Anomalies

Subject of Souls

Sans followed Gaster deeper into his personal lab, passing the offices of his new coworkers as well as the darkened rooms that Sans could only assume were testing and experimentation rooms. It was one of these testing rooms that Dr. Gaster turned to and pulled out a key to unlock it. He allowed Sans to go in first, looking around at every-, but it was an unassumingly empty room, with a curtain in the back. "This is where our most important experiments are conducted. This room, lab number 17, is where we are working on the destruction of the barrier. Commit that to memory because it will be where we work most of the time." Sans nodded as he retraced the path they took to here in his mind. "what's behind the curtain?" Sans asked, to which Gaster looked mildly amused. "Why don't you see for yourself?" At the invitation, Sans did just that with curiosity nipping at his heels. His jaw dropped when he saw. "are... are those really..." His voice trailed off in his shock. "The three human souls? Yes. We've been studying them, seeing as they are currently our only way out. If we can figure out their composition... we may find out a different way out, faster." Sans couldn't respond as he stared at the yellow, purple, and blue souls.

⚫️⚫️⚫️

Most of the rest of his shift was spent poking around the other labs. Most were empty now, the associated projects having been scrapped. There was the weapons room, which was lined with large, animalistic skulls. Gaster had called them blasters and said that they were being stored there from after the war. There was a room for prosthetics, too, a project Tika was working on so that she could have arms. It was still a work in progress, but if she succeeded, then it would help a lot of monsters with disabilities. Then there was that hallway leading straight to the C.O.R.E. the one place Sans wasn't allowed to have access to. He wondered if he'd get to see the functions one day. There was a whole line of labs meant for the C.O.R.E and the C.O.R.E alone. Most of those labs were for testing cooling systems for the apparatus, something Sans would be helping with in the future. Sans bid goodbye to everyone as he left for the day. He looked forward to tomorrow, doing some actual work.

⚫️⚫️⚫️

Sans went to pick Papyrus up from the Snowed Inn, feeling his body sag with exhaustion. He hadn't known how tired he was until he nearly fell asleep in the Riverperson's ferry. Lucky for him, the Riverperson was patient and knew how to handle him. Sans groaned when they shook him awake. "Rest is good for the soul, Tra la la." Sans grumbled a quiet apology and thank you before fetching his little brother. He'd have to be more conscious of how much his soul was taking and plan his naps accordingly. Every new thing learned was another weight on his mind and soul. Papyrus took notice of his brother's condition and stuck close to Sans side until they got home. Sans flopped on the couch with a grunt. "just give me five, bro, then i'll make dinner..." Despite his words, he could already feel himself dozing off. Papyrus frowned softly, anxiety fluttering within the confines of his own soul, but this wasn't the first time Sans had come home and passed out. Work was hard for Sans, Papyrus knew this. He woke up super early, too, so of course he needed sleep. Papyrus could let it slide for now.

⚫️⚫️⚫️

Sans snorted awake at a late hour, some 3am or so. He was still on the couch with Papyrus firmly pressed into his side, as well as asleep. "ah, dammit... i'm sorry, paps..." He really had to stop doing this to him. Sans picked his brother up and put him to bed upstairs. Since Sans still had an hour to get ready for work, he decided to head outside and to the cellar. It was really more of a private study at the moment, a quiet place he could write down his observations about his soul, dos and don'ts with it, theories on how to improve its broken state. Theories that usually failed. Sans soul was nearly shattered. It was barely holding on, or so his doctors had told him. It certainly didn't look good whenever he pulled it out. No amount of healing magic or HoPe raising exercises could fix it. But. But now Sans had access to the lab. Gaster planned on doing a physical on him. Maybe with a brilliant mind like Gaster's to help... he could take more and wouldn't have to worry Papyrus.

⚫️⚫️⚫️

Sans dropped Papyrus off, making sure he ate before they left since they'd missed dinner. The Riverperson was kind enough to give Sans some breakfast, too, if one counted nice cream as breakfast. Sans wasn't complaining. He headed straight down into the personal lab and to his office. He was gonna need to decorate. Sans was early again. Nobody else was down here, despite the lights being on. Maybe they were up top, getting coffee? Sans shrugged it off and went onto his computer to pass some time. He set up his work email and phone number to give to his new boss before his mind drifted to the three souls that they had. He was curious as to how they were holding on after death. Maybe that was the key to his own soul problems? "Y-you're back." Sans nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked wide-eyed at the fidgety Dr. Felidae. "M-most a-assistants don't c-come back." Sans smiled and shrugged. "well, here i am. hope you don't mind." A nervous smile twitched on the cat's lips. "I-I like y-you. You are, um... n-nice. Ch-cheeky." Sans chuckled. "thanks. i think we will get along."