Determination (Charisk) [OUTDATED]

104 - THE TRUE LAB

(CHARA POV)[M]

     We spent two days running errands around Snowdin. Waterfall is indifferent towards our presence, but Snowdin, oh man Snowdin. They love us. Paparazzi don't exist in the Underground like Frisk says they do on the Surface, but news reporters like to sneak up on us. There hasn't been much breaking news since my death, and Mettaton's only starting to get popular recently. So naturally, we were public attraction #1.

     We explored Snowdin Forest some. Though, I couldn't bring myself to go near the door to the Ruins. We got lost a few times, but some internal compass in me brought back to that hill overlooking the rest of the forest, which we could make our way back to town from there.

     I had taken off my Golden Flower Locket which Frisk had gotten me for Gyftmas, as I hadn't put any pictures in to yet, and I wanted to save it for when we were on the surface, a place devoid of Golden Flowers. I had put back on my Golden Heart Locket, which both my brother and I had when we were kids. I'd like to hold onto those memories as long as possible. Frisk pulled me away from my thoughts with the sounds of whatever free mobile game she was playing.

"So... What is the universe telling us to do next?" I asked Frisk, who was resting across my lap on sans and Papyrus's couch. It was incredibly early in the morning, and not even Papyrus was awake yet. I had a gut feeling that we would have a long day ahead of us.

"Ah-..." There was no longer any awkwardness around the subject of her new instinct. "N-no I think it's gone." She turned her head and looked off at nothing in particular. There may not have been awkwardness, but she's still avoiding the subject.

"What makes you say that?" I set down the quantum physics-joke book I was reading.

"It's been quiet."

"Too quiet?" I asked in a silly voice.

"Pfft. No, just... gone. I think whatever it was has been resolved." Liar.

"Then you can go beat my dad again?" Frisk looked away. "Then it's not over yet. Something's keeping you from going down that path again."

"I can do it whenever I want to, for your information!" Frisk crossed her arms. "Besides..." her expression softened. "Can't I just spend time with you?" My heart skipped a beat, but I can't afford to fall for her charms.

    "As much as I want to, and believe me, I want to... This country is in the middle of a one-sided war which threatens the entire Monster race. And only you can end it." Frisk took a deep breath.

     "No, you're right. It's still keeping me from ending this whole thing." She sat up."But I don't know what it wants me to do next." I thought about everything we've been through since leaving the castle.

     "Let's re-trace our steps. First we'll go to the dump, then Alphys's lab, then to Snowdin, then the Castle, and maybe... maybe then, we'll have enough to go off of to know what to do next." A wave of determination filled me.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get going." We gathered our things, said goodbye to sans and Papyrus, and we head off on our next big adventure.

. . .

(FRISK POV)

     Chara took off his jacket as we entered the sweltering heat of Hotland.

"It's a shame we didn't find any leads at the garbage dump."

     "I found this cool surface toy." Chara was messing around with a small plastic device with an LCD screen.

     "I'm surprised you found a working Tamagatchi. Those things dropped out of popularity decades ago."