Chapter 8
Word Count: 2,061
Freedom Arc Start
Gaster was forced to relive that period of his life, over and over. At first, it felt like a coma dream, one he couldn’t escape or even wake up from. The only main difference after a while, was Chatch seemed happier each time, but also only seemed to get more bored as he realized Gaster had slowly grew immune to seeing this constantly over and over. It wasn’t exactly a great memory, but when done a lot again and again, it loses its effect as a mental torture method and becomes just a sorrowful one, especially when he couldn’t do anything to convince or stop Vedran from going, or even himself. Chatch would force him out anyways. The more bored Chatch got, though, the longer it took for it to happen again, until it suddenly stopped one time, and Gaster was finally allowed to wake up from what felt like a coma after a while.
As he started to come to consciousness, he could hear muffled voices that grew louder as he started to fully wake up. As the voices became more clear, Gaster recognized the female voice from right before he passed out, now acting shocked and excited.
“He’s awake! He’s awake!” Gaster opens his eyes, to see the owner of the voice closer, and pretty much towering over him. It was a young goat monster, a teen to be more specific. She was wearing some purple robe with some white crest on the chest. He blinked a few times, and she smiled, backing up a bit to allow him to sit up. “You’re alright!”
He sits up, holding his head, noticing he was laying in an actual bed rather than his makeshift one he had before. “Yeah- I am.” He mumbles, glancing around. He notices a monster leaning on the wall and smiling at him, his guess of the ‘teacher’, but didn’t pay too much attention to him at that moment. He also noticed his old ‘lab rat’ clothes, as he called them, was swapped out with a black robe that had a white crest, just like the girl’s but a different color. He checked out his clothes enough for the girl to comment on it.
“We gave you some new clothes since your old ones had… Blood on them and didn’t seem like something anyone would… Normally wear… We gave you something better to help!” She says, unsure at first, but then smiles at the end. Not normal huh? At least the fabric is soft in these clothes… He thought to himself.
“Thanks.” He replies, but says nothing else, and looks at his hand, which was bandaged up. It was also probably badly cracked but at least still usable. That’s something.
He went to get up, using his hand to lift him out of the bed, causing it to hurt and him to wince. He pulled it back in reaction, holding it in his other hand as he examines it, a bit frightened by the sudden pain. The girl seemed to jump at this too, getting a bit frantic.
“Oh you shouldn’t be using that it’s still damaged!” She says, a little panicky compared to just a minute ago. “Let me see your hand for a second.” He hesitates, but then slowly holds out his hand to her, which she gently takes in her paws. Her paws gain a green aura as the pain starts to slowly fade. “There!” She exclaims and lets go. “Shouldn’t hurt too much right now, but you’ll need to be careful with it until it properly heals.”
Gaster pulls his hand closer to him, looking at it a bit. Healing magic… “Thanks… again.” He mumbles.
“I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I? I’m Toriel! Toriel Proto! It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She says, giving a smile. Her panic a bit ago seems to have faded away by now. Gaster hesitates to introduce himself.
“I'm… Gaster. The name’s Gaster.” He says looking down. His first name was Wingdin of course, but now, he doesn’t want to use it as much anymore. It holds memories that hurt. The only person to call him by that name is now dead. It didn’t feel… Right anymore. Then again… Nothing seemed to. His whole world was flipped on its side.
“Well it is nice to meet you Gaster!” Toriel says, and what Gaster guessed was the teacher stops leaning on the wall and walks over. Gaster actually paid attention to what the other monster even looked like finally. It was a fish monster. He was mainly white scaled but had blackish-blue blemishes, and a black stripe down his back. Fins where his ears should be and a few gills on each side of his neck was also something Gaster noticed about him. He had a few scars on his sleeveless arms and one on his cheek. Looked tough to Gaster but also strange. He really doesn’t know too many monster species since Vedran didn’t have time.
“Name’s Gaster? Well it’s nice to meet ya! The name’s Nomeus Gronovii! Just call me Nomeus.” He had a wide grin as he crossed his arms and pointing at himself with one of his thumbs, not seeming all that menacing or threatening really, even with all the scars and terrifying looks he can probably give. Gaster just nodded, not really up to talking more than he has to. “So how old are ya?”
“U-uh 18 I should be…” He mumbles. That’s what Vedran told him at least. Then again, Gaster’s world was mostly centered around what Vedran had told and taught to Gaster. It’s not really a surprise though. He told him most of what he knows.
“Can ya do any magic?” He asks, which feels a bit random for Gaster. Nomeus’s face turns to a bit more serious one. “Normally most monsters should know by now. You’re a teen so you’re magic should be more stable to use then a kid’s.”
“Yeah, I can do some things with it.” It brought back some not so great memories on trying to think of all of the things he can do at the moment. Bones, blue bones, heal, some blue soul one, teleport, glow… He listed them in his head. He could do a lot but it wouldn’t be wise to do too much of it at one time… We’ve already seen what that does to a point.
“Neato!” His big grin returned at this moment, only to disappear as he got more serious again. “Good thing ya do. There seems to be a new tension rising. I’d stay clear of any humans. They haven’t been very nice recently like they use to.”
“I’ll remember that…” Not like Gaster already planned that before. “So… Where are we exactly?” He asks Nomeus. Nomeus perks up and smiles at the question.
“The Royal Magic School! I’m the teacher here, appointed by the king. For all the monsters that live around the castle area. We’re off hours now though.” Nomeus explained, surprising Gaster a bit. The… King? For around the castle area? How far was the lab from everything? Then again, where is it? “Miss Toriel here found ya cause she was trying to show me something she found, but I guess we’ll leave that for later now. Gotta take care of ya and so far it looks like you’re fine now.” Toriel suddenly lit up as she got an idea, gasping with a smile. She turns to Nomeus.
“Why don’t we enroll him here? It’ll help out since the tension recently and we can still make sure he’s alright!” She suggests, giving Gaster a shock. Nomeus apparently didn’t have to think as he smiled.
“Sounds like an alright idea to me! Whatcha say Gaster? You’re the one that says whether or not this happens.” He asks, putting Gaster in a small spot of pressure on his decision. He didn’t know what to expect. It can’t be too bad right? Only gains from this? If any, only a few consequences? He hesitated to even say anything.
“S-sure. Sounds n-nice.” Whether that was a lie or not, Gaster was a bit unsure himself. Whether he regretted that choice, it would be found out later…
A while later, Gaster was showed around the school a bit, which wasn’t all that big surprisingly. It was mostly outside, which wasn’t too much a surprise with it being a magic school, a big classroom, and a few rooms like the nurse’s office at the front area, which is also where Gaster was being taken care of. Most of the areas were pretty typical for a school, of course. It wasn’t till after Nomeus began to ask where Gaster lived. He expected he lived in the area or something obviously if he was letting him enroll here.
“So where’s your place?” Nomeus asks, turning to face Gaster but now walking backwards. Gaster stares at the ground as he walks, holding his arm for comfort. This question was bound to be asked sometime.
“I-I uh, don’t really live anywhere…” Gaster’s voice was a bit quiet, but still audible at least. Nomeus was but surprised by his answer, but smiled.
“Nowhere huh? That’s alright! Explains a bit on ya being in the woods like that, even if not that far in. No parents then I’m guessing?” Nomeus asks and Gaster just shakes his head, stiffening a bit at the thought. Nomeus took a minute to think. “I’ll take ya in then! Then again, with your consent, ‘course.” Gaster looked up in surprise, stopping and both Nomeus and Toriel did too. “So what’ll it be? I’ll let ya take as long as ya need to decide.” It didn’t sound too bad an idea to Gaster… Better than surviving alone or something.
“I- s-sure.” He said sheepishly and smiled a bit at them. He took a breath to regain his composure. Thanks to his magic making hidden lungs to power his body with oxygen and even give him working, liquid blood, he was able to do these things and he was a bit glad for it. The magic even made the stuff unseeable, but it’s there, just hidden so it’s less magic needed.
“Hey! Ya smiled kiddo!” Nomeus randomly shouted, at least to Gaster, which took the skeleton by surprise. He lost his composure all over again.
“I-I u-uh…” He was shaking a bit, he hadn’t realized how comfortable he felt around these people who were trying to genuinely help him. He really didn’t want to. Another relationship of any kind with someone, friendship or fatherly or even love which he doesn’t understand or know too much even with Vedran trying to explain, it felt… scary to him. He didn’t want what happened with Vedran to happen again. He didn’t want to get attached and to lose that person again. Before he did understand how devastating it can be, but now, he completely does and wants to avoid it at all costs. Even if he made a friend, or bond like these two now, he definitely won’t get as attached as he did Vedran.
“Lighten up! It’s a good thing!” With all that thinking and worry, Gaster never realized Nomeus had came around to pat him on the back. “More ya smile, the less people worry and as they say, the longer you’ll live! Whether it’s true or not, who knows!” He gave Gaster a big grin, and a few seconds later, Gaster weakly smiles too. “Now it’s time to take ya to my place!” Nomeus says and randomly picks up Gaster, slinging the now frightened skeleton over his shoulder.
“Wh- w-wait!” Gaster says in a panic as he gets picked up. Toriel giggles where Gaster can see until Nomeus turns to her.
“Can ya get home on your own? I don’t wanna leave ya here if ya can’t.”
“I will be fine! Just take care of Gaster.” She says, still giggling a bit. Nomeus nods, looking at the skeleton over his shoulder.
“Hang on or you’re gonna end up meeting the ground kid!” Nomeus says with a big, worrying grin as he begins to run towards his place as fast as he can, Gaster doing as told and hanging on best as he can from that position. Toriel waves at the now screaming, and probably crying, skeleton as the two head off to Nomeus’s home.
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