Chapter Text
The stupid thing wouldn't. Hold. Still.
Kris had been swiping at it for, what, 10 minutes at this point? And yet it stayed, hiding up in the corner of the closet, only occasionally getting closer, trying to alert Susie and Noelle. They could never hit it. No matter how much they swung at it.
...It was mocking them.
Susie and Noelle had stopped talking about a minute ago. Kris couldn't help but be relieved by that. If they'd said too much... They wondered if the thing had been listening too. They couldn't help but wonder if that was why it was stalling. They didn't care. They needed to stop that thing.
It got closer again. They snapped to attention, leaped and took a large swing at it. It dodged, they aimed another swing, but then... collapsed, suddenly overcome with a bout of dizziness. They clutched their chest, panting. They could feel a crippling emptiness where it should be.
How long... had they been without it? Never this long. How long were they playing the piano? Hiding under that bed? ...Swinging at this thing? Only then did it occur to them just how exhausted they were.
It hovered closer, maybe to check on them, maybe for something else. They didn't care. They stood back up and swung, but it easily dodged. They were getting sluggish. They fell to their knees, still panting.
Okay, now they were starting to panic. Sure, they were already panicking about this whole escaped soul mess, but now they were in real danger. This wasn't about stopping some annoying pest. They needed that thing.
...They needed it.
They heard a strum. It had made it to the guitar.
They needed to stop it. They gathered all their strength and leaped. They finally hit it. It wasn't enough. They hit it again, and again, not even caring about the guitar in the way. They made to grab the thing, but the guitar fell on them, crashing them to the ground.
Kris shook their head. When they regained their bearings, the guitar was lying on top of them, and the thing was back in the corner. Dammit.
They heard footsteps and froze. Susie and Noelle definitely heard that. To their relief, it was Susie who opened the door.
She hissed through gritted teeth, "(Dude, stop making so much goddamn noise! You're supposed to be searching for clues, dumbass!)" Before they could react, Susie grabbed the guitar, and shut the door.
That was not good. That was really, really not good. They quickly got up before the thing could make another move. The thing faced them, as though staring them down, now that the other two were gone. They were still panting. Could it... see how tired they were? It really was mocking them.
They hunched over and clutched their chest, feigning weakness, which wasn't hard, considering how exhausted they were. It slowly inched closer. Almost there... almost...
They leaped at it. It just barely dodged. Kris was hit with a bout of dizziness again and slumped against the door, causing it to open slightly. By the time they recovered, the thing was zipping out of the closet.
They panicked, thrusting the door open and making another grab at it. It dodged, heading for the bedroom door. Kris collapsed on their hands and knees, wheezing. This was... starting to hurt. They needed to get it.
They looked up to see the thing up against the door. It... couldn't open it. That was the first good thing to happen here in a while. Remembering the other problem on their plate, they pulled out their phone. They could at least take care of that while they dealt with the thing.
It didn't take them long to say what they needed to. They were coming. That was good.
The thing inched closer. Kris looked up at it and it backed away. It was... trying to hear. They couldn't let it know who they'd called. They quickly deleted their messages. Thankfully, their fatigue hadn't reached their fingers yet.
They tried to push themselves back up, but their arms shuddered. The thing got closer. Kris looked up. It backed away again. Kris panted. They couldn't keep swinging at the thing. They couldn't risk missing again. They needed to grab the thing before they got too tired or... or...
Trying a different approach, they reached for it, like offering a hand. It... actually seemed to work. It got closer... and closer...
...And then went around them, taking great care to avoid their hand. Why? That confused them as much as it frustrated them. They painstakingly turned around on all fours to face it. It was just out of arms reach, but wasn't fleeing. Was it... testing them?
...Or was it laughing at them?
They tried to stand up. They put one foot on the ground, pushed themselves up... and collapsed.
They... couldn't stand up.
If Kris wasn't terrified before, they certainly were now. They... needed to get it back, if they didn't get it back, they'd... They tried to get up. They were losing feeling in their legs. They clutched their chest. They could feel their heartbeat in their ears. They felt like they'd just ran a marathon.
They reached for it. It didn't move. They scooched on their hands and knees, trying not to think about how pathetic they must look. It backed away. They could barely feel their legs. They tried to corner it. It went around them again. ...So... cold...
...They were dying. They were actually dying.
They hyperventilated. Their vision was getting blurry. They felt tears run down their face. Their chest hurt. Everything hurt. They were going to die they were going to die they were going to die!
They desperately tried to move. With what little strength they had, they tried to turn around to face the thing. The thing hovered to meet them halfway. They looked up at it, terrified. They tried to reach out their hand. It didn't move.
They knew it couldn't hear them. They didn't care.
"H... h-help... me....."
The last of their strength left them. They laid on the floor, unable to move an inch. They felt lightheaded. Every breath took a great effort, and even that was running out. They were... so... tired...
'...I'm sorry...'
.....
They felt something enter their chest and they jolted. They heaved for air like resurfacing from a deep dive. Their whole body twitched as something other took hold. They didn't fight it. It was... back. It was back.
They let themself go limp as it took back control of their limbs. They could finally breathe. Never in their life did they think they'd be happy to have the thing back. They were okay. They were... okay.
As they lay there, recovering, they couldn't help but notice the commotion in the living room. They couldn't quite make it out, but it was clear Carol was there. ...They wondered if it could hear them. They heard the door slamming, and all went quiet.
After about a minute of lying there, their body finally had the strength to get up. It stood still for a moment, as if waiting for something to happen. Then it moved. Kris was so used to moving on their own for a while, that they stumbled, still feeling weak. After a moment, they pushed themselves back up, and the thing went out.
The living room was empty. Everyone had gone. Of course, the thing still tried to investigate. Kris, now thoroughly pissed at how the thing had toyed with them, forbade them from entering anywhere. It wasn't getting anything else after doing that to them.
As they approached the door, they froze. They heard footsteps behind them. They felt something like ice on their shoulder.
Carol spoke, "My apologies if you heard any of that, Kris. As you know, you are welcome here any time."
...That didn't make them feel better.
Without another word, they left.
Asgore was devouring the cracker platter while Susie was waiting for them. "Well, that was... awkward. The hell was up with her mom? Everything was going great until she stepped in. Then the room dropped like 5 degrees, and..." She paused. "Kris, you okay? You look tired."
They blinked. She... actually noticed. Asgore walked up behind them and patted their head. "There there. Don't worry too hard about things. Carol is lovely once you get to know her."
Somehow, Susie doubted that. "Uh... yeah. I bet."
There was an awkward silence before Asgore broke it. "...So what are you two up to now?"
Susie's eyes shifted, like she was trying to get away with something. "Umm, we were probably... Gonna go back to Kris's house."
Asgore smiled. "Ahh, I see! Home is where the heart is!" He paused and held out the cracker platter. "May I offer either of you two a cheesed cracker?"
Kris was amazed that Susie even paused. "...Y'know what? Sure."
Susie took a handful from the plate. The thought of Kris using Susie as a makeshift vacuum to eat the entire thing wouldn't leave their head. But... their arms were so tired. They still couldn't move.
Take a cracker
Their arms moved on their own, taking the biggest cracker from the plate. They didn't hesitate in eating it. At least the thing was finally letting them eat. ...How nice of it. How magnanimous of it.
The thing wasted more time asking more questions of Asgore. It always did that. ...Only after that whole fiasco did they realize how much having this thing scared them. It was obviously unnerving before, but now... after seeing what it did... It really could kill them... if it wanted to. ...They felt like just... a cage... A broken birdcage.
They were finally starting to leave when Susie spoke up. "Hey... Hey Kris. I didn't want to say it near your dad, but... I saw it. I saw it. In the guitar." Kris froze. "There was the code to the shelter! It was... 1225. Like the date of Xmas. Once I got it down, wasn't that hard to remember, considering... y'know, the state of that entire house."
...They were too late.
They felt sick. They had one job. If the damn thing had just...
Susie grinned. "Man, if all of them are gonna be that easy, we could have officer Undyne out by tomorrow!"
A pit of dread dropped in Kris's stomach. They knew things weren't going to be easy. Especially not today. But... Susie's smile was so bright, it was almost enough to make them think things would be okay.
...Almost.
Susie continued, "So, one down, two to go. Let's get going!"
It wasted no time, heading for town. And Kris, as usual, continued stewing in their thoughts.
...They hated it. They hated ever having come to know the thing.
...They wondered if they'd ever get to tell it that.