Royal Blue

The Space You've Filled (Chapter Thirty One)

"Gaster, what the hell did you DO?!"  Sans snarled within his own head.

Running through the corridors of the castle that had been thoroughly shaken by the shock-wave. In the commotion, he'd managed to separate himself from the group; but he didn't know how long it would be before someone came to find him.
He needed to act fast.

"One is never out of options," Gaster said from within, "just out of ideas."

"And exploding a piece of the underground to get out of an uncomfortable conversation is not an idea you should be thinking!! Much less actually doing!!" Sans muttered aloud, scowling sharply.

"What?" Gaster chided faux-innocently. His form only skimming across the ground, slightly ahead of where Sans was running. His feet slam across cold golden tiles.
"I could feel your discomfort," Gaster chided more seriously.
"You didn't want to answer any of those questions, did you?"

"Yes- er, I mean... no! Gaster!!" Sans growled aloud; too frustrated to just think it anymore.
"This is not the kind of thing-"

"It worked didn't it?" Gaster's slow, ichorous voice spoke. "And besides, we don't need them poking their noses where they do not belong. They are far too young to understand."

Sans eyes narrowed, he skirted through the hall - to the room where Toriel and Frisk were staying.

Where his armor was.

"I mean it worked yeah," Sans muttered distractedly, "but- stars, Gaster! That is not the point!!"


"Then what is the point?" Gaster asked sharply. Practiced words surgically cutting to the heart of the matter.

"Unless I am severely mistaken, we have a job to do. One that-"

Sans slammed the door of the room.

"Gaster!!" Sans yelled fiercely, and for the first time in eons... Gaster seemed legitimately startled. His inky form flickering in the light.

Sans sighed, but it came out more of a growl. Low in his raw throat. He dragged a hand down his face, feeling the heat of his frustration welling in his cheeks.
He took a long, weighted breath.

 "I... I know you were trying to help? But- But sometimes the ends do NOT justify the means!! There could be injured people in the cave in and-"

"There weren't," Gaster spoke, words stark and serious. The shadow he cast momentarily growing darker, yet darker.

"I would not threaten the lives of monsters for such a whim."

He softened slightly.
Approaching the younger with a gentle posture.

"You're fretting far too much over this, my boy. You know I would never do anything to hurt monster-kind," Gaster spoke soothingly, finally allowing an inkling off hurt to creep into his tone.
"... if I weren't mistaken, it almost sounds as if you don't trust me."

Gaster's eyes were just as deep as they always had been.
Always so expressive. Though his features had grown stiff with age, they were the one piece of himself that Gaster had never been good at hiding.
They were the kind of eyes seen only among the unfortunate and special group of people who had seen too much.
Far too much to remember; far too much to ever, try to forget.

They all say that eyes are the windows of the soul, and his are wide open. Beckoning to any that would look his way into what lightless rooms lay beyond. There are cracked, unfixed wounds littered the glass- bullet holes, knife scratches. Everything from tiny fissures to large, chasmic cracks.

"I'm... I'm trying to trust you," Sans said slower, because he was, "but you don't exactly make it easy all the time."

To that, Gaster said nothing. At least, not for the moment.