Handplates Fragment: Holiday Special?! by BreadMan3000, literature
Literature
Handplates Fragment: Holiday Special?!
“Your majesty, you told me today was an additional meeting discussing the CORE.”
Gaster scowled, glaring across the table at Asgore.
The King chuckled to himself, “Now, now Gaster, a little fib has never hurt anyone.” Asgore pushed a cup of tea and a platter of cookies towards Gaster–an indirect apology. It didn’t work; every word just seemed to make Gaster more agitated. “Especially a little, white lie for the sake of the festive spirit.”
Gaster groaned, crossing his arms, signing. “I’d argue to differ…”
Asgore put his hands together, pleading. “Gaster, you know how Gyftmas is such an important tradition for monsters…” Gaster rolled his eyes. Asgore noticed, but continued anyway. “And after the venue canceled on us, we need a place to host our annual Giftmas get together for the Underground’s scientist committee!”
Gaster widened his eyes. “You did not–”
“...so I offered your house as the new location!”
Gaster’s mouth split in shock.
“It was the perfect option, only a couple of
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 5 by BreadMan3000, literature
Literature
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 5
The lab felt different when nothing was happening.
Not louder, not quieter, just different. The steady, rhythmic hum was still there, vibrating through the floor and up into his bones, but it no longer felt like it belonged to the room. It was like a sound playing beyond a wall: present, but distant, displaced–as if the lab were slightly out of alignment with itself.
2-P sat criss-crossed near the edge of the room—not because he had been ordered, but because it felt like he should. The papers from the puzzles lay scattered nearby, some half-solved, others filled with random numbers that trailed off where his attention had dissipated. He wasn’t drawing anymore, it felt pointless now. Even if he tried to put something on paper, it came out wrong, like his hands were remembering something his mind didn’t.
Across the room, He worked.
Or at least, He stood at his desk, moving papers from one place to another. 2-P had been watching Him long enough to be able to tell the
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 4 by BreadMan3000, literature
Literature
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 4
“We have a meeting with The King.” Alphys stated in an unwavering tone. Gaster leaned back, his hands beginning to sign. Alphys took control back.
“You need to c-come.”
“Alphys, I-”
“RIGHT-” she began, her body swelling with a type of anxious anger. She suppressed it, controlling her tone. “R-right now.”
Gaster looked back over his shoulder, signing. “Should I–”
`
“A-alone.” she began. “Go, tell...h-him you’re leaving,
Gaster felt chills go down his spine, looking down. It was his reckoning.
“...but that you'll be back.”
Gaster, surprised, signed, “That I’ll–?”
“G-go. Just…go.”
Gaster didn’t say another word. Glancing back, he obediently walked into the lab while Alphys waited outside of the door.
His feet quickly pounded against the lab floor, but his mind ran faster–this was all so strange. Did Asgore send Alphys to retrieve him? Perhaps the King thought with Alphys’ retrieval of Gaster he would remain placid? To him, it was a total mystery, hammering an uneasy feeling
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 3 by BreadMan3000, literature
Literature
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 3
The first thing 2-P noticed was the overbearing quiet.
There was the constant, never ending hum of the lab, sure–but the sound seemed to silence everything else around itself. It was a long, hollow silence that pressed against the temples of his skull, the pressure building against his ears-holes until they rang.
“DTQVJGT?” he called out, his distorted voice echoing throughout the lab. “HEY—THIS ISN’T FUNNY.”
No answer.
He stood in the middle of the lab. The tiled floor reflected him endlessly, stretching his shape thinner the farther he looked. He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
“OKAY…OKAY…I GET IT!! YOU’RE HIDING…”
Footprints appeared on the floor ahead of him. The small, all too familiar ones he’d known too well. He felt a rush of relief overcome his entire body.
“OH!! THERE YOU ARE!!” 2-P smiled. “I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU, DTQVJGT!!”
As he reached towards the footprints, they began to run out in front of him. 2-P panicked–he sprang into action.
2-P ran
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 2 by BreadMan3000, literature
Literature
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 2
This was the third day in a row Gaster had retreated to his spot. Same routine: middle of the unfinished railing where his coat draped, his head propped up by his right hand, and a cigarette quietly burning in his left.
Even if there was no perfect solution, he couldn’t stop thinking. Though, he couldn't shake the feeling like he’d already lost his chance.
That single word clawed at the inside of his head.
“Unless…”
Possibility–it made him paranoid, looping endlessly through every calculation
.
For some reason today, his mind wasn’t as sharp as it was on the norm. More often than not, his frantic thoughts in search for a solution were always cohesive–today though, he felt as if he were drawing a blank.
The paranoia would be fine if it motivated him, but currently, it was hindering him. Still, he hopelessly wished that there was still something to save: the project, The King, all of it.
He pulled his phone out of his lab coat pocket. If his wits weren't about him, something must
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 1 by BreadMan3000, literature
Literature
Handplates Fragment: Chapter 1
Shaking hands and streaming smoke—an attempt at self-soothing.
It didn’t help.
Gaster leaned against the CORE railing—or what little of it existed. He stood at the midpoint of the platform where the metal bars simply stopped; one side finished, the other yawning open to the machinery below. One hand covered his face while the other tightly pinched his cigarette between his fingers. His lab coat swayed lightly over the railing in front of him. He’d hoped coming to this floor would fix things—help him think, offer some impossible, perfect solution. But even now, deep down, he knew the truth:
He had already given up.
No amount of excruciating effort had the capability to change the outcome.
A low, trilling noise reverberated throughout the CORE. The humming inner workings of his creation usually calmed him. Today, however, something was different. What was normally comforting became something of unease. The same throbbing sentence rang deafeningly in his head:
“Dr. Gaster, you have