Chapter Text
Noelle Holiday, overall, was not a person who tended to make waves. Of…any kind, really. Maybe once upon a time she’d had a couple chaotic impulses, but…well, she had enough chaotic friends, and she didn’t really want to suffer any consequences for…that kind of decision, so she mostly left the chaos to Kris and whoever else wanted to cause a little mayhem. So maybe it makes sense that she slowly became the quiet smart girl in class, talked over and looked over in equal measure.
But to be honest, she didn’t really care. There were more important things to think about, so why not let Berdly ramble on as much as he wanted about his intelligence?
“As number one in the class, it is my duty to look after all of my lessers!” he preened, dramatically leaning back in his chair. “I have to do all the hard work to keep up the GPA in this room!”
Can you even make ”lesser” plural? she wondered absently, doodling on the margins of her paper as she waited for class to start. Her hair swoops kind of like this? Oh, and her teeth are definitely bigger—
“Isn’t that right, Noelle?” Berdly called, and she snapped to attention, quickly covering both her paper and the blush rapidly forming across her cheeks. I don’t think he noticed?
“Huh? Oh, umm, yes?”
“See? My number two agrees with me! We’re going to breeze through this school project so quickly, we’ll have it in by the end of the day!”
“That’s, uh, that’s…really not necessary, I’m giving you two weeks—” Ms. Alphys said awkwardly (though Noelle supposed the teacher always appeared at least a little uncomfortable).
“I actually already finished it!” he added quickly.
“…you have?”
Berdly didn’t answer for a tellingly long time. In the background Snowy started to tell a joke to Monster Kid that Noelle was pretty sure wouldn’t be funny enough to qualify as a joke.
“…well, no,” Berdly eventually said. “But I might as well have, with how quickly we’ll be able to finish it!”
He kept jabbering, but Ms. Alphys just looked at the clock and glanced nervously at the two empty seats. Noelle followed her gaze to where Kris and Susie sat every day, but notably, neither of them was there.
Susie’s always late, but it’s a little odd Kris isn’t here yet, Noelle thought to herself. Doesn’t Toriel make sure they get here on time?
She craned her neck to try and see out the window at the back of the class in case she could spot them, but before she could make out anything but trees and pavement, Alphys spoke up.
“A-alright, class! Um. As…some of you know, today we are starting partner projects! So, um, pick your partners!”
The classroom was quiet for a long moment as people exchanged glances. Eventually, Noelle slowly raised her hand.
“Uh, yes! Noelle?”
“You already had us pick our partners, Ms. Alphys,” she said politely.
“Oh. Uh. Okay. Right.” The sweat on her scaly face had a sheen to it, and Noelle was pretty sure it was starting to stain the neckline of her shirt. “Then I’ll, uh…write the project on the board!”
Noelle glanced at the clock again. Eleven minutes since class started…was Kris staying home today? Why weren’t they here?
And was Susie just not going to show up today? Well, her attendance was never great, but…well. Noelle just…preferred when she was in class. Where she could glance back over her shoulder and look at her looming at the back of the class, lounging and probably eating a pencil or something.
It was…comforting, having her there. Well. Not comforting. Intimidating in just the right there?
And, well, Kris sat in her line of sight, so whenever they saw her staring they would be sure to block her view and be as annoying as possible, jazz hands and tongue sticking out and all, to make fun of her for her (honestly pretty obvious) crush. So maybe, just maybe, she was hoping for a day where Susie would be in and Kris wouldn’t, so she could look back as much as she wanted without interruption…
“Seriously, if—if nobody finds any chalk, you’ll—you’ll all get in trouble!” Alphys was attempting to say when Noelle tuned back into the conversation.
Again, the silence was deafening.
“Uhh…” Alphys seemed to wilt a little.
“There might be some chalk in the supply closet,” Noelle suggested. “You know, I could go look.”
Maybe if I go I’d stumble into Susie in the hallway and get to talk to her one on one, she thought, feeling a rush of excitement despite herself.
“Um, yes! Yeah. Noelle and Berdly, you two can make up the work on your project. Can you check the supply closet for chalk?”
…with Berdly? Her heart fell a little and she glanced over at her partner, who was busy trying to mask his clear surprise at being volun-told with his characteristic bravado.
“Why, of course, Ms. Alphys!” he crooned. “Of course you’d send your two most gifted students on such a perilous journey!”
He pushed himself out of his seat in his typical self-aggrandizing way and began making his way to the door, oblivious to the annoyed looks his classmates were exchanging amongst themselves.
“I just hope the rest of the class will be able to work even when I’m gone. Don’t worry about me, Ms. Alphys, I’ll find your chalk and be back before you know it!”
And, with a dramatic flourish to close the door, he left the room. Leaving Noelle inside, of course.
“…it’s just chalk,” Ms. Alphys mumbled, confused.
Noelle sighed and followed him, leaving her uninterested classmates behind.
Berdly stood just outside the door, still holding his ridiculous posture and facing directly away from her, staring at nothing in particular. I’ve spent so much time studying with him, he should know he doesn’t have to pretend with me, she thought, equal parts amused and annoyed.
“…okay, Berdly, we can go get the chalk now!” she eventually said when he didn’t move.
He started at the sound of her voice and whirled around. “Ah! Right! Noelle! Onward we shall go!”
He promptly spun back around and walked purposefully towards the supply closet. Noelle sighed, again, and trailed him…though she did glance toward the entrance to double check that Susie wasn’t there. She wasn’t, and Noelle tried to ignore how her heart fell a little.
As she came up behind him, Berdly was once again talking to himself. “Ms. Alphys will surely reward me for my efforts, for helping my dear classmates,” he was mumbling to himself.
Is he going to do this the entire time? Noelle thought with a roll of her eyes. Sometimes he was more manageable about it, but she suspected that being at school rather than at his house was the reason he hadn’t dropped his posturing.
Thankfully, she didn’t need to prompt him in order for him to open the closet door, and he threw it open wide to reach inside.
However.
Uh…
“Is…it supposed to look like that?” she asked hesitantly.
Instead of dust and crayons and probably a box of chalk hidden behind a mop, inside the closet was…nothing. Not nothing in the sense it was empty, just…nothing. Blackness. Darkness so dark it was seeping out onto the hallway. Noelle thought she could see it growing as the light dimmed.
Was there…music, coming from inside? She thought she could hear something faint…
“Of…of course, my dear Noelle! The chalk is just…further in the back!”
He strode confidently into the darkness, and Noelle made a small noise. Where are the walls?
“Um, Berdly? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Nonsense! I’m not about to be scared by some supply closet. I’ll have you know I’m a Super Smashing Fighters pro, and I can defeat anything that comes my way!”
She hesitantly stepped inside. There were papers strewn all over the floor, and they slipped a little under her hoof. Oh, Angel, this is how people get murdered in horror movies, she thought, though she desperately shoved that thought back down. Every bone in her body was screaming at her to leave, but…well…she forced herself to go a couple more steps.
“…Berdly? I don’t want to do this, it’s really dark, and…”
He was so far away. How could he be so far away? She could barely see him, he was going to get lost!
“Berdly? I think something’s wrong with the closet and we shouldn’t go in!”
He finally glanced behind to look at her, barely visible in the blanket of the darkness, and seemed to recognize for the first time just how far he’d travelled. It was as if she could see the gears turning in his head as he looked at her, then back into the darkness, and all of the length between them.
“Huh,” he said hesitantly, for once without anything to say.
Noelle crept backwards towards the door. Nope, I can’t. I’m done, the closet is broken, and I’m not about to get murdered, so—
In a split second, the sliver of light disappeared, and her back hit a solid wall.
“AIEEE!” she shrieked, jumping off and away, colliding with Berdly in her attempt to get away from the door. “Berdly, what do we do?!”
“I—I—”
But he couldn’t get anything out. She watched with horror in the last dim remnants of light from around the edge of the closet door as the papers fell down and into nothingness below, coming closer and closer and closer…
Oh Angel I’m going to die—
The surface beneath her gave out, and she plummeted into the darkness.
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Noelle opened her eyes, which, to be honest, she wasn’t really expecting to do.
She’d also expected her head to hurt or to feel sore or anything, but aside from the weird pose she’d landed in, she felt…fine? Surprisingly fine? Nothing seemed out of place, and…
With a gasp she realized her outfit had changed, and she scrambled back a little across the floor. Instead of her usual sweater vest and skirt combo, she had some kind of…white robe? And her hands and hair were both lighter than normal, like she’d been washed out. A strand of pale blonde hair fell in her eyes, and she carefully tucked it behind her ear.
What in the world…? How did my clothes change? How did I change? Is there something that does that?
Actually…where am I?
Definitely not the inside of a closet. Grayish…grass(?) stretched out in strange cliffs in every direction, and the sky was completely black. It definitely didn’t look like any part of Hometown, or anywhere she’d been, to be honest. The place was ominously silent, though she could’ve sworn she could hear noises far off in the distance.
“Berdly?” she called out hesitantly, pushing herself to her feet. The white robe hung a little low, but not to the point of being uncomfortable or intrusive.
There was no response, so clearly, he wasn’t within earshot.
Hm. She glanced up, in case she could see anything of the supply closet or the school, but all she saw was darkness stretching up into nothingness.
…okay. Um. What…do I need to do? Surely there’s something reasonable I can do.
The first thing she tried was calling somebody—her dad, since she didn’t particularly want to explain this to her mom—but all that got her was garbage noise that made her want to tear her ear off. Her pockets were otherwise completely empty, though she did note a small ring on her finger that was cold to the touch.
She ran out of options pretty quick, and the idea of staying put waiting here made her skin crawl, so she was left with no alternative than to look around.
Maybe I can find somebody, like Berdly, or maybe someone else, she reasoned, as if to still her rapidly beating heart. There’s gotta be something, right?
So, without any better ideas, she set off to look around.
I just hope Berdly doesn’t get into trouble before I find him…
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Berdly, obviously, was used to knowing what to do. As if he’d ever not know what to do. No, not him. Not the number one in class.
But, uh…this certainly…needed a little more thought, before he could come up with a genius plan to save Noelle and himself. It was a…complicated situation.
The armor? An absolute upgrade. If he could wear this every day, he would. Easily. Who wouldn’t want armor that could glow in the dark? He’d easily become the most popular in class in addition to being the smartest!
The halberd he quickly found in his inventory? Even better! Lean, green, and built for a battle machine like him, clearly.
However, he was having a little more difficulty with the implications of dropping into a situation with armor and a weapon. Not because he was scared, because obviously with tools like these and his own incredible wits, he would be completely fine, but…he’d never fought with a halberd before, or in general, and he was…unsure of which strategy he would pick.
Which strategy. Of course.
But, as the intelligent gamer that he was, he quickly set off on what he presumed to be his quest to save Noelle. Since she was missing, she had to have been abducted and taken to some far off land, since that was what always happened in places with armor and halberds.
He was reveling in the idea that he finally could be a hero like he always knew he could be, nay, he WOULD be! Who cares that he doesn’t know where he is or how he’s supposed to get home? The answer always becomes clear to a hero in the end!
The environment quickly became very mundane. He made his way down various paths and explored various areas. He came across a strange looking tree that had what ended up being star-shaped pieces of candy, and it took him quite a while to figure out a darkness puzzle that had ended up in his path, but clearly that was because it was a complex lock that only the most intelligent people could solve, and it was intended to slow him down.
Eventually, he spotted a silhouetted figure in the distance, standing atop some strange spire.
“Aha! Who goes there?” he asked menacingly, holding his halberd at the ready. “I can take any enemy I come across! I’ll fight you and defeat you, easily!”
The bluff was a little harder to maintain when some strange kind of projectile barreled towards him and he barely dodged, and it was even harder to bluff when they started to hail down from above.
“Hey!” he said indignantly, smacking them away as best he could and trying to avoid getting hit. Is that a…spade? Like on a playing card? “What are you doing? Who are you?”
Dodge, dodge, block, dodge…he dashed away to put some distance between himself and the figure, but when the torrent released enough that he could spare a glance back at them, they were gone.
…hm. Well, it’s better for them, at least. I would’ve easily defeated them if I could’ve reached them.
He shook himself, fixing his slightly ruffled feathers, and continued on his journey, certain he would come across something impressive.
And impressive he did find!
After sliding down a particularly steep slope (completely controlled and graceful) and dusting himself off (for reasons unrelated to the last fact), he found himself face to face with a strange town of some kind.
The sky was completely dark, and so was everything else, but everything seemed to have a glow around the edges that made it stand out. The buildings curved and warped along strange geometries and were a little fuzzy and indistinct, making him feel dizzy and uneasy in a different way.
As he pressed on, he found a strange puddle of sorts, but instead of his feet sinking into what looked like a glowing pond, they rested upon the surface like regular solid ground. So…not a puddle, apparently.
Before him stood a castle, from what he could tell of its indistinct shapes and arcing lines. The gate, at least, was clear enough that he could enter.
This must be the first dungeon, he thought to himself. My first challenge as a hero.
Newly invigorated, he pushed open the gate, finding a large, empty room, save for one figure in the middle, clad in a hooded cloak that obscured their face and trailed on the ground.
“Welcome, heroes!” the figure said in a happy, boyish voice. “I am the…”
They (he?) trailed off when they actually looked at Berdly. They stopped dead in their tracks, stopping what seemed to be a script, and stood there unmoving for long enough that Berdly eventually coughed to break the silence.
“Ahem, yes, I am the hero of this tale! Tell me, my NPC friend, what is the first step on my quest to save my beloved Noelle?” he asked grandly, puffing out his chest and posing as heroically as he could muster.
The figure didn’t answer.
Berdly faltered, yet tried again. “I said, what is the first step on my quest?”
This time the figure took a couple small steps forward, as if looking at him closer. “You’re…not supposed to be here,” they said, clearly confused. They’re a guy, Berdly decided.
“But of course I am,” he persisted. “I’m the hero, yes? I’m going to save the day and rescue Noelle? I had it all figured out.”
The figure turned away again, a pair of green-clad arms popping out of his cloak, presumably to rub his chin in confusion. “Why are you here? How are you here? Where’s…where’s Kris and Susie?”
Berdly blustered at the names. Kris, the mere class number three and his late-night-gaming rival? Susie, the class barbarian?! “I can assure you, I am far more heroic than those two. I am all you could possibly need!!”
With a small huff, the figure pulled off his cloak and neatly folded it away, revealing a fairly short guy with a loose green cloak, a long pink scarf carefully tucked around his neck, and a large green hat that obscured his face and only allowed for the barest glimpses of green glasses and his expression, which was…annoyed. And a little confused.
“Can you…give me a minute?” he asked carefully, partially smiling but clearly not really trying to sell it. Without another word, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction, entering the castle. Just…left.
Berdly stopped in his tracks and stared at the closed door, his beak hanging open a little.
“Uh.”
He glanced around for help, but the area was just as strange and empty as before.
“Hello?” he called after the figure, but no response.
Hm. Well. That was…certainly a conversation.
Pssh, needing Kris and Susie. Please. They’re the two people least likely to be heroes in all of Hometown. He must not know what he’s talking about, so he must not be very important.
His confidence reinstated, Berdly headed back into the main square of the town, glancing around for where to go. After a little bit of exploration, he discovered a massive door to the side of town that towered over him.
Ah, yes! This must be the way to progress on my quest!
“Don’t worry, my dearest Noelle, I shall save you from your predicament soon! I’m coming!!!”
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When Noelle found a very strange looking castle in the middle of a very strange looking town, she was extremely hesitant to head inside. It could be someone’s house, and she wasn’t about to barge in uninvited! Besides, she didn’t need to head inside. Whoever lived in there would be bound to come outside eventually, so she could sit and wait for them without being obtrusive, and they could help her then.
Yeah. Definitely.
She wasn’t sure exactly how long she’d been sitting outside the door when…somebody came up on a motorbike and started idling it alongside her. Wait, no, not a motorbike. It was…a regular bike that somebody lit on fire?
She glanced up at the person, confused, and found a kid with a round, nonthreatening build and a goofy smile plastered on his face, staring at the gate. It looked like he had some kind of…spade-shaped visor covering his eyes? His tongue hung out of his mouth not like a specific choice, but more like he’d forgotten it was still out.
He didn’t look like a monster or a human. To be honest, she wasn’t sure what he possibly could be.
He didn’t say anything. He just sat there on his burning bike, staring at the gate with that same silly smile.
Um. Okay. I guess he’s not going in?
“Hi! So what are we waiting for?” he asked when she finally looked away. His voice was chipper and over the top, and his smile didn’t falter.
“Um. Well, uh, I…I was waiting for someone to tell me where I am,” she admitted, a small blush crawling across her cheeks from embarrassment.
“Oh! Okay!” the kid said, and he returned to the same smile staring at nothing.
?????????? Noelle thought.
“…do you know where I am?” she eventually tried.
“Ohhhh!” the kid said, as if in realization for the first time. He grinned even wider at her. “You’re in front of a gate!”
Noelle buried her head in her hands.
Suddenly, the gate opened—well, it opened a little bit, to allow somebody to slip through. From outside came a figure in green with a massive hat that didn’t quite obscure the confusion dominating their expression.
He seemed to be murmuring something to himself, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the kid on the bike, and then again when he saw Noelle sitting on the floor looking, ironically, like a deer in headlights.
“…oh,” he eventually eeped out.
“Hi, um, I was looking for help?” Noelle said, though it came out more like a question.
“…if you needed help, why didn’t you come in?” he asked, completely bewildered.
“Well, I, um, I didn’t want to…bother whoever was inside,” she stammered, pink spreading across her cheeks.
The green guy turned to the kid on the bike. “And…why are you here?”
“Because she was here!” he said happily, pointing at Noelle.
“Um,” the green guy said eloquently, evidently with no clue how to handle the situation, and to be honest, Noelle couldn’t blame him.
“Look, um, do you know what’s going on? I was going into a supply closet with my classmate, and we fell into the middle of…whatever this is, and I haven’t been able to find him. Or a way out. I’m after both of those things right now,” Noelle rushed, stumbling over her words a little.
“Classmate? Who was your classmate?” the green guy said.
“Uh, Berdly? He’s a bluebird? He’s, um, uh,” she flailed for a bit looking for the right adjective, “…very confident.”
The green guy sighed, rubbing his shadowed face. “Okay. Yes, I’ve seen…Berdly. But it was a while ago, and when I came back out, he’d already left.”
Noelle faltered a little. “Do you have any idea where he could’ve gone?”
“Well…yes, there’s only one place he could’ve gone.”
Oh, thank goodness, he shouldn’t be far. “Can you show me?”
“…yes, yes, of course!”
“Thank you. Oh, thank you. Um, my name’s Noelle, by the way,” she said, sticking out a hand with what she hoped was an inviting smile.
“Oh! I’m Ralsei,” the green guy responded, shaking it with a very fluffy paw.
“And I’m Lancer!” said the kid on the bike who was still sitting there.
Both Noelle and Ralsei looked at Lancer with flat, confused expressions. The kid looked back innocently. “Can I join?” he asked hopefully.
Noelle glanced at Ralsei, who seemed to be going through a lot of emotions at once.
“…sure?” he eventually said.
“Yippee!” Lancer said, popping a wheelie and throwing his bike into the air. Noelle yelped as it flew up, up, up…and she shrieked as it fell back down, directly towards her.
She ducked towards the ground, preparing for the worst, but after no impact and no reaction from either boy, she looked up hesitantly to find Lancer smiling at her again. “Pocket bike!” he chirped.
“Euh,” Noelle said eloquently, still huddled on the floor.
Ralsei already looked so tired and so confused. “Here, um…follow me.”