So, this is it. Here goes the last chapter of the first part of the story, or the first chapter of the second part if you want it to be. Please don't kill me so soon, you saw nothing yet xD The worst is still to come. Good luck 3

Chapter 13 : - GASTER -

Asgore put down two tea cups on the table and sat in front of the thoughtful royal scientist. As always, two skeleton hands were scribbling on notebooks. For the scientist, time ran too fast to be wasted. The king cleared his throat to bring Gaster back to reality. His eyes focused on his mentor and friend, then on the teacup in front of him. He took it and sipped it.

Golden flowers tea, his favourite flavour. Asgore thought it would help him to be in a better mood for the heavy talking they were going to have right now. Outside of the village, war still raged and with every new day passing, the humans became more and more insistent. More violent too.

"What are the news from the front?" asked the scientist with a cold and controlled voice, as if he was reading his mind.

"Not good. We lost soldiers again during the last charge. There are less and less skilled royal guards." Asgore sighed. "Did you hear the news about Toryne? She died too. She was one of my best elements. If even her couldn't face them, then who will?"

"I'm sorry for your loss. I know she was a close friend."

"I don't understand why they keep insisting. Their last message asked once again to give them a child of our kind. They said they'll stop the fights if we complied to this. What could they possibly want of a child? The poor thing will be so terrified they will dust before they could do anything with them."

Gaster took a deep breath and put the cup down. Asgore made eye contact and froze. The king already knew what he was going to say, and that was out of the question.

"You already know what I'm thinking about this, why are you even trying?" he reproached him. "This is completely ridiculous and I don't want you to propose this ever again."

"Yet, what I measured during his little escape proved he is ready for this. He doesn't know yet how to use his powers at his fullest, I think he's still missing some determination, but I am deeply convinced that Sans can make a difference. I'm working hard on his case for this precise purpose."

"Are you listening to yourself right now? It's your son, for goodness' sake! We're not talking about an experimentation but about a war sacrifice. This is not a game, Gaster, there will be no turning back. Do you really think Arial would have wanted that?"

"She would have killed me. But she is fortunately not here to see that."

"Would you really be able to deliver your own son, eyes in eyes, to the enemy, knowing what they're going to do to him? They want an easy manipulating weapon they can turn against us. Sans is powerful, we both agree on that point, probably more than most of my most experienced royal guards, but I have no guarantee he will be strong enough to fight what they're going to do to him. He is way too young to defeat an entire army."

The skeleton smiled sadly. He stood up and came closer to the golden flowers displayed on the royal manor's balcony. His fingers brushed the petals delicately and he leant down to sniff their chemical smell. These little plants only owed their life to him. Without his help, they would all have disappeared since a long time by now.

"This is why we need to give them Papyrus too."

Asgore's teacup slammed on the wooden table. It cracked and the still hot liquid spread around it. Gaster heard him stand up and came closer to him. The king grabbed his arms and forced him to look at his face. The scientist's expression stayed absolutely neutral.

"What is going on, Gaster? Since you escaped the enemy's attack, you're different. Colder. Where is my young enamoured skeleton showing up in my room in utter panic to ask how to court a lady? I don't recognize you anymore."

"War is changing hearts. You know it too. We have no choice, Asgore. In a few weeks, it will be too late. There will be not enough monsters to face them, and what will happen then? Mass genocide? I won't stand here doing nothing while our people are dying out there. If I have to sacrifice my own family to save everyone, I will do it without blinking. I still have time to have children again in the future. But it can only happen if our people have a future. We don't have time to believe in an utopian dream where monsters and humans could live in peace under the sun."

The king let him go. His face expressed two contradictory feelings at once : anger because he couldn't accept this solution and sadness because there was nothing else to do anymore. Gaster was right. If they didn't fight back, if they didn't use their last tricks now, there would soon be nothing to save but a huge pile of dust.

Asgore sighed and ran his hands over his face. He hated his duty. He hated every consequence of it. Lead a people in perdition was hard and painful.

"Why would you want to use your second son for this atrocity?" Asgore asked with a darker voice. "He's even younger than Sans. He will not be able to do anything against the humans. He's what, five years old?"

"Papyrus won't survive, indeed. And I count on it. Sans and Papyrus are linked by something really strong. Determination have secondary effects sometimes, it tends to increase feelings' perception. I don't know exactly the nature of their link, but it's strong enough that, if one of them is hurt, the other knows and feels it immediately deep in his soul. We know that Sans is impulsive. He's reacting instinctively."

"I still don't understand. Why would you want Sans to feel his brother's death for? Will it not make him weaker?"

"On the contrary. The day his mother died, even if he doesn't remember, he was so angry and sad he almost destroyed my lab. The determination made him unstoppable, like he had no limits in his magic use. Since Arial's death, I let him voluntarily drown his anger into his brother's special bond. If that link went to break abruptly with Papyrus' death, Sans could possibly become a very uncontrollable killing machine. The more lives he will take from the enemy, the more time we'll get to take over their base."

Asgore's face stayed shut, but his arms were shaking a little.

"And then? What will happen to Sans?"

"Probably killed by those who will survive his attack."

The king let go of the royal scientist and turned around. Gaster saw him wipe a tear away. He knew he was asking for a lot, but they didn't have a choice.

"Tell me, Gaster, how did you get those scars on your face? Are they the reason you became like this? I can't believe a second this entire situation doesn't touch you at all."

The scientist lowered his head. He secretly passed a hand on his skull's cracks. One was going from his left eye to the top of his skull, the second from his right eye to his jaw. A necessary sacrifice.

"Correct." announced the scientist with a neutral voice. "When I understood I needed to sacrifice my children, I injected myself determination at an almost deadly level. I didn't want to feel something for them again. To save me, my followers blocked the part of my brain using my feelings the most. We need to do this, Asgore."

"I can't. They are just children. I won't be able to look myself in a mirror if I gave them to the humans. How could I even look you in the eyes?"

"There's no more choice, please. Their sacrifice will be forgotten the minute we'll take back our lands. It's for the greater good. For a better future."

"A future built upon a mountain of corpses and dust. Is this really what you want?"

"Did I ever fail you, your Majesty? I believe in my calculations. I need you to believe in me."

Asgore sighed deeply and sat back on his chair. It was one of these moments. He knew the decision he would make would impact everyone. But Gaster was right. They didn't have any other solution. And so, he nodded, accepting to try the Royal Scientist's plan.

Gaster pulled out a file out of his jacket and put it down next to the cold teacup of the King. The papers explained all of his plan, with instructions he needed to follow to the letter. The first step was to lie. He would have to lie to Toriel, hide to her what he was going to do with those children she was already attached to. He would have to lie to the children, to make sure they didn't suspect a thing. He would need to lie to his guards, to his people, because no one would accept such a decision. Everything was his responsibility and would always be. Everything would work only if the King stayed silent about this.

"I have a last favour to ask, your Majesty. A delicate one."

The King looked at the one who once was the best hope to create a link between humans and monsters. The skeleton was nothing like the young ambitious doctor who created the Core some times ago, an Underground power source which was helping monsters to regenerate their magic quicker and turning unused power into electricity. What was left of Gaster was an empty shell, a dark soul poisoned by anger and guilt. Asgore's guilt. The scientist was right, war changed heart, in the most horrible ways possible.

And it was not his last surprise yet.

"To give Sans his best chances, he'll need more determination. Artificial determination is good enough, but it's not efficient enough. It can't accelerate his magic pulsion. He needs to gain LV and to absorb a human soul. And we have fittingly a human to do this right here, in your house."

"You want to kill that child?" asked Asgore, horrified. "Gaster, I can't! They are innocent."

"Humans are never innocent. We need their soul. The sooner the better. Find a way to send them in the woods and ask the Royal Guards to catch him. I need him alive, but you can use fake blood or something. It will be quick and will look like an accident. Toriel won't ever know about this, if it's what's worrying you. If you want Sans' sacrifice to really count, we'll need to do it. The choice is in your hands, your Majesty. I'll be in my lab if you need me."

Gaster bowed his head and left the place, his two magic hands floating behind him. Asgore lowered his head and hid his face behind his hands, in despair.

He was trapped, there was no other choice.

He would have to do it and face Toriel's anger afterwards. Even if Gaster thought he could hide this atrocity from her, the King knew she would discover the truth sooner or later.

But it was his duty. His decisions.

What was best for humankind and monsterkind.