I arrived as promised a few hours later at the castle. Firhaur had come too, to help me where I might need help, and to tease me where I didn't.

He did that, too. Lots of friendly joking.

I meanwhile, joked that I had brought him along only for the security clearance. For as popular as my name has become since my big flight debut, I was not allowed in the castle at will. Firhaur, however, was, and escorted me past the Royal Guardsmen with ease.

I may or may not have ridden atop his back for the majority of the walk through the castle.

Nonetheless, we arrived there in a timely manner. Princess Toriel led us into a sitting room, where all of the furniture was quite large, made for the furry bossmonsters.

Prince Asgore was sitting in an armchair at the hearth, in which a warm fire burned.

As we came in, his large, warm eyes settled on me. I stepped over to stand in front of him.

For a long moment, we just looked at each other.

I must admit, I had a peculiar feeling. I was standing in front of the person who would one day become king of all monsters. He looked young, but not too immaturely young, with a well muscled frame, broad shoulders that told of a straight, confident posture, and a sort of gentle but confident light in his eyes.

"You're an idiot." I said flatly.

No, you did not mishear me. That was indeed my first greeting to the prince.

He looked surprised. Toriel seemed a little so as well, but Firhaur was only just amused.

"Dr. Gaster-" Toriel began, but I cut her off with a glance.

"No, I'm not finished. Don't interrupt." I looked back to Prince Asgore. "You're a complete and utter fool if you think that by not getting treatment for this," I gestured to his bandaged-up chest, "you're being selfless. I don't even need to take off the bandages to see it's pretty bad and not getting any better like this, not to mention the fact that it's quite possible that by leaving it, it's become infected. And what would happen then? You would die. Allow me to extrapolate: the prince, heir to the throne, future leader of the monsters on whom all the hopes of common monsters are resting, would die. Because he was too moronic to get medical help because he wanted to put up a strong front and pretend to be stronger than he was. Do you understand? You are a complete, utter-..." I cut myself off, not at the astonished looks on Asgore's and Toriel's faces, but at the realization that I didn't know how exactly the insult I wanted translated from Hands to Common. So I turned to Firhaur for help.

After my desired insult was asked for in Hands, Firhaur just looked at me for a moment. Then, chuckling a little, he shook his head. "Gaster, I'm going to do you a favor and not translate that."

I frowned. "Why not?"

"Because that is not something you want to call the prince." He was laughing outright, now.

"Well," I retorted, "evidently it is, otherwise I would not be asking for the words to call him such!" With no response from Firhaur but more laughter, I turned back to the astonished prince, reaching for the bandages wrapped around the bossmonster's chest. "Regardless, because of your idiocy, it falls to me to take care of this problem, so I might as well get to work."

"Dr. Gaster-" this time it was Prince Asgore who tried to talk to me.

"Shut up," I told him as I unwrapped the bandages, "I'm trying to work, and you're distracting me."

Behind me, I heard Firhaur break out into another round of chuckles, and, presumably at a question I didn't hear from Toriel, he said "Yes. He's always like this."

Truth be told, the wound in Asgore's side wasn't so bad as it could have been. There was a small infection, but nothing especially serious, and once the wound had been cleaned out, the infection properly treated, and properly dressed, it would heal reasonably quickly.

That didn't mean that it wasn't painful for Asgore as I cleaned it up. The bossmonster actually started whimpering. Although, in retrospect, I probably made it a lot worse for him psychologically by telling him he could die. In the end, I still had Firhaur get me something to give to Prince Asgore to knock him out.

... I may have implied that the sedative would numb the pain but leave him awake.

... Actually, I'm quite certain I did imply that. Otherwise, why would Princess Toriel have started freaking out that he was dying when he passed out? There's no other good explanation...

Regardless. With a bit of Firhaur's help, I finished up and assured Princess Toriel that her husband would be fine in a few weeks. With that, Firhaur and I returned to the lab, and I more or less forgot about the entire thing.

Well. Forgot about it until I received a summons to the castle a few weeks later. Firhaur did not help the matter by joking that I had messed up and was being called there to be executed for murdering the prince.

This time, he also did not come with me.

When I got there, I found not only Prince Asgore, awake and well, standing beside Princess Toriel, but King Relgore was there, too.

King Relgore looked more or less like Prince Asgore, but bigger, stronger, and much, much older. His white fur had a silvery sheen, and his once-blond hair and beard were an ashen grey. He smiled warmly at me when he saw me, and held out one large paw for a handshake. "So, you are the doctor who saved my son's life."

I took his hand and shook it. "Yes. I am."

He chuckled a bit.

I admit that much of the following conversation is lost to my memory. There are a few things I remember, though. One, at Firhaur's advice, I refrained from insulting anyone, however, I am certain I made it quite clear that I wasn't, and never was, going to grovel at his feet like a common monster. I had no fear of royalty. Knowing me, I probably also implied that no one else could have saved Prince Asgore, that what I had done was something that only I, and maybe possibly Firhaur, knew how to do.

And eventually, King Relgore did something I had not expected.

"Dr. Gaster, I would like to offer you the position of Royal Physician."

I blinked a little. "Royal... Physician...?"

"Yes. The Royal Family's personal doctor."

He continued for a little bit, talking about the duties I would have and the perks of the job, but I wasn't really listening.

I was frowning a little, one hand raised to my jaw.

And I made my decision.

I believe, when I interrupted him, King Relgore was saying something to the effects of "now, I don't expect you to make this decision immediately," except I already had.

"No, thank you."

He paused, and looked at me. "Excuse me?"

"While I appreciate that you would think highly enough of me to offer me such a position, I find myself grieved at the thought of leaving the lab. For as much as I know about healing, I am a scientist, not a physician, and, quite honestly, I would prefer to keep it that way. I am more than happy filling the role of assistant Royal Scientist. So again, thank you for the offer, but no thanks."

And with that, I turned and walked out of the castle, back to the Capital Lab.

Firhaur was working on something-or-other, but when he saw me, he stopped, looking up at me. "So? What did they want?"

"He offered me the position of Royal Physician."

Firhaur blinked a little, then nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. I guess we'll have to start packing up your stuff, getting you ready to move. The pay will be good, and you get your own quarters. You'll be good at this." I let him continue for a minute, as he mostly talked to himself, then interrupted.

"I didn't take it."

He paused, looking at me. "What?"

"I didn't take it. I'm happy working here, with you."

For a moment, he just looked at me. Then he grinned widely. "Of course. I am, after all, the greatest scientist there ever was. Who wouldn't want to work with me."

I just snorted.

After that, whenever I happened to meet King Relgore, he would make a halfhearted attempt at convincing me to take the position, but I always declined. They still called on me, though, whenever one of the Royal Family was ill or injured. I came willingly every time, but I always made it clear that my position was at the lab, not the hospital.

§

A/N

Ahhh, finally, another chapter! ... Despite the fact that it's only been three days since I posted the last one, I feel like it's taking me months to write these. Gaster is just difficult like that.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Votes and Comments are my Favorite Things, and every notification I get makes my day!