Down To Ebott Lake

5 ~ Determination

~ ❀Asriel❀ ~

"Long night?" I asked, watching as Frisk groggily shuffled her way into Dr. Gaster's lab behind an extremely anxious looking Alphys.

I got a groan and a look of poison in response. Frisk really isn't a morning person if she doesn't get a lot of sleep. I chuckled and patted the seat beside me. She just stared for a second before seemingly registering what I was suggesting. Slowly shuffling over, she eventually plopped down and sighed heavily.

"Good to know everyone's bright and cheery this morning!" Dr. Gaster smiled, suddenly materializing in the door frame beside Frisk's chair. "Let's see; Alphys, have you told Asriel about the 'situation' as of yet?" He scurried over to his desk, carefully setting an armful of papers on an empty section of the desktop. I just leaned back in my chair, watching the usual assortment of stutters and anxious shifting come from the lizard monster.

"Y- yes, although I haven't been able to tell Frisk yet. You do know about her wanting to revive-"

"That should be fine. We won't have to worry about it for some time, I believe," Dr. Gaster cut off Alphys, pulling his roller chair over to himself before he finally sat down. "As for the young prince Chara, I am aware of her hope to bring him back from the dead. Why do you think I called you three - or, I suppose, four - here today?"

Alphys and I shared a glance. Frisk's breathing was slow and raspy. How she fell asleep in these extremely uncomfortable chairs, I'll never know.

"Er, why exactly?" I spoke up, watching the scientist's eerie smile widen.

Dr. Gaster held up a small skull-like object. "To separate Frisk's Determination from Chara's, of course! How else would we be able to awaken his consciousness inside of his body? From what the other fallen humans have told me about their revivement, it was simply a matter of the soul rejoining with its body. As long as it had the correct amount of Determination - what is usually found in the average human soul - and the body hadn't completely decomposed beyond life, the soul could reanimate it's body and go on living as if it hadn't been killed. One downside the children mentioned, however, was that they were extremely weak and couldn't function properly for a few weeks. This is most likely because their souls weren't used to the heavy matter of human bodies. We're going to have to keep this in mind for Chara - considering the fact that he's been outside of his body the longest."

I blinked. Alphys nodded, probably taking everything the old man was saying as practically gospel. Frisk's breath hitched for a second before returning to it's regular cadence.

Dr. Gaster seemed to watch all our reactions for a moment before setting the skull-thing down and continuing. "Of course, we'll have to dig up Chara's corpse first, but that shouldn't take long... He was a tiny thing, if I remember correctly. What I'm sure you two are more concerned about currently - Asriel especially from the look he's giving - is how exactly we're going to separate the two children. This will involve the tool I just showed you."

Chara's corpse... It's so strange to hear that. One hundred years and I still haven't accepted what happened...

-Oh wait, Gaster's still talking. I mean, of course he is. He never shuts up. But, still.

"...good question, Alphys! You both remember the extractor in the Underground lab, right?" The image of a looming maroon-colored figure hidden in the deepest part of Alphys' actual lab came to mind. It had initially creeped me out when I'd seen it as a kid, but it just became another background thing during my time stuck down there. I'm not entirely sure what it does, honestly. Even after I bothered Alphys about it during one of my RESETs. Then again, she doesn't know either. It was completely the Doctor's invention, left with nothing to document it aside from a few indiscernible blueprints he'd left behind.