Fictober 2024

Fragments

Universe: The Void

MC: Gaster

Genre: Angst(?)

Warnings:
-OOC
-Barely edited
-Mention(s) of a death wish
-Probably (definitely) inaccurate slight body horror

A/N:

So. This was meant to be crack but it just sort of did what it wanted-? Hope you enjoy! Read the A/N at the end if you're interested in my 'why Gaster could be an outcode' theory!

I was sleep deprived when I came up with it, so fair warning.
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He slipped. He... slipped?

Gaster watches, as if in slow motion, as the ground beneath him disappears, as his gaze is fixed on the chasm below, on the quickly approaching core-

A pain rips through him the moment he touches it, vision blinking out as agonised screams leave him. His SOUL splinters, cracks going away who knows where one by one, each bringing a blinding pain with their disappearance. It hurts!

Ithurtsithurtsithurts-

It continues to hurt for a while, till his SOUL is about a tenth of what it used to be, his body struggling to hold together with the sudden lack of magic supplied to it, his mind blank and his nonexistent ears ringing painfully. He's surprised he hasn't died yet. He... honestly would prefer that over this.

Just as the thought enters his mind, the pain subsides, and he stops falling, promptly blacking out.
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His body feels heavy, oddly numb, but his mind is frazzled. It tries to pull itself out of the fog and the screaming voices in his mind (his own? Or anothers?), slowly piecing thoughts together.

It feels like it's been a minute. It feels like it's been a decade.

(It hurts still.)

It's dark.

... Where is he?

A part of him knows the answer, but it eludes him for some reason. Irritated, he huffs and tries to stand up. Except... he's already standing?

Confused, he stares at his hands. They're intact, thankfully, but his arms...

He moves them. He can feel them move, but he can't see them. Is it just his sweatshirt? But then, where did his labcoat go? He tries to tug on his sweatshirts sleeve. It is... merged with his arm.

... He'll deal with this later.

"Oh! A newcomer."

He startles, badly, immediately turning around. Or, trying to. It takes longer than he'd like to admit, but the person behind him with a voice that sounds oddly like his own speaking a language only he and two others know to his knowledge waits patiently for him.

Nothing prepared him for what he saw.

The monster looks uncannily like him, though his skull is less sharp and looks mucu more malleables than Gasters. He's not sure when the monsters body ends and his clothes disappear, little white starts glittering in some ends, a permanent smile on his face that seems to widen as Gaster looks at him.

... Theories flash through Gasters mind, but only one truly stands out.

(... Does he look like that now?)

The monster- Gasters smile twists into a satisfied grin, as much as it can.

"Good, looks like you've realised. I assume you don't need an explanation?"

He shoots him a deadpan look. He would really like an explanation, thank you very much.
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The other Gaster who he's been calling Star in his mind for conveniences sake explains to him what happened, what this place is. He explains the multiverse, explains the Void, and how it's connected to all AUs through the core except for a rare few at other locations, how his existence, the monster, or even the human in his role, nearly always ends up in the Void.

Only a rare few get to leave it. Most... are just erased from their timeline and AU unless the anomaly exploits a real-life glitch to glimpse into the Void. There isn't enough code in the Gasters to link them to their AU, but there's enough of an imprint left that the 'door' is just about guaranteed to link to the correct Gaster.

Some get impatient enough, desperate enough, they try to merge with other Gasters SOUL fragments, but they rarely have enough of a SOUL left to truly feel the emotion necessary to that depth.

... Rarely doesn't mean nonexistent, Gaster thinks, as he gazes at what he could become if he waits long enough.
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There's a reason even the Gasters with a more intact mind don't dare merge their SOUL fragments. With so much of themselves gone, it's hard to distinguish what kind of AU the fragment comes from without some external help. The echoes are too much like their own SOUL, but the moment the fragment merges with them, it could awaken its previous mind.

There's no guarantee it'd be compatible with them, not really, and if the SOUL fragment is incompatible enough, they could wipe it and their own SOUL fragment out of existence fully. No Void, no afterlife, no nothing. They just... don't exist anymore.

But Gaster would rather bet on the slim chance of success rather than his script leading him back to his AU.

He grabs hold of a fragment that looks promising and gets to work.
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(IthurtithurtsithurtsithurtithurtsithurtsithurtsITHURTS-

Memories flash through his mind, fragmnets of a life that isn't truly his own. A life where he never saw the stars, where he was far younger, still wide eyed and full of joy and so much hope-

A visit to the lab with... a friend? Family? Or did he sneak in?

He doesn't know. He doesn't remember. But similarly, a single misstep led to the biggest mistake in his life.)
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Gaster slowly opens his eyesockets. He feels... younger?

He doesn't know how, but he just feels like it. His SOUL is a tad brighter, a bit more full, and HoPe fills him to the brim.

Hm. His mind is still intact, if a bit less... stiff?

He grins.

"Well, that worked out great."

He should find another fragment.
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A/N:

On why Gaster could be an outcode:

Gaster essentially kicked himself out of his own timeline and AU when he fell into the core. It's already been established that he resides in the Void now, which is apparently connected to the core and that one door.

Which means that you can't really meet him unless you experience an anomaly in the game. And what guarantee do you even have that the Gaster you meet is the one that was connected to that AU? Literally the only person who really remembers him is Sans, and even he struggles to.

The only way you can be sure it's him is if you ask Sans, since Firsk and Chara do not understand wingdings, they can't be sure what he's saying that would point at his personality.

Him being seen only through an anomaly is similar to how outcodes like Error and Ink can only be seen in specific circumstances since their existence is an anomaly in and of itself, which in their case, is through creating a portal to that AU.

I'll just leave it at that, then! Hope you have a good day/night!

Next chap: Outcodes, Asgore