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“You… you…. what the hell do you think you’re doing, Dreemurr.”
Kris froze in their tracks.
‘ Dreemurr ’.
How the hell… did the Knight know their last name…?
It couldn’t actually be her. There’s no way.
The Knight’s clunky, armored footwear clanged slowly on the hard floor, and the noise echoed in the dark room. Kris, holding back from jumping out of their skin at each footstep, slowly turned around to face them.
They could only make out their head and their large sword dragging behind them on the floor, making a horrible screeching noise. The light radiating from the fountain was the only thing illuminating their figure.
The Knight stopped, only a few inches from Kris’s shaking body, staring down at their eyes.
And then they took off the helmet.
“Kris.”
Kris’s eyes lit up in a mixture of relief and terror. They… they knew it was her, and they were glad it was her, but… why did it have to be Dess?
She violently grabbed them and lifted them up by the collar of their cape, just barely lifting their heels off the ground till their eyes were level with hers.
“You didn’t answer my question .”
Her tone was an amalgamation of rage and desperation, almost as if she was… afraid? Afraid of… what? Them stopping The Roaring from happening? They didn’t understand. They couldn’t understand.
“I-I-”
Their voice got caught on the tears forming in the back of their throat. She dropped them, and they stumbled and fell backwards.
“I don’t wanna hear it, actually. You’re just going to give me some bullshit excuse on why you were about to seal the fountain, to destroy all my work. Do you know how fucking taxing it was to get where I am right now? To cause all of this? And you’re just standing there, trying to take this away from me?”
She sounded on the verge of tears.
Kris was paralyzed from fear, unable to say or do anything . Thoughts were racing through their mind, none of them comprehensible.
“...Dess, I-I’m sor–”
“ Shut up. ”
And before they could process what she muttered at them, her sword was pointed straight at their soul, barely scratching the surface of their chestplate.
“...Y’know what? No, I’m not even that mad about you sealing the fountain anymore,”
Her sword lifted up to strike them, and just before it could touch them, they pushed it back with their shield.
“...But you wanna know what I’m really pissed at?”
Their shield shifted back to its sword form, and they bolted up to their feet.
“...Feheh… you… you left me there.”
Their swords clanged against each other, and Kris was struggling to hold her back.
“You… saw me. You were there. But no, you didn’t even bother coming back.”
Their eyes widened, and their vision began to blur.
‘No, no– don’t cry now–’
“Did it not occur to you once… that maybe you should’ve told someone? That leaving me alone in that fucking bunker was a shitty idea?”
Dess dropped her hold on the sword. Her arm swung down to her side as the blade crashed on the floor.
“Kris… I’ve been missing my family, my friends, my life .”
“Dess, I–”
“Save it. I already know what you’re gonna say. ‘I was terrified too– I felt so guilty– blah blah blah’, yeah well I’m fucking tired of shit excuses.”
She was right.
That was exactly what they were going to say.
And it felt awful .
“...Do you know how lucky you have it, Kris? You have all these friends, you get to go on all these adventures,” her voice began to break, “while I’ve been stuck . For years. ”
She turned away from them, holding back tears.
“...I didn’t want any of this to happen, Dess.”
She looked off to the side, her eyebrows furrowed, confused.
“...What’re you saying?”
“I didn’t want to leave you. I-I didn’t know what to do , or if I could do anything.”
The room went silent, but only for a moment.
“Listen, I-”
Kris was quickly cut off. Chills moved throughout their entire body, and their soul glowed. Their arms, still holding their sword, moved up and quickly slashed at Dess.
This wasn’t them.
Dess didn’t make a sound, she just stared at them. In fear? Disappointment? They couldn’t tell. Their eyes widened in fear as their eyes traced down to her now bloodied-arm. They couldn’t move.
“...Kris?”
They couldn’t do anything. The only thing they could move was their eyes, which fell down to look at their hands, which were stuck in the same position, unmoving.
“...What the fuck… was that for…?”
They stayed unmoving.
“...So you really hate me that much…?”
She grabbed her sword off the ground and lunged at them, and they flinched away, causing her to stumble forward.
They weren’t moving by their own volition. No, this was someone else. Again.
She jumped at them again, this time catching their legs with the blade of her sword. They didn’t even fall over, though they wish they did. It felt like their skin was on fire. They wanted to scream, to collapse, to never get back up, but they couldn’t. They stood there, still.
“What is your fucking problem ?”
Silence.
“...First you try to seal the fountain, then you try to kill me? ”
No response.
“...I’ll fucking murder you , Dreemurr,” and she swung her sword down at their head. They fell back and pulled out their shield once again, before impact.
“Don’t even TRY fighting back, you’re already dead where you sta– ”
Something stopped her.
Something hit her in the back, flinging her sword out of her grasp, causing her to fall forward.
Kris quickly dodged, and she hit the floor, struggling to lift herself up with her injured arm.
“ Who the HELL is there!? ”
“Get your hands off Kris.”
A familiar voice rang through the room.
“...Susie?”
Susie quickly moved into the light, rushing over to Kris, helping them to their feet.
“You okay, dude? You look terrible.”
“Oh, it’s you ,” Dess snapped.
“Oh, fuck off, will you?”
The room went quiet, Susie and Dess staring at each other.
“...Oh fuck. ”
The realization of what Dess had just done had finally caught up to her. Her hand flew up to her mouth. She let her emotions get the better of her, she let them overrule her actions, she hurt Kris, she…
She began to break down into sobs.