W. D. Gaster - An Undertale Story

Chapter Twelve

   Gaster ran quickly down the snowy path, snow crunching underneath his feet."Alphys?", Gaster called out, waiting to find out what was going on. "Alphys, are you there?" He looked around, but all he saw were trees and snow. He stared down at the snow. There was still no reply from Alphys.
   Am I even in the right area, Gaster wondered, did I go to the wrong place like an idiot? But someone's shouting broke him from his thoughts. A monster's shouting that made him realize he was wrong.
   "Dr. Gaster?", Alphys called out. "Is that you, sir?" He heard her voice. It sounded as if it echoed, but it also sounded very close. He walked towards her voice, calculating where exactly she might be. "Dr. Gaster?", Alphys called out once more. Gaster could definitely tell that she was close now. He could see her figure through a few tall trees. He looked his head around the corner of a tree, making Alphys jump.
   "Dr. Gaster! Don't scare me like that!", Alphys said in surprise, not expecting the skeleton to pop out of nowhere. Gaster laughed at her sudden jump and anger.
   "Sorry...", he managed to say between laughs. Alphys glared at Gaster and crossed her arms, sighing angrily.
   "It's not funny.", she grumbled. Gaster covered his mouth and stifled his laugh.
   "Okay. I'll stop laughing. I'll stop.", Gaster said, clearing his throat and looking around. Alphys had mentioned a human before, but there wasn't one to be found. "Excuse me, Alphys, but didn't you say that there was a human?" Alphys began to fidget her hands.
   "Y-yeah. B-b-but... Um...", Alphys stuttered, trailing off. She looked in every direction but towards Gaster. She didn't know where to put her hands out of nervousness, so she took off her glasses, exhaling on them to clean them.
   "Alphys, what are you not telling me?", Gaster asked. Alphys bit her lip nervously. She placed her glasses back on her face and tapped her fingers together.
   "W-w-well...", Alphys started. "I kinda lost the human. They ran off by themselves and I don't know where they are." Alphys looked at Gaster with a worried and nervous expression. Gaster tilted his head to the side. He stepped forward and Alphys flinched. "I'm sorry!", she said quickly. This made Gaster curious as to why she was suddenly acting scared of him.
  Gaster lifted his right hand and placed it on Alphys's shoulder, causing the lizard to flinch once again. Gaster looked at Alphys confusedly. "Alphys, why are you acting so scared of me?", Gaster asked calmly. Alphys looked at Gaster, wide, nervous eyes gazing at him.
   "Let's talk about it later. I just want to find the human for now.", Alphys said, attempting to change the subject. She rushed past Gaster and ran down the path made of snow. Gaster was now worried for Alphys. She had never acted like this before. Normally, they were two monster that got along. But now it seemed that Alphys didn't trust Gaster, as if she was afraid of him.
   Gaster ran quickly down the road after Alphys. "Alphys, wait!", he called out. Alphys stopped in her dash and looked over her shoulder to Gaster. Gaster stopped beside her, inhaling and exhaling rapidly, trying to catch his breath. "Why... did you run... so fast?", he asked in between breaths. Alphys looked at Gaster, a bit of fear in her eyes.
   "I told you. I want to find the human.", Alphys answered, quite obviously lying. Gaster looked at Alphys suspiciously. Alphys looked at the skeleton worriedly, as if he might know that she was lying. Gaster shook his head slightly, then took a final deep breath before his breathing became normal again.
   "Alright then, let's find the human. What does it look like?", Gaster asked, going along with Alphys's excuse. Alphys tapped the side of her glasses in thought, making sure she remembered exactly what the human looked like. Gaster looked at her patiently, waiting for an answer to his question. Alphys looked at him, shaking her head slightly, as if she had been deep in thought about something else.
   "Oh, sorry. Well, they are about," Alphys lifted her hand to her neck, "this tall. They were a boy, at least I think they were, but I won't assume. Their hair was the colors of black fading into purple, and it was spikey, almost standing up on the human's head. They had pale, purple eyes and wore all brown except for their black boots.", Alphys described the human's appearance. Gaster nodded his head as she explained details of the human, creating the image of what they might look like in his mind.
   "Alright, I'll be looking for the human.", Gaster said. He and Alphys parted, Alphys walking to the forest while Gaster was walking to Snowdin. Gaster couldn't seem to get his mind off of Alphys's fearful face. She had seemed as if she were scared that Gaster might hurt her. She seemed to walk away quicker than she ever had in her life. She seemed that she didn't want to be near him, much less standing next to him. It confused Gaster. The previous day, everything had been normal, but it appeared that something had to have happened overnight.
   Gaster trudged through the snow, glancing around the area as he became even closer to the town of Snowdin. There was still no human to be found, but he was still keeping an eyesocket out for it. He glanced down at the white, twinkling snow under his feet, thinking about why Alphys suddenly hated him, feared him. He slowed and looked at the sign next to him that was written in large letters, "Welcome to Snowdin!".
   Suddenly, Gaster heard an unfamiliar, young-sounding voice from Fire's restaurant as another young voice, most likely the fire child Grillby's voice, giggled. Gaster rushed to the entrance of Fire's. He pushed to door open lightly and looked into the warm restaurant. He saw the human.
   The human and Grillby were playing with small toys and laughed every few seconds. They were the perfect image of youth at this moment, innocent and pure. Other monsters in the restaurant were smiling and laughing happily at the young creatures. Gaster smiled at the children, which caused Grillby to look up. Grillby gasped at the sight of the Royal Scientist. He perked up and ran behind the bar counter. He tugged on Fire's sleeve, trying to catch the element's attention. Fire looked down at his Grillby.
   "What is it, son?", Fire asked the young element in a whisper-like voice. Grillby pointed at Gaster, jumping slightly.
   "Dad, it's the Royal Scientist!", Grillby said with a tone of excitement in his voice. He giggled slightly and Fire looked at Gaster. Gaster waved at the monster and began to walk towards him.
   "Hello, Fire. How are you?", Gaster greeted, suddenly remembering all of the fun that he and the element used to have pranking other monsters and telling jokes.
   "I am wonderful. I haven't seen you in a while.", Fire replied, continuing the conversation.
   "Yes, it has been a while, hasn't it?", Gaster said.
   "So, what brings you to my cozy restaurant?", Fire asked with curiosity. Gaster glanced at the human, which appeared to be a boy.
   "The human.", Gaster answered. Fire, who had the one of few non-fire qualities of eyes, began to have a nervous look in his eyes. He adjusted his sunglasses and looked at the human worriedly.
   "Will you hurt him?", Fire asked, looking back to Gaster.
   "No, of course not! I would never hurt a child!", Gaster said, quickly shaking his head. Fire glanced at the human again, then back to Gaster. He sighed.
   "Xander.", Fire said in a simple tone, catching the human's attention. This showed that the human's name was Xander. Xander walked to Fire and Grillby, standing beside them. He studied Gaster, curious as to why the skeleton would want anything to do with him. "This is Gaster, Royal Scientist of the Underground. You will be leaving with him."
   Xander looked at the skeleton nervously then back to Fire. "Do I have to go right now? I want to play with Grillby for a little while longer.", the human explained, hoping to stay in the comfortable area. Fire looked at Gaster.
   Gaster placed his bony hand on Xander's shoulder. "Yes, we must go now.", he said, answering the question. Xander looked down to the ground sadly. Gaster rubbed the child's shoulder. Xander looked up. "Don't worry, we will be alright. We might even come back here!", Gaster said, attempting to cheer the human up. Xander smiled happily.
   Gaster grabbed Xander's hand, Xander gripping Gaster's hand back. Gaster began to walk to the door, but looked back to Fire. Fire wore a confused expression in his eyes. Gaster smiled and looked at Grillby as well. "Thank you.", Gaster said. Grillby nodded, the small fire elemental's glasses bouncing on his face. Gaster opened the entrance door, him and Xander walking out into the snowy outdoors.
   A snowflake fell on Xander's nose, causing the child to giggle. Gaster smiled at the child's innocence. "Come on, we need to find Alphys.", Gaster said and began to walk.
   Xander looked up curiously. "Who's Alphys, sir?", he asked. Gaster stopped walking and looked down at the human.
   "She is a fellow scientist I work with. She was also looking for you.", Gaster answered.
   "Why were you looking for me?", Xander asked. Gaster laughed slightly. "Why are you laughing?", the human questioned.
   "It's your curiosity. You're a very curious child. Not only do you remind me of, well, me, but...", Gaster explained, trailing off and beginning to laugh again. Xander looked confusedly at the skeleton. "...you being curious is probably how you fell in the Underground!", Gaster finished, laughing a little harder. Xander began to laugh with him, even more than Gaster.
   "I'm... laughing too... because... it's true!", Xander said between laughs. The sentence made Gaster laugh even harder. After laughing, they began to walk out of Snowdin Town, back to the forest before it.
   Gaster walked further into the forest and trees with Xander by his side. "Alphys!", Gaster called out, trying to find the lizard. "Alphys, I found the human!" He heard footsteps walking around in the snow, crunching one by one. "Alphys?"
   "Dr. Gaster?", Alphys called back. It sounded as if she was further into the forest.
   "Alphys! Walk towards my voice!", Gaster shouted. He heard the footsteps become closer. Gaster walked to the sound of the footsteps, holding Xander's hand. Suddenly, Alphys was visible to the two of them, and they were visible to Alphys.
   "Dr. Gaster! There you are! And there is the human!", Alphys said, walking towards Gaster and Xander slowly. She placed her hand on Xander's shoulder. "You need to come with us, okay?"
   Xander nodded.
   So the skeleton, lizard, and human walked forward past Snowdin to the Waterfalls.