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This is it, isn’t it?
The wind swirls around them, harsh gusts forcing them forward on their feet. They stand straight and face the reality before them, watching as the darkness leaks into the light world, the clash unbearably chaotic. This is it, isn’t it? They glance back at their two companions, who stare in horror as it seems everything at once is happening. Sirens sound, screams ring out into the horizon, people running as fast as they can away from the lake, where the chaos erupts.
Kris can feel the dull ache of what was once their hand, now a stump of their wrist wrapped haphazardly in bandages. Cut off when the soul tried to speak to their friends in a way that would have caused more harm than good, despite their intentions. Cut off as an assertion of their dominance.
Slowly, their skin fades from blue to tan, yet they keep the outfit of their dark world form. Susie seems to become duller in color, yet her costume also remains. Ralsei seems to get dimmer, yet he doesn’t disappear. He stays by Susie’s side, watching the end of the world unfold with sad, knowing eyes.
So this is it, then. This is just.. the end of everything.
From behind them, Noelle hesitantly approaches Susie, placing a hand on her shoulder. She’s also clad in her dark world outfit, the imbalance of light and dark seeming to be causing everyone to be stuck partially in between their light world self and dark world self. Kris can’t hear what she says over the noise, but they see as all hope seems to drain from Susie’s eyes, as if she’s realizing that this is really just the end of the world. There’s nothing they can do. No final fight, no knight to scream at. Just the growing noise and the harsh wind, the shedding tears of teenagers too young to die.
Kris’s hand drifts over their chest, feeling the beating of their soul, the distant cries of someone they hardly even knew. The cries of the thing that played puppet with Kris, who cared despite how harsh they were. Despite how many times they discarded the soul, tossed them in a cage, clawed at their chest.. the soul still cared for them. Chose the better options, reassured their friends in Kris’s place, and persisted no matter how many times they died.
They never asked for Kris to be their vessel. They were meant to be someone else.
Yet they still tried their best, even if it hurt so damn bad.
The soul wasn’t a saint, and frankly neither was Kris. They’d done their fair share of damage, created dozens of fountains.. they can almost feel their sins crawl on their back as they watch as the fountains leak darkness into the light world, knowing they’d contributed to the end of the world.
It was their fault.
The soul was left to pick up the pieces, and even if they knew partially that it was Kris who caused this, they still didn’t blame them. They were guilty, but all the soul could ask is if Kris could just spend these moments preparing for death peacefully.
…Okay.
Kris turns towards Ralsei, taking a few cautious steps towards him. Their hand brushes against his, a pained look in his eyes as he looks down at the human.
“Kris?” He mutters, gaze drifting downwards and cheeks flushing pink as they intertwine their fingers with his.
“Ralsei,” they start, voice even despite the lingering sadness, “would you like to sit on the beach with me?”
The prince looks almost startled, but quickly regains his composure. “What? What do you mean-?”
“It’s the first and last time you’re ever gonna see the real sunset.” Their fingers dance over his knuckles. “Won’t you watch it with me?”
His eyes widen, but he doesn’t seem to be opposed to it. He glances back at Noelle and Susie. “Should we bring Susie and Noelle? It’s.. their last sunset, too.”
“Of course.”
Soon enough, the four teenagers are walking down the street of a destroyed town, watching as people sprint past them crying and wailing. At the beach, it’s an almost peaceful scene as the yelling and sirens seem to muffle behind them, just the quiet of the lake and the titans emerging distantly before them.
They sit at the edge of the water, staring at the pandemonium in the sky. Tears threaten to spill from Kris’s eyes, and they allow them to fall onto their cheeks. Susie and Noelle have also begun crying, leaving just the darkner as the only teenager of the group with a dry face, although that changes quite quickly as droplets prick the corners of his eyes.
“It’s beautiful...” Ralsei mutters as he gazes wistfully at the oranges and yellows painting the sky as the sun meets the horizon.
“It really is.” Kris agrees, nodding solemnly.
Susie’s silent weeping and sniffling has escalated into sobbing, one of her hands squeezing Noelle’s. “I love you guys!” She exclaims at much too loud of a volume, but no one seems to care as she forces them into a big embrace. Sobs wrack the entire group as they exchange declarations of affection for one another, Kris beginning to tremble and Noelle’s nose glowing bright red as she openly boohoos. Ralsei is quietly crying, the only sound emitting from him being whimpered “I love you”s and hiccups as he struggles to breathe through the tears.
After what feels like hours (and what could have very well been like twenty minutes) of crying in each others arms— or arm, in Kris’s case— they finally disperse, yet still hold onto each others hands. Susie holding Noelle and Kris’s hand, Noelle holding onto Ralsei’s hand, and Ralsei holding Kris’s arm.
“I never-“ Ralsei sniffles as he looks at Noelle. “I never really got to know you, but.. Susie talks about you so..” he whimpers, “so much. You seem like a wonderful girl and I’m sad I won’t get to know you entirely.”
“I- I know how you feel, Ralsei.” Noelle assures him, tears still flowing steadily down her cheeks. “Kris has never- never had a bad thing to say about you. They’re always telling me how good of a healer you are, and how sweet you are.. faha, this is.. so stupid..”
Ralsei nearly starts sobbing all over again when Susie takes over. “Me and Ralsei talk all the time when I visit Castletown at night.” she turns her head towards Kris. “You’re always a great topic of conversation.. you- you’re a good leader, and.. and we wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.”
“I wouldn’t have made it without you.” Kris says, voice shaking. “You’re always encouraging us, and- and you never badmouth us in a way that could actually hurt us.. you’re so caring, and you.. you never let us think badly of ourselves.” The human forces back sobs. “I wish things could have ended on a happier note, but- but I’m glad we at least delayed the inevitable long enough to- to get to do this.”
“Yeah, man.” Susie swallows, wiping her eyes on the fabric of her shoulder— or what little there is. “You’re all the best friends I’ve ever had. The first- and the- the best. I wouldn’t have wanted to.. to leave this earth any other way than- than this, holding your hands and spending my last moments with the people I love.”
Kris tilts their head up at once to look at the group, glancing back at the lake briefly. “Wanna go for one last swim?”
Noelle’s eyes start watering all over again— or maybe they never actually stopped— at the question, Susie lighting up with a somber grin. “Of course, dude.”
Ralsei nods along, standing up on shaking legs. Noelle and Susie follow suit, Kris barely able to pull themself up due to the pain in their forcefully amputated arm, yet they lean on Ralsei as they manage to successfully stumble to their feet. “Wanna lead the way one last time?” The prince asks, tapping the backside of their chestplate.
Kris nods, walking towards the water on shaking legs and wading into it. They feel the cold water seep in through their sabatons. They turns around to face their friends, tears beginning to drip down their cheeks once more. “The water’s nice,” they say, a sad smile on their face as they invite Ralsei in with a wave of their remaining hand. Susie and Noelle are on their own not so far from them, holding each other chest to chest as they share their first and last kiss.
Ralsei takes cautious steps in, stopping just in front of Kris. They wrap their good hand around his upper back. “It probably hurts, doesn’t it?” Ralsei asks gently, encasing Kris in a gentle embrace. The human nods stiffly, nesting their face in the slightly taller prince’s shoulder.
“Well, at least you won’t have to suffer for long..” the Prince gently feels up the human’s figure, fingers tracing over the ridges of their ribcage, the grooves of their spine, the hipbones that bulge in such a way that suggest Kris hasn’t eaten properly in a long, long time. “I’m sorry things worked out this way.”
Kris sniffles, lifting their head to look into Ralsei’s eyes. “Well, at least I was true to my word.” They smile softly, watching as the darkner’s expression turns to brief confusion. “My happy ending is with you.”
“..even if it technically wasn’t my word..” they chuckle wistfully, feeling the beating of their heart, the weeping of their soul. For once, it isn’t interjecting. It’s letting Kris have this one final moment to themself with their friends.
“You still meant it though, didn’t you?” Ralsei tilts his head, leaning down towards Kris ever so slightly.
“Of course.”
The next few moments are spent in silence together. Ralsei tucks Kris’s head against his shoulder, a hand resting on their head and the other on the small of their back. Kris holds onto Ralsei in a trembling embrace, eyes closing as they feel the water get colder, and colder…
And the world goes black.