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“W-wait a sec! The old man!”
C’mon!! We…we still gotta talk to him!”
Susie bolted to the stairs, leaving Kris behind and she searched frantically for the old man. After the hectic battle they just won, he seemed to have just…vanished. Where could he have gone? Adrenaline pumping through her veins, she continued to run down the dark hallway.
She didn’t even think to check if the other two were following. She just kept running, hoping she’d catch a glimpse of the old man.
Instead, the wall's glowing monuments caught her eye.
That same symbol used to describe the prophecy stared back at her as she slowed her running. The words above the symbol read:
“The Last Prophecy.
The Story’s End.”
Susie shook her head. She told Ralsei she didn’t need to read the last part of it. She shouldn’t be looking. Get back on track, idiot, she thought to herself as she continued to jog down the hallway.
Despite herself, she couldn’t help it when she passed the next monument. The symbol of the prophecy had been shattered in this one, and her chest tightened as she read the words above:
“And Then. When All Hope
Is Lost For The Tale.”
A panicked voice from the distance called out to her. It was Ralsei. She heard footsteps coming her way and instinctively ran the other way. She didn’t even know if she was focused on the old man anymore. It was like a force was driving her to move forward, eagerly waiting for the next monument.
It wasn’t any better than the last. The symbol was still shattered, basking the room in a pink glow. She gripped at her jacket as she read the words, her claws digging into her shoulders:
“The Final Tragedy Unveils.”
“SUSIE, STOP!!” Ralsei screams from the other hallway, pure fear in his voice. Susie quickly bolted up the stairs. As selfish as it was, if Ralsei was this afraid of her seeing the ending, she had to see why. As much as the guilt ate at her, she wanted to see what scared him so much.
And that’s how she found herself at the last three monuments. Ignoring the approaching footsteps, she read what the first one had to say:
“To Save The Worlds,
There Is Only One Way.”
One way?
Swallowing her dread, Susie slowly trudged to the next one. She almost didn’t want to look at what was in front of her. But she’d come this far, why wouldn’t she? She could finally learn how the prophecy ended. She took a deep breath, and looked up.
Her face went pale.
No.
No, was all she thought. No, no no no, that CAN’T be how it ends. That CAN’T be what happens in the end. That CAN’T be what happens to us. To…
Her hands shook. Her breathing became shallow as she looked up at the words, the cruel words of the end. No, she thought again, no no no NO! Terror quickly gave way to anger as she reeled her fist back. She hadn’t noticed the other two had caught up.
“SUSIE!” Ralsei called out desperately, “DON’T LOOK-”
SMASH!
The glass crunched under her fist, completely shattering the awful message before her. Susie hissed in pain as shards of glass dug into her hand, oozing with blood. She stepped away from the mess she’d created as the other two ran up to her.
She felt numb as Ralsei clung onto her shoulder and shook her, apologies stumbling out of him frantically as he tried and failed to hold back tears. Susie glanced at him to see a deep terror in his eyes she’d never seen before, even when she had snapped at him earlier. He looked horrified.
Kris stood away from the both of them, not much changing in their expression, but Susie swore she saw a hint of sorrow in their eyes. Shutting her eyes, she took a deep breath.
“Shut up.”
This startled Ralsei enough to stop shaking her, and he quickly stepped back, fear still present in his body language. Angel, she hated that look in his eyes. She hated seeing him so shaken.
To his, and Susie’s own surprise, a laugh escaped her lips. A strained, bitter laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.
“The hell are you apologising for?” she asked, smiling, “You’re worried about THAT!? Seriously!?” She laughed some more at the absurdity of the situation, but visibly sagged as the laughter subsided.
“...this stupid prophecy?” she said quietly, clenching her teeth, before barking out another laugh, “Like something like that would happen. I wouldn’t let it happen…Kris wouldn’t let it happen…” She shot a look to Ralsei, “And obviously YOU wouldn’t let it happen. So…”
She turned around fully to face them. Ralsei looked down in shame as she did so. He wasn’t meeting her eye.
“...Why wouldn’t you laugh?” she muttered, “It’s just stupid.”
She hesitated for a split second, before gently cupping Ralsei’s cheek with her bad hand, bringing his head up so he could look at her. She flashed a goofy smile at him.
“So stop crying, ‘k? Everything's gonna be alright.”
Ralsei didn’t respond, but that faraway terror in his eyes had vanished, and he gave her a tiny smile. As she withdrew her hand, she tried to ignore the blood stain it had left behind. Susie quickly turned around and put her hands behind her head, huffing in amusement.
“Hey, Kris,” she called, “Let’s go seal the fountain, okay?”
Kris gave no response, as usual. Susie strutted down the hall, not daring to look back as the smile she had started to waver. She wasn’t going to break. Not in front of them. It wasn’t until the last monument of the prophecy showed up that the reality of the situation hit her:
“Only Then,
Will The Worlds Be Saved.”
Tears pooled in her eyes and she bolted in the direction of the fountain before the others could see. Only when she was in front of the fountain itself, swirling with colour, did she allow herself to fall to her knees and sob her heart out.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that to save the world, that had to happen. It wasn’t fair that it would change everything, impact the group forever if they went through with it. It wasn’t fair that it was the only way, as it was written in the prophecy itself.
And it wasn’t fair that Ralsei kept this burden to himself. Kept this heart aching secret from them. She knew he didn’t want them to worry, but no one should have to shoulder this kind of thing alone.
Susie gripped at her hair and curled in on herself, more tears falling from her face as she sobbed into the floor. She looked like a mess, hunkering down in an empty place and crying, just like she did when she first came to Hometown. Except this time there was no Miss Toriel to wipe away her tears and tell her it was going to be okay. It was just her.
Susie stayed in that position for a while until her sobs subsided to quiet sniffles, and she slowly picked herself up off the floor and wiped any remaining tears away. She straightened her posture and took a breath to compose herself. Her head was pounding.
Kris walked up to the fountain, stopping just next to her. She was glad it was dark so Kris couldn’t see the tear stains on her face or her puffy red eyes. She looked at them for a moment, before speaking up.
“Hey, Kris…” she began shakily, “Can I tell you…a stupid dream I have?”
They turned their head in response, nodding for her to go on.
“No matter what,” she continued, “I…want to keep being friends with you and Ralsei…When the sun comes up again, I want tomorrow to be the same as yesterday. And the next day…to be just the same as that.”
She turned to meet their eye.
“That in the end…We can always go back to the way things were.”
Kris didn’t respond. They just looked at her with a distinct softness in their eye. It made her smile, just a bit.
“You don’t have to say anything back, Kris,” she said, “I…” She paused, biting her lip, “I know…You’re thinking the same thing.” She turned to fully face them, her smile growing wider and they spun to meet her gaze.
“...aren’t you, dumbass?”
Their face lit up ever so slightly as they studied hers. Her smile only grew as they looked at each other, the dread from earlier giving way, only slightly. Because Kris was with her. Kris was on her side.
Kris’ eyes, which seemed to carry their same determination that could defeat everything, shined in front of her.
And for a moment, it was as if all the darkness had been blown away.