Chapter 9: The Watchful Monster

Julie woke up with a yawn before smiling, looking around and seeing Nathan come in and he smiled. "Hey, sis, you just wake up?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said, grinning bigger. "I can't wait to help Mommy make cookies today."

"Me too," her brother said.

Just then, an odd static sound came to their ears and they turned to find something gathering in the middle of their room. It looked like a purple mist and something stood there, looking at them with dark eyes.

Julie let out a scream as Nathan did the same. "Mom!" The boy called out in fear.

The creature disappeared from their room, but they stood frozen as Toriel came running in, a look of worry on her face. "Julie. Nathan, what is it?" She asked, going up to them as they turned and ran up to her, hugging her. "What happened, my little ones?"

They didn't speak for a moment and the goat woman held her youngest children in her arms, cooing to them comfortingly. "Did you both have a bad dream?" She asked.

"No, Mommy," Julie said, shaking a little. "Something was in my room."

"It looked like purple mist and then something showed up and looked at us, but it disappeared when it heard us scream and call for you," Nathan said.

Toriel was surprised to hear that. "A purple mist?" She asked. "Did this creature do anything to you?"

"No, he just looked at us," Julie said. "But he was scary."

The goat woman decided to see if she could get to the bottom of this. "Nathan, take your sister to the kitchen. Carmen is already in there and she's making breakfast this morning," she said.

"Okay, Mom," the boy said, taking Julie's hand and leading her away.

Toriel sighed, grateful that Carmen had asked if she could make breakfast that morning. She had been learning how to cook from the goat woman and Toriel had decided to let her oldest daughter cook breakfast that morning. She now went into Julie's room and closed her eyes, activating her green magic and looking around slowly. After a moment, she sensed a small bit of magic in the center of the room. Moving closer, she felt her magic catch the remnants of whatever magic had been present and a small ball of purple magic appeared in her green magic, but it didn't feel threatening. It felt...familiar.

Pausing a moment, Toriel looked closer at the purple magic and gasped in surprise as she now realized it not only felt familiar, but friendly too. "Gaster?" She said softly. "But...how? No one has seen him in a long time."

She said this part sadly because it was true. About 100 years ago, Gaster had fallen into the CORE, his own creation, and had perished as the machine had exploded. A body hadn't been found because the magic had incinerated most everything around the machine. Over time, Alphys had repaired the machine, but hadn't turned in on as she didn't know how it worked, but had been reading Gaster's notes in secret, though no one knew about this.

But if Gaster had perished, then how did this purple magic feel like his? Each monster's magic was unique in a way that no matter how many others used the same type of magic, they could tell whose magic was whose. "Could you really be alive, old friend?" Toriel asked softly. "But if so, where are you?"

She didn't hear a response, though she did hold a small hope that if she did feel his magic, then maybe he was still alive.


In the kitchen, Carmen had just finished cooking breakfast and was setting the table with her siblings' help. "He was weird looking, Carmen," Julie said.

"He had a skull and two dark eyes with no eyeballs," Nathan said. "It was scary."

"A ghost?" Frisk guessed.

"But ghosts don't have skulls. Do they?" Thomas asked.

"Not that I know of," David said.

"You guys are sure about what you saw?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah," Julie said. "But he left when Nathan and I screamed for Mommy."

"Hmm. Could it have been another monster that lives down here?" Carmen asked. "But why would he have appeared in Julie's room?"

"We'll have to ask Mom," Frisk said, growing a bit worried. "Cause what if it is? Didn't Mom say she was worried that the other monsters might not be understanding of us?"

"She did," David said as they saw Toriel come back in and she looked like she had perhaps seen a ghost. "Mom, are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes, my children," she said before looking at Julie and Nathan. "Julie, Nathan, can you both describe what this person looked like?"

"Well, he had a skull and two eyes with no eyeballs," Julie said.

"But the rest of him was surrounded by that purple mist, though I think I saw some black, like a coat," Nathan said.

Recognition came to the goat woman's face and Carmen noticed. "Mom? Do you know who it was?" She asked.

"I think I might, but...it couldn't be," Toriel said softly. "What you two described sounds like an old friend who perished long before you children fell."

Frisk gasped. "Could it be his ghost then?" He asked, growing a bit afraid.

"I don't think so," the goat woman said. "The remnants of magic felt too strong to be from a ghost, and I know a ghost with magic, but his magic isn't as strong as what I felt."

"Is it dangerous, Mommy?" Julie asked.

"I don't think so. It felt friendly, so if it was who I think it is, I don't think he was trying to scare you and Nathan, but...I shouldn't get my hopes up. I'm not sure it was him. It was probably the magic around us acting up a bit."

She said this to calm her children down, though she was hoping there was a chance Gaster was alive and trying to get ahold of them from wherever he was.

After breakfast, David and Sarah did up the dishes while Frisk and Thomas took Nathan and Julie to the playroom to help them get their minds off the scare they had that morning and Carmen went to her room to grab her book she was reading. No sooner had she entered her room, she heard a static sound and turned to find a swirl of purple mist appear in her room and she saw what looked like a skeleton appear from the mist along with two scary-looking skulls that looked at her with glowing purple eyes.

"Oh, no," the older girl said in fear as she realized she was looking at what her youngest siblings had seen earlier and she began freaking out, but couldn't scream as she was frozen in fear.

The scary skulls came closer to her and she began shaking, but to her surprise, the skulls nudged against her playfully, giving soft whines and whimpers like a dog would. That caught her off guard and she carefully moved one hand towards one of them, holding it out a bit shakily as the skull seemed to sniff her hand before giving it a friendly lick. Seeing that it was friendly, she reached out and began gently petting it. It began panting happily like a dog and she giggled, seeing that it was friendly, as was the other one that was nudging her other hand gently.

Growing curious, she looked up at the skeleton, who seemed to smile at her before he began speaking, but all she could hear was static. "What?" She asked in confusion.

He tried again, but she shook her head. "Your voice is all static. I don't understand what you're saying," she said.

The skeleton looked a bit frustrated before he moved a hand, which she noticed had a hole where the palm would be, and a FIGHT sequence was initiated. Carmen froze in fear, feeling something surround her gently before a green heart appeared in front of her. The skeleton moved closer, his hands gently coming around the green heart and his face took on a look of amazement before he gently let it go, guiding it back to the girl. It disappeared inside her and the skeleton nodded, gently ruffling Carmen's hair before he began fading as the sequence came to a halt.

"Who are you?" The girl asked in curiosity.

Two words appeared before her. 'Don't forget'.

She blinked. "Don't forget what?" She asked in confusion.

He smiled gently at her before he and the two skulls vanished completely. Standing there a moment, Carmen snapped out of her surprise and ran to find her mother.

Toriel had just picked up her own book that she was reading when Carmen came running in. "Mom!" She said, making the goat woman jump in surprise. "I think I saw what Julie and Nathan saw earlier!"

The goat woman stood still. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"There was this purple mist that came into my room and I think it was a skeleton that appeared from it, along with these two scary skulls. I thought they were going to hurt me, but the skulls acted like puppies that just wanted attention. The skeleton came up to me and tried to speak to me, but I couldn't understand him and then something happened, like a fight or something and a green heart appeared in front of me and he held it in his hands, which had holes in the palms." Carmen paused to take a breath. "He then let the heart go and it disappeared back into me before he and the skulls began fading, two words appeared in front of me and I think they were from him. He said 'Don't forget.' I asked him what he didn't want me to forget, but he didn't reply other than smiling at me."

Toriel gasped. "A FIGHT sequence," she said. "He activated a FIGHT sequence to see your soul color, which is what that heart you saw represented."

Carmen gasped in shock, looking at bit shaken before taking a deep breath. "But if he wanted to fight, why did he instead just talk to me and ruffle my hair as if...I was someone he knew?"

The goat woman took a deep breath. "If it was Gaster you saw, then he wouldn't hurt you for two reasons. One being that you are the daughter of the Queen and two, Gaster never liked fighting and he has a big soft spot for children, or at least he did when he was alive."

"Could it have been him, Mom?" The girl asked. "You said he died, but what if he didn't? What if he's trapped somewhere?"

"You might be right, my child."

Toriel knew now that she had to speak to her friend, but she was worried too that he wouldn't understand. "I have to take that chance," she said to herself as she hugged Carmen comfortingly. "Don't worry, dear, if he does appear again, just let me know."

"Okay, Mom," Carmen said, feeling a bit better.

The goat woman did go to her oldest daughter's room and again activated her green magic, finding the purple magic to be a bit stronger now and she knew for sure that it was Gaster's magic. "Where are you, old friend?" She asked. "We miss you."

In the void, Gaster was watching the Queen and he wished he could talk to her, but he remembered that Carmen had been unable to understand him, but still, he was able to get a message to her. "I miss you and my brothers as well, my Queen," he said. "But know this, I'll watch over your children. Always."

While he couldn't do much in the void and appearing to the children had taken a lot of his magic, which seemed to be stronger in Carmen's presence, no doubt to her main trait being kindness, he would keep an eye on them, though he did long to be in the world again.

And perhaps one day, he would, but that would depend on a lot of other factors, so for now, he would simply be a watcher for the seven children.


To those of you who guessed the mystery watcher was Gaster, kudos to you! :) And kudos to everyone who made guesses that it was Sans or other monsters. Those were some excellent guesses. Rest assured, Flowey will not appear in this story, but Sans is making his appearance soon, so stay tuned! :)

And please leave a review, but no flames!

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