No One is Happy with This (Undertale)

85 ~ Old Songs

Once you're all in the car and Sans has proven himself a surprisingly decent driver, you realize you don't actually know where you're going. So you look to Gaster- who, despite being the tallest person of the five of you in the vehicle, has somehow managed to fit himself into the middle back seat (Papyrus is to his right, you to his left, and Alphys in the front passenger seat)- and ask, "Hey, Gaster? Where are we going?"

When he looks down at you, it's with a childish grin of excitement, and you can't decide if that's because he's excited to get wherever you're going, or because he has achieved some personal goal of somehow defying the laws of reality to fit a seven-foot-tall monster in the middle car seat. Regardless, it's with a bright expression that he answers. "To the CORE! The first one, I mean. In Hotland."

"...Why?"

He starts to speak, then pauses, one hand rising thoughtfully to his chin. "... A few reasons, actually. For one thing, I haven't been there in a long time. For another, there are a few structural things I want to remind myself about for building the new CORE. and third, Alphys is going to be helping us build, but she doesn't know how the CORE works, really, and while it's true the new CORE will be powered differently, what with it being hydropower based rather than geothermal, but it'll still be good for her to learn."

"Oh," you say.

"But most importantly," Gaster continues, flashing a smile towards Papyrus, "Papyrus has never been to the CORE before, and has never had the opportunity to experience one of the greatest puzzle systems in the whole history of monsterkind."

"you narcissist," Sans says from the front seat.

"Well, it's true," comes the self-assured reply. "And besides, Sans, you had a hand in the puzzle design yourself. So you should be taking that as a compliment."

Papyrus gets excited at that. "Sans, you helped design the CORE puzzles?"

Gaster smiles proudly. "He was in charge of designing them, if I remember correctly."

But Sans scoffs. "i didn't hardly do anything. just came up with a few basic concepts before you... took over."

A hush seems to fall on the tallest skeleton as some understanding passes over him. There's something left unsaid between the father and son, something that sobers the grin that had been sitting on Gaster's face.

Finally, the Royal Scientist murmurs, "Well, they were good concepts."

He offers the sentence almost, it seems, as an apology.

The car remains quiet for a while, but eventually, some idle chitchat picks up again.

And then Sans is parking the car at the entrance to the Underground. You all tumble out, dusting yourselves off from the ride, and Sans tosses the car keys back to Papyrus. Then, Gaster in the lead, you all walk into the Underground.

It's eerie how quiet it is. You remember the first time- and subsequent times- you walked through the path on the wall around New Home. Except for That-One-Time-You-Don't-Think-About, you were always able to hear the monsters. Not just the ones that came up and talked to you, but the ones living below, too, in the city. The constant murmur of life. But now...

It's silent. The footsteps of your small party echo throughout the vast, empty caverns, and you can hear water rushing somewhere in the distance, but other than that...

Getting to the CORE is even more strange. It was always so loud, so busy before, the hum of fans and the clanging of machinery, almost like it was making its own song, with a brilliant lights show to match. But now it's dark and quiet; there's no blinking lights or whirring, ticking traps, not even a hint of that pale, Magic fog that has clung like glitter to the air.