The Time Before (Undertale)

8 ~ A Font

Gaster sat next to the table, one hand resting on S642's chest, the other on his skull.

Beyond that first initial scream, S642 had been still and quiet. It was almost as if he were asleep. But, peering between his ribs, Gaster could see his Soul. There was a faint red aura around it, mixing with the white glow.

Over the course of the last... eleven hours, now, the red glow had been slowly fading as S642's body and Soul accepted the Determination. So far, there had been no signs of meltiness in him, either.

For all intents and purposes, it seemed like it had worked so far. And, as far as Gaster knew, with minimal pain to S642.

He was hoping, sincerely hoping, that S642's scream had been purely out of shock, not pain, and that this would all work, and S642 wouldn't be hurt, and he could complete the DTW project...

Gaster sighed again, running his hand along S642's ribs.

Eleven hours.

S642 had been unconscious or asleep or whatever for eleven hours now. Gaster had given up trying to work on anything else around the fourth hour, and had just been sitting there for the last seven hours, waiting for S642 to wake up.

Eleven hours.

And then...

It was almost twelve hours. Thirteen.

Time went on. Despite his worry, Gaster dozed off. Napped for a while.

It was near the sixteenth hour that he woke up.

He yawned. Stretched. Cracked his back.

Then he looked at S642. He was still out.

The seventeenth hour came and went.

Gaster was beginning to get seriously concerned. Back when he had been legally experimenting on monsters with Determination, none of them have ever taken this long to react to it.

Had he done something wrong? Made a mistake in the calculations? In the dosage size?

Had he made a mistake overall, just in giving the Determination to-

"... Dings--..."

Gaster snapped back to attention, instantly looking back to S642.

S642 looked exhausted, but he was smiling.

Gaster smiled gently down at his creation. "How do you feel?"

S642's tired grin widened. "... Sleepy."

"Which is surprising," Gaster said as he started undoing the restraints, "considering you've been asleep for the last eighteen hours." Gaster had considered undoing the restraints some time ago, but had decided not to on the same better-safe-than-sorry premise that had made them use the restraints in the first place.

"Eighteen..." S642 breathed out slowly. "... A-... Asleep...? I... it... felt like a lot... longer than that..."

"Were you awake?" Gaster finished with the restraints and scooped up S642, cradling him in his arms.

"I-..." S642 yawned, settling comfortably in Gaster's grip. "I don't... It was dark... and there were... colors. Lots of..." He yawned, his eyes closing. "... more... more red... everything else... spread..." He twisted a little, one hand reaching across to sleepily grip at Gaster's sweater as he drifted off.

"You can tell me once you've rested." Gaster carried him back to his lab and into the little bedroom, then tucked him into bed.

~o0o~