Note: Okay, that was the worst of it! I mean… aside from the continuing consequences of what Gaster chose to do. Anyway, the characters continue to have a very crude attitude towards death in general and suicide specifically, so please be aware of that before reading. Thank you.

The next morning Gaster set about his usual routine: wake up, groom, swing by the galley on his way to sickbay. Well, not really on the way. It was actually in a pretty inconvenient direction, he had to go completely the opposite way. But it couldn't be helped. With a medium sized stone bowl (a shimmering barrier over the top keeping the crowd of young, small snails and their sea lettuce inside) in hand and a sack now full of fish bones, he continued on his way to sickbay.

Once through the doorway Gaster anxiously looked the table over, Sans was still laid out, completely prone and ribs rising and falling shallowly. A guard was sitting nearby on the floor with their back against a wall, a different guard than Gaster had left there the night before to make sure Sans didn't stop breathing or fidget at his bandages. Gaster put down the bowl and sack on his work bench, then turned to the guard, "HOW'S THE PATIENT?"

"What? Oh uh… guess you wanna know how he's doing."

Gaster just stared at the guard blankly.

"He's still sleeping," the guard said needlessly, "he's been laying there like a flatfish all night."

Gaster nodded, he had expected as much. Most patients would have at least moved in their sleep, or even started to wake by now, but considering the condition Sans had been in it wasn't the least bit surprising the medicines Gaster had fed him were still affecting him.

"VERY WELL, YOU ARE DISMISSED."

"Sure, easiest night watch I've ever had to do." The guard got up and stretched before drifting closer, looking Sans over as Gaster started checking the wraps. "So uh… what's his story?"

Gaster sighed and left off what he was doing so he could sign at the guard. "I DO NOT KNOW. NOW GO AWAY. I AM BUSY." He bent back over Sans, getting back to work.

"Yeah, he looks like he'll keep ya busy for a while. It's just… I gotta go report to Undyne, yanno?"

"SO GO DO THAT ALREADY AND LET ME GET BACK TO WORK!" Gaster snapped, pointing out the entryway rather than signing.

"Alright, I get the picture." The guard held his hands up in surrender and backed away. "Good luck I guess?" He finally left.

"GOOD RIDDANCE," Gaster muttered as he carefully checked Sans over. "DAMN NOSY GUARDS, CAN'T THEY JUST LET A MONSTER WORK IN PEACE?" Gaster sighed, then focused his whole attention on Sans. He was still, in a word, a complete mess. To be expected, it had been less than a day since the injuries had first been tended to, for now he just focused on changing out the bandages and healing salve for fresh ones and make sure the splints he'd had to tie on were still firmly in their proper place. Since the injuries were all purely physical, a sign that whatever had done this was an animal and not another monster, the only thing green magic could really do was boost Sans's own natural healing process. Judging by how much of the salve had been absorbed his body was in desperate need of the boost. "WE'LL JUST HAVE TO GET SOME FOOD INTO YOU FOR THAT EXTRA BOOST."

But before he could do that he had one last injury to check. He hesitated at the new tip of Sans's tail, he knew that he'd slathered on enough salve the night before to keep the area numb for a while yet, and that even if not the pain of one clean cut should be far more bearable than the shattered vertebra he'd removed, and yet…

Gaster carefully, reluctantly peeled back the wrapping to look the tail over. Predictably most of the salve had been absorbed, leaving behind the crumbling, "dried" remains against a straight, sharply cut layer of cartilage glowing an angry red. "I DO HOPE THIS WON'T LEAVE YOU IN PAIN THE REST OF YOUR LIFE," Gaster sighed out. He could strip the delicate cartilage off the end of the now last vertebra, but that would leave the mana and severed ley lines within painfully exposed, even if they were no longer needed.

Gaster carefully wiped off the spent salve as quickly as possible before applying a generous amount of fresh salve and wrapping the tail in fresh bandages. There went the last of his supply from the night before, he had a long day of grinding and mixing ahead of him. With another sigh Gaster dropped the spent bandages on top of the already overflowing waste bucket, "THE FARM SNAILS WILL EAT WELL TONIGHT," and moved over to the work bench. He completely ignored the bowl in favor of the sack, from within he pulled out a carefully wrapped package, plucked off the couple little bones clinging to it, then pushed the sack aside in favor of unwrapping the package.

Inside was a fish fillet, still radiating heat from where it had been boiled over one of the many vents found throughout the city. Gaster mourned the loss of his breakfast, it looked and smelled downright delicious but since it had been cooked by a monster it was now brimming with green magic that Sans needed. He settled himself on a corner of the table near Sans's head and set about stripping off small bits of flesh and dropping them into Sans's gaping maw.

It was as he was feeding some of the last few strips of meat to Sans (and still watching it turn to motes of light that seemed to get sucked into the empty space inside his jaws) that Undyne entered the chamber. Loudly. Like she always did.

"What's up?! I heard you got yourself a new little play thing!"

Gaster grumbled and put down the last corner of the fillet, then turned his attention to Undyne. "HELLO, YOUR MAJESTY."

"Ugh! I hate it when anyone calls me that!" Undyne threw her hands in the air, then settled them to cross across her chest as she leaned against the nearest wall, one ankle kicked over the other.

"NOT A PLAYTHING."

"Yeah, you're not the type to rescue someone just because they got a pretty face. Not that this one has a pretty face." Undyne grimaced as she looked Sans over. "Or maybe they do? What makes a skeleton pretty?"

"THE SAME THING THAT MAKES ALL MONSTER PRETTY: SYMMETRY AND LACK OF DEFORMITIES."

"Yeah, well… do scars count? I think they're pretty cool. I dunno, doesn't really matter I guess, not like another skeleton's going to come along and ask to be your mate."

"HE IS NOT MY MATE!" Gaster growled angrily as he shaped the signs sharply and precisely, emphasizing the "not" with exaggerated care.

"You say that, but I dunno what else you'd rescue a cripple for. Nautilie said he asked for a mercy killing?"

"FROM THE SOUND OF IT NAUTILIE SAID A LOT MORE THAN THAT."

"That really is all Nautilie said, she doesn't talk much. I figured that's why you two get along so well."

Gaster grumbled about them not actually being friends, but otherwise couldn't disagree.

"It was the others that said he's your mate." Undyne grinned broadly at him, showing off all her jagged teeth.

Gaster rolled his eyes so hard he was surprised the pips didn't pop right out and roll away. "THEY ARE FOOLS."

"Okay, so if he's not your mate," Undyne said with an inflection that left "yet" unsaid only by technicality, "then why did you rescue him? It's not like you to be so altruistic."

"I HAVE USE FOR HIM. HE WILL MAKE AN EXCELLENT ASSISTANT. I THINK."

"Really? Why do you think that?"

Gaster grinned widely, showing off his own sharp teeth, "NAUTILIE KNOWS."

"Ugh, fine! Be secretive, see if I care!" With that she stormed out of sickbay, scarlet fins flailing wildly. Gaster smirked as he bent back over his task.

It was later in the day, as Gaster was grinding up more components into that healing salve and muttering to himself about how much work Sans was making for him, that Undyne returned with the biggest, smuggest, sharpest smirk he'd ever seen stretched wide across her face. "So," Undyne started in a far too casual voice.

Gaster shoved the pestle and mortar into her hands, "I CANNOT TALK AND WORK AT THE SAME TIME. IF YOU WANT TO TALK START GRINDING."

"Sure, fine, whatever." She huffed and moved to sit on the workbench, then started grinding with great vigor, the mortar held steady between her legs. Gaster was actually a little jealous. "So," Undyne started again, far less casually this time, "Nautilie said this guy, Sans was it? Can actually understand you?"

"YES, HE SEEMED TO UNDERSTAND ME."

"And that's why you think he'll make a good assistant."

"I DO NOT CARE IF HE IS A TERRIBLE ASSISTANT SO LONG AS HE IS A GOOD TRANSLATOR."

"Yeah, it would make a lot of things easier for… everyone I guess."

"THINGS LIKE THIS CONVERSATION. RIGHT NOW."

"Hell yeah! I wouldn't have to sit here and grind this shit up for you! Hell, when he's better that guy can grind up all your stuff for you."

"I HAD CONSIDERED THAT, YES."

"And I guess his mug won't be so bad to stare at every day."

"I WILL LIKELY GET USED TO IT."

"Fuhuhu! You know what they say, familiarity makes the Soul grow fonder!"

"I AM VERY SURE NO ONE SAYS THAT."

"I just said it!"

"YOU DO NOT COUNT."

"Hey! I'm the queen, that means I double count!"

"YES, YOUR MAJESTY," Gaster signed with a sardonic grin on his skull.

Undyne rolled her eyes. "So, since I'm here I might as well do my regular, boring check in. First of all, will he," she nodded in Sans's direction, "get in the way of your regular work?"

"HE WILL NOT BE EASY TO WORK AROUND IF THERE IS AN EMERGENCY IN THE NEAR FUTURE. SO TRY NOT TO GET IN A FIGHT WITH A SWARM OF SHARKS."

"For how long?"

"THREE DAYS AT LEAST. MORE LIKELY A WEEK."

"Okay. Now then, how are supplies?"

"SINCE MY FORAGING WAS INTERRUPTED I WILL NEED TO GO BACK OUT FOR MORE ONCE HE," Gaster pointed to Sans for lack of a name sign (yet,) "IS STABLE."

"And the supplies that are farmed?"

"A GOOD HARVEST THIS TIME. PLENTY IN STOCK."

"Even with our increasing numbers? People keep moving into the city, some want to build homes at the foot of the cliff." Undyne sighed and ran a hand over her head, stopping at the base of her ponytail. "More and more people I have to be responsible for, you have enough supplies to keep up?"

"YES. THE FARMERS HAVE BEEN EXPANDING AS WELL."

"That's good. And you? Are you able to keep up?"

"OF COURSE."

"I mean it, more people means more injuries and illnesses. Are there more people than you can help in a day?"

"I HAVE NOT HAD THAT PROBLEM YET."

"But you think you will?"

Gaster kept his silence on that one.

Undyne sighed, "I know you just got this guy for an assistant, but we don't even know how good he'll be at helping people yet. I can arrange for an apprentice-"

"EVEN IF I WANTED AN APPRENTICE, NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME. LET US SEE HOW HE DOES FIRST."

"Yeah, fine. But seriously, at the rate we're going we're gonna need another apothecary soon. Or a healer, if we can find one. And if he's a good translator it'll make teaching someone easier, right?"

"GIVE HIM A LITTLE TIME TO HEAL AND SETTLE. THEN WE CAN DISCUSS THIS."

"Alright, that's fair." Undyne set aside the mortar and pestle, then got up and stretched, her spine giving off several faint cracks and pops. "And I got other people to check in with today, so I'll see you around."

"GOOD LUCK," Gaster offered, then watched as she darted from the room.

The rest of the day was fairly quiet, aside from the many, many nosy monsters that showed up simply to sate their curiosity. Okay, so it wasn't quiet or peaceful at all, but Sans was. Mostly. He woke up a few times, groggy and confused. Gaster managed to coax him to eat a few snails before he fell back asleep each time. That was fine, good even. Sleep meant he was healing.

Gaster was in need of some sleep himself. With a yawn he tucked away the last of his tools for the night and went to fetch a guard, giving them instructions to make sure Sans kept breathing, try to get him to eat if he wakes, and come get Gaster if anything else happened. Then he made his way to the mess hall for a quick bite before heading home for a good night's rest.

End notes: I personally think of salves as being like an ointment (thin and "watery"), but it looks like they tend to be more like uh… butter or chapstick in consistency? So yeah, like a thick paste. I dunno, I'm a writer! I agonize over which words to use.

Okay, so in this Undyne doesn't have a mermaid tail like Gaster and Sans. Think of her as like a Zora without the head tail, and then tack on a bunch of red beta fish fins.