WD Gaster stared in surprise at the little girl in front of him, mouth agape, large black coat hanging over his skeletal frame as he gaped. His slender skeletal body underneath the silver undershirt he wore slightly shook in shock, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing. But sure enough, without a doubt, it was true. This was a human girl. An African American human girl, just like from one of the many books he'd read down in the Underground.

Monsters had long since been banished to the Underground by humanity because humans had learned of their great sin: Monsters could kill humans with their magic, a talent almost totally unique to monsters alone, and could do something no human could: steal souls. And Gaster had learned of this firsthand. His experiments with humans had exposed this legend as truth and helped to initiate the Monster/Human War.

And now, here he was, staring at a human child as she panted and heaved, scarcely alive, body trembling as she struggled to try and stand upright. She stood on the faint blue-tiled floor of the laboratory, icy blue eyes staring back at his own deep black eye sockets as he quietly stared back. She'd tried to sneak through the lab but he'd caught her just as he was exiting the elevator, and now he could scarcely believe this scraggly, black-haired gaunt human was here.

"...what in the..." He muttered as she quivered in fear, the girl stepping back slightly, obviously terrified. For a moment, he thought about King Asgore's decree, how the King of Monsters had demanded all humans who entered the Underground must die...

But...this was just a child, and she looked so pathetic and weak.

"...what's your name?" He finally asked, his voice faintly echoing and dark as he quietly looked her over, hands in his pockets.

"Hope." The girl murmured as he held up a hand cloaked in a lovely blue shade, gravity magic flickering across it as he carefully lifted her by her SOUL, putting her onto a nearby chair whilst pulling out a bottle of juice from a nearby refrigerator.

"You look parched." He said, sliding it over to her as she took it in her tiny hands, nervously opening it up and slowly drinking from it as Gaster smiled softly back at her. "Please, take your time. I've got plenty."

"Th-thank you, mister." Hope muttered.

"Doctor. Doctor Gaster." Dr. Gaster said tenderly, giving the African American child a gentle look as he drew up a chair to sit across from her. "Whatever are you doing here?"

"I was just hungry." She mumbled. "I couldn't find anything to eat for days, not since the ruins. Everywhere else had too many monsters around and I was scared to sneak something, but then I saw this lab. All your lights were out, so-" Hope bit her lip as Gaster chuckled softly.

"Its alright. I'll get you something to eat." He said snapping his fingers as the refrigerator opened up again, and a Cinnamon Bunny hovered out. A tasty treat in the form of a bunny head, it floated towards Hope as she took it in one hand, munching on it softly and sighing as the warm, gentle texture went down her throat, Gaster surprised as he saw tears spring to her eyes. "Oh, I...is everything alright?"

"Hardly anyone's been so nice to me." She whispered. "Except for the Goat Lady, everyone else has tried to hurt me..."

Gaster felt guilt swell in him as he stood up and gently walked over to her, putting a hand softly on her shoulder. "It may be best for you to stay for a few nights. I'll make up a bed for you, and you'll be safe here." He offereds sympathetically, as he looked into her soft light blue eyes with a gentle smile on his skeletal head. One line ran up in a slightly zigzagged pattern from his left eye up to the top of his head, the right eye having a line sliding down to his mouth, both glowing softly with gentle blue light of his own as he carefully hovered her into his arms and carried her into the patients wing. There, he could set up a bed for her in the basement.

He just hoped his assistants Alphys and Sans wouldn't mind.

And as it turned out, Alphys was positively ecstatic to have a human around, and asked Hope a bazillion questions every chance she got, the yellow-scaled dinosaur-esque monster adjusting her glasses as she ate some cookies with Hope. Sans nonchalantly sipped on some ketchup nearby, his expression quiet and contemplative. He, Gaster's little brother, was much less tolerant of humans and had only recently changed his mindset towards them. The tubby skeleton monster sipped his ketchup, staring quietly at Hope as he thought about the promise he'd made. A promise not to harm a human ever again. A promise to a woman he didn't even know.

He, unlike Paps, remembered a bit of life on the surface. And he, like his brother Gaster, had LV. A Level of Violence. His little brother Papyrus had been born naturally strong and focused and training had grown his strength further, but Sans had gained a boost from committing a terrible, disgusting act, and his family's powers had unlocked, turning him into a glass cannon. It had unlocked when he'd killed his first human during the Monster-Human War so many centuries ago, ripping a human apart with his bone attacks even after they'd thrown down their weapon and pleaded for mercy. But Sans had been so damn mad at seeing this human after those like them had taken their parents from Gaster, Paprus and himself years before that he had not shown any. All of his fury and anger had been unleashed in the fog of war.

And now looking at this child, he felt guilt swell in him too, just as it had his brother. Because he'd found another human was making its way through Snowdin, and he'd just teleported back to the lab to inform Gaster of this.

"bro, got some bad news, I'm afraid." Sans finally spoke up in his low, deep voice, Hope, Alphys and Gaster, who was walking in with some juice for them all, looking up at the tubby skeleton. "we got another human down in here. I just came back from Snowdin and they're making their way over the bridge."

"Oh my. We can't have them out there. Paps is patrolling, he might accidentally hurt the human in his excitement!" Gaster remarked aloud. "You had best bring him here." He said quickly, nodding his head as Sans cheerily nodded, blinking out of existence a moment later as Hope stared in surprise.

"He can...teleport?" She asked, Alphys smiling happily.

"Oh yes! All of the brothers have unique abilities."

"Man. Isn't my brother the coolest?" Gaster sighed, Sans appearing a moment later as an Asian girl in an orange bandanna stared up at them, looking them over before seeing the girl, Hope.

"Oh, another human! Phew. I was scared I'd never see-wait." She blinked. "Are those chocolate chip cookies?"

"Want one?" Hope asked with a small smile. "The monsters here are really nice when you get to know them."

The Asian Girl shrugged, black hair flopping about as she approached the cookie tray and popping one into her mouth with a swift gulp, going "mmm" as she swallowed it down. "These ARE good! Thanks." She told the monsters. "I'm Qiang. Qiang Chan."

"sans." Sans said.

"A-Alphys." Alphys nervously stuttered, rubbing the back of her head and grinning slightly.

"Gaster." Gaster remarked.

"And I'm..."

ONE WEEK LATER...

"Hope..."

She extended a hand, the young blonde-haired boy in the pink tutu taking it. "Very nice to meet you. You already met Qiang, right?"

Neil nodded. "Yeah, she's amazed I made it this far in a tutu."

"THAT takes real bravery, for a guy to wear a tutu." Qiang admitted, Dr. Gaster chuckling slightly at how cute Neil looked in the pink, sparkling attire, the blue-eyed young lad rubbing the back of his neck. "How come you're dressed in a tutu if you don't mind me asking?"

"I love ballet." Neil said, putting a hand on his chest. "And I don't care who knows. I wear this all the time. Just to show my Dad." He proclaimed, doing a perfect Jete entrelacé, kicking up into the air, legs going long as he twirled about slightly before leaping up again, legs spread wide. "You must move with the grace of a swan! Especially if you want to avoid bullies that wanna drag you into an alley, screaming "We're gonna teach you, f-ggot"."

"Wow, that's so mean-spirited." Gaster said with a frown. "How hateful. But I can't deny my own species is disgustingly racist towards your kind. We were pretty terrible even BEFORE the Human/Monster War, because our ability to do magic was as common as breathing, and so we looked down upon you." He sighed, hanging his head. "And then when some humans DID learn magic, we treated the monsters that willingly helped them learn the finer points of it so awfully. The monsters here in the Underground STILL treat their descendants like toe jam."

"Who are their descendants?" Neil inquired.

"I THINK I met them." Qiang mumbled.

NOT TOO LONG AGO...

"UGGGHHH. Epic fail." The UFO-shaped alien-esque monster muttered as he typed away on his phone, ignoring his friend Ice Cap as he struggled to get the human to get to notice the icy hat atop his round little snowman-esque head. The UFO-esque monster's long, thin arms scratched his rear, sighing as Qiang suddenly snatched the icicle hat away from Ice Cap, making him turn into a block of ice. "...I take that back. THAT was an Epic Fail."

"SHUT UP, JERRY! NOBODY LIKES YOU!" The monster formerly known as Ice Cap and currently known as Ice snarled.


A month later, another human had fallen down into the Underground, a sweet little messy-brown-haired girl with glasses and an overly large purple shirt. She, like Alphys, wanted to ask a thousand questions, scribbling away on her notepad as Gaster eagerly answered what he could. The two sat on a couch, the other kids watching anime that Alphys had brought from the garbage dump, the young girl Christa leaning slightly in to whisper at Gaster.

"So this is a monster-produced anime, really? Pretty well-done."

"Alphys did it herself, with Sans helping out. I did the production work and helped animate it, and Papyrus was happy to contribute voices and story ideas." Gaster admitted with a smile. "It now airs on Saturday Morning for the kiddies on the Mettaton Network. When Sans WANTS to, he can be incredibly creative and talented." The tall skeleton sheepishly confessed. "I'm not nearly as creative as him. I couldn't even think of a name for the gigantic skeleton-head laser guns I'd made for us. So Sans came up with a name on his own. "Gaster Blasters"."

"Reminds me of "Master Blaster"." Christa confessed, Gaster seeing a perfect opportunity as he wagged a bony finger in the air.

"Oh, come now, Christa. Can we not all just get BEYOND THUNDERDOME?"

Christa began to laugh uproariously at this, sniggering and hollering and hooting with laughter, wiping snot on her arm as her glasses almost fell off, Gaster grinning stupidly back at her as he leaned back in his chair and smiled in delight at himself. The other kids looked back at them and then at each other, shrugging slightly as Christa wiped a tear from her eye. "Ohh, that was a good one! How many times do you honestly get to make that joke?"

Gaster shrugged a bit. "I'm surprised you know about the Mad Max films." He commented. "You're kind of young to be watching them."

"They're a part of my country's popular culture. They've been that way for years, like over half the American population knows that joke, so even a total nerd like me would get the reference. Plus I torrent the films without Mom and Dad knowing, so it's all good." Christa remarmed before sighing. "...I kinda miss them, actually." She muttered.

"I know how you feel." Gaster sighed. "My own parents died tragically due to some stupid humans who were drunk. They got into a fight and killed my mother and father. Sans never got over it, not really. It can be hard to forgive."

"You're awfully nice to us." Christa admitted. "And you didn't have to be. That says a lot about you."

"It can be hard for me, too. But I became a doctor and a scientist because I wanted to learn ways to help people." Dr. Gaster admitted as he looked over at Christa's shirt pocket. "Is that...human chocolate?" He inquired as she took out the Hershey bar. "I've never had normal human CHOCOLATE." The skeletal monster confessed, Christa taking it out and giving it to him. "Monsters normally didn't eat that much human food back on the surface, it would take many days to digest because our bodies process magic over normal things. All our food is made with magic too."

"Did Monsters ever eat people?" Christa asked, Gaster almost choking on the chocolate bar as the kids nervously looked up at him, Gaster slightly blushing in embarrassment.

"Er...sometimes, yes. The good news was that because it took so long to digest, a human could be removed from the monster if action was taken within a few days. Sometimes a human would WANT to be tucked away in us because it symbolized a new level of trust and love if a monster fell in love with a human and a human fell for a monster. Especially among dragons and other similar types." He confessed. "Actually the old legend about my kind was that my species was made that way: by humans that turned into monsters after being in monster stomachs for so long. Only the bones remained, now fully animated and magical. I don't know if that's true, though."

"That sounds like it would hurt." Hope admitted, Gaster shaking his head.

"Oh no, the process was very, VERY gentle. Because all our bodies are magic, it just felt tingly and warm and ticklish. I took many notes on the subject because occasionally the King would have me extricate humans from monsters that had gotten drunk." The skeletal doctor sheepishly confessed. "You wouldn't BELIEVE some of the stupid excuses monsters would use on me when I asked them WHY a human was in their stomach."

"I fell on her."

"I fell on him."

"I fell on them."

"I was drunk."

"...I was bored."

"WOW. Monsters are fascinating. And weird." Christa admitted with a shrug.


"Turkey, lobster, sweet potato pie! Pancakes piled up 'til they reach the sky!" The aproned, long-green-shirt-wearing red-haired boy cheerily sang out, happily flipping said pancakes in a frying pan over a stove as the others sat at a long, large table, Dr. Gaster at the front.

"And don't forget the syrup too!" The good doctor chuckled, Anthony sweeping away from the stove to lay down pancake after pancake in front of his eager and hungry guests before holding up a large syrup dispenser, giving it a playful kiss.

"Of course I wouldn't forget yoooooou! Oh, I wanna eat and eat and eat and eat and eat until I die!" The green-eyed Italian American boy added, pouring some for everyone that wanted it as Alphys and Sans sat near the doctor, Sans chewing up the pancakes, "hmming" in surprise.

"not bad." he admitted to Anthony as the kid gave a bow, taking off his large chef's hat with a big grin. "not bad at all, kid. you're one helluva cook."

"Well, I try." Anthony said, laughing slightly as he began breaking out the biscuits. "Lots of biscuits, lots of greens, lots of tasty jelly beaaaaans!"

Woooop! Out of his pockets came bags of jelly beans that he sprinkled carefully over Gaster's pancakes like the good doctor had asked as Gaster finished the song with a hearty grin. "I wanna eat and eat and eat and eat and eat until I die!" He laughed, happily digging into the pancakes, Anthony sitting down himself to enjoy some too. "My boy, you've outdone yourself. Your finest work yet. It's too bad your big sister Chara wasn't into cooking like you."

"Thanks for telling me about her." Anthony admitted. "My parents always wanted to know what happened to her when she ran away. I was, in a lot of ways, their attempt to do right by their kid. They kinda felt they failed with Chara."

"If you turned out like this, I don't think they could've been that bad at all!" Alphys sheepishly confessed as Anthony smiled warmly back. "You're just so nice and kind. I'm kinda surprised you made it here, though. The Royal Guard was out in full force this week."

"I could take anything they...DISH OUT." Anthony laughed, holding up his frying pan, giving them all a wink as Sans chuckled, the kids giggling as Alphys joined in, Gaster smiling broadly.

"ohhhhhhh, am i a baaaaaad influence." Sans confessed.

"What can I say? I've been...BONING UP on my puns!" Anthony laughed, Gaster now openly guffawing.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Ohhh, I missed this." He sighed wistfully. "Feeling like I'm with...family. You know what? I should ask Papyrus to join us. That'd be nice, don't you think?"


"How did this happen?"

Gaster was positively horrified as he stared at the brown-haired girl who was sitting in a chair before him. She'd taken off her cowboy hat and put it in her lap, covering her face in shame, the other kids standing behind Gaster, terrified, as the goat-like monster King Asgore stood nearby. He laid a giant hand on the girl's shoulder, looking off to the left at the many monsters lying in hospital beds, all who had bullet wounds.

"I didn't mean to." Bonnie managed to whisper out from between her hands. "They just...I just didn't want them to hurt me."

"I've tossed the gun into a dumpster." Asgore remarked softly. "But the damage is done. They've fallen down and they'll turn to dust soon if something is not done. The people know this human child caused it. They want justice."

"...people who do what's wrong need to be punished." Bonnie murmured. "...I did wrong."

"But she's just a child." Gaster said. "Surely justice calls for Mercy sometimes."

"If I COULD show it, I would. But the kingdom does not see it that way. You know they won't buy into the idea of self-defense. Undyne LAUGHED when I tried to bring it up." Asgore sighed as he hung his bearded head, his deep blue eyes closed in mournful regret. He pinched the space between his eyes, cringing as Bonnie looked up, tearfully staring at Gaster.

"The worst part was the lady, she...she just jumped in the way when I was trying to get her son to stop shooting those icy boomerangs at me. And I had milky blood all over me..." She whispered. "...I just wanted them to leave me alone, I didn't wanna hurt them. But I still did, and that's wrong."

"And unfortunately they people in the kingdom know you've had humans "captured" here in the lab." Asgore added. "They want to know they'll ALL be dealt with." The King's caped form swept back and forth as his head hung low in shame. "...I...we need to handle this."

"...I'll do it." Gaster finally murmured. "I...I don't want them to suffer." He whispered, feeling the children gently embrace them. "And I know how to make sure they won't. I just..." He looked down at them as they all hugged him, tears trickling down his bony cheeks. "I wish I could have had more time with you. You were all beginning to feel like family to me."

"We won't forget you, Gaster. We promise." Hope said as she nuzzled up into the folds of his large lab coat, Gaster kneeling down to return their embrace as Asgore left, Bonnie joining in the hug as Gaster quietly sobbed.

"Ha...ha...I...I don't want to let go..."

...

...

...

...Gaster had carefully removed almost all of their clothes, and now each of them were in nothing but their underwear. Gaster brought them towards the kitchen, gently patting the nearby table, sighing as he looked back at them. "I...I want you to know that this won't hurt. I promise." He insisted, Hope climbing up first as she laid down and he got out some barbeque sauce, a nearby grill set up in the kitchen with a large red top as he approached her with the sauce and a paint brush. Hope smiled softly, nodding back as he began to paint her over in the delicious sauce, carefully slathering her little form in the BBQ. She didn't have to worry. The stove, the grill, the oven, all in his kitchen were of fire magic, you could put your hand right in it and you wouldn't feel pain.

And soon, the grill had been heated up, just like the nearby stove and oven, and he laid Hope down upon it, readying an enormous burger bun with some sesame seeds on top. He patted her head before he closed the grill, calmly waiting for her too cook whilst he lifted Qiang up, lying her down in the large frying pan on the stove. He had poured cooking sauce, rice, chopped up carrots and broccoli into the pan, and he hummed softly and tenderly, tossing her about a bit with one glowing hand. His magic gently worked her over in the pan as she was covered in the sauce and the vegetables, turned into Qiang-Fried Rice whilst he opened up the oven with his other hand.

Neil was next, and he had a delight glaze covering his body, soft fire magic glowing inside the oven. He was laid on a large cooking sheet and slid carefully into the immense oven before Gaster closed it up, going back to taking care of Qiang. He added a bit more sauce to her, playfully taking off a piece of carrot from her body before tossing her up a bit in the pan, flipping her onto her back before going to the grill. Doing the same thing he'd done to Qiang, he flipped Hope onto her back to make sure she was nicely grilled, and soon, all three were ready.

Carefully he removed Neil from the oven, removing Qiang and Hope from the pan and grill respectively, placing all three on different plates whilst he put an apple in Neil's mouth, placing garnish around his body as he sprinkled a bit of salt on Qiang, and put Hope in the bun. Smiling softly at her, he opened his jaws wide, and in careful, enormous gulps, he began to swallow her down. Gulp...gulp...gulp. Down she went, bun and all, making an enormous bulge in his skeletal throat, his stomach swelling out.

Next it was Qiang's turn, and he calmly used a fork and knife to enjoy some of the delicious fried vegetables she'd laid in before giving her a playful little poke. "It's always good to eat your vegetables first." He insisted, lifting the plate up, jaws opening wide. He slid her and the rice she laid on down, down into his waiting bony maw, and his tongue danced over her slightly spicy skin as she too sank into his waiting gut to join Hope.

Then it was Neil's turn, and Gaster put on a bib around his neck. Chuckling a bit as he looked over the tasty, slightly roased child, he admired what he'd done. Neil now had a faintly golden brown toasted skintone, and had a lovely glaze to his form. Smiling happily, Gaster lifted him up, easing the kid's body into his waiting bony jaws, careful and deliberate gulps forcing him into the throat, then into the stomach.

And so now with him halfway finished, there was Christa, Anthony and Bonnie left. Christa was laid on the nearby table, covered in dough and icing, chocolate chips sprinkled over her, the oven still heated up nicely. Smiling in delight at this and the wonderful cake she'd make, Gaster carried her over towards the oven and eased her onto a baking tray inside, closing up the door and waiting for her to cook.

Meanwhile, Anthony was stripped bare of course, and it was time for him to be covered in meat sauce. A nice blend of oregano, tomato sauce and romano, all combined with little juicy meat chunks and a hint of garlic as he was carefully tied to some spaghetti in a large plate, Gaster letting the Spaghetti heat up in the pot after patting Anthony gently upon the head.

Bonnie, meanwhile, he carefully laid down on the table and held up a delightful dispenser of soft-serve ice cream. He began to cover her in it, humming slightly, sprinkling chocolate chips over her as she laid in a bowl, smiling warmly at her. Though she should have felt cold, she was amazed at the magical properties of the nice cream and how it didn't hurt her, and she giggled as the chocolate chips rained down on her, soon followed after by chocolate syrup.

Within a few minutes, Christa was ready and he withdrew her from the oven, now turned into a lovely cake, her head sticking out the middle and sheepishly smiling at him, her glasses taken off. Removing Anthony from the pan, he laid the child down along with the rest of the spaghetti onto a plate, and then laid Bonnie nearby, eagerly rubbing his hands together as he began to slurp up the pasta. SLURRRRPP...SLURRRPP...strand after strand sliding in, and soon that wasn't the only thing. Anthony's legs and rear began to slide in, drawn into Gaster's maw by the spaghetti wrapped around him. Gaster's tongue danced over his belly, tickling it a little as he swallowed the boy up further, and soon Anthony was sliding down with the spaghtetti into Gaster's gut.

Next, it was Christa's turn, and he carefully cut off chunks of the cake, letting her enjoy a few bites herself as he smiled softly at her. He kissed her forehead, cooing as he lifted the Christa Cake up, then eased the whole thing down, down into his waiting maw. With enormous, huge gulps, he began to swallow her down, stuffing her into his bony jaws until at last she was another immense bulge in his belly's pit. Sighing in delight he licked the creamy vanilla frosting off his bony fingers, sighing softly. So good. So sweet.

And of course, at long last, it was Bonnie's turn. "You won't feel any more pain than the others did." He promised. "I...just wish I'd gotten to know you more." He admitted to her as he held the bowl she was in up, jaws slowly opening wide. "I promise, I won't forget you." He added, tossing her in headfirst, tongue lapping over her face. With immense gulps, her head slid into his throat, his tongue tasting of her chest and stomach as he rubbed over the immense bulge of his belly, another gulp sending her rear into his jaws. His throat was distended, her peaceful, happy face faintly visible through the bone before another mighty gulp tucked her legs inside his jaws, and with a slurp and a faint tickling of her tosies by his tongue, in she was, tucked away inside the tummy of the scientist.

Sighing in delight, Gaster went to his bedroom and laid down, hands feeling over the immense, churning, bulging bloated belly he had, sighing softly. Gaster's gut and it's stomach muscles softly murmured and mumbled, carefully working over the children as a loving tingle began to rise up around them. They were being softly kneaded and tickled,the belly eager to absorb their bodies so Gaster could remove their souls.

"I won't forget you. Not ever." He whispered softly. "...not ever."

...

...

...

...Gaster sat alone in the dark recesses of the forest, in the space between spaces. He softly watched as the rain softly plunked down on him, his eyes closed tightly, his expression mournful and sad. The rain went PLUNKA-PLUNK against his skull as he laid his hands in his lap, not sure if what was descending down over his cheeks was rain or...

...something else.

He was just glad something could touch him. Because nothing else could reach out to him. Though he seemed everywhere and nowhere, he could do nothing but...watch. He had spent so much effort trying to warn the human of the threat of the demon, and of going too far, and now he was alone with his memories and regret.

He dug his hands into the folds of his cloaked jacket, digging slightly into his knees, his body shaking quietly before he suddenly shot up, mouth slightly agape, as a gentle hand rested on the back of his body.

He turned around, staring in surprise, a young african american girl smiling warmly back at him, several other human children that were all-too-familiar watching on as well. One by one, all of them walked towards him, gently hugging him as he felt their embrace, and felt the tears coming freely. Now they were welcome tears of joy and relief, and he heard them speak.

"We didn't forget." Hope told him.

"We never did." Qiang said softly.

"And we wanted to tell you, after all this time..." Neil went on.

"That we forgive you." Christa gently informed Gaster.

"We're not mad with you. We're here for you." Anthony spoke up.

"You've punished yourself enough. Let the healing begin." Bonnie chuckled, giving him a little noogie.

"Don't...n-noogie the skeleton." Gaster whispered quietly back, eyes closing as he smiled, and felt their warmth embrace him, feeling pieces within himself being fit back together. Feeling what had been split in half now become a whole, as the rain gently washed over him, now soft and crisp, no longer heavy and suffocating. No longer a shroud, now a baptism. A rebirth.

And he felt so...

...warm...