Home Grown chptr6

Though Gaster had no skin, he still could feel some remanence of temperature; to an extent. The weather had to either be extremely hot or cold for a skeleton to actually feel it, but sometimes a warm or cool feeling would come from deep in the soul. It was an anomaly among skeletons, feeling soul temperatures and wasn’t yet understood how it happened, and right now Gaster’s soul felt far colder than Snowdin would ever be.

Though his soul was cool Gaster’s body was burning. The clashing of hot and icy temperatures was very annoying and slowly it brought Gaster back into the realm of reality. Blinking his sockets, Gaster found that the ceiling lights in the room were off and broken shards of their glass lay around him. The only light source he could make out was the soft purple glow from the DT tanks… the tanks…

 THE SOUL!

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, not even caring if the glass cut at his hands, Gaster looked up at the tank where the human soul had once stayed.

The DT was still the same, still purple and bubbly, and the magic barrier Gaster had created was still holding up but… the soul was gone. The barrier was empty and nothing lay inside it.

“N-No…” Gaster’s voice came out more like a whisper as he stood up and leaned into the glass. “No. No no no no no no!”

He had failed. The soul hadn’t survived. He killed it…

“I’m—I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to happen to you…” Gaster said as he pressed his forehead into the tank. “I was only trying to save you.”

Gaster could feel something warm and wet running down his cheekbones. Bring a hand to investigate he found that he was crying. Skeleton could cry, despite not having tear glands, but it was more of a magical form of tears that were infused with their magic. So water down purple colored tears stained Gaster’s hand and his face, and he did nothing to stop the tears from falling.

His soul was clenching in pain. Emotions he had not felt in a long time were surfacing. Memories Gaster wished he would never have to relive came back and he thanked whatever deity on high that he had soundproofed his private lab because of the deadly piercing scream that came from him.

Honestly though, Gaster saw no reason to thank god or whatever was out there. What holy being would allow something as pure and innocent as his human soul to just… fade away? It had never done any wrong in its life, even if it was short, and Gaster cursed to the unknown for having taken away his human soul and the lucidity it brought.

Gaster could remember a time where he acted just the same as he was now, once upon a time. It had been the day Papyrus had been born.

His partner and Gaster had done everything right during the whole process, they had done nothing wrong, and it seemed as though this baby skeleton would be born safely. The scare from when Sans had been born was still thick in both their minds and they took no chances with this child. They took every precaution and made sure nothing to strenuous was put on Gaster’s partner. Even Sans, though he had only been a mere toddler at the time, helped and made sure to keep his parents from over exerting themselves.

But despite all their best efforts, something had gone wrong during the birth. There was a complication with his partner’s magic and the connection to the child, and it meant one of two things…

Either Gaster’s partner was saved or the child… Only one would come out of this…

Needless to say the choice was made. Gaster’s partner said they would never forgive themselves if they lived while it meant killing their child. So they put all their magic towards bring Papyrus into this world, and the moment Papyrus took his first breath Gaster’s partner only had a split second to see that their child was safe and healthy before turning to dust.

The whole event had scarred both Sans and Gaster; the first losing a parent and the other a life partner. Gaster hated to emit it, but for the first two weeks he locked himself away either in his room or at the lab; isolating himself and keeping his distance from his sons. Gaster had gone to a dark place, a place where it was only W. D. Gaster (the Royal Scientist) and whatever essence of Gaster (the kind father and friend) was lost.

It seemed as though he would never be able to come out of the darkness that was himself… until Grillby had slapped him out of it; literally.

Grillby had chewed him out and it was the most Gaster had ever heard the fire monster curse in one sitting. The living flame had shouted at the skeleton about how he had abandoned his sons, how he left Sans to care of Papyrus alone, and not respecting his fallen partner’s death. They had given their life to allow Papyrus to live and be happy, and what Gaster was doing to his boys was like crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash.

The onslaught from Grillby had surprisingly been the thing Gaster had needed to hear. Soon he was running home, tears running down his face, and pleading that he could make things right. When he had gotten home he found Sans, now eldest but still his small boy, feeding his brother on the couch. The sight brought Gaster to his knees. Sans was a still a child, he didn’t need to have this kind of responsibility thrown on him… yet Gaster had done it anyway.

The moment seeing his father fall to the floor crying, Sans had jumped off the couch and ran to Gaster. He asked Gaster what was wrong and when his father didn’t respond he too started to cry with worry. All the crying from his father and brother soon began to upset Papyrus and he also joined in from his spot in Sans’ arms.

At hearing his cry, Gaster pulled both boys into a hug. He couldn’t stop the pleas for forgiveness or the sorry’s that escaped him as he held onto Sans and stared down at the small bundle that was Papyrus. For who knows how long the trio stayed there, just holding onto each other, but from that moment on Gaster never allowed himself to go to that dark place again. He’s sons, his family, needed him and he would always be there for them; to protect them and love them.

But now… Gaster felt as though he had not protected his family enough. The soul was gone and he had not done enough to keep it safe. He had failed it…

Gaster could feel his mind slipping into that familiar darkness. W. D. Gaster was slowly consuming him. The scientist who had no morals and no humanity was slowly eating away at the other half that was the loving and compassionate side of Gaster. The darkness was inviting, a place where he didn’t have to worry about his heart being torn, but it was a place that was hard to escape. And there was no Grillby to pull him out it this time…

It seemed as though Gaster would all but lost to his darkness… until he felt a familiar sensation in his soul.

 Strange. Scared. Worried. You… where?

Jerking his head up, Gaster looked back into the DT tank. The magical barrier was still up he noticed, shocking as it should have dissipated the moment the soul didn’t take to it. But it was still there.

Looking closely, Gaster didn’t see anything wrong with the barrier. It looked slightly cloudy in the center of it but… Pressing his face right up on the glass Gaster had to focus his vision very carefully to see what he saw next.

Smack dab in the center of the barrier, so small that it looked to be nothing more than dust, was a small pink dot and surround it was a red-pinkish glow.

A body, the beginning forms of it anyway, and the soul was inside it.

Gaster felt his body slump against the tank as relief filled him; it was thick in his bones. If he hadn’t wasted his tears earlier he would be crying again. The soul had survived and the body had accepted it as its own. It was now not just the human soul Gaster had created by accident… it was now the human he had created out of love for his creation.

A soft laugh escaped him as he stared down at the magical barrier and its contents. Gaster’s soul pulsed with love and calmness to the little being, sensing its terrified emotions.

“You’re safe now… you are safe. I’m here, and I am not leaving you.”

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

So much has happened to Gaster in the past few months, but none of it would he trade for all the gold in the world. His life hasn’t been this… eventful but yet peaceful in so long that he is relishing in it. The core’s design has finally been perfected, and after test runs on smaller versions it has been deemed safe to finally start building it. Papyrus has learned to walk and now there is no stopping the small skeleton from racing around the house. Sans has finally caught up on his studies and Gaster has never been prouder of his eldest.

Things look to be turning for the better for his little family.

“So how long will it take to finish the core?” Grillby asks as he and Gaster walk the streets of Home with Sans and Papyrus walking ahead of them. The scientist had decided that they all deserved a nice night out and had settle on taking everyone to the park. Sans and Papyrus had been thrilled to hear this and the brothers had been talking nonstop about playing on the swings or sliding down the slides.

Papyrus, at the beginning of the trek to the park, had been in Sans’ hoody but had to be taken out when it became obvious was putting a strain on his brother. Sans had said he was fine and that Pap was fine staying there, but Gaster knew better. Sans wanted nothing but his brother’s happiness, but sometimes the boy forgot that he needed to watch how much stress he put his body through.

Sans didn’t show it, but he was a very sick boy. The damage from his birth followed him in life, and though he always had a smile on his face, Sans was always a constant worry for Gaster. Sans would always have to be careful in life, he could never over exert himself or… Gaster didn’t want to think of that right now. This was supposed to be a fun night out and he was going to make sure it would be.

“I can’t say how long.” Gaster said as they turned a corner. “It took almost as long as how old Sans is now to perfect the designs. Who knows how many years it will take to actually build it?”

“Don’t worry, if it take 100 years let it. You can’t spend all your time working on that thing, not when you have other more important things to worry about.” Grillby said as he gestured to Sans and Papyrus. The two were holding hands, Sans helping Papyrus along, and babbling nonsense; ignoring the adults behind them.

“I know, believe me, I know that now more than ever.” Gaster said as he smiled while placing a hand over his sternum.

His sons and the human soul, or human for now as Gaster still did not have a name for it yet, had shown him time and time again that there are things in this life worth more than wasting his time on the core. At home his sons showed him the love that made up their very beings and that reminded Gaster of what he would miss if he spent days and days away from them.

The human showed him that even with the immense title of being the Royal Scientist Gaster deserved a break every now and again. At the lab he would slip away randomly during the day to go and visit the human. It was during their time together that Gaster allowed his body to relax. He would then slip into a light conversation about anything that was on his mind and the human would listen; at least he thought they were.

Now that the soul had a growing body, communication with it was sparse. It was still able to send him a few messages now and again, telling Gaster how it was feeling or just simple signals that it was still there, but with each passing day as its body grew the connection became cloudier.

Gaster theorized that this was due to the fact that humans don’t have as much magic in their bodies or souls in comparison to monsters. It surprised him actually that his human was still able to communicate at all, but he figured that was due to the fact that it contained part of his genes. His human would be a feat of science, the first and only perfect mix between human and monster. They would be very special and Gaster felt pride bloom in his soul knowing he played a part in their creation.

Gaster found himself chuckling when a thought occurred to him. He had always referred to the soul as his human soul and now that it had a body he started to refer to it as his human. He didn’t mean it in the possessive means, far from it, but more in the way he saw Papyrus and Sans as his sons. As his family. The more he thought on it, the more Gaster realized that he had formed a fatherly bond to the human soul/human he had created. And he truthfully saw nothing wrong with that.

He had given the soul life, even if accidental, and had done everything in his power to keep it safe and out of harm’s way. He did the same thing for Sans and Papyrus. If he didn’t see them as a part of his family, as his… child actually, he may have been worried.

“What’s so funny Daddy?” Sans asked at hearing his father’s chuckle.

“Nothing Sans,” Gaster said with an honest smile. “Just realizing something is all.”

Sans nodded and went back to talking to Papyrus as they neared the park. Grillby gave him a questioning glance but did not ask Gaster what he had meant. As the group finally made it to the park, they were met with a shocking sight. The park was completely empty; no children or parents at all. This was the biggest and most well-kept park in Home and it was always full of children playing. So the sight of it being so desolate was a bit odd.

“Where is every—“

“Look! There’s someone.” Sans shouted as he interrupted Grillby and pointed over at the playhouse made out of rocks.

Looking to where the boy was pointing both Gaster and Grillby’s eyes widened in shock. It was Prince Asriel and Following close behind him was the fallen human. The human, once they had been well enough, was revealed to the kingdom and the royal family said no harm was to fall on her. Her name had turned out to be Chara and though the monsters of the underground followed the rule from their king and queen, they did not take to Chara nicely.

Monsters still sneered at and when out of earshot spoke ill of the child. Saying how a human shouldn’t be living with them since it was their fault for monsters being underground.

Gaster thought it was a bit harsh, to put all the blame on one child, but he knew he could do nothing about it. This just needed time; time for the monsters to come to accept the human. And with talk of the King and Queen thinking of adopting the human, since she made it very clear she didn’t want to return to the surface, monsters would have to accept it soon.

“Howdy!” the booming voice of the king said as he walked over from the bench he had been sitting at not too far away. “Isn’t this a friendly surprise? I see you thought of the same thing I did and brought your children out to play today?”

“Indeed your Highness.” Gaster said with a slight bow of his head. “Though I must ask, where is everyone else?”

“Oh… they all left.” The king said and that was all that was needed for both Gaster and Grillby. They had left when they saw Chara.

“Well, why don’t you two go play with the prince and human.” Grillby said as patted Sans’ skull. “The adults are going to talk about boring adult stuff.”

“Okay!” Sans said as he began to speed walk over to the two other children. “Come on Pap!”

“Comin’ Sans!” Papyrus squeaked as he raced on ahead of Sans on wobbly legs.

Watching as the two ran off to play, and how Sans had to catch his brother from falling a couple of times, Gaster smiled. Most children he’d seen were afraid of Chara, mostly because of what their parents said, but not Sans or Papyrus. Gaster had told them of the human and at first they were warry but when Gaster explained how she was also a child and was just as scared their impression of her changed.

Sans had been asking nonstop to go see the human and Papyrus agreed along with his brother. Gaster had said when he had time to take them to see the King and his family he would but work had gotten in the way. But now looked as though he was now able to keep his promise as Sans and Papyrus stood in front of the prince and human and both exchanged smiles and waves.

“So I heard the core is ready to be built.” Asgore asked, breaking the silence.

“Yes, it is.” Gaster responded. “We can start work on it whenever you are ready.”

“Good, good.” Asgore said with a smile. “I have been thinking, the population is growing and I know we cannot stay in Home forever… so I was wondering if it would be possible to build a city around the core?”

At this Gaster let a shocked expression form on his face. A city around the core?! What?!

“E-Excuse me, but did I hear your correctly? You want to build a city around the core?” Gaster asked, his jaw hanging in surprise.

“I do.” Asgore said calmly, his royal voice not leaving him. “I know a few monsters have moved into some small caverns outside Home, but many like living close to one another. Reports have come in saying that a bigger cavern has been found, big enough to build the core and still have plenty of room to build a larger city. I know this is a lot to ask, but my people are becoming crowed in Home’s small space.

“And I know if anyone can do it, it is you my friend.” Asgore said as he placed a hand on Gaster’s shoulder.

Gaster wanted to deny the King’s request. Tell him how dangerous it could be by doing this and how it would prolong the core but the look the king had, a hopeful look, Gaster didn’t have the heart to be rational with him.

“I will do my best.” Gaster said, and from the rise in temperature next to him Grillby had been shocked to hear this.

“I know you will.” Asgore said as he turned to the children.

They were all at the swings, Sans pushing Papyrus and Asriel pushing Chara, happily giggling and having a good time. Seeing them so at peace made Gaster smile. What the king had asked of him was a lot but he knew his reasoning behind it was valid. The monster population had been slowly rising in the past few years and Home had indeed become very crowded and seeing his sons playing made Gaster think of all the other children who lived in here.

They deserved more room to run and play, and a bigger city would do just that.

Who knows, maybe one day he would move into this new city with his family? Maybe Grillby would come too, seeing as wherever the skeleton went the fire monster seemed to follow. And maybe, just maybe…

His human child would be there with them too.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

"You know you didn’t have to agree with him. Asgore is very understanding and would have accepted it if you said no.” Grillby said as he and Gaster walked the path to Snowdin. They had stayed at the park longer than excepted; the children had been having so much fun playing that Gaster didn’t have the heart to stop them.

“I know… but it got me thinking, about what he said.” Gaster said as he adjusted Sans in his arms so his head was resting better on his shoulder. Grillby had taken Papyrus from Sans when both adults saw the older child yawning tiredly and not a second after his sibling was gone did Sans reach out for his father to hold him. Age wise Sans was getting too old for Gaster to do this, but Sans was smaller than most skeletal children and weighted far less as well so he saw no harm in it.

“There are more monsters now days then there was when we were first trapped down here.” Gaster didn’t have to go into detail as to why there was so few of them in the beginning. The war had dropped their numbers to near extinction when the humans trapped the monsters underground. It wouldn’t surprise Gaster if the humans thought they had just died off underground due to their low numbers.

“Yes, that is true.” Grillby said as he fixed Papyrus’ scarf so it wasn’t sliding off.

“And a bigger city would provide the needed room for these new monsters.” Gaster continued. “I am only trying to look at this logically Grillby. We need more space, all monsters do.”

“Yes, I know.” Grillby said softly, but from the way his flames flickered Gaster knew he was irritated. “But that just adds more to your work load. I mean, I know you won’t be the one constructing the city but if it’s going to be surrounding the core you are going to have to supervise and things like that.”

Gaster nodded. Grillby’s words rang true, he wouldn’t be the one to build the city (not even design it), but it would have to be approved by him and he would have to make sure things were positioned properly so the core could still do its job and power the underground.

“Just as long as you don’t lose sight of what’s really important, I will support you.” Grillby said and it was then Gaster realized that they had made it back to his house. He could be so deep in thought he didn’t pay attention to where his legs took him sometimes.

“Trust me, I won’t.” Gaster said as he fished out his keys and opened the door. The house was dark and a tad bit cold, but that was fixed once Grillby stepped in. Gaster made a note to turn up the heat once his sons were put to bed.

“Thanks for carrying Papyrus.” Gaster said as the two walked up the steps and to the boy’s bedroom. “Sans is getting to be a bit of a handful.”

“I swear I don’t know who is worse; you or Sans.” Grillby said with a shake of his head. “And don’t worry, I had fun tonight. The walk to Home was nice.”

Nodding his head, Gaster walked over to Sans bed and placed him down. Slipping off the boy’s jacket and boots, Gaster pulled the blanket over his son and tucked him in. Running a hand over Sans’ head, Gaster gave him a quick nuzzle before going over to Papyrus’ crib. Grillby had already had the boy out of his play clothes and tucked in as well and as Gaster looked down at his son he continued to smile.

Papyrus had the scarf Sans got for him wrapped in his hands and snuggling up against it. Ever since he got the gift, Papyrus went everywhere with the scarf and barely let it go, unless it needed to be cleaned.

“You’re lucky to have such sweet boys.” Grillby’s voice spoke softly as Gaster reached out to rub Papyrus’ head. “I have never seen a bond like theirs before.”

“They are close, aren’t they?” Gaster said as he slowly stepped out of the room with Grillby. “Let’s hope it stays that for the rest of their lives.”

“I doubt there is anything that would break it.” Grillby said as Gaster walked him to the door.

Opening the door for the fire monster, Gaster noticed that Grillby was a bit reluctant in leaving. He stood in the open doorway and just stared out into the snow. It worried him, a lot actually. Grillby had this distant and thoughtful look on him and it wasn’t a normal thing to see on him. It was normal for Gaster but not for the fire monster.

Gripping the other’s elbow, Gaster gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Are you alright?”

Snapping out of his daze, Grillby pulled his arm back. His face, specifically where his cheeks would be, burned a bright cherry red and his flames grew shorter.

“Yes, I am fine. Just… it’s nothing.”

“You sure?” Gaster asked, not liking this silent side of Grillby. Grillby was always so open and honest with Gaster, more so than the skeleton had been lately, and seeing him act so aloof was troubling.

“Yes, I was just thinking of something.” Grillby said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“What about? If you want to we can-”

Gaster never got to finish his sentence though as Grillby quickly leaned in and gave him what was his equivalent of a kiss on the cheek. Since Grillby didn’t really have any lips, his flames that made up his mouth brushed against smooth bone and left a warm tingling feeling as he pulled away. Stuck in a daze, Gaster watched as Grillby slowly walked out the door.

“Goodnight Gaster. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Even when Grillby was gone from sight, Gaster was still looking out the door. Finally feeling the cold get to him he shut the door and walked over to the couch before collapsing on it.

What… had just happened??

Grillby had just… kissed him?

Why?

Okay, Gaster had an idea as to why. No one just ups and kisses someone for no good reason. But he never thought Grillby…

Leaning his head into his hands, Gaster let out a tiring sigh. It was too late in the night to be thinking about this and he had to be up early tomorrow to get to the lab and check on the human. Rubbing his temples Gaster stood up and made his way to his room.

He needed to sleep on this new information.

A nice Long sleep.