Curiosity Killed The Cat…

The human had fought valiantly with every fiber of their being, every ounce of their DETERMINATION. But alas, it had not been enough. Now their corpse lay splayed out at a rather odd angle atop the pristine snow that was now speckled with flecks of crimson red.

Wingdings Gaster, former head Royal Scientist, had played witness to the entire battle.

In truth Gaster had been slightly disappointed by how weak the human had been. They were obviously not a seasoned warrior. Although, what else could he expect from a child, barely capable of holding their own against even the simplest of foes?

Now their soul was floating just above what remained of the young human. It flickered dimly as it began to deteriorate, threatening to shatter within mere moments. It cast a gentle emerald glow across the vast frigid planes that comprised the outskirts of Snowdin, giving the snow a slightly eerie, appearance.

Gaster had seen this all before. He had seen EVERYTHING before. The burden of being scattered across the entirety of time and space Gaster guessed. He had seen every timeline; past, present, and yet to pass. Though, it was hard to gage time from the null void. Even if he had managed to retain a general grasp on where the current timelines lay. Or at least his timeline lay.

Gaster released a heavy sigh, yet no sound was to be heard, as the white pinpricks of his eyes lingered upon the soul for a good while. Remarkable, really, that such a tiny soul, could harbor such ferocious power. It was both beautiful and terror inducing in the same moment.

He found himself crouched in front of the green soul. Or at least as close as he could be to crouching. After a certain accident involving one of his greatest scientific achievements, Gaster's body had been reduced to nothing less than an abomination as he teetered between life and death. Neither alive nor dead, yet being both at the same time.

He was trapped in a limbo of sorts, the void to be exact. A place there was no light, no dark, no up, no down, no life, no death… A place some might refer to as hell. Yet somehow he remained. Somehow. Holding onto the thin threads that kept him from fading entirely out of existence.

But in truth, he had nothing to hold him to any timeline, nothing to anchor himself to. And as fearful as Gaster was to admit it, he knew he could only hold on to the threads of life for so long, for it was an inevitable fact that they would eventually snap.

And he would be gone.

So how was it that Gaster came to be gazing upon the small soul of a human? Well. After the length of time that Gaster had spent in the void, he eventually discovered points of weakness, where the void's grasp on him was minimalized to the extent that he could see and hear particular timelines, depending on the location of said 'weakness'.

Unfortunately, the as scientist came to discover, he was unable to interact with his surroundings, only able to observe, listen, and learn.

Once Gaster had attempted to interact with a computer, to leave a message for someone, anyone, to find, but the moment he had attempted to lay a finger on it, the computer flickered, before disappearing from existence in much the same way as he had. He observed the particular timeline a while longer, and the sudden disappearance of one of the lab's computers was not once noted, as though it had never been there to begin with.

A curious discovery indeed.

The green soul was about to break. Cracks littered its entire surface and its once vibrant neon glow had been reduced to a dull pulsing.

Gaster began to wonder what would happen if he were to touch the small heart. Would it simply vanish like everything else? Or would something entirely different happen? The more he thought about it, the more intriguing the idea became.

He awkwardly shifted what was left of his right arm and hand to reach up and scratch his chin in mock thought. What's the worst that could happen? He theorized, surely nothing too disastrous could arise from his little experiment. And after all that had happened to him, he still had to admit, old habits died hard.

Cautiously the skeleton reached out toward the soul, hesitating a moment mere inches before it. It radiated a warmth that Gaster could clearly feel, which was remarkable seeing as Skeletons couldn't sense temperature. It was a tingly, pleasant sensation that seemed to welcome his very presence.

Ever so gently Gaster coiled his skeletal digits around the beating heart, and to his surprise… nothing happened. Odd. He had at least expected there to be some sort of resp-

And then it hit.

Pain. Excruciating, unbearable pain. Gaster tried to scream, but of course no sound could be heard. Every bone in his body felt as though it has been set ablaze, and his soul, his soul was a raging inferno. It felt as though it was being torn to pieces as something tried to force itself into him, burrowing deep into his very being.

He tried to force his hand to relinquish its hold on the heart, but found himself unable to do so.

The void itself seemed to be trying to banish the soul as the world began to flicker around Gaster. Again he cried out in agony, but this time, he heard it. The sound was distorted, mixed with the overbearing screech of static, but he had heard it without a doubt.

However, the scientist was a little busy trying to stop his soul from being torn to pieces to worry about it in that moment.

The edges of Gaster's vision began to rapidly darken as he teetered dangerously towards falling unconscious. As a last ditch effort he tried again to release his vice like grip on the soul, gritting his teeth and trying to forcedly pulling arm away, but was once again fruitless in his efforts.

He had been absolutely certain that the soul would simply flicker out of existence, like everything else he had meddled with since his time in the void and harbor no ill consequence. Now he was practically begging it to shatter, praying that it would…

*But it refused.