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Kris breathes in, then out. The Soul leaves their body like it always does, like a snake slithering out of its pit. Its saturated, pure red stands sharply against the fractal glow of the Fountain. The heart shimmers with a bright light. Before the glow overwhelmed the room, Kris felt a burning hotness. This is the worst part. Being possessed, having their movements controlled and being unable to speak freely, that they can handle. Not this. Not the burning.
The transition back to the Light World is mercifully brief, the fire-like hissing drowning their thoughts. "We're back." Susie says eventually. She souds distant.
The church is a mess. It looks like a hurricane has tore through it, one that hated pews, altars, and prayer books: the pews are shattered and broken into large chunks of wood, the sharp debris maybe-serendipitously, maybe-deliberately arranged around them; a third of the altar Is missing, strong marble having been broken off and reduced to sand and pebbles; book pages and covers litter the floor, in the spaces where the splinters did not reach. Kris notices part of the largest stained glass window, the one behind the altar and depicting the Angel, has been broken from the inside. The glass is everywhere.
"The old man..." Susie whispers, tears quietly running down her muzzle. Kris wants to hold her hand and squeeze it tight, like their brother used to do when the nightmares came and mom was too busy fighting with dad to come help. Instead, they stand there, watching her. Waiting and hoping that something happens, that the thing possessing them is 'allowed' to move---or that it has enough care in its heart to let them console their friend. But nothing does.
They stay like this for a while, taking in what has occurred. They both hear the pitter-patter of rain outside. Water gets into the apse from the broken window.
"We should leave."
And so they do. They walk out of the church (no sign of the Knight or even Alvin, Kris notices. They're thankful the priest is safe) and wander through Hometown, the feel and sound of rain accompanying them in their purposeless travel. Their clothes get wet, their hair sticks to their heads like seaweed.
It's hard to see through the curtain of raindrops, but Kris doesn't doubt that whoever controls the Soul has trouble walking through this weather; their movements feel purposeful. Eventually, they lead them to the lake.
The normally-placid body of water is being disturbed and broken by the rain, a thousand needles falling from the sky to torment whatever creature lives under there. Despite the weather, that quiet song, which had become louder in the past few days, kept going. Kris could hear it well, even through the patter or rain. They wondered if Susie could, too.
It's a simple arpeggio, no longer than a few bars, and it loops around itself. Kris feels like they have heard it somewhere else before. The song that plays in every room housing the Fountains came to mind, but the flute's arpeggios there were different -- older, somehow. But if the Fountain's song was so old then, where did it first...
They blink. They were getting sucked into a rabbit hole again. Losing themselves to a goal they knew deep down it was better to leave alone, because uncovering it would mean something very bad would happen. Their sweater is getting soaked.
Once again, Susie breaks the silence; "Hey... what're you thinking?" her voice is meek and low, a far cry from the strong, assured person who defeated the Titan just before. "You can say what's on your mind."
...
"What's on your mind."
Susie takes a moment to get the joke. But when she does, She laughs rambosciously. Kris feels better.
"Hahah, Kris..." She smiled. "I didn't mean It like *that*!" She gave them a playful slap on the arm, the are now covered in mud.
Kris watched her through the gap between their arm and knee. Behind their hiding place, they smiled, too.
Susie relaxed a little, but her expression turned grave. "Did you... when we were in the Dark World," she readied herself. "Did you see it? The last panel?"
They already knew what 'the last panel' was: they knew how it would end. They wished they could say it was okay.
"I didn't."
"Okay." She doesn't say anything for a little while, looking at the hidden Horizon instead, then she gets up. "We're not... we're not going to let that happen."
The rain had remained consistent in its gentle fall. Kris thinks it's becoming unbearable.
***
The Autumn sun was pleasant, though It didn't much to protect Kris from the cold. At least they wore their jumper!
Their jumper was actually their brother's, but like every other clothing they owned, Asriel had outgrown It so now It was theirs. It was the best jumper ever, blue with purple and the worlds 'GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART' stamped on the front with white font. A small Moon slept under the 'sweetheart'
"Hey, come on!" Kris called. "We're almost there!!" they hopped over roots and swung around branches, until eventually they reached the lake. going around rather than using the usual path had been Dess' idea, and Kris was very Happy to have listened to her.
"Coming!" Dess shouted.
She took a long time to arrive, a whole two minutes in fact, which Kris was more than happy to rub in her face. Kris could tell that she was very annoyed by their newfound time-reader attitude, but seeing her roll her eyes and blush from annoyance was very fun, so they kept doing it, like how Dess' kept defending Noelle when their pranks went too far.
It hadn't rained much last night: the ground was damp; the leaves had some dew; and the smell of petrichor was very faint, almost missing.
The big downpour wouldn't come until later that week, but there had been some sprinkling here and there. Likely because the Angel really wanted to build up to some cool rainstorm this autumn, Kris thought, and wanted to tease it.
Dess put down the duffel bag. "Okay, you ready?" She asked as she rummaged through it.
"I am!!" Kris exclaimed, excited. He let his free hand dance as he gathered in one arm a healthy amount of balls.
Dess took out her wiffle bat. "Good." She noticed what Kris was doing, and her mood changed quickly. "Dude, you need to stop." She said. "We've talked about this."
"Oh. uhm." Kris put their free hand on their head. They were now drumming their headband.
"You should stop that too," Dess chided them. "I know your tricks. And for Angel's sake, learn to put your hands inside your pockets!" Dess walked over and took Kris' hans, putting them inside Kris' pocket. whiffle balls scattered everywhere. "*This* is what you do with your hands, so you don't look embarassing. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Cool. I'm sorry I was mean. Don't tell your parents what happened."
"Okay."
Kris wasn't having much fun anymore. They were feeling bad for letting their hands dance. They knew it was not a good thing to move like that because Dess said that, and they tried to keep themselves in check, but It was like everytime they were feeling okay, they just started to do it. Sometimes they did it because they were having fun, and in the moment their forgot they weren't supposed to do that, but other times they did it just because they could, Dess' and Carol's opinions be damned.
Kris knew that Dess was helping them stop being weird, to be strong and aloof like her, but they didn't like how they
At least she wasn't angry right now, just disappointed, which felt even worse.
"Hey, Krismas," Dess ruffled their bangs. "Don't worry, you did great. You're getting better."
That made the child feel better.
"Anyway, enough waiting around," Dess put herself into position. "Ready Kris?"
Kris' face went pale. They weren't ready. They weren't ready to fail at all, or to risk Dess failing, because if they did...
"Yes, I am!" they beamed again, the biggest smile they could manage plastered onto their face.
Dess bought it. "Okay." She raised her bat high. "One, two, three... go!"
Kris chucked a ball at her. Twack. They chucked another. Twack. Then two simultaneously. Twack twack. In a short time, the balls were shattered all around. One was right under the lake's low cliffs.
"Awesome!" Dess smiled. "I think we can take a break now. Wanna eat? I bought gingerbread monsters!"
Kris was happy that Dess was happy, because that meant they had done everything right.
***
Kris lets their hands move on their own. Theirs are small, repetitive movements, hidden by the water.
Hopefully, Susie won't notice and be weirded out. Hopefully, Susie will notice and stim with her.