Prologue – Monsters
Monsters. When you hear of monsters, you most likely just think of legend, or fable. However, this was not always the case. Not too long ago, monsters lived alongside and co-ruled the world with the humans. The humans did not think very much of them, though, as they were weaker by a load, but they tolerated them.
Yet, one day, for some unknown reason, war broke out between the two ruling species, and the humans fated victorious, banishing the remaining monsters to the Underground, sealed by a magical barrier.
The monsters were broken and dishevelled; they were torn with despair. The monster king, King Asgore Dreemurr, attempted to calm them, and it just barely worked—their forced tranquillity still hung by a thread. The king and his wife cast a spell over themselves: a spell that would halt their ageing—they didn't know if the monsters could go on without them, and they were getting older. But, if they were to be honest: they had no clue of what to do themselves.
But finally, the king goat (Asgore) hatched a plan. A plan to exit the barrier and destroy the humans in vengeance. But for that, he needed a scientist. The king called out for applicants—and he found a very eager one, at that. A skeleton in his early 20s, Dr WD Gaster, jumped at the chance to make an impact and get some recognition. He was brilliant but unnoticed, and craved some attention. He knew nearly everything about everything! After proving his smarts to the king, he was hired as the very first Royal Scientist of the Underground.
Gaster was tasked (along with some extra, smaller things) with extracting a substance found only in humans, and injecting it into monsters. This substance was known as Determination—the will to keep living. The strength of the humans. The power of Determination was why human Souls would still linger with their owner's consciousness after death—monster Souls perished instantaneously.
How were they to extract Determination from humans when there were none to be found? Gaster needn't even ponder over this thought for a second—he had an idea: he would create a human substitute. How, you may ask? With water. Water is the most essential element to a human's survival—without it, they'd die before half a week passed. With the monsters' limited knowledge of the human body, this seemed like a perfect idea. He would extract a little bit of himself (since he was a skeleton it wouldn't hurt) and keep it contained in a large tube filled to the brim with clairvoyant water. He would recreate a humanoid substitute. After setting up his experiment, Gaster set off to sleep.
Chapter 1—Unexpected Company
Gaster was already at his lab when he fully woke up—he seemed to have sleepwalked his way to work. With a start, he eagerly yet slowly walked toward his experiment room. Opening the door, he was taken aback to see two new skeletons staring at each other through the glass. Not only had the scientist not expected new life so early—though he was proud that it had worked—but it also meant his idea failed. At least, he thought so, at first. He slowly went to go release the skeletal bodies from their prison; the taller one hopped out 'heroically', holding his fist in the air, while the shorter one just casually stepped out.
"heya," greeted the short one. "i'm sans. this is my (i think) brother, papyrus."
"GREETINGS, CREATOR," spoke the tall one confidently. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM GLAD TO MEET YOU! MAY I INTEREST YOU IN STORIES OF HOW GREAT I AM?"
"Uh, no, thank you," replied Dr Gaster. "I'm good for now." Gaster still planned to test on them—but these introductions already made him feel sick to do so. There was something about the few words they said that made him like them both a lot. He felt terrible even thinking about slicing them up to even just see if they had Determination in them.
There was an awkward silence. "WELL!" Papyrus clapped his hands together. "I THINK, TO BREAK THE SILENCE, I SHOULD TELL MY STORIES! IT ALL STARTED, LONG AGO—"
"bro, you were literally created twenty seconds ago." interrupted Sans. "besides, i'm a humour kinda guy, and i doubt your stories would be very ... humerus," he joked. Gaster snickered uncontrollably; Papyrus cringed.
"SANS!" whined Papyrus. "NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR JOKES!"
"then when will it be time, pap?" grinned Sans. "WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS AROUND!"
"aw..." Papyrus' brother fake-whined. "but then i'll be all ... a-bone," Gaster made a poor excuse for attempting to hold in his laughter; Papyrus' yell of rage was heard from miles away. "Come on, Papyrus, you gotta admit that was good." Gaster breathed in between howls of laughter. He liked these guys—even if Papyrus would refuse to co-operate. But the scientist's laughs were cut short when he remembered his task at hand: kill them, open them, find Determination and take it. His smile faltered immediately and he felt sick. He couldn't do it. But how else would he find Determination?
"SANS!" Papyrus yelled, trying to hold in his grin. "THAT WASN'T FUNNY!"
"then why are you grinning?" Sans chuckled.
"I AM AND I HATE IT!"
They all three began to laugh, Gaster just barely. He needed a plan ... a good plan, one that would work for sure ... and it hit him. He didn't necessarily like it, but it was for the best. For the first time in his life, he was going to procrastinate, and wait until a better opportunity presents itself to him. Instead of using his smarts for his biggest and apparently most important task, he was merely going to work on other small projects he was tasked with and would wait for a human to arrive. These extra projects are to be finished after Project Determination, the scientist remembered king Asgore saying. But he couldn't bring himself to kill these guys. He had to wait.
A/N: I had originally written Sans and Papyrus' lines in their respective fonts, but I guess FF doesn't like that. Sorry! ^_^ Hope you're enjoying this so far. I know this isn't actual fanfiction, but for the longest time, I've wanted to write down the amazing story and share it, so sorry if it bothers you to see fiction on a fanfiction website. I'll (try to) update this frequently!