Alright, I know it's been a long time since I updated so I hope everyone is ready! For once, I have plenty going on and got a lot done. The streaming in Picarto has really boosted my productivity and confidence in writing. I'm one of the few who regularly streams, usually in the evenings after work, usually 7pm eastern time. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
Frisk tossed and turned before they opened their eyes. Their stomach dropped when they found themself in the now familiar room of gray with the stark black, lone hunched figure in the center, his back facing them. Frisk looked back over their shoulder to see the door fade, effectively trapping them with the mysterious individual.
Frisk gulped nervously, their breathing short as they wrung their hands and hesitantly approached the now rising man. Frisk noticed that something felt different this encounter, as if the atmosphere was somehow gentler. The human child stopped to stand in front of the robed man and he looked down at them with empty eye sockets in his bare skull. The cracks on his face were more evident this time, with one trailing down from his left eye socket to his jawline, the other creeping up from his right drooping eye, up and over his cranium.
The man was much taller than Frisk remembered, maybe it was their own fear doing that? While the looming figure never hurt them or really did anything that would indicate that he would, Frisk was always wary. He slowly gestured pointedly with his floating, disembodied hands, as if he was greeting them. Frisk relaxed a bit and gave him a shy wave but jumped when he suddenly swept his (nonexistent) arm over them. They ducked and flinched, as if they expected him to attack them. They looked up to see him watching them closely before he gestured to a nearby distorted and flickering image. He gave another wave and another image appeared, and then another, and another and before long, the entire room was nearly full of them.
Some of frames held pictures of Frisk themself, others with video captures, most of them being of the child and their journey through the Underground. Frisk slowly wove around the pictures, their face full of curiosity and caution, until they stopped in front of small group of images that showed a man almost identical to the stranger Frisk stood in the room with.
Frisk squinted their eyes as they tried to get a better look. He looked much less sickly and melted, normal even. The cracks on his skull and drooping of his right eye were still present although not nearly as prominent. He was standing in what looked like a darkened laboratory in one of the images. Frisk looked further over to see what looked like alternate versions or timelines of the same man; such as him seated on a couch in a familiar looking living room, holding a bundle akin to that of a baby, and the image immediately next to that was of him falling into a pit wreathed in fire and metal.
Frisk gave a horrified gasp, "Is-is that you? Is th-that what happened to you...?" They asked as they turned back and looked up at him. He seemed to have been watching them carefully and he suddenly looked very tired and somehow, older. He nodded once, his visage distorting for an instant, as if there was static tearing across his face.
He sluggishly pulled forward an image to hover in front of them. It was a still of him in a black lab coat with a beige turtleneck sweater underneath, with thin glasses and looking as if he was begrudgingly posing for a picture, like he had better things to be doing. He wore a nametag on the breast pocket of the lab coat that read 'W.D. Gaster'. It was a little hard for Frisk to make out because of the glare of the camera but they tilted their head curiously, as if they thought they'd heard that name before, somewhere. They frowned and looked up at him again, blinking, "G-Gaster? Is that your name?"
He nodded once to them in affirmation, his features drooping a bit more, as if all of this activity drained him of the energy it took to keep himself together. He seemed to be concentrating on trying to maintain his form when Frisk decided to speak up, knowing from the familiar flickering of the nearby images and of the unseen light in the room, that their time was short, "Y-you're stuck in h-here, a-aren't you?"
He didn't respond directly and only gave another sweep of his disembodied hand to dismiss the images before looking down at them expectantly, although for what, Frisk couldn't tell. The child shifted under his gaze before they wrung at their hands again, trying their best to muster up some of their old Determination. They felt the familiar warmth of their soul swell in their chest in reply.
When they looked up to him, they jumped back in surprise at the look his face; the frightening expression of shock on was evident in the pinpricks now in his once empty widened eye sockets as he towered over them. The substance he was made of looked like it was boiling with his excitement as his head snapped to the side in a grotesque angle and he leaned forward, his mouth etched into a jagged grin akin to a Jack-O-Lantern, taking on an eager, almost greedy tone.
Frisk took another step back in fear as he extended and arm to them, an actual arm, connected to his once floating hand. Instinctively, the child jumped out of his reach. He was starting to take shape again and it seemed that the essence of their Soul may be part of the reason how. "W-what do you want?" Frisk asked shakily as they backed up. The elation now on his face was barely contained as he experimentally took a step toward them, the sound of shoes clacking on the strange floor sounding alien as it echoed in the now empty room, the screens nowhere to be seen. His feet were still unseen but it was clear that he was slowly returning to his original form.
Even though they weren't particularly familiar with his behavior, Frisk was frightened of the unpredictable, deformed skeleton but at the same time, they wanted to help him but couldn't shake the nagging feeling that prickled in the back of their mind that maybe there was a reason he was in here. They were startled by him again when he tried to speak vocally, clearly excited, "cHiLD, ThaT's iT! YoUr DeterMinaTioN is pUlliNG mY bEinG TogeTHeR." He told them gleefully, his deep voice garbled with static and interference before he started mumbling something, "iT seEmS aS thOUgh mEreLy beiNG iN yOuR preSenCe iS eNouGh tO Do iT..." Was what Frisk could make out of his under-the-breath ramblings. His head jerked up, the movement unnaturally fast, as if by some sort of 'glitch'. The glow returned to his eyes, the right in the sagging socket larger and now containing a tiny black pupil, only adding to his eldritch appearance.
The human child blinked and watched him carefully, ready to bolt, although to where, was another question. They remembered that the amalgamates in the Old Lab were a 'creation' of Alphys' and that they were made into those monstrosities because of her experiments with the mysterious substance. Frisk wondered where she got the Determination from to begin with? Then they remembered about the story of Chara, the first human to fall into the Underground, the 'Fallen Child'. Could Asgore have allowed Alphys or even Gaster to have experimented on his adoptive child? They must have gotten ahold of it somehow and Frisk knew there were other children with different traits unique to their souls, like 'Patience' and 'Bravery'.
Before Frisk could think anymore on the subject, their vision swam with a pang of nauseating dizziness. Gaster noticed them stagger a bit and he slithered to sit in front of them, what remained of his feet reverting back to the 'goop' he was composed of. He pulled up another image and held it in front of them insistently, it was of a hallway in a place that looked like Waterfall. Frisk put a hand to their head as they tried to focus on the picture, their eyes darting up at him to make sure he didn't advance any further. Frisk vaguely remembered making the trek through the place in the picture, but there was a large and gray out-of-place door right in the middle of the corridor. The room span as they fell sideways. Gaster dove forward with a gelatinous 'squish' to catch the child, just before they hit the floor- and opened their eyes to the familiar wooden ceiling of their room in Toriel's house.
They sat up but still felt the vestiges of vertigo and they tried to shake it off but ended up making it worse as they flopped back onto their bed. They instead closed their eyes and thought about the dream, was it even a dream or a vision? They had no idea, all they knew was that the man that had been haunting their dreams had a name and he needed their help.
Frisk waited for their head to stop spinning as they lay in bed. The child sighed, time to get up. When they managed to make it to their feet, they got to thinking; was Gaster a bad person? Was it just that he was scared and would take any chance he could get at being normal again? Even if it meant hurting someone? Who was it that knew him before? He was a real person, for sure, but how he was able to contact Frisk was still a mystery to them.
They hadn't realized that they had been pacing restlessly in their room. They stopped and looked up at the time, it was about six in the morning, a little earlier than what they were used to but... They shook their head and decided to get dressed, it felt so nice to be home again. The padded down the hall and pressed their ear to their mother's room and peeked in when they didn't hear anything. She looked like she was sound asleep, although it was a bit difficult to see due to the low light from drawn curtains.
Frisk parked themself in Toriel's reclining chair by the fireplace after picking out a book from the bookcase by the fireplace that they obtained from from the trades with the humans, it was about gardening. It was meant for adults but they preferred it that way, even if it was a little difficult to understand sometimes. They couldn't seem to concentrate on the words or the pictures, they kept going over their meeting with Gaster in their head. Why had he been like that? Was he crazy?
They were afraid to go to sleep now, but couldn't help the drooping of their eyelids. Maybe nothing would happen if they just closed their eyes for a little bit... - They suddenly felt like they were suffocating in some sort of endless darkness, what was this?! They tried to cough but nothing happened and they felt like they were being smothered by something viscous. The place felt familiar and there was a presence they couldn't place, of someone? There was an electronic screech before they heard another voice, "Frisk! Please! Wake up!" Someone called to them, it was a woman, her voice was frightened. 'Mama...?' was all they could sluggishly think of, why was she so scared?
Frisk was shaken awake from their place in their mother's chair. They looked up to see Toriel with tears in here eyes, "Frisk! Are you alright?"
The child rubbed their eyes, "M-Mama? What's wrong?"
"Oh, my child, you must have been having a nightmare, you were struggling to breathe."
They shook their head dismissively, "I'm okay, just had a bad dream.."
She immediately scooped them up from their seat and sat herself down with them on her lap, "It's alright... You're safe and I will never let anything happen to you."
Frisk nuzzled into her shoulder as thanks and tried not to think about what had happened in their dream. Now that they thought about it though, was it really a dream or was it a visit? They had the feeling it was the latter and that Gaster might be trying desperately to absorb them to return. They could feel the man's terror when they slipped from his grasp and woke up, as if he would be trapped in the Void for a literal eternity.
Frisk's mind felt fuzzy from lack of sleep. They were hoping to get a decent amount of sleep, that feeling safe at home would drive away the nightmares and keep the man in said dreams at bay. He obviously wasn't having any of that though. They tried to shake their head through their mother's hold but failed, they instead tugged on the sleeve of her ever present robe to get her attention. They gave her a reassuring peck on the muzzle when she pulled away from them. She smiled a bit sadly as she looked down at them and let them slide from her lap. Her floppy ears perked a bit when she remembered something, "Oh! I believe your friends wanted to spend some time with you today."
Frisk stopped in their tracks on the way to the doorway leading to the entryway, peeking over their shoulder at her, their brows knit together in slight worry. She noticed and got to her feet, "Don't worry, Frisk, I told them that you would most likely be very tired and want some time to readjust to being at home."
The child's shoulders relaxed significantly, she knew them so well. They were so grateful that they had chosen her as their mother, she was always watching for them, picking up on anything.
They helped her make a breakfast of farina porridge with fresh blueberries. They stood on their step stool and washed and went through the wild berries they helped her pick the other day from from the nearby woods.
Frisk helped her clean up their two bowls and silverware as they thought about their next step, they knew that Sans liked science-y stuff so, maybe he knew about this kind of thing. They hoped he wasn't napping or something and absently wondered what he did during the day now that he didn't have to be on the look out for humans. Frisk decided it might be a good idea to text him, they weren't good at it but were willing to try. They excused themself from Toriel and went to their room. They sat on their bed for a good ten minutes before they even pressed any of the buttons on their phone, why were they so nervous? Maybe it was because they were worried about what he might say. They knew not to tell Toriel about this because they knew she wouldn't allow them to go back Underground to help a possibly dangerous individual.
Frisk shook their head and took a breath, this was Sans they were talking about! Laid back, 'punny' Sans! They gave a nod in agreement to their thoughts before slowly composing the message, their tongue poking between their lips in concentration, "sans, are you busy?" They typed, their finger hovering over the 'send' button. They took a breath and with a boost of Determination, they nearly smacked the button and began pacing their room.
Their phone pinged in response a few seconds later, "nah, what's up?" He probably thought it was strange for them to contact him out of the blue like this.
They slowly worked on their response, biting their lower lip in concentration, "can you come over?"
There was a beat of silence before he replied, "sure, be there in a min"
Satisfied with his reply, they set about nervously tidying their already neat room while they waited for him. They didn't get very far when they heard a knock at the front door. Frisk blinked and peered out into the hallway to see Toriel going to and answering said door, "Oh, Sans! How nice of you to come over. What can I do for you?"
Frisk could almost hear the grin in his voice, "Thought I'd come over and say hey to Frisk, it's their first day back home, after all. Oak couldn't leaf well enough alone."
Toriel chuckled, "Well, I've goat some idea why you are so poplar!" She chuckled and stepped to the side to let the skeleton in.
Frisk was poised and ready to strike, like a cat half crouched in the doorway of their room, they took his distraction to their advantage and bounded over to meet him, nearly tackling him in a hug, "Sans!"
He almost caught on a second too late when he heard the pattering of their fast approaching bare feet on the wooden floor. He braced himself and caught them with a grunt, stepping back to catch himself from getting bowled over by the surprisingly strong child. "Geez, kid, miss me much?" He chuckled.
They gave a giggle and took hold of his hands and pulled him along down the hall and into their room, leaving Toriel to watch them and chuckle before going to sit back in her chair.
"So, what'd you wanna talk about? I know you didn't bring me here just for my dazzling personality." He said with a wink as he made himself comfortable on edge of their small bed.
They were digging around in their desk and pulled out a sketch book. They flipped through it and brought it over to him after settling on a certain section. He raised a brow and took it from them. He almost dropped it when he saw what they drew. The picture was of a semi-humanoid black and white... thing, with a mask-like face and two soulless looking eye-sockets. It seemed like they were clawing desperately with the crayon, the strokes deep sinking deep into the thick paper. Sans cleared his nonexistent throat, "Uh- Kid, what am I looking at? Is this the guy you've been seeing in your dreams?"
They had their hands behind their back as they watched his expression intently when he looked up from the drawing. He looked back down at the scrawling on the paper. Geez, either this kid had some dark dreams and a few metaphorical skeletons in the closet or they had been in a place where he thought he'd never have to go or frankly, he should be able to go. It was only a theory, the Void. A place in between timelines, a sort of purgatory. Nothing was technically supposed to exist there. It was the only logical explanation of where this thing was. "Did you see him again?"
They nodded, "...I-I haven't been dreaming of a-anything else anymore." They replied quietly and Sans noticed the return of the bags under their eyes.
He wanted to shake his head but kept still, 'Gaster's got a lot of nerve.'
"E-even when I closed my eyes for j-just a little bit for a n-nap..." They cringed a bit at the thought and shook their head, returning their attention to the sketchpad, "T-there's another picture and he told me his n-name." They said as they sat next to him. A chill went down Sans' spine, he knew the answer but hoped that it wasn't him. "He s-said 'W.D. Gaster'. He showed me a p-picture and he was wearing a l-lab coat or something." Sans heaved a mental sigh and closed his eyes in defeat, making sure to keep silent.
They looked to him and watched him carefully, clasping and unclasping their hands at their chest nervously, "Did you know who he was?"
If it was the picture that he was thinking of, Sans remembered when they took it, Gaster looked like he was going to throw a fit because they were 'tearing him away from his vital experiments'. If Sans had a throat, he would be using it to gulp nervously now, "Yeah... He was a scientist. You've never heard of him though, he was gone before you were probably born." (which technically wasn't a very long time, less than ten years)
Frisk nodded and looked particularly anxious as they shifted in their spot next to him, as if they were trying to scooch away, "H-he showed me w-where he is."
"He wha-" He caught himself and shook his head and pinched at his nasal bone irritatedly as Frisk reached over and turned the page, they seemed to know he wasn't happy about the situation but still wanted his help. Frisk was usually pretty good at drawing but they couldn't seem to nail down the point they were trying to get across, "What, uh, what is this?"
They puffed out their cheeks indignantly, "It's a hallway in Waterfall!"
He allowed a little smile at their reaction, "Hehe, think you missed the mark here. What is that gray thing? Is that a door?" He asked and squinted at it. He thought it looked a little random in the crude drawing they made of the hallway which just consisted of a dark and light blue rectangle in their attempt at overhead perspective.
"Y-yeah, I don't remember every seeing a-anything there when I went through there."
Sans hummed thoughtfully, his osseous brow furrowed, this wasn't good. He never expected the dreams to mean a whole lot, especially since kids usually had overactive imaginations. Not in this case, obviously.
I enjoyed writing this one, I really wanted to integrate Gaster into this and make him pretty creepy. I hope you enjoyed!