Fate Versus Determination

by EpicFail236

Why is it, I wonder sometimes, that it took this long for it to happen? Was it because of you? Was I supposed to help you? To teach you something? No, no I think it was you that was supposed to teach me something. Fortunately for both of us, you did. (Set post True Pacifist Ending, post Chamber of Secrets.) Many thanks to reviewers! Updates Sundays or Mondays

4. Waking--Speaking

Chapter 4: Waking - Speaking

Disclaimers: see chapter one

-oo00**00oo-

The first time Harry woke, he found himself more or less unable to move, staring up at a ceiling that was unfamiliar to him. Unable to do much short of stare and think, he took some time to consider his position and surroundings. First, he was clearly not dead, and from the ache he was feeling in, well, his everything, he was clearly heading in the opposite direction from dying, which was in general a positive turn of events. Trying gingerly to wiggle his fingers and toes, he found, though at the cost of a bit of pain, that everything seemed to be present and accounted for, though he wouldn't be able to assess the condition of his body probably until he was healed a bit more. feeling under him, he could tell from the soft bed, one much softer than the typical hospital beds he tended to wake up on he thought to himself, that he was likely in someone's personal bed, a thought that made him both grateful and a bit nervous if he was honest with himself. Taking as deep a breath as his aching ribs would let him take, he could clearly confirm that he was likely in someone's home; in fact the home of someone who was likely a fairly decent cook if the smell was anything to go by.

That particularly mouth watering thought also made him quite aware of certain other needs that needed to be filled soon, as his dry mouth complained quite candidly about his lack of hydration. Momentarily distracted, Harry turned his head slightly to look around and see if he could see anything to drink near him, only to cry out in pain as everything in his body seemed to complain all at once about the movement. Breathing slowly in an effort to control the pain, Harry only vaguely understood that his noises had attracted the attention of who he only could assume was his caretaker, as he sensed more than heard that someone had entered the room. Unable at this point to properly communicate, Harry tried hard as he was able to let whoever it was there know that he needed water. Apparently he was at least partially successful, as not more than a moment or two later, his head was gently lifted (still a bit painful) and a small glass of water was slowly tipped into his mouth.

After drinking his fill, whoever had been helping him laid his head back down, and Harry found himself quickly falling asleep again. Trying his hardest in his hazy state to thank his caretaker, Harry found a small hand on his shoulder, gently offering encouragement, and a voice (that Harry would consider later on didn't sound much older than he was) calmed him saying to him as he faded into sleep again

"It's okay. Just rest for now. Things are going to be alright."

-oo00**00oo-

It had been two days since what he referred to himself as 'the calm' had started, and about six hours after his patient's first awakening, that Asriel noticed the signs of him stirring again. Setting down the book he had been reading (one of the few recovered from the pack that fell with his patient; though all of them were damaged, some had at least been partially readable, and had been interesting to say the least) Asriel stood and walked over to the boy, as he groaned slightly, his eyes slowly opening. He looked down at the boy with some concern, though he was healing much faster than he would have anticipated, he still clearly was going to be healing for a time, and that wasn't even considering... Asriel shook his head, now wasn't the time to think about whatever that was. Take care of the patient's immediate needs first was what the book he found said, so that's what he was going to do. Slowly approaching the human, as not to startle him, Asriel placed his head into his view.

"Hello? You seem to be more awake than before. How are you feeling?"

The boy inhaled sharply, his eyes focusing not quite on Asriel's face and opened his mouth to speak, his voice raspy from disuse.

"ww...wwwater..." Asriel smiled at him, he was clearly on the mend if he could use whole words now. He reached down to the bedside table and grabbed the glass of water, holding it up.

"I can do that. Have some here for you, but you can't drink it lying down like that. Think you can sit up a bit yet? I can help if..." Asriel halted in shock as the boy actually sort of sat up a bit in the bed, even if he did it with a bit of a grimace, and half held out his hand for the water. Asriel, eyebrows raised, handed him the half full glass, which the boy took with only a slight tremor in his hand and brought it to his mouth to drink. He coughed a bit, clearly drinking a bit more quickly than he should have, and Asriel reached out to steady the boy until he recovered. Mumbling a thanks, the boy continued to drink the water, a bit slower this time. The silence between them stretched for a few moments until Asriel, surprisingly uncomfortable with silence after so long, cleared his throat. "So, I guess you may be a bit confused, what with falling down here and all. Honestly, I'm surprised you were alive at all.." Asriel froze after saying that "um... I'm sorry, that was rude. I mean, I shouldn't actually say that to you, not that you weren't in danger of dying, because i think you were for a while there- ugh. No, I mean..." Asriel sighed, looking up at the boy, who had finished his water and was just looking at him curiously. "This is not how you're supposed to start a conversation, sorry. How about I start that over. Howdy, I'm Asriel. I found you when you fell, and have been looking after you while you were recovering." He said with a smile that was probably a bit too forced. The other boy blinked, then smiled a bit.

"Hi. I'm Harry, I... fell down a hole, and I guess I have you to thank for finding me." the boy - Harry's - voice was still a bit raspy, but it was clear he had some strength behind it, which was a good thing considering. Asriel's smile became a bit less forced and a bit more genuine.

"Well hello there, Harry. Sorry about the state of things in this room here, haven't had much of a chance to clean up." he noticed the boy grimaced a bit. "What?"

The boy looked down. "Um... I can't really see much without my glasses. Did you happen to see them when... uh.." Asriel's eyes widened. Of course the boy would have eyesight problems.

"Oh. right. Well, unfortunately those glasses were broken when you fell. Scratched up your face pretty badly actually, but everything seems to be healing up just fine. As to glasses... Oh!" Asriel stood up as he remembered. "M... the last person who lived here before I did wore glasses occasionally. I don't know if they'll work for you, but it's worth a try." He walked to the doorway saying over his shoulder "don't go anywhere or anything"

-oo00**00oo-

Harry snickered at his caretakers' attempt at a joke. Whoever he was, he was certainly friendly enough at the very least. Harry had, after spending a non-trivial amount of time in the care of various physicians, come to develop both a certain distrust and a certain respect for them. This was only amplified by the facts that a) this person helping him (and doing a good job as it seemed, given that he was well on the road to recovery) was not a physician, and b) this person, at least from the sound of him, was clearly not much older than he was. Still, gift horse and all that, he thought to himself. He decided while Asriel was hopefully finding something to help him see, he would stretch a bit and test his healing.

First came the easy parts, he thought as he stretched his neck and shoulders, rolling them around. He felt the popping of bones and knew he would need to work a few kinks out of his muscles when he got up, but at the very least he was able to move about. Working his thought process down to his arms and hands, he reached up and around wearily but easily enough, and was able to slide himself into a bit more of a sitting position. Now came the slightly more difficult part, as he turned his body around the edge of the bed. Letting his feet dangle off the edge he lifted his right leg and stretched it out. The muscles twitched a bit under the strain, but he felt like he could certainly put his weight on it if need be. Raising his left leg was another story, however; as he lifted it, he felt a sharp pain run all the way up his leg, causing him to huff a bit in pain. Reaching down and feeling around, he could feel the muscles spasm in strain as the leg shook as he tried to keep it up. Gritting his teeth, he pushed to try and extend it the rest of the way, and nearly got all the way out before the pain made it too uncomfortable and he had to put it down with a sigh.

"It was nearly completely shattered, you know?" Came that voice from the doorway again. Harry looked up to see the blur that was Asriel walking into the room.

"It feels like it might have been," Harry replied with a grimace. "Do you think it will..."

"I have to think it will. It has been healing, just a lot slower than the rest of you. It may be another day or two before you can stand on it, and I don't know how long until you can walk... But at least it seems to be improving some." He walked over and handed him something. "Sorry, they may be a bit on the feminine side, and are probably way too big, but hopefully they'll be able to let you see a bit better."

Harry just smiled back at Asriel, and lifted the glasses to his face.

-oo00**00oo-

Harry took the glasses from Asriel's outstretched hand tentatively with a smile. Though he couldn't quite see them, he didn't think they looked or felt that odd at all, so he slid them on, hoping the prescription was close enough to his own that he would at least not have to be led around to find the facilities. Upon donning the eyewear, a few things passed through his mind.

First, by some miracle it seemed that the glasses were nearly perfect for his eyes (and face, the fit was better than his old ones) and he was able to see more clearly than he had in ages.

Second, Asriel appeared to be as shocked as he was by this, given the expression on his face.

Thirdly, Asriel... well, wasn't a person.

Harry would note, in retrospect, that it would have been amusing to an outside observer, looking to them both there stammering and staring at each other like idiots. At the time, though, Harry truly felt that he had gone completely around the bend, which wouldn't have been an odd thing considering the circumstances.

"Puh.. how did-"

"Wh-who are-"

"With the glasses, and-"

The two of them continued like that for a few moments, until Asriel put a stop to it holding up his hand, the other one holding pinching the bridge of his nose... snout... whatever is appropriate for the situation, clearly staving off a headache.

"Okay," he said to Harry after a moment. "I think we need to step back for a moment. First, let's get through the obvious. Yes, I am not a human. I can explain in detail later, but the short version is I am a monster, part of a group of monsters who were trapped underground quite a long time ago, but have just recently been freed from our improper imprisonment." he pierced Harry with a hard gaze. "I hope this won't be an issue."

Harry immediately shook his head vehemently, wincing a bit as the action irritated still recovering muscles. "Not at all, I was just surprised is all. Honestly, I've seen things that would seem crazier at first glance." he answered with a bit of a rueful grin.

Asriel actually seemed taken aback for a moment by the forcefulness of his response, then smiled a bit, tension that was clearly in his body easing. "Well," he replied, "that's excellent then. You'll have to tell me what would be crazier than a human falling into a cave with monsters in it, by the way. But first of all, since your first question is answered, how about mine: how did you do that with the glasses?"

Harry, puzzled, tilted his head to the side, his hand unconsciously reaching for the eyewear. "Why? What's wrong with them?". Running his hands over the glasses he didn't seem to feel anything odd about them, which given the description Asriel gave of them did give him pause. Asriel shook his head in disbelief.

"You mean you didn't do that on purpose? Those glasses were far larger when I handed them to you, and the frames were completely different. Your magic changed them, I had assumed on purpose."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, hand feeling his glasses. He had to admit, he thought the felt a lot like his old glasses, even if they were more effective than his old pair. "Im... not sure. I didn't think i could do that at all. I don't think I'm supposed to be able to do it." Harry furrowed his brow in thought. "I know accidental magic can cause things like that, but that's not supposed to happen after you get-" Harry froze for a moment, a sudden realization dawning on him. He immediately grabbed onto Asriel's arm. "My Wand! Asriel! Did any of my things make it?!" He began to panic, and as though in response to his mental state, the objects around the room again began to rattle. Immediately, Asriel leaned over and grabbed him by the shoulders firmly

"Harry! Harry, you need to calm down. Breathe!" Harry locked eyes with his caretaker, his mental state slowly clearing as he focused on the person in front of him. For a few moments, his heart rate slowed back to normal, and he tried to bring his breathing back to a more sedate pace. A soft thud snapped them both out of the moment as the empty water glass dropped down onto the bed, and Harry relaxed. Smiling up apologetically at Asriel he sheepishly replied

"Sorry about that, usually never happens." he huffed a bit "I'm not sure what's happening with my magic. Maybe if we can find my wand by where I fell..." he looked up Asriel hopefully. Asriel smiled back.

"Well, I've collected everything that fell with you, it's all laid out in the other room. Once you're feeling up to it, I can help you in there to look over everything. A lot of things were broken in the fall, but this wand of yours might have survived."

Harry immediately attempted to swing himself out of bed, only to find his head protesting strongly at the attempt, and immediately settled back down with a groan. Asriel just shook his head and chuckled.

"I think tonight may be out for that, Harry. I think after a good night's sleep you'll be much better, so i wouldn't worry about it too much. In the meantime, how about you eat something solid? You have been out for a while, after all." With that Harry saw Asriel reach down by the bedside and pick up a container that had some sort of food in it.

"Sorry about the condition. It used to be a sandwich, but now it seems to be more of a salad." Harry grinned and dug into the food. It was quite tasty even with it's odd state, and even after eating it, he felt better.

"Thanks, " Harry replied. "So... how long was I out then?" he asked between bites. Asriel pulled up a small chair beside the bed and dug into his own container of 'salad'

"Well, you were completely out of it for just shy of ten days, then sleeping a bit more peacefully for two. You first woke up earlier this morning, though you were still out of it then." Harry's eyes widened in surprise. He was rarely out for such a long period of time, even after his battles against Voldemort.

"Wow. How bad was it, then?" Asriel frowned in response to his question.

"Well it was touch and go there for a while, and your magic was reacting rather nastily. I had to remove everything breakable from the room." Asriel then stood and took a deep breath facing Harry with a serious expression. "Speaking of which, I should check to see how you are recovering. I am... going to do something to check on you. It shouldn't hurt, but it may seem odd. Are you okay with that?" Harry, noting the change in his demeanor, wondered what would be so odd as to require that kind of response. Then again, his experience with doctors, especially in the most recent years, had likely desensitized him to odd scans and procedures. Sitting up a bit more in the bed, he nodded for Asriel to continue.

-oo00*00oo-

Asriel prepared himself to initiate a battle with Harry, exceedingly wary of the possible consequences. The last time he did this to Harry, he experienced one of the most frightening things he had ever encountered wrapped around the boy's SOUL. The time before that was when he fought against Frisk, and... well he didn't really want to remember that. Still, this needed to be done, he thought to himself. Steeling himself for what may be a rather tense experience, he adjusted his stance, looked Harry in the eyes... and began

With a flash of sound and light, everything seemed to fade away to be replaced by just them and the grid. Asriel let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding; and at the same time he noticed Harry's breath caught as his eyes widened, moving his gaze from Asriel, to the field, to the colorful light that was his SOUL. Stepping up to get a closer look, Asriel was relieved to find that the shadowy corruption that was wrapped around the rainbow heart was completely gone. Harry's heart still seemed a bit fragile, and there seemed to be a few hairline cracks in the heart which did concern Asriel a bit, but compared to how it was before, he was more than willing to call this a tremendous improvement. His inspection was cut short by a hand reaching out and carefully wrapping around the SOUL, as Harry almost reverently took hold of the object and looked from it to Asriel with awed eyes.

"What... what is this?" Harry asked, eyes wide. Asriel smiled, admittedly a bit mysteriously.

"Well Harry, you might not believe this, but what that is... what you hold in your hand... is your very SOUL."

-oo00**00oo-

Sorry about this one being a bit longer to the delivery than my other chapters. I knew what was going to be going on, but it just didn't want to be written. I admit to having some trouble writing dialogue, doubly so with the shifting perspective thing i'm working on with this story, so I apologize in advance if this one is a bit harder to read. As always, feel free to comment, and please let me know if anything seems too confusing. Peace y'all