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It had been a few days, since the last incident, with Queen, Noelle and Berdly.
Even though Susie had tried her best to pretend that it was all a dream to Noelle, they’d eventually had to tell her the truth, as she was more curious about their activities when they skipped class than ever.
They’d agreed to let her come back with them to the Dark World again, letting her stay with their little group as the days went by. She quickly got used to the group’s dynamic quite easily, looking like she was actually having the time of her life, even when everyone was just arguing, and when she was trying to calm things out.
Kris wasn’t very talkative, as always, but, they were actually quite happy with how things had turned out with Noelle. They couldn’t help but feel relieved at how Queen acted like Lancer’s mother, or girl dad, and how close the two of them had gotten. Lancer really deserved a caring mother, unlike the way his father was to him.
One day, however, as they were enjoying another day in the Dark World, with their friends, a sudden flash of light startled them all.
They all turned around quickly, to look towards where the light had come from.
Someone in Kris felt tighter, in their chest.
A red, tall, like pillar stood in the distance, far away from them all.
Susie, Ralsei, and Lancer all glanced at each other worriedly, before they turned to Kris in concern. Noelle followed their eyes, concerned and very confused as to what was happening.
Another red fountain…
Kris didn’t say anything, keeping their face as straight and inexpressive as always, as they started walking again, going towards the pillar. They could feel how the others looked at each other again, before they hurried to follow.
“So…” Noelle tried to get them talking again, to know why the atmosphere was so heavy all of a sudden. “Is that normal?”
“It’s n-” Ralsei was about to answer her, hesitantly, when he got cut off by Kris.
“No.” Kris stated, not looking back at them, trying to contain the feeling shaking in their body.
That thing was moving in their chest again, panicking.
“What do you mean?” Noelle asked, confused, and only getting more and more concerned.
They all could feel that something was off with Kris, although only Noelle didn’t know why. They didn’t want to push them, but they really didn’t like it.
“Are you sure we should go there?” Lancer asked, worriedly running after Susie.
“Yes.” Kris kept their answers short, but firm.
“Maybe we could just-” Ralsei started to offer something, but Kris cut him off again.
“We can’t ignore it.” Kris noted firmly. “You know what could happen if we don’t seal it right away…” Their voice got quieter as they talked.
“What happens if we don’t?” The poor Noelle felt really left out.
“Nothing good.” Susie said, not willing to explain it either.
Somehow, Susie seemed to be the closest one to understanding Kris, at that moment, even though she had no idea what was going on inside their mind. All she knew was that the implication of the red fountain was way too dangerous to ignore, and that it could end the same way it had before, if they just let Kris go by themselves.
Of course, like they feared, when they got closer to the fountain, they were met with another human, the same as before, going around while trying to hurt everyone they came upon.
When they noticed them, the human just stopped there, looking at them blankly for a second, before they seemed to become pissed.
“You again!” They yelled at them, hatred plastered on their face.
The group continued to walk up to them, all of them readying themselves for battle, Kris and Susie summoning their weapons silently, as Noelle just looked between them all, surprised and shocked.
“You’re not going to stop me this time!” The human exclaimed, running up to attack them. “You should have learned your lesson!” They said to Kris as this one blocked their attack, this time, not getting pushed back by the violence of it.
“You’re the one that should’ve learned your lesson!” Susie called back as she swung her axe onto them, making them jump out of the way, back enough to avoid getting hit.
Kris quickly readied their sword, as Susie recovered her axe. They both ran to the human, Kris hitting first, making them jump out of the way suddenly, before Susie hit, not giving them any time to dodge this one.
They cried out in pain.
Then, Kris was in front of them again, as they were walking up to them.
“You won’t get me this time!” The human exclaimed, looking both pissed off and satisfied.
They quickly ran up to them again, making Kris block them again before Susie swung her axe. They both went at them together, again, but, this time, the human managed to dodge both of them, like they already knew where they would hit.
Ralsei tried to use the distraction to pacify them, but they weren’t affected by it. Lancer, using it as well, to try to attack them.
It seemed like it was the wrong move.
The human, barely managing to dodge the sudden attack of the small spade king, looked back at them with dark and threatening eyes.
Susie swung her axe at them, managing to cut their arm a little, as they tried to move out of the way, surprised by the attack.
Kris, seeing an occasion, dashed to them, swinging their sword at them.
There they were again, back at the beginning of the fight.
“You think that’s enough?!” The human called out to Kris. “You can’t win this! I’ll kill you all. There is nothing you can do about it.
Kris’ soul was getting more and more agitated. They knew what was happening, but they couldn’t understand just how it was happening. They had to find a way to stop this, and fast.
“Whatever are you talking about?!” Susie called back to them, this time protecting Kris from the human’s attack, as they were distracted. “Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?!”
“You stupid monsters wouldn’t get it!” The human huffed, dodging all of their attacks again. “You think you’re so strong! You’re nothing! Return to dust already!” They yelled as they managed to find an opening, as Susie just hit them, missing them, and was now open for attacks.
Kris barely managed to get in the way, taking the blow for Susie. They blocked most of it, but still got hit on their arm, somehow.
“You-!” Susie exclaimed, attacking them again, pissed off by what they did.
Ralsei, while she was distracting the human, quickly took to healing Kris’s arm, at least the best they could, as, once again, his spells didn’t seem to work much on the bad bruise already forming on them.
“Kris!” Noelle quickly ran up to them.
She’d been staying away from the battle, not sure how to attack, nor why any of them were battling like this, as she had only ever seen them Acting and Sparing. She’d not yet to meet this kind of situation, and wasn’t even sure she could fight.
While they were all distracted, however, Susie took a bad blow as well, making her back off enough that she was opened for more.
“Susie!!” They all yelled at her, seeing the human already trying to get another blow on her.
Kris, without any second thought, moved, faster than ever. They managed to get in front of Susie just in time to take the blow, thankfully having managed to put up their shield to protect them all.
They were knocked back by the sudden violence, and with the little balance they had with how they’d just managed to get there, being thrown onto Susie. They were both flung to the ground, the knock back so strong that it stunned them for a moment.
Ralsei tried his best to heal them both, trying to boost them, so they could get back up before the next attack, while Lancer tried to attack the human again, to stop them from going at the two lighteners.
It wasn’t a good move.
The human turned their attention to Lancer, snapping their head to him with the most threatening look they’d ever seen.
Without giving anyone the time to stop them, they ran up to Lancer, taking him up by the neck, and readying their bat to swing at him.
Susie and Kris, who’d had just the time to get back up, hurried towards them, ready to try to stop them, while Ralsei and Noelle looked on in horror, unsure what to do.
“Don’t take another step if you want this little guy to live.” The human ordered, making them both stop dead in their tracks. “Throw your weapons away.” He ordered.
“You-!” Susie was pissed off.
“Don’t make me repeat myself!” The human threatened, their grip tightening around Lancer’s neck, making him cry out. “If you move, I kill him.”
Susie and Kris looked at them, gritting their teeth. They hated it. It was much too similar to the king of spade’s fight, but, in more dangerous.
“Now!” The human ordered loudly, squeezing harder, so that Lancer would cry more.
“Don’t- Don’t do it!” Lancer tried to beg to them both.
Susie and Kris’ face darkened, hidden under their hair, for a moment.
They couldn’t do it. They had no choice.
They both got rid of their weapons, Kris letting go of their shield as well, when the human ordered it as well. They both got to their knees, following their orders, gritted teeth hurting them as they tried to think of what they could do to stop this, without putting Lancer in more danger.
“Good.” The human grinned cruelly. “See? I told you that you were weak.” They mocked. “To think you’d give up for a stupid darkener like this one.”
Suddenly, they readied their bat again, ready to strike Lancer again.
Susie and Kris, immediately seeing that their obedience wasn’t going to save their friend, quickly jumped up, trying to grab their weapons, and trying to run up to the human before they could hurt Lancer.
They were too slow. They’d wasted to much time being tricked. They wouldn’t be able to make it in time…
They both were desperate as they stumbled up to their feet, reaching out to grab their weapons. They didn’t even know what they could do that wouldn’t hurt Lancer in the process, but there was no way they would stay like that when Lancer was about to get hurt, because of them.
Suddenly, as all hopes seemed lost, Noelle moved.
“Leave them alone!” She cried out, reaching out and casting an ice spell.
Ice bullets appeared around the human, hurting them, and surprising them just enough that they let go of Lancer, who quickly hurried behind Ralsei, who was ready to cast his healing spells on him, and ready to try to get a stronger spell to stop the human.
Meanwhile, Susie and Kris grabbed their weapons, standing back up with a strong stance, looking more pissed than ever.
“You think this is the-” The human started to yell back at them, pissed off but still recovering from the attack.
They were cut off when both Kris and Susie swung violently at them, hurting them, despite their intent at dodging.
The human looked terrorized as they looked back at the two, who were already getting back to swinging their weapons at them, without giving them any chances to get away.
“Yo- You’ll pay for this! I’ll kill you all!” They cried out, starting to run away from them, towards the pillar of red light.
Susie and Kris didn’t wait to follow them, hurrying after them without even getting rid of their weapons, wanting to be ready to make them pay for what they’d done, and tried to do.
“Susie! Kris! Wait!” Ralsei called after them, running after them.
Noelle and Lancer quickly followed as well, watching as both of their friends ran up to the pillar.
“FUCK!” Kris and Susie cursed, as the human disappeared into the fountain. “MOTHERF-”
“Kris! Susie! Calm down!” Ralsei called to them as they all stopped in front of the pillar. “Please, don’t do anything stupid.” He begged, seeing how close they were from the fountain.
They both looked back at their friends, their eyes so threatening, so pissed, that the three of them got taken aback for a moment, before their expression disappeared under their bangs again, as they huffed.
“They got off again…” Susie grumbled, still much too pissed about it. “I swear to fuck, next time, we’ll get that asshole!”
“Let’s seal this thing…” Kris huffed as well, letting their weapons disappear, as their soul appeared.
“What’s happening?” Noelle asked as she watched Kris reach out, sending their soul up into the fountain. “What are you doing?” She called out with worry.
“It’s okay. They’re just sealing the fountain. That’s how they do it with the dark fountains as well.” Ralsei tried to explain.
“The only real hero.” Susie huffed, a smile growing on her smile as she glanced at Kris. “The only one capable of this.”
“Didn’t choose this…” Kris bit back, sucking in a breath as the pain in their chest intensified.
“Hey! Are you alright?” Susie suddenly called out to them as they retracted their hand, their other one grabbing at their chest in pain.
Whatever was the problem with those red fountains? Why were they hurting them so bad whenever they sealed them.
“Hey!” Susie’s paw on their shoulder, dragging them back to reality, as their soul returned to its place.
“I’m fine.” Kris mumbled, wincing at the pain in their chest, and the ones in their body, from the fight.
“What the fuck was that, then?” Susie pointed out to their hand, still holding tightly onto their chest. “Doesn’t look fine to me. And neither does those bruises.” She noted, noticing the bad bruises on their arms.
“Kris… Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Ralsei asked worriedly. “What happened with the sealing?”
“Yeah, what happened? You did the same last time too.” Susie recalled. “Sure, you sealed it good, but that looked painful.”
“If I knew...“ Kris huffed, trying to relax.
“What do you mean?” Noelle asked, confused. “Does it hurt?”
Kris looked away from them all, not willing to answer that, although they knew that their reluctance to answer was already speaking for itself.
“Urg. Whatever. Let’s get you back home before you collapse like last time.” Susie huffed.
“I’m not going to collapse.” Kris frowned at her. “I was hurt, last time. I’m fine, right now.”
Susie raised an eyebrow at them, glancing down at their arms, where the bruises had become darker, much more visible on their blue skin. “Sure.”
“Susie is right.” Ralsei nodded. “Let’s get back home. I’ll get a look at your bruises there. If I can at least heal it a little.”
“Maybe I can help?” Noelle pointed out. “I can heal too.”
“Oh! You’re right! You’re a lightener too!” Ralsei exclaimed in delight. “You should be able to heal them better than me!”
“Really? How?” Noelle was surprised at how confident he was. “I’m not that much of a healer, but I can try. But, why can’t you do it as well? Did I miss something?”
“Fluffy boy can’t heal the wounds afflicted to Kris by another human.” Susie explained, as they started heading back. “Last time, he only managed to stop the bleeding. And, even then, it was already really hard. It took forever.”
“I did my best. But, yeah, I used all my healing spells, but, I could only stop the blood. The wound wouldn’t heal.” Ralsei continued.
“I had to carry their ass back to Toriel’s to have her heal them.” Susie teased. “I’ve never heard her curse so much.”
“Shut up.” Kris mumbled, annoyed.
“That sound like it was a really hard time.” Noelle frowned. “But, what happened? Why was Kris hurt? You said it was from the human? You mean? The one we just saw?”
Despite Kris’ wish that this conversation would end before they would have to talk about it, Susie and Ralsei went on to explain what happened the previous time, when Kris was barely killed by that human.
As they walked back to Ralsei’s castle, and as Susie and Ralsei were explaining the previous story to Noelle, Kris noticed how silent Lancer was being, glancing at them now and again.
“I’m sorry.” Lancer eventually mumbled to Kris. “I’m sorry, I got you all in danger again.” He looked down as their walked. “Just like with father…”
“Whatever.” Kris shrugged, ignoring the pain that came with it in his arms. “You saved us. Although, it would have been better if you hadn’t been caught.” They glanced at him. “I’m sure Susie would love to train you to move faster out of someone’s grasp.” They tried to comfort softly. “Still, if you hadn’t done that, we would’ve been as good as dead.” They pointed out.
“But, you dropped your weapons again, for me, because I got caught.” Lancer whispered, sounding very guilty.
“We’ll do it again if we need to.” Kris huffed. “If they’d just gone for us instead of trying to hurt you despite that, that would’ve been better, though…” They mumbled to themselves more than to him. “Don’t worry too much about it, anyway. It’s already done. And we’re glad you’re okay.”
“But, you’re hurt.” Lancer pointed out guiltily.
“Maybe, but it wasn’t from that part of the fight.” Kris pointed out.
“And, you got upset…” Lancer continued.
“We’re your friends. It’s only natural to want to kick the ass of the one who hurts you.” Kris huffed.
They really weren’t good at reassuring and comforting someone.
Thankfully for them, Lancer didn’t say more, allowing them to just listen to their friends as they talked on the way back.
Once back to Ralsei’s castle, Ralsei and Noelle took to trying to heal Kris’ arms, while questioning the pain in their chest, that they’d noticed they’d had while sealing the fountain.
“Are you sure, you’re feeling better?” Ralsei asked. “That really seemed to hurt.”
“I’m fine now. It’s just while sealing the fountain. It’s nothing.” Kris reassured.
“It doesn’t happen with the dark fountains, though. Right?” Susie asked.
“Yeah, no. I don’t know what’s up with that. It’s only with those red ones.” Kris shook his head, frowning.
“Weird.” Susie and Ralsei frowned.
“I’m sorry.” Noelle apologized, cutting through their conversation. “I tried my best, but I’m not that good at healing.”
“It’s okay.” Kris shook his head. “Thank you anyway.”
“Are your arms better?” Ralsei asked. “Do they still hurt a lot?”
“They’re much better, thank you both.” Kris thanked, hiding their face under their bangs.
“Still looks painful to me.” Susie noted, looking at the, still, bad bruises on their arms. “You should have Toriel take care of them.”
“She’ll kill me if she finds out I got hurt again.” Kris huffed. “It’s already a miracle you survived last time.”
“Well, I managed to convince her that it wasn’t me, and that I didn’t know what happened to you. So I’m good.” Susie grinned.
“Still.” Kris pouted.
“Oh! No!” Noelle suddenly exclaimed, making them all turn to her. “It’s already late, I’ll be late to my lessons. My mother is going to kill me!”
“Well, we should get moving then, huh?” Susie pointed out.
“Probably for the best, yeah.” Kris nodded. “Let’s go.”
With that, the three of them made their way out, saying goodbye to Ralsei and Lancer, and Queen, who’d come by, before going back to their own world. There, Susie and Noelle split up from Kris, Susie deciding that she was hungry, and that she wanted to go mess up with Alphys’ chalks, while Noelle had to go to her lesson.
Kris, on the other side, decided to go around town, to let go of the pression of what had happened, before going home.
There was no way he would be able to show Toriel those bruises. She’d be much too worried about what was going on with them getting hurt so much.
Besides, it didn’t hurt that bad anymore, and they had more important things to worry about…
Who the hell was this human? Why, and how, did they make their way into the Dark World, again? And, what was up with those red fountains? Why did they appear with the human? Why was sealing it so painful, each time?
Something was off, something important, but they couldn’t put their finger on what…
They just hoped they wouldn’t meet the human again soon.