Chapter Text
Noelle was walking through a forest of candy canes. The sky was bright pink and the grass was licorice. She spent time walking through the sweet treats, occasionally breaking off a branch to taste it. All in all, it was a nicer dream than what she’d been having lately.
She heard a voice nearby, wondering who that could be. “Hello?” she called out. She started walking in the direction of the voice. As she did, the forest got steadily darker, yet darker. She paid it no mind. Eventually, she was walking in a dark void nothing around visible.
“This is strange,” she said aloud.
“This is strange,” a voice concurred.
She turned around, trying to find the source of the voice. In the haze of sleep, she didn’t recognize it. “Hello? Is someone there?” she asked timidly.
“Noelle?”
She turned around and almost jumped with joy. Because the voice was Kris, her old childhood friend. She noticed they were blue and she just attributed that to the dream.
“Kris, is that really you?” she asked, walking towards them.
“Noelle? What are you doing here?” Kris asked.
“What? It’s my dream, where else would I be?” she asked sarcastically.
“You’re not a figment of my mind, are you?” Kris asked. “You’re real. But… how?”
“I was just strolling through a forest of candy canes and licorice, Kris,” Noelle replied. “Gosh, it’s been… so long. What happened to you?”
“Noelle, this isn’t a dream,” Kris said. “If it were, we wouldn’t be talking to each other like this.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. This had to be a dream; it was too weird to be real.
“Noelle, tell my mom and dad I’m sorry,” Kris requested. “I wish I could tell you everything, but eventually one of us will wake up.”
“S-sorry for what? Kris, where are you? Where did you go?”
“I can’t tell you, but Noelle, please understand, I’m sorry this happened. I wish I could go home, but I can’t.”
“Kris? What do you mean you can’t –” Suddenly, a loud noise disrupted the dream, and Noelle found herself being rudely pulled to the waking world by her alarm. She jerked awake and saw light from the early morning filtering in through her curtains. She reached over and slapped her alarm off. She rubbed her eyes as she sat up, the last dregs of sleep fading away.
“That was a weird one,” she muttered. Though strangely, the details of the dream didn’t fade like usual, enduring the day. As she thought about what she had seen, a small ache pulsed in her chest as she recalled Kris. It had been months, and no one knew what had happened to them and… Susie.
She shoved those thoughts aside as she prepared for the day. She wished she could just plop back down in bed and fall asleep, but finals were fast approaching, and her mom would never approve of her skipping even a single day of school at this point. She dressed herself in her favorite sweater and skirt and gathered up her supplies for school. She managed to avoid being spotted by her mom as she walked to school. Hometown was so small you could go anywhere in town in less than an hour.
She entered the building and spotted Toriel by the water fountain. She could see patches of damp fur beneath the goat woman’s eyes.
“Ms. Toriel?” Noelle said, getting her attention.
“Noelle,” Toriel said, nearly jumping with fright. “I did not see you there.”
“Bad night?” Noelle asked.
Toriel rubbed her eyes, which were red. “It is nothing. Just… a bad dream,” she assured, though Noelle didn’t fully believe that. Still, she wouldn’t press.
“Well, see you around,” Noelle said, walked to her class while Toriel walked down the opposite hall to teach her class. She opened the door and saw the rest of the class was already there. Temmie, Monster Kid, Snowie, Catti, Jockington, and Berdly.
“O-oh, Noelle,” Alphys, the teacher said while standing next to her desk. “Y-you’re right on time. I-I was just about to take attendance.”
Noelle walked to her desk which was next to Berdly. She sat down in her chair and leaned her bag against the desk. As Alphys took attendance, Noelle glanced back at the two empty desks behind Berdly. Though neither one made much of an impact, Kris and Susie’s absence was distinctly felt by all, especially in the wake of their disappearance.
It had been eight months ago, on the verge of autumn break. The chalk had disappeared for some reason. Noelle had volunteered to grab some from the storage closet, but Alphys sent Susie to go get it, and Kris to make sure she actually got it. Hours passed and neither one came back. Eventually, class ended and everyone went home, but no one commented on the fact that Kris and Susie had yet to come back.
The next day Toriel had asked Alphys when she last saw Kris. Noelle overheard them saying the human hadn’t returned home last night. Toriel had just assumed that Kris was spending time with a friend, but when Alphys said she hadn’t seen Kris since the start of class yesterday, Toriel went to the closet to see what had happened. After class Toriel confronted Alphys again and told her that the closet was empty.
After that, it hadn’t been long before a search party was organized to look for Kris. Some students thought that perhaps they were just hiding after being beaten up by Susie. But that made Noelle realize something else: Susie was missing as well.
The next day, all the adults in Hometown began searching the town from top to bottom, looking for any sign of the vanished kids. It was practically turned upside down, almost literally by Officer Undyne, as they searched. They even went into the forest looking for Kris and Susie. As days turned into weeks, Undyne called the nearby city, asking the local authorities there if they spotted anyone matching the descriptions of the two kids. Even Asriel, who was home visiting from collage, put his vacation plans aside to look for his little sibling.
With each day that people looked for Kris and Susie with no results, the more their hopes dropped. Eventually, after a month of fruitless looking, Noelle’s mom, the mayor, called the search off, despite protests from the Dreemurrs to keep looking.
But while the searches were officially called off, Toriel and Asgore continued to look, the divorced couple cooperating for the first time in years as they searched for their missing child. Even Asgore, who had been discharged for failing to find Noelle’s sister December, kept looking for longer than needed. But as the months went by, and with winter was in full swing, even they gave up hope.
Winter passed, as did spring, and the buzz of the two missing youths had all but died down. But still, their absence was felt as a hole in the town. Noelle did occasionally search for them online, searching for their names alongside her sister, but the results were just as fruitless as her sister’s.
Her focus was brought back to the present when Alphys called her name. Once everyone was accounted for, class began.
“O-okay, w-we were about t-to read an excerpt from ‘A History of Humans and Monsters’, starting from page 239” Alphys said. “W-would anyone like to volunteer?”
Noelle was about to, but Berdly beat her to it. “I shall, Miss Alphys,” he declared, standing on his desk.
Noelle listened to him drone on, her eyes occasionally glancing back at the empty desks.
Time passed and class ended. She gathered up her things and left. It was the middle of the afternoon and she and Berdly had to study together. She wished she could go see her dad in the hospital first, but that would have to wait. It had been a strange thing when her father’s illness had made a sudden return after he had seemingly beat it several months back.
She went to the Librarby, where she had agreed to meet Berdly after school.
“Well, my dearest Noelle, shall we begin our studies for the final exams?” he asked, standing next to one of the tables.
“Yeah,” she said, trying to cheer herself up with a smile.
“Then let us research the needed material in the computer lab,” Berdly suggested, walking to the doors that led to that room. “I know for a fact that we shall find everything we need…” He flung open the doors and nearly jumped back when he saw the whole room dark.
Noelle walked closer to get a better look. The room wasn’t just dark. It was dark dark. There was no light visible in it at all. In fact, she could have sworn that the light was being absorbed into the room, making the surrounding area darker.
“That is… atypical,” Berdly muttered. “I do not recall the computer lab being so… dark.”
“Um, perhaps we should let someone know about this?” Noelle suggested.
“Nonsense!” Berdly denied. “I am sure it is just a power failure in that room, or perhaps someone did not flip the light switch. I shall correct this oversight immediately.” He walked into the darkened room, Noelle timidly following. Berdly tried flipping the switch that turned the lights on, but the wall felt bare. “That is… unusual. I seem to be unable to locate the switch. Perhaps there is another further in.”
He walked further into the room. And kept going. Past where the walls should have been.
“That is odd. I cannot find the boundary of this room,” he said nervously.
“Um, maybe we should leave?” Noelle suggested.
“You might be right, Noelle,” Berdly nervously agreed. “We can solve this mystery from outside the room.” He turned and walked toward the door, Noelle doing the same. But just before she could leave, the door slammed closed.
“W-what the…?” Berdly stuttered. “Hey, what is the meaning of this?!” He ran up to the door and tried to open it. “Let us out! Let us –”
Just then, Noelle felt as if the floor was shaking. “Berdly, the floor!” she shrieked.
“Uh, what floor?” Berdly asked, looking down.
Noelle did the same and realized that there wasn’t anything beneath their feet. And then, as if they were in a cartoon, they fell straight down. Down into a seemingly endless dark abyss…
End of Prologue