No Strings Attached
Chapter 10.
So, now that the brothers' issue is settled, let's get back to Gaster's, Frisk's, and Asriel's.
At 3:15 p.m., the last school bell rang and the students were quick to leave the classroom, but, not before Toriel made an important announcement.
"Don't forget, Children," she announced, "new grades will be posted tomorrow, so be sure to check the bulletin board when you come in tomorrow."
Frisk took his backpack off of its hook and approached Toriel.
"Are you ready to go home, Frisk?" she asked.
The human child nodded and took her hand as they walked down the hall, toward the building's exit.
"So, Frisk," Toriel wondered, "are you excited to see your new grades tomorrow?"
"I guess," Frisk replied, "they shouldn't be too bad...right?"
"Of course, they're not bad at all," Toriel voiced, "your grades have improved significantly, I'm proud of you, dear."
Frisk smiled in response.
While everyone who was home was busy with their own thing, Asriel was sitting on the couch, watching television; the goat child repeatedly glanced at the clock, waiting for Frisk and his parents to get home. He was anxious to speak to Frisk about his strange "dreams", in hope that he would have some kind of advice for him.
At 3:30 p.m., the parents and Frisk finally walked through the front door and Asriel was quick to run up and hug his parents.
"Welcome home!" the goat child said happily.
"Hello, Asriel," Toriel affirmed, "you know, pretty soon, you won't have to sit here, waiting for us to get home."
"Right, because, I'll be at school with you guys and Frisk." Asriel responded.
He then turned to the human boy.
"Speaking of which," the goat boy inquired, "Frisk, are you busy right now?"
"Oh, uh, I was just gonna get started on my homework." Frisk affirmed.
"Does it have to be right this minute?" Asriel wondered, "I wanted to talk to you about something."
Frisk looked in the direction of their bedroom and sighed quietly.
"Well, if it's important," he said, "I guess I don't have to start it right now."
"Remember, Frisk," Toriel informed him, "it's Friday, you have all weekend to do it, just try not to wait until the very last minute."
Frisk nodded and he and Asriel went up to their bedroom, where Frisk hung his backpack on the doorknob, after closing the door.
"So, what's up?" Frisk asked his roommate.
"Well, um..." Asriel asked, "you know what it's like to have weird dreams...right?"
"Yeah, I think everyone does." the human boy responded.
Asriel smiled feebly.
"Yes, well..." the goat boy said, "lately, I've been having some very bizarre dreams myself, they're not, like, scary, they're most just...odd, puzzling."
"Really now?" Frisk replied, "Care to elaborate?"
The goat child thought about it.
"They're weird, because...they're simple but weird to describe," Asriel explained, "for several nights I've seen the same thing, I look around and I see...well...you, and you appear to be...talking to someone."
Frisk listened closely.
"A very peculiar looking someone," Asriel continued, "I have yet to be able to make out what they're saying, but, you always seem to give it clear responses."
The human child looked on curiously, increasingly wary.
"Can you...give a physical description of this 'someone'?" Frisk requested.
"Well, he...I'm pretty sure it was a 'he'...looked like...well...a really tall skeleton," the goat boy affirmed, "wearing a long black coat...I think it was a coat."
Frisk's eyes widened as what he heard registered with him.
"You...you saw that?" he questioned coolly.
"Yeah, it was really strange," Asriel responded, "but...that's not all..."
He tapped his small, fuzzy hands together.
"Aside from the dreams, I've been having these other weird feelings lately," the goat boy went on, "like, the feeling that someone or something, though I can't see it, is here with us, watching us."
Frisk felt a tingle travel down his spine as his friend continued to speak.
"Though, as weird as it is, somehow, I don't feel scared at all," Asriel attested, "something about it feels familiar and...for some reason...I feel like there's something I have to do, like, someone needs help...and I wanna help."
The human boy was at a loss for words as he wondered what this could mean for them.
"What do you think it means, Frisk?" the goat boy wondered, "My dreams and...feelings...that is."
Frisk thought about how to respond in such a delicate situation.
"Um...well," he offered, "how do you know that...they're only dreams?"
Asriel looked on curiously.
"If you're feeling all that you say you are," Frisk voiced, "maybe it means something more than you know...you know?"
"You mean, like...the person I'm seeing isn't a dream...he's real?" the puzzled goat boy responded.
Frisk remained silent as he thought about what to say next.
"I don't understand, though," Asriel inquired, "what does that mean?"
The human boy sighed deeply.
"Listen, I'm going to do some work right now," Frisk explained, "but, tonight, after we get tucked in and the room is empty, don't go to sleep. Stay awake as long as you can and just...trust me."
Asriel still looked confused, but, he nodded.
"I promise, tonight, if this works," Frisk attested, "it will all make sense."
Moments later, once Asriel had gone about his business, Frisk got started on his homework and immediately as he did, Gaster appeared to him.
"Hello again, Frisk." Gaster said.
"Hi." Frisk replied.
"Homework time again?" the looming skeleton asked.
"Yes," Frisk answered, "but, that's not the only thing I need to talk to you about."
"Oh?" Gaster responded curiously.
"Yeah," the human child said, "but, let's get this done first, then talk about the other thing."
Fifteen minutes of homework later.
"Thank you." Frisk said, putting his worksheets away.
Gaster nodded.
"Now the other thing," the human child voiced, "I was talking to Asriel earlier and he told me some interesting things."
Gaster looked on with interest.
"I think he can see you," Frisk said, "or...almost see you, at least."
"Ah, I see," the skeleton man replied, "I had feeling."
Frisk looked up curiously.
"I appeared here earlier," Gaster explained, "it was odd to me, because you weren't home yet and usually I can only show up when you need me, however, I found that I was actually in the same room as Asriel. I don't think he actually saw me, but, he definitely seemed to know that I was there...in fact...I think he may have summoned me without realizing it."
"Have you ever actually appeared to him in any of his dreams?" Frisk wondered.
"Can't say that I have." Gaster affirmed.
"But, you couldn't appear to me in person until you appeared to me in my dreams long enough for me to be able to speak to you," Frisk voiced, "so how is it that Asriel is beginning to see or sense you now, even though you haven't appeared to him in his dreams?"
Gaster thought about it.
"Well, it's a bit of a stretch, but, I have one theory," he voiced, "but, it could have something to do with Asriel's own experience with death, reincarnation, and revival, similar situations, though, he did get ahead of me in the process. Of course, I never expected to even make it this far myself."
"Death connection, okay, I get that;" Frisk replied, "well, I told Asriel to stay awake tonight on the off chance that he be able to see you...so...you think you can come back tonight and test our theory out?"
"I can and I will," Gaster assured, "as I'd like to know for sure myself."
At 10:00 p.m., Frisk and Asriel were tucked into bed by Toriel and Asgore, who let them stay up a tad later on weekends, and as soon as the goat parents left the room, they got to work on their objective.
"What should I do, Frisk?" Asriel wondered quietly.
"Just think about what you've seen and felt," Frisk instructed, "keep thinking about it, and just wait."
As he spoke, Frisk was mentally summoning Gaster, begging him to show up.
"Frisk," he heard, "I'm here."
The human child looked up and saw the looming skeleton smiling down at him.
Frisk responded by waving at the skeleton man.
"H-Hey," Asriel voiced, "did something happen? The room feels different."
Frisk rolled out of bed, grabbed Gaster's hand, and pulled him to Asriel's side of the room.
"Asriel," Frisk inquired, "look around, do you notice anything different?"
The goat boy turned to face him.
"I...I don't see anything," he said, "but, something is there with you, I can tell."
"Call out to him," Frisk whispered to Gaster, "see if he can hear you."
"Asriel," Gaster called audibly, "can you hear me?"
Asriel sat up in bed.
"Can you hear anything other than me at all?" Frisk questioned desperately.
"Well," the goat child affirmed, "I can't say that I hear anything...but, it definitely feels like someone is trying to get my attention."
"Keep calling his name," Frisk told Gaster quietly, "I'm gonna try something."
Gaster proceeded to repeatedly say Asriel's name.
"Asriel," Frisk asked, "tell me, on those nights where you saw that person I was talking to...what was going through your mind?"
The goat prince thought about it.
"Well, I just kept hearing you talk to someone, I just assumed that you were talking in your sleep," Asriel expressed, "but, the more I heard the more curious I got and I just kept wondering who you were talking to...I wanted to know who you were talking to. Yeah, that's about it, I just really wanted to know who you were talking to every night."
"Okay, so, let's go with that, instead of thinking "who's there?" try thinking "I want to see who is there"," Frisk instructed, "tell yourself that you want to this person, that you want this person to show up, that you need this person to show up."
Asriel nodded, then he closed his eyes and started concentrated.
"Um, should I..." Gaster spoke curiously.
"Keep calling." Frisk stated.
The skeleton man nodded and continued to call the goat boy's name.
"Okay," Frisk asked Asriel, "are you thinking about it?"
"Yes," Asriel said, his eyes closed tight, "I want to see the freakishly tall skeleton."
His answer brought everything to a brief halt.
"Freakishly?" a puzzled Gaster responded.
"It's an expression..." Frisk said to him, "let's just keep going."
The human boy urged Gaster to the ground and climbed onto the skeleton's lap, positioning himself right next to Asriel's face.
"Now, Asriel," Frisk voiced, "tell me, have you ever heard the name...Gaster?"
With that, the goat boy's eyes snapped open.
"I have, I have heard that name before," Asriel affirmed, "some nights when I heard you talking, I swear, I heard you refer to someone as 'Gaster'."
"Great," Frisk said, "now, with your line of thinking replace the thought 'freakishly tall skeleton' with 'Gaster'."
"Really?" Gaster uttered flatly.
"Expression!" the human child pressed quietly.
He looked at Asriel.
"Try making physical contact with him." Frisk suggested to the skeleton man.
Gaster nodded.
"Yes, I...want to see Gaster," Asriel muttered to himself, "I want to see Gaster, I want. To see. Gaster!"
Right then, Gaster placed his hand on the goat child's head and at that moment, Asriel looked up with the most shocked expression he had ever had since he had been restored.
Frisk looked on tensely.
"So...can you see now?" the human boy wondered casually.
"Howdy." Asriel said to the looming skeleton, who smiled down at him.
"Hello, Asriel." Gaster said in return.
Thank God, that's finally done.
I would have gotten this done sooner, but, long story short, I was not feeling 100%, but, I am good to go now, hopefully I can start getting chapters done faster.
More to come eventually.