What they would be doing, was, in concept, rather simple.

Gaster explained all this numerous times to S642 in the days leading up to the first part of the DTW project.

Determination was, in short, a trait that gave human Souls their strength, and allowed the Souls to persist after the death of the host. Gaster had managed to extract a supply of DT from the two Souls of humans to have fallen into the Underground. Theoretically, if a monster were to contain a substantial amount of DT, they could match a human in strength.

Unfortunately, the DT had a nasty habit of melting any monsters it was injected into. Gaster found that this was because monsters lacked the physicality that humans had, and this caused their bodies to degenerate under the strain of the DT.

So, the solution, it seemed, was relatively simple, in concept: increase a monster's physicality.

That was the plan. A series of injections into S642's body that would make him just a little more solid, before injecting just a bit of Determination into him. Then checking the results, and, if it had all worked, doing it again. And again, and again, and again, until S642 was as strong as a human.

Unfortunately, Gaster had not had an opportunity to test this theory. He had come up with it only shortly before Asgore had banned live monster experimentation, and then Gaster had been busy creating S642.

Nonetheless, S642 trusted him, and was eager to try it.

~o0o~

It was the night before the first set of phase one injections.

S642 had long since been put to bed, and Gaster was sitting at his desk, running the calculations again and again, making sure everything was just right, from dosage size to injection sites to injection order and times. Checking to make sure the equipment was all in order.

He had to make sure this worked. It would be such a shame, he told himself, to mess something up now, when things were just getting off the ground again.

No, no that wasn't it.

No, the real reason was because, despite his efforts to avoid it, he had become attached to S642. Quite attached. And he didn't want anything to go wrong, didn't want to lose his ch-

...

No.

No, no, no, no.

No.

S642 was a test subject. He had to be. It was what he was made for, the entire purpose of his existence, the only reason why-

"D- Dings?"

Gaster looked up to see S642 standing in the doorway of the bedroom. He had long since stopped locking the door to the room, as S642 knew where in the lab he was allowed and not allowed.

"Yes?"

S642 opened his mouth. Closed it. Hesitated.

"Is everything alright?"

Suddenly looking very small indeed, S642 shook his head, tears forming in his eyesockets.

"Hey. Hey, come here." Gaster held out his arms from where he sat, beckoning S642 over. The small skeleton didn't hesitate, running over to Gaster, whimpering. Gaster scooped him up, settling S642 in his lap. For a couple minutes, he just let S642 lean against him, sniffling and whimpering.

Eventually, though, Gaster slipped a hand under S642's jaw, lifting his skull to look up. "Hey. Look at me. What's wrong?"

S642 hesitated a moment longer. "... 'M scared!"

Gaster let S642 pull his chin away from his grip and bury his face in Gaster's chest. He just hugged S642.

For a moment, he felt a wave of uncertainty, not really knowing what he was doing. He had a crying child in his lap, one that he would especially like to calm down, it being his own child, but he had no experience with children. The last time he had had to deal with a child was when the human child of the king and Queen had gotten sick, and then they were pretty much unconscious the entire time and required no comforting. (Not that he would have been providing comforting, had they needed it. Firstly the child was human, which negated any positive emotion he might have felt about them, secondly, they weren't his child, and therefore, their emotional needs were not his responsibility.)

But now, here was this child, his child, clutching desperately at his shirt, whimpering.

So he just held on to S642, hugging him tight to his chest, hoping that would be enough.

It wasn't. S642 just kept trembling and sniffling.

So then, Gaster supposed, he would have to face things logically, like the scientist he was. He pulled S642 away a little, holding onto his shoulders. "Why are you scared?"

S642 really was shaking, fear in his eyes. He reached up a little to wipe at the tears dripping down his face. "W-wha'if it h-hur's r-real bad? An'-... an' it d- doesn' work? What if I d-die?"

Gaster thought on that a minute. To be honest, these were, more or less, his own fears. That was why he was still up, running through everything one more time.

"Well..." he began slowly. "It is going to hurt. You can't just force more matter into a body without there being some repercussions. But," he continued, noticing the panic growing in S642's face, "but we already knew that, which is why there's healing Magic mixed in. So, yes, it will hurt, but not for too long, and you're strong. You'll be okay."

S642 still looked scared. "B-but what if it doesn't work?"

"It will work. I was just going over all the calculations again. It will work." He gestured to the array of papers on his desk.

S642 didn't seem convinced, though.

So Gaster went on. "Would you like to go over them with me? Make sure everything's in order yourself?"

S642 hesitated a moment, then nodded.

"Okay, then." Gaster turned S642 around in his lap, so the small skeleton was leaning back against his chest. Gaster held him tightly, one hand pressed against S642's ribs.

Gaster could feel the beat of S642's Soul. It was faster than normal.

So he reached forward and gathered up a few papers in one hand, and spread them out on the desk  in front of S642. Slowly, carefully, he began to explain the deeper workings of the procedure. He knew S642 probably really didn't understand much of it, as he was still learning basic arithmetic and had only just touched on chemistry, but Gaster's slow, calm voice, along with the knowledge that Gaster understood it all and knew what he was doing, helped to calm him down.

With one hand pressed against S642's chest, Gaster could feel his Soul begin to slow down as he began to relax.

Eventually, yawning and blinking, S642 twisted slightly in Gaster's lap, nuzzling against his chest. Gaster smiled slightly as S642's breathing slowed, and he slept.

Letting his voice taper off, Gaster scooted back his chair and, leaning back, set his feet up on the desk.

It wasn't long before he, too, was asleep, hugging S642 tightly to his chest.

~o0o~

The next morning was a tense one.

They wouldn't be doing things in Gaster's lab, but an older, less-often used room a couple hallways down. This was because the room was one of those that had been used often back when live experimentation had been legal, and much of the equipment had never been removed when it had been illegalized.

Not that S642 knew any of this. He only knew that the lab had equipment Gaster's lab didn't. Such as the restraints on the table.

They had hoped that, with the anesthetic S642 would be taking, the restraints wouldn't be necessary, but...

Better safe than sorry, right?

So, S642 was lying on the table, clothesless and shivering nervously against the cold steel of the table as Gaster finished with the restraints and readied the anesthesia.

As Gaster fit the plastic mask over S642's face, he gave him a small smile. "Doing okay?"

"No." S642 whimpered.

Gaster grabbed up one of S642's hands and gave it a squeeze. "Hey, it'll be alright. This'll be over before you know it. Just close your eyes, breathe deep, and try to relax, okay?"

"Okay..." S642 settled down, closing his eyes and trying to go limp. As he breathed, he could almost imagine the cloud of the anesthetic gas slipping in through his nasal cavity, filling his skull...

He had a skull full of fluff. It was kind of hard to think around all that fluff, but it was okay, because the fluff was... comfortable.

Gaster said something S642 couldn't quite make out, but S642 nodded absentmindedly anyway.

For a little while, he just laid there comfortably.

When it started, it really wasn't that bad. Just a light pressure in his skull. That's not to say it felt good, it just wasn't bad. Not so uncomfortable as to try to relieve the pressure.

But then it got worse. And it spread, out to the rest of his body. Pretty soon, he was sure his skull was going to explode, and maybe all his other bones, too.

He tried to move, tried to call for help, but nothing happened, except things got worse. So, so much worse.

Something akin to splintering wood could be heard. The sound was sickening, only adding to his misery. And each time he heard the sound, a couple seconds later, a new, sharp wave of agony washed over him before slowly receding.

The first time this happened, he moaned and whimpered. The second, he tried to struggle away, calling out.

The third, he writhed and screamed. Begging for something to make it stop.

The fourth came, and he had no control over the spasms in his body, over the way his voice sounded in his throat. But, even if he had control, he probably still would have been doing the same thing.

And when blackness finally came, it was the greatest relief he had ever felt.

~o0o~

There was a murmur of voices.

Sounded angry. Didn't want to get involved.

Too sore. Stiff. Couldn't move much.

Voices rising. Too much.

So sore.

Dings. Dings will help. Find Dings.

Reaching out for him.

Soft. Warm. Not bone. Fur. Jeff?

Jeff's voice.

Jeff was nice. He always tried to help. He was there. Trying to help.

Had to find Dings.

Calling for him. Shouting and crying.

There. There was Dings' voice.

He sounded... mad. Furious.

Like something bad had happened.

There was a rush of movement. S642 let out a pained cry as he was jostled around. But then he was in Gaster's arms, cradled against his creator's chest. He could hear the beat of Gaster's Soul, slow and calming, and each steady breath he took.

This. This was good. Everything would be okay now.

And then he could hear Gaster's voice again, a steady rise and fall. No real meaning to the voice, just a soft tune, buoying S642 gently back to sleep.

~o0o~

When he woke up, really woke up, he panicked. Thrashing and crying out, he found that every movement sent more pain twisting through his chest.

Hey!

He writhed, trying to crawl away from the pain. It was so bad, too much--

Hey, calm down!

That was Gaster's voice. Gaster's hand against his chest, carefully forcing him back down.

Shh. Calm down. It's okay. Calm down.

Not moving did seem to make the pain less painful.

Just stay calm.

... Okay. Okay, he could do that, so long as Gaster was there, hand resting against his sternum.

Eventually, waking up more, he began to realize he was back in Gaster's lab, lying on the same table he normally was on, the same monitoring devices hooked up to him as usual. Gaster had pulled up a chair, and was sitting next to the table. He had one hand on S642's chest, the other one working with one of his Magic hands, writing in a notebook.

S642 closed his eyes again, spending a minute just concentrating on breathing.

Then, slowly, he flopped his head sideways to look at Gaster.

"... Din's..." he mumbled.

Gaster immediately looked up, a smile slipping across his face. "Hey. You're awake. How do you feel?"

S642 just groaned and struggled to sit up a bit. Gaster still had a hand on S642's chest, though, and kept him down.

"It's alright. Just stay down. You shouldn't move too much yet."

S642 decided to listen to him, flopping limply back down. Attempting at speech, he grumbled out, "...Whhhnnnnggh..."

Gaster seemed to understand the question well enough, though. "You passed out halfway through." He hesitated a moment, a shadow of some horror crossing his face. It disappeared quickly, though. "All things considered, though, it went well. The most irritating part was probably when Jeff saw me carrying you back here. You were still unconscious, and, well..." Gaster chuckled a little. "That didn't go over too well with him."

S642 smiled tiredly. He could imagine. Jeff was quite protective.

"But, best part is, it worked. We can start the first phase two injection once you're fully recovered."

S642 blinked a little. He had kind of forgotten that, not only was this only the first of a set of two injections, but that that was just one of many sets...

He also then remembered why they were doing this.

S642 smiled up at Gaster. "'S good. I'll try t' get better fas'er."

Gaster smiled, gently rubbing his fingertips against S642's sternum. "That's fine. You can take your time. This is a big thing we're doing, we wanna go slow and make sure we do it right."

S642 tried to say okay, but ended up yawning instead.

Gaster chuckled. "You can go back to sleep."

S642 nodded and closed his eyes. After a second, he opened them again. "Dings?"

Gaster had already looked back to whatever he was doing in the notebook. "Hm?"

"Will you-..."

"Yeah?"

"Will you stay here? With me?"

Gaster looked up, the white lights of his eyes meeting S642's. After a second, he moved his hand, grabbing S642's considerably smaller one. "... Of course I will."

S642 just smiled and settled back down, quickly falling asleep.

§

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