A Glitch In Time (An Undertale Story)// DISCONTINUED

Chapter Five: Saved

Against my own will, my senses began to return to me. I heard an odd beeping noise. When I tried to open my eyes, I found myself blinded by a bright light. I tried to shield my face with my hands, but something tight kept them restrained. I looked down to see that some kind of straps had me locked to a cool, metal table. I also noticed that my clothes had changed: the only thing I was wearing was a knee-length, pale green gown, made with a weird fabric, that I could feel was tied together in the back with yarn. It made me think of the time Mother forced me to wear a corset to a dinner party at the village leader's house, except this gown wasn't squeezing all the oxygen out of my lungs. Even with all my struggle, I could not move from my original place.

When I looked over to the side, I saw the source of the beeping. There was a piece of machinery, standing on a platform that seemed to have wheels. The contraption had a long tube, that came up and connected to the tip of my right pointer finger with some sort of clamp. I soon noticed the machine had a pattern going on with its high-pitched noises. The fast beeping seemed to echo the rate at which my heart was beating.

On the other side of me, I saw a a bag hanging from a pole, similar to the machines stand. The pouch was full of a dark red liquid, which I presumed to be blood. There was also a tube connected to the blood bag, which lead into a vein in the inner part of my left elbow, stuck there with a needle.

I eventually heard a sound of something ruffling. Tilting my head back as far as possible, I saw mass of soft, white feathers.

My wings... I thought. I began to feel a weight a heavy weight on my back. Soon, I realized that they were chained to the floor beneath me. After struggling a while to slip many wings through the chains, I gave up. I saw a golden glow right above my eyeline. My horn...am I having that odd dream again?

After being lost in thought for so long, I began to thrash violently. If this was a dream, then I wanted to see if Dr. Gaster was in my mind again.

'Cut that out! You might break or pull a tendon in your wings if you continue that!' A familiar voice in the back of my mind demanded. As soon as I let my body go limp again, I heard the sound of clacking shoes enter the room. Out of the shadows in into the light came a man. I knew it was Dr. Gaster, but he looked...different.

He wore a black dress shirt and a white lab coat. I faintly remember him stating that, in my dream, he was a scientist for the monster race. When I was young, we were taught about certain types of monsters in school, and how it was best to avoid them. I also noticed that he was wearing a cream-colored scarf that was wrapped around his neck. He wore expensive-looking, black, wing-tip shoes. I remember Mother got Aaron a pair for Easter Sunday last year. Under his lab coat, he wore a pair of pants that matched his scarf.

However, the most peculiar change was in Gaster's mask. He still had the painted-on black smile and dark eyes, but the mask looked...newer, and without any cracks. In his skeletal hand, he held a clipboard that had a few papers attached to it. The sheets were covered in many odd symbols. In my dream, he said he could speak through telepathic thoughts and...what was the language called?

'They're called 'Wing Dings' the scientist "said".  He must've caught me staring at the clipboard. He pinched the mask at where the bridge of his nose would've been. 'Now, can you tell me WHY you were struggling so much?'

"Well, since I'm dreaming again, I figured you would most likely show up at some point," I replied honestly. "We didn't get to converse much last time I saw you." I gave him a slight smile. Even through his mask, I could tell he narrowed his eyes at me.

'Well, I regret to inform you...this is no dream, child. This is your new reality.' He walked passed the table I was on and to an unnoticed desk in the opposite corner of the room. There was nearly nothing on the desktop, except for a few papers, a cup of pens, and some sort of case containing a heart-shaped matter. The left half of the object was white, while the right was a vibrant green. It  was cracked down the middle, right were the white and green merged. There was visible, dark-grey thread, stitched to hold the two colors together.

I looked back to Dr. Gaster to see he was sitting in the wooden chair at the desk. Pen in hand, he began to write more of his strange lettering on the clipboard paper. Every once in a while, he would glance up at me, then continue to take notes. However, the silence between us began to make me uncomfortable.

"Um, excuse me, Dr. Gaster?" I asked. He grunted in response, to let me know that he was listening. "What happened, exactly?" After saying this, he quickly looked up at me, seeming to be startled by my question.

'Oh. Well, I was on my way to Mount Ebott to see an old friend of mine, and I found you on the ground in a pool of blood. I assumed you were going to bleed to death. So, I called off the meeting with the friend, and brought you here, to my lab.' He continued, then gestured toward the case. 'This, if you didn't already know, is your soul; the very culmination of your being. When I found you, your soul was breaking down the middle, which meant you were, in fact, dying. I had to surgically fuse your soul with a monster's, thus, saving your life.'

I gave him a confused look; this was quite a bit to all take on at once. "Am I your only...experiment, that is half human, half monster?" I asked, my curiosity peaking.

'Oh, heavens, no! The person I was going to visit, actually, was a project of mine. He was a human, dying of pneumonia, that I saved by combining his soul with that of a wolf's. I was actually on my way to congratulate him and his wife, Jewel. They're to be expecting a child soon, which we assume to be half and half, as well.'

"Well, I guess that it's good you're a bit experienced in this field of science," I replied, giving a nervous chuckle.

'And, I suppose there is S-104 and 105...' He soon trailed off. I was wanting to know more about "S-104 and 105", but decided to let him tell me in his own time. 'Can you tell me what you remember before going unconscious?' Dr. Gaster asked.

"Well, I was sick with a plague that my village called 'The Red Death'. Since I was the only living host left, the banished me, to prevent any further spread of disease."

'Oh, dear... I'm terribly sorry that you had to leaving everything you know and love behind...your friends, relatives-'

I cut him off. "I didn't have any friends, my siblings, Aaron and Morgan, being an exception, of course. It was just us and our father; my mother passed of the same disease I had."

'Again, I'm very sorry to hear that...' I merely shrugged in response.

"Well, your sort of like a father to me...since you created this new me, right?"

'I suppose if it'll make you happy,' he chuckled. 'You could consider me as your new father.' After hearing this, I gave him a genuine smile.

"I would give you a hug right now...but I'm a little 'tied up' at the moment," I punned, make both of us snicker. My new Father stood up and walked over to where I laid. He swiftly undid the straps and unchained my wing with a rusty key he had in his pants pocket. Once I sat up, he outstretched his arms and wrapped me in a warm embrace. I instantly hugged back, missing the feeling of being cared about...of being loved. He pulled away much sooner then I would've liked.

'I'm sorry, but I don't believe I caught your name,' he said, scratching his neck.

"Well...do you mind if I changed it?" I just wanted to forget about the past, about the life I had. Fate has given me a second chance, another shot at life. I want to pretend that life was always like this...that Dr. Gaster was always my father.

Though he masked his face, I could tell that he was he was confused. 'Well...I suppose...whatever will make you comfortable, my child,' he responded in his monotonous voice. I thought back to my dream, about what the other version of Gaster had called me. Then, it popped into my head.

"Astra," I said, smiling. "My name is Astra."