My footsteps padded silently on the black floor of the void. I was currently sleeping on the couch at the skeleton brother's house, since it seemed best to get this over with and give Sans his blueprints back ASAP. I had been walking for a couple minutes now with no sign of life.
"Gaster?"
"Sorry he's not available at the moment, seems like you're stuck with lil' old me. Nice clothes, I see those two goats would accept anything that fell down into the Underground."
"....Nice to see you again Chara." I smiled turning around to face her. Her attention was completely on the knife, twirling it through her fingers in different ways.
"Interesting reaction to someone who murdered you last we met."
"What can I say.... I've missed seeing my little sister."
"If you reset we could meet again, you could save us and we could get rid of humanity, they were always awful to us anyways."
"You know my answer is no."
"Come on, you've reset for me before, it's bound to happen again."
".....and what if I break the cycle?"
Chara turned her attention to me now, face filled with surprise before she got a wicked grin and burst out laughing, folding over in laughter and wrapping her arms around her stomach.
"You.. can't be this.... stupid!" She managed in between laughs. "The only way to end the cycle is to give me what I want and end this world."
"...... I don't believe that." I turned around walking away from her and continuing my search for Gaster. A sharp pain shot through my leg and I caught myself with my hands as I fell pulling the knife out of my calf and spinning around so I was facing Chara again.
"I wasn't done talking."
"So you stabbed me?" I asked waving the knife a bit in my hand. "Wow. Rude."
"Yeah my big sister never was really good with manners."
"Geez, can't I ever get a break." I rolled my eyes, slicing at her when she drew near. She easily dodge which can to no surprise to me, what did surprise me was the sudden kick to my hand the knocked the knife away. Chara grabbed the knife with her left hand and my neck with her right. Her eyes glowed and the widen grin spread wider as she raised her left arm into the air.
"Tell little sis I say hi...." She asked sweetly.
"Heh....don't think so...."
"...you always were a rotten older sister Jade.... this is your fault after all."
"....I know." I whispered as she stabbed through my chest.
.....................................................
I bolted up, sharply inhaling my hand gripping onto my shirt tightly over where Chara stabbed me.
"Back already huh?" I looked over my shoulder to see Sans leaning against the kitchen doorway with a bottle of ketchup. "... you look pretty shaken, are my blueprints really that bad?" I shook my head slightly.
"I didn't get to talk to Gaster." I breathed out, loosening my grip on my shirt slightly but not letting go yet.
"...What do you mean?" He asked coming over and sitting beside me on the couch.
"I ran in Chara.... she stabbed me, forcing me to wake up before I could find him."
"So that's why ya seem so jumpy and are gripping your shirt so tightly." I nodded. I put a hand to my head, it was pounding trying to process everything that had happened and the pain for a wound that didn't exist. Having it up in a tight hair bun wasn't helping either. I stood up, untying the few ribbons keeping my hair in place before letting it all fall down. I shook my head slightly helping it get back to it's natural part, brushing a bit to the side and behind my ear. Like my mother I had extremely long hair. It was actually pretty light, it was probably partially made of magic to help with that. It reached to around my ankles and was wavy. "Holy cow you've got a lot of hair, no wonder you keep it up all the time."
"What no hair puns?" I smirked turning and looking back at him, my head definitely felt a bit better now that my hair wasn't pulling on my head.
"Sorry I'm knot very good at them." I snickered pushing my hair to the side as I sat back down so I wouldn't sit on it.
"Guess I should go to sleep and try again huh." I more of stated as I laid my head back on the couch. I ran a hand through some of my hair, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths.
"....I'll be here when you're done talking to Gaster." Sans said putting a hand on my shoulder and I opened my eyes, turning my head to him and giving him a small smile.
.......................
Opening my eyes to the void I found myself lying on the ground. I pushed myself up so that I was sitting and glanced at my shirt. It was like nothing had happened... at least I wouldn't worry Gaster. Going to my feet now I felt something brush against my ankles. I glanced down seeing it was my hair.
"I guess anything physical I do to myself in the real world comes here too... weird."
I began walking through the void again just as I had before.
It was silent.
If I hadn't seen people here before I would have thought it was completely empty.
Completely forgotten.
I knew that wasn't the case it was just the feeling the void gave off. A shiver ran down my spine as I thought about how long Gaster has been stuck in here with this feeling, with the voices, and with Chara. How many times she must have hurt him for him to be so confident that it wouldn't last, wouldn't truly do any damage like he had told me.
My mind was drifting back to negative thoughts and events, not something I needed while in the void.
I shook my head focusing ahead again. With Gaster being mainly black it was considerably hard to find him. I stopped walking circling around to see if he was anywhere near by. I took a deep breath, getting ready to shout.
"YO NUMB SKULL! WHERE ARE YOU!" I screamed.
"OVER HERE YOU WET MOP!"
I groaned at his nickname for me. He chose it because I had so much hair and water manipulation. He always thought it was hilarious and my mom even called me it a couple times but I have never enjoyed it.
"RUDE!" I yelled back before sprinting in that direction. I found him pretty quickly and he seemed to be watching a screen. "What's up doc?"
"Keeping an eye on Flowey.... you seem to be here rather early, after all it is only midday at most in the real world correct?"
"Yep, but Sans didn't really seem to like the idea of me having the blue prints so I figured the sooner I can show them to you the sooner I can give them back."
"Very well." Gaster nods, folding his hands behind his back. I plop down onto the ground and pull up my inventory before glancing around and selecting the blueprints. I laid them out on the ground in front of me and saw Gaster walk around them before sitting down beside me. He picked up some of the blueprints, holding them up closer so he could read them better since he didn't have his glasses. Gaster muttered somethings to himself as he looked over them but nothing loud enough so that I could really understand or hear what he was saying. "Do you have a pen?" I nodded, pulling that out of my inventory too. Sans had luckily suggested I bring one in case Gaster wanted to make changes. I handed him the white marker and he popped it open, quickly beginning to scribble on the blueprints. I sat there quietly, simply watching him. I could read most of what he was writing but I didn't really understand it since it was a bunch of science stuff. Don't get me wrong I know souls forwards and backwards but this stuff about time rifts, multi-dimensional voids, and converting magic into raw energy to pull someone back was not something I had studied.
I sighed, resting my head in my hands and putting my elbows on my knees as I watched. Gaster was completely absorbed in his work which, really, wasn't anything new. I looked back out at the void, the seemingly still black that engulfed everything almost moved and swayed when you looked at it for too long.
It was almost hypnotizing.
The slow movement of the darkness. It was steady and constant. Unknowingly I began to sway with it, slowly rocking back and forth.
That is until Gaster began snapping his fingers in front of me.
"Jade? Jade, are you alright?" Gaster asked, a tone of urgency being hidden in his voice.
"Hm? Oh, yes, I guess I just spaced out for a minute....."
"I believe it was much more than a minute, you've been staring out there for quite a long time."
"Sorry."
"It is alright, just know that the void is an unpredictable place, do not let yourself be distracted and drawn in so easily. Now I have finished making adjustments to the blueprints so you may take them back to Sans." He instructed giving the rolled up papers back. I instantly uploaded them to my inventory. "To let you know in order for the machine to break through the void and multi-dimensional time shift it's probably going to need... how should I put it.... a jump start."
"What kind of jump start?" I asked skeptically.
"One with Determination. Since the chances of you allowing Frisk to assist in this matter are slim that will leave you to give the machine the required amount of DT."
"How am I suppose to do that?"
".....it is not something easily explained.... you will have to call your soul out so that the Determination has easier access to the machine. Once you have done that you will have to find someway to transfer the power from your DT to the machine without harming yourself. There is no specific way to do such a task, the only way monsters have been able to use the Determination from a human soul is from the DT extractor but we have never tested it on a living specimen so the result would be unknown and possibly catastrophic."
"....so what your saying is after I call out my soul I'm basically on my own for how to get it to work...."
"Correct. Though Sans might have some ideas, consult with him on the matter, after all he will know a DT jump start is needed from my notes."
"Alright..." I sighed standing up and brushing myself off. "I'll be sure to ask about Flowey next time I see you, hopefully in person." I smiled waving off as I walked away and the void began to fade to white.
Gaster chuckled softly. "We'll see."
.......................................................................
Waking up like this was always more peaceful. I slowly sat up and stretch my arms and legs before noticing someone else on the couch. Sans was still sitting next to me but he had fallen asleep.
"Hey Sans I'm back." I announced and tapped Sans' shoulder. ".....I talked to Gaster and you can have your blueprints back." Light snored came from Sans and his head drooped to the right slightly. "Guess I'll have to wait then." Standing up from the couch I headed towards the kitchen. I noticed a stack of dirty dishes in the sink.
'Well, you got nothing else to do...' I thought. But then there was the problem of getting to the sink and staying there for an extended amount of time. I climbed onto the counter and stood up next to the sink; I was just about the right height now and while it was still slightly higher then I would have liked at least I was taller than it. First I picked up all the dirty dishes, taking them out of the sink and setting them on the counter next to me before beginning to fill the sink up with warm water. How they had heating down here, especially in Snowdin I might never know, perhaps because of the Core? That's probably the real reason Gaster built it, to finally have some warm water. Turning the faucet off I picked back up some of the dishes, setting them in and beginning to scrub them humming as I worked.
"So ya are still here." Sans' sudden voice startled me and I jumped a bit, slipping off the counter and reaching my arms out to try and keep me from completely face planting on the floor. "Easy there kiddo." Sans said as I was engulfed in blue magic, my soul appearing before me. I let out a breath of relief as he set me on my feet and gravity returned to normal.
"Try not to scare people like that ok?" I shot him a glare as I wiped my hands dry on my leggings. He simply shrugged and reached his hand out. I pulled the blue prints and marker out of my inventory before giving them all to Sans and he teleported back to the couch, placing them on the coffee table and looking everything over. I walked over and took a seat beside him. He was absorbed in his work, completely focusing on the blueprints and muttering things to himself... he was kinda like Gaster in that way. The though made me giggle and his head shot up to look at me.
"What? What's so funny?" He asked dead serious.
"Nothing... it's just.... you really reminded me of Gaster right now..." I smiled. If I'm not mistaken a light blue dusted his cheekbones when I said that.
"Huh...." Was all he replied before turning back to the blueprints and focusing on them again, shifting through the papers before pausing. ".....Do you know what he meant by 'it needs a jump-start'?"
"Oh, yeah, he explained that to me." I nodded. "Basically I have to use some of my DT to help the machine break through the dimensional rift."
"How'd he recommend we do that? DT is a part of your soul and unless we take it directly from there I'm not sure how we get that power from point A to point B."
"He said he wasn't sure. He also said that you might have some ideas on the matter." I replied.
".....DT is a part of your soul and your soul is part of who you are. I know during certain battles the kid's determination would be stronger, help them get through it without hurting anyone and a monster's magic can be affected by their emotions. Perhaps you can influence your DT through your emotions." Sans suggested.
"...hmm, well, ok I guess it's worth a shot." I nodded.
"Then what are we waiting for." Sans said standing up, grabbing all the blueprints in his arms. "Let's get to work."
I smirked pulling my hair into a ponytail. "That's a phrase I never thought I'd hear from you."