I think I was the most surprised out of anyone when it happened. I had so tightly wrapped myself in my Lv, so embraced the violence and destruction that I was assured of our victory.

That I forgot just how strong humans are.

I was in the lab. Since taking on Fennin as my assistant, I had begun teaching him about runes. He learned quickly, and I found he was rather clever with rune theory.

We were going over plans for a weapon. I don't remember who it was for, but it was going to be one wickedly sharp scimitar. I was encouraging Fennin to figure out the rune placement himself, as I stood watching over his shoulder.

And then there was an explosion outside the room.

With a heavy sigh, I turned towards the door. "I suppose," I said irritably, "I shall have to go see what those idiots blew up this-"

I never finished the sentence. Before I reached the door, it was blown off its hinges, narrowly missing me in its backward trajectory. And then humans came swarming in, attacking.

I was furious. They had already taken my brother from me, and now they were taking my lab, too?

Needless to say, I fought. I fought hard. And then, when something caught fire, burning up Firhaur's work area, destroying one of the last pieces of my brother I had, I fought even harder.

But it wasn't enough. For every human I killed, another took their place. There was simply no stopping them.

I remember a hollow THUNK sound, and a brief flare of pain across my skull. Then, darkness.

When I woke up, I was on the floor of a military convoy vehicle. My hands were tied behind my back, and my feet at the ankles. My Magic reserve was nearly dry; there would be no attacking from me.

The other monsters in the vehicle were no better. Fennin was there, still unconscious, a small dribble of Magic seeping from a wound on his head. Some of the other monsters I recognized as lab employees, but most of the twenty or so were unfamiliar to me, probably civilians.

And sitting on the benches along the sides of the vehicle were humans, all dressed in combat fatigues with a weapon lying across their lap.

So we had been captured, and escape didn't look too bright.

For what seemed like hours, the vehicle rolled on. I had no idea which way it was going, or how far, or where we were. As the other monsters woke up, they all looked to me, Dr. Gaster, the Royal Scientist. They all recognized me. Knew my reputation for brilliantly uncanny behavior, and silently, desperately begged me for hope.

But I could give them nothing. My Magic was exhausted, my hands were tied, and a pounding headache was forming between my eye sockets. I could barely keep myself sitting up, much less plan an escape from a heavily armored military convoy with human soldiers on guard. Not to mention that I would be planning for twenty monsters, not just myself. It was simply impossible.

The best I could do was pick the most menacing looking human guard and glare resolutely at him. It seemed to unnerve him a little.

Eventually the truck came to a halt, and we were escorted out, into some sort of prison complex, with high barbed-wire fences and concrete buildings. I saw then that there were seven or eight other vehicles, all of them similarly being emptied of their prisoners.

We were marched into the complex, down a number of heavy-security halls, and into your classic concrete walls and iron bar cells.

I was in the same cell as Fennin and two other monsters. There were four cots- if you can call slabs chained to the wall that- one for each of us.

Despite the pleading look in my cellmates' eyes, begging for a shred of hope from me, I walked straight to the nearest of the cots, and slumped down on it. And like that, I fell asleep.

I was woken some so many hours later by our prison keepers, come to give us food. After eating, I felt considerably better.

... Well. In body, anyway. By then I had so tightly pulled my Lv shield around myself that I had cut off nearly all my emotion.

I was running on my own Level of Violence, not HOPE.

Days slipped by. There was some sort of interrogation going on, monsters being dragged out of cells for a few hours, before being brought back and left there. Going at the rate they were, though, it was nearly a week before the humans came to take me.

One week in which I had been resting and storing up my Magic.

When they came to take me, I was sitting against the back wall of the cell, my chin resting on my chest.

"C'mon, you, get up." One of the humans told me.

I ignored them, pulling up my Magic in my chest.

"Hey. Get up."

I continued to ignore them.

"Hey you. I'm talking to you. Who are you, monster?"

I still didn't respond. The guard stepped into the cell.

"Get up!"

Now I did. I lunged to my feet, summoning a Blaster and nailing the guard in the chest.

The other guards leaped to the first's defense. For a moment there was a scuffle as I tried to take out the guards and they tried to subdue me.

I was badly outnumbered, not to mention not in the greatest condition.

Despite my best efforts, I was overtaken quickly. The guards grabbed my shoulders. Held my arms out from my body.

Forced me to my knees.

One of the guards leaned down in front of me, using the tip of his weapon to force me to look up at him. I did so, putting all the hatred I possibly could in my gaze.

He just grinned. "I know who you are. I recognize your weapons from the news. You're Gaster, aren't you?"

"Doctor Gaster." I growled the correction with as much fury as I could put into my voice.

He just laughed. "Well, Doctor Gaster, you're just what we need."

They were holding us, holding me ransom, and planned on using me to end the war: Asgore surrender, or I, or all the captive monsters, be slaughtered.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure how this tactic is supposed to work. Had not thousands of monsters already died on the battlefield?

Perhaps it's because we were not soldiers, but civilians. Yes, even me, Dr. Gaster, I was technically a civilian. We were innocents.

Well. Most of us. I never claimed to be innocent. My Lv was not accidentally earned, nor was it unwanted.

But of all the monsters there, I was the most politically valuable, and of all the monsters there, they were using me as a bargaining chip to their victory.

§

A/N

A tragedy has occurred. I've run out of Oreos.

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