Before Tempest - Lost Friend (Short Story)

Hello everyone!

It's been a long time since I wrote TempestTale's backstory, "Before Tempest". This particular one tells the tale of the events leading up to Gaster's disappearance, mainly in the point of view of Asgore.

I just want to say... Gaster is not Sans' father in this AU, in fact, he doesn't have any real family.

This is also going to be my last story here for a long time. Mainly because I'm tired.

Nonetheless, I hope you will enjoy.

Word count: 1409

Time taken: One day

I used Wattpad to write all this and get the word count if you were wondering. And my brain.

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Asgore was worried.

As each day stretched on, he could tell that the stress was slowly getting to his friend. Gaster spent much more time in the Lab than before and eyebags were beginning to form under his eyes.

But what was of the greatest concern to the king of monsters was Gaster's deteriorating mental state. Asgore never told anyone, but he sometimes found his friend yelling to some non-existent being in pure hatred.

He did not want to bring it up at first as it might sour their relationship even further. Even so, he knew that he would have to mention it eventually, just at a "right" time.

Truthfully, Asgore itted that he was unsure of what the "right" time is.

He felt like a failure of a friend, a husband, and more importantly, a father. First it was his children who perished in their attempt to free the monsters.

Then, it was Toriel, driven away by his declaration of war against the humans.

Asgore did not want to lose one of his old friends too. Despite that fear, he did nothing. He had the guts to sacrifice everything for his kingdom, yet not for his close ones, which brought him to shame.

"What do I do...?" the king sighed, picking up a watering can.

He found that gardening helped to clear his thoughts and keep his mind off things. He hoped that it would help him now as well.

As droplets of water fell onto the bright, golden flowers, an idea struck him. It was simple, but the Boss Monster felt that it could work.

Asgore put down his watering can and headed for his home. Putting the water to boil, he quickly brewed a set of golden flower tea.

The aroma of the tea was as calming as always, which was why it was his favourite type of tea.

I'm sure it would help you too, Gaster.

As he set off to find his friend, he wondered where he could be. The Lab seemed to be the most likely option, so he made his way there first.

At the entrance of the laboratory, Asgore knocked.

The doors slid open, revealing a skeleton wearing a white lab coat and goggles. "Who is it?"

A second later, he realised that it was the king. "Y-your Majesty! What brings you here?" he asked, clearly not expecting the king's visit.

"Howdy, Sans," Asgore smiled warmly. "I am looking for Gaster. Is he here?"

Sans was Gaster's assistant, though Gaster emphasised that he was more of a student than assistant. The king always wondered why the skeleton chose that particular job instead of applying for the Royal Guard - Asgore sensed that he contained great potential ever since they first met.

"He's not in," Sans responded apologetically. "He left for the Core just minutes ago."

"Thank you," Asgore said. "Then I shall look for him there."

As he was about to leave, Sans stopped him. "Wait!"

"Is there something wrong?"

"Not really," came his response. "It's just that Gaster insisted on being alone. I'm not sure you should disturb him."

Asgore frowned. For a moment, his mind drifted to the option of dropping his plan, but he shook his head mentally.

I've put this off long enough.

"Don't worry, Sans. This is important. He will understand," he reassured the assistant.

Uncertainty was still present in Sans' face. "I'll come with you," he decided, putting away his goggles.

An awkward silence fell over them as they walked side by side to the Core.

If Gaster was not at the Lab, he would be at the Core. It was his greatest creation, capable of generating power for the entire Underground.

However, that was not the Royal Scientist's intention. Originally, he wanted it to destroy the barrier and then the humans, but it proved to be futile.

Asgore wished that Gaster would let go of the hate in his heart. He had seen for himself what it could do to a monster. It happened to his step uncle, who was never the same.

If only... no... I shouldn't dwell on the past.

He tried to shut those images off his mind as Sans led him to an elevator, heading up to the next floor.

Like Asgore, the skeleton was troubled about Gaster while it was not evident. But the soul always gave it away, and the king could sense it better than most.

"You can put the tea set here." Sans gestured to an empty counter.

"Thank you again. I'm sorry for any trouble that I may have caused you," Asgore said politely.

"Not at all," he responded awkwardly. "Uhh... Gaster should be over there. I'll... just stay here."

Asgore nodded in acknowledgement before heading in the direction Sans pointed in, holding a single cup of tea in his hand.

"Gaster? Are you there?" he asked as he pushed open a door.

Upon Asgore's arrival, Gaster, who was standing on a bridge, whipped around to locate the source of the voice.

"Asgore," Gaster spoke. "I can only assume Sans led you here, despite my clear instructions on my wish to be left alone."

"Please don't be upset with him. I was the one who insisted on coming," Asgore told him. "I just wanted to do something for you, as a friend."

The Royal Scientist stalked up to him, his eyes containing all the coldness in the world.

"If you are my friend, you will respect my wishes."

With that, he began to walk off, turning his back towards him.

"Wait!" Asgore called. "Let's talk this over with a nice cup of t-"

"I said, I want to be left alone!" Gaster snarled. "I don't want your tea or your company!"

Taken aback by his sudden outburst, Asgore took an unconscious step backwards. "Gaster, I..."

"Just shut up for once!" he snapped, his eyes alight with fury.

"This is all your fault that we are in this situation! If you had just let me destroy all those humans, we could have won! All because of your cowardice, your mercy," he spat that word like it was vemon, "we are stuck in here, stupidly waiting for another human to fall down!"

Asgore found that he could not muster a single word out of his mouth. He could only listen to each and every terrible word that Gaster spewed out from his contained wrath.

"That's why your children died! That's why... your wife left you..." At that point, Gaster realised that he had gone too far and stopped, his voice now quiet with a hint of regret.

"I'm... sorry..."

The Royal Scientist did not wait for Asgore's response, disappearing out of sight in a few quick strides.

Still stunned by his friend's harsh words, Asgore could not bring himself to chase after him immediately. Placing his hand on his chest, he felt tiny teardrops rolling onto his golden beard.

Who knew words could hurt so much?

Even so, no matter how much it hurt, Asgore knew that Gaster did not mean it. He did not want his friend to blame himself for it.

Eventually, Asgore picked himself up and went to find Gaster. The more he walked, the louder the distant shouting became.

"Gaster!"

When he arrived, the scene that presented itself to him caused him to lose the grip on the teacup.

It shattered to tiny pieces.

~~~~

Sans could hear loud shouts coming from the other room, where Asgore and Gaster were. The dread he was feeling began to return, escalating in intensity.

Immediately, he knew something was wrong.

Abandoning Asgore's tea set, he willed himself to teleport to their location. In a flash, he appeared just a few metres away from the king.

Asgore simply stood there, frozen to the ground with an empty look in his eyes, though tears were running down his cheeks.

There were broken pieces of ceramic on the bridge, which meant that he had probably dropped his teacup.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Sans asked. He did not like that feeling growing inside him.

"I was looking for someone... a friend perhaps..." Asgore murmured absentmindedly. "Oh! Pardon my carelessness. I must have dropped my teacup."

As he bent down to pick up the broken pieces with a piece of cloth, Sans went up to him. "If you don't mind me asking... what's your friend's name?"

The clueless look that Asgore gave him chilled him to the bone.

"I... don't know..."

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(Did anyone watch the recent episode of Glitchtale by the way? Because it's awesome :grin: )

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Edit: Featured o.O

Cover by PrettyPumpkinhead on deviantart

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