"He kissed you, and you simply shoved him around a little?" there was a slight hum before he continued, " I thought Chara taught you better than that, child." 

There was little to no unease in her voice as she stared up at the large monster. He was not near as large as the king, but they where remotely close in their grand sizes. 

"So, Doctor Gaster, have you found anything worth mentioning yet?"

 He hums quietly in response, glancing at her with his dimmed pupils. "Nothing more than the notion of your certain death awaiting. Though, from what my lovesick son has told me, you don't mind that outcome, do you, Miss?"

 "Not at all." She stated this halfheartedly as he poked her souls with a scalpel. She winced, growling at him and slapping the tool away. " My reflexes are FINE!" 

"Mhm. And it seems its reflexes are fine as well." He pointed behind her, gesturing to the gold guns aimed at his forehead. 

She sighed. "Oh. This." She waved her hand, the ghosts of the weapons vaporizing like smoke and vanishing. "It's your fault, you know... You hurt them when you did that." 

"Them?" He questioned with the raise of his make-belief brow.

 "Yes, them, I don't genderize them, since they haven't specified their gender," she replies quietly, the two souls pulsing together around her until their clashing hues dissipate. Intrigued, Gaster took his seat in the chair in front of the table Frisk sat on. "I don't wish to misinterpret their being or their age. I don't know how it will affect their feelings towards me- I already stole their soul. I don't think to insult them will help me much when we need to break the barrier." 

"I see." The doctor stared at the two joined souls, intrigued even more than before. "Which soul are you seeking out tonight?" 

"I'm thinking about it. I don't want to wait any longer than I have already, so I'm not choosing Patience. " 

Gaster furrowed his invisible brows with unmasked concern. "Well, should you not take Patience tonight, then when? Take Patience on your final night and you will most likely choose to wait for a while longer. But if you snag it tonight, the sooner you can overcome the trait and move on to the four others, correct?" 

Frisk scooted away from him and off the table, giving him a puzzled look. "You're oddly open to the idea of allowing me to absorb them all... Aren't you?" When Gaster says nothing and stands back up, she continues. "Why aren't you telling anyone? Or trying to stop me?" 

The lanky monster strolled across the room without a care in the world. His coat waved behind him like rippling lake water reflecting a black sky. The cracks embellishing his cranium crept on his head and crackled like desert soil. With the simple turn of his head, Gaster's sockets land on Frisk once again. There was a dash melancholy in his tone. 

"Has my son ever mentioned the visions he has been having?" 

Frisk thought back to all of her and Sans' conversations with a firm grimace. "No." 

"Not one?"

"No, sir. He hasn't. " 

"Ahhh~ So you ARE clueless." he brushed his hand across countertops, his footsteps echoing enough to mute the silence and the comfort it could have brought to the human princess before. It was too late now. "Well then, allow me to enlighten you, my dear." He held up his hand, a violet bubble forming from nothing and expanding to simulate a large blackboard. With the snap of his fingers, a piece of chalk begins writing down notes of their conversation. 

"Frisk. Your DETERMINATION was passed down to you through sheer coincidence. You are not special nor are you born with the immense power in this world. You being the hope of the underground is all bullshit." 

Frisk stares. Before she could even open her mouth, Gaster interrupted. "Tut tut. Let Papa speak." He clears his throat. As if he has one."It is bullshit in this timeline. You remember timelines, yes? No? Alright then. Think of it as an alternate reality of this world we live in. The other reality, better known as a timeline, is the way things were meant to be. This timeline is a buff, a mix-up. A mix up caused by events that were never meant to transpire. And it all begins with your brothers."You see, many years before now, Chara too had fallen to the underground. He was the first human to do so, and seven others followed. Before then he was adopted by King Asgore and Queen Toriel. One day, Chara grew ill and died."Heartbroken, Prince Asriel took it upon himself to divide his soul in two, giving half to Chara and saving the last for himself. And so the two have been together ever since, the determination that once resided in Chara's soul scavenged the world, and circled back to find you. Thus, being the reason you fell. The end."

 "In what world do you think I'm going to believe a single word you're saying? I fell here because I was trying to kill myself. I never-" 

"Oh? But you told King Asgore one year ago that you fell while trying to find those children, did you not?"

 "I- ... Yes. I did. I lied, as you predicted the first day we met, Gaster. I'm sorry. But now my priorities have changed. Having determination was never the reason I came here. I came here, twice, for the same reason."

 "So it WAS a coincidence? And you now believe me when I say that your not the hope of this world?" Gaster presses the bridge of his glasses further up his face. He eyes Frisk with intent. She squirms beneath her skin but holds a firm voice. 

"No." 

Gaster awaits her reasoning. 

"It's my fate. I decide where my future ends here."

"Oh really?"

" Yes. I want to save the people who are trapped in the underground. That's my future."

"You don't want my son to be part of it?" he asks, spite oozing in his tone as if he was disgusted. 

She looked at the floor, a pang of regret in her chest. "That isn't an option anymore... I pushed him away."

 "You want to think that, but you know he is never going to leave you." he turned away from the magic chalkboard, now standing before frisk with his shoulders square and back strait. He folds his hands against his tailbone. "Have you ever considered a reset? Chara told me of them as a child, confused by it. So naturally, you have it as well. Why haven't you thought of it?"

 "Because I don't know what it will do- I assume it'll reset time. I just don't know how far back It'll go..."

"That's a good reason to be cautious, I suppose. But you and Sans were not afraid to play with the menu before, correct? If you believe the reset button is dangerous, who's to say the others aren't?" 

"I don't know...! I haven't touched the menu for a long time now, Gaster! All the buttons are falling apart, and I'm not going to risk breaking anything!" 

"Let me see. " 

Hesitantly, Frisk brings out her soul and waves her fingertip over it. A broken menu of black and orange buttons could be seen. They looked as though they were made of old stone, crumbling more and more by the second. The mad scientist takes a look at the four buttons, amazed. 

"You were right. They look as though they'll fall apart." 

"See?... I already messed up, Doctor Gaster... If I mess with this... This menu... I'm afraid I'll mess up even more..." 

"How have you messed up?" 

Frisk looks down into her lap as she sits back down on the table. Her brown hair falls into her eyes. "I... I should never have waited so long to do this is all... I should have decided sooner. Now, everything's complicated. I don't know what will happen when I go... I want to do this for nothing. I want to save everyone- I want Toriel to become a teacher, for Asgore to help her run her school on the surface... Papyrus hasn't seen the sun yet, Alphys has the potential to be a world-renowned scientist... Undyne can find more people like her... I want to save Sans... I want him to eat blackberries again." She raises her head a bit, her ruby red eyes glistening "Gerson wanted to see a waterfall..." 

 Gaster frowned, peeling the tap off his glasses. "You are a good human, Frisk. You're very considerate. But I think... I believe that this time, you've set your goals a little too high." He lets out a troubled sigh, the blackboard behind him fizzing away. "I know... But I want to at least try..." Gaster looks over Frisk with solemn in his mind. Even though he lacks a heart, he feels it's beating. It's rough against his rib cage, and it pains him. 

 "When you break the barrier, nothing will be the same, Frisk. The people you know now may be different, and may not show themselves in the same light as they currently do." The monster slowly takes a few steps forward. "I believe you can break us free of our prison, human. So take this." Gaster's hands finally open, and in his hollowed-out palms pulsated a violet heart. 

 Her eyes widen, bangs tangling themselves in her lashes. "Where did you get this?" 

"We've been testing our Soul project for a few weeks now, but the farthest we've come to its completion is an artificial copy of the human souls gathered from the other fallen humans. I have been keeping this one for further evaluation. But it's clear that someone needs it more than I do." With slow movements, Gaster gently pushes the soul towards Frisks. In return, it inserts itself between determination and justice with little struggle. As though the soul knew, it glows in a happier light. 

Frisk's eyes flash between red gold and a newfound purple. She glanced up at the tall skeleton, bewildered and thankful. She was at a loss of words.

 "Just do one thing for me, Child." 

"Y-yeah, sure... What is it?" 

"Don't be afraid to cry if not everyone meets you on the other side."

 Frisk can only nod while fear began to gnaw at her stomach. 

"I won't make any promises..." 

Gaster smiles "I like the uncertainty. It's going to be interesting watching you break."

Super long Hiatus, I know. I've been realizing some things over the past couple of months. I'm not near as into Undertale as I once was. This does not mean I won't continue my books! If I don't finish them I will never forgive myself. 

I would like to apologize to those of you who have been looking forward to these chapters. I know I made a promise to be frequent, but I simply haven't been able to keep up. Life slips up through the backdoor, and we can't run from it forever.  I have been dealing with a lot lately, and I just needed time to myself. 

This book WILL be finished. I won't promise when, but I know it is coming to an end.  

I am debating on going back and re writing this whole book, but it will all depend on how my mood is and wether or not I feel the need to improve. I do know, however, that the plot is very choppy, and there is no consistency. If I re-write this,, I will more than likely re write a lot of the plot as a whole. Be prepared, but please don't hold my word over it. I NEED TO DECIDE ON MY OWN. 

It's nostalgic to be back, my baked goodies. 

Much love, Eko