Sorry, I didn't mean to publish the chapter so late... This week-end has been crazy :(

Seriously, I swear I won't be able to leave my house by Wednesday... People are going crazy with the virus. All schools are closed (even universities, yes), so we had to do our experiments in a rush for our project. We ended up doing them in my sunroom :/ And they closed every not-extremely-necessary stuff yesterday, so I can't even get new glasses. It's a real mess, and it could last for a while... We don't even know how we will do for school work...

But, I'm complaining, I'm complaining... So here's the next chapter.

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Edit: Guess what? Lockdown! Got the news this Monday morning, and we'll be forbidden to go outside (except for groceries, and those kind of things) in two days. I hate being right sometimes...

Chapter XXIV

The royal scientist

Think of an idea. Research references. Organize information. Imagine an experiment. Study the feasibility of the aforesaid experiment. Make a protocol. Gather what is needed. Make the experiment. Study the results. Imagine what they could lead you to. Organize what you found. Research more if you need to. Think of what to do next.

Repeat this very pattern years after years, and you get a royal scientist's daily routine.

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However, add one single student in the equation, and your routine is no more.

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Never, during all the years he had spent teaching, during all the time he had spent explaining the same things over and over… Never had Gaster thought a student could teach him something in return. He never doubted Alphys could go far, and he hoped she would one day take his place. The young monster was promising, passionate about souls: a wonderful, yet dangerous, combination. She still had a lot to learn, but from her he would have been willing to learn as well. Gaster could tell she knew things he had never even thought about, and he was looking forward to test her more during her internship.

However, when she came knocking on his door this morning, learning from her was the last thing he was expecting. With her exams approaching, he logically assumed she came for explanations about some notions: he couldn't be more wrong. He should have guessed after all, she didn't look like someone in need of a explanation. Her hands were sweaty, trembling. She couldn't directly look at him, clearly too disturbed to do so. Gaster trusted her not to come without an important reason, and Alphys was aware of it. He trusted her, but it didn't make her more at ease. Thus, Gaster did the only thing he could think about: pretend he had time, that there was no need to rush. He hoped it would help her, but was forced to notice it wasn't wasting his time she was nervous about. He suggested her coffee — with all the times she had brought some in class, she had to like the bitter beverage more than she should. Alphys politely declined, and Gaster tried to find something else. It was at this very moment she spoke. At first, her words were mashed, broken up, but she eventually managed to voice them properly.

If he could have cried, Gaster would have had no tears left in his body after what Alphys told him. She had been quick, merely a few sentences, just enough so he would grasp the situation. He would have loved her to tell him more, to satisfy his desire to know immediately, but she insisted it wasn't her role. So he waited. He let her go, and waited. Waited for the rendez-vous she had given him, waited for the next day with overwhelming impatience. Never had one of his working day seemed so long, at least not in the past years, yet he had to wait always more.

Until the wait ended.

Until the wait ends.

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He is sitting on the bench of the park. It's quite quiet at this hour, so late. Children have gone home, only some errand monsters can be seen. From there, the view on the castle is striking, but Gaster is not there to admire it. He is lurking for a silhouette he wishes was familiar, a child among the grown monsters walking down the alleys. And there he is, holding the hand of another monster, Alphys by his side. His child, his baby, his little Papyrus… There, only a few meters away, so close.

He seems hesitant, and the other monster kneels to encourage him to go. Gaster can feel Papyrus looking in his direction, looking at him. The child holds no memories of him, his apprehension is comprehensible. Gaster wonders what Myriad told him, what the image she described is. Is it true? Is it a lie? Neither? How can he know?

'Hel… Hello?'

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The voice interrupts his train of thoughts, and Gaster sees Papyrus near him. The child is clearly nervous, his constant fidgeting betraying him, so he smiles. What else is he supposed to do? Myriad would know, she always knew what to do… But she isn't here.

And Gaster isn't sure he wants to know why.

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'Hello Papyrus,' he says softly. With his hand, he invites his son to sit on the bench near him. 'Come here.'

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Papyrus remains frozen, as if too afraid to move: Gaster was not expecting this. Somehow, he thought it would be happy reunion. However, he can see now he missed more than he first imagined. It will not be a happy reunion, for a happy reunion wouldn't have happened so soon, not without Myriad. If Papyrus had wanted to meet him, Myriad would have been there. She would have been watching carefully from where Alphys stands, or perhaps even closer. But she isn't here.

And Gaster knows why.

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And he is sure he didn't want to.

Next chapter = two weeks!

See ya!

(For my part, I'll try not to die in between)