Of all of the monsters to ever roam the Underground, none were as intelligent as the brilliant W.D. Gaster.
Having been around before the war between humans and monsters broke out, W.D. Gaster's genius was far beyond that of the average monster and human at the time. His knowledge and understanding of the scientific world around him was unparalleled, and even today, comparable only to such scientific minds as Albert Einstein and Galileo Galilei. Some would even go as far as to say that there never has been and never will be a being in the world with such wisdom as his.
After the great war between humans and monsters, the surviving monsters were all sealed under a mountain known as Mount Ebott, trapped under a barrier made to keep almost anyone, monster or human, from coming back up.
While the life of the monsters in the Underground had originally been filled with nothing but despair and anguish, Gaster quickly began to see potential in the different environments that were in the Underground alone. While the war had taken virtually all of the time he would want to use for his own personal studies, and instead forced him to attempt to create weapons to defeat the humans, the loss of the war finally gave the scientist some much desired time, as well as a necessity, to resume his studies to see what he could find in the Underground.
His reputation as the most intelligent and brilliant of all of the monsters that survived the war was sealed when Gaster made the groundbreaking discovery of electricity in the Underground. While studying certain aspects of the previously thought uninhabitable volcanic environment, which he would later use as the place that housed the Core, he had accidentally discovered that the Underground had an astonishing potential for powering up whatever devices he could make to improve the lives of his people.
Once the discovery was made, the scientist quickly got to work, using all of the discoveries he had made while creating weapons for the monsters during the war to create inventions that would improve the lives of all monsters in the Underground. Within the span of a few short years, Gaster had brought energy, to all parts of the Underground, allowing the monsters to be able to safely live in places originally believed to be too dangerous to live.
Through the scientist's discoveries, it had seemed that many of the problems that the monsters had faced had been solved. As the scientist kept studying and kept inventing, life in the Underground was improving drastically. Through his works, which included bringing light and heat to the homes of the monsters, he had singlehandedly allowed the monsters to survive in the new environments, when they most certainly would have died without his help. So great were his works that Asgore, the King of the Monsters, had appointed Gaster as the official Royal Scientist.
After doing so much work to improve the lives of the monsters in the underground, the focus of Gaster had now shifted into studying the barrier, and seeking a way to destroy it, so that all of the monsters could finally be allowed to go back to the surface once again. The details of what exactly the theory he held were usually kept a secret by the scientist, but everybody knew that if there was one person that would be able to find out how to get past the barrier, it would be him.
The day started like they usually would for the scientist. He woke up very early in the morning and would start working on his project, expecting almost no visitors aside from an occasional progress check up from the king or the delivery of a part he needed.
His four students that he had taken under his wing would arrive some time between 9 and 10 AM, to hear his teachings and help out with whatever tasks he needed. These four monsters were chosen by Gaster for their desire of knowledge and their craving for discovery. He hoped that someday, the four would be able to go off into the world and make their own discoveries to improve the lives of everyone, just like he had done.
Eventually, another monster would finally come in, later than the others as per usual; a short skeleton that went by the name of Sans. Gaster knew little about this skeleton, aside from his apparent gift of knowledge and a horrible taste in puns. Though Sans was quite lazy, and almost always drove the scientist crazy with his puns relating to bones and skeletons, Gaster was intrigued by the skeleton's ability to quickly learn and understand what he was teaching, and so decided to befriend the skeleton and take him under his wing, just like the other students.
At around 12:30 PM that day, Gaster had sent his four students to go study the barrier by themselves, to see what new observations they could make about it without his help. Sans, meanwhile, had went off to go to a certain bar in Snowdin called Grillby's. He went there just about everyday, and he usually was quite good about making sure he brought at least a burger and fries back for Gaster. Admittedly, before he had met Sans, there were a number of times where the scientist would forget to eat, being so engrossed in his work.
It admittedly got lonely from time to time for the scientist, but overall, he enjoyed being able to work on his own without having anyone that could potentially distract him. It always brought some strange peace of mind, being the only one around when he was very busy with his work. He worked tirelessly on a certain machine of his, which was a machine that only he and his students knew what it would be used for. He preferred to keep most of his work a secret until he knew it worked for sure, just in case his theories were proven incorrect. He didn't want to spring any false hope after all.
He had been working on the machine by himself for around half an hour, a fact that became apparent to him when he heard a little knock on the door. Thinking Sans had returned already from Grillby's, he looked up at a clock he had on the wall, and saw that it was 1:00. Usually Sans would be there considerably longer... perhaps for once, he decided to get done there quickly and not dawdle around.
"The door's unlocked." he called as he continued to work on his machine. He heard the door open and close, and braced himself as he continued to work on the machine, expecting a slap on the back or some awful pun about bones.
Instead, however, what he got was the voice of a little boy behind him. "Mr. Gaster?" the voice questioned.
Surprised by the sudden voice, he halted his progress on the machine and turned his head to look at the owner of the voice. His eyes were met with the sight of a young human boy, no older than 7. He wore a pair of khaki pants, black shoes, and a green and greenish-yellow striped shirt. His hair was a chocolate brown color, his eyes had a ruby red dazzle to them, and his skin was pale, save for his cheeks, which had a strange rose colored blush to them all the time.
"Ah. It's you, Chara." Gaster said as he stood straight up, looking at the human child. "I wasn't expecting you to be dropping by today."
Chara closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly to the right, giving off one of the most adorable friendly smiles anyone would ever see. "I didn't have anything big I had to do today, so I decided I'd come over, see how you were doing." he said happily.
Gaster gave a nod. "I can see that." he said as he turned back to his machine and began to work on it again, hoping that perhaps Chara would go away if he didn't entertain him long enough. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the young human's company. Aside from being the Royal Scientist, Gaster was also a family friend of the Dreemurrs, who had taken Chara under their care after he had fallen into the Underground, and considered Chara to be one of his closest friends, along with the other Dreemurrs. Moreover than that, the human showed a strong curiosity and desire to learn from Gaster, which was always welcome to the scientist.
His curiosity, however, was both a blessing and a curse in the eyes of Gaster. Unlike Asgore's biological son, who was usually more quiet and well behaved, Chara was chaotic, always trying to play with Gaster's inventions, trying to see what everything did. This meant that Gaster almost always had to keep a constant eye on Chara when he was around. He had already caused a number of accidents for Gaster, and he would have preferred it if he could have his undivided attention working on his project.
He worked nonstop on his machine for around a few minutes before looking back at Chara, hoping to see him getting bored and thinking about leaving. Instead, Chara was trying to look past Gaster's body, curiously looking at all he could of the machine.
After a few seconds, Gaster gave a sigh of defeat, knowing that Chara wasn't going to be leaving on his own any time soon. He halted progress on his work and stood straight up again, giving a stretch. "Do your parents know that you're here?" he questioned, turning around to face the human boy.
Chara gave another smile and nodded. "I made sure to tell them before I headed off." he said. "You didn't think that I wouldn't let them know I was coming here, did you?"
"Heh. I never know what to expect from you, my little human friend. You cannot fault me for being cautious." Gaster said as he looked back at the machine and did a little more tinkering with it. Since he was talking to the boy, he decided to just make sure that everything was currently fastened tight enough. "And where is your brother? I almost never see one of you without the other around somewhere. Did he decide not to come with you this time?"
"Asriel's not really feeling too well." Chara said as he gave a hum and a frown. "Sore throat and a cough... I'm hoping that it's nothing too serious."
"Well, from the sounds of it, he may just have a common cold." Gaster observed. "I'm sure that he'll be feeling ok within a couple of days."
Chara gave a nod and then went back to trying to get a good look at the machine that Gaster was working on. "...What's that thing you're working on, Mr. Gaster?" he questioned. "It looks... kind of... complicated? Is that the word you'd use?"
"Yes, that's correct. And this here is more complicated than physical appearance would suggest, believe me." the scientist hummed pridefully as he took a bit of a step to the side so that Chara could get a good look at it. "I usually keep my works a secret from everyone else... but you've proven to be able to keep a secret if you have to, so I suppose there's no harm in giving you a sneak peek."
Chara looked at the machine with a curious tilt of his head, trying to take in all of the details in. He saw a note with large writing on it, and began to attempt to read the words. "...E... Essenky Signtheescizor?" he questioned. "What does that mean, Mr. Gaster? Is that a name?"
"Actually, child, it's pronounced 'Essence Synthesizer'." Gaster corrected. "You could call it a name I suppose. It's what I've decided to name this machine... at least until I come up with a better name in the future."
"'Essence Synthesizer'? What's an essence synthesizer?" Chara asked with a scratch of his head.
"Well... hmmmm... if it were one of my students, or even Sans, I could probably be able to explain it fairly easily... but... seeing as how you're a child, I'll try to make the explanation as simple as possible." Gaster started. "It may take quite a bit of explaining, so... do try your best to follow along if at all possible."
Chara gave a smile and a nod as he sat down contently on one of the chairs and listened to Gaster's lecture. "An essence synthesizer, as of right now, is nothing but an idea I am currently working on. Until I get this machine working and fully operational, it doesn't exist. However, the idea of the machine is that it would be able to synthesize artificial souls, and possibly even alter certain characteristics of an existing soul."
He looked over at Chara, seeing a confused look on the boy's face. "...Uh... what does 'synthesize' mean?" he questioned. "...Oh, and 'artificial'... and 'alter' too."
"Alright, good. Questions such as those show that you were paying attention." Gaster said with a content nod. "The word synthesize, Chara, means to create something, often through combining other things. Artificial stands for something made by someone, or not created by nature itself. Alter, in this concept, means to change in a certain way."
Chara looked up in thought as he put the definitions of the words and what Gaster had said earlier together. "...So... you're building a machine... that could create and change souls?" he questioned.
"That's what I'm hoping to accomplish, at least." Gaster said. "The actual execution of creating or changing the characteristics of a soul is something that's never been done before, or even attempted, so I really don't have anything to go off of."
"I... I don't understand though." Chara said as he looked at the machine again. "Why would you want to change or create a soul? What's the purpose of it?"
"Well... I've been doing a lot of research and experimenting on the barrier that keeps us all trapped down here." Gaster explained as he turned back to his machine, scratching his chin in thought as he went on. "...If my research and theorizing prove correct, then the creation of artificial souls could be the key to our escaping the Underground."
"I... I don't understand. Nobody can get through the barrier... it's not possible." Chara gave a sigh as he looked down. "...Don't you remember? When I was able to move again after I first fell down here, I went to the barrier, to see if I may have been able to get through, since I'm a human, and not even I was able to get through."
"Yes, I do recall that. I was there, if you remember." Gaster said with a nod. "However, at the same time, the barrier seemed to have had some sort of reaction to you being there, one that wasn't present from the presence of any monsters that tried to break the barrier down... it's for that reason that I began to run some tests on the barrier, and I may have created a theory that might be the key to our escape."
Chara tried his best to listen intently to what Gaster had to say, but his attention was caught when he noticed from the corner of his eye a strange, white device that looked to be in the shape of a dragon's skull. His curiosity peeked, he quietly got off the chair and began to walk over to the device, wanting to know what exactly it was.
Gaster, not noticing Chara's little detour, continued on with his lecture. "After extensive research on the barrier, and how it reacted when you were trying to get through it, I've deduced that the soul of a human has certain unique, or at least stronger characteristics than the soul of a monster. If my hypothesis proves to be correct, then we could possibly be able to destroy the barrier using souls of humans, since they seem to be considerably stronger than those of monsters... the exact number of souls it would take to do so is still a mystery to me, but it will certainly take more than one... which is where this device comes in."
He turned around to see if Chara was still with him. "Did you follow all of that, my young-" he started, but stopped as he saw that Chara was no longer sitting where he had last seen him. "...Chara...? Where did you..."
Gaster's eyes widened as he heard the activation of one of his old weapons he had made for the war against humans, which he had been using as a sort of blueprint to one of the parts of the Essence Synthesizer. Turning around, he was horrified to see the machine activating, with Chara standing right in front of it, obviously the one who had activated it.
Chara stared in amazement as the device began to slowly float up, making a strange noise as it moved. "Woah... this is awesome!" he exclaimed excitedly with a grin on his face, unaware of the danger he was in. His grin faded as he watched the machine open its mouth, a white light glowing in its mouth and slowly growing.
The weapon luckily needed to take a few seconds to fully charge up, which gave Gaster just enough time to react. "Get away from there!" he shouted as he swiftly ran to Chara and picked him up quickly, running out of the way of the device. Just two seconds after Gaster had taken him out of the way, the machine fired a large, white beam of energy, producing a loud blasting sound that earned a surprised yelp from the human child.
It took about three seconds for the beam to die down, but after it did, the device slowly descended back unto the ground before deactivating. Everything that was unfortunately in the way of the white laser was completely trashed, and the laser had burned right through the wall of the lab, leaving a hole large enough for almost anyone to slip in.
Gaster held Chara protectively, visually scanning through the area that was hit by the laser, assessing any damage that had just taken place. To his relief, all of the experiments or equipment that were destroyed were no longer of any importance to the scientist, and the hole in the wall could easily be fixed in time.
He gave a sigh of relief, knowing that nothing of major value was lost, but that relief quickly turned to anger as he stood up straight, holding Chara out so that their eyes were level. "What the Hell is your deal?!" he yelled, making Chara flinch in his hands. Gaster almost never cursed unless he was really mad about something. "How many times do I have to tell you?! Do! Not! Touch! My! Equipment!"
"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Gaster." Chara apologized as he looked back at the device. "I-it just looked so cool. I had to see what it could do."
Gaster gave a sigh and put Chara down, crossing his arms. "Just because something looks cool, that doesn't mean you can just play around with it however you want. My devices are very complex machines, and messing around with them in the wrong way can lead to serious injury." he said sternly. "Besides, you do remember what happened the last time you tried to play with one of my devices like that, don't you?"
"Uhhh..." Chara looked at Gaster as he was trying to remember what had happened the last time. Gaster gave a sigh and rolled his eyes as he held his left hand up towards his head and gestured to it. Chara looked at Gaster's hand and immediately recognized the large, gaping hole in his hand. Just in case the message wasn't clear, Gaster also held up his right hand, revealing an identical hole in it.
"O-oh... right." Chara stammered as he looked down sheepishly. "...Uh... nobody else knows... where those holes came from... r-right?"
"All they know is that they came from an accident." Gaster said with a sigh as he picked Chara up again and carried him back to the chair, sitting him back down. "Honestly, child, you're going to get yourself killed if you keep shenanigans like that up... I won't tell anyone about you causing the hole in the wall... but when I say don't touch anything, I mean it. Do. Not. Touch. Anything. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Mr. Gaster." Chara said softly as he looked down, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, Mr. Gaster."
Gaster was quiet for a few seconds before giving a sigh. He took a chair that he had by his desk and slid it over by Chara's chair, sitting by him and putting his hand on his shoulder. "Curiosity is never a bad thing, Chara. Yours makes you very observant, and eager to find anything you haven't seen yet... but you must also be cautious. After all, while curiosity is never a bad thing, toying with such dangerous devices as that can get you hurt."
Chara looked at the Essence Synthesizer again before looking back at Gaster again. "...You were saying that the barrier needed human souls in order to be destroyed?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"So far, that seems to be the case." Gaster answered with a nod. "Any large amount of power from the soul could, in theory, break the barrier... unfortunately for us, all of the combined force of the monsters down here is still not enough to break the barrier... in order to gain the power we need to destroy the barrier, we need to have human souls, something that we aren't able to get from down here."
"...And... that machine that you're building... it will be able to create the souls we need to destroy the barrier?"
"That's the idea." Gaster said. "The only problem is that there's no other humans aside from you to do any research on... I'm not aware of what exactly makes up a human's soul, nor do I know what kind of power I'd need to create an artificial one. That's why I'm also creating a function to be able to alter certain characteristics of a soul. If I need to change an artificial soul around, or make an existing monster soul more like that of a human's, I could very well do so."
Chara gave a little nod. "...And how would we get these souls to destroy the barrier?" he questioned. "How would their power be used?"
"By taking the soul into oneself." Gaster explained as he touched Chara's chest gently. "I've been researching a way to harness a soul's power in a way that would allow us to destroy the barrier... and if my research is correct, it's possible to absorb another person's soul, or in my hypothetical case, one of the artificial souls."
Chara took everything that Gaster had said in and looked at his chest as the scientist slowly moved his hand away from it. As Chara pondered everything he had just heard, he began to formulate an idea in his head. "...Mr. Gaster... do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"
"I don't see why not." Gaster said with a shrug. "Go ahead. Ask me whatever you feel is appropriate."
Chara looked at Gaster, and began to formulate questions in his head as his idea continued to form. "You said that it would take more than just one human soul to destroy the barrier... but what about if a human were to take a monster's soul, or if a monster were to take a human's soul? Would they be able to do anything to the barrier?"
"Hmmmm... well, if my calculations are correct, then the combination of a monster's soul and a human's soul could possibly have the power to be able to force their way through the barrier... but that's just hypothetical. The taking of another being's soul has never been done before, so the exact amount of energy this would form between the souls is just an estimation."
Chara didn't exactly know what the word estimation meant, but he decided he'd be able to figure it out somewhat from how Gaster used it, and instead went on to his next question. "And... what if someone were to... die?" he went on. "Would they be able to have their soul taken if they're no longer alive?"
"Well... in theory, they can only have their souls taken when they... die..." The scientist trailed off and looked at Chara, concern and confusion plain in his eyes. "...Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." Chara said as he looked down in thought. He was clearly thinking of something. "...And... if someone takes the soul of someone who's dead... what would happen if the soul is given back?"
"...I beg your pardon?" Gaster questioned, his eyes filled with more concern as he heard those words. He was starting to get an idea of what Chara was thinking about.
"Well, the soul is basically what keeps a being alive, right? Without it, a monster or human can't really be alive... so, what will happen if someone takes the soul of a person and then gives it back? Would that person come back to life?" Chara questioned. "Like, for example, if I were to die and give my soul to someone so they can get through the-"
Chara stopped when he realized exactly what he was just saying and looked up at Gaster, seeing those concerned eyes. "...I-I mean, this is all just hyperthenical, or whatever the word is... I'm just wondering if that's the case, or-"
"Chara..." Gaster said with a sigh, which made the human boy stop talking. "...I don't know what exactly you're thinking... but for everyone's sake, be cautious about what you say. Death is not something that can be toyed around with so carelessly. The ramifications of someone dying go far beyond just that person not being around anymore."
"...What does ramifications mean?" Chara questioned, hoping to change the subject.
"A ramification is a consequence, a result that comes from a certain action." Gaster said. "Death is a concept that should not, and never should be, trifled with." Chara began to open his mouth, but Gaster answered his question before he could ask it. "To trifle means to treat something carelessly."
Chara gave a little nod and looked down in thought. "...To answer your question, however..." Gaster said with a sigh. "...In theory, as long as a human or monster's soul remains in tact, they never truly die. Even if their bodies were to be destroyed, if the soul remains unharmed, then a part of them still remains."
"I see." Chara said with a little nod and a hum. "...Thank you for the explanation, Mr. Gaster... I... should probably be going now... it sounds like you're very busy."
Gaster gave a nod and stood. "I greatly appreciate speaking with you, Chara. However, I would greatly appreciate it if I were to be able to continue on with my work now."
Chara gave a nod and turned around, getting ready to leave. "Oh!" he suddenly said as he turned back around. "Uh... actually, Mr. Gaster? There's one more thing I would like to ask you."
Gaster watched, intrigued as Chara ran quickly to the door, and ran back seconds later with a camera in his hands. "Uh... Mom and Dad are making a scrapbook of pictures of the family, but they need more pictures." the boy said as he held the camera out to show Gaster. "So... do you think that I can get a picture of myself with you, Mr. Gaster? I think that would be a great picture for the book."
"A picture, hm?" Gaster looked up in thought. "...Well... I usually don't care for taking pictures of myself..."
"Please, Mr. Gaster?" Chara pleaded with adorable puppy-dog eyes.
"...Ah, what the heck?" Gaster muttered with an agreeing nod. "Alright, Chara... you promise me that you never look at me like that again, and I'll take the picture with you."
Chara gave a happy grin and nodded eagerly. "Deal." he said as he looked around for a place to put the camera. "Uh... where should I put it, Mr. Gaster?"
"Just put it on the workbench right there. You know how to set that thing to take the picture, right?"
"Yes, sir. I know." Chara said as he got the camera on the work bench and set it up to take a picture in ten seconds. After making sure the camera was in the best position for the picture, he ran over to where Gaster was sitting and sat on his lap, smiling happily. Gaster couldn't help but smile himself as he looked at the camera, gently putting his hand on Chara's right shoulder. The camera flashed with a white light as the picture was taken.
After the picture was taken, Chara ran over to the camera and looked at the picture that was just taken, making sure that neither he nor Gaster blinked before it was finished being taken. He smiled and nodded as he saw that both of them had their eyes open. "Thank you, Mr. Gaster." he said with glee. "I'll be sure to have a copy sent to you."
"I'll be looking forward to it." Gaster said with a smile. "You take care of yourself now, my human friend. And do tell your family that I said hello."
"You bet." Chara said as he happily left the lab after looking back and giving one last wave goodbye to Gaster.
"Heheheh... what a kid." Gaster said with a chuckle as he gave a stretch. "...Well, I suppose I should start seeing if I can do anything about that wall before any of my students return." He walked elsewhere to get some tools to see how much of the wall he could repair.
He didn't know how long it had been since the last time he had been in that lab. Years of being stuck in a place where he practically didn't exist had robbed him of almost all of his sense of time. He wasn't sure how many years he had spent away from his experiments, nor did he really care about finding out.
Going back into his old lab, seeing the shape it was in at the moment brought back quite a number of memories to the once great scientist. Most of them were quite fond memories, though there were a number of them that he would have liked to have forgotten.
He searched around quietly in the lab until he had found the two things he was looking for: a large machine that was covered by an old, worn cloth, and a set of blueprints that were written in a strange language consisting of symbols and hands. Preferring to keep most of his work a secret, he had designed most of the blueprints of his inventions to be written in that language, so that only he would be able to know what was written on there.
He took the blueprints off the workbench that they laid on, and moved towards the machine to unveil what was underneath it, but stopped as he hesitantly looked at the workbench again, specifically looking at two of the drawers that were hidden underneath the blueprints. He looked back at the machine, trying to convince himself not to look back into those drawers, but his curiosity and remembrance got the best of him, and he walked back to the drawers, and opened the left-most one of them up.
The drawer on the left contained a number of blueprints that had notes written everywhere, scribbles and rewritings at some parts, and eventually symbols at the top that equated to the word 'cancelled'. Despite his many successful achievements as the Royal Scientist, he also had a number of mistakes or errors in his experiments. Those blueprints he was looking at were those of machines he had attempted to create and eventually gave up on, whether it be because of constant failures or changes in focus of what he was working on.
Seeing nothing of value in the left drawer, he closed it and opened the other drawer. He was silent as he stared at the inside of it, which was almost completely empty, save for one very old looking photo, covered in dust. He took the photo gently and wiped the dust off of it, looking at it.
It was the same picture that Chara had taken with him that day; the one where Chara was sitting on his lap with his hand on his shoulder... during a time before Chara became the savage, ruthless killer that murdered everyone in the Underground for some sick plan of coming back again.
His white pupils appeared in his hollow eye sockets and glowed with some unidentifiable emotion as he stared at the picture. Despite his strong hatred for that demon that he used to know as a child, seeing the both of them together in that photo brought some fond memories to him. Memories of a time where he had actually cared for Chara, and believed, foolishly, that that boy could bring hope to the Underground...
With a heavy sigh and a close of his eyes, he tossed the picture into the air, holding his left hand out to it and keeping the picture dangling in the air with his power. He raised his hand up a bit, and slowly a familiar machine of his began to activate from the other side of the lab and make its way to the former Royal Scientist. It was a machine that appeared to be in the shape of a dragon skull, just like the ones that Sans would use for his attacks, except it was considerably larger and had 3 pairs of ram horns, one on the top of its head, one in the middle, and the other one close to the bottom. It also had 7 heart-shaped holes in its forehead, all of which were hollow.
'...That was long ago.' he said in a strange, computer-like language. '...He chose to become what he is... and now I must choose to do what I must.' He pointed to the picture as he kept it in the air, and the skull-like machine opened its large mouth. A white beam of energy began to charge in its mouth, the holes zapping with white electricity for around ten seconds before firing a very large and powerful white beam at the picture, completely vaporizing it and punching right through the roof of the lab like it was tissue paper.
'...It takes too long to charge for my liking...' he said as he looked back at the blaster. '...Oh well... perhaps it will warm up as I continue to use it.' he reasoned as he went back to the covered machine and touched the cloth that covered it, ready to remove it and see what had happened to his machine after all this time.
"Why did you let him go?" came an emotionless child's voice from behind him. Turning around in response to the voice, just like he had done that day when he talked to Chara, he was met by the sight of a lizard-like monster child that lacked arms. He was completely gray, wearing a shirt that was striped with a lighter and darker shade of grey. His eyes lacked any pupils or irises, and were completely void of all emotion.
"...Sir, you had the perfect opportunity to destroy that demon then and there. I know you could have." he went on. "...So why did you let him go? He's going to harm everyone again, just like he did back then."
'...The boy is completely powerless now. He won't be able to do any harm again, even if he wanted to.' he replied to the emotionless boy as he looked back at the cloth. 'Besides... the timing of his payment hasn't come yet. I have a much better plan for him than just simple destruction.'
"...Sir, I don't understand. What are you saying?" the monster child questioned as he took a step forward. "If what you said is true about him not deserving to be here, then why leave him alive? He should be destroyed immediately, before he can cause any more trouble."
Giving an amused scoff, he turned back to the machine and waited quietly for a few seconds before speaking again. 'You're right... you don't understand.' he said as he grabbed onto the cloth that covered the machine. 'You and the other students lack vision... vision of opportunity.'
The child watched in some surprise as he pulled the cloth away and revealed a machine that was almost completely wrecked, with several dents and chunks missing from the machine. "...The Essence Synthesizer?" the child questioned as he looked at him. "Sir, the machine is too dangerous. The last time you attempted to use it, we became these-"
'I have not forgotten about the consequences of our failed trial.' he interrupted as he looked at the machine. 'I will not let my research go to waste... I will repair the Essence Synthesizer, and this time, I WILL get it right... and I will use the boy as my test subject... he shall be the victim of whatever ramifications come from this experiment, whether he chooses to be or not.'
"But sir, even if the machine is repaired, we still have the problem that caused this to happen to us in the first place. We can't make the machine to be able to alter the characteristics of a human soul or make any. We have no existing data of what the soul of a human is composed of."
The dragon skull shaped machine made a little sound as its mouth opened halfway, white lightning zapping again from the holes in its forehead to showcase his anger, causing the kid to flinch a little bit. '...I will take any human soul by force and research them myself if that's what it takes to get the data I need.' he growled intensely. 'I don't care what it takes... my years of research and our fates will not go to waste.'
He looked back to the kid and pointed at the direction of the door. 'There was one who was allowed to research the human souls... and I doubt that she has gotten rid of the data. Go with the other students. Search through the Core, and find whatever data of the human souls from Alphys you possibly can. Don't come back until you observe every byte of data that still exists.'
"As you wish, sir." the kid said with a little loyal bow before turning around and starting to run for the door. He tripped and fell on his face on the way out, but was able to pick himself up despite having no arms, and continued on his way to fulfill his orders.
Once again alone in the lab, he looked back at the weapon that destroyed the picture of him and Chara, and gently trailed his hand across its forehead, feeling the empty holes in it. '...Enjoy your moments with your new life while you can, Chara Dreemurr... for when the Essence Synthesizer is complete... I will come for you... and I shall make you pay for your sins...'
He gave a little sinister, slightly insane laugh as he looked at the ruined machine once again. 'You and everyone else will rue the day you forgot the name of W.D Gaster.'