Chapter Text
After everyone had left the beach theater, only four guests remained. Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and Noelle looked around at the empty beach, not quite understanding why they hadn’t been sent home as well.
“Hey, what’s the big idea, Voyager?” Susie demanded.
“Is… Is there something more you need from us?” Ralsei asked.
The host, Voyager, was a woman of average height. Her eyes and short hair were the color of rainbows, and she wore a rough trenchcoat and fingerless gloves. Voyager was the proprietress of this beach and the woman who had brought them here. “Yup,” she said. “You see, the next viewing’s going to be dedicated to your group. To that end, I’m going to be bringing some people you know here and erasing your memories of our previous viewing.”
“WHAT?!” Four voices screeched. But Voyager had already snapped her fingers. The final thing the four teens remembered was a bright white light that consumed everything in sight.
*****
It had been a long, hard day out there, with the flowers and the knight, so Susie thought nobody could fault her for rewarding herself with a long relaxing nap at Castle Town. Well, that would be her cover story if anyone asked, but in truth, it was more like happenstance (she had trundled myopically into the room Ralsei had prepared for her and collapsed onto the bed snout-first, spine be damned. She couldn’t even feel it, that’s how you know how tired she was) There was a gentle brush of fur on her scales later, probably Ralsei pushing her on her back, and a fluttering of silk as he draped her blanket over her. I’ll… thank… him… tomorow… She thought lethargically. Cold-blood monster that she was, the draft took a far greater toll on her than say, Noelle or Kris. Honestly, Ralsei was just the best… not that she’d ever tell him that. Goat boy might let it get into his head, and get all stuck up and… and… okay, probably not, but gratitude was embarrassing, okay? Susie drifted off to sleep after that, surrendering to the darkness’ sweet embrace. It was always easier, at least for her, to sleep in the dark world.
And then someone decided to ruin all of Ralsei’s hard work.
When Susie opened her eyes again, she found herself sprawled out on a freaking beach, the sand getting all up in her clothes and hair. Noticeably, she was back in her Light World clothes—an unzipped purple jacket, a T-shirt, and torn jeans.
“Ugh…” She groaned and rubbed her head. “Where the heck am I?”
“Susie?” Came a voice from her right. Ralsei, she realized.
“No, I’m Barney the Purple Dinosaur.” Susie deadpanned.
“What… oh I’m sorry, Barney, i-it’s just you look so much like my friend Susie I—” Ralsei stammered.
“Of course I’m Susie, dumbass!” She hopped to her feet and ruffled his hair.
Ralsei gasped, pink-eyeshadowed eyes twinkling through round, green-framed glasses. “Susie!” He ignored the rude hand that was making a mess of their head and squeezed Susie to his chest with deceptively strong arms like he hadn’t seen her in years even though he had tucked her in yesterday. Good ol’ Ralsei. He gave out his love like Santa on crack. Now if he could only learn to take it… When Ralsei pulled back, he was frowning, and he tilted his head to the side. “Why did you call yourself Barney then? Did you change your name? Should I call you Barney from now on?”
Susie’s jaw dropped. What the hell could she even say to this?
She heard a familiar snicker from off to her side, one that sounded like muffled hissing. Looks like Kris was here too. The corner of her lips knifed up, revealing two rows of sharp yellow teeth. Susie turned to the side, her snout sweeping around like a club, and locked eyes with the taciturn teen in the out-of-season green-and-yellow striped shirt. Well, tried to, anyway—their hair was long for her to actually see their eyes. Honestly, how in the Angel’s name did they even see through those freaking curtains they called hair? Kris jerked their chin up, and Susie’s grin went ear-to-ear.
The purple girl coughed. “Yeah. What I meant was, I used to be Susie, but now I’m Barny.”
Ralsei furrowed their fluffy brows. “But you just said you’re Susie…”
“Uh…” Susie shot Kris a pleading look. They just shrugged. Why that little… “That’s because you thought I wasn’t Susie—which I’m not… now. But I used to be Susie, and I’m everything Susie used to be… just with a new name? Got it?” She sure hoped he did, because she had no idea what the heck just came out of her mouth.
“...I… think so…?” Raisei’s head was tilted so far it looked like it would snap any second now.
Kris nodded sagely. “Don’t deadname Su—Barny,” they said in that low, whispery voice.
Ralsei gasped again, hands going to his mouth. Their eyes were pinpricks of horror. “Your name died? Lightners’ names can die?” Kris dropped down to a crouch and buried their face in their hands, trembling.
Ralsei’s eyes welled up with tears. Oh no… Kris must have really liked Sus… I mean, Barney’s name.
Susie had no idea what the fuck a deadname was, but like some dead egghead had said, the show must go on! She rubbed her head and said, “Uh… Yeah. My name died yesterday… in my sleep… so I got a new one! You’re… invited to the funeral?” She coughed. “It’ll be in the dark world, of course,” she added quickly.
Kris was rolling on the ground holding their stomach now. Susie rolled her eyes. Thanks for the help, jackass.
Ralsei, oblivious as always, said, “Oh, Susie… Of course I’d be there for you. I’d be honored.”
Susie stared him dead in his brimming, compassionate eyes with a perfect deadpan, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed, a hand over her eyes and snout pointing skyward. Her ever-infectious laughter soon had Kris chortling on the ground, spinning in a circle with their legs kicking out like they were pushing on bike pedals.
“Huh?” Ralsei’s face just made the two gremlins laugh even harder. “I-Is there a joke I’m not getting? Did Susie’s name not die? Can one of you explain what’s going on here?” The goat boy clutched his head, which he swore was spinning.
“S-Sorry, Ralsei,” Susie got out through her laughs, “We were just—”
A meaty whack resounded across the beach.
Kris hissed and clutched their head, eyes darting up to meet the deadpan face of a tall reindeer girl in a skirt and red-and-green checkered sweater. Crimson eyes flickered with recognition as the human gave a toothy grin and made a peace sign.
Noelle huffed and planted her hands on her hips. She raised one of her hooves and carefully aimed it at the human’s stomach. Now it was her turn to grin.
Kris blanched and rolled out of the way like their life depended on it, which, in their experience, was barely an exaggeration. One time when they jumpscared her, she kicked them in the stomach so hard they reexperienced the flavors of Toriel’s morning pie, and not in a good way. Dess didn’t even have to do anything. It was an accident, but, well, let’s just say Kris learned to watch out for those ballistic missiles Noelle called hooves. They had no intention of un-eating their breakfast again.
Noelle let her hoof drop, boring an inch-deep hole in the sand. She shook her head and gave Ralsei a sympathetic look.
Both Ralsei and Susie’s eyes were wide and unmoving. Kris’ was too, after he got up. Now that the fun gang weren’t expending 100% of their mental capabilities on the most stupid drawn-out joke in the world, they were seriously starting to consider the implication of Ralsei’s presence here. Everyone else was wearing their lightner clothes, so they had to be in the Light World. But then, how was Ralsei here? He was a darkner. Darkners couldn’t be in the Light World… right?
Maybe they were in a weird dark world with light world properties? If the seven flowers could be half-lightner half-darkner, then maybe a world could also be like that? They needed to test this.
But before the three stooges could try to figure out what was going on, Noelle took a few steps forward and introduced herself. “Hi! I’m Noelle. You must be one of Kris’ new friends.” She glared at her old friend. “Do they always treat you like this?”
But before Ralsei could answer, Noelle furrowed her brows, blinked, rubbed her eyes, narrowed them, blinked again. She leaned closer to the darkner, neck jutting forward like a crane. She narrowed her eyes. “Sorry… This is gonna sound crazy, but I swear we’ve met before. It was… uh…” She frowned, a hand going to her temple, “in a dream?” She smiled uncertainly.
Ralsei’s eyes darted to Kris and Susie, pleading for instructions. Susie had discussed her desire to re-introduce Noelle to the dark worlds yesterday, and he assumed she had had the same conversation with Kris. But, was this really the time? The current situation was strange and beyond their control. What if something went wrong?
Kris gave them a thumbs up. Susie just chortled. “You’re thinking too much, nerd. No time like the present, right?
Ralsei took heart in his friends’ support. Without any more hesitation, he explained everything to the newest addition of the fun gang.
*****
Noelle felt like her head was going to explode. “So let me get this straight…” She, “there are these dark worlds where everything’s so dark that inanimate objects come to life—”
“And flowers,” Susie added helpfully.
Noelle blinked. “And flowers…” Right, how could I forget about the flowers… She thought sardonically. She jabbed a finger at Kris. “And you three are the heroes of prophecy that will save the world.” She looked flatly at Kris, like this was the part of the story she found hardest to believe, which in fact, it was. The three nodded proudly. “And the Cyber World was real… I really got kidnapped by Queen… who was also real, and Berdly… and we all got superpowers and magic, and… and… we—” her eyes darted to Susie “—we really went on that carousel ride together, and…” Her eyes grew moistened, hopeful, and drifted slowly to Kris, “we really hanged out… for the first time in seven years…” Kris flinched and looked away, fists clenched at their sides.
“And you’ve been risking your lives fighting to seal off these… Dark Fountains with Kris’ soul so that the world doesn’t get torn apart by giant darkness things… Titans… Is that all?” Her voice was deceptively calm, the calm before a storm.
“Yeahhhhhhhhhh?” Susie drawled, one eye closed. She sensed danger.
Noelle stared deadpan at Susie, then Ralsei, then, finally, Kris. She looked to the warm cozy orange of the dusk sky and closed her eyes.
“That went well,” Kris quipped.
And then Noelle exploded.
The reindeer monster bounded to Kris with a single kick to the sand—putting her physiology and time at track to good use—grabbed their collar with both hands, and shook them back and forth like a ragdoll. Her eyes were wider than wide, looking more like a boggling rat’s than a reindeer’s. “WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?”
Susie hurriedly grabbed her arms before Kris went braindead. “Woah. Noelle, calm down.”
Noelle’s head snapped to face her like one of those creepy horror movie dolls. Her eye was twitching. “Calm down? CALM DOWN? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN WHEN YOU JUST TOLD ME YOU’VE BEEN RISKING YOUR LIVES FOR THE PAST FIVE DAYS?!”
Susie scoffed. “Oh, come on, it wasn’t that dangerous.”
Noelle looked at her like she was insane. “Not that dangerous? Susie, unless you’ve forgotten, I was there with you for Cyber World! Those…” she shuddered, “those mind-controlled guys and those syringe-faced things shot bullets at me! They hit me! It hurt!”
Kris shrunk into themselves, looking guiltier than Susie had ever seen them. The purple monster sucked in a breath through her teeth. Okay, that backfired bad. Noelle was really mad, and probably not just because of the reasons she listed so far. Ralsei was watching them, wide eyed. He had no idea what to say. The darkner wasn’t that close to Noelle, so he didn’t have any confidence in calming her down.
By now, Noelle had released Kris, letting them slump down into a vaguely human-shaped lump. Susie released Noelle’s arms and raised both hands palm out. “Okay, okay, I admit it; I lied, it was totally dangerous. But it’s not like we want to put ourselves in danger—” she was really only speaking for Ralsei here “—but we have to save the world, remember?”
“I know!” Noelle yelled. “And I’m glad you decided to tell me before anyone else. You’re fine, Susie,” her voice went down a few octaves. Just a few. She knew—well, more like inferred from the lizard girl’s behavior—that Susie… didn’t exactly have the best home life. She probably didn’t trust her parents enough to tell them… if she had parents at all. There really wasn’t anyone out there for her to talk to, except Kris and Noelle.
But Kris… She turned back to her oldest friend, more disappointed than angry now. “But you! Why didn’t you tell anyone?!”
Susie frowned. “Hey, Kris just agreed to tell you, dude.”
Noelle went quiet. “Was it their idea?” Her voice came out like a whisper.
“Huh?” Susie broke out into cold sweat.
“Was it their idea to tell me… or yours?” Noelle’s bitter eyes bored into Susie’s eyes. The lizard monster looked away.
“Mine.”
Noelle looked down, eyes shadowed by her golden-blonde hair. Her hands were balled up into tight, white fists, shaking. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.” Kris’ lips started to tremble.
Susie was starting to get mad now. Yeah, on one hand, this was Noelle, who she liked, and she did have a long and—from the looks of it—tulmultuous history with Kris that Susie didn’t have the knowledge or right to unpack. On the other hand, this was Kris, her best friend, and they looked hurt.
“Hey, get off their case, Noelle,” Susie said in a decidedly less-than-kind tone.
Noelle met her eyes again, not hurt, not angry, just blank, like she was telling her you don’t know what the heck you’re talking about. Somehow, that just made it worse. Susie scowled. But before she could say anything else, Noelle had turned her attention back to Kris.
“Me, Miss Toriel, Mr. Asgore.” she listed the names off on her fingers. “Five days. Five freaking days, and I’m the only one you’ve told about this?”
Kris nodded slowly.
“How could you?” Noelle’s eyes misted up. “If you got hurt, or, or even…” The monster girl gulped. She couldn’t say it. “If anything happened to you in one of those dark worlds, we wouldn’t even know! Susie would be the only person who could tell us what happened, and everybody would think she’s crazy! You’d be…” She sobbed. “You’d be just like Dess…” Tears trailed down her face, wetting the sand at her hooves. Their best friend flinched at the name.
Kris lurched forward instinctively, like they wanted to hug her or something, but they stopped themselves, just like how they stopped themselves so many times before. There was a part of their curtain-like hair that was wet now. They were crying too. “...I’m sorry,” they said in that same whispery voice, even more whispery now. “Didn’t… Didn’t think they’d believe me,” they said. But they knew full well that wasn’t the only, or even the most important reason.
There was nothing but silence on the beach for some time. Noelle didn’t say anything back. Kris didn’t say anything more. The tension between them was as thick as molasses and as tangled as a string puzzle, and Susie was afraid a single word from her would snap it all in half.
In the end, it was Ralsei who made the leap of faith.
“...Noelle… Kris…” He started, pink eyes darting between the two, “I know there’s some… complicated feelings between you two, but we need to figure out how to get out of this place first.”
Noelle raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t this a dark world?”
“I don’t know. If it is, it isn’t like any one I’ve seen. All of you are in your lightner forms right now. I didn't even think that was possible in a dark world.”
Noelle twisted a lock of her golden, not platinum-blonde hair and looked down at her sweater that was very much not the white robe she had worn in the Cyber World.
“Oh,” she said.
The four of them looked around the beach. The sky was a soft, gentle orange, the color of dusk, and the waves lapped gently at the sand a dozen meters behind them, making these gentle foamy hissing noises. The salty smell of the ocean permeated the place, soothing and gentle. Opposite to the ocean was a craggy hill a few hundred meters away. Kris pointed at it.
“You wanna climb up the hill?” Susie asked.
Kris nodded.
“All you had to say, dude.” Susie rolled up her sleeves and got ready to stick her claws into solid rock.
Noelle raised a finger. “Uh… I don’t think I can…”
“We can share my scarf,” Ralsei offered, his signature pink scarf stretching towards Noelle as if in greeting.
Susie grinned and started towards the hill, only to crash hard into… a table?
“Oof!” The monster rubbed her bruised stomach in pain. “What the hell? Where did the table come from?” She could swear she didn’t see anything there a few seconds ago.
“Tables, Susie,” said Ralsei wearily.
True enough, there were now five round tables in front of them, stocked with ten chairs each. And in front of the tables hovered a giant floating movie screen.
Kris tilted their head.
“I guess whoever brought us here wants us to watch something, huh?” Susie said. “Kris?”
The human looked down and pursed their lips. “Let’s sit,” they said, their voice louder than usual. The way this situation was developing was starting to remind them of Tenna, but as long as the person doing this wasn’t hostile, they wouldn’t provoke them.
So the four friends sat down, eyes glued to the screen. But nothing happened. It was just black.
Susie scowled. “Hey, if you’re gonna make us watch something, how about you get started alr—”
And then the world went white.
When the bright white light receded, Kris’ red eyes went as wide as dinner plates.
“Dad?”