"Alright Papyrus, you first. Preferably not your strongest attack."

Gaster's soul floated in front of him – monsters rarely used their souls in attacks, but all humans did.

Papyrus stretched out his hand, and a deep blue color flickered over Gaster's soul.

"YOU'RE BLUE NOW."

"THAT'S MY ATTACK."

Gaster smiled. "We'll work on that. Now-"

A bone shot from Papyrus' hand, straight for Gaster's soul. He began to step out of its way, but… couldn't.

He couldn't move at all.

The bone blasted through his chest, knocking 4 off of his HP. He grinned.

"Not bad." He flickered, but didn't move. "Not bad at all."

"NOW IT'S YOUR ATTACK."

Gaster summoned a blaster, watching his son's face. Papyrus grinned, steadying himself.

"Ready?"

A beam of energy shot towards him, ripping through him, lighting up his ribcage like a beacon. Papyrus shuddered, his HP dropping.

"You're supposed to dodge! Run away!"

Papyrus shook his head. "I HIT YOU, NOW YOU HIT ME. IT'S ONLY FAIR!"

"Fights are not about 'fairness', my son. They're about who walks away alive."

Papyrus shrugged. "IT'S MY TURN, NOW. CAN YOU SHOW ME HOW TO DO THAT?"

"Do… what?"

"YOUR SPECIAL ATTACK! THE BLASTERS!"

"Well, as a skeleton, they should come naturally to you. Focus on something you need to protect, something you love."

Papyrus closed his eyes, pressing his hands over his skull. Gaster folded his arms, silently testing the blue magic. It was incredibly strong. Deep blue. A PATIENCE attack. Not incredibly different from his own purple magic – the PERSEVERANCE attack.

"Anything?"

"NOT YET! JUST… A LITTLE… MORE."

Nothing happened.

"Papyrus, perhaps-"

"NO! I CAN DO THIS!"

"Think about Sans. Imagine for a moment that something's gone wrong, and you need to protect him."

He would've taken a step back if the magic let him. As it was, he could barely see Papyrus in the massive shadow.

"One," he breathed. He had never seen just one blaster before. Much less a blaster at least twice, maybe three times the size of its summoner. The thing could probably take out a human in a single shot. Papyrus opened his eyes, but they were glowing. An odd color. Light blue. Not quite the color of integrity magic. Something different. Something special.

Then, all the stars vanished.

Papyrus' blaster disappeared, and Gaster's hand lit up with purple fire.

"Let's get inside," he muttered. "Sans?"

"power's out," called Sans from the couch. "all of waterfall."

Gaster flickered. "The entire Underground. There's nothing we can do but wait it out, see if the magic stabilizes itself."

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO FIX IT," said Papyrus. Three strategically placed candles lit up.

"I'm working on it. There's still…" He put his hand over the pocket of his lab coat. "Several key components which have not completely been set in place. As I said, the CORE is nearly finished, but not…"

His eyes lit up, and Sans clutched his stomach.

"ARE YOU OK?"

"y-yeah. fine."

"BROTHER, FOCUS! IT'S GOING TO BE-"

A scream tore through the darkness.

The candles went out.

And everything was silent.

The darkness kept growing, the shadows cutting deeper. There was nothing they could do but sit. Wait.

It was so, so cold.

Papyrus pulled Sans closer, shaking. His brother squeezed his hand. There was nothing else he could do.

Dark.

Darker.

Yet darker.

The stars came back first. Well, they weren't really stars. Invisible, well-placed lasers lit up an array of shiny rocks stuck to the ceiling, which glowed and sparkled with the shaky, unstable light source. Then, the weird old lamp in the corner of the room. Then, the streetlights.

Then, the wailing started.

The skeletons ran outside, afraid of what happened, even more afraid of not knowing. Within seconds, it was obvious.

The body of a mermaid-type monster was floating in the marsh. Its eyes were closed, its scales were glowing a dull gray. Another monster – a similar kind, but smaller - was leaning over the bridge's rail, trying to reach the body.

"I- I don't know what happened! She was right next to me, waiting for the power to come back on, then she fell down! I heard a scream, her scream, and now- and now- Lemon, can you hear me?"

Sans' eyes lit up, and the monster floated back towards the bridge. Gaster nodded in approval, then laid the body down and put a hand over its soul.

"Very, very interesting. When did it happen?"

"Only a few seconds ago! What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. The soul is still present in the body, but…" He felt its pulse, then opened one of her eyes. "None of her vitals are responsive. No heartbeat, no respiration, nothing. She's dead."

"No, no! She can't be! Lemon Bread! Lemon, it's Shyren, can you hear me?" The little fish quivered. "Tra- Tra-la-la!"

The tune was shaky, off-key. The soul under Gaster's hand trembled.

"Keep singing," he urged.

"Tra… Tra-la… I can't!" Tears were pouring across the bridge, stinging Gaster's hands. She turned away, shaking.

"Can you do anything?" she whispered.

"No. Not right here."

Gaster stood up and walked away, his coat swirling behind him, his hands clenched. Papyrus stumbled after him.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"This has gone on far enough. I'm going on a date."

"Doctor Wingdings! You came!"

"As requested, Your Highness." Gaster knelt, studying the golden flowers covering the floor.

"Do you really need to bother with formalities like that?"

"I will perform my duties as necessary."

Asgore snorted, and pulled him into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're finally here. Do you want tea? I'll get tea!"

He ran out of the room, and Gaster turned over one of the flowers. It was odd. Smaller than the Echoflowers. More fragile. The seeds stuck to his robes. Asgore ran back in, pushing a trolley, and he stood back up.

"What do you want? I have golden flowers and… golden flowers."

"Whatever you're having," said Gaster, his permanent grin a little more genuine.

"Sugar?"

"No thank you."

"No sugar? It'll be bitter!"

"Just like me."

Asgore chuckled, handing him a cup.

"Very well. Where are your boys? I hoped to see them!"

"School. Since I'm here, I wanted to ask you-"

"So they don't actually stay with you in your lab all the time? How are they doing?"

"What? Of course not! That was a one-time thing. Sans does well when he applies himself. Papyrus is… enthusiastic, and he needs to be. But sir, I-"

"The little one? He reminds me of Lucida. Bright, passionate. Sans seems more quiet and snarky. Like you!"

"Asgore!"

"Hm?"

"There's something we need to discuss."

Gaster pushed back his cup of tea and stood up. Asgore sighed.

"This isn't about the CORE, is it?"

"What? No. Not directly, at least. This is… a personal project. I need a favor."

"Anything, my friend."

"A royal order. I need the bodies of monsters."

Asgore's teacup cracked in his paw. "Why, Doctor, you of all people know that when monsters die, they don't…" He forced a laugh.

"That's not what I'm talking about." The electricity sparked, like it was about to go out. Gaster's voice echoed with static. "You know of the ones who have fallen down."

"Wingdings, I don't think-"

"The power goes out quite often. Most times, it's fine. Other times, monsters will disappear. Sometimes dust is found. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes they will reappear, comatose, days later."

"I- I know. I've sent far too many condolences, far too many reassurances. What is it? What's hurting my people?"

"I do not know. Tropet, one of the doctors in the Lab, has been studying the cases. Looking for anomalies."

"Does she know… I mean, could it be…"

"It's not a human, if that's what you're afraid of. Humans would not leave bodies, wouldn't leave unfinished business. Besides, a monster fell down this morning, nearly on my doorstep. We heard nothing, we saw nothing, and neither did her sister. This is something which we have not yet dealt with."

"What can we do?"

"You mentioned the CORE. That is Priority One – if all goes well it should be finished within the week. If the blackouts stop, hopefully the disappearances will too."

"What about those who have already fallen down? Can you do anything for them?"

Gaster knelt by the flowers in the middle of the garden, rubbing the petals of one. His fingers came away covered with a thin white powder.

"They're as good as dead. You can promise the families the dust for funerals when I'm done with them."

A/N: Finally, a plot emerges! *you mutter "about time."* I still don't own Undertale, but if you have any questions/ criticisms/ whatever else, leave it in the comment section and I'll get back to you on that.

Thanks for the support!