Before I start my blunder into this story let me give a few fair warnings: I'm great at procrastinating and I'm not sure how often this will update. I'll be honest I'm pumped enough about this to actually submit it so that's always a good sign. Past that this may be a bit confusing, but I have great plans for this. Most of this is read by my little sis so it shouldn't have too many errors, but they're bound to slip through anyways. Lastly the summary will make more sense later (most of the story follows Gaster up to and after the creation of Sans and Papyrus) as for now - its a start to the chaos that is fate. -End crummy A/N

Chapter 1: The Long Nights

How could he end this war, and how much dust would scatter in the process? The humans wanted them gone, one way or another, and as king of the monsters he could not allow the slaughter of the countless number of families that only wished only to live peacefully. Yet with each passing day he felt as if he was doing nothing to stop the humans. Sure, there were a few of them that were equipped and able to kill humans as if they were born for that very purpose, but those monsters were usually trying to defend civilians as they attempted to escape. Overall, there was very little the king could do to save his people and it ate away at him.

Perhaps it was these very thoughts that kept burly goat king awake long after the sun had set beyond the mountains. Very little was able to calm his nerves, but the cool night air sunk into his lungs and was almost enough to draw his mind away from his growing burdens. He lifted his gaze to the midnight sky as if the scattered stars would grant him the answers for his people, but he was not so naive to actually find his answers there - only an escape. Slowly he drew his eyes to the once empty garden and examined the quickly assembled tents for the remaining monsters to reside in. Where else could he have housed them? Many of the rooms within the castle were turned into makeshift clinics to heal the injured and the rest of the rooms were either for children, elderly, or the fallen. At one point the castle could not have held all of the monsters within it's walls but… it went to show simply how much their numbers have dwindled.

Never had he felt more helpless to change the situation nor had he felt so… hopeless. Movement below caught his eye as a darkened figure weaved in and out of tents as its head looked around wildly. Finally two glowing eyes stared back at him before it simply vanished. The king searched frantically for any sign of the shadowy figure, but found nothing as if - as if he imagined the figure all along. Surely any humans would've alerted the guards and most monsters were either asleep or too fearful to wander out of their tents. Slowly the king stepped back with a sigh for it must have been the lack of sleep causing him to imagine things. The soft sound of someone clearing their throat jostled the goat and with a jump he twisted around to eye the monster that stood behind him.

"Greetings your majesty," The voice of the monster was soft and sounded almost uncomfortable with the formalities, but the king thought little of it. Rather he was lost in thought over the breed of monster that stood before him - a tall and lanky skeleton. Skeletons at one point were more common than not, but he had not seen a single one make it to the castle and live to tell the tale. While Asgore still towered over the other it was only by a head or so, rather than the standard couple of feet almost alluding to how unusual the monster before him was. "I didn't mean to startle you, but there's someone I was hoping to locate and I figured you would be the monster to go to." He paused, and the goat king could easily tell the man was piecing together his question as if it could harm someone. Had the king himself not dealt with guards and advisors attempting to put forth bad news in the best possible way often enough perhaps it would've simply slid by unnoticed. "Would you be able to point me in the direction of the Royal Scientist?"

Asgore could do little to prevent the howl of laughter that escaped his lips, but once his laughter quelled the king placed a gentle smile upon his lips. "Well I couldn't tell you for sure right now, but I can say the last time I saw him he coward and begged for mercy before a human stabbed him though. To say the least he's probably scattered across the battlefield mixed with a thousand other piles of dust and bloodied bodies of humans." The monster frowned, obviously not appreciating the morbid humor of his question, but the goat king knew he would have felt the same if not for the constant death that war brought. "What business were you hoping to have with the old fool?" The skeleton shrugged and almost appeared downcast, but cocked his head to the side, "Well I guess I was planning on asking the coot a few questions, but it seems I missed him."

Silence fell over the duo and Asgore - while curious about the other monster - felt he should let the other plan out his thoughts. Surely if he had business with a dead man he would need to think through what he should do, which brought him back to why someone would need the 'scientist'. Overall the title was silly as not much science was actually conducted past using herbs and how best to heal monsters and their souls. The only reason his late father had allowed the name 'scientist' rather than 'healer' was merely because the short and stubby scientist claimed that healing was a science. With that, the monster spent quite a few hours explaining the art of botany, and how one day the genetically modified foods would allow for monsters to simply heal through eating.

A heavy sigh from the other monster brought the king out of his reflections of the past. Upon focusing his gaze upon the skeleton the other took the hint to speak, "Seems the position is open and I'm more than qualified." Thin phalanges toyed with the black cotton of his sleeves before being stored in the long coat's pockets. "I know much of Physics, Soul Studies, and a tad of Engineering - while most of this may seem futile in times of war beggars can't be choosers." Asgore stared at the skeleton as he struggled to figure out if the monster was attempting to sell himself on the position or if he was simply appointing himself. Indeed the position was open, but he had no need to promote a monster to it if they were all likely to perish by the hands of the humans. The goat king opened his mouth, yet closed it quickly enough unsure what to tell the other monster as they whipped out one of their hands and snapped their fingers loudly. "I can even improve upon the previous scientist so long I get a hold of his reports and such." He lowered his raised hand slightly and fixed his narrowing gaze upon the fingers, "Unless he didn't keep anything or the files were destroyed." Again the hand was tucked away in his pocket, but the king was still flabbergasted that the monster seemed not to care that he was breaking many common etiquette rules.

Asgore could tell the smaller man was about to babble on once more and decided to finally speak up. "Sir I understand you have interest in the position, but I hate to inform you that before the end of this war appointing someone would be more work than it's worth." Once more silence engulfed the monsters, however guilt began to bubble up in the goat king's gut. Hope and excitement was becoming increasingly rare and here he was crushing the first signs of joy he'd seen a long while. "Perhaps I could make an exception though." The skeleton visibly straightened drawing a smile to the stressed goat's face, "However don't expect your tasks to be easy." Joy blossomed in his chest as the strange monster nodded his head vigorously, "Then your first task is to introduce yourself properly." Asgore gave a small chuckle at how the man before him slouched slightly and glanced away. It was easy to assume that the man was embarrassed, but the fading smile of the other implied that there was more that he probably was unwilling to share. Rather than call the other out on the flickering emotions the king stood straight and offered his most genuine smile.

It took a few seconds, but the other monster appeared to pull himself together as he raised his hands and made a few brief gestures. The taller of the monsters furrowed his brow as he quickly attempted to decipher what those gestures could mean. "Wing Dings Gaster or W.D. Gaster, but Gaster is preferable." Realization dawned upon the goat king that the gestures signed the monster's name - Gaster. While the actions made sense it did not entirely add up to the king as Wing Dings - indeed a skeleton name - typically was given to children that typically showed signs of being deaf and therefore were required to sign. Many skeletons knew what to name their children almost by nature so it was unlikely that the name 'Gaster' was rightfully his, but the man indeed did know how to sign. Once more rather than interrogate the man for information that was unlikely to do him any good Asgore decided to lay down the actual request for the new Royal Scientist.

Slowly he looked over the sea of tents and dropped the smile he wore, "Your second task will be much more difficult, Gaster." Asgore knew he was lying to the other already for the task wasn't difficult - it was impossible. "Help me save them."

End Chapter 1