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The battle was growing into the stuff of legends. Two warriors, completely different in stature and cadence stood before one another, only separated by a few feet of scorched ground and an atmosphere of tension. Spells had been flung and weapons had clashed, but now was the moment where it would all end- for better or for worse.
The warrior clasped his mighty sword in preparation, as he watched the magician form her final spell. With a movement faster than should be possible, she launched it at him with a terrifying battle cry, desperate for revenge. To taste his defeat, and his blood splattered beneath her.
It was hurtling toward the warrior before he even had time to react. The spell flung him high into the air, and killed him before his lifeless body had even touched the unforgiving rock. Only then did the magician yell-
“YES! In your FACE Kris!”
Asriel punched the air in delight as the ‘Game Over’ screen rocketed into view. He had to admit, his younger sibling was a worthy opponent in Super Smashing Fighters, but either way the victory was just as sweet. His smile glowed triumphantly.
Kris on the other hand scowled at their brother, their face lit up by the glow of the TV in the room’s late-evening gloom. Ever since Asriel had stopped playing as the Green Lizard winning was near impossible. It wasn’t fair.
He had already gotten up off the carpet to begin his victory dance, punching with his fists from side to side, smugness oozing from his expression.
“I won, i’m the best, oh yeah, oh yeah!” He sang, taunting Kris with their loss.
Kris’s blood boiled. Their brother was always winning everything; the masses of trophies gathering dust on his shelves proved it. Everyone always paid attention to him, just because his grades were good. Because he was so helpful, so kind. The favourite child. Kris had none of that.
It wasn’t like they didn’t try. They had only been trying to make Noelle laugh that time they hid under her bed, waiting to strike the second her ankles appeared. They had only wanted to make Mom and Dad a pie as a surprise, despite it going disastrously wrong, leaving them to scrape raw pastry off the walls for the rest of the day. Did that not make Kris as special? Just because they weren’t the golden child?
So, with an outrage that stemmed from more than just the game, Kris gripped the controller with a malice, and hurled its weight straight toward Asriel and his stupid dance, just like how the magician had delivered her final blow. The effect of this attack, however, was much less impressive.
Asriel had quicker reflexes than they were expecting.
Smash.
Like tinkling rain, the glass of the television shattered into jagged shards, littering the floor with evidence of Kris’s outburst. It had been hit square on, and the crime’s weapon clattered down to meet the fragments with one final thud.
“Krismas Dreemurr!”
Their mom yelled from somewhere up above. Why was it that Kris always automatically got the blame?
She was right in her assumption, but still-
Just like the screen, any tension in the room broke, and the two turned to stare wide-eyed at each other in true sibling fashion. Kris was dead meat. Mom and Dad bought this TV like a bajillion years ago- it was almost part of the family now weirdly. What if it was broken beyond repair? Before they both could plan how to save their souls with some sort of excuse however, their mom rushed around the corner, face like thunder.
“I’m sorry Mom!” Asriel immediately jumped in “I was celebrating and my controller slipped out my hand and hit the screen! I’ll help clear it up-“
“Asriel, i know full well that is Kris’s games controller on the floor, not yours. It is the one that i always see them use.”
“But-“
“No. Kris, go to your room. We shall sort this when your father gets home.”
And still, Kris hadn’t got a word in edgeways for themselves. But with the way Mom was glaring, it was best not to attempt. Instead they ripped off their red-horned headband with a frustrated growl before tearing upstairs, yanking the bedroom door open, and throwing it shut behind, separating themselves from the world that was obviously out to get them.
The bed creaked in complaint as they lept onto it, emotions clouding their mind. It had been a complete accident. Sure, they had meant to throw it, but it wasn’t like they wanted the TV to break, did they? And yet here they were again, trapped in this stupid room, being blamed and punished. Because somehow it was always Kris’s fault. Every. Single. Time.
The light of the bedside table lamp shone brightly, illuminating Asriel’s shelves. Glinting off his trophies and awards. One was for cross country- he did it every year- for the time he got 1st place. Another was for maths, getting the highest score in his class on some exam he did. The collection leered at Kris, reminding them of what they were not.
They turned to look out the window instead. Early December snow fluttered down delicately, the beginnings of a layer of white forming below as twilight grew darker yet darker. Snowflakes stuck themselves to the glass, gathering onto the blossoming frost and giving out a chill felt by those indoors.
It would have been a lovely sight to anyone other than Kris in the moment, but they were too annoyed at everything to care about the snow.
But as they watched this magical scene, they heard an odd noise. A clunking coming from underneath the window, out in the cold. It grew louder and closer, and Kris could do nothing but hug their pillow as they listened and waited, frozen to the spot. Not from fear. From hope. Because if they were right, the cause of the racket was-
Dess.
Even in shadow, they could see her grinning face pop up outside, fog from her breath gathering on the pane. She had climbed up the drainpipe to pull faces at Kris- which wasn’t the first time she had done this. They could already feel themself smiling as she moved one hand off the drain to pull down her eyelid as she stuck out her tongue. Kris giggled in delight, and jumped off the bed to open the window. Mom always kept its key hidden after the incident last year, but Kris knew where she hid it.
Suddenly, Dess slipped.
“Fuck!” She screamed, and dropped down slightly, desperately scrabbling for a better grasp to prevent herself from falling all the way.
It made Kris’s heart jump, but they knew she had it under control. This was Dess after all. She knew what she was doing. She was cool.
With a few swift movements they had the window open, and stepped back to give her room to clamber in. But she didn’t- instead still clinging on and trying to catch her breath, but still grinning.
“Hey Kris, wanna come hang out? Or d’you wanna sit in your boring-ass room all night?”
Well of course the answer was yes. Dess talked to Kris like they were older- a normal person. Not like everyone else treated them, as if they were a clueless kid too young to know anything. She always had the best ideas- stuff that Noelle and Asriel never wanted to come do.
Placing a firm hand on the windowsill, they swung themself out, with Dess holding on to help them get a grip, before the two began their descent. The night air was bitter, snowflakes still drifting down and plastering the frozen soil at ground level. Kris’s hands felt like blocks of ice once they reached the ground, peeling themself off the plastic pipe.
“Sorry, i just had to get away for an hour or two. You know how my family gets around Christmas time.”
They understood. The Holiday’s obsession with Christmas was legendary.
Kris then began to explain why they had been stuck in their room, and the events leading up to it.
“Aw, that’s just like Azi, taking the blame when it’s not even his fault.”
Great. Here was yet another person singing their brother’s praises, despite Kris being the victim of the situation here.
“That does suck for you though, been as it was an accident. Knowing your dad, i’m sure he won’t be harsh on you.”
And that was the Dess Holiday difference. She made sure not to glaze over the feelings and problems of the young kid with a gappy smile who was so desperate to fit in with the rest of the town.
Being the only human in a sea of monsters felt like drowning, but sometimes, Dess managed to yank them out of the waves, and allow them to finally take a normal breath. Just like everyone else- who had the easy, free privilege of doing so.
She smiled down at Kris, dark bags under her eyes crinkling with joy at the sight of her friend. Kris was her friend. Even with their age gap, Kris felt like the two understood each other in some secret, unique way. They could see Dess was different from all the other kids. That’s what made her so awesome.
“Ok, so you know that ancient creepy bunker at the end of town?”
Kris nodded, intrigued.
“I’ve wanted to know what’s in there- it could make an epic hangout spot- and i’ve finally got its locked door open! Wanna come see what’s in there?”
Kris now nodded much more confidently, excited for what this new adventure might bring.
Following along like a much more devious version of a puppy, Dess led the way through town. The streets Kris knew and trusted looked eerie at this time, shadow pooling into every corner, edges of building fading into the charcoal backdrop that was the nights sky. There were no stars.
The air stung- sharp and biting against unprotected skin, pressing in on them from all sides. The snow had turned from pretty to malicious, causing them to shiver as the flakes melted into their clothes. Kris grew apprehensive, and drew closer to Dess, ensuring they were still in the warm glow of her presence.
Brisk in their footsteps, the intrepid explorers reached the path that led to the bunker. Frosted grass merged with the concrete under their shoes, and the trees ahead loomed menacingly.
“Nothing to be scared of,” muttered Dess, more to herself than anything “Just the branches playing tricks on the eyes.”
Feeling like lifetimes, it took less than a minute to arrive at their destination; the bunker door now lay directly in front of them.
“Right, lemme fish out my trusty lock pick!”
Kris shifted uncomfortably, snow below crunching. Something felt wrong about this. Was it the way Dess’s hands shook with more than just the cold as she held the lock pick? Or the click the door made that seemed to echo more than it should?
But before they could consider, the bunker had already creaked open, agonisingly slow. As if taunting. Why did its interior seem impossibly black?
Kris grabbed her sleeve. None of this felt right. Dess only shook them off.
“No Kris. I have to. I know i do.”
Her demeanour had abruptly grown serious. They had never seen her so solemn. She turned to face them, the hint of a forced smirk playing on her lips.
“Just promise me… you won’t come in after me. No matter what.”
What was Dess on about? She wasn’t making any sense. It was only the towns spooky old bunker, the one the other kids made up halloween stories for and joked about. Yet here Dess stood, the person they trusted most, far from joking.
So they nodded, throat feeling tight from emotion and brain cluttered up with cold and confusion.
Dess didn’t utter another word as she walked away into that darkness, not even as it drew itself around her, blanketing her. Swallowing her whole.
Only when she was completely out of sight did Kris hear the scream that shook the empty silence.
“Dess!”
It was snowing harder now, a blizzard that pummelled into the surroundings, obscuring most of their vision. As the wind tried to shove them away, Kris yelled and yelled her name for a long time after.
It always hung in the back of their mind, the day that Dess disappeared forever. Most assumed she had been kidnapped or killed, but Kris knew the truth. She was still out there- somehow. Through the years, Kris had never really stopped yelling for her to come back, even as just quiet whispers into the universe, on the evenings when a blizzard was tearing outside. But in the end,
nobody came.