Note: This is the first part of the storyline to bring Gaster back. This chapter is not fluffy like the others, but I promise it's not heavy either.

Remembering Gaster

Toriel could be very quiet when she wanted to. If she walked on tiptoes her footsteps hardly made a sound. She listened at the door to Sans workshop, or lab. He hadn't decided yet. It said so on the door, in sticky notes:

Sans' workshop

Or lab

Haven't decided yet

Always knock!

Toriel knocked, twice.

"Who's there?" Sans asked.

"Berny," Toriel answered.

"Berny who?" Sans asked.

"Bern-ing the midnight oil are we?" she said, opening the door.

Sans had turned around and was grinning at her, but it was clear he was pretty tired.

"What are you doing up so late?" Toriel asked, glancing at the machine.

The screen was flashing and flickering erratically.

"I was just about to go to bed," Sans said hastily, pulling the sheet down to cover the machine. "Just, tidying up a bit here, you know."

"I can tell you're lying…" Toriel smiled.

Sans shuffled his slippered feet.

"You know I've been meaning to ask you," Toriel said suddenly. "Was it the machine that brought back my Asriel, or…something else?"

Sans hesitated for a moment, but he really didn't like lying to Toriel.

"My machine made it possible for him to come back," he said. "But it didn't make him come back."

Toriel nodded. Not because she fully understood this, but because she was rather relieved that the machine on its own was not quite as powerful as she thought it might have been.

"Shall we go up?" Sans suggested, eager to get her out of the basement.

Toriel smilingly narrowed her eyes at him.

"Not before you tell me what is going on," she said. "I won't be giving in this time Sans."

Sans swallowed. He looked at her. Her violet eyes were round with concern and he could feel the love in her. Toriel was not in the habit of making demands, when she did…she meant it.

He gave in.

"Do you remember someone named Gaster?" Sans asked nervously.

"Yes, yes I do," Toriel said thoughtfully. "He was one of the Scientists in the Royal lab, was he not?"

"Yeah," Sans nodded. "Asgore made him Royal Scientist eventually. He was Alphys' predecessor. I worked with them both."

"You did?" Toriel said, surprised, she wondered why Sans had never talked about that before.

"Papyrus and I were in a pretty bad way when we arrived in… the capital," Sans continued. "And Gaster kind of took us under his wing."

"What happened to him?" Toriel asked. "I don't think I've heard anyone mention him since I left the ruins."

"No…" Sans said, looking away. "People prefer not to talk about him."

"Why?"Toriel asked.

"Well…" Sans mumbled.

He looked really uncomfortable. Toriel was a little worried, but she wanted to know what was going on. Frisk had let slip enough for her to know that it was important.

"He was working on something important," Sans said. "Important to him…and to me. He wanted to hook it up to the Core to get it enough power… And then something went wrong and…he disappeared."

"Do you mean he was killed in an accident?" Toriel asked, concerned.

"There was an accident alright," Sans said darkly. "But I'm sure it didn't kill him."

"Sans, what do you mean?" Toriel asked, properly disconcerted now.

Sans rubbed his skull and sighed wearily.

"The thing he was working on," he said. "It was built to manipulate time and space, but it backfired on him and…"

He made an angry sound in the back of his throat and turned around.

"He was just gone, okay," he said gruffly. "And I mean gone, not a trace."

"I'm sorry," Toriel said gently, not sure she quite understood him.

Sans grumbled something unintelligible.

"And you built this machine to try and find him?" she asked, glancing at the bulky shape under the sheet.

"I had some of his research data," Sans answered with a strange, blank expression. "And Alphys helped me to get some of his blueprints…"

"To bring him back," Toriel said. "Like you brought back my child."

Sans sighed and shook his head, walking to the door. He didn't want to lie to Toriel again so he said nothing.

"But your machine works," Toriel said, not giving up now. "So what are you doing every night? Searching?"

"Something like that," Sans muttered.

"So the machine is looking for him," Toriel said, brightening up a bit.

"…yes," Sans replied.

"Then you'll find him," Toriel smiled. "I know you will."

She bent down to give him a hug, Sans let out a great sigh and hugged her back.

"But Sans…" she said when he let go. "Shouldn't you tell Papyrus what you're doing? If Gaster took care of you both he must mean as much to Papyrus as he means to you."

Sans looked into her honest, violet eyes and felt terrible.

"I can't, Tori," he said. "We don't talk about him, it only makes Pap sad. I've been working on this for so long…it might never work."

"But this time it will," Toriel said confidently. "Because now you know your machine works. All you need is time."

"Don't tell Pap, Tori," Sans pleaded. "He couldn't deal with it."

"I won't tell your brother," Toriel said. "But only because it is you who should be telling him. Papyrus is stronger than you think."

Sans didn't answer.

"Oh Sans," Toriel said, shaking her head. "Why do you insist on doing all this alone."

She bent down again and this time she nuzzled him with her snout.

"Come on, sillybones," she said. "Tomorrow is another day."

She left the lab and Sans locked the door behind them.

"Thanks," Sans said, giving her a tired grin. "I needed to be brought back tori-ality."

Toriel laughed and gave him a playful push. They quietly went upstairs, careful not to disturb the sleeping house, and both went straight to bed. What Toriel hadn't told Sans was that she knew he had been dreaming badly again lately. She had woken him three times this month, but he never remembered the next morning. Toriel did however and she expecially remembered what he kept muttering over and over:

"All the pieces… I only have to find all the pieces…"

…

The next evening Sans didn't have an opportunity to disappear to the lab, because Frisk and Asriel asked him and Papyrus for a story. Toriel had bought them a book of classic plays adapted for children and they wanted Sans and Papyrus to read it to them and do the different voices.

"We'll do one act," Sans agreed.

"But we can't stop in the middle of a story, Sans!" Papyrus protested.

"No!" Asriel and Frisk complained in unison.

"Fine," Sans chuckled. "But pick a short one then."

Papyrus did as many different voices as he could, and Sans picked the characters who's lines would be best if delivered with minimum effort. Frisk and Asriel loved it. Papyrus' over enthusiasm and Sans' deadpan delivery turned every piece into a comedy.

"The end," Papyrus concluded with emphasis and he bowed.

Frisk and Asriel applauded softly and laughed.

"Good night," Sans said, patting Asriel on his head and resting his forehead against Frisk's for a moment.

"Sweet dreams," Papyrus added, tucking them both in tight.

"Night," Asriel sighed.

"Night," Frisk smiled.

Papyrus quietly walked out of the room. Sans closed the door behind them and looked round. Papyrus was walking to his own room. Sans followed him.

"Hey, bro," he said. "Is it okay if I come in for a second?"

"Of course," Papyrus said. "What a strange question, brother, why wouldn't it be?"

Sans leaned against Papyrus' desk, which was incredibly tidy. The only thing that was on it were some colour coded designs for puzzles.

"I'd say we were doing a pretty good job," Sans said. "Taking care of the kids and all."

"Of course we are," Papyrus said proudly.

There was a short silence and Papyrus gave Sans a curious look.

"I…um…." Sans mumbled. "I was talking to Toriel the other day…"

Papyrus looked at him expectantly.

"Um…" Sans fell silent.

"What is it?" Papyrus asked, starting to get worried.

"I know we don't usually talk about this," Sans began again. "But I was wondering… do you ever think about da- Gaster?"

"Of course I do," Papyrus said, taken aback. "He's our dad. At least to me he is."

"To me he is too," Sans said.

Papyrus sat down on his bed. He looked sad and Sans hated seeing his brother like that.

"Why would you think I don't think about him?" Papyrus said. "I miss him too you know."

"I know," Sans said, sitting down beside him. "I just don't like to bring it up because…well I don't want to remind you to miss him."

Papyrus looked at him.

"I thought you didn't want to talk about him?" he said.

"Well, I don't…" Sans mumbled. "Cause it's no use you know…"

There was a long silence.

"My machine was meant to help him, Pap," Sans said suddenly. "It just took me so long to even get it close to working…"

Papyrus was looking at Sans with a very strange expression.

"I know," he said.

Sans looked up.

"What do you mean you know?" he asked.

"I know what you built it for," Papyrus said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. "After dad disappeared you came home with arms full of stuff from his lab and you locked yourself in our basement every night. I thought you were trying to complete his last invention or something."

"So how did you find out I wasn't?" Sans asked.

"You talk in your sleep," Papyrus said with a shy grin. "And I saw some of the parts you designed… I may not be as clever as you and dad with your science stuff but I'm not stupid."

"You have always been way smarter than me, Pap," Sans said quickly.

"Of course I am," Papyrus said, sounding a little more like himself. "You never put in an effort."

"Heh," Sans tried to laugh.

There was another silence. The skeleton brothers sat side by side, looking at anything but each other.

"Why didn't you ask me about the machine if you knew?" Sans asked finally.

"Because you would tell me if it worked," Papyrus said.

Sans let his head sink into his hands.

"I can't bring Gaster back," he muttered. "I thought I could…but I can't."

"You brought back Asriel," Papyrus said, trying to sound optimistic.

"No," Sans groaned. "My machine located Asriel's soul… That is all it did. It didn't have to do anything else. But dad isn't like Flowey, dad is gone…"

"Then what have you been doing every night since Asriel came back?" Papyrus suddenly demanded, sitting upright again. "Because Toriel is worried and so am I."

"I haven't given up," Sans said without lifting his head. "I can't bring dad back, my machine can't bring dad back, but it might be able to help him."

"How?" Papyrus asked pressingly.

Sans lifted his head and looked up at his brother.

"By locating all the pieces," Sans said. "The energy of the Core… His invention... I'm convinced it didn't kill him. It must have…dispersed his matter. Shattered it across time and space."

"He's not like us, Sans," Papyrus said. "You can't just put him back together again like when I accidentally lost my foot."

"We can't," Sans said. "But Gaster might."

Papyrus stared at him.

"What?" he said.

"He always used to say that he shouldn't let his mind wander because it was what kept body and soul together," Sans said in a hoarse voice. "I just thought…if my machine could just locate the pieces of his body…maybe his mind…wherever it is…would know where to go look for them."

"You think dad could see what your machine is doing?" Papyrus asked.

"I don't think he's dead," Sans said. "And if his mind and soul are somewhere…wouldn't they be where we are? Don't you think he'd be watching us?"

"Yes," Papyrus mumbled, and suddenly he smiled. "He used to watch us when we were practicing new attacks, even though he promised not to, just to be sure neither of us would get hurt."

Sans grinned in spite of himself.

"Yeah," he said. "And then he'd pretend to be surprised when we used them on him for the first time."

Papyrus' eyes lit up.

"The first time I designed a puzzle and it wouldn't work he stayed up all night to fix it so when I tried in the morning it would work," he said, glowing with the memory.

"I thought you didn't know about that," Sans said, chuckling softly.

"He left one of his tools," Papyrus grinned. "You know, one of the black handled one's we weren't allowed to use."

They both laughed.

"I used to steal those every chance I got until he bought me my own set," Sans said.

They sat on Papyrus bed, talking and laughing until they realised it had gotten really late.

"We should go to bed," Sans grinned, getting to his feet.

Papyrus' smile faded a little and he asked shyly:

"Hey, Sans, is your machine searching now?"

"Yeah," Sans said. "It is."

Papyrus nodded and suddenly he sat up straight and brought the smile back on his face.

"I hope it works," he said.

"So do I," Sans said, and in an impulse he added: "And it will, bro, I'm sure it will."

Since nobody seemed to mind the more emotional Asriel chapter I decided to upload Gaster's storyline in a couple of shorter ones. I think that would be best for the pacing of my story. This is the first part, the second part will show up whenever it's ready. Long lost fathers are not brought back over night…

I know my version of Gaster differs a bit from what I've seen most people write/draw, but hopefully you'll like it anyway. Many people make it so that Gaster was literally erased from existence. In my story he wasn't. His body was shattered across time and space, his mind/soul are trapped in the void. People just don't talk about him because it is painful and uncomfortable, as his 'death' was a real tragedy.

Next up: More Grillby and more Mettaton.

And PantryMonster, I wish I could reply to your reviews because you review EVERY chapter and I really appreciate it. If there is anything you'd like to see in an upcoming chapter, do tell me!

Thanks for reading everybody!