"While we are not sure exactly how Mr. Gatlin was electrocuted, most of our theories come down to a personal safety oversight. I'm aware that many of you might doubt that thanks to the strange happenings around the CORE lately, but we have reason to believe Mr. Gatlin fell victim to a genuine mistake that, sadly, took his life. So I implore you all to continue to be as safe as you possibly can be so that we don't lose any more fine people to accidents or oversights. I have promised you in the past that if I even suspect a threat to the well-being of anyone in the CORE, I will shut down the power generation to the barest minimum. But as it stands, this was an accident and not a continuous threat. Work will continue as normal, and I will continue hunting for the cause of these malfunctions. I do not believe the CORE is dangerous to any of you, any more than it was when it first came online. Just be vigilant, and make sure to work in pairs as much as possible just in case of accidents. Thank you all for your time, but before I let you go… I would like to inform you all that my son, Sans, is going to be working with us again for a while. So please give him your respect and cooperation. He is every bit as concerned for your well-being as I am. Thank you again."

…

February 6th, 213X

…

Gaster finally stepped out of the conference room with a sigh, rubbing his temples. Talking to a big group of worried and scared people was never easy. Talking about a death on the premises was even harder. Feeling Aria's hand on his elbow, he looked down at the smaller woman. He didn't try to hide how tired he was. Aria was an old friend who could read him well and she would be able to tell anyway. "Where are Sans and Frisk?"

"Still messing with the capacitor."

"With safety gear, I hope."

"If Sans is anything like you, I doubt it." Gaster sighed at that, stepping away as people filtered out of the conference room. Aria followed and watched Gaster stop by the maintenance storage to pick up a few pairs of rubber gloves. They headed back for power storage, relieved to find the stench of burnt flesh had gone away thanks to the ventilation. Stepping in, Gaster dropped a pair of gloves next to where Sans was kneeling, examining and picking through the killer capacitor with bare hands.

"Do me a favor and don't give me a second funeral to attend," Gaster muttered, pulling on a pair for himself, and leaving the extra pair aside should they need Aria's help.

"I'm fine, Dad. It's drained."

"It was supposedly drained when Gatlin was messing with it too. Who knows what might happen."

"I've checked the whole thing, and there's nothing lef-" A loud crackle made them all jump, a blood-red arc bolting out from an exposed cable to connect with a screwdriver laying next to Sans' hand.

The silence afterward was deafening as they all stared at the capacitor, until Sans finally, slowly, stood up and pulled them all back and away. "Let's uh… let's not, shall we?"

"Why was it red?" Frisk asked quietly, clutching Sans' sleeve.

"I've seen red lightning, before… but not that kind of red," Aria murmured, realizing she too was clutching Sans and Gaster's jackets.

"Dad…" Sans looked up at his silent father and saw recognition and horror in the older man's face as he stared at the capacitor. Gaster's one eye slowly met Sans', and for just a moment, Frisk saw Gaster's emerald eye and Sans' blue eye both turn purple and glow ever so slightly.

"Aria…" Gaster's voice was quiet and calm, but Aria could hear something like… terror, despite his mildly surprised expression. "Evacuate the CORE."

"What?"

"Now. Get on the PA system and announce Code Nine." Aria bolted from the room at that, and Sans' brow furrowed.

"What's Code Nine?"

"An imminent threat to living things in the entirety of Mount Under.… I created it for situations like unstoppable fires or explosions… but I wish I had a Code Ten for this." Gaster motioned for them to follow him. "We aren't in danger right now… but who knows when we will be."

"What's happening?" Frisk asked, following the two out into the hall and toward the exit. "What was that? Why are you two calm if this is so dangerous?"

"Because being scared ain't gonna help," Sans answered quietly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I'll explain, but we gotta make sure everyone's safe first. What're we gonna tell them, Dad?"

"… I don't know. We can't tell them the truth, though."

"Leave it to me, then. I got this." Sans took the lead. Soon the PA system kicked on with an annoying beep broadcast through the entire CORE, and Aria's voice was soon echoing around the mountain.

"Attention all CORE staff and visitors. This is an emergency announcement. Repeat, attention all CORE staff and visitors. This is an emergency announcement. Dr. W.D. Gaster has declared Code Nine. Code Nine. Please safely stop all ongoing processes in the CORE and evacuate quickly and calmly to the front lot and await further instruction. This is not a drill. Repeat…"

Aria's voice was still audible even in the front lot where Sans jumped up on the hood of Aria's car and then climbed up on the roof so he'd be the first thing people saw when they came flooding out. Frisk waited below, and Gaster left them to go into the lobby to reception and lock open all the main automatic doors between the CORE chamber and the front of the building so there would be minimal crowding and backups.

People began filtering out before long, gathering around Aria's car when they saw Sans motioning them all over, calling for them to come away from the doors so more people could get out. When a few stragglers came out, soon followed by Gaster, Sans shouted above the low rumble of the crowd.

"Listen up, attention everyone!" Sans bellowed, his powerful voice echoing off the mountainside and making the murmur of the crowd die down. "Eyes on me! I need all supervisors to confirm all your teams are out safely! We'll explain in a minute! Maintenance crews to my right, science division on my left, monitoring division in front of me, and anyone not part of a working group needs to go to the receptionists so they can account for all visitors and non-typical staff!"

Sans watched the crowd begin to mill around and glanced down as Gaster approached. "Give me a hand up, son," Gaster muttered, climbing up on the car hood. Sans offered an arm and helped his father over the windshield and onto the roof beside him.

Once the noise began to die down, Gaster pulled out his phone and tapped a few times until he accessed the CORE's staff database. "Supervisors, sound off when I call your name, and tell me if anyone is missing."

While Gaster did that, Sans looked to the open doors to see one last straggler hurrying out, quickly given directions by someone else of where to go. Sans' brows furrowed. Where was Aria? She might've been lost in the crowd, being of average height. But he couldn't pick out her blonde pixie cut near the doors or in the group of scientists.

"Artur?"

"All present!"

"Ultagi?"

"All accounted for!"

"Carter?" Sans shouted before Gaster could continue. There was a long silence, and Sans heard Gaster's phone clatter off the car and onto the icy pavement. "Dad!" Sans tried to grab his arm, but Gaster had already slid down the windshield and leapt off the car hood. "Shit…" Sans looked at the confused crowd. "Singh?!" He yelled for one of the senior scientists who regularly worked in the CORE.

"Yes, sir!"

"Keep everyone out here! No one goes back in without our all-clear!"

"Understood!"

Sans hardly heard the response, leaping from the car roof and bolting for the door where Gaster had disappeared inside. Sans heard someone follow, and he glanced back to see Frisk keeping up with their longer stride as they entered the main hall. Sans wasn't going to tell them to go back. Frisk wouldn't do it anyway.

Leading the way toward central communications where the PA system was held, Sans and Frisk turned down another, smaller hallway and both slid to a halt upon seeing Gaster standing before an open door on the right further down, staring wide-eyed at whatever was inside the room. His one eye was blazing bright purple, and in response, Frisk saw Sans' own eye flare blue energy, ready to fight whatever had petrified Gaster.

Sans broke into a sprint once more, sliding in front of his father with his left hand engulfed in blue light. Frisk had followed, grabbing Gaster and forcing him to step backward away from Sans. Just for a moment, Frisk looked inside, and they froze with their fingers clenched on Gaster's sleeves. They only saw a fleeting trace, but those red eyes were unmistakable. Any chance of seeing a shape was ruined when a massive beam of energy lit up the entire darkened room blue, and left a dark circular char on the back wall that glowed briefly and smoked before cooling.

Sans was suddenly panting, and his chest burned like someone had just poured acid from his right collarbone to the right side of his ribs. A sudden warmth on his left shoulder made his breath catch seeing purple light around his father's scarred hand. That hand clenched in Sans' hoodie, pulling him aside when Sans didn't put up any resistance. Frisk and Sans both watched Gaster take a few steps into the dark room, his once-emerald eye still purple, and the ethereal flames around his hands growing brighter and brighter until they lit the room before him.

Collapsed on the floor before the PA microphone was a small, curvy lady in a white lab coat with a blonde pixie cut. But the coat was no longer entirely white, and there was a chillingly familiar kitchen knife laying in a mysterious crimson pool that was gathering from the woman's right side.

"Aria…" Gaster whispered. He couldn't think straight. She needed his help. But he couldn't move anymore. Two blurred shapes passed him and hovered around her, but Gaster wasn't sure what was happening until a flash of green lit Aria's form, and Gaster saw a faint, much lighter green shape rise out of Aria's chest. Sans was drawing her soul out… trying to heal her. Sans wasn't good at healing… but Gaster was. He should be helping… Why couldn't he move?

"Gaster!" His blazing purple eye suddenly focused on a face before him. Oh. Frisk had grabbed him by the shoulders. "Focus! Save her!" Somehow, those words clicked a second later and Gaster shoved Frisk aside to fall to his knees, not caring about the blood soaking into his trousers. The purple light around his hands was suddenly a brilliant green, overwhelming even Sans' powerful light show. Even Gaster had to close his eye against the intensity of the light a few seconds later. His own soul, a deep purple hue, drifted from his chest. It was huge for a soul, but it was terribly damaged and the shape was unrecognizable. It slowly drew near Aria's, and her own shivered, seeking refuge in the green light and the purple soul's embrace.

The feeling of wrapping another soul in his own wasn't unfamiliar, but Gaster had only done that to his own children, close friends, and his late wife when they'd been badly hurt or in need of comfort. It was the only way to keep Aria clinging to life long enough to get her to a hospital.

"Pick her up…" Gaster whispered, his voice almost lost in the sound of rising energy that was like an electrical hum, only much smoother and almost… musical. Every soul had a particular sound when its power blazed. This was the sound of Gaster's with the weak sound of Aria's.

Sans let his own power fade away and he and Frisk wrapped Aria up in Sans' hoodie and lifted her up in a chair hold between them. Gaster's hands remained outstretched and he followed them as they made the slow trek back outside where it had begun to snow.

Gaster didn't hear the gasps of horror from the crowd as they saw Aria, nor those of shock at the energy and magic before them. Dr. Singh, a slightly-chubby scientist with short black hair and glasses, was one of the few not afraid of the energy, and hurried forward to open up the back of Aria's SUV for Sans and Frisk. He put the back seats down and Aria was carefully laid inside. Gaster climbed in beside her and the back hatch was shut. Sans and Frisk jumped into the front seats and Frisk started the car. Thanks to Dr. Singh, a path was quickly cleared from the lot to the road down the mountain. It took a while to work carefully down the mountainside, but once on the highway, Frisk gradually sped up, ignoring the speedometer passing the area limit.

Sans turned in his seat to look back at Aria and Gaster, and found his father had laid down with Aria clutched tightly to his chest. Both of them were completely engulfed in green light, and Gaster was holding pressure over the awful stab wound under Aria's ribs on the right side. Sans still couldn't believe what he'd seen… how could they have been there…? Those red eyes were unmistakable, and Aria was definitely on death's doorstep… so why did he still doubt he'd seen Chara Dreemurr?