True Lab, Underground

202X

W. D. Gaster

Gaster looked at the video feed of Subject 1 and 2. He had made sure to keep them together for an hour or so each day. He had been correct in assuming that they would progress more rapidly if put together. It had only been two weeks, and yet they were speaking in full sentences now, with relatively proper grammar. It was, admittedly, impressive.

Subject 1 was more soft spoken and quiet, taken to mumbling and slurring words together. Subject 2, on the other hand, was louder, clearer, and more confident. His voice was one that demanded attention.

Gaster walked to their unit and opened the door. He didn’t want them to be unsupervised for long periods of time. They looked up at him. Both were smiling. They were holding hands. Gaster hadn’t noticed that through the video feed; their hands had been hidden from the camera. At least they weren’t asking it of him.

“What were you doing?” Subject 2 asked.

“What are you talking about?” Gaster asked. His tone made it more of a statement than a question.

“What do you do outside?” Subject 1 asked.

Subject 2 followed this up with another question. “Can we go outside?”

“No,” Gaster answered with no small amount of conviction. “You may not go outside. As to what I do outside, it does not matter.” He cleared his throat. “2, come here. I need to talk to you.”

Immediately, they both began to cry. Gaster rolled his eyes. It wouldn’t hurt them to be separate. Quite the opposite; they could both get hurt if left alone together. Gaster grabbed Subject 2 by the arm and brought him out of the unit. It took ten minutes for 2 to calm down. Gaster waited until he was completely calm before speaking.

“Subject 2, there is something you need to know about Subject 1,” Gaster said, crouching a little to be on Subject 2’s level.

“What?”

“Subject 1 has a condition that makes him very fragile.”

“What’s fragile?”

“It means that if you hurt Subject 1 even a little, and even if it’s only by accident, he will die.”

“What’s die mean?”

“What does. It means Subject 1 will….” Hm. There were two obstacles here. The first was that Subject 2 had no point of reference for death, never having seen it. The second was that Gaster wasn’t entirely sure what death meant for Subject 1 and 2, and therefore could not explain it. Though their SOULs were mostly human, there was still the matter of their part monster heritage. Monsters turned to dust when they died. He supposed death, to them, would be similar to whatever it was for her. Not that that was much more helpful; she had never died, after all, and he would prefer it stayed that way. Likewise, he did not wish that Subject 1 and 2 would die. If they did, eleven years’ worth of work, including pieces of his and her SOULs, would go down the drain.

“It means Subject 1 will go to sleep, and never wake up again. You would never see him again.”

Subject 2 paled and began trembling. Tears formed in his eyes. Gaster frowned as Subject 2 began to cry again.

“I expect that you will be very careful from now on,” Gaster confirmed.

“Uh-huh,” Subject 2 stammered, nodding.

“Then we can return to Subject 1 now.” He stood up straight and checked his watch. It was later than he had anticipated. He should probably return to the upper level soon and check on Miss Drake.

He led Subject 2 back to the unit. Now that Subject 2 had a better understanding of Subject 1’s frailty, it was probably safe to let them stay together, without his personal supervision or constant surveillance. He would experiment with it. That was what he did, was it not?

Subject 2 looked immensely relieved to see Subject 1. They embraced, though not quite as tightly as they might have before.

“I need to leave you two here for now. I will be back at dinnertime.”

No more words were spoken as Gaster left to go upstairs, making sure to lock the door behind him.

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Hotland, Underground

202X

Alphys Drake

Alphys smiled as Amy laughed at her joke. How could she not? Her laughter was contagious. Her hair was glowing orange and white, flickering like a dancing fire. Alphys had no idea why her hair glowed; Amy would not explain it, and there wasn’t much Alphys could do to test it. Alphys had theorized that it happened because Amy had some kind of monster heritage, but that was ridiculous. There weren’t any more humans on the Surface, and Amy hadn’t fallen Underground anyway. Therefore the only way Amy could have a monster ancestor close enough for their power to be made manifest in such an obvious way was if she had been alive during the war between humans and monsters.

And that idea was more absurd than Amy having monster heritage. Only the royal family--that was, the king--was alive during the war, and Amy was not part of the royal family.

Amy wiped her eyes and smiled at Alphys. Her eyes sparkled like peridots under bright light. Alphys smiled back, feeling a little heat rise in her face.

“Okay, okay, how’s this one?” Amy inquired. “What did the doctors say when the scientist died?”

“I don’t know, what?”

Amy grinned. “If we can’t helium, and we can’t curium, then we’d better barium!”

Alphys groaned as Amy laughed at her own joke. “Ohh, tha-that was horrible, Amy….”

“Thanks! I try.”

A door opened behind them. Alphys twisted around. Doctor Gaster stood only a few feet away, looking at both of them. He looked mildly surprised for a moment, but quickly recovered.

“And what are you doing here, exactly?” he asked Amy, ignoring Alphys.

“Visiting a friend,” Amy replied. The mirth from mere seconds ago had evaporated.

“Hm, yes, you would.” He walked over to his desk and picked up a couple papers that he’d stapled together. “Since you’re here, I’ll give this to you.” He handed her the papers. Amy took them, looking suspicious. “It’s just the report on your SOUL.”

“Oh.” She stuffed the papers in her tote bag.

“I’ll say this now; it would probably be wise to avoid strenuous activity from now on, to avoid making it worse.”

Amy looked upset. “Excuse me? What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I mean exactly what I said. You should be off your feet more often if you want to avoid further damage.”

“Stay off my feet- that’s nigh impossible and you know it!”

“I should say you’re clever enough to figure it out. Either way, it’s the doctor’s orders; you must obey.”

Amy faltered at this, some of her indignation abating. She smiled a little, and looked like she might have laughed. Maybe she would’ve if she were still friends with Doctor Gaster. Doctor Gaster even smiled, just a little and not with his eyes.

“But I thought you weren’t that kind of doctor,” Amy muttered, smirking a little. “Well, if that’s it, I must be going. Lots of lounging around to get caught up on.” The last sentence was said bitterly. She looked at Doctor Gaster briefly, then waved to Alphys and left. Alphys watched her, a little disappointed.

“What was she here for?” Doctor Gaster asked, tidying up his desk.

“She was showing me a report on buttercups she had written up, but we um, we got…distracted.” Alphys blushed a little.

“Buttercups?” Doctor Gaster looked at the wall behind his desk briefly. Then he shook his head. “Buttercups. Of course.”

“A-actually, it was quite informative. I could ask her to print a copy for you if you want.”

“That will not be necessary.” He turned to Alphys. “Anyway, what have you been working on lately? I’m afraid I’ve been a rather poor mentor to you.”

“No, you haven’t!” Alphys stood up, growing excited. “I-I’ve been working on a way to transfer a person’s consciousness and SOUL into an artificial vessel, like a robot! It’s not, um, it isn’t very developed yet, but….” She slowed down, blushing again as her initial excitement wavered.

But Doctor Gaster was smiling. Sincerely. “I think that is a wonderful idea, Miss Drake. How do you plan on doing that?”

Alphys chuckled nervously. “I-I’m not entirely sure yet. The theory is uploading the patient’s consciousness onto a computer, and transferring their SOUL into a SOUL capsule, like the ones the king has. The capsule would be inside of a robotic body, which the computer holding the patient’s consciousness would be installed in to.”

Doctor Gaster looked impressed. “That’s quite ambitious. Do you have any blueprints drawn up yet?”

Alphys shook her head. “Not yet.”

“Then let’s work on that.”