Chapter Text
"Kris wake up, it is time for school"
Kris opened their eyes slowly. The voice of their mother, even if soft, conveyed an urgency that they hated. It was another day of school. They didn't even know what day it was. It wasn't surprising, Kris rarely paid any attention in class and spent all their time either sleeping or trying to sleep. If you do the same thing every day, it tends to blend together.
They rolled around in their bed debating if they even wanted to go to school. Well the simple answer was no, there was nothing good that could happen there. Kris struggled to get enough energy to start the day, it was always like this, or at least as long as they could remember. Never wanting to get up became an essential part of their mornings.
Finally, after a few minutes of resting their eyes they decided to get out of bed. It was a warm day and the sun was peaking through the blinds. Kris slowly made their way to the closet. They took a few seconds staring at the rather poor collection of clothes. Kris had already decided what they would wear. Same old, striped sweater and the same brown pants. It was their usual go to and Kris never liked to change things up.
Their mother wanted to buy them some new clothes but Kris just ended up never using them. If they weren’t broken then why should they be replaced?
"Kris darling we will be late again, you know I cannot keep telling Alphys that we were stuck in traffic"
She was right, it was a rarity when Kris wasn't late for class and their mother always made up some excuse to get her child off the hook. They quickly took off their pajamas and threw them onto their bed. After a minute they were out of their room and heading down the stairs to meet their mother standing already dressed next to the door.
"Oh Kris, do not forget to take your lunch, I left it on the table"
Kris slowly made their way to the small brown paper bag and put it in their backpack.
"Are you ready now, darling?"
Their mother asked. Kris nodded.
"Good, maybe if I will be fast enough we will not be late this time"
Toriel chuckled and opened the front door. Kris made their way into the car and put their backpack on the back seat. They were off, on the way they saw many neighbors waving at them. Toriel was well liked by everyone so it was not weird for people to wave. They drove past houses and next to the Librarby. The drive wasn't long, Kris could probably make that distance in 2 minutes if they ran. But it was better to drive, they didn't have to do anything and no one would bother them on the way.
They finally made it, Toriel held their hand as they walked down the hall. Their mother was in a bit of a rush considering that they were already late to school. Toriel quickly hugged Kris, pulling them into her soft fur.
"Have a nice day honey, today I have to stay a bit late so you will have to make something to eat for yourself"
"Okay, mom"
Kris was used to it, their mother had many important things to do, she was practically running this school and sometimes she had to stay up late to work on some minor things. The festival was coming and she wanted everything to be perfect. She always said that the school needs to have a great stand during the festival, otherwise no one would take them seriously. Nothing new, they will just warm something up from the fridge as they sometimes did.
They made their way to the class. The first thing they heard was Alphys.
"O-oh good morning Kris, don't worry you are not that late..."
Kris looked at her and with a small nod they came to their chair. Maybe a nap will make this class more bearable? Kris sat down and put their head on their arms, drifting off to sleep as they were thinking about the upcoming festival. Normally they wouldn't give that even a second thought but this time it was different. This time Azzy was coming back to town, it was their chance to have fun together like in the good old days.
Kris always enjoyed going to the festival, it was an yearly event that brought everyone together. They remembered going there as a kid and playing stupid carnival games with their brother. Of course they were mostly rigged and they never managed to score a single price, but Dess always managed to steal a plushie or two for them or Noelle to lighten their mood.
It was a long time ago and now even without the childlike whimsy that was lost on them after they reached the status of an adolescent, the thought of spending time together with Noelle and Asriel playing those games was still fun. They miss the old times, more and more every day. Going on stupid adventures, playing dumb games, it was all a reindeer memory for them.
Kris started to think about Noelle, one question always crossed their mind while thinking about the past. Are they still friends? After everything that happened, with Asriel and Dess gone, Kris stopped talking to her. Their parents divorce and Asriel’s leave for college put them in a dark place, and they ended up cutting themself off from everyone. They wondered if Asriel would come back as he promised, was there a chance for them to reunite with their seemingly lost friend.
*smack*
Kris nearly jumped out of their chair, their train of thoughts rudely interrupted by a loud noise. The class went silent and everyone looked at the door. It was Her. Susie was standing and looking at everyone.
"S-susie, good morning, you missed a bit of class..."
Susie glared at Alphys with her death stare.
"Bu-but it's not a problem, just take your seat and listen carefully, I will be explaining what your group projects will be about"
"Sure, whatever" Susie said as she slowly walked to her desk. She was a bully, a tormentor. Strong and mean, even Alphys gave up on making her do anything. If there was anyone Kris was scared of, it was her. Of course with their luck Susie decided that her favorite victim is them. For a few good weeks or maybe even months she tormented them with anything that could still get a reaction out of them.
"Well Susie, since you came last, you will be paired with Kris..."
Kris didn't even realize that Alphys was talking about some project, maybe if they knew they could have asked Noelle to be their partner. Well no, scratch that she was probably paired with Berdly so that was not happening. Maybe MK was down to be their partner, even Jockington or even Temmie. Well they were probably dead, everyone in the class knew that by this point. Every person stared at them with a look of concern and sadness, like they were already mourning them.
"It's such a shame that Kris has been sent on that mission with a monster, you will truly be missed"
His voice was like scratching a fork on a plate.
"Berdly, please don't interrupt the class, we still have many things to cover about our projects"
Susie wasn't listening to her anymore, the only thing she heard was that she was paired with the freak. 'Great, just amazing' she thought to herself. Maybe Alphys was trying to get back on her for all the carnage that she did, maybe she just hated her like everyone else here. Either way she is now paired with them. She hated Kris although she wasn't entirely sure why. Kris came from a nice family, they had loving parents that always cared about them. This damn kid had everything, they were well off financially, they never had problems with studying or school. Everyone liked them even though they barely said anything in class or outside of it. They seemed so ungrateful for their privileges.
It infuriated Susie, this stupid kid had everything that she could ever want, and yet they never smiled, never laughed. It pissed her off, more than she could even understand. A couple times she even noticed Kris take out their lunch made by their mother and throw it away. Sometimes they ate but never even paid attention to the notes that their mother left for them. Why didn't they understand, people would kill to be in their shoes, and yet they did nothing about it.
The worst part is, they seemed okay with anything, no matter what Susie said or did to them, they never cried or screamed, it was like they barely even cared. She had to come up with more and more elaborate things to do, for them to even give any emotions. She was livid, squeezing sides of her desk, her claws leaving marks at the bottom. She would kill to be born into their life. But that would never happen, the only thing she could do is to be strong, that was the only thing that was going for her through all those years. She was strong and mean and if she stayed like that, she would make it. With no friends maybe, but at least she was safe from pain and she can do it all by herself. She reminded herself that it was all that mattered, the only thing she could do.
But then, why did she feel so sad, why did thinking about that freak make her so sad?
"O-oh we have a problem, I can't do anything without my chalk" Alphys looked around the class looking for someone that would be willing to go find some more.
"Can I depart on this grand adventure and bring this class the holy knowledge sticks" said Berdly
"Su-Susie, would you be so kind and go find some chalk, it should be at the supp..."
Susie stared at her, for a moment the class went silent
"whatever, this place sucked anyways"
She stood up and left for the door. Susie walked past them still staring at them. Being paired with this freak made her livid. Even now, after this horrible news for them, they seemed to barely care about it. As always, as if they were okay with everything that happened to them, no matter what happened. Their ambivalence to everything that happened to them was pissing her off. She stormed out of the class, at least outside she won’t have to think about them.
"Kris, would you be so kind and make sure she actually brings back the chalk, and keep her out of trouble"
Was she kidding them? How could they stop this monster from getting into trouble? She could probably rip them in half the second no one was looking. It was never a good idea, they were now sure, it was their last minutes on this earth. They were going to walk out of that class into the claws of Susie only to be killed. The worst is, they would die on an empty stomach and in school. They couldn't even imagine a worse fate.
Kris slowly got up from their desk and made their way to the door. They looked around the class seeing other monsters looking at them. Noelle looked a bit scared, she mouthed 'Good luck, Kris', or at least that is what they thought she said, after all they couldn't read lips. Berdly was sitting straight as a pole, he knew what was about to come, all the memories of playing Dragon Blazers together came back at once. Was Berdly actually about to cry for their gaming companion? MK and Snowy looked at each other and then at Kris, worried smiles shown on their faces as they could only watch the oncoming slaughter. Even Catti put down her phone for a second, that meant it was a serious matter.
Kris finally reached the door and slowly opened it. They quickly made it past the door and closed it behind them. Kris made it just in time to see Susie put the last piece of chalk between her teeth. With a swift jaw movement Kris heard a crunch and the chalk was gone. Susie turned around and saw Kris looking at what had just happened.
"What you looking at creep, mom never taught you that staring is rude"
She made a step towards them, her fist closing. Even here she couldn’t escape this fucker.
"Oh I know, you must have seen me, you must think that you finally have something on me"
She grinned at them showing her giant teeth.
"Well let me tell you something you freak, if you ever decide to tell anyone"
Susie rushed them and held the collar of their sweater.
"I will make sure those will be the last words you ever say, you get me?"
Kris stared blankly into her eyes, her big bright yellow eyes staring deep into their soul. They couldn't say a single word
"I will bite off your little head, you hear me?"
She picked Kris up and slammed them into the lockers. The noise was loud enough that someone in class would have heard it. Someone was going to come for me and save me, they thought to themselves.
"I will maybe do it right now and save myself the trouble later, what do you think?"
Kris gulped, but then something happened, Susie loosened her grip. Kris felt their feet touching the ground, they looked at Susie. Kris couldn't believe it, was she crying?
A small tear came down her face as she quickly turned away
"Well not today at least, you have a good mother, would hate for her to bury her child"
Kris wanted to say something to her but no words escaped their mouth.
"Let's go, I don't want to spend any more time here"
She moved fast, way faster than Kris could, the difference in height made it hard for Kris to keep up.
"What was that?"
Kris asked after a quiet minute
"What was what, nerd?"
She sounded angry
"I thought you were going to kill me right there, why didn't you"
Kris sounded scared and confused. They didn't know what was going on, maybe it was some prank, or maybe she just saw someone coming. Either way it was weird
"I made a promise to someone, and I can't break my word, not to her..."
A long silence fell on them both. Finally they made it to the supply closet, it had a big black door that stood out in front of every other part of this building. They both moved closer to it and pulled the handles, the doors opened to show a deep darkness. Susie and Kris made a step back, surprised by this sight. It was dark, maybe even darker than dark, Kris thought that if they put their hand in there it would completely disappear. They looked at each other for a second.
"Well are you coming or not?" Susie asked in a spooked out voice
No answer.
"Fine we will go in at the same time"
Susie counted down from 3 and then went in with Kris right beside her. It was really dark. They made their way further into the closet. Who even thought of putting the light switch at the back of the room? Susie thought to herself. Finally she felt something, her snout had just come into contact with something cold and dusty. In that second the whole room flashed with a bright white light. She must have turned the light on with her face. The light hurt their eyes for a second but then, they could see everything in the room.
It was dusty and dirty, it shows that no one has cleaned in here in a while, or maybe even ever. The metal shelves had many strange things on them, a castle replica made by some kids many years before Kris and Susie went to school there. Some balls and broken sports equipment, old papers that no one is going to use anymore, and at the furthest shelf was chalk. A new box, although a bit dusty, still had all the pretty colors one could find on packages of school products.
"Let's get this and get out, this place is hella scary" Susie said as she made her way towards the box.
"Yeah, this place is giving me the creeps"
Susie grabbed the box and switched off the light, it wasn't that hard to get out of the closet due to the light outside guiding them. Either way it was still a dumb design to put the light switch deep into the closet. They finally made it out of there and shut the door.
"Okay freak, two things. First you did not see anything today or I swear on my mother and father that I will end you. Second thing, we have to do this stupid project."
"Yeah I know"
Susie stopped for a second.
"Maybe we can go to the library and work on it tomorrow after school, and by that I mean I will play, you will work"
"Sounds reasonable"
Kris would have said anything to keep their head on their shoulders, although they always liked working alone rather than with someone.
The walk back to class was spent in silence, not one of them had anything meaningful to add.
Kris opened the door and went inside, all their classmates looked at them in shock. Did Kris really survive the encounter, did Susie speared them? No that couldn't be, all of them heard the bang, although no one wanted to admit it. They all thought that Kris was as good as dead. To their surprise Susie followed soon after and handed Alphys the chalk box.
"Th-thanks Susie, and Kris you too of course, now let's get back to the topic of ..."
Kris didn't hear the rest of it, their rudely interrupted nap was waiting to be resumed this instant. Yet again they chose the most comfortable position and started drifting off. They were thinking about their time spent together with their brother, Dess and Noelle. The sleepovers at the Holidays’ house and the happy faces of...
*RING*
Shit, yet again their nap was cut short, this time by the horrific sound of the school bell. Well I guess Kris will have more time to sleep at home then. Kris slowly got up from their desk and made their way into the hall where everyone was watching them. 'Did they really survive that' , 'Didn't Susie hate them' , 'what happened in that hallway'. Kris didn't even react to their classmates gossiping. They just walked out of school and headed straight to their house.
Susie walked out of class after Kris. Turns out she was a heavier sleeper then Kris because she didn't get woken up by the bell. It was actually Alphys who had made her wake up from her slumber. She said something about paying attention during class and all but Susie decided not to pay much attention to her and just walked out of the class.
The hallway was full of students, they all looked at her but after she made eye contact they quickly changed the person they were looking at. She knew what they were thinking, 'Susie must have gotten weak and soft', 'Normally she would kill that poor kid'. They were all too scared to say anything but all of them were interested. She hated it, her hard personality and her need to be strong even if it meant never having any friends, this mentality was bothering her.
Was she really hated by everyone? Did she become the monster that no one could like, was there no chance for her to be normal again? And worst of all, did she really fail to keep her promise to Toriel? She quickly made it out of school and went straight to her house.
Kris finally had a chance to lay down in bed and relax after a stressful day. And stressful it was, they thought that it was it. That Susie was finally going to do something big to them. When they already made peace with that thought staring into her mouth, something weird happened. Was she crying? Why was she crying? What was that promise she made? Did the school bully have something more going on in her life than just torment and evil?
Kris' head was racing with thoughts. Them being paired with Susie at first seemed like a problem but now she agreed to go with them to the library. Even though she never said anything about actually doing any work on the project she agreed to spend time together. Kris was sure that she would have never done this, but here they are. Maybe she made that promise to some high and influential monster? That had to be it, she needed to stay on her best behavior to avoid trouble.
Kris couldn't stop shifting on their bed. Their thoughts were killing them. Were they really alive, were they really considering what they thought. Wasn't it dangerous, maybe it was some prank, she wanted to lure them out into the open and then beat them up or make fun of them. It could have been a cruel joke. What should they do?
Whatever it was, Kris decided to lower their guard just a little and see what comes out of it, worst case scenario they will lose their face or even a whole head, but on the other hand they may learn something interesting about Susie. Maybe their mother was right and they needed to open up and make new friends, maybe this was the first step to getting normal after all that had happened?
Susie punched her training bag. A powerful right hook landed dead center onto the bag. Another one, and another one, every punch was made with conviction. She wanted to be strong, she wanted to be so strong that nothing could hurt her. Strong enough that the stares and quiet laughs didn't hurt.
Another punch, this one made the whole stand tilt out of place. She really was paired with them huh, the class weirdo, the zombie, the kid she promised to... Another punch, why did she even say that? Why couldn't she just not say anything? Was it because of her? Or maybe it was a cry for help? Maybe she finally wanted to have some real frien...
Another punch has landed, Susie was drowning in thoughts that she didn't understand. Maybe this Kris kid wasn't such a bad idea? She promised after all that she would give them a chance, that she would try to be there for them. Maybe that was her chance to get normal or just less like she was now.
*Bang*
With the last strong hit the punching bag has raptured. Not the first time and definitely not the last - she was getting stronger. She went to her drawer and pulled out a bit of silver tape that she always used to repair her stuff. Maybe after all these months she may finally lower her guard. Worst case scenario she will get hurt again, made fun of again, people will laugh that she thought anyone could like a monster like her. On the other hand she may find this little human interesting enough to hang out with.
Maybe her father was right and she needed to open up and make new friends, maybe this was the first step to getting normal after all that had happened?