Chapter Text
Hometown was the perfect picture of paradise today. The leaves on the trees were lovely shades of red, orange, and gold, and the warm air brought a cool breeze with it. School had just ended, and students were out in the streets, chatting and hanging out with friends, and couples were enjoying the day with each other. On days like these, Ralsei didn’t mind being stuck in the world of the living, unable to move on. He could almost accept the fact that he would be a lost soul for eternity. But he wished he were still alive to experience it among those still breathing. To be a part of their world again, even if for just a day.
He stood at the edge of the woods, and if he stood still enough, he could almost feel the breeze ruffle his fur, the grass underneath his feet, the sun shining on him. He could pretend he wasn’t a ghost, just for a moment.
“Yo, toothpaste boy!”
A bouncy blue boy popped through the tree next to Ralsei, startling him out of his thoughts.
Lancer was one of the ghosts who remained in Hometown. He was quite young for a ghost, and Ralsei couldn’t help but feel bad for the sweet little boy, who had only been ten years old when he had died. But Lancer never seemed to feel anything but happy and bouncy, and he seemed to view death as an adventure. Ralsei could only wish he could be as blissful and hopeful as Lancer was.
“Lancer?” Ralsei asked. “Is… is there something going on?”
“Something’s happening!” Lancer announced, and Ralsei immediately knew exactly who Lancer was talking about.
“I do hope they’re being careful,” Ralsei sighed, hating how powerless he was when it came to the world of the living. How little he could affect things. “This town doesn’t need any more ghosts.”
It was a Thursday. The classroom felt cold, despite the warmth outside. Kris was beginning to get annoyed as they were met with rejection with each classmate they approached. How had everyone already partnered up so quickly? They hadn’t even shown up as late as usual!
“Yo, Kris! Show up earlier next time!” Monster Teen said when Kris asked about partnering with them. “I ended up having to partner with Snowy, haha…”
Kris sighed inwardly and looked around the classroom to see who was left.
Berdly. Hell no.
And Noelle. Kris was close with her. Admittedly, not as close as when they were small children, but they were still friendly to each other.
“Hey, Kris! What’s up? Didja lose your pencil again?” Noelle opened her pencil case and started to sort through it. “ Here, do you want the candy cane one or the one with lights on it?”
“I… actually, I need a partner…” Kris said.
“Huh? You want to be partners?” Noelle asked, a trace of guilt clouding her eyes. “Ummm… sorry… Berdly already asked me…”
Kris nodded, then started to turn away. It was starting to look like this partner project would be an individual project for them.
“But I could ask Ms. Alphys if we could make a group of 3!” Noelle said quickly, then cleared her throat. “Ms. Alphys! Um, is it okay if we have a group of 3?”
“Hey! What? No!” Berdly gasped, surprised. He held a wing to his chest as if he were offended. “I do NOT approve this! ABORT!!”
“What?” Noelle said, frowning. “But Kris doesn’t have a—”
“Noelle, what were you saying?” Alphys asked from beside her desk, looking up from her “animated schoolwork.”
“She was just saying we’re FINE being alone!” Berdly said with a smirk.
“Actually… I just wanted to know… if…” Noelle said, suddenly shy, her voice trailing off.
“Noelle, can you PLEASE SPEAK UP?” Alphys asked, just as the door slammed open.
Standing in the doorway was none other than Susie, looking either very bored or very annoyed. Kris wasn’t sure.
“H… Hi, Susie…” Alphys said meekly.
“Am I late?” Susie asked in a low voice.
“Ohhhh, no! You’re fine!” Alphys stammered. “We… we were just, uh— choosing partners for the next group project! And… and Susie, you’re with Kris!”
The silence in the room was oppressive. Kris stood next to Noelle’s desk, silently wishing they had just woken up a bit earlier.
“... great.” Susie’s expression was unreadable
Alphys swallowed. “Now that… that everyone’s here, I’ll write the assignment!”
She walked up to the board, then stopped, searching the ledge for something, then turned to the class. “Uh… has anyone seen the chalk? This is the third time it’s gone… gone missing, and… you all know I… I can’t start class without some…”
No one answered. The students looked around at each other uneasily.
“How— how about this? If no one speaks up… Everyone gets in trouble!” Alphys tried, even though everyone knew she didn’t have it in her.
The room was filled with an awkward silence, yet no one spoke up.
Alphys was growing even more nervous by the second. “A… anyone? Please?”
“There might be a box in the supply closet!” Noelle suggested helpfully, taking pity on Alphys. Then her eyes lit up with an idea. “Miss Alphys, why don’t Susie and I—”
“G—Good idea Noelle!” Alphys said, relieved. “Susie, since—since you came in last… why don’t you go get it for me…?”
Susie might have rolled her eyes. It was hard to tell with her bangs covering her face. “Whatever.”
She left the classroom, slamming the door behind her. Alphys turned to Kris.
“And Kris… can you— can you go with her and make sure she, um, actually gets it? And stays— stays out of trouble?”
Kris hesitated, cursing their poor luck. Then they nodded, resigned to their fate.
“Thanks, Kris!” Alphys said, and she appeared to be breathing evenly again. “See you later!”
Kris left the classroom quietly, then stepped out into the hallway. Susie was standing there. In her hand, she held a small, white, suspiciously chalk-shaped cylindrical object. She brought it up to her mouth, then bit down. White chalk dust fell from her hands. She turned around, then froze when she saw Kris.
“Kris.” Susie said. “Didn’t see you there.”
“Sorry…” Kris mumbled. “I… I’ll head back.”
Susie turned back around. “Hey. You didn’t see anything just now, did you?”
If Susie wanted an answer, she didn’t wait for it. “Hmmm… you can’t even say? Hey. Let me tell you a secret.”
She slammed Kris against a locker. “Quiet people piss me off.”
“You think just ‘cause you don’t say anything…” Susie continued, a hint of a snarl in her deep voice, “I can’t tell EXACTLY what you’re thinking?”
Kris swallowed. Might as well get this over with.
“‘It’s OVER! I caught Susie eating all the chalk!’” Susie said, in a mocking high-pitched voice. “‘This was her LAST chance! Now she’ll finally be expelled!’”
Kris thought they saw a flash of hurt in Susie’s eyes, but as soon as it had appeared, it was gone.
“Haha… come on, Kris, don’t act shocked. You know it’s true,” Susie was growling now. “Everyone’s waiting for it. Everyone wants it. So congrats, Kris. You got me. I’m done for.”
Now Kris was confused. What was this supposed to mean? But at the same time, they knew Susie. She wouldn’t let them get away that easily, right?
“Just, let me say one little thing.”
There it was.
“Seems like a waste to get expelled just for having a snack. So, Kris, if I KNOW you’re gonna pull the trigger…”
What was she going to do?
“Why don’t I just get expelled for some REAL carnage?”
Kris’ breath hitched. They got the distinct feeling that something really bad was going to happen.
“Kris…” Susie snarled. “How do you feel… about losing your face?”
A heavy fog of dread and alarm was settling upon Kris as Susie lifted them up, opening her mouth to display many, many sharp teeth.
This is the end, Kris inwardly moaned. I’m done for, I— I—
And then Kris felt themself being set back down.
“Nah,” she said, turning her back to Kris. “Kris. You’ve got a good mother. It’d be a shame to make her bury her child. So.”
Kris looked up, already dreading what would happen next, but also… curious?
“You and me, right after school. We’ll settle this in the woods.” Susie started walking down the hallway. “It’s surprising we haven’t officially fought yet.”
Kris felt themself grow cold. Sure, they were decently athletic and could hold their own in a fight, but against Susie? But what choice did they have?
“... alright,” Kris said quietly.
“Good. See you there,” Susie said, and went to get the chalk.
“What did I just get myself into…?” Kris asked themself softly.
Kris was walking slowly towards the woods outside the school, dragging their feet along the ground.
“Kris?” Noelle asked, tapping them on the shoulder. “Uh, would you mind switching partners?”
“Is… Berdly giving you any problems?” Kris asked, confused.
“No, no, I just…” she said, her eyes darting from the trees to Kris to the ground as if she didn’t know what to focus on. “Uhm, if we switch partners, then Susie would be my partner… and you wouldn’t be the one… getting shoved against lockers…”
“I—”
“KRIS!” Susie yelled from the forest. “ARE YOU CHICKENING OUT OR SOMETHING?”
“I— I shouldn’t keep you any longer,” Noelle said.
Kris swallowed their fear and ventured out into the forest, glancing back over their shoulder. She was still standing there, watching them go in. Was that jealousy written all over her face?
The wind rustled the leaves in the trees. Kris and Susie stood in a clearing, eyeing each other, pacing around the clearing. Kris really didn’t want to fight Susie.
But was that their eyes playing tricks on them, or did Susie look a little reluctant to initiate the fight?
“Uhm…” Kris said, a lame attempt at a conversation to ease the tension. “The trees here sure are… big… hmm?”
“Are you seriously trying to make conversation?” Susie snorted. “Here? When I’m about to beat you to a pulp?”
Now that they thought about it, this wasn’t really the best situation for small talk.
“Enough talk,” Susie said, a menacing glint in her eyes. “You ready?”
Kris nodded, wondering how they even got into such a situation in the first place. They suddenly remembered that Susie was taller and stronger than them by a lot.
“Alright!” Susie rolled up her sleeves and started stalking towards Kris, who involuntarily started to back away.
“Scared already?” Susie said, grinning maliciously. Kris glared at her.
Kris’ back hit a tree, and when they glanced up, they had an idea. They grabbed the branch and hoisted themself up and climbed, climbed out of Susie’s reach.
“This is a fight, you know,” Susie growled. “Or are you just that much of a coward?”
Kris hated chickening out of a fight. They hated being seen as a coward. But in that moment, they figured they would much rather swallow their pride and escape to safety than die with dignity. And it didn’t matter, anyway, because they were safely out of Susie’s reach. Away from the danger.
Or so they thought.
Because Susie started to climb after them. Kris started to climb higher and higher, seeing the ground get farther and farther away. The branches got thinner and thinner, but Kris kept climbing, hoping that maybe Susie would get bored and leave.
That did not happen.
“Dammit Kris, get back here!” Susie shouted, frustrated. Evidently, she did not give up easily. They both continued to climb up the tree until they heard a twig snap somewhere below them.
“K… Kris?” It was Noelle. “I heard someone shouting over here… are you okay?”
Noelle was standing at the edge of the clearing, looking around, confused, until she finally saw Kris and Susie, seven feet up into the tree.
“What are you doing up there with Susie?” Noelle asked, confused, and was that… jealousy? Although Kris could not even begin to imagine why she would be feeling jealous.
“We…” Kris began, unsure of what to say next. How does one describe this?
“We’re just havin’ a little competition, that’s all,” Susie said, blushing slightly.
“Okay…” Noelle said. “I… um, just be careful?”
Kris nodded, sizing up the next branch. Could it support their weight? Was it a wise decision to continue on? Surely Susie wouldn’t fight them in a tree. But Susie was already closing the gap between them. And Kris was not about to be outdone, especially in front of their childhood friend.
They grabbed the branch, pulling themself up, ignoring the creaking and the groaning.
“Kris…” Susie said, seemingly worried. “That doesn’t look too stable.”
Since when did Susie care about Kris’ wellbeing? Since when did she care about anyone’s wellbeing?
Kris looked down at her. “It’s—”
And then it broke in half and Kris crashed into Susie, and they were falling, falling, falling through the branches. The world was a flash of reds and oranges and yellows and tree-branch and the occasional flash of sky blue as they fell and fell and fell and Kris was spinning through the air, crashing through the branches as the ground got closer and closer and closer and closer and closer and—
And then they were both on the ground, and Kris’ ears were ringing, and they were dimly aware of a flash of pain, and they felt something warm and sticky start to slowly pool under them, and the world was spinning, spinning. Kris thought they heard someone scream.
“Oh— oh my God!” Noelle gasped, fumbling for her phone. “I— j-just wait, I’ll call someone!”
She frantically hammered the screen, then started speaking into it quickly, but Kris could barely hear anything anyone was saying. They couldn’t hear anything over their ears ringing loudly. Kris turned their head away from Noelle to look up towards the sky, wincing as a bolt of pain shot through their neck.
They would have jumped in surprise had they been physically able.
A white, furry goat monster was standing over them, staring down worriedly. Or at least Kris thought he looked worried. It was hard to tell because everything was blurry.
“Azzy, you’re back already…?” Kris heard themself mumbling, before they lost consciousness.