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“It was you this whole time, wasn’t it?” Susie stared across the smooth terrain of what had once been a hospital waiting room, her mind a mix of confusion and betrayal and terror. Across from her, Kris swayed unsteadily, still white-knuckling the blade they’d used to open the fountain.
Kris just opened a dark fountain. The thought felt weird in Susie’s brain, like a stick of unexpectedly-damp chalk. Your best friend just opened a dark fountain.
Kris, usually stone-faced, wore a strange, shameful expression. The look of it all was so wrong— Susie felt waves of fury begin to bubble up in her chest as puzzle pieces began to fit themselves together. This whole time, Kris had been helping exactly who they were claiming to fight against.
Kris had lied to her.
“This whole. Damn. Time.” She growled, eyes narrowing. “You’ve been opening fountains and watching us run after them like idiots! You’ve been working with the Knight !”
“Susie, I—” Kris’s voice was unusually strangled, as if it were an effort to even get the sounds out. The brief pang of concern Susie felt for them only lasted a moment before it was overtaken by the anger rising in her brain. She could feel her heart pounding hard against her chest as her hands began to shake with rage.
“Shut up! You lied to me— to Ralsei, to everyone, to—” Susie froze as a final, sickening connection snapping into place in her mind. “Noelle. You’re the reason why Noelle’s been so weird lately, aren’t you?” Looking back, it all made too much sense. The weirdness at Noelle’s house, how shaken she’d seemed in the dark world— all of it was after Kris had been alone with her. I can’t believe I didn’t see this sooner .
Upon the mention of Noelle’s name, Kris shook their head rapidly. “No. That— wasn’t me—”
“Sure. Just like how that fountain wasn’t you.” Susie scoffed. She regarded Kris for a moment before her hand went to the handle of her axe. “Man, I can’t believe I thought we were really friends... It’s going to make this suck so much more.”
Kris’s eyes widened, and for a moment, Susie saw what looked like genuine fear. If she weren’t so mad she’d be unsettled, but now— that terror was just fuel. So Kris was scared of her. Good. They were both finally back where they started. It was bound to happen eventually. After all, friends never last .
As she drew the Justice Axe, Susie tried her best to ignore the disappointment tugging at her heart. She hated how familiar this all was— even if she didn’t usually have a weapon in her hand, a good thrashing was how far too many of her past friendships had ended. Of course Kris wouldn’t be any different. Just because she’d hoped what they had was special didn’t make it true. It wouldn’t change what was about to happen.
“Susie, please, just— let me— explain—” Kris stumbled backwards, eyes fixed on the gleaming blade of Susie’s axe. Even their voice sounded wrong right now— all shaky and unsure. Susie hated how unfamiliar they sounded. Like an enemy .
“I don’t think there’s any way you could explain this to make it better,” Susie chuckled darkly. Though hurt still throbbed in her chest, she took a step forward, forcing her hands to steady themselves around her weapon. “Now, are you going to fight me , or are we making this quick?”
In a flash of movement, Kris drew their sword and lurched forward. Susie leapt back, scrambling into a defensive position— she’d forgotten how fast Kris could be. However, instead of the attack Susie was anticipating, Kris seemed to be focused on something else.
Susie watched as Kris sunk their blade into the ground, a wet squelch echoing across strange, sterile walls as they pinned something to the tile. Something red and pulsing was squirming against Kris’s sword, seemingly unfazed by its recent impaling.
Is that a SOUL? Susie stared at the object before her gaze flickered back to Kris, who was readying their shield.
“I’m—ready...” Kris mumbled, their tone almost resigned. It seemed like they had given up on any notion of Susie sparing them.
Good.
Susie lunged towards Kris, swinging her axe wildly at her friend. Kris parried, albeit less effortlessly than usual, and the blade bounced harmlessly off of Kris’s shield. Susie tightened her grip on her blade, prepared for Kris’s counterattack.
The two stared at each other in silence for a few moment as Susie waited. If she was going to fight them, she figured they at least deserved a chance to fight back. As horribly as Kris had betrayed her, they were still the best friend she’d ever had. It would be wrong not to grant them this small mercy.
Thirty seconds passed, then a minute. Susie narrowed her eyes.
“This is the part where you hit me, idiot,” She growled, hoping that her taunt would lead to any kind of a reaction from Kris. But they simply stared at her, with that same weird expression. Shame and terror and remorse.
“Fine, then. Don’t fight back. Makes it easier for me.” Steeling herself against the alarm bells ringing in her head, Susie swung again. However wrong this felt, she knew she was doing the right thing. She had to be. This anger was justified, and so was this battle.
This time, the axe connected with Kris’s side, the gleaming metal clanking against their armor. Kris gasped, their breath knocked out of them by the impact. Good . Susie thought, gritting her teeth. Maybe the pain will make you fight back .
But Kris didn’t move, only raising their shield a little higher. Susie could see how badly they were shaking— It was only one hit, they shouldn’t be this weak . Maybe they really were afraid. The thought both comforted and repulsed her.
Once again, Susie slashed at Kris, which they parried once more, a little more skillfully this time. Susie growled quietly, raising her axe to hit again.
Another swing.
A dodge.
Another swing.
Another parry.
Over and over again, Susie swung and missed. Even scared, Kris was a formidable opponent. The fight was starting to feel too familiar— she’d done this before, hadn’t she? This felt just like fighting Gerson back in his office; except this time, she really meant it.
Still, the similarities were hard to shake, and a terrible idea was starting to form in Susie’s mind. How did I manage to hit Gerson?
As if hearing her thoughts, magic began to crackle at the end of Susie’s axe. Focusing her energy, Susie trained her eyes on Kris, rounding out her spell before finally flinging it towards them.
Susie watched as the Rude Buster ripped through Kris’s shield and hit them square in the forehead, knocking them to the ground. She stepped forward, readying her axe for one final blow.
“Susie...” Kris coughed, a thin trickle of blood running from the side of their mouth. “I’m— sorry—”
Susie scoffed, glaring down at them. “Only once I kicked your ass. Listen— I don’t wanna kill you, man. You’re— you’re my friend. So just— say you’ll stop working with them, say you’ll stop opening fountains, and— we can call it even, okay?” She knelt to the ground, offering Kris a hand. Please, please take me up on this. Don’t make me hurt you any more than I have to.
Kris stared at her for a moment, their blood-red eyes glinting under the pulsing light of the fountain. Tears welled at the corners of their eyes as they shook their head. “I— made a promise.”
Oh. Slowly, Susie rose to her feet. Kris had made a promise . To the Knight. To Carol Holiday . That’s why they were betraying their friends. Susie couldn’t believe she’d been stupid enough to think that maybe , just maybe, she was Kris’s priority.
“Fine, then. But don’t think I’ll feel bad when the Knight has to come down and scrub you off of the floor.”
Susie forced herself to raise her axe once more, ignoring the voices in her head screaming at her not to do this. She had to. To prove to the Knight— and to herself— that it was a bad idea messing with her and her friends. This was for her friends— for Ralsei, for Lancer, hell, even Berdly. This was for Noelle , who Kris had ruined so thoroughly. This was for all the people they had hurt— she was doing a good thing .
So why did it feel so bad?
As the axe came down towards Kris’s chest, Susie faltered. This was wrong. There had to be a better way to do this. She shifted her aim a little to the left, trying her best to clear Kris’s fragile human body.
Unfortunately, Kris seemed to have the same idea.
It was like watching a train wreck. Susie could do nothing as she watched Kris attempt to dodge— as they rolled right into the blade of Susie’s axe.
With a sickening squelch , the axe landed in its target. Nausea bubbled up in Susie’s stomach as she realized what she’d done. “...Kris?”
Susie knelt beside her unmoving friend, panic beginning to set in the longer they went without responding. Did I really just—?
“Kris, c’mon, this isn’t funny, wake up,” Susie pleaded, all previous anger wiped from her mind. The blade was still wedged in Kris’s chest— Susie was afraid she might make it worse if she removed it. Even so, she could already see the blood beginning to well up around where the axe was buried. Humans didn’t dust like monsters— did they? Just because Kris was in one piece didn’t mean they were still—
No. Susie shook her head, forbidding the thoughts to take up space in her brain. She could still fix this. Kris couldn’t be—
Scrambling for any magical energy left in her body, Susie began muttering the healing incantation Ralsei had taught her. She’d gotten so good at it— maybe, if she tried hard enough and acted fast, Kris would be okay.
Susie watched desperately as she sent a surge of green light hurling towards Kris’s limp form. She waited— five seconds, ten, twenty— but still, they didn’t rise.
“Kris, please, I— I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it! Just— please, wake up .” Tears slipped down Susie’s scaly face. She shook Kris’s body, gently, trying to provoke any kind of a reaction— nothing. Maybe they really are gone.
Maybe you really did kill them .
The revelation, terrible and overwhelming, left Susie stunned. She’d really done it— she’d killed her best friend. The surge of guilt in her chest was worse than anything she’d ever felt. What was she going to tell Ralsei? What was she going to tell Toriel ? While she was fighting, the thought had occurred to her that this might happen, but— it didn’t feel real . She wasn’t supposed to really do it .
A desperate rustling from behind snapped Susie out of her spiral. She turned around, gaze landing on something she’d all but forgotten about— the SOUL . It was still wriggling against Kris’s sword, trying even harder now to get free.
Maybe this was how she could still fix things. Maybe Kris just wasn’t waking up because they left their SOUL on the ground— maybe this was their plan all along. Could humans die if it happened when their SOUL was somewhere else? Maybe Kris had just put it there to protect themself.
Cautiously, Susie rose to her feet, approaching the trapped SOUL. Hands shaking, she reached towards the sword, pulling it out of the ground. Almost instantly, the SOUL seemed to perk up.
Susie watched as the stab wound in the center of the SOUL quickly sealed up. Once it was whole again, the SOUL took off— much faster than Susie had ever seen anything move before— towards Kris’s body. She saw them jolt as the SOUL soared into their chest, and suddenly— Kris began to move.
Relief flooded Susie’s mind as Kris began to sit up, carefully pulling the axe out of themself.
“Kris!” Susie exclaimed, rushing over to her friend. “I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t mean to—” Her voice broke, a quiet sob escaping her throat as she watched Kris slowly stand. “I’m so, so glad you’re okay, I never wanted to—”
“Susie.” Seemingly revived, Kris finally sounded normal again. None of the shaky, scared, stranger they’d been only minutes ago.
They really are okay.
“That's right, I'm okay. there’s no need to apologize.,” Kris said calmly, a smile spreading across their features. Susie narrowed her eyes, taking a step back. How was Kris reading her thoughts?
Are they really okay?
“In fact, I should be thanking you,” Kris continued, once again closing the distance between them and Susie. “You’ve finally freed me.”
“—What?” The confidence and joy began to drain from Susie’s mind as she looked Kris over— they sounded like themself, but they seemed a little too happy for someone who had just been axed. Something was wrong here. “What are you talking about?”
Kris laughed softly, eyes glinting wickedly in the light. “Don’t worry about any of that. There's nothing wrong,”
They hummed, picking up their sword. “Let’s just focus on closing this fountain, okay?”
“O-okay, but-” Something is wrong something is wrong something is wrong something is—
“Perfect.” Kris cut her off, smiling wide in an unsettling way that didn’t quite reach their eyes.
Susie opened her mouth to say something, to protest, to ask Kris what was going on- but suddenly, she heard it. A whisper, in the back of her head. Familiar- Like Kris- but so, so wrong. What had she unleashed?
As the voice grew louder and louder in her mind, Susie could finally hear its message.
We’re going to have a great time together.