Gaster's Followers began to set up time machine, plugging it into The Core and beginning to start it up. They were quiet and tense as they worked; worried about their boss but they couldn't really argue with him, he wouldn't listen and they always followed no matter what. They trusted Gaster and they hoped his sons were wrong about his weird illness.
Gaster, meanwhile, was in the next room, injecting more DT into his soul. His followers knew about it now as he had ordered a Follower to have the DT Extractor ready to remove it all once he was back with the souls. It was something they did worry about.
This was it. Gaster was going to free The Underground. Asgore wouldn't have to bare the burden, Toriel could come back, his children would never have to be afraid ever again and Gaster would have his revenge as he'd soon have the power of a god.
He wished it was a school day but it was summer holidays, his boys were off and after the holidays Papyrus would start school. Gaster thought about how wonderful it would be to drop him off on his first day, would he be as nervous as Sans had been? Would he be excited? Papyrus was smart and incredibly kindhearted, he would be loved at school.
Then there was Sans, his eldest had skipped a year, he was so smart and funny. One more year and he would be a teenager. He still loved working with his father, Gaster was very proud. Sans wouldn't be the next Royal Scientist because he was still too young and Gaster was retiring after this experiment but Gaster hoped that one day Sans would become Royal Scientist, he was certainly more than smart enough.
He didn't think of the dangers that awaited him, he didn't think of the growing darkness. He thought of his boys, how proud he was of them, how he was going to give them everything they could ever want. To make up for how he'd been recently he got them a hotel room in New Home with a huge TV and there was a big play area nearby. He told them they could order whatever they wanted and left more than enough money for them. A little treat for today to keep them away from The Core just in case things went wrong.
Gaster was confident, he was determined, he couldn't and wouldn't fail. There would be no mistakes.
He left the room and walked up to his time machine with confidence. He smiled at his followers as he typed the code into the machine. It was time.
Sans wasn't going to sit around waiting. As soon as he heard his father leaving the hotel room early in the morning, Sans got up. He hadn't managed to sleep at all, he was too afraid. He was exhausted but he couldn't afford to be lazy, he began to get dressed.
"SANS?" Papyrus turned around in his bed and yawned, "WHAT TIME IS IT?"
"early, bro. go back to sleep." Sans knew what he was going to do would be dangerous, he couldn't involve Papyrus.
Papyrus, however, didn't listen to his brother and sat up, "WHY ARE YOU UP? YOU'RE NEVER UP EARLY."
"i can't sleep. i'm just going for a little walk," Sans lied.
Papyrus looked around the room and got out of bed. "WHERE'S DADDY?"
Sans shrugged. "i think he went to work. he has very important things to do today."
"SANS, WHAT'S GOING ON?"
"what do you mean, bro?"
"YOU AND DAD ARE LYING TO ME! SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT WITH DAD AND I WANT TO KNOW SO I CAN HELP HIM! I KNOW YOU KNOW SOMETHING. SANS, I DON'T LIKE THE GLITCHING! HOW DO WE MAKE IT STOP?!"
Sans sighed and sat down on the bed pulling Papyrus, who was almost in tears, onto his lap and hugged him. "dad loves us very much, papy."
"I KNOW, AND I LOVE DADDY. THAT'S WHY I WANT TO HELP!"
Papyrus turned as much as he could in Sans's arms so he could look his brother in the eyes. Sans could see just how serious he was and as much as Sans didn't want Papyrus involved he was much too smart, he was going to find out and he wasn't going to let Sans leave until he did. He clearly already knew more than he let on...
"papyrus. dad's gone mad. he's been injecting himself with DT and he's messing with time and space. he's kept so much from me so i don't know what's going on but there are so many timelines and well if he keeps messing with them something bad will happen. he's going to go back in time but he might... shatter himself or even erase himself all together. all these space and time experiments are dangerous."
Papyrus nodded. "YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU AND DAD GOT THOSE POWERS."
"in a way, yes."
"DAD'S IN DANGER."
"yes."
"YOU'RE GOING TO STOP THE EXPERIMENT."
"yes."
"I'M COMING WITH YOU."
"no."
Papyrus jumped off of Sans's lap and turned to face him head on. He stomped his foot as if he were having a tantrum but he didn't cry or scream. "I'M COMING WITH YOU," he repeated, firmer.
"it's too dangerous, papyrus. dad could shatter himself across time and space, we... you could be killed."
"THEN I SHOULD COME! I HAVE TO PROTECT YOU! I'M STRONGER!"
Sans looked at his brother, the younger boy wasn't going to back down. Sans should just shortcut away but... If he failed, if he died, Papyrus would never forgive himself. Sans was hesitating.
"IF ANYONE CAN CONVINCE DAD TO STOP AND COME HOME THEN IT'D BE THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"
"heh, you're so cool, bro," Sans gave in. They'd save their dad together, the three of them would come home and the boys would cook their father something and they'd all laugh and play and they'd be a normal family again. They'd go to Grillby's where Sans would annoy Papyrus with fire puns and Gaster and Grillby would laugh. They'd visit Asgore, Papyrus would show off his Special Attack, Sans would impress the King with random facts and Gaster would look on with pride. The boys would go to school, Gaster would do less dangerous work, everything would be normal. Sans and Papyrus would grow up, they'd go to college, get jobs, maybe have families of their own and Gaster could grow old, happily.
Sans took his brother's hand. Papyrus smiled up at him. They teleported to The Core.
Gaster couldn't stop smiling as the machine began to start up, this was it! This was really it!
The machine was ready, Gaster was ready.
"dad!"
"DAD!"
Gaster turned to see his sons running towards him, he wasn't all that surprised, he knew they were worried but he couldn't let them get in the way. He just wished the fancy hotel was enough to distract them. They were going to try to stop him, that couldn't be allowed. He wanted them to be safe, he was scared they'd get hurt so he did the only thing he could think of to protect them; he summoned a thick wall of bones in front of them, forcing the boys to stop.
Gaster was becoming goopy, his body melting much faster than ever before, the glitching was much more violent, more regular and longer.
Sans and Papyrus were desperate and they called out again, "stop!"
"STOP!"
"YOU BOYS SHOULD'VE DONE AS YOU WERE TOLD AND STAYED AT THE HOTEL!" Gaster snapped.
He didn't want to snap at them, he wanted to gently tell them it was okay.
He yelled at his boys, angrily, "ONCE THIS IS OVER YOU'RE BOTH GROUNDED! STOP RUINING MY WORK!"
No! He didn't want to say that. He wanted to thank them for trying to save him.
"GET READY!" Gaster called to his Followers, he had to do it fast before his children ruined it. "I'M DOING IT NOW!"
He didn't want to, he wanted to go home. He wanted to spend time with his sons.
"dad, stop! this isn't going to go how you want it to!"
"PLEASE! JUST COME HOME, I WANT TO GO HOME!"
Gaster ignored his sons and pressed a button, the machine began to light up and a bright white portal opened, a rift in time. All Gaster would have to do was step though, grab seven souls and come back.
He wanted to hug his sons. He wanted to tell them he loved them.
Papyrus screamed and summoned a blaster, bigger than he ever had before and he fired it at the wall of bones, they shattered. Sans ran forward. The machine sparked. Gaster stepped forward, one leg in the portal.
"Wait! Doctor, stop! The machine is malfunctioning, somethings wrong! I think there's a mistake in the code!" One of the Followers shouted.
Papyrus began to run forwards as well. Sans was close, too close. Gaster was halfway into the portal when he noticed it was in fact, malfunctioning. He had to get out and fix it and get back in but he couldn't move, something was pulling him in, the portal glitched and began to turn black. His one eye began to glow, flashing between purple and red as he tried to pull himself out of the rift.
Sans turned his father's soul blue, he was going to pull him out but The Void was pulling Gaster in. Wingdings Gaster had made a huge mistake.
Papyrus, standing further back than his brother also used blue magic on Gaster's soul. The two skelebros tried to pull their father back, they were not strong enough, they was just kids...
Gaster's Followers tried to turn the time machine off but nothing anyone was doing was helping, the machine was taking too much power from The Core, and could not be turned off; a safety measure that Gaster had taken so the rift would remain open so he wouldn't get stuck in the past, only he could override it.
Nothing could save Doctor W.D. Gaster.
Gaster watched from the void he was now part of, or was going to be part of, he was't there yet but at the same time he was. He had always been part of the void, he had never been part of the void. He saw himself in the portal, he was splitting, he was shattering. He just wanted to go home. He hadn't apologised to his sons. Papyrus hadn't started school yet and Gaster wouldn't be there to take him, he wouldn't see his youngest grow up at all, he'd miss his whole life. He wouldn't see what a wonderful man he'd become. Sans wasn't a teenager yet, Gaster wouldn't be there for him in the hardest most confusing time of his life, he would never get to work with Sans in the labs again. He wouldn't see what a great scientist he'd become. Gaster was alone... Again.
The machine blew up. Gaster just managed to turn Sans's soul blue and push him away and onto Papyrus just in time. The force of the blast pushed four of the Followers and the portal with Gaster inside it into The Core.
Sans pulled himself up and off of Papyrus, the brothers ran to the side and looked over just in time to see their father's body and soul shatter into millions of pieces. The skelebros looked at each other in shock and horror, they had no idea what to do. They had just lost their father, their only parent, they were orphans just like that, so quickly.
Papyrus grabbed onto Sans's sleeve and pulled his brother close, neither brother could speak, they were in a shocked silence. That was until it hit them and they burst into tears and clung onto each other, holding on tightly.
They pulled away from each other when they noticed something weird. The world around them was now glitching, the remaining Followers were glitching, the brothers were glitching. Gaster was erased, the universe was trying to fix the hole with the information it had left, the universe was trying to fix itself by truly removing Gaster without causing more damage.
The skelebros were the only ones who seemed to notice.
"SANS, WHAT'S GOING ON?" Papyrus asked, he grabbed back onto his big brother and held on tight, burying his face into Sans's chest.
Sans held his little brother close as if he was trying to protect him but there was nothing to protect him from, people were disappearing, damage was being repaired. "i don't know... i... i'm scared."
Sans hoped to hear some confidant reassurance from his little bro, something about how The Great Papyrus would protect him, but, all he got was, "ME TOO, I'M SO SCARED. I WANT DADDY!"
Sans's terror doubled. He clung to Papyrus as if his life depended on it as the glitching got worse, everything around them was wrong. Everything was changing and the children were scared.
Suddenly everything stopped, the remaining Followers had disappeared and everything was quiet and still, the damage done was fixed and everything looked normal. Normal but wrong. The boys passed out on the floor inside The Core.
Asgore had no idea why he was walking to The Core after his court meeting. He felt it was important, like he had to do something important there, but he couldn't remember what it was. He figured he might as well take the walk anyway, there was nothing else to do and maybe he'd remember what it was once he got there and if not at least the walk would do him some good.
But it was bothering him. He knew he was forgetting something important... Was it the date? It's wasn't Toriel's or Asriel's birthdays, it wasn't his wedding anniversary, or the anniversary of Asriel's death, or his father's death, or his mother's death... Then what was it?
Had he promised to met a friend somewhere? That seemed like the most likely thing. But what friend? Gerson and Grillby were both busy with their businesses, couldn't be either of them. Undyne was visiting her aunt, couldn't be her. Alphys was helping her mother set up her new computer, couldn't be her. He'd just been in a meeting with the court members if it was one of them, they'd already be having tea. Something was missing... No, someone was missing... Right?
Asgore shook his head, thinking about it didn't make it clearer, it only made it worse and it was giving him a headache. Maybe he had just dreamt that he had something important to do...
Either way he wasn't going to think about it. He hummed a tune as he walked though The Core, letting his mind wander. He'd water his flowers once he got back, then have a nice cup of tea, he should then maybe just start some paper work so he had less to do later, that sounded like a plan to him.
"HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE! ANYONE!"
Asgore froze. That sounded like a child calling for help but there shouldn't be children in The Core.
"PLEASE! I'M SCARED!"
Asgore was pulled out of his shock and his fatherly instincts cut in, he ran towards the sound of the child's cry.
He ran and came to a sliding halt once he saw the child that was crying out for help, he spotted two monsters there, both in stripes. They were skeleton children, one about five years old, sitting next to and shaking an older, unconscious child about twelve years old. Asgore was confused, he thought skeletons had been one of the many races of monster made extinct by the war and these two children were far too young to be survivors of the war. It was impossible for them to be there but they were. Still he had to do something to help them, it didn't look good...
"Howdy?" he said causing the little boy to jump and turn around.
"AH! ASGORE! THANK GOODNESS!" the youngest skeleton said, "I WAS SO SCARED!" he stood up and wiped away some of his tears only for more to fall. "YOU'VE GOT TO HELP MY BROTHER! HE WON'T WAKE UP..."
Millions of thoughts ran through the King's mind. He'd never seen this child in his life but the little boy knew his name. That, he supposed, wasn't that weird, he was the King after all, but the child addressed him so informally. Asgore did prefer to be addressed as such but this child couldn't know that. He supposed he was just a small child and didn't think about how one would typically address a king.
There were more important things to worry about right now. Like the older boy, Asgore feared the worst, he feared the child had fallen down. He didn't question how or why they were in The Core, those were questions for later. He ran towards the children and sat down, he had to check the older child's soul and HP...
"He's not fallen down, just unconscious," Asgore said with a sigh of relief and the child stopped crying with a sniff. "His max HP is so low, however."
The younger looked at Asgore, confused. "YEAH, SANS'S HP HAS ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT," the boy said it as though Asgore should already know that.
Asgore brushed it off and looked around, the older child was going to be fine despite the frighteningly low HP, the younger seemed shaken up and Asgore couldn't see any sign of their parents anywhere, surely they weren't alone...
"Where are you parents?" Asgore asked the little one, who instantly began to tear up again.
"DADDY IS... WE TRIED TO STOP HIM!" the child cried, "WE COULDN'T! HE... HE'S GONE! I WANT HIM BACK! I'M SCARED!"
Asgore tried to calm the child, he was clearly too emotional to tell him what happened but it sounded like they had just lost their father but Asgore still needed to find their mother.
"What about your mother? Where is she?"
The child looked at Asgore with his head tilted to the side like a puppy, tears running down his face. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
Asgore frowned, he didn't understand why the little boy was so befuddled; the question was simple enough. "Your mother, little one. We need to find her."
"BUT ASGORE, WE DON'T HAVE A MUM. DADDY WAS OUR ONLY PARENT. I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU ARE ASKING THAT."
Asgore was so bewildered, he tired to think of everything he knew about these kids. They were in The Core, the eldest was unconscious, the youngest in a state of panic, their father had very recently died and they didn't have a mother. Skeletons were meant to be extinct yet here were two children... It didn't make any sense. It was as if these two children had appeared from nowhere and this boy was acting so familiar with him...
Asgore decided to change the subject. "Alright, well we'll worry about that later. What's your name, little one?"
"HUH?" the child seemed to be becoming even more confused and he asked slowly, "YOU... DON'T REMEMBER US?"
Asgore, in turn, was also becoming even more confused. "We're met? I'm sorry, little one but I think I would remember meeting a child of an extinct race. I don't understand how you are even here."
The little child seemed to be thinking and the more he thought the more he seemed to panic. "HE'S NOT DEAD... HE... OH... HE WAS ERASED FROM TIME... SANS KNOWS MORE ABOUT THIS THAN ME... HE WAS ERASED FROM TIME AND NO ONE REMEMBERS HIM OR... OR US...?" the child was muttering to himself and Asgore was all the more confused and concerned for the child.
This child seemed to know him and know him well, was Asgore really forgetting someone...?
"ASGORE! HELP ME! ...NO... NO, HELP THEM! PLEASE! KEEP MY BOYS SAFE!" [Retracted.] called out from the Void but Asgore couldn't hear him. His boys couldn't hear him. "PLEASE! AT LEAST REMEMBER THEM! HELP THEM!"
The child shook his head and looked up at Asgore. "IT'S OKAY IF YOU CAN'T REMEMBER. I'M THE GREAT PAPYRUS! THIS IS MY LAZY BROTHER COMIC SANS! WE JUST CALL HIM SANS THOUGH. WE'RE THE SONS OF... WE'RE ORPHANS." Papyrus didn't know why he said that last part, he wanted to say 'we're the sons of Doctor Gaster,' there was something stopping him from saying his name.
Asgore smiled at the little boy and stood up. "Alright then, Papyrus, if you have nowhere to go, I'll take you to the castle. We'll find out what's wrong with your brother and then we'll figure things out from there."
Papyrus nodded and Asgore picked up the older child; Sans. Then offered his hand to Papyrus, who took it. Together they went back to the castle. Asgore knew they couldn't stay at the castle but he'd find somewhere for them to go. He didn't know why but he knew he cared deeply for these children and he didn't want them to be sad.