Chapter Text
Lilly was SERIOUSLY beginning to question her life choices.
The skunk girl had been dating Jessica for a few weeks, although the human never admitted it publicly. Lilly’s friends kept telling her she was nothing but bad news, but she didn’t listen. The human girl was so… alluring… like a car crash, she couldn’t look away.
Which was why she was spending her Saturday in a dark, dingy tunnel, probably filled with asbestos while her “date” rambled on in front of her. (Okay, maybe she was less of a car crash and more of a tornado.)
“Nobody really knows why these tunnels were built. Most think it was probably for the Cold War. Bunkers ‘n shit. But why here? In the middle of bumfuck nowhere?!” The red-headed human said, waving her arms around. Her cuteness just barely edged out Lilly’s fear of this place. If her date was so calm, she could be too… right?
A sudden clanging from the darkness behind them made Lilly jump with a yelp, her date turning back to look at her.
“Ah, don’t worry about that. It’s probably nothing.”
“P-Probably?”
“Oh come ooooooon, girl, it’s not like there’s a murderer down here.” She said, turning forward and walking again… only to immediately turn back towards Lilly with a dramatic “OR IS THERE?!” Which elicited another yelp from the monster.
“W-w-wait, what?!”
“You don’t know?”
“C-C’mon, Jess, t-this isn’t funny.”
“Of course not, somebody died.” She said, turning around again and continuing forward.
As Lilly ran to catch up, Jess began talking again, “Y’know Hometown, those losers we always dunk on every championship? Weeeeell, let’s just say that a couple of years ago, the mayor's daughter “disappeared.’ They never found her, but she was last seen heading down into a tunnel… a tunnel that connects to these.” Lilly's heart began to race, and she felt a lump grow in her throat as Jess continued.
“Some folks think she ran away. Others think something happened down here. But some believe that her death wasn’t exactly… natural… some believe that she saw something she shouldn’t have, stuck her nose where it didn’t belong, and this time, mommy wasn’t here to bail her out. And who knows, maybe…” Jess turned around for dramatic effect once more,”THE CULPRIT IS-“She only got halfway, however, before noticing something.
Her companion was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, for fucks sake. Lilly? C’mon, this isn’t funny.” She said, walking up to a large pipe-like opening in the wall.
“Hellooooooo…?” She heard her voice echo through the pipe.
“J-Jess?” Came a response.
“Lilly? What the fuck?!”
“S-Sorry… I wanted to p-play a p-prank on you, but I slipped on s-something, and I broke my flashlight.”
“Seriously?” She said, exasperated, before venturing into the into the tunnel.
“You’ve gotta be- WHOAH!” The redhead slipped on something, dropping her light and smashing her face into the dirty concrete.
“Argh, fuck.” She spat, lifting herself up, blood from her freshly broken nose joining the strange, fine powder spread across the floor.
“What the hell is this?” She mused aloud, before looking up toward her flashlight, which had rolled to a stop right next to a second flashlight, Lillys…
Still alight.
The human barely had time to process this before she realized the combined lights illuminated something behind her.
A towering figure.
She barely had time to turn around before a claw-like talon clamped down on her throat, lifting her into the air to come face-to-face with her assailant.
It looked like a corpse. A gaunt, pale human face, seemingly no older than 16, stared her down. The skin around its face eaten away to reveal a metal jaw adorned with two rows of perfectly pristine teeth. Its glowing red eyes burrowed into the heart of her being.
The thing's grip was as metallic as its hands, leaving Jess gasping for air as her throat was crushed in a literal vice grip.
The thing raised its other claw, its teeth retracted, and the voice of her date flowed out of its metal maw, devoid of any intonation, tone, or emotion.
“Please remain still.” It requested, before reaching its hand into her mouth, its claws digging into the roof of her mouth, and its finger puncturing into the soft space between her top lip and the bottom of her nose.
She felt a sharp jerk, then nothing at all.
***
To say things had gone downhill for Kris Dreemurr since yesterday would have been an understatement.
Sure, being possessed by some thing that either couldn’t or wouldn’t communicate or even acknowledge their existence wasn’t exactly the best thing in the world, but it wasn’t the worst either.
They’d long wished that someone else would come along, take over their life, and straighten out the horrifically tangled mess it had become. And now, somebody was doing just that. And it’s not like they were completely locked in. They had some input. At times, they were even the one in control, and at others, they seemed to move seamlessly in synch with their new “partner,” as if they were one.
Plus, they got to go on a cool adventure and make two new friends, that was pretty nice too.
That was yesterday, today… wasn’t so pleasant.
Ever since they landed in this new dark world, this thing seemed to move with a purpose. It seemed to forgo all leniency and control it had given them. They hadn’t even been able to get a word in so far. It just marched onwards, and their companions didn’t even seem to notice.
Kris couldn’t exactly blame them for that. Ralsei literally only met them yesterday, and Susie’s frame of reference for their behavior, although not as small, was certainly limited. She already thought of them as the class zombie, so she probably wouldn’t be surprised when they started acting like one.
As this unknown force stumbled through a conversation with Berdly (it seemed to be even worse at small talk than they were), Kris couldn’t help but feel a dread rising in the pit of their stomach. How long was this thing going to act like this? Use them as a puppet?
They were beginning to feel strange. While at first under this thing's control, the movements it made felt alien, like something forcing itself into their body, forcing them to do what it wanted, now it felt like second nature. Like their brain was telling them to do something, and they did. It felt like they were the intruder in their body, not the other way around.
And then there was the headache. Kris has intimate experience with headaches, probably due to their general unhealthy lifestyle. So when they woke up with a slight headache after a day filled with more physical stimulation than they’d probably had in years, mixed with a decidedly large and unhealthy midnight snack, they weren’t exactly surprised, mainly miffed that they would probably be unable to take anything for it.
Now, though, it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. They’ve had migraines before, real bad ones, and they didn’t feel anything like this. This didn’t even hurt more. It just felt… more raw. More visceral.
They were so lost in their internal musings that they didn’t even notice the conversation flying by in front of them until a familiar voice cut through their inner dialogue.
“Kris, I… um… if it’s okay… G-got any room for another truce?”
“Of course.” They heard themselves reply almost before Noelle could even finish.
The doe filed in behind them, and they almost immediately turned and went back the way they came.
“Um… Kris? I-Isn’t this the way you came from?”
The entity ignored her, much as it continued to ignore Kris.
What the hell is this thing doing?
***
“Doesn’t really feel like we saved the world, does it?” Susie mused, confused. Her… odd meeting with Noelle burned into her head. She figured she should probably catch up with the other girl. Even if she couldn’t exactly tell her the truth, some part of her still wanted to check. She asked Kris to gather up all the stuff from the lab to bring back to Castle Town before quickly leaving the room to pursue Noelle.
…
Kris was alone. They stood up and moved over to the form beside them. They flopped it over on its back, blue ashy feathers sticking to their hands before quickly dissolving. It had already deteriorated a considerable amount.
Without pause, they plunged their hand into its chest and extracted a pale, white, decaying heart-shaped component, which quickly melted into their flesh.
They made a mental note to streamline the process. It had taken many hours of mental and physical taxation to complete to process one of the subjects, and the number in need of processing was easily in the triple digits.
Kris was more than willing to complete the mission no matter how long it took, but it would be preferable to streamline the process.
This was not the only problem Kris had to focus on, however. There was still the matter of the other.
Ever since Kris began the mission, they had been pestered by an odd presence. An unknown voice inside of their head. As it had no effect on their mission, they simply ignored it at first. However, during the process, the voice had changed.
There was still much to learn about how emotion, desire, and other such concepts were communicated through aspects such as tone and volume. Still, Kris had to assume the variety of different tones, volumes, and prolonged presence was emblematic of multiple behaviors linked to displeasure. Namely, desperation, begging, and anger.
The voice had gone quiet now. Perhaps it would go away, and Kris would not have to worry about it.
***
Susie barged into Noelle’s prison with a heroic kick, but she wasn’t expecting the room to kick back. The place was absolutely freezing. She began to shiver almost immediately. Looking around, she found the room (which was more bedroom than prison cell) was completely coated in a thin layer of frost. In the center, Noelle sat facing the only window.
“Noelle! I’m here to-“ Susie started, but her words died in her throat when Noelle turned to face her.
The doe looked awful. Her tired eyes were adorned with bags, while her face was stained with smudged makeup, her hair was frazzled and torn, and her once bright eyes looked dull and dead.
Shit.
“Noelle! Are you okay? What happened?” She asked, rushing to the other girls' side.
“Hm? Oh… yea, I just… I’m tired.”
“Noelle… you look…” While trying to find a word that wasn’t insulting, Susie caught glimpse of something wrapped around the other girl’s finger.
“What-” she reached out to grab Noelle’s hand, and the other girl flinched back.
“I-It’s nothing…”
“Like hell it’s nothing. You’re bleeding!”
“N-No I’m n-not… well… maybe I am, b-but it doesn’t matter!” The doe protested.
“The fuck do you mean?”
“B-Because, t-this is all just a dream, r-right? I’ll just w-wake up any s-second now and be a-okay!” Noelle said in a cheery voice that was obviously fake.
Susie paused for a short while. Noelle sounded horribly uncertain of herself. Her voice shook as she looked at Susie with an expression that seemed to be begging the larger girl to confirm her belief.
“Yea! This is uh… just a really weird ass dream…” Susie spoke faster than she could think, and although she really, really, didn’t want to lie to Noelle, she could tell something was extremely wrong.
She didn’t have the time to help the deer girl, though, and she didn’t even think she could. She had to stop Queen and help seal that fountain as fast as possible. And if lying to Noelle would make her feel better, or better yet, keep her out of harm's way, then there was nothing wrong with a little white lie… right?
“Just uh… stay here, and you’ll wake up soon, okay?” Susie flashed a goofy double thumbs-up at Noelle, which elicited a little giggle in the girl, which made Susie feel really warm and nice despite the frigid climate of the room.
Noelle seemed to stop shaking, which was good.
“Wait… if this is a dream… could you stay with me…?” Susie was surprised by this request, but just assumed she was still a little jittery.
“I’d love to! But I gotta go like, save the world and junk.”
“O-Oh… well in that case…” Noelle trailed off, before leaning in and planting a smooch on Susie’s cheek. “Go forth, my fearless hero!~” She said softly, punctuating her statement with a soft little giggle.
Susie was frozen for a moment, before belting out a “yes ma’am!” complete with a military salute, before barging out of the room.
WHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCKWHATTHEFUCK was all that ran through Susie’s mind as she almost barreled into Kris and a somehow asleep-yet-still-standing Ralsei.
“Wha-what?!” Ralsei yelped as he awoke.
“NOTHINGNOELLE’SFINELETSGOSEALTHEFOUNTAINNOW” Susie shouted while dashing towards the general direction of the fountain, leaving Ralsei scampering behind, with Kris pursuing at an unbothered pace.
***
It was seven minutes past midnight, and Kris lay awake in bed.
Something was wrong. It should have happened by now. Kris didn’t know what it was, but it should have happened by now.
It felt wrong. Once again, they didn’t know what it was, but it felt wrong.
Without much thought, they sat up, moved out of bed, and walked out of their room.
They walked down the stairs and out the front door. Past the car with unslashed tires, a detail they focused on for reasons they could not understand.
They walked until the pavement beneath their feet turned into dirt and grass. Till the buildings and streetlights turned to trees and shadows.
Eventually, with the moon as their guide, they came to their destination. A small structure in the middle of the woods.
They approached the doors, rusted shut. Instinctively, they stepped aside, and the doors flung open.
A figure stumbled out, falling onto their face, and quickly turning back to stare into the opening. They shuffled to their feet, panting heavily.
They froze for a moment, then stepped back, then stepped forward, then turned and ran into the woods.
Kris walked in front of the open doors and peered down.
The stairs descended into a seemingly impenetrable darkness.
The darkness was quickly penetrated by two glowing red dots.
The dots sped from out of the shadows towards Kris, revealing a tall, lanky, pale figure that reached a bloodied, clawlike appendage towards Kris.
A part of them was afraid. It begged for them to run, but the rest of them was calm. They understood. They knew it did not want to hurt them.
The instant it made contact, Kris’s eyes snapped open. They were standing in front of the structure, its doors rusted shut from years of disuse.
They could feel the cold fall breeze on their skin. They could feel the dirt and grass beneath their feet. The only thing they couldn’t feel was the fear, the voice, the other.
They were free.
They began back towards their house, in skin wholly their own, tethered to the earth, and untethered from all else.