Chapter Text
“There used to be someone here.”
Asgore looked to her in confusion, the police tape stretched across the pathway. Few people traveled this far out of town anyway. But of course they had; her, Kris, Asriel, and…
“Noelle! How are you… I’m sorry, you saw someone?”
The snow was still so deep that she could barely walk. As an early present, Asgore had given her a coat that was much too big, doing more to drag her to the ground then keep her warm, but she tried to wear it anyway. “The store that used to be next to the…uh… the church?” She pointed in its direction, though she could still barely see. The white covered everything except for the bright police tape. “Someone was… was in it a few days ago.”
At that, Asgore looked visibly confused. “Is that so?” He furrowed those great brows, upsetting a few snowflakes from them. Much of it built up over the top of his police cap. It’s strange how she would remember that over much else; such as how she had snuck out of her home to find him, or how bits of wrapping paper was still stuck on to her hands. Just that holidays were coming soon, they were coming soon, they didn’t stop coming no matter what.
“Can you describe them?”
Noelle thought back on it. She thought, and thought, and thought. “No,” she said numbly. “I can’t. I don’t know what they looked like. But they smiled a lot.”
She didn’t want to make him upset, but Kris’ dad never really acted so, even when all of this was happening. There was so much of Asriel in him, and Kris… well, Kris was…
“You must have a very active imagination, Noelle.”
She froze, blinking. “Huh? W-what do you mean?”
Asgore held such a sad smile, as if he was about to apologize for something so terrible. “Well, the thing is, there’s been no new stores in this town for a while. They’d have to get a license from your mother… And where you saw it, there’s no building there at all. I mean, there shouldn’t be one, not so close to the church.”
She stared, her breath misting out in front of her.
“Or maybe Kris was just playing a prank on you?” Asgore chuckled, before trailing off, unsure. “They have been getting very creative lately…”
She couldn’t see through all the white.
.
.
.
Dess had once said that she’d take Noelle to the city, at the very first chance she’d get. Because, she would also say, that’s where you’d see all those bright lights, even at nighttime. More numerous than the stars, lighting up any dark streets so that you would never be afraid. Where people swarmed the sidewalks, so many that you had never seen and never will again, that you would never know no matter how hard you tried, and that before they turned a corner, you would lose them forever. Not like here, in this little town, where everyone knew everyone, where there were no secrets capable of being hidden.
One day, we’ll get that chance. I’ll take you there. I promise.
But in the end, there were only stars and snow. Just that, and the wings she would see atop the cathedral.
.
.
.
That special little Lightner was standing before the Fountain.
At every moment, the Fountain’s colors shifted, transformed, and became. A kaleidoscope of dreams, blending into one another, giving everyone a shape and a purpose. It had made manifest the dirty dumpster he had been sleeping in, the fading posters where his face used to be in. Used to. Maybe.
That Lightner saw him, before he descended from the heavens, blocking their way. Sharp eyes. But this kid had always been pretty sharp to know what deals they were getting into.
“LIGHT N-NER1! WHAT’S THIS? TRYING TO LEAVE BEFORE WE EVEN GET TO THE GOOD PART?!”
Just like kids today to have such short attention spans!
Now, he may not have been able to really see the Lightner’s face through all that hair. (Suspicious! Very suspicious!) But, he could tell by the way they tightened their hands on their sword, the slow shift of their head as they turned both to the right, and to the left.
“OH! DO YOU LIKE MY NEW [[Wind Beneath My Wings]]? THEY’RE NUMBER 1!!! TRENDING RIGHT NOW!! I’LL SELL YOU A COPY FROM MY NEW [Line of Merchandise] IF YOU LIVE!”
A great gust that brought in the winter cheer, his white wings extending from his back, feathers flying off to be completely submerged in the Fountain’s colors. Beautiful wings. Gorgeous wings! Wings that were so oversized that they were practically inconvenient! He flapped them and held himself in the air. Held himself. Because now he didn’t need any of those strings anymore! Not with these new babies! He had cut away every last one, knowing he wouldn’t fall. No need for anyone else’s hand-me-downs! He already got the help he needed! A last gift from that poor, sad, lost girl.
Now no one could ever say that Spamton G. Spamton didn’t know how to show up in style!
The special Lightner stared, silent as always. Oh, they were always so quiet and weird. Just like the girl had been weird, but she was also sad, and that sadness took up any weirdness she might have had. That was no way to live. He gave her sad little life a new purpose.
The Lightner didn’t have to say a thing. It was all too clear.
“ARE YOU HAVING REGRETS? I TOLD YOU THAT YOU WOULD! [No Refunds!] I TOLD YOUR [Side Chick] SHE WOULD TOO! IF YOU CAN’T TAKE THE DEAL, THEN DON’T TAKE IT! I NEVER FORCED ANYONE!”
The shadow of his wings fell over the Lightner and boy, did it feel good.
“WHO LET YOU IN MY [Mansion] ANYWAY, HUH!?” Spamton fluttered up in the air, showing both power and grace. “I WAS TOO BUSY BECOMING [God] TO DEAL WITH YOU! TOO BUSY MAKING MY OWN DE4LS!1 ON MY OWN TERMS! WITH MY OWN [Warnings and Disclaimers]! YOU THINK YOU CAN CALL ALL THE [Big Shot](s)?”
Snow began to fall, like something out of a cookie-cutter holiday movie that had been sent straight-to-DVD. But Spamton was still flying high! He wasn’t gonna let a little moisture ruin him now.
“WITH THIS NEW SOUL, I’M WATERPROOF, [Baby]!” he shouted out of nowhere, then raised up his cannon arm, and fired.
Such freedom he got without those strings that tried to tangle him up, that tried to wrap around his neck and made his legs move all wobbly and look weird! He was a bird of prey, flying across the field to shoot all he had at that tiny special Lightner. They dodged when they could, and they swung their sword at him when he was close enough. Oh, but he made sure to not be close enough actually! See, that was a little trader’s inside secret. If you didn’t want to get hit, just don’t let them hit you!
It also made sense to hurt the competition by putting a few hazards in their way. The snow was a good way to do that, making the Lightner slip and fall, occasionally falling smack! over a small Pipis and getting hit for multiple points of damage. And sure, maybe the snow hadn’t been Spamton’s idea, but he could make use of it still! He adapted! He brainstormed! He always made good on his investments!
“YOU GOTTA [Buy High, Sell Low], KID!” he shouted, fluttering his wings again, stirring up the snow all around them into a storm. The Lightner put up their arms, but they were blinded, so close to being frozen, but not yet. And it wasn’t just that Spamton didn’t know how to do that exactly!
He had the girl’s wings, what more did he even need?!
The Lightner struggled to their feet, the Fountain’s colors washing over them like a faded rainbow. They stared, and stared, and then called out a name.
The sound of it made Spamton giddy. His wings flapped again, feathers falling around him with the snow that kept piling on the ground. He laughed to the familiar tune of very jingly bells.
“WHAT ARE YOUR [Friends] GONNA DO? THEY CAN’T HEAR YOU! THEY’RE PROBABLY TOO BUSY HAVING ICE-CREAM!”
The Lightner called out again as the snow reached up to their waist. A different name. Their voice got weaker. The sound of it made Spamton euphoric. His wings flapped harder, and his laughter sang to the tune of awful static, the kind that existed in a shopping mall’s loudspeaker.
“THERE’S [[Nothing]] YOU CAN DO! KEEP CALLING. KEEP CRYING. YOU THINK YOU’LL FINALLY [Make a connection]? YOU LOST IT THE MOMENT YOU GAVE HER MY [Commemorative Ring].”
The Lightner couldn’t call out anymore. The snow was up to their chin, reached their lips. They struggled to move, but the cold made their limbs numb. Spamton, still held up by the wings, simply watched as they slowly drowned.
Then there was a whisper. It didn’t come from them.
“HER??” Spamton questioned, leaning down. The Lightner had disappeared, covered completely by snow. “PAY ATTENTION, KID! SHE’S WITH OL’ SPAMTON NOW! HER FUNNY-LOOKING [[HeartShapedObject]] IS RIGHT HERE!”
He slapped a giant hand against his metal chassis, the sound reverberating through the dark, the storm doing nothing to swallow up the sound.
And then, he felt a rumble from inside.
“OH. GUESS I ATE SOMETHING PAST ITS [Exp. Date]-”
That was when a giant pillar of ice erupted from his chest cavity, like a frozen knife. It broke the metal armor he had so painstakingly stolen, all of it falling to the ground into tiny, useless pieces.
His wings vanished. Nothing held him up anymore, so he fell to the ground like a broken, discarded doll.
If someone saw the Angel now, they would notice how her lack of facial features were unsettling.
She had so little left of herself. She only remembered how her body was stuck in the basement, alone and crumpled among the strings that had been draped over like a blanket, as if she would be so cold without them. Around her neck, more of those strings were wrapped much too tightly, that if she still had her soul, would have made it hard for her to breathe.
But even someone like her had determination. Queen had said so. And through it all, she realized that out of everyone, Queen had been the only one to have never lied to her.
The Angel, held up by her wings that caught the falling snow, faced the crumpled doll. It had broken apart at the joints, with one of its arms missing, lost in the storm. It had the fake wings, metal that now began to rust from the snow, already half-buried.
She heard Kris from behind her dig themselves up out of the snow, taking in heavy breaths. She heard their voice, already reaching out to command. But the Angel was an Angel of Mercy, above all else.
With an empty face, she descended from the heavens and knelt in the snow. Spamton’s head had broken off at the neck, glasses flickering on and off, static filling them. His mouth was open, but nothing worthwhile came out of it, if it ever did.
“W…WEL…WELC0…MMMEEE..” A sudden electric shock that burst from his mouth, like a frenzied coughing. “T…TO… [Big Sh-Sh-Shot Autoss-s-s-s].”
The Angel grasped both sides of the puppet’s head, bringing it up to where her eyes once were.
More flickering, then a jolt. Spamton focused, and once seeing her, broke into a wide smile, his lower jaw hanging off only one side of his face.
“WOW!! [Angel]!! I THOUGHT I [Killed] YOU!!” He laughed, but it didn’t last long, soon fading away fast. “YOU LOOK [[Downright Terrifying]]!”
The Angel of Mercy tightened her hands against both sides of his head.
“Hold up your end of the deal,” she told him, no longer having a mouth to speak with. “Like you promised.”
His head slowly began to freeze over from where she touched, turning him into a very ugly popsicle.
“O-OKAY! OKAY! NO NEED TO GO [Absolute Zero]! I TOLD-” But the ice was fast moving over him, making his voice go slow. “NO…. NOOooooo nnEEDD..”
The Angel faced him. She was framed by her wings that looked much too big for her, but they would shield her from the cold, from the darkness that tried so hard to bring her further into the deep.
“You promised me,” she told him again. The ice was everywhere, unending. No misty breath left her, since she no longer had a nose anymore either.
“IT’S…OKAY IT’S… THIS IS JUST… A RUMOR… A [[Give us the tea!]] FROM A CALL I GOT…I GOT… I GOT..”
The ice covered his glasses, seeped into his mouth. The Angel continued to stare.
“THEY ALWAYS CALL FROM…THE ROOM… BETWEEN…” Spamton said with obvious effort, sparking up wherever the ice covered him. “BETWEEN. THE ROOM. EGG. EGG. E…G…”
The Angel of Mercy did not fully understand, not yet. But she was satisfied, for now. “Okay,” she told him, still holding onto his face. “Thank you.”
Something changed. A shift in the air, a pause in time. Even the snow stopped in place, one snowflake paused just before her face, its intricate designs all too beautiful. She expected the voice, the way it reached out to her like an old friend.
“YOU’VE PROVEN TO BE VERY INTERESTING,” he uttered out, in a voice that made no sound, that could only be felt. And she felt it, as only the Angel of Mercy could, with only her soul and nothing more.
And as if a flip had been switched, Spamton laughed, the sound of everything coming back. Slowed down, sped up, stuck in a loop. It followed no pattern. She felt the vibrations of his laughter through her hands.
“NOW GET READY FOR THESE [Jaw-Dropping Deals]!” he shouted with glee. Promptly, his jaw fell right off, falling into the snow. The rest of his face froze, like an ice sculpture gone terribly wrong.
His glasses went dark.
The snow continued to fall.
The Angel dropped his head to the ground, stood up, and extended her wings to find the room between. The room between. The room between.