Kaitlyn sat on her bed reading one more page from the book she had picked from Sophie's collection. She had already changed out of her swimwear and into some skinny jeans and a tee shirt. She didn't want to hear the skelebro's conversation and decided that her room was her best bet to escape Papyrus' loud voice.

"yo."

Kaitlyn's head jerked up in surprise.

Sans stood at the doorway and motioned, asking for permission before stepping in.

"How do you do that?" she exclaimed when her eyes meet his.

"what?"

"You just, like, show up out of nowhere. You're either incredibly quiet or you use some kind of magic." She raised an eyebrow.

Sans chuckled, his anger and unease from earlier was gone after his somewhat embarrassing talk with Papyrus.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"nah, but we really need to talk."

"Now?"

"how about this, later tonight you can go show me the stars like you said you would when we first met and we can take turns asking questions. i haven't been completely honest about who i am and my own, uh, "special abilities" but i think that we're close enough at this point that we can talk openly with each other. what do ya say?"

Kaitlyn smiled. "I'd like that very much. You don't have to tell me everything if you aren't comfortable though."

"i'll keep that in mind," Sans nodded. "c'mon out now and eat some dinner with us. there's a skele-ton of food and tibia honest, i think they're waiting for us."

Kaitlyn's laugh was like music to his ears. He was glad they were talking normally again, even if it hadn't been that long.

"Okay. It'd be a fibula if I said I wasn't hungry," she came back and he grinned as they got up to leave the room and join the others.

Neither Sans nor Kaitlyn talked about the events that occurred that day during dinner. Sophie steered conversation away from any questions about it, knowing that Kaitlyn would prefer not to talk about her past with everyone there. Papyrus was happy to see Sans and the young human getting along again and was content to let whatever sparked their odd behavior go with no questions asked.

Dinner was over around 6:30 and Kaitlyn was the first one to excuse herself from the table.

Sans was not long after. Kaitlyn stopped outside of her door and turned to him.

"Let's meet out back at 9:30. The stars will all be out by then and I want to show you the fireflies."

"oh yeah, you said something when we first met about some sort of flaming bug." Sans paused. "are they kinda like Grillby but smaller?"

Kaitlyn chuckled at the thought of a miniature flying Grillby.

"Not exactly, though they do light up. Some people like to call them lightning bugs."

"whatever they are. You're finally gonna show 'em to me, huh? i guess i've kinda been wondering what they look like; you could say it's been bugging me for awhile now." He shot her a cheeky grin.

She laughed and shook her head.

"You're such a dork."

"would you say i'm a-dork-able?"

"Maybe a little." Her eyes sparkled with laughter. "And yes, I'd like to make good on my promise to show you the 'flaming bugs' and stars tonight if that's okay."

Sans nodded. "sure, what are ya gonna do until then?"

"I think I'm going to practice the art form of Sans and take a Katnap. I'll meet you outside around 9:30."

"i'll see ya then." He winked and walked towards his room to get a quick nap in as well.

Kaitlyn sighed and shut her bedroom door behind her. She sent a quick text to Sophie letting her know she was going to sleep. She really didn't like lying to her or Sans, especially after what had happened earlier that day, and as much as she really did want to take a nap, she really needed to see Gaster. She needed the truth from him about his past and she needed his permission to tell Sans that she had brought him back, whether or not Sans could get his memories of him back.

She wasn't sure how she would contact him but she figured it might be possible since he wasn't in the void anymore. She sat on her bed and concentrated her thoughts on the ghostly monster.

Gaster? Are you there? Can you hear me?

A dark form slowly began to materialize before her. She smiled at him.

"I wasn't sure if you could hear my thoughts or not but I guess you can." Her voice was low to avoid any of the others in the house from hearing.

Of course. Perhaps it's because we spent so much time together in the void while you slept or perhaps it's because you were the one who called me back into existence, I'm not entirely sure myself. He paused momentarily. I promise I haven't been eavesdropping in on your thoughts though.

"I trust you, G. Can you talk to other people with the telepathy thing?"

I don't know. I've never tried… I don't know that I'd call this telepathy. It's true you are hearing it within your mind but I'm talking as I normally would as far as I know. In other words, I'm not thinking at you, though I'm sure I could communicate that way as well, if I wanted to. Not that you could distinguish the difference.

Kaitlyn laughed quietly. "Yes, I suppose so."

Kaitlyn, why did you call me here?

"I- well you see Sans- and… and… god so much happened today I don't know where to start."

I was there. I saw. Gaster looked somber. I'm glad you've decided to move forward. One's past can be such a great burden but it only has to weigh you down as long as you let it. I'm proud of you, Kaitlyn. I wish I could be as brave as you. He smiled weakly as he brought his hand up and ruffled her hair.

Tears sprang to her eyes. "Thanks Gaster… Thanks for being there too, even though I couldn't see you beside me, it means a lot."

Of course, I will always be there if you have need of me Kaitlyn.

"If you were there when Sam saw me and when I went to say goodbye to Luce, you probably saw what happened in the car, didn't you?"

Gaster nodded. Are you going to tell him?

"About me? Definitely. I don't like hiding stuff from him."

Does that mean you will tell him about me as well? Gaster looked slightly panicked.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to tell him but only if you're okay with that. I've never asked about your past but I'm pretty sure Sans and the others were a part of it... and based on your reactions when he or Papyrus is brought up, I don't think the memories are very happy ones."

You're quite the perceptive one. I've told you before that my past is full of regret and shame, and you have even felt for yourself what I feel. Sans and Papyrus are a large reason for those emotions.

"Did they do something? Where they the ones who erased you?" Kaitlyn wasn't sure if the skelebros were capable of doing something so horrible, but it was a possibility. After all, time changes people. She certainly isn't the same person she was only a year ago.

Heavens no! They have done nothing wrong. Everything was me, everything was my fault…

"Will you tell me? Please Gaster, I just want to know the truth. For mine and Sans' sake."

You'll hate me. He sighed and looked down. You'll be disgusted and wish I was gone again.

"I would never-"

You don't know, dear child. I was a different man back then… It's okay, I'll tell you. I've decided I would like to try moving forward as well. Perhaps telling you will relieve at least a small portion of my sins. Though it's a long story, and not a happy one.

Kaitlyn settled into her blankets and waited with open ears.

Gaster sighed and began his story. Everything happened many years ago, back before I had even become the royal scientist and long before Sans and Papyrus' existence. We had only been sealed underground for a few years at that point but the humans who had originally sealed us were long gone by then. You see, time in the Underground and Aboveground run differently, and besides that the life cycle of a monster is usually much longer than that of a human's.

Asgore, the king of all monsters as you probably know, led us all through the Underground. Some stopped along the way and set up various towns while others, such as myself, followed the royal family all the way past Hotland to our capital which Asgore named New Home.

Gaster paused when Kaitlyn smiled at the name.

Our king is not very good with names… Kaitlyn chuckled before he continued.

I was later hired as the royal scientist in order to find possible methods of breaking the barrier. We knew that it would take at least one human Soul for Asgore to go through and find six more Souls to break the barrier for good and set the rest of us free.

"You needed Souls to be set free?"

Unfortunately yes, seven Souls of each dominant trait found in humans were sacrificed in order to put the barrier up and seven Souls of the same nature had to be sacrificed to break it down, although I was hired so Asgore could avoid using that method.

"The magicians sacrificed their own Souls just to seal monsters away?"

If only it had been that simple. No, they took sacrifices from their own people.

"Why? How could they? I can't imagine monsters doing anything to deserve being locked away in the first place… what happened?"

Gaster sighed.

So many questions, young one, and it's all so complicated but I shall try my best to explain. I cannot say the reasoning behind the humans' sacrifices from their own people nor do I know if the sacrifices were willing or not, though I'd guess there was a mixture of both, but as for why we were sealed away in the first place… Well, it was found out that monsters had the ability to take and absorb human Souls and could gain god-like powers from doing so. The humans became afraid, despite Asgore's laws against it and promises to never do or allow such a thing, and they attacked us. A long war ensued until the humans were victorious. We used to be as numerous as your kind, but the war cost many their lives. Even in the end, all monsters kept to Asgore's laws and never used a single Soul to gain the power to win. The king surrendered in order to save what was left of us, and the humans sealed us away.

I've always loved inventing, so when we were sealed away I began my work to better the lives of our people. Soon, I caught the king's eye. It was not long until he asked for me to become the official royal scientist whose main job would be, as I said before, finding an alternative way to break the barrier. I didn't accept immediately, I couldn't. I knew there was no way I could invent something powerful enough to break the barrier. Alphys, who was my apprentice at the time, gave me the idea of creating someone rather than something, who yielded enough power to free us.

I began planning and building my lab. It took a very long time, and I still wasn't fully convinced it could be done. Even so, the people were filled with hope that one day, I would succeed and we could be free again.

In the beginning, I was proud to contribute to such a cause, but as time passed, the pressure became too much and I lost sight of why I became the royal scientist to begin with: to give the people hope. I came to think that nothing mattered but being free, not even the very monsters I had been trying to save. It then went from freedom being my goal to just simply gaining the credit for freeing everyone. My ego grew such that I refused to hear anyone else's ideas for the barrier.

I became selfish and self-centered; only the end result was important, no matter the cost. I tried to create my own organic Soul from the bodies of passed monsters, a shameful crime though not as shameful as live specimens. I also built a body mirroring my own as a host but... All of my attempts failed.

I could not create a monster strong enough with only my own magic and tools to work with. I found… others to contribute though I can't say it was completely of their own volition.

It took me many months to finish and still many more tries before I finally got it right. I was devastated to find it still wasn't enough. In the end, I found that in order to accomplish the goal I had set I would need a human Soul to extract whatever essence it was made of, so I thought it was quite fortuitous when a human fell down.

They were the first fallen human. At first I thought my work had been ruined. I had worked so hard to find an alternate way to free us and I was not ready to let it all go to waste. I convinced the king to leave the human's Soul alone, though not for any noble reason. I wanted to be the one to free monsters, not some petty child who had happened to fall down and became a sacrificial lamb. It wasn't hard to convince Asgore; his son, Prince Asriel Dreemurr, had found the human before anyone else and befriended them. Asgore and his wife, Toriel, adopted the child as their own.

I told Asgore I had found another way and all I needed to do was extract the Soul from the human and take a sample of whatever it was made of. No harm would come to the human that I could foresee at the time. The only problem was Asgore still had a law in place saying that extracting human Souls was forbidden due to the war. I had him abolish the law and began my experimentations.

Every human's Soul has its own unique property in place rather than magic: Integrity, Justice, Determination, Kindness, Patience, Bravery, and Perseverance. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses as well as varying levels of power depending on the human. This human, the first human, had a great deal of Determination which I greedily extracted. The child lived but the process was extremely painful and it changed… something within them.

They had always been a bit of a trouble-maker and a prankster but after extracting some of the Determination from their Soul, they became devious and conniving. It worsened day by day but the royal family refused to see it. As far as anyone was concerned, that human was just as much the king and queen's child as Asriel was, and I was content with this. I was not willing to admit that I made a mistake. That I was responsible for the change happening within the child.

Time passed and the child grew darker until they attempted to poison themselves. Young Asriel held them as they whispered a last request.

They wanted to see the flowers in their village one last time before they died. Asriel took the human's Soul and absorbed it in order to go through the barrier and lay their body on the bed of flowers they had described. I'm not quite sure what happened while he was on the surface, but I gather that he scared the humans and they attacked him. So much time had passed that humans had forgotten about us; they believed monsters lived only in fairytales rather than right beneath their feet, so I'd imagine that when one with god-like power appeared before them, they panicked.

Asriel came back, bloodied and beaten, and he Fell Down.

"What do you mean he 'fell down'?"

When a monster Falls Down they go into a comatose state where they are suspended between life and death. Most of the time, when a monster Falls Down, they die, and this is exactly what happened to the young prince. He Fell Down and died minutes later in the royal garden and in his mother and father's arms. His dust settled over the flowers and only the human child's body remained.

Toriel and Asgore were crushed. The king vowed to steal any human's Soul who fell into the Underground until he had the seven needed to break the barrier. Toriel was disgusted. She thought the king's decision cowardly rather than brave. One night, the queen took the child's body and left the capital and the king to live elsewhere.

I didn't care. Their personal lives were their business, though I knew in the back of my mind that my experiments with the child's Soul was most likely the cause. I still refused to admit any failure.

I accelerated my experiments and began living in my lab. Before the death of the Fallen child I grew more and more distant from those I cared about. I finished my creation just before the child attempted poisoning themselves. I made my subject to be a child as well but not a baby in order to obtain maximum energy and growth capacity and kept him down in the basement. He was built to look similar to me and though I called him S-1, he was more accurately my 247th attempt. You know him today as Sans.

"Hold on a second… you made Sans?"

Yes, I made Papyrus as well later on. It is the one thing from my past that I don't regret, however my treatment of them… it is one of the greatest regrets I have from that time. I'm ashamed of everything I did them. I was cruel. They were only children who didn't ask to be made and yet I brought them into this world and did nothing but terrible things.

He was never meant to feel emotions or physical pain. He was only built to be a puppet for me to manipulate in order to bring down the barrier. Imagine my surprise when he could not only feel on move on his own, but also displayed the capacity to learn and develop a personality of his own. I didn't think he'd be able to ever learn speech patterns… though he picked up sarcasm quickly as I recall...

I experimented initially on Sans' basic stats and observed his growth and budding personality. He had the same basic abilities as I did but nothing more. I began injecting small doses of Determination as well as some of my more powerful magic into him. He Fell Down and nearly died. I healed him and tried again. The cycle continued until I was satisfied with his abilities, but when I brought him to the barrier to try breaking it, he couldn't.

I was perplexed and angry. I blamed him and began making a newer, 'better' model: S-2, better known as Papyrus. If Sans couldn't do it alone, then I'd make another. It was as I was finishing Papyrus when another human fell down into the Underground. I decided to attack the barrier problem from several angles rather than just the one I had been looking at. I made Sans join Asgore's royal guard and convinced him to hunt humans for the 'greater good' of all monsters. Asgore had already collected one human's Soul from before Sans was fully ready but it took a toll on his emotions. The king isn't someone you'd think of as a killer or even as a bully. He was soft, so I told him of Sans and said that he could collect the Souls instead. This way, no monster had to dirty their hands, Asgore could fulfill his promise to the people, and I could claim the credit through Sans while still continuing my research on them both. I rationalized that bringing down any humans would make him stronger, and it would give me more Souls to work with.

It was around the arrival of the fourth human when I decided to abandon the idea of bringing the barrier down with a Soul's power or a synthesized monster's magic. I began researching time travel, thinking if I could go back to before we were even sealed in the Underground, then I could prevent any of this from happening.

I told Sans to bring me Papyrus so I could experiment with the time travel preparations I had made on him. Sans refused. I realized he had grown to love Papyrus as a real brother. I didn't understand and thought it was foolish but I started utilizing Papyrus as blackmail to get Sans to do what I wished. If he wouldn't bring Papyrus in for experimentation, then he would have to take his place. If he didn't want me to make Papyrus kill humans for their Souls, then he would have to do it.

And he did. Everything I'd ask he would do. I'd still experiment on Papyrus when Sans wasn't around, but not nearly to the extent I would have, though I'm sure it still caused him pain and permanent damage… Mentally and physically… He looked down, ashamed.

In the end, my time travel experiments backfired and I was thrust from the timeline. It took me a while, but I learned that I could watch them from the place you call the void. I found out that everyone had forgotten about me. All traces of my existence, save my experiments, had been erased.

No one could remember how the skeleton monsters came to be, and they moved to a small town named Snowdin. No one knew I built the lab and Alphys, who had been my apprentice, was now the royal scientist.

Everything after that is not related to Sans and Papyrus and the others, though I did continue to watch them grow and interact with those around them. I can't say when exactly I changed and really reflected on who I was when I existed and became disgusted with myself. I believe it had a great deal to do with watching Sans and Papyrus grow up.

Regrettably, it was only during my time in the void that I began to really love who they were and thought of them as living beings with Souls and emotions rather than just puppets. They became everything I wasn't. They were kind, compassionate, zealous, and loved one another and their friends, all despite my cruelty. They see the good in others, even when someone is bad, all they see is the potential for good. They are my pride. Gaster smiled.

"Wow… you really weren't the best person, huh?"

I told you you would hate me.

"I don't hate you Gaster." Kaitlyn placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "I'm happy that you recognize your mistakes and changed your outlook. I'm glad that you told me and proud of how far you've come since then. You don't need to hold onto your pain anymore… This is your chance to move forward. Moments of reflection are good for the soul, but regrets solve nothing."

What do you mean?

"I mean that, now that I know the full story, I can tell Sans when we talk and you can say you're sorry. You can finally move on."

What? I don't know…

"I know, I know. It'll be hard to explain since he doesn't really remember you, but I think getting his and Papyrus' forgiveness might bring you back. Or, you know, the rest of you back."

No, if he didn't remember me it wouldn't be as frightening.

"What do you mean?"

Sans remembers everything. I wasn't sure before, but when he came to your room last night, I was positive it was me he saw beneath the door.

"How is that possible? I thought you were in the void because no one remembered you?"

Yes and no. The others' memories being affected was more of a side effect of my existence being erased by getting stuck between timelines. I needed someone to call my name back into existence in order to really come back, so that the timeline itself would remember my existence.

"I see, but why would only Sans remember?"

Because of the time travel experiments he underwent. He gained the ability to control small pieces of time and space around him. When I found that he couldn't extend himself past a few minutes and therefore couldn't go back to before the barrier was created, I started building a giant machine called the Core in order to attempt amplifying his ability. It was during the first experiment we did with the Core that I fell in and was ripped from the timeline.

I saw bits and pieces of what happened next; Sans tried to go back a few minutes and undo what I had done but to no avail. If the timeline no longer acknowledges one's existence, even going back to when they existed wouldn't work because they are completely pulled from that timeline. It stands to reason that he would remember due to his ability and the fact that he tried to go back and save me in the first place, though I could never confirm for sure because I was stuck in the void for quite some time before I found I was able to watch the others from there. I must say, he apparently got very good at pretending he didn't remember me by the time I found I could watch them. Though I guess it wasn't too hard for him to forget and leave behind the one who caused him and his brother such great pain.

"That makes it all the more easy! In that case, all I need to do is have him acknowledge your existence, he'll talk to you and see that you've changed, and he'll forgive you. Then I can go tell the others so they remember and you can come back!"

You are a true wonder, young one. He smiled. I wish I could share your enthusiasm, but I fear that Sans will not be as ready to forgive me as you are. You don't truly have the full story, just a condensed version of what I did. I made them, Sans especially, go through true hell.

"Please Gaster? We won't know until we try… and besides, Sans wouldn't have tried to save you back then if he didn't care at least a little," Kaitlyn pleaded.

"And besides that, I… I don't want to lie to him anymore…"

Gaster sighed but nodded his head.

I'll trust you on this one. I apologize for having you lie on my behalf thus far and appreciate you trying so hard for my sake. I will leave you two alone for some privacy as I'm sure that's how Sans would prefer it. If you mention my name, I'll come but I won't make my presence known until he says himself that he wants to talk.

"Thanks G." Kaitlyn pulled him into a warm hug before he faded away with a somber smile on his face.

I wonder if Sans can still time travel… Kaitlyn wondered as she settled into her bed to nap. It had been a long day and she was exhausted in every way imaginable. I wonder if he'll tell me anything about Gaster. Probably not. She couldn't really blame him if he didn't. It sounded as though she didn't get the details from Gaster for a reason. Even without the details, based on what he'd said, Gaster hadn't been the greatest towards Sans and Papyrus.

Thinking about all of the things he might have done made her a little angry if she was completely honest, but she had to remind herself that he was different now. There was no way he would hurt them or anyone else now. She could feel his love for her and for her friends. She had felt his sorrow, pain and regret and would still get traces every so often. She knew she couldn't keep just absorbing his negative emotions forever; she'd go insane if she did. The only way to help him now is to get him on the path towards forgiveness.

Sans would understand. He had to. Even so, Kaitlyn didn't know why, but she couldn't shake the feeling of unease at the thought of mentioning Gaster to Sans. She definitely believed it would help both of them in the end but… If Gaster was a cruel as he'd said, would Sans even want to see him? She wondered if he would be angry that she'd brought someone from his dark past back.

Kaitlyn shook her head and refused to think so negatively.

I'll hold on to the hope that Gaster can come back and Sans can become truly happy, with no regrets.

It was to this thought that she shut her eyes and imagined Sans ultimate gift he could give to Gaster: forgiveness.