"Fuck!" You brought your hand up to you mouth to stop the bleeding blood marrow.

"Language." Grillby tapped you with the back of his hand as he walked past your outdoor lab. It had become a bit of a running joke between the two of you as you had spent more time together over the past few months. Asgore had temporarily reassigned the Second Lieutenant to watch you during the first few weeks since he had been the one unlucky enough to find you.

Toriel had said it was unnecessary since you appeared to be harmless, but Asgore had been concerned that you might sympathize with the humans enough to try to send them messages that would endanger yourself and others. You didn't. The humans here had no relation to you and they were all trying to kill you so you couldn't care less if they were all dead. The only "good" human that you knew of from this world was iffy at best. And not even born yet.

You were currently teaching yourself electrical engineering. You had stolen a table from one of the tents and had been collecting the necessary parts to make a set of tools to make a radio. It was not going half bad. You doubted you would hear anything when you turned it on given how the human bodies you had been looting for parts had been dressed but it was one of the few electronics that you had taken apart over the years that you thought you could probably build from scratch.

Grillby returned and set a plate of food next to you. "You didn't eat dinner last night or breakfast this morning. The Princess didn't see you sleep any either."

"Sleep is for the weak." You grab the half of an uncooked potato next to you and jam the two pieces of metal you had just been hammering when you sliced your finger in it.

"I thought when you grabbed that last night you were going to eat it." You hook up the last of the wires.

"It's the battery. For now at least." The radio flares to life in a burst of static. Everyone in camp turns to look at you. "It's alive!"

Grillby slaps his hands over his ears. Or at least where his ears should be. "What the hell is that supposed to be?"

"A radio." You spin the dial and eventually pick up music. You recognized the tune. Gaster's Theme... Interesting but not surprising.

Grillby is staring at the radio completely baffled. "That is your SOUL's tune. How?"

"It picks up higher frequencies and plays them back at an easier to hear level. I just tuned it to pick me up, I'm sure if we spin this dial a bit we could probably find yours."

"...Can we? It is hard to hear your own tune outside of battle." You had already started spinning the dial. You stop on another familiar tune. It's Raining Somewhere Else. That was a bit of a surprise.

"It's different!"

"I should hope so. You aren't in a fight now are you?" Asgore had wandered over. Bergentückung starts to drift from the radio overlapping the other song. You turn the dial ever so slightly to keep it on one song. "I see you still haven't eaten. You might want to correct that before my wife comes over."

You sigh and pick up the plate. The food is delicious as always but you still feel odd eating it. You didn't need to eat as regularly as other monsters but that could just be because of the fact you had been a poor college student before and not used to such large regular meals. "I should probably go to bed too. I pulled an allnighter accidentally again."

"Yes, you should. Shoo. We will make sure no one breaks your…"

"Radio," Grillby supplied.

"Yes, your, radio. It will be here with the rest of your stuff when you wake in the evening." You put the now empty plate down with a nod. Toriel gives you a look of approval as you lay down on the cot set up in the corner of their tent for you. You fall asleep a few minutes of burying you face in your pillow later.

After what felt like no time at all, you are woken my shouting and Toriel shaking you. "We are under attack! We are falling back to Mt. Ebbott, the caves there should give us a place to regroup without being seen." Well shit, you weren't expecting this to happen so soon. You just got here.

You struggle to find you feet and follow Toriel out into the forest. Humans make a show of attacking you at every turn but you can see that they aren't really trying to hard. You are sure that they would be happy if they killed you, but you are sure their orders are to drive the monsters toward the trap and only kill the stragglers. Toriel is clearly too concerned for your safety to notice their odd behavior.

You decide it is best to not say anything. Toriel needed to live or the monsters would never get out of the underground without murdering every human that fell.

The monsters already inside the cave entrance were relieved to see the two of you enter. You could see Grillby and Asgore among them. The last monster that entered before the barrier snapped shut was Captain Gerson. The moment it closed the shouting began. Monsters of every walk of life began attacking the barrier as one. You didn't move.

Grillby didn't either. He was had turned to look at you right after the barrier went down and he knew. He flared bright blue. "You knew! You knew this was coming!"

"I knew that it was a likely possibility. It is what happened…"

"This is what happened in your world? Is that why there aren't many monsters?" Toriel, the saint that she was, stepped between you and all the scared and now angry monsters.

You weren't sure if you could lie to this many monsters right now. You had told your half truth and you were sticking with it. "I wasn't sure it it was even something they could do yet. I had hoped to be sure before telling you because I didn't want anyone to panic. Turns out I got here way too late for that. If they have built this barrier they way I think they have, they have been pretty much done with it since shortly after I stumbled into camp."

"So do you know how to get us out of here?" You aren't sure who that was.

"Yes."

"Well, are you going to tell us?"

You shift from one foot to the other. "The only way the break the Barrier is the combined power of seven human SOULs or a human with a Level of Violence of 20. A monster can pass through the barrier however once one human SOUL is collected so they could in theory go through and collect the rest we need then."

"So we're stuck."

"Temporally. The barrier can't be passed through from this side but outsiders can freely enter from what I understand. It is likely designed that way so they can trap more of us down here."

Everyone stood in silence for a moment. "Well, I'm not standing around here for the next decade or so. I'm going spelunking." It was the Undine that you had heard called Lymnad around camp. You suspected she and Undyne were more closely related now than you had first guessed. Admittedly, her muddy colors had thrown you but the build, species, and personality traits were there.

There were murmurs of agreement and a group peeled off to go check the rest of the cave. You sighed in relief and relaxed back against the wall nearest you. The adrenaline was wearing off. Asgore evidently walked over to you. "While I agree that you should have told us all from the start, I understand why you didn't."

"Everyone hates me now."

"I hardly think that is the case. We have been watching you learn who you are over the past few months. We know you just as well as you do. You are a kind monster who puts his curiosity and others before himself. You're also still tired. Why don't you get some rest, I'll keep you company while you sleep."

You nod knowing there is little point arguing. The two of you sit down in the cave entrance and watch as the others move deeper under the careful eyes of Toriel. It doesn't take long for the sound of the barrier to lull you to sleep again.

Note:

What? Something bad happened to G on Monday again? What are the chances? Sorry if you were hoping they would stay surface side longer but all Gaster did for the past few months was sit around camp and try horribly to learn a branch of magic that Toriel was in no way qualified to teach. He has the basic understandings of FIGHTs now though so there is at least that. He will learn how to use his magic eventually. He as all the time in the world now. Or at least the next few centuries.

On another note. The cross updating through AO3 has begun. All three of these chapters already here will go up today and from this point on they will update on the same schedule. Username is the same, just have underscores instead of spaces.

Next chapter, what the hell is everyone going to eat and drink down here? -Void