Thanks for reading the story even though I haven't updated in two weeks. You guys rock. This story reached over 3,000 views! How crazy is that?
To be frank with you guys, I've been having a lot of problems with stress and anxiety lately that I've been trying to figure out, so that's why this chapter is so delayed... But since this was delayed, you deserve a fun fact about the making of this story! Did you know Leaving the Void was originally supposed to be following Sans instead of Gaster? I know, weird right? This story went through so many prototypes before it was what it is.
This chapter features the debut of two more characters from Undertale! Yay! Also, a fun little riddle about this chapter for you guys who care to read my ridiculously long author's notes:
The problem is not fixed, it's simply just not as broken as it was before.
You can PM me or leave a review if you think you know what it means! Enjoy! I'll try to get chapter 7 up soon!

~Emily Believes xoxo


Sans' and Papyrus' house. They had to go to Sans' and Papyrus' house.

Both father and son could hear the crunching of the snow once they exited the small local pub. Gaster looked over at Sans with a slightly bemused smile. "Sans?" he asked.

"Hm?" Sans replied lazily.

"You brought me to Grillby's just for that reason, did you not? To talk to him?" Gaster questioned, referencing the conversation he had with Grillby in the kitchen just moments ago. He knew his son remembered Grillby taking care of him and his brother; he could tell from the timelines.

Sans replied with a short, hiccupy laugh. "Heh, guess you can see right through me, huh?"

Gaster chuckled slightly, partially out of amusement and partially out of contentment. "It seems so."

The two walked the short distance from Grillby's to Sans and Papyrus' house. The somewhat small, two-story cabin was left unlocked for them, so Sans just opened the door. The two skeletons noticed Toriel and Frisk sitting on the couch in the den, while Papyrus was standing near the television. Immediately upon seeing their entrance, Papyrus ran up to Gaster and posed in a heroic manner. "Father! The Former Queen has told me everything!" Papyrus exclaimed excitedly, causing Sans to subtly grow concerned.

"What'd she tell ya, Pap?" Sans asked, trying to hide his nervousness with a nonchalant tone. Luckily for him, it was good enough to fool everyone, everyone but Gaster and Frisk; they both had seen the act too many times, but Sans wasn't necessarily concerned with that.

"Father's elongated stay in Hotland was a consequence of science! He made a groundbreaking discovery had to stay to study it! The Former Queen said that he discovered the universe will end if we don't capture a certain evil human and a talking flower who are loose in the Underground! And the evil human is not the human currently sitting on the couch beside me!" Papyrus announced, reiterating what Toriel had told him moments earlier. He pointed to Frisk without taking away his gaze from Gaster. Sans noticeably calmed down in finding out exactly what his brother was told.

Gaster gave a nod of gratitude to Toriel. "Thank you for informing him while Sans and I were at Grillby's," Gaster stated. "But I'm afraid we must get going if we ever hope to catch said 'human' and flower."

"We must get going if we wish to catch the human and the flower," Toriel translated a few moments after comprehending what was said. She got up from the somewhat unsturdy couch, Frisk soon following.

Both Papyrus and Sans looked disappointed at their decision to leave so soon, but they both had somewhat of an understanding why. After seemingly endless years without their father (with those seemingly endless years being repeated seemingly endless times), only to see him for a short period of time… It seemed almost unfair. "Hey, Dad," Sans finally stated after a short moment of silence, "want some cheese for your journey?"

Gaster furrowed his brow. "Cheese?" he responded slowly, confused.

"Yeah, cheese. I hear it's gouda luck."

Toriel burst out laughing as Papyrus clearly expressed frustration with the pun; Frisk giggled along with Toriel while Gaster just gave a simple amused smile. "I refuse to let you three make this journey alone!" Papyrus exclaimed over the guffawing, which quickly died down after the statement. "You need someone like me to help capture the human!"

Toriel looked over at Gaster for a brief moment before turning her gaze to his younger son. "Papyrus, your offer is appreciated, but I'm not sure Dr. Gaster wants-"

"It's alright, Toriel. I believe Sans and Papyrus may bring light to this otherwise grim journey," Gaster interrupted. Sans looked slightly skeptical and Frisk appeared worried, clinging onto Toriel's purple robe while glancing over at Papyrus with distress in their eyes. "Trust me when I tell you I've thought this decision through."

There was another split second of silence. Frisk didn't look entirely convinced that it was a good idea, but they showed no immediate opposition to it. Sans, however, actually seemed content with the decision."Hey bro," he said, "how would you like to capture a human?"

Papyrus gave a delighted gasp, his bones configuring into a gianormous grin. "Really?! Wowie!" He continued to ramble on about finally being a member of the Royal Guard, how Undyne would be proud of him, how Asgore would trim a hedge in the shape of his head, among other things. The new group of five began to walk towards the end of the small, cold town of Snowdin so they could enter the damp marshes of Waterfall.

One thing was for certain: Gaster was right about Sans and Papyrus making the adventure much more entertaining. Father and sons talked a great portion of the way to Waterfall, reacquainting themselves well. Toriel and Sans had shared a great amount of puns and other various horrible jokes (which Papyrus of course despised immediately, though he was smiling anyways). Papyrus had even tried to guess multiple times what exactly Gaster was planning, though most of the guesses were wild and completely inaccurate.

The group could tell immediately when they reached Waterfall. The air grew very humid, the snow turned into slightly damp, rocky ground. The light of the small town dimmed once they were inside the dark cave-like area. Crystals, lanterns, and echo flowers were the only things lighting the way.

"Did you hear the news from Snowdin?" one echo flower said, repeating a passing conversation from sometime earlier.

"Noteworthy news? From Snowdin? Humor me," said the next flower with a different voice.

"They say the old Royal Scientist has returned!"

"You mean the one before Dr. Alphys? The one that fell into his machine? He died, didn't he? How could he have returned?"

"Maybe he never died."

"They found his dust on the machine! He's dead!"

"You're the stubbornest person I've ever met."

"What, am I just supposed to believe a monster randomly came back to life? Not happening!"

"Whatever. I think he's back. You'll see I'm right."

"Looks like you're famous," Sans said to his father after echo flowers stopped emitting the last conversation, though the ones they passed seemed to have different variations of the same topic.

"My lab assistants always were loyal," Gaster stated. He recognized a few of the voices. In fact, he smiled upon hearing them. It was relieving to hear them in such calm, even defensive manners… Anything but the screams he last heard them emit before entering the Void… "Though word of my return does seem to be going around quickly."

Everyone stopped in their tracks, varying degrees of shock painted on their faces. English. He had spoken English, if briefly. Not Wingdings. Those last two words were not in Wingdings. They were in English.

...How? Gaster thought. The scientist grew so lost in his own contemplation that he lost touch with the environment around him. "Peculiar," he mumbled to himself. English. "It must be something psychological…" More English. He shook his head. "Nevermind that, I can figure such about later." He ignored the hypotheses forming in his mind and looked straight ahead once more.

"Nyeh heh heh!" Papyrus laughed, breaking the eerie quiet as they continued their journey through Waterfall. "Just being around me has caused Father's speech to return to normal! Now I will finally be able to understand him!"

"Now I won't have to translate," Sans said, amused. "Which is good, because I love doin' absolutely nothing."

"Sans, you have been doing 'absolutely nothing.' I have been translating nearly this entire time," Toriel stated.

"Oh, right," he responded. "I forgot. I'm a bit of a bonehead sometimes."

Though Papyrus was somewhat angry about the pun, it subsided quickly, for he recognized the area they were in. "Undyne's house is just up ahead!" he exclaimed. "We should go greet her! I'm sure she would be delighted to meet all of you! Except for Sans, who she has already met and finds slightly annoying."

"It's mutual," Sans added.

Gaster opened his mouth to remind everyone that they were are against the ticking time bomb of Chara, that they didn't have time for this, but before he could they all followed Papyrus to Undyne's house, which was only a few feet north. He sighed. I suppose this is a good way to start gathering everyone… Though, before he could follow them to Undyne's house, he heard an all too familiar voice.

"You're still trying to save everyone? Don't you know that this is all in vain? Chara's going to kill them anyways. You don't stand a chance against her."

Flowey. He was noticeably less hysterical and condescending than when he last talked to Gaster. Matter of fact, he still looked… scared, like he was when fighting Chara in the Ruins. He didn't seem to be attempting to psyche Gaster out, either…

"Perhaps not alone," Gaster said. He turned to see Flowey, poking out of the moist soil in front of Napstablook's house.

The flower seemed slightly shocked upon hearing his speech, but quickly brushed off the feeling. "She'll kill all of them if you bring them along! Don't you understand? She'll kill every last one of them. Right. In. Front. Of. You. And you won't be able to do a thing about it! ...Just stop this now. The only thing you're going to do is delay the inevitable," Flowey said

"Chara's only so 'unpredictable' by your standards because she acts on impulse and sadism. Pleasure from the pain of others… That's the only type of emotion she can feel, so she kills again and again because she's scared of feeling empty, feeling nothing. You know what that feels like, don't you, Asriel?" Gaster replied.

"Y-You don't know that! You can't know that!" Flowey paused for a moment, gritting his teeth. "You think you know everything, but you don't! That's why this plan is going to fail! That's why you need to stop before it's too late!"

Gaster kneeled down to get closer to Flowey's height. The vessel cowered away slightly, afraid the skeleton would do something to him, but to his surprise, Gaster's tone actually grew somewhat gentler. "You really think my ego is that big? No one can know everything. I know what I know from years of research and study. I studied in college for nine years, finding out as much about science as I could. Geology turned out to be essential in finding out how to convert geothermal energy into electricity. Biology helped me grow an understanding of magic that allowed me to recreate a monster soul. From biology stems psychology. Psychology allowed me to analyze the decision of those in the Underground and figure out why they did such things… That's how I know how Chara feels, that's how I devised my plan. It's not a byproduct of my ego. It's a byproduct of science. I do not know if it will work, Asriel, but I have hope that it will. Believe me when I say I'm here to help everyone, not just to have glory stuck on my name."

Flowey's eyes darted towards the floor in guilt only for a slight second before peering back up at Gaster with a glare. "I know you're not the sage you pretend to be, Gaster," he spat. "Even that stupid riverperson knows. 'Beware of the man who speaks in hands.' 'Beware of the man who came from another world,'" he mocked the voice of the monster who had said the words in the first place.

"I know my mistakes and regret them as any other monster would," Gaster replied simply, standing upright once more. He was just a boy… He's just a boy… "Please understand, Asriel, that in trying to save the universe I am trying to help you. I'm trying to set everything to the way it's suppose to be…. where everyone in the Underground is happy and full of hope."

After a few moments of only listening to the uncanny sound of rushing water, Flowey burrowed back into the ground without a word. Gaster looked at the small hole the flower left in the soil before turning about and making his way back to Undyne's house.

The situation there didn't look much better.

Hues of warm oranges and fluorescent blues could vaguely be made out through the windows of the house. Gaster hastily opened the door to see what he feared… another fight. Toriel stood protectively in front of Frisk, fireballs in the palms of her hands. Undyne, a fish-like monster stood a few fair feet away, grasping onto one of hear spears with a disgusted look on her face. Sans looked tired, more tired than usual, and Papyrus was screaming incoherent pleas to get them to stop fighting. "Ngah! Why do you keep protecting the little punk?! Don't you want to get to the surface?! They're the last soul we need to break the barrier!" Undyne exclaimed, throwing a spear. She actually aimed behind the Former Queen, aimed for the human, but Toriel easily shielded Frisk from the attack.

"They're just a child! They have done nothing to deserve death!" Toriel yelled back, sending fireballs in intricate patterns towards Undyne. Toriel didn't want to kill her, just hurt her enough to where she would stop… Undyne agilely dodged the fire rushing towards her.

"That doesn't matter! Humans trapped us under here for years! Their kind killed most of us! It's karma! It's justice!" Undyne replied.

"You cannot blame the wrongdoings of an entire group of people on an individual, especially when that individual is an innocent child!"

The two sent more attacks flying towards each other… More spears, more fire, but all of them were caught in a purple hue. Both looked confused. "There is no need for anyone to fight anyone here," Gaster stated, causing everyone to turn to him. He had a mauve iris in his left eye socket, matching the color of the bubbles the attacks were caught in. The skeleton clenched his right hand into a fist, causing the attacks to fizzle into nonexistence along with the bubbles. The fight ceased.

"Father! Thank goodness you arrived! I was sure the Former Queen and Undyne were going to kill each other! The Former Queen has a really caring opinion of the human! Undyne's is rather… murdery…"

"This is your dad?" Undyne asked, widening her eyes.

The iris slowly disappeared from Gaster's eye socket as he turned to the Head of the Royal Guard. "Yes. My name is W.D. Gaster. Papyrus has said much about you," Gaster introduced himself.

Undyne raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless managed a toothy smile. "Nice to meet you," she said, semi-reluctantly. Papyrus gestured for her to continue. "My name's Undyne, Head of the Royal Guard!" she exclaimed passionately. "My friend Alphys told me about the old Royal Scientist-"

"I was the Royal Scientist before Dr. Alyphs, if that's what you're asking. I've heard she's a bit reclusive these days, but I need her help… I also need your help as well. Perhaps you could lead us to her lab in Hotland?" Gaster cut in.

Undyne looked like she was easily ready to decline the offer, still skeptically studying Gaster, but in seeing Papyrus' eagerness for them to know each other, she said, "Sure! Why not?"


"Ngah! All of this is just fake, nerdy crap!" Undyne exclaimed once just a few steps away from Alphys' Lab. "You can't be the old Royal Scientist! That guy's dead! This all has to be an act!"

"Well, you haven't known him most of your life, have ya?" Sans said nonchalantly.

Undyne glared at Sans before sighing. "That annoying little punk is smarter than he looks," she said more to herself than anyone else. "This guy would still be in Snowdin being forced to listen to a barrage of stupid puns if he wasn't really their dad…" She looked back at Gaster. "Look, I trust my friend and his brother, so I'm going to take the risk of believing you. But if Alphys says you're fake, you bet I'm going to beat you into the ground! Got that?!"

"Understood," Gaster stated simply. Undyne didn't intimidate him very much.

She immediately went up to the of doors Alphys' Lab, knocking on them loudly. Gaster walked up beside her, Sans and Papyrus not far behind them, and Toriel and Frisk stood in the back of the crowd. "Hey Alphy! It's Undyne, open up!" she yelled.

There was a lot of nervous shuffling and obscure noises to open the doors, but soon a short, yellow lizard wearing a lab coat stood in the doorway. She opened her mouth to greet her friend, but she found her eyes travelling to Gaster instead. "N-No… N-N-No way! I… I thought that my c-cameras were hijacked… but… b-but y-you're actually…"

Gaster smiled. "W.D. Gaster, the predecessor of your position? Yes, that would be me. It is truly a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Alphys."

Alphys stood there for a moment, speechless. She was scanning and studying him, mentally telling herself that it was real, that right in front of her was the greatest scientist of all time. But then, if the live camera footage wasn't hijacked... "Y-You need to c-come in immediately! T-T-There are th-things we need to discuss!"