Chapter 7
Disclaimer: Gaster be… If you use this AU….tell me so I can enjoy...Last one, I'm assuming you have all read these in previous chapters. Sprry this was so late, was in college and now I'm working full-time during the summer.
Note: Seriously, Gaster has MAJOR PTSD in this, I don't have PTSD so I'm sorry if this isn't 100% accurate. However, I think that many of the monsters and humans in that first war probably got PTSD because war is a terrible thing and monsters/people have mental issues because of it. Thank you all soldiers who sacrifice so much so we can be free.
At the same time the humans were in the Underground, Gaster was just finishing up his meeting with the teacher about more instruction time.
"Thank you for the lunch, I will send you the new schedule of when all the lab members can come. The first few weeks of twice a week may be hectic and the monsters may change, but I assure you that one of the scientists will be here twice a week for math and science."
"Thank you very much Dr. Gaster for coming, we really appreciate the royal lab making time for us every week, I know your projects keep you busy."
"It's no trouble at all, teaching young monsters will only help us in the end. Maybe some of these younglings will be interns or part of my team in the future."
"I've heard that many dream of being scientists instead of becoming part of the royal guard these past few years. Not sure why we need a royal guard when the king is stronger than them."
"The royal guard does help the underground a lot, we couldn't function without them. My son Papyrus is actually in training right now and I'm very proud of him."
"Of course, Dr. Gaster. Have a nice day!"
"Thank you, I must go to the labs and see what Dr. Alphys has come up with."
Gaster than walked out of the school and teleported to the lab.
'I hope my son doesn't hear that sort of stuff, his dream is to be a member of the guard. Why are the King and Queen here? I know Sans was having breakfast with them, did they decide to come to the lab to discuss any of his proposals with me? More likely Asgore just wanted to catch up with me. Why are they so nervous?'
"Dr. Gaster."
'Asgore rarely calls me by my title, what's going on?'
"My King, is something the matter? Is the C.O.R.E. acting up?"
"Humans have entered the Underground."
'No, no, no. They found us, now we will never be safe again.'
"Dr. Gaster I need you to remain calm."
"WHERE ARE MY SONS?"
The King and Queen exchanged a look.
"Dr. Alphys alerted us to the situation. She found a 'droid' as she called it, coming towards the C.O.R.E. She went to intercept it. She's now going to meet with Sans in Snowdon. The group of humans had followed your son Papyrus into Snowdon, Sans went there to deal with the humans. Alphys and Sans are currently with the humans near the drilling project. We believe that is where the humans got though. Maybe the drill created a hole in the shield and the humans walked through the barrier."
Gaster tried to leave, but he stumbled and fell. His mind was so out of focus he couldn't teleport anymore.
"Dr. Gaster you need to stay here."
"They could be in trouble, Asgore."
Gaster began to freak out.
'I can't, I can't, it's going to happen again, and again, and again, they will never be safe, I need to save them, I couldn't save anyone else, I NEED TO AT LEAST SAVE MY SONS!'
"DR. GASTER CALM DOWN!"
"I THINK HE'S HAVING A SEIZURE!"
Just than Sans and Alphys teleported in.
"Dad!"
They all turned to Alphys, who had the most medical training out of all of them.
"Okay, everyone remain calm. You have to gently lay him down on his side. Sans don't hold him down, he can hurt himself like that. Sans, what's wrong? Why do you have that expression on your face? Your dad's going to be fine, we can heal him after this, he just fainted, he's going to be fine."
Sans had tried to hold his dad down with blue magic. He had activated his magic left eye to do it. While doing so he had checked his dad's stats. His eyes had lost their white pupils and had gone completely dark. He wasn't smiling.
Alphys thought 'that makes Sans look spooky, I have never seen him like that before.'
"His LV."
"What was that Sans?" Alphys asked.
"His LV was fluttering all over the place, it went from 1 to 10 to 5 to 15 to 2 to 19 and then it went back again."
"You know what Level of Violence is Sans?" This came from Asgore to the surprise of everyone there.
"Gorey, you know what that is?" Toriel questioned.
"I knew the Judge before he fell. May the angel bless his soul. How does Sans know about it? You were born long after the Judge died."
"I'm the new judge."
"What's a judge?"
The three other monsters exchanged a look.
"Dr. Alphys we have left our son home with a servant, can you go to the castle and tell them that everything is fine?" The king requested.
Alphys looked at all the monsters.
"Okay, sure, I can be the important messenger here."
"Sorry Geek, I will explain everything later."
Alphys looked at everyone's face and nodded.
"Okay, make sure you keep Dr. Gaster on his side, no strenuous activity or anything, have him meet with a doctor, a real one who helps sick monsters. You shouldn't move him until he wakes up."
With that Alphys left the lab control room.
"My dear can you help Dr. Gaster? Your the best at healing magic."
Toriel nodded to her husband's words and bent down to help the doctor. Asgore then addressed Sans.
"I'm glad we have a Judge again, the last one brought about an era of peace that lasts to this day. I assume since you know LV you know about EXP and KR?
"Yep, so LV is thinking about doing the crime and EXP is doing that crime?"
"It's a bit more final than that. The previous Judge told me that a high LV means there is a pretty good chance they will do it. It's not just being really mad or saying I'm going to kill you. It's when you literally plan out the crime and how you are going to do it. If you see an LV above 5 than they could be just as dangerous as someone with an EXP of 5, only they can be stopped before the crime happens. I wouldn't trust anyone with a total in the double digits."
"Like you?"
"What?"
"Before my dad started his shield project and got you to stop the second war. You had an LV of 19, yet here you are saying not to trust my dad."
"That's not what I meant, I thank Gaster and the angel everyday that he…"
Just then Gaster woke up.
"You should tell my dad that."
Gaster slowly sat up, clutching his head, and leaning on Toriel for support.
"Sorry your majesties, I think I fainted from overworking or something. I had a bad dream about humans, but that was just a dream, right?"
Asgore sighed and kneeled down. "Sans and Tori, can you leave us alone for a minute?" Both of them nodded and left.
"Humans have found us, what are we going to do?"
Asgore took Gaster's hands, which looked really brittle with the holes in them, and looked him in the eye.
"My friend, there is no easy way to say this. You need help, you helped me a long time ago. Now I need to return the favor and help you."
"Help, humans could be coming! We can still stop that from happening!"
"Your son is the Judge."
"Sans?"
"He has the power to prevent tragedies, what you stopped me from doing all those years ago. Now I must stop you from going down the same path."
"What path!"
"The path caused by sorrow and the desire for revenge. It's a terrible path that will hurt countless more people and heal no one, least of all the person on the path itself."
"?"
"Wingdings, when I was about to declare war my LV was 19. I would have done anything in the name of my sorrow. I would have killed innocent kids, kept my fellow monsters trapped here, my wife would have left me. I wouldn't care, I would need that power and control, even if it hurt everyone. I would never stop until I got those seven souls, even if they were kids. Once I got them, I shuddered to think about what I would have done with that power."
"Asgore! I know you are a better King and friend than that! You would never kill kids without remorse, you wouldn't mow down humans if you got to the surface, you aren't like that."
"I might have thought that I deserved no mercy for what I did, but I probably would have done it anyway."
"You would just be shouldering the burden of your subjects! The barrier needs seven souls to break, you had no other choice!"
"I had a choice my friend. Before the war I have seen humans die. Their bodies are left behind but their soul breaks like ours, this means that their souls needed to be alive to break the barrier. Yet I almost declared war and to have their souls be brought to the capital to be stored there until I got all seven. Do you know what this means?"
"..."
"Any of the possible humans that fell down could have been raised by Tori and I, or live in the capital if they were adults, yet I ordered them killed. Do you know why Gaster?"
"..."
"I wanted the power that started the war in the first place. I wanted to absorb the human souls to get power. If the souls are needed intact does the container matter? They could be in their bodies or a glass jar or even a yellow flower. As long as there were seven human souls it could have worked."
"You were going to absorb them for power?"
"I'm sorry my friend, I was, that's why my LV was 19 before you stopped me. My LV went down, and it wasn't because I spilled human blood. It was because I talked with people, I got better, I had my wife, I had a new son. I will never forget the past, but I realized a better future would be a peaceful one."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that those humans probably broke the barrier."
Asgore saw Gaster's look and explained, "there are more than seven and they seem determined to get through to the Underground for their own reasons. The DETERMINATION of seven human souls is probably all that was needed to break it."
"So?"
"The barrier was broken and war was never declared. I think we should thank them for breaking it. I believe that eventually humans would find us. I think we should all think about how we can diplomatically talk with them."
"What if they find out? What if they find out we can absorb souls? They might attack us again! It won't matter to them that those absorbed souls will be alive in that monster's body. That might make it worst, to have a human in a monster's body with that monster still in it! They have forgotten how to use magic! They just might kill us all again."
"That's why we need to talk with them. We need to be honest so something like that doesn't happen, so that type of fear won't spread! We should try to stop these things from happening instead of avoiding them and ignoring human's existence until we can't anymore."
"Asgore, I…"
"Wingdings, do you want your sons to see the surface again? To see the sun and moon and stars again?"
'I do. I want to show them where I grew up. I want to show them the oceans and the desserts. I want to show them a forest in spring. I want them to see the sky and feel all the thunderstorms. I want them to be able to go on the surface.'
"I do Asgore, I want them to be happy."
"I want you to be happy too, my friend. That's why I'm ordering you to go to therapy. I suggest my wife, she is wonderful and will help you heal."
"Therphy?"
"She will talk with you, she won't judge you, she will help you work out your issues and help you realize you are safe."
"Safe?"
"Safe, you are safe, your boys are safe. The war is over, and I'm doing everything in my power to make sure it won't start again."
"I'll go. Who will talk with the humans? You have been king for so long, I don't know what we would do without you. The queen can't go because of her son and the kingdom needs her if something happened to you."
"I think Sans and Alphys should be our ambassadors."
"Me and Alphys can do it." Sans puts in, he had just returned from the cameras, he might have been listening in.
"But!"
"Wingding, your son is the Judge, plus he can teleport, he will know any dangerous situation and get Alphys and himself out of there. Alphys knows the most about humans along with Sans. She would be first in line to volunteer if she could."
"..."
"My friend you have taught them well. You can relax a bit and let the next generation take over. That is what will happen to all of us. My son Toras is making my wife and I grow old, and we wouldn't change that. You trust them right?"
"I do."
"Than trust the fact that you have caused them to grow up into monsters we are all proud of."
"Please dad?" Sans looked at his father, "I want to trade with them, they have so much knowledge. Don't worry, I can spot someone with high LV or EXP a mile away."
Gaster looked his son in the eyes, "You must be safe. Your safety is the top priority. Humans are in many different groups and the relationship between them is very complex. Consider all sides before you do anything. They might try to trip you up. Remember what cards you hold, if they demand outrageous things you can always say you need to talk to the king about it. If all else fails we can remain behind the shield and wait a few years, their leaders and priorities change very quickly compared to ours. Know what you are firm about and when you will bend. If something happens teleport yourself and Alphys out. Got all that?"
"I do dad, I will make you proud."
"I wish I could go with you but I still can't move that much. Tell Papyrus sorry I can't come to dinner, okay?"
"Sure, don't worry about that."
With that Sans and Asgore helped Gaster onto a nearby couch with instructions not to move and take it easy for the next few days. Sans called a doctor in the Capital to take care of his father for a few days and Asgore filled in Toriel.
Sans looked at his watch.
"Holy goat, I'm late."
Toriel snorted at the pun.
"Listen your majesties, I left Papyrus cooking and I need to get back to him. The doctor should be here, can you stay with my dad until then? I told the humans that we could meet with them in two days. I need to talk to Alphys about us being ambassadors. Can you guys start up a list or something about what we can trade, information, policies etc."
"Don't worry about it Sans we can take of Gaster. He should probably stay in his house in the Capital until he feels better. You can take care of your brother and talk to Alphys. Meet us at the castle tomorrow to discuss your new role as the ambassador."
"Thanks a million, I will see you tomorrow!"
Sans waved goodbye and shortcutted to Papyrus.
"Hey bro, sorry I'm late you wouldn't believe what happened."
Papyrus was frowning at the plate of spaghetti he had in front of him.
"You're mad at me, aren't ya."
"I'M NOT MAD BROTHER!"
"Look, I'm sorry I took away your new friends but there was an emergency!"
"YES, I KNOW HUMANS WERE THE CAUSE OF THAT EMERGENCY!"
"You see… wait what?"
"I KNOW THEY WERE HUMANS SANS. I'M NOT DUMB, I KNOW ONLY HUMANS LIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHIELD."
"That would make sense."
"I KNOW I SHOULDN'T HAVE LET THEM IN, BUT THEY NEEDED HELP, ONE OF THEM WAS IN REAL DANGER. I NEEDED TO DO SOMETHING!"
"I know bro, your the coolest that way!"
"I SAID I'M NOT DUMB SANS, I KNOW I'M NOT AS 'COOL' AS YOU OR FATHER."
"Papyrus, you are the coolest, don't listen to anyone who tells you any different."
"THAN WHY AM I STILL IN TRAINING? I KNOW I'M NEVER GOING TO BE PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD. NOT REALLY, UNDYNE WILL ASSIGN ME JOBS THAT KEEP ME OUT OF ANYTHING WITH A HINT OF DANGER."
"That's because we care too much about you! We don't want anything to happen to you."
"I'M NOT A CHILD EITHER. I WANT TO PROVE TO YOU, DAD, UNDYNE, EVERYONE, THAT I CAN DO STUFF. I WANT TO BE NEEDED SANS."
"Well, the kingdom needs you now."
"NEEDS ME?"
"Yep, you see Alphys and I are going to go meet with these humans and we need a guard to go with us!"
"WHAT ABOUT UNDYNE? OR A GUARD MEMBER?"
"Undyne is a little too passionate, spears would not be helpful here."
"UNDYNE'S FIRE DOES BURN BRIGHT!"
"We need someone like the Great Papyrus. You already know these humans, they know you. Paps, if anyone can make sure monsters and humans can get along it's you!"
"REALLY!"
"You are friendly, can't be hurt by words, trustworthy, all qualities we will need!"
"YOU WANT ME TO GO WITH YOU GUYS?"
"I need you to come along, if anything happens you can fight, but you won't kill. You can be the mascot of monsters! Plus you really want to see the surface right? We could even get you a red car like you wanted!"
"YES! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS ACCEPT! I WILL BE THE BEST MASCOT EVER!"
"Just promise me something bro."
"SURE BROTHER!"
"If anything goes wrong I want you to shortcut out, I don't care if it's lazy, please promise me."
"I KNOW HOW SERIOUSLY YOU TAKE YOUR PROMISES BROTHER, VERY WELL I PROMISE TO BE LAZY IF ANY TROUBLE OCCURS!"
"We need to talk with the King and Alphys. We are meeting the humans in two days. Dad is feeling ill and is staying in the capital."
"OH NO, DAD IS SICK? I WILL DELIVER THIS SPAGHETTI TO MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER!"
"Kay bro, we can see him tomorrow, he is still feeling bad so he might not be awake."
"WE WILL BE THERE FOR MORAL SUPPORT THEN!"
"Bro, you really are the coolest."
So, there you go! Gaster is finally getting help! We kind of know how the monsters will deal with this situation, how will the humans deal with it! How will Sans, Papyrus and Alphys fare?
Note part 1: More things about the barrier. I'm going by the very basic canon rule that seven human souls were needed to break the barrier. That's it. The group of students wanted to go through the barrier, so I could argue that they were determined since all humans have DETERMINATION in their souls. All human souls have DETERMINATION, that's why they aren't monster souls. I also don't think that humans need to absorb souls to be determined together. If they are at the barrier at the same time than 1+1+1+1+1+1+1 stills equals 7. Humans can be determined with the same goal.
Note part 2: I think a binding force was needed in order to control this determination to a monster's whims. I think it was mentioned by Flowey that he did it for power and Undyne mentions it in the genocide run. How Asgore will absorb the souls and gain godly power. Asgore waits for seven souls, not just to break the barrier, but to have the power of a god to wage war on humanity. This binding force rule is to make sure the monsters can control the human's powers. If a group of humans come through than they don't need to 'bind' their powers since it's their souls.
Note part 3: Flowey had no soul, he was technically a regular flower with determination in it. That means any container with determination could work. In the omega form the souls are a few feet apart judging by it's size. That means a group of humans that were almost touching each other could have the same effect. The souls were determined to help frisk and overrode flowey's control over them. Asriel said all the souls wanted to be free. If seven human souls wanted to be free, I don't think they would need anything else, since the barrier is still hit with seven human souls at the same time. The barrier would be hit in different places but when we saw the barrier break it broke as a crack/line, it didn't break at one point and spread outwards. Sorry if it is wrong/confusing, chalk it up to AU powers if that's easier to understand.
