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Kris stood still, frozen. Their armor was cold, their face was flushed, and their arm was stiffly extended outward in a pointing position.
Their eyes struggled to focus due to the blizzard that flooded the small alleyway, but they could hear Noelles voice clearly. She was in front of them, slumped on the ground, and spoke to seemingly nothing in a hollow and small voice.
“... What… What happened? There was so much snow, I couldn't see anything…”
She paused.
“I… I don't feel so good.”
“I think... I'm going to go home.”
Her still blurry figure lifted herself up, her hair covering her face completely, and walked out of Kris’ vision; bringing the snow she cast with her. Snow and cold began to melt away along with the blur in their vision. Their sight came back to them fully, and the crystal of ice stood in the center of it all.
Kris forcibly walked towards it, their legs stiffer than usual, and got a closer look.
There, the silhouette of Berdly was frozen into its icy base. It was hard to see through.
Then suddenly, they stopped moving altogether.
They stared emotionlessly at the crystal, but their chest and stomach were twisting with a disgusting and indescribable horror. They wanted to double over, wrap their arms tightly around their stomach, and vomit all the painful nausea churning inside of them.
But they couldn’t. All they could do was stare at the crystal. Stare at Berdly.
Berdly.
…
Just like everyone else in the town, you had grown distant from him. Despite the fact you cared for him, just like you cared for Noelle. You knew this came with growing up; growing apart, reconnecting, and forming a relationship better than before. A relationship not stuck in your childhood. Yet now it was all cut short.
You can remember so vividly the last time you hung out with him.
It was July of this year, about 4 months ago, right before Asriel left for university, right before Mom and Dad… right before you began to close yourself off.
He was the same as ever, with his stupid squacky and obnoxious voice that only really came out when you two played video games together, the same as you did that day. You two always pushed up against each other's shoulders, trying to knock the other off course during your Super Smashing Fighters games; yet you’d always win. No matter how much Berdly tried to shove you basically to the other side of the living room floor.
It was silly, it was stupid; but to you, it was sweet.
He always made you crack a smile; no matter how hard you wanted to keep your usual stoic expression, he always wiped it off you just by being around. Because he never failed to make you happy, even if you were arguing over the logistics of if wavedashing was cheating for the five hundredth time that week, or if he antagonized you with your so called “spliced speedruns” despite him clearly making it all up, or if he was accusing you of forgery when you got a better test score than him - It didn’t matter, because it was him.
And you miss him. You miss playing games with him. You miss being friends with him.
You knew that eventually you’d pull yourself out of this ditch. You’d get the motivation to talk with your friends again, and you’d finally be able to reconnect with these friendships you’d drifted away from.
And you’d play games with him again, pushing up against his arm and fighting over arbitrary and silly things until Mom would tell you two that it was time to quiet things down for the night. And sometimes, he’d even sleep over. It was rare, Berdlys parents weren't the easiest to convince, but when you did, it always felt kinda funny. Seeing the kid that was just yelling in your left ear falling asleep just like everyone else in the world does.
It was strange, yet you always cherished laying on the floor, curled up in your sleeping bags under the ceiling filled with glow in the dark stars, looking at him. Sometimes you’d even scooch closer to him before shifting your back flat to the ground and watching the stars aimlessly before dozing off along with him.
You’d never felt so comfortable being yourself around someone in your life compared to when you were with him.
...
… You… Maybe, you-
Suddenly, Kris’ body jerked to life, spinning around away from the crystal and walking forward and to the right into a dark and frigid alley.
Kris’ heart was beating erratically as time slammed forward with no intention of stopping.
There were so many words left unsaid, and no more time left to say it.
Their heart felt frozen in their chest.