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Ever since they’d made their way into the Dark World, that first day, Kris and Susie had spent as much time as they could back in there.
They’d spent time helping people around the place, helping out Ralsei and Lancer whenever they needed it, and just hanging out in there, finally feeling free from whatever pressure the outside world was putting on them.
It was their world, their secret safe place, despite all its dangers.
That day, Kris had left Susie with Lancer and Ralsei, wanted to go explore on their own for a little, while their friends were having fun arguing with each others, as always.
They’d noticed something earlier that day, as they’d been walking through the forest. They could have sworn that they’d seen something shining in the distance, a flash of light from farther away.
As they went down the way they saw the flash of light, Kris could feel something in their chest. It was like their soul was yelling at them to not go this way. It was a deep and painful feeling, but it wasn’t enough to stop them from checking what it was, something in them saying that they still should.
What they saw, as they walked upon an opened area, was something they would never have even dared to imagine.
In front of them, slashing a darkener from Lancer’s castle, was another human.
They stopped dead in their tracks, staring at the scene in shock. They’d never seen any other human before. Heck, they were starting to believe they were the only one left on the surface.
But, here they were, standing in from of them, a baseball bat in their hands.
Suddenly, as if something had clicked into them, Kris moved. They ran to stand in front of the darkener as they were about to be hit, their sword stopping the bat just before they could kill them.
“Who the HELL do you think you are?!” The other human exclaimed, pushing hard on the bat, making Kris be pushed back with their sword, losing their balance. “What do you think you are doing?! Why are you defending those monsters?!” The human yelled at them, running up to them to hit them again, barely leaving Kris the time to protect themselves with their shield, while the darkener quickly ran away.
“You don’t have to do this!” Kris called back. “You don’t have to Fight anyone! They’re not going to hurt you. You can just Act.” They tried to explain.
“Whatever!” The human swung at them again, so violently that Kris lost their balance again, barely able to block out the next hit in time. “They should all die! They are weak! They shouldn’t even exist!”
Kris wanted to talk back, to argue. They wanted to ask them, “Who are you to decide who should live or die?”, but, the other human’s rage was much too intense, too violent.
They couldn’t even fight back, even if they wanted, as they were hit again, and again, and again.
Until, they lost their balance again, not having enough time to recover from it to block the next attack.
The blow was right to their head, so violent it threw them to the ground, hurting their face in the process. The sudden pain that shot through their head, whitening out everything, let them at the mercy of the other.
They were sure that they were about to die, there, now, by another human, in their safe world.
But, then, as they were losing consciousness, awaiting the final blow, they could hear a commotion from above them.
They opened their eyes again, that they hadn’t noticed had closed, to see a blurry, pink and black shape above them.
Then, something green was next to them, a shining light appearing with it, making the pain die down slowly.
“What the HELL do you think you’re doing to my friend?!” They could hear Susie yelling.
She sounded pissed.
“Kris!” Ralsei was there as well. “Hang in there!”
“Do you think you have any right to talk to ME?!” The human yelled back. “A monster like you?!”
Kris wasn’t sure what was happening between the human and Susie, as she managed to push them further away from them. She was so pissed off that he axe was making more damage to the bat than blocking it.
“Kris!” Ralsei call out to him again.
“Come on. You’re the hero, you can’t go down.” Lancer’ small voice called out to them as well.
“Kr- Oh! There you go.” Ralsei smiled at them as they opened their eyes again to look up at the two figures above him.
Lancer looked just as relieved as Ralsei for a moment, before realizing something, turning to the fluffy boy. “Why isn’t their wound healing?”
“I don’t know.” Ralsei shook his head. “But, I should be able to stop the bleeding, at least.”
“Susie…?” Kris asked, trying to look wherever they’d seen her go with the other human.
“She’ll be fine. She’s holding them off.” Ralsei tried to reassure, although Kris knew him enough to hear the worry in his voice.
“Don’t worry, Blue person! She’ll take care of them!” Lancer tried as well, glancing now and again in worry towards the fight happening farther away.
Kris wasn’t sure what was happening, his mind blanking out as he thought about another human in this Dark World.
Another human… Another entrance… Another fountain?
“Kris?” Ralsei was calling to them, yet again. “Can you still hear us?”
“Is there… Another fountain?” Kris managed to ask, feeling a little better thanks to the healing spell.
“Another fountain?” Ralsei repeated, looking at Kris, then at Lancer in confusion, before it seemed to click into both of their minds. “Oh! Lancer! Can you look around for me? I need to keep healing them until the blood stops.” Ralsei asked.
The round spade boy nodded, turning around and looking everywhere. “I don’t see any-” He stopped for a moment, hesitating. “I see it!” He suddenly exclaimed. “But, it’s all weird!”
“Weird?” Ralsei asked, trying to stay focused on healing.
“How?” Kris asked, trying their best to stay awake and aware.
“It’s not like the other ones.” Lancer shook his head. “It’s all red.”
“Red?” Both Kris and Ralsei repeated, confused and concerned.
Something in Kris’ soul moved. Something telling them that they had to get up. They were the only one capable of putting a stop to this. They just knew it. Their soul knew it.
“W- Wait! Kris! Don’t move!” Ralsei panicked as Kris tried to sit up, falling back to the ground with a pained groan. “You shouldn’t push yourself.”
“Help me up…” Kris said, not as much of an order as it was a question. “Need, to seal it…”
“You really sho-” Ralsei was about to argue, but Susie came running back to them, blood on their body. “Susie! What happened to the human?”
“They ran away.” Susie hissed, still pissed. “How are they?” She asked Ralsei, pointing towards Kris, who was trying to get up.
“They shouldn’t move…” Ralsei mumbled, worried as they watch them.
“No choice…” Kris huffed, finally managing to sit up. “Anyone else… To seal it?” They pointed out, holding their hand to the side of their head, to ignore how painful, and bloody it still was.
“They aren’t wrong.” Susie noted, annoyed. “You sure you can seal that, though? It’s all weird looking.” She looked back towards the red light pillar. “And, they’re probably back there as well.”
“You have… Another idea?” Kris sighed weakly.
“Can’t we wait until you’re better?” Lancer offered, reassured by Susie’s presence, but still worried about Kris’ condition.
“No.” Kris said sternly. “Need to… Keep them… Out.” They tried to stay awake, but it was so exhausting.
“I agree on that one.” Susie nodded, kneeling down and signaling Ralsei and Lancer to help her. “But, we can’t have you walk in your state. You’re barely even with us.” She pointed out, as they helped her get Kris onto her back. “You can just rest until we’re there.” She said quietly, as Kris let himself slump against her shoulders.
“Be careful with them.” Ralsei worried as he watched Kris lose consciousness again, on Susie’s back, as she got up.
“Come on.” Susie led the way, quickly followed by Lancer. “We’d better get rid of this problem, so they can, really, rest.” She pointed out, Ralsei agreeing silently as he walked by her side.
“I wonder what would happen if we went through it…” Susie wondered, as Kris was slowly waking up.
He was still onto her back, the red glow of the red fountain lighting the whole area as they stood in front of it.
“It might be dangerous…” Lancer worried. “It looks bad.”
“Can’t agree more.” Ralsei nodded as well.
“I wasn’t going to do it.” Susie huffed. “Oh. Welcome back with us.” She greeted Kris as she noticed him shifting his head onto her shoulder. “We’re there. It’s your time, buddy.”
“I know…” Kris mumbled.
They looked up at the fountain, feeling their soul being attracted to it, just like the other fountains. They reached out weakly, to take their glowing soul in their hand, before reaching up, sending the soul onto the glowing pillar.
Kris, felt a sharp pang of pain go through their chest, as the soul started glowing brighter, and brighter, until the fountain was finally sealed.
“You alright?” Susie asked with concern. “You seemed in pain right then.” She pointed out, as Kris reached out, trembling, to get their soul back, letting it settle back inside their chest.
“Not sure.” Kris admitted, letting their head fall against her shoulder again. It was so heavy.
Susie and Ralsei looked at each other for a moment, concerned, and unsure what was going on with their friend, as they couldn’t heal them, like they normally should, and as the sealing process seemed to be unusually painful to them.
“Let’s get you back home.” Susie sighed. “You can rest for a while now.”
Kris hummed in agreement, letting their eyes fall shut again, only opening them shortly to glance at Ralsei, next to them, as he took hold of their hand, smiling reassuringly at them, while casting another spell to help them feel better as they walked.
When they woke up again, they were in a bed, on a comfortable mattress, tucked under a warm blanket. They could hear their friends talking about something, but they didn’t try to understand it, still not fully awake yet.
They could feel the bandage on their head, the cold ice onto the wounded part of their head. They didn’t like it, nor did they like realizing that their eyes were now exposed, as the bandages had pulled their hair up above their eyes.
They sighed, sitting up in bed.
I guess, it can’t be helped. They thought to themselves, a hand coming to take off the ice pack.
“Kris! You’re awake!” Ralsei hurried to their side as he noticed them sitting up. “Oh! And you look like you’re feeling better!” He smiled warmly.
“Took you long enough.” Susie huffed, a smile spreading onto her face as well.
“Does it mean you’re healed now?” Lancer asked, from the foot of the bed.
“No.” Kris shook their head, hissing at the pain it gave them. “Not healed. Just better.” He clarified for Lancer.
“I’m sorry about that.” Ralsei apologized softly. “I tried every healing spell, but none would heal the wound.”
“It’s okay.” Kris shook their head.
Somehow, they had a feeling that there was no way to heal another human’s damage into them by darkener’s healing spells.
“Wonder how’s that gonna look like when we’re back in school…” Susie mumbled, worried.
“They’ll probably think you bashed my head against a locker again.” Kris mentioned blankly.
“HEY!” Susie yelled in answer. “I NEVER DID THAT! I JUST-” She lowered her voice a little. “I just threw you against it.”
“You did what?!” Ralsei exclaimed, shocked and worried.
“Urg! See what you did?!” Susie complained.
Kris smiled in answer, a teasing smile tugging at his lips.
“Anyway. If you’re better, we should head back. It’s already running late. Everyone probably left school an hour ago.” Susie pointed out. “Your mother is going to kill me if you’re home late AND hurt.” She pointed out.
“Oh! You’re right!” Ralsei said suddenly. “You two can’t stay here for too long. You’ll get into trouble. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Kris said quietly. “I’m much better now. It’ll be fine. I’m sure Toriel can heal my wounds anyway.” They mumbled.
“I don’t see how that would work, if even Ralsei’s spells didn’t.” Susie pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
“Might work better than you think.” Kris sighed. “Maybe it won’t heal because it’s been made by another lightener…” They explained their theory simply.
“That…” Ralsei was stunned for a moment, before lightening up, clasping Kris’ hands between his paws. “That’s right! That would make sense! That means you’ll be able to heal once you’re back home!”
“That rule would suck.” Susie complained, but couldn’t disagree with the possibility.
“You better leave then.” Lancer grinned. “Next time we can have a better time.”
“Sure will.” Susie grinned as well, squishing Lancer’s head, making them both laugh.
“Do be careful out there, though.” Ralsei said quietly, as he helped Kris out of bed, making sure they would be alright walking on their own.
“We well.” Kris agreed, hesitating before hugging Ralsei. “Thank you for the healing.” They mumbled as they let go.
“You’re welcome.” Ralsei beamed at them, as they watched them both leave.
Walking up to their own entrance wasn’t too bad. But, the landing out of the closet was way less comfortable.
Susie just landed as always, but, for Kris, was found themselves losing their balance due to their condition, it was just as being thrown out of the closet. They landed face first onto the hard ground, with a hard “Oof.”
“Nice landing.” Susie teased, helping them back up.
“Shut up.” Kris huffed, finding that they couldn’t quite keep themselves up by themselves anymore, the fall having thrown their balance off.
“Here.” Susie huffed, taking Kris’ arm and putting it around her shoulders, her other arm coming to Kris’ side, to keep them upright as she helped them walk. “Let’s get you home.”
“I hope Toriel won’t kill you for this.” Kris huffed.
“She probably will.” Susie laughed.
As they wobbled their way out of the school, and back to their house, Kris couldn’t help but think back on what had happened in the Dark World.
How was that even possible. Another human? From somewhere else? Able to created, or find, another entrance, making a red, and painful, fountain?
What in the world did it mean…