Chapter Text
Kris thought that their deal? Promise? Scheme? Arrangement with Carol, The Scientist, and his “Angel” would be a simple one. Hold onto the Angel for a week, see the events of the prophecy from church to their conclusion, and finally get Dess back.
In retrospect, Kris was a hopeless idiot who didn’t deserve all the stupidly forgiving people around them.
In retrospect, Kris was, and still is, a child who was stuck in a bad situation, got taken advantage of by adults they trusted, and had to make the best of what they had.
Shut up, Hart. Either way, what they expected from that arrangement is definitely not what happened.
Except for getting Dess back. It may not have been their preferred way of bringing her home, but it was still good to see her face again.
And so that’s why they were now back in the Shelter(The Scientist insisted on Kris calling it his Laboratory, but Kris will forever know that place as the Shelter), sitting on a table, Susie and Ralsei in each hand for Emotional support, watching The Scientist stare everywhere but them.
I think we’re gonna have to be the one to talk first, Kris.
“Doctor,” Kris asks, prompting the hunched man to suddenly straighten upright. “You told me— well, us— to come see you here. You said it was to do with my soul, and the vessel that was created?”
“Yes, about that!” He said, walking to the console that took up a majority of the space inside this room. “I have good, and bad news.”
Kris dreaded the sound of that.
“The good news is we have finally relocated the Angel’s—“
“Hart” Susie interrupted, her hand held on kris’ shoulder tightening.
“We have finally relocated Hart’s vessel, alongside your own soul, Kris.”
Relocated?
“Reclocated?” Kris stood up abruptly, startling the friends on either side of them. “They should both be here!”
They heard a soft voice speak, but what was said was ignored as they approached the Console.
“That brings me to my second point—“ The Doctor placed a hand on kris’ shoulder, in what Kris can only assume to be an attempt of comfort. “The Bad News.”
The lines of indecipherable text on the screen vanished, now replaced with what appeared to be a map of hometown.
The man pointed to a Red Heart displayed inside the shelter on the map. “That represents the location of Hart, inside the body they inhabit, Kris.”
“The Aqua heart represents where Kris's soul, stored inside Hart’s vessel, is located.” The Doctor explained, pressing a few keys on the control panel.
“Uh, Sir?” Ralsei asked, head tilting to the side. “I only see a Red heart.”
A line appeared, moving out past the Heart, in a direction distinctly away from Hometown.
“The reason for that is the other half of our mismatched pair is Very.”
The lines stretch caused the map to expand, the red heart now encompassing the shelter entirely.
“Very.”
The map expands further, the Aqua heart finally in view. The Red heart is now covering all of Hometown.
“Far away.” The Doctor keeps his eyes on the screen at this part. Kris is silent.
“Holy shit” is whispered under the breath of someone, but Kris cannot tell who over the rush of emotion overcoming them.
Kris, you need to calm down.
“You lost it?” Kris asked. Body trembling.
Please, we need to be rational about this.
Kris raises their hand towards their chest.
Kris DO NOT—
Kris rips the soul out of their chest.
— ✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦ —
Ralsei had never seen Kris remove Hart from their body.
He had heard that they have done it before. From Hart telling tales about bathroom cabinets, hockey pucks, and trash bins. Alongside Kris confessing to him about TV world and Flower King.
Both of them had described how the separation hurt.
Now that he has seen what it looks like for himself; Ralsei decides that he does not want to see this separation again.
Breaking out of his shock, Ralsei now notices three things.
One. Kris is screaming and attacking Dr. Gaster.
Two. Susie is attempting to grab Kris.
Three. Hart, the soul, is floating motionless in the air, they are similar shape to the one displayed on the screen.
“YOU LOST MY SOUL!!” Kris roars, more of a war cry than a question.
“Kris, Stop!” Susie shouts, hands unable to get a grip upon the humans thrashing body. “He probably has some weird, sciencey solution, man!”
Ralsei grabs Hart from the air.
“Ralsei!” Hart cries, their voice ringing as if they’re inside his mind, not his hand. “You need to get me back into Kris!”
Ralsei sees how Kris cannot be reached by ordinary means.
He remembers the idea Susie had when they needed to get something that they couldn’t reach.
Ralsei has an idea.
Ralsei takes a breath, pulls his fist holding Hart back, aims, and hurls the soul towards Kris.
Hart slams into Kris, phasing through their sweater and back into their body.
Before Kris can sit up, Susie grabs them and holds them up in a vice grip.
“Air jail.” She tells them.
Kris is still in her arms. Stiff, but not trying to get out.
They are staring daggers into Dr. Gaster, who is still on the floor, catching his breath.
“Explain.” They growl, teeth bared and grit together.
“I regret to inform the two of you,” Dr. Gaster stands up. “That during the events of the Roaring—“
everyone pauses at that, reasons all differing.
“— The vessel intended for Hart, and kris’ soul within, had escaped this lab.” He concludes
“It got out during the ROARING?!?” Kris yelled, body trembling with conflicting urges.
Ralsei has urges of his own after that confession.
Dr. Gaster tried to excuse himself. “Yes, there were several matters that had prevented me from telling you this sooner, but—“
“How long?” Ralsei asked, optimism and friendliness gone from his voice.
“Pardon?” Dr. Gaster asked.
“The Roaring was almost half a year ago. When did you know that their soul ran away with the vessel?”
“…I had known from when Susie and Kris had entered my lab.” Dr. Gaster began slowly.
Ralsei wanted to shout something at him, but Susie locked eyes with him. Her expression convinced him to back down.
“But because of all the reconstruction needed around the town, the insistent demands and questions from those agents—“ his tone soured at the mention of the agents.
Ralsei remembered those lightners. How they poked and prodded at him, asking him questions he didn’t understand. The way they got angry when he lacked an answer.
But even more than that, he remembers how disrespectful they were. Not just to him, but to his friends. Ignoring Susie and Noelle just because they weren’t adults. Treating Kris like some experiment gone awry, even going as far as to make Kris remove their soul for the research they were conducting.
If he had still held Lightners on a pedestal before, it had surely toppled after that.
“Ugh, feds.” Susie and Kris groaned out together.
“Yes, feds.” Dr. Gaster chimed back, taking a seat in the swivel chair beside the console. “Those problems, alongside the mental, physical, and emotional state of you and the people around you, were why I chose to withhold this information until now.”
“Why haven’t you just sent somebody to get them yourself?” Susie asked, voice incredulous. “Aren’t you like, the number one guy for their dark world knowledge? That’s gotta give you some sway in what they do!”
“Believe me, if I could have leveraged my research for that purpose.” Dr Gaster sighed, folding one leg over the other. “We would not be having this conversation.”
“But they unfortunately deemed the return of souls to proper bodies—” His leg bounced, restless. “— Of lesser importance.”
Ralsei took notice of the heavy band covering Dr. Gaster’s ankle. An “ankle monitor” Susie called it.
“Bullshit.” The three teenagers all muttered under their breath.
“A sentiment I cannot agree more on.” Dr. Gaster nodded. “And even if I had withheld my knowledge—
”
Dr. Gaster’s expression turned grim. “They told me they would learn it themselves through other means.”
Ralsei did not like any of the images that formed in his mind when considering what “other means” looked like.
“But you know where they are, right?” Ralsei asked. “You can get them back?”
“That is where I must make a request of you, Kris.” Dr Gaster turned to face Susie, dark eyes connecting with her yellow . “One that I’d prefer to make privately.”
“If you try some shady, mad scientist shit on them I swear—“ Susie growled, grip tightening.
“Susie?” Ralsei interjected. “I think I need to return to the grand fountain myself. Perhaps you could escort me?
It wasn’t entirely untrue. Ralsei could feel his body grow heavier, the telltale sign from his body to recharge at the grand fountain. But he had often stayed in the light world past that symptom, usually needing to be dragged back once Susie or Kris noticed his feet petrifying.
“Fine.” Susie relented, letting go of Kris, who fell forward for a moment before regaining their footing. “Let’s go home, Rals.”
As Susie and Ralsei began to exit the lab, he stopped at the doorway.
“Dr. Gaster?” Ralsei asked softly.
“Yes?”
“You will never keep another secret from us. Ever Again.” Ralsei stated, tone cold but eyes burning into the Doctor’s own.
Ralsei closed the doors, and began his walk home with Susie.
— ✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦ —
Wow, I did not know Ralsei could be so threatening.
“Neither did I.” The Doctor muttered, revealing Hart’s thought to have been voiced through Kris.
“A-Anyway,” The Doctor stammered, standing and straightening out his labcoat with a flourish. “About my request to both of you.”
“This better not involve you putting me under the knife again, Doctor.” Kris warned.
Wait, again???
Not important right now.
“I can promise you, there will be no surgical procedures necessary for what I’m about to ask.” The Doctor reassured, hands clasped together.
“As you are aware, I’m unable to leave the confines of Hometown.” He explained, gesturing to his ankle monitor. “But I have been able to find and track the location of your rogue soul and vessel.”
The doctor turns to face Kris directly.
“I am asking that you retrieve your soul with assistance from my findings here.” He tells them.
Kris pauses.
Can we trust him?
“How can we even trust you on this?” Kris questioned. “For all I know, my soul could just be flying around the countryside, no ‘vessel’ in sight.”
“I assure you that wherever your soul is located, it is there because of, and from within, Hart’s vessel.” The Doctor stated.
“And how do you know that for certain?” Kris asked.
“Because if they were separated, you would both be dead.” He said matter-of-factly.
What?
“What?”
“In the same way you cannot survive seperated from Hart’s soul.” He leaned back, tone that of a professor in a college lecture. “The Vessel cannot survive long without a soul inhabiting itself.”
You were green in the face the morning of the festival.
“And if the Vessel dies, the soul inhabitanting your body now would shatter, as both are required for their connection to our world.” He droned on, voice far too relaxed for a topic so severe. “And I presume you now understand what would happen to you and your Soul, Kris.”
“I’d die.” Kris whispered, hand gripping the knit of their sweater.
Shit.
The doctor’s face drops. “Ah, my apologies. When asked about subjects of my research, I often neglect to remember tact.”
“Wait, how exactly do you plan on helping us?” Kris asks incredulously. “You said it yourself that you’re stuck here. My soul is a thousand miles away!”
“It is actually only nine hundred and forty six miles, but—“ the doctor corrected.
“That’s basically one thousand.” Kris huffed.
“But that is beside the point!” The Doctor rushed out, finger held in front of their face in a plea for silence. “The point is, that I have made three items to assist you in this venture. Two explicitly for said purpose, and the last for your own comfort.”
“I will start with the latter,” He sat up, approaching a drawer beside the console “because regardless if you choose to go find the vessel yourself, or wait for myself or somebody else to be available retrieve it;”
He pulls a peculiar device, small enough to hold within his hand.
“This will be yours to keep.”
The device is a flat disc, with several needle like prongs on one side, and a recessed interior on the other.
“I call it the Soul Gate. Once attached to your sternum—“
“Those needles are going in me??” Kris whimpered.
“The pain should be mild, and they are not long enough to break past even your skin.” The Doctor smiled placidly. “Once attached, Hart will be able to exit your body without pain.”
“But I still don’t have a soul.” Kris stated, more a question than an observation.
“That is where the secondary purpose of the Soul Gate comes in.” The Doctor reaches back into the drawer, and pulls out what appears to be a vial filled with a glowing red substance. “It also acts as an injector for Determination. Which will allow your body to function properly without a soul temporarily.”
“Why not just give me those shots so I can just use my own body freely?” Kris questioned. “If they extend the expiration date, why can’t I just keep taking those shots?”
Please don’t call us both dying “the expiration date”
“Well you see, just as prolonged exposure to pure determination in monsters causes our bodies to… deteriorate.” He glanced aside, eyes somewhere else. “A human experiencing severe determination levels will experience deterioration of their mind.”
“My mind?”
“Overdosage can cause paranoia, an increase in aggression, and hallucinations of one’s fears or past traumas.” His voice has lost its enthusiasm often found when reciting his research. “Some individuals even reported—“
“So I’d go crazy, got it.” Kris said, pulling their sweater over their head.
“Ah. You are rather, eager, to begin.” The Doctor states, expression dumbfounded.
As if he doesn’t understand how lacking control over their body, their voice, their privacy for six months wouldn’t make Kris leap for any opportunity of reprieve.
I’m sorry Kris, I didn’t want this any more than you did.
The Doctor wipes their chest down, explaining maximum length of time the two can be separated(8 hours), how to tell when Hart needs to return back to kris’ body(the determination vial will be empty, and the Soul Gate will start beeping), when they can use it(as soon as they are awake, never within the dark world) and if they should be worried about batteries or recharge.(The explanation of how the device is powered flies over their head, but they grasp that it has enough energy to last their lifetime if needed. They really hope they won’t need it that long.)
“Take a deep breath.” The Doctor says,
Kris follows his instruction, looking up to avoid the awful sight of a dozen needles about to plunge into their body.
You really don’t like needles, huh?
A sharp sensation surges through their chest. Panic rises, but soon falls as the pain is replaced by soreness.
Kris breathes out. As they look down, they see The Doctor click a vial into the Soul Gate, and the device lights up with red glow.
“Now Kris, I want you to attempt to lay down.” The Doctor says “As Kris does that, Hart; try to move forward off the examination table.”
“Okay.” Kris and Hart reply, voices overlapping.
Kris lays down.
Hart moves forward.