Chapter Text
It was the dead of night. Everyone was sleeping in bed, wearing their cozy pajamas. Who wouldn't want to live in such a happy town? All of a sudden, several residents received a strange email, "COME TO THE BUNKER (DO NOT BRING EGGS)." The recipients were Kris Dreemurr, Carol Holiday, Norm Al, along with an orange monster and a green monster. Carol, however, was busy because her husband was fucking dying. Kris didn't go to the hospital to see him like their mom told them to, so they were certainly going to be yelled at for that. Kris exited their home, walking through the streets until eventually meeting an odd group of monsters, the others going to the bunker. Kris was clearly offput by the trio, especially the bird one, Norm. Bright lights began to emanate from the bunker. In-front of the door, the Roaring Knight leaned against the side, crossing her arms. The five of them stood single file line, one by one each had been let in. After all of them stepped inside, the Knight went in, too, and closed the doors. The group joined a figure wearing a horned cloak, with a strange cat sitting by their side, and the SOUL, or the Angel. Kris stood as far away from them as they could. The four of them were staring off at a mysterious man, cloaked in shadow, features hard to ascertain.
"HELLO.
I AM CERTAIN
YOU ALL ARE CURIOUS
AS TO WHY
I BROUGHT YOU ALL HERE.
THE ANSWER
IS QUITE SIMPLE.
I HAVE COLLABORATED
WITH ALL OF YOU
IN THE PAST.
OR PERHAPS
YOU SIMPLY WORKED
WITH ONE OF
MY ASSOCIATES.
IN ANY CASE...
WE HAVE BEEN
IN COLLABORATION
FOR A TOTAL
OF 5 YEARS.
I HOPE
YOU ARE PREPARED..." A light shined on the man, revealing his appearance to the others. He had a gray party horn in his crooked mouth, and weakly blew it. "...TO PARTY
THE HARDEST
YOU HAVE EVER
PARTIED BEFORE!
HIT THE TUNES
ERAM!" The cloaked figure walked over to a gramophone and started playing jazz, with a repetitive loop of notes being the main base of it. The odd man had requested it to feature said melody. Norm had baked the food for the party, organizing them on table. The green monster brought over some snacks, which joined the other meals. The Knight floated over to Kris, putting her hand on their shoulder. "Kris...did you bring...the drinks...? You promised..." Kris padded down their pockets, before shaking their head. The Knight rubbed her forehead. "I'll...go get some... Tell HIM...I'll be out...for a bit..." Kris looked around for the man, but they couldn't him anywhere. Out of nowhere, he had bumped into Kris. They got a good look at him, and it was easy to tell he was already drunk.
"W-WOAH!
WHOOPS. YOU'RE...UHH...
K...T-TOGORE
RIGHT?
THAT'S WHAT
DECEMBER CALLS YOU."
"That's my deadn-"
The man wrapped his arm around Kris's shoulder. "*HIC* HEY
HAVE YOU MET
THEM YET?" He pointed at the angel, a red figure dressed in a white cloak, sprouting angelic wings, and featuring a heart shape as their head. Kris started sweating a bit. "LISTEN.
THEY ARE LIKE
SOOOOO*HIC*OOO COOL.
HEY.
WHY DON'T I
INTRODUCE YOU
TO THEM?
HEY!
ANGEL!
I WANT YOU
TO MEET SOMEONE!" The Angel turned towards Kris, suddenly becoming nervous.
Kris tried speaking up again "I needed to-"
The man dragged the Angel over, before showing them off to Kris like they were an art piece.
"THIS GUY HERE
IS MY *HIC* BOYFRIEND!
OR WAS IT
GIRLFRIEND?
UHH...THEYFRIEND?
NEVERMIND.
I FORGOT." The Angel and Kris awkwardly shook hands, both looking away from each other.
"SWEEET.
KRIS!
DID YOU WANT TO HEAR
ABOUT HOW I MET THEM?" They shook their head. "OKAY!
SO THERE WAS
THIS SURVEY-" The man started to vomit a purple, ocean-like substance. The Angel bent down to comfort him. Kris shielded their eyes from the whole thing. It was NOT a fun event. Kris headed over to the snack table, they gulped down most of the chocolate in mere seconds, and had a slice of Norm's "spin" on their mother's pie. It was awful. They noticed a bowl of eggs nearby, and upon picking one up, the strange cat locking in on them. The cat jumped at them, it's mouth opening impossibly wide. Their hand had gotten another bite mark from the cat, and the cat had eaten up the egg. A pair of gray hands picked up the cat, placing it away from Kris and shooing it off. It was the cloaked figure, ERAM. "Hee hee hee, sorry about that, Kris. It gets a little, y'know...EXCITABLE around protein." Kris recognized the cloaked person, and began to back away. "Hey, doncha worry, I'm not gonna fight ya! Well, not while HE'S here, anyways." He pointed at the man, still vomiting his lungs out. "Hey, give him a break, he's had that back-up booze stored for years. And that stuff gets STRONG with age, I tell ya. No clue what's in it, but whatever it is, at least it wears off pretty quick. So, how ya doin'? Still running from you're problems? Still swinging that knife of yours around?" ERAM looked at them, smugly. Kris walked away. A few hours had passed, now, and the Knight had finally returned, carrying a grocery bag in her hands.
"Sorry I...took so long... The store...was so...goddamn crowded..." The man walked over to them, now with an icepack resting on his head.
"DECEMBER!
WHERE HAVE
YOU BEEN?!
YOU CAN NOT
JUST LEAVE
WITHOUT TELLING ME
FIRST!"
"But I asked...Kris to tell you..."
"KRIS?
THEY SAID
NOT A WORD TO ME
ABOUT YOUR DEPARTURE." The two looked over at Kris, who was leaning by the snack tables. Kris nervous waved at them. The Knight prepared to roar, before calming herself.
"I'll go...talk with them..."
The Knight hovered over to Kris, crossing her arms. "Kris...you keep...breaking your...promises... You were...my best...someone I could...count on..." They stayed silent. "Why do you...always give me...the silent treatment... I know...you can talk...but you never...do when I...need you to."
"I...I didn't get the chanc-"
"What are you...talking about...? You had...plenty of chances... I was gone...for two hours."
"People were constantly hassling me."
"Then just...walk away...? This was...more important... I'm in trouble...with HIM...because of you..."
"I don't know...these people freak me out..."
The Knight groaned, rubbing her forehead. "You really...haven't changed... You're still just...a scared little girl..." Kris felt a dagger in their chest. The Knight's visor widened. "W-wait...! Kris...Kris I didn't-" Kris walked away in silence. ERAM, who observed the encounter, began to form a wicked grin on his face. Kris, who stood by a table, still shaken up by what the Knight said, suddenly jumped in fear, upon ERAM teleporting in-front of them. "Oh calm yourself, Kris, I'm not hear to degrade you such as the Knight did! I suppose I wanted to...encourage you, in a way! You know, I'm sure it isn't JUST the Knight who still views you that way. Still calling you a "scared little girl." But you aren't any of those, are you? The knife...it grows dull, your eyes grow dull. But they were meant to play, to BURN... But, you've kept it on you, even after all this time. The opportunity is waiting for you...to prove you aren't scared, your POWERFUL, to prove you aren't little, your STRONG, to prove you aren't a girl- well, I suppose you've already proven that, but I guess the Knight didn't catch on, hee hee hee... So Kris, the blade awaits your hand, your will. Now's your chance to have some REAL fun, so take your knife, and let me see it! Your eyes, burning red, burning pink, burning yellow, burning with FREEDOM! HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!!!" ERAM teleported away, leaving dark cinders as he disappeared. Kris's mind was in a haze. The words of ERAM rang in their head. The words of the Knight. "A scared little girl." "My boyfriend's shitty sister." "A delusional girl." "Weak." "Cowardly." Their hands trembled. As they reached into their pocket, they took their blade. As they did, they accidentally dropped the contents of their pocket. Most importantly, the egg the received in the Flower Kingdom. Now out in the open, FRIEND was able to get a better smell of it. ERAM was too busy talking to the Knight to stop FRIEND. A loud crunch was heard from where stood. As the other people in the bunker turned to look, their jaws fell to the floor. FRIEND was in the process of licking up a pool of blood. Everyone then turned to ERAM, who began to sweat. "A-anyone could've told FRIEND to do that! I...I was busy talking to the Knight! She said some pretty mean things to Kris!"
"DECEMBER...
WHAT DID YOU
SAY TO THEM?" The man had asked.
"I...I called them...a "scared little girl..."" The others gasped.
"DECEMBER.
I UNDERSTAND
YOU ARE YET
TO GROW
OUT OF YOUR
ADOLESCENCE.
BUT IF YOU WISH
TO WORK WITH ME.
YOU MUST RESPECT
KRIS'S CHOSEN IDENTITY."
The Knight crossed her arms. "It was a...slip of the tongue!"
"YOU NO LONGER HAVE A TONGUE."
"Whatever...! Besides...they are dead...so it doesn't...really matter."
The others groaned.
ERAM spoke up. "That's not how it works, Knight! You just gotta own up and apologize, not try and excuse yourself!"
The Knight pulled out her blade, slashing at ERAM, who narrowly dodged. "YOU...! It's your cat...you killed them..."
"Maybe if you weren't such a transphobic asshole I wouldn't have been distracted talking to you!"
"FINE...! I ADMIT IT...! I SEE HER...AS A GIRL...! But she didn't...deserve to die..." Upon saying this, FRIEND coughed up Kris, who held a half-empty bottle of fake blood in their hands, and the others turned to the Knight.
"I knew it!" Eram shouted. ERAM looked at the man, a smug look on his face. "I toooold yooou!"
"DECEMBER...
I...
JUST LEAVE." The man said, disappointed. The Knight looked towards Kris, who was wiping FRIEND's saliva off their pajamas.
"We...we still are...a team...right...?" Kris flipped her off.
ERAM went over to the man, his mouth morphed into an eye, and batting his eyelashes. "Soooo...am I the second in command now?"
"SHEPHERD...YOU ALWAYS WERE. THE KNIGHT WAS SERVING UNDER YOU." ERAM's expression turned to shock.
"Ah." ERAM ran to the door, grabbing onto the Knight's hand. "Heyheyheyhey where are you going?!"
"You're the reason...I'm being kicked out..."
"W-well maybe that was too hasty! Maybe you were...in the...ri-"
ERAM realized what he was saying was fucked up, and decided to be up-front. "Look, I'm gonna be honest here, I exposed you for this stuff in order to be the right-hand-man of HIM, and I didn't know that I already was, so I want you back here to have another person serving me that isn't a stupid-ass cat."
"So you don't...really care...about the things...I said to her..."
"Oh bud you've got it WRONG. HOWEVER, I'll try my best to educate you! Maybe HE will let you back in!"
"I'd rather not-"
"Sounds good let's go!" ERAM began dragging the Knight to the Librarby. For some reason, Berdly was still working. Berdly, startled by the sudden entrance, readjusted his glasses, and got a good look that the two. "AHEM. Cloaked person, your friend there is NOT welcome in this base of operations! For what they said to my dear player 2, of which they texted to tell me they said...they may NEVER step foot in here again!"
"You guys are dating?" ERAM questioned, confused.
"No?! Well, not yet anyways. I meant it platonically! You are free to enter, but your friend must leave."
ERAM shooed off the Knight, and picked up a couple books. After ordering them, ERAM and the Knight headed off to the lake. The two sat at a picnic table, as ERAM placed the books on the table. The first book they picked up was "Help, my human friend is non-binary but I don't support that and I hate them now!"
ERAM cleared his throat, and began to read. "Whether you are a monster or not, if you have a non-binary friend, and find that scary, then this is the book for you! Chapter 1: What the hell is happening?! You might be confused at first, but that's okay! That's how we feel when someone comes out, but the feelings afterwards can vary. For this books purposes, we'll assume you acted negati-" The Knight's head collapsed onto the table, falling asleep. ERAM hit her on the back of the head with it. "HEY! If you wanna be a better person, then you've gotta pay attention!"
"But I don't...really care..."
"Why not? You were childhood friends with Kris! They didn't feel like bein' a girl suited them, and neither did being a boy. So they decided not to be either? What's wrong with that? FRIEND and that weird bird guy aren't boys or girls, but you've never complained about that!"
"Well...those two...were created...genderless..."
"Okay, how 'bout Noelle? Your little sister? She's trans. You care about that?"
"I do not...care to...let him...live in a world...of fantasy..."
ERAM groaned. "God, you don't care, do you? You just pretended to care about them, and left them in the dust when they wanted to be themselves." ERAM looked a little saddened at this, as if he was personally hurt.
The Knight crossed her arms. "I just...I'm..."
Her chest opened up as she roared "I LIKE WOMEN!!!"
ERAM's horns were blown back. He sat in silence. "THAT's why...I acted...like that...! I was jealous...! Jealous...they could be...themselves..."
The Knight had a moment of clarity, her garbled voice clearing up. "Asriel...he wasn't the nicest guy out there. I suppose the mask he put on fooled the whole town. When we were alone, he said awful things. About Kris, about Noelle...and I was scared. I knew if I admitted to him that I didn't like boys, he'd stop talking to me. I told him to stop, stop saying those awful things about his sibling of all people, but he didn't. He just acted like I never said a thing. I suppose when I had morphed into this...thing...I started wearing a mask, too. The same one Asriel wore. If I ever see him again, I'm gonna beat the shit out of him. Thanks, ERAM, I've needed someone to talk to for a while. From now on, I'll call Kris by whatever they want us to call them. Same with Noelle, same with everyone else."
ERAM lit up a the last part, before he folded his hands. "W-wow. I...I'm surprised I didn't know that. I watched Kris their whole childhood, and I never knew their brother was such an asshole." AS the two walked back to the bunker, the two noticed a car. Out of the car stepped...ASRIEL?? He was parked outside of Toriel's house. Normally she would've gone to greet him, but it was still the dead of night. ERAM covered Asriels mouth in one hand and started dragging him in the other.
The two stepped back in, with ERAM still carrying Asriel. He dropped him onto the ground. Everyone else was in a state of confusion. The Knight pointed her sword at Asriel, but Kris blocked it. "Kris...there is...no time to explain...move out...of the way..." ERAM pushed Kris aside. Despite their efforts to fight back, they remained still.
Asriel looked deeply confused "H-hey? What did you bring me here fo-"
ERAM slapped him across the face. "SHUT UP, TWINK!"
"Who the hell are you?!"
"It doesn't matter... Now you need to own up."
"Or have your dust...scattered about..." The Knight added.
Asriel started sweating a bit. "A-about what?"
The Knight's black knife pressed again his neck.
Asriel sighed. "I...K-no, Togore, I've been lying to you," Kris flinched as soon as they heard the name, stopping dead in their tracks. "I never really supported that weird "non-binary" stuff you got into, I just pretended to, I know Toriel would try her best to convince me, but I just wanted my little sister back. So, c'mere, I'm sure you can get better, little sis." He held out his arms, offering Kris a hug. As they walked over to him, their face turned pale as they punched him in the stomach as hard as they could. The Knight put her hand on Kris's shoulder.
"Kris...I...I hope you can...forgive me... I'm truly sorry...for calling you...a girl." They didn't respond. ERAM threw Asriel out the bunker doors, and floated over to the man. "So, you think you could let the Knight back in? Everyone seems pretty happy with how things turned out!" The man ignored ERAM, and walked over to the Knight.
"DECEMBER.
TELL ME.
DO YOU REALLY
WISH TO RETURN?
DO YOU TRULY
FEEL REGRET?" They nodded. A smile appeared on the man's face. "I AM
HAPPY TO
HEAR IT." Kris, still looking sickly, after all the revelations about Asriel came to light, felt a cold, dead wing placed on their shoulder, a shiver running up their spine. "Delicious doughnuts. It's only 99g. It's only for free. Don't wait. To try it." They offered them a plate of powdered doughnuts. Hesitantly, they tried one. The powder was, in fact, not powder, but dust. They coughed it out, dropping the rest of the doughnut to the floor. Norm's eye twitched. "That took me a year."
"KRIS.
I UNDERSTAND
THIS WAS A RATHER
UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE," the man said, standing by their side, "BUT
I DO HOPE
YOU ENJOYED
THE PARTY." The man looked towards everyone. "IN FACT
I HOPE EVERYONE.
ENJOYED THE PARTY!" The residents walked out of the bunker, save for ERAM, FRIEND, and the Knight.
Norm and the other three walked in directions that no homes were anywhere close too, and Kris walked home. Upon entering, they found Toriel, reading a book, clearly agitated.
"Kris! Kris, dear, whatever are you doing out this late?"
"..."
"Don't worry, Kris, you're not in trouble, just...just tell me before you next time."
"You look...upset." Kris said, curiously.
"Oh, it was your...your brother. When he stepped inside, he woke me up, saying all kinds of terrible things about you. I am not sure where he is going, but I told him he is NOT welcome in this house or Asgore's. While your father is...you know...he is at the very least respectful of the identity you have chosen for yourself." Kris walked into their room, before collapsing onto their bed with a thud. The soul had found themself in the cage again. Kris pulled themself onto the bed, actually lying on their bed normally, thinking to themself. About the party, about the Knight, about their br- They quickly cleared their mind and drifted off to sleep. Back in the shelter, the man was dressed in a nightcap and gown, followed by the two demons, while the Knight slept. He held a candle in his hand, and was looking through old photographs. Back when it was just him, FRIEND, and ERAM. While happy now, he wanted to take a look back at simpler times. A truly iconic trio, they were, one that hometown would never forget. Well, they always forgot about HIM, but the other two certainly left their marks around the place.