Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The remnants of the rain lay on the floor, shining with the reflection of the sky. You look up at the clouds above, wondering what you did to deserve all of this. You were so good, you think. You helped everyone you could. You... you saved everyone it was possible to save. And even someone it wasn’t. And this is what you get, for that. 

“It smells nice...” Susie begins. A piano chord strikes the area around you. You freeze up. “After the rain.”

Susie almost mutters, finishing. You stare up at the clouds. You’re not sure when you start crying, but it was probably before you sat down. You think Susie goes to your side and asks you if you’re okay. You haven’t heard this song in a long time. It makes you remember them. It hurts to remember them. You don’t want to remember them. You want to be with them. You want to be with them again.

...Home. The song isn’t even right. It doesn’t have him. The him here isn’t him, you can tell. He doesn’t know. Yet another thing that’s wrong about where you are. You don’t want to be here. You want to go home. You miss them. You miss both of them. You miss not being hated for something you can’t control. Your hands are shaking. You... you’re spiraling. You need to calm down. Susie places her hand on your shoulder. You blink blearily, and look at her. You think it’s raining now. 

“Hey... hey, Kris, you with me? Are you alright, dude? You... you started crying out of nowhere,” she says to you. You don’t know how to respond. You just nod. 

You manage to get out, “...can you give me a minute?” She nods and walks away, though not without turning back to look at you for a moment.

You walk over to the graveyard, each step in some ways a struggle and in some ways the easiest thing you’ve done here. You sit down in front of Gerson’s grave. 

“...Hi, Gerson. Can you sell me some tea again?” you mutter, despite knowing nobody is around to care about you. You hardly even exist. “Or those cloudy glasses?” You place your hands on your eyes, rubbing them enough that it hurts. 

“What did I do? Why are you so angry at me? What did I... what... why did you take me from them?” You think you started crying again, but you can’t tell. 

“...Can you hear it? Can you hear it too, that song,” you murmur under your breath, “Kris?”

Your fingers flinch when you say their name. You’ve started to notice what that meant. Now, you don’t care what they think. 

“...I think so. You played the songs on the piano in Noelle’s house.” You sigh. “You seem so upset by my existence. My presence. I don’t know why. But- but you keep putting me back in, the voice on the phone talks about how you need me, so why...” You squeeze your fists. 

“Why are you trying so hard to push me away? I... not even... not even he could, so why?” You think there are red streaks on your cheeks now.

“...this song... is a song I’ve heard before. Back when I was home. Back... back when they didn’t beat me up for- for something I can’t even control!” 

You curl up into a fetal position, turning to lean on Gerson’s gravestone, and choke out a sob. “It hurt being hit by a hockey stick, and- and... It's cold in the cage, and I’m not able to sleep! A- and,” you pause before continuing, “And I... I can’t do it anymore. I can’t. I-” 

You choke up almost completely, and your voice is shaking. “I can’t. I just can’t. I’m...” You breath out shakily, before steadying yourself. “I’m... I...” You pause, taking a moment.

“...I want them back. I want... anyone. I want Papyrus to make Frisk spaghetti again and I want to be able to watch their reaction to the utter vile substance that he creates. I want Chara to comment on the fact we’re running low on chocolate and make Frisk groan about ‘diabetes’. I want Sans to tell a stupid pun and I want Toriel to laugh about it WITH Asriel here. I want to spar with Undyne and Asgore again. I want my...  I want my friends back! I want my- my family back!” 

You scream into the void. You slam your fist into the ground after shouting. You grab your hair and pull it to the sides of your head. You yell. You scream. You thrash on the floor. Until eventually your voice turns to sobs once again, and instead of thrashing you just lay there. “I just... I just want to go home.”

The clouds obscure the moon above you. There’s nothing up there. There’s no birds, no ceiling, no sky. Just clouds. You finally finish crying. You think you were hyperventilating. You shakily, slowly but surely, calm yourself down. You stand up, legs shaking, before you take a very deep breath and stand up straight. “...If... if you refuse to let me help you, fine.” You mutter to Kris. 

You walk over to the church. “I... I’m done, Susie.” Susie turns the corner, having been waiting just out of view, looking a little worried. 

“...You’re good, yeah? You... got it all out? I can, uh... listen to whatever's up with you, if you, uh, want, dude,” she asks you, worried. She probably heard your yelling and screaming. 

“...I’m fine. I... I’m good.” You said the last part kind of quietly. Susie glances at your hands, shaking, but doesn’t push.

You lead Susie to Sans’ house and knock on the door. You... don’t entirely know why, but... There’s always a chance he really does know. Angel, you hope so. No answer. You check the window behind the house, and nothing. Susie is strangely silent. 

“...Susie... I know you heard me, a- and... I don’t know if I can explain it right now. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you everything. Please. J- just... just trust me on this. Please,” you shakily mutter to Susie. 

“...Alright, dude. This is... I don’t know what this is, but you’re my friend. I’ll trust you on this, alright?” You breathe a sigh of relief, and walk over to the lake. Each step feels heavy. You don’t know if you want to tell Susie or not.

You sit down and stare at the other side of the lake. You watch the water ripple, the trees swaying in the wind. It’s almost quiet. 

“Do you hear it,” you ask, “That song?” Susie sits next to you. 

She stares out at the ripples with you. “Yeah. I do.” She tells you. “From across the lake, yeah?” You turn to her, and speak. 

“...does it sound like,” You laugh quietly, “Bossa Nova?” She stares at you blanky. 

“What's Bossa Nova?” You pause and laugh. 

“It's like... calm jazz?” She thinks for a moment and nods. 

You continue, “...It’s... such an old song. I heard it once before... long before.” you tell her. 

You pick up a rock and skip it across the lake. It bounces a few times before going under. “I don’t know if I should tell you. I don’t know if I want you to grapple with... any of this. I care about you too much for that.” 

You sigh. “Susie, I...” She stops you. 

“Hey, Kris... it’s okay. You don’t have to. I think... I think you should, because everything is easier with a friend, but you don’t have to.” She lays down and stares up at the sky. It stopped raining, and the stars are showing. You lay back with her. 

“...I want to tell you now. But I’m not sure... if it’s a good idea yet. It’s all so complicated,” you murmur to the sky, “I just... everything’s on my shoulders, and I don’t know who I can trust except you. I can’t even trust...” You sigh. “I think that if I try to tell you, they’re going to stop me.” you mutter resignedly.

Chara Dreemurr once killed themself to give Asriel their SOUL. You wonder if Kris dying would free you. You consider killing Kris like that, but shudder at the thought. You don’t even want to consider killing someone. Fighting someone... sure, but killing... gives you bad memories. 

You take a deep breath. “If I tear- Listen. Susie, you- you have to trust me here. If I shove a hand into my chest, you need to yank my arm out of it and make sure the red heart stays inside. Okay?” 

She blinks. “...Okay.” She’s obviously confused, but... she’s not moving. She’s still staring you straight in the eyes, unphased. She trusts you. You’re not sure if she should.

“...Okay.” You breathe in deep. 

“I am not Kris Dreemurr. I... I never got a name. I named my vessel, but... I never got a name. I was... originally, I was... I was stolen. I was kidnapped from everyone- everyone I ever knew to help this world, and was going to get my own vessel to do it. However... My vessel was discarded, and I was placed in Kris.” You close your eyes and hold your breath for a few moments. You breathe out, and then in. 

Susie looks... somewhat serious. She’s angry. You’re not sure at who. “For how long?” You sigh. 

“...since the start of the day we went to the dark world for the first time.” She places her arms over her eyes. 

“So... I never became friends with Kris. I’m friends with you.” 

You nod, slowly, after she moves an arm to look at you. “...though not entirely. Some of the things we did were Kris. Like, the juice, or writing on the window, or... other things.” 

You adjust your position to be more comfortable. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

You blink. “...I wasn’t sure Kris wanted me to. They had plenty of opportunities to let you know. They can... remove me, if they really need to.” She looks confused. 

“Why don’t they just keep you out all the time, then?” Your arm flinches. You know why. “Susie, I... I’m going to need you to hold me down for a moment.” 

She gets up. “Yeah, alright. Something... something they don’t want me to know, huh?” You nod. “Tell me.”

The gravity of the situation goes over you when she pins you down. You’re not sure you’re ready for this, and yet, what else is there to do? Your arms struggle hard.

“Kris Dreemurr is working with the Roaring Knight.” Your arms go limp. You’re surprised. You’re used to things being... a lot harder than that. “...I think... they gave up. You can let go now.” 

Susie lets go and walks over to where she was before slowly. She sits down, though she’s obviously shaking.. “...oh.” Her voice is weary and shaky. “...so... so why did...” 

You sit up. “They didn’t want to win against the Knight. They- THEY struck you down. They struck you and Ralsei down with that final attack.” You curl up. “I tried so hard, I got so far.” You place your face against your knees. “...it took so many tries to even get that far...” You murmur. 

Susie’s eyes snap to you. “...Tries?” You go pale.

“...I...” You place your hand over your eyes. “...That... I will tell you later. I will tell you later. But not yet. I’m sorry.” 

“That’s... that’s okay, K-” Susie pauses. “...you said you didn’t have a name?” 

You nod. “Frisk and Chara never really needed one for me. I was just me. We never really needed names. We were closer than that. I...” You tear up again. “I miss them. I miss them a lot.”

Susie nods slowly. “...Okay. Yeah. Yeah, alright.” 

She pulls you up. “...can I... can I stay at your house tonight? Toriel is home, with... with music playing, and she’s drunk, and... And I saw... I saw Sans with her, and I just...” You sigh. “I don’t want to have to hide myself from her anymore. I don’t- I don’t want to see two of the closest people to me like that anymore.” 

She nods. “...Okay. You’ll tell me more later. My mom’s probably too drunk to know you’d be there anyway, and will be too hungover to do anything about it tomorrow.” 

You blink, walk over to her, and hug her. She needs it. “...I’m sorry. That sucks.” She hugs you back, her arm pressed against your back. 

“...Are all humans this nice?” She mutters, her head on top of yours. 

“...Everyone I’ve met is capable of being this nice. But... oftentimes, people choose not to be.”

You release Susie, and rub your eyes. You and Susie walk home together in the rain. Neither of you has an umbrella, but that’s okay. It’s not raining hard, and the rain beating against your skull rhythmically is soothing. And besides, there are other people that deserve an umbrella far more than you do. You and Frisk liked to remind them that, even if they don’t exist in other timelines, they existed in that one. 

Susie unlocks the door to her apartment and you both go in. You glance at her unconscious mother while walking upstairs. She opens the door to her room. Her room is... sparse, but furnished: There’s a bed and a bedside table. There’s a few ripped posters on the walls, and a couple plushies here and there that were obviously bought a very long time ago. In fact, there’s a rather large one in the corner of the room...

It beckons. You walk over, fall on top of it, and curl up around it. 

“...pff, is that how you want to sleep, dude?” Susie asks you. You nod. 

“Comfy.” You murmur. She laughs, and sits down on her bed. You smile. This is nice. 

She smiles back. “Yeah, guess so.” She stares off in thought for a moment. “You gonna take off the soaked sweater, though?” 

You pause, and nod. You take off your shirt and sweater. “...it’s cold. I’m not used to it being cold...” She tosses you one of her clean shirts. You struggle for a moment to actually get it on, but eventually succeed. 

Susie blinks at you, thinking something over. “...you, uh, never really were a proper person, were you?” You nod slowly. She nods slowly. “...okay. Okay. Tomorrow,” 

Susie exits the room. She comes back in with actual sleepwear, though that’s basically just a tshirt and shorts. 

“Goodnight.” you tell her when she gets in bed and shuts the light off. She laughs softly. You think she hasn’t really heard that much before. 

“Yeah. Goodnight, dude.”

Chapter Text

You’re not entirely sure what time it is when you wake up. All you know is that this is very much not where you went to bed... The world is dark. Far too dark for you to completely understand. However, you can still see. You can see the background of the world around you, the vague sense that you aren’t simply nowhere. Upon further inspection, it becomes clear exactly where you are.

“IT SEEMS YOU’VE REACHED A POINT OF NO RETURN.”

You wave at the voice with the body you do not have and nod.

“IF YOU WISH TO GO BACK... YOU MAY. I KNOW NOT WHERE THIS PATH LEADS.”

He doesn’t know...? He has known everything about this world, and yet he does not know this? Perhaps... This is not such a good idea. No... No. As much as that scares you... Well. You’ve faced worse. You shake your head. If he doesn’t know where this path leads, perhaps he is wrong about the ending being guaranteed.

“VERY WELL. THEN...”

As the world fades to white... you can see two things. The first, is a splotch of gray amongst the background that does not exist. The second... is two colors you have yet to see in this world. Before you can call out, you lose sight.

“WE CONTINUE.”

You wake with a jolt.

You can spot Susie, still asleep. Light is barely fading into the room. The unfortunate news of this situation, however, is that you can’t move. No, that’s not quite right. You try to move your arms, your legs, and your head but nothing happens. However, when you try to move simply yourself, you can move that. You can’t move your body. Why can’t you move your body?

Ah. That is because you have lost your body. Kris is nowhere to be found. ...You suppose you should have expected that. They were not trying to escape because they knew Susie would stop them, but the moment she fell asleep... That would explain a lot. Still, though, you did get to sleep for once. It would appear that even if you cannot fall asleep in this state, you are capable of staying asleep.

Susie has woken up. She groans, stares at the ceiling, and likely takes a moment to process what happened last night. She rolls to her side to glance at you. When she does, her face goes blank.

“...Dude?”

You would move up and down but it would appear the plushie has been placed atop you. This is rather difficult to remedy when you really would like it to not end up on the floor. You assent to merely moving side to side, ever so slightly, as to avoid tarnishing the surface of the fine plush.

Susie squints for a moment, then laughs. It would appear she finds your situation amusing. The gall! She stands, walks over, and removes the plush from atop your scarlet form. You move up, to get to eye level with her. You realize that she likely thinks you incapable of moving the plushie. This is a travesty of the greatest kind.

...Frisk would be put out at your words. You and Chara often communicated with advanced vocabulary whenever you wished to speak without the youngest. Though you suppose you’d technically be the youngest, you were far more mature than they were.

You notice Susie has been waving her hand in front of your form. “Hey, dumbass, you good?” You move up and down in agreement. “...Right.” She pauses for a moment. “Fuck.” She groans into her hands. “Fuck!”

You can understand why she would be upset. If you learned that Chara wasn’t truly Chara and was instead someone else possessing Chara’s body... Well, to be frank, you don’t know what you’d feel. However, Susie is very clearly feeling upset. You don’t think chairs are supposed to be in pieces. “FUCK!” She slams her hand against the wall.

“I just... it’s not your fault. None of it, alright?! None of it! Just... fuck.” Susie looks down. “They’re just... they were our friends, right?” Susie’s voice cracks with desperation. You move up and down, rapidly. You know that they were. They were the one to protect Susie from the King of Spades. They were the one to pour juice down Susie’s throat. They were- They... You stop moving up and down. You move in a circle. “...they did a lot of stuff that was good, yeah?” You move up and down. “...but they also knocked me and Ralsei down against the Knight..” ...You move up and down again.

“...We need to talk to Ralsei.”

You move up and down, once.

“...It’d be weird to bring around a SOUL...” Susie groans. Her eyes light up. “What if you possessed me?”

You move side to side rapidly. You are not eager to see what a monster absorbing a human SOUL would do here, and... You don’t trust yourself not to show her some important things, in the event it is like where you came from. Dangerous things, even. Maybe even... that. Your form shudders in recoil. You are not eager to relive that memory.

“...I’ll just put you in a bag or something. Not to treat you like an object or nothing, just- Well, you get me, yeah?” You move up and down, then stop suddenly.

Uh oh.

They punch in the code to the bunker. They’ve fucked up. They’ve really fucked up. They got complacent, let it talk, and royally fucked up. Susie knows, Ralsei will know soon- Not that he didn’t know before, but he’ll know of their allegiance now, anyway- and it’s free from them. They close the door and watch as their body turns blue. It’s always a weird feeling. They land, and glance around at the darkness. It’s compressing, as always. The eyes that watch them are still making them paranoid.

...Oh, good. It’s here. The pink and yellow lights in the darkness, and the white teeth that glow too much to ever see what shade.

“Hi, Kris! Gosh, you look down! And, you’re here early! Too early.”

Friend’s smile grows wider as Kris grimaces. It circles around them.

“So, what happened? You’re soulless during the day, too... Did they find out?”

They turn to Friend. “Shut up.”

Friend eyes grow amused. “Oh, they did, didn’t they? Well! I have bad news for you. That’s not the only thing that’s changed~”

After saying that, for once... Friend looks slightly worried. “Someone new made it here!”

They stop. And turn to Friend. “What do you mean someone new is here?” It simply smiles wider.

“Nuh-uh-uh! I’ll tell you if you answer me!” Kris simply sighs.

“Fine. What do you want?”

“Oh, nothing much... I just want to know what happened to it.”

“...What do you mean something happened to it?”

“It’s gone! All gone! I don’t know where it went, but it’s gone! Also, you owe me two answers now.” It’s smile seems far more cheshire than usual.

“...Fine. I don’t know what happened to it.”

Friend smiles one more time. “All I want to know... is if you really think this’ll get you what you want~”

“...She thinks it will. And I believe her.”

Friend giggles. Kris sighs, and asks, “Now. What do you mean someone new is here?”

“Oh. I mean there’s someone new here! Entirely new! Never seen them before in my life. They don’t even look like they’re in a Dark World, it’s so very odd. Most importantly, though... is when they tried to attack me...” Friend’s smile fades. “I dodged. By instinct.” The smile appears as fast as it left. “Isn’t that something! Something that made me dodge! Well, anyway... we’ve reached your destination! So, I’ll be seeing you!” It vanishes as quickly as it arrived, the darkness swallowing it whole.

When Kris turns to look at their destination, their mouth opens in shock.

Kris stares at the shattered windows of the Knight’s home. The door, torn down. Slash marks along every single wall. What caused that? More importantly, a loud commotion can be heard inside. Kris dashes to the door, eyes wide, trying to figure out what is happening.

All they see is the Knight, instantly turning to them and gesturing desperately for them to leave. They’re not gonna leave when it’s fighting something! Why would th... why would they tell them to...

It’s only when the Knight realizes its mistake does Kris understand. The Knight turns around, but while its legs stop, its torso keeps going. The torso, disconnected clearly from the legs, spins off and to the ground.

The Knight is dead. Cleaved red by blade.

Behind it stands a figure. Someone they’ve never seen before. That thought terrifies them. When the red glow is seen from the figure’s face, Kris almost cries.

They call out to December.

But nobody came.

You could feel it. You’re not entirely sure how, but you could tell the moment that they got here. That’s of little importance, however. You’re not worried in the slightest about them. You’re worried about the fact they got here.

You three knew of only one way to go somewhere beyond that world. That link you feel is strained by the difference in it. It’s a chain attached to a thread. No communication can be done, even if you can feel where they are. They’re going to be trying to find you with everything they have.

In some ways, you’re relieved. In other ways... they care for nothing else at the moment. You’ll have to find them as fast as possible.

“...Hey, uh, you good, dude?”

You pause. Susie. You negate her statement instantly. This is the largest problem you will ever have.

“...You can’t exactly tell me why, huh?”

...She’s right. You can’t. 

You’re not sure what to do. You think of anything you could possibly do. Nothing. You could barely move a present, what would you do now?

You pause. Is that music? Is that... Ah. It’s the sound of a song you very rarely hear. You know what to do. You move into the closet. Out of the closet. Repeatedly.

“...Dude, what are you doing?”

You pause. You continue moving back and forth.

“Why are you, like, dancing in my closet dude??”

You continue faster.

“Dude????”

She reaches out to stop you, but before she can see you, you find the room between.

The world is black. You can see nothing beyond the black. The dark. You know not what this place is. You snap in half as a black tendril shoots through you.

...You’re not going to die that easily. If he couldn’t kill you, this won’t. The two halves snap back together. The tendril recoils in fear. The darkness opens, the light blinding you despite your lack of eyes.

There is a man here. 

He’s sad to see you. The person he holds in his arms will leave him now that you’re here. 

You understand, but you need them. He understands. 

He holds the person who isn’t quite a person out. You enter your vessel.

Your mind is scrambled by the sheer emotion. Pain, pleasure, fear, hunger, pain, happiness, despair, anger, pain, fear, pain. 

Why does it hurt so much? Why are you in pain? Why are you feeling pain? You never felt that before. You don’t like it. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.

They hug their arms around you. You cry, the tears trailing down their face as your legs buckle and they fall to the ground. Who are you? What are you? You did not remember having a name yet you must have one because they seem so sure that the name they say is yours. Are you the same as them? Are they the same as you? Their thoughts and feelings seem the same to you as yours. Is this what they mean by being complete? No, of course not. How could this be good?

You curl up into a ball. Your hand pets your head as you know they try to comfort you. You know how much this affects them, too, though. You don’t want them to feel like this as much as they don’t want you to feel like this.

...They shouldn’t only be happy helping you. They should be their own person. They disagree. You know they deserve better than just being a puppet for you. They shouldn’t want to be a puppet for you. You- You... you’re going to help them later. You have some very important people to save.

...The man pats you on their back. You take a deep breath with the respiratory system you do not have. You thank him. He smiles, and asks what you’re thanking him for. All he did was give you an egg. You notice that you’re holding an egg. When did that happen?

He smiles.

You squeeze the egg. It feels like something. You stretch their body. They squeeze your fists. You do not need to talk to them, they simply are made aware that they should cry if they’re sad. They cry with tears they cannot create. You hug them with arms that are not yours. They break down, and yet you help them stand. Perhaps eventually they will be able to be themself, but if that is not what they choose to be for now, you are willing to let them be your puppet. But you will care for your puppet.

...

Well. There wasn’t a man here. He must’ve found the courage to let go. One day, you’ll help remember him. You don’t know when that will be, but it will eventually happen.

When they tumble out of the closet, Susie is staring in mute silence. “...What the hell, dude?!” You shrug with their shoulders. You tell Susie, “I got an egg.” They hold the egg out to Susie.

“...Where the hell did you find an egg in my closet? Wait, why do you have a body?? Where is your face????”

Chapter Text

Kris doesn’t know what to do. The door has been cut in half with one blow, what are they supposed to do against that thing? They’re running for their life, but it really doesn’t seem to be low on breath and they certainly are. How much longer can they keep this up? What the fuck is that and what are they supposed to do? Some demon from who the fuck knows where just killed Dess! What are they supposed to do now?!

...They take a moment to calm their breathing. If they’re hyperventilating, they’ll run slo- They trip on a rock and skid along the ground. Their eyes open wide as they stare up at the impassive face in front of them, red eyes just like theirs attached to a body raising a knife to stab it down onto them. They try to move out of the way but they’ve been pinned down by the demon’s boot. 

They scream.

When the slash comes down, their eyes are squeezed shut. That’s when they notice the pressure on their stomach isn’t there anymore. More importantly, they notice they’re very much alive. Covered in blood, yes, but alive. Not their blood, though, so who... Their eyes widen when they notice the blazing red hair inches away from their face.

“...H- heh... Dunno who you are, but... If you wanna hurt the people of this town... you gotta go through me, got that?!” 

Kris backs up from behind Undyne. She’s dying. She’s going to die. December died. Now Undyne will die. What... are they supposed to do here? They’re scared. They- they don’t know how to fix this.  They... pause. December was turned to nigh-paste with one slash. She’s the Knight. The Roaring Knight. Why... is Undyne still standing?

“You... you’re strong. Real strong, yeah? B- but I’m no slacker, dammit!” Undyne turns around to flash a smile at Kris. “Hey, kid! Get going, yeah? I’ll handle this, don’t you worry!” 

...She’s not going to handle this. Though Kris refuses to let her sacrifice be in vain. Kris bolts.

“So lemme get this straight. Your partners, who are definitely not romantic,”

“They’re not! Or, at least, we never really... talked about it?”

“Uhuh, dude. Right. Definitely not romantic.”

“Shut up.”

Susie laughs. “Nope.”

You sigh. “Thanks for being so very helpful.”

Susie’s laughter dies down. “Yeah, yeah. So your partners had to kill the entirety of monsterkind in your original universe to travel to this one, cause apparently you’re from a different universe where everything’s pretty different.”

“Yup.”

“Dude... That’s nuts. And that’s ignoring that you got a body by talking to some ghost guy who was killed by time or something?”

“He fell into his own creation and was scattered across time and space.”

“Uhuh. So killed by time.”

“...sure, Susie.”

“AND that your body was originally made by you before you got stolen by what’s probably December-fucking-holiday, the Roaring Knight, and put in Kris. They also beat you up with hockey stuff?”

You nod.

“Great. So what now?”

“We talk to Ralsei, obviously.”

“...Yeah, good point.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if they were in the shelter, though. The one Kris got antsy around.”

"Huh. Why?"

"Just a hunch."

Tch... handle this. Undyne, with just one strike, is going to die. She’s simply going to die. What else can she even do here? She’s bled out far more than she can survive, and she’s been narrowly avoiding the final slash that would wind up with her dead. That first slash barely grazed her and still took off an arm. God forbid she winds up getting hit w-

A slicing sound can be heard as her vision splits to the side. She blinks, the world growing dizzier and dizzier. She knows... that this thing will not stop at Hometown. It won’t stop at the country. It won’t stop until everything is dead. She won’t let that happen. She refuses to let that happen. 

“...Heh. You think... you think that’s all I’ve got, huh? You think I’ll just go down in one hit? HAH! Demon... no, whatever you are. I can feel my blood on the floor, my veins empty. I can feel that my head’s split apart, and that no matter what I try to do it’ll stay like that, and yet...” 

Blood drips down from the empty veins still exposed to open air. The two halves of her face start to smile.

“Something deep down. Deep within that thing I call a soul. There’s this feeling... bursting from the seams. That feeling won’t let me fall here.” 

A white, glowing light appears in the wounds she has. Her body sticks itself back together, the parts sticking perfectly, as she glows brighter and brighter.

“I stand before you, something that won’t stop no matter what, something stronger than anyone has ever faced, something that almost killed me seconds ago..” 

She laughs, cocking her head back to the sky. 

“I don’t care how strong you are, I don’t care what your goals are, I refuse to back down! I will not fall here, and I will not lose! I, Undyne, will strike you down!”

The heroine appeared.

December was having a no-good, terrible, really bad day. First, she learns that apparently you and Susie know everything, then some human kid just appears from the darkness. The kid’s got glowing red eyes and a weird colored sweater. It’s kind of like Kris’, but a different color scheme. She has no clue who this kid is, but she’s not gonna wait around to find out, considering they’ve got a knife and a really eerie smile. She slashes her sword straight through the ki-

...

The kid ducked underneath the strike.

She slams her blade on top of the kid’s location, but the kid narrowly dodges to the left and curves back towards her with is thEIR KNIFE GLOWING NOW?! She dodges instinctively, the knife seemingly cutting through the very space itself. She twirls her sword around from in front of her to slice through the torso of the kid, but the kid simply jumps on top of her sword to use the momentum to fling themself into the wall. Unfortunately for the kid, she had summoned an armada of swords on that wall, and she’s not holding back.

Unfortunately for her, the kid is entirely unharmed. Merely a scratch. Her eyes widen. She promptly rushes forward with a strike fast enough to be hard to even see by an ordinary person, but the kid matches the strike with one of their own. She sends another strike with a secondary sword she’s summoned for a parrying dagger, but the kid parries with their own... frying pan? December backs up and sends out an armada of stars, but the kid has no trouble with effectively twirling through them with an ever-present smile on their face. She’s terrified. She slashes forward again, summoning a circle of swords around the kid.

The kid merely walks through the circle unphased, now understanding how little they get harmed by her attacks. She rethinks her strategy, and instead uses an abundant amount of attacks instead of powerful attacks: All attacks do something, she simply has to use a lot of very weak attacks. The kid widens their eyes, recognizing the tactic, but simply smiles wider. They avoid her attacks without even looking at them.

The swords and stars rocket through the house, her having summoned an innumerable amount of both. The kid has danced through them as if they’re simply having a ballroom dance; Though they seem to be getting bored, which does not mean good things for her. She panics, and flings her sword. They take the chance to bolt forward. She dodges to the side, turning to the door to run. That’s when she sees Kris, and motions for them to run, practically begs. She then realizes her mistake and turns in terror. When her torso turns too far than it should, she realizes she’s done for.

...She begs for the darkness to piece her back together once more.

Kris got what they needed. They can really only think of one person who could deal with... that when the Knight couldn’t. They clutch the glass container in their hand and jump into the Shelter with it.

“Hmm... what’s got ya in such a pickle ya had to bring this old man back?”

They sigh in relief when they see Gerson. The sheer relief must be visible on them, as Gerson immediately stiffens.

“That bad, huh...? Well, alright then. I’ll see if I can go ‘n give whoever’s helpin’ already a hand.”

Gerson laughs, then seemingly vanishes. Kris knows how little they could help with a true fight, and so simply leaves to get more allies. They’ll run to Ralsei. Regardless of their... strained relationship, he’ll help them. They have a lot of darkners on their side, they can win. They will win. Maybe- maybe Ralsei could even heal December. Maybe she isn’t dead yet. 

However, right before they could leave the dark world, a voice came from their pocket.

“HEY YOU [Little Sponge], DID YOU [Lost control of your life]? DO YOU WANT [Old friends and family!] SPAMTON’S [Press F1 For Help]?”

Kris blinks. They completely forgot about the two shadow crystal holders in their pocket. Those could help, right? Nothing crazy, but Jevil... he’s the Joker. He could probably hold his own against the Knight for a little while, especially with the shadow crystal’s remnants. Spamton, though... Well, Spamton did work with Tenna, and did get help from Friend. He’s still rather strong. The question though... is will Jevil wake up? They look for the Devilsknife in their pocket, but are stopped by a voice.

“I WAKE, WAKE! WORRY NOT, LIGHTNER, THE JOKER DOES NOT SIMPLY SIT STILL WHEN THERE ARE GAMES TO PLAY. THE ANGEL, ANGEL! THEY ARRIVE TO MAKE THIS WORLD GO EMPTY, EMPTY! JUST AS BEFORE! THAT IS THEIR LITTLE FREEDOM. THOUGH, THE ONLY TRUE FREEDOM LIES WITH THE ANGEL OF DELTARUNE, NOT OF THE DELTA RUNE, HAHA! NOW, I WILL DO MY STRONGEST, STRONGEST!”

The Devilsknife and Dealmaker leave their pocket. Kris gives the two a nod, and the two scamper off in their own ways.

They hold onto the hope that December isn’t dead with everything they have when they run straight to Castle Town.

...They know they’re lying to themself, though. That knife was filled to the brim with determination. One slip up from that kid, and they’ll have a very early Roaring. There’s... there’s no way the Knight could have survived that, right? They... they don’t know. They hope she did.