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‘Okay, this should be easy,’ thought Kris, ‘ just like Catti said: focus on the knife, stab the floor.’
They knelt in the unused classroom at the back of the school. Their pocket knife shook in their fist. Their whole body was trembling, really. Being without their soul, or rather being without the thing that had replaced their soul, for this long was hard. There was intense pressure pressing in on their whole body that made it difficult to move. It didn’t hurt, per say. Everything sort of felt like it was happening to someone else.
They readjusted their headband, the one with the horns. The side effects of tearing out their own soul were almost worth it just to have it on again. The parasite didn’t wear it.
They plunged the knife down, and something like smoke poured from the wound.
The first thing Kris noticed, even before the falling sensation stopped and their vision cleared, was the quiet. The drone of the school’s old AC and the distant siren of officer Napstablook’s car faded to nothing immediately.
There was no wind rushing past their ears.
Their tinnitus stopped.
It occurred to Kris that they might be dead and that hell might just be falling eternally, but before they could panic about that, they landed softly, face down. The surface they were lying on felt hard and rough.
They lifted their head and saw that they were near the edge of a cliff overlooking a crimson forest. At one end of the forest stood a castle with giant playing cards around the gate, and from the castle rose a geyser of the same smoke-like substance that Kris had released when they’d opened the fountain, dark even against the pitch black sky. They seemed to be lying in a spotlight of some kind.
A snow-white paw came into view at the edge of Kris’s vision. “Here,” said a peppy voice, “Can I help you up?”
Kris let themself be pulled to their feet and came face to face with, “Azzy?”
The fluffy goat monster in front of Kris giggled behind his paw and said, “No, my name is Ralsei! It’s so nice to finally meet you, Kris!”
With another moment to look at Ralsei, Kris could see the differences. Asriel was much taller for one where Ralsei was the same height as Kris. The dress wasn't Asriel's style, and neither were Ralsei’s horns the right color. They were red as opposed to Kris's family’s pink. The pink was in Ralsei’s eyes instead, an iris color Kris had never seen in a monster.
‘It’s pretty, though,’ thought Kris, ‘ He must be a darkner. What did Catti say about them again? They’re based on objects?’
Well it wasn’t exactly what Kris had planned, but… “Hello, Ralsei,” they said with their most disarming smile, “I seem to be a little lost. Can you tell me where we are? This is the dark world, right?”
Ralsei beamed, a sparkle in his eyes. “Of course, Kris!” He launched into a rather long-winded explanation of dark worlds and dark fountains and darkners and a weird tangent about dark baking with dark candy which apparently involved explosions. Regular explosions.
Apart from the dark candy bit, which Kris filed away for later, it was all stuff they'd learned from that book Catti'd showed them years ago. Before Ralsei could start another thread, Kris jumped in and turned up the charm, “I could listen to you all day, cutie.” They really could. Ralsei’s voice was soft, sweet, almost melodious. “But I need to find a friend of mine. Do you think you could help me?”
Ralsei’s whole face lit up bright red through his fur, and he immediately tried to hide behind his ears. “O-oh! Yes, I’m happy to help, Kris! Let’s try, uh…” He looked around frantically. “Down that way!” He scurried off down a switchback path towards the forest, the frilly skirts of his dress lifted above the rocks and roots of the uneven ground.
Kris watched him run off, very pleased with themself. ‘Well that was easy,’ they thought, ‘Thanks, Azzy.’
Before they could follow after Ralsei, they got distracted by something next to the trailhead. Something was shining on the ground despite the fact that there was no sunlight to reflect. Kris tried to ignore it and get back on track, but they found themselves drawn to the spot, unable to look away. They reached for the light and felt warmth and strength flow into them.
*THE PATH LIES BEFORE YOU
*THE POWER OF SELF-DETERMINATION SHINES WITHIN YOU
Kris jerked their hand back and looked around wildly. ‘The fuck was that?!’
They didn’t see anyone. Nothing at all was moving. After a couple seconds, during which nothing continued to happen, Kris shook themself. ‘Forget it. Gotta catch up with Ralsei.’ They could still see Ralsei near the first turn in the trail and jogged after him.
Ralsei waited patiently for Kris to catch up, tracing patterns in the dust with his toes and avoiding Kris’s eyeline. He glanced up and flashed a quick smile when Kris approached before leading Kris further down the path in silence.
Ralsei spoke up a couple of turns down the trail. "S-so, um, who are we looking for, Kris?" He sounded much more shy now. Maybe even a little nervous.
Kris chuckled, "You don't have anything to worry about, angel. Dess is practically my big sister." They took a second to enjoy Ralsei's embarrassed sputtering and the flush on the back of his neck before continuing. "She's a reindeer monster. Dark hair, hooves, fur, that sort of thing, and if I'm dressed like this," They looked down at their armor, "then I'm picturing her all in red and green beating people up with a giant candy cane."
"She sounds… fun?"
Kris snorted, "It was usually my ass she was kicking, to be fair. And only after I pranked her sister real bad."
“And you want to find her?” Ralsei sounded pretty confused.
Kris managed to bite down their annoyance at the insult and instead sighed fondly, “Yeah, she’s the best.”
Ralsei fell silent, apparently not knowing what to say to that. Kris’s mind started to wander as they hiked. It was nice to be able to just move again. Especially since the symptoms of soullessness had faded since they’d entered the dark world. ‘One day, this’ll be normal again,’ they promised themself, ‘but Dess comes first.’
They reached a forest clearing at the bottom of the cliff. “Maybe the shopkeeper over there saw her?” Ralsei gestured towards a patchwork tent with a sign reading ‘SHOP’ over the flap.
Inside, the tent was cluttered. Most of the objects lining the shelves were chipped, cracked, or fully broken, and they were all dusty.
"Oh… a lightner has entered my humble Seap," Kris started at the exceedingly dry, monotonous voice. They had mistaken the patchwork cat slumped on its crooked stool for another piece of junk until it turned towards them and grinned. "and a human at that. Then the Angel's Heaven is here already?"
Kris exchanged a look with Ralsei. He clearly didn’t know what that meant either. “Uhh… Yes! Rejoice in Their light!”
“Ha ha ha…” The cat’s laugh was slow and completely humorless. “No need to pretend here, lightner. Noone else knows the prophecy of the delta warriors either.”
Kris could hear Ralsei giggling behind his paw again. They huffed, annoyed, “Well sorry, I haven’t paid attention in church in a while.”
“Me neither.” They grinned like there was some inside joke Kris wasn’t privy to. “The name’s Seam. Is there something I can do for you?” Seam’s tone wasn’t unkind. It was, at worst, slightly amused.
Even so, Kris was rapidly losing any hope that Seam would or could help. “My name’s Kris. I’m looking for my friend Dess. Seen any other lightners around here?”
This time, Seam’s expression came right up to the line of actual mirth. The effect was jarring. “Oh no, Kris. The lightners locked us all away in this prison and haven’t been seen in years. A lot of darkners still hope for their return, but it makes no difference to me.”
‘Well shit . ’ “None? No one? No loud, sweary, violent teen girl?”
“‘Fraid not. Thank you, though, for that image of the Lost Girl. That’s fun.”
Kris sighed, already turning to leave, “Okay, let’s go, Ralsei.”
From behind them, Kris heard Ralsei speak up, “Actually, could you hold on a second please, Kris?” They sighed again but stopped just inside the tent flap. “Seam, what did you mean by ‘ the Lost Girl’? It sounds like you’ve heard of Dess.”
Seam shrugged, still smiling, “Not by name. But when a human shows up in a dark world looking for a lost friend who happens to be a girl, who else could we be talking about but the prophesied Lost Girl?”
Kris spun around, “What? So you do know something.”
Seam looked back at Kris lazily. “I know several things. That’s kind of the job of a court wizard. Is there something you’d like to know?” There was a definite note of amusement in Seam’s voice now, and it was starting to really piss Kris off.
Kris marched back towards Seam’s stool, but before they could grab them and shake their stuffing out, Ralsei grabbed their arm. “Yes! If you could tell us about this prophecy, that would be great.”
“Oh? Is that what you want too, Kris?”
‘This fucking cat’s fucking smirk.’ Kris swallowed their anger and said through gritted teeth, “Yes, please, Seam.”
Seam’s grin widened briefly, and then their face took on a more serious cast, and they recited, “The fragile balance between Light and Dark will crumble at last when the Roaring Knight appears and fountains fill the sky. Into the chaos will come the Angel and their Heaven. Light and Dark will be no more, and all will be still. Only the Delta Warriors: the Human, the Monster, and the Lonely Prince from the Dark, can seal the fountains and restore equilibrium before all comes to an end.”
Seam smiled again. “That’s the short version, anyway. The version every darkner used to know. The full surviving text mentions some of the Delta Warriors’ allies: the Spearmaiden, the Snow Angel, the Lost Girl, and the Queen of Fire among others.”
Kris was on the edge of their proverbial seat. “Okay? And?”
“And?”
‘And I immediately want to strangle them again.’ “And what else does it say about Dess?”
“Not much, I’m afraid. Most of the text has been lost. She has some kind of connection, usually interpreted as friendship, with the Human.” Seam shrugged. “That’s about it, but my copy is around here somewhere. You can take it if you want.”
Ralsei immediately started sorting through the mess in the tent. Kris decided against it. “I assume this ‘Lonely Prince’ is in the castle over there?”
“I doubt it,” said Seam, “I worked there once, and the princes all had each other at least. The Prince from the Dark is supposed to be the only darkner in his kingdom.”
“Oh, that sounds terrible!” said Ralsei from among the junk, “I don’t think I could handle that.” He shuddered before going back to his search.
Kris changed the subject, “So there’s an Angel and a Snow Angel?”
Seam shrugged again. “That one’s a translation quirk. The words for ‘divine messenger’ and for ‘imprint left in the snow’ were different in the original language, but ‘angel’ scans better.”
Kris stood there and stared at Seam awkwardly, trying to think of another question to avoid searching. Before Kris’s self-consciousness could outweigh their stubbornness however, Ralsei held up a loosely bound stack of papers triumphantly.
As they were leaving, Seam called after them, “I would wish you luck, Kris and Ralsei, but you’re dealing with prophecy. You’re beyond luck now.”
‘Good,’ thought Kris, ‘then no one can stop me.’
“Well that was frustrating,” said Kris as the flap closed behind them. They took a breath and shook it off, smiling at Ralsei, “Thanks for your help in there, babe. I couldn’t have gotten that out of them on my own.”
Ralsei beamed. “I’m happy to help, Kris!” Kris was impressed that he wasn’t stammering or trying to cover his blush at all anymore.
Kris started pacing. “Okay, let’s think. Plan A: ‘Walk in, grab Dess, walk out’ has failed. Does this prophecy shit affect plan B?”
“Well, what was plan B?” Kris glanced up to see Ralsei’s head cocked expectantly.
“Plan B was to get other people who know Dess into the dark world,” explained Kris, “If I can show enough people that there’s a magic underworld, then fuckin’ someone will figure it out. Noelle and Mom will be easy, but Rudy and Carol’ll be harder.”
Ralsei’s head was cocked the other way now. “Um… why can’t you just tell them where Dess is?”
Kris grimaced and waved a hand, “Long story. I’ll tell you later. But yeah, I basically have to trick them into a fountain and hope.”
"Okay?" said Ralsei, still sounding a little concerned. "You still need a monster teammate, right? So the prophecy expects someone else to get involved. You might as well choose someone specific."
Kris nodded, "You're right; that must be Noelle. Then we just need a 'Lonely Prince from the Dark.'" They thought on this for a second before saying, "Oh well. It's a prophecy, right? It'll work itself out."
“Yep! I’m sure you’ll do great! I’ll see if there’s anything in Seam’s book I can use to help you.”
The two of them started walking back up the trail towards the exit.
“Sounds good,” said Kris, rubbing their hands together and smirking, “I’ll get started on my traps.”
“Ooo, huff...” Ralsei’s interested noises were interrupted by panting. His dress was really not meant for hiking, and wrangling it off the ground looked to Kris like a lot of work. “What’s the plan, huff… huff… Kris?”
“Huff…” ‘Would some cardio now and then kill you, asshole?’ “Well… First I steal Alphys’s chalk. Then Noelle volunteers to go get more. Then… huff… she falls into the fountain in the supply closet.”
They fell quiet after that. ‘There’s no way it was this steep on the way down, thought Kris, Maybe the dark world doesn’t want me to leave. Or maybe Seam is fucking with me.’
Eventually, arcane interference or not, Kris and Ralsei reached the plateau. Ralsei immediately sank to the ground to catch his breath, and Kris was happy to join him. They sat close enough that they could press their shoulder to Ralsei’s.
Once they’d recovered from the climb, Kris said, thoughtfully, “Thanks again for your help Ralsei. I was planning on doing this alone. I’m glad I met you, though.” They dropped their head onto Ralsei’s shoulder and felt him tense up almost immediately. They could also feel the softness of his fur on their cheek. It reminded Kris of their mom and of Asriel and of all the times the two of them along with Noelle and Dess warmed up by the fire on a snow day. They’d forgotten how much being possessed had dulled their sense of touch; they were stunned.
"...so that's why - Kris? Are you okay, Kris?"
‘Oh, Ralsei's saying something.’ Kris started, picking their head off of Ralsei's shoulder with a jolt. "Yeah… yeah, I'm…" Kris was embarrassed to find that their voice was thick and there were tears in their eyes. They cleared their throat. "It's been a long night. I should get moving." They stood up, facing away from Ralsei and wrapping their arms around themself.
“Oh!” Kris could hear Ralsei getting to his feet. They took the chance to steady themself. “Okay, Kris. I’ll see you soon, right?”
“What do you mean, Ralsei?” Kris spun around, purposefully twirling their hair, extending a hand to Ralsei, and smiling with as much charm as they could muster. “You’re coming with me, aren’t you?”
Now it was Ralsei’s turn to be overwhelmed. One paw flew up to cover his mouth, although it failed to stifle his adorable squeak. His eyes blew wide, and his whole face lit up again, brighter than any time before. He slowly nodded and took Kris's outstretched hand. Kris’s expression softened, and they stepped backwards into the light, pulling Ralsei along with them.
There was a brief sensation of rising as if Kris were floating up through water. When both the lightness and the actual light of the portal faded away, they collapsed backwards almost immediately under the weight of soullessness.
‘Oh right,’ they thought, ‘this fucking sucks.’
They took a second to get their bearings. They were back outside the unused classroom, leaning on the door. It was still pitch black outside, and in their hand was a plastic headband with red horns.
Kris sighed, ‘Well shit. I hate being right.’ They put the headband back on for the last time.
With a huge exertion of will, they pushed off the wall and staggered over to the supply closet. Once they managed to get the doors open, they started piling supplies into an empty printer paper box, schlepping everything over to the unused classroom, and tossing it into the fountain. It took a few trips, but on the plus side they didn’t get sore or tired. The horrible physical sensations they experienced would continue unchanged until they let the usurper soul back into their chest.
Once the closet was empty, Kris shuffled into the back corner. They took off their headband and sighed sadly, “Thanks for everything, Ralsei. I’ll see you soon.”
They placed the headband up on the highest shelf and retreated to the middle of the closet. They raised their knife.
Kris once again landed on bare rock, though they managed to stay on their feet this time. The stone was the same deep, midnight blue as the last dark world, and the sky was the same jet black. Before Kris this time however, was not a cliff or a forest but a gate, beyond which was a small town square.
The castle visible from the crossroads where Kris had landed was an encouraging sight, but they started getting really excited once they walked into town and saw that all of the buildings were two-dimensional.
‘It worked!’ Kris thought as they examined a flat bakery, grinning wildly. ‘There's nobody here! I just gotta find my prince and we can get this prophecy rolling.’
Kris kept moving through the town, past a dry fountain and up the steps into the castle's courtyard. In front of the great doors stood a figure. He was wearing a new green dress and pointed hat, and his face was obscured by round glasses and a scarf, but there was only one person he could be.
"Hey, Ralsei," said Kris, walking towards him with limitless confidence, "Love the new look; that dress looks great on you.” Ralsei didn’t say anything. He just stared, expression unreadable behind his accessories. Kris pressed on. “How’s being a prince?”
“It’s lonely, Kris.” Ralsei’s voice was melancholy but still gentle and soft.
Kris stopped just a couple feet from Ralsei. “Good thing I’m here then,” they said with a grin, “Did Seam’s book have anything interesting in it? You had time to read it, right?”
Ralsei sighed, the first time he’d visibly moved since Kris had shown up. “Yes, I did. The Delta Warriors go around closing the fountains that the Roaring Knight opens.” Ralsei saw Kris about to speak and said, “And yes, they meet the Lost Girl in one of them.”
Kris nodded. “Cool. Any guesses where I’ll open other fountains? Or specifically the one with Dess in it?”
There was a pause. “Kris, you…” Ralsei sounded a little confused, “You aren’t the one opening the fountains.”
“Why not?” Kris asked with a shrug. “Someone has to. I opened this one and the one we met in.”
“It’s the Roaring Knight that opens fountains, not the Human.”
“I could be a knight,” Kris countered, gesturing to their armor. “I look kinda like a knight already.”
“Well, but,” Ralsei spluttered, “opening fountains puts the whole world in danger?”
Kris just shrugged again. “I mean, I don’t want to end the world, but as long as the Delta Warriors do their job, it’ll be fine, right?”
“The Human and the Roaring Knight can’t be the same person, though.” There was an edge of desperation in Ralsei’s voice now.
This point gave Kris pause. “Hmm… Well there’s the soul that puppets my body around most of the time. You think that’d count as a different person?” Ralsei just stared, clearly taken aback, so Kris continued, “I mean I don’t know if it actually is a human soul, but it would definitely be a human body, and it wouldn’t be me.”
“Kris, what… What on Earth are you talking about?” Ralsei had been obviously confused for this whole conversational thread, but now he sounded completely lost.
“Uhh…” Kris had never actually had to explain this before. “You know how I said I can’t just tell people where Dess is? It’s because I’m not usually in control of what I’m doing. The night Dess disappeared, I lost my soul, and this other fucker showed up and took over.” Ralsei’s paws flew to cover his mouth in horror. Kris continued, nonchalant, “It’s fine. It mostly just makes me go to school and stuff, but I can’t say or do anything about Dess. Sometimes it gets distracted thinking about something, and I get to be in control for a few minutes.”
“Kris,” said Ralsei, slowly lowering his paws, “I am so sorry. That sounds terrible. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Kris waved a hand and glanced away, slightly flustered, “It’s fine. I’ll figure it out once we get Dess back.” They grinned and took a step closer to Ralsei, “It’s sweet that you want to help though, cutie. Maybe the book had a hint for me?”
Kris reached up to caress Ralsei’s cheek, but he sighed and brushed away their hand, “Kris… I still don’t think you should do this. How are you even here if you’re not in control of yourself?”
‘Well he’s not gonna like this.’ “I took it out, Ralsei.”
There was a beat while Ralsei processed what Kris said, “What!?” he yelled, “You removed your soul!? Are you okay!?”
Kris flinched back from the sheer volume. “Yeah! Yeah I’m fine. Being in the dark world helps apparently. Getting here was fucking hard, but I’m fine for now.” Ralsei looked unconvinced, worried, maybe even scared. It was more than Kris could handle. “Don’t look at me like that! No one else knows what happened! I’m the only one that can help her.”
“Kris… you can’t do this. You’re hurting yourself.” Ralsei spoke gently now, and not unkindly.
“What? No, I have to-”
Ralsei interrupted, anger bleeding into his tone, “And, and you hurt me, too! You left me alone again! Kris, I trusted you, and you used me! You’re still trying to use me!” Ralsei’s scarf had reared up like a scorpion’s tail. He took a breath. “You know what I am. I thought you cared about me. What are you going to do when someone you don’t know tries to stop you? I don’t want to see you hurt anyone.”
“Ralsei, I’m sorry, but-”
“And that’s not even mentioning,” Ralsei plowed ahead, “that you’re putting the whole world in danger! I know you miss your friend, but you can’t just-”
That was over the line. Kris snapped.
"I don't care!" they yelled. They breathed heavily in Ralsei's stupefied silence. "I don't care, Ralsei! I will burn the world to the ground if I have to. I will hurt whoever I need to hurt. I will tear out my own soul as many times as it takes to find her!"
Kris's anger burned out as quickly as it had flared, leaving only fatigue and desperation in its wake. “I finally have a chance to do what I want to. I have a chance to help everyone I love at once. To, to fix the worst thing that’s ever happened to us. I can’t just pass that up.” As Kris spoke, the look on Ralsei's face slowly changed from concern and hurt to wide-eyed awe approaching adoration. His beautiful eyes were wide behind his glasses, and his scarf had fallen down to show that his mouth had fallen open.
“It was my fault, Ralsei. I have to… I have to.” They stepped forward and put their hand on Ralsei's cheek. His fur was one of the softest things they'd ever felt. "Please," they said, softly, "Help me, Ralsei. Help me find Dess, and save the world along the way so she has something to come back to."
Ralsei's eyes widened further, and a blush returned to his cheeks. After a moment, he staggered forward and hugged Kris, burying his face in their neck. Kris could feel the heat radiating through his fur. They squeezed him back as hard as they could.
They stood there for a while, just holding each other in the silence.
"...okay, Kris," came Ralsei's voice eventually, barely audible, "Do what you have to do. I'll make sure nothing bad happens."