Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first thing the experiment did when it woke up... Was laugh. Well, that was a new one.

He watched them test their restraints, one at each wrist and ankle, and another around his throat. It held him securely to the high backed chair, for its own protection. For Gaster's own protection, after the fear induced attack from a previous experiment, a magic dampening bracelet had been added to their left wrist above the strap. They jangled it lightly, but otherwise seemed uninterested. Gaster typed a note in his log, and the experiment turned to face the sound. Curiously, he didn't seem to have any eyelights. Blind, perhaps?

As Gaster looked the skeleton over to note any further differences from S01, he saw that the experiment was trying to summon his Soul. The construct itself could pass through his ribs and the thin medical gown, but the resonation needle Gaster had embedded inside could not. It stuck fast halfway out and remained there, partially visible and obscene. A soft red seemed to glow from within it, possibly indicative of some trait inherent in their Soul.

"is this a kidnapping?" The displaced experiment asked, speaking up like he was trying to catch Gaster's attention. Like he didn't even notice what must be excruciating pain from a half phased Soul. "heh. haven't been on the receiving end of one of these in a long time."

Their tone was insolence personified and immediately stepped on Gaster's last nerve. Gaster did his best to ignore it, keeping his internal bristling to himself. He was a professional, after all.

"It's not a kidnapping," Gaster informed him, careful to keep his voice level. "Don't worry, you will be returned soon enough. Now, I have some questions for you. To start, what is your name?"

"easy. first name, fuck. last name, you. at your service."

Gaster frowned, pushing away his keyboard before turning to face the experiment more directly. "You have quite the mouth on you, don't you?"

"i sure do. and i'm pretty good with it too." The skeleton lifted his chin as he made an obnoxious kissing noise. "just admit it, you wanna kiss me so bad, don't you?"

"I most certainly do not!" Gaster said, recoiling back in his chair. The skeleton began to snicker, and Gaster was appalled to see how clearly they were finding humor in his reaction. Scowling, Gaster leaned forward again, tapping his finger against the desk. "I will see some respect from you! Now, answer me- what is your name and what nickname do you go by?"

The experiment's face twisted in a mocking sneer as he answered coyly, "call me whatever you want. and i go by your mother. when she's available, of course."

The leer they gave him was unsettling coming from S01's face. Gaster slapped the desk with his palm, creating a loud crack to echo through the small room. "How dare you! Do you have any idea who I am?"

The experiment squinted at him, and Gaster saw then that his sockets weren't actually empty, though the eyelights were so dim that they might as well be. "oh, shit," the skeleton said, his smile dropping as he finally appeared to recognize the monster in front of him. "you're one of those royal..."

Gaster preened a bit, straightening in his seat. It was about time he got the proper-

"...assholes."

The skeleton burst out laughing again as Gaster's face fell in disbelief, open with his amusement at Gaster's expense. Before Gaster could form a response, the skeleton spoke up again.

"no, wait, wait, i'm sorry, where are my manners? you're doctor double-dick-in-the-asster, right?"

The skeleton cackled uproriously at his own joke as, for the first time he could remember, Gaster was left speechless. Never in the entirety of his life had he ever been so disrespected!

"no?" The skeleton asked, catching his breath enough to add, "could have sworn you look like one of those wingdicks!"

"Enough of this!" Gaster shouted, only for his command to go completely ignored. That alone brought a new rage made made his magic boil. "ENOUGH!" He roared out, loud enough that the experiment at least paused long enough to look at him. When he met those dark eyes, Gaster had to choke back an indignant cry of fury when he saw tears of mirth beginning to fill the creatures sockets! "Just who do you think you are?" Gaster demanded, standing from his seat and raising a fist in irritation.

The question unfortunately only seemed to amuse the experiment further. "me? ha! i think the better question is, who do *you* think i am? 'cus correct me if i'm wrong, dick, but you seem to think i'm someone who's just gonna stand there and take it, and oh buddy, you're so fucking wrong it's funny."

Still they smiled, and as those cocky, tear filled sockets took in Gaster's shaking fist, it occurred to him that the skeleton enjoyed being the cause of his loss of control. Internally Gaster seethed, but he took a moment to calm himself, lowering his hands. He was the one with the power here. This behavior... he never could have imagined it from S01, or from any of the variants he'd seen so far. Calling a hand construct, he picked up one of the syringes he'd prepared from his desk. It was time to get back on track with his testing.

"You should know that you're helpless," Gaster said, taking a step closer. Using the syringe as a pointer, his construct motioned to the five bands that held the experiment in place. "With the restraints and the dampening cuff, you're utterly-"

"oh? is that was this is?" The experiment asked, jiggling his wrist within the restraint. The cuff jangled softly. "i was wondering."

Without hesitation, the skeleton ripped his arm free of the shackle.

...most of his arm.

It snapped at the wrist with a sickening crack. The hand and the cuff both fell free from the arm of the chair, but before they could hit the floor bones manifested in the air, arcing towards and severing the remaining restraints. In less than a second, the skeleton was free.

Then the world went truly mad.

The experiment leapt forward, crossing the space between them in a Soulbeat, knocking Gaster from his feet in a rush of movement and force. The attack was a surprise, but not as much as the unexpected strength that allowed the skeleton to pin him to the ground by his shoulders. Their mangled wrist was leaking broken magic from the open wound, leaving a growing stain on Gaster's coat, though the experiment acted as if he couldn't even feel it.

Gaster grabbed for the cable lead trailing from their gown, still attached to the experiment's Soul, and the only thing keeping them tethered to Gaster's universe. He tugged at it, but it wouldn't pull free, caught within the skeleton's ribs and the only partially manifested Soul. The tension was clearly having some effect as the Soul began to distort, shining with an unnatural red hue, their tears threatening to spill from their sockets.

"god, i hate sanctimonious pricks like you. not a clue what to do when you got a real killer on your hands."

The first tear gave way, and with horror Gaster realized that it wasn't tears at all. He didn't know what it was. Wracked with sudden horror, Gaster watched the black ichor drip slowly over the bones of his face, thick as crude oil.

"you're a big fish in a little pond," the experiment said, digging the fingers of his remaining hand into Gaster's throat. S01's fingers were too small to find good purchase, but with the amount of force the experiment was using it hardly seemed to matter. "but when you go fishing in deeper waters, you shouldn't be surprised when you find you've caught a shark."

Even as he fought and failed to draw a full breath, Gaster couldn't risk attacking the experiment back, their body was far too fragile and the chance of permanent damage was far too high. With a speed bordering on desperation, Gaster summoned a hand construct, and a quick order sent the hand to the machine, turning the dial for the frequency of their Soul. The knob clicked loudly as it turned, and the experiment'vibrantly red Soul shuddered, loosing shape, the point softening into something round. It looked like it was melting.

But the pressure on Gaster's throat didn't lessen. He turned the dial further.

The machine shrieked an alarm. The pressure on his throat increased.

Stunned, Gaster peered desperately at the computer, wondering where he was going wrong, why it wasn't working. Exclamation marks and critical warnings flashed on the screens, including the ones that measured the skeleton's vitals. They were all in the red, signs that the creature should be in excruciating agony.

They followed his gaze to the readouts, and when they looked back their dark eyelights glittered like black crystals.

"you think a little pain is gonna stop me? i can tell it's not even lethal." They grinned at him, looking truly insane as black sludge continued to leak from their sockets. "hell, it's like you don't even wanna kill me." Leaning even closer, they whispered, "unfortunately for you, that feeling isn't mutual."

"S-stop-!" Gaster ordered, twisting as far as he could to avoid a drop of black goo that threatened to break loose from the creature's grin. But they were too close together, and the drop fell, striking Gaster right on the edge of his jaw. He cried out as icy needles radiated from the point of contact, burning with a chill.

"say goodbye, doctor."

Gaster's conjured hand grabbed for the far end of the Soul lead, and with a final wild pull, yanked the cord free from the machine itself. It gave a piercing shriek of electronic agony, and then suddenly the experiment seized up, their eyes going wide and smile turning into a horrifying ricktus. Taking his opportunity, Gaster finally pushed him away and into the careful grip of a few more constructs, mindful of the damage done to S01's body and possibly his health. Silently the skeleton collapsed into the hold, still broken, still grinning, still blankly staring, that viciously red Soul throbbing between his ribs like a garish mockery of a human heart.

Gaster knelt beside him, scrubbing as the cold mark left on his jaw as he waited for the experiment to reset itself. For a long moment, nothing happened. As nothing continued to happen, Gaster was struck with the fear that perhaps something truly disastrous had happened, and that once the skeleton did recover, Gaster would be stuck with that strange, violent, murderous version of S01.

Then the color faded from his Soul, banished like a shadow in the light and leaving S01's normal and clean silver-white in its wake. The smile finally broke as his sockets closed, his Soul slowly retreating back into his chest. A small, pained sound came from him, short but agonized.

"S01?" Gaster asked, his voice soft. It was only because he was worried it could be a trick, the foreign experiment playing possum. Admittedly that was unlikely, but still possible.

S01 opened his eyes and blinked once, his head lolling against one of the constructs. Relief, stronger than he would have expected, hit Gaster as he watched S01's eyelights flicker back to normal brightness, working to focus on his face.

"s-sir...? please, sir, i... i think i'm hurt."

He definitely sounded the part. Trying to gather his frazzled nerves, Gaster pulled S01 away from the constructs and into his arms. As Gaster carefully got to his feet, S01 made another on of those injured noises when his injured wrist was accidentally jostled.

"It's alright now. You'll be fine," Gaster assured, ordering a construct to grab S01's fallen hand. It followed after them as he took S01 from the room and hurried down the hall. "One night in the medical bay and, come morning, you'll be good as new."

"yes, sir," S01 said, nodding once against Gaster's chest. He didn't seem to understand the extent of his injuries yet. A mercy that Gaster could allow him for now, while he considered what to do next.

The experiments were too important to halt, even after such a complication. He would just have to find ways to pull the situation even more securely in his favor.

Somehow.

Chapter Text

What a day. Gaster gave a heavy sigh as he entered his office. Meetings had taken most of his day, and what parts he hadn't spent chatting useless niceties with simpletons had quickly been swallowed by maintenance rounds of the Core. But finally, finally the day was over. He made it approximately two steps into the room before he realized that he wasn't alone.

Someone was sitting at his desk. Startled, Gaster froze in his tracks, staring at the skeleton casually sitting back in his chair, their dirty sneakers propped up on his desk.

"heya, big fish. remember me?"

Gaster took a step back in reflexive horror. He'd only heard that voice once, but he knew he'd never forget it, no matter how long he lived or how hard he tried. The skeleton, slightly taller than S01, stared at him with S01's face, but with his mouth twisted in the same awful smile that haunted Gaster's nightmares. Their Soul hovered in the space directly outside their chest, as vibrant red as he remembered. But now, without the resonance needle keeping it restrained, Gaster could see its true shape, a circle inside a circle, a brazen target, twisted by stars only knew what into something horrid and unnatural.

The skeleton took their feet off the desk, and leaned forward, placing elbows on the desktop and resting their skull on their fists. "i've just been dying to see you again. and after i told my pals all about you... well... they were dyin' to come and meetcha too."

Gaster took another step back, only to collide against someone's broad, barrel chest. Fear gripped him in a vice as he turned, coming face to face with what he could only call a gigantic version of S01, their clothes aged and dirty, with half of his skull caved in. More gripping than that the hideous wound, however, was their one singular, disconcerting red eye, staring into him like a predator staring down prey. Gaster gaped, How could such a large creature have snuck so silently up behind him?!

The smiling skeleton laughed behind him. "ah, that's one of those friends i mentioned. meet my good buddy, horror."

Gaster didn't wait for any further niceties, dashing away from the brute and towards the side door. At the very least he could lock himself inside as he called for backup-

It opened before he could touch it and he found himself blocked by yet another version of S01. This one was no larger than the one at his desk, but there was something... wrong with his eyes. Magic crackled around him like static in a storm. His clothing was just as dirty as the large one's, but grey instead of brown, as if it were coated in layer after layer of...

"dust, eyy, you made it."

Gaster moved sideways, keeping his back to the wall, carefully trying to hold all three intruders in view as he redirected his attention back to the one at his desk.

That one watched him with that same open amusement they had shown before, their dark sockets glittering just as maliciously. With deliberate care they pressed their hands against the desktop and eased up from the chair, rising to their feet with the fluid grace of a hunting creature.

"y'know, that reminds me..." They said, rounding the desk to take a casual step closer. Then another. "i never did tell you my name, did i?" Suddenly a knife was in their hand, flashing in a spin above their fingers as they toyed with the blade. "howzabout you ask me again, one more time."

Gaster scowled, remaining silent. He kept his back to the wall as the three skeletons closed in on him.

"aw, you were so chatty before. c'mon, don't you wanna know? i'll even tell you the truth."

The nameless one stepped closer, their blade glinting with the reflected shine of the overhead lights. To his shame, Gaster felt a pit of fear growing inside him. It should have been preposterous, the idea of something so like S01 acting like this.

Gaster grit his teeth as a realization struck him. If they wanted to hurt him, they likely would have done so already. The fact that they were simply lurking, closing in without attacking... It was bluff. Certainly filled him, and he stood taller, determined to push back against such an obvious and ineffective intimidation tactic. He felt sweat beading along his forehead anyway, and gave himself a mental slap. What did he have to be concerned about? By the angel, these were versions of S01! He couldn't - wouldn't show fear.

Squaring his shoulders, he crossed his arms, peering down imperiously as he gave the nameless creature his best impatient glare.

"You're awfully set on this little game, aren't you?" He asked, using the bored, disapproving tone that always had S01 ducking his head with shame. "Well, considering these... associates of yours, I can only imagine your moniker must be something of a similarly morbid quality. Ashes? Vile? Perhaps Tears, based on your eyes? Or maybe even something as thoughtlessly tacky as Blade, judging by-"

The skeleton moved faster than Gaster could properly track, and then he was screaming, falling back against the wall, a knife buried to the hilt in his thigh. Half blind with pain, Gaster stumbled away from his attacker, only for his leg to give out beneath him. The loss of balance sent him careening into the dusty watcher, who only stepped back with a disgusted grimace before violently shoving Gaster away, into the larger. It was like hitting a wall, and the large beast of a creature grabbed his shoulder, easily hauling him to his feet and holding him steady as the grinning one faced him down.

At a wave from the head skeleton, Gaster was shoved back against the wall once more, and he threw a hand back to brace himself against it. With the other he reached down, knowing better than to pull it out, but unable to resist the urge to grab the handle of the knife embedded in his leg. The others moved in as he held frozen in pain and fear, like predators closing in on weakened prey. The grinning one placed his hand on Gaster's shoulder, leaning in close enough that Gaster could smell the sharp, acrid scent of those not-tears that leaked from those impossibly black, empty sockets. Gaster shuddered, remember how it felt to have that bitter cold slime touching his skin.

"not too good at listening, are ya?" They asked, sound both disappointed and yet shockingly cheerful. "did i ask you to guess?"

Gaster risked a glance at the other two, but found nothing of use in their impassive gazes. Looking to the door he began to shout for help, but before he could get more than a word out the skeleton placed a finger on the end of the knife, wiggling it slightly. Immediately Gaster shut his mouth, nausea rising as fresh pain shot up his leg. "it's funny, don't you think? shouldn't someone have come to help when you first screamed out?" The skeleton asked.

The obvious question ripped away the little bit of resolve he had left. It was all he could do to remain upright as the grinning monster leered at him.

"ain't no one coming to save you, doc. why, we think it's your turn to know what it's like to be subjected to the whims of someone with more power than you. annnd..." he said, dragging the word out with delighted glee, "correct me if i'm wrong, doc, but I'm pretty sure you've been on the other side enough time to know that, right now, your best bet's probably gonna be to give me what i want." He leaned in further, close enough to whisper. "and what i want is for you to ask. me. my. name."

Panting Gaster gulped a breath, and asked. "What... What is your name?"

They grinned, and their smile was designed to draw blood just as well as their knife did. There was a split second of calm as they stared at each other. Then the skeleton's eyes and grin narrowed, and then he shifted his grip, tightening on the knife before ripping it down along the muscle of Gaster's leg in one swift, violent move. Gaster screamed out in agony as the blade was yanked free, and a blow to his ankle from the other short skeleton dropped him to the ground. He collapsed in a head, clutching at his damaged leg.

"my name," the lead one said, standing over him, silhouetted from behind as he was flanked on either side by the other warped experiments. "is Killer."

The knife glinted in the light, and Gaster belatedly called forth constructs. They'd clearly been waiting for this, and they moved swiftly, destroying each hand as soon as it came into existence. With a final sweep of his knife, cutting the last construct in half, Killer knelt in front of him. It was only a defensive reflex that had Gaster putting an arm up across his chest, but Killer simply ignored it, pressing the tip of the knife to the hollow of Gaster's throat.

"tsk, not even a little begging for mercy?" The skeleton asked, close enough for Gaster to once again smell the poisonous scent of the sludge that gleamed, dripping from their sockets like thick black tears. "you still don't get it, do you? ain't as smart as you claim to be, that's for sure. ah well, heh, it's gonna be fun to teach you."