Ending the Cycle

Chapter 2: A Romp Through the Ruins

"Howdy!"

Internally Gaster groaned as he was abruptly reminded of the second soulless child he would have to deal with. He had seen so many variations and so many timelines that he'd forgotten about...

"I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!" The monster child trapped in plant form giggled in an innocent way, but he knew better. "Why'd you make me introduce myself? It's rude to act like you don't know who I am. Someone ought to teach you proper manners."

This caused the former scientist to raise an eyebrow, he didn't remember this in any of the other possibilities. But then again the mutated flower did know about the resets so perhaps he was partly aware of the skeleton's reset. But to what extent? If the soulless monster child knew too much then that could throw off his attempts to save this timeline. It was probably best for him to avoid talking to the flower as much as possible to prevent him from becoming suspicious.

"I guess little me will have to do. Ready? Here we go!" Sighing internally, Gaster decided that there was some situations where he would have to humor those he interacted with. He continued to remain silent as the flower give their explanation on what LV and EXP were, of course he knew the truth but he wasn't going to tell Flowey that.

When Flowey went to share his 'friendliness pellets', he decided to avoid them completely. This clearly agitated the plant and Gaster couldn't help but smile slightly. And of course when the flower tried again, the monster in child's form once again sidestepped them. And then again...

"You know what's going on here, don't you? You just wanted to see me suffer." Instead of answering verbally, he simply crossed his arms over his chest and lightly smirked at the flower while slightly tilting his head. A circle of 'friendliness pellets' surrounded him but Gaster remained calm as he knew what was about to happen, so he knew there was no reason to panic.

Instead he glanced to the side slightly as a fireball manifested in the darkness and flew towards the malevolent little flower, knocking him away. Lowering his hands to his side, the former scientist looked over as the familiar image of the former queen came into view; a gentle smile now on his face.

"What a terrible creature, torturing a poor, innocent youth..." Just as he remembered her, always the loving mother type even to a stranger; even though he 'technically' wasn't a stranger. "Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel caretaker of the ruins."

"Hello your... Miss Toriel..." He greeted as warmly as he could, despite his slight slip up of almost calling her 'your Majesty'. "My name is G... Frisk... My name is Frisk..." Once again he almost slipped up and he couldn't help mentally chide himself. Gaster didn't know if anyone would remember him or not and he wasn't sure what effect the knowledge of his existence within the child would have. So it would probably be best for him to pretend to be someone he was not, this was going to be tricky...

Thankfully Toriel either didn't seem to notice the slip ups or politely chose to ignore them. "It's very nice to meet you Frisk." After that Gaster followed her into the catacombs while trying to pretend he hadn't heard her explanations of looking for fallen humans countless times over. And he patiently allowed her to demonstrate how to operate some of the puzzles of the ruins. When it came to her teaching him how to interact with other monsters, he couldn't help but feel funny about talking to the dummy. Although he had a faint memory that this event would connect to a different one later on but he wasn't a 100% sure... He had seen so many timelines before that sometimes he couldn't remember what happened in what timeline.

Despite these uncertain feelings, Gaster followed her instructions to a T and she continued to lead him deeper into the ruins. Not too terribly long after that the former queen was off to run some errands and left him by himself, after giving him a phone to contact him of course.

Once alone again, other than the distraught child he shared headspace with, the former scientist couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh. "I have to make sure not to slip up like I did earlier... This... Is going to be quite troublesome... I thought my intervention would end with me resetting the timeline..." In short, he thought it would be the end of him... He hadn't existed in this timeline prior to the forced reset, so the skeleton believed he would simply cease to be.

Gaster couldn't help but tense slightly as he felt a mental sensation of small hands grabbing him then leaning into his 'back'. It took but a moment for him to relax after realizing that it was Frisk silently reaching out to him. He could feel that the child was grateful for his presence while simultaneously fearful he might leave. This stirred up old emotions in him as he mentally pulled Frisk into a reassuring hug. "It is all right. We are in this together now... I am not going anywhere, not until this is all over with... I promise." A smile slipped onto his face as he could feel through their mental links that the child felt better, if only a little.

After giving the child another mental hug, Gaster took a moment to collect his somewhat scrambled thoughts and memories of the different timelines. He wasn't sure if he'd have another shot at this and the skeleton wasn't about to take a chance, so he had to get it right the first time. However, the more he thought about it the more Gaster realized how mixed up his recollection of events was. There were many things in the timelines that remained the same regardless but there was also many things that were vastly different. Even the slightest misstep or misspoken words could cause a ripple effect and just trying to calculate how to proceed was starting to give him a headache.

A slight mental tug from Frisk was all the monster needed to pull himself out of the train of thoughts that was on its way to become a train wreck. "Sorry..." Came the slightly sheepish apology while he lightly rubbed the back of his head. "I suppose you can feel my emotions just as easily as I can feel yours." A mental nod was the answer he received as he mindlessly gazed around his surroundings.

"Can you read my thoughts as well? I do not seem to be able to read yours..." There was another nod and he couldn't help but frowned thoughtfully, one hand lifting his chin as the scientist in him kicked in. "I wonder if that is because I am the one currently controlling the body... Or is it perhaps because this is your body and I am just a 'guest'... If this was under different circumstances, I would want to study this strange conundrum. But seeing as I have no idea how much time we might have... How much time I have... We should probably get going. And... I should probably stop talking out loud or other monsters are going to start looking at me funny..." Once again he felt Frisk agree with him, which caused him to let out a heavy sigh.

'Off we go then...' He thought to the child as he began the rest of his journey through the ruins. 'Although I must say... Think? Whatever... It makes things easier that you can read my thoughts. That means I do not have to explain myself, not completely anyway. You can see from my... Scrambled thoughts... That not that long ago, I was trapped in a place called the void... A place of nothing connected to everything...' Gaster could feel a bit of confusion from Frisk in couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle outwardly. 'Timelines child... Timelines... Every single timeline is connected through the void. And I had access to every single one... I won't deny it messed with my mind a bit, so I might mix things up from time to time... But what I hope to accomplish in the end is a happy outcome... I have friends and family here in the Underground... All of which... I have failed in so many ways... So, perhaps... Perhaps this is how I could tone to them... Make things right again...'

Once again he felt a mental hug and couldn't help but once again smile and mentally return it. 'We will make it right... Together.' He couldn't help but smile a bit wider as he felt Frisk nodded in agreement, determination feeling them both.

As they traveled, they came upon a bowl of monster candy to which Gaster decided to take one since it could come in handy later. Shortly after that they came to a room with cracks on the floor, the monster in human form narrowed his eyes at the sight. This was another consistency, a trap that drops into a room below. But perhaps he could bypass it?

Taking a few steps back to get a good a running start, he dashed forwarded trying to jump over the weak floor. He succeeded for the most part but ended up having to take a moment to swing his arms in order to keep his balance. When Gaster finally regained his footing, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief with a hand held to his chest. Then paused only briefly when he heard Frisk lightly giggling at him, causing him to blush slightly.

Shaking it off, he continued on his way to the next room only to end up pausing to answer the phone. Of course it was Toriel on the other side, no real surprise there. And he listened with a smile as she asked his preference between cinnamon or butterscotch. But then...

"Wait don't tell me. Is it butterscotch?" This caused the former scientist to pause with a raised eyebrow, something about this felt off but he confirmed her assumption nonetheless. This was followed by her chuckling slightly. "I had a feeling. Truthfully, when I first saw you, I felt... Like I was seeing an old friend for the first time. Strange, is it not?"

This caused Gaster to tense up greatly, had she noticed his slip ups? How much did she know? How much did she suspect? Would he end up having to talk truthfully with her?

"Well, thank you for your selection." And just like that she hung up, leaving him to stand there and stare at the phone with slightly wide eyes.

"Variables..." He finally muttered with a heavy sigh after a moment lifting a hand to rub at his, Frisk's, face.

And with that Gaster continued on his way, solving puzzle after puzzle with ease; occasionally getting a phone call from Toriel here and there. Eventually he ended up in a room with a familiar ghost, one he had seen through the timelines that is. If he remembered right, the monster's name was Napstablook. However he couldn't remember if this particular monster played an important role later on. But he was there to try and help everyone, so he took some time to try and cheer up the ghost. Gaster couldn't help but chuckle when the other shared his 'dapperblook' joke and this seemed to please Napstablook. After that the pair exchanged a few more words before going their separate ways.

Very shortly after that he discovered the spider bake sale and couldn't help but stand there and stare at the sign in mild confusion. He could've sworn that there was something important about buying from the bake sale. A slight mental shutter turned his focus toward Frisk who seemed to be remembering something. 'Right... Ms. Muffet... How could I have forgotten THAT encounter...'

With that thought firmly in mind, he pulled out some coins that have been dropped by some monsters he had encountered up to this point; grabbing the coins because he knew they would come in handy. With coins in hand he bought a spider doughnut and put it away with the monster candy. It had actually been a long time since he had either of those items before, or eaten anything in general, and he vaguely remembered being fond of spider doughnuts. Although the thought seemed to bother Frisk, which caused Gaster to quietly chuckle as he continued on his way.

Soon enough the pair found themselves standing in front of a leafless tree and the voice of an all-too-familiar monster reached their ears. It was of course Toriel, who was in the process of trying to call him. Although she was quick to realize he was standing nearby and even quicker to approach and check Gaster over to make sure he was uninjured. "How did you get here, my child? Are you hurt? There, there, I will heal you."

"I am fine Miss Toriel, really..." He was quick to insist with his best reassuring voice as she began to heal some minor scrapes he had here and there. Mostly failed attempts to fully dodge the few monsters he had encountered into along the way, he had been a scientist after all... Not an athlete.

"I'm sorry, my child. I should not have left you alone for so long. It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this." The smile that was upon Gaster's, Frisk's, face widened a bit at the goat monster's slightly embarrassed expression at having said that. Although he already knew what the surprise was but chose not to say anything as he followed her into the house.

However the smile faltered slightly as he was welcomed into the house by Toriel. Revealing that the pie with to celebrate his arrival, she was so very lonely here and he knew it. But he couldn't stay... It hurt to think that Gaster would have to break her heart, but it was necessary. Once again he felt a reassuring mental hug from the child, which he returned with a one armed mental hug.

After that, he allowed his old friend show him around the house. The tour ended with his 'room' to which the skeleton entered as Toriel excused herself. With a deep frown he looked about the room at the signs of multiple children having come and gone long before his arrival. The other souls... This he knew without a doubt. With a heavy sigh he walked over to the bed and sat down then rubbed his, Frisk's, face. "I am so exhausted right now... In all forms of it..."

Once again feeling a tugging sensation upon his mind, Gaster let out a small hmmm as he focused upon Frisk. 'What is it?' Another tug in the same direction, toward the head of the bed. 'What? You want me to take a nap?' Once again he felt the mental nod from the child and couldn't help but frowned slightly. 'I do not know how much time we have, so we should try to get as much done as possible as quickly as possible.'

Gaster could easily feel the pouting expression directed at him and this was quickly followed by not a tug but a shove. This caused the skeleton monster to chuckle slightly as he finally relented and laid down upon the bed. 'Alright! Alright... I suppose a quick nap would not hurt too terribly much... We have both been through quite a lot... Rest well Frisk...'

That's it for chapter two and I know I skipped out on some parts of the ruins but Gaster is trying his best to keep things as close to the good timelines as he can. So to try to keep things from being a little redundant, there will be things that I'll skip. Besides, the real changes are going to come once he's out of the ruins.

On a different note, the story has only been up for about a day and I know I said I'd wait for feedback before posting the next chapter... There hasn't been any reviews... Although I did get a private message from someone asking about the story so I'm going to count that as one. And there is also the fact that up to 48 people have checked out my story since it was put up, 44 of those were in the first day. All in all I'm going to take all of this as a sign that there are at least some people out there that are interested, so I'll keep moving forward with the posts.

That's all for now, until next time. R&R.