Long ago, two races ruled over light and darkness, Humans and Monsters.
One day, the skeletons betrayed both sides, causing a war.
After a long battle, light and darkness split into two realms
The skeletons sealed both humans and monsters in the realm of darkness with their powerful magic.
Many Years Later…
Mount. Ebott 201X
They say those who climb the mountain never return.
-REARRANGETALE-
A StoryShift Inspired Adventure.
Gaster opened his eyes. The young skeleton had awoken on a bed of echo flowers that glowed blue in the darkness. They must have cushioned his fall, he reasoned, slowly moving his aching bones to get to his feet. Gaster's HP had been untouched, surprisingly, as he stared up the cavern he had fallen through.
"so, you just gonna stand there all day? typical. another kiddo looking to have a bad time in the dark realm…"
Gaster quickly turned his skull in the direction of the voice. Seemingly floating over the echo flowers was a transparent skeleton in a red jacket with a bright red scarf, as well as extremely fluffy red slippers, seemingly giving Gaster a glare despite his smile. Judging by the red stripe across his grey sweater, this skeleton was probably a child like himself. After all, Gaster himself was wearing a black shirt with two white stripes.
"Hey, what was that you said?" Gaster signed, not being one for talking. The floating skeleton doubled back a bit. "wait, you can hear me?" the befuddled presence uttered. Gaster nodded. "sheesh kid, that's new…" the red skeleton mumbled. "Why are you calling me a kid? You're a child too, right? I can tell by the striped sweater under you jacket," Gaster signed, grateful the other knew sign language. "heh…kid, if you knew how long a lazybones like myself has been laying here alone…" muttered the red wearing skeleton absentmindedly, putting a boney hand to his skull. "suppose i should be polite and introduce myself. heya, i'm sans, sans the skeleton," the floating guy introduced.
"Hello, Sans. You can call me Gaster," he signed cheerfully, holding out a hand to Sans. The other attempted to oblige but stopped short after his hand went right through Gaster's. "huh. shoulda known that would happen. anyway, welcome to the realm of darkness, kiddo. where humans and monsters alike have been sealed for hundreds of years," Sans responded. Gaster looked around. "yeah, there's some kinda tear at the top of Mt. Ebott in the realm of light, and you just walked right into it," the smug skeleton commented. Gaster did his best to send his new company a pout, causing him to chuckle. Did he really have to keep grinning like that all the time?
Eventually, Gaster moved on, the red skeleton floating behind him. "Is there any reason you're following me?" he signed. Sans shrugged. "i think we're stuck together, pal. i can't move two feet away from ya without getting dragged back, so we're stuck together, like it or not," he replied. Gaster rolled his sockets. The realm of darkness is going to be a blast, he could feel it. The two moved into the next room, where a lone echo flower with something blue wrapped around its stem sat. "Greetings, skeleton! I am Echo! Echo the Echo Flower, and I say what I want!" The flower spoke suddenly, facing Gaster, who only stared in confusion. "You're new to the realm of darkness, huh? Wowie! You must be so confused! Someone better teach you how things work around here! I guess I must be the one to do so!" Echo cheered.
"See that upside-down heart? That is your soul! It is the very culmination of your being, and it can become strong if you gain LV. What is that, you ask! Well, it's LOVE, my skeleton friend! You want some LOVE, do you not? I will share some with you, generously!" Echo called, bringing six white projectiles into view and winking. "Go on! Catch as many Pellets of Friendship as you can!" the echo flower offered. "he's lying, all that LOVE stuff is bullmalarky," Sans told Gaster, who decided to avoid the pellets. "Hey, skeleton. You missed them. Let's try again," Echo deadpanned, dropping the earlier cheeriness. He flung more pellets at Gaster's soul, which avoided them again. "Are you a numbskull? Is this some kind of sick joke? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLE….pellets of friendship." Echo hissed. Gaster avoided them again. "You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer," Echo growled. Gaster's soul is then surrounded by bullets. Echo gave a maniac grin.
DIE
Echo let out a sadistic laugh as the bullets closed in. Gaster cowered. And suddenly the bullets vanished. A volt of electricity came from nowhere and blasted Echo far from Gaster. "Wh-what a s-s-sad creature…T-torturing a k-kid like th-that…" stated Gaster's rescuer. "D-Don't be afraid! I-I'm Alphys! I r-run this l-laboratory….I c-c-come here every d-day to see if any-anyone has f-fallen though…" the lizard-like rescuer in a blue dress told the child. "H-here, I-I'll lead you through th-the corridors…" Alphys stuttered, holding out a hand to Gaster, who gladly took it. Alphys led on ahead as Gaster followed, stopping at a glowing star and reaching out to it.
"the shadows of the laboratory loom over you, filling you with some burning feeling." Gaster's companion narrated. He gave a silent chuckle in their direction, and Sans seemed a bit satisfied with his cheesy narrating skills. "i think i'm going to do that for the rest of your little adventure, pal," he winked. Well, Gaster leveled up from "kiddo" to "pal", so that had to mean something. Not, wanting to keep Alphys waiting, the young skeleton hurried to catch up with her.
She guided Gaster though the lab, though the puzzles were relatively easy, and left him with a cell phone after he cleared her test of independence. Sans had pointed out how she had hidden behind the pillar, so it wasn't all that hard. Gaster had been waiting outside for a while now, and indications of the phone being filled with "hOi! I'm TeMmiE!", suggested something had happened with Alphys and Gaster wanted to find out what. Steeling himself, and ignoring Sans' lazy snores (seriously, do dead skeleghosts even need sleep?") Gaster exited the room Alphys told him to stay in.
"if you feel the need to, take one," Sans read aloud. When had he woken up? In the bowl were various packets of condiments. "you take a ketchup packet. you take more, how inconsiderate. you take even more condiments, you feel that on endless nights like these, kids like you feel like the scum of the realm of light." Sans narrated. Wow, harsh, what inner turmoil gives Gaster's bud the right to tell you that dark joke. He again reaches to take more candy, only to knock the bowl over. "well, look at what you did," Sans chuckles, rubbing Gaster's mistake in his face.
More puzzles pass as Gaster shows mercy to the lab employees trying to take his skeleton magic. "with enough of it, the barrier separating light and darkness will shatter, and humans as well as monsters alike will be able to see the sun again," Sans told Gaster. Eventually, the met a road block in the form of a boss monster, to enamored in her reading to notice you. "this goat monster is blocking the way reading some kind of snail pun book. move her with force?" Sans suggested. Gaster shook his skull no, looking around the boss monster to find a way to squeeze past her. Sans looked at Gaster's hopeless display of enthusiasm, until finally deciding "ya gotta, pal."
Here comes Toriel. Gaster uses the "Check" option, first. "toriel. 8ATK 8DEF. has a very punny sense of humor." Sans explains. Toriel shoots fire to ward off who is interrupting her story. Gaster acts, talking to Toriel. She glances up from her book. "Oh my! I did not know a child was passing though, please forgive me, little one," she gasps, putting her book down. Gaster talks to her again, telling her it's alright. Toriel and Gaster spare. "Alphys lets me come to her laboratory in order to get some peace and quiet while reading, but I never expected to meet a sweet child like you," Toriel comments, moving out of the way so Gaster could pass. The young skeleton gives a wave before leaving.
Gaster and Alphys meet again in front of her dormitory. Surprised to see Gaster had made it through unharmed, she quickly escorted the skeleton child into her home. "I-I know it's n-not much….b-but make yourself a-at home!" Alphys encouraged, showing Gaster his room. The skeleton flops onto his new bed and makes himself comfortable before drifting off into sleep. A pleasant smell reaches him a while later. Sans the skeleghost was out cold, (how much does this guy sleep, you'd swear he'd fall down if he wasn't dead) Gaster snuck out of bed to find a warm cup of instant noodles by the side. He tucked them away in his pocket and left the room, Alphys was scrolling through her phone.
"H-hello! I-I was just uh…streaming 172 d-different series of a-anime…b-but Mew Mew Kissy Cutie i-is still my favorite. Y-you wanna watch?" she offered. "No, actually…how do you leave the labra-" Gaster signed and Alphys cut him off, "W-we should find y-your type of a-anime!" she decided. Gaster again insisted on how to exit the ruins. "Do y-you find f-fluffy or serious stories b-b-better?" she pleaded. Gaster asked about leaving the laboratory. "E-excuse me o-one moment…" Alphys stuttered, getting up from her seat and rushing to the basement.
"You r-really wanna l-leave…b-but you can't g-go, b-because if you do….th-they UNDYNE might kill…n-no will kill you. P-please, go u-upstairs. D-don't m-m-make this harder than it h-has to be…" Alphys desperately pleaded. Gaster stayed downstairs and followed Alphys though. She stood at the doorway, trembling. "Th-then…there's o-only one s-solution to this….Prove yourself. P-Prove to me y-you're strong enough to survive!"
The room dimmed, as Alphys crackled electric magic in her hands. "alphys blocks the way," Sans tells Gaster, seemingly a bit more solemn than usual. He only tells you what's what, and doesn't crack any puns during his explanations. Alphys crackles electric energy toward your soul, dodging as well as you he, bolts searing Gaster's soul. They begin to avoid you on purpose when your HP is low. Gaster didn't want to hurt Alphys, so he began to look for other options. Gaster began to frantically spare her, while she herself began to act more aloof while he continued to do so. "F-fight me o-or leave!" she demanded. But Gaster refused to. She desperately threw more attacks at Gaster, but they never hit the mark. Gaster spared again and began to slowly change Alphys' opinion.
"Pathetic..i-isn't it? I-I can't e-even stop o-one s-single child. I-I've failed s-so many o-others…No…I u-understand. Y-You would just b-be sad here. The lab i-is pretty s-small, after all. A k-kid like you sh-shouldn't grow up in a p-place like this…M-My expectations…m-my l-loneliness and my f-fear. I guess…I-I'll put them aside…" Alphys rambled. "Th-though when you do l-leave…p-please, don't c-come back… I h-hope you understand….g-goodbye…" she uttered solemnly, embracing Gaster one last time before leaving, glancing back a brief moment before truly exiting. Gaster turned his own direction, eye sockets still wet with tears. Sans remained silent as well.
"Clever…very clever…" It was Echo again, waiting at the end of the hall. "Wowie, you must feel soooo smart! So, you were able to play by your own rules. You spared the life of a single person. But what if you were to meet a relentless killer? You'll die and you'll die and die, until you tire of trying! What will you do then? Will you kill out of frustration, or will you give up entirely on this Kill or be Killed world, and let me inherit the power to control it? Don't worry, my little monarch, my plan isn't regicide. This is so much more interesting~!" Echo laughed evilly before disappearing into the ground leaving a confused Gaster and befuddled Sans behind. "i feel like i should know him… it's just nagging me about the way he talks…" Sans mutters, getting a look from Gaster. "that's not important, let's keep moving…." The skeleghost catches, urging the other's progress along. It couldn't be helped, so Gaster proceeded through the laboratory's exit.
((Author's Note: you can check out some RearrangeTale stuff over on my Undertale AU blog: search/rearrangetale ))