Ch. 11: Fresh Scars

He cried for a long time as the king held him.

The king gently rocked Gaster as his hitching sobs slowly died and he was left quivering and clinging to the king with the last of his strength. The king's own warm tears were long dried where they had fallen on his skull by the time Gaster summoned the courage to pull his face from the king's robe. He peered up at the king, desperate and tired eye-sockets looking for a reason to hope.

The king looked back down at him with tear sore eyes, "I'm so sorry young one, I didn't realize . . . I should have known better." The king gently stroked Gaster's back as the skeleton calmed slightly.

Gaster's grip on the king's tear soaked robes loosened slowly as the stiff bones of his fingers attempted to unlock themselves from their desperate grasp. Eventually Gaster brought his shaking hands up to sign, 'doctor here bad me.' Gaster struggled to keep the tears from starting anew as he silently begged the king to understand.

The king drew in a deep sigh, "I understand young one. I won't ask you to trust the doctor, but I am asking you to trust me. I cannot help you to get better if you don't trust me." Gaster looked into the king's almost pleading eyes, "I promise you that nothing bad will happen, I will keep you safe."

Gaster buried his face back into the king's robes, he wanted to trust the king but this? If he got onto that table he would be completely at the doctor's mercy, and the doctor had never shown any before. If he did this he would be putting his life in the king's hands. The king was the only person he had ever really trusted even a little, but did he dare to trust them with his soul?

Gaster shuddered a little more as he gave a stiff nod into the king's robes. The king slowly scooped him up and carried him over to the table, easing him onto it with gentle movements. Gaster still clung to the king as he lifted his head enough to peek around them into the rest of the room. The doctor stood at the far counter stiff and completely still with his back to them.

"Drake." The doctor shivered at the king's deliberately calm tone. "You should finish preparing." The doctor cautiously started gathering items from cupboards while carefully not turning away from the far wall.

The king looked down at Gaster and tried to give a reassuring smile but it looked a little forced. "I would not have brought you here if you did not need this." The king gently ran his hand up and down Gaster's back in a soothing motion.

A silent whimper vibrated through Gaster's chest as he shook his head. "I am sorry to ask you to go through this now but it is something that cannot wait." Gaster looked up at the king, face still half pressed into their robes. "This must happen now, I don't wish to put you through this twice." Gaster shook a little more as he looked up at the king's set features, he could tell this wasn't a request. After a moment he gave a small shaky nod.

"The doctor will be giving you something he calls a soul catheter." Gaster pulled back slightly as the king looked down at him, listening as he spoke. "It is a tube that will be inserted shallowly into your soul, it may be uncomfortable at first but it will not hurt like the supplements do. There is a valve in the tube that will slow the supplement as it passes through so that when it enters your soul it will not be as painful."

Gaster's eye-sockets widened at that, he really didn't like the idea of something being stuck into his soul. He pressed his eye-sockets closed and took a deep breath as he nodded again to show that he understood. He could trust the king, he told himself. He could trust the king, he held on tightly to the flickering ember of hope in his soul that remained. He might not survive if it went out.

It was an effort to force his eye-sockets open again, he couldn't stop himself from flinching as the doctor approached.

The doctor kept his gaze low and spoke with a carefully deliberate and neutral tone. "Your majesty the subject will need to be restrained for the procedure so that it won't be accidentally damaged by it's movements during the operation."

The king's eyes bore into the doctor as his movements to calm Gaster slowed, "you and I will be having a long talk later Drake. I will want to know about everything that might have the slightest possibility of upsetting this child and exactly why."

The doctor stiffened slightly, his eyes almost coming up to meet the king's before they darted back down again. "As you wish your majesty."

The king flicked his ear as he turned back to look at the skeleton that still clung to him. "I need you to do this young one, it will not hurt at all I promise. I am sorry but I would not ask this of you if you did not need it."

Gaster looked up at the king with frightened and fizzling eye-lights as he tried to keep his nauseous soul from heaving, not that he had any energy left to sick up at this point. He could trust the king. He managed to give a tiny nod.

"Alright, I will give you a moment if you need it, just let me know when you are ready."

Gaster pressed his face back against the king's chest but did his best to resist the urge to bury himself against the king. If he did he might never let go. He gave a quick nod and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to start again. He would never be ready to be strapped to that table but every moment he waited knowing what was to come would be torture. If he had to do this he just wanted it done with.

The king brought his hands up to Gaster's shoulders and gently guided him to sit up on his own. Gaster let go of the king's robes and and he clutched at his gown as the king reached around him to undo the ties at his back. Once all the ties were loose Gaster held the gown tightly to his chest hunching over it slightly, with great reluctance he let the king take it from him. He curled more in on himself as he sat on the table stripped of his only protection, he felt so vulnerable. His soul floated visibly in his rib-cage, exposed and easily within reach of anyone near.

The king breathed in sharply as he took in the sight of the small skeleton's exposed bones. He had seen earlier that beyond the concentrated marks on the child's femur there were faint scars littered across his body. Most of these were long faded and could have been from before Gaster had ever been awake. What the king had not seen before was the large number of much more recent scars that were centered around the ribs and sternum just over Gaster's soul. The king reached a hand up toward the most recent scars but pulled back when Gaster shrunk away from it.

"You poor child." The king's pained gaze took in the numerous clinically precise marks that fell dangerously close to Gaster's soul.

Gaster kept his gaze down as he held his arms in front of his chest, giving his soul what meager protection he could. He did his best to keep his breathing under control as he struggled to hold back fresh tears. He could trust the king, he kept repeating to himself. He clung to those words as he was laid back onto the table.

The doctor reached up to Gaster's collar, turning it until he found the component he was looking for. Gaster felt the weight of the suppression field hit him, combined with how low his energy already was he almost passed out. His vision blurred and it became hard to breath. His soul felt like it had been crammed into a box and his bones felt like they were stuffed with cotton.

Gaster balked when he felt the first strap touch him. He tried to sit up but his body barely responded and the doctor's hand on his shoulder easily held him down. He could barely see and his hand fumbled toward the fuzzy outline of the king. When the king's hand found his he gripped it as tightly as his weak grasp would allow.

Gaster focused his hazy and slipping mind on the king's hand, trying to not let panic overwhelm him at the feeling of the straps tightening as the doctor bound him to the table.

The doctor turned to the side, preparing his tools on a tray next to the table. "Drake, he will not be needing anesthetic for this will he?" Gaster clenched his jaw as he heard metallic clinking sounds from the things in the doctor's hands. "You informed me that this would be painless and I will not have you make me one to break a promise."

The doctor gave a restrained grunt. "The only part of the catheter that will be invasivly affixed to the subject is the tip and the balloon seal which will hold it in place. As I said before the tube shaft and valve port will be attached to the ribs and clavicle via metal bands which will be fastened without physical damage to the subject." The doctor gave a tense sigh, "not that anesthetic would have an appreciable effect." The doctor stiffened slightly as the last words slipped out.

The king turned toward the doctor, still holding Gaster's hand in comfort. "What do you mean by that Drake?"

The doctor resumed preparing, "the subject will not be needing anything, this procedure will not cause it pain."

"That is not what I meant Drake, what did you say about anesthetic?"

Gaster could practically feel the doctor grasping for an answer as he avoided the kings's eye. " . . . anesthetic is not an effective pain relief method for the subject."

The king's tone sharpened, "and what would be an effective method for use during surgeries?"

The doctor shuffled slightly, "due to the fact that the connection between the body and soul is weak normal pain relief and healing methods have a minimal transfer of effect to the soul."

"Would that mean that you would be unable to render him unconscious for procedures?"

" . . . that is correct."

"There is nothing that could be applied safely to a soul to help with pain."

" . . . that is . . . also correct."

The king turned back toward Gaster, "are you telling me Drake." He reached his free hand down to hover over Gaster's sternum, fingers nearly brushing the deepest and far too fresh scar which ran perfectly straight down the length of Gaster's chest. The king pulled his hand away when Gaster flinched, "that these most recent marks were made while he had no pain relief and was conscious?"

The doctor didn't move a muscle as the king stood up straight again. The king took a heaving breath and Gaster could hear the knuckles of free hand popping. The king spoke with strained calmness. "I will say nothing more for now Drake. You will need your concentration to continue with what you are doing."

The doctor fumbled what he was holding but caught it before it could get away from him. He moved toward Gaster without a word.

Gaster forced his eye-sockets closed while the doctor reached into his chest cavity but he could still feel the doctor's hands moving around inside his rib-cage. He shakily squeezed the king's hand which gave him a firm squeeze in return as he tried to ignore the sickening sensation of foreign objects being placed in his chest. The doctor slipped thin metal bands around a few of his ribs, tightening them to the point where they would hold the tube of the catheter in place.

The doctor brought the tip of the catheter up to Gaster's soul, slowly easing it just under the surface. Gaster breathed in sharply, instinctively bracing himself for the pain that always accompanied the sensation of having an object inserted into his soul. But the pain didn't come, Gaster tried to slow his breathing back down while the expectation for it still remained.

The doctor pulled his hands out of Gaster's chest and moved up to his clavicle, using another metal band to fix the valve port along it. The doctor inflated the balloon seal and took a few minutes to adjust and straighten the bands so that the fit was snug and secure. He then brought out a syringe from his pocket.

The doctor brought the syringe up to the valve port and pushed the liquid magic into the catheter. It took a moment for the energy to hit Gaster, his head swam as magic poured into his soul while it was still under the suppression field. It took longer than usual for the full dose to enter his system and it made his body go ridged but it didn't cause him to seize. It didn't hurt badly but it was still unpleasant.

Finally the doctor began to undo the straps which held Gaster to the table. Gaster tried to sit up but the doctor held him down by the shoulder while he reached for Gaster's collar. As soon as the suppression field was lifted Gaster's vision fuzzed out as the rush of his magic equalizing left him dizzy.

Gaster quickly curled in on himself, his instincts still demanding him to protect his exposed soul. As his mind cleared from the rush of magic he realized the king had pulled him into a tight embrace. He shuddered as he pushed himself against the king but he kept his arms over his chest.

The king scooped Gaster up and carried him toward the door but stopped before leaving. "Drake." There was no response. "You will wait here until I return." The king left the room holding the skeleton close to his chest.

Gaster kept his eye-sockets tightly closed as he buried himself into the king's robe as best he could, he tried to focus on the comforting motion of the king's steps. Tried to be reassured by the deep breaths of the king's strong chest and the powerful arms that surrounded him. Tried to fight down the panic of feeling all these touches on his naked and exposed bones. Tried to stop swallowing to get rid the feeling the catheter gave him, as if something was stuck in his throat and he couldn't dislodge it. Tried to ignore the nauseous feeling of moving air passing through his chest cavity in a way that wasn't from his breathing. Tried not to lash out at those around him as his instincts screamed at him to protect his still very visible and vulnerable soul.

Gaster's bones rattled softly as he was held in the king's arms, he didn't notice how far they had gone until the king was placing him down on his bed. As his eye-sockets peeled open Gaster crawled into his bunched up blanket, wrapping it tightly around himself. He covered himself completely, shutting out the world by burying himself in a protective layer.

He felt the king ease down onto the bed, his quivering blanket pile leaned toward the king. The king gently pulled him to his side, Gaster pressed into him but remained under the covers. Gaster felt the little spare energy he had gained drain as he cried against the king's side. He stayed there for a long time, slowly calming enough slip into an exhausted and fitful half sleep.

Eventually Gaster started awake at the king's hands carefully lifting him from their side. Gaster didn't move as the king slowly lay him back down on the bed. The king rose from the bed and silently made his way to the door, pausing for a moment. Then he was gone.

Gaster shifted on the bed, sliding into the space the king had been sitting. He curled tightly in on himself underneath the blanket, pressing into the warmth the king had left behind. He wished the king had stayed, he brought one hand up to his collar as the other slipped down to his femur. He held in slow and shaky breaths as he pressed his hand firmly against his most recent chips, gripping hard until they stung. He couldn't escape the pain he felt in his soul.