The Time Before (Undertale)

26 ~ Mail

Gaster was sitting at his desk, tapping his pen against the desktop.

It was going on eleven months now, and no sign of Sans or S643. For the most part, he had shut the DTW project down. He still kept an eye out for his creations, though.

He was fairly certain Jeff had a connection with them, but if he did, the cat was a dang good liar. Nine months and he hadn't slipped.

Gaster sighed, letting his head fall into his arms.

On the bright side, at least, they didn't appear to have told anyone, as he wasn't imprisoned or anything.

Still. He needed to do...

Something.

He tapped his pen against the desktop a few more times.

They really had been his greatest creations. Sentient beings. He doubted he could make more. Not without someone else donating the matter and Soul samples.

He had, quite honestly, taken for granted what they were.

Slowly, carefully, he set the tip of the pen against the paper, and began to write.

~o0o~

Jeff was leaving the lab for the night when Gaster caught up with him.

"Jeff. I need you to do something for me."

"Um... okay?"

He held out an envelope to Jeff. "Give this to Sans when you go see him tomorrow."

"What? Gaster, I don't know where-"

"Oh, shut up, Jeff. I know you know where he is. And I'm not asking you to take me to him. I'm not asking you to bring him to me. I just want you to deliver a letter."

Jeff took the envelope slowly, suspicious.

"Oh, for Annoying Dog's sake, Jeff!" Gaster threw up his hands, gesturing furiously. "I swear, all there is in that envelope is a paper and some ink!"

Jeff sighed, but accepted the envelope.

~o0o~

Sans and Papyrus were both happy. Papyrus was especially excitable.

Because Jeff was coming today. Sans was just happy to see him, and Papyrus was excited to see whatever Jeff was bringing with him.

Eventually, he came. Greeted Papyrus with the customary greeting of "you're getting so tall!" (And he had, he was almost three and a half feet tall.) Then Papyrus was happy to go play with his toys, new and old, and Jeff and Sans started to talk.

And Jeff reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. "Sans. Gaster knows I know where you are." He continued, noticing Sans' small bit of panic. "But don't worry. He only asked me to bring you this, not bring you to him." He held out the envelope to Sans.

Sans took it with shaky hands. Carefully, he tore it open and pulled out the contents: just a paper. It was written in Hands, and it took Sans a little while to remember how to read Hands, but he caught on fairly quickly.

~o0o~

Sans,

I tell you this not because I want your pity or sympathy. Those have no meaning to me. I tell you because you are my greatest creation, and you have a right to know what was done to you. I realize that you have every reason to hate me, and rightly so. So I ask only that you read this letter in its entirety before passing judgment upon me.