Book 2: The First Fallen Human

Try Again

Geno's slippers made soft little noises as he walked in the ever-expanding darkness of the Save Screen. Reaper had dropped him off a while ago. He was wandering aimlessly at this point, really not sure of where else he could go. He paused before jumping as he heard a soft splash.

Geno whipped around and stared at a red puddle that had appeared on the dark floor. Despite it clearly being blood, it was slightly glowing. Geno blinked. "What the hell...?" He mumbled, hesitant to approach it. He was wide-eyed.

He took a step forward and yelped as the puddle rippled. Slowly, a shape began to funnel up out of it, forming a silhouette. Geno had his brow furrowed. Then, the shape fully formed and it stopped him dead. It was... It was Scooter. But at the same time, those delirious, feverishly bright red eyes couldn't have been hers. The figure had long, drifting, glowing red hair and her clothes seemed to be a part of her body. Geno was frozen. It looked like Scooter. But it wasn't her.

He briefly recalled the feeling he'd had when he'd first met Scooter in his void. Hadn't their very first interaction gone something like this? Of course, less bright red. It was odd. Almost like déjà vu. Geno blinked and turned to face the shape. The red shape stared right back at him. A gleam showed in its eyes as it tipped its head.

Recognition. Geno was hesitant. Was this actually Scooter?? He was confused. "Heya..." He said after a moment. The red shape perked up at his voice. "What are you?" He was shaky. The red shape took a step forward and Geno immediately sent up glitching bone shards, all drifting around him. "Don't... do that..." He said, his tone suggesting he would only give one warning.

The red shape blinked at him. Geno's hand was shaky and his other was curled into his ribs, through the open slash in his shirt, gripping his bones nervously. "I don't know what you are... but last I heard... Scooter is dead." He stated. To his confusion, the creature nodded. He glared at it. "And if Scooter is dead... then what the HELL are you?!" He snapped.

The red shape blinked again. The pixels over Geno's eye flashed and the red shape seemed to take notice. To Geno's shock, red pixels began to spread over the creature's own face, covering both of its eyes. It continued to face him. "What? What are you doing?!" Geno demanded. He hated that. Why was it doing that? "Stop it!!"

The pixels glitched on the creature's face before vanishing and it tipped its head, assumably confused. Geno was shaking. "DON'T mock me like that." He hissed. Slowly, the pixels began to fizzle away from his eye and he allowed the creature to see the full extent of the damage.

Its eyes widened as it stared at his melted-in skull. He waved a hand and quickly covered it with pixels once more. "That was because of DETERMINATION... too much... it made me so powerful, but it eventually melted me..." Geno explained carefully. The creature seemed shocked.

Geno watched in confusion as it glanced up at him before down at its own hands. It almost looked... guilty. He watched in shock as blood lines began to spread out from it, slowly forming messy words. He stopped in shock as he read them.

I AM DETERMINATION.

Geno paused and looked up at the shape. It glowed vibrantly for a moment. Geno jumped as he had a sudden flashback of the serum from Alphys' lab snap through his mind. That glowing, red serum. Looking at this creature, he could see it. He just didn't understand. "How are you here?" He whispered.

More bloody words began to form as the other words were pulled back to the shape.

I AM HERS.

Geno was silent for another moment before connecting the pieces. "You... you are Scooter's DETERMINATION." He stated. The creature nodded, the liquid words being pulled back up into its body. Geno was a bit shocked. How much DETERMINATION would one human need in order for it to be able to manifest itself like this? "You should be impossible." He muttered.

The shape didn't seem to be paying attention to him anymore. It seemed to be staring past him, over his shoulder. Geno jumped as he saw something. A flutter of darkness. His heart dropped.  He knew who it was, without even needing to turn. "Reaper-"

The hooded skeleton shushed him as he drifted above him, his black cloak billowing. He was clearly shaken at the sight of a creature with Scooter's face. He spoke with a chilling voice, his scythe being summoned to his hand. "Yøu... what are yøu?" The creature blinked and seemed to sink into a defensive position at the sight of a weapon.

Reaper was shaken. Who was this?? No, WHAT was this thing? This... CREATURE... that looked so much like her. "It's DETERMINATION. It's... her... DETERMINATION, Reaper." Geno whispered behind him. The creature nodded. It didn't seem to know who Reaper was. It seemed confused, like it was desperately trying to place him.

Despite his eyes glowing bright blue, it was clear that all Reaper was seeing was red. "Yøu think yøu are free frøm Death? Just because she left and yøu stayed?" His voice was shaking as he drifted down. He settled on the ground, slowly moving towards the shape.

The creature seemed wide-eyed and confused. Reaper stopped a few feet from it, his eyes scanning it. They went dark and Geno froze. "Reaper?" He asked quietly. Reaper didn't respond for a moment. He lifted a skeletal hand and pointed at the creature, who seemed taken back.

"Dø yøu feel yøur sins crawling øn yøur back?" He asked in a cold, echoing voice. "I can see the dust øn yøur bødy. I can sense it øn yøur hands and in yøur stømach..." Geno froze as he listened to Reaper's words before becoming momentarily sickened. What did that mean???! The creature tipped its head.

Parts of its body suddenly seemed to illuminate in blue. Its hand and mouth were covered. Geno froze as he stared at it. The blue faded as the light came back to Reaper's eyes. He spoke in a deep, haunting voice.

"Yøu are living a life that døes nøt beløng tø yøu. Prepare tø be purged."