Broken Souls

Chapter 26 - A Part of the Family

Meanwhile, as the Dreemurr family were reconnecting, C was struggling with the fact that she still didn't technically have a home, and was only really a guest in the skeleton family house. It was an interesting problem to say the least. Whilst it was technically true that she didn't want to leave, she also didn't want to feel like a burden. And after all, a guest couldn't stay indefinitely.

Perplexed by her situation, C went to ask Papyrus, deciding that his opinion might be the most valuable out of the entire family. Although, in hindsight, perhaps he wasn't the best to go to in terms of emotional attachment.

"You're leaving?" the skeleton admonished. C shrugged,

"I can't stay forever, you know that."

"But you can't leave! Frisk has such a good friend, and everyone in the City knows how nice you are!" the skeleton protested, unsure of where he was going to go with this point. C had a good argument, even the most welcome guests had to leave eventually.

"I have no family Papyrus, nor place to live. But that's okay, I can just find a new life, somewhere." she tried to assure him. Papyrus didn't answer. C was patient though, waiting for him to say something that would allow her to leave.

... Sure he knew that guests had to leave eventually...

But... There had to be another way around this... Papyrus knew it.

"We can be your family!" he announced adamantly.

===

Truth be told, Gaster didn't know what to think the instant Papyrus told him of his idea. He had already been struggling internally over what to think of C ever since she'd arrived, and now his younger son just had to go and make things more confusing with his impulsive kindness. It was sweet, terribly naïve of course, but sweet all the same. C hadn't shown any sign of being like the rest of humanity, which could either mean she was exceptionally good at deception or she was genuinely kind. Gaster wished it could be as simple as choosing the former, but it wasn't.

The only other nice human Gaster had met was Frisk, and he still had to ask them exactly how they rescued everyone from the Underground. They weren't the spokesperson for humanity, which meant there were still billions of humans out in the world that had the potential to be evil. It wasn't that Gaster didn't believe what everyone else said about Frisk, it was just that he was the kind of person who didn't trust anyone unless there was 101% certainty that they were trustworthy. And most people wouldn't live long enough to be considered as such.

Hence why Gaster was sitting here now, in the living room with the rest of his family, silently planning on what the best way to counter Papyrus' sudden offer was. It was difficult. Gaster didn't care if what he said affected C, he just didn't want Papyrus to be let down too harshly.

"Papyrus, that is an interesting idea." Gaster said after an extended period of silence, "Although, only C could decide that."

"and uh... don't be too upset if she says no, okay bro?" Sans added, with a glance to C that served as a warning if she didn't say the right thing. Papyrus nodded like a small child, rocking backwards and forwards on the balls of his feet as he waited for C's answer. The human herself looked like she was having an internal thinking session, much like Gaster had himself. Finally, she took a deep breath, her eyes sparkling with some sort of happiness, entirely unseen before.

"I think... I would very much like that. Thank you Papyrus." C said, not expecting the rib-crushing hug that followed only seconds after. Papyrus laughed happily, somehow managing to pull his father and brother into the hug as well.

"You'll be the greatest sister ever!" he exclaimed, "My new sister, C Gaster!"

Gaster frowned, pulling away from the hug quickly and brushing his coat down. The others looked at him, waiting for a response. The eldest skeleton held up a hand,

"That doesn't sound right, hang on a moment there." he said, walking purposefully over to a bookshelf and browsing it for a moment. Then, pulling out a thick, leather bound book, he returned to the others.

"This is a book that contains all traditional skeleton names up until the end of the War. If you are to be part of our family, it is only right that you have a traditional skeleton name."

C accepted the book, opening it straight down the middle and scanning the page with interest. Papyrus looked excited as he read over her shoulder, Sans was looking ready to sleep and Gaster was simply watching C from a distance as she looked through different names.

After only a few minutes of looking, C smiled, her finger pointing to a name. The three skeletons leaned in with interest, reading the name she'd chosen.

"Casua..." Gaster mused, "Very unique. Now, if that's sorted, welcome to the family, Casua Gaster."

===

The news of a second human being adopted by monsters spread relatively quickly. After only a few days, all of the monster city was now aware that the human girl who'd been staying with the Royal Scientist had been accepted into the Gaster family, proving to be a full member of their society. Monsters that used to fear Casua for the simple reason that she was human now actively spoke to her on the streets if they met, which Casua didn't mind one bit. In general, monster kind saw Casua's adoption as a welcome advancement.

The humans, on the other hand, were less impressed.

When Frisk had come back from the Underground, bringing with them an entire civilisation of non-human creatures, they too had been shunned by society. Humans didn't want to accept monsters, and it was only through Frisk's hard work that the monsters got building permission. The other matter had been the child care side of the government, who'd wanted to take Frisk to an orphanage, where they could be looked after by humans and taught how to be a human.

So, after Casua was officially adopted, the authorities wanted to take her as well. Fortunately, Casua herself came back at them with a strong argument as to how they'd ignored her for most of her life and only wanted to 'take her in' after monsters decided to take matters into their own hands. There had been some uproar, but Frisk managed to calm those people down.

And from then on, Casua and Frisk decided to work together to bring around equality for monsters, using their experience from both sides. Starting with bringing monsters into the human school.