Work Text:
[ding-ding-ding-ding-ding ding-ding ding-dong]
Rudy Holiday hops out of his chair by the front door and scoops the nearby candy bowl into his arms. He couldn’t be more excited to kick off the evening with this first round of trick-or-treaters. As he throws the door open, already grinning, he says, “Happy Halloween, ghosties n’ ghoulies! Now who do we have here?”
Two kids in wildly different costumes stand on his doorstep. The one on the left, goat-like and grinning back, is wearing a hard plastic chest plate with matching boots and gauntlets. A short cape falls across one shoulder, and a toy sword in a scabbard hangs on the opposite hip. He’s a true knight in shining armor, the perfect costume for the police chief’s son.
And the kid on the right appears to be wearing some sort of, ah... blanket(?) secured at the shoulder, draped over sweats and a long-sleeved shirt. Maybe it’s meant to funnel more attention toward the remarkable amphora-shaped hat on their head, which must be the true focal point of the costume. Rudy has no idea what they’re supposed to be. Knowing Kris, it’s probably something he’s never heard of before, if it exists at all.
“Happy Halloween, Mr. Holiday!” says Asriel. “We’d like to take Dess and Noelle trick-or-treating with us, if that’s okay.”
Rudy lets out a hearty laugh. “Of course it’s okay, kiddo! We already said yes last week!”
Asriel laughs along sheepishly. “I know, I just wanted to make sure!”
“Well, ‘course you did. You are Asgore’s kid,” says Rudy, ruffling the fur atop Asriel’s head. He leans back and calls into the house, “Dess, Noelle! Asriel and Kris are here, and they’re ready to rumble!”
“Okay, one second!” comes the reply. “We’re almost ready!”
Rudy smiles fondly in the direction of his daughter’s voice. As he turns back to relay the news, Kris extends their arms, holding out the pillowcase serving as their candy bag for the night. Under their hat and curtain of hair, he can just make out the reds of their eyes.
“Trick-or-treat,” they say. Rudy snorts.
“I’ll skip on the trick, thanks,” he says, gathering up a good fistful of sweets and dropping it into their bag. “There you are, my merry little Krismas. Say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a costume quite like yours before. What exactly are you goin’ for there, champ?”
Rather than answer, Kris picks a chocolate from their bag, unwraps it, and stuffs it in their mouth.
“Kris—“ Asriel begins, but Rudy waves him off with a good-natured chuckle.
“Nah, it’s okay!” he says. “Let ‘em enjoy their spoils. Maybe I can try and guess what they are.”
Kneeling down to their level, Rudy squints, making a whole show of studying the small human, humming and hawing and muttering to himself.
“Are yooouuu… some sorta mage, with a funny hat?”
Kris shakes their head.
“Hmmm… a woodland hermit then, with a funny hat?”
Another shake.
“Maybe, could you be… father Alvin? In different clothes, and with a funny hat?”
Chomping down on a second chocolate, they shake their head no.
Rudy blows a raspberry with his lips and scratches his beard. “Alright kid, I’m stumped. Could you give me a hint? What letter does it start with?”
“H,” says Kris.
“That… doesn’t help at all,” laughs Rudy.
“Can I tell him, Kris?” asks Asriel. “I don’t think he’s gonna get it on his own.”
Finally, after a moment of consideration, Kris nods.
“Okay! So, first, some context,” says Asriel. “Kris has been asking a lot of questions about human history lately, so we got them a book all about ancient humans and their cultures! They haven’t been able to put it down since they started reading. It goes into all the different types of people that existed in human society, like farmers and politicians and religious figures. Kris really wanted to go as a kind of human… priest, called a haruspex.”
Rudy hums, intrigued. “A human priest, eh? So I was close! I gotta get some points for that!”
“Well, I say priest, but I guess a more accurate word would be—“
“Prophet,” Kris chimes in.
“Is that right?” says Rudy, only slightly unnerved by Kris’ slow and deliberate pronunciation of the word. “Isn’t that neat—“
“I can show you.”
Rudy raises a brow. “Show me? Show me what, Krismas?”
“My gift,” they say, “of prophecy.”
Reaching beneath their blanket-toga, they produce a small, stuffed chicken hanging off a rope by its neck, as well as a very realistic-looking toy knife.
“Uhhhh,” says Rudy, zeroing in on the metallic glint of the blade. “Wait, is that a real—“
Asriel’s eyes widen. “Kris, no—!”
As they watch on in horror, Kris drives the knife into the belly of the chicken and roughly slices it open. Stuffing dyed red with fake blood spills from the wound, along with a single gelatinous organ-like lump that splats onto the ground, sending viscera flying in every direction.
A beat passes. Then, from behind Rudy, someone screams. He turns just in time to see his youngest daughter, all dolled up like the angel that she is, fainting into the arms of her sister, who at first seems shocked, then incredibly indignant.
“Kris, seriously??” says Dess. “She just got over her fear of humans under the bed!”
Kris blinks at her, the ghost of a smirk on their lips. Asriel sighs, smearing a bit of fake blood on his chest plate with his ineffectual gauntlets. Maybe he should’ve opted for the soft plastic after all.
“I told them to leave the chicken at home,” he offers weakly. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Holiday, Dess, I’ll clean all this up—“
Shaking himself out of his stupor, Rudy says, “No, no, Asriel, I can’t let you miss out on trick-or-treating to clean. You only get to be a kid once, you gotta enjoy it! I’ll take care of this… even though I said I didn’t want no tricks, Krismas!”
Almost looking remorseful, Kris mutters, “Sorry…”
“Well, as long as you own up to—“
“...that Noelle is such a chicken.”
“Huh?”
Steam visibly rises from Dess’ ears. Passing Noelle over to Rudy, she rolls up her sleeves, growling, “Why, you little—“
Before she can finish the thought, Kris bolts down the driveway, Dess hot on their heels. Asriel looks at them, then at Rudy, then back to them, then back to Rudy and says, “I gotta—“
Rudy nods, and Asriel takes off after them. He’ll be back for Noelle once everyone’s calmed down. It’s not like him to leave anyone behind.
So Rudy falls back on his ass, cradling his poor angel in his arms while he waits for the storm to pass. It’s a miracle none of the “blood” ended up on her white dress. She’ll be glad about that when she comes to.
He sure hopes she’ll grow out of these fainting spells eventually. Or that Kris will grow out of the urge to scare her silly.
...Though maybe he shouldn’t get his hopes up too high for the second one.