This is gonna be practically everything important that happened before the gameplay events, so sit back and enjoy your read!
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Prologue
The previous royal Scientist W.D. Gaster, years before he was tasked by the King to do something about the barrier, was working on his own project - a human-looking Vessel. Unfortunately, it never got finished as he gave up on it, which led them to be abondoned. His two future assistants had no idea about it either, so when the accident happened and he shattered across time and space, it was completely forgotten about...
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After both of her experiments failed, Alphys was near giving up. Flowey was done with his resets, so there was nothing interfering with this timeline... and yet, something changed. Somehow, while wandering in the True Lab, she managed to stumble upon the hidden entrance and found the abondoned project, not knowing what to make of it - its purpose and origins were unclear, as all logs written by the previous scientist were in this weird, picture font. The blueprints however, similar to the ones she used previously, were readable enough, and with little other options, she decided to try one last time and see if anything comes out of this. She managed to get fragments of the 6 humans souls, injected what she had left of the extracted determination into the vessel and used some of her own magic to piece it all together. Then, all she could do was wait once again, ready to fail like she already did... WELL NOT THIS TIME
Surprisingly, the vessel managed to not only gain consciousness, but also colors?! Determination, by definition and just how it did last two times, gave them the literal will to live, and the fragments of the SOULs along with magic, created a new one (but it wasn't perfect or without issues). Unsurprisingly though, they weren't so joyful about suddenly being alive, more like really confused, very scared and already experiencing their first horrors - existing... When Alphys went back to check on them, they both scared eachother and only managed to calm down after a while. She tried explaining the most important things to them, but couldn't answer the many questions they had about.. basically everything (most significantly, what the hell are they, since she didn't know either)
For now, she let them stay down there to adjust and give herself time to think what to do about all that next. With not too much to do, the vessel mostly wandered around this creepy place, occasionally stopping by in selected rooms if there was anything interesting worth checking (cough cough the vhs tape room). Fortunately, it wasn't long before Alphys showed them her outside Lab, and while still being uncertain if she should let them outside yet, they definitely had much more to do out here
And then again, when they started to get used to this whole living thing, they were finally comfortable enough to see the rest of the Underground. As you can probably imagine, that on itself was already a lot to take in, definitely overwhelming at times, but oh, there were just so many new things to experience - books to read, movies to watch, games to play, foods to eat, people to meet... Weirdly enough, most monsters barely recognised their human-like look or their sudden appearance, and those who did quickly accepted them as their own. Of course, there were some who took longer than others, but at the end they were treated like a real member of the community. Over time, they started to develop an actual identity, with their own interests, habits and personality
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Well, it didn't take long for this new individual to catch an eye of a certain someone, more like a few days at best. Flowey, having seen a human previously, recognised them as one way easier than others, but... something seemed off. There's no way he wouldn't notice them coming all the way here through the Ruins, he still has his powers despite humans naturally having more DT and there was something about their appearance that didn't sit quite right with him. Nonetheless, finally there was at least one new thing to play around with, and so he took his shot at trying to steal their SOUL
Their first meeting was interesting for sure. Hetori, at first surprised by a talking flower since there's no plant monsters, connected the dots with the entries they read in the True Lab, it had to have been the same one Alphys used. Flowey, trying to be cautious just in case, introduced himself and wanted to give them a little "tutorial" on SOULs just to have an easier way of taking it (basically same thing he did with Frisk later on). Before he could say anything though, he was stunned by how messed up their soul was - white but upright, and weirdest of all, glitchy?? Now they for sure couldn't be human... and yet, when he tried going back to retry the interaction THEY REMEMBERED? THAT'S A FIRST. But, that meant they must have some level of determination, enough to bypass his memory reversal anyway. On one hand, it should discourage him from any further time jumps, what's the point if his past actions aren't fully erased. One the other however, everyone else still forgets, and having a person who remembers could finally give him some new experiences! After all, you can't be repetitive or too predictable when you recall everything, right? =)
Since then, he decided to play around with them for some time, putting on the facade of a friendly pal with this neat little power. And for a while, they've actually been pretty close friends, they spend so much time together, they could do whatever they wanted! Although, something started to bother Hetori a bit and it became more apparent as time went on - the reloads. Erasing mistakes is one thing, but having to repeat the days over and over again, eating the same things, doing the same activities, having the same conversations with everyone. No one had a chance to get to know them like they did, only seeing the version of them from those specific periods, it felt more like a chore at this point... But, even despite that, it wasn't all too bad. After all, they didn't feel like a complete outsider when Flowey was around
Untill, it all bored him yet again. He has already done everything in his hundreds of resets and being all jolly and nice all the time was starting to get little tiring. Why did he go on for so long anyway, it's not like he actually enjoyed any of that. So, at some point he completely dropped his friendly persona and went back to his more murderous demeanor - just to see their new reactions, to being killed, to the deaths of their friends, and whatever else he found amusing or interesting enough... And all they could do was either be a part of it, or watch it all happen time and time again, and wonder why? Why would he do that? Why did he have to ruin everything? Is all this really necessary? Were they really not enough for him? Was everything they've been through just a big lie to build their trust and then crush like it was nothing? They just couldn't understand, they couldn't do anything
Of course, even that got repetitive after enough times, not like he hasn't done that before either. When he finally stopped, he went back in time one last time to make sure no one knows about him and started hidden since. Hetori was left alone, on their own with all those horrible memories and pain, yet still having to go through their days like nothing ever happened
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So, what happened after all the Flowey shenanigans and before Frisk fell down? Up to imagination, really... There's so many possibilities for what was happening in every time period, whatever scenarios or situations you think about might as well have happened
As one said, the world is as big as you want it to be, so go wild
And fortunately this time I can actually put their story and all here, since there's less to say. The majority of it is just implications or up to imagination, while everything else is still in progress (mostly cause the game's not finished yet pfft)
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General info and Lore
They/Them, AroAce Agender, currently around 19 years old
Mirroring Undertale, they were also created by none other than W.D. Gaster, with the exception of this one being from Deltarune and thus never shattering. Because of that, he was able to fully complete it as he intended, using parts he already had for the vessel itself and this world's parallel universe as inspiration for the missing pieces. Once it was finished, he sought to put it in the world, but because the story has not begun yet, he went with a safe option and left them further from hometown... by an orphanage...... great
Growing up, they always felt like there was something wrong with them, something that made them different from everyone else be it humans and monsters, which resulted in their ever-so-present low self-esteem and even self-hatred. As a kid, they didn't talk much or really connected with anyone, often spending time by themself and engaging with their own interests (aka whatever they could find in the orphanage). They did attend school, but they much rather preferred to study on their own, or at least not with that many people
Never getting the chance of being adopted or put in a better place, when they reached the age of 18, they managed to apply and get into college and with that finally leaving the place they were stuck in for so long. Starting a new chapter in their life, they got some new clothes and hairstyle, took only the most essential items and moved into their assigned dorm (maybe an apartment?).
Once there, they also met their roommate, Reverie Dreemurr (by @wretchedraymond46 ), brother of Asriel who attended the same uni, and Kris who stayed back home. Their relationship didn't start off great, while Rev tried to get to know Het better and be friends with them, they were a lot more closed off and resilient to that idea - after all, they never had friends before and new things are scary. But, fortunately, after some time they warmed up to him and eventually even became best friends!
(Additionally in an AU, some characters of my friends are a part of their group (deltagang as we call them), the ocs being Sam (by @kitty-paws-meow), Puppet (by @withhopecrossedonourhearts ) and Kisa (by @itsrainingsomewhere-else )!! If they allow me, I might talk about their relationships as well)
At first glance they may seem monotone, cold and judgemental, especially towards Rev who they get easily annoyed by and bicker a lot with (mostly playfully but occasionally it can get bad). In reality they're more chaotic and chill, still love shooting bad puns, prone to getting very competitive, especially while playing games, also getting very excited about things they're interested in. They can be oblivious to certain things, that being caused by their lack of knowledge and experience you'd normally have from childhood, but they're able to deal with it somehow
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Vessel
Unlike in Undertale, this vessel was made closer resembling a toddler, so that it can grow and develop like everyone else (sort of). What was the goal of its creation in the first place? Still unknown, just like the other one, the scientist is truly a mystery.
The main differences between this version and its UT counterpart are the SOUL, which doesn't glitch anymore but still isn't a regular human one, and bones, congratulations! Organs and nerves are still missing however, but who needs those, right?
The rest of their anatomy stays relatively the same, so tougher skin and cracks, lesser feelings of taste and temperature and still the same golden blood (except, since determination acts differently in DR, it's mostly just the color here)
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Trivia
same name and bday, as you can probably guess
their height is around 5'8
still really strong physically, never noticed it until it was pointed out
still frequently nose bleeds yayyy
autism, bpd... maybe ptsd? I don't think feeling stuck in one place for your whole life is a great experience
still very much loves soda, maybe even a little too much here, definitely has a full fridge shelf of cans and bottles
one of their main interests are games, specifically console ones; they absolutely love Crash Bandicoot (here called Smash Randicoot) and have a plushie of him
they still play the guitar and have one of their own they found left in a closet and cleaned up (ill probably show it at some point)
still a big MMKC fan, no preference but if asked they'd say the 1st; still likes the games more
may be hard to see, but they have a friendship bracelet that Reverie made for both of them :3
their Dark World outfit resembles a cowboy for several reasons:
• had a cowboy phase as a teenager
• has a weird liking for guns and tends to be violent or aggressive at times
• feeling of loneliness and isolation from others
• the want for freedom in being themself (whatever that might mean)
• skin color reflects their connection with golden
• heart on hat mirrors some other characters having a heart on their design and the weird situation with their soul
• this is mostly joked about, but they may or may not have a southern accent (and british but it doesn't matter)
• pretty straightforward, golden is a shade of yellow and the yellow soul is associated with justice and cowboys
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I know I'm repeating myself a lot here, but they pretty much are the same character, just put in different circumstances and with few slight changes... with that, if you ever plan on making fanart I again ask of you to keep all their features from the reference as they're very important to me and them, thank you ^^
Is hetori related to the skele bros in some way? I theorize this bc their skin tone is very similar to sans and papyrus
Yeah just look at this very real and definitely canon family picture, I don't know what happened over there just ignore it
Okay, but seriously... how much they're related to the skelebros heavily depends on what relationship Gaster had with them. Because of the amount of evidence we currently have, we can at least assume he was definitely a skeleton (and maybe green), but we can't be sure if he was their very close friend, family member... tho I guess that one makes the most sense, considering their species and the fact they're all named after and speak in fonts
Now of course, no matter how related he was to Sans and Papyrus, it won't be an accurate representation of their relation to Hetori, since they were created by him in a completely different way and most importantly they ARE a completely different thing... you know, vessel not skeleton. I do like to view him as a father figure, but like an absent one since he's kind of gone lmao
Sooo, in conclusion, I think it's very possible but it's also very vague and if anything, they'll always see them as really close friends either way
