Handplates!Gaster x female!reader|| Giving a Piece of Me

Hide and Seek

{Handplates chapter references: Are you cheating or something, Well since you asked}

"Subject 2, come out here." 

Gaster deactivated the lasers and let 2-P step out of the cell. He could finally walk around without the bandages covering his eyes again. 

"UH OKAY. WHERE ARE WE GOING?" Gaster put his hand back on the touch panel, separating them and 1-S. 

"Now, I have opened several normally locked doors. You have three minutes to find a place to hide. When those three minutes are up, I will come find you. Don't bother coming back here to try and release Subject 1, the door lock will not open." 

"UH OKAY. WHAT IF YOU DON'T FIND ME? DO I WIN?", asked 2-P with a hint of excitement in his voice. 

Gaster just looked at his clipboard, picking up his pen: "This isn't a game. Go." 

Soon, 2-P rushed through the multiple rooms but no matter how hard he tried, Gaster always found him in a matter of minutes.

"Alright, Subject 1, it's your turn. You have three minutes to go and hide." 

"what, not going to break my legs first? how thoughtful of you.", said 1-S sarcastically. 

"You're wasting time." 

Subject 1 just frowned and started sprinting down the hallway. Multiple attempts were made but he was also always immediately found.
Of course, he did try one last time to use the touch pad but that effort was also wasted.

but this time, this time he won't find me... , 1-S thought to himself as he pushed open the doors of a cupboard. 

His heart stopped for a moment as he saw what was in there and he stumbled a few steps backwards, shaking. Gaster's footsteps were audible and soon he was in the same room as him. 

"1-S, you are supposed to be hiding, that was a poor deci-", Gaster stopped mid-sentence as he saw what Subject 1 had discovered and was staring at with both fear and disbelief. 

As much as he hated to admit it, he almost forgot about it.. 

He was just too occupied with the experiments and taking care of the two skeletons, and he also did not bear looking at it anymore. 

He was no longer worthy. 

1-S stepped aside a little, giving clear view to the s/c colored soul, floating peacefully in its container. The cracks had grown significantly but Gaster had no way of fixing things either. 

"was there someone else before us?", asked 1-S lowly, muttering out his suspicions and fears. His eye sockets went blank as he turned to Gaster: "what happened to them? what did you do to their soul? Is this gonna happen to us-" 

"She was taken from me. I did not do anything. It's more or less the soul's normal state due to unknown circumstances." 

Gaster did not have to say the truth, and he also did not have to explain himself in front of someone he just considered a "thing" but he would never want to be held responsible for her pain when all he did was try to heal her. He would not allow 1-S to accuse him like that. 

"you are lying. this is not what a normal soul looks like, it- it's wrong!" 1-S had never seen a human soul before so the color was off-putting and the way it was floating as well. In fact, he had never really seen anyone's soul before except for Gaster's and his brother's. But what concerned him the most were the cracks. Can this happen to a soul? 

"you must have-"
"Silence.", demanded Gaster in a firm voice. He picked up 1-S with his blue magic, moving him out of the way and closing the cupboard. 

"You have seen enough. The conversation is over." Gaster ran his hand over his face and groaned: "You truly are too smart for your own good." He walked out of the room, 1-S floating after him and locked the door. 

It was a mistake to open that door, he hadn't thought about the things that could be discovered. He had not considered the risks. 

1-S kept glancing at him. It was as if something in his façade cracked for at least a moment, but he could not make it out again. 

Gaster rejoined with 2-P who was still waiting near the cell entrance and set 1-S back down.

1-S wanted to bring up his findings to 2-P but he would not want to do it while Gaster was still around...and should he even tell 2-P what he saw to begin with? What if he could not handle it? He decided to put those matters aside for the time being and focused on the task.

"Now both of you go and hide. You get five minutes." 

Same task. Same results. 

"UGH I REALLY THOUGHT WE'D WIN THAT ONE FOR SURE!" 

"why are we doing this?" Gaster was still writing down on his notepad: "To test something...and to prove a point." 

"I HAD A REALLY GOOD SPOT THAT TIME, I DON'T GET IT!! HOW DO YOU KEEP FINDING US? IT'S NOT FAIR!" Gaster had his eyes still fixed on his notes as he walked down the hallway with the brothers. 

"I will always find you, no matter how far you run, and no matter where you hide." 1-S squinted his eyes in suspicion as he heard these words.

2-P meanwhile entirely ignored the subtle threat and warning, or maybe he just didn't notice at all. He threw his hands up in defeat: "BUT WHY! ARE YOU CHEATING OR SOMETHING? I DON'T GET IT!"

.

.

.

The whirring of the force field stopped and moments later Gaster stepped through the entrance: "You two-" 

As he looked up from his clipboard, he saw 1-S holding his own arm, swinging it back and forth carelessly.

1-S noticed Gaster's expression and leaned back a little, a smug smile on his face: "what? something wrong? completely normal and entirely painless, isn't that what you told him? nothin' wrong with takin' your arm off, right?" 

1-S waved the arm around. It was the one that had the plate drilled into the back of his hand.

"unless there's something about this arm. or maybe this hand that you want us to keep on. hey how about i just leave it here today?", 1-S continued to push and placed his arm next to him on the crib. 

"after all, it's not like you'll lose it or anything." 

Gaster sighed, holding his forehead in irritation. He did not have the patience to mess around like that. 

"Alright, I don't have time to set up a proper lesson, so we're just going to do the short version. Subject 2, come here."
2-P got up and walked over to him.

"Give me your arm." 

Gaster grasped 2-P's arm, detaching it at his elbow, then points to the corner of the room: "Now, go stand over there." 

2-P did as he said, both skeletons looking at Gaster in anticipation as he held 2-P's arm in both of his hands. Without a bat of his eye, he snapped the radius bone in half and 2-P screamed in immediate response. 

He sank to his knees, holding his upper arm. 2-P screamed and cried, causing 1-S to jump off the crib and rush up to him for comfort, his eye flashing blue. 

"The limb may be physically detached and immobile, but it's still magically connected to the skeleton's soul in question, with all that entails." 

2-P continued to scream and wail in pain as Gaster continued to give his lesson. 

"I'll be taking this so I can set the bone. You'll get it back later." 

Gaster turned to leave the cell, looking over his shoulder at Subject 1: "You really are too clever for your own good at times."