Broken Souls

Chapter 13 - Problem

The next morning, Gaster actually started work. He cleaned an old table he'd found somewhere and set it up in one corner of the living room as a sort of work area. Whilst Papyrus was still confused as to what exactly he was working on, Gaster decided against telling his youngest son what the sudden work frenzy was for. Because, finally, he was going to concentrate on his Soul.

After last night's stargazing, Gaster and Sans both had woken up to Papyrus loudly questioning why they were asleep on the front lawn, covered in dew. When no reasonable answer was given, Papyrus dragged them inside to eat breakfast before going upstairs and getting ready.
Sans was once again staying off work, much to Papyrus' dismay but promised to resume in a couple days.

Gaster meanwhile collapsed in the bathroom as a jolt of pain surged through his Soul. Unbeknownst to his sons downstairs, he'd stayed lying in the bathtub for a good ten minutes before his legs finally decided to hurt less and allowed him to stand. It was then that Gaster told himself to hurry up and take a look at the evident problem he was having.

And boy, was it one heck of a problem.

Not only had his Soul developed cracks on it's surface that threatened to go deeper, Gaster took a wild guess at what would happen if he didn't do something. Which would be his Soul splintering into the tiny fractions just like when he didn't exist. Which also, funnily enough, meant that Gaster himself would cease to exist. Again.

One solution had occurred to him, but was shut down just as quickly. That solution being injecting Determination straight into his Soul, which of course would cause a lot more problems, such as melting. Gaster had then moved onto the other six Soul types, from Kindness to Justice but was once again left with no answer. He doubted they were as strong as pure Determined Souls, and even if they were, they still had that dangerous substance within them, giving them the signature strength of human Souls. He could ask Sans for help... but that would mean explaining the consequences if it didn't work. Gaster couldn't do that, not to his son.

...

He really had dug himself into a hole.

===

After two more days of not finding any answers to his Soul problem, Gaster was getting desperate and was currently deciding whether or not to tell Sans. He stood over his makeshift desk, two sides of his mind fighting each other. One side wanted to get Sans' help on the matter, the other wanted Sans and Papyrus to stay as far away from this pain as possible. And unfortunately, it was becoming rather hard to hide the pain now. Gaster's Soul hurt almost constantly, due to the cracks having deepened to the point that one of the central splits was almost halving his Soul entirely.

At that moment, Sans decided to walk in, waving some sort of official looking document and saying it was from Asgore. Gaster opened his mouth to speak, and felt his knees buckle as pain tore through every single bone in his body. Sans cried out but his calls were lost on Gaster. He attempted to pick Gaster up with Blue Magic, but the instant the Magic took a hold on his Soul, Gaster screamed. It was unlike anything else Sans had ever heard come from of his father's metaphorical vocal chords, prompting a swift release on Gaster's Soul and a hurried apology.

And now Sans was panicking, because he wasn't nearly strong enough to lift Gaster without Magic and that meant he'd have to stay on the floor, in evident pain, until someone arrived to help. Sans tried to settle Gaster into a more comfortable postion then pulled out his phone, thankful that it wasn't flat for once. Then he picked the first number he thought would help.

It wasn't Toriel that answered, however, it was Frisk.

"Sans? What's wrong?" they asked.

"it's gaster. something's wrong with his soul... like really badly wrong. i need tori."

Frisk didn't reply but Sans could hear Toriel on the other end of the phone, talking to them. Eventually the Queen herself came on, an obvious tone of worry in her voice.

"Frisk said something happened to Gaster. We'll be coming right away."

"thanks tori. means a lot."

Sans hung up, chose Papyrus number and found himself on voicemail.

"really paps? this is important, pick up." he groaned, trying again.

The next few tries yielded the same result, which meant Papyrus was probably doing something loud with Undyne, rather than his regular patrols. Sans huffed, silently cursing the timing of Gaster's collapse before leaving a message he hoped Papyrus would receive quickly. Then, confident that backup was on it's way, Sans turned back to Gaster who was managing a pained, slightly guilty expression.

"Guess I... hffff... should e-explain." he tried to chuckle, his attempt at humour flopping miserably. Sans gave him a look that was half worried and half condescending,

"yeah, but wait 'til tori and pap get here. you don't need to explain more than needed."

The two settled into an uneasy silence, with Gaster shifting in pain and Sans just standing still. The shorter skeleton seemed to be in thought, although Gaster didn't particularly want him to be in that state. Sans had a habit of closing in on himself whenever something upset him, which only made things worse in the long term and also wouldn't be much help in the current situation. Gaster could only wait and hope help came quickly.

===

Thankfully, Papyrus and Toriel arrived within two minutes of each other, giving exclamatory remarks on Gaster's condition and quickly asking what was wrong. Together, the three managed to get Gaster up onto the couch, where he could be in a more stable position. Sans waited until he was sure Gaster felt okay (relatively that is) before permitting Gaster to speak.

"Th-there aren't...m-many ways to s-say it... My Soul is... split-splitting." Gaster announced, noticing how Sans stepped backwards almost imperceptibly, his permanent grin tilting downwards and eye sockets going blank. He honestly felt sorry for Sans, having to know that one's father was injured and then that he might once again disappear would take it's toll on anyone's mind. Taking a shuddering breath to both steady himself and reassure Sans that he wasn't about to drop dead - yet - Gaster continued.

"I don't k-know exactly how l-long I have, b-but it is getting really... really hard to continue... nghh..."

Papyrus let out a cry, stepping forwards to catch Gaster as he flopped forwards, almost tumbling off the couch all together. With help from Toriel, he managed to hoist Gaster up so he could carry him. And then, the small procession of monsters made their way upstairs and into Papyrus' bedroom so once again, Gaster could be put in the only well made bed in the house to heal.

Not that it looked very likely that he would heal. Almost the instant Gaster was lying down, Toriel took a look at his Soul, not daring to show the skeleton brother's behind her from fear of upsetting them further. She focused her Magic into her palm and carefully pressed the flickers of green to Gaster's ribcage. The skeleton's pained expression shifted into one that was slightly more relaxed, but he still shifted from time to time in agony. Healing Magic seemed to calm not only Gaster, but everyone else as well. Perhaps it was the knowledge that it could halt the progress of Gaster's Soul splitting, or if not, then it at least could slow it down.

Of course Toriel would tire eventually and the Magic would faulter, but Papyrus could take over until she was rested enough. With enough people skilled in healing Magic, Gaster could, in theory, be kept at the very edge of life until a solution as found. And yet...

Sometimes good solutions aren't always found fast enough.