The Time Before (Undertale)

16 ~ Unforseen Consequences (pt 2)

Sans didn't want to wake up.

Because waking up- that would acknowledge the fact that he was okay now. And that would mean Gaster would let go of him, set him down.

Sans hadn't just... been hugged in a long time, it seemed. He didn't want it to end. He just wanted to stay curled in his creator's arms, pressed against his chest, just knowing that Gaster was there.

He felt like Gaster hadn't really been around as much.

Well, no. Gaster had been around just as much as he used to be, but it was... different. He was always there for the injections and the checkups, but he wasn't... with Sans. Wasn't there to keep him company, or hold his hand, or tell him it was going to be okay when the pain hit.

Sans knew it was probably because he was getting older. He didn't need that kind of care anymore. But that didn't mean he didn't miss it, especially when he was writhing on the table, fully conscious and under the effects of the physicality serum.

So Sans was content to just lay there, curled up against Gaster, and be hugged.

Eventually, though, it had to end. Sans felt Gaster's grip on him loosening as he was carefully set back on the table.

"Sans. You're okay now?"

Sans looked from Gaster to the IV still in his Soul. The bag was almost empty. So was the one in his arm. "i... i think so, yeah." Then he looked back up at Gaster. "what-... what happened?"

"I-..." Gaster paused, chuckling a little. "I suppose I tricked your body a little too well into thinking the larger Magic capacity was normal. Because your Magic capacity was higher, but I didn't put anything into you, so you still had the same amount of actual Magic in you. So your body thought you were extremely low on Magic, as in, starving and dying low, and responded as such." He paused, looking also at the nearly-empty IV bag. "Once I got some Magic into you, though, you started to wake up."

Sans paused, thinking on that. "... oh. ... wait, if my magic capacity is higher, but my body thinks that's normal, does that mean i'm gonna have to keep my magic level higher?"

Gaster nodded as he reached for the IV, carefully pulling it out of his chest, then for the one in Sans' arm. "Yes. It won't be too difficult, though. Just a bit more food, a bit more rest... It won't be hard. Once you get into the habit of it, you won't even be able to tell it was different."

Sans nodded, slowly sitting up, stretching his back. He could feel the excess Magic, burning in his Soul. It felt good. Strong. It felt like he could do something big, something powerful.

Like he could use Blue Magic.

Gaster seemed to read his mind. "Give it a few days to make sure your body's fully acclimated to everything, and we can try out Blue Magic again."

Sans grinned and nodded.

~o0o~

The next day, he went with Gaster into the upper floors of the lab. Whenever anyone asked where he had been for the last two days, his response was that he hadn't been as recovered as he thought, and had needed to take a little more time off.

Everyone thought, of course, that he was referring to his wounds from the human attack. He didn't correct them.

The CORE construction was proceeding nicely. It was about a quarter of the way built now, already covering almost two thousand square feet at it's base, and having roughly five floors already built. The tricky part was that a lot of the interior working, the machinery and such was MASSIVE, and not all strictly floor-height uniform. So it was "roughly" five stories tall because much of the interior that wasn't the area open to the public wouldn't be hallways and rooms. Granted, there were a few of those, but it was mostly catwalks to control panels, through one of several large, open, cavernous spaces.