Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"AND NOW, YOUR VESSEL, YOUR WONDERFUL CREATION....Will be discarded." Boomed the disembodied voice as everything went dark, the SOUL plunged into a void of pure black, "No one can choose who they are in this world."

The SOUL didn't much care for that. Couldn't choose? It had DETERMINATION! It should damn well get to choose! But, if it really couldn't choose, it hoped for a bit of luck at least.

It needed a perfect match. Someone powerful, compliant, and above all....interesting.

"Your name is...." The voice said, as the darkness faded to white, the SOUL sent spiraling into a body, barely able to steer itself as it tried to guide itself through the ether, hoping to land on the best possible option. It blindly reached through the void and latched onto the best subject it could find, pulling itself in with red puppet strings, and.....!

Oh, this would do nicely.

"Noelle! Get up, you're going to be late for school!" Cried the voice of Carol Holiday, Mayor of Hometown, as the sound of that, combined with the ongoing loud sleigh-bells awoke Noelle Holiday from her slumber, the deer girl groggily getting up and rubbing her eyes, before immediately realizing that she had somehow slept through her alarm! If she didn't manage to pull off getting to school on time, her mom would have her head!

"C-coming!" She yelped, feeling herself being hoisted out of bed by her own body (a weird sensation when you don't consciously do it...). She then ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth, her SOUL pulsing a little bit as it helped guide Noelle's actions.

Noelle had to admit, as weird as it used to feel, she and the SOUL had reached a compromise: it helped her along, and she gave it a body. She'd have to admit that she missed having full control of her body at all times, but she managed well enough, and she could always have a bit of leeway with the commands. Besides, the SOUL was pretty nice to her. It was a weird sort of....friendship? She was going to settle on friendship.

"Of all days, it had to be today that you slept in, huh?" The SOUL remarked with a hint of enjoyment at her predicament, causing Noelle's eyes to widen in horror. How could she have forgotten? It was school project day! And, despite Berdly being her closest friend (aside from Kris, but Kris had been...distant since Asriel left), she didn't exactly want to partner up with him again. Mostly because she ended up doing all the work.....

"Why do you still hang out with that guy?" The SOUL asked, "He's annoying."

Noelle rolled her eyes as she got dressed, quickly getting changed and packing her bag, her SOUL helping her run on autopilot pretty well.

"He's not that bad!" Noelle protested, "And besides, he's one of the two friends I have....and he really does mean well."

The SOUL sent a pulse of emotion that seemed to be it rolling its eyes at Noelle as Carol chimed in again.

"Noelle! Stop talking to yourself and hurry up!" She admonished.

"S-sorry, Mom! I'll be down in a bit!" Noelle called down to her mom, as the SOUL sighed.

"Alright, let's get a move on, deer girl. Maybe that Susie girl you like might have a spot open for a partner?~" SOUL chimed, causing Noelle's nose to glow bright red, the monster wisely choosing to ignore the teasing as she rushed out the door, running full-tilt to the school.

Well, this wasn't ideal.

Noelle had stumbled into an almost full classroom, Alphys in mid-discussion. Even Kris was earlier than her, and Kris was almost never on time!

"O-oh, Noelle!" Alphys chimed in, looking over as Noelle awkwardly opened the door, the reindeer cringing from having all eyes swivel onto her, "Y-you're late...um...w-well, we were just picking partners for the science project...m-maybe there's someone left!"

Noelle nodded, going around the room....and getting "no"s from everyone she and the SOUL tried to pick.

"Sorry, Noelle, but me and Catti are, already buddied up!" said Jockington, her fellow member of the cross-country team, who was also a snake monster. The lack of legs was a bit of an issue, but he mostly got around it by biting his tail and spinning like a bicycle wheel down the track. It was both impressive and surprisingly effective.

"Partn'er? I hardly know 'er! Ha ha ha!!" Snowy, the class clown said, causing Noelle to inwardly groan, "But seriously, I already got MK!"

"tem partner with....EGG!" chirped Temmie, putting a hard boiled egg on their desk. Again.

"I still don't know how they keep getting away with that...." The SOUL chimed in, as Noelle shared in its confusion. Though, Temmie did get great grades even though they kept partnering up with eggs, so they must be doing something right.

"Well, that leaves.....oh no." The SOUL said, as Noelle walked towards Berdly, before said SOUL immediately made her spin on her heel and turn to Kris.

"Hm?" Kris said, looking up as Noelle was made to knock on their desk.

"(WHAT ARE WE DOING?!)" Noelle screamed internally, as the SOUL pulsed a message back.

"I am NOT doing another partner project with Berdly!" the SOUL argued, before Kris poked Noelle, grinning a bit.

"Hey. You there? You spaced out for a minute." Kris explained, as Noelle groaned wearily, the SOUL barely keeping her from banging her head on a table in frustration.

"Yeah, sorry, just....lost in my thoughts. So, you want to be partners, Krismas?" Noelle asked, smiling and trying to put some levity into the situation.

"Can't." Kris said, smirking back as Noelle's face fell. Noelle could've sworn that Kris was just enjoying seeing them suffer.

"Ha! Obviously, it's because Noelle will be partnered with me! The two smartest of the smarties will triumph!" Said Berdly, standing up on his desk in his own melodramatic way, before Kris shot the bluebird a grin.

"Nah. It's cause I'm with you, birdboy." Kris said, winking at Noelle and causing Berdly to sputter.

"W-well, maybe we can be a group of thr-" Berdly was about to suggest, trying to salvage the situation....before the door was kicked open.

It was Susie, the big tough brutish purple dinosaur girl who shoved nerds into lockers (maybe), threatened to eat faces (definitely), and, to Noelle, was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen (absolutely).

"Oh, look. Noelle and Susie both don't have partners. Guess you two are together now." Kris remarked, flashing a mischievous smile as Noelle's nose glowed bright red, the deer girl reduced to sputtering incomprehensibly. Did they plan this?!?

"I-I suppose so!" Alphys said, as Berdly looked to say something, but wisely decided to stop after a glance from Kris, settling down into his seat and grumbling to himself. He seemed....weirdly stressed about this turn of events. Not that Noelle noticed, as her brain was busy shutting down from both the sheer euphoria and the sheer fear of her and her longtime crush working together on a project.

"Hmph. Whatever." Susie said, her face not betraying a bit of emotion, maintaining her cool, menacing aura. Noelle thought she might melt.

Alphys's voice was ultimately the one to bring Noelle out of her stupor, calling attention to something new and shaking her out of her Susie-related daydreams.

"O-oh, it looks like I'm out of chalk! Could've sworn I had some yesterday...." Alphys noted, "S-Susie, since you and Noelle were the last ones in, how about you go to the storage closet and get some more?"

Okay, now Noelle HAD to be dreaming. Her? And Susie? Together in a small closet?! Well, she's had similar fantasies before...

"Y-yes, I'll go with her!" Noelle exclaimed, sounding very enthusiastic, practically beaming as Susie just shrugged.

"Fine by me, I guess." Susie said, walking out the door, as Noelle took a moment to look at Kris, thank them and their lucky stars that they were late to class today, and ran out to go tag along with Susie.

As Noelle trotted out into the hallway, she could see Susie standing there, back turned. She seemed to just idle there for a bit, before pulling a stick of chalk out of her pocket and chowing down, eating it in one big chomp.

Huh, she enjoyed chalk. Noelle wondered if Susie would enjoy a lunchbox of the stuff....

Suddenly, Susie turned, glaring at Noelle, who desperately tried to keep her nose from glowing again.

"U-Um....h-hi, Susie...." She said nervously, her knees shaking.

Susie looked at Noelle, eyes wide.

"Oh....shit." She said, stalking towards Noelle, "Lemme guess, you're gonna tell Alphys? Get Big Bad Susie expelled for good? C'mon, I bet you'd be dying to do it."

"N-no, not at all!" Noelle interjected, raising her hands defensively, "I-I would never! Lips are sealed!"

Susie just glared, standing right in front of Noelle and looking her up and down, seeming to study her reaction, before deciding to let it go.

"Hmph, fine. Let's go, then." Susie said, turning back and walking off in the direction of the storage closet without a word. Noelle followed her and breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, felt disappointment. She always did wonder what it would be like for Susie to shove her into a locker....

"Noelle, really?" Noelle's SOUL asked, "I know you have it bad, but...."

"Shutupshutupshutup...!" Noelle said to her SOUL, which cackled a fair bit, before retreating into her body as Susie turned around.

"The hell are you on about....?" Susie asked, as Noelle's nose went red again.

"N-nothing at all! Just...um....."

*Talking to myself <----

*Yelling at a locker

"Talking to myself!" Noelle said, "I....think out loud....?"

"You were telling yourself to shut up?" Susie asked, snorting in amusement as Noelle began to nervously sweat.

"....yes?" Noelle squeaked, as Susie gave her loud cackle. After a bit of laughter, the dino girl soon calmed down, chuckling under her breath as she continued on towards the closet, not looking to pry any further.

Noelle breathed a sigh of relief and pointedly glared at her chest, as the SOUL seemed to give a shrug (or, as best a shrug it could do without limbs), before Noelle immediately slammed face-first into the storage closet door, not having been looking where she was going.

"Shit, you okay, Holiday?" Susie asked, as Noelle sprang up, chuckling awkwardly.

"I'm fine! Just...um...lost in my thoughts again."

Susie just rolled her eyes, tapping on the door.

"Well, anyway, we're here. Might as well get that damn chalk, or whatever...." The purple monster said, opening the door....and stepping back as she and Noelle were witness to something new.

Inside the closet was pure darkness. Not the usual dark closet darkness, but something akin to vantablack, the closet seeming to actively swallow all light that tried to enter, consuming it and leaving nothing but a void.

"Um....hey, Noelle? Is it me or is it....REALLY dark in there?" Susie asked, as Noelle responded with a quiet nod. It was eerie...the closet definitely wasn't normally like this, so what was going on...?

"What's the holdup? Cmon, just go in already!" Susie said, her voice shocking Noelle out of her deer-in-the-headlights state, the girl yelping and beginning to slowly tiptoe forward, nervous about what would happen.

After a while of this (aka, 30 seconds at max), Susie groaned, her annoyance triumphing over her reluctance to go in.

"Look, if you're gonna be a wimp about it, I'LL....." Susie started, before getting another view of the closet, immediately reconsidering, "WE'LL both go in at the same time!"

Susie then grabbed Noelle's arm, yanking her forward and, with a yelp from the deer, plunging them into the dark closet.

As expected, it was pitch black, with not much visible aside from Susie and Noelle themselves, with Noelle's nose, still glowing red from Susie holding her arm, barely lighting it up.

"Oh, uh...good thinking on using that nose of yours to give us some light." Susie said, as Noelle glanced around, laughing nervously.

"Y-yeah, totally intentional there...hehe...."

"Yeah, that's what I said...?" Susie said, confused by Noelle's nervousness, "Anyway, let's find the light switch. Can't see a thing right now...."

Susie let go of Noelle's arm and, after a minute of peering into the darkness and feeling around, she turned back to the reindeer girl.

"I don't see a switch...." Susie said, sounding worried, with her and Noelle walking in further to continue the search, "And this closet's a bit big, huh? Plus it's got....no walls."

Noelle stuck close to Susie, trembling. Her SOUL resonated with a weird sort of energy here, and combining that with how this closet was now an odd void....it was not doing her nerves any favors.

Susie then nervously chuckled, trying to put her brave face on again, with Noelle mostly able to still see her at this point thanks to her still glowing nose.

"Well, we tried. Let's just go tell Alphys to get her own damn chalk, cause this closet's clearly...erm...broken."

Susie grinned, walking over to the door....which immediately slammed shut, causing the two monster girls to jump back. Susie then ran up to the door and began pounding on it, roaring angrily.

"LET US OUT! IF THIS IS A JOKE, IT AIN'T GODDAMN FUNNY!" She yelled, with Noelle shaking in panic as the closet began rumbling, "W-wait, the floor! It's-"

Susie's statement was almost immediately cut off by the floor falling out from under the two monster girls, the pair soon falling into the inky black void beneath them.

As the darkness swallowed her vision, the last thing Noelle saw was Susie's falling body and the glow of her own SOUL, shining against the dark.

Chapter Text

"Azzy? Kris? D-Dess....?" Noelle called, sobbing in the middle of the woods, "P-please come out...."

She was curled up with her back to a tree, crying into her knees.

"C-Come back, Dess....t-this isn't funny.....!" She begged, "If Kris set you up to this, I'll...I'll...."

Noelle burst into tears once more, openly sobbing for her sister.

"P-please, come back...."

Noelle broke, pressing her face into her legs as she wailed. After what happened with the bunker...with Kris, and Asriel....and Dess....her sister....

Suddenly, she felt a yank on her very being, like something was tying itself around her, TO her. Something foreign, but...familiar. Oddly comforting. Something deeply personal and deeply alien.

"It's okay, Noelle." Said a voice, a small heart glowing on her chest, red strings forming out of it and wrapping around the deer girl before fading, "I'm here."

"W-who are you? W-WHAT are you....?" Noelle said, eyes widening and voice cracking from fear, her body wracked with choked sobs as the threads settled into her skin.

"A friend. Now, this may be hard, but I need you to forget what just happened, alright? It's all going to be okay...."

"W-wait, forget? What do you-"

And then the memory....ceased to be.

Dess had dissapeared. Noelle didn't remember how, and didn't like to talk about it. And so it was, and so it shall be.

Noelle slowly opened her eyes, groaning in pain as she hoisted herself up off the ground. Well, she probably wasn’t dead, despite having her last memory being falling into an all consuming abyss. So, her options were afterlife, Dream, or some other third, very weird thing. She was suspecting the dream one.

“Nnnope. Real.” The SOUL chimed in, interrrupting Noelle’s inner monologue by, well, BEING Noelle’s inner monologue, “But hey, you believe what you wanna believe.”

"Listen, I can only freak out about so much! Just....let's get our bearings at least." Noelle said, dusting herself off as she noticed something. Her usual attire, the green and red checkered sweater, white collared shirt, and black skirt were gone, replaced by....a long white dress with pale blue linings? And a pair of drawstrings on the collar, like a hoodie…? Wait, were those tiny angel wings on the back?

"W-what happened to my clothes?!" Noelle yelped, looking her outfit over.

"That ain't all." SOUL said, "You miiiight wanna check your hair...."

"What?! Why?!" Noelle asked, looking at a bit of her hair...and finding it now a much paler, almost whitish-green color compared to the usual blonde. Even her fur and horns were now a slightly more pale color. "HOW?!"

"Beats me, but I guess the closet gave you some magic hair dye. Cmon, let's go find Susie and a way out of here." SOUL commented, making Noelle's eyes widen. Susie! She fell here too! Noelle had to go find her, make sure she didn't...

No, no time to think about that!

"Just got to find Susie, find out what's going on and find a way out of the closet!" Noelle said, her face scrunching up in determination.

"You know, I could make a joke about the last one, but it's too easy." SOUL added with a hint of a chuckle in their voice.

Noelle blushed, mumbling in embarrassment as she walked onward into the darkness.

As Noelle walked forward, she saw something peculiar. A glowing mote of yellow light, four pronged like a star of sorts, floated in the middle of the path, with Noelle feeling herself drawn closer and closer, the light emitting from it warming her. It was something she felt like she should know, deeply and intimately, and remembered seeing it flickering before, but never this strong, this bright, this warm.

She reached out her hand, almost without thinking at all, to touch it, embrace the warm light, and....

*(Would you like to SAVE your progress?)

*Yes <----

*No

*(Progress SAVED.)

Noelle felt her body fill with the light, warming her from the inside out and emboldening her with....something. She felt weird, more determined, more whole.

"I....what just....?"

"That's a SAVE point. Just one of my many gifts to you." SOUL chimed in, "Think of them as refreshing stops to help keep you going. Now cmon, let's go get Susie!"

Noelle swallowed and nodded, getting a more intense look on her face as she mustered up the will to press on into the dark.

"Alright! I'm coming, Susie! Just hang on!" She called, heading onwards and leaving the glowing beacon of warmth behind.

"Ooooh, look!" SOUL said, steering Noelle down a side path, "I wanna see what's over here!"

"Sh-shouldn't we go find Susie? Like you said...?"

"After! Come onnnnnn, maybe there's something cool!"

Noelle sighed and reluctantly followed, before they came to the end of said path, spotting a glittering light inside a dark hole on a wall.

*(Take the glowing item?)

*Yes <----

*No

"Why do you keep doing these things....?" Noelle asked as she winced, sticking her arm into the mystery hole and grabbing what felt like...a rock?

"Cuz it's fun." SOUL responded, sounding a lot like Kris, before Noelle pulled what turned out to be a glittering gem shard, putting it in a pocket on her dress.

*(You got the GlowShard.)

"So, why did we get this, anyway?" Noelle asked.

"It was shiny."

"....You know what, sure." Noelle said after a brief pause, heading back onto the path, "Might as well. Maybe Dad'll like it..."

"Attagirl!" The SOUL chirped, "Now, back onto the main track!"

Noelle just sighed and rolled her eyes as she and SOUL went back to the main path, solving various puzzles with little eye symbols on them, with them involving Noelle weirdly having to stick her hands into more holes, and briefly bumping into a weird spore thing....which hurt like hell.

Noelle steered clear of any more of those spores.

Finally, the two of them encountered a weird lump making strange snoring sounds.

"It's blocking the way...." Noelle noted, "Should I....wake it up?"

"Yeah, poke it. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?" SOUL said, as Noelle leaned in.

"Um, excuse me, I need to-" She said, only to touch the lump....and fly back in shock as it immediately exploded with an odd groaning noise.

"AAAAAHHH! What was THAT?!" Noelle asked, having fallen right on her back from the shock, breathing heavily.

"I dunno....but it was fun! Let's do more!" SOUL commented.

"No! If I see any more of those things, I swear I'll...." Noelle said, walking into the next area....which was crowded with the lumps.

"Oh, come on!"

"Hah, score! Let's see if we can....wait, Noelle, you see that?" SOUL asked, forcibly swiveling Noelle's head over to a shaking dust lump at the very end of the path, blocking the way forward, "That one looks different....and it's making weird noises. We should investigate. Plus, it's in the way, so we probably should go explode it."

"F-fine...." Noelle said, "B-but only because we need to get past!"

As Noelle tiptoed around the lumps, trying her best not to wake them up, she got closer to the shaking one....and promptly bumped into two big lumps in front of it, setting them both off. The loud groan and sudden transformation of the lumps into clouds of dust and spores sent Noelle forward in shock again, colliding with the blocking lump, which also went up in puffs of dust.

"H-Hey, back off! Come any closer and I'll...." A familiarly gruff voice said, Noelle looking up and prying her face off the ground to get a better view of the new person....and finding Susie.

She looked different, though, her normal worn clothes replaced with a punk looking outfit with black combat boots, a sleeveless black jacket with a purple trim, spiked bands all along her arms, a light purple pair of pants tucked into the aforementioned boots, a darker purple shirt, and a yellow heart shaped belt buckle tying the ensemble together. That, and her hair had somehow changed from black to purple, and her skin took on a lighter, more vibrant hue.

Noelle's nose immediately started glowing as soon as she saw Susie in her new hot getup, the deer girl quickly scrambling to her feet.

"Susie! Are you okay?!" Noelle asked.

"N-Noelle?! I'm fine....b-but don't scare me like that!" Susie said, "Unless you want to get punched in the face, heh...."

"Um, y-yeah..." Noelle said nervously, "B-but I'm glad you're okay! A-and I like your new outfit!"

"Thanks, I guess...though I have no clue how my clothes got all....weird."

"Me neither....guess it's just another thing to add to the list today, huh?" Noelle commented, shrugging and cracking a smile, trying to bring some light to the situation, and succeeding in getting Susie to reveal her big toothy grin.

"Yeah, for sure. Alright, enough screwing around. We gotta find a way out of here." Susie said, looking at Noelle, "And since I got no goddamn clue WHERE we are, let's have you take the lead."

Noelle nodded. She admittedly did want to walk behind Susie a bit, but she had more important things to worry about right now! Like getting out of this closet and back home! And maybe looking at Susie's arms a bit before they did that!

"G-gotcha! C'mon!" She said, running ahead.

"N-not that fast! It isn't a race!" Susie yelped, huffing and puffing as she attempted to catch up, "S-slow....the hell....down....."

Noelle skidded to a stop.

"S-sorry!" She said, her cross-country experience betraying her, "I can slow down if you want!"

"That would be...better...." Susie panted, walking along with Noelle for a while.

Soon, after a while of walking, with Noelle mostly having no idea where she was going and just following SOUL's instincts, she turned around, hearing Susie's footsteps stop.

"Hey, Noelle." Susie said, pointing up to a cliff, where a silhouette of a small, stocky figure could be seen, looking like they were waving, "Someone's waving at us. Any idea what they want....?"

Before Noelle could respond, however, the figure summoned two glowing white projectiles with an odd magical "vrrr" sound, resembling the spade suit of a playing card, and flung them at Noelle and Susie, the two of them barely dodging out of the way.

"Shit!" Susie cursed, grabbing Noelle's arm and bolting, "Run for it!"

As they ran, Noelle could see the figure preparing more projectiles for attack, seeming to glare at the two girls.

It was time to run or die.