Anomalies

Obsession

Sans woke up to his alarm and got into his clothes and jacket for the day before going to see if Papyrus was up. Sans paused a moment. This was familiar... "Good Morning, Brother..." Papyrus yawned and crawled out of bed before rushing downstairs. "BREAKFAST TIME!" Sans laughed sleepily and followed him downstairs to make them oatmeal with dinosaur eggs. Papyrus favorite. "Are You Working On Your Secret Project Today, Brother?" He asked as Sans boiled some milk and added oats into it to absorb. "mmhm, we'll be testing it today, bro." He turned down the heat. This had happened before. "Can I Join?!" Papyrus asked eagerly. "not this time, bud, you gotta be safely away, just in case..." Papyrus started to complain until Sans dished up a bowl and carried it over. "here, bro, enjoy." His complaints were forgotten as he squealed and dug in to find the dinosaurs in his oatmeal. Sans made himself a bowl and helped Papyrus find all of them for the remainder of breakfast. After that, he had Papyrus get ready to go to the Inn.

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After Papyrus was dropped off, he went to the basement. But Gaster was already in there, and the machine was already on and completed. "Theoretically, we could reset farther, so why...." The doctor was grumbling and messing with some of the buttons and dials. He didn't even notice Sans as he went to the timeline monitor. There were at least eight or so lines now. Was... was that why his memories of these events were becoming clearer? "geez, g. you've been busy, heh. can i help?" Gaster jumped and stared at Sans. "You startled me. usually, you ask if it's already been tested..." Sans shrugged. "guess i already knew." Gaster hummed. "Well, I am trying to set the reset time past this point, however..." Sans hummed again, thinking about all he knew about science fiction and quantum physics. "well... maybe the reason is because this point in time is fixed. this is the timelines 'start' point, so you literally can't go back any further. kinda sucks since that means what we can do in these resets is a lot more limited, but at least we know?" Gaster visibly deflated. "All my plans burned in a single comment..." He sighed, "however it makes sense." Sans gave him an apologetic look. "sorry, g."

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It didn't stop Gaster. After learning he couldn't go back farther, he really paid careful attention around him. He really began to start changing things to see how it changed the timeline. Meeting Grillby vs not. Saving a child from getting lost in the woods. Small things. None of them remembered by anyone when he reset. Nobody but Sans, of course, who seemed fine with it. He was running his own little experiments with the timelines, now that his memories were becoming clearer. What happened if he stayed home with him. Took him to Waterfall for the day. Papyrus made a new friend named Undyne and that became a fixed point as well. What if he took Papyrus to Grillby’s? Or to the woods to explore. Thats the first time Sans found the Ruins door and told Papyrus all about the Ruins and how it was monsterkind's first home. That night, Sans tucked Papyrus in and started to close down the house for the night when someone knocked on his door. "dogamy? hey. what's up?" The canine waisted no time to hold out a piece of paper to Sans. "Have you seen this kid?" Sans frowned. It was the rabbit that Gaster saved that one reset...

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Sans went with the usual repetition as was what usually happened when Gaster reset. He went straight to the basement after, his expression troubled. "g, think maybe you should slow down on the resets..." The two looked at each other for a moment. Gaster's expression was... strange. A odd mix of regret, excitement, and intrigue. "Why? Aren't you having fun, testing the possibilities? Papyrus must be enjoying time with his big brother, no?" Sans rubbed the back of his skull. "well, yeah, but..." Gaster narrowed his sockets. "But?" A shiver ran down Sans spine and his words seem to catch. He ran a check on Gaster, but the doctor was good at hiding his stats. "Well, Sans? Spit it out." He was getting impatient. "a-a kid went missing last reset. i was wondering if you knew anything, that's all." Sans chose his words carefully. Gaster got up slowly. "No, I don't. I can't stop everything, Sans." He passed the skeleton without a glance. Sans could only watch, unable to accuse him of something he wasn't sure of or technically hadn't happened. He knew that he was going to have to be careful though.

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As Gaster continued to reset the same day again and again and again, people started to disappear. Sans became more convinced that Gaster was killing them... and he wouldn't ever get caught. Nobody could remember, not even the ones who died. Gaster seemed to be avoiding Sans too, leaving the basement before Sans could get down there. Sans honestly didn't know what he could do to stop this. This wasn't the doc. The doctor didn't like people, sure, but murder? It made him sick to think about. Maybe... it was time to tell the others. Maybe they could talk to Gaster and get him out of this dark path he was going down. Sans called Felidae the next morning, asking them to come over, regarding what he and Gaster had been personally working on and bring the others. Sans immediately felt bad for his more reptilian friends like Tika and Vexta, but they were bundled and ready to join the project. "So, what's the project? What are we doing?" Dr. Muzc asked. Sans took a deep breath. "dr. gaster and i made a reset machine. i need your help to try and break him from his growing obsession with it."