Chapter Text
Tuesday, 17:43
Noelle sat on the unfamiliar bed, staring blankly at the baseball moon in the laser-grid sky. Her mind felt numb; but not as numb as her finger. She didn’t look at it, but she didn’t have to. She could feel the thorns stabbing into her flesh and the slow trickle of dust down her skin even if she could no longer feel the pain.
“Noelle! I’m here to save you!”
Noelle turned her head lethargically to the voice. “Susie…”
What was Susie doing in this nightmare? Susie didn’t belong in nightmares. She belonged in the most beautiful dreams.
“Hey, uh…are you okay? You look kinda out of it.” Susie frowned and approached her. “Did Queen do something to you?”
“Susie…are you here to end my nightmare?” Noelle asked.
“Uh, yeah! Yeah, I am. Don’t worry—whatever happened to you, I’m here to make sure it never happens again!”
“Thank you,” Noelle mumbled. “Thank you…”
Susie sat down next to Noelle on the bed, and the springs creaked under her weight. Without thinking about what she was doing, Noelle leaned her head on Susie’s shoulder and watched the way her scaly purple claws curled into the covers.
“What, uh…” Susie’s chest rose and fell. “What happened to you?”
“Oh, Susie.” Noelle laughed a little. “That’s not the sort of thing we talk about in beautiful dreams like this.”
Susie looked down at her. “Beautiful dreams…?”
“You said the nightmare was over, remember? And now you’re here. So this must be a dream.”
“Uh. Yeah! A dream! Yeah, this is…” Susie wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “This is all a dream. Don’t worry.”
Noelle titled her face up and planted a kiss on Susie’s cheek.
Susie blushed, looking at her with wide eyes. “What—what was—”
“Thank you for saving me, Susie,” Noelle whispered.
“Oh, uh…n-no problem.” Susie held her eyes. “What are heroes for, right?”
Berdly had tried to save her, too, Noelle thought—just for a second, before pushing it out of her mind. The stuff of nightmares had no place in this bed. No place between her and Susie.
Noelle leaned in. Susie froze for a split-second, then dipped down to meet her, and their lips met.
It was quick. Chaste. Cute. Dreamy. A fleeting little delight that would fade from the mind by the time Noelle awakened. It was perfect.
“Noelle, what was…do you—”
“Shhhhhh,” Noelle silenced, leaning into Susie. “Don’t ruin the beautiful dream.”
“Okay.” Susie held her with strong arms. “Okay.”
Eventually, Susie left; and the dream ended; and the nightmare returned.
The voice called her out of her room and down the hall. She passed Susie, who said something to her—Noelle wasn’t quite sure what. She pressed onwards, bidden by the voice, and Susie didn’t follow.
One last deed to put it all behind her. One last spell rolling through her fingertips. One last order to follow. One last life on her hands.
Her ugly, beautiful, ugly dream took its last, gasping breath, and Noelle woke up.
Tuesday | 18:07
Please stop. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything you want. Just please stop.
No response. There was never any response.
Kris felt Berdly’s feathers tickle against their palms as they pulled him out of his chair. They could feel particles of dust under their fingertips—the beginnings of decay—as they dragged him across the floor. And they felt bile rise in their throat as they stuffed his limp body into the electronics closet and slammed the door.
Please stop, they tried again. But they knew there was no point. It was done. It was irrevocable.
Kris couldn’t even cry.
Tuesday | 18:26
Noelle stood in the cold hospital hallway, holding herself and taking deep breaths. Kris…recently, there’d been something different about them. Why hadn’t anyone else noticed it? She…she had to figure it out. Why Kris was acting so strange, why they kept coming to the hospital…
“To see you.”
“Huh?!” Noelle jumped—Kris was right behind her. “H-How long have you been standing there?”
Had she been talking to herself again? No, she—she was sure she hadn’t been. But then how…?
She tried to laugh it off. “Phew…you really scared me, you know?”
Kris said nothing; just took a step forward. Noelle met their blank stare with a fearful one, slowly retreating from their perpetual approach, trying to keep herself together. It had just been a dream, right? Just…just a…
She noticed something glinting on Kris’s wrist, catching the frosty fluorescent light, and her breath caught in her throat. “Kris… Why are you wearing my watch?”
Noelle tried to take another step backwards, but ran into the wall. She hastily glanced over her shoulder as she caught her balance, and when she looked back Kris was even closer. She was cornered.
The hospital rang with silence. Kris titled their head to the side, their bangs sliding over their nose. She still couldn’t see their eyes.
“In your dream,” they said, their voice strange and foreign and echoing deep into her thoughts. “Remember?”
Noelle’s eyes widened. They—they couldn’t mean that. They didn’t mean that. It was impossible.
She was about to refute them when the door to her dad’s room banged open. Susie stepped out and said something about her father and movies—Noelle wasn’t quite sure—all she knew was she needed to get out, get out, get out.
Noelle ran. She ran like the cross country star she was. She ran like death was nipping at her heels. She ran all the way to that big, empty house on the hill, and she panted as she shoved open the door and stumbled inside.
“Noelle! There you are.” Carol Holiday appeared in the doorway to the foyer, her hands planted firmly on her hips. “Where were you?”
Noelle felt her hands shaking. She closed and locked the front door. “I was visiting Dad.”
“Okay, well…” Carol’s look softened slightly. “You should’ve texted if you were going to get home this late. What if something had happened to you?”
Noelle didn’t meet her eye. She stared at the carpet, shaking her head. “Nothing happened.”
“What?”
“Nothing happened,” Noelle repeated. She took a deep breath and tried not to think of strange creatures and futuristic alleyways. “Nothing happened.”
“That’s not the point. I’m saying that if something did happen, I wouldn’t know where you were.” Carol narrowed her eyes. “Hello? Noelle, are you listening to me? This is important.”
Noelle let the words wash over her, and she started slowly walking to the staircase. “I think…I’m going to turn in early tonight.”
“Now? Honey, it’s seven o’clock. You haven’t even had dinner!”
Noelle kept shuffling forward. “I’m not hungry.”
“What’s the matter? Are you sick? Noelle? Noelle!”
But Noelle didn’t hear her, and soon she was safe in her bed, staring up at the twinkling Christmas lights that criss-crossed along her bedroom ceiling. She lay there, eyes wide open, and fought off sleep.
Tuesday | 22:31
Ms. Boom enjoyed her job very much. She had always loved libraries, ever since she’d been young, so getting to work in one was a dream come true. The pay was low, but she had enough to get by, and it was more than worth it to work surrounded by books all day. It helped her feel connected to her father—Gerson had always loved his dusty old books.
It was a few minutes after closing now, and she was busy tidying up the main level when the phone at the front desk began to ring, echoing through the empty library. She sighed, walking over and picking it up.
“Hello, Hometown Library. I’m so sorry, but we actually just closed, so unless this is an emergency—”
“It is, I swear,” came a feminine voice on the other end of the line. “You’re Ms. Boom, right? This is Alula Lombardi.”
“Oh, Berdly’s mother? It’s wonderful to meet you,” Ms. Boom said politely. “What’s wrong?”
“Berdly never came back home tonight,” Alula said, her voice shaking with nerves. “He had a shift at the library this afternoon after school. I was wondering if…?”
“What? Oh, no.” Ms. Boom frowned. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Lombardi, but Berdly never showed up for work today. I haven’t seen him.”
There was silence for a few seconds, until she heard a single, dejected, “Oh.”
“I’ll let you know if I see him anywhere,” Ms. Boom assured. “But you may want to contact the police.”
“Yes…Yes, I’ll do that,” Alula said. “Thank you anyway.”
“Of course, dear. Take care. I’m sure he’ll turn up in no time. Do tell me if you find him, though, alright? He’s such a sweet boy.”
She got a soft, distracted hum from the other woman before the line clicked dead.
Ms. Boom heaved a sigh, her shoulders sagging with a newfound weight as she set down the phone and continued her cleaning. She prayed to the Angel that nothing had happened to Berdly. His poor parents…
She tried not to let her thoughts get away from her as she finished cleaning up the main stacks and moved into the computer lab. Her expression grew troubled, though, as she wandered through the room—it looked like the new laptop was missing.
“Oh dear,” Mrs. Boom breathed out as she searched around. “We haven’t even had it a week! Who would…”
She moved over towards the electronics closet at the back of the room. It was a longshot, but maybe some misguided good-Samaritan had stowed it away for the night, or something.
She pulled the door open and took a surprised step back as something large and blue flopped out, landing hard against the stained computer lab carpet. It was a familiar body, but nearly dissolved beyond recognition. The skin and feathers were slowly crumbling away into sandy dust right before her eyes, and a putrid stench effused through the stuffy air of the lab. Ms. Boom stared at the corpse, and after a second of shock, she screamed.
Tuesday | 22:54
Undyne grimaced as she looked down at the sight before her. The boy’s body was half-decomposed and only getting worse, his dust trickling down into the fringes of the carpet.
“Well?” Undyne demanded, ripping her eyes away from the corpse and looking towards her deputy. “What do we got?”
Napstablook sighed and floated up from where they’d been leaning over Berdly. “Soul decay…must’ve been something internal. At the rate he’s deteriorating, he was probably here for a long time before the librarian found him…estimated time of death…between five and eight pm.”
“Dammit, can’t you narrow it down?! That’s three hours!”
“Sorry…” Napstablook looked away. “The body’s too far gone…and I’m probably not very good at this anyway…I only took the one autopsy class…”
“It’s fine,” Undyne grumbled. “I just have no idea how something like this could happen! You said it was internal?”
“Yeah…if he’d died violently, it would’ve shattered the soul, and he would’ve dusted immediately…” Napstablook’s gaze traveled back to the body. “But this is clearly soul decay. He died from the inside out…his soul failed, and now he’s slowly losing form…oh, Angel…what a horrible way to die…at least he was unconscious for most of it…”
“Stay focused, Deputy!” Undyne ordered. They couldn’t afford to get bogged down in the horror of what they were dealing with—they had a job to do. “Cause of death. We need a cause of death!”
“Like I said…something internal…”
“But what? Poison?!”
“Oh…well…I suppose it could be.” Napstablook looked thoughtful. “That’s not very common, though…ninety percent of soul decay is due to natural soul failure, illness, hypothermia, severe malnutrition, soulshock…that sort of thing…”
“Berdly was seventeen. That ain’t old enough for natural SOUL failure.” Undyne frowned. “Also, he was stuffed into a closet. This has foul play written all over it.”
“Oh…I guess that’s true…sorry for doubting you…” Napstablook floated away from the corpse. “I don’t think we can learn anything else from the body, though…”
Undyne was quiet for a moment. She stared at the bird on the floor and watched as part of his wing crumbled into particles. Then she forced herself to look away, turning towards the entrance to the lab.
“I’ll have the lower officers come down to collect the remains,” she said, reaching for her radio. “We need to talk to his family right away. Maybe they can tell us what he was doing in the lab—who might have seen him last. Then we can start interviews with potential witnesses first thing tomorrow morning.”
Napstablook mumbled their assent, and Undyne marched out of the room.
Wednesday | 00:38
It hurt a little more every time. Kris ignored the pain, though—they couldn’t afford to wake anyone.
Kris shoved the pulsing red heart between the couch cushions and stood. With stuttering steps, they cracked open the front door, turned the TV onto static, planted themself in the middle of the room, and raised their knife.
But then they faltered. They looked at Susie, snoring away on the couch; and across from her, their mother, asleep with her book in her lap. Their mind jumped back to earlier that day, to the feeling of Berdly’s limp body in their hands. They imagined dragging Susie along the ground, out the door, towards the woods. They imagined their mother, frozen solid, face petrified in a permanent look of betrayal.
No. They couldn’t risk it. The plan was off.
They staggered back to the couch, took their soul in their hand, and held the dagger’s razor tip up to its glowing red surface. They knew what would happen if they ran it through. Humans could cling to life for a little while without a soul, but not forever. A weakling like them probably wouldn’t last more than thirty minutes.
So, they knew what would happen if they broke their soul. But they didn’t know what would happen if they put it back in—and that thought was equally as scary. The force that controlled them…who would it target next? What was its goal? What did it want with Noelle? They didn’t even know when they’d have the opportunity to pull it out again. They’d be putting their friends and family in danger.
They should end this. Right here, right now. Plunge the knife. Nobody else would have to get hurt.
But in the end, they weren’t strong enough to go through with it, and they put their knife away.
“Sorry.” Their voice was raspy as they fumbled for their cell phone. The light from the screen made them squint, but they pushed through, sending one singular text message before turning it off again. “I’m so sorry.”
They shoved the soul back inside their chest and fell to the couch.
“Good choice,” spoke a voice that was not their own, yet came through their mouth.
Kris felt a spike of fear. If they had any power over their muscles, their eyes would’ve widened, their body would’ve trembled, their heart would’ve pounded. It had never talked to them directly before.
“Something’s changed. Maybe you’ve noticed,” the voice whispered. “The rules are different now—the game has changed. I think I stumbled into something entirely new. And I don’t know about you, Kris…”
They felt their hand reach up, stroking their cheek and then settling into a firm, threatening grip around their own neck.
“…But I can’t wait to explore it with you.”
Despite their fear, their eyelids slid shut, and they were forced into sleep.
Wednesday | 7:04
Noelle was back in the cyber city. Her finger throbbed with pain.
She looked around. She was alone, thank the Angel, in the alleyways. Eerily alone, perhaps—she couldn’t hear the honking of horns or the boisterous calls of the Addisons, only a long, cold stillness.
But at least there wasn’t anyone here to hurt. Her finger throbbed with pain.
Noelle began to walk. Her heels clicked as she traced the city streets, the buildings around her looming high and boxing her in. In a past life, they would’ve made her feel claustrophobic, afraid—but not anymore.
Now, she was only afraid of much scarier things. Her finger throbbed with pain.
After a few seconds or a few years of walking, the street opened up. Traffic cones. Posters on the walls. A single glowing, twinkling, brilliant star that surged with untappable power.
There was a figure standing there. Her finger throbbed with pain.
Berdly, she called, and she ran forward to grab him in a hug. I’m so glad you’re okay. I thought I’d—thought I’d—
Thought you’d what? Berdly asked, turning to look at her with empty eyes that cried rivers of foul-smelling dust. Thought you’d killed me? It’s okay, Noelle. You were only following orders.
She felt the ghosts of monotone words in her ears. Her finger throbbed with pain.
A sudden wind picked up and blew Berdly’s flesh clean apart, turning him into a tornado of dust. No! Noelle cried as the remains of her friend swirled around her, blocking out her vision and filling her eyes, her nostrils, her lungs.
He smelled and tasted like death. Her finger throbbed with pain.
Noelle couldn’t take it any more. She brought her hand to her face. That horrible ring was stuck around her finger like a parasite, its barbs biting into her flesh and refusing to let go. When she moved her hand, her own dust trickled out from beneath the ring to join in the dance that Berdly had begun.
Noelle.
She looked up. A silhouette appeared in the dust-storm, too blurry to make out. But it was coming closer.
Noelle.
No. No, she said, her voice a nervous tremble. She could hear it now—the clank of metal boots.
Noelle.
I’m telling you, stay away! she cried. She raised her thorn-kissed hand, and more of her dust tumbled down her finger and into the storm. Stay away, or I swear, I’ll freeze you!
Noelle.
Kris was next to her, now, the both of them standing in a calm pocket of the raging hurricane around them. Their eyes were bright crimson. They were still wearing her watch.
Noelle.
No, she said, shaking her head. No. Please. Not again.
Noelle.
I won’t let you! she insisted. I’m not hurting anyone else! You can’t make me!
Noelle.
Shut up! Get out of my head! She clutched at her scalp, fingers digging into the skin. Get out, get out, get out!
Noelle, for Angel’s sake! Wake up!
Noelle’s eyes shot open. Her mother was standing over her, grabbing her by the shoulders. The light filtering through her blinds was thin and raw—it couldn’t have been time for school yet.
“Finally,” Carol said, letting out a huff. “Come on. Get up.”
“Mom?” Noelle sat up groggily. “What’s going on?”
“The police are here, Noelle.” Carol took a step back from the bed and put her hands on her hips. “And apparently they need to talk to you.”
“Wh-What?” Noelle felt her entire body clench with dread. “Why…Why are the police…”
“Get dressed quickly,” Carol said, turning and walking out of the room. “Chief Undyne is not a patient woman.”
Noelle heard the door click shut. Slowly, she raised her arm and spread her fingers.
There, on her right ring finger, was a thin, unassuming metal band. It seemed to sit impossibly tight, buried deep in her fur, almost as though it were part of her skin itself. The metal was dull, cheap-looking, but an intricate rose-stem design spiraled all the way around the ring.
She couldn’t get it off.
Noelle stared at the ring for what felt like hours, her mind cycling between a thousand different emotions—shock at the Dark World’s reality, terror at what she had done, fury that Kris had made her do it, shame that she’d let it happen, and a billion other conflicting thoughts.
Disoriented, she got to her hooves. She needed to get dressed. She needed a story to tell the police. She needed…she needed…she didn’t know what she needed.
She scooped her phone off her night stand. The screen brightened, and she saw a singular notification—a message from Kris, sent right after midnight. She nearly threw the phone down in a panic, but as she read further, her fear turned to confusion.
Kris: stay away from me. dont trust anything i say. DO NOT reply or we’ll both be in danger. im so sorry
She was tempted to ignore their instructions and message them back to ask what was going on, but in the end, she stopped herself. What did they mean? Why would they warn her about themself? Had she been right? Had that voice really been…something else? If Dark Worlds and magic were real, she couldn’t rule out any possibilities.
She turned off the phone and pursed her lips, walking over to her bedroom window. There was a police car in her driveway. Past it, Hometown lay still, and quiet, and cold.
“We were getting stronger…is that right? Alright, then. Fine.” Noelle tightened her grip on the window sill, and the cocktail of rogue emotions plaguing her brain congealed into raw resolve. “If I’m so strong now, then that means I can fix this. Bring it on.”
Stage One Clear
The Skeleton in the Closet
| Continue | Retry Stage | Stage Select | Quit Game |
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