(Alright, time to get back to this one! When was the last time I update- ... oh... shit. Um, OK, this was waaaaaaay overdue. Sorry 'bout that! I... honestly have no excuse.)
Frisk tilted their head curiously as Harry knelt down on the ground in front of a small group of flowers. He seemed to be looking for something, so Frisk knelt down as well next to him, and looked as well, curious.
"what'cha doing kids?" Sans asked as he walked up to them. Harry turned to the skeleton and bit his lip.
"Well… we're going to see someone named Undyne right? And… you guys said Undyne is a girl?" Harry replied, earning a nod from Sans. "Well, aunt Petunia said that whenever you meet a girl you should bring her flowers, so I'm looking for some flowers to give Undyne."
"THAT IS A GREAT IDEA! UNDYNE LOVES GIFTS! I'M SURE SHE'LL LOVE WHATEVER FLOWERS YOU BRING HER!" Papyrus called out, grinning. Harry gave a sheepish smile and picked a few flowers from the ground, holding them close to his body so they wouldn't get too cold.
The four of them walked further into the caverns, until they reached a place with some tall grass. There, was awaiting a person in a large suit of armor, who turned when they heard footsteps. They stomped up to the group, the metal boots clanking against the rock.
"Papyrus, what is that?" A voice echoed from the suit, making Harry tense. "Are those humans?"
"YES AND NO! ONE OF THEM IS BUT ONE IS A HALFLING! THEY WANT TO HELP US BREAK THE BARRIER!" Papyrus explained, gently pushing Harry and Frisk forward. The boy was shaking like a leaf, but Frisk only waved at the figure.
"You really want to help us break the barrier huh? Do you know what that means? That means you'll have to give up your SOUL human." The person, whom Harry assumed was Undyne, said. Her voice was serious and cold.
"W-well… um, we thought that maybe we can find another way! That won't require them to uh… die…" Harry squeaked out, his voice trembling. Undyne turned to him, her eye squinting behind the helmet.
"You're the halfling right? What are you doing here? And why are you so young looking?" She questioned.
"Um… I don't know…" Squirming nervously, Harry looked at the floor as he spoke. Frisk put a comforting hand on his shoulder and turned to Undyne.
"To be honest, we're just as clueless about that as you but… we want to help you guys go free! We were thinking because Harry is a halfling maybe he can help break the barrier! Plus, I'm pretty determined, so I won't give up until we break it!" They yelled, smiling at the monster.
Undyne looked at the two skeptically for a bit, then turned her attention to the two skeletons. Papyrus was grinning, albeit a bit nervously, while Sans just shrugged.
"it's worth a shot right? alphys might be able to figure something out." Sans said in his usual laid back tone. Undyne groaned, unable to bring herself to argue. It wasn't a bad plan, but she didn't quite know how powerful a halfling was, and if one was powerful enough to break the barrier. But, the kids seemed genuine.
"Alright fine. But if you two try anything funny, I'll beat you up." She said, taking off her helmet. Harry bit his lip and held out the flowers to Undyne.
"Th-thank you for giving us a chance. These are for you." He mumbled, still looking down. "I-if you don't want them I understand-" He was cut off by Undyne squatting down and taking the flowers from him gently.
"Err, thanks punk. I'm not sure where to put 'em but thanks." She replied, grinning. She put the flowers in her pocket, trying her best not to crush them. "You guys said you wanted to talk to Alphys right? You guys head off first, I gotta change out of this heavy armor. Later!" With that, Undyne ran off, leaving behind a very relieved human and half human.
"THAT WENT BETTER THAN EXPECTED!" Papyrus declared, hands on his hips and chest(?) puffed out proudly. "I WAS AFRAID UNDYNE WOULD BE TOO STUBBORN TO LISTEN TO US BUT APPARENTLY SHE'S IN A GOOD MOOD TODAY!"
"might've been 'cause you were here bro." Sans remarked with a wink. "glad it went well though, now we can go see dr. alphys and have her check some things out."
Harry paused. 'Dr. Alphys'? The person they were going to was a doctor? He didn't like doctors that much. Although his Aunt and Uncle rarely took him to the doctors, the doctors they did take him too were mean and… ignored some of the more questionable things about Harry's condition.
The boy was broken out of his thoughts by Papyrus picking him up again, along with Frisk. The four walked through Waterfall for a while before Harry asked to be let down to look at the echo flowers.
It was nice walking through the area, it was calm and the smell of earth and water calmed him. However, the peace was broken when they walked past a gray door. It was odd, although sans and Papyrus didn't seem to notice it. Frisk glanced at it but started to walk away before Harry approached the door. Their hand raised to try and stop him, but they shrugged and opened it with him.
The room inside was a light gray, and the only person inside was… it almost looked like a skeleton but had a strange, melted like appearance. The figure jumped a bit as the two entered and looked around, as if looking for an exit.
"Um… hello? Are you OK?" Harry asked, approaching the person. They seemed to speak but the sound was unusual, like a mix of static and gibberish. "I-I'm sorry… but I can't understand you."
The person came closer, almost sliding across the floor. Suddenly, an extremely cracked and fragmented SOUL appeared in front of them, causing the figure to gain a shocked look on it's face.
Harry slowly approached the SOUL and placed a hand on it, and he could feel… something in his own SOUL stir and the cracks in the other's SOUL seemed to fill in, causing the figure to gain a more… solid form, gaining legs and arms instead of floating hands.
"Oh! Let me help!" Frisk shouted, running over and putting their hand on the SOUL as well, their own glowing brightly, causing the cracks to glow red as well as the SOUL healed, the combination of magic and determination seeming to fix whatever was wrong with it.
The figure backed away when the remaining cracks had filled in, taking a look at it's appearance.
"This is… interesting." The figure, apparently a man from his voice, spoke.
"A-are you OK sir? Um… what did I do?" Harry asked, tears forming in his eyes out of fear.
"You… did something remarkable children… Thank you… very much. My name is Doctor Wingdings Gaster." The man smiled at the children, kneeling down and holding out his hand.
"Are you a skeleton? Are you perhaps related to two other skeletons named Sans and Papyrus?" Frisk asked quickly, their eyes widening slightly. Gaster chuckled.
"I am indeed. They are my sons… I have not seen them in a long time… You see I was… not quite dead, but not quite alive either. I was in a limbo, unable to interact with the outside world… my existence was erased from the universe, however… it appears that you two were able to find a way to get around that, as well as bring myself from whatever void I was trapped in." He explained. "You two are quite powerful for how young you are."
"W-we are?" Harry was absolutely shocked as well as unbelieving, however Frisk seemed to be proud of it.
"If you're their dad then come with us! We're going to get everyone out of the Underground! You can reunite with your family! They'll be so happy!" The older child was bouncing up and down in excitement. Gaster seemed to agree and smiled at them.
The three exited the room, Frisk leading the way with Harry in the back, and immediately heard Sans and Papyrus calling for them.
"HUMAN?! HALFING?! WHERE ARE YOU TWO? DID YOU TWO GET LOST?"
"kids, if this is a joke it ain't funny"
"We're over here! We found someone!" Frisk yelled, and the two younger skeletons ran over, freezing when they saw Gaster.
"D-DAD?"
"n-no way…"
Meanwhile…
Toriel woke up slowly, feeling groggy and well rested. Once she got out of bed she went into the next room, ready to wake up the two children, but didn't see them.
Not too worried yet, she walked into the living room, expecting to see them there, but instead found a note, and dread filled her body as she read it.
"Those foolish children… they have no idea what they've gotten themselves into…" She whispered to herself. She debated for a moment whether to let them go, and hope for the best, or to go after them.
She recalled all the times she'd sat back and let the other children die, letting them go instead of stopping them. She remembered how she'd just hid in the Ruins instead of confronting Asgore for his misdeeds.
Feeling determination well up inside her, Toriel steeled her nerve and down the stairs, seeing the door to the Ruins wide open.
"Those two are in SO much trouble…" She growled under her breath.
Meanwhile… again…
Chara watched Harry and Frisk interact with the two skeledorks and the weeaboo fish lady with mild disinterest. This was far too boring and predictable! The two were just blowing through the Underground with friendliness and FLOWERS! The two didn't even run into fights anymore, not with Papyrus and Sans with them.
It was only when Gaster came into the picture that Chara became interested again. It shocked him that the two were able to bring Gaster out of the void so easily… Frisk couldn't have done that by themselves, and it seemed that when the human and halfling teamed up their power increased immensely. He had to admit, it was fascinating to know how powerful they were.
Now he watched as the skeleton family reunited, Papyrus hugging Gaster tightly and Sans looking away, obviously crying.
"I-I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT YOU EXISTED! I'M THE WORST SON EVER!" Papyrus sobbed out, hugging the scientist with all his might.
"I-it's not your fault Papyrus… It's… nice to see you all grown up." Gaster chuckled.
"jeez old man… where've you been all this time?" Sans asked, rubbing his eye sockets with his sleeve, turning around.
"Well… I've been, inbetween worlds, it's very complicated and would take quite a while to explain. But… you can thank these two for helping me. I'm not entirely sure how they did it, but I am very grateful." Gaster said, turning his head to Harry and Frisk, the latter of whom had their hands on their hips proudly.
Papyrus let out a squeal of delight and scooped up the children and his brother into a hug as well. Frisk and Sans laughed at Papyrus' enthusiasm while Harry went a bit tense before relaxing into the embrace.
"Hey, P-Papyrus, weren't we going to see Alphys? M-maybe she can figure out how Harry and I did it!" Frisk squeaked. "A-also, h-humans kind of need air to survive and I can't breathe!" Papyrus yelped and let the others go.
"I AM SO SORRY HUMAN! I WAS UNAWARE! BUT YOU ARE CORRECT, LET US GO AND SEE DR. ALPHYS!"
"yeah, i wanna ask her some questions… and maybe get these kids a check up, i mean, they fell down here and they might have some injuries we can't see." Sans said, looking straight at Harry.
Earlier, while Harry had been changing into Papyrus' old sweater, Sans had saw some… less than pleasant marks on the boy's body, greatly worrying him. He wondered just how Harry had fallen down, and what kind of life he'd had before that.
Harry squirmed slightly under Sans' gaze, but was distracted by Frisk putting a hand on his head.
"Don't worry about it! I'm sure Dr. Alphys is really nice!" They said, smiling widely. Harry gave a tiny smile back and the five of them were off.
Once they'd reached the Lab, the two children were worn out, having to be carried by Papyrus again. As soon as they entered, a yellow lizard like creature ran up to them.
"This is… I can't believe it!" She cried, staring at Harry and Frisk. "I-I mean, I saw you guys on the monitors but I didn't believe it! This is amazing!"
"whoa, alphys, calm down. it's not that big a deal. we actually need your help with some stuff, like figuring out what's up with this kid's SOUL and how the two of them brought my dad back from limbo." Sans explained.
"Perhaps it's better if we do introductions first, I think how fast this going is scaring the children." Gaster said, looking at Harry in particular, who was clutching Papyrus' scarf tightly.
"O-oh, of course. I'm Dr. Alphys, the royal scientist. Um… it's nice to meet you two!" Alphys greeted, smiling a bit.
"I'm Frisk!"
"I-I'm Harry…"
Alphys then turned to Sans after giving the children a small wave. "Um… you said there was something up with one of their SOULs?" She asked, and Frisk nudged Harry, prompting him to wave at Alphys. Papyrus set the younger child down.
"GO ON LITTLE HALFLING, DR. ALPHYS WON'T HURT YOU!" The skeleton encouraged. Harry approached her slowly, and his SOUL floated out, causing the lizard to gasp.
"I-incredible! I've never seen a halfling SOUL but… I'm pretty sure they don't have two colors…"
"three, there was another… little problem that i took care of." Sans replied, pulling out the jar with the SOUL fragment. "it was leeching off the little guy's SOUL like a parasite. maybe you could take a look at it." Sans then paused, taking a look at the white part of Harry's SOUL again. "weird… it looks… smaller than before."
"Smaller? How?" Harry asked. At that moment, the on the other side of the room slammed open violently and a tall, gangly looking person walked in, high heels clacking against the floor.
"ALPHYS DARLING I AM IN DESPERATE NEED OF YOUR HELP! I'VE BEEN TRYING OUT MY NEW FORM BUT I AM HAVING SUUUCH TROUBLE WITH THE BATTERY… life…" The person, a man if Harry had to guess from the voice, paused as he saw the children and skeletons.
"M-Mettaton! Oh, you came at a bad time… Umm…" Alphys muttered, but before she could say anymore Mettaton, as Alphys called him, walked forward with a grin on his face.
"Oh my! Aren't these two just absolutely darling! They're human yes? This is quite dreadful though, I was hoping to meet humans for the first time on the surface!" Mettaton cried out a bit too dramatically.
"ACTUALLY! WE'RE HERE SO THAT DR. ALPHYS CAN FIND OUT A WAY TO GET US OUT OF HERE WITHOUT HARMING THE HUMAN OR HALFLING!" Papyrus said, a big grin on his face, seeming very happy to be in Mettaton's presence.
"Ooh? Is that so? A halfling? That is so fascinating! Ah… your SOUL…" The robot commented, looking at Harry's SOUL.
"That's actually something we're trying to figure out, why his SOUL looks like that… Mettaton! Maybe you can help… um, it'd require leaving your body for a little bit but maybe you can investigate that SOUL…" Alphys muttered.
"Leave his body? What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Ooh, this is sooo embarrassing, but yes, this body is just a shell that this sweetheart Alphys made for me! I'm a ghost and she made me this body! It's very sweet of her. I suppose I can do it, though it'd be a bit difficult…Ah, but if it can help us get to the surface I'll do it!" Alphys smiled at Mettaton's agreement and ran off to get something. She returned with a small remote.
"A-Alright, I can calibrate your body so that you can leave the body, let's see what's going on!" Alphys pressed a few buttons and after a moment a pink spirit exited the body.
"Here we go! Swan Dive!" It called out before diving into Harry's SOUL.
Inside the SOUL…
Mettaton looked around curiously at the white-ish green area around him, before swimming around, glancing at various memories, frowning at some of them, making a note to tell the others about what he saw, before coming across… another skeleton?
"Hello? Who are you?" He called out and the skeleton turned around, giving him a small smile.
"Hello there, I… wasn't expecting you…" She, from her voice, said.
"You must be that other SOUL attached to the halfling's. Who are you?" Mettaton asked, hands on his nonexistent hips.
"I'm not here to do any harm. I am Lily Potter, Harry's mother. Or… well, what's left of her. You see, when Harry was a baby, I was murdered, but my SOUL was determined enough to latch onto Harry's to protect him from the man that killed me, and it worked. When he was almost killed my SOUL saved him from certain death." She explained.
"How did you get to the surface though?! Monsters have been trapped Underground for so long."
"Well, from what I know, a few skeletons managed to hide away from the humans, using various spells and glamours to hide as humans. When I was a baby, my mother, who was old and about to die, used her last bit of strength to cast a powerful glamour on me, disguising me as human for about 18 years, and left me on a human's doorstep with a note that could only be opened by me. When I turned 18, I read the note, which contained an explanation of my heritage and the spell to keep my human appearance… my husband… didn't know until we were about to be married. He was upset at first, but soon moved past it and we were wed. When Harry was born, I cast the glamour on him to hide his more… skeletal features." When Lily was done explaining, Mettaton had genuine tears in his eyes, touched by love this woman had for her son.
"Oh my… so you have been protecting your son all this time." He said, earning a nod from the skeleton.
"Yes… though, I wasn't able to completely protect him. A fragment of my killer's SOUL also latched onto Harry's, but the other skeleton, Sans was it, removed it. I am grateful. I also helped heal the other skeleton, Gaster's SOUL. I could… feel the love he had for his sons and I wanted to help. My power was very much drained, but I'm still here. Please, when you leave here, tell my son I love him. And please, protect him." The ghost agreed and left the SOUL, returning to his body.
"S-so, what'd you find out?" Alphys asked. Mettaton relayed what Lily had told him, and by the end of his story, Harry was in tears.
"S-so m-mom didn't die in a-a car crash? She-she died protecting me? And-and she loves me?" The boy sobbed, trying to hold back his tears. Frisk hugged him, rubbing his back.
"And… she brought me back to life… because she related to me… this is… I am very grateful to her…" Gaster said, kneeling next to Harry and patting his head. "Your mother is a wonderful person Harry."
"yeah kid. i mean, monster SOULs don't live outside their body for long, but for your mom's to survive long enough to protect you, she must've been very determined. its impressive." Sans agreed, hands in his pockets.
"DO NOT CRY HARRY! THIS IS A HAPPY MOMENT! YOUR MOTHER SAVED YOU! IT'S VERY SWEET! AND IF SHE HADN'T YOU WOULDN'T BE HERE TO MEET ALL OF US!" Papyrus added, a nervous smile on his face.
"I-I know but… wh-why did she have to die? Why-why couldn't she have stayed?" The young child asked, his shoulders shaking.
"I don't know Harry, but even though she's gone, you have the fact that she loved you alot, and now you have us! And we'll make sure you're happy OK? So c'mon, dry those tears." Frisk said, ruffling Harry's hair.
"O-Ok…"
"There is… one more thing darlings. While I was in there, I saw some… memories that were quite unpleasant. I never knew there could be vile humans like the ones I saw in those memories." Mettaton butted in, making Harry freeze.
"What do you mean?" Gaster asked.
"Well, from what I saw a whale, a horse and gorilla in a wig were being quite cruel to this little cutie here! It's a tragedy…" Everyone's eyes were on Harry, who curled in on himself, hiding his face.
"Harry… can you take off your shirt for me? I'm not going to hurt you, I just wanna look OK?" Gaster's voice was soft, and Harry sniffled, taking off his shirt, revealing several old scars.
Gaster stared at the scars for a few moments before helping the child put his shirt back on.
"Harry, Frisk, why don't you go upstairs while we talk OK? I'm sure Alphys has some books you can read." He finally said. Frisk grabbed Harry's hand and ran upstairs.
"From what I saw, the scars ranged from burn scars and some from what was most likely a belt of some kind." The ex-royal scientist's voice was stern, and he could see everyone in the room feel different levels of rage.
"what the hell? why?" Sans asked, his eye sockets going dark.
"I'm not sure. I'm positive that Harry didn't deserve it though. Whatever the case, it's most likely left several emotional scars as well as physical ones."
"WHAT… SHOULD WE DO?" Papyrus asked, his voice shaky. He was mad, but mostly confused why someone would do something so horrible to another person.
"Well, for now, we just be careful not to do anything that would upset him too much, and let him know that we're not going to hurt him, that we're here for him. That's the best we can do for now. I'm not a psychologist, and I'm guessing Alphys isn't one either." Gaster mused, sitting in a chair.
"That's a good idea… um… let's go see if he needs anything for now, and st-start on the letting him know we're not going to hurt him thing." Alpys suggested, leading the way upstairs once everyone nodded.
However, the children were not upstairs… and the door to the basement was open…