Once More With Feeling

Better Safe Than Sorry

"G-Gaster?!"

The second purple eye sockets met piercing yellow eyes, something exploded in Grillbys chest.

Disbelief flashed through the skeletal features in front of him and when Gaster spoke, his voice was full of the same pain that Grillby felt deep in his soul.

"You.. remember?"

A soulbeat later, they had their arms around each other, faces pressed into the others shoulder.

Oh, he remembered, alright.

He remembered so many things, nights and days spent together, Gaster and him against the rest of the world.

Caring for each other, arguing, raging, suffering, fighting together..

His brother.

His brother that he lost so many years ago.

Memory after memory shot through his head, almost their whole life flashed before his eyes.

He pressed his eyes together and his face harder into the boney shoulder.

Was it possible to miss someone without knowing they existed?

Because right now, he felt like he found something that he had been missing for almost twenty years.

This was impossible.

Reluctantly, Grillby let go of the skeleton, roaming his eyes over the familiar skull.

So many questions swarmed his head, so many that he thought he might explode.

"How is this possible?"

A smirk hushed over Gasters face, one that the fire elemental knew far too well.

"Nothing can keep me down, Flame. I thought you knew me better than that."

Grillby groaned and let go of Gaster to slap his hand against his own forehead.

"I hate it when you say that.", he eventually mumbled out, grin stubbornly refusing to leave his face.

"Why?"

Gasters stare moved behind him and when Grillby followed, he saw Maya still leaning against the doorway, a smile on her face.

He totally forgot about her- or the others for that matter.

"Because he is absolutely dead set on that sentence being a 'bad omen'." The skeleton shrugged and waved his hands through the air. "I have no idea why though."

Grillby snorted, his flames puffing a few times, before settling down again.

"Well, every time you say it, we end up getting in trouble."

He realised his bad choice of words a second too late, because Maya already had stars in her eyes and a predatory grin stretched her lips.

'Uh-oh. I am going to regret this so much..'

"Since when have you been a troublemaker?", she asked, sending him the most innocent look she could muster.

Gaster smirked, probably fully aware of how a sentence like that would affect a curious soul- especially Mayas curious soul.

"DAD! I WANT TO SHOW YOU MY FRIENDS! THEY ARE GREAT- NOT AS GREAT AS ME, BUT STILL GREAT!"

"Well, that's my cue. Good luck, Grillbz."

In the matter of seconds the traitor wriggled between them into the pub, door falling close behind him.

Grillby took a deep breath and willed his flames back under control.