New Chapter! I'm posting this mostly on AO3, so if you want the majority of this story, go there.

"So, what do you do with a crying baby?"

Now he was certain that 2-P and 3-F would not hurt 1-S, Gaster had begun to leave them alone with eachother. The three subjects kept eachother company, and he would be allowed to have a break. As little as Gaster cared about his own mental health, he could feel the darkness of the lab making his eyesight worse.

It wasn't like the Underground was that bright in general, but the warm glow-lights provided by the Core where much easier on the eyes than the labs fluorescent light bulbs.

Currently, he was paying a visit to Asgore, the monster king, and Gaster's closest friend. The man was practically a father to him, and possibly the only person in the universe who Gaster would willingly take advice from.

"What a sad thought!" Asgore exclaimed, responding to Gaster's question. He didn't know why Gaster was asking such a thing; He didn't know, and if all went according to plan, would never know, about the children in his lab. "Why, you comfort it of course! You hold it, or rock it, or sing to it, until it is soothed,"

Gaster considered Asgore's words, and decided he'd rather not. "I see. What are the other options?"

"Other options?" Asgore said, both confused, and slightly disappointed.

Gaster checked the human's stats once again.

"Human or Monster?"

Gaster sighed. The entire purpose of creating a human was to destroy the barrier. She was built with determination and everything! If her soul didn't work, well…

It didn't matter. He'd find a way to make it work.

Of course, he couldn't test anything at the moment. He would have to move onto the next faze of the experiment first. And he couldn't do that until he was sure the humans body was properly attached to her soul. Which required her to develop her mind.

While a monster's soul and body where practically one and the same, the souls of humans had to be connected to their body by the mind. A weak connection meant a human could die easily, which was why infants and human elderly could be damaged easily. When the mind is fully developed; human adulthood, it becomes impossible for a human to die by magic. Meaning a monster could never touch an adult soul.

Which was why human children where needed to break the barrier.

It took time and effort to develop a human mind. But Gaster had created a human that could never properly achieve fully developed mind, due to the contradictory nature of her body and soul. He didn't want her to die easily; she had to be at least a little bit strong to potentially open the barrier. So he had to wait for her to develop.

But no matter how much time passed, and what he tried to do with her, she would still be a candidate to break the barrier. She could still fulfill her purpose.

He swore he had only turned his back on them for a few seconds. He swore he did not take his eye off them long enough for them to run off and do… well, THAT!

But alas, they still did.

Gaster stood over the three subject in shock. They had somehow got a hold of his screwdriver, and had disassembled his printer. They were both covered in ink. 2-P was practically pouring it on himself, while 1-S wrestled with 3-F to keep her from sticking her ink covered hands in her mouth.

"God! Don't do that!" He snapped at 3-F. "You cannot. Lick. The Ink!"

"Can't taste?" She asked with a slight pout.

"No!" Gaster grumbled. What was wrong with this kid? "If you eat ink, you'll get ink poisoning, and then you'll die!"

2-P perked up at the word "die", worry suddenly plastered on his face. "NO!" he shouted to his companion. "NO LICK! NO DIE, HUMAN!" He grabbed her hands, pushing them towards her lap. The distress seemed to get her attention.

"see!" 1-S told her. "i said 'no licking'!"

The human stuck her tongue out at him.

Gaster grabbed the parts of the printer and put them on top of one of the barren work tables. "What where you even doing anyways?" He grumbled.

"WE DOIN' SCIENCE!" 2-P exclaimed. "PORTAN WORK! VER SMART SKELES! VER SMART HUMAN!"

Gaster just grumbled even more. "Ugh, that ink is going to stain if I leave it… You three would do this right when I'm in the middle of something, it figures!"

He took the three to the bathtub, much to their protest, and started scrubbing them off. As usual, 2-P greatly protested the scrubbing.

"NOOO! NO! NO! NO TASHING! NO TASHIINNG!"

"You brought this on yourself, now shush!"

Gaster felt like he was loosing his mind. His glasses where gone. How could he have walked all the way from the Lab in Hotland to New Home for his meeting with Asgore and Alphys and forgotten his glasses!? It was the subjects faults! They were going to drive him insane, he was sure of it!

"I know I had them earlier," He ranted to his two companions, as they sat down for tea, watching him, wearing amused smiles on their faces for… some reason. "I don't understand where they could have gone. It's not like a pair of glasses could just get up and walk away,"

"A-are you sure you looked e-everywhere?" Alphyse asked, her giggles blending in with her stutter.

Gaster huffed, becoming even more annoyed. "Of course I have, and they're nowhere to be found! I'm just going to have to see if I can find my spare pair back at the lab. Ugh, what a waste of time!"

"There's no need for that, Dr. Gaster," Asgore said casually, grabbing the skeletons arm with his large, fluffy paw, in order to keep him from leaving. "Come on, sit back down,"

"Of course there's a need for it!" Gaster snapped. "I can't see without them. We're not going to get anything done like this!"

"Trust me," Asgore laughed, placing his giant paws on Gaster's shoulders. "You don't need to go back to your lab. It's alright,"

"It's not alright, I need to go get them and we're wasting time why are you—"

The mans ramblings where cut off by Asgore tipping the glasses down from the top of his head, where they where perched, to his bone-made nose hole.

Embarrassed, Gaster faked a cough, hoping to pretend that this entire incident never happened. "So, what's on the schedule for today? We have a lot to cover, I'm sure,"

Asgore would not let him have it. "Do you want to know how long they where up there?

"No"

"Since you came in,"

"I SAID NO!"

Alphyse smiled widely, having filmed the whole thing with her cell phone. Bratty and Catty are going to love this!

Any Gaster found that any time the subjects were being loud, leaving the lab was a good idea. It would keep him from blowing up at them. If he blew up at them, then 2-P would cry, and everyone would start shouting louder than before, and Gaster decided that the headache wasn't worth it.

Besides, as much as he hated to admit it, the company of Asgore and Alphyse was something he did enjoy.

He tended to forget that sometimes, Alphyse acted just like the subjects.

For example, the one time she accidentally spilled a smoothie onto his labcoat, and told him to put it on her heat rock to dry (being a reptilian type monster, she required a heat rock to keep her own cold blood from damaging her. Flesh and blood was such an inconvenience). He had heeded her advice, and bend over to place it on said rock, letting a certain appendage face the air.

She squealed when she saw his little tail.

Normally, skeletons kept their tail tucked into their pants. Gaster had been forgetting. He honestly thought he learned his lesson when 2-P had pulled it, or when 3-F attempted to put it in her mouth, but he guessed not.

Gaster felt his cheeks heat up at Alphyse's loud squeal. "Dr. Alphyse, you have a tail of your own, what on earth would justify such a reaction to mine! They're entirely unremarkable in every respect!"

His embarrassment made it worse. "Oh my god now you're getting all flustered over it this is so cute I'm going to die!"

Later that day, Gaster went over some papers. He and Alphyse where going to be picked for a promotional job, though Asgore wanted this to be a surprise. Both the scientist pretended they didn't know about this.

"Yes, this proposal is perfect. There's only two people they could possibly choose for this great responsibility, and I think I have a pretty good idea who they'll be. Don't you?" He said to Alphyse, smiling, and offering a wink.

Gaster had forgotten, however that it was kinda hard to wink when you always kept one eye closed anyways.

"W… what do you mean?" Alphyse asked, confused.

"I mean us, of course!" Gaster told her, unamused. "I was winking and everything, couldn't you tell?

Alphyse didn't want to say anything

Once the presentation was over, Asgore had a small afterparty. Gaster had tried to collect some candy, thinking of bringing it back to his lab to give to his subjects.

The problem was, the candy kept falling through the large hole in his hand.

"Oh, Gaster, did you want some candy?" Asgore asked, heading over, noticing Gaster's growing frustration on being unable to do something so goddamn simple! "Are you having trouble? I can get it for you, if you like,"

"No, it's fine," Gaster replied, nearly jumping out of his skin in reaction to Asgore's sudden appearance. "I can manage it, you don't have to—"

"Oh, in fact, let me make you a goodie bag! It'll just take a moment, wait there,"

"You don't have to-" Gaster just sighed, giving up.

"Here you are," Asgore returned with a green bag, filled with an assortment of different candies, as well as a few marshmallows. "I even put in some of those marshmallows you love so much! Don't eat it all in one sitting, alright?"

"Thank you!" Gaster grabbed the bag, trying to hurry things along, his cheeks growing red. He was a grown man, Asgore didn't need to act like he was giving candy to some child!

"And don't go eating it instead of a proper dinner either. I don't want to hear—"

"Yes, THANK YOU!" Gaster shouted, the embarrassment intensifying. "I really must be going though! Goodbye!"

Gaster headed home, his cheeks still flushed from the encounter. He knew that every bone in Asgore's body was built to be a dad, but that was just ridiculous! "Well, that was humiliating" Gaster muttered to himself. He looked in the bag, counting at least ten marshmallows. That gave him an idea. "Though, not pointless, at least,"

As soon as he got back to the lab, he presented each of the three subjects with a single marshmallow.

"Now listen carefully," He explained. He had said the same thing three separate times, keeping each subject in a different room to eliminate them copying their peer. "You can eat this marshmallow right now, but if you don't eat it, and wait for fifteen minutes, you'll get two marshmallows.

"SO, WAIT FIVTEEN, GET MORE MALLOWS?" 2-P questioned.

"Yes, that's right,"

"one mallow… two mallows…" 1-S had hummed to himself, obviously trying to figure out the difference, and which option would benefit him more.

The human, as usual, didn't say anything, but had grabbed the marshmallow and started to feel it, amused by it's squish. Gaster simply rolled his eyes at her antics.

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Remember what I said,"

1-S stared at the thing hungrily. "Want mallow… want…" He sat, staring at it, trying to be patient, before eventually falling asleep.

Well, that's one way to do it, I suppose, Gaster thought, coming back to see the sleeping skeleton next to the untouched marshmallow.

2-P had a different solution. "CANT EAT… NO EAT…" He bent down to the edge of the table, reaching out to the white fluffy thing. "MAYBE… TOUCH IS OKAY… NICE MALLOW…"

He somehow ended up befriending the thing.

3-F, on the other hand, had technically never eaten the marshmallow, but she had done all but with the thing. She squished it, she smelled it, she licked it, she put it in her mouth, took it out, and became amused that the candy became slightly sticky when combined with human saliva. She ended up pushing it onto the wall, trying to get it to stick. It fell off the moment she let go, but it did stick to the dust on the floor.

Gaster came into the room, not sure what else he expected, but disappointed none the less.

The human gave him a cheeky smile, seeing his lack of amusement on her dust-covered creation. "Didn't eat" She said, snark in her voice.

Gaster raised an eyebrow. Did she just… sass him?

The test over, he rewarded his subjects with a second marshmallow, though he did take the humans sticky and dusty one and throw it in the trash. He refused to give her a replacement, not like she cared, but both the skeletons where a little upset at this.

"She didn't eat," 1-S said. "She gets two mallows," He insisted.

"She did get two. One of them she covered in dust and made inevitable," Gaster tried to explain. It did nothing to keep the two boys from pestering him.

"You not bein' fair," 1-S chided. "You breakin' rules. She get's two marshmallows!"

"HUMAN GETS TWO! HUMAN GETS TWO!" 2-P began chanting.

After several minutes of the skeletons bothering him, Gaster finally gave in, giving the human her second one.

"Your going to be the end of me!" He snapped at her in frustration. As usual, his snapping didn't bother her a single bit. She just smiled, and said nothing.

The three subjects sat in their room, making conversation, while Gaster watched them over the video camera. They had been learning new words. They're speech abilities where improving. They had only been alive for a few months, and they where proving themselves to hold a vast intellect.

"I can do this!" The human declared. Her eyes started glowing red; magic flowing through them. Gaster knew humans gained certain abilities when interacting with magic; such as reading font, or gaining the Fight/Mercy option in battle, but Frisk could do something that only monsters could; check the stats of her companions without entering a Fight first.

The two skeletons didn't notice what the human was doing at first. Not until she told them.

"You have 25 HP. You want to do a good job!" 3-F announced, pointing at 2-P. "And you have 1 HP! You're Kinda tired," She said to 1-S

"WHAT'S HP?" 2-P asked his human companion. She just shrugged.

"why do i only have 1?" 1-S muttered, slightly annoyed, before turning to the human. "What do you say?" He asked her.

She closed her eyes tightly and concentrated, the red glow peaking out from under her eyelids. "I say…" She trailed off. "20 HP. Monster or human?"

"MONSTER OR HUMAN?" 2-P questioned.

"skele's are monsters. gasser calls you human," 1-S stated. "are you not human?"

"I'm…" 3-F trailed off, before going quiet. She didn't say another word, unless it was a one word response to answer a question, for the rest of the day.

The nature of the human was constantly bothering Gaster. Would her soul count as barrier-breaking material? Not even her stats knew what she was.

She could read HP outside of battle. No ACT — CHECK function necessary. And she had figured out how to do so before the skeletons, the real monsters, learned how to. And her eyes glowed. They where like two little red flashlights placed inside her head, and Gaster couldn't stand it. He created this human so she could break the barrier, not to just sit around his lab being useless!

Gaster let out a loud sigh. He couldn't give up hope yet. He hadn't even tested her. Her mind wasn't strong enough for him to try and push her through, so he had to be patient. He would see if she could go in and out of the barrier. And if she could, then his experiment would've been a success. If she couldn't, however…

Well, he could always make her able, one way or another.

He had let the subjects wonder around while he did paperwork, but ended up falling asleep. 2-P, always seeking affection, took advantage of Gaster's inability to protest to place the doctors hand atop his little head. He shook the hand, as if Gaster was patting his head. His companions had done the same to him, and he always loved it.

"Good skele," 2-P whispered, repeating the complements that he always wanted Gaster to say to him. "Ver smart. Like you Lots,"

Gaster would never know

Entry Number !(#%!*^(^)#&^(!%*%

Since I moved them into the same room, they are much quieter and easier to work with. They chatter constantly…

Entry Number &^#%(*

Whenever I go see them, they are holding or touching each other. They are desperate for physical contact. At least they won't ask it from me.

They even sleep like that. It doesn't seem like it'd be their souls glow in unison, even the humans. Her chest becomes warmer, according to the heat signatures, when the skeletons souls are glowing. I believe this happens when they are dreaming.

Gaster put down his notes, observing the sleeping subjects. 2-P was leaned up against the wall, both 1-S and 3-F curled up in his lap. His head was resting on 1-S's, while his fingers found themselves tangled in 3-F's hair. Her fist held 1-S's nightgown, which had fallen out of her mouth as she fell asleep. He hadn't given them a blanket; skeleton's didn't get cold, and the human had yet to complain about being cold, so he hadn't given her one (yes, he could see her shivering in the camera's every so often, but he didn't care. He didn't want to care). But tonight, they didn't shiver at all; their glowing souls admitting all the warmth they needed.

Entry number (#^ &^ (%

They are voracious eaters. Given their rapid development, it makes sense. Out of curiosity, I gave them half a portion one night to see what they would do. They split the difference. I suspect given only a crumb they'd find a way to share it. I don't know where they learned to be so selfless with eachother. It's not a trait I'd think would be inborn. Especially not in the human. It's little things like these that make me wonder if she's even a human at all.

Entry Number (#$^& &^(

I gave them one pillow to see who'd assert dominance and claim it for their own. I checked up on them, they'd torn it up and were playing with the stuffing.

Entry number ~&((%(&^*#%^* (#&%

They never stop asking me questions. At least their vocabulary is growing

"What is…"

"disappointing?"

"SPECIMEN?"

"Color?"

"alternating current?"

"ELECTRICITY?"

"Energy?"

"marrow?"

"CALCIUM?"

"Muscle?"

"laser?"

"FORBIDDEN?"

"Time?"

I did make an annoying error, once, while I was distracted.

"WHAT ARE THEY?" 2-P once asked. Like usual, he was holding his companions in his arms, while the two smaller subjects cuddled close to him. 3-F was, as usual, sucking on her gown. "WHAT IS WE? ARE THEY… ME? AM I THEM?"

"No, you three are not the same person," Gaster replied, focusing on his work.

"THEN WHAT ARE WE?"

"You are things," Gaster answered. "Though, I suppose technically one could say you were siblings—"

That word; siblings; would be the word that united the three of them, and gave them a sense of purpose. Individuality, even. The word that brought them hope. That made them squirm in resistance.

A word that made them monsters and human, not just things.

"siblings?" 1-S repeated. "they're my siblings?"

"My siblings," The human hummed quietly.

"ARE YOU OUR SIBLING TOO?"

"I made you three,"

"BUT.. WHAT ARE YOU? ARE YOU US? WHAT ARE YOU TO US?"

"Quiet!" Gaster snapped.

They unfortunately latched onto the word. Sibling this, sibling that. Perhaps they'll grow out of it. I should have been more careful with my wording.

Things cannot be siblings.

A human could never be a proper sibling to a monster.

Entry number ^%(* #%

They are starting to read. I'm being carful about what I give them… I don't want them getting ideas about the outside world. Plus there are two particular words I'd be dammed if they ever pick up.

Subjects 1 and 3 are fast learners. 2 less so. He struggles with reading. And my hope is that he inherited my— it's a physical problem with his eyes and not a mental one. Bad eyes can be fixed. Even with 1 and 3's help, he has difficulty.

Gaster remembered the picture 2-P had drawn as an answer to the problem he was given. It was of four stick figures holding hands. Two of them where short, one with a circular head and big eyes, meant to be 1-S, and the other with raged lines growing from her head, and two lines as eyes; 3-F. He drew himself taller than the other two, with a square head and a large smile. The tallest figure, wearing glasses, with one eye shut and the other open, was clearly Gaster himself.

He interprets even the clearest directions in strange ways. He seems intent on sabotaging himself at every turn.

1, at least, seems very clever.

"why don't we ever see anyone else down here? are we a secret or something?"

Perhaps too much for his own good, at times.

The human seems to have her own odd quirks. She's intelligent, and curious, which are good traits for strengthening the mind. However, I will find words written on her paper that I have not taught her. My theory is that she learned such terms by checking my stats. However, there is one word that couldn't have come from me. It couldn't have come from anywhere.

DETERMINATION

When I asked her where she learned this word, she had said "From the yellow star,"

She refused to give further details.

Gaster searched through books and old lab reports, trying to figure out what the human could have possibly meant by "yellow star". He kept a close eye on her, looking out for any strange behavior. She didn't do anything abnormal. The only clue Gaster had was how she'd consistently stand in the corner of her room every time she woke up, and every time before she went to bed. Her companions had questioned her actions, but she would never give them an answer. The most anyone got out of her when it came to that corner of the room was a shrug.

It had been six months since the subjects had been released from suspension. Over the past six months, Gaster heard rumors amongst the people about the occasional sighting of a yellow flower wearing an angry expression on his face. The maintenance workers at the core had complained several times that Gaster had skipped his routine checks, or that he half-assed them. He didn't really care. He had bigger problems than some rusty nails in the core walls.

These three things he created where going to progress monster kind in ways that have never been seen before. They could break the barrier. And if they couldn't, they could always become weapons. If Gaster did everything right, their magic should be strong enough to kill a human adult.

It was late at night, and the subjects refused to go to bed.

"It's time for you three to go to be— your cell. Let's go!"

"no!" 1-S declared, standing in front of his fellow subjects in a defensive stance, rattling his bones at Gaster. "don worry, i save you! leave us alone!"

2-P was perplexed by this act. 3-F decided to do the same thing, blowing raspberry's at Gaster in place of bone rattling.

2-P grabbed them both, stopping their antics. "OH! NO, IS OKAY! DON'T BE BAD, NO RATTLE! AND NO RASPBERRY'S, OK?"

1-S growled at Gaster, while 3-F seemed offended by her siblings accusation. "I wasn't bad! I was copying Sibling!"

Later, the three sat in their cell, curled up around eachother as usual.

"i don't trust him. he's no good, i know it!" 1-S declared.

"SIBLING!" 2-P scolded. "HE'S NICE, YOU'LL SEE! HE FIXED MY ARM. HE MUST BE GOOD,"

"don't like him. he's up to somethin,"

"SIBLING, BE GOOD!"

A few days later, the three of them played with a dust bunny in their room. "maybe you're right… he hasn't done anything bad so far. maybe he is ok," 1-S decided.

"YOU SEE? I TOLD YOU!" 2-P cheered. Gaster watched their conversations on the monitor, a heavy feeling he didn't care to describe rising in his chest. "EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE, YOU'LL SEE!"

The next thing Gaster ended up teaching the three was SOULS. He had been changing 1-S out of his gown, exchanging it for a clean one. He had 1-S sitting between his legs; closer to himself than he normally let either of them, but he was too tired to use blue magic to keep them still.

"What's that?" The human asked, pointing to the glowing blue heart protected by the rib cage. Gaster nearly jumped out of his skin, not expecting to hear her voice.

"That's his SOUL," Gaster explained. "Most monsters don't have visible SOULs, but skeletons do. Our ribcages offer them some protection,"

3-F pouted, disappointed to find another thing that her siblings could do that she couldn't.

2-P reached his hand forwards, attempting to touch it.

"No," Gaster said firmly, smacking the boys hand. He also made sure to smack the humans for good measure. She had yet to try and touch it, but he knew that she would. "Don't touch someone's SOUL, it's rude. No touching,"

"What's a soul?" 3-F asked.

"It's the culmination of your being,"

"WHAT'S—" 2-P began, slightly confused.

Gaster sighed. "It's what makes you corporeal,"

"WHAT?"

"It's what keeps your bones together,"

"OH. DOES THE HUMAN HAVE A SOUL?"

"Yes,"

"WHY CAN'T I SEE IT?"

"Because her skin and muscle covers it,"

"DOES IT KEEP HER BONES TOGETHER?"

Gaster just let out a groan. He didn't exactly feel like explaining human biology at the moment.

"CAN WE SEE HER SOUL"

"She must learn to summon it, first. That will come later," Technically, Gaster could've summoned it himself, but he didn't have the energy to do so at the moment.

"My soul is red," The human suddenly said.

Gaster did a double take. He had never seen her summon her soul. Her stats wouldn't show her what it looked like. How could she possibly—

"REALLY?!" 2-P asked excitedly.

"Uh huh," 3-F hummed back. "It's red, and looks like a heart,"

"Have you…" Gaster hesitated. "Seen your soul?"

The human ignored him.

"WHY IS YOUR SOUL RED? OUR SOUL'S ARE WHITE,"

"I don't know," She replied, before turning to Gaster. "Is it because of DETERMINATION?"

"what's determination?" 1-S pipped in.

All three of them looked at Gaster expectantly. He decided to give them the short answer. It would satisfy their curiosity and keep them from learning too much.

"It's what makes Subject 3 a Human," He said.

That was enough for 2-P, though 1-S seemed suspicious. 3-F just smiled as if she knew more than he did. Gaster didn't like that.

2-P jumped to the next question. "WHY DOES MINE LOOK BIGGER?"

"Your body is bigger, so your SOUL is bigger to sustain you. Your SOULs are unique, but the basic principles should still hold,"

"UNIQUE?"

"does that mean your soul is different than ours?" 1-S chimed in.

"Outwardly, they appear much the same, but they are different, yes,"

"can we see?" 1-S begged.

"YEAH! CAN WE SEE? CAN WE SEE?" 2-P chanted excitedly.

Gaster sighed. Maybe it was because he was tired. Maybe it was because of the warm heart attack he felt when placing a clean gown onto 1-S. Maybe he wanted to show the human, who seemed to know something he didn't, something she couldn't possibly have seen. But he pulled his shirt back, and showed the three of them his souls.

Both the skeletons eyes widened in fascination. And the look on the humans face told Gaster he was correct in assuming she had never seen such a thing before.

"woah!"

"WOW, IT DOES LOOK LIKE OURS, BUT…"

The human finished the sentence. "your heart's so big,"

There it was again. The warm heart attack. And the human had caused it. He hated it when the human caused it. She was a homunculus created to mimic a creature he despised; a tool to free monsters from their prisons, a thing that could be used as a weapon against her own kind. He hated it when she said kind things, smiled warmly, made him feel proud of her. He wasn't supposed to form an attachment to any of them. Least of all her.

He stood up, and walked off. "…That's enough talk about SOULs"

"BUT-"

"No more questions,"

They kept getting a hold of his things. 2-P was absolutely fascinated with his lab coat. The human would grab anything that didn't taste disgusting if she put it in her mouth and keep it. She nearly choked on one of the smaller things she placed in there. And despite the scary experience, she still put small things in her mouth, she just made sure not to swallow them.

At least her siblings would always snap at her and demand she spit it out when she did so.

One day, 1-S got ahold of his Rubix cube. He even swatted Gaster's hand and demanded "no touching" when Gaster had attempted to take it back.

Gaster had to resist the urge to throw his desk at the dumb kid.

Another time they had gotten a hold of his screwdriver, which lead to a rather awkward moment for Gaster.

"Oh, there it is. I'll be taking that back, thank you! I take my eye off you three for two seconds…"

"WHAT'S 'THANK YOU'?" 2-P asked.

"Hmm?" The scientist took a second to register the question. "Oh, it's one of those things people say to be polite," He let out a fake cough to hide his next comment. "Or sarcastic,"

The three subjects looked at him curiously, urging him to continue.

"Thank you, please, excuse me, you're welcome, sorry,"

"PLEASE? EXCUSE ME?"

"what do those mean?"

Gaster let out a sigh. "Excuse me is for when you've inconvenienced someone, you use please when you're asking for something, thank you expresses gratitude towards someone, you're welcome is what you say when someone thanks you, sorry is for when you do something wrong,"

"so, if you want something, you use please to ask for it?" 1-S concluded.

"OH! OH!" 2-P suddenly pipped up, excited, as if the greatest idea in the world had just occurred to him. "THEN… CAN I HAVE A HUG, PLEASE?"

He looked so bright, happy, and desperate. Gaster almost hesitated. "No,"

2-P started to cry, much to Gaster's annoyance. Why was the boy so goddamn needy? 1-S didn't need to be constantly touched. Not even the human proved to be this obnoxious.

"can… we have a hug please?" 1-S asked hesitantly. The human smiled at her taller sibling, her eyes practically begging for the same thing.

"OF COURSE YOU CAN!" 2-P sobbed loudly, grabbing the two of them with desperation and strength, practically squishing his two siblings.

Gaster rolled his eyes, and left them like that, cursing under his breath.

Subject 1 was developing an attitude. Gaster was slightly amused by this, but mostly annoyed. The small skeleton made a habit of slurring words together. So Gaster thought teaching him about contractions would help improve his speech patterns.

He might have made a mistake.

"Now, contractions are abbreviated combinations of two words. Don't for do not, or can't for can not, or should've, NOT shoulda, for should have,"

"why not shoulda?" 1-S asked curiously.

"Shoulda is sloppy and improper. Woulda would also be incorrect, and so would similar variants such as gonna or dunno,"

"how else can you not talk proper?"

Gaster made the mistake of thinking 1-S wanted to learn which words not to use. He should've suspected that the damn kid just wanted to ruin his vocabulary.

"Properly, and let's see… You can use incorrect contractions, such as ain't, you can drop syllables or the last letter of words, such as goin or doin. You can slur words together, and/or mispronounce them, like—"

Gaster stopped when he noticed the small skeleton looking at him with stars in his eyes.

"I walked right into that one," Gaster moaned. "Why do I keep doing this to myself?"

"i dunno what you talkin' about,"

The three subjects once caught Gaster smoking in front of them.

"WHAT'S THAT? IS IT ON FIRE?"

"Smell's weird,"

"is that smoke? why—"

"It's MY business if I want to smoke or not! It's not even bad for monsters i have DONE THE SCIENCE! It's perfectly fine, and it calms me down, and I can make my OWN decisions about it, thank you!"

He then stomped off, leaving the three subjects very confused.

"There you are!" Asgore cried. Gaster had showed up late to the meeting he was supposed to have with him and Alphyse. "I was getting worried!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just got distracted," Gaster sighed. "What's on the schedule"

"Wait a minute" Asgore suddenly said, nose scrunched up, and disappointment on his face. "What's that smell? Gaster, you aren't smoking again, are you!?"

"N— no?" He tried to deny.

It didn't work.

Gaster sat at one of the desk while the subjects played on the floor. He was surprised to see the human come up to him.

"Smoke stick?" She questioned.

Gaster's face twisted into a snarl. "Like I said, I'm an adult, and I can—"

"Can I try?"

Gaster looked at her, his eyebrows practically flying past the top of his forehead. The surprise wore off when he remembered that this was the human he was talking to. Of course she would want to try a cigarette, it's something new.

Well, it wouldn't harm her if he didn't light it.

3-F looked at the thing. Touched it, smelled it, shook it a bit to see if there was any sound coming from it. Then, as always, she put it in her mouth.

"No smoke?" She questioned.

Gaster just sighed, took the cigarette back, and placed it in the ash tray, feeling annoyed that he wasted one of them by letting the girl chew on it.

Entry Number (%^) *(&

They smile when I come to see them. They ask me what I do outside. They ask me if they can go outside.

Entry number #%^(* )#%)&(

Subject 2 tried to hold my hand

He was becoming attached to them. He couldn't deny it any longer. He wasn't sure why. Didn't even want to know why. But those bright smiles… They where clever and good. And every time he touched them, or they touched him, he felt an odd energy, drawing him closer to them.

Even the damn human somehow wormed her way into his heart.

Asgore would've called it "parental instinct".

Gaster couldn't have that. That was Asgore's thing. That was the reason Asgore would cry every time he had to hurt something. It was why Gaster took on this mission. Why he created the three Subjects in the first place.

They where things. Tools to be used. He couldn't get attached to tools.

But when the three of them all winked; one eye closed, one eye open, like Gaster did, he suddenly realized what was going on.

"NOW I LOOK LIKE YOU!"

"i figured it out first!"

"Good, right?"

Gaster shuttered, visibly. It was like that time 1-S accidentally said "dada". They where mimicking him; looking up to him. They wanted to be like him. Like children…

His children.

The two skeletons. His sons. The human. His daughter.

He just considered the damn human to be his daughter!

This wasn't supposed to happen! He wasn't supposed to become attached. Not to the skeletons. Especially not to the human.

But 1-S was so sharp. Interested in science, like he was. A fast learner, like he was. So much of this little boy reminded Gaster of himself. The boy had inherited so many traits from Gaster. As if the scientist really was his father.

And 2-P was always trying his best. He struggled, and fooled around, but he was always ready to try. Always ready to support. To do his best at anything. Who did all he could to re-ignite the happiness in Gaster's long dead heart.

Then there was the human, asking Gaster if her mimicking was good. The tough and curious little girl. Who wanted to see everything; do everything; touch everything; taste everything; smell everything; experience everything. Independent and mysterious, with an aura of comfort and kindness. And an undying spirit that Gaster couldn't help but admire.

He had grown attached to them. Less than a year in, and he had grown attached to them. How was he supposed to keep this up? He was supposed to wait three years after their conception to move on to proper testing. That would be enough time for him to test them without the risk of damaging their souls.

His own emotions where jeopardizing his mission. That couldn't happen. He wouldn't let it happen!

Entry Number *#&^( $!%^* #%

I've made a huge mistake.