Another design reveal for my AU!

He's wearing sweatpants btw if anyone's confused

Okay time to go into some more lore with Gaster now!

Gaster, full name W.D Gaster, was 29 when he had Sans and 34 when he had Papyrus. He was born and raised on the surface, was close friends with Asgore and Toriel. he met the two because he was observed to have an incredible IQ at a young age along with his talent for magic, so he was basically trained alongside them. Gaster had only a drunken narcissistic father within his life who signed off his parental rights the moment he could (he never hit or yelled at gaster, he just neglected him) so when he decided he wanted to have children, he vowed to be the best father he could and always be involved in their lives. Rather ironic I know.

Gaster became a strategist when the war was first declared, but after monsters started to lose heavily to the sudden leak of information and weapon units by the CreepyPasta, and a failed attempt at peace, he was quickly promoted to war general because Asgore needed people he could trust. However he ended up having Sans and decided to quit the war to raise him and have a second child. Thus, Gaster moves out of the war zone to a town near Mount Ebott and become a stay at home Dad. Though he does hope to return to science someday, he wants to focus on being a Father. 

Then the war is suddenly ended, a treaty is declared, and monsters are told to go Underground as soon as they can. However, as stated previously, human groups aren't happy with that outcome and set up ambushes to try and kill the helpless monsters escaping underground. Gaster realizes if he took Sans and Papyrus along with him, he wouldn't be able to defend them and they'd get shot dead in an instant. So he has Sans stay home with papyrus and goes out to try and find a clear and safe path to take his children underground with some of his neighbors. 

Obviously he's ambushed by humans, who chase him down and attack him relentlessly. Basically he's trying to clear a pathway for people to escape Underground but the humans are a difficult opponent. He realizes that the sun is setting and he's now way further away from home than he intended, and has to full on fight these humans unrestrained and try and sprint all the way home.

He does, gets a scar on his skull over an eye socket, and rushes home to find Sans completely gone, but Papyrus crying in his crib. Gaster of course takes Papyrus and looks everywhere for Sans, but finds nothing but a puddle of blood down the street with dust. Gaster insists he can't go Underground without Sans, but the neighbors knock some sense into him, because the barrier is going up when the sun fully sets and if he and Papyrus aren't behind it, they'll be abandoned on the surface and humans will kill them. And also his son was probably chased down the street and shot down by humans, which means he's already dead and Gaster needs to focus on his and Papyrus' survival. 

And that's how Gaster believes Sans is dead. Obviously he becomes depressed because he just lost a child, his BPD spirals with the depression, and it causes him to work in the lab as a distraction to the point where a machine explodes and he gets a second scar. Papyrus, when he gets home, cries at the sight and Gaster vows to himself that he won't ever fail Papyrus like he did Sans and gets himself therapy, medicine, and stops pushing himself so much at work (thus avoiding the core incident and thus meaning gaster is still alive in this timeline.)

Fun fact, Gaster being alive also causes him to stumble into the room while Asriel and Chara were both discussing the suicide plan, causing him to talk them out of it and thus leaving them alive for this AU as well. So they will have designs btw!

But that also means that Gaster's close friends won't understand his loss like the original Toriel and Asgore would bc their children are still alive so oops

Basically, in this AU, Gaster is rather protective over Papyrus. Papyrus obvs grows into a strong young man, but he never fully gets to challenge himself at first because Gaster is like "haha no plz stay safe". Gaster is able to deal with Sans' death as well, so he's a rather good parent, but he is reminded of Sans sometimes. Like how he made a custom hoodie for Sans, or his favorite book, and every time it's Sans' birthday he has a little cry in his room. Gaster would never hold up Papyrus to his dead brother, and he doesn't make Papyrus mourn Sans or anything because he barely remembers his brother, but he did lose his child so Papyrus is rather understanding. 

Obviously Gaster hates the CreepyPasta when he gets to the surface bc he blames them for Sans' death (they're the reason why the war dragged on for so long in the first place, and the reason the info about the barrier leaked as well) so when he hears the humans have gone to war on the CP he's fully ready to destroy them. Also, while Gaster did process Sans' death, returning to the surface brought back all of the memories of Sans and reminded him of when Sans was around so he wasn't exactly as thrilled as the other monsters to be on the surface. 

And yeah, that's a summary of Gaster's story for when he reaches the surface! A caring Father who made a few mistakes while trying his best during a war, and is a bit blinded by revenge but still will hold Papyrus' needs first everytime. 

Like I said before, the AU story "officially" starts when monsters escape to the surface. So if you started up it as a game, it'd begin with monsters on the surface. This is all just background stuff

And yeah, Gaster will go through an emotional rollarcoaster when he finds out Sans is alive. And he will not be happy to find out Slenderman has basically adopted him as his own son

(Apr 25, 2022)