A/N: I have made a list of skeleton puns. They will all be used eventually. ALL OF THEM. (Also small stylistic change, I'll have Gaster's word unbolded for the rest of this fic cause it looks off. I'll go back and unbold his word at the previous chapter once I get a proper night's sleep (done)
Bone-Fide Training
It'd been about a week since Sans had agreed on practising with his dad. However, since the promise had been made during a Monday, Gaster had been busy with work on building the Core (something about the metal structure not being as sturdy as projected). Maybe one day Sans could help. He was good at math. Plus he really liked science-related stuff, and there was this one story he'd read in a human book where a guy built a spaceship and travelled the sky… Not that Sans had ever seen the sky but he could guess. The surface world would probably be like the underground, only without the ceiling… weird.
The sound of someone entering the house alerted Sans and he sat up from the couch, seeing his dad enter the room. Gaster gave Sans a quick wave before heading to the laundry room. A small elaborate badge on his white turtleneck read 'Dr. W.D. Gaster, Royal Scientist'. Upon reaching the laundry room the scientist carefully removed the badge. He then took out his lab-coat from the plastic bag and tossing it into the washing machine.
About twenty minutes later, Papyrus was asleep on his crib after valiant efforts by Sans and Gaster, involving the wooden action figure, cuddling, and a horribly out of tune 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' sang by both parties.
The Royal Scientist took out a small duffel bag filled to the brim with treats, including Cinnamon Bunnies imported from Snowdin, many packages of Potato Chisps and a lone Spider Cider. He gave his son a reassuring wink, and they walked out of the house. After making sure he'd locked the door, he held Sans by the hand and they walked away from Hotland, onto the much darker Waterfall area. Around them, people were walking mostly to their houses ready to have a good night's sleep... As much as there was a night in the Underground.
Well, the concepts of night and day were prevalent in the Monster Kingdom. There was a very loose time-system in place. Everyone was reliant on watches and clocks to keep the time, which resulted in the clock-making business becoming a major industry. From what little Sans had pieced together during history class (he had a habit of… sleeping at some lessons he considered boring), monsters kept to the same time system they used when they were above ground, which was reliant on the Earth's rotation on its axis. A full spin lasted 24 hours; there was daytime, when the sun was visible, and night-time, when the sun was not visible. In tribute to their past, there were two major distinctions in the Underground's 24 hour period. The first twelve hours were considered 'daytime', and that was when a considerable portion of the population would start their daily routine, go to work and all that jazz. A bit less than half the monster population was active during 'night time'. Then there were the University students, which kept no schedule and were switching between the two time-zones constantly and without control. To be honest there wasn't much difference in either. The Underground had the same glow no matter what time it was.
Well, there was a small difference. At night time Waterfall area was almost empty, save for a few young monsters hanging out at the outskirts either being in their 'rebel years' or simply in quiet resignation when they realised they had 3 essays and 2 lab reports due this week.
Sans and Gaster walked through the flower, past a field of Echo Flowers, where hushed wishes, loud dreams, and the occasional gossip, echoed along the cavern's walls. The little skeleton kept close to his dad. He wasn't that used to the darkness and quietness of Waterfall. Both Hotland and New Home were relatively bright, and almost always buzzing with life (or lava).
"hey dad"
Gaster turned to his son. The little monster was power-walking in order to keep up with his father. The tall skeleton slowed his pace.
"humans aren't that bad are they?"
Gaster frowned. That question came out of nowhere. The skeleton's first answer would have been 'yes' but he restrained himself just in time. "WELL… THAT'S A TRICKY QUESTION. HUMANS ARE A POPULUS AND DIVERSE SPECIES, AND GENERALISATIONS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS INNACURATE."
"so?"
"IN THE SAME WAY NOT ALL MONSTERS HAVE THE SAME PERSONALITY, SOME HUMANS CAN BE GOOD, SOME CAN BE BAD."
"auntie doesn't like them. She was angry at me from going to the channel"
"HER MAIN SOURCE OF ANGER WAS YOU SNEAKING IN A FORBIDDEN DISTRICT." Sans did not look satisfied with his answer. Gaster sighed, and continued. "YOUR AUNT IS VERY GOOD AT HOLDING GRUDGES. I DO NOT BLAME HER. IT WAS THE HUMANS WHO CRAFTED AND ERECTED THE BARRIER, TRAPPING US HERE," he signed. Hesitantly he brought his two index fingers and thumbs together, forming a triangle, which he then broke by pulling his hands away.
"but…?" Sans interpreted.
Gaster repeated the gesture. "BUT… THE KING AND QUEEN HAVE ADOPTED A HUMAN AS THEIR CHILD, SO THEY CAN'T BE THAT BAD RIGHT…?" There was the buttercup incident, but the skeleton had decided not to dwell too much about it. It had looked like a genuine accident…
"hm" Sans made a non-committal noise. "guess so" he mumbled, and the two skeletons walked in silence.
Eventually they'd reached an empty clearing. It was against the cavern's wall on one side and surrounded by water on all other sides. A small wooden bridge connected it to the rest of Waterfall. The two monsters crossed, and walked close to the cavern wall. Eventually, Gaster settled for a spot hidden from view via an overzealous patch of flora. He lay down his duffel bag, before also sitting down on the earth.
A semi-confused Sans copied his dad's movements.
"LET'S START WITH THE BASICS!" Gaster signed excitedly. "OUR BODIES CONTAIN LITTLE PHYSICAL MATTER; THEY ARE MOSTLY MADE UP OF MAGIC. IN ESSENCE, WHAT WE CALL USING MAGIC IS SIMPLY LEARNING HOW TO HANDLE THE 'EXTRA' AMOUNT OF IT WE GENERATE."
Sans nodded in understanding.
"WELL, I WOULD NOT SAY IT IS UNUSUAL. SKELETONS ARE MORE RELIANT ON MAGIC, AS WE DON'T HAVE ORGANS, SKIN OR ANYTHING ELSE THAN BONES. SOMETHING HAS TO KEEP OUR BODIES RUNNING," Gaster signed. "AS A RESULT SKELETON MONSTERS TEND TO PRODUCE MORE MAGIC COMPARED TO NORMAL MONSTERS. THANKS TO IMPROVING LIVING CONDITIONS," he rattled the duffel filled with Monster food, "MONSTERS ARE GENERALLY HEALTHIER. A HEALTHIER MONSTER PRODUCES MORE ENERGY AND SO ON, SO FORTH."
"huh"
"YES… THE MOST DISASTROUS THING THAT COULD HAPPEN TO A MONSTER IS HAVING THEIR MAGIC DISRUPTED-" Gaster stopped mid-sentence. Oh no, why had he even mentioned that? If he could punch himself without Sans noticing, he would have done so by now.
"UM…THINK OF IT AS MAKING MORE EFFICIENT FUEL FOR AN ENGINE." Yes Gaster, change the subject. Pretend like you didn't just explain to your son why his mother was under intensive care. "THAT MEANS THAT SKELETONS LIKE ME AND YOU CAN SUBSIST ON USING LESS MAGIC, WHILE OUR BODIES MAKE CONSIDERABLY MORE MAGIC…. YOUR STRONG MAGIC IS PROBABLY AN INDICATION THAT YOUR ARE A HEALTHY YOUNG MONSTER, YOUR BODY BEING EFFICIENT AT PRODUCING AND EFFECTIVELY MANAGING YOUR MAGIC."
"so does that mean I'm super healthy or something? my hp is still 1"
"AH. WELL, IT IS NOT UNUSUAL FOR MONSTER YOUR AGE TO STILL HAVE ONE HP. REMEMBER, IT STANDS FOR 'HOLDING POINTS' IE. HOW WELL YOUR BODY IS HELD TOGETHER. IN ADDITION, SKELETON MONSTERS ARE MADE UP OF ONLY BONES. THERE IS LITTLE CONNECTIVE TISSUE. THIS MEANS THAT, IN GENERAL, THAT WE HAVE LESS THAN AVERAGE HP."
"oh. that kinda sucks"
Gaster shrugged in the international 'what-can-you-do' gesture. Skeletons were the Glass Cannon equivalent of a monster. Other kinds of monsters tended to have different general attributes, though there wasn't any cap and you could easily have say, a super-strong fish monster (usually their high HP came in cost of their attack power), or a lizard monster adept in magic attacks. Gaster was a strange case. Saying his magic attacks were 'weak' was an understatement, but he had a very powerful gimmick.
"so… how do I learn how to control my magic?"
"IT IS LIKE LEARNING TO WALK. YOU DID NOT LEARN HOW TO WALK PROPERLY IMMEDIATELY. INSTEAD YOU HAD TO LEARN A PATTERN, A SET OF MOTION THAT WOULD ALLOW TO MOVE WHILE MAINTAINING YOUR BALANCE." Gaster gave Sans a good-natured wink. "AND WHEN YOU LEARN HOW TO WALK, YOU BEGIN BY CRAWLING."
"and how do I learn how to do that?"
"THAT'S WHAT I'M HERE FOR!" Gaster stood up, his son following in tow. "NOW SANS, I WANT YOU TO FACE THE WALL."
The boy frowned but did as told. "k"
"NOW, ATTACK IT"
"…attack the wall?"
Gaster nodded.
Sans shrugged and extended a hand towards the stone. Instantaneously, a wave of light blue magic pulsed forwards from the small boy. It spread in a wide axis, white half-formed structures appearing where magic clumped before dissolving into blue mist when they collided with the stone.
"THERE!" The Royal Scientist clapped excitedly. "THAT WAS A PRECURSOR TO A BONE ATTACK!"
"ayyy, progress"
"NOW, YOU SHOULD NARROW THE REACH OF YOUR ATTACK. MAKE IT NARROWER, UNTIL THE BONES BECOME MORE STABLE."
"can ya show me?" Sans asked, pocketing his hand.
"OH WELL, I SUPPOSE I CAN… TRY," the scientist signed hesitantly. "…I AM NOT GOOD WITH MAGIC."
Sans winked and gave the taller skeleton a thumbs up. "i believe in ya dad"
Gaster focused. Summoning the most basic of attacks took a considerable effort from him. But focus too much and, well…. He didn't want to accidentally scare his son.
A small lonely bone protruded from the ground before lazily making its way away from the Doctor.
"cool"
"EH, YES." Gaster was not sure if his son thought his attack was intentionally pathetic. He decided against checking. "DO YOU WANT TO TRY AGAIN?"
"k..." Sans extended his arm forward again. "so I just focus on making a bone?"
"NOT NECESSARILY. YOU CAN DO THAT IF IT IS EASIER, OR YOU CAN TRY AND FOCUS YOUR MAGIC ON ONE SPOT, WHERE IT WILL NATURALLY FORM AN ATTACK WHEN CLUMPED."
It was repetitive, but after several tries, Sans could consistently make at least one bone form at his attacks. After that he tried experiment, seeing if he could consciously make a bone bigger or smaller. This resulted in bones with the dimensions ranging from a supermodel to an inflatable ball. One of the bones had the perfect 'body type' for the Miss/Mr Underground contest. It resembled a spiral staircase.
Despite his sons antics and the… interesting skeletal structured he conjured, Gaster frowned. So far he hadn't seen anything out of the usual about his son's magic, other than a wider field of action but that was about it. Maybe that dummy was a bust?
On the side, Sans took a step back, due to a bone which became wider than he expected. His yellow boot caught up on a root. Sans lost his balance. His eyes darkened with fear.
Gaster felt a pressure on his soul, being slowly lifted up… then slammed down. Hard.
…Ow
"dad!"
Gaster groaned as much as his non-existent vocal cords allowed. He saw Sans running to him eyes wide and gave the boy a wobbly thumbs up. It was good he'd brought all that food with him.
Soon enough, he felt two tiny hands on his shoulder. Sans looked extremely distraught. Gaster gave him a small smile. On a level the Royal Scientist was happy. That'd been an impressive lift-
Oh.
Oh, he shouldn't.
…He would.
"IT'S OK," he eventually signed. "YOUR MAGIC IS STRONG." Oh, the anticipation was killing him.
"…why are you smiling?"
"BECAUSE YOU SURE…" Gaster switched to speech, "LIFTED MY SPIRITS."
Complete silence.
Sans stared in shock. His eye twitched. "heh" The grin was back at his face. "heheh" Now the grin was overtaking his face. "hehehehahahahaha" Sans was full-on hysterically laughing, rolling to the side while clutching his ribs. Gaster let out a few chuckles as well.
"dad, that was brutal.. your joke" He let out a wheezed breath, "it was too humerus" Sans' hysterical laughter was back at full force. "I can't-"
"WHY SON," The Royal Scientist used sign language, as he was failing to supress his own laughter, "MY JOKES. DO YOU NOT HAVE THE STOMACH FOR THEM?"
"hahahahahahahahaha!"
After about half an hour of maniacal laughter and aneurism-inducing puns from both parties, the two settled down somewhat. Gaster was slowly eating a Cinnamon Bunny while Sans had stayed by his side the whole time.
"m sorry" the little skeleton mumbled.
"DON'T BE. NOT YOUR FAULT." Some grammar had to be sacrificed to account for his one hand being preoccupied. "ALL MONSTERS CAN BE DANGEROUS. MAGIC IS A POWEFUL TOOL."
Sans' mood was not lifted.
"WE WILL VISIT MOM AT THE START OF NEXT WEEK. SHE WILL GIVE YOU ADVICE. THIS IS HER TYPE OF MAGIC."
"k" the little monster's voice was a whisper. "least i don't have to worry about hurting people with one of your attacks"
"AH…" Gaster inadvertently let out. "THAT'S NOT… 100% TRUE."
Sans paused. "Dad."
His son's voice was unnervingly serious. Oh no, why had he said that-
"you have a cool attack?!"
"E-E-EHM..." Neurotic Gaster was back at full-force.
"can ya show me?"
"T-THAT WOULD BE… UH…" His gestures became jumbled as his hands trembled.
"please?"
What little there was of Gaster's defence almost crumbled by his son's pleading expression.
…Maybe it wasn't so bad. Sans would probably be able to do it one day too, though he doubted it would be of much use. Besides, he wasn't close to humans. The 'attack' would be harmless.
"O…K…"
Gaster briefly closed his eyes as he focused on his magic. It'd been such a long time since he's summoned them. He should make sure they weren't as scary as he used to make them. Last thing he wanted was Sans to freak out, then freak out some more since the little skeleton now knew he could accidentally summon that attack.
He peeked at his creation. It was an amorphous mass of white magic thus far, though the general outline of the skull was there…
No wait, why were there sharp corners-it was supposed to be kid-friendly-!
After a few seconds of the amorphous glob being treated like Play-Dough, the blaster had settled in its final shape. The demonic-goat-skull aesthetic was still there, but the glowing irises were rounded, and the 'teeth' and protrusions were less… protrudy.
Gaster grimaced. He had tried to make it look friendly enough. Sans didn't seem to mind; he looked in awe at the blaster, and took a few tentative steps forwards. The Royal Scientist gave him an encouraging smile. Among monsters, his blasters were just for show. They just stood there, uncharged, looking scary.
Still… the tall skeleton threw a nervous glance behind him, where the clearing connected to the rest of the Underground. The blasters had acquired quite a rumour during the war. If another monster was to see them right now…
He was forcefully focused back on reality when he'd heard the dreaded whining noise. Gaster's Blaster had been fully charged.
The Royal Scientist backed away, instantly tearing his creation down. Sans flinched back at the sudden movement, though his amazed grin never left his face.
"so cool"
Gaster however, was having a mini-crisis. Why had the blaster reacted? How it had reacted, to whom-?
His eyes feel on Sans. Oh no.
At this point, the little monster had noticed his dad looked more nervous than normal, which was quite an achievement by itself.
"dad?"
"TEST SOMETHING. STAY," the Royal Scientists signed. So he was down to utilizing zero grammar. Wonderful.
Gaster went on the other side of the clearing. He summoned his blaster. No charge.
He moved in halfway. He summoned his blaster. No immediate charge, but the faint whining indicated it was charging, slowly.
Then he walked to where Sans was, who kept looking at his father, confused at the whole ordeal. Gaster picked up the boy; one, to make sure he wouldn't accidentally hit his son, and two, to see if his theory worked. He summoned a blaster.
The demonic skull glowed with magic, indicating it'd been charged.
He summoned another while making sure the other blaster didn't go off.
The second blaster also got charged.
…What?
"dad?"
Gaster looked down, to see a frowning sans. His eyes had a pale blue glow to them.
"i think I'm getting a headache" The little skeleton closed his eyes, but the faint blue glow was still visible at the miniscule crack.
No wait what was he thinking- he was causing his son pain this was no time for jotting down observations.
With a flick of his head, the two blasters dissolved to nothing.
"SANS?" He lightly shook his son, now fully resting on his lap. "ARE YOU BETTER NOW?" If skeletons could sweat from fear, Gaster would be a fountain.
"Kinda" the younger skeleton drawled. "'m very sleepy" he shifted in his dads embrace, using the soft fabric of the turtleneck as a pillow. "gonna have a nap..."
And just like that, Sans was off at dreamland.
Gaster nearly cried in relief. It was ok. Sans was ok. He hadn't hurt his son.
Conquering his weak knees, the skeleton shifted so he was holding the little monster in one hand, the other taking hold of the duffel bag. He carefully walked back to their house.
What had happened with the blasters... In Gaster's experience they only got charged when he was close to a human. In a way they were like a selective parasite. Alone they were just for show, but if they were close to a human, the only host as Gaster had assumed half an hour ago, they got charged and unleashed a devastating attack. Since that only happened when they were close to a human, he'd assumed they siphoned human magic. But they'd reacted to Sans too... and judging for the sleeping lump on his chest, they'd absorbed something... an energy abundant in humans but rare in monsters?
Finally Gaster reached the house. He went into the boys' room, where Papyrus was snoring away happily, and he deposited Sans on the bed next to the crib, careful not to jolt his son.
"aaaahhhhhh…"
Oh. He seemed to have awakened the other resident of the room.
Gaster moved in on the crib, where the sounds came. There a baby skeleton was shifting around, the onesie he was wearing being put in considerable strain as tiny hands caught and tugged on every available surface.
"HELLO," Gaster signed, using the baby variant of sign language.
"aaaa…" The baby monster cooed. He attempted to cope the gesture but abandoned it halfway as it found his dad's turtleneck all the more interesting.
"aaaaieeee," the little skeleton babbled again, this time with purpose. He scrambled to get on top of the other skeleton's shoulder.
Gaster frowned. Was Papyrus trying to say another word? He'd already said 'mum' (his wife's excited scream woke up the entire hospital), then 'dad' (Gaster nearly fainted), followed by something that resembled 'Sans' (the older brother straight-up fainted). Papyrus' vocabulary was expanding at an exponential and feint-inducing rate.
"aaaatie!" The Royal Scientist turned to see his son pointing at the room's window. The children's room was located next to the path of the capital, so it wasn't unusual to see people walking from and to the capital. What was unusual was seeing his step-sister and another green turtle monster running like mad towards his front entrance. He knew him through his wife and her sister. Gerson was the previous head of the Royal Guard, and had even been a General at the War… No, don't think about that. His skull's cracks itched.
Gaster adjusted Papyrus on his lap, making sure they were both comfortable, before heading towards the door. Before he even took a step, there was a loud knock on his knock, then another, much like a few days before.
…The knocks where getting louder. Whatever had gotten New so agitated couldn't be good.
The Royal Scientist opened the door and tilted his head at the monsters questioningly. New's face was flushed while the other monster was clutching his side. The skeleton watched the two frantic monsters in confusion, whereas Papyrus retreated further into his father's turtleneck at the monsters' panicked expressions.
"Gaster!" New exclaimed through heavy breaths, "come with me right now!"
…
"The Prince is dead!"
A/N: And there I thought the story wouldn't get sad. Oh well. More on the Gaster Blaster mystery next chapter. Skelemom should make an appearance too (you're gonna hate how I'll make her talk but yolo) Also, baby Papyrus is gonna be the end of me.
This story has no beta. I can only imagine the typos it has…