A/N: HUZZAAH I'M BACK AND THIS CHAPTER IS FAR F*CKING OVERDUE
I swear even though it's mostly just Lab entries and "* She Remembered…" Stuff, It's mostly a little tow-along headcanon addition to Zarla's Handplate AU and I'm afraid that, from this point on when the Semi-Canon(?) stuff in the AU actually starts happening, so I'm afraid she'll do an update that disapproves of some of the things I write here, so I try to get as much as possible of an arc before I write a chapter. And counting a new update on the AU came out the day I started writing this (Sans after he got forced out of the incubation(?) tube).
So yeah, this may be poorly written but I'm putting a lot of thought into it, so sorry if anything is out of place. If that's the case, alert me in the reviews.
Also I decided to give Gaster's Entries Numbers, so it's by my judgement 6th entry now. Welp, I hope it doesn't get confusing
Also, I'm happy to say, I've opened an ask blog on my DeviantART. You're free to ask me Anything you like about any of my fanfiction Characters, and I'd be more than happy to reply, especially with a drawing.
Alright, let's get rolling.
Chapter 4:
The Dead
Brothers
ENTRY XX6:
(I HAVE PLACED THE HUMAN BODIES INTO VATS ALONG WITH THE SAMPLES I ACQUIRED MONTHS AGO. THEY ARE SLOWLY DECAYING AS I SUSPECTED. THE MAGIC INFUSED SOLUTION IN THE VATS SEEMS TO BE HELPING IT AS WELL. IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF DAYS UNTIL THEY'RE JUST BONE.)
(VI-0 IS STILL UNRESPONSIVE TO THE QUESTION OF THE TWO SUBJECTS. I HAVE DISCOVERED SOME HUMAN BOOKS IN HER CELL. SHE MUST'VE BROUGHT THEM FROM SURFACE. AS AN APOLOGY FOR STEPPING OUT OF LINE SHE OFFERED TO TRANSLATE THEM.)
ENTRY XX7:
(I'VE BEEN GIVING HER SAME DOSES OF MAGIC, BUT HER BODY SEEMS TO ONLY RESPOND MORE AND MORE VIOLENTLY TO IT. I'LL MIGHT HAVE TO HALT TESTING FOR A DAY OR TWO, IT SEEMS SHE IS AT HER LIMIT.)
(THE MONSTER SOUL SHE ABSORBED IS GONE AS WELL. GIVING IT A VESSEL SLOWED THE PERISHING A BIT, BUT IT DISAPPEARED AROUND A DAY AFTER SHE RETURNED TO THE UNDERGROUND. THAT WOULD EXPLAIN WHY HER BODY WASN'T REACTING NEGATIVELY TO MAGIC UNTIL NOW.)
(THE SAMPLES MELTED INTO THE SOLUTION AND THE SKELETONS ARE CHANGING. SO FAR, SO GOOD)
(THE ARTIFICIAL SOULS ARE ALMOST DONE, BUT THE BODIES DON'T SEEM STRONG ENOUGH TO HANDLE A NEW OCCUPANT YET. THEY'LL MOST LIKELY NEED TO BE INCUBATED FOR AT LEAST A WEEK. ARE ALL HUMANS THIS SMALL?)
The days went by with the same routine; Sleeping, reading, ashamed glance at the half decayed boys, testing, sleeping, reading, ashamed glance at the half decayed boys, testing, sleeping… It just went on and on.
And on.
And on.
The girl hadn't spoken a word in hours. Hours turned to days. Days to weeks. Or at least she guessed, there was no sunlight or clocks or calendars in her cell to tell her how much had passed, so for her the days just melted together, stuck in a rut like some broken record.
Until one day the record skipped out of it, and resumed where she assumed it should've been long ago.
The doors suddenly opened that fateful day, interrupting her long-needed sleep.
"VI-0, COME." The tall man spoke, looming over the cell entrance. The girl- Violet, was already used to her new alias, so she sat up and did as she was told. She stood up wobbly, waddling behind the skeleton in lab coat, barefoot on the cold tiled floor.
She looked terrible; she had dark rings under her eyes, skin ashen, form skinny and frequently shaken by sneezes; She hasn't been living in the best conditions, she was still getting used to monster food and the everyday experiments didn't help her case either. But she was used to it by now.
She kept her head down while passing by the vats in which now resided two small skeletal figures; they looked brittle and weak.
"Doctor?" she spoke suddenly, her voice hoarse after such a long period of silence, "Why did you ask me to bring you human bodies.. in the first place?"
He was rather surprised by the fact that she had finally spoke, and that she decided to ask about the dead children no less.
"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU."
She was confused by the reply, but not for long
* She remembered the soft, pale blue glow
* She remembered the serenity around the small heart-shaped objects
* She remembered recognizing the familiar feeling they radiated
"I HAVE SUCCEEDED TO CREATE FUNCTIONAL ARTIFICIAL SOULS."
"… They are so pretty…" the small girl murmured to no one in particular, staring at the souls in a trance.
"YOUR DETERMINATION DIDN'T GO TO WASTE."
"That's why you needed my DETERMINATION?" she looked up to him and got a small nod in reply.
"THE SMALL AMOUNT I SUCCEEDED TO EXTRACT WAS ENOUGH. AND THE INFORMATION FROM THE HUMAN BOOKS YOU BROUGHT PROVED TO BE USEFUL AS WELL."
She couldn't help but smile a little. At least all those awful experiences weren't for nothing. She thought of it as redemption for what she'd done.
Though, if she knew what that chance for a new life would bring them, she would've destroyed them there and then.
Her thoughts were cut short by a tingling sensation in her sinuses. She cupped her hands over her mouth and nose and sneezed. He continued walking only a second afterwards.
"BUT THAT'S NOT WHY I TOOK YOU OUT OF YOUR CELL. STAY HERE." he spoke, as if he knew she was going to follow.
Violet just returned to her place by the desk and stared at the fragile-looking hearts. Is that what a SOUL really looked like…?
She switched between her feet, always warming the one that was up in the air on her calf. Though she was cold, she felt… Relieved. For the first time in weeks she could feel that warmth.
The will to live.
The resolve to change fate.
The DETERMINATION.
She cupped her hands around one of the SOULs and smiled as it grew a bit brighter; She could feel her own will to live spark. She already felt a bit better; her feet weren't as cold anymore and a weak, but honest smile grew on her face.
Maybe it was delirium from the lack of sleep and the fever, but the SOUL seemed to be communicating with her. It was glowing brightly, like it was smiling back, whispering incoherent mumbles that she would have sworn sounded like reassuring words, cheering her forward.
Though, as soon as she heard footsteps she set the soul back down on the desk and took a step back. The SOUL she was holding was still glowing a bit more brightly then the other one, but the Royal Scientist didn't seem to pay it any mind. Instead he walked up straight to the young girl and handed her something she recognized;
Her old clothes.
Her green T-shirt, grey pants, white socks and slightly oversized blue jacket, all neatly folded and clean. She almost didn't want to take them back, memories both fresh and old of those articles covered in dirt, grime and blood, both hers and others'.
They were a reminder of all the bad things she went through at the surface. Heck, of all the traumatic things she experienced in the Underground too. Though, it'd be really rude not to accept it, plus the heating was really poor. She didn't really get why he had brought her out of her cell to give them to her, counting he usually avoided any way of directly interacting with her and left all the things she needed, from necessities like food to spare time education like books in her cell while she was asleep.
Nevertheless, she took the clothes and bowed, "Thank you very much!" she voiced in a honest tone, even though a barely hidden bitter expression was facing the pale-green tiled floor.
ENTRY XX8:
(I GAVE VI-0 HER OLD CLOTHES BACK, THOUGH THIS WILL MOST LIKELY BE JUST UNTIL SHE RECOVERS.)
(I PLACED THE SOULS INTO THE INCUBATION VATS, ONE FOR EACH SUBJECT. IN ONLY A MATTER OF HOURS THEY FUSED TOGETHER. THE EXPERIMENT IS COMING ALONG VERY WELL.)
ENTRY XX9:
(THE SOULS, DETERMINATION AND THE MAGIC REINFORCED SOLUTIONS SEEM TO HAVE INDEED CHANGED THE SKELETONS' APPEREANCES, BUT OTHERWISE THEY'RE GROWING WITHOUT ANY TROUBLE.)
(VI-0 IS RECOVERING TOO. I'LL PROBABLY NEED ASSISTANCE IF THE OTHER TWO SUBJECTS BECOME SENTIENT, SO I'M INTRODUCING HER TO THE LAB BIT BY BIT. SHE DOESN'T SEEM TO TAKE ANY STEPS TO ESCAPE, AND HER DETERMINATION READINGS ARE REMARKABLY HIGHER. THIS EXPERIMENT IS TAKING LONGER THAN I INITIALLY THOUGHT. I'LL KEEP HER ALIVE AS SOON AS SHE'S OF SOME USE TO ME.)
(SHE HAD TRANSLATED ME ONE OF THE BOOKS ENTIRELY. A HISTORY BOOK. IT APPEARS TO ME THAT HUMANS ARE VERY SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEINGS. I THINK THAT ALPHYS AND ASGORE WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT. WE DON'T GET A LOT OF LITERATURE FROM THE SURFACE IN SUCH GREAT CONDITION.)
ENTRY XX10:
(ONE OF THE SUBJECTS OPENED ITS EYES.)
(IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S CONSCIOUS, BUT IT'S NOT CLEAR IF IT'S SENTIENT. THE OTHER ONE WOKE UP SOON AFTER TOO. THEY SEEM TO RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER. VI-0 KEEPS STUBBORNLY QUIET AND UNRESPONSIVE TO THAT QUESTION STILL. IT'S QUITE ANNOYING THAT I'M UNABLE TO PRY INFORMATION OUT OF A KIDA HUMAN. THOUGH, SHE SEEMS TO SHOW MASSIVE INTEREST IN THE TWO.)
(THEY SEEM TO UNSCONSCIOUSLY USE EYE GLOWING, WHICH MEANS THEIR BODY ADAPTED TO THE MAGIC IN THE SOULS.)
(I WILL TAKE THEM OUT OF THE TUBES SOON.)
ENTRY XX11:
(IT'S BEEN SIX HOURS SINCE I'VE REMOVED THEM FROM THEIR M-D SOLUTION, THEY ARE CLUMSY AND CONFUSED. THEY STUMBLE AND TRIP LIKE CHIL )
(AS EXPECTED, LITTLE EXPERIENCE IN NON-SUSPENSION HAS LEAD TO A DIFFICULT ADJUSTMENT PERIOD, PARTICULARY REGARDING AMBULATORY MOTION. IT WILL COME IN TIME, I'M SURE.)
(THEY ARE CURRENTLY SEPARATED, AS THE NATURE OF THEIR INTEREST IN EACH OTHER IS UNCLEAR AT THIS POINT. I WILL INVESTIGATE THIS MORE CAREFULLY AT A LATER DATE AFTER THEY'VE MASTERED MOVEMENT. THEY DO NOT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND ME OR BE CAPABLE OF SPEECH - THEY MAY NOT BE TRULY SENTIENT. IT WILL BE EASIER IF THEY'RE NOT.)
(IT DOES NOT MATTER EITHER WAY.)
(THE LINE WAS CROSSED LONG AGO, THERE IS NO TURNING BACK NOW.)
(THE TALLER ONE IS NEEDIER THAN I'D LIKE.)
(I NEED TO TAKE STEPS TO PREVENT ATTACHMENT.)
ENTRY XX12:
(SEVEN HOURS SINCE REMOVAL)
(THE LITTLE SMALLER ONE IS AWAKE. I'M SURPRISED BOTH THAT HE'S SURVIVED OUTSIDE, GIVEN HIS FRAILITY, AND THAT HE'S WOKEN UP AGAIN SO QUICKLY. HE MAY BE HARDIER THAN I INITIALLY THOUGHT, WHICH IS PROMISING.)
(I WANT TO OBSERVE HIM IN PERSON. A TRANSCRIPT OF MY NOTES FOLLOWS.)
(I AM KEEPING MY DISTANCE AT FIRST.)
(HE IS POKING AND PRODDING AT THE WALLS AND THE FLOOR, THOUGH HE DOES NOT COME NEAR THE FORCEFIELD. MAYBE HE SENSES THE AURA IT GIVES OFF. I GET THE IMPRESSION HE'S TRYING TO FIND A WAY OUT. PERHAPS HE WANTS TO GO BACK TO THE SUSPENSION?)
(HE HAS YET TO MAKE ANY SOUND. IT'S PREFERABLE TO THE OTHER ONE'S CONSTANT WHINING AND CRYING. HE MAY NOT BE CAPABLE OF IT, OR HE MAY JUST BE TOO FOCUSED ON HIS EXPLORATION.)
(I'VE COME CLOSER AND HE'S CAUGHT SIGHT OF ME.)
(HE'S WARY AND SUSPICIOUS, THOUGH STILL SILENT. OBVIOUSLY HE SEES ME AS A POTENTIAL THREAT. HE'S MORE PERCEPTIVE THAN THE OTHER ONE, AT LEAST.)
(I'VE TAKEN ANOTHER STEP CLOSER. HIS EYES FLARED A DEEP PURPLE COLOR, INTERLACED WITH BLUE, AND HE BACKED UP AGAINST THE WALL.)
(ANOTHER STEP CLOSER, HIS EYES ARE GLOWING BRIGHTER. I CAN SENSE THE MAGIC GATHERING IN HIS SOUL, BUT HE'S TOO YOUNGNEW TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT MANIFEST INTO AN ATTACK.)
(IF HE COULD OPEN HIS MOUTH I'M SURE HE'D SNAP AT ME. YOU CAN'T USE MAGIC TO DEFEND YOURSELF YET, AS MUCH AS YOU TRY. I WONDER WHAT YOU'LL DO IF I KEEP APPROACHING?)
(CLOSER STILL.)
(HE'S GETTING QUITE FRANTIC.)
(… HE'S RATTLING HIS BONES AT ME.)
(AT THAT POINT I DECIDED TO LEAVE HIM BE TO ATTEND TO OTHER MATTERS.)
(THE TWO OF THEM DIFFER STRIKINGLY IN TEMPERAMENT… ONE DOCILE, OTHER HOSTILE.)
(WHETHER THAT WILL MAKE THINGS EASIER OR HARDER, I WILL HAVE TO SEE.)
Violet was sitting in her cell, translating another book from English to the strange language the doctor spoke. Just for fun, she decided to name it "Wingdings", because of his name. It was rather relaxing for her, if you ignore the fact that she disliked any reminders of surface.
She was still wearing her old clothes. Despite what the doctor said about taking them back when she recovered, he still hasn't got around to doing it. She actually grew fond of him, in spite of his rather painful experiments which, to her relief and suspicion, were growing rarer and rarer. He was too busy taking notes of the two new subjects to spare that much mind to the living human.
She couldn't blame him, she was too busy being glad with the turn of events. Even though guilt was still gnawing on her, she was happy to get some kind of a closing, even though those skeletons were hardly the two humans she took the lives from.
She shuddered at the memory and continued writing. Those two were like confused kids. Their cells weren't far from hers, so she was the first to hear if something happened; like that time the Taller one's arm fell off and he screamed and screamed until the doctor came by and reattached it; She saw and heard the whole thing.
She actually started to like that place. Well, like was a strong word, but it wasn't as horrible in her eyes as it had initially been. She had something to do, she wasn't alone, not even after the Royal Scientist went home and shut off most of the power, she had enough food and water, and he even let her move outside of her cell freely every now and then.
* She remembered smiling fondly at the thought
* She remembered finally feeling as if she was home
* She remembered first time interacting with one of the two
One day while she was reading in the dim light of the electric bars, the power grid malfunctioned and the forcefield guarding entrance of her cell disappeared.
She'd been slightly distraught, mostly because it was the only source of light in her small room. She carefully got up, eyes adjusting to darkness, carefully putting a hand out to test the barrier. As soon as she assured herself that she wouldn't be zapped if she walked out, she did so.
Trailing around the lab carefully, she'd walked through and seen most of the things there are to see;
"Mr. Gaster sure keeps a lot of strange things in here…" she murmured to herself, looking around. The lab really wasn't much.
At the first tour of the facility, you'd say he was an average scientist; messy and covered in office supplies, blueprints and machines.
If you took a better look though, you'd realize he's actually very curious in humans and their everyday items. For example, Rubik's cube (she always just called it the "color cube" instead), a Black Mesa coffee mug (Which he always took home), even some Anime DVD cases in the drawer (and some in the locked drawer she succeeded to lockpick and immideately wished she didn't).
There were a few tubes for keeping the souls and weak subjects safe, a very messy desk filled with papers she wasn't in the mood to read and a cabinet filled with… Bones?
Some walls had weird blueprints on them, one of them containing a dinosaur-like skull; she felt a chill go down her spine and moved on hurriedly.
She didn't even near the exit because she knew it was locked, and that there's nothing up there for her.
One room in particular she didn't even want to look at was the one at the end of the hallway. All of the most painful experiments happened there. She felt dread building up in her chest, and, stuffing her hands in the jacket, gripping at the worn fabric for comfort she hurried back over to the cell block.
Just as she was about to walk back into her cell, her steps came to a halt. She stood there, still barefoot against the ice cold tiled floor. Her head turned to the rest of the cells; hers was the closest to the lab, so she never actually got to see who else was in the same situation with her.
She turned around and continued walking through the small cell block, there were ten or fifteen of them tops, most of either empty or somehow so dark she couldn't see if they were occupied or not.
She stopped in front of the cell occupied by the taller skeleton; unsurprisingly, he was asleep. She decided it'd be best not to wake him.
Next up was the shorter skeleton's. He was sleeping too, but unlike the other one, he didn't seem at all relaxed. It was more like he was just keeping his eyes closed. She was at first confused to how can a skeleton close its eyes if it has no eyelids, just empty sockets, but then she remembered that those are magic beings; it'd be futile to try and explain almost anything down there. After all, humans have lived so long without magic. They all passed it and monsters off as some urban legend or a taboo.
Though, to her surprise, just as she was about to turn away the skeleton opened its eyes. It gave her a look of pure confusion. She stood there in silence for a few moments before giving it a small smile and a wave. She assumed he couldn't speak; he couldn't even open his mouth to begin with; the jaw had melted away into firm, smooth bone during the first few days in the vat.
He tilted his head and warily raised its hand to copy the human's gesture. In response he got an amused smile from the girl; she was satisfied with his response.
She took a step forward, but even though she received barely any reaction from the other she stopped abruptly. She remembered what she'd done and was afraid he would too. He was the one who saw her murder his brother in their previous life as humans after all. It was the one who saw her murder his brother in their previous life as humans. She felt her stomach knotting up and quickly paced back to her cell. The skeleton walked over to the force field as if he was trying to call for her to come back, but no voice came out; just low whines of protest, much like ones of an animal starved of affection.
The only other sounds were her footsteps, dimming in the dark.
A/N: 12/2/2017 - The situation is getting better at this point in time, so I'll probably stop editing the chapters so much and get to actually writing a new one.