Duska

Ever since I told Sans and Papyrus about Gaster they haven't come back home. It's been two weeks, they've apparently been sleeping in their old house in Snowdin. My course finished yesterday, I didn't get good scores because the brothers were all on my mind. All i've been doing is sitting on the couch, missing eating speghetti and Sans' jokes.

"I'm an idiot."

"That's all you've said for the past two weeks."

"Cause i'm an idiot."

"Yes, i've noticed."

Flowey is the only one who's kept me company, everyone else has been too busy to visit. I don't blame them, I had done a horrible thing to the brothers. My eyes begin to droop as sleep clouds my mind. 

Blackness returns, it's been the same dream for the past fortnight. All there is is the darkness of an empty void. I walk around the void, waiting for Gaster to return so that I can right the wrong I did. I want to bring him back so that Sans and Papyrus come home, I miss them so much. White appears in the distance and I sprint towards it, is tonight the night? 

"Gaster?"

"Hello. Duska."

"Is it tonight? Can I bring you back!?!"

"Maybe. It. Will. Be. Difficult. Sans. Is. Working. On. My. Old. Machine."

"Your machine? Did it go wrong while you were working on it?"

"Yes. It. Was. Supposed. To. Bring. A. Monsters. Soul. Together. Once. It. Dies. Instead. It. Sent. Me. Into. The. Void."

"Where's your machine?"

"Behind. Their. House. The. Door. Will. Be. Unlocked."

I suddenly begin moving away from him but he reaches out and grabs my sleeve before i'm out of reach. Knowing that he has more to say I grab his sleeve with both hands, allowing him to sign to me.

"Sans. Will. Meet. You. There. Convince. Him. That. You. Can. Help."

"I'll try."

The void yanks him out of my grasp and i'm thrown back into the endless darkness.

I wake with a start, scaring Flowey and making him jump in his pot. 

"DAMN! You scared me!"

"I guessed that. Come on, we have to go to Snowdin."

"Snowdin!?! I hate the snow!"

"Too bad. I have to bring back Gaster."

"From the void? How the hell are you going to do that!?!"

"I don't know. But I will."

I quickly threw some somewhat warm clothes on, put Flowey's pot in my backpack and headed for the closest bus station to take me to the Underground. The entire time we were on the bus Flowey was questioning why we absolutely had to bring Gaster back, and I always answered with 'I have to make it up to Sans and Pap'. They were the closest thing that I had to a family, along with Flowey. Once I said that I considered Flowey as apart of my family he quickly stopped talking. The bus drops me off at the Underground entrance and I begin walking through the area called New Home to get to the Hotlands, Waterfall then Snowdin. Once we reach the Hotlands I pull Flowey out of my bag and water him every few minutes which I can see he secretly appreciates. From wanting to brutally murder the living flower to caring for him, i've changed a lot. I keep him out for a few minutes once we reach Waterfall but I put him back in my bag once it starts raining heavily, I don't want him to drown.

"I'm no ordinary flower! I won't drown!"

"Your still a flower."

When we pass the umbrella stand I remember to grab one and I tie it to the end of my bag before I continue walking. Once we reach the snowy edge of Snowdin I untie the umbrella and place it above Flowey so that his pot doesn't fill with falling snow. The skeleton brothers house quickly comes into view, the bottom window is lit up.

"Looks like their home."

"Not going through the front door anyway."

I quietly head to the other side of the house and see that there indeed is a door around the back. I slowly turn the knob and look inside, Sans is staring directly at a pile of blueprints. Behind him is a large object with a tarp draped over the top of it.

"HEY SMILEY!"

The feeling of murdering the flower returns to me as Sans' eye glows blue as he turns to look at us. I shoot my hands up in a peaceful motion, his eye returns to normal as he sighs sadly.

"hey kid."

"Hey Sans..."

"why you here? you weren't 'snowdin' where you?"

His joke only seems half-hearted, if he could be rid of his smile he would. I slowly walk closer to him as he looks back over to the blueprints.

"another dream?"

"Yeah."

"what did he say?"

"That his machine was to bring Decimuz back, but it only led to sending him into the void."

"yeah. tried to fix a life but only managed to ruin two more."

"Three more."

He faces towards me again and I see the lights of his eyes flash in regonition as the puzzle pieces fit together.

"decimuz is your dad huh?"

"Apparently. By what Alphys says."

"she usually isn't wrong about that stuff."

Silence again. I'm hating this, it's so awkward right now.

"BROTHER WHEN WILL YOU- OH."

I turn to see Papyrus looking at me, he looks really sad. I give him a shy smile and a wave.

"Hey Pap."

"HELLO HUMAN. HELLO FLOWER."

Flowey doesn't respond but Papyrus walks in and heads towards his brother.

"SANS, I'M GETTING WORRIED."

"i'm working on it bro."

"NOT ON THAT! I'M WORRIED ABOUT YOU!"

"don't."

"WELL TOO BAD! YOU ARE MY BROTHER AND I WILL WORRY!"

"i've been trying... for so long... through so many timelines..."

He quickly turns and pulls the tarp off revealing a large machine from beneath it. Buttons flash many colors while levers entice my curiousity to pull them.

"don't pull them kid, you don't know what they do."

A panel lays open for all to see, the wire formation seems somewhat familiar.

"Uh... those wires don't seem to look right. Neither does that combusten chamber, it looks like it's out of place."

My words surprise me as much as it surprises Sans, I never learnt about machinery.

"duska, how do you know that?"

"Um... I just do. Maybe Gaster put something in my head..."

He teleports in front of me and pulls my arm towards the machine. He pushes me into it and throws a screwdriver into my hand.

"try it."

"WHAT? I don't know anything about machinery!"

"just try it."

My hands begin moving themselves, twisting, turning, moving, unscrewing. Time blurs around me as I work on the machine in front of me, neither Sans, Papyrus or Flowey try to interrupt me. As I finish removing the combustion chamber from it's position I try to move it but it's too heavy for me.

"want some help kid? i think i see what your getting at."

"Sure, it's your machine."

Using his magic he moves the chamber to another area of the machine before reattaching it.

"It needs more power than that. It isn't large enough to power it."

"easy, just need to attach more chambers to it."

"NEED HELP BROTHER?"

"yeah, could you fill wheelbarrows of snow?"

"WHAT? WHY?"

"That's what powers it Paps. The snow in the Underground is slightly magical and the water it'll make will cool it."

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL FILL MANY WHEELBARROWS OF SNOW!"

He runs out the door and I see Sans smile widen, he's happy that Papyrus is happy.

"How about me? I feel useless in this pot."

"could you keep an eye of Papyrus for me?"

Flowey nods as Sans picks him up from his pot and plants him just outside the door. Flowey immediately pops into the soil to go and find the over-eager skeleton.

"heh... i'm sending a flower to watch pap..."

"Flowey is trustworthy now, he'll look after him."

We continue with constructing the machine, whatever parts we need that aren't in the backroom Sans quickly teleports away and back with the returning part. We seem to do this for hours and hours, neither of us sleeping while we work. Flowey returns every now and again to tell us how Papyrus is doing, unlike us the two of them have slept.

"God you both look tired..."

"don't feel it."

"Get some sleep! You can't just keep working!"

"We're fine Flowey. Keep looking after Papyrus please."

The flower looks at us sadly but quickly pops back into the ground. As Sans returns to my side I see him wobble a little bit, maybe we are a little tired. I yawn as I pull out a belt from the machine and set it aside.

"tired?"

"Nope."

I feel his eyes on me but I continue working, I don't want this to take longer than it has to.