Chapter 3: The Fall

Bruised and bleeding, I woke to see unconscious bodies all around me through a red film. I staggered from my stance. I hacked up blood in gushes. I was blinded by the blood trickling from my forehead. Some of these guys had knives. I held a hand to my side, on my deepest cut to keep from spilling my guts.

I'm dying.

I stared at the red all around me. Red. REd. RED! Blood is red. Red is determination. Determination to save Frisk. I must live!

I walked in a daze of pain until I remembered which direction Frisk ran. My child is still out there! I must find them … and protect them.

I stumbled on some rocks. The blurry red surroundings had darkened. Am I going BLIND? No, the rock made an echo. I'm in a cave.

"…"

"…lly"

"The kid's dead! We both saw it fall down the hole, so let's get out of here!"

I froze. No. No. They can't be dead. They CAN'T be!

"Alright! You coward-! Well, if it isn't DT, you look a mess. Ahahahaha! You are literally dead on your feet! The Docs are going to love this. Determination really is something! Come on, let's go and get you fixed up to play with, like old times."

"Dude, I don't think she can hear you."

I was hearing them, just not listening to them. I had kept on going, towards the voices until my shoe made contact with something. It made a chime. Frisk's bell. I fell to my knees.

"Shut up! Let's just grab IT and go."

I held onto their bell and screamed hoarsely into the cave in despair. Something resonated with me. Something powerful. Frisk will be okay. Frisk will be fine. Frisk will be ALIVE and WELL. I will live long enough to see it for myself!

"Jeeze you came scream, we get it! Shut up already!"

Bell clenched in my hand, I stopped screaming and ran for the demons, DETERMINED to pass them and get to Frisk. I threw off the hands that grabbed me. I heard a scream die off towards the light, the mouth of the cave.

"Jeez! Alright! If you want to play it that way, fine! I have permission for this anyways!"

I turned towards him, away from the cold spot next to me. I began to roar and charge at him until BANG! BANG! BANG! Three shots passed through my torso. My feet left the ground … and I fell into the engulfing darkness.

Xxxxxxxx

For a moment, I thought I was dead, but I felt pain. I could hear my thoughts. I feel something around me. It felt like that one time I stuck my hand into jell-o and slick gummy worms on a Halloween night so long ago, only with my entire body. It was thick, but I was sliding through it easily. I blinked for a few moments, but it didn't do much. Everything is dark enough to not make a difference.

Suddenly, there was color! I winced in pain and closed my eyes again as I landed on something semi-soft. I looked around with strangely blood free blurry eyes. I still had my wounds. I still felt pain. I groaned and tried to keep still.

I opened my eyes to see a floating heart, about the size of my fist. It was bright, blood red with spider web cracks. It also looked to be bleeding. Heh, a bleeding heart. Then it did something. It turned a centimeter to the right and vanished.

Everything went dark again as pain jolted through me, more powerful than before. I woke in a daze. I puzzled this out until I gasped. A realization hit me, if I can live through this fall, with all my injuries, Frisk has to be ALIVE and ALRIGHT! I groaned as I moved. I had landed on my back. I rolled over and stared for a moment at the color yellow. It was flowers. I bowed my head and panted as another jolt of pain went through me. I was in the process of getting my arms under me when something happened.

I was falling again. It was the same sensation as before, in the same sequence. I looked around in confusion. Sudden vertigo assaulted me as I witnessed the light changes. I turned my head in time to empty the s'mores I had in my stomach onto the same flower bed. A foul taste pervaded my mouth.

I watched as the bleeding heart glow and bleed before me again. It was still tilted a bit. It turned a centimeter more and vanished, again. I also blacked out once more as well for the same undeterminable amount of time.

When I woke, I felt the same pain, the same wooziness, and the same determination. This time I rolled over slower. I slipped my hands under me. I stopped when I heard humming. It sounded feminine. Has a different team come down to investigate our possible bodies? I wiggled under the blooms and froze. I watched through the stalks of the flowers for any movement. I grew tired of holding up my head for surveillance and rested it on the dirt.

I heard a gasp. I guess I wasn't as hidden as I thought I was. I growled deep in my throat to warn off whoever it was. It was in vain as I up chucked more blood onto the flower bed.

"Oh, dear! Please calm down, I am here to help. I will take care of you."

The voice was kind and gentle. I felt oddly shaped hands turn me over. I was able to see white and purple before blacking out from the pain. I woke again, only to feel immeasurable better… and stiff. I was comfy too. I opened my eyes to see everything clearly again. I could just fit the bed. I winced as I moved to sit up. I glanced down to see my modesty was covered in bandages. I was kind of thinking I was mummy when I looked around.

I was in a child's room, orange and simple. I looked to the door when I heard footsteps behind it. I tensed and hissed in pain. The door opened to show me the person. I opened my squinted eyes to stare at a very tall bipedal goat in a violet blue robe. The expressive face they had brightened with a smile as they saw I was awake.

Thoroughly befuddled, I half listened to the Goat-human as they worried over me. They gave me a large shirt to pull over my head to have something to wear. I was practically swimming in it. Once I computed that there was a Goat-human that actually cared about how I was and won't kill me, I was able to calm down. I smiled up at the kind person. Maybe they know of something about Frisk!

But before I could ask them anything or even get a name, I was falling again. I was injured just as badly before Goat-lady found me. Pain exploded all over again as I had clenched my eyes shut from the fresh pain, like I was just injured. No, it felt worse. Like I was falling apart by dust particles instead of drops of blood, I felt the pain grow worse and worse with every time I fell. Ahahaha, I've actually lost count with how muddled my mind is with the pain.

I landed back onto the same flower bed. I stared at the same tunnel I fell into. My black outs seem to last longer than the ones before, somehow. I watched as the crack, bleeding heart turn a bit more. The same thing happened over and over. Sometimes the Goat-human named Toriel would find me; sometimes she would not. She would never remember me every time. Now the heart was just three-fourths of the way to being upside down!

NOTHING MADE SENSE!

And, I've had enough of this. I need to find Frisk. I need to know if they are alright. I need to know they are ALIVE! Clenching my jaw through the pain, I didn't bother to roll over. I felt my blood squirt and glug out of my wounds as I sat up, using my elbows to help me balance.

I was falling again.

I shouted in rage and DETERMINATION. I will stand if it is the last thing I do! I twisted myself in the air to land on my feet in a crouch. A red circle pulsed from my feet to my surroundings before disappearing. I staggered and almost blacked out again but locked my joints. I shook my head to clear my mind. I will not succumb to this anymore! I felt a pulse buck throughout my body. Pain coursed right after it. I hacked up blood in coughs. I panted as I stumbled into a wall to lean on. I opened my eyes again.

I stared in shock. My-my blood was not red anymore. It was- it wasn't even blood! It looked more like heavy ash or-or dark sand. I hissed and grabbed my side. I wobbled in shock as I actually felt my flesh crumble like loose sugar cookies. I watched as grey bits of what used to be my muscle fall from under my shirt. They hit the ground in a gray pile of dust.

Hesitantly, I checked the rest of my form. Somehow, my clothes were clean, aside from some dirt. I still had Frisk's bell clenched in my fist. My wounds were still open and weakly pouring the substance that used to be my blood. The skin around my wounds turned gray and crumbled to dust at a touch. The rest of my skin was still pale from all the blood loss.

I was decaying while standing alive!

I laughed. I laughed because I didn't want to scream anymore. I cried. I cried for my lost humanity. I also noticed that the salty liquids are red, like what used to be my blood. Only, they were a clear red, and they glowed slightly. I laughed harder. Those scientists and meatheads finally did it.

They made me into a MONSTER.