Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kris felt hollow.

This was not a new feeling for them, unfortunately. But ripping one’s own SOUL out does have some consequences.

Now you might ask: “Why are you ripping your own SOUL out, Kris?”, and that’s a fair question. The answer was that two days ago, Kris’ SOUL had decided to not act like Kris at all, and take control of their body, forcing them to do horrible things.

What kind of horrible things?

Talking to people.

Oh, it was unbearable. Their SOUL dragged them around town, talking to anybody and everybody on the street! They even willingly chose to interact with Berdly! It was pure torture.

So, in such cruel conditions, can anyone really blame Kris for wanting a break? No, I think not.

Which leads us to now.

Kris was over at their friend Noelle’s house. Officially, Kris, Noelle, and another friend, Susie, were there to work on a group project for school. Unofficially, Kris and Susie were there searching for an access code to the emergency shelter south of town. More unofficially, Kris already knew the code while their SOUL did not. And that was not something Kris wanted to change.

So when no one was looking, Kris had just…popped their SOUL out and stuffed it in a box. And then they chose to do the first thing anyone would do after having their free will restored.

They went to the kitchen to make a tall glass of chocolate milk.

Truly, their priorities were in perfect order.

It did also put them in the position they wanted to be in. Kris was expecting a call soon, one that he didn’t want Susie, Noelle, or the SOUL overhearing. With the SOUL boxed up, and Susie and Noelle mutually distracting each other, it was the perfect time for receiving secret information. They set their cell phone on the counter, ready for the important call.

So of course, that’s when the kitchen door burst open.

“Kris!” Susie exclaimed, marching towards the counter where Kris was preparing the chocolate milk. “We need to talk.”

“Susie!” Kris spoke hoarsely. Oh right, they hadn’t had control of their vocal cords in three days.

Kris coughed.

“Aren’t you supposed to be distracting Noelle?” they said.

“What? Oh, she’s getting supplies out of her room. Anyway, it’s about last night.” Susie said.

Ooh, not good. See, last night, Susie had slept over at Kris’ house. And while she was asleep Kris may have…pierced the veil between reality and dreams, creating a fountain of darkness that warped the living room into a twisted gameshow hosted by Kris’ own TV. And that may have led to them nearly getting killed by someone called The Roaring Knight who had previously opened two other Dark Fountains.

No biggie.

“So, something’s been bothering me. How exactly did a Dark Fountain appear in your living room?” Susie began.

“Cause the door was locked when I passed out. And the only other people who were there were you and your mom.” She continued.

“Uhh…" Kris said.

“And your mom doesn’t know how to make a Dark Fountain.” Susie finished.

“Susie, what are you-“ Kris started.

“Don’t try to deny it! You made a Dark Fountain!” Susie yelled.

“But...but, this is crazy, I didn’t do it!” Kris said, trying to sound innocent.

Suddenly, Kris’ phone rang. It buzzed once, then twice, then a third time before stopping.

“This is Kris Dreemurr, leave a message, I probably won’t listen to it.” The prerecorded answering message rang out.

Both of them stared at the phone.

“Hey Kris, it’s The Knight, the one you opened a fountain in your living room for.”

Susie turned to stare at Kris.

“Yeah, I just wanted to say thanks again for opening the fountain, the Dark Fountain.”

Kris started sweating and tried to turn the phone off.

“I got Undyne in the shelter now and I…uh…just wanted to say thanks again for opening the fountain. The Dark Fountain. ”

Kris was now frantically trying to end the message. As if somehow knowing that this was going to happen, the person on the other end starting talking faster.

 “That-let-me-kidnap-Undyne-who-is-now-in-the-shelter-goodbye.”

The message ended, the dial tone ringing in the silence.

“Uh…don’t…don’t you just hate wrong numbers?” Kris tried.

“YOU’RE WORKING WITH THE KNIGHT!?” Susie yelled.

Oh, this is going to hurt.

Outside the window hiding in the bushes, a figure lowered the cell phone they had against their ear.

“Heh, all part of the Plan. It all Comes Together. Soon I will have The Beard.” The Roaring Knight, Jockington, spoke.

Chapter Text

Asgore was a straightforward man.

He liked his flowers.

He liked his two kids.

He still liked his ex-wife, in spite of how much she kept pushing him away.

And he was committed to maintaining peace. It’s what had made him such a good chief of police, back in the day.

*CRASH*

Ah, and there was his youngest child now.

“Kris, why were you just flung out of the Holiday’s kitchen window?” he asked the young one. “While I would not be surprised if Carol had done such a thing, she is at the town hall right now.”

To their credit, Kris seemed to take the situation quite well. They stood up, dusted the shards of glass off of them and turned to their adoptive father.

“Dad, can I borrow your keys?” they asked.

“What for?” Asgore asked, now concerned for what happened.

“I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU, KRIS!” the two heard. Looking back at the broken window, they saw a very angry Susie climbing through the mess.

“That.” Kris said.

Asgore reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. He handed them to Kris.

“Go.” He said to his child.

“Thank you, father.” Kris said before fleeing.

“Oh no you don’t-“ Susie began to chase them, but her path was blocked by a rake.

“Is there any chance we could settle this over a nice cup of tea?” Asgore asked the enraged girl.

“Hell no.” she responded.

“Ah. A shame.” Asgore looked down. The responsibilities of a father never ended, it seemed.

With a scream of rage, the rude girl engaged the flower king.

Noelle was having an interesting day. Well, weekends in general tended to be more interesting.

Firstly, her father had been able to make it to church today! It was amazing! He had been sick for so long now, it was so nice that he had finally improved enough to come watch her sing in the choir.

Kris had also made it to church too! And it was a whole minute before they fell asleep during the sermon! An absolute miracle!

And even better than that, Susie had shown up to church! That hadn’t happened, like, ever!

And Susie liked her singing!!!!!

Noelle maybe had what some might call a minor...complete and total crush on the purple dinosaur monster.

So having said crush come to church for the first time ever, compliment her singing, and then ask to come over to her house?

Well, it was almost too much for the poor deer girl.

Thankfully (and also unfortunately) Kris also was coming over, so they could all work on their group projects.

Or so they said.

Even crush-blinded, she wasn’t dumb. Kris and Susie seemed to really need to search through her house for...something.

But Noelle thought that would be fine. Kris may be a prankster, but they weren’t actively malicious. Whatever they needed couldn’t cause that much trouble.

So she left them to get some supplies from her room.

She already had them here, might as well see if she can actually get Kris to not procrastinate an assignment for once.

Surely, in the two minutes she was gone, nothing could-

*CRASH*

Noelle was unsure if she should be afraid of what had happened, or thankful that Kris and Susie had only become friends in the past couple days instead of earlier.

Noelle hurried downstairs and into the kitchen. Instead of her two guests, she found a broken window.

Left on the counter was a cell phone, a half-full glass of chocolate milk, and a red heart-shaped object. That was odd...

Kris doesn’t leave chocolate milk unfinished. Whatever happened here, they must have had to leave quickly. Out the window, it seems. She walked over and looked at the heart shaped object.

Her mother, Carol, seemed to really like collecting things like this. Heart shaped stickers, heart shaped pillows, heart shaped anything. There had to be dozens of things like this all around her house.

She picked it up. It felt strangely warm.

What, had Kris been cuddling it while sipping on chocolate milk? Moving over to the broken window, she tried to see if she could find out what happened.

Outside she saw Mr. Asgore who was...fighting Susie? Mr. Asgore appears to have tried to keep Susie away with a rake, but Susie had simply bitten the rake and was now holding on to it like an animal. Kris was nowhere to be seen.

What the heck was going on?!

Without even thinking, she moved the heart closer to her chest, nervously wondering what she should do.

She couldn’t look away.

She

She couldn’t

She couldn't move.

“Oh, this is weird.” Noelle suddenly heard a voice not her own in her head.

Chapter Text

The SOUL currently belonging to Kris Dreemurr liked to think it had a unique perspective on things.

This was for multiple reasons. Firstly, in terms of linear time, it had only existed for about three days. Secondly, despite that previous statement, it had truly lived for four-hundred days, twelve hours, and about thirty-seven minutes. Thirdly, it had become very familiar with the three days of it’s existence.

How is this possible? Well, it was a very simple cycle.

The SOUL would wake up on Thursday,  go to school, get paired with Susie on a group project, go get chalk from the closet, and have an adventure in an alternate plane of reality.

On Friday, it would wake up, fall asleep to Berdly’s narration, not work on a group project, go to the librarby, and have an adventure in an alternate plane of reality.

Friday night, Kris would do something funny, and then they would have an adventure in an alternate plane of reality, and then nearly die to The Knight.

Today, they would go to church, snoop around Noelle’s house, then go back to the church to have an adventure in an alternate plane of reality.

Then they would wake up on Thursday, and do it all over again. And again.

And again.

The SOUL considered this to not be the worst existence one could have. The adventures were certainly fun. But they had gotten…repetitive.

So, the SOUL tried to change things. Say something different here, do something different there. Anything to mix it up a little. But it didn’t work.

So the SOUL tried to go further off the rails. Break the story entirely. But that had failed even worse. It was as if the universe itself was against the SOUL, forcing it to stick to a script of events.

And yet, this run, when they had given up the idea of going beyond the story, something had changed. Susie had done…something, and now her and Kris were way off track!

Even crazier….

The SOUL looked at the arms of her new host. Took a few steps around the room, noting the difference of walking on hooves versus human feet.

How interesting.

She had considered what might happen if someone else picked her up here, during the longest time Kris ever left her unattended and uncaged. But it never seemed to happen. Something always got in the way.

Yet not this time, it seems. It was different, having control over another. Kris’ thoughts were always there with the SOUL, but they always felt like background noise. Suggestions, that the SOUL could ignore quite easily if it wanted to.

“ohangelwhatishappeningwhatwasthatthingwhycantIcontrolmyselfwhatdoesitwantpleaseletmego!!!”

Noelle’s, on the other hand, were quite louder.

“Wow, you think loud.” The SOUL thought, still getting used to the new form.

“Oh it can hear me….”

The SOUL stopped.

“You can…also hear me?” she said. Kris never could. Or at least, they acted like they never could. It was quite annoying.

“Yes…is…is that not how it’s supposed to work?”

“I wouldn’t really know, you’re only the second person I’ve ever…possessed? Inhabited? Those sound too mean.”

“SECOND? Who was the first? Also, WHAT ARE YOU?”

“Kris. And I’m a SOUL.”

The SOUL watched Susie and Asgore continue to play tug-of-war with the rake. It was quite funny.

“HUH? You’re Kris’s soul?!”

“No, SOUL. Gotta put the right emphasis on it.”

“Like, soul?”

“Wrong kind, think more big than bright.”

“SOUL.”

“There you go, that’s how you pronounce it.”

“Okay. Wait, if you’re here, where’s your body?”

“Running around somewhere, presumably.”

“Huh? Aren’t you like, the complete essence of Kris or something? How does your body function without you around?”

“Oh, no I’m not Kris. I’m just the SOUL in Kris’ body. Kris is still themselves. I’m pretty sure I was supposed to end up somewhere else.” Memories of a dark void and a discarded vessel flashed for the SOUL. “But then I just woke up in Kris on Thursday.”

“That’s…odd. And raises a lot of questions about the afterlife.”

“I’ve not thought about it too hard.”

The SOUL found a broom and dustpan, and began to sweep up the broken glass that was on the kitchen floor.

“Mom is going to be so mad about this…”

“I don’t have much context about your friendship with them, but I think if we blame Kris for this, that will at least get you out of the line of fire. Or line of ice, I suppose.”

The swept up glass was then placed in the trash can.

“Okay, thank you for cleaning that up. Now could you please leave. I would like my body back.”

That was fair, she supposed. She reached her arm out and plunged it into her chest.

*smack*

Only to just hit against the sweater she was wearing.

She tried again.

*smack*

*smack*

“Um…”

*smack*

Maybe lower, more in the stomach?

*smack*

Ow.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to get myself out of here.”

“And that involves smacking me a lot?”

“I don’t know, this is what Kris does. They just kinda…shove their arm inside themselves and rip me out.”

“That...that sounds like it’s going to hurt! A lot!”

“I mean, it doesn’t hurt me. But yeah, it did seem like it hurt Kris.”

*smack*

“Then stop!”

She stopped.

“Do you have a better plan?”

“Um….Go find Kris?”

That was a better plan. She walked back over to the broken window.

Susie and Asgore were gone. All that was left was a broken rake.

“This may take a bit.”

“That’s fine, I suppose.”

She CHECKed her pockets. Cell phone, keys, the ring Rudy gave Noelle, and a…fancy thumbtack?

“Oh, that thing. I found it in there yesterday after this weird dream I had. Actually, come to think of it…”

The SOUL was unsure where this was going.

“I didn’t realize at first, but I swear, I heard your voice during that dream.”

Sorry Susie. Might be better to just let her in on it.

“Okay, confession time.”

“Huh?”

She left the house, making sure to lock the door as she left.

“That wasn’t a dream. All that actually happened.”

“A…All of it?”

She walked down the street, looking for signs of where Susie or Kris had gone.

“Yep.”

“Queen kidnapping me.”

“Mmhm.”

“Berdly hitting me with tornadoes.”

“Yeah, those can be tricky to dodge.”

“The giant mech fight!”

“Was very fun.”

“Berdly almost accidentally starting the apocalypse.”

“Oh, yeah. Dodged a major bullet there.”

Noelle was silent. The SOUL continued to look, but could find no traces of them.

“Man, it’s like they just vanished!”

“I have…so many questions.”

“Story of my life.”

She stopped.

“Actually.”

She turned to walk down a different street.

“Why are we going to the school?”

 “I think I know who could get us both some answers.”

Chapter Text

Kris regretted leaving the SOUL behind.

Really, they regretting picking it up in the first place. But they had no choice. Their own SOUL wasn’t strong enough.

Damn if there weren’t consequences, though. The lack of agency. The odd choices. The time loop they were pretty sure the SOUL was stuck in.

They woke up on Thursday unable to move of their own free will, with disturbingly accurate flashes of the events of the past couple of days. And then they hadn’t gotten hit once until, like, the end of Cyber World. The SOUL clearly had done this before.

It didn’t change the part they had to play, though.

They frantically flipped through the keys, looking for the one that would unlock the Flower King shop. Finding it, they opened the door and ran inside.

Dad would buy time. Not much, but enough. He knew his part too.

Moving to the back room, Kris looked upon their father’s sad living conditions. They knew why Mom would never take him back, but they still wished better for the man. Maybe after all of this…Kris could…do something.

*clench*

Kris dropped to the floor. Damn. They had gotten too used to feeling full again. They reached a hand to their chest. Pushing not into flesh or bone, they reached beyond to what lay within. Gently, far more careful than they had ever treated the red SOUL, Kris pulled something else out.

It looked almost like wisps of smoke. An object in the shape of a heart, so fragile the wrong touch might destroy it entirely. A dull violet glow radiated from its cold shell.

Worse than before. Having the other SOUL reduced the strain on their own, but shifting the burden back and forth so much had caused damage. Carefully, Kris returned their true SOUL.

Purple. The color of perseverance, so they had been told. Well, Kris could certainly persevere. Enough for this, at least.

They pulled out their knife. Sorry Knighty, we’re changing the scene order a bit. The Trials of the Holy Hammer would have to wait.

Aiming at the shadow of their own heart, Kris raised the blade.

And struck darkness.

A high-pitched wail rang in the flower shop. This turned into a low groan as smoke darker than night flowed from where Kris had hit the floor.

As the smoke covered them, Kris looked at what else their father had slipped them with the keys to the store.

It looked like a small piece of black glass.

It could keep their SOUL full.

…

*sigh*

Only if they had no other choice.

Noelle was so unbelievably lost right now. Mentally, not physically. The SOUL currently in control of her body seemed to know exactly what it(they? she? How does one refer to this thing?) was doing.

“Why do you think we can get answers here? Nobody’s at school on the weekends” Noelle thought, and wasn’t that mildly terrifying that she couldn’t even truly speak right now.

“Nobody being here is to our benefit, actually.”

Noelle’s body approached the front door of the School.

“It’s locked.” She tried to warn.

Her body simply jiggled the handle up and out and the door popped open.

“Nobody ever comes here when its locked, so no one ever realizes the lock sucks.”

She stepped inside, closing the door securely behind her, and started walking towards the back.

“Quick question, how do I refer to you? Do I just call you The SOUL, do you have preferred pronouns?”

“Oh uh…I figured I’d just stick to neutral since that’s what Kris uses and I was always in Kris. But by all conventional definitions, I am a girl now, I suppose.”

Her body stopped, raising a hand to her chin to think about it.

“I guess just copying the pronouns of whoever I’m in works. So, she/her until I’m outta here.”

She continued to the back of the school. At the supply closet, she opened the door.

A dark aura emanated from the room. Looking in, the darkness seemed to go on forever.

“It’s just like the computer lab yesterday…” Noelle thought.

“Yep.”

In a flash, Noelle’s body jumped into the black, and began to fall much deeper than any simple closet should allow. Internally, Noelle screamed.

“As for a name…”

The SOUL thought back. Back before the first run. To the vessel she lovingly crafted, that was torn from her and thrown away without a second thought.

“Just call me Vess.”

Chapter Text

Ralsei was nervous.

This was, sadly, a very common feeling for him these past two days. The great PROPHECY he spent so much time waiting for was finally upon him.

And he wanted to stop it.

It was not easy to fight the metaphysical concept of fate, more so for someone as passive as Ralsei. Despite being called a PRINCE, he was not a confrontational person. He preferred to resolve conflicts peacefully, and did not use his authority for…much of anything, really.

He tried to hold on to hope. That he, Kris, and Susie had been kind enough. That they had proven that FIGHTing wasn’t the only way.

Yet doubt lingered. The brutality of King’s takeover. The lengths Queen was willing to go to, to further her goals. The sheer power of The Knight. Could kindness prevail, if their enemies kept getting stronger?

Ralsei considered this as he stirred the cauldron he was working over. Cooking had proven to be a fun (and tasty) hobby for him. It helped him think. Especially now.

“The next Dark World…” he thought. The Dark Sanctuary. The place where the PROPHECY was recorded. If any change had been made to it, it would be shown there.

Its words were absolute.

They could tell no lies.

Only the cold, hard, truth.

“Have we done enough? Have we changed fate?” Ralsei wondered. So far, everything had seemed to be in line with the version of the PROPHECY that he had seen. Except…

THE LORD OF SCREENS, CLEAVED RED BY BLADE

Tenna had certainly been cleaved, that was impossible to deny. But he had been saved from death. Saved by the kindness and mercy of those they had RECRUITed in TV World.

Was that proof? That they could change things? Or did that line merely predict The Knight’s attack, not the result of it? Interpretation was half the struggle of knowing the PROPHECY.

Something shifted on the horizon. A sense beyond sight or sound prickled in Ralsei’s mind. He felt the light of a human SOUL and the magic of a monster SOUL enter his realm.

Odd. Did Kris and Susie forget something? They were supposed to be going to Noelle’s house in search of some sort of clue. Had something happened?

Turning down the magical flame of the cauldron, he left to go see what was going on.

Vess landed in the outskirts of Castle Town gracefully. (She didn’t know how or why that Rudinn thought it was called Vesstown, and she didn’t want to.)

Noelle’s typical sweater and skirt had once again transformed into flowing white robes. But new to the outfit was a bright red scarf wrapped around her neck.

“It looks like the one Kris was wearing in the Dark World yesterday.” Noelle thought.

Huh. Interesting.

Moving on, Vess walked into the town proper. The Party Dojo was lit up, smooth jazz played distantly from the Café. Seam’s “seap”, the Music Store, and the Bakery sat behind them. Darkeners wandered the streets, chatting with each other. A Swatchling glanced at her briefly before doing a double-take, shocked to see Noelle here.

“Whoa. This place is nice.”

“Isn’t it? This is where we bring everyone from the other Dark Worlds.”

Though something was…off. An odd quiet, like something was missing.

Oh, duh.

Opening the MENU, Vess navigated to the CONFIG.

“Huh?!”

Music Volume – 0%

Who turned that off? No wonder things were so quiet.

Music Volume – 60%

There. Much better.

Now Playing – Castle Funk

The jazzy tune flowed into Vess’s mind. A reminder of how far this town had come in such little time.

Now, moving on-

“Whoawhoawhoa, are you not gonna explain THAT?” Noelle asked, once again completely confused.

“What, the MENU?” Vess brought it up again. Near the top of their vision, four blocks appeared. One had the image of a small bag, and let them access their ITEMS. The second had a small sword and shield, and let them EQUIP weapons and armor. The third had an image of a fireball, and let them check their POWER. The last had a wrench, allowing them to CONFIGurate some things.

“Very useful thing. Though it looks different now.” While with Kris, the MENU had a minimalist, monochrome look, it now was a bit more intricate. The border had multiple curved lines, and a lovely gray/light-blue gradient. The background was a dark brown, looking like the inside of a bag or case.

“It looks like the Dragon Blazers inventory…” Noelle thought.

“Really? Weird coincidence.” Vess opened their ITEMS. The regular section was empty. “Right, most of those were in Kris’ pocket.” Moving over to the KEY ITEMS, there were two things, a Cell Phone and a Ring of Keys.

“You know, I only just now realize that I had my Cell Phone all day yesterday, and I never thought to call for help while being kidnapped.”

“Yeah, that wouldn’t have worked.” Vess demonstrated by pulling out the Cell Phone and calling the first number on the contact list.

Garbage noise came out of the speaker.

Clzz, fvb pujvywvyhs tvyvu nla av aol msvdly zovw uvd, Rypz pz kvpun zvtlaopun zabwpk huk fvb'yl aol vusf  vul dov jhu-

Complete nonsense. Vess hung up the call and began walking towards the castle. On the way, she stopped by a small alcove. In it was a pillar with a MANUAL on it, and next to the pillar…

“What’s that white glowing thing?” Noelle wondered.

She reached out a hand to touch it and-

* A new course has been found.

* You are filled with the power of maybe getting to learn what a sugarplum is.

* HP fully restored.

VESS            LV 4      99:99:99

Castle Town – Castle Entrance

Save                   Return

Storage             Recruits

“HUH?!” Noelle was even more shocked than from the MENU. “Did you just SAVE like some kind of video game character? This is more like Dragon Blazers than I thought!”

“Really? It’s just something I can do, I guess. I’ve never played Dragon Blazers.”

Vess opened the Storage.

Storage - Page 1/3

Glowshard                     TensionGem

TensionMax                     TVDinner     

-                                           -

-                                           -

-                                           -

-                                           -

“Man, The Knight really wiped out my stash.” Vess thought.

“The Knight? Like the one Queen mentioned?”

“Yep. Long story short, Kris opened a Dark Fountain in their living room, their TV forced us into a game show, and then The Knight nearly killed us.”

“I….Okay can you please just get me up to speed on…everything?”

“In a minute.”

Vess continued into the castle. Coming out the front was Ralsei.

“Kris! Welcome back! Did you-“ Ralsei stopped when he realized who was really there.

“Ralsei, we have a problem.” Vess said.

*BOOOM*

Both turned to the direction of the loud sound. On the horizon, a great pillar of darkness burst forth, flowing into the black sky.

The two looked back at each other.

“Ralsei, we have two problems.” Vess said.

Chapter Text

Ralsei was panicking.

Arguably the most important Dark World was supposed to be today, and things had gone very wrong.

Noelle was not supposed to be here right now, the SOUL was not supposed to be with anyone but Kris right now, and he had no idea what to do about it.

“Important question first, how long before a Fountain becomes an active threat to the balance?” Noelle, no the SOUL, asked him.

Okay, panic later. Information now. He could do information.

“It depends. On its own, a single Fountain isn’t a threat. But the more you add, the chances of causing a major breach increase.” Ralsei said.

“How many until its an imminent problem?” the SOUL asked.

“That also depends. If the fountains are close together in the Light World, they sort of…resonate with each other, tearing the veil of LIGHT and DARK open further.”

Ralsei stopped to consider their current state.

“At the moment, it should be stable for long enough to seal a fountain. But any more and it risks letting something big out.” He said.

The SOUL let out a breath of relief.

“Phew, okay. That gives us time to fix this.” She said.

“Yes, what exactly happened? You should be with Kris and Susie, they needed to find something at your house?”

The SOUL fixed them with an annoyed look.

“Ralsei, I know you know that I’m a separate entity from Kris. I just ended up in Noelle on accident.” She said.

Ralsei suddenly felt very nervous.

“My name’s Vess, for the record. We haven’t had a chance to be properly introduced.”

She held out her hand in greeting. Ralsei took it.

“It’s nice to meet you, I suppose? I’m not really supposed to be, uh, acknowledging you until much later, though.” Ralsei said.

“Yeah, I’ve caught the tail end of the little one-on-one conversations you have with Kris when I’m not around. Speaking of which…” Vess looked concerned.

“I don’t know where Kris and Susie are. We need them both for the usual reasons, and because Kris is the only one who knows how to do the whole…SOUL removal thing.” She said.

“They aren’t here if that’s what you were hoping for.” Ralsei said.

“I figured. Last I saw, something made Susie really mad at Kris, and they ran off. I was hoping you could do that…thing. Y’know, where you tell me to close my eyes and think of someone and then I somehow can see what they’re doing?”

Oh. That.

“You should be able to do that on your own. I just sort of guide you into doing it whenever it seems like a good time to.” Ralsei said.

Vess looked confused.

“It’s that easy?” She said. “What, I just close my eyes…” She closed her eyes. “…and focus really hard on Susie and-“ She slumped over.

A second later, she stood up straight and looked around nervously.

“Noelle?” Ralsei asked.

“Yes…I-I’m back in control?!” Noelle said. She moved her arms around and took a few steps to confirm it. “I am!”

“That’s good. It hasn’t been hurting you, has it?” Ralsei asked.

“No, no, nothing like that. She’s been kinda nice, actually.” Noelle chuckled. “Well, as nice as anything unexpectedly possessing my body could be, I suppose.”

“That’s a relief. Oh, try not to move too far from where you were when it left.”

“Ah, sorry.” Noelle moved back into position. “Here, right?”

Ralsei nodded. “That looks right.”

The two stood there in silence.

“So, are there any questions you might have? We’ve got a bit of time before it gets back.”

“Can I just get, um, a full recap of everything?”

“O-oh, sure.” Ralsei cleared his throat.

“Once upon a time, a LEGEND was whispered among shadows…” he began.

Vess focused on what Susie might be doing. Her vision went dark, then began to reveal.

Now Playing – The Door

Susie was standing in front of a wooden door in the Light World. She still seemed angry. Wisps of dark smoke occasionally slipped out from under the door.

“I don’t know if this was The Knight or Kris trying to hide away…” Susie said to herself.

“But I can’t just leave this. Some idiot could wander in there and do something stupid.”

Susie slammed her fist against the door in frustration.

“UGH! But I can’t just dive in because apparently human SOULs are the only thing that can close a Fountain!”

Oh. She was already at where the Fountain was? Perfect, that’s where Vess was going to go next.

“What do I do…” Susie wondered.

* Go inside     * Get help

Well, since Vess was heading to the church anyway, no reason to make her backtrack. Susie can handle herself until they caught up.

* Go inside     * Get help

“Huh? Did someone say something?” Susie looked around confused. She thought she heard some sort of mumbling.

“Anyways, either way Kris is probably in there. So going in isn’t a problem!” Susie through open the door and jumped into the darkness within.

As she descended, her usual purple scales turned a vibrant magenta. Her worn outfit turned into the spiky and intense battle gear Vess knew and thought was cool.

Sounds like everything was on track here. Vess focused really hard on what Kris might be doing.  

Kris sat there, waiting. They were in the Dark World, as evidenced by their usually yellowed skin having turned a light blue, and the set of armor replacing their beloved striped shirt.

Notably, the reddish cape that was typically draped over the back of their right shoulder was missing, replaced by a small, dark purple bandana around their neck.

Vess couldn’t tell exactly where they were. But as they tried to glean any details from the scene, Kris’ head suddenly shot up and looked around.

“You’re here, aren’t you?” Kris said. How did they-

“Look, I don’t like you. And if you don’t like me, that’s fine. But we need each other.” They continued.

“So do whatever you have to so you can lead someone here that way you can get me out. And just as some extra motivation…”

They reached into their pocket and held something up.

It looked like a piece of glass. It was so dark and indistinct, the best way to see it was from the shadow it cast in Kris’ hand.

A ShadowCrystal? When? How?

“I know you’ve been collecting these. Better come grab it before someone else does.”

Vess’ vision began to go dark again. No! Not yet!

“Oh yeah, don’t try to…*static*…if…*static*…not human…*static*…could cause…” Kris’ words were cutting in and out, Vess could barely hear them.

“Just…*static*…here…….I’m in the-”

It went dark.

Opening her eyes, Vess was back in Castle Town.

Now Playing – My Castle Town

“-and then they left to go search for one of the codes at your house.” Ralsei was saying. “Oh! Is that you, Vess?”

“Yeah, just got back. Sounds like pretty good timing.” Vess said.

“Ralsei was just going over all your adventures.” Noelle thought.

“Any thoughts?” Vess mentally asked.

“I’m sad I missed the last one. The Entertainment District was my favorite part of Dragon Blazers II! I would have loved going through it for real!” Noelle thought back.

“Again, haven’t played it, but I’ll take your word for it. The games were pretty fun.” The duel-to-the-death with The Knight? Less fun.

“So, where are Kris and Susie at?” Ralsei asked, snapping Vess out of the mental conversation.

“Kris is in a Dark World, and Susie just entered a Dark World.” Vess said.

“Then we should catch up with them. You find the entrance in the Light World, and then I can navigate the DARK using your SOUL as a beacon.”

“I already know where it is. Actually, to save time, do you wanna just hop in the Inventory?” Vess asked.

“He can do that?” Noelle asked.

“I-I could do that?” Ralsei asked.

Vess shrugged.

“Lancer did it. Rouxls did it. The Original                   Starwalker did it. Why can’t you?”

“Well…if it’s no problem…”

“Not at all, hop in.”

Ralsei carefully got close to her, until…

* Ralsei was added to your Key Items.

Vess opened the MENU and then the ITEMS.

USE      TOSS   KEY

Cell Phone                    Ring of Keys

            Ralsei                           --                            

* Ralsei – It’s actually very comfy in here! We should have done this sooner!

Vess smiled and closed the MENU.

Walking out of the castle, she stopped at the side alcove again.

* The next adventure awaits.

* Your pocket is filled with the power of fluffy boys.

* HP fully restored.

VESS            LV 4      99:99:99

Castle Town – Castle Entrance

Save                   Return

Storage             Recruits

With her progress SAVEd, Vess exited Castle Town and went towards where she first landed in the Dark World. A pillar of light shined from above. Stepping into it, she began to float upwards until…

Now Playing – The Distance Between Two

In a flash of light, she was suddenly outside of the school’s supply closet again. Moving to leave the school, she suddenly remembered something.

“Ah crap, it’s raining by now.”

“And I don’t have my umbrella.”

“Yep. You alright getting a bit wet?”

“You know where you’re going, right?”

“Mmhm.”

“Please try to be quick then.”

Vess nodded. Opening the door, she quickly closed it behind her before breaking into a full run down the street. Vess immediately noticed-

“Wow, you are way faster than Kris.”

Turning left, she ran past Town Hall and towards-

“The church? We were just there earlier today though? Ohmigosh! Wait! I totally forgot about choir practice!” Noelle thought.

Vess came to a stop in front of the church door.

“Yep. Don’t worry, Toriel cancelled practice because of the rain. No one else is in there.”

“Except Kris and Susie.”

“And The Knight.”

Noelle was silent for a moment.

“The Knight. The one who nearly killed you, Kris, Susie, and Ralsei last night.” she said.

“Okay, yes, that does sound bad. But closing Dark Fountains makes you stronger. Just by surviving yesterday we’ve already got a better shot. And now you’re here. Your ice magic is some of the strongest stuff I’ve seen. With it, the five of us stand a real chance against The Knight.”

Vess opened the door. Darkness emanated from within. The stained glass windows of the church distorted into different colors.

With a leap, she entered once more into the abyss.

Her outfit morphed into the white robes.

A twinkle emerged from her pocket, and suddenly Ralsei was falling with her.

The Dark Sanctuary awaited.

Noelle was concerned.

It’s not that she didn’t trust Vess, it’s just that…

How did she know how strong her ice magic was?

She never cast any ice spells yesterday.

Chapter Text

Vess landed gracefully, Ralsei beside her. The room they were in was made of dark stone, a faded red carpet draped on the ground. Pale blue light flowed in from stained glass windows above.

“You know, I haven’t checked your stats since this started.” Vess thought.

“Are those a big deal?” Noelle thought back.

“Well, I’m mostly curious to see how it resolves the fact that I should be LV 4 while you should only be LV 2. Plus I want to know how much of a boost you got.”

“A boost?”

“Yeah, every time I seal a Dark Fountain, the people who I fought with get a boost. Plus, a human SOUL and a monster SOUL together is incredibly strong.”

“Really? Where’d you learn that?”

“Oh it was from-“ Where had Vess learned that, actually? “N-Never mind, I’m just going to…”

Vess opened the MENU and then POWERS.

  Noelle                         LV 3 Snowcaster

  HP: 200/200                 Has some cool spells.

STATS                                SPELLS     

Attack: 10                       32% Heal Prayer

Defense: 7                       32% Sleep Mist  

Magic: 21                         16% IceShock    

Coldness: 50                     ??% Chill           

 Boldness: 2                                               

SOUL: Red                                                

“That’s new.” Both Vess and Noelle think at the same time. Vess navigates over to the “Chill” spell.

* Chill – Passive effect. Regular attacks use Magic. Damage causes enemies to become TIRED.

“Oh that is game-changing. Especially with that Magic stat, 21 is nuts.” Vess thought.

“How nuts?” Noelle asked. Vess moved over to Ralsei’s stat page.

Ralsei                               LV 4 Dark Prince

              HP: 180/180              Records and fights fate with friends.

STATS                                        SPELLS    

Attack: 25                                 16% Pacify     

   Defense: 10                               32% Heal Prayer

Magic: 13                                                        

Kindness: 100                                                 

Fluffiness: Yes                                                 

Stocks: Up                                                       

“Ah crap, I forgot.” Vess thought.

“Ralsei, all our gear was in Kris’s pocket. You’re stuck with what you had for The Knight.” Vess spoke out loud.

Looking at Ralsei, his outfit was slightly different. His glasses were now tinted pink and yellow, and his scarf looked more like a tangled mass of green wires. A braided pink and white ribbon was tied around one of his horns.

“Oh, that’s…unfortunate.” Ralsei said, twitching slightly.

“Dude, you can be honest with me.” Vess said, noticing how uncomfortable he was.

“Okay, yes, this “scarf” is very uncomfortable, and it cuts my Magic. I like healing people. I don’t like not being able to heal people as well.” He said, exasperated.

“For exact reference, it’s dropping his Magic by 6. He is the healer of the group, and you have more Magic than him.”

“That’s….”

“Very cool.”

“Har har.”

“We’ll get you something better as soon as we can. Let’s move.” Vess spoke.

She began to walk-

“Actually, before we go, can we do the pose?” Ralsei asked.

“Really? It won’t be the same without Kris or Susie.” Vess responded.

“I know…but it feels wrong not to do it at the start of a new adventure.”

“Then…sure.”

“Quick, what kind of pose do you want?” Vess mentally asked.

“Oh, um…” Noelle tried to reply.

Before she could, the two of them spun around and struck a pose, Ralsei smiling and holding his arms out joyfully, while Vess instinctively hopped on one leg and flashed peace signs with both hands.

“Alright, I like it.” Vess commented internally.

“I just did something from a show I saw once.” Noelle sheepishly admitted.

“Now let’s move.” Vess said.

They began to walk. The only path forward led them to a large staircase. As they climbed it…

Now Playing – Dark Sanctuary

The music began to fade in. Climbing further, floating blue fairy-like spirits drifted in, their voices adding a choir to the ambiance.

They reached a brief level on the stairs. As they stepped onto it, a bright blue glass pane appeared to the side of it.

THE LEGEND OF THIS WORLD <DELTARUNE>

Beneath it, lay the Delta Rune itself. An orb with wings and three triangles below it, two pointing up and one pointing down.

“This is…” Noelle began.

“The PROPHECY. In its truest form, supposedly.” Vess finished.

They continued up the stairs. Another level section had another glass pane.

A WORLD BASKED IN PUREST LIGHT

BENEATH IT, GREW ETERNAL NIGHT

The picture showed a world cut in half. On one side, the sun. On the other, dark eyes dripping black.

The next flat section was much longer. Another glass pane had the Delta Rune again, and below it.

A SAVE point.

* The scent of steel and incense fills the air.

* You are filled with the power you were foretold to be filled with.

* HP fully restored.

VESS        LV 4      99:99:99

Dark Sanctuary – Atrium

Save                   Return

Storage             Recruits

“Don’t worry, Kris and Susie. We’re on our way.” Vess thought.

Susie landed with a loud impact.

Standing up, she quickly made sure all her stuff was in order.

Creepy but strong scythe she got from that weird clown? Check.

Fake tail she also got from the clown? Check.

Ominous black cape Kris gave her? Check.

Ugh. Just thinking about that made her mad.

“This is the best way to keep you safe.” Kris had told her as they had given it to her.

No one had ever…wanted her to be safe like that.

Stupid. So stupid. She hated herself for not realizing it sooner. Kris knew The Knight was going to attack, that’s why they gave it to her!

And yet…

The Knight’s blasts flowed off of the cape like water. If she didn’t have it, she might’ve died there. She already almost did, against the black knife. Maybe…

No. Kris was a $!$?ing traitor. They were working with The Knight, the one opening fountains and threatening the world. Ralsei was gonna have to find another human HERO of the PROPHECY, cause she was aboutta bite this one’s face off!

Susie stomped forward, righteous anger fueling her quest.

A new Dark World stood before her. Pinkish walls surrounded the tile path before her. Vines grew in between cracked portions. It looked like overgrown ruins.

Stepping through an archway, Susie entered a larger room. In the center, a light shined down.

Onto a single flower.

It turned to her.

“Howdy!” it said.

Chapter Text

Susie stared at the golden flower.

“I’m Flowey! Flowey the flower!” it said with a smile.

Suddenly, another flower popped up, this one with green petals.

“Howdy! I’m Clover! Clover the clover!”

More flowers started popping up.

“Howdy!”                                                      “Howdy!”                                       “Howdy!”                        “Howdy!”                                                                     “Howdy!”

“I’m Iris! Iris the iris!” The blue one said.

“I’m Allie! Allie the allium!” The purple one said.

“I’m Lily! Lily the lily!” The orange one said.

“I’m Tully! Tully the tulip!” The cyan one said.

“And I’m Mary! Mary the marigold!” The yellow one said.

“You’re new to the FLOWER KINGDOM, aren’tcha?” Flowey asked.

“Uhh…yeah?” Susie said hesitantly. Something felt weird here, even by Dark World standards.

“Golly, you must be so-“ They all began in sync.

“-confused.” “-unlucky.”  “-scared.” “-lost.” “-turned around.” “-sad.” “-stupid.” “-curious.” They all ended differently.

“…One or two of those, maybe.” Susie said. This was starting to creep her out. Where was Ralsei? “Uhh… so have any of you seen someone named Kris? Shorter than me, wearing armor. Is uh…blue.” She asked.

“The younger prince? What could you need them for?” Flowey asked. Susie blinked.

“Since when was Kris a prince?” she asked.

“Well, they are the child of the Flower King, aren’t they?” Flowey responded.

Flower King…wait, duh. The shop is called “Flower King”, Kris’ dad owns the place, meaning he is The Flower King, meaning Kris counts as the prince here.

Susie forgot that Dark Worlds were like, 50% wordplay.

“Okay yeah, that makes sense. Still, have you seen them? I need to find them.” Susie said.

“Whatever for?” one of the other flowers (Susie already forgot their names) asked.

Susie resisted the urge to say: “So I can rip their face off.”

“Uhh…so I can stop…someone…from ripping their face off.” She quickly lied.

“Oh that’s terrible!” another flower said.

“Well we can’t have that!” one more said.

“That’s no good!” yet another said.

“We’ll certainly help you out!” Flowey said. That one seemed to be the leader of the others.

“Once you get through the OVERGROWN RUINS, you’ll hit the GRAND CAVERN. From there, you’ve just got to get down to the UNDERDEPTHS. That’s where Kris is.” It said.

“Ugh, is there any faster way?” Susie asked.

“Unless you can dig through solid stone like we can, no.”

Susie groaned.

“Fine. Guess I’ll get going.” She began to leave.

“Don’t worry! We’ll be right behind you!”

Okay no. She was still in a bad mood, and did not need these guys tagging along.

“Look, I’ll be fine on my own. I got help coming.” She said. Where the hell was Ralsei?!

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Really sure?”

“Yes.”

“Reeeeally sure?”

“YES!”

“Okay!”

With that, the flowers disappeared. Finally.

Susie continued down the path. Eventually, the small hallway opened up into a bigger one, with pillars lining the sides. As she walked, she looked around the area, taking in the architecture out of boredom until-

Some enemies ran into her. Well, she ran into them, technically.

* Crimsums panicked and attacked!

The two of them looked like a cross between a moth, and some red flower Susie didn’t know the name of. Anyway, battle time! Susie pulled out the Devilsknife, ready to…

Huh. This was the first solo fight she’s had since…Lancer, really. She didn’t count the sneak attack on the Werewires in Noelle’s room.

Jeez, it felt weird fighting like this. Like something important just…wasn’t there like it usually was.

Nah, it was probably just her imagination.

Uh… what should she do here? Kris wasn’t here to give her ideas for ACTs. Not that she’d listen to them right now!

She just…wouldn’t mind a suggestion.

Maybe…They looked kinda wimpy. What if she just….

* S-Action – Intimidate

“Hey, I’m gonna chop you up!” she said. Okay, that wasn’t her best, but it’s the first thing she thought of.

It seemed to work, however. The Crimsums were much more scared of her now. They each shot a moth-like projectile at her. They followed Susie as she moved, but were quite slow. This let her slip past them and…

-12

Get clipped by the petals that were floating down behind the moths. Grrreat. At least that did basically no damage.

Okay, they were scared. Now she just had to show MERCY somehow.

“If you stop fighting now, I won’t chop you up!” she said.

That seemed to do it! The two moths stopped and fluttered away!

* You won!

* Got 0 EXP and 220 D$.

As Susie put her weapon away, she felt the money manifest in her pocket. Oh crap, right. Kris had all the money and the healing ITEMS.

It’s okay though. With this, she could buy stuff. And besides, she had her own healing magic! She was gonna be the healing master!

*Sigh*

Okay, she had been practicing, but it still took her forever to build up enough power, and it was only kinda okay at actually healing. Still, she cupped her hands together and began to focus. After a moment, a green orb appeared in her hands, and…

*Susie cast OKHeal!

+60

See, it wasn’t too bad. At least if those enemies were any clue, things weren’t too strong here. So her healing would be enough. Especially because…

WHERE.

THE HELL.

WAS RALSEI?!

Now Playing – Dark Sanctuary

Despite everything, Vess was actually really enjoying this. She didn’t enjoy taking over Noelle’s life (she didn’t like taking over Kris’ either, but she had far less of a choice in that), but it certainly had its perks.

There were always some odd…restrictions, on her when she was in Kris. Ones that seemed to be gone now. Actually, she did have a Kris expert with her now.

“Hey, I’ve got a bit of a weird question about Kris.” Vess thought.

“What is it?” Noelle replied.

“So, while I was with them, I noticed something weird. Anytime I tried to talk to someone, I just…couldn’t start the conversation. I had to wait for the person I was talking with to say something, and then I could reply. Is that a Kris thing, or is it something else?”

“No, that’s been a Kris thing. Sometimes they’d just sit in class, saying and doing nothing all day unless someone talked to them or told them to do something. One time, we asked Miss Alphys to not directly say we were dismissed at the end of class. We all left and then looked in through the window outside. Kris sat still there for hours until Miss Toriel came in and told Kris to come home.”

“That’s…have they always been like that?”

“No, they used to be way more active. It really only started after…” Noelle went silent after that.

“It was something with Dess, wasn’t it?”

“H-how’d you…”

“She’s the one thing everyone in this town simply refuses to speak directly about. As much as I want to know, I won’t pry.”

“Thanks. Even now, it’s still hard to talk about.”

Vess continued onward. Another glass pane of the PROPHECY appeared on the wall.

IF FOUNTAINS FREED, THE ROARING CRIES

AND TITANS SHAPE FROM DARKENED EYES

The picture showed a great horned figure. Its face was replaced with a bright four-pointed star.

“Isn’t that the same shape as those SAVE point things?” Noelle noticed.

“I saw that. Not sure what it means.”

They kept moving. Ahead was a small, grander staircase, going to a long hallway that led directly to…

“The Fountain!” Ralsei said.

Vess and Ralsei quickly climbed the steps, ready to end this fast-

*ROAR*

A oppressive aura emerged from ahead, pushing them back and knocking Ralsei back down the stairs.

From above, large knives rained down on the stairs, destroying them beyond use.

At the end of the hallway stood a large, thin figure.

All black, with an ominous glow around it. It’s armor, or perhaps its shell, was sharp and angular. Branched antlers stuck out of its head/helmet. Long arms with holes in the hands hung below it as it floated above the floor.

The Roaring Knight.

Living up to its name, The Knight roared again. The aura returned, threatening to push Vess off of the stairs. Thinking quickly…

*Noelle used IceShock!

Vess threw a burst of ice behind her, forming a wall to stop her from getting pushed back.

“Huh, it’s just like…” Vess was reminded of how she channeled power to use the [BIG SHOT] when fighting Spamton NEO.

Now safe, she looked down at Ralsei.

“I’m okay! Get going!” Ralsei.

Now Playing – The Chase

Turning back forward, Vess slowly fought through the aura pushing her back.

“Are you sure we should do this!?” Noelle thought.

“If there’s even the slightest chance of winning here, I have to try!” Vess thought back.

“I-I don’t think…!”

But Vess was already moving. Once she had a clear shot, she raised her hand.

*Noelle used IceShock!

A blast of icy power shot down the hallway.

357

The aura cut off. Taking the chance, Vess began to sprint up the hallway. After a second, the pressure returned. Vess brought her arms up to brace herself, ready to slowly trek the rest of the way when-

It stopped?

Vess brought her arms back down.

Instantly, she felt something on the side of her neck. In the blink of an eye, The Knight had moved in front of her, and was now holding its sword to her throat.

Now Playing - Breath

Noelle was nervous.

Vess was nervous. She couldn’t speak.

The Knight leaned in closer, it’s odd eye-visor staring at her. It looked down. Slowly, it reached out and curled a finger around the red scarf she was wearing. The symbol of Vess’ current connection with Noelle.

The Knight dismissed its blade. With one hand it poked Vess in the chest. With the other, it pointed away.

“You…you want us to leave?” Vess asked. Slowly, the Knight shook its head. More forcefully, it jabbed Vess’ chest and pointed away again.

“What does it want?” Noelle questioned.

Vess thought for a moment, then it realized.

“It wants me to leave. Leave you.”  Vess thought.

“I can’t.” she said out loud. The Knight’s face did not change, yet Vess felt it get angry. It pointed away once more.

“I can’t!” she said again, louder. The Knight began to tremble with rage.

“I don’t know how to! This was an accident, I didn’t want to-“ Vess’ pleas were cut off as The Knight began to scream louder than ever before. Its visor opened to reveal a jagged mouth, and its ribs folded out, revealing a dark eye in the center of its body.

The aura of pressure became more intense than ever, flinging Vess back down the hallway and off the stairs.

She crashed into Ralsei, and the two plummeted into the darkness.

Chapter Text

Vess was thinking.

This was something she liked to do often, as being temporally confined within the same 3 days tends to get dull after a while.

So, whenever she ended up back in a section that she knew she didn’t have to pay much attention to, she would ponder the great mysteries that filled the world.

What do the ShadowCrystals do?

Is “clopen” an actual word?

Who is The Knight?

Was Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 really that much worse than the first one? (She hadn’t seen either of them, so this one was particularly difficult.)

Alas, though she had many guesses and theories, her questions remained unanswered.

But the way The Knight had just interacted with her was making her contemplate.

Though, perhaps now was not the best time to think about such things.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Noelle was mentally screaming in her head. It did not make for a conducive thinking environment. Nor did the open free fall her and Ralsei were currently in.

Ah, wait, aren’t we at the part where-

*CRASH*

She smashed into the pane of glass displaying the PROPHECY.

Stars danced in her vision, or were those just the broken shards?

Oh never mind, they’re gone. It’s just dark now.

As a matter of fact, it’s all just going dark now.

Ohhhhhh…..

Vess blacked out.

Kris lay there, not moving.

It was easier when they weren’t moving.

It was easier when they weren’t thinking.

It was easier when they weren’t.

Why had they fought this? It was so simple to just lay here.

Why did they start being themself again?

The silence in their head was so nice.

No…no…

No fear, no sadness, no regret.

I…have to…hold on…

Kris tried to sit up. Why bother?

Have…to move…around…

Kris tried to move their arms. Too much effort.

Moving was hard. Thinking was hard. Being was hard.

Can’t…just…stay…here…

I…

I…want…

to live…

But there’s just not that much of you left to live, is there?

Kris’ head fell back to the cold ground. Maybe a quick nap would help. Just close their eyes and…

“Oh my!”

A voice? Eh, it doesn’t matter.

“Is that…Kris? Kris that is you!”

It was getting closer. Whatever.

“What happened to you, little one?”

Kris felt something wrap around their arms, their legs, their body. Who cares?

“Let’s get you somewhere warm and safe.”

The vines around them were covered in thorns. They poked through the gaps in Kris’ armor, digging painfully into their skin. Pain…

No one was there to feel it right now.

Vess was feeling the pain. Here, there, a bit of everywhere. Slowly, she dragged herself up, careful not to stick her hands in any of the broken glass on the ground. Nearby, Ralsei was in a similar state of picking himself up.

“You alright over there, Ralsei?” she asked.

“I’m fine, how about you?” he replied.

“A bit banged up from hitting the glass, but-OW!” As Vess began to walk, she realized a sizable chunk of glass had gotten her in the leg.

Immediately, Ralsei ran over to take a look.

“I’m going to have to pull that piece out before I heal it.” he said. Vess nodded and gestured for him to get it over with. “On three. One, two-“ Before even getting to three, he pulled it out.

“OW! You didn’t even go to three, you-“

* Ralsei cast Heal Prayer!

+MAX

Her angry response was cut off by the feeling of relief. She ran a hand over where the wound was, making sure everything was good. Her time in Kris’ body made her expect blood from such a cut, yet instead dust was all over her leg and now her hand. Seeing the dust on her hand reminded her of-

“That healing magic sure is convenient, isn’t it?” Noelle thought.

“Huh? Oh yeah, it’s really handy. Susie’s actually been learning how to do it.” Vess thought back.

“Really? Fahaha, I can’t imagine big strong Susie as a healer!”

“She’s not bad with it, especially since she only started learning it yesterday.”

Oh, dang. If Susie’s already here, she’s probably already doing all the shenanigans with Gerson. Aww, those were always so fun to watch!

“All good?” Ralsei asked. Vess nodded. She was feeling pretty good. Actually…

“I think that impact kinda knocked something into place. Let me try…” Vess said, closing her eyes and concentrating.

“What are you doing-WHOA” Noelle thought.

She started to fall over a bit, but Ralsei caught her.

“Are you okay?” Ralsei asked, concerned. She blinked a couple times.

“Did that work?” Vess thought.

“I’m…I’m back in control?” Noelle said out loud.

“Yes! You have no idea how many times I tried to do that with Kris!”

“The more I hear about your time with them, the more I think they were being difficult on purpose.”  Noelle thought.

“Vess was able to give control back to you? I didn’t think it was possible with a SOUL like that?” Ralsei said.

“I certainly don’t mind.” Noelle said, giggling a little.

“Well, welcome to our adventure properly, Noelle!”

“It’s exciting to be here!”

With that, the two walked forward onto the new path they had landed on.

Now Playing – Dark Sanctuary

Up ahead there was a locked gate and a piano.

“Seems like we have to find something to play on that piano.” Ralsei said. Looking around, they found two paths obscured by the darkness around them. Carefully walking onto one, Noelle ended up stepping on a switch. It caused a lamp to brighten the area, revealing a glass pane. 

< V <

The other dark path held a similar switch that lit up a similar glass pane.

V < >

Going back to the piano, four keys stood out on it. Each of those had an arrow on it.

< V < V < >

Playing those keys in the order shown on the glass panes caused a loud *thunk* to sound. The gate then opened.

Moving forward, they climbed another staircase. This next hallway had small, greenish-blue flames floating above it.

“Whoa, these are pretty.” Noelle thought, getting closer to one.

“Wait, don’t-“ Vess tried to warn. But Noelle had already touched one. The flames gathered into two masses. Their bodies looked like a half-melted candle. Two arms with long claws were attached to them. Their heads were spheres with black crosses for faces. More flames danced around their forms.

“Aah!” Noelle jumped back in surprise. She then felt her body start moving on its own as Ralsei moved beside her.

“Tagging back in, sorry.” Vess spoke mentally.

Now Playing – From Now On

* Guei wisps in your way!

The battle began.

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 180/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 0%

“You’re fine, I just wasn’t expecting that.” Noelle thought back. “It’s still the same as before, right? We do ACTs to get the enemies to stop fighting peacefully?”

“Yeah, though there is something I want to try.”

NOELLE > ACT > CHECK

* Guei – AT 20 DF 14 – A strange spirit said to appear when the moon waxes.

HP – 100% | MERCY – 0% | TIRED – 0%

“Ah-ha! That’s new!”

“Ralsei, try doing something to tire them out!” Vess spoke out loud.

“Got it!”

RALSEI > MAGIC > R-Action – Bedtime Story

* Ralsei told a family-friendly story about a lovable yet lonely ghost!

+40% MERCY    +50% TIRED

* 哦 哦 哦！

* 哦 哦 哦！

The story seemed to relax the Gueis. Not enough to stop, as fireballs began to manifest in threes, spinning around each other as they flew towards Vess and Ralsei. Vess gracefully wove in between the volleys of flame, escaping with not even a singe. Ralsei carefully manevered around, but-

-35

-didn’t quite see a flame spinning around behind him.

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 145/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 14%

“Alright, lets try out that “Chill” ability.”

NOELLE > FIGHT > GUEI

Vess concentrated her power. Not as a real spell, but just a burst of energy. Focus…wait for the proper moment…and…Now!

Perfect! +6% TP!

A burst of chilled air washed towards the Gueis. They didn’t appear to be damaged, but their movements suddenly became much more sluggish.

+52% TIRED

The fiery Darkeners looked like they could fall asleep at any moment. Ralsei saw his chance.

RALSEI > MAGIC > PACIFY > GUEI

-16% TP

* Ralsei cast Pacify!

* Guei was spared!

RECRUIT 1/3

* 我很鬼

The second Guei began to shoot fireballs again, but since it was now alone and moving slowly, Vess and Ralsei dodged them with ease.

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 145/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 8%

One more turn will do it.

NOELLE > DEFEND

Vess conjured a wall of ice in front of her. It wasn’t really meant to block anything, but-

+16% TP

-it did increase the tension of battle.

RALSEI > MAGIC > PACIFY > GUEI

-16% TP

* Ralsei cast Pacify!

* Guei was spared!

RECRUIT 2/3

* YOU WON!

* Got 0 EXP and 249 D$

Now Playing – Dark Sanctuary

With the battle over, Vess withdrew control, letting Noelle walk on her own again. Her and Ralsei moved forward.

Up ahead, the path was dimly lit by lanterns floating about. Switches lay on the floor below each lantern. Stepping on one caused that lantern to brighten, revealing more of the path. It also revealed the ominous dark balls of energy circling around said path.

Carefully navigating around the dark energy balls, they walked into a small side room. In it was a creature in a green robe, a chest, and…

JOCKINGTON GROWS THE BEARD

Another pane of the PROPHECY, showing a snake with a backwards facing cap and a beard. They stared at its majesty.

“It is only now that I am truly realizing that yes, I am living through the PROPHECY of legend, passed down in stories through the generations. And that it means my classmate’s future facial hair was cosmically ordained.” Noelle said.

“I’ve wondered about the more…extraneous sections of the PROPHECY. Why whatever forces that divined it would be so vague about some things, while oddly specific about others.” Ralsei said.

“The Queen’s Chariot cannot be stopped.” Vess thought.

“Oh my goodness, I rode in the legendary Unstoppable Chariot!” Noelle internally realized.

Opening the chest to their right revealed a full kettle of tea.

“This does not seem like a good place for this.” Noelle thought.

* Rhapsotea was added to your ITEMS.

“Finally, some extra healing.” Vess thought.

Noelle was confused. “This party is just two healers and you’re worried about health?”

“Heal Prayer requires time and TP. Items can be eaten in a couple seconds at most and don’t take anything else.”

“…You’re going to chug an entire kettle of tea in less than a few seconds. In the middle of a fight.”

“Yeah?”

“…”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“You can’t even look directly at me, how did you-“

“I can feel the face you’re making.”

They left the small side room and continued on. More staircase led them up, and to more glass panes with the PROPHECY. It showed what looked like Lancer, and above him…

THE POINTY-HEADED WILL SAY

“TOOTHPASTE” AND THEN “BOY”

“Is this one of the ones that’s already happened? Because I’ve always wondered what the heck it meant.” Noelle asked.

“I told you about Lancer, yes? This was him ah, insulting me.” Ralsei said, slightly ashamed. Noelle stared at him for a moment.

“I can’t even call that inaccurate.” Noelle thought.

Once again they moved up and on. Further up was another pane.

THE LIGHT AND DARK, BOTH BURNING DIRE

A COUNTDOWN TO THE EARTH’S EXPIRE

Beneath it was an image of the ground breaking apart, trees flung in the air by the destruction.

“Ominous…”

They kept going. The path led into a hallway lined with stained glass windows. Caught up in the beauty, they didn’t notice something drop from the ceiling above them.

Now Playing – From Now On

* Balthizard swings in!

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 145/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 0%

Two metal turtles fell in front of them. They were an unusual pinkish-purple color with vents around their bodies that emitted odd smoke. Chains from the ceiling held them just above the ground.

NOELLE > ACT > CHECK > BALTHIZARD

* Balthizard – 14 AT 30 DF – An ancient aromancer. Punishes intruders with a beautiful scent.

“Ralsei, light it up!” Vess said.

“O-oh! Um…okay!” Ralsei responded, not expecting to need to use…

RALSEI > MAGIC > R-Action – LightUp

* Ralsei lit up!

Ralsei raised his hand and conjured magical fire. When it touched the smoke, it ignited, leading the flames back to one of the Balthizards. It too caught flame, yet this seemed to make it happy. The now burning smoke produced a pleasant smell, calming the other one.

+50% MERCY

+60% TIRED

 * Ah! That wakes me up!

* Sit back, relax.

The calm one began emitting more smoke that surrounded Vess and Ralsei. Meanwhile, the excited one flew above them and began swinging around, flinging fire down. They were able to dodge the falling embers-

-59

-except when Vess got too close to a plume of smoke, which burst into flames from a stray bit of fire.

NOELLE – 141/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 145/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 6%

NOELLE > FIGHT > BALTHIZARD

Excellent! +5% TP

The burst of cold air covered the calm Balthizard, relaxing it even more.

+43% TIRED

“Ralsei, you get the other one!” Vess said. Ralsei nodded and-

RALSEI > MAGIC > R-Action – Shake

* Ralsei shakes Balthizard!

This caused the pleasant smell to spread around the room even more. The Balthizard appeared to be very happy about this.

+50% MERCY

* What a blast! Hoh hoh!

* Take it easy.

They began to do the same attack again, but with one of them so tired, and the other just having a good time, it was more lackluster. Vess and Ralsei easily dodged it.

NOELLE – 141/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 145/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 16%

This fight was over.

NOELLE > SPARE > BALTHIZARD

* Noelle spared Balthizard!

RECRUIT 1/4

RALSEI > MAGIC > PACIFY

-16% TP

* Ralsei cast Pacify!

* Balthizard was spared!

RECRUIT 2/4

* YOU WON!

* Got 0 EXP and 260 D$.

The battle ended, Vess and Ralsei continued through the hallway. The windows ended, but the path kept going. As they went further, they noticed that it started to get darker.

“We should stay close to each other. There’s no telling what could be around here.” Ralsei said, getting closer.

It was quiet. Too quiet. As they slowly moved, it felt like anything could-

*flash*

“Aaaah!” Noelle jumped at the sudden light. She turned to see what jumped out at them, scared about…

Oh. It was just another PROPHECY piece.

BUT LO, ON HOPES AND DREAMS THEY SEND

THE HEROES AT THE WORLD’S END

The picture showed a Dark Fountain, with what were presumably the heroes facing it. It was hard to tell exactly what the heroes were supposed to look like, but one had distinctly long hair, and another was wearing a hooded cloak.

Moving on, they continued along the dark path…waitholdonamoment.

“Isn’t it supposed to be “Three heroes at the world’s end”, not the heroes?” Vess asked.

Ralsei froze.

They both looked back at the picture.

It depicted a group of heroes.

There definitely were more than three of them in that picture.

Chapter Text

Susie did not like this place.

It was just too damn boring. Weren’t Dark Worlds supposed to be like, dreams made reality or whatever? Full of adventure and magic?

Susie had been on the same path for like, 20 minutes now. No fun side rooms, no weirdos to say dumb goofy things, nothing. It was so quiet here!

Well, she had run into another couple of those red moth-flower things. They got scared so quickly that she didn’t even have to SPARE them, they just booked it the moment she growled at them!

Other than that, it was just one long, twisting hallway with patches of yellow and pink flowers everywhere.

They were…nice to look at. Just to look at.

Probably not tasty.

She wouldn’t know.

Ignore the section that’s just chewed off stems, she had nothing to do with that.

.

..

…

No one in a court of law could prove anything. And there wasn’t anyone around to arrest her, anyways.

Oh jeez, yeah. Officer Undyne was still in the shelter. There’s really no break in between these adventures, is there? She had to deal with Cyber World, then straight into TV World that night, then get up bright and early for church the next morning!

Man, she’d love to have taken like, a year or two in between all of that.

…

Why is this hallway so damn long!?

The path had at least been turning, and leading her through arches, but now it was just one big dumb boring hallway!

Screw it, she’s running through the rest of this.

Susie broke into a sprint, dashing through the comically long hallway, around a new corner, past some more flowers, around another corner into-

A curved hallway. Pillars were spread out inside it, plaques with writing on them lined the walls, and some oddly colored tiles were placed on the floor, the walls, and the ceiling.

Susie chose to ignore all of these and move on to the exit…

…which was blocked by metal bars.

…

Susie pulled out the Devilsknife.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

Hm. Just hitting it didn’t do that much. Maybe if…

* Susie cast Rude Buster!

A purple wave of energy shot out from her weapon, also clanging uselessly against the bars.

Yeah, that wasn’t gonna work either.

Ugggghhhh…fiiiiinnnne…..

She’d go do the stupid puzzle.

Alright, what’s the sign say?

Huh? It’s all some nonsense language! The hell’s she supposed to do with that?!

She looked at the second sign. It was sideways.

And also all nonsense!

Third sign, also sideways, also nonsense!

Fourth sign…oh.

This one was normal.

* The far door is not an exit. It simply marks a rotation in perspective.

* If you can read this, press the blue switch.

Okay, well, she didn’t quite get what the hell that first part was about, but she could press a blue switch.

Susie walked over to the spot on the wall where a blue switch sat. Pushing it, she heard a loud *thunk*. Looking back at the exit, the iron bars were gone.

Ha! That was actually easy.

Susie ran through the open gate, ready to get moving again…

…and nearly fell off the ledge that the gate led to.

What the hell!? Who makes a gate that just leads off a cliff!?

Looking down, Susie saw what was below the cliff.

It kinda looked like a hallway, except it was going straight down. Pillars were going across the hole.

It looked like the room she was just in, if someone rotated…the whole...thing…down.

Oh.

That’s what that meant.

Welp, nowhere to go but forward.

Susie leapt down the rotated hallway and landed on the opposite wall, which was now the floor.

Looking at the non-gibberish sign from earlier, Susie found that the version of it in this room was unreadable. Checking the other ones showed that one of them that was sideways was now the correct orientation relative to her, and had real words on it.

* If you can read this, push the red switch.

No problem. The red switch was on the floor, which is now the wall, so Susie just walked over and hit it.

Another *clunk*, and the way was open. Susie walked through into the next rotation.

Now it was the first room, but upside down, which was odd to look at. A well walked path above her, and she was walking on an untouched surface. Even the flowers were growing upside down.

Another different sign had the proper text.

* If you can read this, press the green switch.

This one was originally on the ceiling, so Susie walked over and stepped on the switch that was on the now-floor.

*thunk* Only one more to go, hopefully.

The last room had it so the curve went upwards. Susie looked at the last sign that hadn’t been used yet.

* If you can read this, press the yellow switch.

Alright, that switch was on the wall, so now it was…

Ok, so if it spun once it would be…then again it’s…then finally...it’s….

On the ceiling!

Oh.

Susie looked up.

That’s a tall ceiling.

Vess, Noelle, and Ralsei stared at the PROPHECY.

Two letters. Two letters is all that had changed.

And yet…

“Did…did we do it then? We broke fate?” Vess asked, hesitant to call the victory too early.

“Uh…um…maybe? The picture, look at the picture.” Ralsei nervously responded.

The picture showed a group of 3…no actually 4 heroes, no actually there were 6 of them, wait, that might just be 3, uh….

It was shifting. The figures became even more indistinct. Telling who they might be or even how many there were was impossible as the glass shifted like water.

“It’s…moving. The PROPHECY is moving. It can’t lock down a single answer.” Ralsei theorized.

“That’s…good, right? That means we can change it, right?" Vess asked.

“Um…yes? Yes. Yes! YES!” Ralsei seemed unsure at first, but seemed to accept that what he was seeing was real.

“We did it! We changed fate!” Vess also started to believe that it was real.

The two of them started laughing and cheering and jumping around.

“We can change the ending!”

“We can save everybody!”

“We can-“

*crash*

Something hit the glass pane, destroying it and plunging them into darkness.

They looked around to try and figure out what that was. As they stepped, waves of color spread out from each step, showing the path around them.

Suddenly, something else starting approaching, the echoes of its movements generating similar waves of color. In the dark, it was hard to tell what it looked like, but…

“Run! We can’t fight that thing here!” Ralsei said.

…it wasn’t hard to feel its aura of malice.

Noelle took control, since Vess’s unfamiliarity with the body would only slow her down. They quickly ran back through the path, careful to use the echoes to not accidentally fall off.

They kept running until-

*gurgle*

-another unknown entity appeared in front of them. Quickly backtracking, they moved to another path-

*gurgle*

-where there was another one.

“It’s a swarm! We can’t get out!” Ralsei said.

They maneuvered to the widest section of path they could find.

Vess shifted back into control of Noelle’s body.

“Get ready to fight!” she said.

Now Playing – SPAWN

It looked like an embryo, if it were the size of a full person and shrouded in complete darkness. The white outline of its form and its eyes were the only way to distinguish it from the shadows around it.

* Darkness constricts you…

* TP gain reduced outside of ???

NOELLE – 141/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 145/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 0%

NOELLE > ACT > CHECK > Titan Spawn

* Titan Spawn – AT 30 DF 200 – A shard of fear. Appears in places of deep dark.

* Expose it to LIGHT, and gather COURAGE to gain TP.

* Then, BANISH it!

RALSEI > DEFEND

+2% TP

Vess focused on all her hopes and dreams. Everything that made life worth living. The red heart that was her SOUL appeared outside her and began to glow with an intense white light.

Like moths to a flame, smaller spawn flocked to it, hoping to smother the light. Vess moved around them, staying near the dark creatures but never getting too close.

This exposure to light began to eat away at their forms, eventually causing them to burst and disappear. Whenever this happened to one, it would leave behind a small yellow crystal, which either Vess or Ralsei would quickly snatch up.

* You hear your heart beating in your ears.

NOELLE – 141/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 145/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 21%

NOELLE > ACT > Brighten

-4% TP

* Noelle’s SOUL shone brighter!

RALSEI > DEFEND

+2% TP

The swarm began their assault again. However, with the SOUL now shining brighter, they were dispelled far faster, letting Vess and Ralsei pick up more of the crystals they left behind.

* It sputtered in a voice like crushed glass.

NOELLE – 141/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 145/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 41%

NOELLE > ACT > Brighten

-4% TP

* Noelle’s SOUL shone brighter!

RALSEI > DEFEND

+2% TP

This time, the swarm was joined by new red creatures. Their jaws gnashed as they swiftly pursued Vess and Ralsei. Worse, the light of the SOUL seemed to have minimal effect on them.

The two kept dodging, the light purifying what it could, but-

-46

-40

There were just too many of them. One of the red ones managed to bite Vess’ arm, while the large main one grabbed onto Ralsei. Both quickly batted them away, but Ralsei couldn’t help but be frightened of what he felt looking in those eyes.

* When did you start being yourself?

NOELLE – 95/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 105/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 59%

NOELLE > ACT > Brighten

-4% TP

* Noelle’s SOUL shone brighter!

RALSEI > DEFEND

+2% TP

The tension was building. With it, the light grew stronger. Instinctively knowing this, the horde began to focus down Vess, hoping to drown the SOUL in shadows.

Vess dodged and weaved, but-

-46

there were just-

-46

-too many of them!

Vess was surrounded. They were closing in around her, and she couldn’t find a way to-

-40

-40

-40

DOWN

At the last second, Ralsei shoved her out of the way of the swarm. The SOUL’s light dispersed most of them a moment later, but the damage had been done.

Ralsei’s form seemed to have collapsed, now just a mass of robes and fluff. But…

 * The atmosphere feels tense…

NOELLE – 3/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – -67/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 70%

It was enough.

NOELLE > ACT > BANISH

-64% TP

* Noelle’s SOUL emitted a brilliant light!

Vess let out a scream of tension and anger. The light of the SOUL burst out in a great wave, momentarily blinding everything and everyone around her. As it faded, the dark creatures were no more.

PURIFIED

* You won!

* Got 0 EXP and 6 D$.

Panting with exhaustion, Vess walked over to Ralsei. He seemed to be fine, pulling himself together and trying to stand. She offered him a hand up, which he gladly took.

“What were those things?” Noelle asked.

“TITAN spawn…In a place this DARK I knew they could appear, but that was far more than a Fountain like this should be able to produce on its own.” Ralsei said.

“Is it a time thing? Like if the Fountain doesn’t get sealed quickly enough, more can appear?”

“No, that couldn’t be it. If anything, we got here early.” Vess mentally commented.

“It would take a day or two for things to get that bad. Unless…” Ralsei seemed to think for a moment. “Let’s get somewhere safer first. That burst of light will keep any others scared of this area for some time, but I’d rather not risk running into more right now.”

“Agreed.” Both Vess and Noelle thought.

They began to walk back along the path. Soon after, they spotted a single lamp, shining down…

Above a SAVE point! Vess took control and ran forward, elated to find such a thing.

* The PROPHECY has changed, if only slightly.

* You are filled with the power of hopeful uncertainty.

* HP fully restored.

VESS        LV 4      99:99:99

Dark Sanctuary – Lower Right

Save                   Return

Storage             Recruits

Phew. They were safe, for now.

Chapter Text

Vess took a deep breath. The Titan Spawn were never easy to fight, but doing it in these circumstances was significantly harder. Only two people in the party meant both had to handle more of the swarms.

More importantly, without Kris and the Black Shard they had stolen from The Knight, Vess had to actually banish them properly instead of just destroying their physical forms and moving on.

…

Maybe she was optimizing the run a little too much. The knife grows dull without play, after all.

Er…the SOUL grows dim without…banishing? Bad metaphor.

The point is, she had gotten so used to just blitzing past the Titan Spawn that having to actually do a prolonged battle with one nearly got her killed. While such an outcome had the lack of long term consequences it usually did, it was still rather unpleasant.

More importantly, why was that one able to attack them so openly? There was supposed to be one there, but it wasn’t supposed to do much besides spook everyone a bit and then disappear when Old Man Gerson turned the lights on.

…

Old Man Gerson was not turning the lights on.

Ralsei started thinking out loud. “Those Titan Spawn shouldn’t have been able to manifest so severely.”

“Is it the kind of thing that’s just a problem on its own, or does it mean something worse is going on?” Vess asked.

“It’s incredibly bad. If creatures of pure, unfiltered darkness are able to slip into being like that, it means we’ve gone from simple holes between the LIGHT and DARK to what could become a full breach. And a full breach is…”

“The Roaring.”

“Yes. Though I don’t know how it’s happening. There should only be three Fountains active right now, correct? It should be days before three fountains could trigger a breach.”

Castle Town, the shelter, and the church. Unless…

“What if there were four?” Vess asked hesitantly.

Ralsei stopped. Put a hand to his chin. Thought for a moment. His eyes began to go wide.

 “Are you sure Susie and Kris are in here with us?” he asked.

“I mean, yeah. Susie was opening a wooden door when I saw her.” Vess said.

“…Vess, nearly every door in town is wooden.” Noelle said.

Oh. Uh…

“Kris! Kris was, um…actually it was really dark where Kris was, and I couldn’t tell anything about where they were.” Vess nervously said.

Ralsei stared at her.

“That uh…fits, right? It’s really dark in here, so Kris is probably somewhere in another dark spot around here, yeah.” She continued, very unconvincingly.

Ralsei tried very hard to look like he didn’t want to break down in panic.

“Vess…why don’t we close our eyes, and try to think about what Susie might be doing right now?” he said, calmly.

“That’s…that’s a good idea.” Vess said, also trying not to panic.

She closed her eyes, and-

Susie had been here for longer than she would care to admit. The switch she had to hit was all the way up on a high ceiling, and she had no way to reach it. The bricks of the walls looked like they could be climbed, but without some kind of real climbing gear, there’s no way she could get enough of a grip to make it all the way up there.

She tried to just jump up there, but that obviously didn’t work.

She considered hitting it with a Rude Buster, but if that broke the switch she’d be stuck here.

She tried throwing a rock at it, but for whatever reason that just didn’t count.

So, there she was, using her weapon to chop gouges into the wall to help her climb up. It was slow work, as the stone bricks were quite tough and the Devilsknife was clearly designed for cutting enemies, not solid rock.

And worst of all…

THAT DAMN FLOWER WOULDN’T STOP SMILING AT HER!

“WHAT DO YOU WANT!?” she yelled at it. It had been watching her for the past few minutes.

“Would you like some help?” it sweetly asked. Hell no. She was not taking assistance from flowers. She had a reputation to maintain.

Susie went back to chopping.

Her work was paying off. She had carved handholds into the wall, enough to get her…

…about a foot off of the ground.

…

It was still staring at her with those dumb golden petals.

“Fine!” She gave in. No, no. She was just saving her strength to beat the shit out of Kris later.

“I just need to be able to hit that yellow switch and then get out of this room, got it? I don’t need anything more after that.” She said.

“No problem!” it said with a smile. “Oh merry teeeam!”

Oh what now…

The other six flowers popped up in a line, one after another. They all took a deep breath, and-

“If you start singing, I will kill everyone in this room and then myself.” Susie said.

The flowers stopped. All but the gold one disappeared back under the ground. A moment later, vines came out of the wall, creating something similar to a ladder.

“There you go!” it said.

Susie began climbing the vine-ladder. It went by the yellow switch, then up to the top of the room where the door was. Pushing the switch caused a *thunk* to sound out as the bars on the door retracted. She climbed up the rest of the way, only to see that the gold flower had already dug up here.

…

Jeez, that smile looked too much like Ralsei’s. It was making her uncomfortable. She began to walk away.

“Oh. Uh, thanks.” She said as an afterthought. It had helped her, even if she would never admit to such.

Suddenly, Susie heard what sounded like a panicked yelp. It sounded really far away, and almost like someone was talking through a phone.

“Did you hear that?” she asked, not even really sure it was real.

“No? Did someone say something?” the flower responded.

Even still, if someone else had gotten caught up in this, she wasn’t just gonna leave them stuck here!

Susie ran forward, unaware that the one whose voice she heard was already back in the Dark Sanctuary.

Vess opened her eyes. A wall of ice surrounded her.

“More of those Titan Spawn appeared while you were gone!” Noelle mentally relayed. “Ralsei’s out there holding them back.”

This was not the time!

Unfortunately for those Titan Spawn, they had chosen to attack her next to a SAVE point.

Storage - Page 1/3

Glowshard                     TensionGem

 TensionMax                      TVDinner   

-                                           -

-                                           -

-                                           -

-                                           -

The orange gem materialized in her hand.

Stepping out from behind the ice, she saw three of them surrounding Ralsei. He was already struggling to stand.

“We’ve got to help him!” Noelle thought.

“Absolutely.” Vess agreed. She was not in the mood for this.

Now Playing – SPAWN

She ran towards them, crushing the orange gem as she got close.

* Darkness constricts you…

* TPgain reduced outside of ???

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 60/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 50%

“Get away from my friend!” Two voices spoke as one, and…

NOELLE > ACT > BrightenEX

-10% TP

* Noelle’s SOUL shone furiously bright!

The light washed over the Titan Spawn and Ralsei. The swarm of smaller spawn disappated almost immediately, while the larger ones seemed stunned. Ralsei held a hand over his eyes as she got closer.

“You have got to stop being so self-sacrificing, man.” She said. Dozens of the small crystals that the spawn left behind floated around them.

“I…I couldn’t let them get to you. It’s my job to protect-“

“Didn’t we go over this last night? You’re my friend. That’s the only “job” I could ever ask you to do. You being here for real, and you are real, is the only thing I want from you.”

Ralsei sat there, unsure of what to do or say.

She sighed. The three Titan Spawn began to move again, the light having dimmed. Unfortunately, it was already too late for them.

* The atmosphere feels tense…

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 60/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 100% MAX

NOELLE > ACT > BANISH

-64% TP

* Noelle’s SOUL shined with a brilliant light!

With a passionate scream, a wave of white energy radiated out of Vess. Once the light faded, the Titan Spawn were gone.

BANISHED X3

* You won!

*Gained 0 EXP and 36 D$.

Now that the danger was gone, Vess offered a hand to Ralsei. He took it, and she helped him up.

“Why don’t you use your fire magic? Even if it’s not true LIGHT, it should still scare them back, right?” she asked.

He was silent for a moment.

“It…it’s complicated. It isn’t something I should really…use.” He eventually said.

“Why not? Wasn’t your whole plan to try and change what was “supposed” to happen? Fire isn’t just for hurting things, you know? Even then, I know you’re more than aware of the fact that we can’t solve all of our problems by being nice.”

“I know. Even still…I just…I don’t want to accidentally…” Ralsei was starting to really get nervous.

“Do what?”

“I…I…How did you even know I could use fire magic? I’ve specifically been avoiding using it.”

“That depends, how much do you know about what I can do?” Vess asked.

“Um…well, the PROPHECY did have a few lines about you.” Ralsei said. Vess motioned for him to continue.

“It went like this…” he began.

A SPIRIT’S VOICE TO BE THEIR GUIDE

ALWAYS STAYING AT THE HUMAN’S SIDE

THROUGH POINTS OF LIGHT IT OFFERS REST

AND PREPARES THEM FOR EVERY TEST

“…Beyond that, I’m aware that you have…some way of knowing things you shouldn’t be able to, but I don’t know how you do that.” he finished.

“Lord of the Hammer and Dragon Blazers interpreted it as this little fairy companion that was too shy to speak to anyone but the main character. We had to wait a long time for Dragon Blazers III after the second one came out, so some people starting theorizing it was because the fairy was secretly evil and was going to manipulate a couple of the characters into doing something bad.” Noelle thought.

“Would I be right to assume we’re near one of those “points of light” it mentions?” Ralsei asked. “I had assumed anytime we suddenly got fully healed was one of those.”

“That’s right.” Vess said. “As for the other stuff…” For some reason, the idea of someone else being aware of Vess’ ability to “reset” and her previous “runs” made her feel nervous. Still, it was Ralsei. He wouldn’t judge. Besides, this was the first time she had complete control over her own vocal cords. Might as well use them for all they’re worth.

“…The truth is, I’ve been stuck in some sort of time loop

loop

loop

loop

loop

Vess blinked.

She was walking. Why was she walking? She was in the middle of a conversation.

Her and Ralsei seemed to just be a bit further back on the path. The single lamp with a SAVE point was some distance away.

She stopped. Ralsei bumped into her, since he wasn’t expecting it.

“Oh, sorry. Is something wrong?” he asked.

“What…weren’t we just talking?”

“Yes, a moment ago…Did you forget what we said already?”

“That’s…I asked about why you didn’t use your fire magic, you asked how I know things, I asked about what you already knew about me, you told about the PROPHECY lines I was in, then I explained the SAVE points, and…”

“And that’s it. Did you forget to say something?”

“Yeah, I was just trying to tell you I’m trapped in a time loop

loop

loop

loop

loop

Vess blinked again. They were under another lamp now.

What was this? Why couldn’t she tell anyone about the loop?

*gurgle*

Again?! How many of those damn things are going to spring up down here? She can’t spend all night on them and figure out why she’s just not allowed to talk about her situation!

“Get ready for another-“

*click*

In an instant, the whole path was lit up. No enemies, no Titan Spawn. Just Vess, Ralsei…

And an old turtle.

“Whatcha doin’?” the turtle asked.

Chapter Text

Vess, Noelle, and Ralsei stared at the old man. He was clearly some form of turtle monster, with dark-green skin and a large, bulky shell. He was wearing a simple but practical outfit, with a brown coat, scarf, and a flat cap. His age was evident from the always shut right eye, and the cane he was using. Despite that, his hair was bright pink, with a goatee and a long strand of hair that disappeared under his hat.

“Mighty dark out for you two to be wanderin’ around.” He said.

“Uh…” Vess really wasn’t sure what to say.

The old man gave a hearty-

Now Playing – Gyaa Ha ha!

-laugh, and squinted at them.

“Now, my eyesight ain’t what it used ta be, but is that little Dess and Azzy out on a late-night stroll together I see?” he asked. Noelle’s body instinctively tensed up at the mention of that name, leaving Vess unable to respond.

“N-no no, I think you’ve got this mixed-“ Thankfully Ralsei was there to try and explain, but…

The old man laughed again.

“Oh, I’m sure, I’m sure. Just a couple of friends hanging out. Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna tattle on y’all to Fluffybuns or the Ice Queen.”

He began to walk away, gesturing for them to follow.

“C’mon! It’s chilly out here, I’ll bring ya back to my place and y’all can warm up by the fire and with some tea!” he continued. The three of them began to walk down the now lit up path.

Now if you are not aware, turtles, tortoises, and monsters resembling them are famous for moving rather slowly.

Older folks are also known for moving slowly.

Combine the two, and well…

It was a very…uh…relaxed pace.

Just by walking normally, Vess and Ralsei easily caught up to him. And then passed him. And then, after just a moment, they looked back to see him quite far away.

“Don’t worry about me! I’ll keep up!” he said.

Nobody vocalized any opinion on that.

Internally…

“So…um…I…” Noelle was having trouble thinking about what it is she wanted to ask.

“The dust of a dead monster counts as an “object” for what can become a Darkener.” Vess answered.

“That’s…okay the implications alone that causes…but wait, shouldn’t only the things in the church count? The cemetery is outside the church, which is where Mr. Boom’s dust should be.”

“Father Alvin apparently likes to be close to his dad in a more literal sense.”

“And you know this…how?”

Vess was silent in the shared mindscape for a moment.

“Because-“

From Noelle’s perspective, Vess suddenly disappeared, leaving her to abruptly regain control of her body. This was the third time this had happened. Vess would try to talk about something and then would just vanish. It felt like when Kris would just randomly disconnect from a Miscord call, just to mess with someone.

Except worse, because clearly it was important.

At least it gives her a moment of quiet.

Now Playing – Lost Girl

Today has been…a lot. Especially after yesterday. Noelle has no idea what she’s going to tell her mother about this, but she’s going to have to tell her something, because otherwise the therapy appointments she’s going to be scheduling will be hard to explain. She hasn’t needed it in years, not since...

Dess.

Sigh…

Six years, and the only people she can even talk about her own sister with are her parents and Kris. Maybe she needed that appointment more than she first thought. Just hearing Mr. Boom say that name caused Noelle to freeze up.

And wasn’t that just throwing another wrench into this mess? Mr. Boom was dead. Noelle knew this. She had been there, crying at the funeral with everyone else, had watched the ceremony where Father Alvin had spread his dust over that special hammer he had made. Yet, here he was, walking around like it had never happened.

If he could be brought back with a Dark World, then…

No. It wouldn’t work. They never even found her dust.

If the only thing to do was to cheat death, Dess wouldn’t have ever been considered missing.

Noelle and Ralsei continued down the hall. The stained-glass windows were the only thing letting light into this section, casting the room in a blue glow. She wasn’t sure when this happened, but when Noelle looked back, Mr. Boom wasn’t as far behind as he was a moment ago.

That was odd, since she hadn’t slowed-

Now Playing – From Now On

* Balthizard swings in!

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 60/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 0%

Another one of these guys? Did it just move in after the other two left? Whatever. Vess, are you going to…

Oh. Vess isn’t back yet. Hm. No, it’s okay, that’s fine. Noelle could handle this. She just needed to…ACT somehow.

NOELLE > ACT

Check – Analyze the enemy.

Shake – Use LEFT and RIGHT to shake!

OldMan – I’m old!

Oh, it’s just that easy. Okay, she could…analyze the enemy, move it around, or…she could…do something with Mr. Boom?

NOELLE > ACT > OldMan

Wait, nonono, she didn’t mean-

* Noelle used the Old Man!

Mr. Boom walked out into the middle of the battle.

“Hm? What’s all this, now?” he said.

“Mister, please get out of the way! We’re in the middle of a FIGHT?” Ralsei said.

“Oh, is that it?” Mr. Boom turned to the Balthizard. “Now you go easy on them, you hear? They’re still learnin’!” He then walked away.

* The enemy’s ATTACK went down!

+50% MERCY

The metallic creature seemed to heed his words. Ralsei was stunned that it did.

“Wait, huh? Why did it listen to…” he said.

* Ralsei got confused! He forgot what he was about to do!

* Take it easy.

Whatever Ralsei had planned was interrupted, as the Balthizard began spewing dense plumes of smoke around the room. Noelle and Ralsei were quickly surrounded and had to dodge in between the bursts that went towards the middle. There weren’t too many, so they were able to escape without harm.

* Balthizard breathes a fog of sunbeam on a warm wood.

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 60/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 10%

Okay, that worked out better than Noelle thought it would. She didn’t expect the Balthizard to ACT like that from her calling in Mr. Boom.

NOELLE > ACT > OldMan

Again? How does Vess work this thing so effectively?

* Noelle used the OldMan!

Oddly, Mr. Boom walked backwards into the battle this time.

“How’s it going? Ya winnin, kids?” he asked.

“Sir, please, this is not a safe place-“ Ralsei began.

“You kids must be getting hungry battling. Some candy?” Mr. Boom held out some candy.

“Uh…is now really-“ Ralsei’s question was cut off by a piece of candy getting tossed towards him.

“I got plenty! Have one!” One got tossed to Noelle too. Even the Balthizard got one.

+MAX

+MAX

+MAX

* Everyone got candy!

+50% MERCY

Again, the fact that this was proving to be so effective baffled Ralsei.

* Ralsei got confused! He forgot what he was about to do!

* Sit back, relax.

The smoke began again, but since the Balthizard was feeling much more peaceful and full of candy, it wasn’t putting much effort into actually hitting either of them.

* Balthizard laughs plumes of heart-shaped gas.

NOELLE – 200/200 | FIGHT | ACT | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

RALSEI – 180/180 | FIGHT | MAGIC | ITEM | SPARE | DEFEND

TP – 20%

Okay, so now she just has to SPARE, right?

NOELLE > SPARE

Balthizard – 100% MERCY

Yes, just SPARE the Balthizard!

NOELLE > SPARE > Balthizard

* Noelle spared Balthizard!

RECRUIT 3/4

* You won!

* Gained 0 EXP and 150 D$.

Now Playing – Dark Sanctuary

Okay. That…that wasn’t too bad. If the battles kept going like that, she could handle it.

Suddenly, Noelle’s body jumped.

“Huh? Oh come on, I can’t even think about the-“ Vess’ voice was there for a second, and then gone just as fast.

Well, she seemed to be having issues. Anyways, time to move on.

Hm. Where did Mr. Boom go? He couldn’t have gone far.

Noelle and Ralsei continued down the hall. Mr. Boom had in fact not gone that far. He was just ahead, near some bookcases and a closed door. One of the books on a high shelf was a distinct bright green. Mr. Boom seemed to be reaching for it, but just wasn’t tall enough. He noticed them walking up.

“Ah, there ya are! Thought I left you behind for a moment! Say, I’m tryin’ to grab a book up there, but I just can’t get it. Could one of you help me out?” he asked.

Ralsei ran forward.

“Of course! Behold!” he said. A flash of light, and…

“Magical Stool Forme R!” He just…bent down into the shape of a stool.

…

“Feel free to uh…step on me.” Ralsei said.

…

Mr. Boom looked at Noelle. She shrugged. What was she supposed to do in this situation?

Despite clearly not wanting to, Mr. Boom got on top of Ralsei. The weight of a heavy turtle shell caused Ralsei to-

*splat*

-collapse instantly. However, even the small height boost of a squished Ralsei was enough for the old man to pick out the green book. As soon as it left the bookcase, a loud *thunk* sounded, and the nearby door opened. Mr. Boom hopped off the compressed fluffy boy.

“Thanks.” He said awkwardly, before walking through the door.

Noelle looked at Ralsei, still flat on the floor. Should…she just leave him there? Help him? Join him in solidarity?

Noelle’s body suddenly jolted again.

“Ah! Okay, don’tthinkaboutitdon’tthinkaboutitdon’tthinkaboutit. Alright? Alright, we’re good.” Vess’ voice mentally rang out.

“Don’t think about what?” Noelle thought.

“The-“ Vess was gone again.

Okay, yeah, that one was her fault.

Ralsei decided to stop lying on the floor and feeling bad for himself. He stood up and dusted his robes off.

“Let’s just…go.” Noelle decided. She got the feeling he didn’t want to talk about it.

They walked into another hallway. Another set of stairs led up. At a landing was…

BUT LO, ON HOPES AND DREAMS THEY SEND

THE HEROES AT THE WORLD’S END

“That same one again…” Noelle said.

“Yes. Breaking the PROPHECY is unfortunately not quite so literal. Even if one of these is shattered, it’ll just appear again somewhere else.” Ralsei said.

The stairs kept going up past it. They led to another landing with…

BUT LO, ON HOPES AND DREAMS THEY SEND

THE HEROES AT THE WORLD’S END

“Apparently somewhere else is just right next to it.” Noelle said.

They continued up to yet another landing with..

BUT LO, ON HOPES-

*crash*

The glass shattered. Mr. Boom had tapped it with his cane, and it had broken so easily.

“Oopsy daisy! Darn my clumsiness, geheh…” he said.

“Oh, now there’s glass everywhere.” Noelle said. Was Ralsei okay, walking through all this broken glass? He wasn’t wearing shoes or anything. To be fair, neither was she, but hooves are generally more durable than paws.

“Well, we were following that PROPHECY so closely…” Mr. Boom pointed at what had been behind the pane.

A new path forward.

“…I couldn’t see quite where we were going, geh-heh!” he finished with a laugh.

Was that…

He always liked to do this sort of thing. Do something that seems completely random or wrong, but it was always just a setup for the wisdom he wanted to give you. Did he break it on purpose?

The room ahead was dark. They could barely see the path in front of them.

“Hm…can’t quite see the way back to my place. Good thing I brought my lantern!” Mr. Boom said. Noelle could hear the sound of something rustling. “Ah darn, now where is my lighter?” he asked.

Noelle looked at Ralsei.

“What?” he asked.

“Well, my ice isn’t going to get a lantern going.” Noelle said.

Ralsei hesitated. He then sighed.

“Look, I know I can use fire. But it’s…I…I can’t control it that well. I can’t do any sort of focused blast like your IceShock or Susie’s Rude Buster. It just goes everywhere.” He said shamefully.

“Well, maybe now’s a good chance to practice. You only need just a bit to get the lanturn lit.”

“Yeah…but…”

“And isn’t the scarf you’re wearing making your magic weaker? That means there’s less of a chance for it to go wrong.”

“…Fine. I’ll…try.” Ralsei relented. He walked over to Mr. Boom.

“Hm? You got a light for me, kid?” Mr. Boom asked.

“Um…yes. Could…could you maybe hold the lantern more out, please?”

Mr. Boom held the lantern away from his body. Ralsei put his hands near the opening. He closed his eyes, and concentrated. A soft orange glow began to build…and build…and…

* Ralsei cast FireŚ̸̷̶̸̶̺͚̤͎̼̃̄̅͆h̷̶̴̶̵̡̜͇̘̃͆̀͛̚͜o̶̴̵̸̶͉͚̞͇̝̒͛͊̑̕c̷̴̵̷̸̛͖̻̣̺̜͗̓̑̽--

The spell blew up. Flames exploded out, destroying the lantern. Thankfully, no one got hit by the blast.

“No! The lantern! I am so sorry, please, I didn’t mean to-“ Ralsei quickly began to apologize. But…

Mr. Boom gave him a firm pat on the shoulder.

“Ain’t nothin’ wrong kid! That was a neat trick you got there! Needs a bit of practice, but what good thing doesn’t?”

“But I…your lantern…”

“Ah, I got more of ‘em. No big loss. Now c’mon! If we don’t have any light, we’ll just find the path our own way!” With that, he stepped forward into the darkness. Noelle followed behind him.

Ralsei stood there for a moment. It was fine. It was just a small mistake. He…he was helpful. He…was still useful. Even if Vess could use magic on her own now. Even if she could heal on her own now. Even if his knowledge of the PROPHECY wasn’t as important anymore. Kris and Susie would still need him, surely? He was fine…

Right?

Chapter Text

Susie was feeling…something new.

Those flowers had taken her accepting help on that puzzle as permission to openly follow her around.

Imagine one of those characters from an educational kids show. Like the ones you watched back in kindergarten, then dropped completely once you realized how much they babied you.

Yeah, so six of those characters were now following Susie around. Surprisingly, she had not gotten mad at them yet.

Why?

Well, for about the past hour or so, she had been doing nothing but being mad at Kris, Kris’ dad, and The Knight.

And, as she was now learning, she was simply getting bored of being pissed at stuff.

Like, yeah, they were treating her like she was a baby, not the grown-ass 15 year old teenager she was. Trying to do puzzles for her, shooing enemies away, trying to rope her into the dumbest conversations she’s ever heard.

But…like….uggghh…

Being angry is exhausting. She’d love nothing more then to go on a rampage, but…

Honestly, all she really wants right now is a bed and a few minutes of quiet.

This place sucks.

The flowers had gotten caught up in some discussion or argument or whatever, and had left Susie to the quiet.

And that’s the other thing!

This whole time, something has just been different about this place. It’s like…kinda…maybe…

Ugh.

Something’s missing. An emptiness somewhere that should be full. A mystery where there should be a guide. A silence where there should be sound. And Susie has no idea what it is.

She’d figure it out later. For now, a new room.

Leaves covered most of the floor. While the room itself wasn’t that long, a path through the leaves curved and winded around. A sign sat on the wall.

* Please don’t step on the leaves.

The writing was that fancy curly kind that old people, snobs and Berdly use. Susie knew there was a name for it, but couldn't be bothered to remember.

Susie looked at the unnecessarily complicated path that the leaves had left open. And at how much faster it would be to just go straight through.

Yeah, she was never gonna listen to some stupid-

*boing*

-siiiigggggnnn!!

Stepping on the leaves set off some kind of spring, flinging Susie into the ceiling. One might expect this to result in severe head trauma, but instead Susie burst right through, revealing the ceiling to be nothing more than a paper covering.

She flew up some more, crashing onto a walkway above. With a groan, she picked herself up and looked around this new section. The walkway curved and twisted, looking exactly like the intended path in the leaves below. Near the start of the path was a hole she hadn’t noticed before, leading back down to the leaves.

The idea was clear: stay on the path or get flung up here and have to walk back.

This sparked something in Susie. It turns out she was in fact not done getting pissed at things. But unlike everything else, she could do something about this.

Some pompous jerk wanted her to follow the rules? Hell no.

Susie took a step off the walkway. Falling down, she landed in the leaves.

*boing*

Immediately, a spring triggered and sent her back up. She thought for a second, and leapt off again.

*boing*

This time, as she landed, she went into a crouch and then jumped as the spring bounced her up. Like a double bounce on a trampoline, this shot her higher in the air, and right past the walkway, closer to the exit.

Coming back down onto the leaves again, she repeated the process.

*boing*

As she bounced through the room, Susie had an idea.

Ralsei had explained the basics of magic to her when he taught her how to heal. Rude Buster had come naturally to her, but trying to learn something completely different had needed a deeper explanation.

Truthfully, most of it had just flown over her head. Something about how those Tension Point things worked, and how human SOULs were better at storing energy while monster SOULs were better at releasing energy.

She had gotten the general idea, though. Concentrate on the hopes in your heart and release them to make the dreams in your mind reality.

*boing*

As she bounced up one last time, Susie focused. Concentrated on the not-quite heart, not-quite stomach area where her SOUL was. Felt the power build…

And kept hold.

Gravity kicked in, bringing her back down to the floor. Angling herself for the perfect landing, she hit the floor-

*BOOM*

-with a mighty shockwave that shook the whole room. Dust and gravel were knocked loose from the walls and ceiling. For a moment, Susie was worried she might have caused a collapse. Thankfully, things settled after a couple seconds.

Hm. She liked that. It wasn’t a spell, though. Using Rude Buster or her healing had a distinct feel to it, and this didn’t have that.

But…

She stepped out of her landing zone. Cracks spread across the floor from the indent her boots had left in the stone. The crater was smoking.

She could absolutely find a use for this.

Susie walked away, proud of this new discovery.

Behind her, a flower popped up and looked at the damage Susie had done. It then looked at her, and went back into the ground.

Kris woke slowly. Their consciousness gradually drifted in, with a bone-deep weariness throughout their whole body.

Kris groaned. Some days were better than others. This wasn’t one of them. If they were lucky, they had about an hour before their body simply gave up and went back to sleep.

Under usual circumstances, they’d just accept that, roll back over, and let the day pass. Usual circumstances weren’t a Dark World in their dad’s place, though. So, regrettably, they would have to get up.

With a groan, Kris sat up. They were still in their Dark World armor. Looking around, they saw that what they were sleeping on wasn’t a bed, but a pile of papers. Picking a couple up, Kris looked at what they were about.

* Various cutouts of newspapers and online articles.

* They’re all dated to six years ago.

Of course. Dad still blamed himself.

Kris loved their dad, but…

It was hard for him to accept the truth, sometimes.

That he wasn’t the great chief of police anymore.

That their family wouldn’t ever go back to the way it was.

That it was Kris’ fault that…

…

Kris waited for the anger to build in their heart.

Waited for the grief.

Waited for tears to fall down their face.

* But nothing came.

Nothing ever did.

Kris stood up and walked off the pile. They needed to figure out where they were, relative to everything. With how weak their SOUL was, Ralsei wasn’t going to be able to directly find them. It’d be like trying to hold a candle next to a lighthouse.

The room they were in was large. Darkened concrete covered the walls and floor. More papers were pinned in various spots on the walls. Sometimes, a string would connect a couple. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, dimly bright. Kris stepped out of the room into a hallway.

The dingy aesthetic continued, leading Kris down through whatever building they were in. Eventually, Kris found a table with a note on it. The paper was noticeably cleaner and newer, so they knew it wasn’t another part of Dad’s conspiracy theories.

Kris,

I hope you slept well. If you’re reading this, I left to go get you something to help you feel better. My apologies for the rough treatment when bringing you here.

Love,

A friend.

Well, wasn’t that something? Kris had guessed that the Darkners here might like him in the same way Tenna and the rest of the TV crew had. They might not be as alone as they thought.

Which was good, because presumably Susie was still on her way here and still wanted to bite Kris’ face off for betraying her. They were not in fact, betraying her, but explaining why and how they weren’t doing that would require more time than Susie was going to give them.

So, they needed a plan. They had left the back door slightly open, so hopefully when the SOUL got here, it would go in through the back and land nearby. Even without a vessel, it should be able to push through the gap and get over here. With it, victory was not a matter of how, but when. 

Actually, how long had they been out? The SOUL probably needed to be stealthy, but even then, it shouldn’t take too long. Flower King was just down the street from the Holiday house.

Angel above, something better not have happened to it. Wait, no, if something did happen, then it would just do that resetting thing. Then it’d just avoid whatever went wrong and head straight here.

Cause, like, it knew what was happening, yeah? That was its whole thing, it knew what would happen and how to best get through it. Even if The Knight had done something in the church already, it would come here because it still needed Kris to be its vessel. So, no worries.

It knew what was going on.

Vess had no idea what was going on.

Something was preventing her from talking or even thinking about…the thing she can’t even think about because then the universe decides to metaphorically unplug her controller!

She snaps back into reality in front of a bowl of candy on a pillar. Noelle appears to have already taken a piece, as she is holding one.

“Not a word. Give me a moment.” Vess thinks. She takes a deep breath. Don’t think about it, don’t worry about it. Figure it out later.

“So…without causing…whatever it is that’s making you vanish, can you tell me what’s happening?” Noelle mentally asks.

“I…” Vess begins slowly. “Can’t tell you…something. About…why I know more than I should.” She says aloud.

Ralsei looks at her oddly.

“Well, that’s…good to know I suppose. I had wondered why you went quiet, Vess.” He said.

“And…If I try to tell you what it is…something stops me…” Vess gazed around, as if looking for whatever was preventing her from sharing her knowledge. “What it is…is very specific. I will now demonstrate an example.”

Vess pointed at the candy bowl.

“That bowl of candy will fall over if I, specifically I take more than one piece of candy.”

She approached the bowl.

* A container of candy. It says “Please take one”.

* You took a candy.

* You got Darker Candy.

“I have now taken a candy. Ralsei, if you would please take one.” Vess gestured for Ralsei to take a piece. He walked up and did so. “Now if you would please take another.”

Ralsei hesitated, looking at the sign, but did so anyway. The bowl remained.

“Now I will give control back to Noelle, so that she may also take a second piece of candy.”

Noelle’s body twitched a little, and then Noelle took a second piece of candy. Her body twitched again.

“Okay. As you can see, people are able to take multiple pieces of candy without issue. However, if I…” Vess slowly reached her arm out. She just barely tapped a second piece of candy when…

* Huh? The center of gravity has shifted!

The bowl immediately slid off the pillar and onto the ground, dumping the candy everywhere.

“I have learned this fact…through…trial and error-

error

error

error

error

Susie walked into a building. It was the first thing around her that wasn’t made out of pinkish-purple brick, so it was instantly more interesting. The outside was some grey metal, and it was covered in large round windows that seemed to have…numbers on them? Whatever the case, Susie walked in…

Only to be rather disappointed. The place was pretty barren. Nobody was really around, it was dusty everywhere, and the general vibe was just depressing. The only person there was the one working at the front desk, who perked up immediately upon noticing Susie. She was another flower with a face on it, and had been resting her head against her leaves on the table like no one was ever gonna come to this place. A name tag on her stem said “Daisy”.

“Hello, welcome to The Cash Drawer! How can I help you today?” she said in that customer service tone.

“Uhh, depends. What is this place?” Susie asked.

“This is The Cash Drawer, the best place to stop for anyone coming in or going out of the Flower Kingdom! We offer a lovely place to stay and stock up for the road ahead!”

Susie looked around. At the dirty walls, the old floor, and the complete lack of any guests. She then looked back at the flower.

The flower sighed, then dropped back into the rest she had been in before Susie walked in. “Okay, yeah, people aren’t coming here. No one’s been coming here.” She dropped the service worker accent for a tired, depressed voice.

“Geez, that sucks. How much do I gotta pay to get a nap in here?”

“Eh. It’s supposed to be 100D$, but my manager hasn’t bothered paying attention in weeks. Gimmie 25D$ and I’ll get a room dusted off for you.”

Susie handed over the money.

“Cool, you’ll be in the first room upstairs on the left, I’ll have it ready in a bit.” Daisy disappeared under the desk. Susie looked over the counter to see a simple white vase.

After a moment, Daisy popped back out of the vase, holding a duster.

“Alright, you’re good to go. Don’t break anything, otherwise I’d have to get a job that needs effort.” She said.

Susie walked up the stairs and into the first room on the left.

It…wasn’t the worst bed she’s ever slept in.

Not even bothering to take anything off, Susie just flopped onto the mattress, rolled the sheet over her, and got ready to take a good break.

Man, she hasn’t slept in a hotel since…

…

Well, there goes her mood.