True Lab, Underground

202X

W. D. Gaster

Gaster looked over his notes from the last few weeks. He hadn’t been able to work down here as much as he would have liked. Between the king wanting to talk to him--not for business reasons, but as friends--and training his young apprentice, he hadn’t had much spare time. But he had written down the events of what little he had been able to witness.

There was one entry in particular that he kept coming back to.

“I brought Subject 1 out of containment this morning so that I could clean up his unit for future use. I kept him somewhere devoid of anything he could use to cause any significant damage. This was foolish; in doing so, I left him within earshot of Subject 2.

“It did not take long to realize the other was nearby. Perhaps this is a side-effect of the nature of their SOULs.

“It took mere minutes for them to start babbling at each other. Animalistic sounds, like those of a baby. Nothing unusual or noteworthy. They can communicate.”

The next entry was written minutes afterward.

“They have begun to attempt to form words. Pieces of words I have said to them. They have started stringing these sounds together, forming pseudo sentences. They even mimic my tone of voice.

“I am unsure how to respond to this new development. I did not plan on them being able to communicate to this degree. Though they cannot use fully-formed words yet, I believe they will be able to soon. For the time being, however, they sound like children. I was unprepared for this.

“They are able to think and learn. They are sentient.”

Gaster grabbed two fistfuls of his hair. This was not good. Not good whatsoever. They may have been roughly ten years of age physically, but their brains had not had the same chance to mature. Though they were maturing much more rapidly than a toddler would, it would still be a few weeks until they could speak properly. Until then, they would sound like small children.

That was dangerous.

A buzz from a pager on his desk startled him out of his thoughts. He picked up the pager and turned on the intercom.

“Yes?”

“D-Doctor Gaster, there’s someone here to see you,” young Miss Drake informed him.

Gaster hesitated for a moment. He was unaware of any appointments scheduled for today. “Yes, thank you. I will be up momentarily.” Who was visiting him? The king never came to the lab, and there was no one else who would to visit the Royal Scientist.

He hurried upstairs. Miss Drake was talking with the visitor. He should have known.

“Oh. It’s you.”

Amy huffed, looking Gaster over. It was clear that she hadn’t expected such a greeting.

“It’s me,” she replied, mimicking his voice.

He raised his eyebrows. “What is it this time?”

“Well, doctor, I’ve been having these weird pains for a while now, and I was wondering if you have any idea what they are.”

“I’m not that kind of doctor.”

“I know that.”

“Then why are you coming to me, exactly?”

“Because I think it might be a problem with my SOUL.”

Hm. That was interesting. “And what let you to that conclusion?”

“Because they’re coming from where my SOUL usually is, and they started after we ran tests on it. After you ran tests on it.”

Miss Drake looked bewildered. Gaster, however, felt a pang of worry. Clearly, she was beginning to suspect him. “Describe them for me.”

“Chest pains that take my breath away a little. They’ve been getting worse over the last couple months; I need to sit down whenever they start.”

Gaster began writing her report down. Perhaps this was linked to her SOUL being one of the main components in the artificial SOULs. “Are they occurring at regular intervals?”

“They were random at first, but they’ve grown more regular lately.”

“What exactly does it feel like?”

“Like…someone was squeezing my SOUL. It makes my heart pound sometimes.”

“Hm.” He finished writing and then cleared his throat. “I’ll look in to it. You always were fragile, though; there is a possibility that this is unique to you, and therefore may require more testing before a cure can be found.”

Amy frowned. “Are you kidding me?”

“No. Why would I? I will research this and call you when I’ve found a solution. You are dismissed.”

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Hotland, Underground

202X

Amy Fjorden

Amy grumbled and turned to leave. “Thanks,” she said grudgingly. She reached the door and was about to leave when Miss Alphys called out.

“Wait!”

Amy turned. Miss Alphys looked a little embarrassed. Amy gave her an inquisitive look.

“Why? What’s up?”

“I-I was about to take my lunch break, and um, I was wondering if…. I was wondering if maybe you’d like some, um, some company?”

Amy smiled. “If you want to come along, I won’t stop you, but I’m not doing anything very interesting.”

“Tha-that’s okay, I don’t mind.”

“Well, come on over, then.”

Miss Alphys hurried over. She was blushing a little. Amy opened the door and let Miss Alphys go first. She paused before she left, then turned and looked over her shoulder at Gaster.

“See you later, Vasily!”

She could see him stiffen as she walked away. Miss Alphys looked astonished. Amy smirked to herself wryly. That would have repercussions later, and she knew it. But for now, that didn’t matter. What did matter was that she was going out to lunch with a friend, never mind that she’d only known said friend for a month or so. She hadn’t gone out with a friend since…before Asriel was born. So she was determined to enjoy this.

“What did you just call Doctor Gaster?” Miss Alphys asked, aghast.

“Just an old nickname I used to have for him,” Amy said dismissively. “Don’t…don’t worry about it.”

“O-okay….”

“So, Grillby’s?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah.”

“Grillby’s it is, then.” Amy led the way to the River Person’s dock. The River Person’s ferry had a dog’s head this time. Amy still didn’t know how that happened.

“Where to today?” River Person asked cheerily.

“Snowdin.” She helped Alphys into the ferry, then got in herself. She looked at their surroundings as they began to move. She hadn’t been to Hotland in so long…. It was almost alien to her, though nothing had really changed at all.

“So, um, I was wondering….”

Amy looked at her companion and cocked her head to the side. “Yes?”

“Um, I was wondering how you know Doctor Gaster. You seem like you know him pretty well, and I-”

Amy raised her hand, signalling her to stop. “I get it.” She hesitated for a moment. “How do I know Doctor Gaster, huh? That’s a very long story.” She smiled and hung her head a little. When she looked up, she was watching the scenery. “The short version is that we were…friends. And we had something of a falling out. A long time ago.”

“You, friends with Doctor Gaster?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. He was…he used to be very different. We weren’t such opposites, then.”

There was silence. Amy glanced at Alphys. She looked amazed; entranced. Amy pulled a lock of hair in front of her eyes. Blue and pink light swirled around her hair, and parts of her hair turned blue and pink at random. Her eyebrows shot up. The light show stopped.

“What was that?” Alphys asked, breathless.

“I…. Um…. Nothing, just….” She hadn’t seen that glow in ages. But why…? She had only been telling Alphys how she knew Gaster…. Oh. Of course. She had been reminiscing. Thinking of pleasanter days, perhaps even longing for them. She had been growing wistful.

“It was beautiful.”

Amy looked at Alphys with surprise. Beautiful. She never really considered her glowing to be a thing of beauty; it was simply a thing she did, like breathing. Now that she considered it, however, she realized she shouldn’t be too surprised. Her parents had admired her glow, Gaster used to find it magnificent…. Asriel had found it incredible, and even comforting. It was, in part, why she had been called the Jewel of the Underground for so long. It should not have surprised her that Alphys found it beautiful.

“I…thank you. That’s very kind.”

The ferry arrived in Snowdin. Amy stepped out and held her hand out to Alphys. Alphys smiled a little and took her hand. Amy led the way to Grillby’s. The establishment smelled, thankfully, less like grease and cheap alcohol than it had the first time she came there. Or perhaps she was just accustomed to the smell; beside her, Alphys had wrinkled her nose up at the smell.

“Amy, I thought you had off today,” the redheaded bartender teased. He was the owner’s son, and technically, the restaurant’s namesake.

“I see you’re on bartending duty today,” she commented.

He nodded. “What’ll it be this time?”

“A milkshake, and….” She looked at Alphys. “What do you want?”

“Um…. A-a burger, please.”

Amy smiled at Grillby. “You heard the woman.”

“Coming right up.” Amy paid for the order. Grillby went into the back, where the kitchen was. Amy sat down at a bar stool and rested her head on her chin.

“Thanks for bringing me along,” Alphys said, settling in beside Amy.

“No problem,” Amy replied amiably, “Any time, really.”

She looked around idly as she waited. She wondered what Gaster’s problem was. He had seemed concerned when she mentioned that she thought the problem was with her SOUL, and that it had started after he had done tests on it. There was no way it was concern for her; he had stopped caring about her ages ago. So what was it?

What was going on in that genius head of his?