Chapter 10: Who is Who? (The Skeleton Brothers)
Since the Reset, Gaster, known as Wingding to Chara, had sat silently within his room and office, only leaving to make food and sleep. It had been almost two days since the timeline began anew (though in the Underground, time was difficult to discern).
Wingding! She's a child! She doesn't know what to do! All she knows is that... monsters keep attacking her. Maybe she could try to get away, but they keep coming, and after a while... she... snaps, I guess. So, she has to fight back. And they die. She doesn't know what they're thinking. She only knows she must survive!
She doesn't know what she must do to pacify monsters. She's scared, Wingding. She's scared. I know you hate humans, but if you wanted to stop the killing, when killing her only resets time, you should have befriended her. Shown her what to do.
That conversation, what Chara had said, continued to play in his mind. Chara was so mad, and she had left right after, taking Frisk with her. She was right, he realized. He had let his hatred control him.
But what could he have done...?
The short time before the Reset, Gaster had a call with someone who helped him the studying of the Resets. Like him, he could remember the other timelines, and because of this, he could help Gaster watch the kid's actions, study her. And he even communicated with the kid, gave her some tips. But he never guided her, never helped her. Both he and Gaster left her to fend for herself.
They let this happen...
But now Chara planned to handle this, assuming that the Reset didn't remove her from reality again.
"...yeah, i see where you're getting at," the voice on the other end said. "maybe we should've helped her. and you wouldn't be the first to say that."
"I'm not?" Gaster asked.
"yeah, it's a long story. for now, this chara person... she's an old friend of yours, right? you sure she can go back with the kid?"
"Frisk. The child's name is Frisk," Gaster corrected him. "And... I don't know if she can. But she believes that she's here to stay."
"welp, she's got to start somewhere. chara disappeared two decades ago, right? if that's the case, why not start with the kid?"
"I suppose, but we know that they need some time to leave the Ruins."
"yes. i'll keep an eye socket on them, don't worry."
"Thank you," Gaster replied, as he began to notice the world being enveloped in a bright white light. The sign of a Reset. "I'll see you in the next timeline."
Back to the present, so to speak, Gaster was considering what would happen next. Would Chara be okay? Would she have been successful so far? Would Frisk... would she be clean of the dust of slain monsters?
Then, he got a notice on his computer. A camera's motion sensor had been activated. Checking it, he found it was the camera placed at the end of the Ruins.
Gaster had installed this camera system to watch the Underground, helping the Royal Guard keep an eye on any humans, and so he could keep track of anomalies. After he left the position of Royal Scientist, he technically no longer had the authorization to use them, but since he made the system, he simply set up a backdoor account so he could access them.
On the screen, he could see Chara and the child, Frisk, exiting the Ruins. He smiled, happy to see that his old friend had made it through the Reset. Still, he didn't yet know what happened with them in the Ruins. He'd have to wait for a report from his partner in the field, or for Chara to make it back to his home in Waterfall, where she would, hopefully, come to see him. Until then, he could only watch, and rely on his partner.
After all, he was more than just an associate to Gaster...
As the chilly wind blew around us, I looked around us. A thick, dense forest surrounded us, with the towering trees bunched too close together to pass through, save for a snowy path where the trees were more sparse.
Suddenly there was a loud sound behind us. Frisk silently freaked out, jumping in front of me. I turned around, and found the large door behind us had slammed shut abruptly.
"I guess we're not going back that way..." I muttered. "At least, not easily..."
I looked up at the walls. From the outside, the Ruin's walls were weathered and aging, several cracks going along the purple stone. My gaze falling back down, my eyes rested on a snow-covered bush, ...and I swore I saw something... shiny in it?
Before I could examine it, Frisk grabbed my hand and started pulling me down the path.
"Geeze, was the door that scary?" I asked. I would've been more sarcastic about it, but at this point, I figured the kid might've legitimately been scared by the loud sound the door made.
However, Frisk simply shook her head, as she slowly pulled me along. She still seemed freaked out, though. Not knowing what was going on was starting to make me nervous at well.
As we wove in between the trees, I found a fallen branch on the ground, which we stepped over, not even touching it in any way. The reason I'm bringing this up... well, aside from the fact it was just inconspicuously there, I heard a loud SNAP, and looking back, I found that the branch had been snapped in half. But whatever caused it... wasn't there.
I was a little on edge after that, my eyes darting back and forth, trying to find anything out of place. And maybe fifteen seconds later, I found a shadowy figure walking behind some trees.
Eventually, we reached a small chasm, with a tiny bridge going across it with a barred gate on the other end.
As we attempted to cross (with me wanting to cross quickly), we suddenly heard the crunching of snow, heavy steps that were not our own, followed by a voice saying, "Human."
This voice was deep, cold, and almost inhuman. It reminded of my time on the surface, which were not good memories in the slightest, and thus terrified me. And this is coming from someone who grew up with someone who prided himself on being intimidating.
"Don't you know how to greet a new pal?" the mysterious stalker continued.
I clenched my fist, and I began to feel warmth in it as my magic started to ignite.
"Turn around and shake my hand."
I made sure Frisk was behind me as I slowly turned around. Covered in the shadows of the trees, the figure held out his hand. Slowly, I raised my own hand...
And snapped my fingers, signaling the summoning of my two blasters. The figure immediately jumped back the split second the magic weapons appeared, as if he sensed the magic before it fully formed.
Fiery power building in my blasters, I aimed them at the figure, but then I noticed that he had summoned a pair of magic constructs of his own, very familiar constructed, soul power building in them.
Without warning, our weapons fired, and my blaster's beams of concentrated flames collided with the pure white beams from his. And at this moment, I was able to get a full look at his weapons, and he was also finally able to fully acknowledge my blasters...
"Why do you have Gaster Blasters!?" we both cried out at the same time. Both of us had Skull Blasters, or Gaster Blasters, which, true to the name, were animistic skulls with split jawbones. True, I had some of the prototype models, while the figure's Blasters looked more advanced, but still...
I was surprised. I knew that these were magic weapons made by my friend Wingding, or Gaster, hence the name "Gaster Blaster" (a name which always irritated him, which, of course, is why the name stuck). My blasters were given to me by Gaster. Some random person shouldn't have a set of his own.
The figure walked forward into the lighter area, revealing his form. He was a skeleton monster, glowing white dots in his eye sockets (as expected for a skeleton monster), a large grin, and was rather short. Shorter than me even, ...but not Frisk. He was also a bit... stout, let's put it. He wore a blue jacket over a white shirt, a pair of black shorts, and pink slippers.
Wait... a skeleton. Like Wingding. It couldn't be...
"Hang on, do... do you know Gaster?" I asked.
The skeleton gave a wide cheeky smile, and said in a far more laidback and casual sounding voice, "yep. i guess you do, too?"
"Yeah... he was the one who gave me my blasters. Heck, I was the one named them," I said proudly.
"really? i guess we could call you the 'gaster blaster master'."
I laughed at that. "So... I'm guessing Gaster gave you some blasters, too?"
"nope."
I gave him a confused look.
"he showed me how to make them," he said with a wink.
"Okay..." I sighed. "So, does that mean you're Gaster's son? He mentioned having a son, and if you have his blasters... well, you know."
"you think i'm him?"
"Yep."
"that makes sense."
"...So, are you?"
"yep."
"...Ah, geez, you really like leading people on, don't you?" I replied, dismissing my blasters. "Anyways, sorry for attacking you. You really surprised us." I held my hand out. "It's good to meet you, Papyrus!"
Instead of shaking my hand, he started to chuckle. Slowly, but surely, his laughter grew, until he was laughing uncontrollably.
"Are... are you okay?" I asked.
"oh... that's rich... that is rich. my dad told you about me?"
"Well, he mentioned you, but I didn't get the chance to really ask about you," I admitted.
He gave another laugh. "okay, but did he mention having that he had two sons?"
"Wait... he has two sons!?"
"nope, three."
"What!?"
"nah, he's got two. i'm sans. sans the skeleton. papyrus is my younger bro."
"Oh... heheh...heh. Sorry," I laughed nervously. That was embarrassing. Granted, we had a heated argument before the Reset, so I didn't get the chance to ask, but I should've at least asked Sans about it.
"eh, it's cool," Sans said, raising his hand.
Finally, I was able to shake his hand, ...only for a loud farting sound to come out.
"heheh... the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it's ALWAYS funny," Sans remarked. I just facepalmed. "anyways, gaster mentioned you, too. you're frisk, right? and that's chara?" he continued, pointing at Frisk behind me while smirking.
"Okay, I deserved that," I replied. "I'm Chara, and this is Frisk."
Sans laughed. "oh man, that's hilarious! now, i'm actually supposed to be on the watch for humans right now. but... y'know... i don't really care about capturing anybody."
"That's... good, I guess." I looked back at Frisk, who was still hiding behind me, scared of Sans. Given the beginning of our encounter, I couldn't blame her.
"now papyrus... he's a human-hunting FANATIC," Sans explained, before turning his gaze past us. "hey, actually, i think that's him over there. hm... i have an idea. go through this gate thingy." He pointed to the gate over the bridge. "yeah, go right through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone."
Sans guided us past the bridge and into a clearing with a wooden sentry station, ...and a random lamp.
"Quick, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp."
Frisk rushed over the lamp, though I wasn't sure if it was because Sans said to, or if she was still trying to hide from him. I just looked at it and said, "I don't think I can hide behind that. I'm too tall." Which was an odd statement for me, since I was short. "It's not really 'convenient' for me."
"Okay, then you can stand here with me," Sans replied, as we heard heavy footsteps approaching.
Another skeleton approached us, this one much taller, standing closer to Gaster's height. His eyes were dark, yet with his goofy grin gave an air of friendliness and innocence. He wore a white chest plate with gold trims, and with a red scarf over it, red gloves with gold cuffs, blue shorts with a gold belt, and red boots.
"'sup, chara," Sans greeted, and yes, I did notice that Sans referred to this skeleton by my name.
"YOU KNOW WHAT ''SUP', BROTHER- WAIT A SECOND... DID YOU JUST CALL ME... 'CHARA'?" the tall skeleton asked in a rather... bombastic voice.
"yep."
"UGH, SANS WHY MUST YOU DO THIS!?"
"i'm not sans, i'm papyrus. that's sans," the shorter skeleton said, pointing to me.
Now I understood what he was doing. Sans wasn't exactly done with my mishap earlier, now pulling his brother into it.
"WHA- WHAT? I'M CONFUSED. OH, IT DOESN'T MATTER, SANS THERE IS AN ISSUE!"
"you mean 'papyrus', right?"
"YES. WAIT, NO! UGH, SANS, STOP IT! LISTEN, IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS... AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T... RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES!"
And that is important... why? I thought.
"YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION!" "Chara" continued. "WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING!?"
"starting at this lamp. it's really cool. do you wanna look?" "Papyrus" replied.
I got a little nervous that Sans was selling Frisk out, not that it mattered that much, because I was right there in the open, but thankfully "Chara" wasn't having any of it.
"NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!" he exclaimed. "WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!? I WANT TO BE READY! ...I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!"
Oh wow, could you be anymore oblivious? I thought. He really didn't realize I was standing right here.
"THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE!" he continued, "RESPECT... RECOGNITION... I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK TO BE MY FRIEND, AND I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING."
"hmm... maybe this lamp will help you," his brother replied.
"SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!"
"hey, take it easy. i've gotten a ton of work done today. a skele-ton," Sans replied with a wink.
And I just had to laugh at that pun of his.
"YOU NOT HELPING!" Papyrus yelled at me. Though whether or not he realized I was human was yet to be seen.
"Oh, come on. You're smiling," I told him.
"she's right," Sans added.
"I AM AND I HATE IT!" Papyrus then sighed. "WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME... HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION..."
"wow, sounds like you're really working yourself... down to the bone."
I chuckled at Sans's next pun, while Papyrus just went, "UGH! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES... AS WORK YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE... BACK INTO IT. NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!" And he ran off, before coming back to add, "HEH!" and turned away again.
"okay, kid, you can come out now," Sans said, turning to the lamp.
Frisk slowly walked out from behind the lamp, and then scrambled over to me.
"...Wow," I simply said, still in awe of what happened. "So... THAT was Papyrus."
"yeah, ain't my bro the coolest?" Sans replied.
"Sure..."
I looked down at Frisk. I remembered that Papyrus was one of the monsters she had to kill to get through the Underground. I decided right then to put extra importance on making sure she didn't hurt him.
"well, you two oughta get going. he might come back. and if he does..." Sans explained, "...you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes."
"And you think that'll be a problem? Because I'm not sure you have the guts," I replied.
"Hahaha, good one."
"Well, we better get going," I said, grabbing Frisk's hand. As we walked off, I added, "we'll see you later, 'Papyrus'."
"actually, hey... hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor?"
"Oh, sure, what do you need?"
"i was thinking... my brother's been kind of down lately... he's never seen a human before. and seeing you might just make his day."
"You sure, 'cause I was right there, and I don't think really he registered my presence, save for that one reply. Also, isn't he trying to capture us?"
"don't worry, he's not dangerous, even if he tries to be. oh, and he'll surely figure out who you are when he sees the both of you. he's smarter than he looks."
"Well, okay. He's the son of my friend, so I wanted to get to know him anyways. I'll be sure to help," I told him.
"thanks a million. i'll be up ahead," Sans said, before walking not ahead of us, but back towards the Ruins.
"Okay..." I replied, confused.
Well, for what it was, I just met Gaster's sons. As we walked ahead, Frisk turned to what I assumed must've been another one of those stars I couldn't see.
"So, did you like those two?" I asked her.
Frisk turned around and signed, I... don't know. They were kind of funny, but...
"It's okay," I said. "After meeting their father, I'd understand if you couldn't trust them. But they seem nice. I'm sure we can become friends with them, right?"
Frisk didn't move for a bit, but eventually, she nodded.
"Atta girl. And think about this... I bet you that the convenience of that lamp still fills you with determination..." I joked with her, which caused her to silently chuckle. "Sans helped with that. He may have scared us at first, but he clearly wants to help us. So, let's help him, okay?"
Okay, Frisk signed, and she smiled lightly.
I rubbed her head as we continued on in the snowy forest.
Author's Note: Yeah, instead of doing the next chapter for Sapphire the Hedgehog, I decided to jump for the next chapter of Fallen Determination. But don't worry, the next Sapphire story was finished yesterday, and will be added next week.
To start, I wasn't originally planning on adding the scene with Gaster, but when I thought of it, I realized it was good and I should add it. Besides, we haven't seen Gaster in this Book yet, and this was the perfect time to introduce. Also, I planned to put that scene at the end of the chapter, but almost immediately realized it would work better at the beginning.
Sans and Papyrus! They are now finally in the story. This is what I've waiting for. Snowdin is so fun. So, that joke with Chara confusing Sans with Papyrus, I thought of it a long time ago, thought it was funny, and decided to hold on to it. As mentioned in the chapter, it was set up in the last Book, when Chara heard about Gaster's son, Papyrus, but didn't get the chance to follow up on that.
Now, with me finally able to write the full joke, I'll admit it didn't come to ME, as I was hoping (maybe it's been to long since I came up with it, and didn't remember how exactly I wanted to deploy it, or maybe not, I don't know), so I extended it into the meeting with Papyrus himself. Definitely seems like the kind of thing Sans would do.
Now, with Chara present, and the occasional other added elements, it's pretty clear that I'd need to rewrite some lines, at least slightly. But there was one line, I'd like to say, I rewrote because of my opinion. The line (or rather, lines) was "PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, FRIEND? I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING." The way that was written, even with the expressions Papyrus gives in-game (which was a worried or unsure expression), it bothers me. I get Papyrus is feeling down, but the way this line is expressed doesn't seem right to me.
So, I rewrote it as "PEOPLE WILL ASK TO BE MY FRIEND, AND I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING", just going for a more straight interpretation. Papyrus doesn't seem like the person to OPENLY be unsure of himself, until he actually loses, so I decided to keep it straight.
Extra Note for Fanfic readers: For the point where Sans was first introducing himself, you know, before the handshake, I tried to write the words like they were in the game, with spaces between the letters, to make it more intimidating. But this specific site, when saving text, likes to... make "corrections" in text "errors", by removing unnecessary things, like extra spaces, even though for me, they are often intentional. I can't stop it, so I have to work around, thus losing some of the impact I wanted.
And with Sans greeting, it did this... by removing most of the LETTERS. I don't know why it does this, if it's a glitch or whatever, and I don't like it. So on this site, I had it write more straight. Edit: I decided to make them Bold.