, disappearing in a burst of light. He traveled through time and space. From the darkness, formed a world at the seams. Not extremely colorful, but instead filled with gray and neutral tones- bright to the eyes. The first thing the skeleton saw was his feet, which was also the last thing he saw before traveling. There were also many other different monster feet which passed quickly in his vision. Looking up from the ground, he saw… lots and lots of monsters. Of every color and size. They were in a rush, and so Subject 2 could not get a good look at them all. They were much taller than him, as tall as Him, maybe… If he strained his neck up, the skeleton could see gray structures as tall as the “roof,” what a large roof it was… “🕈︎⚐︎✌︎☟︎✏︎ ✋︎🕯︎✞︎☜︎ ☠︎☜︎✞︎☜︎☼︎ 💧︎☜︎☜︎☠︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎💧︎☜︎ 👍︎⚐︎☹︎⚐︎☼︎💧︎ 👌︎☜︎☞︎⚐︎☼︎☜︎📪︎ ⚐︎☼︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ☼︎⚐︎⚐︎💣︎✏︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ☼︎⚐︎⚐︎☞︎ ✋︎💧︎ ☟︎🕆︎☝︎☜︎📬︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎ 💧︎⚐︎ 💣︎✌︎☠︎✡︎ 💣︎⚐︎☠︎💧︎❄︎☜︎☼︎💧︎✏︎ 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎📫︎” “☠︎□︎ ⧫︎♓︎❍︎♏︎ ♐︎□︎❒︎ ❑︎◆︎♏︎⬧︎⧫︎♓︎□︎■︎⬧︎📬︎ ✡︎♏︎⬧︎📪︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♋︎❒︎♏︎ ♓︎■︎ ♋︎ ♍︎□︎❍︎◻︎●︎♏︎⧫︎♏︎●︎⍓︎ ♎︎♓︎♐︎♐︎♏︎❒︎♏︎■︎⧫︎ ♋︎❒︎♏︎♋︎📬︎ ✋︎⧫︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ■︎□︎⧫︎ ●︎♓︎🙵♏︎ ♋︎■︎⍓︎ ◻︎●︎♋︎♍︎♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♒︎♋︎❖︎♏︎ ♌︎♏︎♏︎■︎ ♌︎♏︎♐︎□︎❒︎♏︎📪︎” he cut him off. “🕈︎☜︎🕯︎☼︎☜︎ ⚐︎🕆︎❄︎💧︎✋︎👎︎☜︎✍︎✏︎” “☞︎□︎♍︎◆︎⬧︎📪︎” he interrupted again. The skeleton pouted and decided to try to move past the crowd of monsters to get a better view. He often said “💧︎⚐︎☼︎☼︎✡︎📪︎ ☜︎✠︎👍︎🕆︎💧︎☜︎ 💣︎☜︎✏︎” while he squeezed through. After passing through the busy traffic, he noticed there were fewer monsters around him. One monster, a “bunny,” he believed, was talking to a “dragon” monster in the same font as Alphys. The bunny took something out of their clothes, handed it to the dragon, and the dragon gave some a pink and green food to the bunny. There were many more of these places to his left and right, as far as he could see. Now he could get a good look at all the monsters here- reptiles, plants, frogs, snowflakes, mammals, mermaids, and others. He had never seen them before, until now. And he still didn’t expect them to be this much bigger than himself. Maybe he would grow to be as tall as some of them one day. Subject 2 was curious to see what the other spots next to that one were like, so while walking down the path, he paused and stared at each one. The monsters behind the table of items smiled or waved their hands at him. Some spoke to him, but he didn’t understand them and he moved on. They gave him a weird look when he left… Someone in a white coat was talking at a table. They wore a red scarf and seemed to be moving their hands a lot… The monster on the other side handed them some vials with liquid in it. The monster in the coat nodded their head and backed out from under the roof. It was Him. He looked, younger… “✋︎💧︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ ✡︎📫︎” “✌︎●︎❒︎♓︎♑︎♒︎⧫︎ 📄︎📫︎🏱︎📪︎ ♓︎⧫︎🕯︎⬧︎ ⧫︎♓︎❍︎♏︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♒︎♏︎♋︎♎︎ ♌︎♋︎♍︎🙵 ■︎□︎⬥︎📪︎” he spoke through the vital monitor. “✋︎ ⬥︎♓︎●︎●︎ ⧫︎♏︎●︎●︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ⬥︎♒︎♏︎■︎ ✋︎ ♋︎❍︎ ♋︎♌︎□︎◆︎⧫︎ ⧫︎□︎ ⬧︎♏︎■︎♎︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ⧫︎□︎ □︎◆︎❒︎ ⧫︎♓︎❍︎♏︎●︎♓︎■︎♏︎📬︎” "⚐︎☟︎📪︎ ⚐︎😐︎✌︎✡︎📬︎ " He could see the younger skeleton running down the path and behind all the structures. Wherever He went, He looked like He was in a rush. Something needed Him. "☹︎□︎♍︎♋︎⧫︎♓︎■︎♑︎ 💧︎⚐︎🕆︎☹︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ 💧︎⚐︎🕆︎☹︎ ❒︎♏︎♋︎♍︎♒︎♏︎♎︎📬︎ ⚐︎◻︎♏︎■︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ◻︎□︎❒︎⧫︎♋︎●︎📬︎ 🗏︎📬︎📬︎📬︎📄︎📬︎📬︎📬︎📂︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ” The world folded in on itself suddenly. From the darkness, formed your world at the seams- dim, bland, and ordered. In front of him stood Alphys, Subject 1, and Gaster all blinking in surprise at this successful feat. Subject 2 just smiled while he made his way out of the Inter-dimensional Stabilizer towards them. “Everything seems to have worked properly,” Gaster signed surprisingly as he stepped off the platform. “Now 2-P, I want you to tell me what the monsters you saw were doing.” “THERE WERE LOTS OF DIFFERENT MONSTERS ALL WALKING AROUND!” 2-P signed back eagerly. “IT WAS VERY LOUD THERE! I SAW SOME OF THEM EXCHANGE THINGS AT A TABLE.” “What did this timeline look like?” he inquired.
“I SAW LOTS OF… GRAY. AND WHITE. IT WAS VERY BRIGHT! THERE WERE MANY TALL STRUCTURES WITH LOTS OF GLASS SQUARES ON ITS SIDES. THE FLOOR WAS PATTERNED VERY NICELY! AND THERE WAS A LOT OF SPACE TO MOVE AROUND.”
“Hm. Well, those are the right observations. I’m surprised that-”
“I ALSO SAW A SKELETON!” Subject 2 blurted out. Gaster raised an eyebrow. “THEY WORE A SCARF AND A WHITE COAT! THEY RAN AWAY WITH SOME LIQUID THAT THEY GOT FROM ANOTHER MONSTER. I THINK THEY LOOKED A LOT LIKE YOU!” He placed a finger on his chin in thought, looking away. “i suppose I was shopping for some magical essence when I was working on the CORE theory…” He looked back down at the skeleton in front of him. “That timeline that you traveled to, Subject 2, was 20 years in the past at the Capital of the Underground. When “New Home” was just completed.” “SO I WAS OUTSIDE!” 2-P was beaming from this news. “BUT IN THE PAST? THAT… THAT’S AMAZING!” “Well, yes, that is correct. That was ‘outside.’ Most dimensions you will explore will be ‘outside.’ ” He paused and looked back at 1-S on the platform. “Subject 1, you will be next. 2-P, your observation skills proved successful.” A big grin appeared on his face. “THANK YOU!!” Gaster sighed in response. “Alright 1-S, head to the platform here. 2-P, you will take his place.” The small skeleton grumbled on the way over. “so, what do i gotta do?” “Subject 1, you will copy some written pages on to a notepad. However, you cannot be caught by anyone there,” he signed. “welp, that sounds fun. i mean, there’s a risk of destroying the space-time continuum, but whatever.”
“Not if you stay hidden. I think with your stature, you will do fine.”
“haha, that’s funny,” he said sarcastically. “honestly though, what’s stopping you from just sending me back here strapped to a chair or a table or something, to experiment on from your little computer? and everything my brother said could easily be some hallucination.” “That would be contradictory to the end goal here, which is to send you two to other timelines and to not waste time on research that was a failure,” Gaster stated critically. “ha, so that’s all we are to you? some failed-” “BROTHER!” 2-P cut him off. He continued, “HE’S NOT TRYING TO HARM YOU. THIS PLACE THAT I WENT TO… IT WAS REAL. THE AIR WAS DIFFERENT. I COULD FEEL THE ROUGH TEXTURE OF THE FLOOR. I COULD SMELL ALL THE WONDERFUL FOODS THERE! IT WAS AMAZING! YOUR TRIP WILL BE JUST AS GREAT AS MINE!” Even though 1-S doubted everything He ever said to them, 1-S could see that his brother was genuinely happy. He has not seen him feel this way in a very long time. And that is why he decided to give in anyways. “okay, okay…” Subject 1 sighed. “i might as well play your game. maybe i’ll find something interesting anyway.” “Let me make a quick slight adjustment to the timeline input, and then we can begin.” Gaster walked over to the console and typed on the computer while 2-P watched curiously from his side. “Okay 1-S, you can head into the portal,” He nodded. Subject 1 slowly made his way to the IDS and eyed the magic filter suspiciously. He took his first step into the blue field with both his arm and foot. It was cold- how could magic be cold? At least, that’s what he guessed it felt like without nerves. But, it was also kind of soothing to him. Subject 1 took a deep breath with a sigh before passing entirely through. His mouth lifted a little afterward as he viewed the portal on the floor, stepping into it. After a few seconds passed, the skeleton fizzled and warped, then disappeared in a burst of light. From the darkness, formed a world at the seams. It smelled of wood, coffee, and elixirs. A cozy building filled the surroundings. It felt like what Alphys described as home. The skeleton was looking down at his feet. He was standing on a bright blue and purple floor, soft to the touch. Subject 1 scrunched his toes and looked up through the hallway. There were two rooms to his right, one closed and one open. The skeleton also noticed that he was on a second floor, as there were stairs at the end of the hallway. “⬧︎□︎📪︎ ⬥︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎ ♋︎❍︎ ♓︎ ♏︎⌧︎♋︎♍︎⧫︎●︎⍓︎✍︎" “👌︎♏︎ ❑︎◆︎♓︎♏︎⧫︎✏︎" he barked through the monitor. “✡︎□︎◆︎ ♍︎♋︎■︎■︎□︎⧫︎ ♌︎♏︎ ♍︎♋︎◆︎♑︎♒︎⧫︎📬︎ ✋︎♐︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♎︎□︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎🕯︎●︎●︎📫︎" “📫︎♋︎●︎⧫︎♏︎❒︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ⬧︎◻︎♋︎♍︎♏︎📫︎⧫︎♓︎❍︎♏︎ ♍︎□︎■︎⧫︎♓︎■︎◆︎◆︎❍︎📪︎” Subject 1 interrupted more quietly. “⍓︎♏︎♋︎♒︎ ⍓︎♏︎♋︎♒︎ ♓︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎📬︎ ⬧︎□︎ ⬥︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎🕯︎❒︎♏︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ■︎□︎⧫︎♏︎⬧︎ ♋︎⧫︎✍︎" “☞︎□︎●︎●︎□︎⬥︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ♎︎♓︎❒︎♏︎♍︎⧫︎♓︎□︎■︎⬧︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ✋︎ ⬥︎♓︎●︎●︎ ●︎♏︎♋︎♎︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎📬︎ ✡︎□︎◆︎ ♒︎♋︎❖︎♏︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♑︎□︎ ♎︎□︎⬥︎■︎⬧︎⧫︎♋︎♓︎❒︎⬧︎ ♐︎♓︎❒︎⬧︎⧫︎📬︎ 🕈︎♋︎⧫︎♍︎♒︎ □︎◆︎⧫︎ ♐︎□︎❒︎ ♋︎■︎⍓︎□︎■︎♏︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ 👌︎♏︎📬︎ ✈︎◆︎♓︎♏︎⧫︎📬︎ ” The short skeleton practically rolled his eyes sockets. “♋︎●︎❒︎♓︎♑︎♒︎⧫︎📬︎ ♓︎🕯︎●︎●︎ ♌︎♏︎ ♓︎■︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ □︎◆︎⧫︎📬︎ ” He began tip-toeing down the hallway and kept his ear bone open for any noises. He heard no noise upstairs except the slight creak of wood under him as he walked, and when he got to the end of the hallway, he decided to peer into the open room. There was a bunch of small gadgets lying on a table which were incomplete. Tools were strewn about, and there were test tubes with magical liquid inside. Whoever was here, was intelligent. The skeleton was going to ask Him about it at first, but he kept quiet. Subject 1 turned to the stairs, and when he made the first step down, he noticed the wood creaked louder than before. He froze, the next foot waiting to move. He listened for any commotion, but there was no sign that whoever was here heard him. As the skeleton slowly made his way, he began to hear some noise to the left of him. He couldn’t see anyone on the bottom floor, but they had to be moving around in a different room. Now he was off the stairs. There was some furniture in the room and two glass windows facing out into white. “📂︎📫︎💧︎📪︎ ⧫︎◆︎❒︎■︎ ♋︎❒︎□︎◆︎■︎♎︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ♑︎□︎ ⧫︎□︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ⧫︎♋︎♌︎●︎♏︎ ♌︎♏︎♒︎♓︎■︎♎︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ⬧︎⧫︎♋︎♓︎❒︎⬧︎📬︎ ❄︎♒︎♏︎ ◻︎♋︎♑︎♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ⬥︎♓︎●︎●︎ ■︎♏︎♏︎♎︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♍︎□︎◻︎⍓︎ ⬥︎♓︎●︎●︎ ♌︎♏︎ □︎◻︎♏︎■︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎📬︎” “□︎🙵♋︎⍓︎📬︎ ⧫︎◆︎❒︎■︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♋︎❒︎□︎◆︎■︎♎︎📬︎” He saw the notepad but then a thought came to him. “♒︎□︎⬥︎ ♋︎❍︎ ♓︎ ⬧︎◆︎◻︎◻︎□︎⬧︎♏︎♎︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♍︎□︎◻︎⍓︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎✍︎ ♓︎ ♎︎□︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ♒︎♋︎❖︎♏︎ ♋︎■︎⍓︎⧫︎♒︎♓︎■︎♑︎📪︎” he questioned. “👎︎♋︎❍︎■︎♓︎⧫︎📪︎” he mumbled to himself, even if it still went through the device. There was a pause. “❄︎♋︎🙵♏︎ ♋︎ ◻︎♓︎♏︎♍︎♏︎ □︎♐︎ ◻︎♋︎◻︎♏︎❒︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ◆︎⬧︎♏︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ◻︎♏︎■︎♍︎♓︎●︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♍︎□︎◻︎⍓︎ ♓︎⧫︎📬︎ ❄︎♒︎♏︎⍓︎ ⬥︎□︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎ ♋︎ ◻︎♋︎♑︎♏︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ♑︎□︎■︎♏︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎⍓︎ ⬥︎□︎■︎🕯︎⧫︎ ❍︎♓︎⬧︎⬧︎ ♋︎ ⬧︎♓︎■︎♑︎●︎♏︎ ◻︎♋︎♑︎♏︎ ♐︎❒︎□︎❍︎ ♋︎■︎ ♏︎■︎⧫︎♓︎❒︎♏︎ ■︎□︎⧫︎♏︎◻︎♋︎♎︎📬︎” “♑︎□︎⧫︎ ♓︎⧫︎📬︎ ♍︎□︎◻︎⍓︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ■︎□︎⬥︎📬︎” After he quickly finished copying a detailed page of text using a sheet of paper, he stared out the window again. There was so much white. It was falling on the ground. It covered the floor outside like a huge soft blanket. The white mesmerized him. If only he could… “📂︎📫︎💧︎📪︎” His voice shook the skeleton from his thoughts. “✡︎□︎◆︎🕯︎❒︎♏︎ ♎︎□︎■︎♏︎📬︎ 💧︎⧫︎□︎◻︎ ⬧︎⧫︎♋︎●︎●︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ♒︎♏︎♋︎♎︎ ♌︎♋︎♍︎🙵 ◆︎◻︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ⬧︎⧫︎♋︎♓︎❒︎⬧︎ ⬧︎□︎ ⬥︎♏︎ ♍︎♋︎■︎ ⬧︎♏︎■︎♎︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♌︎♋︎♍︎🙵 ⬥︎♓︎⧫︎♒︎□︎◆︎⧫︎ ♋︎⧫︎⧫︎❒︎♋︎♍︎⧫︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♋︎⧫︎⧫︎♏︎■︎⧫︎♓︎□︎■︎📬︎” “□︎♒︎📪︎ ❒︎♓︎♑︎♒︎⧫︎📬︎” He went to the foot of the stairs. Subject 1 noticed it was pretty quiet in that back room. He stepped up and… That had to be the loudest noise the floor made yet… It was dead quiet yet again. “🕈︎♒︎□︎🕯︎⬧︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎✍︎” A voice called anxiously in Wingdings. It was… Him. Subject 1 didn’t even pay attention to notice that the words he copied were in his primary font, and it was coming back to hit him in the head for it. His heart was pumping. The other Him was walking out of the room. The small skeleton was too scared to move. “💧︎◆︎♌︎🙰♏︎♍︎⧫︎ 📂︎📪︎ ⬥︎♒︎♋︎⧫︎🕯︎⬧︎ ♑︎□︎♓︎■︎♑︎ □︎■︎✍︎” he heard through the "🕈︎♏︎❒︎♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ♒︎♏︎♋︎❒︎♎︎✍︎” No response. “💧︎◆︎♌︎🙰♏︎♍︎⧫︎ 📂︎📬︎ 💣︎□︎❖︎♏︎ ◆︎◻︎ ⧫︎♒︎□︎⬧︎♏︎ ⬧︎⧫︎♋︎♓︎❒︎⬧︎📬︎” He was shaking now, a small rattling noise began to form. “💣︎□︎❖︎♏︎📪︎” He ordered. No reaction. “☠︎□︎⬥︎✏︎" The skeleton practically jumped up those stairs, not caring anymore if he made noise. “☹︎□︎♍︎♋︎⧫︎♓︎■︎♑︎ 💧︎⚐︎🕆︎☹︎📬︎” Subject 1 got to the second floor. He thought he saw the other skeleton on the first floor out of the corner of his eye while he was running down the hall. “💧︎⚐︎🕆︎☹︎ ❒︎♏︎♋︎♍︎♒︎♏︎♎︎📬︎ ⚐︎◻︎♏︎■︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ◻︎□︎❒︎⧫︎♋︎●︎📬︎” 1-S stopped at where he first appeared, behind the walls. He heard the stairs creak again. The other Him was almost to the top. “🗏︎📪︎ 📄︎📪︎ 📂︎📬︎” The world folded in on itself suddenly, a flash of light quickly bursting into house.