Here's another chptr!
Okay,
let's get one things straight here...
I am no scientists.
I am no genius when it comes down to how cloning actually works.
Be glad I tried my best, and even looked up a bit on cloning to help make it sound legit.
But this is a Fanfic,
ANYTHING GOES REALLY!
XD
Okay,
enough out of me.
ON WITH THE STORY!
"This won't work." Gaster said to himself as he read through a few new formulas. He had hoped one of these would be the code that would allow him to be able to create a human body, but sadly none of them worked. They all seemed sound enough to work, but when it came right down to it something was missing.
"What won't work?" a voice spoke out and it startled Gaster enough for him to accidently send his papers flying into the air with a startled cry. Turning to look behind him Gaster saw that the one who had given him the metaphorical heart attack was none other than Kit who looked a bit apologetic for startling him. The young rabbit monster was also accompanied by three other scientists; Tucker, Marilyn, and Nil.
Relaxed at the sight of his fellow scientists, Gaster bent down to pick up his papers. These four were always together and worked the closest with Gaster on the Core. He saw them far more than most of the other scientists here and they had a tendency to follow him around when he wasn't in his private office. The quartet had earned themselves the nickname 'The Gaster Followers' by the other scientists actually, with how much they followed him around.
Gaster didn't mind, they worked on the Core together so they would end up being near each other more so than not, but he did wish they knew something called personal space. Like right now, even as he was picking up his papers they were swarming around him to help and it was making him feel a bit claustrophobic.
Tucker, a small reptilian monster with no arms, was a grade 'A' engineer and, even if a bit of a hotheaded, was good at what he did. Marilyn was a physicist, one of the best Gaster had ever met, and a very big monster; Marilyn stood well over three feet above Gaster with just her head alone and he was known for being tall. Nil was geologist and, to Gaster, was an enigma. Nil mostly just stood there and observed with his big blank eyes and rarely spoke.
Nil wasn't a bad monster, but he always made Gaster feel on edge.
Kit, aside from being a part time geneticist, was a genius when it came to being a volcanologist. Ask the kid anything pertaining to lava or anything geologically related, Kit would talk for hours if you let him. Out of the four, Gaster found Kit to be the more approachable one and more trustworthy. Honestly, if he ever did happen to tell anyone about his human soul it would be Kit.
Speaking of the human soul, Gaster really wished he had more time on his hands. The soul had lost three more HP points and had finally gone below its halfway mark. At this rate there would be nothing left but an empty DT tank and all his hard work would be for not. His frustration was inconceivably potent and most of it he channeled at himself.
He wasn't working fast enough to solve this dilemma and with each passing day he berated himself for not solving it at a quicker pace. He was angry with himself, with how things were going the soul would die and it would be Gaster's fault. If he didn't have to work on the Core, Gaster more than likely would devote all his resources to the soul and keeping it alive. But the underground needed power so with great reluctance Gaster had to divide his time between the two. He despised that he didn't have more time in his work day for the soul; sometimes he wished he hand more hands to get things done faster.
So caught up in his inner self-hating, Gaster didn't notice or realize that Nil had happened to pick up one of his notes on cloning research.
"… Hey Kit, are you attempting to clone another rat?"
Nil's voice was a bit monotone sounding but was deep enough that whenever he did speak it got everyone's attention. So it came as no surprise to Gaster that when Kit turned to the other monster with shock that he had heard the question. The young rabbit was shaking slightly, he never liked bring up his lab rats or Lucky, and with a firm shake of his head he snatched the paper from Nil.
"No, I am not." Kit said as he read over the paper. Kit was a very expressive monster so Gaster could guess he was feeling a bit stunned and alarmed when looked up from Gaster's notes. "Doctor Gaster, are you attempting to clone something?"
"N-No." Gaster said as he quickly snatched up the note. "I was just reviewing some of your notes and I was… trying to see what could have caused Lucky to pass away so soon. Maybe find a solution to it; fix it."
Praising himself for thinking of a lie so quickly and a believable one, Gaster watched as Kit's expression softened and the rabbit monster looked to the floor. Gaster hated bringing up the rat, it always upset Kit, but it was the only lie he could think of to cover his true intents with cloning.
"Oh." Kit said as he handed Gaster the other notes he gathered. "Well… if that's the case than you need to find a donor."
"Donor? Donor for what?" Gaster as he took some papers from Tucker, trying not to cringe at the saliva on the corners.
"With what your notes say, that equation is trying to clone a subject but give the subject unique traits among its self. To do this you need another donor to add different genes." Kit said as he helped Gaster to his feet. "With normal cloning you are pretty much, in layman's terms, copying your subject. But with what you have written down there needs to be a donor to add their genes to the given subject. It is a complicated process, removing and adding genes. That's why I didn't do it with Lucky."
Ah… so that is what Kit meant.
Standing there with a dumbfound expression, Gaster wanted to slap himself on the face. That was why none of his problems and equations worked. He was working at this like normal cloning, when in reality it wasn't. And now that Gaster thought of it, he remembered Kit telling him of this theory, cause that was what this truly was (just a theory), and said how he had wanted to try it out when creating Lucky but said it wasn't worth it; far too complex for monsters who just started to learn how to clone.
"Oh, I forgot." Gaster said a bit awkwardly. "I guess… I can eliminate this from my notes."
"That you can." Kit said as he turned to leave. "And if you have any other questions about cloning… come ask me."
And with that Kit left the group rather quickly, looking rather agitated. Gaster knew he was to blame for that, and he reminded himself to later apologize to the kid.
Gathering up the remainder of his papers from the others, Gaster left without another word; having felt he said far too much as it was. He could feel the other scientists' stares on his back and it made shivers run down his spine. Deciding that he had worked on the Core enough for today Gaster walked into his office and then into his private lab. Shutting the door behind him Gaster pressed his back to it while running a hand over his skull.
That, back there with the others, had been too close for his liking. Gaster found himself lucky that the others hadn't read over his other notes because if they had Gaster wasn't sure he would be able to explain it to them. How does one go about explaining you had a human soul hidden away that you created by accident and were trying to create a body for?
Letting out a ragged sigh, Gaster walked over to the counters and set his notes down. He'd have to be more careful now, especially in the days to come. Now that he knew just exactly how to create the soul a body, a body all its own, Gaster knew things would only become more difficult from here on out.
But the outcome would be worth it.
Allowing himself to genuinely smile Gaster turned to the DT tank and to the soul. It was having one of its better days and looked to be in high spirits as it floated near the glass. It managed to send Gaster the feeling of curiousness and concern and it only made him smile more.
"It is nothing." Gaster said as he walked over to the tank. "But I have some good news. I found a way to finally create you a body."
At that the soul let out a bright pulse of light and bounced around happily, but the actions must have put a strain on the little heart as it abruptly stopped moving and its light dimmed. Pressing his hand to the glass Gaster frowned. He wasn't sure how long it would take him to create the body, and there was still the problem of the body creating its own soul, but Gaster would work as fast as he could to solve those problems.
"Stay strong little one," Gaster said as he rubbed his thumb over the spot the soul was leaning into. "Stay determined. It won't be much longer now…"
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Gaster would swear he would forget his own name if Grillby didn't say it every day. It seemed as though the fire monster was the scientist's memory bank these days, and remembered things that Gaster should know right off the back of his hand… like his sons' birthday for example.
It was an inexcusable thing to forget, though, Gaster had reasoned that he had been busy with both the Core and the soul and they took a lot of his time as of late. But that didn't stop Grillby from chewing him out a week before his sons' birthday when he asked if he was having the party at his place or Gaster's?
Even though the boys were five years apart, by dumb luck they had been born in the same month with days of each other. Convenient right? So just to save time Gaster always just had the boys share a birthday. The two never seemed to mind, though Papyrus was still too young to really notice or understand, and each year they switched up on whose real birthday they actually celebrated on. This year was Sans' turn and the older boy said he just wanted to spend it at the fire monster's house.
So, after having listened to Grillby's anger burnt words, everyone prepared for the party. The fire monster would cook the food, Gaster would wrap last minute presents, and the boys would busy themselves playing with toys until the actual party started. Gaster didn't have to worry too much about his sons while wrapping, peaking wise that is. Sans was far too lazy to put any effort into trying to peak and Papyrus was too engrossed in playing with his brother to even think of snooping.
While Gaster absentmindedly wrapped the gifts Grillby and him had bought (and found), he let his mind trail off onto the soul. When Gaster had told it that he was now able to create it a body, the soul had literally perked up and seemed to be doing slightly better. It wasn't the greatest improvements truthfully, but Gaster was just relieved to see the soul acting like it once had; so lively and determined.
Finishing up wrapping a gift for Sans, a new pair of boots that Grillby had gotten for him, he was about to place the name tag on it when a thought struck him. Staring at the name tag Gaster's mind realized something concerning to the human soul. Now that Gaster was in the beginning stages of creating a body for it, the soul would no longer be just a soul but a living, breathing, person…
And they would need a name.
'But what could I name them?' Gaster thought as he finished with the gift and moved onto a one for Papyrus. 'I don't think a skeleton name would be right for a human… Font names are not that great to being with.'
Finishing with the gift, a raggedy old teddy bear that he had bought from the shop in town, Gaster tried to think of a few names. With each one he thought of, though, Gaster just scrunched his face up in disgust. None of them seemed to fit the spirited soul or even seemed to be remotely appropriate. Sighing in defeat, Gaster reasoned that he had a few more months to worry about that topic.
He'd find the right name for the human soul eventually.
"Daddy! Grillby says dinner is ready!" Sans' voice shouted from the living room. "And he says to finish up with the gifts or he's gonna burn your-"
"DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE SANS…! You weren't supposed to hear that part." Grillby screamed over Sans and Gaster couldn't fight the snickers that escaped him. Both Gaster and Grillby had a mutual understanding of not cursing in front of the children, but it would seem as though the fire monster was still angry with the older skeleton enough to forget that rule and mutter a few under his breath.
Walking out of the room, leaving the gifts in the bedroom for later, Gaster found Sans waiting for him with Papyrus tucked away in his hood. The youngster looked quite content in his sibling's hood but from the way Sans stood it was obvious that the older was having some difficulties. It wouldn't be much longer before Papyrus became too big for Sans to carry, Gaster realized, and taking pity on his eldest he picked Papyrus up.
"Who's ready for a birthday meal?" Gaster asked as he tickled Papyrus ribcage, earning him a loud giggle from said child.
"I hopes it's gouda because I am starving." Sans as they walked into the kitchen. "But Grillby always make great food. I know no one feta."
"NO!" Papyrus screeched as he glared down at Sans.
"Alright, alright Pappy, no more puns but only because it's your birthday too." Sans said as he smiled up at his sibling.
"Are we sure we have the right Sans?" Grillby asked as he made everyone's plate. "Is this our little Sans and not an… im-pasta?"
"AAAAGGGHHH!" Papyrus screamed as he buried his face into Gaster sweater. "BAD! BAD GRILLBY!"
"Sorry Papyrus couldn't resist." Grillby said as he pat the little skeletons head. "Can you forgive me? I made your favorite."
Peeking out at the fire monster, Papyrus stared at Grillby with a questioning gaze. Holding his arms out for him, Grillby found a smiling forming on his face. "Don't believe me? Let me show you."
Allowing the adult to take him, Papyrus was whisked away to his highchair where a plate of warm spaghetti with tiny meatballs lay on a plate waiting for him. At the sight of it Papyrus let out a happy squeak and gave Grillby a quick hug before being placed in his seat. "GOOD GRILLBY!"
"Good to see that I on your good side again." Grillby said as he sat down next to the child.
Smiling at the sight of Papyrus digging into his plate, Gaster turned to Sans to find the boy also already digging into his special birthday meal; hotdogs with extra extra ketchup. Sitting down next to Sans, Gaster allowed time to fly by as he spent dinner with his family.
Once dinner was done, and after cleaning both boys up (there had been a bit of a food war when Sans unknowing punned his brother), the group moved to the living room to give out the gifts. The moment a gift was placed in either of the boys' laps the wrapping paper was torn asunder and joyous giggles and many thanks were given.
When Sans had gotten to the new pair of boots that Grillby had gotten him, the boy asked his father if he could try them on. Gaster said of course he could and helped the boy into his new footwear. While Gaster did this, there was the sound of a click and when both Sans and his father looked to Grillby they saw him holding an old camera in his hands.
"I found this at the Dumb today." Grillby said as the camera spat out the photo. "It still had a few uses in it so I figured we could use a couple today."
Taking the photo from Grillby, Gaster stared down at the image and smiled. It was a nice picture of him helping Sans into one of the boots and both father and son had big smiles on their faces. Pictures were rare down in the underground, seeing as cameras fell down fewer than many, and having this picture of Sans was special to Gaster the very moment it was taken.
"I also got one of you cleaning Papyrus earlier." Grillby said with a snicker, or for him it was more of a crackle of fire. "I don't know who had more soap on them; you or Papyrus."
Laughing lightly, Gaster turned his attention back to his sons. All the presents had been open by now, wrapping paper all over the floor, but when Sans suddenly pulled another one out from his jacket it seemed as though not all. It was a medium sized present, wrapped in bright red and orange paper, poorly Gaster added, with a white bow on the top.
"What's that Sans?" Gaster asked as Sans held the gift in his hands.
"… I got something for Pappy." Sans said as he handed it to his little brother. "I saved up all of my allowance for this."
Shocked, Gaster watched as Papyrus paused only for a moment to stare up at his brother before snatching the gift and ripping the paper away. Once all the paper was gone everyone watched as the gift fell into Papyrus' lap. At first the child was confused by the object but his eyes quickly lite up with stars as Papyrus realized what it was.
It was a large bright red scarf, far bigger and longer than Papyrus, and was more like a blanket to the boy. It was torn at the ends but otherwise in good condition and on one end the letters 'P.A.P' were hastily sewn on.
"You like it Pappy?" Sans asked, hints of worry in his tone. "It's okay if you don't, I'll understand."
"SANS!" Papyrus screamed as he threw himself onto his brother and wrapped his tiny arms around his neck. "LOVE SANS!"
"That is a very nice gift you got your brother." Grillby said as he picked up a corner of the scarf. "And it's in reasonably good condition."
"That was very thoughtful of you, Sans." Gaster said as he ran his hand over his son's skull. "And I think Papyrus loves it."
"I think you're right." Sans said as returned the hug his little brother was giving him.
"Why not try it on, Papyrus?" Grillby said as he wrapped it around the little boy, it almost covering him up completely to the point only his face and hands could be seen.
Shaking some of the scarf off his head, Papyrus let out a happy giggle as he snuggled into both the scarf and his brother before letting a yawn escape him. The yawn must have been contagious as soon Sans did one as well. Smiling, Gaster looked to the clock on the wall and saw it was getting late and far past the two's bedtime.
Picking both his sons up, Gaster stood up and turned to Grillby. Gaster knew he was always welcomed here, Grillby always made sure it was known, but he always liked asking first. But it seemed as though the fire monster knew what was going to be said by the older skeleton and answered him before anything could be said.
"It's not a problem, Gaster. I have a few of their pajamas here from last time still in the guest room." Grillby said as he started cleaning up the living room. "You put them to bed."
Nodding his head, Gaster walked towards the guest room before having to use his magic to open it; seeing as his hands were full. Stepping into the dark room, Gaster sat his sons down on the bed before grabbing them some clothes to sleep in. Once dressed, Gaster tucked his boys under the covers and sat down at the foot of the bed.
"Did you both have a nice birthday?" Gaster asked softly. Papyrus looked to be near falling asleep but Sans was still far more awake.
"Yeah, I think we did." Sans replied but his expression quickly turned to one of worry as he didn't look to meet his dad's gaze.
"What's wrong?" Gaster asked, sensing something was bothering his eldest son.
"It's nothing, just… there's one more gift I bought." Sans said as he pointed to the bedroom's closet. "I stashed it in there."
Looking over at the closet, Gaster wondered what could have Sans so concerned like this. Walking over to the sliding door, Gaster opened it slowly. There were a few clothes hanging on hangers, mostly his that he left here when they stayed, but tucked away in the darkness of the corner sat a small bundle. Not sure what it was in the lighting Gaster picked it up. He instantly felt the telltale signs of fabric and the first thing he thought of was a shirt when he something like a sleeve slipped over his arm.
Stepping out of the dark closet Gaster found that he had been right; it was a shirt and a large one at that. It was a bright blue shirt with two magenta strips across the middle and looked almost brand new. Turning back to his sons, Gaster held the clothing in his hands tightly. It was far too big for Papyrus, and far too small for Sans or Gaster, so why had the child bought this?
"…When I bought Pappy's gift I saw that. It reminded me of… of the one in my dream." Sans said as he still didn't look at his father.
"Is there more to this dream than what you told me?" Gaster asked, remembering the dream Sans had told him not too long ago and the picture he had drawn of it.
"A little bit, they change slightly sometimes." Sans said as Gaster sat back down on the bed. "Recently the heart's gone and there's this blurry image of… something."
"And this something is wearing this shirt?" Gaster asked as he held up the shirt.
"Yeah…" Sans said with a heavy yawn, his eye sockets slowly closing. "Could you hang onto it for me? I… don't want to lose it…"
And with that Sans was out like a light; lightly snoring alongside Papyrus. Staring at his sons then the shirt, Gaster became a bit worried. These dreams of Sans troubled him. It seemed as though Sans hadn't told Gaster everything about his dreams and now they were changing. Something wasn't right about all of this.
Staring down at the shirt, rubbing a digit over the thick but soft fabric, Gaster let out a sigh as he shook his head. He was more likely just overreacting is all. Sans probably just had a normal dream and thought this shirt had been in it. Yeah, that was it.
There was no reason to be worried. These were just dreams, dreams from a child, and no harm could come from dreams.
At least, Gaster hoped not.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The cloning process was turning out to be easier than Gaster thought. The equations were sound enough and the sample he had taken from the human child was set aside for when he actually began creating the body and Gaster had solved two more problems that arose.
Since he did not have an adult human to act as a surrogate for the soul's body, Gaster planned on forming a magical barrier around the growing body to act as a makeshift 'womb', if you will, and just place it into the DT tank. The DT would supply all the necessary supplements the body would need to grow and with Gaster supplying it with magic anything that the DT could not give his magic would.
On the problem of making the soul's body different from the human child he took his sample from, Gaster found a donor to add different genes to the sample and give the soul's body individuality… his own. Seeing as skeletons were the closest in relation to humans, Gaster theorized that by adding his genes into the sample it wouldn't harm or mutate the body too drastically. Though extracting a sample of his genes was harder, and more painful, to get than most.
Reaching bone marrow wasn't an easy thing to do, especially when one takes it from themselves.
But Gaster had managed to get a reasonable amount out of him and with some work he managed to splice and exchange some of the human sample with his own. What was once a sample from one human child was now a completely new sample and if Gaster hadn't been the one to take the sample he would have thought it came from someone else entirely.
With those problems out of the way though, Gaster still had one more to worry about.
How to stop the body from forming its own soul and allow his human soul to claim the body as its own.
Gaster wasn't even sure where to begin solving this problem but with how weak the soul was he knew he didn't have time to theorize; he needed solutions. Solutions that, sadly, Gaster did not have.
"What am I to do?" Gaster asked himself as he stared at the DT tank and its contents. "You won't last much longer without a body, but if I don't find a way to stop the body from forming its own soul…"
The soul, though very weak and barely glowing, pressed itself up against the glass and sent acceptance and reassuring feelings to Gaster. For the past week, the soul had been sending those feelings to Gaster whenever he brought up how it would die if he didn't work fast enough. Gaster knew it was meant in good nature, but it made him feel like he had failed the soul whenever it did this; having made it accept that it was going to die.
"Please don't think like that." Gaster finally said, after having calmed the anger in his soul. "You won't die, I won't allow it."
The soul didn't respond to this, having used too much energy sending Gaster those feelings and it seemed to drift off into a recharge. Seeing that he was, in a sense, alone now, Gaster walked over to the counters and picked through his notes; trying to find any clues as to how to fix his dilemma. But they offered him no solace and in his fit of anger he crumpled up one of the pages.
"I am a fool!" Gaster shouted as he moved to toss the crumbled up paper but stopped.
Staring up at his hand Gaster found his attention to the paper ball he held. The way he held it in his hand, the way his hand encased the paper, made his mind slowly think of something. Bringing his hand closer to him Gaster continued to stare down at it. His hand was kind of like a barrier around the paper inside his palm; protecting the ball until he decided when to let go.
And then it hit him.
"That's it!" Gaster screamed as he dropped the paper and rushed over to the fridge. "That's the solution!"
Opening the fridge Gaster reached inside and grabbed the altered human sample and quickly rushed back over to the tanks. Tapping the glass with his free hand, Gaster roused the human soul awake and smiled at it brightly.
"I know how to solve our problem." Gaster said as he summoned some of his magic to his hand. "You can now finally have your body."
Gaster, while he had stared at the crumpled paper in his hand, had come to the conclusion that in order for the soul and the body to become one (and not have another soul take the body) the human soul had to be there at the very beginning; the absolute moment of conception. And in order to do that, the soul had to be in the magical barrier before the sample was placed into it.
The soul seemed puzzled at Gaster's words and the skeleton could feel hints of doubt and worry but as he continued to smile they slowly faded away.
"Trust me little one, this has to work. It will work." Gaster said as he formed with his magic a barrier inside the DT tank around the human soul. His magic was a light purple color, but with the soul's, albeit dim, red glow it gave off a burgundy color. The human soul gave off a motion that appeared to be it looking around in the barrier as Gaster set the human sample into the tank's slot.
Once the slot was shut and the human sample floated in the tank, Gaster used his magic to guide it to the barrier and soul. For a moment, Gaster just stood there, watching the soul and sample. He was betting a lot on this sudden idea and half of him was telling him not to do it, but he didn't have time to second guess this. This just had to work.
"Here goes nothing." Gaster said as he allowed the human sample to drift into the barrier with the human soul. The moment the sample even entered the barrier the reaction should have been instantaneous, Gaster wasn't sure what was to happen but he expected more than… this.
The moment the sample was in the barrier it disappeared in a small flash of light, but after that nothing. The soul seemed a bit confused by this just as much as Gaster as it swirled around in the barrier; as if trying to see if anything different had changed.
Letting out a sigh, Gaster slumped against the tank's glass. It hadn't worked. He had failed.
"I'm sorry... I was sure that this would have-"
And then…
Pain and darkness.
I Be Trolling with the cliffhangers.
B-)
I honestly think this chptr was a bit choppy.
IDK but I just think it is.
Leave me a review,And as always.
Girl Supersonicboy OUT!