The Time Before (Undertale)

18 ~ Old Habits

Implanting the focus into Sans' skull had gone well enough. The smaller skeleton had been completely unconscious for it, not even responding when Gaster had cut into his skull.

Sans was still out now, lying on the operating table, bandage wrapped around his skull and hooked up to the equipment that monitored his vitals.

Gaster was sitting at his desk.

He wasn't surprised he had snapped the way he had. In fact, he had seen it coming long ago.

No, he was surprised that it was so long before he had snapped.

In the war of Humans and Monsters, Gaster had fought a lot, not out of patriotism, but out of vengeance and hatred. By the end of the war, when monsters had been sealed Underground, his Lv had been nearly fifty. He had been cruel and hard and cold, hellbent on destruction-- specifically the humans'-- but vicious to everyone around him.

Emotionless, except for icy cold rage, willing to do whatever necessary to get what he wanted.

In the following decades, with no one there to be subject to his rage, and, in fact, some good friends taking care of him, his Lv had begun to drop, almost down to thirty. He had begun to feel again. And while he was by no means nice or kind to the rest of monsterkind, his coldness towards them was more of just an inherent sociopathy, rather than an angry bitterness. (The anger was still there, it had just reserved itself for humanity.)

And then he had created Sans.

Gaster had loved Sans. Truly loved him, as his own child.

And for a little while, things were good.

But the thing about LOVE was that it was like an old habit; you thought you could break it, but the instant you start slipping back towards it, it rushes up to you and drags you back down into its clutches.

As much as he had wanted to help Sans, and even all of monsterkind, in the beginning, as good as it had all seemed, he was still hurting Sans with the injections. His intent had been good, but he was still knowingly causing Sans pain. And his Lv had begun to rise again.

And then came the Blasters. Carving chunks out of Sans' bones, purely for the sake of making him stronger. It didn't matter that it did make him stronger, that it was for the good of all monsterkind, not even that it healed fast.

That alone brought Gaster a few Lv higher.

If anyone had been paying attention, really paying attention, they would have noticed the way Gaster acted slowly becoming colder over the years.

Then everything had just... exploded. Forcing Sans to fight the human. The Determination loss. The Magic boost. The recovery Determination injection that had melted Sans' face.

Had Sans said yes to Gaster giving him the focus, Gaster would have just gained a few more EXP. But, whether Gaster had liked it or not (truth be told, a small sadistic part of him had loved it,) Sans' refusal stirred up all the old anger and rage, and it had burned in his chest and consumed him, numbing his Soul to the point where he could look at Sans, and all he saw...

...Was a test subject.

And now?

Now Gaster was at Lv: 51.

And he didn't intend to let that drop any time soon.

Because if he could do what he had to, if he could destroy humanity, without feeling anything at all...