No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

22 ~ Theoretically

Almost immediately, there's a knock at the door.

You're all still standing in front of the timeline monitor, each person musing at the occurrence of the last few minutes.

Again, you don't think you've ever seen Sans so happy. And, of course, that means Papyrus is ridiculously happy- you know that, in all honesty, the brothers are happiest when the other is happy.

Undyne and Alphys both seem excited. You can imagine that they're both making comparisons to some anime or other, and getting excited because they're actually living it, rather than watching it as a cartoon.

And then comes the knock on the basement door, snapping you all from your thoughts. And, almost as one being, you all turn to the door.

"Who c-could that be?" Alphys wonders. It's true that it's a little strange that someone is knocking; Toriel and Asgore both call ahead of time before coming, and the rest of you just come and go without knocking.

The knock comes again.

"welp," Sans says, "guess we better not keep them waiting." He walks over to the door. "who's there?"

You almost expect someone to respond with a knock-knock joke. But that's not it at all.

"I have no name." A voice says. The voice isn't monotonous, exactly, it's just sort of... blank. Just stating a fact.

Sans' brow furrows a little, but he reaches for the doorknob and pulls open the door.

Standing outside is a vaguely familiar monochromatic figure. Fur, clothes, and everything all in the same greyscale shades, the felinoid monster stands nearly utterly still, their face cast in deep shadow. Which is strange, you think. It kinda made sense in Hotland, as, even at its brightest, the Underground has a rather low light level, but here in Sans' workshop, the bright fluorescent lighting should make it easy to see their face.

But it's not so. Everything of the monster's face above their nose is simply black. Like-

... Like a Void.

"You're one of Dr. Gaster's assistants, aren't you?" You ask. "Did he send you?"

You can't see the monster's eyes, but the way they tilt their head makes it clear they're staring at you. "Assistants? Is that what he calls us?"

"well that depends." Sans steps back, letting the monster come all the way into the lab. "he said he'd send an assistant with schematics for the machines. d'you have the plans?"

You don't see the monster move. You don't see them reach into their inventory, or raise their arm to Sans. But suddenly, their arm is lifted, holding out a similarly monochromatic folded to the smaller skeleton.

Sans takes the folder. As soon as it's out of the nameless monster's hand, it gains the manilla color you'd expect of such a folder.

You make a mental note to not touch the monster.

The monster merely watches- at least, you assume that's what they're doing, without being able to see their eyes- as Sans flips open the folder and starts looking at the contained papers.

You step up to the monster. "I know you, don't I?"

The monster's eyeless gaze turns to you. "You cannot know that which does not exist to be known."

"But, I mean, I've met you before."

The monster is silent for a moment. Then, "I suppose it is possible you have seen this vessel before."

"... Vessel?"

A small nod. "This is just a body, Soul consumed by the Void. In a time gone, the body was a monster. But he does not exist."

You frown. "But who was he?"

"He wasn't anyone. He does not exist, never did, never will."

You can't help the way your hand rises thoughtfully to your chin. "But... but isn't Gaster supposed to not exist? He's in the Void, but he's still someone."

"The doctor is not fully gone. Scraps of him cling to reality, pieces of him drawing life from existence as a parasite. Just when it seems like the Void has finally won over his Soul, one or two embers will reignite in the ashes of his existence, and still he lives on as his own being. ... He is strong."

You frown a little. "You're awfully poetic."

"I've merely seen the whole of reality as it is, not trapped in a single moment as you."

"What do you mean about Gaster clinging to reality?"

"Exactly what I said. He is shattered, a piece of him here and another there, in space, in time, in the Void. Shards of him remain in reality, despite that he does not exist."

"So he could come back."

"... No. He does not exist. He never did. He was never anywhere to go back to somewhere. But, if you mean you could pull his pieces from the Void and reassert him in reality... theoretically, I suppose you could."

That's more than enough for you.

It seems enough for Sans, too. "good. will you pass a message on to him?"

The monster turns back to Sans. "... Perhaps. I am of the Void, and he does his best to separate himself from the Void, no matter how much he has joined with it. But, in the off chance that his Soul is susceptible to the Void, I will say what I can."

Sans nods a little. "okay. just tell him we're coming. we're gonna come get him."

The monster cocks his head to the side. "... I would warn you of the potential consequences of that, but I see that in this time, you are already aware of them."

"yeah. i'm doin' it anyway."

"So I see." A small smile twitches at the edge of the Void monster's mouth, the first sign of any emotion you've seen.

And then...

Then it's like the monster melts. He melts into a puddle of bubbly black tar-like ooze that somehow ripples in on itself and then is just gone.

"Well that's creepy." Undyne says.

Everyone agrees. Creepy or not, though, you can see they're all determined.

And now, Sans has blueprints for a working machine.

§

A/N

I'm super tired and not super satisfied with this chapter, but here, have it anyway!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and votes are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!