Determination (Charisk) [OUTDATED]

109 - ALL THAT WAS LEFT BEHIND

(CHARA POV)[M]

     I held Frisk until she calmed down enough to tell me what were on the tapes. She didn't go into much detail other than the main premise of each one. I honestly had no idea that the camera was on those times... After putting my feelings— and the tapes —back on the shelf, I pulled out the yellow key that I went out to find.

     "It was under one of the sheets in the room with the beds."

     "That makes two keys, right?"

"Three, actually."

"Three?"

"Lemon Bread gave me the green one."

"Who's Lemon Bread?"

"The Amalgamate who's by the DT Extractor."

"Ah." I looked back down at the tapes.

"... God, I can't believe you saw the old me."

"You were adorable." I cringed at the memories.

"It's so embarrassing..."

"You were so little."

"Yeah... Should we get moving?"

"Yeah, I guess." I dropped the key into the slot and we moved back past the DT Extractor, earning a bubbling sound of greetings coming from the pipes in the ceiling and walls. The move from one room to another was awkward and silent. I was asking and answering a plethora of questions in my head. What was on those tapes? Asriel. Why was Frisk upset? I died. Why couldn't I watch those tapes? I wasn't ready. Who am I to get upset that Frisk won't bring up painful memories when I'm too scared to face my own? I don't know.

     I dont know.

     As we crossed into the next room, the air grew colder. It was a giant cooling unit, with freezers and refrigerators against the walls. The A/C was incredibly loud, making it hard to hear myself think. I could see my breath turn into fog in front of me. Relative to Frisk, it looked like I was barely breathing. I guess I need less air to survive. My entire body felt sluggish, and my mind was growing slower by the second. I wasn't going to pass out, but... something here was making me as lethargic as sans.

     "Hey... You okay?"

    "Y-Yeah... I think... you feel it too?"

    "Yeah... wait." Frisk put her arm out in front of me.

     "What?"

    "That freezer." She pointed to the far freezer near a doorway and a terminal. "It's breathing." A new kind of terror filed me. It was a sort of confusion mixed with dry fear. And it was cold.

    "Do you think...?"

     "It's hurt." I have no idea how Frisk could tell, but I knew somehow she was right. Whatever... Whoever this thing was... it was making us feel like it did. She slowly approached it, shivering from the cold, and reached out to touch it. The color of the surrounding area almost disappeared, but it kept flickering and fading back at irregular intervals.

     "Frisk, wait I don't think—" before I could stop her, it melted into its true form.

     A reptilian, bird-ish monster with two growths where it's eyes should be, separated only by a tree-shaped crest. Each of the eye things writhed and looked to be made of a plant-like material. They each had their own face which reminded me of the Vegetoids back in the Ruins. It could barely keep itself together; it's lower half was an icy puddle of magic goo on the floor.