"Sans. Leave them alone."
A stern voice breaks you out of your contemplation of the differently colored heart shaped human souls in the glass jars in front of you. You've been leaning on the counter they rested on, with your skull on your folded bony arms, staring into their depths...wondering if they can feel anything. Can they sense your presence?
You turn on the stool you're sitting on, to face Gaster, your father.
His tall skeletal frame is a little imposing over your small one. You're only twelve, after all, and you're short for your age. But you don't hesitate as you look up at his cranky, but mostly good natured face.
"sorry, dad. looking at them in there is a little jarring."
He snorts. "You know I don't find your attempts at comedic interludes entertaining. They are an unnecessary distraction from my work."
Despite what he says, his eye lights brightened at your pun.
You want to cheer him up. Over the last month, there's been a sharp shift downward in his mood. You're not quite sure why. But in your work and studies with him at the lab, you've been noticing him occasionally looking at the six souls.
Now seems like a good time to ask.
"hey, uh, dad, i don't mean tibia annoying-" He glares at you.
"-but you don't seem, uh, exactly happy lately. is it something i did?"
"What!" Gaster seems stunned. "No, no, of course not! Never think that! I'm quite proud of you and your scientific achievements here, especially relating to spatial and temporal studies!"
He looks down, and then once again, as so many times in the past month, his gaze is drawn to the human souls. He freezes up as he stares at them.
His gaunt expression has traces of terror in it, which you're not used to seeing on him. He's usually so strong and capable.
He exhales loudly as he seems to come to a decision. "I suppose...since you are my assistant here, I have the right to tell you. You are aware, I'm sure, that most of our research here involves trying to free the monsters from the barrier, so we can escape our underground prison."
You nod. "sure. that's why you got me doing experiments with space and time, so we could find a way around it."
"That's correct...it hasn't worked, but it was a good idea, and it was mostly yours. Instead of undoing the magic of the barrier, why not simply evade it? Even though it hasn't worked as of the present time, I still believe that avenue of research may be the answer."
He's silent for a long time, struggling with his words.
"but?" you prompt.
"The king has been getting impatient. We have six human souls. We only need one more to undo the magic of the barrier the normal way. But no human has come down here in years. He has asked me to see if there is a way we can use the six souls we already have - to make them be enough, somehow."
He starts pacing, highly agitated. "I told him that could put enormous stress on the souls. I don't think he understood. Perhaps, in fact, he does not care. Ever since the humans killed his son, it's as though he has almost no ability to feel compassion for humans. Otherwise, why would he have been able to kill so many human children?"
"did he really kill them in cold blood, or after they started fighting him?"
"He killed them in battle, after they both agreed to fight. He justified it by saying they were after his soul, to escape the underground. While technically that's true, he never offered them another way. He could've asked them to stay here with us instead. I think he's fooling himself. He asked children to make a life or death decision like that, and blamed the consequences on them, instead of himself, for not resolving things peacefully."
Gaster clutches one of his forearms with the tips of his phalanges in his agitation, hard enough that you can see visible scratches on his radius and ulna bones afterward.
"He...Asgore... is my friend. I do not like to think of him as a murderer...I could justify it by saying we are at war with humans. We are desperate, trapped down here with no end in sight. But that doesn't make killing children right. Nothing justifies that..."
Being only twelve, some of this feels over your head. But you're pretty intelligent, and you hate to see your father so distressed. So you try to help him think it through.
"if it helps at all..." you say quietly. "i think you're right about that. we should find another way."
"I know!" Gaster stops and yells suddenly at the ceiling. "I know..." He buries his skull in his hands. "But should I really put my morals over the freedom of all monsters? Maybe this is a sacrifice I have to make...If the cost of their freedom is the conscience of one monster...maybe that is worth it."
You shake your head slowly. That doesn't sound right to you. Gaster glances at you sharply and answers your unspoken disagreement by explaining further.
"He has threatened me...that if I don't try, he'll take the six souls and consume them...and try to break the barrier on his own. It will turn him into a horrific beast, and it will kill him."
Gaster growls angrily, "He is a fool. But I don't want him to die."
"didn't you want to return the human children to life someday...?" you ask.
"That's correct. I created stasis pods for their physical forms inside of their coffins...so that if perhaps we gained seven souls, they would be able to return to their bodies and leave the underground, after breaking the barrier for us. It seemed like the least we could do for them, after the horrors we've inflicted on them. First by Asgore killing them, then by keeping their souls caged like this, and then by making them work for us to destroy the barrier."
"but if asgore consumes them..."
"Then their souls will merge with his, until both he and they burn out their strength and disappear together. In that case, there will be no opportunity to return them to life."
"hmm." You consider. "that's an awful set of moral issues."
"It's a double bind. Either way, I'll probably hurt multiple people badly."
"he should never have put you in this position."
"Well. He has, and now I've got to deal with it. But this isn't your problem. I want to keep you out of this. Which means, from now on, Sans, I am asking you to keep away from the souls. Do not involve yourself with any research about them, and stay out of this room from now on."
You feel hurt, but you understand he's trying to protect you from the moral implications of these issues.
"ok. i get it." You hop off the stool and shuffle quietly out of the room.
"Sans." Gaster's voice calls you. "Please do not assume such a depressed air. I did not...I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
You turn and he kneels down next to you and gives you a hug, which you return.
"Let me deal with this," he says softly.
"ok," you answer.
But as you leave, small cerulean tears begin escaping your eye sockets against your will, and you intentionally don't wipe them away from your cheek bones so Gaster won't realize you're crying until you're out of the room.
You have a bad feeling that nothing's ever going to be the same again.