"Hey Punk, get back here!" Undyn shouted as she chased after a fast scooting Papyrus.
Meanwhile, off to the side and out of the way, Sans and Alphys were immersed in what looked like a collaboration of Sans using his blue magic to make things float as Alphys gave him directions on how he should move four of them seemed to be having a lot of fun. The adults were off in a corner talking about different topics, periodically glancing at the children to make sure an accident didn't occur.
"So Dings, how's your research on souls going? You any closer to finding a way to break the barrier?" Lazura asked, resting her chin on one hand.
The red and orange fish monster, Lazura, was a sentry in waterfall as well as the wife to Coblose; captain of the royal guard. She was always ready to spring into action, magic spear poised at the throat of whoever her opponent was. Something her daughter had inherited. Though she wasn't too interested in science.
"Hmm, well despite the little set back I had three months ago things have been progressing well. I haven't made any real headway, I don't have a human soul to compare ours to after all." He replied. "I do hope that if a human does fall down here, Asgore will let me study its soul before it's absorbed."
Lazura let out a belting laugh, the type that came from the gut and bellowed like a bell.
"Let's hope he does, maybe the barrier has some clue." She said. "And how about you my dear yellow friend, what have you been researching lately?"
"I've been looking into expanding the underground, per the kings' request," Edna answered. "Now that we have power thanks to Gaster, and a functioning agriculture system, the monster population has been growing."
"Oh? And how has that gone?"
"Slow, right now we're identifying walls that we can tunnel into. We have found one that hopefully by next month we can begin tunneling into."
"Heh, I wish you the best of luck."
Gaster decided not to enter the conversation, letting the two delve deeper into the topic of expansion and forget about everything else. Someone did have to keep an eye on the kids after all.
"They all look so happy." He thought.
As he watched them play, a fantasy crept into his mind. A human toddler playing with an older version of Sans and Papyrus. A melancholy joy followed with. He attempted several times to create a body for his synthetic soul, but each attempt was met with failure. He'd concluded that a fully monster body could not contain a human soul, it was just too different. Crestfallen, he'd come to realize that the boy would have to be at least half human to contain the soul, but he had no way of doing so unless a human somehow fell into the underground.
Pulling free of his musings. Gaster noticed Papyrus and Undyn were no longer running around, in fact, he didn't see them anywhere. Turning to the bookshelf, his heart sank as he saw the pair climbing up it, and Undyn was losing her grip.
Acting quickly, he stood up and grabbed both of them with his magic and set them back down on the ground, eyes ablaze with purple light. Edna and Lazura were yanked from their conversation by his sudden movement and raised hand.
"Crud, Undyn, Papyrus!" Lazura snapped, bolting over to the two. "I've told you no climbing up furniture- that's what slides are for!"
He let out a breath and sank back into his chair, thanking the stars above that he'd reacted in time. Undyn might have come out with nothing worse than a broken arm, but Papyrus wasn't as durable in his young age.
'?'
"It's alright, little one, it was just your brother and another doing something dangerous." He explained.
'Brother… alright?'
"Yes, your brother is alright, I caught them both."
Satisfied with his answer, the soul returned to its nap like state.
"Thank Asgore than one of us had an eye on them- that could have ended up a disaster," Lazura said, returning to her chair. Edna and he nodded in agreement.
Papyrus and Undyn ended up join Alphys and Sans in a game of hide and seek, Undyn had been chosen as the Seeker. With her eyes hidden behind her hands, she waited to a verbal count of ten before running off to go hunt the others down.
"I'm gonna find all you punks!" She barked, grinning.
A knock at the front door pulled called his attention.
"I'll get that." He said, getting up.
Careful to avoid Undyn, he made his way out of the living room. Opening the front door, he was taken aback by a royal guard in black armor standing there. His breathing was hard, as if he'd ran the all the way here from the castle. Despite the armor, his body language was tense.
"Dr. Gaster, the king- scratch that, the King and Queen both request your presence immediately!." He gasped, his tone urgent.
"Alright, give me a moment." He said, returning to the living room entrance.
"The King and Queen have just summoned me for something urgent, could one of you drop Sans and Papyrus off at Grillby's of I'm not back in an hour?" He requested.
Edna nodded. "Sure, will do."
He gave her a nod and a quick thanks before returning to the royal guard at his door.
"What has happened that has both the king and queen of monsters calling for me?" He asked, putting on his coat.
"Prince Asriel discovered a human while playing in the old capital, they appeared hurt and are currently located at the castle." The guard explained, no longer so winded.
He froze.
"A human? Go tell his majesty I'll be there soon, I need to go collect some thing first." He said
The Guard nodded and ran off in the direction of the castle.
First, he teleported to his lab. Grabbing what he needed and carefully placing them in a he had the necessities, he teleported to the castle. The guards parted as he made his way the Dreemurr's living quarters. It was clear by the confusion that everyone was in a state of disarray.
"A human did just fall into the underground, and was found by Prince Asriel no less." He reminded himself.
Arriving in what was essentially a large cottage, he knocked on the door to announce his arrival. The door was answered back Asgore, who ushered him in as soon as he could. The king looked nervous, it was clear in his eyes.
"Asriel found them in the ruins, they were limping when he brought them here," Asgore explained. "They passed out as soon as we got them inside, they're still asleep.
He nodded and followed the king as he was led to the prince's room.
The human was a young child, they couldn't have been older than Asriel who was 8. They were curled up on the prince's bed, the kid goat at their side. A few flecks of blood stained their green and yellow sweater, a near identical match to the one Asriel himself had on. A few flecks of blood stained one sleeve, and their brown paints were scratched at the knees.
He placed a hand on their forehead. The child was warm, but not burning. He could easily recall how warm his friends had been to the touch when they were ill. This child was considerably cooler than that. He notices their left ankle was bruised, but a bit of prodding told him it wasn't broken.
"Do you know what their name is?" He asked, feeling up their bare arm for a pulse.
"Chara." It was Asriel who answered.
"Are they going to be alright?" The young prince asked, eyes wide with fear.
He didn't have an answer just yet, so he didn't respond. He didn't wish to rais the child's hopes only to crush them. Using his magic, he scanned their body for signs of any other harm. There were a few other cuts and scrapes, and a somewhat nasty bruise on their right arm, probably from their landing. They were skinnier than he felt was healthy, but other than that their body was fine. Their soul, on the other hand, it was practically oozing with self-hate and raw with pain.
"Poor child." He thought. They'd endured a lot before falling.
"Chara will be fine, nothing is broken and they only received some cuts and bruises. They will require a lot of love and affection, they must have been starved of it on the surface." He explained.
Some of the worries left Asriel's eyes as he spoke, the boy gave him a quick nod, then took the human child's hand in his. He smiled, then an idea popped into his head. This was his chance. He turned to face the doorway, queen Toriel had situated herself there while he'd examined the child.
"Would it be alright if I took a sample of their blood?" He asked. "I'd like to see how their body handles our illnesses on the side of caution."
She nodded and murmured and '"Alright."
With the aid of Asriel, he withdrew a small sample of their blood and placed it into his bag. He hadn't lied to the queen, but he hadn't told her all that he planned to do either.
"If anything comes up, I will inform you as immediately as I can." He promised.
Then gave the child another glance. "If it alright to ask, what are your intentions now that a human has fallen down here?"
Toriel eyed him carefully, perhaps looking to see what his intentions were.
"We haven't fully decided yet, we need to talk with them first. But one thing is absolute, I will not permit any harm to befall them." She said adamantly, the fire in her eyes backed up her words. She was fully prepared to protect them as if they were her own.
After a moment she said something more. "Thank you for your assistance, you are the only monster who knows the most about humans."
"No thanks needed, my queen." He said, bowing. "I was happy to be of assistance.
Though the queen, as well as the king and prince, were prepared to make sure no harm before the human, he couldn't be sure the same would be for his own human souled child. After all, they had no body yet, so it could easily be deemed better to use an artificially made soul instead of the humans own. It was a fate he was determined to avoid.
