To find god, you need only look to the sky. To be god, you need only kill him.

Chapter 1

The Lick Of The Void

Walter sighed victoriously as he witnessed his new laboratory for the first time. To the simpleton it would appear like a normal, white, spacious and empty room. But to this skeleton, this was the beginning of his new life. A new room meant more than just space to put his ideas- this was where he was going to live from now on. Truly his genius would be put to work here and to no end.

Hotland was not his first choice of a location, but it was close enough to the castle that he could walk there (albeit take a few elevator rides as well). He sighed again with relief as he stopped to sweat from the cool air inside the spacious edifice. He unpacked his first box as he laid it on the only table indoors. Inside were a lamp, some writing utensils, paper, stray clothing, and a small box. The box was labeled- "do not open until year 721."

"Ultimately, my waiting ends in one year." He said with calming resoluteness. Walter was as tall as he was thin. His stature made him appear even as one of the dead trees in Snowdin. It was a surprise he wasn't carried off into the wind when he went outside. His height even rivaled that of his own king. When he wasn't wearing a lab coat, he always wore a long, black suit with a white sweater underneath- which covered most of his neck. Living in Snowdin most of his life asked for such attire, but as he spent –and realized he would spend- more time in Hotland, he wondered if a wardrobe change was in order.

The pristine skull of the skeleton changed demeanor almost instantly. As his head sunk between his shoulders, both of his hands were placed atop the table, resting his weight on it. He looked at one more arbitrary possession he had packed in the box. It was a picture, woodenly framed and dusty. His smile had turned to a complete frown. A sudden wave of guilt and pain surged through Walter's spine. He decided not to take the picture out of its box, instead kept it neatly hidden behind his clothing.

The skeleton scoffed slightly, surreptitiously he hid his emotions from himself. He turned left and clutched the doorknob to his lab. Sporadically, ideas invaded his mind without end. "Surely this will not do." His voice was dark, deep and stern. Absentmindedly he opened the door and looked at the rest of the junk filled boxes strewn about without any order. He looked past all of them and pulled a desk chair from all the mess.

Pushing the box on the table to the floor, Walter sat at the edge of his seat and began sketching a crude drawing of what he wanted his new door to look like. Without thinking he began to form the rolling mounting plate and the electrical contact like some of the elevators in the underground, but he stopped himself. His door didn't need to be electrical, he wanted it to be automatic and motion controlled. When he finished, he designed a door that would slide in and out of the wall. He smiled, this was his first creation in his new lab.

An excess of energy and excitement made him get up again and explore the white edifice. Walking east he noticed that there was a second floor, so he took the stairs upwards and found another white room with a large window and another desk with a piece of paper on it. He grabbed the note and read, "I hope this suffices, and remember, you are always welcome in our home. –Asgore."

Walter made a sound with his mouth as he smiled from cheekbone to cheekbone. He set the note down and stared through the wide window. He beheld his great creation from afar. It had gotten him this far, the core was a marvelous invention. He went over its mechanisms in his mind. The great machine converted magic –or, energy (as he preferred)- into electricity. The core powered the whole of the underground. Could he top it with another invention? He certainly thought so. He was appointed the royal scientist. Whether or not he thought he could or could not do it, he most definitely had to- it was his job now.

This put some stress on the skeleton which fueled him further. The underground was his oyster, and the dirt high above him was his limit. Many ideas floated in his mind, but no particular one surfaced plainly. This would take major concentration to break, and as before, he would need to walk to set his mind at ease. He climbed downstairs again, but before he left he noticed something else had fallen out of the box he threw to the ground. It was a plaque. Proudly he placed it on his desk and he left. On the plaque was engraved, Doctor W.D. Gaster.

Out of habit, Walter walked with his hands in his pockets. He had gone south but not for too long and only waited. He stood at the edge of a small riverbed. Its waters were deep but they moved only slightly in one direction. He thought, Years spent in a machine that procures magic. He frowned at his own work. For all the good he had done, he regretted spending so much time in a menial task. Monsters would find a way to make their own light, they had for many centuries. Had he really made a difference in their lives?

Ostentatiously he cursed as he scuffed the ground with his shoe. I have earned nothing! Why was he not sufficient with the work he had done? It was all for them he thought. He had to have miscalculated something. He wondered whether or not all of his hard work was worth it. And then it hit him like a ten pound boulder. The surface. How could he have forgotten why they were in the underground in the first place? The enemy was out there. It was because of them that they were there.

The skeleton was old enough to remember what the humans had done to all monsters. It angered him how stronger they were, and how defenseless he and his companions were during the final battle. He thought of two of his closest allies that made it out of there alive. The three were young back then. One of them was his own king, but he had not visited the other in a long time. Walter wondered if he still remembered. Just then, the skeleton heard a humming coming from up the river. A small, wooden barge appeared from the darkness, just big enough for two or three people to fit. Leading it was a hooded figure which always seemed to speak candidly.

"It will be a fine day in the underground. Won't you agree with me?" The hooded River Person asked.

"Certainly," Walter began as he balanced himself on the barge, "Walking through Waterfall is too dismal, I would prefer something brighter."

"Snowdin it is then." Without moving itself, the River Person led the barge west in a steady pace.

Along the way, the air began to get more and more frigid. Walter recognized the soft scent of the snow, or lack thereof, and buttoned up his suit. His thoughts became agitated with the thought of the war and the humans. He could not help but curse under his breath, more than once. He had been distracted this entire time. He had lost his focus of his true goal. Defeating their enemy was of the utmost importance.

The skeleton peered over the barge into the cold water moving past him. He noticed his reflection and how messy it looked. He had too many people depending on him. How easy would it be to jump? He had entertained the idea before, but it wasn't until that moment when he realized how effortless it would be. For a moment it seemed like a fraction of him actually did jump. He felt this piece of him enter the unforgiving waters. It soothed him from top to bottom to be so free. And the waters devoured him without remorse. He smiled at his own fantasy but then shook, terrified of how far his mind would traverse into the abyss.

"We see the path we take and the path we shouldn't." The River Person started, "Why not take both?" The hooded figure had always spoken to Walter about the most arbitrary things, and it never quite truly made sense. But there was something in its voice that sounded downtrodden. Walter knew it to be a happy individual, and he wondered why it said the things that it said.

"Whatever could you mean by that?" Walter questioned but realized he might not get a straight answer.

The River Person only happily replied, "Here we are Doctor." It did not glance back but only stared forward.

"Thank you kindly." Walter nodded when he stepped of the barge and onto dry snow. He looked back at the sir or madam travel elsewhere. The skeleton could breathe again. He watched the lazy lights of the town in the distance. This was where most of his ideas came from, and he did not anticipate any reprisal there.

This is my first Undertale fanfic, what do you think? Should I continue? Ding. Should I stop? Sad ding.