Chapter 6 : Wasteland

The first thing I did was to lock the lab and returned the key, making sure it was placed at the exact same place like before, later I quickly picked up the phone and called my dad.

Ring….Ring…..

1 minute has passed…3 minute has passed…I just stood there and waited. Around 5 minutes later, the waiting sound of the phone was replaced by my dad's business voicemail greeting. As I dialed the phone, I felt my mind was racing and panic started to raise inside me. Part of me was scared about my dad's reaction, how would he reacted on his son finding his dark secret? At the same time I felt really worry about him, what if the Royal guards find out about him? What would they do to him? The more I thought about this, the more nervous I'm.

In the progress, I've tried to call my dad's friend, hoping he will know where my dad was, yet for some reason I can't contact him. After few more attempts, I decided to give up and left a quicker voice message, telling both of them to call me as soon as possible. Later I just laid down on the couch and stared at the ceiling blankly.

While I was waiting, I can't help and started to think about what would happen if my dad got imprisoned/ got executed. Different sceneries began to play inside my head: Me and Papyrus watching dad being sent to jail by Royal guards, dad suffered in jail, Papyrus crying and he locked himself inside the room, crying himself to sleep….Thinking such sceneries made my heart ache and I can't stand any of them suffering. I quickly got up and picked up the phone again, as I expected, my dad's phone was unreachable.

At that moment, I've decided that I need to go to Hotland and find him. Even I don't know where his working place exactly was, waiting my dad/ his friend's call won't do anything good.

'Heya dad, it's Sans here. I'm coming to Hotland and pay you a visit, there's something really urgent and important I need to discuss with you. Please call me as soon as possible and many thanks.'

After leaving my voice message, I quickly packed up few things and began to focus my mind on getting myself to Hotland, few seconds later, a rift appeared in front of me and I stepped inside. In the blink of my eye (eye socket), I was standing next to the giant Hotland LED sign. I walked cautiously and scanned my surroundings, after making sure no one was nearby, I pulled out a map which shows the whole area of Hotland and studied it.

Hotland was the largest area in the Underground and it divided into few parts. All areas were surrounded by lava and there's not much to visit except 2 labs, one was located near the entrance and another located near the Capital, which was also the King's castle. Before my dad stopped answering my calls, I remembered him mentioned he worked near the King's castle. Without hesitation, I decided to teleport towards the Capital, hoping I can find his exact location. Just when I was about to make a rift, I heard a massive boom from far ahead and felt the ground rumbled loudly. I ignored the noise and focused, later found myself standing near the entrance of the Capital. I quickly rushed towards the lab while praying my dad will be safe in the process, yet I only 'greeted' by a ruined structure which lava began to flow inside and black smoke raising above it.

'Dad?' I called out while slowly approaching the former lab.

Near the structure, I saw there were lots of broken equipment and science machine which I don't even know what they were lying on the ground, there were burnt paper and document scattered around the place and some of it started to catch on fire. The whole place was a mess and I don't see anyone around the area.

'Dad? Can you hear me?' I called out again, while lifting some of the structure away with my magic, hoping to find my dad.

During the process, something shiny caught my attention and I quickly picked it up and examined it.

Royal Science Department Identification Card

Name: W.D. Gaster. (ID. 00666666)

Sex: Male Date of birth: 05-01-XXXX

Authority: Royal Scientist Security Level: L4

The moment I read my dad's ID card, I felt my mind was racing and I held the card tightly. Desperation have took over me at that time and I sort of losing control of myself, I ran around the place like a maniac and searching blindly without caring what's going around me. Sometime later, I felt my desperation slowly died out. I just kneeled down on the ground and stared at the structure blankly, breathing shakily.

Dad….please don't leave me and Papyrus…..

The sound of footstep and shouting has 'awakened' me from numbness. I quickly got up, making sure my dad's ID card was tucked safely inside my pocket and teleported back to my house. By the time I got back, I quickly went towards my room and checked on Papyrus, later found that he has woke up and there were tears on his eye sockets. Without thinking, I walked forward and hugged him. Papyrus immediately hugged me back and he started crying again.

'It's alright Paps…I'm here…' I said, trying my best to smile.

'I…I had a bad dream just now ….and my head hurts….'Papyrus said. 'I saw you and a man leaving me behind in the dark….you said you don't love me anymore….'

'You're my only and beloved brother….I won't do anything to hurt or even leave you, the thing you saw just now was not real…it's just a dream.' I said.

'But it's so real…I…I can show you how the man looked like!' Papyrus quickly got out of his bed and pointed at one of his pictures which he drew dad smiling happily. 'He's really scary and I saw his body melted into a puddle of black goo….the creepiest thing is the goo man reminds me something strangely familiar about this man on this picture… speaking of which, did you draw this?'

'You drew this picture 3 days ago, remember?' I said.

Papyrus stared at me blankly and tilted his head on one side, confused. Something aren't right about this….

'Did I…?' Papyrus asked.

'You said you really miss dad and wanted to see him again…..' I said, trying to remain calm and help Papyrus to recall his memories. 'You even asked me to help you to draw some of the parts….'

Papyrus shutted his eye socket tightly and thought to himself for a while.

'Nope….I have no idea who this man is….' Papyrus said after few minutes. 'Do we have a dad?'

'Ok….seriously, that's not funny…..maybe you should try another way to mess with me….' I said, started to get annoyed.

'I'm serious, Sans!' Papyrus said, locking his eye socket firmly on me.

Whenever Papyrus was serious, he'll locked his eye socket firmly on a person, in addition he's bad at lying. Even he tries to prank with me, I can easily 'avoid'/ outsmart him. Sensing papyrus was telling the truth, I slowly took out dad's ID card and showed it to him.

'You sure you don't remember him?' I asked. 'Our dad? The one who tell you bedtime stories and tug you into bed before he went…..'

Before I can finished the sentence, I noticed dad's face and his name were blackened, like it's been burnt out badly by fire which I couldn't see his appearance and the letters. How did this happen?

'Is this your stupid prank again?' Papyrus asked, looked tired.

'No….I swear….I didn't create these marks on the card.' I said.

'Brother…aren't you little too old for this?' Papyrus said, annoyed. 'Also can you leave me alone for a while?'

'Sure….bro….'I said, later closed the door and left wearily.

I went downstairs and laid down on the couch, feeling confused and overwhelmed by what I saw in Hotland. So many questions need to be answered and I felt my head was aching.

What the hell is going on!?

(END OF CHAPTER 6)