The next day came and the board meeting went a hair away from horrible catastrophic. Gaster spend most of the time simply silently sitting while all hell broke loose around him. Screams in different languages. Hands waving, and at one point paper and a pen flying over his head.
In Jeremy world that meeting went over well, because no one died. Gaster wasnt sure if that was a joke or if that was a thing that happened in human companies. His job was to present something that will sell in millions and the board will kiss his shoes as a thank you. Gaster was not interested in that thank you. Jeremy laughed.
The following day he found himself in front of an office room in as officially looking building. Jeremy simple walked in and greeted the older tall man. The white hair and short beard, prideful standing and a more than warm smile were directed towards him. And for a brief moment Gaster was reminded of Asgore, a Asgore who wasnt bent on revenge. An Asgore who wanted peace.
It was one of his projects to make the foundation for it to become truth.
"Senator Elliot, this is dr. Gaster. "
"Its a pleasure of meeting you. I heard many things about you. "
Gaster hummed as he took the hand. Jeremy trusted the man enough to introduce him personally to Gaster. "Hope it was only the great." Gaster politely replied shaking the man's hand. A firm handshake.
"I would say more like only the best." The politician replied. "Please sit, would you like something?"
"Coffee would do." Jeremy said as he dropped into the chair as if he owned it... thougth who knew maybe the man did own it, Gaster was getting only a small portion of what he was sure Jeremy earned thanks to him. He sat down himself.
"If possible I would like tea... a flower blend tea if it is not to much trouble?"
"Never saw you drink tea before." Jeremy commented surprised at the choice. Gaster gave him a irritated look, he felt a bit of nostalgia. Especially after the army dealings. There was nothing wrong with it... The phone felt heavy in his pocket. Still unchecked.
"A really good friend of mine has a hobby of making tea mixes and I tended to be the one to test them."
" Ah there is Hibiscus tea. You friend sounds like an enjoyable company." The old man said placing the cups down and pouring the coffee and then the hot water over the tea. Gaster opted to watch the man move, Jeremy taking over the friendly chit chat. The doctor side glanced the human. There was some form of intent coming of Jeremy. His eyes looking at the old man... his instincts whispered to him that it was a test.
Jeremy brought him here so he could test the old man... for something... that what his instincts told him.
He trusted his instincts.
He mentally tugged at the determination.
No response.
He poked mentally the place where the sensation usually originated from.
He noted that a sensation of ... sulking was what he got. Highly interesting but not what he needed. He needed to be a bit more determined. He had a feeling this human, Elliot would be useful to him. He understood in that moment that this was Jeremy way of apologizing for the last several days. Gifting him a possible tool he could use. Keep the goose happy if you want its golden eggs... well more like cooper eggs while the diamond ones were only for his king.
He took a deep breath and mentally imagined his bony finger poking annoyingly and repeatedly at the right spot.
He was determined to use this chance to his full advantaged. There will be peace. He rejoined the conversation.
"...Personally, I wouldnt say the look of a skinny Santa. You look to me more like the next president."
"Nah, you are just saying that because the election season is coming up."
Oh did it now? Gaster never before went voting. Maybe he should change that.
" I dont have the bite to get to the top. I prefer to support the younger one..." Elliot continued, and Gaster could see Jeremy seating back into the chair eyes calculating something far ahead. For once Gaster was sure what numbers the man was seeing. Investments.
"I disagree. You look like someone who will change the world for the better. Why not give it a shot." Elliot said no, starting to look less amused by the situation.
"And harm one of the other candidates? Its best if everyone stands united."
"... I can picture your name in history books right beside the important ones like Washington and Lincoln. "
"I dont have such ambitions. " Elliot pointedly said, Gaster took the tea in his hands and took a sip. It was tasteless red water. He put the cup back.
"What about bravery?" Why did he say that? He felt determined to change this person's mind. So the determination lead him down the way. A way to success. "Would you be brave enough to accept ... misfortune refuges. Accept their wish for peace and unity. With their support to create a new era of progress, discovery and development beyond human imagination. All because you are brave enough to give mercy and accept it in return."
A deal, name in history for a little task.
"Are you a speech writer?" The old man hand was going through his white hair. Hearing the passionate words from the doctor as his hands moved imaging that bright future. The determination was pulsing with a never ending sensation of hope. Peace was possible.
Elliot said no.
Gaster spend the next two days determinedly visiting the man.
Elliot said yes.
The next day he was in his lab. The money wasnt a problem, but the other candidates sure were. Yet there was internet a cruel and beautiful place. The social media would influence the people directly and isolate the ones who had no chance of changing their vote. If he does it right that is. The media is a predictable place, especially after listening to so long about it from Maria. All those files were now pulled from the back of his mind and used in his researching.
Twelve hours later he turned towards the screens and turned them on. Determination in his bones burning.
Frisk barely survived the first attack. Getting now their turn and going towards Sans, one hit and its done. Could he turned it on to see how it all ends? Just in time for dust? The world outside the screen was forgotten. There was only the golden hall. The knife coming closer and closer and slashed down.
Sans cheated.
Sans avoided the attack.
Gaster never felt more prideful of his son than in that moment.
The next bone send flying hit them dead on. Blood splattered on the golden floor. Sans sighed, placing his hands back into his pockets. Frisk hand twitched. The kid wasnt dead in one hit but was dying, a slow death. Sans sat down beside the closest pillar. He waited. It took only a minute before Frisk breathed out finally. The face anything but blank.
Switching the cameras around Gaster watched a curious scene. Flowey was crying in front of Asgore. Warning him of the demon. But as nothing came Asgore attempted to comfort the flower. And for once Flowey didnt kill the king... Asriel didnt kill his dad. Interesting.
The load occurred and once more Frisk was walking up to his son, time passed Gaster hands doing work while his eyes were always watching. Analyzing the strengths of attacks, the speed and control of magic. He knew Sans was using only a forth of his magic at a time so he could pass himself and last longer, show the kid every trick he could think up. And the kid?
Frisk was getting better at avoiding each bone but not before dying at every bone at least once. After a point in the fight Sans would talk while waiting for the load he was sure would occur. The first time it surprised Gaster to her Sans talk after the kid was dead.
"you know... its not like i know everything" Sans started."... but there are snippets, deja vu and your reactions... some strong memories kinda stick just on the edge of my mind. but i am good at fishing things out that edge just where the time tries to make me forget...hehe, could say i have practice... with not forgetting."
Load after load Frisk managed to avoid more bones but was still far from able to land the one hit on Sans that they needed to win. One lucky hit will be all it takes...
"i feel watched." Sans said after he sat opposite the pillar from where frisk body was hanging days or a few weeks since the chatting started. "there is this memory, lets assume it is a memory and not wishful thinking."
Gaster stopped moving his full attention on the skeleton on the screen, he learned a lot about his son, it was like now in this moments between loads there was no point in pretending anymore. "the blue red sky of a sunset and there in a moment of surprise as I sensed this magic. i would recognize it anywhere...G... it was you on the other side of anomaly... sorry. if you are watching."
The first time he watched them on the surface, his Gaster blaster hitting the barrier... It filled the doctor with warmth to know to see against all hopes that Sans was indeed not forgetting him... even if time itself erased and rewritten his existence.
"Sans..."
"i forgot a lot. but i know you would find a way to keep an eye socket on us... you must hate me." Sans eyed Frisk forcing himself to see what he did. Gaster voice echoed with comforting words that could reach the skeleton in the golden hall. "I wouldnt ever hate either of you. Regardless of what you do or what happens. I understand it... I understand it fully."
Yet another round. Even more time has passed. Sans was looking out of the window, the glass has been cracked due a Gaster blaster firing too close to it. " ... i could end it frisk. that you don't reset instantaneous is a weakness. i could try and absorb your soul. or whats left from it right now, before it pulls itself back together... but ..."
The man watching knew it would be worth a try. There was a chance it would work, but it would also mean everyone who was dead would stay dead. He didn't want it to end like that. As his son spoke again, Gaster smiled. He wasn't the only one thinking that way.
"i am selfish. i want to be with pap. if you leave us both dead or reset to when we are both in snowdin, it really doesn't matter to me... not that i will tell you that to your face...maybe i hope we are still friends kiddo. hope you give us a happier ending..."
"We are both selfish, son."
Another load. It was the 15th week sans was keeping the kid from going any further. Gaster was only aware of the passage of time due to the election season. Maybe that distraction was what made him keep his resolve to keep watching the fight over and over. While his hands were working, tinkering and typing. It was nearly as if there were two of him, the one watching and the one talking with hands. Politics were annoying the candidates were trying to take his pick down with lies.
So the doctor collected their dirty laundry and send to the opposing side. A nice gift that soon will became their downfall. He sat up Maria for an interview with Elliot. She was professional, it pleased Gaster.
Frisk looked at Sans as he warned the kid not to cross the line. "Ok." Frisk responded and turned away. They both watched the kid simple leave. Did Frisk give up? No. The human was to determined so what was going on?
Sans waited in the hall for half an hour before he walked out of it. He went to Asgore. He recognized the way Sans was behaving. It was the same way he did when Frisk denied Papyrus mercy. Just instead of Toriel this time Asgore was the one alive and Sans stayed by his side.
He watched as Sans was cracking puns and the king unable to ignore them. But not having the type of mind to think of puns himself he couldnt reciprocate. Sans became the fool for the king. Days passed and Gaster watched as Frisk returned to SNowdin, and slept on the couch in his sons home. He watched as the kid build a snowman and then eat cold leftovers from Papyrus cooking.
No monster that managed to evacuate, dared to come close to them. No one crossed their way. Nearly no one.
Flowey asked them what were they doing in that charming way he tried to be more intimidating.
"Vacation."
Gaster was sure his and flowey face were identically disbelieving. Flowey informed the king and Sans about it. Asgore wanted to try and talk with Frisk to resolve this maybe over a cup of tea. Except Sans didnt let him, telling if he died too all the monsters that were hiding would simple fall with their last hope lost.
In the tenth night after the talk with his son, the king sneaked away from the sleeping skeleton that stayed by his side every moment of the day. Supporting and being a good and supportive company. He walked without stopping until he was in front of the six souls.
"Howdy! What are you thinking you are doing there?~" Flowey popped behind the king who jumped in place his palm outstretched to take the human soul. The king didnt get to say anything even akin to a defence as little Flowey the flower, ones ago Asriel their prince who died and who was reborn with out his soul surrounded his father with flower petals.
Asgore could only manage to be surprised as his body fall to dust. Flowey killed him, the king soul lingered vulnerable and helpless.
"Cant have you go through that now. I will never let you absorb any human soul. Ever." The flower smashed the king soul. That was an interesting reaction. Quite fascinating actually. Would Asgore... he would if he saw no other way. He was watching him about to do it. The king was only seconds away from trying to consume all the six souls and take care of that danger... Gaster knew him well enough... He explained the effect of absorption would have, even back then Gaster wasnt sure if the king was asking him to explain to understand how it had to be for his son... or if he was asking for himself.
The more curious portion of him, had to wonder if the king action would transform him in similar fashion like flowey? Omega Asgore? Even more interesting was that this was the reason flowey kept murdering his king...
In the following morning Sans called the kid, they didnt pick up, but few hours later they loaded. They were back in the golden hall.
It continued.
Gaster was on the phone practicing with his candidate how he was supposed to sound to win them all. The man didnt always like what the doctor told him. But there was no denying the visible results that came from following the advice. Gaster eyes were still on the screen. Sans was sparing Frisk...
"Huh? Dr gaster, you stopped mid word is some-"
"Call me later."
His blaster barked at the screen. It was obvious Frisk was unable to make a choice. The child with the knife simple stared at the skeleton they were so vigorously trying to kill for mounts now. Wing and Ding sensed their master distress and slowly stood up from their spot. The spot along the wall where they lay for hours upon hours observing their master and keeping him safe. Sometimes even from himself.
"Sans... revenge will not feel good... You will only anger them and make them more determined to get you back... stop it."
Frisk was having an internal battle, knife actually shaking. The kid wanted to accept mercy, after everything to give up was so tempting. But they were determined to stick with their choices. It was agonizing how slowly Frisk was moving towards Sans outstretched arms. Then without a word the knife dropped out their palm. There was a look of hope in the kids eyes. A shine that Gaster didnt see in years.
Hope was the start...
And the doctor looked away, waiting to hear it what he knew was coming.
Sans hesitated half a second before he continued with his plan. The sound of bone piercing flesh a really well know sound by the observing monster. As the kid was dying Sans teased them as if he would a good friend after they sat on a whoopee cushion. He looked again. Telling them if they were still friends, Frisk wouldnt return. The absolute burning rage and determination were like two red flames in their eyes. For a moment Frisk eyes were red. Did the determination leaked out their soul tinting their eyes?
Then came the silence.
"... yeah paps would be absolutely vivid with me... then i cant imagine him angry, hehehe..." Sans spoke to no one in particular... but the scientists watching imagined the words were directed at him.
"No, he would be something much worse for PUNishment. He would be disappointed."
"before we moved to snowdin and assert ourself... we spend a lot of time in waterfall... i remember the time when pap was simple walking around the echo flowers. i think he was searching for him... he didnt remember, at that time neither did i... but he was looking. there was this one time he simply stood still looking at the ceiling. echo flowers whispering around him. As if waiting to hear something..."
Hearing it made it so much harder... it must have been unbearable having a part of life erased, motivation and idol simple gone leaving a hole in their minds.
"he held a purple scarf in his hands. when i called out for him, he placed it around one of the flowers in a caring fashion. i asked him where he got it... he told me that he picked in the dump and that we should go. then we came to snowdin and soon after pap declared out the blue he would be a royal guard to serve the king... hehe... when i started piecing things together, he was already asking undyne to train him... i wondered if we visited echo flowers often... "
They did, he enjoyed and liked the whispers of flowers. It made him feel less alone, and when Sans and Papyrus entered his life they would often found him there when he was having a bad day or felt like hope would slip his fingers away.
"he tried to make peace and move on... i am positive he tried...but... you know something i realized while fighting frisk here and now... the basement is much more cleaner then it should be if i was the only one going down there. i never cleaned it... yet it doesnt have a blanket of dirt...i am wondering if pap maybe hid things from me too...like i did from him... i wonder-"
The reset interrupted the slow monologue Sans was having. Leaving Gaster in a emotional mess, the determination was pulsing encouragingly in his chest, his own hopes twisting... could both his sons have some recollection of him?
Just as awaited Frisk was fighting with a new sense of determination. Their determination burning, even so... Sans will not last much longer.
Time was passing in a blur. Was it the next load or did months pass by? Sans never repeated the musing he had that one time about Papyrus. Frisk landed the one hit.
Gaster fingers twitched both Wing and Ding were nuzzling against his leg as he was shaking. This should not affect him like this. It was just a matter of time until the child lands one hit. He was waiting for it for months. He shouldnt feel anything, because now with Sans out the way only Asgore was left and... Gaster had a feeling Flowey would kill the king. With the results of their actions so clear, knowing that any monster left will fall they will reset.
Everyone will be alive again and then... and then... he still lacked a way to reach them. He held back his urge to yell.
Frisk watched Sans dust, then the kid didnt move. The human stood there not moving. A face filled with disappointment and a sensation of being lost. Instead of going towards Asgore they loaded.
Frisk was grinning at Sans looking happy and joyful even. His son was clever, he understood that he had lost. And yet Frisk dragged him back from dead. Gaster could see the brief fear in Sans body, then the anger came back and things continued once more. Now it was nearly like a dance. A anger filled dance.
Frisk still died.
Not as much...
They took one more vacation and then loaded it all over again. Frisk would walk up to his son, and stepped over the line, to fight.
Until Frisk didnt suffer a single hit.
Only then did the kid move on. Elliot won the election. Gaster rejected the offer to be on the inauguration ceremony. He offered advice in his cabinet picks.
He knew Elliot was giving his speech right about now as he watched Frisk step down the hall with a slow and light step. There it was... Asgore was trying to talk Frisk down... He had no chance, Flowey took his life.
With the king gone no monster will have hope left. No one was left to replace that position, no one to give hope to the survivors regardless how little of them were left. In some days maybe weeks? The underground will be empty. Curiously Gaster wondered if Gerson would be the last monster alive. He felt like that would be the case. The old turtle had a knack for living on.
Frisk killed Flowey.
That he didnt await.
But then something else was happening on the screen.
Another child was standing now in front of Frisk. The feeling of void slowly wrapping around the kings garden. Frisk didnt look up, neither were they phased by the appearance. Gaster soul twitched at the sight. The cloths, the hair and the voice... He knew them so well.
"Chara..." And the two kids spoke, that was Chara. The soul was awakened when Frisk came... At first chara was confused... to think that both children didnt properly move on ...to think that when Asriel was confusing Frisk with Chara he wasnt so much as confusing them because they looked alike but because charas determination was intertwined with Frisk and every action Frisk took Chara was there along the ride.
His scientist mind suddenly had an epiphany. It couldnt be, could it?
Gaster took the phone to keep watching as he was running out the door with hands full of the right instruments. Wing and Ding only half a step behind him. Barking and keeping an eye so he wouldnt fall to his death in his haste. They were already old dogs and running like that was not the thing they were as good as when they were younger, yet they didnt leave the man alone. He heard the plan of the kids.
"Erase?! No, do not dare to collapse the time! The kinds of effects it would have on the surface time would be catastrophic... that is if the anomaly would drop when such a thing would happen."
He was putting his instruments up working on, his knees in the dirt the walls of the anomaly in front of him. He worked faster than he ever did in his both lives. He had to do it before the next reset... or erasing.
Frisk was thinking about the decision on hand.
Gaster begged Frisk to be in doubt just long enough he could... a soft ping.
He was right.
He ...
He realized what it meant for him...
Fingers touched his own chest.
The determination that held his soul together... It came from... It would mean... would be...
Frisk decided against erasing. Reasoning that a second run from the start will make sure they didnt miss anything.
"Oh you did miss something. You missed me!" Gaster howled back at the kid, he was running out the time.
He knew what he could do now...
He had a plan...
He needed to break a promise.