Chapter Text
Kris didn’t know why they kept coming back here.
The events of that day had been… terrifying. It was as if everything had gone so wrong so quickly. Hadn’t the soul seen that things didn’t matter when they fought instead of ACTing? But suddenly, it was all about “getting stronger,” no matter the cold, no matter what happened to Noelle—
They’d made a fountain like they were supposed to. Some part of them had hoped that maybe, after seeing what it had done, the soul would give up on fighting.
They were wrong.
They’d fought. And they’d recruited no one since Card Castle.
Everything was left empty.
But throughout the entire time in this new Dark World, one with too many references to Kris’ own life, references that gave the soul more information about them in a way that Kris hated, the soul had continued to make them go backstage.
Of course, they’d go alone. Couldn’t break the illusion for Susie and Ralsei just yet.
(And though Kris had their own suspicions about Ralsei, the thought of the two of them fully learning what had happened in Cyber City made them stiffen. They knew they could be mean sometimes, yes, but they wouldn’t— They wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t hurt Noelle like that.)
The games were weird.
The fighting Kris quickly felt themself grow desensitized to. They’d played through dungeon crawls before. They didn’t understand just what they were doing here, but they kept going.
They didn’t have the choice not to.
They soon found that they didn’t like the White Cloak. It— She was clearly meant to represent Noelle and the events of earlier that day, but the way she just followed them around, fought when they fought, told them where to go? They didn’t want to continue.
The ICE KEY was used up.
She was used up.
As if Noelle were just a thing. A means to an end, for the soul.
You were used up.
Kris didn’t know who the screen was talking to at that moment, and, frankly, they didn’t care anymore. They wanted to let go of the controller in their shaking hands, head back to their friends, and move on from this. ACT like Ralsei had told them to.
But, still, they’d come back.
They were in a city this time. They wondered if this was the board they would have had to go through if they and the others had followed through with Round 3.
It was… nice to have the sprites of the others follow them around. It was eerie, it was odd, but, wishful thinking as it was, they could pretend, maybe, that their friends were there with them.
The soul hadn’t wasted any time wandering around, though. It felt like they were traversing the streets of the game with a purpose, like it knew where they needed to go.
Kris couldn’t help but note that there were no enemies around. Maybe they’d show up after the soul obtained the sword, wherever it was?
And yet, when it had found the sword, when it had left the area, nothing had changed. The city was still empty. The soul must’ve realized it too, not even bothering to move around, upon seeing no one else nearby. No one but—
Kris realized what was going to happen, eyes widening, breath hitching, as soon as the soul had made them swing their miniature sword. They tried their best to look away. They’d seen the others be downed before, but this was different; this was by their hands, and the way it cut into their friends, both of them, in one, singular hit would be forever engraved in their mind.
They stared at the screen, unfocused, trying to process what the soul had just done. They felt themself lead their sprite down an alleyway and a manhole that were too familiar, but they couldn’t stop the shaking in their shoulders, that fucking jingle playing in their head, over and over again. Reminding them. Taunting them.
LV2. LV3. That’s all the soul cared about.
Becoming stronger.
It brought them to Tenna. Tenna, whom they’d seen on the same path earlier. Tenna, who had claimed to just want to get Kris to smile, to laugh. Tenna, who now spoke of his old partner. Tenna, who’d been there for them at some of their lowest, whether they’d known it or not. Tenna, who brought up their deal.
Tenna, whom the soul sliced through just like everything else.
The path continued, and it brought them to—
Oh, shit.
It brought them to the shelter.
Kris returned as much of their attention as they could to the game. They’d known they’d obtained the shelter key before, but they hadn’t realized it’d refer to the shelter. They couldn’t let the soul see what was in there. They couldn’t let it learn, let it know, not yet, not until they could prepare—
They did their best to stop it from progressing. Slowing it down, going back up, stopping it entirely, but all momentarily.
But it kept going.
And Kris relented, steeling themself for what the inside of the familiar, bright red doors would show.
It was nothing like— Nothing like what they had expected.
As soon as the shadow mantle was mentioned, Kris knew that it was what the soul had gone through all of this for.
But how did it know this would get them here? Just why did they need it?
And even though it was the soul that had brought them here, the— the creature? The creature guarding the mantle spoke to them. Not to the soul.
“...no, part of you is just… enjoying this, isn’t it?“
…What?
“The same part of you that enjoyed yesterday. Knowing you could say it wasn’t really you.”
Kris— Kris didn’t know how to react. How they would react if they could.
It—whatever it was—thought they were enjoying this? That they enjoyed seeing Noelle in pain? That they enjoyed hurting innocent creatures, hurting people they’d known for years? That they enjoyed being puppeted around, not knowing what they would be forced to do next?
They didn’t care if they were making a “sour face”. How could it say something like that?
In a way, the human felt justified in having the soul attack the thing—or was it the mantle itself?—just this once. It had no right to assume things like that, the same way Ramb had.
That wasn’t them. They weren’t heartless.
And yet it continued to taunt them, even after it’d hurt them, even after its defeat. It had placed the mantle somewhere where their sprite couldn’t reach, and Kris wondered just what the soul would do now.
They’d thought maybe it would go back. Go up ahead. Find a switch that would move the box containing the prize that it seemed to desire so much. Something similar to what the game had offered throughout their time in this Dark World.
They hadn’t thought it would escape from the screen.
They’d been confused, at first, about why the screen wasn’t progressing to the next area that their sprite had moved to.
But then, they heard something on the floor next to them. A small pitter-patter, almost like footsteps, that they could only hear in the silence of the game room.
They dropped their controller when they saw it.
There was no way.
The sprite was in front of them. Their sprite was in front of them.
The soul in another body was in front of them.
The more it approached, the more they backed away. Nono, nonono, this couldn’t be real.
They stumbled, tripping over their own two feet in their haste to move—because they could move, the soul not in them, but in front of them—landing on the ground.
When they looked up, the sprite was gone.
The soul in their chest grew heavy.
It forced their feet toward the pattern in the wall next to them. It should have been impossible, but—
Kris felt themself enter the screen.
The pixelation of the world around them was disorienting, their eyes squinting against the brighter lighting compared to the dark room they had just been in. The soul forced them forward, grabbing the mantle and turning around to step out of the screen.
If they’d had any control over themself in that moment, they were certain they would’ve fallen over.
They couldn’t keep up with all of this, reaching for the controller again. They wanted this to be over.
But just as they plugged the controller back in—
“Hey Kris!”
Was that… Susie?
They couldn’t even turn their head to look at her, to greet her as she walked into the room that they hadn’t realized she, too, would have access to.
Of course she would. Why wouldn’t she? It was Susie.
“What the hell are you doing?” she grinned, moving to stand next to them as they both looked at the screen ahead. “Being a tryhard all by yourself?”
Her eyes squinted at them, trying to egg them on into responding. But they didn’t, of course.
She didn’t seem to notice their injuries. They wondered if they were visible at all. She only stood there silently for a moment. And it was— It was nice. To have her there.
“You seriously enjoy this?” she asked, turning to them, raising her eyebrows.
Kris met her gaze this time, feeling the strings of the soul both loosen and tighten their hold for just a moment. They hadn’t quite felt like this before. They waited for the soul to have them respond, but—
It was there.
It was behind Susie.
It was heading for Susie. Not another sprite.
The real Susie. Their Susie.
They felt their eyes widen, gasping quietly as they pulled her aside by the edge of her jacket sleeve, uncaring if they were to fall, they just needed to get her away—
It was still there, they knew, teeth gritting together as they tried to breathe, but it was behind her, and it was heading towards her again, and, just like before, it was going to— going to— no, it— it disappeared into the wall, like before. It was— It was… gone?
They could feel the soul start to slowly grow heavy again in their chest. Angel, why would it do that?
“K-Kris…?” Susie’s strangely hesitant voice broke them out of their thoughts, gaze shifting back to her, as they couldn’t quite will themself to let go of her. Not— Not yet. “What are you…”
She was right in front of them. She was staring down at them, wide-eyed, close enough that they could have counted the freckles on her cheeks if they really wanted to, and some part of them did, really, just to tease her, just to satiate a small part of them they were going to insist was just their own curiosity, but their hands weren’t really— Listening to them right now. They shouldn’t have trembled this much, holding onto her vest as they were, and, shit, how were they going to explain this?
Hey, sorry, remember the sprites we used in the different Boards today? Yeah, mine became real, haha, almost as tall as my waist, and it tried stabbing you when you weren’t looking. Hoping it’s okay I saved your life!!!!
Angel, only a day of interacting with her again, and they were already starting to sound like Noelle.
(It wasn’t even them interacting with her.)
“Alright, I… I get it.”
…
What.
Did she— Did she know?!
“Well, if… if you really want to,” she continued, leaning her head down towards them, and why was she leaning her head down?—
They really should’ve stopped themself from gasping because it only served them to get a mouthful of hair.
“Go ahead,” Susie said, her voice reverberating now that her head was pressed against them. “I tasted your shampoo in the bathroom, here, you can taste mine.”
…Oh, Angel.
They’d known the bottle had been moved. They just didn’t care to pay it any mind, because— Because they’d needed to get Susie to stay. But— But, wow.
They tilted their head to rest their forehead on the crown of the usually-purple-but-now-pink monster’s head, hoping their exhale sounded more like a laugh to her than it actually was. They tried to breathe, to ignore the sudden rush of heat to their face, but only got a scent of Susie’s hair. She was in their face, after all. She smelled like… a campfire in the woods, right after a rainstorm. Surrounded by burning cedarwood and dirt and—
Oh goodness, Susie smelled like moss. Kris smiled, murmuring quietly into her hair.
There was a beat.
Susie pulled away from them so fast, they were sure it was like she’d cut through the air.
“WHAT?” she cried out, and Kris wanted to give her an incredulous smile. “HOW AM I THE WEIRD ONE HERE!?”
Kris huffed out something that resembled a laugh, finally letting go of the girl in front of them.
She wouldn’t meet their gaze, eyes averting to everywhere in the room but them, cheeks reddened.
They’d tease her relentlessly for it if they could.
“Jeez,” she murmured. Kris, pretending they had a choice in the matter, let her walk away. It was funny.
She was funny.
“Anyway,” the girl continued, just before she left, back still facing them. “Here.” She dropped something that she was holding with only the tips of her claws. It landed perfectly. “Stole you a drink.”
Kris only stared.
“Now stop making us wait already,” Susie finished, heading out of the room, and Kris could just tell she’d been grinning.
They willed their heart rate to slow, as they picked up the drink—some sort of soda—and left the S-Rank room for what they hoped was the last time, the soul giving them no time to think.
“Took you long enough.”
Susie’s voice, right as soon as they entered the Green Room, was unexpected, but not unwanted.
She… She was looking out for them.
She and Ralsei spoke of playing games while they were away, something they’d seen from Ramb’s counter. They felt their face twitch at the mention of Ralsei getting to Level 2, body stiffening as Susie spoke to them, but the recounting of what happened seemed to distract the other lightner enough not to notice.
They felt their feet carry them to the white four-pointed star of the green room, injuries healing as they reached to interact with it.
Not for the first time, they wondered what the other two thought about Kris repeatedly bringing them to random walls and corners like these. Did they ever question it?
Kris guessed they’d never know.
They led the others back to the Cold Place, back to where they could see the Fountain, finding the other white four-pointed star along the way.
They assumed they were going to see Tenna again. They didn’t— They didn’t know what to think of the darkner.
Tenna reminded Kris of their father, in a way. He— He wanted things to go back to the way they were. Without the full picture. Without the full story.
Kris resonated with it.
Kris hated it.
They were proven right only moments later, when Tenna initiated a battle. When—
When their sword appeared in their hands.
They found themself staring at it for a moment, as the soul seemed to decide what to have them and the others do.
Something felt— off about having their sword in their hands, hands that were now shaking, quivering in their hold around the weapon they, dare they say it, were now used to in the last few days. They saw it before—it only— It only served to hurt. They couldn’t hold it. They didn’t want to hold it. But— But they knew— They knew the soul would have them fight. It wouldn’t change tactics now. Not— Not without reason.
They needed— They needed to get out of the battle as soon as— They needed to get out now.
Surely— Surely, Tenna could— Could take harder hits, right?
He’d— He’d be fine.
He was Tenna! Mr. Ant Tenna! He’d be— He could take it.
Kris just needed out.
And it worked? Almost?
The more Kris and the others attacked, the more minigames Tenna put them through. Which was— That was good. It meant that— That they didn’t have to look at the thing in their hands. They could focus on jumping over flames, or rocking out on the guitar they were given, or avoiding bullets from Tenna, or attacking Tenna with bullets in a way that fleetingly reminded them of Spamton, or guiding Susie in her Susiezilla costume, left to be puppeted around by them and Ralsei in a way they also refused to think about.
(Both they and the soul ignored Tenna’s cries about his HP. It was fine. This was still him upholding their deal. He could take it.)
Never mind that Kris knew they were hitting their attacks much harder than usual. If the soul noticed, they couldn’t have cared less. Let it come to some bullshit explanation, like maybe because of the shadow mantle itself. If Susie or Ralsei noticed? Well, they’d— They would come up with something, they were sure. They could— They could bend the truth a little. Say they wanted the battle to be over to get to their mother faster. Make it believable.
Whatever they all thought, it wouldn’t matter.
As long as this was over.
They had thought they’d be forced to take him down entirely, but it seemed Tenna had other plans. The TV host sent them through channel after channel of physical challenges, each switch more disorienting than the last.
Something inside their chest panged with disappointment at the fact. They ignored it. It wasn’t theirs.
They felt their sword finally leaving their hands, and, suddenly, they could breathe again.
They were okay. Tenna took each hit. He was okay. Everything was going to plan.
Everything was fine.
As Susie questioned Tenna, Kris wished they could sit down and breathe.
“Kris. Kris knows why.”
But, no, Tenna just had to bring them back into this.
“Do you remember it, Kris?”
Angel Above, of course, they did. They didn’t— They didn’t want to hear this.
“When everyone came over for the holidays?”
And their chest—
Lightened.
The soul wasn’t paying attention to them anymore. Too eager, too cruelly curious, to listen to Tenna’s tale.
Selfish, that’s what— What Tenna was.
Wanting people to— To stay together? To watch TV? After what had happened? As if they could pretend things were okay? As if things could ever be the same again?
Stupid.
They—
He was stupid.
But Kris had their plan. It would be fine.
Susie’s story was—
They didn’t know how to describe the feeling in their chest other than the fact that it was theirs.
They hadn’t known… any of it. Something in them crumbled.
(They ignored the notion that the thing in their chest did know this. But that was— How could it have? They were just being stupid.
It was fine.)
Kris gritted their teeth together as Tenna cheered in response to Susie’s words.
Everything felt both agonizingly slow and way too fast to understand. Everyone around them kept talking and talking.
They needed to stall for time.
They needed this to be over.
Yet instead of guiding them over to Tenna, like Kris had expected, the soul brought them back to the beginning of the cold room–back to the white, four-pointed star.
Tension they didn’t know they were still holding left their shoulders as their wounds were healed.
They’d be fine.
(But something nagged at the corner of their mind—Why did the soul go to heal?
As far as the soul should know, Tenna was their “final foe” in this dark world. They’d already fought the holder of the shadow mantle in the S-Rank room; why would the soul think there would be another battle?
Time and time again, the soul guided them around with a purpose. Like it knew where it needed to go.
But that was impossible thinking, no matter how many times Kris found themself reacting to the soul’s instructions through muscle memory, as if they’d done this before.
It wasn’t—couldn’t be—true.)
They watched, idly, as they guided their friends back to Tenna. As their mother descended as their grand prize.
“How wonderful!!” the living CRT cheered. “The family’s all together again!!”
…If only he knew.
“Now you can all finally—”
And Tenna..
broke.
So, it was time, then.
Finally.
They, momentarily, tuned out Susie’s reaction to— to the Knight. They stayed back, keeping themself blank-faced, as she threatened— the being in front of them. It wouldn’t matter, anyway.
The three of them would be downed. What must be done would be done. That’s it.
Everything would go to plan.
And yet, when the battle started, the soul—
Didn’t die.
It got hurt, yes.
But, it insisted on keeping Susie on the offense, on keeping her alive. It allowed for everyone to stay hurt except for her, urging her to attack with a Rude Buster at every opportunity. It seemed to know how to react to the attacks the Knight threw at the trio, just like how it knew the strategies, knew when to attack versus when to heal, knew—
It knew too much.
Every time they and Ralsei were downed, Kris almost— didn’t want to get up. They ignored the looks they received each time they reluctantly made to stand. They couldn’t let the soul win. Not now. Not before—
They didn’t want to fight. This was—
This was—
Damn it all.
They couldn’t do it. Not to— No.
They were risking so much for this. They couldn’t let it end here.
Before they knew it, though, the Knight started fizzing, static pulling at its figure, and Susie was taunting it, launching herself at their attacker, before it managed to deflect her off.
A strange feeling washed over Kris, then. This was it. Everything was still— going to plan.
Susie laughed, a wide, smirking grin on her face. Kris couldn’t find it in themself to react to it. Their grip on their sword tightened.
“Not so tough NOW, are you!?” she called out, holding her head back as she laughed again, as Kris knew—
In a moment, the spinning orb that was the Knight disappeared, and Susie fell to the ground, swooning.
Kris didn’t move.
Ralsei immediately rushed to her side, hands shaking above her, eyes wide open, stammering something Kris didn’t want to hear—
He, too, was knocked down, swooning.
Kris looked up, then, and the Knight was in front of them, weapon outstretched.
Its blade pressed down on their shoulder, stiff and cold, yet dark and unfeeling, and Kris let themself kneel down further and further to the ground.
Only then did they sit, downed as well. They didn’t have to fake the heaviness in their bones, the tightness in their chest, or the difficulty in keeping their head up. They didn’t want to look around them, anyway.
The Knight flew past the three heroes, once more trying to pull Toriel towards it.
And yet, Susie still tried to stop it from doing so, again. …She just didn’t give up, did she?
Undyne showed up, then, and Kris knew it’d be fine. They let Susie run up ahead, chasing after the policewoman in the Knight’s clutches, giving themself a chance to breathe.
Their feet moved them towards Ralsei, whom Kris tuned out, suspecting he wasn’t quite talking to them, to their mom, whose face was scrunched together in a way Kris didn’t want to see.
Who could bear being the one to cause their mother pain, after everything? Despite everything?
Eventually, though, they walked back towards the fountain, picking up the black shard that Susie had knocked off the Knight’s blade in their clash, as well as the shadow crystal from the Knight’s defeat.
They followed the path of spears in the ground, the growing fog covering their vision—but, they could hear Susie, see her kneeling on the ground, before they both headed through the great doors that led outside the fountain.
The darkness dissipated, and they were— normal, again. No more blue, no more armor, no more sword at their side. Just Susie.
Kris was… okay with that.
Susie must’ve realized it, too, as she spoke aloud, quickly standing to her feet, prompting Kris to do the same.
Even in the dark, cloudy night, they could see a retreating figure, and, even as Susie grabbed their hand and pulled them behind her after it—something she never would’ve done two days ago, something Kris tried not to think about—Kris hoped that the two wouldn’t catch up to it, because they needed this, they—
Susie dragged them through the woods, towards the shelter, and Kris felt their heart and soul stutter in tandem at the sight of it.
The soul so desperately wanted to see what was inside.
Kris knew they would do everything to make sure they wouldn’t.
They tried not to make the trudging of their feet obvious to the monster pulling them forward, but they couldn’t let Susie in, so they hoped, fervently hoped, she wouldn’t notice in her haste.
Just before they made it to the doors, they shut right in front of the pair, and Susie let go of Kris, leaving their hand empty, and cold, before rushing to try and— bash the doors in?
Kris stood behind her as she punched against the cool metal over and over, watching, waiting, as her protests grew shorter and quieter. It was lucky they were in the woods, the human mused.
Suddenly, though, the panel for the code broke off, and Kris tried not to stiffen. They were careful not to say anything to Susie’s questions, and were grateful that the soul didn’t make them say anything—it probably didn’t know what to say; it just didn’t know enough.
Kris’ breath somehow hitched further as Susie slammed her fists against the panel once more, as she seemed to realize—
“Toriel…!” she cried out, and Kris could tell her voice was starting to grow hoarse. “She’s still in the…”
Slam.
“Damn it. I… I hate to give up here, Kris, but… I…”
Susie cut herself off, pulling away from the doors, turning away with her head down, and Kris’ chest hurt because she just looked so—
So hopeless.
Susie kept walking. Kris still didn’t move.
She stopped.
“Let’s… just go seal that fountain,” she said, forcing out the words, before heading back into the woods, back to their home.
Once she was gone, Kris swallowed, walking towards the panel, checking for the damage.
They knew that the soul could tell what the panel needed at this close proximity, but— but the door was fine. It was fine.
Kris stepped back, ready to follow behind the monster, before they heard a distant howling of wind.
Before the shelter doors crept open.
Before—