Chapter 20: Incident

Over a year had passed since speaking with Girard. Gaster, now 22, had run out of space in the lab provided, so Gaster commissioned to have more lab built deep under Hotland. It even was planned to have a second exit leading into the CORE. Since then, for the past few years, Gaster has been performing experiment after experiment on the side while working on the CORE. ...Or visiting his wife.

Yes, Gaster had recently married Pristina. She had succeeded in romancing him. Though, she still was close friends with me.

Anyways, Gaster says within a few weeks we may be able to start the first major tests to the CORE's teleportation functions. The Surface would soon be in reach. And good timing too, as this first test would happen around my 20th birthday.

I was talking with Gaster about our plans for the coming test, what we would need to do for that. Gaster had changed his preferred outfit to be more fitting for his new job, a gray long coat over a white-collar shirt and black pants, with black loathers. More sophisticated, and more mature. Just what he needed, and wanted.

"It is important that we check all of the stabilizers, or else the CORE-" Gaster was explaining to me, before we were interrupted by one of his assistants, who was running up to us.

I wasn't too worried about another monster seeing me. I usually wore my hood to keep my face hidden while inside Gaster's lab or the CORE, so monsters couldn't see my face very well, unless I looked straight at them, and even then, Gaster assured me that none of his assistants knew what a human looked like, and only his assistants were allowed to speak with him outside of construction time.

This assistant was a small lizard monster with no arms, wearing a white lab coat. Her name, Lizzie. I really felt understood this monster, because like me, she was much smaller than her actual age. It might have been a monster thing for her, but still, it frustrated us both. I think it might have been part of the reason Gaster choose her as an assistant.

"Doctor Gaster," Lizzie panted, "Asgore has delivered a message."

"Yes," Gaster replied, "tell me."

"He has accepted your request to harvest the human Soul for... whatever you needed it for. He just wanted to remind you to try not to destroy it. It's the only one we have."

Gaster froze for a second, before telling Lizzie, "yes. Thank you. Now, I feel I must to talk to-"

"Wingding," I interrupted. "What about the human Soul?" As time has gone on, me using Gaster's real name in public meant that I had something I had to tell him, and that it was serious.

"Please, return to your duties, Lizzie. I must talk to Chara alone," Gaster told her.

"O-okay," Lizzie replied. She turned to me, and said, "good to see you, Chara," before running off.

I turned to Gaster. "You're going to harvest the human Soul. Alisa's Soul!"

"Chara, listen," Gaster exclaimed, "it's been three, almost four years since Alisa... since her Soul was taken. She's not coming back. And her soul still has its uses. I've been studying-"

"NO!" I interrupted him. "How could you do this! She... she is still in there. The Soul is the culmination of everything you are, right? You preserved her Soul, so she is still alive, in spirit, at least. And you're going to experiment on her!"

"Chara, I-"

Before he could say anything, I walked away. Alisa was innocent, she didn't deserve this. Why would he do this? Doesn't he care?

As I left, I didn't see Gaster still standing there, alone. He took a deep breath, and then an angry grunt, he punched the wall.

Chara hadn't talked to Gaster for the next few days. He was frustrated that she couldn't understand how this research might help monsters in the future. There was nothing harmful about it. The body was dead. It was just a Soul.

...Then again, maybe she had a point. But still, to Gaster, he had to make her sacrifice mean something. This energy could be used to power the CORE's true function.

Gaster was sitting alone, thinking about this, when he heard a knock on his lab door. "Come in."

The door opened, and Asgore walked in. "Howdy, Gaster."

Gaster got up. "Asgore. Good to see you. Did you get my message?"

"Yes, you wanted me to see your extractor."

Gaster nodded and led him to the elevator leading into his deeper lab.

On while elevator, Asgore asked, "so, you were planning to do with the Soul."

"Well," Gaster replied, "As I was studying the Soul, I found that it was not so different from our own. Yes, it is true, it is much more powerful from monster Souls. About around a thousand times, by my estimate. But like our Souls, they contain at least a small amount of each trait. Patience, Bravery, Integrity, Perseverance, Kindness, Justice, and of course, Determination."

"Also," Gaster continued, as the elevator door opened, and he began leading Asgore into the lower labs, "I have found that Souls can... restore themselves to their original form, if damaged, should they find the will. I have reconfigured the human Soul's containment capsule to emulate these effects, help the Soul retain itself, and keep it from fading away."

"Where are you going with this?" Asgore asked.

"If you remember, I asked to be able to 'harvest' the Soul. In actuality, I intend to extract these traits from the Soul into a liquid form, where they can be studied, or used as energy. The strongest of which, as I have found... is Determination. And then, with my new configuration on the capsule, the Soul should restore itself in time, regain the traits they lost. As long as this is handled correctly, they can provide an alternative, infinite source of energy."

"Aw, I see. Do you think this can be done?" Asgore replied.

"It's all theoretical right now. I would approach this with caution, until we know for sure, or else we lose our only current Soul. Now come, let me show you."

Gaster brought Asgore into a large room, with a large skull-like machine hanging over a pit. The skull resembled the top of an animal skull, with two tusks protruding from it. There were four large wires connected to the top of the skull, and held in place by metal bracers, and then there were two more wires connected at the sides of the top of the skulls to tusks.

"I call this the DT Extractor. With this, I can harvest Determination from a Soul. Our research can reach new heights with this." Gaster turned to the next room. "Lizzie! Is the capsule ready!?"

"Yes!" the assistant yelled. She then pulled the Soul capsule in on a cart. "The experiment is ready to start at your command, Doctor!"

"Thank you, ready the logs for recording, title: Entry #16." Gaster turned back to Asgore. "Please come over to the control console, Asgore. You may want to stay out of the way from the front of the machine, as it may attempt to Extract from your Soul, and as a monster, that could be fatal."

"Oh, of course," Asgore replied, following Gaster to the console.

The console was a screen built into the wall. Gaster pressed a button on the corner of the screen, and a keyboard popped out beneath it. The Extractor's command computer booted up.

Gaster then input a few commands. A grating rose up on one side of the capsule as the glass opened up where the grating was. "That will keep the Soul from escaping during the Extraction process," Gaster assured the King. "Now, observe."

Gaster then input another command, and the Extractor powered up. A few seconds after it fully powered up, a stream of red began being pulled from the Soul in the Extractor.

"We're going to keep this at a steady stream for the first test," Gaster said, watching the readings on the screen. "In a few minutes, we should have a full canister of liquid Determination."

Asgore looked under the Extractor, and could, in fact, see a glass container, being slowly filled by a red liquid, drop by drop.

"Amazing..." Asgore replied in awe.

Gaster said, "This is what science is capable of, your majesty. And soon, we may-"

"Wingding!?" a voice called out from the room Gaster and Asgore came from.

Gaster cursed under his breath. It was Chara's voice...

Asgore didn't say anything, but he did get a confused look on his face. He hadn't see Chara seen she was ten, so he probably didn't recognize her adult voice, but he seemed to recognize something.

"I wanted to talk to you... about the Soul. I realized that maybe... I... reacted-"

Chara walked into the room... just as Asgore stepped back to see who the new company was.

Chara's eyes went wide, as she stepped back. Asgore also had a look of surprise, but instead stood there for a few seconds, before taking a small step forward. "Chara?"

Chara responded with, "you..." A red flame appeared in her hand.

Asgore's head fell. "I'm sorry..."

"Enjoying torturing humans?" Chara replied angrily.

"Chara... please understand, I-"

"NO!" Chara interrupted. "You abandoned me! Killed one of my own kind! And now, this! I... I..."

"Chara, please come back. We can be a family again."

Chara stopped at that. "What... d- Asgore... why..."

"Please..." Asgore said, starting to approach.

Gaster was too focused on the unintended meeting to realize this approach was putting Asgore right in the path of the Extractor, the one thing Gaster had warned him not to do. Gaster realized this too late, and before he could warn him about it... Asgore stepped into the extraction stream.

He was suddenly pulled towards the Extractor, and the pit it hangover. His Soul was pulled out of his body, and he was straining to have it not forcefully separated from his body.

"ASGORE!" Gaster cried out. He began working on shutting down the Extractor, but he knew it would need time to wind down, and by then, it might be too late. He would have to take action himself.

Or so he thought. But once he had set the Extractor into its shut off sequence, he turned to find Chara already taking that action, using a Skeleton spell he had taught her when they were younger. She raised her hand, and Asgore's Soul began to glow blue. She pushed her hand forward, and Asgore was pushed out of the Extractor stream.

Gaster ran to check on Asgore. Luckily, he was fine, mostly. At the very least, he was alive. But a piece of his Soul was broken off, likely still in the Extractor.

Gaster began using healing magic on him regardless, hoping to remedy any unseen injuries. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Asgore replied. But he wasn't paying attention to him...

Chara just stood there, breathing heavily. The level magic energy she had used must have been intense, in order to pull Asgore out of the Extractor's grip.

"Chara..." Asgore said.

"No..." Chara said, tears in her eyes. She then turned and left.

The Extractor had fully shut down, the stream no longer separating them. But... Asgore didn't chase after Chara.

Gaster stared down the hall Chara left through. "I'm sorry, I need to leave now. We'll... talk about this later."

Gaster then followed Chara, Asgore not uttering a word.

I couldn't believe it. He saw me... Asgore saw me.

Did he really believe we could be a family again? Why? Why did he think he deserved that? He...

He should've been grateful I saved his life. Because I wasn't going back. He didn't deserve my love.

I ran to the exit elevator before breaking down. Why did this matter so much to me? Why did I need him alive?

"Chara," I heard behind me. I looked back and saw Gaster. "I'm sorry, I should've warned you that Asgore would be here."

"I... no, it's not your fault. The way I reacted... if I hadn't stopped talking to you, then you could've told me. It's my fault," I told him.

Gaster looked back. "You wanted to talk to about the Souls."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, you were right... or we both were. It is the Soul of a person, but that person is gone. There no coming back for her. And besides, it's just a human Soul."

But as I said that, it hurt. But again, why do I care so much. Humans... humans were despicable. She may have been a kid, but...

Gaster looked back. "I will need to talk to Asgore about this. And address..."

"You don't know what to do, do you?"

Gaster was quiet for a moment. "For once... yes. This is the worst-case scenario. But knowing Asgore, he might ignore this. If not... I heard the Ruins are abandoned. We might be able to sneak you in there."

"...No. Talk to him, convince him to leave OUR family alone. I don't want to see him again."

The next day, Gaster arrived back at Asgore's throne room, following some tests regarding the incident.

Asgore was sitting on the throne, in silent contemplation. Once he saw Gaster, he addressed him, "W.D. Gaster."

"King Asgore," Gaster addressed back. "I had found the small piece of your Soul that was broken off by the Extractor. The machine had preserved the fragment in the liquid DT, keeping it from shattering and disappearing, as it should of."

"What are you going to do with it."

"Well... return it to you. You Soul is incomplete. As I mentioned, your Soul can heal on its own, and replace the missing section. But still, it will help-"

"I'm sure you can find some use for it." Asgore sighed. "That is not what's on my mind at the moment."

"You want to talk about Chara."

"...Yes."

"Listen, regarding her... she does not want you interfering in her life. Nor does she wish to see you again."

"Of course. I understand. Why would she? After all, I scared her away. I abandoned her."

"Asgore, don't feel sorry for you're..." Gaster stopped himself.

"Gaster?"

"Listen, you are my friend. But so is Chara. I understand that I am essentially playing for two teams, so to speak. She does too. But it is not an easy task... and should I have to pick a side..." Gaster let his eyes glow their red and purple colors. "I care for my family more than you, understand" he threatened.

"Yes... of course." Asgore looked to the side. "...Chara's birthday to coming up soon. You know this right."

"I do."

"Please... get her something nice. She's always had a fondness for chocolate. Gardening, playing piano, cooking, those are hobbies of hers. She might appreciate something related to those as well."

Gaster turned around to leave. "Yes, thank you for informing me." He already knew these things, but still, it sent him a clear message. Asgore still cared. Chara just couldn't see it.

But she was right to despise him, after what he's done. If this project succeeded, could their relationship be repaired?

Gaster left, these thoughts stuck in his mind. Still, they seemed to be able to get out of this situation okay.

Little did he know, this was not the worst-case scenario.

Author's Note: So I've introduced the DT Extractor. If you ask "why", good question. I can't say now, but there is more to this chapter then just the Extractor, but it will become more important in the next book. But I can talk about things for this book, at least with subtlety.

Yes, the big moment is going to be the next chapter. And Gaster mentioned he was going to follow up on the experiment with "Entry #16". Now think about it, what is Gaster's most recognizable detail in the secrets of Undertale? I want to bring this up, just in case you didn't notice (but if you did, great! You've got a good eye).