There was nothing.
An endless void stretched out in all directions. There were no structures, no people, and no colors to be seen. It wasn't even black or white. The best way Sunset could describe it was looking at the inside of her closed eyes. Her other senses had abandoned her. There was no sound to hear, no air to breathe, no surface to feel, nothing to taste, and nothing to see. She found it hard to even think. Was this real? Was she real? She could still see herself. So she had to be real.
But...she wasn't all there. The void was affecting her too . The color of her hair was the first to go, changing from its trademark red and gold to a dull, gray hue. Her skin was next as orange became gray. Her clothes followed suit. And it didn't stop with just her color. Holding her hand in front of her face, she gave a small gasp it turned transparent. She tried to grab it with her other arm, but it too was fading. In just a few seconds, she went from fully formed to almost ghost-like. The smallest of breezes would blow her away. Soon, she'd be gone forever.
But...was that such a bad thing?
Wasn't that what she'd been looking for all along? The end? And now it was here to welcome her into its sweet release. That meant no more attacks, no more betrayal, no more dashed hopes, no more suffering. This was the natural path for her to take. The debt that all would pay. She didn't know what would come next, but she wasn't afraid. She was ready.
Her body was completely gone now; only her SOUL remained. Unlike the rest of her, it had kept its color and shape. The small red heart stood in defiance of the eternal void. Would it remain once the last of her consciousness faded? Or would it shatter and vanish without someone to inhabit? She didn't know, and she honestly didn't care anymore. All that awaited was nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
"You cannot give up."
Despite not having a body anymore, the words startled her back into alertness.
"Huh? W-What?"
"You cannot give up." The voice was a whisper that echoed all around her. "Stay DETERMINED."
Her SOUL jolted at the word. An onslaught of emotion interrupted the void's pull. "What are you talking about? I'm not determined. Far from it."
"That is untrue," came the gentle reprimand. "Your DETERMINATION was what led you here."
Another jolt. She could see again. And now, there was something to see. A tiny flicker of yellow light had appeared in front of her, defying the void alongside her SOUL. "What of it? I fell down the hole just like my friends did. Are you going to tell me they're determined too?"
"Yes. I heard one of them say that she had to find her lost friend no matter what it took."
Her heart ached at the words, but she just as quickly shoved them aside. "So WHAT?! I don't CARE! I HATE them! They tossed me aside like Thursday's trash. Why should I care if they fell down here?"
"But they don't know their way around the Underground anymore than you do. They might get hurt."
"I don't care."
"Flowey might attack them."
"I don't care."
"They could get killed." It gave a slight tremor.
"I don't...I don't care."
"People don't just fall down here by accident, you know. Most people who venture into the Everfree Forest tend to disappear."
Her SOUL began to shudder in place, losing the battle against her repressed emotions. "What's your point?"
"You didn't just fall down here by accident. If you don't care, then why are you here?"
"I wanted to get away from them."
After the way they'd treated her, who could blame her for running away? DETERMINATION in that case was a strength she did not have.
"False," the voice changed to a growl. "They fell down this hole before you did. If you really wanted to get away, you wouldn't have followed them down. Why are you here?"
If she had still had her hands, she would have clenched them into fists. Again, her true feelings fought to be free; and again, she repressed them.
"I was looking for someone who got lost in the forest."
"False!" Its growl turned to a shout. Her SOUL jumped again. "There hasn't been a human here for hundreds of years. If you were looking for someone, they'd be long dead. Why are you here?"
The pool of options was drying up fast. The inevitable breakdown loomed ever closer. She could either keep staving it off in the hopes that the voice would back off or just admit the truth.
"Because...b-because..." She couldn't. She had to. It would hurt too much. It would help her heal.
"Because what?"
"Because...I wanted to kill myself." The truth won out. "Because even after everything they did, even after how much they hurt me, even though they broke my heart, I just couldn't stop caring. I couldn't live with myself if they weren't with me, so I jumped down this hole to end it all."
At last, she had said it. Her soul lay bare to the world. And as she'd expected, the pain was there. Tiny water droplets began to trickle from her SOUL.
"They mean so much to me." She continued. "They cared for me when no one else would. They helped me through a very hard time in my life. So when trouble reared its ugly head again and swept them up too, I just couldn't take it anymore." The trickle turned to a gush. "There, are you satisfied now?"
If it was, it didn't say so. In fact, it didn't say anything. She couldn't feel its presence anymore. Once again, she was alone, with only the yellow flicker to keep her company. If it wasn't still there, she would have sworn she'd hallucinated the whole thing. But there was no time to think about that now. The void was calling to her again. With no body and her SOUL in turmoil, it wouldn't take much. She just had to let go. It would finish what she'd started. Just let go. The flicker before her faded to a mere wisp. It was over for her now. Just let go.
But...she didn't. Something was pulling her back.
Sunset woke up.