‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ 6: The Price of Determination

╭──────╯•╰──────╮

♡

╰──────╮•╭──────╯

•

•

•

Muses: Geno!Sans, Error, Reaper!Sans, Reaper!Toriel (Life), Classic!Sans, Ink, Classic!Papyrus, Ghost!Toriel, Ghost!Sans (more to be added possibly ;; not all will appear in the early chapters)

•

No ships are present in this story

•

Words: 1019 ;; Characters: 6015

•

I’m only writing this because I’m bored and tsundere Geno for the L honestly

•

•

•

Geno stood motionless, the void pressing against him from all sides, suffocating in its oppressive silence. The shard of determination nestled in his skeletal palm pulsed faintly, like the dying heartbeat of something fragile, something that should have ceased to exist but lingered on in defiance. His eye fixated on the glowing “RESET” button that hovered, tantalizingly close yet seemingly insurmountable.

His bony fingers clenched tighter around the shard. If I do this… The thought hung in the air, heavy with the weight of consequences he couldn’t fully predict. Determination was not a force meant for monsters. It wasn’t a natural part of him. Yet here it was, gnawing at the remnants of his glitched soul, urging him toward a choice that could either save him or destroy him.

But what choice did he have? He had lingered in this void for what felt like an eternity, every moment a tormenting reminder of everything he’d lost. The thought of staying here, trapped in the unending stasis of the save screen, was unbearable. If this was his only chance… he had to take it.

His gaze flickered back to the “RESET” button, then down to the shard of determination glowing faintly in his hand. His fingers trembled as he brought it closer to his chest, the edges biting into his palm like the teeth of some unforgiving beast. The face, ever-present in the shadows, watched silently, its grin a twisted mockery of the struggle Geno was about to undertake.

“Alright…” Geno’s voice was barely a whisper, a fragile echo that was swallowed by the void. “Let’s do this.”

With a deep breath that rattled through his frame, he steeled himself. His glitched eye socket pulsed erratically as he lifted the shard to where his heart once was, his skeletal fingers digging into the jagged fragment. For a moment, he hesitated, the weight of what he was about to do crushing down on him. But there was no turning back now.

In one brutal, decisive motion, he tore the shard from his soul.

The moment the shard left his chest, a searing pain erupted through him, ripping through every fiber of his being. It was as if his very essence was being torn apart, a raw, burning agony that threatened to consume him entirely. His glitched form trembled violently, his teeth clenched in a silent scream as the determination shard pulsed wildly in his grasp, its glow intensifying with each ing second.

The void around him seemed to react, pulsating with an ominous energy that mirrored the chaos within him. His skeletal frame felt like it was splintering, his very existence unraveling as the determination surged through him, a force too powerful for his fragmented soul to contain.

He staggered forward, the shard burning in his hand like a piece of molten metal. Every step was agony, his vision swimming with distorted static as he reached out toward the “RESET” button. His fingers, trembling and weak, stretched toward the glowing symbol, the pulse of determination driving him forward through the blinding pain.

With a final, desperate lunge, his hand slammed down on the button.

For a heartbeat, everything stopped.

The void, the pain, the pulsing shard—everything seemed to freeze in place, suspended in a moment of unbearable stillness. Geno’s breath hitched, his single eye wide with a mixture of fear and anticipation. He waited, the silence around him deafening, as if the entire universe held its breath.

And then…

Nothing.

The void shifted, the oppressive darkness melting away into a stark, blinding whiteness that enveloped him in an instant. The familiar save screen, the glitched shadows, the face—everything was gone, replaced by an endless expanse of white that stretched in every direction.

Geno stumbled, his bony knees buckling beneath him as he collapsed onto the featureless plane. His hands dug into the nothingness beneath him, his breaths coming in ragged, uneven gasps. The searing pain in his chest had dulled to a throbbing ache, but the confusion that replaced it was a cold, creeping dread that settled deep in his bones.

“Where… am I?” he rasped, his voice barely audible in the vast emptiness. His head swiveled frantically, his gaze darting in every direction as he searched for any sign of familiarity, any clue as to where he had ended up. But there was nothing. No landmarks, no sounds, no answers—just an endless sea of white that swallowed him whole.

“This isn’t right…” he muttered, his hands clenching into fists as he struggled to his feet. “This isn’t where I’m supposed to be… I hit ‘RESET.’ I should be back… back home…”

Desperation clawed at him, a suffocating panic that tightened around his non-existent lungs. He staggered forward, his steps unsteady, as if the ground beneath him threatened to give way at any moment. His thoughts raced, a whirlwind of confusion and fear.

Why didn’t it work? Did I take too long?

He collapsed to the ground once more, his hands clutching his skull in frustration. “I had it… I had enough… didn’t I?” His voice cracked, echoing weakly in the void. “Why am I still… here?”

He glanced down at his chest, where the shard of determination had once been. The emptiness there felt heavier than the void around him. The determination was gone, used up in that desperate moment. But instead of release, instead of freedom, he was left here, stranded in this endless white nothingness.

His shoulders sagged as he exhaled shakily. The face… It had watched, but it hadn’t interfered. Maybe it wasn’t a trap. Maybe this was just… failure. An outcome he hadn’t ed for.

“Did I mess it up?” Geno whispered, his gaze unfocused. “Did I wait too long? Or… was it never enough?”

The endless expanse offered no answers, only its oppressive silence. He sat there, his mind spinning in circles, grasping for some understanding of what went wrong, of why he remained trapped.

He didn’t have the determination anymore. He didn’t have a clear path forward. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet. Not until he figured this out.

But could he?