NovaTale

Chapter 3 - Fix You

"I know you're there, Dollface. Come on around."

She hadn't seen him due to the tree's magnificent size, but now Frisk was certain the Skeleton was there. She peered around the edge, a familiar detached feeling taking hold. Looking down, that heart was outside of her body again, moving in unison with her. "I.. I don't mean any harm." she said in a soft voice. The Skeleton laughed wryly. "Don't mean any harm?" he spoke condescendingly. "Bitch, I ain't your girl asking if these pants make me look fat. I may be nothing but bones, but I still got a brain inside this skull. Now get your ass out here so I can take you down and send you back to whatever asshole created you and the rest of your evil, manipulative and murderous kind."

The way he spoke.... so cold and jaded, as though time had warped his ability to see any form of good in people. And why did he think all humans were murderous and evil? That made her even more curious, despite the gnawing fear, knowing what was coming. "I'm not lying..." her voice came out choked, straining to fight back the tears in her eyes. She didn't fear the dying part of it all, knowing she wasn't really going to die. And a little pain wouldn't be all that bad.... but did it have to be as painful as he'd made it the first time?

Without warning, an orange bubble of sorts seemed to surround her and Frisk screamed as her feet came up off the ground. Hovering in mid-air, she was dragged uncontrollably toward her impending doom. Not wanting to see it happen, her palms came up to cover her face. "If you're going to do it, just get it over with." her voice came out muffled behind the safety of her hand.

"Didn't know I needed your permission, but if you insist. Besides, I never say no to a lady." As quickly as his words had come, Frisk found herself being flung across the room, slamming into one wall after the next. She could hear her bones snapping under each blow, crying out for him stop. She even dared to lower her hands and stare at the Skeleton, acceptance riddled on her face. He only appeared to grow more determined by this when his arms moved and finally dragged her up toward the ceiling. The moment her head made contact, She heard a loud crack before everything went dark..... again.

"Why aren't you fighting BACK!?!" Frisk was done listening to this voice. "I don't need to answer to you. Besides, it's not like I had a choice. Even if I wanted to fight back, he didn't really give me a big window of opportunity." She wasn't going to hide her irritation anymore. Frisk told herself she was no longer going to be a pawn in the Voice's little game. "You're not even supposed to BE here right now. If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead already." came the Voice again.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" knowing she couldn't believe half of what came from this Voice, she spoke incredulously. "It's not important. You've got enough Determination that he shouldn't be this much of an issue. Now, this time, FIGHT BACK!"

Some strange part of her found it kind of fun pissing that Voice off. It obviously didn't know her well enough to not have an inkling that she wouldn't fight fire with fire. No. She'd douse it with a bucket of water and call it a day. Still, Frisk didn't take kindly to being toyed with, and being that she wanted to get to the bottom of this rather than trying to hurt this Skeleton, she'd simply continue to piss it off. She'd do so as many times as it took before the Voice simply gave up and let her sleep in peace. Frisk figured if she avoided violence enough times, maybe the skeleton would become flustered, and just curious enough to stop and talk to her. It was worth a shot, right?

Next thing she knew, Frisk was being bathed in the light of the Save Star that floated silently next to her. The Voice had been right about one thing. She was filled with Determination, only it wasn't geared toward killing that Skeleton. Resolved to do the right thing, she held onto the knife and walked back into the room with the tree. Once in the Skeleton's sights, she held up the knife.