Chapter 9: Into the Core
The air in the room was tense, probably of the fact that Undyne is in her battle armor, ready to collect a human soul…
"Why are you HERE, Papyrus?" Undyne said, her tone is firm
"Well, because of a fact that Snowdin have dust flying in the snow," Papyrus said, opposite from his usual self
Undyne was silent for a bit, Papyrus actually feel a little bad…that was rude, especially for someone like him
"But I don't feel like dealing with it right now, I have my brother here with me. Can we at least have a day together? We have a lot to talk to." Papyrus do want this to end...he didn't enjoy talking to Undyne...he just can't help but show a little hatred of Undyne's decision
Let's just say…he has changed a lot since Frisk left the Underground
His relationship with Undyne has gone sour these days…
"If there is nothing, I will do a quick check and go away right after that…" Undyne signed…she didn't enjoy this, too….
Well, in these circumstances, Papyrus can't say no, or it will raise Undyne's suspicion…
"Of course…just be quick with it," Papyrus said coldly…he didn't like that…
That isn't his real person…
"Thank you…" Undyne said then proceed forward…
But before she walks into the elevator, she turns back and says, like a whisper, but enough for Papyrus to hear…
"I'm sorry…" Then she quickly turns away, avoiding his gaze…and the elevators take both Alphys and Undyne down, leaving Papyrus behind…
Papyrus quickly takes out his phone, calling Toriel…
Dialing…
'Papyrus?' Toriel's voice appears on the phone…
"Lady Toriel…we have a problem…"
"So…are you experimenting in any…dangerous things?" Aster asked…
'You are stupid enough to ask that…' G signed in his head
"uh…" Sweat can be seen rolling from Sans's skull… "why did you ask?"
"Well…you are wearing a lab coat, so you are a scientist...some scientists do dangerous things…well…most. And your expression, you are definitely doing something dangerous." Aster carefully points out…
Well, Sans must be dreaming, because his son is quite good at seeing through things, and when he was at Aster's age…he was kind of stupid, to be honest…
But being smart, like Aster, isn't exactly a good thing… this knowledge…he must have learned by himself because Frisk won't teach a child those things…
It makes him feel even guiltier for not being there…it must be hard to grow up without a father…
"i-" Sans was about to say, but Toriel's voices interrupted them
"Sans…Undyne is coming." Toriel said simply, but gets her point across "You should hide Aster somewhere safe…we can't afford him getting discovered…"
"i understand…you should take Aster with you, i will take care of Undyne." Sans said, and then turns to Aster, carefully ruffling his white hair "be good kiddo."
Sans gives them both a wink and teleports away…
Toriel was holding their hand, and not letting go…it's a little too tight…
'I remembered there is a way to the Core in this lab…we need to get there by ourselves, it seems…' G said, carefully looking around 'But I don't think the Queen will let go of your hand anytime soon…'
'Well, then, what should I do?' Aster counter back in his mind
'Nothing…just let it happen naturally…'
'And here I thought you are smarter than that…' Aster counter back with a sarcasm
'Do you need my help or NOT?' G said, annoyance in his voice
'Geez…don't be so serious, I'm just kidding…'
But G is silent…not saying a word…
Suddenly Toriel pulls him down, hiding behind a wall…just enough to avoid Undyne's gaze from near there…he was walking around with Sans…
"Stay silent, will you?" Toriel said softly…
The footsteps can be heard closer…closer…then it becomes more and more distant…
Seems like the fish is gone…
Toriel carefully looking around for Undyne, unintentionally lets go of Aster's hand…
'Now is your chance!' G said
'What do I do?' Aster said, a little panic…
'Try to concentrate your magic, thinking about the place you want to go…and don't lose concentrate…'
After a while, Toriel lets out a sign…
"Okay, she is-" Toriel suddenly stopped…Aster was nowhere to be seen…
Aster was long gone…
Aster finds himself surrounded by darkness, with G by his side…
"Wha-"
'Focus!' G said firmly, and Aster do as he said
Suddenly footsteps can be heard from behind him…
"What's that?" Aster asked…he feels the panic building up in him, losing his focus…
'No!' G said, and he feels like the emptiness of the void swallowing him…
He feels like drowning…he can't breathe…
But Aster reached out again…he is not made for giving up…
Light returns to him, and he finds himself lying on the green bricks of the lab…
Aster gasps for air, coughing…
That experience was…most disturbing...
Aster finds himself surrounded by darkness, with G by his side…
"Wha-"
'Focus!' G said firmly, and Aster do as he said
Suddenly a footstep can be heard from behind him…
"What's that?" Aster asked…he feels the panic building up in him, losing his focus…
'No!' G said, and Aster feels like the emptiness of the void is swallowing him…
He feels like drowning…he can't breathe…
But Aster reached out again…he is not made for giving up…
Light returns to him, and he finds himself lying on the green bricks of the lab…
Aster gasps for air, coughing…
This won't be the last time he felt that probably...and he is not looking forward to next time.
'Told you to be careful.' G just signed, shaking his head in disappointment…
"Wh-what was that…thing?" Aster asked, breathing heavily
'That's the Void…when we teleported, we have to go into the Void for a short time…you are lucky…it would have ripped you apart if you stay there a second longer…' G said, giving Aster a glance "That won't be a pretty sight to see..."
That sends a shiver up to Aster's spine…but he has more gut than that…
"Wait. If that's the Void, and my father, he knows how to teleport as well…if you are in there, well, Gaster, then won't it be easier for him to teleport in there and take yo-Gaster out?" Aster asked confusion filled his mind…
'That's a good question…but I afraid things are not as simple as that. You see, when Gaster, your grandfather, to be precise, fell into the Core, he was scattered across time and space…a part of him stuck in the Void…that part is separate from the Void, but as a memory, I have seen in there, the Void starts to consume…soon that part becomes a part of the Void and…' G takes a breath "It becomes the Void."
A feeling of eerie…it feels like the air was getting colder when G said that part…
'Anyway, answering to your question…your father probably have tried several times, and probably have found it impossible after almost getting killed.' G said, glancing away, shrugging 'I think we should be moving on…we wasted enough time.'
"Well, when you get all your memory back, you will have to explain it to me."
'I can ensure you that there is nothing you want to know, but yes, I believe I can let you know.' G said calmly
As they were walking toward the DT extractor direction, Aster suddenly heard footsteps behind him…
'Hide.' G said, then disappear into the shadow.
Aster quickly hides behind the table, which was covered with a conveniently shaped flask of unknown chemical…
The footsteps were getting louder, while Aster cowering behind the table, and soon she heard the talking…
"you know, undyne, i don't think there are any human here…well, none i knew of." Sans said it sounds so naturally that Aster kind of surprise when he heard it 'i promise there isn't anything fishy going on here.'
Aster almost laughed at the jokes…well, that's so ironic, even at a time like this. He could swear that he heard the feisty fished groaned.
"I swear Sans I wi-" Undyne suddenly stopped "Something is in here."
Aster medially holds his breath, while Undyne getting closer to the table, looking through the chemical flasks
'Right.' G said simply and Aster moved to the right, right in a blind spot…
Undyne was looking for a second while Sans standing behind, a sweat rolling down his skull, but later, Undyne back away…
"Only my imagination," Undyne said, signing
"jeez undyne, no wonder why you always look so worked up. you really need to find salmon else dealing with things around here."
"Not now Sans. But you are right…I think I should go…and take a rest." Undyne said, her voices now sound tired "I will deal with that piece of metal after I got my rest…sorry for bothering you, Sans, you can come back to your project."
Aster signed in relief when he heard the footsteps getting farther and farther…
Slowly, Aster stands up, watching the shape getting smaller.
"Tough luck," Aster said to himself, turning to leave but his hand accidentally got swept across a flask of chemical, and realizing it a little bit too late. The shattering noise of glasses hitting the ground is a little bit too big. Well, big enough for a certain fish to hear…
A spear immediately flying toward Aster, and he just barely dodged it, as a small part of his white hair fallen down to the ground.
'You are done for.' G's voices like echoing in his head, a hint of sarcasm in it…
Then several spears got summoned, all of them heading toward Aster. He swiftly dodged a handful of them, but one of them leave a scratch on his skin
*HP: 7/10
There are so many more surround him, which Aster knows that he can't dodge them all…when it was about to hit him, a wall of bones surround him, and saw his brother standing before him
"you okay there, kiddo?" Sans asked, eyes still looking
"Yeah…I think."
But not wasting any time, more and many more spears appearing in the air, on the ground and in several directions heading to them…Most of them are blocked by Sans, and some of them Aster was managed to dodge.
Suddenly, Undyne sprinted forward with a spear in her arm, separating the two of them…while keeping a handful of spears to accompany Sans.
As fast as lighting, Undyne uses her spear to attack Aster…he dodged them all, but it was getting quicker…and he was growing tired already.
'You won't last much longer'
'I know, G' Aster talks back in his mind in frustration
With only a moment slower, his body was met with a hard kick by Undyne, which made him rolling several meters away.
"Sorry, punk, but I need your soul," Undyne said simply, summoning a spear toward Aster…
But it never hits him…as it stopped an inch from his face…
The spears were surrounded by a purple aura, and snapped in half like it is just a wood branch…
Aster looks up, his darkly purple eyes emit an eerier aura…and soon was covered in purple magic.
She immediately got dragged across the ground, hitting it hard.
*Undyne
*HP: 1345/1500
'Aster stop!' G shouted, and Aster slowly came back to his sense
"Wha-"
'Just run!' G said, and Aster turned to run away…
"Not so fast, punk." Undyne summons a spear, aiming carefully at Aster.
But when she was about to fire it, a fireball meets her body and she got blown to the sides…
"NO ONE will touch my child." Toriel appears, with flame in her eyes, anger, furious…all of them
By the time Undyne looked back, Aster was already far gone…
Undyne slowly back to the door…but a glimpse of yellow was behind her…
With a buzzing sound, Undyne was paralyzed by the shock gun on Alphys's and finally end up falling to the ground, unconscious…
"You know we can't let her out of here, since she has known everything," Alphys said, looking down at Undyne sadly
Aster runs and runs until there is no sound of the fighting anymore…he collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily
"What happened back there?" Aster asked while gasping for air
'You lost control…if it wasn't for me, that fish would probably long gone.'
"What? I thought that was a bad thing?" Confusion showed across Aster's face
Well, most people don't want who wants to kill them to live…
'Her death would solve nothing…and had it not been for her, you will never persuade your lazy father to take you to the Core.' G said, lying in the air like relaxing, and Aster actually feels a bit annoyed with it 'Do you have any food?'
"Y-yeah…I think so…" Aster said, searching in his pocket… "Oh…here it is." Aster takes out the cinnamon butterscotch pies
'Eat it, it should be healing your wound, since it is magic after all.' G said lazily, waving his hand
"I guess it is for this moment after all."
*You eat the Cinamon Butterscotch pie…it is delicious, and a taste of familiarity you can feel within it
*Your HP maxed out.
'Well, sooner or later you will use up all your luck, Aster.'
"Should we find the path you said, or will you waste your time scolding me?" Aster said defensively
Sure, Aster can admit that he is reckless, but he hated being scolded...must be a trait of his soul, or to be correct, someone's personality that he inherited.
Well, most of the blame is on him, though...
'Do you remember the strange machine? the path is near there if I remember correctly.' G said while looking at the ceiling like trying to remember something
"The strange machine? Yeah, I remembered. It is called...DT extractor, doesn't it?" Aster said, receiving a nod of approval from G
'Correct. You would find your way there, we should be finding something there.'
Aster quickly finds his way back to the machine, with some simple directions from G...
He wonders what is this machine for. Well...probably something isn't worth knowing.
"Okay, now what?" Aster asked while using his hand, examining the machine
'Now on the right side of the machine, there is a panel to insert password. The thing is...' G quite catch his head 'I don't know what the password was.'
"Seriously?" Aster groaned, but something idea suddenly grow in his head in his head
The panel has a selection of different fonts, there are six including Wingding, Comic Sans, Arial, Calibri, Forte, Georgia...
Those fonts...somehow...disturbingly can make out names...and one of them is his father's name
"Wait, what is my grandfather's full name, surely you must remember," Aster said...he has his suspicion that something might do with his name, since his father name is Sans, and his uncle is Papyrus
'Hm...let's see...Wingdings Gaster if I remember correctly' G said, and Aster immediately know
Aster quickly selects the Wingding font... as he remembered, there are different font in the computer up there in the surface world...what really bothers him is the origin of these fonts. It is somehow...make him shiver.
Gaster...the name must be the password...Aster has known some basics of font, hand point up, 2 fingers, drop of water, snowflake, hand point left, the sun...
Surprisingly, the password is correct, and a path down to the ground is opened
'Hm...impressive. Wonder why I didn't think of it earlier?' G said, but he seems a little regretful after saying it
"I know how smart I am," Aster said cockily, although Gaster only signed
'Let's just move on.'
Up there, Alphys was managed to trap Undyne in an electric handcuff, which connected directly to the wall, well, a very sturdy wall...
"Okay...now what should we do." The voice of the yellow lizard breaks the silence
"i will go find Aster...the three of you should be watching out for undyne...something tell me that those handcuff of your is not enough," Sans said, looking into the darkness of the lab
"I will go, too. Aster is my nephew, I think I should have some responsibility." Papyrus said, Sans was about to protest but... "I'm serious, Sans."
Well...Sans can't say no to that... besides, there is literary nothing can harm his brother in this lab, right?
"Then, I will be here with Alphys. Good luck, Sans." Toriel said
"i will, old lady. that kid my bones, after all."
"Then we should go immediately! Aster may be lost in this huge place in the meantime."
"yes, papyrus, let's go."
They looked everywhere...but there was no sign of Aster...only one place they haven't looked...
The DT extractor...
Sans and Papyrus makes their way to the DT extractor...but what meets their eyes is a path to the ground opened
"Wait...that path wasn't there before, right?" Papyrus asked, but Sans doesn't answer him...
Sans was frozen...he can't say a thing...he doesn't want to even think about it...
That's the path leading to the Core...only Sans and "he" know that...so why does it open now?
It makes him feel uneasy...what if their son already makes their place to it...what if he slipped and...
"Sans!" Papyrus's voice snaps Sans from his thought...
"we must go. now!" Sans said, quickly running down the path
"Wait for me, Sans!" Papyrus said while running behind him
The heat of the Core is somewhat uncomfortable. But the sight is pretty exciting...Aster can the magic linger in the air...
'It's the same that the Core stopped working...it provided magic for the entire Underground.' G said some familiar memory come back to him
"So that's why they are running out of food."
'And that's why they need your soul...that fish, to be specific. They need it to cross the barrier.'
"Anyway...where is the place we need to go?" Aster asked...where knowing too much is something he doesn't like himself, he just knows what he knows, and what he want to know
'We need to go deeper into the Core...I can sense when we get near.'
The structure is somewhat odd...and somehow feel unsafe...
Aster sometimes look at the lava below...it is very, very deep...but the heat is strong enough to reach up here
'Be careful...not a pretty thing if you fell down.' G quickly reminded him
It feels kind of disturbing walking on the path...and awful familiarity, probably of the fact that G is a part of Gaster...and this is the place he...well...let's not talk about it.
'We are getting near.' G's reminder put Aster up his guard...
A few step up, Aster can see the familiar blue star in the edge of the platform...
It seems pretty suspicious to say the least...
But he has to be brave...after all, nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
Aster takes a step closer, but that's when he heard G
'Wait!' G's voice seems terrified, which was opposite from his usual calm self
"What's wrong?" Aster looked back, finding G looking at him in panic
'We...we don't need to go Aster.'
Yeah I know, I hate myself for cliffhanger too
Sorry for being late...test and stuff. I was planning to make this longer, in case I get lazy or something gets in the way...again. But I guess that would be too quick...is this too slow?
This may be not the content you hope for, but it is all I got for now. (Told ya this story won't die)
Happy reading, and see you next time.